the biography of robert murray m'cheyne [illustration: robert murray m'cheyne with signature] * * * * * the biography of robert murray m'cheyne by andrew a. bonar zondervan publishing house grand rapids, michigan * * * * * publisher's preface the telling of the deeply spiritual life story of the young minister of the gospel of st. peters church, dundee, scotland, robert murray m'cheyne, has been used of god to bring challenge, blessing and inspiration to hundreds of thousands down through the years since his death in at the early age of . few men have lived a life filled with such power and blessing in such a short span of years. dr. andrew a. bonar's biography of this stalwart young man of god has been the standard recognized work on the life of this prince among men. this biography is from the larger _memoirs and remains of the rev. robert murray m'cheyne_ with just the memoirs--or biography--reprinted. the "remains," letters and sermons of m'cheyne have been recently republished in the wyckliffe series issued by the moody press, but we are presenting in the pages of this volume bonar's soul-stirring biography of this young man who was so completely and wholly surrendered to the will of god. dr. wilbur m. smith, in his "profitable bible study," says, "every minister, of whatever denomination, should have this marvelous work." the publishers of this unabridged edition send it forth once again with the earnest prayer that god will continue to use it to the inspiration and challenge of young and old alike to realize what can be done with a life completely and absolutely dedicated to him. * * * * * memoir. * * * * * chapter i. his youth, and preparation for the ministry "_many shall rejoice at his birth; for he shall be great in the sight of the lord_"--luke : . in the midst of the restless activity of such a day as ours, it will be felt by ministers of christ to be useful in no common degree, to trace the steps of one who but lately left us, and who, during the last years of his short life, walked calmly in almost unbroken fellowship with the father and the son. the date of his birth was may , . about that time, as is now evident to us who can look back on the past, the great head had a purpose of blessing for the church of scotland. eminent men of god appeared to plead the cause of christ. the cross was lifted up boldly in the midst of church courts which had long been ashamed of the gospel of christ. more spirituality and deeper seriousness began a few years onward to prevail among the youth of our divinity halls. in the midst of such events, whereby the lord was secretly preparing a rich blessing for souls in all our borders, the subject of this memoir was born. "many were to rejoice at his birth;" for he was one of the blessings which were beginning to be dropped down upon scotland, though none then knew that one was born whom hundreds would look up to as their spiritual father. the place of his birth was edinburgh, where his parents resided. he was the youngest child of the family, and was called robert murray, after the name of some of his kindred. from his infancy his sweet and affectionate temper was remarked by all who knew him. his mind was quick in its attainments; he was easily taught the common lessons of youth, and some of his peculiar endowments began early to appear. at the age of four, while recovering from some illness, he selected as his recreation the study of the greek alphabet, and was able to name all the letters, and write them in a rude way upon a slate. a year after, he made rapid progress in the english class, and at an early period became somewhat eminent among his schoolfellows for his melodious voice and powers of recitation. there were at that time catechetical exercises held in the tron church, in the interval between sermons; and some friends remember the interest often excited in the hearers by his correct and sweet recitation of the psalms and passages of scripture. but as yet he knew not the lord, he lived to himself, "having no hope, and without god in the world." eph. : . in october he entered the high school, where he continued his literary studies during the usual period of six years. he maintained a high place in his classes, and in the rector's class distinguished himself by eminence in geography and recitation. it was during the last year of his attendance at the high school that he first ventured on poetical composition, the subject being "greece, but living greece no more." the lines are characterized chiefly by enthusiasm for liberty and grecian heroism, for in these days his soul had never soared to a higher region. his companions speak of him as one who had even then peculiarities that drew attention: of a light, tall form--full of elasticity and vigor--ambitious, yet noble in his dispositions, disdaining everything like meanness or deceit. some would have been apt to regard him as exhibiting many traits of a christian character; but his susceptible mind had not, at that time, a relish for any higher joy than the refined gaieties of society, and for such pleasures as the song and the dance could yield. he himself regarded these as days of ungodliness--days wherein he cherished a pure morality, but lived in heart a pharisee. i have heard him say that there was a correctness and propriety in his demeanor at times of devotion, and in public worship, which some, who knew not his heart, were ready to put to the account of real feeling. and this experience of his own heart made him look with jealousy on the mere outward signs of devotion in dealing with souls. he had learnt in his own case how much a soul, unawakened to a sense of guilt, may have satisfaction in performing from the proud consciousness of integrity towards man, and a sentimental devotedness of mind that chastens the feelings without changing the heart. he had great delight in rural scenery. most of his summer vacations used to be spent in dumfriesshire, and his friends in the parish of ruthwell and its vicinity retain a vivid remembrance of his youthful days. his poetic temperament led him to visit whatever scenes were fitted to stir the soul. at all periods of his life, also, he had a love of enterprise. during the summer months he occasionally made excursions with his brother, or some intimate friend, to visit the lakes and hills of our highlands, cherishing thereby, unawares, a fondness for travel, that was most useful to him in after days. in one of these excursions, a somewhat romantic occurrence befell the travellers, such as we might rather have expected to meet with in the records of his eastern journey. he and his friends had set out on foot to explore, at their leisure, dunkeld, and the highlands in its vicinity. they spent a day at dunkeld, and about sunset set out again with the view of crossing the hills to strathardle. a dense mist spread over the hills soon after they began to climb. they pressed on, but lost the track that might have guided them safely to the glen. they knew not how to direct their steps to any dwelling. night came on, and they had no resource but to couch among the heath, with no other covering than the clothes they wore. they felt hungry and cold; and, awaking at midnight, the awful stillness of the lonely mountains spread a strange fear over them. but, drawing close together, they again lay down to rest, and slept soundly till the cry of some wild birds and the morning dawn aroused them. entering the edinburgh university in november , he gained some prize in all the various classes he attended. in private he studied the modern languages; and gymnastic exercises at that time gave him unbounded delight. he used his pencil with much success, and then it was that his hand was prepared for sketching the scenes of the holy land. he had a very considerable knowledge of music, and himself sang correctly and beautifully. this, too, was a gift which was used to the glory of the lord in after days,--wonderfully enlivening his secret devotions, and enabling him to lead the song of praise in the congregation wherever occasion required. poetry also was a never-failing recreation; and his taste in this department drew the attention of professor wilson, who adjudged him the prize in the moral philosophy class for a poem, "on the covenanters." in the winter of he commenced his studies in the divinity hall under dr. chalmers, and the study of church history under dr. welsh. it may be naturally asked, what led him to wish to preach salvation to his fellow-sinners? could he say, like robert bruce, "_i was first called to my grace, before i obeyed my calling to the ministry?_" few questions are more interesting than this; and our answer to it will open up some of the wonderful ways of him "whose path is in the great waters, and whose footsteps are not known," psalm : ; for the same event that awakened his soul to a true sense of sin and misery, led him to the ministry. during his attendance at the literary and philosophical classes he felt occasional impressions, none of them perhaps of much depth. there can be no doubt that he himself looked upon the death of his eldest brother, david, as the event which awoke him from the sleep of nature, and brought the first beam of divine light into his soul. by that providence the lord was calling one soul to enjoy the treasures of grace, while he took the other into the possession of glory. in this brother, who was his senior by eight or nine years, the light of divine grace shone before men with rare and solemn loveliness. his classical attainments were very high; and, after the usual preliminary studies, he had been admitted writer to the signet. one distinguishing quality of his character was his sensitive truthfulness. in a moment would the shadow flit across his brow, if any incident were related wherein there was the slightest exaggeration; or even when nothing but truth was spoken, if only the deliverer seemed to take up a false or exaggerated view. he must not merely speak the whole truth himself, but he must have the hearer also to apprehend the whole truth. he spent much of his leisure hours in attending to the younger members of the family. tender and affectionate, his grieved look when they vexed him by resisting his counsels, had (it is said) something in it so persuasive that it never failed in the end to prevail on those with whom his words had not succeeded. his youngest brother, at a time when he lived according to the course of this world, was the subject of many of his fervent prayers. but a deep melancholy, in a great degree the effect of bodily ailments, settled down on david's soul. many weary months did he spend in awful gloom, till the trouble of his soul wasted away his body: but the light broke in before his death; joy from the face of a fully reconciled father above lighted up his face; and the peace of his last days was the sweet consolation left to his afflicted friends, when, th july , he fell asleep in jesus. the death of this brother, with all its circumstances, was used by the holy spirit to produce a deep impression on robert's soul. in many respects--even in the gifts of a poetic mind--there had been a congeniality between him and david. the vivacity of robert's ever active and lively mind was the chief point of difference. this vivacity admirably fitted him for public life; it needed only to be chastened and solemnized, and the event that had now occurred wrought this effect. a few months before, the happy family circle had been broken up by the departure of the second brother for india, in the bengal medical service; but when, in the course of the summer, david was removed from them forever, there were impressions left such as could never be effaced, at least from the mind of robert. naturally of an intensely affectionate disposition, this stroke moved his whole soul. his quiet hours seem to have been often spent in thoughts of him who was now gone to glory. there are some lines remaining in which his poetic mind has most touchingly, and with uncommon vigor, painted him whom he had lost,--lines all the more interesting, because the delineation of character and form which they contain cannot fail to call up to those who knew him the image of the author himself. some time after his brother's death he had tried to preserve the features of his well-remembered form, by attempting a portrait from memory; but throwing aside the pencil in despair, he took up the pen, and poured out the fulness of his heart. on painting the miniature likeness of one departed. alas! not perfect yet--another touch, and still another, and another still, till those dull lips breathe life, and yonder eye lose its lack lustre hue, and be lit up with the warm glance of living feeling. no-- it never can be! ah, poor, powerless art! most vaunting, yet most impotent, thou seek'st to trace the thousand, thousand shades and lights that glowed conspicuous on the blessed face of him thou fain wouldst imitate--to bind down to the fragile canvas the wild play of thought and mild affection, which were wont to dwell in the serious eye, and play around the placid mouth. thou seek'st to give again that which the burning soul, inhabiting its clay-built tenement, alone can give-- to leave on cold dead matter the impress of living mind--to bid a line, a shade, speak forth, not words, but the soft intercourse which the immortal spirit, while on earth it tabernacles, breathes from every pore-- thoughts not converted into words, and hopes, and fears, and hidden joys, and griefs, unborn into the world of sound, but beaming forth in that expression which no words, or work of cunning artist, can express. in vain, alas! in vain! come hither, painter; come, take up once more thine instruments--thy brush and palette--if thy haughty art be, as thou say'st, omnipotent, and if thy hand can dare to wield creative power. renew thy toil, and let my memory, vivified by love, which death's cold separation has but warmed and rendered sacred dictate to thy skill, and guide thy pencil. from the jetty hair take off that gaudy lustre that but mocks the true original; and let the dry, soft, gentle-turning locks, appear instead. what though to fashion's garish eye they seem untutored and ungainly? still to me, than folly's foppish head-gear, lovelier far are they, because bespeaking mental toil, labor assiduous, through the golden days (golden if so improved) of guileless youth, unwearied mining in the precious stores of classic lore--and better, nobler still, in god's own holy writ. and scatter here and there a thread of grey, to mark the grief that prematurely checked the bounding flow of the warm current in his veins, and shed an early twilight o'er so bright a dawn. no wrinkle sits upon that brow!--and thus it ever was. the angry strife and cares of avaricious miser did not leave their base memorial on so fair a page. the eyebrows next draw closer down, and throw a softening shade o'er the mild orbs below. let the full eyelid, drooping, half conceal the back-retiring eye; and point to earth the long brown lashes that bespeak a soul like his who said, "i am not worthy, lord!" from underneath these lowly turning lids, let not shine forth the gaily sparkling light which dazzles oft, and oft deceives; nor yet the dull unmeaning lustre that can gaze alike on all the world. but paint an eye in whose half-hidden, steady light i read a truth-inquiring mind; a fancy, too, that could array in sweet poetic garb the truth he found; while on his artless harp he touched the gentlest feelings, which the blaze of winter's hearth warms in the homely heart. and oh! recall the look of faith sincere, with which that eye would scrutinize the page that tells us of offended god appeased by awful sacrifice upon the cross of calvary--that bids us leave a world immersed in darkness and in death, and seek a better country. ah! how oft that eye would turn on me, with pity's tenderest look, and, only half-upbraiding, bid me flee from the vain idols of my boyish heart! it was about the same time, while still feeling the sadness of this bereavement, that he wrote the fragment entitled "the righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart." a grave i know where earthly show is not--a mound whose gentle round sustains the load of a fresh sod. its shape is rude, and weeds intrude their yellow flowers-- in gayer bowers unknown. the grass, a tufted mass, is rank and strong, unsmoothed and long. no rosebud there embalms the air; no lily chaste adorns the waste, nor daisy's head bedecks the bed. no myrtles wave above that grave; unknown in life, and far from strife, he lived:--and though the magic flow of genius played around his head, and he could weave "the song at eve," and touch the heart, with gentlest art; or care beguile, and draw the smile of peace from those who wept their woes yet when the love of christ above to guilty men was shown him--then he left the joys of worldly noise, and humbly laid his drooping head nor heather-bell is there to tell of gentle friend who sought to lend a sweeter sleep to him who deep beneath the ground repose has found. no stone of woe is there to show the name, or tell how passing well he loved his god, and how he trod the humble road that leads through sorrow to a bright morrow he sought the breath: but which can give the power to live-- whose word alone can melt the stone, bid tumult cease, and all be peace! he sought not now to wreathe his brow with laurel bough. he sought no more to gather store of earthly lore, nor vainly strove to share the love of heaven above, with aught below that earth can show the smile forsook his cheek--his look was cold and sad; and even the glad return of morn, when the ripe corn waves o'er the plains, and simple swains with joy prepare the toil to share of harvest, brought no lively thought to him. and spring adorns the sunny morns with opening flowers; upon the cross; and thought the loss of all that earth contained--of mirth, of loves, and fame, and pleasures' name-- no sacrifice to win the prize, which christ secured, when he endured for us the load-- the wrath of god! with many a tear, and many a fear, with many a sigh and heart-wrung cry of timid faith, where intervenes no darkening cloud of sin to shroud the gazer's view. thus sadly flew the merry spring; and gaily sing the birds their loves in summer groves. but not for him their notes they trim. his ear is cold-- his tale is told. above his grave the grass may wave-- the crowd pass by without a sigh above the spot. they knew him not-- they could not know; and even though, why should they shed above the dead who slumbers here a single tear? i cannot weep, though in my sleep i sometimes clasp with love's fond grasp his gentle hand, and see him stand beside my bed, and lean his head upon my breast, o'er lawn and mead; its virgin head the snowdrop steeps in dew, and peeps the crocus forth, nor dreads the north. but even the spring no smile can bring to him, whose eye sought in the sky for brighter scenes. and bid me rest nor night nor day till i can say that i have found the holy ground in which there lies the pearl of price-- till all the ties the soul that bind, and all the lies the soul that blind, be nothing could more fully prove the deep impression which the event made than these verses. but it was not a transient regret, nor was it the "sorrow of the world." he was in his eighteenth year when his brother died; and if this was not the year of his new birth, at least it was the year when the first streaks of dawn appeared in his soul. from that day forward his friends observed a change. his poetry was pervaded with serious thought, and all his pursuits began to be followed out in another spirit. he engaged in the labors of a sabbath school, and began to seek god to his soul, in the diligent reading of the word, and attendance on a faithful ministry. how important this period of his life appeared in his own view, may be gathered from his allusions to it in later days. a year after, he writes in his diary: "on this morning last year came the first overwhelming blow to my worldliness; how blessed to me, thou, o god, only knowest, who hast made it so." every year he marked this day as one to be remembered, and occasionally its recollections seem to have come in like a flood. in a letter to a friend ( th july ), upon a matter entirely local, he concludes by a postscript: "this day eleven years ago, my holy brother david entered into his rest, aged ." and on that same day, writing a note to one of his flock in dundee (who had asked him to furnish a preface to a work printed , _letters on spiritual subjects_), he commends the book, and adds: "pray for me, that i may be made holier and wiser--less like myself, and more like my heavenly master; that i may not regard my life, if so be i may finish my course with joy. this day eleven years ago, i lost my loved and loving brother, and began to seek a brother who cannot die." it was to companions who could sympathize in his feelings that he unbosomed himself. at that period it was not common for inquiring souls to carry their case to their pastor. a conventional reserve upon theses subjects prevailed even among lively believers. it almost seemed as if they were ashamed of the son of man. this reserve appeared to him very sinful; and he felt it to be so great an evil, that in after days he was careful to encourage anxious souls to converse with him freely. the nature of his experience, however, we have some means of knowing. on one occasion, a few of us who had studied together were reviewing the lord's dealings with our souls, and how he had brought us to himself all very nearly at the same time, though without any special instrumentality. he stated that there was nothing sudden in his case, and that he was led to christ through deep and ever-abiding, but not awful or distracting, convictions. in this we see the lord's sovereignty. in bringing a soul to the saviour, the holy spirit invariably leads it to very deep consciousness of sin; but then he causes this consciousness of sin to be more distressing and intolerable to some than to others. but in one point does the experience of all believing sinners agree in this matter, viz. their soul presented to their view nothing but an abyss of sin, when the grace of god that bringeth salvation appeared. the holy spirit carried on his work in the subject of this memoir, by continuing to deepen in him the conviction of his ungodliness, and the pollution of his whole nature. and all his life long, he viewed _original sin_, not as an excuse for his actual sins, but as an aggravation of them all. in this view he was of the mind of david, taught by the unerring spirit of truth. see psalm : , . at first light dawned slowly; so slowly, that for a considerable time he still relished an occasional plunge into scenes of gaiety. even after entering the divinity hall, he could be persuaded to indulge in lighter pursuits, at least during the two first years of his attendance; but it was with growing alarm. when hurried away by such worldly joys, i find him writing thus:--"_sept. ._--may there be few such records as this in my biography." then, "_dec. ._--a thorn in my side--much torment." as the unholiness of his pleasures became more apparent, he writes:--"_march , ._--i hope never to play cards again." "_march ._--never visit on a sunday evening again." "_april ._--absented myself from the dance; upbraidings ill to bear. but i must try to bear the cross." it seems to be in reference to the receding tide, which thus for a season repeatedly drew him back to the world, that on july , , he records: "this morning five years ago, my dear brother david died, and my heart for the first time knew true bereavement. truly it was all well. let me be dumb, for thou didst it: and it was good for me that i was afflicted. i know not that any providence was ever more abused by man than that was by me; and yet, lord, what mountains thou comest over! none was ever more blessed to me." to us who can look at the results, it appears probable that the lord permitted him thus to try many broken cisterns, and to taste the wormwood of many earthly streams, in order that in after days, by the side of the fountain of living waters, he might point to the world he had forever left, and testify the surpassing preciousness of what he had now found. mr. alexander somerville (afterwards minister of anderston church, glasgow) was his familiar friend and companion in the gay scenes of his youth. and he, too, about this time, having been brought to taste the powers of the world to come, they united their efforts for each other's welfare. they met together for the study of the bible, and used to exercise themselves in the septuagint greek and the hebrew original. but oftener still they met for prayer and solemn converse; and carrying on all their studies in the same spirit, watched each other's steps in the narrow way. he thought himself much profited, at this period, by investigating the subject of election and the free grace of god. but it was the reading of _the sum of saving knowledge_, generally appended to our confession of faith, that brought him to a clear understanding of the way of acceptance with god. those who are acquainted with its admirable statements of truth, will see how well fitted it was to direct an inquiring soul. i find him some years afterwards recording:--"_march , ._--read in the _sum of saving knowledge_, the work which i think first of all wrought a saving change in me. how gladly would i renew the reading of it, if that change might be carried on to perfection!" it will be observed that he never reckoned his soul saved, notwithstanding all his convictions and views of sins, until he really went into the holiest of all on the warrant of the redeemer's work; for assuredly a sinner is still under wrath, until he has actually availed himself of the way to the father opened up by jesus. all his knowledge of his sinfulness, and all his sad feeling of his own need and danger, cannot place him one step farther off from the lake of fire. it is "he that comes to christ" that is saved. before this period he had received a bias towards the ministry from his brother david, who used to speak of the ministry as the most blessed work on earth, and often expressed the greatest delight in the hope that his younger brother might one day become a minister of christ. and now, with altered views,--with an eye that could gaze on heaven and hell, and a heart that felt the love of a reconciled god,--he sought to become a herald of salvation. he had begun to keep a register of his studies, and the manner in which his time slipped away, some months before his brother's death. for a considerable time this register contains almost nothing but the bare incidents of the diary, and on sabbaths the texts of the sermons he had heard. there is one gleam of serious thought--but it is the only one--during that period. on occasion of dr. andrew thomson's funeral, he records the deep and universal grief that pervaded the town, and then subjoins: "pleasing to see so much public feeling excited on the decease of so worthy a man. how much are the times changed within these eighteen centuries, since the time when joseph besought _the body_ in secret, and when he and nicodemus were the only ones found to bear the body to the tomb!" it is in the end of the year that evidences of a change appear. from that period and ever onward his dry register of every-day incidents is varied with such passages as the following:-- "_nov. ._--reading h. martyn's memoirs. would i could imitate him, giving up father, mother, country, house, health, life, all--for christ. and yet, what hinders? lord, purify me, and give me strength to dedicate myself, my all, to thee!" "_dec. ._--reading legh richmond's life. poetentia profunda, non sine lacrymis. nunquam me ipsum, tam vilem, tam inutilem, tam pauperim, et præcipue tam ingratum, adhuc vidi. sint lacrymæ dedicationis meæ pignora!'" ["deep penitence, not unmixed with tears. i never before saw myself so vile, so useless, so poor, and, above all, so ungrateful. may these tears be the pledges of my self-dedication!"] there is frequently at this period a sentence in latin occurring like the above in the midst of other matter, apparently with the view of giving freer expression to his feelings regarding himself. "_dec. ._--heard a street-preacher: foreign voice. seems really in earnest. he quoted the striking passage, 'the spirit and the bride say, come, _and let him that heareth say, come!'_ from this he seems to derive his authority. let me learn from this man to be in earnest for the truth, and to despise the scoffing of the world." _dec. ._--after spending an evening too lightly, he writes: "my heart must break off from all these things. what right have i to steal and abuse my master's time? 'redeem it,' he is crying to me." "_dec. ._--my mind not yet calmly fixed on the rock of ages." "_jan._ , .--cor non pacem habet. quare? peccatum apud fores manet." ["my heart has not peace. why? sin lieth at my door."] "_jan. ._--a lovely day. eighty-four cases of cholera at musselburgh, how it creeps nearer and nearer like a snake! who will be the first victim here? let thine everlasting arms be around us, and we shall be safe." "_jan. _, sabbath.--afternoon heard mr. bruce (then minister of the new north church, edinburgh) on malachi : - . it constitutes the very gravamen of the charge against the unrenewed man, that he has affection for his earthly parent, and reverence for his earthly master, but none for god! most noble discourse." "_feb. _.--not a trait worth remembering! and yet these four-and-twenty hours must be accounted for." _feb. _, sabbath.--in the afternoon, having heard the late mr. martin of st. george's,[ ] he writes, on returning home: "o quam humilem, sed quam diligentissimum; quam dejectum, sed quam vigilem, quam die noctuque precantem, decet me esse quum tales viros aspicio. juva, pater, fili, et spiritus!" ["oh! how humble, yet how diligent, how lowly, yet how watchful, how prayerful night and day it becomes me to be, when i see such men. help, father, son, and spirit!"] [ ] he says of him on another occasion, _june , _: "a man greatly beloved of whom the world was not worthy." "an apostolic man." his own calm deep holiness, resembled in many respects mr. martin's daily walk. from this date he seems to have sat, along with his friend mr. somerville, almost entirely under mr. bruce's ministry. he took copious notes of his lectures and sermons, which still remain among his papers. "_feb. ._--sober conversation. fain would i turn to the most interesting of all subjects. cowardly backwardness: 'for whosoever is ashamed of me and my words,'" etc. at this time, hearing, concerning a friend of the family, that she had said, "_that she was determined to keep by the world,_" he penned the following lines on her melancholy decision:-- she has chosen the world, and its paltry crowd; she has chosen the world, and an endless shroud! she has chosen the world with its misnamed pleasures; she has chosen the world, before heaven's own treasures. she hath launched her boat on life's giddy sea, and her all is afloat for eternity. but bethlehem's star is not in her view; and her aim is far from the harbor true. when the storm descends from an angry sky, ah! where from the winds shall the vessel fly? [away, then--oh, fly from the joys of earth! her smile is a lie-- there's a sting in her mirth.]* when stars are concealed, and rudder gone, and heaven is sealed to the wandering one the whirlpool opes for the gallant prize; and, with all her hopes, to the deep she hies! but who may tell of the place of woe, where the wicked dwell, where the worldlings go? for the human heart can ne'er conceive what joys are the part of them who believe; nor can justly think of the cup of death, which all must drink who despise the faith. *come, leave the dreams of this transient night, and bask in the beams of an endless light. *transcriber's note: in the original "memoirs and remains of the reverend robert murray mccheyne", the passage in brackets was the first half of the last, eight-line stanza, and the following quartet was part of the eight-line stanza beginning "when the storm descends". "_march ._--wild wind and rain all day long. hebrew class--psalms. new beauty in the original every time i read. dr. welsh--lecture on pliny's letter about the christians of bithynia. professor jameson on quartz. dr. chalmers grappling with hume's arguments. evening--notes, and little else. mind and body dull." this is a specimen of his register of daily study. _march ._--after a few sentences in latin, concluding with "in meam animam veni, domine deus omnipotens," he writes, "leaning on a staff of my own devising, it betrayed me, and broke under me. it was not thy staff. resolving to be a god, thou showedst me that i was but a man. but my own staff being broken, why may i not lay hold of thine?--read part of the life of jonathan edwards. how feeble does my spark of christianity appear beside such a sun! but even his was a borrowed light, and the same source is still open to enlighten me." "_april ._--have found much rest in him who bore all our burdens for us." "april .--to-night i ventured to break the ice of unchristian silence. why should not selfishness be buried beneath the atlantic in matters so sacred?" _may _, saturday evening.--this was the evening previous to the communion; and in prospect of again declaring himself the lord's at his table, he enters into a brief review of his state. he had partaken of the ordinance in may of the year before for the first time; but he was then living at ease, and saw not the solemn nature of the step he took. he now sits down and reviews the past:-- "what a mass of corruption have i been! how great a portion of my life have i spent wholly without god in the world, given up to sense and the perishing things around me! naturally of a feeling and sentimental disposition, how much of my religion has been, and to this day is, tinged with these colors of earth! restrained from open vice by educational views and the fear of man, how much ungodliness has reigned within me! how often has it broken through all restraints, and come out in the shape of lust and anger, mad ambitions, and unhallowed words! though my vice was always refined, yet how subtile and how awfully prevalent it was! how complete a test was the sabbath--spent in weariness, as much of it as was given to god's service! how i polluted it by my hypocrisies, my self-conceits, my worldly thoughts, and worldly friends! how formally and unheedingly the bible was read,--how little was read,--so little that even now i have not read it all! how unboundedly was the wild impulse of the heart obeyed! how much more was the creature loved than the creator!--o great god, that didst suffer me to live whilst i so dishonored thee, thou knowest the whole; and it was thy hand alone that could awaken me from the death in which i was, and was contented to be. gladly would i have escaped from the shepherd that sought me as i strayed; but he took me up in his arms and carried me back; and yet he took me not for anything that was in me. i was no more fit for his service than the australian, and no more worthy to be called and chosen. yet why should i doubt? not that god is unwilling, not that he is unable--of both i am assured. but perhaps my old sins are too fearful, and my unbelief too glaring? nay; i come to christ, not _although_ i am a sinner, but just _because_ i am a sinner, even the chief." he then adds, "and though sentiment and constitutional enthusiasm may have a great effect on me, still i believe that my soul is in sincerity desirous and earnest about having all its concerns at rest with god and christ,--that his kingdom occupies the most part of all my thoughts, and even of my long-polluted affections. not unto me, not unto me, be the shadow of praise or of merit ascribed, but let all glory be given to thy most holy name! as surely as thou didst make the mouth with which i pray, so surely dost thou prompt every prayer of faith which i utter. thou hast made me all that i am, and given me all that i have." next day, after communicating, he writes: "i well remember when i was an enemy, and especially abhorred this ordinance as binding me down; but if i be bound to christ in heart, i shall not dread any bands that can draw me close to him." evening--"much peace. look back, my soul, and view the mind that belonged to thee but twelve months ago. my soul, thy place is in the dust!" "_may ._--thought with more comfort than usual of being a witness for jesus in a foreign land." "june .--walking with a. somerville by craigleith. conversing on missions. if i am to go to the heathen to speak of the unsearchable riches of christ, this one thing must be given me, to be out of the reach of the baneful influence of esteem or contempt. if worldly motives go with me, i shall never convert a soul, and shall lose my own in the labor." "_june ._--variety of studies. septuagint translation of exodus and vulgate. bought edwards' works. drawing--truly there was nothing in me that should have induced him to choose me. i was but as the other brands upon whom the fire is already kindled, which shall burn for evermore! and as soon could the billet leap from the hearth and become a green tree, as my soul could have sprung to newness of life." _june ._--in reference to the office of the holy ministry; "how apt are we to lose our hours in the vainest babblings, as do the world! how can this be with those chosen for the mighty office? fellow-workers with god? heralds of his son? evangelists? men set apart to the work, chosen out of the chosen, as it were the very pick of the flocks, who are to shine as the stars forever and ever? alas, alas! my soul, where shall thou appear? o lord god, i am a little child! but thou wilt send an angel with a live coal from off the altar, and touch my unclean lips, and put a tongue within my dry mouth, so that i shall say with isaiah, 'here am i, send me.'" then, after reading a little of edwards' works: "oh that heart and understanding may grow together, like brother and sister, leaning on one another!" "_june ._--life of david brainerd. most wonderful man! what conflicts, what depressions, desertions, strength, advancement, victories, within thy torn bosom! i cannot express what i think when i think of thee. to-night, more set upon missionary enterprise than ever." "_june ._--oh for brainerd's humility and sin-loathing dispositions!" "_june ._--much carelessness, sin, and sorrow. 'oh wretched man than i am, who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death?' enter thou, my soul, into the rock, and hide thee in the dust for fear of the lord and the glory of his majesty." and then he writes a few verses, of which the following are some stanzas:-- i will arise and seek my god, and, bowed down beneath my load, lay all my sins before him; then he will wash my soul from sin, and put a new heart me within, and teach me to adore him. o ye that fain would find the joy-- the only one that wants alloy-- which never is deceiving; come to the well of life with me, and drink, as it is proffered, free, the gospel draught receiving. i come to christ, because i know the very worst are called to go; and when in faith i find him, i'll walk in him, and lean on him, because i cannot move a limb until he say, "unbind him." "_july ._--this last bitter root of worldliness that has so often betrayed me has this night so grossly, that i cannot but regard it as god's chosen way to make me loathe and forsake it forever. i would vow; but it is much more like a weakly worm to pray. sit in the dust, o my soul!" i believe he was enabled to keep his resolution. once only, in the end of this year, was he again led back to gaiety; but it was the last time. "_july _, saturday.--after finishing my usual studies, tried to fast a little, with much prayer and earnest seeking of god's face, remembering what occurred this night last year." (alluding to his brother's death.) "_july ._--had this evening a more complete understanding of that self-emptying and abasement with which it is necessary to come to christ,--a denying of self, trampling it under foot,--a recognizing of the complete righteousness and justice of god, that could do nothing else with us but condemn us utterly, and thrust us down to lowest hell,--a feeling that, even in hell, we _should_ rejoice in his sovereignty, and say that all was rightly done." "_aug. ._--little done, and as little suffered. awfully important question, am i redeeming the time?" "_aug. ._--heard of the death of james somerville[ ] by fever, induced by cholera. o god, thy ways and thoughts are not as ours! he had preached his first sermon. i saw him last on friday, th july, at the college gate; shook hands, and little thought i was to see him no more on earth." [ ] son of the minister of drumelzier,--very promising and very amiable. "_sept. _, sabbath evening.--reading. too much engrossed, and too little devotional. preparation for a fall. warning. we may be too engrossed with the shell even of heavenly things." "_sept. ._--oh for true, unfeigned humility! i know i have cause to be humble; and yet i do not know one-half of that cause. i know i am proud; and yet i do not know the half of that pride." "_sept. ._--somewhat straitened by loose sabbath observance. best way is to be explicit and manly." "_nov. ._--more abundant longings for the work of the ministry. oh that christ would but count me faithful, that a dispensation of the gospel might be committed to me!" and then he adds, "much peace. _peaceful, because believing_." _dec. ._--hitherto he used to spend much of the sabbath evening in extending his notes of mr. bruce's sermons, but now, "determined to be brief with these, for the sake of a more practical, meditative, resting, sabbatical evening." "_dec. ._--mind quite unfitted for devotion. prayerless prayer." "_dec. ._--god has in this past year introduced me to the preparation of the ministry,--i bless him for that. he has helped me to give up much of my shame to name his name, and be on his side, especially before particular friends,--i bless him for that. he has taken conclusively away friends that might have been a snare,--must have been a stumbling-block,--i bless him for that. he has introduced me to one christian friend, and sealed more and more my amity with another,--i bless him for that." _jan. _, .--on this day it had been the custom of his brother david to write a "carmen natale" on their father's birth-day. robert took up the domestic song this year; and in doing so, makes some beautiful and tender allusions. ah! where is the harp that was strung to thy praise, so oft and so sweetly in happier days? when the tears that we shed were the tears of our joy, and the pleasures of home were unmixed with alloy? the harp is now mute--its last breathings are spoken-- and the cord, though 'twas threefold, is now, alas, broken! yet why should we murmur, short-sighted and vain, since death to that loved one was undying gain? ah, fools! shall we grieve that he left this poor scene, to dwell in the realms that are ever serene? through he sparkled the gem in our circle of love, he is even more prized in the circles above. and though sweetly he sung of his father on earth, when this day would inspire him with tenderest mirth, yet a holier tone to his harp is now given, _as he sings to his unborn father in heaven_. feb. .--writing to a medical friend of his brother william's, he says, "i remember long ago a remark you once made to william, which has somehow or other stuck in my head, viz. that medical men ought to make a distinct study of the bible, purely for the sake of administering conviction and consolation to their patients. i think you also said that you had actually begun with that view. such a determination, though formed in youth, is one which i trust riper years will not make you blush to own." "_feb. ._--somewhat overcome. let me see: there is a creeping defect here. humble purpose-like reading of the word omitted. what plant can be unwatered and not wither?" "_feb. ._--walk to corstorphine hill. exquisite clear view,--blue water, and brown fields, and green firs. many thoughts on the follies of my youth. how many, o lord, may they be? summed up in one--ungodliness!" "_feb. ._--am i as willing as ever to preach to the lost heathen?" "_march ._--biblical criticism. this must not supersede heart-work. how apt it is!" "_march ._--oh for activity, activity, activity!" "_march ._--to-day my second session (at the divinity hall) ends. i am now in the middle of my career. god hold me on with a steady pace!" "_march ._--the bull tosses in the net! how should the christian imitate the anxieties of the worldling!" _april ._--he heard of the death of one whom many friends had esteemed much and lamented deeply. this led him to touch the strings of his harp again, in a measure somewhat irregular, yet sad and sweet. "we all do fade as a leaf." she lived-- so dying-like and frail, that every bitter gale of winter seemed to blow only to lay her low! she lived to show how he, who stills the stormy sea, can overrule the winter's power, and keep alive the tiniest flower-- can bear the young lamb in his arms and shelter it from death's alarms. she died-- when spring, with brightest flowers, was fresh'ning all the bowers. the linnet sung her choicest lay, when her sweet voice was hush'd for aye the snowdrop rose above the ground when she beneath her pillow found, both cold, and white, and fair,-- she, fairest of the fair, she died to teach us all the loveliest must fall. a curse is written on the brow of beauty; and the lover's vow cannot retain the flitting breath, nor save from all-devouring death. she lives-- the spirit left the earth; and he who gave her birth has called her to his dread abode, to meet her saviour and her god. she lives, to tell how blest is the everlasting rest of those who, in the lamb's blood laved, are chosen, sanctified, and saved! how fearful is their doom who drop into the tomb without a covert from the ire of him who is consuming fire! she shall live-- the grave shall yield his prize, when, from the rending skies, christ shall with shouting angels come to wake the slumberers of the tomb. and many more shall rise before our longing eyes. oh! may we all together meet, embracing the redeemer's feet! "_may ._--general assembly. the motion regarding chapels of ease lost by to . every shock of the ram is heavier and stronger, till all shall give way." "_june ._--evening almost lost. music will not sanctify, though it make feminine the heart." "_june ._--omissions make way for commissions. could i but take effective warning! a world's wealth would not make up for that saying, 'if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father.' but how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?" "_june ._--self-examination. why is a missionary life so often an object of my thoughts? is it simply for the love i bear to souls? then, why do i not show it more where i am? souls are as precious here as in burmah. does the romance of the business not weigh anything with me?--the interest and esteem i would carry with me?--the nice journals and letters i should write and receive? why would i so much rather go to the east than to the west indies? am i wholly deceiving my own heart? and have i not a spark of true missionary zeal? lord, give me to understand and imitate the spirit of those unearthly words of thy dear son: 'it is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord.' 'he that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me.' _gloria in excelsis deo!_ "_aug. ._--clear conviction of sin is the only true origin of dependence on another's righteousness, and therefore (strange to say!) of the christian's peace of mind and cheerfulness." "_sept. ._--reading _adams' private thoughts_. oh for his heart-searching humility! ah me! on what mountains of pride must i be wandering, when all i do is tinctured with the very sins this man so deplores; yet where are my wailings, where my tears, over my love of praise?" "_nov. ._--composition--a pleasant kind of labor. i fear the love of applause or effect goes a great way. may god keep me from preaching myself instead of christ crucified." "_jan. _, .--heard of the death of j.s., off the cape of good hope. o god! how thou breakest into families! must not the disease be dangerous, when a tender-hearted surgeon cuts deep into the flesh? how much more when god is the operator, 'who afflicteth not _from his heart_ [[hebrew: meilivo]], nor grieveth the children of men!' lam. : ." "_feb. _, sabbath.--rose early to seek god, and found him whom my soul loveth. who would not rise early to meet such company? the rains are over and gone. they that sow in tears shall reap in joy." _feb. ._--he writes a letter to one who, he feared, was only sentimental, and not really under a sense of sin. "is it possible, think you, for a person to be conceited of his miseries? may there not be a deep leaven of pride in telling how desolate and how unfeeling we are?--in brooding over our unearthly pains?--in our being excluded from the unsympathetic world?--in our being the invalids of christ's hospital?" he had himself been taught by the spirit that it is more humbling for us to _take what grace offers_, than to bewail our wants and worthlessness. two days after, he records, with thankful astonishment, that for the first time in his life he had been blest to awaken a soul. all who find christ for themselves are impelled, by the holy necessity of constraining love, to seek the salvation of others. andrew findeth his brother peter, and philip findeth his friend nathanael. so was it in the case before us. he no sooner knew christ's righteousness as his own covering, than he longed to see others clothed in the same spotless robe. and it is peculiarly interesting to read the feelings of one who was yet to be blest in plucking so many brands from the fire, when, for the first time, he saw the lord graciously employing him in this more than angelic work. we have his own testimony. "_feb. ._--after sermon. the precious tidings that a soul has been melted down by the grace of the saviour. how blessed an answer to prayer, if it be really so! 'can these dry bones live? lord, thou knowest.' what a blessed thing it is to see the first grievings of the awakened spirit, when it cries, 'i cannot see myself a sinner; i cannot pray, for my vile heart wanders!' it has refreshed me more than a thousand sermons. i know not how to thank and admire god sufficiently for this incipient work. lord, perfect that which thou hast begun!" a few days after: "lord, i thank thee that thou hast shown me this marvellous working, though i was but an adoring spectator rather than an instrument." it is scarcely less interesting, in the case of one so gifted for the work of visiting the careless, and so singularly skilled in ministering the word by the bedside of the dying, to find a record of the occasion when the lord led him forth to take his first survey of this field of labor. there existed at that time, among some of the students attending the divinity hall, a society, the sole object of which was to stir up each other to set apart an hour or two every week for visiting the careless and needy in the most neglected portions of the town. our rule was, not to subtract anything from our times of study, but to devote to this work an occasional hour in the intervals between different classes, or an hour that might otherwise have been given to recreation. all of us felt the work to be trying to the flesh at the outset; but none ever repented of persevering in it. one saturday forenoon, at the close of the usual prayer-meeting, which met in dr. chalmers' vestry, we went up together to a district in the castle hill. it was robert's first near view of the heathenism of his native city, and the effect was enduring. "_march ._--accompanied a.b. in one of his rounds through some of the most miserable habitations i ever beheld. such scenes i never before dreamed of. ah! why am i such a stranger to the poor of my native town? i have passed their doors thousands of times; i have admired the huge black piles of building, with their lofty chimneys breaking the sun's rays,--why have i never ventured within? how dwelleth the love of god in me? how cordial is the welcome even of the poorest and most loathsome to the voice of christian sympathy! what imbedded masses of human beings are huddled together, unvisited by friend or minister! 'no man careth for our souls' is written over every forehead. awake, my soul! why should i give hours and days any longer to the vain world, when there is such a world of misery at my very door? lord, put thine own strength in me; confirm every good resolution; forgive my past long life of uselessness and folly." he forthwith became one of the society's most steady members, cultivating a district in the canongate, teaching a sabbath school, and distributing the monthly visitor, along with mr. somerville. his experience there was fitted to give him insight into the sinner's depravity in all its forms. his first visit in his district is thus noticed: "_march ._--visited two families with tolerable success. god grant a blessing may go with us! began in fear and weakness, and in much trembling. may the power be of god." soon after, he narrates the following scene:--"entered the house of ----. heard her swearing as i came up the stair. found her storming at three little grandchildren, whom her daughter had left with her. she is a seared, hard-hearted wretch. read ezekiel . interrupted by the entrance of her second daughter, furiously demanding her marriage lines. became more discreet. promised to come back--never came. her father-in-law entered, a hideous spectacle of an aged drunkard, demanding money. left the house with warnings." another case he particularly mentions of a sick woman, who, though careless before, suddenly seemed to float into a sea of joy, without being able to give any scriptural account of the change. she continued, i believe, to her death in this state; but he feared it was a subtile delusion of satan as an angel of light. one soul, however, was, to all appearance, brought truly to the rock of ages during his and his friend's prayerful visitations. these were first-fruits. he continues his diary, though often considerable intervals occur in the register of his spiritual state. "_may ._--how kindly has god thwarted me in every instance where i sought to en lave myself! i will learn at least to glory in disappointments." "_may ._--at the communion. felt less use for the minister than ever. let the master of the feast alone speak to my heart." he felt at such times, as many of the lord's people have always done, that it is not the addresses of the ministers in serving the table, but the _supper itself_, that ought to "satiate their souls with fatness." _may ._--it is affecting to us to read the following entry:--"this day i attained my twenty-first year. oh! how long and how worthlessly i have lived, thou only knowest. _neff_ died in his thirty-first year; when shall i?"[ ] [ ] it is worthy of notice how often the lord has done much work by a few years of holy labor. in our church, g. gillespie and j. durham died at thirty-six; hugh binning at twenty-six; andrew gray when scarcely at twenty-two. of our witnesses, patrick hamilton was cut off at twenty-four, and hugh m'kail at twenty-six. in other churches we might mention many, such as john janeway at twenty-three, david brainerd at thirty, and henry martyn at thirty-two. theirs was a short life, filled up with usefulness, and crowned with glory. oh to be as they! _may ._--he this day wrote very faithfully, yet very kindly, to one who seemed to him not a believer, and who nevertheless appropriated to herself the _promises_ of god. "if you are wholly unassured of your being a believer, is it not a contradiction in terms to say, that you are sure the believers' promises belong to you? are you _an assured believer_? if so, rejoice in your heirship; and yet rejoice with trembling; for that is the very character of god's heirs. but are you _unassured_--nay, _wholly unassured_? then what mad presumption to say to your soul, that these promises, being in the bible, must belong indiscriminately to all! it is too gross a contradiction for you to compass, except in word." he then shows that _christ's free offer_ must be accepted by the sinner, and so the _promises_ become his. "this sinner complies with the call or offer, 'come unto me;' and thereafter, but not before, can claim the annexed _promise_ as his: 'i will give thee rest.'" "_aug. ._--partial fast, and seeking god's face by prayer. this day thirty years, my late dear brother was born. oh for more love, and then will come more peace!" that same evening he wrote the hymn, "_the barren fig-tree_." "_oct. ._--private meditation exchanged for conversation. here is the root of the evil,--forsake god, and he forsakes us." some evening this month he had been reading _baxter's call to the unconverted_. deeply impressed with the affectionate and awfully solemn urgency of the man of god, he wrote-- though baxter's lips have long in silence hung, and death long hush'd that sinner-wakening tongue, yet still, though dead, he speaks aloud to all, and from the grave still issues forth his "call:" like some loud angel-voice from zion hill, the mighty echo rolls and rumbles still. oh grant that we, when sleeping in the dust, may thus speak forth the wisdom of the just! mr. m'cheyne was peculiarly subject to attacks of fever, and by one of these was he laid down on a sick-bed on november th. however, this attack was of short duration. on the st he writes: "bless the lord, o my soul, and forget not all his benefits. learned more and more of the value of _jehovah tzidkenu_." he had, three days before, written his well-known hymn, "_i once was a stranger_," etc., entitled _jehovah tzidkenu, the watchword of the reformers_. it was the fruit of a slight illness which had tried his soul, by setting it more immediately in view of the judgment-seat of christ; and the hymn which he so sweetly sung reveals the sure and solid confidence of his soul. in reference to that same illness, he seems to have penned the following lines. november th:-- he tenderly binds up the broken in heart, the soul bowed down he will raise: for mourning, the ointment of joy will impart: for heaviness, garments of praise. ah, come, then, and sing to the praise of our god, who giveth and taketh away; who first by his kindness, and then by his rod, would teach us, poor sinners, to pray. for in the assembly of jesus' first-born, who anthems of gratitude raise, each heart has by great tribulation been torn, each voice turned from wailing to praise. "_nov. ._--heard of edward irving's death. i look back upon him with awe, as on the saints and martyrs of old. a holy man in spite of all his delusions and errors. he is now with his god and saviour, whom he wronged so much, yet, i am persuaded, loved so sincerely. how should we lean for wisdom, not on ourselves, but on the god of all grace!" "_nov. ._--if nothing else will do to sever me from my sins, lord send me such sore and trying calamities as shall awake me from earthly slumbers. it must always be best to be alive to thee, whatever be the quickening instrument. i tremble as i write, for oh! on every hand do i see too likely occasions for sore afflictions." "_feb._ , .--to-morrow i undergo my trials before the presbytery. may god give me courage in the hour of need. what should i fear? if god see meet to put me into the ministry, who shall keep me back? if i be not meet, why should i be thrust forward? to thy service i desire to dedicate myself over and over again." "_march ._--bodily service. what change is there in the heart! wild, earthly affections there are here; strong, coarse passions; bands both of iron and silk. but i thank thee, o my god, that they make me cry, 'oh wretched man!' bodily weakness, too, depresses me." "_march ._--college finished on friday last. my last appearance there. life itself is vanishing fast. make haste for eternity." in such records as these, we read god's dealings with his soul up to the time when he was licensed to preach the gospel. his preparatory discipline, both of heart and of intellect, had been directed by the great head of the church in a way that remarkably qualified him for the work he was to perform in the vineyard. his soul was prepared for the awful work of the ministry by much prayer, and much study of the word of god; by affliction in his person; by inward trials and sore temptations; by experience of the depth of corruption in his own heart, and by discoveries of the saviour's fulness of grace. he learned experimentally to ask, "who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that jesus is the son of god!" i john : . during the four years that followed his awakening, he was oftentimes under the many waters, but was ever raised again by the same divine hand that had drawn him out at the first; till at length, though still often violently tossed, the vessel was able steadily to keep the summit of the wave. it appears that he learned the way of salvation experimentally, ere he knew it accurately by theory and system; and thus no doubt it was that his whole ministry was little else than a giving out of his own inward life. the visiting society noticed above was much blessed to the culture of his soul, and not less so the missionary association and the prayer meeting connected with it. none were more regular at the hour of prayer than he, and none more frequently led up our praises to the throne. he was for some time secretary to the association, and interested himself deeply in details of missionary labors. indeed, to the last day of his life, his thoughts often turned to foreign lands; and one of the last notes he wrote was to the secretary of the association in edinburgh, expressing his unabated interest in their prosperity. during the first years of his college course, his studies did not absorb his whole attention; but no sooner was the change on his soul begun, than his studies shared in the results. a deeper sense of responsibility led him to occupy his talents for the service of him who bestowed them. there have been few who, along with a devotedness of spirit that sought to be ever directly engaged in the lord's work, have nevertheless retained such continued and undecaying esteem for the advantages of study. while attending the usual literary and philosophical classes, he found time to turn his attention to geology and natural history. and often in his days of most successful preaching, when, next to his own soul, his parish and his flock were his only care, he has been known to express a regret that he had not laid up in former days more stores of all useful knowledge; for he found himself able to use the jewels of the egyptians in the service of christ. his previous studies would sometimes flash into his mind some happy illustration of divine truth, at the very moment when he was most solemnly applying the glorious gospel to the most ignorant and vile. his own words will best show his estimate of study, and at the same time the prayerful manner in which he felt it should be carried on. "do get on with your studies," he wrote to a young student in . "remember you are now forming the character of your future ministry in great measure, if god spare you. if you acquire slovenly or sleepy habits of study now, you will never get the better of it. do everything in its own time. do everything in earnest; if it is worth doing, then do it with all your might. above all, keep much in the presence of god. never see the face of man till you have seen his face who is our life, our all. pray for others; pray for your teachers, fellow-students," etc. to another he wrote: "beware of the atmosphere of the classics. it is pernicious indeed; and you need much of the south wind breathing over the scriptures to counteract it. true, we ought to know them; but only as chemists handle poisons--to discover their qualities, not to infect their blood with them." and again: "pray that the holy spirit would not only make you a believing and holy lad, but make you wise in your studies also. a ray of divine light in the soul sometimes clears up a mathematical problem wonderfully. the smile of god calms the spirit, and the left hand of jesus holds up the fainting head, and his holy spirit quickens the affection, so that even natural studies go on a million times more easily and comfortably." before entering the divinity hall, he had attended a private class for the study of hebrew; and having afterwards attended the two sessions of dr. brunton's college class, he made much progress in that language. he could consult the hebrew original of the old testament with as much ease as most of our ministers are able to consult the greek of the new. it was about the time of his first year's attendance at the hall that i began to know him as an intimate friend. during the summer vacations,--that we might redeem the time,--some of us who remained in town, when most of our fellow-students were gone to the country, used to meet once every week in the forenoon, for the purpose of investigating some point of _systematic divinity_, and stating to each other the amount and result of our private reading. at another time we met in a similar way, till we had overtaken the chief points of the _popish controversy_. advancement in our acquaintance with the greek and hebrew scriptures also brought us together; and one summer the study of _unfulfilled prophecy_ assembled a few of us once a week, at an early morning hour, when, though our views differed much on particular points, we never failed to get food to our souls in the scriptures we explored. but no society of this kind was more useful and pleasant to us than one which, from its object, received the name of _exegetical_. it met during the session of the theological classes every saturday morning at half-past six. the study of biblical criticism, and whatever might cast light on the word of god, was our aim; and these meetings were kept up regularly during four sessions. mr. m'cheyne spoke of himself as indebted to this society for much of that discipline of mind on jewish literature and scripture geography which was found to be so useful in the mission of inquiry to the jews in after days.[ ] [ ] the members of this society were--rev. _william laughton_, now minister of st thomas's, greenock, in connection with the free church; _thomas brown,_ free church, kinneff; _william wilson_, free church, carmyllie; _horatius bonar_, free church, kelso; _andrew a. bonar_, free church, collace; _robert m. m'cheyne; alexander somerville_, free church, anderston, glasgow; _john thomson_, mariners' free church, leith; _robert k. hamilton_, madras; _john burne_, for some time at madeira; _patrick borrowman_, free church, glencairn; _walter wood_, free church, westruther; _henry moncrieff_, free church, kilbride; _james cochrane_, established church, cupar; _john miller_, secretary to free church special commission; _g. smeaton_, free church, auchterarder; _robert kinnear_, free church, moffat; and _w.b. clarke_, free church, half-morton. every meeting was opened and closed with prayer. minutes of the discussions were kept; and the essays read were preserved in volumes. a very characteristic essay of mr. m'cheyne's is "lebanon and its scenery" (inserted in the _remains_), wherein he adduces the evidence of travellers for facts and customs which he himself was afterwards to see. often, in , pleasant remembrances of these days of youthful study were suggested by what we actually witnessed; and in the essay referred to i find an interesting coincidence. he writes: "what a refreshing sight to his eye, yet undimmed with age, after resting forty years on the monotonous scenery of the desert, now to rest on zion's olive-clad hills, and lebanon, with its vine-clad base and overhanging forests, and towering peaks of snow!" this was the very impression on our minds when we ourselves came up from the wilderness as expressed in the _narrative_, chap. --"may . next morning we saw at a distance a range of hills, running north and south, called by the arabs _djebel khalie_. after wandering so many days in the wilderness, with its vast monotonous plains of level sand, the sight of these distant mountains was a pleasant relief to the eye; and we thought we could understand a little of the feeling with which moses, after being forty years in the desert, would pray, 'i pray thee let me go over,'" deut. : . but these helps in study were all the while no more than supplementary. the regular systematic studies of the hall furnished the main provision for his mental culture. under dr. chalmers for divinity, and under dr. welsh for church history, a course of four years afforded no ordinary advantages for enlarging the understanding. new fields of thought were daily opened up. his notes and his diary testify that he endeavored to retain what he heard, and that he used to read as much of the books recommended by the professors as his time enabled him to overtake. many years after, he thankfully called to mind lessons that had been taught in these classes. riding one day with mr. hamilton (now of regent square, london) from abernyte to dundee, they were led to speak of the best mode of dividing a sermon. "i used," said he, "to despise dr. welsh's rules at the time i heard him; but now i feel i _must use_ them, for nothing is more needful for making a sermon memorable and impressive than a logical arrangement." his intellectual powers were of a high order: clear and distinct apprehension of his subject, and felicitous illustration, characterized him among all his companions. to an eager desire for wide acquaintance with truth in all its departments, and a memory strong and accurate in retaining what he found, there was added a remarkable candor in examining what claimed to be the truth. he had also an ingenious and enterprising mind--a mind that could carry out what was suggested, when it did not strike out new light for itself. he possessed great powers of analysis; often his judgment discovered singular discrimination. his imagination seldom sought out object of grandeur; for, as a friend has truly said of him, "he had a kind and quiet eye, which found out the living and beautiful in nature, rather than the majestic and sublime." he might have risen to high eminence in the circles of taste and literature, but denied himself all such hopes, that he might win souls. with such peculiar talents as he possessed, his ministry might have, in any circumstances, attracted many; but these attractions were all made subsidiary to the single desire of awakening the dead in trespasses and sins. nor would he have expected to be blessed to the salvation of souls unless he had himself been a monument of sovereign grace. in his esteem, "_to be in christ before being in the ministry_" was a thing indispensable. he often pointed to those solemn words of jeremiah ( : ): "_i have not sent these prophets, yet they ran; i have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. but if they had stood in my counsel, and caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings._" it was with faith already in his heart that he went forward to the holy office of the ministry, receiving from his lord the rod by which he was to do signs, and which, when it had opened rocks and made waters gush out, he never failed to replace upon the ark whence it was taken, giving glory to god! he knew not the way by which god was leading him; but even then he was under the guidance of the pillar-cloud. at this very period he wrote that hymn, _they sing the song of moses_. his course was then about to begin; but now that it has ended, we can look back and plainly see that the faith he therein expressed was not in vain. chapter ii his labors in the vineyard before ordination. "_he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him._"--ps. : . while he was still only undergoing a student's usual examinations before the presbytery, in the spring and summer of , several applications were made to him by ministers in the church, who desired to secure his services for their part of the vineyard. he was especially urged to consider the field of labor at larbert and dunipace, near stirling, under mr. john bonar, the pastor of these united parishes. this circumstance led him (as is often done in such cases) to ask the presbytery of edinburgh, under whose superintendence he had hitherto carried on his studies, to transfer the remainder of his public trials to another presbytery, where there would be less press of business to occasion delay. this request being readily granted, his connection with dumfriesshire led him to the presbytery of annan, who licensed him to preach the gospel on st july . his feelings at the moment appear from a record of his own in the evening of the day: "preached three probationary discourses in annan church, and, after an examination in hebrew, was solemnly licensed to preach the gospel by mr. monylaws, the moderator. 'bless the lord, o my soul; and all that is within me, be stirred up to praise and magnify his holy name!' what i have so long desired as the highest honor of man, thou at length givest me--me who dare scarcely use the words of paul: 'unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that i should preach the unsearchable riches of christ.' felt somewhat solemnized, though unable to feel my unworthiness as i ought. be clothed with humility." an event occurred the week before which cast a solemnizing influence on him, and on his after fellow-traveller and brother in the gospel, who was licensed by another presbytery that same day. this event was the lamented death of the rev. john brown patterson of falkirk--one whom the lord had gifted with preeminent eloquence and learning, and who was using all for his lord, when cut off by fever. he had spoken much before his death of the awfulness of a pastor's charge, and his early death sent home the lesson to many, with the warning that the pastor's account of souls might be suddenly required of him. on the following sabbath, mr. m'cheyne preached for the first time in ruthwell church, near dumfries, on "the pool of bethesda;" and in the afternoon on "the strait gate." he writes that evening in his diary: "found it a more awfully solemn thing than i had imagined to announce christ authoritatively; yet a glorious privilege!" the week after (saturday, july ): "lord, put me into thy service when and where thou pleasest. in thy hand all my qualities will be put to their appropriate end. let me, then, have no anxieties." next day, also, after preaching in st. john's church, leith: "remembered, before going into the pulpit, the confession which says,[ ] 'we have been more anxious about the messenger than the message.'" in preaching that day, he states, "it came across me in the pulpit, that if spared to be a minster, i might enjoy sweet flashes of communion with god in that situation. the mind is entirely wrought up to speak for god. it is possible, then, that more vivid acts of faith may be gone through then, than in quieter and sleepier moments." [ ] he here refers to the _full and candid acknowledgment of sin_, for students and ministers, drawn up by the commission of assembly in , and often reprinted since. it was not till the th of november that he began his labors at larbert. in the interval he preached in various places, and many began to perceive the peculiar sweetness of the word in his lips. in accepting the invitation to labor in the sphere proposed, he wrote: "it has always been my aim, and it is my prayer, to have _no plans_ with regard to myself, well assured as i am, that the place where the saviour sees meet to place me must ever be the best place for me." the parish to which he had come was very large, containing six thousand souls. the parish church is at larbert; but through the exertions of mr. bonar, many years ago, a second church was erected for the people of dunipace. mr. hanna, afterwards minister of skirling, had preceded m'cheyne in the duties of assistant in his field of labor; and mr. m'cheyne now entered on it with a fully devoted and zealous heart, although in a weak state of health. as assistant, it was his part to preach every alternate sabbath at larbert and dunipace, and during the week to visit among the population of both these districts, according as he felt himself enabled in body and soul. there was a marked difference between the two districts in their general features of character; but equal labor was bestowed on both by the minister and his assistant; and often did their prayer ascend that the windows of heaven might be opened over the two sanctuaries. souls have been saved there. often, however, did the faithful pastor mingle his tears with those of his younger fellow-soldier, complaining, "lord, who hath believed our report?" there was much sowing in faith; nor was this sowing abandoned even when the returns seemed most inadequate. mr. m'cheyne had great delight in remembering that larbert was one of the places where, in other days, that holy man of god, robert bruce, had labored and prayed. writing at an after period from the holy land, he expressed the wish, "may the spirit be poured upon larbert as in bruce's days." but more than all associations, the souls of the people, whose salvation he longed for, were ever present to his mind. a letter to mr. bonar, in , from dundee, shows us his yearnings over them. "what an interest i feel in larbert and dunipace! it is like the land of my birth. will the sun of righteousness ever rise upon it, making its hills and valleys bright with the light of the knowledge of jesus?" no sooner was he settled in his chamber here, than he commenced his work. with him, the commencement of all labor invariably consisted in the preparation of his own soul. the forerunner of each day's visitations was a calm season of private devotion during morning hours. the walls of his chamber were witnesses of his prayerfulness,--i believe of his tears as well as of his cries. the pleasant sound of psalms often issued from his room at an early hour. then followed the reading of the word for his own sanctification; and few have so fully realized the blessing of the first psalm. his leaf did not wither, for his roots were in the waters. it was here, too, that he began to study so closely the works of jonathan edwards,--reckoning them a mine to be wrought, and if wrought, sure to repay the toil. along with this author, the _letters of samuel rutherford_ were often in his hand. books of general knowledge he occasionally perused; but now it was done with the steady purpose of finding in them some illustration of spiritual truth. he rose from reading _insect architecture_, with the observation, "god reigns in a community of ants and ichneumons, as visibly as among living men or mighty seraphim!" his desire to grow in acquaintance with scripture was very intense; and both old and new testament were his regular study. he loved to range over the wide revelation of god. "he would be a sorry student of this world," said he to a friend, "who should forever confine his gaze to the fruitful fields and well-watered gardens of this cultivated earth. he could have no true idea of what the world was, unless he had stood upon the rocks of our mountains, and seen the bleak muirs and mosses of our barren land; unless he had paced the quarter-deck when the vessel was out of sight of land, and seen the waste of waters without any shore upon the horizon. just so, he would be a sorry student of the bible who would not know all that god has inspired; who would not examine into the most barren chapters to collect the good for which they were intended; who would not strive to understand all the bloody battles which are chronicled, that he might find 'bread out of the eater, and honey out of the lion.'"--(june .) his anxiety to have every possible help to holiness led him to notice what are the disadvantages of those who are not daily stirred up by the fellowship of more advanced believers. "i have found, by some experience, that in the country here my watch does not go so well as it used to do in town. by small and gradual changes i find it either gains or loses, and i am surprised to find myself different in time from all the world, and, what is worse, from the sun. the simple explanation is, that in town i met with a steeple in every street, and a good-going clock upon it; and so any aberrations in my watch were soon noticed and easily corrected. and just so i sometimes think it may be with that inner watch, whose hands point not to time but to eternity. by gradual and slow changes the wheels of my soul lag behind, or the springs of passions become too powerful; and i have no living timepiece with which i may compare, and by which i may amend my going. you will say that i may always have the sun: and so it should be; but we have many clouds which obscure the sun from our weak eyes."--(_letter to rev. h. bonar, kelso._) from the first he fed others by what he himself was feeding upon. his preaching was in a manner the development of his soul's experience. it was a giving out of the inward life. he loved to come up from the pastures wherein the chief shepherd had met him--to lead the flock entrusted to his care to the spots where he found nourishment. in the field of his labor he found enough of work to overwhelm his spirit. the several collieries and the carron ironworks furnish a population who are, for the most part, either sunk in deep indifference to the truth, or are opposed to it in the spirit of infidelity. mr. m'cheyne at once saw that the pastor whom he had come to aid, whatever was the measure of his health, and zeal, and perseverance, had duties laid on him which were altogether beyond the power of man to overtake. when he made a few weeks' trial, the field appeared more boundless, and the mass of souls more impenetrable, than he had ever conceived. it was probably, in some degree, his experience at this time that gave him such deep sympathy with the church extension scheme, as a truly noble and christian effort for bringing the glad tidings to the doors of a population who must otherwise remain neglected, and were themselves willing so to live and die. he conveyed his impressions on this subject to a friend abroad, in the following terms: "there is a soul-destroying cruelty in the cold-hearted opposition which is made to the multiplication of ministers in such neglected and overgrown districts as these. if one of our royal commissioners would but consent to undergo the bodily fatigue that a minister ought to undergo in visiting merely the sick and dying of larbert (let alone the visitation of the whole, and preparation for the pulpit), and that for one month, i would engage that if he be able to rise out of his bed by the end of it, he would change his voice and manner at the commission board." a few busy weeks passed over, occupied from morning to night in such cares and toils, when another part of the discipline he was to undergo was sent. in the end of december, strong oppression of the heart and an irritating cough caused some of his friends to fear that his lungs were affected; and for some weeks he was laid aside from public duty. on examination, it was found that though there was a dulness in the right lung, yet the material of the lungs was not affected. for a time, however, the air-vessels were so clogged and irritated, that if he had continued to preach, disease would have quickly ensued. but this also was soon removed, and, under cautious management, he resumed his work. this temporary illness served to call forth this extreme sensitiveness of his soul to the responsibilities of his office. at its commencement--having gone to edinburgh "in so sweet a sunshine morning that god seemed to have chosen it for him"--he wrote to mr. bonar: "if i am not recovered before the third sabbath, i fear i shall not be able to bear upon my conscience the responsibility of leaving you any longer to labor alone, bearing unaided the burden of , souls. no, my dear sir, i must read the will of god aright in his providence, and give way, when he bids me, to fresh and abler workmen. i hope and pray that it may be his will to restore me again to you and your parish, with a heart tutored by sickness, to speak more and more as dying to dying." then, mentioning two of the sick: "poor a.d. and c.h., i often think of them. i can do no more for their good, except pray for them. tell them that i do this without ceasing." the days when a holy pastor, who knows the blood-sprinkled way to the father, is laid aside, are probably as much a proof of the kindness of god to his flock as days of health and activity. he is occupied, during this season of retirement, in discovering the plagues of his heart, and in going in, like moses, to plead with god face to face for his flock, and for his own soul. mr. m'cheyne believed that god had this end in view with him; and that the lord should thus deal with him at his entrance into the vineyard made him ponder these dealings the more. "paul asked," says he, "'what wilt thou have me _to do_?' and it was answered, 'i will show him what great things he must _suffer_ for my name's sake.' thus it may be with me. i have been too anxious to do great things. the lust of praise has ever been my besetting sin; and what more befitting school could be found for me than that of suffering alone, away from the eye and ear of man?" writing again to mr. bonar, he tells him: "i feel distinctly that the whole of my labor during this season of sickness and pain should be in the way of prayer and _intercession_. and yet, so strongly does satan work in our deceitful hearts, i scarcely remember a season wherein i have been more averse to these duties. i try to build myself up in my most holy faith, praying in the holy ghost, keeping myself in the love of god, and looking for the mercy of the lord jesus unto eternal life.' that text of jude has peculiar beauties for me at this season. if it be good to come under the love of god once, surely it is good to keep ourselves there. and yet how reluctant we are! i cannot doubt that boldness is offered me to enter into the holiest of all; i cannot doubt my right and title to enter continually by the new and bloody way; i cannot doubt that when i do enter in, i stand not only forgiven, but accepted in the beloved; i cannot doubt that when i do enter in, the spirit is willing and ready to descend like a dove, to dwell in my bosom as a spirit of prayer and peace, enabling me to 'pray in the holy ghost;' and that jesus is ready to rise up as my intercessor with the father, praying for me though not for the world; and that the prayer-hearing god is ready to bend his ear to requests which he delights to hear and answer. i cannot doubt that thus to dwell in god is the true blessedness of my nature; and yet, strange unaccountable creature! i am too often unwilling to enter in. i go about and about the sanctuary, and i sometimes press in through the rent veil, and see the blessedness of dwelling there to be far better than that of the tents of wickedness; yet it is certain that i do not dwell within."--"my prayers follow you, especially to the sick-beds of a.d. and c.h. i hope they still survive, and that christ may yet be glorified in them." on resuming his labors, he found a residence in carronvale. from this pleasant spot he used to ride out to his work. but pleasant as the spot was, yet being only partially recovered, he was not satisfied; he lamented that he was unable to overtake what a stronger laborer would have accomplished. he often cast a regretful look at the collieries; and remembering them still at a later period, he reproached himself with neglect, though most unjustly. "the places which i left utterly unbroken in upon are kinnaird and milton. both of these rise up against my conscience, particularly the last, through which i have ridden so often." it was not the comfort, but the positive usefulness of the ministry, that he envied; and he judged of places by their fitness to promote this great end. he said of a neighboring parish, which he had occasion to visit: "the manse is altogether too sweet; other men could hardly live there without saying, 'this is my rest.' i don't think ministers' manses should ever be so beautiful." a simple incident was overruled to promote the ease and fluency of his pulpit ministrations. from the very beginning of his ministry he reprobated the custom of reading sermons, believing that to do so does exceedingly weaken the freedom and natural fervor of the messenger in delivering his message. neither did he recite what he had written. but his custom was to impress on his memory the substance of what he had beforehand carefully written, and then to speak as he found liberty. one morning, as he rode rapidly along to dunipace, his written sermons were dropped on the wayside. this accident prevented him having the opportunity of preparing in his usual manner; but he was enabled to preach with more than usual freedom. for the first time in his life, he discovered that he possessed the gift of extemporaneous composition, and learned, to his own surprise, that he had more composedness of mind and command of language than he had believed. this discovery, however, did not in the least degree diminish his diligent preparation. indeed, the only use that he made of the incident at the time it occurred was, to draw a lesson of dependence on god's own immediate blessing rather than on the satisfactory preparation made. "one thing always fills the cup of my consolation, that god may work by the meanest and poorest words, as well as by the most polished and ornate,--yea, perhaps more readily, that the glory may be all his own." his hands were again full, distributing the bread of life in fellowship with mr. bonar. the progress of his own soul, meanwhile, may be traced in some of the few entries that occur in his diary during this period:-- "_feb. , _, sabbath.--blessed be the lord for another day of the son of man. resumed my diary, long broken off; not because i do not feel the disadvantages of it,--making you assume feelings and express rather what you wish to be than what you are,--but because the advantages seem greater. it ensures sober reflection on the events of the day as seen in god's eye. preached twice in larbert, on the righteousness of god, rom. : . in the morning was more engaged in preparing the head than the heart. this has been frequently my error, and i have always felt the evil of it, especially in prayer. reform it, then, o lord." "_feb. ._--preached in dunipace with more heart than ever i remember to have done, on rom. : , owing to the gospel nature of the subject and prayerful preparation. audience smaller than usual! how happy and strange is the feeling when god gives the soul composure to stand and plead for him! oh that it were altogether for him i plead, not for myself!" "_march ._--preached in larbert with very much comfort, owing chiefly to my remedying the error of st feb. therefore the heart and the mouth were full. 'enlarge my heart, and i shall run,' said david. 'enlarge my heart, and i shall preach.'" in this last remark we see the germ of his remarkably solemn ministry. his heart was filled, and his lips then spoke what he felt within his heart. he gave out not merely living water, but living water drawn at the springs that he had himself drank of; and is not this a true gospel ministry? some venture to try what they consider a more _intellectual_ method of addressing the conscience; but ere a minister attempts this mode, he ought to see that he is one who is able to afford more deep and anxious preparation of heart than other men. since the intellectual part of the discourse is not that which is most likely to be an arrow in the conscience, those pastors who are intellectual men must bestow tenfold more prayerfulness on their work, if they would have either their own or their people's souls affected under their word. if we are ever to preach with compassion for the perishing, we must ourselves be moved by those same views of sin and righteousness which moved the human soul of jesus. (see psalm and .) about this time he occasionally contributed papers to the _christian herald_: one of these was _on sudden conversions_, showing that scripture led us to expect such. during this month he seems to have written the _lines on mungo park_, one of the pieces which attracted the notice of professor wilson. but whatever he engaged in, his aim was to honor his master. i find him, after hearing sermon by another, remarking (_april _), "some things powerful; but i thirst to hear more of christ." on sabbath , he writes: "preached with some tenderness of heart. oh, why should i not weep, as jesus did over jerusalem? evening--instructing two delightful sabbath schools. much bodily weariness. gracious kindness of god in giving rest to the weary." "_april ._--went to stirling to hear dr. duff once more upon his system. with greater warmth and energy than ever. he kindles as he goes. felt almost constrained to go the whole length of his system with him. if it were only to raise up an audience, it would be defensible; but when it is to raise up teachers, it is more than defensible. i am now made willing, if god shall open the way, to go to india. here am i; send me!" the missionary feeling in his soul continued all his life. the lord had really made him willing; and this preparedness to go anywhere completed his preparation for unselfish, self-denied work at home. must there not be somewhat of this missionary tendency in all true ministers? is any one truly the lord's messenger who is not quite willing to go when and where the lord calls? is it justifiable in any to put aside a call from the north, on the ground that he _wishes_ one from the south? we must be found in the position of isaiah, if we are to be really sent of god. "_april ._--oh that this day's labor may be blessed! and not mine alone, but all thy faithful servants all over the world, till _thy sabbath_ come." "_april ._--visiting in carron-shore. well received everywhere. truly a pleasant labor. cheered me much. preached to them afterwards from proverbs ." "_may ._--communion in larbert. served as an elder and help to the faithful. partook with some glimpses of faith and joy. served by a faithful old minister (mr. dempster of denny), one taught of god. this morning stood by the dying--evening, stood by the dead, poor j.f. having died last night. i laid my hand on her cold forehead, and tried to shut her eyes. lord, give me strength for living to thee!--strength also for a dying hour." "_may ._--this day an annular eclipse of the sun. kept both the services together in order to be in time. truly a beautiful sight to see the shining edge of the sun all round the dark disc of the moon. lord, one day thy hand shall put out those candles; for there shall be no need of the sun to lighten the happy land: the lamb is the light thereof; a sun that cannot be eclipsed--that cannot go down." "_may ._--visited thirteen families, and addressed them all in the evening in the school, on jeremiah : , 'going and weeping.' experienced some enlargement of soul; said some plain things; and had some desire for their salvation, that god might be praised." "_may ._--preparation for the sabbath. my birth-day. i have lived twenty-three years. blessed be my rock. though i am a child in knowledge of my bible and of thee, yet use me for what a child can do, or a child can suffer. how few sufferings i have had in the year that is past, except in my own body. oh that as my day is my strength may be! give me strength for a suffering and for a dying hour!" "_may ._--o lord, when thou workest, all discouragements vanish; when thou art away, anything is a discouragement. blessed be god for such a day--one of a thousand! oh! why not always this? watch and pray." being in edinburgh this month, during the sitting of the general assembly, he used the opportunity of revisiting some of his former charge in the canongate. "j.s., a far-off inquirer, but surely god is leading. his hand draws out these tears. interesting visits to l., near death, and still in the same mind. i cannot but hope that some faith is here. saw mrs. m.; many tears: felt much, though i am still doubtful, and in the dark. thou knowest, lord!" "_june ._--yesterday up in dunipace. it would seem as if i were afraid to name the name of christ. saw many worldly people greatly needing a word in season, yet could not get up my heart to speak. what i did failed almost completely. i am not worthy, lord! to-day sought to prepare my heart for the coming sabbath. after the example of boston, whose life i have been reading, examined my heart with prayer and fasting. . does my heart really close with the offer of salvation by jesus? is it my choice to be saved in the way which gives him all the praise, and me none? do i not only see it to be the bible way of salvation, but does it cordially approve itself to my heart as delightful? lord search me and try me, for i cannot but answer, yes, yes. . is it the desire of my heart to be made altogether holy? is there any sin i wish to retain? is sin a grief to me, the sudden risings and overcomings thereof especially? lord, thou knowest all things--thou knowest that i hate all sin, and desire to be made altogether _like thee_. it is the sweetest word in the bible: 'sin _shall not_ have dominion over you.' oh, then, that i might lie low in the dust,--the lower the better,--that jesus' righteousness and jesus' strength alone be admired! felt much deadness, and much grief that i cannot grieve for this deadness. towards evening revived. got a calm spirit through psalmody and prayer." "_june _, sabbath.--to-day a sinner preached jesus, the same jesus who has done all things for him and that so lately! a day of much help, of some earnest looking-up of the heart to that alone quickening power, of much temptation to flattery and pride. oh for breathing gales of spiritual life! evening--somewhat helped to lay jesus before little children in his beauty and excellency. much fatigue, yet some peace. surely a day in thy courts is better than a thousand." "_june ._--day of visiting (rather a happy one) in carron-shore. large meeting in the evening. felt very happy after it, though mourning for _bitter speaking of the gospel_. surely it is a gentle message, and should be spoken with angelic tenderness, especially by such a needy sinner." of this bitterness in preaching, he had little indeed in after days; yet so sensible was he of its being quite natural to all of us, that oftentimes he made it the subject of conversation, and used to grieve over himself if he had spoken with anything less than solemn compassion. i remember on one occasion, when we met, he asked what my last sabbath's subject had been. it had been, "the wicked shall be turned into hell." on hearing this awful test, he asked, "were you able to preach it _with tenderness_?" certain it is that the tone of reproach and upbraiding is widely different from the voice of solemn warning. it is not saying hard things that pierces the consciences of our people; it is the voice of divine love heard amid the thunder. the sharpest point of the two-edged sword is not _death_, but _life_; and against self-righteous souls this latter ought to be more used than the former. for such souls can hear us tell of the open gates of hell and the unquenchable fire far more unconcernedly than of the gates of heaven wide open for their immediate return. when we preach that the glad tidings _were intended to impart immediate assurance of eternal life to every sinner that believes them_, we strike deeper upon the proud enmity of the world to god, then when we show the eternal curse and the second death. "_june _, sabbath.--wet morning. preached at dunipace to a small audience, on parable of the tares. i thank god for that blessed parable.--in both discourses i can look back on many hateful thoughts of pride, and self-admiration, and love of praise, stealing the heart out of the service." "_june ._--carron-shore. my last. some tears; yet i fear some like the messenger, not the message; and i fear i am so vain as to love that love. lord, let it not be so. perish _my_ honor, but let _thine_ be exalted forever." "_june ._--true sabbath-day. golden sky. full church, and more liveliness than sometimes. shall i call the liveliness of this day a gale of the spirit, or was all natural? i know that all was not of grace; the self-admiration, the vanity, the desire of honor, the bitterness--these were all breaths of earth or hell. but was there no grace? lord, thou knowest. i dare not wrong thee by saying--no! larbert sabbath school with the same liveliness and joy. domestic work with the same. praised be god! oh that the savor of it may last through the week! by this may i test if it be all of nature, or much of grace. alas! how i tremble for my monday mornings--those seasons of lifelessness. lord, bless the seeds sown this day in the hearts of my friends, by the hand of my friends, and all over the world--hasten the harvest!" "july .--after a week of working and hurried preparation, a sabbath of mingled peace and pain. called, morning before preaching, to see mrs. e., dying. preached on the jailor--discomposedly--with some glimpses of the genuine truth as it is in jesus. felt there was much mingling of experience. at times the congregation was lightened up from their dull flatness, and then they sunk again into lethargy. o lord, make me hang on thee to open their hearts, thou opener of lydia's heart. i fear thou wilt not bless my preaching, until i am brought thus to hang on thee. oh keep not back a blessing for my sin! afternoon--on the highway of the redeemed, with more ease and comfort. felt the truth sometimes boiling up from my heart into my words. some glimpses of tenderness, yet much less of that spirit than the last two sabbaths. again saw the dying woman. oh when will i plead, with my tears and inward yearnings, over sinners! oh, compassionate lord, give me to know what manner of spirit i am of! give me thy gentle spirit, that neither strives nor cries. much weariness, want of prayerfulness, and want of cleaving to christ." tuesday the th being the anniversary of his licence to preach the gospel, he writes: "eventful week; one year i have preached _jesus_, have i? or myself? i have often preached myself also, but jesus i have preached." about this time he again felt the hand of affliction, though it did not continue long. yet it was plain to him now that personal trouble was to be one of the ingredients of that experience which helped to give a peculiar tone to his ministry. "_july ._--since tuesday have been laid up with illness. set by once more for a season to feel my unprofitableness and cure my pride. when shall this self-choosing temper be healed? 'lord, i will preach, run, visit, wrestle,' said i. 'no, thou shalt lie in thy bed and suffer,' said the lord. to-day missed some fine opportunities of speaking a word for christ. the lord saw i would have spoken as much for my own honor as his, and therefore shut my mouth. _i see a man cannot be a faithful minister, until he preaches christ for christ's sake_--until he gives up striving to attract people to himself, and seeks only to attract them to christ. lord, give me this! to-night some glimpses of humbling, and therefore some wrestling in social prayer. but my prayers are scarcely to be called prayer." then, in the evening: "this day my brother has been five years absent from the body and present with the lord, and knows more and loves more than all earthly saints together. till the day break and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved!" "_july ._--i fear i am growing more earthly in some things. to-day i felt a difficulty in bringing in spiritual conversation immediately after preaching, when my bosom should be burning. excused myself from dining out from other than the grand reason; though checked and corrected myself. evening--insensibly slid into worldly conversation. let these things be corrected in me, o lord, by the heart being more filled with love to jesus, and more ejaculatory prayer." "_july _, sabbath.--oh that i may remember my own word this day: that the hour of communion is the hour for the foxes--the little foxes--to spoil the wine. two things that defile this day in looking back, are love of praise running through all, and consenting to listen to worldly talk at all. oh that these may keep me humble and be my burden, leading me to the cross. then, satan, thou wilt be outwitted!" "_july ._--died, this day, w. m'cheyne, my cousin-german, relief minister, kelso. oh how i repent of our vain controversies on establishments when we last met, and that we spoke so little of jesus! oh that we had spoken more one to another! lord, teach me to be always speaking as dying to dying." "_july ._--dunipace communion--heard mr. purves of jedburgh preach, 'therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.' the only way to come to ordinances, and to draw from the well, is to come with the matter of acceptance settled, believing god's anger to be turned away. truly a precious view of the freeness of the gospel very refreshing. my soul needs to be roused much to apprehend this truth." above (_july _) he spoke of "mingling experience with the genuine truth as it is in jesus." it is to this that he refers again in the last paragraph. his deep acquaintance with the human heart and passions often lead him to dwell at greater length, not only on those topics whereby the sinner might be brought to discover his guilt, but also on marks that would evidence a change, that on "the glad tidings." and yet he ever felt that these blessed tidings, addressed to souls in the very gall of bitterness, were the true theme of the minister of christ; and never did he preach other than a full salvation ready for the chief of sinners. from the very first, also, he carefully avoided the error of those who rather speculate or doctrinize about the gospel, than preach the gospel itself. is not the true idea of preaching that of one, like ahimaaz, coming with all-important tidings, and intent on making these tidings known? occupied with the facts he has to tell, he has no heart to speculate on mere abstractions; nay, he is apt to forget what language he employs, excepting so far as the very grandeur of the tidings gives a glow of eloquence to his words. the glorious fact, "_by this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins_," is the burden of every sermon. the crier is sent to the openings of the gate by his lord, to herald forth this one infinitely important truth through the whole creation under heaven. he seems invariably to have applied for his personal benefit what he gave out to his people. we have already noticed how he used to feed on the word, not in order to prepare himself for his people, but for personal edification. to do so was a fundamental rule with him; and all pastors will feel that, if they are to prosper in their own souls, they must so use the word,--sternly refusing to admit the idea of feeding others, until satiated themselves. and for similar ends it is needful that we let the truth we hear preached sink down into our own souls. we, as well as our people, must drink in the falling shower. mr. m'cheyne did so. it is common to find him speaking thus: "_july _, sabbath.--afternoon, on judas betraying christ; much more tenderness than ever i felt before. oh that i might abide in the bosom of him who washed judas' feet, and dipped his hand in the same dish with him, and warned him, and grieved over him--that i might catch the infection of his love, of his tenderness, so wonderful, so unfathomable." coming home on a sabbath evening (aug. th) from torwood sabbath school, a person met him who suggested an opportunity of usefulness. there were two families of gypsies encamped at torwood, within his reach. he was weary with a long day's labor; but instantly, as was his custom on such a call, set off to find them. by the side of their wood-fire, he opened out the parable of the lost sheep, and pressed it on their souls in simple terms. he then knelt down in prayer for them, and left them somewhat impressed, and very grateful. at this time a youthful parishioner, for whose soul he felt much anxiety, left his father's roof. ever watchful for souls, he seized this opportunity of laying before him more fully the things belonging to his peace. "larbert, _august , _ "my dear g.----. you will be surprised to hear from me. i have often wished to be better acquainted with you; but in these sad parishes we cannot manage to know and be intimate with every one we would desire. and now you have left your father's roof and our charge; still my desires go after you, as well as the kind thoughts of many others; and since i cannot now speak to you, i take this way of expressing my thoughts to you. i do not know in what light you look upon me, whether as a grave and morose minister, or as one who might be a companion and friend; but really, it is so short a while since i was just like you, when i enjoyed the games which you now enjoy, and read the books which you now read, that i never can think of myself as anything more than a boy. this is one great reason why i write to you. the same youthful blood flows in my veins that flows in yours, the same fancies and buoyant passions dance in my bosom as in yours; so that when i would persuade you to come with me to the same saviour, and to walk the rest of your life 'led by the spirit of god,' i am not persuading you to anything beyond your years. i am not like a grey-headed grandfather,--then you might answer all i say by telling me that you are a boy. no; i am almost as much a boy as you are; as fond of happiness and of life as you are; as fond of scampering over the hills, and seeing all that is to be seen, as you are. "another thing that persuades me to write you, my dear boy, is, that i have felt in my own experience the want of having a friend to direct and counsel me. i had a kind brother as you have, who taught me many things. he gave me a bible, and persuaded me to read it; he tried to train me as a gardener trains the apple-tree upon the wall; but all in vain. i thought myself far wiser than he, and would always take my own way; and many a time, i well remember, i have seen him reading his bible, or shutting his closet door to pray, when i have been dressing to go to some frolic, or some dance of folly. well, this dear friend and brother died; and though his death made a greater impression upon me than ever his life had done, still i found the misery of being _friendless_. i do not mean that i had no relations and worldly friends, for i had many; but i had no friend _who cared for my soul_. i had none to direct me to the saviour--none to awaken my slumbering conscience--none to tell me about the blood of jesus washing away all sin--none to tell me of the spirit who is so willing to change the heart, and give the victory over passions. i had no minister to take me by the hand, and say, 'come with me, and we will do thee good.' yes, i had one friend and minister, but that was jesus himself, and he led me in a way that makes me give him, and him only, all the praise. now, though jesus may do this again, yet the more common way with him is to use earthly guides. now, if i could supply the place of such a guide to you, i should be happy. to be a finger-post is all that i want to be--pointing out the way. this is what i so much wanted myself; this is what you need not want, unless you wish. "tell me, dear g., would you work less pleasantly through the day--would you walk the streets with a more doleful step--would you eat your meat with less gladness of heart--would you sleep less tranquilly at night--if you had _the forgiveness of sins_, that is, if all your wicked thoughts and deeds--lies, thefts, and sabbath-breakings--were all blotted out of god's book of remembrance? would this make you less happy, do you think? you dare not say it would. but would the forgiveness of sins not make you more happy than you are? perhaps you will tell me that you are very happy as you are. i quite believe you. i know that i was very happy when i was unforgiven. i know that i had great pleasure in many sins--in sabbath-breaking, for instance. many a delightful walk i have had,--speaking my own words, thinking my own thoughts, and seeking my own pleasure on god's holy day. i fancy few boys were ever happier in an unconverted state than i was. no sorrow clouded my brow--no tears filled my eyes, unless over some nice story-book; so that i know that you say quite true, when you say that you are happy as you are. but ah! is not this just the saddest thing of all, that you should be happy whilst you are a child of wrath,--that you should smile, and eat, and drink, and be merry, and sleep sound, when this very night you may be in _hell_? happy while unforgiven!--a terrible happiness. it is like the hindoo widow who sits upon the funeral pile with her dead husband, and sings songs of joy when they are setting fire to the wood with which she is to be burned. yes, you may be quite happy in this way, till you die, my boy; but when you look back from hell, you will say, it was a miserable kind of happiness. now, do you think it would not give you more happiness to be forgiven,--to be able to put on jesus, and say, 'god's anger is turned away?' would not you be happier at work, and happier in the house, and happier in your bed? i can assure you from all that ever i have felt of it, the pleasures of being forgiven are as superior to the pleasures of an unforgiven man, as heaven is higher than hell. the peace of being forgiven reminds me of the calm, blue sky, which no earthly clamors can disturb. it lightens all labor, sweetens every morsel of bread, and makes a sick-bed all soft and downy; yea, it takes away the scowl of death. now, forgiveness may be yours _now_. it is not given to those who are good. it is not given to any because they are less wicked than others. it is given _only_ to those who, feeling that their sins have brought a curse on them which they cannot lift off, 'look unto jesus,' as bearing all away. "now, my dear boy, i have no wish to weary you. if you are anything like what i was, you will have yawned many a time already over this letter. however, if the lord deal graciously with you, and touch your young heart, as i pray he may, with a desire to be forgiven, and to be made a child of god, perhaps you will not take ill what i have written to you in much haste. as this is the first time you have been away from home, perhaps you have not learned to write letters yet; but if you have, i would like to hear from you, how you come on--what convictions you feel, if you feel any--what difficulties, what parts of the bible puzzle you, and then i would do my best to unravel them. you read your bible regularly, of course; but do try and understand it, and still more, to _feel it_. read more parts than one at a time. for example, if you are reading genesis, read a psalm also; or, if you are reading matthew, read a small bit of an epistle also. _turn the bible into prayer._ thus, if you were reading the st psalm, spread the bible on the chair before you, and kneel, and pray, 'o lord, give me the blessedness of the man,' etc. 'let me not stand in the counsel of the ungodly,' etc. this is the best way of knowing the meaning of the bible, and of learning to pray. in prayer confess your sins by name--going over those of the past day, one by one. pray for your friends by name--father, mother, etc. etc. if you love them, surely you will pray for their souls. i know well that there are prayers constantly ascending for you from your own house; and will you not pray for them back again? do this regularly. if you pray sincerely for others, it will make you pray for yourself. "but i must be done. good-bye, dear g. remember me to your brother kindly, and believe me your sincere friend, "r.m.m." it is the shepherd's duty (ezek. : ), in visiting his flock, to discriminate; "strengthening the diseased, healing that which was sick, binding up that which was broken, bringing again that which was driven away, seeking that which was lost." this mr. m'cheyne tried to do. in an after-letter to mr. somerville of anderston, in reference to the people of these parishes, whom he had had means of knowing, he wrote, "take more heed to the saints than ever i did. speak a word in season to s.m. s.h. will drink in simple truth, but tell him to be humble-minded. cause l.h. to learn in silence; speak not of _religion_ to her, but speak to her case always. teach a.m. to look simply at jesus. j.a. warn and teach. get worldliness from the b.'s, if you can. mrs. g. awake or keep awake. speak faithfully to the b.'s. tell me of m.c., if she is really a believer, and grows. a.k., has the light visited her? m.t. i have had some doubts of. m.g. lies sore upon my conscience; i did no good to that woman: she always managed to speak of _things about the truth_. speak boldly. what matter in eternity the slight awkwardnesses of time!" it was about this time that the managers and congregation of the new church, st. peter's, dundee, invited him to preach as one of the candidates; and, in the end of august, chose him to be their pastor, with one accord. he accepted the call under an awful sense of the work that lay before him. he would rather, he said, have made choice for himself of such a rural parish as dunipace; but the lord seemed to desire it otherwise. "his ways are in the sea." more than once, at a later period, he would say, "we might have thought that god would have sent a strong man to such a parish as mine, and not a feeble reed." the first day he preached in st. peter's as a candidate (august th) is thus recorded: "forenoon--mind not altogether in a preaching frame; on the sower. afternoon--with more encouragement and help of the spirit; on the voice of the beloved, in cant. : - .[ ] in the evening--with all my heart; on _ruth_. lord, keep me humble." returning from st. peter's the second time, he observed in his class of girls at dunipace more than usual anxiety. one of them seemed to be thoroughly awakened that evening. "thanks be to thee, lord, for anything," he writes that evening; for as yet he had sown without seeing fruit. it seems to have been part of the lord's dealing with him, thus to teach him to persevere in duty and in faith, even where there was no obvious success. the arrow that was yet to wound hundreds was then receiving its point; but it lay in the quiver for a time. the lord seemed to be touching his own heart, and melting it by what he spoke to others, rather than touching or melting the hearts of those he spoke to. but from the day of his preaching in st. peter's, tokens of success began. his first day there, especially the evening sermon on ruth, was blessed to two souls in dundee; and now he sees souls begin to melt under his last words in the parish where he thought he had hitherto spent his strength in vain. [ ] see this characteristic sermon in the remains. as he was now to leave this sphere, he sought out, with deep anxiety, a laborer who would help their overburdened pastor, in true love to the people's souls. he believed he had found such a laborer in mr. somerville, his friend who had shared his every thought and feeling in former days, and who, with a sharp sickle in his hand, was now advancing toward the harvest field. "i see plainly," he wrote to mr. bonar, "that my poor attempts at labor in your clear parish will soon be eclipsed. but if at length the iron front of unbelief give way, if the hard faces become furrowed with the tears of anxiety and of faith, under whatever ministry, you will rejoice, and i will rejoice, and the angels, and the father and god of angels, will rejoice." it was in this spirit that he closed his short ten months of labor in this region. his last sermons to the people of larbert and dunipace were on hosea : , "o israel, return unto the lord thy god;" and jeremiah : , "harvest is past." in the evening he writes, "lord, i feel bowed down because of the little i have done for them which thou mightest have blessed! my bowels yearn over them, and all the more that i have done so little. indeed, i might have done ten times as much as i have done. i might have been in every house; i might have spoken always as a minister. lord, canst thou bless partial, unequal efforts?" i believe it was about this time that some of us first of all began our custom of praying specially for each other on saturday evening, with a reference to our engagements in the ministry next day. this concert for prayer we have never since seen cause to discontinue. it has from time to time been widened in its circle; and as yet his has been the only voice that has been silenced of all that thus began to go in on each other's behalf before the lord. mr. m'cheyne never failed to remember this time of prayer: "larbert and dunipace are always on my heart, especially on the saturday evenings, when i pray for a glorious sabbath!" on one occasion, in dundee, he was asked if the accumulation of business in his parish never led him to neglect the season of prayer on a busy saturday. his reply was, that he was not aware that it ever did. "what would my people do if i were not to pray?" so steady was he in sabbath preparations, from the first day to the last time he was with them, that though at prayer-meetings, or similar occasions, he did not think it needful to have much laid up before coming to address his people; yet, anxious to give them on the sabbath what had cost him somewhat, he never, without an urgent reason, went before them without much previous meditation and prayer. his principle on this subject was embodied in a remark he made to some of us who were conversing on the matter. being asked his view of diligent preparation for the pulpit, he reminded us of exodus : : "_beaten oil--beaten oil for the lamps of the sanctuary_" and yet his prayerfulness was greater still. indeed, he could not neglect fellowship with god before entering the congregation. he needed to be bathed in the love of god. his ministry was so much a bringing out of views that had first sanctified his own soul, that the healthiness of his soul was absolutely needful to the vigor and power of his ministrations. during these ten months the lord had done much for him, but it was chiefly in the way of discipline for a future ministry. he had been taught a minister's heart; he had been tried in the furnace; he had tasted deep personal sorrow, little of which has been recorded; he had felt the fiery darts of temptation; he had been exercised in self-examination and in much prayer; he had proved how flinty is the rock, and had learned that in lifting the rod by which it was to be smitten, success lay in him alone who enabled him to lift it up. and thus prepared of god for the peculiar work that awaited him, he had turned his face towards dundee, and took up his abode in the spot where the lord was so marvelously to visit him in his ministry. chapter iii. first years of labor in dundee. "_ye know, from the first day that i came into asia, after what manner i have been with you at all seasons, serving the lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations_"--acts : , . the day on which he was ordained pastor of a flock, was a day of much anxiety to his soul. he had journeyed by perth to spend the night preceding under the roof of his kind friend mr. grierson, in the manse of errol. next morning, ere he left the manse, three passages of scripture occupied his mind. . "_thou shall keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee_."--isaiah : . this verse was seasonable; for, as he sat meditating on the solemn duties of the day, his heart trembled. . "_give thyself wholly to these things"_--i tim. : . may that word (he prayed) sink deep into my heart. . "_here am i, send me_"--isaiah : . "to go, or to stay,--to be here till death, or to visit foreign shores, whatsoever, wheresoever, whensoever thou pleasest." he rose from his knees with the prayer, "lord, may thy grace come with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." he was ordained on november , . the service was conducted by mr. roxburgh of st. john's, through whose exertions the new church had been erected, and who ever afterwards cherished the most cordial friendship towards him. on the sabbath following he was introduced to his flock by mr. john bonar of larbert, with whom he had labored as a son in the gospel. himself preached in the afternoon upon isaiah : - , "_the spirit of the lord is upon me_" etc.; of which he writes, "may it be prophetic of the object of my coming here!" and truly it was so. that very sermon--the first preached by him as a pastor--was the means of awakening souls, as he afterwards learned; and ever onward the impressions left by his words seemed to spread and deepen among his people. to keep up the remembrance of this solemn day, he used in all the subsequent years of his ministry to preach from this same text on the anniversary of his ordination.[ ] in the evening of that day, mr. bonar again preached on "_these times of refreshing._" "a noble sermon, showing the marks of such times. ah! when shall we have them here? lord bless this word, to help their coming! put thy blessing upon this day! felt given over to god, as one bought with a price." [ ] the _acceptable year of the lord_ was one of these anniversary sermons, preached november . there was a rapid growth in his soul, perceptible to all who knew him well, from this time. even his pulpit preparations, he used to say, became easier from this date. he had earnestly sought that the day of his ordination might be a time of new grace; he expected it would be so; and there was a peculiar work to be done by his hands, for which the holy spirit did speedily prepare him. his diary does not contain much of his feelings during his residence in dundee. his incessant labors left him little time, except what he scrupulously spent in the direct exercises of devotion. but what we have seen of his manner of study and self-examination at larbert, is sufficient to show in what a constant state of cultivation his soul was kept; and his habits in these respects continued with him to the last. jeremy taylor recommends: "if thou meanest to enlarge thy religion, do it rather by enlarging thine ordinary devotions than thy extraordinary." this advice describes very accurately the plan of spiritual life on which mr. m'cheyne acted. he did occasionally set apart seasons for special prayer and fasting, occupying the time so set apart exclusively in devotion. but the real secret of his soul's prosperity lay in the daily enlargement of his heart in fellowship with his god. and the river deepened as it flowed on to eternity; so that he at least reached the feature of a holy pastor which paul pointed out to timothy ( : ): "his profiting did appear to all." in his own house everything was fitted to make you feel that the service of god was a cheerful service, while he sought that every arrangement of the family should bear upon eternity. his morning hours were set apart for the nourishment of his own soul; not, however, with the view of laying up a stock of grace for the rest of the day,--for manna will corrupt if laid by,--but rather with the view of "giving the eye the habit of looking upward all the day, and drawing down gleams from the reconciled countenance." he was sparing in the hours devoted to sleep, and resolutely secured time for devotion before breakfast, although often wearied and exhausted when he laid himself to rest. "a soldier of the cross," was his remark, "must endure hardness." often he sang a psalm of praise, as soon as he arose, to stir up his soul. three chapters of the word was his usual morning portion. this he thought little enough, for he delighted exceedingly in the scriptures: they were better to him than thousands of gold or silver. "when you write," said he to a friend, "tell me the meaning of scriptures." to another, in expressing his value for the word, he said, "one gem from that ocean is worth all the pebbles of earthly streams." his chief season of relaxation seemed to be breakfast-time. he would come down with a happy countenance and a full soul; and after the sweet season of family prayer, forthwith commence forming plans for the day. when he was well, nothing seemed to afford him such true delight as to have his hands full of work. indeed, it was often remarked that in him you found--what you rarely meet with--a man of high poetic imagination and deep devotion, who nevertheless was engaged unceasingly in the busiest and most laborious activities of his office. his friends could observe how much his soul was engrossed during his times of study of devotion. if interrupted on such occasions, though he never seemed ruffled, yet there was a kind of gravity and silence that implied--"i wish to be alone." but he further aimed at enjoying god _all the day_. and referring on one occasion to those blank hours which so often are a believer's burden,--hours during which the soul is dry and barren,--he observed, "they are proofs of how little we are _filled_ with the presence of god, how little we are _branchlike_[ ] in our faith." [ ] compare zechariah : with john : . this careful attention to the frame of his spirit did not hinder his preparation for his people; on the contrary, it kept alive his deep conscientiousness, and kept his warm compassion ever yearning. when asked to observe a saturday as a day of fasting and prayer, along with some others who had a special object in view, he replied, "saturday is an awkward day for ministers; for though i love to seek help from on high, i love also diligently to set my thoughts in order for the sabbath. i sometimes fear that you fail in this latter duty." during his first years in dundee, he often rode out in an afternoon to the ruined church of invergowrie, to enjoy an hour's perfect solitude; for he felt meditation and prayer to be the very sinews of his work. such notices, also, as the following, show his systematic pursuit of personal holiness:-- "_april , _, evening.--a very pleasant quietness. study of the epistle to the hebrews. came to a more intelligent view of the first six chapters than ever before. much refreshed by john newton; instructed by edwards. help and freedom in prayer. lord, what a happy season is a sabbath evening! what will heaven be!" "_april _, sabbath evening.--much prayer and peace. reading the bible only." "_june ._--much peace and rest to-night. much broken under a sense of my exceeding wickedness, which no eye can see but thine. much persuasion of the sufficiency of christ, and of the constancy of his love. oh how sweet to work all day for god, and then to lie down at night under his smiles!" "_june , ._--at dumbarney communion. much sin and coldness two days before. lay low at his feet; found peace only in jesus." "_sept. ._--spent last week at blairgowrie; i hope not in vain. much sin, weakness, and uselessness; much delight in the word also, while opening it up at family prayer. may god make the word fire. opened i thessalonians, the whole; enriching to my own mind. how true is psalm ! yet observed in my heart a strange proneness to be entangled with the affairs of this life; not strange because i am good, but because i have been so often taught that bitterness is the end of it." "_sept. ._--devoted chief part of friday to fasting. humbled and refreshed." "sept. , sabbath.--very happy in my work. too little prayer in the morning. must try to get early to bed on saturday, that i may 'rise a great while before day.'" these early hours of prayer on sabbath he endeavored to have all his life; not for study, but for prayer. he never labored at his sermons on a sabbath. that day he kept for its original end, the _refreshment of his soul_. (exodus : .) the parish of st. peter's, to which he had come, was large and very destitute. it is situated at the west end of the town, and included some part of the adjacent country. the church was built in connection with the church extension scheme. the parish was a _quoard sacra_ parish, detached from st. john's. it contains a population of , souls, very many of whom never crossed the threshold of any sanctuary. his congregation amounted at the very outset, to about , hearers, one-third of whom came from distant parts of the town. here was a wide field for parochial labor. it was also a very dead region--few, even of those who were living christians, breathing their life on others; for the surrounding mass of impenetrate heathenism had cast its sad influence even over them. his first impressions of dundee were severe. "a city given to idolatry and hardness of heart. i fear there is much of what isaiah speaks of: 'the prophets prophesy lies, and the people love to have it so.'" his first months of labor were very trying. he was not strong in bodily health, and that winter a fatal influenza prevailed for two or three months, so that most of his time in his parish was spent in visiting the sick and dying. in such cases he was always ready. "did i tell you of the boy i was asked to see on sabbath evening, just when i got myself comfortably seated at home? i went, and was speaking to him of the freeness and fulness of jesus, when he gasped a little and died." in one of his first visits to the sick, the narrative of the lord's singular dealings with one of his parishioners greatly encouraged him to carry the glad tidings to the distressed under every disadvantage. four years before, a young woman had been seized with cholera, and was deprived of the use of speech for a whole year. the bible was read to her, and men of god used to speak and pray with her. at the end of the year her tongue was loosed, and the first words heard from her lips were praise and thanksgiving for what the lord had done for her soul. it was in her chamber he was now standing, hearing from her own lips what the lord had wrought. on another occasion during the first year of his ministry, he witnessed the death-bed conversion of a man who, till within a few days of his end, almost denied that there was a god. this solid conversion, as he believed it to be, stirred him up to speak with all hopefulness, as well as earnestness, to the dying. but it was, above all, to the children of god that his visitations seemed blessed. his voice, and his very eye, spoke tenderness; for personal affliction had taught him to feel sympathy with the sorrowing. though the following be an extract from a letter, yet it will be recognised by many as exhibiting his mode of dealing with god's afflicted ones in his visitations: "there is a sweet word in exodus ( : ), which was pointed out to me the other day by a poor bereaved child of god: 'i know their sorrows.' study that; it fills the soul. another word like it is in psalm : : 'he knoweth our frame.' may your own soul, and that of your dear friends, be fed by these things. a dark hour makes jesus bright. another sweet word: 'they knew not that it was jesus.'" i find some specimens of his sick visits among his papers, noted down at a time when his work had not grown upon his hands. "_january , _--visited mt. m'bain, a young woman of twenty-four, long ill of decline. better or worse these ten years past. spoke of '_the one thing needful_' plainly. she sat quiet. _february _--had heard she was better--found her near dying. spoke plainly and tenderly to her, commending christ. used many texts. she put out her hand kindly on leaving. th--still dying like; spoke as yesterday. she never opened her eyes. th--showed her the dreadfulness of wrath; freeness of christ; the majesty, justice, truth of god. poor m. is fast going the way whence she shall not return. many neighbors also always gather in. th--read psalm ; showed the sufferings of christ; how sufficient an atonement; how feeling a high priest. she breathed loud, and groaned through pain. died this evening at seven. i hardly ever heard her speak anything; and i will hope that thou art with christ in glory, till i go and see. th--prayed at her funeral. saw her laid in st. peter's churchyard, _the first laid there_, by her own desire, in the fresh mould where never man was laid. may it be a token that she is with him who was laid in a new tomb." he records another case: "_january , _--sent for to mrs. s----. very ill; asthmatic. spoke on '_no condemnation to them that are in christ_.' she said, 'but am i in christ?' seemingly very anxious. said she had often been so, and had let it go by. th--still living; spoke to her of christ, and of full salvation. (myself confined in the house till the th.)--much worse. not anxious to hear, yet far from rest. dark, uneasy eye. asked me, 'what is it to believe?' spoke to her on '_god, who made light shine out of darkness._' she seemed to take up nothing. lord, help! th--still worse; wearing away. no smile; no sign of inward peace. spoke of '_remember me._' went over the whole gospel in the form of personal address. she drowsy. th--quieter. '_my lord and my god_.' she spoke at intervals. more cheerful; anxious that i should not go without prayer. has much knowledge; complete command of the bible. th--spoke on '_convincing of sin and righteousness._' rather more heart to hear. th--psalm . her look and her words were lightsome. d--faintish and restless; no sign of peace. '_i am the way_,' and psalm . th--still silent and little sign of anything. th--psalm , '_the fearful pit._' very plain. could not get anything out of her. february --died at twelve noon; no visible mark of light, or comfort, or hope. the day shall declare it." one other case: "_february , ._--called suddenly in the evening. found him near death. careless family. many round him. spoke of the freeness and sufficiency of jesus. '_come unto me_,' etc., and '_the wrath of god revealed from heaven_.' told him he was going where he would see christ! asked him if he would be his saviour? he seemed to answer; his father said, 'he is saying, yes.' but it was the throe of death. one or two indescribable gasps, and he died! i sat silent, and let god preach. th--spoke of the '_widow of nain_,' and '_behold i stand at the door._'" attendance at funerals was often to him a season of much exercise. should it not be to all ministers a time for solemn inquiry? was i faithful with this soul? could this soul have learned salvation from me every time i saw him? and did i pray as fervently as i spoke? and if we have tender pity for souls, we will sometimes feel as mr. m'cheyne records: "_september ._--buried a.m. felt bitterly the word, 'if any man draw back.' etc. never had more bitter feelings at any funeral." all who make any pretension to the office of shepherds visit their flocks;[ ] yet there is a wide difference in the kind of visits which shepherds give. one does it formally, to discharge his duty and to quiet conscience; another makes it his delight. and of those who make it their delight, one goes forth on the regular plan of addressing all in somewhat of the same style; while another speaks freely, according as the wounds of his sheep come to view. on all occasions, this difficult and trying work must be gone about with a full heart, if it is to be gone about successfully at all. there is little in it to excite, for there is not the presence of numbers, and the few you see at a time are in their calmest, every-day mood. hence there is need of being full of grace, and need of feeling as though god did visit every hearer by your means. our object is not to get duty done, but to get souls saved. ii cor. : . mr. m'cheyne used to go forth in this spirit, and often after visiting from house to house for several hours, he would return to some room in the place in the evening, and preach to the gathered families. "_september , ._--good visiting-day. twelve families; many of them go nowhere. it is a great thing to be well furnished by meditation and prayer before setting out; it makes you a far more full and faithful witness. preached in a.f.'s house on job, '_i know that my redeemer liveth._' very sweet and precious to myself." [ ] baxter (_reformed pastor_) says, "i dare prognosticate from knowledge of the nature of true grace, that all godly ministers will make conscience of this duty, and address themselves to it, unless they be, by some extraordinary accident, disabled." partly from his state of health, and partly from the vast accumulation of other labors, and the calls made on him for evangelizing elsewhere, he was never able to overtake the visitation of the whole district assigned him. he was blessed to attract and reclaim very many of the most degraded; and by sabbath schools and a regular eldership, to take superintendence of the population to a great extent. still he himself often said that his parish had never fully shared in the advantages that attend an aggressive system of parochial labor. once when spending a day in the rural parish of collace, as we went in the afternoon from door to door, and spoke to the children whom we met on the road-side, he smiled and said, "well, how i envy a country minister; for he can get acquainted with all his people, and have some insight into their real character." many of us thought that he afterwards erred, in the abundant frequency of his evangelistic labors at a time when he was still bound to a particular flock. he had an evening class every week for the young people of his congregation. the catechism and the bible were his text-books, while he freely introduced all manner of useful illustrations. he thought himself bound to prepare diligently for his classes, that he might give accurate and simple explanations, and unite what was interesting with the most solemn and awakening views. but it was his class for young communicants that engaged his deepest care, and wherein he saw most success. he began a class of this kind previous to his first communion, and continued to form it again some weeks before every similar occasion. his tract, published in , _this do in remembrance of me_, may be considered as exhibiting the substance of his solemn examination on these occasions. he usually noted down his first impressions of his communicants, and compared these notes with what he afterwards saw in them. thus: "m.k., sprightly and lightsome, yet sensible; she saw plainly that the converted alone should come to the table, but stumbled at the question, if she were converted? yet she claimed being awakened and brought to christ." another: "very staid, intelligent-like person, with a steady kind of anxiety, but, i fear, no feeling of helplessness. thought that sorrow and prayer would obtain forgiveness. told her plainly what i thought of her case." another: "knows she was once christless; now she reads, and prays, and is anxious. i doubt not there is some anxiety, yet i fear it may be only a self-reformation to recommend herself to god and to man. told her plainly." "a.m., i fear much for him. gave him a token with much anxiety; warned him very much." "c.p. does not seem to have any work of anxiety. he reads prayer-books, etc. does not pray in secret. seems not very intelligent." he sought to encourage sabbath schools in all the districts of his parish. the hymn, _oil for the lamp_, was written to impress the parable on a class of sabbath scholars in . some of his sweet, simple tracts were written for these schools. _reasons why children should fly to christ_ was the first, written at the new year ; and _the lambs of the flock_ was another at a later period. his heart felt for the young. one evening, after visiting some of his sabbath schools, he writes: "had considerable joy in teaching the children. oh for real heart-work among them!" he could accommodate himself to their capacities; and he did not reckon it vain to use his talents in order to attract their attention, for he regarded the soul of a child as infinitely precious. ever watchful for opportunities, on the blank leaf of a book which he had sent to a little boy of his congregation, he wrote these simple lines:-- peace be to thee, gentle boy! many years of health and joy! love your bible more than play, grow in wisdom every day. like the lark on hovering wing, early rise, and mount and sing; like the dove that found no rest till it flew to noah's breast, rest not in this world of sin, till the saviour take thee in. he had a high standard in his mind as to the moral qualifications of those who should teach the young. when a female teacher was sought for to conduct an evening school in his parish for the sake of the mill-girls, he wrote to one interested in the cause: "the qualifications she should possess for sewing and knitting you will understand far better than i. she should be able to keep up in her scholars the fluency of reading, and the knowledge of the bible and catechism which they may have already acquired. she should be able to teach them to sing the praises of god with feeling and melody. but, far above all, she should be a christian woman, not in name only but in deed and in truth,--one whose heart has been touched by the spirit of god, and who can love the souls of little children. any teacher who wanted this last qualification, i would look upon as a curse rather than a blessing,--a centre of blasting and coldness and death, instead of a centre from which life and warmth and heavenly influence might emanate." it was very soon after his ordination that he began his weekly prayer-meeting in the church. he had heard how meetings of this kind had been blessed in other places, and never had he any cause to regret having set apart the thursday evening for this holy purpose. one of its first effects was to quicken those who had already believed; they were often refreshed upon these occasions even more than on the sabbath. some of the most solemn seasons of his ministry were at those meetings. at their commencement, he wrote to me an account of his manner of conducting them: "i give my people a scripture to be hidden in the heart--generally a promise of the spirit or the wonderful effects of his outpouring.[ ] i give them the heads of a sermon upon it for about twenty minutes. prayer goes before and follows. then i read some history of revivals, and comment in passing. i think the people are very much interested in it: a number of people come from all parts of the town. but, oh! i need much the living spirit to my own soul; i want my life to be hid with christ in god. at present there is too much hurry, and bustle, and outward working, to allow the calm working of the spirit on the heart. i seldom get time to meditate, like isaac, at evening-tide, except when i am tired; but the dew comes down when all nature is at rest--when every leaf is still." [ ] the first text he gave to be thus hidden in the heart was isaiah : ; "until the spirit be poured out from on high." a specimen of the happy freedom and familiar illustrations which his people felt to be peculiar to these meetings, may be found in the notes taken by one of his hearers, of _expositions of the epistles to the seven churches_, given during the year . he had himself great delight in the thursday evening meetings. "they will doubtless be remembered in eternity with songs of praise," said he, on one occasion; and at another time, observing the tender frame of a soul which was often manifested at these seasons, he said, "there is a stillness to the last word,--not as on sabbaths, a rushing down at the end of the prayer, as if glad to get out of god's presence." so many believing and so many inquiring souls used to attend, and so few of the worldlings, that you seemed to breathe the atmosphere of heaven. but it was his sabbath-day's services that brought multitudes together, and were soon felt throughout the town. he was ever so ready to assist his brethren so much engaged in every good work, and latterly so often interrupted by inquiries, that it might be thought he had no time for careful preparation, and might be excused for the absence of it. but, in truth, he never preached without careful attention bestowed on his subject. he might, indeed, have little time--often the hours of a saturday was all the time he could obtain,--but his daily study of the scriptures stored his mind, and formed a continual preparation. much of his sabbath services was a drawing out of what he had carried in during busy days of the week. his voice was remarkably clear,--his manner attractive by its mild dignity. his form itself drew the eye.[ ] he spoke from the pulpit as one earnestly occupied with the souls before him. he made them feel sympathy with what he spoke, for his own eye and heart were on them. he was, at the same time, able to bring out illustrations at once simple and felicitous, often with poetic skill and elegance. he wished to use saxon words, for the sake of being understood by the most illiterate in his audience. and while his style was singularly clear, this clearness itself was so much the consequence of his being able thoroughly to analyse and explain his subject, that all his hearers alike reaped the benefit. [ ] "gration est pulchro veniens e corpore virtus." he went about his public work with awful reverence. so evident was this, that i remember a countryman in my parish observed to me: "before he opened his lips, as he came along the passage, there was something about him that sorely affected me." in the vestry there was never any idle conversation; all was preparation of heart in approaching god; and a short prayer preceded his entering the pulpit. surely in going forth to speak for god, a man may well be overawed! surely in putting forth his hand to sow the seed of the kingdom, a man may even tremble! and surely we should aim at nothing less than to pour forth the truth upon our people through the channel of our own living and deeply affected souls. after announcing the subject of his discourse, he used generally to show the position it occupied in the context, and then proceed to bring out the doctrines of the text, in the manner of our old divines. this done, he divided his subject; and herein he was eminently skilful. "the heads of his sermons," said a friend, "were not the mile-stones that tell you how near you are to your journey's end, but they were nails which fixed and fastened all he said. divisions are often dry; but not so _his_ divisions,--they were so textual and so feeling, and they brought out the spirit of a passage so surprisingly." it was his wish to arrive nearer at the primitive mode of expounding scripture in his sermons. hence when one asked him, if he was never afraid of running short of sermons some day? he replied, "no; i am just an interpreter of scripture in my sermons; and when the bible runs dry, then i shall." and in the same spirit he carefully avoided the too common mode of accommodating texts,--fastening a doctrine on the words, not drawing it from the obvious connection of the passage. he endeavored at all times to _preach the mind of the spirit in a passage_; for he feared that to do otherwise would be to grieve the spirit who had written it. interpretation was thus a solemn matter to him. and yet, adhering scrupulously to this sure principle, he felt himself in no way restrained from using, for every day's necessities, all parts of the old testament as much as the new. his manner was first to ascertain the primary sense and application, and so proceed to handle it for present use. thus, on isaiah : - , he began: "this passage, i believe, refers _literally_ to the conversion of god's ancient people." he regarded the _prophecies_ as _history yet to be_, and drew lessons from them accordingly as he would have done from the past. every spiritual gift being in the hands of jesus, if he found moses or paul in the possession of precious things, he forthwith was led to follow them into the presence of that same lord who gave them all their grace. there is a wide difference between preaching _doctrine_ and preaching _christ_. mr. m'cheyne preached all the doctrines of scripture as understood by our confession of faith, dwelling upon ruin by the fall, and recovery by the mediator. "the things of the human heart, and the things of the divine mind," were in substance his constant theme. from personal experience of deep temptation, he could lay open the secrets of the heart, so that he once said, "he supposed the reason why some of the worst sinners in dundee had come to hear him was, because his heart exhibited so much likeness to theirs." still it was not _doctrine_ alone that he preached; it was _christ_, from whom all doctrine shoots forth as rays from a centre. he sought to hang every vessel and flagon upon him. "it is strange," he wrote after preaching on revelation : : "it is strange how sweet and precious it is to preach directly about christ, compared with all other subjects of preaching." and he often expressed a dislike of the phrase "_giving attention to religion_," because it seemed to substitute doctrine, and a devout way of thinking, for _christ himself_. it is difficult to convey to those who never knew him a correct idea of the sweetness and holy unction of his preaching. some of his sermons, printed from his own mss. (although almost all are first copies), may convey a correct idea of his style and mode of preaching doctrine. but there are no notes that give any true idea of his affectionate appeals to the heart and searching applications. these he seldom wrote; they were poured forth at the moment when his heart filled with his subject; for his rule was to set before his hearers a body of truth first,--and there always was a vast amount of bible truth in his discourses,--and then urge home the application. his exhortations flowed from his doctrine, and thus had both variety and power. he was systematic in this; for he observed: "appeals to the careless, etc., come with power on the back of some massy truth. see how paul does (acts : ), 'beware, _therefore_, lest,' etc., and (hebrews : ), '_therefore_ we should,'" etc. he was sometimes a little unguarded in his statements, when his heart was deeply moved and his feelings stirred, and sometimes he was too long in his addresses; but this also arose from the fulness of his soul. "another word," he thought, "may be blessed, though the last has made no impression." many will remember forever the blessed communion sabbaths that were enjoyed in st. peter's. from the very first these communion seasons were remarkably owned of god. the awe of his presence used to be upon his people, and the house filled with the odor of the ointment, when his name was poured forth (song : ). but on common sabbaths also many soon began to journey long distances to attend st. peter's,--many from country parishes, who would return home with their hearts burning, as they talked of what they had heard that day. mr. m'cheyne knew the snare of popularity, and naturally was one that would have been fascinated by it; but the lord kept him. he was sometimes extraordinarily helped in his preaching; but at other times, though not perceived by his hearers, his soul felt as if left to its own resources. the cry of rowland hill was constantly on his lips, "master, help!" and often is it written at the close of his sermon. much affliction, also, was a thorn in the flesh to him. he described himself as often "strong as a giant when in the church, but like a willow-wand when all was over." but certainly, above all, his abiding sense of the divine favor was his safeguard. he began his ministry in dundee with this sunshine on his way. "as yet i have been kept not only in the light of his reconciled countenance, but very much under the guiding eye of our providing god. indeed, as i remember good old swartz used to say, 'i could not have imagined that he could have been so gracious to us.'" i believe that while he had some sorer conflicts, he had also far deeper joy after his return from palestine than in the early part of his ministry, though from the very commencement of it he enjoyed that sense of the love of god which "keeps the heart and mind." (phil. : .) this was the true secret of his holy walk, and of his calm humility. but for this, his ambition would have become the only principle of many an action; but now the sweeter love of god constrained him, and the natural ambition of his spirit could be discerned only as suggesting to him the idea of making attempts which others would have declined. what monotony there is in the ministry of many! duty presses on the heels of duty in an endless circle. but it is not so when the spirit is quickening both the pastor and his flock. then there is all the variety of life. it was so here. the lord began to work by his means almost from the first day he came. there was ever one and another stricken, and going apart to weep alone. the flocking of souls to his ministry, and the deep interest excited, drew the attention of many, and raised the wish in some quarters to have him as their pastor. he had not been many months engaged in his laborious work when he was solicited to remove to the parish of skirling, near biggar. it was an offer that presented great advantages above his own field of labor as to worldly gain, and in respect of the prospect it held out of comparative ease and comfort; for the parish was small and the emolument great. but as it is required of a bishop, that he be "not greedy of filthy lucre," nay, that he be "one who has no love of money" ([greek: aphilarguros] tim. : ) at all, so was it true that in him these qualifications eminently shone. his remarks in a letter to his father contain the honest expression of his feelings: "i am set down among nearly people; people have taken seats in my church. i bring my message, such as it is, within the reach of that great company every sabbath-day. i dare not leave or , for people. had this been offered me before, i would have seen it a direct intimation from god, and would heartily have embraced it. how i should have delighted to feed so precious a little flock,--to watch over every family,--to know every heart,--'to allure to brighter worlds and lead the way!' but god has not so ordered it. he has set me down among the noisy mechanics and political weavers of this godless town. he will make the money sufficient. he that paid his taxes from a fish's mouth, will supply all my need." he had already expressed the hope, "perhaps the lord will make his wilderness of chimney-tops to be green and beautiful as the garden of the lord, a field which the lord hath blessed!" his health was delicate; and the harassing care and endless fatigue incident to his position, in a town like dundee, seemed unsuitable to his spirit. this belief led to another attempt to remove him to a country sphere. in the summer of this same year ( ) he was strongly urged to preach as a candidate for the vacant parish of st. martin's, near perth, and assured of the appointment if he would only come forward. but he declined again: "my master has placed me here with his own hand; and i never will, directly or indirectly, seek to be removed." there were circumstances in this latter case that made the call on him appear urgent in several points of view. in coming to a resolution, he mentions one interesting element in the decision, in a letter to me, dated august th. "i was much troubled about being asked to go to a neighboring parish at present vacant, and made it a matter of prayer; and i mention it now because of the wonderful answer to prayer which i think i received from god. i prayed that in order to settle my own mind completely about staying, he would awaken some of my people. i agreed that that should be a sign he would wish me to stay. the next morning i think, or at least the second morning, there came to me two young persons i had never seen before, in great distress. what brought this to my mind was, that they came to me yesterday, and their distress is greatly increased. indeed i never saw any people in such anguish about their soul. i cannot but regard this as a real answer to prayer. i have also several other persons in deep distress, and i feel that i am quite helpless in comforting them. i would fain be like noah, who put out his hand and took in the weary dove; but god makes me stand by and feel that i am a child. will god never cast the scenes of our labor near each other? we are in his hand; let him do as seemeth him good. pray for me, for my people, for my own soul, that i be not a cast away." few godly pastors can be willing to change the scene of their labors, unless it be plain that the cloudy pillar is pointing them away. it is perilous for men to choose for themselves; and too often has it happened that the minister who, on slight grounds, moved away from his former watch-tower, has had reason to mourn over the disappointment of his hopes in his larger and wider sphere. but while this is admitted, probably it may appear unwarrantable in mr. m'cheyne to have prayed for a sign of the lord's will. it is to be observed, however, that he decided the point of duty on other grounds; and it was only with the view of obtaining an additional confirmation by the occurrences of providence, that he prayed in this manner, in submission to the will of the lord. he never held it right to decide the path of duty by any such signs or tokens; he believed that the written word supplied sufficient data for guiding the believing soul; and such providential occurrences as happened in this case he regarded as important only as far as they might be answers to prayer. indeed, he himself has left us a glance of his views on this point in a fragment, which (for it is not dated) may have been written about this time. he had been thinking on _gideon's fleece_. when god called gideon forth to fight-- "go, save thou israel in thy might,"-- the faithful warrior sought a sign that god would on his labors shine. the man who, at thy dread command, lifted the shield and deadly brand. to do thy strange and fearful work-- thy work of blood and vengeance, lord!-- might need assurance doubly tried, to prove thou wouldst his steps betide. but when the message which we bring is one to make the dumb man sing; to bid the blind man wash and see, the lame to leap with ecstasy; to raise the soul that's bowed down, to wipe away the tears and frown to sprinkle all the heart within from the accusing voice of sin-- then, such a sign my call to prove, to preach my saviour's dying love, i cannot, dare not, hope to find. in the close of the same year , he agreed to become secretary to the association for church extension in the country of forfar. the church extension scheme, though much misrepresented and much misunderstood, had in view as its genuine, sincere endeavor, to bring to overgrown parishes the advantage of a faithful minister, placed over such a number of souls as he could really visit. mr. m'cheyne cheerfully and diligently forwarded these objects to the utmost of his power. "it is the cause of god," said he, "and therefore i am willing to spend and be spent for it." it compelled him to ride much from place to place; but riding was an exercise of which he was fond, and which was favorable to his health. as a specimen--"_dec. , ._ travelled to montrose. spoke along with mr. guthrie at a church extension meeting; eight or nine hundred present. tried to do something in the saviour's cause, both directly and indirectly. next day at forfar. spoke in the same cause." how heartily he entered into this scheme may be seen from the following extract. in a letter of an after date to mr. roxburgh, he says: "every day i live, i feel more and more persuaded that it is the cause of god and of his kingdom in scotland in our day. many a time, when i thought myself a dying man, the souls of the perishing thousands in my own parish, who never enter any house of god, have lain heavy on my heart. many a time have i prayed that the eyes of our enemies might be opened, and that god would open the hearts of our rulers, to feel that their highest duty and greatest glory is to support the ministers of christ, and to send these to every perishing soul in scotland." he felt that their misery was all the greater, and their need the deeper, that such neglected souls had no wish for help, and would never ask for it themselves. nor was it that he imagined that, if churches were built and ministers endowed, this would of itself be sufficient to reclaim the multitudes of perishing men. but he sought and expected that the lord would send faithful men into his vineyard. these new churches were to be like cisterns--ready to catch the shower when it should fall, just as his own did in the day of the lord's power. his views on this subject were summed up in the following lines, written one day as he sat in company with some of his zealous brethren who were deeply engaged in the scheme: give me a man of god the truth to preach, a house of prayer within convenient reach, seat-rents the poorest of the poor can pay, a spot so small one pastor can survey: give these--and give the spirit's genial shower, scotland shall be a garden all in flower! another public duty to which, during all the years of his ministry, he gave constant attention, was attendance at the meetings of presbytery. his candor, and uprightness, and christian generosity, were felt by all his brethren; and his opinion, though the opinion of so young a man, was regarded with more than common respect. in regard to the great public questions that were then shaking the church of scotland, his views were decided and unhesitating. no policy, in his view, could be more ruinous to true christianity, or more fitted to blight vital godliness, than that of moderatism. he wrote once to a friend in ireland: "you don't know what moderatism is. it is a plant that our heavenly father never planted, and i trust it is now to be rooted up." the great question of the church's independence of the civil power in all matters spiritual, and the right of the christian people to judge if the pastor appointed over them had the shepherd's voice, he invariably held to be part of scripture truth, which, therefore, must be preached and carried into practice, at all hazards. in like manner he rejoiced exceedingly in the settlements of faithful ministers. the appointments of mr. baxter to hilltown, mr. lewis to st. david's, and mr. miller to wallacetown at a later period, are all noticed by him with expressions of thankfulness and joy; and it occasioned the same feelings if he heard of the destitution of any parish in any part of the country supplied. he writes, _sept. , _: "present at a.b.'s ordination at collace with great joy. blessed be god for the gift of this pastor. give testimony to the word of thy grace." busy at home, he nevertheless always had a keenly evangelistic spirit. he might have written much and have gained a name by his writings; but he laid everything aside when put in comparison with preaching the everlasting gospel. he scarcely ever refused an invitation to preach on a week-day; and travelling from place to place did not interrupt his fellowship with god. his occasional visits during these years were much blessed. at blairgowrie and collace his visits were longed for as times of special refreshment; nor was it less so at kirriemuir, when he visited mr. cormick, or at abernyte in the days when mr. hamilton (now of regent square, london), and afterwards mr. manson, were laboring in that vineyard. it would be difficult even to enumerate the places which he watered at communion seasons; and in some of these it was testified of him, that not the words he spoke, but the _holy manner_ in which he spoke, was the chief means of arresting souls. occasionally two or three of us, whose lot was cast within convenient distance, and whose souls panted for the same water-brooks, used to meet together to spend a whole day in confession of ministerial and personal sins, with prayer for grace, guiding ourselves by the reading of the word. at such times we used to meet in the evening with the flock of the pastor in whose house the meeting had been held through the day, and there unitedly pray for the holy spirit being poured down upon the people. the first time we held such a meeting, there were tokens of blessing observed by several of us; and the week after he wrote: "has there been any fruit of the happy day we spent with you? i thought i saw some the sabbath after, here. in due season we shall reap if we faint not; only be thou strong, and of a good courage." the incident that encouraged him is recorded in his diary. an elderly person came to tell him how the river of joy and peace in believing had that sabbath most singularly flowed through her soul, so that she blessed god that she ever came to st. peter's. he adds "_n.b._--this seems a fruit of our prayer-meeting, begun last wednesday at collace,--one drop of the shower." it should have been remarked ere now, that during all his ministry he was careful to use not only the direct means appointed for the conversion of souls, but those also that appear more indirect, such as the key of discipline. in regard to the lord's supper, his little tract explains his views. he believed that to keep back those whose profession was a credible profession, even while the pastor might have strong doubts as to their fitness in his own mind, was not the rule laid down for us in the new testament. at the same time, he as steadily maintained that no unconverted person _ought to come_ to the lord's table; and on this point "they should judge themselves if they would not be judged." when communicants came to be admitted for the first time, or when parents that had been communicants before came for baptism to their children, it was his custom to ask them solemnly if their souls were saved. his dealing was blessed to the conversion of not a few young persons who were coming carelessly forward to the communion; and himself records the blessing that attended his faithful healing with a parent coming to speak with him about the baptism of his child. the man said that he had been taking a thought, and believed himself in the right way--that he felt his disposition better, for he could forgive injuries. mr. m'cheyne showed him that nevertheless he was ignorant of god's righteousness. the man laid it to heart; and when mr. m'cheyne said that he thought it would be better to defer the baptism, at once offered to come again and speak on the matter. on a subsequent visit, he seemed really to have seen his error, and to have cast away his own righteousness. when his child was baptized, it was joy to the pastor's heart to have the good hope that the man had received salvation. in connection with the superstitious feeling of the most depraved as to baptism, he related an affecting occurrence. a careless parent one evening entered his house, and asked him to come with him to baptize a dying child. he knew that neither this man nor his wife ever entered the door of a church; but he rose and went with him to the miserable dwelling. there an infant lay, apparently dying; and many of the female neighbors, equally depraved with the parents, stood round. he came forward to where the child was, and spoke to the parents of their ungodly state and fearful guilt before god, and concluded by showing them that, in such circumstances, he would consider it sinful in him to administer baptism to their infant. they said, "he might at least do it for the sake of the poor child." he told them that it was not baptism that saved a soul, and that out of true concern for themselves he must not do as they wished. the friends around the bed then joined the parents in upbraiding him as having no pity on the poor infant's soul! he stood among them still, and showed them that it was they who had been thus cruel to their child; and then lifted up his voice in solemn warning, and left the house amid their ignorant reproaches. nor did he make light of the kirk-session's power to rebuke and deal with an offender. once from the pulpit, at an ordination of elders, he gave the following testimony upon this head: "when i first entered upon the work of the ministry among you, i was exceedingly ignorant of the vast importance of church discipline. i thought that my great and almost only work was to pray and preach. i saw your souls to be so precious, and the time so short, that i devoted all my time, and care, and strength, to labor in word and doctrine. when cases of discipline were brought before me and the elders, i regarded them with something like abhorrence. it was a duty i shrank from; and i may truly say it nearly drove me from the work of the ministry among you altogether. but it pleased god, who teaches his servants in another way than man teaches, to bless some of the cases of discipline to the manifest and undeniable conversion of the souls of those under our care; and from that hour a new light broke in upon my mind, and i saw that if preaching be an ordinance of christ, so is church discipline. i now feel very deeply persuaded that both are of god,--that two keys are committed to us by christ: the one the key of doctrine, by means of which we unlock the treasures of the bible; the other the key of discipline, by which we open or shut the way to the sealing ordinances of the faith. both are christ's gift, and neither is to be resigned without sin." there was still another means of enforcing what he preached, in the use of which he has excelled all his brethren, namely, the holy consistency of his daily walk. aware that one idle word, one needless contention, one covetous act, may destroy in our people the effect of many a solemn expostulation and earnest warning, he was peculiarly circumspect in his every-day walk. he wished to be always in the presence of god. if he travelled, he labored to enjoy god by the way, as well as to do good to others by dropping a word in season. in riding or walking, he seized opportunities of giving a useful tract; and, on principle, he preferred giving it to the person directly, rather than casting it on the road. the former way, he said, was more open--there was no stealth in it; and we ought to be as clear as crystal in speaking or acting for jesus. in writing a note, however short, he sought to season it with salt. if he passed a night in a strange place, he tried to bear the place specially on his soul at the mercy-seat; and if compelled to take some rest from his too exhausting toils, his recreations were little else than a change of occupation, from one mode of glorifying god to another.[ ] his beautiful hymn, _i am a debtor_, was written in may , at a leisure hour. [ ] baxter's words are not less than the truth: "recreation to a minister must be as whetting is with the mower, that is, only to be used so far as is necessary for his work. may a physician in the plague-time take any more relaxation or recreation than is necessary for his life, when so many are expecting his help in a case of life and death?" "will you stand by and see sinners grasping under the pangs of death, and say, god doth not require me to make myself a drudge to save them? is this the voice of ministerial or christian compassion, or rather of _sensual laziness and diabolical cruelty_?"--_ref. past_. : whatever be said in the pulpit, men will not much regard, though they may feel it at the time, if the minister does not say the same in private with equal earnestness, in speaking with his people face to face; and it must be in our moments of most familiar intercourse with them, that we are thus to put the seal to all we say in public. familiar moments are the times when the things that are most closely twined round the heart are brought out to view; and shall we forbear, by tacit consent, to introduce the lord that bought us into such happy hours? we must not only speak faithfully to our people in our sermons, but live faithfully for them too. perhaps it may be found, that the reason why many who preach the gospel fully and in all earnestness are not owned of god in the conversion of souls, is to be found in their defective exhibition of grace in these easy moments of life. "them that honor me, i will honor," i samuel : . it was noticed long ago that men will give you leave to _preach against_ their sins as much as you will, if so be you will but be easy with them when you have done, and talk as they do, and live as they live. how much otherwise it was with mr. m'cheyne, all who knew him are witnesses. his visits to friends were times when he sought to do good to their souls; and never was he satisfied unless he could guide the conversation to bear upon the things of eternity. when he could not do so, he generally remained silent. and yet his demeanor was easy and pleasant to all, exhibiting at once meekness of faith and delicacy of feeling. there was in his character a high refinement that came out in poetry and true politeness; and there was something in his graces that reminded one of his own remark, when explaining _the spices_ of song : , when he said that "some believers were a garden that had fruit-trees, and so were useful; but we ought also to have _spices_, and so be attractive." wishing to convey his grateful feelings to a fellow-laborer in dundee, he sent him a hebrew bible, with these few lines prefixed:-- anoint mine eyes, o holy dove! that i may prize this book of love. unstop mine ear, made deaf by sin, that i may hear thy voice within. break my hard heart, jesus, my lord; in the inmost part hide thy sweet word. it was on a similar occasion, in , that he wrote the lines, _thy word is a lamp unto my feet_. at another time, sitting under a shady tree, and casting his eye on the hospitable dwelling in which he found a pleasant retreat, his grateful feelings flowed out to his kind friend in the lines that follow:-- "peace to this house." long may peace within this dwelling have its resting-place; angel shields all harm repelling,-- god, their god of grace. may the dove-like spirit guide them to the upright land! may the saviour-shepherd fed them from his gentle hand! never was there one more beloved as a friend, and seldom any whose death could cause so many to feel as if no other friend could ever occupy his room. some, too, can say that so much did they learn from his holy walk, "that it is probable a day never passes wherein they have not some advantage from his friendship."[ ] [ ] [greek: egô men dê katanoôn tou andros tên te sophian kai tên gennaiotêta oute mê memnêsthai dynamai autou, oute memnêmenos mê ouk epainein. ei de tis tôn aretês ephiemenôn ôphelimôterô tini sôkratous synegeneto ekeinon egô ton andra axiomakariototaton nomizô.] i find written on the leaf of one of his note-books, a short memorandum: "_rules worth remembering._--when visiting in a family, whether ministerially or otherwise, speak particularly to _the strangers_ about eternal things. perhaps god has brought you together just to save that soul." and then he refers to some instances which occurred to himself, in which god seemed to honor a word spoken in this incidental way. in this spirit he was enabled for nearly three years to give his strength to his master's service. sickness sometimes laid him aside, and taught him what he had to suffer; but he rose from it to go forth again to his joyful labors. often, after a toilsome day, there were inquirers waiting for him, so that he had to begin work afresh in a new form. but this was his delight; it was a kind of interruption which he allowed even on a saturday, in the midst of his studies. he was led to resolve not to postpone any inquirers till a future time, by finding that having done so on one occasion at a pressing moment, the individuals never returned; and so alive was he to the responsibilities of his office, that he ever after feared to lose such an opportunity of speaking with souls at a time when they were aroused to concern. busy one evening with some extra-parochial work, he was asked if any person should be admitted to see him that night. "surely--what do we live for?" was his immediate reply. it was his manner, too, on a saturday afternoon, to visit one or two of his sick who seemed near the point of death, with the view of being thus stirred up to a more direct application of the truth to his flock on the morrow, as dying men on the edge of eternity. we have already observed that in his doctrine there was nothing that differed from the views of truth laid down in the standards of our church. he saw no inconsistency in preaching an electing god, who "calleth whom he will," and a salvation free to "whosoever will;" nor in declaring the absolute sovereignty of god, and yet the unimpaired responsibility of man. he preached christ as a gift laid down by the father for every sinner freely to take. in the beginning of his ministry, as he preached the fulness of the glad tidings, and urged on his people that there was enough in the glad tidings to bring direct and immediate assurance to every one who really believed them, some of his flock were startled. for he ever preached, that, while it is true that there are believers, like heman or asaph, who do not enjoy full assurance of the love of god, yet certainly no true believer should remain satisfied in the absence of this blessed peace. not a few had hitherto been accustomed to take for granted that they might be christians, though they knew of no change, and had never thought of enjoying the knowledge of the love of god as their present portion. they heard that others, who were reckoned believers, had doubts; so they had come to consider fears and doubts as the very marks of a believing soul. the consequence had been, that in past days many concluded themselves to be christians because they seemed to be in the very state of mind of which those who were reputed to be believers spoke, viz. doubt and alarm. alas! in _their_ case there could be nothing else, for they had only a name to live. some one wrote to him, putting several questions concerning conversion, assurance, and faith, which had been stirred up by his ministry. the import of the questions may be gathered from his reply, which was as follows:-- " . _i doubt if there are many saints who live and die without a comfortable sense of forgiveness and acceptance with god._ the saints of whom the bible speaks seem to have enjoyed it richly both in life and death. see the murderers of our lord, acts : ; the ethiopian, acts : ; the jailor, acts : . david also felt it, sinful man though he was, romans : . paul also prayed that the romans might have it, romans : . i fear this objection is generally made by those who are living in sin, and do not wish to know the dangerous road they are on. " . _a sense of forgiveness does not proceed from marks seen in yourself, but from a discovery of the beauty, worth, and freeness of christ,_ psalm : . we look _out_ for peace, not _in_. at the same time, there is also an assurance rising from what we see in ourselves; the seal of the spirit, love to the brethren, etc., are the chief marks. " . _feeling a body of sin is a mark that we are like paul, and that we are christ's,_ rom. ; gal. : . paul was cheerful with a body of sin; and so ought we to be. so was david, and all the saints. " . _i do not think there is any difference between those converted within these few years and those who were christians before._ many of those converted since i came are, i fear, very unholy. i fear this more than anything. i fear there is too much talk and too little reality. still there are many good figs,--many of whom i am persuaded better things, and things that accompany salvation. the answer to your question i fear is this, that many used to be taken for christians before, who had only a name to live, and were dead. i think there is more discrimination now. but take care and be not proud, for that goes before a fall. take care of censorious judging of others, as if all must be converted in the same way. "god moves in a mysterious way. he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy. to him alone be glory." he thus stated his views on another occasion. referring to song : , "my beloved is mine," following "my beloved is gone down into his garden," he said, "this is the faith of assurance,--a complete, unhesitating embracing of christ as my righteousness and my strength and my all. a common mistake is, that this clear conviction that christ is mine is an attainment far on in the divine life, and that it springs from evidences seen in my heart. when i see myself a new creature, christ on the throne in my heart, love to the brethren, etc., it is often thought that i may begin then to say, 'my beloved is mine.' how different this passage! the moment jesus comes down into the garden to the beds of spices,--the moment he reveals himself, the soul cries out, 'my beloved is mine!' so saith thomas, john : , . the moment jesus came in and revealed his wounds, thomas cried out, 'my lord and my god.' he did not look to see if he was believing, or if the graces of love and humility were reigning; but all he saw and thought of was jesus and him crucified and risen." at a subsequent period, when preaching on matt. : , "come unto me," he said, "i suppose it is almost impossible to explain what it is to come to jesus, it is so simple. if you ask a sick person who had been healed, what it was to come and be healed, he could hardly tell you. as far as the lord has given me light in this matter, and looking at what my own heart does in like circumstances, i do not feel that there is anything more in coming to jesus, than just believing what god says about his son to be true. i believe that many people keep themselves in darkness by expecting something more than this. some of you will ask, 'is there no _appropriating_ of christ? no _putting out the hand of faith_? no touching the hem of his garment?' i quite grant, beloved, there is such a thing, but i do think it is inseparable from believing the record. if the lord persuades you of the glory and power of emmanuel, i feel persuaded that you cannot but choose him. it is like opening the shutters of a dark room; the sun that moment shines in. so, the eye that is opened to the testimony of god, receives christ that moment." in the case of a faithful ministry, success is the rule; want of it the exception. for it is written: "in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee," i tim. : . mr. m'cheyne expected it, and the lord exceeded all his hopes. it was not yet common for persons in anxiety to go to their pastor for advice; but soon it became an almost weekly occurrence. while it was yet rare, two of his young people wrote a joint note, asking liberty to come and speak with him, "for we are anxious about our souls." among those who came, there were those who had striven against the truth; persons who used to run out of hearing when the bible was read,--throw down a tract if the name of god was in it,--go quickly to sleep after a sabbath's pleasure in order to drown the fear of dropping into hell. there were many whose whole previous life had been but a threadbare profession. there were some open sinners, too. in short, the lord glorified himself by the variety of those whom his grace subdued, and the variety of means by which his grace reached its object. one could tell him that the reading of the chapter in the church, with a few remarks, had been the time of her awakening. another had been struck to the heart by some expression he used in his first prayer before sermon one sabbath morning. but most were arrested in the preaching of the word. an interesting case was that of one who was aroused to concern during his sermon on _unto whom coming as unto a living stone_. as he spoke of the father taking the gem out of his bosom, and laying it down for a foundation-stone, she felt in her soul, "i know nothing of this precious stone; i am surely not converted." this led her to come and speak with him. she was not under deep conviction; but before going away, he said, "you are a poor, vile worm; it is a wonder the earth does not open and swallow you up." these words were blessed to produce a very awful sense of sin. she came a second time with the arrows of the almighty drinking up her spirit. for three months she remained in this state, till having once more come to him for counsel, the living voice of jesus gave life to her soul while he was speaking of christ's words, "if thou knewest the gift of god," etc., and she went away rejoicing. some awakened souls told him that since they were brought under concern, very many sermons, which they had heard from him before and completely forgotten, had been brought back to mind. he used to remark that this might show what the resurrection day would awaken in the souls of gospel hearers. in dealing with souls he used to speak very plainly. one came to him who assented to his statements of the gospel, and yet refused to be comforted, always looking upon _coming to christ_ as something in addition to really believing the record god has given of his son. he took john : , : "for god so loved the world, that," etc. the woman said that "god did not care for her." upon this he at once convicted her of making god a liar; and, as she went away in deep distress, his prayer was, "lord, give her light!" to another person, who spoke of having times of great joy, he showed that these were times for worshipping god in the spirit. "you would come to a king when you were full dressed; so come to god, and abide in his presence as long as you can." sometimes he would send away souls, of whom he entertained good hope, with a text suited to their state. "if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye, through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." or he would say, "i hear of you that god has opened your heart; but remember not to trust to man's opinion. remember an all-seeing christ will be the judge at the great day." to another he said, "i have long hoped you were really under the wings of the saviour; if it be so, abide there; do not be like demas." to a prayer-meeting, consisting of a few young men that had been awakened to flee from wrath, he gave this advice: "guard against all ambition to excel one another in expression. remember the most spiritual prayer is 'a groan which cannot be uttered,' rom. : ; or a cry of 'abba, father,' gal. : ." there is very little recorded in his diary during these years, but what does exist will be read with deepest interest. "_march , _, thursday.--i think of making this more a journal of my people, and the success or otherwise of my ministry. the first success among my people was at the time of my first sacrament: then it appeared. my first sermon, on isa. : , was blessed to ---- and some others. that on ezek. : , 'can thine heart endure,' etc., was blessed to awaken m.l. that on song : , 'open to me,' etc., the sabbath after the sacrament, was blessed to another. these were happy days. m.d. was awakened by coming to the communicants' class. another by the action sermon. at the words, 'i know thee, judas,' she trembled, and would have risen from the table. these were glad days when one and another were awakened. the people looked very stirred and anxious, every day coming to hear the words of eternal life,--some inquiring in private every week. now there is little of this. about fifteen cases came to my knowledge the first sacrament, and two awakened who seem to have gone back. about eleven last sacrament,--four of these young men. several christians seemed quickened to greater joy, and greater love one to another. now it appears to me there is much falling off,--few seem awakened; few weep as they used to do." "_april _, sacrament day.--sweet season we have had. never was more straitened and unfurnished in myself, and yet much helped. kept in perfect peace, my mind being stayed on thee. preached on 'my god, my god,' etc., psalm : . not fully prepared, yet found some peace in it. fenced the tables from 'christ's eyes of flame.' little helped in serving the tables. much peace in communion. happy to be one with christ! _i_, a vile worm; _he_, the lord my righteousness. mr. cumming of dumbarney served some tables; mr. somerville of anderston served three, and preached in the evening on 'thou art all fair, my love.' very full and refreshing. all sweet, sweet services. come, thou north wind, and blow, thou south, upon this garden! may this time be greatly blessed! it is my third communion; it may be my last. my lord may come, or i may be sitting at another table soon. moody, candlish, and mellis, were a good preparation for this day; and the sweet word from cumming yesterday, 'when the poor and needy seek water,' etc. lord, grant some wakening this day,--to some bringing peace--comfort to mourners,--fulness to believers,--an advance in holiness in me and my children! iii john . lord, wean me from my sins, from my cares, and from this passing world. may christ be all in all to me." "admitted about twenty-five young communicants; kept two back, and one or two stayed back. some of them evidently brought to christ. may the lord be their god, their comforter, their all! may the morrow bring still richer things to us, that we may say as of to-night, 'thou hast kept the good wine until now.'" toward the close of this same year some of his notices are as follows:-- "_oct. _, evening.--in the gaelic chapel, on 'i know that my redeemer liveth,' with more seeming power on the people than for a while. i never remember of compelling souls to come in to christ so much as in that discourse." "_oct. ._--a person of the name of ---- came; i hope really awakened by last night's work; rather, by _thee_. i do not know, however, whether _grace_ is begun or not." "_oct. ._--preached on 'forgiving injuries.' afternoon--on the second coming: 'let your loins be girded about,' etc. felt its power myself more than ever before, how the sudden coming of the saviour constrains to a holy walk, separate from sin. evening--preached it over in the ferry." "_oct. ._--met young communicants in the evening. good hope of all but one." "_oct. ._--a jew preached in my church, mr. frey, to a crowded house. felt much moved in hearing an israelite after the flesh." "oct. .--preached to sailors aboard the 'dr. carey,' in the docks. about , very attentive and impressed like. on 'i know that my redeemer liveth.' may the seed sown on the waters be found after many days." "_nov. _, fast-day.--afternoon--mr. c. on 'the thief on the cross.' a most awakening and engaging sermon, enough to make sinners fly like a cloud, and as doves to their windows. the offers of christ were let down very low so that those low of stature may take hold." "_nov. ._--mr. ---- died this morning at seven o'clock. oh that i may take warning, lest, after preaching to others, i myself be a castaway! love of popularity is said to have been his besetting sin." "_dec. ._--errol communion. heard mr. grierson preach on christ's entry into jerusalem. served two tables. evening--preached to a large congregation, on 'unto you, o men, i call,' etc. the free invitation of the saviour. may some find him this day!" in addition to the other blessings which the lord sent by his means to the place where he labored, it was obvious to all that the tone of christians was raised as much by his holy walk as by his heavenly ministry. yet during these pleasant days he had much reproach to bear. he was the object of supercilious contempt to formal cold-hearted ministers, and of bitter hatred to many of the ungodly. at this day there are both ministers and professing christians of whom jesus would say, "the world cannot hate you" (john : ), for the world cannot hate itself; but it was not so with mr. m'cheyne. very deep was the enmity borne to him by some,--all the deeper, because the only cause of it was his likeness to his master. but nothing turned him aside. he was full of ardor, yet ever gentle, and meek, and generous; full of zeal, yet never ruffled by his zeal; and not only his strength of "first love" (rev. : ), but even its warm glow, seemed in him to suffer no decay. thus he spent the first years of his ministry in dundee. the town began to feel that they had a peculiar man of god in the midst of them, for he lived as a true son of levi. "my covenant was with him of life and peace, and i gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. the law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found on his lips; he walked with me in peace and equity; and did turn many away from iniquity." mal. : , . chapter iv. his mission to palestine and the jews. "_here am i; send me_"--isaiah : . though engaged night and day with his flock in st. peter's, mr. m'cheyne ever cherished a missionary spirit. "this place hardens me for a foreign land," was his remark on one occasion. this spirit he sought to kindle yet more by reading missionary intelligence for his own use, and often to his people at his weekly prayer-meeting. the necessities both of his own parish, and of the world at large, lay heavy on his soul; and when an opportunity of evangelizing occurred, there was none in scotland more ready to embrace it. he seemed one who stood with his loins girt: "here am i; send me." another motive to incessant activity, was the decided impression on his mind that his career would be short. from the very first days of his ministry he had a strong feeling of this nature; and his friends remember how his letters used to be sealed with this seal, "_the night cometh_" at a time when he was apparently in his usual health, we were talking together on the subject of the pre-millennial advent. we had begun to speak of the practical influence which the belief of that doctrine might have. at length he said, "that he saw no force in the arguments generally urged against it, though he had difficulties of his own in regard to it. and perhaps (he added) it is well for you, who enjoy constant health, to be so firmly persuaded that christ is thus to come; but my sickly frame makes me feel every day that my time may be very short." he was therefore in some measure prepared, when, in the midst of his laborious duties, he was compelled to stand still and see what the lord would do. in the close of , some symptoms appeared that alarmed his friends. his constitution, never robust, began to feel the effects of unremitting labor; for occasionally he would spend six hours in visiting, and then the same evening preach in some room to all the families whom he had that day visited. very generally, too, on sabbath, after preaching twice to his own flock, he was engaged in ministering somewhere else in the evening. but now, after any great exertion, he was attacked by violent palpitation of heart. it soon increased, affecting him in his hours of study; and at last it became almost constant. upon this, his medical advisers insisted on a total cessation of his public work; for though as yet there was no organic change on his lungs, there was every reason to apprehend that that might be the result. accordingly, with deep regret, he left dundee to seek rest and change of occupation, hoping it would be only for a week or two. a few days after leaving dundee, he writes from edinburgh, in reply to the anxious inquiries of his friend mr. grierson: "the beating of the heart is not now so constant as it was before. the pitcher draws more quietly at the cistern; so that, by the kind providence of our heavenly father, i may be spared a little longer before the silver cord be loosed, and the golden bowl be broken." it was found that his complaints were such as would be likely to give way under careful treatment, and a temporary cessation from all exertion. under his father's roof, therefore, in edinburgh, he resigned himself to the will of his father in heaven. but deeply did he feel the trial of being laid aside from his loved employment, though he learned of him who was meek and lowly, to make the burden light in his own way, by saying, "even so, father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight." he wrote to mr. grierson again, _january , _: "i hope this affliction will be blessed to me. i always feel much need of god's afflicting hand. in the whirl of active labor there is so little time for watching, and for bewailing, and seeking grace to oppose the sins of our ministry, that i always feel it a blessed thing when the saviour takes me aside from the crowd, as he took the blind man out of the town, and removes the veil, and clears away obscuring mists, and by his word and spirit leads to deeper peace and a holier walk. ah! there is nothing like a calm look into the eternal world to teach us the emptiness of human praise, the sinfulness of self-seeking and vainglory, to teach us the preciousness of christ, who is called 'the tried stone.' i have been able to be twice at college to hear a lecture from dr. chalmers. i have also been privileged to smooth down the dying pillow of an old school-companion, leading him to a fuller joy and peace in believing. a poor heavy-laden soul, too, from larbert, i have had the joy of leading toward the saviour. so that even when absent from my work, and when exiled, as it were, god allows me to do some little things for his name." he was led to look more carefully into this trying dispensation, and began to anticipate blessed results from it to his flock. he was well aware how easily the flock begin to idolize the shepherd, and how prone the shepherd is to feel somewhat pleased with this sinful partiality of his people, and to be uplifted by his success. "i sometimes think," is his remark in a letter, dated _january _, "that a great blessing may come to my people in my absence. often god does not bless us when we are in the midst of our labors, lest we shall say, 'my hand and my eloquence have done it.' he removes us into silence, and then pours 'down a blessing so that there is no room to receive it;' so that all that see it cry out, 'it is the lord!' this was the way in the south sea islands. may it really be so with my dear people!" nor did he err in this view of the dispensation. all these ends, and more also, were to be accomplished by it. an anticipation like that which is expressed in this and other letters, especially in his pastoral letter of _march _, may justly be regarded as a proof from experience that the lord teaches his people to expect and pray for what he means soon to work. and here the lord accomplished his designs in the kindest of all ways; for he removed his servant for a season from the flock to which he had been so blessed, lest even his own children should begin to glory in man; but yet he took that servant to another sphere of labor in the meantime, and then, when the blessing was safely bestowed, brought him back to rejoice over it. he was still hoping for, and submissively asking from the lord, speedy restoration to his people in dundee, and occasionally sending to them an epistle that breathed the true pastor's soul; when one day, as he was walking with dr. candlish, conversing on the mission to israel which had lately been resolved on, an idea seemed suddenly suggested to dr. candlish. he asked mr. m'cheyne what he would think of "being useful to the jewish cause, during his cessation from labor, by going abroad to make personal inquiries into the state of israel?" the idea thus suddenly suggested led to all the after results of the mission of inquiry. mr. m'cheyne found himself all at once called to carry salvation to the jew as he had hitherto done to the gentile, and his soul was filled with joy and wonder. his medical friends highly approved of the proposal, as being likely to conduce very much to the removal of his complaints,--the calm, steady excitement of such a journey being likely to restore the tone of his whole constitution. dr. black of aberdeen readily consented to use his remarkable talents as a scholar in this cause; and dr. keith intimated his expectation of soon joining the deputation. i also had been chosen to go forth on this mission of love to israel; but some difficulties stood in the way of my leaving my charge at collace. in these circumstances mr. m'cheyne wrote to me, _march _, from edinburgh. "my dear _a._,--i have received so many tokens for good from god in this matter, that it were a shame indeed if i did not trust him to perfect all which concerns me. i am glad you have determined to trust all in the hands of israel's god. i am quite ready to go this week, or next week, but am deeply anxious to be sure that you are sent with me. you know, dear a., i could not labor in this cause, nor enjoy it, if you were not to be with me in it. would you be ready to give your jewish lecture on the evening of sabbath week?... and now, pray for us, that we may be sent of god; and, weak as we are, that we may be made boanerges,--that we may be blessed to win some souls, and to stir up christians to love zion. much interest is already excited, and i do look for a blessing. speak to your people as on the brink of eternity.... as to books, i am quite at a loss. my hebrew bible, greek testament, etc., and perhaps bridge's _christian ministry_ for general purposes--i mean, for keeping us in mind of our ministerial work. i do hope we shall go forth in the spirit; and though straitened in language, may we not be blessed, as brainerd was, through an interpreter? may we not be blessed also to save some english, and to stir up missionaries? my health is only tolerable; i would be better if we were once away. i am often so troubled as to be made willing to go or stay, to die or to live. yet it is encouraging to be used in the lord's service again, and in so interesting a manner. what if we should see the heavenly jerusalem before the earthly? i am taking drawing materials, that i may carry away remembrances of the mount of olives, tabor, and the sea of galilee." the interest that this proposed journey excited in scotland was very great. nor was it merely the somewhat romantic interest attached to the land where the lord had done most of his mighty works; there were also in it the deeper feelings of a scriptural persuasion that israel was still "beloved for the fathers' sake." for some time previous, jerusalem had come into mind, and many godly pastors were alarming as watchmen over its ruined walls (isa. : ), stirring up the lord's remembrancers. mr. m'cheyne had been one of these. his views of the importance of the jews in the eye of god, and therefore of their importance as a sphere of missionary labor, were very clear and decided. he agreed in the expectation expressed in one of the course of lectures delivered before the deputation set out, that we might anticipate an _outpouring of the spirit when our church should stretch out its hands to the jew as well as to the gentile_. in one letter he says, "to seek the lost sheep of the house of israel is an object very near to my heart, as my people know it has ever been. such an enterprise may probably draw down unspeakable blessings on the church of scotland, according to the promise, 'they shall prosper who love thee.'" in another, "i now see plainly that all our views about the jews being the chief object of missionary exertion are plain and sober truths, according to the scripture." again, "i feel convinced that if we pray that the world may be converted in god's way, we will seek the good of the jews; and the more we do so, the happier we will be in our own soul. you should always keep up a knowledge of the prophecies regarding israel." in his preaching he not unfrequently said on this subject, "we should be like god in his peculiar affections; and the whole bible shows that god has ever had, and still has, a peculiar love to the jews." the news of his proposed absence alarmed his flock at dundee. they manifested their care for him more than ever; and not a few wrote expostulatory letters. to one of these well-meant remonstrances he replied, "i rejoice exceedingly in the interest you take in me, not so much for my own sake as that i hope it is a sign you know and love the lord jesus. unless god had himself shut up the door of return to my people, and opened this new door to me, i never could have consented to go. i am not at all unwilling to spend and be spent in god's service, though i have often found that the more abundantly i love you, the less i am loved. but god has very plainly shown me that i may perform a deeply important work for his ancient people, and at the same time be in the best way of seeking a return of health."--"a minister will make a poor saviour in the day of wrath. it is not knowing a minister, or loving one, or hearing one, or having a name to live, that will save. you need to have your hand on the head of the lamb for yourselves, lev. : . you need to have your eye on the brazen serpent for yourselves, john : , . i fear i will need to be a swift witness against many of my people in the day of the lord, that they looked to me, and not to christ, when i preached to them. i always feared that some of you loved to hear the word, who do not love to do it. i always feared there were many of you who loved the sabbath meetings, and the class, and the thursday evenings, who yet were not careful to walk with god, to be meek, chaste, holy, loving, harmless, christ-like, god-like. now, god wants you to think that the only end of a gospel ministry is that you may be holy. believe me, god himself could not make you happy except you be holy." at this crisis in his people's history, he sought from the lord one to supply his place,--one who would feed the flock and gather in wanderers during their own pastor's absence. the lord granted him his desire by sending mr. william c. burns, son of the minister of kilsyth. in a letter to him, dated _march _, the following remarkable words occur: "you are given in answer to prayer; and these gifts are, i believe, always without exception blessed. i hope you may be a thousand times more blessed among them than ever i was. perhaps there are many souls that would never have been saved under my ministry, who may be touched under yours; and god has taken this method of bringing you into my place. _his name is wonderful._" this done, and being already disengaged from his flock, he set out for london to make arrangements for the rest of the deputation, who soon after were all sent forth by the brethren with many prayers. none had more prayers offered in their behalf than he, and they were not offered in vain. during all his journeyings the lord strengthened him, and saved him out of all distresses. it was a singular event,--often still it looks like a dream,--that four ministers should be so suddenly called away from their quiet labors in the towns and villages of scotland, and be found in a few weeks traversing the land of israel, with their bibles in their hand, eye-witnesses of prophecy fulfilled, and spies of the nakedness of israel's worship and leanness of soul. the details of that journey need not be given here. they have been already recorded in the _narrative of a mission of inquiry to the jews from the church of scotland in _. but there are some incidents worthy to be preserved which could find a place only in such a record of private life and feelings as we are now engaged in. when mr. m'cheyne was on board the vessel that carried him to london, he at once discovered an interesting young jew, who seemed, however, unwilling to be recognized as belonging to the seed of abraham. he made several attempts to draw this young israelite into close conversation; and before parting, read with him the st psalm in hebrew, and pressed home the duty of meditating on the word of the lord. in visiting bethnal green, he has noted down that it was very sweet to hear jewish children sing a hymn to jesus, the burden of which was [hebrew: tavuach aleinu], "slain for us!" the awful profanation of the holy sabbath which we witnessed on the streets of paris, called forth the following appeal, in a letter to mr. macdonald of blairgowrie. his spirit had been stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. "stand in the breach, dear friend, and lift up your voice like a trumpet, lest scotland become another france. you know how many in our own parishes trample on the holy day. they do not know how sweet it is to walk with god all that holy day. isaiah : - is a sweet text to preach from. exodus : is also very precious, showing that the real sanctifying of the sabbath is one of god's signs or marks which he puts upon his people. it is one of the letters of the new name, which no one knoweth but they who receive it." in his brief notes during the first part of the journey, he has seldom failed to mark our seasons of united prayer, such as those in the cabin of the vessel on the passage to genoa; for these were times of refreshing to his spirit. and his feelings, as he stood in that city and surveyed its palaces, are expressed in a few lines, which he sent homeward from the spot. "a foreign land draws us nearer god. he is the only one whom we know here. we go to him as to one we know; all else is strange. every step i take, and every new country i see, makes me feel more that there is nothing real, nothing true, but what is everlasting. the whole world lieth in wickedness! its judgments are fast hastening. the marble palaces, among which i have been wandering to-night, shall soon sink like a millstone in the waters of god's righteous anger; but he that doeth the will of god abideth forever." at valetta, in the island of malta, he wrote: "my heart beats a little to-day, but another sail will do me good. one thing i know, that i am in the hands of my father in heaven, who is all love to me,--not for what i am in myself, but for the beauty he sees in immanuel." the classic shores of italy and greece are invested with a peculiar interest, such as may raise deep emotions even in a sanctified soul. "we tried to recollect many of the studies of our boyhood. but what is classic learning to us now? i count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of christ jesus my lord. and yet these recollections tinged every object, and afforded us a most lawful pleasure." during our voyage, it was his delight to search into the scriptures, just as at home. and so much did he calculate on an unceasing study of the word during all our journey, that he took with him some notes i had written on each chapter of the book of leviticus, observing it would be suitable meditation for us while busy with jewish minds. at home and abroad he had an insatiable appetite for all the word,--both for the types of the old testament and the plain text of the new. on one occasion, before leaving home, in studying numbers ., he fixed the different duties assigned to the priests on his memory, by means of the following lines:-- the _kohathites_ upon their shoulder bear the holy vessels, covered with all care, the _gershonites_ receive an easier charge, two waggons full of cords and curtains large; _merari's_ sons four ponderous waggons load with boards and pillars of the house of god. he acted on the principle, that whatever god has revealed must deserve our study and prayerful investigation. arrived at alexandria in egypt, and thence proceeding onward to palestine by the way of the desert, we found ourselves set down on a new stage of experience. mr. m'cheyne observed on the silence of the desert places: "it is a remarkable feeling to be quite alone in a desert place; it gives similar feelings to fasting; it brings god near. living in tents, and moving among such lonely scenes for many days, awake many new ideas. it is a strange life we lead in the wilderness. round and round there is a complete circle of sand and wilderness shrubs; above, a blue sky without a cloud, and a scorching sun which often made the thermometer stand at ° in our tents. when evening came, the sun went down as it does in the ocean, and the stars came riding forth in their glory; and we used to pitch all alone, with none but our poor ignorant bedouins, and their camels, and our all-knowing, all-loving god beside us. when morning began to dawn, our habitations were taken down. often we have found ourselves shelterless before being fully dressed. what a type of the tent of our body! ah! how often taken down before the soul is made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light." to mr. bonar of larbert he writes: "i had no idea that travelling in the wilderness was so dreadful a thing as it is. the loneliness i often felt quite solemnized me. the burning sun overhead,--round and round a circle of barren sand, chequered only by a few prickly shrubs ('the heat of the wilderness,' of which jeremiah speaks), no rain, not a cloud, the wells often like that of marah, and far between. i now understand well the murmurings of israel. i feel that our journey proved and tried my own heart very much." when we look back, and remember that he who thus stands on the sandy desert road between egypt and palestine, and looks on its singular scenery, is one who but lately was to be found busy night and day in dealing with the souls of men in the densely peopled streets of a town teeming with population, we are led to wonder at the ways of the lord. but is it not a moment which may remind us that the god who sent elijah to the brook at cherith is the same god still? and that the wise, considerate, loving master, who said, "come into a desert place and rest awhile," is as loving, considerate, and wise as he was then? at balteen, a small village in egypt, i well remember the indignation that fired his countenance, when our arab attendants insisted on travelling forward on the sabbath-day, rather than continue sitting under a few palm-trees, breathing a sultry, furnace-like atmosphere, with nothing more than just such supply of food as sufficed. he could not bear the thought of being deprived of the sabbath rest; it was needful for our souls as much in the wilderness as in the crowded city; and if few glorify god in that desolate land, so much the more were we called on to fill these solitudes with our songs of praise. it was in this light he viewed our position; and when we had prevailed, and were seated under the palms, he was excited to deep emotion, though before quite unnerved by the heat, at the sight of a row of poor wretched egyptians who gathered round us. "oh that i could speak their language, and tell them of salvation!" was his impassioned wish. an event occurred at that time in which the hand of god afterwards appeared very plain, though it then seemed very dark to us. dr. black fell from his camel in the midst of the sandy desert, and none of all our company could conjecture what bearing on the object of our mission this sad occurrence could have. is it a frown on our undertaking? or can it really be a movement of his kind, guiding hand? we often spoke of it: in our visit to galilee we thought that we saw some purposes evolving; but there was still something unexplained. now, however, the reason appears: even that event was of the lord, in wise and kind design. but for that fall, our fathers in the deputation would not have sailed up the danube on their way to vienna, and pesth would not have been visited. this accident, which mainly disabled dr. black from undertaking the after fatigue of exploring galilee, was the occasion of directing the steps of our two fathers to that station, where a severe stroke of sickness was made the means of detaining dr. keith till they had learned that there was an open door among the jews. and there, accordingly it has been that the lord has poured down his spirit on the jews that have come to our missionaries so remarkably, that no jewish mission seems ever to have been blessed with deeper conversions. there is nothing but truth in the remark made by one of our number: "dr. black's fall from the camel was the first step towards pesth." "whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the lord," psalm : . indeed, whether it was that we were prepared to expect, and therefore were peculiarly ready to observe, or whether it was really the case that the watchful eye of our lord specially guided us, certain it is that we thought we could perceive the whole course we took signally marked by providence. there were many prayers in scotland ascending up in our behalf, and the high priest gave the answer by shining upon our path. mr. m'cheyne has stated: "for much of our safety i feel indebted to the prayers of my people, i mean the christians among them, who do not forget us. if the veil of the world's machinery were lifted off, how much we would find is done in answer to the prayers of god's children." many things lost somewhat of their importance in our view, when examined amid the undistracted reflections of the long desert journey, where for many days we had quiet, like the quiet of death, around us all night long, and even during the bright day. it is the more interesting on this very account, to know his feelings there on the subject of the ministry. as his camel slowly bore him over the soft sandy soil, much did he ruminate on the happy days when he was permitted to use all his strength in preaching jesus to dying men. "use your health while you have it, my dear friend and brother. do not cast away peculiar opportunities that may never come again. you know not when your last sabbath with your people may come. speak for eternity. above all things, cultivate your own spirit. a word spoken by you when your conscience is clear, and your heart full of god's spirit, is worth ten thousand words spoken in unbelief and sin. this was my great fault in the ministry. remember it is god, and not man, that must have the glory. it is not much speaking, but much faith, that is needed. do not forget us. do not forget the saturday night meeting, nor the monday morning thanksgiving." thus he wrote on his way to a fellow-laborer in scotland. on our first sabbath in the holy land, our tent had been pitched in the vicinity of a colony of ants. it was in the tribe of simeon we were encamped; it was the scenery of the promised land we had around us; and one of the similitudes of the blessed word was illustrated within our view. he opened his bible at prov. : - , and, as he read, noted--"i. _consider her ways._ most souls are lost for want of consideration. ii. _the ant has no guide, overseer, or ruler_; no officer, no one to command or encourage her. how differently situated is the child of god! iii. _provideth her meat in the summer, etc._ some have thought that this teaches us to heap up money; but quite the reverse. the ant lays up no store for the future. it is all for present use. she is always busy summer and winter. the lesson is one of constant diligence in the lord's work." many a time in these days, when our attendants in the evening were driving in the stakes of our tent and stretching its cords, he would lie down on the ground under some tree that sheltered him from the dew. completely exhausted by the long day's ride, he would lie almost speechless for half an hour; and then, when the palpitation of his heart had a little abated, would propose that we two should pray together. often, too, did he say to me, when thus stretched on the ground,--not impatiently, but very earnestly,--"shall i ever preach to my people again?" i was often reproved by his unabated attention to personal holiness; for this care was never absent from his mind, whether he was at home in his quiet chamber, or on the sea, or in the desert. holiness in him was manifested, not by efforts to perform duty, but in a way so natural, that you recognized therein the easy outflowing of the indwelling spirit. the fountain springing up into everlasting life (john : ) in his soul, welled forth its living waters alike in the familiar scenes of his native scotland, and under the olive-tree of palestine. prayer and meditation on the word were never forgotten; and a peace that the world could not give kept his heart and mind. when we were detained a day at gaza, in very tantalizing circumstances, his remark was, "_jehovah jireh_; we are at that mount again." it was sweet at any time to be with him, for both nature and grace in him drew the very heart; but there were moments of enjoyment in these regions of palestine that drew every cord still closer, and created unknown sympathies. such was that evening when we climbed samson's hill together. sitting there, we read over the references to the place in the word of god; and then he took out his pencil and sketched the scene, as the sun was sinking in the west. this done, we sang some verses of a psalm, appropriate to the spot, offered up prayer, and, slowly descending, conversed of all we saw, and of all that was brought to mind by the scenery around us, till we reached our tent. in approaching jerusalem, we came up the pass of latroon. he writes: "the last day's journey to jerusalem was the finest i ever had in all my life. for four hours we were ascending the rocky pass upon our patient camels. it was like the finest of our highland scenes, only the trees and flowers, and the voice of the turtle, told us that it was immanuel's land." riding along, he remarked, that to have seen the plain of judea and this mountain-pass, was enough to reward us for all our fatigue; and then began to call up passages of the old testament scriptures which might seem to refer to such scenery as that before us. during our ten days at jerusalem, there were few objects within reach that we did not eagerly seek to visit. "we stood at the turning of the road where jesus came near and beheld the city and wept over it. and if we had had more of the mind that was in jesus, i think we should have wept also." this was his remark in a letter homeward; and to mr. bonar of larbert he expressed his feelings in regard to the mount of olives and its vicinity: "i remember the day when i saw you last, you said that there were other discoveries to be made than those in the physical world,--that there were sights to be seen in the spiritual world, and depths to be penetrated of far greater importance. i have often thought of the truth of your remark. but if there is a place on earth where physical scenery can help us to discover divine things, i think it is mount olivet. gethsemane at your feet leads your soul to meditate on christ's love and determination to undergo divine wrath for us. the cup was set before him there, and there he said. 'shall i not drink it?' the spot where he wept makes you think of his divine compassion, mingling with his human tenderness,--his awful justice, that would not spare the city,--his superhuman love, that wept over its coming misery! turning the other way, and looking to the south-east, you see bethany, reminding you of his love to his own,--that his name is love,--that in all our afflictions he is afflicted,--that those who are in their graves shall one day come forth at his command. a little farther down you see the dead sea, stretching far among the mountains its still and sullen waters. this deepens and solemnizes all, and makes you go away, saying, 'how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?'" he wrote to another friend in scotland, from mount zion, where we were then dwelling:-- mount zion, _june , ._ "my dear friend,--now that we are in the most wonderful spot in all this world,--where jesus lived and walked, and prayed and died, and will come again,--i doubt not you will be anxious to hear how we come on. i am thankful that ever he privileged us to come to this land. i heard of my flock yesterday by a letter from home,--the first i have received, dated th may.... we are living in one of the missionaries' houses on mount zion. my window looks out upon where the temple was, the beautiful mount of olives rising behind. the lord that made heaven and earth, bless thee out of zion.--yours," etc. one evening, after our visit to sychar, he referred to the bible which i had dropped into jacob's well. we were then resting from our journey in our tents. soon after he penned on a leaf of his note-book the following fragment:-- my own loved bible, must i part from thee, companion of my toils by land and sea; man of my counsels, soother of distress, guide of my steps through this world's wilderness in darkest nights, a lantern to my feet; in gladsome days, as dropping honey sweet. when first i parted from my quiet home, at thy command, for israel's good to roam. thy gentle voice said, "for jerusalem pray, so shall jehovah prosper all thy way." when through the lonely wilderness we strayed, sighing in vain for palm-trees' cooling shade, thy words of comfort hushed each rising fear, "the shadow of thy mighty rock is near." and when we pitched our tents on judah's hills, or thoughtful mused beside siloa's rills; whene'er we climbed mount olivet, to gaze upon the sea, where stood in ancient days the heaven-struck sodom-- sweet record of the past, to faith's glad eyes, sweet promiser of glories yet to rise![ ] [ ] it is a somewhat curious occurrence, that the remnants of this bible were found and drawn up from the bottom of the well, in july , by dr. wilson and his fellow-traveller, who employed a samaritan from sychar to descend and examine the well. at the foot of carmel, during the seven days we were in quarantine under the brow of the hill, we had time to recall many former scenes; and in these circumstances he wrote the hymn, _the fountain of siloam_. here, too, he had leisure to write home; and most graphically does he describe our journey from alexandria onward. carmel, _june , _ "my dear father, mother, etc.--it is a long time since i have been able to write to you,--this being the first time since leaving egypt that any one has appeared to carry letters for us. i must therefore begin by telling you that, by the good hand of our god upon me, i am in excellent health, and have been ever since i wrote you last. fatigues we have had many, and much greater than i anticipated; hardships and dangers we have also encountered, but god has brought us all safely through, and in fully better condition than when we began. you must not imagine that i have altogether lost the palpitation of my heart, for it often visits me to humble and prove me; still i believe it is a good deal better than it was, and its visits are not nearly so frequent. i hope very much, that in a cold bracing climate, and with less fatigue, i may perhaps not feel it at all. i was very thankful to receive your letter, dated th may,--the first since leaving home. i was delighted to hear of your health and safety, and of the peaceful communion at st. peter's. the public news was alarming and humbling.[ ] i suppose i had better begin at the beginning, and go over all our journeyings from the land of egypt through the howling wilderness to this sweet land of promise. i would have written _journalwise_ (as my mother would say) from time to time, so that i might have had an interesting budget of news ready; but you must remember it is a more fatiguing thing to ride twelve or fourteen hours on a camel's back, in a sandy wilderness, than in our home excursions; and i could often do nothing more than lie down on my rug and fall asleep. [ ] he alludes here to the decision of the house of lords in the auchterarder case. "we left alexandria on th may , parting from many kind friends in that strange city. we and our baggage were mounted on seventeen donkeys, like the sons of jacob, when they carried corn out of egypt. our saddle was our bedding, viz. a rug to lie on, a pillow for the head, and a quilt to wrap ourselves in. we afterwards added a straw mat to put below all. we had procured two tents,--one large, and a smaller one which andrew and i occupy. the donkeys are nice nimble little animals, going about five miles an hour; a wild arab accompanies each donkey. we have our two arab servants, to whom i now introduce you,--ibrahim, a handsome small-made egyptian, and achmet the cook, a dark good-natured fellow, with a white turban and bare black legs. ibrahim speaks a little english and italian, and achmet italian, in addition to their native arabic. i soon made friends with our arab donkey-men, learning arabic words and phrases; from them, which pleased them greatly. we journeyed by the bay of aboukir, close by the sea, which tempered the air of the desert. at night we reached rosetta, a curious half-inhabited eastern town. we saw an eastern marriage, which highly pleased us, illustrating the parables. it was by torch-light. we slept in the convent. . spent morning in rosetta; gave the monk a new testament. saw some of egyptian misery in the bazaar. saw the people praying in the mosque, friday being the moslem's day of devotion. in the evening we crossed the nile in small boats. it is a fine river; and its water, when filtered, is sweet and pleasant. we often thought upon it in the desert. we slept that night on the sand in our tents, by the sea-shore. .--in six hours we came to bourlos (you will see it in the map of the society for diffusing useful knowledge): were ferried across. watched the fishermen casting their nets into the sea: hot--hot. in two hours more through a palmy wilderness, we came to balteen,--'the vale of figs,' an arab village of mud huts. you little know what an arab house is. in general, in egypt, it is an exact square box made of mud, with a low hole for a door. the furniture is a mat and cooking things; an oven made of mud. .--spent our sabbath unoccupied in midst of the village; the poor arabs have no sabbath. the thermometer ° in tent. the governor called in the evening, and drank a cup of tea with great relish. the heat we felt much all day; still it was sweet to rest and remember you all in the wilderness. .--at twelve at night, left balteen by beautiful moonlight. proceeding through a pleasant african wild of palms and brushwood, we reached the sea in two hours, and rode along, its waves washing our feet: very sleepy. we got a rest at mid-day, if rest it could be called, under that scorching sun, which i never will forget. proceeding onward, at three o'clock we left the sea-shore, and perceived the minarets of damietta. before us the mirage cheated us often when we were very thirsty. we crossed the nile again, a much smaller branch,--the only remaining one,--and soon found ourselves comfortably reclining on the divan of the british consul, an egyptian gentleman of some fortune and manners. he entertained us at supper in true egyptian style; provided a room for us, where we spread our mats in peace. we spent the whole of the next day here, having sent off a bedouin to have camels ready for us at san. the consul entertained us in the same egyptian style of hospitality, and sent us away the next day on board of a barge upon lake menzaleh. .--even e---- would not have been afraid to sail upon the lake. it is nowhere more than ten feet deep, and in general only four or five. we made an awning with our mats, and spent a very happy day. at evening we entered a canal among immense reeds. in moonlight the scene was truly romantic; we slept moored to the shore all night. next morning ( ) we reached san about ten. this evening and next morning we spent in exploring the ruins of the ancient zoan, for this we find is the very spot. "wandering alone, we were quite surprised to find great mounds of brick, and pottery, and vitrified stones. andrew at last came upon beautiful obelisks. next morning we examined all carefully, and found two sphinxes and many egyptian obelisks. how wonderful to be treading over the ruins of the ancient capital of egypt! isaiah : . 'where are the princes of zoan?' ezek. : , 'god has set fire in zoan.' this is the very place where joseph was sold as a slave, and where moses did his wonders, psalm : . this was almost the only place where we have been in danger from the inhabitants. they are a wild race; and our arabs were afraid of them. you would have been afraid too, if you had seen, out of the door of our tent, our bedouins keeping watch all night with their naked sabres gleaming in the moonlight, firing off their guns now and then, and keeping up a low chaunt to keep one another awake. no evil happened to us, and we feel that many pray for us, and that god is with us. .--this day our journeyings on camels commenced and continued till we came to jerusalem. it is a strange mode of conveyance. you have seen a camel kneeling; it is in this condition that you mount; suddenly it rises first on its fore feet, and then on its hind feet. it requires great skill to hold yourself on during this operation; one time i was thrown fair over its head, but quite unhurt. when you find yourself exalted on the hunch of a camel, it is somwhat of the feeling of an aeronaut, as if you were bidding farewell to sublunary things; but when he begins to move, with solemn pace and slow, you are reminded of your terrestrial origin, and that a wrong balance or turn to the side will soon bring you down from your giddy height. you have no stirrup, and generally only your bed for your saddle; you may either sit as on horseback, or as on a sidesaddle,--the latter is the pleasanter, though not the safer of the two. the camel goes about three miles an hour, and the step is so long that the motion is quite peculiar. you bend your head toward your knees every step. with a vertical sun above and a burning sand below, you may believe it is a very fatiguing mode of journeying. however, we thought of rebecca and abraham's servant (gen. .), and listened with delight to the wild bedouin's plaintive song. that night ( ) we slept at menagie, a bedouin mud village: palm-trees and three wells, and an ocean of sand, formed the only objects of interest. .--up by sunrise, and proceeded as before. the only event this day was dr. black's fall from his camel, which greatly alarmed us. he had fallen asleep, which you are very apt to do. we encamped and used every restorative, so that we were able to proceed the same evening to gonatre, a miserable arab post, having a governor. not a tree. .--the sabbath dawned sweetly; thermometer ° in tent; could only lie on the mat and read psalms. evening.--gathered governor and bedouins to hear some words of eternal life, ibrahim interpreting. .--two very long stages brought us to katieh; thankful to god for his goodness, while we pitched by the date-trees. .--spent the day at katieh; interesting interviews with governor, a kind arab; thermometer ° in tent. same evening, proceeded through a greener desert, among flocks of goats and sheep, and encamped by a well, bir-el-abd. .--another hot day in the desert; came in sight of the sea, which gave us a refreshing breeze; bathed in the salt lake, as hot as a warm bath. evening.--encampment at abugilbany. .--this was our last day in the egyptian wilderness. we entered on a much more mountainous region. the heat very great; we literally panted for a breath of wind. the bedouins begged handkerchiefs to cover their heads, and often cast themselves under a bush for shade. towards sunset, we came down on the old ruins of rhinoculura, now buried in the sand; and soon after our camels kneeled down at the gates of el arish, the last town on the egyptian frontier. .--we spent in el arish, being unable to get fresh camels. we bought a sheep for five shillings; drank freely of their delightful water,--what a blessing after the desert! found out the river of egypt, the boundary of judah mentioned in the bible, quite dry. _june ._--visited the school,--a curiosity: all the children sit cross-legged on the floor, rocking to and fro, repeating something in arabic. we had a curious interview with the governor, sitting in the gate in the ancient manner. we are quite expert now at taking off our shoes and sitting in the eastern mode. smoking, and coffee in very small cups, are the constant accompaniments of these visits. left the same evening, and did not reach sheikh juidhe, in the land of the philistines, till the sun was nearly bursting into view. .--spent a happy sabbath here; sung 'in judah's land god is well known.' singing praises in our tents is very sweet, they are so frail, like our mortal bodies; they rise easily into the ears of our present father. our journey through the land of the philistines was truly pleasant. .--we went through a fine pasture country; immense straths; flocks of sheep and goats, and asses and camels, often came in sight. this is the very way up out of egypt, little changed from the day that the ethiopian went on his way rejoicing, and joseph and mary carried down the babe from the anger of herod. little changed, did i say? it is all changed; no more is there one brook of water. every river of egypt,--wady gaza, eshcol, sorek,--every brook we crossed, was dried up; not a drop of water. the land is changed; no more is it the rich land of philistia. the sand struggles with the grass for mastery. the cities are changed,--where are they? the people are changed: no more the bold philistines,--no more the children of simeon,--no more isaac and his herdsmen,--no more david and his horsemen; but miserable arab shepherds,--simple people, without ideas,--poor degraded, fearful. khanounes was the first town we entered: scripture name unknown. the burying-ground outside the town. the well, and people coming to draw, were objects of great interest to us. the people were highly entertained with us in return. we sat down in the bazaar, and were a spectacle to all. how much we longed to have the arabic tongue, that we might preach the unsearchable riches of christ in god's own land! same evening we heard the cry of the wolf, and encamped two miles from gaza. the plague was raging, so we did not enter, but spent a delightful day in comparing its condition with god's word concerning it: 'baldness is come upon gaza.' the old city is buried under sand-hills, without a blade of grass, so that it is bald indeed. the herds and flocks are innumerable, fulfilling zeph. ; andrew and i climbed the hill up which samson carried the gates. .--passed through a fine olive grove for many miles, and entered the vale of eshcol. the people were all in the fields cutting and bringing in their barley. they reap with the hook as we do. they seem to carry in at the same time upon camels. no vines in eshcol now, no pomegranates, but some green fig-trees. crossed the brook sorek--dry. spent the mid-day under the embowering shade of a fig-tree; tasted the apricots of the good land. same evening we came to doulis, which we take to be eshtaol, where samson was born. .--we went due east, and, after a mountain pass, saw the hills of judah,--an immense plain intervening, all studded with little towns. from their names, we found out many bible spots. this valley or plain is the very vale zephatha, of which you read in ii chron. ., 'in the plain of sephela.' before night we entered among the hills of judah,--very like our own highlands,--and slept all night among the mountains, at a deserted village called latroon. .--one of the most privileged days of our life. we broke up our tents by moonlight; soon the sun was up; we entered a defile of the most romantic character; wild rocks and verdant hills; wild-flowers of every color and fragrance scented our path. sometimes we came upon a clump of beautiful olive-trees, then wild again. the turtle's voice was heard in the land, and singing birds of sweetest note. our camels carried us up this pass for four hours; and our turbaned bedouins added by their strange figures to the scene. the terracing of all the hills is the most remarkable feature of judean scenery. every foot of the rockiest mountains may in this way be covered with vines. we thought of isaiah wandering here, and david and solomon. still all was wilderness. the hand of man had been actively employed upon every mountain, but where were these laborers now? judah is gone into captivity before the enemy. there are few men left in the land; not a vine is there. 'the vine languisheth.' we came down upon garieh, a village embosomed in figs and pomegranates. ascending again, we came down into the valley of elah, where david slew goliath. another long and steep ascent of a most rugged hill brought us into a strange scene--a desert of sunburnt rocks. i had read of this, and knew that jerusalem was near. i left my camel and went before, hurrying over the burning rocks. in about half an hour jerusalem came in sight. 'how doth the city sit solitary that was full of people!' is this the perfection of beauty? 'how hath the lord covered the daughter of zion with a cloud in his anger!' it is, indeed, very desolate. read the two first chapters of lamentations, and you have a vivid picture of our first sight of jerusalem. we lighted off our camels within the jaffa gate. among those that crowded round us, we observed several jews. i think i had better not attempt to tell you about jerusalem. there is so much to describe, and i know not where to begin. the consul, mr. young, received us most kindly, provided us a house where we might spread our mats, and helped us in every way. mr. nicolayson called the same evening, and insisted on our occupying one of the mission-houses on mount zion. the plague is still in jerusalem, so that we must keep ourselves in quarantine. the plague only communicates by contact, so that we are not allowed to touch any one, or let any one touch us. every night we heard the mourners going about the streets with their dismal wailings for the dead. on sabbath mr. nicolayson read the prayers, and dr. black preached from isaiah : . dr. keith in the evening. three converted jews were among the hearers. on monday ( ) we visited the sepulchre, and a painful sight, where we can find no traces of calvary. same evening rode up to the mount of olives: past gethsemane, a most touching spot. visited sir moses montefiore, a jew of london, encamped on mount olivet; very kind to us. .--went round the most of the places to be visited near jerusalem,--rephaim, gihon, siloa's brook, 'that flowed fast by the oracle of god;' the pool of siloam; the place where jesus wept over the city; bethany,--of all places my favorite; the tombs of the kings. such a day we never spent in this world before. the climate is truly delightful,--hot at mid-day, but delightful breezes at morn and even. .--a business day, getting information about jews. in the evening, walked to aceldama,--a dreadful spot. zion is ploughed like a field. i gathered some barley, and noticed cauliflowers planted in rows. see micah : . jerusalem is indeed heaps. the quantities of rubbish would amaze you,--in one place higher than the walls. .--we went to hebron, twenty miles south; mr. nicolayson, his son, the consul and ladies accompanying us, all on mules and horses, judah's cities are all waste. except bethlehem, we saw none but ruins till we reached hebron. the vines are beautifully cultivated here, and make it a paradise; the hills all terraced to the top. we spent a delightful evening and all next day. we met the jews, and had an interesting interview with them. we read genesis , and many other bible passages, with great joy. saw the mosque where the tomb of abraham and sarah is. .--returned by bethlehem to jerusalem. bethlehem is a sweet village, placed on the top of a rocky hill,--very white and dazzling. you see it on both sides of the hill. at rachel's sepulchre you see jerusalem on one hand and bethlehem on the other,--an interesting sight,--six miles apart. on sabbath we enjoyed the lord's supper in an upper chamber in jerusalem. it was a time much to be remembered. andrew preached in the evening from john : , . .--the plague has been increasing so that we think it better to depart. last visit to gethsemane, and bethany, and siloam. evening.--took farewell of all our friends at jerusalem, with much sorrow you may believe. went due north to ramah, by gibeon, and slept at beer, again in our tent, in benjamin. .--passed bethel, where jacob slept. passed through the rich and rocky defile of ephraim, by lebonah, to sychar. you cannot believe what a delightsome land it is. we sought anxiously for the well where jesus sat. andrew alone found it, and lost his bible in it. .--had a most interesting morning with the jews of sychar. saw many of them; also the samaritans in their synagogue. same evening visited samaria,--a wonderful place,--and encamped at sanor. .--arrived at carmel, where we now are, encamped within two yards of the sea. we have been in quarantine here seven days, as there is no plague north of this. several english are encamped here--lord r., lord h., etc. we have daily conversations sitting on the sand. we are not allowed to touch even the rope of a tent. acre is in sight across the bay. we have delightful bathing. to-morrow lord h. leaves, and kindly offers to take this. carmel's rocky brow is over us. we are all well and happy. on monday we propose leaving for tiberias and saphet. soon we shall be in beyrout, and on our way to smyrna. do not be anxious for me. trust us to god, who goes with us where we go. i only pray that our mission may be blessed to israel. sir moses m. has arrived, and pitched his tent within fifty yards of us. kindest regards to all that inquire after me, not forgetting dear w.--your affectionate son," etc. when the two elder brethren of the deputation left us for europe, we turned southward again from beyrout, to visit the regions of phoenicia and galilee. never did mr. m'cheyne seem more gladsome than in gazing on these regions. at tyre, he remembered the request of an elder in the parish of larbert, who had written to him before his departure, stating what he considered to be a difficulty in the ordinary expositions of the prophecies which speak of that renowned city. with great delight he examined the difficulty on the spot; and it is believed that his testimony on such points as these, when it reached some men of sceptical views in that scene of his early labors, was not unblest. from saphet he writes: "i sat looking down upon the lake this morning for about an hour. it was just at our feet,--the very water where jesus walked, where he called his disciples, where he rebuked the storm, where he said, 'children, have ye any meat?' after he rose from the dead. jesus is the same still." to his early and familiar friend, mr. somerville, he thus describes the same view: "oh what a view of the sea of galilee is before you, at your feet! it is above three hours' descent to the water's edge, and yet it looks as if you could run down in as many minutes. the lake is much larger than i had imagined. it is hemmed in by mountains on every side, sleeping as calmly and softly as if it had been the sea of glass which john saw in heaven. we tried in vain to follow the course of the jordan running through it. true, there were clear lines, such as you see in the wake of a vessel, but then these did not go straight through the lake. the hills of bashan are very high and steep, where they run into the lake. at one point, a man pointed out to us where the tombs in the rocks are, where the demoniacs used to live: and near it the hills were exactly what the scriptures describe, 'a steep place,' where the swine ran down into the sea. on the north-east of the sea, hermon rises very grand, intersected with many ravines full of snow." the day we spent at the lake--at the very water-side--was ever memorable, it was so peculiarly sweet! we left an indescribable interest even in lifting a shell from the shore of a sea where jesus had so often walked. it was here that two of the beautiful hymns in _the songs of zion_ were suggested to him. the one was, _how pleasant to me_, etc.; the other, _to yonder side_; but the latter lay beside him unfinished till a later period. his complaint was now considerably abated; his strength seemed returning: and often did he long to be among his people again, though quieting his soul upon the lord. not a few pastors of another church have from time to time come forth to this land, compelled by disease to seek for health in foreign regions; but how rarely do we find the pastor's heart retained,--how rarely do we discover that the shepherd yearns still over the flock he left! but so deep was mr. m'cheyne's feelings toward the flock over which the holy ghost had made him overseer, that his concern for them became a temptation to his soul. it was not in the mere desire to preach again that he manifested this concern; for this desire might have been selfish, as he said: "no doubt there is pride in this anxiety to preach; a submissive soul would rejoice only in doing the present will of god." but his prayers for them went up daily to the throne. we had precious seasons of united prayer also for that same end,--especially one morning at sunrise in gethsemane, and another morning at carmel, where we joined in supplication on the silent shore at the foot of the hill as soon as day dawned, and then again, at evening, on the top, where elijah prayed. distance of place of peculiarities of circumstance never altered his views of duty, nor changed his feelings as a minister of christ. in galilee he meditated upon the aspect of ecclesiastical affairs in our beloved scotland; and the principles he had maintained appeared to him as plainly accordant with the word of god when tried there, apart from excitement, as they did when he reviewed them in connection with their effects at home. "i hope," were his words to a brother in the ministry, "i hope the church has been well guided and blessed; and if times of difficulty are to come, i do believe there is no position so proper for her to be in as the attitude of a missionary church, giving freely to jew and gentile, as she has freely received,--so may she be found when the lord comes." at the foot of lebanon, in the town of beyrout, he was able to expound a chapter (acts .) at a prayer-meeting of the american brethren. this quite rejoiced his heart; for it seemed as if the lord were restoring him, and meant again to use him in preaching the glad tidings. but shortly after, during the oppressive heat of the afternoon, he felt himself unwell. he had paid a visit to a young man from glasgow in the town, who was ill of fever; and it is not unlikely that this visit, at a time when he was in a state of debility from previous fatigue, was the immediate occasion of his own illness. he was very soon prostrated under the fever. but his medical attendant apprehended no danger, and advised him to proceed to smyrna, in the belief that the cool air of the sea would be much more in his favor than the sultry heat of beyrout. accordingly, in company with our faithful hebrew friend erasmus calman, we embarked; but as we lay off cyprus, the fever increased to such a height, that he lost his memory for some hours, and was racked with excessive pain in his head. when the vessel sailed, he revived considerably, but during three days no medical aid could be obtained. he scarcely ever spoke; and only once did he for a moment, on a saturday night, lift his languid eye, as he lay on deck enjoying the breeze, to catch a distant sight of patmos. we watched him with agonizing anxiety till we reached smyrna and the village of bouja. though three miles off, yet, for the sake of medical aid, he rode to this village upon a mule after sunset, ready to drop every moment with pain and burning fever. but here the lord had prepared for him the best and kindest help. the tender and parental care of mr. and mrs. lewis, in whose house he found a home, was never mentioned by him but with deepest gratitude; and the sight of the flowering jessamine, or the mention of the deep-green cypress, would invariably call up in his mind associations of bouja and its inmates. he used to say it was his second birth-place. during that time, like most of god's people who have been in sickness, he felt that a single passage of the word of god was more truly food to his fainting soul than anything besides. one day his spirit revived, and his eye glistened, when i spoke of the saviour's sympathy, adducing as the very words of jesus, psalm : : "_blessed is he that considereth the poor: the lord will deliver him in time of trouble,_" etc. it seemed so applicable to his own case, as a minister of the glad tidings; for often had he "considered the poor," carrying a cup of cold water to a disciple. another passage, written for the children of god in their distress, was spoken to him when he seemed nearly insensible: "_call upon me in the day of trouble._" this word of god was as the drop of honey to jonathan. he himself thus spoke of his illness to his friends at home: "i left the foot of lebanon when i could hardly see, or hear, or speak, or remember; i felt my faculties going, one by one, and i had every reason to expect that i would soon be with my god. it is a sore trial to be alone and dying in a foreign land, and it has made me feel, in a way that i never knew before, the necessity of having unfeigned faith in jesus and in god. sentiments, natural feelings, glowing fancies of divine things, will not support the soul in such an hour. there is much self-delusion in our estimation of ourselves when we are untried, and in the midst of christian friends, whose warm feelings give a glow to ours, which they do not possess in themselves." even then he had his people in his heart. "when i got better, i used to creep out in the evenings about sunset. i often remembered you all then. i could not write, as my eyes and head were much affected; i could read but very little; i could speak very little, for i had hardly any voice; and so i had all my time to lay my people before god, and pray for a blessing on them. about the last evening i was there, we all went to the vintage, and i joined in gathering the grapes." to mr. somerville he wrote: "my mind was very weak when i was at the worst, and therefore the things of eternity were often dim. _i had no fear to die, for christ had died._ still i prayed for recovery, if it was the lord's will. you remember you told me to be humble among your last advices. you see god is teaching me the same thing. i fear i am not thoroughly humbled. i feel the pride of my heart, and bewail it." to his kind medical friend, dr. gibson, in dundee, he wrote: "i really believed that my master had called me home, and that i would sleep beneath the dark-green cypresses of bouja till the lord shall come, and they that sleep in jesus come with him; and my most earnest prayer was for my dear flock, that god would give them a pastor after his own heart." when we met, after an eight days' separation, on board the vessel at constantinople, he mentioned as one of the most interesting incidents of the week, that one evening, while walking with mr. lewis, they met a young greek and his wife, both of whom were believed to be really converted souls. it created a thrill in his bosom to meet with these almost solitary representatives of the once faithful and much tried native church of smyrna. meanwhile there were movements at home that proved the lord to be he who "alone doeth wondrous things." the cry of his servant in asia was not forgotten; the eye of the lord turned towards his people. it was during the time of mr. m'cheyne's sore sickness that his flock in dundee were receiving blessing from the opened windows of heaven. their pastor was lying at the gate of death, in utter helplessness. but the lord had done this on very purpose; for he meant to show that he needed not the help of any: he could send forth new laborers, and work by new instruments, when it pleased him. we little knew that during the days when we were waiting at the foot of lebanon for a vessel to carry us to smyrna, the arm of the lord had begun to be revealed in scotland. on the d of july the great revival at kilsyth took place. mr. w.c. burns, the same who was supplying mr. m'cheyne's place in his absence, was on that day preaching to his father's flock; and while pressing upon them immediate acceptance of christ with deep solemnity, the whole of the vast assembly were overpowered. the holy spirit seemed to come down as a rushing mighty wind, and to fill the place. very many were that day struck to the heart; the sanctuary was filled with distressed and inquiring souls. all scotland heard the glad news that the sky was no longer as brass,--that the rain had begun to fall. the spirit in mighty power began to work from that day forward in many places of the land. mr. burns returned to mr. m'cheyne's flock on august th,--one of the days when mr. m'cheyne was stretched on his bed, praying for his people under all his own suffering. the news of the work at kilsyth had produced a deep impression in dundee; and two days after, the spirit began to work in st. peter's, at the time of the prayer-meeting in the church, in a way similar to kilsyth. day after day the people met for prayer and hearing the word; and the times of the apostles seemed returned, when "the lord added to the church daily of such as should be saved." all this time, mr. m'cheyne knew not how gracious the lord had been in giving him his heart's desire. it was not till we were within sight of home that the glad news of these revivals reached our ears. but he continued, like epaphras, "laboring fervently in prayer," and sought daily to prepare himself for a more efficient discharge of his office, should the lord restore him to it again. he sends home this message to a fellow-laborer: "do not forget to carry on the work in hearts brought to a saviour. i feel this was one of my faults in the ministry. nourish babes; comfort downcast believers; counsel those perplexed; perfect that which is lacking in their faith. prepare them for sore trials. i fear most christians are quite unready for days of darkness."--(_mr. moody stuart_.) our journey led us through moldavia, wallachia, and austria,--lands of darkness and of the shadow of death. profound strangers to the truth as it is in jesus, the people of these lands, nevertheless, profess to be christians. superstition and its idolatries veil the glorious object of faith from every eye. in these regions, as well as in those already traversed. mr. m'cheyne's anxiety for souls appeared in the efforts he made to leave at least a few words of scripture with the jews whom we met, however short the time of our interview. his spirit was stirred in him; and, with his hebrew bible in his hand, he would walk up thoughtfully and solemnly to the first jew he could get access to, and begin by calling the man's attention to some statement of god's word. in palestine, if the jew did not understand italian, he would repeat to him such texts in hebrew as, "in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of david," etc. (zech. : .) and one evening, at the well of doulis, when the arab population were all clustered round the water troughs, he looked on very wistfully, and said, "if only we had arabic, we might sow beside all waters!" at jassy, after a deeply interesting day, spent in conversation with jews who came to the inn, he said, "i will remember the faces of those men at the judgment-seat." when he came among the more educated jews of europe, he rejoiced to find that they could converse with him in latin. his heart was bent on doing what he could (mark : ), in season and out of season. "one thing," he writes, "i am deeply convinced of, that god can make the simplest statement of the gospel effectual to save souls. if only it be the true gospel, the good tidings, the message that god loved the world, and provided a ransom free to all, then god is able to make it wound the heart, and heal it too. there is deep meaning in the words of paul, 'i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ.'" the abominations of popery witnessed in austrian poland, called forth many a prayer for the destruction of the man of sin. "the images and idols by the wayside are actually frightful, stamping the whole land as a kingdom of darkness. i do believe that a journey through austria would go far to cure some of the popery-admirers of our beloved land." he adds: "these are the marks of the beast upon this land." and in like manner our privileges in scotland used to appear to him the more precious, when, as at brody, we heard of protestants who were supplied with sermon only once a year. "i must tell this to my people," said he, "when i return, to make them prize their many seasons of grace." he estimated the importance of a town or country by its relation to the house of israel; and his yearnings over these lost sheep resembled his bowels of compassion for his flock at home. at tarnapol, in galicia, he wrote home: "we are in tarnapol, a very nice clean town, prettily situated on a winding stream, with wooded hills around. i suppose you never heard its name before; neither did i till we were there among jews. i know not whether it has been the birth-place of warriors, or poets, or orators; its flowers have hitherto been born to blush unseen, at least by us barbarians of the north; but if god revive the dry bones of israel that are scattered over the world, there will arise from this place an exceeding great army." our friend and brother in the faith, erasmus calman, lightened the tediousness of a long day's journey by repeating to us some hebrew poetry. one piece was on israel's present state of degradation; it began-- [hebrew: tsuri goali maheir v'chish p'dut ] as the vehicle drove along, we translated it line by line, and soon after mr. m'cheyne put it into verse. the following lines are a part:-- rock and refuge of my soul, swiftly let the season roll, when thine israel shall arise lovely in the nations' eyes! lord of glory, lord of might, as our ransomed fathers tell; once more for thy people fight, plead for thy loved israel. give our spoilers' towers to be waste and desolate as we. hasten, lord, the joyful year, when thy zion, tempest-tossed, shall the silver trumpet hear: bring glad tidings to the lost! captive, cast thy cords from thee, loose thy neck--be free--be free! why dost thou behold our sadness? see the proud have torn away all our years of solemn gladness, when thy flock kept holy-day! lord, thy fruitful vine is bare, not one gleaning grape is there! rock and refuge of my soul, swiftly let the season roll, when thine israel shall be, once again, beloved and free. in his notes, he has one or two subjects marked for hymns. one of these is--isaiah : --"come ye," etc., _a loving call to the jews_. another is to the same effect--isaiah : --"come, let us reason together." but these he never completed. in cracow, having heard of the death of a friend, the wife of an english clergyman, in the midst of her days and in the full promise of usefulness, he began to pen a few sweet lines of comfort: oft as she taught the little maids of france to leave the garland, castanet, and dance, and listen to the words which she would say about the crowns that never fade away, a new expression kindled in her eye, a holy brightness, borrowed from the sky. and when returning to her native land, she bowed beneath a father's chast'ning hand, when the quick pulse and flush upon the cheek, a touching warning to her friends would speak, a holy cheerfulness yet filled her eye, willing she was to live, willing to die. as the good shunammite (the scriptures tell), when her son died, said meekly, "it is well," so when sophia lost her infant boy, and felt how dear-bought is a mother's joy, when with green turf the little grave she spread, "not lost, but gone before," she meekly said. and now they sleep together 'neath the willow the same dew drops upon their silent pillow. return, o mourner, from this double grave, and praise the god who all her graces gave. follow her faith, and let her mantle be a cloak of holy zeal to cover thee. the danger which he incurred from the shepherds in this region, and other similar perils to which he was exposed in company with others, have been recorded in the _narrative_. out of them all the lord delivered him; and not from these perils only did he save him, but from many severe trials to his health, to which variety of climate and discomforts of accommodation subjected him. and now we were traversing prussia, drawing nearer our own land. it was about five months since we had received letters from scotland, our route having led us away from places which we had anticipated visiting, and where communications had been left for us. we pressed homeward somewhat anxiously, yet wondering often at past mercies. in a letter from berlin, mr. m'cheyne remarked, "our heavenly father has brought us through so many trials and dangers that i feel persuaded he will yet carry us to the end. like john, we shall fulfil our course. 'are there not twelve hours in the day?' are we not all immortal till our work is done?" his strength was rapidly increasing; the journey had answered the ends anticipated to a great extent, in his restoration to health. he was able to preach at hamburgh to the english congregation of mr. rheder, from whom it was that the first hint of a revival in dundee reached his ears. he heard just so much both of kilsyth and dundee as to make him long to hear more. a few days after, on board the vessel that conveyed us to england, he thus expressed his feelings:-- "sailing up the thames, _nov. , ._ "my dear father and mother,--you will be glad to see by the date that we are once more in sight of the shores of happy england. i only wish i knew how you all are. i have not heard of you since i was in smyrna. in vain did i inquire for letters from you at cracow, berlin, and hamburgh. you must have written to warsaw, and the resident there has not returned them to berlin, as we desired. andrew and i and mr. calman are all quite well, and thankful to god, who has brought us through every danger in so many countries. i trust our course has not been altogether fruitless, and that we may now resign our commission with some hope of good issuing from it to the church and to israel. i preached last sabbath in hamburgh, for the first time since leaving england, and felt nothing the worse of it; so that i do hope it is my heavenly father's will to restore me to usefulness again among my beloved flock. we have heard something of a reviving work at kilsyth. we saw it noticed in one of the newspapers. i also saw the name of dundee associated with it; so that i earnestly hope good has been doing in our church, and the dew from on high watering our parishes, and that the flocks whose pastors have been wandering may also have shared in the blessing. we are quite ignorant of the facts, and you may believe we are anxious to hear.... we are now passing woolwich, and in an hour will be in london. we are anxious to be home, but i suppose will not get away till next week. i never thought to have seen you again in this world, but now i hope to meet you once more in peace.--believe me, your affectionate son," etc. the day we arrived on the shores of our own land was indeed a singular day. we were intensely anxious to hear of events that had occurred at home a few months before,--the outpouring of the spirit from on high,--while our friends were intensely interested in hearing tidings of the land of israel and the scattered tribes. the reception of deputation on their return, and the fruits of their mission, are well known, and have been elsewhere recorded. mr. m'cheyne listened with deepest interest to the accounts given of what had taken place in dundee during the month of august, when he lay at the gates of death in bouja. the lord had indeed fulfilled his hopes, and answered his prayers. his assistant, mr. burns, had been honored of god to open the floodgate at dundee as well as at kilsyth. for some time before, mr. burns had seen symptoms of deeper attention than usual, and of real anxiety in some that had hitherto been careless. but it was after his return from kilsyth that the people began to melt before the lord. on thursday, the second day after his return, at the close of the usual evening prayer-meeting in st. peter's, and when the minds of many were deeply solemnized by the tidings which had reached them, he spoke a few words about what had for some days detained him from them, and invited those to remain who felt the need of an outpouring of the spirit to convert them. about a hundred remained; and at the conclusion of a solemn address to these anxious souls, suddenly the power of god seemed to descend, and all were bathed in tears. at a similar meeting next evening, in the church, there was much melting of heart and intense desire after the beloved of the father; and on adjourning to the vestry, the arm of the lord was revealed. no sooner was the vestry-door opened to admit those who might feel anxious to converse, than a vast number pressed in with awful eagerness. it was like a pent-up flood breaking forth; tears were streaming from the eyes of many, and some fell on the ground groaning, and weeping, and crying for mercy. onward from that evening, meetings were held every day for many weeks, and the extraordinary nature of the work justified and called for extraordinary services. the whole town was moved. many believers doubted; the ungodly raged; but the word of god grew mightily and prevailed. instances occured where whole families were affected at once, and each could be found mourning apart, affording a specimen of the times spoken of by zechariah ( : ). mr. baxter of hilltown, mr. hamilton, then assistant at abernyte, and other men of god in the vicinity, hastened to aid in the work. mr. roxburgh of st. john's, and mr. lewis of st. david's, examined the work impartially and judiciously, and testified it to be of god. dr. m'donald of ferintosh, a man of god well experienced in revivals, came to the spot and put to his seal also, and continued in town, preaching in st. david's church to the anxious multitudes, during ten days. how many of those who were thus awfully awakened were really brought to the truth, it was impossible to ascertain. when mr. m'cheyne arrived, drop after drop was still failing from the clouds. such in substance were the accounts he heard before he reached dundee. they were such as made his heart rejoice. he had no envy at another instrument having been so honored in the place where he himself had labored with many tears and temptations. in true christian magnanimity, he rejoiced that the work of the lord was done, by whatever hand. full of praise and wonder, he set his foot once more on the shore of dundee. chapter v. days of revival. "_they shall spring up as among the grass, as willows by the water-courses_"--isaiah : his people, who had never ceased to pray for him, welcomed his arrival among them with the greatest joy. he reached dundee on a thursday afternoon; and in the evening of the same day,--being the usual time for prayer in st. peter's,--after a short meditation, he hastened to the church, there to render thanks to the lord, and to speak once more to his flock. the appearance of the church that evening, and the aspect of the people, he never could forget. many of his brethren were present to welcome him, and to hear the first words of his opened lips. there was not a seat in the church unoccupied, the passages were completely filled, and the stairs up to the pulpit were crowded, on the one side with the aged, on the other with eagerly-listening children. many a face was seen anxiously gazing on their restored pastor; many were weeping under the unhealed wounds of conviction; all were still and calm, intensely earnest to hear. he gave out psalm ; and the manner of singing, which had been remarked since the revival began, appeared to him peculiarly sweet,--"so tender and affecting, as if the people felt that they were praising a present god." after solemn prayer with them, he was able to preach for above an hour. not knowing how long he might be permitted to proclaim the glad tidings, he seized that opportunity, not to tell of his journeyings, but to show the way of life to sinners. his subject was i cor. . - ,--the matter, the manner, and the accompaniments of paul's preaching. it was a night to be remembered. on coming out of the church, he found the road to his house crowded with old and young, who were waiting to welcome him back. he had to shake hands with many at the same time; and before this happy multitude would disperse, had to speak some words of life to them again, and pray with them where they stood. "to thy name. o lord," said he that night, when he returned to his home, "to thy name, o lord, be all the glory!" a month afterwards, he was visited by one who had hitherto stood out against all the singular influence of the revival, but who that night was deeply awakened under his words, so that the arrow festered in her soul, till she came crying, "oh my hard, hard heart!" on the sabbath he preached to his flock in the afternoon. he chose ii chron. : , , as his subject; and in the close, his hearers remember well how affectionately and solemnly he said: "dearly beloved and longed for, i now begin another year of my ministry among you; and i am resolved, if god give me health and strength, that i will not let a man, woman, or child among you alone, until you have at least heard the testimony of god concerning his son, either to your condemnation or salvation. and i will pray, as i have done before, that if the lord will indeed give us a great outpouring of his spirit, he will do it in such a way that it will be evident to the weakest child among you that it is the lord's work, and not man's. i think i may say to you, as rutherford said to his people, 'your heaven would be two heavens to me.' and if the lord be pleased to give me a crown from among you, i do here promise in his sight, that i will cast it at his feet, saying, 'worthy is the lamb that was slain! blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the lamb forever and ever.'" it was much feared for a time that a jealous spirit would prevail among the people of st. peter's, some saying, "i am of paul; and others, i of cephas." those recently converted were apt to regard their spiritual father in a light in which they could regard none besides. but mr. m'cheyne had received from the lord a holy disinterestedness that suppressed every feeling of envy. many wondered at the single-heartedness he was enabled to exhibit. he could sincerely say, "i have no desire but the salvation of my people, by whatever instrument." never, perhaps, was there one placed in better circumstances for testing the revival impartially, and seldom has any revival been more fully tested. he came among a people whose previous character he knew; he found a work wrought among them during his absence, in which he had not had any direct share; he returned home to go out and in among them, and to be a close observer of all that had taken place; and after a faithful and prayerful examination, he did most unhesitatingly say, that the lord had wrought great things, whereof he was glad; and in the case of many of those whose souls were saved in that revival, he discovered remarkable answers to the prayers of himself, and of those who had come to the truth, before he left them. he wrote to me his impressions of the work, when he had been a few weeks among his people:-- _dec. , ._ "rev. and. a. bonar, collace. "my dear a.,--i begin upon note-paper, because i have no other on hand but our thin travelling paper. i have much to tell you, and to praise the lord for. i am grieved to hear that there are no marks of the spirit's work about collace during your absence; but if satan drive you to your knees, he will soon find cause to repent it. remember how fathers do to their children when they ask bread. how much more shall our heavenly father give ([greek: hagatha]) all good things to them that ask him. remember the rebuke which i once got from old mr. dempster of denny, after preaching to his people: 'i was highly pleased with your discourse, but in prayer it struck me that you thought god _unwilling to give_.' remember daniel: 'at the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth.' and do not think you are forgotten by me as long as i have health and grace to pray. "everything here i have found in a state better than i expected. the night i arrived i preached to such a congregation as i never saw before. i do not think another person could have got into the church, and there was every sign of the deepest and tenderest emotion. r. macdonald was with me, and prayed. affliction and success in the ministry have taught and quickened him. i preached on i cor. : - , and felt what i have often heard, that it is easy to preach where the spirit of god is. on the friday night mr. burns preached. on the sabbath i preached on that wonderful passage, ii chron. : , ; mr. burns preached twice, morning and evening. his views of divine truth are clear and commanding. there is a great deal of substance in what he preaches, and his manner is very powerful,--so much so, that he sometimes made me tremble. in private he is deeply prayerful, and seems to feel his danger of falling into pride. "i have seen many of the awakened, and many of the saved; indeed, this is a pleasant place compared with what it was once. some of the awakened are still in the deepest anxiety and distress. their great error is exactly what your brother horace told me. they think that coming to christ is some strange act of their mind, different from believing what god has said of his son; so much so, that they will, tell you with one breath, i believe all that. god has said, and yet with the next complain that they cannot come to christ, or close with christ. it is very hard to deal with this delusion. "i find some old people deeply shaken; they feel insecure. one confirmed drunkard has come to me, and is, i believe, now a saved man. some little children are evidently saved. all that i have yet seen are related to converts of my own. one, eleven years old, is a singular instance of divine grace. when i asked if she desired to be made holy, she said, 'indeed, i often wish i was awa, that i might sin nae mair.' a.l., of fifteen, is a fine tender-hearted believer. w.s., ten, is also a happy boy. "many of my own dear children in the lord are much advanced; much more full of joy,--their hearts lifted up in the ways of the lord. i have found many more savingly impressed under my own ministry than i knew of. some have come to tell me. in one case a whole family saved. i have hardly met with anything to grieve me. surely the lord hath dealt bountifully with me. i fear, however, that the great spirit has in some measure passed by,--i hope soon to return in greater power than ever. the week meetings are thinner now. i will turn two of them into my classes soon, and so give solid, regular instruction, of which they stand greatly in need. i have not met with one case of extravagance or false fire, although doubtless there may be many. at first they used to follow in a body to our house, and expected many an address and prayer by the road. they have given up this now. i preached last sabbath twice, first on isaiah : - , and then on rev. : , 'overcame by the blood of the lamb.' it was a very solemn day. the people willingly sat till it was dark. many make it a place of bochim. still there is nothing of the power which has been. i have tried to persuade mr. burns to stay with us, and i think he will remain in dundee. i feel fully stronger in body than when i left you. instead of exciting me, there is everything to solemnize and still my feelings. eternity sometimes seems very near. "i would like your advice about prayer-meetings; how to consolidate them; what rules should be followed, if any; whether there should be mere reading of the word and prayer, or free converse also on the passage? we began to-day a ministerial prayer-meeting, to be held every monday at eleven, for an hour and a half. this is a great comfort, and may be a great blessing. of course we do not invite the colder ministers; that would only damp our meeting. tell me if you think this right. "and now, dear a., i must be done, for it is very late. may your people share in the quickening that has come over dundee! i feel it a very powerful argument with many: 'will you be left dry when others are getting drops of heavenly dew?' try this with your people. "i think it probable we shall have another communion again before the regular one. it seems very desirable. you will come and help us; and perhaps horace too. "i thought of coming back by collace from errol, if our glasgow meeting had not come in the way. "will you set agoing your wednesday meeting again, immediately? "farewell, dear a. 'oh man, greatly beloved, fear not; peace be to thee; be strong; yea, be strong.' yours ever," etc. to mr. burns he thus expresses himself on _december _: "my dear brother,--i shall never be able to thank you for all your labors among the precious souls committed to me; and what is worse, i can never thank god fully for his kindness and grace, which every day appear to me more remarkable. he has answered prayer to me in all that has happened, in a way which i have never told any one." again, on the _ st_: "stay where you are, dear brother, as long as the lord has any work for you to do.[ ] if i know my own heart, its only desire is that christ may be glorified, by souls flocking to him, and abiding in him, and reflecting his image; and whether it be in perth or dundee, should signify little to us. you know i told you my mind plainly, that i thought the lord had so blessed you in dundee, that you were called to a fuller and deeper work there; but if the lord accompanies you to other places, i have nothing to object. the lord strengthened my body and soul last sabbath, and my spirit also was glad. the people were much alive in the lord's service. but oh! dear brother, the most are christless still. the rich are almost untroubled." [ ] mr burns was at that time in perth, and there had begun to be some movement among the dry bones. his evidence on this subject is given fully in his answers to the queries put by a committee of the aberdeen presbytery; and in a note to a friend, he incidentally mentions a pleasing result of this wide-spread awakening: "i find many souls saved under my own ministry, whom i never knew of before. they are not afraid to come out now, it has become so common a thing to be concerned about the soul." at that time, also, many came from a distance; one came from the north, who had been a year in deep distress of soul, to seek christ in dundee. in his brief diary he records, on december , that twenty anxious souls had that night been conversing with him; "many of them very deeply interesting." he occasionally fixed an evening for the purpose of meeting with those who were awakened; and in one of his note-books there are at least _four hundred_ visits recorded, made to him by inquiring souls, in the course of that and the following years. he observed, that those who had been believers formerly had got their hearts enlarged, and were greatly established; and some seemed able to feed upon the truth in a new manner,--as when one related to him how there had for some time appeared a glory in the reading of the word in public, quite different from reading it alone. at the same time he saw backslidings, both among those whom believers had considered really converted, and among those who had been deeply convicted, though never reckoned among the really saved. he notes in his book: "called to see ----. poor lad, he seems to have gone back from christ, led away by evil company. and yet i felt sure of him at one time. what blind creatures ministers are! man looketh at the outward appearance." one morning he was visited by one of his flock, proposing "a concert for prayer on the following monday, in behalf of those who had fallen back, that god's spirit might re-awaken them,"--so observant were the believers as well as their pastor of declensions. among those who were awakened, but never truly converted, he mentions one case. "_jan. , ._--met with the case of one who had been frightened during the late work, so that her bodily health was injured. she seems to have no care now about her soul. it has only filled her mouth with evil-speaking." that many, who promised fair, drew back and walked no more with jesus, is true. out of about souls who, during the months of the revival, conversed with different ministers in apparent anxiety, no wonder surely if many proved to have been impressed only for a time. president edwards considered it likely that, in such cases, the proportion of real conversions might resemble the proportion of blossoms in spring, and fruit in autumn. nor can anything be more unreasonable than to doubt the truth of all, because of the deceit of some. the world itself does not so act in judging of its own. the world reckons upon the possibility of being mistaken in many cases, and yet does not cease to believe that there is honesty and truth to be found. one of themselves, a poet of their own, has said with no less justice than beauty-- "angels are bright still, though the brightest fell; and though foul things put on the brows of grace, yet grace must still look so." but, above all, we have the authority of the word of god, declaring that such backslidings are the very tests of the true church: "for there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you," i cor. : . it is not, however, meant that any who had really believed went back to perdition. on the contrary, it is the creed of every sound evangelical church, that those who do go back to perdition were persons who never really believed in jesus. their eyes may have been opened to see the dread realities of sin and of the wrath to come; but if they saw not righteousness for their guilty souls in the saviour, there is nothing in all scripture to make us expect that they will continue awake. "awake, them that sleepest, and _christ will give thee light_," is the call--inviting sinners to a point far beyond mere conviction. one who, for a whole year, went back to folly, said: "'your sermon on the corruption of the heart made me despair, and so i gave myself up to my old ways--attending dances, learning songs," etc. a knowledge of our guilt, and a sense of danger, will not of themselves keep us from falling; nay, these, if alone, may (as in the above case) thrust us down the slippery places. we are truly secure only when our eye is on jesus, and our hand locked in his hand. so that the history of backslidings, instead of leading us to doubt the reality of grace in believers, will only be found to teach us two great lessons, viz. the vast importance of pressing immediate salvation on awakened souls, and the reasonableness of standing in doubt of all, however deep their convictions, who have not truly fled to the hope set before them. there was another ground of prejudice against the whole work, arising from the circumstance that the lord had employed in it young men not long engaged in the work of the ministry, rather than the fathers in israel. but herein it was that sovereign grace shone forth the more conspicuously. do such objectors suppose that god ever intends the honor of man in a work of revival? is it not the honor of his own name that he seeks? had it been his wish to give the glory to man at all, then indeed it might have been asked, "why does he pass by the older pastors, and call for the inexperienced youth?" but when sovereign grace was coming to bless a region in the way that would redound most to the glory of the lord, can we conceive a wiser plan than to use the sling of david in bringing down the philistine? if, however, there be some whose prejudice is from the root of envy, let such hear the remonstrance of richard baxter to the jealous ministers of his day. "what! malign christ in gifts for which he should have the glory, and all because they seem to hinder our glory! does not every man owe thanks to god for his brethren's gifts, not only as having himself part in them, as the foot has the benefit of the guidance of the eye, but also because his own ends may be attained by his brethren's gifts as well as by his own?... a fearful thing that any man, that hath the least of the fear of god, should so envy at god's gifts, that he would rather his carnal hearers were unconverted, and the drowsy not awakened, than that it should be done by another who may be preferred before them."[ ] [ ] _reformed pastor_, : . the work of the spirit went on, the stream flowing gently; for the heavy showers had fallen, and the overflowing of the waters had passed by. mr. m'cheyne became more than ever vigilant and discriminating in dealing with souls. observing, also, that some were influenced more by feelings of strong attachment to their pastor personally, than by the power of the truths he preached, he became more reserved in his dealings with them, so that some thought there was a little coldness or repulsiveness in his manner. if there did appear anything of this nature to some, certainly it was no indication of diminished compassion; but, on the contrary, proceeded from a scrupulous anxiety to guard others against the deceitful feelings of their own souls. a few notes of his work occur at this period. "_nov. , ._--a pleasant meeting in the cross church on wednesday last, for the seamen. all that spoke seemed to honor the saviour. i had to move thanksgiving to god for his mercies. this has been a real blessing to dundee. it should not be forgotten in our prayers and thanksgivings." "_nov. _, thursday evening.--much comfort in speaking. there was often an awful stillness. spoke on jer. : : 'they have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly.'" etc. "_dec. ._--this evening came a tender christian, so far as i can see; an exposition of that text, '_i will go softly_,' or of that other, '_thou shall not open thy mouth any more_.' a child of shame made one of honor. her sister was awakened under mr. baxter's words in st. peter's, of whom he asked, 'would you like to be holy?' she replied, 'indeed, i often wish i were dead that i might sin no more.'" "_dec. ._--preached six times within these two days." "_dec. ._--saw j.t. in fever. she seems really in christ now; tells me how deeply my words sank into her soul when i was away. a.m. stayed to tell me her joy. j.b. walked home with me, telling me what god had done for his soul, when one day i had stopped at the quarry on account of a shower of rain, and took shelter with my pony in the engine-house." he had simply pointed to the fire of the furnace, and said, "what does that remind you of?" and the words had remained deep in the man's soul. "_dec. ._--a woman awakened that night i preached in j.d.'s green, about two years ago, on ezek. : . for twenty years she had been out of church privileges, and now, for the first time, came trembling to ask restoration. surely immanuel is in this place, and even old sinners are flocking to him. i have got an account of about twenty prayer-meetings connected with my flock. many open ones; many fellowship meetings; only one or two have anything like exhortation superadded to the word. these, i think, it must be our care to change, if possible, lest error and pride creep in. the only other difficulty is this. in two of the female meetings, originally fellowship meetings, anxious female inquirers have been admitted. they do not pray, but only hear. in one, m. and j. had felt the rising of pride to a great degree; in the other, m. could not be persuaded that there was any danger of pride. this case will require prayerful deliberation. my mind at present is, that there is great danger from it, the praying members feeling themselves on a different level from the others, and anything like female teaching, as a public teacher, seems clearly condemned in the word of god." "_dec. ._--felt very feeble all day, and as if i could not do any more work in the vineyard. evening.--felt more of the reality of immanuel's intercession. the people also were evidently subdued by more than a human testimony. one soul waited, sobbing most piteously. she could give no more account of herself than that she was a sinner, and did not believe that god would be merciful to her. when i showed how i found mercy, her only answer was, 'but you were not sic a sinner as me.'" "_dec. ._--went to glasgow along with a.b. preached in st. george's to a full audience, in the cause of the jews. felt real help in time of need." this was one of his many journeys from place to place in behalf of israel, relating the things seen and heard among the jews of palestine and other lands. "_dec. ._--preached in anderston church, with a good deal of inward peace and comfort." "_dec. ._--interesting meeting with the jewish committee. in the evening met a number of god's people. the horror of some good people in glasgow at the millenarian views is very great, while at the same time their objections appear very weak." "_dec. ._--young communicants. two have made application to be admitted under eleven years of age; four that are only fourteen; three who are fifteen or sixteen." "_jan. , ._--awoke early by the kind providence of god, and had uncommon freedom and fervency in keeping the concert for prayer this morning before light. very touching interview with m.p., who still refuses to be comforted. was enabled to cry after a glorious immanuel along with her. how i wish i had her bitter convictions of sin! another called this evening, who says she was awakened and brought to christ during the sermon on the morning of december st, on the 'covenant with death.' gave clear answers, but seems too unmoved for one really changed." "_jan. ._--visited six families. was refreshed and solemnized at each of them. spoke of the word made flesh, and of all the paths of the lord being mercy and truth. visited in the evening by some interesting souls: one a believing little boy; another complaining she cannot come to christ for the hardness of her heart; another once awakened under my ministry, again thoroughly awakened and brought to christ under horace bonar's sermon at the communion. she is the only saved one in her family,--awfully persecuted by father and mother. lord, stand up for thine own! make known, by their constancy under suffering, the power and beauty of thy grace! evening.--mr. miller preached delightfully on 'the love of christ constraineth us.' his account of the protestants of france was very interesting: the work of god at nismes, where it is said they are no more fishing with line, but dragging with the nets. read a letter from mr. cumming, describing the work at perth, and entreating the prayers of god's children." this last reference is to the awakening which took place in st. leonard's church, perth, on the last night of the year, when mr. burns, along with their pastor, mr. milne, was preaching. mr. b. had intended to return to dundee for the sabbath, but was detained by the plain indications of the lord's presence. at one meeting the work was so glorious, that one night about persons at one time seemed bowed down under a sense of their guilt, and above came next day to the church in the forenoon to converse about their souls. this awakening was the commencement of a solid work of grace, both in that town and its neighborhood, much fruit of which is to be found there at this day in souls that are walking in the fear of the lord, and the comfort of the holy ghost. and it was in the spring of this same year that in collace, at our weekly prayer-meeting, when two brethren were ministering, we received a blessed shower from the lord. his journal proceeds:-- "_jan. ._--an inquirer came, awakened under my ministry two years and a half ago." "_jan. ._--two came; m.b. sorely wounded with the forenoon's discourse." "_jan. ._--intimated a concert for prayer, that unworthy communicants might be kept back, the lord's children prepared for the feast, and ministers furnished from on high." "_jan. ._--kept concert of prayer this morning with my dear people. did not find the same enlargement as usual." "_march ._ thursday evening.--preached on zech. .--joshua. was led to speak searchingly about making christ the minister of sin. one young woman cried aloud very bitterly. m.b. came to tell me that poor m. is like to have her life taken away by her parents. a young woman also, who is still concerned and persecuted by her father. a young man came to tell me that he had found christ. roll on, thou river of life! visit every dwelling! save a multitude of souls. come, holy spirit! come quickly!" "march .--last night at forfar speaking for israel to a small band of friends of the jews. fearfully wicked place; the cry of it ascends up before god like that of sodom." "_march ._--met with young communicants on wednesday and friday. on the latter night especially, very deep feeling, manifested in sobbings. visits of several. one clear child nine years old. sick-bed." "_april ._--presbytery day. passed the constitution of two new churches,--blessed be god! may he raise up faithful pastors for them both,--dudhope and wallace-feus. proposal also for the mariner's church. a fast-day fixed for the present state of the church." "_april _, sabbath evening.--spoke to twenty-four young persons, one by one; almost all affected about their souls." "_april ._--lovely ride and meditation in a retired grove." "_april ._--impressed to-night with the complete necessity of preaching to my people in their own lanes and closes; in no other way will god's word ever reach them. to-night spoke in st. andrew's church to a very crowded assembly in behalf of israel. was helped to speak plainly to their own consciences. lord, bless it! shake this town!" "_april ._--spoke in private to nearly thirty young communicants, all in one room, going round each, and advising for the benefit of all." "_april ._--rode to collessie (fife) and kirkcaldy. sweet time alone in collessie woods." "_july ._--one lad came to me in great distress, wishing to know if he should confess his little dishonesties to his master." about this time, he has noted down, "i was visiting the other day, and came to a locked door. what did this mean? 'torment me not, torment me not!' ah, satan is mighty still!"--referring to mark : . a few of his communion seasons are recorded. we could have desired a record of them all. the first of which he has detailed any particulars, is the one he enjoyed soon after returning home. "_jan. , ._--stormy morning, with gushing torrents of rain, but cleared up in answer to prayer. sweet union in prayer with mr. cumming, and afterwards with a. bonar, found god in secret. asked especially that the very sight of the broken bread and poured-out wine might be blessed to some souls, then pride will be hidden from man. church well filled--many standing. preached the action sermon on john : , 'father, i will,' etc. had considerable nearness to god in prayer--more than usual,--and also freedom in preaching, although i was ashamed of such poor views of christ's glory. the people were in a very desirable frame of attention--hanging on the word. felt great help in fencing the tables from acts : , 'lying to the holy ghost.' came down and served the first table with much more calmness and collectedness than ever i remember to have enjoyed. enjoyed a sweet season while a.b. served the next table. he dwelt chiefly on believing the words of christ about his fulness, and the promise of the father. there were six tables altogether. the people more and more moved to the end. at the last table, every head seemed bent like a bulrush while a.b. spoke of the ascension of christ. helped a little in the address. 'now to him who is able to keep you,' etc., and in the concluding prayer.[ ] one little boy, in retiring, said, 'this has been another bonnie day.' many of the little ones seemed deeply attentive. mr. cumming and mr. burns preached in the school the most of the day. in the evening mr. c. preached on the pillar cloud on every dwelling, isaiah : some very sweet powerful words. mr. burns preached in the schoolroom. when the church emptied a congregation formed in the lower school, and began to sing. sang several psalms with them, and spoke on 'behold i stand at the door.' going home, a.l. said 'pray for me; i am quite happy, and so is h.' altogether a day of the revelation of christ,--a sweet day to myself, and, i am persuaded, to many souls. lord, make us meet for the table above." [ ] see the remains, for some of that day's solemn words. another of these communion seasons recorded, is _april _. "sabbath .--sweet and precious day. preached action sermon on zech. : , : . a good deal assisted. also in fencing the tables, on ps. ., 'search me, o god.' less at serving the tables on 'i will betroth thee,' and 'to him that overcometh;' though the thanksgiving was sweet. communicated with calm joy. old mr. burns served two tables; h. bonar five. there was a very melting frame visible among the people. helped a good deal in the address on 'my sheep hear my voice.' after seven before all was over. met before eight. old mr. burns preached on 'a word in season.' gave three parting texts, and so concluded this blessed day. many were filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory." "monday, .--mr. grierson preached on 'ye are come to mount zion,'--an instructive word. pleasant walk with h.b. evening sermon from him to the little children on the 'new heart,'--truly delightful. prayer-meeting after. i began; then old mr. burns, then horace, in a very lively manner, on the 'woman of samaria.' the people were brought into a very tender frame. after the blessing, a multitude remained. one (a.n.) was like a person struck through with a dart, she could neither stand nor go. many were looking on her with faces of horror. others were comforting her in a very kind manner, bidding her look to jesus. mr. burns went to the desk, and told them of kilsyth. still they would not go away. spoke a few words more to those around me, telling them of the loveliness of christ, and the hardness of their hearts, that they could be so unmoved when one was so deeply wounded. the sobbing soon spread, till many heads were bent down, and the church was filled with sobbing. many whom i did not know were now affected. after prayer, we dismissed, near midnight. many followed us. one, in great agony, prayed that she might find christ that very night. so ends this blessed season." the prayer-meeting on the monday evening following the communion was generally enjoyed by all the lord's people, and by the ministers who assisted, in a peculiar manner. often all felt the last day of the feast to be the great day. souls that had been enjoying the feast were then, at its conclusion, taking hold on the arm of the beloved in the prospect of going up through the wilderness. the only notice of his last communion, january , , is the following:--"sabbath.--a happy communion season. mr. w. burns preached on tuesday, wednesday, and thursday evenings--the first and last very solemn. mr. baxter (of hilltown church) on the friday. a. bonar on saturday, on rom. :--the spirit of adoption. i fainted on the sabbath morning, but revived, and got grace and strength to preach on i tim. : --paul's conversion a pattern. there were five tables. many godly strangers, and a very desirable frame observable in the people. 'while the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth out the smell thereof.' much sin was covered. he restoreth my soul. monday, .--mr. milne (of perth) preached on 'hold fast that thou hast;' and in the evening, to the children, on josh. .--'choose ye this day whom ye will serve.' andrew and i concluded with rev. --'thou hast redeemed us,' etc., and i cor. .--'be stedfast,' etc." he dispensed the lord's supper to his flock every quarter; and though on this account his calls upon his brethren for help were frequent, yet never did a brother reckon it anything else than a blessed privilege to be with him. his first invitation to his friend mr. hamilton (then at abernyte) will show the nature of the intercourse that subsisted between him and his brethren who gave their services on these occasions:--"my dear friend.--will you excuse lack of ceremony, and come down to-morrow and preach to us the unsearchable riches of christ? we have the communion on sabbath. we have no fast-day, but only a meeting in the evening at a quarter past seven. come, my dear sir, if you can, and refresh us with your company. bring the fragrance of 'the bundle of myrrh' along with you, and may grace be poured into your lips. yours ever." (jan. . .) soon after his return from his mission to the jews, a ministerial prayer-meeting was formed among some of the brethren in dundee. mr. m'cheyne took part in it, along with mr. lewis of st. david's, mr. baxter of hilltown, mr. p.l. miller, afterwards of wallacetown, and others. feeling deep concern for the salvation of the souls under their care, they met every monday forenoon, to pray together for their flocks and their own souls. the time of the meeting was limited to an hour and a half, in order that all who attended might form their pastoral arrangements for the day, without fear of being hindered; and, in addition to prayer, those present conversed on some selected topic, vitally connected with their duties as ministers of christ. mr. m'cheyne was never absent from this prayer-meeting unless through absolute necessity, and the brethren scarcely remember any occasion on which some important remark did not drop from his lips. he himself reaped great profit from it. he notes, _dec. _: "this has been a deeply interesting week. on monday our ministerial prayer-meeting was set agoing in st. david's vestry. the hearts of all seem really in earnest in it. the lord answers prayer; may it be a great blessing to our souls and to our flocks." another time: "meeting in st. david's vestry. the subject of fasting was spoken upon. felt exceedingly in my own spirit how little we feel real grief on account of sin before god, or we would often lose our appetite for food. when parents lose a child, they often do not taste a bit from morning to night, out of pure grief. should we not mourn as for an only child? how little of the spirit of grace and supplication we have then!" on _dec. _: "pleasant meeting of ministers. many delightful texts on 'arguments to be used with god in prayer.' how little i have used these! should we not study prayer more?" full as he was of affection and christian kindness to all believers, he was specially so to the faithful brethren in the gospel of christ. perhaps there never was one who more carefully watched against the danger of undervaluing precious men, and detracting from a brother's character. although naturally ambitious, grace so wrought in him, that he never sought to bring himself into view; and most cheerfully would he observe and take notice of the graces and gifts of others. who is there of us that should ever feel otherwise? "for the body is not one member, but many." and "the eye cannot say unto the hand, i have no need of thee; nor, again, the head to the feet, i have no need of you." all with whom he was intimate still remember with gratitude how faithfully and anxiously he used to warn his friends of whatever he apprehended they were in danger from. to mr. w.c. burns he wrote, _dec. , _: "now, the lord be your strength, teacher, and guide. i charge you, be clothed with humility, or you will yet be a wandering star, for which is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. let christ increase; let man decrease. this is my constant prayer for myself and you. if you lead sinners to yourself and not to christ, immanuel will cast the star out of his right hand into utter darkness. remember what i said of preaching out of the scriptures: honor the word both in the matter and manner. do not cease to pray for me." at another time (november , ), he thus wrote to the same friend: "now remember moses wist not that the skin of his face shone. looking at our own shining face is the bane of the spiritual life and of the ministry. oh for closest communion with god, till soul and body--head, face, and heart--shine with divine brilliancy! but oh for a holy ignorance of our shining! pray for this; for you need it as well as i." to another friend in the ministry who had written to him despondingly about his people and the times, his reply was, "i am sure there never was a time when the spirit of god was more present in scotland, and it does not become you to murmur in your tents, but rather to give thanks. remember, we may grieve the spirit as truly by not joyfully acknowledging his wonders as by not praying for him. there is the clearest evidence that god is saving souls in kilsyth, dundee, perth, collace, blairgowrie, strathbogie, ross-shire, breadalbane, kelso, jedburgh, ancrum; and surely it becomes us to say, 'i thank my god upon every remembrance of you.' forgive my presumption; but i fear lest you hurt your own peace and usefulness in not praising god enough for the operation of his hands." to another: "i have told you that you needed trial, and now it is come. may you be exercised thereby, and come to that happy 'afterwards' of which the apostle speaks," to the same again "remember the necessity of your own soul, and do not grow slack or lean in feeding others. 'mine own vineyard have i not kept.' ah, take heed of that!" and in a similar tone of faithfulness at an after period: "remember the case of your own soul. 'what will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?' remember how often paul appeals to his holy, just, unblameable life. oh that we may be able always to do the same!" "remember the priming-knife," he says to another, "and do not let your vine run to wood." and after a visit to mr. thornton of milnathort, in whose parish there had been an awakening, he asks a brother, "mr. thornton is willing that others be blessed more than himself; do you think that you have that grace? i find that i am never so successful as when i can lie at christ's feet, willing to be used or not as seemeth good in his sight. do you remember david? 'if the lord say, i have no delight in thee; behold, here am i; let him do to me as seemeth good unto him.'" in his familiar letters, as in his life, there was the manifestation of a bright, cheerful soul, without the least tendency to levity. when his medical attendant had, on one occasion, declined any remuneration, mr. m'cheyne peremptorily opposed his purpose; and to overcome his reluctance, returned the inclosure in a letter, in which he used his poetical gifts with most pleasant humor. to many it was a subject of wonder that he found time to write letters that always breathed the name of jesus, amid his innumerable engagements. but the truth was, his letters cost him no expenditure of time; they were ever the fresh thoughts and feelings of his soul at the moment he took up the pen; his habitual frame of soul is what appears in them all; the calm, holy, tenderly affectionate style of his letters reminds us of samuel rutherford, whose works he delighted to read,--excepting only that his joy never seems to have risen to ecstasies. the selection of his letters which i have made for publication, may exhibit somewhat of his holy skill in dropping a word for his master on all occasions. but what impressed many yet more, was his manner of introducing the truth, most naturally and strikingly, even in the shortest note he penned; and there was something so elegant, as well as solemn, in his few words at the close of some of his letters, that these remained deep in the receiver's heart. writing to mr. g.s., on july , , he thus draws to a close: "remember me to h.t. i pray he may be kept abiding in christ. kindest regards to his mother. say to her from me, 'pass the time of your sojourning here in fear, forasmuch as ye know ye were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold' (i peter : , ). keep your own heart, dear brother, 'in the love of god' (jude )--in his love to you, and that will draw your love to him. kindest remembrances to your brother. say to him, 'be sober and hope to the end' (i peter : ). to your own dear mother say, 'he doth not afflict willingly.' write me soon.--ever yours, till time shall be no more." in a note to the members of his own family: "the tay is before me now like a resplendent mirror, glistening in the morning sun. may the same sun shine sweetly on you, and may he that makes it shine, shine into your hearts to give you the knowledge of the glory of god in the face of jesus christ.--in haste, your affectionate son and brother." there were often such last words as the following: "oh for drops in the pastures of the wilderness! the smiles of jesus be with you, and the breathings of the holy ghost. ever yours." (to rev. j. milne.) "may we have gales passing from perth to this, and from here to you, and from heaven to both. ever yours." (to the same.) "the time is short; eternity is near; yea, the coming of christ the second time is at hand. make sure of being one with the lord jesus, that you may be glad when you see him. commending you all to our father in heaven," etc. (to his own brother.) "i have a host of letters before me, and therefore can add no more. i give you a parting text, 'sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.'" another: "farewell! yours till the day dawn." to the rev. hor. bonar he says, at the close of a letter about some ministerial arrangements: "i am humbled and cheered by what you say of good done in kelso. roll on, roll on, river of god, that art full of water! a woman came to me, awakened under your sermon to the children in the cross church, very bitterly convinced of sin. glory to the divine archer, who bringeth down the people!" he closes a letter to a student thus: "grace be with you, and much of the knowledge of jesus--much of his likeness. i thirst for the knowledge of the word but most of all of jesus himself, the true word. may he abide in you, and you in him! the fear of isaac watch over you." in concluding a letter to mr. bonar of larbert, in february , some weeks before his last illness, he writes: "my soul often goes out at the throne of grace in behalf of larbert and dunipace. may the disruption be more blessed to them than days of peace! how sweet to be in the ark when the deluge comes down! ever yours in gospel bonds." the jewish mission continued near his heart, "the nearest," said he to mr. edwards, who is now at jassy, "of all missionary enterprises. were it not for my own unfitness, and also the success the lord has given me where i am, i would joyfully devote myself to it." in connection with this cause, he was invited to visit ireland, and be present at the meeting of the synod of our presbyterian brethren in the summer of . when preparing to set out, he notices the hand of his master guiding him:--"_july ._--expected to have been in ireland this day. detained by not being able to get supply for sabbath, in the good providence of god; for this evening there was a considerable awakening in the church while i was preaching upon phil. : , 'enemies of the cross of christ,' when that part was expounded, there was a loud and bitter weeping,--probably thirty or forty seemed to share in it; the rest deeply impressed,--many secretly praying." on the sabbath following, one person was so overcome as to be carried out of the church. he set out for ireland on the th, and on the th witnessed at belfast the union between the synod of ulster and the secession. he speaks of it as a most solemn scene-- ministers and elders present. during his stay there, he pleaded the cause of the jews in mr. morgan's church, mr. wilson's, and some others; and also visited mr. kirkpatrick at dublin. he preached the way of salvation to the gentiles in all his pleadings for israel. his visit was blessed to awaken a deep interest in the cause of the jews, and his words sank into the consciences of some. his sermon on ezek. : was felt by some to be indescribably impressive; and when he preached on rom. : , , many ministers, as they came out, were heard saying, "how was it we never thought of the duty of remembering israel before?" on another occasion, the people to whom he had preached entreated their minister to try and get him again, and if he could not preach to them, that at least he should pray once more with them. he was not, however, long absent from home on this occasion. on the th i find him recording: "reached home; entirely unprepared for the evening. spoke on psalm : , , 'restore unto me the joy,' etc. there seemed much of the presence of god,--first one crying out in extreme agony, then another. many were deeply melted, and all solemnized. felt a good deal of freedom in speaking of the glory of christ's salvation. coming down, i spoke quietly to some whom i knew to be under deep concern. they were soon heard together weeping bitterly; many more joined them. mr. cumming spoke to them in a most touching strain, while i dealt privately with several in the vestry. their cries were often very bitter and piercing, bitterest when the freeness of christ was pressed upon them, and the lion's nearness. several were offended; but i felt no hesitation as to our duty to declare the simple truth impressively, and leave god to work in their hearts in his own way. if he save souls in a quiet way, i shall be happy; if in the midst of cries and tears, still i will bless his name. one painful thing has occurred: a man who pretends to be a missionary for israel, and who brings forward the apocryphal book of enoch, has been among my people in my absence, and many have been led after him. how humbling is this to them and to me! lord, what is man! this may be blessed, st, to discover chaff which we thought to be wheat; nd, to lead some to greater distrust of themselves, when their eyes are opened: rd, to teach me the need of solidly instructing those who seem to have grace in their hearts." the work of god went on, so much so at this time, that he gave it as his belief, in a letter to mr. purves of jedburgh, that for some months about this period no minister of christ had preached in a lively manner, without being blessed to some soul among his flock. in other places of scotland also the lord was then pouring out his spirit. perth has been already mentioned, and its vicinity. throughout ross-shire, whole congregations were frequently moved as one man, and the voice of the minister drowned in the cries of anxious souls. at kelso, where mr. horace bonar laboured, and at jedburgh, where mr. purves was pastor, a more silent, but very solid work of conversion was advancing. at ancrum (once the scene of john livingston's labors), the whole parish, but especially the men of the place, were awakened to the most solemn concern. on lochtayside, where mr. burns was for a season laboring, there were marks of the spirit everywhere; and the people crossing the lake in hundreds, to listen to the words of life on the hillside, called to mind the people of galilee in the days when the gospel began to be preached. at lawers, mr. campbell, their pastor (who has now fallen asleep in jesus), spoke of the awakening as "like a resurrection." so great and sudden was the change from deadness to intense concern. on several occasions, the spirit seemed to sweep over the congregations like wind over the fields, which bends the heavy corn to the earth. it was evident to discerning minds that the lord was preparing scotland for some crisis not far distant. several districts of strathbogie had shared to some extent in a similar blessing. faithful ministers were now everywhere on the watch for the shower, and were greatly strengthened to go forward boldly in seeking to cleanse the sanctuary. it was their fond hope that the established church of scotland would soon become an example and pattern to the nations of a pure church of christ, acknowledged and upheld by the state without being trammelled in any degree, far less controlled by civil interference. but satan was stirring up adversaries on every side. the court of session had adopted a line of procedure that was at once arbitrary and unconstitutional. and now that court interdicted, under the penalty of fine or imprisonment, all the ministers of the church of scotland from administering ordinances or preaching the word in any of the seven parishes of strathbogie, whose former incumbents had been suspended from office by the general assembly for ecclesiastical offences. the church saw it to be her duty to refuse obedience to an interdict which hindered the preaching of jesus, and attempted to crush her constitutional liberties. accordingly, ministers were sent to these districts, fearless of the result; and under their preaching the gross darkness of the region began to give way to the light of truth. in the month of august, mr. m'cheyne was appointed, along with mr. cumming of dumbarney, to visit huntly, and dispense the lord's supper there. as he set out, he expressed the hope, that "the dews of the spirit there might be turned into the pouring rain." his own visit was blessed to many. mr. cumming preached the action sermon in the open air at the meadow well; but the tables were served within the building where the congregation usually met. mr. m'cheyne preached in the evening to a vast multitude at the well; and about a hundred waited after sermon for prayer, many of them in deep anxiety. he came to edinburgh on the th, to attend the meeting of ministers and elders who had come together to sign the _solemn engagement_ in defence of the liberties of christ's church. he hesitated not to put his hand to the engagement. he then returned to dundee; and scarcely had he returned, when he was laid aside by one of those attacks of illness with which he was so often tried. in this case, however, it soon passed away. "my health," he remarked, "has taken a gracious turn, which should make me look up." but again, on september , an attack of fever laid him down for six days. on this occasion, just before the sickness came on, three persons had visited him, to tell him how they were brought to christ under his ministry some years before. "why," he noted in his journal, "why has god brought these cases before me _this week_? surely he is preparing me for some trial of faith." the result proved that his conjecture was just. and while his master prepared him beforehand for these trials, he had ends to accomplish in his servant by means of them. there were other trials, also, besides these, which were very heavy to him; but in all we could discern the husbandman pruning the branch, that it might bear more fruit. as he himself said one day in the church of abernyte, when he was assisting mr. manson, "if we only saw the whole, we should see that the father is doing little else in the world but _training his vines_." his preaching became more and more to him a work of faith. often i find him writing at the close or beginning of a sermon: "master, help!" "help, lord, help!" "send showers;" "pardon, give the spirit, and take the glory;" "may the opening of my lips he right things!" the piercing effects of the word preached on souls at this season may be judged of from what one of the awakened, with whom he was conversing, said to him, "_i think hell would be some relief from an angry god._" his delight in preaching was very great. he himself used to say that he could scarcely ever resist an invitation to preach. and this did not arise from the natural excitement there is in commanding the attention of thousands; for he was equally ready to proclaim christ to small country flocks. nay, he was ready to travel far to visit and comfort even one soul. there was an occasion this year on which he rode far to give a cup of cold water to a disciple, and his remark was, "i observe how often jesus went a long way for one soul, as for example the maniac, and the woman of canaan." in february , he visited kelso and jedburgh at the communion season; and gladly complied with an invitation to ancrum also, that he might witness the hand of the lord. "sweet are the spots," he wrote, "where immanuel has ever shown his glorious power in the conviction and conversion of sinners. the world loves to muse on the scenes where battles were fought and victories won. should not we love the spots where our great captain has won his amazing victories? is not the conversion of a soul more worthy to be spoken of than the taking of acre?" at kelso, some will long remember his remarks in visiting a little girl, to whom he said, "christ gives last knocks. when your heart becomes hard and careless, then fear lest christ may have given a _last knock_." at jedburgh, the impression left was chiefly that there had been among them a man of peculiar holiness. some felt, not so much his words, as his presence and holy solemnity, as if one spoke to them who was standing in the presence of god; and to others his prayers appeared like the breathings of one already within the veil. i find him proposing to a minister who was going up to the general assembly that year, "that the assembly should draw out a _confession of sin_ for all its ministers." the state, also, of parishes under the direful influence of moderatism, lay much upon his spirit. in his diary he writes: "have been laying much to heart the absolute necessity laid upon the church of sending the gospel to our dead parishes, during the life of the present incumbents. it is confessed that many of our ministers do not preach the gospel--alas! because they know it not. yet they have complete control over their own pulpits, and may never suffer the truth to be heard there during their whole incumbency. and yet our church consigns these parishes to their tender mercies for perhaps fifty years, without a sigh! should not certain men be ordained as evangelists, with full power to preach in every pulpit of their district,--faithful, judicious, lively preachers, who may go from parish to parish, and thus carry life into many a dead corner?" this was a subject he often reverted to; and he eagerly held up the example of the presbytery of aberdeen, who made a proposal to this effect. from some of his later letters, it appears that he had sometimes seriously weighed the duty of giving up his fixed charge, if only the church would ordain him as an evangelist. so deep were his feelings on this matter, that a friend relates of him, that as they rode together through a parish where the pastor "clothed himself with the wool, but fed not the flock," he knit his brow and raised his hand with vehemence as he spoke of the people left to perish under such a minister. he was invited to visit ireland again this year, his former visit having been much valued by the presbyterian brethren there. he did so in july. many were greatly stirred up by his preaching, and by his details of god's work in scotland. his sermon on song : , , is still spoken of by many. his prayerfulness and consistent holiness left enduring impressions on not a few; and it was during his visit that a memorial was presented to the irish assembly in behalf of a jewish mission. his visit was in a great measure the means of setting that mission on foot. cordially entering into the proposal of the concert for prayer, he took part, in september of this year, in the preliminary meetings in which christians of all denominations joined. "how sweet are the smallest approximations to unity!" is his remark in his diary. indeed, he so much longed for a scriptural unity, that some time after, when the general assembly had repealed the statute of , he embraced the opportunity of showing his sincere desire for unity, by inviting two dissenting brethren to his pipit, and then writing in defence of his conduct when attacked. in reference to this matter, he observed, in a note to a friend: "i have been much delighted with the th and th chapters of the _confession of faith_. oh for the grace of the westminster divines to be poured out upon this generation of lesser men!" as it was evident that his master owned his labor abundantly, by giving him seals of his apostleship, there were attempts made occasionally by zealous friends to induce him to remove to other spheres. in all these cases, he looked simply at the apparent indications of the lord's will. worldly interest seemed scarcely ever to cross his mind in regard to such a matter, for he truly lived a disinterested life. his views may be judged of by one instance,--a letter to mr. heriot of ramornie, in reference to a charge which many were anxious to offer him:-- "dundee, _dec. , _ "dear sir,--i have received a letter from my friend mr. m'farlane of collessie, asking what i would do if the people of kettle were to write desiring me to be their minister. he also desires me to send an answer to you. i have been asked to leave this place again and again, but have never seen my way clear to do so. i feel quite at the disposal of my divine master. i gave myself away to him when i began my ministry, and he has guided me as by the pillar cloud from the first day till now. i think i would leave this place to-morrow if he were to _bid_ me; but as to _seeking removal, i dare not_ and _could not_. if my ministry were unsuccessful,--if god frowned upon the place and made my message void,--then i would willingly go, for i would rather beg my bread than preach without success; but i have never wanted success. i do not think i can speak a month in this parish without winning some souls. this very week, i think, has been a fruitful one,--more so than many for a long time, which perhaps was intended graciously to free me from all hesitation in declining your kind offer. i mention these things not, i trust, boastfully, but only to show you the ground upon which i feel it to be my duty not for a moment to entertain the proposal. i have souls here hanging on me. i have as much of this world's goods as i care for. i have full liberty to preach the gospel night and day; and the spirit of god is often with us. what can i desire more? 'i dwell among mine own people.' hundreds look to me as a father; and i fear i would be but a false shepherd if i were to leave them when the clouds of adversity are beginning to lower. i know the need of kettle, and its importance; and also the dark prospect of your getting a godly minister. still that is a future event in the hand of god. my duty is made plain and simple according to god's word. "praying that the lord jesus may send you a star from his own right hand, believe me to be," etc. it was during this year that the sabbath question began to interest him so much. his tract, _i love the lord's day_, was published december ; but he had already exerted himself much in this cause, as convener of the committee of presbytery on sabbath observance, and had written his well-known letter to one of the chief defenders of the sabbath desecration. he continued unceasingly to use every effort in this holy cause. and is it not worth the prayers and self-denying efforts of every believing man? is not that day set apart as a season wherein the lord desires the refreshing rest of his own love to be offered to a fallen world? is it not designed to be a day on which every other voice and sound is to be hushed, in order that the silver trumpets may proclaim atonement for sinners? nay, it is understood to be a day wherein god himself stands before the altar and pleads with sinners to accept the lamb slain, from morning to evening. who is there that does not see the deep design of satan in seeking to effect an inroad on this most merciful appointment of god our saviour? mr. m'cheyne's own conduct was in full accordance with his principles in regard to strict yet cheerful sabbath observance. considering it the summit of human privilege to be admitted to fellowship with god, his principle was, that the lord's day was to be spent wholly in the enjoyment of that sweetest privilege. a letter, written at a later period, but bearing on this subject, will show how he felt this day to be better than a thousand. an individual, near inverness, had consulted him on a point of sabbatical casuistry: the question was, whether or not it was sinful to spend time in registering meteorological observations on the sabbaths? his reply was the following, marked by a holy wisdom, and discovering the place which the lord held in his inmost soul:-- "_dec. , _ "dear friend,--you ask me a hard question. had you asked me _what i would do in the case_, i could easily tell you. i love the lord's day too well to be marking down the height of the thermometer and barometer every hour. i have other work to do, higher and better, and more like that of angels above. the more entirely i can give my sabbaths to god, and half forget that i am not before the throne of the lamb, with my harp of gold, the happier am i, and i feel it my duty to be as happy as i can be, and as god intended me to be. the joy of the lord is my strength. but whether another christian can spend the sabbath is his service, and mark down degrees of heat and atmospherical pressure, without letting down the warmth of his affections, or losing the atmosphere of heaven, i cannot tell. my conscience is not the rule of another man. one thing we may learn from these men of science, namely, to be as careful in marking the changes and progress of our own spirit, as they are in marking the changes of the weather. an hour should never pass without our looking up to god for forgiveness and peace. this is the noblest science, to know how to live in hourly communion with god in christ. may you and i know more of this, and thank god that we are not among the wise and prudent from whom these things are hid!--the grace of the lord of the sabbath be with you," etc. up till this period, the _narrative of our mission to israel_ had not been given to the public. interruptions, arising from multiplicity of labors and constant calls of duty, had from time to time come in our way. mr. m'cheyne found it exceedingly difficult to spare a day or two at a time in order to take part. "i find it hard work to carry on the work of a diligent pastor and that of an author at the same time. how john calvin would have smiled at my difficulties!" at length, however, in the month of march , we resolved to gain time by exchanging each other's pastoral duties for a month. accordingly, during four or five weeks, he remained in collace, my flock enjoying his sabbath-day services and his occasional visits, while he was set free from what would have been the never-ceasing interruptions of his own town. many a pleasant remembrance remains of these days, as sheet after sheet passed under the eyes of our mutual criticism. though intent on accomplishing his work, he kept by his rule, "that he must first see the face of god before he could undertake any duty." often would he wander in the mornings among the pleasant woods of dunsinnan, till he had drunk in refreshment to his soul by meditation on the word of god; and then he took up the pen. and to a brother in the ministry, who had one day broken in upon his close occupation, he afterwards wrote: "you know you stole away my day; yet i trust all was not lost. i think i have had more grace ever since that prayer among the fir-trees. oh to be _like_ jesus, and _with_ him to all eternity!" occasionally, during the same period, he wrote some pieces for the _christian's daily companion_. the _narrative_ was finished in may, and the lord has made it acceptable to the brethren. when this work was finished, the lord had other employment ready for him in his own parish. his diary has this entry: "_may ._--i have seen some very evident awakenings of late. j.g. awakened partly through the word preached, and partly through the faithful warnings of her fellow-servant. a.r., who has been for about a year in the deepest distress, seeking rest, but finding none. b.m. converted last winter at the tuesday meeting in annfield. she was brought very rapidly to peace with god, and to a calm, sedate, prayerful state of mind. i was surprised at the quickness of the work in this case, and pleased with the clear tokens of grace; and now i see god's gracious end in it. she was to be admitted at last communion, but caught fever before the sabbath. on tuesday last, she died in great peace and joy. when she felt death coming on, she said, 'oh death, death, come! let us sing!' many that knew her have been a good deal moved homeward by this solemn providence. this evening, i invited those to come who are leaving the parish at this term. about twenty came, to whom i gave tracts and words of warning. _i feel persuaded that if i could follow the lord more fully myself, my ministry would be used to make a deeper impression than it has yet done._" chapter vi. the latter days of his ministry. "_my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work._"--john : . during the summer of , he was exposed to several attacks of illness, experienced some severe personal trials, and felt the assaults of sore temptation. his own words will best express his state: "_july ._--i am myself much tempted, and have no hope, but as a worm on the arm of jesus." "aug. .--often, often, would i have been glad to depart, and be with christ. i am now much better in body and mind, having a little of the presence of my beloved, whose absence is death to me." the same month: "i have been carried through deep waters, bodily and spiritual, since last we met." it was his own persuasion that few had more to struggle with in the inner man. who can tell what wars go on within? during this season of trial, he was invited to form one of a number of ministers from scotland, who were to visit the north of england, with no other purpose than to preach the glad tidings. the scheme was planned by a christian gentleman, who has done much for christ in his generation. when the invitation reached him, he was in the heat of his furnace. he mentioned this to the brother who corresponded with him on the subject, mr. purves of jedburgh, whose reply was balm to his spirit ... "i have a fellow-feeling with you in your present infirmity, and you know for your consolation that another has, who is a brother indeed. in all our afflictions, he is afflicted. he is, we may say, the common heart of his people, for they are one body; and an infirmity in the very remotest and meanest member is felt _there_ and borne _there_. let us console, solace, yea, satiate ourselves in him, as, amid afflictions especially, brother does in brother. it is blessed to be like him in everything, even in suffering. there is a great want about all christians who have not suffered. some flowers must be broken or bruised before they emit any fragrance. all the wounds of christ send out sweetness; all the sorrows of christians do the same. commend me to a bruised brother,--a broken reed,--one like the son of man. the man of sorrows is never far from him. to me there is something sacred and sweet in all suffering; it is so much akin to the man of sorrows." it was thus he suffered, and thus that he was comforted. he wrote back, agreeing to go, and added. "remember me especially, who am heavy laden oftentimes. my heart is all of sin; but jesus lives." they set out for england. mr. purves, mr. somerville of anderston, mr. cumming of dumbarney, and mr. bonar of kelso, formed the company. their chief station was newcastle, where mr. burns had been recently laboring with some success, and where he had seen "a town giving itself up to utter ungodliness, a town where satan's trenches were deep and wide, his wall strong and high, his garrison great and fearless, and where all that man could do seemed but as arrows shot against a tower of brass." but those who went knew that the spirit of god was omnipotent, and that he could take the prey from the mighty. they preached both in the open air, and in the places of worship belonging to the presbyterians and to the wesleyan methodists. the defenders of the sabbath cause were specially prepared to welcome mr. m'cheyne, whose tract on the lord's day has been widely circulated and blessed. many were attracted to hear; interesting congregations assembled in the market-place, and there is reason to believe many were impressed. a person in the town describes mr. m'cheyne's last address as being peculiarly awakening. he preached in the open air, in a space of ground between the cloth market and st. nicholas' church. above a thousand souls were present, and the service continued till ten, without one person moving from the ground. the moon shone brightly, and the sky was spangled with stars. his subject was, "the great white throne" (rev. : ). in concluding his address, he told them "that they would never meet again till they all met at the judgment-seat of christ; but the glorious heavens over their heads, and the bright moon that shone upon them, and the old venerable church behind them, were his witnesses that he had set before them life and death." some will have cause to remember that night through eternity.[ ] [ ] he afterwards preached the same subject with equal impressiveness in the meadows at dundee. it was in the open air and the rain fell heavy, yet the dense crowd stood still to the last. his preaching at gilsland also was not without effect; and he had good cause to bless the lord for bringing him through dumfriesshire in his way homeward. he returned to his people in the beginning of september, full of peace and joy. "i have returned much stronger, indeed quite well. i think i have got some precious souls for my hire on my way home. i earnestly long for more grace and personal holiness, and more usefulness." the sunsets during that autumn were peculiarly beautiful. scarcely a day passed but he gazed upon the glowing west after dinner; and as he gazed he would speak of the sun of righteousness, or the joy of angels in his presence, or the blessedness of those whose sun can go no more down, till his face shone with gladness as he spoke. and during the winter he was observed to be peculiarly joyful, being strong in body, and feeling the near presence of jesus in his soul. he lived in the blessed consciousness that he was a child of god, humble and meek, just because he was fully assured that jehovah was his god and father. many often felt that in prayer the name "holy father" was breathed with peculiar tenderness and solemnity from his lips. his flock in st. peter's began to murmur at his absence, when again he left them for ten days in november, to assist mr. hamilton of regent square, london, at his communion. but it was his desire for souls that thus led him from place to place, combined with a growing feeling that the lord was calling him to evangelistic more than to pastoral labors. this visit was a blessed one; and the growth of his soul in holiness was visible to many. during the days of his visit to mr. hamilton, he read through the song of solomon at the time of family worship, commenting briefly on it with rare gracefulness and poetic taste, and yet rarer manifestation of soul-filling love to the saviour's person. the sanctified affections of his soul, and his insight into the mind of jesus, seemed to have much affected his friends on these occasions. receiving, while here, an invitation to return by the way of kelso, he replied:-- "london, _nov. , ._ "my dear horatius,--our friends here will not let me away till the friday morning, so that it will require all my diligence to reach dundee before the sabbath. i will thus be disappointed of the joy of seeing you, and ministering a word to your dear flock. oh that my soul were new moulded, and i were effectually called a second time, and made a vessel full of the spirit, to tell only of jesus and his love! i fear i shall never be in this world what i desire. i have preached three times here; a few tears also have been shed. oh for whitfield's week in london, when a thousand letters came! the same jesus reigns; the same spirit is able. why is he restrained? is the sin ours? are we the bottle-stoppers of these heavenly dews? ever yours till glory. "_p.s._--we shall meet, god willing, at the convocation." the memorable convocation met at edinburgh on november th. there were five hundred ministers present from all parts of scotland. the encroachment of the civil courts upon the prerogatives of christ, the only head acknowledged by our church, and the negligent treatment hitherto given by the legislature of the country to every remonstrance on the part of the church, had brought on a crisis. the church of scotland had maintained, from the days of the reformation, that her connection with the state was understood to imply no surrender whatsoever of complete independence in regulating all spiritual matters; and to have allowed any civil authority to control her in doctrine, discipline, or any spiritual act, would have been a daring and flagrant act of treachery to her lord and king. the deliberations of the convocation continued during eight days, and the momentous results are well known in this land. mr. m'cheyne was never absent from any of the diets of this solemn assembly. he felt the deepest interest in every matter that came before them, got great light as to the path of duty in the course of the consultations, and put his name to all the resolutions, heartily sympathizing in the decided determination that, as a church of christ, we must abandon our connection with the state, if our "claim of rights" were rejected. these eight days were times of remarkable union and prayerfulness. the proceedings, from time to time, were suspended till the brethren had again asked counsel of the lord by prayer; and none present will forget the affecting solemnity with which, on one occasion, mr. m'cheyne poured out our wants before the lord. he had a decided abhorrence of erastianism. when the question was put to him, "is it our duty to refuse ordination to any one who holds the views of erastianism?" he replied,--"certainly, whatever be his other qualifications." he was ever a thorough presbyterian, and used to maintain the necessity of abolishing lay patronage, because,-- st, it was not to be found in the word of god; nd, it destroyed the duty of "trying the spirits;" rd, it meddled with the headship of christ, coming in between him and his people, saying, "i will place the stars." but still more decided was he in regard to the spiritual independence of the church. this he reckoned a vital question: and in prospect of the disruption of the church of scotland, if it were denied, he stated at a public meeting,-- st, that it was to be deplored in some respects, viz., because of the sufferings of god's faithful servants, the degradation of those who remained behind, the alienation of the aristocracy, the perdition of the ungodly, and the sin of the nation. but, nd, it was to be hailed for other reasons, viz., christ's kingly offices would be better known, the truth would be spread into desolate parishes, and faithful ministers would be refined. and when, on march th of the following year, the cause of the church was finally to be pleaded at the bar of the house of commons, i find him writing: "eventful night this in the british parliament! once more king jesus stands at an earthly tribunal, and they know him not!" an interesting anecdote is related of him by a co-presbyter, who returned with him to dundee after the convocation. this co-presbyter, mr. stewart, was conversing with him as to what it might be their duty to do in the event of the disruption, and where they might be scattered. mr. stewart said he could preach gaelic, and might go to the highlanders in canada, if it were needful. mr. m'cheyne said, "i think of going to the many thousand convicts that are transported beyond seas, for no man careth for their souls." we have not many records of his public work after this date. almost the last note in his diary is dated december : "this day ordained four elders, and admitted a fifth, who will all, i trust, be a blessing in this place when i am gone. was graciously awakened a great while before day, and had two hours alone with god. preached with much comfort on i tim. : , 'let the elders that rule well,' etc. at the end of the sermon and prayer, proposed the regular questions; then made the congregation sing standing; during which time i came down from the pulpit and stood over the four men, then prayed, and all the elders gave the right hand of fellowship, during which i returned to the pulpit, and addressed them and the congregation on their relative duties. altogether a solemn scene." the last recorded cases of awakening, and the last entry in his diary, is dated january , : "heard of an awakened soul finding rest--true rest, i trust. two new cases of awakening; both very deep and touching. at the very time when i was beginning to give up in despair, god gives me tokens of his presence returning." he here speaks of discouragement, when god for a few months or weeks seemed to be withholding his hand from saving souls. if he was not right in thus hastily forgetting the past for a little, still this feature of his ministry is to be well considered. he entertained so full a persuasion that a faithful minister has every reason to expect to see souls converted under him, that when this was withheld, he began to fear that some hidden evil was provoking the lord and grieving the spirit. and ought it not to be so with all of us? ought we not to suspect, either that we are not living near to god, or that our message is not a true transcript of the glad tidings, in both matter and manner, when we see no souls brought to jesus? god may certainly hide from our knowledge much of what he accomplishes by our means, but as certainly will he bring to our view some seals of our ministry, in order that our persuasion of being thus sent by him may solemnize and overawe us, as well as lead us on to unwearied labor. ought it not to be the inscription over the doors of our assembly and college halls: "_thanks be unto god, which always causeth us to triumph in christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place?_" ii cor. : . about this time, in one of his mss., there occurs this sentence: "as i was walking in the fields, the thought came over me with almost overwhelming power, that every one of my flock must soon be in heaven or hell. oh, how i wished that i had a tongue like thunder, that i might make all hear; or that i had a frame like iron, that i might visit every one, and say, 'escape for thy life!' ah, sinners! you little know how i fear that you will lay the blame of your damnation at my door." he was never satisfied with his own attainments in holiness; he was ever ready to learn, and quick to apply, any suggestion that might tend to his greater usefulness. about this period he used to sing a psalm or hymn every day after dinner. it was often, "the lord's my shepherd," etc.; or, "oh may we stand before the lamb!" etc. sometimes it was that hymn, _oh for a closer walk with god!_ and sometimes the psalm, "oh that i like a dove had wings!" etc. a friend said of him. "i have sometimes compared him to the silver and graceful ash, with its pensile branches, and leaves of gentle green, reflecting gleams of happy sunshine. the fall of its leaf, too, is like the fall of his,--it is green to-night and gone to-morrow, it does not sere nor wither." an experienced servant of god has said, that, while popularity is a snare that few are not caught by, a more subtle and dangerous snare is to be _famed for holiness_. the fame of being a godly man is as great a snare as the fame of being learned or eloquent. it is possible to attend with scrupulous anxiety even to secret habits of devotion, in order to get a name for holiness.[ ] if any were exposed to this snare in his day, mr. m'cheyne was the person. yet nothing is more certain than that, to the very last, he was ever discovering, and successfully resisting, the deceitful tendencies of his own heart and a tempting devil. two things he seems never to have ceased from,--the cultivation of personal holiness, and the most anxious efforts to save souls. [ ] how true, yet awful, is the language of dr owen (quoted in bridges' _christian ministry_, p. ), "he that would go down to the pit in peace, let him obtain a great repute for religion; let him preach and labour to make other better than he is himself, and in the meantime neglect to humble his heart, to walk with god in manifest holiness and usefulness, and he will not fail of his end." about this time he wrote down, for his own use, an examination into things that ought to be amended and changed. i subjoin it entire. how singularly close and impartial are these researches into his soul! how acute is he in discovering his variations from the holy law of god! oh that we all were taught by the same spirit thus to try our reins! it is only when we are thus thoroughly experiencing our helplessness, and discovering the thousand forms of indwelling sin, that we really sit as disciples at christ's feet, and gladly receive him as all in all! and at each such moment we feel in the spirit of ignatius, "[greek: nyn gar archên echô tou mathêteuesthai]"--"it is only now that i begin to be a disciple." mr. m'cheyne entitles the examination of his heart and life _"reformation"_ and it commences thus:-- "it is the duty of ministers in this day to begin the reformation of religion and manners with themselves, families, etc., with confession of past sin, earnest prayer for direction, grace, and full purpose of heart. mal. : --'he shall purify the sons of levi.' ministers are probably laid aside for a time for this very purpose. " . _personal reformation._ "i am persuaded that i shall obtain the highest amount of present happiness, i shall do most for god's glory and the good of man, and i shall have the fullest reward in eternity, by maintaining a conscience always washed in christ's blood, by being filled with the holy spirit at all times, and by attaining the most entire likeness to christ in mind, will, and heart, that is possible for a redeemed sinner to attain to in this world. "i am persuaded that whenever any one from without, or my own heart from within, at any moment, or in any circumstances, contradicts this,--if any one shall insinuate that it is not for my present and eternal happiness, and for god's glory and my usefulness, to maintain a blood-washed conscience, to be entirely filled with the spirit, and to be fully conformed to the image of christ in all things,--that is the voice of the devil, god's enemy, the enemy of my soul and of all good--the most foolish, wicked, and miserable of all the creatures. see prov. : --'stolen waters are sweet.' " . _to maintain a conscience void of offence_, i am persuaded that i ought to confess my sins more. i think i ought to confess sin the moment i see it to be sin; whether i am in company, or in study, or even preaching, the soul ought to cast a glance of abhorrence at the sin. if i go on with the duty, leaving the sin unconfessed, i go on with a burdened conscience, and add sin to sin. i think i ought at certain times of the day--my best times,--say, after breakfast and after tea,--to confess solemnly the sins of the previous hours, and to seek their complete remission. "i find that the devil often makes use of the confession of sin to stir up again the very sin confessed into new exercise, so that i am afraid to dwell upon the confession. i must ask experienced christians about this. for the present, i think i should strive against this awful abuse of confession, whereby the devil seeks to frighten me away from confessing. i ought to take all methods for seeing the vileness of my sins. i ought to regard myself as a condemned branch of adam,--as partaker of a nature opposite to god from the womb (ps. .),--as having a heart full of all wickedness, which pollutes every thought, word, and action, during my whole life, from birth to death. i ought to confess often the sins of my youth, like david and paul,--my sins before conversion, my sins since conversion,--sins against light and knowledge, against love and grace, against each person of the godhead. i ought to look at my sins in the light of the holy law, in the light of god's countenance, in the light of the cross, in the light of the judgment-seat, in the light of hell, in the light of eternity. i ought to examine my dreams--my floating thoughts--my predilections--my often recurring actions--my habits of thought, feeling, speech, and action--the slanders of my enemies and the reproofs, and even banterings, of my friends--to find out traces of my prevailing sin, matter for confession. i ought to have a stated day of confession, with fasting--say, once a month. i ought to have a number of scriptures marked, to bring sin to remembrance. i ought to make use of all bodily affliction, domestic trial, frowns of providence on myself, house, parish, church, or country, as calls from god to confess sin. the sins and afflictions of other men should call me to the same. i ought, on sabbath evenings, and on communion sabbath evenings, to be especially careful to confess the sins of holy things. i ought to confess the sins of my confessions,--their imperfections, sinful aims, self-righteous tendency, etc.,--and to look to christ as having confessed my sins perfectly over his own sacrifice. "i ought to go to christ for the forgiveness of each sin. in washing my body, i go over every spot, and wash it out. should i be less careful in washing my soul? i ought to see the stripe that was made on the back of jesus by each of my sins. i ought to see the infinite pang thrill through the soul of jesus equal to an eternity of my hell for my sins, and for all of them. i ought to see that in christ's bloodshedding there is an infinite over-payment for all my sins. although christ did not suffer more than infinite justice demanded, yet he could not suffer at all without laying down an infinite ransom. "i feel, when i have sinned, an immediate reluctance to go to christ. i am ashamed to go. i feel as if it would do no good to go,--as if it were making christ a minister of sin, to go straight from the swine-trough to the best robe,--and a thousand other excuses; but i am persuaded they are all lies, direct from hell. john argues the opposite way: 'if any man sin, we have an advocate with the father;' jer. : and a thousand other scriptures are against it. i am sure there is neither peace nor safety from deeper sin, but in going directly to the lord jesus christ. this is god's way of peace and holiness. it is folly to the world and the beclouded heart, but it is _the way_. "i must never think a sin too small to need immediate application to the blood of christ. if i put away a good conscience, concerning faith i make shipwreck. i must never think my sins too great, too aggravated, too presumptuous,--as when done on my knees, or in preaching, or by a dying bed, or during dangerous illness,--to hinder me from fleeing to christ. the weight of my sins should act like the weight of a clock: the heavier it is, it makes it go the faster. "i must not only wash in christ's blood, but clothe me in christ's obedience. for every sin of omission in self, i may find a divinely perfect obedience ready for me in christ. for every sin of commission in self, i may find not only a stripe or a wound in christ, but also a perfect rendering of the opposite obedience in my place, so that the law is magnified, its curse more than carried, its demand more than answered. "often the doctrine of _christ for me_ appears common, well known, having nothing new in it; and i am tempted to pass it by and go to some scripture more taking. this is the devil again,--a red-hot lie. _christ for us_ is ever new, ever glorious. 'unsearchable riches of christ,'--an infinite object, and the only one for a guilty soul. i ought to have a number of scriptures ready, which lead my blind soul directly to christ, such as isaiah , rom. . " . _to be filled with the holy spirit_, i am persuaded that i ought to study more my own weakness. i ought to have a number of scriptures ready to be meditated on, such as rom. , john , to convince me that i am a helpless worm. "i am tempted to think that i am now an established christian,--that i have overcome this or that lust so long,--that i have got into the habit of the opposite grace,--so that there is no fear; i may venture very near the temptation--nearer than other men. this is a lie of satan. i might as well speak of gunpowder getting by habit a power of resisting fire, so as not to catch the spark. as long as powder is wet, it resists the spark; but when it becomes dry, it is ready to explode at the first touch. as long as the spirit dwells in my heart he deadens me to sin, so that, if lawfully called through temptation, i may reckon upon god carrying me through. but when the spirit leaves me, i am like dry gunpowder. oh for a sense of this! "i am tempted to think that there are some sins for which i have no natural taste, such as strong drink, profane language, etc., so that i need not fear temptation to such sins. this is a lie,--a proud, presumptuous lie. the seeds of all sins, are in my heart, and perhaps all the more dangerously that i do not see them. "i ought to pray and labor for the deepest sense of my utter weakness and helplessness that ever a sinner was brought to feel. i am helpless in respect of every lust that ever was, or ever will be, in the human heart. i am a worm--a beast--before god. i often tremble to think that this is true. i feel as if it would not be safe for me to renounce all indwelling strength, as if it would be dangerous for me to feel (what is the truth) that there is nothing in me keeping me back from the grossest and vilest sin. this is a delusion of the devil. my only safety is to know, feel, and confess my helplessness, that i may hang upon the arm of omnipotence ... i daily wish that sin had been rooted out of my heart. i say, 'why did god leave the root of lasciviousness, pride, anger, etc., in my bosom? he hates sin, and i hate it; why did he not take it clean away?' i know many answers to this which completely satisfy my judgment, but still i do not _feel_ satisfied. this is wrong. it is right to be weary of the being of sin, but not right to quarrel with my present 'good fight of faith.' ... the falls of professors into sin make me tremble. i have been driven away from prayer, and burdened in a fearful manner by hearing or seeing their sin. this is wrong. it is right to tremble, and to make every sin of every professor a lesson of my own helplessness; but it should lead me the more to christ ... if i were more deeply convinced of my utter helplessness, i think i would not be so alarmed when i hear of the falls of other men ... i should study those sins in which i am most helpless, in which passion becomes like a whirlwind and i like a straw. no figure of speech can represent my utter want of power to resist the torrent of sin ... i ought to study christ's omnipotence more: heb. : , i thess. : , rom. : , rom. : , , and such scriptures, should be ever before me ... paul's thorn, ii cor. , is the experience of the greater part of my life. it should be ever before me ... there are many subsidiary methods of seeking deliverance from sins, which must not be neglected,--thus, marriage, i cor. : ; fleeing, i tim. : , i cor. : ; watch and pray, matt. : ; the word, 'it is written, it is written.' so christ defended himself; matt. . ... but the main defence is casting myself into the arms of christ like a helpless child, and beseeching him to fill me with the holy spirit. 'this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith,' i john : , ,--a wonderful passage. "i ought to study christ as a living saviour more,--as a shepherd, carrying the sheep he finds,--as a king, reigning in and over the souls he has redeemed,--as a captain, fighting with those who fight with me, ps. .,--as one who has engaged to bring me through all temptations and trials, however impossible to flesh and blood. "i am often tempted to say, how can this man save us? how can christ in heaven deliver me from lusts which i feel raging in me, and nets i feel enclosing me? this is the father of lies again! 'he is able to save unto the uttermost.' "i ought to study christ as an intercessor. he prayed most for peter, who was to be most tempted. i am on his breastplate. if i could hear christ praying for me in the next room, i would not fear a million of enemies. yet the distance makes no difference; he is praying for me. "i ought to study the comforter more,--his godhead, his love, his almightiness. i have found by experience that nothing sanctifies me so much as meditating on the comforter, as john : . and yet how seldom i do this! satan keeps me from it. i am often like those men who said, they knew not if there be any holy ghost ... i ought never to forget that my body is dwelt in by the third person of the godhead. the very thought of this should make me tremble to sin; i cor. ... i ought never to forget that sin grieves the holy spirit,--vexes and quenches him ... if i would be filled with the spirit, i feel i must read the bible more, pray more, and watch more. " . _to gain entire likeness to christ_, i ought to get a high esteem of the happiness of it. i am persuaded that god's happiness is inseparably linked in with his holiness. holiness and happiness are like light and heat. god never tasted one of the pleasures of sin. "christ had a body such as i have, yet he never tasted one of the pleasures of sin. the redeemed, through all eternity, will never taste one of the pleasures of sin; yet their happiness is complete. it would be my greatest happiness to be from this moment entirely like them. every sin is something away from my greatest enjoyment ... the devil strives night and day to make me forget this or disbelieve it. he says, why should you not enjoy this pleasure as much as solomon or david? you may go to heaven also. i am persuaded that this is a lie,--that my true happiness is to go and sin no more. "i ought not to delay parting with sins. now is god's time. 'i made haste and delayed not.' ... i ought not to spare sins because i have long allowed them as infirmities, and others would think it odd if i were to change all at once. what a wretched delusion of satan that is! "whatever i see to be sin, i ought from this hour to set my whole soul against it, using all scriptural methods to mortify it, as the scriptures, special prayer for the spirit, fasting, watching. "i ought to mark strictly the occasions when i have fallen, and avoid the occasion as much as the sin itself. "satan often tempts me to go as near to temptations as possible without committing the sin. this is fearful,--tempting god and grieving the holy ghost. it is a deep-laid plot of satan. "i ought to flee all temptation, according to prov. : --avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.' ... i ought constantly to pour out my heart to god, praying for entire conformity to christ--for the whole law to be written on my heart ... i ought statedly and solemnly to give my heart to god--to surrender my all into his everlasting arms, according to the prayer, ps. ., 'into thine hand i commit my spirit,'--beseeching him not to let any iniquity, secret or presumptuous, have dominion over me, and to fill me with every grace that is in christ, in the highest degree that it is possible for redeemed sinner to receive it, and at all times, till death. "i ought to meditate often on heaven as a world of holiness,--where all are holy, where the joy is holy joy, the work holy work; so that, without personal holiness, i never can be there ... i ought to avoid the appearance of evil. god commands me; and i find that satan has a singular art in linking the appearance and reality together. "i find that speaking of some sins defiles my mind and leads me into temptation; and i find that god forbids even saints to speak of the things that are done of them in secret. i ought to avoid this. "eve, achan, david, all fell through the lust of the eye. i should make a covenant with mine, and pray, 'turn away mine eyes from viewing vanity.' ... satan makes unconverted men like the deaf adder to the sound of the gospel. i should pray to be made deaf by the holy spirit to all that would tempt me to sin. "one of my most frequent occasions of being led into temptation is this,--i say it is needful to my office that i listen to this, or look into this, or speak of this. so far this is true; yet i am sure satan has his part in this argument. i should seek divine direction to settle how far it will be good for my ministry, and how far evil for my soul, that i may avoid the latter. "i am persuaded that nothing is thriving in my soul unless it is growing. 'grow in grace.' 'lord, increase our faith.' 'forgetting the things that are behind.' ... i am persuaded that i ought to be inquiring at god and man what grace i want, and how i may become more like christ ... i ought to strive for more purity, humility, meekness, patience under suffering, love. 'make me christ-like in all things,' should be my constant prayer. 'fill me with the holy spirit.' " . _reformation in secret prayer._ "i ought not to omit any of the parts of prayer--confession, adoration, thanksgiving, petition, and intercession. "there is a fearful tendency to omit _confession_, proceeding from low views of god and his law, slight views of my heart and the sins of my past life. this must be resisted. there is a constant tendency to omit _adoration_, when i forget to whom i am speaking--when i rush heedlessly into the presence of jehovah, without remembering his awful name and character--when i have little eyesight for his glory, and little admiration of his wonders. 'where are the wise?' i have the native tendency of the heart to omit _giving thanks_. and yet it is specially commanded, phil. : . often when the heart is selfish, dead to the salvation of others, i omit _intercession_. and yet it especially is the spirit of the great advocate, who has the name of israel always on his heart. "perhaps every prayer need not have all these; but surely a day should not pass without some space being devoted to each. "i ought to pray before seeing any one. often when i sleep long, or meet with others early, and then have family prayer, and breakfast, and forenoon callers, often it is eleven or twelve o'clock before i begin secret prayer. this is a wretched system. it is unscriptural. christ rose before day, and went into a solitary place. david says, 'early will i seek thee; thou shalt early hear my voice.' mary magdalene came to the sepulchre while it was yet dark. family prayer loses much of its power and sweetness; and i can do no good to those who come to seek from me. the conscience feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. then, when secret prayer comes, the soul is often out of tune. i feel it is far better to begin with god--to see his face first--to get my soul near him before it is near another. 'when i awake i am still with thee.' "if i have slept too long, or am going an early journey, or my time is any way shortened, it is best to dress hurriedly, and have a few minutes alone with god, than to give it up for lost. "but in general, it is best to have at least one hour _alone with god_, before engaging in anything else. at the same time, i must be careful not to reckon communion with god by minutes or hours, or by solitude. i have pored over my bible, and on my knees for hours, with little or no communion; and my times of solitude have been often times of greatest temptation. "as to _intercession_, i ought daily to intercede for my own family, connections, relatives, and friends; also for my flock,--the believers, the awakened, the careless; the sick, the bereaved; the poor, the rich; my elders, sabbath-school teachers, day-school teachers, children, tract-distributors, that all means may be blessed--sabbath-day preaching and teaching; visiting of the sick, visiting from house to house; providences, sacraments. i ought daily to intercede briefly for the whole town, the church of scotland, all faithful ministers; for vacant congregations, students of divinity, etc.; for dear brethren by name; for missionaries to jews and gentiles, and for this end i must read missionary intelligence regularly, and get acquainted with all that is doing throughout the world. it would stir me up to pray with the map before me. i must have a scheme of prayer, also the names of missionaries marked on the map. i ought to intercede at large for the above on saturday morning and evening from seven to eight. perhaps also i might take different parts for different days; only i ought daily to plead for my family and flock. i ought to pray in everything. 'be careful for nothing, but in _everything_ ... by prayer and supplication, make your requests known unto god.' often i receive a letter asking to preach, or some such request. i find myself answering before having asked counsel of god. still oftener a person calls and asks me something, and i do not ask direction. often i go out to visit a sick person in a hurry, without asking his blessing, which alone can make the visit of any use. i am persuaded that i ought never to do anything without prayer, and, if possible, special, secret prayer. "in reading the history of the church of scotland, i see how much her troubles and trials have been connected with the salvation of souls and the glory of christ. i ought to pray far more for our church, for our leading ministers by name, and for my own clear guidance in the right way, that i may not be led aside, or driven aside, from following christ. many difficult questions may be forced on us for which i am not fully prepared, such as the lawfulness of covenants. i should pray much more in peaceful days, that i may be guided rightly when days of trial come. "i ought to spend the best hours of the day in communion with god. it is my noblest and most fruitful employment, and is not to be thrust into any corner. the morning hours, from six to eight, are the most uninterrupted, and should be thus employed, if i can prevent drowsiness. a little time after breakfast might be given to intercession. after tea is my best hour, and that should be solemnly dedicated to god, if possible. "i ought not to give up the good old habit of prayer before going to bed; but guard must be kept against sleep: planning what things i am to ask is the best remedy. when i awake in the night, i ought to rise and pray, as david and as john welsh did. "i ought to read three chapters of the bible in secret every day, at least. "i ought on sabbath morning to look over all the chapters read through the week, and especially the verses marked. i ought to read in three different places; i ought also to read according to subjects, lives," etc. he has evidently left this unfinished, and now he knows even as he is known. toward the end of his ministry, he became peculiarly jealous of becoming an idol to his people; for he was loved and revered by many who gave no evidence of love to christ. this often pained him much. it is indeed right in a people to regard their pastor with no common love (ii cor. : ), but there is ever a danger ready to arise. he used to say, "ministers are but the pole; it is to the brazen serpent you are to look." the state of his health would not permit him to be laborious in going from house to house, whereas preaching and evangelistic work in general was less exhausting; but of course, while he was thus engaged, many concerns of the parish would be unattended to; accordingly his session offered him a stated assistant to help him in his parochial duty. with this proposal he at once concurred. mr. gatherer, then at caraldstone, was chosen, and continued to labor faithfully with him during the remaining days of his ministry. in the beginning of the year he published his _daily bread_, an arrangement of scripture, that the bible might be read through in the course of a year. he sought to induce his people to meditate much on the written word in all its breadth. his last publication was, _another lily gathered_, or the account of james laing, a little boy in his flock, brought to christ early, and carried soon to glory. in the middle of january , he visited collace, and preached on i cor. : : "a castaway"--a sermon so solemn that one said it was like a blast of the trumpet that would awaken the dead. next day he rode on to lintrathen, where the people were willing to give up their work at mid-day, if he would come and preach to them. all this month he was breathing after glory. in his letters there are such expressions as these: "i often pray, lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be made." "often, often i would like to depart and be with christ--to mount to pisgah-top and take a farewell look of the church below, and leave my body and be present with the lord. ah, it is far better!" again: "i do not expect to live long. i expect a sudden call some day--perhaps soon, and therefore i speak very plainly." but, indeed, he had long been persuaded that his course would be brief. his hearers remember well how often he would speak in such language as that with which he one day closed his sermon: "changes are coming; every eye before me shall soon be dim in death. another pastor shall feed this flock; another singer lead the psalm; another flock shall fill this fold." in the beginning of february, by appointment of the committee of the convocation, he accompanied mr. alexander of zirkcaldy to visit the districts of deer and ellon--districts over which he yearned, for moderatism had held undisputed sway over them for generations. it was to be his last evangelistic tour. he exemplified his own remark, "the oil of the lamp in the temple burnt away in giving light; so should we." he set out, says one that saw him leave town, as unclouded and happy as the sky that was above his head that bright morning. during the space of three weeks, he preached or spoke at meetings in four-and-twenty places, sometimes more than once in the same place. great impression was made upon the people of the district. one who tracked his footsteps a month after his death states, that sympathy with the principles of our suffering church was awakened in many places; but, above all, a thirst was excited for the pure word of life. his eminently holy walk and conversation, combined with the deep solemnity of his preaching, was specially felt. the people loved to speak of him. in one place, where a meeting had been intimated, the people assembled, resolving to cast stones at him as soon as he should begin to speak; but so sooner had he begun, than his manner, his look, his words, riveted them all, and they listened with intense earnestness; and before he left the place, the people gathered round him, entreating him to stay and preach to them. one man, who had cast mud at him, was afterwards moved to tears on hearing of his death. he wrote to mr. gatherer, february , "i had a nice opportunity of preaching in aberdeen; and in peterhead our meeting was truly successful. the minister of st. fergus i found to be what you described. we had a solemn meeting in his church. in strichen, we had a meeting in the independent meeting-house. on friday evening, we had two delightful meetings, in a mill at crechie, and in the church of clola. the people were evidently much impressed, some weeping. on saturday evening we met in the brucklay barn. i preached on sabbath, at new deer in the morning, and at fraserburgh in the evening--both interesting meetings. to-night we met in pitsligo church. to-morrow we trust to be in aberdour; and then we leave for the presbytery of ellon. the weather has been delightful till now. to-day the snow is beginning to drift. but god is with us, and he will carry us to the very end. i am quite well, though a little fatigued sometimes." on the th, he writes to another friend, "to-day is the first we have rested since leaving home, so that i am almost overcome with fatigue. do not be idle; improve in all useful knowledge. you know what an enemy i am to idleness." never was it more felt that god was with him than in this journey. the lord seemed to show in him the meaning of the text, "out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water," john : . even when silent, the near intercourse he held with god left its impression on those around. his _constant holiness_ touched the conscience of many. returning to his beloved flock on march st, in good health, but much exhausted, he related, next evening, at his prayer-meeting, what things he had seen and heard. during the next twelve days he was to be found going out and in among his people, filling up, as his manner was, every inch of time. but he had been much weakened by his unceasing exertions when in the north, and he was more than ordinarily exposed to the typhus fever that was then prevailing in his parish, several cases of which he visited in his enfeebled state. on sabbath the th, he preached three times; and two days after, i find him writing to his father: "all domestic matters go on like a placid stream--i trust not without its fertilizing influence. nothing is more improving than the domestic altar, when we come to it for a daily supply of soul nourishment." to the last we get glances into his soul's growth. his family devotions were full of life and full of gladness to the end. indeed, his very manner in reading the chapter reminded you of a man poring into the sands for pieces of fine gold, and from time to time holding up to you what he delighted to have found. on sabbath the th, he preached upon heb. : in the forenoon, and rom. : , , in the afternoon, with uncommon solemnity; and it was observed, both then and on other late occasions, he spoke with peculiar strength upon the sovereignty of god. these were his last discourses to his people in st. peter's. that same evening he went down to broughty ferry, and preached upon isaiah : , "arise, shine." etc. it was the last time he was to be engaged directly in proclaiming christ to sinners; and as he began his ministry with souls for his hire, so it appears that his last discourse had in it saving power to some, and that rather from the holiness it breathed than from the wisdom of its words. after his death, a note was found unopened, which had been sent to him in the course of the following week, when he lay in the fever. it ran thus: "i hope you will pardon a stranger for addressing to you a few lines. i heard you preach last sabbath evening, and it pleased god to bless that sermon to my soul. it was not so much what you said, as your manner of speaking that struck me. i saw in you a beauty in holiness that i never saw before. you also said something in your prayer that struck me very much. it was, '_thou knowest that we love thee._' oh, sir, what would i give that i could say to my blessed saviour, 'thou knowest that i love thee!'" next evening he held a meeting in st. peter's, with the view of organizing his people for collecting in behalf of the free protesting church,--the disruption of the establishment being now inevitable. he spoke very fervently; and after the meeting felt chilled and unwell. next morning he felt that he was ill; but went out in the afternoon to the marriage of two of his flock. he seemed, however, to anticipate a serious attack, for, on his way home, he made some arrangements connected with his ministerial work, and left a message at dr. gibson's house, asking him to come and see him. he believed that he had taken the fever, and it was so. that night he lay down upon the bed from which he was never to rise. he spoke little, but intimated that he apprehended danger. on wednesday, he said he thought that he would never have seen the morning, he felt so sore broken, and had got no sleep; but afterwards added, "shall we receive good at the hand of the lord, and shall we not receive evil also?" he seemed clouded in spirit, often repeating such passages as--"my moisture is turned into the drought of summer;"--"my bones wax old, through my roaring all day long." it was with difficulty that he was able to speak a few words with his assistant, mr. gatherer. in the forenoon, mr. miller of wallacetown found him oppressed with extreme pain in his head. amongst other things they conversed upon ps. . on coming to the th verse, mr. m'cheyne said he would give him a division of it. . _what is sowed_--"precious seed." . _the manner of sowing it_--"goeth forth and weepeth." he dwelt upon "_weepeth_" and then said, "ministers should go forth at all times." . _the fruit_--"shall doubtless come again with rejoicing." mr. miller pointed to the _certainty_ of it; mr. m'cheyne assented, "yes--_doubtless_." after praying with him, mr. miller repeated matt. : , upon which mr. m'cheyne clasped his hands with great earnestness. as he became worse, his medical attendants forbade him to be visited. once or twice he asked for me, and was heard to speak of "_smyrna_" as if the associations of his illness there were recalled by his burning fever now. i was not at that time aware of his danger, even the rumor of it had not reached us. next day, he continued sunk in body and mind, till about the time when his people met for their usual evening prayer-meeting, when he requested to be left alone for half an hour. when his servant entered the room again, he exclaimed, with a joyful voice. "my soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler; the snare is broken, and i am escaped." his countenance, as he said this, bespoke inward peace. ever after he was observed to be happy; and at supper-time that evening, when taking a little refreshment, he gave thanks, "for strength in the time of weakness--for light in the time of darkness--for joy in the time of sorrow--for comforting us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort those that are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of god." on sabbath, when one expressed a wish that he had been able to go forth as usual to preach, he replied, "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, saith the lord;" and added, "i am preaching the sermon that god would have me to do." on tuesday (the st) his sister repeated to him several hymns. the last words he heard, and the last he seemed to understand, were those of cowper's hymn, _sometimes the light surprises the christian as he sings_. and then the delirium came on. at one time, during the delirium, he said to his attendant, "mind the text, i cor. : --'be stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the lord,'" dwelling with much emphasis on the last clause, "_forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the lord_." at another time he seemed to feel himself among his brethren, and said, "i don't think much of policy in church courts; no, i hate it; but i'll tell you what i like, faithfulness to god, and a holy walk." his voice, which had been weak before, became very strong now; and often was he heard speaking to or praying for his people. "you must be awakened in time, or you will be awakened in everlasting torment, to your eternal confusion." "you may soon get me away, but that will not save your souls." then he prayed, "this parish, lord, this people, this whole place!" at another time, "do it thyself, lord, for thy weak servant." and again, as if praying for the saints, "holy father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me." thus he continued most generally engaged, while the delirium lasted, either in prayer or in preaching to his people, and always apparently in happy frame, till the morning of saturday the th. on that morning, while his kind medical attendant, dr. gibson, stood by, he lifted up his hands as if in the attitude of pronouncing the blessing, and then sank down. not a groan or a sigh, but only a quiver of the lip, and his soul was at rest. as he was subject to frequent sickness, it was not till within some days of his death that serious alarm was generally felt, and hence the stroke came with awful suddenness upon us all. that same afternoon, while preparing for sabbath duties, the tidings reached me. i hastened down, though scarce knowing why i went. his people were that evening met together in the church, and such a scene of sorrow has not often been witnessed in scotland. it was like the weeping for king josiah. hundreds were there; the lower part of the church was full: and none among them seemed able to contain their sorrow. every heart seemed bursting with grief, so that the weeping and the cries could be heard afar off. the lord had most severely wounded the people whom he had before so peculiarly favored; and now, by this awful stroke of his hand, was fixing deeper in their souls all that his servant had spoken in the days of his peculiar ministry. wherever the news of his departure came, every christian countenance was darkened with sadness. perhaps, never was the death of one, whose whole occupation had been preaching the everlasting gospel, more felt by all the saints of god in scotland. not a few also of our presbyterian brethren in ireland felt the blow to the very heart. he himself used to say, "live so as to be missed;" and none that saw the tears that were shed over his death would have doubted that his own life had been what he recommended to others. he had not completed more than twenty-nine years when god took him. on the day of his burial, business was quite suspended in the parish. the streets, and every window, from the house to the grave, were crowded with those who felt that a prince in israel had fallen; and many a careless man felt a secret awe creep over his hardened soul as he cast his eye on the solemn spectacle. his tomb may be seen on the pathway at the north-west corner of st. peter's burying-ground. he has gone to the "mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense, till the day break and the shadows flee away." his work was finished! his heavenly father had not another plant for him to water, nor another vine for him to train; and the saviour who so loved him was waiting to greet him with his own welcome: "well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy lord." but what is the voice to us? has this been sent as the stroke of wrath, or the rebuke of love? "his way is in the sea, and his path in the great waters, and his footsteps are not known." only this much we can clearly see, that nothing was more fitted to leave his character and example impressed on our remembrance forever than his early death. there might be envy while he lived; there is none now. there might have been some of the youthful attractiveness of his graces lost had he lived many years; this cannot be impaired now. it seems as if the lord had struck the flower from its stem, ere any of the colors had lost their bright hue, or any leaf of fragrance. well may the flock of st. peter's lay it to heart. they have had days of visitation. "ye have seen the right hand of the lord plucked out of his bosom? what shall the unsaved among you do in the day of the lord's anger?" "if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace!" it has been more than once the lot of scotland (as was said in the days of durham) to enjoy so much of the lord's kindness, as to have men to lose whose loss has been felt to the very heart--witnesses for christ, who saw the king's face and testified of his beauty. we cannot weep them back; but shall we not call upon him with whom is the residue of the spirit, that ere the lord come. he would raise up men, like enoch, or like paul, who shall reach nearer the stature of the perfect man, and bear witness with more power to all nations? are there not (as he who has left us used to hope) "better ministers in store for scotland than any that have yet arisen?" ministers of christ, does not the lord call upon us especially? many of us are like the angel of the church of ephesus: we have "works, and labor, and patience, and cannot bear them that are evil, and we have borne, and for his name's sake we labor, and have not fainted;" but we want the fervor of "first love." oh how seldom now do we hear of fresh supplies of holiness arriving from the heavenly places (eph. : )--new grace appearing among the saints, and in living ministers! we get contented with our old measure and kind, as if the windows of heaven were never to be opened. few among us see the lower depths of the horrible pit; few ever enter the inner chambers of the house of david. but there has been one among us who, ere he had reached the age at which a priest in israel would have been entering on his course, dwelt at the mercy-seat as if it were his home,--preached the certainties of eternal life with an undoubting mind,--and spent his nights and days in ceaseless breathings after holiness, and the salvation of sinners. hundreds of souls were his reward from the lord, ere he left us; and in him have we been taught how much one man may do who will only press farther into the presence of his god, and handle more skilfully the unsearchable riches of christ, and speak more boldly for his god. we speak much against unfaithful ministers, while we ourselves are awfully unfaithful! are we never afraid that the cries of souls whom we have betrayed to perdition through our want of personal holiness, and our defective preaching of christ crucified, may ring in our ears forever? our lord is at the door. in the twinkling of an eye our work will be done. "awake, awake, o arm of the lord, awake as in the ancient days," till every one of thy pastors be willing to impart to the flock, over which the holy ghost has made him overseer, not the gospel of god only, but also his own soul. and oh that each one were able, as he stands in the pastures feeding thy sheep and lambs, to look up and appeal to thee: "_lord, thou knowest all things! thou knowest that i love thee_!" _printed in the united states of america_ transcriber's notes: underscores (_text_) indicate text italicised in the original book, as in the last line of printed book (above). footnotes were moved from individual pages to the end of the affected paragraph. this e-book is a reproduction of an original that itself is an excerpt of a larger work, as stated in the publisher's preface. there were a number of spelling and punctuation errors, too numerous to detail, that were corrected in this version of the book. there are also a number of stylistic differences between the works including format of references (e.g. roman vs. decimal numbers), italics and poetry indentings. in these instances, this e-book has been made to follow the excerpted reprint, and not the original, larger work. principal cairns by john cairns famous scots series the designs and ornaments of this volume are by mr. joseph brown, and the printing is from the press of morrison & gibb limited, edinburgh. preface in preparing the following pages i have been chiefly indebted for the materials of the earlier chapters to some ms. notes by my late uncle, mr. william cairns. these were originally written for professor macewen when he was preparing his admirable _life and letters of john cairns, d.d. ll.d._ they are very full and very interesting, and i have made free use of them. to dr. macewen's book i cannot sufficiently express my obligations. he has put so much relating to principal cairns into an absolutely final form, that he seems to have left no alternative to those who come after him between passing over in silence what he has so well said and reproducing it almost in his words. it is probable, therefore, that students of the _life and letters_--and there are many who, like mr. andrew lang with lockhart's _life of scott_, "make it their breviary "--will detect some echoes of its sentences in this little book. still, i have tried to look at the subject from my own point of view, and to work it out in my own way; while, if i have borrowed anything directly, i trust that i have made due acknowledgment in the proper place. among those whom i have to thank for kind assistance, i desire specially to mention my father, the rev. david cairns, the last surviving member of the household at dunglass, who has taken a constant interest in the progress of the book, and has supplied me with many reminiscences and suggestions. to my brother the rev. d.s. cairns, ayton, i am indebted for most valuable help in regard to many points, especially that dealt with at the close of chapter vi.; and i also owe much to the suggestions of my friends the rev. p. wilson and the rev. r. glaister. for help in revising the proofs i have to thank the rev. j.m. connor and my brother the rev. w.t. cairns. j.c. dumfries, _ th march_ . contents preface chapter i: ancestry and childhood chapter ii: dunglass chapter iii: college days chapter iv: the student of theology chapter v: golden square chapter vi: the central problem chapter vii: the apostle of union chapter viii: wallace green chapter ix: the professor chapter x: the principal chapter xi: the end of the day principal cairns * * * * * chapter i ancestry and childhood john cairns was born at ayton hill, in the parish of ayton, in the east of berwickshire, on the rd of august . the farm of ayton hill no longer exists. nothing is left of it but the trees which once overshadowed its buildings, and the rank growth of nettles which marks the site of a vanished habitation of man. its position was a striking one, perched as it was just on the edge of the high ground which separates the valley of the little river eye from that of the tweed. it commanded an extensive view, taking in almost the whole course of the eye, from its cradle away to the left among the lammermoors to where it falls into the sea at eyemouth a few miles to the right. down in the valley, directly opposite, were the woods and mansion of ayton castle. a little to the left, the village of ayton lay extended along the farther bank of the stream, while behind both castle and village the ground rose in gentle undulations to the uplands of coldingham moor. south-eastwards, a few miles along the coast, lay berwick-on-tweed, the scene of john cairns's future labours as a minister; while away in the opposite direction, in the heart of the lammermoors, near the headwaters of the whitadder and the dye, was the home of his immediate ancestors. these were tenants of large sheep-farms; but, through adverse circumstances, his grandfather, thomas cairns, unable to take a farm of his own, had to earn his living as a shepherd. he died in , worn out before he had passed his prime, and his widow was left to bring up her young fatherless family of three girls and two boys as best she could. after several migrations, which gradually brought them down from the hills to the seaboard, they settled for some years at ayton hill. the farm was at the time under some kind of trust, and there was no resident farmer. the widowed mother was engaged to look after the pigs and the poultry; the daughters also found employment; and james, the elder son, became the shepherd. he was of an adventurous and somewhat restless disposition, and, at the time of the threatened invasion by napoleon, joined a local volunteer corps. then the war fever laid hold of him, and he enlisted in the regular army, serving in the rifle brigade all through the peninsular war, from vimiera to toulouse, and earning a medal with twelve clasps. he afterwards returned, bringing with him a portuguese wife, and settled as shepherd on the home-farm of ayton castle. the younger son, john, as yet little more than a child, was hired out as herd-boy on the neighbouring farm of greystonelees, between ayton and berwick. his wages were a pair of shoes in the half-year, with his food in the farm kitchen and his bed in the stable loft. his schooldays had begun early. he used afterwards to tell how his mother, when he was not more than five years old, carried him every day on her back on his way to school across a little stream that flowed near their cottage. but this early education was often interrupted, and came very soon to a close; not, however, before he was well able to read. writing he taught himself later; and, later still, he picked up a good working knowledge of arithmetic at a night-school. he was a quiet, thoughtful boy, specially fond of reading, but, from lack of books, reading was almost out of his reach. he had not even a bible of his own, for bibles were then so dear that it was not possible for parents in humble life to provide those of their children who went out into the world with copies even of the cheapest sort. in place of a bible, however, his mother had given him a copy of the scottish metre version of the psalms, with a "preface" to each psalm and notes by john brown of haddington. this was all the boy had to feed his soul on, but it was enough, for it was strong meat; and he valued and carefully kept that old, brown, leather-bound psalm-book to the end of his days. when james left home, the shepherding at ayton hill was taken up by his brother john. though only a lad in his teens, he was in every respect, except in physical strength, already a man. he was steady and thoughtful, handy and capable in farm work, especially in all that concerned the care of sheep, for which he had a natural and probably an inherited instinct. he was also held in great regard by the rev. david ure, the earnest and kindly minister of the burgher meeting-house, which stood behind the castle woods at the lower end of ayton village. the family were of that "strict, not strictest species of presbyterian dissenter," and john attended also the bible-class and fellowship meeting. the family of john murray, a ploughman or "hind" from the duns district, and now settled at bastleridge, the next farm to ayton hill, also attended mr. ure's church. an intimacy sprang up between the two families. it ripened into affection between john cairns and alison, john murray's only daughter, and in june they were united in marriage. the two eldest daughters of the cairns family had already gone to situations, and were soon to have homes of their own. the grand old mother, who had been for so many years both father and mother to her children, was beginning to feel the infirmities of age. when, therefore, the young couple took up housekeeping, she left the home and the work at ayton hill to them, and with her youngest daughter went over to live in ayton. john cairns and his wife were in many respects very unlike one another. he was of a grave, quiet, and somewhat anxious temperament, almost morbidly scrupulous where matters of conscience and responsibility were concerned. she, on the other hand, was always hopeful, making light of practical difficulties, and by her untiring energy largely helping to make these disappear. she had a great command of vigorous scotch, and a large stock of homely proverbs, of which she made frequent and apposite use. both husband and wife were excellently well read in their bibles, and both were united in the fear of god. built on this firm foundation, their union of twenty-seven years was a singularly happy one, and their different temperaments contributed to the common stock what each of them separately lacked. ayton hill remained their home for six years after their marriage, and here were born their three eldest children, of whom the youngest, john, is the subject of the present sketch. in the spring of the trust under which ayton hill had been worked for so many years was wound up, and a new tenant took the farm. it became necessary, therefore, for the shepherd to seek a new situation, and this brought about the first "flitting" in the family history. the berwickshire hinds are somewhat notorious for their migratory habits, in which some observers have found a survival of the restlessness which characterised their ancestors in former times, and was alike the result and the cause of the old border forays. be that as it may, every whitsunday term-day sees the country roads thronged with carts conveying furniture and bedding from one farm to another. in front of the pile sits the hind's wife with her younger children, while the hind himself with his older boys and girls walks beside the horse, or brings up the rear, driving the family cow before him. in some cases there is a flitting every year, and instances have even been known in which anxiety to preserve an unbroken tradition of annual removals has been satisfied by a flitting from one house to another on the same farm. the cairns family now entered on a period of migration of this kind, and in the course of eleven years they flitted no less than six times. their first removal was from ayton hill to oldcambus mains, in the parish of cockburnspath, where they came into touch with the dunglass estate and the stockbridge church, with both of which they were in after-years to have so close a connection. the father had been engaged by the dunglass factor to act, in the absence of a regular tenant, as joint steward and shepherd at oldcambus, and the family lived in the otherwise unoccupied farmhouse. the two elder children attended a school less than a mile distant, and in their absence john, the youngest, who was now in his fourth year, used to cause no little anxiety to his careful mother by wandering out by himself dangerously near to the edge of the high sea-cliffs behind the farmhouse. at length, in a happy moment, he took it into his head to go to school himself; and, although he was too young for lessons, the schoolmaster allowed him to sit beside his brother and sister. when he was tired of sitting, tradition has it that the little fellow used to amuse himself by getting up and standing in the corner to which the school culprits were sent. here he duly put on the dunce's cap which he had seen them wear, and which bore the inscription, "for my bad conduct i stand here." a tenant having been at length found for oldcambus mains, the family, which had been increased by the birth of three more children, removed back to the ayton district, to the farm of whiterigg, two miles from the village. the house which they occupied here is still pointed out, but it has been enlarged and improved since those days. at that time, like all the farm servants' dwellings in the district, it consisted of a single room with an earthen floor, an open unlined roof of red tiles, and rafters running across and resting on the wall at each side. there was a fireplace at one end and a window, and then a door at right angles to the fireplace. when the furniture came to be put in, the two box-beds with their sliding panels were set up facing the fireplace; they touched the back wall at one end, and left a small space free opposite to the door at the other. the beds came almost, if not quite, up to the level of the rafters, and screened off behind them perhaps a third of the entire space, which was used as a lumber closet or store. above the rafters, well furnished with _cleeks_ for the family stock of hams, there was spread, in lieu of a ceiling, a large sheet of canvas or coarse unbleached cotton. there was a table under the window, a _dresser_ with racks for plates, etc., set up against the opposite wall, and an eight-day clock between the window and the fireplace. "fixtures" were in such houses practically non-existent; the grate, which consisted merely of two or three bars or _ribs_, the iron _swey_ from which hung the large pot with its rudimentary feet, and, in some cases, even the window, were the property of the immigrants, and were carried about by them from farm to farm in their successive flirtings. when at whiterigg, the children attended school at ayton, and here young john learned his letters and made considerable progress in reading. after two years, the death of the whiterigg farmer made another change necessary, and the family returned to the dunglass estate and settled at aikieside, a forester's cottage quite near to their former home at oldcambus mains, and within easy reach of oldcambus school. aikieside is in the pease dean, a magnificent wooded glen, crossed a little lower down by a famous bridge which carries the old post road from edinburgh to berwick over the pease burn at a height of nearly one hundred and thirty feet. a still older road crosses the stream close to its mouth, less than a mile below the bridge. the descent here is very steep on both sides, but it seems to have been even steeper in former times than it is now. this point in the old road is "the strait pass at copperspath," where oliver cromwell before the battle of dunbar found the way to berwick blocked by the troops of general leslie, and of which he said that here "ten men to hinder are better than forty to make their way." beautiful as the pease dean is, it has this drawback for those who live in the vicinity--especially if they happen to be anxious mothers--that it is infested with adders; and as these engaging reptiles were specially numerous and specially aggressive in the "dry year" , it is not surprising that when, owing to the cottage at aikieside being otherwise required, john cairns was offered a house in the village of cockburnspath, he and his wife gladly availed themselves of that offer. from cockburnspath another removal was made in the following year to dunglass mill; and at last, in , the much travelled family, now increased to eight, found rest in a house within the dunglass grounds, after the father had received the appointment of shepherd on the home-farm, which he held during the rest of his life. chapter ii dunglass the lammermoor range, that "dusky continent of barren heath-hills," as thomas carlyle calls it, runs down into the sea at st. abb's head. for the greater part of its length it divides berwickshire from east lothian; but at its seaward end there is one berwickshire parish lying to the north of it--the parish of cockburnspath. the land in this parish slopes down to the firth of forth; it is rich and well cultivated, and is divided into large farms, each of which has its group of red-roofed buildings, its substantial farmhouse, and its long tail of hinds' cottages. the seaward views are very fine, and include the whole of the rugged line of coast from fast castle on the east to tantallon and north berwick law on the west. in the middle distance are the tower of dunbar church, the bass rock, and the isle of may; and farther off is the coast of fife, with largo law and the lomonds in the background. the land is mostly bare of trees, but there is a notable exception to this in the profound ravines which come down from the hills to the sea, and whose banks are thickly clothed with fine natural wood. of these, the pease dean has already been mentioned. close beside it is the tower dean, so called from an ancient fortalice of the home family which once defended it, and which stands beside a bridge held in just execration by all cyclists on the great north road. but, unquestionably, the finest of all the ravines in these parts is dunglass dean, which forms the western boundary of cockburnspath parish, and divides berwickshire from east lothian. from the bridge by which the edinburgh and berwick road crosses the dean, at the height of one hundred feet above the bed of the stream, the view in both directions is extremely fine. about a hundred and fifty yards lower down is the modern railway bridge, which spans the ravine in one gigantic arch forty feet higher than the older structure that carries the road; and through this arch, above the trees which fill the glen, one gets a beautiful glimpse of the sea about half a mile away. above the road-bridge, and to the right of the wooded dean, are the noble trees and parks of dunglass grounds. the mansion-house, a handsome modern building, part of which rises to a height of five storeys, is built only some eight or ten feet from the brink of the dean, on its western or east lothian side. about fifty yards farther west are the ivy-covered ruins of a fine gothic church, whose massive square tower and stone roof are still tolerably complete. this church before the reformation had collegiate rank, and is now the sole remaining relic of the ancient village of dunglass. in former times the dunglass estate belonged to the earls of home, whose second title, borne to this day by the eldest son of the house, is that of lord dunglass. but it was bought about the middle of the seventeenth century by the halls, who own it still, and in whose family there has been a baronetcy since . the laird at the time with which we are now dealing was sir james hall, whose epitaph in the old church at dunglass bears that he was "a philosopher eminent among the distinguished men of an enquiring age." he was president of the royal society of edinburgh for many years, and was an acknowledged expert in natural science, especially in geology. his second son was the well-known captain basil hall, r.n., the author of a once widely-read book of travels. behind the church, and about a hundred yards to the west of the mansion-house, are the offices--stables, close boxes, coach-house, etc., all of a single storey, and built round a square paved courtyard. the coachman's house is on one side of this square, and the shepherd's on the other. the latter, which is on the side farthest from the "big house," has its back to the courtyard, and looks out across a road to its little bailyard and a fine bank of trees beyond it. it is neat and lightsome, but very small; consisting only of a single room thirteen feet by twelve, with a closet opening off it not more than six feet broad. how a family consisting of a father, mother, and eight children could be stowed away in it, especially at night, is rather a puzzling question. but we may suppose that, when all were at home, each of the two box-beds would be made to hold three, that a smaller bed in the closet would account for two more, and that for the accommodation of two of the younger children a sliding shelf would be inserted transversely across the foot of one of the box-beds. certainly, an arrangement of this kind would fail to be approved by a sanitary inspector in our times; and even during the day, when all the family were on the floor together, there was manifest overcrowding. but the life was a country one, and could be, and was, largely spent in the open air, amid healthful surroundings and beautiful scenery. the income available for the support of such a large household seems to us in these days almost absurdly inadequate. the father's wages rarely exceeded £ a year, and they never all his life reached £ . they were mostly paid in kind. so many bolls of oats, of barley and of peas, so many carts of coals, so many yards of growing potatoes, a cow's grass, the keep of two sheep and as many pigs, and a free house,--these, which were known as the _gains_, were the main items in the account. this system gave considerable opportunity for management on the part of a thrifty housewife, and for such management there were few to surpass the housewife in the shepherd's cottage at dunglass. the food was plentiful but plain. breakfast consisted of porridge and milk; dinner, in the middle of the day, of scotch kail and pork, occasionally varied by herrings, fresh or salt according to the season, and with the usual accompaniments of potatoes and pease bannocks. at supper there was porridge again, or mashed potatoes washed down with draughts of milk, and often eaten with horn spoons out of the large pot which was set down on the hearth. tea was only seen once a week--on sunday afternoons. and so the young family grew up healthy and strong in spite of the overcrowding. before the removal to dunglass, the two eldest children had been taken from school to work in the fields, where they earned wages beginning at sixpence a day. their education, however, was continued in some sort at a night-school. john and his younger brother james, and the twins, janet and william, who came next in order, attended the parish school at cockburnspath, a mile away. cockburnspath is a village of about two hundred and fifty inhabitants, situated a little off the main road. it has a church with an ancient round tower, and a venerable market-cross rising from a platform of steps in the middle of the village street. on the south side of the street, just in front of the church, stood the old schoolhouse--a low one storey building, roofed with the red tiles characteristic of the neighbourhood, and built on to the schoolmaster's two-storey dwelling. the schoolmaster at this time was john m'gregor, a man of ripe and accurate scholarship and quite separate individuality. the son of a perthshire farmer, he had studied for the ministry at st. andrews university, and had, it was said, fulfilled all the requirements for becoming a licentiate of the church of scotland except the sending in of one exercise, this exercise he could never be persuaded to send in, and that not because he had any speculative difficulties as to the truth of the christian revelation, nor yet because he had any exaggerated misgivings as to his own qualifications for the work of the ministry; but because he preferred the teaching profession, and was, moreover, indignant at what he conceived to be the overbearing attitude which the ministers of the established church assumed to the parish schools and schoolmasters. this feeling ultimately became a kind of mania with him. he was at feud with his own parish minister, and never entered his church except when, arrayed in a blue cloak with a red collar, he attended to read proclamations of marriages; and he could make himself very disagreeable when the local presbytery sent their annual deputation to examine his school. yet he was essentially a religious man; he had a reverence for what was good, and he taught the bible and shorter catechism to his scholars carefully and well. as he disliked the ministers, so he showed little deference to the farmers, who were in some sort the "quality" of the district, and to such of their offspring as came under his care. the farmers retaliated by setting up an opposition school in cockburnspath, which survived for a few years; but it never flourished, for the common people believed in m'gregor, whom they regarded as "a grand teacher," as indeed he was. he had a spare, active figure, wore spectacles, and took snuff. there was at all times an element of grimness in him, and he could be merciless when the occasion seemed to demand it. "stark man he was, and great awe men had of him," but this awe had its roots in a very genuine respect for his absolutely just dealing and his masterful independence of character. john cairns first went to mr. m'gregor's school when the family removed to cockburnspath from aikieside, and he made such progress that two years later, when he was ten years old, the master proposed that he should join a latin class which was then being formed. this proposal caused great searchings of heart at home. his father, with anxious conscientiousness, debated with himself as to whether it would be right for him thus to set one of his sons above the rest. he could not afford to have them all taught latin, so would it be fair to the others that john should be thus singled out from them? the mother, on the other hand, had no such misgivings, and she was clear that john must have his latin. the ordinary school fees ranged from three to five shillings a quarter; but when latin was taken they rose to seven and sixpence. mr. m'gregor had proposed to teach john latin without extra charge, but both his father and his mother were agreed that to accept this kind offer was not to be thought of for a moment; and his mother was sure that by a little contriving and saving on her part the extra sum could be secured. the minister, mr. inglis, who was consulted in the matter, also pronounced strongly for the proposal, and so john was allowed to begin his classical studies. within two years greek had been added to the latin; and, as the unavoidable bustle and noise which arose in the evening when the whole family were together in the one room of the house made study difficult, john stipulated with his mother that she should call him in the morning, when she rose, an hour before anybody else, to light the fire and prepare the breakfast. and so it happened that, if any of the rest of the family awoke before it was time to get up, they would see john studying his lesson and hear him conjugating his greek verbs by the light of the one little oil-lamp that the house afforded. perhaps, too, it was what he saw, in these early morning hours, of the unwearied and self-forgetful toil of his mother that taught him to be in an especial degree thoughtful for her comfort and considerate of her wants both then and in after-years. but his regular schooldays were now drawing to an end. his father, though engaged as the shepherd at dunglass, had other duties of a very multifarious kind to discharge, and part of his shepherd work had been done for him for some time by his eldest son, thomas. but thomas was now old enough to earn a higher wage by other work on the home-farm or in the woods, and so it came to be john's turn to take up the work among the sheep. when his father told mr. m'gregor that john would have to leave school, the schoolmaster was so moved with regret at the thought of losing so promising a scholar, that he said that if john could find time for any study during the day he would be glad to have him come to his house two or three nights in the week, and to go over with him then what he had learned. as mr. m'gregor had become more and more solitary in his habits of late--he was a bachelor, and his aged mother kept house for him--this offer was considered to be a very remarkable proof of his regard, and it was all the more gratefully accepted on that account. it fortunately happened that the work to which john had now to turn his hand allowed him an opportunity of carrying on his studies without interfering with its efficiency. that work was of a twofold character. he had to "look" the sheep, and he had to "herd" them. the looking came first. starting at six o'clock in the morning, accompanied by the faithful collie "cheviot," he made a round of all the grass-parks on the home-farm, beginning down near the sea and thence working his way round to a point considerably higher up than the mansion-house. his instructions were to count the sheep in each field, so that he might be able to tell whether they were all there, and also to see whether they were all afoot and feeding. in the event of anything being wrong, he was to report it to his father. the circuit was one of three or four miles, and the last field to be looked was that in which were gathered the fifty or sixty sheep that were to be brought out to the unfenced lawns round the mansion-house and be herded there during the day. these sheep were generally to be found waiting close to the gate, and when it was opened they could quite easily find their own way down to their feeding-ground. as they passed slowly on, cropping the grass as they went, john was able to leave them and go home for his breakfast of porridge and milk. breakfast having been despatched, and cheviot fed, he once more wrapped his shepherd's plaid about him, remembering to put a book or two, and perhaps a piece of bannock, into the _neuk_ of it, and set out to find his flock. there was usually little difficulty in doing so, for the sheep knew the way and did not readily wander out of it; while, even if they had deviated a little from the direct route, no great harm would at this stage of their passage have resulted. it was quite different when they came down to the lawns near the house. these were surrounded by ornamental shrubbery, and it was to keep the sheep from invading this and the adjacent flower-borders that the services of the herd-boy were required. what he had to do, then, after he had brought the sheep down, was to take his place on some knoll which commanded the ground where they were feeding, and keep an eye on them. if nothing disturbed them they would feed quietly enough, and a long spell of reading might be quite safely indulged in. if any of them showed signs of wandering out of bounds, a stroll in their direction, book in hand, would usually be quite sufficient, with or without cheviot's aid, to turn them. and if a leading sheep were turned, the others would, sheep-like, follow the new lead thus imparted. this was the usual state of things in fine weather. in wet weather there were not the same possibilities of study, unless the feeding-ground happened to be in the neighbourhood of the old church, where sufficient shelter could be found for reading and the sheep could be watched through the open doorway. about four o'clock--in winter somewhat earlier--it was time to take the sheep back to the fold-field, and then the parks had to be again looked, this time in the reverse order, the shepherd's cottage being gained in time for supper. after supper, john would go into cockburnspath to recite the lessons he had prepared to mr. m'gregor. the schoolmaster never prescribed any definite section to be learned; he left this to his pupil, in whose industry and interest in his work he had sufficient confidence. he rarely bestowed any praise. a grim smile of satisfaction, and sometimes a "very well, sir," were all that he would vouchsafe; but to others he would be less reticent, and once he was heard to say, "i have so far missed my own way, but john cairns will flourish yet." john is described as having been at this time a well-grown boy, somewhat raw-boned and loose-jointed, with an eager look, ruddy and healthy, and tanned with the sun, his hair less dark than it afterwards became. he was fond of schoolboy games--shinty, football, and the rest--and would play at marbles, even when the game went against him, until he had lost his last stake. archery was another favourite amusement, and he was expert at making bows from the thinnings of the dunglass yews, and arrows tipped with iron _ousels_--almost the only manual dexterity he possessed. like all boys of his class, his usual dress was a brown velveteen jacket and waistcoat and corduroy trousers that had once been white. along with the teaching he got from mr. m'gregor, there went another sort of education of a less formal kind which still deserves to be mentioned. now that he was earning a wage,--it was about eightpence or tenpence a day,--which of course went into the common stock, he ventured occasionally to ask his mother for sixpence to himself. with this he could obtain a month's reading at the cockburnspath library. a very excellent library this was, and during the three years of his herding he worked his way pretty well through it. it was especially strong in history and standard theology, and in these departments included such works as gibbon's _decline and fall_, mitford's _history of greece_, russell's _modern europe_, butler's _analogy_, and paley's _evidences_. in biography and fiction it was less strong, but it had a complete set of the waverley novels in one of the early three-volume editions. when he went to mr. m'gregor's, john used often to take butter churned by his mother to the village shop, and the basket in which he carried it was capacious enough to hold a good load of books from the library on the return journey. all the family were fond of books, and the small store of volumes, mostly of old scotch divinity, in the little bookcase at dunglass was well thumbed. but reading of a lighter kind was also indulged in, and on winter nights, when the mother was plying her spinning-wheel and the father had taken down his cobbler's box and was busily engaged patching the children's shoes, it was a regular practice for john to sit near the dim oil-lamp and read to the rest. sometimes the reading would be from an early number of chambers's _journal_, sometimes from wilson's _tales of the borders_, which were then appearing--both of these being loans from a neighbour. but once a week there was always a newspaper to be read. it was often a week or a fortnight old, for, as it cost sixpence halfpenny, it was only by six or eight neighbours clubbing together that such a luxury could be brought within the reach of a working-man's family; but it was never so old as to be uninteresting to such eager listeners. but the most powerful of all the influences which affected john cairns at this period of his life remains to be mentioned--that which came to him from his religious training and surroundings. the christian religion has acted both directly and indirectly on the scottish peasantry, and it has done so the more powerfully because of the democratic character of the presbyterian form which that religion took in scotland. directly, it has changed their lives and has given them new motives and new immortal hopes. but it has also acted on them indirectly, doing for them in this respect much of what education and culture have done for others. it has supplied the element of idealism in their lives. these lives, otherwise commonplace and unlovely, have been lighted up by a perpetual vision of the unseen and the eternal; and this has stimulated their intellectual powers and has so widened their whole outlook upon life as to raise them high above those of their own class who lived only for the present. all who have listened to the prayers of a devout scotch elder of the working-class must have been struck by this combination of spiritual and intellectual power; and one thing they must have specially noticed is that, unlike the elder of contemporary fiction, he expressed himself, not in broad scotch but in correct and often stately bible english. but this intellectual activity is often carried beyond the man in whom it has first manifested itself. it tends to reappear in his children, who either inherit it or have their own intellectual powers stimulated in the bracing atmosphere it has created. the instances of robert burns and thomas carlyle, who both came out of homes in which religion--and religion of the old scottish type--was the deepest interest, will occur to everyone. not the least striking illustration of this principle is shown in the case of john cairns. in the life of his soul he owed much to the godly upbringing and christian example shown to him by his parents; but the home at dunglass, where religion was always the chief concern, was the nursery of a strong mind as well as of a strong soul, and both were fed from the same spring. in this case, as in so many others, spiritual strength became intellectual strength in the second generation. the cairns family attended church at stockbridge, a mile beyond cockburnspath and two miles from dunglass, and the father was an elder there from till his death. the united secession--formerly the burgher--church at stockbridge occupied a site conveniently central for the wide district which it served, but very solitary. it stood amid cornfields, on the banks of a little stream, and looked across to the fern-clad slopes of ewieside, an outlying spur of the lammermoors. except the manse, and the beadle's cottage which adjoined it, there was no house within sight, nor any out of sight less than half a mile away. the minister at this time was the rev. david m'quater inglis, a man of rugged appearance and of original and vigorous mental powers. he was a good scholar and a stimulating preacher, excelling more particularly in his expository discourses, or "lectures" as they used to be called. when he tackled some intricate passage in an epistle, it was at times a little hard to follow him, especially as his utterance tended to be hesitating; but when he had finished, one saw that a broad clear road had been cut through the thicket, and that the daylight had been let in upon what before had been dim. "i have heard many preachers," said dr. cairns, in preaching his funeral sermon nearly forty years later, "but i have heard few whose sermons at their best were better than the best of his; and his everyday ones had a strength, a simplicity, and an unaffected earnestness which excited both thought and christian feeling." nor was he merely a preacher. by his pastoral visitations and "diets of examination" he always kept himself in close touch with his people, and he made himself respected by rich and poor alike. the shepherd's family occupied a pew at stockbridge in front of the pulpit and just under the gallery, which ran round three sides of the church. that pew was rarely vacant on a sunday. there was no herding to be done on that day, and in the morning the father looked the sheep in the parks himself that the herd-boy might have his full sabbath rest. he came back in time to conduct family worship, this being the only morning in the week when it was possible for him to do so, although in the evening it was never omitted, and on sunday evening was always preceded by a repetition of the shorter catechism. after worship the family set out for church, where the service began at eleven. the situation of stockbridge, it has been already said, was solitary, but on sundays, when the hour of worship drew near, the place lost its solitude. the roads in all directions were thronged with vehicles, men on horseback, and a great company on foot; the women wearing the scarlet cloaks which had not yet given place to the paisley shawls of a later period, and each carrying, neatly wrapped in a white handkerchief, a bible or psalm-book, between whose leaves were a sprig or two of southernwood, spearmint, or other fragrant herb from the cottage garden. the service lasted about three hours. there was first a "lecture" and then a sermon, each about fifty minutes long; several portions of psalms were sung; and of the three prayers, the first, or "long prayer," was seldom less than twenty minutes in length. in summer there was an interval of half an hour between the lecture and the sermon, "when," says mr. william cairns, "there was opportunity for a delightful breathing-time, and the youths who were swift of foot could just reach the bottom of a hill whereon were plenteous blaeberries, and snatch a fearful joy if one could swallow without leaving the tell-tale marks on the lips and tongue." at the close of the afternoon service there was a sunday school, chiefly conducted by mr. inglis himself, at which an examination on the sermon that had just been delivered formed an important part of the exercises. and tradition has it that the questioning and answering, which had at first been evenly distributed among the pupils, usually in the end came to resolve themselves pretty much into a dialogue between mr. inglis and john cairns. it was here that the minister first came to close grips with his elder's son and took the measure of the lad's abilities. after he did so, his interest in john's classical studies was constant and helpful; and, although he gave him no direct assistance in them (if he had done so, he would have called down upon himself the wrath of mr. m'gregor), he was always ready to lend him books and give him useful advice. after three years at herding and at mr. m'gregor's, the question arose, and was the subject of anxious debate in the family councils, as to what was to be done with john. he was now sixteen. his elder brother, thomas, had got a post under his father, whom he afterwards succeeded as shepherd at dunglass. his elder sister had gone to a situation. and now james, the brother next younger than himself, had also left home to be apprenticed to a tailor. it was time for some decision to be come to with regard to him. mr. m'gregor was anxious that a superstructure should be built on the foundation laid by himself by his going to college. mr. inglis's advice was unhesitatingly given in the same direction. with his father, the old scruples arose about setting one of his children above the rest; but again his mother's chief concern was more about ways and means. his father's question was, _ought_ it to be done? his mother's, _can_ it be done? there were great difficulties in the way of answering this practical question in the affirmative. there were then no bursaries open for competition; and though the expenses at home were not so great as they had once been, now that three of the family had been so far placed in life, the university class-fees and the cost of living, even in the most frugal way, entailed an expense which was formidable enough. still, the mother thought that this could be faced, and, in order to acquaint herself more fully with all the facts of the situation, she resolved to pay a long-promised visit to her youngest brother, who with his family was now living in edinburgh. he was a carrier between that city and jedburgh, and, though still in a comparatively humble way, was said to be doing well. the visit was a great success. mrs. cairns was most warmly received by her brother and his wife, who proposed that john should stay with them and share with their own family in what was going. this offer was gratefully accepted, so far as the question of lodging was concerned. as to board, john's mother had ideas of her own, and insisted on paying for it, if not in money at least in kind. thus it was settled that john was to go to college, but nothing was settled beyond this. perhaps his parents may have had their own wishes, and his minister and his schoolmaster their own expectations, about a career for him; but in the boy's unworldly heart there was nothing as yet beyond the desire for further learning and the earnest resolution to be not unworthy of the sacrifices which had made the realisation of this desire possible. he worked at his herding up till the day before he left for the university, in the end of october ; and then, starting in the middle of the night with william christison, the cockburnspath carrier, he trudged beside the cart that conveyed the box containing his clothes and his scanty stock of books all the thirty-five miles between dunglass and edinburgh. chapter iii college days when john cairns entered the university of edinburgh in november he passed into a world that was entirely strange to him. it would be difficult to imagine a greater contrast than that between the low-roofed village school and the spacious quadrangle surrounded by heavily balustraded stone terraces and stately pillared façades, into which, at the booming of the hourly bell, there poured from the various classrooms a multitudinous throng of eager young humanity. and he himself in some mysterious way seemed to be changed almost beyond his own recognition. instead of being the jock cairns who had herded sheep on the braes of dunglass, and had carried butter to the cockburnspath shop, he was now, as his matriculation card informed him, "joannes cairns, civis academiae edinburgeniae;" he was addressed by the professor in class as "mr. cairns," and was included in his appeal to "any gentleman in the bench" to elucidate a difficult passage in the lesson of the day. he attended two classes this winter--that of "humanity" or latin taught by professor pillans, and that of greek under the care of professor george dunbar. pillans had been a master at eton, and at a later period rector of the edinburgh high school. he was a little man with rosy cheeks, and was a sound scholar and an admirable teacher, whose special "fad" was classical geography. dunbar had begun life as a working gardener at ayton castle. he had compiled a greek lexicon which had some repute in its day, but he was not an inspiring teacher, and his gruff manners made him far from popular. trained by a country schoolmaster, and having no experience of competition except what a country school affords, john cairns had until now no idea of his own proficiency relatively to that of others; and it was something of a revelation to him when he discovered how far the grounding he had received from mr. m'gregor enabled him to go. his classical attainments soon attracted notice, and at the end of the session, although he failed to win the class medals, he stood high in the honours lists, and was first in private latin studies and in greek prose. nor were these the only interests that occupied him. a fellow-student, the late dr. james hardy, writes of him that from the first he was great in controversy, and that in the classroom during the ten minutes before the appearance of the professor, he was always the centre of a knot of disputants on the voluntary church question or some question of politics. also it is recorded that, on the day after a parliamentary election for the city, he had no voice left, having shouted it all away the day before in honour of the two successful whig candidates. during this session, as had been previously arranged, he lodged in charles street with his mother's brother, whose eldest son, john murray, shared his room. for this cousin, who was about his own age, he had always the greatest regard, and he was specially grateful to him for the kindness with which he helped him over many of the difficulties which, as a raw lad from the country, he experienced when he first came to live in the city. the friendship between the cousins remained unbroken--though their paths in life were widely different--till they died, within a fortnight of each other, nearly sixty years later. all through the winter a box travelled with the cockburnspath carrier every three or four weeks between edinburgh and dunglass, taking with it on the outward journey clothes to be washed and mended, and on the return journey always including a store of country provisions--scones, oatmeal, butter, cheese, bacon, and potatoes. the letters that passed between the student and his family were also sent in the box, for as yet there was no penny post, and the postage of a letter between dunglass and edinburgh cost as much as sixpence halfpenny or sevenpence. often, too, john would send home some cheap second-hand books, for he had a general commission to keep his eye on the bookstalls. amongst these purchases was sometimes included a bible, so that before the end of the winter each member of the family had a separate bible to take to church or sunday school. at the close of the winter session he accepted the invitation of another brother of his mother, who was a farmer at longyester, near gifford in east lothian, on the northern fringe of the lammermoors, to come and be tutor to his three boys during the summer. at longyester he spent four very happy months in congenial work among kind people. he learned to ride, and more than once he rode along the hill-foots to dunglass, twenty miles to the eastward, to spend the sunday with his father and mother. during these months he also came into personal contact with a family whose influence on him during these early years was strong and memorable--the darlings of millknowe. millknowe is a large sheep-farm in the heart of the lammermoors, just where the young whitadder winds round the base of spartleton law. the family at millknowe, consisting at this time of three brothers and two sisters, all of whom had reached middle life, were relatives of his father, the connection dating from the time when his forebears were farmers in the same region. they were a notable family, full of all kinds of interesting lore, literary, scientific, and pastoral, and they exercised a boundless hospitality to all, whether gentle or simple, who came within their reach. one of them, a maiden sister, miss jean darling, took a special charge of her young cousin, and in a special degree won his confidence. from the first she understood him. she saw the power that was awakening within him, and was, particularly in his student days, his friend and adviser. as the summer of advanced, it came to be a grave question with him whether he could return to college in the ensuing winter. his father had had a serious illness; and, though he was now recovering, there was a doctor's bill to settle, and he still required more care and better nourishment than ordinary. cairns was afraid that, with these extra expenses to be met, his own return to college might involve too serious a drain on the family resources. while matters were in this state, and while he was still at longyester, he received a request from mr. trotter, the schoolmaster of his native parish of ayton, to come and assist him in the school and with the tuition of boarders in his house. this offer was quite in the line of the only ideas as to his future life he had as yet entertained; for, so far as he had thought seriously on the subject, he had thought of being a teacher. on the other hand, while his great ambition was to return to the university, the fact that most of his class-fellows in the past session had been older than himself suggested to him that he could quite well afford to delay a year before he returned. so he went to ayton, lodging while there with his father's youngest sister, nancy, who had come thither from ayton hill along with her mother, when her brother john was married in , and had remained there ever since. cairns had not been two months in ayton before his responsibilities were considerably increased. mr. trotter resigned his office, and the heritors asked the assistant to take charge of the school until a new teacher should be appointed. there were between one hundred and fifty and two hundred children in the school; he was the sole teacher, and he was only seventeen. moreover, some delay occurred before the teacher who had been appointed to succeed mr. trotter could come to take up his work. but cairns proved equal to the situation. the tradition is that his rule was an exceedingly stern one, that he kept the children hard at work, and that he flogged extensively and remorselessly. when the new master arrived upon the scene, he subsided into his original post of assistant. it had been his original intention to go back to the university in november ; but as that date approached it became evident that the financial difficulty was not yet removed, so he accepted an engagement to continue his work in ayton for another year. his stay in ayton was a very happy one. he liked his work, and had several warm friends in the village and district. among these were mr. ure, the kindly old minister who had married his parents and baptized himself. then there was mr. stark, minister of another secession church in the village--a much younger man than mr. ure, but a good scholar and a well-read theologian. there was also a fellow-student, henry weir, whose parents lived in berwick, and who used often to walk out to ayton to see him, cairns returning the visits, and seeing for the first time, under weir's auspices, the old border town in which so much of his own life was to be spent. all this while he was working hard at his private studies. to these studies he gave all the time that was not taken up by his teaching. he read at his meals, and so far into the night that his aunt became alarmed for his health. he worked his way through a goodly number of the greek and latin classics, in copies borrowed from the libraries of the two ministers; and he not only read, but analysed and elaborately annotated what he read. but in the notes of the books read during the year a change becomes evident. it can be seen that he took more and more to the study of theology and christian evidences, and his note-books are full of references to baxter and jeremy taylor, to robert hall, chalmers, and keith. at length in the summer a crisis was reached. a letter to his father, which has not been preserved, announced that his views and feelings with regard to spiritual things had undergone a great and far-reaching change, and that religion had become to him a matter of personal and paramount concern. another letter to henry weir on the same subject is of great interest. it is written in the unformed and somewhat stilted style which he had not yet got rid of, and, with characteristic reticence, it deals only indirectly with the details of the experience through which he has passed, being in form a disquisition on the importance of personal religion, and a refutation of objections which might occur to his correspondent against making it the main interest of his life. "my dear henry," the letter concludes, "i most earnestly wish that you would devote the energies of your mind to the attentive consideration of religion, and i have no doubt that, through the tuition of the divine spirit, you would speedily arrive at the same conviction of the importance of the subject with myself, and then our friendship would, by the influence of those feelings which religion implants, be more hallowed and intimate than before. i long ardently to see you." the experience which has thus been described caused no great rift with the past, nor did it produce any great change in his outward life. he did not dedicate himself to the ministry; he did not, so far as can be gathered, even become a member of the church; and although for a short time he talked of concentrating his energies on the greek testament, to the disparagement of the greek and latin classical writers, within two months we find him back at his old studies and strenuously preparing for the coming session at college. but a new power had entered into his life, and that power gradually asserted itself as the chief and dominating influence there. cairns returned to the university in the late autumn of , enrolling himself in the classes of latin, greek, and logic. although he maintained his intimacy with his uncle's family, he now went into lodgings in west richmond street, sharing a room with young william inglis, son of the minister at stockbridge, then a boy at the high school. here is the description he gives to his parents of his surroundings and of the daily routine of his life: "the lodging which we occupy is a very good room, measuring feet by feet, in every way neat and comfortable. the walls are hung with pictures, and the windows adorned with flowers. the rent is s. d., with a promise of abatement when the price of coals is lowered. this is no doubt a great sum of money, but i trust it will be amply compensated by the honesty, cleanliness, economy, and good temper of the landlady.... i shall give you the details of my daily life:--rise at ; . - , latin class; - , private study; - , logic; - , greek class; - . , private study. as to meals--breakfast on porridge and treacle at . ; dine on broth and mutton, or varieties of potatoes with beef or fish, at . ; coffee at ; if hungry, a little bread before bed. i can live quite easily and comfortably on s. or s. d. per week, and when you see me you will find that i have grown fat on students' fare." at the close of the session he thus records the result of his work in one of the classes:-- "there is a circumstance which but for its connection with the subject of clothes i should not now mention. you are aware that a gold medal is given yearly by the society of writers to the signet to the best scholar in the latin class. five are selected to compete for it by the votes of their fellow-students. having been placed in the number a fortnight ago, i have, after a pretty close trial, been declared the successful competitor. the grand sequence is this, that at the end of the session i must come forward in the presence of many of the edinburgh grandees and deliver a latin oration as a prelude to receiving the medal. although i have little fear that an oration will be forthcoming of the ordinary length and quality, i doubt that the trepidation of so unusual a position will cause me to break down in the delivery of it; but we shall see. the reference of this subject to the clothes you will at once discern. the trousers are too tight, and an addition must be made to their length. the coat is too wide in the body, too short and tight in the sleeves, and too spare in the skirt. as to my feelings i shall say nothing, because i do not look upon the honour as one of a kind that ought to excite the least elation ... i would not wish you to blazon it, nor would i, but for the cause mentioned, have taken any notice of it." besides this medal, he obtained the first place in the greek class. in logic he stood third, and he carried off a number of other prizes. he had been in every way the better for the interruption in his course; his powers had matured, he knew what he could do, and he was able to do it at will, and from this point onward he was recognised as easily the first man of his time in the university. but he had now to look about him for employment in the vacation; and for a while, in spite of the successes of the past session, he was unable to find it, and was glad to take some poorly paid elementary teaching. but at length, by the good offices of one of the masters in the edinburgh academy, backed by the strong recommendation of professor pillans, he became tutor in the family of mr. john donaldson, w.s., of whose house, princes street, he became an inmate. "what i want," said mr. donaldson to the professor, "is a gentleman." "well," replied pillans, "i am sending you first-rate raw material; we shall see what you will make of it." he retained this situation till the close of his university course, to the entire satisfaction of his employer and his family, and with great comfort to himself--the salary being more than sufficient for his simple needs. he had, as we have seen, attended the class of logic during his second session; but as he was then devoting his main strength to classics, and as the subject was as yet quite unfamiliar to him, he did not fully give himself up to it nor yield to the influence of the professor, sir william hamilton. but during the summer, while he was at mr. donaldson's, in going again over the ground that he had traversed during the past session, he was led to read the works of descartes, bacon, and leibnitz, with the result that mental philosophy at once became the supreme interest of his academic life, and, when the winter came round again, he yielded entirely to its spell and to that of the great man who was then its most distinguished british exponent. the class of hamilton's that he attended in the session of - was that of advanced metaphysics. it so happened that at that time a hot controversy was going on about this very class. the edinburgh town council, who were the patrons of hamilton's chair, claimed also the right to decide as to what subjects the professor should lecture on, and pronounced metaphysics to be "an abstruse subject, not generally considered as of any great or permanent utility." but, while this controversy was raging without, within all was calm. "we were quietly engaged"--wrote cairns twenty years later--"in our discussions as to the existence of the external world while the storm was raging without, and only felt it to be another form of the _non-ego_; while the contrast between the singular gentleness and simplicity of our teacher in his dealings with his pupils, and his more impassioned qualities in controversy, became more remarkable."[ ] hamilton's philosophy may not now command the acceptance that once belonged to it, and that part of it which has been most influential may be put to-day to a use of which he did not dream, and of which he would not have approved, but hamilton himself--"the black eagle of the desert," as the "chaldee manuscript" calls him--was a mighty force. the influence of that vehement and commanding personality on a generation of susceptible young men was deep and far-reaching. he seized and held the minds of his students until they were able to grasp what he had to give them,--until, in spite of the toil and pain it cost them, they were _made_ to grasp it. and he further trained them in habits of mental discipline and intellectual integrity, which were of quite priceless value to them. "i am more indebted to you," wrote cairns to him in , "for the foundation of my intellectual habits and tastes than to any other person, and shall bear, by the will of the almighty, the impress of your hand through any future stage of existence." [footnote : _memoir of sir w. hamilton_, p. .] cairns was first in hamilton's class at the close of the session, and also first in professor john wilson's moral philosophy class. "of the many hundreds of students," wilson wrote four years later, "whose career i have watched during the last twenty years, not one has given higher promise of excellence than john cairns; his talents are of the highest order; his attainments in literature, philosophy, and science rare indeed; and his character such as to command universal respect." this winter he joined with eight or nine of hamilton's most distinguished students in forming the "metaphysical society," which met weekly for the purpose of discussing philosophical questions. in a memoir which he afterwards wrote of john clark, one of the founders of this society, he thus describes the association that led to its being formed, and that was further cemented by its formation: "willingly do i recall and linger upon these days and months, extending even to years, in which common studies of this abstract nature bound us together. it was the romance--the poetry--of speculation and friendship. all the vexed questions of the schools were attempted by our united strength, after our higher guide had set the example. the thorny wilds of logic were pleasant as an enchanted ground; its driest technicalities treasured up as unspeakably rare and precious. we stumbled on, making discoveries at every step, and had all things common. each lesson in mental philosophy opened up some mystery of our immortal nature, and seemed to bring us nearer the horizon of absolute truth, which again receded as we advanced, and left us, like children pursuing the rainbow, to resume the chase. in truth, we had much of the character of childhood in these pursuits--light-heartedness, wonder, boundless hope, engrossment with the present, carelessness of the future. our old world daily became new; and the real world of the multitude to us was but a shadow. it was but the outer world, the _non-ego_, standing at the mercy of speculation, waiting to be confirmed or abolished in the next debate; while the inner world, in which truth, beauty, and goodness had their eternal seat, should still survive and be all in all. the play of the intellect with these subtle and unworldly questions was to our minds as inevitable as the stages of our bodily growth. happy was it for us that the play of affection was also active--nay, by sympathy excited to still greater liveliness; and that a higher wisdom suffered us not in all these flowery mazes to go astray."[ ] [footnote : _fragments of college and pastoral life_, pp. - .] from indications contained in the brief memoir from which this extract is taken, as well as from references in his correspondence, it would appear that about this time he subjected his religious beliefs to a careful scrutiny in the light cast upon them by his philosophical studies. from this process of testing and strain he emerged with his faith established on a yet firmer basis than before. one result of this experience may perhaps be found in a letter to his father, in which he tells him that he has been weighing the claims of the christian ministry as his future calling in life. he feels the force of its incomparable attractions, but doubts whether he is fitted in elevation and maturity of character to undertake so vast a responsibility. besides, he is painfully conscious of personal awkwardness in the common affairs of life, and unfitness for the practical management of business. and so he thinks he will take another year to think of it, during which he will complete his college course. he spent the summer of with the donaldson family at their country seat at auchairn, near ballantrae, in south ayrshire, occupying most of his leisure hours in mathematical and physical studies in preparation for the work of the coming winter. in the session of - , his last at the university, he attended the classes of natural philosophy and rhetoric, taking the first place in the latter and only just missing it in the former. he attended, besides, sir william hamilton's private classes, and was much at his house and in his company. in april he took his m.a. degree, coming out first in classics and philosophy, and being bracketed first in mathematics. among his fellow-students his reputation was maintained not merely by the honours he gained in the class lists, but by his prowess in the debating arena. besides continuing his membership in the metaphysical society, he had also been, since the spring of , a member of the diagnostic, one of the most flourishing of the older students' debating societies. of the diagnostic he speedily became the life and soul, and discussed with ardour such questions as the repeal of the corn laws, vote by ballot, and the exclusion of bishops from the house of lords. one memorable debate took place on the spiritual independence of the church, then the most burning of all scottish public questions. the position of the non-intrusion party in the established church was maintained by cairns's friend clark, while he himself led on the voluntary side. the debate lasted two nights, and, to quote the words of one who was present, "cairns in reply swept all before him, winning a vote from those who had come in curiosity, and securing a large liberal majority. amidst a scene of wild enthusiasm we hoisted his big form upon our shoulders, and careered round the old quadrangle in triumph. indeed he was the hero of our college life, leaving all others far behind, and impressing us with the idea that he had a boundless future before him."[ ] [footnote : _life and letters_, pp. - .] chapter iv the student of theology over cairns's life during his last session at the university there hung the shadow of a coming sorrow. his father's health, which had never been robust, and had been failing for some time, at length quite broke down; and it soon became apparent that, although he might linger for some time, there was no hope of his recovery. in the earlier days of his illness the father was able to write, and many letters passed between him and his student son. the following extracts from his letters reveal the character of the man, and surely furnish an illustration of what was said in a former chapter about the educative effect of religion on the scottish working-man:-- "dunglass, _dec_, , . "i would not have you think that i am overlooking the divine agency in what has befallen me. i desire to ascribe all to his glory and praise, who can bring order out of confusion and light out of darkness; and i desire to look away from human means to him who is able to kill and to make alive, knowing that he doth not grieve willingly nor afflict the children of men." "dunglass, _jan_. , . "as i have no great pain except what arises from coughing, i have reason to bless the lord, who is dealing so bountifully with me.... it would be unpardonable in me were i not endeavouring to make myself familiar with death in the forms and aspects in which he presents himself to the mind. doubts and fears sometimes arise lest i should be indulging in a false and presumptuous hope, and, as there is great danger lest we should be deceived in this momentous concern, we cannot be too anxious in ascertaining whether our hope be that of the gospel, as set forth in his word of truth. still, through the grace and mercy of the lord jesus christ, whom, i trust upon scriptural grounds, i can call my saviour, i am enabled to view death as a friend and as deprived of its sting, and this is a source of great comfort to me and cheers my drooping mind. i can say that my beloved is mine and i am his, and that he will make all things to work together for his own glory and my eternal good. dear son, i have thus opened my mind to you, and i trust that your prayers will not be wanting that my faith may be strengthened, and that all the graces of the holy spirit may abound in me, to the glory of god through our lord jesus christ." during this and part of the next year cairns remained in mr. donaldson's family, and his relations with that family as a whole, as well as his special work in the tuition of the young son and daughter of the house, were of the most agreeable kind. he had by this time, however, formed some intimate friendships in edinburgh, and there were several pleasant and interesting houses that were always open to him. one of these deserves special mention. among his most intimate college friends was james mcgibbon russell, a distinguished student of sir william hamilton, and one of the founders of the metaphysical society. russell was the son of a perthshire parish minister, but his parents were dead, and he lived with an uncle and aunt, mr. and mrs. archibald wilson, whose own family consisted of two sons and three daughters. cairns was introduced by russell to the wilson family, and soon became intimate with them. his special friend--at last the dearest friend he had in this world--was the younger son, george, afterwards the well-known chemist and professor of technology in the university of edinburgh. no two men could be less alike--george wilson with a bright, alert, nimble mind; cairns with an intellect massive like his bodily frame, and characterised chiefly by strength and momentum; and yet the two fitted into each other, and when they really got to know each other it might truly be said of them that the love between them was wonderful, passing the love of women. by the midsummer of cairns had come to a final decision about his future calling. "i have," he wrote to his father on th june, "after much serious deliberation and prayer to god for direction, made up my mind to commence this year the study of divinity, with a view to the office of the ministry of the gospel. i pray you, do implore the grace of god on my behalf, after this very grave and solemn determination." the secession church, to which he belonged, and to whose ministry he desired to seek admission, had no theological tutors who were set apart for the work of teaching alone. its professors, of whom there were four, were ministers in charges, who lectured to the students during the two holiday months of august and september. the curriculum of the "divinity hall," as it was called, consisted of five of these short sessions. during the remaining ten months of each year the student, except that he had to prepare a certain number of exercises for the presbytery which had him under its charge, was left very much to do as he pleased. cairns entered the hall, at that time meeting in glasgow, in the august of . of the four professors who were on the staff of the institution, and all of whom were capable men, only two need here be mentioned. these were dr. robert balmer of berwick and dr. john brown of edinburgh. dr. balmer was a clear-headed, fair-minded theologian--in fact, so very fair, and even generous, was he wont to be in dealing with opponents that he sometimes, quite unjustly, incurred the suspicion of being in sympathy, if not in league, with these opponents. he is specially interesting to us in this place, because cairns succeeded him first in his pulpit, and then, after a long interval, in his chair. dr. brown, the grandson and namesake of the old commentator of haddington, was a man of noble presence and noble character, whose personality "embedded in the translucent amber of his son's famous sketch" is familiarly known to all lovers of english literature. he was the pioneer of the scientific exposition of the scriptures in the scottish pulpit, and was one of the first exegetical theologians of his time. his point of view may be seen in a frequent criticism of his on a student's discourse: "that is truth and very important truth, but it is not _the_ truth that is taught in this passage." being so, it was simply "matter in the wrong place," _dirt_ to be cleared away as speedily as possible. cairns had been first attracted to dr. brown by his speeches on the annuity tax, an edinburgh ecclesiastical impost for which he had suffered the spoiling of his goods, and he had been for more than a year a member of his church in broughton place; but it was only now that he came to know him really well. henceforth his admiration for dr. brown, and the friendship to which dr. brown admitted him, were to be amongst the most powerful influences of his life. among his fellow-students at the hall were several young men of brilliant promise, such as john ker, who had been first prizeman in the logic class in hamilton's first session, w.b. robertson, alexander macewen, joseph leckie, and william graham. of these, graham, bright, witty, versatile, the most notorious of punsters and the most illegible of writers, was his chief intimate, and their friendship continued unbroken and close for half a century. but meanwhile the shadow was deepening over the home at dunglass. all through the autumn and early winter his father was slowly sinking. he was only fifty-one, but he was already worn out; and his disease, if disease it might be called, had many of the symptoms of extreme old age. his son saw him for the last time near the close of the year. "i cannot say," he wrote to miss darling, "that depression of spirits was the only, or even the chief, emotion with which i bade farewell to my father. there was something so touching in his patience and resignation, so calm and inwrought in his meek submission to the divine will, that it affected me more strongly than raptures of religious joy could have done. he displays the same evenness of temper in the sight of death as has marked his equable and consistent life." he died in the early morning of rd january . his son william thus describes the scene: "it was the first time any of us except our mother had looked on the face of the dying in the act of departing, and that leaves an impression that can never be effaced. when the end came, and each had truly realised what had happened, our mother in a broken voice asked that 'the books' might be laid on the table; then she gave out that verse in the th psalm-- 'the storm is changed into a calm at his command and will; so that the waves that raged before, now quiet are and still.' it was her voice, too, that raised the tune. then she asked thomas to read a chapter of the bible and afterwards to pray. we all knelt down, and thomas made a strong effort to steady his voice, but he failed utterly; then the dear mother herself lifted the voice of thanksgiving for the victory that had been won, and after that the neighbours were called in."[ ] cairns was soon to have further experience of anxiety in respect to the health of those who were near to him. towards the close of the year in which his father died, his brother william, who had almost completed his apprenticeship to a mason at chirnside, in berwickshire, was seized with inflammation, and for some weeks hung between life and death. at length he recovered sufficiently to be removed under his elder brother's careful and loving supervision to the edinburgh infirmary, where he remained for four months. during all that time cairns visited his brother twice every day, he taught himself to apply to the patient the galvanic treatment which had been prescribed, and brought him an endless supply of books, periodicals, and good things to eat and smoke. [footnote : it would appear that it was not an uncommon custom in scotland in former times to have family worship immediately after a death. perhaps, too, this verse from the th psalm was the one usually sung on such occasions. there may be a reminiscence of this, due to its author's seceder training, in a passage in carlyle's _oliver cromwell_, where, after describing the protector's death, and the grief of his daughter lady fauconberg, he goes on to say, "husht poor weeping mary! here is a life-battle right nobly done. seest thou not 'the storm is changed into a calm at his command and will; so that the waves that raged before, now quiet are and still. then are _they_ glad, because at rest and quiet now they be: so to the haven he them brings, which they desired to see.'" in the end of george wilson was told by an eminent surgeon that he must choose between certain death and the amputation of a foot involving possible death. he agreed at once to the operation being performed, but begged for a week in which to prepare for it. he had always been a charming personality, and had lived a life that was outwardly blameless; but he had never given very serious thought to religion. now, however, when he was face to face with death, the great eternal verities became more real to him, and during the week of respite the study of the new testament and the counsel and sympathy and prayers of his friend cairns prepared him to face his trial with calmness, and with "a trembling hope in christ" in his heart. the two friends, who had thus been brought so closely together, were henceforth to be more to each other than they had ever been before. the next year, , was a memorable one in the ecclesiastical history of scotland. cairns, though not sympathising with the demand of the non-intrusion party in the church of scotland for absolute spiritual independence within an established church, had an intense admiration for chalmers, and was filled with the greatest enthusiasm when he and the party whom he led on the great th of may clung fast to the independence and left the establishment behind them. indeed his enthusiasm ran positively wild, for it is recorded that, when the great procession came out of st. andrew's church, cairns went hurrahing and tossing up his hat in front of it and all the way down the hill to tanfield hall. to miss darling, who had no sympathy with the free church movement, he wrote: "i know our difference of opinion here. but you will pardon me for saying that i have never felt more profound emotions of gratitude to god, of reverence for christianity, of admiration of moral principle, and of pride in the honesty and courage of scotsmen, than i did on that memorable day." in the autumn of this year he was able to carry out a project which he had had before him, and for which he had been saving up his money for a long time. this was the spending of a year on the continent. it was by no means so common in those days as it has since become for a scottish theological student to attend a german university. indeed, until the early forties of last century, such a thing was scarcely known. then, however, the influence of sir william hamilton, and the interest in german thought which his teaching stimulated, created the desire to learn more about it at its source. it is natural that this movement should have affected the students of the secession church before it reached those of the establishment; for not only were they less occupied with the great controversy of the day and its consequences, but their short autumn session left them free to take either a winter or a summer _semester_, or both, at a german university without interrupting their course at home. the late dr. w.b. robertson of irvine used to lay claim to having been the pioneer of these "landlouping students of divinity." john ker and others followed him; and when cairns set out in , quite a large company of old friends were expected to meet at berlin. cairns's departure was delayed by the illness of james russell, who was to have accompanied him, but he set out towards the end of october. he had accepted an appointment as _locum tenens_ for four weeks in an english independent chapel at hamburg, which delayed his arrival at berlin until after the winter _semester_ had commenced. but this interlude was greatly enjoyed both by himself and by the little company of english merchants who formed his first pastoral charge, and who, on a vacancy occurring, made a strong but fruitless attempt to induce him to remain as their permanent minister. arrived in berlin, he joined his friends--nelson, graham, wallace, and logan aikman. with nelson he shared a room in the luisenstrasse, where they set up that household god of all german students--a "coffee-machine," with the aid of which, and some flaming _spiritus_, they brewed their morning and evening beverage. they dined in the middle of the day at a neighbouring restaurant, on soup, meat, vegetables, and black bread, at a cost of threepence. at the university, cairns heard four or five lectures daily, taking among others the courses of neander on christian dogmatics, trendelenburg on history of philosophy, and schelling, the last of the great philosophers of the preceding generation, on introduction to philosophy. of these, schelling impressed him least, and neander most. through life he had a deep reverence for neander, whom he regarded, with perhaps premature enthusiasm, as the man who shared with schleiermacher the honour of restoring germany to a believing theology. here is the description he gives of him in a letter from berlin to george wilson: "suppose yourself in a large square room filled with studiosi, each with his inkstand and immense _heft_ before him and ready to begin, when precisely at . a.m. in shuffles a little black jew, without hat in hand or a scrap of paper, and strides up to a high desk, where he stands the whole time, resting his elbows upon it and never once opening his eyes or looking his class in the face; the worst type of jewish physiognomy in point of intellect, though without its cunning or sensuality; the face meaningless, pale, and sallow, with low forehead, and nothing striking but a pair of enormous black eyebrows. the figure is dressed in a dirty brown surtout, blue plush trousers, and dirty top-boots. it begins to speak. the voice is loud and clear, and marches on with academic stateliness and gravity, and even something of musical softness mixes with its notes. suddenly the speaker turns to a side. it is to spit, which act is repeated every second sentence. you now see in his hands a twisted pen, which is gradually stripped of every hair and then torn to pieces in the course of his mental working. his feet, too, begin to turn. the left pirouettes round and round, and at the close of an emphatic period strikes violently against the wall. when he has finished his lecture, you see only a mass of saliva and the rags of his pen. neander is out of all sight the most wonderful being in the university. for knowledge, spirituality, good sense, and indomitable spirit of the finest discretion on moral subjects, the old man is a real marvel every way. in private he is the kindest but also the most awkward of mortals. his lectures on _dogmatik_ and _sittenlehre_ i value beyond all others, and i would gladly have come to berlin to hear him alone." besides hearing these university lectures, cairns read german philosophy and theology for nine or ten hours daily, took lessons in hebrew from a young christian jew named biesenthal,[ ] and in these short winter months acquired such a mastery of german as a spoken language that in the spring he was urged by professor tholuck of halle to remain and qualify as a privatdocent at a german university. he also gained a knowledge of men and things german, and a living interest in them, which he retained through life. [footnote : afterwards author of a learned but fantastic commentary on the epistle to the hebrews. biesenthal had an enthusiastic reverence for what in the hands of others were the dry details of hebrew grammar. "herr doctor," a dense pupil once asked him, "ought there not to be a daghesh in that tau?" "god forbid!" was the horrified reply.] at the close of the winter _semester_, the last weeks of which had been saddened by the news of james russell's death; he set out on a tour extending over three months, and planned to include the principal cities and sights of central and southern europe. he had only about £ in his pocket, but he made this cover all the expenditure that was necessary for his modest wants. he travelled alone and, whenever it was possible, on foot, in the blouse and peaked cap of a german workman, and with a light knapsack strapped on his shoulders. he avoided hotels and lived cheaply, even meanly; but, with his splendid health, simple tastes, and overflowing interest in all that he saw, this did not greatly matter. his classical studies, and an already wide knowledge of european history, suggested endless interesting associations with the places through which he passed; and the picture galleries furnished him with materials for art criticisms which, considering that he had had few opportunities of seeing paintings, surprise one by their insight and grasp. at wittenberg we find him standing by the grave of luther in the castle church, and reflecting on the connection between his presence there and the life and work of the man whose body lay below. "but for him there had neither been a scotland to send out pilgrim students of theology, nor a germany to receive them." at halle he has interesting interviews with tholuck and julius müller; from dresden he diverges to herrnhut, where he witnesses the ordination of a moravian missionary and takes part in a love-feast. at prague, that wonderful city where the barbaric east begins, he finds his deepest interest stirred by the jewish burying-ground and the hoary old synagogue. and so he passes on from city to city, and from land to land, by vienna, salzburg, and munich, to innsbruck, thence over the brenner to trent and venice, and by bologna to florence and rome. returning by genoa, milan, and the italian lakes, he passes into switzerland, and travels homeward by the rhine. during this tour, when, in spite of the heat, he frequently walked forty-five or fifty miles a day, he had little time for letter-writing; but a small paper-covered book, in which he each night jotted down in pencil his impressions of what he had seen during the past day, has fortunately been preserved. from this three brief extracts may be made, and may serve as specimens of the whole, which is virtually reproduced entire in dr. macewen's biography. the first contains a description of the jewish cemetery at prague: "through winding, filthy, pent-up, and over-peopled lanes, in the part of the old town next the river, heaped up with old clothes, trinket-ware, villainous-looking bread, and horrid sausages, one attains to an open space irregularly and rudely walled in and full of graves. the monuments date from the tenth century. no language can give an idea of its first impression. at one end one sees innumerable masses of grey weather-beaten stones in every grotesque angle of incidence and coincidence, but all rude and mean, covered with mystic hebrew letters and half-buried amid long grass, nettles, and weeds. the place looks exactly as if originally a collection of dunghills or, perhaps, of excavated earth, left to its natural course after the corpses had been thrown in and the rude billets set over them. the economy of the race is visible in their measure for the dead, and contrasts wonderfully with the roominess and delicate adornment of german churchyards in general. the hoar antiquity of the place is increased by a wilderness of alders which grow up around the walls and amidst the stones, twisted, tangled, stunted, desolately old and yet renewing their youth, a true type of the scattered, bruised, and peeled, yet ineradicable israel itself." an incident at novi, between genoa and milan, is thus described: "i had strolled into a vineyard behind the town, quite lonely and crowned with one cottage. on one of the secluded paths i found a little girl lying on the grass, with her face turned up to the sun and fast asleep. the breeze played beautifully with her hair, and her dress fluttered and rustled, but there she lay, and nothing but the heaving of her frame, which could hardly be distinguished from the agitation of the wind, proved that she was only asleep. i stood gazing for a long while, thinking of the providence that watched alike over the child in its slumberings and the pilgrim in his wanderings; and as i saw her companions playing at no great distance, i left the spot without awakening the absent little one. as i was passing the cottage door, however, i was overtaken by the mother in evident agitation. she pointed along the path i had come by, as if she feared her child had wandered to the highway or been lost amid the wild brushwood that grew on that side of the vineyard. i soon made her understand that the _piccolina_ was just behind her, and waited till she bounded away and returned with the crying thing in her arms, loading it with gentle reproaches and me with warm expressions of gratitude." at milan it must be admitted that he goes into raptures over the cathedral, but one is glad to note that he reserves an ample tribute of enthusiasm for the old church of st. ambrose: "in the cloister of st. ambrose i saw the famous cypress doors which the saint closed against theodosius, time-worn but solid; the brazen serpent, the fine pulpit with the bas-relief of the agape, and the veritable episcopal chair of marble, with solid back and sides, and lions embossed at the corners, in which he sat in the councils of his presbyters. it is almost the only relic i have done any honour to. i knelt down and kissed it, and forgot for the time that i was both protestant and presbyterian." after a stormy and perilous voyage from antwerp, he reached newcastle in the first week of august, and started at once for edinburgh to be present at the opening of the divinity hall. at the dunglass lodge-gate his brother david, who was waiting for a letter which he had promised to throw down from the "magnet" coach as he passed, caught a hurried glimpse of him, lean and brown as a berry after his exertions and his exposure to the italian sun. on the following saturday he put his pedestrian powers to the proof by walking from edinburgh to dunglass, when he covered the thirty-five and a half miles in seven hours and fifty minutes, having stopped only twice on the way--once in haddington to buy a biscuit, and once at a wayside watering-trough to take a drink. the hall session of was cairns's last, and the next step for him to take in ordinary course was to apply to a presbytery for license as a probationer. he had, however, some hesitation in taking this step, mainly because he was not quite clear whether the real work of his life lay in the discharge of the ordinary duties of the ministry, or whether he might not render better service by devoting himself, as opportunity offered, more exclusively to theological and literary work in behalf of the christian faith. his friend clark, whom he consulted in the matter, strongly urged him to decide in favour of the latter alternative. his speculative and literary faculties, he urged, had already been tested with brilliant results; his powers as a preacher, on the other hand, were as yet an unknown quantity, and clark thought it doubtful if they would be appreciated by an average congregation. the struggle was severe while it lasted, but it ended in cairns deciding to go on to the ministry in the ordinary way. in november be applied to the edinburgh presbytery of the secession church for license, and he received it at their hands in the following february. he had not long to wait for a settlement. dr. balmer of berwick, one of his divinity professors, had died while he was in switzerland, and on his deathbed had advised his congregation to wait until cairns had finished his course before electing a successor. accordingly, it was arranged that he should preach in golden square church, berwick, a few weeks after he received license. the result was that a unanimous and enthusiastic call was addressed to him. he received another invitation from mount pleasant church, liverpool, of which his friend graham was afterwards minister; but, after some hesitation, he decided in favour of berwick. meanwhile changes had been taking place in the home circle at dunglass. his brother william, whose illness has been already referred to, had now passed beyond all hope of recovering the use of his limbs. having set himself resolutely to a course of study and mental improvement under his brother john's guidance, he was able to accept a kindly proposal made to him by sir john hall of dunglass, that he should become the teacher of the little roadside school at oldcambus, which john had attended as a child. on the marriage of his eldest brother in the summer of the widowed mother came to keep house for him, and henceforth the oldcambus schoolhouse became the family headquarters. but that summer brought sorrow as well as change. another brother, james, a young man of vigorous mental powers, and originally of stalwart physique, who had been working at his trade as a tailor in glasgow, fell into bad health, which soon showed the symptoms of rapid consumption. he came home hoping to benefit by the change, but it became increasingly clear that he had only come home to die. he lingered till the autumn, and passed away at oldcambus at the end of september. it was with this background of change and shadow that the ordination of john cairns took place at berwick on august , . chapter v golden square berwick is an english town on the scottish side of the tweed. as all that remained to england of the scottish conquests of edward i., it was until the union of the crowns the calais of scotland. it thus came to be treated as in a measure separate from england although belonging to it, and was for a long time separately mentioned in english acts of parliament, as it still is in english royal proclamations. this status of semi-independence which it so long enjoyed has helped to give it an individuality more strongly marked than that of most english towns. in religious matters berwick has more affinity to scotland than to england. john knox preached in the town for two years by appointment of the privy council of edward vi., and in harmony with his influence its religious traditions were in succeeding generations strongly puritan, and one of its vicars, luke ogle, was ejected for nonconformity in . after the revolution of this tendency found expression in the rise and growth of a vigorous presbyterian dissent; and in the early years of the eighteenth century there were two flourishing congregations in the town in communion with the church of scotland. but as these soon became infected with the moderatism which prevailed over the border, new congregations were formed in connection with the scottish secession and relief bodies, and it was of one of these--golden square secession church--that john cairns became the fourth minister in . berwick is one of the very few english towns which still retain their ancient fortifications. the circuit of the walls, which were built in the reign of elizabeth, with their bastions, "mounts," and gates, is still practically complete, and is preserved with care and pride. a few ruins of the earlier walls, which edward i. erected, and which enclosed a much wider area than is covered by the modern town, still remain; also such vestiges of the once impregnable castle as have not been removed to make way for the present railway-station. beyond this, there is little about berwick to tell of its hoary antiquity and its eventful history. but its red-roofed houses, rising steeply from the left bank of the tweed, and looking across the tidal river to the villages of tweedmouth and spittal, have a picturesqueness of their own, whether they are seen when the lights and shadows of a summer day are playing upon them, or when they are swathed in the white folds of a north sea _haar_. the berwick people are shrewd, capable, and kindly, and combine many of the good qualities of their scotch and northumbrian neighbours. their dialect is in some respects akin to the lowland scotch, with which it has many words in common; and it has also as a prominent feature that rising intonation, passing sometimes almost into a wail, which one hears all along the eastern border. but the great outstanding characteristic of berwick speech is the _burr_ a rough guttural pronunciation of the letter "i." with nothing but the scanty resources of our alphabet to fall back upon, it is quite impossible to represent this peculiarity phonetically, but it was once remarked by a student of semitic tongues that the sound of the hebrew letter 'ayin is as nearly as possible that of the burr, and that, if you want to ascertain the correct hebrew pronunciation of the name _ba'al_, all you have got to do is to ask any alderman of berwick to say "_barrel"_[ ] [footnote : some words are very hard to pronounce with a burr in one's throat. dr. cairns used to tell that on one occasion, long after he had got well used to the sound of the berwick speech, he was under the belief that a man with whom he was conversing was talking about a _boy_ until he discovered from the context that his theme was a _brewery_.] in the population of berwick was between and . "it included," says dr. macewen, "some curious elements." not the least curious and dubious of these was that of the lower class of the old freemen of the borough. these men had an inherited right to the use of lands belonging to the corporation, which they let; and to a vote at a parliamentary election, which they sold. when an election drew near, it was a maxim with both political parties that the freemen must be conciliated at all costs; and the freemen, knowing this, were quite prepared to presume on their knowledge. once, at an election time, it happened that in the house of a prominent political leader in berwick a fine roast of beef was turning before the kitchen fire, and was nearly ready for the dinner table, when a freeman walked in, lifted it from the spit, and carried it off. no one dared to say him nay, for had he not a vote? and might not that vote turn the election? at the other end of the social scale were the half-pay officers, the members of neighbouring county families, and the attorneys and doctors, who in some degree constituted the aristocracy of berwick, and most of whom attended the episcopalian parish church. the bulk of the shopkeepers and tradesmen, with some of the professional men and a large proportion of the working people, were dissenters, and were connected with one or other of the half-dozen presbyterian congregations in the town. of these that of which cairns was the minister was the most influential and the largest, having a membership of about six hundred. the church was in golden square, of which it may be said that it is neither a square nor yet golden, but a dingy close or court opening by an archway from the high street, the main thoroughfare of berwick. the building was till recently a tannery, but the main features of it are still quite distinguishable. it stood on the left as one entered from high street, and it had the usual high pulpit at its farther end, with a precentor's desk beneath it, and the usual deep gallery supported on metal pillars running round three of its four sides. the manse, its door adorned with a decent brass knocker, stood next to the church, on the side farthest from the street. it gave one a pleasant surprise on entering it to find that only its back windows looked out on the dim little "square." in front it commanded a fine view of the river, here crossed by a quaint old bridge of fifteen arches, which, owing to the exigencies of the current, is much higher at the berwick end than at the other, and, as an irishman once remarked, "has its middle all on one side." for some little time, however, after cairns's settlement, he did not occupy the manse, but lived in rooms over a shop in bridge street; and when at length he did remove into it, he took his landlady with him and still remained her lodger. for the first five years of his ministry cairns devoted himself entirely to the work which it entailed upon him, and steadily refused to be drawn aside to the literary and philosophical tasks which many of his friends urged him to undertake. he had decided that his work in berwick demanded his first attention, and, until he could ascertain how much of his time it would absorb, he felt that he could not go beyond it. on the early days of the week he read widely and hard on the lines of his sunday work, and the last three days he devoted to writing out and committing to memory his two sermons, each of which occupied about fifty minutes in delivery. the "committing" of his sermons gave him little or no trouble, and he soon found that it could be relegated without anxiety to saturday evening. and he got into the habit of preparing for it by a saturday afternoon walk to the little yellow red-capped lighthouse at the end of berwick pier. at the upper end of the pier was a five-barred gate, and on the way back, when he thought that nobody was looking, he would vault over it with a running leap. his preaching from the first made a deep impression. following the old seceder tradition, and the example of his boyhood's minister mr. inglis, and of his professor dr. brown, his discourse in the forenoon was always a "lecture" expository of some extended passage of scripture, and forming one of a consecutive series; while that in the afternoon followed the familiar lines of an ordinary sermon. but there was nothing quite ordinary in his preaching at any time. even when there was no unusual flight of eloquence, there was always to be noted the steady march of a strong mind from point to point till the conclusion had been reached; always a certain width and elevation of view, and always the ring of irresistible conviction. and although the discourse had been committed to memory and was reproduced in the very words that had been written down in the study, no barrier was thereby interposed between the preacher and his hearers. somehow--at least after the first few paragraphs--when he had properly warmed to his work, the man himself seemed to break through all restraints and come into direct and living contact with his hearers. his action sermon, _i.e._ the sermon preached before the communion, was always specially memorable and impressive. he had the subject chosen weeks, and sometimes even months, beforehand, and, as he had no other sermon to write for the communion sunday, he devoted the whole of the preceding week to its preparation. his action sermons, which were those he usually preached on special occasions when he was away from home, dealt always with some theme connected with the person or work of christ. they were frequently apologetic in their conception and structure, full of massive argument, which he had a remarkable power of marshalling and presenting so as to be understood by all; but the argument, reinforced by bursts of real eloquence, always converged on the, exaltation of the redeemer. "i never thought so much of him as i do to-day," said one of his hearers to another after one of these sermons, "i never thought so much of christ as i do to-day," replied the other; and that reply showed that in at least one case the purpose of the preacher in preparing and delivering his sermon had been fulfilled. on the sunday evening cairns had a bible-class of over one hundred young men and women, to which he devoted great care and attention. "it was the best hour of the day to us," wrote one who was a member of this class. "he was nearer us, and we were nearer him, than in church. the grandeur and momentum of his pulpit eloquence were not there, but we had instead a calm, rich, conversational instruction, a quiet disclosure of vast stores of information, as well as a definite dealing with young hearts and consciences, which left an unfading impression." but cairns was no mere preacher and teacher. he put out his full strength as truly in his pastoral work as in his work for and in the pulpit. he visited his large congregation statedly once a year, offering prayer in each house, and hearing the children repeat a psalm or portion of scripture which he had prescribed the year before. he timed these visits so accurately that he could on one occasion banter one of his elders on the fact that he had received more than his due in one year, because the last visitation had been on the st of january and this one was on the st of december. a good part of his visiting had to be done in the country, because a considerable section of his congregation consisted of farmers or hinds from northumberland, from the "liberties of berwick," and even from scotland, which first begins three miles out from the town. these country visitations usually concluded with a service in a barn or farm-kitchen, to which worshippers came from far and near. but besides this stated and formal visitation, which was intimated from the pulpit, constant attention was bestowed on the sick, the bereaved, the poor, the tempted, and all others who appealed specially to the minister's heart or his conscience. and yet there was no sense of task-work or of a burden to be borne about his relations to his congregation. his exuberant frankness of manner, contrasting as this did with the reserved and somewhat stiff bearing of his predecessor dr. balmer, won the hearts of all. and his keen sense of the ludicrous side of things often acted as an antiseptic, and kept him right both with himself and with his people. once, however, as he used to tell, it brought him perilously near to disaster. he was in the middle of his sermon one sunday afternoon in golden square. it was a hot summer day, and all the doors and windows were open. from the pulpit he could look right out into the square, and as he looked he became aware of a hen surrounded by her young family pecking vigorously on the pavement in search of food, and clucking as she pecked. all at once an overwhelming sense of the difference between the two worlds in which he and that hen were living took possession of him, and it was with the utmost difficulty that he restrained himself from bursting into a shout of laughter. as it was, he recovered himself with a mighty gulp and finished the service decorously enough. cairns was also assisted in his work by his phenomenal powers of memory. after reading a long sermon once, or at most twice over, he could repeat it verbatim. once when he was challenged by a friend to do so, he repeated, without stopping, the names of all the children in his congregation, apologising only for his imperfect acquaintance with two families who had recently come. another instance of this is perhaps not so remarkable in itself, but it is worth mentioning on other grounds. five-and-thirty years after the time with which we are now dealing, when he was a professor in edinburgh, some of his students were carrying on mission work in a growing district of the city. an iron church was erected for them, but the contractor, an englishman, before his work was finished was seized with illness and died. he was buried in one of the edinburgh cemeteries, and dr. cairns attended the funeral. having ascertained from the widow of the dead man that he had belonged to the church of england, he repeated at the grave-side the whole of the anglican burial service. when he was asked afterwards how he had thus come to know that service without book, he replied that he had unconsciously got it by heart in the early days of his berwick ministry, before there was either a cemetery or a burials act, when he had been compelled to stand silent and hear it read at the funerals of members of his own congregation in the parish churchyard. rather more than a year and a half after his ordination, in may , the secession church in which he had been brought up, and of which he was now a minister, entered into a union with another of the scottish non-established churches, the synod of relief. there was thus formed the united presbyterian church, with which his name was afterwards to be so closely associated. the united church comprised five hundred and eighteen congregations, of which about fifty were, like those in berwick, in england; the nucleus of that english synod which, thirty years later, combined with the english presbyterian church to form the present presbyterian church of england. references in his correspondence show that this union of , which afterwards had such happy results, excited at the time little enthusiasm, and was entered into largely as a matter of duty. "it is," he writes, "like the union, not of two globules of quicksilver which run together of themselves, but of two snowballs or cakes of mud that need in some way very tough outward pressure. i hope that the friction will elicit heat, since this neither cold nor hot spirit is not to edification." the other letters of this period range over a wide variety of subjects. with john clark he compares experiences of ministerial work; with john nelson he discusses european politics as these have been affected by the events of the "year of revolutions," ; with george wilson he discourses on every conceivable topic, from abstruse problems of philosophy and theology to the opening of the north british railway; while his mother and his brothers, william and david, the latter of whom about this time left his work in the dunglass woods to study for the ministry, are kept in touch with all that he knows they will best like to hear about. but in all this wide field of human life and thought and activity, which he so eagerly traverses, it is quite evident that what attracts him most is the relation of it all to a higher and an eternal order. with him the main interest is a religious one. without an atom of affectation, and without anything that is at all morbid on his part, he reveals this at a hundred points. in this connection a letter which he wrote to sir william hamilton and which has since become well known, may be quoted here; and it, with sir william's reply, will fittingly conclude the present chapter. this letter bears date november , , and is as follows:-- "i herewith enclose the statement respecting the calabar mission of our church, which i take blame to myself for having so long delayed to send. my avocations are very numerous, and a habit of procrastination, where anything is to be written, has sadly grown on me with time. i cannot even send you this brief note without testifying, what i could not so well utter in your presence, my unabated admiration of your philosophical genius and learning, and my profoundly grateful sense of the important benefits received by me both from your instructions and private friendship, i am more indebted to you for the foundation of my intellectual habits and tastes than to any other person, and shall bear, by the will of the almighty, the impress of your hand through any future stage of existence. it is a relief to my own feelings to speak in this manner, and you will forgive one of the most favoured of your pupils if he seeks another kind of relief--a relief which he has long sought an opportunity to obtain--the expression of a wish that his honoured master were one with himself in the exercise of the convictions, and the enjoyment of the comforts, of living christianity, or as far before himself as he is in all other particulars. this is a wish, a prayer, a fervent desire often expressed to the almighty former and guide of the spirits of men, mingled with the hope that, if not already, at least some time, this accordance of faith will be attained, this living union realised with the great teacher, sacrifice, and restorer of our fallen race. you will pardon this manifestation of the gratitude and affection of your pupil and friend, who, if he knew a higher, would gladly give it as a payment of a debt too great to be expressed. i have long ago been taught to feel the vanity of the world in all its forms--to renounce the hope of intellectual distinction, and to exalt love above knowledge. philosophy has been to me much; but it can never be all, never the most; and i have found, and know that i have found, the true good in another quarter. this is mysticism--the mysticism of the bible--the mysticism of conscious reconciliation and intimacy with the living persons of the godhead--a mysticism which is not like that of philosophy, an irregular and incommunicable intuition, but open to all, wise and unwise, who take the highway of humility and prayer. if i were not truly and profoundly happy in my faith--the faith of the universal church--i would not speak of it. the greatest increase which it admits of is its sympathetic kindling in the hearts of others, not least of those who know by experience the pain of speculation, the truth that he who increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. i know you will indulge these expressions to one more in earnest than in former years, more philanthropic, more confident that he knows in whom he has believed, more impressed with the duty of bearing everywhere a testimony to the convictions which have given him a positive hold at once of truth and happiness. "but i check myself in this unwonted strain, which only your long-continued and singular kindness could have emboldened me to attempt; and with the utterance of the most fervent wishes for your health, academical success, and inward light and peace, i remain your obliged friend and grateful pupil." to which sir w. hamilton replied as follows:-- "edinburgh, _dec_. , . "i feel deeply obliged to you for the kindness of your letter, and trust that i shall not prove wholly unworthy of the interest you take in me. there is indeed no one with whom i am acquainted whose sentiments on such matters i esteem more highly, for there is no one who, i am sure, is more earnest for the truth, and no one who pursues it with more independence and, at the same time, with greater confidence in the promised aid of god. may this promised aid be vouchsafed to me."[ ] [footnote : _memoir of sir w. hamilton_, pp. - .] chapter vi the central problem it was confidently expected, not merely by cairns's personal friends but by others in a much wider circle, that he would make a name for himself in the world of letters and speculative thought. it was not only the brilliance of his university career that led to this expectation, for, remarkable as that career had been, there have been many men since his time who, so far as mere prize taking is concerned, have equalled or surpassed him--men who never aroused and would not have justified any high-pitched hopes about their future. but cairns, in addition to gaining academic distinctions, seems to have impressed his contemporaries in a quite exceptional degree with a sense of his power and promise. professor masson, writing of him as he was in his student days, thus describes him: "there was among us one whom we all respected in a singular degree. tall, strong-boned, and granite-headed, he was the student whom sir william hamilton himself had signalised and honoured as already a sterling thinker, and the strength of whose logic, when you grappled with him in argument, seemed equalled only by the strength of his hand-grip when you met him or bade him good-bye, or by the manly integrity and nobleness of his character."[ ] and again, writing of him as he was at a later date, the same critic gives this estimate of his old fellow-student's mental calibre: "i can name one former student of sir william hamilton's, now a minister in what would be accounted in england one of the straitest sects of scottish puritanism, and who has consecrated to the duties of that calling a mind among the noblest i have known and the most learned in pure philosophy. any man who on any subject of metaphysical speculation should contend with dr. cairns of berwick-on-tweed, would have reason to know, ere he had done with him, what strength for offence and defence there may yet be in a puritan minister's hand-grip."[ ] [footnote : _macmillan's magazine_, december , p. .] [footnote : _recent british philosophy_, pp. - .] that this is no mere isolated estimate of a partial friend it would not be difficult to prove. this was what his friends thought of him, and what they had taught others outside to think of him too. the time, however, had now come when it had to be put to the proof. during the first five years of his ministry at berwick, as we have seen, cairns devoted himself entirely to his work in golden square. he must learn to know accurately how much of his time that work would take up, before he could venture to spend any of it in other fields. but in he felt that he had mastered the situation, and accordingly he began to write for the press. the ten years between and were years of considerable literary activity with him, and it may be said at once that their output sustained his reputation, and even added to it. there falls to be mentioned first a memoir of his friend john clark, who, after a brief and troubled ministerial career, had died of cholera in . cairns's life of him, prefixed to a selection from his essays and sermons, fills only seventy-seven small pages, and it is in form to a large extent a defence of metaphysical studies against those who regard them as dangerous to the christian student. but it contains many passages of great beauty and tenderness, and delineates in exquisite colours the poetry and romance of college friendships. "i am greatly charmed," wrote the author of _rab and his friends_ to cairns, "with your pages on the romance of your youthful fellowship--that sweet hour of prime. i can remember it, can feel it, can scent the morn."[ ] [footnote : see above, pp. - .] in the _north british review_, which had been started some years previously in the interests of the free church, came under the editorship of cairns's friend campbell fraser. although he was a free church professor, he resolved to widen the basis of the _review_, and he asked cairns to join his staff, offering him as his province german philosophy and theology. cairns assented, and promised to furnish two articles yearly. the first and most important of these was one which appeared in on julius müller's _christian doctrine of sin_. this article, which is well and brightly written, embraces not merely a criticism of the great work whose name stands at the head of it, but also an elaborate yet most lucid and masterly survey of the various schools of theological thought which were then grouping themselves in germany. other contributions to the _north british_ during the next four years included articles on "british and continental ethics and christianity," on "the reawakening of christian life in germany," and on "the life and letters of niebuhr"; while yet other articles saw the light in the _british quarterly review_, the _united presbyterian magazine_, and other periodicals. in appeared the important article on "kant," in the eighth edition of the _encyclopedia britannica_, which was written at the urgent request of his friend adam black, and which cost him ten months reading and preparation. as has been already said, his reputation appears to have been fully maintained by these articles. they brought him into touch with many interesting people, such as bunsen and f.d. maurice; and, in scotland, deepened the impression that he was a man with a future. in john wilson resigned the professorship of moral philosophy in the university of edinburgh, and the town council, who were the patrons of the chair, took occasion to let cairns know that he might have the appointment if he desired it. he declined their offer, and with characteristic reticence said nothing about it either to his relatives or to his congregation. he threw himself, however, with great ardour into the support of the candidature of his friend professor p.c. m'dougall, who ultimately was elected to the post. four years later sir william hamilton died, and a fierce fight ensued as to who was to be his successor. the two most prominent candidates were cairns's friend campbell fraser, then professor of logic in the new college, edinburgh, and professor james frederick ferrier of st. andrews. fraser was then a hamiltonian and ferrier was a hegelian, and a great hubbub arose between the adherents of the two schools. this was increased and embittered by the importation of ecclesiastical and political feeling into the contest; fraser being a free churchman, and ferrier receiving the support of the established church and tory party. the town council were very much at sea with regard to the philosophical controversy, and, through dr. john brown, they requested cairns to explain its merits to them. cairns responded by publishing a pamphlet entitled _an_ _examination of professor ferrier's theory of knowing and being_. this pamphlet had for its object to show that ferrier's election would mean a renunciation of the doctrines which, as expounded by hamilton, had added so greatly to the prestige of the university in recent times as a school of philosophy, and also to expose what the writer conceived to be the dangerous character of ferrier's teaching in relation to religious truth. it increased the storm tenfold. replies were published and letters sent to the newspapers abusing cairns, and insinuating that he had been led by a private grudge against ferrier to take the step he had taken. it was also affirmed that he was acting at the instigation of the free church, who wanted to abolish their chair of logic in the new college, but could not well do so so long as they had its present incumbent on their hands. a doggerel parody on _john gilpin_, entitled "the diverting history of john cairns," in which a highly coloured account is given of the supposed genesis of the pamphlet, was written and found wide circulation. the first two stanzas of this effusion were the following:-- "john cairns was a clergyman of credit and renown, a first-rate u.p. church had he in far-famed berwick town. john likewise had a loving friend, a mighty man of knowledge, the rev. a.c. fraser, he of the sanctified new college." cairns found it needful to issue a second pamphlet, _scottish philosophy: a vindication and reply_, in which, while tenaciously holding to what he had said in the last one, he challenged ferrier to mention one single instance in which he had made a personal attack on him. when at length the vote came to be taken, and fraser was elected by a majority of three, there were few who doubted that the intervention of the berwick minister had been of critical importance in bringing about this result. two years later george wilson, who was now a professor in the university, had the satisfaction of intimating to his friend that his _alma mater_ had conferred on him the degree of d.d., and in the following year ( ) a much higher honour was placed within his reach. the principalship of the university became vacant by the death of dr. john lee, and the appointment to the coveted post, like that to the two professorships, was in the hands of the town council. it was informally offered to cairns through one of the councillors, but again he sent a declinature, and again he kept the matter carefully concealed. it was not, in fact, until after his death, when the correspondence regarding it came to light, that even his own brothers knew that at the age of forty this great and dignified office might have been his. these declinatures on cairns's part of philosophical posts, or posts the occupation of which would give him time and opportunity for doing original work in philosophy, are not on the whole difficult to understand when we bear in mind his point of view. he had, after careful deliberation, given himself to the christian ministry, and he meant to devote the whole of his life to its work. he was not to be turned aside from it by the attractions of any employment however congenial, or of any leisure however splendid. his speculative powers had been consecrated to this object, as well as his active powers, and would find their natural outlet in harmony with it. and so the hopes of his friends and his own aspirations must be realised in his work, not in the field of philosophy but in that of theology. accordingly, he decided to follow up his work in the periodicals by writing a book. he took for his subject "the difficulties of christianity," and made some progress with it, getting on so far as to write several chapters. then he was interrupted and the work was laid aside. the great book was never written, nor did he ever write a book worthy of his powers. a moderate-sized volume of lectures on "unbelief in the eighteenth century," a volume of sermons, most of which were written in the first fifteen years of his ministry, a memoir of dr. brown,--these, with the exception of a quantity of pamphlets, prefaces, and magazine articles, were all that he gave to the world after the time with which we are now dealing. how are we to account for this? the time in which he lived was a time of great intellectual activity and unsettlement--time that, in the opinion of most, needed, and would have welcomed, the guidance he could have given; and yet he stayed his hand. why did he do so? this is the central problem which a study of his life presents, and it is one of no ordinary complexity; but there are some considerations relating to it which go far to solve it, and these it may be worth while for us at this point to examine. at the outset, something must be allowed for the special character of the influence exerted on cairns by sir william hamilton. that influence was profound and far-reaching. in the letter to hamilton which was quoted at the end of the preceding chapter, cairns tells his master that he must "bear, by the will of the almighty, the impress of his hand through any further stage of existence," and, strong as the expression is, it can scarcely be said to be an exaggeration. but hamilton's influence, while it called out and stimulated his pupil's powers to a remarkable degree, was not one which made for literary productiveness. he was a great upholder of the doctrine that truth is to be sought for its own sake and without reference to any ulterior end, and he had strong ideas about the discredit--the shamefulness, as it seemed to him--of speaking or writing on any subject until it had been mastered down to its last detail. this attitude prevented hamilton himself from doing full justice to his powers and learning, and its influence could be seen in cairns also--in his delight in studies the relevancy of which was not always apparent, and in a certain fastidiousness which often delayed, and sometimes even prevented, his putting pen to paper. but another and a much more important factor in the problem is to be found in the old seceder ideal of the ministry in which he was trained and which he never lost. it has been truly said of him that "he never all his life got away from david inglis and stockbridge any more than carlyle got away from john johnston and ecclefechan." according to the seceder view, there is no more sublime calling on earth than that of the christian ministry, and that calling is one which concerns itself first and chiefly with the conversion of sinners and the edifying of saints. this work is so awful in its importance, and so beneficent in its results, that it must take the chief place in a minister's thoughts and in the disposition of his time; and if it requires the sole place, that too must be accorded to it. "to me," wrote cairns to george gilfillan in , "love seems infinitely higher than knowledge and the noblest distinction of humanity--the humble minister who wears himself out in labours of christian love in an obscure retreat as a more exalted person than the mere literary champion of christianity, or the recondite professor who is great at fathers and schoolmen. i really cannot share those longings for intellectual giants to confront the goliath of scepticism--not that i do not think such persons useful in their way, but because i think christianity far more impressive as a life than as a speculation, and the west port evangelism of dr. chalmers far more effective than his astronomical discourses."[ ] [footnote : _life and letters_, p. .] it was to the ministry, as thus understood, that cairns had devoted himself at the close of his university course and again just before he took license as a probationer, when for a short time, as we have seen, he had been drawn aside by the attractions of "sacred literature." he never thought of becoming a minister and was putting his main strength into philosophy and theology. not that he now forswore all interest in either, but from the moment of his final decision, he had determined that the mid-current of his life should run in a different direction. yet another important factor in the case is to be found in the circumstances of his berwick ministry. had his lot been cast in a quiet country place, with only a handful of people to look after, the great book might yet have been written. but he had to attend to a congregation whose membership was at first nearly six hundred, and afterwards rose to seven hundred and eighty and, with his standard of pastoral efficiency, this left him little leisure. indeed it is wonderful that, under these conditions, he accomplished so much as he did--that he wrote his _north british_ articles, maintained a reputation which won for him so many offers of academic posts, and at the same time laid the foundation of a vast and spacious learning in patristic and reformation theology. akin to his strictly ministerial work, and flowing out of it, was the work he did for his church as a whole--the share he took in the union negotiations with the free church during the ten years that these negotiations lasted, and the endless round of church openings and platform work to which his growing fame as a preacher and public speaker laid him open. but there is one other consideration which, although it is to some extent involved in what has already been said, deserves separate and very special attention. although his friends and the public regretted his withdrawal from the speculative field, it is not so clear that he regretted it himself. he had, it is true, worked in it strenuously and with conspicuous success, and had revealed a natural aptitude for christian apologetics of a very high order. but it does not appear that either his heart or his conscience were ever fully engaged in the work. he never seemed as if he were fighting for his life, because he always seemed to have another and an independent ground of certainty on which he based his real defence. there is a passage in his life of clark which bears upon this point so closely that it will be well to quote it here:-- "the christian student is as conscious of direct intercourse with jesus christ as with the external world, or with other minds. this is the very postulate of living christianity. it is a datum or revelation made to a spiritual faculty in the soul, as real as the external senses or any of the mental or moral faculties, and far more exalted. this living contact with a living person by faith and prayer is, like all other life, ultimate and mysterious, and must be accepted by him in whom it exists as its own sufficient explanation and reason, just as the principles of natural intelligence and conscience, to which it is something superadded, and with which, in this point of view, though in other respects higher, it is co-ordinate. no one who is living in communion with jesus christ, and exercising that series of affections towards him which christianity at once prescribes and creates, can doubt the reality of that supernatural system to which he has been thus introduced; and nothing more is necessary than to appeal to his own experience and belief, which is here as valid and irresistible as in regard to the existence of god, of moral distinctions, or of the material world. he has no reason to trust the one class of beliefs which he has not, to trust the other.... to minds thus favoured, this forms a _point d'appui_ which can never be overturned--an _aliquid inconcussum_ corresponding to the '_cogito ergo sum_' of descartes. their faith bears its own signature, and they have only to look within to discover its authenticity. philosophy must be guided by experience, and must rank the characters inscribed on the soul by grace at least as sacred as those inscribed by nature. such persons need not that any man should teach them, for they have an unction from the holy one; and to them applies the highest of all congratulations: 'blessed art thou; for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my father which is in heaven.'"[ ] [footnote : _fragments of college and pastoral life_, pp. - .] these words contain the true explanation of cairns's life. there was in it the "_aliquid inconcussum_"--the "unshaken somewhat"--which made him independent of other arguments, and which kept him untouched by all the intellectual attacks on christianity. other people who had not this inward testimony, or who, having it, could not regard it as unshaken by the assaults of infidelity, he could argue with and seek to meet them on their own intellectual ground; but for himself, any victories gained here were superfluous, any defects left him unmoved. was it always so with him? or was there ever a time when he was carried off his feet and had to struggle for dear life for his christian faith amid the dark waters of doubt? there are indications that on at least one occasion he subjected his beliefs to a careful scrutiny, and, referring to this later, he spoke of himself as one who, in the words of the roman poet, had been "much tossed about on land and on the deep ere he could build a city." this, coming from one who was habitually reticent about his religious experiences, may be held as proving that there was no want of rigour in the process, no withholding of any part of the structure from the strain. but that that structure ever gave way, that it ever came tumbling down in ruins about him so that it had to be built again on new foundations, there is no evidence to show. the "_aliquid inconcussum_" appears to have remained with him all through the experience. this seems clear from a passage in a letter written in to his brother david, then a student in sir william hamilton's class, in which he says; "i never found my religious susceptibilities injured by metaphysical speculations. whether this was a singular felicity i do not know, but i have heard others complain."[ ] [footnote : _life and letters_, p. .] this, taken in conjunction with the passage quoted above from clark's life, in which it is hard to believe that he is not speaking of himself, seems decisive enough, and in a mind of such speculative grasp and activity it is remarkable. "right down through the storm-zone of the nineteenth century," writes one who knew him well, "he comes untroubled by the force of the '_aliquid inconcussum_.' edinburgh, germany, berwick; hamilton, kant, hegel, strauss, renan, it is all the same. the cause seems to me luminously plain. saints are never doubters. his religious intuitions were so deep and clear that he was able always to find his way by their aid. they gave him his independent certainty, his '_aliquid inconcussum_.'" his influence on the religious life of his time was largely due to the spiritual faculty in him that is here referred to. he was the power he was, not so much because of his intellectual strength as because of his character,--because he was "a great christian." but in this respect he had the defects of his qualities; and it is open to question whether he ever truly appreciated the formidable character of modern doubt, just because he himself had never had full experience of its power, because the iron of it had never really entered into his soul. george gilfillan, who, with all his defects, had often gleams of real insight, wrote thus in his diary th january : "i got yesterday sent me, per post, a lecture by john cairns on 'rationalism, ritualism, and pure religion,' or some such title, and have read it with interest, attention, and a good deal of admiration of its ability and, on the whole, of its spirit. but i can see from it that he is not the man to grapple with the scepticism of the age. he has not sufficient sympathy with it, he has not lived in its atmosphere, he has not visited its profoundest or tossed in its stormiest depths. intellectually and logically he understands it as he understands most other matters, but sympathetically and experimentally he does not." there is a considerable amount of truth in this, although it is lacking somewhat in the sympathy which the critic desiderates in the man he is criticising. cairns did not feel that the battle with modern doubt was of absolutely overwhelming importance, and this, along with the other things to which reference has been made, kept him from giving to the world that new statement of the christian position which his friends hoped to get from him, and which he at one time hoped to be able to give. chapter vii the apostle of union the close of the period dealt with in the last chapter was made sadly memorable to cairns by the death of some of his closest friends. in october died the venerable dr. brown, with whom, since he was a student, he had stood in the closest relations, and whom he revered and habitually addressed as a father. in november the bright spirit of george wilson, the dearest of all his friends, passed away; and in the same year he had to mourn the loss of miss darling, the correspondent and adviser of his student days. his brave old mother died in the autumn of , and in the following year he lost another old and dear friend in mrs. balmer, the widow of his predecessor in golden square, who perhaps knew him better than his own mother, and had been deeper in his confidence than anyone since he came to berwick. from this period he became more reserved. with all his frankness there was always a characteristic reticence about him, and this was less frequently broken now that those to whom he had so freely poured out his soul had been taken from him. but he drew closer to those who were still left--especially to his own kindred, to his sisters, to his brother william at oldcambus, and to his brother david, who had now been settled for some years as minister at stitchel, near kelso.[ ] [footnote : his eldest brother, thomas, had died from the effects of an accident in .] dr. brown had nominated him as one of his literary executors, and his family were urgent in their request that he should write their father's life. with great reluctance he consented, and for eighteen months this task absorbed the whole of his leisure, to the complete exclusion of the work on "the difficulties of christianity," with which he had already made some progress. the undertaking was a labour of love, but it cannot be said to have been congenial. memoir writing was not to his taste, and in this case he had made a stipulation that still further hampered him and made success very difficult. this was that he should omit, as far as possible, all personal details, and leave these to be dealt with in a separate chapter which dr. brown's son john undertook to furnish. this chapter was not forthcoming when the volume had to go to press, and was separately issued some months later. when the inspiration did at length come to "dr. john," it came in such a way as to add a new masterpiece to english literature, and one which, while it gave a wonderfully living picture of the writer's father, disclosed to the world as nothing else has ever done the true _ethos_ and inner life of the scottish secession church. the memoir itself, of which this "letter to john cairns, d.d." is the supplementary chapter, is a sound and solid bit of work, giving an accurate and interesting account of the public life of dr. brown and of the movements in which he took part. it is, as william graham said of it, "a thoughtful, calm, conclusive book, perhaps too reticent and colourless, but none the less like dr. brown because of that." no sooner was this book off his hands than cairns was urged to undertake another biographical work--the life of george wilson. but this, in view of his recent experience, he steadfastly refused to do, and contented himself with writing a sketch of his friend for the pages of _macmillan's magazine_. when, however, wilson's biography was taken in hand by his sister, cairns promised to help her in every possible way with his advice and guidance, and this he did from week to week till the book was published. this help on his part was continued by his seeing through the press wilson's posthumous book, _counsels of an invalid_, which appeared in . with the completion of this task he seemed to be free to return to his theological work, and he did return to it; but his release turned out to be only a brief respite. in the ten years' negotiations for union between the free and united presbyterian churches, in which he felt impelled to take a prominent and laborious part, were begun, and they absorbed nearly all of his leisure during what might have been a productive period of his life. when he emerged from them he was fifty-four years of age, he had passed beyond the time of life when his creative powers were at their freshest, and the general habits of his life and lines of his activity had become settled and stereotyped. this is not the place in which to enter into a detailed account of the union negotiations. that has been done with admirable lucidity and skill by such writers as dr. norman walker in his life of dr. robert buchanan, and by dr. macewen in his life of the subject of the present sketch, and it does not need to be done over again. but something must be said at this point to indicate the general lines which the negotiations followed and to make cairns's relation to them clear. that he should have taken a keen and sympathetic interest in any great movement for ecclesiastical union was quite what might have been expected. what interested him in christian truth, and what he had, ever since he had been a student, set himself specially to expound and defend, were the great catholic doctrines which are the heritage of the one church of christ. constitutionally, he was disposed to make more of the things that unite christians than of those which divide them; and, while he was loyally attached to his own church, many of his favourite heroes, as well as many of his warmest personal friends, belonged to other churches. hence anything that made for union was entirely in line with his feelings and his convictions. thus he had thrown himself heartily into the work of the evangelical alliance, and at its memorable berlin meeting of had created a deep impression by an address which he delivered in german on the probable results of a closer co-operation between german and british protestantism. in the same year he took part in a conference in edinburgh which had been summoned by sir george sinclair of ulbster to discuss the possibility of church union at home. and when in the union took place in the australian colonies of the presbyterian churches which bore the names of the scottish churches from which they had sprung, it was to a large extent through his influence that the australian united presbyterians took part in the union. his ideal at first was of one great presbyterian communion co-extensive with the english language, and separately organised in the different countries and dependencies in which its adherents were to be found, but having one creed and one form of worship and complete freedom from all state patronage and control. but, as the times did not seem ripe for such a vast consummation, he made no attempt to give his ideal a practical form, and concentrated his energies on the lesser movement which was beginning to take shape for a union of the presbyterian churches in england and the non-established presbyterian churches in scotland. he was one of those who brought this project before the synod of the united presbyterian church in may , when he appeared in support of an overture from the berwick presbytery in favour of union. the overture was adopted with enthusiasm, and the synod agreed by a majority of more than ten to one to appoint a committee to confer with a view to union with any committee which might be appointed by the free church general assembly. the free church assembly, which met a fortnight later, passed a similar resolution unanimously, although not without a keen discussion revealing elements of opposition which were afterwards to gather strength. it is quite possible that, as competent observers have suggested, if the enthusiasm for the project which then existed had been taken advantage of at once, union might have been carried with a rush. but the able men who were guiding the proceedings thought it safer to advance more slowly; and, when the joint union committee met, they went on to consider in detail the various points on which the two churches differed. these had reference almost entirely to the relations between church and state. the united presbyterians were, almost to a man, "voluntaries," _i.e._ they held that the church ought in all cases to support itself without assistance from the state, and free from the interference which, in their view, was the inevitable and justifiable accompaniment of all state establishments. the free churchmen, on the other hand, while maintaining as their cardinal principle that the church must be free from all state interference, and while therefore protesting against the existing establishment, held that the church, if its freedom were adequately guaranteed, might lawfully accept establishment and endowment from the state. an elaborate statement was drawn up exhibiting first the points on which the two churches were agreed with regard to this question, and then the points on which they differed. from this it appeared that they were at one as to the duty of the state--or, in the language of the westminster confession, the "civil magistrate"--to make christian laws and to administer them in a christian spirit. the civil magistrate ought, it was agreed, to be a christian, not merely as a man but as a magistrate. the only vital point of difference was with regard to the question of church establishments--as to whether it was part of the christian civil magistrate's duty to establish and endow the church. but, as it seemed to be a vain hope that the free church would ever get an establishment to its mind, it was urged that this was a mere matter of theory, and might be safely left as an "open question" in a united church. the statement referred to, which is better known as the "articles of agreement," was not ready to be submitted in a final form to the synod and assembly of , and the committee, which was now reinforced by representatives from the reformed presbyterian church and from the presbyterian church in england, was reappointed to carry on its labours. but meanwhile clouds were beginning to appear on the horizon. in the united presbyterian synod there was a small minority of sturdy voluntaries who, while not opposed to union, were apprehensive that the price to be paid for it would be the partial surrender of their testimony in behalf of their distinctive principle. they did not wish to impose their beliefs on others, but they were anxious to reserve to themselves full liberty to hold and propagate their views in the united church, and they were not sure that, by accepting the articles of agreement, they were in fact doing this. the efforts of dr. cairns and others were directed, not without success, to meeting their difficulties. but in the free church a more formidable opposition began to show itself. there had always been a conservative element in that church, represented by men who held tenaciously to the more literal interpretation of its ecclesiastical documents and traditions; and, as the discussions went on, it became clear that the hopelessness of a reconciliation with the establishment was not so universally felt as had been at first supposed. the supporters of the union movement included almost all the trusted leaders of the church--men like drs. candlish, buchanan, duff, fairbairn, rainy, and guthrie, sir henry moncreiff, lord dalhousie, and mr. murray dunlop, most of whom had got their ecclesiastical training in the great controversy which had issued in the disruption; but all their eloquence and all their skill did not avail to allay the misgivings or silence the objections of the other party. at length in a crisis was reached. the articles of agreement, after having been finally formulated by the committee, had been sent down to presbyteries for their consideration; and the reports of the presbyteries were laid on the table of the assembly of that year. the question now arose, was it wise, in view of the opposition, to take further steps towards union? the assembly by votes to decided to goon; whereupon the anti-union leaders resigned the seats which up to this time they had retained on the union committee. it is true that, after the committee had been relieved of this hostile element, considerable and rapid progress was made. hopes were cherished for a time that the union might yet be consummated, and the determination was expressed to carry it through at all hazards. but the free church minority, ably led and knowing its own mind, stubbornly maintained its ground. its adherents, who included perhaps one-third of the ministers and people of the church, were specially numerous in the highlands, where united presbyterianism was practically unrepresented. here most distorted views were held of the voluntaryism which most of its ministers and members professed. it was represented as equivalent to national atheism, and from this the transition was an easy one, especially in districts where few of the people had even seen a united presbyterian, to the position that an upholder of national atheism must himself be an atheist. it became increasingly clear, as the years passed, that if the union were to be forced through, there must be a new disruption, and a disruption which would cost the free church those highland congregations which for thirty years it had been its glory to maintain. moreover, it was currently reported that the anti-union party had taken the opinion of eminent counsel, and that these had declared that, in the event of a disruption taking place on this question of union, the protesting minority would be legally entitled to take with them the entire property of the church. the conviction was forced on the free church leaders (and in this they were supported by their united presbyterian brethren) that the time was not yet ripe for that which they so greatly desired to see, and that even for union the price they would have to pay was too great. and so with heavy hearts they decided in to abandon the negotiations which had been proceeding for ten years. all that they felt themselves prepared to carry was a proposal that free church or united presbyterian ministers should be "mutually eligible" for calls in the two churches--a proposal that did not come to much. three years later, the reformed presbyterian church united with the free church, and in the same year ( ) the united presbyterian church gave up one hundred and ten of its congregations, which united with the english presbyterian church and thus formed the present presbyterian church of england. the original idea, at least on the united presbyterian side, had been that all the negotiating bodies should be welded into one comprehensive british church; but this, especially in view of the breakdown of the larger union, proved to be unworkable, and the final result for the united presbyterians was that they came out of the negotiations a considerably smaller and weaker church than they had been when they went into them. in all the labours and anxieties of these ten years dr. cairns had borne a foremost part. at the meetings of the union committee he took an eager interest and a leading share in the discussions; and, while never compromising the position of his church, he did much to set it in a clear and attractive light. in the united presbyterian synod, where it fell to his lot year by year to deliver the leading speech in support of the committee's report, his eloquence, his sincerity, and his enthusiasm did not a little to reassure those who feared that there was a tendency on the part of their representatives to concede too much, and did a very great deal to keep his church as a whole steadily in favour of union in spite of many temptations to have done with it. dr. hutton, one of those advanced voluntaries who had never been enthusiastic about the union proposals, wrote to him at the close of the negotiations: "we have reached this stage through your vast personal influence more than through any other cause." outside of the church courts he delivered innumerable speeches at public meetings which had been organised in all parts of the country in aid of the union cause. these more than anything else led him to be identified in the public mind with that cause, and gained for him the name of the "apostle of union." the meetings at which these speeches were delivered were mostly got up on the free church side, where there seemed to be more need of missionary work of this kind than on his own, and his appearances on these occasions increased the favour with which he was already regarded in free church circles. "the chief attraction of union for me," an eminent free church layman is reported to have said, "is that it will bring me into the same church with john cairns." that he was deeply disappointed by the failure of the enterprise on which his hopes had been so much set, he did not conceal; but he never believed that the ten years' work had been lost, and he never doubted that union would come. he did not live to see it, but when, on october , , the two churches at length became one, there were many in the great gathering in the waverley market who thought of him, and of his strenuous and noble labours into which they were on that day entering. dr. maclaren of manchester gave expression to these thoughts in his speech in the evening of the day of union, when, after paying a worthy tribute to the great leader to whose skill and patience the goodly consummation was so largely due, he went on to say: "but all during the proceedings of this day there has been one figure and one name in my memory, and i have been saying to myself, what would john cairns, with his big heart and his sweet and simple nature, have said if god had given him to see this day! 'these all died in faith, not having received the promises... god having provided some better thing for us.'" chapter viii wallace green all the time occupied by the events described in the last two chapters, dr. cairns was carrying on his ministry in berwick with unflagging diligence. true to his principle, he steadily devoted to his pulpit and pastoral work the best of his strength, and always let them have the chief place in his thoughts. he gave to other things what he could spare, but he never forgot that he had determined to be a minister first of all. his congregation had prospered greatly under his care, and in the old-fashioned meeting-house in golden square was abandoned for a stately and spacious gothic church with a handsome spire which had been erected in wallace green, with a frontage to the principal open square of the town. a few years earlier a new manse had been secured for the minister. this manse is the end house of a row of three called wellington terrace. these stand just within the old town walls, which are here pierced by wide embrasures. they are separated from the walls by a broad walk and a row of grass-plots, alternating with paved spaces opposite the embrasures, on which cannon were once planted. the manse faces south, and is roomy and commodious. when dr. cairns moved into it, he had an elderly servant as his housekeeper, of whom he is said to have been not a little afraid; but, after a couple of years or so, his sister janet was installed as mistress of his house; and during the remaining thirty-six years of his life she attended to his wants, looked after his health, and in a hundred prudent and quiet ways helped him in his work. the study at wellington terrace is upstairs, and is a large room lighted by two windows. one of these looks across the river, which at this point washes the base of the town walls, to the dingy village of tweedmouth, rising towards the sidings and sheds of a busy railway-station and the northumberland uplands beyond. the other looks right out to sea, and when it is open, and sometimes when it is shut, "the rush and thunder of the surge" on berwick bar or spittal sands can be distinctly heard. in front, the tweed pours its waters into the north sea under the lee of the long pier, which acts as a breakwater and shelters the entrance to the harbour. far away to the right, holy island, with the castle-crowned rock of bamborough beyond it, are prominent objects; and at night, the longstone light on the outer farne recalls the heroic rescue by grace darling of the shipwrecked crew of the _forfarshire_. opposite this window stood the large bookcase in which dr. cairns's library was housed. the books composing the library were neither very numerous, very select, nor in very good condition. although he was a voracious reader, it must be admitted that dr. cairns took little pride in his books. it was a matter of utter indifference to him whether he read a favourite author in a good edition or in a cheap one. the volumes of german philosophy and theology, of which he had a fair stock, remained unbound in their original sober livery, and when any of them threatened to fall to pieces he was content to tie them together with string or to get his sister to fasten them with paste. one or two treasures he had, such as a first edition of bacon's _instauratio magna_, a first edition of butler's _analogy_, and a stephens greek testament; also a complete set of the delphin classics, handsomely bound, and some college prizes. these, with the benedictine edition of augustine, folio editions of athanasius, chrysostom, and other fathers, some odd volumes of migne, and a considerable number of books on reformation and secession theology, formed the most noteworthy elements in his collection. he added later a very complete set of the writings of the english deists, and the works of voltaire, rousseau, and renan. side by side with these was what came to be a vast accumulation of rubbish, consisting of presentation copies of books on all subjects which his anxious conscience persuaded him that he was bound to keep on his shelves, since publishers and authors had been kind enough to send them to him. nearly all the books that belonged to his real library he had read with care. most of them were copiously annotated, and his annotations were, as a rule, characterised by a refreshing trenchancy,--in the case of some, as of gibbon, tempered with respect; in the case of others, as of f.w. newman and w.r. greg, bordering on truculence. the only other noteworthy objects in the study were two splendid engravings of raphael's "transfiguration" and "spasimo" (the former bearing the signature of raphael morghen), which had been a gift to him from mrs. balmer. the greater part of each day was spent in this room. he could get along with less sleep than most men; and however late he might have sat over his books at night, he was frequently in his study again long before breakfast. after breakfast came family worship, each item of which was noteworthy. although passionately fond of sacred music, he had a wild, uncontrollable kind of voice in singing. he seemed to have always a perfectly definite conception of what the tune ought to be, but he was seldom able to give this idea an accurate, much less a melodious, expression. yet he never omitted the customary portion of psalm or hymn, but tackled it with the utmost gallantry, fervour, and enthusiasm, although he scarcely ever got through a verse without going off the tune. his reading of scripture had no elocutionary pretensions about it; it was quiet, and to a large extent gone through in a monotone; but two things about it made it very impressive. one of these was the deep reverence that characterised it, and the other was a note of subdued enthusiasm that ran all through it. it was clear to the listener that behind every passage read, whether it was history, psalm, or prophecy, or even the driest detail of ritual, there was visible to him a great world-process going on that appealed to his imagination and influenced even the tones of his voice. and his prayers, quite unstudied as they of course were, brought the whole company right into the presence of the unseen. they were usually full of detail,--he seemed to remember everybody and everything,--but each petition was absolutely appropriate to the special case with which it dealt, and all were fused into a unity by the spirit of devotion that welled up through all. after prayers he went back to his study, and nothing was heard or seen of him for some hours, except when his heavy tread was heard upstairs as he walked backwards and forwards, or when the strains of what was meant to be a german choral were wafted down from above. the afternoon he usually spent in visiting, and, so long as he remained in berwick, there was no more familiar figure in its streets than his. the tall, stalwart form, already a little bent,--but bent, one thought, not so much by the weight of advancing years as by way of making an apology for its height,--the hair already white, the mild and kindly blue eye, the tall hat worn well back on the head, the swallow-tail coat, the swathes within swathes of broad white neckcloth, the umbrella carried, even in the finest weather, under the arm with the handle downward, the gloves in the hands but never on them, the rapid eager stride,--all these come back vividly to those who can remember berwick in the sixties and early seventies of last century. his visitations were still carried out with the method and punctuality which had characterised them in the early days of his ministry, and he usually arranged to make a brief pause for tea with one of the families visited. on these occasions he would frequently be in high spirits, and his hearty and resounding laughter would break out on the smallest provocation. that laugh of his was eminently characteristic of the man. there was nothing smothered or furtive about it; there was not even the vestige of a chuckle in it. its deep "ah! hah! hah!" came with a staccato, quacking sound from somewhere low down in the chest, and set his huge shoulders moving in unison with its peals. the whole closed with a long breath of purest enjoyment--a kind of final licking of the lips after the feast was over. returning to his house, he always entered it by the back door, apparently because he did not wish to put the servant to the trouble of going upstairs to open the front door for him. it does not seem to have occurred to him to use a latch-key. in the evening there was generally some meeting to go to, but after his return, when evening worship and the invariable supper of porridge and milk were over, he always went back to his study, and its lights were seldom put out until long past midnight. although his reading in these solitary hours was of course mainly theological, he always kept fresh his interest in the classical studies of his youth. he did not depend on his communings with origen and eusebius for keeping up his greek, but went back as often as he could find time to plato and to the tragedians. macaulay has defined a greek scholar as one who can read plato with his feet on the fender. dr. cairns could fully satisfy this condition; indeed he went beyond it, for when he went from home he was in the habit of taking a volume of plato or aeschylus with him to read in the train. one of his nephews, at that time a schoolboy, remembers reading with him, when on a holiday visit to berwick, through the _alcestis_ of euripides. it may have been because he found it necessary to frighten his young relative into habits of accuracy, or possibly because an outrage committed against a greek poet was to him the most horrid of all outrages; but anyhow, during these studies, he altogether laid aside that restraint which he was usually so jealous to maintain over his powers of sarcasm and invective. he lay on the study sofa while the lesson was going on, with a tauchnitz euripides in his hand; but sometimes, when a false quantity or a more than usually stupid grammatical blunder was made, he would spring to his feet and fairly shout with wrath. only once had he to consult a greek lexicon for the meaning of a word; and then it turned out that the meaning he had assigned to it provisionally was the right one. a latin lexicon he did not possess. on sunday, wallace green church was a goodly sight. forenoon and afternoon, streams of worshippers came pouring by ravensdowne, church street, and walkergate lane across the square and into the large building, which was soon filled to overflowing. then "the books" were brought in by the stately beadle, and last of all "the doctor" came hurriedly in, scrambled awkwardly up the pulpit stair, and covered his face with his black gloved hands.[ ] then he rose, and in slow monotone gave out the opening psalm, during the singing of which his strong but wandering voice could now and again be distinctly heard above the more artistic strains of the choir and congregation rendering its tribute of praise. the scripture lessons were read in the same subdued but reverent tones, and the prayers were simple and direct in their language, the emotion that throbbed through them being kept under due restraint. the opening periods of the sermon were pitched in the same note, but when the preacher got fairly into his subject he broke loose from such restraints, and his argument was unfolded, and then massed, and finally pressed home with all the strength of his intellect, reinforced at every stage by the play of his imagination and the glow of a passionate conviction. his "manner" in the pulpit was, it is true, far from graceful. his principal gesture was a jerking of the right arm towards the left shoulder, accompanied sometimes by a bending forward of the upper part of the body; and when he came to his peroration, which he usually delivered with his eyes closed and in lowered tones, he would clasp his hands and move them up and down in front of him. but all these things seemed to fit in naturally to his style of oratory; there was not the faintest trace of affectation in any of them, and, as a matter of fact, they added to the effectiveness of his preaching. [footnote : in accordance with the old scottish custom, dr. cairns wore gloves during the "preliminary exercises," but took them off before beginning the sermon. on the sunday after a funeral he discarded his geneva gown in the forenoon, and, as a mark of respect to the deceased, wore over his swallow-tail coat the huge black silk sash which it was then customary in berwick to send to the minister on such occasions.] in wallace green dr. cairns was surrounded by a devoted band of office-bearers and others, who carried on very successful home mission work in the town, and kept the various organisations of the church in a vigorous and flourishing state. he had himself no faculty for business details, and he left these mostly to others; but his influence was felt at every point, and operated in a remarkable degree towards the keeping up of the spiritual tone of the church's work. with his elders, who were not merely in regard to ecclesiastical rank, but also in regard to character and ability, the leaders of the congregation, he was always on the most cordial and intimate terms. in numerical strength they usually approximated to the apostolic figure of twelve, and dr. cairns used to remark that their christian names included a surprisingly large number of apostolic pairs. thus there were amongst them not merely james and john, matthew and thomas, but even philip and bartholomew. the philip here referred to was dr. philip whiteside maclagan, a brother of the present archbishop of york and of the late professor sir douglas maclagan. dr. maclagan had been originally an army surgeon, but had been long settled in general practice in berwick in succession to his father-in-law, the eminent naturalist, dr. george johnstone. it was truly said of him that he combined in himself the labours and the graces of luke the beloved physician and philip the evangelist. when occasion offered, he would not only diagnose and prescribe but pray at the bedsides of his patients, and his influence was exerted in behalf of everything that was pure and lovely and of good report in the town of berwick. his delicately chiselled features and fine expression were the true index of a devout and beautiful soul within. dr. cairns and he were warmly attached to one another, and he was his minister's right-hand man in everything that concerned the good of the congregation. it will readily be believed that dr. cairns had not been suffered to remain in berwick during all these years without strong efforts being made to induce him to remove to larger spheres of labour. as a matter of fact, he received in all some half-dozen calls during the course of his ministry from congregations in edinburgh and glasgow; while at one period of his life scarcely a year passed without private overtures being made to him which, if he had given any encouragement to them, would have issued in calls. these overtures he in every case declined at once; but when congregations, in spite of him or without having previously consulted him, took the responsibility of proceeding to a formal call, he never intervened to arrest their action. he had a curious respect for the somewhat cumbrous and slow-moving presbyterian procedure, and when it had been set in motion he felt that it was his duty to let it take its course. once when a call to him was in process which he had in its initial stages discouraged, and which he knew that he could not accept, his sister, who had set her heart on furnishing an empty bedroom in the manse at berwick, was peremptorily bidden to stay her hand lest he might thereby seem to be prejudging that which was not yet before him. two of the calls he received deserve separate mention. one was in from greyfriars church, glasgow, at that time the principal united presbyterian congregation in the city. all sorts of influences were brought to bear upon him to accept it, and for a time he was in grave doubt as to whether it might not be his duty to do so. but two considerations especially decided him to remain in berwick. one was the state of his health, which was not at that time very good; and the other was the pathetic one, that he wanted to write that book which was never to be written. nine years later, in , a yet more determined attempt was made to secure him for edinburgh. a new congregation had been formed at morningside, one of the southern suburbs of the city, and it was thought that this would offer a sphere of work and of influence worthy of his powers. a call was accordingly addressed to him, and it was backed up by representations of an almost unique character and weight. the free church leaders, with whom he was then brought into close touch by the union negotiations, urged him to come to edinburgh. a memorial, signed by one hundred and sixty-seven united presbyterian elders in the city, told him that, in the interests of their church, it was of the utmost importance that he should do so. another memorial, signed by several hundred students at the university, put the matter from their point of view. a still more remarkable document was the following:-- "the subscribers, understanding that the rev. dr. cairns has received a call to the congregation of morningside, desire to express their earnest and strong conviction that his removal to edinburgh would be a signal benefit to vital religion throughout scotland, and more especially in the metropolis, where his great intellectual powers, his deep and wide scholarship, his mastery of the literature of modern unbelief, and the commanding simplicity and godly sincerity of his personal character and public teaching, would find an ample field for their full and immediate exercise." this was signed (amongst others) by three judges of the court of session, by the lord advocate, by the principal and seven of the professors of the university, and by such distinguished ministers and citizens as dr. candlish, dr. hanna, dr. lindsay alexander, adam black, dr. john brown, and charles cowan. it was a remarkable tribute (adam black in giving his name said, "this is more than ever was done for dr. chalmers"), and it made a deep impression on dr. cairns. the wallace green congregation, however, sought to counteract it by an argument which amusingly shows how well they knew their man. they appealed to that strain of anxious conscientiousness in him which he had inherited from his father, by urging that all these memorials were "irregular," and that therefore he had no right to consider them in coming to his decision. they also undertook to furnish him with the means of devoting more time to theological study than had hitherto been at his disposal. after a period of hesitation, more painful and prolonged than he had ever passed through on any similar occasion, he decided to remain in berwick. he was moved to this decision, partly by his attachment to his congregation; partly by a feeling that he could do more for the cause of union by remaining its minister than would be possible amid the labours of a new city charge; and partly by the hope, which was becoming perceptibly fainter and more wistful, that he might at last find leisure in berwick to write his book. but, although he did not become a city minister, he preached very frequently in edinburgh and glasgow, and indeed all over the country. his services were in constant request for the opening of churches and on anniversary occasions. he records that in the course of a single year he preached or spoke away from home (of course mostly on week days) some forty or fifty times. wherever he went he attracted large crowds, on whom his rugged natural eloquence produced a deep impression. it has been recorded that on one occasion, while a vast audience to which he had been preaching in an edinburgh church was dispersing, a man was overheard expressing his admiration to his neighbour in language more enthusiastic than proper: "he's a deevil o' a preacher!" with all this burden of work pressing on him, it was a relief when the annual holiday came round and he could get away from it. but this holiday, too, was usually of a more or less strenuous character, and embraced large tracts of country either at home or, more frequently, on the continent. on these tours his keen human interest asserted itself. he loved to visit places associated with great historic events, or that suggested to him reminiscences of famous men and women. and the actual condition of the people, how they lived, and what they were thinking about, interested him deeply. he spoke to everybody he met, in the train, in the steamboat, or in hotels, in fluent if rather "bookish" german, in correct but somewhat halting french, or, if it was a roman catholic priest he had to deal with, in sonorous latin. and, without anything approaching cant or officiousness, he always tried to bring the conversation round to the subject of religion--to the state of religion in the country in which he was travelling, about which he was always anxious to gain first-hand information, and, if possible and he could do it without offence, to the personal views and experiences of those with whom he conversed. he rarely or never did give offence in this respect, for there was never anything aggressive or clamorous or prying in his treatment of the subject. on his return to berwick his congregation usually expected him to give them a lecture on what he had seen, and the mss. of several of these lectures, abounding in graphic description and in shrewd and often humorous observation of men and things, have been preserved. it must suffice here to give an extract from one of them on a tour in the west of ireland in , illustrating as it does a curious phase of irish social life at that time. dr. cairns and a small party of friends had embarked in a little steamer on one of the irish lakes, and were taking note of the gentlemen's seats, varied with occasional ruins, which were coming in view on both sides. "a fine ancient castle," he goes on to say, "surrounded by trees and almost overhanging the lough, attracted our gaze for some time ere we passed it. the owner's name and character were naturally brought under review. 'is not sir ---- a sunday man?' says one of the company to another. 'he is.' the distinction was new to me, and i inferred something good, perhaps some unusual zeal for sabbath observance or similar virtue. but, alas! for the vanity of human judgments. a 'sunday man' in the west of ireland is one who only appears on the sunday outside his own dwelling, because on any other day he would be arrested for debt. even on a week day he is safe if he keeps to his own house, where in ireland, as in england, no writ can force its way. sir ---- was also invulnerable while sitting on the grand jury, where quite lately he had protracted the business to an inordinate length in order to extend his own liberty. as the boat passed close beside his castle, a handsome elderly gentleman appeared at an open window, and with hat in hand and a charming smile on his face made us a most profound and graceful salutation. we could not be insensible to so much courtesy--since it was sir ---- himself who thus welcomed us; but as we waved our hats in reply, one of our party, who had actually a writ out against the fine old irish gentleman at the very time, with very little prospect of execution, muttered something between his teeth and pressed his hat firmer down on his head than usual. such landlordism is still not uncommon. the same friend is familiar with writs against other gentlemen whose house is their castle, and to whom sunday is 'the light of the week.'" the closing period of dr. cairns's ministry at berwick was made memorable by a remarkable religious revival in the town. following on a brief visit in january from messrs. moody and sankey, who had then just closed their first mission in edinburgh, a movement began which lasted nearly two years. with some help from outside it was carried on during that time mostly by the ministers of the town, assisted by laymen from the various churches, among whom dr. maclagan occupied a foremost place. dr. cairns threw himself into this movement with ardour, and although he did not intend it, and probably was not aware of it, he was its real leader, giving it at once the impetus and the guidance which it needed. besides being present, and taking some part whenever he was at home in the crowded evangelistic meetings that for a while were held nightly, and in the prayer-meeting, attended by from one hundred and fifty to two hundred, which met every day at noon, he must have conversed with hundreds of people seeking direction on religious matters during the early months of . and, knowing that many would shrink from the publicity of an inquiry meeting, he made a complete canvass of his own congregation, in the course of which by gentle and tactful means he found out those who really desired to be spoken to, and spoke to them. the results of the movement proved to be lasting, and were, in his opinion, wholly good. his own congregation profited greatly by it, and on the sunday before one of the wallace green communions, in , a great company of young men and women were received into the fellowship of the church. the catechumens filled several rows of pews in the front of the spacious area of the building, and, when they rose in a body to make profession of their faith, the scene is described as having been most impressive. specially impressive also must have sounded the words which he always used on such occasions: "you have to-day fulfilled your baptism vow by taking upon yourselves the responsibilities hitherto discharged by your parents. it is an act second only in importance to the private surrender of your souls to god, and not inferior in result to your final enrolment among the saints.... nothing must separate you from the church militant till you reach the church triumphant." chapter ix the professor it had all along been felt that dr. cairns must sooner or later find scope for his special powers and acquirements in a professor's chair. in the early years of his ministry he received no fewer than four offers of philosophical professorships, which his views of the ministry and of his consecration to it constrained him to set aside. three similar offers of theological chairs, the acceptance of which did not involve the same interference with the plan of his life, came to him later, but were declined on other grounds. when, however, a vacancy in the theological hall of his own church occurred by the death of professor lindsay, in , the universal opinion in the church was that it must be filled by him and by nobody else. dr. lindsay had been professor of exegesis, but the united presbyterian synod in may provided for this subject being dealt with otherwise, and instituted a new chair of apologetics with a special view to dr. cairns's recognised field of study. to this chair the synod summoned him by acclamation, and, having accepted its call, he began his new work in the following august. as in his own student days, the hall met for only two months in each year, and the professors therefore did not need to give up their ministerial charges. so he remained in berwick, where his congregation were very proud of the new honour that had come to their minister, and that was in some degree reflected on them. instead of "the doctor" they now spoke of him habitually as "the professor," and presented him with a finely befrogged but somewhat irrelevant professor's gown for use in the pulpit at wallace green. dr. cairns prepared two courses of lectures for his students--one on the history of apologetics, and the other on apologetics proper, or christian evidences. for the former, his desire to go to the sources and to take nothing at second-hand led him to make a renewed and laborious study of the fathers, who were already, to a far greater extent than with most theologians, his familiar friends. his knowledge of later controversies, such as that with the deists, which afterwards bore fruit in his work on "unbelief in the eighteenth century," was also widened and deepened at this time. these historical lectures were almost overweighted by the learning which he thus accumulated; but they were at once massive in their structure and orderly and lucid in their arrangement. in the other course, on christian evidences, he did not include any discussion on theism which--probably because of his special familiarity with the deistical and kindred controversies, and also because the modern assaults on supernatural christianity from the evolutionary and agnostic standpoint had not yet become pressing--he postulated. and, discarding the traditional division of the evidences into internal and external, he classified them according to their relation to the different attributes of god, as manifesting his power, knowledge, wisdom, holiness, and benignity. with this course he incorporated large parts of his unfinished treatise on "the difficulties of christianity," which, after he had thus broken it up, passed finally out of sight. the impression which he produced on his students by these lectures, and still more by his personality, was very great. "i suppose," writes one of them, "no men are so hypercritical as students after they have been four or five years at the university. to those who are aware of this, it will give the most accurate impression of our feeling towards dr. cairns when i say that, with regard to him, criticism could not be said to exist. we all had for him an appreciation which was far deeper than ordinary admiration; it was admiration blended with loyalty and veneration."[ ] specially impressive were the humility which went along with his gifts and learning, and the wide charity which made him see good in everything. one student's appreciation of this latter quality found whimsical expression in a cartoon which was delightedly passed from hand to hand in the class, and which represented dr. cairns cordially shaking hands with the devil. a "balloon" issuing from his mouth enclosed some such legend as this: "i hope you are very well, sir. i am delighted to make your acquaintance, and to find that you are not nearly so black as you are painted." [footnote : _life and letters_, p. .] during the ten years' negotiations for union a considerable number of pressing reforms in the united presbyterian church were kept back from fear of hampering the negotiations, and because it was felt that such matters might well be postponed to be dealt with in a united church. but, when the negotiations were broken off, the united presbyterians, having recovered their liberty of action, at once began to set their house in order. one of the first matters thus taken up was the question of theological education. as has been already mentioned, the theological curriculum extended over five sessions of two months. it was now proposed to substitute for this a curriculum extending over three sessions of five months, as being more in accordance with the requirements of the times and as bringing the hall into line with the universities and the free church colleges. a scheme, of which this was the leading feature, was finally adopted by the synod in may . it necessarily involved the separation of the professors from their charges, and accordingly the synod addressed a call to dr. cairns to leave berwick and become professor of systematic theology and apologetics in the newly constituted hall, or, as it was henceforth to be designated--"college." in this chair it was proposed that he should have as his colleague the venerable dr. harper, who was the senior professor in the old hall, and who was now appointed the first principal of the new college. dr. cairns had thus to make his choice between his congregation and his professorship, and, with many natural regrets, he decided in favour of the latter. this decision, which he announced to his people towards the close of the summer, had the incidental effect of keeping him in the united presbyterian church, for in the following year the english congregations of that church were severed from the parent body to form part of the new presbyterian church of england; and wallace green congregation, somewhat against its will, and largely in response to dr. cairns's wishes, went with the rest. he had still a year to spend in berwick, broken only by the last session of the old hall in august and september, and that year he spent in quiet, steady, and happy work. in june he preached his farewell sermon to an immense and deeply moved congregation from the words (rom. i. ), "i am not ashamed of the gospel of christ: for it is the power of god unto salvation unto every one that believeth." "for more than thirty years," he concluded, "i have preached this gospel among you, and i bless his name this day that to not a few it has by his grace proved the power of god unto salvation. to him i ascribe all the praise; and i would rather on such an occasion remember defects and shortcomings than dwell even upon what he has wrought for us. the sadness of parting from people to whom i have been bound by such close and tender ties, from whom i have received every mark of respect, affection, and encouragement, and in regard to whom i feel moved to say, 'if i forget thee, o jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning,' inclines me rather to self-examination and to serious fear lest any among you should have suffered through my failure to set forth and urge home this gospel of salvation. if then any of you should be in this case, through my fault or your own, that you have not yet obeyed the gospel of christ, i address to you in christ's name one parting call that you may at length receive the truth." a few weeks later he and his sister removed to edinburgh, where they were joined in the autumn by their brother william. william cairns, who had been schoolmaster at oldcambus for thirty-two years, was in many respects a notable man. deprived, as we have seen, in early manhood of the power of walking, he had set himself to improve his mind and had acquired a great store of general information. he was shrewd, humorous, genial, and intensely human, and had made himself the centre of a large circle of friends, many of whom were to be found far beyond the bounds of his native parish and county. since his mother's death an elder sister had kept house for him, but she had died in the previous winter, and at his brother's urgent request he had consented to give up his school al oldcambus and make his home for the future with him in edinburgh. the house no. spence street, in which for sixteen years the brothers and sister lived together, is a modest semi-detached villa in a short street running off the dalkeith road, in one of the southern suburbs of the city. it had two great advantages in dr. cairns's eyes--one being that it was far enough away from the college to ensure that he would have a good walk every day in going there and back; and the other, that its internal arrangements were very convenient for his brother finding his way in his wheel-chair about it, and out of it when he so desired. the study, as at berwick, was upstairs, and was a large lightsome room, from which a view of the craigmillar woods, north berwick law, and even the distant lammermoors, could be obtained--a view which was, alas! soon blocked up by the erection of tall buildings. at the back of the house, downstairs, was the sitting-room, where the family meals were taken and where william sat working at his desk. he had been fortunate enough to secure, almost immediately after his arrival in edinburgh, a commission from messrs. a. & c. black to prepare the index to the ninth edition of the _encyclopaedia britannica_, then in course of publication. during the twelve years that the work lasted he performed the possibly unique feat of reading through the whole of the twenty-five volumes of the encyclopaedia, and thus added considerably to his already encyclopaedic stock of miscellaneous information. opening off the sitting-room was a smaller room, or rather a large closet, commanding one of the finest views in edinburgh of the lion-shaped arthur's seat; and here of an evening he would sit in his chair alone, or surrounded by the friends who soon began to gather about him, "and smoke, yea, smoke and smoke." sometimes a more than usually resounding peal of laughter would bring the professor down from his study to find out what was the matter, and to join in the merriment; and then, after a few hearty words of greeting to the visitors, he would plead the pressure of his work and return to the company of justin or evagrius. his three nephews, who during the edinburgh period were staying in town studying for the ministry, always spent saturday afternoon at spence street, and sometimes a student friend would come with them. dr. cairns was usually free on such occasions to devote an hour or two to his young friends. he was always ready to enter into discussions on philosophical problems that happened to be interesting them, and the power and ease with which he dealt with these gave an impression as of one heaving up and pitching about huge masses of rock. his part in these discussions commonly in the end became a monologue, which he delivered lying back in his chair, with his shoulders resting on the top bar of it, and which he sometimes accompanied with the peculiar jerk of his right arm habitual to him in preaching. a _snell_ remark of his brother william suggesting some new and comic association with a philosophic term dropped in the course of the discussion, would bring him back with a roar of laughter to the actual world and to more sublunary themes. when the young men rose to leave he always accompanied them to the front door, and bade each of them good-bye with a hearty "[greek: panta ta kala soi genoito],"[ ] and an invariable injunction to "put your foot on it,"--"it" being the spring catch by which the gate was opened. [footnote : "all fair things be thine."] once a week during the session a party of six or eight students came to tea at spence street, until the whole of his two classes had been gone over. after tea in the otherwise seldom used dining-room of the house, some of the party accompanied the professor to the study. here he would show them his more treasured volumes, such as his first edition of butler, which he would tell them he made a point of reading through once a year. others, who preferred a less unclouded atmosphere, withdrew with his brother into his sanctum. soon all reassembled in the dining-room, and a number of hymns were sung--some of sankey's, which were then in everybody's mouth, some of his favourite german hymns with their chorals, which might suggest references to his student days in berlin or to later experiences in the fatherland, and some by the great english hymn-writers. at last came family worship, always impressive as conducted by him, but often the most memorable feature by far in these gatherings. it was a very simple, and may seem a very humdrum, way of spending an evening; but the homely hospitality of the household--the conversational gifts, very different in kind as these were, of himself and his brother--and, above all, his genial and benignant presence, made everything go off well, and the students went away with a deepened veneration for their professor now that they had seen him in his own house. during his first two years in edinburgh he was busily engaged in writing lectures and in adapting his existing stock to the requirements of the new curriculum. of these lectures, and of others which he wrote in later years, it must be said that, while all of them were the fruit of conscientious and strenuous toil, they were of unequal merit, or at least of unequal effectiveness. some of them, particularly in his apologetic courses, were brilliant and stimulating. whenever he had a great personality to deal with, such as origen, grotius, or pascal, or, in a quite different way, voltaire, he rose to the full height of his powers. his criticisms of hume, of strauss, and of renan, were also in their own way masterly. but a course which he had on biblical theology seemed to be hampered by a too rigid view of inspiration, which did not allow him to lay sufficient stress on the different types of doctrine corresponding to the different individualities of the writers. and when, after the death of principal harper, he took over the entire department of systematic theology, his lectures on this, the "queen of sciences," while full of learning and sometimes rising to grandeur, gave one on the whole a sense of incompleteness, even of fragmentariness. this impression was deepened by the oral examinations which he was in the habit of holding every week on his lectures. for these examinations he prepared most carefully, sitting up sometimes till two o'clock in the morning collecting material and verifying references which he deemed necessary to make them complete. his aim in them was not only to test the students' attention and progress, but to communicate information of a supplementary and miscellaneous character which he had been unable to work into his lectures. and so he would bring down to the class a tattered father or two, and would regale its members with long greek quotations and with a mass of details that were pure gold to him but were hid treasure to them. his examination of individual students was lenient in the extreme. it used to be said of him that if he asked a question to which the correct answer was yes, while the answer he got was no, he would exert his ingenuity to show that in a certain subtle and hitherto unsuspected sense the real answer _was_ no, and that mr. so-and-so deserved credit for having discovered this, and for having boldly dared to _say_ no at the risk of being misunderstood. this, of course, is caricature; but it nevertheless sufficiently indicates his general attitude to his students. it was the same with the written as with the oral examinations. in these he assigned full marks to a large proportion of the papers sent in. once it was represented to him that this method of valuation prevented his examination results from having any influence on the adjudication of a prize that was given every year to the student who had the highest aggregate of marks in all the classes. he admitted the justice of this contention, and promised to make a change. when he announced the results of his next examination it was found that he had been as good as his word; but the change consisted in this: that whereas formerly two-thirds of the class had received full marks, now two-thirds of the class received ninety per cent.! and yet the popular idea of his inability to distinguish between a good student and a bad one was quite wrong. he was not so simple as he seemed. all who have sat in his classroom remember times when a sudden keen look from him showed that he knew quite well when liberties were being attempted with him, and gave rise to the uncomfortable suspicion that, as it was put, "he could see more things with his eyes shut than most men could see with theirs wide open." the fact is, that all his leniency with his students, and all his apparent ascription to them of a high degree of diligence, scholarship, and mental grasp, had their roots not in credulity but in charity--the charity which "believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." his very defects came from an excess of charity, and one loved him all the better because of them. hence it came about that his students got far more from contact with his personality than they got from his teaching. it is not so much his lectures as his influence that they look back to and that they feel is affecting them still. when dr. cairns came to edinburgh from berwick, it was only to a limited extent that he allowed himself to take part in public work outside that which came to him as a minister and professor of theology. there were, however, two public questions which interested him deeply, and the solution of which he did what he could by speech and influence to further. one of these was the question of temperance. during the first twenty years of his ministry he had not felt called upon to take up any strong position on this question, although personally he had always been one of the most abstemious of men. but about the year he had, without taking any pledge or enrolling himself on the books of any society, given up the use of alcohol. he had done so largely as an experiment--to see whether his influence would thereby be strengthened with those in his own congregation and beyond it whom he wished to reclaim from intemperance. when he became a professor he was invited to succeed dr. lindsay as president of the students' total abstinence society, and, as no absolute pledge was exacted from the members, he willingly agreed to do so. from this time his influence was more and more definitely enlisted on behalf of total abstinence, and in he took a further step. in trying to save from intemperance a friend in berwick who was not a member of his own congregation, he urged him to join the good templars, at that time the only available society of total abstainers in the town. in order to strengthen his friend's hands, he agreed to join along with him. this step happily proved to be successful as regarded its original purpose, and dr. cairns remained a good templar during the rest of his life. while there were some things about the order that did not appeal to him, such as the ritual, the "regalia," and the various grades of membership and of office, with their mysterious initials, he looked upon these things as non-essentials, and was in hearty sympathy with its general principles and work. but, although he was often urged to do so, he never would accept office nor advance beyond the initiatory stage of membership represented by the simple white "bib" of infancy. on coming to edinburgh, he looked about for a lodge to connect himself with, and ultimately chose one of the smallest and most obscure in the city. the members consisted chiefly of men and women who had to work so late that the hour of meeting could not be fixed earlier than p.m. he was present at these meetings as often as he could, and only lamented that he could not attend more frequently. while fully recognising the right of others to come to a different conclusion from his own, and while uniformly basing his total abstinence on the ground of christian expediency and not on that of absolute divine law, his view of it as a christian duty grew clearer every year. and he carried his principles out rigidly wherever he went. he perplexed german waiters by his elaborate explanations as to why he drank no beer; and once, as he came down the rhine, he had a characteristically sanguine vision of the time when the vineyards on its banks would only be used for the production of raisins. at the same time his interest in temperance work, alike in its religious, social, and political aspects, was always becoming keener. he was frequently to be found on temperance platforms, and was in constant request for the preaching of temperance sermons. some of his speeches and sermons on the question have been reprinted and widely read, and one new year's tract which he wrote has had a circulation of one hundred and eighty thousand. the other question in which he took a special interest was that of disestablishment. to those who adopted the "short and easy method" of accounting for the disestablishment movement in scotland by saying that it was all due to jealousy and spite on the part of its promoters, his adhesion to that movement presented a serious difficulty. for no one could accuse him of jealousy or spite. hence it was a favourite expedient to represent him as the tool of more designing men--as one whose simplicity had been imposed upon, and who had been thrust forward against his better judgment to do work in which he had no heart. this theory is not only entirely groundless, but entirely unnecessary; because the action which he took on this question can readily be explained by a reference to convictions he had held all his life, and to circumstances which seemed to him to call for their assertion. he had been a voluntary ever since he had begun to think on such questions. his father, in the days of his boyhood, had subscribed, along with a neighbour, for the _voluntary church magazine_, and the subject had often been discussed in the cottage at dunglass. it will be remembered that during his first session at the university he was an eager disputant with his classmates on the voluntary side, and that towards the close of his course, after a memorable debate in the diagnostic society, he secured a victory for the policy of severing the connection between church and state. these views he had never abandoned, and in a lecture on disestablishment delivered in edinburgh in he re-stated them. while admitting, as the united presbyterian synod had done in adopting the "articles of agreement," that the state ought to frame its policy on christian lines, he denied that it was its duty or within its competence to establish and endow the church. this is, to quote his own words, "an overstraining of its province,--a forgetfulness that its great work is civil and not spiritual,--and an encroachment without necessity or call, and indeed, as i believe, in the face of direct divine arrangements, on the work of the christian church." these, then, being his views, what led him to seek to make them operative by taking part in a disestablishment campaign? two things especially. one of these was the activity at that time of a broad church party within the established church. he maintained that this was no mere domestic concern of that church, and claimed the right as a citizen to deal with it. in a national institution views were held and taught of which he could not approve, and which he considered compromised him as a member of the nation. he felt he must protest, and he protested thus. the other ground of his action was the conviction, which recent events had very much strengthened, that the continued existence of an established church was the great obstacle to presbyterian union in scotland. it is true that there was nothing in the nature of things to prevent the free and united presbyterian churches coming together in presence of an established church. as a matter of fact, they have done so since dr. cairns's death, though not without secessions, collective and individual. but experience had shown that it was the existence of an established church, towards which the anti-union party had turned longing eyes, which was the determining factor in the wrecking of the union negotiations. besides, dr. cairns looked forward to a wider union than one merely between the free and united presbyterian churches, and he was convinced that only on the basis of disestablishment could such a union take place. to the argument that, if the church of scotland were to be disestablished, its members would be so embittered against those who had brought this about that they would decline to unite with them, he was content to reply that that might safely be left to the healing power of time. the petulant threat of some, that in the event of disestablishment they would abandon presbyterianism, he absolutely declined to notice. the disestablishment movement had been begun before dr. cairns left berwick, and he supported it with voice and pen till the close of his life. he did so, it need not be said, without bitterness, endeavouring to make it clear that his quarrel was with the adjective and not with the substantive--with the "established" and not with the "church," and under the strong conviction that he was engaged "in a great christian enterprise." chapter x the principal during and the united presbyterian church was much occupied with a discussion that had arisen in regard to its relation to the "subordinate standards," i.e. to the westminster _confession of faith_ and the _larger and shorter catechisms_. these formed the official creed of the church, and assent to them was exacted from all its ministers, probationers, and elders. a change of opinion, perhaps not so much regarding the doctrines set forth in these documents as regarding the perspective in which they were to be viewed, had been manifesting itself with the changing times. it was felt that standards of belief drawn up in view of the needs, reflecting the thought, and couched in the language of the seventeenth century, were not an adequate expression of the faith of the church in the nineteenth century. the points with regard to which this difficulty was more acutely felt were chiefly in the region of the "doctrines of grace"--the divine decrees, the freedom of the human will, and the extent of the atonement. accordingly, a movement for greater liberty was set on foot. there were many, of course, in the church who had no sympathy with this movement, and who, if they had been properly organised and led, might have been able to defeat it. but the recognised and trusted leaders of the church were of opinion that the matter must be sympathetically dealt with, and, on the motion of principal harper, the synod of appointed a committee to consider it, and to bring up a report. this committee, of which dr. cairns was one of the conveners, soon found that, if relief were to be granted, they had only two alternatives before them. they must deal either with the creed or with the terms of subscription to it. there were some who urged that an entirely new and much shorter creed should be drawn up. dr. cairns was decidedly opposed to this proposal. the subject of the creeds of the reformed churches was one of his many specialties in the field of church history, and he had a reverence for those venerable documents, whose articles--so dry and formal to others--suggested to his imagination the centuries of momentous controversy which they summed up, and the great champions of the faith who had borne their part therein. besides, he was very much alive to the danger of falling out of line with the other presbyterian churches in great britain and america, who still maintained, in some form or other, their allegiance to the westminster standards. his influence prevailed, and the second alternative was adopted. a "declaratory statement" was drawn up of the sense in which, while retaining the standards, the church understood them. this statement dealt with the points above referred to in a way that would, it was thought, give sufficient relief to consciences that had shrunk from the naked rigour of the words of the _confession_, it also contained a paragraph which secured liberty of opinion on matters "not entering into the substance of the faith," the right of the church to guard against abuse of this liberty being expressly reserved. dr. cairns submitted this "declaratory statement" to the synods of and , in speeches of notable power and wealth of historic illustration, and, in the latter year, it was unanimously adopted and became a "declaratory act." the precedent thus set has been followed by nearly all the presbyterian churches which have since then had occasion to deal with the same problem. except when he had to expound and recommend some scheme for which he had become responsible, or when he had been laid hold of by others to speak in behalf of a "report" or a proposal in which they were interested, dr. cairns did not intervene often in the debates of the united presbyterian synod. he preferred, to the disappointment of many of his friends, to listen rather than to speak, and shrank from putting himself in any way forward. he had been moderator of the synod in , and as an ex-moderator he had the privilege, accorded by custom, of sitting on the platform of the synod hall on the benches to the right and left of the chair. but he never seemed comfortable up there. he would sit with his hands pressed together, and in a stooping posture, as if he wanted to make his big body as small and inconspicuous as possible; and, as often as he could, he would go down and take his place among the rank and file of the members far back in the hall. but he had all a true united presbyterian's loyal affection for the synod, and a peculiar delight in those reunions of old friends which its meetings afforded. amongst his oldest friends was william graham, who although, since the english union, no longer a united presbyterian, simply could not keep away from the haunts of his youth when the month of may came round. on such occasions he was always dr. cairns's guest at spence street. he kept things lively there with his nimble wit, and in particular subjected his host to a perpetual and merciless fire of "chaff." no one else ventured to assail him as graham thus did; for, with all his geniality and unaffected humility, there was a certain personal dignity about him which few ventured to invade. but he took all his friend's banter with a smile of quiet enjoyment, and sometimes a more than usually outrageous sally would send him into convulsions of laughter, whose resounding peals filled the house with their echoes. in the spring of died the venerable principal harper. dr. cairns felt the loss very keenly, for dr. harper had been a loyal and generous friend and colleague, on whose clear and firm judgment he had been wont to rely in many a difficult emergency. besides, as his biographer has truly said, "he was habitually thankful to have someone near him whom he could fairly ask to take the foremost place."[ ] now that dr. harper was gone, there seemed to be no doubt that that foremost place would be thrust upon him. these expectations were fulfilled by the synod of that year, which unanimously and enthusiastically appointed him principal of the college. his friend dr. graham, who, as a corresponding member from the synod of the presbyterian church of england, supported the appointment, gave voice to the universal feeling when he described him as "a man of thought and labour and love and god, who had one defect which endeared him to them all--that he was the only man who did not know what a rare and noble man he was." [footnote : _life and letters_, p. .] in the following year ( ) principal cairns delivered the cunningham lectures. these lectures were given on a free church foundation, instituted in memory of the distinguished theologian whose name it bears; and now for the first time the lecturer was chosen from beyond the borders of the free church. dr. cairns highly appreciated the compliment that was thus paid him, regarding it as a happy augury of the union which he was sure was coming. he had chosen as his subject "unbelief in the eighteenth century as contrasted with its earlier and later history"; and, although it was one in which he was already at home, he had again worked over the familiar ground with characteristic diligence and thoroughness. thus, in preparing for one of the lectures, he read through twenty volumes of voltaire, out of a set of fifty which had been put at his disposal by a friend. the first lecture dealt with unbelief in the first four centuries, which he contrasted in several respects with that of the eighteenth. then followed one on the unbelief of the seventeenth century, then three on the unbelief of the eighteenth century, in england, france, and germany respectively; and, finally, one on the unbelief of the nineteenth century, from whose representatives he selected three for special criticism as typical, viz. strauss, renan, and john stuart mill. these lectures, while not rising to the level of greatness, impress one with his mastery of the immense literature of the subject, and are characterised throughout by lucidity of arrangement and by sobriety and fairness of judgment. they were very well received when they were delivered, and were favourably reviewed when they were published a year later.[ ] [footnote : in the following year ( ) he received the degree of ll.d. from edinburgh university.] between the delivery and the publication of the cunningham lectures dr. cairns spent five months in the united states and canada. the immediate object of this american tour was to fulfil an engagement to be present at the philadelphia meeting of the general council of the presbyterian alliance--an organisation in which he took the deepest interest, as it was in the line of his early aspirations after a great comprehensive presbyterian union. but he arranged his tour so as to enable him also to be present at the general assembly of the american presbyterian church at madison, and at that of the presbyterian church of canada at montreal. the rest of the time at his disposal he spent in lengthened excursions to various scenes of interest. he visited the historic localities of new england and crossed the continent to san francisco, stopping on the way at salt lake city, and extending his journey to the yo-semite valley. more than once he went far out of his way to seek out an old friend or the relative of some member of his berwick congregation. wherever he went he preached,--in fact every sunday of these five months, including those he spent on the atlantic, was thus occupied,--and everywhere his preaching and his personality made a deep impression. as regarded himself, he used to say that this american visit "lifted him out of many ruts" and gave him new views of the vitality of christianity and new hopes for its future developments. after the publication of the cunningham lectures there was a widely cherished hope that dr. cairns would produce something still more worthy of his powers and his reputation. he was now free from the incessant engagements of an active ministry, and he had by this time got his class lectures well in hand. but, although the opportunity had come, the interest in speculative questions had sensibly declined. there is an indication of this in the cunningham lectures themselves. in the last of these, as we have seen, he had selected mill as the representative of english nineteenth-century unbelief. even then mill was out of date; but mill was the last british thinker whose system he had thoroughly mastered. in the index to his _life and letters_ the names of darwin and herbert spencer do not occur, and even in an apologetic tract entitled _is the evolution of christianity from mere natural sources credible_? which he wrote in for the religious tract society, there is no reference whatever to any writer of the evolutionary school. with his attitude to later german theological literature it is somewhat different, for here he tried to keep himself abreast of the times. yet even here the books that interested him most were mainly historical, such as the first volume of ritschl's great work on justification (almost the only german book he read in a translation), and the three volumes of harnack's _history of dogma_. this decay of interest in speculative thought might be attributed to the decline of mental freshness and of hospitality to new ideas which often comes with advancing years, were it not that, in his case, there was no such decline. on the contrary, as his interest in speculative thought gradually withered, his interest on the side of scholarship and linguistics became greater than ever, and his energy here was always seeking new outlets for itself. when he was nearly sixty he began the study of assyrian. he did so in connection with his lectures on apologetics,--because he wanted to give his class some idea of the confirmation of the scripture records, which he believed were to be found in the cuneiform inscriptions. but ere long the study took possession of him. his letters, and the little time-table diary of his daily studies, record the hours he devoted to it. when he went to america he took his assyrian books with him, and pored over them on the voyage whenever the atlantic would allow him to do so. and he was fully convinced that what interested him so intensely must interest his students too. one of them, the rev. j.h. leckie, thus describes how he sought to make them share in his enthusiasm:-- "one day when we came down to the class, we found the blackboard covered with an assyrian inscription written out by himself before lecture hour, and the zest, the joy with which he discoursed upon the strange figures and signs showed that, though white of hair and bent in frame, he was in the real nature of him very young. for two days he lectured on this inscription with the most assured belief that we were following every word, and there was deep regret in his face and in his voice when he said, 'and now, gentlemen, i am afraid we must return to our theology.'"[ ] [footnote : _life and letters_, p. .] another of his students, referring to the same lectures, writes as follows:-- "it was fine, and one loves him all the more for it, but it was exasperating too, with such tremendous issues at stake in the world of living thought, to see him pounding away at those truculent old red indians in their barbarian original tongue. yet i would not for much forget those days when we saw him escaping utterly from all worries and troubles and perfectly happy before a blackboard covered with amazing characters. it was pure innocent delight in a new world of knowledge, like a child's in a new story-book." when he was sixty-three he added arabic to his other acquirements. it is not quite clear whether he had in view any purpose in connection with his professional work beyond the desire to know the originals of all the authorities quoted in his lectures. but, when he had sufficiently mastered the language to be able to read the koran, he knew that he had two grounds for self-congratulation, and these were sufficiently characteristic. one was that he had his revenge on gibbon, who had described so triumphantly the career of the saracens and who yet had not known a word of their language. the other was that he was now able to pray in arabic for the conversion of the mohammedans. about the same time he began to learn dutch. he assigned as one reason for this that he wanted to read kuenen's works. but as the only one of these that he had was in his library already, having come to him from the effects of a deceased friend, it is possible that this was just an unconscious excuse on his part for indulging in the luxury of learning a new language--that he read kuenen in order to learn dutch, instead of learning dutch in order to read kuenen. however, his knowledge of the language enabled him to follow closely a movement which excited his interest in no common degree, viz. the secession of a large evangelical party from the rationalistic state church of holland, under abraham kuyper, the present prime minister of that country, and their organisation into a free presbyterian church. other languages at which he worked during this period were spanish, of which he acquired the rudiments during his tour in california; and dano-norwegian, which he picked up during a month's residence at christiania in , and furbished for a meeting of the evangelical alliance at copenhagen in . all this time he was pursuing his patristic and other historical studies with unflagging vigour, always writing new lectures, always maintaining his love of abstract knowledge and his eager desire to add to his already vast stores of learning. when, a year and a half before his death, a vacancy occurred in the church history chair in the college, he stepped into the breach and delivered a course of lectures on the fathers, which took his class by storm. "his manner," says one who heard these lectures, "was quite different in the church history classroom from what it was in that of systematic theology. in the latter he taught like a man who felt wearied and old; but in the former he showed a surprising freshness and enthusiasm. it was delightful to see him in the church history class forgetting age and care, and away back in spirit with origen and his other old friends." these lectures, while abounding in searching and masterly criticism of doctrinal views, are specially noticeable for their delineation of the living power of christianity as exhibited in the men and the times with which they deal. this was the aspect of christian truth which had all along attracted him. it was what had determined his choice of the ministry as the main work of his life, and in his later years it still asserted its power over him. although he had now no longer a ministerial charge of his own, he could not separate himself from the active work of the church--he could not withdraw from contact with the christian life which it manifested. during the winter months he preached a good deal in edinburgh, especially by way of helping young or weak congregations, more than one of which he had at different times under his immediate care until they had been lifted out of the worst of their difficulties. in summer he ranged over the whole united presbyterian church from shetland to galloway, preaching to great gatherings wherever he went. in arranging these expeditions, he always gave the preference to those applications which came to him from poor, outlying, and sparsely peopled districts, where discouragements were greatest and the struggle to "maintain ordinances" was most severe. his visits helped to lift the burden from many a weary back, and never failed to leave happy and inspiring memories behind them. among these summer engagements he always kept a place for his old congregation at berwick, which he regularly visited in the month of june, preaching twice in the church on sunday, and finishing the day's work by preaching again from the steps of the town hall in the evening. on these occasions the broad high street, at the foot of which the town hall stands, was always crowded from side to side and a long way up its course, while all the windows within earshot were thrown open and filled with eager listeners. in this continual pursuit of knowledge, and in the contemplation, whether in history or in the world around him, of christianity as a life, his main interests more and more lay. in the one we can trace the influence of hamilton, in the other perhaps that of neander--the two teachers of his youth who had most deeply impressed him. relatively to these, systematic theology, and even apologetics, receded into the background. secure in his "_aliquid inconcussum_," he came increasingly to regard the life of the individual christian and the collective life of the church as the most convincing of all witnesses to the unseen and the supernatural. meanwhile the apologetic of his own life was becoming ever more impressive. in the years and he lost by death several of his dearest friends. in the former year died dr. w.b. robertson of irvine; and, later, dr. john ker, who had been his fellow-student at the university and at the divinity hall, his neighbour at alnwick in the early berwick days, and at last his colleague as a professor in the united presbyterian college. in the early part of the following year his youngest sister, agnes, who with her husband, the rev. j.c. meiklejohn, had come to live in edinburgh two years before for the better treatment of what proved to be a mortal disease, passed away. and in the autumn he lost the last and the dearest of the friends that had been left to him in these later years, william graham. these losses brought him yet closer than he had been before to the unseen and eternal world. he was habitually reticent about his inner life and his habits of devotion. no one knew his times of prayer or how long they lasted. once, indeed, his simplicity of character betrayed him in regard to this matter. the door of his retiring-room at the college was without a key, and he would not give so much trouble as to ask for one. so, in order that he might be quite undisturbed, he piled up some forms and chairs against the door on the inside, forgetting entirely that the upper part of it was obscure glass and that his barricade was perfectly visible from without. it need not be said that no one interrupted him or interfered with his belief that he had been unobserved by any human eye. but it did not require an accidental disclosure like this to reveal the fact that he spent much time in prayer. no one who knew him ever so little could doubt this, and no one could hear him praying in public without feeling sure that he had learned how to do it by long experience in the school of private devotion. purified thus by trial and nourished by prayer, his character went on developing and deepening. his humility, utterly unaffected, like everything else about him, became if possible more marked. he was not merely willing to take the lowest room, but far happiest when he was allowed to take it. in one of his classes there was a blind student, and, when a written examination came on, the question arose, how was he to take part in it? principal cairns offered to write down the answers to the examination questions to his student's dictation, and it was only after lengthened argument and extreme reluctance on his part that he was led to see that the authorities would not consent to this arrangement. it was the same with his charity. he was always putting favourable constructions on people's motives and believing good things of them, even when other people could find very little ground for doing so. in all sincerity he would carry this sometimes to amusing lengths. reference has been made to this already, but the following further illustration of it may be added here. one day, when in company with a friend, the conversation turned on a meeting at which dr. cairns had recently been present. at this meeting there was a large array of speakers, and a time limit had to be imposed to allow all of them to be heard. one of the speakers, however, when arrested by the chairman's bell, appealed to the audience, with whom he was getting on extremely well, for more time. encouraged by their applause, he went on and finished his speech, with the result that some of his fellow-speakers who had come long distances to address the meeting were crushed into a corner, if not crowded out. dr. cairns somehow suspected that his friend was going to say something strong about this speaker's conduct, and, before a word could be spoken, rushed to his defence. "he couldn't help himself. he was at the mercy of that shouting audience--a most unmannerly mob!" and then, feeling that he had rather overshot the mark, he added in a parenthetic murmur, "excellent christian people they were, no doubt!" but not the least noticeable thing about him remains to be mentioned--the persistent hopefulness of his outlook. this became always more pronounced as he grew older. others, when they saw the advancing forces of evil, might tremble for the ark of god; but he saw no occasion for trembling, and he declined to do so. he was sure that the great struggle that was going on was bound sooner or later, and rather sooner than later, to issue in victory for the cause he loved. and although his great knowledge of the past, and his enthusiasm for the great men who had lived in it, might have been expected to draw his eyes to it with regretful longing, he liked much better to look forward than to look back, using as he did so the words of a favourite motto; "the best is yet to be." all these qualities found expression in a speech he delivered on the occasion of the presentation of his portrait to the united presbyterian synod in may . this portrait had been subscribed for by the ministers and laymen of the church, and painted by mr. w.e. lockhart, r.s.a. the presentation took place in a crowded house, and amid a scene of enthusiasm which no one who witnessed it can ever forget. principal cairns concluded a brief address thus: "i have now preached for forty-three years and have been a professor of theology for more than twenty, and i find every year how much grander the gospel of the grace of god becomes, and how much deeper, vaster, and more unsearchable the riches of christ, which it is the function of theology to explore. i have had in this and in other churches a band of ministerial brethren, older and younger, with whom it has been a life-long privilege to be associated; and in the professors a body of colleagues so generous and loving that greater harmony could not be conceived. the congregations to which i have preached have far overpaid my labours; and the students whom i have taught have given me more lessons than many books. i have been allowed many opportunities of mingling with christians of other lands, and have learned, i trust, something more of the unity in diversity of the creed, 'i believe in the holy catholic church.' in that true church, founded on christ's sacrifice and washed in his blood, cheered by its glorious memories and filled with its immortal hopes, i desire to live and die. life and labour cannot last long with me; but i would seek to work to the end for christian truth, for christian missions, and for christian union. amidst so many undeserved favours, i would still thank god and take courage, and under the weight of all anxieties and failures, and the shadows of separation from loved friends, i would repeat the confession, which, by the grace of god, time only confirms: '_in te, domine, speravi; non confundar in aeternum_.'" chapter xi the end of the day in may the report of an inquiry which had been instituted in the previous year into the working of the united presbyterian college was submitted to the synod. the portion of it which referred to principal cairns's department, and which was enthusiastically approved, concluded as follows: "the committee would only add that the whole present inquiry has deepened its sense of the immense value of the services of dr. cairns to the college, both as professor and as principal, and expresses the hope that he may be long spared to adorn the institution of which he is the honoured head, and the church of which he is so distinguished a representative." the hope thus expressed was not to be fulfilled. the specially heavy work of the preceding session--the session in which, as already described, he had undertaken part of the work of the church history class in addition to the full tale of his own--had overtaxed his strength, and, acting on the advice of dr. maclagan and his edinburgh medical adviser, he had cancelled all his engagements for the summer. almost immediately after the close of the synod an old ailment which he had contracted by over-exertion during a holiday tour in wales reappeared, and yielded only partially to surgical treatment. but he maintained his cheerfulness, and neither he nor his friends had any thought that his work was done. in the month of july he paid a visit to his brother david at stitchel. he had opened his brother's new church there thirteen years before, and it had come to be a standing engagement, looked forward to by very many in the district, that he should conduct special services every year on the anniversary of that occasion. but these annual visits were very brief, and they were broken into not only by the duties of the sunday, but by the hospitalities usual in country manses at such times. this time, however, there were no anniversary sermons to be preached; he had come for rest, and there was no need for him to hasten his departure. the weather was lovely, and so were the views over the wide valley of the tweed to the distant cheviots. he would sit for hours reading under the great elm-tree in the garden amid the scents of the summer flowers. "i have come in to tell you," he said one day to his sister-in-law, "that this is a day which has wandered out of paradise." "we younger people," wrote his niece, "came nearer to him than ever before. he was as happy as a child, rejoicing with every increase of strength. he greatly enjoyed my brother willie's singing, especially songs like sheriff nicolson's 'skye' and shairp's 'bush aboon traquair.' we were astonished to find how familiar he was with all sorts of queer out-of-the-way ballads. never had we seen him so free from care, so genial and even jubilant."[ ] the summer sacrament took place while he was at stitchel, and he was able to give a brief address to the communicants from the words, "ye do shew forth the lord's death till he come," in a voice that was weak and tremulous, but all the more impressive on that account. one of his brother's elders, a farmer in the neighbourhood whom he had known since his schooldays, had arranged that he should address his work-people in the farmhouse, and to this quiet rural gathering he preached what proved to be his last sermon. [footnote : _life and letters_, p, .] he himself, however, had no idea that this was the case; and when he left stitchel he did so with the purpose of preparing for the work of another session. but as the autumn advanced and his health did not greatly improve, another consultation of his doctors was held, the result of which was that he was pronounced to be suffering from cardiac weakness, and quite unfit for the work of the coming winter. he at once acquiesced in this verdict, and, with unabated cheerfulness, set himself to bring his lectures into a state that would admit of their being easily read to his classes by two friends who had undertaken this duty. this done, he wrote out in full the greek texts--some five hundred in all--quoted in his lectures on biblical theology. these two tasks kept him busy until about the end of the year , when he began an undertaking which many of his friends had long been urging upon him--the preparation of a volume of his sermons for the press. he selected for this purpose those sermons which he had preached most frequently, and which he had, with few exceptions, originally written for sacramental occasions at berwick--some of them far back in the old golden square days. these he carefully transcribed, altering them where he thought this necessary, and not always, in the opinion of many, improving them in the process. he found that his strength was not unduly strained when he worked thus six or seven hours a day. but he always, as hitherto, spent one hour daily in reading the scriptures in the original tongues, in which time he could get through three pages of hebrew and an indefinite quantity of greek. there was, however, one change in his habits which had become necessary. he was forbidden by the doctors to study at night. and so, instead of going upstairs in the evening, he remained in the comfortable parlour, where he wrote his letters, talked to his brother and sister, or to visitors as they came in, and regaled himself with light literature. this last consisted sometimes of volumes of the fathers, but more frequently of the koran in the original. he would frequently read aloud extracts, translating from the greek and latin without ever pausing for a word; as regards the arabic, he had sale's translation at hand to help him through a tough passage, but he was always a very proud man when he could find his way out of a difficulty without its aid. as the winter advanced he felt that it was desirable that he should have another medical opinion, so that, in the event of his further incapacity, the synod at its approaching meeting might make permanent arrangements for carrying on the work of his chair. on the th of february he was examined by drs. maclagan, webster, and g.w. balfour, who certified that he was "unfit for the discharge of any professional duty." after consulting his relatives, he decided to resign his professorship and the principalship of the college, and on the rd a letter intimating this intention was drafted and despatched. the committee to which it was sent received it with great regret, and a unanimous feeling found expression that, at anyrate, he should retain the office of principal. this was echoed from every part of the united presbyterian church as soon as the news of his contemplated resignation became known; and in a wider circle adequate utterance was given to the public sympathy and regard. on the rd of march he was able to preside at the annual conversazione of his students, when he was in such genial spirits, and seemed to be so well, that humorous references were made by more than one speaker to his approaching resignation as clearly unnecessary, and indeed preposterous. on the following saturday he travelled to galashiels to attend the funeral of his cousin john murray, whose room he had shared during his first session at the university, and in his prayer at the funeral service he referred in touching terms to the close of their life-long friendship. returning to edinburgh, he went to stay till monday with an old friend, whose house afforded him facilities for attending the communion service at broughton place church next day. for although this church, which he had attended as a student, and of which he had been a member since he came to live in edinburgh, was more than two miles distant from spence street, his puritan training and convictions with regard to the sabbath would never allow him to go to it in a cab. on reaching home next week he resumed his work of transcription, and went on with it till thursday, when, after taking a short walk, he became somewhat unwell. next day he felt better, and did some writing in the forenoon; but in the afternoon the illness returned, and he went to bed. in the early hours of next morning, saturday th march, his sister, who was watching beside him, saw that a change was coming, and summoned mr. and mrs. david cairns, who had fortunately arrived the evening before. his brother william, on account of his bodily infirmity, remained below. the end was evidently near, but he was conscious at intervals, and his voice when he spoke was clear and firm. "you are very ill, john," said his brother. "oh no," he replied, "i feel much better." "but you are in good hands?" "yes, in the best of hands." then his mind began to wander, and he spoke more brokenly: "there is a great battle to fight, but the victory is sure ... god in christ ... good men must unite and identify themselves with the cause." "what cause?" asked his brother. "the cause of god," he replied. "if they do so, the victory is sure; otherwise, all is confusion ... i have stated the matter; i leave it with you." then, after a short pause, he suddenly said, "you go first, i follow." these eminently characteristic words were the last he spoke, and as david knelt and prayed at his bedside death came. the impression produced on the public mind by his life and character, and called into vivid consciousness by the news of his death, found memorable expression on his funeral day, thursday th march. it had been the original intention of his relatives that the funeral arrangements should be carried out as simply as possible, with a service in rosehall church, which was close at hand, for those who desired to attend it, and thereafter a quiet walk down to echo bank cemetery, where he was to rest beside his sister agnes. it was thought that this would be most in accordance with his characteristic humility and shrinking from all that savoured of display. but the public feeling refused to be satisfied with this idea, and the relatives gave way. the synod hall of the united presbyterian church, to which the coffin had been removed in the early part of the day, and which holds three thousand, was crowded to its utmost capacity. the moderator of synod presided, and beside him on the platform were the lord provost, magistrates and council of the city, the principal and professors of the university, the principal and professors of the new college, and many other dignitaries. in the body of the hall were seated, row behind row, the members of the united presbyterian synod, who had come from all parts of the country, drawn by affection as well as veneration for him of whom their church had been so proud. along with them was a very large number of ministers of the other scottish churches, and representatives of public bodies. the galleries were thronged with the general public. the brief service was of that simple and moving kind with which presbyterian scotland is wont to commemorate her dead. there was no funeral oration, and the prayers, which were led by dr. macgregor, the moderator of the established church general assembly, by principal rainy, and by dr. andrew thomson, while full of the sense of personal loss, gave expression to the deep thankfulness felt by all present that such a life had been lived, and lived for so long, among them. one incident created a deep impression. after the coffin had been removed, the various representative bodies successively left the hall to take their places in the procession that was being marshalled without. "wallace green church, berwick" was called. then a great company of men rose to their feet, showing that, after an absence of sixteen years, their old minister still retained his hold on the affections of the people among whom he had lived and worked so long. outside the hall the scenes were even more impressive, and were declared by those whose memories went back for half a century to have been unparalleled in edinburgh since the funeral of dr. chalmers, in . along the whole of the three miles between the synod hall and echo bank cemetery traffic was suspended, flags were at half-mast, and all the shops were closed. as the procession, which was itself fully a mile in length, made its slow way along, the crowds which lined the pavements, filled the windows, and covered the tops of the arrested tramway cars, reverently saluted the coffin. when the gates of the university were passed, not a few thought of the time, more than fifty-seven years before, when he who was now being borne to his grave amid such great demonstrations of public homage, came up a shy, awkward country lad to begin within these walls the life of strenuous toil that had now closed. how much had passed since then! how great was the contrast between the two scenes! a little later, when the procession passed down the dalkeith road, everyone turned instinctively to the house in spence street, where he had lived his simple and godly life, unconscious that the eyes of men were upon him. as the afternoon shadows were lengthening he was laid in his grave; and many of those who stood near felt that a great blank had come into their lives, and that scotland and the church were the poorer for the loss of him who had followed his master in simplicity of heart and had counted cheap those honours which the world so greatly desires.[ ] [footnote : six years later the sister who had so long lived with him was laid in the same grave. william cairns sleeps with his kindred in cockburnspath churchyard.] it is difficult to count up the gains and losses of a life. he had great gifts,--gifts of abstract thinking and writing, powers of scholarly research and continuous labour,--but his life had followed another path determined by his early choice. was this choice a wise one? it is difficult to say. but two things seem clear. one is that he never appears to have regretted it. at the public service in the synod hall, principal rainy gave thanks for "those seventy-four years of happy life." these words are entirely true. his life was an exceptionally happy one. this surely means a great deal. if he had missed his true vocation, he could not have had this happiness. the second noticeable point is, that his choice made the influence of his personality strong throughout scotland. he seems to have recognised that his true home lay in the region of christian faith and works, in the great common life of the church; and so he made his appeal, not to the limited number of those who could read a learned theological treatise which the changing fortunes of the battle with unbelief might soon have put out of date, but to the common heart of the whole church. that great assemblage from all parts of the country on his funeral day was the response to this appeal, and the best answer to the question as to whether he had erred in the choice of a calling and wasted his powers. waste there undoubtedly was. in every life this cannot but be so, for a man must limit himself; but, if it be for a high end, the renunciation will be blessed with some fruit of good. and so, although the memory and the name of john cairns may become fainter as the years and generations pass, his influence will live on in the christian church, to whose ideal of goodness he brought the contribution of his character. the divine right of church government: wherein it is proved that the presbyterian government, by preaching and ruling elders, in sessional, presbyterial, and synodical assemblies, may lay the only lawful claim to a divine right, according to the holy scriptures. a new edition, corrected and amended. * * * * * by sundry ministers of christ within the city of london. * * * * * to which is added an appendix, containing extracts from some of the best authors who have written on church government, concerning the scriptural qualifications and duties of church members; the sole right of gospel ministers to preach the gospel; the people's divine right to choose their own pastors; together with an abstract of the arguments of the great dr. owen (though a professed independent) in favour of the divine right of the office of the ruling elder. * * * * * new york: r. martin & co., john-street. * * * * * m.dccc.xliv. the editor to the reader. * * * * * after what the authors of the following treatise have said in their preface, the editor judges it unnecessary for him to detain the reader long with any observations of his upon the subject. he, however, could sincerely wish that the friends of christ would pay that attention to the government and discipline of his church which it justly deserves. although this subject should not be placed among the things essential to the being of a christian; yet if it be found among the things that christ has commanded, it is at our peril if we continue wilfully ignorant of, or despise it. he has expressly declared, that he who breaks one of the _least_ of his commandments, and teacheth men to do so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. it is an opinion too common, that if we believe the _essentials_ of religion, there is no occasion for so much preciseness about the forms of church government, which are only _circumstantials_, as there will be no inquiry made about these at the tribunal of christ. but whatever relative importance the things of religion may have, when compared with one another, we ought to reckon nothing which god hath appointed, nothing which jesus hath ratified with his blood, nothing which the holy spirit hath indited, so _circumstantial_, as to be unworthy of our serious regard. it is at least very rash, if not presumptuous, to say, that nothing about the circumstantials of religion will be inquired into at the tribunal of christ. god has expressly said, that every work, good or evil, every idle word, and every deed done in the body, shall be brought into judgment; and false worshippers will, perhaps, find that their form of worship consisted in something worse than idle words, or sinful words either, even in sinful deeds, for which they will be accountable at the judgment. as christ laid down his life for his people, has instructed them, and has set a hedge about all that they have, it would be most ungrateful to requite him with pouring the highest contempt on his kingly honor and authority; and when his worship is polluted, his truth perverted, and the walls of his new testament zion broken down, to care for none of those things. government and discipline are the hedge of his garden, the church; and how will what men call the essentials of religion remain in their glory, when this is broken down, the present state of affairs can sufficiently attest, when the most damnable errors are propagated with impunity. in our times the enemies of the scriptural order of the house of god are very numerous and very active, exerting all their power to break down the carved work of god's sanctuary. the present spirit for novelty and innovation, together with the rage for infidelity so prevalent, strongly favors the opposition made to every thing which has a tendency to bind men closely to god, to his truths, to the purity of his worship and ordinances, or to one another by a holy profession. the design, therefore, of republishing this treatise is to assist presbyterians of all denominations in the understanding of those passages of scripture upon which their wall is built, that they be not led aside by the cunning speeches of false teachers, whereby they deceive and draw aside the hearts of the simple. this work was first published at london, at the time when the controversy between the presbyterians and ancient independents ran very high, and every intelligent and unprejudiced reader will see, that the holy scriptures have been carefully perused, accurately compared, wisely collected, and judiciously explained, in order to evince that the presbyterian government has the only lawful claim to a divine right, and is the only form appointed by christ in his church. it is, therefore, to be wished, that all his people would endeavor, in the strength of divine grace, to observe the laws of his house, and to walk in all his ordinances and commandments blameless. considerable pains have been taken to make this edition more easily understood by common readers than the former, and yet several difficult and hard words have passed unnoticed. the latin quotations from the fathers have been omitted, because they contain nothing materially different from what is in the body of the work, and modern independents pay little regard to any human authorities but their own. it was proposed to have added a few extracts from messrs. rutherford and gillespie, but upon looking into their works nothing of consequence was observed, that tended to cast any new light upon the subject. it is hoped, however, that the appendix is filled up with extracts from other authors upon subjects of considerable importance, and very necessary for these times, concerning the scriptural qualifications and duties of church members; the divine right of the gospel ministry; the people's divine right to choose their own pastors; with an abstract of dr. owen's arguments in favor of the divine right of the ruling elder: and as there are many serious christians who have not a capacity to take up and retain a long chain of reasoning, a summary of the whole treatise is given by way of question and answer as a conclusion. the editor is not to be understood as approving of, or vindicating every single sentiment, or mode of expression, used in this treatise: at the same time, next to the holy scriptures, he recommends it as one of the best defences of presbytery which he has seen. that it may be blessed of god for informing the ignorant, settling the wavering, and establishing the believers of _the present truth_, is the earnest desire of, christian reader, your humble servant in the gospel, t.h. _paisley, th february, ._ preface to the pious and judicious reader. christian reader: thou hast in the ensuing treatise, st, a brief delineation of the nature of a divine right, wherein it consists, and how many ways a thing may be accounted of divine right, according to the scriptures; as also, d, a plain and familiar description of that church government which seems to have the clearest divine right for it, and (of all other contended for) to be the most consonant and agreeable to the word of christ; which description (comprehending in itself the whole frame and system of the government) is in the several branches thereof explained and confirmed by testimonies or arguments from scripture; more briefly, in particulars which are easily granted; more largely, in particulars which are commonly controverted; yet as perspicuously and concisely in both as the nature of this unusual and comprehensive subject insisted upon would permit. things are handled rather by way of positive assertion, than of polemical dissertation, (which too commonly degenerates into verbal strifes, tim. vi. , ; tim. ii. ; and vain-jangling, tim. i. ,) and where any dissenting opinions or objections are refuted, we hope it is with that sobriety, meekness, and moderation of spirit, that any unprejudiced judgment may perceive, that we had rather gain than grieve those who dissent from us; that we endeavor rather to heal up than to tear open the rent; and that we contend more for truth than for victory. to the publication hereof we have been inclinable (after much importunity) principally upon deliberate and serious consideration of, st, the necessity of a treatise of this kind; d, the advantage likely to accrue thereupon; and, d, the seasonable opportunity of sending it abroad at such a time as this is. i. the necessity of a treatise of this nature, is evident and urgent. for, . we hold ourselves obliged, not only by the common duty of our ministerial calling, but also by the special bond of our solemn covenant with god, especially in art. , to bend all our best endeavors to help forward a reformation of religion according to the word of god, which can never be effected without a due establishment of the scripture-government and discipline in the church of god. and to make known what this government is from the law and testimony, by preaching or writing, comes properly and peculiarly within the sphere of our place and vocation. . a cloud of darkness and prejudice, in reference to this matter of church government, too generally rests upon the judgments and apprehensions of men (yea of god's own people) among us, either, st, through the difficulty or uncommonness of this matter of church government, (though ancient and familiar in other reformed churches, yet new and strange to us;) or, d, through the strange misrepresentations that are made hereof, by those that are small friends to the true presbyterial government, or that are enemies to all church government whatsoever; or, d, through the different opinions about church government, which are to be found among pious people and ministers: by all which the weak and unstable minds of many are cast into a maze of many confused thoughts and irresolutions. . though many learned treatises have been published, some whereof have positively asserted, others have polemically vindicated divers parts of church government, and the divine right thereof, yet hitherto no treatise of this nature is extant, positively laying open the nature of a divine right, what it is, and a system of that government, which is so, and proving both by the scriptures; without which, how shall the judgments and consciences of men be satisfied, that this is that church government, according to the word of god, which they have covenanted to endeavor to promote, and whereto they are obliged to submit? and since it is our lot to travel in an unbeaten path, we, therefore, promise to ourselves, from all sober and judicious readers, the greater candor and ingenuity in their measuring of our steps and progress herein. ii. the advantage which may probably accrue hereupon, we hope shall be manifold: for, . who can tell but that some of them, that in some things are misled and contrary-minded, may be convinced and regained? and it will be no small reward of our labors if but one erring brother may be brought back. . some satisfaction may redound to such as are of doubtful, unresolved minds, by removing of their doubts and scruples, and ripening of their resolutions, to settle more safely in point of church government. . those that as yet are unseen in the matter of church government, or that want money to buy, or leisure to read many books upon this subject, may here have much in a little, and competently inform themselves of the whole body of the government. . consequently upon the attaining of the former ends, the work of reformation will be much facilitated and smoothed, the hearts of the people being prepared for the lord and his ordinances. . the present attempt (if it reach not to that completeness and satisfactoriness which is desired) may yet incite some of our brethren of more acute and polished judgments to embark themselves in some further discoveries for the public benefit of the church. . but though it should fall out that in all the former we should be utterly disappointed, we shall have this peace and comfort upon our own spirits, that we have not hid our talent in the earth, nor neglected to bear witness to this part of christ's truth, touching the government of his church, by his kingly power, wherein christ was opposed so much in all ages, psalm ii. , , ; luke xix. , ; acts iv., and for which christ did suffer so much in a special and immediate manner, as[ ] some have observed. for this end christ came into the world, (and for this end we came into the ministerial calling,) to bear witness to the truth. iii. finally, the present opportunity of publishing a treatise on this subject doth much incite and encourage us therein. for at this time we are beginning, in this province of london, (and we hope the whole kingdom will, with all convenient speed, and due caution, second us,) to put that covenanted church government into actual execution, which we have a long time intended in our deliberate resolutions. so that generally we shall be engaged in the government one way or other, either as acting in it as the church officers, or as submitting to it as church members: now, how shall any truly conscientious person, either act in it, or conform and submit unto it with faith, judgment, and alacrity, till he be in some competent measure satisfied of the divine right thereof? will mere prudence, without a divine right, be a sufficient basis to erect the whole frame of church government upon, as some conceive? prudentials, according to general rules of scripture, may be of use in circumstantials, but will bare prudentials in substantials also satisfy either our god, our covenant, our consciences, or our end in this great work of reformation? what conscientious person durst have a hand in acting as a ruling elder, did he not apprehend the word of god holds forth a divine right for the ruling elder? who durst have a hand in the censures of admonishing the unruly, excommunicating the scandalous and obstinate, and of restoring the penitent, were there not a divine right hereof revealed in the scripture, &c. now, therefore, that ruling elders, and the rest of the people, may begin this happy work conscientiously, judiciously, cheerfully, in some measure perceiving the divine right of the whole government, wherein they engage themselves, cleared by scripture, we hope, by god's blessing, that this small tract will afford some seasonable assistance, which will be unto us a very acceptable recompense. thus far of the nature of this treatise, and the grounds of our publishing thereof. in the next place, a few doubts or scruples touching church government here asserted, being succinctly resolved, we shall preface no further. _doubt_ . many scruple, and much question the divine right of the whole frame of church government; as, . whether there be any particular church government of divine right? . what that government is? . what church officers or members of elderships are of divine right? . whether parochial or congregational elderships be of divine right? . whether classical presbyteries be of divine right? . whether provincial, national, and ecumenical assemblies be of divine right? . whether appeals from congregational to classical, provincial, national, and ecumenical assemblies, and their power to determine upon such appeals, be of divine right? . whether the power of censures in the congregational eldership, or any other assembly, be of divine right? . whether there be any particular rules in the scripture directing persons or assemblies in the exercise of their power? . whether the civil magistrates, or their committees' and commissioners' execution of church censures be contrary to that way of government which christ hath appointed in his church? _resol_. to all or most of these doubts some competent satisfaction may be had from this treatise ensuing, if seriously considered. for, . that there is a church government of divine right, now under the new testament, declared in scripture, is proved, part i. . what that government is in particular, is evidenced both by the description of church government, and the confirmation of the parts thereof by scripture, part. ii. chap. , and so to the end of the book: whereby it is cleared that the presbyterial government is that particular government which is of divine right, according to the word of god. . what ordinary church officers, (members of the several elderships,) are of divine right, is proved, part ii, chap. , sect. , viz. pastors and teachers, with ruling elders. . that parochial or congregational elderships, consisting of preaching and ruling elders, are of divine right, is manifested, part ii. chap. . . that classical presbyteries, or assemblies, and their power in church government, are of divine right, is demonstrated, part ii. chap. . . that synodical assemblies, or councils in general, (consequently provincial, national, or ecumenical councils in particular,) and their power in church government, are of divine right, is cleared, part ii. chap. . . that appeals from congregational elderships, to classical and synodical assemblies, from lesser to greater assemblies associated, and power in those assemblies to determine authoritatively in such, appeals, are of divine right, is proved, part ii. chap. . . that the power of church censures is in christ's own church officers only as the first subject and proper receptacle there of divine right, is cleared, part ii. chap. , sect. , which officers of christ have and execute the said power respectively, in all the ruling assemblies, congregational, classical, or synodical. see section , and chap. , , , . . that the scriptures hold forth, touching church government, not only general, but also many particular rules, sufficiently directing both persons and assemblies how they should duly put in execution their power of church, government. this is made good, part ii. chap. ; and those that desire to know which are these rules in particular, may consult those learned[ ] centuriators of magdeburg, who have collected and methodically digested, in the very words of the scripture, a system of canons or rules, touching church government, as in the preface to those rules they do profess, saying, touching things pertaining to the government of the church, the apostles delivered certain canons, which we will add in order, &c., the very heads of which would be too prolix to recite. . finally, that neither the supreme civil magistrate, as such, nor consequently any commissioner or committees whatsoever, devised and erected by his authority, are the proper subject of the formal power of church government, nor may lawfully, by any virtue of the magistratical office, dispense any ecclesiastical censures or ordinances: but that such undertakings are inconsistent with that way of government which christ hath appointed in his church, is evidenced, part ii. chap. , well compared with chap. . _doubt_ . but this presbyterial government is likely to be an arbitrary and tyrannical government, forasmuch as the presbyters of the assembly of divines and others (who, diotrephes-like, generally affect domineering) have desired an unlimited power, according to their own judgments and prudence, in excommunicating men from the ordinances in cases of scandal. _resol_. a heinous charge, could it be proved against the presbyterial government. now for wiping off this black aspersion, consider two things, viz: i. the imputation itself, which is unjust and groundless; ii. the pretended ground hereof, which is false or frivolous. i. the imputation itself is, that the presbyterial government is likely to be an arbitrary and tyrannical government. _ans_. how unjust this aspersion! i. what likelihood of arbitrary conduct in this government, that is, that it should be managed and carried on according to men's mere will and pleasure? for, . the presbyterial government (truly so called) is not in the nature of it any invention of man, but an ordinance of christ; nor in the execution of it to be stated by the will of man, but only by the sure word of prophecy, the sacred scriptures. this government allows not of one church officer at all; nor of one ruling assembly made up of those officers; nor of one censure or act of power to be done by any officer or assembly; nor of one ordinance to be managed in the church of god, but what are grounded upon, and warranted by the word of god. this government allows no execution of any part thereof, neither in substantials, nor circumstantials, but according to the particular, or at least, the general rules of scripture respectively. and can that be arbitrary, which is not at all according to man's will, but only according to christ's rule, limiting and ordering man's will? or is not the scripture a better and safer provision against all arbitrary government in the church, than all the ordinances, decrees, statutes, or whatsoever municipal laws in the world of man's devising, can be against all arbitrary government in the commonwealth? let not men put out their own eyes, though others would cast a mist before them. . who can justly challenge the reformed presbyterial churches for arbitrary proceedings in matters of church government, practised in some of them for above these fourscore years? or where are their accusers? . why should the presbyterial government, to be erected in england, be prejudged as arbitrary, before the government be put in execution? when arbitrary conduct appears, let the adversaries complain. . if any arbitrary conduct hath been discovered in any reformed church, or shall fall out in ours, it is or shall be more justly reputed the infirmity and fault of the governors, than of the government itself. ii. what probability or possibility of tyranny in the presbyterial government? for, . who should tyrannize, what persons, what ruling assemblies? not the ministers; for, hitherto they have given no just cause of any suspicion, since this government was in hand: and they are counterpoised in all assemblies with a plurality of ruling elders, it being already studiously[ ] provided that there be always two ruling elders to one minister: if there be still two to one, how should they tyrannize if they would? neither ministers nor ruling elders are likely to tyrannize, if due care be taken by them, whom it doth concern, to elect, place, and appoint, conscientious, prudent, and gracious ministers and ruling elders over all congregations. nor yet the ruling assemblies, lesser or greater; for in the presbyterial government all lesser ruling assemblies (though now at first, perhaps, some of them consisting of more weak and less experienced members) are subordinate to the greater authoritatively; and persons aggrieved by any mal-administrations have liberty to appeal from inferior to superior: and the very national assembly itself, though not properly subordinate, yet is it to be responsible to the supreme political magistracy in all their proceedings so far as subjects and members of the commonwealth. iii. how can they tyrannize over any? or in what respects? not over their estates: for they claim no secular power at all over men's estates, by fines, penalties, forfeitures, or confiscations. not over their bodies, for they inflict no corporal punishment, by banishment, imprisonment, branding, slitting, cropping, striking, whipping, dismembering, or killing. not over their souls; for, them they desire by this government to gain, matth. xviii. ; to edify, cor. x. , and xiii. ; and to save, cor. v. . only this government ought to be impartial and severe against sin, that the flesh may be destroyed, cor. v. . it is only destructive to corruption, which is deadly and destructive to the soul. thus the imputation itself of arbitrary conduct and tyranny to the presbyterial government is unjust and groundless. ii. the pretended ground of this aspersion is false and frivolous. the presbyters of the assembly of divines, and others (_diotrephes_-like, affecting pre-eminence) have desired an unlimited power, according to their own prudence and judgment, in keeping men from the ordinances in cases of scandal not enumerated. _ans_. . the presbyters of the assembly and others, are so far from the domineering humor of diotrephes, that they could gladly and heartily have quitted all intermeddling in church government, if jesus christ had not by office engaged them thereto; only to have dispensed the word and sacraments would have procured them less hatred, and more case. . they desired liberty to keep from the ordinances, not only persons guilty of the scandals enumerated, but of all such like scandals, (and to judge which are those scandals, not according to their minds unlimitedly, but according to the mind of christ in his word, more sure than all ordinances or acts of parliament in the world.) and was this so hideous a desire? this liberty was desired, not for themselves, but for well-constituted elderships. as great power was granted by the very service-book to every single curate; (see the rubric before the communion.) a perfect enumeration and description of scandals can be made in no book but in the scriptures; and when all is done, must we not refer thither? all scandals are punishable, as well as any, and to inflict penalties on some, and not on others as bad or worse, is inexcusable partiality. why should not presbyteries duly constituted, especially the greater, be accounted, at least, as faithful, intelligent, prudent, and every way as competent judges of what is scandal, and what not, according to the scriptures, and that without arbitrary conduct and tyranny, as any civil court, committees, or commissioners whatsoever? ruling church assemblies are intrusted with the whole government in the church, consequently with this, and every part. the best reformed churches allow to their presbyteries power to keep from the ordinances scandalous persons, not only for scandals enumerated, but for scandals of like nature not enumerated, with some general clause or other, as may appear in eight several churches, according to the allegations here in the foot-note;[ ] and, therefore, no new thing is desired, but what is commonly practised in the reformed churches, whom we should imitate so far as they lead us on towards purity and perfection. _doubt_ . but the independent government seems to be a far more excellent way, and it is embraced by many godly and precious people and ministers. _ans_. . what true excellency is there at all in the whole independent government, save only in those particulars wherein it agrees with the presbyterial government; and only so far as it is presbyterial? therefore, the presbyterial government is equally, yea, primarily and principally excellent. wherein is the excellency of the independent way of government? st. have they only those officers which christ himself hath appointed, pastors and teachers, ruling elders and deacons? so the presbyterians. d. have they those spiritual censures, of admonishing, excommunicating, and receiving again into communion, which christ ordained in his church, for guarding his ordinances, and well guiding of the flock? so the presbyterians. d. have they congregational presbyteries duly elected, and constituted for the exercise of all acts of government, proper and necessary for their respective congregations? so the presbyterians. th. have they liberty of electing their own[ ] officers, pastors, elders, and deacons? so the presbyterians. th. have they power to keep the whole lump of the church from being leavened, and purely to preserve the ordinances of christ, from pollution and profanation, &c.? so the presbyterians, &c. so that whereinsoever the independent government is truly excellent, the presbyterial government stands in a full equipage and equality of excellence. ii. what one true excellence is there in the whole independent government in any one point, wherein it really differs from the presbyterial government? take for instance a few points of difference. _in the independent government._ no other visible church of christ is acknowledged, but only a single congregational meeting in one place to partake of all ordinances. the matter of their visible church must be to their utmost judgment of discerning such as have true grace, real saints. their churches are gathered out of other true visible churches of christ, without any leave or consent of pastor or flock; yea, against their wills, receiving such as tender themselves, yea, too often by themselves or others, directly or indirectly seducing disciples after them. preaching elders are only elected, not ordained. ruling elders also preach. the subject of church government is the community of the faithful. the church officers act immediately as the servants of the church, and deputed thereby. all censures and acts of government are dispensed in single congregations ultimately, independently, without all liberty of appeal from them to any superior church assembly; so the parties grieved are left without remedy. there are acknowledged no authoritative classes or synods, in common, great, difficult cases, and in matters of appeals, but only suasive and consultative; and in case advice be not followed, they proceed only to a non-communion. _in the presbyterial government._ one general visible church of christ on earth is acknowledged, and all particular churches; and single congregations are but as similar parts of that whole. the matter of the church invisible are only true believers, but of the church visible persons professing true faith in christ, and obedience to him according to the rules of the gospel. parochial churches are received as true visible churches of christ, and most convenient for mutual edification. gathering churches out of churches, hath no footsteps in scripture; is contrary to apostolical practice; is the scattering of churches, the daughter of schism, the mother of confusion, but the stepmother to edification. preaching elders are both elected and ordained. ruling elders only rule, preach not, tim. v. . the subject of church government is only christ's own church officers. the church governors act immediately as the servants of christ, and as appointed by him. all censures and acts of government are dispensed in congregational presbyteries subordinately, dependently, with liberty of appeal in all cases to presbyterial or synodal assemblies; where parties grieved have sufficient remedy. there are acknowledged, and with happy success used, not only suasive and consultative; but also authoritative classes and synods, in cases of great importance, difficulty, common concernment, or appeals; which have power to dispense all church censures, as need shall require. let these and such like particulars in the independent way, differing from the presbyterial, be duly pondered, and then let the impartial and indifferent reader judge, whether they be not the deformities, at least the infirmities of that way. iii. how many true excellences are there in the way of the presbyterial government, wherein it utterly surpasses the independent government! read but the particulars of the former parallel in the presbyterial government, and then consider how far this transcends, yea, how the independent government is indeed no government at all, to the presbyterial government; wherein is to be found such ample provision, and that according to the word of god, for comely order against confusion; for peace and unity of the church against schism and division; for truth of the faith against all error and heresy; for piety and unblamableness against all impiety and scandal of conversation; for equity and right against all mal-administrations, whether ignorant, arbitrary, or tyrannical; for the honor and purity of all christ's ordinances against all contempt, pollution, and profanation; for comfort, quickening, and encouragement of the saints in all the ways of christ; and consequently for the honor of god and our lord jesus christ in all the mysterious services of his spiritual sanctuary: all which rich advantages, how impossible is it they should ever be found in the independent government so long as it continues independent? and what though some pious minister and people embrace the independent way! this dazzles not the eyes of the intelligent, but of the infirm; we are to be regulated by scripture warrant, not by human examples. the best of saints have failed in the ecclesiastical affairs; what a sharp contention was there between paul and barnabas, acts xv. , &c.; what a dangerous dissimulation was there in peter, the jews, and barnabas! gal. ii. , , , &c.; and, therefore, it is not safe, prudent, or conscientious, to imitate all the examples of the best, and yet how few are those that have engaged themselves in the independent way, in comparison to the multitude of precious ministers and people, inferior to them neither in parts, learning, piety, nor any other spiritual gift, who are for the presbyterial way of church government! notwithstanding, let all the true israel of god constantly follow, not the doubtful practices of unglorified saints, but the written pleasure of the most glorious king of saints; and as many as walk according to this rule, peace shall be on them, and upon the israel of god. the divine right of church government. part i. of the nature of a divine right: and how many ways a thing may be of divine right. chapter i. _that there is a government in the church of_ divine right _now under the new testament._ jesus christ our mediator hath _the government_ (both of the church, and of all things for the church) laid _upon his shoulder_, isa. ix. , and to that end hath _all power in heaven and earth given to him_, matth. xxviii. , john v. , ephes. i. . but lapsed man (being full of pride, psal. x. , , and enmity against the law of god, rom. viii. ) is most impatient of all government of god and of christ, ps. ii. , , , with luke xix. , ; whence it comes to pass, that the _governing_ and _kingly power_ of christ hath been opposed in all ages, and especially in this of ours, by quarrelsome queries, wrangling disputes, plausible pretences, subtle policies, strong self-interests, and mere violent wilfulness of many in england, even after they are brought under the _oath of god to reform church government according to the word of god_. yet it will be easily granted _that there should be a government in the church of god_, otherwise the church would become a mere _babel_ and _chaos_ of confusion, and be in a far worse condition than all human societies in the whole world: and _that some one church government is much to be preferred before another, yea, before all other_; as being most desirable in itself, and most suitable to this state; otherwise, why is the _prelatical_ government rejected, that another and a better may be erected instead thereof? but the pinch lies in this, _whether there be any government in the church visible of divine right?_ and, if so, _which of those church governments_ (which lay claim to a divine right for their foundation) _may be most clearly evinced by the scriptures to be of_ divine right _indeed?_ if the former be convincingly affirmed, the fancy of the _erastians_ and _semi-erastians_ of these things will vanish, that deny all government to the church distinct from that of the civil magistrate. if the latter be solidly proved by scripture, it will appear, whether the _monarchical government_ of the pope and prelates; or the _mere democratical government_ of all the people in an equal level of authority, as among the brownists; or the _mixed democratical government_ of both elders and people within their own single congregation only, without all subordination of assemblies, and benefit of appeals, as among the independents; or rather the _pure representative government_ of the presbytery or church rulers only, chosen by the people, in subordination to superior synodical assemblies, and with appeals thereto, as it is among the presbyterians, be that peculiar government which jesus christ hath left unto his church, by divine right, and in comparison of which all others are to be rejected. to draw things therefore to a clear and speedy issue about the divine right of church government, let this general proposition be laid down-- _the scriptures declare, that there is a government of_ divine right _in the visible church of christ now under the new testament._ this is evident, cor. xii. , _god hath set some in the church, first, apostles, secondly, prophets, thirdly, teachers--helps, governments;_ in which place these things are plain: . that here the apostle speaks of the visible church: for he had formerly spoken of visible gifts and _manifestations of the spirit given to profit this_ church _withal_, ver. to . he also compares this church of god to a visible organical body, consisting of many visible members, ver. , , &c. and in this th verse he enumerates the visible officers of this church. . that here the apostle speaks of one general visible church; for he saith not _churches_, but _church_, in the singular number, that is, of one; besides, he speaks here of the church in such a latitude as to comprehend in itself all gifts of the spirit, all members, and all officers, both extraordinary and ordinary, which cannot be meant of the church of corinth, or any one particular church, but only of that one general church on earth. . that this general visible church here meant, is the church of christ now under the new testament, and not under the old testament; for he mentions here the new testament officers only, ver. . . that in the visible church now under the new testament, there is a government settled; for besides _apostles, prophets_, and _teachers_, here is mention of another sort of officer distinct from them all, called, in the abstract, _governments_, a metaphor from pilots, mariners, or shipmasters, who by their helm, card, or compass, cables, and other tacklings, guide, and order, turn and twine the ship as necessity shall require; so these officers called _governments_, have a power of governing and steering the spiritual vessel of the church; thus, beza on this place, says he declares the order of presbyters, _who are keepers of discipline and church polity_. for how improperly should these, or any officers be styled _governments in the church_, if they had not a power of government in the church settled upon them? nor can this be interpreted of the civil magistrate; for, when the apostle wrote this, the church had her government, when yet she had no civil magistrate to protect her; and when did god ever take this power from the church and settle it upon the civil magistrate? besides, all the other officers here enumerated are purely ecclesiastical officers; how groundless then and inconsistent is it under this name of _governments_ to introduce a foreign power, viz. the political magistrate, into the list and roll of mere church officers? finally, the civil magistrate, as a magistrate, is not so much as a member of the visible church, (for then all pagan magistrates should be members of the church,) much less a governor in the church of christ. . that this government settled in the church is of divine right; for, of those _governments_, as well as of _apostles, prophets_, and _teachers_, it is said, _god hath set_ them _in the church. god hath set_ them, _hath put, set_--tremellius out of the syriac. hath _constituted, ordained_--beza out of the greek. now, if they be set in the church and god hath set them there, here is a plain divine right for government in the church. add hereto, cor. x. , "of our authority, which the lord hath given to us for the edification, and not for the destruction of you." here are mentioned-- . church power or authority for government in the church. . the end of this power--positively, for the edification; negatively, not for the destruction of the church. . the author or fountain of this authority--the lord christ hath given it, dispensed it; there is the divine right. . the proper subjects intrusted with this authority, viz: the church guides, our authority, which he hath given to us. they are the receptacle of power for the church, and the government thereof. compare also thes. v. , matth. xvi. , , with xviii. , and john xx. , , . in which and divers like places the divine right of church government is apparently vouched by the scripture, as will hereafter more fully appear; but this may suffice in general for the confirmation of this general proposition. chapter ii. _of the nature of a_ divine right _in general._ now touching this divine right of church government, two things are yet more particularly to be opened and proved, for the more satisfactory clearing thereof unto sober minds, to unprejudiced and unpre-engaged judgments, viz:-- . what the nature of a divine right is, and how many ways a thing may be said to be of divine right, and that by warrant of scripture. . what the nature of the government of the church under the new testament is, which is vouched by the scripture to be of divine right. for the first--viz. what the nature of a divine right is--consider both what a divine right is in general, and how many ways a thing may be said by scripture warrant to be of divine right in particular. _right_ is that which is most proper, just, or equal; or that which is prescribed or commanded by some statute law, and is just to be received in virtue of said law. _divine_ sometimes points out a divine warrant or authority from god, engraven or enstamped upon any thing, whereby it is exalted above all human or created authority and power. and thus, all scripture is styled divinely breathed or inspired of god. hence is the divine authority of scripture asserted, tim. iii. , ; and in this sense divine right is here spoken of, in reference to church government, as it signifies a divine warrant and authority from god himself, engraven upon that church government and discipline, (hereafter to be handled,) and revealed to us in his holy scriptures, the infallible and perfect oracles. so that divine right, according to this interpretation of the terms, is that which is either just, meet, and equal; or commanded and enjoined by any divine warrant or authority. and generally, a thing may be said to be of divine right, which is any way divinely just, equal, &c.; or divinely commanded by any law of god, or by that which is equivalent to a divine law. and whatsoever matters in church government can be proved by scripture to have this stamp of divine warrant and authority set upon them, they may properly be said to be of divine right, and that by the will and appointment of jesus christ, to whom god hath delegated all power and authority for the government of his church, matth. xxviii. , , , isa. ix. , john v. , eph. i. . in this sense, if church government, or any part of it, be found to be of divine right, then consequently-- . it is above all mere human power and created authority in the world whatsoever, and that supereminently. a divine right is the highest and best tenure whereby the church can hold of christ any doctrine, worship, or government; only god can stamp such a divine right upon any of these things, whereby conscience shall be obliged. all human inventions herein, whether devised of our own hearts, or derived as traditions from others, are incompatible and inconsistent herewith; vain in themselves, and to all that use them, and condemned of god. see kings xii. , , isa. xxix. , matth. xv. , , , . . it is beyond all just, human, or created power, to abolish or oppose the same, or the due execution thereof in the church of christ; for what is of divine right, is held of god, and not of man; and to oppose that, were to fight against god. the supreme magistrates in such cases should be nurse-fathers, isa. xlix. , not step-fathers to the church; their power being cumulative and perfective, not privative and destructive unto her; for she both had and exercised a power in church government, long before there was any christian magistrate in the world; and it cannot be proved that ever christ took away that power from his church, or translated it to the political magistrate, when he became christian. . it is so obligatory upon all churches in the whole christian world, that they ought uniformly to submit themselves unto it; for a divine right is equally obligatory on one church as well as on another. and it is so obligatory on all persons, states, and degrees, that none ought to be exempted from that church government which is of divine right, nor to be _tolerated_ in another church government, which is but of human invention; nor ought any christian to seek after, or content himself with any such exemption or _toleration_; for in so doing, the inventions of men should be preferred before the ordinances of god; our own wisdom, will, and authority, before the wisdom, will, and authority of christ: and we should in effect say, _we will not have this man to reign over us_, luke xix. . _let us break their bands asunder, and cast their cords away from us_, psalm ii. . chapter iii. _of the nature of a_ divine right _in particular. how many ways a thing may be of_ divine right. _and first, of a_ divine right _by the true light of nature._ thus we see in general what a divine right is: now in particular let us come to consider how many ways a thing may be said to be of divine right by scripture-warrant, keeping still our eye upon this subject of church government, at which all particulars are to be levelled for the clearing of it. a thing may be said to be of divine right, or (which is the same for substance) of divine institution, divers ways. . _by the true light of nature._ . _by obligatory scripture examples._ . _by divine approbation._ . _by divine acts._ . _by divine precepts or mandates._ all may be reduced to these five heads, ascending by degrees from the lowest to the highest divine right. i. _by light of nature._ that which is evident by, and consonant to the true light of nature, or natural reason, is to be accounted of divine right in matters of religion. hence two things are to be made out by scripture. . what is meant by the true light of nature. . how it may be proved, that what things in religion are evident by, or consonant to this true light of nature, are of divine right. . for the first, what is meant by the true light of nature, or natural reason? thus conceive. the light of nature may be considered two ways. . as it was in man before the fall, and so it was that image and similitude of god, in which man was at first created, gen. i. , , or at least part of that image; which image of god, and light of nature, was con-created with man, and was perfect: viz. so perfect as the sphere of humanity and state of innocency did require; there was no sinful darkness, crookedness, or imperfection in it; and whatsoever was evident by, or consonant to this pure and perfect light of nature, in respect either of theory or practice, was doubtless of divine right, because correspondent to that divine law of god's image naturally engraved in adam's heart. but man being lapsed, this will not be now our question, as it is not our case. . as it is now in man after the fall. the light of nature and image of god in man is not totally abolished and utterly razed by the fall; there remain still some relics and fragments thereof, some glimmerings, dawnings, and common principles of light, both touching piety to god, equity to man, and sobriety to a man's self, &c., as is evident by comparing these places, psal. xix. , , &c., acts xiv. , and xvii. , ; rom. i. - , and ii. , , ; cor. v. : in which places it is plain, . that the book of the creature is able (without the scriptures, or divine revelations) to make known to man much of god, his invisible godhead and attributes, psalm xix. , , &c.; acts xiv. , and xvii. , ; yea, so far as to leave them without excuse, rom. i. - . . that there remained so much natural light in the minds even of the heathens, as to render them capable of instruction by the creature in the invisible things of god; yea, and that they actually in some measure did know god, and because they walked not up to this knowledge, were plagued, rom. i. - , , &c. . that the work of the law (though not the right ground, manner, and end of that work, which is the blessing of the new covenant, jer. xxxi. ; heb. viii. ) was materially written in some measure in their hearts. partly because they did by nature without the law the things contained in the law, so being a law to themselves, rom. ii. , ; partly, because they by nature forbore some of those sins which were forbidden in the law, and were practised by some that had the law, as cor. v. ; and partly, because according to the good and bad they did, &c., their conscience did accuse or excuse, rom. ii. . now conscience doth not accuse or excuse but according to some rule, principle, or law of god, (which is above the conscience,) or at least so supposed to be. and they had no law but the imperfect characters thereof in their own hearts, which were not quite obliterated by the fall. now so far as this light of nature after the fall, is a true relic of the light of nature before the fall, that which is according to this light may be counted of divine right in matters of religion, which is the next thing to be proved. for the second, how it may be proved that what things in religion are evident by, or consonant to this true light of nature, are of divine right. thus briefly, . because that knowledge which by the light of nature gentiles have of the invisible things of god, is a beam of divine light, as the apostle, speaking of the gentiles' light of nature, saith, that which may be known of god is manifest in them--for god hath showed it to them. for the invisible things, &c., rom. i. , . god himself is the fountain and author of the true light of nature; hence some not unfitly call it the divine light of nature, not only because it hath god for its object, but also god for its principle; now that which is according to god's manifestation, must needs be of divine right. . because the spirit of god and of christ in the new testament is pleased often to argue from the light of nature in condemning of sin, in commending and urging of duty, as in the case of the incestuous corinthian; "it is reported commonly, that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the gentiles," (who had only the light of nature to guide them,) cor. v. . in case of the habits of men and women in their public church assemblies, that women's heads should be covered, men's uncovered in praying or prophesying. "judge in yourselves, is it comely that a woman pray unto god uncovered? doth not even nature itself teach you, that if a man hath long hair, it is a shame to him? but if a woman have long hair it is a glory to her," &c., cor. xi. - . here the apostle appeals plainly to the very light of nature for the regulating and directing of their habits in church assemblies; and thus, in case of praying or prophesying in the congregation in an unknown tongue, (unless some do interpret,) he strongly argues against it from the light of nature, cor. xiv. - , and afterwards urges that women be silent in their churches, from the natural uncomeliness of their speaking there, for it is a shame for women to speak in the church, cor. xiv. , . now, if the spirit of god condemn things as vicious, and commend things as virtuous from the light of nature, is there not divine right in the light of nature? may we not say, that which is repugnant to the light of nature in matters of religion, is condemned by divine right; and what is correspondent to the light of nature, is prescribed by divine right? and if not, where is the strength or force of this kind of arguing from the light of nature? consequently, in the present case of church government, that which is agreeable to the true light of nature, must needs be confessed to be of divine right. though the light of nature be but dim, yet it will lend some help in this particular: e.g. the light of nature teaches, . that as every society in the world hath a distinct government of its own within itself, without which it could not subsist, so must the church, which is a society, have its own distinct government within itself, without which it cannot subsist more than any other society. . that in all matters of difference the lesser number in every society should give way to, and the matters controverted be determined and concluded by the major part; else there would never be an end: and why not so in the church? . that in every ill administration in inferior societies the parties aggrieved should have liberty to appeal from them to superior societies, that equity may take place; and why not from inferior to superior church assemblies? chapter iv. ii. _of a divine right by obligatory scripture examples._ ii. by obligatory scripture examples (which god's people are bound to follow and imitate) matters of religion become of divine right, and by the will and appointment of jesus christ, by whose spirit those examples were recorded in scripture, and propounded for imitation to the saints. the light of nature in this case helps something; but the light of obligatory scripture examples helps much more, as being more clear, distinct, and particular. we say scripture examples; for only these examples are held forth to us by an infallible, impartial, divine hand, and those scripture examples obligatory, or binding; for there are many sorts of scripture examples that oblige not us to imitation of them, being written for other uses and purposes. great use is to be made of such examples in matters of religion, and particularly in matters of church government, for the clearing of the divine right thereof; and great opposition is made by some against the binding force of examples, especially by men of perverse spirits, (as too many of the erastian party are;) therefore it will be of great consequence to unfold and clear this matter of scripture examples, and the obliging power thereof, that we may see how far examples are to be a law and rule for us by divine right. in general, this proposition seems to be unquestionable, that whatsoever matter or act of religion jesus christ makes known to his church and people, by or under any binding scripture example, that matter or act of religion so made known, is of divine right, and by the will and appointment of jesus christ: but to evince this more satisfactorily, these several particulars are to be distinctly made good and manifested: . that some scripture examples are obligatory and binding on christians in matters of religion. . which are those obligatory scripture examples? these things being made out, we shall see with what strength scripture examples hold forth a divine right to us in the mysteries of religion, and particularly in church government. i. that some scripture examples in matters of religion are obligatory on christians, as patterns and rules, which they are bound in conscience to follow and imitate, is evident, . by the divine intention of the spirit of god, in recording and propounding of examples in scripture: for he records and propounds them for this very end, that they may be imitated. thus christ's humility, in washing the feet of his disciples, was intentionally propounded as an obligatory example, binding both the disciples, and us after them, to perform the meanest offices of love in humility to one another. "if i then, your lord and master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet. for i have given you an example, that ye should do as i have done to you," john xiii. , &c., - . thus christ's suffering with innocence and unprovoked patience, not reviling again, &c., is purposely propounded for all christians to imitate, and they are bound in conscience as well as they can to follow it--"christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps," &c., pet. ii. - . hence, the apostle so urges the example of christ for the corinthians to follow in their bounty to the poor saints, yea, though to their own impoverishing, "for you know the grace of our lord jesus christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich," cor. viii. . nor was the example of christ only written for our imitation; but the examples of the apostles also in the primitive churches were intentionally left upon record for this end, that they might be binding patterns for us to follow in like cases in after ages. and in particular, this seems to be one singular ground, scope, and intention of christ's spirit in writing the history of the acts of the apostles, that the apostles' acts in the primitive churches might be our rules in successive churches. for, . though this book contain in it many things dogmatical, that is, divers doctrines of the apostles, yet it is not styled the book of the doctrine, but of the acts of the apostles, that we may learn to act as they acted. this being one main difference between profane and sacred histories; those are for speculation, these also for admonition and imitation, cor. x. . the history, therefore, of the acts propounds examples admonitory and obligatory upon us, that we should express like acts in like cases. . luke (the penman of the acts) makes such a transition from his history of christ, to this history of christ's apostles, as to unite and knit them into one volume, acts i. ; whence we are given to understand, that if the church wanted this history of the apostles, she should want that perfect direction which the spirit intended for her: as also that this book is useful and needful to her as well as the other. . in the very front of the acts it is said, that _christ after his resurrection_ (and before his ascension) _gave commandments to the apostles--and spake of the things pertaining to the kingdom of god_, acts i. , ; viz. of the polity of the church, say some.[ ] of the kingdom of grace, say others.[ ] judicious calvin[ ] interprets it partly of church government, saying, luke admonisheth us, that christ did not so depart out of the world, as to cast off all care of us: for by this doctrine he shows that he hath constituted a perpetual government in his church. therefore luke signifies, that christ departed not, before he had provided for his church's government. now those expressions are set in the frontispiece, to stamp the greater authority and obligatory power upon the acts after recorded, being done according to christ's commandments; christ intending their acts in the first founding of his kingdom and polity ecclesiastic to be the rule for after churches. for what christ spoke of his kingdom to the apostles is like that, "what i say to you, i say to all," matt. xiii. , as what was said to the apostles touching preaching and baptizing, remitting and retaining of sins, was said to all the apostles' successors, "to the end of the world," john xx. , , with matt, xxviii. - . . by god's approving and commending such as were followers not only of the doctrine, but also of the examples of the lord, his apostles, and primitive churches; "and ye became followers" (or imitators) "of us and of the lord," thess. i. , ; and again, "ye, brethren, became followers" (or imitators) "of the churches of god, which in judea are in christ jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the jews," thess. ii. . in which places the holy ghost recites the thessalonians imitating of the lord, of the apostles, and of the churches, to the praise of the thessalonians, by which they are given to understand that they did well, and discharged their duty in such imitations: for god's condemning or commending any thing, is virtually a prohibiting or prescribing thereof. . by the lord's commanding some examples to be imitated. commands of this nature are frequent. in general, "beloved, imitate not that which is evil, but that which is good," john . in particular, . imitating of god and christ; "be ye, therefore, followers of god as dear children: and walk in love, as christ also hath loved us," eph. v. , , with eph. iv. . "he that saith he abideth in him, ought himself also to walk, even as he walked," john ii. . . imitating the apostles and other saints of god. "i beseech you, be ye imitators of me: for this cause have i sent unto you timothy--who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in christ," cor. iv. , . "be ye imitators of me, even as i also am of christ," cor. xi. . "those things which you have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the god of peace shall be with you," phil. iv. . "be not slothful, but imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises," heb. vi. . "whose faith imitate, considering the end of their conversation," heb. xiii. . "take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the lord, for an example" (or pattern) "of suffering affliction, and of patience," james v. . these and like divine commands infallibly evidence that many scripture examples are obligatory, and do bind our consciences to the imitation of them. . by consent of orthodox and learned writers, both ancient and modern, acknowledging an obligatory force in some scripture examples, as being left upon record for our imitation. as among others chrysostom,[ ] and greg. nyssen[ ] well observe. among modern writers, mr. perkins excellently observes, this is a rule in divinity, that the ordinary examples of the godly approved in scripture, being against no general precept, have the force of a general rule, and are to be followed. see also pet. martyr, calvin, and others.[ ] ii. thus, it is clear that some scripture examples are obligatory. now (to come closer to the matter) consider which scripture examples are obligatory. . how many sorts of binding examples are propounded to us in scripture. . what rules we may walk by for finding out the obligatory force of such examples. how many sorts of binding examples are propounded unto us in scripture, and which are those examples? ans. there are principally three sorts, viz: examples of god, of christ, of christians. i. of god. the example of god is propounded in scripture as obligatory on us in all moral excellencies and actions: e.g. matt. v. , , ; eph. v. ; pet. i. - ; john iv. , . ii. of christ. that the example of christ is obligatory, and a binding rule to us for imitation, is evident by these and like testimonies of scripture, matt. xi. ; cor. xi. ; eph. v. , , , &c.; john ii. ; pet. ii. - . "if i then, your lord and master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet. for i have given you an example, that ye should do as i have done to you," john xiii. , . in this place we must follow the reason of the example, rather than the individual act, viz: after christ's example, we must be ready to perform the lowest and meanest offices of love and service to one another. but which of christ's examples are obligatory on christians, will better appear, by distinguishing the several sorts of christ's actions. christ's actions were of several kinds; and to imitate them all is neither needful, nor possible, nor warrantable. orthodox writers thus rank christ's actions: . some of christ's actions were of divine power and virtue; as his miracles, turning water into wine, john ii. , &c.; walking on the sea, mark vi. , ; dispossessing of devils by his word, mark i. ; luke iv. ; curing one born blind with clay and spittle, john ix.; healing the sick by his word or touch, john iv. ; mark vi. ; raising the dead to life again, as john xii. ; matt. xi. ; luke vii. . . some were acts of divine prerogative, as sending for the ass and colt, without first asking the owner's leave, matt. xxi. , &c. . some mediatory, done by him as mediator, prophet, priest, and king of his church: e.g. inditing the scripture, called therefore the word of christ, col. iii. ; laying down his life _for the sheep_, john x. , &c.; giving of the spirit, john xx. ; acts ii.; appointing of his own officers, and giving them commissions, eph. iv. , , ; matt. x. and xxviii. - ; instituting of new, and thereby abrogating of old ordinances, matt. xxviii. , ; cor. xi. , &c. . some accidental, occasional, incidental, or circumstantial, as in the case of his celebrating his supper, that it was at night, not in the morning; after supper, not before; with none but men, none but ministers; with unleavened, not with leavened bread, &c.; these circumstantials were accidentally occasioned by the passover, nature of his family, &c. . some acts of christ were moral, as matt. xi. ; eph. v. , , , &c.; or at least founded upon a moral reason and foundation, as john xiii. , . to imitate christ in his three first sort of acts, is utterly unlawful, and in part impossible. to imitate him in his circumstantial acts from necessity, were to make accidentals necessary, and happily to border upon superstition; for, to urge any thing above what is appointed, as absolutely necessary, is to urge superstition; and to yield to any thing above what is appointed, as simply necessary, were to yield to superstition. but to imitate christ in his moral acts, or acts grounded upon a moral reason, is our duty: such acts of christ ought to be the christian's rules. iii. of prophets, apostles, saints, or primitive churches. that their examples are obligatory, is evident by these places, cor. xi. ; phil. iv. , ; pet. iii. , , ; thess. i. , and ii. ; heb. xiii. ; james v. , ; john . which of their examples are obligatory, may be thus resolved, by distinguishing of their actions. . some were sinful; written for our caution and admonition, not for our imitation: as cor. x. , , , . that neither the just be lifted up into pride by security, nor the unjust be hardened against the medicine through despair. see the fourth rule following. . some were heroical; done by singular instinct and instigation of the spirit of god; as divers acts may be presumed to be, (though we read not the instinct clearly recorded:) as, elias's calling for fire from heaven, kings i. ; which the very apostles might not imitate, not having his spirit, luke ix. , ; phinehas's killing the adulterer and adulteress, numb. xxv. , ; samson's avenging himself upon his enemies by his own death, judges xvi. , of which, saith bernard, if it be defended not to have been his sin, it is undoubtedly to be believed he had private counsel, viz. from god, for his fact; david's fighting with goliath of gath the giant, hand to hand, sam. xvii. , &c., which is no warrant for private duels and quarrels. such heroic acts are not imitable but by men furnished with like heroic spirit, and instinct divine. . some were by special calling, and singular extraordinary dispensation: as abraham's call to leave his own country for pilgrimage in canaan, gen. xii. , , which is no warrant for popish pilgrimages to the holy land, &c.; abraham's attempts, upon god's special trying commands, to kill and sacrifice his son, gen. xxii. , no warrant for parents to kill or sacrifice their children; the israelites borrowing of, and robbing the egyptians, exod. xii. , no warrant for cozenage, stealing, or for borrowing with intent not to pay again: compare rom. xiii. ; thess. iv. ; psal. xxxvii. ; the israelites taking usury of the canaanitish strangers, (who were destined to ruin both in their states and persons, deut. xx. - ,) deut. xxiii. , which justifies neither their nor our taking usury of our brethren, lev. xxv. , ; deut. xxiii. , ; neh. v. , ; psal. xv. ; prov. xxviii. ; ezek. xviii. , , , and xxii. ; john baptist's living in the desert, mat. iii., no protection for popish hermitage, or proof that it is a state of greater perfection, &c. . some were only accidental or occasional, occasioned by special necessity of times and seasons, or some present appearance of scandal, or some such accidental emergency. thus primitive christians had all things common, acts iv. , but that is no ground for anabaptistical community. paul wrought at his trade of tent-making, made his hands _minister to his necessities_, acts xx. ; would not take wages for preaching to the church of corinth, cor. xi. - ; but this lays no necessity on ministers to preach the gospel _gratis_, and maintain themselves by their own manual labors, except when cases and seasons are alike, gal. vi. - ; cor. ix. - ; tim. v. , . . some were of a moral nature, and upon moral grounds, wherein they followed christ, and we are to follow them, cor. xi. ; phil. iv. , , and other places forementioned; for, whatsoever actions were done then, upon such grounds as are of a moral, perpetual, and common concernment to one person as well as another, to one church as well as another, in one age as well as another, those actions are obligatory on all, and a rule to after generations. thus the baptizing of women in the primitive churches, acts viii. , and xvi. , though only the males were circumcised under the old testament, is a rule for our baptizing of women as well as men, they being _all one in christ,_ gal. iii. . so the admitting of infants to the first initiating sacrament of the old testament, circumcision, because they with their parents' were accounted within the covenant of grace by god, gen. xvii., is a rule for us now to admit infants to the first initiating sacrament of the new testament, baptism, because infants are federally holy, and within the covenant with their believing parents now, as well as then, rom. xi. ; cor. vii. ; col. ii. , . thus the baptizing of divers persons formerly, though into no particular congregation, nor as members of any particular congregation, as the eunuch, acts viii.; lydia, acts xvi.; the jailer, acts xvi.; because it was sufficient they were baptized into that one general visible body of christ, cor. xii. , , is a rule for us what to do in like cases upon the same common ground. thus the church's practice of preaching the word, and breaking bread on the first day of the week, acts xx. , &c., is our rule for sanctifying the lord's day, by celebrating the word, sacraments, and other holy ordinances, at these times. and in like manner, the primitive practices of ordaining preaching presbyters, by laying on of hands, tim. iv. ; tim. i. ; acts xiii. ; of governing all the congregations of a city by one common presbytery, in which respect they are all called by the name of one church, as the church of jerusalem, acts viii. , and xv. ; the church of antioch, acts xiii. , and xi. , ; the church of corinth, cor. i. , cor. i. ; which had churches in it, cor. xiv. . of healing common scandals and errors, troubling divers presbyterial churches by the authoritative decrees of a synod, made up of members from divers presbyterial churches, as acts xv., and such like, are our rules in like particulars, which the lord hath left for our direction, the same grounds of such actions reaching us as well as them. now this last kind of examples are those which we are, by divers divine commands, especially enjoined to follow; and therefore such examples amount to a divine right or institution; and what we ought to do by virtue of such binding examples is of divine right, and by the will and appointment of jesus christ. what discriminatory notes or rules may we walk by, for finding out the obligatory force of scripture examples; and what manner of examples those be? for discovery hereof, take these ensuing general rules: . those examples in scripture, which the spirit of christ commands us to imitate, are undoubtedly obligatory. such are the moral examples of god, christ, apostles, prophets, saints, and churches, recorded in scripture, with command to follow them, eph. iv. , and v. , ; john ii. ; cor. xi. ; phil. iv. ; heb. vi. , and xiii. ; james v. ; john . . those examples in scripture, which the spirit of christ commends and praises, are obligatory; his commendings are virtual commandings; and we ought to follow whatsoever is praiseworthy, especially in god's account, phil. iv. , ; cor. x. . now the spirit of christ commends many examples to us: as, _enoch's walking with god_, gen. v. ; _noah's uprightness,_ gen. vi.; _abraham's faith_, rom. iv., _and obedience_, gen. xxii.; _lot's zeal against sodom's sins_, pet. ii. ; _job's patience_, james v. , . and in a word, all the examples of the saints, which the lord approves and speaks well of; as heb. xi.; pet. iii. , : together with all such examples, whose imitation by others is commended in scripture; as, thess. i. , , and ii. . . those examples in scripture are obligatory, whose ground, reason, scope, or end, are obligatory, and of a moral nature, and as much concern one christian as another, one church as another, one time as another, &c., whether they be the examples under the old or new testament. thus the example of the church of corinth, in excommunicating the incestuous person, because he was a wicked person--and lest he should _leaven the whole lump;_ and that they might keep the evangelical passover sincerely, and for that they had power _to judge them within_; and that his "flesh might be destroyed, and his spirit saved in the day of the lord jesus," cor. v. - , - : which grounds and ends being moral, oblige us to use the like remedy against all wicked and scandalous persons. . those acts which are propounded in scripture as patterns or examples, that we should act the like good, or avoid the like ill, are an obligatory law to us. there is an example of caution, and an example of imitation. thus in reference to well-doing, or suffering for well-doing, the examples of christ, his apostles, and other saints, are propounded as patterns to write after, as john xiii. , ; heb. xi. tot. with heb. xii. , _with such a cloud of witnesses_. this verse is as the epilogue of the former chapter, (saith the learned calvin,) showing to what end the catalogue of saints was reckoned up, who under the law excelled in faith, viz: that every one may fit himself to imitate them. another adds,[ ] he calls them a cloud, whereby we may be directed; in allusion to that cloud that went before israel in the wilderness, to conduct them to the land of canaan. see also pet. ii. - ; james v. . thus also, in reference to ill-doing, that it may be avoided by us, the bad examples of saints and others are laid before us as warnings and cautions to us, binding us to eschew like evils, cor. x. , , . "now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. now all these things happened unto them for examples," &c., jude . . those acts of saints or christians, which were done by them as saints and christians, are obligatory upon, and to be followed by all christians; but those acts which are done by magistrates, prophets, apostles, ministers, &c., only as such, are only obligatory on such as have like offices, not on all; according to the maxim, that which agrees to any thing as such, agrees to every thing that is such. thus james urges the example of elias in praying, james v. . paul presses the example of abraham in being justified by believing, rom. iv. , . peter prescribes, as a pattern to wives, the example of sarah, and other holy women of old, for "adorning themselves with a meek and quiet spirit,--being in subjection to their own husbands," pet. iii. - . . those acts that were commonly and ordinarily done, are ordinarily to be imitated; as, baptizing _in water only_, and not in any other element, was the ordinary practice of the new testament, matt. iii. , ; mark i. , ; luke iii. ; john i. , , ; acts i. , and viii. , , and x. , and xi. ; and by that practice we are obliged to baptize in water only. joining of many christians together in receiving the lord's supper was an ordinary practice, matt. xxvi. , , ; acts ii. , and xx. , &c.; cor. xi. , and by us ordinarily to be imitated; how else is it a communion? cor. x. , . but such acts as were done only upon special causes or singular reasons, are only to be imitated in like cases. thus christ argues from a like special cause, that he was not to do miracles at nazareth without a call, as he did in other places where he had a call of god; from the particular example of elijah and elisha, who only went to them to whom god called them, luke ix. - ; so he proves that in like case of necessity it was lawful for his disciples on the sabbath-day to rub ears of corn and eat them, &c., from david's example of eating show-bread when he had need, matt. xii. - . . those acts that were done from extraordinary calling and gifts, are to be imitated (in regard of their special way of acting) only by those that have such extraordinary calling and gifts. christ therefore blames his apostles for desiring to imitate elijah's extraordinary act in calling for fire from heaven, &c., when they had not his spirit, luke ix. , . papists are blameworthy for imitating the extraordinary forty days' and nights' fast of moses, elijah, and christ, in their lent fast. prelates argue corruptly for bishops' prelacy over their brethren the ministers, from the superiority of the apostles over presbyters. chapter v. _of a divine right by divine approbation._ iii. by divine approbation of the spirit of jesus christ in his word. whatsoever in matters of religion hath the divine approbation of the spirit of christ in the scriptures, that is of divine right, and by the will and appointment of jesus christ. god's approving or allowing of any thing, plainly implies that it is according to his will and pleasure, and so is equivalent to a divine institution or appointment; for what is a divine institution or law but the publishing of the divine will of the legislator, touching things to be acted or omitted? and god cannot approve any thing that is against his will. contrariwise, god's disallowing of any thing, plainly implies that it is against his will, and so of divine right prohibited, and unlawful. god allows or disallows things not because they are good or evil; but things are, therefore, good or evil, because he approves or disallows them. now god approves or disallows things divers ways: . by commending or discommending. god commended king josiah for his zeal and impartiality in completing of the reformation of religion, kings xiii. . this is a rule for all princes and magistrates how they should reform. the angel of the church of ephesus is commended, for not bearing of those that were evil, for trying and detecting the false apostles, and for hating the works of the nicolaitans, rev. ii. , , . the angel of the church of pergamus is praised, for holding fast christ's name, and not denying his faith in places of danger, and days of deepest persecution, rev. ii. : a rule for all pastors and churches, how in all such cases they should carry themselves. god's commendings are divine commandings. on the contrary, god dispraises ephesus, for falling from her first love, rev. ii. . pergamus, for holding the doctrine of balaam, and the doctrine of the nicolaitans, rev. ii. , . thyatira, for tolerating the false prophetess jezebel, to teach and seduce his servants, &c., rev. ii. . laodicea, because she was neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm, rev. iii. . the church of corinth, for coming together in public assemblies, not for better but for worse, by reason of schisms, scandals, and other disorders about the lord's supper, cor. xi. , &c. in these and all such divine discommendings of the churches for their corruptions, all succeeding churches are strongly forbidden the like corruptions: god's dispraises are divine prohibitions. thus good church elders are commended in this notion, that they are _elders ruling well_, tim. v. ; therefore, that elders in the church should rule, and rule well, is by this commendation of divine right. . by promising and threatening. what promise did god ever make to any act or performance, which was not a duty? or what threatening against any act which was not a sin? he promises to them that forsake all for christ, a "hundred-fold now in this time, and in the world to come eternal life," mark x. , ; therefore it is our duty to forsake all for christ. he promised to ratify in heaven his disciples' sentences of _building or loosing on earth_; and to _be with them_ whensoever _two or three of them were met together_ for that end, matt. xvi. , and xviii. - , and john xx. . therefore binding and loosing, remitting and retaining of sins, and meeting together for that end, belong to them by divine right. he promised to be with them that baptize, preach, remit, and retain sins in his name, &c., _always, to the end of the world_, john xx. ; with matt, xxviii. - , which promise shows, that these works and employments belong to all succeeding ministers to the world's end, as well as to the apostles by divine right. on the contrary, the lord threatens ephesus for decay of first love, rev. ii. , ; pergamus, for holding false doctrine, rev. ii. , ; thyatira, for tolerating of jezebel and her false teaching, &c., rev. ii. , , ; and laodicea, for lukewarmness, rev. iii. , . therefore, all these were their sins, and we are bound, even by this divine threatening, to avoid the like by a divine warrant. . by remunerating or rewarding; whether he reward with blessings or with judgments. with blessings god rewarded the hebrew midwives, because they preserved the male children of israel, contrary to pharaoh's bloody command; _god made them houses_, exod. i. , , . he will have the elders that rule well _counted worthy of double honor_, &c.; i.e. rewarded with a bountiful, plentiful maintenance, tim. v. . therefore, their ruling in the church is of divine right, for which god appoints such a good reward. contrariwise, with judgments god rewarded king saul, for offering a burnt-offering himself, sam. xiii. - ; uzzah, for touching the ark, though it was ready to fall, sam. vi. , ; and king uzziah, for going into the temple to burn incense, chron. xxvi. . none of these being priests, yet presuming to meddle with the priest's office. a rule for all persons, being not church officers, yea, though they be princes or supreme magistrates, that they are hereby warned by the divine law, not to usurp church authority or offices to themselves. god rewarded the corinthians with the judgments of weakness, sickness, and death, for unworthy receiving of the lord's supper, cor. xi. . so that this is a divine warning for all after churches against unworthy communicating. chapter vi. iv. _of a divine right by divine acts._ iv. by divine acts. whatsoever matters of religion were erected in, or conferred upon the church of god, by god, or any person of the blessed trinity, and are left recorded in the scripture, they are of divine right, by the will and appointment of jesus christ. shall divine approbation, yea, shall the saints' binding example hold forth to us a divine right, and shall not the divine actions of god, christ, and the spirit, do it much more? take some instances: the lord's-day sabbath, under the new testament, was it not instituted (the seventh day being changed to the first day of the week) by the acts of christ, having now perfected the spiritual creation of the new world? viz: by his resurrection and apparitions to his disciples on that day, and miraculous blessing and sanctifying of that day, by pouring forth the gifts of the holy ghost, acts ii., all which were seconded with the apostolical practice in the primitive churches, acts xx. , &c.; cor. xvi. , . and do not the churches of christ generally conclude upon these grounds, that the lord's-day sabbath is of divine warrant? thus circumcision is abrogated of divine right, by christ's act, instituting baptism instead thereof, col. ii. , . the passover is abolished of divine right, by christ himself, our true passover, _being sacrificed for us_, cor. v. ; and the lord's supper being instituted a memorial of christ's death instead of it, matt, xxvi., mark xiv., luke xxii. and the whole ceremonial law is antiquated and made void by christ's death, accomplishing all those dark types; therefore christ, immediately before his yielding up the ghost, cried, _it is finished_, john xix. . see col. ii. ; eph. ii. , ; _abolishing the law of commandments in ordinances_, heb. viii. , and x. , , &c. thus by christ's act of giving the keys of the kingdom of heaven to peter and the apostles, matt. xvi. , and xviii. , , the keys belong to the officers of the church by divine right. by god's act of _setting in the church some, first apostles_, &c., cor. xii. , all those officers belong to the general visible church by divine right. by christ's act of bounty upon his triumphant ascension into heaven, _in giving gifts to men_, eph. iv. , , ; all those church officers being christ's gifts, are of divine right. finally, by the holy ghost's act, in setting elders, overseers over the flock, acts xx. , elders are such overseers by divine right. chapter vii. v. _of a divine right by divine precepts._ v. finally, and primarily, by divine precepts, whatsoever in matters of religion is commanded or forbidden by god in his word, that is accordingly a duty or sin, by divine right: as, the duties of the whole moral law, the ten words, commanded of god, exod. xx.; deut. v. believing in christ, commanded of god, john iii. . the plentiful and honorable maintenance of ministers, commanded of god, tim. v. , ; cor. ix. - , , ; gal. vi. . the people's esteeming, loving, and obeying their pastors and teachers, commanded of god, thess. v. ; heb. xiii. , . ministers' diligence and faithfulness, in feeding and watching over their flocks, commanded of god, acts xx. ; tim. iv. - ; pet. iv. - ; with innumerable commands and precepts of all sorts: now all things so commanded are evidently of divine right, and without gainsaying, granted on all hands, even by erastians themselves. but the question will be, how far we shall extend this head of _divine commands_. for clearness' sake, thus distinguish, thus resolve: god's commands are either immediate or mediate. . immediate divine commands: as those which god propounds and urges; as the ten commandments, exod. xx., deut. v., and all other injunctions of his in his word positively laid down. of such commands, the apostle saith, "i command, yet not i, but the lord," cor. vii. . now these immediate commands of god, in regard of their manner of publishing and propounding, are either explicit or implicit. . explicit: which are expressly and in plain terms laid down, as the letter of the commandments of the decalogue, exod. xx. the commands of christ, "feed my lambs, feed my sheep," john xxi.; "go, disciple ye all nations," &c., matt, xxviii. ; "do this in remembrance of me," matt, xxvi; cor. xi. , , &c. now whatsoever is expressly commanded of god in plain, evident terms, that is of divine right, without all color of controversy. only take this caution, the divine right of things enjoined by god's express command, is to be interpreted according to the nature of the thing commanded, and the end or scope of the lord in commanding: e.g. . some things god commands morally, to be of perpetual use; as to honor father and mother, &c.; these are of divine right forever. . some things he commands but positively, to be of use for a certain season; as the ceremonial administrations till christ should come, for the jewish church, and the judicial observances for their jewish polity; and all these positive laws were of divine right till christ abrogated them. . some things he commands only by way of trial, not with intention that the things commanded should be done, but that his people's fear, love, and obedience may be proved, tried, &c. thus god commanded abraham to offer up his son isaac for a burnt-offering, gen. xxii.: such things are of divine right only in such cases of special infallible command. . some things he commands extraordinarily in certain select and special cases: as, _israel to borrow jewels of the egyptians to rob them_, without intention ever to restore them, exod. xi. , &c. the disciples to _go preach_--yet to _provide neither gold nor silver_, &c. matt. x. - . the elders of the church (while miracles were of use in the church) _to anoint the sick with oil in the name of the lord_, for their recovery, james v. . these and like extraordinary commands were only of force by divine right, in these extraordinary select cases, when they were propounded. . implicit, or implied: which are either comprehensively contained in or under the express terms and letter of the command; or, consequentially, are deducible from the express command. comprehensively, many things are contained in a command, that are not expressed in the very letter of the command. thus sound interpreters of the decalogue generally confess, that all precepts thereof include the whole parts under the general term, and god wills many things by them more than the bare words signify: e.g. in negative commands, forbidding sin, we are to understand the positive precepts prescribing the contrary duties; and so, on the contrary, under affirmative commands, we are to understand the negative thereof: thus christ expounds the sixth commandment, matt. v. - , and ver. , to the end of the chapter. so when any evil is forbidden, not only the outward gross acts, but all inward acts and degrees thereof, with all causes and occasions, all fruits and effects thereof, are forbidden likewise: as, under killing, provoking terms, rash anger, matt. v. , ; under adultery, wanton looks, lustful thoughts, &c., matt. v. - . now all things comprehended in a command (though not expressed) are of divine right. consequentially, many things are clearly deducible from express commands in scripture, by clear, unforced, infallible, and undeniable consequence. now what things are commanded by necessary consequence, they are of divine right, as well as things in express terms prescribed: e.g. in the case of baptism, have the ordinary ministers of the new testament any punctual express command to baptize? yet, by consequence, it is evident infallibly, the apostles are commanded to baptize, and the promise is made to them by christ, that he _will be with them always to the end of the world_, matt, xxviii. - , which cannot be interpreted of the apostles' persons only; for they were not to live till the world's end, but are dead and gone long ago; but of the apostles and their successors, the ministers of the gospel to the world's end; now to whom the promise of christ's presence is here to be applied, to them the precept of baptizing and teaching is intended by clear consequence and deduction. so, infants of christian parents under the new testament are commanded to be baptized by consequence; for that the infants of god's people under the old testament were commanded to be circumcised, gen. xvii.; for, the privileges of believers under the new testament are as large as the privileges of believers under the old testament: and the children of believers under the new testament are federally holy, and within the covenant of god, as well as the children of believers under the old testament, gen. xvii., compared with rom. xi. ; cor. vii. : and what objections can be made from infants' incapacity now, against their baptism, might as well then have been made against their being circumcised: and why children should once be admitted to the initiating sacrament, and not still be admitted to the like initiating sacrament, (the lord of the covenant and sacrament nowhere forbidding them,) there can be no just ground. and baptism succeeds in the room of circumcision, col. ii. , . _thus in case of the lord's supper_, apostles were commanded to dispense it, and men commanded to receive it. "do ye this in remembrance of me," matt, xxvi., cor. xi. , ; yet by consequence, the ministers of the gospel succeeding the apostles, being stewards of the mysteries of god, have the same charge laid upon them; and women as well as men are enjoined to keep that sacrament, whole families communicating in the passover, the forerunner of the lord's supper, exod. xiv., and male and female being _all one in christ_, gal. iii. . _thus in case of the maintenance of ministers under the new testament_: the apostle proves it by consequence to be commanded, god hath ordained, &c., from god's command of not _muzzling the ox that treads out the corn_, and of maintaining the priests under the old testament, cor. ix. , &c.; l tim. v. , . and thus, in case of church polity, the hebrews are commanded to obey and be subordinate to their rulers in the lord, heb. xiii. ; consequently, other churches are commanded not only to have rulers, but to obey and submit to their rule and government. timothy is commanded to lay hands _suddenly on none_, &c., in ordaining of preaching elders, tim. v. , ; consequently, such as succeed timothy in ordaining of preaching elders are enjoined therein to do nothing suddenly, hastily, &c., but upon mature deliberation. the apostle commands, that men must _first be proved, and found blameless, before they execute the deacon's office_, tim. iii. ; by consequence, it is much more necessarily commanded, that ruling elders should first be proved, and be found blameless, before they exercise rule; and that ministers be examined, and found blameless, before they be ordained to or execute the ministerial function, for these offices are of greater and higher concernment than the deacon's office. . mediate divine commands, which are mediately from god, but immediately from men; and these come under a double consideration, being either, . such commands whose general principles are immediately the lord's, yet accommodations and determinations of particulars are from men, by apparent deductions from those grounds. of such the apostle saith, "but to the rest speak i, not the lord," cor. vii. ; not that paul delivered any commands merely of his own head, (for he had "obtained mercy of the lord to be faithful," ver. , and did _think that he had the spirit of the lord_, ver. ,) but grounded his commands upon the word of god, whereof the apostle was the interpreter. the case is concerning divorce when it fell out that believer and unbeliever were married together: the lord had given general rules about divorce, but no particular rule about this case, (it being not incident to the jews;) the apostle, therefore, accommodates the general rule to the particular case; he, not the lord, determined the particular. this sound interpreters conceive to be the apostle's meaning: thus the apostle, treating of order in public assemblies, saith, "the prophet and the spiritual man must acknowledge the things which i write, to be the commandments of the lord," cor. xiv. . understand it mediately, as being agreeable to the lord's principles revealed: for otherwise how should the prophet know what the lord immediately revealed to the apostle? or why should we think it probable that what paul here speaks of order and decency in church assemblies, was immediately and expressly delivered him by speech or revelation from the lord, seeing these particulars have such easy and apparent deduction from general principles, and revelations are not unnecessarily multiplied? yet these particular deductions and determinations are here styled the commandments of the lord. . such commands, which are accidental and occasional, whose grounds and general principles are also the lord's; yet determination or deduction of particulars can hardly be made, but in such emergent cases and occasions accidentally falling out, as necessitate thereunto. as in that case, acts xv., when the synod commands abstinence _from blood, and things strangled_, and that necessarily, (though the levitical law was now abrogated,) because the common use thereof by accident grew very scandalous: therefore, by the law of charity, the use of christian liberty is to be suspended, when otherwise the scandal of my brother is endangered; yet from any ground of equity to have provided such a particular rule as this, without such a case occurring, would scarce have been possible. now the synod saith of this determination, "it seemed good unto the holy ghost, and unto us," acts xv. and another synod, walking by the like light and rule of the scripture as they did, may say of themselves as the apostles said. part ii. of the nature of that church government which is of divine right, according to scripture. chapter i. _the description of church government._ the nature of that church government which is of divine right according to scripture, comes next to be considered; (having so fully seen what the nature of a divine right is, and how many several ways matters in religion may be said to be of divine right.) for the fuller and clearer unfolding whereof, let us first see how church government may be described; and then how that description may be explained and justified by the word of god, in the branches of it. church government may be thus described: church government is a power[ ] or authority spiritual,[ ] revealed in the holy scriptures,[ ] derived from jesus christ[ ] our mediator,[ ] only to his own officers, and by them exercised in dispensing of the word,[ ] seals,[ ] censures,[ ] and all other ordinances of christ,[ ] for the edifying of the church of christ.[ ] this description of church government may be thus explained and proved. three things are principally considerable herein, viz: . the thing defined, or described, viz. church government. . the general nature of this government which it hath in common with all other governments, viz. power or authority. . the special difference whereby it is distinguished from all other governments whatsoever. herein six things are observable. . the special rule, wherein it is revealed, and whereby it is to be measured, viz. the holy scriptures. . the proper author, or fountain, whence this power is derived, viz. from jesus christ our mediator, peculiarly. . the special kind of this power or authority, viz. it is a spiritual power, it is a derived power. . the several parts or acts wherein this power sets forth itself, viz. in dispensing the word, seals, censures, and all other ordinances of christ. . the special end or scope of this power, viz. the edifying of the church of christ. . the proper and distinct subject or receptacle wherein christ hath placed and intrusted all this power, viz. only his own officers. all these things are comprehended in this description, and unto these several heads the whole nature of church government may be reduced. so that, these being explained and confirmed by the scriptures, it will easily and fully be discovered, what that church government is which is of divine right, and by the will and appointment of jesus christ, our mediator. chapter ii. _of the subject described, viz. church government, the terms being briefly opened._ touching the thing defined or described, it is church government. here two terms are to be a little explained: . what is meant by church? . what is meant by government? . church is originally derived from a greek word,[ ] which signifies to call forth. hence church properly signifies a company or multitude, called forth; and so in this notation of the word, three things are implied: . the term from which they are called. . the term to which they are called. . the medium or mean by which they are brought from one term to another, viz. by calling. and these things thus generally laid down, do agree to every company that may properly be called a church. now, this word translated church, never signifies one particular person, but many congregated, gathered, or called together; and it hath several acceptations or uses in the new testament: . it is used in a common and civil sense, for any civil meeting, or concourse of people together: thus that tumultuous and riotous assembly is called a church, acts xix. , , . . it is used in a special religious sense, for a sacred meeting or assembly of god's people together: and thus it signifies the church of god, either, . invisible, comprehending only the elect of god, as heb. xii. , "and church of the first-born," eph. v. , &c., "even as christ is the head of the church." . or, visible, comprehending the company of those that are called to the visible profession of the faith in christ, and obedience unto christ, according to the gospel, as acts ii. , and v. , and viii. , and xii. , ; cor. xii. , and often elsewhere. now in this description, church is not understood of a civil assembly; for such assemblies are governed by civil power. nor of the invisible church of christ; for, as the church is invisible, (to speak properly,) it is invisibly governed by christ and his spirit, rom. viii. ; gal. ii. . but of the visible church of christ, for which christ hath provided a visible polity, a visible government, by visible officers and ordinances, for the good both of the visible and invisible members thereof, which is that church government here spoken of. . government is the translation of a greek word, which properly signifies the government of a ship with chart, &c., by the pilot or mariner, and thence metaphorically is used to signify any government, political or ecclesiastical. but the word is only once used in all the new testament, viz. cor. xii. : _governments_, h.e. ruling elders in the church; the abstract being put for the concrete, governments for governors. but whatever be the terms or names whereby government is expressed, government generally considered seems still to signify a superiority of office, power, and authority, which one hath and exerciseth over another. this is the notion of government in general. so that church government, in general, notes that pre-eminence or superiority of office, power, and authority, which some have and exercise over others in spiritual matters, in church affairs. and here we are further to consider, that church government is either, . magisterial, lordly, and supreme; and so it is primitively and absolutely in god, matt. xxviii. . dispensatorily and mediatorily in jesus christ our mediator only, whom god hath made both lord and christ, acts ii. ; matt, xxiii. , ; cor. viii. , and to whom god alone hath dispensed all authority and power, matt, xxviii. , ; john v. . now church government, as settled on christ only, is monarchical. . ministerial, stewardly, and subordinate; and this power jesus christ our mediator hath committed to his church guides and officers in his church, cor. x. , and xiii. ; and church government, as intrusted in the hands of church guides, is representative. this ministerial church government, committed by christ to his officers, may be considered either, . as it was dispensed under the old testament, in a mosaical, levitical polity; in which sense we here speak not of church government; (that polity being dissolved and antiquated.) . or, as it is to be dispensed now under the new testament, in an evangelical christian polity, by christ's new testament officers; and this is that church government which is here described, viz. not the supreme magisterial government of christ, but the subordinate ministerial government of christ's officers; and this not as it was under the old testament, but as it ought to be now under the new testament. chapter iii. _of the general nature of church government, viz. power or authority._ touching the general nature of this government, which it participates in common with all other governments, it is power or authority. here divers particulars are to be cleared and proved, viz: . what is meant by power or authority? the word chiefly used in the new testament for power or authority is used not only to denote christ's supreme power, as luke iv. ; mark i. , with luke vi. ; but also his officers' derived power, as with cor. x. , and xiii. . it is used to signify divers things: as, . dignity, privilege, prerogative. "to them he gave prerogative to be the sons of god," john i. . . liberty, leave, license; as, cor. viii. , "but so that your liberty become not an offence to the weak;" and cor. ix. , , "have not we liberty to eat and drink? have not we liberty to lead about a sister, a wife?" . but most usually right and authority; as, matt. xxi. , , , and xxviii. ; so cor. x. , and xiii. : in this last sense especially it is here to be taken in this description of church government. power or authority in general is by some[ ] thus described: that whereby one may claim or challenge any thing to one's self, without the injury of any other. power is exercised either about things, or actions, or persons. . about things, as when a man disposes of his own goods, which he may do without wrong to any. . about actions, as when a man acts that which offends no law. . about persons, as when a man commands his children or servants that are under his own power.--proportionably, the power of the church in government is exercised, . about things, as when it is to be determined by the word, what the church may call her own of right; as, that all the officers are hers, eph; iv. , , , ; cor. xii. : that all the promises are hers, pet. i. ; tim. iv. : that jesus christ, and with christ all things, are hers, cor. iii. , . the keys of the kingdom of heaven are hers, matt. xvi. , and xviii. , &c.; john xx. , , &c.: these things the church may challenge without wrong to any. . about actions. as when it is to be determined by the word, what the church of divine right may do, or not do: as, the church may not _bear with them that are evil_, rev. ii. ; _nor tolerate women to teach_, or false doctrine to be broached, rev. ii. , &c. the church may _warn the unruly_, thess. v. : excommunicate the obstinate and incorrigible, matt, xviii. , ; cor. v. , , : receive again penitent persons to the communion of the faithful, cor. ii. , : make binding decrees in synods, even to the restraining of the outward exercise of due christian liberty for a time, for prevention of scandal, acts xv. . about persons. the church also hath a power to be exercised, for calling them to their duty, and keeping them in their duty according to the word of god: as, to _rebuke them before all_, that sin before all, tim. v. : to prove deacons, acts vi. , , &c.; tim. iii. : _to ordain elders_, tit. i. ; acts xiv. : to use the _keys of the kingdom of heaven_, in the dispensing of all ordinances, matt, xviii. - , and john xx. , , with matt, xxviii. - : and, in a word, (as the cause shall require,) to judge of all them that are within the church, cor. v. . this is the power and authority wherein the nature of church government generally doth consist. . that all governments in scripture are styled by the common names of power or authority: e.g. the absolute government of god over all things, is power, acts i. : the supreme government of jesus christ, is power, matt, xxviii. ; rev. xii. : the political government of the magistrate in commonwealths, is power, as john xix. ; rom. xiii. - ; luke xxiii. : the military government of soldiers under superior commanders, is power, &c., matt. viii. : the family government that the master of a family hath over his household, is power, tim. iii. , "if any man know not how to rule his own house." yea, the very tyrannical rule that sin and satan exercise over carnal men, is styled power, acts xxvi. ; col. i. . thus, generally, all sorts of government are commonly called power or authority. . that thus the scripture also styles church government, viz. power or authority, as cor. x. , "of our authority" (or power) "which the lord hath given us for your edification." paul speaks it of this power of church government. and again, speaking of the same subject, he saith, "lest being present, i should use sharpness, according to the power which the lord hath given me to edification, and not to destruction." cor. xiii. . for further clearing hereof, consider the several sorts or kinds of ecclesiastical power, according to this type or scheme of ecclesiastical power and authority here subjoined. ecclesiastical power is either supreme and magisterial; or subordinate and ministerial. i. supreme magisterial power, consisting in a lordly dominion and sovereignty over the church; and may come under a double consideration, viz: . as it is justly attributed to god alone. thus the absolute sovereignty and supreme power (to speak properly) is only his over the church, and all creatures in the whole universe: now this supreme divine power is either essential or mediatorial. . essential, viz. that power which belongs to the essence of god, and to every person of the trinity in common, as god. "his kingdom ruleth over all," psal. ciii. . "god ruleth in jacob to the ends of the earth," psal. lix. . "the kingdom is the lord's, and he is the governor among the nations," psal. xxii. . . mediatorial, viz. that magisterial, lordly, and sovereign power or dominion, which god hath dispensed, delegated, or committed to christ as mediator, being both head of the church, and over all things to the church. this power is peculiar only to jesus christ our mediator. "all power is given to me both in heaven and in earth," matt. xxviii. . "the father loveth the son, and hath given all things into his hand," john iii. . "the father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the son," john v. . "one is your master, even christ," matt. xxiii. , . "god hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church," eph. i. - .--this power of christ is the only proper fountain whence all ecclesiastical power flows to the church. ii. as it is unjustly arrogated and usurped by man; whether, . by the pope to himself; who arrogates to himself to be christ's vicar, the supreme visible head on earth of the visible catholic church of christ; who exalts himself above all that is called god on earth, over magistrates, princes, kings, yea, over the souls and consciences of men, and the holy scriptures of god themselves, &c., thess. ii. ; rev. xviii. - . . by earthly princes to themselves: as, king henry viii., who, casting off the papal power and primacy, was vested with it himself within his own dominions, over the church, accounting himself the fountain of all ecclesiastical power, (it being by statute law annexed to the crown,) and assuming to himself that papal title of supreme head of the church, &c., which is sharply taxed by orthodox divines of foreign churches. thus, that most learned rivet, taxing bishop gardiner for extolling the king's primacy, saith, "for, he that did as yet nourish the doctrine of the papacy, as after it appeared, did erect a new papacy in the person of the king."--andrew rivet, _expli. decalog. edit._ ii. page . judicious calvin saith thus: "and to this day how many are there in the papacy that heap upon kings whatsoever right and power they can possibly, so that there may not be any dispute of religion; but should this power be in one king, to decree according to his own pleasure whatsoever he pleaseth, and that should remain fixed without controversy? they that at first so much extolled henry, king of england, (certainly they were inconsiderate men,) gave unto him supreme power of all things, and this grievously wounded me always; for they were blasphemers, when they called him the supreme head of the church under christ: certainly this was too much. but let this remain buried, because they sinned by an inconsiderate zeal. but when that impostor, (he means bishop gardiner, as rivet notes,) which after was chancellor of this proserpina, which there at this day overcometh all the devils, he when he was at ratisbon did not contend with reasons, (i speak of this last chancellor, who was bishop of winchester,) but as i now began to say, he much regarded not scripture testimonies; but said, it was at the pleasure of the king to abrogate the statutes, and institute new rites. touching fasting, there the king can enjoin and command the people, that this or that day the people may eat flesh: yea, that it is lawful for the king to forbid priests to marry; yea, that it is lawful for the king to forbid to the people the use of the cup in the lord's supper; that it is lawful for the king to decree this or that in his kingdom. why? because the king hath the supreme power. it is certain, if kings do their duty, they are both patrons of religion, and nurse-fathers of the church, as isaiah calls them, isa. xlix. . this, therefore, is principally required of kings, that they use the sword wherewith they are furnished, for the maintaining of god's worship. but in the mean time there are inconsiderate men, that make them too spiritual; and this fault reigns up and down germany; yea, spreads too much in these countries. and now we perceive what fruits spring from this root, viz: that princes, and all that are in place of government, think themselves to be so spiritual, that there is no other ecclesiastical government. and this sacrilege creeps among us, because they cannot measure their office with certain and lawful bounds, but are of opinion they cannot reign, unless they abolish all the authority of the church, and become the chief judges both in doctrine, and in the whole spiritual government. at the beginning they pretend some zeal; but mere ambition drives them, that so solicitously they snatch all things to themselves. therefore there ought to be a temper kept; for this disease hath always reigned in princes, to desire to bend religion according to their own pleasure and lust, and for their own profits in the mean time. for they have respect to their profit, because for the most part they are not acted by the spirit of god, but their ambition carries them." thus calvin in amos vii. . oh what exclamations would this holy man have poured out, had he lived to see the passages of our days! _quis talia fando temperet a lachrymis!_[ ] ii. subordinate ministerial power, which is either, . indirectly, improperly, and only objectively ecclesiastical or spiritual, (so called, because it is exercised about spiritual or ecclesiastical objects, though formally in its own nature it be properly a mere civil or political power.) this is that power which is allowed to the civil magistrate about religion; he is _an overseer of things without the church_, having an external care of religion as a _nurse-father_, isa. xlix. ; as had hezekiah, josiah, asa, jehoshaphat, &c.; so as, by the law, to restore religion decayed, reform the church corrupted, protect the church reformed, &c. . directly, properly, and formally ecclesiastical or spiritual, having respect properly to matters within the church. this power only belongs to church officers, who are overseers of things within, cor. iv. , ; cor. x. , and xiii. ; and this is either, . more special and peculiar to the office of some church governors only, as the power of preaching the gospel, dispensing the sacraments, &c., which is only committed to the ministers of the gospel, and which they, as ministers, may execute, in virtue of their office. this is called by some the key of doctrine, or key of knowledge; by others, the power of order, or of special office. see matt, xxviii. - ; rom. x. ; tim. v. . . more general and common to the office of all church governors, as the power of censures, &c., wherein ruling elders act with ministers, admonishing the unruly, excommunicating the incorrigible, remitting and receiving again of the penitent into church communion. compare matt, xviii. , ; cor. v. , , , , - ; cor. ii. - , with rom. xii. ; cor. xii. ; and tim. v. . this is called the key of discipline, or power of jurisdiction. chapter iv. _of the special difference of church government from other governments. and first of the special rule of church government, viz. the holy scriptures._ touching the special difference, whereby church government is in this description distinguished from all other governments whatsoever, it consists of many branches, which will require more large explication and confirmation; and shall be handled, not according to that order, as they are first named in the description, but according to the order of nature, as they most conduce to the clearing of one another, every branch being distinctly laid down, as followeth: the rule or standard of church government is only the holy scriptures. thus in the description, church government is styled a power or authority revealed in the holy scriptures. for clearing hereof, take this proposition, viz: jesus christ our mediator hath laid down in his word a perfect and sufficient rule for the government of his visible church under the new testament, which all the members of his church ought to observe and submit unto until the end of the world. for clearing this, weigh these considerations: . the government of the visible church under the new testament is as needful as ever it was under the old testament. what necessity of government could be pleaded then, which may not as strongly be pleaded now? is not the visible church of christ a mixed body of sound and unsound members, of fruitful and barren branches, of tares and wheat, of good and bad, of sincere believers and hypocrites, of sheep and goats, &c., now as well as it was then? is there not as great cause to separate and distinguish by church power, between the precious and the vile, the clean and the unclean, (who are apt to defile, infect, and leaven one another,) now as well as then? ought there not to be as great care over the holy ordinances of god, to preserve and guard them from contempt and pollution, by a hedge and fence of government, now as well as then? is it not as necessary that by government sin be suppressed, piety promoted, and the church edified, now as well as then? but under the old testament the church visible had a perfect rule of church government, (as is granted on all sides:) and hath jesus christ left his church now under the new testament in a worse condition? . the lord jesus christ (upon whose shoulder god hath laid the government, isa. ix. , and unto whom _all power both in heaven and in earth is given_ by the father to that end, matt. xxviii. ) _is most faithful in all his house_, the church, fully to discharge all the trust committed to him, and completely to supply his church with all necessaries both to her being, and well-being ecclesiastical. moses was faithful in the old testament; for, as god gave him a pattern of church government in the ceremonial law, so he did all things according to the pattern; and shall the lord jesus be less faithful as _a son over his own house,_ than was moses as a servant over another's house? "consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, christ jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also moses was faithful in all his house--and moses verily was faithful in all his house as a servant--but christ as a son over his own house, whose house are we," heb. iii. , , , . yea, "jesus christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever," heb. xiii. , giving a pattern of church government to moses, and the church officers of the old testament, (the church being then as a child in nonage and minority, gal, iv. , &c.,) can we imagine he hath not as carefully left a pattern of church government to his apostles, and the church officers of the new testament, the church being now as a man come to full age and maturity? . the holy scriptures are now completely and unalterably perfect, containing such exact rules for the churches of god in all states and ages, both under the old and new testament, that not only the people of god, of all sorts and degrees, but also the men of god, and officers of the church, of all sorts and ages, may thereby be made perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. "the law of the lord is perfect," psal. xix. . "all scripture is given by inspiration of god, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of god may be perfect, thoroughly furnished to every good work," tim. iii. , . and in his first epistle to timothy, (which is the church's directory for divine worship, discipline, and government,) he saith, "these things write i unto thee--that thou mightest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of god, which is the church of the living god," (this is spoken in reference to matters of church government peculiarly,) tim. iii. , . and the apostle, having respect to the former matters in his epistle, saith to timothy, and to all timothies after him, "i give thee charge in the sight of god--that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our lord jesus christ," (therefore, this charge is intended for all ministers after timothy to the world's end,) tim. vi. , , compared with tim. v. , observe _these things_. and the perfection of the whole scripture canon is sealed up with that testimony in the close of the last book, "if any man shall add unto these things, god shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, god shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book," rev. xxii. , . now, if the scriptures be thus accurately perfect and complete, they must needs contain a sufficient pattern, and rules of church government now under the new testament; which rules are scattered here and there in several books of the word, (as flowers grow scattered in the field, as silver is mingled in the mine, or as gold is mixed with the sand,) that so god may exercise his church, in sifting and searching them out. . all the substantials of church government under the new testament are laid down in the word in particular rules, whether they be touching officers, ordinances, censures, assemblies, and the compass of their power, as after will appear; and all the circumstantials are laid down in the word, under general rules of order, decency, and edification, cor, xiv. , and ver. , , . consequently, there is a perfect and sufficient rule for church government laid down in the scriptures, which is obligatory upon all. chapter v. _of the proper author or fountain, whence church government and the authority thereof is derived by divine right, viz. jesus christ our mediator._ as the scripture is the rule of church government, so christ is the sole root and fountain whence it originally flows; therefore, it is said in the description, church government is a power or authority, derived from jesus christ our mediator. take it in this proposition, viz: jesus christ our mediator hath all authority and power in heaven and in earth, for the government of his church, committed unto him from god the father. this is clearly evident, . by plain testimonies of scripture, declaring that the government of the church is laid upon his shoulder, to which end the father hath invested him with all authority and power. "the government shall be upon his shoulder," &c., isa. ix. , . "all power is given me in heaven and in earth: go, disciple ye all nations," &c., matt, xxviii. , . "he shall be great, and shall be called the son of the highest, and the lord god shall give unto him the throne of his father david; and he shall reign over the house of jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end," luke i. , . "the father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the son; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the son of man," john v. , . "the father loveth the son, and hath given all things into his hand," john iii. . "it is he that hath the key of david, that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth," rev. iii. . "god raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body," eph. i. - , . by eminent princely titles, attributed unto jesus christ our mediator, having such authority, power, rule, and government legibly engraven upon their foreheads, in reference to his church. "a governor which shall feed" (or rule) "my people israel," matt. ii. . "that great shepherd of the sheep," heb. xiii. . "that shepherd and bishop of our souls," pet. ii. ult. "one is your master, christ," matt, xxiii. , . "christ as a son over his own house," heb. iii. . "the head of the body the church," col. i. ; eph. v. . "head over all things to the church," eph. i. . "to us but one lord jesus christ," cor. viii. . "made of god both lord and christ," acts ii. . "lord of lords," rev. xix. . "he is lord of all," acts x. . "god's king set on his holy hill of zion," psal. ii. . "david their king," jer. xxx. ; ezek. xxxiv. , and xxxvii. ; hos. iii. . "king of kings," rev. xix. . . by those primitive, fundamental, imperial acts of power, and supreme authority in the government of the church, which are peculiarly ascribed to jesus christ our mediator, as appropriate to him alone, above all creatures, e.g. . the giving of laws to his church. "the law of christ," gal. vi. . "gave commandments to the apostles," acts i. . "there is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy," james iv. . "the lord is our judge, the lord is our lawgiver," (or statute-maker,) "the lord is our king," isa. xxxiii. . . the constituting of ordinances, whereby his church shall be edified: as _preaching the word_, matt. x. ; cor. i. ; matt, xxviii. - ; mark xvi. . _administering of the sacraments. baptism_, john i. , with matt. iii. , &c., and xxviii. , . _the lord's supper_, cor. xi. , , &c.; matt. xxvi. , &c.; mark xiv. , &c.; luke xxii. , . _dispensing of censures_, matt. xvi. , with xviii. - , &c. . the ordaining and appointing of his own church officers, by whom his ordinances shall be dispensed and managed in his church. "he gave gifts to men; and he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers," eph. iv. , , ; compare cor. xii. ; thess. v. ; acts xx. . . the dispensing of christ's ordinances, not in the name of magistrates, ministers, churches, councils, &c., but in christ's own name. the apostles did "speak and teach in the name of jesus," acts iv. , . "whatsoever ye ask in my name," john xiv. , , and xvi. . "baptizing them in the name of the father, and of the son," matt, xxviii. , . "they were baptized in the name of the lord jesus," acts xix. . "in the name--with the power of our lord jesus christ, to deliver such a one to satan," cor. v. . yea, assemblies of the church are to be in christ's name: "where two or three are gathered together in my name," matt, xviii. . chapter vi. _of the special kind, or peculiar nature of this power and authority._ having viewed what is the rule of this authority, viz. the holy scriptures, and what is the fountain of this authority, viz. jesus christ our mediator; now consider the special kind or peculiar nature of this authority, which the description lays down in two several expressions, viz: . it is a spiritual power or authority. . it is a derived power, &c. . the power or authority of church government is a spiritual power. spiritual, not so perfectly and completely as christ's supreme government is spiritual, who alone hath absolute and immediate power and authority over the very spirits and consciences of men; ruling them by the invisible influence of his spirit and grace as he pleaseth, john iii. ; rom. viii. ; gal. ii. : but so purely, properly, and merely spiritual is this power, that it really, essentially, and specifically differs, and is contradistinct from that power which is properly civil, worldly, and political, in the hand of the political magistrate. now, that this power of church government is in this sense properly, purely, merely spiritual: and that by divine right may be evidenced many ways according to scripture; forasmuch as the rule, fountain, matter, form, subject, object, end, and the all of this power, is only spiritual. . spiritual in the rule, revealing and regulating it, viz. not any principles of state policy, parliament rolls, any human statutes, laws, ordinances, edicts, decrees, traditions, or precepts of men whatsoever, according to which cities, provinces, kingdoms, empires, may be happily governed: but the holy scriptures, that perfect divine canon, wherein the lord christ hath revealed sufficiently how his own house, his church, shall be ruled, tim. iii. , ; and all his ordinances, word, sacraments, censures, &c., shall therein be dispensed, tim. iii. , . (see chap. iv.) now this scripture is divinely breathed, or inspired of god--holy men writing not according to the fallible will of man, but the infallible acting of the holy ghost, tim. iii. , with pet. i. , . . spiritual in the fountain or author of this power, whence it originally flows; it being derived, not from any magistrate, prince, or potentate in the world, not from any man on earth, or the will of man; but only from jesus christ our mediator, himself being the sole or first receptacle of all power from the father, matt. xxviii. ; john v. : and consequently, the very fountain of all power and authority to his church, matt. xxviii. - , with john xx. , ; matt. xvi. , and xviii. - ; cor. x. . see this formerly cleared, chap. iii. and v. . spiritual in the matter of it, and the several parts of this power: therefore called the _keys of the kingdom of heaven_, not the keys of the kingdoms of earth, matt. xvi. , (as christ professed his _kingdom was not of this world_, john xviii. ; and when one requested of christ, that by his authority he would speak to his brother to divide the inheritance with him, christ disclaimed utterly all such worldly, earthly power, saying, "man, who made me a judge or a divider over you?" luke xii. , .) consider these heavenly spiritual keys in the kinds of them, whether of doctrine or discipline; or in the acts of them, whether of binding or loosing, in all which they are spiritual: e.g. the doctrine which is preached is not human but divine, revealed in the scriptures by the spirit of god, and handling most sublime spiritual mysteries of religion, pet. i.; tim. iii. , . the seals administered are not worldly seals, confirming and ratifying any carnal privileges, liberties, interests, authority, &c., but spiritual, _sealing the righteousness of faith_, rom. iv. ; the death and blood of jesus christ, with all the spiritual virtue and efficacy thereof unto his members, rom. v. ; gal. iii.; cor. x. , , and xi. , , &c. the censures dispensed are not pecuniary, corporal, or capital, by fines, confiscations, imprisonments, whippings, stocking, stigmatizing, or taking away of limb or life, (all such things this government meddles not withal, but leaves them to such as bear the civil sword,) but spiritual, that only concern the soul and conscience; as _admonishing_ of the unruly and disorderly, matt, xviii. , ; _casting out the incorrigible_ and obstinate from the spiritual fellowship of the saints, matt. xviii. , ; cor. v. ult.: _receiving again into spiritual communion_ of the faithful, such as are penitent, cor. ii. . thus the binding and loosing, which are counted the chief acts of the keys, are spiritually by our saviour interpreted to be the _remitting and retaining of sins_; compare matt, xviii. , , with john xx. , . . spiritual in the form and manner, as well as in the matter. for this power is to be exercised, not in a natural manner, or in any carnal name, of earthly magistrate, court, parliament, prince, or potentate whatsoever, as all secular civil power is; no, nor in the name of saints, ministers, or the churches: but in a spiritual manner, in the name of the lord jesus, from whom alone all his officers receive their commissions. the word is to be _preached in his name_, acts xvii. : seals dispensed in his name, matt. xxviii. ; acts xix. : censures inflicted in his name, cor. v. , &c. (see chap. v.) . spiritual in the subject intrusted with this power; which is not any civil, political, or secular magistrate, (as after will more fully appear, in chap. ix.) but spiritual officers, which christ himself hath instituted and bestowed upon his church, _apostles_, &c., _pastors, teachers, elders_, eph. iv. , , , . to these only he hath given the _keys of the kingdom of heaven_, matt. xvi. , and xviii. , , and xxviii. , ; john xx. - ; cor. x. , _authority which the lord hath given us_. these he hath made _governments in his church_, cor. xii. . to these he will have _obedience and subjection_ performed, heb. xiii. , and _double honor_ allowed, tim. v. . . spiritual in respect of the object about which this power is to be put forth and exercised, viz. not about things, actions, or persons civil, as such; but spiritual and ecclesiastical, as such. thus injurious actions, not as trespasses against any statute or law political; but as scandalous to our brethren, or the church of god, matt, xviii. , ; are considered and punished by this power. thus the incestuous person was cast out, because a wicked person in himself, and likely to leaven others by his bad example, cor. v. . thus the persons whom the church may judge are not the men of the world without the church, but those that are in some sense spiritual, and within the church, cor. v. . . spiritual also is this power in the scope and end of it. this the scripture frequently inculcates: e.g. a brother is to be admonished privately, publicly, &c., not for the gaining of our private interests, advantages, &c., but for _the gaining of our brother_, that his soul and conscience may be gained to god and to his duty, and he be reformed, matt, xviii. . the incestuous person is to be "delivered to satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of our lord jesus," cor. v. ; yea, the whole authority given to church guides from the lord was given to this end, _for the edification, not the destruction_ of the church, cor. x. , and xiii. ; all which, and such like, are spiritual ends. thus the power of church government here described is wholly and entirely a spiritual power, whether we respect the rule, root, matter, form, subject, object, or end thereof. so that in this respect it is really and specifically distinct from all civil power, and in no respect encroacheth upon, or can be prejudicial unto the magistrate's authority, which is properly and only political. . the power or authority of church government is a derived power. for clearing this, observe, there is a magisterial primitive supreme power, which is peculiar to jesus christ our mediator, (as hath been proved, chap. iii. and v:) and there is a ministerial, derivative, subordinate power, which the scripture declares to be in church guides, matt. xvi. , and xviii. ; john xx. , ; matt, xxviii. , ; cor. x. , and xiii. , and often elsewhere this is abundantly testified. but whence is this power originally derived to them? here we are carefully to consider and distinguish three things, touching this power or authority from one another, viz: st. the donation of the authority itself, and of the offices whereunto this power doth properly belong. d. the designation of particular persons to such offices as are vested with such power. d. the public protection, countenancing, authorizing, defending, and maintaining of such officers in the public exercise of such power within such and such realms or dominions. this being premised, we may clearly thus resolve, according to scripture warrant, viz. the designation or setting apart of particular individual persons to those offices in the church that have power and authority engraven upon them, is from the church nominating, electing, and ordaining of such persons thereunto, see acts iii. - ; tim. iv. , and v. ; tit. i. ; acts iv. . the public protection, defence, maintenance, &c., of such officers in the public exercise of the power and authority of their office in such or such dominions, is from the civil magistrate, as the _nursing-father_ of the church, isa. xlix. ; for it is by his authority and sanction that such public places shall be set apart for the public ministry, that such maintenance and reward shall be legally performed for such a ministry, that all such persons of such and such congregations shall be (in case they neglect their duty to such a ministry) punished with such political penalties, &c. but the donation of the office and spiritual authority annexed thereunto, is only derived from jesus christ our mediator. he alone gives all church officers, and therefore none may devise or superadd any new officers, eph. iv. , , , ; cor. xii. . and he alone commits all authority and power spiritual to those officers, for dispensing of word, sacraments, censures, and all ordinances, matt. xvi. , and xxviii. - ; john xx. - ; cor. x. , and xiii. : and therefore it is not safe for any creature to intrude upon this prerogative royal of christ to give any power to any officer of the church. none can give what he has not. chapter vii. _of the several parts or acts of this power of church government, wherein it puts forth itself in the church._ thus far of the special kind or peculiar nature of this authority; now to the several parts or acts of this power which the description comprehends in these expressions, (in dispensing the word, seals, censures, and all other ordinances of christ.) the evangelical ordinances which christ has set up in his church are many; and all of them by divine right that christ sets up. take both the enumeration of ordinances and the divine right thereof severally, as followeth. jesus christ our mediator hath instituted and appointed these ensuing administrations to be standing and perpetual ordinances in his church: which ordinances for method sake may be reduced into two heads, according to the distribution of the keys formerly laid down, (chap. iii.,) viz., ordinances appertaining, st, to the key of order or of doctrine; d, to the key of jurisdiction or of discipline. . ordinances appertaining to the key of order or doctrine, viz: . public prayer and thanksgiving are divine ordinances: for st, paul writing his first epistle to timothy, "that he might know how to behave himself in the house of god," tim. iii. , , among other directions in that epistle, gives this for one, "i exhort therefore that first of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men," tim. ii. , , "for this is good and acceptable in the sight of god our saviour," verse . . the apostle, regulating public prayers in the congregation, directing that they should be performed with the understanding, takes it for granted that public prayer was an ordinance of christ. "if i pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. what is it then? i will pray with the spirit, and will pray with the understanding also. else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned, say amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest? for thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified." cor. xiv. - . . further, the apostles did account public prayer to be of more concern than serving of tables, and providing for the necessities of the poor, yea, to be a principal part of their ministerial office, and therefore resolve to addict and "give themselves to the ministry of the word and to prayer," acts vi. ; and this was the church's practice in the purest times, acts i. , , whose pious action is for our imitation. . and jesus christ hath made gracious promises to public prayer, viz., of his presence with those who assemble in his name; and of audience of their prayers, matt, xviii. , . would christ so crown public prayer were it not his own ordinance? . singing of psalms is a divine ordinance, being, . prescribed; "be filled with the spirit: speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs," eph. v. , . "let the word of christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs," col. iii. . . regulated; the right performance thereof being laid down, "i will sing with the spirit, and i will sing with the understanding also," cor. xiv. , . "singing with grace in your hearts to the lord," col. iii. . "singing and making melody in your hearts to the lord," eph. v. . . the public ministry of the word of god in the congregation is a divine ordinance. "we will give ourselves," said the apostles, "to the ministry of the word and prayer," acts vi. . the ministry of the word is a sacred ordinance, whether read, preached, or catechetically propounded. . the public reading of the word is a divine ordinance, (though exposition of what is read do not always immediately follow.) for, . god commanded the reading of the word publicly, and never since repealed that command, deut. xxxi. - ; jer. xxxvi. ; col. iii. . . public reading of the scriptures hath been the practice of god's church, both before christ, exod. xxiv. ; neh. viii. , and ix. , and xiii. ; and after christ, acts xiii. , , and xv. ; cor. iii. . . public reading of the scriptures is as necessary and profitable now as ever it was. see deut. xxxi. - . . the public preaching of the word is an eminent ordinance of christ. this is evident many ways, viz: . christ hath commanded that the word shall be preached. "go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," mark xvi. . "go ye, therefore, and disciple ye all nations; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i have commanded you," matt, xxviii. , . "as ye go, preach, saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand," matt. x. . see also mark iii. . "i charge thee," &c. "preach the word," tim. iv. , . "necessity is laid upon me, yea, wo is unto me if i preach not the gospel," cor. ix. , . "christ sent me--to preach the gospel," cor. i. ; with which compare also acts xx. , and pet. v. - . . christ hath appointed who shall preach the word. "how shall they preach except they be sent?" rom. x. . the qualifications of preaching elders see in tim. iii. - , and tit. i. - . . christ hath appointed how the word shall be preached. "be instant, in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine," tim. iv. . "that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convince gainsayers," tit. i. . "he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully: what is the chaff to the wheat, saith the lord?" jer. xxiii. . . christ hath made many encouraging promises to the preaching of his word, which he would not have done, were it not his own ordinance. "teaching them to observe all things whatsoever i have commanded you, and lo i am with you every day to the end of the world," matt, xxviii. . "whatsoever ye shall bind on earth, shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven," matt. xvi. , and xviii. . "whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them: and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained," john xx. . both these are partly meant of doctrinal binding and loosing, remitting and retaining. "be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for i am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee, for i have much people in this city," acts xviii. , . . the catechetical propounding or expounding of the word, viz. a plain, familiar laying down of the first principles of the oracles of god, is an ordinance of christ also. for, . this was the apostolical way of teaching the churches at the first plantation thereof. "when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of god, and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat," heb. v. . "therefore, leaving the word of the beginning of christ, let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards god," &c., heb. vi. , . "and i, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in christ. i have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able," cor. iii. , . . and this is the sense of pastor and people which the holy ghost useth, setting forth the reciprocal relation and office between them, with his own approbation. "let him that is catechized in the word, communicate to him that catechizeth him, in all good things," gal. vi. . . the administration of the sacraments is of divine institution. . of baptism. "he that sent me to baptize with water," john i. . "go ye therefore, disciple ye all nations, baptizing them into the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy ghost," matt, xxviii. - . . of the lord's supper, which christ ordained _the same night in which he was betrayed_: which institution is at large described, cor. xi. , , &c.; matt. xxvi. - ; mark xiv. - ; luke xxii. , . . ordinances appertaining to the key of jurisdiction or of discipline, viz: . the ordination of presbyters with imposition of the hands of the presbytery, after praying and fasting, is a divine ordinance. "neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery," tim. iv. . titus was left in crete for this end, "to set in order things that were wanting, and ordain presbyters" (or elders) "in every city, as paul had appointed him," tit. i. . timothy is charged, "lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins; keep thyself pure," tim. v. . paul and barnabas came to lystra, iconium, and antioch, and "when they had ordained them presbyters in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the lord," &c., acts xiv. , . . authoritative discerning, and judging of doctrine according to the word of god, is a divine ordinance. as that council at jerusalem, authoritatively (viz. by ministerial authority) judged of both the false doctrine and manners of false teachers, branding them for "troublers of the church, subverters of souls," &c. "forasmuch as we have heard that certain, coming forth from u, have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, ye ought to be circumcised, and keep the law, to whom we gave no such commandment," acts xv. ; "it seemed good to the holy ghost, and to us, to impose upon you no greater burden than these necessary things," v. ; and this was done upon debates from scripture grounds, "and to this the words of the prophets agree," acts xv. : and afterwards their results and determinations are called "decrees ordained by the apostles and elders," acts xvi. . . admonition and public rebuke of sinners is a divine ordinance of christ. "if thy brother trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more--and if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church," matt, xviii. - . "whose soever sins ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven," john xx. . one way and degree of binding is by authoritative, convincing reproof. "admonish the unruly," thess. v. . "an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject," tit. iii. . "them that sin, convincingly reprove before all, that the rest also may fear," tim. v. . "rebuke them sharply," (or convince them cuttingly,) tit. iii. . "sufficient to such an one is that rebuke, which was from many," cor. ii. . . rejecting, and purging out, or putting away from the communion of the church, wicked and incorrigible persons, is an ordinance of christ. "and if he will not hear them, tell the church; but if he will not hear the church, let him be unto thee even as a heathen and a publican." "verily, i say unto you, what things soever ye shall bind on earth, they shall be bound in heaven," matt, xviii. , , compared with matt. xvi. , and john xx. , . "an heretic, after once or twice admonition, reject," tit. iii. ; i.e. excommunicate, till he repent--_pisc. in loc._ by the lawful judgment of the church, to deliver the impenitent to satan.--_beza in loc._ "of whom is hymeneus and alexander, whom i have delivered to satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme," tim. i. . the apostle's scope in cor. v. is to press the church of corinth to excommunicate the incestuous person. "ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed may be taken from the midst of you. for i verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have already as present judged him that thus wrought this thing. in the name of our lord jesus christ, you being gathered together, and my spirit with the power of our lord jesus christ, to deliver such an one to satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of our lord jesus," cor. v. - . "know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? purge out therefore the old leaven," ver. . "i wrote to you in an epistle, not to be mingled together with fornicators," ver. , ; and explaining what he meant by not being _mingled together_, saith, "if any named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or drunkard, or rapacious, with such an one not to eat together," ver. . "therefore take away from among yourselves that wicked person," ver. . . seasonable remitting, receiving, comforting, and authoritative confirming again in the communion of the church those that are penitent. "what things soever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven," matt. xvi. , and xviii. . "whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them," john xx. . this loosing and remitting is not only doctrinal and declarative in the preaching of the word, but also juridical and authoritative in the administration of censures. this is called, for distinction's sake, absolution. after the church of corinth had excommunicated the incestuous person, and he thereupon had given sufficient testimony of his repentance, the apostle directs them to receive him into church communion again, saying, "sufficient to such an one is that rebuke inflicted of many; so that contrariwise you should rather forgive and comfort him, lest such an one should be swallowed up of abundant sorrow. wherefore i beseech authoritatively to confirm love unto him: for to this purpose also i have written unto you, that i may know the proof of you, if ye be obedient in all things," cor. ii. - . chapter viii. _of the end and scope of this government of the church._ the end or scope intended by christ in instituting, and to be aimed at by christ's officers in executing of church government in dispensing the word, sacrament, censures, and all ordinances of christ, is (as the description expresseth) _the edifying of the church of christ_. this end is very comprehensive. for the fuller evidencing whereof these two things are to be proved: st, that jesus christ our mediator hath under the new testament one general visible church on earth. d. that the edification of this church of christ is that eminent scope and end why christ gave the power of church government and other ordinances unto the church. i. for the first, that jesus christ our mediator hath under the new testament a general visible church on earth, made up of all particular churches, may be cleared by considering well these particulars. st. that it is evident by the scriptures that jesus christ hath on earth many particular visible churches: (whether churches congregational, presbyterial, provincial, or national, needs not here be determined.) "unto the churches of galatia," gal. i. . "the churches of judea," gal. i. . "through syria and cilicia, confirming the churches," acts xv. . "to the seven churches in asia," rev. i. , . "the church of ephesus," rev. ii. . "the church in smyrna," ver. . "the church in pergamus," ver. . "the church in thyatira," ver. . "the church in sardis," rev. iii. . "the church in philadelphia," ver. . and "the church in laodicea," ver. . "the church that is in their house," rom. xvi. ; and philem. . "let your women keep silence in the church," cor. xiv. . "all the churches of the gentiles," rom. xvi. . "so ordain i in all churches," cor. vii. . "as in all churches of the saints," cor. xiv. . "the care of all the churches," cor. xi. . the new testament hath many such like expressions. d. that how many particular visible churches soever christ hath on earth, yet scripture counts them all to be but one general visible church of christ. this is manifest, . by divers scriptures, using the word church in such a full latitude and extensive completeness, as properly to signify, not any one single congregation, or particular church, but one general visible church: as, "upon this rock i will build my church," matt. xvi. . "give none offence, neither to the jews, nor to the greeks, nor to the church of god," cor. x. . "god hath set some in the church, first, apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers," &c., cor. xii. . "i persecuted the church of god," cor. xv. ; gal. i. . "the church of the living god, the pillar and ground of the truth," tim. iii. . "might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of god," eph. iii. . "in the midst of the church will i sing praise unto thee," heb. ii. . in which, and such like places, we must needs understand, that one general visible church of christ. . by such passages of scripture as evidently compare all visible professors and members of christ throughout the world to one organical body, having eyes, ears, hands, feet, &c., viz., several organs, instruments, officers, &c., in it, for the benefit of the whole body; as, "he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of christ," eph. iv. , . "there is one body," eph. iv. . "as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office; so we being many are one body in christ, and every one members one of another," &c., rom. xii. - . "as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body; so also is christ," (i.e., christ considered mystically, not personally,) "for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be jews or gentiles, whether we be bond or free," &c., cor. xii. , to the end of the chapter, which context plainly demonstrates all christ's visible members in the world, jews or gentiles, &c., to be members of one and the same organical body of christ, which organical body of christ is the general visible church of christ; for the invisible church is not organical. ii. that the edification of the church of christ is that eminent scope and end, why christ gave church government and all other ordinances of the new testament to his church. this is frequently testified in scripture. . the apostle, speaking of this power generally, saith, "our authority which the lord hath given to us for edification, and not for the destruction of you," cor. x. . the like passage he hath again, saying, "according to the authority," or power, "which the lord hath given to me for edification, and not for destruction," cor. xiii. ; in both which places he speaks of the authority of church government in a general comprehensive way, declaring the grand and general immediate end thereof to be, affirmatively, edification of the church; negatively, not the subversion or destruction thereof. . in like manner, when particular acts of government, and particular ordinances are mentioned, the edification of the church, at least in her members, is propounded as the great end of all: e.g. . admonition is for edification, that an erring _brother may be gained_, matt. xviii. , , that wavering minds may be sound in the faith. "rebuke them cuttingly, that they may be sound in the faith," tit. i. , that beholders and bystanders may fear to fall into like sins. "them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear," tim. v. . . excommunication is for edification; particularly of the delinquent member himself; thus the incestuous person was "delivered to satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved in the day of the lord jesus," cor. v. , . "hymeneus and alexander were delivered to satan, that they might learn not to blaspheme," tim. i. : more generally of the church; thus the incestuous person was to be put away from among them lest the whole lump of the church should be leavened by him, cor. v. . absolution also is for edification, lest the penitent party "should be swallowed up of too much sorrow," cor. ii. . . all the officers of his church are for edification of the church, (eph. iv. , , , , ,) together with all the gifts and endowments in these officers, whether of prayer, prophecy, tongues, &c., all must be managed to edification. this is the scope of the whole chapter. cor. xii. , &c., and cor. xiv. - , , , &c., ; read the whole chapter. that passage of paul is remarkable, "i thank my god, i speak with tongues more than you all; yet in the church i had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice i might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue," verses , . thus church government, and all sorts of ordinances, with the particular acts thereof, are to be levelled at this mark of edification. edification is an elegant metaphor from material buildings (perhaps of the material and typical temple) to the spiritual; for explanation's sake briefly thus take the accommodation: the _architects_, or builders, are the _ministers_, cor. iii. . the _foundation_ and _corner-stone_ that bears up, binds together, and gives strength to the building, is jesus christ, cor. iii. ; pet. ii. , . the _stones_ or _materials_ are the _faithful_ or _saints_, cor. i. . the _building_, or house itself, is the _church_, that spiritual house, and _temple of the living god_, eph. ii. , and iv. ; cor. iii. , , . the edification of this house is gradually to be perfected more and more till the coming of christ, by laying the foundation of christianity, in bringing men still unto christ, and carrying on the superstruction in perfecting them in christ in all spiritual growth, till at last the top-stone be laid on, the church completed, and translated _to the house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens_. chapter ix. _of the proper receptacle and distinct subject of all this power and authority of church government, which christ hath peculiarly intrusted with the execution thereof according to the scriptures. and_ . _negatively, that the political magistrate is not the proper subject of this power._ thus we have taken a brief survey of church government, both in the rule, root, kind, branches, and end thereof, all which are comprised in the former description, and being less controverted, have been more briefly handled. now, the last thing in the description which comes under our consideration, is the proper receptacle of all this power from christ, or the peculiar subject intrusted by christ with this power and the execution thereof, viz. only christ's own officers. for church government is a spiritual power or authority, derived from jesus christ our mediator, only to his own officers, and by them exercised in dispensing of the word, &c. now about this subject of the power will be the great knot of the controversy, forasmuch as there are many different claims thereof made, and urged with vehement importunity: (to omit the romish claim for the pope, and the prelatical claim for the bishop,) the politic erastian pretends that the only proper subject of all church government is the political or civil magistrate; the gross brownists or rigid separatists, that it is the body of the people, or community of the faithful in an equal even level; they that are more refined, (who style themselves for distinction's sake[ ] independents,) that it is the single congregation, or the company of the faithful with their presbytery, or church officers; the presbyterians hold that the proper subject wherein christ hath seated and intrusted all church power, and the exercise thereof, is only his own church officers, (as is in the description expressed.) here, therefore, the way will be deeper, and the travelling slower; the opposition is much, and therefore the disquisition of this matter will unavoidably be the more. for perspicuity herein, seeing it is said that this power is derived from christ only to his own officers; and by this word (only) all other subjects are excluded; the subject of church power may be considered, . negatively, what it is not. . affirmatively, what it is. negatively, the proper subject unto whom christ hath committed the power of church government, and the exercise thereof, is not, . the political magistrate, as the erastians imagine. . nor the body of the people, either with their presbytery or without it, as the separatists and independents pretend. let these negatives first be evinced, and then the affirmative will be more clearly evidenced. touching the first of these--that the political magistrate is not the proper subject unto whom jesus christ our mediator hath committed the power of church government, and the exercise of that power; it will be cleared by declaring these two things distinctly and severally, viz: . what power about ecclesiasticals is granted to the civil magistrate. . what power therein is denied unto him, and why. section . such power is granted by the reformed churches and orthodox writers to the political magistrate, in reference to church affairs. take it in these particulars. a defensive, protecting, patronizing power to the church, and all the members thereof. "kings shall be thy nursing-fathers," &c., isa. xlix. . "the magistrate is the minister of god for good to well-doers, as well as the avenger, executing wrath upon evil-doers; a terror not to good works, but to the evil," rom. xiii. , ; he is called _an heir, or, possessor of restraint, to put men to shame_, judges xviii. . and as the church ought to pray for kings and all in authority, so consequently all in authority should endeavor to defend it, that the church and people of god should lead a quiet and peaceable life, (under the wing of their protection,) "in all godliness and honesty," tim. ii. ; and this is evident from the end and scope of these prayers here prescribed, as interpreters unanimously agree. and hereupon are those promises to the church, "the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee," isa. lx. ; "and thou shalt suck the breast of kings," isa. lx. . now, this nursing, protecting care of magistrates towards the church, puts forth itself in these or like acts, viz: he, . removes all external impediments of true religion, worship of god, &c., by his civil power, whether persons or things, whether persecutions, profaneness, heresy, idolatry, superstition, &c., that truth and godliness may purely flourish: as did jehoshaphat, asa, hezekiah, josiah. and hereupon it is that god so oft condemns the not removing and demolishing of the high places and monuments of idolatry, kings xv. , with chron. xv. ; kings xxii. ; kings xii. : and highly commends the contrary in asa, chron. xv. , : in jehoshaphat, chron. xvii. , , - : in hezekiah, chron. xxxi. ; kings xviii. : in manasseh, chron. xxxiii. : in josiah, kings xxiii. , , , , : whereupon the holy ghost gives him that superlative commendation above all kings before and after him, ver. . . countenanceth, advanceth, and encourageth by his authority and example the public exercise of all god's ordinances, and duties of religion within his dominions, whether in matter of divine worship, discipline, and government, maintaining for the church the fulness of spiritual liberties and privileges communicated to her from christ: as did asa, chron. xv. - : jehoshaphat, chron. xx. - : hezekiah, chron. xxix., xxx., and xxxi. chapters throughout: josiah, chron. xxxiv. and xxxv. chapters. and to this end god prescribed in the law that the king should still have a copy of the law of god by him, therein to read continually, deut. xvii. - ; because he was to be not only a practiser, but also a protector thereof, a keeper of both tables. . supplies the church with all external necessaries, provisions, means, and worldly helps in matters of religion: as convenient public places to worship in, sufficient maintenance for ministers, (as the scripture requireth, tim. v. , ; cor. ix. - ; gal. vi. :) schools and colleges, for promoting of literature, as nurseries to the prophets, &c.; together with the peaceable and effectual enjoyment of all these worldly necessaries, for comfortably carrying on of all public ordinances of christ. thus david prepared materials, but solomon built the temple, chron. xxii. hezekiah commanded the people that dwelt in jerusalem, to give the portion of the priests and the levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the lord; and hezekiah himself and his princes came and saw it performed, chron. xxxi. , &c., : josiah repaired the house of god, chron. xxxiv. nor need the magistrate think scorn, but rather count it his honor to be an earthly protector of the church, which is the _body of christ, the lamb's wife_, for redeeming of which christ died, and for gathering and perfecting of which the very world is continued. an ordering, regulating power is also allowed to the magistrate about ecclesiastical matters in a political way, so that he warrantably, . reforms the church, when corrupted in divine worship, discipline, or government: as did moses, exod. xxxii.; joshua, josh. xxiv.; asa, chron. xv.; jehoshaphat, chron. xvii.; hezekiah, kings xviii.; josiah, kings xxiii.; chron. xxxiv. . convenes or convocates synods and councils, made up of ecclesiastical persons, to consult, advise, and conclude determinatively, according to the word, how the church is to be reformed and refined from corruptions, and how to be guided and governed when reformed, &c. for, . pious magistrates under the old testament called the church together, convened councils. david, about bringing back the ark, chron. xiii. , , and another council when he was old, chron. xiii. ; solomon, kings viii. ; hezekiah, chron. xxix. ; and josiah, kings xxiii. , . . all ought to be subject to superior powers, who ought to procure the public peace and prosperity of the church, rom. xiii. , , &c.; pet. ii. , &c., ; tim. ii. . therefore superior powers may convocate councils. . christian magistrates called the four general councils: constantine the first nicene council; theodosius, senior, the first council of constantinople; theodosius, junior, the first ephesian council; marcian emperor, the chalcedon council; and, . hereunto antiquity subscribes, as dr. whitaker observes. . supports the laws of god with his secular authority, as a keeper of the tables, enjoining and commanding, under civil penalties, all under his dominion, strictly and inviolably to observe the same: as "josiah made all that were present in israel to serve the lord their god," chron. xxxiv. . nehemiah made the sabbath to be sanctified, and strange wives to be put away, neb. xii. , &c. yea, nebuchadnezzar, a heathen king, decreed, that "whosoever should speak amiss of the god of shadrach," &c., "should be cut in pieces, and their houses made a dunghill," dan. iii. , . and darius decreed, "that in every dominion of his kingdom men tremble and fear before the god of daniel," &c., dan. vi. , . and as he strengthens the laws and ordinances of god by his civil authority, so he ratifies and establishes within his dominions the just and necessary decrees of the church in synods and councils (which are agreeable to god's word) by his civil sanction. . judges and determines definitively with a consequent political judgment, or judgment of political discretion, concerning the things judged and determined antecedently by the church, in reference to his own act. whether he will approve such ecclesiasticals or not; and in what manner he will so approve, or do otherwise by his public authority; for he is not a brutish agent, (as papists would have him,) to do whatsoever the church enjoins him unto blind obedience, but is to act prudently and knowingly in all his office; and therefore the judgment of discerning (which belongs to every christian, for the well-ordering of his own act) cannot be denied to the christian magistrate, in respect of his office. . takes care politically, that even matters and ordinances merely and formally ecclesiastical, be duly managed by ecclesiastical persons orderly called thereto. thus hezekiah commanded the priests and levites to do their duties, chron. xxix. , , and the people to do theirs, chron. xxx. ; and for this he is commended, that therein he did cleave unto the lord, and observed his precepts which he had commanded moses, kings xviii. . thus when the king is commanded to observe and do all the precepts of the law, the lord (as orthodox divines do judge) intended that he should keep them, not only as a private man, but as a king, by using all care and endeavor that all his subjects with him perform all duties to god and man, deut. xvii. - . . a compulsive, coactive, punitive, or corrective power, formally political, is also granted to the political magistrate in matters of religion, in reference to all sorts of persons and things under his jurisdiction. he may politically compel the outward man of all persons, church officers, or others under his dominions, unto external performance of their respective duties, and offices in matters of religion, punishing them, if either they neglect to do their duty at all, or do it corruptly, not only against equity and sobriety, contrary to the second table, but against truth and piety, contrary to the first table of the decalogue. we have sufficient intimation of the magistrate's punitive power in cases against the second table; as the stubborn and rebellious, incorrigible son, that was a glutton and a drunkard, sinning against the fifth commandment, was to be stoned to death, deut. xxi. - . the murderer, sinning against the sixth commandment, was to be punished with death, gen. ix. ; numb. xxxv. - ; deut. x. - . the unclean person, sinning against the seventh commandment, was to be punished with death, lev. xx. , , , , - ; and before that, see gen. xxxviii. . yea, job, who is thought to live before moses, and before this law was made, intimates that adultery is a heinous crime, yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges, job xxxi. , . the thief, sinning against the eighth commandment, was to be punished by restitution, exod. xxii. , , &c. the false witness, sinning against the ninth commandment, was to be dealt withal as he would have had his brother dealt with, by the law of retaliation, deut. xix. , to the end of the chapter, &c. yea, the magistrate's punitive power is extended also to offences against the first table; whether these offences be against the first commandment, by false prophets teaching lies, errors, and heresies in the name of the lord, endeavoring to seduce people from the true god. "if there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he hath spoken to turn you away from the lord your god, which brought you out of the land of egypt," &c., deut. xiii. - . from which place calvin notably asserts the punitive power of magistrates against false prophets and impostors that would draw god's people to a defection from the true god, showing that this power also belongs to the christian magistrate in like cases now under the gospel. yea, in case of such seducement from god, though by nearest allies, severe punishment was to be inflicted upon the seducer, deut. xiii. - . see also ver. , to the end of the chapter, how a city is to be punished in the like case. and mr. burroughs,[ ] in his irenicum, shows that this place of deut. xiii. , &c., belongs even to us under the gospel. or whether these offences be against the second commandment, the magistrate's punitive power reaches them, deut. xvii. - ; lev. xvii. - ; chron. xvi. , . "maachah, the mother of asa the king, he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove." job xxxi. - , herewith compare exod. viii. , . or whether the offences be against the third commandment, "and thou shalt speak unto the children of israel, saying, whosoever curseth god shall bear his sin: and he that blasphemeth the name of the lord he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him, as well the stranger as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the lord shall be put to death," lev. xxiv. , . yea, the heathen king nebuchadnezzar made a notable decree to this purpose, against blaspheming god, saying, "i make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, who speak any thing amiss against the god of shadrach, meshech, and abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill," dan. iii. : and the pagan magistrate, king artaxerxes, made a more full decree against all contempt of the law of god: "and whosoever will not do the law of thy god," saith he to ezra, "and the law of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to imprisonment:" and ezra blesses god for this, ezra vii. , . besides all this light of nature, and evidence of the old testament, for the ruler's political punitive power for offences against god, there are divers places in the new testament showing that a civil punitive power rests still in the civil magistrate: witness those general expressions in those texts--rom. xiii. , : "rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of god, a revenger _to execute_ wrath upon him that doeth evil." pet. ii. , : "submit yourselves unto every ordinance of man for the lord's sake, whether it be to the king as to the supreme, or unto governors which are sent for the _punishment_ of evil-doers,[ ] and the praise of them that do well." now, (as mr. burroughs[ ] notes,) seeing the scripture speaks thus generally, except the nature of the thing require, why should we distinguish where the scripture doth not? so that these expressions may be extended to those sorts of evil-doing against the first as well as against the second table; against murdering of souls by heresy, as well as murdering of men's bodies with the sword; against the blaspheming of the god of heaven, as well as against blaspheming of kings and rulers, that are counted gods on earth. that place seems to have much force in it to this purpose, heb. x. , : "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?" yea, what deserve such as deny the spirit to be of god? papists exempt their clergy from the judgment of the civil power, though they be delinquents against it; and their states, both civil and spiritual, from civil taxes, tributes, and penalties, both which we deny to ours: for, st, this is repugnant to the law of nature, that church officers and members, as parts and members of the commonwealth, should not be subject to the government of that commonwealth whereof they are parts. d, repugnant to the laws and practices of the old testament, under which we read of no such exemptions. yea, we have instance of abiathar the high-priest, who, for his partnership with adonijah in his rebellion, was exiled by king solomon, and so consequently deprived of the exercise of his office, kings ii. , . d, inconsistent with our saviour's example, who, as subject to the law, held himself obliged to pay tribute to avoid offence, (matt. xvii. ,) which was an active scandal; and he confesses pilate's power to condemn or release him was _given him from above_, john xix. . th, and finally, contrary to the apostolical precepts, _enjoining all to be subject to superior powers_, rom. xiii. - ; pet. ii. - . now, all the former power that is granted, or may be granted to the magistrate about religion, is only cumulative and objective, as divines used to express it; thus understand them:-- cumulative, not privative; adding to, not detracting from any liberties or privileges granted her from christ. the heathen magistrate may be a _nurse-father_, isa. xlix. ; tim. ii. , may not be a _step-father_: may protect the church, religion, &c., and order many things in a political way about religion; may not extirpate or persecute the church; may help her in reformation; may not hinder her in reforming herself, convening synods in herself, as in acts xv., &c., if he will not help her therein; otherwise her condition were better without than with a magistrate. the christian magistrate much less ought to hinder her therein, otherwise her state were worse under the christian than under the pagan magistrate. objective or objectively ecclesiastical, as being exercised about objects ecclesiastical, but politically, not ecclesiastically. his proper power is _about_, not _in_ religious matters. he may politically, outwardly exercise his power about objects or matters spiritual; but not spiritually, inwardly, formally act any power in the church. he may act in church affairs as did asa, jehoshaphat, hezekiah, josiah; not as did corah, saul, uzzah, or uzziah. he is an overseer of things without, not of things within. and in a word, his whole power about church offices and religion is merely, properly, and formally civil or political.[ ] nor is this only our private judgment, or the opinion of some few particular persons touching the granting or bounding of the magistrate's power about matters of religion; but with us we have the suffrage of many reformed churches, who, in their confessions of faith published to the world, do fully and clearly express themselves to the same effect. the helvetian church thus: since every magistrate is of god, it is (unless he would exercise tyranny) his chief duty, all blasphemy being repressed, to defend and provide for religion, and to execute this to his utmost strength, as the prophet teacheth out of the word; in which respect the pure and free preaching of god's word, a right, diligent, and well-instituted discipline of youth, citizens and scholars; a just and liberal maintenance of the ministers of the church, and a solicitous care of the poor, (whereunto all ecclesiastical means belong,) have the first place. after this, &c. the french churches thus: he also therefore committed the sword into the magistrates' hands, that they might repress faults committed not only against the second table, but also against the first; therefore we affirm, that their laws and statutes ought to be obeyed, tribute to be paid, and other burdens to be borne, the yoke of subjection voluntarily to be undergone, yea, though the magistrates should be infidels, so long as the supreme government of god remains perfect and untouched, matt. xxiv.; acts iv. , and v. ; jude verse . the church of scotland thus: moreover we affirm, that the purging and conserving of religion is the first and most especial duty of kings, princes, governors, and magistrates. so that they are ordained of god not only for civil polity, but also for the conservation of true religion, and that all idolatry and superstition may be suppressed: as is evident in david, jehoshaphat, josiah, hezekiah, and others, adorned with high praises for their singular zeal. the belgic church thus: therefore he hath armed the magistrates with a sword, that they may punish the bad and defend the good. furthermore, it is their duty not only to be solicitous about preserving of civil polity, but also to give diligence that the sacred ministry may be preserved, all idolatry and adulterate worship of god may be taken out of the way, the kingdom of antichrist may be pulled down, but christ's kingdom propagated. finally, it is their part to take course, that the holy word of the gospel be preached on every side, that all may freely and purely serve and worship god according to the prescript of his word. and all men, of whatsoever dignity, condition, or state they be, ought to be subject to lawful magistrates, to pay them tribute and subsidies, to obey them in all things which are not repugnant to the word of god; to pour out prayers for them, that god would vouchsafe to direct them in all their actions, _and that we may under them lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty_. wherefore we detest the anabaptists and all turbulent men who cast off superior dominions and magistrates, pervert laws and judgments, make all goods common, and finally abolish or confound all orders and degrees which god hath constituted for honesty's sake among men. the church in bohemia thus: they teach also that it is commanded in the word of god that _all should be subject to the higher powers_ in all things, yet in those things only which are not repugnant to god and his word. but as touching those things which concern men's souls, faith, and salvation, they teach that men should hearken only to god's word, &c., his ministers, as christ himself saith, _render to cæsar the things that are cæsar's, and to god those things that are god's._ but if any would compel them to those things which are against god, and fight and strive against his word, which abideth forever; they teach them to make use of the apostle's example, who thus answered the magistrate at jerusalem: _it is meet_ (say they) _to obey god rather than men_. finally, the church in saxony hath expressed herself notably in this point, saying, among many other passages, god will have all men, yea, even unregenerate men, to be ruled and restrained by political government. and in this government the wisdom, justice, and goodness of god to mankind do shine forth. his wisdom, order declares, which is the difference of virtues and vices, and the consociation of men by lawful governments and contracts ordained in wonderful wisdom. god's justice also is seen in political government, who will have manifest wickednesses to be punished by magistrates; and when they that rule punish not the guilty, god himself wonderfully draws them to punishment, and regularly punishes heinous faults with heinous penalties in this life, as it is said, _he that takes the sword shall perish by the sword_; and, _whoremongers and adulterers god will judge_. god will have in these punishments the difference of vices and virtues to be seen; and will have us learn that god is wise, just, true, chaste. god's goodness also to mankind is beheld, because by this means he preserves the society of men, and therefore he preserves it that thence the church may be gathered, and will have polities to be the church's inns. of these divine and immoveable laws, which are testimonies of god, and the chief rule of manners, the magistrate is to be keeper in punishing all that violate them. for the voice of the law, without punishment and execution, is of small avail to bridle and restrain men; therefore it is said by paul, _the power should be a terror to evil works, and an honor to the good._ and antiquity rightly said, _the magistrate is the keeper of the law, both of the first and second table,_ so far as appertains to _good order_. and though many in their governments neglect the glory of god, yet this ought to be their chief care, to hear and embrace the true doctrine touching the son of god, and to foster the churches, as the psalm saith, _and now understand, ye kings, and be instructed, ye judges of the earth._ again, _open your gates, ye princes_, i.e., open your empires to the gospel, and afford harbor to the son of god. and isa. xlix.: _and kings shall be thy nursing-fathers, and queens_, i.e., commonwealths, _shall be thy nursing-mothers_, i.e., of the church, they shall afford lodgings to churches and pious studies. and kings and princes themselves shall be members of the church, and shall rightly understand doctrine, shall not help those that establish false doctrine, and exercise unjust cruelty, but shall be mindful of this saying, "i will glorify them that glorify me." and daniel exhorteth the king of babylon unto the acknowledgment of god's wrath, and to clemency towards the exiled church, when he saith, "break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor." and since they are among the chief members of the church, they should see that judgment be rightly exercised in the church, as constantine, theodosius, arcadius, marcianus, charles the great, and many pious kings, took care that the judgments of the church should be rightly exercised, &c. thus those of the presbyterian judgment are willing to give to cæsar those things that are cæsar's, even about matters of religion, that the magistrate may see, it is far from their intention in the least degree to intrench upon his just power, by asserting the spiritual power, which christ hath seated in his church officers, distinct from the magistratical power: but as for them of the independent judgment, and their adherents, they divest the magistrate of such power.[ ] section ii. ii. some power on the other hand touching religion and church affairs, is utterly denied to the civil magistrate, as no way belonging to him at all by virtue of his office of magistracy. take it thus: jesus christ, our mediator, now under the new testament, hath committed no spiritual power at all, magisterial or ministerial, properly, internally, formally, or virtually ecclesiastical, nor any exercise thereof, for the government of his church, to the political magistrate, heathen or christian, as the subject or receptacle thereof by virtue of his magistratical office. for explication hereof briefly thus: . what is meant by spiritual power, magisterial and ministerial, is laid down in the general nature of the government, chap. iii. and, that all magisterial lordly power over the church, belongs peculiarly and only to jesus christ our mediator, lord of all, is proved, chap. v. consequently, the civil magistrate can challenge no such power, without usurpation upon christ's prerogative. we hence condemn the pope as antichrist, while he claims to be christ's vicar-general over christ's visible church on earth. so that all the question here will be about the ministerial power, whether any such belong to the civil magistrate. . what is meant by power, properly, internally, formally, or virtually ecclesiastical? thus conceive: these several terms are purposely used, the more clearly and fully to distinguish power purely ecclesiastical, which is denied to the magistrate, from power purely political about ecclesiastical objects, which is granted to him; which is called ecclesiastical, not properly, but improperly; not internally, but externally; not formally, but only objectively, as conversant about ecclesiastical objects. nor hath he any such ecclesiastical power in him virtually, i.e. so as to convey and give it to any other under him. he may grant and protect the public exercise of that power within his dominions; but designation of particular persons to the office and power, is from the church; the donation of the office and power only from christ himself. so that magistracy doth not formally nor virtually comprehend in it ecclesiastical power for church government; for a magistrate, as a magistrate, hath no inward ecclesiastical power at all belonging to him. for confirmation of this proposition, consider these ensuing arguments. _argum_. st. the keys of the kingdom of heaven were never given by christ to the civil magistrate, as such: therefore he cannot be the proper subject of church government as a magistrate. we may thus reason: _major_. no power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven was ever given by christ to the civil magistrate, as a magistrate. _minor_. but all formal power of church government is at least part of the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven. _conclusion_. therefore no formal power of church government was ever given by christ to the civil magistrate, as a magistrate. the major proposition is evident. . because when christ gave the keys of the kingdom of heaven, he makes no mention at all of the civil magistrate directly or indirectly, expressly or implicitly, as the recipient subject thereof. compare matt. xvi. , and xviii. , john ii. - , with matt. xxvii. - . . because, in christ's giving the keys of the kingdom of heaven, he makes express mention of church officers,[ ] which are really and essentially different from the civil magistrate, viz. of peter, in name of all the rest, matt. xvi. , , and of the rest of the apostles as the receptacle of the keys with him, matt. xviii. , all the disciples save thomas being together, he gave them the same commission in other words, john xx. - , and matt. xxviii. - . now if christ should have given the keys, or any power thereof to the magistrate, as a magistrate, he must consequently have given them only to the magistrate, and then how could he have given them to his apostles, being officers in the church really distinct from the magistrate? . because jesus christ, in giving the keys of the kingdom, gave not any one sort, act, part, or piece of the keys severally, but the whole power of the keys, all the sorts and acts thereof jointly. therefore it is said, _i give the keys of the kingdom_--and _whatsoever thou shalt bind--whatsoever thou shalt loose--whose soever sins ye remit--whose soever sins ye retain_--matt. xvi. , john xx. . so that here is not only key, but keys given at once, viz. key of doctrine, and the key of discipline; or the key of order, and the key of jurisdiction; not only binding or retaining, but loosing or remitting of sins, viz. all acts together conferred in the keys. now if christ gave the keys to the magistrate, then he gave all the sorts of keys and all the acts thereof to him: if so, the magistrate may as well preach the word, and dispense the sacraments, &c., (as erastus would have him,) as dispense the censures, &c., (for christ joined all together in the same commission, and by what warrant are they disjoined?) and if so, what need of pastors, teachers, &c.,, in the church? let the civil magistrate do all. it is true, the ruling elder (which was after added) is limited only to one of the keys, viz. the _key of discipline_, tim. v. ; but this limitation is by the same authority that ordained his office. . because if christ gave the keys to the civil magistrate as such, then to every magistrate, whether jewish, heathenish, or christian: but not to the jewish magistrate; for the sceptre was to depart from him, and the jewish polity to be dissolved, and even then was almost extinct. not to the heathenish magistrate, for then those might be properly and formally church governors which were not church members; and if the heathen magistrate refused to govern the church, (when there was no other magistrate on earth,) she must be utterly destitute of all government, which are grossly absurd. nor, finally, to the christian magistrate, for christ gave the keys to officers then in being; but at that time no christian magistrate was in being in the world. therefore the keys were given by christ to no civil magistrate, as such, at all. the minor, viz. but all formal power of church government is at least part of the power of the keys of the kingdom of heaven is clear. if we take church government largely, as containing both doctrine, worship, and discipline, it is the whole power of the keys; if strictly, as restrained only to discipline, it is at least part of the power. for, st, not only the power of order, but also the power of jurisdiction, is contained under the word keys; otherwise it should have been said key, not keys; church government therefore is at least part of the power of the keys. d, the word key, noting a stewardly power, as appears, isa. xxii. , (as erastians themselves will easily grant,) may as justly be extended in the nature of it to signify the ruling power by jurisdiction, as the teaching power by doctrine; in that the office of a steward in the household, who bears the keys, consists in governing, ordering, and ruling the household, as well as in feeding it, as that passage in luke xii. - , being well considered, doth very notably evidence. for, christ applying his speech to his disciples, saith, "who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler of his household?--he will make him ruler over all that he hath," &c. d, nothing in the text or context appears why we should limit keys and the acts thereof only to doctrine, and exclude discipline; and where the text restrains not, we are not to restrain. th, the most of sound interpreters extend the keys and the acts thereof as well to discipline as to doctrine; to matters of jurisdiction, as well as to matters of order. from all we may conclude, therefore no formal power of church government was ever given by christ to the civil magistrate, as a magistrate. _argum_. d. there was full power of church government in the church when no magistrate was christian, yea, when all magistrates were persecutors of the church, so far from being her _nursing fathers_, that they were her _cruel butchers_; therefore the magistrate is not the proper subject of this power. thus we may argue: _major_. no proper power of church government, which was fully exercised in the church of christ, before any magistrate became christian, yea, when magistrates were persecutors of the church, was derived from christ to the magistrate as a magistrate. _minor_. but all proper power of church government was fully exercised in the church before any magistrate became christian, yea, when magistrates were cruel persecutors of the church of christ. _conclusion_. therefore no proper power of church government was derived from christ to the civil magistrate as a magistrate. the _major_ proposition must be granted. for, st, either then the church, in exercising such full power of church government, should have usurped that power which belonged not at all to her, but only to the magistrate; for what power belongs to a magistrate, as a magistrate, belongs to him only; but dare we think that the apostles, or the primitive purest apostolical churches did or durst exercise all their power of church government which they exercised, merely by usurpation without any right thereunto themselves? d, or if the church usurped not, &c., but exercised the power which christ gave her, let the magistrate show wherein christ made void the church's charter, retracted this power, and gave it unto him. the minor proposition cannot be denied. for, st. it was about years after christ before any of the roman emperors (who had subdued the whole world, luke ii. , under their sole dominion) became christian. for constantine the great was the first emperor that received the faith, procured peace to the church, and gave her respite from her cruel persecutions, which was in anno (or thereabouts) after christ; before which time the church was miserably wasted and butchered with those ten bloody persecutions, by the tyranny of nero, and other cruel emperors before constantine. d. yet within the space of this first or years, all proper power of church government was fully exercised in the church of christ; not only the word preached, acts iv. ; tim. iii. ; and sacraments dispensed, acts xx. ; cor. xi. , &c.; acts ii. , and viii. : but also _deacons_ set apart for that office of _deaconship_, acts vi.: _elders_ ordained and sent forth, acts xiii. - , and xiv. ; tim. iv.; tit. i. : public _admonition in use_, tit. iii. ; tim. v. : _excommunication_, cor. v.; and tim. i. : _absolution_ of the penitent, cor. ii. , , &c.: synodical conventions and decrees, acts xv. with xvi. . so that we may conclude, therefore no proper power of church government was derived from christ to the civil magistrate, as a magistrate. _argum_. d. the magistratical power really, specifically, and essentially differs from the ecclesiastical power; therefore the civil magistrate, as a magistrate, cannot be the proper subject of this ecclesiastical power. hence we may thus argue: _major_. no power essentially, specifically, and really differing from magistratical power, was ever given by christ to the magistrate as a magistrate. _minor_. but all proper ecclesiastical power essentially, specifically, and really differs from the magistratical power. _conclusion_. therefore no proper ecclesiastical power was ever given by jesus christ to the civil magistrate as a magistrate. the major is evident: for how can the magistrate, as a magistrate, receive such a power as is really and essentially distinct and different from magistracy? were not that to make the magistratical power both really the same with itself, and yet really and essentially different from itself? a flat contradiction. the minor may be clearly evinced many ways: as, st, from the real and formal distinction between the two societies, viz. the church and commonwealth, wherein ecclesiastical and political power are peculiarly seated. d. from the co-ordination of the power ecclesiastical and political, in reference to one another. d. from the different causes of these two powers, viz. efficient, material, formal, and final; in all which they are truly distinguished from one another. st. from the real and formal distinction between the two societies, viz. church and commonwealth: for, . the society of the church is only christ's, and not the civil magistrate's: it is his _house_, his _spouse_, his _body_, &c., and christ hath no vicar[ ] under him. . the officers ecclesiastical are christ's officers, not the magistrate's, cor. iv. : _christ gave_ them, eph. iv. , , : _god set them in the church_, cor. xii. . . these ecclesiastical officers are both elected and ordained by the church, without commission from the civil magistrate, by virtue of christ's ordinance, and in his name. thus the apostles appointed officers: _whom we may appoint_, acts vi. , . the power of ordination and mission is in the hands of christ's officers; compare acts xiv. ; tim. iv. , with acts xiii. - : and this is confessed by the parliament to be an ordinance of jesus christ, in their ordinance for ordaining of preaching presbyters. . the church, and the several presbyteries ecclesiastical, meet not as civil judicatories, for civil acts of government, as making civil statutes, inflicting civil punishments, &c., but as spiritual assemblies, for spiritual acts of government and discipline: as preaching, baptizing, receiving the lord's supper, prayer, admonition of the disorderly, &c. . what gross absurdities would follow, should not these two societies, viz. church and commonwealth, be acknowledged to be really and essentially distinct from one another! for then, . there can be no commonwealth where there is not a church; but this is contrary to all experience. heathens have commonwealths, yet no church. . then there may be church officers elected where there is no church, seeing there are magistrates where there is no church. . then those magistrates, where there is no church, are no magistrates; but that is repugnant to scripture, which accounts heathen rulers the servants of god, isa. xlv. ; jer. xxv. : and calls them kings, exod. vi. ; isa. xxxi. . and further, if there be no magistrates where there is no church, then the church is the formal constituting cause of magistrates. . then the commonwealth, as the commonwealth, is the church; and the church, as the church, is the commonwealth: then the church and the commonwealth are the same. . then all that are members of the commonwealth are, on that account, because members of the commonwealth, members of the church. . then the commonwealth, being formally the same with the church, is, as a commonwealth, the mystical body of christ. . then the officers of the church are the officers of the commonwealth; the power of the keys gives them right to the civil sword: and consequently, the ministers of the gospel, as ministers, are justices of the peace, judges, parliament-men, &c., all which how absurd, let the world judge. d. from the co-ordination of the power ecclesiastical and political, in reference to one another: (this being a received maxim, that subordinate powers are of the same kind; co-ordinate powers are of distinct kinds.) now, that the power of the church is co-ordinate with the civil power, may be evidenced as followeth: . the officers of christ, as officers, are not directly and properly subordinate to the civil power, though in their persons they are subject thereto: the apostles and pastors may preach, and cast out of the church, against the will of the magistrate, and yet not truly offend magistracy; thus, in doing the duty they have immediately received from god, they must "obey god rather than men," acts iv. , . and the apostles and pastors must exercise their office (having received a command from christ) without attending to the command or consent of the civil magistrate for the same; _as in casting out the incestuous person_, cor. v. : telling the church, matt. xviii. : _rejecting a heretic_, tit. iii. . and, . those acts of power are not directly and formally subordinate to the magistrate, which he himself cannot do, or which belong not to him. thus the kings of israel could not burn incense: "it appertaineth not unto thee," chron. xxvi. , . likewise, none have the power of the keys, but they to whom christ saith, "go ye into all the world and preach the gospel," matt. xxviii. : but christ spake not this to magistrates: so only those that are _sent_, rom. x. , and those that are governors, are by christ placed in the church. . the officers of the church can ecclesiastically censure the officers of the state, though not as such, as well as the officers of the state can punish civilly the officers of the church, though not as such: the church guides may admonish, excommunicate, &c., the officers of the state as members of the church, and the officers of the state may punish the officers of the church as the members of the state. . those that are not sent of the magistrate as his deputies, they are not subordinate in their mission to his power, but the ministers are not sent as the magistrate's deputies, but are _set over the flock by the holy ghost_, acts xx. : they are likewise the _ministry of christ_, cor. iv. , : they are _over you in the lord_, thess. v. : and in his name they exercise their jurisdiction, cor. v. , . . if the last appeal in matters purely ecclesiastical be not to the civil power, then there is no subordination; but the last appeal properly so taken is not to the magistrate. this appears from these considerations: . nothing is appealable to the magistrate but what is under the power of the sword; but admonition, excommunication, &c., are not under the power of the sword: they are neither matters of dominion nor coercion. . if it were so, then it follows that the having of the sword gives a man a power to the keys. . then it follows that the officers of the kingdom of heaven are to be judged as such by the officers of the kingdom of this world as such, and then there is no difference between the things of cæsar and the things of god. . the church of antioch sent to jerusalem, acts xv. , and the synod there, without the magistrate, came together, ver. ; and determined the controversy, ver. , . and we read, "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets," cor. xiv. ; not to the civil power as prophets. so we must seek knowledge at the priest's lips, not at the civil magistrate's, mal. ii. . and we read, that the people came to the priests in hard controversies, but never that the priests went to the civil power, deut. xvii. - . . it makes the magistrate christ's vicar, and so christ to have a visible head on earth, and so to be an ecclesiastico-civil pope, and consequently there should be as many visible heads of christ's church as there are magistrates. . these powers are both immediate; one from god the father, as _creator_, rom. xiii. , ; the other from jesus christ, as _mediator_, matt. xxviii. . now lay all these together, and there cannot be a subordination of powers; and therefore there must be a real distinction. d. from the different causes of these two powers, viz. efficient, material, formal, and final; in all which they are truly distinguished from one another, as may plainly appear by this ensuing parallel: . they differ in their efficient cause or author, whence they are derived. magistratical power is from god, the creator and governor of the world, rom. xiii. , , ; and so belongs to all mankind, heathen or christian; ecclesiastical power is peculiarly from jesus christ our mediator, lord of the church, (who hath all power given him, and the government of the church laid upon his shoulder, as eph. i. ; matt. xxviii. , compared with isa. ix. .) see matt. vi. , and xviii. , and xxviii. , ; john xx. - ; cor. x. : and consequently belongs properly to the church, and to them that are within the church, cor. v. , . magistratical power in general is the ordinance of god, rom. xiii. , , ; but magistratical power in particular, whether it should be monarchical in a king, aristocratical in states, democratical in the people, &c., is of men, called, therefore, a human creature, or creation, pet. ii. ; but ecclesiastical power, and officers in particular, as well as general, are from christ, matt. xvi. , and xxviii. - ; tit. iii. ; cor. v. ; cor. ii. for officers, see eph. iv. , ; cor. xii. . . they differ in their material cause; whether it be the matter of which they consist, in which they are seated, or about which they are exercised. . in respect of the matter of which they consist, they much differ. ecclesiastical power consists of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which are exercised in the preaching of the word, dispensing the sacraments, executing the censures, admonition, excommunication, absolution, ordination of presbyters, &c.; but magistratical power consists in the secular sword, which puts forth itself in making statutes, inflicting fines, imprisonments, confiscations, banishments, torments, death. . in respect of the matter or object about which they are exercised, they much differ: for, the magistratical power is exercised politically, about persons and things without the church, as well as within the church; but the ecclesiastical power is exercised only upon them that are within the church, cor. v. . the magistratical power in some cases of treason, &c., banishes or otherwise punishes even penitent persons: ecclesiastical power punishes no penitent persons. the magistratical power punishes not all sorts of scandal, but some: the ecclesiastical power punishes (if rightly managed) all sorts of scandal. . they differ in their formal cause, as doth clearly appear by their way or manner of acting: magistratical power takes cognizance of crimes, and passes sentence thereupon according to statutes and laws made by man: ecclesiastical power takes cognizance of, and passes judgment upon crimes according to the word of god, the holy scriptures. magistratical power punishes merely with political punishments, as fines, imprisonments, &c. ecclesiastical merely with spiritual punishments, as church censures. magistratical power makes all decrees and laws, and executes all authority, commanding or punishing only in its own name, in name of the supreme magistrate, as of the king, &c., but ecclesiastical power is wholly exercised, not in the name of churches, or officers, but only in christ's name, matt, xxviii. ; acts iv. ; cor. v. . the magistrate can delegate his power to another: church-governors cannot delegate their power to others, but must exercise it by themselves. the magistrate about ecclesiasticals hath power to command and compel politically the church officers to do their duty, as formerly was evidenced; but cannot discharge lawfully those duties themselves, but in attempting the same, procure divine wrath upon themselves: as korah, numb. xvi.; king saul, sam. xiii. - ; king uzziah, chron. xxvi. - : but church-guides can properly discharge the duties of doctrine, worship, and discipline themselves, and ecclesiastically command and compel others to do their duty also. . lastly, they differ in their final cause or ends. the magistratical power levels at the temporal, corporal, external, political peace, tranquillity, order, and good of human society, and of all persons within his jurisdiction, &c. the ecclesiastical power intends properly the spiritual good and edification of the church and all the members thereof, matt, xviii. ; cor. v. , &c.; cor. x. , and xiii. .[ ] may we not from all clearly conclude, therefore no proper ecclesiastical power was ever given by jesus christ to the magistrate as a magistrate? _argum_. th. the civil magistrate is no proper church officer, and therefore cannot be the proper subject of church power, hence we may argue: _major_. all formal power of church government was derived from jesus christ to his own proper church officers only. to them he gave the _keys of the kingdom of heaven_, matt. xvi. , and xviii. ; john xx. , : to them he gave the _authority for edification of the church_, cor. x. , and xiii. : but this will after more fully appear in chap. xi. following. _minor_. but no civil magistrate, as a magistrate, is any of christ's proper church officers. for, . the civil magistrate is never reckoned up in the catalogue, list, or roll of christ's church officers in scripture, eph. iv. - ; cor. xii. , &c.; rom. xii. - ; if here, or anywhere else, let the magistrate or the erastians show it. . a magistrate, as a magistrate, is not a church member, (much less a church governor;) for then all magistrates, heathen as well as christian, should be church members and church officers, but this is contrary to the very nature of christ's kingdom, which admits no heathen into it. _conclusion_. therefore no formal power of church government was derived from jesus christ to the magistrate as a magistrate. _argum_. th. the civil magistrate, as such, is not properly subordinate to christ's mediatory kingdom; therefore is not the receptacle of church power from christ. hence thus: _major_. whatsoever formal power of church government christ committed to any, he committed it only to those that were properly subordinate to his mediatory kingdom. for whatsoever ecclesiastical ordinance, office, power, or authority, christ gave to men, he gave it as mediator and head of the church, by virtue of his mediatory office; and for the gathering, edifying, and perfecting of his mediatory kingdom, which is his church, eph. iv. , - . therefore such as are not properly subordinate to christ in this his office, and for this end, can have no formal church power from christ. _minor_. but no magistrate, as a magistrate, is subordinate properly to christ's mediatory kingdom. for, . not christ the mediator, but god the creator authorizeth the magistrate's office, rom. xiii. , , . . magistracy is never styled a ministry of christ in scripture, nor dispensed in his name. . christ's kingdom is not of this world, john xviii. ; the magistrate's is. _conclusion_. therefore no formal power of church government is committed by christ to the magistrate as a magistrate. th. finally, divers absurdities unavoidably follow upon the granting of a proper formal power of church government to the civil magistrate: therefore he cannot be the proper subject of such power. hence it may be thus argued: _major_. no grant of ecclesiastical power, which plainly introduceth many absurdities, can be allowed to the political magistrate, as the proper subject thereof. for though in matters of religion there be many things mysterious, sublime, and above the reach of reason; yet there is nothing to be found that is absurd, irrational, &c. _minor_. but to grant to the political magistrate, as a magistrate, a proper formal power of church government, introduceth plainly many absurdities, e.g.: . this brings confusion betwixt the office of the magistracy and ministry. . confounds the church and commonwealth together. . church government may be monarchical in one man; and so, not only prelatical but papal; and consequently, antichristian. which absurdities, with many others, were formerly intimated, and neither by religion nor reason can be endured. we conclude: _conclusion_. therefore the grant of a proper formal power of church government cannot be allowed to the political magistrate as the proper subject thereof, because he is a magistrate. chapter x. _that the community of the faithful, or body of the people, are not the immediate subject of the power of church government._ thus we see, that jesus christ our mediator did not commit any proper formal ecclesiastical power for church government to the political magistrate, as such, as the erastians conceive. now, in the next place (to come more close) let us consider that jesus christ our mediator hath not committed the spiritual power of church government to the body of the people, presbyterated, or unpresbyterated (to use their own terms) as the first subject thereof, according to the opinion of the separatists or independents. take it in this proposition: jesus christ our mediator hath not committed the proper formal power or authority spiritual, for government of his church,[ ] unto the community of the faithful, whole church, or body of the people, as the proper immediate receptacle, or first subject thereof. section i. some things herein need a little explanation, before we come to the confirmation. . by _fraternity, community of the faithful, whole church or body of the people_, understand a particular company of people, meeting together in one assembly or single congregation, to partake of christ's ordinances. this single congregation may be considered as presbyterated, i.e., furnished with an eldership; or as unpresbyterated, i.e., destitute of an eldership, having yet no elders or officers erected among them. rigid brownists or separatists say, that the fraternity or community of the faithful unpresbyterated is the first receptacle of proper ecclesiastical power from christ: unto whom some of independent judgment subscribe. independents thus resolve: first, that the apostles of christ are the first subject of apostolical power. secondly, that a particular congregation of saints, professing the faith, taken indefinitely for any church, (one as well as another,) is the first subject of all church offices with all their spiritual gifts and power. thirdly, that when the church of a particular congregation walketh together in the truth and peace, the brethren of the church are the first subjects of church liberty; the elders thereof of church authority; and both of them together are the first subject of all church power.[ ] which assertions of brownists and independents (except the first) are denied by them of presbyterian judgment, as being obvious to divers material and just exceptions.[ ]: . by _proper formal power or authority spiritual, for church government_, thus conceive. to omit what hath been already laid down about the natures and sorts of spiritual power and authority, (part , chap. iii. and vi.,) which are to be remembered, here it may be further observed, that there is a proper public, official, authoritative power, though but stewardly and ministerial, which is derived from jesus christ to his church officers, matt. xvi. , and xviii. ; john xx. - ; matt, xxviii. - ; of which power the apostle speaking, saith, "if i should somewhat boast of our power which the lord hath given us to edification," cor. x. ; so cor. xiii. . the people are indeed allowed certain liberties or privileges; as, _to try the spirits_, &c., john iv. . to prove all doctrines by the word, thess. v. . to nominate and elect their own church officers, as their deacons, which they did, acts vi. , , ; but this is not a proper power of the keys. but the proper, public, official, authoritative power, is quite denied to the body of the people, furnished with an eldership or destitute thereof. . by _proper immediate receptacle, or first subject of power_, understand, that subject, seat, or receptacle of power, which first and immediately received this power from jesus christ; and consequently was intrusted and authorized by him, to put forth and exercise that power in his church for the government thereof. and here two things must be carefully remembered: . that we distinguish betwixt the object and subject of this power. the object for which, for whose good and benefit all this power is given, is primarily the general visible church, ephes. iv. , - ; cor. xii. ; rom. xii. , , &c. secondarily, particular churches, as they are parts and members of the general. but the subject receiving to which the power is derived, is not the church general or particular, but the officers or governors of the church. . that we distinguish also betwixt the donation of the power, and the designation of particular persons to offices ecclesiastical. this designation of persons to the offices of key bearing or ruling may be done first and immediately by the church, in nominating or electing her individual officers which is allowed to her; yet is no proper authoritative act of power. but the donation of the power itself is not from the church as the fountain, but immediately from christ himself, cor. xi. , and xiii. . nor is it to the church as the subject, but immediately to the individual church officers themselves, who consequently, in all the exercise of their power, act as the _ministers and stewards of christ_, cor. iv. , putting forth their power immediately received from christ, not as the substitutes or delegates of the church putting forth her power, which from christ she mediately conveys to them, as independents do imagine, but by us is utterly denied. section ii. for confirmation of this proposition thus explained and stated; consider these few arguments: _argum_. i. the community of the faithful, or body of the people, have no authentic commission or grant of proper spiritual power for church government; and therefore they cannot possibly be the first subject or the proper immediate receptacle of such power from christ. we may thus argue: _major_. whomsoever jesus christ hath made the immediate receptacle or first subject of proper formal power for governing of his church, to them this power is conveyed by some authentic grant or commission. _minor_. but the community of the faithful, or body of the people, have not this power conveyed unto them by any authentic grant or commission. _conclusion_. therefore jesus christ our mediator hath not made the community of the faithful, or body of the people, the immediate receptacle or first subject of proper formal power for governing of his church. the major proposition is evident in itself: for, . the power of church government in this or that subject is not natural, but positive; and cast upon man, not by natural, but by positive law, positive grant: men are not bred, but made the first subject of such power; therefore all such power claimed or exercised, without such positive grant, is merely without any due title, imaginary, usurped, unwarrantable, in very fact null and void. . all power of church government is radically and fundamentally in christ, isa. ix. ; matt, xxviii. ; john v. . and how shall any part of it be derived from christ to man, but by some fit intervening mean betwixt christ and man? and what mean of conveyance betwixt christ and man can suffice, if it do not amount to an authentic grant or commission for such power? . this is evidently christ's way to confer power by authentic commission immediately upon his church officers, the apostles and their successors, to the world's end. "thou art peter; and i give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," &c., matt. xvi. , . "whatsoever ye shall bind on earth," &c., matt, xviii. , . "as my father sent me, so send i you; go, disciple ye all nations; whose sins ye remit, they are remitted--and lo, i am with you always to the end of the world," john xx. , ; matt, xxviii. , . "our power, which the lord hath given us for edification," cor. x. , and xiii. : so that we may conclude them that have such commission to be the first subject and immediate receptacle of power from christ, as will after more fully appear. . if no such commission be needful to distinguish those that have such power from those that have none, why may not all without exception, young and old, wise and foolish, men and women, christian and heathen, &c., equally lay claim to this power of church government? if not, what hinders? if so, how absurd! the minor proposition, viz: but the community of the faithful, or body of the people, have not this power conveyed to them by any authentic grant or commission, is firm. for whence had they it? when was it given to them? what is the power committed to them? or in what sense is such power committed to them? . whence had they it? _from heaven or of men?_ if from men, then it is a human ordinance and invention; _a plant which the heavenly father hath not planted_; and therefore _shall he plucked up_. matt. xv. . if from heaven, then from christ; for _all power is given to him_, matt, xxviii. , &c.; isa. ix. . if it be derived from christ, then it is derived from him by some positive law of christ as his grant or charter. a positive grant of such power to select persons, viz. church officers, the scripture mentions, as was evidenced in the proof of the major proposition. but touching any such grant or commission to the community of the faithful, the scripture is silent. and let those that are for the popular power produce, if they can, any clear scripture that expressly, or by infallible consequence, contains any such commission. . when was any such power committed by christ to the multitude of the faithful, either in the first planting and beginning of the church, or in the after establishment and growth of the church under the apostles' ministry? not the first; for then the apostles themselves should have derived their power from the community of the faithful: now this is palpably inconsistent with the scriptures, which tell us that the apostles had both their apostleship itself, and their qualifications with gifts and graces for it, yea, and the very designation of all their particular persons unto that calling, all of them immediately from christ himself. for the first, see gal. i. : "paul, an apostle, not of men, nor by man, but by jesus christ," matt, xxviii. - . for the second, see john xx. , : "and when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, receive ye the holy ghost; whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them," &c. for the third, see luke vi. , &c.: "and when it was day he called to him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; simon--" matt. x. - , &c.: "these twelve jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying." and after his resurrection he enlarges their commission, mark xvi. , : "go ye into all the world;" and, "as my father hath sent me, so send i you," john xx. . see also how the lord cast the lot upon matthias, acts i. - . nor the second; for if such power be committed to the community of the faithful after the apostles had established the churches, then let those that so think show where christ committed this power first to the apostles, and after to the community of the faithful, and by them or with them to their ordinary officers, for execution thereof. but no such thing hath any foundation in scripture; for the ordinary church guides, though they may have a designation to their office by the church, yet they have the donation, or derivation of their office and its authority only from christ: their office is from christ, ephes. iv. , ; cor. xii. ; acts xx. , . their power from christ, matt. xvi. , and xxviii. , ; john xx. , . "our power which the lord hath given us," cor. viii. . they are _christ's ministers, stewards, ambassadors_, cor. iv. ; cor. v. , . they are to act and officiate _in his name_, matt, xviii. ; cor. v. , ; and to christ they _must give an account_. heb. xiii. , ; luke xii. , . now if the ordinary officers have (as well as the apostles their apostleship) their offices of pastor, teacher, &c., from christ, and are therein the successors of the apostles to continue to the world's end, (matt, xxviii. - ,) then they have their power and authority in their offices immediately from christ, as the first receptacles thereof themselves, and not from the church as the first receptacle of it herself. a successor hath jurisdiction from him from whom the predecessor had his; otherwise he doth not truly succeed him. consequently the church or community of the faithful cannot possibly be the first receptacle of the power of church government from christ. . what power is it that is committed to the body of the church or multitude of the faithful? either it must be the power of order, or the power of jurisdiction. but neither of these is allowed to the multitude of the faithful by the scriptures, (but appointed and appropriated to select persons.) not the power of order; for the whole multitude, and everyone therein, neither can nor ought to intermeddle with any branches of that power. . not with preaching; all are not _apt to teach_, tim. iii. , nor able to exhort and convince gainsayers, tit. i. ; all are not gifted and duly qualified. some are expressly prohibited _speaking in the church_, cor. xiv. , , tim. ii. , rev. ii. , and none are _to preach, unless they be sent_, rom. x. , nor _to take such honor unto themselves unless they be called_, &c., heb. v. , . are all and every one of the multitude of the faithful able to teach, exhort, and convince? are they all sent to preach? are they all called of god? &c. nay, hath not christ laid this task of authoritative preaching only upon his own officers? matt, xxviii. , . . not with administration of the sacraments; this and preaching are by one and the same commission given to officers only, matt, xxviii. - ; cor. xi. . . nor to ordain presbyters, or other officers. they may choose; but extraordinary officers, or the presbytery of ordinary officers, ordain. acts vi. , , : "look ye out men--whom we may appoint." compare also acts xiv. ; tim. iv. , and v. ; tit. iii. . so that the people's bare election and approbation is no sufficient scripture ordination of officers. nor is there one often thousand among the people that is in all points able to try and judge of the sufficiency of preaching presbyters, for tongues, arts, and soundness of judgment in divinity. nor is the power of jurisdiction in public admonition, excommunication, and absolution, &c., allowed to the multitude. for all and every one of the multitude of the faithful, . never had any such power given to them from christ; this key as well as the key of knowledge being given to the officers of the church only, matt. xvi. , and xviii. - . _tell the church_, there, must needs be meant of the ruling church only.[ ] cor. viii. ; john xx. - . . never acted or executed any such power, that we can find in scripture. as for that which is primarily urged of the church of corinth, that the whole church did excommunicate the _incestuous person_, cor. v. , &c., many things may be answered to evince the contrary. st, the whole multitude could not do it; for children could not judge, and women must not speak in the church. d, it is not said, _sufficient to such an one is the rebuke inflicted of all_; but _of many_, cor. ii. , viz. of the presbytery, which consisted of many officers. d, the church of corinth, wherein this censure was inflicted, was not a congregational, but a presbyterial church, having divers particular congregations in it, (as is hereafter cleared in chap. xxiii.,) and therefore the whole multitude of the church of corinth could not meet together in one place for this censure, but only the presbytery of that great church. again, never did the whole multitude receive from christ due gifts and qualifications for the exercise of church government and jurisdiction; nor any promise from christ to be with them therein, as officers have, matt, xxviii. - . and the absurdities of such popular government are intolerable, as after will appear. . finally, in what sense can it be imagined that any such power should be committed from christ to the community of the faithful, the whole body of the church? for this power is given them equally with the church-guides, or unequally. if equally, then,. . the church-guides have power and authority, as primarily and immediately committed to them, as the church herself hath; and then they need not derive or borrow any power from the body of the faithful, having a power equal to theirs. . how vainly is that power equally given as to the officers, so to the whole multitude, when the whole multitude have no equal gifts and abilities to execute the same! if unequally, then this power is derived to the church-guides, either more or less than to the multitude of the faithful. if less, then how improperly were all those names of rule and government imposed upon officers, which nowhere are given by scripture to the multitude! as _pastors_, eph. iv. , . _elders_, tim. v. . _overseers_, acts xx. . _guides_, heb. xiii. , , . in this last verse they are contradistinguished from the saints; church-guides, and saints guided, make up a visible organical church. _rulers in the lord_, thes. v. ; rom. xii. : and _well-ruling elders_, tim. v. . _governments_, cor. xii. . _stewards_, cor. iv. , ; luke xii. , &c. and all these titles have power and rule engraven in their very foreheads; and they of right belonged rather to the multitude than to the officers, if the officers derive their power from the multitude of the people. if more, then church-guides, having more power than the church, need not derive any from the church, being themselves better furnished. thus, what way soever we look, it cannot be evinced, that the multitude and body of the people, with or without eldership, are the first subject of power, or have any authoritative public official power at all, from any grant, mandate, or commission of christ. from all which we may strongly conclude, therefore jesus christ our mediator hath not made the community of the faithful, or body of the people, the immediate receptacle, or first subject of proper formal power for governing of his church. _argum_. ii. as the multitude of the faithful have no authentic grant or commission of such power of the keys in the church; so they have no divine warrant for the actual execution of the power of the said keys therein: and therefore cannot be the first receptacle of the power of the keys from christ. for thus we may reason: _major_. whosoever are the first subject, or immediate receptacle of the power of the keys from christ, they have divine warrant actually to exercise and put in execution the said power. _minor_. but the multitude or community of the faithful have no divine warrant actually to exercise and put in execution the power of the keys. _conclusion_. therefore the community of the faithful are not the first subject, or immediate receptacle of the power of the keys from jesus christ. the major proposition must necessarily be yielded. for, . the power of the keys contains both authority and exercise; power being given to that end that it may be exercised for the benefit of the church. it is called the _power given us for edification_, cor. viii. . where there is no exercise of power there can be no edification by power. . both the authority and complete exercise of all that authority, were at once and together communicated from christ to the receptacle of power. "i give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth," &c., matt. xvi. , and xviii. . "as my father sent me, so send i you--whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted," john xx. , . here is both power and the exercise thereof joined together in the same commission. yea, so individual and inseparable are power and exercise, that under exercise, power and authority is derived: as, "go, disciple ye all nations, baptizing them," &c., matt. xxviii. , . . how vain, idle, impertinent, and ridiculous is it to fancy and dream of such a power as shall never be drawn into act by them that have it! the minor proposition, viz. but the multitude or communion of the faithful have no divine warrant, actually to exercise and put in execution the power of the keys, is clear also: . by reason: for, the actual execution of this power belongs to them by divine warrant, either when they have church officers, or when they want church officers. not while they have officers; for, that were to slight christ's officers: that were to take officers' work out of their hands by them that are no officers, and when there were no urgent necessity; contrary whereunto, see the proofs, chap. xi. section , that were to prejudice the church, in depriving her of the greater gifts, and undoubtedly authorized labors of her officers, &c. not when they want officers in a constituted church: as in case where there are three or four elders, the pastor dies, two of the ruling elders fall sick, or the like; in such cases the community cannot by divine warrant supply the defects of these officers themselves, by exercising their power, or executing their offices. for where doth scripture allow such power to the community in such cases? what one church without its eldership can be instanced in the new testament, that in such cases once presumed to exercise such power, which might be precedent or example for it to other churches? how needless are church officers, if the multitude of the faithful may, as members of the church, take up their office, and actually discharge it in all the parts of it? . by induction of particulars, it is evident, that the community cannot execute the power of the keys by any divine warrant. . _they may not preach_: for, "how shall they preach, except they be sent?" rom. x. ; but the community cannot he sent, many of them being incapable of the office, either by reason of their _sex_, cor. xiv. , ; tim. ii. , : or by reason of their _age_; as children, and all or most of them by reason of their deficiency in gifts and in scripture qualifications, tit. i. and tim. iii. for not one member of a thousand is so completely furnished, as to be "apt to teach, able to convince gainsayers, and to divide the word of truth aright." besides, they may not send themselves, were they capable, for, _no man takes this honor to himself_--yea, _jesus christ himself did not glorify himself to be made an high-priest_--heb. v. , . now only officers are sent to preach, matt. xvi. , and xviii. , ; mark xvi. . . they may not administer the seals, the sacraments, baptize, &c. under the new testament; for who gave the people any such authority? hath not christ conjoined preaching and dispensing of the sacraments in the same commission, that the same persons only that do the one, may do the other? matt. xxviii. , . . they may not ordain officers in the church, and authoritatively send them abroad: for, ordinarily the community have not sufficient qualifications and abilities for proving and examining of men's gifts for the ministry. the community are nowhere commanded or allowed so to do in the whole new testament, but other persons distinct from them, tim. v. ; tim. ii. ; tit. i. , &c. nor did the community ever exercise or assume to themselves any such power of ordination or mission, but only officers both in the first sending of men to preach, as tim. iv. ; tim. i. : and to be deacons, acts vi. , and also in after missions, as acts xiii. - . . the community, without officers, may not exercise any act of jurisdiction authoritatively and properly; may not admonish, excommunicate, or absolve. for we have no precept that they should do it; we have no example in all the new testament that they ever did do it; we have both precept and example, that select officers both did and ought to do it. "whatsoever ye bind on earth" (saith christ to his officers) "shall be bound in heaven," &c. matt. xviii. , and xvi. . "whose soever sins ye remit," &c., john xx. , . "an heretic, after once or twice admonition, reject," tit. i. . "i have decreed--to deliver such an one to satan," cor. v. . "the rebuke inflicted by many," not all, cor. ii. "whom i have delivered to satan," tim. i. _ult_. and the scriptures nowhere set the community over themselves to be their own church-guides and governors; but appoint over them in the lord rulers and officers distinct from the community. compare these places, thes. v. ; acts xx. , ; heb. xiii. , , . "salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints." from the premises we conclude, therefore the community of the faithful are not the first subject, or immediate receptacle of the power of the keys from jesus christ. _argum_. iii. jesus christ hath not given nor promised to the community of the faithful a spirit of ministry, nor those gifts which are necessary for the government of the church: therefore the community was never intended to be the first subject of church government. _major_. whomsoever christ makes the first subject of the power of church government, to them he promises and gives a spirit of ministry, and gifts necessary for that government. for, . as there is diversity of ecclesiastical administrations (which is the foundation of diversity of officers) and diversity of miraculous operations, and both for the profit of the church; so there is conveyed from the spirit of christ diversity of gifts, free endowments, enabling and qualifying for the actual discharge of those administrations and operations. see cor. xii. - , &c. . what instance can be given throughout the whole new testament of any persons, whom christ made the receptacle of church government, but withal he gifted them, and made his promises to them, to qualify them for such government? as the apostles and their successors: "as my father sent me, even so send i you. and when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, receive ye the holy ghost: whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained," john xx. - . and, "go ye therefore, and disciple ye all nations, &c.--and lo, i am with you alway," (or every day,) "even to the end of the world," matt. xxviii. , . . christ being the _wisdom of the father_, col. ii. , john i. , and _faithful as was moses in all his house_; yea, _more faithful_--_moses as a servant_ over another's, he _as a son over his own house_, heb. iii. , , --it cannot stand with his most exact wisdom and fidelity, to commit the grand affairs of church government to such as are not duly gifted, and sufficiently qualified by himself for the due discharge thereof. _minor_. but christ neither promises, nor gives a spirit of ministry, nor necessary gifts for church government to the community of the faithful. for, . the scriptures teach, that gifts for ministry and government are promised and bestowed not on all, but upon some particular persons only in the visible body of christ. "to one is given by the spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge," &c., not to all, cor. xii. , , &c. "if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of god?" tim. iii. . the hypothesis insinuates that all men have not gifts and skill rightly to rule their own houses, much less to govern the church. . experience tells us, that the multitude of the people are generally destitute of such knowledge, wisdom, prudence, learning, and other necessary qualifications for the right carrying on of church government. _conclusion_. therefore christ makes not the community of the faithful the first subject of the power of church government. _argum_. iv. the community of the faithful are nowhere in the word called or acknowledged to be church governors: therefore they are not the first subject of church government. _major_. those persons, who are the first subject and receptacle of proper power for church government from christ, are in the word called and acknowledged to be church governors. this is evident, . by scripture, which is wont to give to them whom christ intrusts with his government, such names and titles as have rule, authority, and government engraven upon them: as _overseers_, acts xx. ; _governments_, cor. xii. ; _rulers_, tim. v. , and rom. xii. ; with divers others, as after will appear in chap. xi. . by reason, which tells us that government and governors are relative terms; and therefore to whom government belongs, to them also the denominations of governors, rulers, &c., do belong, and not contrariwise. _minor_. but the community of the faithful are nowhere in the word either called or acknowledged to be church governors. this is clear. for, . no titles or names are given them by scripture which imply any rule or government in the visible church of christ. . they are plainly set in opposition against, and distinction from, church governors: they are called the _flock_; these, _overseers_ set over them by the holy ghost, acts xx. : they, _the saints_; these _their rulers_, heb. xiii. : these are _over them in the lord_; and consequently they are _under them in the lord_, thes. v. . . the community of the faithful are so far from being the subject of church government themselves, that they are expressly charged by the word of christ to _know, honor, obey_, and _submit_, to other governors set over them, and distinct from themselves. "know them who are over you in the lord," thes. v. . "let the well-ruling elders be counted worthy of double honor; especially," &c., tim. v. . "obey ye your rulers, and submit, for they watch for your souls," heb. xiii. . _conclusion_. therefore the community of the faithful are not the first subject and receptacle of proper power for church government. _argum_. v. this opinion of making the body of the church, or community of the faithful, the first subject and immediate receptacle of the keys for the government of the church, doth inevitably bring along with it many intolerable absurdities. therefore it is not to be granted. thus we may argue: _major_. that doctrine or opinion which draws after it unavoidably divers intolerable absurdities, is an unsound and unwarrantable opinion. _minor_. but this doctrine or opinion that makes the whole community or body of the church to be the first subject and immediate receptacle of the keys, draws after it unavoidable divers intolerable absurdities. _conclusion_. therefore this doctrine or opinion that makes the whole community or body of the church to be the first subject, and immediate receptacle of the keys, is an unsound and unwarrantable opinion. the _major_ is plain. for, . though matters of religion be above reason, yet are they not unreasonable, absurd, and directly contrary to right reason. . the scriptures condemn it as a great brand upon men, that they are absurd or unreasonable; "brethren, pray for us--that we may be delivered from absurd and evil men," thes. iii. ; and therefore if absurd men be so culpable, absurdity, and unreasonableness itself, which make them such, are much more culpable. the _minor_, viz. but this doctrine or opinion that makes the whole community or body of the church to be the first subject and immediate receptacle of the keys, draws after it unavoidably divers intolerable absurdities, will notably appear by an induction of particulars. . hereby a clear foundation is laid for the rigid brownist's confused democracy, and abhorred anarchy. for, if the whole body of the people be the first receptacle of the keys, then all church government and every act thereof is in the whole body, and every member of that body a governor, consequently every member of that body an officer. but this is absurd; for if all be officers, where is the organical body? and if all be governors, where are the governed? if all be eyes, where are the feet? and if there be none governed, where is the government? it is wholly resolved at last into mere democratical anarchy and confusion, "but god is not the author of confusion," cor. xiv. . what an absurdity were it, if in the body natural _all were an eye_, or _hand_! for _where_ then _were the hearing, smelling_, &c.; _or if all were one member, where were the body_? cor. xii. , . so if in the family all were masters, where were the household? where were the family government? if in a city all were aldermen, where were the citizens? where were the city government? if in a kingdom all were kings, where were the subjects, the people, the commonalty, the commonwealth, or the political government? . hereby the community or whole body of the faithful, even to the meanest member, are vested from christ with full power and authority actually to discharge and execute all acts of order and jurisdiction without exception: e.g. to preach the word authoritatively, dispense the sacraments, ordain their officers, admonish offenders, excommunicate the obstinate and incorrigible, and absolve the penitent. for _the keys of the kingdom of heaven_ comprehend all these acts jointly, matt. xvi. , and xviii. - , with john xx. , : and to whom christ in the new testament gives power to execute one of these acts, to them he gives power to execute all; they are joined together, matt, xviii. , (except in such cases where himself gives a limitation of the power, as in the case of the ruling elder, who is limited to ruling as contradistinct to _laboring in the word and doctrine_, tim. v. .) now what gross absurdities ensue hereupon! for, . then the weak as well as the strong, the ignorant as well as the intelligent, the children as well as the parents, yea, and the very women as well as the men, may preach, dispense seals, ordain, admonish, excommunicate, absolve authoritatively; (for they are all equally members of the body, one as well as another, and therefore, as such, have all alike equal share in the keys and exercise thereof:) viz. they that are not gifted for these offices, shall discharge these offices; they that are not called nor sent of god to officiate, (for god sends not all,) shall yet officiate in the name of christ without calling or sending, contrary to rom. x., heb. v. . they that want the common use of reason and discretion (as children) shall have power to join in the highest acts of order and jurisdiction: yea, they that are expressly prohibited _speaking in the churches_, as the _women_, cor. xiv., tim. ii., shall yet have the _keys of the kingdom of heaven_ hung at their girdles. . then the church shall be the steward of christ, and dispenser of the mysteries of god authoritatively and properly. but if the whole church be the dispenser of the mysteries of god, what shall be the object of this dispensation? not the church, for according to this opinion she is the first subject dispensing; therefore it must be something distinct from the church, unto which the church dispenseth; what shall this be? shall it be another collateral church? then particular churches collateral may take pastoral care one of another reciprocally, and the same churches be both over and under one another; or shall it be those that are without all churches? then the ordinances of the gospel, and the dispensation of them, were not principally bestowed upon the church and body of christ for the good thereof, (which is directly repugnant to the scriptures, eph. iv. , - ;) but rather for them that are without. how shall the men, who maintain the principle's of the independents, clearly help themselves out of these perplexing absurdities? . hereby the body of the people (as mr. bayly well observes in his dissuasive, chap. ix. page ) will be extremely unfitted for, and unwarrantably taken off from the several duties that lie upon them in point of conscience to discharge in their general and particular callings, in spiritual and secular matters, on the lord's days and on their own days. for, if the ecclesiastical power be in all the people, then all the people are judges, and at least have a negative voice in all church matters. they cannot judge in any cause prudently and conscientiously, till they have complete knowledge and information of both the substantials and circumstantials of all those cases that are brought before them; they must not judge blindly, or by an implicit faith, &c., but by their own light. for all the people to have such full information and knowledge of every cause, cannot but take up abundance of time, (many of the people being slow of understanding and extremely disposed to puzzle, distract, and confound one another in any business to be transacted in common by them all.) if these matters of discipline be managed by them on the sabbath day after the dispatch of other public ordinances, ministry of the word, prayer, sacraments, &c., what time can remain for family duties privately, as repeating sermons, and meditating upon the word, searching the scriptures, whether things preached be so indeed, reading the scriptures, catechizing their children and servants, &c.? and how will the life of religion in families, yea, and in churches also, languish, if these family exercises be not conscientiously upheld? if they be managed on the week days, how can all the people spare so much time, as still to be present, when perhaps many of them have much ado all the week long to provide food and raiment, and other necessaries for their families? and "if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel," tim. v. . let the case of the church of arnheim[ ] witness the mischief and absurdity of this popular government once for all. . hereby, finally, the community of the faithful (being accounted the proper subject of the power of the keys) have authority and power not only to elect, but also to ordain their own officers, their pastors and teachers. and this they of the independent judgment plainly confess in these words:[ ] though the office of a pastor in general be immediately from christ, and the authority from him also, yet the application of this office, and of this authority to this elect person, is by the church; and therefore the church hath sufficient and just warrant, as to elect and call a presbyter unto an office, so to ordain him to it by imposition of hands. they that have power to elect a king, have power also to depute some in their name to set the crown upon his head. but for the whole church or community to ordain presbyters by imposition of hands, is very absurd. for, . their women and children, being members of the church and of the community, may join in ordaining presbyters by imposing of hands, and have as great an influence in appointing them that shall actually impose hands, as the rest of the church members have, being as properly members as they. . then the community, that generally are unable to judge of the fitness and sufficiency of presbyters for the pastoral office, in point of necessary gifts of learning, &c., shall, without judicious satisfaction herein by previous examination, ordain men notwithstanding to the highest ordinary office in the church. how ignorantly, how doubtfully, how irregularly, how unwarrantably, let the reader judge. . then the community of the faithful may assume to themselves power to execute this ordinary act of ordination of officers, without all precept of christ or his apostles, and without all warrant of the apostolical churches. but how absurd these things be, each moderate capacity may conceive. further absurdities hereupon are declared by mr. bain,[ ] and after him by mr. ball.[ ] whence we may justly conclude, therefore this doctrine or opinion, that makes the whole community or body of the church to be the first subject and immediate receptacle of the keys, is an unsound and unwarrantable opinion. the middle-way men, (that profess to go between the authoritative presbyterial, and the rigid brownistical way,) seeing these and such like absurdities, upon which the brownists inevitably dash themselves, think to salve all by their new-coined distinction of the keys; viz. . there is a key of faith or knowledge, luke xi. . the first subject of this key is every believer, whether joined to any particular church or not. . there is a key of order, col. ii. , which is either, . a key of interest, power, or liberty, gal. v. , which key is of a more large nature; . a key of rule and authority, which is of more strict nature, matt. xvi. , john xx. . hence, upon this distinction premised, they thus infer, . a particular congregation of saints is the first subject of all the church offices with all their spiritual gifts and power, cor. iii. . . the apostles of christ were the first subject of apostolical power. . the brethren of a particular congregation are the first subjects of church liberty. . the elders of a particular church are the first subjects of church authority. . both the elders and brethren, walking and joining together in truth and peace, are the first subjects of all church power needful to be exercised in their own body. _answer_. a rotten foundation, and a tottering superstruction, which tumbles down upon the builders' own heads: for, . this distribution of the keys is infirm in divers respects: e.g. . in that the key of knowledge (as it stands here distinguished from the key of order, comprehending the key of power and authority) is left utterly devoid of all power. now no key of the kingdom of heaven is to be left without all power, independents themselves being judges. . in that the key of power is left as utterly void of all authority, (being contradistinguished from the key of authority,) as the key of knowledge is left void of power. now, power and authority, in matters of government, seem to be both one; and the word in the original signifies the one as well as the other. . the key of liberty or interest is a new key, lately forged by some new locksmiths in separation-shop, to be a pick-lock of the power of church officers, and to open the door for popular government; no ordinance of christ, but a mere human invention, (as will after appear upon examination of that scripture upon which it is grounded,) and therefore this limb of the distribution is redundant, a superfluous excrescence. . the texts of scripture upon which this distribution of the keys is grounded, are divers of them abused, or at least grossly mistaken; for, luke xi. , key of knowledge is interpreted only the key of saving faith. but knowledge, in strict speaking, is one thing, and faith another; there may be knowledge where there is no faith; and knowledge, in a sort, is a key to faith, as the inlet thereof. and the key of knowledge, viz. true doctrine and pure preaching of the word, is a distinct thing from knowledge itself. this key the lawyers had taken away by not interpreting, or misinterpreting of the law; but they could not take away the people's faith, or knowledge itself. touching col. ii. , , _your order_, it will be hard to prove this was only or chiefly intended of the keys delivered to peter: doth it not rather denote the people's moral orderly walking, according to the rule of faith and life, as in other duties, so in submitting themselves to christ's order of government, as is elsewhere required, heb. xiii. ? and as for gal. v. , produced to prove the key of liberty, _brethren, you have been called unto liberty_, there is too much liberty taken in wresting this text; for the apostle here speaks not of liberty as a church power, of choosing officers, joining in censures, &c., but as a gospel privilege, consisting in freedom from the ceremonial law, that yoke of bondage, which false teachers would have imposed upon them, after christ had broken it off; as will further appear, if you please with this text to compare gal. v. , , , , and well consider the current of the whole context. . the inferences upon this distribution of the keys premised, are very strange and untheological. for it may be accepted in general, that it is a groundless fancy to make several first subjects of the keys, according to the several distributions of the keys; for, had all the members of the distribution been good, yet this inference thereupon is naught, inasmuch as the scripture tells us plainly, that all the keys together and at once were promised to peter, matt. xvi. , and given to the apostles, matt, xviii. , , with xxviii. - , and john xx. - ; so that originally the apostles and their successors were the only first subject and immediate receptacle of all the keys from christ. and though since, for assistance and case of the pastor, they are divided into more hands--viz. of the ruling elder, rom. xii. ; cor. xii. ; tim. v. --yet originally the subject was but one. further, here is just ground for many particular exceptions: as, . that every believer, whether joined to any particular church or not, is made the first subject of the key of knowledge, which seems to be extremely absurd: for then every particular believer, gifted or ungifted, strong or weak, man, woman, or child, hath power to preach, (taking the key of knowledge here for the key of doctrine, as it ought to be taken, or else it is no ecclesiastical key at all,) which is one of the highest offices, and which the great apostle said, "who is sufficient for these things?" cor. ii. . how unscriptural and irrational this is, all may judge. then also some of the keys may be committed to such as are without the church. then finally, it is possible to be a believer, and yet in no visible church; (for independents hold there is no church but a particular congregation, which is their only church:) but a man is no sooner a true believer, but he is a member of the invisible church: he is no sooner a professed believer, but he is a member of the general visible church, though he be joined to no particular congregation. . that a particular congregation of saints is made the first subject of all the church offices, with all their spiritual gifts and power, cor. iii. . but is the word subject used here properly, for the first subject recipient of all church offices, with all their gifts and power? then the congregation of saints are either officers themselves formally, and can execute the function of all sorts of officers, and have all gifts to that end; what need then is there of any select officers? for they can make officers virtually, and furnish those officers with gifts and power to that end; but who gave them any such authority? or what apostolical church ever assumed to themselves any such thing? officers, not churches, are the first subject of such gifts and power. is the word subject here used improperly, for object, whose good all offices with their gifts and power are given? then not any particular congregation, but the whole general visible church is the object for which all offices and officers with their gifts and power are primarily given, cor. xii. ; eph. iv. , , . as for that place, cor. iii. , "all is yours," &c., it points not out the particular privilege of any one single congregation, (nor was the church of corinth such, but presbyterial, see chap. xiii.,) but the general privilege of all true saints, and of the invisible mystical church: for were paul and cephas apostles given peculiarly to the church of corinth only? or was the _world, life, death, things present and to come_, given to the wicked in the church of corinth? . that the apostles are made the first subject of all apostolical power. but then, how doth this contradict the former assertion, that a particular congregation is the first subject of all offices with their gifts and power? are there two first subjects of the same adjuncts? or is apostleship no office? are apostolical gifts no gifts, or power no power? or have apostles all from the church? doubtless apostles were before all christian churches, and had the keys given them before the churches had their being. . that the brethren of a particular congregation are made the first subjects of church liberty. but, if that liberty be power and authority, then this evidently contradicts the former, that a particular congregation is the first subject of all offices and power; for brethren here are distinct from elders, and both do but make up a particular congregation. if liberty here be not power, then it is none of christ's keys, but a new forged pick-lock. . that the elders of a particular church are made the first subject of church authority; but then here is a contradiction to the former position, that made the particular congregation the first subject of all power. and though apostles and elders be the first subject of authority, yet, when the keys were first committed to them, they were not in relation to any particular church, but to the general. . finally, that both elders and brethren, walking and joining together in truth and peace, are the first subjects of all church power, is liable also to exception. for this joins the brethren (who indeed have no authoritative power at all) with the elders, as the joint subject of all power. and this but allowed to them walking and joining together in truth and peace: but what if the major part of the church prove heretical, and so walk not in truth; or schismatical, and so walk not in peace, shall the elders and the non-offending party lose all their power? where then shall that independent church find healing? for appeals to presbyteries and synods are counted apocryphal by them. but enough hath been said to detect the vanity of these new dreams and notions; it is a bad sore that must be wrapped in so many clouts.[ ] chapter xi. _of the proper receptacle, or immediate subject of the power of church government: affirmatively, what it is, viz. christ's own officers._ thus the proper receptacle or subject of ecclesiastical power hath been considered negatively, what it is not, viz: not the political magistrate, nor yet the community of the faithful, or body of the people, with or without their eldership. now this receptacle of power comes to be evidenced affirmatively, what it is, viz. (according to the express words of the description of government,) christ's own officers. this is the last branch of the description, the divine right whereof remains to be cleared; which may most satisfactorily be done by evidencing these three things, viz: . that jesus christ our mediator hath certain peculiar church guides and officers which he hath erected in his church. . that jesus christ our mediator hath especially intrusted his own officers with the government of his church. . how, or in what sense the ruling officers are intrusted with this government, severally or jointly? section i. . _of the divine right of christ's church officers, viz. pastors and teachers, with ruling elders._ touching the first, that christ hath certain peculiar church guides and officers, which he hath erected in his church. take it thus: jesus christ our mediator hath ordained and set in his church (besides the apostles and other extraordinary officers that are now ceased) pastors and teachers, as also ruling elders, as the subject of the keys for all ordinary ecclesiastical administrations. the divine right of these ordinary church officers may appear as followeth: i. pastors and teachers are the ordinance of jesus christ. this is generally granted on all sides; and therefore these few particulars may suffice for the demonstration of it, viz: . they are enumerated in the list or catalogue of those church officers which are of divine institution. "god hath set" (or put, constituted) "some in the church, first, apostles; secondarily, prophets; thirdly, teachers," cor. xii. . these are some of the triumphant gifts and trophies of christ's ascension: "ascending up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men: and he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers," eph. iv. , . thus in that exact roll of ordinary officers: "having, therefore, gifts different according to the grace given unto us; whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministry;" (here is the general distribution of all ordinary officers under two heads, _prophecy_ and _ministry_:) "or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation," (here is the teacher and the pastor, that come under the first head of prophecy,) rom. xii. - . "take heed to yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the holy ghost hath made" (or set) "you overseers," acts xx. . note--god hath set in the church; christ hath given for his body; the holy ghost hath made overseers over the flock, these pastors and teachers: and are not pastors and teachers church officers by divine right, having the authority of god, christ, and of the holy ghost? . they are to be thus and thus qualified according to divine direction. the qualifications of these pastors and teachers, (called presbyters and overseers,) see in tim. iii. - , "an overseer," or bishop, "must be blameless," &c.; and tit. i. - , "to ordain presbyters," or elders, "in every city--if any be blameless," &c. now, where god lays down qualifications for pastors and teachers, there he approves such officers to be his own ordinance. . they have manifold church employments committed to them from christ, as ministers of christ and stewards of the mysteries of god, ( cor. iv. , ,) they being intrusted in whole or in part with the managing of most if not all the ordinances forementioned in part , chap. vii., as there by the texts alleged is evident. matters of order and special office are committed to them only _divisim_: matters of jurisdiction are committed to them with ruling elders _conjunctim_. if christ hath intrusted them thus with church ordinances, and the dispensing of them, sure they are christ's church officers. . the very names and titles given them in scripture proclaim them to be christ's own ordinance; among many take these: "ministers of christ," cor. iv. ; "stewards of the mysteries of god," cor. iv. ; "ambassadors for christ," cor. v. ; "laborers thrust forth into his harvest by the lord of the harvest," matt. ix. ; "ruling over you in the lord,"[ ] thess. v. . . the lord christ charges their flock and people with many duties to be performed to their pastors and teachers, because of their office; as to know them, love them, obey them, submit unto them, honor them, maintain them, &c., which he would not do were they not his own ordinance. "but we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and rule over you in the lord, and esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake," thess. v. , . "obey your rulers, and submit; for they watch for your souls as those that must give an account," heb. xiii. . "the elders that rule well count worthy of double honor; especially them that labor in the word and doctrine; _for the scripture saith_, thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn, and the laborer is worthy of his hire," tim. v. , ; compared with cor. ix. - . "let him that is catechized, communicate to him that catechizeth him in all good things," gal. vi. - . thus much for the present may suffice to have been spoken touching the divine right of pastors and teachers, the ordinary standing ministers of christ under the new testament. but forasmuch as we observe that in these days some rigid erastians and seekers oppose and deny the very office of the ministry now under the gospel, and others profess that the ministry of the church of england is false and antichristian; we intend, (by god's assistance,) as soon as we can rid our hands from other pressing employments, to endeavor the asserting and vindicating of the divine right of the ministers of the new testament in general, and of the truth of the ministry of the church of england in particular. ii. ruling elders, distinct from all preaching elders and deacons, are a divine ordinance in the church of god now under the new testament. the divine right of this church officer, the mere ruling elder, is much questioned and doubted by some, because they find not the scriptures speaking so fully and clearly of the ruling elder as of the preaching elder and of the deacon. by others it is flatly denied and opposed, as by divers that adhere too tenaciously to the erastian and prelatical principles: who yet are willing to account the assistance of the ruling elder in matter of church government to be a very prudential way. but if mere prudence be counted once a sufficient foundation for a distinct kind of church officer, we shall open a door for invention of church officers at pleasure; then welcome commissioners and committee men, &c.; yea, then let us return to the vomit, and resume prelates, deans, archdeacons, chancellors, officials, &c., for church officers. and where shall we stop? who but christ jesus himself can establish new officers in his church? is it not the fruit of his ascension, &c.? eph. iv. , , . certainly if the scriptures lay not before us grounds more than prudential for the ruling elder, it were better never to have mere ruling elders in the church. both the presbyterians and independents[ ] acknowledge the divine right of the ruling elder. for satisfaction of doubting unprejudiced minds, (to omit divers considerations that might be produced,) the divine right of the ruling elder may be evinced by these ensuing arguments. _argum_. i. the first argument for the divine right of the ruling elder in the church of christ, shall be drawn from rom. xii. - : "having, then, gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, _let us wait_ on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, _let him do it_ with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence," &c. let the scope and context of this chapter be a little viewed, and it will make way for the more clear arguing from this place. briefly thus: the apostle having finished the principal part of his epistle, which was problematical, wherein he disputed-- . about justification, chap, i.-vi.; . sanctification, chap. vi. , ; and, . predestination, chap. ix. , , he comes to the next branch, which is more practical, about good works, chap. xii.-xvi. this twelfth chapter is wholly in the way of exhortation, and he herein exhorts to divers duties. . more generally that we should even consecrate ourselves wholly to the service of god, ver. ; that we should not conform to the world, ver. . more specially he descends to particular duties, which are of two sorts, viz: . such as concern ecclesiastical officers as officers, ver. - ; . such as concern all christians in common as christians, both towards one another and towards their very enemies, verse , to the end of the chapter. touching ecclesiastical officers, the apostle's evident scope is to urge them not to be proud of their spiritual gifts, (which in those days abounded,) but to think soberly, self-denyingly of themselves, and to use all their gifts well. this he presseth upon them, . from the nature of the church, which is as a natural organical body, wherein are many members, having their several offices for the good of the whole body; so the members of christ's body being many, have their several gifts and offices for the good of the whole, that the superior should not despise the inferior, nor the inferior envy their superior, ver. - . . from the distribution or enumeration of the several kinds of ordinary standing officers in this organical body, the church, who are severally exhorted duly to discharge those duties that are specially required of them in their several functions, ver. - . these officers are reduced first to two general heads, viz: prophecy (understand not the extraordinary gift of foretelling future things, &c., but the ordinary, in the right understanding and interpreting of scripture) and ministry; and the general duties thereof are annexed, ver. , . then these generals are subdivided into the special offices contained under them, the special duty of every officer being severally pressed upon them. under prophecy are contained, . _he that teacheth_, i.e., the doctor or teacher; . _he that exhorteth_, i.e., the pastor, ver. , . under ministry are comprised, . _he that giveth_, i.e., the deacon; . _he that ruleth_, i.e., the ruling elder. the current of our best interpreters to this effect resolve this context. so that here we have a very excellent and perfect enumeration of all the ordinary standing officers in the church of christ distinctly laid down. this premised, the argument for the divine right of the ruling elder may be thus propounded: _major_. whatsoever members of christ's organical body have an ordinary office of ruling therein given them of god, distinct from all other ordinary standing officers in the church, together with directions from god how they are to rule; they are the ruling elders we seek, and that by divine right. _minor_. but _he that ruleth_, mentioned in rom. xii. , is a member of christ's organical body, having an ordinary office of ruling therein given him of god, distinct from all other standing officers in the church, together with direction how he is to rule. _conclusion_. therefore he that ruleth, mentioned in rom. xii. , is the ruling elder we seek, and that by divine right. the major proposition is clear. for in the particulars of it, well compared together, are observable both a plain delineation or description of the ruling elder's office; and also a firm foundation for the divine right of that office. the ruling elder's office is described and delineated by these several clauses, which set out so many requisites for the making up of a ruling elder, viz: . he must be a member of christ's organical body. such as are without, pagans, heathens, infidels, &c., out of the church, they are not fit objects for church government, to have it exercised by the church upon them; the church only judges them that are within, ( cor. v. , ,) much less can they be fit subjects of church government to exercise it themselves within the church. how shall they be officers in the church that are not so much as members of the church? besides, such as are only members of the invisible body of christ, as the glorified saints in heaven, they cannot be officers in the church; for not the church invisible, but only the church or body of christ visible is organical. so that every church officer must first be a church member, a member of the visible organical body: consequently a ruling elder must be such a member. . he must have an office of ruling in this body of christ. membership is not enough, unless that power of rule be superadded thereto; for the whole office of the ruling elder is contained in the matter of rule; take away rule, you destroy the very office. now, rule belongs not to every member: "salute all them that have the rule over you, and all the saints," heb. xiii. , where rulers and saints are made contradistinct to one another. in the body natural all the members are not eyes, hands, &c., governing the body, some are rather governed; so in the body of christ, cor. xii. . this his office of ruling must be an ordinary office; apostles had some power that was extraordinary, as their apostleship was extraordinary; but when we seek for this ruling elder, we seek for a fixed, standing, ordinary officer ruling in the church. . all that is not enough, that he be a member of the church, that he have an office of rule in the church, and that office also be ordinary; but besides all these it is necessary that he be also distinct from all other standing officers in the church, viz. from pastors, teachers, deacons; else all the former will not make up a peculiar kind of officer, if in all points he fully agree with any of the said three. but if there can be found such an officer in whom all these four requisites do meet, viz: that, . is a member of christ's organical body; . hath an office of rule therein; , that office is ordinary; and, . that ordinary office is distinct from all other ordinary standing offices in the church; this must unavoidably be that very ruling elder which we inquire after. by this it is evident, that in this proposition here is a plain and clear delineation of the ruling elder's office. now, in the next place, touching the foundation for the divine right of this office; it also is notably expressed in the same proposition, while it presupposeth, . that god is the giver of this office; . that god is the guider of this office. for whatsoever office or officer god gives for his church, and having given it, guides and directs to the right discharge thereof, that must needs be of divine right beyond all contradiction. thus this proposition is firm and cogent. now let us assume: _minor_. but _he that ruleth_, mentioned in rom. xii. , is a member of christ's organical body, having an ordinary office of ruling therein, given him of god, distinct from all other ordinary standing officers in the church, together with direction from god how he is to rule. this assumption or minor proposition (whereon the main stress of the argument doth lie) may be thus evidenced by parts, from this context: _he that ruleth_ is a member of christ's organical body. for, . the church of christ is here compared to a body, _we being many are one body in christ_, ver. . . this body is declared to be organical, i.e. consisting of several members, that have their several offices in the body, some of teaching, some of exhorting, and some of ruling, &c. "for as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many are one body in christ, and every one members one of another," &c., ver. - , &c. . among the rest of the members of this body, _he that ruleth_ is reckoned up for one, ver. - ; this is palpably evident. _he that ruleth_ hath an office of ruling in this body of christ. for, . this word (translated) _he that ruleth_, in the proper signification and use of it, both in the scriptures and in other greek authors, doth signify one that ruleth authoritatively over another, (as hereafter is manifested in the d argument, § .) . our best interpreters and commentators do render and expound the word generally to this effect: e.g. he that is over[ ]--one set over[ ]--he that stands in the head or front[ ]--as a captain or commander in the army, to which this phrase seems to allude--_he that ruleth_. . this word, wherever it is used in a genuine proper sense, in all the new testament, notes rule, or government. it is used metaphorically for taking care (as one set over any business) of good works, only in two places, tit. iii. , and iii. . properly for government which superiors have over inferiors; and that either domestical, in private families, so it is used in tim. iii. , , , or ecclesiastical, in the church, which is the public family of god; in this sense it is used, thes. v. , tim. v. , and here, rom. xii. , and these are all the places where this word is found used in all the new testament. . _he that ruleth_ here, hath an ordinary, not an extraordinary office of rule in the church. for he is ranked and reckoned up in the list of christ's ordinary standing officers, that are constantly to continue in the church, viz. pastors, teachers, deacons. commonly this place is interpreted to speak of the ordinary church officers, and none other; consequently he that ruleth is such a one. . _he that ruleth_ here, is an officer distinct from all other ordinary officers in the church of christ. for in this place we have a full enumeration of all christ's ordinary officers, and he that ruleth is a distinct officer among them all. . distinct in name, he only is called _he that ruleth_, the rest have every one of them their several distinct name, ver. , . . distinct in his work here appropriated to him; the doctor teacheth; the pastor exhorteth; the deacon giveth; this elder _ruleth_, as the very name signifieth, ver. . compare tim. v. , cor. xii. . as the elder ruleth, so he is distinct from the deacon that hath no rule in the church; and as he only rules, so he is distinct from both pastor and teacher, that both teach, exhort, and rule; they both have power of order and jurisdiction, the ruling elder hath only power of jurisdiction. . finally, he is distinct among and from them all in the particular direction here given these officers about the right discharge of their functions. the teacher must be exercised _in teaching_; the pastor _in exhortation_; the deacon must _give with singleness_; and the elder, he must _rule with diligence, studiousness_, &c. now what other solid reason can be imagined, why _he that ruleth_ should here have a distinct name, distinct work and employment, and distinct direction how to manage this work, than this, that the holy ghost might set him out unto us as an ordinary officer in the church, distinct from all the other standing officers here enumerated? . god himself is the author and giver of this office of him that ruleth, as well as of all the other offices here mentioned. for, . all gifts and endowments in the church in general, and in every member in particular; they are from god, it is he that gives and divides them as he will, _as god hath dealt to every one the measure of faith_, rom. xii. . . all the special offices, and gifts for these offices in special, are also from the same god, _we having therefore gifts according to the grace given unto us, differing; whether prophecy_, &c., rom, xii. , , &c. here it is plain that he distinguished betwixt grace and gifts. by grace here we are to understand that holy office or charge in the church, which is given to any man by the grace and favor of god. and in this sense the apostle in this very chapter, ver. , useth the word _grace: for i say through the grace given to me_, i.e. through the authority of my apostleship, which by grace i have received, &c. by gifts, we are to understand those endowments wherewith god hath freely furnished his officers in the church for their several offices. now both these gifts and this grace, both the endowments and the office, are originally from god, his grace is the fountain of them; and both the grace of each office, and the gifts for such office, relate to all these ordinary offices here enumerated, as is evident by the current and connection of the whole context, see ver. - ; consequently the grace, i.e. the office of ruling, which is of divine grace, and the gifts for that office, arise from the same fountain, god himself. . finally, god himself is the guider and director of him that ruleth, here prescribing to him how he is to rule, viz. _with diligence, with studiousness_, &c., ver. . now we may receive this as a maxim, that of divine right may be done, for which god gives his divine rule how it is to be done: and that office must needs be of divine right, which god himself so far approves as to direct in his word how it shall be discharged. now, to sum up all, he that ruleth here, . is a member of christ's organical body. . hath an office of ruling in this body. . this his office is not extraordinary but ordinary, standing, and perpetual. . he is an officer distinct from all other ordinary officers in the church. . god himself is the giver and author of this office. . and god himself is the guider and director of this office: and then see if we may not clearly conclude, _conclusion_. therefore, he that ruleth, mentioned in rom. xii. , is the ruling elder we seek, and that by divine right. the adversaries of ruling elders muster up divers exceptions against the alleging of rom. xii. , for proof of the divine right of their office, the weakness of which is to be discovered ere we pass to another argument. _except_. . this is an arguing from a general to a special affirmatively. it doth not follow, because the apostle here in general mentioneth him that ruleth, therefore in special it must be the ruling elder.[ ] _ans_. this exception is the same with first exception against the second argument hereafter laid down. there see. for the same answer appositely and satisfactorily is applicable to both. _except_. . but the apostle here speaks of them that rule, but we have nowhere received that such elders have rule over the church--and he speaks of all that rule in the church, who therefore would wrest this place only to elders? one cannot rightly attribute that word translated _he that ruleth_ to elders only, which is common unto more. if these elders he here meant, neither pastors nor teachers ought to rule, for this word agrees no otherwise to him that ruleth, than the word of exhorting to him that exhorteth.[ ] _ans_. . that such elders rule in the church is evident, both by rom. xii. , where this word implies rule as hath been showed, and he that ruleth is reckoned up amongst ordinary church officers, as hath been said, therefore he rules in the church: these the apostle also calls ruling elders, tim. v. , viz. officers in the church, and distinct from them that labor in the word and doctrine; as in the third argument will appear: yea, they are governments set of god in the church, distinct from other officers, cor. xii. , as in the second argument shall be evidenced: there see; therefore these elders have rule. . though in this term the apostle speaks of him that ruleth, yet he speaks not of every one that ruleth. for, . he speaks singularly, he that ruleth, as of one kind of ruling officer; not plurally, they that rule, as if he had indefinitely or universally meant all the ruling officers in the church. . he reckons up here distinct kinds of ordinary officers, pastors, teachers, elders, and deacons; and pastors and teachers, besides laboring in the word, have power of rule, thes. v. , heb. xiii. - , and he that ruleth, here, is distinct from them both; and therefore this term cannot mean all church rulers, but only one kind, viz. the ruling elder. . though this name, _he that ruleth_, be common unto more rulers in the church, than to the mere ruling elder; yet it doth not therefore necessarily follow, that it cannot here particularly point out only the mere ruling elder, inasmuch, as _he that ruleth_, is not here set alone, (for then this objection might have had some color,) but is enumerated with other officers as distinct from them. . though the ruling elder here be called _he that ruleth_, yet this doth not exclude the pastor from ruling, no more than when the ordinary ministers are called pastors and teachers, the apostles and evangelists are excluded from feeding and teaching, in eph. iv. , ; cor. xii. . this elder is called, _he that ruleth_, not that there is no other ruler than he, but because he doth no other thing but rule, others rule and preach also. _except_. . if this were meant of such elders, then these elders were as necessary to the church as pastors, being given to the church by the like reason. consequently where these elders are not, there is no church; as there is no church where the word and sacraments are not.[ ] _ans_. . according to this argument deacons are as necessary as either pastors, teachers, or elders, and without deacons there should be no church; for they are all enumerated here alike, rom. xii. , , and in cor. xii. ; but this would be absurd, and against experience. . though both pastors and ruling elders belong to the church by divine right, yet doth it not follow that the ruling elder is equally as necessary as the pastor. the ruling elder only rules, the pastor both rules and preaches, therefore he is more necessary to the church. there are degrees of necessity; some things are absolutely necessary to the being of a church, as matter and form, viz. visible saints, and a due profession of faith, and obedience to christ, according to the gospel. thus it is possible a church may be, and yet want both deacons, elders, and pastors too, yea, and word and sacraments for a time: some things are only respectively necessary to the well-being of a church; thus officers are necessary, yet some more than others, without which the church is lame, defective, and miserably imperfect. _except_. . should ruling elders here be meant, then deacons that obey, should be preferred before the elders that rule.[ ] _ans_. priority of order is no infallible argument of priority of worth and dignity; as is evidenced in answer to the third exception against arg. ii.--there see; we find priscilla a woman named before aquila a man, and her husband, acts xviii. ; rom. xvi. ; tim. iv. ; is therefore the woman preferred before the man? the wife before the husband? and again, aquila is set before priscilla, acts xviii. , , cor. xvi. , to let us see that the holy ghost indifferently speaks of superior and inferior before one another. _except_. . but here the apostle speaketh of divers gifts and graces, for so _differing gifts_ do import, not of divers offices: for then they might not concur in one man, and consequently neither might the prophet teach, nor exhort, nor the deacon distribute, nor show mercy. many gifts may be common in one man, many offices cannot;--which of these gifts in the apostles' times was not common as well to the people as to the pastors; and to women as well as to men? &c.[ ] _ans_. divers considerations may be propounded to discover the vanity of this exception: chiefly take these three. . there is no sufficient reason in this exception, proving the apostle here to speak only of divers gifts and graces, and not of divers offices also. for, . this is not proved by that expression, _differing gifts_, ver. , for these differing gifts are not here spoken of abstractly and absolutely, without reference to their subjects, but relatively with reference to their subjects wherein they are, viz. in the several officers, ver. , , and therefore, as the apostle mentions the _differing gifts_, so here he tells us in the same sixth verse, that we have these "different gifts, according to the grace given unto us," i.e. according to the office given unto us of god's grace, (as hath been manifested,) after which immediately is subjoined an enumeration of offices. . nor is this proved by the inference made, upon the granting that divers offices are here meant, viz. [then they might not concur in one man, the prophet might not teach nor exhort, &c.; many gifts may be common in one man, many offices cannot.] for who is so little versed in the scriptures, but he knows that apostles, pastors, elders, deacons, are distinct officers one from another; yet all the inferior offices are virtually comprehended in the superior, and may be discharged by them: elders may distribute as well as deacons; and beyond them, rule: pastors may distribute and rule as well as deacons and elders, and beyond both preach, dispense sacraments, and ordain ministers. apostles may do there all, and many things besides extraordinary. much more may the prophet teach and exhort, and the deacon distribute and show mercy; these being the proper acts of their office. . nor, finally, is this proved by that suggestion, that all these gifts in the apostles' times were common to all sorts and sexes, women as well as men; as he after takes much pains to prove, but to very little purpose. for not only in the apostles' times, but in our times also, all christians may teach, exhort, distribute, show mercy, &c., privately, occasionally, by bond of charity, and law of fraternity towards one another mutually: but may not teach, exhort, rule, distribute, &c., authoritatively by virtue of their office, so as to give themselves wholly to such employments, which is the thing here intended; yet it is worth observing how far bilson was transported against ruling elders, that rather than yield to their office, he will make all these gifts common to all sorts and sexes, men and women. this is new divinity; all sorts and sexes may both preach and rule. let bilson have the credit of symbolizing with the separatists, if not of transcending them. . here is good ground in the context to make us think that the apostle here spoke of distinct church officers, and not only of distinct gifts. for, . in the similitude of a natural body (whereunto here the church is compared) he speaks of distinct members, having distinct offices, ver. . "for as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office." . in his accommodation of this similitude, he speaks not only of gifts, but also of offices according to which these gifts are given, which he calls _grace_, ver. , (as was noted.). this grace given, or this office given of grace, is branched out, first, into two general heads, viz. _prophecy_ and _ministry_, ver. , . then these generals are subdivided into the special offices contained under them, viz.: under prophecy the teacher, _he that teacheth_; and the pastor, _he that exhorteth_; under ministry the deacon, _he that distributeth_; and the ruling elder, _he that ruleth_. now there is in the text just ground for this resolution of the text, in making prophecy and ministry generals, and all the rest special kinds of officers; forasmuch as prophecy and ministry are expressed abstractly, _whether prophecy_, (not, whether we are prophets;) _whether ministry_, (not, whether we are deacons, ministers:) and both prophecy and ministry are put in the accusative case; and both of them have relation, and are joined unto the participle of the plural number _having_, intimating that divers do share in prophecy, pastor and teacher; divers in ministry, deacon and ruling elder. but all the other are expressed concretely, and in the nominative case, and in the singular number, and to every of them the single article is prefixed, translated he--_he that teacheth--he that exhorteth--he that giveth--he that ruleth_. hence we have great cause to count prophecy and ministry as generals; all the rest as special offices under them. _argum_. ii. the second argument for the divine right of the ruling elder shall be grounded upon cor. xii. : "and god hath set some in the church, first, apostles, secondly, prophets, thirdly, teachers, afterwards powers, then gifts of healing, helps, governments, kinds of tongue." god, in the first founding of christianity and of the primitive churches, bestowed many eminent gifts upon divers christians; the church of corinth greatly excelled in such gifts, cor. i. , . hence their members gifted, grew spiritually proud, and despised their brethren; to correct which abuse of gifts, and direct them to the right use thereof for the common profit of all, is the chief scope of this chapter, see verse , "the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit withal." for, . all their gifts flow from one and the same fountain, the spirit of god, therefore should be improved for the common good of all, especially considering no one man hath all gifts, but several men have several gifts, that all might be beholden to one another, ver. - . . the whole church of christ throughout all the world is but one body, and that body organical, having several members therein placed for several uses, as eyes, hands, &c., wherein the meanest members are useful and necessary to the highest: therefore all members should harmoniously lay out their gifts for the good of the whole body, without jars or divisions, ver. - . . all the several officers, whether extraordinary or ordinary, though furnished with several gifts and several administrations, yet are placed by one and the same god, in one and the same general church; and therefore should all level at the benefit of the whole church, without pride, animosities, divisions, &c., ver. , to the end. these things being briefly premised for the clearing the context and scope of the chapter, we may thus argue from ver. : _major_. whatsoever officers god himself, now under the new testament, hath set in the church as governors therein, distinct from all other church governors, whether extraordinary or ordinary; they are the ruling elders we inquire after, and that by divine right. this proposition is so clear and evident of itself, that much needs not to be said for any further demonstration of it. for what can be further desired for proof that there are such distinct officers as ruling elders in the church of christ, and that of divine right, than to evince, . that there are certain officers set of god in the church as governors therein. . that those officers so set of god in the church, are set in the church under the new testament, which immediately concerns us, and not under the old testament. . that these officers set of god as governors in the church of the new testament, are distinct from all other church governors, whether extraordinary or ordinary? for, by the third of these, we have a distinct church officer delineated and particularized: by the second we have this distinct church officer limited to the time and state of the church only under the new testament, which is our case: and by the first of these, we have this distinct new testament officer's ruling power in the church, and the divine right thereof evidently demonstrated, by god's act in setting him there in this capacity; (see part . chap. vi.;) so that by all put together, the consequence of this major proposition seems to be strong and unquestionable. _minor_. but the governments named in cor. xii. , are officers which god himself now under the new testament hath set in the church as governors therein, distinct from all other church governors, whether extraordinary or ordinary. this minor or assumption is wholly grounded upon, and plainly contained in this text, and may thus be evidenced by parts. . the church here spoken of [_in the church_] is the church of christ now under the new testament: for, . the church here mentioned, ver. , is the same with that one body mentioned, ver. , , of this chapter, as the whole context and coherence of the chapter evinceth; but that one body denotes not the church of god under the old testament, but only the church of christ under the new testament; partly, inasmuch as it is counted the church of christ, yea, (so intimate is the union between head and members,) it is called christ, _so also is_ christ, ver. , (viz. not christ personally considered, but christ mystically considered, as comprehending head and body;) now this denomination of the church, viz. christ, or the church of christ, &c., is peculiar to the church under the new testament: for where in all the scripture is the church of god under the old testament called the church of christ, &c.? and partly, inasmuch as all, both jews and gentiles, are incorporated jointly into this one body, and coalesce into one church: "for by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether jews or gentiles, whether bond or free," cor. xii. . now this union or conjunction of jews and gentiles into one body, one church, is only done under the new testament; see eph. ii. , to the end of the chapter. . the officers here mentioned to be set in this church, are only the new testament officers, ver. . . the scope of the whole chapter is to redress abuses of spiritual gifts in the church of corinth, which was a church under the new testament; and therefore it would have been too remote for the apostle to have argued from the several distributions of gifts peculiar to the officers or members of the church under the old testament. . the governments here mentioned are officers set in this church as governors, or rulers therein: "hath set some in the church, first, apostles--governments." for clearing of this, consider the enumeration here made; the denomination of these officers, governments; and the constitution or placing of these governments in the church. . the enumeration here made is evidently an enumeration of several sorts of church officers, some extraordinary, to endure but for a time, some ordinary, to continue constantly in the church; to this the current of interpreters doth easily subscribe: and this the text itself plainly speaks; partly, if we look at the matter, viz. the several officers enumerated, which are either extraordinary, these five, viz. apostles, prophets, powers, or miracles, gifts of healing, and kinds of tongues: these continued but for a season, during the first founding of christian churches: (the proper and peculiar work of these extraordinary officers, what it was, is not here to be disputed.) or ordinary, these three, viz. _teachers_, (there is the preaching elder,) _governments_, (there is the ruling elder,) _helps_, (there is the deacon;) these are the officers enumerated; and however there be some other officers elsewhere mentioned, whence some conceive this enumeration not to be so absolutely perfect, yet this is undoubtedly evident, that it is an enumeration of officers in the church: partly, this is evident, if we look at the manner of the apostle's speech, which is in an enumerating form, viz. first, secondly, thirdly, afterwards, then: and partly, it is evident that he intended to reckon up those officers that were distinct from all other parts of the mystical body of christ, by his recapitulation, "are all apostles, are all prophets?" &c., ver. , , i.e. not all, but only some members of the body are set apart by god to bear these offices in the church. now, if there be here a distinct enumeration of distinct officers in the church, as is evident; then consequently _governments_ must needs be one of these distinct church officers, being reckoned up among the rest; and this is one step, that governments are in the roll of church officers enumerated. . the denomination of these officers, _governments_, evidenceth that they are governing officers, vested with rule in the church. this word (as hath been noted in chap. ii.) is a metaphor from pilots or shipmasters governing of their ships by their compass, helm, &c., james iii. , (who is hence called _governor_, viz. of the ship, acts xxvii. ; rev. xviii. ,) and it notes such officers as sit at the stern of the vessel of the church, to govern and guide it in spirituals according to the will and mind of christ: governments--the abstract is put for governors, the concrete: this name of governments hath engraven upon it an evident character of power for governing. but this will be easily granted by all. all the doubt will be, whom the apostle intended by these governments? thus conceive, negatively, these cannot be meant, viz. not governors in general, for, besides that a general exists not but in the particular kinds or individuals thereof, a member of a body in general exists not but in this or that particular member, eye, hand, foot, &c.: besides this, it is evident that christ hath not only in general appointed governors in his church, and left particulars to the church or magistrate's determination, but hath himself descended to the particular determination of the several kinds of officers which he will have in his church; compare these places together, eph. iv. , , ; cor. xii. ; rom. xii. , : though in the ordinance of magistracy god hath only settled the general, but for the particular kinds of it, whether it should be monarchical, &c., that is left to the prudence of the several commonwealths to determine what is fittest for themselves. (see part , chap. ix.) . not masters of families: for all families are not in the church, pagan families are without. no family as a family is either a church or any part of a church, (in the notion that church is here spoken of;) and though masters of families be governors in their own houses, yet their power is not ecclesiastical but economical or domestical, common to heathens as well as christians. not the political magistrate,[ ] for the reasons hinted, (part , chap. i.; see also part , chap. ix.,) and for divers other arguments that might be propounded. . not the prelatical bishops, pretending to be an order above preaching presbyters, and to have the reins of all church government in their hands only; for, in scripture language, bishop and presbyter are all one order, (these words being only names of the same officer;) this is evident by comparing tit. i. , with ver. . hereunto also the judgment of antiquity evidently subscribeth, accounting a bishop and a presbyter to be one and the same officer in the church; as appears particularly in ambrose, theodoret, hierom, and others. now, if there be no such order as prelatical bishops, consequently they cannot be governments in the church. . not the same with _helps_, as the former corrupt impressions of our bibles seemed to intimate, which had it thus, _helps in governments_, which some moderns seem to favor; but this is contrary to the original greek, which signifies _helps, governments_; contrary to the ancient syriac version, which hath it thus, (as tremel. renders it,) _and helpers, and governments_: and therefore this gross corruption is well amended in our late printed bible. _helps, governments_, are here generally taken by interpreters for two distinct officers. . nor, finally, can the teaching elder here be meant; for that were to make a needless and absurd tautology, the teacher being formerly mentioned in this same verse. consequently, by _governments_ here, what can be intended, but such a kind of officer in the church as hath rule and government therein, distinct from all governors forementioned? and doth not this lead us plainly to the ruling elder? . these governments thus set in the church, as rulers therein, are set therein by god himself; god hath set some in the church, _first, apostles--governments--god hath set, put, made, constituted_, &c., (as the word imports,) _in the church_. what hath god set in the church? viz. apostles and--governments, as well as apostles themselves. the verb, _hath set_, equally relates to all the sorts of officers enumerated. and is not that officer ia the church of divine right, which god himself, by his own act and authority, sets therein? then doubtless these governments are of divine right. . finally, these governments set in the church under the new testament as governors therein, and that by god himself, are distinct from not only all governing officers without the church, (as hath been showed,) but also from all other governing officers within the church. for here the apostles make a notable enumeration of the several sorts of church officers, both extraordinary and ordinary, viz. eight in all. five of these being extraordinary, and to continue but for a season, for the more effectual spreading and propagating of the gospel of christ at first, and planting of christian churches, viz. apostles, prophets, powers, gifts of healings, kinds of tongues: three of these being ordinary, and to be perpetuated in the church, as of continual use and necessity therein, viz. teachers, governments, [i.e. ruling elders,] and helps, [i.e. deacons, who are to help and relieve the poor and afflicted.] this is the enumeration. it is not contended, that it is absolutely and completely perfect, for that some officers seem to be omitted and left out, which elsewhere are reckoned up, eph. iv. ; rom. xii. , . evangelists are omitted in the list of extraordinary officers, and pastors are left out of the roll of the ordinary officers; and yet some conceive that pastors and teachers point not out two distinct sorts of officers, but rather two distinct acts of the same officers; and if this will hold, then pastors are sufficiently comprised under the word teachers; yea, some think that both evangelists and pastors are comprehended under the word teacher.[ ] but, however, be that as it will, these two things are evident, . that this enumeration (though evangelists and pastors be left out) is the fullest and completest enumeration of church officers which in any place is to be found throughout all the new testament. . that though we should grant this defect in the enumeration, yet this is no way prejudicial to the present argument, that governments here mentioned are ruling officers in the church, distinct from all other church officers that have rule; for they are plainly and distinctly recited as distinct kinds of officers, distinct from apostles, from prophets, from teachers, from all here mentioned. and thus interpreters[ ] commonly expound this place, taking governments for a distinct kind of church officer from all the rest here enumerated. now to sum up all that hath been said for the proof of the assumption; it is evident, . that the church here spoken of is the church of christ now under the new testament. . that the governments here mentioned, are officers set in this church, (not out of the church,) as rulers governing therein. . that these governments set as rulers or governors in this church, are set there not by man, but by god himself; _god hath set in the church--governments_. . and, finally, that these governments thus set in the church, are distinct, not only from all governors out of the church, but also from all governing officers within the church. and if all this laid together will not clearly evince the divine right of the ruling elder, what will? hence we may strongly conclude, _conclusion_. therefore these governments in cor. xii. , are the ruling elders we inquire after, and that of divine right. now against the urging of cor. xii. , for the proof of the divine right of the ruling elders, divers exceptions are made, which are to be answered before we pass to the third argument. _except_. . the allegation of this place is too weak to prove the thing in question. for will any man that knoweth what it is to reason, reason from the general to the particular and special affirmatively? or will ever any man of common sense be persuaded that this consequence is good: there were governors in the primitive church mentioned by the apostles--therefore they were lay governors? surely i think not.[ ] _ans_. this exception hath a confident flourish of words, but they are but words. it may be replied, . by way of concession, that to argue indeed from a general to a special, is no solid reasoning; as, this is a kingdom, therefore it is england; this is a city, therefore it is london; the apostle mentions government in the primitive church, therefore they are ruling elders: this were an absurd kind of reasoning. . by way of negation. our reasoning from this text for the ruling elder, is not from the general to a special affirmatively--there are governments in the church, therefore ruling elders: but this is our arguing--these governments here mentioned in cor. xii. , are a special kind of governing officers, set of god in the church of christ now under the new testament, and distinct from all other church officers, whether extraordinary or ordinary: and therefore they are the ruling elders which we seek after, and that by divine right. so that we argue from the enumeration of several kinds of church officers affirmatively: here is an enumeration or roll of divers kinds of church officers of divine right; governments are one kind in the roll, distinct from the rest; therefore governments are of divine right, consequently ruling elders; for none but they can be these governments, as hath been proved in the assumption. if the apostle had here mentioned governments only, and none other kind of officers with them, there had been some color for this exception, and some probability that the apostle had meant governors in general and not in special: but when the apostle sets himself to enumerate so many special kinds of officers, apostles, prophets, teachers, &c., how far from reason is it to think that in the midst of all these specials, governments only should be a general. . as for dr. field's scoffing term of lay governors or lay elders, which he seems in scorn to give to ruling elders; it seems to be grounded upon that groundless distinction of the ministry and people into clergy and laity; which is justly rejected by sound orthodox writers[ ], as not only without but against the warrant of scripture, clergy being nowhere appropriated to the ministry only, but commonly attributed to the whole church, pet. v. , . the scripture term given to these officers is _ruling elders_, tim. v. ; and so far as such, (though they be elected from among the people,) they are ecclesiastical officers. _except_. . but it is not said here governors in the concrete, as apostles, prophets, teachers are mentioned concretely, which are distinct officers: but it is said governments, in the abstract, to note faculties, not persons. the text may be thus resolved: the apostle first sets down three distinct orders, apostles, prophets, and teachers: then he reckons up those common gifts of the holy ghost (and among the rest the gift of governing) which were common to all three. so that we need not here make distinct orders in the church, but only distinct gifts which might be in one man.[ ] _ans_. . as the apostles, prophets, and teachers are here set down concretely, and not abstractly, and are confessed to be three distinct orders enumerated: so all the other five, though set down abstractly, are (by a metonymy of the adjunct for the subject) to be understood concretely, helps for helpers; governments for governors, &c.; otherwise we shall here charge the apostle with a needless impertinent tautology in this chapter, for he had formerly spoken of these gifts abstractly, ver. - , as being _all given to profit_ the church _withal_, ver. ; but here, ver. - , he speaks of these gifts as they are in several distinct subjects, for the benefit of the organical body the church; else what saith he here, more than he said before? . that all these eight here enumerated, one as well as another, do denote, not distinct offices or acts of the same officer, but distinct officers, having distinct administrations, and distinct gifts for those administrations, is evident, partly by the apostle's form of enumeration, _first, secondly, thirdly, afterwards, then_ or _furthermore_: if he had intended only three sorts of officers, he would have stopped at thirdly, but he goes on in an enumerating way, to show us those that follow are distinct officers as well as those that go before; partly, by the apostle's recapitulation, ver. , , which plainly points out different officers, persons not gifts, besides those three: _are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers?_ (and here he stops not, but reckons on) _are all workers of miracles? have all the gifts of healing?_ &c. if it should be replied, but he doth not add, are all helps? are all governments? therefore these are not to be accounted distinct officers from the rest; otherwise why should the apostle thus have omitted them, had there been any such distinct officers in the church in his time? it may be replied, these two officers, helps and governments, are omitted in the recapitulation, ver. , , not that the church then had no such officers, for why then should they have been distinctly mentioned in the enumeration of church officers, ver. ? but either, . for that helps and governments were more inferior ordinary officers, and not furnished with such extraordinary, or at least, eminent gifts, as the other had, (which they abused greatly to pride, contention, schism, and contempt of one another, the evils which the apostle here labors so much to cure,) and so there was no such danger that these helps and governments should run into the same distempers that the other did. or, . for that he would instruct these helps and governments to be content with their own stations and offices, (without strife and emulation,) though they be neither apostles, nor prophets, nor teachers, nor any of the other enumerated, which were so ambitiously coveted after; and the last verse seems much to favor this consideration, _but covet earnestly the best gifts_, viz. which made most for edification, not for ostentation.[ ] _except_. . but helps here are placed before governments, therefore it is not likely that governments were the ruling elders; helps, i.e. deacons, which is an inferior office, seeming here to be preferred before them.[ ] _ans_. this follows not. priority of order is not always an argument of priority of worth, dignity, or authority. scripture doth not always observe exactness of order, to put that first which is of most excellency: sometimes the pastor is put before the teacher, as ephes. iv. , sometimes the teacher before the pastor, as rom. xii. , . peter is first named of all the apostles, both in matt. x. , and in acts i. , but we shall hardly grant the papist's arguing thence to be solid--peter is first named, therefore he is the chief and head of all the apostles; no more can we account this any good consequence--helps are set before governments, therefore governments are officers inferior to helps, consequently they cannot be ruling elders: this were bad logic. _except_. . but the word governments is general, and may signify either christian magistrates, or ecclesiastical officers, as archbishops, bishops, or whatsoever other by lawful authority are appointed in the church.[ ] and some of the semi-erastians of our times, by governments understand the christian magistracy, holding the christian magistracy to be an ecclesiastical administration.[ ] _ans_. . governments, i.e. governors, (though in itself and singly mentioned, it be a general, yet) here being enumerated among so many specials, is special, and notes the special kind of ruling elders, as hath been proved. . as for archbishops and diocesan bishops, they are notoriously known to be, as such, no officers set in the church by god, but merely by the invention of man; therefore they have no part nor lot in this business, nor can here be meant. and if by others, by lawful authority appointed in the church, they mean those officers that god appoints well: if those whom man sets there without god, as chancellors, commissioners, &c., such have as much power of government in the church, as they are such, as archbishops and bishops, viz. just none at all by any divine warrant. . nor can the civil christian magistrate here be implied. . partly, because this is quite beside the whole intent and scope of this chapter, treating merely upon spiritual church-matters, not at all of secular civil matters, viz: of spiritual gifts for the church's profit, ver. to ; of the church herself as one organical body, ver. to ; and of the officers which god hath set in this organical body, ver. , &c. now here to crowd in the christian magistrate, which is a mere political governor, into the midst of these spiritual matters, and into the roll of these merely ecclesiastical officers, how absurd is it! . partly, because the magistrate, as such, is not set of god in the church either as a church officer, or as a church member, (as hath been demonstrated formerly, chap. ix.;) and though he become a christian, that adds nothing to the authority of his magistracy, being the privilege only of his person, not of his office. . partly, because when this was written to the corinthians, the apostle writes of such governments as had at that time their present actual being and existence in the church: and neither then, nor divers hundreds of years after, were there any magistrates christian, as hath been evidenced, chap. ix.[ ] _except_. . teachers are here expressed, but pastors omitted; and therefore well might governors be mentioned instead of pastors.[ ] _answ_. . then, according to his judgment, pastors were a distinct kind of officers from teachers; otherwise the naming of teachers would have sufficiently implied pastors, without the addition of the word governors, one act or function of the office being put for the whole office. but prelates did not love to hear of such a distinction. however, it is the judgment of many others no less learned or pious than they, that in the same congregation where there are several ministers, he that excels in exposition of scriptures, teaching sound doctrine, and convincing gainsayers, may be designed hereunto, and called a teacher or doctor: he that excels in application, and designed thereunto, may be called a pastor; but where there is only one minister in one particular congregation, he is to perform, as far as he is able, the whole work of the ministry. . if pastors are to be understood by this term governors, as contradistinct from teachers, formerly enumerated in the text; doth not this seem to devolve the matter of government so wholly upon the pastor, as that the teacher hath nothing to do with it? and hereby both pastor and teacher are wronged at once: the teacher, while power of governing is denied him, which belongs to him as well as to the pastor; the teacher being a minister of the word, hath power of administration of the sacraments and discipline, as well as the pastor: the pastor, while he consequently is deprived of the necessary and comfortable assistance of the teacher in point of government. therefore the pastor cannot here be intended by governors. . bilson himself was not very confident of this gloss, and therefore he immediately adds, "if this content you not, i then deny they are all ecclesiastical functions that are there specified," &c. what then doth he make them? viz. he makes divers of them, and governments among the rest, to be but several gifts, whereof one and the same officer might be capable. and a little after he ingenuously confesses he cannot tell what these governors were, saying, "i could easily presume, i cannot easily prove what they were. the manner and order of those wonderful gifts of' god's spirit, after so many hundreds may be conjectured, cannot be demonstrated--governors they were, or rather governments, (for so the apostle speaketh,) i.e. gifts of wisdom, discretion, and judgment, to direct and govern the whole church, and every particular member thereof, in the manifold dangers and distresses which those days did not want. governors also they might be called, that were appointed in every congregation to hear and appease the private strifes and quarrels that grew betwixt man and man, lest the christians, to the shame of themselves, and slander of the gospel, should pursue each other for things of this life before the magistrates, who then were infidels; of these st. paul speaketh, cor. vi. - . these governors and moderators of their brethren's quarrels and contentions i find, others i find not in the apostle's writings, but such as withal were watchmen and feeders of the flock." thus inconsistent he is with himself: one while these governors must be pastors; another while arbitrators or daysmen about private differences; another while gifts, not officers; another while he cannot easily prove what they were. but they have been proved to be ruling elders, and the proof still stands good, notwithstanding all his or others' exceptions. _argum_. iii. the third argument for the divine right of the mere ruling elder shall be drawn from tim. v. , "let the elders that rule well, be counted worthy of double honor, especially they that labor in the word and doctrine." from which words we may thus argue for the divine right of the ruling elder: _major_. whatsoever officers in the church are, according to the word of christ, styled elders, invested with rule in the church, approved of god in their rule, and yet distinct from all them that labor in the word and doctrine; they are the ruling elders in the church which we inquire after, and that by divine right. this proposition seems clear and unquestionable. for, . if there be a certain kind of church officer which christ in his word calls an elder, . declares to have rule in his church, . approves in this his rule, and, . distinguished from him that labors in the word and doctrine; this is plainly the ruling elder, and here is evidently the divine right of his office. such a divine approbation of his office, testified in scripture, implies no less than a divine institution thereof. _minor_. but the officers mentioned in tim. v. , are, according to the word of christ, styled elders, invested with rule in the church: approved of god in their rule, and yet distinct from all them that labor in the word and doctrine. this assumption may be thus evidenced by parts. . the officers mentioned here in this word of christ, are styled elders. this greek word translated _elder_, is used in the new testament chiefly in three several senses: . for men of ancient time, not now living; and so it is opposed to modern: tradition of elders, matt. xv. , i.e. of them of old time, see matt. v. . . for elders in age now living; so it is opposed to younger, tim. v. ; pet. v. . . for elders in function or office, opposed to private men not in office, as acts xiv. ; and in this last sense it is to be taken in this place, an office of ruling being here ascribed to these elders. they are called elders, say some, because for the most part they were chosen out of the elder sort of men: others better, from the maturity of knowledge, wisdom, gifts, gravity, piety, &c., which ought to be in them. this name elder seems to have rule and authority written upon it, when applied to any church officer; and it is by the septuagint often ascribed to rulers political, _elders in the gate_, judges viii. ; ruth iv. , ; sam. v. ; chron. xi. . in this place (as it is well noted by some[ ]) the word elders is a genus, a general attribute, agreeing both to them that rule well, and also to those that labor in the word and doctrine: the one sort only rule; the other sort both rule and preach; but both sorts are elders. . the officers here mentioned are not only styled elders, but invested with rule in the church. for it is plain both by the text and context duly considered, and the apostle's scope in writing of this epistle, tim. iii. , that these elders are officers in the church. and that in the church they are vested with rule appears not only by their name of elders, which when applied to officers, imports rule, authority, &c., as hath been said; but also by the adjunct participle _that rule_, or _ruling_, annexed to elders--_let the elders ruling well_. so that here we have not only the office, the thing, but the very name of ruling elders. the word seems to be a military term, for captains and commanders in an army, _foremost slanders_, (as the word imports,) that lead on and command all the rest that follow them: hence metaphorically used for the foremost-standers, rulers, governors in the church. it noteth not only those that go before others by doctrine, or good example: but that govern and rule others by authority. for, . thus the word is used in scripture: "one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity," tim. iii. : where it plainly notes an authoritative ruling. again, "if a man know not how to rule his own house," tim. iii. . and again, "ruling their children and their own houses well," tim. iii. . and can any man be so absurd as to think that a master of a family hath not a proper authoritative rule over his own children and family, but rules them only by doctrine and example? . thus learned divines[ ] and accurate grecians[ ] use the word to denote authority: so that the holy ghost here calling them ruling elders, implies they are vested with rule: and those that deny this place to hold out two sorts of elders, yet confess it holds out two sorts of acts, ruling and preaching. . these ruling elders are here approved of god in their rule; and that two ways, viz: . in that god's spirit here commends their ruling, being duly discharged, _ruling well, excellently_, &c. did no rule in the church belong to them for matter, god would never command or approve them for the matter. he cannot be accounted with god to do any thing well, that hath no right to do it at all. . in that god's spirit here commands their well ruling to be honorably rewarded. _let them be counted worthy of double honor:_ or, _let them be dignified with double honor_. here is not only reward, but an eminent reward appointed them, and that urged from scripture, ver. . where god thus appoints rewards, he approves that for which he rewards; and what god thus approves is of divine right. see part , chap. v. . yet, finally, these elders, vested with rule in the church, and divinely approved in their rule, are distinct from all them that labor in the word and doctrine. this may thus he evidenced from the text, as some[ ] have well observed: for, . here is a general, under which the several kinds of officers here spoken of are comprehended, _elders_; all here mentioned are elders. . here are two distinct kinds of elders, viz: _those that rule well_, there is one kind; and _they that labor in the word_ (as the pastors) _and doctrine_, (as the doctors and teachers,) here is the other kind. . here are two participles expressing these two species or kinds of elders--_ruling_, and _laboring_: those only rule, that is all their work, and therefore here are called ruling elders; not because _they_ alone rule, but because their only work is to rule: but these not only rule, but, over and besides, _they_ labor in the word and doctrine. . here are two distinct articles distinctly annexed to these two participles--_they that rule; they that labor_. . finally, here is an eminent disjunctive particle set betwixt these two kinds of elders, these two participles, these two articles, evidently distinguishing one from the other, viz. especially _they that labor in the word_, &c., intimating, that as there were some ruling elders that did labor in the word and doctrine, so there were others that did rule, and not labor in the word: both were worthy of double honor, but especially they that both ruled and labored in the word also. and wheresoever this word, here translated _especially_, is used in all the new testament, it is used to distinguish thing from thing, person from person, that are spoken of; as, "let us do good to all, but especially to those of the household of faith," gal. vi. : therefore there were some of the household of faith, and some that were not; and accordingly we must put a difference in doing good to them. "all the saints salute you, especially those of cæsar's household;" some saints not of his household: all saluted them, but especially those of cæsar's household. "he that provides not for his own, especially for them of his own house, he hath denied the faith," tim. v. . a believer is to provide for his friends and kindred, but especially _for those of his own house_, wife and children. see also tim. iv. ; tit. i. ; tim. iv. ; pet. ii. ; acts xx. , and xxvi. ; in all which places the word _especially_ is used as a disjunctive particle, to distinguish one thing from another, without which distinction we shall but make nonsense in interpreting those places. and generally the best interpreters[ ] do from this text conclude, that there were two sorts of elders, viz: the ruling elder, that only ruled; the preaching elder, that besides his ruling, labored in the word and doctrine also. now, therefore, seeing the officers here mentioned are, . according to the word of christ, (for this is the word of christ,) styled elders; . vested with rule; . approved of god in their rule; and yet, . distinct from all that labor in the word and doctrine, as hath been particularly proved; we may conclude, that, _conclusion_. therefore the officers here mentioned are the ruling elders in the church which we inquire after, and that by divine right. but against this place of tim. i. , and the argument from it, divers cavils and exceptions are made; let them have a brief solution. _except_. . there were two sorts of elders, some laboring in the word and doctrine, some taking care of the poor, viz. deacons; both were worthy of double honor, especially they that labored in the word, &c.[ ] _ans_. . this is a new distinction of elders without warrant of scripture. deacons are nowhere in all the new testament styled elders;[ ] nay, they are contradistinguished from elders, both teaching and ruling. "he that giveth _let him do it_ with simplicity: he that ruleth, with diligence," rom. xii. . "helps, governments," cor. xii. . compare also tit. i. , , &c., tim. iii. , &c., with tim. iii. , &c. . as deacons are not elders, so deacons have no rule in the church. it is true, they are to "rule their children and their own houses well," tim. iii. ; this is only family rule: but as for the church, their office therein is to be _helps_, cor. xii. ; _to distribute_, rom. xii. ; _to serve tables_, acts vi. , ; but no rule is ascribed to them. _except_. . but by ruling well, some understand living well, leading a holy, exemplary life. the apostle would have ministers not only to live well themselves, but also to feed others by the word and doctrine; they that live well are to be double honored, especially they who labor in the word, &c., as thess. v. , .[ ] _ans_. . the apostle here speaks rather of officers than of acts of office: of persons rather than of duties, if his phrase be observed. . living well is not ruling well here in the apostle's sense, who intends the rule of elders over others; he that lives well rules well over himself; not over others: else all that live well were church rulers; they conduct by example, do not govern by authority, altar. damasc. c. xii. . if well ruling be well living, then double honor, double maintenance from the church is due for well living, ( tim. v. , ,) consequently all that live well deserve this double honor. . this seems to intimate that ministers deserve double honor for living well, though they preach not. _how absurd_! . d. downham, once pleased with this gloss, after confessed it was not safe. _except_. . those that rule well may be meant of aged, infirm, superannuated bishops, who cannot labor in the word and doctrine.[ ] _ans_. . here is no speech of prelatical bishops, but of ruling and preaching elders in this text. . how shall old, decrepit bishops rule well, when they cannot labor in the word and doctrine? . by this gloss, the preaching elders that labor in the word and doctrine, should be preferred before the most ancient bishop in double honor; such doctrine would not long since have been very odious and apocryphal to our late prelates. . those preachers that have faithfully and constantly spent their strength, and worn out themselves with ministerial labor, that they cannot rule nor preach any longer, are yet worthy of double honor for all their former travels in the service of christ and his church. _except_. . among ministers some did preach, others only administered the sacraments; so paul showeth that he preached and "labored more than all the apostles," cor. xv. ; but baptized few or none, cor i. , leaving that to be performed by others; and when paul and barnabas were companions, and their travels were equal, yet paul is noted to have been the chief speaker, (acts xiv. :) all were worthy of double honor, but especially they who labored in the word and doctrine.[ ] _ans_. . this gloss imagineth such a ministry in the apostles' times as the prelates had erected of late in their days, viz: many dumb dogs that could not bark nor preach at all, yet could administer the sacraments by the old service-book. but the apostles, as cartwright[ ] observes, allowed no such ministers, will have every bishop or preaching elder to be both "apt to teach, _and_ able to convince," tim. iii. ; tit. i. . so that it was far from paul to countenance a non-preaching or seldom-preaching ministry, by allowing any honor at all, much less a double honor, to such. sure, preaching is one part, yea, a most principal part or duty of the minister's office, (as hath been evidenced before, part , chap. vii.,) and shall he be counted worthy of double honor that neglects a principal duty of his office? nay, he deserves not the very name of such an officer in the church: why should he be called a pastor that doth not feed? or a teacher, that doth not teach his flock? &c., saith chrysost. hom. xv. in timothy. . why should paul's laboring be restrained here to his preaching only? when paul speaks of his own labor elsewhere, he speaks of it in another sense, cor. xi. , "in labor and weariness"--compare it with the context; and in this place judicious calvin seems rather to interpret it of other manner of labor, and pareus extends it, besides preaching, to divers other labors which paul did undergo. . what warrant doth this exception hold out for two sorts of ministers here pretended, some _preaching_, others _only administering the sacraments_? thus, _paul preached much, baptised but few_: therefore, _there were some that only administered the sacraments_: well concluded. yet paul baptized some, cor. i. , , distributed the lord's supper to some, acts xx. , ; so that he both preached and dispensed the sacraments. let any show where any person dispensed the sacraments that was not a preacher. again, _paul and barnabas equally travelled together, but paul was chief speaker_: what then? therefore _some labored in the word, others in the sacraments only_. this is woful logic. . to whomsoever the power of dispensing the sacraments was given by christ, to them also the power of preaching was given; dispensing the word and sacraments are joined in the same commission, matt, xxviii. - : what christ joins together let not man put asunder. . touching the preaching elder there is mentioned only one act peculiar to his office, viz. _laboring in the word_, &c.; but, taking a part for the whole, we may understand his dispensing the sacraments also, and what else is peculiar to the preaching elder's office, though for brevity's sake it be not here named.[ ] _except_. . by elders that rule well may be meant certain governors, or inferior magistrates, chosen to compose controversies or civil strifes. suitable hereunto is the late erastian gloss, that by elders ruling well may be meant kings, parliament-men, and all civil governors.[ ] _ans_. . it is well known that in the primitive times there was no christian magistrate in the church, and for the church to choose heathen judges or magistrates to be arbitrators or daysmen in civil controversies, is a thing utterly condemned by the apostle, cor. vi. , &c. . the apostle speaks here of ecclesiastical, not of civil officers, as the latter phrase intimates. the main scope of this epistle was to instruct timothy how to behave himself, not in the commonwealth, but in the church of god, ( tim. iii. ,) and here he speaks of such officers as were in being in the church at that time. . if kings, parliament-men, and all civil governors be these ruling elders, then ministers have not only an equal share with them in government by this text, which the erastians will not like well; but also are to have a superior honor or maintenance to kings, parliament-men, and all civil governors. certainly the magistrates will never triumph in this gloss, nor thank them that devised it. . sutlive seems to be against this opinion, (though no great friend to ruling elders,) saying beza bestows many words to prove that the judges in cor. vi. were not of the number of presbyters: which truly i myself should easily grant him. for there were none such ever constituted. . this is a novel interpretation, as some observe,[ ] unknown among ancient writers. _except_. . those words [_especially they who labor in the word and doctrine_] are added to the former explanatively, to teach us who they are that rule well, viz. _they who labor much in the word and doctrine_, and not to distinguish them that labor in the word, from elders ruling well; as if paul had said, "let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, greatly laboring in the word," &c. for the word translated _especially_ here more aptly signifies _much, greatly_, than especially. for though with the adversative _but_ along with it, it signifieth especially, yet alone (as it is here) it signifies _much, greatly_.[ ] _ans_. . if this sentence [_especially they who labor_, &c.] were added only to explain who are well-ruling elders, viz. such as greatly labor in the word, &c., then few of the prelatical bishops were to be counted well-ruling elders, for very few, if any of them, were guilty of laboring greatly in the word and doctrine. . then also the apostle would have said, either who especially labor, or simply without the article, especially laboring; then especially, they who labor, as here he doth, carrying his speech rather to distinct persons and officers, than to distinct duties or actions. . this word translated _especially_, hath been already in the minor proposition proved to be rather disjunctive, than explanatory; a term of distinction to point out a several sort of elders from only ruling elders, rather than a term of explication, signifying who are to be reputed these well-ruling elders. . the word _especially_ is used for a term of distinction, even in those places where the adversative _but_ is not joined to it, as in tit. i. , "for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision:" where _especially_ distinguishes _them of the circumcision_, from all other _vain talkers, and deceivers_; and in tim. iv. , "who is the saviour of all men, especially of them that believe;" here _especially_ without _but_ distinguishes them that believe from all other men, as capable of a special salvation from god; if here it were not a note of distinction, according to this gloss, we should thus read the place, "who is the saviour of all men, greatly believing;" but this were cold comfort to weak christians of little faith. so here _especially_, though _but_ be wanting, distinguished them that labor in the word and doctrine, from them that labor not therein, and yet rule well. _except_. . it is one thing to preach, another thing to labor in the word and doctrine. if there be here any distinction of elders it is between those that labor more abundantly and painfully, and between those that labor not so much. this objection takes much with some.[ ] b. bilson much presses this objection from the emphasis of the word _laboring_; signifying endeavoring any thing with greater striving and contention, &c., to this sense, "let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor and sweat, &c., in the word--who give themselves even to be tired and broken with labors;" and this, saith he, is the genuine signification of the word translated laboring, when it is borrowed from the labor of the body, to denote the contention or striving of the mind, &c.[ ] _ans_. . this gloss takes it for granted, that this text speaks only of preaching, or the ministry of the word, and therein of the lesser or greater pains taken: which (besides that it begs the thing in question) makes the ministry of the word common to both sorts here distinctly spoken of, whereas rather the plain current of the text makes ruling common to both, over and beyond which the preaching elder _labors in the word_. . doth not this interpretation allow a double honor to ministers that labor not so much as others in the word? and can we think that the laborious paul intended to dignify, patronize, or encourage idle drones, lazy, sluggish, seldom preachers? ministers must be exceeding instant and laborious in their ministry, tim. iv. - . if this were the sense only to prefer the greater before the less labor in the ministry, the apostle would have used this order of words, "let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor," &c., take upon themselves more weighty cares. for those words (in the word and doctrine) should either have been quite omitted, as now was expressed, or should have been inserted immediately after them that rule well, and before the word especially, to this effect, "let the elders that rule well and preach the word and doctrine well, be counted worthy of double honor; but especially those who labor much in well ruling and in well preaching:" in such an expression the case had been very clear and evident. . should this comment stand, that they who labor more in the ministry than others should have more honor, more maintenance, than others, how many emulations and contentions were this likely to procure? who shall undertake to proportion the honor and reward, according to the proportion of every minister's labor? . as for the criticism of the word _laboring_, which bilson lays so much stress upon, these things are evident, . that here _laboring_, signifies emphatically nothing else but that labor, care, diligence, solicitude, &c., which the nature of the pastoral office requires in every faithful pastor; as is implied thess. v., , , "know them which labor among you, and are over you in the lord;" and the apostle saith that every minister "shall receive a reward according to his own labor," cor. iii. . such labor and diligence also is required in them that rule, whilst they are charged to rule _with diligence_, rom. xii. , which is as much as _with labor_: yea, the common charity of christians hath its labor; and this very word _labor_ is ascribed thereunto, _labor of love_, thess. i. ; heb. vi. . . that if the apostle had here intended the extraordinary labor of some ministers above others, not ordinarily required of all, he would have taken a more emphatical word to have set it out, as he is wont to do in some other cases, as in cor. xi. , "in labor and weariness." thess. ii. , "for ye remembered, brethren, our labor and weariness." . finally, "if there be but one kind of church officers here designed, then," as saith the learned cartwright, "the words (_especially those that labor_) do not cause the apostle's speech to rise, but to fall; not to go forward, but to go backward; for to teach worthily and singularly is more than to teach painfully; for the first doth set forth all that which may be required in a worthy teacher, where the latter noteth one virtue only of pains taking." _except_. . though it could be evinced, that here the apostle speaks of some other elders, besides the ministers of the word, yet what advantage can this be for the proof of ruling elders? for the apostle being to prove that the ministers of the word ought to be honored, i.e. maintained; why might he not use this general proposition, that all rulers, whether public or domestic, whether civil or ecclesiastical, are to be honored? and when the apostle speaketh of the qualifications of deacons, he requires them to be such as have ruled their own houses well.[ ] _ans_. . this slight gloss might have appeared more tolerable and plausible, were it not, partly, that the grand scope of the apostle in this chapter and epistle is to direct about church officers and church affairs, as both the context, and tim. iii. , , clearly evidence; and partly, had the word rulers been expressed alone in the text, and the word elders left out: but seeing that the apostle speaks not generally of them that rule well, but particularly of the elders that rule well in the church; here is no place for this poor faint gloss. . had the apostle here intended such a lax and general proposition for all sorts of rulers, then had he also meant that an honorable maintenance is due from the church to domestic as well as public, yea, to civil as well as ecclesiastical rulers: then the church should have charge enough: yea, and then should ministers of the word (according to this interpretation) have more honor and maintenance than any other rulers, domestic or public, civil or ecclesiastical. magistrates will never thank him for this gloss. . though some kind of skill to rule and govern be required in deacons, yet that is no public rule in the church, but a private rule in their own houses only, which the apostle mentions, tim. iii. . _except_. . but these well-ruling presbyters may be referred to these pastors and teachers which were resident in every church, who therefore are properly said to have care and inspection of the faithful, as being affixed to that place for that end; but the word _laboring_, or _they that labor_, may be referred to them who travelled up and down for the visiting and confirming of the churches.[ ] "there were some that remained in some certain places, for the guiding and governing of such as were already won by the preaching of the gospel: others that travelled with great labor and pains from place to place to spread the knowledge of god into all parts, and to preach christ crucified to such as never heard of him before. both these were worthy of double honor, but the latter that builded not upon another man's foundation, more especially than the former, that did but keep that which others had gotten, and govern those that others have gained."[ ] _ans_. . if this be the sense, that there were some ministers fixed, and limited to particular places and churches; others unfixed, having an unlimited commission, and these are to be especially honored: then the meaning is, that the apostles and evangelists who were unfixed, and had unlimited commissions, and laid the foundation, were to be especially honored above pastors and teachers that were fixed and limited, and only built upon their foundation. but how should this be the meaning? for this seems a needless exhortation; what church would not readily yield an especial honor to apostles and evangelists above pastors and teachers? this would savor too much of self-seeking in the apostle, and providing for his own honor. this implies that the text hath reference to apostles and evangelists, whereas it evidently speaks only of ordinary ruling and preaching presbyters. . if this be the sense of dr. field and bilson, that some mere ordinary presbyters travelled laboriously to lay the foundation of christianity, others were fixed to certain places to build upon that foundation: this seems to be false; for we read that mere ordinary presbyters were ordained for several cities and places as their peculiar charges, whom they were to feed, and with whom they were to remain, as acts xiv. ; tit. i. ; herewith compare acts xx. ; pet. v. ; thess. v. . but that mere ordinary presbyters were ordained and employed in the church without limitation of commission, where can it be evidenced in all the scriptures? wandering presbyters are nowhere commended; wandering stars are condemned, jude, ver. . . to refer the word _laboring_ to them that travelled from place to place for visiting and confirming of the churches, is very weak and unjustifiable in this place; for this clashes with dr. field's former gloss, (mentioned except. , limiting _laboring_ to preaching.) but any thing for a present shift. this word is sometimes given to the apostle, as cor. xv. ; cor. xi. : but where are apostles and evangelists called _laboring_, merely in respect of their travelling from place to place, to lay the foundation of christianity, thereby to distinguish them from ordinary pastors and teachers? nay, the apostle himself makes _them that rule_, and _them that labor_, the same, thess. v. , . so here in tim. v. , _they that rule_--_and they that labor_--are the same, i.e. both of them ordinary presbyters, both of them ruling, only to one of them the office of _laboring_ in the word and doctrine is superadded; yea, the very women that _were_ godly were said _to labor in the lord_, rom. xvi. , , not for their far travels up and down several countries to propagate the gospel, for where are mary and persis reported to have done this? yet doubtless such good women privately labored much to bring in others, especially of their own sex, to hear the apostles, and entertain the gospel; and if the women may be said to _labor much in the lord_, in respect of their private endeavors, how much more may labor be ascribed to presbyters in respect of both their private and public employments! so that this word _laboring_, which is applied in scripture not only to ordinary presbyters, but also to women, cannot (without violence) be drawn peculiarly to signify apostles and evangelists, as this exception intends. _except_. . seeing in every minister of the word three things are requisite, unblamableness of life, dexterity of governing, and integrity of doctrine; the two first are commended here, but especially the labor in doctrine above them both; therefore here are set down not a two-fold order of presbyters, but only two parts of the pastoral office, preaching and governing; both which the apostle joins in the office of pastors, thes. v. - .[ ] "the guides of the church are worthy of double honor, both in respect of governing and teaching, but especially for their pains in teaching; so noting two parts or duties of presbyterial offices, not two sorts of presbyters."[ ] _ans_. . it is true, pastors have the power both of ruling and preaching belonging to their office, as is intimated, thes. v. , , and heb. xiii. , and in other places; but doth it therefore follow, that none have the power of ruling, but those that have the power of preaching? or that this text, or tim. v. , intends only those rulers that preach? . bilson, in this exception, confesseth that _laboring_ belongs to ordinary fixed pastors, and therefore contradicts himself in his former objection, wherein he would have appropriated it to unfixed apostles and evangelists; yea, by this gloss it is granted, that preaching presbyters are to be more honored than non-preaching ruling prelates. these are miserable shifts and evasions, whereby they are necessitated thus to wound their own friends, and to cross their own principles. . according to this gloss, this should be the sense, "let the ministers that rule well by good life, and skilful government, be counted worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine." now doth not this tacitly insinuate, that some ministers may rule well, and be worthy of double honor, though they labor not in the word and doctrine? and how absurd were this? but if the text be interpreted not of several acts of the same office, but of several sorts of officers, this absurdity is prevented, _let ruling elders be doubly honored, especially those that both rule and preach_. . the text evidently speaks not of duties, but of persons; not of acts, but of agents; not of offices, but of officers; for it is not said, "let the elders be counted worthy of double honor, for well ruling; especially for laboring"--but, _let the elders that rule well, especially they that labor in the word, &c._ so that this gloss is vain, and against the plain letter of the text. _except_. . though the emphasis of the word, _they that labor_, be not to be neglected, yet the difference betwixt presbyters is not put by that word, but by those (_in the word and doctrine_.) this does not signify two kinds of presbyters, but two offices of ministers and pastors; one general, to _rule well_; another special, _to labor in the word and doctrine_. to rule well, saith hierom, is to fulfil his office; or, as the syriac interpreter expounds it, "to behave themselves well in their place;" or as the scripture speaks, _to go in and out before god's people as becomes them, going before them in good works in their private conversations, and also in their public administrations_; whence the apostle makes here a comparison betwixt the duties of ministers thus, "all presbyters that generally discharge their office well are worthy of double honor; especially they who labor in the word, which is a primary part of their office."[ ] _ans_. . for substance this objection is the same with objection , already answered, therefore much more needs not to be added. . it is to be noted, that the apostle saith not, "let the presbyters that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially because they labor in the word--for then he should have pointed at the distinct offices of ministers;" but he saith, _especially they that labor_, which clearly carries the sense to the distinction of elders themselves, who have distinct employments. . if preaching presbyters only should here be meant, and under that phrase (_that rule well_) their whole office in general, and the right managing thereof, should be contained, whereas _laboring in the word and doctrine_ (as this exception implies) is but one part thereof, then hence it would inevitably follow, that a minister deserves more honor for the well administration of one part of his office only, than for the well managing of the whole, which is absurd! here therefore the apostle doth not compare one primary part of the pastor's office, with the whole office and all the parts thereof; but one sort of presbyters with another, distinguishing the mere ruling presbyter from the ruling and preaching presbyter, as the acute and learned whitaker hath well observed. _except_. . it is evident in the text itself, that all these elders here meant were worthy of double honor, whether they labored or governed; which by st. paul's proofs, presently following, and by the consent of all old and new writers, is meant of their maintenance at the charges of the church.[ ] now that lay-judges and censors of manners were in the apostle's time found at the expense of the church, or by god's law ought to have their maintenance at the people's hands, till i see it justly proved, i cannot believe it: which yet must be proved before this construction can be admitted.[ ] _ans_. . this word _honor_ signifies (after the custom of the hebrews, exod. xx. ) all pious offices and relief. this phrase (_double honor_) interpreters expound either absolutely or comparatively. absolutely thus: _double honor_, i.e. great honor, so some; maintenance in this life, happiness in the life to come, so others; honor of reverence to their persons, and of maintenance for their labors, so chrysostom, of which saith calvin, "that chrysostom interprets double honor to be maintenance and reverence, i impugn not." comparatively thus: _double honor_ here seems to relate to what was before spoken, ver. , "honor widows that are widows indeed." now here he intimates, that though widows are to be honored, yet these should be much more honored; they should have single, these double honor. in this last sense, which seems most genuine, it seems most likely that the apostle here intended principally, if not only, the honor of maintenance; partly because the honor appointed for widows, ver. , &c., was only maintenance; partly because the reason of this charge to honor, &c., refers only to maintenance, ver. . thus far we grant, that the text speaks of maintenance. . it may be further yielded that all the presbyters here spoken of are to be counted worthy of double honor, of honorable, liberal maintenance; even they that rule well (if need require) are to be thus honored, but the principal care of maintenance ought to be of them that labor in the word and doctrine, because the apostle saith _especially they that labor, &c._: the like injunction, see gal. vi. , "let him that is catechized, communicate to him that catechizeth him in all good things;" and thus much this text plainly evidenceth. . what then can be inferred hereupon by the adversaries of ruling elders? "therefore the ruling elders (in the reformed churches) that take no maintenance of the church, are not the elders that rule well here mentioned?" this follows not: the apostle paul took no wages of the church of corinth, cor. xi. - , and xii. , , &c., was he therefore not an apostle to them, as to other churches of whom he took maintenance? divers among us in these days labor in the word and doctrine, and are not sufficiently maintained by their churches, but forced to spend of their own estates to do others service; are they therefore no ministers? _forgive them this wrong_. most churches are not able (or at least not willing) to maintain their very preaching presbyters and their families comfortably and sufficiently, as the gospel requireth: if therefore in prudence, that the church be not needlessly burdened, those ruling elders are chosen generally that need no maintenance, doth their not taking maintenance of the church make their office null and void? or if the church do not give them maintenance (when they neither need it, nor desire it, nor is the church able to do it) is the church therefore defective in her duty, or an ill observer of the apostolical precepts? sure maintenance is not essentially and inseparably necessary to the calling of either ruling or preaching elder. there may be cases when not only the preaching, but the ruling elders ought to be maintained, and there may be cases when not only the ruling but also the preaching presbyter (as it was with paul) should not expect to be maintained by the church. . it is as observable that the apostle here saith, let them be counted worthy of double honor, though the reformed churches do not actually give double maintenance to elders that rule well, yet they count them worthy of double maintenance, though the elders do not take it, though the churches cannot give it. finally, unto these testimonies and arguments from scripture, many testimonies of ancient and modern writers (of no small repute in the church of god) may be usefully annexed, speaking for ruling elders in the church of christ from time to time: some speaking of such sort of elders, presbyters, or church-governors, as that ruling elders may very well be implied in their expressions; some plainly declaring that the church of christ _in fact_ had such officers for government thereof; and some testifying that of right such officers ought to be in the church of christ now under the new testament for the well guiding thereof; by which it may notably appear, that in asserting the office of the ruling elder in the church, we take not upon us to maintain any singular paradox of our own devising, or to hold forth some new light in this old opinionative age: and that the ruling elder is not a church officer first coined at geneva, and a stranger to the church of christ for the first years, (as the adversaries of ruling elders scornfully pretend,) but hath been owned by the church of christ as well in former as in later times.[ ] _an appendix touching the divine right of deacons._ though we cannot find in scripture that the power of the keys is committed by christ unto deacons, with the other church governors, but conceive that deacons, as other members of the church, are to be governed, and are not to govern; yet forasmuch as deacons are ordinary officers in the church of god, of which she will have constant use in all ages, and which at first were divinely appointed, and after frequently mentioned in the new testament; it will not be thought unfit, before we conclude this section, touching the divine right of christ's church-officers, briefly to assert the divine right of deacons, as followeth. deacons in the church are an ordinance of jesus christ. for, . they are found in christ's catalogue of church officers, distinct from all other officers, both extraordinary and ordinary. _helps_, cor. xii. . the greek word in the natural acceptation properly signifies, to lift over against one in taking up some burden or weight; metaphorically, it here is used for deacons, whose office it is to _help_ and _succor the poor and sick, to lend them a hand to lift them up_, &c., and this office is here distinctly laid down from all other ordinary and extraordinary offices in the text. so they are distinguished from all ordinary officers reckoned up, rom. xii. , : under _prophecy_, there is the _teacher_ and _pastor_; under _ministry_, the _ruling elder_, and the _deacon_, verse . this officer was so well known, and usual in the primitive churches, that when the apostle writes to the church at philippi, he directs his epistle not only to the saints, but to the officers, viz. _to the overseers, and deacons_, philip, i. . the occasion of the first institution of this office, see in acts vi. , , &c. at the first planting of the christian church, the apostles themselves took care to receive the churches' goods, and to distribute to every one of their members _as they had need_, acts iv. , ; but in the increase of the church, the burden of this care of distributing alms increasing also, upon some complaints of the greeks, _that their widows were neglected_, the office of deacons was erected, for better provision for the poor, acts vi. - ; and because the churches are never like to want poor and afflicted persons, there will be constant need of this officer. the pastor and deacon under the new testament seem to answer the priests and levites under the old testament. . the qualifications of deacons are laid down by christ in the new testament, at large: tim. iii. - , _deacons also must be grave, not double-tongued_, &c., and acts vi. , . . the manner also of deacons' vocation or calling unto their office is delineated, viz: . they must be chosen by the church; "look ye out among you seven men of honest report," &c., "and they chose stephen," &c., acts vi. , . . they must first be proved and tried by the officers of the church, before they may officiate as deacons; "and let these also first be proved, then let them use the office of a deacon, being blameless," tim. iii. . . they must be appointed by the officers of the church to their office, and set apart with prayer, acts vi. , : "look ye out men--whom we may appoint over this business--whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them." . deacons have by scripture their work and employment appointed them. their work is, _to serve tables_, (hence the name deacon seems derived,) acts vi. , . to be an help, no hinderance in the church; called _helps_, cor. xii. . . deacons have a divine approbation and commendation in scripture, if they execute their office well. "for they that have used the office of a deacon well, purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in christ jesus," tim. iii. . here the well administration of deaconship is commended as producing two good effects to such deacons, viz: . _a good degree_, i.e. great honor, dignity, and reputation, both to themselves and to their office; they adorn, grace, and credit their office in the church; not that they purchase to themselves by desert a higher office in the church, that from deacons they should be advanced to be presbyters, as some would interpret this text. . _much boldness in the faith which is in christ jesus._ for nothing makes a man more bold than a good conscience in the upright and faithful discharge of our duties in our callings; innocency and integrity make brave spirits; such with great confidence and boldness serve christ and the church, being men that may be trusted to the uttermost. now where god thus approves or commends the well managing of an office, he also divinely approves and allows the office itself, and the officer that executes the same.[ ] section ii. . _of the first receptacle, or subject of the power of church government from christ, viz. christ's own officers._ touching the second, that jesus christ our mediator hath peculiarly intrusted his own officers with the power of church government: take it thus-- jesus christ our mediator did immediately commit the proper, formal, ministerial, or stewardly authority and power for governing of his church to his own church guides as the proper immediate receptacle or first subject thereof. for explication of this proposition, four things are to be opened. . what is meant by proper, formal, ministerial or stewardly authority and power for church government? see this already discussed, part , chapters iii., v., and ix., in the beginning of section , so that here there needs no further addition, as to this point. . what is meant by church guides? by church guides here understand, negatively, . not the political magistrate. for though he be the _nurse-father_ of the church, isa. xlix. , _the keeper and avenger of both the tables_; and _have an outward care of religion_, and _may exercise a political power about sacred things_, as did asa, jehoshaphat, hezekiah, josiah, &c., yet hath he no proper, inward, formal power in sacred things, nor is it lawful for him to exercise the same; as korah, num. xvi.; king saul, sam. xiii. - ; uzzah, sam. vi. - , chron. xiii. , ; and king uzziah, chron. xxvi. - , did to the provoking of god, and to their own destruction. (but see what power is granted, and what denied to the civil magistrate in matters of religion, and why, part , chap. ix. sect. .) . not any officer of man's mere invention and setting up in the church, whether papal, as cardinals, &c., prelatical, as deans, archdeacons, chancellors, officials, &c., or political, as committees, commissioners, &c. for who can create and institute a new kind of offices in the church, but jesus christ only, who alone hath the lordly magisterial power as mediator appropriated to him? eph. iv. , ; rom. xii. - ; cor. xii. ; and therefore how can such acts be sufficiently excused from bold usurpation upon christ's own prerogative? . nor the deacons themselves, (though officers of christ's appointment, as was formerly proved;) for their office is not to rule and govern, but _to serve tables_, &c., acts vi. , . none of these are the church guides which christ hath committed his proper power unto. but affirmatively understand all these church guides extraordinary and ordinary, which christ hath erected in his church, vesting them with power and authority therein, viz. apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, governments, or ruling elders, mentioned together in eph. iv. , ; cor. xii. ; tim. v. ; rom. xii. - . these are christ's own church officers, these christ hath made the immediate receptacle and first subject of the keys, or of ecclesiastical power derived from himself. . what is meant by christ's committing this stewardly power first and immediately to the church guides? _ans_. there is, . a priority and immediateness of the donation of the power of the keys: thus christ first and immediately gave keys to his own officers, whom scripture, therefore, calls _the ministers of christ_, (not of the church,) cor. iv. , not first and immediately to the community of the faithful, or church, and then by the church secondarily and mediately to the officers, as her substitutes and delegates, acting for her, and not in virtue of their own power from christ. . a priority and immediateness of designation of particular individual persons to the office of key-bearing, and this is done by the mediate intervening act of the church officers in separating of particular persons to the office which christ instituted; though it is not denied but that the church or company of the faithful may lawfully nominate or elect individual persons to be officers in the congregation, which yet is no act of authority or power. . how hath christ committed this power of the keys to his church guides, that thereby they become the most proper receptacle thereof? _ans_. thus briefly. all absolute lordly power is in god originally: all lordly magisterial mediatory power is in christ dispensatorily: all official, stewardly power is by delegation from christ only in the church guides[ ] ministerially, as the only proper subject thereof that may exercise the same lawfully in christ's name: yet all power, both magisterial in christ, and ministerial in christ's officers, is for the church of christ and her edification objectively and finally. these things thus explained and stated, we come now to the confirmation of the proposition. consider these arguments: . jesus christ committed immediately ecclesiastical power and the exercise thereof to his church guides. thus we may argue: _major_. all those that have ecclesiastical power, and the exercise thereof, immediately committed to them from jesus christ, are the immediate subject or receptacle of that power. for what makes any persons the immediate subject of power, but the immediate derivation and commission of power to them from jesus christ, who is the fountain of all power? _minor_. but the church guides have the ecclesiastical power and the exercise thereof immediately committed to them from jesus christ. this may be evinced many ways by scriptures. . it is said expressly, "of our authority which the lord hath given us for your edification," cor. , : by _us_ here we are to understand church guides, for here they are set in opposition to the church members (_for edification_,) not destruction of (you.) here are edifiers and edified. now these church guides have authority given them, and that from the lord, i.e. christ; here is their commission or power, not from the church or any creature, but from christ; hence the apostle calls church guides, "your rulers or guides in the lord," thes. v. ; _in the lord_, i.e. by the lord's authority and commission. so that church officers are _rulers in the lord_, and the churches ruled by them; yea, ruling elders being one sort of church guides, have such an undoubted power of governing in the church divinely committed to them, that of them it is said, "god hath set in the church governments", cor. xii. , i.e. governors, the abstract being put for the concrete. if _god have set governors in the church_, then god vested those governors with a power of governing, whence they have their name of governments. . the keys of the kingdom of heaven, with all their acts, were immediately committed to the church guides, viz. to the apostles and their successors to the end of the world; compare these testimonies, matt. xvi. , , and xviii. - ; john xx. - ; with matt, xxviii. - : therefore consequently ecclesiastical power was committed immediately unto them as the subject thereof. for, _by the kingdom of heaven_ here we are to understand (according to the full latitude of the phrase) both the kingdom of grace in this world, and of glory in the world to come; _binding and loosing both in earth and in heaven_, upon the right use of the keys, being here the privileges promised to church guides; and _by kingdom of heaven_--on earth, understand the whole visible church of christ in the earth, not only some single congregation. by _keys of the kingdom of heaven_, thus apprehend, christ promiseth and giveth not the sword _of the kingdom_, any secular power; nor the sceptre _of the kingdom_, any sovereign, lordly, magisterial power over the church. but the _keys_, &c. i.e. a stewardly, ministerial power, and their acts, _binding and loosing_, i.e. _retaining and remitting sins on earth_, (as in john it is explained;) opening and shutting are proper acts of keys; binding and loosing but metaphorical, viz. a speech borrowed from bonds or chains wherewith men's bodies are bound in prison or in captivity, or from which the body is loosed: we are naturally all under sin, rom. v. , and therefore liable to death, rom. vi. . now sins are to the soul as bonds and cords, prov. v. . _the bond of iniquity_, acts viii. ; and death with the pains thereof, are as chains, pet. ii. , jude ; in hell as in a prison, pet. iii. : the remission or retaining of these sins, is the loosing or the binding of the soul under these cords and chains. so that the keys themselves are not material but metaphorical; a metaphor from stewards in great men's houses, kings' houses, &c., into whose hands the whole trust and ordering of household affairs is committed, who take in and cast out servants, open and shut doors, &c., do all without control of any in the family save the master of the family. such, in the hebrew phrase, are said to be _over the house_, gen. xliii. ; isa. xxii. ; kings xviii. : and the keys of the house are committed to them as a badge of their power. so that when god threatens to put shebna out of his office in the king's house, and to place eliakim, son of hilkiah, in his room, he saith, "i will commit thy government into his hand--and the key of the house of david will i lay upon his shoulder," isa. xxii. , , parallel of that phrase, "and the government shall be upon his shoulder," isa. ix. . hence, as key is in the old testament used for stewardly power and government, isa. xxii. , ; (only twice properly, judges iii. ; chron. ix. ;) so in the new testament, _key_ is always used, metaphorically, to denote power, and that about ecclesiasticals or spirituals, viz. in matt. xvi. ; luke xi. ; rev. i. , and iii. , and ix. , and xx. . so that _keys_, &c., are metaphorically the ordinances which christ hath instituted, to be dispensed in his church, preaching the word, administrations of the seals and censures: for it is not said _key_, but _keys_, which comprehendeth them all: by the right use of which both the gates of the church here, and of heaven hereafter, are opened or shut to believers or unbelievers; and christ promising or giving these _keys_ to peter and the apostles, and their successors _to the end of the world_, matt. xxviii. , doth intrust and invest them with power and authority of dispensing these ordinances for this end, and so makes them _stewards_ in his house _of the mysteries of god_, cor. iv. , so that we may conclude: _conclusion_. therefore the church guides are the immediate subject and receptacle of that ecclesiastical power, and of the exercise thereof. _argum_. ii. jesus christ our mediator did institute ecclesiastical offices for church government under the new testament before any christian church under the new testament was gathered or constituted. therefore those persons that were intrusted with those offices must needs be the first and immediate receptacle or subject of the power of the keys. thus we may argue: _major_. all those whose ecclesiastical offices for church government, under the new testament, were instituted by christ, before any formal visible christian church was gathered or constituted, are the first and immediate receptacle or subject of the power of the keys from jesus christ. _minor_. but the ecclesiastical offices of christ's own officers for governing of the church, now under the new testament, were instituted by christ before any formal visible christian church was gathered or constituted. _conclusion_. therefore christ's own officers for governing of the church now under the new testament are the first and immediate receptacle or subject of the keys from jesus christ. the major proposition cannot reasonably be denied, and may be further cleared by these considerations, viz: . that the church offices for church government under the new testament are in their own nature intrinsically offices of power. the apostle styles it _power_, or _authority_, which is _given_ to these officers by _the lord_, cor. x. , and xiii. . _the keys of the kingdom of heaven_ are committed to them, matt. xvi. , and _keys_ import a stewardly power: compare matt. xvi. , and xviii. , john xx. , , with isa. xxii. , . materially, the acts and exercise of these officers are acts of power, as _binding, loosing_, &c., matt, xviii. ; not only _preaching_, &c., but _excommunicating_, is an act of power, cor. v. . absolving the penitent, and confirming him again in the church's love, is an act of power:--_to confirm love unto him_, i.e. authoritatively to confirm, &c., as the word signifies, cor. ii. . formally, these acts are to be done as acts of power, in christ's name, and by his authority, matt. xxviii. ; cor. v. . now if these offices be in their own nature offices of power, consequently they that have such offices conferred upon them by christ, before the christian church had being or existence, they must needs be the first and immediate recipient subject of the power of the keys from christ. . either those church officers, whose offices were instituted before the christian church was constituted, must be the first subject of the power, &c., or some others. if any other, then, . either heathens, or heathen magistrates, who are out of the church: but both these were absurd to grant; for then they that are not so much as church members should be church governors, and the church be ecclesiastically judged by them that are without. . or the first subject of this power was the christian church itself before it had existence; but that were notoriously absurd; and besides these, no other can be imagined, but the church officers; therefore they must needs be the first subject of the power of the keys. the minor proposition (viz. but the ecclesiastical offices of christ's own officers for governing of the church now under the new testament, were instituted by christ before any formal visible christian church was gathered or constituted) is so evident in the current of the new testament, that it needs little confirmation. for, . the church offices under the new testament, as apostleship, pastorship, &c., were instituted by christ either before his death--compare these places together, mark iii. , , &c.; luke ix. , &c., and x. , , &c.; john xx. - ; matt, xxviii. - --or presently upon his ascension, eph. iv. , , , &c.; acts ii.; cor. xiii. . now no formal christian church was constituted and gathered till the feast of pentecost and afterwards. then, after the apostles had received the gifts of the holy ghost, &c., acts ii., great multitudes of jews and gentiles were converted to christ, and being converted, incorporated and associated themselves into churches, as the history of the acts, chap, ii., and forward, evidenceth abundantly. . church officers, under the new testament, are for the calling and gathering men unto christ, and to his body mystical; and for admitting of those that believe into that one body, matt, xxviii. , ; cor. xii. . and is not he that calleth, before them that are called by them; they that baptize, before the baptized; and they that gather the churches, before those churches which they gather? may we not hence conclude, _therefore_, &c. _argum_. iii. the names, titles, and other denominations purposely and peculiarly given to the church guides in scripture, generally do bear power and authority engraven upon their foreheads. _therefore_, they are the proper, immediate, and only subjects of ecclesiastical power. thus we may argue: _major_. all those persons in the church, that have such names, titles, or denominations given to them peculiarly in the scriptures by the spirit of christ, as generally have authority and power engraven upon them in reference to the church, are the immediate and only proper subjects of ecclesiastical power. _minor_. but christ's officers in the church have such names, titles, or denominations given to them peculiarly in the scriptures by the spirit of christ, as generally have authority and power engraven upon them in reference to the church. _conclusion_. therefore christ's own officers in the church are the proper, immediate, and only subjects or receptacles of ecclesiastical power. this major proposition must be granted. for, . is not this the holy ghost's familiar and ordinary manner in scripture, to give titles and denominations, which are apt, pertinent, significative and instructing both to others and themselves that have such denominations conferred upon them? as in the family, the husband is called _the head of the wife_, cor. xi., because he is to govern, she is to be subject: the wife is called _an help-meet_, &c., gen. ii.: to teach the wife her duty, to help his good and comfort every way, to hinder it no way. so in the commonwealth, magistrates are called _heirs of restraint, to put men to shame_, judges xviii. , because they are to restrain disorders, shame evil-doers: higher powers, to teach others subjection to them, rom. xiii. . "an ordinance of man or human creation," pet. ii. : because, though magistracy in general be an ordinance of god, yet this or that special kind of magistracy, whether monarchical, aristocratical, &c., is of man. thus in the church: the church is called _christ's body_, ephes. iv. , to show christ's headship, the church's subjection to christ, and their near union to one another. christians are called _members_, rom. xii.; cor. xii., to teach them mutual love, care, and serviceableness to one another. ministers are called _ambassadors of christ_, cor. v. _angels of the churches_, rev. ii., to teach them to be faithful in their offices, and others to respect them for their offices. _salt of the earth_, matt. v. , because they are to season others spiritually. _stars_, rev. i., because they are to shine forth for the enlightening and guiding of others, &c. . if this proposition be denied, then to what end are such names and denominations, importing authority, generally given by the spirit of god to some sort of persons only, and not to others? is it for no end? that would be a dangerous charge upon the spirit of christ. is it for any end? then what other can be imagined, than to signify, hold forth, and instruct both themselves and others in their duties, and to distinguish them that are vested with authority in the church, from them that are not? the _major proposition_ (viz. but christ's own officers in the church have such names, titles, or denominations given to them peculiarly in the scriptures by the spirit of christ, as generally have authority and power engraven upon them in reference to the church) may be evinced, . by induction of particular names attributed to christ's officers. . by a denial of them, or the like, to any other members of the church. . by induction of particular titles or denominations attributed to christ's officers, which generally have power and authority palpably engraven upon them: (yea, the self-same names are given to them, by which not only heathen writers, but also the greek version of the old testament by the septuagint, and the very original of the new testament are wont to give to political officers, to express their political authority, power, and government,) as, for instance: . _presbyter or elder_, is ascribed often to christ's church officers, as in acts xiv. , and xv. , , and xx. ; tim. v. ; tit. v.; pet. v. . this same word is ascribed to _rulers political_, to _elders in the gate_, by the septuagint, in judges viii. ; ruth iv. , ; sam. v. ; chron. vi. . . _overseer_ or _bishop_, noting authority and power in having the charge and oversight of the flock, is ascribed to church officers in acts xx. ; phil. i. ; tim. iii. ; tit. i. . this same word is used by the septuagint, to denote the power of the civil magistrate, to whom the care and oversight of the commonwealth is committed, numb. xxxi. ; judges ix. ; kings xi. . . _guide, leader, conductor, captain, governor_, signifies them all, and is given to church officers, as contradistinct from the _church_ and _saints_, heb. xiii. , , . it is also attributed to civil rulers to set forth their power, in deut. i. ; micah iii. , ; chron. v. ; ezek. xliv. , and xlv. ; dan. iii. ; acts vii. . this very word _governor_, is attributed to christ himself, _out of thee shall come forth a governor, that shall rule_ (or _feed_) _my people israel_, matt. ii. . . _steward, dispenser_. "stewards of the mysteries of god," is the title given to ministers, cor. iv. , . "steward of god," tit. i. . "that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household," &c., luke xii. . this also is a title of power given to them that are set over families, as gal. iv. , "he is under tutors and stewards." and to them that are set over cities--as rom. xvi. , "erastus the steward" (or as we render it, _the chamberlain_) "of the city saluteth you." . _pastor_ is ascribed to christ's officers; eph. iv. , "and some pastors and teachers." they govern the church as the shepherd his flock, feeding, ruling them as well with the shepherd's staff, as with food. this term is sometimes given to civil magistrates, isa. xliv. ; micah v. : sometimes to christ the great shepherd of the sheep, pet. v. ; noting his authority, matt. xxvi. ; john x. , , , ; heb. xiii. ; pet. ii. : sometimes to god himself the supreme ruler of the world, ps. lxxx. . . _governments_, a denomination given to _ruling elders_, cor. xii. , as hath been proved sect. of this chapter. a metaphor from mariners or pilots, that steer and govern the ship: translated thence, to signify the power and authority of church governors, spiritual pilots, steering the ship or ark of christ's church. this word is used also by heathen authors, to signify political governors.[ ] _ruler_. tim. v. , "let the elders that rule well"--and, "he that ruleth," rom. xii. , and "your rulers in the lord," thes. v. , viz. not only in the fear of the lord,[ ] nor only in those things that appertain to god's worship,[ ] but also in the lord; i.e. who are over you, to rule according to the will of the lord,[ ] even by the lord christ's power and authority derived to them. now these names are among heathen authors ascribed to rulers of cities, armies, and kingdoms.[ ] by these among other titles given to christ's officers in scripture, he that runs may read a plain authority and power enstamped on them in reference to the church; and consequently on them that are thus denominated, unless they be applied to them improperly, unfitly, abusively; which we suppose no sober intelligent reader dare affirm. . by a denial of these and like titles to the whole church of christ, or to any other members of the church whatsoever, besides church officers. for where can it be showed in all the book of god, that in this sense, either the whole church or any members thereof besides officers, are ever styled _presbyters, bishops, governors, stewards of god, or of the mysteries of god, pastors, governments, or rulers_? the greatest factors for popular government must let this alone forever. thus, from all that hath been said, we need not fear to conclude: _conclusion_. therefore christ's own officers in the church are the proper, immediate, and only subjects or receptacles of ecclesiastical power. _argum_. iv. the relations which christ's officers have unto his church, imply and comprehend in themselves authority and power in reference to the church, and therefore they are the proper subjects of ecclesiastical power. thus we reason: _major_. whosoever they are that peculiarly stand in such relations to the church of christ, as imply and comprehend in themselves authority and power for governing of the church, they are the only subject of ecclesiastical power. this proposition is evident; for, otherwise, to what end are those peculiar relations to the church which comprehend government in them, unless such as are so peculiarly related be the only subjects of government? shall all those relations be mere names and shadows? or shall others in the church be counted the subject of this authority and power for church government, that have no such relations to the church at all implying any such power? _minor_. but the officers of christ peculiarly stand in such relations to the church of christ as imply and comprehend in themselves authority and power for the government of the church. this assumption or minor proposition will be evident by a due induction of some of their particular relations that have such power enstamped on them; as for instance, christ's officers stand in these relations of power to the church and people of god. . _they are pastors_, eph. iv. . the church is the _flock_, john x. ; cor. ix. ; _flock_, acts xx. , ; pet. v. , . hath not the _pastor_ power to rule and govern his _flock_? . they are _stewards_. "who is that faithful and wise steward?" luke xii. . "stewards of the mysteries of god," cor. iv. , . "stewards of god," tit. i. . the church and people of god are the lord's _household_, over which these stewards are set, &c., luke xii. . _god's house_, tim. iii. ; heb. iii. . have not stewards power to govern and order those _families_ over which they are set, and wherewith they are intrusted? gal. iv. . . they are _bishops_ or _overseers_, phil. i. ; tim. iii. ; tit. i. . the church and people of god are that _charge_ which the lord hath committed to their inspection. "over which the holy ghost hath made you overseers," acts xx. . have not _overseers_ power over that which is _committed to their inspection_? . they are _catechizers_ and _teachers_, rom. xii. , ; eph. iv. . the church and people are _catechized_, gal. vi. ; _taught_. hath not he that _catechizeth_ power for government of him that is _catechized_? he that _teacheth_ of him that is _taught_? . they are _co-workers_ with god, cor. iii. ; cor. vi. . _architects, builders_, &c., cor. iii. ; some of them _laying the foundation, others building thereupon_. the church and people of god are god's building. "ye are god's building," cor. iii. . have not _builders_ power of disposing and ordering affairs appertaining to the _building_? . finally, to add no more, the officers of christ in the church are not only as _nurses_; "we _were_ gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children," thess. ii. : and as _mothers_; "my little children, of whom i travail in birth again," gal. iv. : but also as _fathers_, thess. ii. ; cor. iv. , spiritual fathers in christ: and the church and people of god, they are the _sons_ and _daughters_, the spiritual _babes_ and _children_, begotten, brought forth, and nursed up by them, thess. ii. , ; gal. iv. : and have fathers no authority nor power of government over their children? see eph. vi. - ; tim. iii. . thus christ's officers stand in such relation to the church as do evidently carry power of government along with them; but where are any other members of the church besides officers, stated in such relation of _pastors, stewards, overseers, catechizers, builders, husbandmen, nurses, mothers_, and _fathers_ to the church of god and members of christ, that can be evidenced by the scriptures? why may we not then clearly conclude, _conclusion_. therefore the officers of christ are the only subjects of ecclesiastical power. _argum_. v. the many divine commands and impositions of duties of obedience, submission, subjection, &c., upon the church and people of god, to be performed by them to christ's officers, and that in reference to their office, do plainly proclaim the officers of christ to be the proper receptacle and subject of authority and power from christ for the government of his church. thus it may be argued: _major_. whatsoever persons they are to whom the church and people of god are peculiarly bound by the commands of christ, to perform duties of obedience and subjection, and that in reference to their office in the church, they are the only subjects of authority from christ for the government of his church. this proposition needs no proof, unless we will be so absurd as to say that the church and people of god are peculiarly obliged by christ's command to obey and be subject to them, that yet have no peculiar authority nor power over them, and that in reference to their office in the church. _minor_. but the officers of christ are those to whom the church and people of god are peculiarly bound by the commands of christ to perform duties of obedience and subjection, and that in reference to their office in the church. this assumption or minor proposition may be evidenced, . partly by induction of some particular instances of christ's commands, whereby the church and people of god are bound to perform duties of obedience and subjection to the officers of christ, in reference to their office in the church. . partly by a denial of the like commands in reference to all others in the church, except the officers of the church only. touching the first, viz. the instances of such commands, consider these following. the church and people of god are commanded, . to know their rulers. "we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the lord," thess. v. . _to know_, i.e., not simply and merely to know, but to acknowledge, accept, and approve of them as such rulers over you in the lord. this teaches subjection to the office of ruling. . to love them exceedingly for their work's sake. "esteem them superabundantly in love for their work's sake," thess. v. . for what work? viz. both laboring and ruling, mentioned verse . if they must love them so exceedingly for ruling over them, must they not much more be obedient to this rule? . to count them worthy of double honor in reference to their well-ruling. "let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially--," tim. v. : whether we take _double honor_ here for reverence or maintenance, or both; yet how can we esteem the _elders ruling well worthy of double honor_ without some submission to their rule? . to obey them that are their rulers and governors. _obey ye your rulers, or governors_, heb. xiii. ; where the words _obey ye_ doth not (as some dream) signify a persuasion, but obedience, and in this sense it is commonly used, not only in profane authors, but also in the holy scriptures, as james iii. , gal. iii. . . finally, to submit and be subordinate unto them. the church and people of god are charged to submit unto them. "obey your governors and submit ye," heb. xiii. . the word properly notes a submissive yielding without opposition or resistance; yea, it signifies intense obedience. they must not only yield, but yield with subjection and submission, which relates to authority. they are also charged to be subordinate to them. "likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves to the elders," pet. v. ; i.e., _be ye subordinate_, (it is a military term,) viz: be ordered, ranked, guided, governed, disciplined by them, as soldiers are by their commanders. the word _elders_ here is by some taken only for elders in age, and not in office. but it seems better to interpret it of elders in office; and the context well agrees with this; for the apostle having immediately before charged the ruling preaching presbyters with their duties towards their flock, ver. - , here he seems to enjoin the ruled flock (which commonly were younger in age and gifts) to look to their duties of subjection to their elders in office. touching the second, viz. the denial of like commands, and upon like grounds to all others in the church, except to the church officers only: where can it be evidenced in all the scriptures that the people of god are commanded to know, to esteem very highly in love, to count worthy of double honor, to obey, and submit themselves to any persons in the church but to the ruling officers thereof in reference to their office, and the due execution thereof? now, seeing the church and people of god are peculiarly obliged, by so many commands of christ, to perform such duties of subjection and obedience to the officers of christ, may it not be concluded, therefore the officers of christ are the only subjects of authority from christ for the government of his church? _argum_. vi. finally, the directions touching rule and government in the church; the encouragements to well-ruling by commendations, promises, rewards, together with the contrary deterring discouragements from ill-ruling, by discommendations, threats, &c., being specially applied and appropriated by the word of christ unto christ's officers, very notably discover to us that christ's officers are the only subjects of power from christ for the government of his church. thus it may be argued: _major_. whatsoever persons in the church have directions for church government, encouragements to well-ruling, and discouragements from ill-ruling, particularly and peculiarly applied unto them by the word of christ; they are the only subjects of power from christ for the government of his church: this proposition is evident: for, . how should it be consistent with the infinite wisdom of god peculiarly to apply unto them directions about ruling and governing the church that are not the only subjects in whom the power of government is intrusted by jesus christ? . how can it stand with the justice of god to encourage them only unto well-ruling, by commendations, promises, rewards, &c., or to deter them from ill-governing by dispraises, threats, &c., &c., to whom the power of government doth not appertain, as to the only subjects thereof? . what strange apprehensions and distractions would this breed in the hearts of christ's officers and others, should those that have not the power of church government committed to them by christ, be yet directed by his word how to govern, encouraged in governing well, and deterred from governing ill? _minor_. but the officers of christ in the church have directions for church government, encouragements to well-ruling, and discouragements from ill-ruling, particularly and peculiarly applied unto them by the word of god. this assumption or minor proposition may be cleared by divers scriptures according to the particular branches thereof, viz: . directions for church government are particularly applied by the word of christ to his own officers: as for instance, they are directed to _bind and loose_--to _remit_ and _retain sins on earth_, matt. xvi. , and xviii. ; john xx. , . _to judge them that are within the_ church, _not without_, cor. v. . _not to lord it, domineer_, or _overrule the flock of christ_, pet. v. to _rule well_, tim. v. . to rule _with diligence_, rom. xii. . to _lay hands suddenly on no man, neither to be partakers of other men's sins, but to keep themselves pure_, tim. v. . _not to prefer one before another, nor do anything by partiality_, tim. v. . _to rebuke them that sin before all, that others also may fear_, tim. v. . _to reject a heretic after once or twice admonition_, tit. iii. . to use the _authority that is given them from the lord to the edification, not to the destruction_ of the church, cor. x. , and xiii. ; with divers such like rules specially directed to christ's officers. . encouragements to well-ruling are peculiarly directed to christ's officers. for, . they are the persons specially commended in that respect; _well-ruling_, tim. v. . _good and faithful steward_, luke xii. . the angels of the churches are praised for their good government, rev. ii. , , , and ver. , . . they are the persons to whom the promises, in reference to good government, are directed, as matt. xvi. , and xviii. - ; john xx. , ; matt. xxviii. , ; luke xii. - ; pet. v. . . they are the persons whom the lord will have peculiarly rewarded, now with _double honor_, tim. v. ; hereafter with _endless glory_, pet. v. . . discouragements, deterring from ill-governing, are also specially applied to christ's officers, whether by way of dispraise or threats, &c., rev. ii. , - , and ver. , . now if, . rules for church government, . encouragements in reference to well ruling, and, . discouragements in reference to ill-ruling, be so peculiarly directed by the word of christ to his own officers, we may conclude, therefore the officers of christ in the church are the only subjects of power from christ for the government of his church. _object_. but the church[ ] of a particular congregation fully furnished with officers, and rightly walking in judgment and peace, is the first subject of all church authority, as appears from the example of the church of corinth in the excommunication of the incestuous corinthian, cor. v. - ; wherein it appears that the presbytery alone did not put forth this power, but the brethren also concurred in this sentence with some act of power, (viz. a negative power:) for, . the reproof, for not proceeding to sentence sooner, is directed to the whole church, as well as to the presbytery. they are all blamed for not mourning, &c., cor. v. . . the command is directed to them all, when they are gathered together, (_and what is that but to a church meeting?_) to proceed against him, cor. v. , . . he declareth this act of theirs, in putting him out, to be a judicial act, ver. . . upon his repentance the apostle speaketh to the brethren, as well as to their elders, to forgive him, cor. ii. - . consequently, christ's church officers are not the peculiar, immediate, or only subject of the power of the keys, as hath been asserted. _ans_. i. as for the main proposition asserted in this objection, something hath been formerly laid down to show the unsoundness of it. (see chap. x. near the end.) whereunto thus much may be superadded. . what necessity is there that a particular congregation should be fully furnished with officers, to make it the subject of all church authority? for deacons are one sort of officers, yet what authority is added to the church by the addition of deacons, whose office it is only to serve tables, acts vi., not to rule the church? or if the church have no deacons, as once it had not, acts i. , and before that, all the time from christ, wherein is she maimed or defective in her authority? . if the church, fully furnished with officers, yet walk not in judgment and peace, then in such case it is granted, that a particular congregation is not the first subject of all church authority. then a congregation that walks in error or heresy, or passion, or profaneness, all which are contrary to judgment; and that walks in divisions, schisms, contentions, &c., which are contrary to peace, loseth her authority. stick but close to this principle, and you will quickly lay the church authority of most independent congregations in the dust. but who shall determine whether they walk in judgment and peace, or not? not themselves; for that were to make parties judges in their own case, and would produce a very partial sentence. not sister churches; for all particular churches, according to them, have equal authority, and none may usurp one over another. not a presbyterial church, for such they do not acknowledge. then it must be left undetermined, yea undeterminable, (according to their principles;) consequently, who can tell when they have any authority at all? . suppose the congregation had all her officers, and walked in judgment and peace also, yet is she not the first subject of all authority; for there is a synodal authority, beyond a congregational authority, as confessed by mr. cotton.[ ] ii. as for the proofs of this proposition asserted here, they seem extremely invalid and unsatisfying. for, the instance of the church of corinth excommunicating the incestuous person, will not prove the congregation to be the first subject of all church authority: . partly, because the church of corinth was a presbyterial church, having several congregations in it, (as hereafter is evidenced, chap. xiii.;) now to argue from the authority of a presbyterial church, to the authority of a congregational, affirmatively, is not cogent. . partly, because here were but two acts of power mentioned in this instance, viz. casting out and receiving again of the incestuous person: suppose the community had joined the presbytery in these two acts, (which yet is not proved,) will it follow therefore they are the first subject of all church authority? are not ordination of presbyters, determination in case of appeals, of schism, of heresy, &c., acts of authority above the sphere of a single congregation? what one congregation can be instanced in the new testament that did ever execute any of these acts of authority? the reasons brought, prove not that the brethren did concur with the presbytery in this sentence with some act of power, as will appear plainly, if they be considered severally. . not the reproof, cor. v. , "and ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you." here they are blamed, that they no more laid to heart so vile a scandal, which should have been matter of mourning to the whole congregation; that they instead of mourning were puffed up, gloried in their shame; and that they sluggishly neglected to endeavor, in their sphere, his casting out. and all this blame might justly be charged upon the whole church, the fraternity as well as the presbytery: the scandal of one member should be the grief of the whole body of the church. what then? hath therefore the fraternity, as well as the presbytery, power to cast him out? that were a miserable consequence indeed: the people should not only have mourned for the sin, but have urged the presbytery to have proceeded to sentence, and after sentence have withdrawn from him, in obedience to the sentence; but none of all these can amount to a proper act of church authority in them. . nor doth the apostle's command prove the people's concurrence in any act of power with the presbytery, cor. v. , , "in the name of our lord jesus christ, when ye are gathered together, to deliver such an one unto satan," &c.: ver. , "purge out therefore the old leaven," &c.: and ver. , "therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person." in which passages it is supposed the apostle directs his injunction to them all (as well as to their presbytery) when they come together in their church meeting to proceed to sentence. but against this reason, well ponder upon these considerations, viz: . it is certain beyond all controversy, that the apostle did not direct these commands to the whole church of corinth absolutely, and universally, without all exception and limitation to any members at all: for by his own rule, "women must be silent in their churches, it being a shame for a woman to speak in the church," cor. xiv. , , and children or fools were not able to judge. hence it is evident that a church absolutely and universally taken, cannot possibly be the ministerial ruling church which hath the authority. . it is evident to any man that is but moderately acquainted with the scriptures, that god useth to direct his commands, reproofs, and other speeches to a people indifferently, and as it were collectively and generally, which yet he intends should be particularly applied and appropriated; not to all, but to this or that person or persons, only among such a people distributively and respectively; according to their respective callings, interests, relations, &c., as in the old testament god directs a command to the people of israel indefinitely, and as it were collectively, to kill enticers to idolatry, false prophets, deut. xiii. ; but intended that the judge should sentence him, finding him guilty by witnesses. the lord also directs his command to all the people, as it were collectively, to put out of the camp "every one that was a leper, and had an issue, or was defiled by the dead," numb. v. ; but intended that the priest should peculiarly take and apply this command to himself, who was to judge in these cases. see lev. xiii. and elsewhere. so in the new testament the apostle praised the corinthians indefinitely, and as it were collectively, for "remembering him in all things, and keeping the ordinances as he delivered them to them," cor. xi. ; wherein he intended only to commend the virtuous; and after he discommends them indefinitely for "coming together not for better, but for worse," cor. xi. ; intending only their dispraise that were herein particularly delinquent among them. again, he speaks indefinitely, and as it were collectively and generally, "ye may all prophesy one by one," cor. xiv. ; but he intended it only to the prophets respectively, not to all the members; for he saith elsewhere, "are all prophets?" cor. xii. . and writing to the churches of galatia, gal. i. , against false teachers he speaks thus to all those churches collectively, "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump," gal. v. . and, "i would they were even cut off who trouble you," ver. . now every one of these churches were to apply this to themselves respectively, independents themselves being judges. so here in this present case of the church of corinth, the apostle directs his commands to them, as it were collectively, about putting away the incestuous person, which commands were particularly to be put in execution by the presbytery in that church in whose hands the church authority was.[ ] thus taking these commands, cor. v. , , , though directed indefinitely, and as it were collectively to the whole church, yet intended respectively to be put in execution by the presbytery in that church, they hold forth no concurrence of the people in any act of power at all with the church officers or presbytery. and it is a good note which cameron[ ] hath upon this place, "these things that are written in this epistle are so to be taken of the presbytery and of the people, that every one both of the presbyters and of the people, should interpret the command according to the reason of his office." . when the apostle reciteth the proceedings of the church in this very case of the incestuous person, in his d epistle, he saith, "sufficient to such a man is this punishment" (or censure) "which was inflicted of many," cor. ii. . it is very observable, he saith not, _of all_; nor _of many_, but _of the chief ones_, viz. the church officers, who had the rule and government of the church committed to them: (the article _the_ being emphatical;) for this word translated _many_ may as well be translated chief, denoting worth, &c., as many, denoting number. and in this sense the holy ghost ofttimes useth this word in the new testament; as for instance, "is not the life better than meat?" matt. vi. . "behold, a greater than jonah is here," matt. xii. . "and behold, a greater than solomon is here," matt. xii. . "to love him with all the heart," &c., "is more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices," mark xii. . and again, ver. , "this poor widow hath cast more than all they," &c. and thus it is frequently used to signify quality, worth, greatness, dignity, eminency, &c., and so it may be conveniently interpreted in this of the corinthians. . though all proper acts of authority appertain only to the church officers, yet we are not against the people's fraternal concurrence therewith. people may incite the presbytery to the acts of their office; people may be present at the administration of censures, &c., by the elders, as cyprian of old would dispatch all public acts, the people being present; people may judge with a judgment of discretion, acclamation, and approbation, &c., as the elders judge with a judgment of power; and people afterwards may, yea must, withdraw from delinquents sentenced, that the sentence may attain its proposed end. but none of these are properly any acts of power. . nor doth the apostle's expression, verse , "do you not judge them that are within?" prove that the people concur with any authoritative act in the elders' sentence. for, . this being spoken to them indefinitely, was to be applied distributively and respectively, only to them to whom it properly appertained, viz. the elders, as hath been showed. they only have authority to judge. . such a judgment is allowed to the saints in church censures, as shall be allowed to them when the saints shall judge the world, yea angels, cor. vi. - , viz. in both a judgment of acclamation, approbation, &c., as assessors, as people judge at the assizes; not in either a judgment of authority, which the judge and jury only do pronounce. . nor, finally, doth the apostle's direction to forgive the incestuous, being penitent, cor. ii. - , which seems to be given to all, prove the people's concurrence with the elders in any act of power. for the authoritative forgiving and receiving him again, belonged only to the elders; the charitable forgiving, receiving, and comforting of him, belonged also to the people. as the judge and jury at an assizes, acquit by judgment of authority, the people only by judgment of discretion and acclamation. thus it appears how little strength is in this instance of the church of corinth, (though supposed to be the strongest ground the independents have,) for the propping up of their popular government, and authoritative suffrage of the people. section iii. iii. having thus considered the subject of authority and power for church government: . negatively, what it is not, viz. neither the political magistrate, nor yet the community of the faithful, or whole body of the people, chap. ix. and x. . positively, what it is, viz. christ's own officers in his church, as hath been explained and evidenced, sect. , of this chap. . now, in the third and last place, we are to insist a little further upon this subject of the power, by way of explanation: and to inquire, seeing christ's officers are found to be the subject of this power, in what sense or notion they are the subject and receptacle of this authority and power from christ, whether jointly or severally; as solitarily and single from one another, or associated and incorporated into assemblies with one another; or in both respects? for resolution herein we must remember that distribution of the keys, or of proper ecclesiastical power, (which was briefly mentioned before in part , chap. iii.) into that which is, . more special and peculiar to the office of some church governors, which by virtue of their office they are to execute and discharge: thus it is peculiar to the minister's office, . to preach the word; compare these places together, matt. xxviii. - , john xx. - , rom. x. , tim. v. , heb. xiii. , tim. iv. , , &c. . _to dispense the sacraments_, matt. xxviii. - , cor. xi. , . the word and sacraments were joined together in the same commission to the same officers, viz. the preaching presbyters, &c., as is evident in that of matt. xxviii. . . more general and common to the office of all church governors, as the power of censures, viz. admonishing, excommunicating, and absolving, and of such other acts as necessarily depend thereupon; wherein not only the preaching, but also the ruling elders are to join and contribute their best assistance; as may be collected from these several testimonies of scripture, matt. xviii. , , _tell the church_,[ ] cor. v. - , cor. ii. - , compared with rom. xii. , cor. xii. , and tim. v. . now these officers of christ, viz. they that labor in the word and doctrine, and the ruling elders, are the subject of this power of jurisdiction as they are united in one body, hence called a church, matth. xviii. , viz. the governing or ruling church; for no other can there be meant; and presbytery,[ ] i.e. a society or assembly of presbyters together, tim. iv. . the presbyters, elderships, or assemblies wherein these officers are united and associated, are of two sorts, viz: . the lesser assemblies, consisting of the ministers and ruling elders in each single congregation; which, for distinction's sake, is styled the congregational eldership. . the greater assemblies, consisting of church governors sent from several churches and united into one body, for governing of all these churches within their own bounds, whence their members were sent. these greater assemblies are either presbyterial or synodal. . presbyterial, consisting of the ministers and elders of several adjacent or neighboring single congregations, or parish churches, ruling those several congregations in common; this kind of assembly is commonly called the presbytery, or, for distinction's sake, the classical presbytery, i.e. the presbytery of such a rank of churches. . synodal, consisting of ministers and elders, sent from presbyterial assemblies, to consult and conclude about matters of common and great concernment to the church within their limits. such was that assembly mentioned, acts xv. these synodal assemblies are either, . of ministers and elders from several presbyteries within one province, called provincial. . or of ministers and elders from several provinces within one nation, called therefore national. or, . of ministers and elders from the several nations within the whole christian world, therefore called ecumenical: for all which assemblies, congregational, presbyterial, and synodal, and the subordination of the lesser to the greater assemblies respectively, there seems to be good ground and divine warrant in the word of god, as (god willing) shall be evinced in the xii., xiii., xiv., and xv. chapters following. chapter xii. _of the divine right of congregational elderships or kirk sessions, for the government of the church._ touching congregational elderships, consisting of the ministers and ruling elders of the several single congregations, which are called the lesser assemblies, or smaller presbyteries, and which are to manage and order all ecclesiastical matters within themselves, which are of more immediate, private, particular concernment to their own congregations respectively; and consequently, of more easy dispatch, and of more daily use and necessity. concerning these congregational presbyteries, we shall not now take into consideration either, . what are the members constituting and making up these elderships; whether ruling elders by divine warrant may be superadded to the pastors and teachers, and so be associated for the government of the congregation. for the divine right of the ruling elders, distinct from the preaching elder for the government of the church, hath been evidenced at large, chapter xi., section , foregoing. and if any acts of government in the church belong to the ruling elder at all, sure those acts of common jurisdiction, to be dispatched in these least assemblies, cannot of all other be denied unto him. . nor shall it here be discussed, what the power of congregational elderships is, whether it be universally extensive to all acts of government ecclesiastical whatsoever, without exception or limitation; and that independently, without subordination to the greater assemblies, and without all liberty of appeal thereunto in any cases whatsoever, though of greatest and most common concernment. which things are well stated and handled by others;[ ] and will in some measure be considered afterwards in chapter xv. . but the thing for the present to be insisted upon, against the erastian and prelatical party, is, the divine right of authority and power for church government, which is in congregational presbyteries or elderships, in reference to their respective congregations. take it thus: elderships of single congregations vested and furnished with ecclesiastical authority and power to exercise and dispense acts of government in and over those respective congregations whereunto they do belong, are by divine right warrantable. for confirmation hereof the light of nature, the institution of christ, the apostolical practice, and the law of necessity, seem to speak sufficiently unto us. . the common light of nature thus far directeth all sorts of smaller societies, whether political or ecclesiastical, to compose all particular and more private differences and offences within themselves; and to decide and determine small, common, easy causes and matters, by smaller courts and judicatories appointed for that end: a vain thing to trouble more and greater assemblies with those matters, that may as well be determined by the lesser. it was wise and grave counsel which jethro, moses' father-in-law, gave to moses, that he should set up over the people certain judges inferior to himself, who themselves might judge all smaller matters, but all _great and hard matters to be brought to moses_, exod. xviii. , . and our saviour seems to insinuate, that the jews had their inferior courts for inferior causes, superior judicatories for greater, in that gradation of his, matt. v. . likewise they had lesser and greater ecclesiastical assemblies, (as after will appear.) now, to what use are greater and lesser judicatories, civil or ecclesiastical, but that the lesser and lighter causes may be judged in the inferior, harder and greater in the superior? . the institution of christ recorded matt. xviii. - , seems to hold forth notably both single congregational elderships, and their power. and this, whether we consider the jewish form, unto which our saviour seems to refer; or whether we observe the matter of his discourse. . as for the jewish form of church government (unto which our saviour here seems to allude) we may observe it was managed by two, if not three sorts of ecclesiastical courts, viz: by the sanhedrin, presbytery, and synagogue, (much like to the evangelical synod, presbytery, and congregational eldership since christ.) . they had their ecclesiastical,[ ] as well as their civil sanhedrin, for high and difficult affairs of the church; which seems first to be constituted, exod. xxiv. , and after decay thereof, it was restored by king jehoshaphat, chron. xix. ; and from this court that national church's reformation proceeded, neh. vi. . . again, it is very probable they had between their sanhedrin and their synagogue a middle ecclesiastical court called _the presbytery_, luke xxii. , and acts xxii. , _and the whole presbytery_. let such as are expert in jewish antiquities and their polity, consider and judge. . finally, they had their lesser judicatories in their synagogues, or congregational meetings: for, their synagogues were not only for prayer, and the ministry of the word, in reading and expounding the scriptures, but also for public censures, correcting of offences, &c., as that phrase seems to import, "and i punished them oft in every synagogue," acts xxvi. . his facts and proceedings, it is true, were cruel, unjust, impious. but why inflicted _in every synagogue_, rather than in other places, and that by virtue of the _high priest's letters_, acts ix. , ; but there the jews had judicatories, that inflicted public punishments upon persons ecclesiastically offending? besides, we read often in the new testament of the _rulers of the synagogue_, as mark v. , , ; luke viii. , and xiii. ; and of crispus and sosthenes the chief _rulers of the synagogue_, acts xviii. , ; whence is intimated to us, that these synagogues had their rule and government in themselves; and that this rule was not in one person, but in divers together; for if there were chief rulers, there were also inferiors subordinate unto them: but this is put out of doubt, in acts xiii. , where after the lecture of the law and the prophets, _the rulers of the synagogue sent unto them_--_synagogue_ in the singular number, and rulers in the plural. thus analogically there should be ecclesiastical rulers and governors in every single congregation, for the well guiding thereof. but if this satisfy not, add hereunto the material passages in our saviour's speech. . now touching the matter of our saviour's discourse, it makes this very clear to us; for by a gradation he leadeth us from admonition private and personal, to admonition before two or three witnesses, and from admonition before two or three witnesses, to the representative body of one church, (as the phrase _tell the church_ must here necessarily be interpreted,) if there the difference can be composed, the offence removed, or the cause ended; rather than unnecessarily render the offence, and so our brother's shame, more public and notorious. and that the presbytery or eldership of a particular congregation, vested with power to hear and determine such cases as shall be brought before them, is partly, though not only here intended, seems evident in the words following, which are added for the strengthening and confirming of what went before in ver. : "verily, i say unto you, whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. again, i say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my father which is in heaven. for where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am i in the midst of them," matt. xviii. - . in which passages these things are to be noted: . that this church to which the complaint is to be made, is invested with power of _binding_ and _loosing_, and that so authoritatively that what by this church shall be bound or loosed on earth shall also be bound or loosed in heaven, according to christ's promise. . that these acts of _binding_ or _loosing_, may be the acts but of two or three, and therefore consequently of the eldership of a particular congregation; for where such a juridical act was dispatched by a classical presbytery, it is said to be done of _many_, cor. ii. , because that in such greater presbyteries there are always more than _two or three_. and though some do pretend, that the faults here spoken of by our saviour in this place, were injuries, not scandals; and that the church here mentioned was not any ecclesiastical consistory, or court, but the civil sanhedrin, a court of civil judicature; and yet most absurdly they interpret the binding and loosing here spoken of, to be doctrinal and declarative; not juridical and authoritative; as if the doctrinal binding and loosing were in the power of the civil sanhedrin:[ ] yet all these are but vain, groundless pretences and subterfuges, without substance or solidity, as the learned and diligent reader may easily find demonstrated by consulting these judicious authors mentioned in the foot note,[ ] to whom for brevity's sake he is referred for satisfaction in these and divers such like particulars. . the consideration of the apostolical practice, and state of the church of god in those times, may serve further to clear this matter to us. for, . we sometimes read of single congregations; and as the holy ghost doth call the whole body of christ _the church_, matt. xvi. , cor. xii. , and often elsewhere; and the larger particular members of that body of christ (partaking the nature of the whole, as a drop of water is as true water as the whole ocean) churches; as, _the church of jerusalem_, acts viii. ; _the church of antioch_, acts xiii. ; _the church of ephesus_, rev. ii. ; _the church of corinth_, cor. i. ; (these being the greater presbyterial churches, as after will appear, chap. xiii.;) so the same holy spirit of christ is pleased to style single congregations, _churches_, "let women keep silence in the churches," cor. xiv. , i.e. in the single congregations of this one church of corinth: and often mention is made of the church that is in such or such an _house_, as rom. xvi. ; cor. xvi. ; col. iv. ; philem. ; whether this be interpreted of the church made up only of the members of that family, or of the church that ordinarily did meet in such houses, it implies a single congregation. now shall single congregations have the name and nature of churches, and shall we imagine they had not in them the ordinary standing church officers, viz. pastors and teachers, governments, or elders _ruling well_, and helps or deacons? or is it probable they were furnished with these officers, and yet the officers furnished with no power for the government of these single congregations at all? . we find that the apostles being crowned with such success in their ministry, as to be instruments of converting such multitudes to the faith as were sufficient to make up many several churches from time to time, did diligently take care to ordain them presbyters, or elders _in every church_, acts xiv. ; tit. i. . now can it be clearly evidenced by any, that these were not ruling as well as preaching presbyters; especially when it appears by other places that the primitive churches had both? rom. xii. ; cor. xii. ; tim. v. . or can we think that the apostles were not as careful to erect elderships in several congregations, as to appoint elders? otherwise how could the apostles have answered it to their lord and master jesus christ, in leaving them without that necessary provision of government, which christ himself had allowed to them, at least, in some cases, as hath been evidenced? . finally, necessity (which is a strong and cogent law) plainly and forcibly pleads for elderships in particular congregations endowed with authority and power from christ for government within themselves. for, . how wearisome a thing would it be to all congregations, should every one of their members be bound to attend upon synods and greater presbyteries, (which in the country are at a great distance from them,) in all ecclesiastical matters of judicature, if they had no relief in their own congregations? how impossible would it be for the greater presbyteries, not only to hear and determine all hard and weighty, but also all small and easy causes that would be brought before them? and what should become of such a congregation as either voluntarily transplants itself, or is accidentally cast among heathens or pagans in far countries, where there are no christians or churches to join and associate withal, if they be denied an authoritative presbytery within themselves, for preventing and healing of scandals, and preserving themselves from destruction and ruin, which anarchy would unavoidably bring upon them? chapter xiii. _of the divine right of presbyteries, (for distinction's sake called classical presbyteries,) for the government of the church._ having spoken of the lesser, viz. congregational elderships, we come now to the greater ruling assemblies, which are either presbyterial or synodal. and first, of the presbyterial assembly, or classical presbytery, viz. an assembly made up of the presbyters of divers neighboring single congregations, for governing of all those respective congregations in common, whereunto they belong, in all matters of common concernment and greater difficulty in the church. the divine warrant and right of this presbytery, and of the power thereof for church government, may principally be evidenced, . by the light of nature. . by the light of scripture, which light of scripture was followed by the church in the ages after the apostolical times. i. the light of nature and right reason may discover to us (though more dimly) the divine warrant of the greater presbyteries, and of their power for the governing of the church. for, . there are many ecclesiastical matters which are of common concernment to many single congregations, as trial of church officers, ordination and deposition of ministers, dispensation of censures, judicial determination of controversies, resolution in difficult cases of conscience, ordering of things indifferent, &c.; here the rule holds well, that which concerns many congregations, is not to be considered and determined upon only by one, but those many concerned and interested therein. . single congregational elderships stand in need of all mutual help and assistance one of another in the lord, being, . inwardly weak in themselves; too prone to be turned out of the way, heb. xii. , gal. v. , and too feeble for divers great tasks: as examination and ordination of ministers, &c., which weakness is healed by association with others assisting them. . outwardly opposed by many dangerous and subtle adversaries: men as grievous wolves, &c., acts xx. - ; pet. ii. ; phil. iii. ; tim. iv. - ; eph. iv. ; devils, pet. v. . in such cases two are better than one: "wo to them that are alone; if they fall, who shall take them up?" . such intricate cases may fall out as cannot be determined and settled by the eldership of a single congregation. as for instance, some member in the congregation may conceive himself so wronged by the eldership thereof, that he cannot submit to their unjust sentence; shall he not in such case have liberty of appeal from them? if not, then he is left without a remedy, (which is the calamity of the independent government.) if he may, whether shall he appeal regularly but to an associated presbytery? therefore there must be such a presbytery to appeal unto. again, there may be a controversy betwixt the whole congregation, and their presbytery; yea, the presbytery itself may be equally divided against itself; yea, one single congregation may have a great and weighty contest with another sister congregation, (all single congregations being equal in power and authority, none superior, none inferior to others.) now, in these and such like cases, suppose both parties be resolute and wilful, and will not yield to any bare moral suasion or advice without some superior authority, what healing is left in such cases, without the assistance of an authoritative presbytery, wherein the whole hath power to regulate all the parts? . single congregations, joined in vicinity and neighborhood to one another, should avoid divisions, (which are destructive to all societies, as well ecclesiastical as civil,) and maintain peace and unity among themselves, (which is conservative to all societies;) neither of which, without associated presbyteries, can be firmly and durably effected. both which ought with all diligence to be endeavored. for, . peace and unity in the church are in themselves amiable, and ought to be promoted, psal. cxxxiii. , &c.; eph. iv. , ; cor. i. . . schisms and divisions are simply evil, and all appearance, cause, and occasion thereof, ought carefully to be avoided, cor. xii. ; rom. xvi. ; thes. iv. . . all congregations are but as so many branches, members, parts of that one church, one body, one family, one commonwealth, one kingdom, whereof christ is head, lord, and king; and therefore they should communicate together, and harmoniously incorporate and associate with one another, (so far as may be,) for the common good, peace, unity, and edification of all. see cor. xii. - ; eph. ii. - , and iv. - , and v. - . ii. the light of scripture will hold forth the divine warrant of greater presbyteries and their power for church government, far more clearly than the light of nature. forasmuch as we find in the scriptures a pattern of these greater presbyteries, and of their presbyterial government over divers single congregations in common in the primitive apostolical churches. for the greater evidence and perspicuity hereof, take this proposition: jesus christ our mediator hath laid down in his word a pattern of presbyterial government in common over divers single congregations in one church, for a rule to his church in all after ages. for confirmation hereof, there are chiefly these three positions to make good, which are comprised in this proposition, viz: . that there is in the word a pattern of divers single congregations in one church. . that there is in the word a pattern of one presbyterial government in common over divers single congregations in one church. . finally, that the pattern of the said presbyterial government, is for a rule to the churches of christ in all after ages. position i. that there is in the word a pattern of divers single congregations in one church, may be plentifully evinced by four instances of churches, (to mention no more,) viz. the churches of jerusalem, antioch, ephesus, and corinth. touching which four these two things are clear in the scripture, viz: . that every of them was one church. . that in every one of these churches there were more congregations than one. both which will fully evince a pattern of divers single congregations in one church held forth in the word. . the former of these, viz. that every one of these was one church, may be proved by induction of particulars. . all the believers in jerusalem were one church; hence they are often comprised under the word church, of the singular number:--"against the church which was at jerusalem," acts viii. . "then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in jerusalem," acts ii. . "and when they were come to jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders," acts xv. . . all the believers in antioch were one church. "now there were in the church that was at antioch, certain prophets," acts xiii. . "and when he had found him, he brought him to antioch. and it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people, and the disciples were first called christians in antioch," acts xi. . . all the believers in ephesus were one church: "and from miletus he sent to ephesus, and called the elders of the church," acts xx. . and after he gives them this charge, "take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the holy ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of god," ver. ; all were but _one flock, one church_. "unto the angel of the church of ephesus, write," rev. ii. . . all the believers in corinth were one church, and comprised under that singular word, church: "unto the church of god which is at corinth," cor. i. . "paul, an apostle of jesus christ, by the will of god, and timothy our brother, unto the church of god which is at corinth," cor. i. . thus in all these four instances it is clear beyond all contradiction, that they were every of them respectively one church. the latter of these, viz. that these primitive apostolical churches of jerusalem, antioch, ephesus, and corinth, were not every of them severally and respectively only one single congregation, (as some imagine,) but consisted every of them of more congregations than one. this shall be manifested in these four churches severally, as followeth: the church of jerusalem in judea contained in it more congregations than one. this may be convincingly evidenced divers ways, particularly from, . the multitude of believers in that church. . the multitude of church officers there. . the variety of languages there. . the manner of the christians' public meetings in those primitive times, both in the church of jerusalem, and in other churches. . from the multitude of believers in the church of jerusalem. for it is palpably evident to any impartial reader that will not wilfully shut his eyes, and subject his reason unto the groundless dictates of men, against the clear light of the scripture, that there were more believers in the church of jerusalem, than could ordinarily meet in one congregation, to partake of all the ordinances of christ. and this may fully appear by these many instances following. . christ after his resurrection, and before his ascension, "was seen of above five hundred brethren at once," cor. xv. . . "after that of james, then of all the apostles," ver. . . at the election of matthias, and before christ's ascension, there were disciples together, the "company of their names together was as it were one hundred and twenty," acts i. . . at peter's sermon, "they that gladly received his word, were baptized. and that day were added about three thousand souls," acts ii. , . . and "the lord added to the church daily such as should be saved," ver. . . afterwards at another of peter's sermons, "many of them that heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand," acts iv. . . after that, "believers were the more added to the lord, multitudes both of men and women," acts v. . . furthermore, the disciples multiplying, and the work of the ministry thereupon much increasing, the apostles were necessitated to appoint seven deacons for serving of tables, that they might wholly "give themselves to the ministry of the word and prayer," acts vi. to ; whence some have thought, that there were seven congregations in jerusalem, a deacon for every one. certainly there were rather more than fewer, (saith the author of the assertion of the government of the church of scotland,[ ]) though we cannot determine how many. however this, the holy ghost clearly testifieth that "the word of god increased, and the number of the disciples in jerusalem multiplied greatly." . "and a great company of the priests became obedient to the faith," acts vi. ; and probably the example of the priests drew on multitudes to the gospel. all these forementioned were in a short time converted, and became members of this one church of jerusalem, and that before the dispersion occasioned by the persecution of the church, acts viii. . now should we put all these together, viz. both the number of believers expressed in particular, which is , , and the multitudes so often expressed in the general, (which, for aught we know, might be many more than the former,) what a vast multitude of believers was there in jerusalem! and how impossible was it for them to meet all together in one congregation, to partake of all the ordinances of jesus christ! . in like manner, after the dispersion forementioned, the word so prospered, and the disciples brought into the faith by it, so multiplied, that it was still far more impossible for all the believers in the church of jerusalem to meet in one congregation to partake of all the ordinances of christ, than before. for it is said, "then had the churches rest throughout all judea" (and the church of jerusalem in judea was doubtless one of those churches) "and galilee and samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the lord, and comfort of the holy ghost, were multiplied." . again, "the word of the lord increased and multiplied," acts xii. . . furthermore, when paul, with other disciples, his fellow-travellers, came to jerusalem, and "declared to james and the elders, what things god had wrought by his ministry among the gentiles--they glorified the lord, and said unto him, thou seest, brother, how many" myriads (or ten thousands) "of believing jews there are, and they are all zealous of the law"--acts xxi. . our translation seems herein very defective, rendering it how many thousands; whereas it should be, according to the greek, how many ten thousands: and these myriads seem to be in the church of jerusalem, seeing it is said of them, ver. , "the multitude must needs come together, for they will hear that thou art come." now considering this emphatical expression, not only _thousands_, but _ten thousand_: not _only ten thousand_ in the singular number, but _ten thousands, myriads_, in the plural number: nor only _myriads, ten thousands_, in the plural number, but _how many ten thousands_; we cannot in reason imagine but there were at least three ten thousands, viz: thirty thousand believers, and how all they should meet together in one congregation for all ordinances, let the reader judge. thus far of the proof, from the multitude of believers in the church of jerusalem. _except_. but the five thousand mentioned acts iv. , are no new number added to the three thousand, but the three thousand included in the five thousand, as calvin and beza think. _ans_. . then it is granted that five thousand one hundred and twenty, besides an innumerable addition of converts, were in jerusalem; which if such a number, and multitudes besides, could for edification meet in one place, to partake of all the ordinances, let the reader judge. . though calvin and beza think the three thousand formerly converted to be included in this number of five thousand, acts iv. , yet divers both ancient and modern interpreters are of another mind, as augustine. there came unto the body of the lord in number three thousand faithful men; also by another miracle wrought, there came other five thousand.[ ] these five thousand are altogether diverse from the three thousand converted at the first sermon: so lorinus, aretius, and divers others. . besides a great number of testimonies, there are reasons to induce us to believe, that the three thousand are not included in the five thousand, viz: . as the three thousand mentioned in acts ii. , did not comprehend the one hundred and twenty mentioned acts i. , so it holds in proportion that the three thousand mentioned there, are not comprehended here in acts iv. . besides, . this sermon was not by intention to the church, or numbers already converted, but by occasion of the multitude flocking together to behold the miracle peter and john wrought on the "man that was lame from his mother's womb;" as acts iii. - ; so that 'tis more than probable that the five thousand mentioned acts iv. , are a number superadded besides the three thousand already converted. _except_. but suppose such a number as three thousand, and afterwards five thousand were converted in jerusalem, yet these remained not constant members of that church, for the three thousand were not dwellers at jerusalem, but strangers who came out of all countries to keep the feast of pentecost: yea, acts ii. , they are said expressly to be "dwellers of mesopotamia, cappadocia," &c., and so might erect churches where they came. _ans_. . 'tis said, acts ii. , "peter standing" (when he began to preach this sermon wherein the three thousand were converted) "said, ye men of judea, and all ye that dwell at jerusalem, hearken to my voice;" intimating that these he preached to dwelt at jerusalem. but grant that some of these men that heard peter's sermon were formerly dwellers in mesopotamia and cappadocia, what hinders but that they might be now dwellers at jerusalem? . the occasion of their coming up to jerusalem at this time was not only the observation of the feast of pentecost, (which lasted but a day,) but also the great expectation that the people of the jews then had of the appearance of the messiah in his kingdom, as we may collect from luke xix. , where it is said, "they thought the kingdom of god should immediately appear;" so that now they might choose to take up their dwellings at jerusalem, and not return, as they had been wont, at the end of their usual feasts. . the holy ghost makes mention that in the particular places mentioned, ver. , , that of all those nations there were some that dwelt at jerusalem; read acts ii. , "there were dwelling at jerusalem jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven;" if out of every nation, then out of those nations there specified; and even there dwelling at jerusalem. . those who were scattered by reason of persecution into judea and samaria, and other parts of the world, did not erect new churches, but were still members of that one church in jerusalem; so saith the scripture expressly, that "they" (of the church of jerusalem) "were all scattered abroad throughout the region of judea and samaria," acts viii. . _except_. although it should be granted that before the dispersion mentioned acts viii. , , the number was so great that they could not meet together in one place, yet the persecution so wasted and scattered them all, that there were no more left than might meet in one congregation? _ans_. after the dispersion there were more believers in jerusalem than could meet together in one place for all acts of worship, as appears by acts ix. , "the churches had rest throughout all judea," &c., "and were multiplied;" acts xii. , "the word of god grew and multiplied;" and acts xxi. , james saith of the believers of this church, "how many thousands of the jews there are which believe, and are zealous of the law;" or, as it is in the greek, thou seest how many _ten thousands_ there are of the jews which believe; this text will evince, that there were many thousands in the church of jerusalem after the dispersion, as hath been observed: and if this number were not more after the dispersion than could meet together to partake of all ordinances, let the reader judge. _except_. but the text saith expressly, all were scattered except the apostles. _ans_. _all_ must be understood either of all the believers, or all the teachers and church officers in the church of jerusalem, except believers; but it cannot be understood of all the believers that they were scattered: and therefore it must be understood that all the teachers and church officers were scattered, except the apostles. that all the believers were not scattered will easily appear: for, . 'tis said that paul broke into houses, "haling men and women, committed them to prison," ver. , and this he did in jerusalem, acts xxvi. ; therefore all could not be scattered. . "they that were scattered, preached the word," ver. , which all the members, men and women, could not do; therefore by all that were scattered must of necessity be meant, not the body of believers in the church, but only the officers of the church. . if all the believers were scattered, to what end did the apostles tarry at jerusalem--to preach to the walls? this we cannot imagine. _except_. but can any think the teachers were scattered, and the ordinary believers were not, except we suppose the people more courageous to stay by it than their teachers? _ans_. it is hard to say, that those that are scattered in a persecution, are less courageous than those that stay and suffer. in the time of the bishops' tyranny, many of the independent ministers did leave this kingdom, while others of their brethren did abide by it, endured the heat and burden of the day, "had trial of cruel mockings, bonds and imprisonments:" now the independent ministers that left us, would think we did them wrong, should we say that they were less courageous than those that stayed behind, enduring the hot brunt of persecution. ii. from the multitude of church officers in jerusalem, it may further appear, that there were more congregations than one in the church of jerusalem. for there were many apostles, prophets, and elders in this church of jerusalem, as is plain, if we consider these following passages in the acts of the apostles. after christ's ascension, "the eleven apostles returned to jerusalem, and continued in prayer and supplication," acts i. - . matthias chosen by lot, was also "numbered with the eleven apostles," acts i. . "and when the day of pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place," acts ii. . "peter standing up with the eleven, lift up his voice and said," acts ii. . "they were pricked in their heart, and said to peter and to the rest of the apostles, men and brethren, what shall we do?" acts ii. . "and the same day there were added about three thousand souls, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers," acts ii. . "and with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the lord jesus," acts iv. . "as many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet," acts iv. , , . "then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples to them," acts vi. . "now, when the apostles which were at jerusalem," acts viii. . "they determined that paul and barnabas and certain other of them should go up to jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. and when they were come to jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders; and the apostles and elders came together," acts xv. , , , , ; xi. . and "in those days came prophets from jerusalem unto antioch," acts xi. . in all which places, the multitude of apostles, elders, and prophets in this church of jerusalem is evident. and it is further observable, that the apostles devolved the serving of tables upon the seven deacons, that they might wholly "give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word," acts vi, ; which needed not, nor would there have been full employment for the apostles, if there had not been divers congregations in that one church of jerusalem. _except_. 'tis true, the apostles were for a time in jerusalem, yet when in judea or elsewhere any received the gospel, the apostles went abroad to erect other churches. _ans_. touching the apostles going abroad, there can be given but one instance, acts viii. , where the whole twelve went not forth, but only two were sent, viz. peter and john: but suppose it were granted, that upon some special occasions the apostles went out from jerusalem, can it be imagined that the apostles' ordinary abode would be at jerusalem, to attend only one single congregation, as if that would fill all their hands with work? _except_. the apostles were well employed when they met in an upper room, and had but one hundred and twenty for their flock, and this for forty days together; now if they stayed in jerusalem when they had but one hundred and twenty, and yet had their hands filled with work, the presence of the apostles argues not more congregations in jerusalem than could meet in one place for all acts of worship. _ans_. . from christ's ascension (immediately after which they went up to the upper chamber) to the feast of pentecost, there were but ten days, not forty; so that there is one mistake. . during that time betwixt christ's ascension and the feast of pentecost, (whether ten or forty days is not very material,) the apostles were especially taken up in prayer and supplication, waiting for the promise of the spirit to qualify them for the work of the ministry: now, because the twelve apostles, before they had received the extraordinary gifts of the spirit, did continue for a short time in jerusalem with a small number in prayer, will it therefore follow that after they had received these extraordinary gifts, that they were bound up within the limits of one single congregation? _except_. the argument that there were many teachers in jerusalem, proves not that there were more congregations in jerusalem than one, because there were then many gifted men, which were not officers, which yet occasionally instructed others, as aquila did apollos; therefore it seems they were only gifted persons, not officers. _ans_. . grant that in those times there were many gifted men, not in office, which might occasionally instruct others, as aquila did apollos; yet it is further to be noted, that, . this instructing must be either private, or public; if private only, then the objection is of no force, (because these teachers instructed publicly;) if in public, then if this objection were of force, it would follow, that women might instruct publicly, because priscilla, as well as aquila, instructed apollos. . the current of expositors say, that the seventy disciples were at jerusalem among the one hundred and twenty, acts i. , who were teachers by office. iii. from the variety of languages among the disciples at jerusalem, it is evident there were more congregations than one in that one church: the diversity of languages among them is plainly mentioned in divers places, "and there were dwelling at jerusalem, jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. now every man heard them speak in his own language," &c., acts ii. , - . now, of those that heard this variety of languages, and peter's sermon thereupon, "they that gladly received his word, were baptized, and the same day there were added about three thousand souls," acts ii. , which diversity of languages necessitated those members of the church of jerusalem to enjoy the ordinances in divers distinct congregations in their own language. and that they might so do, the spirit furnished the apostles, &c., with diversity of languages, which diversity of languages were as well for edification of them within the church, as for a sign to them that were without. _except_. though the jews being dispersed were come in from other countries, yet they were all generally learned, and understood the hebrew tongue, the language of their own nation, so that diversity of tongues proves not, that of necessity there must be distinct places to meet in. _ans_. . it is easier said than proved, that the jews were so generally skilled in the hebrew tongue, when, while they were scattered in media and parthia, and other places, they had no universities or schools of learning. besides, it is not to be forgotten, that the proper language or dialect in those days in use among the jews was syriac; as appears by divers instances of syriac words in the new testament, as of the jews' own terms: acts i. , which "in their proper tongue, is called aceldama;" john xix. . , _gabbatha, golgotha_, &c.; mark xv. , _eloi, eloi, lama-sabachthani_; with divers other pure syriac terms. grant they did; yet, . there were in jerusalem proselytes also, romans, cappadocians, cretians, and arabians, acts ii. , ; how could they be edified in the faith, if only one congregation, where nothing but hebrew was spoken, met in jerusalem; if so be there were not other congregations for men of other languages, that understood not the hebrew tongue? iv. from the manner of christians' public meetings in those primitive times, both in the church of jerusalem and in other churches. it is plain that the multitudes of christians in jerusalem, and other churches, could not possibly meet all together in one single congregation, inasmuch as they had no public temples, or capacious places for worship and partaking of all ordinances, (as we now have,) but private places, _houses, chambers_, or _upper rooms_, (as the unsettled state of the church and troublesomeness of those times would permit,) which in all probability were of no great extent, nor any way able to contain in them so many thousand believers at once, as there were: "they met from house to house, to break bread," acts ii. . "in an upper room the apostles with the women and brethren continued in prayer and supplication," acts i. - . we read of their meetings in the _house of mary_, acts xii. . in the school _of one tyrannus_, acts xix. . in an _upper chamber at troas_, acts xx. . in _paul's own hired house_ at rome, acts xxviii. , . in the _house of aquila and priscilla_, where the church met, therefore called the _church in his house_, rom. xvi. ; cor. xvi. . in the _house of nimphas_, col. iv. , and in the _house of archippus_, philem. . this was their manner of public meetings in the apostles' times: which also continued in the next ages, as saith eusebius,[ ] till, by indulgence of succeeding emperors, they had large churches, houses of public meeting erected for them. to sum up all: . there were in the church at jerusalem greater numbers of believers than could possibly meet at once to partake of all christ's ordinances. . there were more church officers than one single congregation could need, or than could be fully employed therein, unless we will say, that they preached but seldom. . there was such diversity of languages among them, that they must needs rank themselves into several congregations, according to their languages, else he that spoke in one language to hearers of many several languages, would be a barbarian to them, and they to him. . finally, their places of ordinary meeting were private, of small extent, incapable of containing so many thousands at once as there were believers; and by all these, how evident is it, that there must needs be granted that there were more congregations than one in this one church of jerusalem! ii. the church of antioch, in syria, consisted also of more congregations than one. this appears, . from the multitude of believers at antioch. for, . after the dispersion upon saul's persecution, _the lord jesus was preached at antioch, and a great number believed_, &c., acts xi. . . upon _barnabas's_ preaching there, _much people was added to the lord_, acts xi. . . _barnabas_ and _saul_ for a year together taught much people there, and disciples there so mightily multiplied, that there christ's disciples first received the eminent and famous denomination of christians, and so were and still are called throughout the whole world, acts xi. , . . from the multitudes of prophets and preachers that ministered at antioch. for, . upon the dispersion of the jews at jerusalem, _divers of them (being men of cyprus and cyrene) preached the lord jesus at antioch_, acts xi. ; here must be three or four preachers at least, otherwise they would not be _men of cyprus and cyrene_. . after this _barnabas_ was sent to preach at antioch; there is a fifth, acts xi. - . . _barnabas_ finds so much work at _antioch_, that he goes to tarsus to bring _saul_ thither to help him; there is a sixth, ver. , . . besides these, _there came prophets from jerusalem to antioch in those days_; there are at least two more, viz. eight in all, acts xi. , . . further, besides _barnabas_ and _saul_, three more teachers are named, viz. _simon called niger, lucius of cyrene, and manaen_, acts xii. - . . yea, "paul and barnabas continued in antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the lord, with many others also," acts xv. . now sum up all, what a multitude of believers, and what a college of preachers were here at antioch! how is it possible that all these preachers should bustle themselves about one congregation (and doubtless they abhorred idleness) in dispensing the ordinances of christ to them only? or how could so many members meet in one single congregation at once, ordinarily to partake of all ordinances? iii. the church of ephesus (_in asia minor_, acts xix. ) had in it more congregations than one: for, . the number of prophets and preachers at ephesus were many. _paul_ continued there _two years and three months_, acts xix. , ; and _paul_ settled there about twelve _disciples who prophesied_, acts xix. , , . and how should these thirteen ministers be employed, if there were not many congregations? compare also acts xx. , , , , where it is said of the bishops of ephesus, that "paul kneeled down and prayed with them all, and they all wept sore." here is a good number implied. . the gift of tongues also was given unto all these twelve prophets, acts xix. , . to what end, if they had not several congregations of several languages, to speak in these several tongues unto them? . the multitude of believers must needs be great at ephesus: for, . why should _paul_, who had universal commission to plant churches in all the world, stay _above two years together_ at ephesus if no more had been converted there than to make up one single congregation? acts xix. , . . during this space, "all that dwelt in asia," usually meeting at ephesus for worship, "heard the word of the lord, both jews and greeks," acts xix. . . at the knowledge of _paul's_ miracles, "fear fell upon all the jews and greeks dwelling at ephesus, and the name of the lord jesus was magnified," acts xix. . . _many_ of the believers _came and confessed, and showed their deeds_, ver. , whereby is intimated that more did believe than did thus. . "many also of them that used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men, and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver," (this they would never have done publicly if the major part, or at least a very great and considerable part of the city, had not embraced the faith, that city being so furiously zealous in their superstition and idolatry,) "so mightily grew the word of god, and prevailed," acts xix. , . . _paul_ testifies that at ephesus _a great door and effectual was open unto him_, viz. a most advantageous opportunity of bringing in a mighty harvest of souls to christ, cor. xvi. , . put all together, . the number of prophets and preachers; . the gifts of tongues conferred upon those prophets; and, . the multitude of believers which so abounded at ephesus: how is it possible to imagine, upon any solid ground, that there was no more but one single congregation in the church of ephesus? iv. the church of corinth in græcia comprised in it also more congregations than one, as may be justly concluded from, . the multitude of believers. . the plenty of ministers. . the diversity of tongues and languages. . and the plurality of churches at corinth. let all these be well compared together. . from the multitude of believers. there appears to be a greater number of believers at corinth than could all at once meet together to partake of all the ordinances of christ: for, . at paul's first coming to corinth, and at his first sermon preached in the house of justus, it is said, "and crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the lord, and all his house, and many of the corinthians hearing, believed and were baptized," acts xviii. , , . here is crispus and all his house, (which probably was very great, he being the chief ruler of the synagogue,) and _many of the corinthians, believing_; an excellent first-fruits; for who can justly say but paul at his first sermon converted so many as might be sufficient to make up one single congregation? . immediately after this (paul having shook his raiment against the jews, who, contrary to his doctrine, opposed themselves and blasphemed; and having said unto them, "your blood be upon your own heads, i am clean: from henceforth i will go unto the gentiles," acts xviii. ) the lord comforts paul against the obstinacy of the jews by the success his ministry should have among the gentiles in the city of corinth: "then spake the lord to paul in the night by a vision, be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: for i am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for i have much people in this city," acts xviii. , . _much people_ belonging to god, according to his secret predestination, over and besides those that already were actually his by effectual vocation. and _much people_, in respect of the jews that opposed and blasphemed, (who were exceeding many,) otherwise it would have been but small comfort to paul if by _much people_ should be meant no more than could meet at once in one small single congregation. . paul himself continued at corinth "a year and six months teaching the word of god among them," acts xviii. . to what end should paul the apostle of the gentiles stay so long in one place, if he had not seen the lord's blessing upon his ministry, to bring into the faith many more souls than would make up one congregation, having so much work to do far and near? . "they that believed at corinth were baptized," acts xviii. . (baptism admitted them into that one body of the church, cor. xii. .) some were baptized by paul, (though but few in comparison of the number of believers among them: compare acts xviii. , with cor. - ,) the generality consequently were baptized by other ministers there, and that in other congregations wherein paul preached not, as well as in such wherein paul preached; it being unreasonable to deny the being of divers congregations for the word and sacraments to be dispensed in, himself dispensing the sacrament of baptism to so few. . from the plenty of ministers and preachers in the church of corinth, it is evident it was a presbyterial church, and not only a single congregation; for to what end should there be many laborers in a little harvest, many teachers over one single congregation? &c. that there were many preachers at corinth is plain: for, . paul himself was the master-builder there that laid the foundation of that church, cor. iii. , their spiritual father; "in christ jesus i have begotten you through the gospel," cor. iv. . and he stayed with them _one year and a half_, acts xviii. ii. . while the apostle sharply taxeth them as guilty of schism and division for their carnal crying up of their several teachers: some doting upon one, some upon another, some upon a third, &c. "every one of you saith, i am of paul, and i of apollos, and i of cephas, and i of christ," cor. i. . doth not this intimate that they had plenty of preachers, and these preachers had their several followers, so prizing some of them as to undervalue the rest? and was this likely to be without several congregations into which they were divided? . when the apostle saith, "though ye have ten thousand instructors in christ, yet have ye not many fathers," cor. v. ; though his words be hyperbolical, yet they imply that they had great store of teachers and preachers. . we have mention of many prophets in the church of corinth: "let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge--and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets," cor. xiv. , . here are _prophets_ speaking _two or three_; and prophets judging of their doctrine, which sure were more than they that were judged; it being unreasonable for the minor part to pass judgement upon the major part. and though these prophets had extraordinary gifts, (as the church of corinth excelled all other churches in gifts, cor. i. ,) and were able to preach in an extraordinary singular way; yet were they the ordinary pastors and ministers of that church of corinth, as the whole current of this fourteenth chapter evidenceth, wherein so many rules and directions, aptly agreeing to ordinary pastors, are imposed upon them for the well ordering of their ministerial exercises. now, where there were so many pastors, were there not several congregations for them to feed? or were they idle, neglecting the exercise and improvement of their talents? . from the diversity of tongues and languages, wherein the church did eminently excel. "in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge--so that you come behind in no gift," &c., i.e., ye excel in every gift, more being intended than is expressed, cor. i. , . among other gifts some of them excelled in tongues which they spake, the right use of which gift of tongues the apostle doth at large lay down, cor. xiv. , - , , , , , , , . "if any speak in _an unknown_ tongue let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course, and let one interpret." so that there were many endued with gifts of tongues in that church. to what end? not only for a _sign to unbelievers_, ver. , but also for edification of divers congregations, of divers tongues and languages within that church of corinth. . from the plurality of churches mentioned in reference to this church of corinth. for the apostle regulating their public assemblies and their worship there, saith to the church of corinth, "let your women keep silence in the churches." it is not said, in the _church_, in the singular number; but in the _churches_, in the plural; and this of the _churches in corinth_, for it is said, _let your women_, &c., not indefinitely, _let women_, &c. so that according to the plain letter of the words, here are churches in the church of corinth, viz. a plurality of single congregations in this one presbyterial church. and this plurality of churches in the church of corinth is the more confirmed if we take the church of cenchrea (which is a harbor or seaport to corinth) to be comprised within the church of corinth, as some learned authors do conceive it may.[ ] position ii. that there is in the word of christ a pattern of one presbyterial government in common over divers single congregations in one church. this may be evidenced by these following considerations: for, . divers single congregations are called one church, as hath at large been proved in the second position immediately foregoing; inasmuch as all the believers in jerusalem are counted one church: yet those believers are more in number than could meet for all ordinances in any one single congregation. and why are divers congregations styled one church? . not in regard of that oneness of heart and soul which was among them, "having all things common," &c., acts iv. . for these affections and actions of kindness belonged to them by the law of brotherhood and christian charity to one another, (especially considering the then present condition of believers,) rather than by any special ecclesiastical obligation, because they were members of such a church. . not in regard of any explicit church covenant, knitting them in one body. for we find neither name nor thing, print nor footstep of any such thing as a church covenant in the church of jerusalem, nor in any other primitive apostolical church in all the new testament; and to impose an explicit church covenant upon the saints as a necessary constituting form of a true visible church of christ, and without which it is no church, is a mere human invention, without all solid warrant from the word of god. . not in regard of the ministration of the word, sacraments, prayers, &c. for these ordinances were dispensed in their single congregations severally, it being impossible that such multitudes of believers should meet all in one congregation, to partake of them jointly, (as hath been evidenced.) . but in regard of one joint administration of church government among them, by one common presbytery, or college of elders, associated for that end. from this one way of church government, by one presbytery in common, all the believers in jerusalem, and so in other cities respectively, were counted but one church. . in every such presbyterial church made up of divers single congregations, there were ecclesiastical ruling officers, which are counted or called the officers of that church, but never counted or called governors, elders, &c., of any one single congregation therein; as in the church of jerusalem, acts xi. , , and xv. : of antioch, compare acts xiii. - , with xv. : of ephesus, acts xx. , : and of the church of corinth, cor. i. , and iv. , and xiv. . . the officers of such presbyterial churches met together for acts of church government: as, to take charge of the church's goods, and of the due distribution thereof, acts iv. , , and xi. : to ordain, appoint, and send forth church officers, acts vi. , , , and xiii. , : to excommunicate notorious offenders, cor. v. , , , , compared with cor. ii. : and to restore again penitent persons to church communion, cor. ii. - . _except_. receiving of alms is no act of government. _ans_. true, the bare receiving of alms is no act of government, but the ordering and appointing how it shall be best improved and disposed of, cannot be denied to be an act of government, and for this did the elders meet together, acts xi. . . the apostles themselves, in their joint acts of government in such churches, acted as ordinary officers, viz. as presbyters or elders. this is much to be observed, and may be evidenced as followeth: for, . none of their acts of church government can at all be exemplary or obligatory upon us, if they were not presbyterial, but merely apostolical; if they acted therein not as ordinary presbyters, but as extraordinary apostles. for what acts they dispatched merely as apostles, none may meddle withal but only apostles. . as they were apostles, so they were presbyters, and so they style themselves, "the elder to the elect lady," john i. "the elders which are among you i exhort," saith peter, "who am also an elder," (i.e. who am a fellow-elder, or co-presbyter,) pet. v. ; wherein he ranks himself among ordinary presbyters, which had been improper, unless he had discharged the offices and acts of an ordinary presbyter. . their acts were such, for substance, as ordinary presbyters do perform, as preaching and prayer, acts vi. : ordaining of officers, acts vi. , and xiv. : dispensing of the sacraments, cor. i. ; acts ii. , and xx. : and of church censures, cor. v. , , compared with tim. v. ver. , ult.: which acts of government, and such like, were committed by christ to them, and to ordinary presbyters (their successors) to the end of the world; compare matt. xvi. , and xviii. , , to the end, and john xx. , , with matt. xxviii. - . . they acted not only as ordinary elders, but also they acted jointly with other elders, being associated with them in the same assembly, as in that eminent synod at jerusalem, acts xv. , , , and xvi. , "and as they went through cities, they delivered them the decrees for to keep, that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at jerusalem." . and, finally, they took in the church's consent with themselves, wherein it was needful, as in the election and appointment of deacons, acts vi. , . . the deacons being specially to be trusted with the church's goods, and the disposal thereof, according to the direction of the presbytery, for the good of the church, &c. let all these considerations be impartially balanced in the scales of indifferent unprejudiced judgments; and how plainly do they delineate in the word, a pattern of one presbyterial government in common over divers single congregations within one church! _except_. the apostles' power over many congregations was founded upon their power over all churches; and so cannot be a pattern for the power of elders over many. _ans_. . the apostles' power over many congregations as one church, to govern them all as one church jointly and in common, was not founded upon their power over all churches, but upon the union of those congregations into one church; which union lays a foundation for the power of elders governing many congregations. . besides, the apostles, though extraordinary officers, are called elders, pet. v. , to intimate to us, that in ordinary acts of church government, they did act as elders for a pattern to us in like administrations. _except_. the apostles, it is true, were elders virtually, that is, their apostleship contained all offices in it, but they were not elders formally. _ans_. . if by formally be meant, that they were not elders really, then it is false; for the scripture saith peter was an elder, peter v. . if by formally be meant that they were not elders only, that is granted; they were so elders, as they were still apostles, and so apostles as they were yet elders: their eldership did not exclude their apostleship, nor their apostleship swallow up their eldership. . besides, two distinct offices may be formally in one and the same person; as melchisedec was formally a king and priest, and david formally a king and prophet; and why then might not peter or john, or any of the twelve, be formally apostles and elders? and ministers are formally pastors and ruling elders. _except_. 'tis true, the apostles acted together with elders, because it so fell out they met together; but that they should meet jointly to give a pattern for an eldership, is not easy to prove; one apostle might have done that alone, which all here did. _ans_. . 'tis true, the apostles as apostles had power to act singly what they did jointly; yet, when they acted jointly, their acts might have more authority in the church: upon which ground they of antioch may be conceived to have sent to the whole college of apostles and elders at jerusalem, (rather than to any one singly;) why was this, but to add more authority to their acts and determinations? . why should not their meeting together be a pattern of a presbytery, as well as their meeting together when they took in the consent of the people, acts vi., in the choice of the deacons, to be a pattern or warrant that the people have a power in the choice of their officers? (as those of contrary judgment argue:) if one be taken in as an inimitable practice, why not the other? . if the apostles joining with elders, acted nothing as elders, then we can bring nothing of theirs into imitation; and by this we should cut the sinews, and raze the foundation of church government, as if there were no footsteps thereof in the holy scriptures. position iii. finally, that the pattern of the said presbytery and presbyterial government is for a rule to the churches of christ in all after ages, may appear as followeth: . the first churches were immediately planted and governed by christ's own apostles and disciples; . who immediately received the keys of the kingdom of heaven from christ himself in person, matt. xvi. , and xviii. , ; john xx. , . . who immediately had the promise of christ's perpetual presence with them in their ministry, matt, xxviii. - ; and of the plentiful donation of the spirit of christ to lead them into all truth, john xiv. , and xvi. - ; acts i. , , . who immediately received from christ, after his resurrection and before his ascension, "commandments by the holy ghost,"--"christ being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of god," acts i. , ; and, . who were first and immediately _baptized by the holy ghost_, extraordinarily, acts ii. - . now, who can imagine that the apostles and disciples were not actuated by the spirit of christ bestowed upon them? or did not discharge christ's commandments, touching his kingdom imposed upon them? or did not duly use those keys of christ's kingdom committed to them in the ordering and governing of the primitive churches? and if so, then the pattern of their practices must be a rule for all the succeeding churches, cor. xi. ; phil, iv. . . to what end hath the holy ghost so carefully recorded a pattern of the state and government of the primitive churches in the first and purest times, but for the imitation of successive churches in after times? "for whatsoever things wore written aforetime, were written for our learning," or instruction. but what do such records instruct us? only _in fact_, that such things were done by the first churches? or _of right_ also, that such things should be done by the after churches? surely, this is more proper and profitable for us. . if such patterns of christ's apostles, disciples, and primitive churches in matters of the government will not amount to an obligatory rule for all following churches, how shall we justify sundry other acts of religion commonly received in the best reformed churches, and founded only or chiefly upon the foundation of the practice of christ's apostles and the apostolical churches? as the receiving of the lord's supper on the lord's days, acts xx. , &c.; which notwithstanding are generally embraced without any considerable opposition or contradiction, and that most deservedly. chapter xiv. _of the divine right of synods, or synodal assemblies._ thus far of the ruling assemblies, which are styled presbyterial; next come into consideration those greater assemblies, which are usually called synodal, or synods, or councils. they are so called from their convening, or coming together: or rather from their calling together. both names, viz. synod and council, are of such latitude of signification, as that they may be applied to any public convention of people: but in the common ordinary use of these words, they are appropriated to large ecclesiastical assemblies, above classical presbyteries in number and power. these synodal assemblies are made up, (as occasion and the necessity of the church shall require.) . either of presbyters, sent from the several classical presbyteries within a province, hence called provincial synods: . or of presbyters, sent from the several provincial synods within a nation, hence called national synods: . or of presbyters, delegated or sent from the several national churches throughout the christian world, hence called ecumenical synods, or universal and general councils. touching the divine warrant of synods, and their power in church affairs, much need not be said, seeing divers learned authors have so fully stated and handled this matter.[ ] yet, that the reader may have a short view hereof, and not be left wholly unsatisfied, these two things shall briefly be opened and insisted upon, viz: . certain considerations shall be propounded, tending to clear the state of the question about the divine right of synods, and their power. . the proposition itself, with some few arguments adduced, for the proof thereof. for the former, viz: the true stating of this question about the divine right of synods, and of their power, well weigh these few considerations. . synods differ in some respects from classical presbyteries, handled in chap. xiii., though the nature and kind of their power be the same for substance. for, . synods are more large extensive assemblies than classical presbyteries, the members of presbyteries being sent only from several single congregations, the members of synods being delegated from several presbyteries, and proportionably their power is extended also. . the exercise of government by presbyteries, is the common ordinary way of government held forth in scripture. by synods it is more rare and extraordinary, at least in great part, as in case of extraordinary causes that fall out: as, for choosing an apostle, acts i., healing of scandals, &c., acts xv. . all synods are of the same nature and kind, whether provincial, national, or ecumenical, though they differ as lesser and greater, in respect of extent, from one another, (the provincial having as full power within their bounds, as the national or ecumenical within theirs.) so that the proving of the divine right of synods indefinitely and in general, doth prove also the divine right of provincial, national, and ecumenical synods in particular: for, greater and lesser do not vary the species or kind. what is true of ecclesiastical synods in general, agrees to every such synod in particular. _object_. but why hath not the scripture determined these assemblies in particular? _ans_. . it is not necessary the scripture should in every case descend to particulars. in things of one and the same kind, general rules may serve for all particulars; especially seeing particulars are so innumerable, what volumes would have contained all particulars? . all churches and seasons are not capable of synods provincial or national: for, in an island there may be no more christians than to make up one single congregation, or one classical presbytery. or in a nation, the christian congregations may be so few, or so dispersed, or so involved in persecution, that they cannot convene in synods, &c. . the power of synods contended for, is, . not civil; they have no power to take cognizance of civil causes, as such; not to inflict any civil punishments; as fines, imprisonments, confiscations, banishments, death, (these being proper to the civil magistrate:) but merely spiritual; they judge only in ecclesiastical causes, in a spiritual manner, by spiritual censures, to spiritual ends, as did that synod, acts xv. . not corruptive, privative, or destructive to the power of classical presbyteries, or single congregations; but rather perfective and conservative thereunto. as suppose a single congregation should elect a minister unsound in judgment, or scandalous in conversation, the synod may annul and make void that election, and direct them to make a better choice, or appoint them a minister themselves; hereby this liberty of election is not at all infringed or violated, but for their own advantage regulated, &c. . not absolute, and infallible; but limited and fallible: any synod or council may err, being constituted of men that are weak, frail, ignorant in part, &c., and therefore all their decrees and determinations are to be examined by the touchstone of the scriptures, nor are they further to be embraced, or counted obligatory, than they are consonant thereunto, isa. viii. . hence there is liberty of appeal, as from congregational elderships to the classical presbytery, and from thence to the provincial synod, so from the provincial to the national assembly, &c. . finally, the power of synods is not only persuasive and consultative, (as some think,) able to give grave advice, and to use forcible persuasions in any case, which if accepted and followed, well; if rejected and declined, there is no further remedy, but a new non-communion instead of a divine church censure: but it is a proper authoritative juridical power, which all within their bounds are obliged reverently to esteem, and dutifully to submit unto, so far as agreeable to the word of christ. . finally, this authoritative juridical power of synods is threefold, viz. _doctrinal, regulating, and censuring_. . _doctrinal_, in reference to matters of faith, and divine worship; not to coin new articles of faith, or devise new acts of divine worship: but to explain and apply those articles of faith and rules of worship which are laid down in the word, and declare the contrary errors, heresies, corruptions. hence the church is styled, _the pillar and ground of truth_, tim. iii. . thus to the jewish church _were committed of trust the oracles of god_, rom. iii. . . _regulating_, in reference to external order and polity, in matters prudential and circumstantial, which are determinate according to the true light of nature, and the general rules of scripture, such as are in cor. x. , ; rom. xiv.; cor. xiv. , , &c.; not according to any arbitrary power of men. . _censuring_ power, in reference to error, heresy, schism, obstinacy, contempt, or scandal, and the repressing thereof; which power is put forth merely in spiritual censures, as admonition, excommunication, deposition, &c. and these censures exercised, not in a lordly, domineering, prelatical way: but in an humble, sober, grave, yet authoritative way, necessary both for preservation of soundness of doctrine, and incorruptness of conversation; and for extirpation of the contrary. this is the power which belongs to synods. thus much for clearing the right state of this question. ii. for the second thing, viz. the proposition itself, and the confirmation thereof, take it briefly in these terms. jesus christ our mediator hath laid down in his word sufficient ground and warrant for juridical synods, and their authority, for governing of his church now under the new testament. many arguments might be produced for proof of this proposition: as, . from the light of nature. . from the words of the law, deut. xvii. , , compared with chron. xix. , ; ps. cxxii. , , holding forth an ecclesiastical sanhedrin in the church of the jews, superior to other courts. . from the words of christ, matt, xviii. - . . from the unity of the visible church of christ now under the new testament. . from the primitive apostolical pattern laid down, acts xv., &c., and from divers other considerations; but for brevity's sake, only the two last arguments shall be a little insisted upon. _argum_. i. the unity or oneness of the visible church of christ now under the new testament, laid down in scripture, gives us a notable foundation for church government by juridical synods. for, . that jesus christ our mediator hath one general, visible church on earth now under the new testament, hath been already proved, part , chap. viii. . that in this church there is a government settled by divine right, is evidenced, part , chap. i. . that all christ's ordinances, and particularly church government, primarily belong to the whole general church visible, for her edification, (secondarily to particular churches and single congregations, as parts or members of the whole,) hath been manifested, part , chap. viii. now, there being one general visible church, having a government set in it of divine right, and that government belonging primarily to the whole body of christ; secondarily, to the parts or members thereof; must it not necessarily follow, that the more generally and extensively christ's ordinance of church government is managed in greater and more general assemblies, the more fully the perfection and end of the government, viz. the edification of the whole body of christ, is attained; and on the contrary, the more particularly and singly church government is exercised, as in presbyteries, or single congregational elderships, the more imperfect it is, and the less it attains to the principal end: consequently, if there be a divine warrant for church government by single congregational elderships, is it not much more for church government by presbyteries, and synods, or councils, wherein more complete provision is made for the edification of the general church or body of jesus christ? _argum_. ii. the primitive apostolical practice in the first and purest ages of the church after christ, may further evidence with great strength the divine warrant for church government by juridical synods or councils. let this be the position: jesus christ our mediator hath laid down in his word a pattern of a juridical synod, consisting of governing officers of divers presbyterial churches, for a rule to the church of christ in all succeeding ages. for proof hereof take these two assertions: . that jesus christ hath laid down in his word a pattern of a juridical synod. . that this juridical synod is for a rule to the churches of christ in all succeeding ages. assertion i. that jesus christ hath laid down in his word a pattern of a synod, yea, of a juridical synod, consisting of governing officers of divers presbyterial churches, is manifest, acts xv. and xvi., where are plainly set forth: . the occasion of the synod. . the proper members of the synod. . the equal power and authority exercised by all those members. . the way and method of ordinary synodal proceeding. . the juridical acts of power put forth by the synod; with the issue and consequent of all upon the churches. first, here was a proper ground and occasion for a juridical synod. for thus the text expressly declareth, that "certain men which came down from judea, taught the brethren, and said, except ye be circumcised after the manner of moses, ye cannot be saved; when therefore paul and barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that paul and barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question," acts xv. , , compared with ver. --"but there rose up certain of the sect of the pharisees, which believed, saying, that it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of moses;" and with ver. , --"the apostles, and elders, and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the gentiles, in antioch, and syria, and cilicia: forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us, have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, ye must be circumcised and keep the law." in which passages these things are evident: . that false doctrine, destructive to the doctrine of christ in his gospel, did arise in the church, viz: that circumcision and keeping of the ceremonial law of moses was necessary to salvation, ver. , , ; and this false doctrine promoted with lying, as if the apostles and elders of jerusalem had sent forth the false teachers with directions to preach so, as their apology ("to whom we gave no such commandment," ver. ) seems to import. here is corruption both in doctrine and manners fit for a synod to take cognizance of. . that this corrupt doctrine was vented by certain that came down from judea. it is evident, it was by certain of the sect of the pharisees that believed; as paul and barnabas make the narrative to the church at jerusalem, ver. , therefore the false teachers coming from judea (where the churches of christ were first of all planted, and whence the church plantation spread) published their doctrines with more credit to their errors and danger to the churches; and so both the churches of judea whence they came, and of antioch, syria, and cilicia, whither they came, were interested in the business. . that the said false teachers by the leaven of their doctrine troubled them with words, subverting the souls of the brethren, both at antioch, syria, and cilicia, ver. , ; here was the disturbance and scandal of divers churches: compare ver. with . . that paul and barnabas at antioch had no small dissension and dispute against the false teachers, ver. , , that so (if possible) they might be convinced, and the church's peace preserved, without craving further assistance in a solemn synod. . that after these disputes, and for the better settling of all the churches about this matter, (which these disputes could not effect,) _they decreed_ (or ordained) _that paul and barnabas, and some others of themselves, should go up to the apostles and elders at jerusalem about this question, ver_. . here was an authoritative mission of delegated officers from the presbyterial church at antioch, and from other churches of syria and cilicia also, ver. , , to a synodal assembly with the presbyterial church at jerusalem. secondly, here were proper members of a synod convened to consider of this question, viz. the officers and delegates of divers presbyterial churches: of the presbyterial church at jerusalem, the apostles and elders, acts xv. : of the presbyterial church at antioch, paul, barnabas, and others; compare verse and . and besides these, there were brethren from other churches, present as members of the synod; as may appear by these two considerations, viz: . partly, because it is called "the whole multitude," ver. ; "the apostles and elders with the whole church," ver. ; "the apostles, and elders, and brethren," ver. . this whole multitude, whole church, and brethren, distinct from the apostles and elders which were at jerusalem, cannot be _the company of all the faithful at jerusalem_, for (as hath been evidenced, chap. xiv., position ,) they were too many to meet in one house. but it was the synodal multitude, the synodal church, consisting of apostles, and elders, and brethren; which brethren seem to be such as were sent from several churches, as judas and silas, ver. , who were assistants to the apostles and evangelists--judas, acts xv. , ; silas, acts xv. , , and xvi. , and xvii. , , , and xviii. . some think titus was of this synod also. . partly because the brethren of antioch, syria, and cilicia, were troubled with this question, ver. , . therefore it cannot be reasonably imagined, but all those places sought out for a remedy; and to that end, severally and respectively sent their delegates to the synod at jerusalem: else they had been very regardless of their own church peace and welfare. and the epistle of the synod was directed to them all by name, ver. ; and so did formally bind them all, having men of their own members of the synod, which decrees did but materially, and from the nature of the thing, bind the other churches at lystra and iconium, acts xvi. . now, if there were delegates but from two presbyterial churches, they were sufficient to constitute a synod; and this justifies delegates from ten or twenty churches, proportionably, when there shall be like just and necessary occasion. thirdly, here all the members of the synod, as they were convened by like ordinary authority, so they acted by like ordinary and equal power in the whole business laid before them; which shows it was an ordinary, not an extraordinary synod. for though apostles and evangelists, who had power over all churches, were members of the synod, as well as ordinary elders; yet they acted not in this synod by a transcendent, infallible, apostolical power, but by an ordinary power, as elders. this is evident, . because the apostle paul, and barnabas his colleague, (called a prophet and teacher, acts xiii. , , and an apostle, acts xiv. ,) were sent as members to this synod, by order and determination of the church of antioch, and they submitted themselves to that determination, acts xv. , ; which they could not have submitted unto as apostles, but as ordinary elders and members of the presbytery at antioch: they that send, being greater than those that are sent by them. upon which ground it is a good argument which is urged against peter's primacy over the rest of the apostles, because the college of apostles at jerusalem sent peter and john to samaria, having received the faith, acts viii. . . because the manner of proceeding in this synod convened, was not extraordinary and apostolical, as when they acted by an immediate infallible inspiration of the spirit, in penning the holy scriptures, (without all disputing, examining, or judging of the matter that they wrote, so far as we can read,) tim. iii. , ; pet. i. , ; but ordinary, presbyterial, and synodal; by ordinary helps and means, (as afterwards shall appear more fully;) stating the question, proving and evidencing from scripture what was _the good and acceptable will of god_ concerning the present controversy, and upon evidence of scripture concluding, _it seemed good to the holy ghost, and to us_, acts xv. ; which words, any assembly, having like clear evidence of scripture for their determination, may without presumption use, as well as this synod did.[ ] . because the elders and brethren (who are as authoritatively members of the synod as the apostles) did in all points as authoritatively act as the apostles themselves. for, . certain other of the church of antioch, as well as _paul_ and _barnabas_, were sent as delegates from the church of _antioch_, acts xv. . . they were all sent as well to the _elders_, as to the _apostles_ at _jerusalem_, about this matter, ver. . . they were received at _jerusalem_, as well by the _elders_, as the _apostles_, and reported their case to them both, ver. . . the _elders_, as well as the _apostles_, met together to consider thereof, ver. . . the letters containing the synodal decrees and determinations, were written in the name of the _elders and brethren_, as well as in the name of the _apostles_, ver. . . the _elders and brethren_, as well as the _apostles_, blame the false teachers for troubling of the church, _subverting of souls_; declaring, that they gave the false teachers _no such commandment_ to preach any such doctrine, ver. . . the _elders and brethren_, as well as the _apostles_, say, "it seemed good to the holy ghost, and to us," ver. . . the _elders_ and _brethren_, as well as the _apostles_, did impose upon the churches "no other burden than these necessary things," ver. . . the _elders_, as well as the _apostles_, being assembled, "thought good to send chosen men of themselves," viz. _judas_ and _silas_, with _paul_ and _barnabas_, to _antioch_, to deliver the synodal decrees to them, and to tell them the same things by mouth, ver. , , . . and the decrees are said to be ordained as well by the _elders_, as by the _apostles at jerusalem_, acts xvi. . so that through this whole synodal transaction, the elders are declared in the text to go on in a full authoritative course of judgment with the apostles, from point to point. and therefore in this synod, the apostles acted as ordinary elders, not as extraordinary officers. fourthly. here was the ordinary way and method of synodal proceedings by the apostles, elders, and brethren, when they were convened unanimously, ver. . for, . they proceeded deliberatively, by discourses and disputes, deliberating about the true state of the question, and the remedy of the scandal. this is laid down, . more generally, "and when there had been much disputing," ver. . . more particularly, how they proceeded when they drew towards a synodal determination, peter speaks of the gentiles' conversion, and clears the doctrine of justification "by faith without the works of the law," ver. - . then barnabas and paul confirm the conversion of the gentiles, "declaring the signs and wonders wrought by them among the gentiles," ver. . after them james speaks, approving what peter had spoken touching the conversion of the gentiles, confirming it by scripture; and further adds (which peter did but hint, ver. , and paul and barnabas did not so much as touch upon) a remedy against the present scandal, ver. - . here is now an ordinary way of proceeding by debates, disputes, allegations of scripture, and mutual suffrages. what needed all this, if this had been a transcendent, extraordinary, and not an ordinary synod? . they proceeded after all their deliberative inquiries and disputes decisively to conclude and determine the matter, ver. - . the result of the synod (as there is evident) is threefold. . to set down in writing their decrees and determinations. . to signify those decrees in an epistle to the brethren at antioch, syria, and cilicia. . to send these letters by some from among themselves, viz. judas and silas, together with paul and barnabas, to all the churches that were offended or endangered, that both by written decrees and word of mouth, the churches might be established in faith and peace. fifthly, here were several authoritative and juridical acts of power, put forth in this synod, according to the exigency of the present distempers of the churches. this appears plainly, . by the proceedings of the synod in accommodating a suitable and proportionable remedy to every malady at that time distempering the church, viz. a triple medicine for a threefold disease. . against the heresy broached, viz. that they must be circumcised and keep the ceremonial "law of moses, or else they could not be saved," acts xv. . the synod put forth a doctrinal power, in confutation of the heresy, and clear vindication of the truth, about the great point of "justification by faith without the works of the law," acts xv. - ; and (independents themselves being judges) a doctrinal decision of matters of faith by a lawful synod, far surpasseth the doctrinal determination of any single teacher, or of the presbytery of any single congregation; and is to be reverently received of the churches as a binding ordinance of christ. . against the schism, occasioned by the doctrine of the false teachers that troubled the church, acts xv. , , the synod put forth a censuring power, stigmatizing the false teachers with the infamous brands of troubling the church with words, subverting of souls, and (tacitly, as some conceive from that expression, "unto whom we gave no such commandment," ver. ) of belying the apostles and elders of jerusalem, as if they had sent them abroad to preach this doctrine. _object_. but the synod proceeded not properly to censure the false teachers by any ecclesiastical admonition, or excommunication; therefore the power exercised in the synod was only doctrinal, and not properly juridical. _ans_. . they censured them in some degree, and that with a mark of infamy, ver. , as was manifested. and this was not only a warning and hint to the churches, to note such false teachers, avoid them, and withdraw from them, compare rom. xvi. , , with tim. vi. - ; but also was a virtual admonition to the false teachers themselves, while their doctrines and ways were so expressly condemned. . they proceeded not to present excommunication, it is granted; nor was it at first dash seasonable, prudent, or needful. but the synod knew well, that if these false teachers, after this synodal mark of disgrace set upon them, should still persist in their course, incurably and incorrigibly obstinate, they might in due time be excommunicated by course; it being a clear case in itself that such heretics or schismatics, as otherwise cannot be reduced, are not to be suffered, but to be cast out of the churches. "an heretic, after once or twice admonition, reject," tit. iii. , ; see rev. ii. , , . . against the scandal of the weak jews, and their heart-estrangement from the gentiles, who neglected their ceremonial observances, as also against the scandal of the gentiles, who were much troubled and offended at the urging of circumcision, and the keeping of the law as necessary to salvation, ver. , , , , the synod put forth an ordering or regulating power, framing practical rules or constitutions for the healing of the scandal, and for prevention of the spreading of it, commanding the brethren of the several churches to abstain from divers things that might any way occasion the same: "it seemed good to the holy ghost, and to us, to impose" (or lay) "upon you no further burden than these necessary things," acts xv. , . here is _burden_ and _necessary things_, (so judged to be necessary for those times, and that state of the church,) and imposing of these upon the churches: will not this amount to a plain ordering power and authority? especially considering that the word _to impose_, or _lay on_, when it is used of the judgment, act, or sentence of an assembly, ordinarily signifies an authoritative judgment, or decree, as, "why tempt ye god, to lay, or impose, a yoke upon the neck of the disciples?" acts xv. . thus some in the synod endeavored to carry the synod with themselves, authoritatively to have imposed the ceremonies upon the churches; whom peter thus withstands. so, "they bind heavy burdens, and hard to be borne, and impose them upon men's shoulders," matt, xxiii. : and this laying on of burdens by the pharisees, was not by a bare doctrinal declaring, but by an authoritative commanding, as seems by that, "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men," matt. xv. . . by the title or denomination given to the synodal results contained in their letters sent to the brethren. they are styled, "the decrees ordained, or judged," acts xvi. . here are plainly juridical authoritative constitutions. for it is very observable, that wheresoever the words translated _decree_ or _decrees_ are found in the new testament, thereby are denoted, laws, statutes, or decrees: as "decrees of cæsar," acts xvii. : "a decree from cæsar," luke ii. : moses' ceremonial law, "the hand-writing to ordinances," col. ii. : "the law of commandments in ordinances," eph. ii. : and this word is found used only in these five places in the whole new testament: and the septuagint interpreters often use the word in the old testament to this purpose; for _laws_, dan. vi. ; for _decrees_, dan. ii. , and iii. , , and iv. , and vi. . and the other word translated _ordained_, when applied to an assembly by the septuagint, is used for a judgment of authority, as, "and what was decreed against her," esth. ii. ; and so a word derived from it, signifies a _decree_, dan. iv. , . in this sense also the word is sometimes used in the new testament, when applied to assemblies; as, "take ye him, and judge him according to your law," john xviii. ; "whom we laid hold upon, and would have judged according to our law," acts xxiv. . now, if there be so much power and authority engraven upon these two words severally, how strongly do they hold forth authority, when they are applied to any thing jointly, as here to the synodal decisions! . by the consequent of these synodal proceedings, viz. the cheerful submission of the churches thereunto. this appears both in the church of antioch, where the troubles first were raised by the false teachers; where, "when the epistle" of the synod "was read, they rejoiced for the consolation," acts xv. , ; and judas and silas exhorted and confirmed the brethren by word of mouth, according to the synod's direction, ver. ; and in other churches, to which paul and timothy delivered the "decrees ordained by the apostles and elders which were at jerusalem; and so were the churches confirmed in the faith, and abounded in number daily," acts xvi. , ; whence we have these evidences of the churches' submission to the synodal decrees: . the decrees are counted by the churches a consolation. . they were so welcome to them, that they _rejoiced for the consolation_. . they were hereby notably _confirmed in the faith_, against the false doctrines broached among them. . the churches _abounded in number daily_, the scandal and stumbling-blocks that troubled the church being removed out of the way. how should such effects so quickly have followed upon the publication of the synodal decrees, in the several churches, had not the churches looked upon that synod as vested with juridical power and authority for composing and imposing of these their determinations? assertion ii. that this juridical synod is for a rule to the churches of christ in all succeeding ages, there need no new considerations for proof hereof; only let the reader please to look back to position iv. of the last chapter, where the substance of those considerations which urge the pattern of presbyteries and presbyterial government for a rule to succeeding churches, is applicable (by change of terms) to the pattern of juridical synods.[ ] chapter xv. _of the subordination of particular churches to greater assemblies for their authoritative and judicial determination of causes ecclesiastical, and the divine right thereof._ the divine right of ecclesiastical assemblies, congregational, classical, and synodal, and of their power for church government, being thus evidenced by the scriptures, now in the last place take a few words briefly touching the subordination of the lesser to the greater assemblies, and the divine warrant thereof. in asserting the subordination of particular churches to higher assemblies, whether classical or synodal, . it is not denied, but particular churches have within themselves power of discipline entirely, so far as any cause in debate particularly and peculiarly concerneth themselves, and not others. . it is granted, that where there is no consociation, or neighborhood of single churches, whereby they may mutually aid one another, there a single congregation must not be denied entire jurisdiction; but this falls not within the compass of ordinary rules of church government left us by christ. if there be but one congregation in a kingdom or province, that particular congregation may do much by itself alone, which it ought not to do where there are neighboring and adjacent churches that might associate therewith for mutual assistance. . it is granted, that every single congregation hath equal power, one as much as another, and that there is no subordination of one to another; according to that common and known axiom, an equal hath no power or rule over an equal. subordination prelatical, which is of one or more parishes to the prelate and his cathedral, is denied; all particular churches being collateral, and of the same authority. . it is granted, that classical or synodal authority cannot be by scripture introduced over a particular church in a privative or destructive way to that power which god hath bestowed upon it; but contrarily it is affirmed, that all the power of assemblies, which are above particular congregations, is cumulative and perfective to the power of those inferior congregations. . it is granted, that the highest ecclesiastical assembly in the world cannot require from the lowest a subordination absolute, and at their own mere will and pleasure, but only in some respect; subordination absolute being only to the law of god laid down in scripture. we detest popish tyranny, which claims a power of giving their will for a law. 'tis subjection in the lord that is pleaded for: the straightest rule in the world, unless the holy scripture, we affirm to be a rule to be regulated; peace being only in walking according to scripture canon, gal. vi. ver. . . nor is it the question whether friendly, consultative, fraternal, christian advice or direction, be either to be desired or bestowed by neighboring churches, either apart or in their synodal meetings, for the mutual benefit of one another, by reason of that holy profession in which they are all conjoined and knit together: for this will be granted on all hands, though when it is obtained, it will not amount to a sufficient remedy in many cases. but this is that which we maintain, viz. that the law of god holdeth forth a subordination of a particular church to greater assemblies, consisting of divers choice members, taken out of several single congregations: which assemblies have authoritative power and ecclesiastical jurisdiction over that particular church, by way of giving sentence in and deciding of causes ecclesiastical. for confirmation of this assertion, thus: _argum_. i. the light of nature may be alleged to prove, that there ought to be this subordination: this is warranted not only by god's positive law, but even by nature's law. the church is a company of people who are not outlawed by nature. the visible church being an ecclesiastical polity, and the perfection of all polity, doth comprehend in it whatsoever is excellent in all other bodies political. the church must resemble the commonwealth's government in things common to both, and which have the same use in both. the law of nature directs unto diversities of courts in the commonwealth, and the greater to have authority over the lesser. the church is not only to be considered as employed in holy services, or as having assemblies exercised in spiritual things, and after a spiritual manner, but it is also to be considered as consisting of companies and societies of men to be regularly ordered, and so far nature agreeth to it, that it should have divers sorts of assemblies, and the lower subordinate to the higher. that particular parts should be subject to the whole for the good of the whole, is found necessary both in bodies natural and politic. is the foot to be lanced? though it have a particular use of its own, and a peculiar employment, yet it is to be ordered by the eye, the hand, and the rest. kingdoms have their several cities and towns, which all have their governments apart by themselves; yet for the preservation of the whole, all join together in the parliament. armies and navies have their several companies and ships, yet in any danger every particular company and ship is ordered by the counsels and directions of the officers and guides of the whole army or navy. the church is spiritual, but yet a kingdom, a body, an army, &c. d. ames himself affirms that the light of nature requires that particular churches ought to combine in synods for things of greater moment. the god of nature and reason hath not left in his word a government against the light of nature and right reason. appeals are of divine and natural right, and certainly very necessary in every society, because of the iniquity and ignorance of judges. that they are so, the practices of all ages and nations sufficiently testify. _argum_. ii. the jewish church government affords a second argument. if in that they had synagogues in every city, which were subordinate to the supreme ecclesiastical court at jerusalem, then there ought to be a subordination of particular churches among us to higher assemblies; but so it was among them: therefore, that the subordination was among them of the particular synagogues to the assembly at jerusalem, is clear--deut. xvii. , ; chron. xix. , ; exod. xviii. , . that therefore it ought to be so among us, is as plain: for the dangers and difficulties that they were involved in without a government, and for which god caused that government to be set up among them, are as great if not greater among us, and therefore why should we want the same means of prevention and cure? are not we in greater danger of heresies now in the time of the new testament, the churches therein being thereby to be exercised by way of trial, as the apostle foretells, cor. xi. ? doth not ungodliness in these last times abound, according to the same apostle's prediction? is there not now a more free and permitted intercourse of society with infidels than in those times? nor are the exceptions against this argument of any strength: as, . that arguments for the form of church government must yet be fetched from the jewish church; the government of the jews was ceremonial and typical, and christians must not judaize, nor use that judaical compound of subordination of churches: the mosaical polity is abrogated now under the new testament. not to tell those that make this exception, . that none argue so much from the jewish government as themselves for the power of congregations, both in ordination and excommunication, because the people of israel laid hands on the levites, and all israel were to remove the unclean; . we answer, the laws of the jewish church, whether ceremonial or judicial, so far are in force, even at this day, as they were grounded upon common equity, the principles of reason and nature, and were serving to the maintenance of the moral law. 'tis of especial right, that the party unjustly aggrieved should have redress, that the adverse party should not be sole judge and party too, that judgment ought not to be rashly or partially passed upon any. the jewish polity is only abrogated in regard of what was in it of particular right, not of common right: so far as there was in their laws either a typicalness proper to their church, or a peculiarness of respect to their state in that land of promise given unto them. whatsoever was in their laws of moral concernment or general equity, is still obliging; whatsoever the jewish church had not as jewish, but as it was a political church, or an ecclesiastical republic, (among which is the subordination of ecclesiastical courts to be reckoned,) doth belong to the christian church: that all judgments were to be determined by an high-priest, was typical of christ's supremacy in judicature; but that there were gradual judicatories for the ease of an oppressed or grieved party, there can be no ceremony or type in this. this was not learned by moses in the pattern of the mount, but was taught by the light of nature to jethro, exod. xviii. , and by him given in advice to moses. this did not belong unto the peculiar dispensation of the jews, but unto the good order of the church. to conclude our answer to this exception, if the benefit of appeals be not as free to us as to the jews, the yoke of the gospel should be more intolerable than the yoke of the law; the poor afflicted christian might groan and cry under an unjust and tyrannical eldership, and no ecclesiastical judicatory to relieve him; whereas the poor oppressed jew might appeal to the sanhedrin: certainly this is contrary to that prophecy of christ, psal. lxxii. , . _argum_. iii. a third argument to prove the subordination of particular congregations, is taken from the institution of our saviour christ, of gradual appeals, matt, xviii. , , where our saviour hath appointed a particular member of a church (if scandalous) to be gradually dealt withal; first to be reproved in private, then to be admonished before two or three witnesses, and last of all to be complained of to the church: whence we thus argue: if christ hath instituted that the offence of an obstinate brother should be complained of to the church; then much more is it intended that the obstinacy of a great number, suppose of a whole church, should be brought before a higher assembly: but the former is true, therefore the latter. the consequence, wherein the strength of the argument lies, is proved several ways. . from the rule of proportion: by what proportion one or two are subject to a particular church, by the same proportion is that church subject to a provincial or a national assembly; and by the same proportion that one congregation is governed by the particular eldership representing it, by the same proportion are ten or twelve congregations governed by a classical presbytery representing them all. . from the sufficiency of that remedy that christ here prescribes for those emergent exigencies under which the church may lie; since, therefore, offences may as well arise between two persons in the same congregation, christ hath appointed that particular congregations, as well as members, shall have liberty to complain and appeal to a more general judgment for redress: the salve here prescribed by christ is equal to the sore; if the sore of scandal may overspread whole churches, as well as particular persons, then certainly the salve of appeals and subordination is here also appointed. if a man be scandalized by the neighbor-church, to whom shall he complain? the church offending must not be both judge and party. . from that ecclesiastical communion that is between churches and churches in one and the same province or nation, whereby churches are joined and united together in doctrine and discipline into one body, as well as divers particular persons in a particular congregation; since, therefore, scandals may be committed among them that are in that holy communion one with another, most unworthy of and destructive to that sacred league, certainly those scandals should be redressed by a superior judicatory, as well as offences between brother and brother. . he that careth for a part of a church must much more care for the whole; he whose love extends itself to regard the conversion of one, is certainly very careful of the spiritual welfare of many, the edification of a whole church; the influence of christ's love being poured upon the whole body, bride and spouse, by order of nature, before it redound to the benefit of a finger or toe, viz. some one single person or other. nor are the exceptions against this institution of gradual appeals of any moment. the grand one, and that makes directly against our position is, that our saviour would have the controversy between brother and brother to be terminated in a peculiar church, and that its judgment should be ultimately requested, he saith, _tell the church_, not churches. the subordination here appointed by christ is of fewer to more, but still within the same church, not without it. to which we answer, our saviour means not by church only one single particular congregation, but also several, combined in their officers, as appears by these following reasons. . a particular church in sundry cases cannot decide the difference, or heal the distemper our saviour prescribes against; as when a particular church is divided into two parts, both in opposition one to the other; or when one church is at variance with another; if christ here limits only to a particular church, how shall such distempers be remedied? . when christ bids _tell the church_, he speaks in allusion to the jewish church, which was represented not only by parts in the single synagogue or congregation, but wholly in their sanhedrin, consisting of select persons, appointed by god, for deciding controversies incident to their particular congregations, and their members. so that we may thus reason: the subordination here established by christ is so far to be extended in the christian church, as in the church of the jews, for christ alludeth to the jewish practice; but in the jewish church there was a subordination of fewer to more, not only within the same synagogue or congregation, but within the whole nation, for all synagogues were under the great council at jerusalem. now that christ gives here the same rule that was of old given to the jews for church government, is clear, . from the censure of the obstinate, who was to be reputed a heathen and a publican; wherein is a manifest allusion to the present estate of the church of the jews; and, . from the familiarity and plainness of christ's speech, _tell the church_, which church could not have been understood by the disciples had not christ spoken of the jewish judicatory; besides which they knew none for such offences as christ spake of to them, there being no particular church which had given its name to christ: as also, . from his citing the words of that text, deut. xix. , where the witnesses and offenders were, by way of further appeal, to stand before the lord, before the priests for judgment, ver. . . it is plain that our saviour intended a liberty of going beyond a particular congregation for determining cases of controversy, from the reason of that subordination which christ enjoins, of one to two or three, and of them to the church. the reason of that gradual progress there set down, was because in the increase of numbers and greatness of assemblies, more wisdom, judgment, and gravity is supposed to be, than in the admonitions of a few and smaller number; now, then, this power of right admonition increaseth with the number of admonishers, as well without as within the same congregation; if ten go beyond two in wisdom and gravity, forty will go beyond ten, and be more likely to win upon the offender, and regain him. _argum_. iv. a fourth argument is taken from the pattern of the apostolical churches, acts xv. the church of antioch (though presbyterial, as was proved chapter xiii., position ii.) was subordinate to the synod at jerusalem; therefore a particular church is subordinate to higher assemblies, &c. if a synodal decree did bind them in those times, then may it bind particular churches now, and these ought even still to be subject to synods. the consequence is undeniable, unless we hold that what the synod there imposed was unjust, or that we have now less need of those remedies than they had; nay, since the apostles (who were assisted with an extraordinary spirit of inspiration) would nevertheless in a doubtful business have synodal conventions for determining of controversies, much more ought we to do so whose gifts are far inferior to theirs; and unless it had been in their determination to leave us their example of a synodal way of church government for our pattern, they had not wanted the meeting together of so many with them for decision of the doubt, whose doctrine was infallible, and of itself, without an assembly, to be believed. the exceptions against this pattern of church polity are of no validity, e.g. . this was no synod. first, that it was no synod appears, in that we read of no word of a synod. secondly, no commissioners from syria and cilicia, which churches should have sent their delegates, had they been a synod, and had their decrees been to have bound in a synodal way. thirdly, all the believers had voices here. . if it were a synod, yet it is no pattern for us, in regard it was consisting of members guided by an infallible and apostolical spirit. we answer, . here is the thing synod, though not the word, which is a meeting consisting of the deputies of many single churches. . that jerusalem and antioch had their commissioners there, is evident; and by consequence many single churches had their commissioners, for there were many single congregations at jerusalem and antioch, as hath been proved, chapter xiii., position ii.; that these met together, the word used, verse , _they came together_, evidenceth, and verse . for the churches of syria and cilicia not sending their commissioners, it follows not that because _they are not named_, therefore _they were not there_; and if _they were not there_, therefore _they ought not to have been_: but it is rather thought syria and cilicia had commissioners there, in regard the synodal decrees are directed to them as well as others, and the decrees bound them, which they could not do as formal scripture; for the words, _it seemeth good to us_, and their submitting the matter to disputation, argue the contrary; therefore as synodal decrees, which inasmuch as they bound those churches, they either were present, or were obliged to be present by their commissioners. . to that exception, that the multitude of believers had voices there, and therefore it is not one of our synods, ver. -- we answer, it can nowise be proved that every particular believer had a suffrage in the assembly. eminent divines[ ] understand by _multitude_ and _church_, the multitude and whole church of apostles and elders, who are said to be _gathered together_, verse , _to consider of the matter_; besides which no other multitude is said to be gathered together, while the matter was in debate; yet we shall not deny even to other members the liberty of their consent and approbation, and freedom to examine all determinations by the rule of god's word: but the ordaining and forming those decrees is here evinced to be by the apostles and elders, when as they are called _their decrees_, acts xvi. , . . those only had definitive votes, who met together synodically to consider of the question; but they were only the apostles and elders, acts xv. . that the epistle is sent in the name of all, is granted; because it was sent by common consent, and withal thereby was added some more weight to the message. . further, if the believers of jerusalem voted in that assembly, by what authority was it? how could they _impose a burden_ upon, and command decrees unto the churches of syria and cilicia, and other churches, who, according to our brethren's opinion, were not only absent in their commissioners, but independent in their power? to the exception, that other synods may not pretend to the privileges of that, since its decrees were indited by the holy ghost; and therefore no pattern for our imitation-- _ans_. the decrees of this assembly did oblige, as synodal decrees, not as apostolical and canonical scripture: this appears several ways: . the apostles, in framing these canons, did proceed in a way synodal and ecclesiastical, and far different from that which they used in dictating of scripture, and publishing divine truths; their decrees were brought forth by much disputation, human disquisition, but divine oracles are published without human reasonings, from the immediate inditing of the spirit, pet. i. . . besides the apostles, there were here commissioned elders and other brethren, men of ordinary rank, not divinely and infallibly inspired. the apostles in the penning of scripture consult not with elders and brethren, (as our opposites here say they did:) our brethren make mandates of ordinary believers divine and canonical scripture. . divine writ is published only in the name of the lord; but these in the name of man also, "it seemed good to the holy ghost and to us," acts xv. . . canonical and apostolical writing of new scripture shall not continue till christ's coming, because the canon is complete, rev. xxii. , , &c.; but thus to decree through the assistance of the holy ghost, who remaineth with the church to the end, and to be directed by scripture, shall still continue. therefore this decreeing is not as the inditing of the holy scripture. the minor is clear both from christ's promise, "where two or three are met together," matt. xvii. - ; matt. viii. ; as also by the spirit's inspiring those councils of nice of old, and dort of late: therefore the apostles here laid aside their apostolical extraordinary power, descending to the places of ordinary pastors, to give them examples in future ages. to conclude, it is plain, that all the essentials in this assembly were synodal, as whether we consider: . the occasion of the meeting, a controversy; . the deputation of commissioners from particular churches, for the deciding of that controversy; or . the convention of those that were deputed; or . the discussion of the question, they being so convened; or . the determination of the question so discussed; or . the imposition of the thing so determined; or . the subjection to the thing so imposed. tim. i. to the immortal god alone be glory for ever and ever. footnotes: [footnote : this truth, that jesus christ is a king, and hath a kingdom and government in his church distinct from the kingdoms of this world, and from the civil government, hath this commendation and character above all other truths, that christ himself suffered to the death for it, and sealed it with his blood. for it may he observed from the story of his passion, this was the only point of his accusation, which was confessed and avouched by himself, luke xxiii. ; john xviii. , , ; was most aggravated, prosecuted, and driven home by the jews, luke xxiii. ; john xix. , ; was prevalent with pilate as the cause of condemning him to die, john xix. , , and was mentioned also in his superscription upon his cross, john xix. ; and although in reference to god, and in respect of satisfaction to the divine justice for our sins, his death was [greek: lytron] a price of redemption; yet in reference to men who did persecute, accuse, and condemn him, his death was [greek: martyrion] a martyr's testimony to seal such a truth.--mr. _g. gillespie, in his aaron's rod blossoming, &c., epist. to the reader_.] [footnote : _cent. i. lib. , cap._ , _p._ _ad_ , _edit. basil. an._ . de rebus ad gubernationem ecclesiae pertinentibus, apostoli certos quosdam, canones tradiderunt: quos ordine subjiciemus, &c.] [footnote : directions of the lords and commons, &c. aug. , , p. ] [footnote : ( ) the ancient discipline of the bohemian brethren, published in latin, in octavo, _anno_ , pages , . ( ) the discipline of geneva, _anno_ , in _art._ , , , , and . ( ) the discipline of the french church at frankfort, _edit._ , in octavo, _anno_ , _in cap. de disciplina et excom.,_ p. , and the ecclesiast. discipline of the reformed churches of france, printed at london, _anno_ , _art._ , , and , p. . ( ) the synodal constitution of the dutch churches in england, chap. , _art._ , and _tit._ , _art._ ; and the dutch churches in belgia, (see _harmonia synodorum belgicarum_,) _cap._ , _art._ , , and , p. . ( ) the reformed churches at nassau, in germany, as _zeoper_ testifies, _de politei eccles.,_ printed _herborne, anno_ , in octavo, _tit. de censuris ecclesiast., part_ , _art._ , p. . ( ) the discipline in the churches constituted by the labor of _joannes â lasco_, entitled _forma ac ratio tota ecclesiastici miniterii, &c._, _author joannes â lasco poloniae barone, anno_ , p. . ( ) the discipline agreed upon by the english exiles that fled from the _marian_ persecution to frankfort, thence to geneva, allowed by _calvin_; entitled _ratio ac forma publicè orandi deum, &c., genevae_, , _tit. de disciplina_, p. . ( ) the order of excommunication and public repentance used in the church of scotland, _anno_ , _tit._ the offences that deserve public repentance, &c., pp. , .] [footnote : see more in chap. , sect. .] [footnote : r. park, de polit. eccl. . , cap. .] [footnote : malcolm. com. in loco.] [footnote : calvin in loco.] [footnote : chrys. wisheth--"but, o that there had not wanted one that would have delivered diligently unto us the history of the apostles, not only what they wrote, or what they spake, but how they behaved themselves throughout their whole life, both what they did eat, and when they did eat, when they sat, and whither they went, and what they did every day, in what parts they lived, and into what house they entered, and whither they sailed, and that would accurately have expounded all things; so full of manifold utility are all things of theirs."--chrys., argum. in epist. ad philem. and elsewhere he affirmeth,--"nor hath the grace of the holy ghost without cause left unto us these histories written, but that he may stir us up to the imitation and emulation of such unspeakable men. for when we hear of this man's patience, of that man's soberness, of another man's readiness to entertain strangers, and the manifold virtue of every one, and how every one of them did shine and become illustrious, we are stirred up to the like zeal." chrys. in gen. xxx. . homil. , in initio.] [footnote : "for this cause, therefore, the conversation of these most excellent men is accurately related, that by imitation of them our life may be rightly led on to that which is good."--greg. nyssen, lib. de vita mosis, tom. i. p. , vid. tot. lib.] [footnote : perkins on matth. vi. . see him also on heb. xi. , p. , in fol. col. , b, c, &c., and on heb. xi. , p. , col. , d, and notably on heb. xii. , p. , col. , c, d, &c., and on rev. ii. , p. , col. , b, and his art of prophesying, p. , col. and . vide pet. martyr in lib. jud. p. , col. , and in rom. iv. , . and calvin in heb. xii. ; and in rom. iv. , , and in . pet. i. , &c.] [footnote : park. de pol. eccl. . , c. .] [footnote : cor. x. , and xiii. .] [footnote : matt. xvi. , and xviii. - ; cor. v. , ; cor. x. , and xiii. .] [footnote : tim. iii. , ; tim. iii. , , with all places that mention any thing of government.] [footnote : eph. iv. , , ; cor. xii. ; matt. xxviii. - ; john xx. - ; matt. xvi. ; cor. x. .] [footnote : matt. xvi. , and xxviii. ; john xx. , ; cor. x. , and xiii. .] [footnote : matt, xxviii. - ; acts vi. ; tim. iv. .] [footnote : matt, xxviii. - ; cor. xi. .] [footnote : matt, xviii. - ; tit. iii. ; tim. v. ; cor. v. , , ; cor. ii. : tim. i. ; cor. ii , , &c.] [footnote : cor. iv. .] [footnote : cor. x. , and xiii. .] [footnote : [greek: ekklaesia], acts xix. , , ; eph. v. ; cor. xii. .] [footnote : cameron. praelect de eccles. in fol. pp. - .] [footnote : who in relating such things can refrain from weeping?] [footnote : see mr. edwards's antapologia, page , printed in anno , proving this out of their own books. especially see a little book in mo. printed in anno , styled a collection of certain matters, which almost in every page pleads for independency and independents by name: from which most of the independent principles seem to be derived.] [footnote : let not any man put off this scripture, saying, this is in the old testament, but we find no such thing in the gospel; for we find the same thing, almost the same words used in a prophecy of the times of the gospel, zech. xiii. . in the latter end of the xii. chapter, it is prophesied that those who pierced christ, should _look upon him and mourn_, &c., having a _spirit of grace and supplication_ poured upon them, chap. xiii. . "there shall now be opened a fountain for sin, and for uncleanness," ver. . "it shall come to pass that he that takes upon him to prophesy, that his father and mother that begat him, shall say unto him, thou shalt not live, for thou speakest lies in the name of the lord: and his father and his mother that begat him, shall thrust him through, when he prophesieth." you must understand this by that in deuteronomy. the meaning is not that his father or mother should presently run a knife into him, but that though they begat him, yet they should be the means to bring him to condign punishment, even the taking away his life; these who were the instruments of his life, should now be the instruments of his death.--mr. jer. burroughs in ills irenicum, chap. v., pages , , printed .] [footnote : but schismatics and heretics are called evil-workers, phil. iii. ; and heresy is classed among the works of the flesh, gal. v. .] [footnote : mr. burroughs in his _irenicum_, c.v. page ; printed .] [footnote : see this evidenced upon divers grounds in _appollon. jus majest._, pp. , .] [footnote : see m.s. to a.s., pages - .] [footnote : the civil magistrate is no proper church officer, as was intimated, part c. ., and will be further evidenced in this chapter.] [footnote : that the civil magistrate is not the vicar of christ our mediator, see abundantly proved by mr. s. rutherford, in his divine right of church government, &c., ch. , quest. , pages to .] [footnote : the formal difference or distinction betwixt these two powers, is fully and clearly asserted by that learned bishop, usher, in these words: "god, for the better settling of piety and honesty among men, and the repressing of profaneness and other vices, hath established two distinct powers upon earth: the one of the keys, committed to the church; the other of the sword, committed to the civil magistrate. that of the keys, is ordained to work upon the inward man; having immediate relation to the remitting or retaining of sins, john xx. . that of the sword is appointed to work upon the outward man; yielding protection to the obedient, and inflicting external punishment upon the rebellious and disobedient. by the former, the spiritual officers of the church of christ are inclinable to govern well, tim. v. . to _speak_, and _exhort_, and _rebuke_ with all _authority_, tit. ii. . to loose such as are penitent, matt. xvi. , and xviii. . to commit others to the lord's prison, until their amendment, or to bind them over to the judgment of the great day, if they shall persist in their wilfulness and obstinacy. by the other, princes have an imperious power assigned by god unto them, for the defence of such as do well, and executing revenge and wrath, rom. xiii. , upon such as do evil, whether by death, or banishment, or confiscation of goods, or imprisonment, ezra vii. , according to the quality of the offence. "when st. peter, that had the keys committed unto him, made bold to draw the sword, he was commanded to put it up, matt. xxvi. , as a weapon that he had no authority to meddle withal. and on the other side, when uzziah the king would venture upon the execution of the priest's office, it was said unto him, 'it pertaineth not unto thee, uzziah, to burn incense unto the lord, but to the priests, the sons of aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense,' chron. xxvi. . let this therefore be our second conclusion: that the power of the sword, and of the keys, are two distinct ordinances of god; and that the prince hath no more authority to enter upon the execution of any part of the priest's function, than the priest hath to intrude upon any part of the office of the prince." in his speech delivered in the castle-chamber at dublin, &c., concerning the oath of supremacy, pages , , . further differences betwixt these two powers, see in gillespie's aaron's rod, book , chap. .] [footnote : see this proposition for substance fully and clearly asserted by that acute and pious author, mr. p. bains, in his diocesan's trial, quest. , pages , , conclus. .] [footnote : see cotton's keys, &c., pp. - , and mr. thomas goodwin, and mr. philip nye, in their epistle prefixed thereunto, do own this book as being for substance their own judgment.] [footnote : see that judicious treatise, vindiciae clavium, chap. iii. iv. v., pp. - .] [footnote : john cameron, praelect. in matt, xviii. , p. - , in fol, and baine's diocesan's trial, the third quest, pp. , , and d. parcus in matt. xviii. . this is fully discussed and proved by mr. rutherford in his peaceable plea, chap. viii. p. , &c.] [footnote : a difference arose betwixt two gentlemen in that church about singing of hymns: the second gentleman was complained of to the church by the first, and upon hearing of the whole business, and all the words that passed between them, this second gentleman was censured by the church, and mr. nye _charged sin upon him_ (that was the phrase) in many particulars, and still at the end of every charge mr. nye repeated, "this was your sin." after this censure, so solemnly done, the gentleman censured brings in accusations against mr. nye, in several articles, charging him with pride, want of charity, &c., in the manner of the censure; and this being brought before the church, continued in debate about half a year, three or four days in a week, and sometimes more, before all the congregation. divers of the members having callings to follow, they desired to have leave to be absent. mr. goodwin oft professed publicly upon these differences, if this were their church fellowship, he would lay down his eldership; and nothing was more commonly spoke among the members, than that certainly for matter of discipline they were not in the right way, for that there was no way of bringing things to an end. at last, after more than half a year's debate, not being able to bring these differences to an end, and being come into england, they had their last meeting about it, to agree not to publish it abroad when they came into england, &c. mr. edwards's antapolog., pp. , .] [footnote : mr. j. cotton, in his way of the churches of christ in new england, chap, ii. sect. , p. .] [footnote : were the power in the church, the church should not only call them, but make them out of virtue and power received into herself; then should the church have a true lordlike power in regard of her ministers. besides, there are many in the community of christians incapable of this power regularly, as women and children. mr. p. bain in his diocesan's trial, quest. , conclus. , page , printed .] [footnote : if spiritual and ecclesiastical power be in the church or community of the faithful, the church doth not only call, but make officers out of virtue and power received into herself, and then should the church have a true lordlike power in regard of her ministers. for, as he that will derive authority to the church, maketh himself lord of the church, so, if the church derive authority to the ministers of christ, she maketh herself lady or mistress over them, in the exercise of that lordlike authority; for, as all men know, it is the property of the lord and master to impart authority. did the church give power to the pastors and teachers, she might make the sacrament and preaching which one doth in order, no sacrament, no preaching; for it is the order instituted of god that giveth being and efficacy to these ordinances; and if the power of ruling, feeding, and dispensing the holy things of god do reside in the faithful, the word and sacrament, in respect of dispensation and efficacy, shall depend upon the order and institution of the society. if the power of the keys be derived from the community of the faithful, then are all officers immediately and formally servants to the church, and must do every thing in the name of the church, rule, feed, bind, loose, remit, and retain sins, preach and administer the sacraments; then they must perform their office according to the direction of the church, more or less, seldom or frequent, remiss or diligent; for from whom are they to receive direction how to carry themselves in their offices, but from him or them of whom they receive their office, whose work they are to do, and from whom they must expect reward? if their office and power be of god immediately, they must do the duties of their place according to his designment, and unto him they must give account; but if their power and function be from the church, the church must give account to god, and the officers to the church, whom she doth take to be her helpers, &c. mr. john ball, in his trial of the grounds tending to separation, chap. xii. pages , , &c.] [footnote : see vindiciae clavium, judiciously unmasking these new notions.] [footnote : here understand by this phrase, (_over you in the lord_,) viz: not only in the fear of the lord, nor only in those things that appertain to god's worship, but also according to the will, and by the authority of the lord christ derived to them.] [footnote : see the apologetical narration by the five independents, page ; and mr. jo. cotton, at large, asserts the divine institution of the ruling elder. way of the churches of christ, &c., chap. , sect. , page - .] [footnote : calvin, beza, pareus, pagnin.] [footnote : arias montan.] [footnote : tremel. out of the syriac; so the old geneva translation, and our new translation.] [footnote : field, of the church, book , chap. .] [footnote : sutlive, who afterwards declared, that he was sorry with all his heart, that ever he put pen to paper to write against beza as he had done, in behalf of the proud domineering prelates; and he spoke this with great indignation.] [footnote : mat. sutliv. de presbyterio, cap. , p. , edit. .] [footnote : ibid. pages and , edit. .] [footnote : bilson's perpetual government of christ's church, c. , p. , , , printed in ann. .] [footnote : that the magistrate cannot be here meant, see fully evidenced in mr. gillespie's aaron's rod, &c., book ii. chap. , pages - , and also chap. , p. .] [footnote : pareas in cor. xii. .] [footnote : d. field, of the church, book v. chap. xxvi.] [footnote : peter martyr, beza, piscator, and calvin.] [footnote : calvin in pet. v. , . _vid. etiam jacob. laurent. comment, in_ pet. v. , , _ubi fusius de hac distinctione disserit_, p. , ad. .] [footnote : mat. sutliv. de presbyterio, cap. , page and : edit. lond., an. . bilson's perpetual government of christ's church, chap. , page ; in to. printed in anno .] [footnote : _vide_ calv. in loc.] [footnote : sutlive.] [footnote : whitgift.] [footnote : coleman.] [footnote : who desire more full satisfaction touching this poor and empty gloss, that the civil magistrate should be meant by these governments, let them consult mr. gillespie's elaborate treatise, called aaron's rod blossoming, book , chap, , pp. to .] [footnote : bilson.] [footnote : mr. rutherford in his due right of presbyteries, p. .] [footnote : calvin, beza, &c. on this place.] [footnote : see gillespie's aaron's rod, book , chap. .] [footnote : mr. rutherford in his due rights of presbyteries, chap. , sec. , pages - .] [footnote : beza, piscata, calvin, on this verse.] [footnote : bilson's perpetual government of christ's church, chap. x. pages , .] [footnote : altar. damas. cap. xii., page and page .] [footnote : b. king, in his sermon on cant. viii., bilson in his perpetual government of christ's church, c. x. page , &c.] [footnote : b. king, in his sermon on cant. viii., page .] [footnote : b. whitgift in his defence against cartwright's first reply. this is one of d. field's three glosses. field, of the church, lib v., chap. .] [footnote : bishops that have no tolerable gift of teaching, are like idols, their cases, or rather coffins, set up in the church's choice. cartwright testam. _annot_., in tim. v. .] [footnote : altar. damasc. chap, xii., page .] [footnote : bridge, hussey.] [footnote : altar. damasc. chap, xii., page .] [footnote : sutlive.] [footnote : sutlive, de presbyterio, cap. , pages , .] [footnote : bilson's government of the church, page .] [footnote : sutlive, de presbyterio, c. , pages , .] [footnote : bilson, page .] [footnote : field, book v.] [footnote : bilson, page .] [footnote : field, book v.] [footnote : d. downham. see altar. damasc. c. xii. page .] [footnote : chrysost. homil. , in tim. , hier. in tim. cap. , ambr. in tim. cap., calv. in tim. cap. , bullinger in tim. cap. , beza in tim. .] [footnote : bilson, sutlive, and downham.] [footnote : the london ministers have here inserted the testimonies of these ancient writers in favor of the divine right of the office of the ruling elder, viz. ignatius, purpurius, tertullian, origen, cyprian, optatus, ambrose, augustine, and isidorus; and of these three late ones, viz. whitaker, thorndike, and rivet. the amount of their testimony, when taken together, appears to be simply this, that there have been ruling elders, as distinct from preaching elders, in the church of christ from the beginning. it is therefore judged unnecessary to give the quotations from these authors at large.--_editor_.] [footnote : against the office of deacons, and the divine right thereof, fourteen objections are answered by mr. s. rutherford in his due right of presbyteries, chap. , pages to . to which the reader that shall make any scruple about the deacon's office, is referred for his further satisfaction.] [footnote : some of our brethren in new england, observing what confusion necessarily depends upon the government which hath been practised there, have been forced much to search into it within this four years, and incline to acknowledge the presbyters to be the subject of the power without dependence upon the people. "we judge, upon mature deliberation, that the ordinary exercise of government must be so in the presbyters, as not to depend upon the express votes and suffrages of the people. there hath been a convent or meeting of the ministers of these parts, about this question at cambridge in the bay, and there we have proposed our arguments, and answered theirs, and they proposed theirs, and answered ours; and so the point is left to consideration." mr. thomas parker in his letter written from newbury in new england, december , , printed .] [footnote : vid. hen. steph. thes. l. graec. in verb.] [footnote : piscator.] [footnote : beza.] [footnote : zanch. in loco.] [footnote : vid. hen. steph. thes. ad verb.] [footnote : mr. jo. cotton's keys of the kingdom of heaven, chap. vii. in propos. , pages - .] [footnote : see mr. cotton's own words in chap. xiv. at the end, in the margin.] [footnote : see john calvin, in cor. v. .] [footnote : cameron, in matt. xviii. .] [footnote : thus mr. bayne remarkably expounds this text, matt. xviii., saying: where first mark, that christ doth presuppose the authority of every particular church taken indistinctly. for it is such a church as any brother offended may presently complain to. therefore no universal, or provincial, or diocesan church gathered in a council. . it is not any particular church that he doth send all christians to, for then all christians in the world should come to one particular church, were it possible. he doth therefore presuppose indistinctly the very particular church where the brother offending and offended are members. and if they be not both of one church, the plaintiff must make his denunciation to the church where the defendant is. . as christ doth speak it of any ordinary particular church indistinctly, so he doth by the name of church not understand essentially all the congregation. for then christ should give not some, but all the members of the church to be governors of it. . christ speaketh it of such a church to whom we may ordinarily and orderly complain; now this we cannot to the whole multitude. . this church he speaketh of then doth presuppose it, as the ordinary executioner of all discipline and censure. but the multitude have not this execution ordinary, as all but morelius, and such democratical spirits, do affirm. and the reason ratifying the sentence of the church, doth show that often the number of it is but small, "for where two or three are gathered together in my name;" whereas the church or congregations essentially taken for teachers and people, are incomparably great. neither doth christ mean by church the chief pastor, who is virtually as the whole church.--mr. bayne's diocesan's trial.] [footnote : timothy received grace by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. for that persons must be understood here, is apparent by the like place, when it is said, by the laying on of my hands, he noteth a person, and so here a presbytery. . to take presbytery to signify the order of priesthood, is against all lexicons, and the nature of the greek termination. . timothy never received that order of a presbyter, as before we have proved. . it cannot signify, as greek expositors take it, a company of bishops; for neither was that canon of three bishops and the metropolitan, or all the bishops in a province, in the apostle's time; neither were these who were now called bishops, then called presbyters, as they say, but apostles, men that had received apostolic grace, angels, &c. finally, it is very absurd to think of companies of other presbyters in churches that paul planted, but presbyteries of such presbyters as are now distinguished from bishops, which is the grant of our adversaries.--bayne's diocesan's trial, page .] [footnote : see assertion of the government of the church of scotland, part i. chap. , p. , &c.] [footnote : mr. gillespie's aaron's rod blossoming, book i. chap. iii. pages - .] [footnote : vid. joannis seldeni de anno civili, and calendario, &c. dissertationem in praefat., page . see also mr. john lightfoot's commentary upon the acts, c. x. , pages - .] [footnote : john cameron, praelect. in matt. xviii. , page ad , and mr. g. gillespie's aaron's rod blossoming, &c., book i., chap. , page , &c., and book ii., chap. , page - ; and book iii., chapters - , handling this elaborately, pages - .] [footnote : assertion, &c., part , chap. , p. .] [footnote : basilius in psal. cxv. oecumenius in loc. jerom. chrysostome, hom. , in matt. irenaeus, lib. , chap. . salmeron.] [footnote : euseb. hist. eccles. . c. .] [footnote : if cenchrea be comprehended under the church of corinth in this epistle, and the apostle writing to the corinthians, wrote also to this church, called, rom. xvi. , _the church of cenchrea_, then have we more congregations than one at corinth. now, cenchrea was a seaport or harbor of the corinthians. it was a place near to corinth, on the east of the egean sea. rutherford, in his due right of presbyteries, page .] [footnote : paget, gillespie, and the four leyden professors, unto whose judicious and elaborate treatises, the reader is referred for more full satisfaction against the usual cavils and exceptions that are made against synods, and their power.] [footnote : this is the judgment of the learned whitaker upon these words: other lawful councils may in like manner assert "their decrees to be the decrees of the holy ghost, if they shall be like to this council, and shall keep the same rule, which in this council the apostles did keep and follow. for if they shall decree and determine nothing but from scripture, (which was done in this council.) and if they shall examine all questions by the scripture, and shall follow the voice of the scriptures in all their decrees, then they may assert, that the holy ghost so decreed," &c. whitaker, cont. page .] [footnote : that there is an authoritative, juridical synod; and that this synod, acts xv., was such a one; and that this synod is a pattern to us;--all this is most ingenuously acknowledged and asserted by that learned independent, mr. john cotton, in these words, viz: "iv. proposition, in case a particular church be disturbed with errors of scandal, and the same maintained by a faction among them. now a synod of churches, or of their messengers, is the first subject of that power and authority, whereby error is judicially convinced and condemned, the truth searched out and determined; and the way of truth and peace declared and imposed upon the churches. "the truth of this proposition may appear by two arguments "_argum_. . from the want of power in such a particular church, to pass a binding sentence where error or scandal is maintained by a faction; for the promise of binding and loosing which is made to a particular church, matt, xviii. , is not given to the church when it is leavened with error and variance. and the ground----if then the church, or a considerable part of it, fall into error through ignorance, or into faction; by variance, they cannot expect the presence of christ with them according to his promise, to pass a blind sentence. and then as they fall under the conviction and admonition of any other sister church, in a way of brotherly love, by virtue of communion of churches; so their errors and variance, and whatsoever scandals else do accompany the same, they are justly subject to the condemnation of a synod of churches. " . a second argument to prove that a synod is the first subject of power, to determine and judge errors and variances in particular churches, is taken from the pattern set before us in that case, acts xv. - : when certain false teachers having taught in the church of antioch a necessity of circumcision to salvation, and having gotten a faction to take part with them, (as appeareth by the dissension and disputation of paul and barnabas against them,) the church did not determine the case themselves, but referred the whole matter to the _apostles and elders at jerusalem_, acts xv. , . not to the apostles alone, but to the apostles and elders. the apostles were as the elders and rulers of all churches; and the elders there were not a few, the believers in jerusalem being many thousands. neither did the apostles determine the matter (as hath been said) by apostolical authority from immediate revelation: but they assembled together with the elders, _to consider of the matter_, ver. , and a _multitude of brethren_ together with them, ver. , , ; and after searching out the cause by an ordinary means of disputation, ver. , peter cleared it by the witness of the spirit to his ministry in cornelius's family; paul and barnabas by the like effect of their ministry among the gentiles: james confirmed the same by the testimony of the prophets, wherewith the whole synod being satisfied, they determine of a judicial sentence, and of a way to publish it by letters and messengers; in which they censure the false teachers as troublers of their church, and subverters of their souls; they reject the imposition of circumcision as a yoke which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear; they impose upon the church none but some necessary observations, and them by way of that authority which the lord had given them, ver. : which pattern clearly showeth us to whom the key of authority is committed, when there groweth offence and difference in a church. look as in the case of the offence of a faithful brother persisted in, the matter is at last judged and determined in a church: so in the offence of the church or congregation, the matter is at last judged in a congregation of churches, a church of churches; for what is a synod else but a church of churches?"--keys of the kingdom of heaven, pages - .] [footnote : junius, beza, calvin, and piscator.] appendix. no. .[ ] _of the scriptural qualifications and duties of church members._ _quest_. what persons have a right in the sight of god to be actual members of the church of christ? _ans_. only regenerated and converted persons, such as are married to, and have put on christ; such as are savingly and powerfully enlightened, quickened, and convinced of sin, righteousness, and judgment;[ ] such as have chosen christ for their lord and saviour, and resigned and made over themselves to him, and received him upon his own terms;[ ] such only as are reconciled unto, and are in favor with god; as are justified by faith, sanctified by the spirit, and set apart for holiness, and unto a living to god, and no more unto themselves:[ ] such as are the beloved of god, called effectually to be saints, and have really and sincerely taken upon them the yoke of christ jesus, i say such persons, and only such, doth jesus christ account worthy of this privilege and dignity.[ ] although men do not certainly know those that are such, and by reason of their darkness and fallible judgments they may and do admit others into the church, and unto her privileges, yet in truth these have no right unto them, and ought not to be there; for these spiritual holy things are for, and only for, spiritual and holy persons. christ prepares men by his grace, word, and spirit to make them fit materials, and then he calls them to join together and become a spiritual house, for his delight, service, and glory.[f] and therefore holy persons, and such only, ought to be full members of the church of christ. this will appear by these following particulars: . because god often declares his detestation and abhorrence of others being there, and manifests his indignation against them. as to the man that came to the marriage supper without the wedding-garment, matt. xxii. - ; and the five foolish virgins, chap. xxv.; and the dreadful end of the tares, chap. xiii. - , which were the hypocrites, that by the devil's instigation had crept into the church. it is true that such were, and will be, in the best of churches, although their guides may do all they can to prevent it, because they cannot make an infallible judgment of persons' states; yet it is as certain these are usurpers and ought not to be there. for, although they are in god's providence permitted to creep in, yet we may be sure they are not there with his approbation:--they are not all israel that are of israel; for, saith god to all uncircumcised, what have you to do to take my covenant into your mouth, seeing you hate instruction and cast my words behind your back, (as all hypocrites do,) ps. l. , . and christ says, that such as will not have him to reign over him (and to be sure hypocrites will not) shall be destroyed, luke xix. . now, as hypocrites are most loathsome and abominable persons in the sight of god, as may be seen at large in matt, xxiii. - , they have no right unto the spiritual privileges of the church of christ, because, in the sight of god, the gospel church should consist only of new creatures and real members of jesus christ. ii. that all church members ought to be sincere-hearted believers appears by the high titles which the lord jesus gives unto them in scripture: they are described to be like the king's daughter, all glorious within. they are called saints, holy brethren, and beloved, elect, dear children of god, the spouse of christ, a holy temple of god, lively stones, built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, and the lord's sealed ones. now such honorable titles belong not unto mere formal professors, but only unto the real members of christ: not unto those that have a name only; but to such as are so indeed and in truth. iii. a third reason is taken from the ends of god in instituting and appointing churches. they are said to be built by the spirit for god, i.e. for god to dwell and walk in them, to repose himself in them, as in his holy garden, house, and temple. they are designed for promoting his glory in the world, to distinguish his people from others; that they should be to the praise of his glorious grace, and be the living witnesses to his name, truths, and ways; that they should be the habitations of beauty and glory, of fame and renown in the world, and be the light thereof; and that with one heart and mouth they should glorify god. believers are united into a church capacity for their spiritual profit and advantage, that god may there give them his love, and communicate his grace, truths, and counsels to them, as to his avowed household and family christ walks there, and god the father dwells there, and the holy spirit speaks to them in a special and frequent manner to distribute liberally of their love and fulness. they are formed and set up by jesus christ to be the only seats and subjects of his laws, ordinances, power, and authority, that they might receive, obey, and observe his laws, declare before the world their owning of him for their lord, by their open and public profession of, and subjection unto him, as such; and that, by their regular and distinct following of him in their united church state, they might manifest to all men, that they are his subjects and disciples, that they have chosen him for their lord and king, and his law for the rule of their faith and obedience; that they are not their own, but his; and that they have reposed themselves in him, as their happiness and eternal blessedness; that they are called out of the world and set apart by his grace for himself, to live unto him; and that they have taken upon themselves his holy yoke, and the observation of all his laws. god has united believers into churches, that by his spirit and ministers he may feed and nourish them there as his flock, water them as his garden, support them as his house, and order and govern them as his family and household. iv. the church of christ should consist of new creatures and sincere-hearted believers, because they only can and will answer and prosecute the foresaid, and such like holy ends of god, in and by his church. they are fitted and framed, moulded and polished, by the holy ghost, for their growing up into a holy temple in the lord; and so, by the constant and promised guidance and conduct of their living head jesus christ, with their spiritual qualifications, they are enabled to answer and perform the great ends of god, in erecting and building them up in a church state. but unregenerate persons cannot do this, because they are strangers in heart to jesus christ, and to the power of godliness; nor would they if they could, because they have not the saving knowledge of christ in them, but are full of obstinacy against god. v. because all the laws, ordinances, and works of church members are holy, spiritual, and heavenly. they are such as the natural man understands not, and cannot discern what they are, because they are spiritual and holy; and therefore they that are not taught of god savingly to form a proper judgment of them, do think and judge of them carnally and vainly. but believers have them written in their hearts beforehand. yet they have them not without book, i mean they have the same laws of christ written in the books of their hearts which they find in the bible, by which they are in some measure enabled to understand, receive, love, and rightly to obey, the laws and ordinances of christ without. their laws are holy and spiritual, and their works in a church state are so likewise. they have a holy god, who is a spirit, to serve and worship; a spiritual head to believe in and obey; holy and spiritual work to do; and therefore they need to be holy and spiritual persons, not only externally in profession, but also internally, in truth. almost all the laws and ordinances of christ are committed unto them, and god expects his principal and choicest worship from his church; and these are all above and beyond the reach of carnal minds. vi. the church ought to be composed of believers and regenerated persons, because they are called to continue and stand fast in all storms and tempests; and to hold out unto the end, as being built upon the rock jesus christ. for whatever church is built upon the sand, and not upon the lord jesus, and by the authority of his word and spirit, will not stand long, because it wants a foundation to bear up its weight. they must all be built upon the rock and chief corner-stone, the sure foundation that god hath laid. the lord jesus tells us, matt. xvi. , that upon this rock (i.e. himself and the truths that peter had confessed) will i build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. but it is certain that hypocrites are not built upon christ by faith, but fix their vain hopes on a sandy foundation. therefore, if their persons are not built upon christ, their church state cannot; but upon the sand. hence then it follows that only true believers are built on christ, and so they are the only persons that christ wishes to have built up into holy temples; because the churches that christ builds shall be built upon himself, that they may stand impregnable against all opposition: and therefore they should only be composed of such as are united to him by faith, and have chosen him for their only rock and foundation, and not of such as do secretly reject him. _quest_. what qualifications should believers find in themselves for their own satisfaction, before they enter into full communion with the visible church of christ? _ans_. they should be able to answer the following questions in the affirmative. i. can you say indeed that you do seriously and heartily desire to see, and to be more deeply and powerfully convinced of your own vileness and sinfulness, of your own weakness and wretchedness, and of your wants and unworthiness? and that, in order to your deep and spiritual humiliation and self-debasing, that you may be more vile in your own eyes, and jesus christ and free grace more precious and excellent, more high and honorable, and more sweet and desirable, that your hearts may be melted into godly sorrow, and that you may be moved thereby to abhor yourselves, and to repent in dust and ashes? job xlii. , . ii. can you say that you do seriously and heartily desire and endeavor to believe in christ, and to receive and accept of him in the gospel way, such as you find in mark viii. ; luke xiv. - , and elsewhere? do you thus desire and choose to have him with his yoke and cross? matt. xi. , . and do you so deny yourselves, and your sinful self, righteous self, worldly self, supposed able, powerful self, and every other carnal and spiritual self, that christ only may be exalted, that you may be nothing in your justification and salvation, but that jesus christ and free grace may be all, and in all things? col. iii. ; phil. iii. , . do you desire, choose, and endeavor to have christ on the hardest terms; and do you desire, that all may go for christ's person, blood, and righteousness, his grace, love, life, and spirit, for the pardon of your sins, and the justification of your persons, that you may be found in him, not having your own righteousness, but the righteousness of christ by faith? phil. iii. . and do you go and present yourselves as destitute condemned sinners to him, and to god the father in and by him, that you may be clothed with the righteousness of christ, and that god may pardon, justify, and accept you for his sake only? iii. do you seriously and heartily desire and choose to have christ jesus for your lord and ruler too, col. ii. ; that he may rule in you, and over you, and that your lusts and yourselves, your interests, and your all, may be subject unto him, and be wholly at his command and disposal continually? is christ the lord as acceptable to you as christ jesus the saviour? and are you willing to obey him, and to be subject to his authority and dominion, as well as to be saved by him? would you have him to destroy your lusts, to make an end of sin, and to bring all under his obedience? iv. do you seriously and heartily desire and endeavor never to sin more; but to walk with god unto all well-pleasing continually? col. i. . and do you pray earnestly that god would work in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, heb. xiii. , that you may in all your ways honor and glorify him, as the end of your living in this world? cor. v. . would you indeed live to the praise of his glorious grace, be an ornament unto his name and gospel, and be fruitful in every good word and work? are these things the scope, aim, and intent of your hearts and souls (in some good measure and degree) daily, in duties and ordinances, and at other times? v. do you seriously and heartily choose and desire communion with christ, and in truth endeavor to obtain and keep it? do you so seek for it in the way of gospel obedience, and in observing your duty in keeping christ's commandments? and do you prefer it to all earthly, carnal things? do your hearts breathe and pant after it, and are you willing to deny self, and all self-interests to get it? are you glad when you find it, and sad when by your own carelessness you lose it? doth it when obtained quicken your love to and zeal for christ? doth it warm your hearts, and cause them for a time to run your race in gospel obedience cheerfully? doth it lead you unto, and cause your hearts to centre in christ? and doth it oblige and bind them faster unto him and stir you up to thankfulness? vi. do you sincerely and heartily desire, seriously choose, and earnestly endeavor, to be filled with gospel sincerity towards god and man, and would you rather be true-hearted towards god than seem to be so towards man? would you much rather have the praise of god, and be approved of by him, than the praise of men, and be extolled by them? is it the great thing you aim at, in your profession and practice, to attain sincerity and uprightness in heart? is all hypocrisy hateful and abominable unto you? are you afraid of it, and do you watch and strive against it, as against an enemy to god and your own souls, and are you grieved indeed when you find it in you? vii. do you desire and choose jesus christ for the great object of your love, delight, and joy? and do you find him to be so in some measure? do you desire and endeavor to make him the object of your warmest affections, and to love him sincerely, heartily, spiritually, fervently, and constantly; and do you express your love to him by keeping his commandments? are you grieved in spirit, because you can love him no more? and do you earnestly pray unto him to shed abroad his love into your hearts by the holy ghost, that you may love him as ye ought? rom. v. . doth his love and loveliness attract your hearts to him, and cause you to yield the obedience of faith to his holy laws? viii. is it the desire, choice, and endeavor of your souls to have all sins purged out of them, and to have them filled with christ's grace, truth, and holiness; and do you hate your sin, watch and fight against it, and endeavor to keep it under? do you indeed aim at, desire, labor, and strive, to be holy in heart and life, and conformable unto jesus christ in all things possible? are your lusts your heaviest burdens and your greatest afflictions, and do you intend and endeavor their utter ruin and destruction? will no degree of grace satisfy you until you be perfect to the utmost as christ is? are you so much concerned for christ's honor, and your soul's holiness and happiness, that you dare not knowingly sin against them for a world; or do, in word or deed, by omission or commission, that which may dishonor, grieve, or wound them? are these things so indeed? ix. have you a measure of spiritual knowledge and discerning of spiritual things? do you understand the nature and concerns of the house of god, and the work and duties, the privileges and enjoyments thereof, and what you have to do there; together with the ends of god in instituting and erecting gospel churches? x. do you intend and resolve, in the light, life, and power of christ, to seek for, and endeavor unfeignedly to obtain, and prosecute the ends of church fellowship, when you shall he accepted among them? and do you desire and aim at the holy ends appointed by god in desiring communion with them? as, . to enjoy god and communion with him in all his ordinances. . to worship god there in spirit and truth, and to give him your homage and service in his house. . to show your subjection and obedience to him, and to make a public and open profession of him, and of his truths before men. . to receive of his grace, to enrich your souls with his fulness, and to be sealed by his spirit unto the day of your redemption. . that you may walk orderly and beautifully, and shine as lights in the church, and in the world, before saints and sinners. . that you may be established in the truth, live under the watch and care of christ's ministers, and of fellow-members; that by their inspection and faithful dealings with you you may be kept, or brought back from sin to god, by their wise reproofs and holy instructions. . that you may yield up yourselves in holy obedience to christ, and do all things whatsoever he commands you, that you may have the right use and enjoyment of all your purchased privileges, and be secured against the gates of hell. are these and such like ends in your hearts and minds, in your walk and in church fellowship, and can you find the forementioned signs of grace in you in some suitable measure, though not so clearly and fully as you would wish? then i may venture to assure you, that you are qualified for being actual members of the church of christ, that you are called and invited into his house, and that you are indispensably bound to answer to the call of god, and to enter into his holy temple. i say that church privileges are yours, the doors of god's house stand open for you, christ stands at the door and waits for you, he invites you to come in and to sit down at his table, and you shall be most freely and heartily welcome to your lord, and to his people. _quest_. what are those qualifications, which the rulers of a church, for their own satisfaction, should look for, and find in such persons, as they admit into full communion with the church of christ? _ans_. it is certain that all that profess the name of christ and his ways, ought not, and may not be admitted into the lord's holy temple, because many, if not the most of them, are very ignorant of christ and his ways, and notoriously scandalous in their lives, as sad and woful experience shows. if church rulers should admit known hypocrites, they betray their trust, and defile christ's holy temple, by taking in such persons as they know, or ought to know, he would not have there: and that they ought to try and prove persons, that they may know their fitness, before they admit them in, is clear in acts ix. , , and because christ hath committed the keys of his house to take in and exclude according to his will and appointment. as to satisfying qualifications in persons desiring admission into the church, when they appear to be real sound-hearted believers, according to the judgment of charity, by the rules of the word, the church ought to receive them in the lord. i. if they can satisfy the church, by giving scripture evidence of their regeneration, conversion, repentance, and faith in christ; of their knowledge of christ, his laws and ordinances; of their lost and perishing state by reason of sin, and of their sincere desires and resolutions to become the lord's, and to walk with him unto all well-pleasing in all his ways. ii. if they are sound in the faith of the gospel; i mean in the chief and principal doctrines thereof, although they may be ignorant of, or mistaken in matters of less importance. if they have some distinct knowledge and faith concerning these, and other such truths and matters contained in the word of god; as of the state and condition in which man was at first created; how he lost that holy and blessed estate, and the misery into which he brought himself and all his posterity thereby. concerning themselves, that they are by nature children of wrath, dead in trespasses and sins, and condemned to eternal death; that they are enemies to, and at enmity with, god; that they have neither will nor power by nature to will and to do that which they ought, and which is well-pleasing to god; that they have forsaken god, and are under the curse of the law; and that they are the children, subjects, and servants of the devil, the world, and their own lusts; that god left not all men in this lost state and condition, but provided an all-sufficient remedy, namely, jesus christ, and that by an everlasting covenant, entered into with him, in the behalf of men, before the foundation of the world, tit. i. ; tim. i. ; prov. viii.: and that, in pursuance thereof, he elected and gave some to christ, that he might save them out of his mere grace and love. john vi. , :--that god the father gave and sent his son, the second person of the trinity, to mediate peace between god and man, and to reconcile them to god, by his active and passive obedience;--that jesus christ gave himself, and became a propitiation for their sins;--that he assumed our nature into a personal union with himself, whereby there are two natures in one person, by which he was made capable of his mediatorship;--that he, being god and man in one person, took upon himself our guilt and punishment, obeyed the whole law of god, that men had broke, and did always the things that pleased god;--that, when he had finished his active obedience, he became obedient unto the death of the cross, to the wrath of god, and to the curse of the law, gal. iii. ; phil. ii. ;--that he really died and was buried, lay in the grave, and rose again the third day; and after forty days he ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of god; and that he will come again to judge the quick and the dead;--that he is king, priest, and prophet; a king to give laws unto men, and to command their obedience to him, to rule and govern his subjects, and to reward the obedient, and to punish the disobedient;--that all power in heaven and earth is committed unto him; and that he is coequally and coeternally god with the father and holy spirit;--that as a high priest he died and made atonement for the sins of his people, and sits in heaven to make intercession, and to appear in the presence of god for them, heb. vii. , and ix. ;--that there are three persons in the godhead, yet but one god;--that the holy ghost is eternally god, was sent into the world, and came from the father and son, for the elect's sake;--that it is he that regenerates persons, works effectually in their hearts, applies jesus christ and all his benefits to men, and savingly convinces his elect of sin, righteousness, and judgment. that all that rightly believe in christ shall be saved, but those that believe not shall be damned; and that all that believe in him must be careful to perform good works. that believers are made righteous, through the righteousness of jesus christ, and that they have none of their own to commend them unto god. that god hath made jesus christ unto his chosen, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; and that they are made the righteousness of god in him. that god imputed their sins to christ, and imputes the blood and righteousness of christ to them; and that they are justified thereby, and not by inherent holiness and righteousness. that god loves, pardons, justifies, and saves men _freely_, without any respect unto their good works, as any cause thereof; but that all the moving cause (without himself) is jesus christ in his mediation. that the ground and reason of their obedience, in performing good works, is the revealed will and pleasure of christ commanding them, and the ends of them are to express their thankfulness to god for his grace and love, to please and honor him, to meet with god, and to enjoy communion with him, to receive of his grace and the good of many promises; to shine as lights in the world, and to be useful unto men; to declare whose and what they are, and to lay up a reward in another world; to keep their lusts under, and their graces in use and exercise; and to manifest their respect and subjection to jesus christ, his authority, and law. that the law, for the matter of it, as in the hand of christ, is the rule of all obedience; and that all are bound to yield subjection to it. that there shall be a resurrection of the just and unjust. that regeneration is absolutely necessary to salvation, and that without it none can enter into the kingdom of heaven. that the scriptures of the old and new testaments contain, and exhibit unto men, the whole revealed will of god, and are sufficient to make the man of god perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work; and that whatsoever they are to believe and do is contained therein; and that it is the ground of their faith, hope, and practice. that jesus christ hath instituted and appointed many ordinances of worship, for his own glory and his people's good, and that all are bound to observe and to wait on god in them. that all persons are indispensably bound to mind, and carefully to observe the principal manner and end of all their duties, and to see that they be right, holy, and spiritual indeed, and not to please themselves with the matter of them alone. that no man can serve god, or do any work acceptable unto him, until he be regenerated, and brought into a state of grace. these are some of the matters of faith that they should in some measure be acquainted with and believe, that are admitted into full communion with the church of christ. and these and other truths must not be known and believed in a general, notional, light, and speculative manner; but heartily, powerfully, and particularly: not for others, but for themselves; otherwise their faith and knowledge will no way profit their souls to salvation. iii. they must be qualified also with a blameless conversation. their conversation must be as becometh the gospel, otherwise they are not meet for communion with the gospel church. carnal walking will not suit spiritual temples: for they will greatly pollute and defile them, and stain and obscure their beauty and glory. therefore they must not be brawlers and contentious persons, covetous and worldly-minded, vain and frothy. they must not be froward and peevish, nor defraud others of their right. nor must they neglect the worship of god in their families, nor be careless in governing and educating them in good manners, and in the things of god. they must not be such as are known to omit the duties and ordinances of religion in their proper seasons, or to have vicious families through their neglect: nor to have any other kind of conversation hateful to god and to his people. and therefore, whatever their profession be, they may not be admitted into the church of god, until they have repented of these, or any other scandal in their life and conduct. iv. they ought to be such as have chosen the lord jesus christ for their king and head, and dedicated and devoted themselves to him, to live in him and for him: such as have singled him out, and set him apart, (as it were,) to be the object of their love, trust, and delight, of their service and obedience. they must have chosen and closed with him upon his own terms, (i.e. _freely_,) renouncing and rejecting all their own righteousness, worthiness, interest, and sufficiency, and choosing and appropriating him to themselves, for their righteousness, worthiness, portion, and sufficiency, under a sight and conviction of their own emptiness and deformity; and with a heart-satisfied persuasion of the loveliness and fulness of christ. v. all this must be done seriously, humbly, and heartily, so far as men can judge. if persons declare their knowledge of god and faith in christ in such a manner, and apparently by such a spirit as evidences some sense and feeling of what they do declare, church rulers may be much helped in forming a right judgment of them, that they are fitted by god for church-membership. if they do seriously profess, that what they do is in obedience to the will, and, as they judge, to the call of christ as their indispensable duty;--that they join in church fellowship to meet with and enjoy god, to receive out of his fulness to enable them to perform all duties, and to conform their hearts and lives in his will to all things;--such persons may undoubtedly be accounted worthy members, and admitted as such. _quest_. what are the duties of church members towards one another? _ans_. i. the greatest is love; love and spiritual affections are the holy cords which tie the hearts, souls, and judgments of believers together. this is that which, together with the fear of god, makes them avoid all things that may give just offence or grief to one another, and that which provokes them to follow after the things that make for peace and edification. love is the bond of peace. it is that which, together with divine light and truth, causes church members to draw together as in one yoke, and unanimously as with one heart and soul to design, aim at, and carry on mutual and common good in the church. without this they cannot, they will not cement, nor long abide and live together as a church, in peace and unity, nor promote any good work among themselves. without heart-uniting love they will receive and entertain jealousies and suspicions one of another, and put the worst construction on whatever is said or done; and they cannot walk together comfortably and profitably when these are entertained. therefore it is absolutely necessary for all church members to be firmly united in cordial love and charity, which is the bond of perfectness to and in all other duties. god highly commends and strictly commands this love one to another, and puts it into the heart of his peculiar people, that they may do what he commands. . god highly commends it wherever he finds it in act and exercise; thess. iv. , "and indeed," says he, "ye do it towards all the brethren." to this duty, and to manifest his high approbation of it, god hath promised a great reward, heb. vi. . . god commands it and vehemently exhorts to it often in the gospel. oh how importunately did the lord jesus enjoin it, and frequently press it on his disciples when he was on earth! john xiii. , "a new commandment give i unto you." what is that new commandment? why, "that ye love one another, as i have loved you, that ye also love one another." and in john xv. , , "this is my commandment, that ye love one another, as i have loved you;" i.e. take the pattern of my love to you for your pattern in loving one another. i have loved and will love you-- . with _great_ love, john xv. : so do you likewise. . my love to you is _free_, without any desert in you: let yours be free, without carnal respects one to another also. . my love to you is _real, hearty_, and _unfeigned_: so let yours be one to another, pet. i. . . my love to you is an exceeding _fruitful love_. i loved you so, as to labor, toil, sweat, and die for you: so must you love one another with a fruitful, profiting love. . my love to you is a _pitying, sparing, and forgiving love; a forbearing and tender-hearted love_: so must you be to one another, col. iii. , . . i love you with a _warm and fervent love_: so do you love one another. . i love with a _holy, spiritual love_, as new men who have my image stamped on, and my holy nature in you, and as you are made perfect by the comeliness and beauty i have put on you: so do you love one another, because you are a lovely and holy people unto me. . i love you with a _constant and unchangeable love_; notwithstanding of all your weaknesses, yea, unkindness too, and unworthy walkings before me: thus you are bound to love one another. o that church members and all other christians would seriously, sincerely, diligently, and constantly mind and practise this grand and indispensable duty to one another, in all their ways and actions, and not lay it aside as a little, useless, or indifferent matter, which they may neglect at their own will and pleasure. . as we are indispensably bound to love one another; so we are as absolutely and perfectly bound to walk in a loving and encouraging manner towards one another. our behavior ought to be such in all things, as to invite all to love us, as holy, humble, and blameless saints, and brethren in christ. the lord jesus expects church members to walk lovingly towards one another, as well as to love one another. they ought, therefore, as much as possible, to provoke and encourage each other, and to remove out of the way of love all such stumbling-blocks as may any way hinder it, as we cannot love a sour, peevish, contentious, and cross-grained professor, with as much complacency as a meek, quiet, humble, affable, and courteous one. . christ hath charged and strictly commanded all church members to live in peace: to be at peace among themselves; to follow peace with all men, and as much as in them lieth to live peaceably with all men. o how often, and with what vehemency doth the holy ghost press and enjoin this duty, especially among church members, in the holy scriptures! see psal. xxxiv. ; pet. iii. ; rom xiv. ; cor. xiii. ; thess. v. ; heb. xii. ; eph. v. . the apostle paul earnestly warns church members against all debates, strifes, and contentions one with another, especially in their church meetings, phil. ii. . david tells us, that it is a most pleasant and lovely thing for brethren to dwell together in unity, psal. cxxxiii. , . then how much more pleasant and lovely is it for spiritual brethren to love and worship god in this manner together christ came into the world and lived here a peace-maker, and pronounces them blessed that are so, matt. v. . he is a lover of peace and concord, especially in his church; but he is an implacable hater of strife and discord, and will not endure it therein: much less will he wink at such as are the first sowers of these seeds. the truth is, strivers and disputers in a church are the devil's agents, do a great deal of mischief to it, and are real plagues in it. they greatly hinder edification, and spoil the order, beauty, and harmony there: they are the proud, self-conceited men, who are vainly puffed up with high thoughts of themselves, and their own abilities, because they have got some speculative knowledge into their heads, with a volubility of speech, while they are destitute of spiritual wisdom and humility in their hearts; and therefore they conceive that they are wiser than the church, and more able to manage and order church affairs than their rulers. their pride and self-conceit make them slight and contemn their teachers, and rise up in a rebellious contention with, and opposition unto them; as the prophet complains, hos. iv. , _this people are they that strive with the priests_. take heed then of strife and contention, and follow peace one with another, especially in your assembling together about the work of the church. endeavor to get humble hearts, and then you will not be contentious, but quiet and peaceable. . church members ought to sympathize with, and to help to bear one another's burdens as need requires, rom. xii. , ; gal. vi. . they ought to make their brethren's crosses, losses, temptations, and afflictions their own. and, when they need the helping hand of fellow-members to support or lift them up, when fallen, they must give it to them freely, readily, and cheerfully, and not turn a deaf ear to, nor hide their eyes from, them and their cries. and, if they are cruel to, or careless of, one another in affliction, our lord jesus will require it at their hands, and lake it as done to himself. therefore, seeing it is the will of god, and our indispensable duty to one another, who are members of the church, let us put on bowels of mercies and kindness, col. iii. , and be tender-hearted, pitiful, and courteous to each other, eph. iv. ; pet. iii. . . church members ought to exhort and comfort one another, for so is the will of god concerning them. this is not only their teacher's duty and work, but theirs also to each other, heb. x. , ; heb. iii. ; thess. v. . christians stand in continual need of one another's exhortations and consolations; and if they manage this work well they may be very useful and profitable to one another, and may help to awaken, quicken, and provoke one another, to the love and practice of holiness. . it is the will of the lord jesus christ, the church's head, that her members should be each other's keepers; that they should watch over one another, and admonish and reprove one another, as need requires. it is not meant, that they should pry into one another's secrets, or be busybodies in other men's matters, but that they should watch over one another's life and conversation, that if they do well they may be encouraged; if ill, that they may, by counsel, reproof, instruction, and exhortation, be brought to a real sight and sense of their misconduct, and to unfeigned repentance. by which good work, you will do them, the church, yea, christ himself, good and acceptable service. church members should carefully observe, if all do keep close to their duty in the church, or are remiss and negligent;--if they conduct themselves in a holy, righteous, and sober way; or if, on the contrary, they are frothy, vain, proud, extravagant, unjust, idle, careless, or any way scandalous. they should strictly observe if there be any tattlers, backbiters, or sowers of discord; or such as speak contemptibly of their brethren, especially of their elders, (ruling or preaching,) and of their administrations: as also, if there be any such as combine together, and make parties in the church, or endeavor to obstruct any good work which their elders are carrying on, for promoting the glory of christ and the good of his people, and deal with them accordingly. they ought carefully to observe if any be fallen under sin or temptation in any case, and presently to set their hands to help, to relieve, and to restore them, rev. vi. . they must watch, and endeavor to gain a sinning member, . by their private admonition, in case the offence be private; and if that will not do, to take one or two more to see what effect that will have. . but if that will not answer the end, then they are bound to bring it to the church representative, that they may deal with the offending brother, and proceed against him as commanded: this is another great and indispensable duty required of church members, that they be not partakers of other men's sins. . church members ought to forbear and forgive one another; for this is another commanded duty, eph. iv. , ; col. iii. . when a brother offends or does another any injury, the offended brother should tell him of it, examine the matter and search out the circumstances of it, and see whether he did it unadvisedly, through weakness or ignorance; or whether he did it wilfully and knowingly. if upon an impartial search he is found to have wronged his brother through ignorance or weakness, he must judge charitably of him, and not be harsh and severe towards him, in his carriage or censure. but if it clearly appear, upon impartial inquiry, that he did the injury knowingly and wilfully, then the offended brother must deal with him as a wilful transgressor. he must lay his sin before him, and show him what laws he hath transgressed; what evil he hath done him, what wrong to his own soul, and what offence he hath done to christ, by breaking his holy laws. he must admonish him again and again of his sin, and reprove him, but not too severely, until he find him obstinate and stubborn. and if god convince him of his sin, and give him repentance unto life, he must readily forgive him. and, if he be once truly convinced of, and humbled for, his sin, he will most fully confess it to his brother, as well as to god, and endeavor to make him amends, and give him all possible satisfaction for the injury he hath done him, most freely and willingly: for it is a certain sign that a person is not powerfully and savingly convinced of, and humbled for, his sin, while he bears off, and must be sought after to make satisfaction to such as he hath wronged; because were his heart really melted into the will of god, he could not be quiet, until he have given all possible satisfaction to his brother whom he has injured, luke xix. . but in case he remain obstinate, and will not hearken to reproof, then the offended brother should take one or two more and deal with him; and if that will not do, he ought to bring it to the church representative, i.e. the elders of the church, that they may see what they can do with him. but if they cannot prevail on him to repent and to make satisfaction, then he ought to be cast out of the communion of the church, matt, xviii. . . it is the indispensable duty of church members to hearken to and receive instruction, admonition, and reproof from one another. for if some are indispensably bound at certain times to give them, surely others who need them are as much bound to receive them, prov. viii. , x. , and xxix. . these are bound to hearken to their brethren's reproofs, counsels, and admonitions, with all humility, patience, and freedom of spirit, with all love, meekness, and thankfulness to god, and to the givers of them: for they are great mercies to such as need them, and they are their real and profitable friends, who seek their good, and endeavor to prevent their destruction. let it therefore never be said justly of any of you that are church members, that you were reproved and admonished of any known sin by a brother, and that you refused and slighted their counsel or reproof, justified yourselves in your sins, and were displeased with or angry at such as admonished you, and did their indispensable duty to you, under your sin, for your salvation. . church members ought to pray for one another, and that with a real love, fervency, and importunity, as they do for themselves, james v. . o with what serious minds and strong affections should all church members pray for one another! they should be much in building up one another, and praying in the holy ghost one for another, jude . they should carry one another in their hearts at the throne of grace, especially such as are under affliction, the whole church in general, and her teachers in particular, heb. xiii. , and wrestle with god for them; for they have the spirit of prayer given them, and audience and interest in heaven, for others, as well as for themselves. . church members should often meet together for prayer and holy conversation, by two or three or more, as they may have opportunity. this was wont to be the commendable practice of our forefathers, when christ, duty, heaven, and religion lay warmer on their hearts than now they do; and this is still the practice of some, that are now alive. god hath promised his glorious teaching, and his warming, strengthening, sanctifying, and comforting presence to such as do so, matt, xviii. . church members find time enough to visit one another, and meet together to tell some idle stories, to tattle about other men's matters, which do not concern them, and perhaps to _backbite_ some of their brethren, and to prejudice the minds of persons against their teachers and their work, if they do not please them. and will not such meetings have bitterness in the end? is it not great iniquity for christians to tempt one another to sin, and to wrong their own souls, by misspending that precious time which they might have employed in the service of god, and one another's spiritual profit. men and women were wont to discourse often of the things of god and their experiences one to another, mal. iii. . but, alas! few persons are now to be found, who can find time and inclination for such an exercise. and the reason seems to be, that most are great strangers to god and to themselves, and are so much intoxicated with the things of this world, that they will not attend with any pleasure unto the spiritual duties of religion. . church members ought to encourage one another by their example, to attend regularly on the public ordinances of god's worship in his church. whenever the church meets for the celebration of the worship of god, all her members are bound to meet together at the appointed time, except in extraordinary cases; otherwise good order cannot be kept, and the public duties performed, for the glory of god, and the edification of the church. by church members wilfully or carelessly absenting themselves at the time of meeting, they give an evil example to others, tempt them to do the like, and cast a stumbling-block in the way of their duty, heb. x. . . church members must be charitable to the poor that are among them, and freely contribute to them according to their ability and _their_ necessity. they are indispensably bound to impart their help and assistance to the poor, and to give them a little of their estates. it is a debt which they owe to god, and a duty to them. they will comfort them thereby; but they will much more profit themselves than them. it is a more blessed thing to give than to receive. wealthy persons are stewards for the poor, and a part of what god hath given those was designed for these, pet. iv. , and therefore, says god, deut. xv. , , "thou shalt not shut thine hand from thy poor brother, but shalt open it wide unto him." the rich must not only give to keep the poor alive in misery, but make comfortable provisions for them, that they may have enough to keep them from the temptations of poverty and pressing wants, and to fit them for, and encourage them in, their work and duty, to god and man. . church members ought carefully, watchfully, diligently, and conscientiously to beware of and avoid whatever may give any just offence or scandal to one another. for we are charged to "give none offence neither to jew nor gentile, nor to the church of god," cor. x. . and our saviour tells us, that "wo to them by whom the offence cometh," matt, xviii. . you must take heed of such evils as the following, and avoid them, because they all carry scandal in their nature to your own and others' souls: as, . proud, disdainful, and haughty words conduct, and conversation; for these are grievous and provoking evils, which will justly offend all the observers of them. . sullen, sour, and churlish language and behavior, which is offensive unto all sorts of persons; for this is an evil altogether unbecoming the followers of jesus christ. . a cross, captious, and contradictive spirit and conduct, delighting in opposition to the judgment of the church and her rulers. this is very scandalous to the brethren, and very reproachful unto themselves. . speaking evil of one another behind their backs; backbiting or publishing their real or supposed evils, before they have been spoken to in secret. . speaking lightly or contemptibly of one another, either to themselves or to others in their absence, as few men can bear patiently to be despised by the slighting carriages of their brethren. . vain, foolish, and frothy discourses, which are very offensive to gracious saints. . earthly-mindedness and greedy pursuits after worldly things; for as these are offensive to god, and hurtful to the soul, so they are offensive to saints. . strife and contention among brethren, and grudging or envying one another's prosperity; as these produce many evil and wicked fruits, and cast blame upon the providence of god, who bestows his mercies as he will. . defrauding and breaking promises. contracting debts and unduly delaying or refusing to pay them, and disappointing men of their just expectations in virtue of promises made to them. those also are scandalous, and cause the name of god to be evil spoken of. . entering into a marriage relation with such as are apparently in an unbelieving, carnal, and unconverted state and condition; for this also is very offensive to holy serious men, although many make very light of it. . idleness and slothfulness in your external calling, neglecting to provide for your own house, as that will prove a scandalous sin to others and to yourselves too. . taking up a report rashly against one another of a scandalous nature, giving ear unto tattlers, and busybodies; or being busybodies in other men's matters yourselves, as this will give great offence. no. ii.[ ] _quest_. who have a right to preach the gospel and dispense the public ordinances of religion? _ans_. without some proper furniture, it is absurd to imagine any should be sent of god to the ministerial work. when the ascended jesus gave to the church apostles, evangelists; pastors and teachers, he gave gifts to men. _who_, saith he, _goeth at, any time a warfare on his own charges?_ what is the furniture, the qualifications prerequisite, according to the holy scriptures? a blameless conversation, a good report; experience of the self-debasing work of the spirit of god; compassion to the souls of men; a fixedness in the christian doctrines; a disposition faithfully to perform his vows; an aptness to teach the ignorant, and convince gainsayers. knowledge of languages, knowledge of the history and sciences of this world, are useful handmaids to assist us in the study of divine things. to preach from the oracles of god, without capacity to peruse the original, especially if versant in romances and plays, we abhor and detest. this aptness to teach, however, consists not chiefly in any of these, but in a capacity to conceive spiritual things, and with some distinctness to express their conceptions to the edification of others, in that energy and life, whereby one, as affected himself, declares the truths of god, in a simple, serious, bold, and conscience-touching manner. the difference of this, from human eloquence, loud bawling, and theatrical action, is evident. these may touch the passions, and not affect the conscience: they may procure esteem to the preacher, none to christ. these are the product of natural art: this the distinguished gift of god, without which, in a certain degree, none can have evidence that he was divinely sent to minister the gospel of christ. no appearance of furniture, real or pretended, can warrant a man's exercising of the ministry, unless he have a regular call. that _all may prophesy one by one_ is indeed hinted in the sacred records: but there it is evident inspiration treats of what pertains to extraordinary officers in the church; hence there is mentioned _the gift of tongues_, extraordinary _psalms, revelations_: the _all_ that might prophesy are, therefore, not _all_ the members of the church; not _women_, who are forbid to speak in the church; but _all_ the extraordinary officers called prophets, cor. xiv. . the _all_ that were scattered abroad from jerusalem, and _went about preaching the gospel_, acts viii. , could not be _all_ the believers; for there remained at jerusalem a church of believers for saul to make havoc of. it must therefore have been _all_ the preachers, besides the apostles. to strengthen this, let it be observed, that the word here rendered _preaching_ is nowhere in scripture referred to one out of office: that every one of this dispersion, we afterward hear of, are represented as evangelists, pastors, or teachers, acts ix. , , , and xiii. . parents and masters convey the same instruction that ministers do; but with a different authority: not as ministers of christ, or officers in his church. if other gifts or saintship entitled to preach the gospel, wo would be unto every gifted person, every saint, that did not preach it. if our adored redeemer refused the work of a civil judge because not humanly vested with such power, will he allow his followers to exercise an office far more important, without any regular call? his oracles distinguish between the mission of persons, and their gifts, sometimes called a receiving of the holy ghost, john xx. , . to render the point incontestably evident, he demands, how men shall preach _except they be sent_? declares, that _no man_ rightly _taketh this honor to himself but he that is called of god, as was aaron_. "i sent them not, therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the lord." the characters divinely affixed to ministers, preachers, or heralds, ambassadors, stewards, watchmen, angels, messengers, brightly mark their call and commission to their work. the inspired rules for the qualifications, the election, the ordination of ministers, are divinely charged to be kept till _the day_, the second coming _of jesus christ_. for intermeddling with the sacred business without a regular call, has the almighty severely punished numbers of men. witness the destruction of korah and his company; the rejection of saul; and the death of uzza; the leprosy of uriah; the disaster of the sons of sceva, &c., num. xvi.; sam. xiii.; chron. xiii.; chron. xxvi.; acts xix. to rush into it, if gifted, or to imagine we are so, at our own hand, introduces the wildest disorder, and the most shocking errors: it did so at antioch, and the places adjacent, where some falsely pretended a mission from the apostles. this, too, was its effect with the german anabaptists, and with the sectaries of england. aversion at manual work, pride of abilities, a disturbed imagination, a carnal project to promote self, prompts the man to be preacher. such ultroneous rushing is inconsistent with the deep impression of the charge, and the care to manifest their mission, everywhere in scripture obvious in the ministers of christ. however sound his doctrine, great his abilities, warm his address, where is the promise of god's especial presence, protection, or success, to the ultroneous preacher? where is his conduct commanded, commended, or unmarked with wrath, exemplified in the sacred words? how then can the preaching, or our hearing, of such, be in faith? how can it be acceptable to god, or profitable to ourselves? for _whatsoever is not of faith is sin_. falsely this preacher pretends a mission from christ: wickedly, he usurps an authority over his church: rebelliously he deserts his own calling, and attempts to make void the office his saviour has appointed; to frustrate the dispensation of the gospel committed to his faithful ambassadors. for how can they fulfil their ministry, if others take the work out of their hand? how can they _commit it to faithful men_, if, not waiting their commission, men rush into it at pleasure? in vain pleads the ultroneous preacher, that a particular mission to the office of preaching and dispensing the sacraments was only necessary, when the gospel was preached to the heathen. from age to age, it is _as new_, to children _as new_, to such as never heard it. nor, when hinting the necessity of a mission, does the inspiring spirit make any distinction, whether the gospel be newly dispensed or not. _what therefore god hath joined together, let no man put asunder_. in vain he pleads an immediate commission from god: in his infallible statutes, having fixed standing rules of vocation to the ministry, by the mediation of men, god gives us no command, no encouragement, to hope for an immediate call, till the end of time. absurdly then we allow any to have such a call, till we see _the signs of an apostle wrought in him_. it is not sufficient he be sound in his doctrine, exemplarily holy in his life, active in his labors, disinterested in his aims, seeking not his own, but the honor of christ, not his own carnal profit, but the spiritual welfare of men: every ordinary preacher is, or ought to be so. but, to this claimant of a mission uncommon, working of miracles, or such extraordinary credentials, must demonstrate he hath not run unsent. in vain the ultroneous preacher boasts of his feelings; his success; his moving his audience; his reforming their lives; as if these demonstrated his call from god. on earth, was ever delusion carried on without pretence to, or without appearances of these? let them, who know the history of popery, of mahometanism, quakerism, &c., say if they were. who knows not, that the pharisaic sect pretended far more strictness, far more devotion, than the family of christ? who knows not, that satan may, and has oft _transformed_ himself _into an angel of light_; his ministers into the form of inspired apostles; and his influences, almost indiscernibly similar to those of the spirit of jesus christ? who knows not, how oft vain-glory, proud and falsely extolling of himself and party, in their number, their spiritual experience and high advances in holiness, mark the distinguished impostor? how oft his sermons are larded with these! no more tell us, if the sermon be good, you do not regard who preach it. if god has prescribed a method of call, has stated the qualifications of the candidate, has warned against preachers unsent, has oft marked their guilt with visible strokes of his wrath, be ashamed to talk at so arrogant, so careless a rate. lay it not in the power of the mesopotamian wizard! lies it not in the power of a romish jesuit, nay, if permitted, of beelzebub, for a time to preach to you many truths of the gospel, in the warmest strain, the loftiest language? would you acknowledge the _three_ for honored ambassadors of christ? tell us not your preacher is wonderfully pious and good: perhaps you have only his own attestation; when better known he may be a drunkard, a swearer, a villain, for you. suppose he were pious, so was uzziah; yet it pertained not to him to execute the priest's office. say not he is wonderfully gifted--speaks like _never man_: perhaps so was korah, a man famous and of renown: such perhaps were the vagabond sons of sceva. say not his earnestness in his work marks his heavenly call: no, such were the satanic exorcists just mentioned; such was mahomet, the vilest impostor. to abolish the idolatry, and various other abominations of his country, he exposed himself to cruel reproach, to manifold hardship and hazard of life; about fourteen years almost unsuccessful he persevered in this difficult, but delusive attempt. what hunger, what cold, what torment and death have some jesuitic and other antichristian missionaries undergone, to propagate the most ruining delusions of hell; all under the pretence of earnestness to gain sinners to christ and his church. the scripture, however, nowhere saith, how shall they preach except they be gracious? except they be gifted? except they be in earnest? but, _how shall they preach except they be sent_? no. iii.[ ] _on the same subject--who have a right to preach the gospel_? it is expressly enjoined in the word of god that we should earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. this faith includes all the ordinances, as well as all the doctrines of christ; and it is no less our duty to contend for the former than for the latter. they have been equally opposed, and there is the same necessity why we should contend for both. among the ordinances of christ, the preaching of the gospel holds a principal place, and it hath accordingly, in all ages, met with considerable opposition. like other ordinances, it hath been often grievously abused, and perverted to the most unworthy purposes. by many who would be esteemed the wise of the world, it is counted unworthy the attention of any but the vulgar: it has been called the foolishness of preaching. the infidels of our time, and some who, by attachment to the arian and socinian system, are in a progress to infidelity, cry it down as a human device or piece of craft. this need not, however, occasion any great surprise: the spirit of the world savoreth not the things that be of god, and the enemies of the truth naturally wish to have full scope to propagate their delusions. but it is matter of regret that the preaching of the gospel is, by many who attend upon it, too little regarded as an ordinance of christ. and some of the professed friends of gospel doctrine so far mistake the nature and institution of preaching, as to engage in it without any other call than their own abundant zeal, and even to plead that all should do so who find themselves qualified. to show that such a sentiment and practice have no warrant from the word of god, the following observations are offered. i. the preaching of the gospel is an ordinance that christ hath appointed for the gathering and edification of his church; and, being a matter of positive institution, all that belongs to the administration of it can be learned only from the rules and approved examples recorded in the new testament. it is not like those duties that are incumbent upon all, according to the opportunities they have in providence for the performance of them, and which, without any express commandment, could be urged upon christians by the common principles of moral obligation, such as to teach and admonish one another. and because the obligation to such moral duties depends not upon positive institution, it must equally extend to all, and no person whatever can be free from it. but it is otherwise as to the preaching of the gospel, which is a positive institution of christ; for it is a duty enjoined upon some only; yea, some are even absolutely prohibited from intermeddling in it, cor. xiv. ; tim. ii. : and this could not be the case if it were a matter of common moral obligation. all arguments therefore taken from general principles, to prove the obligation that christians are under to exert themselves for promoting the cause of religion, are to no purpose here, as they do not prove that the preaching of the gospel is one of those means that all are warranted to use. ii. there is an instituted ministry of the ordinances of christ unto his church, by such ministers and office-bearers as he hath appointed. and the preaching of the gospel is frequently referred to as a principal part of that ministry. we read of a ministry of the word, acts vi. ; a ministry received of the lord jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of god, acts xx. ; a ministry of reconciliation, cor. v. ; and a ministry into which some are put by the lord christ, tim. i. . this ministry is not left open to all the members of the church, in such a manner as that everyone who finds himself disposed, of supposes himself to be qualified, may engage in it as he finds opportunity; but office-bearers are appointed for it by the lord christ, eph. iv. , : "and he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of christ." some of these officers were extraordinary and temporary; they had an extraordinary call, and were endued with miraculous powers, which are now ceased: but the work of the ministry, and particularly the preaching of the gospel, is to continue to the end of the world, as appears from the promise given for the encouragement of those that are employed in it, matt, xxviii. . there are accordingly ordinary officers, pastors, and teachers, appointed for the continued exercise of that ministry. to these instituted office-bearers is this ministry exclusively committed, mark xvi., matt, xxviii. the gospel of christ, in respect of the public ministry thereof by preaching, is frequently mentioned as a special and peculiar _trust_ committed unto them, cor. v. - ; tim. i. , and vi. . in all the passages of scripture where we have any mention of a charge or commission to preach the gospel, it would be easy to show that it is directed only to persons in office; and a variety of names are given to those that are employed in a ministry of the word, all of which are expressive of their peculiar office. they are called ministers, cor. iii. ; officers and stewards, cor. iv. ; ambassadors for christ, cor. v. ; heralds (so the word preacher signifies) and teachers, tim. i. . there is no room to plead here, that though a constant ministry of the word, in a pastoral charge, belongs only to persons in office, yet all may occasionally exercise their gifts in preaching the gospel. the word of god acknowledges no such distinction as that between a constant and an occasional ministry of the gospel. it enjoins upon those who are called to the work of the ministry, not an occasional, but a constant exercise of that ministry; so that whether they be paid pastors, or itinerant preachers, they are not to entangle themselves with the affairs of this life, but must be devoted wholly to the work of the gospel, tim. iv. - ; tim. ii. , and iv. . and because they must thus devote their time and attention to this work, the word of god also enjoins that a maintenance be given them by those to whom they exercise their ministry, cor. ix. - ; gal. vi. ; tim. v. . this is a farther evidence that the ministry of the word is restricted to persons in office, and that they are to devote their time and attention to it, not entangling themselves in the prosecution of a secular business. iii. those only can be warrantably employed in a ministry of the ordinances of christ, and particularly in preaching the gospel, who are thereunto called by him, and admitted according to the rule laid down in the word. and none can be warrantably acknowledged and received as office-bearers, to whom that ministry is committed without some proper evidence of their being called and sent by christ. "how shall they preach except they be sent?" rom. x. . how, without this, can they do it warrantably or profitably? and, without some evidence of this, what ground have we to expect a blessing in waiting upon their ministry? it is not a mere providential sending that is here meant, as if there were no more necessity than abilities, and an opportunity of exercising them; for so the ministers of satan may be sent, and a lying spirit was thus sent among the prophets of ahab. but this sending means the call of christ, intimated in such a way as to warrant the preacher, and with such evidence as may satisfy the conscience of the hearers, in receiving his ministry as the ordinance of christ. a zeal for god, a strong desire of being useful to souls, and even a persuasion of having the call of christ, cannot be sufficient warrant to the preacher; far less can the hearers, in receiving him, proceed upon grounds so uncertain. the apostles, and some other ministers in the beginning of the christian dispensation, had an extraordinary call and immediate mission by christ, and this was evidenced to all by the miraculous powers bestowed on them. these powers are now ceased, and it is vain to plead any such immediate call. the ordinary call of christ to the work of the ministry is intimated by or through the church, judging thereof by the rules laid down in the word; and according to these rules, they that are found qualified and called, are to be admitted to the ministry by them who are already invested with it. the charge is given to the office-bearers of the church, to commit that ministry which they have received "to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also," tim. ii. ; tit. i. . and for their direction in this matter, the qualifications necessary, both as to character and abilities, are laid down in the word, particularly in tim. iii.; of these qualifications they are required to make an impartial and deliberate examination, so as to _lay hands suddenly on no man_, tim. iv. , but to admit to the office of the ministry those only, who, by this trial, they have reason to judge are called and sent by christ. it is vain to distinguish here between a pastor of a congregation and an itinerant preacher; as if the call of the church was necessary only to the former and not to the latter. if by the call of the church is meant only the choice and call of the people, it is admitted, that this is only necessary to fix a pastoral relation to that part of the flock; but a regular admission to the work of the ministry, by the office-bearers of the church, is equally necessary in the case of all that are employed in it, whether they have a fixed charge or not. timothy, who had no fixed charge, and though pointed out by prophecy as designed for the ministry, was ordained and admitted to it by the presbytery. and though paul and barnabas had an extraordinary call, yet the prophets and teachers of the church at antioch are directed to separate and send them out, according to the call of the holy ghost, to preach the gospel unto the gentiles, acts xiii. a principal design of this seems to have been, to set an example of procedure to the church in after times. it appears, then, that the preaching of the gospel is an ordinance or institution of christ--that the ministry of that and other ordinances belongs only to those office-bearers whom he hath appointed and commissioned for that end--and that in ordinary cases, none can be acknowledged as sent by him, but such as are admitted to the ministry in the way above mentioned. these observations would have admitted a much larger illustration; but as they are, they may assist an attentive reader to consult his bible for further satisfaction. it is necessary, however, to take some notice of the arguments urged in support of the opposite sentiment, and of the attempt to prove that every man who is qualified has a right to preach the gospel, without any regular call and admission by the church. and, st. it is pretended that this is enjoined upon all that are qualified for it, because christians are called to teach, exhort, and admonish one another. but even supposing that this were to be understood of preaching, or a public ministry of the word, such directions, though expressed generally, would not apply to all, but to those only who are called to the ministry, according to the limitation and restriction that is laid down in other places of scripture. there is, however, no necessity of understanding these directions in that sense. the scripture evidently distinguishes the preaching of the gospel, or that public teaching which belongs to an instituted ministry, from that private teaching which is competent to, and obligatory on, all christians by the law of love; the latter is enjoined upon some to whom the former is absolutely prohibited: compare tim. ii. , with tit. ii. , . christians in a private station have abundant opportunity, and ordinarily much more than they improve, to exercise their talents in teaching their families, friends, and neighbors, without interfering with that public ministry of the word which is committed to those who are especially called thereto. d. some passages of scripture are urged, wherein it is supposed all christians are enjoined to exercise their qualifications in public teaching or preaching: particularly rom. xii. - ; pet. iv. , . these scriptures, on the contrary, restrict the public ministry of the word to those invested with an office, and it is that ministry which belongs to their office that is spoken of. in rom. xii. persons in office are exhorted to apply themselves faithfully and diligently to that ministry to which they are called, whether it be a ministry of the word, and of spiritual things, or a ministry of temporal things, and that without envying others who have a different office and ministry. and, to enforce this exhortation, the apostle compares the church to the natural body, ver. , in which all members have not the same office, but one member is appointed to one office, and another member to a different office: and so it is in the church of christ, ver. . the same allusion is applied more largely, cor. xii. , , to illustrate this very point. the other passage, pet. iv. , , is of the very same import: those in office are called to exercise their ministry faithfully, whether it be in spiritual or temporal things, and are addressed as stewards, ver. ; "as every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of god." some are led to mistake the meaning of these scriptures, by misunderstanding the word _gift_, as if it meant only talents or qualifications; whereas, in these and many other passages, it means a certain office and ministry to which one is appointed. eph. iv. , : he gave gifts unto men; he gave some apostles, some prophets, &c. tim. iv. : "neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." timothy was ordained to the office of the ministry in consequence of special direction of the spirit of prophecy. see tim. i. . d. it is also supposed and much insisted on by some, that both precept and example for the preaching of the gospel, by what they call every gifted brother, may be found in cor. xiv. , which is particularly urged in support of their opinion: "for ye may _all_ prophesy, one by one, that _all_ may learn, and _all_ may be comforted." but universal terms, such as are here used, are limited or extended according to the subject; and that even in the same verse, as in chap. xv. . in like manner here, the _all_ that may prophesy are not the same _all_ that may learn and be comforted. the latter may extend to all the members of the church, and even to strangers who might come into their assemblies; the former could apply only to a few. some members of the church are expressly prohibited from public teaching, ver. . besides, all were not prophets, chap. xii. , and therefore all could neither prophesy, nor could warrantably attempt it. the state of matters referred to in that chapter seems to have been this: the church at corinth was numerous, and had many ministers, of whom the most, if not all, were endowed with some miraculous power, such as that of prophecy, of speaking strange languages, and the like; they were proud of these gifts, and forward to show them, ver. , which occasioned disorder in their assemblies for worship; those that had the gift of tongues prevented the prophets, and did not modestly give place to one another. these disorders the apostle reproves, and exhorts them to exercise their gifts in a more regular and decent manner, for the edification of the church. this being the case, it is strange to plead this passage as a warrant for the preaching of the gospel by those who are in no office, and who neither have any miraculous power to prove their immediate call by christ to the work of the ministry, nor are admitted thereto by the call of the church. th. further, we are referred to acts viii. - , for an example of the preaching of the gospel by persons not in office. we are told, ver. , that "there was a great persecution against the church which was at jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad--_except the apostles_." and it is said, ver. , "_they_, that were scattered abroad, went everywhere _preaching the word_." from this it is argued, that _the church in general_ proclaimed the gospel of the lord jesus. but why mention the church in general, when the method of reasoning used would equally prove that the church universally did so; and the absurdity of such reasoning must be evident upon a very little consideration of the subject. how absurd to suppose that _all_ mentioned in ver. , refers to and comprehends all the members of that church, and that all the thousands and ten thousands belonging to it were all scattered abroad, or that they all, men, women, and children, went _everywhere preaching_ the word! are we not told, ver. , that some of them, probably many of them, both men and women, were haled and committed to prison? or, had all the members of the church been driven from jerusalem, how were the apostles to be employed? did they only tarry to gather a new church? when it is said, ver. , that saul entered into every house, how absurd would it be to suppose that it is meant every house in jerusalem, or even every house in which there was a christian! the expression, also, _everywhere_, ver. , must be limited. it would therefore be unreasonable to object against a proper limitation of the word _all_, ver. . and about the just limitation of it we need be at no loss. they were all scattered abroad--except the apostles. what reason can there be for mentioning only the apostles as excepted, while there were so many other members of that church still remaining at jerusalem, but this, that the persons referred to were of the same description in general with the apostles, persons in office, ministers of the church? others might also be scattered, but these are here spoken of; and philip, an evangelist, and endowed with miraculous powers, is mentioned as one of them. th. as to the case of apollos, which some urge as affording irresistible evidence to prove that all who are qualified may preach the gospel, a few words may suffice. he spoke boldly in the synagogue, the practice of which is no rule to the christian church. he was not yet acquainted with some important doctrines of the new testament church, much less could he be acquainted with the ordinances of it. two intelligent christians instructed him more perfectly in the way of god. he was recommended by the brethren to the church at corinth, and there he labored successfully in the work of the ministry. and what is all this to the purpose for which his example is urged? we have no information, indeed, of what time, nor in what manner, he was called and admitted to the work of the ministry, more than we have about many others mentioned in scripture: but he is expressly called a minister, and is, once and again, classed with the chiefest of the apostles, cor. i. , iii. , . lest these and the like arguments should be found insufficient, recourse is had by some to the plea of pure motives and good designs, with a kind of appeal to the judgment of the great day, and profession of trust, that they are such as will not then be condemned. it is a great satisfaction to have the testimony of conscience to the purity of motives in every part of conduct that is warranted by the word of god, and also to know that the judgment of the saints at the great day will be a judgment of mercy. but every part of the truth of christ will be determined at that day in exact conformity to what is now declared in the word. and the purest motives and most noble designs are no rule of conduct to any; much less can they give satisfaction to others. these observations concerning the institution of a gospel ministry, the writer is persuaded, are agreeable to the word of god: if they be not, it would be idle to appeal to his motives in support of them. but he can freely say that they are here offered to the public, not from a desire of controversy, but from a conviction, that at this time it is necessary, on different accounts, to call people's attention to the mind and will of christ, as revealed in the word concerning this subject. let not such of the friends of religion, as may be of different sentiments from what are here expressed, be offended at an attempt, in the spirit of meekness, to remove their mistakes: nor let them impute it to envy, pride, or selfish principles. in a perfect consistency with all that he hath advanced, the writer can say, "would to god that all the lord's people were prophets." it is a necessary consequence of what is advanced on this subject, that all should be careful that the ministry of the ordinances they attend upon be such as is warranted in the word. if none can warrantably preach except they be sent, we cannot warrantably attend on the ministry of any but those who we have reason to believe have christ's call and mission. and if it be an objection against a pastor of a congregation, that he is imposed upon the flock without their choice, it is no less an objection against a preacher, if he be not admitted to the ministry of the word by those whose office it is to examine his qualifications, and judge of his call. it must, however, be acknowledged, that to have gone through the ordinary forms of admission is no sufficient evidence of one's having the call of christ. the outward forms may be observed, while the spirit and design of them is neglected, and the rule of the word transgressed. nor can any be acknowledged as sent by christ, unless their character correspond with that pointed out and required in the word, and unless the doctrine they teach be the gospel of christ. none can be supposed to have a mission from christ, who do not bring his message, john ver. : "if there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him god speed." but when we are favored with the pure gospel, and an administration of it agreeable to the word, let us wait upon it diligently; regarding the preaching of the gospel as an ordinance of christ, and depending on his promised blessing to make it effectual: for when "the world by wisdom knew not god, it pleased god, by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe," cor. i. . both parts of this number are recommended to the serious consideration of what are called _lay-preachers_, and of such as favor that scheme. and let all intruders upon the office of the holy ministry, with their deluded votaries, beware lest it should be said to them, _who hath required this at your hands_? no. iv. _quest_. have not the people a divine right to choose their own pastors and other church officers? _ans_. in those divinely qualified for the ministry, there are diversities of gifts, though but one spirit. as the same food, though abundantly wholesome and nourishing, is not equally suited to the taste, appetite, and constitutions of different persons and nations; so the same gifts in a candidate for the gospel ministry are not equally adapted to every person and place. to secure edification there must therefore be a choice of the gifts most suitable. and who fitter to make it than those who are to enjoy the use thereof, if their senses be exercised to discern good and evil? can any man pretend to know better what gifts suit the case of my soul than i do myself? those ignorant of the fundamental truths of christianity; those scandalous, profane deniers of the divine original of the old and new testaments, or of any truth therein plainly revealed; those neglecters of the public, private, and secret worship of god; those given to cursing, swearing, sabbath profanation, drunkenness, whoredom, or other scandalous courses, are destitute of capacity and right to choose a gospel minister. the ignorant are utterly incapable to judge of either the preacher's matter or method. the openly wicked have their hatred of christ, and a faithful minister, marked in their forehead; neither are such qualified to be visible members of the christian church. to admit them therefore to choose a christian pastor would be a method, introducing ruin and we; a method equally absurd as for unfreemen to choose the magistrates of a burgh: rather, equally absurd as if ignorant babes, and our enemies the french, should be sustained electors of our members of parliament and privy council. whether visible believers, adults, and having a life and conversation becoming the gospel, have a right from god to choose their pastors and other church officers, must now be examined. all along from the reformation it has been the avowed principle of scotch presbyterians, that they have a divine warrant to choose their own pastors and other ecclesiastic officers. the first book of discipline, published a.d. , declares the lawful calling of the ministry to consist in the election of the people, the examination of the ministry, and administration by both, and that no pastor should be intruded on any particular kirk without their consent. their second book of discipline declares that the people's liberty of choosing church officers continued till the church was corrupted by antichrist: that patronage flowed from the pope's canon law, and is inconsistent with the order prescribed in god's word. from various documents the assembly of declared it obvious, that from the reformation it had been the fixed principle of this church that no minister ought to be intruded into any church contrary to the will of the congregation. they seriously recommended a due regard hereunto in planting the vacancies, as judicatories would study the glory of god, the honor of god, and the edification of men. it is the law of heaven, however, the book of the lord, that here and everywhere we intend to build our faith upon. that of matthias is the first instance of an election of an officer in the christian church. no doubt, then, it is marked in the sacred history as a pattern for the ages to come. being an officer extraordinary, his call was in part immediately divine, by the determination of the lot. being a church officer, he was chosen by the church as far as consistent with his extraordinary office. the disciples about jerusalem ( ) were gathered together. peter represented the necessity of filling up judas's place in the apostolate with one who could be a meet witness of jesus' doctrines, miracles, death, and resurrection. the one hundred and twenty disciples chose, appointed, or presented to whom they judged proper for that work. the office being extraordinary, and perhaps the votes equal, the decision which of these two was referred to the divine determination of the lot. after prayer for a perfect _one_, it fell upon matthias, and he was, by suffrages, or votes, added to the number of the apostles. had the next election of a church officer entirely excluded the christian people, one had been tempted to suspect that matthias's extraordinary case was never designed for a pattern. instead hereof, the choice being of an ordinary officer, is entirely deposited in their hands. never were men better qualified for such an election than the inspired, the spirit-discerning apostles; yet when restrained by laborious attendance to their principal work, the ministry of the word and of prayer, from sufficient leisure to distribute their multiplied alms to their now numerous poor, and directed by the holy ghost, they ordered the christian people _to look out_, choose seven of their number, _men of honest report, full of the holy ghost and of wisdom_, who might be ordained to the office of deacons. judging of the mentioned qualifications, the christian multitude, entirely of their own accord, chose stephen, philip, prochorus, nicanor, timon, parmenas, and nicolas. these they presented to the apostles, who immediately ordained them by prayer, and imposition of hands, acts vi. - . here, by inspired appointment, the people had the whole power of electing their deacons. if they have the power of electing one ordinary officer, why not of all? if in the case of deacons they can judge of the qualifications of _honest report, full of the holy ghost and of wisdom_, what hinders them to judge of these and the like of ministers? if jesus and his apostles argued from the less to the greater, matt. vi. , cor. ix. , who can forbid us to argue so? if it be right and equal for the christian people to choose deacons who take care of their sacred alms, is it not much more right and equal that they have the choice of their pastors, who take the oversight of their souls? a third instance of the christian people electing their ecclesiastical officers, relates to the joint travels of paul and barnabas at lystra and places around, acts xiv. . these two divinely directed messengers of christ, having ordained (or, as properly translated from the greek, _through suffrages or votes constituted) them elders_ (presbyters) _in every city, and prayed with fasting, commended them to the lord_. here it is plainly marked that these elders, _presbyters_, were chosen by _suffrages (votes)_ in order to ordination. this the greek word in our version, by the fraud of the english bishops rendered _had ordained_, plainly imports. the root of this word is borrowed from the custom of giving votes at athens and elsewhere in greece, by lifting up of the hand. wherever it is used in the greek testament, and for anything we know in every greek author, not posterior to luke, the writer of the acts, it constantly implies _to give vote or suffrage_. in the text before us it agrees with paul and barnabas; because they presided in the choice, and finished the design of it by ordination. here, moreover, it is evident that the persons chosen for elders _(presbyters)_ were set apart to their office, not by a hurried prayer and riotous banquet, but _by prayer and fasting:_ and this manner of choice and ordination was used in every church. the very performance of the work of ordination in public conjunction with the church tacitly infers their consent. christ's commanding his people _to try the spirits_, to try false prophets, and to flee from them, john iv. , , necessarily imports a right to choose the worthy, and reject the vile; to choose what suits our edification, and to reject what doth not; for, if we must receive whoever is imposed, there is no occasion for trial, we can have no other. the privilege of trial here allowed to his people by christ plainly supposes their having some ability for it; and, by a diligent perusal of his word, and consulting his ministers, they may become more capable. has our adored redeemer thus intrusted to his adult members the election of their pastors? at what peril or guilt do any ministers or laics concur to bereave them thereof, thrusting men into the evangelic office by another way; thus constituting them spiritual _thieves_ and _robbers_? instead of being _gentle_ to church members, as a _nurse cherisheth her children_; instead of _condescending to men of low degree_, and _doing all things to the glory of god_ and the _edification of souls_, is not this to set at naught their brethren; exercise lordly dominion over the members of christ; and rule them with rigor? in the oracles of god, where is the hint, that the choice of pastors for the christian people is lodged in any but themselves?--since men apostolic and inspired put the choice from themselves to the christian people; who can believe that it belongs to the clergy? acts i. and vi. when christ avers _his kingdom is not of this world_; when he threatens judgment without mercy to such as in his worshipping assemblies more readily give a seat to the rich, with his gold ring and gay clothing, than to the poor; can it be imagined that he has intrusted the choice of his ambassadors to men, for their greatness? there is indeed a haughty objection often stated against the people's choice: shall a cottager, poor and unlearned, who pays not one farthing of the stipend, and at next term will perhaps remove from the congregation, have an equal choice of a minister with his master, a gentleman, a nobleman, of liberal education, of distinguished abilities, who is head of a large family, has a fixed property and residence in the parish, and furnishes almost the whole benefice? will you fly in the face of our civil law? will you plead for the method of choosing church officers, which already has produced so much strife, bloody squabbling, or riot? if christ's _kingdom_, as himself when dying attested, _is not of this world_, how can outward learning, riches, settled abode, or any worldly thing, constitute one a member thereof? these do not make one a better christian. no. _not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called_ with a holy calling. how ordinarily do rich men oppress the saints, draw them before judgment-seats, and blaspheme jesus' worthy name, by which they are called! if worldly privileges and endowments cannot make one a subject of the mediator's spiritual kingdom, how can they entitle any to, or raise him above his brethren in, the privileges thereof? if by the son of god the poor cottager has been made free indeed; has been taught to profit; is rich in faith; is a king and priest unto god; and hath received a kingdom that cannot be moved; in the view of the omniscient and his angels, and every man wise to salvation, how little is he inferior to his rich, perhaps his graceless, master? your rich man has college education, understands philosophy, history, law, agriculture; but will that infer that he understands his bible, understands christian principles, spiritual experiences, and what spiritual gifts best correspond therewith, better than his cottager, who daily searches the scriptures, and has heard and learned of the father? how oft are the great things of god hid from the wise and prudent, and revealed unto babes! christ crucified was to the learned greeks foolishness; but to the poorest believer the power of god and the wisdom of god. "the natural man," however learned, "receiveth not the things of the spirit of god, neither can he know them; for they are spiritually discerned," cor. ii. . how easy to find the herdman, or the silly woman, who will endure a trial on christian principles to far better purpose than many of your rich, your great men!--your great man is the head of a numerous family, and has great influence in the corner. that, no doubt, is a strong motive for him, if he is a christian, to be exceeding wary in his choice: if he is so, no doubt his christian judgment, as far as is consistent with spiritual liberty, is to have its own weight. but while christ's _kingdom is not of this world_; while in him there is _neither male nor female, bond nor free_; headship over a family can found no claim to a spiritual privilege. thousands of heads of families are plainly _aliens from the commonwealth of israel_, without god, and without hope in the world. many are heads of families who, by neglect of the daily worship of god, of religious instruction, and by other unchristian conduct, ruin the same. boast not of the great man's settled abode, boast not of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth; how suddenly may disaster and death pluck him up by the roots! the rich fathers, where are they? do the nobles live forever? shall their dwelling continue to all generations? how often, in a few years, the rich inheritance changes its master, while the race of the poor hovers about the same spot for many generations! what if the cottager attend more to gospel ministrations, in one year, than the rich in forty! what if, removing at next term, he carry his beloved pastor in his heart, and by effectual fervent prayers, availing much, by multiplied groanings that cannot be uttered, he bring manifold blessings on the parish and ministry which he leaves; while your rich man, if wicked, if of the too common stamp, continues in it, for no better purpose than to distress the faithful pastor, corrupt the people, bring down a curse, and cumber the ground! the great man bears the load of the stipend no more than the poorest cottager. he purchased his estate with this burden upon it, and on that account had its price proportionally abated. suppose it were otherwise, might not a poor widow's _two mites_ be more in jesus' account than all he gives? will we, with the samaritan sorcerer, indulge the thought that the _gifts of god_, the spiritual privileges of his church, _are to be purchased with money_? for money to erect the church or defray the benefice we must not, with the infamous traitor, betray the son of god in his church--his ordinance, his ministry, into the hands of sinners to be crucified. it is in vain to mention the civil law: the very worst statute thereof, relative to the point in hand, indirectly supposes the consent of the congregation. it leaves to the presbytery the full power to judge whether the presentee is fit for that charge. if the congregation generally oppose, with what candor do the presbytery, in jesus' name, determine that he is fit? the last statute relative hereto declared the presentation void, unless accepted. nor is there in being any, but the _law of sin and death_ within them, the law of itch after worldly gain, that obliges candidates to accept. how unmanly, how disingenuous, to blame the civil law with the present course of intrusions!--since the resurrection of christ, we think we may almost defy any to produce an instance of bloody squabbling, or like outrageous contention, in the choice of a pastor, where none but the visible members of christ's mystical body, adult, and blameless in their lives, were admitted to act in the choice. but if at any called popular elections, the power was sinfully betrayed into the hands of such baptized persons, as in ignorance and loose practice equalled, if not transcended, _heathen men and publicans_; into the hand of those who, to please a superior, to obtain a paltry bribe, or a flagon of wine, were readily determined in their vote for a minister; let the prostitutes of jesus' ordinance answer for the unhappy consequences of their conduct. if they so enormously broke through the hedge of the divine law, no wonder a serpent bit them. but who has forgot what angry contentions, what necessity of a military guard at ordinations, the lodging of the power of elections in patrons or heritors, _as such_, has of late occasioned? to deprive the christian people of their privilege in choosing their pastor, and give it to others upon worldly accounts, is the grossest absurdity. it overturns the nature of christ's spiritual kingdom, founding a claim to her privileges on worldly character and property. it gives those blessed lips the lie, which said, _"my kingdom is not of this world."_ it counteracts the nature of the church, as a voluntary society; thrusting men into a momentous relation to her, without, nay contrary to, her consent. it settles the ministerial office upon a very rotten foundation: for how hard is it to believe the man is a minister of a christian congregation, who never consented to his being such! to believe he has a pastoral mission from christ, for whom providence would never open a regular door of entrance to the office; but he was obliged to be thrust in by the window, _as a thief and a robber_! if he comes unsent, how can i expect edification by his ministry, when god has declared, _such shall not profit his people at all_? it implies the most unnatural cruelty. if the law of nature allow me the choice of my physician, my servant, my guide, my master, how absurd to deny me the choice of a physician, a servant, a guide, to my soul; and to give it to another, merely because he has some more money, has a certain _piece of ground_, which i have not! how do these qualify him, or entitle him to provide, what the eternal salvation of my soul is so nearly connected with, better than myself, if taught of god? by patronage how oft the honor of christ and the souls of men are betrayed into the hands of their declared enemies! if the patron is unholy, profane, how readily the candidate he prefers is too like himself! if a candidate be faithful, be holy, how readily, like ahab in the case of micaiah, he hates, he sends not for him! the complaisant chaplain, who almost never disturbed the family with the worship of god; who along with the children or others took off his cheerful glass; sung his wanton song; attended the licentious ball, or play-house; connived at, or swore a profane oath; took a hand at cards; or ridiculed the mysteries, the experiences, the circumspect professor of the christian faith, is almost certain to have the presentation: perhaps he covenanted for it as part of his wages. for what simony, sacrilege, and deceitful perjury, with respect to ordination vows, patronage opens a door, he that runs may read. shocked with the view, let us forbear! * * * * * n.b. the london ministers in the preceding treatise have a large note respecting the election of ministers, which does not fully invest this right in the people. the editor, therefore, omitted that note altogether, and has inserted this number, extracted from brown's letters, in the place of it, as better adapted to the nature of the gospel church, and to that liberty wherewith christ has made his people free. no. v.[ ] _of the ordination and duty of ministers._ that the ordination of pastors is an ordinance of christ, the sacred volumes clearly prove. through election by suffrages (or votes) paul and barnabas ordained _elders_ (presbyters) _in every church_, acts xiv. . by paul's inspired orders titus was left at crete to ordain elders (presbyters) in every city, tit. i. . by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery was timothy himself ordained: he was apostolically authorized and directed to ordain others; and informed that these directions are to be observed, _till the day of jesus christ_, tim. iv. , . that not election, but ordination, confers the sacred office is no less evident. election marks out the person to be ordained; ordination fixes the relation of a candidate to a particular congregation, upon receiving a regular call; while at the same time it constitutes him a minister of the whole catholic church. ordination made men _presbyters_ and _deacons_, which were not so before. if a person be destitute of the distinguishing ministerial gift, or any other essential qualification, ten thousand elections or ordinations cannot render him a minister of christ. but solemnly tried and found qualified, he is to be set apart to the ministry, by prayer, fasting, and laying on of the hands of the presbytery. nowhere in the heavenly volume do we find either precept or example that christian people have a whit more right to ordain their pastor, than midwives have to baptize the children they assist to bring forth. ordination appears to have been performed by apostles, by evangelists, and by a presbytery, acts vi. , and xiv. ; tit. i. ; tim. v. , and iv. : but never by private christians. could these ordain their pastors or other ecclesiastic officers, to what purpose did paul leave titus at crete to _ordain elders in every city_? or why did he write never a word about ordination to the people, in any of his epistles, but to their rulers? thus regularly ordained, the christian pastor must enter upon his important work. endowed with spiritual wisdom and understanding; possessed of inward experience of the power of divine truth; inflamed with zeal for the glory of god, love to his work, and compassion to the perishing souls of men, he is to endeavor to acquaint himself with the spiritual state of his flock; and to feed them, not with heathenish and arminian harangues, but with the gospel of christ, the sincere milk of the word, diligently preaching and rightly dividing it, according to their diversified state and condition, pet. v. ; cor. v. ; cor. ix. . assiduously growing in the knowledge and love of divine things, he is to instruct and confirm his hearers therein. every divine truth he is to publish and apply, as opportunity calls for: chiefly such as are most important, or, though once openly confessed, are in his time attacked and denied, tim. vi. , iii. . painfully is he to catechize his people, and in jesus' name to visit and teach them from house to house. to awaken their conscience, to promote the conversion of sinners, to direct and comfort the cast down, perplexed, tempted, and deserted; to ponder the scripture, and his own and others' experience, to qualify him for this work, must be his earnest care. faithfully is he to administer the sacraments to such (only) as are duly prepared; and in the simple manner prescribed by christ. tenderly is he to take care of the poor; to sympathize with the afflicted; impartially to visit the sick; to deal plainly with their consciences, and to exhort and pray over them in the name of the lord. with impartiality, zeal, meekness, and prudence, he is to rule and govern the church, to admonish the unruly, to rebuke offenders, to excommunicate the incorrigible, and to absolve the penitent. habitually is he to give himself to effectual fervent prayer, for his flock, and for the church of god, travailing as in birth till jesus be formed in the souls of men. be a man's parts, diligence, and apparent piety what they will, negligence in this will blast his ministrations, and too clearly mark, that he is therein chiefly influenced by some carnal motive of honor or gain. finally, he is constantly to walk before his flock a distinguished pattern of sobriety, righteousness, holiness, humility, heavenliness, temperance, charity, brotherly kindness, and every good word and work. without this his ministrations appear but a solemn farce of deceit, tim. ii. ; tim. iv. ; tim. iv. . can ministers' reading of sermons consist with the dignity of their office? did jesus or his apostles ever show them an example of this? no. at nazareth, when he read his text in the book of esaias, he _closed his book_, and discoursed to the people. on the mount _he opened his mouth, and taught_: we hear not that he took out his papers and read. peter, in his sermon at pentecost, _lifted up his voice, and said_: his papers and reading we hear nothing of. after reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue of antioch in pisidia, desired paul and barnabas, not to _read_, but to _say on_. our adored saviour knew well enough how to direct his ambassadors; yet he ordered them to _go and preach_, not _read_, the gospel to every creature, luke iv. , ; matt. v. ; acts ii. , and xiii. . how hard to believe, that he who gives gifts to men, for the edifying of his body, would send the sermonist, whose memory and judgment are so insufficient, that from neither he can produce an half hour's discourse without reading it! how dull and insipid the manner! how absurdly it hinders the spirit's assistance, as to matter during the discourse! how shameful! shall the bookless lawyer warmly and sensibly plead almost insignificant trifles, and shall the ambassador of christ, deprived of his papers, be incapable to plead so short a space in favor of his master, and of the souls of men? no. vi.[ ] _of ruling elders._ the rule and government of the church, or the execution of the authority of christ therein, is in the hand of the elders. all elders in office have rule, and none have rule in the church but elders: _as such_, rule doth belong unto them. the apostles by virtue of their special office were intrusted with all church power; but therefore they were elders also, pet. v. ; john i.: see acts xxi. ; tim. i. . they are some of them on other accounts called bishops, pastors, teachers, ministers, guides; but what belongs to any of them in point of rule, or what interest they have therein, it belongs unto them as elders, and not otherwise, acts xx. , . the scriptures affirm, st, that there is a work and duty of rule in the church, distinct from the work and duty of pastoral feeding, by the preaching of the word and administration of the sacraments, acts xx. ; rom. xii. ; cor. xii. ; tim. v. ; tim. iv. ; heb. xiii. , ; rev. ii. . d. different and distinct gifts are required unto the discharge of these distinct works and duties. this belongs unto the harmony of the dispensation of the gospel. gifts are bestowed to answer all duties prescribed. hence they are the first foundation of all power, work, and duty in the church. unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of christ, that is, ability for duty, according to the measure wherein christ is pleased to grant it; eph. iv. : see also cor. xii. , , - ; rom. xii. - ; pet. iv. : wherefore different gifts are the first foundation of different offices and duties. d. that different gifts are required unto the different works of pastoral teaching on the one hand, and practical rule on the other, is evident, st, from the light of reason, and the nature of the works themselves being so different. and, d, from experience; some men are fitted by gifts for the dispensation of the word and doctrine in a way of pastoral feeding, who have no useful ability in the work of rule; and some are fitted for rule, who have no gifts for the discharge of the pastoral work in preaching, yea, it is very seldom that both these sort of gifts do concur in any eminent degree in the same persons, or without some notable defect. th. the work of rule, as distinct from teaching, is in general to watch over the walk or conversation of the members of the church with authority, exhorting, comforting, admonishing, reproving, encouraging, and directing of them, as occasion shall require. the gifts necessary hereunto are diligence, wisdom, courage, and gravity; as we shall see afterwards. the pastoral work is principally to reveal the whole counsel of god, to divide the word aright, or to labor in the word and doctrine, both as unto the general dispensation and particular application of it, in all seasons and on all occasions. hereunto spiritual wisdom, knowledge, sound judgment, experience, and utterance are required; all to be improved by continual study of the word and prayer. but this difference of gifts unto these distinct works doth not of itself constitute distinct offices, because the same persons may be suitably furnished with those of both sorts. th. yet distinct works and duties, though some were furnished with gifts for both, were a ground in the wisdom of the holy ghost, for distinct offices in the church, where one sort of them were as much as those of one office could, ordinarily attend unto, acts vi. - . ministration unto the poor of the church, for the supply of their temporal necessities, is an ordinance of christ, instituted that the apostles might give a more diligent attendance unto the word and prayer. th. the work of the ministry in prayer, and preaching of the word, or labor in the word and doctrine, whereunto the administration of the seals of the covenant is annexed, with all the duties that belong unto the special application of these things before insisted on unto the flock, are ordinarily sufficient to take up the whole man, and the utmost of their endowments who are called unto the pastoral office in the church. the very nature of the work in itself is such, as that the apostle giving a short description of it adds, as an intimation of its greatness and excellency, "who is sufficient for these things?" cor. ii. . and the manner of its performance adds unto its weight. for not to mention that intenseness of mind in the exercise of faith, love, zeal, and compassion, which is required of them in the discharge of their whole office; the diligent consideration of the state of the flock, so as to provide spiritual food for them; with a constant attendance unto the issues and effects of the word in the consciences and lives of men; is enough for the most part to take up their whole time and strength. it is gross ignorance or negligence that causeth any to be otherwise minded. as the work of the ministry is generally discharged, consisting only in a weekly provision of sermons, and the performance of some stated offices by reading, men have time and liberty enough to attend unto other occasions. but in such persons we are not at present concerned. our rule is plain, tim. iv. - . th. it doth not hence follow, that those who are called unto the ministry of the word, as pastors and teachers, who are elders also, are divested of their right to rule in the church, or discharged from the exercise of it, because others, not called unto their office, are appointed to be assistant unto them, that is, _helps in the government_. for the right and duty of rule is inseparable from the office of elders, which all bishops and pastors are. the right is still in them, and the exercise of it, consistent with their more excellent work, is required of them. the apostles in the constitution of elders in every church derogated nothing from their own authority, nor discharged themselves of their care. so when they appointed deacons to take care of supplies for the poor, they did not forego their own right, nor the exercise of their duty as their other work would permit them, gal. ii. , . and in particular the apostle paul manifested his concernment herein, in the care he took about _collection for the poor_ in all churches. th. as we observed at the entrance of this chapter, the whole work of the church, as unto authoritative teaching and rule, is committed unto the elders. for authoritative teaching and ruling, is teaching and ruling by virtue of office: and this office whereunto they do belong is that of elders, as is undeniably attested, acts xx. , &c. all that belongs unto the care, inspection, oversight, rule, fend instruction of the church, is committed unto the _elders_ of it expressly. for _elders_ is a name derived from the jews, denoting them that have _authority_ in the church. th. to the complete constitution of any church, or to the perfection of its organical state, it is required that there be _many elders_ in it; at least more than one. i do not determine what their number ought to be; but it is to be proportioned to the work and end designed. where the churches are small, the number of elders must be so also. so many are necessary in each office as are able to discharge the work which is allotted unto them. but that church, be it small or great, is defective, which hath not more elders than one; so many as are sufficient for their work. the pattern of the first churches constituted by the apostles, which it is our duty to imitate and follow as our rule, plainly declares, that many elders were appointed by them in every church, acts xi. , xiv. , xv. , , , , xvi. , xx. ; tim. v. ; phil. i. ; tit. i. ; pet. v. . th. we shall now make application of these things unto our present purpose. i say then, st, whereas there is a work of rule in the church, distinct from that of pastoral feeding: d, whereas this work is to be attended unto with diligence, which includes the whole duty of him that attends unto it: d, that the ministry of the word and prayer, with all those duties that accompany it, is a full employment for any man, and so consequently his principal and proper work, which it is unlawful for him to be remiss in, by attending on another with diligence: th, that, in the wisdom of the holy ghost, distinct works did require distinct offices for their discharge: and, th, whereas there ought to be many elders in every church, that both the works of _teaching_ and _ruling_ may be constantly attended unto; all which we have proved already: our inquiry herein is, whether the same holy spirit hath not distinguished this office of elders into those two sorts, namely, those who are called unto teaching and rule also, and those who are called unto rule only, which we affirm. the testimonies whereby the truth of this assertion is confirmed are generally known and pleaded. i shall insist on some of them only, beginning with that which is of uncontrollable evidence, if it had any thing to conflict with but prejudices and interest, and this is tim. v. , the meaning of which is, the elders or presbyters in office, elders of the church _that rule well_ or discharge their presidency for rule in due manner, are worthy, or ought to be reputed worthy, _of double honor_; especially those of them who labor, or are engaged in the great labor and travail of the word and doctrine. according to this sense the words of the text have a plain and obvious signification, which at first view presents itself unto the common sense and understanding of all men. on the first proposal of this text, that the elders that rule well are worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine, a rational man, who is unprejudiced, and never heard of the controversy about ruling elders, can hardly avoid an apprehension that there are _two sorts of elders_, some that labor in the word and doctrine, and some who do not. this is the substance of the truth in the text. there are elders in the church; there are or ought to be so in every church. with these elders the whole rule of the church is intrusted; all these, and only these, do rule in it. of these elders there are two sorts; for a description is given of one sort distinct from the other, and comparative with it. the first sort doth rule, and also labor in the word and doctrine. that these works are distinct and different was before declared: yet by the institution of christ the right of rule is inseparable from the office of pastors or teachers. for all that are rightly called thereunto are elders also, which gives them an interest in rule. but there are elders which are not pastors or teachers. for there are some who rule well, but labor not in the word and doctrine; that is, who are not pastors or teachers. elders which rule well, but labor not in the word and doctrine, are ruling elders only; for he who says, the elders who rule well are worthy of double honor, especially they who labor in the word and doctrine, saith that there are, or may be elders who rule well, who do not labor in the word and doctrine; that is, who are not obliged to do so. the argument from these words may be otherwise framed, but this contains the plain sense of this testimony. our next testimony is from the same apostle, rom. xii. , , _he that ruleth with diligence_. our argument from hence is this: there is in the church one that ruleth with authority by virtue of his office. for the discharge of this office there is a differing peculiar gift bestowed on some, ver. , and there is the special manner prescribed for the discharge of this special office, by virtue of that special gift; it is to be done with peculiar _diligence_. and this ruler is distinguished from him that exhorteth, and him that teacheth, with whose special work, as such, he hath nothing to do; even as they are distinguished from those who give and show mercy; that is, there is an elder by office in the church, whose work and duty it is to _rule_, not to exhort or teach ministerially, which is our ruling elder. he that ruleth is a distinct officer, and is expressly distinguished from all others. rule is the principal part of him that ruleth; for he is to attend unto it with _diligence_; that is, such as is peculiar unto _rule_, in contradistinction unto what is principally required in other administrations. there is the same evidence given unto the truth argued for in another testimony of the same apostle, cor. xii. : that there is here an enumeration of offices and officers in the church, both extraordinary for that season, and ordinary for continuance, is beyond exception. unto them is added the present exercise of some extraordinary gifts, as miracles, healing, tongues. that by _helps_ the deacons of the church are intended most do agree, because their original institution was as helpers in the affairs of the church. _governments_ are governors or rulers; that is, such as are distinct from teachers; such hath god placed in the church, and such there ought to be. it is said that _gifts_, not _offices_, are intended; the gift of government, or the gift for government. if god hath given gifts for government to abide in the church, distinct from those given unto _teachers_, and unto other persons than the teachers, then there is a distinct office of rule or government in the church, which is all we plead for. _of the duties of ruling elders._ st. to watch diligently over the ways, walk, and conversation of all the members of the church, to see that it be blameless, without offence, useful, exemplary, and in all things answering the holiness of the commands of christ, the honor of the gospel, and the profession thereof which they make in the world. and upon the observation which they make in the watch wherein they are placed, to instruct, admonish, charge, exhort, encourage, or comfort as they see cause. and this they are to attend unto, with courage and diligence. d. to endeavor to prevent every thing that is contrary unto that love which the lord christ requireth in a peculiar and eminent manner to be found among his disciples. this he calls his own _new command_, with respect unto his authority requiring it, his example first illustrating it in the world, and the peculiar fruits and effects of it which he revealed and taught. wherefore, the due observance of this law of love in itself and all its fruits, with the prevention, removal, or condemnation of all that is contrary unto it, is that in which the _rule of the church_ doth in a great measure consist. and considering the weakness, the passions, the temptations of men, the mutual provocations and differences that are apt to fall out even among the best, the influence that earthly objects are apt to have upon their minds, the frowardness sometimes of men's natural tempers; the attendance unto this one duty, or part of rule, requires the utmost diligence of them that are called unto it. d. to warn all the members of the church of their special church duties, that they be not found negligent or wanting in them. these are special duties required respectively of all church members, according unto the distinct talents which they have received, whether in things spiritual or temporal. some are rich and some are poor; some old and some young; some in peace and some in trouble; some have received more spiritual gifts than others, and have more opportunity for their exercise: therefore it belongs unto the rule of the church, that all be admonished, instructed, and exhorted to attend unto their respective duties, by those in _rule_, according to the observation which they make of people's diligence or negligence in them. th. to watch against the beginning of any church disorders, such as those that infested the church of corinth, or any of the like sort; and to see that the members of the church attend regularly upon the ordinances of the gospel, as by slothfulness in this, decays in faith, love, and order have insensibly prevailed in many, to the dishonor of christ, and the danger of their own souls. th. it belongs unto them also to visit the sick, and especially such as their inward or outward conditions do expose them unto more than ordinary trials in their sickness; that is, the poor, the afflicted, the tempted in any kind. this in general is a moral duty, a work of mercy; but it is moreover a peculiar church duty by virtue of divine institution, ordaining, that the disciples of christ may have all that spiritual and temporal relief, which is necessary for them, and useful to them, in their troubles and distresses. th. to assist the pastor in watching over and directing the flock, and to advise with the deacons concerning the relief of the poor. according to the advantage which they have by their peculiar inspection of the conversation of all the members of the church, they ought to acquaint the teaching elders with the state of the flock, as to their knowledge, conditions, and temptations, which may be of singular use unto them, for their direction in the exercise of their ministry. the liberal contributions at antioch for the brethren which dwelt in judea, were sent by the hands of barnabas and saul unto the elders in judea, acts xi. , . th. to unite with teaching elders in admitting members into the fellowship of the church, upon a visible evidence of their being qualified as the scriptures direct. unto them god bath given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, to open the door of admission unto those whom god hath received, matt. xvi. . th. to meet and consult with the teaching elders about such things of importance as are to be proposed to the members of the church for their consent. hence nothing rash or indigested, nothing unsuited to the duty of the church, will at any time be proposed therein, so as to give occasion for contests, janglings, or disputes, contrary to order or decency, but all things may be preserved in a due regard unto the gravity and authority of the rulers. th. to sit in judgment upon offenders, to take the proof, to weigh the evidence and determine accordingly, justifying the innocent, and ordaining censure to be inflicted on the convicted brother, according to the nature of the offence, matt. xviii. , , . th. whereas there is generally but one teaching elder in a church, upon his death or removal, it is the work and duty of the ruling elders to preserve the church in peace and unity, to take care of the continuation of its public ordinances, to prevent irregularities in any persons or parties among them, and to give all necessary aid and advice in the choice and call of some other meet person to be their pastor, in the room of the deceased or removed. conclusion. _a summary of the preceding treatise on church government,_ by question and answer. _quest_. what is meant by church government? _ans_. that particular form and order, which christ has fixed in his church, for the proper management thereof. _quest_. how does it appear that there is a particular form of government appointed in the new testament church? _ans_. as there is as great, if not greater, need of a government, in the new testament church, than there was in the old, all the ordinances of which were most minutely described. satan is now more experienced in deceiving, and his agents are still alive, and very actively employed, in attempting to waste and destroy this sacred vineyard, if without its proper hedge. her members are still a mixture of tares and wheat; of sheep and goats: so that there is still a necessity of discerning between the precious and the vile; of trying and censuring false teachers; and of guarding divine ordinances from contempt and pollution. as jesus gives the new testament church the peculiar title of the _kingdom of heaven_, he could not, in a consistency with his wisdom, leave it without any particular laws or form of government, except the changeable inclinations of men. as he was faithful in his new testament house, he must fix a particular form of government for her, such as tends to her peace, order, and spiritual edification. and, amidst the prophet's vision of the new testament church, he is directed to teach his people _the form of the house, the laws of the house_, &c., ezek. xliii. . _quest_. when may a particular form of church government be said to be of divine right? _ans_. when all the parts thereof are agreeable to scripture precepts; to approved scripture examples; or are deducible by fair scripture consequences. _quest_. how does it appear, that scripture consequences are to be admitted to prove any particular truth or doctrine? _ans_. because god has formed man a rational intelligent creature, capable of searching out the plain meaning and import, and also the necessary consequences of his express declarations. we find christ reasoning by a deduction of consequences, when he showed that the doctrine of the resurrection was revealed to moses at the burning bush; that the sixth commandment forbids angry words; and the seventh lascivious looks, luke xx. , ; matt. v. , . and a great part of the inspired epistles to the romans, galatians, and hebrews consists in such a deduction of consequences. and as all scripture is said to be profitable "for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness," tim. iii. , without a rational deduction of consequences, every portion of scripture cannot answer each of these valuable ends. _quest_. what particular form of church government may lay the only proper claim to a divine right, according to the holy scriptures? _ans_. the true presbyterian form, without that lordly dominion and tyrannical power, which has too often been exercised by courts, bearing this name. this government claimeth no power over men's bodies or estates. it does not inflict civil pains or corporal punishments. but it is a government purely spiritual, dealing with the consciences of men, and exercising the keys of the kingdom of heaven, doing all things according to the word of god. _quest_. what are the parts of presbyterial church government? _ans_. it consists of a people, having the qualifications which the scriptures require; of certain rulers, who are to perform the duties of their respective offices; and of certain courts, in which these rulers sit and act in matters of judgment. _quest_. what are the qualifications of persons who constitute the private members of the visible church? _ans_. they ought to be true believers in christ, to have a competent knowledge of the doctrines of the gospel, to make a sound profession of their faith, and to maintain a holy conversation. _quest_. what rulers are there in the presbyterian church? _ans_. preaching elders, ruling elders, and deacons. _quest_. where is the divine warrant for the preaching elder? _ans_. in the holy scriptures we find that god hath set some in the church, teachers: that our ascended redeemer hath given her pastors and teachers: that the holy ghost had made some bishops, overseers, to feed her; and qualifies some for _prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation_, cor. xii. ; eph. iv. ; acts xx. ; rom. xii. - . _quest_. what are the duties of preaching elders? _ans_. to preach the word; to dispense the ordinances of baptism and the lord's supper; to administer church discipline; and to rule and govern the church, tim. iv. ; matt. xxviii. ; cor. xi. - ; tim. v. ; tit. ii. , and iii. ; heb. xiii. ; pet. v. , . _quest_. is the office of the gospel minister instituted by god to continue to the end of time? _ans_. yes; the ends of it are of a permanent nature, the converting and confirming of the elect, and the silencing of gain-savers, acts xxvi. ; tit. i. , . _quest_. where is the divine warrant for the office of the ruling elder? _ans_. from the three following passages of sacred scripture: . from rom. xii. to : "we being many are one body in christ, and members one of another. having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence," &c. here we have a list of the ordinary officers of christ, one body, the church. here is the teacher: _he that teacheth_. here is the pastor: _he that exhorteth_. here is the deacon: _he that giveth_. and here is another officer distinct from all them, _he that ruleth_. his description attests, that _ruling_ is, if not his only, yet his principal work. he that _ruleth_ is here marked by a distinct character, as having a different _gift_, and a distinct work from his fellow-officers. this office therefore must be _distinct_. . from cor. xii. , where the _spirit of god_ informs us, that god hath set some in the church, governments. these must be understood of _governors_, as _miracles_ are afterwards explained of _workers of miracles_. these governments and governors are said to be _set_ in the church, not in the state; by god, not by men: they are declared to be distinct officers by themselves. their title, government, implies, that _ruling_ is their principal work. . from tim. v. , where the divine warrant for ruling elders shines with more peculiar brightness than anywhere in the book of god: "let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honor; especially they who labor in the word and doctrine." the ruling elders here mentioned necessarily pertain to the church. two sorts of ruling elders are here plainly distinguished: some that only rule well; others that also labor in word and doctrine. there is not one place in the new testament, nor perhaps in any greek author, where the word here translated especially does not distinguish between different persons or things, gal. vi. ; phil. iv. ; tim. iv. ; tim. iv. ; and it would be absurd to suppose, that it does not distinguish here also. therefore this single text shows the divine right of both the teaching and ruling elder. _quest_. what are the duties of ruling elders? _ans_. to exercise ecclesiastical rule in church courts with the same authority as the preaching elder; to watch over the flock; impartially to receive or exclude members; to warn and censure the unruly; and to visit and pray with the sick. _quest_. where is the divine warrant for deacons? _ans_. from acts vi., where we are informed of the original and design of their office; and from tim. iii. - , where the inspired apostle describes their necessary qualifications. _quest_. what are the duties of deacons? _ans_. to look into the state and to serve the tables of the poor, by distributing the funds of the church, according to the respective necessities of the saints, tim. iii. . _quest_. what are the courts in which presbyterian rulers meet? _ans_. congregational sessions, presbyteries, and synods. _quest_. where is the divine warrant for congregational sessions? _ans_. from matt, xviii. - , where, in the christian form of church discipline prescribed by the church's head, the concluding expression, "let him be unto thee as a heathen man and publican," plainly alludes to the jewish form of procedure in scandals. they had rulers, and consequently courts in every synagogue, or worshipping congregation, mark v. - . by virtue of letters from the high-priest to these, saul had free access to punish the christians in every synagogue, acts ix. , . to these congregational courts it pertained to cast out of the synagogue, and to order transgressors to be held for heathen men and publicans, john ix. . now jesus, in alluding to these, intimates that similar courts should be in every christian congregation. in this form of discipline our divine saviour shows his utmost aversion against private offences being unnecessarily published abroad: and therefore the church, to which the offence is to be told, after private admonition is fruitless, must be understood in the most private sense of the word. the following context evidences that it is a _church_, which may consist only of _two or three_ met together in christ's name; yet, notwithstanding, a church having power to bind and loose from censure; that is, a church having the keys of the kingdom of heaven. it cannot then be the whole congregation or body of the people, as they are in general far too numerous to conceal offences, and to them christ has given no formal judicial power, matt. xviii. - . _quest_. where is the divine warrant for a presbytery? _ans_. timothy is expressly said to be ordained by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery, tim. iv. . and the number of different christian congregations governed by one presbytery, as at jerusalem, antioch, ephesus, and corinth, proves the divine right of this court. it is shown in the xiii. chapter of the preceding treatise, that in each of these places there were more christians than could meet in one worshipping congregation, for the enjoying of public ordinances: and yet all these different congregations, at jerusalem, are expressly said to have been one church, acts viii. : so those at antioch, acts xiii. : so those at ephesus, acts xx. : and those also at corinth, cor. i. . now the question is, how were the different congregations in each of these places one church? not merely in union to christ and mutual affection one to another; for in this respect all the saints are one, whether in heaven or in earth. and therefore they are one church in virtue of conjunct government under one presbytery. and in difficult cases, or where a single congregation is so divided into parties that it cannot act impartially; where the difference is between the pastor and the people, a superior court is necessary to obtain material justice. _quest_. where is the divine warrant for an ecclesiastical synod? _ans_. in acts xv. and xvi., where we have a cause referred; the proper members of a synod convened; the ordinary and equal power exercised by all those members; the ordinary method of procedure in such courts; and the judicial decrees given by the synod; together with the effect which their judgment, in this matter, had upon the churches. _quest_. what was the cause referred to this synod? _ans_. false doctrine propagated by some judaizing teachers, who had gone down from jerusalem to antioch, and maintained that circumcision and the observance of other branches of the ceremonial law continued necessary for salvation, whereby they subverted some, and troubled other members of the churches there. after much unsuccessful disputing, paul, barnabas, and others were delegated to go up to jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this matter. _quest_. who were the proper members of the synod convened here? _ans_. the apostles and elders at jerusalem; paul, barnabas, and others, from antioch; and other commissioners from the troubled churches to whom the decrees were sent. _quest_. are not the brethren, the church, the whole church, mentioned here as well as the apostles and elders? _ans_. but none of these expressions can mean, that all the members of the church of jerusalem either were present or judged in that synod; for women, real members of the church, of the whole church, are expressly forbid to speak in the church, cor. xiv. . church sometimes signifies only a small part of the church, either as delegates or commissioners, and in this sense it is used in verse , where the commissioners from antioch are said to be brought on their way by the _church_; and in chap. xviii. , it is said that paul saluted the _church_ at jerusalem. now, it is not credible that all the christian professors at antioch would attend their commissioners a part of the way to jerusalem; or that paul saluted the many ten thousand christians at jerusalem, acts xxi. . and the _whole church_ does not necessarily mean the whole individual members of the church, more than the _whole world_ mentioned, john ii. , means every individual in the world. if any, to support a favorite opinion, will still insist that the whole members of the church actually met and judged of this affair equally with the apostles and elders, they may inform us where they obtained a proper place for so many judges to reason and determine with distinctness or order. that the brethren who joined in judgment with the apostles and elders were not private persons, but rather delegates from the troubled churches around, appears from judas and silas, two of them being preachers, v. . _quest_. how does it appear that the power of all the members was ordinary and equal? _ans_. as every member, inspired or not, acted equally in the whole business laid before them. paul and barnabas were delegated by the church of antioch: and the elders, who convened, had the same power as the apostles. to the elders, teaching or ruling, as well as to the apostles, was the matter referred: both met to consider of it: both were equally concerned in the decision, saying, _it seemed good to the holy ghost and to us_. elders, as well as apostles, imposed the necessary things upon the churches, and authoritatively determined the decrees. in the name of the elders, as well as of the apostles, the letters of the meeting, containing their decision, were written to the churches. and the only reason why the inspired members put themselves on an equality with others was to exhibit a pattern to after ages. _quest_. how does it appear, that this synod followed the ordinary method of procedure in such courts? _ans_. as they examined the cause by much reasoning and dispute. in consequence of mature deliberation they determined the question, and sent letters, containing their decrees, by proper messengers, to the churches concerned. in their disputation they reasoned from the oracles of god: on these they founded their decision; and hence therein they say, _it seemed good to the holy ghost, and to us_. and if this had not been to have given a pattern to succeeding ages, all this was unnecessary: how absurd for inspired men to reason and dispute on the subject, when the sentence of one inspired was sufficient for decision! _quest_. how does it appear that there were judicial decrees given by this synod? _ans_. in opposition to the false doctrine taught, they, by a judicial decision, plainly declared, that obedience to the ceremonies of the law of moses was no longer necessary: and by a decree for promoting decency and good order, they enacted, that to avoid offence, the believing gentiles should abstain from fornication, from things strangled, and from blood, verse - . _quest_. what effect had the decision of this synod upon the churches? _ans_. they cheerfully submitted to these _decrees_, and were by them conformed in the faith, comforted in heart, and increased in number daily, acts xv. , and xvi. , . _quest_. but might not this be a meeting merely for consultation, and their decision a mere advice? _ans_. no: for every word here used imports authority. the word translated _lay upon_, commonly signifies an authoritative imposition, matt. xxiii. . the decision is expressly called a _necessary burden_, and _decrees ordained_, which imply power and authority, acts xv. , xvii. . _quest_. how does it appear that inferior courts are subordinate to those that are superior; sessions to presbyteries, and presbyteries to synods? _ans_. the true light of nature (which is proved, chap, iii., to be one of those ways, whereby a thing is of divine right) teacheth us, that, if we be injured by an inferior court, we may appeal to a higher court for redress, if there be one. as in the jewish church there was evidently a subordination of judicatories, so that those injured in the synagogue might appeal to the sanhedrin, deut. xvii. , ; chron. xix. , ; exod. xviii. , ; ps. cxxii. : therefore as our dangers, difficulties, and necessities are as great as theirs, by reason of false teachers and corrupt doctrines, which were foretold should appear in the last times, tim. iv. ; pet. ii. ; we cannot, without dishonor to christ, suppose that he would deprive us of a proper remedy for redressing our grievances, which was afforded unto them:--the gradual advance in managing offences prescribed by christ himself, matt. xviii. , as his care for the whole church cannot be less than for a single member. if then an inferior judicatory offend or injure us, we ought to carry the matter to another that has more influence and authority. if the offending judicatory neglect to hear this, we ought to tell the offence to the church in the highest sense, that redress may be obtained--the apostle paul declaring, _that the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets_. but the right of reference or appeal from an inferior to a superior court is most clearly evinced from the case of the presbytery of antioch, respecting circumcision, being referred for decision to the synod of jerusalem, and their readily submitting to its determination, acts xv. _quest_. how does it appear that no power of authority is lodged in the body of the people, the private members of the church? _ans_. although every church member has a right to all the spiritual privileges purchased with the saviour's blood, and given to the church, as need requires; although he has a right to try the spirits, and to prove all things by the word of god; a power to choose the church officers who are immediately to rule over him; yet the holy scriptures allow the exercise of no official power to the private members of the church. not the christian people, but their pastors have power to preach the gospel, rom. x. ; and to administer the sacraments, those mysteries of god, which are connected with preaching, cor. iv. ; matt. xxviii. . not the people, but their rulers, are divinely warranted. timothy was ordained, not by the people, but by the presbytery: elders, not by the people, but by paul and barnabas: and deacons, not by the people, but by the apostles, tim. iv. ; acts xiv. , and vi. , . not the people, but their rulers are to censure the scandalous, and to absolve the penitent, matt. xviii. ; cor. v. the scripture nowhere ascribes to the people any such characters as imply authority lodged in them; but the contrary. instead of being styled pastors, they are called the _flock_, watched over and fed; instead of overseers, the family overseen; instead of _rulers, guides, governors_, they are called the _body_ governed, the persons subject in the lord, and they are solemnly charged to know, honor, obey, and submit to those that are over them. _quest_. what is the proper method of dealing with persons that fall into scandal? _ans_. if the offence be known only to one or to a few, the offender is to be told his fault secretly, with christian meekness, plainness, and love. if he profess his sorrow and resolution to amend, the whole matter ought to be carefully concealed; and those offended ought to be well pleased that their offending brother is gained. if, after one or more secret reproofs, he continue impenitent, defending his fault, one or two more christian brethren, grave, judicious, and meek, are to be taken along, and the offender to be dealt with by them, and in their presence. if now he appear to repent, the several persons concerned in his reproof are, with care and in love, to conceal his offence, lest, by divulging it, they be reproached as wicked calumniators. if the offender contemn one or more such private admonitions or reproofs, or if his scandal be of such a nature that it will necessarily become public, the affair is to be told to the church court, to which he is most immediately subject. and, to bring him to a due sense of his fault, he is to be there dealt with in a prudent, affectionate, plain, and convincing manner. if this prove a means of bringing him to a sense of his offence, the censures of the church are to be executed upon him according to the laws of christ's house, and the nature of his crime, and he is to be restored to the privileges of the church. but if, after due pains taken by the judicatories, he remain obstinate, he is then to be cast out of the church, and held as a heathen man and publican, matt. xviii. to . the end. contents. page. preface part i. chap. i.--that there is a government in the church of divine right now under the new testament chap. ii.--of the nature of a divine right in general chap. iii.--of a divine right in particular, which is five ways; first, by the true light of nature chap. iv.--of a divine right, second, by obligatory scripture examples chap. v.--of a divine right, third, by god's approbation chap. vi.--of a divine right, fourth, by divine acts chap. vii.--of a divine right, fifth, by divine precepts part ii. chap. i.--a description of church government chap. ii.--the subject described, and the terms church government briefly defined chap. iii.--the general nature of church government, viz., power or authority chap. iv.--the special difference of church government from other governments, as to the special rule of it, viz., the holy scriptures chap. v.--the proper fountain from which church government is derived, so as to constitute it of divine authority, viz., jesus christ our mediator chap. vi.--the peculiar nature of this power and authority chap. vii.--the several acts about which this power and authority is exercised, viz., doctrine and discipline chap. viii.--the end and design of this government of the church chap. ix.--the peculiar subject intrusted by christ with this power, and the execution thereof according to the scriptures sect. i.--the power granted to the civil magistrate about the church sect. ii.--the power utterly refused him in church affairs chap. x.--that the community of the faithful, or body of the people, are not the immediate subject of the power of church government chap. xi.--that christ's own officers are the immediate subject of it; pastors and ruling elders the divine right of the ruling elder at large the divine right of the deacon chap. xii.--the divine right of congregational elderships, or kirk sessions, for the government of the church chap. xiii.--the divine right of presbyteries, consisting of rulers from different neighboring congregations chap. xiv.--the divine right of synods chap. xv.--the subordination of particular congregations to greater assemblies, for their judicial determination of ecclesiastical causes, proved to be of divine right appendix. no. i.--of the qualifications and duties of church members no. ii.--who have a right to preach the gospel no. iii.--on the same subject no. iv.--on the people's right to choose their own pastors no. v.--on the ordination and duty of ministers no. vi.--of ruling elders, from dr. owen conclusion footnotes: [footnote : the substance of this number is extracted from ford's gospel church, printed .] [footnote : john xvi. , ; cor. v. ; eph. ii. , .] [footnote : col. ii. ; cor. vi. , .] [footnote : col. i. .] [footnote : pet. ii. .] [footnote : from brown's letters.] [footnote : extracted from the christian magazine for sept. --a periodical publication well worth the perusal of the friends of evangelical doctrine.] [footnote : from brown's letters.] [footnote : this number is a summary of dr. owen's arguments in favor of the divine right of the ruling elder, with an abstract of the duties which he ought to perform. although the doctor was a professed independent, yet he was entirely different, both in doctrine and church government, from any in scotland that bear that name, as all who are acquainted with his works will easily observe. the writer of his life asserts that he heard him say, "he could readily join with presbytery as it was exercised in scotland." and indeed it appears very probable that the difference between the consultative synod which he allows, and the authoritative synod contended for by true presbyterians, is not so far different as many apprehend, because the decisions of either bind the conscience only as they are agreeable to the holy ghost speaking in the scriptures.] presbyterian worship its spirit method and history by robert johnston, d.d., london. toronto; the publishers' syndicate, limited. introduction. the worship of the sanctuary is a living subject of discussion and practice in the presbyterian churches of the world at large, and, within late years, in that of the canadian dominion. many earnest minds are approaching the study of the subject from various standpoints, each worthy of attentive consideration. one regards it from the dogmatic position of scriptural precedent, or from the larger one of christian principle; the aesthetic mind comes to it with visions of order and beauty; the practical, with his view of the church's needs in mission fields and in mixed congregations. there is room in the discussion for the largest statement of lawful opinion, founded on conviction of absolute right, and on christian expediency, and for the exercise of abundant charity. dr. johnston gives no uncertain sound on the subject. to his mind the duty of the church, first and last, is to preserve spirituality of worship, and to discountenance everything that may tend to interfere with the same. but, while this spirit pervades his work, his method is historical, and thus preeminently fair and impartial in statement. the presentation of the argument in concrete or historical form invests it with an interest which could hardly be commanded by either dogmatic or practical methods, while it excludes neither. dr. johnston brings to his task ripe scholarship, including extensive knowledge of church history and ecclesiology, his proficiency in which he has recently vindicated in such a manner as to leave no room for doubt. to this he adds the teaching of pastoral experience in mission fields, prior to his ordination, and, since then, in large and influential congregations; and, to crown the whole, heartfelt devotion to the church of his fathers, and unswerving personal loyalty to its king and head. with adoring thanks to the great teacher of us all, who rewards professors in their declining years with the affectionate regard of their whilom best students, now become wise and strong men in the church's service, i cordially commend to all who may read these words, this outcome of dr. johnston's christian erudition and conscientious literary labor. (signature of john campbell) presbyterian college, montreal, march, . to one who loved the house of god on earth, and worships now in the city wherein is no temple-- my mother. contents. chapter i. the law and the liberty of presbyterian worship chapter ii. the age of knox: the formative period of presbyterian worship chapter iii. knox's book of common order. chapter iv. a diet of public worship in the time of knox chapter v. the period of controversy chapter vi. the westminster assembly and the directory of worship chapter vii. legislation concerning public worship in the period subsequent to the revolution chapter viii. presbyterian worship outside of the established church of scotland chapter ix. modern movements in presbyterian churches respecting public worship chapter x. conclusion "inward truth of heart alone, is what the lord requires. exercises superadded are to be approved, so far as they are subservient to truth, useful incitements, or marks of profession to attest our faith to men. nor do we reject things tending to the preservation of order and discipline. but when consciences are put under fetters, and bound by religious obligations, in matters in which god willed them to be free, then must we boldly protest in order that the worship of god be not vitiated by human fictions."--calvin. prefatory note. the purpose in the following pages is a simple one. it is to discover the trend of thought in connection with public worship within the presbyterian church, particularly in scotland, during the course of her history since the reformation. the spirit of the church in her stirring and formative periods, especially if that spirit is a constant one, is pregnant with instruction. such a constant spirit is readily discovered by a study of the attitude of the presbyterian church towards the subject of public worship during the course of her history, and to the writer it seems very evident that that spirit indicates an increasing suspicion of liturgical forms in worship, and a growing confidence in, and desire for, the liberty of untrammeled approach to god. whether this spirit be the best or not, it is not the purpose of these pages to discuss. the great principle of the liberty of the church in matters of detail, is fully recognized, a principle ever to be sedulously guarded, but an appeal is made to the record of history for its evidence as to the historic attitude of the presbyterian church, on a question which to-day is claiming the earnest attention of those who desire for that church fidelity to her lord and efficiency in his work. my indebtedness in the study of this subject to dr. mccrie's cunningham lectures on "scottish presbyterian worship," brown's "life of john knox," sprott's "scottish liturgies" and baird's "eutaxia," as well as to various histories of the reformation in scotland, and for american church history to moore's and alexander's valuable digests, i gladly and with gratitude acknowledge. an abundant and increasing literature upon the subject of public worship is an encouraging sign of the attention which the church is giving to a matter so vital to its best life. r. j. st. andrew's manse, london, january, . the law and the liberty of presbyterian worship. "while it is admitted that there is a form of government prescribed or instituted in the new testament, so far as its general principles or features are concerned, there is a wide discretion allowed us by god in matters of detail, which no man or set of men, which neither civil magistrates nor ecclesiastical rulers can take from us."--hodge. chapter i. the law and the liberty of presbyterian worship. "the word of god, which is contained in the scriptures of the old and new testaments, is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him."--westminster catechism. the church of christ, as a divine communion, exists in the world for a definite and appointed purpose. this purpose may be declared to be twofold, and may be described by the terms "witness" and "worship." it is the evident design of god that the visible church should bear witness to his existence and character, to his revelation and providence, and to his grace towards mankind, manifested in his son, jesus christ. to israel god said, "ye are my witnesses," and to his disciples forming the nucleus of the new testament church, the risen saviour said, "ye shall be witnesses unto me." side by side with this evident end of the church's existence is the other one of worship. not only from the individual heart does god require ascriptions of praise and expressions of confidence, but from the organized congregation of his people, he desires to hear the voice of adoration, contrition, and supplication. the cultivation of such worship, and the offering of it in a manner acceptable to god, is a work worthy of the church's most earnest care. it is to be expected, therefore, that in the word of god there shall be found the principles of a cultus which, possessing divine authority, shall carry with it the assurance of its sufficiency for the ends aimed at, and of its suitability to the requirements of the church in every age. that the word of god contains such principles clearly indicated, the presbyterian church has always maintained, teaching uniformly and emphatically that holy scripture contains all that is necessary for the guidance of the church, as well in matters of polity and worship, as in those of doctrine. divine worship, therefore, neither in its constant elements nor in its methods, is a matter of mere human device, nor is the church at liberty to devise or to adopt aught that is not explicitly stated or implicitly contained in the word of god for her guidance. the essential parts of worship we are at no loss to discover, clearly indicated as they are in the history of the apostolic church. praise and prayer, with the reading and exposition of scripture, together with the celebration of the sacraments, are repeatedly referred to as those exercises in which the early christians engaged. with such worship, though in more elaborate form, the church had always been familiar, for as christianity itself was in so many respects the fruit and outcome of judaism, the expansion, into principles of world-wide and perpetual application, of truths that had hitherto been national and local, so its worship and organization were, in large measure, the adaptation of familiar forms to those simpler and more comprehensive ones of the new testament church. throughout the successive periods of israel's history, marked by patriarch, psalmist, and prophet, divine worship had grown from simple sacrifice at a family altar to an elaborate temple-ritual, in which praise and prayer and the reading of the law occupied a prominent place; to this were added in later times the exposition of the law and the reading of the prophets. this service, elaborate with magnificent and imposing forms, continued in connection with the temple worship down to the time of our saviour, while in the synagogue a simpler service, combining all the essential parts of the former with the exception of sacrifice, was developed during the period subsequent to the babylonian captivity, when, as is generally conceded, the synagogue with its service had its origin. apart then from the ritual connected with sacrifice, which was wholly typical, the temple service and the simpler worship of the synagogue were identical in their different parts, although differing widely in form. now, just as christianity was itself not a substitute for the jewish religion but a development and enlargement of it, so christian worship was an outgrowth, with larger meaning and broader application, of the worship of god which for centuries had been conducted among the jews. it continued to comprise the essential elements of prayer and praise, together with the reading and exposition of the divine message, a message which was enlarged in apostolic times by the record concerning the christ who had come, and by the inspired writings of the apostles of our lord to the church which they had been commissioned to plant and foster, while associated with these was the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the lord's supper. it has always been maintained by the presbyterian church, that of these different elements of worship, none should be neglected, inasmuch as all of them have divine sanction, and that to these nothing should be added, inasmuch as any addition made, could possess human sanction only, and would be a transgression of the principle that scripture and scripture alone contains authority for the government and practice of the church of jesus christ. it follows that in the arrangement and adjustment of each of these various parts of worship, in their due relation to each other, and in the determination of the methods that shall prevail in their performance, the church must be governed by an appreciation of the purpose for which they have been established, and of the ends which they are expected to serve. the object of public worship must ever be kept in view, and no forms, however attractive, are to be admitted by which that object may be hidden or obscured: on the other hand, order and seemliness demand a due attention, and it is an error, only less mischievous than the former, to have regard to the spirit of worship alone, and thus to neglect whatever suitable forms and methods may best secure the orderly and appropriate performance of its every part. the most commonly recognized purpose of public worship is the cultivation of the spiritual life of the worshipper, and this is attained by the employment of means intended to bring the soul into an attitude of response to its lord. it follows then that matters of form, attitude, and order in worship, should be so arranged and regulated that they may serve as aids to the securing of this end, and that nothing should be permitted which may in any way interfere with the development of this spirit of response on the part of those so engaged. and when it is remembered how small a matter may interfere with the worship of a congregation, and how easily disturbed and distracted the hearts of men are by untoward circumstances or conditions, it will be seen that not only the forms of worship demand attention, but that the order of its different parts, the attitude of the worshippers, and all matters of detail are worthy of careful thought and of earnest consideration. but christian worship has an altruistic aim also, and is intended to serve as a witness before the world to those fundamental truths professed by the christian church. with this end in view, it is evident that its forms should be such as shall most clearly and effectively set forth before the eyes of beholders, those truths and principles which the church holds as essential to christian faith and practice. to obscure such a public declaration of christian belief, by hiding these truths beneath an elaborate adornment that disguises or completely conceals them, is to be faithless to the commission of jesus christ to be a witness unto him before the world; to neglect such witness-bearing, or by carelessness or inattention to detail, to render it in a manner so ineffective as to disparage the truth in the eyes of beholders, is to be none the less unfaithful to that great commission. with the twofold purpose of worship clearly kept in view as the foundation for any discussion of this subject, it is also to be remembered that the church of christ is left free by her divine king and head, so to order matters of detail, under the guidance of the spirit of truth, and in harmony with the principles laid down in scripture, as may in accordance with varying ages and circumstances seem best for the attainment of the ends desired. while christian worship in its essential parts is prescribed by scripture, the church is free to amplify or develop these general outlines, provided only that all be in harmony with the spirit of revelation. it is very evident that new conditions of a progressive civilization, the spirit of the times, or the particular circumstances of a community, may make desirable a modification of a particular method of worship long practised; it is for the church, relying ever on the guidance of the spirit of truth, to determine how such modification may, without violation to the spirit of scripture, be made. for this reason it can never be binding upon the church to accept as final, the particular methods of worship used and found suitable by men of another age or another land; while such may be accepted as valuable for suggestions contained, and as indicating the spirit that controlled good and great men of another time, yet the church can only accept them (in loyalty to the spirit who abides in her, and who is hers in every age) in so far as they prove themselves suitable to present times and conditions. the present possession by the church, of the holy spirit as a guide into all truth, according to the promise of christ to his disciples, is a doctrine that no branch of the church would readily surrender, and her right, under that guidance, to seek the good of the body of christ on lines which, while consistent with the principles of scripture, commend themselves to her as more suitable to present conditions than former methods, this right is one which she can part with only at the risk of endangering her usefulness to her own age. to presbyterians, therefore, thankful as they are for an historic past that has in it so much to arouse gratitude to god and loyalty to the church they love, the citing of the practice of their forefathers in reformation times, or even that of the early fathers of the church, can never be a final argument for the acceptance of any particular method in worship. believing in a church in which the spirit of god as truly governs and guides to-day as he did in reformation or post-apostolic times, and in a christian liberty of which neither the practice nor legislation of holy men of the past can deprive them, they rightly refuse to surrender their liberty or to retire from their responsibility. in the best and truest sense the presbyterian church is apostolic, and her spiritual succession from the apostles she cherishes with an unfaltering confidence. while rejecting the ritual theory of the church, she has never been careless of the true succession of faith and doctrine and practice from the time of the apostles to the present day, a succession to which she lays a not unworthy claim; and, claiming loyalty to apostolic doctrine, polity and practice, she has ever been jealous in asserting her divine right, as an apostolic church, to the controlling presence and guiding wisdom of the holy spirit of god. under the guidance of that spirit she has ever claimed, and still claims, the right of administering the government and directing the worship which, in their essential principles, are set forth in scripture, neither superciliously regarding herself in any age as independent of those who have gone before, and so disregarding the legislation and practice of the fathers, nor, on the other hand, slavishly accepting such legislation and practice as binding upon the church for all time, and as excluding for ever any progress or change. that spirit, at once of independence as regards man, and of dependence as regards god, has characterized presbyterianism in its most vigorous and progressive periods; by that spirit must it still be characterized if, in succeeding ages, the work allotted to it is to be faithfully and well performed. if then the church of one age is so independent of those who in other times have served her, it may be asked of what interest is her past history to us of to-day, and of what benefit to us is a knowledge of the legislation and practice of the church in other periods of her progress? of much value in every way is such knowledge. those periods in particular, in which the church has made notable progress, and in which her life has evidently been characterized by much of the holy spirit's presence and power, may well be studied, as times when those in authority were, indeed, led to wise measures, and guided to those methods of administration and practice, which by their success approved themselves as enjoying the divine favor; the lamp of experience is one which wise men will never treat with indifference. in studying the reformation period, therefore, a period marked by special activity and progress within the presbyterian church, we do so, not so much to discover forms which we may adopt and imitate, as to discover the spirit which moved the leaders in the church of that day, and the principles which governed them in formulating those regulations, and in adopting those practices, which proved suitable and successful in their own age. to emulate the spirit of brave and wise men of the past is the part of wisdom, to imitate their methods may be the extreme of folly. another result, and one equally desirable, will be attained by a study of presbyterian practice from reformation times onward. it will transpire, as we follow the history of public worship, by what paths we have arrived at our present position, and we shall discover whether that position is the result of diligent and careful search after those methods most in accord with scripture principles, and so best suited to the different periods through which in her progress the church has passed, or whether it is due to a temporary neglect of such principles, and a disregard of the changing necessities of different ages. we shall discover, in a word, whether we have advanced, in dependence upon the spirit of god and in recognition of our responsibilities, or whether we have retrograded through self-trust and indifference. the age of knox: the formative period of presbyterian worship. "among the great personages of the past it would be difficult to name one who in the same degree has vitalized and dominated the collective energies of his countrymen."--brown's life of knox. chapter ii. the age of knox: the formative period of presbyterian worship. it was in the year that the reformed religion was officially recognized by the estates of the realm of scotland, as the faith of the nation. this recognition consisted in the adoption by parliament of the first scottish confession, a formula drawn up by knox and his brethren at parliament's request, and formally approved by that body as "wholesome and sound doctrine grounded upon the infallible truth of god's word." this year may, therefore, be regarded as the year of the birth of the church of scotland, although previous to it the reformed faith had been preached, and its worship practised, in many parts of the land where nobles and barons, who had themselves adopted it, held individual or united sway. a glance at the condition of affairs in scotland in the years immediately prior to this event will be instructive. in , as a result of knox's rebuke of the scottish nobles for their hesitancy in forwarding the reformed faith, the "confederation of the lords of the congregation" was formed, and its members subscribed to the first of the five covenants that played so important a part in the religious history of scotland. in this covenant, those subscribing bound themselves to "maintain and further the blessed word of god and his congregation and to renounce the congregation of satan with all the superstitions, abominations and idolatry thereof." to the general declaration were appended two particular resolutions, in which was expressed a determination to further the preaching of the word, in the meantime, in private houses, and to insist on the use of king edward's prayer book in parishes under the control of subscribers to the covenant. by these same protestant lords and commoners the first official order, authorizing for their own parishes a form of reformed worship in scotland, was issued in these terms:-- "it is ordained that the common prayers be read weekly on sunday, and other festival days, publicly in the parish kirks with the lessons of the old and new testaments conform to the order of the book of common prayer." it is generally conceded, and the judgment is supported by the references to it in scottish history, that this book of common prayer thus authorized was the second book of king edward the sixth. from the year until the arrival of knox in scotland in this was the book commonly used in parishes where the reformed religion prevailed. it disappeared, however, as so much else of a foreign character disappeared, in the course of the national reformation, giving place to the book prepared by knox and then commonly known as "the book of our common order" but now frequently referred to as "knox's liturgy." this was originally the work of knox and four associate reformers living in exile in frankfort-on-the-main, and the history of its origin is interesting. it had been required of the english refugees living at frankfort, as a condition of their being allowed to use for worship the french church of that town, that they should adopt the order of worship of the french reformed church. to this requirement the majority agreed, but, some objecting, it was finally determined that five of their number, of whom knox was one, should draw up a new order of service. this work, undertaken in , was duly accomplished, but when completed it failed to find acceptance at the hands of those who had proposed it. the draft of the new book was therefore laid aside until , and was then published for the use of the church at geneva, of which knox in the meantime had become the minister. there is in connection with this book, and the debates and disturbances attending its preparation, one instructive fact that should not be forgotten. the english prayer book provided for responses by the people and included the litany, to both of which the french reformed church objected, in accordance with the well-known opinions of their great leader calvin, who held, as did also his disciple knox, that in praise alone should the congregation audibly join in public worship. among the english refugees were some who desired the privilege of responding in public worship according to the english fashion, and it was the persistence in this matter of cox, afterwards bishop of ely, and of some of his co-patriots, that led to knox's removal to geneva, and to the publication there of the book of geneva as an order for public worship in the english congregation to which he ministered. it is important that this should be remembered, for in speaking of the book of common order as "knox's liturgy," and thus giving to it a name by which it was never known in knox's day, an impression has prevailed, and is still prevalent, that the book provided a form of worship liturgical in character, with a responsive service, while the fact is that knox made no provision for even so much as the saying of "amen" by the people, their part in prayer being the silent following in their hearts of the petitions uttered by the reader or the preacher for the day. the first official recognition of this book in scotland was in , when an order of the general assembly required that it should be uniformly used in the administration of the sacraments, solemnization of marriage and burial of the dead. at this time it was still in its genevan form, and was called "the form of prayers and ministration of the sacraments, etc., used in the english congregation at geneva; and approved by the famous and godly-learned man, m. john calvin." two years later, in , a scottish edition appeared, in which were additional prayers with the complete copy of the psalter, and in this year the general assembly ordained that: "every minister, exhorter and reader shall have one of the psalm books lately printed in edinborough, and use the order contained therein in prayers, marriage and ministration of the sacraments." this book was called "the form of prayers and ministration of the sacraments, etc., used in the english church at geneva approved and received by the church of scotland, whereunto besides that was in the former books are also added sundry other prayers with the whole psalms of david in english metre." as the psalms occupied by far the greater part of the book it came to be commonly known as "the psalm book," and as such, with frequent additions, among which were several hymns and doxologies, it continued to be the recognized book of common order of the scottish church down to the time of the westminster assembly. it cannot be claimed, however, that this book ever secured a firm or lasting hold upon the affections of the scottish people in general. its authority was ecclesiastical only, inasmuch as the estates of the realm never gave to it the official sanction which they had repeatedly granted to king edward's prayer book. one reason for this evident want of popularity may have been that, except in its psalter department and in some of its minor parts, it was a book for the clergy only and not for the people. even the psalms in those days passed through new editions so rapidly, and were subjected to such serious changes, that they never obtained the place in the affections of the people that later versions have secured, and by the book of common order appears to have fallen into such comparative neglect that no strong resistance was made to its abolition in favor of the directory of worship. that it was held in esteem by the clergy, although not so revered as to be looked upon as incapable of improvement, appears from the fact that in a proposal was made to revise it, together with the confession of faith, which had been prepared by knox. this work was committed to alexander henderson, the renowned minister of leuchars and the valiant leader of the church of scotland in her resistance against the tyranny of charles the first and his minister, laud. the revision, however, was never accomplished, henderson confessing, according to the historian, baillie, that he could not take upon him "either to determine some points controverted, or to set down other forms of prayer than we have in our psalm book, penned by our great and divine reformer." a book which held for so long a time its place of authority in the scottish church, and which embodied during so important a period the law of the church concerning worship, deserves particular study at the hands of those who are interested in the history of this important subject, but inasmuch as the form of worship alone is under discussion, it will be necessary to refer only to those parts of it which bear on this phase of the church's practice. before doing so, however, it will be instructive to notice what is too frequently overlooked, that the adoption of knox's book of common order by the scottish church indicates even in that age a desire for forms of worship less liturgical than those which were employed by other parts of the reformed church. it is to be remembered that those parishes in which the reformed religion prevailed had been accustomed to the use of the english book of common prayer with responsive services for the people, and with prayers from which the minister was not supposed to deviate. this book was set aside, and in its place was adopted an order of worship in no part of which provision was made for responses, and in all of whose prayers the minister was not only allowed freedom, but was encouraged to exercise the same. such action on the part of men accustomed to make changes only after careful deliberation, clearly indicates an intelligent choice of a non-liturgical service as opposed to one of the opposite character. more than this, the scottish book of common order is marked by an even greater freedom from prescribed forms than is calvin's original book of geneva from which knox copied so largely. for while both of them agreed in avoiding a responsive service, knox seems to have been even less than calvin in sympathy with prescribed forms of prayer from which no deviation was to be allowed. there is nothing to indicate that knox would have agreed with the sentiment expressed in calvin's letter to the protector somerset, in which he says: "as to what concerns a form of prayer and ecclesiastical rites, i highly approve of it, that there be a certain form from which the ministers be not allowed to vary.... therefore there ought to be a stated form of prayer and administration of the sacraments." the form of church prayers, as originally prepared by calvin in keeping with his sentiments above expressed, do not provide for any variation in certain parts of the service. the scottish book of common order, however, allows, in its every part, for the operation of the free spirit of god, and for other prayers to be offered by the minister than those there suggested. at this period of its history, therefore, we find the church of scotland more pronounced than any other section of the reformed church in its desire for freedom from prescribed forms in the worship of god. indeed, we are probably not in error in judging that in different circumstances, with an educated ministry in the church and those appointed as leaders of worship who had received training for that important work, knox would have felt even such a book as that which he prepared, to be both unnecessary and undesirable. knox's book of common order. "the book of common order is best described as a discretionary liturgy."--sprott. chapter iii. knox's book of common order. the book of common order makes no reference to the reading of scripture as a part of public worship, nor does it, after the fashion of many similar books, contain a table of scriptures to be read during the year. this omission however, is amended by an ordinance found in the first book of discipline prepared by knox in , and adopted by the general assembly of that year, by which it is declared to be: "a thing most expedient and necessary that every kirk have a bible in english, and that the people be commanded to convene and hear the plain reading and interpretation of the scripture as the kirk shall appoint." it was further enjoined by the same authority and at the same time that: "each book of the bible should be begun and read through in order to the end, and that there should be no skipping and divigation from place to place of scripture, be it in reading or be it in preaching." it is evident, therefore, that it was the purpose of knox that the whole of holy scripture should be publicly read for edification, and that it should be read as god's message to men and not as an exercise subordinate to the preaching, or intended merely to throw light upon the subject of the discourse. in connection with the reading of scripture and of the prayers, mention is made, in this same book of discipline, of an order of church officers who filled an important place in the church of that time. it was ordained that where "no ministers could be had presently" the common prayers and scriptures should be read by the most suitable persons that could be selected. these suitable persons came to be known as "readers," and they form a distinct class of ecclesiastical officers in the reformation church of scotland. the need of such an order was evident, for the church found great difficulty in securing men of the requisite gifts and graces for the office of the ministry. the readers therefore, formed an important and numerous order in the church for many years, numbering at one time no less than seven hundred, while at the same time there was less than half that number of ordained ministers. these men were not allowed to preach or to administer the sacraments, and they formed only a temporary order required by the exigencies of the times, as is evident from the fact that the general assembly of , in the hope that all parishes would soon be supplied with ordained ministers, forbade any further appointment of readers. in the mind of knox, these men were the successors to the _lectors_ of the early church, and corresponded in scotland to the _docteurs_ of the swiss reformed church, a church whose organization he regarded as but little less than perfect. although they conducted a part of the service in parishes where ministers regularly preached, yet in the original idea of the office the intention was that they should conduct public worship, in its departments of prayer and praise and reading of the scriptures, only in parishes where a minister could not be secured. it is necessary to understand their office and their position in the church, inasmuch as the existence of such an order has a bearing upon our appreciation of the form of public worship at this time adopted in scotland. in the exercise of public prayer the greatest freedom was granted the minister by the book of common order. calvin had prescribed a form of confession, the uniform use of which he required, but the general confession with which the service of the book of common order opened, was governed by this rubric: "when the congregation is assembled at the hour appointed, the minister useth this confession, _or like in effect_, exhorting the people diligently to examine themselves, following in their hearts the tenor of his words." similar liberty was also allowed the minister in the prayer which followed the singing of the psalms and preceded the sermon; the rubric governing this directed that: "this done, the people sing a psalm all together in a plain tune; which ended, the minister prayeth for the assistance of god's holy spirit _as the same shall move his heart_, and so proceedeth to the sermon, using after the sermon this prayer following, _or such like_." and finally, as governing the whole order of worship, it is added: "it shall not be necessary for the minister daily to repeat all these things before mentioned, but, beginning with some manner of confession, to proceed to the sermon, which ended _he either useth the prayer for all estates before mentioned or else prayeth as the spirit of god shall move his heart_, framing the same according to the time and matter which he hath entreated of. and if there shall be at any time any present plague, famine, pestilence, war, or such like, which be evident tokens of god's wrath, as it is our part to acknowledge our sins to be the occasion thereof, so are we appointed by the scriptures to give ourselves to mourning, fasting and prayer as the means to turn away god's heavy displeasure. therefore it shall be convenient that the minister at such time do not only admonish the people thereof, but also use some form of prayer, according as the present necessity requireth, to the which he may appoint, by a common consent, some several day after the sermon, weekly to be observed." the liberty allowed to the minister in this so important part of public worship is evident, and although many prayers are added as suitable for particular times and occasions, and some, which are described as of common use under certain circumstances and by particular churches, yet none of them are prescribed as the _only_ prayers proper for any particular season or occasion. even in the administration of the lord's supper, the directions which accompany the prayer which precedes the distribution of the bread and wine allows a similar latitude to the minister. "then he taketh bread and giveth thanks, either in these words following _or like in effect_." the student of the life of the great scottish reformer does not need to be told that the framer of the book of common order was not himself bound by any particular form of prayer in public worship. on the occasion of his memorable sermon after the death of the regent moray, his prayer at its close was the passionate outburst of a burdened soul, impossible to one restricted by prescribed forms, while his prayer, which is still preserved, on the occasion of a national thanksgiving, is an illustration of the perhaps not excellent way in which, in this exercise, he was accustomed to combine devotion and practical politics; a part of it ran thus: "and seeing that nothing is more odious in thy presence, o lord, than is ingratitude and violation of an oath and covenant made in thy name: and seeing that thou hast made our confederates of england the instruments by whom we are now set at liberty, to whom we in thy name have promised mutual faith again; let us never fall to that unkindness, o lord, that either we declare ourselves unthankful unto them, or profaners of thy holy name." it is not surprising that one who allowed himself such liberty in public prayer should lay no binding forms upon his brethren in the ministry. it remains only to be said, with regard to the restrictions of the book of common order, that so far from providing any fixed form of prayer for uniform, use, even the lord's prayer was not imposed in any part of public worship. it is added, together with the creed, to the form of prayer called "a prayer for the whole estate of christ's church," but this prayer is governed by the general rubric already quoted, which permits such variation as the minister, moved by the spirit of god, shall deem desirable. there is nothing to show that it was expected that the lord's prayer should be used as an invariable part of public worship. with these facts before us, whatever our judgment may be of the wisdom of knox and of the church of his day in the matter of a regulated service, we cannot close our eyes to the evident conclusion that the reformer was wholly opposed to the bondage of form in prayer. in this part of public worship he claimed for himself, and exercised under the guidance of the spirit of god, the greatest freedom; and consistent with this position he never sought to impose as a part of regular public worship, the repetition by the minister of even that form of prayer which of all others has for its use divine authority. to whatever in worship the book of common order may lend its countenance, it assuredly gives no support to the imposition upon worshippers of prescribed forms of prayer. side by side with that part of public worship already considered there has always been associated the exercise of praise. although the scottish church conformed most closely to the churches of france and switzerland, yet it was impossible that it should not, to some degree, be influenced by the spirit of the german reformation. this influence was especially marked in that which was a special characteristic of the german church, a love for sacred song and a delight in the same on the part of the people. the book of common order contained, as has been mentioned, in its early editions, the complete psalter, and to this were added, subsequently, a few scripture hymns, together with the doxology _gloria patri_ in different metres, so that it could be sung at the end of every psalm. this doxology appears in hart's edition of the book of common order of , in six different metres, under the general head of "conclusions," and was evidently used regularly at the close of the psalms sung in public worship. it was not until the beginning of the seventeenth century that there began to arise criticisms of the custom of singing the doxology, and it would, therefore, appear that during the formative period of the scottish church, which we are considering, it was regularly used, and occasioned no objection and aroused no opposition. the hymns which were printed with the psalter were few in number, and were chiefly free paraphrases of sections of scripture. they are "the ten commandments," "the lord's prayer," "_veni creator_," "the song of simeon called _nunc dimittis_," "the twelve articles of the christian faith," and "the song of blessed marie called _magnificat_." the purpose of the hymns appears to have been the memorizing of scripture and important doctrinal truths, and there is no evidence that they were employed in public worship, although a place was not denied them in the book of common order; in the order for public worship mention is made of psalms only, and in all the accounts, which have come down to us in correspondence or history, of the public services of that time, the people are invariably spoken of as joining in a psalm, while even in the public processions, which were common on occasions of national rejoicing or thanksgiving, psalms only are mentioned as being sung by the people. the singing was usually led by the reader, but there is occasional mention in the records of the time of the "uptaker" of the psalms, who evidently performed the duties of a precentor. the sacraments.--in the confession of faith, which forms the first part of the book of common order, it is clearly stated that there are two sacraments only in the christian church, and that these are baptism and the lord's supper. no subject in connection with the practice of the church created more discussion in reformation times than the methods which were to be followed in the administration of the sacraments. the spirit of the scottish reformers is indicated in the following sentence, which governed this matter: "neither must we in the administration of these sacraments follow man's fancy, but as christ himself hath ordained so must they be ministered, and by such as by ordinary vocation are thereunto called." in accordance with this general regulation the book of common order prescribes in detail "the manner of the administration of the lord's supper." the words of the opening rubric are as follows: "the day when the lord's supper is ministered, which is commonly used once a month, or so oft as the congregation shall think expedient, the minister useth to say as follows:" here follow the words of institution of the supper from st. paul's epistle to the corinthians, after which is added an exhortation in which flagrant sinners are warned not to draw near to the holy table, and timid saints are encouraged in wise and helpful words to approach with repentance and faith. this is the address which in later times came to be known as "fencing the table." there are no words to indicate that any variation from the prescribed address was encouraged. the address being finished "the minister comes down from the pulpit and sitteth at the table, every man and woman in likewise taking their place as occasion best serveth: then he taketh bread and giveth thanks either in these words following or _like in effect_." this prayer is wholly one of praise and thanksgiving, there being an evident purpose in the omission of any invocation of the holy spirit and of words that might be regarded as a consecration of the bread and wine, and in the strict adherence to the example of our lord, who, "when he had given thanks, took bread." the manner of communing is then described: "this done, the minister breaketh the bread and delivereth it to the people, to distribute and divide the same among themselves, according to our saviour christ's commandment, and likewise giveth the cup: during the which time some place of the scriptures is read which doth lively set forth the death of christ, to the intent that our eyes and senses may not only be occupied in these outward signs of bread and wine, which are called the visible word, but that our hearts and minds also may be fully fixed in the contemplation of the lord's death, which is by this holy sacrament represented. and after this action is done he giveth thanks, saying:" the prayer of thanksgiving which follows is the only one in connection with this service for which no alternative was allowed the minister. an appropriate psalm of thanksgiving followed the prayer, the blessing was invoked and the congregation dispersed. the communion, as is evident from the rubric quoted above, was received while the congregation was seated, and this practice the presbyterians adhered to and defended as against the episcopal practice of kneeling at this service, regarding the latter attitude as liable to be interpreted as a rendering to the sacrament of homage and adoration which should be reserved for god alone. the service, it is evident, was marked by simplicity and by in almost total absence of prescribed form. in a note "to the reader," the author of the book of common order explains that the object throughout is to set forth simply and effectively those signs which christ hath ordained "to our spiritual use and comfort." how often this sacrament was to be observed was left to the judgment of individual congregations, but frequent celebration was recommended. calvin thought it proper that the lord's supper should be celebrated monthly, but finding the people opposed to such frequent celebration he considered it unwise to insist upon his own views. with his opinions on this matter, those of knox were quite in harmony. the sacrament of baptism was likewise characterized in its administration by similar simplicity, and yet it is evident that, in this more than in any other part of public worship, the minister was restricted to the forms provided both in prayer and in address. the rubrics which govern the two prayers of the service and the address to the parents, make no mention of alternate or similar forms being permitted. in this the book of common order differs from the book of geneva, which allowed the minister liberty in these parts of the service. there would seem, therefore, to be an evident intention on the part of the scottish reformers in thus departing from their custom in other parts of worship. it may be that inasmuch as baptism is the sacrament of admission into the church, it was deemed advisable that for the instruction of those seeking membership therein, either for themselves or for their children, the form of sound doctrine set forth at such a time should not be varied even in the manner of statement. the sacrament was administered in the church "on the day appointed to common prayer and preaching," instruction being given that the child should there be accompanied by the father and godfather; knox himself had, as godfather to one of his sons, whittingham, who had been his chief assistant in compiling the book of common order, and who had also been his helper and fellow-worker at geneva. the opinion of the swiss reformers, as well as that of their scotch followers, was in favor of the presence of sponsors in addition to the parents at the baptism of children. the parent having professed his desire to have his child baptized in the christian faith, was addressed by the minister, and called upon to profess his own faith and his purpose to instruct his child in the same. having repeated the creed, the minister proceeded to expound the same as setting forth the sum of christian doctrine, a prescribed prayer followed, the child was baptized, and the prayer of thanksgiving, also prescribed, closed the service. the book of common order required that marriages should be celebrated in the church and on the lord's day: "the parties assemble at the beginning of the sermon and the minister at time convenient saith as followeth:" in the forms of exhortation and admonition to the contracting parties no liberty to vary the address is allowed the minister, but in the one prayer which formed a part of the service, viz., the blessing at the close of the ceremony it is ordered: "the minister commendeth them to god in this _or such like sort_." the service ended with the singing of an appropriate psalm. in the service for burial of the dead it was ordered by the first book of discipline that neither singing, prayer, nor preaching should be engaged in, and this "on account of prevailing superstition." in this matter, however, permission was granted to congregations to use their discretion; knox, we know, preached a sermon after the burial of the regent moray, and the directions in the book of common order clearly leave much to be determined by the circumstances of the case: "the corpse is reverently brought to the grave accompanied with the congregation without any further ceremonies: which being buried, the minister, if he be present and required, goeth to the church, if it be not far off, and maketh some comfortable exhortation to the people touching death and resurrection; then blesseth the people and so dismisseth them." this is but one of many instances that show that the early reformers accorded to the church, in matters not absolutely essential to the preservation of sound doctrine and scriptural practice, the greatest liberty. with regard to the administration of the sacraments and the public worship of god, they laid down well-defined regulations and outlines to which conformity was required; in matters that might be looked upon as simply edifying and profitable, liberty was allowed to ministers and congregations to determine according to their discretion, as knox himself declared with respect to exercises of worship at burials: "we are not so precise but that we are content that particular kirks use them in that behalf, with the consent of the ministry of the same as they will answer to god and assembly of the universal kirk gathered within the realm." we have thus presented in brief outline the contents of the book of common order, commonly used in scotland from to , in so far as its regulations refer to public worship and the administration of the sacraments. the book is itself so simple and clear in its statements that it is not difficult to discover the spirit of its compilers, and their understanding of what was required for the seemly and scriptural observance of the different parts of divine worship. the results of our survey may be summed up in a few words. the scottish church gave a prominent place to prayer, to the reading of holy scripture, and to praise, in the public worship of god on the lord's day. not in any sense do these exercises seem to have been regarded as subordinate in importance to the preaching of the word; the congregations assembled for divine worship, of which preaching was one important part. but even where there was no preaching, the people nevertheless came together for divine worship, in which they were led, in the absence of any minister, by persons duly appointed for that purpose. the service in public worship was not in any of its departments a responsive one. the only audible part shared by the people was in the praise; they did not respond in prayer even to the extent of uttering an audible "amen," nor did they join audibly in any general confession, in a declaration of faith as contained in the apostles' creed or in any other formulary, nor did they even repeat with the minister the lord's prayer when that model of prayer given by christ to his disciples was used in public worship. liberty under the guidance of the holy spirit marked the minister's use of the forms provided, and the privilege of extempore prayer was sacredly guarded, the example of knox, as well as his precept, encouraging his brethren in the ministry to cultivate free and unrestricted prayer to god. in this matter the church declared her belief in the holy ghost and in his presence with her, believing that those who were divinely called to the work of the ministry were by the spirit of god duly equipped for the performance of the important duties of that office. although forms of prayer were provided, these appear to have been intended mainly for the use of the readers, who were not duly ordained to the ministerial office, and for the guidance of ministers, but in no part of public worship apart from the sacraments was the minister confined to the use of prescribed forms. even the readers enjoyed a degree of liberty in this matter, a liberty which they exercised, as is evident from an order of assembly passed in the reign of james forbidding readers to offer extemporary prayers, but requiring them to use the forms prescribed. lastly, in the administration of the sacraments honor was put upon them by the care that was observed in their public, reverent and frequent observance. simplicity marked all the service connected with these holy ordinances, while, at the same time, whatever might appear to unduly exalt them to an unscriptural position in the thoughts of men, was carefully avoided, as well in the prayers and exhortations used as in the manner of administration. the sacraments were regarded as helps to the spiritual life of god's elect, as "medicine for the spiritually sick," and were never represented as holy mysteries into which only certain of god's children should penetrate. if these conclusions are just, it is very evident that those who to-day advocate the introduction into presbyterian worship of responses and prescribed forms can find no support for such a practice, however they might limit it, in knox's book of common order, or in the practice of our scottish ancestors in this so virile and vigorous period of the church's history. just as little support, too, can those find who would impose upon the ministry of the church the use of set forms from which no deviation is to be allowed either in the conduct of public worship or in the administration of the sacraments. the most that can be argued from this ancient regulation of worship, which is much more accurately described as a directory rather than as a liturgy, is the desirability of a uniform order of service for the whole church, of a due proportion of attention to each part of worship, and of the conformity by all ministers to a uniform method in the administration of the sacraments. the book of common order clearly indicates the conviction of the scottish reformers that all things in connection with the worship of god should be done "in seemly form and according to order," and it quite as clearly indicates their purpose to acknowledge and rely upon the operation of the free spirit of god, in the exercise of that worship and in the performance of the public ordinances in the sanctuary. a diet of public worship in the time of knox. "what i have been to my country, albeit this unthankful age will not know, yet the ages to come will be compelled to bear witness to the truth."--john knox. chapter iv. a diet of public worship in the time of knox. a diet of worship on a sabbath day in scotland in the days of knox, or in the period immediately succeeding his death, had for the people of that time a profound interest. it was a period of storm and upheaval, and the church, with its worship and teaching, was the centre around which, in large measure, the struggles of the age gathered; and although for us these struggles are simple history, and the subjects of debate are, many of them, forever laid aside, still it is of interest to learn how a service in connection with the public worship of the day proceeded in this formative period of presbyterian practice, when order and method were less matters of indifference than they are now. happily we are not left without abundant material for forming an accurate picture of a sabbath-day service at that time, for in addition to the explicit directions contained in the book of common order, there have come down to us descriptions of public worship by participants therein. as early as seven o'clock a bell was rung to warn the people of the approach of the hour of worship, and this was followed an hour later by another bell, which summoned the congregation to the place of prayer. it was a congregation of all classes, for in scotland the reformed doctrine made its way among the great and the lowly alike. writing in , a refutation of the charge made in england against the scotch that they "had no certain rule or direction for their public worship, but that every man, following his extemporary fancy, did preach or pray what seemed good in his own eyes," alexander henderson thus describes in his reply the congregation in a scotch church: "when so many of all sorts, men and women, masters and servants, young and old, as shall meet together, are assembled, the public worship beginneth." in the early days of presbyterianism the rich and the poor met together, realizing that the lord was the maker of them both. the congregation assembled in a church building that was plain in its interior, the plainness being emphasized, and at times rendered unsightly, by reason of the removal of the statues and pictures which in pre-reformation times had decorated the walls and pillars. the building was, however, as required by the book of discipline, rendered comfortable and suitable for purposes of worship. it was ordered, "lest that the word of god and ministration of the sacraments by unseemliness of the place come into contempt," there should be made "such preparation within as appertaineth as well to the majesty of the word of god as unto the ease and commodity of the people." such wise words indicate on the part of our scottish ancestors an appreciation in their day of what is all too often even in these happier and more enlightened times, forgotten--the importance of having a church building in keeping with the greatness of the cause to which it has been dedicated, and at the same time suitable and convenient for the purposes of public worship. the narrowness which would forbid beauty and artistic decoration and the pride which would sacrifice comfort and convenience for the sake of appearance, were both avoided. at one end of the building stood a pulpit, beside it, or within it, a basin or font for use in the administration of the sacrament of baptism, and in the part where formerly the altar had stood, tables were placed for use in the observance of the lord's supper; at the end of the church opposite to the pulpit was placed a stool of repentance, an article frequently in use in an age when church discipline was vigorously administered. pews were as yet unknown; some churches had permanent desks or benches, to be occupied by men holding public positions, or by prominent members of influential guilds, the rest of the people stood throughout the service, or sat upon stools which they brought with them to the church. the members of the congregation on entering the church were expected to engage reverently in silent prayer, and at the hour appointed, the reader from his desk called upon all present to join in the public worship of god; he then proceeded to read the prayer prescribed in the book of common order, or, if he so desired, to offer one similar thereto in intent; in either case the prayer was a general confession, and was followed by a psalm or psalms announced by the reader and sung by the whole congregation and ending with the _gloria patri_. next came the reading of the scriptures from the old and new testaments, the reading being continuous through whatever books had been selected. this ended that part of public worship which was conducted by the reader, and occupied in all about one hour. on the second ringing of the bell, the minister entered the pulpit, knelt in silent devotion, and then led the people in prayer "as the spirit moved his heart;" this finished, he proceeded to the sermon, to which the people listened either standing or sitting, as opportunity afforded, with their heads covered, and occasionally, if moved thereto, giving vent to their feelings by expressions of applause or disapproval. after the sermon the minister led the congregation in prayer for blessing upon the word preached and for the general estate of christ's church: if the lord's prayer and the apostles' creed were employed in the service (but this was optional with the minister) they were repeated by the minister alone at the close of this prayer, and embodied in it; a psalm was sung by the congregation and the benediction was pronounced, or rather, the blessing was invoked, for the petitions were framed as supplications: "the grace of the lord jesus christ and the love of god and the communion of the holy ghost be with us all: so be it." such was the course of an ordinary diet of worship. if a marriage was to be celebrated the parties presented themselves in church before the sermon; the ceremony having been performed, the parties remained, according to regulation, until the close of the public worship. if the sacrament of baptism was to be administered the infant was presented for the ordinance at the close of the sermon by the father, who was attended by one or more sponsors. when the lord's supper was observed (which in some congregations was monthly) the tables were spread in that part of the church which had formerly been the chancel, and as many communicants as could conveniently do so sat down together with the minister. these, when the tables had been served, gave place to others. the services throughout were marked by simplicity, reverence and freedom from strict and unbending forms; liberty characterized their every part, and room was left for the exercise of the guiding spirit of god, in a measure not enjoyed by churches tied to the use of a prescribed worship; at the same time there was a recognized order and a reverent devotion in all parts of the worship which many non-liturgical churches of this day may well covet. it was a service simple yet impressive, voluntary yet orderly, regulated and yet untrammeled. the period of controversy, - . "they were splintered and torn, but no power could bend or melt them. they dwelt, as pious men are apt to dwell, in suffering and sorrow on the all-disposing power of providence. their burden grew lighter as they considered that god had so determined that they should bear it."--froude. chapter v. the period of controversy, - . the years from , the date of james the sixth's ascent to the united thrones of england and scotland, until the year of the westminster assembly, cover one of the most exciting and interesting periods in scottish history. especially is this period of interest to the student of scottish church history, because of the influences both direct and indirect which the struggles of that time had upon the development of the character and practice of the presbyterian church. the book of common order had received the authority of the general assembly sitting in edinburgh in , and for nearly fifty years from that date it was the unchallenged directory for worship and usage in the scottish church. its use, though not universal, was general, and it was uniformly referred to, as well in civil as in ecclesiastical courts, as comprising for the church the law respecting public worship. the first mention of any desire to modify or amend this book occurs in , in the records of the general assembly, when a motion was made respecting an improved version of the bible, a revision of the psalter and an amendment of "sundry prayers in the psalm-book which should be altered in respect they are not convenient for the time." the assembly, however, declined to amend the prayers already in the book, or to delete any of them, but ordained that: "if any brother would have any prayers added, which are meet for the time.... the same first to be tried and allowed by the assembly." the motion thus proposed, and the action of the general assembly regarding it, is of interest in that it seems plainly to indicate that whatever desire there was for change, this desire was not the result of a movement in favor of a fuller liturgical service, nor on the other hand, of one which had for its object the entire removal of the form of worship at that time in use. to this form, commonly employed, no objection was offered, but owing to changing times and circumstances, it was regarded as desirable that the matter contained in the suggested forms of prayer should be so modified as to make them more applicable to the conditions of the age. james the sixth of scotland ascended the throne of the united kingdoms in , and many of his presbyterian subjects cherished the hope that his influence would be exerted to conform the practice and worship of the church of england to that of other reformed churches. in this hope they were destined to severe disappointment, as it very soon became evident that the aim of the royal theologian was to reduce to the forms and methods of episcopacy, those of all the churches within his realm. in considering the subject of presbyterian worship it will not be necessary to enter fully into the history of the civil struggle between the church of scotland and the stuart kings except in those phases of it which affected the worship of the church; as these, however, are so closely interwoven with questions of government it will be impossible always to avoid reference to the latter or to keep the two absolutely distinct. in it was decided by the scottish parliament that the king was "absolute, prince, judge and governor over all persons, estates, and causes, both spiritual and temporal, within the realm." four years later the general assembly, composed of commissioners named by the king, met at glasgow and issued a decree to the effect that the right of calling general assemblies of the church belonged to the crown. this, among other acts of this assembly, was ratified by the parliament of , and james, having thus secured the position in the church which he coveted, proceeded in his endeavors to mould it, as well in its worship as in its government and doctrine, to his own views. the church of scotland was not allowed to remain long in ignorance of the king's purpose. early in a royal order was sent to the northern kingdom requiring all ministers to celebrate holy communion on easter day, the th of april, and this was followed in by a proposal from the king to the general assembly that "a liturgy and form of divine service should be prepared" for the use of the scottish church. the assembly (formed as indicated above) with ready acquiescence heartily thanked his majesty for his royal care of the church and ordained: "that a uniform order of liturgy or divine service be set down to be read in all kirks on the ordinary days of prayer and every sabbath day before the sermon, to the end the common people may be acquainted therewith, and by custom may learn to serve god rightly. and to this intent the assembly has appointed ... to revise the book of common prayer contained in the psalm book, and to set down a common form of ordinary service to be used in all times hereafter." the work thus authorized of revising the book of common order was at once undertaken by those appointed thereto, but although a draft was made and much labor was expended upon it during a term of several years, the book in its revised form was never introduced into the scottish church. by the time it had received its final revision at the hands of the king and his scotch advisors in london, such events had transpired, and such a spirit of opposition had been aroused in scotland by other measures, that it was deemed wise to withhold it, and the death of james occurring in , while it was still unpublished, the book in its revised form was retained by spottiswoode, bishop of st. andrew's, and appears to have been forgotten for years, even by its most active promoters. from correspondence in the time of charles first, however, it appears that james had not relinquished his aim of imposing the new book upon the scottish church, and it is probable that his death alone prevented the attempt being made to carry out his cherished purpose. much of the voluminous correspondence, which at this time passed between james and the leaders of the scottish church, is still extant and it serves to indicate some of the anticipated changes in the forms of worship. in the regular worship appointed for the lord's day there was to be introduced a liturgy which was to be used before the sermon; the ten commandments were to be read, and after each of them the people were to be instructed to respond, or, as the rubric directed: "after every commandment they ask mercy of god for their transgression of the same in this manner,--lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this law." there was also an evident purpose to leave less to the discretion of the minister, and to restrict him more closely to the use of provided forms in prayer, as well as to regulate more particularly the reading of the scriptures. a table of scripture lessons was to be prepared showing the passages proper to be read on each day; prayers were also provided for worship upon saints' days and festivals, in the use of which there was to be no option, and the privilege of extempore prayer in any part of public worship was to be taken from the minister, in large measure if not entirely. that this intention was cherished seems evident from a discussion in which spottiswoode engaged with one hog, minister at dysart. hog had defended an action complained of, by saying that his prayer on the occasion referred to had been in conformity with knox's book of common order; in reply spottiswoode declared that "in a short time that book of discipline would be discharged and ministers tied to set forms." the book was regarded by all as a compromise between the book of common order and the english prayer book, and appears to have excited no enthusiasm, even among its promoters; it was too subversive of scottish custom to please those who were loyal to the old usage, and it was not sufficiently liturgical to suit james and his like-minded counsellors. it has been stated that the transpiring of certain events had delayed the publication of this liturgy; these events were connected with the historic "articles of perth." these "articles" were orders, first of the general assembly of , sitting at perth and acting under royal instruction, and afterwards of the parliament which confirmed them in , enjoining kneeling at the communion; private communion in cases of sickness; private baptism "upon a great and reasonable cause;" episcopal confirmation; the observance of the festivals of christmas, good friday, easter day, ascension day and whitsunday. the five articles were passed in assembly in spite of vigorous opposition on the part of a minority that, nevertheless, represented the most intense feeling of a very large section of the scottish people. the first of these five articles, that were subversive of so much for which the reformers had struggled and had at last secured, reëstablished a practice that could only be regarded by the church as romish in its tendency, and wholly unscriptural. it excited the most violent opposition, and secured for itself, even after its approval by parliament, determined resistance on the part of the people. previous to this, in , james had by his childish flaunting of the service of the church of england in the face of the scottish subjects, on the occasion of his visit to edinburgh, estranged the sympathies of many who had previously been not unkindly disposed toward his projects, and aroused among the people in general, a deeper and more widespread opposition to his scheme of reform than had hitherto made itself manifest. some months before his visit he had given orders for the re-fitting of the royal chapel at holyrood, and for the introduction of an organ, the preparation of stalls for choristers, and the setting up within the chapel of statues of the apostles and evangelists. the organ and choristers the scotch could abide, but the proposal of "images" aroused such an outburst of opposition on the part of the people that james, being advised of it, made a happy excuse of the statues not being yet ready, and withdrew his order for the forwarding of them to scotland. the services in holyrood chapel, however, during the visit of his majesty to edinburgh, were all after the episcopal form, "with singing of choristers, surplices, and playing on organs," and when a clergyman of the church of england officiated at the celebration of the lord's supper, the majority of those present received it kneeling. all this, as may be imagined, had its effect upon james's scottish subjects, but that effect was the opposite of what he had hoped for. instead of inspiring a love for an elaborate liturgy, or developing a sympathy between the two kingdoms in matters of worship, the result was to antagonize the spirit of the scots, as well against the proposed changes as against the king, who, with childish pleasure in what he deemed proper, sought to enforce his will upon the conscience of the people from whom he had sprung, and among whom he had been educated. the loyalty of the scots to the stuarts is proverbial, but though ready to die for their king, to acknowledge him as lord of the conscience they could not be persuaded. a spirit of opposition stronger than that which had before existed was developed against any liturgy in church worship, and the seeds were sown which were afterwards to bear fruit in the harvest of the revolution of . this opposition, it may be argued, was not the outcome of a calm consideration of the questions involved, but was an indirect result of the national anger at the attempt of the king to coerce the consciences of his subjects. in any event, so strong was the opposition to any change in the religious worship of the land, that james ceased his active endeavors to carry out his will, and in a message to his scottish subjects in assured them of his desire "by gentle and fair means rather to reclaim them from their unsettled and evil-grounded opinions, nor by severity and rigor of justice to inflict that punishment which their misbehavior and contempt merits." we now come to a period marked by a still more vigorous assault upon the liberties of the church of scotland, and by a correspondingly vigorous opposition thereto on the part of the scottish people. william laud, who afterwards became archbishop of canterbury, began to exert his influence upon the religious life of both england and scotland during the closing years of james's reign, but it was in the reign of charles the first, who succeeded his father in , that he came before the world in his sudden and so unfortunate greatness. history has left but little doubt in the mind of the careful student that laud's deliberate purpose and persistent influence, both in england and in scotland, were towards a revival of romanism within the church of which he was a prelate, or at least towards the creation of a high anglicanism which would differ but little from the romish system. adroitly, and frequently concealing his real purpose, he labored to this end, and it is not too much to say that the vigorous and, at last, successful opposition to his plans in scotland, saved the english church from radical changes which it is clear he was prepared to introduce in the southern kingdom when his desires for scotland had been effected. england owes to scotland the preservation of her protestantism on two occasions: first, in the days of knox, when the work of the sturdy reformer prevented what must have taken place had a catholic scotland been prepared to join with spain in the overthrow of protestant england, and again when scottish opposition effectively nipped in the bud laud's plans for a romish movement in both kingdoms. the history of the movement under laud it is only possible briefly to summarize. in charles revived the subject, to which his father had devoted so much attention, of an improved service in the church of scotland, and wrote to the scottish bishops ordering them to press forward the matter of an improved liturgy with all earnestness. as a result, the draft of the book of common prayer prepared in the reign of james was again brought to light and forwarded to charles, and this would probably have been accepted and authorized for use but for laud's influence. it however was too bald and simple to suit the ritualistic archbishop, who persuaded the king that it would be entirely preferable to introduce into scotland the english prayer book without change. correspondence upon the matter was continued until , when charles, accompanied by laud, visited scotland for the purpose of being crowned, and also "to finish the important business of the liturgy." during his stay in scotland charles followed the example of his father in parading before the people upon every possible occasion the ritual of the church of england, conduct on his part which served only to stir up further and more deeply-seated opposition. soon after his return to england he dispatched instructions to the scottish bishops requiring them to decide upon a form of liturgy and to proceed with its preparation. his message was in these terms: "considering that there is nothing more defective in that church than the want of a book of common prayer and uniform service to be kept in all the churches thereof ... we are hereby pleased to authorize you ... to condescend upon a form of church service to be used therein." such a form was accordingly prepared, forwarded to london for the king's approval, and, after revision by laud, who was commanded by his majesty to give to the bishops of scotland his best assistance in this work, it was duly published in , and ordered to be read in all churches of scotland on the rd of july of that year. the book appeared, stamped with the royal approval, elaborately illuminated and illustrated, and bearing this title, "the book of common prayer and administration of the sacraments, and other parts of divine service, for the use of the church of scotland." a royal order accompanied it, in which civil authorities were enjoined to "command and charge all our subjects, both ecclesiastical and civil, to conform themselves to the public form of worship, which is the only form of worship which we (having taken counsel of our clergy) think fit to be used in god's public worship in this our kingdom." the introduction of this service book, as it was called, into public worship in st. giles, edinburgh, on the day appointed, was the signal for an outburst of popular indignation that was as fire to the heather in the land. on that occasion the archbishop of st. andrew's was present with the bishop of edinburgh, but when the dean rose to read the new service, even the presence of such dignitaries was not sufficient to restrain the pent-up feelings of the congregation. such a clamor arose as made it impossible for the dean to proceed, books and other missiles were freely thrown, and a stool, hurled by the traditional jenny geddes, narrowly missed the dean's head, whereupon that dignitary fled precipitately, followed by the more forcible than elegant ejaculation of the wrathful woman, "out thou false thief; dost thou say mass at my lug?" the riot in edinburgh was the signal for similar manifestations of popular feeling throughout the land, the national spirit was aroused, and the stately fabric which charles and laud, supported by a prelatic party in scotland, had been laboriously rearing for years, was overthrown in a day. this feeling of opposition on the part of the people to the introduction of a liturgy into the church of scotland, found due and official expression in the following year. the general assembly meeting at glasgow repudiated laud's liturgy and appealed repeatedly to the book of common order as containing the law of the church respecting worship. in his eloquent closing address the moderator, alexander henderson, said: "and now we are quit of the service book, which was a book of service and slavery indeed, the book of canons which tied us in spiritual bondage, the book of ordination which was a yoke put upon the necks of faithful ministers, and the high commission which was a guard to keep us all under that slavery." the people also in formal manner expressed their mind on the matter and in the solemn league and covenant, signed in gray friars churchyard, asserted their purpose to defend, even unto death, the true religion, and to "labor by all means lawful to recover the purity and liberty of the gospel as it was established and professed before the late innovations." charles at first determined upon extreme measures, and preparations were made to force "the stubborn kirk of scotland to bow," but wiser measures prevailed, and the desires of the church of scotland were for the time granted. the book of common order, thus reaffirmed as the law of the church respecting worship, continued in use during the years following the glasgow assembly of , years which for scotland were comparatively peaceful, by reason of the troubles fast thickening around the english throne. this interesting chapter of scottish history which we have thus briefly reviewed, is of value to us in the present discussion only in so far as, from the facts presented, we are able to understand the spirit that characterized the church of scotland at this period, and the principles that guided them in their attitude toward the subject of public worship. what this spirit and those principles were it is not difficult to discover. the facts themselves are plain; not only did the church in its regularly constituted courts oppose the introduction of new forms and the elaboration of the church service, but the people resisted by every means in their power, and at last went the length of resisting by force of arms, the attempt to impose upon them the new service book. it is asserted that the chief, if not the only cause of this resistance was, first, an element of patriotism which in scotland opposed uniformly any measure which seemed to subordinate the national customs to those of england, and secondly, the righteous and conscientious objection of presbyterians to having imposed upon them by any external authority, a form of worship and church government which their own ecclesiastical authorities had not approved, and which they themselves had not voluntarily accepted. the objection, in a word, is said to have been not to a liturgy as such, but to a _foreign_ liturgy and to one _imposed_. it cannot be denied that these were important elements in the opposition of the scottish people to the projects of charles. many of them, for one or other of these reasons, opposed the king's command, who had no conscientious scruples with regard either to the form or substance of laud's liturgy. too much is claimed, however, when the assertion is made that there was no real objection among the people to the introduction of an elaborated service such as that which was proposed. the liberty of free prayer so dear to the scottish reformers was, if not entirely denied, largely encroached upon; a responsive service, to which, in common with the great leaders of geneva, knox and melville had been so uniformly opposed, was introduced; and particularly in the service for the administration of the sacrament of the lord's supper, forms of words were employed which seemed to teach doctrines rejected by the reformers. here then was abundant ground for opposition to laud's liturgy when judged on its merits, and this ground the stern theologians of that day were not likely to overlook. nor is it to be forgotten that in the many supplications which from time to time were presented to the king both from church and state against the introduction of the service book, the anti-english plea never found a place, but uniformly, reference was made in strong terms to the unscriptural form of worship suggested for adoption by the scottish people, together with a protest against the arrogant imposition upon them of a form of service not desired. persistently in these supplications the subscribers expressed their desire that there should be no change in the form of worship to which they had been accustomed, and prayed for a continuance of the liberty hitherto enjoyed. in a complaint laid before the privy council the service book and canons are described as "containing the seeds of divers superstitions, idolatry and false doctrine," and as being "subversive of the discipline established in the church." the earl of rothes in an address spoke thus: "who pressed that form of service contrary to the laws of god and this kingdom? who dared in their conventicles contrive a form of god's public worship contrary to that established by the general consent of this church and state?" and that the _form_ of worship ever held a prominent place in the discussions of the time, appears from a letter supposed to have been written by alexander henderson, in which he defends the presbyterian church against a charge of disorder and neglect of seemly procedure in worship; he says, "the form of prayers, administration of the sacraments, etc., which are set down before their psalm book, and to which the ministers are to conform themselves, is a sufficient witness; for although they be not tied to set forms and words, yet are they not left at random, but for testifying their consent and keeping unity they have their directory and prescribed order." while it is true, therefore, that the high-handed conduct of the king in forcing upon an unwilling people a form of service already distasteful because of its foreign associations, was doubtless an important element in arousing the vigorous opposition with which it was met, nevertheless, there is abundant evidence to show that apart from any such consideration, the spirit of the church of scotland was entirely hostile to the introduction of further forms, to the elaboration of their simple service, and to the imposition upon their ministers of prescribed prayers from which in public worship they would not be allowed to depart. the westminster assembly and the directory of worship. if the assembly's directory increased liberty, it also augmented responsibility. if it took away the support of set and prescribed forms on which the indolent might lean and even sleep, this was done to the avowed intent that those who conducted public services might the more industriously prepare for them; and thereunto the more diligently stir up the gifts of god within them.--rev. eugene daniel. chapter vi. the westminster assembly and the directory of worship. prior to the year the church of scotland, in its struggle to preserve its form of worship, had to contend with the advocates of prelacy and ritualism, but now opposition to the established practice arose from another quarter. in connection with every great reform there are apt to arise extravagant movements, the promoters of which see only one side of confessedly important truths, and so carry to undue excess some phase of reform which, in properly balanced measure, would have been righteous and desirable. so it was in the period of the reformation. among the several sectaries which had their origin in the reformed church was a company called brownists, an extreme section of the independents, who took their name from their founder, one robert browne, an englishman and a preacher, although a rejecter of ordination and a protester against the necessity of any official license for the work of the ministry. it was a part of their creed to object to any regulation of public worship, and even to many of the simplest ceremonies which had hitherto been retained by the reformed churches. in scotland they opposed, as they had done elsewhere, all reading of prayers, and, in particular, the kneeling of the minister for private devotions on entering the pulpit, the repeating of the lord's prayer in any part of the public service, and the singing of the _gloria patri_ at the end of the psalm. the movement, let it be said, although it took an extreme form, had its spring in the deep disgust and shame felt by many pious souls at the laxity and formality which characterized religious life in england during the earlier part of the stuart period. the unwise policy of charles in seeking to force upon the scottish church a liturgical service, had produced in the minds of many its natural result, creating extreme views in opposition to all prescribed forms of worship. the brownists, therefore, found in scotland a large following, and a rapidly increasing section of the church began gradually to depart even from the forms and suggestions of the book of common order, and to adopt a still less restricted form of service. against these irregularities the general assemblies of and legislated, and yet in such terms as seem to indicate that already the mind of the church at large was being prepared for change. it was ordained by the first of the assemblies referred to that "no novation in worship should be suddenly enacted, but that synods, presbyteries and kirks should be advised with before the assembly should authorize any change." the desire for greater freedom in worship continued to increase, until in the general assembly appointed a committee with instructions to prepare, and have in readiness for the next assembly, a directory for divine worship in the church of scotland. this was a distinct concession to that section of the church which was opposed to even the simplest forms of an optional liturgy. the work, however, was superseded by a similar undertaking on a larger scale, in virtue of an invitation from the members of the assembly of divines at westminster to the church of scotland to join with them in the preparation, among other standards, of a directory of worship for the use of the churches of both england and scotland. the invitation was accepted with readiness, and "certain ministers of good word, and representative elders highly approved of by their brethren," were elected to represent the scottish church in this great work. these men were baillie, henderson, rutherford, gillespie and douglas, ministers, with johnston, of warriston, and lords cassilis and maitland as lay representatives; argyle, balmerinoch and loudon were afterwards added. the work was duly prosecuted at westminster, and, although the scotch commissioners with reluctance relinquished their book of common order, yet for the sake of the uniformity in worship which they hoped to see established throughout england, scotland and ireland, they joined heartily in the work, and carried it when completed to the assembly of the church of scotland, by which it was duly examined, slightly amended in the directions concerning baptism and marriage, and finally, unanimously approved in all its parts, and adopted. the terms in which the assembly expressed its approval of this work are unreserved: "the general assembly, having most seriously considered, revised and examined the directory aforementioned, after several public readings of it, after much deliberation, both publicly and in private committees, after full liberty given to all to object against it, and earnest invitations of all who have any scruples about it, to make known the same, that they might be satisfied, doth unanimously, and without a contrary voice, agree to and approve the following directory in all the heads thereof, together with the preface set before it; and doth require, decern and ordain that, according to the plain tenor and meaning thereof and the intent of the preface, it be carefully and uniformly observed and practised by all the ministers and others within this kingdom whom it doth concern." the scottish parliament likewise gave its approval of the directory, which was accordingly in due time prepared for publication, and issued under the title, "a directory for the public worship of god throughout the three kingdoms of scotland, england and ireland; with an act of the general assembly of the kirk of scotland for establishing and observing this present directory;" and thus the westminster directory became the primary authority on matters of worship and administration of the sacraments within the church of scotland. its use, however, during the years immediately following its adoption appears to have been by no means general, many still adhering to the method of the book of common order, others inclining towards an even greater freedom than seemed to them to be permitted by the directory. these latter belonged to that section of the church afterwards known as protesters, and whose opposition to the use of the lord's prayer and the creed, as well ay to prescribed forms of prayer, was most pronounced. events soon occurred which exerted a strong influence in favor of absolute liberty in worship, and which effectively strengthened the protesters in the position which they had assumed. in there took place at scone the unhappy crowning of charles the second by the scots. this act placed scotland in open opposition to cromwell, and as a result the land was brought under his iron-handed rule during the remaining years of the protectorate. the effect of this on the worship of the church was to introduce into scotland the methods of worship approved by the independents, to whom those parties in scotland which were opposed to all prescribed forms or regulation of worship, now attached themselves. worship after the presbyterian form was not disallowed, but the preachers of cromwell's army, with the approval of an increasing party in the scottish church, forced themselves into the pulpits of the land and conducted worship in a manner approved of by themselves. in these services preaching occupied the most prominent place, and to worship, as such, but scant attention was given, so that in the ministers of the city of edinburgh, finding complaints among the people that in the services of the sabbath day there was no reading of scripture nor singing of psalms, took steps to have these parts of worship resumed. while the public worship of the church of scotland during the period of the commonwealth cannot be said to have had any general uniformity, it is evident that the influence of independency upon it was toward the curtailment of form and the granting of absolute liberty to every preacher to conduct worship in whatever way seemed good to himself. it was the swing of the pendulum to the opposite extreme from the enforced order of laud's liturgy. it is doubtful if this erratic period would have left any permanent effect upon the religious life and worship of scotland, had it not been for the formation of a party in sympathy with the political principles of the protector. this party, being forced into political opposition to the supporters of royalty, naturally found themselves, through their associations, prejudiced in favor of the religious principles and practices of those with whom they stood allied in the state; and thus it was that a strong party favoring absolute liberty in matters of worship arose in the scottish church. the restoration of charles the second in brought with it the disavowal on his part of the covenant to which he had subscribed, and the open rejection of the presbyterian principles to which he had been so readily loyal in the day of his distress. episcopacy was restored as the form of church government for scotland, and bishops were consecrated; but it was left to time and the gradual power of imitation to secure the introduction of a ritual into the worship of the church. charles the second and his minion, sharp, did not deem it wise to undertake a work in which charles the first and laud had so signally failed, the work of imposing a ritual of worship upon the scottish church; episcopal government had been imposed, episcopal worship it was hoped would follow. in both of his aims, however, though sought by such different methods, charles was doomed to disappointment. as impotent as was the royal command, though backed by every form of deprivation of right and of cruel persecution, to secure the acceptance by scotland of an episcopal church, so impotent was the service, conducted by royal hirelings and conforming curates, to inspire the people with any love for formal worship. it was, further, in comparatively few of the churches of scotland that any attempt was made to introduce the service of the english prayer book. in the now episcopal churches of the land, a form of worship which gave a place to the lord's prayer, the gloria patri, the apostles' creed, and the decalogue, was regarded as satisfactory. public worship, therefore, at this time may be said to have been simply a return to the method suggested, but not required, in the time of knox; but even these historic scottish forms, by reason of their association with an enforced episcopacy, became increasingly distasteful to that large body of the scots who refused to conform to the church by law established, and who, as a result, were driven to the moors and the hill-sides, there to worship god as conscience prompted. the protesters, the party to which the majority of the covenanters belonged, had always been opposed to anything savoring of ritual in worship. but their opposition was intensified and deepened during the twenty-eight years of the "killing time," as they saw the worship of the party from which their persecutors arose, characterized chiefly by the acceptance of those forms against which they had entered their protest in former days. even in the case of those whose consciences permitted them to conform to the established religion of the land and to wait on the ministry of the conforming clergy, there was developed, through sympathy with their persecuted countrymen, hunted on the hills and tracked to their hiding places like quarry, a suspicion of even the forms of a religion that permitted such cruelties. and thus it was that when the deliverer alike for england and scotland arrived from the "hollow land," where behind their dykes the conquerors of the spaniards had won for themselves the privilege of religious liberty, scotland was prepared to join in the welcome given to william of orange, and to hail with delight the prospect of a restored presbyterianism and its inherent liberty. most heartily, therefore, was it that the leaders in scotland, alike in church and state, subscribed to the request presented to william, "that presbyterian government be restored and re-established as it was at the beginning of our reformation from popery, and renewed in the year , continuing until ." legislation concerning public worship in the period subsequent to the revolution of . "religion shall rise from its ruins; and its oppressed state at present should not only excite us to pray, but encourage us to hope, for its speedy revival."--dr. witherspoon. chapter vii. legislation concerning public worship in the period subsequent to the revolution of . in the first parliament under william and mary was held, and their majesties promised to establish by law "that form of church government which is most agreeable to the inclinations of the people." in accordance with this promise the confession of faith, adopted in , was in the following year declared to be for scotland "the public and avowed confession of this church," and an order was issued summoning a general assembly, the first since the forcible dissolution of the assembly of by cromwell's dragoons. no act was passed at this time concerning public worship, nor was the authority of the directory affirmed, but, whether by intention or through neglect, it was left to the church to adjust matters pertaining to this subject, without formal instruction from parliament. considering, however, that the controlling party in the church was the one that had suffered persecution, and whose well-known feelings on the subject of worship had been intensified by long and severe suffering, it is not to be wondered at if the changes and adjustments effected in church worship and discipline should in large measure bear the stamp of their extreme opinions. so far as legislation is concerned, however, moderation and fairness marked all the proceedings of the church, for in the assembly of , which was largely composed of those whose sympathies were with the protesters, no action whatever was taken for the regulation of public worship, the only act having any reference thereto being one which forbade private administration of the sacraments. but although the form of worship was not affected by legislation, it is evident from contemporary writings that the spirit of the protesters survived, and exerted itself in fostering, in many parts of the land, a sentiment even more hostile to everything that might savor of even the simplest ritual. the references of the assemblies that followed the revolution show that the directory of worship as adopted by the westminster divines, and afterwards by the church and parliament of scotland, was at this time regarded as the authority in matters of worship, and it was to worship, as so regulated, that the act of referred. this act pertaining to "the uniformity of worship" ordained: "that uniformity of worship and of the administration of all public ordinances within this church be observed by all the said ministers and preachers as the same are at present performed and allowed therein, or shall be hereafter declared by the authority of the same, and that no minister or preacher be admitted or continued hereafter unless that he subscribe to observe, and do actually observe, the aforesaid uniformity." the general assembly, in the following year, in accordance with this civil legislation, prepared a form for subscription in which the subscribing minister promised to "observe uniformity of worship and of the administration of all public ordinances within this church, as the same are at present performed and allowed." in the same year reference is made in an "act anent lecturing" to the "custom introduced and established by the directory." it is evident, therefore, that at this period the directory was regarded by the church as the authority, and the only authority, in matters pertaining to worship. in spite of acts requiring uniformity, however, there were still within the church those who sought to introduce changes, some of these desiring the introduction of an imposed ritual, others regarding absolute congregational liberty in matters of worship as desirable. as a result of divergent views and practices there was passed by the assembly of the barrier act, for the purpose of "preventing any sudden alteration or innovation or other prejudice to the church in either doctrine or worship or discipline or government thereof, now happily established." this was the formal and particular enactment of the principle laid down two generations earlier, when in the church, disturbed by the brownists, had ordained that "no novation in worship should be suddenly enacted." one other act of assembly in this period must be quoted as showing the feeling in scotland at this time with regard to ritual in the church. it resulted from a determined effort on the part of some episcopalians to introduce, wherever possible, the english book of common prayer into the services of the church in scotland. the assembly accordingly enacted that: "the purity of religion and particularly of divine worship ... is a signal blessing to the church of god-- ... and that any attempts made for the introduction of innovations in the worship of god therein have been of fatal and dangerous consequence ... that such innovations are dangerous to this church and manifestly contrary to our known principle (which is, that nothing is to be admitted in the worship of god but what is prescribed in the holy scripture) and against the good and laudable laws made since the late happy revolution for establishing and securing the same in her doctrine, worship, discipline and government." therefore the church required "all the ministers of this church ... to represent to their people the evil thereof and seriously to exhort them to beware of them, and to deal with all such as do or practise the same in order to their recovery and reformation." the above enactment leaves no room for doubt as to the opinion prevailing in the church of scotland at the beginning of the eighteenth century respecting ritual in the public worship of god. at the same time it is very evident that a desire prevailed in the church for a seemly and uniform order of service in public worship and an act of the assembly of "seriously recommends to all ministers and others within this national church the due observance of the directory for public worship of god approven by the general assembly held in the year ." this deliverance may be taken as representing the spirit of all legislation of the church respecting worship up to the middle of the present century. whenever, in response to overtures from subordinate courts, or inspired by special requirements of the times, deliverances concerning any part of worship were prepared by the assembly, they uniformly directed the church to the observance of the regulation of this department of divine service as provided for in the westminster directory. it cannot be claimed, however, that due regard was accorded the directory throughout the whole church. the last half of the eighteenth century was a time of spiritual coldness in scotland; not only did evangelical piety languish but there existed at the same time a corresponding want of interest in the worship of the church. praise was neglected, and little effort was made to secure suitable singing of the psalms; at times the reading of scripture was entirely omitted, prayers were brief and meagre, the sermon was regarded as in itself sufficient for the whole service, and all other parts of public worship were looked upon either as preliminaries or subordinate exercises, not calling for any particular preparation or attention. it was a time when spiritual life was low, and the outward expression of that life exhibited a corresponding want of vigor. the evil, therefore, from which the church suffered at this period was not an excess of attention to worship, but a neglect of it; not a too great elaboration of forms, but an almost total disregard of them, even of such as are helpful to the development of the spiritual life of the worshipper. and thus it came to pass that the struggle of more than a century against the use of prescribed forms of worship resulted in a condition more extreme than had been either anticipated or desired, for not only were such forms abandoned, but worship itself was neglected and disregarded. in reviewing the period subsequent to the rejection of laud's liturgy and up to the time of the first secession within the church of scotland, some features that mark the general trend of the spirit of presbyterianism with regard to worship are clearly manifest. first, in the rapid growth of the sect of the brownists and their sympathizers, a growth that had been rendered the easier by the arbitrary acts of charles and laud in a preceding period, we find a clear indication of the spread of opinions strongly opposed to the use of prescribed forms of prayer and, indeed, of any ritual in the exercises of public worship. it may be urged, as has already been remarked, that this opposition was not the result of an unprejudiced consideration of the subject on its merits, but that it was rather an outcome of the spirit which had been aroused by the persecutions through which the stuarts had endeavored to force a ritual upon the church of scotland. this may be granted, and yet it is not to be forgotten that many of those who held these views were among the excellent of their age, men who did not hesitate to bear persecution and to endure hardness as good soldiers of christ for conscience' sake, and who, while doubtless influenced by the sentiments of those who stood to them either in the relation of friends or foes, were not men to allow prejudice to blind both reason and conscience alike. they had found a ritualistic worship associated with practices which they could not but judge to be ungodly and unjust, and engaged in by men who made much of form, but little of truth and charity and justice. it is not surprising, therefore, that in their desire for a revived spiritual life in the church they should consider such a life to be most effectively forwarded by a departure from those forms that had been associated with the decay of true religion in their midst. but, in the second place, this sentiment in favor of absolute freedom from form was not confined to sectaries or their sympathizers in the church, it made itself manifest among the leaders of religion in the land and in the church courts. the proposal of the general assembly of to prepare a directory of worship, and the subsequent action of the scottish church in uniting with the westminster divines in the preparation of that directory, clearly indicate that the church had changed its attitude since the day in which the assembly refused to alter any of the prayers in the book of common order. the adoption of the directory by the scottish church was in a measure an endorsation of the views of those who were opposed to the use of prescribed forms, and while it is true that the scotch commissioners would have preferred the retention of parts of the book of common order, it is surely instructive that even these men were prepared to abandon all forms for worship and to accept simply a regulative directory. the enthusiastic endorsation accorded the directory, both by parliament and by the assembly, is a further indication that the spirit of the church of scotland had undergone whatever slight change was necessary to make it favorable to a simple regulation of public worship, unhampered by anything that had even the appearance of a ritual. the introduction of the directory into scotland, it is true, effected a very slight change in the method of conducting public worship. indeed, a comparison of the order of service as laid down in the directory with that prescribed by the book of common order shows the order of worship to be the same in both. and thus it was that baillie, in addressing the assembly, and expressing his satisfaction at what had been accomplished, declared it to be a most remarkable distinction "that the practice of the church of scotland set down in a most wholesome, pious and prudent directory, should come in the place of a liturgy in all the three dominions." by the adoption of the directory all the substance of the worship of the church of scotland was retained with the order likewise of its different parts, but the suggested forms were surrendered, and even prayers, which owing to the circumstances of an earlier age had been retained and submitted for discretional use, were laid aside. no mention was made in the directory of the use of the gloria, nor did the creed find a place either in public worship or in the administration of the sacraments, but the lord's prayer was mentioned as being "not only a pattern of prayer, but itself a comprehensive prayer," and a recommendation was accordingly made that it should be "used in the prayers of the church." it is evident, therefore, that the spirit of the presbyterian church was still strongly in favor of worship regulated in its order and providing for all the different spiritual exercises authorized by scripture, but which at the same time should be free from any imposed forms from which worshippers should not be allowed to deviate. of the opinion of the church of scotland at this time on the dire effects produced by the use of a ritual in the cultivation of formality among the people, and in the encouragement of a lifeless ministry in the church, there can be no question, as the adoption of the terms of the preface to the directory clearly shows. with the experience of the english church of that age before them as an object lesson of the evil effects of ritualistic worship, the presbyterian church was not unwilling to abandon the use of all imposed forms, and to give itself rather to the cultivation and development of a truly spiritual worship. and finally, the spirit thus planted and fostered in scotland, was intensified during the persecutions which followed the restoration of charles the second. so firmly was this opposition to an imposed form of worship implanted in the hearts of presbyterians that, alike at the revolution and again at the time when the terms from the "act of union" between england and scotland were under consideration the most earnest representations were made, to the end that there should be no change in the worship of the scottish church, but that the freedom in this matter, so prized and so dearly won, should be secured to the people of scotland. the church of scotland then, it may safely be said, moved ever in the direction of securing greater liberty in worship, rather than towards an increase of ritual and an imposition of form. every succeeding period in her history, whether we judge from the general spirit characterizing the people or from the official acts of the parliament and the church, shows a growing distaste for a liturgical worship and an increasing appreciation of liberty in all matters pertaining to the approach of the soul to god. the church of scotland rejected, on the one hand, the extreme positions of sectaries who condemned alike a combined system of church government, the celebration of marriage in the church, the use in worship of the lord's prayer and all regulations even of the order of divine worship, and on the other hand it resisted successfully the strongest anglican influences which would have deprived it of the liberty it prized and would have circumscribed that liberty by a ritual. it retained dignity and order, while it rejected both the license of extravagance and the bondage of form. presbyterian worship outside of the established church of scotland. whether they were right or wrong ... no man of fairness will fail to allow that the record of the seceders all through the period of decadence was a noble one, a record of splendid service to the cause of christ and the historic church of scotland.--m'crie. chapter viii. presbyterian worship outside of the established church of scotland. no review of presbyterian worship would be complete which failed to consider the spirit which has characterized those large sections of the church which exist in scotland outside of the establishment, and those also which have been planted and fostered in the new world. in the first secession church was formed, when ebenezer erskine, william wilson, alexander moncrieff, and james fisher, protesting against what they regarded as the unjust treatment accorded them by the prevailing party in the church, were declared to be no longer members of the church of scotland. this secession church enjoyed a rapid growth, and soon came to form a very influential section in the presbyterianism of the land. its principles and practices with regard to worship show that same suspicion of a ritual and partiality for a free form of worship which has always characterized the presbyterian church in the days of her greatest vigor. in this church published its judicial testimony, in which it declared its loyalty to the directory of worship as the same was approved by the assembly of . some years later one section of this church, known as the antiburgher, published a condemnation of the corruptions of worship as witnessed in england and wales, and at a subsequent period a further manifesto, in which the reading by ministers of their sermons in the public ministry of the word was condemned, as was also "the conduct of those adult persons who, in ordinary circumstances, either in public, in private, or in secret, restrict themselves to set forms of prayer, whether these be read or repeated." the same manifesto, in a part treating of psalmody, claimed for the psalms divine authority, as suitable for the service of praise, in the christian as well as in the old testament dispensation, but acknowledged that, in addition to these, "others contained in the new testament itself may be sung in the ordinance of praise." similar to this position was that of the united associate synod, which, formed in , published, seven years later, its views on the subject of worship. it condemned "the conduct of adult persons who restricted themselves to set forms of prayer, whether read or whether repeated;" it acknowledged also that other parts of scripture besides the psalms were suitable for praise, and, with regard to the use of the lord's prayer in public worship, a matter which had caused much discussion within the church in earlier times, it asserted that: "as scripture doxologies and the divinely-approved petition of saints may be warrantably adopted in our devotional exercises, both public and personal, so may the lord's prayer be used by itself or in connection with other supplications." other manifestos were published from time to time by different bodies as separations or unions took place, for the early part of the past century was a period of frequent divisions and of more happy unions. but while differences existed with regard to the use of paraphrases and human hymns in the service of praise, on the general subject of simplicity of worship and absence of prescribed forms, the manifestos previous to the middle of the century were a unit. as late indeed as , in a deliverance of the united presbyterian church upon the subject of instrumental music in public worship, this jealousy of simplicity in worship hitherto enjoyed is evident. to a consideration of that subject this church had been led by the example of the established church in securing to its congregations liberty of action in the matter. the united presbyterian synod, in a deliverance in which it declined to pronounce judgment upon the introduction of instrumental music in divine service, proceeded to urge upon the courts of the church, and upon individual ministers, the duty of guarding anxiously the simplicity of worship in the sanctuary. not until recent years has any considerable section of the presbyterian church shown a tendency to return to the bondage of a ritual. the views of the bodies above referred to will be differently estimated by different men. some will be inclined to regard the secessionists as narrow in spirit and severe in their simplicity, and as often failing to exhibit a due regard for the beauty of holiness that should characterize divine worship. it will surely, however, indicate on the part of those who read their history a want of appreciation if they fail to recognize the sturdy spiritual life which, forming, as it ever does, the truest foundation for right views of religion, marked these men of whom an eminent leader in the religious life of scotland has said "they stood for truth and light in days when the battle went sore against them both; and as long as truth and light are maintained in scotland it will not be forgotten that a great share of the honor of having carried them safe through some of our darkest days, was given by god to the seceders." the period of the disruption in scotland was one of such struggle concerning great and fundamental principles of church government, that the free church, during the first quarter of a century of its existence as a separate communion, had little time to devote to a consideration of the subject of worship; with the work of organization at home, and afterwards in seeking to carry forward evangelization abroad it was fully occupied. it was for the free church, as also for the established church, a period of revival and of new life, and at such a time men think but little of form and method, finding spiritual satisfaction in the voluntary and spontaneous worship which such an occasion develops. the practice, however, of the free church in worship, and its uniform tendency, was decidedly un-liturgical; freedom from prescribed forms in prayer and an absence of ritual marked its services during the half-century of its existence as a separate communion. so emphatic was its devotion to absolute liberty on the part of the worshippers that it was the last of the great presbyterian bodies in scotland to take any steps towards a further control of public worship other than that which is provided in the directory. about the year the presbyterian churches of england and of australia appointed committees to consider the matter of a uniform order and method of public worship, and these in each case devoted their efforts to the revision of the westminster directory, and in neither has anything more liturgical been suggested than the repetition of the creed and the lord's prayer by the people. the orders of service recommended are more lengthy than that of the westminster directory, but are similar in their general character. the hesitation shown in accepting even such slight changes as were suggested and the vigorous debates which resulted, furnish abundant evidence that the spirit of both of these churches is still strong in favor of voluntary and untrammeled worship. it is but right that in reviewing public worship outside of the established church, reference should be made to the practice of those large sections of the presbyterian church which, originating in scotland, have grown strong in other lands. the presbyterian church of the united states of america has exhibited in the main the same spirit that has characterized presbyterian bodies across the sea. in the synod of new york and philadelphia adopted among other symbols the westminster directory for the worship of god, abbreviating it somewhat, but changing its instructions in no material respect. there has been but little legislation by this church concerning this subject. in the general assembly declared the practice of a responsive service in the public worship of the sanctuary to be without warrant in the new testament, and to be unwise and impolitic in view of its inevitable tendency to destroy uniformity in the form already accepted. it further urged upon sessions of churches to preserve in act and spirit the simplicity indicated in the directory. this judgment of the american church with regard to the influence of a liturgy in public worship is not materially different from that of the framers of the directory as it is set forth in their strongly-worded preface. in the assembly declined to send down to presbyteries an overture declaring that responsive readings are a permissible part of worship in the sanctuary, although it declined at the same time to recommend sessions to make the question a subject of church discipline. six years afterwards it again refused to "prepare and publish a book of forms for public and social worship and for special occasions which shall be the authorized service-book of the church to be used whenever a prescribed formula may be desired;" the reason given for such refusal, however, was the inexpediency of such a step in view of "the liberty that belongs to each minister to avail himself of the calvinistic or other ancient devotional forms of the reformed churches, so far as may seem to him for edification." this explanation clearly indicates that, while the american church is in sympathy with the necessity on the part of ministers, of a due and orderly discharge of all public services, yet it is unwilling to lay itself open to the charge of even suggesting the imposition of forms upon the church for use on stated occasions. an optional liturgy has not been without its advocates among the leaders in this influential section of the church. such eminent and wise men as drs. charles and a. a. hodge and dr. ashbel green confessed themselves as in favor of the introduction of such forms for optional use, and dr. baird in his "eutaxia" and other writers have argued vigorously from the example of sister churches of the continent of europe for a return to the practice which they regarded as historically presbyterian. as yet, however, the church has preferred liberty to even suggested restriction. the results in this church, it cannot be denied, are not all that could be desired. the directory is but little studied by ministers, and has by many been practically set aside. frequently each congregation in the matter of worship is a law unto itself. responsive readings have been introduced in some places, and choir responses after prayer in others; in some congregations the people join in the repetition of the creed and the lord's prayer, while in others neither of these is heard; in one the collection has become a formal offertory; in another it affords an opportunity for the rendition of a musical selection by the choir. worship in this great church is at the present time characterized by the absence of a desirable uniformity, which it was one evident purpose of the directory to secure, and in some of its congregations by the use of symbolism that occasionally becomes extravagant, and which is calculated to appeal entirely to the imagination, the result frequently being a service not attaining to that dignity which an authorized liturgy fosters, while it sacrifices that simplicity in which presbyterians have been accustomed to glory. the united presbyterian church in america, the result of so many happy unions, has always regarded simplicity in worship as an end earnestly to be desired, and worthy of all serious effort to secure. its influence has, therefore, been uniformly in favor of that avoidance of forms against which the seceders of scotland, whom it represents on this continent, so often protested. the presbyterian church, south--that church whose history has been characterized by a loyalty so unswerving to the doctrinal standards of presbyterianism, by a spirit so wisely aggressive in evangelistic and missionary effort, and by a ministry so scholarly and eloquent, has, in the matter of public worship, shown as constant a fidelity to the westminster directory as in doctrine it has shown to the confession of faith. there have been attempts made to introduce changes looking towards the adoption of optional liturgical forms, but these have been few, and they have been rejected in such a way as to leave no room for doubt as to the mind of the church in this matter. the directory has been ably revised, but it still remains a directory, suggestive and eminently suitable to present requirements of the church. serious and persevering attention has been given to the praise service, and no less than three hymnals have received and now enjoy the church's _imprimatur_. public worship in divine service has retained a much greater uniformity among the presbyterians of the southern states than among their brethren in the north, and there has been less yielding to the popular demand for those features in worship that appeal to the imagination, and which so often serve to entertain rather than to edify. the presbyterian church in canada, owing to the ties that bind it to the churches of the old land, has closely followed their practice, and its method in worship has been characterized by a similar spirit. no authoritative or mandatory formulas have been imposed upon it, nor does it seem likely that such would be received should they be proposed. reverence and dignity have in general characterized its public services, and yet in recent years those changes which have gradually been introduced into the worship of the church in that part of the american republic lying contiguous to the dominion have made their appearance in presbyterian worship in canada. the chief result has been, as in that church also, an unfortunate want of uniformity in this part of divine service. there has always been a constant and due regard paid to all parts of worship provided for in the directory, and the neglect of any of these parts cannot be seriously charged against any considerable part of the church, but congregations have frequently considered themselves at liberty to change their order and to vary them as circumstances seem to demand. it is this feature as much as any that has in recent years led to an agitation for the improvement of public worship, and that is calling the earnest attention of the church to a matter of supreme importance. until very recently then, all branches of the presbyterian church in the british empire and those bodies in the united states whose standards have been those of westminster, have refused to recognize the need for any other formula of worship than that, or such as that, provided in the directory. and where any considerable desire for change and improvement has been found, it has expressed itself usually as favorable to a revised directory rather than as desirous of the adoption by the church of a liturgy, however simple. those great sections of the church which have been most active in the work of home and foreign evangelization, a work that has especially claimed attention during this century, have found the simple worship of our fathers well suited to the cultivation of the spiritual life that must of necessity lie behind all such efforts, and to the development of the reverent and devotional spirit so characteristic of an aggressive christianity. the church has been true to the traditions and principles so loyally maintained in the days of her heroic struggles in the past, and along these lines she has found in her public worship blessing and inspiration for her peaceful toils, even as our fathers in their day found in similar worship strength and revived courage with which to meet their difficulties and to endure persecution. modern movements in presbyterian churches respecting public worship. "all who desire to manifest an intelligent appreciation of what is distinctive in presbyterian ritual would do well to guard against attaching undue importance, or adhering too tenaciously, to details of a past or present usage, as if these constituted the essentials from which there must never be the smallest deviation, of which there may never be the slightest modification or adaptation to altered acquirements and circumstances."--mccrie. chapter ix. modern movements in presbyterian churches respecting public worship. the earliest indication of any general desire in scotland for a more elaborate service than that in general use in the church at the time of the revolution was seen in the proposal to enlarge the psalmody and to improve the service of praise. as early as the general assembly of the church of scotland called the attention of congregations to the necessity that existed for a more decent performance of the public praise of god, in a recommendation that was exceedingly desirable and necessary if the accounts of the service of praise at that time are to be believed. this was followed, not long afterward, by the introduction of paraphrases, styled "songs of scripture," and later of hymns, and finally of instrumental music. in this matter of the improvement of worship in the department of praise, the secession churches in several cases were more forward than the established church, the revived interest in religion and worship which had been in a measure the cause of their existence lending itself to such measures. in all sections of the church the conflict concerning praise in worship was for a long period prosecuted with an energy that frequently arose to bitterness. the vexed questions of hymn-singing and the use of instruments in churches being settled, there followed, or perhaps it may be said there arose out of these, the further question of the elaboration and improvement of other parts of worship. in the assembly of the church of scotland recommended to congregations that were without a minister, the use in worship of a book prepared by its authority, in which were embodied the prayers of the book of common order, together with much material from the directory of worship. this action on the part of the church was regarded by some as indicating the existence of a spirit which warranted the formation of "the church service society." this society was formed by certain ministers of the established church who were strongly impressed with the desirability of the adoption by the church of certain authorized forms of prayer for public worship, and of the use of prescribed forms in the administration of the sacraments. by the publication of its constitution, in which it announced its object as "the study of the liturgies ancient and modern of the christian church, with a view to the preparation and ultimate publication of certain forms of prayer for public worship, and services for the administration of the sacraments, the celebration of marriage, the burial of the dead," etc., it very early aroused vigorous opposition on the part of many who saw in its organization an evident intention to introduce into the church a liturgical service. such a purpose the society emphatically disavowed, and insisted that there was no desire on the part of its members to encroach upon the simplicity of presbyterian worship, but claimed rather the desire to redeem the same from lifelessness and lack of a devotional spirit with which they declared it is so likely to be characterized. so effectively have the fears of those who first uttered their objections been allayed, that the society is said to comprise in its membership, at the present time, more than one-third of the ordained ministers of the established church. the results of this society's labors have been published in a volume which is now in its seventh edition. it is a book of more than pages, and is entitled, "euchologion--a book of common order." its contents seem to harmonize more with the views which were charged against the originators of the society at its commencement than with the defence which was put forward in its behalf at that time. although widely used it has no official sanction of the church, and, therefore, it is not necessary to enter into any close analysis of its contents. briefly, however, it may be said, it is a liturgy much more closely approximating to the english book of common prayer than to knox's book of common order, or to the ritual of any of the reformed churches of the continent, with which its projectors declare themselves to be more in sympathy than with the episcopal communion of england. the first part comprises, in addition to prescribed daily scripture readings and readings for every sunday of the year, the order of divine service for morning and evening for the five several sundays of the month; in this order are contained special forms of prayer, responses to be used by the congregation, the lord's prayer, to be repeated by minister and congregation together, and the apostles' creed, which is to be either said or sung. in the second part, which contains "additional materials for daily and other services," the first place is given to the litany, which is an exact transcript of that of the church of england with the exception of a change in one petition, rendered necessary by the difference in the forms of government in the two churches. a number of "prayers for special graces," "collects" and "prayers for special seasons" and "additional forms of service" are added. the "prayers for special seasons" have regard to "our lord's advent," "the incarnation," "palm sunday," "the descent of the holy ghost," etc. the last section of the book provides forms of service for the administration of the sacraments, visitation of the sick, marriage, burial, ordination, etc. in the form for the visitation of the sick a responsive service is provided, as also in the order for holy communion. on the whole it is probably not too much to assert that "euchologion--a book of common order," issued by the church service society, is decidedly more liturgical in form than was the unfortunate laud's liturgy, which raised against itself and its projectors such a vigorous protest on the part of the church of scotland. following the organization of the society referred to, came one in connection with the united presbyterian church called "the united presbyterian devotional association," having for its object "to promote the edifying conduct of the devotional services of the church." this society declares its willingness to profit from the worship of other churches besides the presbyterian, but at the same time asserts its loyalty to the principles and history of presbyterianism. the forms published in its book, "presbyterian forms of service," are not intended to be used liturgically, but the purpose is that they should furnish examples and serve as illustrations of the reverent and seemly conduct of public worship. the latest book to be issued on these lines is "a new directory for the public worship of god"; this name is further enlarged by the following description, which provides a sufficient index to its contents: "founded on the book of common order ( - ) and the westminster directory ( - ) and prepared by the public worship association in connection with the free church of scotland." this book follows in general the form and method of the directory, carefully avoiding the provision of even an optional liturgy. the form which it has assumed, that of a simple directory of worship, was adopted after long discussion in the "association" on these four questions, "the desirableness of an optional liturgy as distinguished from a directory of public worship;" "the desirableness of a responsive service," such a service to include the use by the people with the minister of the lord's prayer, the creed, the beatitudes, the commandments, etc.; "the desirableness of the collect form of prayer and of responses in general," and "the desirableness of the celebration of the christian year." after long and exhaustive debate on the above questions the book has been issued in its present form as a simple directory of worship, responses and the celebration of the christian year and even an optional liturgy having been rejected as undesirable. orders of service are suggested, as well for public worship as for the administration of the sacraments and for special services, and suggestions at great length are offered concerning what should find a place in the prayers of invocation, thanksgiving, confession, petition, intercession and illumination. a few historic prayers of eminent saints of god are included as examples, and large quotations are made for the same purpose from knox's book of common order and from hermann's "consultation," and from this last source "a litany for special days of prayer" is added in an appendix. if the euchologion indicates a strong tendency on the part of the "church service society" towards the introduction of a responsive and liturgical service into public worship, the new directory of public worship indicates just as strongly a tendency within the "public worship association" to avoid the introduction of even optional forms and to retain the simplicity that has for three centuries characterized presbyterian worship. the attempts to revise the directory of worship in order to modify and adapt it to present-day requirements made recently by the presbyterian church of england, and by the federated churches of australia and tasmania, have already been referred to. that these churches have confined their efforts to a revision of the directory, and have in this asserted their approval of a directory of worship rather than of a liturgy, is in itself an instructive fact. in the revised directory of the presbyterian church of england some changes are made in the direction of securing for the people a larger part in audible worship. the repetition of the creed is permitted, and where used is to be repeated by the minister and people together; it is recommended as seemly that the people after every prayer should audibly say amen, and the lord's prayer, which should be uniformly used, is to be said by all. the work of revision by the churches of australia and tasmania introduces fewer changes. in the administration of "the lord's supper" it is recommended that at the close of the consecration prayer the minister recite the "apostles creed" as a brief summary of christian faith, and when the lord's prayer is used, as advised before or after the prayer of intercession, the people may be invited to join audibly or to add _amen_. worthy of more extended notice than the limits of this chapter will permit is "the book of church order" of the presbyterian church in the united states. as early as a proposal was made in assembly to revise the westminster directory of worship for the purpose not only of rendering it more suitable to the requirements of the time, but in order also to so modify and improve it as to increase its suggestiveness and helpfulness to ministers. the work was undertaken by a committee appointed in , and in this committee presented its formal report, which was adopted, and the revised directory was ordered to be published. it contains sixteen chapters, treating of all the matters treated in the original directory, and containing in addition suggestive chapters on "sabbath schools," "prayer meetings," "secret and family worship," and "the admission of persons to sealing ordinances." respecting the public reading of holy scripture the revised directory declares it to be "a part of the public worship of god," and that "it ought to be performed by the minister or some other authorized person." of public prayer, after indicating its different parts, and suggesting the place that it should occupy in the service, the mind of the church is thus expressed: "but we think it necessary to observe that, although we do not approve, as is well known, of confining ministers to set or fixed forms of prayer for public worship, yet it is the indispensable duty of every minister, previously to his entering on his office, to prepare and qualify himself for this part of his duty, as well as for preaching." in the chapters on the administration of baptism and the lord's supper particular directions are given, and questions suitable to be asked of the parents of children presented for baptism are suggested, while in the directions for the admission of persons to sealing ordinances, an important distinction is drawn between the reception of baptized children of the church and that of those who, on confession of their faith, are at that time first received. to the directory there are added optional forms for use at a marriage service and at a funeral service. the book is not elaborate, and may be thought by many to be far from comprehensive as a directory, but it is suggestive and helpful, and, while true to the principles of presbyterian worship, it gives no evidence of disregard for the beauty and appropriateness that should characterize the public services of the church. among books of church order it is well worth study by those who desire in worship to combine simplicity with dignity. it is evident from these recent and simultaneous movements in so many branches of the presbyterian church, that there exists a feeling on the part of many that there is need of improvement in the important department of worship in our public services. it is probable that there will be found few to deny this, or to confess absolute satisfaction with the worship of the church to-day. the question on which many will hold widely divergent opinions is as to the means to be adopted for its improvement. some there are, as in the church service society, who advocate a prescribed liturgy for at least certain parts of public worship; others, who desire a liturgy, but who are content to leave to congregations or to ministers freedom to use it or to disregard it; still others are loyal to the spirit of the age which produced the westminster directory, while they are at the same time willing to revise that work, which was found so serviceable to the church for so long a period, and so to render it more suitable to the demands of our own age. if a judgment may be formed from the movements that have just been reviewed, it is probable that at least for some time to come, the presbyterian church will continue to walk in the paths that have become familiar through long usage. the age, it is true, is past when dictation on this matter, either favoring or condemning a liturgy, would be suffered; and, therefore, it is to be expected that congregations will exercise liberty in the matter. yet, so far as the general sentiment of the church is concerned, a sentiment that will doubtless from time to time find expression in official declarations, it appears evident that the preponderating feeling is still strongly in favor of a voluntary worship, unrestricted even by suggested forms. conclusion. "a constant form is a certain way to bring the soul to a cold, insensible, formal worship."--baxter. chapter x. conclusion. the foregoing brief review of public worship within those influential sections of the presbyterian church whose attitude on this question has been examined, affords a sufficient ground for the assertion that those bodies have shown, until recently, a uniform and steadily growing suspicion of a liturgical service, even in its most modified form. the book of common order, the first official service book adopted by the general assembly of the church of scotland for the regulation of its worship, marked a distinct advance towards a freer form and greater liberty on the part of the minister in conducting divine service. as compared not only with the english prayer book of the time, which was used in reformed parishes in scotland, but even with calvin's order of worship, which had been so generally adopted by the reformed churches on the continent, this book of common order was characterized by a spirit of larger liberty in worship and less reliance upon forms either suggested or imposed. in the period of struggle through which the church of scotland passed in the reigns of james the first and charles the first, the conflicts, civil and religious, only served, so far as they had any effect upon the views of the church concerning worship, to strengthen the already strong opposition to prescribed forms of prayer and to ritualistic observances. accordingly, when it was proposed to substitute for the book of common order a directory, in which there should appear no prescribed forms for any part of public worship, the scotch assembly gave a ready assent to the proposal, and, although some words of regret at parting with an historic symbol were spoken at that time by leaders in the scottish church, they were only such as it was natural to expect should be spoken in view of the strong attachment for that symbol fostered by its use during many years, but they were not such as indicate that those who so spoke felt themselves called upon to surrender any principle in laying aside the order to which they had been so long accustomed. indeed the hearty and cheerful adoption by the scottish assembly of the strongly worded preface to the westminster directory, exposing as it does so vigorously the weakness as well as the dangers resulting from the use of a liturgy in public worship, plainly indicates that in the judgment of the church of that day the use of liturgical forms was not only not helpful, but was positively perilous, as well to the best interests of the congregation as to the most efficient service of the minister. again in a third epoch of the church's history, in the days following the "killing time," and marked by the succession to the throne of william of orange, and later by the union of england and scotland, the presbyterian church of the latter country not only reasserted her loyalty to the principles of liberty in worship which she had so long defended, but she also succeeded in having secured to her by legislation, freedom from the imposition of ritualistic forms. it is at least allowable to assert that the leaders in the scottish church in the days of the westminster assembly and at the beginning of the eighteenth century, regarded the perfect liberty in worship allowed by the directory not only as scriptural, but as suitable for the attainment of the great ends of public worship, for on no other grounds would they have consented to its adoption in scotland. and if presbyterians of to-day desire to imitate the spirit and methods of their ancestors, it is reasonable that they should study the example of the men of the second reformation. there is good ground for claiming that in no period of the church's history did it give evidence of a deeper spiritual life and a more aggressive energy than in the age in which those heroic spirits lived. the leaders in that day also, such men as henderson, gillespie, rutherford and baillie, understood the spirit of presbyterianism and the need of the church quite as fully as did any leaders of either an earlier or a later day. it is not to be forgotten that, in an age that produced men whose names must never be omitted when the roll of scotland's greatest sons is called, the presbyterian church stood firmly for absolute liberty in worship from prescribed forms. it should, therefore, be considered by those who would have the church return to the bondage of forms or even to their optional use, that they are advocating not a return to the practice of any former period in which the church was free to exercise its own desire in this matter, but rather that they are urging her to a course that will be wholly antagonistic to the spirit of presbyterianism as indicated by the trend of its practice during a stirring and eventful history of three hundred years. the spirit of presbyterian worship has been consistently and persistently non-liturgical and anti-ritualistic, and to advocate the adoption of liturgy and ritual to-day is to depart completely from that historic attitude. a few words on the subject of liturgies in general may not inappropriately close this sketch of the history of presbyterian worship since the reformation. it is now generally acknowledged that the introduction of liturgies into the worship of the christian church was not earlier than the latter part of the fourth century. not until the presbyter had become a priest, and worship had degenerated into a function, did liturgies find a place in christian service. even the earliest oriental liturgies were sacramentaries, the christian sacrifice being the central object around which the entire service gathered. so long as the life of the church was strong, and in its strength found delight in a freedom of approach to god, so long the apostolic practice was followed and worship was unrestricted and simple. during the middle ages, as religion became ever more formal and less spiritual, as the priesthood deteriorated intellectually and spiritually, liturgies flourished; and it is not too much to assert that just in proportion to the growth of the liturgical service in any church, in that proportion the power of its ministry has declined. indeed the whole history of liturgies in their origin, development, and effects, should make the church that rejoices in freedom from their binding forms most careful ere submitting in any degree to their paralyzing influence. it is argued in favor of the introduction of forms of prayer that their use would tend to the more orderly and dignified conducting of public worship by the minister. it is not a difficult matter to take exception to methods to which we have long been accustomed, and to compare these, sometimes to their disadvantage, with ideal conditions. as a matter of fact, however, it may in all fairness be asked, does disorder or irreverence characterize presbyterian worship in general, or indeed to any noticeable extent? whatever lovers of another system, within our own church, may say, it cannot be denied that the impression in the minds of men of all denominations (an impression that has not gained strength without cause) is that, compared with the worship of any other denomination, that of the presbyterian church is characterized by reverence, dignity and order. the conduct of any average congregation in the presbyterian church, and the heartiness with which its members join in every part of public worship will appear at no disadvantage when compared with that of a congregation worshipping with a ritual. whatever other blessings a liturgy may secure for those devoted to its use, it has never been able to develop in the churches where it is employed a spirit and conduct in public worship as reverent and devotional, and at the same time so marked by understanding, as that which has uniformly characterized the presbyterian church, and that church would have to gain very much in other directions to compensate for the opening of the door to the formal and careless repetition of holy words so often associated with the use of a liturgy. it is further argued that congregations would, with the aid of a liturgy, be enabled to take both a more lively and a more intelligent part in public prayer than they can possibly do when endeavoring to follow a minister who uses extempore prayer only. this argument must appear to be of considerable weight to those only who forget how lifeless and unmeaning a mere form of words, with which the lips have grown familiar, can become. paley frankly admitted, when treating of this matter, that "the perpetual repetition of the same form of words produces weariness and inattentiveness in the congregation." there is a danger that by carelessness in considering the needs of the worshippers, and by diffusiveness, the minister may render the service of prayer far less helpful than it should be to those whom it is his privilege to lead to the throne of grace; but the cure for this is not to be found in the introduction of stereotyped forms, which in the nature of the case cannot be suitable for all occasions, but in a due recognition by the minister of the greatness of the duty which he assumes in speaking to god for the people. such a recognition will lead him to seek that preparation of heart and mind necessary for its helpful performance, nor will his consciousness of the need of help, other than man can give, go unrecognized by the father of spirits, who in this matter also sends not his servants at their own charges. as to the unity in prayer so much desired, true prayer is "in the spirit," and earnest worshippers have a right to expect that their hearts will be united by that spirit at the throne of grace, so that "with one accord" they may present their petitions and claim the promise to those who are thus agreed. this is the true unity and uniformity which christians are bound to seek, and any mere mechanical uniformity of words, apart from this, is but the outward trappings of form which are much more liable to satisfy the careless worshipper than to inspire in him any thought of the need of a more real approach to god. lastly, it is urged that the responsive reading of the scriptures would prove an aid to the intelligent understanding of them, and that the repetition of the creed or other such formulary of doctrine would serve to preserve the church in the soundness of the faith. the refutation of the first statement is to be found in many congregations where the practice has been tried, and in sabbath schools in which the custom now prevails. many there are who will not read, others who cannot, and these fail entirely to profit from the unintelligible hum of a number of voices reading in what is often anything but harmony either of sound or time; and those who do read, frequently fail to receive that clear impression of the truth that should result from the effective and sympathetic reading of an entire passage. without dwelling on the question whether the reading of the scriptures is to be regarded as properly a ministerial act or not, on the simple ground of efficiency, responsive reading in large and constantly-changing congregations must frequently, if not generally, prove a failure. as regards the repetition of the creed by the congregation, it is certainly a question open for discussion whether or not the frequent repetition of a formulary of doctrine is a safeguard to the faith of the church. in this matter also we are not without the light of experience and history; the presbyterian churches of scotland and america, which have never adopted any such practice, have certainly a record with respect to soundness in the faith which compares favorably with that of churches which have for ages adopted this as a custom in their worship. it would not be difficult to mention churches in which the repetition of a formulary of doctrine has long been an established question, and in which it is not apparent that the practice has successfully served as a safeguard to doctrine. comparisons are odious, and we do not desire to institute them, but as wise men we should surely be guided by the light which history and experience in the past throws forward upon the pathway that we are to travel. the presbyterian church has a history which may with reason cause all her children to thank god and take courage as they look forward on greater works than those of past days yet to be accomplished. her past is rich in noble deeds, valiant testimonies and stirring struggles for the truth, and through it all she pressed forward rejoicing in a liberty which is inseparable from the principles of presbyterianism, and one product of which has ever been an unwillingness to be trammeled by forms in her approach to god. that history is such as need cause no presbyterian to blush when it is related side by aide with that of any other church; surely they must be bold souls who would propose to introduce a radical change into the genius of presbyterianism, or to relinquish principles which have led to such success, for others that have yet to show an equal vitality and vigor. our free and untrammeled worship demands from the worshipper his best; it brings him face to face with his god, and forbids him to rest in any mere repetition of a familiar form; it requires of the minister a preparation of both mind and soul, and challenges him to spiritual conflict which he dare not refuse, while in addition to all this its very freedom renders it adaptable to all the varying circumstances in which in a land like our own the worship of god must be conducted. it is suitable alike to the stately city church and to the humble cabin of the settler, or to the mission house of the far west; wherever men assemble for worship it affords the possibility for seemly, orderly and reverent procedure. is there any other form of worship suggested for which as much can be said? as long as the ministers of the presbyterian church are men of god, recognizing his call to the sacred office of the ministry, and believing that those whom he calls he equips with needed grace and gifts for their work, so long will they be able to lead the congregations to which they minister in worship that shall be at once honoring to god and a help to the spiritual life of the people: when they cease to be such men forms may become, not only expedient, but essential. t. de witt talmage as i knew him by the late t. de witt talmage, d.d. with concluding chapters by mrs. t. de witt talmage with illustrations new york: e.p. dutton and company contents first milestone second milestone third milestone fourth milestone fifth milestone sixth milestone seventh milestone eighth milestone ninth milestone tenth milestone eleventh milestone twelfth milestone thirteenth milestone fourteenth milestone fifteenth milestone sixteenth milestone seventeenth milestone biographical sketch of his last milestones-- first milestone second milestone third milestone last milestone list of illustrations the rev. t. de witt talmage, d.d. david and catherine talmage--parents of dr. t. de witt talmage dr. talmage in his first church, belleville, new jersey dr. talmage as chaplain of the thirteenth regiment of new york the third brooklyn tabernacle the first presbyterian church, washington, d.c. dr. and mrs. t. de witt talmage facsimile of president abraham lincoln's letter preface i write this story of my life, first of all for my children. how much would i now give for a full account of my father's life written by his own hand! that which merely goes from lip to ear is apt to be soon forgotten. the generations move on so rapidly that events become confused. i said to my son, "do you remember that time in philadelphia, during the war, when i received a telegram saying several hundred wounded soldiers would arrive next day, and we suddenly extemporised a hospital and all turned in to the help of the suffering soldiers?" my son's reply was, "my memory of that occurrence is not very distinct, as it took place six years before i was born." the fact is that we think our children know many things concerning which they know nothing at all. but, outside my own family, i am sure that there are many who would like to read about what i have been doing, thinking, enjoying, and hoping all these years; for through the publication of my entire sermons, as has again and again been demonstrated, i have been brought into contact with the minds of more people, and for a longer time, than most men. this i mean not in boast, but as a reason for thinking that this autobiography may have some attention outside of my own circle, and i mention it also in gratitude to god, who has for so long a time given me this unlimited and almost miraculous opportunity. each life is different from every other life. god never repeats himself, and he never intended two men to be alike, or two women to be alike, or two children to be alike. this infinite variety of character and experience makes the story of any life interesting, if that story be clearly and accurately told. i am now in the full play of my faculties, and without any apprehension of early departure, not having had any portents, nor seen the moon over my left shoulder, nor had a salt-cellar upset, nor seen a bat fly into the window, nor heard a cricket chirp from the hearth, nor been one of thirteen persons at a table. but my common sense, and the family record, and the almanac tell me it must be "towards evening." t. de witt talmage as i knew him first milestone - our family bible, in the record just between the old and the new testaments, has this entry: "thomas dewitt, born january , ." i was the youngest of a family of twelve children, all of whom lived to grow up except the first, and she was an invalid child. i was the child of old age. my nativity, i am told, was not heartily welcomed, for the family was already within one of a dozen, and the means of support were not superabundant. i arrived at middlebrook, new jersey, while my father kept the toll-gate, at which business the older children helped him, but i was too small to be of service. i have no memory of residence there, except the day of departure, and that only emphasised by the fact that we left an old cat which had purred her way into my affections, and separation from her was my first sorrow, so far as i can remember. in that home at middlebrook, and in the few years after, i went through the entire curriculum of infantile ailments. the first of these was scarlet fever, which so nearly consummated its fell work on me that i was given up by the doctors as doomed to die, and, according to custom in those times in such a case, my grave clothes were completed, the neighbours gathering for that purpose. during those early years i took such a large share of epidemics that i have never been sick since with anything worthy of being called illness. i never knew or heard of anyone who has had such remarkable and unvarying health as i have had, and i mention it with gratitude to god, in whose "hand our breath is, and all our ways." the "grippe," as it is called, touched me at vienna when on my way from the holy land, but i felt it only half a day, and never again since. i often wonder what has become of our old cradle in which all of us children were rocked! we were a large family, and that old cradle was going a good many years. i remember just how it looked. it was old-fashioned and had no tapestry. its two sides and canopy were of plain wood, but there was a great deal of sound sleeping in that cradle, and many aches and pains were soothed in it. most vividly i remember that the rockers, which came out from under the cradle, were on the top and side very smooth, so smooth that they actually glistened. but it went right on and rocked for phoebe the first, and for dewitt the last. there were no lords or baronets or princes in our ancestral line. none wore stars, cockade, or crest. there was once a family coat-of-arms, but we were none of us wise enough to tell its meaning. do our best, we cannot find anything about our forerunners except that they behaved well, came over from wales or holland a good while ago, and died when their time came. some of them may have had fine equipages and postilions, but the most of them were sure only of footmen. my father started in life belonging to the aristocracy of hard knuckles and homespun, but had this high honour that no one could despise: he was the son of a father who loved god and kept his commandments. two eyes, two hands, and two feet were the capital my father started with. benignity, kindness, keen humour, broad common sense and industry characterised my mother. the reverend dr. chambers was for many years her pastor. he had fifty years of pastorate service, in somerville, n.j., and the collegiate church, new york. he said, in an address at the dedication of the brooklyn tabernacle, that my mother was the most consecrated christian person he had ever known. my mother worked very hard, and when we would come in and sit down at the table at noon, i remember how she used to look. there were beads of perspiration along the line of her grey hair, and sometimes she would sit down at the table, and put her head against her wrinkled hand and say, "well, the fact is, i'm too tired to eat." my father was a religious, hard-working, honest man. every day began and closed with family worship, led by my father, or, in case of his absence, by mother. that which was evidently uppermost in the minds of my parents, and that which was the most pervading principle in their lives, was the christian religion. the family bible held a perfect fascination for me, not a page that was not discoloured either with time or tears. my parents read out of it as long as i can remember. when my brother van nest died in a foreign land, and the news came to our country home, that night they read the eternal consolations out of the old book. when my brother david died that book comforted the old people in their trouble. my father in mid-life, fifteen years an invalid, out of that book read of the ravens that fed elijah all through the hard struggle for bread. when my mother died that book illumined the dark valley. in the years that followed of loneliness, it comforted my father with the thought of reunion, which took place afterward in heaven. to the wonderful conversion of my grandfather and grandmother, in those grand old days of our declaration of independence, i trace the whole purpose, trend, and energies of my life. i have told the story of the conversion of my grandfather and grandmother before. i repeat it here, for my children. my grandfather and grandmother went from somerville to baskenridge to attend revival meetings under the ministry of dr. finney. they were so impressed with the meetings that when they came back to somerville they were seized upon by a great desire for the salvation of their children. that evening the children were going off for a gay party, and my grandmother said to the children, "when you get all ready for the entertainment, come into my room; i have something very important to tell you." after they were all ready they came into my grandmother's room, and she said to them, "go and have a good time, but while you are gone i want you to know i am praying for you and will do nothing but pray for you until you get back." they did not enjoy the entertainment much because they thought all the time of the fact that mother was praying for them. the evening passed. the next day my grandparents heard sobbing and crying in the daughter's room, and they went in and found her praying for the salvation of god, and her daughter phoebe said, "i wish you would go to the barn and to the waggon-house for jehiel and david (the brothers) are under powerful conviction of sin." my grandparent went to the barn, and jehiel, who afterward became a useful minister of the gospel, was imploring the mercy of christ; and then, having first knelt with him and commended his soul to christ, they went to the waggon-house, and there was david crying for the salvation of his soul--david, who afterward became my father. david could not keep the story to himself, and he crossed the fields to a farmhouse and told one to whom he had been affianced the story of his own salvation, and she yielded her heart to god. the story of the converted household went all through the neighbourhood. in a few weeks two hundred souls stood up in the plain meeting house at somerville to profess faith in christ, among them david and catherine, afterward my parents. [illustration: david talmage. catherine talmage. (_the parents of dr. t. dewitt talmage_)] my mother, impressed with that, in after life, when she had a large family of children gathered around her, made a covenant with three neighbours, three mothers. they would meet once a week to pray for the salvation of their children until all their children were converted--this incident was not known until after my mother's death, the covenant then being revealed by one of the survivors. we used to say: "mother, where are you going?" and she would say, "i am just going out a little while; going over to the neighbours." they kept on in that covenant until all their families were brought into the kingdom of god, myself the last, and i trace that line of results back to that evening when my grandmother commended our family to christ, the tide of influence going on until this hour, and it will never cease. my mother died in her seventy-sixth year. through a long life of vicissitude she lived harmlessly and usefully, and came to her end in peace. we had often heard her, when leading family prayers in the absence of my father, say, "o lord, i ask not for my children wealth or honour, but i do ask that they all may be the subjects of thy converting grace." her eleven children brought into the kingdom of god, she had but one more wish, and that was that she might see her long-absent missionary son, and when the ship from china anchored in new york harbour, and the long-absent one passed over the threshold of his paternal home, she said, "lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." the prayer was soon answered. my father, as long as i can remember, was an elder in churches. he conducted prayer-meetings in the country, when he was sometimes the only man to take part, giving out a hymn and leading the singing; then reading the scriptures and offering prayer; then giving out another hymn and leading in that; and then praying again; and so continuing the meeting for the usual length of time, and with no lack of interest. when the church choir would break down, everybody looked around to see if he were not ready with "woodstock," "mount pisgah" or "uxbridge." and when all his familiar tunes failed to express the joy of his soul, he would take up his own pen, draw five long lines across the sheet, put in the notes, and then to the tune he called "bound brook," begin to sing: as when the weary traveller gains the height of some o'erlooking hill, his heart revives if 'cross the plains he eyes his home, though distant still; thus, when the christian pilgrim views, by faith, his mansion in the skies, the sight his fainting strength renews, and wings his speed to reach the prize. 'tis there, he says, i am to dwell with jesus in the realms of day; there i shall bid my cares farewell and he will wipe my tears away. he knew about all the cheerful tunes that were ever printed in old "new brunswick collection," and the "shunway," and the sweetest melodies that thomas hastings ever composed. he took the pitch of sacred song on sabbath morning, and kept it through all the week. my father was the only person whom i ever knew without any element of fear. i do not believe he understood the sensation. seated in a waggon one day during a runaway that every moment threatened our demolition, he was perfectly calm. he turned around to me, a boy of seven years, and said, "dewitt, what are you crying about? i guess we can ride as fast as they can run." there was one scene i remember, that showed his poise and courage as nothing else could. he was sheriff of somerset county, n.j., and we lived in the court house, attached to which was the county jail. during my father's absence one day a prisoner got playing the maniac, dashing things to pieces, vociferating horribly, and flourishing a knife with which he had threatened to carve any one who came near the wicket of his prison, constables were called in to quell this real or dramatised maniac, but they fell back in terror from the door of the prison. their show of firearms made no impression upon the demented wretch. after awhile my father returned and was told of the trouble, and indeed he heard it before he reached home. the whole family implored him not to go near the man who was cursing, and armed with a knife. but father could not be deterred. he did not stand outside the door and at a safe distance, but took the key and opened the door, and without any weapon of defence came upon the man, thundering at him, "sit down and give me that knife!" the tragedy was ended. i never remember to have heard him make a gloomy remark. this was not because he had no perception of the pollutions of society. i once said to my father, "are people so much worse now than they used to-be?" he made no answer for a minute, for the old people do not like to confess much to the boys. but after awhile his eye twinkled and he said: "well, dewitt, the fact is that people were never any better than they ought to be." ours was an industrious home. i was brought up to regard laziness as an abominable disease. though we were some years of age before we heard the trill of a piano, we knew well all about the song of "the spinning-wheel." through how many thrilling scenes my father had passed! he stood, at morristown, in the choir that chanted when george washington was buried; talked with young men whose fathers he had held on his knee; watched the progress of john adams's administration; denounced, at the time, aaron burr's infamy; heard the guns that celebrated the new orleans victory; voted against jackson, but lived long enough to wish we had another just like him; remembered when the first steamer struck the north river with its wheel-buckets; was startled by the birth of telegraphy; saw the united states grow from a speck on the world's map till all nations dip their flag at our passing merchantmen. he was born while the revolutionary cannon were coming home from yorktown, and lived to hear the tramp of troops returning from the war of the great rebellion. he lived to speak the names of eighty children, grand-children and great-grand-children. he died just three years from the day when my mother sped on. when my father lay dying the old country minister said to him, "mr. talmage, how do you feel now as you are about to pass the jordan of death?" he replied--and it was the last thing he ever said--"i feel well; i feel very well; all is well"--lifting his hand in a benediction, a speechless benediction, which i pray god may go down through all the generations--"it is well!" four of his sons became ministers of the gospel: reverend james r. talmage, d.d., who was preaching before i was born, and who died in ; reverend john van nest talmage, d.d., who spent his life as a missionary in china, and died in the summer of ; reverend goyn talmage, d.d., who after doing a great work for god, died in . but all my brothers and sisters were decidedly christian, lived usefully and died peacefully. i rejoice to remember that though my father lived in a plain house the most of his days, he died in a mansion provided by the filial piety of his son who had achieved a fortune. the house at gateville, near bound brook, in which i was born, has gone down. not one stone has been left upon another. i one day picked up a fragment of the chimney, or wall, and carried it home. but the home that i associate with my childhood was about three miles from somerville, n.j. the house, the waggon-shed, the barn, are now just as i remember them from childhood days. it was called "uncle john's place" from the fact that my mother's uncle, john van nest, owned it, and from him my father rented it "on shares." here i rode the horse to brook. here i hunted for and captured easter eggs. here the natural world made its deepest impression on me. here i learned some of the fatigues and hardships of the farmer's life--not as i felt them, but as my father and mother endured them. here my brother daniel brought home his bride. from here i went to the country school. here in the evening the family were gathered, mother knitting or sewing, father vehemently talking politics or religion with some neighbour not right on the subject of the tariff, or baptism, and the rest of us reading or listening. all the group are gone except my sister catherine and myself. my childhood, as i look back upon it, is to me a mystery. while i always possessed a keen sense of the ludicrous, and a hearty appreciation of fun of all sorts, there was a sedate side of my nature that demonstrated itself to the older members of the family, and of which they often spoke. for half days, or whole days, at a time i remember sitting on a small footstool beside an ordinary chair on which lay open "scott's commentaries on the bible." i not only read the scriptures out of this book, but long discourses of thomas scott, and passages adjoining. i could not have understood much of these profound and elaborate commentaries. they were not written or printed for children, but they had for my childish mind a fascination that kept me from play, and from the ordinary occupations of persons of my years. so, also, it was with the religious literature of the old-fashioned kind, with which some of the tables of my father's house were piled. indeed, when afterwards i was living at my brothers' house, he a clergyman, i read through and through and through the four or five volumes of dwight's "theology," which must have been a wading-in far beyond my depth. i think if i had not possessed an unusual resiliency of temperament, the reading and thinking so much of things pertaining to the soul and a future state would have made me morbid and unnatural. this tendency to read and think in sacred directions was not a case of early piety. i do not know what it was. i suppose in all natures there are things inexplicable. how strange is the phenomenon of childhood days to an old man! how well i remember sanderson's stage coach, running from new brunswick to easton, as he drove through somerville, new jersey, turning up to the post-office and dropping the mail-bags with ten letters and two or three newspapers! on the box sanderson himself, six feet two inches, and well proportioned, long lash-whip in one hand, the reins of six horses in the other, the "leaders" lathered along the lines of the traces, foam dripping from the bits! it was the event of the day when the stage came. it was our highest ambition to become a stage-driver. some of the boys climbed on the great leathern boot of the stage, and those of us who could not get on shouted "cut behind!" i saw the old stage-driver not long ago, and i expressed to him my surprise that one around whose head i had seen a halo of glory in my boyhood time was only a man like the rest of us. between sanderson's stage-coach and a chicago express train, what a difference! and i shall always marvel at our family doctor. dear old dr. skillman! my father's doctor, my mother's doctor, in the village home! he carried all the confidences of all the families for ten miles around. we all felt better as soon as we saw him enter the house. his face pronounced a beatitude before he said a word. he welcomed all of us children into life, and he closed the old people's eyes. the second milestone - when moving out of a house i have always been in the habit, after everything was gone, of going into each room and bidding it a mute farewell. there are the rooms named after the different members of the family. i suppose it is so in all households. it was so in mine; we named the rooms after the persons who occupied them. i moved from the house of my boyhood with a sort of mute affection for its remembrances that are most vivid in its hours of crisis and meditation. through all the years that have intervened there is no holier sanctuary to me than the memory of my mother's vacant chair. i remember it well. it made a creaking noise as it moved. it was just high enough to allow us children to put our heads into her lap. that was the bank where we deposited all our hurts and worries. some time ago, in an express train, i shot past that old homestead. i looked out of the window and tried to peer through the darkness. while i was doing so, one of my old schoolmates, whom i had not seen for many years, tapped me on the shoulder, and said: "dewitt, i see you are looking out at the scenes of your boyhood." "oh, yes," i replied, "i was looking out at the old place where my mother lived and died." i pass over the boyhood days and the country school. the first real breath of life is in young manhood, when, with the strength of the unknown, he dares to choose a career. i first studied for the law, at the new york university. new york in was a small place compared to the new york of to-day, but it had all the effervescence and glitter of the entire country even then. i shall never forget the excitement when on september st, , jenny lind landed from the steamer "atlantic." not merely because of her reputation as a singer, but because of her fame for generosity and kindness were the people aroused to welcome her. the first $ , she earned in america she devoted to charity, and in all the cities of america she poured forth her benefactions. castle garden was then the great concert hall of new york, and i shall never forget the night of her first appearance. i was a college boy, and jenny lind was the first great singer i ever heard. there were certain cadences in her voice that overwhelmed the audience with emotion. i remember a clergyman sitting near me who was so overcome that he was obliged to leave the auditorium. the school of suffering and sorrow had done as much for her voice as the academy of stockholm. the woman who had her in charge when a child used to lock her in a room when she went off to the daily work. there by the hour jenny would sit at the window, her only amusement singing, while she stroked her cat on her lap. but sitting there by the window her voice fell on a listener in the street. the listener called a music master to stand by the same window, and he was fascinated and amazed, and took the child to the director of the royal opera, asking for her the advantages of musical education, and the director roughly said: "what shall we do with that ugly thing? see what feet she has. and, then, her face; she will never be presentable. no, we can't take her. away with her!" but god had decreed for this child of nature a grand career, and all those sorrows were woven into her faculty of song. she never could have been what she became, royally arrayed on the platforms of berlin and vienna and paris and london and new york, had she not first been the poor girl in the garret at stockholm. she had been perfected through suffering. that she was genuinely christian i prove not more from her charities than from these words which she wrote in an album during her triumphal american tour: in vain i seek for rest in all created good; it leaves me still unblest and makes me cry for god. and safe at rest i cannot be until my heart finds rest in thee. there never was anyone who could equal jenny lind in the warble. some said it was like a lark, but she surpassed the lark. oh, what a warble! i hear it yet. all who heard it thirty-five years ago are hearing it yet. i should probably have been a lawyer, except for the prayers of my mother and father that i should preach the gospel. later, i entered the new brunswick theological seminary. why i ever thought of any other work in the world than that which i have done, is another mystery of my youth. everything in my heredity and in my heart indicated my career as a preacher. and yet, in the days of my infancy i was carried by christian parents to the house of god, and consecrated in baptism to the father, and the son, and the holy ghost; but that did not save me. in after time i was taught to kneel at the christian family altar with father and mother and brothers and sisters. in after time i read doddridge's "rise and progress," and baxter's "call to the unconverted," and all the religious books around my father's household; but that did not save me. but one day the voice of christ came into my heart saying, "repent, repent; believe, believe," and i accepted the offer of mercy. it happened this way: truman osborne, one of the evangelists who went through this country some years ago, had a wonderful art in the right direction. he came to my father's house one day, and while we were all seated in the room, he said: "mr. talmage, are all your children christians?" father said: "yes, all but de witt." then truman osborne looked down into the fireplace, and began to tell a story of a storm that came on the mountains, and all the sheep were in the fold; but there was one lamb outside that perished in the storm. had he looked me in the eye, i should have been angered when he told me that story; but he looked into the fireplace, and it was so pathetically and beautifully done that i never found any peace until i was inside the fold, where the other sheep are. when i was a lad a book came out entitled "dow junior's patent sermons"; it made a great stir, a very wide laugh all over the country, that book did. it was a caricature of the christian ministry and of the word of god and of the day of judgment. oh, we had a great laugh! the commentary on the whole thing is that the author of that book died in poverty, shame, debauchery, kicked out of society. i have no doubt that derision kept many people out of the ark. the world laughed to see a man go in, and said, "here is a man starting for the ark. why, there will be no deluge. if there is one, that miserable ship will not weather it. aha! going into the ark! well, that is too good to keep. here, fellows, have you heard the news? this man is going into the ark." under this artillery of scorn the man's good resolution perished. i was the youngest of a large family of children. my parents were neither rich nor poor; four of the sons wanted collegiate education, and four obtained it, but not without great home-struggle. the day i left our country home to look after myself we rode across the country, and my father was driving. he began to tell how good the lord had been to him, in sickness and in health, and when times of hardship came how providence had always provided the means of livelihood for the large household; and he wound up by saying, "de witt, i have always found it safe to trust the lord." i have felt the mighty impetus of that lesson in the farm waggon. it has been fulfilled in my own life and in the lives of many consecrated men and women i have known. in the minister's house where i prepared for college there worked a man by the name of peter croy. he could neither read nor write, but he was a man of god. often theologians would stop in the house--grave theologians--and at family prayer peter croy would be called upon to lead; and all those wise men sat around, wonder-struck at his religious efficiency. in the church at somerville, new jersey, where i was afterwards pastor, john vredenburgh preached for a great many years. he felt that his ministry was a failure, and others felt so, although he was a faithful minister preaching the gospel all the time. he died, and died amid some discouragements, and went home to god; for no one ever doubted that john vredenburgh was a good christian minister. a little while after his death there came a great awakening in somerville, and one sabbath two hundred souls stood up at the christian altar espousing the cause of christ, among them my own father and mother. and what was peculiar in regard to nearly all of those two hundred souls was that they dated their religious impressions from the ministry of john vredenburgh. i had no more confidence in my own powers when i was studying for the ministry than john vredenburgh. i was often very discouraged. "dewitt," said a man to me as we were walking the fields at the time i was in the theological school, "dewitt, if you don't change your style of thought and expression, you will never get a call to any church in christendom as long as you live." "well," i replied, "if i cannot preach the gospel in america, then i will go to heathen lands and preach it." i thought i might be useful on heathen ground, if i could ever learn the language of the chinese, about which i had many forebodings. the foreign tongue became to me more and more an obstacle and a horror, until i resolved if i could get an invitation to preach in the english language, i would accept it. so one day, finding rev. dr. van vranken, one of our theological professors (blessed be his memory), sauntering in the campus of rutgers college, i asked him, with much trepidation, if he would by letter introduce me to some officer of the reformed church at belleville, n.j., the pulpit of which was then vacant. with an outburst of heartiness he replied: "come right into my house, and i will give you the letter now." it was a most generous introduction of me to dr. samuel ward, a venerable elder of the belleville church. i sent the letter to the elder, and within a week received an invitation to occupy the vacant pulpit. i had been skirmishing here and there as a preacher, now in the basement of churches at week-night religious meetings, and now in school-houses on sunday afternoons, and here and there in pulpits with brave pastors who dared risk having an inexperienced theological student preach to their people. but the first sermon with any considerable responsibility resting upon it was the sermon preached as a candidate for a pastoral call in the reformed church at belleville, n.j. i was about to graduate from the new brunswick theological seminary, and wanted a gospel field in which to work. i had already written to my brother john, a missionary at amoy, china, telling him that i expected to come out there. i was met by dr. ward at newark, new jersey, and taken to his house. sabbath morning came. with one of my two sermons, which made up my entire stock of pulpit resources, i tremblingly entered the pulpit of that brown stone village church, which stands in my memory as one of the most sacred places of all the earth, where i formed associations which i expect to resume in heaven. the sermon was fully written, and was on the weird battle between the gideonites and midianites, my text being in judges vii. , : "the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal; and they cried, the sword of the lord, and of gideon. and they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran, and cried, and fled." a brave text, but a very timid man to handle it. i did not feel at all that hour either like blowing gideon's trumpet, or holding up the gospel lamp; but if i had, like any of the gideonites, held a pitcher, i think i would have dropped it and broken that lamp. i felt as the moment approached for delivering my sermon more like the midianites, who, according to my text, "ran, and cried, and fled." i had placed the manuscript of my sermon on the pulpit sofa beside where i sat. looking around to put my hand on the manuscript, lo! it was gone. but where had it gone? my excitement knew no bound. within three minutes of the greatest ordeal of my life, and the sermon on which so much depended mysteriously vanished! how much disquietude and catastrophe were crowded into those three minutes it would be impossible to depict. then i noticed for the first time that between the upper and lower parts of the sofa there was an opening about the width of three finger-breadths, and i immediately suspected that through that opening the manuscript of my sermon had disappeared. but how could i recover it, and in so short a time? i bent over and reached under as far as i could. but the sofa was low, and i could not touch the lost discourse. the congregation were singing the last verse of the hymn, and i was reduced to a desperate effort. i got down on my hands and knees, and then down flat, and crawled under the sofa and clutched the prize. fortunately, the pulpit front was wide, and hid the sprawling attitude i was compelled to take. when i arose to preach a moment after, the fugitive manuscript before me on the bible, it is easy to understand why i felt more like the midianites than i did like gideon. this and other mishaps with manuscripts helped me after a while to strike for entire emancipation from such bondage, and for about a quarter of a century i have preached without notes--only a sketch of the sermon pinned in my bible, and that sketch seldom referred to. when i entered the ministry i looked very pale for years, for four or five years, many times i was asked if i had consumption; and, passing through the room, i would sometimes hear people sigh and say, "a-ah! not long for this world!" i resolved in those times that i never, in any conversation, would say anything depressing, and by the help of god i have kept the resolution. the day for my final examination for a licence to preach the gospel for ordination by the laying on of hands, and for installation as pastor for the reformed church of belleville, n.j., had arrived. the examination as to my qualifications was to take place in the morning, and if the way proved clear, the ordination and installation were to be solemnised in the afternoon of the same day. the embarrassing thought was that members of the congregation were to be present in the morning, as well as the afternoon. if i made a mistake or failure under the severe scrutiny of the ecclesiastical court, i would ever after be at a great disadvantage in preaching to those good people. it so happened, however, that the classis, as the body of clergy were called, was made up mostly of genial, consecrated persons, and no honest young man would suffer anything at their hands. although i was exceedingly nervous, and did not do myself justice, and no doubt appeared to know less than i really did know, all went well until a clergyman, to whom i shall give the fictitious name of "dr. hardman," took me in hand. this "dr. hardman" had a dislike for me. he had once wanted me to do something for him and take his advice in matters of a pastoral settlement, which i had, for good reasons, declined to take. i will not go further into the reasons of this man's antipathy, lest someone should know whom i mean. one thing was certain to all present, and that was his wish to defeat my installation as pastor of that church, or make it to me a disagreeable experience. as soon as he opened upon me a fire of interrogations, what little spirit i had in me dropped. in the agitation i could not answer the simplest questions. but he assailed me with puzzlers. he wanted to know, among other things, if christ's atonement availed for other worlds; to which i replied that i did not know, as i had never studied theology in any world but this. he hooked me with the horns of a dilemma. a turkish bath, with the thermometer up to , is cool compared to the perspiration into which he threw me. at this point rev. james w. scott, d.d. (that was his real name, and not fictitious) arose. dr. scott was a scotchman of about years of age. he had been a classmate of the remarkable scottish poet, robert pollock. the doctor was pastor of a church at newark, n.j. he was the impersonation of kindness, and generosity, and helpfulness. the gospel shone from every feature. i never saw him under any circumstances without a smile on his face. he had been on the mount of transfiguration, and the glory had never left his countenance. i calculate the value of the soul by its capacity for happiness. how much joy it can get in this world--out of friendships, out of books, out of clouds, out of the sea, out of flowers, out of ten thousand things! yet all the joy it has here does not test its capacity. as dr. scott rose that day he said, "mr. president, i think this examination has gone on long enough, and i move it be stopped, and that the examination be pronounced satisfactory, and that this young man be licensed to preach the gospel, and that this afternoon we proceed to his ordination and installation." the motion was put and carried, and i was released from a protestant purgatory. but the work was not yet done. by rule of that excellent denomination, of which i was then a member, the call of a church must be read and approved before it can be lawfully accepted. the call from that dear old church at belleville was read, and in it i was provided with a month's summer vacation. dr. hardman rose, and said that he thought that a month was too long a vacation, and he proposed two weeks. then dr. scott arose and said, if any change were made he would have the vacation six weeks; "for," said he, "that young man does not look very strong physically, and i believe he should have a good long rest every summer." but the call was left as it originally read, promising me a month of recuperation each year. at the close of that meeting of classis, dr. scott came up to me, took my right hand in both his hands, and said, "i congratulate you on the opportunity that opens here. do your best, and god will see you through; and if some saturday night you find yourself short of a sermon, send down to newark, only three miles, and i will come up and preach for you." can anyone imagine the difference of my appreciation of dr. hardman and dr. scott? only a few weeks passed on, and the crisis that dr. scott foresaw in my history occurred, and saturday night saw me short of a sermon. so i sent a messenger to dr. scott. he said to the messenger, "i am very tired; have been holding a long series of special services in my church, but that young talmage must be helped, and i will preach for him to-morrow night." he arrived in time, and preached a glowing and rousing sermon on the text, "have ye received the holy ghost?" as i sat behind him in the pulpit and looked upon him i thought, "what a magnificent soul you are! tired out with your own work, and yet come up here to help a young man to whom you are under no obligation!" well, that was the last sermon he ever preached. the very next saturday he dropped dead in his house. outside of his own family no one was more broken-hearted at his obsequies than myself, to whom he had, until the meeting of classis, been a total stranger. i stood at his funeral in the crowd beside a poor woman with a faded shawl and worn-out hat, who was struggling up to get one look at the dear old face in the coffin. she was being crowded back. i said, "follow me, and you shall see him." so i pushed the way up for her as well as myself, and when we got up to the silent form she burst out crying, and said, "that is the last friend i had in the world." dr. hardman lived on. he lived to write a letter when i was called to syracuse, n.y., a letter telling a prominent officer of the syracuse church that i would never do at all for their pastor. he lived on until i was called to philadelphia, and wrote a letter to a prominent officer in the philadelphia church telling them not to call me. years ago he went to his rest. but the two men will always stand in my memory as opposites in character. the one taught me a lesson never to be forgotten about how to treat a young man, and the other a lesson about how not to treat a young man. dr. scott and dr. hardman, the antipodes! so my first settlement as pastor was in the village of belleville, n.j. my salary was eight hundred dollars and a parsonage. the amount seemed enormous to me. i said to myself: "what! all this for one year?" i was afraid of getting worldly under so much prosperity! i resolved to invite all the congregation to my house in groups of twenty-five each. we [a] began, and as they were the best congregation in all the world, and we felt nothing was too good for them, we piled all the luxuries on the table. i never completed the undertaking. at the end of six months i was in financial despair. i found that we not only had not the surplus of luxuries, but we had a struggle to get the necessaries. [a] _while at belleville dr. talmage married miss mary avery, of brooklyn, n.y., by whom he had two children--a son, thomas de witt, and a daughter, jessie. mrs. talmage was accidentally drowned in the schuylkill river while dr. talmage was pastor of the second reformed church of philadelphia._ although the first call i ever had was to piermont, n.y., my first real work began in the reformed church of belleville, n.j. i preached at piermont in the morning, and at the congregational meeting held in the afternoon of the same day it was resolved to invite me to become pastor. but for the very high hill on which the parsonage was situated i should probably have accepted. i was delighted with the congregation, and with the grand scenery of that region. i was ordained to the gospel ministry and installed as pastor july th, , my brother goyn preaching the sermon from the text, first corinthians iii. , . reverend dr. benjamin c. taylor, the oldest minister present, offered the ordaining prayer, and about twenty hands were laid upon my head. all these facts are obtained from a memorandum made by a hand that long since forgot its cunning and kindness. the three years passed in belleville were years of hard work. the hardest work in a clergyman's lifetime is during the first three years. no other occupation or profession puts such strain upon one's nerves and brain. two sermons and a lecture per week are an appalling demand to make upon a young man. most of the ministers never get over that first three years. they leave upon one's digestion or nervous system a mark that nothing but death can remove. it is not only the amount of mental product required of a young minister, but the draft upon his sympathies and the novelty of all that he undertakes; his first sermon; his first baptism; his first communion season; his first pastoral visitation; his first wedding; his first funeral. my first baptism was of lily webster, a black-eyed baby, who grew up to be as beautiful a woman as she was a child. i baptised her. rev. dr. john dowling, of the baptist church, new york, preached for me and my church his great sermon on, "i saw a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, clothed in white robes." in my verdancy i feared that the doctor, who did not believe in the baptism of infants, might take it for a personal affront that i had chosen that evening for this my first baptism. [illustration: dr. talmage in his first church, belleville, new jersey.] sometimes at the baptism of children, while i have held up one hand in prayer, i have held up the other in amazement that the parents should have weighted the babe with such a dissonant and repulsive nomenclature. i have not so much wondered that some children should cry out at the christening font, as that others with such smiling faces should take a title that will be the burden of their lifetime. it is no excuse because they are scriptural names to call a child jehoiakim, or tiglath pileser. i baptised one by the name of bathsheba. why, under all the circumambient heaven, any parent should want to give a child the name of that loose creature of scripture times, i cannot imagine. i have often felt at the baptismal altar when names were announced somewhat like saying, as did the rev. dr. richards, of morristown, new jersey, when a child was handed to him for baptism, and the names given, "hadn't you better call it something else?" on this occasion i had adopted the theory, which i long since abandoned, that an officiating clergyman at baptism should take the child in his arms. now, there are many ministers who do not know how to hold a baby, and they frighten the child and increase the anxiety of the mother, and may create a riot all along the line if there be other infants waiting for the ceremony. after reading the somewhat prolonged liturgy of the dear old reformed church, i came down from the pulpit and took the child in my arms. she was, however, far more composed than myself, and made no resistance; but the overpowering sensation attached to the first application of the holy chrism is a vivid and everlasting memory. then, the first pastoral visitation! with me it was at the house of a man suffering from dropsy in the leg. he unbandaged the limb and insisted upon my looking at the fearful malady. i never could with any composure look at pain, and the last profession in all the world suited to me would have been surgery. after praying with the man and offering him scriptural condolence, i started for home. my wife met me with anxious countenance, and said, "how did you get hurt, and what is the matter?" the sight of the lame leg had made my leg lame, and unconsciously i was limping on the way home. but i had quite another experience with a parishioner. he was a queer man, and in bad odour in the community. some time previously his wife had died, and although a man of plenty of means, in order to economise on funeral expenses, he had wheeled his wife to the grave on a wheelbarrow. this economy of his had not led the village to any higher appreciation of the man's character. having been told of his inexpensive eccentricities, i was ready for him when one morning he called at the parsonage. as he entered he began by saying: "i came in to say that i don't like you." "well," i said, "that is a strange coincidence, for i cannot bear the sight of you. i hear that you are the meanest man in town, and that your neighbours despise you. i hear that you wheeled your wife on a wheelbarrow to the graveyard." to say the least, our conversation that day was unique and spirited, and it led to his becoming a most ardent friend and admirer. i have had multitudes of friends, but i have found in my own experience that god so arranged it that the greatest opportunities of usefulness that have been opened before me were opened by enemies. and when, years ago, they conspired against me, their assault opened all christendom to me as a field in which to preach the gospel. so you may harness your antagonists to your best interests and compel them to draw you on to better work. he allowed me to officiate at his second marriage, did this mine enemy. all the town was awake that night. they had somehow heard that this economist at obsequies was to be remarried. well, i was inside his house trying, under adverse circumstances, to make the twain one flesh. there were outside demonstrations most extraordinary, and all in consideration of what the bridegroom had been to that community. horns, trumpets, accordions, fiddles, fire-crackers, tin pans, howls, screeches, huzzas, halloos, missiles striking the front door, and bedlam let loose! matters grew worse as the night advanced, until the town authorities read the riot act, and caused the only cannon belonging to the village to be hauled out on the street and loaded, threatening death to the mob if they did not disperse. glad am i to say that it was only a farce, and no tragedy. my mode of first meeting this queer man was a case in which it is best to fight fire with fire. i remember also the first funeral. it nearly killed me. a splendid young man skating on the passaic river in front of my house had broken through the ice, and his body after many hours had been grappled from the water and taken home to his distracted parents. to be the chief consoler in such a calamity was something for which i felt completely incompetent. when in the old but beautiful church the silent form of the young man whom we all loved rested beneath the pulpit, it was a pull upon my emotions i shall never forget. on the way to the grave, in the same carriage with the eminent reverend dr. fish, who helped in the services, i said, "this is awful. one more funeral like this will be the end of us." he replied, "you will learn after awhile to be calm under such circumstances. you cannot console others unless you preserve your own equipoise." those years at belleville were to me memorable. no vacation, but three times a day i took a row on the river. those old families in my congregation i can never forget--the van rensselaers, the stevenses, the wards. these families took us under their wing. at mr. van rensselaer's we dined every monday. it had been the habit of my predecessors in the pulpit. grand old family! their name not more a synonym for wealth than for piety. mrs. van rensselaer was one of the saints clear up in the heaven of one's appreciation. wm. stevens was an embodiment of generosity. he could not pray in public, or make a speech; but he could give money, and when he had plenty of it he gave in large sums, and when monetary disaster came, his grief was that he had nothing to give. i saw him go right through all the perturbations of business life. he was faithful to god. i saw him one day worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. i saw him the next day and he was not worth a farthing. stevens! how plainly he comes before me as i think of the night in after the new york banks had gone down, and he had lost everything except his faith in god, and he was at the prayer meeting to lead the singing as usual! and, not noticing that from the fatigues of that awful financial panic he had fallen asleep, i arose and gave out the hymn, "my drowsy powers, why sleep ye so?" his wife wakened him, and he started the hymn at too high a pitch, and stopped, saying, "that is too high"; then started it at too low a pitch, and stopped, saying, "that is too low." it is the only mistake i ever heard him make. but the only wonder is that amid the circumstances of broken fortunes he could sing at all. dr. samuel ward! he was the angel of health for the neighbourhood. before anyone else was up any morning, passing along his house you would see him in his office reading. he presided at the first nativity in my household. he it was that met me at the railroad station when i went to preach my first sermon as candidate, at belleville. he medicated for many years nearly all the wounds for body and mind in that region. an elder in the church, he could administer to the soul as well as to the perishable nature of his patients. and the duncans! broad scotch as they were in speech! i was so much with them that i got unconsciously some of the scottish brogue in my own utterance. william, cautious and prudent; john, bold and venturesome--both so high in my affections! among the first ones that i ask for in heaven will be john and william duncan. gasherie de witt! he embodied a large part of the enterprise and enthusiasm of the place. he had his head full of railroads long before the first spike was driven for an iron pathway to the village. we were much together and ardently attached; went fishing together on long summer days, he catching the fish, and i watching the process. when we dedicated the first brooklyn tabernacle, he was present, and gave the money for building a baptistry in the pulpit, and gave besides $ for his wife and each one of his children. when we parted from each other at oxford, england, he to go to geneva, switzerland, to die, and i to come back to america, much of sweet acquaintanceship and complete confidence ended for this world, only to be taken up under celestial auspices. but time and space would fail to tell of the noble men and women that stood around me in those early years of my ministry. they are all gone, and their personality makes up a large part of my anticipation of the world to come. the third milestone - my first sermons were to me the most tremendous endeavours of my life, because i felt the awful responsibility of standing in a pulpit, knowing that a great many people would be influenced by what i said concerning god, or the soul, or the great future. when i first began to preach, i was very cautious lest i should be misrepresented, and guarded the subject on all sides. i got beyond that point. i found that i got on better when, without regard to consequences, i threw myself upon the hearts and consciences of my hearers. in those early days of my pastoral experience i saw how men reason themselves into scepticism. i knew what it was to have a hundred nights poured into one hour. i remember one infidel book in the possession of my student companion. he said, "dewitt, would you like to read that book?" "well," said i, "i would like to look at it." i read it a little while. i said to him, "i dare not read that book; you had better destroy it. i give you my advice, you had better destroy it. i dare not read that book. i have read enough of it." "oh," he said, "haven't you a stronger mind than that? can't you read a book you don't exactly believe, and not be affected by it?" i said, "you had better destroy it." he kept it. he read it until he gave up the bible; his belief in the existence of a god, his good morals; until body, mind and soul were ruined--and he went into the insane asylum. i read too much of it. i read about fifteen or twenty pages of it. i wish i had never read it. it never did me any good; it did me harm. i have often struggled with what i read in that book. i rejected it, i denounced it, i cast it out with infinite scorn, i hated it; yet sometimes its caricature of good and its eulogium of evil have troubled me. with supreme gratitude, therefore, i remember the wonderful impression made upon me, when i was a young man, of the presence of a consecrated human being in the pulpit. it was a sabbath evening in spring at "the trinity methodist church," jersey city. rev. william p. corbit, the pastor of that church, in compliment to my relatives, who attended upon his services, invited me to preach for him. i had only a few months before entered the gospel ministry, and had come in from my village settlement to occupy a place in the pulpit of the great methodist orator. in much trepidation on my part i entered the church with mr. corbit, and sat trembling in the corner of the "sacred desk," waiting for the moment to begin the service. a crowded audience had assembled to hear the pastor of that church preach, and the disappointment i was about to create added to my embarrassment. the service opened, and the time came to offer the prayer before sermon. i turned to mr. corbit and said, "i wish you would lead in prayer." he replied, "no! sharpen your own knife!" the whole occasion was to me memorable for its agitations. but there began an acquaintanceship that became more and more endearing and ardent as the years went by. after he ceased, through the coming on of the infirmities of age, to occupy a pulpit of his own, he frequented my church on the sabbaths, and our prayer-meetings during the week. he was the most powerful exhorter i ever heard. whatever might be the intensity of interest in a revival service, he would in a ten minute address augment it. i never heard him deliver a sermon except on two occasions, and those during my boyhood; but they made lasting impressions upon me. i do not remember the texts or the ideas, but they demonstrated the tremendous reality of spiritual and eternal things, and showed possibilities in religious address that i had never known or imagined. he was so unique in manners, in pulpit oratory, and in the entire type of his nature, that no one will ever be able to describe what he was. those who saw and heard him the last ten or fifteen years of his decadence can have no idea of his former power as a preacher of the gospel. there he is, as i first saw him! eye like a hawk's. hair long and straight as a chippewa indian's. he was not straight as an arrow, for that suggests something too fragile and short, but more like a column--not only straight, but tall and majestic, and capable of holding any weight, and without fatigue or exertion. when he put his foot down, either literally of figuratively, it was down. vacillation, or fear, or incertitude, or indecision, were strangers to whom he would never be introduced. when he entered a room you were, to use a new testament phrase, "exceedingly filled with his company." he was as affectionate as a woman to those whom he liked, and cold as greenland to those whose principles were an affront. he was not only a mighty speaker, but a mighty listener. i do not know how any man could speak upon any important theme, standing in his presence, without being set on fire by his alert sympathy. but he has vanished from mortal sight. what the resurrection will do for him i cannot say. if those who have only ordinary stature and unimpressive physique in this world are at the last to have bodies resplendent and of supernal potency, what will the unusual corporiety of william p. corbit become? in his case the resurrection will have unusual material to start with. if a sculptor can mould a handsome form out of clay, what can he not put out of parian marble? if the blast of the trumpet which wakes the dead rouses life-long invalidism and emaciation into athletic celestialism, what will be the transfiguration when the sound of final reanimation touches the ear of those sleeping giants among the trees and fountains of greenwood? good-bye, great and good and splendid soul! good-bye, till we meet again! i will look around for you as soon as i come, if through the pardoning grace of christ i am so happy as to reach the place of your destination. meet me at the gate of the city; or under the tree of life on the bank of the river; or just inside of the door of the house of many mansions; or in the hall of the temple which has no need of stellar or lunar or solar illumination, "for the lamb is the light thereof." after three years of grace and happiness at belleville i accepted a call to a church in syracuse. my pastorate there, in the very midst of its most uplifting crisis, was interrupted, as i believe, by divine orders. the ordeal of deciding anything important in my life has always been a desperate period of anxiety. i never have really decided for myself. god has told me what to do. the first great crisis of this sort came to me in syracuse. while living there i received a pastoral call from the second reformed church of philadelphia. six weeks of agony followed. i was about years of age. the thick shock of hair with which i had been supplied, in those six weeks was thinned out to its present scarcity. my church in syracuse was made up of as delightful people as ever came together; but i felt that the climate of philadelphia would be better adapted to my health, and so i was very anxious to go. but a recent revival in my syracuse church, and a movement at that time on foot for extensive repairs of our building, made the question of my leaving for another pastorate very doubtful. six weeks of sleeplessness followed. every morning i combed out handfuls of hair as the result of the nervous agitation. then i decided to stay, and never expected to leave those kind parishioners of syracuse. a year afterward the call from philadelphia was repeated, and all the circumstances having changed, i went. but i learned, during those six weeks of uncertainty about going from syracuse to philadelphia, a lesson i shall never forget, and a lesson that might be useful to others in like crisis: namely, that it is one's duty to stay where you are until god makes it evident that you should move. in all my life i never had one streak of good luck. but i have had a good god watching and guiding me. while i was living in syracuse i delivered my first lecture. it was a literary lecture. my ideas of a literary lecture are very much changed from what they used to be. i used to think that a lecture ought to be something very profound. i began with three or four lectures of that kind in stock. my first lecture audience was in a patient community of the town of hudson, n.y. all my addresses previously had been literary. i had made speeches on literature and patriotism, and sometimes filled the gaps when in lecture courses speakers announced failed to arrive. but the first paid lecture was at hudson. the fifty dollars which i received for it seemed immense. indeed it was the extreme price paid anyone in those days. it was some years later in life that i got into the lecturing field. it was always, however, subordinate to my chief work of preaching the gospel. syracuse in was the west. i felt there all the influences that are now western. now there is no west left. they have chased it into the pacific ocean. in i accepted a call to the second reformed church of philadelphia. what remembrances come to me, looking backward to this period of our terrific national carnalism! i shall never forget the first time i ever saw abraham lincoln. we followed into his room, at the white house, a committee that had come to washington to tell the president how to conduct the war. the saddest-looking man i ever saw was abraham lincoln. he had a far-away look while he stood listening to an address being made to him by one of the committee, as though beyond and far and wide he could see the battlefields and hospitals and conflagrations of national bereavement. one of our party asked for his autograph; he cheerfully gave it, asking, "is that all i can do for you?" he was at that time the most abused man in america. i remember the alarm in philadelphia when general lee's army invaded pennsylvania. merchants sent their goods quietly to new york. residents hid their valuables. a request for arms was made at the arsenals, and military companies were organised. preachers appealed to the men in their congregations, organised companies, engaged a drill sergeant, and carried on daily drills in the yards adjoining their churches. in the regiment i joined for a short time there were many clergymen. it was the most awkward squad of men ever got together. we drilled a week or two, and then disbanded. whether general lee heard of the formation of our regiment or not i cannot say, but he immediately retreated across the potomac. there were in philadelphia and its vicinity many camps of prisoners of war, hospitals for the sick and wounded. waggon trains of supplies for the soldiers were constantly passing through the streets. i was privileged to be of some service in the field to the christian commission. with dr. brainerd and samuel b. falls i often performed some duty at the cooper shop; while with george h. stuart and george t. merigens i invited other cities to make appeals for money to forward the great work of the secretary and christian commissions. in our churches we were constantly busy getting up entertainments and fairs to help those rendered destitute by the loss of fathers and brothers in the field. just before the battle of gettysburg a long procession of clergymen, headed by dr. brainerd, marched to fairmount park with spades over their shoulders to throw up entrenchments. the victory of the federal troops at vicksburg and gettysburg rendered those earthworks unnecessary. a distinguished gentleman of the civil war told me that abraham lincoln proposed to avoid our civil conflict by purchasing the slaves of the south and setting them free. he calculated what would be a reasonable price for them, and when the number of millions of dollars that would be required for such a purpose was announced the proposition was scouted, and the north would not have made the offer, and the south would not have accepted it, if made. "but," said my military friend, "the war went on, and just the number of million dollars that mr. lincoln calculated would have been enough to make a reasonable purchase of all the slaves were spent in war, besides all the precious lives that were hurled away in battles." there ought to be some other way for men to settle their controversies without wholesale butchering. it was due partly to the national gloom that overspread the people during the civil war that i took to the lecture platform actively. i entered fully into the lecturing field when i went to philadelphia, where dewitt moore, officer in my church and a most intimate friend, asked me to lecture for the benefit of a ball club to which he belonged. that lecture in a hall in locust street, philadelphia, opened the way for more than i could do as lecturer. i have always made such engagements subordinate to my chief work of preaching the gospel. excepting two long journeys a year, causing each an absence of two sundays, i have taken no lecturing engagements, except one a week, generally thursdays. lecturing has saved my life and prolonged my work. it has taken me from an ever-ringing door-bell, and freshened me for work, railroad travelling being to me a recuperation. i have lectured in nearly all the cities of the united states, canada, england, ireland and scotland, and in most of them many times. the prices paid me have seemed too large, but my arrangements have generally been made through bureaus, and almost invariably local committees have cleared money. the lecture platform seemed to me to offer greater opportunity for usefulness. things that could not be said in the pulpit, but which ought to be said, may be said on the lyceum platform. and there was so much that had to be said then, to encourage, to cheer, to brighten, to illumine the sorrow and bereavement. from the first i regarded my lecture tours as an annex to my church. the lecture platform has been to me a pastoral visitation. it has given me an opportunity of meeting hundreds of thousands of people to whom, through the press, i have for many years administered the gospel. people have often asked me how much money i received for my lectures. the amounts have been a great surprise to me, often. for many years i have been paid from $ to $ , a lecture. the longer the journey the bigger the fee usually. the average remuneration was about $ a night. in cleveland and in cincinnati i received $ . in chicago, $ , . later i was offered $ , for six lectures in chicago, to be delivered one a month, during the world's fair, but i declined them. my expenses in many directions have been enormous, and without a large income for lectures i could not have done many things which i felt it important to do. i have always been under obligation to the press. sometimes it has not intended to help me, but it has, being hard pressed for news. during the civil war, when news was sufficiently exciting for the most ambitious journalist, they used to come to my church for a copy of my sermons. news in those days was pretty accurate, but it sometimes went wrong. on a sabbath night, at the close of a preaching service in philadelphia, a reporter of one of the prominent newspapers came into my study adjoining the pulpit and asked of me a sketch of the sermon just delivered, as he had been sent to take it, but had been unavoidably detained. his mind did not seem to be very clear, but i dictated to him about a column of my sermon. he had during the afternoon or evening been attending a meeting of the christian commission for raising funds for the hospitals, and ex-governor pollock had been making a speech. the reporter had that speech of the ex-governor of pennsylvania in his hand, and had the sketch of my sermon in the same bundle of reportorial notes. he opened the door to depart and said, "good evening," and i responded, "good evening." the way out from my study to the street was through a dark alley across which a pump handle projected to an unreasonable extent. "look out for that pump handle," i said, "or you may get hurt." but the warning did not come soon enough. i heard the collision and then a hard fall, and a rustle of papers, and a scramble, and then some words of objurgation at the sudden overthrow. there was no portable light that i could take to his assistance. beside that, i was as much upset with cruel laughter as the reporter had been by the pump handle. in this state of helplessness i shut the door. but the next morning newspaper proved how utter had been the discomfiture and demoralisation of my journalistic friend. he put my sermon under the name of ex-governor pollock at the meeting of the christian commission, and he made my discourse begin with the words, "when i was governor of pennsylvania." never since john gutenberg invented the art of printing was there such a riot of types or such mixing up of occasions. philadelphia went into a brown study as to what it all meant, and the more the people read of ex-governor pollock's speech and of my sermon of the night before, the more they were stunned by the stroke of that pump handle. but it was soon forgotten--everything is. the memory of man is poor. all the talk about the country never forgetting those who fought for it is an untruth. it does forget. picture how veterans of the war sometimes had to turn the hand-organs on the streets of philadelphia to get a living for their families! how ruthlessly many of them have been turned out of office that some bloat of a politician might take their place! the fact is, there is not a man or woman under thirty years of age, who, born before the war, has any full appreciation of the four years martyrdom of to , inclusive. i can scarcely remember, and yet i still feel the pressure of domestic calamity that overshadowed the nation then. since things have been hardened, as was the guardsman in the crimean war who heartlessly wrote home to his mother: "i do not want to see any more crying letters come to the crimea from you. those i have received i have put into my rifle, after loading it, and have fired them at the russians, because you appear to have a strong dislike of them. if you had seen as many killed as i have you would not have as many weak ideas as you now have." after the war came a period of great national rejoicing. i shall never forget, in the summer of , a great national peace jubilee was held in boston, and dewitt moore, an elder of my church, had been honoured by the selection of some of his music to be rendered on that occasion. i accompanied him to the jubilee. forty thousand people sat and stood in the great colosseum erected for that purpose. thousands of wind and stringed instruments; twelve thousand trained voices! the masterpieces of all ages rendered, hour after hour, and day after day--handel's "judas maccabæus," spohr's "last judgment," beethoven's "mount of olives," haydn's "creation," mendelssohn's "elijah," meyerbeer's "coronation march," rolling on and up in surges that billowed against the heavens! the mighty cadences within were accompanied on the outside by the ringing of the bells of the city, and cannon on the common, in exact time with the music, discharged by electricity, thundering their awful bars of a harmony that astounded all nations. sometimes i bowed my head and wept. sometimes i stood up in the enchantment, and sometimes the effect was so overpowering i felt i could not endure it. when all the voices were in full chorus, and all the batons in full wave, and all the orchestra in full triumph, and a hundred anvils under mighty hammers were in full clang, and all the towers of the city rolled in their majestic sweetness, and the whole building quaked with the boom of thirty cannon, parepa rosa, with a voice that will never again be equalled on earth until the archangelic voice proclaims that time shall be no longer, rose above all other sounds in her rendering of our national air, the "star spangled banner." it was too much for a mortal, and quite enough for an immortal, to hear: and while some fainted, one womanly spirit, released under its power, sped away to be with god. it was a marvel of human emotion in patriotic frenzy. immediately following the civil war there was a great wave of intemperance, and bribery swept over our land. the temptation to intemperance in public places grew more and more terrific. of the men who were prominent in political circles but few died respectably. the majority among them died of delirium tremens. the doctor usually fixed up the case for the newspapers, and in his report to them it was usually gout, or rheumatism, or obstruction of the liver, or exhaustion from patriotic services--but we all knew it was whiskey. that which smote the villain in the dark alley smote down the great orator and the great legislator. the one you wrapped in a rough cloth, and pushed into a rough coffin, and carried out in a box waggon, and let him down into a pauper's grave, without a prayer or a benediction. around the other gathered the pomp of the land; and lordly men walked with uncovered heads beside the hearse tossing with plumes on the way to a grave to be adorned with a white marble shaft, all four sides covered with eulogium. the one man was killed by logwood rum at two cents a glass, the other by a beverage three dollars a bottle. i write both their epitaphs. i write the one epitaph with my lead pencil on the shingle over the pauper's grave; i write the other epitaph with a chisel, cutting on the white marble of the senator: "slain by strong drink." the time came when dissipation was no longer a hindrance to office in this country. did we not at one time have a secretary of the united states carried home dead drunk? did we not have a vice-president sworn in so intoxicated the whole land hid its head in shame? judges and jurors and attorneys sometimes tried important cases by day, and by night caroused together in iniquity. during the war whiskey had done its share in disgracing manhood. what was it that defeated the armies sometimes in the late war? drunkenness in the saddle! what mean those graves on the heights of fredericksburg? as you go to richmond you see them. drunkenness in the saddle. in place of the bloodshed of war, came the deformations of character, libertinism! again and again it was demonstrated that impurity walked under the chandeliers of the mansion, and dozed on damask upholstery. in albany, in harrisburg, in trenton, in washington, intemperance was rife in public places. the two political parties remained silent on the question. hand in hand with intemperance went the crime of bribery by money--by proffered office. for many years after the war had been almost forgotten, in many of the legislatures it was impossible to get a bill through unless it had financial consideration. the question was asked softly, sometimes very softly, in regard to a bill: "is there any money in it?" and the lobbies of the legislatures and the national capitol were crowded with railroad men and manufacturers and contractors. the iniquity became so great that sometimes reformers and philanthropists have been laughed out of harrisburg, and albany, and trenton, and washington, because they came empty-handed. "you vote for this bill, and i'll vote for that bill." "you favour that monopoly of a moneyed institution, and i'll favour the other monopoly of another institution." and here is a bill that is going to be very hard to get through the legislature, and some friends met together at a midnight banquet, and while intoxicated promised to vote the same way. here are $ , for prudent distribution in this direction, and here are $ , for prudent distribution in that direction. now, we are within four votes of having enough. $ , to that intelligent member from westchester, and $ , to that stupid member from ulster, and now we are within two votes of having it. give $ to this member, who will be sick and stay at home, and $ to this member, who will go to see his great-aunt languishing in her last sickness. the day has come for the passing of the bill. the speaker's gavel strikes. "senators, are you ready for the question? all in favour of voting away these thousands of millions of dollars will say, 'ay.'" "ay! ay! ay! ay!" "the ays have it." it was a merciful thing that all this corruption went on under a republican form of government. any other style of government would have been consumed by it long ago. there were enough national swindles enacted in this country after the war--yes, thirty years afterwards--to swamp three monarchies. the democratic party filled its cup of iniquity as it went out of power, before the war. then the republican party came along and it filled its cup of iniquity a little sooner; and there they lie, the democratic party and the republican party, side by side, great loathsome carcasses of iniquity, each one worse than the other. these are reminiscences of more than thirty years ago, and yet it seems that i have never ceased to fight the same sort of human temptations and frailties to this very day. the fourth milestone - i spent seven of the most delightful years of my life in philadelphia. what wonderful gospel men were round me in the city of brotherly love at this time--such men as rev. alfred barnes, rev. dr. boardman, rev. dr. berg, rev. charles wadsworth, and many others equally distinguished. i should probably never have left philadelphia except that i was afraid i would get too lazy. being naturally indolent i wanted to get somewhere where i would be compelled to work. i have sometimes felt that i was naturally the laziest man ever born. i am afraid of indolence--as afraid of indolence as any reformed inebriate is afraid of the wine cup. he knows if he shall take one glass he will be flung back into inebriety. i am afraid, if i should take one long pull of nothing to do, i should stop forever. my church in philadelphia was a large one, and it was crowded with lovely people. all that a congregation could do for a pastor's happiness they were doing, and always had done. we ministers living in philadelphia at this time may have felt the need for combating indolence, for we had a ministerial ball club, and twice a week the clergymen of all denominations went out to the suburbs of the city and played baseball. we went back to our pulpits, spirits lightened, theology improved, and able to do better service for the cause of god than we could have done without that healthful shaking up. the reason so many ministers think everything is going to ruin is because their circulation is lethargic, or their lungs are in need of inflection by outdoor exercise. i have often wished since that this splendid idea among the ministers in philadelphia could have been emulated elsewhere. every big city should have its ministerial ball club. we want this glorious game rescued from the roughs and put into the hands of those who will employ it in recuperation. my life in philadelphia was so busy that i must have had very little time for keeping any record or note-books. most of my warmest and life-long friendships were made in philadelphia, however, and in the retrospect of the years since i left there i have sometimes wondered how i ever found courage to say good-bye. i was amazed and gratified one day at receiving a call from four of the most prominent churches at that time in america: calvary church of chicago, the union church of boston, the first presbyterian church of san francisco, and the central church of brooklyn. these invitations all came simultaneously in february, . the committees from these various churches called upon me at my house in philadelphia. it was a period of anxious uncertainty with me. one morning, i remember, a committee from chicago was in one room, a committee from brooklyn in another room of my house, and a committee from my philadelphia church in another room. my wife [b] passed from room to room entertaining them to keep the three committees from meeting. it would have been unpleasant for them to meet. [b] _in , dr. talmage married his second wife, miss susan c. whittemore, of greenport, n.y. they had five children: may, edith, frank, maud, and daisy._ at this point my syracuse remembrance of perplexity returned, and i resolved to stay in philadelphia unless god made it very plain that i was to go and where i was to go. an engagement to speak that night in harrisburg, pennsylvania, took me to the depot. i got on the train, my mind full of the arguments of the three committees, and all a bewilderment. i stretched myself out upon the seats for a sound sleep, saying, "lord, what wilt thou have me to do? make it plain to me when i wake up." when i awoke i was entering harrisburg, and as plainly as though the voice had been audible god said to me, "go to brooklyn." i went, and never have doubted that i did right to go. it is always best to stay where you are until god gives you marching orders, and then move on. i succeeded the rev. j.e. rockwell in the brooklyn church, who resigned only a month or so before i accepted the call. mr. charles cravat converse, ll.d., an elder of the church, presented the call to me, being appointed to do so by the board of trustees and the session, after i had been unanimously elected by the congregation at a special meeting for that purpose held on february , . the salary fixed was $ , , payable monthly. in looking over an old note-book i carried in that year i find, under date of march , , the word "installed" written in my own handwriting. it was written in pencil after the service of installation held in the church that monday evening. the event is recorded in the minutes of the regular meetings of the church as follows: "monday evening, march , the rev. t. dewitt talmage having been received as a member of the presbytery of nassau, was this evening installed pastor of this church. the rev. c.s. pomeroy preached the sermon and proposed the constitutional questions. rev. mr. oakley delivered the charge to the pastor, and rev. henry van dyke, d.d., delivered the charge to the people; and the services were closed with the benediction by the pastor, and a cordial shaking of hands by the people with their new pastor." the old church stood on schemerhorn street, between nevins and power streets. it was a much smaller church community than the one i had left in philadelphia, but there was a glorious opportunity for work in it. i remember hearing a minister of a small congregation complain to a minister of a large congregation about the sparseness of attendance at his church. "oh," said the one of large audience, "my son, you will find in the day of judgment that you had quite enough people for whom to be held accountable." my church in brooklyn prospered. in about three months from the date of my installation it was too small to hold the people who came there to worship. this came about, not through any special demonstration of my own superior gifts, but by the help of god and the persecution of others. during my pastorate in brooklyn a certain group of preachers began to slander me and to say all manner of lies about me; i suppose because they were jealous of my success. these calumnies were published in every important newspaper in the country. the result was that the new york correspondents of the leading papers in the chief cities of the united states came to my church on sundays, expecting i would make counter attacks, which would be good news. i never said a word in reply, with the exception of a single paragraph. the correspondents were after news, and, failing to get the sensational charges, they took down the sermons and sent them to the newspaper. many times have i been maligned and my work misrepresented; but all such falsehood and persecution have turned out for my advantage and enlarged my work. whoever did escape it? i was one summer in the pulpit of john wesley, in london--a pulpit where he stood one day and said: "i have been charged with all the crimes in the calendar except one--that of drunkenness," and his wife arose in the audience and said: "you know you were drunk last night." i saw in a foreign journal a report of one of george whitefield's sermons--a sermon preached a hundred and twenty or thirty years ago. it seemed that the reporter stood to take the sermon, and his chief idea was to caricature it, and these are some of the reportorial interlinings of the sermon of george whitefield. after calling him by a nickname indicative of a physical defect in the eye, it goes on to say: "here the preacher clasps his chin on the pulpit cushion. here he elevates his voice. here he lowers his voice. holds his arms extended. bawls aloud. stands trembling. makes a frightful face. turns up the whites of his eyes. clasps his hands behind him. clasps his arms around him, and hugs himself. roars aloud. holloas. jumps. cries. changes from crying. holloas and jumps again." one would have thought that if any man ought to have been free from persecution it was george whitefield, bringing great masses of the people into the kingdom of god, wearing himself out for christ's sake: and yet the learned dr. johnson called him a mountebank. robert hall preached about the glories of heaven as no uninspired man ever preached about them, and it was said when he preached about heaven his face shone like an angel's, and yet good christian john foster writes of robert hall, saying: "robert hall is a mere actor, and when he talks about heaven the smile on his face is the reflection of his own vanity." john wesley stirred all england with reform, and yet he was caricatured by all the small wits of his day. he was pictorialised, history says, on the board fences of london, and everywhere he was the target for the punsters; yet john wesley stands to-day before all christendom, his name mighty. i have preached a gospel that is not only appropriate to the home circle, but is appropriate to wall street, to broadway, to fulton street, to montague street, to atlantic street, to every street--not only a religion that is good for half past ten o'clock sunday morning, but good for half past ten o'clock any morning. this was one of the considerations in my work as a preacher of the gospel that extended its usefulness. a practical religion is what we all need. in my previous work at belleville, n.j., and in syracuse, i had absorbed other considerations of necessity in the business of uniting the human character with the church character. although the central presbyterian church in brooklyn of which i was pastor was one of the largest buildings in that city then, it did not represent my ideal of a church. i learned in my village pastorates that the church ought to be a great home circle of fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. that would be a very strange home circle where the brothers and sisters did not know each other, and where the parents were characterised by frigidity and heartlessness. the church must be a great family group--the pulpit the fireplace, the people all gathered around it. i think we sometimes can tell the people to stay out by our church architecture. people come in and find things angular and cold and stiff, and they go away never again to come; when the church ought to be a great home circle. i knew a minister of religion who had his fourth settlement. his first two churches became extinct as a result of his ministry, the third church was hopelessly crippled, and the fourth was saved simply by the fact that he departed this life. on the other hand, i have seen pastorates which continued year after year, all the time strengthening, and i have heard of instances where the pastoral relation continued twenty years, thirty years, forty years, and all the time the confidence and the love were on the increase. so it was with the pastorate of old dr. spencer, so it was with the pastorate of old dr. gardiner spring, so it was with the pastorate of a great many of those old ministers of jesus christ, of whom the world was not worthy. i saw an opportunity to establish in brooklyn just such a church as i had in my mind's eye--a tabernacle, where all the people who wanted to hear the gospel preached could come in and be comfortable. i projected, designed, and successfully established the brooklyn tabernacle within a little over a year after preaching my first sermon in brooklyn. the church seated , people, and yet we were compelled to use the old church to take care of all our active christian work besides. the first brooklyn tabernacle was, i believe, the most buoyant expression of my work that i ever enjoyed. it drew upon all my energies and resources, and as the sacred walls grew up towards the skies, i prayed god that i might have the strength and spiritual energy to grow with it. prayer always meets the emergency, no matter how difficult it may be. that was the substantial backing of the first brooklyn tabernacle--prayer. prayer furnished the means as well as the faith that was behind them. i was merely the promoter, the agent, of a company organised in heaven to perpetuate the gospel of christ. it was considered a great thing to have done, and many were the reasons whispered by the worldly and the envious and the orthodox, for its success. some said it was due to magnetism. as a cord or rope can bind bodies together, there may be an invisible cord binding souls. a magnetic man throws it over others as a hunter throws a lasso. some men are surcharged with this influence, and have employed it for patriotism and christianity and elevated purposes. it is always a surprise to a great majority of people how churches are built, how money for which the world has so many other uses can be obtained to build churches. there are names of men and women whom i have only to mention and they suggest at once not only great wealth, but religion, generosity, philanthropy, such as amos laurence, james lennox, peter cooper, william e. dodge, miss wolfe, mrs. william astor. a good moral character can be accompanied by affluent circumstances. in the ' 's and ' 's in brooklyn and in new york there were merchants who had prospered, but by christian methods--merchants who took their religion into everyday life. i became accustomed, sabbath after sabbath, to stand before an audience of bargain-makers. men in all occupations--yet the vast majority of them, i am very well aware, were engaged from monday morning to saturday night in the store. in many of the families of my congregations across the breakfast table and the tea table were discussed questions of loss and gain. "what is the value of this? what is the value of that?" they would not think of giving something of greater value for that which is of lesser value. they would not think of selling that which cost ten dollars for five dollars. if they had a property that was worth $ , , they would not sell it for $ , . all were intelligent in matters of bargain-making. but these were not the sort of men who made generous investments for god's house. there was one that sort, however, among my earliest remembrances, arthur tappen. there were many differences of opinion about his politics, but no one who ever knew arthur tappen, and knew him well, doubted his being an earnest christian. arthur tappen was derided in his day because he established that system by which we come to find out the commercial standing of business men. he started that entire system, was derided for it then; i knew him well, in moral character a . monday mornings he invited to a room in the top of his storehouse in new york the clerks of his establishment. he would ask them about their worldly interests and their spiritual interests, then giving out a hymn and leading in prayer he would give them a few words of good advice, asking them what church they attended on the sabbath, what the text was, whether they had any especial troubles of their own. arthur tappen, i have never heard his eulogy pronounced. i pronounce it now. there were other merchants just as good--william e. dodge in the iron business, moses h. grinnell in the shipping business, peter cooper in the glue business, and scores of men just as good as they were. i began my work of enlarging and improving the brooklyn church almost the week following my installation. my first vacation, a month, began on june , , the trustees of the church having signified and ordered repairs, alterations and improvements at a meeting held that day, and further suspending sabbath services for four weeks. i spent part of my vacation at east hampton, l.i., going from there for two or three short lecturing trips. i find that i can never rest over two weeks. more than that wearies me. of all the places i have ever known east hampton is the best place for quiet and recuperation. i became acquainted with it through my brother-in-law, rev. s.l. mershon. his first pastorate was at the presbyterian church in east hampton, where, as a young man, i preached some of my first sermons. east hampton is always home to me. when a boy in grammar-school and college i used to visit my brother-in-law and his wife, my sister mary. later in life i established a summer home there myself. i particularly recall one incident of this month's vacation that has affected my whole life. one day while resting at sharon springs, new york, walking in the park of that place, i found myself asking the question: "i wonder if there is any special mission for me to execute in this world? if there is, may god show it to me!" there soon came upon me a great desire to preach the gospel through the secular printing-press. i realised that the vast majority of people, even in christian lands, never enter a church, and that it would be an opportunity of usefulness infinite if that door of publication were opened. and so i recorded that prayer in a blank book, and offered the prayer day in and day out until the answer came, though in a way different from that which i had expected, for it came through the misrepresentation and persecution of enemies; and i have to record it for the encouragement of all ministers of the gospel who are misrepresented, that if the misrepresentation be virulent enough and bitter enough and continuous enough, there is nothing that so widens one's field of usefulness as hostile attack, if you are really doing the lord's work. the bigger the lie told about me the bigger the demand to see and hear what i really was doing. from one stage of sermonic publication to another the work has gone on, until week by week, and for about twenty-three years, i have had the world for my audience as no man ever had. the syndicates inform me that my sermons go now to about twenty-five millions of people in all lands. i mention this not in vain boast, but as a testimony to the fact that god answers prayer. would god i had better occupied the field and been more consecrated to the work! the following summer, or rather early spring, i requested an extension of my vacation time, in order to carry out a plan to visit the "old world." as the trustees of the church considered that the trip might be of value to the church as well as to myself, i was given "leave of absence from pastoral duties" for three months' duty from june , . all that i could do had been done in the plans in constructing the new tabernacle. i could do nothing by staying at home. i have crossed the atlantic so often that the recollections of this first trip to europe are, at this writing, merely general. i think the most terrific impression i received was my first sight of the ocean the morning after we sailed, the most instructive were the ruins of church and abbey and palaces. i walked up and down the stairs of holyrood palace, once upon a time considered one of the wonders of the world, and i marvelled that so little was left of such a wonderful place. ruins should be rebuilt. the most spiritual impression i received was from the music of church organs in the old world. i stopped one nightfall at freyburg, switzerland, to hear the organ of world-wide celebrity in that place. i went into the cathedral at nightfall. all the accessories were favourable. there was only one light in all the cathedral, and that a faint taper on the altar. i looked up into the venerable arches and saw the shadows of centuries; and when the organ awoke the cathedral awoke, and all the arches seemed to lift and quiver as the music came under them. that instrument did not seem to be made out of wood and metal, but out of human hearts, so wonderfully did it pulsate with every emotion; now laughing like a child, now sobbing like a tempest. at one moment the music would die away until you could hear the cricket chirp outside the wall, and then it would roll up until it seemed as if the surge of the sea and the crash of an avalanche had struck the organ-pipes at the same moment. at one time that night it seemed as if a squadron of saddened spirits going up from earth had met a squadron of descending angels whose glory beat back the woe. in edinburgh i met dr. john brown, author of the celebrated "rab and his friends." that one treatise gave him immortality and fame, and yet he was taken at his own request to the insane asylum and died insane. "what are you writing now, dr. brown?" i said to him in his study in edinburgh. "oh, nothing," he replied, "i never could write. i shall never try again." i saw on his face and heard in his voice that melancholy that so often unhorsed him. i went to paris for the first time in this summer of . it was during the franco-german war. i stood studying the exquisite sculpturing of the gate of the tuileries. lost in admiration of the wonderful art of that gate i knew not that i was exciting suspicion. lowering my eyes to the crowds of people i found myself being closely inspected by government officials, who from my complexion judged me to be a german, and that for some belligerent purpose i might be examining the gates of the palace. my explanations in very poor french did not satisfy them, and they followed me long distances until i reached my hotel, and were not satisfied until from my landlord they found that i was only an inoffensive american. inoffensive americans were quite as welcome in europe in as they are now. i was not curious of the signs i found anywhere about me of aristocratic grandeur, of the deference paid to lineage and ancient family name. i know in america some people look back on the family line, and they are proud to see that they are descended from the puritans or the huguenots, and they rejoice in that as though their ancestors had accomplished a great thing to repudiate a catholic aristocracy. i look back on my family line, and i see there such a mingling and mixture of the blood of all nationalities that i feel akin to all the world. i returned from my first visit to europe more thankful than ever for the mercy of having been born in america. the trip did me immeasurable good. it strengthened my faith in the breadth and simplicity of a broadminded religion. we must take care how we extend our invitation to the church, that it be understandable to everyone. people don't want the scientific study of religion. on sunday morning, september , , the new tabernacle erected on schemerhorn street was dedicated to the worship of almighty god. it was to my mind a common-sense church, as i had planned it to be. in many of our churches we want more light, more room, more ventilation, more comfort. vast sums of money are expended on ecclesiastical structures, and men sit down in them, and you ask a man how he likes the church: he says, "i like it very well, but i can't hear." the voice of the preacher dashes against the pillars. men sit down under the shadows of the gothic arches and shiver, and feel they must be getting religion, or something else, they feel so uncomfortable. we want more common sense in the rearing of churches. there is no excuse for lack of light when the heavens are full of it, no excuse for lack of fresh air when the world swims in it. it ought to be an expression, not only of our spiritual happiness, but of our physical comfort, when we say: "how amiable are thy tabernacles, o lord god of hosts! a day in thy courts is better than a thousand." my dedication sermon was from luke xiv. , "and the lord said unto the servants, go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in that my house may be filled." the rev. t.g. butter, d.d., offered the dedicatory prayer. other clergymen, whose names i do not recall, were present and assisted at the services. the congregation in attendance was very large, and at the close of the services a subscription and collection were taken up amounting to $ , , towards defraying the expenses and cost of the church. in less than a year later the congregation had grown so large and the attendance of strangers so pressing that the new church was enlarged again, and on september , , the tabernacle was rededicated with impressive services. the sermon was preached by my friend the rev. stephen h. tyng, d.d. he was a great worker, and suffered, as many of us in the pulpit do, from insomnia. he was the consecrated champion of everything good, a constant sufferer from the lash of active work. he often told me that the only encouragement he had to think he would sleep at night was the fact that he had not slept the night before. insomnia may be only a big word for those who do not understand its effect. it has stimulated intellectuality, and exhausted it. one of the greatest english clergymen had a gas jet on each side of his bed, so that he might read at nights when he could not sleep. horace greeley told me he had not had a sound sleep in fifteen years. charles dickens understood london by night better than any other writer, because not being able to sleep he spent that time in exploring the city. i preached at the evening service from the text in luke xvi. : "how much owest thou unto my lord?" it was a wonderful day for us all. enough money was taken in by collections and subscriptions at the morning and evening services to pay the floating debt of the church. we received that one day $ , . i quote the following resolution made at a meeting in my study the next thursday evening of the session, from the records of the tabernacle: "in regard to the payment of the floating debt of this church and congregation, the session adopted the following resolution, viz.:-- "in view of the manifest instance that god has heard the supplications of this people regarding the floating debt of the church, and so directed their hearts as to accomplish the object, it is therefore resolved that we set apart next wednesday evening as a special season of religious thanksgiving to god for his great goodness to us as a church, in granting unto us this deliverance." i reverently and solemnly believe the new tabernacle was built by prayer. my congregation with great munificence provided for all my wants, and so i can speak without any embarrassment on the subject while i denounce the niggardliness of many of the churches of jesus christ, keeping some men, who are very apostles for piety and consecration, in circumstances where they are always apologetic, and have not that courage which they would have could they stand in the presence of people whom they knew were faithful in the discharge of their financial duties to the christian church. alas, for those men of whom the world is not worthy! in the united states to-day the salary of ministers averages less than six hundred dollars, and when you consider that some of the salaries are very large, see to what straits many of god's noblest servants are this day reduced! a live church will look after all its financial interests and be as prompt in the meeting of those obligations as any bank in any city. my church in brooklyn prospered because it was a soul-saving church. it has always been the ambition of my own church that it should be a soul-saving church. pardon for all sin! comfort for all trouble! eternal life for all the dead! moral conditions in the cities of new york and brooklyn were deplorably bad during the first few years i went there to preach. there was an onslaught of bad literature and stage immorality. for instance, there was a lady who came forth as an authoress under the assumed name of george sand. she smoked cigars. she dressed like a man. she wrote in style ardent and eloquent, mighty in its gloom, terrible in its unchastity, vivid in its portraiture, damnable in its influence, putting forth an evil which has never relaxed, but has hundreds of copyists. yet so much worse were many french books that came to america than anything george sand ever wrote, that if she were alive now she might be thought almost a reformer. what an importation of unclean theatrical stuff was brought to our shores at that time! and yet professors of religion patronised such things. i remember particularly the arrival of a foreign actress of base morals. she came intending to make a tour of the states, but the remaining decency of our cities rose up and cancelled her contracts, and drove her back from the american stage, a woman fit for neither continent. i hope i was instrumental to some degree in her banishment. we were crude in our morals then. i hope we are not merely civilised in them to-day. i hope we understand how to live better than we did then. scarcely a year after the final dedication of our tabernacle in it was completely burned, just before a morning sabbath service in december, . i remember that sabbath morning. i was coming to the church, when i saw the smoke against the sky. i was living in an outlying section of the city. i had been absent for three weeks, and, as i saw that smoke, i said to my wife: "i should not wonder if that is the tabernacle"; at the same time, this was said in pleasantry and not in earnest. as we came on nearer where the church stood, i said quite seriously: "i shouldn't wonder if it is the tabernacle." when i came within a few blocks, and i saw a good many people in distress running across the street, i said: "it is the tabernacle"; and when we stood together in front of the burning house of god, it was an awfully sad time. we had stood together through all the crises of suffering, and we must needs build a church in the very hardest of times. to put up a structure in those days, and so large a structure and so firm a structure as we needed, was a very great demand upon our energies. the fact that we had to make that struggle in the worst financial period was doubly hard. it was a merciful providence that none of the congregation was in the church at the time. it was an appalling situation. in spite of the best efforts of the fire department, the building was in ruins in a few hours. my congregation was in despair, but, in the face of trial, god has always given me all but superhuman strength. in a thousand ways i had been blessed; the gospel i had preached could not stop then, i knew, and while my people were completely discouraged i immediately planned for a newer, larger, more complete tabernacle. we needed more room for the increasing attendance, and i realised that opportunity again was mine. we continued our services in the academy of music, in brooklyn, while the new tabernacle was being built. not for a minute did i relax my energies to keep up the work of a practical religion. there were , people in brooklyn who had never heard the gospel preached, an army worthy of christian interest. there was room for these , people in the churches of the city. there was plenty of room in heaven for them. an ingenious statistician, taking the statement made in revelation xxi. that the heavenly jerusalem was measured and found to be twelve thousand furlongs, and that the length and height and breadth of it are equal, says that would make heaven in size nine hundred and forty-eight sextillion, nine hundred and eighty-eight quintillion cubic feet; and then reserving a certain portion for the court of heaven and the streets, and estimating that the world may last a hundred thousand years, he ciphers out that there are over five trillion rooms, each room seventeen feet long, sixteen feet wide, fifteen feet high. but i have no faith in the accuracy of that calculation. he makes the rooms too small. from all i can read the rooms will be palatial, and those who have not had enough room in this world will have plenty of room at the last. the fact is that most people in this world are crowded, and though out on a vast prairie or in a mountain district people may have more room than they want, in most cases it is house built close to house, and the streets are crowded, and the cradle is crowded by other cradles, and the graves crowded in the cemetery by other graves; and one of the richest luxuries of many people in getting out of this world will be the gaining of unhindered and uncramped room. and i should not wonder if, instead of the room that the statistician ciphered out as only seventeen feet by sixteen, it should be larger than any of the rooms at berlin, st. james, or winter palace. so we built an exceedingly large church. the new tabernacle seated comfortably , people. it was open on february , , for worship, and completed a few months later. the fifth milestone - without boast it may be said that i was among those men who with eager and persistent vigilance made the heart of brooklyn feel the christian purpose of the pulpit, and the utility of religion in everyday life. the fifteen years following the dedication of the new tabernacle in mark the most active milestone of my career as a preacher. a minister's recollections are confined to his interpretation of the life about him; the men he knows, the events he sees, the good and the bad of his environment and his period become the loose leaves that litter his study table. i was in the prime of life, just forty years of age. from my private note-books and other sources i begin recollections of the most significant years in brooklyn, preceding the local elections in . new york and brooklyn were playmates then, seeming rivals, but by predestined fate bound to grow closer together. i said then that we need not wait for the three bridges which would certainly bind them together. the ferry-boat then touching either side was only the thump of one great municipal heart. it was plain to me that this greater metropolis, standing at the gate of this continent, would have to decide the moral and political destinies of the whole country. prior to the november elections in , the only cheering phase of politics in brooklyn and new york was that there were no lower political depths to reach. there was in new york at that time political infamy greater than the height of trinity church steeple, more stupendous in finance than the $ , , spent in building their new court house. it was a fact that the most notorious gambler in the united states was to get the nomination for the high office of state senator. both democrats and republicans struggled for his election--john morrisey, hailed as a reformer! on behalf of all the respectable homes of brooklyn and new york i protested against his election. he had been indicted for burglary, indicted for assault and battery with intent to kill, indicted eighteen times for maintaining gambling places in different parts of the country. he almost made gambling respectable. tweed trafficked in contracts, morrisey in the bodies and souls of young men. the district attorney of new york advocated him, and prominent democrats talked themselves hoarse for him. this nomination was a determined effort of the slums of new york to get representation in the state government. it was argued that he had _reformed_. the police of new york knew better. in brooklyn the highest local offices in , those of the collector, police commissioners, fire commission, treasurer, and the city works commissioners, were under the control of one patrick shannon, owner of two gin mills. wearing the mask of reformers the most astute and villainous politicians piloted themselves into power. they were all elected, and it was necessary. it was necessary that new york should elect the foremost gambler of the united states for state senator, before the people of new york could realise the depths of degradation to which the politics of that time could sink. if tweed had stolen only half as much as he did, investigation and discovery and reform would have been impossible. the re-election of morrisey was necessary. he was elected not by the vote of his old partisans alone, but by republicans. hamilton fish, general grant's secretary, voted for him. peter cooper, the friend of education and the founder of a great institute, voted for him. the brown-stone-fronts voted for him. the fifth avenue equipage voted for him. murray hill voted for him. meanwhile gambling was made honourable. and so the law-breaker became the law-maker. among a large and genteel community in brooklyn there was a feeling that they were independent of politics. no one can be so. it was felt in the home and in the business offices. it was an influence that poisoned all the foundations of public and private virtue in brooklyn and new york. the conditions of municipal immorality and wickedness were the worst at this time that ever confronted the pulpits of the city of churches, as brooklyn was called. there was one bright spot in the dark horizon of life around me then, however, which i greeted with much pleasure and amusement. in the early part of november, , president hayes offered to colonel robert ingersoll the appointment of minister to germany. the president was a methodist, and perhaps he thought that was a grand solution of ingersollism. it was a mirthful event of the hour--the joke of the administration. germany was the birthplace of what was then modern infidelity, colonel ingersoll had been filling the land with belated infidelism. on the stage of the academy of music in brooklyn he had attacked the memory of tom paine, assaulted the character of rev. dr. prime, one of my neighbours, the nestor of religious journalism, and on that same stage expressed his opinion that god was a great ghost. this action of president hayes kept me smiling for a week--i appreciated the joke among others. during this month the american stage suffered the loss of three celebrities: edwin adams, george l. fox, and e.l. davenport. while the theatre never interested me, and i never entered one, i cannot criticise the dead. four years before in the tabernacle i preached a sermon against the theatre. i saw there these men, sitting in pews in front of me, and that was the only time. they were taking notes of my discourse, to which they made public replies on the stage of the chestnut street theatre, philadelphia, and on other stages at the close of their performances. whatever they may have said of me, i stood uncovered in the presence of the dead, while the curtain of the great future went up on them. my sympathy was with the destitute households left behind. public benefits relieved this. i would to god clergymen were as liberal to the families of deceased clergymen as play-actors to the families of dead play-actors. what a toilsome life, the play-actor's! on the th of march, , edmund kean, sick and exhausted, trembled on to the english stage for the last time, when he acted in the character of othello. the audience rose and cheered, and the waving of hats and handkerchiefs was bewildering, and when he came to the expression, "farewell! othello's occupation's gone!" his chin fell on his breast, and he turned to his son and said: "o god, i am dying! speak to them charles," and the audience in sympathy cried, "take him off! take him off!" and he was carried away to die. poor edmund kean! when schiller, the famous comedian, was tormented with toothache, some one offered to draw the tooth. "no," said he, "but on the th of june, when the house closes, you may draw the tooth, for then i shall have nothing to eat with it." the impersonation of character is often the means of destroying health. molière, the comedian, acted the sick man until it proved fatal to him. madame clarion accounts for her premature old age by the fact that she had been obliged so often on the stage to enact the griefs and distresses of others. mr. bond threw so much earnestness into the tragedy of "zarah," that he fainted and died. the life of the actor and actress is wearing and full of privation and annoyance, as is any life that depends upon the whims of the public for success. one of the events in church matters, towards the close of this year, was a pastoral letter of the episcopal bishops against church fairs. so many churches were holding fairs then, they were a recognised social attribute of the church family. this letter aroused the question as to whether it was right or wrong to have church fairs, and the newspapers became very fretful about it. i defended the church fairs, because i felt that if they were conducted on christian principles they were the means of an universal sociality and spiritual strength. so far as i had been acquainted with them, they had made the church purer, better. some fairs may end in a fight; they are badly managed, perhaps. a church fair, officered by christian women, held within christian hours, conducted on christian plans, i approved, the pastoral letter of the episcopal bishops notwithstanding. just when we were in the midst of this religious tempest of small finances, the will of commodore cornelius vanderbilt came up in the court for discussion. the whole world was anxious then to know if the vanderbilt will could be broken. after battling half a century with diseases enough to kill ten men, mr. vanderbilt died, an octogenarian, leaving over $ , , --$ , , to his eldest son--$ , , to his wife, and the remainder to his other children and relations, with here and there a slight recognition of some humane or religious institution. i said then that the will could not be broken, because $ , , in this country seemed too mighty for $ , , . it was a strange will, and if mr. vanderbilt had been his own executor of it, without lawyers' interference, i believe it would have been different. it suggests a comparison with george peabody, who executed the distribution of his property without legal talent. peabody gave $ , for a library in his own town in massachusetts, and in his will left $ , to the baltimore institute, $ , to the poor of london, $ , to harvard, $ , to yale, $ , to salem, massachusetts, and $ , , to the education of the people of the south in this country. no wonder he refused a baronetcy which the queen of england offered him, he was a king--the king of human benefaction. that vanderbilt will was the seven days wonder of its time. it made way only for the president's message issued the first week in december, . it was, in fact, mr. hayes's repudiation of a dishonest measure prepared by members of congress to pay off our national debt in silver instead of in gold as had been promised. the newspapers received the president's message with indifferent opinion. "it is disappointing," said one. "as a piece of composition it is terse and well written," said another. "the president used a good many big words to say very little," said another. "president hayes will secure a respectful hearing by the ability and character of this document," said another. "leaving out his bragging over his policy of pacification and concerning things he claims to have done, the space remaining will be very small," said another. but all who read the message carefully realised that in it the president promised the people to put an end to the dishonour of thieving politics. there was something in the air in washington that seemed to afflict the men who went there with moral distemper. i was told that coates ames was almost a christian in massachusetts, while in washington, from his house, was born that monster--the credit mobilier. congressmen who in their own homes would insist upon paying their private obligations, dollar for dollar, forgot this standard of business honour when they advocated a swindling policy for the government of the united states. in its day of trouble the government was glad to promise gold to the people who had confidence in them, and just as gladly the government proposed to swindle them by a silver falsehood in . but the nation was just recovering from a four years' drunk; mr. hayes undertook to steady us, during the aftereffects of our war-spree. why should we neglect to pay in full the price of our four years' unrighteousness? as a nation we had so often been relieved from financial depression up to that time, but, we were just entering a period of unlicensed ethics, not merely in public life, but in all our private standards of morality. it seems to me, as i recall the character of brooklyn life at this time, there never was a period in its history when it was so intolerably wicked. and yet, we had churches. one night about christmas time, in , brooklyn heights was startled by a pistol shot that set everyone in new york and brooklyn to moralising. it was the johnson tragedy. a young husband shot his young wife, with intent to kill. she was seriously wounded. he went to prison. there was a child, and for the sake of that child, who is now probably grown up, i will not relate the details. in all my experience of life i have heard many stories of domestic failure, but there are always two sides. those who moralised about it said, "that's what comes of marrying too young!" others, moralising too, said, "that's what comes of not controlling one's temper." who does control his temper, always? to my mind the chief lesson was in the fact that the young men of brooklyn had taken too much of a notion to carry firearms. there was a puppyism sprang up in brooklyn that felt they couldn't live unless they were armed. young boys went about their daily occupations armed to the teeth, as if fulton street were an ambush for indians. i mention this, because it was a singular phase of the social restlessness and tremor of the times. in commercial evolution there was the same indistinctness of standards. the case of dr. lambert--the life insurance fraud--had no sooner been disposed of, and lambert sent to sing-sing, than the sudden failure of bonner & co., brokers in wall street, presented us with the problem of business "rehypothecation." in my opinion a man has as much right to fail in business as he has to get sick and die. in most cases it is more honourable to fail than to go on. every insolvent is not necessarily a scoundrel. the greatest crime is to fail rich. john bonner & co., as brokers, had loaned money on deposited collaterals, and then borrowed still larger sums on the same collaterals. their creditors were duped to the extent of from one to three millions of dollars. it was the first crime of "rehypothecation." it was not a wall street theft; it was a new use for an almost unknown word in noah webster's dictionary. it was a new word in the rogue's vocabulary. it was one of the first attempts made, in my knowledge, to soften the aspect of crime by baptising it in that way. crime in this country will always be excused in proportion to how great it is. but even in the face of wall street tricksters there were signs that the days were gone when the jay goulds and the jim fisks could hold the nation at their mercy. the comedy of life is sometimes quite as instructive as a tragedy. there was a flagrant disposition in america, in the late 'seventies, to display family affairs in the newspapers. it became an epidemic of notoriety. what a delicious literature it was! the private affairs of the household printed by the million copies. chief among these novelettes of family life was the hicks-lord case. the world was informed one morning in february, , that a mr. lord, a millionaire, had united his fortune with a mrs. hicks. the children of the former were offended at the second marriage of the latter, more especially so as the new reunion might change the direction of the property. the father was accused of being insane by his children, and incapable of managing his own affairs. the courts were invoked. one thing was made plain to all the world, though, that mr. lord at eighty knew more than his children did at thirty or forty. the happy pair were compelled to remain in long seclusion because of murderous threats against them, the children having proposed a corpse instead of a bride. the absorbing question of weeks, "where is mr. lord?" was answered. he was in the newspapers--and the children? they were across the old man's knee, where they belonged. mr. lord was right. mrs. hicks was right. it was nobody's business but their own. brooklyn and new york were exceeding busy-bodies in the late 'seventies. it was a relief to turn one's back upon them occasionally, in the pulpit, and search the furthest horizon of europe. scarcely had victor emmanuel been entombed when on feb. th a tired old man, eighty-four years of age, died in the vatican, pius ix., a kind and forgiving man. his trust was not wholly in the crucifix, but something beyond the crucifix; and yet, how small a man is when measured by the length of his coffin! events in europe marshalled themselves into a formula of new problems at the beginning of . the complete defeat of turkey by the russians left england and the united states--allies in the great causes of civilisation and christianity--aghast. it was the most intense political movement in europe of my lifetime. i was glad the turkish empire had perished, but i had no admiration then for russia, once one of the world's greatest oppressors. my deepest sympathies at that time were with england. when england is humiliated the christian standards of the world are humiliated. her throne during queen victoria's reign was the purest throne in all the world. remember the girl victoria, kneeling with her ecclesiastical adviser in prayer the night before her coronation, making religious vows, not one of which were broken. i urged then that all our american churches throughout the land unite with the cathedrals and churches in england in shouting "god save the queen." england held the balance of the world's power for christianity in this crisis abroad. about this time, in february, , senator pierce presented a bill before the legislature in albany for a new city charter for brooklyn. in its reform movement it meant that in three years at the most brooklyn and new york would be legally married. instead of brooklyn being depressed by new york, new york was to be elevated by brooklyn. already we felt at that time, in the light of senator pierce's efforts, that brooklyn would become a reformed new york; it would be--new york with its cares set aside, new york with its arms folded at rest, new york playing with the children, new york at the tea table, new york gone to prayer-meeting. nine-tenths of the brooklynites then were spending their days in new york, and their nights in brooklyn. in the year , , , of people crossed the brooklyn ferries. paris is france, london is england, why not new york the united states? the new charter recommended by senator pierce urged other reforms in a local government that was too costly by far. under right administration who could tell what our beloved city is to be? prospect park, the geographical centre, a beautiful picture set in a great frame of architectural affluence. the boulevards reaching to the sea, their sides lined the whole distance with luxurious homes and academies of art. our united city a hundred brightons in one, and the inland populations coming down here to summer and battle in the surf. the great american london built by a continent on which all the people are free; her vast populations redeemed; her churches thronged with worshipful auditories! before that time we may have fallen asleep amid the long grass of the valleys, but our children will enjoy the brightness and the honour of residence in the great christian city of the continent and of the world. it was this era of optimism in the civic life of brooklyn that helped to defeat the lafayette avenue railroad. it was a scheme of new york speculators to deface one of the finest avenues in brooklyn. the most profitable business activity in this country is to invest other people's money. it seemed to me that the lafayette railroad deal was only a sort of blackmailing institution to compel the property holders to pay for the discontinuance of the enterprise, or the company would sell out to some other company; and as the original company paid nothing all they get is clear gain; and whether the railroad is built or not, the people for years, all along the beautiful route, would be kept in suspense. there was no more need of a car track along lafayette avenue than there was need of one from the top of trinity church steeple to the moon! the greater facility of travel, the greater prosperity! but i am opposed to all railroads, the depot for which is an unprincipled speculator's pocket. it was only a few weeks later that i had to condemn a much greater matter, a national event. on march , , the silver bill was passed in washington, notwithstanding the president's veto. the house passed it by a vote of against , and the senate agreed with a vote of against . it would be asking too much to expect anyone to believe that the men in congress were bought up. so far as i knew the men, they were as honest on one side of the vote as on the other. senator conkling, that giant of integrity, opposed it. alexander h. stephens voted for it. i talked with mr. stephens about it, and he said to me at the time, "unless the silver bill pass, in the next six months there will not be two hundred business houses in new york able to stand." still, the silver bill seemed like the first step towards repudiation of our national obligation, but i believe that at least out of those men who voted for it would have sacrificed their lives rather than repudiate our national debt. i had an opportunity to comprehend the political explosion of the passage of this bill all over the country, for it so happened i made a lecturing trip through the south and south-west during the month of march, . there is one word that described the whole feeling in the south at this time, and that was "hope." the most cheerful city, i found, was new orleans. she was rejoicing in the release from years of unrighteous government. just how the state of louisiana had been badgered, and her every idea of self-government insulted, can be appreciated only by those who come face to face with the facts. while some of the best patriots of the north went down with the right motives to mingle in the reconstruction of the state governments of the south, many of these pilgrimists were the cast-off and thieving politicians of the north, who, after being stoned out of northern waters, crawled up on the beach at the south to sun themselves. the southern states had enough dishonest men of their own without any importation. the day of trouble passed. louisiana and south carolina for the most part are free. governor nichols of the one, and governor wade hampton of the other, had the confidence of the great masses of the people. it was my opinion then that the largest fortunes were yet to be made in the south, because there was more room to make them there. during my two weeks in the south, at that time, mingling with all classes of people, i never heard an unkind word against the north, and that only a little over ten years since the close of the war. congressional politicians were still enlarging upon the belligerency of the south, but they had personal designs at president making. there was no more use for federal military in new orleans than there was need of them in brooklyn. i was the guest in new orleans of the hon. e.j. ellis, many years in congress, and i had a taste of real southern hospitality. it was everywhere. the spirit of fraternity was in the south long before it reached the north. up to this time i had echoed horace greeley's advice, "go west." for years afterwards i changed it. in my advice to young men i said to all, "go south." in the spring of , however, things in brooklyn began to look more promising for young men and young women. i remember after closely examining mayor howell's report and the police commissioner's report i was much pleased. mayor howell was one of the most courteous and genial men i ever knew, and superintendent campbell was a good police officer. these two men, by their individual interest in brooklyn reforms, had gained the confidence of our tax-payers and our philanthropists. the police force was too small for a city of , , people. the taxes were not big enough to afford an adequate equipment. there was a constant depreciation of our police and excise officials in the churches. city officials should not be caricatured--they should be respected, or dismissed. it was about this time a mounted police department was started in brooklyn, and though small it was needed. what the miscreant community of brooklyn most needed at this time was not sermons or lessons in the common schools, but a police club--and they got it. there was a political avarice in brooklyn in the management of our public taxes which handicapped the local government. for a long while i had been thinking about some way of presenting this sin to my people, when one day a woman, barbara allen by name, dropping in fatal illness, was picked up at the fulton ferry house, and died in the ambulance. on her arm was a basket of cold victuals she had lugged from house to house. in the rags of her clothing were found deposit slips in the savings banks of brooklyn--for $ , . the case was unique at that time, because in those days great wealth was unknown, even in new york, and the houses in brooklyn were homes--not museums. twenty thousand dollars was a fortune. it was a precedent that established miserliness as an actual sin, a dissipation just as deadly as that of the spendthrift. it was a tragic scene from the drama of life, and its surprise was avarice. the whole country read about barbara allen, and wondered what new strange disease this was that could scourge a human soul with a madness for accumulating money without spending it. the people of the united states suffered from quite a different idea of money. they were just beginning to feel the great american fever for spending more of it than they could get. this was a serious phase of social conditions then, and i remember how keenly i felt the menace of it at the time. those who couldn't get enough to spend became envious, jealous, hateful of those who could and these envious ones were the american masses. in the spring of , in may, there was a tiger sprang out of this jungle of discontent, and, crouching, threatened to spring upon american society. it was--communism. its theory was that what could not be obtained lawfully, under the pressure of circumstances, you could take anyhow. communism meant no individual rights in property. if wages were not adequate to the luxurious appetite, then the wage-earner claimed the right to knock his employer down and take what he wanted. "bread or blood" was the motto. it all came from across the atlantic, and it spread rapidly. in brooklyn, new york, chicago, st. louis, it was evident that communism was organising, that its executive desperadoes met in rooms, formed lodges, invented grips and pass-words. in the eighth ward of new york an organisation was unearthed at this time, consisting of men, all armed with muskets and revolvers. these organisations described themselves as working-men's parties, and so tried to ally themselves with the interests of trade unions. twenty american newspapers advocated this shocking creed. tens of thousands adopted this theory. i said then, in response to the opinion that communism was impossible in this country, that there were just as many cut-throats along the east river and the hudson as there were along the seine or the thames. there was only one thing that prevented revolution in our cities in this memorable spring of , and that was the police and the military guard. through dissatisfaction about wages, or from any cause, men have a right to stop work, and to stop in bands and bodies until their labour shall be appreciated; but when by violence, as in the summer of , they compel others to stop, or hinder substitutes from taking the places, then the act is communistic, and ought to be riven of the lightnings of public condemnation. what was the matter in pittsburg that summer? what fired the long line of cars that made night hideous? what lifted the wild howl in chicago? why, coming toward that city, were we obliged to dismount from the cars and take carriages through the back streets? why, when one night the michigan central train left chicago, were there but three passengers on board a train of eight cars? what forced three rail trains from the tracks and shot down engineers with their hands on the valves? communism. for hundreds of miles along the track leading from the great west i saw stretched out and coiled up the great reptile which, after crushing the free locomotive of passengers and trade, would have twisted itself around our republican institutions, and left them in strangulation and blood along the pathway of nations. the governors of states and the president of the united states did well in planting the loaded cannon at the head of streets blocked up by desperadoes. i felt the inspiration of giving warning, and i did. but the summer came, august came, and after a lecture tour through the far west i was amazed and delighted to find there a tremendous harvest in the grain fields. i had seen immense crops there about to start on their way to the eastern sea-boundary of our continent. i saw then that our prosperity as a nation would depend upon our agriculture. it didn't make any difference what the greenback party, or the republican and democratic parties, or the communists were croaking about; the immense harvests of the west indicated that nothing was the matter. what we needed in the fall of was some cheerful talk. during this summer two of the world's celebrities died: charles mathews, the famous comedian, and the great american poet, william cullen bryant. charles mathews was an illustrious actor. he was born to make the world laugh, but he had a sad life of struggle. while charles mathews was performing in london before immense audiences, one day a worn-out and gloomy man came into a doctor's shop, saying, "doctor, what can you do for me?" the doctor examined his case and said, "my advice is that you go and see charles mathews." "alas! alas!" said the man, "i myself am charles mathews." in the loss of william cullen bryant i felt it as a personal bereavement of a close friend. nowhere have i seen the following incident of his life recorded, an incident which i still remember as one of the great events in my life. in the days of my boyhood i attended a meeting at tripler hall, held as a memorial of fenimore cooper, who at that time had just died. washington irving stepped out on the speaker's platform first, trembling, and in evident misery. after stammering and blushing and bowing, he completely broke down in his effort to make a speech, and briefly introduced the presiding officer of the meeting, daniel webster. rising like a huge mountain from a plain this great orator introduced another orator--the orator of the day--william cullen bryant. in that memorable oration, lasting an hour and a half, the speaker told lovingly the story of the life and death of the author of "leather stocking" and "the last of the mohicans." george w. bethune followed him, thundering out in that marvellous flow of ideas, with an eloquence that made him the pulpit orator of his generation in the south. bryant's hair was then just touched with grey. the last time i saw him was in my house on oxford street, two years ago, in a company of literary people. i said: "mr. bryant, will you read for us 'thanatopsis'?" he blushed like a girl, and put his hands over his face and said: "i would rather read anything than my own production; but if it will give you pleasure i will do anything you say." then at years of age, and without spectacles, he stood up and with most pathetic tenderness read the famous poem of his boyhood days, and from a score of lips burst forth the exclamation, "what a wonderful old man!" what made all the land and all the world feel so badly when william cullen bryant was laid down at roslyn? because he was a great poet who had died? no; there have been greater poets. because he was so able an editor? no; there have been abler editors. because he was so very old? no; some have attained more years. it was because a spotless and noble character irradiated all he wrote and said and did. these great men of america, how much they were to me, in their example of doing and living! probably there are many still living who remember what a disorderly place brooklyn once was. gangs of loafers hung around our street corners, insulting and threatening men and women. carriages were held up in the streets, the occupants robbed, and the vehicles stolen. kidnapping was known. behind all this outrage of civil rights was political outrage. the politicians were afraid to offend the criminals, because they might need their votes in future elections. they were immune, because they were useful material in case of a new governor or president. it was a reign of terror that spread also in other large cities. the farmers of ohio and pennsylvania were threatened if they did not stop buying labour-saving machinery. they were not the threats of the working-man, but of the lazy, criminal loafers of the country. it is worth mentioning, because it was a convulsion of an american period, a national growing pain, which i then saw and talked about. the nation was under the cloud of political ambition and office-seeking that unsettled business conditions. every one was occupied in president-making, although we were two years from the presidential election. there was plenty of money, but people held on to it. the yellow fever scourge came down upon the south during the late summer of , and softened the hearts of some. there was some money contributed from the north, but not as much as there ought to have been. in the brooklyn tabernacle we did the best we could; new york city had been ravaged by yellow fever in , the year i was born, but the memory of that horror was not keen enough to influence the collection plate. what with this suffering of our neighbours in the south, and the troubles of political jealousies local and national, there were cares enough for our church to consider. still, the summer of was almost through, and many predictions of disaster had failed. we had been threatened with general riots. it was predicted that on june all the cars and railroad stations would be burned, because of a general strike order. we were threatened with a fruit famine. it was said that the maryland and new jersey peach crop was a failure. i never saw or ate so many peaches any summer before. then there was the patten investigation committee, determined to send mr. tilden down to washington to drive the president out of the white house. none of these things happened, yet it is interesting to recall this phase of american nerves in . there was one event that aroused my disgust, however, much more than the croakers had done--ben butler was nominated for governor of massachusetts. that was when politics touched bottom. there was no lower depths of infamy for them to reach. ben butler was the chief demagogue of the land. the republican party was to be congratulated that it got rid of him. his election was a cross put upon the state of massachusetts for something it had done we knew not of. fortunately there were men like roscoe conkling in politics to counterbalance other kinds. backed up by unscrupulous politicians, the equally irresponsible railroad promoter began his invasion of city streets with his noisy scheme. i opposed him, but the problem of transportation then was not as it is now. just as the year had begun, a gigantic political promoting scheme for an elevated railroad in brooklyn was attempted. from boston came the promoters with a proposition to build the road, without paying a cent of indemnity to property holders. i suggested that an appeal be made to brooklynites to subscribe to a company for the agricultural improvements of boston common. it was a parallel absurdity. mayor howell, of brooklyn, courageously opposed an elevated road franchise, unless property holders were paid according to the damage to the property. this was one of many inspired grafts of political brooklyn, years ago. a great event in the world was the announcement in november, , that professor thomas edison had applied for a patent for the discovery of the incandescent electric light. he harnessed the flame of a thunderbolt to fit in a candlestick. i hope he made millions of dollars out of it. in direct contradiction to this progress in daily life there came, at the same time, from the philadelphia clergy a protest against printing their sermons in the secular press. it was an injustice to them, they declared, because the sermons were not always fully reported. i did not share these opinions. if a minister's gospel is not fit for fifty thousand people, then it is not fit for the few hundred members of his congregation. my own sermons were being published in the secular press then, as they had been when i was in philadelphia. almost at the close of the year the loss of the s.s. "pomerania," in collision in the english channel, was a disaster of the sea that i denounced as nothing short of murder. it was shown at the trial that there was no fog at the time, that the two vessels saw each other for ten minutes before the collision. if such gross negligence as this was possible, i advised those people who bought a ticket for europe on the white star, the cunard, the hamburg, or other steamship lines, to secure at the same time a ticket for heaven. what a difference in the ocean ferry-boat of to-day! scarcely had the submarine telegraph closed this chapter of sea horror than it clicked the information that the beautiful princess alice had died in germany. only a few days later, in america, we were in mood of mourning for bayard taylor, our minister plenipotentiary to germany. in the death of princess alice we felt chiefly a sympathy for queen victoria, who had not then, and never did, overcome her grief at the loss of prince albert. in the decease of bayard taylor we remembered with pride that he was a self-made gentleman of a school for which there is no known system of education. regarded as a dreamy, unpractical boy, nothing much was ever expected of him. when he was seventeen he set type in a printing office in westchester. it was bayard taylor who exploded the idea that only the rich could afford to go to europe, when on less than a thousand dollars he spent two years amid the palaces and temples, telling of his adventures in a way that contributed classic literature to our book-shelves. he worked hard--wrote thirty-five books. there is genius in hard work alone. i have often thought that women pursue more of it than men. they work night and day, year in and year out, from kitchen to parlour, from parlour to kitchen. there was some strong legislative effort made in our country about this time to exclude the chinese. i opposed this legislation with all the voice and ability i had, because i felt not merely the injustice of such contradiction of all our national institutions, but i saw its political folly. i saw that the nation that would be the most friendly to china, and could get on the inside track of her commerce, would be the first nation of the world. the legislature seemed particularly angry with the chinese immigrants in this country because they would not allow themselves to be buried here. they were angry with the chinese then because they would not intermarry. they were angry with the chinese because they invested their money in china. they did not think they were handsome enough for this country. we even wanted a monopoly of good looks in those days. i was particularly friendly to the chinese. my brother, john van nest talmage, devoted his life to them. i believed, as my brother did, that they were a great nation. when he went, my last brother went. stunned was i until i staggered through the corridors of the hotel in london, england, when the news came that john was dead. if i should say all that i felt i would declare that since paul the apostle to the gentiles a more faithful or consecrated man has not lifted his voice in the dark places of heathenism. i said it while he was alive, and might as well say it now that he is dead. he was the hero of our family. he did not go to china to spend his days because no one in america wanted to hear him preach. at the time of his first going to china he had a call to succeed in brooklyn, n.y., the rev. dr. broadhead, the chrysostom of the american pulpit, a call at a large salary; and there would have been nothing impossible to my brother in the way of religious work or christian achievement had he tarried in his native land. but nothing could detain him from the work to which god called him long before he became a christian. my reason for writing that anomalous statement is that, when a small boy in sabbath-school, he read a library book, "the life of henry martin." he said to my mother, "i am going to be a missionary." the remark at the time made no special impression. years after that passed on before his conversion; but when the grace of god appeared to him, and he had entered his studies for the gospel ministry, he said one day, "mother, do you remember that years ago i said, 'i am going to be a missionary'?" she replied, "yes, i remember it." "well," said he, "i am going to keep my promise." how well he kept it millions of souls on earth and in heaven have long since heard. when the roll of martyrs is called before the throne, the name of john van nest talmage will be called. he worked himself to death in the cause of the world's evangelisation. his heart, his brain, his hand, his voice, his muscles, his nerves could do no more. he sleeps in the cemetery of somerville, n.j., so near his father and mother that he will face them when he arises in the resurrection of the just, and, amid a crowd of his kindred now sleeping on the right of them and on the left of them, will feel the thrill of the trumpet that wakes the dead. you could get nothing from my brother at all. ask him a question to evoke what he had done for god and the church, and his lips were as tightly shut as though they had never been opened. indeed, his reticence was at times something remarkable. i took him to see president grant at long branch, and though they had both been great warriors, the one fighting the battles of the lord and the other the battles of his country, they had little to say, and there was, i thought, at the time, more silence crowded together than i ever noticed in the same amount of space before. but the story of my brother's work has already been told in the heavens by those who, through his instrumentality, have already reached the city of raptures. however, his chief work is yet to come. we get our chronology so twisted that we come to believe that the white marble of the tomb is the milestone at which the good man stops, when it is only a milestone on a journey, the most of the miles of which are yet to be travelled. the chinese dictionary which my brother prepared during more than two decades of study; the religious literature he transferred from english into chinese; the hymns he wrote for others to sing, although he himself could not sing at all (he and i monopolising the musical incapacity of a family in which all the rest could sing well); the missionary stations he planted; the life he lived, will widen out and deepen and intensify through all time and all eternity. never in the character of a chinaman was there the trait of commercial fraud that assailed our american cities in . it got into our food finally--the very bread we ate was proven to be an adulteration of impure stuff. what an extravagance of imagination had crept into our daily life! we pretended even to eat what we knew we were not eating. except for the reminder which old books written in byegone simpler days gave us, we should have insisted that the world should believe us if we said black was white. still, among us there were some who were genuine, but they seemed to be passing away. it was in this year that the oldest author in america died, richard henry dana. he was born in , when literature in this country was just beginning. his death stirred the tenderest emotions. authorship was a new thing in america when mr. dana began to write, and it required endurance and persistence. the atmosphere was chilling to literature then, there was little applause for poetic or literary skill. there were no encouragements when washington irving wrote as "knickerbocker," when richard henry dana wrote "the buccaneer," "the idle man," and "the dying raven." there was something cracking in his wit, exalted in his culture. he was so gentle in his conversation, so pure in his life, it was hard to spare him. he seemed like a man who had never been forced into the battle of the world, he was so unscarred and hallowed. it was just about this time that our tabernacle in brooklyn became the storm centre of a law-suit which threatened to undermine us. it was based upon a theory, a technicality of law, which declared that the subscriptions of married women were not legal subscriptions. our attorneys were mr. freeman and judge tenney. theirs was a battle for god and the church. there were only two sides to the case. those against the church and those with the church. in the preceding eight years, whether against fire or against foe, the tabernacle had risen to a higher plane of useful christian work. i was not alarmed. during the two weeks of persecution, the days were to me days of the most complete peace i had felt since i entered the christian life. again and again i remember remarking in my home, to my family, what a supernatural peace was upon me. my faith was in god, who managed my life and the affairs of the church. my work was still before me, there was too much to be done in the tabernacle yet. the disapproval of our methods before the brooklyn presbytery was formulated in a series of charges against the pastor. i was told my enthusiasm was sinful, that it was unorthodox for me to be so. my utterances were described as inaccurate. my editorial work was offensively criticised. the presbytery listened patiently, and after a careful consideration dismissed the charges. once more the unjust oppression of enemies had seemed to extend the strength and scope of the gospel. a few days later my congregation presented me with a token of confidence in their pastor. i was so happy at the time that i was ready to shake hands even with the reporters who had abused me. how kind they were, how well they understood me, how magnificently they took care of me, my people of the brooklyn tabernacle! the sixth milestone - in the spring of i made a gospel tour of england, ireland, and scotland. on a previous visit i had given a series of private lectures, under the management of major pond, and i had been more or less criticised for the amount of money charged the people to hear me. as i had nothing whatever to do with the prices of tickets to my lectures, which went to the managers who arranged the tour, this was something beyond my control. my personal arrangement with major pond was for a certain fixed sum. they said in europe that i charged too much to be heard, that as a preacher of the gospel i should have been more moderate. if the management had been my own i should not have been so greedy. because of this recollection and the regret it gave me, i decided to make another tour at my own expense, and preach without price in all the places i had previously visited as a lecturer. it was the most exhausting, exciting, remarkable demonstration of religious enthusiasm i have ever witnessed. it was an evangelistic yearning that could not be repeated in another life-time. the entire summer was a round of gospel meetings, overflow meetings, open-air meetings, a succession of scenes of blessing. from the time i arrived in liverpool, where that same night i addressed two large assemblages, till i got through after a monster gathering at edinburgh, i missed but three gospel appointments, and those because i was too tired to stand up. i preached ninety-eight times in ninety-three days. with nothing but gospel themes i confronted multitudes. a collection was always taken up at these gatherings for the benefit of local charities, feeble churches, orphan asylums and other institutions. my services were gratuitous. it was the most wonderful summer of evangelical work i was ever privileged to enjoy. there must have been much praying for me and my welfare, or no mortal could have got through with the work. in every city i went to, messages were passed into my ears for families in america. the collection taken for the benefit of the y.m.c.a. at leeds was about $ , . during this visit i preached in scenery chapel, london, in the pulpit where such consecrated souls as rowland hill and newman hall and james sherman had preached. i visited the "red horse hotel," of stratford-on-avon, where the chair and table used by washington irving were as interesting to me as anything in shakespeare's cottage. the church where the poet is buried is over seven hundred years old. the most interesting place around london to me is in chelsea, where, on a narrow street, i entered the house of thomas carlyle. this great author was away from london at the time. entering a narrow hall, on the left is the literary workshop, where some of the strongest thunderbolts of the world's literature have been forged. in the room, which has two front windows shaded from the prying street by two little red calico curtains, is a lounge that looks as though it had been made by an author unaccustomed to saw or hammer. on the wall were a few woodcuts in plain frames or pinned on the wall. here was a photograph of carlyle, taken one day, as a member of his family told me, when he had a violent toothache and could attend to nothing else, and yet posterity regards it as a favourite picture. there are only three copies of this photograph in existence. one was given to carlyle, the other was kept by the photographer, and the third belongs to me. in long rough shelves was the library of the renowned thinker. the books were well worn with reading. many of them were books i never heard of. american literature was almost ignored; they were chiefly books written by germans. there was an absence of theological books, excepting those of thomas chalmers, whose genius he worshipped. the carpets were old and worn and faded. he wished them to be so, as a perpetual protest against the world's sham. it did not appeal to me as a place of inspiration for a writer. i returned to america impressed with the over-crowding of the british isles, and the unsettled regions of our own country. "tell the united states we want to send her five million population this year, and five million population next year," said a prominent englishman to me. i urged a mutual arrangement between the two governments, to people the west with these populations. great britain was the workshop of the world; we needed workers. the trouble in the united states at this time was that when there was one garment needed there were three people anxious to manufacture it, and five people anxious to sell it. we needed to evoke more harvests and fruits to feed the populations of the world, and more flax and wool for the clothing. the cities in england are so close together that there is a cloud from smokestacks the length and width of the island. the canon of york minster showed me how the stone of that great cathedral was crumbling under the chemical corrosion of the atmosphere, wafted from neighbouring factories. america was not yet discovered then. those who had gone west twenty years back, in , were, in , the leading men of chicago, and omaha, and denver, and minneapolis, and dubuque. when i left, england was still suffering from the effects of the long-continued panic in america. brooklyn had improved; still, we were threatened with a tremendous influx of people. the new bridge at fulton ferry across the east river would soon be opened. it looked as though there was to be another bridge at south ferry, and another at peck slip ferry. montauk point was to be purchased by some enterprising americans, and a railroad was to connect it with brooklyn. steamers from europe were to find wharfage in some of the bays of long island, and the passage across the atlantic reduced to six days! passengers six days out of queenstown would pass into brooklyn. this was the brooklyn to be, as was seen in its prospectus, its evolution in - . our local elections had resulted in a better local government. with the exception of an unsuccessful attempt by the board of canvassers to deprive frederick a. schroeder of his seat in the senate, because some of the voters had left out the middle initial in his name in their ballots, all was better with us politically than it had been. to the credit of our local press, the two political rivals, the _brooklyn eagle_ and the _times_, united in their efforts to support senator schroeder's claim. there was one man in brooklyn at this time who was much abused and caricatured for doing a great work--professor bergh, the deliverer of dumb animals. he was constantly in the courts in defence of a lame horse or a stray cat. i supported and encouraged him. i always hoped that he would induce legislation that would give the poor car-horses of brooklyn more oats, and fewer passengers to haul in one car. he was one of the first men to fight earnestly against vivisection--which was a great work. just after we had settled down to a more comfortable and hopeful state of mind mr. thomas kinsella, one of our prominent citizens, startled us by showing us, in a published interview, how little we had any right to feel that way. he told us that our brooklyn debt was $ , , , with a tax area of only three million and a half acres. it was disturbing. but we had prospects, energies. we had to depend in this predicament upon the quickened prosperity of our property holders, upon future examiners to be scrupulous at the ballot box, on the increase of our population, which would help to carry our burdens, and on the revenue from our great bridge. these were local affairs of interest to us all, but in december, , we had a more serious problem of our own to consider. this concerned the future of the new tabernacle. in consequence of perpetual and long-continued outrages committed by neighbouring clergymen against the peace of our church, the board of trustees of the tabernacle addressed a letter to the congregation suggesting our withdrawal from the denomination. i regretted this, because i felt that the time would soon come when all denominations should be helpful to each other. there would be enough people in brooklyn, i was sure, when all the churches could be crowded. i positively refused to believe the things that my fellow ministers said about me, or to notice them. i was perfectly satisfied with the christian outlook of our church. i urged the same spirit of calm upon my church neighbours, by example and precept. it was a long while before they realised the value of this advice. in the spring of my friend dr. crosby, pastor of the second presbyterian church at the corner of clinton and fulton streets, was undergoing an ecclesiastical trial, and an enterprising newsboy invaded the steps of the church, as the most interested market for the sale of the last news about the trial. he was ignominiously pushed off the church steps by the church officers. i was indignant about it. (i saw it from a distance, as i was coming down the street.) i thought it was a row between brooklyn ministers, however, and turned the corner to avoid such a shocking sight. my suspicions were not groundless, because there was even then anything but brotherly love between some of the churches there. a synodical trial by the synod of long island was finally held at jamaica, l.i., to ascertain if there was not some way of inducing church harmony in brooklyn. after several days at jamaica, in which the ministers of long island took us ministers of brooklyn across their knees and applied the ecclesiastical slipper, we were sent home with a benediction. a lot of us went down there looking hungry, and they sent us back all fed up. even some of the church elders were hungry and came back to brooklyn strengthened. it looked for awhile after this as though all clerical antagonisms in brooklyn would expire. i even foresaw a time coming when brothers speare, van dyke, crosby and talmage would sing moody and sankey hymns together out of the same hymn-book. the year began with an outbreak in maine, a sort of miniature revolution, caused by a political appointment of my friend governor garcelon contrary to the opinions of the people of his state. garcelon i knew personally, and regarded him as a man of honour and pure political motives, whether he did his duty or not; whatever he did he believed was the right and conscientious thing to do. the election had gone against the democrats. in a neat address mr. lincoln robinson, democrat, handed over the keys of new york state to mr. carroll, the republican governor. antagonists though they had been at the ballot-box, the surrender was conducted with a dignity that i trust will always surround the gubernatorial chair of the state of new york, once graced by such men as dewitt clinton, silas wright, william h. seward, and john a. dix. in january, , frank leslie, the pioneer of pictorial journalism in america, died. i met him only once, when he took me through his immense establishment. i was impressed with him then, as a man of much elegance of manner and suavity of feeling. he was very much beloved by his employees, which, in those days of discord between capital and labour, was a distinction. the arrival of mr. parnell in new york was an event of the period. we knew he was an orator, and we were anxious to hear him. there was some uncertainty as to whether he came to america to obtain bayonets to stick the english with, or whether he came for bread for the starving in ireland. we did not understand the political problem between england and ireland so well--but we did understand the meaning of a loaf of bread. mr. parnell was welcome. the failure of the harvest crops in europe made the question of the hour at the beginning of --bread. the grain speculator appeared, with his greedy web spun around the world. europe was short , , bushels of wheat. the american speculator cornered the market, stacked the warehouses, and demanded fifty cents a bushel. europe was compelled to retaliate, by purchasing grain in russia, british india, new zealand, south america, and australia. in one week the markets of the american north-west purchased over , , bushels, of which only , , bushels were exported. meanwhile the cry of the world's hunger grew louder, and the bolts on the grain cribs were locked tighter than ever. american finances could have been straightened out on this one product, except for the american speculator, who demanded more for it than it was worth. the united states had a surplus of , , bushels of grain for export, in . but the kings of the wheat market said to europe, "bow down before us, and starve." suddenly we in america were surprised to learn that flour in london was two dollars cheaper a barrel than it was in new york. our grain blockade of the world was reacting upon us. lying idle at the wharves of new york and brooklyn were ships, barques, brigs, schooners, and steamers. six or seven hundred of these vessels were waiting for cargoes. the gates of our harbour were closed in the grip of the grain gambler. the thrift of the speculator was the menace of our national prosperity. the octopus of speculative ugliness was growing to its full size, and threatened to smother us utterly. there was a "corner" on everything. we were busy trying to pick out our next president. there was great agitation over the republican candidates: grant, blaine, cameron, conkling, sherman. greatness in a man is sometimes a hindrance to the presidency. such was the case with daniel webster, henry clay, thomas h. benton, and william c. preston. we were only on the edge of the whirlpool of a presidential election. in england the election storm was just beginning. the first thunderbolt was the sudden dissolution of parliament by lord beaconsfield. the two mightiest men in england then were antagonists, disraeli and gladstone. what a magnificent body of men are those members of parliament. they meet and go about without the ostentation of some of our men in congress. men of great position in england are born to it; they are not so afraid of losing it as our celebrated republicans and democrats. even the man who comes up into political power from the masses in england is more likely to hold his position than if he had triumphed in american politics. in the spring and summer of i took a long and exhaustive trip across our continent, and completely lost the common dread of emigration that was then being talked about. there was room enough for fifty new nations between omaha and cheyenne, room for more still between cheyenne and ogden, from salt lake city to sacramento. an unpretentious youth, carey by name, whom i had known in philadelphia, went west in ' . i found him in cheyenne a leading citizen. he had been district attorney, then judge of one of the courts, owned a city block, a cattle ranch, and was worth about $ , . there wasn't room enough for him in philadelphia. senator hill of colorado told me, while in denver, about a man who came out there from the east to be a miner. he began digging under a tree because it was shady. people passed by and laughed at him. he kept on digging. after a while he sent a waggon load of the dust to be assayed, and there was $ , worth of metal in it. he retired with a fortune. a man with $ , and good health could have gone west in , invested it in cattle, and made a fortune. san francisco was only forty-five years old then, denver thirty-five, leadville sixteen, kansas city thirty-five. they looked a hundred at least. leadville was then a place of palatial hotels, elegant churches, boulevards and streets. the west was just aching to show how fast it could build cities. leadville was the most lied about. it was reported that i explored leadville till long after midnight, looking at its wickedness. i didn't. all the exploring i did in leadville was in about six minutes, from the wide open doors of the gambling houses on two of the main streets; but the next day it was telegraphed all over the united states. there were more telephones in leadville in than in any other city in the united states, to its population. some of the best people of brooklyn and new york lived there. the newspaper correspondents lost money in the gambling houses there, and so they didn't like leadville, and told the world it was a bad place, which was a misrepresentation. it is a well known law of human nature that a man usually hates a place where he did not behave well. i found perfect order there, to my surprise. there was a vigilance committee in leadville composed of bankers and merchants. it was their business to give a too cumbrous law a boost. the week before i got to leadville this committee hanged two men. the next day eighty scoundrels took the hint and left leadville. a great institution was the vigilance committee of those early western days. they saved san francisco, and cheyenne, and leadville. i wish they had been in brooklyn when i was there. the west was not slow to assimilate the elegancies of life either. there were beautiful picture galleries in omaha, and denver, and sacramento, and san francisco. there was more elaboration and advancement of dress in the west than there was in the east in . the cravats of the young men in cheyenne were quite as surprising, and the young ladies of cheyenne went down the street with the elbow wabble, then fashionable in new york. san francisco was chicago intensified, and yet then it was a mere boy of a city, living in a garden of eden, called california. on my return came mr. garfield's election. it was quietly and peaceably effected, but there followed that exposure of political outrages concerning his election, the morey forgeries. i hoped then that this villainy would split the republican and democratic parties into new fields, that it would spilt the north and the south into a different sectional feeling. i hoped that there would be a complete upheaval, a renewed and cleaner political system as a consequence. but the reform movement is always slower than any other. i remember the harsh things that were said in our denomination of lucretia mott, the quakeress, the reformer, the world-renowned woman preacher of the day. she was well nigh as old as the nation, eighty-eight years old, when she died. her voice has never died in the plain meeting-houses of this country and england. i don't know that she was always right, but she always meant to be right. in philadelphia, where she preached, i lived among people for years who could not mention her name without tears of gratitude for what she had done for them. there was great opposition to her because she was the first woman preacher, but all who heard her speak knew she had a divine right of utterance. in november, , disraeli's great novel, "endymion" was published by an american firm, appleton & co., a london publisher paying the author the largest cash price ever paid for a manuscript up to that time--$ , . noah webster made that much in royalties on his spelling book, but less on one of the greatest works given to the human race, his dictionary. there was a great literary impulse in american life, inspired by such american publishing houses as appleton's, the harper bros., the dodds, the randolphs, and the scribners. it was the brightest moment in american literature; far brighter than the day victor hugo, in youth, long anxious to enter the french academy, applied to callard for his vote. he pretended never to have heard of him. "will you accept a copy of my books?" asked victor hugo. "no thank you," replied the other; "i never read new books." riley offered to sell his "universal philosophy" for $ . the offer was refused. great and wise authors have often been without food and shelter. sometimes governments helped them, as when president pierce appointed nathaniel hawthorne to office, and locke was made commissioner of appeals, and steele state commissioner of stamps by the british government. oliver goldsmith said: "i have been years struggling with a wretched being, with all that contempt which indigence brings with it, with all those strong passions which make contempt insupportable." mr. payne, the author of "home, sweet home," had no home, and was inspired to the writing of his immortal song by a walk through the streets one slushy night, and hearing music and laughter inside a comfortable dwelling. the world-renowned sheridan said: "mrs. sheridan and i were often obliged to keep writing for our daily shoulder of mutton; otherwise we should have had no dinner." mitford, while he was writing his most celebrated book, lived in the fields, making his bed of grass and nettles, while two-pennyworth of bread and cheese with an onion was his daily food. i know of no more refreshing reading than the books of william hazlitt. i take down from my shelf one of his many volumes, and i know not when to stop reading. so fresh and yet so old! but through all the volumes there comes a melancholy, accounted for by the fact that he had an awful struggle for bread. on his dying couch he had a friend write for him the following letter to francis jeffrey:-- "dear sir,--i am at the last gasp. please send me a hundred pounds.--yours truly, "william hazlitt." the money arrived the day after his death. poor fellow! i wish he had during his lifetime some of the tens of thousands of dollars that have since been paid in purchase of his books. he said on one occasion to a friend: "i have carried a volcano in my bosom up and down paternoster row for a good two hours and a half. can you lend me a shilling? i have been without food these two days." my readers, to-day the struggle of a good many literary people goes on. to be editor of a newspaper as i have been, and see the number of unavailable manuscripts that come in, crying out for five dollars, or anything to appease hunger and pay rent and get fuel! oh, it is heartbreaking! after you have given all the money you can spare you will come out of your editorial rooms crying. disraeli was seventy-five when "endymion" was published. disraeli's "endymion" came at a time when books in america were greater than they ever were before or have been since. a flood of magazines came afterwards, and swamped them. before this time new books were rarely made. rich men began to endow them. it was a glorious way of spending money. men sometimes give their money away because they have to give it up anyhow. such men rarely give it to book-building. in january, , mr. george l. seavey, a prominent brooklyn man at that time, gave $ , to the library of the historical society of new york. attending a reception one night in brooklyn, i was shown his check, made out for that purpose. it was a great gift, one of the first given for the intellectual food of future bookworms. most of the rich men of this time were devoting their means to making senators. the legislatures were manufacturing a new brand, and turning them out made to order. many of us were surprised at how little timber, and what poor quality, was needed to make a senator in . the nation used to make them out of stout, tall oaks. many of those new ones were made of willow, and others out of crooked sticks. in most cases the strong men defeated each other, and weak substitutes were put in. the forthcoming congress was to be one of commonplace men. the strong men had to stay at home, and the accidents took their places in the government. still there were leaders, north and south. my old friend senator brown of georgia was one of the leaders of the south. he spoke vehemently in congress in the cause of education. only a few months before he had given, out of his private purse, forty thousand dollars to a baptist college. he was a man who talked and urged a hearty union of feeling between the north and the south. he always hoped to abolish sectional feeling by one grand movement for the financial, educational, and moral welfare of the nation. it was my urgent wish that president garfield should invite senator brown to a place in his cabinet, although the senator would probably have refused the honour, for there was no better place to serve the american people than in the american senate. during the first week in february, , the world hovered over the death-bed of thomas carlyle. he was the great enemy of all sorts of cant, philosophical or religious. he was for half a century the great literary iconoclast. daily bulletins of the sick-bed were published world-wide. there was no easy chair in his study, no soft divans. it was just a place to work, and to stay at work. i once saw a private letter, written by carlyle to thomas chalmers. the first part of it was devoted to a eulogy of chalmers, the latter part descriptive of his own religious doubts. he never wrote anything finer. it was beautiful, grand, glorious, melancholy. thomas carlyle started with the idea that the intellect was all, the body nothing but an adjunct, an appendage. he would spur the intellect to costly energies, and send the body supperless to bed. after years of doubts and fears i learned that towards the end he returned to the simplicities of the gospel. while this great thinker of the whole of life was sinking into his last earthly sleep, the men in the parliament of his nation were squabbling about future ambitions. thirty-five irish members were forcibly ejected. neither beaconsfield nor gladstone could solve the irish question. nor do i believe it will ever be solved to the satisfaction of ireland. but a greater calamity than those came upon us; in the summer of this year president garfield was assassinated in washington. the seventh milestone - on july , , an attempt was made to assassinate president garfield, at the pennsylvania station, washington, where he was about to board a train. i heard the news first on the railroad train at williamstown, mass., where the president was expected in three or four days. "absurd, impossible," i said. why should anyone want to kill him? he had nothing but that which he had earned with his own brain and hand. he had fought his own way up from country home to college hall, and from college hall to the house of representatives, and from house of representatives to the senate chamber, and from the senate chamber to the presidential chair. why should anyone want to kill him? he was not a despot who had been treading on the rights of the people. there was nothing of the nero or the robespierre in him. he had wronged no man. he was free and happy himself, and wanted all the world free and happy. why should anyone want to kill him? he had a family to shepherd and educate, a noble wife and a group of little children leaning on his arm and holding his hand, and who needed him for many years to come. only a few days before, i had paid him a visit. he was a bitter antagonist of mormonism, and i was in deep sympathy with his christian endeavours in this respect. i never saw a more anxious or perturbed countenance than james a. garfield's, the last time i met him. it seemed a great relief to him to turn to talk to my child, who was with me. he had suffered enough abuse in his political campaign to suffice for one lifetime. he was then facing three or four years of insult and contumely greater than any that had been heaped upon his predecessors. he had proposed greater reforms, and by so much he was threatened to endure worse outrages. his term of office was just six months, but he accomplished what forty years of his predecessors had failed to do--the complete and eternal pacification of the north and the south. there were more public meetings of sympathy for him, at this time, in the south than there were in the north. his death-bed in eight weeks did more for the sisterhood of states than if he had lived eight years--two terms of the presidency. his cabinet followed the reform spirit of his leadership. postmaster general james made his department illustrious by spreading consternation among the scoundrels of the star route, saving the country millions of dollars. secretary windom wrought what the bankers and merchants called a financial miracle. robert lincoln, the son of another martyred president, was secretary of war. guiteau was no more crazy than thousands of other place-hunters. he had been refused an office, and he was full of unmingled and burning revenge. there was nothing else the matter with him. it was just this: "you haven't given me what i want; now i'll kill you." for months after each presidential inauguration the hotels of washington are roosts for these buzzards. they are the crawling vermin of this nation. guiteau was no rarity. there were hundreds of guiteaus in washington after the inauguration, except that they had not the courage to shoot. i saw them some two months or six weeks after. they were mad enough to do it. i saw it in their eyes. they killed two other presidents, william henry harrison and zachary taylor. i know the physicians called the disease congestion of the lungs or liver, but the plain truth was that they were worried to death; they were trampled out of life by place-hunters. three presidents sacrificed to this one demon are enough. i urged congress at the next session to start a work of presidential emancipation. four presidents have recommended civil service reform, and it has amounted to little or nothing. but this assassination i hoped would compel speedy and decisive action. james a. garfield was prepared for eternity. he often preached the gospel. "i heard him preach, he preached for me in my pulpit," a minister told me. he preached once in wall street to an excited throng, after lincoln was shot. he preached to the wounded soldiers at chickamauga. he preached in the united states senate, in speeches of great nobility. when a college boy, camped on the mountains, he read the scriptures aloud to his companions. after he was shot, he declared that he trusted all in the lord's hand--was ready to live or die. "if the president die, what of his successor?" was the great question of the hour. i did not know mr. arthur at that time, but i prophesied that mr. garfield's policies would be carried out by his successor. i consider president garfield was a man with the most brilliant mind who ever occupied the white house. he had strong health, a splendid physique, a fine intellect. if guiteau's bullet had killed the president instantly, there would have been a revolution in this country. he lingered amid the prayers of the nation, surrounded by seven of the greatest surgeons and physicians of the hour. then he passed on. his son was preparing a scrap-book of all the kind things that had been said about his father, to show him when he recovered. that was a tender forethought of one who knew how unjustly he had suffered the slanders of his enemies. there was much talk about presidential inability, and in the midst of this public bickering chester a. arthur became president. he took office, amid severe criticism. i urged the appointment of frederick t. frelinghuysen to the president's cabinet, feeling that. mr. arthur would have in this distinguished son of new jersey, a devout, evangelical, christian adviser. in october i paid a visit, to mr. garfield's home in mentor, ohio. on the hat-rack in the hall was his hat, where he had left it, when the previous march he left for his inauguration in washington. i left that bereaved household with a feeling that a full explanation of this event must be adjourned to the next state of my existence. the new president was gradually becoming, on all sides, the bright hope of our national future. in after years i learned to know him and admire him. in the period of transition that followed the president's assassination we lost other good men. we lost senator burnside of rhode island, at one time commander of the army of the potomac, and three times governor of his state. i met him at a reception given in the home of my friend judge hilton, in woodlawn, at saratoga springs. he had an imperial presence, coupled with the utterance of a child. the senator stood for purity in politics. no one ever bought him, or tried to buy him. he held no stock in the credit mobilier. he shook hands with none of the schemes that appealed to congress to fleece the people. he died towards the close of . a man of greater celebrity, of an entirely different quality, who had passed on, was about this time to be honoured with an effigy in westminster abbey--dean stanley. i still remember keenly the afternoon i met him in the deanery adjoining the abbey. there was not much of the physical in his appearance. his mind and soul seemed to have more than a fair share of his physical territory. he had only just enough body to detain the soul awhile on earth. and then we lost samuel b. stewart. the most of brooklyn knew him--the best part of brooklyn knew him. i knew him long before i ever came to brooklyn. he taught me to read in the village school. his parents and mine were buried in the same place. a few weeks later, the rev. dr. bellows of new york went. i do not believe that the great work done by this good man was ever written. it was during that long agony when the war hospitals were crowded with the sick, the wounded, and the dying. he enlisted his voice and his pen and his fortune to alleviate their suffering. i was on the field as a chaplain for a very little while, and a little while looking after the sick in philadelphia, and i noticed that the sanitary commission, of which dr. bellows was the presiding spirit, was constantly busy with ambulances, cordials, nurses, necessaries and supplies. many a dying soldier was helped by the mercy of this good man's energies, and many a farewell message was forwarded home. the civilians who served the humanitarian causes of the war, like dr. bellows, have not received the recognition they should. only the military men have been honoured with public office. the chief menace of the first year of president arthur's administration was the danger of a policy to interfere in foreign affairs, and the danger of extravagance in washington, due to innumerable appropriation bills. there was a war between chili and peru, and the united states government offered to mediate for chili. it was a pitiable interference with private rights, and i regretted this indication of an unnecessary foreign policy in this country. in addition to this, there were enough appropriation bills in washington to swamp the nation financially. i had stood for so many years in places where i could see clearly the ungodly affairs of political life in my own country, that the progress of politics became to me a hopeless thing. the political nominations of involved no great principles. in new york state this was significant, because it brought before the nation mr. grover cleveland as a candidate for governor against mr. folger. the general opinion of these two men in the unbiassed public mind was excellent. they were men of talent and integrity. they were not merely actors in the political play. i have buried professional politicians, and the most of them made a very bad funeral for a christian minister to speak at. i always wanted, at such a time, an episcopal prayer book, which is made for all eases, and may not be taken either as invidious or too assuring. there was another contest, non-political, that interested the nation in . it was the sullivan-ryan prize-fight. i had no great objection to find with it, as did so many other ministers. it suggested a far better symbol of arbitration between two differing opinions than war. if mr. disraeli had gone out and met a distinguished zulu on the field of english battle, and fought their national troubles out, as sullivan and ryan did, what a saving of life and money! how many lives could have been saved if napoleon and wellington, or moltke and mcmahon had emulated the spirit of the sullivan-ryan prize fight! i saw no reasonable cause why the law should interfere between two men who desired to pound one another in public; i stood alone almost among my brethren in this conclusion. the persecution of the jews in russia, which came to us at this time with all its details of cruelty and horror, was the beginning of an important chapter in american history. dr. adler, in london, had appealed for a million pounds to transport the jews who were driven out of russia to the united states. it seemed more important that civilisation should unite in an effort to secure protection for them in their own homes, than compel them to obey the will of russia. this was no christian remedy. we might as well abuse the jews in america, and then take up a collection to send them to england or australia. the jews were entitled to their own rights of property and personal liberty and religion, whether they lived in new york, or brooklyn, or london, or paris, or warsaw, or moscow, or st. petersburg. and yet we were constantly hearing of the friendly feeling between russia and the united states. in after years i was privileged personally to address the czar and his family, in a private audience, and questions of the russian problem were discussed; but the jews flocked to america, and we welcomed them, and they learned to be americans very rapidly. their immigration to this country was a matter of religious conscience, in which russia had no interest. a man's religious convictions are most important. i remember in october, , what criticism and abuse there was of my friend henry ward beecher, when he decided to resign from the religious associations of which he was a member. i was asked by members of the press to give my opinion, but i was out when they called. mr. beecher was right. he was a man of courage and of heart. i shall never forget the encouragement and goodwill he extended to me, when i first came to brooklyn in and took charge of a broken-down church. mr. beecher did just as i would have done under the same circumstances. i could not nor would stay in the denomination to which i belonged any longer than it would take me to write my resignation, if i disbelieved its doctrines. mr. beecher's theology was very different from mine, but he did not differ from me in the christian life, any more than i differed from him. he never interfered with me, nor i with him. every little while some of the ministers of america were attacked by a sort of beecher-phobia, and they foamed at the mouth over something that the pastor of plymouth church said. people who have small congregations are apt to dislike a preacher who has a full church. for thirteen years, or more, beecher's church and mine never collided. he had more people than he knew what to do with, and so had i. i belonged to the company of the orthodox, but if i thought that orthodoxy demanded that i must go and break other people's heads i would not remain orthodox five minutes. brooklyn was called the city of churches, but it could also be called the city of short pastorates. many of the churches, during fifteen years of my pastorate, had two, three, and four pastors. dr. scudder came and went; so did dr. patten, dr. frazer, dr. buckley, dr. mitchell, dr. reid, dr. steele, dr. gallagher, and a score of others. the methodist church was once famous for keeping a minister only three or four years, but it is no longer peculiar in this respect. mr. beecher had been pastor for thirty-six years in brooklyn when, in the summer of , he celebrated the anniversary of his seventieth birthday. every now and then, for many years, there was an investigation of some sort in brooklyn. our bridge was a favourite target of investigation. "where has the money for this great enterprise been expended?" was the common question. i defended the trustees, because people did not realise the emergencies that arose as the work progressed and entailed greater expenditures. originally, when projected, it was to cost $ , , , but there was to be only one waggon road. it was resolved later to enlarge the structure and build two waggon roads, and a place for trains, freight, and passenger cars. those enlarged plans were all to the ultimate advantage of the growth of brooklyn. it was at first intended to make the approaches of the bridge in trestle work, then plans were changed and they were built of granite. the cable, which was originally to be made of iron, was changed to steel. for three years these cables were the line on which the passengers on ferry-boats hung their jokes about swindling and political bribery. no investigation was able to shake my respect for the integrity of mr. stranahan, one of the bridge trustees. he did as much for brooklyn as any man in it. he was the promoter of prospect park, designed and planned from his head and heart. with all the powers at my disposal i defended the bridge trustee. there was an attempt in new york, towards the close of , to present the passion play on the stage of a theatre. a licence was applied for. the artist, no matter how high in his profession, who would dare to appear in the character of the divine person, was fit only for the tombs prison or sing-sing. i had no objection to any man attempting the role of judas iscariot. that was entirely within the limitations of stage art. seth low was mayor of brooklyn, and mr. grace was mayor of new york--a protestant and a catholic--and yet they were of one opinion on this proposed blasphemy. i think everyone in america realised that the democratic victory in the election of grover cleveland, by a majority of , votes, as governor of new york, was a presidential prophecy. the contest for president came up, seriously, in the spring of , and the same headlines appeared in the political caucus. among the candidates was benjamin f. butler, governor of massachusetts. i believed then there was not a better man in the united states for president than chester a. arthur. i believed that his faithfulness and dignity in office should be honoured with the nomination. there was some surprise occasioned when harvard refused to confer an ll.d. on governor butler, a rebuke that no previous governor of massachusetts had suffered. after all, the country was chiefly impressed in this event with the fact that an ll.d., or a d.d., or an f.r.s., did not make the man. americans were becoming very good readers of character; they could see at a glance the difference between right and wrong, but they were tolerant of both. much more so than i was. there was one great fault in american character that the whole world admired; it was our love of hero-worship. a great man was the man who did great things, no matter what that man might stand for in religion or in morals. there was gambetta, whose friendship for america had won the admiration of our country. i myself admired his eloquence, his patriotism, his courage in office as prime minister of france; but his dying words rolled like a wintry sea over all nations, "i am lost!" gambetta was an atheist, a man whose public indignities to womanhood were demonstrated from paris to berlin. gambetta's patriotism for france could never atone for his atheism, and his infamy towards women. his death, in the dawn of , was a page in the world's history turned down at the corner. what an important year it was to be for us! in the spring of the brooklyn bridge was opened, and our church was within fifteen or twenty minutes of the hotel centre of new york. i said then that many of us would see the population of brooklyn quadrupled and sextupled. in many respects, up to this time, brooklyn had been treated as a suburb of new york, a dormitory for tired wall streeters. with the completion of the bridge came new plans for rapid transit, for the widening of our streets, for the advancement of our municipal interests. a consolidation of brooklyn and new york was then under discussion. it was a bad look-out for office-holders, but a good one for tax-payers. at least that was the prospect, but i never will see much encouragement in american politics. the success of grover cleveland and his big majority, as governor, led both wings of the democratic party to promise us the millennium. even the republicans were full of national optimism, going over to the democrats to help the jubilee of reform. four months later, although we were told that mr. cleveland was to be president, he could not get his own legislature to ratify his nomination. his hands were tied, and his idolaters were only waiting for his term of office to expire. the politicians lied about him. because as governor of new york he could not give all the office-seekers places, he was, in a few months, executed by his political friends, and the millennium was postponed that politics might have time to find someone else to be lifted up--and in turn hurled into oblivion. that the politics of our country might serve a wider purpose, a great agitation among the newspapers began. the price of the great dailies came down from four to three cents, and from three to two cents. in a week it looked as though they would all be down to one cent. i expected to see them delivered free, with a bonus given for the favour of taking them at all. it was not a pleasant outlook, this deluge of printed matter, cheapened in every way, by cheaper labour, cheaper substance, and cheaper grammar. it was a plan that enlarged the scope of influence over what was arrogantly claimed as editorial territory--public opinion. public opinion is sound enough, so long as it is not taken too seriously in the newspapers. the difference between a man as his antagonists depict him, and as he really is in his own character, may be as wide as the ocean. i was particularly impressed with this fact when i met the rev. dr. ewer of new york, who had been accused of being disputatious and arrogant. truth was, he was a master in the art of religious defence, wielding a scimitar of sharp edge. i never met a man with more of the childlike, the affable, and the self-sacrificing qualities than dr. ewer had. he was an honest man in the highest sense, with a never-varying purity of purpose. dr. ewer died in the fall of . i began to feel that in the local management of our own big city there was an uplift, when two such sterling young men as james w. ridgeway, and joseph c. hendrix, were nominated for district attorney. they were merely technical opponents, but were united in the cause of reform and honest administration against our criminal population. we were fortunate in the degree of promise there was, in having a choice of such competent nominees. but it was a period of historical jubilee in our country, this fall of . we were celebrating centennials everywhere, even at harvard. it seemed to be about a hundred years back since anything worth while had really happened in america. since there had been a round of centennials. it was a good thing in the busy glorification of a brilliant present, and a glorious future, that we rehearsed the struggle and hardships by which we had arrived to this great inheritance of blessing and prosperity. "the united states government is a bubble-bursting nationality," said lord john russell, but every year since has disproved the accuracy of this jeer. even our elections disproved it. candidates for the presidency are pushed out of sight by a sudden wave of split tickets. in the elections of , in ohio ten candidates were obliterated; in pennsylvania five were buried and fifteen resurrected. in indiana, the record of names in united states political quicksands is too long too consider, the new candidates that sprang up being still larger in numbers. and yet only six men in any generation become president. out of five thousand men, who consider themselves competent to be captains, only six are crowned with their ambition. and these six are not generally the men who had any prospect of becoming the people's choice. the two political chiefs in convention, failing on the thirtieth ballot to get the nomination, some less conspicuous man is chosen as a compromise. political ambition seems to me a poor business. there are men more worthy of national praise than the successful politicians; men like isaac hull; men whose generous gifts and christian careers perpetuate the magnificent purposes of our lives. isaac hull was a quaker--one of the best in that sect. i lived among quakers for seven years in philadelphia, and i loved them. mr. hull illustrated in his life the principles of his sect, characterised by integrity of finance and of soul. he rose to the front rank of public-spirited men, from the humble duties of a farmer's boy. he was one of the most important members of the society of friends, and i valued the privilege of his friendship more than that of any celebrity i ever knew. he lived for the profit in standards rather than for wealth, and he passed on to a wider circle of friends beyond. i have a little list of men who about this time passed away amid many antagonisms--men who were misunderstood while they lived. i knew their worth. there was john mckean, the district attorney of new york, who died in , when criticism against him, of lawyers and judges, was most bitter and cruel. a brilliant lawyer, he was accused of non-performance of duty; but he died, knowing nothing of the delays complained of. he was blamed for what he could not help. some stroke of ill-health; some untoward worldly [_transcriber's note: original says "wordly"_] circumstances, or something in domestic conditions will often disqualify a man for service; and yet he is blamed for idleness, for having possessions when the finances are cramped, for temper when the nerves have given out, for misanthropy when he has had enough to disgust him for ever with the human race. after we have exhausted the vocabulary of our abuse, such men die, and there is no reparation we can make. in spite of the abuse john mckean received, the courts adjourned in honour of his death--but that was a belated honour. mckean was one of the kindest of men; he was merciful and brave. there was henry villard, whose bankruptcy of fortune killed him. he was compelled to resign the presidency of the northern pacific railroad company, to resign his fortune, to resign all but his integrity. that he kept, though every dollar had gone. only two years before his financial collapse he was worth $ , , . in putting the great northern pacific railroad through he swamped everything he had. all through minnesota and the north-west i heard his praises. he was a man of great heart and unbounded generosity, on which fed innumerable human leeches, enough of them to drain the life of any fortune that was ever made. on a magnificent train he once took, free of charge, to the yellowstone park, a party of men, who denounced him because, while he provided them with every luxury, they could not each have a separate drawing-room car to themselves. i don't believe since the world began there went through this country so many titled nonentities as travelled then, free of cost, on the generous bounty of mr. villard. the most of these people went home to the other side of the sea, and wrote magazine articles on the conditions of american society, while mr. villard went into bankruptcy. it was the last straw that broke the camel's back. it would not be so bad if riches only had wings with which to fly away; but they have claws with which they give a parting clutch that sometimes clips a man's reason, or crushes his heart. it is the claw of riches we must look out for. then there was wendell phillips! not a man in this country was more admired and more hated than he was. many a time, addressing a big audience, he would divide them into two parts--those who got up to leave with indignation, and those who remained to frown. he was often, during a lecture, bombarded with bricks and bad eggs. but he liked it. he could endure anything in an audience but silence, and he always had a secure following of admirers. he told me once that in some of the back country towns of pennsylvania it nearly killed him to lecture. "i go on for an hour," he told me, "without hearing one response, and i have no way of knowing whether the people are instructed, pleased, or outraged." he enjoyed the tempestuous life. his other life was home. it was dominant in his appreciation. he owed much of his courage to that home. lecturing in boston once, during most agitated times, he received this note from his wife: "no shilly-shallying, wendell, in the presence of this great public outrage." many men in public life owe their strength to this reservoir of power at home. the last fifteen years of his life were devoted to the domestic invalidism of his home. some men thought this was unjustifiable. but what exhaustion of home life had been given to establish his public career! a popular subscription was started to raise a monument in boston to wendell phillips. i recommended that it should be built within sight of the monument erected to daniel webster. if there were ever two men who during their life had an appalling antagonism, they were daniel webster and wendell phillips. i hoped at that time their statues would be erected facing each other. wendell phillips was fortunate in his domestic tower of strength; still, i have known men whose domestic lives were painful in the extreme, and yet they arose above this deficiency to great personal prominence. what is good for one man is not good for another. it is the same with state rights as it is with private rights. in ' -' , the whole country was agitated about the questions of tariff reform and free trade. tariff reform for pennsylvania, free trade for kentucky. new england and the north-west had interests that would always be divergent. it was absurd to try and persuade the american people that what was good for one state was good for another state. common intelligence showed how false this theory was. until by some great change the manufacturing interests of the country should become national interests, co-operation and compromise in inter-state commerce was necessary. no one section of the country could have its own way. the most successful candidate for the presidency at this time seemed to be the man who could most bewilder the public mind on these questions. blessed in politics is the political fog! the most significantly hopeful fact to me was that the three prominent candidates for speakership at the close of --mr. carlisle, mr. randall, and mr. cox--never had wine on their tables. we were, moreover, getting away from the old order of things, when senators were conspicuous in gambling houses. the world was advancing in a spiritual transit of events towards the close. it was time that it gave way to something even better. it had treated me gloriously, and i had no fault to find with it, but i had seen so many millions in hunger and pain, and wretchedness and woe that i felt this world needed either to be fixed up or destroyed. the world had had a hard time for six thousand years, and, as the new year of approached, there were indications that our planet was getting restless. there were earthquakes, great storms, great drought. it may last until some of my descendants shall head their letters with january , , , a.d.; but i doubt it. the eighth milestone - i reached the fiftieth year of my life in december, . in my long residence in brooklyn i had found it to be the healthiest city in the world. it had always been a good place to live in--plenty of fresh air blowing up from the sea--plenty of water rolling down through our reservoirs--the sabbaths too quiet to attract ruffianism. of all the men i have seen and heard and known, there were but a few deep friendships that i depended upon. in february, , i lost one of these by the decease of thomas kinsella, a brooklyn man of public affairs, of singular patriotism and local pride. years ago, when i was roughly set upon by ecclesiastical assailants, he gave one wide swing of his editorial scimitar, which helped much in their ultimate annihilation. my acquaintance with him was slight at the time, and i did not ask him to help me. i can more easily forget a wrong done to me than i can forget a kindness. he was charitable to many who never knew of it. by reason of my profession, there came to me many stories of distress and want, and it was always mr. kinsella's hand that was open to befriend the suffering. bitter in his editorial antagonisms, he was wide in his charities. one did not have to knock at many iron gates to reach his sympathies. mr. kinsella died of overwork, from the toil of years that taxed his strength. none but those who have been behind the scenes can appreciate the energies that are required in making up a great daily newspaper. its demands for "copy" come with such regularity. newspaper writers must produce just so much, whether they feel like it or not. there is no newspaper vacation. so the commanders-in-chief of the great dailies often die of overwork. henry j. raymond died that way, samuel bowles, horace greeley. once in a while there are surviving veterans like thurlow weed, or erastus brooks, or james watson webb--but they shifted the most of the burden on others as they grew old. success in any calling means drudgery, sacrifice, push, and tug, but especially so in the ranks of the newspaper armies. a great many of us, however, about this time, survived a worse fate, though how we did it is still a mystery of the period. we discovered, in the spring of , that we had been eating and drinking things not to be mentioned. honest old-fashioned butter had melted and run out of the world. instead of it we had trichinosis in all styles served up morning and evening--all the evils of the food creation set before us in raw shape, or done up in puddings, pies, and gravies. the average hotel hash was innocent merriment compared to our adulterated butter. the candies, which we bought for our children, under chemical analysis, were found to be crystallised disease. lozenges were of red lead. coffees and teas were so adulterated that we felt like charles lamb, who, in a similar predicament, said, "if this be coffee, give me tea; and if it be tea, give me coffee." even our medicines were so craftily adulterated that they were sure to kill. there was alum in our bread, chalk in our milk, glass in our sugar, venetian red in our cocoa, and heaven knows what in the syrup. too much politics in our food threatened to demoralise our large cities. the same thing had happened in london, in . we survived it, kept on preaching against it, and giving money to prosecute the guilty. it was an age of pursuit; ministers pursuing ministers, lawyers pursuing lawyers, doctors, merchants, even arctic explorers pursuing one another, the north pole a jealous centre of interest. everything is frozen in the arctic region save the jealousies of the arctic explorers. even the north pole men were like others. this we discovered in , when, in washington, the post-mortem trial of delong and his men was in progress. there was nothing to be gained by the controversy. there were no laurels to be awarded by this investigation, because the men whose fame was most involved were dead. it was a quarrel, and the "jeannette" was the graveyard in which it took place. it was disgraceful. jealousy is the rage of a man, also of a woman. it was evident, in the progress of this one-sided trial, that our legislature needed to have their corridors, their stairways, and their rooms cleaned of lobbyists. at the state capital in albany, one bright spring morning in the same year, the legislature rose and shook itself, and the sergeant-at-arms was instructed to drive the squad of lobbyists out of the building. he did it so well that he scarcely gave them time to get their canes or their hats. some of the lowest men in new york and brooklyn were among them. that was a spring cleaning worth while. but it was only a little corner of the political arena that was unclean. i remember how eagerly, when i went to canada in april, the reporters kept asking me who would be the next president. it would have been such an easy thing to answer if i had only known who the man was. in this dilemma i suggested some of our best presidential timber in brooklyn as suitable candidates. these were general slocum, general woodford, general tracey, mayor low, judge pratt, judge tierney, mr. stranahan, and judge neilson. some of these men had been seriously mentioned for the office. honourable mention was all they got, however. they were too unpretentious for the role. it was the beginning of a mud-slinging campaign. new york versus new york--brooklyn versus brooklyn. i long ago came to the conclusion that the real heroes of the world were on the sea. the ambitions of men crowded together on land were incontestably disgusting. on the vast, restless deep men stand alone, in brave conflict with constant danger. i was always deeply impressed by the character of men, as revealed in disasters of the sea. there were many of them during my life-time. the bigger the ships grew, the more dangerous became ocean travel. our improvements seemed to add to the humour of grim old neptune. in the ocean was becoming a great turnpike road, and people were required by law to keep to the right or to the left. a population of a million sailors was on the sea at all times. some of the ships were too busy to stop to save human lives, as was the case in the disaster of the "florida." in distress, her captain hailed "the city of rome," a monster of the deep. but "the city of rome" had no time to stop, and passed on by. the lifeboats of the "florida" were useless shells, utterly unseaworthy. the "florida" was unfit for service. john bayne, the engineer, was the hero who lost his life to save others. but this was becoming a common story of the sea; for when the "schiller" went down, captain thomas gave his life for others. when the "central-america" sank, president arthur's father-in-law perished in the same way. every shipwreck i have known seems lighted up with some marvellous deed of heroism in man. in there was a failure in wall street for eight or ten million dollars, and hundreds went down during this shipwreck. by heroism and courage alone were they able to outlive it. to whom did all this money belong? to those who were drowned in the storm of financial sea. but it was only a wall street flurry; it did not affect the national ship as it would have done twenty years before. the time had passed when wall street could jeopardise the commerce of the country. twenty years before, such a calamity in three days' time would have left all the business of the nation in the dust. it would have crashed down all the banks, the insurance companies, the stock-houses. new york, boston, philadelphia, san francisco, new orleans--from coast to coast, everything would have tumbled down. the principal lesson derived from this panic was to keep excitable men out of wall street. while the romance of a failure for hundreds of thousands of dollars is more appealing than a failure for a small sum, the greater the deficit the greater the responsibility. ferdinand ward was in this wall street crash of . the roseate glasses of wealth through which he saw the world had made him also see millions in every direction. george l. seney lost his bank and railroad stock in this failure, but he had given hundreds of thousands to the cause of education, north and south. some people regretted that he had not kept his fortune to help him out of his trouble. i believe there were thousands of good people all over the country who prayed that this philanthropist might be restored to wealth. there was one man in wall street at this time who i said could not fail. he was mr. a.s. hatch, president of the new york stock exchange. he had given large sums of money to christian work, and was personally an active church member. that which i hear about men who are unfortunate makes no impression on me. there is always a great jubilee over the downfall of a financier. i like to put the best phase possible upon a man's misfortune. no one begrudged the wealth of the rich men of the past. the world was becoming too compressed, it was said; there was not room enough to get away from your troubles. all the better. it was getting to a compactness that could be easily poked up and divinely appropriated. a new cable was landed at rockport, mass., that was to bring the world into closer reunion of messages. we were to have cheaper cable service under the management of the commercial cable company. simultaneously with this information, the s.s. "america" made the astounding record of a trip from shore to shore of the atlantic, in six days fourteen hours and eighteen minutes. it was a startling symbol of future wonders. i promised then to exchange pulpits with any church in england once a month. it seemed a possibility, as proposed in mr. corbin's scheme of harbours at montauk point. there were pauses in the breathless speed we were just beginning at this time. we paused to say farewell to the good men whom we were passing by. they were not spectacular. some of them will no doubt be unknown to the reader. a gentle old man, his face illumined always by a radiant smile, fell behind. he was bishop simpson. we paused to bid him farewell. in , walking the streets of philadelphia one night with an army surgeon, we passed the academy of music in that city, where a meeting was being held on behalf of the christian commission, the object of which was to take care of wounded soldiers. as we stood at the back of the stage listening, the meeting seemed to be very dull. a speaker was introduced. his voice was thin, his manner unimpressive. my friend said, "let's go," but i replied, "wait until we see what there is in him." suddenly, he grew upon us. the address became adorned with a pathos, a sublimity, and an enthusiasm that overwhelmed the audience. when the speaker sat down, i inquired who he was. "that is bishop simpson," said my informant. in later years, i learned that the bishop's address that night was the great hour of his life. his reputation became national. he was one of the few old men who knew how to treat young men. he used no gestures on the platform, no climaxes, no dramatic effects of voice, yet he was eloquent beyond description. his earnestness broke over and broke through all rules of rhetoric. he made his audiences think and feel as he did himself. that, i believe, is the best of a man's inner salvation. in the autumn of the same year we paused to close the chapters of jerry mccauley's life, a man who had risen from the depths of crime and sin--a different sort of man from bishop simpson. he was born in the home of a counterfeiter. he became a thief, an outlaw. by an influence that many consider obsolete and old-fashioned, he became converted, and was recognised by the best men and women in new york and brooklyn. i knew mccauley. i stood with him on the steps of his mission in water street. he was a river thief changed into an angel. it was supernatural, a miracle. mccauley gave twelve years to his mission work. two years before his death he changed his quarters, converting a dive into a house of god. what an imbecile city government refused to touch was surrendered to hosannas and doxologies. the story of jerry mccauley's missionary work in the heart of a wicked section of new york was called romantic. i attest that i am just as keenly sensitive to the beauty of romance as any human being, but there was a great deal that was called romantic in american life in - that was not so. romance became a roseate mist, through which old and young saw the obligations of life but dimly. a strange romance of marriage became epidemic in america at this time. european ethics were being imported, and the romance of european liberty swept over us. a parental despotism was responsible. the newspapers of the summer of were full of elopements. they were long exciting chapters of domestic calamity. my sympathies were with the young fellow of seven hundred dollars income, married to a millionaire fool who continually informed him how much better her position was before she left home; the honeymoon a bliss of six months, and all the rest of his life a profound wish that he had never been born; his only redress the divorce court or the almshouse. the poetry of these elopements was false, the prose that came after was the truth. marriage is an old-fashioned business, and that wedding procession lasts longest that starts not down the ladder out of the back window, but from the front door with a benediction. but, morally and politically, we were in a riot of opinion against which i constantly protested. politically, we were without morals. the opposing presidential candidates in were grover cleveland and james g. blaine. it was the wonder of the world that the american people did not make mr. blaine president. there was a world-wide amazement also at the abuse which preceded mr. cleveland's election. the whole thing was a spectacle of the ignorance of men about great men. all sorts of defamatory reports were spread abroad about them. men of mind are also men of temperament. there are two men in every one man, and for this reason mr. blaine was the most misunderstood of great men. to the end of his brilliant life calumny pursued him. there were all sorts of reports about him. one series of reports said that mr. blaine was almost unable to walk; that he was too sick to be seen; that death was for him close at hand, and his obituaries were in type in many of the printing offices. the other series of reports said that mr. blaine was vigorous; went up the front steps of his house at a bound; was doing more work than ever, and was rollicking with mirth. the baleful story was ascribed to his enemies, who wanted the great man out of the world. the reassuring story was ascribed to his friends, who wanted to keep him in the ranks of presidential possibilities. the fact is that both reports were true. there were two mr. blaines, as there are two of every mercurial temperament. of the phlegmatic, slow-pulsed man there is only one. you see him once and you see him as he always is. not so with the nervous organisation. he has as many moods as the weather, as many changes as the sky. he is bright or dull, serene or tempestuous, cold or hot, up or down, january or august, day or night, arctic or tropical. at washington, in , i saw the two blaines within two hours. i called with my son to see the great secretary of state at his office, and although it was his day for seeing foreign diplomats, he received us with great cordiality. his face was an illumination; his voice resonant; his manner animated; he was full of gesticulation. he walked up and down the room describing things under discussion; fire in his eye, spring in his step. although about fifty-nine years of age, he looked forty-five, and strong enough to wrestle with two or three ordinary men. he had enough vitality for an athlete. we parted. my son and i went down the street, made two or three other calls, and on the way noticed a carriage passing with two or three people in it. my attention was startled by the appearance in that carriage of what seemed a case of extreme invalidism. the man seemed somewhat bolstered up. my sympathies were immediately aroused, and i said to my son, "look at that sick man riding yonder." when the carriage came nearer to us, my son said, "that is mr. blaine." looking closely at the carriage i found that this was so. he had in two hours swung from vigour to exhaustion, from the look of a man good for twenty years of successful work to a man who seemed to be taking his last ride. he simply looked as he felt on both occasions. we had seen the two blaines. how much more just we would be in our judgment of men if we realised that a man may be honestly two different men, and how this theory would explain that which in every man of high organisation seems sometimes to be contradictory! aye, within five minutes some of us with mercurial natures can remember to have been two entirely different men in two entirely different worlds. something said to us cheering or depressing; some tidings announced, glad or sad; some great kindness done for us, or some meanness practised on us have changed the zone, the pulsation, the physiognomy, the physical, the mental, the spiritual condition, and we become no more what we were than summer is winter, or midnoon is midnight, or frosts are flowers. the air was full of political clamour and strife in the election of . never in this country was there a greater temptation to political fraud, because, after four month's battle, the counting of the ballots revealed almost a tie. i urged self-control among men who were angry and men who were bitter. the enemies of mr. blaine were not necessarily the friends of mr. cleveland. the enemies of mr. cleveland were bitter, but they were afraid of mr. blaine; for he was a giant intellectually, practically, physically, and he stood in the centre of a national arena of politics, prepared to meet all challenge. mr. cleveland never really opposed him. he faced him on party issues, not as an individual antagonist. the excitement was intense during the suspense that followed the counting of the ballots, and mr. cleveland went into the white house amidst a roar of public opinion so confused and so vicious that there was no certainty of ultimate order in the country. in after years i enjoyed his confidence and friendship, and i learned to appreciate the stability and reserve of his nature. in a milestone beyond this, i have recalled a conversation i had with him at the white house, and recorded my impressions of him. above the clamour of these troublesome times, i raised my voice and said that in the distant years to come the electors of new york, alabama, and maine, and california, would march together down pennsylvania avenue in washington for the discharge of the great duties of the electoral college. the storm passed, and the democrats were in power. it was the calm that follows an electrical disturbance. the paroxysm of filth and moral death was over. mr. vanderbilt, converted into a philanthropist, gave five hundred thousand dollars to a medical institute, and the world began to see new possibilities in great fortunes. that a railroad king could also be a christian king was a hopeful tendency of the times. these were the acts that tended to smother the activities of communism in america. in the previous four years the curious astronomer had discovered the evolution of a new world in the sky, and so while on earth there were convulsions, in the skies there were new beauties born. with the rising sun of the year , one of our great and good men of brooklyn saw it with failing eyesight. doctor noah hunt schenck, pastor of st. ann's episcopal church, was stricken. for fifteen years he had blessed our city with his benediction. the beautiful cathedral which grew to its proportions of grandeur under doctor schenck's pastorate, stood as a monument to him. a few weeks later schuyler colfax, speaker of the house of representatives, passed on. in the vortex of political feeling his integrity was attacked but i never believed a word of the accusations. ten millions of people hoped for his election as president. he was my personal friend. when the scandal of his life was most violent, he explained it all away satisfactorily in my own house. this explanation was a confidence that i cannot break, but it made me ever afterwards a loyal friend to his memory. he was one of those upon whom was placed the burden of living down a calumny, and when he died congress adjourned in his honour. members of the legislature in his own country gathered about his obsequies. i have known many men in public life, but a more lovable man than schuyler colfax i never knew. the generous words he spoke of me on the last sabbath of his life i shall never forget. the perpetual smile on his face was meanly caricatured, and yet it was his benediction upon a world unworthy of him. in , from far away over the sea came muffled thunder tones of war and rebellion. the deadly nightshade was indigenous to our times. the dynamite outrages at westminster hall and the house of commons were explosions we in america heard faintly. their importance was exaggerated. a hundred years back, the kings of england, of france, of russia who died in their beds were rare. the violent incidents of life were less conspicuous as the years went on. what riots philadelphia had seen during the old firemen's battle in the streets! and those theatrical riots in new york, when the military was called out, and had to fire into the mob, because the friends of macready and forrest could not agree as to which was the better actor! an alarming number of disputes came up at this time over wills. the orphan courts were over-worked with these cases. i suggested a rule for all wills: one-third at least to the wife, and let the children share alike. when a child receives more than a wife, the family is askew. a man's wife should be first in every ambition, in every provision. one-third to the wife is none too much. the worst family feuds proceed from inequality of inheritance. this question of rights under testamentary gifts of the rich was not so important, however, as the alarming growth in our big cities of the problem of the poor. the tenement house became a menace to cleanliness. never before were there so many people living in unswept, unaired tenements. stairs below stairs, stairs above stairs, where all the laws of health were violated. the sanitary protective league was organised to alleviate these conditions. asiatic cholera was striding over europe, and the tenement house of america was a resting place for it here. after a lecturing trip in the spring of through ohio, indiana, michigan, illinois, and wisconsin, i returned to brooklyn, delighted with the confidence with which the people looked forward to the first cleveland administration. on the day that $ , , was voted for the river and harbour bill, both parties sharing in the spoils, american politics touched bottom. there were symptoms of recuperation in mr. cleveland's initiative. belligerency was abandoned as a hopeless campaign. the graceful courtesy with which president arthur bowed himself out of the white house was unparalleled. never in my memory was a sceptre so gracefully relinquished. nothing in his three-and-a-half years of office did him more credit. i think we never had a better president than mr. arthur. he was fortunate in having in his cabinet as chief adviser mr. frederick t. frelinghuysen. my office as a minister compelled me to see, first and foremost, the righteous uplift of the events as i passed along with them. these were not always the most conspicuous elements of public interest, but they comprised the things and the people i saw. i recall, for instance, chief amongst the incidents of mr. cleveland's administration, that the oath of office was administered upon his mother's bible. many people regarded this as mere sentimentality. to me it meant more than words could express. the best of bibles is the mother's. it meant that the man who chose to be sworn in on such a book had a grateful remembrance. it was as though he had said, "if it had not been for her, this honour would never have come to me." for all there is of actual solemnity in the usual form of taking an oath, people might just as well be sworn in on a city directory or an old almanac. but, as i said then, i say now--make way for an administration that starts from the worn and faded covers of a bible presented by a mother's hand at parting. mr. blaine's visit to the white house to congratulate the victor, his cordial reception there, and his long stay, was another bright side of the election contest. there must have been a good deal of lying about these two men when they were wrestling for the honours, for if all that was said had been true the scene of hearty salutation between them would not only have been unfit, but impossible. all this optimism of outlook helped to defeat the animosity of the previous campaign. a crowning influence upon the national confusion of standards was the final unanimous vote in congress in favour of putting general grant on the retired list, with a suitable provision for his livelihood, in view of a malady that had come upon him. it had been a long, angry, bitter debate, but the generous quality of american sympathy prevailed. men who fought on the other side and men who had opposed his presidential policy united to alleviate his sickness, the pulsations of which the nation was counting. president arthur's last act was to recommend general grant's relief, and almost the first act of mr. cleveland's administration was to ratify it. republics are not ungrateful. the american republic subscribed about $ , for the relief of mrs. garfield; voted pensions for mrs. polk and mrs. tyler; some years ago subscribed $ , for general grant, and increased it by vote of congress in . the conqueror on the pale horse had already taken many prisoners among the surviving heroes of the war. it was fitting that he should make his coming upon the great leader of the union army as gentle as the south wind. there was a surplus of men fit for official position in america when the hour of our new appointments arrived. there were hundreds of men competent to become ministers to england, to france, to germany, to russia; as competent as james russell lowell or mr. phelps. this was all due to the affluence of american institutions, that spread the benefits of education broadcast. i remember when daniel webster died, people said, "we shall have no one now to expound the constitution," but the chief expositions of the constitution have been written and uttered since then. there were pigmies in the old days, too. i had a friend who, as a stenographer some years ago, made a fortune by knocking bad grammar out of the speeches of congressmen and senators, who were illiterate. they said to him haughtily, "stenographer, here are a couple of hundred dollars; fix up that speech i made this morning, and see that it gets into the congressional record all right. if you can't fix it up, write another." in , there were plenty of women, too, who understood politics. there were mean and silly women, of course, but there was a new race springing up of grand, splendid, competent women, with a knowledge of affairs. the appointment of mr. cox as minister to turkey was a compliment to american literature. in consequence of a picturesque description he gave of some closing day in a foreign country, he was facetiously nicknamed "sunset cox." i rechristened him "sunrise cox." when president tyler appointed washington irving as minister to spain, he set an example for all time. men of letters put their blood into their inkstands, but the sacrifice is poorly recognised. some of us were faintly urging world-wide peace, but around the night sky of was the glare of many camp fires. never were there so many wars on the calendar at the same time. the soudan war, the threat of a russo-english war and of a franco-chinese war, the south-american war, the colombian war--all the nations restless and arming. the scarlet rash of international hatred spread over the earth, and there were many predictions. i said then it was comparatively easy to foretell the issue of these wars--excepting one. i believed that the revolutionist of panama would be beaten; the half-breed overcome by the canadian; that france would humble china, but that the central american war would go on, and stop, and go on again, and stop again, until, discovering some washington or hamilton or jefferson of its own, it would establish a united states of south america corresponding with the united states of north america. the soudan war would cease when the english government abandoned the attempt to fix up in egypt things unfixable. but what would be the result of the outbreak between england and russia was the war problem of the world. the real question at issue was whether europe should be dominated by the lion or the bear. in the united states we had no internal frictions which threatened us so much as rum and gambling. in brooklyn we never ceased bombarding these rebellious agents of war on the character of young men. coney island was once a beautiful place, but in the five years since that time, when it was a garden by the sea, the races at brighton beach and sheepshead bay had been established. in new york and brooklyn pool rooms were open for betting on these races. in ten years' time i predicted that no decent man or woman would be able to visit coney island. the evil was stupendous, and the subject of coney island could no longer be neglected in the pulpit. betting was a new-fashioned sort of vice in america in ; it was just becoming a licensed relaxation for young boys. as the years went on, it has grown to great distinction in all forms of american life, but it was yet only at its starting point in this year. looking over an address i made on this subject, i find this statement: "what a spectacle when, at saratoga, or at long branch, or at brighton beach, the horses stop, and in a flash $ , or $ , change hands--multitudes ruined by losses, others, ruined by winnings." many years afterwards the money involved in racing was in the millions; but in , $ , was still a good bit. there were three kinds of betting at the horse races then--by auction pools, by french mutuals, and by what is called bookmaking--all of these methods controlled "for a consideration." the pool seller deducted three or five per cent. from the winning bet (incidentally "ringing up" more tickets than were sold on the winning horse), while the bookmaker, for special inducement, would scratch any horse in the race. the jockey also, for a consideration, would slacken speed to allow a prearranged winner to walk in, while the judges on the stand turned their backs. it was just a swindling trust. and yet, these race tracks on a fine afternoon were crowded with intelligent men of good standing in the community, and frequently the parasols of the ladies gave colour and brilliancy to the scene. our most beautiful watering places were all but destroyed by the race tracks. to stop all this was like turning back the ocean tides, so regular became the habit of gambling, of betting, of being legally swindled in america. no one was interested in the evils of life. we were on the frontier of a greater america, a greater waste of money, a greater paradise of pleasure. some notice was taken of general grant's malady, mysteriously pronounced incurable. the bulletins informed us that his life might last a week, a day, an hour--and still the famous old warrior kept getting better. one moment grant was dying, the next he was dining heartily at his own dinner table. this was one of the mysteries of the period. personally, i believe the prayers of the church kept him alive. in april, , the huge pedestal for the wonderful statue of liberty, presented to us by the citizens of france, was started. that which congress had ignored, and the philanthropists of america had neglected, the masses were doing by their modest subscription--a dollar from the men, ten cents from the children. all europe wrapped in war cloud made the magnificence and splendour of our enlightened liberty greater than ever. it was time that the gates of the sea, the front door of america, should be made more attractive. castle garden was a gloomy corridor through which to arrive. i urged that the harbour fortresses should be terraced with flowers, fitting the approach to the forehead of this continent that bartholdi was to illumine with his coronet of flame. the bartholdi statue, as we read and heard, and talked about it, became an inspired impulse to fine art in america. in the right hand of the statue was to be a torch; in the left hand, a scroll representing the law. what a fine conception of true liberty! it was my hope then that fifty years after the statue had been placed on its pedestal the foreign ships passing bedloe's island, by that allegory, should ever understand that in this country it is liberty according to law. life, as we should live it, is strong, according to our obedience of its statutes. in my boyhood this was impressed upon me by association and example. when in may, , frederick t. frelinghuysen, ex-secretary of state, died, i was forcibly reminded of this fact. i grew up in a neighbourhood where the name of frelinghuysen was a synonym for purity of character and integrity. there were dominie frelinghuysen, general john frelinghuysen, senator theodore frelinghuysen--and frederick frelinghuysen, the father of "fred," as he was always called in his home state. when i was a boy, "fred" frelinghuysen practised in the old somerville courthouse in new jersey, and i used to crowd in and listen to his eloquence, and wonder how he could have composure enough to face so many people. he was the king of the new jersey bar. never once in his whole lifetime was his name associated with a moral disaster of any kind. amid the pomp and temptations of washington he remained a consistent christian. all the feloniousness were alike--grandfather, grandson, and uncle. on one side of the sea was the prime minister of england, gladstone; on the other side was secretary of state frelinghuysen; two men whom i associate in mutual friendship and esteem. towards the end of june, , we were tremendously excited. all one day long the cheek of new york was flushed with excitement over the arrival of the bartholdi statue. bunting and banners canopied the harbour, fluttered up and down the streets, while minute guns boomed, and bands of music paraded. we had miraculously escaped the national disgrace of not having a place to put it on when it arrived. it was a gift that meant european and american fraternity. the $ , contributed by the masses for the pedestal on bedloe's island was an estimate of american gratitude and courtesy to france. the statue itself would stand for ages as the high-water mark of civilisation. from its top we expected to see the bright tinge of the dawn of universal peace. the ninth milestone - as time kept whispering its hastening call into my ear i grew more and more vigorous in my outlook. i was given strength to hurry faster myself, with a certain energy to climb higher up, where the view was wider, bigger, clearer. as i moved upward i had but one fear, and that was of looking backward. a minister, entrusted with the charge of souls, cannot afford to retrace his steps. he must go on, and up, to the top of his abilities, of his spiritual purposes. in the midst of a glorious summer, i refused to see the long shadows of departing day; in the midst of a snow deep winter, i declined to slip and slide as i went on. so it happened that a great many gathered about me in the tabernacle, because they felt that i was passing on, and they wanted to see how fast i could go. i aimed always for a higher place and the way to get up to it, and i took them along with me, always a little further, week by week. the pessimists came to me and said that the world would soon have a surplus of educated men, that the colleges were turning out many nerveless and useless youngsters, that education seemed to be one of the follies of . the fact was we were getting to be far superior to what we had been. the speeches at the commencement classes were much better than those we had made in our boyhood. we had dropped the old harangues about greece and rome. we were talking about the present. the sylphs and naiads and dryads had already gone out of business. college education had been revolutionised. students were not stuffed to the adam's apple with latin and greek. the graduates were improved in physique. a great advance was reached when male and female students were placed in the same institutions, side by side. god put the two sexes together in eden, he put them beside each other in the family. why not in the college? there were those who seemed to regard woman as a divine afterthought. judging by the fashion plates of olden times, in other centuries, the grand-daughters were far superior to the grand-mothers, and the fuss they used to make a hundred years ago over a very good woman showed me that the feminine excellence, so rare then, was more common than it used to be. at the beginning of the nineteenth century a woman was considered well educated if she could do a sum in rule of three. look at the books in all departments that are under the arms of the school miss now. i believe in equal education for men and women to fulfil the destiny of this land. for all women who were then entering the battle of life, i saw that the time was coming when they would not only get as much salary as men, but for certain employments they would receive higher wages. it would not come to them through a spirit of gallantry, but through the woman's finer natural taste, greater grace of manner, and keener perceptions. for these virtues she would be worth ten per cent. more to her employer than a man. but she would get it by earning it, not by asking for it. in the summer of i made another trip to europe. the day i reached charing cross station in london the exposures of vice in the _pall mall gazette_ were just issued. the paper had not been out half an hour. mr. stead, the editor, was later put on trial for startling europe and america in his crusade against crime. there were the same conditions in america, in upper broadway, and other big thoroughfares in new york, by night, as there were in london. i believe the greatest safety against vice is newspaper chastisement of dishonour and crime. i urged that some paper in america should attack the social evil, as the _pall mall gazette_ had done. a hundred thousand people, with banners and music, gathered in hyde park in london, to express their approval of the reformation started by mr. stead, and there were a million people in america who would have backed up the same moral heroism. if my voice were loud enough to be heard from penobscot to the rio grande, i would cry out "flirtation is damnation." the vast majority of those who make everlasting shipwreck carry that kind of sail. the pirates of death attack that kind of craft. my mail bag was a mirror that reflected all sides of the world, and much that it showed me was pitifully sordid and reckless. most of the letters i answered, others i destroyed. the following one i saved, for obvious reasons. it was signed, "one of the congregation": "dear sir,--i do not believe much that you preach, but i am certain that you believe it all. to be a christian i must believe the bible. to be truthful, i do not believe it. i go to hear you preach because you preach the bible as i was taught it in my youth, by a father, who, like yourself, believed what in the capacity of a preacher he proclaimed. for thirty-five years i have been anxious to walk in the path my mother is treading--a simple faith. i have lived to see my children's children, and the distance that lies between me and my real estate in the graveyard, cannot be very great. at my age, it would be worse than folly to argue, simply to confound or dispute merely for the love of arguing. my steps are already tottering, and i am lost in the wilderness. i pray because i am afraid not to pray. what can i do that i have not done, so that i can see clearly?" all my sympathies were excited by this letter, because i had been in that quagmire myself. a student of doctor witherspoon once came to him and said, "i believe everything is imaginary! i myself am only an imaginary being." the doctor said to him, "go down and hit your head against the college door, and if you are imaginary and the door imaginary, it won't hurt you." a celebrated theological professor at princeton was asked this, by a sceptic:-- "you say, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it. how do you account for the fact that your son is such a dissipated fellow?" the doctor replied, "the promise is, that when he is old, he will not depart from it. my son is not old enough yet." he grew old, and his faith returned. the rev. doctor hall made the statement that he discovered in the biographies of one hundred clergymen that they all had sons who were clergymen, all piously inclined. there is no safe way to discuss religion, save from the heart; it evaporates when you dare to analyse its sacred element. i received multitudes of letters written by anxious parents about sons who had just come to the city--letters without end, asking aid for worthy individuals and institutions, which i could not meet even if i had an income of $ , per annum--letters from men who told me that unless i sent them $ by return mail they would jump into the east river--letters from people a thousand miles away, saying if they couldn't raise $ , to pay off a mortgage they would be sold out, and wouldn't i send it to them--letters of good advice, telling me how to preach, and the poorer the syntax and the etymology the more insistent the command. many encouraging letters were a great help to me. some letters of a spiritual beauty and power were magnificent tokens of a preacher's work. most of these letters were lacking in one thing--christian confidence. and yet, what noble examples there were of this quality in the world. what an example was exhibited to all, when, on october , , the organ at westminster abbey uttered its deep notes of mourning, at the funeral of lord shaftesbury, in england. it is well to remember such noblemen as he was. the chair at exeter hall, where he so often presided, should be always associated with him. his last public act, at years of age, was to go forth in great feebleness and make an earnest protest against the infamies exposed by mr. stead in london. in that dying speech he called upon parliament to defend the purity of the city. as far back as , his voice in parliament rang out against the oppression of factory workers, and he succeeded in securing better legislation for them. he worked and contributed for the ragged schools of england, by which over , poor children of london were redeemed. he was president of bible and missionary societies, and was for thirty years president of the young men's christian association. i never forgave lord macaulay for saying he hoped that the "praying of exeter hall would soon come to an end." on his th birthday, a holiday was declared in honour of lord shaftesbury, and vast multitudes kept it. from the lord mayor himself to the girls of the water cress and flower mission, all offered him their congratulations. alfred tennyson, the poet laureate, wrote him, "allow me to assure you in plain prose, how cordially i join with those who honour the earl of shaftesbury as a friend of the poor." and, how modest was the earl's reply. he said: "you have heard that which has been said in my honour. let me remark with the deepest sincerity--ascribe it not, i beseech you, to cant and hypocrisy--that if these statements are partially true, it must be because power has been given me from above. it was not in me to do these things." how constantly through my life have i heard the same testimony of the power that answers prayer. i believed it, and i said it repeatedly, that the reason american politics had become the most corrupt element of our nation was because we had ignored the power of prayer. history everywhere confesses its force. the huguenots took possession of the carolinas in the name of god. william penn settled pennsylvania in the name of god. the pilgrim fathers settled new england in the name of god. preceding the first gun of bunker hill, at the voice of prayer, all heads uncovered. in the war of an officer came to general andrew jackson and said, "there is an unusual noise in the camp; it ought to be stopped." the general asked what this noise was. he was told it was the voice of prayer. "god forbid that prayer and praise should be an unusual noise in the camp," said general jackson. "you had better go and join them." there was prayer at valley forge, at monmouth, at atlanta, at south mountain, at gettysburg. but the infamy of politics was broad and wide, and universal. even the record of andrew johnson, our seventeenth president, was exhumed. he was charged with conspiracy against the united states government. because he came from a border state, where loyalty was more difficult than in the northern states, he was accused of making a nefarious attack against our government. i did not accept these charges. they were freighted with political purpose. i said then, in order to prove general grant a good man, it was not necessary to try and prove that johnson was a bad one. the president from tennessee left no sons to vindicate his name. i never saw president johnson but once, but i refused to believe these attacks upon him. they were an unwarranted persecution of the sacred memory of the dead. no man who has been eminently useful has escaped being eminently cursed. at our local elections in brooklyn, in the autumn of , three candidates for mayor were nominated. they were all exceptionally good men. two of them were personal friends of mine, general catlin and dr. funk. catlin had twice been brevetted for gallantry in the civil war, and dr. funk was on the prohibition ticket, because he had represented prohibition all his life. mr. woodward, the third candidate, i did not know, but he was a strict methodist, and that was recommendation enough. but there were pleasanter matters to think about than politics. in november of this year, there appeared, at the horticultural hall in new york, a wonderful floral stranger from china--the chrysanthemum. thousands of people paid to go and see these constellations of beauty. it was a new plant to us then, and we went mad about it in true american fashion. to walk among these flowers was like crossing a corner of heaven. it became a mania of the times, almost like the tulip mania of holland in the th century. people who had voted that the chinese must go, voted that the chinese chrysanthemum could stay. the rose was forgotten for the time being, and the violets, and the carnations, and the lily of the valley. in america we were still the children of the world, delighted with everything that was new and beautiful. in europe, the war dance of nations continued. in the twenty-two years preceding the year christendom had paid ten billions of dollars for battles. the exorbitant taxes of great britain and the united states were results of war. there was a great wave of gospel effort in america to counteract the european war fever. it permeated the legislature in albany. one morning some members of the new york legislature inaugurated a prayer meeting in the room of the court of appeals, and that meeting, which began with six people, at the fifth session overflowed the room. think of a gospel revival in the albany legislature! yet why not just such meetings at all state capitals, in this land of the pilgrim fathers, of the huguenots, of the dutch reformers, of the hungarian exiles? occasionally, we were inspired by the record of honest political officials. my friend thomas a. hendricks died when he was vice-president of the united states government. he was an honest official, and yet he was charged with being a coward, a hypocrite, a traitor. he was a great soul. he withstood all the temptations of washington in which so many men are lost. i met him first on a lecturing tour in the west. as i stepped on to the platform, i said, "where is governor hendricks?" with a warmth and cordiality that came from the character of a man who loved all things that were true, he stood up, and instead of shaking hands, put both his arms around my shoulders, saying heartily, "here i am." i went on with my lecture with a certain pleasure in the feeling that we understood each other. years after, i met him in his rooms in washington, at the close of the first session as presiding officer of the senate, and i loved him more and more. many did not realise his brilliancy, because he had such poise of character, such even methods. the trouble has been, with so many men of great talent in washington, that they stumble in a mire of dissipation. mr. hendricks never got aboard that railroad train so popular with political aspirants. the dead river grand trunk railroad is said to have for its stations tippleton, quarrelville, guzzler's junction, debauch siding, dismal swamp, black tunnel, murderer's gulch, hangman's hollow, and the terminal known as perdition. mr. hendricks met one as a man ought always to meet men, without any airs of superiority, or without any appearance of being bored. a coal heaver would get from him as polite a bow as a chief justice. he kept his patience when he was being lied about. speeches were put in his mouth which he never made, interviews were written, the language of which he never used. the newspapers that had lied about him, when he lived, turned hypocrites, and put their pages in mourning rules when he died. there were some men appointed to attend his memorial services in indianapolis on november , , whom i advised to stay away, and to employ their hours in reviewing those old campaign speeches, in which they had tried to make a scoundrel out of this man. they were not among those who could make a dead saint of him. mr. hendricks was a christian, which made him invulnerable to violent attack. for many years he was a presbyterian, afterwards he became associated with the episcopal church. his life began as a farmer's boy at shelbyville, his hands on the plough. he was a man who hated show, a man whose counsel in church affairs was often sought. men go through life, usually, with so many unconsidered ideals in its course, so many big moments in their lives that the world has never understood. i remember i was in one of the western cities when the telegram announcing the death of cornelius vanderbilt came, and the appalling anxiety on all sides, for two days, was something unique in our national history. it was an event that proved more than anything in my lifetime the financial convalescence of the nation. when it was found that no financial crash followed the departure of the wealthiest man in america, all sensible people agreed that our recuperating prosperity as a nation was built on a rock. it had been a fictitious state of things before this. it was an event, which, years before, would have closed one half of the banks, and suspended hundreds of business firms. the passing of $ , , from one hand to another, at an earlier period in our history would have shaken the continent with panic and disaster. in watching where this $ , , went to, we lost sight of the million dollars bequeathed by mr. vanderbilt to charity. its destiny is worth recalling. $ , went to the home and foreign missionary society; $ , to a hospital; $ , to the young men's christian association; $ , to the general theological seminary; $ , for bibles and prayer-books; $ , to the home for incurables; $ , to the missionary societies for seamen; $ , to the home for intemperates; $ , to the missionary society of new york; $ , to the museum of art; $ , to the museum of natural history; and $ , to the moravian church. while the world at large was curious about the money mr. vanderbilt did not give to charity, i celebrate his memory for this one consecrated million. he was a railroad king, and they were not popular with the masses in - . and yet, the grand central depot in new york and the union depot in philadelphia, were the palaces where railroad enterprise admitted the public to the crowning luxury of the age. men of ordinary means, of ordinary ability, could not have achieved these things. and yet it was necessary to keep armed men in the cemetery to protect mr. vanderbilt's remains. this sort of thing had happened before. winter quarters were built near his tomb, for the shelter of a special constabulary. since a.t. stewart's death, there had been no certainty as to where his remains were. abraham lincoln's sepulchre was violated. only a week before mr. vanderbilt's death, the phelps family vault at binghamton, new york, was broken into. pinkerton detectives surrounded mr. vanderbilt's body on staten island. wickedness was abroad in all directions, and there were but fifteen years of the nineteenth century left in which to redeem the past. in the summer of , doctor pasteur's inoculations against hydrophobia, and doctor ferron's experiments with cholera, following many years after doctor jenner's inoculations against small-pox, were only segments of the circle which promised an ultimate cure for all the diseases flesh is heir to. miracles were amongst us again. i had much more interest in these medical discoveries than i had in inventions, locomotive or bellicose. we required no inventions to take us faster than the limited express trains. we needed no brighter light than edison's. a new realm was opening for the doctors. simultaneously, with the gleam of hope for a longer life, there appeared in brooklyn an impudent demand, made by a combination of men known as the brewers' association. they wanted more room for their beer. the mayor was asked to appoint a certain excise commissioner who was in favour of more beer gardens than we already had. they wanted to rule the city from their beer kegs. in my opinion, a beer garden is worse than a liquor saloon, because there were thousands of men and women who would enter a beer garden who would not enter a saloon. the beer gardens merely prepare new victims for the eventual sacrifice of alcoholism. brooklyn was in danger of becoming a city of beer gardens, rather than a city of churches. on january , , the seventeenth year of my pastorate of the brooklyn tabernacle was celebrated. it was an hour for practical proof to my church that the people of brooklyn approved of our work. by the number of pews taken, and by the amount of premiums paid in, i told them they would decide whether we were to stand still, to go backward, or to go ahead. we were, at this time, unable to accommodate the audiences that attended both sabbath services. the lighting, the warming, the artistic equipment, all the immense expenses of the church, required a small fortune to maintain them. we had more friends than the tabernacle had ever had before. at no time during my seventeen years' residence in brooklyn had there been so much religious prosperity there. the memberships of all churches were advancing. it was a gratifying year in the progress of the gospel in brooklyn. it had been achieved by constant fighting, under the spur of sound yet inspired convictions. how close the events of secular prominence were to the religious spirit, some of the ministers in brooklyn had managed to impress upon the people. it was a course that i pursued almost from my first pastoral call, for i firmly believed that no event in the world was ever conceived that did not in some degree symbolise the purpose of human salvation. when mr. parnell returned to england, i expected, from what i had seen and what i knew of him, that his indomitable force would accomplish a crisis for the cause of ireland. my opinion always was that england and ireland would each be better without the other. mr. parnell's triumph on his return in january, , seemed complete. he discharged the cabinet in england, as he had discharged a previous cabinet, and he had much to do with the appointment of their successors. i did not expect that he would hold the sceptre, but it was clear that he was holding it then like a true king of ireland. there was a storm came upon the giant cedars of american life about this time, which spread disaster upon our national strength. it was a storm that prostrated the cedars of lebanon. secretary frelinghuysen, vice-president hendricks, ex-governor seymour, general hancock, and john b. gough were the victims. it was a cataclysm of fatality that impressed its sadness on the nation. the three mightiest agencies for public benefit are the printing press, the pulpit, and the platform. the decease of john b. gough left the platforms of america without any orator as great as he had been. for thirty-five years his theme was temperance, and he died when the fight against liquor was hottest. he had a rare gift as a speaker. his influence with an audience was unlike that of any other of his contemporaries. he shortened the distance between a smile and a tear in oratory. he was one of the first, if not the first, american speaker who introduced dramatic skill in his speeches. he ransacked and taxed all the realm of wit and drama for his work. his was a magic from the heart. dramatic power had so often been used for the degradation of society that speakers heretofore had assumed a strict reserve toward it. the theatre had claimed the drama, and the platform had ignored it. but mr. gough, in his great work of reform and relief, encouraged the disheartened, lifted the fallen, adopting the elements of drama in his appeals. he called for laughter from an audience, and it came; or, if he called for tears, they came as gently as the dew upon a meadow's grass at dawn. mr. gough was the pioneer in platform effectiveness, the first orator to study the alchemy of human emotions, that he might stir them first, and mix them as he judged wisely. so many people spoke of the drama as though it was something built up outside of ourselves, as if it were necessary for us to attune our hearts to correspond with the human inventions of the dramatists. the drama, if it be true drama, is an echo from something divinely implanted. while some conscienceless people take this dramatic element and prostitute it in low play-houses, john b. gough raised it to the glorious uses of setting forth the hideousness of vice and the splendour of virtue in the salvation of multitudes of inebriates. the dramatic poets of europe have merely dramatised what was in the world's heart; mr. gough interpreted the more sacred dramatic elements of the human heart. he abolished the old way of doing things on the platform, the didactic and the humdrum. he harnessed the dramatic element to religion. he lighted new fires of divine passion in our pulpits. the new confidence that this wonderful cedar of lebanon put into the work of contemporary christian labourers in the vineyard of sacred meaning is our eternal inheritance of his spirit. he left us his confidence. when you destroy the confidence of man in man, you destroy society. the prevailing idea in american life was of a different character. national and civic affairs were full of plans to pull down, to make room for new builders. that was the trouble. there were more builders than there was space or need to build. a little repairing of old standards would have been better than tearing those we still remembered to pieces, merely to give others something to do. all this led to the betrayal of man by man--to bribery. it was not of much use for the pulpit to point it out. men adopted bribery as a means to business activity. it was of no use to recall the brilliant moments of character in history, men would not read them. their ancestry was a back number, the deeds of their ancestors mere old-fashioned narrowness of business. what if a member of the american congress, joseph reed, during the american revolution did refuse the , guineas offered by the foreign commissioners to betray the colonies? what if he did say "gentlemen, i am a very poor man, but tell your king he is not rich enough to buy me"? the more fool he, not to appreciate his opportunities, not to take advantage of the momentary enterprise of his betters! a bribe offered became a compliment, and a bribe negotiated was a good day's work. i had not much faith in the people who went about bragging how much they could get if they sold out. i refused to believe the sentiment of men who declared that every man had his price. old-fashioned honesty was not the cure either, because old-fashioned honesty, according to history, was not wholly disinterested. there never was a monopoly of righteousness in the world, though there was a coin of fair exchange between men who were intelligent enough to perceive its values, in which there was no alloy of bribery. bribery was written, however, all over the first chapters of english, irish, french, german, and american politics; but it was high time that, in america, we had a court house or a city hall, or a jail, or a post office, or a railroad, that did not involve a political job. at some time in their lives, every man and woman may be tempted to do wrong for compensation. it may be a bribe of position that is offered instead of money; but it was easy to foresee, in , that there was a time coming when the most secret transaction of private and public life would come up for public scrutiny. those of us who gave this warning were under suspicion of being harmless lunatics. necessarily, the dishonest transactions of the bosses led to discontent among the labouring classes, and a railroad strike came, and went, in the winter of . its successful adjustment was a credit to capital and labour, to our police competency, and to general municipal common-sense. in chicago and st. louis, this strike lasted several days; in brooklyn, it was settled in a few hours. the deliverance left us facing the problem whether the differences between capital and labour in america would ever be settled. i was convinced that it could never be accomplished by the law of supply and demand, although we were constantly told so. it was a law that had done nothing to settle the feuds of past ages. the fact was that supply and demand had gone into partnership, proposing to swindle the earth. it is a diabolic law which will have to stand aside for a greater law of love, of co-operation, and of kindness. the establishment of a labour exchange, in brooklyn in , where labourers and capitalists could meet and prepare their plans, was a step in that direction. i said to a very wealthy man, who employed thousands of men in his establishments in different cities: "have you had many strikes?" "never had a strike; i never will have one," he said. "how do you avoid them?" i asked. "when prices go up or down, i call my men together in all my establishments. in ease of increased prosperity i range them around me in the warehouses at the noon hour, and i say, 'boys, i am making money, more than usual, and i feel that you ought to share my success; i shall add five, or ten, or twenty per cent. to your wages.' times change. i must sell my goods at a low price, or not sell them at all. then i say to them, 'boys, i am losing money, and i must either stop altogether or run on half-time, or do with less hands. i thought i would call you together and ask your advice.' there may be a halt for a minute or two, and then one of the men will step up and say, 'boss, you have been good to us; we have got to sympathise with you. i don't know how the others feel, but i propose we take off per cent. from our wages, and when times get better, you can raise us,' and the rest agree." that was the law of kindness. many of the best friends i had were american capitalists, and i said to them always, "you share with your employees in your prosperity, and they will share with you in your adversity." the rich man of america was not in need of conversion, for, in , he had not become a monopolist as yet. he had accumulated fortunes by industry and hard work, and he was an energetic builder of national enterprise and civic pride, but his coffers were being drained by an increasing social extravagance that was beyond the requirements of happiness of home. the tenth milestone society life in the big cities of america in had become a strange nightmare of extravagance and late hours. it was developing a queer race of people. temporarily, the lenten season stopped the rustle and flash of toilettes, chained the dancers, and put away the tempting chalice of social excitement. when lent came in the society of the big cities of america was an exhausted multitude. it seemed to me as though two or three winters of germans and cotillions would be enough to ruin the best of health. the victims of these strange exhaustions were countless. no man or woman could endure the wear and tear of social life in america without sickness and depletion of health. the demands were at war with the natural laws of the human race. even the hour set for the average assembling of a "society event" in was an outrage. once it was eight o'clock at night, soon it was adjourned to nine-thirty, and then to ten, and there were threats that it would soon be eleven. a gentleman wrote me this way for advice about his social burden: "what shall i do? we have many friends, and i am invited out perpetually. i am on a salary in a large business house in new york. i am obliged to arise in the morning at seven o'clock, but i cannot get home from those parties till one in the morning. the late supper and the excitement leave me sleepless. i must either give up society or give up business, which is my living. my wife is not willing that i should give up society, because she is very popular. my health is breaking down. what shall i do?" it was not the idle class that wasted their nights at these parties; it was the business men dragged into the fashions and foibles of the idle, which made that strange and unique thing we call society in america. i should have replied to that man that his wife was a fool. if she were willing to sacrifice his health, and with it her support, for the greeting and applause of these midnight functions, i pitied him. let him lose his health, his business, and his home, and no one would want to invite him anywhere. all the diamond-backed terrapins at fifty dollars a dozen which he might be invited to enjoy after that would do him no harm. society would drop him so suddenly that it would knock the breath out of him. the recipe for a man in this predicament, a man tired of life, and who desired to get out of it without the reputation of a suicide, was very simple. he only had to take chicken salad regularly at midnight, in large quantities, and to wash it down with bumpers of wine, reaching his pillow about a.m. if the third winter of this did not bring his obituary, it would be because that man was proof against that which had slain a host larger than any other that fell on any battle-field of the ages. the scandinavian warriors believed that in the next world they would sit in the hall of odin, and drink wine from the skulls of their enemies. but society, by its requirements of late hours and conviviality, demanded that a man should drink out of his own skull, having rendered it brainless first. i had great admiration for the suavities and graces of life, but it is beyond any human capacity to endure what society imposes upon many in america. drinking other people's health to the disadvantage of one's own health is a poor courtesy at best. our entertainments grew more and more extravagant, more and more demoralising. i wondered if our society was not swinging around to become akin to the worst days of roman society. the princely banquet-rooms of the romans had revolving ceilings representing the firmament; fictitious clouds rained perfumed essences upon the guests, who were seated on gold benches, at tables made of ivory and tortoise-shell. each course of food, as it was brought into the banquet room, was preceded by flutes and trumpets. there was no wise man or woman to stand up from the elaborate banquet tables of american society at this time and cry "halt!" it might have been done in washington, or in new york, or in brooklyn, but it was not. the way american society was moving in was the way to death. the great majority, the major key in the weird symphony of american life, was not of society. we had no masses really, although we borrowed the term from europe and used it busily to describe our working people, who were massive enough as a body of men, but they were not the masses. neither were they the mob, which was a term some were fond of using in describing the destruction of property on railroads in the spring of . the labouring men had nothing to do with these injuries. they were done by the desperadoes who lurked in all big cities. i made a western trip during this strike, and i found the labouring men quiet, peaceful, but idle. the depôts were filled with them, the streets were filled with them, but they were in suspense, and it lasted twenty-five days. then followed the darkness and squalor--less bread, less comfort, less civilisation of heart and mind. it was hard on the women and children. senator manderson, the son of my old friend in philadelphia, introduced a bill into the united states senate for the arbitration of strikes. it proposed a national board of mediation between capital and labour. jay gould was the most abused of men just then. he was denounced by both contestants in this american conflict most uselessly. the knights of labour came in for an equal amount of abuse. we were excited and could not reason. the men had just as much right to band together for mutual benefit as jay gould had a right to get rich. it was believed by many that mr. gould made his fortune out of the labouring classes. mr. gould made it out of the capitalists. his regular diet was a capitalist per diem, not a poor man--capitalist stewed, broiled, roasted, panned, fricaseed, devilled, on the half shell. he was personally, as i knew him, a man of such kindness that he would not hurt a fly, but he played ten pins on wall street. a great many adventurers went there to play with him, and if their ball rolled down the side of the financial alley while he made a ten strike or two or three spares, the fellows who were beaten howled. that was about all there really was in the denunciation of jay gould. i couldn't help thinking sometimes, when the united states seemed to change its smile of prosperity to a sudden smile of anger or petulance, that we were a spoiled nation, too much pampered by divine blessings. if we had not been our own rulers, but had been ruled--what would america have been then? we were like ireland crying for liberty and abusing liberty the more we got of it. mr. gladstone's policy of home rule for ireland, announced in april, , proposed an irish parliament and the viceroy. it should remain, however, a part of england. i fully believed then that ireland would have home rule some day, and in another century i believed that ireland would stand to england as the united states stands to england, a friendly and neighbouring power. i believed that ireland would some day write her own declaration of independence. liberty, the fundamental instinct of the most primitive living thing, would be the world's everlasting conflict. our exclusion of the chinese, which came up in the spring of , when an ambassador from china was roughly handled in san francisco, was a disgrace to our own instincts of liberty. a great many people did not want them because they did not like the way they dressed. they objected to the chinaman's queue. george washington wore one, so did benjamin franklin and john hancock. the chinese dress was not worse than some american clothes i have seen. some may remember the crinoline monstrosities of ' , as i do--the coal-scuttle bonnets, the silver knee-buckles! the headgear of the fair sex has never ceased to be a mystery and a shock during all my lifetime. i remember being asked by a lady-reporter in brooklyn if i thought ladies should remove their hats in the theatre, and i told her to tell them to keep them on, because in obstructing the stage they were accomplishing something worth while. any fine afternoon the spring fashions of , displayed in madison square between two and four o'clock, were absurdities of costume that eclipsed anything then worn by the chinese. the joss house of the chinese was entitled to as much respect in the united states, under the constitution, as the roman catholic church, or the quaker meeting house, or any other religious temple. a new path was made for the chinese into america via mexico, when , were to be imported for work on mexican territory. in the discussion it aroused it was urged that mexico ought to be blocked because the chinese would not spend their money in america. in one year, in san francisco, the chinese paid $ , , in rent for residences and warehouses. our higher civilisation was already threatened with that style of man who spends three times more money than he makes, and yet we did not want the thrifty unassuming religious chinaman to counteract our mania for extravagance. this entire agitation emanated from corrupt politics. the republican and democratic parties both wanted the electoral votes of california in the forthcoming presidential election, and, in order to get that vote, it was necessary to oppose the chinese. whenever these asiatic men obtain equal suffrage in america the republican party will fondle them, and the democrats will try to prove that they always had a deep affection for them, and some of the political bosses will go around with an opium pipe sticking out of their pockets and their hair coiled into a suggestion of a queue. the ship of state was in an awful mess. no sooner was the good man in power than politics struggled to pull him down to make room for the knaves. when thomas jefferson was inaugurated, the _sentinel_ of boston wrote the obituary of the american nation. i quote it as a literary scrap of the past: "monumental inscription--expired yesterday, regretted by all good men, the federal administration of the government of the united states, aged years. this monumental inscription to the virtues and the services of the deceased is raised by the sentinel of boston." it might have been a recent editorial. van buren was always cartooned as a fox or a rat. horace greeley told me once that he had not had a sound sleep for fifteen years, and he was finally put to death by american politics. the cartoons of mr. blaine and mr. cleveland during their election battle, as compared to those of fifty years before, were seraphic as the themes of raphael. it was not necessary to go so far back for precedent. the game had not changed. the building of our new raymond street jail in brooklyn, in , was a game which the politicians played, called "money, money, who has got the money?" suddenly there was an arraignment in the courts. mr. jaehne was incarcerated in sing sing for bribery. twenty-five new york aldermen were accused. nineteen of them were saloon keepers. there was a fearful indifference to the illiteracy of our leaders in . it threatened the national intelligence of the future. in the rhapsody of may, however, in the resurrection of the superlative beauties of spring, we forgot our human deficiencies. in the first week of lilacs, the americanised flower of persia, we aspired to the breadth and height and the heaven of our gardens. the generous lilac, like a great purple sea of loveliness, swept over us in the full tide of spring. it was the forerunner of joy; joy of fish in the brooks, of insects in the air, of cattle in the fields, of wings to the sky. sunshine, shaken from the sacred robes of god! spring, the spiritual essence of heaven and physical beauty come to earth in many forms--in the rose, in the hawthorn white and scarlet, in the passion flower. in this season of transition we hear the murmurings of heaven. there were spring poets in , as there had been in all ages. love and marriage came over the country like a divine opiate, inspired, i believe, by that love story in the white house, which culminated on june , , in the wedding of mr. and mrs. cleveland. never in my knowledge were there so many weddings all over the united states as during the week when this official wedding took place in the white house. the representatives of the foreign governments in washington were not invited to mr. cleveland's wedding. we all hoped that they would not make such fools of themselves as to protest--but they did. they were displeased at the president's omission to invite them. it was always a wish of mr. cleveland's to separate the happiness of his private life from that of his public career, so as to protect mrs. cleveland from the glare to which he himself was exposed. his wedding was an intimate, private matter to him, and if there is any time in a man's life when he ought to do as he pleases it is when he gets married. it was a remarkable wedding in some respects, remarkable for its love story, for its distinguished character, its american privacy, its independent spirit. the whole country was rapturously happy over it. the foreign ministers who growled might have benefited by the example of americanism in the affair. even the reporters, none of whom were invited, were happy over it, and gave a more vivid account of the joyous scene than they could have given had they been present. the difference in the ages of the president and his beautiful bride was widely discussed. into the garland of bridal roses let no one ever twist a sprig of night-shade. if would marry , if summer is fascinated with spring, whose business is it but their own? both may and august are old enough to take care of themselves, and their marriage is the most noteworthy moment of their too short season of life. some day her voice is silenced, and the end of the world has come for him--the morning dead, the night dead, the air dead, the world dead. for his sake, for her sake, do not spoil their radiance with an impious regret. they will endure the thorns of life when they are stronger in each other's love. that june wedding at the white house was the nucleus of happiness, from which grew a great wave of matrimony. the speed of god's will was increasing in america. most of the things managed by divine instinct are characterised by speed--rapid currents, swift lightnings, swift coming and going of lives. in the old-fashioned days a man got a notion that there was sanctity in tardiness. it was a great mistake. in america we had arrived at that state of mind when we wanted everything fast--first and fast. fast horses, fast boats, fast runners are all good things for the human race. the great yacht races of september , , in which the "may flower" distanced the "galatea" by two miles and a half, was a spanking race. our sporting blood was roused to fighting pitch, and we became more active in every way of outdoor sports. lawn tennis tournaments were epidemic all over the country. there were good and bad effects from all of them. those romping sports developed a much finer physical condition in our american women. lawn tennis and croquet were hardening and beautifying the race. from the english and german women we adopted athletics for our own women. our girls began to travel more frequently in europe. it looked as though many of the young ladies who prided themselves upon their bewitching languors and fashionable dreaminess, would be neglected by young men in favour of the more athletic types. it had been decided, in the social channels of our life, that doll babies were not of much use in the struggle, that women must have the capacity and the strength to sweep out a room without fainting; that to make an eatable loaf of bread was more important than the satin cheek or the colour of hair that one strong fever could uproot. i was accused of being ambitious that americans should have a race of amazons. i was not. i did want them to have bodies to fit their great souls. what i did wish to avoid, in this natural transition, was a misdirected use of its advantages. there is dissipation in outdoor life, as well as indoors, and this was to be deplored. i wanted everything american to come out ahead. in science we were still far behind. the charleston earthquake in september, , proved this. our philosophers were disgusted that the ministers and churches down there devoted their time to praying and moralising about the earthquake, when only natural phenomena were the cause. science had no information or comfort to give, however. the only thing the scientist did was to predict a great tidal wave which would come and destroy all that was left of the previous calamity. science lied again. the tidal wave did not come; the september rains stopped, and charleston began to rebuild. that is one of the wonderful things about america; we are not only able to restore our damages, but we have a mania for rebuilding. our chief fault lies in the fact that we rebuild for profit rather than for beauty of character or moral strength. there had been a time during my pastorate when brooklyn promised to be the greatest watering place in america. we were in a fair way of becoming the summer capital of the united states. it was destroyed by the loafers and the dissoluteness of coney island. in the autumn of , brooklyn was more indignant than i had ever seen it before, and i knew it intimately for a quarter of a century. our trade was damaged, our residences were depreciated, because the gamblers and liquor dealers were in power. part of the summer people were too busy looking for a sea serpent reported to be in the east river or up the hudson to observe that a dragon of evil was twining about the neck and waist and body of the two great cities by the sea. in contrast to all this political treachery in the north there developed a peculiar symbol of political sincerity in tennesee. two brothers, robert and alfred taylor, were running for governor of that state--one on the republican and the other on the democratic ticket. at night they occupied the same room together. on the same platform they uttered sentiments directly opposite in meaning. and yet, robert said to a crowd about to hoot his brother alfred, "when you insult my brother you insult me." this was a symbol of political decency that we needed. one of the great wants of the world, however, was a better example in "high life." we were shocked by the moral downfall of sir charles dilke in england, by the dissolute conduct of an american official in mexico, by the dissipations of a senator who attempted to address the united states senate in a state of intoxication. mr. cleveland's frequent exercise of the president's right of veto was a hopeful policy in national affairs. the habit of voting away thousands of dollars of other people's money in congress needed a check. the popular means of accomplishing this out of the national treasury was in bills introduced by congressmen for public buildings. each congressman wanted to favour the other. the president's veto was the only cure. this prodigality of the national legislature grew out of an enormous surplus in the treasury. it was too great a temptation to the law-makers. $ , , in a pile added to a reserve of $ , , was an infamous lure. i urged that this money should be turned back to the people to whom it belonged. the government had no more right to it than i had to five dollars of overpay, and yet, by over-taxation, the government had done the same sort of thing. this money did not belong to the government, but to the people from whom they had taken it. from private sources in washington i learned that officials were overwhelmed with demands for pensions from first-class loafers who had never been of any service to their country before or since the war. they were too lazy or cranky to work for themselves. grover cleveland vetoed them by the hundred. we needed the veto power in america as much as the roman government had required it in their tribunes. poland had recognised it. the kings of norway, sweden, and the netherlands had used it. with the exception of two states in the union, all the american governors had the privilege. because a railroad company buys up a majority of the legislature there is no reason why a governor should sign the charter. there was no reason why the president should make appointments upon indiscriminate claims because the ante-room of the white house was filled with applicants, as they were in cleveland's first administration. my sympathies were with the grand army men against these pretenders. what a waste of money it seemed to me there was in keeping up useless american embassies abroad. they had been established when it took six weeks to go to liverpool and six months to china, so that it was necessary to have representation at the foreign courts. as far back as it was only half an hour from washington to london, to berlin, to madrid. i have seen no crisis in any of these foreign cities which made our ambassadors a necessity there. international business could be managed by the state department. the foreign embassy was merely a good excuse to get rid of some competent rival for the presidency. the cable was enough minister plenipotentiary for the united states, and always should be. i regarded it as humiliating to the constitution of the united states that we should be complimenting foreign despotism in this way. the war rage of europe was destined to make a market for our bread stuff in , but at the cost of further suffering and disaster. i have no sentimentality about the conflicts of life, because the bible is a history of battles and hand to hand struggles, but war is no longer needed in the world. war is a system of political greed where men are hired at starvation wages to kill each other. could there be anything more savage? it is the inoffensive who are killed, while the principals in the quarrel sit snugly at home on throne chairs. a private letter, i think it was, written during the crimean war by a sailor to his wife, describing his sensations after having killed a man for the first time, is a unique demonstration of the psychology of the soldier's fate. the letter said:-- "we were ordered to fire, and i took steady aim and fired on my man at a distance of sixty yards. he dropped like a stone, at the same instant a broadside from the ship scattered among the trees, and the enemy vanished, we could scarcely tell how. i felt as though i must go up to the man i had fired upon to see if he were dead or alive. i found him quite still, and i was more afraid of him when i saw him lying so than when he stood facing me a few minutes before. it is a strange feeling that comes over you all at once when you have killed a man. he had unfastened his jacket, and was pressing his hand against his chest where the wound was. he breathed hard, and the blood poured from the wound and his mouth at every breath. his face was white as death, and his eyes looked big and bright as he turned them staring up at me. i shall never forget it. he was a fine young fellow, not over five and twenty. i knelt beside him and i felt as though my heart would burst. he had an english face and did not look like my enemy. if my life could have saved his i would have given it. i held his head on my knee and he tried to speak, but his voice was gone. i could not understand a word that he said. i am not ashamed to say that i was worse than he, for he never shed a tear and i did. i was wondering how i could bear to leave him to die alone, when he had some sort of convulsions, then his head rolled over and with a sigh he was gone. i laid his head gently on the grass and left him. it seemed so strange when i looked at him for the last time. i somehow thought of everything i had ever read about the turks and the russians, and the rest of them, but all that seemed so far off, and the dead man so near." this was the secret tragedy of the common fraternity of manhood driven by custom into a sham battle of death. the european war of was a conflict of slav and teuton. france will never forgive germany for taking alsace and lorraine. it was a surrender to germany of what in the united states would be equal to the surrender of philadelphia and boston, with vast harvest fields in addition. france wanted to blot out sedan. england desired to keep out of the fight upon a naval report that she was unprepared for war. the danes were ready for insurrection against their own government. only , miles of atlantic ocean and great wisdom of washington kept us out of the fight. the world's statesmanship at this time was the greatest it had ever known. there was enough of it in st. petersburg, berlin, rome, paris, and london to have achieved a great progress for peace by arbitration and treaty, but there was no precedent by which to judge the effect of such a plan. the nations had never before had such vast populations to change into armies. the temptations of war were irresistible. in america, remotely luxurious in our own prosperity from the rest of the world, we became self-absorbed. the fashions, designed and inspired in europe, became the chief element of attraction among the ladies. it was particularly noticeable in the autumn of for the brilliancy and grandeur of bird feathers. the taxidermist's art was adapted to women's gowns and hats to a degree that amazed the country. a precious group of french actresses, some of them divorced two or three times, with a system of morals entirely independent of the ten commandments, were responsible for this outbreak of bird millinery in america. from one village alone , birds were sent to new york for feminine adornment. the whole sky full of birds was swept into the millinery shops. a three months foraging trip in south carolina furnished , birds for the market of feathers. one sportsman supplied , aigrettes. the music of the heavens was being destroyed. paris was supplied by contracts made in new york. in one month a million bobolinks were killed near philadelphia. species of birds became extinct. in february of this year i saw in one establishment , , bird skins. one auction room alone, in three months, sold , , east india bird skins, and , , west india and brazilian feathers. a newspaper description of a lady's hat in was to me savage in the extreme. i quote one of many: "she had a whole nest of sparkling, scintillating birds in her hat, which would have puzzled an ornithologist to classify." here is another one i quote: "her gown of unrelieved black was looped up with blackbirds and a winged creature so dusky that it could have been intended for nothing but a crow reposed among the strands of her hair." public sentiment in american womanhood eventually rescued the songsters of the world--in part, at any rate. the heavenly orchestra, with its exquisite prelude of dawn and its tremulous evensong, was spared. many years ago thomas carlyle described us as "forty million americans, mostly fools." he declared we would flounder on the ballot-box, and that the right of suffrage would be the ruin of this government. the "forty million of fools" had done tolerably well for the small amount of brain carlyle permitted them. better and better did america become to me as the years went by. i never wanted to live anywhere else. many believed that christ was about to return to his reign on earth, and i felt confident that if such a divine descent could be, it would come from american skies. i did not believe that christ would descend from european skies, amidst alien thrones. i foresaw the time when the democracy of americans would be lifted so that the president's chair could be set aside as a relic; when penitentiaries would be broken-down ruins; almshouses forsaken, because all would be rich, and hospitals abandoned, because all would be well. if christ were really coming, as many believed, the moment of earthly paradise was at hand. the eleventh milestone - the balance of power in brooklyn and new york during my lifetime had always been with the pulpit. i was in my fifty-fourth year, and had shared honours with the most devout and fearless ministers of the gospel so long that when two monster receptions were proposed, in celebration of the services of rev. henry ward beecher and rev. r.s. storrs, d.d., i became almost wickedly proud of the privileges of my associations. these two eminent men were in the seventies. dr. storrs had been installed pastor of the church of pilgrims in ; mr. beecher pastor of plymouth church in . they were both stalwart in body then, both new englanders, both congregationalists, mighty men, genial as a morning in june. both world-renowned, but different. different in stature, in temperament, in theology. they had reached the fortieth year of pastoral service. no movement for the welfare of brooklyn in all these years was without the benediction of their names. the pulpit had accomplished wonders. in brooklyn alone look at the pulpit-builders. there were rev. george w. bethune of the dutch reformed church, rev. dr. samuel h. cox, rev. w. ichabod spencer, rev. dr. samuel thayer speer of the presbyterian church, dr. john summerfield and dr. kennedy of the methodist church, rev. dr. stone and rev. dr. vinton of the episcopal church--all denominations pouring their elements of divine splendour upon the community. who can estimate the power which emanated from the pulpits of dr. mcelroy, or dr. dewitt, or dr. spring, or dr. krebs? their work will go on in new york though their churches be demolished. large-hearted men were these pulpit apostles, apart from the clerical obligations of their denominations. no proverb in the world is so abused as the one which declares that the children of ministers never turn out well. they hold the highest places in the nation. grover cleveland was the son of a presbyterian clergyman, governor pattison of pennsylvania, governor taylor of tennessee, were sons of methodist preachers. in congressional and legislative halls they are scattered everywhere. of all the metaphysical discourses that mr. beecher delivered, none are so well remembered as those giving his illustrations of life, his anecdotes. much of his pulpit utterance was devoted to telling what things were like. so the sermon on the mount was written, full of similitudes. like a man who built his house on a rock, like a candle in a candle-stick, like a hen gathering her chickens under her wing, like a net, like salt, like a city on a hill. and you hear the song birds, and you smell the flowers. mr. beecher's grandest effects were wrought by his illustrations, and he ransacked the universe for them. we need in our pulpits just such irresistible illustrations, just such holy vivacity. his was a victory of similitudes. towards the end of november, , one of the most distinguished sons of a baptist preacher, chester a. arthur, died. he had arisen to the highest point of national honour, and preserved the simplicities of true character. when i was lecturing in lexington, kentucky, one summer, i remember with what cordiality he accosted me in a crowd. "are you here?" he said; "why, it makes me feel very much at home." mr. arthur aged fifteen years in the brief span of his administration. he was very tired. almost his last words were, "life is not worth living." our public men need sympathy, not criticism. macaulay, after all his brilliant career in parliament, after being world-renowned among all who could admire fine writing, wrote this: "every friendship which a man may have becomes precarious as soon as he engages in politics." political life is a graveyard of broken hearts. daniel webster died of a broken heart at marshfield. under the highest monument in kentucky lies henry clay, dead of a broken heart. so died henry wilson, at natick, mass.; william h. seward at auburn, n.y.; salmon p. chase, in cincinnati. so died chester a. arthur, honoured, but worried. the election of abram s. hewitt as mayor of new york in restored the confidence of the best people. behind him was a record absolutely beyond criticism, before him a great christian opportunity. we made the mistake, however, of ignoring the great influence upon our civic prosperity of the business impulse of the west. we in new york and brooklyn were a self-satisfied community, unmindful of our dependence upon the rest of the american continent. my western trips were my recreation. an occasional lecture tour accomplished for me what yachting or baseball does for others. my congregation understood this, and never complained of my absence. they realised that all things for me turned into sermons. no man sufficiently appreciates his home unless sometimes he goes away from it. it made me realise what a number of splendid men and women there were in the world man as a whole is a great success; woman, taking her all in all, is a great achievement, and the reason children die is because they are too lovely to stay out of paradise. three weeks in the west brought me back to brooklyn supremely optimistic. there was more business in the markets than men could attend to. times had changed. in cincinnati once i was perplexed by the difference in clock time. they have city time and railroad time there. i asked a gentleman about it. "tell me, how many kinds of time have you here?" i asked. "three kinds," he replied, "city time, railroad time, and hard time." there was no "hard time" at the close of . the small rate of interest we had been compelled to take for money had been a good thing. it had enlivened investments in building factories and starting great enterprises. the per cent. per month interest was dead. the fact that a few small fish dared to swim through wall street, only to be gobbled up, did not stop the rising tide of national welfare. we were going ahead, gaining, profiting even by the lives of those who were leaving us behind. the loss of the rev. j. hyatt smith restored the symbol and triumph of self-sacrifice. in the most exact sense of the word he was a genius. he wasted no time in his study that he could devote to others, he was always busy raising money to pay house rent for some poor woman, exhausting his energies in trying to keep people out of trouble, answering the call of every school, of every reformatory, every philanthropic institution. had he given more time to study, he would hardly have had an equal in the american pulpit. he depended always upon the inspiration of the moment. sometimes he failed on this account. i have heard him when he had the pathos of a summerfield, the wit of a sidney smith, and the wondrous thundering phraseology of a thomas carlyle. he had been everywhere, seen everything, experienced great variety of gladness, grief, and betrayal. if you had lost a child, he was the first man at your side to console you. if you had a great joy, his was the first telegram to congratulate you. for two years he was in congress. his sundays in washington were spent preaching in pulpits of all denominations. the first time i ever saw him was when he came to my house in philadelphia, ringing the door bell, that he might assuage a great sorrow that had come to me. he was always in the shadowed home. how much the world owes to such a nature is beyond the world's gift to return. his wit was of the kind that, like the dew, refreshes. he never laughed at anything but that which ought to be laughed at. he never dealt in innuendoes that tipped both ways. we were old friends of many vicissitudes. together we wept and laughed and planned. he had such subtle ways of encouragement--as when he told me that he had read a lecture of mine to his dying daughter, and described how it had comforted her. his was a life of profound self-sacrifice, but "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." the new year of began with a controversy that filled the air with unpleasant confusion. a small river of ink was poured upon it, a vast amount of talk was made about it. a priest in the roman catholic church, father mcglynn, was arraigned by archbishop corrigan for putting his hand in the hot water of politics. in various ways i was asked my opinion of it all. my most decided opinion was that outsiders had better keep their hands out of the trouble. the interference of people outside of a church with its internal affairs only makes things worse. the policy of any church is best known by its own members. the controversy was not a matter into which i could consistently enter. the earth began its new year in hard luck. the earthquake in constantinople, in february, was only one of a series of similar shakes elsewhere. the scientists were always giving us a lot of trouble. electric showers in the sun disturbed our climate. comets had been shooting about the sky with enough fire in their tails to obliterate us. caracas was shaken, lisbon buried, java very badly cracked. it is a shaky, rheumatic, epileptic old world, and in one of its stupendous convulsions it will die. it's a poor place in which to make permanent investments. it was quite as insecure in its human standards as in its scientific incompetence. our laws were moral earthquakes that destroyed our standards. we were opposed to sneak thieves, but we admired the two million dollar rascals. why not a tax of five or ten thousand dollars to license the business of theft, so that we might put an end to the small scoundrels who had genius enough only to steal door mats, or postage stamps, or chocolate drops, and confine the business to genteel robbery? a robber paying a privilege of ten thousand dollars would then be able legally to abscond with fifty thousand dollars from a bank; or, by watering the stock of a railroad, he would be entitled to steal two hundred thousand dollars at a clip. the thief's licence ought to be high, because he would so soon make it up. a licence on blasphemy might have been equally advantageous. it could be made high enough so that we could sweep aside all those who swear on a small scale, those who never get beyond "by george!" "my stars!" or "darn it!" then, again, the only way to put an end to murder in america is by high licenced murderers. put a few men in to manage the business of murder. the common assassins who do their work with car hooks, dull knives or paris green, should be abolished by law. let the few experts do it who can accomplish murder without pain: by chloroform or bulldog revolvers. give these men all the business. the licence in these cases should be twenty thousand dollars, because the perquisites in gold watches, money safes, and plethoric pocket-books would soon offset the licence. high licences in rum-selling had always been urged, and always resulted in dead failures; therefore the whole method of legal restraint in crime can be dismissed with irony. the overcrowding in the east was crushing our ethical and practical ambition. that is why the trains going westward were so crowded that there was hardly room enough to stand in them. we were restoring ourselves in kansas and missouri. after lecturing, in the spring of , in fifteen western cities, including chicago, st. louis, and westward to the extreme boundaries of kansas, i returned a westerner to convert the easterner. in the west they called this prosperity a boom, but i never liked the word, for a boom having swung one way is sure to swing the other. it was a revival of enterprise which, starting in birmingham, ala., advanced through tennessee, and spread to kansas, nebraska, missouri. my forecast at this time was that the men who went west then would be the successes in the next twenty years. the centre of american population, which two years before had been a little west of cincinnati, had moved to kansas, the heart of the continent. the national capital should have been midway between the atlantic and the pacific, in which case the great white buildings in washington could have been turned into art academies, and museums and libraries. prohibition in kansas and iowa was making honest men. i did not see an intoxicated man in either of these states. all the young men in kansas and iowa were either prohibitionists or loafers. the west had lost the song plaintive and adopted the song jubilant. in the spring of this year, , brooklyn was examined by an investigating committee. even when mayor low was in power, three years before, the city was denounced by democratic critics, so mayor whitney, of course, was the victim of republican critics. the whole thing was mere partisan hypocrisy. if anyone asked me whether i was a republican or a democrat, i told them that i had tried both, and got out of them both. i hope always to vote, but the title of the ticket at the top will not influence me. outside of heaven brooklyn was the quietest place on sunday. the packer and the polytechnic institutes took care of our boys and girls. our judiciary at this time included remarkable men: judge neilson, judge gilbert, and judge reynolds. we had enough surplus doctors to endow a medical college for fifty other cities. it looked as though our grandchildren would be very happy. we were only in the early morning of development. the cities would be multiplied a hundredfold, and yet we were groaning because a few politicians were conducting an investigation for lack of something better to do. from time immemorial we had prayed for the president and congress, but i never heard of any prayers for the state legislatures, and they needed them most of all. they brought about the groans of the nation, and we were constantly in complaint of them. i remember a great mass meeting in the academy of music in brooklyn, at which i was present, to protest against the passage of the gambling pool bill, as it was called. i was accused of being over-confident because i said the state senate would not pass it without a public hearing. a public hearing was given, however, and my faith in the legislators of the state increased. we ministers of brooklyn had to do a good deal of work outside of our pulpits, outside of our churches, on the street and in the crowds. when the ives gambling pool bill was passed i urged that the legislature should adjourn. the race track men went to albany and triumphed. brooklyn was disgraced before the world by our race tracks at coney island, which were a public shame! all the money in the world, however, was not abused. philanthropists were helping the church. miss wolfe bequeathed a million dollars to evangelisation in new york; mr. depau, of illinois, bequeathed five million dollars to religion, and the remaining three million of his fortune only to his family. there were others--cyrus mccormick, james lenox, mr. slater, asa d. packer. they, with others, were men of great deeds. we were just about ready to appreciate these progressive events. in the summer of i urged a great world's fair, because i thought it was due in our country, to the inventors, the artists, the industries of america. how to set the idea of a world's fair agoing? it only needed enthusiasm among the prominent merchants and the rich men. all great things first start in one brain, in one heart. i proposed that a world's fair should be held in the great acreage between prospect park and the sea. in there was a world's fair in new york. in the same year the dismemberment of the republic was expected, and a book of several volumes was advertised in london, entitled "history of the federal government from the foundation to the dissipation of the united states." only one volume was ever published. the other volumes were never printed. what a difference in new york city then, when it opened its crystal palace, and thirty-four years later--in ! that crystal palace was the beginning of world's fairs in this country. in the presence of the epauleted representatives of foreign nations, before a vast multitude, franklin pierce, president of the united states, declared it open, and as he did so julien, the inspired musical leader of his day, raised his baton for an orchestra of three thousand instruments, while thousands of trained voices sang "god save the queen," "the marseillaise," "bonnie doon," "the harp that once through tara's halls," and "hail columbia." what that crystal palace, opened in new york in , did for art, for science, for civilisation, is beyond record. the generation that built it has for the most part vanished but future generations will be inspired by them. the summer of opened the baseball season of america, and i deplored an element of roughness and loaferism that attached itself to the greatest game of our country. one of the national events of this season of that year was a proposal to remove the battle-flag of the late war. good sense prevailed, and the controversy was satisfactorily settled; otherwise the whole country would have been aflame. it was not merely an agitation over a few bits of bunting. the most arousing, thrilling, blood-stirring thing on earth is a battle-flag. better let the old battle-flags of our three wars hang where they are. only one circumstance could disturb them, and that would be the invasion of a foreign power and the downfall of the republic. the strongest passions of men are those of patriotism. the best things that a man does in the world usually take a lifetime to make. a career is a life job, and no one is sure whether it was worthy or not till it is over. i except doctors from this rule, of whom homer says:-- a wise physician skilled our wounds to heal is more than armies to the public weal. some may remember the stalwart figure of dr. joseph hutchinson, one of the best american surgeons. for some years, in the streets of brooklyn, he was a familiar and impressive figure on horseback. he rode superbly, and it was his custom to make his calls in that way. he died in this year. daniel curry was another significant, superior man of a different sort, who also died in the summer of . he was an editor and writer of the methodist church. at his death he told one thing that will go into the classics of the church; and five hundred years beyond, when evangelists quote the last words of this inspired man, they will recall the dying vision that came to daniel curry. he saw himself in the final judgment before the throne, and knew not what to do on account of his sins. he felt that he was lost, when suddenly christ saw him and said, "i will answer for daniel curry." in this world of vast population it is wonderful to find only a few men who have helped to carry the burden of others with distinction for themselves. most of us are driven. in the two years and a half that our democratic party had been in power, our taxes had paid in a surplus to the united states treasury of $ , , . the whole country was groaning under an infamous taxation. most of it was spent by the republican party, three or four years before, to improve navigation on rivers with about two feet of water in them in the winter, and dry in summer. in the state of virginia i saw one of these dry creeks that was to be improved. taxation caused the war of the revolution. it had become a grinding wheel of government that rolled over all our public interests. politicians were afraid to touch the subject for fear they might offend their party. i touch upon it here because those who live after me may understand, by their own experience, the infamy of political piracy practised in the name of government taxation. we had our school for scandal in america over-developed. a certain amount of exposure is good for the soul, but our newspaper headlines over-reached this ideal purpose. they cultivated liars and encouraged their lies. the peculiarity of lies is their great longevity. they are a productive species and would have overwhelmed the country and destroyed george washington except for his hatchet. once born, the lie may live twenty, thirty, or forty years. at the end of a man's life sometimes it is healthier than he ever was. lies have attacked every occupant of the white house, have irritated every man since adam, and every good woman since eve. today the lie is after your neighbour; to-morrow it is after you. it travels so fast that a million people can see it the next morning. it listens at keyholes, it can hear whispers: it has one ear to the east, the other to the west. an old-fashioned tea-table is its jubilee, and a political campaign is its heaven. avoid it you may not, but meet it with calmness and without fear. it is always an outrage, a persecution. nothing more offensive to public sentiment could have occurred than the attempt made in new york in the autumn of to hinder the appointment of a new pastor of trinity church, on the plea that he came from a foreign country, and therefore was an ally to foreign labour. it was an outrage on religion, on the church, on common sense. as a nation, however, we were safe. there was not another place in the world where its chief ruler could travel five thousand miles, for three weeks, unprotected by bayonets, as mr. cleveland did on his presidential tour of the country. it was a universal huzzah, from mugwumps, republicans, and democrats. we were a safe nation because we destroyed communism. the execution of the anarchists in chicago, in november, , was a disgusting exhibition of the gallows. it took ten minutes for some of them to die by strangulation. nothing could have been more barbaric than this method of hanging human life. i was among the first to publicly propose execution by electricity. mr. edison, upon a request from the government, could easily have arranged it. i was particularly horrified with the blunders of the hangman's methods, because i was in a friend's office in new york, when the telegraph wires gave instantaneous reports of the executions in chicago. i made notes of these flashes of death. "now the prisoners leave the cells," said the wire; "now they are ascending the stairs"; "now the rope is being adjusted"; "now the cap is being drawn"; "now they fall." had i been there i would probably have felt thankful that i was brought up to obey the law, and could understand the majesty of restraining powers. one of these men was naturally kind and generous, i was told, but was embittered by one who had robbed him of everything; and so he became an enemy to all mankind. one of them got his antipathy for all prosperous people from the fact that his father was a profligate nobleman, and his mother a poor, maltreated, peasant woman. the impulse of anarchy starts high up in society. chief among our blessings was an american instinct for lawfulness in the midst of lawless temptation. we were often reminded of this supreme advantage as we saw passing into shadowland the robed figure of an upright man. the death of judge greenwood of brooklyn, in november, , was a reminder of such matters. he had seen the nineteenth century in its youth and in its old age. from first to last, he had been on the right side of all its questions of public welfare. we could, appropriately, hang his portrait in our court rooms and city halls. the artist's brush would be tame indeed compared with the living, glowing, beaming face of dear old judge greenwood in the portrait gallery of my recollections. the national event of this autumn was president cleveland's message to congress, which put squarely before us the matter of our having a protective tariff. it was the great question of our national problem, and called for oratory and statesmanship to answer it. the whole of europe was interested in the subject. i advocated free trade as the best understanding of international trading, because i had talked with the leaders of political thought in europe, and i understood both sides, as far as my capacity could compass them. in america we were frequently compared to the citizens of the french republic because of our nervous force, our restlessness, but we were more patient. in , the resignation of president grévy in france re-established this fact. though an american president becomes offensive to the people, we wait patiently till his four years are out, even if we are not very quiet about it. we are safest when we keep our hands off the constitution. the demonstration in paris emphasised our republican wisdom. public service is an altar of sacrifice for all who worship there. the death of daniel manning, ex-secretary of the treasury, in december, , was another proof of this. he fell prostrate on the steps of his office, in a sickness that no medical aid could relieve. four years before no one realised the strength that was in him. he threw body and soul into the whirlpool of his work, and was left in the rapids of celebrity. in the closing notes of , i find recorded the death of mrs. william astor. what a sublime lifetime of charity and kindness was hers! mrs. astor's will read like a poem. it had a beauty and a pathos, and a power entirely independent of rhythmical cadence. the document was published to the world on a cold december morning, with its bequests of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the poor and needy, the invalids and the churches. it put a warm glow over the tired and grizzled face of the old year. it was a benediction upon the coming years. the twelfth milestone it seems to me that the constructive age of man begins when he has passed fifty. not until then can he be a master builder. as i sped past the fifty-fifth milestone life itself became better, broader, fuller. my plans were wider, the distances i wanted to go stretched before me, beyond the normal strength of an average lifetime. this i knew, but still i pressed on, indifferent of the speed or strain. there were indications that my strength had not been dissipated, that the years were merely notches that had not cut deep, that had scarcely scarred the surface of the trunk. the soul, the mind, the zest of doing--all were keen and eager. the conservation of the soul is not so profound a matter as it is described. it consists in a guardianship of the gateways through which impressions enter, or pass by; it consists in protecting one's inner self from wasteful associations. the influence of what we read is of chief importance to character. at the beginning of i received innumerable requests from people all over new york and brooklyn for advice on the subject of reading. in the deluge of books that were beginning to sweep over us many readers were drowned. the question of what to read was being discussed everywhere. i opposed the majority of novels because they were made chiefly to set forth desperate love scrapes. much reading of love stories makes one soft, insipid, absent-minded, and useless. affections in life usually work out very differently. the lady does not always break into tears, nor faint, nor do the parents always oppose the situation, so that a romantic elopement is possible. excessive reading of these stories makes fools of men and women. neither is it advisable to read a book because someone else likes it. it is not necessary to waste time on shakespeare if you have no taste for poetry or drama merely because so many others like them; nor to pass a long time with sir william hamilton when metaphysics are not to your taste. when you read a book by the page, every few minutes looking ahead to see how many chapters there are before the book will be finished, you had better stop reading it. there was even a fashion in books that was absurd. people were bored to death by literature in the fashion. for a while we had a tupper epidemic, and everyone grew busy writing blank verse--very blank. then came an epidemic of carlyle, and everyone wrote turgid, involved, twisted and breakneck sentences, each noun with as many verbs as brigham young had wives. then followed a romantic craze, and everyone struggled to combine religion and romance, with frequent punches at religion, and we prided ourselves on being sceptical and independent in our literary tastes. my advice was simply to make up one's mind what to read, and then read it. life is short, and books are many. instead of making your mind a garret crowded with rubbish, make it a parlour, substantially furnished, beautifully arranged, in which you would not be ashamed to have the whole world enter. there was so much in the world to provoke the soul, and yet all persecution is a blessing in some way. the so-called modern literature, towards the close of the nineteenth century, was becoming more and more the illegitimate offspring of immaturity in thought and feeling. we were the slaves of our newspapers; each morning a library was thrown on our doorstep. but what a jumbled, inconsequent, muddled-up library! it was the best that could be made in such a hurry, and it satisfied most of us, though i believe there were conservative people who opened it only to read the marriage and the death notices. the latter came along fast enough. in january, , that well-known american jurist and illustrious brooklynite, judge joseph neilson, died. he was an old friend of mine, of everyone who came upon his horizon. for a long while he was an invalid, but he kept this knowledge from the world, because he wanted no public demonstration. the last four years of his life he was confined to his room, where he sat all the while calm, uncomplaining, interested in all the affairs of the world, after a life of active work in it. he belonged to that breed which has developed the brain and brawn of american character--the scotch-irish. if christianity had been a fallacy, judge neilson would have been just the man to expose it. he who on the judicial bench sat in solemn poise of spirit, while the ablest jurists and advocates of the century were before him to be prompted, corrected, or denied, was not the man to be overcome by a religion of sophistry or mere pretence. chief justice salmon p. chase said that he had studied the christian religion as he had studied a law case, and concluded that it was divine. judge neilson's decisions will be quoted in court rooms as long as justice holds its balance. the supremacy of a useful life never leaves the earth--its influence remains behind. the whole world, it seemed to me, was being spiritualised by the influences of those whose great moments on earth had planted tangible and material benefits, years after they themselves were invisible. it was an elemental fact in the death chamber of mr. roswell, the great botanist, in england; in the relieved anxieties in berlin; in the jubilation in dublin; by the gathering of noblemen in st. petersburg; and in the dawn of this new year. i could see a tendency in european affairs to the unification of nations. the german and the french languages had been struggling for the supremacy of europe. as i foresaw events then, the two would first conquer europe, and the stronger of the two would swallow the other. then the english language would devour that, and the world would have but one language. over a million people had already began the study of volapük, a new language composed of all languages. this was an indication of world nationalisation. congresses of nations, meeting for various purposes, were establishing brotherhood. it looked as though those who were telling us again in that the second coming of christ was at hand were right. the divine significance of things was greater than it had ever been. there was some bigotry in religious affairs, of course. in our religion we were as far from unity of feeling then as we had ever been. the presbyterian bigot could be recognised by his armful of westminster catechisms. the methodist bigot could be easily identified by his declaration that unless a man had been converted by sitting on the anxious seat he was not eligible. the way to the church militant, according to this bigot, was from the anxious seat, one of which he always carried with him. the episcopal bigot struggled under a great load of liturgies. without this man's prayer-books no one could be saved, he said. the baptist bigot was bent double with the burden of his baptistry. "it does not seem as if some of you had been properly washed," he said, "and i shall proceed to put under the water all those who have neglected their ablutions." religion was being served in a kind of ecclesiastical hash that, naturally enough, created controversy, as very properly it should. in spite of these things, however, some creed of religious faith, whichever it might be, was universally needed. i hope for a church unity in the future. when all the branches in each denomination have united, then the great denominations nearest akin will unite, and this absorption will go on until there will be one great millennial church, divided only for geographical convenience into sections as of old, when it was the church of laodicea, the church of philadelphia, the church of thyatira. in the event of this religious evolution then there will be the church of america, the church of europe, the church of asia, the church of africa, and the church of australia. we are all builders, bigots, or master mechanics of the divine will. the number of men who built brooklyn, and who have gone into eternal industry, were increasing. one day i paused a moment on the brooklyn bridge to read on a stone the names of those who had influenced the building of that span of steel, the wonder of the century. they were the absent ones: the president, mr. murphy, absent; the vice-president, mr. kingsley, absent; the treasurer, mr. prentice, absent; the engineer, mr. roebling, absent. our useful citizens were going or gone. a few days after this alfred s. barnes departed. he has not disappeared, nor will until our historical hall, our academy of music, and mercantile library, our great asylums of mercy, and churches of all denominations shall have crumbled. his name has been a bulwark of credit in the financial affairs over which he presided. he was a director of many universities. what reinforcement to the benevolence of the day his patronage was! i enjoyed a warm personal friendship with him for many years, and my gratitude and admiration were unbounded. he was a man of strict integrity in business circles, the highest type of a practical christian gentleman. unlike so many successful business men, he maintained an unusual simplicity of character. he declined the mayoralty and congressional honours that he might pursue the ways of peace. the great black-winged angel was being desperately beaten back, however, by the rising generation of doctors, young, hearty, industrious, ambitious graduates of the american universities. how bitterly vaccination was fought even by ministers of the gospel. small wits caricatured it, but what a world-wide human benediction it proved. i remember being in edinburgh a few weeks after the death of sir james y. simpson, and his photograph was in every shop window, in honour of the man who first used chloroform as an anæsthetic. in former days they tried to dull pain by using the hasheesh of the arabs. dr. simpson's wet sponge was a blessing put into the hands of the surgeon. the millennium for the souls of men will be when the doctors have discovered the millennium for their bodies. dr. bush used to say in his valedictory address to the students of the medical college, "young gentlemen, you have two pockets: a large pocket and a small pocket. the large pocket is for your annoyances and your insults, the small pocket for your fees." in march, , we lost a man who bestowed a new dispensation upon the dumb animals that bear our burdens--henry bergh. abused and ridiculed most of his life, he established a great work for the good men and women of the ensuing centuries to carry out. long may his name live in our consecrated memory. in the same month, from washington to toledo, the long funeral train of chief justice white steamed across country, passing multitudes of uncovered heads bowed in sorrowing respect, while across the sea men honoured his distinguished memory. what a splendid inheritance for those of us who must pass out of the multitude without much ado, if we are not remembered among the bores of life. there were bores in the pulpit who made their congregations dread sundays; made them wish that sunday would come only once a month. at one time an original frenchman actually tried having a sunday only once every ten days. a minister should have a conference with his people before he preaches, otherwise how can he tell what medicine to give them? he must feel the spiritual pulse. every man is a walking eternity in himself, but he will never qualify if he insists on being a bore, even if he have to face sensational newspaper stories about himself. i never replied to any such tales except once, and that once came about in the spring of . i regarded it as a joke. some one reported that one evening, at a little gathering in my house, there were four kinds of wine served. i was much interviewed on the subject. i announced in my church that the report was false, that we had no wine. i did not take the matter as one of offence. if i had been as great a master of invective and satire as roscoe conkling i might have said more. in the spring of this year he died. the whole country watched anxiously the news bulletins of his death. he died a lawyer. about conkling as a politician i have nothing to say. there is no need to enter that field of enraged controversy. as a lawyer he was brilliant, severely logical, if he chose to be, uproarious with mirth if he thought it appropriate. he was an optimist. he was on board the "bothnia" when she broke her shaft at sea, and much anxiety was felt for him. i sailed a week later on the "umbria," and overtaking the "bothnia," the two ships went into harbour together. meeting mr. conkling the next morning, in the north-western hotel, at liverpool, i asked him if he had not been worried. "oh, no," he said; "i was sure that good fortune would bring us through all right." he was the only lawyer i ever knew who could afford to turn away from a seat on the bench of the supreme court of the united states. he had never known misfortune. had he ever been compelled to pass through hardships he would have been president in . because of certain peculiarities, known to himself, as well as to others, he turned aside from politics. although neither mr. conkling nor mr. blaine could have been president while both lived, good people of all parties hoped for mr. conkling's recovery. the national respect shown at the death-bed of the lawyer revealed the progress of our times. lawyers, for many years in the past, had been ostracised. they were once forbidden entrance to parliament. dr. johnson wrote the following epitaph, which is obvious enough:-- god works wonders now and then; here lies a lawyer an honest man. the thirteenth milestone - the longer i live the more i think of mercy. fifty-six years of age and i had not the slightest suspicion that i was getting old. it was like a crisp, exquisitely still autumn day. i felt the strength and buoyancy of all the days i had lived merging themselves into a joyous anticipation of years and years to come. for a long while i had cherished the dream that i might some day visit the holy land, to see with my own eyes the sky, the fields, the rocks, and the sacred background of the divine tragedy. the tangible plans were made, and i was preparing to sail in october, . i felt like a man on the eve of a new career. the fruition of the years past was about to be a great harvest of successful work. i speak of it without reserve, as we offer prayers of gratitude for great mercies. everything before me seemed finer than anything i had ever known. few men at my age were so blessed with the vigour of health, with the elixir of youth. to the world at large i was indebted for its appreciation, its praise sometimes, its interest always. my study in brooklyn was a room that had become a picturesque starting point for the imagination of kindly newspaper men. they were leading me into a new element of celebrity. one morning, in my house in brooklyn, i was asked by a newspaper in new york if it might send a reporter to spend the day with me there. i had no objection. the reporter came after breakfast. breakfast was an awkward meal for the newspaper profession, otherwise we should have had it together. i made no preparation, set no scene, gave the incident no thought, but spent the day in the usual routine of a pastor's duty. it is an incident that puts a side-light on my official duties as a minister in his home, and for that reason i refer to it in detail. some of the descriptions made by the reporter were accurate, and illustrative of my home life. my mail was heavy, and my first duty was always to take it under my arm to my workshop on the second floor of my home in south oxford street. in doing this i was closely followed by the reporter. my study was a place of many windows, and on this morning in the first week of it was flooded with sunshine, or as the reporter, with technical skill, described it, "a mellow light." the sun is always "mellow" in a room whenever i have read about it in a newspaper. the reporter found my study "an unattractive room," because it lacked the signs of "luxury" or even "comfort." as i was erroneously regarded as a clerical croesus at this time the reporter's disappointment was excusable. the gobelin tapestries, the raphael paintings, the turkish divans, and the gold and silver trappings of a throne room were missing in my study. the reporter found the floor distressingly "hard, but polished wood." the walls were painfully plain--"all white." my table, which the reporter kindly signified as a "big one," was drawn up to a large window. of course, like all tables of the kind, it was "littered." i never read of a library table in a newspaper that was not "littered." the reporter spied everything upon it at once, "letters, newspapers, books, pens, ink bottles, pencils, and writing-paper." all of which, of course, indicated intellectual supremacy to the reporter. the chair at my table was "stiff backed," and, amazing fact, it was "without a cushion." in front of the chair, but on the table, the reporter discovered an "open book," which he concluded "showed that the great preacher had been hurriedly called away." in every respect it was a "typical literary man's den." glancing shrewdly around, the reporter discovered "bookshelves around the walls, books piled in corners, and even in the middle of the room." also a newspaper file was noticed, and--careless creature that i am--"there were even bundles of old letters tied with strings thrown carelessly about." the reporter then said:-- "he told me this was his workshop, and looked me in the face with a merry twinkle in his eye to see whether i was surprised or pleased." then i asked the reporter to "sit down," which he promptly did. i was closely watched to see how i opened my mail. nothing startling happened. i just opened "letter after letter." some i laid aside for my secretary, others i actually attended to myself. a letter from a young lady in georgia, asking me to send her what i consider the most important word in my vocabulary, i answered immediately. the ever-watchful reporter observes that to do this "i pick up a pen and write on the margin of the girl's letter the word 'helpfulness.'" then i sign it and stick it in an envelope. then i "dash off the address." obviously i am not at all original at home. i replied to a letter from the president of a theological seminary, asking me to speak to his young men. i like young men so i agree to do so if i can. i "startle" the reporter finally, by a sudden burst of unexpected hilarity over a letter from a man in pennsylvania who wants me to send him a cheque by return mail for one hundred thousand dollars, on a sure thing investment. the reporter says:-- "i am startled by a shrill peal of laughter, and the great preacher leans back in his chair and shakes his sides." the reporter looks over my shoulder and sees other letters. "a young minister writes to say that his congregation is leaving him. how shall he get his people back? an old sailor scrawls on a piece of yellow paper that he is bound for the china seas and he wants a copy of each of dr. talmage's sermons sent to his old wife in new bedford, mass., while he is gone. here is a letter in a schoolgirl's hand. she has had a quarrel with her first lover and he has left her in a huff. how can she get him back? another letter is from the senior member of one of the biggest commercial houses in brooklyn. it is brief, but it gives the good doctor pleasure. the writer tells him how thoroughly he enjoyed the sermon last sunday. the next letter is from the driver of a horse car. he has been discharged. his children go to dr. talmage's sunday school. is that not enough to show that the father is reliable and steady, and will not the preacher go at once to the superintendent of the car line and have him reinstated. here is a perfumed note from a young mother who wants her child baptised. there are invitations to go here and there, and to speak in various cities. young men write for advice: one with the commercial instinct strongly developed, wants to know if the ministry pays? still another letter is from a patent medicine house, asking if the preacher will not write an endorsement of a new cure for rheumatism. other writers take the preacher to task for some utterance in the pulpit that did not please them. either he was too lenient or too severe. a young man wants to get married and writes to know what it will cost to tie the knot. a new york actress, who has been an attendant for several sundays at the tabernacle, writes to say that she is so well pleased with the sermons that she would be glad if she could come earlier on sunday morning, but she is so tired when saturday night comes that she can't get up early. would it be asking too much to have a seat reserved for her until she arrived!" a maid in a "white cap" comes to the door and informs me that a "roomful of people" are waiting to see me downstairs. it is the usual routine of my morning's work, when i receive all who come to me for advice and consolation. the reporter regards it, however, as an event, and writes about it in this way:-- "visitors to the talmage mansion are ushered through a broad hall into the great preacher's back parlour. they begin to arrive frequently before breakfast, and the bell rings till long after the house is closed for the night. there are men and women of all races, some richly dressed, some fashionably, some very poorly. many of them had never spoken a word to dr. talmage before. they think that talmage has only to strike the rock to bring forth a stream of shining coins. he steps into their midst pleasantly. "'well, young man,' he says to a youth of seventeen, who stands before him. he offers the boy his hand and shakes it heartily. "'i don't suppose you know me,' says the lad, 'but i'm in your sunday school. mother thinks i should go to work and i have come to you for advice.' "then follows in whispers a brief conversation about the boy himself, his parents, his education and mode of life. "'now,' says the preacher, leading him by the hand to the door, 'get a letter from your mother, and also one from your sunday school teacher, and one from your day school teacher, and bring them to me. if they are satisfactory i will give you a letter to a warm friend of mine who is one of the largest dry goods merchants in new york. if you are able, bright, and honest he will employ you. if you are faithful you may some day be a member of the firm. all the world is before you, lad. be honest, have courage. roll up your sleeves and go to work and you will succeed. goodbye!' and the door closes. "the next caller is an old woman who wants the popular pastor to get her husband work in the navy yard. no sooner is she disposed of, with a word of comfort, than a spruce-looking young man steps forward. he is a book agent, and his glib tongue runs so fast that the preacher subscribes for his book without looking at it. as the agent retires a shy young girl comes forward and asks for the preacher's autograph. it is given cheerfully. two old ladies of bustling activity have come to ask for advice about opening a soup kitchen for the poor. a middle-aged man pours out a sad story of woe. he is a hard-working carpenter. his only daughter is inclined to be wayward. would dr. talmage come round and talk to her? "finally, all the callers have been heard except one young man who sits in a corner of the room toying with his hat. he has waited patiently so that he might have the preacher all alone. he rises as dr. talmage walks over to him. "'i am in no hurry,' he says. 'i'll wait if you want to speak to--to--to that man over there,' pointing to me. "'no,' is the reply. 'we are going out together soon. what can i do for you?' "'well i can call again if you are too busy to talk to me now?' "'no, i am not too busy. speak up. i can give you ten minutes.' "'but i want a long talk,' persists the visitor. "'i'd like to oblige you,' says the preacher, 'but i'm very busy to-day.' "'i'll come to-morrow.' "'no; i shall be busy to-morrow also.' "'and to-night, too?' "'yes; my time is engaged for the entire week.' "'well, then,' says the young man, in a stammering way; 'i want your advice. i'm employed in a big house in new york and i am getting a fair salary. i have been offered a position in a rival house. would it be right and honourable for me to leave? i am to get a little more salary. i must give my answer by to-morrow. i must make some excuse for leaving. i've thought it all over and don't know what to say. my present employers have treated me well. i want your advice.' "the good preacher protests that it is a delicate question to put to a stranger, even if that stranger happens to be a minister. "'is the firm a good one? are you treated well? haven't you a fair chance? aren't they honourable men?' "the answer to all these questions was in the affirmative. "'but you could tell me whether it would be right for me to do it, and--and--if i could get a letter of recommendation from you it would help me.' "'why don't you ask your mother or father for advice?' "'they are dead.' "'was your mother a christian?' "'yes.' "'then get down on your knees here and lift your face to heaven. ask your angel mother if you would be doing right.' "the young man's eyes fall to the floor. he toys nervously with his hat and backs out of the hall to the door. as he turns the knob he holds out his right-hand to the preacher and whispers: "'i thank you for your advice. i'll not leave my present employer.' "now the great preacher hastily puts on a thick overcoat and, taking a heavy walking-stick in hand, says: 'we'll go now.' he calls a cheery 'goodbye' to mrs. talmage and closes the big door behind him. the air is crispy and invigorating. once in the street the preacher throws back his shoulders until his form is as straight as that of an indian. his blue eyes look out from behind a pair of shaggy eyebrows. they snap and sparkle like a schoolboy's. the face denotes health and strength. the preacher is fond of walking and strides along with giant steps. the colour quickly mounts to his cheeks and reveals a face free from lines and full of health and manly vigour. he has noted the direction that he is to take carefully. as he walks along the street he is noticed by everybody. his figure is a familiar one in the streets of brooklyn. nearly everybody bows to him. he has a hearty 'how are you to-day?' for all. "our direction lies in a thickly-populated section, not many blocks from the water front. it is in the tenement district where dozens of families are huddled together in one house. we pause in front of a rickety building and stop an urchin in the hallway, who replies to the question that we are in the right house. then the good doctor pulls out of his pocket the letter he received some hours ago from the grief-stricken young mother whose baby was ill and who asked for aid. "up flight after flight of stairs we go; two storeys, three, four, five. as we reach the landing, a tidy young woman appears. she is holding her face in her hands and sobbing to break her heart. "'oh, i knew you would come,' she says, as the tears roll down her cheeks; 'i used to go to your church, and i know how deeply your sermons touched me. oh! that was long ago. it was before i knew john, and before our baby came.' "here the speaker broke down completely. "'but it's all over now,' she began again. "'john has ill-used me, and beaten me, and forced me to support him in drunkenness. i could stand all that for my baby's sake.' "she had sunk to the floor on her knees. she was pouring out her soul in agony of grief. "'oh! my baby, my baby!' she cried piteously. 'why were you taken? oh, the blow is too much! i can't stand it. merciful father, have i not suffered enough?' "she fell in a heap on the floor. the heavy breathing and sobbing continued. we looked into the little room. it was scrupulously clean, but barren of furniture and even the rudest comforts of a home. the window curtains are pulled down, but a ray of bright sunlight shoots in and lying on the apology for a bed is a babe. its eyes are closed. its face is as white as alabaster. the little thin hands are folded across its tiny breast. its sufferings are over. "the angel of death had touched its forehead with its icy finger and its spirit had flown to the clouds. "the end had come before the preacher could offer aid. "what a scene it was! "here, in one of the biggest cities in the world, an innocent child had died of hunger, and because its mother was too poor to pay for medical attendance. "a word or two was whispered in the mother's ear and we pass down the creaking stairs to the street. the sun is shining brightly. a half-dozen romping children are on their way home to lunch. the business of the great city is moving briskly. it is christmas week and the air is redolent with the suggestions of good things to come and visions of kriss kringle. truck drivers are whipping their horses and swearing at others in their way. an organ-grinder is playing 'sweet violets' on a neighbouring corner. everyone in the streets is of smiling face and happy." the picture is not mine, nor could i have drawn one of myself, but it is a sketch illustrating the almost daily experiences of a "popular" minister, as i was called. it was estimated that my weekly sermons, in all parts of the world, reached , , people every monday morning--the year . this was gratifying to a man who, in his student days, had been told that he would never be fit to preach the gospel in any american pulpit. i thanked god for the great opportunity of his blessings. [illustration: dr. talmage as chaplain of the thirteenth regiment.] in the spring of i received the honour of being made chaplain of the "old thirteenth" regiment of the national guard, with a commission as captain, to succeed my old friend and fellow-worker, henry ward beecher, who had died. although i was a very busy man i accepted it, because i had always felt it my duty to be a part of any public-spirited enterprise. on march th, , before a vast assembly, the oath was administered by colonel austen, and i received my commission. memories of my actual, though brief, sight of war, at sharpsburg and hagerstown, where the hospitals were filled with wounded soldiers, mingled faintly with the actual scene of peace and plenty around me at that moment. we needed no epaulet then but the shoulder that is muscular, and we needed no commanding officer but the steadiness of our own nerves. the thirteenth regiment was at the height of its prosperity then; our band, under the leadership of fred inness, was the best in the city. i remembered it well because, in the parade on decoration day, i was on horseback riding a somewhat unmusical horse. it was comforting, if not strictly true, to read in the newspaper the following day that "doctor talmage rides his horse with dash and skill." the association of ideas in american life is a wonderful mixture of the appropriate and the inappropriate. because my church was crowded, because i lived in a comfortable house, because i could become, on occasions, a preacher on horseback, i was rated as a millionaire clergyman. it was amusing to read about, but difficult to live up to. there were many calculations in the newspapers as to my income. some of the more moderate figures were correct. my salary was $ , as pastor of the tabernacle, i have made over $ , a year from my lectures. from the publication of my sermons my income was equal to my salary. i received $ , a year as editor of a popular monthly; i sometimes wrote an article that paid me $ or more, and a single marriage fee was often as high as $ . there were some royalties on my books. we lived well, dressed comfortably; but there were many demands on me then, as on all public men, and i needed all i could earn. i carried a life insurance of $ , . all this was a long way from being a croesus of the clergy, however. i mention these figures and facts because they stimulate to me, as i hope they will to others, the possibilities of temporal welfare in a minister's life, provided he works hard and is faithful to the tremendous trusts of his calling. a man's industry is the whole of that man, just as his laziness is the end of him. i always believed heartily, profoundly, in the equality of a man's salvation with a man's self-respect in temporal affairs. i am sure that whoever keeps the books in heaven credits the account of a new arrival with the exact amount of salvation he or she has achieved, making a due allowance for the amounts earned and paid over to the causes of charity, kindliness, and mercy. i always believed in the business and the religious method of the salvation army, because it was an effort to discipline salvation on a working basis. when the salvation army first began its meetings in brooklyn its members were hooted and insulted in the streets to an extent that rendered their meetings almost impossible. i was requested to present a petition to mayor whitney asking protection for them in the streets of the city. people residing near the salvation headquarters were in constant danger of annoyance from the mobs that gathered about them. it was the fault of the brooklyn ruffianism. i demanded that the salvation army be permitted to hold meetings and march in processions unmolested. no one was ever killed by a street hosannah, no one was ever hurt by hearing a hallelujah. the more inspiring the music the more virile the optimism we can show, the more good we can do each other in the climb to paradise. a minister's duty in his own community, and in all other communities in which he may find himself, is to make the great men of his time understand him and like him. a minister who could adapt himself to the lights and shadows of human character in men of prominence enjoyed many opportunities that were enlightening. one met them, these men of many talents, at their best at dinners and banquets. it was then they were in their splendour. those dinners at the press club in , what treat they were! in the days of john a. cockerill, the handsome, dashing "colonel," as he was called, of mayor grant the suave, chauncey m. depew the wit, of charles emory smith the conservative journalist, of henry george the socialist, moses p. handy the "major," of roswell p. flower, of judge henry hilton, of general felix agnus--and of hermann, the original, the great, the magic wonder-maker of the times. they were the leading spirits of an army of bright men who pushed the world upside down, or rolled it over and over, or made it stand still, according to how they felt. mingling with these arbiters of our fate were all sorts and conditions of men. at one of these dinners i remember seeing inspector byrnes, the sherlock holmes of american crime, colonel ochiltree, the red savage, steven fiske, samuel carpenter, judge david mcadam, john w. keller, judge gedney, "pat" gilmore, rufus hatch, general horatio c. king, frank b. thurber, j. amory knox, e.b. harper, w.j. arkell, dr. nagle, the poet geogheghan, doc white, and joseph howard, jun. they were the old guard of the land of bohemia, where a minister's voice sounded good to them if it was a voice without cant or religious hypocrisy. i remember a letter sent by president harrison to one of these dinners, in which, after acknowledging the receipt of an invitation to attend, he regretted being unable to be present at "so attractive an event." among the men whom i first met at this time, and who made an impression of lasting respect upon me, was henry cabot lodge. he was the guest of general stewart l. woodford, at a breakfast given in his honour in the spring of at the hamilton club. general woodford invited me, among others, to meet him. we all came--mr. benjamin a. stillman, mr. j.s.t. stranahan, mr. theodore roosevelt, judge c.r. pratt, ex-mayor schroeder, mr. john winslow, president of the new england society, mr. george m. olcott, mr. william copeland wallace, colonel albert p. lamb, mr. charles a. moore, mr. william b. williams, mr. ethan allen doty, mr. james s. case, mr. t.l. woodruff. it was a social innovation then to arrange a gathering of this sort at a.m. and call it a breakfast. it came from england. mr. lodge was only in town on a visit for a few days, chiefly, i think, to attend the annual dinner of the "sunrise sons," as the members of the new england society were called. as i read these names again, how big some of them look now, in the world's note-book of celebrities. some of them were just beginning to learn the pleasant taste of ambitious careers. most of them had discovered that ambition was the gift of hard work. there is more health in work than in any medicine i ever heard of. work is the only thing that keeps people alive. whatever posterity may proclaim for me, i always had the reputation of being a worker. perhaps for this reason i became the object of a microscopic investigation before the people in . it was the first time in my life that any notable attention had been taken of me in my own country, that was not a personal notoriety over some conflict of the hour. whenever the american newspaper begins to describe your home life with an air of analysis that is not libellous you are among the famous. it took me a little while to understand this. a man's private life is of such indifferent character to himself, unless he be an official representative of the people, that i never quite appreciated the importance given to mine, at this time, in brooklyn. chiefly because i had made money as a writer, my fellow-citizens were curious to know how, in the clerical profession, it could be made. articles appeared constantly in the newspapers with headlines like these--"dr. talmage at home," "in a clergyman's study," "dr. talmage's wealth," "talmage interviewed." nearly all of them began with the american view point uppermost, in this fashion: "the american preacher lives in a luxurious home." "his income, from all sources, exceeds that of the president of the united states." "the impression is everywhere that dr. talmage is very rich." i regretted this because there is a notion that a minister of the gospel cannot accumulate money for himself, that he should not do so if he could, that his duty consists in collecting money for his church, his parish, his mission--for anything and everyone but his own temporal prosperity. i had done this all my life. i can solemnly say that i never sought the financial success which in some measure came to me. i regarded the money which i received for my work as pastor of the tabernacle, or from other sources as an earning capacity that is due to every working man. i was able to do more work than some, because the motives of my whole life have insisted that i work hard. the impetus of my strength was not abnormal, it was merely the daily requirement of my health that i work as hard as i knew how as long as i could. restlessness was an element of life with me. i could not keep still any length of time. my mind had acquired the habit of ideas, and my hands were always full of unfinished labours. i remember trying once to sit still at a concert of gilmore's band, at manhattan beach. after hearing one selection i found myself unable to listen any farther--i could not sit quiet for longer. i rarely allowed myself more than five minutes for shaving, no matter whether the razor were sharp or blunt. they used to tell me that i wore a black bow tie till it was not fit to wear. on the trains i slept a great deal. sleep is the great storage battery of life. four days of the week i was on the train. i rose every morning at six. the first thing i did was to glance over the morning newspaper, to catch in this whispering gallery of the world the life of a new day. first the cable news, then the editorials, then the news about ourselves. i received the principal newspapers of almost every big city in the morning mail i enjoyed the caricatures of myself, they made me laugh. if a man poked fun at me with true wit i was his friend. they were clever fellows those newspaper humorists. i consider walking a very important exercise--not merely a stroll, but a good long walk. often i used to go from the grand central depot in new york to my home in brooklyn. there and back was my usual promenade. seven miles should be an average walk for a man past fifty every day. i have made fifteen and twenty miles without fatigue. i always dined in the middle of the day. contrary to "combes' physiology," i always took a nap after dinner. in my boyhood days this was a book that opposed the habit. combes said that he thought it very injurious to sleep after dinner, but i saw the cow lie down after eating, and the horse, and it seemed to me that combes was wrong. a morning bath is absolutely indispensable. when i was in college there were no luxurious hot and cold bath rooms. i often had to break the ice in my pitcher to get at the water. these were the habits of my life, formed in my youth, and as they grew upon me they were the sinews that kept me young in the heart and brain and muscle. my voice rarely, if ever, failed me entirely. in , to my surprise and delight, my western trips had become ovations that no human being could fail to enjoy. in st. paul, duluth, minneapolis, the crowds in and about the churches where i preached were estimated to be over twenty thousand. it was a joy to live realising the service one could be to others. this year of was to be a climax to so many aspirations of my life that i am forced to record it as one of the most important of all my working years. no event of any consequence in the country, social or political, or disastrous, happened, that my name was not available to the ethical phase of its development. newspaper squibs of all sorts reflect this fact in some way. here is one that illustrates my meaning: "only talmage! "the weary husband was lounging in the old armchair reading before the fire after the day's work. suddenly he brought down his hand vigorously upon his knee, exclaiming, 'that's so! that's so!' a minute after, he cried again, 'well, i should say.' then later, 'good for you; hit them right and left.' soon he stretched himself out at full length in the chair, let his right hand, holding the paper, drop nearly to the floor, threw up his left and laughed aloud until the rafters rang. his anxious wife inquired, 'what is it so funny, john?' "he made no reply, but lifted the paper again, straightened himself up, and went on reading. very quiet he now grew by degrees. then slyly he slipped his left hand around and drew out his handkerchief, wiped his brow and lips by way of excuse and gave his eyelids a passing dash. the very next moment he pressed the handkerchief to his eyes and let the paper drop to the floor, saying, 'well, that's wonderful.' 'what is it, john?' his good wife inquired again. 'oh! it's only talmage!'" my contemporaries in brooklyn celebrity at this time were unusual men. some of them were dear friends, some of them close friends, some of them advisers or champions, guardians of my peace--all of them friends. about this time i visited johnstown, shortly after the flood. my heart was weary with the scenes of desolation about me. it did not seem possible that the hospitable city of johnstown i had known in other days could be so tumbled down by disaster. where i had once seen the street, equal in style to euclid avenue in cleveland, i found a long ridge of sand strewn with planks and driftwood. by a wave from twelve to twenty feet high, houses were crushed, twenty-eight huge locomotives from the round house were destroyed, hundreds of people dead and dying in its anger. two thousand dead were found, , missing, was the record the day i was there. the place became used to death. it was not a sensation to the survivors to see it about them. i saw a human body taken out of the ruins as if it had been a stick of wood. no crowd gathered about it. some workmen a hundred feet away did not stop their work to see. the devastation was far worse than was ever told. the worst part of it could not even be seen. the heart-wreck was the unseen tragedy of this unfortunate american city. from brooklyn i helped to send temporary relief. with a wooden box in my hand i, with others, collected from the bounty of that vast meeting in the academy of music. the exact amount paid over by our relief committee in all was $ , . there was no end to the demand upon one's energy in all directions. i was called upon in september, , to lay the corner stone of the first presbyterian church at far-rockaway, and amid the imposing ceremonies i predicted the great future of long island. it seemed to me that long island would some day be the london of america, filled with the most prominent churches of the country. while in the plans of others i was an impulse at least towards success, in my own plans, how often i have been scourged and beaten to earth. as it had been before, so it was in this zenith of my personal progress. to my amazement, chagrin and despair, on the morning of october , , our beautiful church was again burned to the ground. the fourteenth milestone - for fifteen years, to a large part of the public, i had been an experiment in church affairs. in i had caught up with the world and the things i had been doing and thinking and hoping became suitable for the world. in the retrospect of those things i had left behind what gratitude i felt for their strife and struggle! a minister of the gospel is not only a sentinel of divine orders, he must also have deep convictions of his authority to resist attack in his own way, by his own force, with his own strength and faith. when, on june , , i laid the corner-stone of the new tabernacle, i dedicated the sacred building as a stronghold against rationalism and humanitarianism. i knew then that this statement was regarded as questionable orthodoxy, and i myself had become the curious symbol of a new religion. still i pursued my course, an independent sentry on the outskirts of the old religious camping-ground, but inspired with the converting grace i had received in my boyhood, my duty was clearly not so much a duty of regulations as it was a conception, a sympathy, a command to the christian needs of the human race. when the first tabernacle was consumed by fire my utterances were criticised and my enthusiasm to rebuild it was misconstrued. my convictions then were the same, they have always been the same. to me it seemed that god's most vehement utterances had been in flames of fire. the most tremendous lesson he ever gave to new york was in the conflagration of ; to chicago in the conflagration of ; to boston in the conflagration of ; to my own congregation in the fiery downfall of the tabernacle. some saw in the flames that roared through its organ pipes a requiem, nothing but unmitigated disaster, while others of us heard the voice of god, as from heaven, sounding through the crackling thunder of that awful day, saying, "he shall baptise you with the holy ghost and with fire!" it was a very different state of public feeling which met the disaster that came to the tabernacle on that early sabbath morning of october , . i had a congregation of millions all over the world to appeal to. i stood before them, accredited in the religious course i had pursued, approved as a minister of the gospel, upheld as a man and a preacher. the hand of providence is always a mysterious grasp of life that confuses and dismays, but it always rebuilds, restores, and prophesies. the second tabernacle was destroyed during a terrific thunderstorm. it was crumpled and torn by the winds and the flames of heaven. i watched the fire from the cupola of my house in silent abnegation. the history of the brooklyn tabernacle had been strange and peculiar all the way through. things that seemed to be against us always turned out finally for us. our brightest and best days always follow disaster. our enlargements of the building had never met our needs. our plans had pleased the people, but we needed improvements. in this spirit i accepted the situation, and the board of trustees sustained me. our insurance on the church building was over $ , . i made an appeal to the people of brooklyn and to the thousands of readers my sermons had gained, for the sum of $ , . it would be much easier to accomplish, i felt, than it had been before. at my house in brooklyn, on the evening of the day of the fire, the following resolutions were passed by the board of trustees:-- "resolved--that we bow in humble submission to the providence which this morning removed our beloved church, and while we cannot fully understand the meaning of that providence we have faith that there is kindness as well as severity in the stroke. "resolved:--that if god and the people help us we will proceed at once to rebuild, and that we rear a larger structure to meet the demands of our congregation, the locality and style of the building to be indicated by the amount of contributions made." a committee was immediately formed to select a temporary place of worship, and the academy of music was selected, because of its size and location. i was asked for a statement to the people through the press. from a scrap-book i copy this statement:-- "to the people-- "by sudden calamity we are without a church. the building associated with so much that is dear to us is in ashes. in behalf of my stricken congregation i make appeal for help. our church has never confined its work to this locality. our church has never been sufficient either in size or appointments for the people who came. we want to build something worthy of our city and worthy of the cause of god. "we want $ , , which, added to the insurance, will build what is needed. i make appeal to all our friends throughout christendom, to all denominations, to all creeds and to those of no creed at all, to come to our rescue. i ask all readers of my sermons the world over to contribute as far as their means will allow. what we do as a church depends upon the immediate response made to this call. i was on the eve of departure for a brief visit to the holy land that i might be better prepared for my work here, but that visit must be postponed. i cannot leave until something is done to decide our future. "may the god who has our destiny as individuals and as churches in his hand appear for our deliverance! "responses to this appeal to the people may be sent to me in brooklyn, and i will with my own hand acknowledge the receipt thereof. "t. dewitt talmage." i had planned to sail for the holy land on october , but the disaster that had come upon us seemed to make it impossible. i had almost given it up. there followed such an universal response to my appeal, such a remarkable current of sympathy, however, that completely overwhelmed me, so that by the grace of god i was able to sail. to the trustees of the tabernacle much of this was due. they were the men who stood by me, my friends, my advisers. i record their names as the christian guardians of my destiny through danger and through safety. they were dr. harrison a. tucker, john wood, alexander mclean, e.h. lawrence, and charles darling. in a note-book i find recorded also the names of some of the first subscribers to the new tabernacle. they were the real builders. wechsler and abraham were among the first to contribute $ , "texas siftings" through j. amory knox sent $ , and "judge" forwarded a cheque for the same amount, with the declaration that all other periodicals in the united states ought to go and do likewise. a.e. coates sent $ , e.m. knox $ , a.j. nutting $ , benjamin l. fairchild $ , joseph e. carson $ , haviland and sons $ , francis h. stuart, m.d., $ , giles f. bushnell $ , and pauline e. martin $ . even the small children, the poor, the aged, sent in their dollars. about one thousand dollars was contributed the first day. everything was done by the trustees and the people, to expedite the plans of the new tabernacle so that in two weeks from the date of the fire i broke ground for what was to be the largest church in the world of a protestant denomination, on the corner of clinton and greene avenues. that afternoon of october , , when i stood in the enclosure arranged for me, and consecrated the ground to the word of god, was another moment of supreme joy to me. it was said that those who witnessed the ceremony were impressed with the importance of it in the course of my own life and in the history of christianity. to me it was akin to those pregnant hours of my life through which i had passed in great exaltation of spiritual fervour. my words of consecration were brief, as follows: "may the lord god of abraham, and isaac, and jacob, and joshua, and paul, and john knox, and john wesley, and hugh latimer, and bishop mcilvaine take possession of this ground and all that shall be built upon it." before me was a vision of that church, its gothic arches, its splendour of stained-glass windows, its spires and gables, and, as i saw this our third tabernacle rise up before me, i prayed that its windows might look out into the next world as well as this. i was glad that i had waited to turn that bit of god-like earth on the old marshall homestead in brooklyn, for it filled my heart with a spiritual promise and potency that was an invisible cord binding me during my pilgrimage to jordan with my congregation which i had left behind. with mrs. talmage and my daughter, may talmage, i sailed on the "city of paris," on october , , to complete the plan i had dreamed of for years. i had been reverently anxious to actually see the places associated with our lord's life and death. i wanted to see bethlehem and nazareth, and jerusalem and calvary, so intimately connected with the ministry of our saviour. i had arranged to write a life of christ, and this trip was imperative. in that book is the complete record of this journey, therefore i feel that other things that have not been told deserve the space here that would otherwise belong to my recollections of the holy land. it was reported that while in jerusalem i made an effort to purchase calvary and the tomb of our saviour, so as to present it to the christian church at large. i was so impressed with the fact that part of this sacred ground was being used as a mohammedan cemetery that i was inspired to buy it in token of respect to all christendom. of course this led to much criticism, but that has never stopped my convictions. i was away for two months, returning in february, . during my absence our sunday services were conducted by the most talented preachers we could secure. with the exception of a few days' influenza while i was in paris, in january, just prior to my return, the trip was a glorious success. according to the editorial opinion of one newspaper i had "discovered a new adam that was to prove a puissant ally in his future struggles with the old adam." this was not meant to be friendly, but i prefer to believe that it was so after all. in england i was promised, if i would take up a month's preaching tour there, that the english people would subscribe five thousand pounds to the new tabernacle. these and other invitations were tempting, but i could not alter my itinerary. while in england i received an invitation from mr. gladstone to visit him at hawarden. he wired me, "pray come to hawarden to-morrow," and on january , , i paid my visit. i was staying at the grand hotel in london when the telegram was handed to me. with the rest of the world, at that time, i regarded mr. gladstone as the most wonderful man of the century. he came into the room at hawarden where i was waiting for him, an alert, eager, kindly man. he was not the grand old man in spirit, whatever he may have been in age. he was lithe of body, his step was elastic. he held out both his hands in a cordial welcome. he spoke first of the wide publication of my sermons in england, and questioned me about them. in a few minutes he proposed a walk, and calling his dog we started out for what was in fact a run over his estate. gladstone was the only man i ever met who walked fast enough for me. over the hills, through his magnificent park, everywhere he pointed out the stumps of trees which he had cut down. once a guest of his, an english lord, had died emulating gladstone's strenuous custom. he showed me the place. "no man who has heart disease ought to use the axe," he said; "that very stump is the place where my friend used it, and died." he rallied the american tendency to exaggerate things in a story he told with great glee, about a fabulous tree in california, where two men cutting at it on opposite sides for many days were entirely oblivious of each other's presence. each one believed himself to be a lone woodsman in the forest until, after a long time, they met with surprise at the heart of the tree. american stories seemed to tickle him immensely. he told another kindred one of a fish in american lakes, so large that when it was taken out of the water the lake was perceptibly lowered. he grew buoyant, breezy, fanciful in the brisk winter air. like his dog, he was tingling with life. he liked to throw sticks for him, to see him jump and run. "look at that dog's eyes, isn't he a fine fellow?" he kept asking. his knowledge of the trees on his estate was historical. he knew their lineage and characteristics from the date of their sapling age, four or five hundred years before. the old and decrepit aristocrats of his forest were tenderly bandaged, their arms in splints. "look at that sycamore," he said; "did you find in the holy land any more thrifty than that? you know sometimes i am described as destroying my trees. i only destroy the bad to help the good. since i have thrown my park open to visitors the privilege has never been abused." we drifted upon all subjects, rational, political, religious, ethical. "divorce in your country, is it not a menace?" he asked. "the great danger is re-marriage. it should be forbidden for divorced persons. i understand that in your state of south carolina there is no divorce. i believe that is the right idea. if re-marriage were impossible then divorce would be impossible," he replied to his own question. gladstone's religious instinct was prophetic in its grasp. his intellectual approval of religious intention was the test of his faith. he applied to the exaltations of christianity the reason of human fact. i was forcibly impressed with this when he told me of an incident in his boyhood. "i read something in 'augustine' when i was a boy," he said, "which struck me then with great force. i still feel it to-day. it was the passage which says, 'when the human race rebelled against god, the lower nature of man as a consequence rebelled against the higher nature.'" i asked him then if the years had strengthened or weakened his christian faith. we were racing up hill. he stopped suddenly on the hillside and regarded me with a searching earnestness, a solemnity that made me quake. then he spoke slowly, more seriously: "dr. talmage, my only hope for the world is in the bringing of the human mind into contact with divine revelation. nearly all the men at the top in our country are believers in the christian religion. the four leading physicians of england are devout christian men. i, myself, have been in the cabinet forty-seven years, and during all that time i have been associated with sixty of the chief intellects of the century. i can think of but five of those sixty who did not profess the christian religion, but those five men respected it. we may talk about questions of the day here and there, but there is only one question, and that is how to apply the gospel to all circumstances and conditions. it can and will correct all that is wrong. have you, in america, any of the terrible agnosticism that we have in europe? i am glad none of my children are afflicted with it." i asked him if he did not believe that many people had no religion in their heads, but a good religion in their hearts. "i have no doubt of it, and i can give you an illustration," he said. "yesterday, lord napier was buried in st. paul's cathedral. after the war in africa lord napier was here for a few days, at the invitation of mrs. gladstone and myself, and we walked as we are walking now. he told me this story. i cannot remember his exact words. he said that just when the troops were about to leave africa there was a soldier with a broken leg. he was too sick to take along, but to leave him behind seemed barbaric. lord napier ordered him to be carried, but he soon became too ill to go any further. lord napier went to a native woman well known in that country for her kindness, and asked her to take care of the soldier. to ensure his care she was offered a good sum of money. i remember her reply as lord napier repeated it to me. 'no, i will not take care of this wounded soldier for the money you offer me,' she said; 'i have no need of the money. my father and mother have a comfortable tent, and i have a good tent; why should i take the money? if you will leave him here i will take care of him for the sake of the love of god.'" gladstone was in the thick of political scrimmage over home rule, and he talked about it with me. "it seems the dispensation of god that i should be in the battle," he said; "but it is not to my taste. i never had any option in the matter. i dislike contests, but i could not decline this controversy without disgrace. when ireland showed herself ready to adopt a righteous constitution, and do her full duty, i hesitated not an hour." two nights before, at a speech in chester, mr. gladstone had declared that the increase of the american navy would necessitate the increase of the british navy. i rallied him about this statement, and he said, "oh! americans like to hear the plain truth. the fact is, the tie between the two nations is growing closer every year." it was a bitter cold day and yet mr. gladstone wore only a very light cape, reaching scarcely to his knees. "i need nothing more on me," he said; "i must have my legs free." after luncheon he took me into his library, a wonderful place, a treasure-house in itself, a bookman's palace. the books had been arranged and catalogued according to a system of his own invention. he showed many presents of american books and pictures sent to him. "outside of america there is no one who is bound to love it more than i do," he said, "you see, i am almost surrounded by the evidences of american kindnesses." he gave me some books and pamphlets about himself, and his own greek translation of "jesus, lover of my soul." mrs. gladstone had been obliged to leave before we returned from our walk. mr. gladstone took me into a room, however, and showed me a beautiful sculptured portrait of her, made when she was twenty-two. "she is only two years younger than i am, but in complete health and vigour," he said proudly. he came out upon the steps to bid me good-bye. bareheaded, his white hair flowing in the wind, he stood in the cold and i begged him to go in. i expressed a wish that he might come to america. "i am too old now," he said, wistfully, i thought. "is it the atlantic you object to?" i asked. "oh! i am not afraid of the ocean," he said, as though there were perhaps some other reason. "tell your country i watch every turn of its history with a heart of innermost admiration," he called after me. i carried gladstone's message at once, going straight from hawarden to america, as i had intended when leaving london. i was prepared for a reception in brooklyn on my return, but i never dreamed it would be the ovation it was. it becomes difficult to write of these personal courtesies, as i find them increasing in the progress of my life from now on. i trust the casual reader will not construe anything in these pages into a boastful desire to spread myself in too large letters in print. when i entered the thirteenth regiment armoury on the evening of february , , it was packed from top to floor. it was a large building with its three acres of drill floor and its half mile of galleries. there were over seven thousand people there, so the newspapers estimated. against the east wall was the speaker's platform, and over it in big letters of fire burned the word "welcome." on the stage, when i arrived at eight o'clock, were mayor chapin, colonel austen, general alfred c. barnes, the rev. j. benson hamilton, judge clement, mr. andrew mclean, the rev. leon harrison, ex-mayor whitney, the hon. david a. boody, u.s. marshal stafford, judge courtney, postmaster hendrix, john y. culver, mark d. wilber, commissioner george v. brower, the rev. e.p. terhune, general horatio c. king, william e. robinson and several others. the trustees of the tabernacle, like a guard of honour, came in with me, and as we made our way through the crowds to the stage, the long-continued cheering and applause were deafening. the band, assisted by the cornetist, peter ali, played "home, sweet home." for a few minutes i was very busy shaking hands. the most inspiring moment of these preliminaries was the approach of the most distinguished man in that vast assembly, general william t. sherman. he marched to the platform under military escort, while the band played "marching through georgia." everyone stood up in deference to the old warrior, handkerchiefs were waved, hats flew up in the air, everyone was so proud of him, so pleased to see him! mayor chapin introduced the general, and as he stood patiently waiting for the audience to regain its self-control, the band played "auld lang syne." then in the presence of that great crowd he gave me a soldier's welcome. i remember one sentence uttered by sherman that night that revealed the character of the great fighter when he said, "the same god that appeared at nazareth is here to-night." but nothing on that auspicious evening was so great to me as when sherman spoke what he described as the soldier's welcome: "how are you, old fellow, glad to see you!" he said. the building of the new tabernacle, my third effort to establish an independent church in brooklyn, went on rapidly. we were planning then to open it in september, . the church building alone was to cost $ , . its architectural beauty was in accord with the elegance of its fashionable neighbourhood on "the hill," as that residential part of brooklyn was always described. "the hill" was unique. when people in brooklyn became tired of the rush and bustle of life they returned to clinton avenue. it was an idyllic village in the heart of the city. the front yards were as large as farms. new yorkers described this locality as "sleepy hollow." on this account, during my absence, there had developed in the neighbourhood some opposition to the building of the new tabernacle there. some of the residents were afraid it would disturb the quiet of the neighbourhood. they opposed it as they would a base ball park, or a circus. they were afraid the organ would annoy the sparrows. the opposition went so far that a subscription paper was passed around to induce us to go away. as much as $ , was raised to persuade us. these objections, however, were confined to a few people, the majority realising the adornment the new church would be to the neighbourhood. when i returned i found that this opposing sentiment had described us as "the tabernacle rabble." i was in splendid health and spirits however, and refused to be downcast. during my absence our pews had been rented, realising $ , . the largest portion of these pews were rented by letter, and the balance at a public meeting held in temple israel. the second gallery of the church was free. the highest price paid in the rental for one pew for a year was $ , the lowest was $ . in the interval, pending the completion of the church, pew holders were given tickets for reserved seats in the academy of music, where our sunday services were held. there were , free seats in the second gallery of the new tabernacle. it was a great joy to find that the enterprise i had inaugurated before sailing for the holy land had made such good progress. but we were always fortunate. i recall that my congregation was surprised one morning to learn that emma abbott, the beautiful american singer, had left a bequest of $ , to the brooklyn tabernacle. i was not surprised. i had received a private note from her once expressing her kindly feeling toward our church and promising, in the event of her decease, to leave some remembrance to us. she always had a presentiment that her life was to be short, and this always had a very depressing effect upon her. her grief for her husband's death hastened her own. she loved him with all her heart. she was a good woman. mr. beecher was a kind and loyal friend to her in her obscurer days. in those days mr. beecher brought her over from new york and put her in care of a mrs. bird in brooklyn. until she went abroad she was helped in her musical education by these friends. she attended mr. beecher's prayer meetings regularly. everyone who met her felt that she was a noble-hearted woman of pure character and sweet soul. on february , , i preached my first sermon since my return from the holy land in the academy of music. it was expected that i would preach about the country of sacred memories that i had visited, but i was impressed with what i had found on my return in religious history of a more modern purpose. they had been fixing up the creeds while i was abroad, tracing the footsteps of divine law, and i felt the importance of this fact. so i chose the text in joshua vi. , "and the young men that were spies went in and brought out rahab, and her father and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had." i did not read the newspapers while i was away so i was not familiar with all the discussion. i understood, however, that they were revising the creed. you might as well try to patch up your grandfather's overcoat. it will be much better to get a new one. the recent sessions of the presbytery had been divided into two parties. one was in favour of patching up the old overcoat, the other in favour of a new one. dr. briggs had pointed out the torn places--at least five of them. he had revealed it, shabby and somewhat threadbare. presbyterians had practically discarded the garment. why should they want to flaunt any of its shreds? so i agreed with dr. briggs, that we had better get a new one. the laying of the corner stone of the new tabernacle took place on the afternoon of february , . it was a modest ceremony because it was considered wise to defer the festivities for the dedication services that were to occur in the church itself in the spring. the two tin boxes placed in the corner stone contained the records of the church organisation from to , a copy of the bible, coins of , newspaper accounts of the dedication of the old tabernacle, copies of the brooklyn and new york newspapers, photographs of the trustees, a -cent gold piece from the philadelphia mint with the lord's prayer engraved on one side, drawing and plans of the new tabernacle, and some colonial money dated , , , . during my trip in the holy land i had secured two stones, one from mount calvary and one from mount sinai, which were to be placed in the tabernacle later. the "tabernacle rabble," as the philistines of clinton avenue called us, continued to meet in the academy of music with renewed vigour. my own duties became more exacting because of the additional work i had undertaken, of an editorial nature, on two periodicals. of course my critics were always with me. what man or thing on earth is without these stimulants of one's energy. they were fair and unfair. i did not care so much for my serious critics as my humorous ones. solemnity when sustained by malice or bigotry is a bore. some call it hypocrisy, but that is too clever for the tiresome critic. frequently, in my scrap book, i kept the funny comments about myself. here is one from the "chicago american," published in :-- when talmage the terrible shouts his "god-speed" to illit'rate (and worse) immigration, who knows but his far-seeing mind feels a need of recruits for his mix'd congregation? and when he, self-made gateman of heaven, says he's glad to rake in, on his free invitation, the fit and the unfit, the good and the bad, put it down to his tall-'mag-ination.--_pan._ my critics were particularly wrought up again on my return from palestine over my finances. what a crime it was, they said, for a minister to be a millionaire! had i really been one how much more i could have helped some of them along. finally the subject became most wearisome, and i gave out some actual facts. from this data it was revealed that i was worth about $ , , considerably short of one million. in actual cash it was finally declared that i was only worth $ , . my house in brooklyn, which i bought shortly after my pastorate began there, cost $ , . i paid $ , cash, and obtained easy terms on a mortgage for the balance. it was worth $ , in . my country residence at east hampton was estimated to be worth $ , . i owned a few lots on the old coney island road. my investments of any surplus funds i had were in per cent. mortgages. i had as much as $ , invested in this way since i had begun these operations in . most of the mortgages were on private residences. i mention these facts that there may be no jealous feeling against me among other millionaires. because of my reputation for wealth i was sometimes included among new york's fashionable clergymen. i deny that i was ever any such thing, and i almost believe such a thing never was, but i find, in my scrapbook, a contemporaneous list of them. dr. morgan dix, of trinity church, with a salary of $ , , heads the list, dr. brown of st. thomas' church, received the same amount; so did dr. huntington of grace church, and dr. greer of st. bartholomew's. the bishop of the diocese received no more. dr. rainsford of st. george's church received $ , , and like dr. greer, possessing a private fortune, he turned his salary over to the church. the clergymen of the methodist episcopal churches were not so rich. the bishop of new york received only $ , . the pastor of st. paul's, on fourth avenue, received the same amount, so did the pastor of the madison avenue church. the presbyterian pulpits were filled with some of the ablest preachers in new york. dr. john hall of the fifth avenue church received the salary of $ , , dr. paxton $ , , dr. parkhurst and dr. c.c. thompson $ , respectively. dr. robert collyer of the park avenue unitarian church, received $ , , and dr. william m. taylor of the broadway tabernacle the same amount. i was included among these "men of fashion," much to my surprise. this fact, forced upon me by contemporary opinion, did not have anything to do with what happened in the spring of , though it was applied in that way. my congregation were not told about it until it was too late to interfere. this i thought wise because there might have been some opposition to my course. i kept it a secret because it was not a matter i could discuss with any dignity. then, too, i realised that it was going to affect the entire brotherhood of newspaper artists, especially the cartoonists. i shuddered when i thought of the embarrassment this act of mine would cause the country editor with only one talmage woodcut of many years in his art department. so i did it quietly, without consultation. in the spring of i shaved my whiskers. the fifteenth milestone - on april , , the new tabernacle was opened. there were three dedication services and thousands of people came. i was fifty-nine years of age. up to this time everything had been extraordinary in its conflict, its warnings. i found myself, after over thirty years of service to the gospel, pastor of the biggest protestant church in the world. it seems to me there were more men of indomitable success during my career in america than at any other time. there were so many self-made men, so many who compelled the world to listen, and feel and do as they believed--men of remarkable energy, of prophetic genius. everywhere in england i had been asked about cyrus w. field. he was the hero of the nineteenth century. in his days of sickness and trouble the world remembered him. of all the population of the earth he was the one man who believed that a wire could be strung across the atlantic. it took him twelve years of incessant toil and fifty voyages across the atlantic. i remember well, in , when the cable broke, how everyone joined in the great chorus of "i told you so." there was a great jubilee in that choral society of wise know-nothings. thirty times the grapnel searched the bottom of the sea and finally caught the broken cable, and the pluck and ingenuity of cyrus w. field was celebrated. ocean cablegrams had ceased to be a curiosity, but some of us remember the day when they were. i kept a memorandum of the two first messages across the atlantic that passed between queen victoria and president buchanan in the summer of . from england, in the queen's name, came this: "to the president of the united states, washington-- "the queen desires to congratulate the president upon the successful completion of this great international work, in which the queen has taken the deepest interest. the queen is convinced that the president will join with her in fervently hoping that the electric cable which now connects great britain with the united states will prove an additional link between the nations whose friendship is founded upon their common interest and reciprocal esteem. the queen has much pleasure in thus communicating with the president and renewing to him her wishes for the prosperity of the united states." the president's answering cable was as follows: "to her majesty victoria, queen of great britain-- "the president cordially reciprocates the congratulations of her majesty the queen on the success of the great international enterprise accomplished by the science, skill, and indomitable energy of the two countries. it is a triumph more glorious than was ever won by any conquest on the field of battle. may the atlantic telegraph, under the blessing of heaven, prove to be a bond of perpetual peace and friendship between the kindred nations and an instrument designed by divine providence to diffuse religion, civilisation, liberty and law throughout the world. in this view will not all nations of christendom spontaneously unite in the declaration that it shall be forever neutral, and that its communications shall be held sacred in passing to their destination, even in the midst of hostilities. "james buchanan." it is interesting to compare the elemental quality, the inner character of these national flashes of feeling, that came so comparatively soon after the days of the revolution in america. it was a sort of prose poetry of the new century. this recollection came back to me, on my return from europe, upon the opening of the new tabernacle, a symbol of the eternal human progress of the world. materially and spiritually we were striving ahead, men of affairs, men of religion, philosophers, scientists, and poets. i was present in at the celebration of whittier's eighty-fourth birthday. he was on the bright side of eighty then. the schools celebrated the day, so should the churches have done, for he was a christian poet. john greenleaf whittier was a quaker. that means that he was a genial, kind, good man--a simple man. i spent an afternoon with him once in a barn. we were summering in the mountains near by. we found ourselves in the barn, where we stretched out on the hay. the world had not spoiled the simplicity of his nature. it was an afternoon of pastoral peace, with one who had written himself into the heart of a nation. how much i learned from that man's childlikeness and simplicity! if he had lived to be a hundred he would still have remained young. the long flight of years had not tired his spirit, for wherever the english language is spoken he will always live. he was born in christmas week, a spirit in human shape, come to earth to keep it forever young. he was the bell-ringer of all youthful ages. and yet he remembered also those who for any reason could not join in the merriment of the holidays. to those i recommend whittier's poem, in which he celebrates the rescue of two quakers who had been fined £ for attending church instead of going to a quaker meeting house, and not being able to pay the fine were first imprisoned and then sold as slaves, but no ship master consenting to carry them into slavery they were liberated. the closing stanza of this poem is worth remembering:-- "now, let the humble ones arise, the poor in heart be glad, and let the mourning ones again with robes of praise be clad; for he who cooled the furnace, and smoothed the stormy wave, and turned the chaldean lions, is mighty still to save." the new tabernacle more than met our expectations. from the day we opened it, it was a great blessing. it seated , persons, and when crowded held , . there was still some debt on the building, for the entire enterprise had cost us about $ , . there were regrets expressed that we did not follow the elaborate custom of some fashionable churches in these days and introduce into our services operatic music. i preferred the simple form of sacred music--a cornet and organ. everybody should get his call from god, and do his work in his own way. i never had any sympathy with dogmatics. there is no church on earth in which there is more freedom of utterance than in the presbyterian church. [illustration: the third brooklyn tabernacle.] we were in the midst of a religious conflict on many sacred questions in . there came upon us a plague called higher criticism. my idea of it was that higher criticism meant lower religion. the bible seemed to me entirely satisfactory. the chief hindrance to the gospel was this everlasting picking at the bible by people who pretended to be its friends, but who themselves had never been converted. the higher criticism was only a flurry. the world started as a garden and it will close as a garden. that there may be no false impression of the sublime destiny of the world as i see it, let me add that it is not a garden of idleness and pleasure, but a vineyard in which all must labour from early morning till the glory of sundown wraps us in its revival robes of golden splendour. what a changing, hurrying world of desperate means it is. what a mirage of towering ambition is the whole of life! i have so often wondered why men, great men of heart and brain, should ever die out, though they pass on to live forever under brighter skies. in january, , congressman william e. robinson was buried from our church, and in february of the same month spurgeon died in england. though men may live at swords' points with each other they die in peace. this last forgetfulness is some of the beautiful moss that grows on the ruins of poor human nature. congressman robinson was among the gifted men of his time. his friends were giants, his work was constructive, his pen an instrument of literary force. he landed in america with less than a sovereign in his pocket, and achieved prominence in national and state affairs. i knew him well and respected him. there is an affinity of souls on earth and doubtless in heaven. we seek those who are our kindred souls when we reach there. in this respect i always feel a sense of gratitude, of cheerfulness for those who have passed on. my old friend, charles h. spurgeon, in february, , made his last journey; and i am sure that the first whom he picked out in heaven were the souls of jonathan edwards and john calvin--two men of tremendous evangelism. i first met spurgeon in london in . "i read your sermons," i said to him first. "everybody reads yours," he replied. spurgeon made a long battle against disease; the last few months in agony. his name is on the honour roll of the world's history, but for many years he was caricatured and assailed. he kept a scrap-book of the printed blasphemy against him. the first picture i ever saw of him represented him as sliding down the railing of his pulpit in the presence of his congregation, to show how easy it was to go to hell, and then climbing up on the opposite railing to show how difficult it was to get to heaven. most people at the time actually believed that he had done this. in this same month dr. mackenzie, the famous physician, died, and my old friend, the rev. dr. hanna of belfast, the leading protestant minister of ireland. out of the darkness into the light; out of the struggle into victory; out of earth into heaven! there was always mercy on earth, however, for those who remained. mercy! the biggest word in the human language! i remember how it impressed me, when, at the invitation of dr. leslie keeley, the inventor of the "gold cure" for drunkenness, i visited his institution at dwight, ill. it was a new thing then and a most merciful miracle of the age. it settled no question, perhaps, but intensified the blessings of reformed thought. there were questions that could not be solved, however, questions of industrial moment that we almost despaired of. the tariff was one of them. i felt convinced that the tariff question would never be settled. the grandchildren of every generation will always be discussing it, and thresh out the same old straw which the democrats and republicans were discussing before them. when i was a boy only eight years old the tariff was discussed just as warmly as it will ever be. like my friend henry watterson, of kentucky, i was a free trader. politics were so mixed up it was difficult to see ahead. cleveland was after hill and hill was after cleveland; that alone was clear to everybody. for my own satisfaction, in the spring of , i went to see what washington was really doing, thinking, living. it had improved morally and politically, its streets were still the trail of the mighty. a great change had taken place there. a higher type of men had taken possession of our national halls. duelling, once common, was entirely abolished, and a senator who would challenge a fellow-member to fight would make himself a laughing-stock. no more clubbing of senators on account of opposite opinions! mr. covode of pennsylvania, no longer brandished a weapon over the head of mr. barksdale of mississippi. grow and keitt no more took each other by the throat. griswold no more pounded lyon, lyon snatching the tongs and striking back until the two members in a scuffle rolled on the floor of the great american congress. one of the senators of twenty-five years ago died in flatbush hospital, idiotic from his dissipations. one member of congress i saw years ago seated drunk on the curbstone in philadelphia, his wife trying to coax him home. a senator from new york many years ago on a cold day was picked out of the potomac, into which he had dropped through his intoxication, the only time that he ever came so near losing his life by too much cold water. talk not about the good old days, for the new days in washington were far better. there was john sherman of the senate, a moral, high-minded, patriotic and talented man. i said to him as i looked up into his face: "how tall are you?" and his answer was, "six feet one inch and a half;" and i thought to myself "you are a tall man every way, with mental stature over-towering like the physical." there was senator daniel of virginia, magnetic to the last degree, and when he spoke all were thrilled while they listened. fifteen years ago, at lynchburg, va., i said to him: "the next time i see you, i will see you in the united states senate." "no, no," he replied, "i am not on the winning side. i am too positive in my opinions." i greeted him amid the marble walls of the senate with the words "didn't i tell you so?" "yes," he said, "i remember your prophecy." there also were senators colquitt and gordon of georgia, at home whether in secular or religious assemblages, pronounced christian gentlemen, and both of them tremendous in utterance. there was senator carey of wyoming, who was a boy in my church debating society at philadelphia, his speech at eighteen years demonstrating that nothing in the way of grand achievement would be impossible. there was senator manderson of nebraska, his father and mother among my chief supporters in philadelphia, the senator walking about as though he cared nothing about the bullets which he had carried ever since the war, of which he was one of the heroes. brooklyn was proud of her congressmen. i heard our representative, mr. coombs, speak, and whether his hearers agreed or disagreed with his sentiments on the tariff question, all realised that he knew what he was talking about, and his easy delivery and point-blank manner of statement were impressive. so, also, at the white house, whether people liked the administration or disliked it, all reasonable persons agreed that good morals presided over the nation, and that well-worn jest about the big hat of the grandfather, president william henry harrison, being too ample for the grandson, president benjamin harrison, was a witticism that would soon be folded up and put out of sight. anybody who had carefully read the addresses delivered by president benjamin harrison on his tour across the continent knew that he had three times the brain ever shown by his grandfather. great men, i noticed at washington, were great only a little while. the men i saw there in high places fifteen years ago had nearly all gone. one venerable man, seated in the senate near the vice-president's chair, had been there since he was introduced as a page at years of age by daniel webster. but a few years change the most of the occupants of high positions. how rapidly the wheel turns. call the roll of jefferson's cabinet? dead! call the roll of madison's cabinet? dead! call the roll of monroe's cabinet? dead! call the roll of pierce's cabinet? dead! call the roll of abraham lincoln's cabinet? dead! the congressional burying ground in the city of washington had then cenotaphs raised in honour of members. while i was in chicago, in the spring of , there came about an almost national discussion as to whether the world's fair should be kept open on sunday. nearly all the ministers foresaw empty churches if the fair were kept open. in spite of the personal malice against me of one of the great editors of new york, the people did not seem to lose their confidence in the christian spirit. both dr. parkhurst and myself were the targets of this brilliant man's sarcasm and satire at this time, but neither of us were demoralised or injured in the course of our separate ways of duty. in the summer of the working plans of what the newspapers generously called my vacation took me to europe on a tour of great britain and ireland, including a visit to russia, to await the arrival of a ship-load of food sent by the religious weekly of which i was editor. some criticism was made of the way i worked instead of rested in vacation time. someone asked me if i believed in dreams. i said, no; i believed in sleep, but not in dreams. the lord, in olden times, revealed himself in dreams, but i do not think he does so often now. when i was at school we parsed from "young's night thoughts," but i had no very pleasant memories of that book. i had noticed that dreamers are often the prey of consumption. it seems to have a fondness for exquisite natures--dreamy, spiritual, a foe of the finest part of the human family. there was henry kirke white, the author of that famous hymn, "when marshalled on the nightly plains," who, dying of consumption, wrote it with two feet in the grave, and recited it with power when he could not move from his chair. we sailed on the "new york," june , , for europe. this preaching tour in england was urged upon me by ties of friendship, made years before, by the increased audiences i had already gained through my public sermons, and of my own hearty desire to see them all face to face. my first sermon in london was given on june , , in the city temple, by invitation of that great english preacher, dr. joseph parker. when my sermon was over, dr. parker said to his congregation:-- "i thank god for dr. talmage's life and ministry, and i despise the man who cannot appreciate his services to christianity. may he preach in this pulpit again!" on leaving his church i was obliged to address the crowd outside from my carriage. nothing can be so gratifying to a preacher as the faith of the people he addresses in his faith. in england the religious spirit is deeply rooted. i could not help feeling, as i saw that surging mass of men and women outside the city temple in london after the service, how earnest they all were in their exertions to hear the gospel. in my own country i had been used to crowds that were more curious in their attitude, less reverent of the occasion. dr. parker's description of the sermon after it was over expressed the effect of my gospel message upon that crowd in england. he said: "that is the most sublime, pathetic and impressive appeal we ever listened to. it has kindled the fire of enthusiasm in our souls that will burn on for ever. it has unfolded possibilities of the pulpit never before reached. it has stirred all hearts with the holiest ambition." so should every sermon, preached in every place in the world on every sunday in the world, be a message from god and his angels! the sustaining enthusiasm of my friend, dr. parker, and his people at the city temple, preceded me everywhere in england, and established a series of experiences in my evangelical work that surprised and enthralled me. in nottingham i was told that albert hall, where i preached, could not hold over , people. that number of tickets for my sermon were distributed from the different pulpits in the city, but hundreds were disappointed and waited for me outside afterwards. this was no personal tribute to me, but to the english people, to whom my gospel message was of serious import. the text i used most during this preaching tour was from daniel xi. : "the people that do know their god shall be strong and do exploits." it applied to the people of great britain and they responded and understood. in a more concrete fashion i was privileged to witness also the tremendous influence of religious feeling in england at the banquet tendered by the lord mayor at the mansion house on july , , to the archbishops and bishops of england. the archbishop of canterbury, the bishop of london, and the diocesan bishops were present. the lord mayor, in his address, said that the association between the church and the corporation of london had been close, long, and continuous. in that year, he said, the church had spent on buildings and restorations thirty-five million pounds; on home missions, seven and a half millions; on foreign missions, ten millions; on elementary education, twenty-one millions; and in charity, six millions. what a stupendous evidence of the religious spirit in england! a toast was proposed to the "ministers of other denominations," which included the rev. dr. newman hall and myself of america, among other foreign guests. to this i responded. before leaving for russia i met a part of the american colony in london at a reception given by mr. lincoln, our minister to england. we gathered to celebrate the fourth of july. mrs. mackey, mrs. paran stevens, mrs. bradley martin, and mrs. bonynge received among others. phillips brooks and myself were among the clerical contingent, with such americans abroad as colonel tom ochiltree, buffalo bill, general and mrs. williams, a.m. palmer, mrs. new, the consul-general's wife, mr. and mrs. john collins, senators farwell and mcdonald. while travelling in england i saw john ruskin. this fact contains more happiness to me than i can easily make people understand. i wanted to see him more than any other man, crowned or uncrowned. when i was in england at other times mr. ruskin was always absent or sick, but this time i found him. i was visiting the lake district of england, and one afternoon i took a drive that will be for ever memorable. i said, "drive out to mr. ruskin's place," which was some eight miles away. the landlord from whom i got the conveyance said, "you will not be able to see mr. ruskin. no one sees him or has seen him for years." well, i have a way of keeping on when i start. after an hour and a half of a delightful ride we entered the gates of mr. ruskin's home. the door of the vine-covered, picturesque house was open, and i stood in the hall-way. handing my card to a servant i said, "i wish to see mr. ruskin." the reply was, "mr. ruskin is not in, and he never sees anyone." disappointed, i turned back, took the carriage and went down the road. i said to the driver, "do you know mr. ruskin when you see him?" "yes," said he; "but i have not seen him for years." we rode on a few moments, then the driver cried out to me, "there he comes now." in a minute we had arrived at where mr. ruskin was walking toward us. i alighted, and he greeted me with a quiet manner and a genial smile. he looked like a great man worn out; beard full and tangled; soft hat drawn down over his forehead; signs of physical weakness with determination not to show it. his valet walked beside him ready to help or direct his steps. he deprecated any remarks appreciatory of his wonderful services. he had the appearance of one whose work is completely done, and is waiting for the time to start homeward. he was in appearance more like myself than any person i ever saw, and if i should live to be his age the likeness will be complete. i did not think then that mr. ruskin would ever write another paragraph. he would continue to saunter along the english lane very slowly, his valet by his side, for a year or two, and then fold his hands for his last sleep. then the whole world would speak words of gratitude and praise which it had denied him all through the years in which he was laboriously writing "modern painters," "the seven lamps of architecture," "the stones of venice," and "ethics of the dust." we cannot imagine what the world's literature would have been if thomas carlyle and john ruskin had never entered it. i shall never forget how in the early years of my ministry i picked up in wynkoop's store, in syracuse, for the first time, one of ruskin's works. i read that book under the trees, because it was the best place to read it. ruskin was the first great interpreter of the language of leaves, of clouds, of rivers, of lakes, of seas. in july, , went to russia. it was summer in the land of snow and ice, so that we saw it in the glow of sunny days, in the long gold-tipped twilights of balmy air. in america we still regarded russia as a land of cruel mystery and imperial oppression. there was as much ignorance about the russians, their government, their country, as there was about the fiji islands. americans had been taught that siberia was russia, that russia and siberia were the same, one vast infinite waste of misery and cruelty. granted that i went to russia on an errand of mercy, and as a representative of the most powerful nation in the world, nevertheless i contend that the russian people and their government were hugely misrepresented. there was no need for the emperor of russia to give audience to so humble a representative as a minister of the gospel unless he had been sincerely touched by the evidence of american generosity and mercy for his starving peasants in central russia. his courtesy and reception of me was a complete contradiction of his reported arrogance and hard-heartedness. there was no need for the town council of st. petersburg to honour myself and my party with receptions and dinners, and there was no reason for the enthusiasm and cheers of the russian people in the streets unless they were intensely kind and enthusiastic in nature. when the famine conditions occurred in the ten provinces of russia a relief committee was formed in st. petersburg, with the grand duke himself at the head of it, and such men as count tolstoi and count bobrinsky in active assistance. america answered the appeal for food, but their was sincere sympathy and compassion for their compatriots in the imperial circles of russia. in the famine districts, which were vast enough to hold several nations, a drought that had lasted for six consecutive years had devastated the country. according to the estimate of the russian famine relief committee we saved the lives of , russians. as at the hunger relief stations the bread was handed out--for it was made into loaves and distributed--many people would halt before taking it and religiously cross themselves and utter a prayer for the donors. some of them would come staggering back and say:-- "please tell us who sent this bread to us?" and when told it came from america, they would say: "what part of america? please give us the names of those who sent it." my visit to the czar of russia, alexander iii., was made at the imperial palace. i was ushered into a small, very plain apartment, in which i found the emperor seated alone, quietly engaged with his official cares. he immediately arose, extended his hand with hearty cordiality, and said in the purest english, as he himself placed a chair for me beside his table, "doctor talmage, i am very happy to meet you." this was the beginning of a long conversation during which the emperor manifested both the liveliest interest and thorough familiarity with american politics, and, after a lengthy discussion of everything american, the emperor said, "dr. talmage, you must see my eldest son, nicholas," with which he touched a bell, calling his aide-de-camp, who promptly summoned the grand duke nicholas, who appeared with the youngest daughter of the emperor skipping along behind him--a plump, bright little girl of probably eight or nine years. she jumped upon the emperor's lap and threw her arms about his neck. when she had been introduced to me she gave "the american gentleman" the keenest scrutiny of which her sparkling eyes were capable. the grand duke was a fine young man, of about twenty-five years of age, tall, of athletic build, graceful carriage, and noticeably amiable features. on being introduced to me the grand duke extended his hand and said, "dr. talmage, i am also glad to meet you, for we all feel that we have become acquainted with you through your sermons, in which we have found much interest and religious edification." noticing the magnificent physique of both father and son, i asked the emperor, when the conversation turned incidentally upon matters of health, what he did to maintain such fine strength in the midst of all the cares of state. he replied, "doctor, the secret of my strength is in my physical exercise. this i never fail to take regularly and freely every day before i enter upon any of the work of my official duties, and to it i attribute the excellent health which i enjoy." the emperor insisted that i should see the empress and the rest of the imperial family, and we proceeded to another equally plain, unpretentious apartment where, with her daughters, we found the empress. after a long conversation, and just as i was leaving, i asked the emperor whether there was much discontent among the nobility as a result of the emancipation among the serfs, and he replied, "yes, all the trouble with my empire arises from the turbulence and discontent of the nobility. the people are perfectly quiet and contented." a reference was made to the possibility of war, and i remember the fear with which the empress entered into the talk just then, saying "we all dread war. with our modern equipments it could be nothing short of massacre, and from that we hope we may be preserved." my presentation at peterhoff palace to alexander iii. and the royal family of russia was entirely an unexpected event in my itinerary. it was in the nature of a compliment to my mission, to the american people who have contributed so much to the distress in russia, and to the christian church for which this "hardhearted, cruel czar" had so much respect and so much interest. it was said that in common with all americans i expected to find the emperor attired in some bomb-proof regalia. perhaps i was impressed with the czar's indifference and fearlessness. someone said to me that no doubt he was quite used to the thought of assassination. i discovered, in a long conversation that i had with him, that he was ready to die, and when a man is ready why should he be afraid? the most significant and important outcome of this presentation to the czar was his pledge to my countrymen that russia would always remember the generosity of the american people in their future relations. everywhere in st. petersburg and moscow, the russian and american flags were displayed together on the public buildings, so that i look back upon this occasion with a pardonable impression of its international importance. there was a suggestion of this feeling in an address presented to us by the city council of st. petersburg, in which a graceful remembrance was made of that occasion in , when a special embassy from the united states, with mr. g.v. fox, a cabinet officer, at its head, visited st. petersburg and expressed sympathy for russia and its sovereign. returning from russia, i continued my preaching tour in england, preaching to immense crowds, estimated in the english newspapers to be from fifteen to twenty thousand people, in the large cities. in birmingham the crowd followed me into the hotel, where it was necessary to lock the doors to keep them out. what incalculable kindness i received in england! i remember a farewell banquet given me at the crystal palace by twenty nonconformists, at which i was presented with a gold watch from my english friends; and a scene in swansea, when, after my sermon, they sang welsh hymns to me in their native language. some people wonder how i have kept in such good humour with the world when i have been at times violently assailed or grossly misrepresented. it was because the kindnesses towards me have predominated. for the past thirty or forty years the mercies have carried the day. if i went to the depot there was a carriage to meet me. if i tarried at the hotel some one mysteriously paid the bill. if i were attacked in newspaper or church court there were always those willing to take up for me the cudgels. if i were falsified the lie somehow turned out to my advantage. my enemies have helped me quite as much as my friends. if i preached or lectured i always had a crowd. if i had a boil it was almost always in a comfortable place. if my church burned down i got a better one. i offered a manuscript to a magazine, hoping to get for it forty dollars, which i much needed at the time. the manuscript was courteously returned as not being available; but that article for which i could not get forty dollars has since, in other uses, brought me forty thousand dollars. the caricaturists have sent multitudes of people to hear me preach and lecture. i have had antagonists; but if any man of my day has had more warm personal friends i do not know his name. the sixteenth milestone - i had only one fault to find with the world in my sixty years of travel over it and that was it had treated me too well. in the ordinary course of events, and by the law of the psalmist, i still had ten more years before me; but, according to my own calculations, life stretched brilliantly ahead of me as far as heart and mind could wish. there were many things to take into consideration. there was the purpose of the future, its obligations, its opportunities to adjust. my whole life had been a series of questions. my course had been the issue of problems, a choice of many ways. shortly after the dawn of the financial difficulties in which the new tabernacle had been reared confronted us. it had arisen from the ashes of its predecessor by sheer force of energy and pluck. it had taken a vast amount of negotiation. a loan of $ , , made to us by russell sage, payable in one year at per cent., was one of the means employed. this loan was arranged by mr. a.l. soulard, the president of the german-american title and guarantee company. mr. sage was a friend of mine, of my church, and that was some inducement. the loan was made upon the guarantee of the title company. it was reported to me that mr. sage had said at this time:-- "it all depends upon whether dr. talmage lives or not. if he should happen to die the brooklyn tabernacle wouldn't be worth much." the german-american title and guarantee company then secured an insurance on my life for $ , and insisted that the board of trustees of the church give their individual bonds for the fulfillment of the mortgage. the trustees were w.d. mead, f.h. branch, john wood, c.s. darling, f.m. lawrence, and james b. ferguson. in this way mr. sage satisfied both his religious sympathies and his business nature. for more reasons than one, therefore, i kept myself in perfect health. this was only one of the incidents involved in the building of the new tabernacle. for two years i had donated my salary of $ , a year to the church, and had worked hard incessantly to infuse it with life and success. this information may serve to contradict some scattered impressions made by our friendly critics, that my personal aim in life was mercenary and selfish. my income from my lectures, and the earnings from my books and published sermons, were sufficient for all my needs. during the year i did my best to stem the tide of debt and embarrassment in which the business elements of the church was involved. i find an entry in my accounts of a check dated march , , in brooklyn, for $ , , which i donated to the brooklyn tabernacle emergency fund. there is a spiritual warning in almost every practical event of our lives, and it seemed that in that year, so discomforting to the new tabernacle, there was a spiritual warning to me which grew into a certainty of feeling that my work called me elsewhere. i said nothing of this to anyone, but quietly thought the situation over without haste or undue prejudice. my gospel field was a big one. the whole world accepted the gospel as i preached it, and i concluded that it did not make much difference where the pulpit was in which i preached. after a full year's consideration of the entire outlook, in january, , i announced my resignation as pastor of the tabernacle, to take effect in the spring of that year. i gave no other cause than that i felt that i had been in one place long enough. an attempt was made by the press to interpret my action into a private difference of opinion with the trustees of the church--but this was not true. all sorts of plans were proposed for raising the required sum of our expensive church management, in which i concurred and laboured heartily. it was said that i resigned because the trustees were about to decide in favour of charging a nominal fee of ten cents to attend our services. i made no objection to this. my resignation was a surprise to the congregation because i had not indicated my plans or intimated to them my own private expectations of the remaining years of my life. on sunday, january , , among the usual church announcements made from the pulpit, i read the following statement, which i had written on a slip of paper:-- "this coming spring i will have been pastor of this church twenty-five years--a quarter of a century--long enough for any minister to preach in one place. at that anniversary i will resign this pulpit, and it will be occupied by such person as you may select. "though the work has been arduous, because of the unparalleled necessity of building three great churches, two of them destroyed by fire, the field has been delightful and blessed by god. no other congregation has ever been called to build three churches, and i hope no other pastor will ever be called to such an undertaking. "my plans after resignation have not been developed, but i shall preach both by voice and newspaper press, as long as my life and health are continued. "from first to last we have been a united people, and my fervent thanks are to all the boards of trustees and elders, whether of the present or past, and to all the congregation, and to new york and brooklyn. "i have no vocabulary intense enough to express my gratitude to the newspaper press of these cities for the generous manner in which they have treated me and augmented my work for this quarter of a century. "after such a long pastorate it is a painful thing to break the ties of affection, but i hope our friendship will be renewed in heaven." there was a sorrowful silence when i stopped reading, which made me realise that i had tasted another bitter draft of life in the prospect of farewell between pastor and flock. i left the church alone and went quietly to my study where i closed the door to all inquirers. if my decision had been made upon any other ground than those of spiritual obligation to the purpose of my whole life i should have said so. my decision had been made because i had been thinking of my share in the evangelism of the world, and how mercifully i had been spared and instructed and forwarded in my gospel mission. i wanted a more neighbourly relation with the human race than the prescribed limitations of a single pulpit. in february, , i lost an evangelical neighbour of many years--bishop brooks. he was a giant, but he died. my mind goes back to the time when bishop brooks and myself were neighbours in philadelphia. he had already achieved a great reputation as a pulpit orator in . the first time i saw him was on a stormy night as he walked majestically up the aisle of the church to which i administered. he had come to hear his neighbour, as afterward i often went to hear him. what a great and genial soul he was! he was a man that people in the streets stopped to look at, and strangers would say as he passed, "i wonder who that man is?" of unusual height and stature, with a face beaming in kindness, once seeing him he was always remembered, but the pulpit was his throne. with a velocity of utterance that was the despair of the swiftest stenographers, he poured forth his impassioned soul, making every theme he touched luminous and radiant. putting no emphasis on the mere technicalities of religion, he made his pulpit flame with its power. he was the special inspiration of young men, and the disheartened took courage under the touch of his words and rose up healed. it will take all time and all eternity to tell the results of his christian utterances. there were some who thought that there was here and there an unsafe spot in his theology. as for ourselves we never found anything in the man or in his utterances that we did not like. although fully realising that i was approaching a crisis of some sort in my own career, it was with definite thankfulness for the mercies that had upheld me so long that i forged ahead. my state of mind at this time was peaceful and contented. i find in a note-book of this period of my life the following entry, which betrays the trend of my heart and mind during the last milestone of my ministry in brooklyn: "here i am in madison, wisconsin, july , . i have been attending monona lake chautauqua, lecturing yesterday, preaching this morning. this sabbath afternoon i have been thinking of the goodness of god to me. it began many years before i was born; for as far back as i can find anything concerning my ancestry, both on my father's and mother's sides, they were virtuous and christian people. who shall estimate the value of such a pedigree? the old cradle, as i remember it, was made out of plain boards, but it was a christian cradle. god has been good in letting us be born in a fair climate, neither in the rigours of frigidity nor in the scorching air of tropical regions. fortunate was i in being started in a home neither rich nor poor, so that i had the temptations of neither luxury nor poverty. fortunate in good health--sixty years of it. i say sixty rather than sixty-one, for i believe the first year or two of my life compassed all styles of infantile ailments, from mumps to scarlet fever. "a quarter of a century ago, looking at a pile of manuscript sermons, i said again and again to my wife: 'those sermons were not made only for the people who have already heard them. they must have a wider field.' the prophecy came true, and every one of those sermons through the press has come to the attention of at least twenty-five million people. i have no reason to be morose or splenetic. 'goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life.' here i am at years of age without an ache, a pain, or a physical infirmity. now closing a preaching and lecturing tour from georgia to minnesota and wisconsin, i am to-morrow morning to start for my residence at the seaside where my family are awaiting me, and notwithstanding all the journeying and addressing of great audiences, and shaking hands with thousands of people, after a couple of days' rest will be no more weary than when i left home. 'bless the lord, o my soul!'" my ordinary mode of passing vacations has been to go to east hampton, long island, and thence to go out for two or three preaching and lecturing excursions to points all the way between new york and san francisco, or from texas to maine. i find that i cannot rest more than two weeks at a time. more than that wearies me. of all the places i have ever known east hampton is the best place for quiet and recuperation. i became acquainted with it through my brother-in-law, rev. s.l. mershon. the presbyterian church here was his first pastoral settlement. when a boy in grammar school and college i visited him and his wife, my sister mary. the place is gradually submitting to modern notions, but east hampton, whether in its antiquated shape or epauletted and frilled and decorated by the hand of modern enterprise, has always been to me a semi-paradise. as i approach it my pulse is slackened and a delicious somnolence comes over me. i dream out the work for another year. my most useful sermons have been born here. my most successful books were planned here. in this place, between the hours of somnolence, there come hours of illumination and ecstasy. it seems far off from the heated and busy world. east hampton has been a great blessing to my family. it has been a mercy to have them here, free from all summer heats. when nearly grown, the place is not lively enough for them, but an occasional diversion to white sulphur, or alum springs, or a summer in europe, has given them abundant opportunity. all my children have been with us in europe, except my departed son, dewitt, who was at a most important period in school at the time of our going, or he would have been with us on one of our foreign tours. i have crossed the ocean twelve times, that is six each way, and like it less and less. it is to me a stomachic horror. but the frequent visits have given educational opportunity to my children. foreign travel, and lecturing and preaching excursions in our own country have been to me a stimulus, while east hampton has been to me a sedative and anodyne. for this beautiful medicament i am profoundly thankful. but i am writing this in the new house that we have builded in place of our old one. it is far more beautiful and convenient and valuable than the old one, but i doubt if it will be any more useful. and a railroad has been laid out, and before summer is passed the shriek of a locomotive will awaken all the rip van winkles that have been slumbering here since before the first almanac was printed. the task of remembering the best of one's life is a pleasant one. under date of december , , i find another recollection in my note-book that is worth amplifying. "this morning, passing through frankfort, kentucky, on my way from lexington, at the close of a preaching and lecturing tour of nearly three weeks, i am reminded of a most royal visit that i had here at frankfort as the guest of governor blackburn, at the gubernatorial mansion about ten years ago. "i had made an engagement to preach twice at high bridge, ky., a famous camp meeting. governor blackburn telegraphed me to brooklyn asking when and where i would enter kentucky, as he wished to meet me on the border of the state and conduct me to the high bridge services. we met at cincinnati. crossing the ohio river, we found the governor's especial car with its luxurious appointments and group of servants to spread the table and wait on every want. the governor, a most fascinating and splendid man, with a warmth of cordiality that glows in me every time i recall his memory, entertained me with the story of his life which had been a romance of mercy in the healing art, he having been elected to his high office in appreciation of his heroic services as physician in time of yellow fever. "at lexington a brusque man got on our car, and we entered with him into vigorous conversation. i did not hear his name on introduction, and i felt rather sorry that the governor should have invited him into our charming seclusion. but the stranger became such an entertainer as a colloquialist, and demonstrated such extraordinary intellectuality, i began to wonder who he was, and i addressed him, saying, "sir, i did not hear your name when you were introduced." he replied, 'my name is beck--senator beck.' then and there began one of the most entertaining friendships of my life. great scotch soul! beck came a poor boy from scotland to america, hired himself out for farm work in kentucky, discovered to his employer a fondness for reading, was offered free access to his employer's large library, and marched right up into education and the legal profession and the senate of the united states." that day we got out of the train at high bridge. my sermon was on "the divinity of the scriptures." directly in front of me, and with most intense look, whether of disapprobation or approval i knew not, sat the senator. on the train back to lexington, where he took me in his carriage on a long ride amid the scenes of clayiana, he told me the sermon had re-established his faith in christianity, for he had been brought up to believe the bible as most of the people in scotland believe it. but i did not know all that transpired that day at high bridge until after the senator was dead, and i was in lexington, and visited his grave at the cemetery where he sleeps amid the mighty kentuckians who have adorned their state. on this last visit that i speak of, a young man connected with the phoenix hotel, lexington, where senator beck lived much of the time, and where he entertained me, told me that on the morning of the day that senator beck went with me to high bridge he had been standing in that hotel among a group of men who were assailing christianity, and expressing surprise that senator beck was going to high bridge to hear a sermon. when we got to the hotel that afternoon the same group of men were standing together, and were waiting to hear the senator's report of the service, and hoping to get something to the disadvantage of religion. my informant heard them say to him, "well, how was it?" the senator replied, "doctor talmage proved the truth of the bible as by a mathematical demonstration. now talk to me no more on that subject." on sunday morning i returned to high bridge for another preaching service. governor blackburn again took us in his especial car. the word "immensity" may give adequate idea of the audience present. then the governor insisted that i go with him to frankfort and spend a few days. they were memorable days to me. at breakfast, lunch and dinner the prominent people of kentucky were invited to meet me. mrs. blackburn took me to preach to her bible class in the state prison. i think there were about convicts in that class. paul would have called her "the elect lady," "thoroughly furnished unto all good works." heaven only can tell the story of her usefulness. what days and nights they were at the governor's mansion. no one will ever understand the heartiness and generosity and warmth of kentucky hospitality until he experiences it. president arthur was coming through lexington on his way to open an exposition at louisville. governor blackburn was to go to lexington to receive him and make a speech. the governor read me the speech in the state house before leaving frankfort, and asked for my criticism. it was an excellent speech about which i made only one criticism, and that concerning a sentence in which he praised the beautiful women and the fine horses of kentucky. i suggested that he put the human and the equine subjects of his admiration in different sentences, and this suggestion he adopted. we started for lexington and arrived at the hotel. soon the throngs in the streets showed that the president of the united states was coming. the president was escorted into the parlour to receive the address of welcome, and seeing me in the throng, he exclaimed, "dr. talmage! are you here? it makes me feel at home to see you." the governor put on his spectacles and began to read his speech, but the light was poor, and he halted once or twice for a word, when i was tempted to prompt him, for i remembered his speech better than he did himself. that day i bade good-bye to governor blackburn, and i saw him two or three times after that, once in my church in brooklyn and once in louisville lecture hall, where he stood at the door to welcome me as i came in from new orleans on a belated train at half-past nine o'clock at night when i ought to have begun my lecture at o'clock; and the last time i saw him he was sick and in sad decadence and near the terminus of an eventful life. one of my brightest anticipations of heaven is that of seeing my illustrious kentucky friend. that experience at frankfort was one of the many courtesies i have received from all the leading men of all the states. i have known many of the governors, and legislatures, when i have looked in upon them, have adjourned to give me reception, a speech has always been called for, and then a general hand-shaking has followed. it was markedly so with the legislatures of ohio and missouri. at jefferson city, the capital of missouri, both houses of legislature adjourned and met together in the assembly room, which was the larger place, and then the governor introduced me for an address. it is a satisfaction to be kindly treated by the prominent characters of your own time. i confess to a feeling of pleasure when general grant, at the memorial services at greenwood--i think the last public meeting he ever attended, and where i delivered the memorial address on decoration day--said that he had read with interest everything that appeared connected with my name. president arthur, at the white house one day, told me the same thing. whenever by the mysterious laws of destiny i found myself in the cave of the winds of displeasure, there always came to me encouraging echoes from somewhere. i find among my papers at this time a telegram from the russian ambassador in washington, which illustrates this idea. this message read as follows:-- "washington, d.c., may , . "to rev. t. dewitt talmage, bible house, new york. "i would be very glad to see you on the th of may in philadelphia on board the russian flagship 'dimitry donskoy' at eleven o'clock, to tender to you in presence of our brilliant sailors and on russian soil, a souvenir his majesty the emperor ordered me to give in his name to the american gentleman who visited russia during the trying year . "cantacuzene." gladly i obeyed this request, and was presented, amid imperial ceremonies, with a magnificent solid gold tea service from the emperor alexander iii. these were the sort of appreciative incidents so often happening in my life that infused my work with encouragements. the months preceding the close of my ministry in brooklyn developed a remarkable interest shown among those to whom my name had become a symbol of the gospel message. there was a universal, world-wide recognition of my work. many regretted my decision to leave the brooklyn tabernacle, some doubted that i actually intended to do so, others foretold a more brilliant future for me in the open trail of gospel service they expected me to follow. all this enthusiasm expressed by my friends of the world culminated in a celebration festival given in honour of the twenty-fifth anniversary of my pastorate in brooklyn. the movement spread all over the country and to europe. it was decided to make the occasion a sort of international reception, to be held in the tabernacle on may and , . i had made my plans for a wide glimpse of the earth and the people on it who knew me, but whom i had never seen. i had made preparations to start on may , and the dates set for this jubilee were arranged on the eve of my farewell. i was about to make a complete circuit of the globe, and whatever my friends expected me to do otherwise i approached this occasion with a very definite conclusion that it would be my farewell to brooklyn. i recall this event in my life with keen contrasts of feeling, for it is mingled in my heart with swift impressions of extraordinary joy and tragic import. all of it was god's will--the blessing and the chastening. the church had been decorated with the stars and stripes, with gold and purple. in front of the great organ, under a huge picture of the pastor, was the motto that briefly described my evangelical career:-- "tabernacle his pulpit; the world his audience." the reception began at eight o'clock in the evening with a selection on the great organ, by henry eyre brown, our organist, of an original composition written by him and called, in compliment to the occasion, "the talmage silver anniversary march." on the speaker's platform with me were mayor schieren, of brooklyn, mr. barnard peters, rev. father sylvester malone, rev. dr. john f. carson, ex-mayor david a. boody, rev. dr. gregg, rabbi f. de sol mendes, rev. dr. louis albert banks, hon. john winslow, rev. spencer f. roche, and rev. a.c. dixon--an undenominational gathering of good men. there is, perhaps, no better way to record my own impressions of this event than to quote the words with which i replied to the complimentary speeches of this oration. they recall, more closely and positively, the sensibilities, the emotions, and the inspiration of that hour: "dear mr. mayor, and friends before me, and friends behind me, and friends all around me, and friends hovering over me, and friends in this room, and the adjoining rooms, and friends indoors and outdoors--forever photographed upon my mind and heart is this scene of may , . the lights, the flags, the decorations, the flowers, the music, the illumined faces will remain with me while earthly life lasts, and be a cause of thanksgiving after i have passed into the great beyond. two feelings dominate me to-night--gratitude and unworthiness; gratitude first to god, and next, to all who have complimented me. "my twenty-five years in brooklyn have been happy years--hard work, of course. this is the fourth church in which i have preached since coming to brooklyn, and how much of the difficult work of church building that implies you can appreciate. this church had its mother and its grandmother, and its great-grandmother. i could not tell the story of disasters without telling the story of heroes and heroines, and around me in all these years have stood men and women of whom the world was not worthy. but for the most part the twenty-five years have been to me a great happiness. with all good people here present the wonder is, although they may not express it, 'what will be the effect upon the pastor of this church; of all this scene?' only one effect, i assure you, and that an inspiration for better work for god and humanity. and the question is already absorbing my entire nature, 'what can i do to repay brooklyn for this great uprising?' here is my hand and heart for a campaign of harder work for god and righteousness than i have ever yet accomplished. i have been told that sometimes in the alps there are great avalanches called down by a shepherd's voice. the pure white snows pile up higher and higher like a great white throne, mountains of snow on mountains of snow, and all this is so delicately and evenly poised that the touch of a hand or the vibration of air caused by the human voice will send down the avalanche into the valleys with all-compassing and overwhelming power. well, to-night i think that the heavens above us are full of pure white blessings, mountains of mercy on mountains of mercy, and it will not take much to bring down the avalanche of benediction, and so i put up my right hand to reach it and lift my voice, to start it. and now let the avalanche of blessing come upon your bodies, your minds, your souls, your homes, your churches, and your city. blessed be the lord god of israel from everlasting to everlasting, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory! amen and amen!" on the next day, may , the reception was continued. among the speakers was the hon. william m. evarts, ex-secretary of state, who, though advanced in years, honoured us with his presence and an address. senator walsh, of georgia, spoke for the south; ex-congressman joseph c. hendrix of brooklyn, rev. charles l. thompson, murat halstead, rev. dr. i.j. lansing, general tracey, were among the other speakers of the evening. from st. petersburg came a cable, signed by count bobrinsky, saying:--"heartfelt congratulations from remembering friends." messages from senator john sherman, from governor mckinley (before he became president), from mr. gladstone, from rev. joseph parker, and among others from london, the following cable, which i shall always prize among the greatest testimonials of the broad gospel purpose in england-- "cordial congratulations; grateful acknowledgment of splendid services in ministry during last twenty-five years. warm wishes for future prosperity. "(signed) archdeacon of london, canon wilberforce. thomas davidson. professor simpson. john lobb. bishop of london." appreciation, good cheer, encouragement swept around and about me, as i was to start on what dr. gregg described as "a walk among the people of my congregation" around the world. the following sunday, may , , just after the morning service, the tabernacle was burned to the ground. the seventeenth milestone - among the mysteries that are in every man's life, more or less influencing his course, is the mystery of disaster that comes upon him noiselessly, suddenly, horribly. the destruction of the new tabernacle by a fire which started in the organ loft was one of these mysteries that will never be revealed this side of eternity. the destruction of any church, no matter how large or how popular, does not destroy our faith in god. great as the disaster had been, much greater was the mercy of divine mystery that prevented a worse calamity in the loss of human life. the fire was discovered just after the morning service, and everyone had left the building but myself, mrs. talmage, the organist, and one or two personal friends. we were standing in the centre aisle of the church when a puff of smoke suddenly came out of the space behind the organ. in less than fifteen minutes from that discovery the huge pipe organ was a raging furnace, and i personally narrowly escaped the falling debris by the rear door of my church study. the flags and decoration which had been put up for the jubilee celebration had not been moved, and they whetted the appetite of the flames. it was all significant to me of one thing chiefly, that at some points of my life i had been given no choice. at these places of surprise in my life there was never any doubt about what i had to do. god's way is very clear and visible when the divine purpose is intended for you. i had delivered that morning my farewell sermon before departing on a long journey around the world. my prayer, in which the silent sympathy of a vast congregation joined me, had invoked the divine protection and blessing upon us, upon all who were present at that time, upon all who had participated in the great jubilee service of the preceding week. on the tablets of memory i had recalled all the kindnesses that had been shown our church by other churches and other pastors on that occasion. the general feeling of my prayer had been an outpouring of heartfelt gratitude for myself and my flock. as i have said before, god speaks loudest in the thunder of our experiences. there were several narrow escapes, for the fire spread with great rapidity, but, fortunately, all escaped from the doomed building in time. mr. frederick w. lawrence and mr. t.e. matthews, both of them trustees of the church, were exposed to serious danger and their escape was providential. mr. lawrence crept out on his hands and knees to the open air, and mr. matthews was almost suffocated when he reached the street. the flames spread rapidly in the neighbourhood and destroyed the hotel regent, adjoining the church. at my home that day there were many messages of sympathy and condolence brought to me, and neighbouring churches sent committees to tender the use of their pulpits. in the afternoon the tabernacle trustees met at my house and submitted the following letter, which was adopted:-- "dear dr. talmage.--with saddened hearts, but undismayed, and with faith in god unshaken and undisturbed, the trustees of the brooklyn tabernacle have unanimously resolved to rebuild the tabernacle. we find that after paying the present indebtedness there will be nothing left to begin with. "but if we can feel assured that our dear pastor will continue to break the bread of life to us and to the great multitudes that are accustomed to throng the tabernacle, we are willing to undertake the work, firmly believing that we can safely count upon the blessing of god and the practical sympathy of all christian people. "will you kindly give us the encouragement of your promise to serve the tabernacle as its pastor, if we will dedicate a new building free from debt, to the honour, the glory, and the service of god? "trustees of the tabernacle." on reading this letter, or rather hearing it read to me, in the impulse of gratitude i replied in like sympathy. i thanked them, and remembering that i had buried their dead, baptised their children and married the young, my heart was with them. i sincerely felt then, and perhaps i always did feel, that i would rather serve them than any other people on the face of the earth. it was my conclusion that if the trustees could fulfil the conditions they had mentioned, of building a new tabernacle, free of debt, i would remain their pastor. my date for beginning my journey around the world had been may , the day following the disaster. before leaving, however, i dictated the following communication to my friends and the friends of my ministry everywhere:-- "our church has again been halted by a sword of flame. the destruction of the first brooklyn tabernacle was a mystery. the destruction of the second a greater--profound. the third calamity we adjourn to the judgment day for explanation. the home of a vast multitude of souls, it has become a heap of ashes. whether it will ever rise again is a prophecy we will not undertake. god rules and reigns and makes no mistake. he has his way with churches as with individuals. one thing is certain: the pastor of the brooklyn tabernacle will continue to preach as long as life and health last. we have no anxieties about a place to preach in. but woe is unto us if we preach not the gospel! we ask for the prayers of all good people for the pastor and people of the brooklyn tabernacle. "t. dewitt talmage." at half past nine o'clock on the night of may , , i descended the front steps of my home in brooklyn, n.y. the sensation of leaving for a journey around the world was not all bright anticipation. the miles to be travelled were numerous, the seas to be crossed treacherous, the solemnities outnumbered the expectations. my family accompanied me to the railroad train, and my thought was should we ever meet again? the climatic changes, the ships, the shoals, the hurricanes, the bridges, the cars, the epidemics, the possibilities hinder any positiveness of prophecy. i remembered the consoling remark at my reception a few evenings ago, made by the hon. william m. evarts. he said: "dr. talmage ought to realise that if he goes around the world he will come out at the same place he started." the timbers of our destroyed church were still smoking when i left home. three great churches had been consumed. why this series of huge calamities i knew not. had i not made all the arrangements for departure, and been assured by the trustees of my church that they would take all further responsibilities upon themselves, i would have postponed my intended tour or adjourned it for ever; but all whom i consulted told me that now was the time to go, so i turned my face towards the golden gate. in a book called "the earth girdled," i have published all the facts of this journey. it contains so completely the daily record of my trip that there is no necessity to repeat any of its contents in these pages. i returned to the united states in the autumn of and entered actively into a campaign of preaching wherever a pulpit was available. of course there was much curiosity and interest to know how i was going to pursue my gospel work, having resigned my pastorate in brooklyn. on sunday, january , , i commenced a series of afternoon gospel meetings in the academy of music, new york, every sunday. because the pastors of other churches had written me that an afternoon service was the only one that would not interfere with their regular services, i selected that time, otherwise i would much have preferred the morning or the evening. i decided to go to new york because for many years friends over there had been begging me to come. i regarded it as absurd and improbable to expect the people of brooklyn to build a fourth tabernacle, so i went in the direction that i felt would give me the largest opportunity in the world. i continued to reside in brooklyn pending future plans. i liked brooklyn immensely--not only the people of my own former parish, but prominent people of all churches and denominations there are my warm personal friends. any particular church in which i preached thereafter was only the candlestick. in different parts of the world my sermons were published in more than ten million copies every week. how many readers saw them no one can say positively. those sermons came back to me in book form in almost every language of europe. my arrangements at the academy of music were not the final plans for my gospel work. i expected, however, to gather from these gospel meetings sufficient guidance to decide my field of work for the rest of my life. i felt then that i was yet to do my best work free from all hindrances. i looked forward to fully twenty years of good hard work before me. over nine churches in my own country, and several in england, had made very enthusiastic offers to me to accept a permanent pastoral obligation. for some reason or other i became more and more convinced, however, that the divine intention in my life from this time on would be different from any previous plan. the only reason that i declined to accept these offers was because there was enough work for me to do outside a permanent pulpit. my literary work became extensive in its demand upon my time, and my weekly sermons were like a sacred obligation that i could not forego. i never found any difficulty in finding a pulpit from which to preach every sunday of my life. there were some ministers who preferred to sandwich me in between regular hours of worship, if possible, so as to maintain the even course of their way and avoid the crowds. i never could avoid them and i never wanted to. i was never nervous, as many people are, of a crowded place--of a panic. the sudden excitement to which we give the name of "panic" is almost always senseless and without foundation, whether this panic be a wild rush in the money market or the stampede of an audience down the aisles and out of the windows. my advice to my family when they are in a congregation of people suddenly seized upon by a determination to get out right away, and to get out regardless as to whether others are able to get out, is to sit quiet on the supposition that nothing has happened, or is going to happen. i have been in a large number of panics, and in all the cases nothing occurred except a demonstration of frenzy. one night in the academy of music, brooklyn, while my congregation were worshipping there, at the time we were rebuilding one of our churches, there occurred a wild panic. there was a sound that gave the impression that the galleries were giving way under the immense throngs of people. i had been preaching about ten minutes when at the alarming sound aforesaid, the whole audience rose to their feet except those who fainted. hundreds of voices were in full shriek. before me i saw strong men swoon. the organist fled the platform. in an avalanche people went down the stairs. a young man left his hat and overcoat and sweetheart, and took a leap for life, and it is doubtful whether he ever found his hat or coat, although, i suppose, he did recover his sweetheart. terrorisation reigned. i shouted at the top of my voice, "sit down!" but it was a cricket addressing a cyclone. had it not been that the audience for the most part were so completely packed in, there must have been a great loss of life in the struggle. hoping to calm the multitude i began to sing the long meter doxology, but struck it at such a high pitch that by the time i came to the second line i broke down. i then called to a gentleman in the orchestra whom i knew could sing well: "thompson, can't you sing better than that?" whereupon he started the doxology again. by the time we came to the second line scores of voices had joined, and by the time we came to the third line hundreds of voices enlisted, and the last line marshalled thousands. before the last line was reached i cried out, "as i was saying when you interrupted me," and then went on with my sermon. the cause of the panic was the sliding of the snow from one part of the roof of the academy to another part. that was all. but no one who was present that night will ever forget the horrors of the scene. on the following wednesday i was in the large upper room of the college at lewisburg, pa.; i was about to address the students. no more people could get into this room, which was on the second or third storey. the president of the college was introducing me when some inflammable christmas greens, which had some six months before been wound around a pillar in the centre of the room, took fire, and from floor to ceiling there was a pillar of flame. instantly the place was turned from a jolly commencement scene, in which beauty and learning and congratulation commingled, into a raving bedlam of fright and uproar. the panic of the previous sunday night in the academy of music, brooklyn, had schooled me for the occasion, and i saw at a glance that when the christmas greens were through burning all would be well. one of the professors said to me, "you seem to be the only composed person present." i replied, "yes, i got prepared for this by something which i saw last sunday in brooklyn." so i give my advice: on occasions of panic, sit still; in cases out of a thousand there is nothing the matter. i was not released from my pastorate of the brooklyn tabernacle by the brooklyn presbytery until december, , after my return from abroad. some explanation was demanded of me by members of the presbytery for my decision to relinquish my pastorate, and i read the following statement which i had carefully prepared. it concerns these pages because it is explanatory of the causes which carried me over many crossroads, encountered everywhere in my life: "to the brooklyn presbytery-- "dear brethren,--after much prayer and solemn consideration i apply for the dissolution of the pastoral relation existing between the brooklyn tabernacle and myself. i have only one reason for asking this. as you all know, we have, during my pastorate, built three large churches and they have been destroyed. if i remain pastor we must undertake the superhuman work of building a fourth church. i do not feel it my duty to lead in such an undertaking. the plain providential indications are that my work in the brooklyn tabernacle is concluded. let me say, however, to the presbytery, that i do not intend to go into idleness, but into other service quite as arduous as that in which i have been engaged. expecting that my request will be granted i take this opportunity of expressing my love for all the brethren in the presbytery with whom i have been so long and so pleasantly associated, and to pray for them and the churches they represent the best blessings that god can bestow.--yours in the gospel, "t. dewitt talmage." the following resolution was then offered by the presbytery as follows: "resolved--that the presbytery, while yielding to dr. talmage's earnest petition for the dissolution of the relationship existing between the brooklyn tabernacle and himself, expresses its deep regret at the necessity for such action, and wishes dr. talmage abundant success in any field in which in the providence of god he may be called to labour. presbytery also expresses its profound sympathy with the members of the tabernacle church in the loss of their honoured and loving pastor, and cordially commends them to go forward in all the work of the church." in october, , i accepted the call of the first presbyterian church in washington. my work was to be an association with the rev. dr. byron w. sunderland, the president's pastor. it was dr. sunderland's desire that i should do this, and although there had been some intention in dr. sunderland's mind to resign his pastorate on account of ill-health i advocated a joint pastorate. there were invitations from all parts of the world for me to preach at this time. i had calls from churches in melbourne, australia; toronto, canada; san francisco, california; louisville, kentucky; chicago, illinois; new york city; brooklyn, n.y. london had pledged me a larger edifice than spurgeon's tabernacle. all these cities, in fact, promised to build big churches for me if i would go there to preach. the call which came to me from washington was as follows: "rev. dr. t. dewitt talmage-- "the congregation of the first presbyterian church, of washington, d.c., being on sufficient grounds well satisfied of the ministerial qualifications of you, the rev. dr. t. dewitt talmage, and having good hopes from our knowledge of your past eminent labours that your ministrations in the gospel will be profitable to our spiritual interests, do earnestly, unanimously, harmoniously and heartily, not one voice dissenting, call and desire you to undertake the office of co-pastor in said congregation, promising you in the discharge of your duty all proper support, encouragement and obedience in the lord. and that you may be free from worldly cares and avocations, considering your well and wide-known ability and generosity, we do not assume to specify any definite sum of money for your recompense, but we do hereby promise, pledge and oblige ourselves, to pay to you such sums of money and at such times as shall be mutually satisfactory during the time of your being and remaining in the relation to said church to which we do hereby call you." on september , , accompanying this call, i received the following dispatch from dr. sunderland: "t.d.w. talmage, , south oxford street. "meeting unanimous and enthusiastic. call extended, rising vote, all on their feet in a flash. call mailed special delivery. "b. sunderland." on september , , i accepted the call in the following letter: "the call signed by the elders, deacons, trustees, and members of the congregation of the first presbyterian church of washington is before me. the statement contained in that call that you 'do earnestly, unanimously, harmoniously and heartily, not one voice dissenting,' desire me to become co-pastor in your great and historical church has distinctly impressed me. with the same heartiness i now declare my acceptance of the call. all of my energies of body, mind, and soul shall be enlisted in your christian service. i will preach my first sermon sabbath evening, october ." washington was always a beautiful city to me, the climate in winter is delightful. president cleveland was a personal friend, as were many of the public men, and i regarded my call to washington as a national opportunity. it had been my custom in the past, when i was very tired from overwork, to visit washington for two or three days, stopping at one of the hotels, to get a thorough rest. for a long time i was really undecided what to do, i had so many invitations to take up my home and life work in different cities. while preaching was to be the main work for the rest of my life, my arrangements were so understood by my church in washington that i could continue my lecture engagements. i delivered a farewell sermon before leaving for washington, at the lafayette avenue presbyterian church, in brooklyn, before an audience of five thousand people. my text was samuel xii. : "i shall go to him." i still recall the occasion as one of deep feeling--a difficult hour of self-control. i could not stop the flow of tears that came with the closing paragraph. the words are merely the outward sign of my inner feelings: "farewell, dear friends. i could wish that in this last interview i might find you all the sons and daughters of the mighty. why not cross the line this hour, out of the world into the kingdom of god? i have lived in peace with all of you. there is not among all the hundreds of thousands of people of this city one person with whom i could not shake hands heartily and wish him all the happiness for this world and the next. if i have wronged anyone let him appear at the close of this service, and i will ask his forgiveness before i go. will it not be glorious to meet again in our father's house, where the word goodbye shall never be spoken? how much we shall then have to talk over of earthly vicissitudes! farewell! a hearty, loving, hopeful, christian farewell!" [illustration: the first presbyterian church of washington dr. talmage's last charge.] i was installed in the first presbyterian church in washington on october , . my first sermon in the new pulpit in washington was preached to a crowded church, with an overflow of over three thousand persons in the street outside. the text of my sermon was, "all heaven is looking on." in a few days, by exchange of my brooklyn property, i had obtained the house massachusetts avenue, in washington, for my home. it had at one time been the spanish legation, and was in a delightful part of the city. shortly after my arrival in washington i received my first introduction at the white house, with my daughters, to mrs. cleveland. our reception was cordial and gracious in the extreme. i had engaged a suite of rooms at the arlington hotel for a year. we remained there till our lease was up before entering our new home. there was a desire among members of the congregation of the first presbyterian church to have me preach at the morning as well as the evening services. with three ministers attached to one church there was some difficulty in the arrangement of the sermons. eventually it was decided that i should preach morning and evening. in i made an extensive lecturing tour, in which i discussed my impressions of the world trip i had recently made. the world was getting better in spite of contrasting opinions from men who had thought about it. god never launched a failure. in i made an appeal for aid for the famine in india. i always believed it was possible to evangelise india. my life in washington was not different from its former course. i had known many prominent people of this country, and some of the great men of other lands. i had known all the presidents of the united states since buchanan. i had known mr. gladstone, all the more prominent men in the bishoprics, and in high commercial, financial and religious position. i had been presented to royalty in more than one country. legislatures in the north and south have adjourned to give me reception. the earl of kintore, a scottish peer, entertained us at his house in london in . i found his family delightful christian people, and the countess and their daughters are very lovely. the earl presided at two of my meetings. he took me to see some of his midnight charities--one of them called the "house of lords" and the other the "house of commons," both of them asylums for old and helpless men. we parted about two o'clock in the morning in the streets of london. as we bade each other good-bye he said, "send me a stick of american wood and i will send you a stick." his arrived in america, and is now in my possession, a shepherd's crook; but before the cane i purchased for him reached scotland the good earl had departed this life. i was not surprised to hear of his decease. i said to my wife in london, "we will never see the earl again in this world. he is ripe for heaven, and will soon be taken." he attended the house of lords during the week, and almost every sabbath preached in some chapel or church. i shall not forget the exciting night i met him. i was getting out of a carriage at the door of a church in london where i was to lecture when a ruffian struck at me, crying, "he that believeth not shall be damned." the scoundrel's blow would have demolished me but for the fact that a bystander put out his arm and arrested the blow. from that scene i was ushered into the ante-room of the church where the earl of kintore was awaiting my arrival. from that hour we formed a friendship. he had been a continuous reader of my sermons, and that fact made an introduction easy. i have from him five or six letters. lord and lady aberdeen had us at their house in london in the summer of . most gracious and delightful people they are. i was to speak at haddo house, their estate in scotland, at a great philanthropic meeting, but i was detained in st. petersburg, russia, by an invitation of the emperor, and could not get to scotland in time. glad am i that the earl is coming to canada to be governor-general. he and the countess will do canada a mighty good. they are on the side of god, and righteousness, and the church. since his appointment--for he intimated at aberdeen, scotland, when he called upon me, that he was to have an important appointment--i have had opportunity to say plauditory things of them in vast assemblages in ottawa, montreal, toronto, london and grimsby park. in a scrap book in which i put down, hurriedly, perhaps, but accurately, my impressions of various visits to the white house during my four years pastorate in washington, i find some notes that may be interesting. i transmit them to the printed page exactly as i find them written on paper: "may , . had a long talk this afternoon with mrs. cleveland at woodley. i always knew she was very attractive, but never knew how wide her information was on all subjects. she had her three children brought in, and the two elder ones sang easter songs for me. mrs. cleveland impresses me as a consecrated christian mother. she passes much of her time with her children, and seems more interested in her family than in anything else. the first lady of the land, she is universally admired. i took tea with her and we talked over many subjects. she told me that she had joined the church at fourteen years of age. only two joined the church that day, a man of eighty years old and herself. she was baptised then, not having been baptised in infancy. she said she was glad she had not been baptised before because she preferred to remember her baptism. "she said she did not like the great crowds attending the church then, because she did not like to be stared at as the president's wife. but i told her she would get used to that after a while. she said she did not mind being stared at on secular occasions, but objected to it at religious service. she said she had long ago ceased taking the holy communion at our church because of the fact that spectators on that day seemed peculiarly anxious to see how she looked at the communion. "my first meeting with mrs. cleveland was just after her marriage. she was at the depot, in her carriage, to see miss rose cleveland, the president's sister, off on the train. dr. sunderland introduced me at that time, when i was just visiting washington. mrs. cleveland invited me to take a seat in her carriage. i accepted the invitation, and we sat there some time talking about various things. i saw, as everyone sees who converses with her, that she is a very attractive person, though brilliantly attired, unaffected in her manner as any mountain lass. "march , . made my last call this afternoon on mrs. cleveland. found her amid a group of distinguished ladies, and unhappy at the thought of leaving the white house, which had been her home off and on for nearly eight years. her children have already gone to princeton, which is to be her new home. she is the same beautiful, unaffected, and intelligent woman that she has always been since i formed her acquaintance. she is an inspiration to anyone who preaches, because she is such an intense listener. her going from our church here will be a great loss. it is wonderful that a woman so much applauded and admired should not have been somewhat spoiled. more complimentary things have been said of her than of any living woman. she invited me to her home in princeton, but i do not expect ever to get there. our pleasant acquaintance seems to have come to an end. washington society will miss this queen of amiability and loveliness. "february , . had one of my talks with president cleveland. "as i congratulated him on his coming relief from the duties of his absorbing office, he said: "'yes! i am glad of it; but there are so many things i wanted to accomplish which have not been accomplished.' "then he went into extended remarks about the failure of the senate to ratify the arbitration plan. he said that there had been much work and anxiety in that movement that had never come to the surface; how they had waited for cablegrams, and how at the same time, although he had not expressed it, he had a presentiment that through the inaction of the senate the splendid plan for the pacification of the world's controversies would be a failure. "he dwelt much upon the cuban embroglio, and said that he had told the committee on foreign relations that if they waited until spring they had better declare war, but that he would never be responsible for such a calamity. "he said that he had chosen princeton for his residence because he would find there less social obligation and less demand upon his financial resources than in a larger place. he said that in all matters of national as well as individual importance it was a consolation to him to know that there was an overwhelming providence. when i congratulated him upon his continuous good health, notwithstanding the strain upon him for the eight years of his past and present administration, he said: "'yes! i am a wonder to myself. the gout that used to distract me is almost cured, and i am in better health than when i entered office.' "he accounted for his good health by the fact that he had occasionally taken an outing of a few days on hunting expeditions. "i said to him, 'yes! you cannot think of matters of state while out shooting ducks.' "he answered: "'no, i cannot, except when the hunting is poor and the ducks do not appear.' "may , . this morning when i entered president cleveland's room at the white house, he said: 'good morning, i have been thinking of you this morning.' "the fact is he had under consideration the recall of a minister plenipotentiary from a european government. i had an opportunity of saying something about a gentleman who was proposed as a substitute for the foreign embassy, and the president said my conversation with him had given him a new idea about the whole affair, and i think it kept the president from making a mistake that might have involved our government in some entanglement with another nation. "the president read me a long letter that he had received on the subject. i felt that my call had been providential, although i went to see him merely to say good-bye before he went away on his usual summer trip to gray gables, buzzards bay, massachusetts. "the president is in excellent health although he says he much needs an outing. he is very fond of his children, and seemed delighted to hear of the good time i had with them at woodley. when i told how ruth and esther sang for me he said he could not stand hearing them sing, as it was so touching it made him cry. i told him how the baby, marian, looked at me very soberly and scrutinisingly as long as i held her in my arms, but when i handed her to her mother, the baby, feeling herself very safe, put out her hands to me and wanted to play. but what a season of work and anxiety it had been to the president, important question after question to be settled. "march , . i have this afternoon made my last call on president cleveland. with dr. sunderland and the officers of our church i went to the white house to bid our retiring president goodbye. notwithstanding appointments he had made, thurber, his private secretary, informed us that the president could not see us because of a sudden attack of rheumatism. but after thurber had gone into the president's room, he returned saying that the president would see dr. sunderland and myself. indeed, afterwards, he saw all our church officers. but he could not move from his chair. his doctor had told him that if he put his foot to the floor he would not be able to attend the inauguration of major mckinley on the following thursday. "after dr. sunderland and the officers of the church had shaken hands for departure, the president said to me: "'doctor, remain, i want to see you.' "the door closed, he asked me if i had followed the chinese immigration bill that was then under consideration. we discussed it fully. the president read to me the veto which he was writing. he stated to me his objection to the bill. our conversation was intimate, but somewhat saddened by the thought that perhaps we might not meet again. with an invitation to come and see him at princeton, we parted. "during a conversation of an earlier period at the white house, i congratulated the president upon his improved appearance since returning from one of his hunting expeditions. "'oh! yes!' he said, 'i cannot get daily exercise in washington. it is impossible, so i am compelled to take these occasional outings. i approach the city on my return with a feeling that work must be pulled down over me, like a nightcap,' and as he said this he made the motion as of someone putting on a cap over his head. "i congratulated him on the effect of his proclamation on the monroe doctrine as it would set a precedent, and really meant peace. he agreed with me, saying: "'yes, but they blame me very much for the excitement i have caused in business circles, and the failures consequent. but no one failed who was doing a legitimate business, only those collapsed who were engaged in unwarranted speculations. i wish more of those people would fail.' "'mr. president,' i said, 'i do not want to pry into state secrets, but i would like to know how many ducks you did shoot?' he laughed, and said, 'eleven. the papers said thirteen. indeed, the country papers before i began to shoot said i had shot a hundred and twenty.' i spoke of the brightness and beauty of his children again. i remarked that the youngest one, then four months old, had the intelligence of a child a year old, and the president said: "'yes, she is a great pleasure to us, and seems to know everything.' "march , . started from washington for the great home missionary meeting to be held in carnegie hall, new york, president cleveland to preside. we left on the eleven o'clock train, by pennsylvania railroad. i did not go to the president's private car until we had been some distance on our way, although he told me when i went in that he had looked for me at the depot, that i might as well have been in his car all the way. no one was with him except mrs. cleveland and his private secretary, mr. thurber, who is also one of my church. we had an uninterrupted conversation. the servants and guards were at the front end of the car, and we were at the rear. "i asked the president if he found it possible to throw off the cares of office for a while. he laughed, and said: "'they call a trip of this kind a vacation;' then with a countenance of sudden gravity he added: 'we no sooner get through one great question than another comes.' it made me think of the tension on the president's mind at that time. there was the venezuelan question. there were suggestions of war with england, and then there was the cuban matter with suggestions of war with spain, and all the time the overshadowing financial questions. "during our conversation the president referred to the conditions ever and anon inflicted upon him by newspaper misrepresentations, particularly those of inebriety, of domestic quarrels, of turning mrs. cleveland out of doors at night so that she had to flee for refuge to the house of dr. sunderland, my pastoral associate, passing the night there; and then the reports that his children were deaf and dumb, or imbecile, when he knew i had seen them and considered them the brightest and healthiest children i had known. "all these attacks and falsehoods concerning the president and his family i saw hurt him as deeply as they would any of us, but he is in a position which does not allow him to make reply. i assured him that he was only in the line of misrepresentation that had assailed all the presidents, george washington more violently than himself, and that the words cynicism, jealousy, political hatred, and diabolism in general would account for all. i do think, however, that the factories of scandal had been particularly busy with our beloved president. they were running on extra time. "if i were asked who among the mighty men at washington has most impressed me with elements of power i would say grover cleveland. "june , . it seems now that major mckinley, of canton, ohio, will be elected president of the united states. i was in canton about three weeks ago and called at major mckinley's house. he was just starting from his home to call on me. he presided at the first lecture i delivered at canton in . on my recent visit he recalled all the circumstances of that lecture, remembering that he went to my room afterwards in the hotel, and had a long talk with me, which he said made a deep impression upon him. "my visit at canton three weeks ago was to lecture. major mckinley attended and came upon the platform afterwards to congratulate me. he is a christian man and as genial and lovable a man as i ever met." "september , . had a most delightful interview with president mckinley in the white house. "i congratulated him on the peaceful opening of his administration. he said: "'yes! i hope it is not the calm before a storm.' "he said that during the last six weeks at least a half million of people had passed before him, and they all gave signs of their encouragement. especially, he said, the women and children looked and acted as though they expected better times. "the president looked uncommonly well. i told him that during the past summer i had travelled in many of the states, and that from the people everywhere i gathered hopeful feelings. i told him that they were expecting great prosperity would come to the country through his administration." of course these are merely scraps torn from old note-books, but i cannot help commending the value of first impressions, of the first-hand reports, which are made in this way. there is in the unadorned picture of any incident in the past a sort of hallowed character that no ornate frame can improve. so the pages of these recollections are but a string of impressions torn from old note-books and diaries. * * * * * from scrap books and other sources, some other person may set up the last milestones of my journey through life, and think other things of enough importance to add to the furlongs i have already travelled; and i give permission to add that biography to this autobiography. [illustration: t. de witt talmage signature.] a biographical sketch of dr. talmage's last milestones by mrs. t. dewitt talmage - the last milestones by mrs. t. dewitt talmage - the wishes of doctor talmage reign paramount with me; otherwise i should not dare to add these imperfect memoirs to the finished and eloquent, yet simple, narration of his life-work which has just charmed the reader from his own graphic pen. dr. talmage did not consider his autobiography of vital importance to posterity; his chief concern was for his sermons and other voluminous writings. the intimate things of his life he held too sacred for public view, and he shrank from any intrusion thereupon. his autobiography, therefore, was a concession to his family, his friends, and an admiring public. so many people all over the world have paid homage to his personality, and to his remarkable influence, that it seemed evident not only to us but to many others, that his own recollections would give abiding pleasure. i remember when we were travelling to washington after our marriage, many men of prominence, who were on the congressional limited, said to dr. talmage: "doctor, why don't you write your memoirs? they would be especially interesting because you have bridged two centuries in your life." then, turning to me, they urged me to use my influence over him. later on i did so, placing over his desk as a reminder, in big letters, the one word--"autobiography." his celebrity was something so unique, and so widespread, that it is difficult to write of it under the spell which still surrounds his memory. many still remember seeing and feeling almost with awe the tremendous grasp of success which dr. talmage had all his life. a reminiscence of my girlhood will be pardoned: my father was his great admirer many years before i ever met the doctor. whenever i went with my father from my home in pittsburg on a visit to new york, i was taken over to brooklyn every sunday morning, unwillingly i must confess, to hear dr. talmage. at that time there were other things which i found more pleasant, for i had many young friends to visit and to entertain. however, my father's wishes were always uppermost with me, and his admiration of the great preacher inspired me also with reverence. the doctor soon became one of the great men of my life. dr. talmage was among the builders of his century--a watchman of his period. he was a man of philanthropy and enterprise. his popularity was world-wide; his extraordinary power was exerted over people of all classes and conditions of life. his broad human intellectuality, his constant good humour, his indomitable energy, threw a glamour about him. his happy laughter, which attested the deep peace of his heart, rang everywhere, through his home, in social meetings with his friends, in casual encounters even with strangers. [illustration: dr. and mrs. t. de witt talmage.] no one who ever knew the doctor thought of him as an old man. he himself almost believed that he would live for ever. "barring an accident," he often said, "i shall live for ever." the frankness and buoyancy of his spirit were like youth: were the enchantment of his personality. even to-day, when memories begin to grow cold in the shadow of his tomb, i am constantly reminded by those who remember him of the strange magical eternity that was in him. he had been so active and busy through all the years of his life, keeping pace with each one in its seemingly increasing speed, that his heart remained ever young, living in the glory of things that were present, searching with eager vigour the horizon of the future. wherever i am, whether in this country or in europe, but especially in england, dr. talmage's name still brings me remembrance of his distinguished career from the men of prominence who knew him. they come to me and tell me about him with unabated affection for his memory. he attracted people by a kind of magnetism, and held them afterwards with ties of deep friendship and respect. the standards of his youth were the standards of his whole life. my appreciation of dr. talmage in these printed pages may not be wholly in harmony with his ideas of the privacy of his home life; but it is difficult to think of him at all in any mood less intimately reverent. as i look over the scrapbook, my scrapbook (as he and i always called it), i feel the reserve about it that he himself did. my share in the doctor's life, however, belongs to these last years of his distinguished career, and i am a contributor by special privilege. i met him first at east hampton, long island, in the summer of , when i was visiting friends. the other day, while in reminiscent struggle with my scrapbook, i was visited by an old friend of dr. talmage, who recalled the following incident: "it was dr. talmage's custom," he said, "to take long drives out into the country round about washington. sometimes he sent for me to drive with him. one afternoon i received a specially urgent call to be sure and drive with him that day, because he had something of great importance to discuss with me. on our way back, towards evening, i asked him what it was. he said, 'i work hard, very hard. sometimes i come back to my home tired, very tired--lonely. i open my door and the house is dark, silent. the young folks are out somewhere and there is no one to talk to.' then he became silent himself. i said to him: 'have you any one in mind whom you would like to talk to?' 'i have,' he said positively. 'if so,' i said, 'go to her at once and tell her so.' 'i will,' he replied briskly--and the next night he went to pittsburg." we were married in january, . the first reception given in our home on massachusetts avenue was in the nature of a greeting between the doctor's friends and myself. his own interest in the social side of things in washington was an agreeable interruption rather than a part of his own activities. his friends were men and women from every highway and byway of the world. my father, a man of unusual intellectual breadth and heart, had been my companion of many years, so that i was, to some degree, accustomed to mature conceptions of people and affairs. but the busy whirl in the life of a celebrity was entirely new. it was soon quite evident that dr. talmage relied upon me for the discretionary duties of a man besieged by all sorts of demands. from the first i feared that dr. talmage was over-taxing his strength, undiminished though it was at a time when most men begin to relinquish their burdens. therefore, i entered eagerly into my new duties of relieving the strain he himself did not realise. his was a full and ample life devoted to the gospel of cheerfulness; and to me, i think, was given the best part of it--the autumn. when i knew him he had already impressed the wide world of his hearers with his striking originality of thought and style. he had already established a form of preaching that was known by his name--talmagic. its character was the man himself, broad, brilliant, picturesque, keen with divine and human facts, told simply, always with an uplift of spiritual beauty. in march, , dr. talmage was called west for lecture engagements, and i went with him. what strange and delightful events that spring tour brought into my life! the doctor lectured every night in what was to me some new and undiscovered country. we were always going to an hotel, to a train, to an opera house, to another hotel, another train, another opera house. our experiences were not less exciting than the trials of one-night stands. i had never travelled before without a civilised quota of trunks; but the doctor would have been overwhelmed with them in the rush to keep his engagements. so we had to be content with our bags. when we were not studying time tables the doctor was striding across the land, his bible under his arm, myself in gasping haste at his side. what primitive hotels we encountered; what antiquated trains we had to take! frequently a milk train was the only means of reaching our destination, and, alas! a milk train always leaves at the trying hour of a.m. once we had to ride on a special engine; and frequently the caboose of a freight train served our desperate purpose. i began to understand something of the loneliness of the doctor's life in experiences like these. i insisted upon sitting in the front row at every one of dr. talmage's lectures, which i soon knew by heart. he used to laugh when i would repeat certain parts of them to him. then he would beg me to stay away that i might not be bored by listening to the same thing over again. i would not have missed one of his lectures for the world. these were the great moments of his life; the combined resources of his character came to the surface whenever he went into the pulpit or on to the platform. these were the moments that inspired his life, that gave it an ever-increasing vigour of human and divine perception. the enthusiasm of his reception by the crowds in these theatres keyed me up so that each new audience was a new pleasure. there were no preliminaries to his lectures. frequently he had time only to drop his hat and step on to the stage as he had come from the train. after every lecture it was his custom to shake hands with hundreds of people who came up to the platform. this was very exhausting, but these were to him the moments of fruition--the spiritual harvest of the christian seeds he had scattered over the earth. they were wonderful scenes, dramatic in their earnestness, remarkable in the evidence they brought out of his universal influence upon the hearts of men and women. everywhere the same testimony prevailed: "you saved my father, god bless you!" "you saved my brother, thank god!" "you made a good woman of me!" "you gave me my first start in life!" in these words they told him their gratitude, as they grasped his hand. on these occasions the doctor's face was wonderful to see as, with the silent pressure of his hand, he looked into the eyes that were filled with tears. sometimes people would come to me and whisper the same truths about him, and when i would tell him, his answer was characteristic: "eleanor, this is what gives me strength. it is worth living to hear people tell me these things." dr. talmage's instincts were big, evangelical impulses. i often used to urge him to relinquish his pastorate; but he would reply that after all the church was his candlestick; that he must have a place to hold his candle while he preached to a world of all nations. yet he often said he would rather have been an unfettered evangelist, bent on saving the world, than the pastor of any one flock or church. to preach to the people was the breath of his life. it was the restless energy of his soul that kept him for ever young. he would put all his strength into every sermon he preached, and every lecture he delivered. dr. talmage had absolutely no personal vanity. he was a man absorbed in ideas, indifferent to appearances. he lived in the opportunities of his heart and mind to help others; although he had been one of the most tried of men, he had never spared himself to help others. he never lost faith in anyone. there were many shrewd enough to realise this characteristic in him, who would put a finger on his heart and draw out of him all he had to give. on one occasion we were travelling through iowa, when a big snow storm made it evident that we could not make connections to meet an engagement he had made to lecture that evening in marietta, ohio. he had just said to me that after all he was glad, because he was very tired and needed the rest. will carleton was on the same train, bound for zanesville, ohio, to give a lecture that night. he was very much afraid that he, too, would miss his engagement. he asked the doctor to telegraph to the railroad officials to hold the limited at chicago junction, which the doctor did. the result was that we were whisked in a carriage across chicago and whirled on a special car to the junction, where the limited was held for us, much to the disgust of the other passengers. he saw the mercy of god in every calamity, the beauty of faith in him in every mood of earth or sky. one spring day we were sitting in the room of a friend's house. there were flowers in the room, and dr. talmage loved these children of nature. he always said that flowers were appropriate for all occasions. some one said to him, "doctor, how have you kept your faith in people, your sweet interpretation of human nature, in spite of the injustice you have sometimes been shown?" looking at a great bunch of sweet peas on the table, he said: "many years ago i learned not to care what the world said of me so long as i myself knew i was right and fair, and how can one help but believe when the good god above us makes such beautiful things as these flowers?" his creed, as i learned it, was perfect faith, and the universal commands of human nature to live and let live. although i was destined to share less than five years of his life, there was in the whole of it no chapter or incident with which he did not acquaint me. he was not a man of theory. no one could live near him without awe of his genius. we returned to washington after this spring lecturing tour, where the doctor resumed his preaching twice on sunday, and his mid-week lecture, till june. then, according to dr. talmage's custom, we went to saratoga for a few weeks before the crowds came for the season. the doctor found the saratoga springs beneficial and made it a rule to go there for a time each summer. on july , , we started for the pacific coast on what dr. talmage called a summer vacation. on his desk there was always a great number of invitations to preach and lecture awaiting his acknowledgment or refusal. the greatest problem of the last years of his life was how to find time for all the things he was asked to do and wanted to do. in vain i tried to make him conform to the usual plans of a summer outing. he asked me if he might take a "few lectures" on our route to california, and he did, but he always managed to slip in a few extra ones without my knowledge. when i would protest about these additional engagements he would say that the people wanted to hear him, that they were new people he had never seen, which meant more to him than anything else; then, of course, i had to yield my judgment. it had been dr. talmage's original plan to go to europe during this first summer of our marriage, but the outbreak of the spanish war made him afraid he might not be able to get back in time for his church work in october. although ostensibly this was a vacation trip, it was so only in the spirit and gaiety of the doctor's moods. three times a week dr. talmage lectured, and preached once, sometimes twice, every sunday. from cincinnati westward to denver, we zigzagged over the country, keeping in constant pursuit of the doctor's engagements. no argument on our part could alter these working plans which my husband had made before we left washington. he was so happy, however, in the midst of his energies, that we forgot the exertion of his labours. the three places where, by agreeable lapses, dr. talmage really enjoyed a rest, were colorado springs, the yellowstone park, and coronado beach in california. aside from these points, we were travelling incessantly in the doctor's reflected glory, which was our vacation, but by no means his. while at colorado springs, where we stayed two weeks, dr. talmage preached once, and once in denver, but he did not lecture. in salt lake city the doctor preached in the tabernacle, the throne room of polygamy, that he had so often attacked in previous years. that was a remarkable feature of these last milestones of his life, that all conflicts were forgotten in a universal acknowledgment of his evangelism. his grasp of every subject was always close to the hearts of others, and it was instinctive, not studied. during our visit in the west, he talked much of the effect of the spanish war, regarding our victory in cuba and the philippines as an advance to civilisation. we entered the yellowstone park at minado and drove through the geyser country. we stopped at dwelly's, a little log-cabin famous to all travellers, just before entering the park. on leaving there, we had been told that there were occasional hold-ups of parties travelling in private vehicles, as we were. the following day, while passing along a lonely road, a man suddenly leaped from the bushes and seized the bridles of the horses. the doctor appeared to be terribly frightened, and we were all very much excited when we saw that the driver had missed his aim when he fired at the bandit. the robber was of the appearance approved in dime novels; he wore a sacking over his head with eye-holes cut in it through which he could see, and looked in all other respects a disreputable cut-throat. just as we were about to surrender our jewels and money, dr. talmage confessed that he had arranged the hold-up for our benefit, and that it was a practical joke of his. he was always full of mischief, and took delight in surprising people. on sunday dr. talmage preached in the parlours of the fountain hotel. the rooms were crowded with the soldiers who were stationed in the park. the doctor's sermon was on garrison duty; he said afterwards that he found it extremely difficult to talk there because the rooms were small, and the people were too close to him. we paid a visit to mr. henderson, who was an official of the yellowstone park at that time, and whose brother was speaker of the house in washington. he begged dr. talmage to use his influence with members of congress to oppose a project which had been started, to build a trolley line through the yellowstone park. the doctor promised to do so, and i think the trolley line has not been built. we left the yellowstone park, at cinabar, and went direct to seattle. during our stay in seattle the whole town was excited one morning by the arrival of a ship from the klondike, that region of golden romance and painful reality. the doctor and i went down to the wharf to see the great ship disembark these gold-diggers; but for several hours the four hundred passengers had been detained on board because $ , in gold dust, carried by two miners, had been stolen; and though a search had been instituted, to which everyone had been compelled to submit, no clue to the thief had been found. dr. talmage was profoundly impressed by the misfortune of these two men, who after months of exposure and fatigue were now obliged to walk ashore penniless. a number of these four hundred passengers had brought back an aggregate of about $ , , from the klondike; but many among them had brought back only disappointment, and their haggard faces were pitiful to see; indeed, the doctor told me that out of the thousands who went fortune hunting to alaska, only about per cent. came back richer than when they started. in the early part of september dr. talmage lectured in san francisco on international policies. his admiration of the czar's manifesto for disarmament of the nations was unbounded, and he emphasised it whenever he appeared in public. he prophesied the millennium as if he looked forward to personal experiences of it; this came from his remarkable confidence in the life forces nature had given him. at coronado beach we determined upon a rest for two weeks; but the doctor could in no wise be induced to forego his lecture at san diego. a pleasant visit to los angeles was followed by a delightful sojourn of a few days at santa barbara, the floral paradise of the golden coast; here the doctor was met at the station by carriages, and we were literally smothered in flowers; even our rooms in the hotel were banked high with roses. in the afternoon we accepted an invitation to drive through santa barbara, hoping against hope that we might do so inconspicuously. but the same flower-laden carriages came for us, and we were driven through the city like a miniature flower parade. much to the doctor's regret he was followed about like a circus; but his courtesy never failed. on our route east we again stopped in san francisco. an announcement had been made that dr. talmage would preach for the sunday evening service at calvary presbyterian church, on the corner of powell and geary streets. never had i seen such a crowd before. as we made our way to the church, we found the adjoining streets packed so solidly with people that we had to call a policeman to make an opening for us. once inside, we saw the church rapidly filling, till at last, as a means of protection, the doors were locked against the surging crowd. but dr. talmage had scarcely begun his sermon when the doors were literally broken down by the crowd outside. quick to see the danger the doctor sent out word to the people that he would speak in union square immediately after the church service. this had the desired effect, and the great crowd waited patiently for him a block away till nine o'clock. it was rather a raw evening because of a fog that had come up from the sea, and for this reason the doctor asked permission to keep his hat on while he talked from the band stand. it was the first time i ever heard him speak out of doors, and i was amazed to hear how clearly every word travelled, and with what precision his voice carried the exact effect. it was a coincidence that the theme of his sermon should have been, "there is plenty of room in heaven." the tremendous enthusiasm, the almost worshipful interest with which he was received, could easily have spoiled any man, but with dr. talmage such an ovation as we had witnessed seemed only to intensify the simplicity of his character. he lost his identity in the elements of inspiration, and when he had finished preaching it was not to himself but to the power that had been given him, he gave all the credit of his influence. he was always simple, direct, unpretentious. during a short stay in chicago dr. talmage preached in his son's church, and then hurried home to begin his duties in his own church. duty was the doctor's master key; with it he locked himself away from the mediocre, and unlocked his way to ultimate freedom of religious impulse. for a long while he had formed a habit of preaching without recompense, as he would have desired to do all his life, because he felt that the power of preaching was a gift from god, a trust to be transmitted without cost to the people. he never missed preaching on sunday, paying his own expenses to whatever pulpit he was invited to occupy. there were so many invitations that he was usually able to choose. it was this conviction that led to his ultimate resignation from his church in washington, that he might be free to expound the scriptures wherever he was. he was always so happy it was hard to believe that he was overworking; yet i feared his labour of love would end in exhaustion and possible illness. everything in the world was beautiful to him, and yet beauty was not a matter of externals with him. it radiated from him, even when it was not about him. especially was this noticeable when we were away together on one of his short lecturing trips. at these times we were quite alone, and then, without interruptions, in the sequestered domain of some country hotel he would admit me into the wonderland of his inner hopes, his plans for the future, his ideas of life and people and happiness. once we were staying in one of these country hotels obviously pretentious, but very uncomfortable--the sort of hotel where the walls of the room oppress you, and the furniture astonishes you, and there are no private baths. he sat down in the largest chair, literally beaming with delight. "isn't it beautiful?" he said; "now i take my home with me; before i used to be so much alone. now i have someone to talk to." there was nothing comparative in his happiness; everything was made perfect for him by the simplicity of his appreciation. i used to look forward to these trips as one might look forward to an excursion into some new and unexpected transport of existence, for he always had new wonders of heart and mind to reveal in these obscure byways we explored together. they were all too short, and yet too full for time to record them in a diary. these were the hours that one puts away in the secret chamber of unwritten and untold feeling. i turn again to the pages of our scrap book, as one turns to the dictionary, for reserve of language. in november of i find there a clipping that reminds me of the day dr. talmage and i spent at the home of senator faulkner, in martinsburg, west virginia. the anglo-american commission was in session in washington then, and during the following winter. the joint high commission was the official title, and we were invited by senator faulkner with these men to get a glimpse of that rare americanism known the world over as southern hospitality. the foreign members of the commission were lord herschel, sir wilfred laurier, sir louis davis, and sir richard cartwright. our host was one of the americans on the commission. we left washington about noon, lunched on the train, and reached the old ancestral home in a snow storm. all of the available carriages and carry-alls were at our disposal, however, and we were quickly driven to the warm fireside of a true southerner, who, more than any other kind of man, knows how to brand the word "home" upon your memory. we dined with true southern sumptuousness. never shall i forget the resigned and comfortable expression of that little roast pig as it was laid before us. to the englishmen it was a rare chance to understand the cordial relations between england and america, in an atmosphere of colonial splendour. the house itself has not undergone any change since it was built; it stands a complete example of an old ancestral estate. as we were leaving, our host insisted that no friend should leave his house without tasting the best egg-nog ever made in virginia. the doctor and i drove to the station in a carriage with lord herschel. he was a man of great reserve and high breeding. on the way he showed us a letter that he had just received from his daughter, a little girl in england, telling him to be sure and come home for the christmas holidays, and not to let those rich americans keep him away. this was the beginning of a series of dinners given by members of the joint high commission in washington during the winter, to which we were often invited. a few months later lord herschel died in washington. dr. talmage was almost the last man to see him alive. he called at his hotel to invite him to stay at his house, but he was then too ill to be moved. during the early fall of the doctor lectured at annapolis. it was his first visit to the old historic town, and he was received with all the honour of the place. we were the guests of governor lowndes at the executive mansion, where we were entertained in the evening at dinner. just before the christmas holidays, dr. talmage made a short lecturing trip into canada, and i went with him; it was my privilege to accompany him everywhere, even for a brief journey of a day. in montreal, while sitting in a box with some canadian friends, during one of the doctor's lectures, they told me how deep was the affection and regard for him in england. "wait till you see how the english people receive him," they said; "you will be surprised at the hold that he has on them over there." the following year i went to england with him, and experienced with pride and pleasure the truth of what they had said. the end of our first year together seemed to be only the prelude to a long lifetime of companionship and happiness, without age, without sorrow, without discord. the second milestone - in his study no wasted hours ever entered. with the exception of the stenographer and his immediate family no one was admitted there. it was his eventful laboratory where he conceived the greatest sermons of his period. i merely quote the opinions of others, far more important than my own, when i say this. it is a sort of haunted room to-day which i enter not with any fear, but i can never stay in it very long. it has no ghostly associations, it is too full of vital memories for that; but it is a room that mystifies and silences me, not with mere regrets, for that is sorrow, and there is nothing sad about the place to me. i can scarcely convey the impression; it is as though i expected to see him come in at the door at any moment and hear him call my name. the room is empty, but it makes me feel that he has only just stepped out for a little while. the study is at the top of the house, a long, wide, high-ceilinged room with many windows, from which the tops of trees sway gently in the breeze against the sky above and beyond. i spent a great deal of time with him in it. sometimes he would talk with me there about the themes of his sermons which were always drawn from some need in modern life. with the bible open before him he would seek for a text. "after forty years of preaching about all the wonders of this great book," he would say, "i am often puzzled where to choose the text most fitting to my sermon." his habits were methodical in the extreme; his time punctually divided by a fixed system of invaluable character. his inspirations were part of his eternal spirit, but he lived face to face with time, obedient to the law of its precision. i think of him always as of one whose genius was unknown to himself. we could always tell the time of day by the doctor's habits. they were as regular as a clock that never varies. at . to the second he was at the breakfast table. it was exactly one o'clock when he sat down to dinner. at . his supper was before him. some of our household would have preferred dining in the evening, but in that case the doctor would have dined alone, which was out of the question. every day of his life, excepting friday, saturday and sunday, the doctor walked five miles. in bad weather he went out muffled and booted like a sailor on a stormy sea. his favourite walk was always from our house to the capitol, around the library of congress and back. he never varied this walk for he had no bump of locality, and he was afraid of losing his way. if he strayed from the beaten path into any one of the beautiful squares in washington he was sure to have to ask a policeman how to get home. fridays and saturdays dr. talmage spent entirely in his study, dictating his sermons. how many miles he walked these days he himself never knew, but all day long he tramped back and forth the length of his study, composing and expounding in a loud voice the sermon of the week. he could be heard all over the house. we had a new servant once who came rushing downstairs to my room one morning in great fear. "mrs. talmage, ma'am, there is a crazy man in that room on the top floor," she cried. she had not seen nor heard the doctor, and did not know that that room was his study. on these weekend days we always drove after dark. an open carriage was at the door by o'clock, and no matter what the weather might be we had our drive. in the dead of winter, wrapped in furs and rugs, we have driven in an open carriage just as if it were summer. usually we went up on capitol hill because the doctor was fond of the view from that height. my share in the doctor's labours were those of a watchful companion, who appreciated his genius, but could give it no greater light than sympathy and admiration. occasionally he would ask me to select the hymns for the services, and this i did as well as i could. sunday was the great day of the week to me. it has never been the same since the doctor died. our friendships were always mutual, and we shared them with equal pleasure. the doctor's friendship with president mckinley was an intimate mutual association that ended only with the great national disaster of the president's assassination. very often, we walked over in the morning to the white house to call on the president for an informal chat. a little school friend, who was visiting my daughter that winter, told my husband how anxious she was to see a president. "come on with me, i will show you a real president," said dr. talmage one morning, and over we went to the white house. while we were talking with the president, mrs. mckinley came in from a drive and sent word that she wished to see us. "i want to show you the president's library and bedroom," she said, "that you may see how a president lives." then she took us upstairs and showed us their home. while we did not keep open house, there was always someone dropping in to take dinner or supper informally, and i was somewhat surprised when dr. talmage told me one day that he thought we ought to give some sort of entertainment in return for our social obligations. it was not quite like him to remember or think of such things. on january , , we gave an evening reception, to which over people came. it was the first social affair of consequence the doctor had ever given in his house in washington. my husband's memory for names was so uncertain that when he introduced me to people he tactfully mumbled. on this occasion senator gorman very kindly stood near me to identify the people for me. i remember a very dapper, very little man in evening clothes, who was passed on to me by the doctor, with the usual unintelligible introduction, and i had just begun to make myself agreeable when, pointing to a medal on his coat, the little man said: "i am the only woman in the united states who has been honoured with one of these medals." i was very much mystified and looked up helplessly at senator gorman, who relieved me at once by saying, "mrs. talmage, this is the celebrated dr. mary walker, of whom you have heard so often." it was difficult for dr. talmage to assimilate the social obligations of life with the broader demands of his life mission, which seemed to constantly extend and increase in scope into the far distances of the world. more and more evident it became that the candlestick of his religious doctrine could no longer be maintained in one church, or in one pulpit. the necessity of breaking engagements out of town so as to be in washington every sunday became irksome to him. he felt that he could do better in the purposes of his usefulness as a preacher if he were to bear the candle of his gospel in a candlestick he could carry everywhere himself. i confess that i was not sorry when he reached this decision and submitted his resignation to the first presbyterian church in the spring of , after our return from a short vacation in florida. on our trip south i remember admiral schley was on the train with us part of the way. the admiral told the doctor the whole story of the santiago victory, and commented upon the official investigation of the affair. my husband was very fond of him, and his comment was summed up in his reassuring answer to the admiral--"but you were there." it was during our stay in florida that dr. talmage and joseph jefferson, the actor, renewed their acquaintance. the doctor never saw him act because he had made it a rule after he entered the ministry in his youth never to go to the theatre to see a play. in crossing the ocean he had frequently appeared with stage celebrities, at the usual entertainments given on board ship for the benefit of seamen, and in this way had made some friends among actors. he was particularly fond of madame modjeska, whom he had met on the steamer, and whose character and spirit he greatly admired. jefferson was a great fisherman, and most of his day was spent on the water or on the pier. there we used to meet him, and he and dr. talmage would exchange reminiscences, serious and ludicrous. one of the doctor's favourite stories was an account of a terrific fight he saw in india, between a mongoose and a cobra. mr. jefferson also had a story, a sort of parody of this, which described a man in _delirium tremens_ watching in imaginary terror a similar fight. years before this, when the doctor had delivered his famous sermon in brooklyn against the stage, jefferson was among the actors who went to hear him. recalling this incident, mr. jefferson said:-- "when i entered that church to hear your sermon, doctor, i hated you. when i left the church, i loved you." he talked very little of the theatre, and seemed to regard his stage career with less importance than he did his love of painting. he never grew tired of this subject. when we were leaving palm beach, mr. jefferson said to me, "i know dr. talmage won't come and see me act, but when i am in washington i will send you a box, and i hope the doctor will let you come." dr. talmage's resignation from his church in washington took place in march, . i quote his address to the presbytery because it was a momentous event occurring in the gloaming of what seemed to us all, then, the prime of his life: "march , . "to the session of the first presbyterian church of washington. "dear friends-- "the increasing demands made upon me by religious journalism, and the continuous calls for more general work in the cities, have of late years caused frequent interruption of my pastoral work. it is not right that this condition of affairs should further continue. besides that, it is desirable that i have more opportunity to meet face to face, in religious assemblies, those in this country and in other countries to whom i have, through the kindness of the printing press, been permitted to preach week by week, and without the exception of a week, for about thirty years. therefore, though very reluctantly, i have concluded, after serving you nearly four years in the pastoral relation, to send this letter of resignation.... "t. dewitt talmage." i had rather expected that the doctor's release from his church would have had the desired effect of reducing his labours, but he never accomplished less than the allotment of his utmost strength. rest was a problem he never solved, and he did not know what it meant. my life had not been idle by any means, but it seemed to me that the doctor's working hours were without end. when i told him this, he would say:-- "why, eleanor, i am not working hard at all now. this is very tame compared to what i have done in the years gone by." his weekly sermon was always put in the mail on saturday night, as also his weekly editorials. sunday the sermon was preached, and on monday morning the syndicate of newspapers in this country printed it. he made always two copies of his sermon. one he sent to his editorial offices in new york, the other was delivered to the _washington post_. i was told a little while ago that a prominent preacher called on the editor of this newspaper and asked him to publish one of his own sermons. this was refused, even when the aforesaid preacher offered to pay for the privilege. "but you print talmage's sermons!" said the preacher. "we do," replied the editor, "because we find that our readers demand them. we tried to do without them, but we could not." dr. talmage's acquaintance with men of national reputation was very wide, but he never seemed to consider their friendship greater than any others. he was a great hero worshipper himself, always impressed by a man who had done something in the world. there was a great deal of praise being bestowed about this time on mr. carnegie's library gifts. dr. talmage admired the scottish-american immensely, having formed his acquaintance while crossing the ocean. five or six years later, during the winter of , the doctor met him in one of the rooms of the white house. he tells this anecdote in his own words, as follows:-- "i was glad i was present that day, when mr. andrew carnegie decided upon the gift of a library to the city of washington. i was in one of the rooms of the white house talking with governor lowndes, of maryland, and mr. b.h. warner, of washington, who was especially interested in city libraries. mr. carnegie entered at the opposite end of the room. we greeted each other with heartiness, not having met since we crossed the ocean together some time before. i asked mr. carnegie to permit me to introduce him to some friends. after each introduction the conversation immediately turned upon libraries, as mr. carnegie was then constantly presenting them in this and other lands. before the conversation ended that day, mr. carnegie offered $ , for a washington library. i have always felt very happy at having had anything to do with that interview, which resulted so gloriously." dr. talmage's opinions upon the aftermath of the spanish war were widely quoted at this time. "the fact is this war ought never to have occurred," he said. "we have had the greatest naval officer of this century, admiral schley, assailed for disobeying orders, and general shatter denounced for being too fat and wanting to retreat, and general wheeler attacked because of something else. we are all tired of this investigating business. i never knew a man in church or state to move for an investigating committee who was not himself somewhat of a hypocrite. the question is what to do with the bad job we have on hand. i say, educate and evangelise those islands." as he wrote he usually talked, and these words are recollections of the subjects he talked over with me in his quieter study hours. they were virile talks, abreast of the century hurrying to its close, full of cheerfulness, faith, and courage for the future. he was particularly distressed and moved by the death of chief justice field, in april, . it was his custom to read his sermons to me in his study before preaching. he chose for his sermon on april , the decease of the great jurist, and his text was zachariah xi, : "howl fir tree, for the cedar has fallen." many no doubt remember this sermon, but no one can realise the depths of feeling with which the doctor read it to me in the secret corner of his workroom at home. but his heart was in every sermon. he said when he resigned from his church:-- "the preaching of the gospel has always been my chosen work, i believe i was called to it, and i shall never abandon it." during this season in washington we gave a few formal dinners. my husband wished it, and he was a cheerful, magnetic host, though he accepted few invitations to dinner himself. no wine was served at these dinners, and yet they were by no means dull or tiresome. our guests were men of ideas, men like justice brewer, speaker reed, senator burrows, justice harlan, vice-president fairbanks, governor stone, and senators who have since become members of the old guard. it was said in washington at the time that dr. talmage's dinner parties were delightful, because they were ostensible opportunities to hear men talk who had something to say. the doctor was liberal-minded about everything, but his standards of conduct were the laws of his life that no one could jeopardise or deny. a very prominent society woman came to dr. talmage one day to ask the favour that he preach a temperance sermon for the benefit of sir wilfrid laurier, whom she wanted to interest in temperance legislation. she promised to bring him to the doctor's church for that purpose. "madame, i shall be very glad to have sir wilfrid laurier attend my church," said the doctor, "but i never preach at anybody. your request is something i cannot agree to." the lady was a personal friend, and she persisted. finally the doctor said to her: "mrs. g----, my wife and i are invited to meet sir wilfrid laurier at a dinner in your house next week. will you omit the wines at that dinner?" the lady admitted that that would be impossible. "then you see, madame, how difficult it would be for me to alter my principles as a preacher." in may, , dr. talmage and i left washington and went to east hampton--alone. contrary to his usual custom of closing his summer home between seasons, the doctor had allowed a minister and his family to live there for three months. diphtheria had developed in the family during that time and the doctor ordered everything in the house to be burned, and the walls scraped. so the whole house had to be refurnished, and the doctor and i together selected the furniture. it was a joyous time, it was like redecorating our lives with a new charm and sentiment that was intimately beautiful and refreshing. i remember the tenderness with which the doctor showed me a place on the door of the barn where his son dewitt, who died, had carved his initials. he would never allow that spot to be touched, it was sacred to the memory of what was perhaps the most absorbing affection of his life. he always called east hampton his earthly paradise, which to him meant a busy utopia. he was very fond of the sea bathing, and his chief recreation was running on the beach. he was years old, yet he could run like a young man. these few weeks were a memorable vacation. in june, dr. talmage made an engagement to attend the th commencement exercises of the erskine theological college in due west, south carolina. this is the place where secession was first planned, as it is also the oldest presbyterian centre in the united states. we were the guests of dr. grier, the president of the college. it was known that rev. david p. pressly, presbyterian patriarch and graduate of this college, had been my father's pastor in pittsburg, and this association added some interest to my presence in due west with the doctor. the rev. e.p. lindsay, my brother's pastor in pittsburg, had also been born there, and his mother, when i met her in , was still a vigorous secessionist. her greatest disappointment was the fact that her son had abandoned the sentiments of secession and had gone to preach in a northern church. she told us that she had once hidden jefferson davis in her house for three days. due west was a quiet little village inhabited by some rich people who lived comfortably on their plantations. the graduating class of the college were entertained at dinner by dr. grier and the doctor. there was a great deal of comment upon the physical vigour and strength of dr. talmage's address, most of which reached me. a gentleman who was present was reminded of the remarkable energy of the rev. dr. pressly, who preached for over fifty years, and was married three times. when asked about his health, dr. pressly always throughout his life made the same reply, "never better; never better." after he had won his third wife, however, he used to reply to this question with greater enthusiasm than before, saying, "better than ever; better than ever." another resident of due west, who had heard both the booths in their prime, said, "talmage has more dramatic power than i ever saw in booth." this visit to due west will always remain in my memory as full of sunshine and warmth as the days were themselves. we returned to east hampton for a few days, and on july , , the doctor delivered an oration to an immense crowd in the auditorium at ocean grove. this was the beginning of a summer tour of chautauquas, first in michigan, then up the lakes near mackinaw island, and later to jamestown, new york. in the fall of we made a trip south, including nashville, memphis, chattanooga, birmingham, and new orleans. one remarkable feature of dr. talmage's public life was the way in which he was sought as the man of useful opinions upon subjects that were not related to the pulpit. he was always being interviewed upon political and local issues, and his views were scattered broadcast, as if he were himself an official of national affairs. he never failed to be ahead of the hour. he regarded the affairs of men as the basis of his evangelical purpose. the spanish war ended, and his views were sought about the future policy in the east. the boer war came, and his opinions of that issue were published. nothing moved in or out of the world of import, during these last milestones of his life, that he was not asked about its coming and its going. his readiness to penetrate the course of events, to wrap them in the sacred veil of his own philosophy and spiritual fabric, combined to make him one of the foremost living characters of his time. dr. talmage was the most eager human being i ever knew, eager to see, to feel the heart of all humanity. i remember we arrived in birmingham, alabama, the day following the disaster that visited that city after the great cyclone. the first thing the doctor did on our arrival was to get a carriage and drive through those sections of the city that had suffered the most. it was a gruesome sight, with so many bodies lying about the streets awaiting burial. but that was his grasp of life, his indomitable energy, always alert to see and hear the laws of nature at close range. we were entertained a great deal through the south, where i believe my husband had the warmest friends and a more cordial appreciation than in any other part of the country. there was no lack of excitement in this life that i was leading at the elbow of the great preacher, and sometimes he would ask me if the big crowds did not tire me. to him they were the habit of his daily life, a natural consequence of his industry. however, i think he always found me equal to them, always happy to be near him where i could see and hear all. in october of this year we returned to washington, when the pan-presbyterian council was in session, and we entertained them at a reception in our house till late in the evening. the international union of women's foreign missionary societies of the presbyterian and reformed churches were also meeting in washington at this time, and they came. at one of the meetings of the council dr. talmage invited them all to his house from the platform in his characteristic way. "come all," he said, "and bring your wives with you. god gave eve to adam so that when he lost paradise he might be able to stand it. she was taken out of man's side that she might be near the door of his heart, and have easy access to his pockets. therefore, come, bringing the ladies with you. my wife and i shall not be entertaining angels unawares, but knowing it all the while. to have so much piety and brain under one roof at once, even for an hour or two, will be a benediction to us all the rest of our lives. i believe in the communion of saints as much as i believe in the life everlasting." in november, , dr. talmage installed the rev. donald mcleod as succeeding pastor of the first presbyterian church in washington, and delivered the installation address, the subject of which was, "invitation to outsiders." there had been some effort to inspire the people of washington to build an independent tabernacle for the doctor after his resignation, but he himself was not in sympathy with the movement because of the additional labour and strain it would have put upon him. as the winter grew into long, gray days, we were already planning a trip to europe for the following year of , and we were anticipating this event with eager expectancy as the time grew near. the third milestone - so much has been written about dr. talmage the world over, that i am tempted to tell those things about him that have not been written, but it is difficult to do. he stood always before the people a sort of radiant mystery to them. he was never really understood by those whom he most influenced. a writer in an english newspaper has given the best description of his appearance in i ever saw. it is so much better than any i could make that i quote it, regretting that i do not know the author's name:-- "a big man, erect and masterful in spite of advancing years, with an expressive and mobile mouth that seems ever smiling, and with great and speaking eyes which proclaim the fervent soul beneath." this portrait is very true, with a suggestion of his nature that makes it a faithful transcript of his presence. it is a picture of him at years of age. his strength overwhelmed people, and yet he was very simple, easily affected by the misfortunes of others, direct in all his impressions; but no one could take him by surprise, because his faith in the eternal redemption of all trials was beyond the ways of the world. his optimism was simple christianity. he always said he believed there was as great a number out of the church as there was in it that followed the teaching of christianity. he was among the believers, with his utmost energy alert to save and comfort the unbelievers. he believed in everything and everyone. the ingenuousness of his nature was childlike in its unchallenged faith and its tender instincts. his unworldliness was almost legendary in its belief of human nature. i remember he was asked once whether he believed in santa claus, and in his own beautiful imagery he said: "i believe in santa claus. haven't i listened when i was a boy and almost heard those bells on the reindeer; haven't i seen the marks in the snow where the sleigh stopped at the door and old santa jumped out? i believed in him then and i believe in him now--believe that children should be allowed to believe in the beautiful mythical tale. it never hurt anyone, and i think one of the saddest memories of my childhood is of a day when an older brother told me there was no santa claus. i didn't believe him at first, and afterwards when i saw those delightful mysterious bundles being sneaked into the house, way down deep in my heart i believed that santa claus as well as my father and mother had something to do with it." in the last years of his life music became the greatest pleasure to dr. talmage. an accumulation of work made it necessary for me to engage a secretary. we were fortunate in securing a young lady who was an exquisite pianist. in the evening she would play liszt's rhapsodies for the doctor, who enjoyed the hungarian composer most of all. he said to me once that he felt as if music in his study, when he was at work, would be a great inspiration. so my christmas present to him that year was a musical box, which he kept in his study. the three months preceding our trip to europe were spent in the usual busy turmoil of social and public life. in truth we were very full of our plans for the european tour, which was to be devoted to preaching by dr. talmage, and to show me the places he had seen and people he had met on previous visits. there was something significant in the welcome and the ovations which my husband received over there. neither the doctor nor myself ever dreamed that it would be his farewell visit. and yet it seems to me now that he was received everywhere in europe as if they expected it to be his last. i must confess that we looked forward to our jaunt across the water so eagerly that the events of the preceding months did not seem very important. with dr. talmage i went on his usual lecture trip west, stopping in chicago, where the doctor preached in his son's church. everywhere we were invited to be the guests of some prominent resident of the town we were in. it had been so with dr. talmage for years. he always refused, however, because he felt that his time was too imperative a taskmaster. for thirty years he had never visited anyone over night, until he went to my brother's house in pittsburg. but we were constantly meeting old friends of his, friends of many years, in every stopping place of our journeys. i remember particularly one of these characteristic meetings which took place in new york, where the doctor, had gone to preach one sunday. we had just entered the waldorf hotel, where we were stopping, when a little man stepped up to the doctor and began picking money off his coat. he seemed to find it all over him. dr. talmage laughed, and introduced me to marshall p. wilder. "dr. talmage started me in life," said mr. wilder, and proceeded to tell me how the doctor had filled him with optimism and success. he was always doing this, gripping young men by the shoulders and shaking them into healthful life. and then men of political or national prominence were always seeking him out, to gain a little dynamic energy and balance from the doctor's storehouse of experience and philosophy. he was a giant of helpfulness and inspiration, to everyone who came into contact with him. in january we dined with governor stone at the executive mansion in harrisburg, where dr. talmage went to preach, and on our return from europe governor stone insisted upon giving us a great reception and welcome. of course, those years were stirring and enjoyable, and never to be forgotten. the reflected glory is a personal pleasure after all. in april, , we sailed on the "kaiser wilhelm der grosse" bound for london. the two points of interest the doctor insisted upon making in europe were the north cape, to see the midnight sun, and the passion play at ober-ammergau. hundreds of invitations had been sent to him to preach abroad, many of which he accepted, but he could not be persuaded to lecture. there was never a jollier, more electric companion _de voyage_ than dr. talmage during the whole of his trip. he was the life of the party, which included his daughter, miss maud talmage, and my daughter, miss rebekah collier. on a very stormy sunday, on board ship going over, dr. talmage preached, holding on to a pillar in the cabin. there were some who wondered how he escaped the tortures of _mal-de-mer_, from which he had always suffered. it was a family secret. once, when crossing with mrs. vanderbilt, she had given dr. talmage an opium plaster, which was absolute proof against the disagreeable consequences of ocean travel. with the aid of this plaster the doctor's poise was perfect. disembarking at southampton we did not reach london until a.m., going to the hotel somewhat the worse for wear. temporarily we stopped at the langham, moving later to the metropole. before lunch the same day the doctor drove to westminster abbey to see the grave of gladstone. it was his first thought, his first duty. it had been his custom for many years to visit the graves of his friends whenever he could be near them. it was a characteristic impulse of dr. talmage's to follow to the edge of eternity those whom he had known and liked. when he was asked in england what he had come to do there, he said: "i am visiting europe with the hope of reviving old friendships and stimulating those who have helped me in the old gospel of kindness." his range of vision was always from the gospel point of view, not necessarily denominational. i remember he was asked, while in england, if there was an organisation in america akin to the evangelical council of free churches, and he said, while there was no such body, "there was a common platform in the united states upon almost every subject." the principal topic in england then was the boer war, which aroused so much hostility in our country. the doctor's sympathies were with the boers, but he tactfully evaded any public expression of them in england, although he was interviewed widely on the subject. he never believed in rumours that were current, that the united states would interfere in the transvaal, and prophesied that the american government would not do so--"remembering their common origin." "the great need in america," he said, "is of accurate information about the transvaal affairs. a great many democratic politicians are trying to make presidential capital out of the boer disturbances, but it is doubtful how far these politicians will be permitted to dictate the policy of even their own party." i remember the candidature for president of admiral dewey was discussed with dr. talmage, who had no very emphatic views about the matter, except to declare admiral dewey's tremendous popularity, and to acknowledge his support by the good democrats of the country. the doctor was convinced however that mr. mckinley would be the next president at this time. the first service in england which dr. talmage conducted was in cavendish chapel at manchester. the next was at albert hall in nottingham, under the auspices of the y.m.c.a. he was described in the nottingham newspapers as the "most alive man in the united states." a great crowd filled the hall at nottingham, and as usual he was compelled to hold an open-air meeting afterwards. the first lecture he ever delivered in england was given in this place twenty-one years before. nothing interfered with the routine of the doctor's habits of industry during all this european trip. he had taken over with him the proofs of about volumes of his selected sermons for correction, and all his spare moments were spent in perfecting and revising these books for the printer. his sermons were the only monument he wished to leave to posterity. it has caused me the deepest regret that these books have not been perpetuated as he so earnestly wished. in addition to this work he wrote his weekly sermon for the syndicate, employing stenographers wherever he might be in europe two days every week for that purpose. and yet he never lost interest in the opportunities of travel, eagerly planning trips to the old historic places near by. near nottingham is the famous byron country which dr. talmage had never found time to visit when he was in europe before. we were told, at the hotel in nottingham, that no visitors were allowed inside newstead abbey, so that when we ordered a carriage to drive there the hotel people shrugged their shoulders at what they regarded as our american irreverence. the rain was coming down in torrents when we started, the doctor more than ever determined to overthrow british custom in his quiet, positive way. through slush and mud, under dripping trees, across country landscapes veiled in the tender mist of clouds, we finally arrived at the abbey. the huge outer gates were open, but the driver, with proper british respect for the law, stopped his horses. the doctor leaned his head out of the carriage window and told him to drive into the grounds. obediently he did so, and at last we reached the great heavy doors of the entrance. dr. talmage jumped out and boldly rang the bell. a sentry appeared to inform us that no one was allowed inside the abbey. "but we have come all the way from america to see this place," the doctor urged. the sentry, with wooden militarism, was adamant. "is there no one inside in authority?" the doctor finally asked. then the housekeeper was called. she told us that the abbey belonged to an army officer and his wife, that her master was away at the war in south africa where his wife had gone with him, and that her orders were imperative. "look here, just let us see the lower floor," said dr. talmage; "we have come all the way from new york to see this place," and he slipped two sovereigns into her hand. still she was unmoved. my daughter, who was then about , was visibly disappointed. england was to her hallowed ground, and she was keenly anxious to walk in the footsteps of all its romance, which she had eagerly absorbed in history. turning to the doctor, she said, almost tearfully: "why, doctor talmage, how can they refuse you?" the housekeeper caught the name. "who did you say this was?" she asked. "doctor talmage," said my daughter. "dr. talmage, i was just reading the sermon you preached on sunday in the nottingham newspaper, i am sure if my mistress were at home she would be glad to receive you. come in, come in!" so we saw newstead abbey. the housekeeper insisted that we should stay to tea, and made us enter our names in the visitors' book, and asked the doctor to write his name on a card, saying, "i will send this to my mistress in south africa." in the effort to remember many of the details of our stay in england and scotland, i find it necessary to take refuge for information in my daughter's diary. it amused dr. talmage very much as he read it page by page. i find this entry made in manchester, where she was not well enough to attend church:-- "sunday, a.m.--doctor talmage preached and i was disappointed that i could not go. the people went wild about the doctor, and he had to make an address after church out-of-doors for those who could not get inside. several policemen stood around the church door to keep away the crowd. i saw the high sheriff driving home from church. he was inside a coach that looked as though it had been drawn out of a fairy tale--a huge coach painted red and gold, with crowns or something like them at each of the four corners. two footmen dressed in george iii. liveries were hanging behind by ribbons, and two on the box, all wearing powdered wigs. to be sure, i didn't see much of the sheriff, but then the coach was the real show after all." many of the details of the side trips which we made through england and scotland have escaped my memory. in looking over my daughter's diary i find them amplified in the manner of girlhood, now lightly touched with fancy, now solemn with historical responsibility, now charmed with the glamour of romance. dr. talmage thought so well of them that they will serve to show the trail of his footsteps through the gateways of ancestral england. we went to haddon hall with dr. wrench, physician to the duke of devonshire. we drove from bakewell. in this part of my daughter's diary i read:-- "it was a most beautiful drive. derbyshire is called the switzerland of england. the hills were quite high and beautifully wooded, and our drive lay along the river's edge--a brook we would call it in the states, but it is a river here--and winds in and out and through the fields and around the foot of the highest hill of all, called the peak of derbyshire. we passed picturesque little farmhouses, built of square blocks of rough, grey stone covered with ivy. we drove between hawthorn hedges, through beautiful green fields and orchards. from the midst of a little forest of grand old trees we caught sight of the highest tower of the castle, then we crossed over a little stone bridge and passed through the gates. another short drive across the meadow and we stopped at the foot of a little hill, looking up at haddon hall. "we walked up to the castle and stood before the great iron-studded oak door, which has been there since the days of queen elizabeth. it had not been opened for years, but a smaller one had been cut in it through which visitors passed. for over years no one had lived in the castle. it was built by the normans and given by william the conqueror to one of his norman barons. finally by marriage it became the property of sir george vernon, who had two daughters, famous for their beauty. margaret vernon married a stanley, and on the night of the wedding dorothy vernon eloped with mr. john manners. the story is very romantic. the ballroom from which dorothy stole away when the wedding party was at its height is still just as it was then, excepting for the furniture. from the windows you can see the little stone bridge where manners waited for her with the horses. haddon hall became the property of dorothy manners and has remained in the hands of the rutland family, being now owned by the duke of rutland. "that is the romance of haddon hall, but one could make up a hundred to oneself when one walks through the different rooms. what a queer feeling it gives me to go through the old doorways, to stop and look through the queer little windows, and on the courtyard, wondering who used, long ago, to look out of the same windows. i wonder what they saw going on in the courtyard? "we climbed to the top of the highest tower. the stairway wound upward with stone steps about three feet high cut out of the wall. at intervals we found little square rooms, very possibly where the men at arms slept. what a view at the top! the towers and roofs and courtyards of the castle lay before us. all around us the lovely english country, and as far as the eye could see, hills, woodland, and the winding river. it was glorious. maud and i danced a two-step in the ballroom. "if stones could only talk! well, if they could i should want a long confab with each one in the old courtyard of haddon hall. who can tell, william the conqueror himself may have stepped on some of them." we drove from haddon hall to the peacock inn for luncheon, going over to chatsworth for the afternoon. again i turn a few leaves of the diary: "chatsworth is one of the homes of the duke of devonshire. the park is fourteen miles across and i don't know how big it is, but dr. wrench told me the number of acres, and i think it was three or four thousand. we drove five miles through the park before reaching the gates of chatsworth--shall i call it house or castle? i have pictures of it, and it is a good thing for i could not describe it. dr. wrench, being the duke's physician, was able to take us through the private rooms. on entering the hall, a broad marble staircase leads to the corridors above, from which others branch out through different parts of the house. we walked miles, it seems, until we got to the duke's private library. when you are once in the room the doors are shut. you cannot tell how you got in or how you will get out. on every wall the bookcases are built in and there is not an opening of any kind; not a break in the rows and rows of books. the explanation is simply this: the doors themselves are made to look like book shelves, painted on. "chatsworth is so large that were i living there i should want a cook's guide every time i moved. one picture gallery is full of sketches by hogarth, and pictures of almost every old master you ever heard of, and some you never heard of. opening out of this gallery are great glass doors leading into halls into which the different bedrooms open. in one bedroom the walls and ceiling were covered with oil paintings, not hanging but literally painted on them. the bed was a huge four-poster. the curtains were of heavy brocaded satin. the windows looked out on terraces, garden and fountains. i like this room best of all. we were taken through the state apartments where i saw on a throne a huge chair of state on a platform, with canopy over it, with the duke's crest in gold woven upon it. in one of the drawing-rooms we saw a life-size portrait of henry viii., a real true one painted from life, and one of philip ii. of spain, and of charles v., and of anne of austria. the duke had sent special word from london to have the fountains in the park play for us, and we watched them from the window. they are beautiful. such nice shower baths for the marble statues on the terrace! "the prince of wales has often visited chatsworth, and a funny story was told about one of his visits. it was after dinner and the drawing-room was full of people. whenever royalty is present it is expected that the men will wear all their decorations. well, the earl of something-or-other had forgotten one of his, and someone reported this fact to the prince who sent for the culprit to be brought before him. at the time the prince was seated on one of the huge lounges, on which only a giant could sit and keep his feet on the floor. the prince was sitting far back and his feet stuck straight out in the air. when the guilty man was brought up to be reprimanded the attitude of the prince was far from dignified. his royal highness was not really angry, but he told the poor earl of something-or-other that he must write out the oath of the order that he had forgotten to wear. it was a long oath and the earl's memory was not so long." we went from nottingham to glasgow. the date, i find, is may , . it was always dr. talmage's custom to visit the cemetery first, so we drove out to the grave of john knox. in glasgow the doctor preached at the cowcaddens free church to the usual crowded congregation, and he was compelled to address an overflow meeting from the steps of the church after the regular service. the best part of dr. talmage's holiday moods, which were as scarce as he could make them because of the amount of work he was always doing, were filled with the delight of watching the eager interest in sightseeing of the two girls, miss maud talmage and my daughter. in glasgow we encountered the usual wet weather of the proverbial scottish quality, and it was saturday of the week before we ventured out to see the lakes. my daughter naively confesses the situation to her journal as follows:-- "this a.m.--got up at the usual starting hour, o'clock, and as it looked only dark we decided to go. at breakfast it started to rain again and mamma and the doctor began to back out, but maud and i talked to some advantage. we argued that if we were going to sit around waiting for a fair day in this country we might just as well give up seeing anything more interesting than hotel parlours and dining-rooms. "we started, and just as a 'send off' the old sky opened and let down a deluge of water. it rained all the time we were on loch lomond, but that didn't prevent us from being up on deck on the boat. from under umbrellas we saw the most beautiful scenery in scotland. part of this trip was made by coach, always in the pouring rain. we drove on and on through the hills, seeing nothing but sheep, sheep, sheep. doctor talmage asked the driver what kind of vegetables they raised in the mountains and the driver replied--'mutton.' we had luncheon at a very pretty little hotel on loch katrine, and here boarded a little steamer launch, 'rob roy,' for a beautiful sail. i never, no matter where i travel, expect to look upon a lake more beautiful. the mountains give wildness and romance to the calm and quiet of the lake, and the island. maud read aloud to us parts of 'the lady of the lake' as we sat out on deck." in edinburgh dr. talmage preached his well-known sermon upon unrequited services, at the request of lord kintore, the son of the earl of kintore, who had suggested the theme to him some years before. in fact the doctor wrote this sermon by special suggestion of the earl of kintore. incidents great and small were such a large part of the eventful trip to europe that it is difficult to make those omissions which the disinterested reader might wish. the doctor, like ourselves, saw with the same rose-coloured glasses that we did. we were very pleasantly entertained in edinburgh by lord kintore and others, but the most interesting dinner party i think was when we were the guests of sir herbert simpson, brother of the celebrated sir james y. simpson, the man who discovered the uses of chloroform as an anæsthetic. we dined in the very room where the discovery was first tested. when dr. simpson had decided upon a final experiment of the effects of chloroform as an anæsthetic, he invited three or four of his colleagues and friends to share the test with him. they met in the very room where we dined with sir herbert simpson and his family. the story goes that when everything had been prepared for the evening's work, dr. simpson informed "sandy," an old servant, that he must not be disturbed under any circumstances, telling him not to venture inside the door himself until a.m. then, if no one had left the room, he was to enter. "sandy" obeyed these instructions to the letter, and came into the room at in the morning. he was very much shocked to find his master and the others under the table in a stupor. "i never thought my master would come to this," said sandy. he was still in the employ of the family, being a very old man. dr. talmage's engagements took him from edinburgh to liverpool, where he preached. it was while there that we made a visit to hawarden to see mrs. gladstone. the doctor had been to hawarden before as the guest of mr. gladstone, and was disappointed to find that mrs. gladstone was too ill to be seen by anyone. we were entertained, however, by mrs. herbert gladstone. i remember how much the doctor was moved when he saw in the hall at hawarden a bundle of walking sticks and three or four hats hanging on the hat-rack, as mr. gladstone had left them when he died. from liverpool we went to sheffield, where dr. talmage preached to an immense congregation. it was in may, the time when all england is flower-laden, when the air is as sweet as perfume and the whole countryside is as fascinating as a garden. it was the coaching season, too, and the doctor entered into the spirit of these beautiful days very happily. we took a ten days' trip from leamington after leaving sheffield, coaching through the exquisite scenery around about warwick, kenilworth, and the shakespeare country in stratford-on-avon. most of these reminiscences are full of incidents too intimate for public interest. like a dream that lifts one from prosaic life into the places of precious remembrance i recall these long, happy days in the glorious sunset of his life. we returned to london in time for the doctor's first preaching engagement there on may , . the london newspapers described him as "the american spurgeon." "and now before the services opened at st. james' hall a congregation of , people waited to hear dr. talmage," says a london newspaper. then it goes on to say further:-- "dr. talmage, who has preached from pulpits all over the world, may be described as an 'american spurgeon.' none of our great english speakers is less of an orator. dr. talmage is a great speaker, but his power as an orator is not by any means that of a gladstone or a bright. it lies more in the matter than in the manner, in his wonderful imagery, the vividness with which he conjures up a picture before the congregation. he is a great artist in words. dr. talmage affects nothing; he is naturalness itself in the pulpit, and the manner of his speech suggests that he is angry with his subject. the sermon on this occasion lent itself well to a master of metaphor such as dr. talmage, it being a review of the last great battle of the world, when the forces of right and wrong should meet for the final mastery." dr. talmage rarely preached this sermon because it was a great tax on his memory. it included a suggestion of all the great battles of the earth, a vivid description of the armies of the world marching forward in the eternal human struggle of right against wrong until they were masked for the last great battle of all, when "satan would take the field in person, in whose make-up nothing bad was left out, nothing good was put in." it is very remarkable to see the universal acknowledgments of the doctor's genius in england, one of the london newspapers going so far as to describe him in its headlines as "america's apostle." nothing i could write about him could be more in eulogy, more in sympathy in comprehension of his brilliant sacred message to the world. england proclaimed him as he was, with deep sincerity and reverence. his favourite sermon, and it was mine also, was upon the theme of unrequited services, the text being from i samuel xxx. , "but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff." it was in this sermon that dr. talmage made reference to florence nightingale, in the following words:-- "women, your reward in the eternal world will be as great as that of florence nightingale, the lady of the lamp." while in london he preached this sermon, and the following day to our surprise the doctor received the following note at his hotel:-- "june , . " , south street, "park lane. "dear sir-- "i could gladly see you to-morrow (monday) at .--yours faithfully, "florence nightingale. "t. dewitt talmage, of america." i have carefully kept the letter in my autograph album. dr. talmage and i called at the appointed time. it was a beautiful summer day and we found the celebrated woman lying on a couch in a room at the top of the house, the windows of which looked out on hyde park. she was dressed all in white. her face was exquisitely spiritual, calm, sweet with the youth of a soul that knew no age. she had never known that she had been called 'the lady of the lamp' by the soldiers of the crimea till she read of it in the doctor's sermon. she was curious to be told all about it. in conversation with the doctor she made many inquiries about america and the spanish war, making notes on a pad of what he said. the doctor told her that she looked like a woman who had never known the ordinary conflicts of life, as though she had always been supremely happy and calm in her soul. i remember she replied that she had never known a day's real happiness till she began her work as a nurse on the battlefield. "i was not always happy," she said; "i had my idle hours when i was a girl." i may not remember her exact words, but this is the sense of them. she was past years of age at the time. enjoying the intervals of sight-seeing, such as the tower, the museum, westminster abbey, and the usual wonders of historical london, we remained in town several weeks. i remember a visit which mr. choate, the american ambassador, made us with a view to extending any courtesy he could for the doctor while we were in england. i told him that i was more anxious to see the british parliament in session than anything else. "i should think, as dr. talmage has with him a letter from the president of the united states, this request could be arranged," i said. mr. choate gracefully replied that dr. talmage required no introduction anywhere, not even from the president, and arranged to have the charge d'affaires, mr. white, who was later ambassador to france, take us over to the houses of parliament, where we were permitted a glimpse of the members at work from the cage enclosure reserved for lady visitors. the doctor's friends in england did their best to make us feel at home in london. we were dined and lunched, and driven about whenever dr. talmage could spare time from his work. sir alfred newton, the lord mayor, and lady newton gave us a luncheon at the mansion house on june , . i remember the date because it was an epoch in the history of england. during the luncheon the news reached the lord mayor of the capture of pretoria. he ordered a huge banner to be hung from the mansion house on which were the words-- "the british flag flies at pretoria." this was the first intimation of the event given to londoners in that part of the city. side by side with it another banner proclaimed the national prayer, "god save the queen," in big red letters on the white background. a scene of wild enthusiasm and excitement followed. every englishman in that part of london, i believe, began to shout and cheer at the top of his lungs. an immense crowd gathered in the adjoining streets around the mansion house. the morning war news had only indicated a prolonged struggle, so that the capture of pretoria was a great and joyous surprise to the british heart. suddenly all hats were off, and the crowds in the streets sang the national anthem. there were loud calls for the lord mayor to make a speech. we watched it all from the windows in the parlour of the mansion house, at the corner of queen victoria street. dr. talmage was as wildly enthusiastic as any englishman, cheering and waving his arm from the open windows in hearty accord with the crowd below. there was no sleep for anyone in london that night. around our hotel, the blowing of horns and cheering lasted till the small hours of the morning. it seemed very much like the excitement in america after the capture of the spanish fleet. we left london finally with many regrets, having enjoyed the hospitality of what is to me the most attractive country in the world to visit. we went direct to paris to attend the opening ceremonies of the paris exposition of . it seems like a very old story to tell anything to-day of this event, and to dr. talmage it was chiefly a repetition of the many fairs he had seen in his life, but he found time to write a description of it at the time, which recalls his impressions. he regarded it as "an object lesson of peace and a tableau of the millennium." his defence of general peck, the american commissioner-general, who was criticised by the american exhibitors, was made at length. he considered these criticisms unjust, and said so. during our stay in paris dr. talmage preached at the american churches. fearing that it would be difficult to secure rooms in paris during the exposition, the doctor had written from washington during the winter and engaged them at the hotel which a few years before had been one of the best in paris. many changes had occurred since he had last been abroad, however, and we found that the hotel where we had engaged rooms was far from being suitable for us. the mistake caused some amusement among our american friends, who were surprised to find dr. talmage living in the midst of a parisian gaiety entirely too promiscuous for his calling. we soon moved away from this zone of oriental music and splendour to a quieter and more remote hotel in the rue castiglione. dr. talmage was restless, however, to reach the north cape in the best season to see the midnight sun in its glory, and we only remained in paris a few days, going from there to the hague, amsterdam, and thence to copenhagen in denmark. in all the cities abroad we were always the guests of the american embassy one evening during our stay, and this frequently led to private dinner parties with some of the prominent residents, which the doctor greatly enjoyed, because it gave him an opportunity to know the foreign people in their homes. i remember one of these invitations particularly because as we drove into the grounds of our host's home he ordered the american flag to be hoisted as we entered. the garden was beautiful with a profusion of yellow blossoms, a national flower in denmark known as "golden rain." we admired them so much that our host wanted to present me with sprigs of the trees to plant in our home at east hampton. dr. talmage said he was sure that they would not grow out there so near the sea. remembering judge collier's grounds in pittsburg, where every sort of flower grows, i suggested that they would thrive there. our host took my father-in-law's address, and to-day this "golden rain" of denmark is growing beautifully in his garden in pittsburg. we saw and explored copenhagen thoroughly. the king of denmark was absent from the capital, but we stood in front of his palace with the usual interest of visitors, little expecting to be entertained there, as afterwards we were. it all came as a surprise. we were on our way to the station to leave copenhagen, when mr. swenson, the american minister, overtook us and informed us that the crown prince and princess desired to receive dr. talmage and his family at the summer palace. though it may be at the risk of _lèse majesté_ to say it, some persuasion was necessary to induce the doctor to remain over. our trunks were already at the station and dr. talmage was anxious to get up to the north cape. however, the american minister finally prevailed upon the doctor to consider the importance of a request from royalty, and we went back to the hotel into the same rooms we had just left. our presentation took place the next day at the summer palace, which is five miles from copenhagen. it was the most informally delightful meeting. the formalities of royalty that are sometimes made to appear so overwhelming to the ordinary individual, were so gracefully interwoven by the crown prince and the princess with cordiality and courtesy, that we were as perfectly at ease, as if there had been crowns hovering over our own heads. the royal children were all present, too, and we talked and walked and laughed together like a family party. the crown princess said to me, "come, let me show you my garden," and we strolled in the beautiful grounds. the crown prince said, "come, let me show you my den," and there gave us the autographs of himself and the princess. we left regretfully. as we drove away the royal party were gathered at the front windows of the palace waving their handkerchiefs to us in graceful adieus. i remember my little daughter was very much surprised with the simplicity of the whole affair, saying to me as we drove away, "why, it was just like visiting grandpa's home." on our way to tröndhjem from copenhagen we stayed over a few days at christiania, where we were the guests of nansen, the arctic explorer. his home, which stood out near the water's edge, was like a bungalow made of pine logs. there were no carpets on the floors, which were covered with the skins of animals he had himself killed. trophies of all sorts were in evidence. it was a very memorable afternoon with the simple, brave, scientific nansen. at tröndhjem we took the steamer "köng harald" for the north cape. a party of american friends had just returned from there with the most lugubrious story about the bad weather and their utter failure to see the sun. as it was pouring rain when we started, it would not have taken much persuasion to induce us to give it all up. but we had started with a purpose, and silently but firmly we went on with it. dr. talmage never turned back at any cross road in his whole life. in a few hours after leaving tröndhjem we were in the raw, cold arctic temperature where a new order of existence begins. we lose all sense of ordinary time, for our watches indicate midnight, and there is no darkness. the over-hanging clouds draw slowly apart, and the most brilliant, dazzling midnight sun covers the waters and sets the sky on fire. it neither rises from the horizon or sinks into it. it stays perfectly, immovably still. after a while it rises very slowly. the meals on board are as irregular as the time; they are served according to the adaptability of one's appetite to the strangeness of the new element of constant daytime. we scarcely want to sleep, or know when to do so. fortunately our furs are handy, for there is snow and ice on the wild, barren rocks on either side of us. on july , at p.m., we sighted this northernmost land, the cape, and were immediately induced to indulge in cod fishing from the decks of our steamer. it is the custom, and the cod seem to accept the situation with perverse indiscretion, for many of them are caught. our lines and bait are provided by sailors. dinner is again delayed to enable us to indulge in this sport, but we don't mind because we have lost all the habitual tendencies of our previous normal state. at p.m., in a bright daylight, the small boats full of passengers begin to leave the steamer for the shore. in about fifteen minutes we are landed at the base of that towering cape. there are some who doubt the wisdom of dr. talmage's attempting to climb at his age. he has no doubts, however, and no one expresses them to him. he is among the first to take the staff, handed to him as to all of us, and starts up at his usual brisk, striding gait. it is a test of lungs and heart, of skill and nerve to climb the north cape, and let no one attempt it who is unfitted for the task. steep almost as the side of a house, rocky as an unused pathway, it is a feat to accomplish. we were the first party of the season to go up, and the paths had not been entirely cleared of snow, which was two and three feet deep in places, the path itself sometimes a narrow ledge over a precipice. a rope guard was the only barrier between us and a slippery catastrophe. every ten or fifteen minutes we sat down to get our breath. it took us two hours to reach the top. it was a few minutes after midnight when the sun came out gloriously. coming down was much more perilous, but we got back in safety to the "köng harald" at a.m. on our way down to tröndhjem we celebrated the fourth of july on board. the captain decorated the ship for the occasion and we all tried to sing "the star spangled banner," but we could not remember the words, much to our mutual surprise and finally we compromised by singing "america," and, worst of all, "yankee doodle." dr. talmage made a very happy address, and we came into port finally, pledged to learn the words of "the star spangled banner" before the year was up. in our haste to reach the north cape we had passed hurriedly through sweden, so, on our return we went from tröndhjem to stockholm, where we arrived on july , . when in london dr. talmage had accepted an invitation to preach in the largest church in sweden, with some misgiving, because, as he himself said when asked to do this, "shall i have an audience?" of course the doctor did not speak the swedish language. dr. talmage had been told in england that his name was known through all sweden, which was a fact fully sustained by a publisher in stockholm who came to the hotel one afternoon and brought copies of ten of the doctor's books translated into swedish. this insured a cordial greeting for the doctor, but how was he to make himself understood? the immanuel church in stockholm, one of the largest i ever saw, with two galleries and three aisles, was filled to its capacity. dr. talmage was to preach through an interpreter, himself a foremost preacher in his own country. the doctor had preached through interpreters three times in his life; once when a theological student addressing a congregation of american indians, once in a church in hawaii, and once in ceylon through an interpreter standing on each side of him, one to translate into cingalese, and the other to translate into hindustan. no one who was present at that morning sabbath service on july , , will forget the strange impressions that translated sermon preached by dr. talmage made upon everyone. sentence by sentence the brilliant interpreter repeated the doctor's words in the swedish language, while the congregation in eager silence studied dr. talmage's face while listening to the translation of his ideas. "whether i did them any good or not they did me good," said the doctor after the service. while in stockholm we dined with mr. wyndham, secretary of the american legation, and were shown through the private rooms of the royal palace, of which my daughter took snapshots with surreptitious skill. the queen was a great invalid and scarcely ever saw anyone, but while driving to her summer palace we caught a glimpse of her being lifted from her little horse, on which she had been riding, seated in a sort of armchair saddle. with a groom to lead the horse her majesty took the air every day in this way. she was a very frail little woman. from stockholm we started by steamer for st. petersburg, but the crowd was so great that we found our staterooms impossible, and we disembarked at alba, the first capital in finland. we were curious to see the new capital, helsingfors, and stopped over a day or two there. from helsingfors we went by rail to the russian capital. dr. talmage had been in russia years before, on the occasion of his presentation of a shipload of flour from the american people to the famine sufferers. at that time he had been presented to emperor alexander iii., as well as the dowager empress. it was his intention to pay his respects again to the new emperor, whose father he had known, so that we looked forward to our stay in st. petersburg as eventful. the crown prince of denmark had urged the doctor to see his brother-in-law, the czar, while in st. petersburg, and we learned later that he had written a letter to the court concerning our coming to st. petersburg. on july , , we received the following note from dr. pierce, the american charge d'affaires in st. petersburg:-- "july , . "embassy of the united states, st. petersburg. "dear dr. talmage-- "i take much pleasure in informing you that you and mrs. talmage and your daughters will be received by their majesties the emperor and empress on wednesday next, at ½ p.m. "yours very sincerely, "herbert h.d. pierce. "p.s.--i will let you know the details later." mr. pierce called in full court dress and informed dr. talmage that it would be necessary for him to appear in like regalia. as the doctor was not accustomed to wearing swords, or cocked hats, or brass buttons on his coat, he received these instructions with some distress of mind. later, we received from the grand master of ceremonies of the russian court a formal invitation to be presented at peterhof, the summer palace. on wednesday, july , , i find this irreverent entry in my american girl's diary:-- "i can't think of any words sufficiently high sounding with which to begin the report of this day, so shall simply write about breakfast first, and gradually lead up to the great event. in spite of the coming honour and the present excitement we all ate a hearty breakfast." "as our train was to leave for peterhof about noon we spent the morning dressing. "after all," writes my irreverent daughter in her diary, "dressing for royalty is not more important than dressing for a dance or dinner. it can't last for much over an hour. when we had everything on we sat opposite each other as stiff as pokers--waiting." my daughter took a snapshot picture of us while waiting. mrs. pierce had kindly given us some instructions about curtseying and backing away from royalty, a ceremony which neither the czar nor the czarina imposed upon us, however. the trip to peterhof was made on one of the imperial cars. the distance by rail from st. petersburg was only half-an-hour. a gentleman from the american embassy rode with us. we were met at the station by footmen in royal livery and conducted to a carriage with the imperial coat-of-arms upon it. sentinels in grey coats saluted us. we were driven first to the palace of peterhof, where more footmen in gold lace, and two other officials in gorgeous uniform, conducted us inside, through a corridor, past a row of bowing servants, into a dining-room where the table was set for luncheon, with gold and silver plates, cut glass and rare china. a more exquisite table setting i never saw. three dressing-rooms opened off this big room, and these we promptly appropriated. the luncheon was perfect, though we would have enjoyed it better after the strain of our presentation had been over. the four different kinds of wine were not very liberally patronised by any of our party. after luncheon we were driven through the royal park which was literally filled with mounted cossacks on guard everywhere, to the abode of the emperor. through another double line of liveried servants we were ushered into a small room where the master of ceremonies and a lady-in-waiting greeted us. we waited about five minutes when an officer came to the doctor and took him to see the emperor. a little later we were ushered into another room into the presence of the empress of russia. she came forward very graciously with outstretched hands to meet us. the czarina is the most beautiful woman i ever saw, aristocratic, simple, extremely sensitive. she was dressed in a black silk gown with white polka dots. slightly taller than the czar, the empress was most affable, girlish in her manner. as she talked the colour came and went on her pale, fair cheeks, and she gave me the impression of being a very sensitive, reserved, exquisitely rare nature. her smile had a charming yet half melancholy radiance. we all sat down and talked. i remember the little shiver with which the empress spoke of a race in the orient whom she disliked. "they would stab you in the back," she said, her voice fading almost to a whisper. she looked to be about twenty-eight years old. once when we thought it was time to go, and had started to make our adieus, the czarina kept on talking, urging us to stay. she talked of america chiefly, and told us how enthusiastic her cousin was who had just returned from there. when, finally, we did leave we were spared the dreaded ceremony of backing out of the room, for the empress walked with us to the door, and shook hands in true democratic american fashion. dr. talmage's interview with the czar was quite as cordial. the emperor expressed his faith in the results of the peace movement at the hague, for he was himself at peace with all the world. during the interview the doctor was asked many questions by the emperor about the heroes of the spanish war, especially concerning admiral dewey. his majesty laughed heartily at the doctor's story of a battle in which the only loss of life was a mule. "how many important things have happened since we met," the czar said to the doctor; "i was twenty-four when you were here before, now i am thirty-two. my father is gone. my mother has passed through three great sorrows since you were here--the loss of my father, of my brother, and during this last year of her own mother, the queen of denmark. she wishes to see you in her own palace." the czar is about five feet ten in height, is very fair, with blue eyes, and seemed full of kindness and good cheer. as we were leaving, word came from the dowager empress that she would see us, and we drove a mile or two further through the royal park to her palace. she greeted dr. talmage with both hands outstretched, like an old friend. though much smaller in stature than the empress of russia, the dowager empress was quite as impressive and stately. she was dressed in mourning. her room was like a corner in paradise set apart from the grim arrogance of imperial russia. it was filled with exquisite paintings, sweet with a profusion of flowers and plants. she seemed genuinely happy to see the doctor, and her eyes filled with tears when he spoke of the late emperor, her husband. at her neck she was wearing a miniature portrait of him set in diamonds. very simply she took it off to show to us, saying, "this is the best picture ever taken of my husband. it is such a pleasure to see you, dr. talmage, i heard of your being in europe from my brother in denmark." the dowager empress was full of remembrances of the doctor's previous visit to russia, eight years before. "how did you like the tea service which my husband sent you?" she asked dr. talmage; "i selected it myself. it is exactly like a set we use ourselves." the informal charm of the empress's manner was most friendly and kind. "do you remember the handful of flowers i picked for you, and asked you to send them to your family?" she said. "you stood here, my husband there, and i with my smaller children stood here. how well i remember that day; but, oh, what changes!" the dowager empress invited us to come to her palace next day and meet the queen of greece, her niece by marriage, and her sister-in-law who was visiting russia just then, but we were obliged to decline because of previous plans. very graciously she wrote her autograph for us and promised to send me her photograph, which later on i received. we were driven back to the station in the imperial carriage, where a representative of the american embassy met us and rode back to st. petersburg with us. so ended a day of absorbing interest such as i shall never experience again. there is a touch of humour always to the most important events in life. i shall never forget dr. talmage's real distress when he found that the sword which he had borrowed from mr. pierce, the charge d'affaires of the american embassy, had become slightly bent in the course of its royal adventure. i can see his look of anxiety as he tried to straighten it out, and was afraid he couldn't. he always abhorred borrowed things and hardly ever took them. fortunately, the sword was not seriously damaged. our objective point after leaving russia was ober-ammergau, where dr. talmage wanted to witness the passion play. we travelled in that direction by easy stages, going from st. petersburg first to moscow, where we paid a visit to tolstoi's house. from moscow we went to warsaw, and thence to berlin. the doctor seemed to have abandoned himself completely to the lure of sightseeing by this time. churches, picture galleries, museums were our daily diet. while in berlin we returned from a drive one day to the hotel and found ourselves the objects of unusual solicitude and attention from the hotel proprietor and his servants. with many obsequious bows we were informed that the russian ambassador had called upon us in our absence, and had informed the hotel people that he had a special package from the czar to deliver to me. he left word that he would be at the hotel at p.m. the following day to carry out his imperial master's instructions. at the time appointed the next day the russian ambassador called and formally presented to me, in the name of the emperor, a package that had been sent by special messenger. i immediately opened it and found a handsome russian leather case. i opened that, and inside found the autographs of the emperor and empress of russia, written on separate sheets of their royal note paper. we had a very good time in berlin. the presence of sousa and his band there gave it an american flavour that was very delightful. the doctor's interest was really centred in visiting the little town of württemberg, famous for its luther history. dr. dickey, pastor of the american church in berlin, became our guide on the day we visited the haunts of luther. one day we went through the kaiser's palace at potsdam, where my daughter managed to use her kodak with good effect. from berlin we went to vienna, and thence to munich, arriving at the little village of ober-ammergau on august , . dr. talmage's impressions of the passion play, which he wrote at ober-ammergau on this occasion, were never published in this country, and i herewith include them in these last milestones of his life. the passion play at ober-ammergau _by rev. t. dewitt talmage, d.d._ about fifteen years ago the good people of america were shocked at the proposition to put on the theatrical stage of new york the passion play, or a dramatic representation of the sufferings of christ. it was to be an imitation of that which had been every ten years, since , enacted in ober-ammergau, germany. every religious newspaper and most of the secular journals, and all the pulpits, denounced the proposition. it would be an outrage, a sacrilege, a blasphemy. i thought so then; i think so now. the attempt of ordinary play actors amid worldly surroundings, and before gay assemblages, to portray the sufferings of christ and his assassination would have been a horrible indecency that would have defied the heavens and invoked a plague worse than that for the turning back of which the passion play at ober-ammergau was established. we might have suggested for such a scene a judas, or a caiaphas, or a pilate, or a herod. but who would have been the christ? the continental protest which did not allow the curtain of that exhibition to be hoisted was right, and if a similar attempt should ever be made in america i hope it may be as vehemently defeated. but as certain individuals may have an especial mission which other individuals are not caused to exercise, so neighbourhoods and provinces and countries may have a call peculiar to themselves. whether the german village of ober-ammergau which i have just been visiting, may have such an especial ordination, i leave others to judge after they have taken into consideration all the circumstances. the passion play, as it was proposed for the theatrical stage in new york, would have been as different from the passion play as we saw it at ober-ammergau a few days ago as midnight is different from mid-noon. ober-ammergau is a picture-frame of hills. the mountains look down upon the village, and the village looks up to the mountains. the river ammer, running through the village, has not recovered from its race down the steeps, and has not been able to moderate its pace. like an arrow, it shoots past. through exaltations and depressions of the rail train, and on ascending and descending grades, we arrived at the place of which we had heard and read so much. the morning was as glorious as any other morning that was let down out of the heavens. though many thousands of people from many quarters of the earth had lodged that night in ober-ammergau, the place at dawn was as silent as a hunter's cabin in any of the mountains of bavaria. the ammergauers are a quiet people. they speak in low tones, and are themselves masters of the art of silence. their step, as well as their voice, is quiet. reverence and courtesy are among their characteristics. though merry enough, and far from being dolorous, i think the most of them feel themselves called to a solemn duty, that in some later time they will be called to take part in absorbing solemnities, for about performers appear in the wonderful performance; there are only about , inhabitants. while the morning is still morning, soon after o'clock, hundreds and thousands of people, nearly all on foot, are moving in one direction, so that you do not have to ask for the place of mighty convocation. through fourteen large double doors the audience enter. everything in the immense building is so plain that nothing could be plainer, and the seats are cushionless, a fact which becomes thoroughly pronounced after you have for eight hours, with only brief intermissions, been seated on them. all is expectancy! the signal gun outside the building sounds startlingly. we are not about to witness an experiment, but to look upon something which has been in preparation and gathering force for two hundred and sixty-six years. it was put upon the stage not for financial gain but as a prayer to god for the removal of a destroying angel which had with his wings swept to death other villages, and was then destroying ober-ammergau. it was a dying convulsion in which widowhood and orphanage and childlessness vowed that if the lord should drive back that angel of death, then every ten years they would in the most realistic and overwhelming manner show the world what christ had done to save it. they would reproduce his groan. they would show the blood-tipped spear. they would depict the demoniac grin of ecclesiastics who gladly heard perjurers testify against the best friend the world ever had, but who declined to hear anything in his defence. they would reproduce the spectacle of silence amid wrong; a silence with not a word of protest, or vindication, or beseechment; a silence that was louder than the thunder that broke from the heavens that day when at o'clock at noon was as dark as o'clock at night. poets have been busy for many years putting the passion play into rhythm. the bavarian government had omitted from it everything frivolous. the chorus would be that of drilled choirs. men and women who had never been out of the sight of the mountains which guarded their homes would do with religious themes what the david garricks and the macreadys and the ristoris and the charlotte cushmans did with secular themes. on a stage as unpretentious as foot ever trod there would be an impersonation that would move the world. the greatest tragedy of all times would find fit tragedian. we were not there that august morning to see an extemporised performance. as long ago as last december the programme for this stupendous rendering was all made out. no man or woman who had the least thing objectionable in character or reputation might take part. the passion council, made up of the pastor of the village church and six devout members, together with the mayor and ten councillors selected for their moral worth, assembled. after special divine service, in which heaven's direction was sought, the vote was taken, and the following persons were appointed to appear in the more important parts of the passion play: rochus lang, _herod_; john zwink, _judas_; andreas braun, _joseph of arimathea_; bertha wolf, _magdalen_; sebastian baur, _pilate_; peter rendi, _john_; william rutz, _nicodemus_; thomas rendi, _peter_; anna flunger, _mary_; anton lang, _christ_. the music began its triumphant roll, and the curtains were divided and pulled back to the sides of the stage. lest we repeat the only error in the sacred drama, that of prolixity, we will not give in minutiæ what we saw and heard. the full text of the play is translated and published by my friend, the reverend doctor dickey, pastor of the american church of berlin, and takes up pages, mostly in fine print. i only describe what most impressed me. there is a throng of people of all classes in the streets of jerusalem, by look and gesture indicating that something wonderful is advancing. acclamations fill the air. the crowd parts enough to allow christ to pass, seated on the side of a colt, which was led by the john whom jesus especially loved. the saviour's hands are spread above the throng in benediction, while he looks upon them with a kindness and sympathy that win the love of the excited multitude. arriving at the door of the temple, jesus dismounts and, walking over the palm branches and garments which are strewn and unrolled in his way, he enters the temple, and finds that parts of that sacred structure are turned into a marketplace, with cages of birds and small droves of lambs and heifers which the dealers would sell to those who wanted to make a "live offering" in the temple. indignation gathers on the countenance of christ where gentleness had reigned. he denounces these merchants, who stood there over-reaching in their bargains and exorbitantly outrageous in their charges. the doors of the cages holding the pigeons are opened, and in their escape they fly over the stage and over the audience. the table on which the exchangers had been gathering unreasonable percentage was thrown down, and the coin rattled over the floor, and the place was cleared of the dishonest invaders, who go forth to plot the ruin and the death of him who had so suddenly expelled them. the most impressive character in all the sacred drama is christ. the impersonator, anton lang, seems by nature far better fitted for this part than was his predecessor, josef mayr, who took that part in , , and . mayr is very tall, brawny, athletic. his hair was black in those days, and his countenance now is severe. he must have done it well, but i can hardly imagine him impersonating gentleness and complete submission to abuse. but anton lang, with his blonde complexion, his light hair, blue eyes and delicate mouth, his exquisiteness of form and quietness of manner, is just like what raphael and many of the old masters present. when we talked with anton lang in private he looked exactly as he looked in the passion play. this is his first year in the christ character, and his success is beyond criticism. in his trade as a carver of wood he has so much to do in imitating the human countenance that he understands the full power of expression. the way he listens to the unjust charges in the court room, his bearing when the ruffians bind him, and his manner when, by a hand, thick-gloved so as not to get hurt, a crown of thorns was put upon his brow, and the officers with long bands of wood press it down upon the head of the sufferer, all show that he has a talent to depict infinite agony. no more powerful acting was ever seen on the stage than that of john zwink, the judas. in repose there is no honester face in ober-ammergau than his. twenty years ago he appeared in the passion play as st. john; one would suppose that he would do best in a representation of geniality and mildness. but in the character of judas he represents, in every wrinkle of his face, and in every curl of his hair, and in every glare of his eye, and in every knuckle of his hand with which he clutches the money bag, hypocrisy and avarice and hate and low strategy and diabolism. the quickness with which he grabs the bribe for the betrayal of the lord, the villainous leer at the master while seated at the holy supper, show him to be capable of any wickedness. what a spectacle when the traitorous lips are pressed against the pure cheek of the immaculate one, the disgusting smack desecrating the holy symbol of love. but after judas has done his deadly work then there comes upon him a remorse and terror such as you have never seen depicted unless you have witnessed the passion play at the foot of the bavarian mountains. his start at imaginary sounds, his alarm at a creaking door, his fear at nothing, the grinding teeth and the clenched fist indicative of mental torture, the dishevelled hair, the beating of his breast with his hands, the foaming mouth, the implication, the shriek, the madness, the flying here and there in the one attempt to get rid of himself, the horror increased at his every appearance, whether in company or alone, regarded in contrast with the dagger scene of "macbeth" makes the latter mere child's play. that day, john zwink, in the character of judas, preached fifty sermons on the ghastliness of betrayal. the fire-smart of ill-gotten gain, the iron-beaked vulture of an aroused conscience; all the bloodhounds of despair seemed tearing him. then, when he can endure the anguish no longer, he loosens the long girdle from his waist and addresses that girdle as a snake, crying out:-- "ha! come, thou serpent, entwine my neck and strangle the betrayer," and hastily ties it about his neck and tightens it, then rushes up to the branch of a tree for suicide, and the curtain closes before the , breathless auditors. do i approve of the passion play at ober-ammergau? my only answer is that i was never so impressed in all my life with the greatness of the price that was paid for the redemption of the human race. the suffering depicted was so awful that i cannot now understand how i could have endured looking upon its portrayal. it is amazing that thousands in the audience did not faint into a swoon as complete as that of the soldiers who fell on the stage at the lord's reanimation from joseph's mausoleum. imagine what it would be to see a soldier seemingly thrust a spear into the saviour's side, and to see the crimson rush from the laceration. would i see it acted again? no. i would not risk my nerves again under the strain of such a horror. one dreams of it nights after. when christ carrying his cross falls under it, and you see him on his hands and knees, his forehead ensanguined with the twisted brambles, and veronica comes to him offering a handkerchief to wipe away the tears, and sweat and blood, your own forehead becomes beaded with perspiration. as the tragedy moves on, solemnity is added to solemnity. not so much as a smile in the eight hours, except the slight snicker of some fool, such as is sure to be found in all audiences, when the cock crew twice after peter had denied him thrice. what may seem strange to some, i was as much impressed with christ's mental agony as with his physical pangs. oh! what a scene when in gethsemane he groaned over the sins of the world for which he was making expiation, until the angelic throngs of heaven were so stirred by his impassioned utterance that one of their white-winged number came out and down to comfort the angel of the new covenant! some of the tableaux or living pictures between the acts of this drama were graphic and thrilling, such as adam and eve expelled from arborescence into homelessness; joseph, because of his picturesque attire sold into serfdom, from which he mounts to the prime minister's chair; the palace gates shut against queen vashti because she declines to be immodest; manna snowing down into the hands of the hungry israelites; grapes of eshcol so enormous that one cluster is carried by two men on a staff between them; naboth stoned to death because ahab wants his vineyard; blind samson between the pillars of the temple of dagon, making very destructive sport for his enemies. these tableaux are chiefly intended as a breathing spell between the acts of the drama. the music rendered requires seven basses and seven tenors, ten sopranos and ten contraltos. edward lang has worked thirty years educating the musical talent of the village. the passion play itself is beyond criticism, though it would have been mightier if two hours less in its performance. the subtraction would be an addition. the drama progresses from the entering into jerusalem to the condemnation by the sanhedrim, showing all the world that crime may be committed according to law as certainly as crime against the law. oh, the hard-visaged tribunal; countenances as hard as the spears, as hard as the spikes, as hard as the rocks under which the master was buried! who can hear the metallic voice of that caiaphas without thinking of some church court that condemned a man better than themselves? caiaphas is as hateful as judas. blessed is that denomination of religionists which has not more than one caiaphas! on goes the scene till we reach the goodby of mary and christ at bethany. who will ever forget that woman's cry, or the face from which suffering has dried the last tear? who would have thought that anna flunger, the maiden of twenty-five years, could have transformed her fair and happy face into such concentration of gloom and grief and woe? mary must have known that the goodbye at bethany was final, and that the embrace of that mother and son was their last earthly embrace. it was the saddest parting since the earth was made, never to be equalled while the earth stands. what groups of sympathetic women trying to comfort her, as only women can comfort! on goes the sacred drama till we come to the foot-washing. a few days before, while we were in vienna, we had explained to us the annual ceremony of foot washing by the emperor of austria. it always takes place at the close of lent. twelve very old people are selected from the poorest of the poor. they are brought to the palace. at the last foot-washing the youngest of the twelve was years of age, and the oldest . the imperial family and all those in high places gather for this ceremony. an officer precedes the emperor with a basin of water. for many days the old people have been preparing for the scene. the emperor goes down on one knee before each one of these venerable people, puts water on the arch of the foot and then wipes it with a towel. when this is done a rich provision of food and drink is put before each one of the old people, but immediately removed before anything is tasted. then the food and the cups and the knives and the forks are put in twelve sacks and each one has his portion allotted him. the old people come to the foot-washing in the emperor's carriage and return in the same way, and they never forget the honour and splendour of that occasion. oh, the contrast between that foot-washing amid pomp and brilliant ceremony and the imitated foot-washing of our lord at ober-ammergau. before each one of the twelve apostles christ comes down so slowly that a sigh of emotion passes through the great throng of spectators. christ even washes the feet of judas. was there in all time or eternity past, or will there be in all time or eternity to come, such a scene of self-abnegation? the lord of heaven and earth stooping to such a service which must have astounded the heavens more than its dramatisation overpowered us! what a stunning rebuke to the pride and arrogance and personal ambition of all ages! the hand of god on human foot in ablution! no wonder the quick-tempered peter thought it incongruous, and forbade its taking place, crying out: "thou shalt never wash my feet!" but the lord broke him down until peter vehemently asked that his head and his hands be washed as well as his feet. during eight hours on that stage it seems as though we were watching a battle between the demons of the pit and the seraphs of light, and the demons triumph. eight hours telling a sadness, with every moment worse than its predecessor. all the world against him, and hardly any let up so that we feel like leaving our place and rushing for the stage and giving congratulations with both hands to simon of cyrene as he lightens the cross from the shoulder of the sufferer, and to nicodemus who voted an emphatic "no" at the condemnation, and to joseph of arimathea who asks the honour of being undertaker at the obsequies. scene after scene, act after act, until at the scourging every stroke fetches the blood; and the purple mantle is put upon him in derision, and they slap his face and they push him off the stool upon which he sits, laughing at his fall. on, until from behind the curtain you hear the thumping of the hammers on the spikes; on, until hanging between two bandits, he pledges paradise within twenty-four hours to the one, and commits his own broken-hearted mother to john, asking him to take care of her in her old age; and his complaint of thirst brings a sponge moistened with sour wine on the end of a staff; and blasphemy has hurled at him its last curse, and malice has uttered concerning him its last lie, and contempt has spit upon him its last foam, and the resources of perdition are exhausted, and from the shuddering form and white lips comes the exclamation, "it is finished!" at that moment there resounded across the river ammer and through the village of ober-ammergau a crash that was responded to by the echoes of the bavarian mountains. the rocks tumbled back off the stage, and the heavens roared and the graves of the dead were wrecked, and it seemed as if the earth itself had foundered in its voyage through the sky. the great audience almost leaped to its feet at the sound of that tempest and earthquake. look! the ruffians are tossing dice for the ownership of the master's coat. the darkness thickens. night, blackening night. hark! the wolves are howling for the corpse of the slain lord. then, with more pathos and tenderness than can be seen in rubens' picture, "descent from the cross," in the cathedral at antwerp, is the dead christ lowered, and there rises the wailing of crushed motherhood, and with solemn tread the mutilated body is sepulchred. but soon the door of the mausoleum falls and forth comes the christ and, standing on the shoulder of mount olivet, he is ready for ascension. then the "hallelujah chorus" from the voices before and behind the scenes closes the most wonderful tragedy ever enacted. as we rose for departure we felt like saying with the blind preacher, whom william wirt, the orator of virginia, heard concluding his sermon to a backwoods congregation: "socrates died like a philosopher, but jesus died like a god!" i have been asked whether this play would ever be successfully introduced into america or england. i think there is some danger that it may be secularised and turned into a mercenary institution. instead of the long ride by carriages over rough mountain roads for days and days, as formerly was necessary in order to reach ober-ammergau, there are now two trains a day which land tourists for the passion play, and among them may appear some american theatrical manager who, finding that john zwink of ober-ammergau impersonates the spirit of grab and cheat and insincerity better than any one who treads the american stage, and only received for his wonderful histrionic ability what equals forty-five pounds sterling for ten years, may offer him five times as much compensation for one night. if avarice could clutch judas with such a relentless grasp at the offer of thirty pieces of silver, what might be the proportionate temptation of a thousand pieces of gold! the impression made upon dr. talmage by the passion play was stirring and reverent. he described it as one of the most tremendous and fearful experiences of his life. "i have seen it once, but i would not see it again," he said, "i would not dare risk my nerves to such an awful, harrowing ordeal. accustomed as i am to think almost constantly on all that the bible means, the passion play was an unfolding, a new and thrilling interpretation, a revelation. i never before realised the capabilities of the bible for dramatic representation." we went from ober-ammergau to that modern eden for the overwrought nerves of kings and commoners--baden-baden, where we spent ten days. at the end of this time we returned to paris to enjoy the exposition at our leisure. paris is always a place of brightness and pleasure. king leopold of belgium was among the distinguished guests of the french capital, whom we saw one day while driving in the bois. we made visits to versailles and the palace of fontainebleau. the doctor enjoyed these trips into the country, and always manged to make his arrangements so that he could go with us. from paris we went to london for a farewell visit. dr. talmage had promised to preach in john wesley's chapel in the city road, known as "the cathedral of methodism." on sunday, september , , the crowd was so great that had come to hear dr. talmage that a cordon of police was necessary to guard the big iron gates after the church was filled. the text of his sermon that day was significant. it may have been a conception of his own life work--its text. it was taken from a passage in the eleventh chapter of daniel:-- "the people that do know their god shall be strong and do exploits." it is difficult to conceive of the enthusiasm that dr. talmage aroused everywhere the immense crowds that gathered to see and hear him. during our stay in london this time, after a preaching service in a church in piccadilly, the wheels of our carriage were seized and we were like a small island in a black sea of restless men and women. the driver couldn't move. the doctor took it with great delight and stood up in the carriage, making an address. from where he was standing he could not see the police charging the crowd to scatter them. when he did, he realised that he was aiding in obstructing the best regulated thoroughfare in london. stopping his address, he said, "we must recognise the authority of the law," and sat down. it was said that dr. talmage was the only man who had ever stopped the traffic in piccadilly. from london dr. talmage and i went together for a short visit to the isle of wight, and later to swansea where he preached; we left the girls with lady lyle, at sir john lyle's house in london. it had become customary whenever the doctor made an address to ask me to sit on the platform, and in this way i became equal to looking a big audience in the face, but one day the doctor over-estimated my talents. he came in with more than his usual whir, and said to me: "eleanor, i have been asked if you won't dedicate a new building at the wood green wesleyan church in north london. i said i thought you would, and accepted for you. won't you please do this for me?" there was no denying him, and i consented, provided he would help me with the address. he did, and on the appointed day when we drove out to the place i had the notes of my speech held tightly crumpled in my glove. there was the usual crowd that had turned out to hear dr. talmage who was to preach afterwards, and i was genuinely frightened. i remember as we climbed the steps to the speaker's platform, the doctor whispered to me, "courage, eleanor, what other women have done you can do." i almost lost my equilibrium when i was presented with a silver trowel as a souvenir of the event. there was nothing about a silver trowel in my notes. however, the event passed off without any calamity but it was my first and last appearance in public. as the time approached for us to return to america the doctor looked forward to the day of sailing. it had all been a wonderful experience even to him who had for so many years been in the glare of public life. he had reached the highest mark of public favour as a man, and as a preacher was the most celebrated of his time. i wonder now, as i realise the strain of work he was under, that he gave me so little cause for anxiety considering his years. he was a marvel of health and strength. there may have been days when his genius burned more dimly than others, and often i would ask him if the zest of his work was as great if he was a bit tired, hoping that he would yield a little to the trend of the years, but he was as strong and buoyant in his energies as if each day were a new beginning. his enjoyment of life was inspiring, his hold upon the beauty of it never relaxed. from london we went to belfast, on a very stormy day. dr. talmage was advised to wait a while, but he had no fear of anything. that crossing of the irish channel was the worst sea trip i ever had. we arrived in belfast battered and ill from the stormy passage, all but the doctor, who went stoically ahead with his engagements with undiminished vigour. going up in the elevator of the hotel one day, we met mrs. langtry. dr. talmage had crossed the ocean with her. "won't you come and see my play to-night?" she asked him. "i am very sorry, madame, but i am speaking myself to-night," said the doctor courteously. he told me afterwards how fortunate he felt it to be that he was able to make a real excuse. invitations to the theatre always embarrassed him. from belfast we went to cork for a few days, making a trip to the killarney lakes before sailing from queenstown on october , , on the "oceanic." "isn't it good to be going back to america, back to that beautiful city of washington," said the doctor, the moment we got on board. whatever he was doing, whichever way he was going, he was always in pursuit of the joy of living. although the greatest year of my life was drawing to a close, it all seemed then like an achievement rather than a farewell, like the beginning of a perfect happiness, the end of which was in remote perspective. the last milestone - there was no warning of the divine purpose; there was no pause of weakness or illness in his life to foreshadow his approaching end. until the last sunset hours of his useful days he always seemed to me a man of iron. he had stood in the midst of crowds a towering figure; but away from them his life had been a studied annihilation, an existence of hidden sacrifice to his great work. he used to say to me: "eleanor, i have lived among crowds, and yet i have been much of the time quite alone." but alone or in company his mind was ever active, his great heart ever intent on his apostolate of sunshine and help towards his fellow-men. and the good things he said were not alone the utterances of his public career; they came bubbling forth as from a spring during the course of his daily life, in his home and among his friends, even with little children. books have been written styled, "conversations of eminent men"; and i have often thought had his ordinary conversations been reported, or, better, could the colossal crowds who admired him have been, as we, his privileged listeners, they would have been no less charmed with his brilliant talk than with the public displays of eloquence with which they were so captivated. immediately after his return from europe in the autumn of , dr. talmage took up his work with renewed vigour and enthusiasm. he stepped back into his study as if a new career of preaching awaited him. never, indeed, had a sunday passed, since our union, on which he had not given his divine message from the pulpit; never had he missed a full, arduous, wearisome day's work in his master's vineyard. but i think dr. talmage now wrote and preached more industriously and vigorously than i had ever seen him before. his work had become so important an element in the character of american life, and in the estimate of the american people--i might add, in that of many foreign peoples, too--that his consciousness of it seemed to double and treble his powers; he was carried along on a great wave of enthusiasm; and in the joy of it all, we, with the thousands who bowed before his influence, looked naturally for a great many years of a life of such wide-spread usefulness. over him had come a new magic of autumnal youth and strength that touched the inspirations of his mind and increased the optimism of his heart. no one could have suspected that the golden bowl was so soon to be broken; that the pitcher, still so full of the refreshing draughts of wisdom, was about to be crushed at the fountain. but so it was to be. invigorated by his delightful foreign trip, dr. talmage now resumed his labours with happy heart and effervescing zeal. he used to say: "i don't care how old a man gets to be, he never ought to be over eighteen years of age." and he seemed now to be a living realisation of his words. he had given up his regular pastorate at the first presbyterian church in washington, that he might devote himself to broader responsibilities, which seemed to have fallen upon him because of his world-wide reputation. i cannot forbear quoting here--as it reveals so much the character of the man--a portion of his farewell letter, the mode he took of giving his parting salutation: "the world is full of farewells, and one of the hardest words to utter is goodby. what glorious sabbaths we have had together! what holy communions! what thronged assemblages! forever and forever we will remember them.... and now in parting i thank you for your kindness to me and mine. i have been permitted, sabbath by sabbath, to confront, with the tremendous truths of the gospel, as genial and lovely, and cultivated and noble people as i ever knew, and it is a sadness to part with them.... may the richest blessing of god abide with you! may your sons and daughters be the sons and daughters of the lord almighty! and may we all meet in the heavenly realms to recount the divine mercies which have accompanied us all the way, and to celebrate, world without end, the grace that enabled us to conquer! and now i give you a tender, a hearty, a loving, a christian goodby. "t. dewitt talmage." apart from his active literary and editorial work, he was now to devote himself to sermons and lectures which should have for audience the whole country. as a consequence, on re-entering his study after his long absence, he found accumulated on his desk an immense number of invitations to preach, applications from all parts of the land. he smiled, and expressed more than once his conviction that god's providence had marked out his way for him, and here was direct proof of his divine call and his fatherly love. at a monster meeting in new york this year dr. talmage revived national interest in his presence and his gospel. ten thousand people crowded to the academy of music to hear his words of encouragement and hope. it was the twentieth anniversary of the bowery mission, of which dr. talmage was one of the founders. "this century," he said in part, "is to witness a great revival of religion. cities are to be redeemed. official authority can do much, but nothing can take the place of the gospel of god.... no man goes deliberately into sin; he gets aboard the great accommodation train of temptation, assured that it will stop at the depot of prudence, or anywhere else he desires, to let him off. the conductor cries: 'all aboard' and off he goes. the train goes faster and faster, and presently he wants to get off. 'stop'! he calls to the conductor; but that official cries back: 'this is the fast express and does not stop until it reaches the grand central station of smashupton.'" the sinner can be raised up, he insists. "the bible says god will forgive times. at your first cry he will bend down from his throne to the depths of your degradation. put your face to the sunrise." faith in god was his armour; his shield was hope; his amulet was charity. he harnessed the events of the world to his chariot of inspiration, and sped on his way as in earlier years. he had become a foremost preacher of the gospel because he preached under the spell of evangelical impulse, under the control of that remarkable faith which comes with the transformation of all converted men or women. the stillness of the vast crowds that stood about the church doors when he addressed them briefly in the open air after services was a tribute to the spell he cast over them by the miracle of that converting grace. he was quite unconscious of the attention he attracted outside the pulpit, on the street, in the trains. his celebrity was not the consequence of his endeavours to obtain it, nor was it won, as some declared, by studied dramatic effects; it was the result of his moments of inspiration, combined with continual and almost superhuman mental labour--labour that was a fountain of perennial delight to him, but none the less labour. if "genius is infinite patience," as a french writer said, dr. talmage possessed it in an eminent degree. every sermon he ever wrote was an output of his full energies, his whole heart and mind; and while dictating his sermons in his study, he preached them before an imaginary audience, so earnest was his desire to reach the hearts of his hearers and produce upon them a lasting influence. his sermons were born not of the crowd, but for the crowd, in deep religious fervour and conviction. his lectures, incisive and far-reaching as they were in their conceptions and in their moral and social effects, were not so impressive as his sermons, with their undertone of divine inspiration. in accord with an invitation sent to us in paris, from the governor of pennsylvania, we went to harrisburg as the guests at the executive mansion, where a dinner and reception were given dr. talmage in honour of his return from abroad. during this dinner, the rev. dr. john wesley hill, then pastor of the church in harrisburg in which dr. talmage preached, told us of a rare autograph letter of lincoln, which he owned. it was his wish that dr. talmage should have it in his house, where he thought more people would see it. the next day, dr. hill sent this letter to us:-- "gentlemen,--in response to your address, allow me to attest the accuracy of its historical statements; indorse the sentiments it expresses; and thank you, in the nation's name, for the sure promise it gives. "nobly sustained as the government has been by all the churches, i would utter nothing which might, in the least, appear invidious against any. yet, without this, it may fairly be said that the methodist episcopal church, not less devoted than the best, is, by its greater numbers, the most important of all. it, is no fault in others that the methodist church sends more soldiers to the field, more nurses to the hospitals, and more prayers to heaven than any. god bless the methodist church--bless all the churches--and blessed be god, who, in this our great trial, giveth us the churches. "a. lincoln. "may th, ." [illustration: facsimile of president lincoln's letter.] a great welcome was given dr. talmage in brooklyn, in november, , when he preached in the central presbyterian church there. it was the doctor's second appearance in a brooklyn church after the burning of the tabernacle in . it was urged in the newspapers that he might return to his old home. the invitation was tempting, judging by the thousands who crowded that sunday to hear him. in my scrapbook i read of this occasion: "women fainted, children were half-crushed, gowns were torn and strong men grew red in the face as they buffeted the crowds that had gathered to greet the rev. t. dewitt talmage at the central presbyterian church in brooklyn." in the autumn of , an anniversary of east hampton, n.y., was held, and the doctor entered energetically and happily into the celebration, preaching in the little village church which had echoed to his voice in the early days of his ministry. it was a far call backward over nearly five decades of his teeming life. and he, whose magic style, whether of word or pen, had enchanted millions over the broad world--how well he remembered the fears and misgivings that had accompanied those first efforts, with the warning of his late professors ringing in his ears: "you must change your style, otherwise no pulpit will ever be open to you." now he could look back over more than a quarter of a century during which his sermons had been published weekly; through syndicates they had been given to the world in , different papers, and reached, it was estimated, , , people in the united states and other countries. they were translated into most european and even into asiatic languages. his collected discourses were already printed in twenty volumes, while material remained for almost as many more. his style, too, in spite of his "original eccentricities," had attracted hundreds of thousands of readers to his books on miscellaneous subjects--all written with a moral purpose. among a score of them i might mention: from manger to throne; the pathway of life; crumbs swept up; every-day religion; the marriage ring; woman: her powers and privileges. dr. talmage edited several papers beginning with _the christian at work_; afterwards he took charge, successively, of the _advance, frank leslie's sunday magazine_, and finally _the christian herald_, of which he continued to be chief editor till the end of his life. he spoke and wrote earnestly of the civilising and educational power of the press, and felt that in availing himself of it and thereby furnishing lessons of righteousness and good cheer to millions, he was multiplying beyond measure his short span of life and putting years into hours. he said: "my lecture tours seem but hand-shaking with the vast throngs whom i have been enabled to preach to through the press." his editorials were often wrought out in the highest style of literary art. i am pleased to give the following estimate from an author who knew him well: "as an editorial writer, dr. talmage was versatile and prolific, and his weekly contributions on an immense variety of topics would fill many volumes. his writing was as entertaining and pungent as his preaching, and full of brilliant eccentricities--'talmagisms,' as they were called. he coined new words and invented new phrases. if the topic was to his liking, the pen raced to keep time with the thought.... still, with all this haste, nothing could exceed the scrupulous care he took with his finished manuscript. he once wired from cincinnati to his publisher in new york instructions to change a comma in his current sermon to a semicolon. he had detected the error while reading proof on the train." dr. talmage's personal mail was thought to be the largest of any man in the country, outside of some of the public officers. thousands, men and women, appealed to him for advice in spiritual things, revealing to him intimate family affairs, laying their hearts bare before him as before a trusted physician of the soul. i have seen him moved to the depths of his nature by some of these white missives bearing news of conversion to faith in christ wrought by his sermons; of families rent asunder united through his words of love and broadmindedness; of mothers whose broken hearts he had healed by leading back the prodigal son; of prisoners whose hope in life and trust in a loving father had been awakened by a casual reading of some of his comforting paragraphs. the life of dr. talmage was by no means the luxurious one of the man of wealth and ease it was sometimes represented to be. he could not endure that men should have this aspect of him. he was a plain man in his tastes and his habits; the impression that he was ambitious for wealth, i know, was a false one. i do not believe he ever knew the value of money. the possession of it gave him little gratification except for its use in helping to carry on the great work he had in hand; and, indeed, he never knew how little or how much he had. he never would own horses lest he should give people reason to accuse him of being arrogantly rich. we drove a great deal, but he always insisted on hiring his carriages. if he accepted remuneration for his brain and heart labour, scripture tells us, "the labourer is worthy of his hire." he was foremost in helping in any time of public calamity, not only in our own country but more than once in foreign lands. and when volumes of his sermons were pirated over the country, and he was urged to take legal steps to stop the injustice, he said: "let them alone; the sermons will go farther and do more good." dr. talmage's opinions were sought eagerly, and upon all subjects of social, political, or international interest. he was a student of men, and kept ever in close touch with the progress of events. a voluminous and rapid reader, he was quick to grasp the aim and significance of what he read and apply it to his purpose. his library in washington contained a large and valuable collection of classics, ancient and modern; and his east hampton library was almost a duplicate of this. he never travelled very far without a trunkful of books. i remember, in the first year of our marriage, his interest in some books i had brought from my home that were new to him. many of them he had not had time to read, so, in the evenings, i used to read them aloud to him. tolstoi's works were his first choice; together we read a life of the great russian, which the doctor enjoyed immensely. the bible was ever held by dr. talmage in extreme reverence, which grew with his continual study and meditation of the sacred pages. he repudiated the "higher criticism" with a vehemence that caused him to be sharply assailed by modern critics--pronounced infidels or of infidel proclivities--who called him a "bibliolater." he asserted and reasserted his belief in its divine inspiration: "the bible is right in its authenticity, right in its style, right in its doctrine, and right in its effects. there is less evidence that shakespeare wrote 'hamlet,' that milton wrote 'paradise lost,' or that tennyson wrote 'the charge of the light brigade,' than that the bible is god's word, written under inspiration by evangelists and prophets. it has stood the bombardment of ages, but with the result of more and more proof of its being a book divinely written and protected." "science and revelation are the bass and soprano of the same tune," he said. he defied the attempts of the loud-mouthed orators to destroy belief in the bible. "i compare such men as ingersoll, in their attacks on the bible, to a grasshopper upon a railway-line with the express coming thundering along." his living portraits of jesus, the saviour of men, his studies of that divine life, of the words, the actions of the son of god, especially of his sufferings and death, merging into the glory of his resurrection and ascension, are all well known to those who were of his wide audience. the sweetness, gentleness, and sympathy of the saviour were favourite themes with him. in a sermon on tears, he says: "jesus had enough trials to make him sympathetic with all sorrowful souls. the shortest verse in the bible tells the story: 'jesus wept.' the scar on the back of either hand, the scar in the arch of either foot, the row of scars along the line of the hair, _will keep all heaven thinking_. oh, that great weeper is the one to silence all earthly trouble, to wipe all the stains of earthly grief. gentle! why, his step is softer than the step of the dew. it will not be a tyrant bidding you hush your crying. it will be a father who will take you on his left arm, his face beaming into yours, while with the soft tips of the fingers of the right hand he shall wipe away all tears from your eyes." and here is a word of appeal to those gone astray: "the great heart of christ _aches_ to have you come in; and jesus this moment looks into your eyes and says: 'other sheep i have that are not of this fold.'" dr. talmage was at times acutely sensitive to the thrusts of sharp criticism dealt to him through envy or misunderstanding of his motives. a great writer has said somewhere: "accusations make wounds and leave scars"; but even the scars were soon worn off his outraged feelings by the remembrance of his divine master's gentleness and forgiveness. how often have i seen the mandate, "love your enemies; do good to them that hate you," verified in dr. talmage. he could not bear detraction or uncharitableness. his heart was so broad and loving that he seemed to have room in it for the whole world; and his greeting of strangers on an australian platform, amid the heathers of scotland, or in the golden gate of california, was so free and cordial that each one might have thought himself a dear friend of the doctor, and he would have been right in thinking so. again, his sense of humour was so great that he could laugh and "poke fun" at his critics with such ease and good humour that their arrows passed harmlessly over his head. "men have a right to their opinions," he would genially say. "there are twenty tall pippin trees in the orchard to one crab apple tree. there are a million clover blooms to one thistle in the meadow." his will power was extraordinary; it was endowed with a persistence that overcame every obstacle of his life; there was an air of supreme confidence, of overwhelming vitality, about his every act. nothing seemed to me more wonderful in him than this; and it entered into all his actions, from those that were important and far-reaching in their consequences to the workings of his daily life in the home. though his way through these last milestones, during which i travelled with him, was chiefly through the triumphal archways he had raised for himself upon the foundations of his work, there were indications that their cornerstone was the will power of his nature. many incidents of the years before i knew him justify this opinion. one in particular illustrates the extraordinary perseverance of dr. talmage's character. when his son dewitt was a boy, in a sudden mood of adventure one day, he enlisted in the united states navy. shortly afterwards he regretted having done so. some one went to his father and told him that the boy was on board a warship at hampton roads, homesick and miserable. dr. talmage went directly to washington, straight into the office of mr. thompson, the secretary of the navy. "i am dr. talmage," he said promptly; "my son has enlisted in the navy and is on a ship near norfolk. i want to go to him and bring him home. he is homesick. will you write me an order for his release?" the secretary replied that it had become an impression among rich men's sons that they could take an oath of service to the u.s. government, and break it as soon as their fathers were ready, through the influence of wealth, to secure their release. he was opposed to such an idea, he said; and, therefore, though he was very sorry, he could not grant dr. talmage's request. the doctor immediately took a chair in the office, and said firmly: "i shall not leave this office, mr. secretary, until you write out an order releasing my son." the hour for luncheon came. the secretary invited the doctor to lunch with him. "i shall not leave this office, mr. secretary, until i get that order," was the doctor's reply. the secretary of the navy left the office; after an absence of an hour and a half, he returned and found dr. talmage still sitting in the same place. the afternoon passed. dinner time came round. "dr. talmage, will you not honour me by coming up to my house to dine, and staying with us over night?" asked the secretary. "i shall not leave this office until you write out that order releasing my son, mr. secretary," was the calm, persistent reply. the secretary departed. the building was empty, save for a watchman, to whom the secretary said in passing, "there is a gentleman in my room. when he wishes to leave let him out of the building." about nine o'clock at night the secretary became anxious. telephones were not common then, so he went down to the office to investigate; and sitting there in the place where he had been all day was dr. talmage. the order was written that night. this incident was told me by a friend of the doctor's. there can be no doubt that dr. talmage was justified in this demand of paternal love and sympathy, since numbers of such concessions had been made by the secretary and his predecessors. his daring and his pertinacity were overwhelming forces of his genius. in the winter months of this year i enjoyed another lecturing tour with him through canada and the west. the lecture bureau that arranged his tours must have counted on his herculean strength, for frequently he had to travel twenty-four hours at a stretch to keep his engagements. occasionally he was paid in cash at the end of the lecture an amount fixed by the lecture bureau. i have seen him with perhaps $ , in bills and gold stuffed away carelessly in his pocket, as if money were merely some curious specimen of no special value. sometimes he would receive his fee in a cheque, and, as happened once in a small western town, he would have very little money with him. i remember an occasion of this kind, because it was amusing. the cheque had been given the doctor as usual at the end of his lecture. it was about eleven at night, and we were compelled to take a midnight train out to reach his next place of engagement. at the hotel where we stayed they did not have money enough to cash the cheque. we walked up the street to the other hotel, but found there an equal lack of the circulating medium. it was a bitter cold night. "here we are out in the world without a roof over our heads, eleanor," said the doctor, merrily. "what a cold world it is to the unfortunate." finally dr. talmage went to the ticket office of the railroad and explained the situation to the young man in charge. "i can't give you tickets, but i will buy them for you, and you can send me the money," the clerk said promptly. as we had an all-day ride before us and a drawing room to secure, the amount was not inconsiderable. i think it was on this trip that william jennings bryan got on the train and enlivened the journey for us. the stories he and the doctor hammered out of the long hours of travel were entertaining. we exchanged invitations to the dining car so as not to stop the flow of conversation between mr. bryan and the doctor. we would invite him to lunch, and mr. bryan would ask us to dinner, or _vice versâ_, so that the social amenities were delightfully extended to keep us in mutual enjoyment of the trip. dr. talmage and myself agreed that mr. bryan's success on the platform was much enhanced by his wonderful voice. the doctor said he had never heard so exquisite a speaking voice in a man as mr. bryan's. he always spoke in eloquent support of the masses, denouncing the trusts with vehemence. travelling was always a kind of luxury to me, when we were not obliged to stop over at some wretched hotel. the pullman cars were palatial in comfort compared to the hotels we had to enter. but dr. talmage was always satisfied; no hotel, however poor, could alter the cheerfulness of his temperament. in january, , queen victoria died, and dr. talmage's eulogy went far and wide. i quote again from my scrap-book a part of his comment on this world event: "while queen victoria has been the friend of all art, all literature, all science, all invention, all reform, her reign will be most remembered for all time, all eternity, as the reign of christianity. beginning with that scene at o'clock in the morning in kensington palace, where she asked the archbishop of canterbury to pray for her, and they knelt down imploring divine guidance until her last hour, not only in the sublime liturgy of her established church, but on all occasions, she has directly or indirectly declared: 'i believe in god, the father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in jesus christ, his only begotten son.' "the queen's book, so much criticised at the time of its appearance, some saying that it was skilfully done, and some saying that the private affairs of a household ought not to have been exposed, was nevertheless a book of rare usefulness, from the fact that it showed that god was acknowledged in all her life, and that 'rock of ages' was not an unusual song at windsor castle. "i believe that no throne since the throne of david and the throne of hezekiah and the throne of esther, has been in such constant touch with the throne of heaven as the throne of victoria. sixty-three years of womanhood enthroned!" in march of dr. talmage inaugurated a series of twentieth century revival meetings in the academy of music, in new york. it was a great gospel campaign in which thousands were powerfully impressed for life. the doctor seemed to have made a new start in a defined evangelical plan of saving the world. indeed, _to save_ was his great watchword, to save sinners, but most of all to save men from becoming sinners. one of his famous themes--and thousands remember his burning words--was "the three greatest things to do--save a man, save a woman, save a child." there was a certain anxiety in my mind about dr. talmage in this sixty-eighth year of his life, and i used to tell him that he had reached the top of all religious obligations as he himself felt them, that there was nothing greater for him to do, and that he might now move with softer measure to the inspired impulses of his life. but he never delayed, he never tarried, he never waited. he marched eagerly ahead, as if the milestones of his life stretched many years beyond. our social life in washington was subservient to dr. talmage's reign of preaching. we never accepted invitations without the privilege of qualifying our acceptance, making them subject to the doctor's religious duties. the privilege was gracefully acknowledged by all our friends. we were away from washington, too, a great deal. in the spring of this year, , the doctor made a lecturing tour through the south, that was full of oratorical triumphs for him, but no less marked by delightful social incidents. there was a series of dinners and receptions in his honour that i shall never forget, in those beautiful homes of mississippi, alabama, and tennessee. because of his gospel pilgrimage of many years in these places, dr. talmage had grown to be a household god among them. when winter had shed his garland of snow over nature, or when we were knee deep in summer's verdure and flowers, east hampton was the doctor's headquarters. from there we made our summer trips. it was after a short season at east hampton in the summer of , that the doctor went to ocean grove, where he delivered a fourth of july oration, the enormous auditorium being crowded to its utmost capacity. a few days later we went to buffalo, where, in a large tent standing in the exposition ground, dr. talmage lectured, his powerful voice triumphing over the fireworks that, from a place near by, went booming up through the heavens. after a series of chautauqua lectures through michigan and wisconsin, the doctor finished his course at lake port, maryland, near picturesque deer park. these are merely casual recollections, too brief to serve otherwise than as evidence of dr. talmage's tremendous industry and energy. in september, , came the assassination of president mckinley. dr. talmage had an engagement to preach at ocean grove the day following the disaster. on our arrival at the west end hotel, long branch, the doctor went in to register while we remained in the carriage at the door. suddenly he came out, and i could see that he was very much agitated. he had just received the news of the tragedy. "i cannot preach to-morrow," he said. "this is too horrible. mckinley has been shot. what shall i do?" and he stood there utterly stunned; unable to think. "well, we will stop at the hotel to-night, at any rate," i said, "let us go in." later the doctor tried to explain to those in charge at ocean grove that he could not preach, but they prevailed upon him to deliver the sermon he had with him, which he did, prefacing it with appropriate remarks about the national disaster of the hour. the following telegram was immediately sent to the chief of the nation, cut off so ruthlessly in his career of honour and usefulness:-- "long branch, september th. "president mckinley, buffalo, n.y. "the nation is in prayer for your recovery. you will be nearer and dearer to the people than ever before after you have passed this crisis. mrs. talmage joins me in sympathy. "t. dewitt talmage." after the death of the president the doctor preached his sermon "our dead president" for the first time in the little church at east hampton, where it had been written in his study. in october the doctor was called upon to preach at the obsequies of the rev. dr. sunderland, for many years pastor of the first presbyterian church in washington. what a long season of obsequies dr. talmage solemnised! and yet, with what supreme optimism he defied the unseen arrow in his own life that came to pierce him with such suddenness in april, . the doctor had been a good traveller, and he was fond of travelling; but, toward the end of his life, there were moments when he felt its fatiguing influences. he never complained or appeared apprehensive, but i remember the first time he showed any weariness of spirit. i almost recall his words: "i have written so much about everything, that now it becomes difficult for me to write. i am tired." it frightened me to hear him say this, he was so wonderful in endurance and strength; and i could not shake off the effect that this first sign of his declining years made upon me. he was then sixty-nine years old, and the last of the twelve children, save his sister. the last sermon he ever wrote was preached in february, . the text of this was from psalms xxxiii. : "sing unto him with the psaltery, and an instrument of ten strings." this was david's harp of gratitude and praise. after some introductory paragraphs on the harp, its age, the varieties of this "most consecrated of all instruments," its "tenderness," its place in "the richest symbolism of the holy scriptures," he writes: "david's harp had ten strings, and, when his great soul was afire with the theme, his sympathetic voice, accompanied by exquisite vibrations of the chords, must have been overpowering.... the simple fact is that the most of us, if we praise the lord at all, play upon one string or two strings, or three strings, when we ought to take a harp fully chorded, and with glad fingers sweep all the strings. instead of being grateful for here and there a blessing we happen to think of, we ought to rehearse all our blessings, and obey the injunction of my text to sing unto him with an instrument of ten strings." "have you ever thanked god for delightsome food?" he asks; and for sight for "the eye, the window of our immortal nature, the gate through which all colours march, the picture gallery of the soul?" he enumerates other blessings--hearing, sleep, the gift of reason, the beauties of nature, friends. "i now come," he continues, "to the tenth and last. i mention it last that it may be more memorable--heavenly anticipation. by the grace of god we are going to move into a place so much better than this, that on arriving we will wonder that we were for so many years so loath to make the transfer. after we have seen christ face to face, and rejoiced over our departed kindred, there are some mighty spirits we will want to meet soon after we pass through the gates." as his graphic pen depicts the scene--the meeting with david and the great ones of scripture, "the heroes and heroines who gave their lives for the truth, the gospel proclaimers, the great christian poets, all the departed christian men and women of whatever age or nation"--he seems to have already a foretaste of the wonderful vision so soon to open to his eyes. "now," he concludes, "take down your harp of ten strings and sweep all the chords. let us make less complaint and offer more thanks; render less dirge and more cantata. take paper and pen and write in long columns your blessings.... set your misfortunes to music, as david opened his dark sayings on a harp.... blessing, and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb for ever. amen!" i recall that when dr. talmage first read this sermon to me in his study, he said: "that is the best i can do; i shall never write a better sermon." i have been told that when a man says he has reached the topmost effort of his abilities, it presages his end, and the march of events seemed to verify the axiom. dr. talmage's last journey came about through the invitation of the mexican minister in washington. the latter met dr. talmage at dinner, and on hearing that he had never preached in mexico he urged him to go there. when the doctor's plans had all been made, some friends tried to dissuade him from going, secretly fearing, perhaps, the tax it would be on his strength. yet there was no evidence at this time to support their fears, and the doctor himself would have been the last to listen to any warning. he was very busy during the few days that preceded our departure from washington in attending the meetings of the committee of distinguished clergymen who were in session to revise the creed of the presbyterian church. the day before we left for mexico, the doctor told me he desired to entertain these gentlemen, as had been his custom during all important gatherings of representative churchmen who visited washington. he was in great spirits. his ideas of a social affair were definite and generous, as we discovered that day, much to our amusement. "eleanor," he said, "i feel as though i would like to have these gentlemen to luncheon at my house to-morrow. can you arrange it? i could not possibly leave washington without showing them some special courtesy. now, i want a real meal, something to sit down to. none of your floating oysters, or little daubs of meat in pastry, but real food, whole turkeys, four or five of them--a substantial meal." the doctor's respect for chicken patties, creamed oysters, and the usual buffet reception luncheon, was clearly not very great. the luncheon was given at . on the day appointed; the distinguished guests all came, two by two, into our house. a few weeks later, they came again in a body, two by two, into the house of mourning. besides the visiting clergy, dr. talmage had also invited for this luncheon other representative men of washington. it was the last social gathering which the doctor ever attended in his own home, and perhaps for that reason becomes a significant event in my memory. after the rest had departed, dr. henry van dyke remained for an hour or two to talk with my husband in his study. dr. talmage so often referred to the great pleasure this long interview had given him, that i am sure it was one of the supreme enjoyments of his last spiritual milestone. the night before we left washington an incident occurred that directly concerns these pages. we had gone down into the basement of the house to look for some papers the doctor kept there in the safe, and in taking them out he picked up the manuscript of his autobiography. as we went upstairs i said to the doctor, "what a pity that you have not completed it entirely." the doctor replied, "all the obscure part of my life is written here, and a great part of the rest of it. when i return from mexico i will finish it. if anything should happen, however, it can be completed from scrapbooks and other data." we went into his study and the doctor had just begun to read it to me when we were interrupted by a call from senator hanna. dr. talmage particularly admired senator hanna, and, as they were great friends, the autobiography was forgotten for the rest of the evening. knowing that the doctor was about to leave washington the senator had come to wish him goodby, and to urge him to visit his brother at thomasville, georgia, where we were to stop on our way to mexico. i remember senator hanna said to the doctor, "you will find the place very pretty; we own a good deal of property there, so much so that it could easily be called hannaville." the next morning we started for the city of mexico, going direct to charleston, where the doctor preached. he was entertained a good deal there, and we witnessed the opening of the charleston exposition. from charleston we went to thomasville, georgia, where we spent a week, during which time the doctor preached and lectured twice at nearby places. it was here that we met the first accident of our journey. just as we were steaming into thomasville we ran into a train ahead, and there was some loss of life and great damage. fortunately we were in the last pullman car of the train. i have always believed that the shock of this accident was the beginning of the end for dr. talmage. he showed no fear, and he gave every assistance possible to others; but, in the tension of the moment, in his own self-restraint for the sake of others, i think that he overtaxed his strength more than he realised. i never wanted to see a train again, and begged the doctor to let us remain in thomasville the rest of our lives. the next morning, however, dr. talmage started out on a preaching engagement in the neighbourhood by train, but we remained behind. our stay in thomasville was made very enjoyable by the relatives of senator hanna, whose beautiful estates were a series of landscape pictures i shall always remember. although the doctor was obliged to be away on lecturing engagements three times during the week he enjoyed the drives about thomasville with us while he was there. our destination after leaving thomasville was new orleans, where dr. talmage was received as if he had been a national character. he was welcomed by a distinguished deputation with the utmost cordiality. _the christian herald_ said of this occasion: "when he went on the following sunday to the first presbyterian church he found a great multitude assembled, the large building densely packed within and a much vaster gathering out of doors unable to obtain admittance. thousands went away disappointed. he spoke with even more than usual force and conviction." never were we more royally entertained or fêted than we were here. from new orleans we went to san antonio, where we stopped off for two or three days' sight-seeing. the doctor was urged to preach and lecture while he was there; but he excused himself on the ground of a previous engagement, promising, however, to lecture in san antonio on his return trip to washington. on our way from san antonio to the city of mexico our train ran into one of the sand-storms, for which the mexican country is famous at certain times of the year; and we were at a standstill on a side track at a small station for twenty-four hours. the food was execrable, the wind and sand were choking, and the whole experience trying in the extreme. we were warned against thieves of the neighbourhood, and, during the night we were locked in the cars to ensure the safety of our belongings. in spite of these precautions a shawl which the doctor valued, because it had been presented to him by the citizens of melbourne, australia, was stolen during the night through an open window. they were not bashful those thieves of the sandstorm. from a private car attached to the rear of our train they stole a refrigerator bodily off the platform. the doctor had long been suffering from his throat, and all these annoyances had the effect of increasing the painful symptoms to such a degree that when we finally got into the city of mexico on saturday, march st, it was necessary to call a physician. dr. talmage had brought with him a number of letters of introduction from washington to people in the city of mexico, but the mexican minister had written ahead of us, and on the day we arrived people left their cards and extended invitations that promised to keep us socially busy every day of our week's visit. the doctor was ailing a little, i thought, but not seriously. he had a slight cold. although he had planned to preach only in the presbyterian church a week from our arrival, the people of the other protestant denominations urged him with such importunity that he agreed to preach for them on the first sunday, the day after our arrival. this was an unexpected strain on dr. talmage after a very trying journey; but he never could refuse to preach, no matter how great his fatigue. on the following tuesday a luncheon was given dr. talmage by general porfirio diaz, the president of the mexican republic, at his palace in chapultepec. the doctor enjoyed a long audience with the aged statesman, during which the mutual interests and prospects of the two countries were freely discussed, president diaz manifesting himself, as always, a friend and admirer of our government and people. during the afternoon a cold wind had come up, and the drive home increased the doctor's indisposition, so that he was obliged to confine himself to his room. still he was up and about, and we felt no alarm whatever. on thursday night, he complained of a pain at the base of his brain, and at about four in the morning i was awakened by him:-- "eleanor," he said, "i seem to be very ill; i believe i am dying." the shock was very great, it was such a rare thing for him to be ill. we sent for the best american physician in the city of mexico, dr. shields, who diagnosed the doctor's case as _grippe_. he at once allayed my fears, assuring me that it would not be serious. dr. talmage had promised to lecture on friday, march th, and we had some trouble to prevent him from keeping this engagement. dr. shields insisted that dr. talmage should not leave his room, declaring that the exertion would be too much for him. not until dr. shields had assured dr. talmage that the people could be notified by special handbills and the newspapers would he consent to break the engagement. on friday night dr. talmage grew worse; and finally he asked to be taken home, personally making arrangements with dr. shields to travel with us as far as the mexican border, as my knowledge of spanish was very limited. eventually it became necessary for dr. shields to go all the way with us. in the great sorrow that the people of mexico felt over the sudden illness of dr. talmage, their regret at his cancelled engagements was swallowed up, and there was one great wave of sympathy which touched us not a little. the journey to washington was a painful one. dr. talmage kept growing worse. all day long he lay on the couch before me in our drawing-room on the train, saying nothing--under the constant care of the physician. telegrams and letters followed the patient all the way from mexico to the capital city. at every station silent, awe-stricken crowds were gathered to question of the state of the beloved sufferer. in new orleans we had to stay over a day, so as to secure accommodation on the train to washington. while there many messages of condolence were left at the hotel, a party of ladies calling especially to thank me for the "great care i was taking of their dr. talmage." on our route to the national city, i remember the doctor drew me down beside him to speak to me. he was then extremely weak and his voice was very low: "eleanor, i believe this is death," he said. the long journey, in which years seemed compressed into days, at last came to a close. the train pulled up in washington, and our own physician, dr. magruder, met us at the station. dr. talmage was borne into his home in a chair, and upstairs into his bedroom, where already the angel of death had entered to welcome and guard him, though, alas! we knew it not, and still hoped against hope. occasional rallies took place; but evidences of cerebral inflammation appeared, and the patient sank into a state of unconsciousness, which was only a prelude to death. bulletins were given to the public daily by the attending physicians; and if aught could have assuaged the anguish of such moments it would have been the universal interest and sympathy shown from all parts of the world. readers will pardon me if i reproduce from _the christian herald_ a record of the last scene. it is hard "to take down the folded shadows of our bereavement" and hold it even to the gaze of friends. "after a painful illness, lasting several weeks, america's best-beloved preacher, the reverend thomas dewitt talmage, passed from earth to the life above, on april th, . ever since his return from mexico, where he was prostrated by a sudden attack which rapidly assumed the form of cerebral congestion, he had lain in the sick chamber of his washington home, surrounded by his family and cared for by the most skilful physicians. each day brought its alternate hopes and fears. much of the time was passed in unconsciousness; but there were intervals when, even amid his sufferings, he could speak to and recognise those around him. no murmur or complaint came from his lips; he bore his suffering bravely, sustained by a higher power. the message had come which sooner or later comes to all, and the aged servant of god was ready to go; he had been ready all his life. "occasional rallies took place, raising hopes which were quickly abandoned. from april th to april th these rallies occurred at frequent intervals, always followed by a condition of increased depression, more or less augmented fever and partial unconsciousness. on saturday, april th, a great change became apparent. for many hours the patient had been unconscious. as the day wore on, it became evident that he could not live through another night. all of dr. talmage's family--his wife, his son, the rev. frank dewitt talmage, of chicago; mrs. warren g. smith and mrs. daniel mangam, of brooklyn; mrs. allen e. donnan, of richmond; and mrs. clarence wycoff and miss talmage, were gathered in the chamber of death. dr. g.l. magruder, the principal physician, was also in attendance at the last. at . o'clock p.m., the soul took flight from the inanimate clay, and the spirit of the world's greatest preacher was released." the rev. t. chalmers easton, an old and valued friend of dr. talmage, was in frequent attendance upon him, and never ceased his ministrations until the eyes of the beloved one were closed in death. a brief excerpt from his address at the memorial service of the rev. t. dewitt talmage held at the eastern presbyterian church, washington, may not be unacceptable to the reader: "a truly great man or eloquent orator does not die-- 'and is he dead whose glorious mind lifts thine on high? to live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.' "what shall we say of the prince in israel who has left us? can we compress the ocean into a dewdrop? no more is it possible to condense into one brief hour what is due to the memory of our beloved and illustrious friend. his moral courage was only equalled by his giant frame and physical strength. he was made of the very stuff that martyrs are made of: one of the most remarkable individualities of our time. a man of no negative qualities, aggressive and positive. "his whole soul was full of convictions of right and duty. a firm friend, a man of ready recognition, a human magnet in his focalising power. he was true in every deed, and never needed a veil to be drawn.... if, as his personal friend for more than twenty years, i should attempt to open up the treasures of his real greatness, where shall we find more of those sterling virtues that poets have sung, artists portrayed, and historians commended? he was truly a great man--a man of god! "the last years of his life were full of happiness in the living companionship of her who so sadly mourns his departure. he frequently spoke to me of the great inspiration brought into these years by her ceaseless devotion to all his plans and work, making what was burdensome in his accumulating literary duties a pleasure.... the last fond look of recognition was given to his beloved wife, and the last word that fell from his lips, when far down in the valley, was the sweetest music to his ears--'eleanor.' "it was said once by an eminent writer that when abraham lincoln, the forest-born liberator, entered heaven, he threw down at god's throne three million yokes as the trophies of his great act of emancipation; as great as that was, i think it was small, indeed, compared with the tens of thousands of souls talmage redeemed from the yokes of sin and shame by the glorious gospel preached with such fervour and power of the holy ghost. what a mighty army stood ready to greet him at the gates of the heavenly city as the warrior passed in to be crowned by his sovereign and king!" the funeral services were held at the church of the covenant, washington, on april th. the ceremony began at p.m., with the "dead march from saul," and lasted considerably over an hour. the coffin rested immediately in front of the pulpit, and over it was a massive bed of violets. on a silver plate was the inscription: thomas dewitt talmage, january th, -april th, the floral offerings were numerous, including a wreath of white roses and lilies of the valley sent by president and mrs. roosevelt. the officiating clergymen were the rev. dr. t.s. hamlin, pastor of the church; the rev. dr. t. chalmers easton, of washington; and the rev. drs. s.j. nicols, and james demarest, of brooklyn. a male quartette sang: "lead, kindly light," a favourite hymn of dr. talmage; "beyond the smiling and the weeping"; and "it is well with my soul." the addresses of the reverend doctors were eulogistic of the dead preacher, of whom they had been intimate friends for more than a quarter of a century. the body lay in state four hours, during which thousands passed in review around it. at midnight the remains of dr. talmage were conveyed by private train to brooklyn, where the burial took place in greenwood cemetery. the funeral _cortége_ arrived about ten o'clock in the morning; hundreds were already in the cemetery, waiting to behold the last rites paid to one they revered and loved. the episcopal burial service was read by the rev. dr. howard suydam, an old friend and classmate of dr. talmage, who made a brief address, and concluded the simple ceremonies by the recital of the lord's prayer. tributes were paid to the illustrious dead all over the civilised world, and in many languages; while thousands of letters of condolence and telegrams assured the family in those days of affliction that human hearts were throbbing with ours and fain would comfort us. one wrote feelingly: "when dr. talmage described the heavenly jerusalem, he seemed to feel all the ecstatic fervour of a bernard of cluny, writing: 'for thee, o dear, dear country! mine eyes their vigils keep; for very love beholding thy holy name, they weep.'" and it seems to me that i cannot better close this altogether unworthy sketch of dr. talmage than by offering the reader as a parting remembrance, in its simple beauty, his "celestial dream": "one night, lying on my lounge when very tired, my children all around me in full romp and hilarity and laughter, half awake and half asleep, i dreamed this dream: i was in a far country. it was not in persia, although more than oriental luxuries crowned the cities. it was not the tropics, although more than tropical fruitfulness filled the gardens. it was not italy, although more than italian softness filled the air. and i wandered around looking for thorns and nettles, but i found that none of them grew there; and i saw the sun rise and watched to see it set, but it set not. and i saw people in holiday attire, and i said, 'when will they put off all this, and put on workman's garb, and again delve in the mine or swelter at the forge?' but they never put off the holiday attire. "and i wandered in the suburbs of the city to find the place where the dead sleep, and i looked all along the line of the beautiful hills, the place where the dead might most blissfully sleep, and i saw towers and castles, but not a mausoleum or a monument or a white slab was to be seen. and i went into the chapel of the great town, and i said: 'where do the poor worship, and where are the benches on which they sit?' and the answer was made me, 'we have no poor in this country.' "and then i wandered out to find the hovels of the destitute, and i found mansions of amber and ivory and gold; but not a tear could i see, not a sigh could i hear; and i was bewildered, and i sat down under the branches of a great tree, and i said, 'where am i, and whence comes all this scene?' and then out from among the leaves and up the flowery paths and across the bright streams, there came a beautiful group thronging all about me, and as i saw them come i thought i knew their step, and as they shouted i thought i knew their voices, but they were so gloriously arrayed in apparel such as i had never before witnessed, that i bowed as stranger to stranger. but when again they clapped their hands and shouted 'welcome! welcome!' the mystery all vanished, and i found that time had gone and eternity had come, and we were all together again in our new home in heaven. "and i looked around, and i said, 'are we all here?' and the voices of many generations responded, 'all here!' and while tears of gladness were raining down our cheeks, and the branches of the lebanon cedars were clapping their hands, and the towers of the great city were chiming their welcome, we all together began to leap and shout and sing, 'home, home, home, home!'" index abbott, emma, her bequest to the brooklyn tabernacle, ; character, . aberdeen, lord and lady, . adams, edwin, . adams, john, his administration, . adler, dr., . agnus, general felix, . alba, . albany, intemperance, ; bribery, ; lobbyists driven out, . alice, princess, her death, . allen, barbara, case of, . "america," s.s., length of voyage, . ames, coates, . amoy, . anarchists, execution of, . anglo-american commission, members of the, . annapolis, . arkell, w.j., . arthur, chester a., elected president, ; relinquishes office, ; at lexington, , ; his death, . astor, mrs. william, ; her death, ; will, . atlantic, passage across, reduction, . austen, colonel, , . avery, miss mary, her marriage, _note_. baden-baden, . bakewell, . ball club, a ministerial, . banks, rev. dr. louis albert, . barnes, rev. alfred, . barnes, general alfred c., . barnes, alfred s., . bartholdi statue, , . baskenridge, . bayne, john, heroism of, . beaconsfield, lord, ; amount given for his "endymion," , . beck, senator, . bedloe's island, . beecher, rev. henry ward, his views on theology, ; celebration of his fortieth year of pastoral service, ; character of his discourses, . belfast, . belgium, king leopold of, in paris, . belleville, reformed church at, . bellows, rev. dr., . benton, thomas h., . berg, rev. dr., . bergh, professor henry, his defence of animals, ; opposition to vivisection, ; his death, . berlin, . bethune, george w., . betting, practice of, in america, . bible, higher criticism, . bill, buffalo, . bird, mrs., . birds, the slaughter of, . birmingham, . birmingham, alabama, cyclone at, . blackburn, governor, ; his reception of dr. talmage, ; speech, . blackburn, mrs., . blaine, james g., candidate for the presidency, ; reports against, ; his vigour and exhaustion, ; reception at the white house, ; cartoons of, . boardman, rev. dr., . bobolinks, number of, killed, . bobrinsky, count, , . boer war, . bond, mr., . bonnet & co., failure of, . bonynge, mrs., . boody, hon. david a., , . boston, conflagration of , ; union church of . bound brook, . bowery mission, anniversary, . bowles, samuel, . brainerd, dr., . branch, f.h., . brewer, justice, . brewers' association, demand, . bribery, practice of, - . briggs, dr., . brighton beach, races at, . broadhead, rev. dr., . brooklyn, corrupt condition, , , ; custom of carrying firearms, ; standard of commerce, ; bill for a new city charter, ; number crossing the ferries, ; lafayette avenue railroad scheme, , ; police force, ; management of public taxes, ; spread of communism, ; reign of terror, ; bridge, ; cost, ; opened, ; improvement in local administration, ; number of pastors, ; pool rooms opened, ; railway strike, ; establishment of a labour exchange, ; new jail, ; pulpit builders, ; committee of investigation, ; ovation on the return of dr. talmage, . brooklyn, the central church of, , , ; alterations, . brooklyn tabernacle, the first, ; dedication, , , , ; enlarged, ; rededication, ; amount of collections, , ; burnt down, , , , - ; size of the new, , ; law-suit, ; prosperity, ; appeal for funds to rebuild, ; trustees, ; subscribers, ; consecration of the ground, ; cost, ; position, ; rent of pews, ; corner-stone laid, ; contents, ; opened, ; financial difficulties, ; celebration festival of the th anniversary of dr. talmage's pastorate, - ; letter from the trustees, . brooks, erastus, . brooks, phillips, , . brower, commissioner george v., . brown, henry eyre, . brown, dr. john, . brown, dr., amount of his salary, . brown, senator, of georgia, . bryan, william jennings, ; his wonderful voice, . bryant, william cullen, his death, ; incident of, ; "thanatopsis," ; his noble character, . buchanan, james, president, his reply cablegram to queen victoria, . buckley, dr., . buffalo, . bunker hill, . burnside, senator, . burr, aaron, his infamy, . burrows, senator, . bush, dr., his advice to students, . bushnell, giles f., . butler, ben f., nominated governor of massachusetts, ; candidate for the presidency, . butter, rev. t.g., . byrnes, inspector, at the press club, . cable service, a cheaper, . cablegram, the first, . campbell, superintendent, . canada, , . canton, ohio, . carey, senator, ; at cheyenne, . carleton, will, . carlisle, mr., . carlyle, thomas, his house, ; portrait, ; library, ; death-bed, ; his opinion of americans, . carnegie, andrew, his gift of a library to washington, . carpenter, samuel, . carroll, mr., . carson, rev. dr. john f., . carson, joseph e., . cartwright, sir richard, . case, james s., . catlin, general, . "central-america," sinks, . chambers, rev. dr., . chapin, mayor, . charleston, ; earthquake at, . chase, salmon p., his death, . chatsworth, - . chattanooga, . chelsea, . cheyenne, ; fashions in, . chicago, ; calvary church of, ; spread of communism, ; railway strike, ; execution of anarchists, ; conflagration of , . chili, war with peru, . chinese, legislative effort to exclude, ; exclusion of, ; dress, ; immigration bill, . chloroform, first use of, , . choate, mr., . cholera, experiments on, . _christian herald_, extract from, on the illness and death of dr. talmage, . christiania, . chrysanthemum, rage for the, . church fairs, pastoral letter against, : cincinnati, ; differences in clock time, . "city of paris," . "city of rome," . civil war, ; result, , . clarion, mdme, . clay, henry, ; his death, . clement, judge, . cleveland, grover, candidate, ; elected governor of new york, ; candidate for the presidency, ; elected, ; his mother's bible, ; reception of mr. blaine, ; cartoons, ; marriage, ; his exercise of the right of veto, ; tour, ; message to congress, ; his intercourse with dr. talmage, - ; attack of rheumatism, ; objections to the chinese immigration bill, ; attacks against, . cleveland, mrs., ; her characteristics, , . cleveland, miss rose, . clinton, dewitt, . coates, a.e., . cockerill, col. john a., at the press club, . colfax, schuyler, . collier, judge, . collier, miss rebekah, ; her diary, . collins, mr. and mrs. john, . collyer, dr. robert, amount of his salary, . colorado springs, . colquitt, senator, . commons, house of, dynamite explosion, . communism, theory of, . coney island, , . conkling, senator roscoe, his opposition to the silver bill, ; characteristics, ; death, . constantinople, earthquake, . converse, charles cravat, . coombs, mr., . cooper, fenimore, . cooper, peter, , , . copenhagen, corbit, rev. william p., - . cork, . coronado beach, , . corrigan, archbishop, . courtney, judge, . cox, rev. dr. samuel h., . cox, mr., ; appointed minister to turkey, ; his nicknames, . cradle, the family, . creeds, revision of the, . crosby, dr., his ecclesiastical trial, . croy, peter, . crystal palace, banquet given to dr. talmage at, . cuba, victory in, . culver, john y., . curry, daniel, . dana, richard henry, his death, ; literary works, . daniel, senator, . darling, charles s., , . davenport, e.l., . davis, jefferson, . davis, sir louis, . deer park, . demarest, rev. dr. james, at the funeral of dr. talmage, . democratic party, . denmark, the national flower "golden rain," . denmark, crown prince and princess of, receive dr. talmage, . denver, , ; its age, ; picture galleries, . depau, mr., his bequest to religion, . depew, chauncey m., . derbyshire, . dewey, admiral, . dewitt, dr., . dewitt, gasherie, . diaz, gen. porfirio, president of mexico, ; his interview with dr. talmage, . dickens, charles, result of insomnia, . dickey, dr., . dilke, sir charles, . divorce, views on, . dix, john a., . dix, dr. morgan, amount of his salary, . dixon, rev. a.c., . dodge, william e., , . donnan, mrs. allen e., . doty, ethan allen, . "dow junior's patent sermons," . dowling, rev. dr. john, . "dream, the celestial," sketch, . due west, . duncan, john, . duncan, william, . "earth girdled, the," publication of, . earthquake at charleston, ; constantinople, . east hampton, , , , . eastern, rev. t. chalmers, on the death of dr. talmage, ; at his funeral, . edinburgh, , , . edison, prof. thomas, . education, views on, . ellis, hon. e.j., . erskine theological college, due west, . evarts, hon. william m., , . ewer, rev. dr., . fairbanks, vice-president, . fairchild, benjamin l., . falls, samuel b., . far-rockaway, first presbyterian church at, . farwell, senator, . faulkner, senator, . ferguson, james b., . ferron, dr., his experiments with cholera, . field, cyrus w., lays the cable, . field, chief justice, his death, . finney, dr., his revival meetings, . fish, rev. dr., . fish, hamilton, secretary to general grant, . fiske, steven, . "florida," disaster of, . flower, roswell p., . folger, mr., . food, adulteration of, . foster, john, . fox, george l., . fox, g.v., . frankfort, kentucky, . franklin, benjamin, . frazer, dr., . free trade question, . freeman, mr., . frelinghuysen, dominie, . frelinghuysen, frederick, . frelinghuysen, frederick t., , ; his death, . frelinghuysen, gen. john, . frelinghuysen, senator theodore, . fulton ferry, new bridge at, . funk, dr., . gallagher, dr., . gallows, death by the, . gambling pool bill, protest against, . gambetta, . garcelon, governor, . garfield, president, his election, ; attempt on his life, , ; views on mormonism, ; reforms, ; result of his death, ; sermons, ; characteristics, . garfield, mrs., amount subscribed, . gateville, . gedney, judge, . geogheghan, the poet, . george, henry, . gettysburg, battle of, . gilbert, judge, . gilmore, pat, . gladstone, mrs., ; her portrait, ; illness, . gladstone, mrs. herbert, . gladstone, rt. hon. w.e., , ; his policy of home rule for ireland, , ; reception of dr. talmage, ; american stories, ; view on divorce, ; religion, ; library, ; congratulations, . glasgow, . goldsmith, oliver, his struggles as an author, . gordon, senator, . gorman, senator, . gough, john b., his gift of oratory, ; dramatic power, . gould, jay, . grace, mr., mayor of new york, . grain, failure of, in europe, ; blockade in the united states, . grant, general, president, , ; his pension, ; malady, , . grant, mayor, at the press club, . greeley, horace, , ; his sufferings from insomnia, . greenport, _note_. greenwood cemetery, . greenwood, judge, . greer, dr., amount of his salary, . gregg, rev. dr., . grévy, president, his resignation, . grier, dr., president of the erskine theological college, due west, . grinnell, moses h., . guiteau, assassinates president garfield, . haddon hall, - ; romance of, . hagerstown, . hall, rev. dr., . hall, dr. john, amount of his salary, . hall, rev. dr. newman, ; at the mansion house, . hall, robert, . halstead, murat, . hamilton, rev. j. benson, . hamilton club, . hamlin, rev. dr. t.s., at the funeral of dr. talmage, . hampton, governor wade, . hancock, john, . handy, moses p., . hanna, rev. dr., his death, . hanna, senator, . hardman, dr., , his method of examining dr. talmage, . harlan, justice, . harper, e.b., . harrisburg, ; intemperance, ; bribery, . harrison, president benjamin, . harrison, rev. leon, . harrison, william henry, , . hatch, a.s., president of the new york exchange, . hatch, rufus, . hawarden, , . hawthorne, nathaniel, . hayes, president, ; character of his message, . hazlitt, william, his struggles as an author, . helsingfors, . henderson, mr., . hendricks, thomas a., vice-president, ; his character, ; invulnerability to attacks, ; religious views, . hendrix, joseph c., , , . hermann, . herschel, lord, ; his illness and death, . hewitt, abram s., elected mayor of new york, . hicks-lord case, . high bridge, , . hill, rev. dr. john wesley, . hill, rowland, . hill, senator, . hilton, judge henry, , . holy land, . holyrood palace, . home missionary meeting, in carnegie hall, . howard, joseph, . howell, mayor, his report on the condition of brooklyn, . hudson, . hugo, victor, . hull, isaac, . huntington, dr., amount of his salary, . hutchinson, dr. joseph, . hydrophobia, inoculations against, . india, famine in, . indiana, elections, . ingersoll, colonel robert, . inness, fred, . insomnia, sufferings from, . iowa, prohibition in, . ireland, home rule for, , . irish channel, crossing the, . irving, washington, ; "knickerbocker," ; appointed minister to spain, . isle of wight, . jackson, gen. andrew, . jaehne, mr., his incarceration, . jamaica, long island, synodical trial at, . james, general, his reforms in the post office, . jamestown, . jefferson, joseph, . jefferson, thomas, inaugurated, . jews, persecution of, in russia, ; settle in america, . johnson, andrew, president, charges against, . johnson, dr. samuel, ; his epitaph, . johnstown, result of the flood at, . "kaiser wilhelm der grosse," . kansas, ; its age, ; prohibition in, . katrine, loch, . kean, edmund, . keeley, dr. leslie, . keller, john w., . kennedy, dr., . killarney lakes, . king, gen. horatio c., , . kingsley, mr., . kinsella, thomas, , . kintore, earl of, , . klondike, arrival of gold-diggers from, . knox, e.m., . knox, john, his grave, . knox, j. amory, , . krebs, dr., . lafayette avenue, railroad scheme, defeat of, . lake port, maryland, . lamb, col. albert p., . lamb, charles, on the adulteration of food, . lambert, dr., case of, . lang, anton, takes part in the passion play, . langtry, mrs., . lansing, rev. dr. i.j., . laurence, amos, . laurier, sir wilfred, . lawrence, e.h., . lawrence, f.w., . leadville, its age, ; number of telephones, ; vigilance committee, . leamington, . lectures, fees for, . lee, general, his invasion of pennsylvania, . leeds, collection at, . lennox, james, , . leslie, frank, the pioneer of pictorial journalism, . lexington, , , . liberty, statue of, - . lies, system of, . lincoln, abraham, ; violation of his sepulchre, ; his letter, . lincoln, robert, secretary of war, . lind, jenny, . lindsay, rev. e.p., . liverpool, ; addresses given at, . locke, commissioner of appeals, . lodge, henry cabot, . lomond, loch, . london, lord mayor of, his banquet at the mansion house, . long island, . los angeles, . louisiana, state of, . low, seth, mayor of brooklyn, , . lowell, james russell, . lowndes, governor, . lyle, lady, . macaulay, lord, . mackenzie, dr., his death, . mackey, mrs., . mackinaw island, . madison, . magruder, dr. g.l., , . maine, outbreak in, . malone, rev. father sylvester, . manchester, cavendish chapel, . manderson, senator, ; his bill for the arbitration of strikes, . mangam, mrs. daniel, . manning, daniel, his death, . marietta, ohio, . marriages, number of elopements, . martin, mrs. bradley, . martin, pauline e., . mathews, charles, his death, ; story of, . matthews, t.e., . mcadam, judge david, . mccauley, jerry, . mccormick, cyrus, . mcdonald, senator, . mcelroy, dr., . mcglynn, father, . mckean, john, . mckinley, president, his congratulations, ; election, ; friendship with dr. talmage, ; assassination, . mclean, alexander, . mclean, andrew, . mcleod, rev. donald, installed pastor of the first presbyterian church in washington, . mead, w.d., . memphis, . mendes, rabbi f. de sol, . merigens, george t., . mershon, rev. s.l., , . mexico, . michigan, , . middlebrook, new jersey, . minado, . ministers, amount of salaries, in the united states, . minneapolis, . mitchell, dr., . mitford, . modjeska, mdme., . molière, the comedian, . monona lake, . monroe doctrine, . montauk point, purchase of, . montreal, . moore, charles a., . moore, dewitt, , . morey, forgeries, . morrisey, john, . moscow, . mott, lucretia, the quakeress, . munich, . murphy, mr., . nagle, dr., . nansen, the explorer, . napier, lord, his story of a wounded soldier, . nashville, . neilson, judge joseph, , , . new, mrs., . new brunswick theological seminary, . new orleans, , , ; victory, . new york, corrupt condition, ; ; spread of communism, ; historical society, gift to the library, ; passion play, attempt to present, ; pool rooms opened, ; conflagration of , ; revival meetings, . new york university, . "new york," . newark, . newspaper reporter, day with a, - . newspapers, reduction in the price, . newstead abbey, . newton, lady, . newton, sir alfred, lord mayor, . nichols, governor, . nicols, rev. dr. s.j., at the funeral of dr. talmage, . nightingale, florence, note from, ; receives dr. talmage, . north cape, view from, of the midnight sun, , . north river, first steamer, . northern pacific railroad co., . nottingham, ; albert hall, . nutting, a.j., . oakley, rev. mr., . ober-ammergau passion play, ; impressions of, - ; actors, . ocean grove, . "oceanic," . ochiltree, colonel tom, ; at the press club, . ogden, ohio, elections, ; river, . olcott, george m., . omaha, , ; picture galleries, . osborne, truman, . "our dead president," sermon on, . packer, asa d., . paine, tom, . palmer, a.m., . panics, view on, - . paris, , ; exposition of , , . parker; rev. dr. joseph, ; his description of dr. talmage's sermon, ; congratulations, . parkhurst, dr., ; amount of his salary, . parnell, c.s., in new york, ; triumph on his return to england, . passaic river, . pasteur, dr., his inoculations against hydrophobia, . patten, dr., . paxton, dr., amount of his salary, . payne, mr., his song "home, sweet home," . peabody, george, his will, . peace jubilee, a national, . peck, general, defence of, . penn, william, . pennsylvania, invasion, ; election, . peru, war with chili, . peterhof, palace of, . peters, barnard, . phelps, mr., . philadelphia, second reformed church of, . phillips, wendell, . pierce, dr., . pierce, mrs., . pierce. president, opens the world's fair, . pierce, senator, his bill for a new city charter for brooklyn, . piermont, . pilgrim fathers, in new england, . pius ix., pope, . policies, international, lecture on, . polk, mrs., her pension, . pollock, robert, ex-governor, ; report of his speech, . "pomerania," s.s., loss of, . pomeroy, rev. c.s., . pond, major, . poor, problem of the, . potomac, the, . pratt, judge c.r., , . prayer, the influence of, . prentice, mr., . press club, dinners at, . pressly, rev. david p., . preston, william c., . pretoria, capture of, . prime, rev. dr., . princeton, . queenstown, . railway strike, . rainsford, dr., amount of his salary, . randall, mr., . raymond, henry j., . reed, joseph, . reed, speaker, . "rehypothication," crime of, . reid, dr., . republican party, . reynolds, judge, . rhode island, . richards, rev. dr., . ridgeway, james w., . riley, his "universal philosophy," . river and harbour bill, . robinson, lincoln, . robinson, william e., , . roche, rev. spencer f., . rockport, new cable landed at, . rockwell, rev. j.e., . roebling, mr., . roosevelt, theodore, , . roosevelt, mrs., . rosa, parepa, . roswell, mr., . ruskin, john, ; his literary works, . russia, ; defeats turkey, ; persecution of the jews, ; famine, . russia, alexander iii.; czar of, receives dr. talmage, - ; gift to him, . russia, nicholas ii., czar of, receives dr. talmage, . russia, czarina of, receives mrs. talmage, ; her appearance, . russia, dowager empress of, receives dr. talmage, . russia, nicholas, grand duke, . sacramento, ; picture galleries, . sage, russell, his loan to brooklyn tabernacle, . sailors, character of, . st. louis railway strike, . salt lake city, , . salvation army, meetings in brooklyn, . san antonio, . san francisco, ; the first presbyterian church of, ; its age, ; picture galleries, ; amount paid by chinese, . sand, george, character of her writings, . sanderson, driver of the stage coach, . sand-storm, a mexican, . sanitary protective league, organisation of, . santa barbara, . saratoga, . scenery chapel, . schenck, dr. noah hunt, . schieren, major, . schiller, the famous comedian, . "schiller," the, sinks, . schley, admiral, , . schroeder, frederick a., , . schuylkill river, _note_. scott, rev. james w., ; his kindness to dr. talmage, - ; death, . scudder, dr., . seattle, . seavey, george l., ; his gift to the library of the historical society, new york, . seward, william h., ; his death, . shafter, general, . shaftesbury, lord, his funeral, ; last public act, ; president of various societies, . shannon, patrick, . sharon springs, . sharpsburg, . sheepshead bay, races at, . sheffield, . shelbyville, . sheridan, mr. and mrs., . sherman, james, . sherman, john, , . sherman, gen. william t., . shields, dr., ; attends dr. talmage, ; accompanies him home, . siberia, . silver bill, passed, . simpson, bishop, . simpson, sir herbert, . simpson, sir james y., his use of chloroform, , . skillman, dr., . slater, mr., . slocum, general, . smith, charles emory, . smith, rev. j. hyatt, ; his life of self-sacrifice, . smith, mrs. warren g., . somerville, , . soudan war, . soulard, a.l., . southampton, . south carolina, . spain, war with the united states, ; investigation into, . speer, dr. samuel thayer, . spencer, dr., . spencer, rev. w. ichabod, . spring, dr. gardiner, , . spurgeon, rev. charles h., ; his death, . stafford, marshal, . stanley, dean, . staten island, . stead, mr., his crusade against crime, . steele, dr., . steele, commissioner of stamps, . stephens, alexander h., . stevens, mrs. paran, . stevens, w., . stewart, samuel b., . stillman, benjamin a., . stockholm, immanuel church, . stone, rev. dr., . stone, governor, , . storrs, rev. r.s., pastor of the church of pilgrims, . stranahan, j.s.t., , , . stratford-on-avon, ; the "red horse hotel," . strikes, ; bill for the arbitration of, . stuart, francis h., . stuart, george h., . sullivan-ryan prize fight, . summerfield, dr. john, . sunderland, rev. dr. byron w., , . suydam, rev. dr. howard, at the burial of dr. talmage, . swansea, , . sweden, . swenson, mr., . syracuse, . talmage, catherine, her character, ; conversion, ; covenant with her neighbours, ; death, . talmage, daisy, _note_. talmage, daniel, . talmage, david, his christian principles, ; conversion, ; mode of conducting prayer-meetings, ; fearlessness, ; sheriff, ; scenes of his life, ; death, ; sons, . talmage, edith, _note_. talmage, mrs. eleanor, her biographical sketch of dr. talmage, ; first meeting, ; marriage, ; accompanies him in his travels, , ; attends his lectures, ; held up in yellowstone park, ; received by the czarina, ; dedicates the wood green wesleyan church, . talmage, rev. frank dewitt, _note_, . talmage, rev. goyn, . talmage, rev. james r., . talmage, jehiel, his conversion, . talmage, jessie, _note_. talmage, rev. john van nest, ; missionary at amoy, ; devotion to the chinese, ; death, ; reticence, ; work, . talmage, mrs. mary, _note_. talmage, maud, _note_, , , . talmage, may, _note_, . talmage, mrs. susan, _note_, . talmage, thomas dewitt, his birth, ; ancestors, ; father, ; mother, ; the family bible, ; conversion of his grand-parents and parents, ; home, ; childhood, ; early religious tendencies, ; at new york university, ; new brunswick theological seminary, ; conversion, ; first sermon, ; ordination, - ; pastorate at belleville, ; marriage, _note_; children, _note_, _note_; his first baptism, ; first pastoral visitation, ; first funeral, ; pastorate at syracuse, ; first literary lecture, ; call to philadelphia, ; amounts received for his lectures, , ; at the national peace jubilee, ; his fear of indolence, ; ministerial ball club, ; second marriage, _note_; call to brooklyn, ; installed, ; charges against, , , ; character of his sermons, , , , , ; establishes the first brooklyn tabernacle, ; vacations at east hampton, , , , ; visits to europe, , , , ; impressions on hearing the organ at freyburg, ; meeting with dr. john brown, ; in paris, , , ; sermons, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , - ; on the size of the heavenly jerusalem, ; his opinion of church fairs, ; lecturing tours, , , , , , , , , , ; opposes the effort to exclude the chinese, ; death of his brother john, ; gospel meetings, , ; visits to the house of t. carlyle, ; trip to the west, , , ; views on betting, ; on education, ; his numerous letters, - ; on the demands of society, - ; views on war, ; at lexington, ; protest against the gambling pool bill, ; proposal of a world's fair, ; on execution by electricity, ; advocates free trade, ; advice on books, - ; a day with a newspaper reporter, - ; his study, , ; correspondence, - ; visitors, - ; appearance, , ; pastoral visit, ; chaplain of the "old thirteenth" regiment, ; his income, , , ; dinners at the press club, ; at the hamilton club, ; restlessness, ; mode of life, , ; squib on, ; on the result of the flood at johnstown, ; on the lessons learnt from conflagrations, ; appeal for funds, ; consecration of the ground, ; his visit to the holy land, ; attack of influenza, ; visit to mr. gladstone, - ; ovation on his return home, ; on the revision of creeds, ; lays the corner stone, ; editor of periodicals, , ; critics, ; shaves his whiskers, ; on the higher criticism of the bible, ; preaching tours in england, , ; views on dreaming, ; sermons in the city temple, ; at nottingham, ; at the mansion house, , ; visits john ruskin, ; reception in russia, ; audience of the czar alexander, - ; donation of his salary, ; resignation, , , ; voyages across the ocean, , ; visit to governor blackburn, - ; meeting with senator beck, ; presentation of a gold tea-service, ; th anniversary of his pastorate, - ; his speech, ; messages of congratulation, ; journey round the world, ; "the earth girdled," ; his views on panics, - ; accepts the call to washington, - ; installed, ; reception at the white house, ; intercourse with mr. and mrs. cleveland, - ; interview with major mckinley, ; his characteristics, , , , , - ; magnetic influence, ; third marriage, ; cheerfulness, , ; mode of travelling, ; his lectures, , , ; love of flowers, ; in yellowstone park, ; lecture on international policies, ; his sense of duty, ; methodical habits, ; friendship with president mckinley, ; publication of his sermons, , ; his dinner parties, ; at due west, ; love of music, ; views on the boer war, ; visits newstead abbey, ; haddon hall, ; chatsworth, ; scotland, - ; hawarden, ; "the american spurgeon," ; his power as an orator, ; interview with florence nightingale, ; at copenhagen, ; received by the crown prince of denmark, ; ascends north cape, ; preaches in stockholm, ; at st. petersburg, ; received by the czar nicholas, ; the dowager empress, ; at berlin, ; his impressions of the passion play, - ; at baden-baden, ; preaches in john wesley's chapel, ; in ireland, ; return to america, ; his vigour and enthusiasm for his work, ; welcome at brooklyn, ; style of his writings, ; personal mail, ; simple tastes, ; libraries, ; reverence for the bible, ; sense of humour, ; will power, ; perseverance, - ; eulogy on queen victoria, ; inaugurates revival meetings, ; his last sermon, - ; in a railway accident, ; in mexico, ; audience with president diaz, ; his illness, - ; journey home, ; death, ; funeral service, ; burial, ; tributes to, ; his "celestial dream," . tappen, arthur, . tariff reform question, , ; protective, . taylor, alfred, . taylor, bayard, his career, ; number of his books, ; death, . taylor, rev. dr. benjamin c., . taylor, robert, . taylor, dr. william m., amount of his salary, . taylor, zachary, . tenney, judge, . tennyson, lord, . terhune, rev. e.p., . thomas, capt., heroism of, . thomasville, ; accident at, . thompson, dr. c.c., amount of his salary, . thompson, rev. charles l., . thompson, mr., secretary of the navy, . thurber, frank b., private secretary to president cleveland, , , . tierney, judge, . tolstoi, count, . tracey, general, , . trenton, intemperance, ; bribery, . tröndhjem, . tucker, dr. harrison a., . turkey, defeated by russia, . tyler, mrs., her pension, . tyng, rev. stephen h., ; his sufferings from insomnia, . "uncle john's place," . united states, the civil war, ; result, , ; intemperance, ; bribery, , - ; salaries of ministers, ; spread of communism, ; fever for spending money, ; predictions of disaster in , ; legislative effort to exclude the chinese, ; commercial frauds, ; pacification of north and south, ; purchase of grain, ; surplus for export, ; blockade, ; republican candidates for the presidency, ; quality of the new senators, ; interference in foreign affairs, ; celebration of centennials, ; adulteration of food, ; number of elopements, ; problem of the poor, ; practice of betting, ; demands of society, - ; the working people, ; number of weddings, ; sports, ; mania for rebuilding, ; fashions, ; slaughter of birds, ; system of taxation, ; of lies, ; war with spain, . unrequited services, sermon on, , . van buren, cartoons of, . vanderbilt, cornelius, his will, , ; gift to a medical institute, ; death, ; protection of his remains, . vanderbilt, mrs., her remedy against sea-sickness, . van dyke, rev. dr. henry , . van nest, john, . van rensselaer, mr. and mrs., . van vranken, rev. dr., . vicksburg, victory at, . victoria, queen, character of her reign, ; first cablegram, ; her death, . vienna, . villard, henry, . vinton, rev. dr., . volapük, the study of, . vredenburgh, john, . wadsworth, rev. charles, . wales, prince of, at chatsworth, . walker, dr. mary, her appearance, . wall street, failure of , . wallace, william copeland, . walsh, senator, . ward, ferdinand, . ward, dr. samuel, , . warner, b.h., . wars, number of, in , ; cost, ; character, . warsaw, . washington, intemperance, ; bribery, ; silver bill passed, ; number of appropriation bills, ; improvements, ; first presbyterian church at, ; library presented to, ; pan-presbyterian council, . washington, george, ; his burial, . watterson, henry, . webb, james watson, . webster, daniel, , ; monument erected to, ; his death, . webster, lily, her baptism, . webster, noah, his dictionary, , . weed, thurlow, . wesley, john, ; caricatures of, . westminster hall, dynamite outrage, . wheeler, general, . white, chief justice, . white, doc, . white, henry kirke, . white, mr., . whitefield, george, caricature of his preaching, . whitney, ex-mayor, . whittemore, miss susan c., her marriage, _note_. whittier, john greenleaf, ; poem, . wilber, mark d., . wilder, marshall p., . williams, general and mrs., . williams, william b., . wills, number of disputes over, . wilson, henry, his death, . windom, secretary, . winslow, hon. john, , . wisconsin, . witherspoon, dr., advice from, . wolfe, miss, ; her bequest to the church, . wood green wesleyan church, dedication of, . wood, john, , . woodford, gen. stewart l., , . woodruff, t.l., . woodward, mr., . world's fair, . wrench, dr., , . wright, silas, . württemberg, . wycoff, mrs. clarence, . wyndham, mr., . yellow fever, scourge of, . yellowstone park, . zanesville, . zwink, john, takes part in the passion play, ; character of his acting, . * * * * * garden city press limited, printers, letchworth, herts. [transcriber's note: all items in the errata have been corrected in the text, however the errata has still been included for completeness.] [illustration: the grassmarket, edinburgh.] the covenants and the covenanters covenants, sermons, and documents of the covenanted reformation. _with illustrations._ introduction on the national covenants by rev. james kerr, d.d., glasgow edinburgh: r.w. hunter, george iv. bridge. the covenants and the covenanters. [illustration] prefatory note. the covenants, sermons, and papers in this volume carry the readers back to some of the brightest periods of scottish history. they mark important events in that great struggle by which these three kingdoms were emancipated from the despotisms of pope, prince, and prelate, and an inheritance of liberty secured for these islands of the sea. the whole achievements of the heroes of the battlefields are comprehended under that phrase of reformers and martyrs, "the covenanted work of reformation." the attainments of those stirring times were bound together by the covenants, as by rings of gold. the sermons here were the product of the ripe thought of the main actors in the various scenes--men of piety, learning, and renown. hence, the nature, objects, and benefits of personal and national covenanting are exhibited in a manner fitted to attract to that ordinance the minds and hearts of men. the readers can well believe the statement of livingstone, who was present at several ceremonies of covenant-renovation: "i never saw such motions from the spirit of god. i have seen more than a thousand persons all at once lifting up their hands, and the tears falling down from their eyes." in the presence of the defences of the covenants as deeds, by these preachers, the baseless aspersions of novelists and theologues fade out into oblivion. true christians must, as they ponder these productions, be convinced that the covenanters were men of intense faith and seraphic fervour, and their own hearts will burn as they catch the heavenly flame. members of the church of christ will be stirred to nobler efforts for the kingdom of their lord as they meditate on the heroism of those who were the "chariots of israel and the horsemen thereof;" and they will behold with wonder that "to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the face of the serpent." and statesmen will discover how princes, parliaments, and peoples united in the hearty surrender of themselves to the prince of the kings and kingdoms of the earth; and will be aroused to promote that policy of christian statesmanship which, illustrating the purpose and will of god, the father, shall liberate parliaments and nations from the bonds of false religions, and assert for them those liberties and honours which spring from the enthronement of the son of man, as king of kings and lord of lords. this volume of documents of olden times is sent out on a mission of revival of religion, personal and national, in the present times. it would do a noble work if it helped to humble classes and masses, and led them to return as one man to that god in covenant from whom all have gone so far away. a national movement, in penitence and faith, for the repeal of the acts rescissory and the recognition of the national covenants would be as life from the dead throughout the british empire. the people and rulers of these dominions shall yet behold the brilliancy of the redeemer's crowns; and shall, by universal consent, exalt him who rules in imperial majesty over the entire universe of god. for, "the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our lord and of his christ." glasgow, _december, _. _errata._ page , line , instead of " ," _read_ . page , line , instead of "crawfordjohn," _read_ auchensaugh, near douglas. contents. page prefatory note, the national covenants--_introduction_, the national covenant-- the national covenant, or confession of faith, exhortation to lords of council, sermon at st. andrews. by alexander henderson, exhortation at inverness. by andrew cant, sermon at glasgow. by andrew cant, sermon at edinburgh. by andrew cant, the solemn league and covenant-- the solemn league and covenant, act of general assembly, exhortation at westminster. by philip nye, address at westminster. by alexander henderson, sermon at westminster. by thomas coleman, sermon at westminster. by joseph caryl, sermon at london. by thomas case, sermon at london. by thomas case, ordinance of the lords and commons, exhortation by the westminster assembly, sermon at london. by edmund calamy, the national covenants-- coronation sermon at scone. by robert douglas, charles ii, taking the covenants, the acts rescissory, the torwood excommunication, act against conventicles, the sanquhar declaration, protestation against the union, secession from the revolution church, _illustrations._ the grassmarket, edinburgh, _frontispiece_ greyfriars church, edinburgh, st. margarets and the abbey, westminster, the national covenants every person who enters rightly into covenant with god is on the pathway to gladness and honour. he comes into sympathy with him who from eternity made a covenant with his chosen. he gives joy to him who loves to see his people even touch the hem of his garments, or eagerly grasp his omnipotent hand. the spirit of god on the heart of the believer draws him into the firmest attachment to the beloved. under his gracious influence, the bonds of prejudice against covenanting are as green withs and the covenanter stands forth in liberty and in power. so also, when the people of a kingdom together come into covenant with the lord. in the character of israel as a covenanted people, there shines out a special splendour. one of the most brilliant events in judah's chequered history is that in which, in the days of the good king asa, "they gathered themselves together to jerusalem and entered into a covenant to seek the lord god of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; and all judah rejoiced at the oath." more than any other nation of modern times, the people of the british isles resemble in their covenant actings the people of israel; and scotland is the likest to judah. certainly, scotland's covenants with god were coronets on scotland's brow. at the beginning of the sixteenth century, scotland was a moral waste. the papacy, which had attained the zenith of its power on the continent, reigned in its supremacy throughout the land. in europe, indeed, there were some oases in the desolation, but here there were "stretched out upon the kingdom the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness." the chaos was as broad and deep as that of the papal states before the time of victor emanuel. by the presence of the papacy, mind, conscience, heart, were blasted; while ignorance, superstition, iniquity, increased and prevailed. but the lord that saw the affliction of israel in the land of the pharaohs, was "the same yesterday"; and his time of visitation was one of love. the first signs of the coming deliverance were the martyr fires kindled to consume those who were beginning to cry for liberty. the heroic efforts and successes of the reformers on the continent, in the presence of papal bulls and inquisitions, were a trumpet call to independence to the people of this priest-cursed land; and many responded right nobly, ready to stand amid the faggots at the stake rather than bear the iron heel that bruised them. those valiant men were led to bind themselves together in "bands," or covenants, and together to god, in prosecution of their aims. at dun, in , they entered into a "band" in which they vowed to "refuse all society with idolatry." at edinburgh, in , they entered into "ane godlie band," vowing that "we, by his grace, shall, with all diligence, continually apply our whole power, substance, and our very lives to maintain, set forward and establish the most blessed word of god." at perth, in , they entered into covenant "to put away all things that dishonour his name, that god may be truly and purely worshipped." at edinburgh, in , they entered into covenant "to procure, by all means possible, that the truth of god's word may have free passage within this realm." and these covenants were soon followed by the confession of faith prepared by knox and five other reformers, and acknowledged by the three estates as "wholesome and sound doctrine grounded upon the infallible truth of god;" by an act abolishing the "jurisdiction of the bishop of rome within this realme," and forbidding "title or right by the said bishop of rome or his sect to anything within this realme," and by the first general assembly of the church of scotland. seven years thereafter, , the parliament recognised, by specific act, the reformed church of scotland as "the only true and holy kirk of jesus christ within this realm." the young church of scotland was based on the word of god, anti-papal, free, reformed, and covenanting, and in that character acknowledged by the state. "at this time," writes d'aubigne, "the reformed church was recognised and established by the state--a triumph similar to that of christianity when under constantine the religion of the crucified one ascended the throne of the cæsars." in spite of the vacillating policy of the king and parliament, and their repeated attempts to impose the order of bishops on the church, the reformation proceeded steadily, and a great advance was reached by the national covenant of . this national covenant, or second confession of faith, was prepared by john craig, minister of holyrood house. its original title was "ane short and generall confession of the true christiane faith and religione, according to god's verde and actis of our perlamentis, subscryved by the kingis majestie and his household, with sindrie otheris, to the glorie of god and good example of all men, att edinburghe, the day of januare, , and yeare of his majestie's reigne." the immediate occasion of this memorable transaction was the discovery of a secret dispensation from the pope consenting to the profession of the reformed religion by roman catholics, but instructing them to use all their influence in promotion of the "ancient faith." though the king was still in sympathy to some degree with the policy of rome against the "new faith," he could not dare to resist the indignation of the people against romish intrigues, and their demand for a national bond as a means of defence. by the national covenant, the covenanters declared their belief "in the true christian faith and religion, revealed by the blessed evangel, and received by the kirk of scotland, as god's eternal truth and only ground of our salvation;" renounced "all kinds of papistry," its authority, dogmas, rites and decrees, and pledged themselves to maintain "the king's majesty, in the defence of christ, against all enemies within this realm or without." it was signed by the king and the privy council and throughout the kingdom, and was subscribed again in and . "the kirk of scotland," wrote calderwood, "was now come to her perfection and the greatest puritie that ever she attained unto, both in doctrine and discipline, so that her beautie was admirable to forraine kirks. the assemblies of the sancts were never so glorious." this period was the meridian of the first reformation. but the time of scotland's rest and joy was short indeed. ere the sixteenth century opened, the ecclesiastical edifice, raised by knox, the melvilles and other reformers, was almost in ruins. the monarch had been taught in his youth the doctrine of the divine right of kings, and he was now determined to assert it. both church and state must be laid in the dust before his absolute will. both had been delivered from a popedom on the banks of the tiber, now they will be confronted by a popedom on the banks of the thames; and the despotism of the pope shall be even exceeded by the despotism of the prince. scotland is now to be the scene of a struggle with issues more momentous than any ever waged on any field of battle. shall civil and religious liberty be saved from captivity by tyrants on the throne? shall free assemblies and free parliaments be extinguished in the land that has, by its people and its parliament, abolished the authority of rome and taken its national covenant with god? for nearly a hundred years this conflict was destined to continue till, at the revolution settlement, the divine right of kings was banished the realm. kingcraft forthwith commenced its work of demolition and proceeded to deliver its blows in rapid succession. summoning to its aid laud and other sycophantic counsellors, it subtly resolved to lay its hand on the very conscience of the church. mitres were offered some of her more prominent ministers, for charles i. knew that presbyterianism is the friend of civil freedom, and that prelacy in the church will more readily consent to despotism in the state. the "black acts" were passed confirming the "king's royal power over all states and subjects within this realm," discharging all assemblies held "without our sovereign lord's special licence and commandment," and requiring ministers to acknowledge the ecclesiastical superiority of bishops. the assembly was induced to adopt a proposal for the appointment of a number of commissioners to sit and vote in parliament, become members of the privy council, and lords of session; and such honours would not readily be declined. then came the court of high commission, instituted for the purpose of compelling the "faithful" ministers to acknowledge the bishops appointed by the king--a court called into existence by royal proclamation, "a sort of english inquisition," writes dr. m'crie, "composed of prelates, noblemen, knights, and ministers, and possessing the combined power of a civil and ecclesiastical tribunal." after this came the act giving full legal status to the "anti-christian hierarchy" of episcopacy in scotland; the formal consecration of the first scottish prelates; the five articles of perth; the canons and constitutions ecclesiastical--a complete code of laws for the church issued without any consultation with the representatives of the church; an act charging all his majesty's subjects to conform to the order of worship prescribed by him, and the semi-popish book of common prayer and administration of the sacraments which was imposed upon all parishes and ministers. by these and other measures, the sovereign impiously assumed that spiritual power which belonged to christ alone, as king and head of the church. here, in its worst form, was "the absolutism that had so long threatened the extinction of their liberties; here was the heel of despotism openly planted on the neck of their church, and the crown openly torn from the brow of christ, her only king." during all these years, the reformers were resisting with courage the assaults of the enemy. at times there were secessions from their ranks when, under the bribes and threats of prince and prelate, some ingloriously succumbed. but, as renwick said later in the struggle, "the loss of the men was not the loss of the cause." the champions of the reformation, led by andrew melville, feared not to arraign that monarch who once told his bishops that "now he had put the sword into their hands they should not let it rust." they tabled petitions, published protests, obtained interviews, but all proved powerless to arrest the career of those who were bent on the annihilation of the church, and the establishment on its ruins of the royal supremacy. in one of their protests, they call upon the estates to "advance the building of the house of god, remembering always that there is no absolute and undoubted authority in the world excepting the sovereign authority of christ the king, to whom it belongeth as properly to rule the kirk according to the good pleasure of his own will, as it belongeth to him to save the kirk by the merit of his own sufferings." the attempt to impose laud's liturgy gave opportunity for an outburst of the slumbering flame of discontent. janet geddes flung a stool at the head of the officiating dean, and the tumult that ensued extended far and wide. a tablet, recently erected to her memory in st. giles, states that "she struck the first blow in the great struggle for freedom of conscience." the proclamation by the council of the state, condemning all meetings against the episcopal canons and service book, brought the reformers accessions from all parts of the kingdom. could an oppressed people bear the tyranny longer? but, will they take up arms and scatter carnage and blood throughout the land? no, their weapons will not be carnal, but mighty through god to the pulling down of strongholds. they will go to the covenant god of the kingdom, and they will stand before him, saying, "thine are we, david, and on thy side, thou son of jesse." scotland will renew her covenant with god. the national covenant of was produced. an addition was made, in two parts. the part summarizing the acts of parliament, condemning the papacy and ratifying the confessions of the church, was drafted by warriston; that with special religious articles for the time was by henderson. the spot chosen for the solemnities of the first subscription was the churchyard of greyfriars, edinburgh. "the selection," writes the historiographer-royal for scotland, "showed a sound taste for the picturesque. the graveyard in which their ancestors have been laid from time immemorial stirs the hearts of men. the old gothic church of the friary was then existing; and landscape art in edinburgh has by repeated efforts established the opinion that from that spot we have the grandest view of the precipices of the castle and the national fortress crowning them. it seemed a homage to that elevating influence of grand external conditions which the actors in the scene were so vehemently repudiating." in that memorable spot the reformers gathered "the legitimate charters" of their nation into one document and presented them before heaven. johnston unrolled the parchment in which these scottish charters were inscribed, and read them in a clear, calm voice. "when he had finished, all was still as the grave. but the silence was soon broken. an aged man of noble air was seen advancing. he came forward slowly, and deep emotion was visible in his venerable features. he took up the pen with a trembling hand and signed the document. a general movement now took place. all the presbyterians in the church pressed forward to the covenant and subscribed their names. but this was not enough; a whole nation was waiting. the immense parchment was carried into the churchyard and spread out on a large tombstone to receive on this expressive table the signature of the church. scotland had never beheld a day like that." "this," says henderson, "was the day of the lord's power, in which multitudes offered themselves most willingly, like dewdrops of the morning. this was, indeed, the great day of israel, wherein the arm of the lord was revealed--the day of the redeemer's strength, on which the princes of the people assembled to swear their allegiance to the king of kings." charles i. understood well the force of that mighty movement when, on hearing of it, he said, "i have no more power in scotland than a doge of venice." the renewal of that covenant, th february, , was a thunderbolt against despotism in scotland, and the world over. "the chariots of god are twenty thousand." the covenant was transcribed into hundreds of copies, carried throughout the country from north to south and east to west, and subscribed everywhere. the spirit that thrilled the thousands filling and overflowing greyfriars church and churchyard, spread with rapidity over the whole land. it combined the "whole nation into one mighty phalanx of incalculable energy." the last sparks of the king's fury burst out in secret instructions to his followers to use all power against the "refractory and seditious," and in a threat to send his army and fleet to scotland, but these soon died away. the "refractory and seditious" king eventually surrendered to the covenanters, abolished courts, canons, liturgies, and articles, and consented to the calling of a general assembly. this was the first free general assembly of the church of scotland for the last forty two years. it was held in glasgow, on st november, ; and its work in the overthrow of prelacy and the royal supremacy and in the re-assertion of the spiritual independence of the church, was one of the most signal successes in the still progressing conflict of the second reformation. meanwhile, charles ii. was endeavouring to secure the recognition of his absolute monarchy in england. there also he rigorously demanded submission to despotic claims. by abolishing parliaments, annulling charters, appointing the star chamber, he introduced a reign of terror. in the room of those legislative bulwarks of liberty, which the nation had constructed through the skill and experience of generations, a "grim tyranny," writes dr. wylie, "reared its gaunt form, with the terrible accompaniments of star chamber, pillory, and branding irons. it reminded one of sunset in the tropics. there the luminary of the day goes down at a plunge into the dark. so had the day of liberty in england gone down at a stride into the night of tyranny." the oppressed people turned to the covenanters of scotland for sympathy and counsel. the negotiations resulted in the preparation of an international league in defence of religion and liberty. against the banner of the king they raised the banner of the covenant. alexander henderson drafted the new bond. the document breathed the spirit of the national covenant of greyfriars, condemned the papal and prelatic system, pled for a constitutional monarchy, and outlined a comprehensive programme for future efforts in extending the principles of the reformation. on september , , it was subscribed in st. margarets church, westminster. the members of parliament in england and the westminster assembly of divines stood with uplifted hands, and, as article after article was read, they took this oath to god. the commissioners from scotland to the westminster assembly united with the people of england in the solemnity of the day. thus the representatives of the two nations stood before the lord. this was the solemn league and covenant, "the noblest in its essential features," writes hetherington, "of all that are recorded among the international transactions of the world." the parliament and westminster assembly issued instructions for its subscription throughout the kingdom. the classes and the masses in england, scotland, and ireland received it with gladness. in the face of a despotism unexampled in the history of these lands, high and low, rich and poor, bowed themselves as one before the throne of god. "for at that time day by day there came to david to help him, until it was a great host like the host of god." through this league and covenant, the people of the british isles were protected by omnipotence, and were as invincible against the despotic forces that assailed them as were the white cliffs of their native shores against the huge galleons of the invincible armada. "to thine own people, with thine arm, thou didst redemption bring; to jacob's sons and to the tribes of joseph that do spring." these covenants were prepared and subscribed in a spirit of deep piety. but for the sterling spirituality of the reformers there would never have been a covenanted reformation. the work of covenanting is itself a lofty spiritual exercise, and requires a people possessing much of the spirit of the living god. every public act for the sake of christ should be the outcome of an impassioned devotion. the reading of even the scant records of those times of covenanting, telling of the prayers, and tears, and love, and courage of those who gave themselves to god, is fitted to inspire the coldest heart with noblest emotions. their inward piety made them men of power, and enabled them to bear down every barrier to the kingdom of their lord erected by the craft of prince and priest. it is when israel would call her lord, ishi, my husband, that "the names of baalim would be taken out of her mouth and be remembered no more." it was when the christians of the mearns had communion at "the table of the lord jesus," ministered by knox, that they "banded themselves to the uttermost of their power to maintain the true preaching of the evangel of christ." the historian, burton, describes the movement that resulted in the subscription of the national covenant as the fruit of "a great religious revival," and the reformation as "the great revival." and kirkton says, "i verily believe there were more souls converted to christ in that short time than in any other season since the reformation." their intense piety prepared the covenanters for the persecutions to follow and for crowns of martyrdom. in and around their whole covenanting procedure, there was the atmosphere of a paradise of communion with god. these covenants exhibited the great ecclesiastical breadth of the covenanters. the enthronement of the word of god over the church was one of the commanding objects of the reformers. if only the church would hear and honour christ, her king, speaking in that word, then would she be clothed with the sun, and have on her head a crown of twelve stars. the reformers resolutely set themselves to apply the word to the church, in all her departments; she must be such an institution as her lord had instructed. the will of priest, and prince, and presbyter, and people, must be set aside in the presence of the will of her sole sovereign. the works of demolition and reconstruction must go on together. built according to the design of her lord, her bulwarks, and towers, and palaces shall command the admiration of the world. the pattern was not taken from rome, nor "even from geneva, but from the blessed word of god." no quarter shall be given to hierarchy of pope or prelate in the government of the church, to the "commandments of men" in the doctrine of the church, or to unscriptural rites in the worship of the church. so great was their success that the reformers could say that they "had borrowed nothing from the border of rome," and had "nothing that ever flowed from the man of sin." often the battle raged most fiercely round the standard of the independence of the church, but ever the covenanters emerged from the struggle victorious. valorously did they maintain that christ ought to "bear the glory of ruling his own kingdom, the church," and fearlessly they defied the monarchs in their invasions of messiah's rights. besides, they were not satisfied with the attainment of a united church in their own kingdom alone. they were filled with the spirit of the saviour's prayer, "that they all may be one." in the present times, those who publicly contend for the reunion of a "few scattered fragments" of the reformed church are belauded as men of large hearts and liberal aims. the covenanters embodied in their solemn league and covenant an engagement to "bring the churches of god in the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity;" and they also subsequently included the churches on the continent in their efforts for ecclesiastical union. for the purposes of these ecclesiastical unions, the westminster assembly sat for five years in westminster, after signing the solemn league, and framed a basis for union in the standards they produced--which still testify that the members of that assembly were in advance of their times. yes, the covenanters were not narrow, sectarian, bigoted; but large, liberal, catholic. these covenants were deeds of lofty imperial significance. the reformation of the church, however complete, would have been a limited reformation. there are two powers ordained of god and both must be reformed. the comprehensive aims of the covenanters embraced both state and church. their deeds were civil as well as ecclesiastical. a church thoroughly reformed and christian in a state unreformed and anti-christian, would never have satisfied the reformers. the state also must be no longer a vassal of the pope, it must be a servant of the blessed and only potentate. god in his word here also as in the church must be joyfully granted the exclusive supremacy. the covenanters vowed to defend the king in the defence and preservation of the reformed religion. they secured the recognition of the church by parliament. the members of parliament themselves became covenanters. in short, christianity pervaded and adorned the constitution and administration of civil government in the united kingdom. the covenanters were convinced that no power, except that provided by the word of god, could possibly resist the arbitrary claims of the monarchs, secure the safety of the state, and promote civil liberty in the land. religion in the realm of citizenship is the very crown of any realm. in the face of the despotisms of pope and monarch, it would not have been surprising had the covenanters invented and endeavoured to apply to the state the modern theory of religious equality, which denies the right of the state to even acknowledge the prince of the kings of the earth. if ever they dreamt of such a theory, their thought of the supremacy of jesus would make it vanish as a dream. much less would they ever admit the possibility of deliverance by the theory of a concurrent recognition of all religions, as this would lower a nation to the position of heathenism with its "gods many," and would soon involve the strongest empire in disaster. papalism in the state in the ascendancy, absolute monarchism in the state, secularism in the state, polytheism in the state--these are four despotisms, and must be flung with detestation out of all christian lands. the state that is not on the side of christ, and christ alone, is in antagonism to all the moral forces of the universe. its throne is against the throne of the highest. the scottish covenanters placed the crown of the state on the head of its rightful monarch, and so lifted their kingdom to imperial grandeur. there are some spots of this world that have secured undying memorials, as they have been stages for the settlement of questions of momentous importance in the destinies of nations. there is marathon in greece, waterloo in france, sadowa in austria, and trafalgar on the sea, but probably the scenes associated with these pale in glory in the presence of greyfriars and westminster, where nations won unparalleled victories in the surrender of themselves to their covenant god. these two spots were the earthly centres of spiritual movements of mighty magnitude, and possess in the eyes of the god of heaven and of the principalities about his throne a splendour not eclipsed by any that ever shone on a battlefield. when the day of millennial glory comes, the people of the new era will not look to the sadowas and the sedans, but to such spots as these where the greatest heroes of the pre-millennial times reflected millennial light and anticipated millennial triumphs. for there, by an army without sword or spear, the absolutism of monarchies and the tyranny of hierarchies were scattered like chaff before the wind. as the covenanters entered into and rejoiced in their vows to god, the imperialism of king jesus conquered the imperialism which prince and priest had been enforcing with rigour; and this imperialism shall be in the ascendancy yet the world over when the empires of earth shall crown the christ of god as king of the church and king of nations. but the covenanters have scarce time to estimate and enjoy the benefits of their conquests before a tempest burst forth suddenly and threatened the destruction of all the attainments of the past. in a moment of national infatuation the stuart dynasty was restored to the throne, and charles ii. instantly proceeded to set up once more the dagon of the royal supremacy and enforce its recognition by all his power. on two occasions he had subscribed the solemn league, and he had issued instructions in its favour, professing warm admiration of both covenants and of the reformation. but now the perjured monarch employed all his craft and power to overthrow the whole covenanted reformation in church and state. parliament, the slave of his behests, passed the act of supremacy, giving legislative sanction to all the rights he claimed. the acts rescissory followed, declaring the covenants unlawful and seditious deeds, and repealing all parliamentary laws in their favour. then came the abolition of presbyterianism, indulgences, the restoration of prelacy, the appointment of high commission courts, the ejection of all ministers who would not obey the royal mandates, and the erection of scaffolds. the monarch seemed determined to extinguish every spark of liberty in the kingdom. the reign of peace was supplanted by a reign of terror. the covenants were broken, burnt, buried, by public orders. the covenanters met to worship god in the moorlands and dells, setting a watch for the dragoons of claverhouse. thousands upon thousands of the noblest patriots were imprisoned, tortured, mangled, shot. at times their indignation burst forth through arms, as at rullion green, drumclog, and bothwell bridge. their most brilliant victories were on the scaffold when they passed triumphantly to the crown; for there was "a noble army" of martyrs, from argyle the proto-martyr of the "killing times," down to the youthful renwick, last of the white-robed throng. the ruin wrought by charles i. in england "we have likened," says dr. wylie, "to a tropical sunset, where night follows day at a single stride. but the fall of scotland into the abyss of oppression and suffering under charles ii. was like the disastrous eclipse of the sun in his meridian height, bringing dismal night over the shuddering earth at the hour of noon." "the hills with the deep mournful music were ringing, the curlew and plover in concert were singing; but the melody died 'midst derision and laughter, as the hosts of ungodly rushed on to the slaughter. "when the righteous had fallen and the combat had ended, a chariot of fire through the dark cloud descended; the drivers were angels on horses of whiteness, and its burning wheels turned on axles of brightness. "on the arch of the rainbow the chariot is gliding; through the paths of the thunder the horsemen are riding; glide swiftly, bright spirits, the prize is before you, a crown never fading, a kingdom of glory." throughout the long thirty years of persecution, the decimated covenanters still lived. the banner for christ's crown and covenant was still waved by them through the blood-stained land. oftentimes they issued declarations and protests against the tyranny of their oppressors, many of which concluded with those inspiriting words at the close of the last of them, "let king jesus reign and all his enemies be scattered." the most famous of these papers was the sanquhar declaration. on the nd of june, , twenty horsemen rode into the burgh of sanquhar, and at the market cross read their declaration, in which they "disowned charles stuart that has been reigning (or rather tyrannizing as we may say) on the throne of britain these years bygone, as having any right, title to, or interest in the said crown of scotland for government, as forfeited several years since by his perjury and breach of covenant both to god and his kirk, and usurpation of his crown and royal prerogatives therein." that courageous act of those twenty patriots proclaimed the doom of the house of stuart. "men called it rash, perhaps it was crime: their deed flashed out god's will, an hour before the time." a few years afterwards, the nations of england and scotland endorsed the action of richard cameron and his compatriots. the blood of guthrie, and cargill, and mackail had cried for vengeance, and the god of the covenanters hurled the stuart dynasty from the throne. "alas! is it not true?" writes carlyle in his _heroes_, "that many men in the van do always, like russian soldiers, march into the ditch of schwiednitz, and fill it up with their dead bodies, that the rear may pass over them dry-shod, and gain the honour? how many earnest, rugged cromwells, knoxes, poor peasant covenanters, wrestling, battling for very life, in rough, miry places, have to struggle and suffer and fall, greatly censured, bemired, before a beautiful revolution of eighty-eight can step over them in official pumps and silk stockings, with universal three-times-three!" the stedfast followers of the covenanters expected that, on the cessation of the persecution, there would be the restoration of the whole covenanted reformation in church and state. but their just expectations were doomed to bitter disappointment. neither by church nor state was any proposal ever seriously entertained of renewing the national covenants with god, as at the commencement of the second reformation. instead, the acts rescissory were permitted to remain on the statute-book, and the covenants to lie under the infamy to which the king and the royalists had consigned them. the state exerted an erastian control of the church, and the church yielded submission. her standards were assigned her before she met; her assemblies were summoned and prorogued at the sovereign's pleasure; presbyterianism was established, not because it possessed a _jus divinum_ but because the people willed it; her government was controlled through the admission into her ministry, by royal request, of many who had accepted indulgences and were supporters of prelacy. the whole period of the second reformation was almost annihilated by the settlement of the church, not according to the periods, and , but according to . the acts of the assemblies of the revolution church never once mention the solemn league and covenant. ministers who pled for its recognition exposed themselves to the censures of their brethren. an attempt by the church, soon after the revolution to assert the supremacy of christ and the church's independence under him, issued in the dissolution of the assembly by the royal commissioner. and this departure of the church and state at the revolution was strikingly and sadly endorsed when, at the union with england, scotland consented that the prelatic establishment in england should be allowed to remain "inviolable for ever." a few "stones had been gathered from the wreck of the reformation to be incorporated with the new structure, but the venerable fabric itself was left in ruins." yes! the revolution came but not the reformation. the sword was returned to its scabbard, but church and state did not return to their covenant god. into sympathy and fellowship with institutions founded on principles subversive of those they had vowed to maintain, the faithful followers of the reformers and martyrs could not enter. the banner for christ's crown and covenant had waved over the fields of scotland when the storms of persecution had raged most fiercely, and how could they be justified in dropping it now when the god of zion was pleased to command a calm. the minority who thus preserved an unbroken relationship with the pre-revolution and martyr period continued to meet in "societies" for sixteen years, when they were joined by a minister--rev. john m'millan--who was driven out of the revolution church because of his testimony for the whole covenanted reformation. some years afterwards, another minister espoused the cause then represented by mr. m'millan and the united societies, and this union resulted in the constitution of the reformed presbytery. two years afterwards, in , the members of the reformed presbyterian church engaged in the work of covenant renovation, at auchensaugh, near douglas, in lanarkshire. since that time this church has had an unbroken history, excepting a disruption in , when a majority departed from her distinctive position. but what is the bearing of scotland's covenanted reformation of three centuries ago, on the scotland of the present times? has it no instruction for all times? is the whole prolonged struggle, with all its chequered scenes, but a panorama on which spectators may gaze with but passing emotions? is it all but a story with interest, however thrilling, for the study of the antiquarian? if so then the whole contendings of reformers and covenanters and martyrs sink into insignificance indeed; they have been assigned a magnitude far beyond their desert. if the doctrines and principles for whose application in church and state they fought and suffered, were unscriptural, then let an enlightened posterity bury with shame the story of their warfare. or, if they were of mere temporary importance, then the covenanters merit no higher admiration than that accorded to those who, like the armenians now in turkey, cry out against the oppressions of the civil power. but these doctrines and principles were brought from the word of god and possess imperishable excellency. their glory was not temporal; it is eternal. and they shall yet undergo a resurrection and receive universally a joyous recognition. the obligation of these national covenants on the british nation still has been oftentimes demonstrated by indisputable arguments. the word of god teaches in the most pointed manner this principle of devolving covenant obligation. the god of israel threatened his people with chastisement for breaking the covenant he had made with their fathers four hundred years before. the covenanters themselves bound their posterity to god by express words in their bonds. the renovation of covenants at various times proceeded on this principle. in the time of persecution, the sufferers again and again declared that they and others were bound by the vows of their fathers. "god hath laid engagements upon scotland," said argyle on the scaffold, "we are tied by covenants to religion and reformation; and it passeth the power of all the magistrates under heaven to absolve from the oath of god." the scriptural character of their contents infers the perpetual obligation of these covenants. all who accept the scriptures as the word of god, must renounce the errors condemned by the covenants and contend for the truths those who subscribed them pledged themselves to maintain. no christian should ever dare to seek relief from the claims of christ; it is his honour to acknowledge and live and die for them. these deeds were as national as any in the statute-book and therefore they are obligatory still, for the nation in its corporate character is the same now as three hundred years ago. their perpetual obligation may be resisted, as it often is, on the plea that a people have no right to bind posterity. but should such a plea be declared valid, then society would be thrown into the wildest disorder and temporal ruin would overtake millions. heirs could be justified in refusing to fulfil the instructions of testators; young people could condemn the baptismal vows taken by parents; governments and cabinets could tear up the treaties of their predecessors; and the nation itself could repudiate the national debt. those who enter into the possession of valuable estates, secured for them by the toil and struggles of ancestry, do not renounce their estates because they themselves were not consulted in the execution of the title deeds. these deeds of the covenanters, and the heritage secured by them, were obtained through the noblest sacrifices. they were deeds presented before the throne, and registered in the court of heaven, and those who repudiate them incur the risk of an awful forfeiture. the present conditions in church and state throughout the british isles, force upon the minds of all who admire the reformation the facts that the doctrines and principles of those reformations are even now ignored and despised, and that the systems which were cast out by the whole nation through their covenants are now in power. the objects sought by the covenants have not yet been realized. in several sad respects, both church and state are in positions of acute antagonism to those great catholic objects. an ecclesiastical supremacy in the british sovereign rears its head over these covenanted kingdoms; for, as blackstone writes, this supremacy is "an inherent right of the british crown." the "anti-christian" hierarchy of prelacy is implanted in the national constitution and sustained by the whole prestige of the realm. under its lordly bewitchery, erastianism prevails in the established churches of the kingdom. the oath of allegiance implicates all who take it in an acknowledgment of the ecclesiastical supremacy of the sovereign as "by law established," and this oath must be taken by every member of parliament before he can sit and vote in the house, under a penalty of five hundred pounds. the basis of qualification for membership in parliament has been so much altered in recent times that roman catholics, atheists, and now idolaters are admitted--changes which have been demanded by the vast majority of the non-established churches, who are pleading for the exclusion of religion from all state institutions. the papacy, through its various agencies, is in receipt of more than a million and a quarter pounds annually from the national funds. a wide-spread reaction in favour of the romish religion is going forward, and is being powerfully assisted by the romanizing movement in the church of england, and the ritualistic in the presbyterian churches throughout the kingdom. had the two nations and their churches adhered to their national covenants and the solemn league and covenant, and to the formularies prepared by the international assembly at westminster, the lovers of the covenanted reformation would not have had these portentous conditions to deplore to-day. would their adherence to those deeds and documents have done them any dishonour? and would it not be to the lasting honour of their posterity now, if a movement were originated and carried through to reproduce with all possible fulness the scenes of the past--another greyfriars, edinburgh, and another st. margarets, westminster. but, even apart from the historical aspect of the whole matter, the question may, in the presence of these monstrous evils, be pressed upon the attention and heart of all the people throughout the land? what ought to be done to remove these evils and avert the disaster which their continuance must entail? what ought the british subject, if a patriot, do, in the face of evils which threaten the ruin of his kingdom? what ought the protestant to do, in the presence of a government and administration which are daily advancing the court of rome to power? what the presbyterian, who cannot take the oath of allegiance without committing himself to the hierarchy of prelacy? what the christian, in the presence of systems in imperial politics which have already dethroned christ and are hastening to expel him from all national institutions? is there no means by which the christian citizen can exonerate himself from national sins, and free himself of all responsibility for national calamity? must he still exercise his right to vote and give his support to governments which, in the hands of both political parties, are augmenting rather than diminishing the existing evils? if the members of one political party secede from that party, when changes they cannot accept are welcomed to their programme, and henceforth refuse them their support at the polling-booth, would it not be proper that men, sensible of the utter inadequacy of the performances of both parties to meet the evils under which the nation lies, should stand aloof from both government and opposition? the leading unionists in ireland again and again declared that they could not possibly enter into the proposed parliament under home rule which would be set up in dublin, and their declarations awakened universal sympathy. for reasons similar, should not all christian electors refuse to identify themselves with a constitution and government which are based on principles subversive of independence and liberty? protests against existing evils are not sufficient. practical political dissent is imperatively demanded in the interests of patriotism and christianity. if even one-tenth of the electors in the united kingdom prepared a paper of grievances, setting forth the present dishonours done to christ nationally, and calling for the abandonment of all that is unscriptural in the public policy, and the adoption of what is scriptural and honouring to christ, and accompany this manifesto with a declaration that they cannot violate their convictions by identifying themselves with the government till reforms be conceded, would not such a movement touch the mind and heart of the nation as no question in party politics has done for generations? their attitude of separation would carry extraordinary dignity and power. and they could plead too that the evils of which they complained were abjured by the nation universally, when the national covenants were taken in scotland, england, and ireland, and when sovereigns and members of parliament again subscribed them as a condition of the high offices to which they were called. how could they loyally support a constitution now so opposite to the ancient scriptural and covenanted constitution of the realm? the reformed presbyterian churches of scotland and ireland are the only churches within the british dominions that take this position of political dissent. their fathers took it at the revolution settlement, and they have maintained it all through these centuries till now; and they have done so not because they love the nation less, but christ more. if this position were assumed by larger numbers throughout the land, who knoweth whether they would "not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" "shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, that frameth mischief by a law?" "wherefore, come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the lord." "hope thou not, then, earth's alliance, take thy stand behind the cross; fear, lest by unblest compliance, thou transmute thy gold to dross. stedfast in thy meek endurance, prophesy in sackcloth on; hast thou not the pledged assurance, kings one day shall kiss the son." the popular acceptance of these doctrines and principles by the state and the churches at present, would imply a vast mental upheaval--a vast moral revolution. but the best hopes and wishes for the nation at large are that it will come and come soon, and the present evils, however great, must not be allowed to produce a pessimistic tone. very hopeless seemed the prospects before the first reformation, but that reformation came. very hopeless seemed the prospects before the second reformation, but that reformation came. and however dark the prospects now before a third reformation, that reformation shall come! the world is nearing the last stage of its history, as pointed out by daniel in the dream of the monarch of babylon, prior to the overwhelming and triumphant progress of the stone-kingdom, cut out of the mountain. that immense image of nebuchadnezzar, in its gold and silver and brass and iron, represented those four vast monarchies which, in their successive periods, swayed the government of the world. but in the fact that the image was in the form of a man, the spirit that actuated these four empires of earth is strikingly emphasized--the spirit of the idolatry of humanity. they were all embodiments of the man-will: babels for the incarnation of heaven-daring human aspirations, and so carried within even their colossal proportions the elements of confusion and death. a similar lust of humanity for supremacy characterises those kingdoms, represented by the ten toes of the image, into which the fourth roman monarchy parted. but soon now, therefore, must sound out the last blast of the seventh trumpet, when the idolatry of humanity in earth's kingdoms shall fall, and the spirit and will of christ pervade and beautify all the institutions, ecclesiastical and imperial, of the world. yes, the kingdom "not in hands" shall shatter yet all the usurped rights of the world-powers. there shall be a glorious reversal of the disaster in eden. that old adamic principle of a legislative sovereignty in man, which has convulsed the nations for six thousand years, shall be utterly renounced and crucified the world over. ruin irreparable shall befall the entire empire of satan, who shall be chained in his lake, as the pealing note of that trumpet of god shall swell over all the earth. the throne of god and the lamb shall be erected by public consent as the unifying source and centre for people, churches, and empires. the whole world of humanity shall be redeemed from sin and its curse, be animated by one spirit, and triumphant in one lord. may not the true christian, then, as he thinks of the idolatrous form in the dream of the monarch of babylon, and looks in the watches of the night for the dawn, when christ jesus his lord shall be honoured throughout the world, behold rising before his eyes in his dream another colossal figure; and its head is gold, and its breasts and arms gold, and its belly and thighs gold, and its legs and feet and toes gold; yea all of it "is as the most fine gold;" and the head representing the powers of the great american continents; the breast and arms, asia; the belly and thighs, africa; the legs and feet, europe, and the toes the isles of the sea--the british isles with the rest. and the form of the great earth-filling figure is that of jesus of nazareth, the man of jehovah's right hand. and lo! "i saw heaven opened, and i heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, alleluia, for the lord god omnipotent reigneth." "come, then, and, added to thy many crowns, receive yet one, the crown of all the earth, thou who alone art worthy! it was thine by ancient covenant, ere nature's birth; and thou hast made it thine by purchase since and overpaid its value with thy blood. thy saints proclaim thee king! and in their hearts thy title is engraven with a pen dipp'd in the fountain of eternal love." the national covenant [illustration: greyfriars churchyard, edinburgh.] the national covenant or, the confession of faith. _subscribed at first by the king's majesty and his household, in the year of god ; thereafter by persons of all ranks in the year of god , by ordinance of the lords of secret council, and acts of the general assembly; subscribed again by all sorts of persons in the year of god . secondly: and with ordinance of the lords of secret council, and acts of general assembly, subscribed again by all sorts of persons in the year of god . thirdly: and with ordinance of council, at the desire of the general assembly; with their general bond for maintenance of the true religion, and of the kings majesty; and now subscribed in the year of god , by us, noblemen, baronets, gentlemen, burgesses, ministers, and commons under subscribed; and, together with a resolution and promise, for the causes after expressed, to maintain the true, religion and king's majesty, according to the confession aforesaid, and the acts of parliament, the so much of which followeth:--_ we all and every one of us under-written, protest, that, after long and due examination of our own consciences in matters of true and false religion, we are now thoroughly resolved in the truth by the spirit and word of god: and therefore we believe with our hearts, confess with our mouths, subscribe with our hands, and constantly affirm, before god and the whole world, that this only is the true christian faith and religion, pleasing god, and bringing salvation to man, which now is, by the mercy of god, revealed to the world by the preaching of the blessed evangel; and is received, believed, and defended by many and sundry notable kirks and realms, but chiefly by the kirk of scotland, the king's majesty, and three estates of this realm, as god's eternal truth, and only ground of our salvation; as more particularly is expressed in the confession of our faith, established and publicly confirmed by sundry acts of parliaments, and now of a long time hath been openly professed by the king's majesty, and whole body of this realm both in burgh and land. to the which confession and form of religion we willingly agree in our conscience in all points, as unto god's undoubted truth and verity, grounded only upon his written word. and therefore we abhor and detest all contrary religion and doctrine; but chiefly all kind of papistry in general and particular heads, even as they are now damned and confuted by the word of god and kirk of scotland. but, in special, we detest and refuse the usurped authority of that roman antichrist upon the scriptures of god, upon the kirk, the civil magistrate, and consciences of men; all his tyrannous laws made upon indifferent things against our christian liberty; his erroneous doctrine against the sufficiency of the written word, the perfection of the law, the office of christ, and his blessed evangel; his corrupted doctrine concerning original sin, our natural inability and rebellion to god's law, our justification by faith only, our imperfect sanctification and obedience to the law; the nature, number, and use of the holy sacraments; his five bastard sacraments, with all his rites, ceremonies, and false doctrine, added to the ministration of the true sacraments without the word of god; his cruel judgment against infants departing without the sacrament; his absolute necessity of baptism; his blasphemous opinion of transubstantiation, or real presence of christ's body in the elements, and receiving of the same by the wicked, or bodies of men; his dispensations with solemn oaths, perjuries, and degrees of marriage forbidden in the word; his cruelty against the innocent divorced; his devilish mass; his blasphemous priesthood; his profane sacrifice for sins of the dead and the quick; his canonization of men; calling upon angels or saints departed, worshipping of imagery, relics, and crosses; dedicating of kirks, altars, days; vows to creatures; his purgatory, prayers for the dead; praying or speaking in a strange language, with his processions, and blasphemous litany, and multitude of advocates or mediators; his manifold orders, auricular confession; his desperate and uncertain repentance; his general and doubtsome faith; his satisfactions of men for their sins; his justification by works, _opus operatum_, works of supererogation, merits, pardons, peregrinations, and stations; his holy water, baptizing of bells, conjuring of spirits, crossing, sayning, anointing, conjuring, hallowing of god's good creatures, with the superstitious opinion joined therewith; his worldly monarchy, and wicked hierarchy; his three solemn vows, with all his shavellings of sundry sorts; his erroneous and bloody decrees made at trent, with all the subscribers or approvers of that cruel and bloody band, conjured against the kirk of god. and finally, we detest all his vain allegories, rites, signs, and traditions brought in the kirk, without or against the word of god, and doctrine of this true reformed kirk; to the which we join ourselves willingly, in doctrine, faith, religion, discipline, and use of the holy sacraments, as lively members of the same in christ our head: promising and swearing, by the great name of the lord our god, that we shall continue in the obedience of the doctrine and discipline of this kirk, and shall defend the same, according to our vocation and power, all the days of our lives; under the pains contained in the law, and danger both of body and soul in the day of god's fearful judgment. and seeing that many are stirred up by satan, and that roman antichrist, to promise, swear, subscribe, and for a time use the holy sacraments in the kirk deceitfully, against their own conscience; minding hereby, first, under the external cloak of religion, to corrupt and subvert secretly god's true religion within the kirk; and afterward, when time may serve, to become open enemies and persecutors of the same, under vain hope of the pope's dispensation, devised against the word of god, to his greater confusion, and their double condemnation in the day of the lord jesus: we therefore, willing to take away all suspicion of hypocrisy, and of such double dealing with god and his kirk, protest, and call the searcher of all hearts for witness, that our minds and hearts do fully agree with this our confession, promise, oath, and subscription: so that we are not moved with any worldly respect, but are persuaded only in our conscience, through the knowledge and love of god's true religion imprinted in our hearts by the holy spirit, as we shall answer to him in the day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed. and because we perceive that the quietness and stability of our religion and kirk doth depend upon the safety and good behaviour of the king's majesty, as upon a comfortable instrument of god's mercy granted to this country, for the maintaining of his kirk and ministration of justice amongst us; we protest and promise with our hearts, under the same oath, hand-writ, and pains, that we shall defend his person and authority with our goods, bodies, and lives, in the defence of christ his evangel, liberties of our country, ministration of justice, and punishment of iniquity, against all enemies within this realm or without, as we desire our god to be a strong and merciful defender to us in the day of our death, and coming of our lord jesus christ; to whom, with the father, and the holy spirit, be all honour and glory eternally. _amen._ likeas many acts of parliament, not only in general do abrogate, annul, and rescind all laws, statutes, acts, constitutions, canons civil or municipal, with all other ordinances, and practique penalties whatsoever, made in prejudice of the true religion, and professors thereof; or of the true kirk, discipline, jurisdiction, and freedom thereof; or in favours of idolatry and superstition, or of the papistical kirk: as act , act , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. , of king james vi. that papistry and superstition may be utterly suppressed, according to the intention of the acts of parliament, repeated in the th act, parl. , king james vi. and to that end they ordain all papists and priests to be punished with manifold civil and ecclesiastical pains, as adversaries to god's true religion preached, and by law established, within this realm, act , parl. , king james vi.; as common enemies to all christian government, act , parl. , king james vi.; as rebellers and gainstanders of our sovereign lord's authority, act , parl. , king james vi.; and as idolaters, act , parl. , king james vi. but also in particular, by and attour the confession of faith, do abolish and condemn the pope's authority and jurisdiction out of this land, and ordains the maintainers thereof to be punished, act , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. , king james vi.: do condemn the pope's erroneous doctrine, or any other erroneous doctrine repugnant to any of the articles of the true and christian religion, publicly preached, and by law established in this realm; and ordains the spreaders and makers of books or libels, or letters or writs of that nature to be punished, act , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. , king james vi.: do condemn all baptism conform to the pope's kirk, and the idolatry of the mass; and ordains all sayers, wilful hearers and concealers of the mass, the maintainers and resetters of the priests, jesuits, trafficking papists, to be punished without any exception or restriction, act , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. , king james vi.: do condemn all erroneous books and writs containing erroneous doctrine against the religion presently professed, or containing superstitious rites and ceremonies papistical, whereby the people are greatly abused, and ordains the home-bringers of them to be punished, act , parl. ii, king james vi.: do condemn the monuments and dregs of bygone idolatry, as going to crosses, observing the festival days of saints, and such other superstitious and papistical rites, to the dishonour of god, contempt of true religion, and fostering of great error among the people; and ordains the users of them to be punished for the second fault, as idolaters, act , parl. , king james vi. likeas many acts of parliament are conceived for maintenance of god's true and christian religion, and the purity thereof, in doctrine and sacraments of the true church of god, the liberty and freedom thereof, in her national, synodal assemblies, presbyteries, sessions, policy, discipline, and jurisdiction thereof; as that purity of religion, and liberty of the church was used, professed, exercised, preached, and confessed, according to the reformation of religion in this realm: as for instance, the th act, parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. , of king james vi., ratified by the th act of king charles. so that the th act, parl. , and th act, parl. , of king james vi., in the year of god , declare the ministers of the blessed evangel, whom god of his mercy had raised up, or hereafter should raise, agreeing with them that then lived, in doctrine and administration of the sacraments; and the people that professed christ, as he was then offered in the evangel, and doth communicate with the holy sacraments (as in the reformed kirks of this realm they were presently administrate) according to the confession of faith, to be the true and holy kirk of christ jesus within this realm. and decerns and declares all and sundry, who either gainsay the word of the evangel received and approved as the heads of the confession of faith, professed in parliament in the year of god , specified also in the first parliament of king james vi., and ratified in this present parliament, more particularly do express; or that refuse the administration of the holy sacraments as they were then ministrated--to be no members of the said kirk within this realm, and true religion presently professed, so long as they keep themselves so divided from the society of christ's body. and the subsequent act , parl. , of king james vi., declares, that there is no other face of kirk, nor other face of religion, than was presently at that time by the favour of god established within this realm: "which therefore is ever styled god's true religion, christ's true religion, the true and christian religion, and a perfect religion;" which, by manifold acts of parliament, all within this realm are bound to profess, to subscribe the articles thereof, the confession of faith, to recant all doctrine and errors repugnant to any of the said articles, acts and , parl. ; acts , , , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. ; acts and , parl. , of king james vi. and all magistrates, sheriffs, &c., on the one part, are ordained to search, apprehend, and punish all contraveners: for instance act , parl. ; act , parl. ; act , parl. , king james vi.; and that notwithstanding of the king's majesty's licences on the contrary, which are discharged, and declared to be of no force, in so far as they tend in any wise to the prejudice and hinder of the execution of the acts of parliament against papists and adversaries of true religion, act , parl. , king james vi. on the other part, in the th act, parl. , king james vi., it is declared and ordained, seeing the cause of god's true religion and his highness's authority are so joined, as the hurt of the one is common to both, that none shall be reputed as loyal and faithful subjects to our sovereign lord, or his authority, but be punishable as rebellers and gainstanders of the same, who shall not give their confession and make their profession of the said true religion: and that they who, after defection, shall give the confession of their faith of new, they shall promise to continue therein in time coming, to maintain our sovereign lord's authority, and at the uttermost of their power to fortify, assist, and maintain the true preachers and professors of christ's religion, against whatsoever enemies and gainstanders of the same; and namely, against all such, of whatsoever nation, estate, or degree they be of, that have joined or bound themselves, or have assisted, or assist, to set forward and execute the cruel decrees of the council of trent, contrary to the true preachers and professors of the word of god; which is repeated, word by word, in the articles of pacification at perth, the rd of february, ; approved by parliament the last of april, ; ratified in parliament , and related act , parl. , of king james vi.; with this addition, "that they are bound to resist all treasonable uproars and hostilities raised against the true religion, the king's majesty, and the true professors." likeas, all lieges are bound to maintain the king's majesty's royal person and authority, the authority of parliaments, without the which neither any laws or lawful judicatories can be established, acts and , parl. , king james vi., and the subjects' liberties, who ought only to live and be governed by the king's laws, the common laws of this realm allenarly, act , parl. , king james i.; act , parl. , king james iv.; repeated in the act , parl. , king james vi.; which if they be innovated and prejudged, "the commission anent the union of the two kingdoms of scotland and england, which is the sole act of the th parl. of king james vi., declares," such confusion would ensue as this realm could be no more a free monarchy; because, by the fundamental laws, ancient privileges, offices, and liberties of this kingdom, not only the princely authority of his majesty's royal descent hath been these many ages maintained, but also the people's security of their lands, livings, rights, offices, liberties, and dignities preserved. and therefore, for the preservation of the said true religion, laws, and liberties of this kingdom, it is statute by the th act, parl. , repeated in the th act, parl. , ratified in the rd act, parl. , and th act, parl. , of king james vi., and th act, parl. , of king charles i.--"that all kings and princes at their coronation, and reception of their princely authority, shall make their faithful promise by their solemn oath, in the presence of the eternal god, that enduring the whole time of their lives, they shall serve the same eternal god to the uttermost of their power, according as he hath required in his most holy word, contained in the old and new testament; and according to the same word, shall maintain the true religion of christ jesus, the preaching of his holy word, the due and right ministration of the sacraments now received and preached within this realm, (according to the confession of faith immediately preceding,) and shall abolish and gainstand all false religion contrary to the same; and shall rule the people committed to their charge, according to the will and command of god revealed in his foresaid word, and according to the laudable laws and constitutions received in this realm, nowise repugnant to the said will of the eternal god; and shall procure, to the uttermost of their power, to the kirk of god, and whole christian people, true and perfect peace in all time coming: and that they shall be careful to root out of their empire all heretics and enemies to the true worship of god, who shall be convicted by the true kirk of god of the foresaid crimes." which was also observed by his majesty, at his coronation in edinburgh, , as may be seen in the order of the coronation. in obedience to the commandment of god, conform to the practice of the godly in former times, and according to the laudable example of our worthy and religious progenitors and of many yet living amongst us, which was warranted also by act of council, commanding a general band to be made and subscribed by his majesty's subjects of all ranks; for two causes: one was, for defending the true religion, as it was then reformed, and is expressed in the confession of faith above written, and a former large confession established by sundry acts of lawful general assemblies and of parliaments, unto which it hath relation, set down in public catechisms; and which hath been for many years, with a blessing from heaven, preached and professed in this kirk and kingdom, as god's undoubted truth, grounded only upon his written word. the other cause was, for maintaining the king's majesty, his person and estate; the true worship of god and the king's authority being so straitly joined, as that they had the same friends, and common enemies, and did stand and fall together. and finally, being convinced in our minds, and confessing with our mouths, that the present and succeeding generations in this land are bound to keep the foresaid national oath and subscription inviolable, we noblemen, barons, gentlemen, burgesses, ministers, and commons under-subscribing, considering divers times before, and especially at this time, the danger of the true reformed religion, of the king's honour, and of the public peace of the kingdom, by the manifold innovations and evils, generally contained, and particularly mentioned in our late supplications, complaints, and protestations; do hereby profess, and before god, his angels, and the world, solemnly declare, that with our whole hearts we agree, and resolve all the days of our life constantly to adhere unto and to defend the foresaid true religion, and (forbearing the practice of all novations already introduced in the matters of the worship of god, or approbation of the corruptions of the public government of the kirk, or civil places and power of kirkmen, till they be tried and allowed in free assemblies and in parliament) to labour, by all means, to recover the purity and liberty of the gospel, as it was established and professed before the foresaid novations. and because, after due examination, we plainly perceive, and undoubtedly believe, that the innovations and evils contained in our supplications, complaints, and protestations, have no warrant of the word of god, are contrary to the articles of the foresaid confession, to the intention and meaning of the blessed reformers of religion in this land, to the above-written acts of parliament; and do sensibly tend to the re-establishing of the popish religion and tyranny, and to the subversion and ruin of the true reformed religion, and of our liberties, laws, and estates; we also declare, that the foresaid confessions are to be interpreted, and ought to be understood of the foresaid novations and evils, no less than if every one of them had been expressed in the foresaid confessions; and that we are obliged to detest and abhor them, amongst other particular heads of papistry abjured therein. and therefore, from the knowledge and conscience of our duty to god, to our king and country, without any worldly respect or inducement, so far as human infirmity will suffer, wishing a further measure of the grace of god for this effect; we promise and swear, by the great name of the lord our god, to continue in the profession and obedience of the aforesaid religion; and that we shall defend the same, and resist all these contrary errors and corruptions, according to our vocation, and to the uttermost of that power that god hath put in our hands, all the days of our life. and in like manner, with the same heart, we declare before god and men, that we have no intention nor desire to attempt any thing that may turn to the dishonour of god, or to the diminution of the king's greatness and authority; but, on the contrary, we promise and swear, that we shall, to the uttermost of our power, with our means and lives, stand to the defence of our dread sovereign the king's majesty, his person and authority, in the defence and preservation of the foresaid true religion, liberties, and laws of the kingdom; as also to the mutual defence and assistance every one of us of another, in the same cause of maintaining the true religion, and his majesty's authority, with our best counsel, our bodies, means, and whole power, against all sorts of persons whatsoever; so that whatsoever shall be done to the least of us for that cause, shall be taken as done to us all in general, and to every one of us in particular. and that we shall neither directly nor indirectly suffer ourselves to be divided or withdrawn, by whatsoever suggestion, combination, allurement, or terror, from this blessed and loyal conjunction; nor shall cast in any let or impediment that may stay or hinder any such resolution as by common consent shall be found to conduce for so good ends; but, on the contrary, shall by all lawful means labour to further and promote the same: and if any such dangerous and divisive motion be made to us by word or writ, we, and every one of us, shall either suppress it, or, if need be, shall incontinent make the same known, that it may be timeously obviated. neither do we fear the foul aspersions of rebellion, combination, or what else our adversaries, from their craft and malice, would put upon us; seeing what we do is well warranted, and ariseth from an unfeigned desire to maintain the true worship of god, the majesty of our king, and the peace of the kingdom, for the common happiness of ourselves and our posterity. and because we cannot look for a blessing from god upon our proceedings, except with our profession and subscription we join such a life and conversation as beseemeth christians who have renewed their covenant with god; we therefore faithfully promise for ourselves, our followers, and all others under us, both in public, and in our particular families, and personal carriage, to endeavour to keep ourselves within the bounds of christian liberty, and to be good examples to others of all godliness, soberness, and righteousness, and of every duty we owe to god and man. and, that this our union and conjunction may be observed without violation, we call the living god, the searcher of our hearts, to witness, who knoweth this to be our sincere desire and unfeigned resolution, as we shall answer to jesus christ in the great day, and under the pain of god's everlasting wrath, and of infamy and loss of all honour and respect in this world: most humbly beseeching the lord to strengthen us by his holy spirit for this end, and to bless our desires and proceedings with a happy success; that religion and righteousness may flourish in the land, to the glory of god, the honour of our king, and peace and comfort of us all. in witness whereof, we have subscribed with our hands all the premises. the article of this covenant within written and within subscribed, which was at the first subscription referred to the determination of the general assembly, being now determined, on the fifth of december, , and hereby the five articles of perth, the government of the kirk by bishops, being declared to be abjured and removed, and the civil places and power of kirkmen declared unlawful, we subscribe according to the determination of the said lawful and free general assembly, holden at glasgow. the national covenant: exhortation to the lords of council.[ ] _may it please your lordship_, we, the ministers of the gospel, conveened at this so necessary a time do find ourselves bound to represent, as unto all, so in special unto your lordship what comfortable experience we have of the wonderful favour of god, upon the renewing of the confession of faith and covenant; what peace and comfort hath filled the hearts of all god's people; what resolutions and beginnings of reformation of manners are sensibly perceived in all parts of the kingdom, above any measure that ever we did find, or could have expected; how great glory the lord hath received hereby, and what confidence we have (if this sunshine be not eclipsed by some sinful division or defection) that god shall make this a blessed kingdom, to the contentment of the king's majesty, and joy of all his good subjects, according as god hath promised in his good word, and performed to his people in former times: and therefore we are forced, from our hearts, both to wish and entreat your lordship to be partaker and promover of this joy and happiness by your subscription, when your lordship shall think it convenient; and in the mean time, that your lordship would not be sparing to give a free testimony to the truth, as a timely and necessary expression of your tender affection to the cause of christ, now calling for help at your hands. your lordship's profession of the true religion, as it was reformed in this land; the national oath of this kingdom, sundry times sworn and subscribed, obliging us who live at this time; the duty of a good patriot, the office and trust of a privy councillor, the present employment, to have place amongst those that are first acquainted with his majesty's pleasure; the consideration that this is the time of trial of your lordship's affection to religion, the respect which your lordship hath unto your fame, both now and hereafter, when things shall be recorded to posterity; and the remembrance, that not only the eyes of men and angels are upon your lordship's carriage, but also that the lord jesus is a secret witness now to observe, and shall be an open judge hereafter, to reward and confess every man before his father, that confesseth him before men: all of these, and each of them, beside your lordship's personal and particular obligations to god, do call for no less at your lordship's hands, in the case of so great and singular necessity: and we also do expect so much at this time, according as your lordship at the hour of death would be free of the terror of god, and be refreshed with the comfortable remembrance of a word spoken in season for christ jesus, king of kings, and lord of lords. the national covenant. sermon at st. andrews. _by alexander henderson._[ ] "thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning; thou hast the dew of thy youth."--_psalm_ cx. . it is, beloved in the lord, very expedient, and sometimes most necessar, that we turn away our eyes from kings and their greatness, from kirkmen and men of state, and that we turn them towards another object, and look only to jesus christ, who is the great king, priest, and prophet of his kirk. the godly in former times, who were kings, priests, and prophets themselves, used to do this, and that before christ; and mickle more is it required of us now in thir days, seeing we live in troublesome times; for there is a comfort that comes to the children of god that way. the first part of this psalm expresses to us the threefold office of christ, and the second part of it expresses the valiant acts our lord jesus does by these his three offices, but especially by his princely office; whilk indeed is his worst studied office by many men in the world. we would, many of us, willingly take him for our prophet to teach us, and for our priest to intercede for us, and be a sacrifice for our sins, but when it comes to his princely office, to direct us what we should do, then we would be at that whilk seems best in our own eyes. his princely office is described unto us here three ways. . in relation to god himself; "the lord said unto my lord, sit thou at my right hand." . in respect of his enemies; "the lord sall send the rod of thy strength out of zion: rule thou in the midst of thy enemies." were his enemies never so many, and never so despiteful against him, yet he sall rule in the midst of them. and indeed this is a very admirable part of his kingly office, that even in the midst of his enemies he sall have a kingdom for himself, in despite of them, and all that they can do or say against it. . the third, wherein the glory of his kingly office consists, is in thir words that i have read to you: and that is in relation to, and in respect of the subjects of the kingdom of christ. and they are described here to be a people belonging to jesus christ; to be a people on whom god manifests his power; and they are a most willing people, a people who count holiness to be their chiefest beauty. and they are so marvellously multiplied, that it is a wonder to consider of it: there is no more drops of dew will fall, nor they will not fall any faster in a morning than the lord will multiply them, when he is pleased to do so. and although the lord sometimes multiply them in a secret manner, yet still the multitude stands to be true. that the purposes may be the better tane up by you who will take heed to them, consider of these parts in the words. . the persons of whom the psalmist speaks here. "thy people." . the properties of these people in this day: they sall be a willing people; a holy people; a people who sall be miraculously multiplied. and so their properties is willingness, holiness, and multiplication. many proofs has been of the truth of this prophecy since the beginning--that the lord's people sall be willing in the day of his power, in the beauties of holiness; from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. there were many evident proofs of the truth of this since the beginning of the plantation of the gospel into the world. and surely we know not a more evident and notable proof of it than this same that is presently into this land, nor think i that there be any who can show the parallel of it. the lord has made them willingly to offer up themselves, and all that they have, for him. and they are a people of holiness; albeit it is true, indeed, many has been brought to it from this quarter and that quarter of the land, since the beginning, to be more holy than they used to be. and if the multiplication of them be not wonderful, i cannot tell what ye will tell me of that is more wonderful; so that indeed it is a miracle to all who hear of it. in the time while christ was upon the earth there were two sorts of miracles to be seen;--first, christ made the dumb to speak, the blind to see, the lame to walk, &c.: this indeed was a great miracle. the second sort of miracles was of him who did see these things wrought by christ, and yet for all that, did not believe in him who did work them. even so there are two sorts of wonders in this same time wherein we live;--first, how the lord has multiplied his people, and made them to be so many, whereas, at the first, we thought them to be but very few; secondly, we cannot but wonder at these who observes not god's hand into it: and indeed we cannot but wonder that any can be so blind that they observe not the very hand and finger of god in the work. ay, we who have been witnesses to it, for the most part, we cannot but wonder at the work of god in it. it has not been man's wit has done the work, and multiply so, but only god has done it; and we cannot tell how; but only we see that there are numbers continually multiplied. i. "thy people." here is a note of property, and a note of distinction. first, it is a note of property. they are god's people--god has absolute right over a people, and there is none who has any right over them but he alone. it's true all people are under him, but he calls not all his people after this manner. all things are for god, and subordinate to him; the absolute power to rule and to command these people is in god's hand, and he will not give that power to any other over them: and he has good reason so to do. . because he was thinking upon his people from all eternity; and there was none who did that but only he. . he made us and fashioned us in time; and neither any authority or magistrate did that. . who is it that provides means for their sustenance daily, and makes these means effectual, but only the lord? a man cannot make one pyle (blade) of grass, or one ear of corn, to grow for thy entertainment, but only the lord: and when thou hast gotten these things, it is the blessing of god that makes them effectual. for when ye say the grace to your meat, say ye it to man? no, ye say it only to god. so that every way ye are god's people. and then, whilk is more, and therefore we are bound to be his people, no man can redeem the life of his brother, nor give a price sufficient for his life, let be (let alone) for his soul, and yet the lord, he has redeemed us from hell, and from the grave; and therefore we belong to him. then is it not the lord who enters in covenant with thee, and says, i will remember thy sins no more? then albeit all the world should remember thy ill deeds, yet if the lord remember them not, then thou art blessed. it is he who says, i will write my laws in your hearts, to lead you here: it is he who puts us in the estate of grace while we are here, and so puts us in hope of glory after this life. it is he who sall be our judge at that great day. and so ye are the lord's people, by way of property. and this was it that made the apostles so bold, when it was alleged that they had done that whilk was not right: they made the enemies themselves judges, and says, "whether it be right in your sight to obey god rather than man, judge ye." as if they had said, it's true indeed we are mickle obliged to man, but we are more obliged to god than to all men; for what is it that man can do to us, either good or ill, but god can do that als (also) and more? and upon this ground, in the next chapter, they draw this conclusion,--it behoveth us rather to obey god than man. and so, first, they reason with the adversars themselves upon it; and seeing that they could not deny it, upon that they draw up their conclusion. i mark this for this end, that whenever ye are enjoined to do anything by any man, that then ye would not forget this dignity and power that god has over you, and that ye are the people of jesus christ; and therefore no man ought to enjoin anything to be done by you, but that for the whilk he has a warrant from god. there is a great controversy now about disobedience to superiors, and the contempt of those who are in authority; but there is not a word of that, whether god be obeyed or not, or if he be disobeyed by any. fy, that people should sell themselves over to the slavery of man, when the lord has only sovereign power over them! i would not have you to think that a whole country of people are appointed only to uphold the grandeur of five or six men. no, they are ordained to be magistrates for your good. and sall we think that a ministry shines into a land for the upholding of the grandeur of some few persons. no, all these things are ordained for the good of god's people; and, seeing that it is so, sall ye then make yourselves like to asses and slaves, to be subject to all that men pleases to impose upon you? no, no; try anything that they impose upon you, before ye obey it, if it is warranted by god or not; because god is the only superior over you. . secondly. "thy people." this also is a note of distinction; for every people are god's people, but there is a distinction among them. all people, it's true, are god's people by right of creation: why therefore says he, _thy_ people, and not _all_ people? because all people belong not to christ. god has authority over all indeed, but in a special manner he enters into covenant with some. all people who are subject to him in his providence are not his peculiar people, his royal nation, his holy priesthood, his chosen generation, but only those of them who belong to christ; those are properly termed to be his people. and we should remember of this, that those who are the people of god, they have notable privileges; they have all things that any people should have, and, whatever we should be, they have that. where any are the people of god, there there is blessedness indeed, for they have his truth for their security, they have his love for their comfort, his power for their defence. the lord god, he takes his people into his bosom, and with every soul he does so, and says, "i the lord thy god enters in covenant with thee, and renews the covenant that before i made with thee." and then he lays a necessity upon thee, by his providence, that thou must enter into covenant with him; and then he says to thee, "i will not remember thy sins any more; i know they are heinous, great, and many, but because thou desires that they should not be remembered, therefore i will not remember them. and because when ye have renewed your covenant with me, ye will be aye in a fear to break it again, therefore i will write my law in your hearts. and so whatever i promise to you, i will perform it freely when ye are in covenant with me; and whatever ye promise to me, being in covenant with me, i sall perform it for you also, at least i sall give you strength to perform it." and therefore to the end that ye may be perfectly blessed, enter into a covenant with god; and without ye be in covenant with him, ye sall be in nothing but perpetual misery. i would have all of you to think this to be your only health, wealth, and peace, and your only glory in the world, to be in covenant with god; and so that ye are the people of god, i would not have you to count men to be rich and glorious men by their estates in the world--that he can spend so many chalders of victual yearly, or so many thousand merks. o, a silly, beggarly glory is this! naked thou came into the world, and naked thou must go out of it again. but see how mickle thou has of the knowledge of jesus christ, how far thou art forward in the work of repentance, faith, &c., and such good actions. learn to set your affections on things that are above, and testify it by your actions. ii. "in the day of thy power." this is the time when the people of god sall be willing, even in the day of his power; that is, in the day of the power of jesus christ. the day of his own resurrection from the dead was one day of his power: he says, "i have power to lay down my life, and i have power to take it again;" "destroy this temple, and i will build it up again in three days;" he meant of the temple of his body: and indeed there was none who could raise his dead body out of the grave, but only himself. a second day of his power sall be the day of the resurrection of our bodies out of the dust. but there is another day that is meant of here than any of these, and that is the day of our first resurrection out of the grave of sin, by the preaching of the gospel. and there is good reason for it, why this should be called a day of his power. first, because it is the power of jesus christ that brings the purity of the gospel into a land; and we may indeed say that it was only his power that brought the gospel into this land. it had not authority then to countenance it, for all those that were in authority were against it; and counsel and policy, and all the clergy, and the multitude, all of them, were against it; and yet, for all that, the lord brought in the purity of the gospel into this land, and established it here against all these. secondly, when the purity of the gospel is into a land, it is only the power of god that makes it effectual for turning of souls unto himself, and raising them out of the grave of sin, wherein they are so fast buried. so when the lord first sends the gospel, we are lying into the grave of sin; and the devil, and the world, and all these enemies they are watching the grave, to see that we rise not out of it; and when we are beginning to rise they are busy to hold us down. and think not that we can rise, and lift up ourselves from so base to so high ane estate, without the power of god. no, no. third. when the gospel is into a land, it is only the power of jesus christ that makes it to continue, for if the lord make not the gospel to continue into a land, it will not stay there. and there is no less power required either to bring the gospel into a land, or to make it effectual, or to make it to continue, than was required to raise the dead body of christ out of the grave, or will be required to raise ours. i would have you consider here, that all times are not alike, but there is a time of the lord's power; that all days are not alike, but there is a day of the lord's power; a time when the saints of god sall be weak, a time when they sall be strong; a time when some sall rise up to persecute the saints, a time when others sall rise up to help them; a time when the lord withholds his power, and a time when he kythes (shews it); a time when the people draws back from the lord, and a time when they turn to him again. there has been a day of defection in this land this time past, and now there is a time of the lord's power in bringing back this defection again: and indeed this very instant time that now is is ane hour of that day of the lord's power, and i will shew you two or three reasons for it. . the lord did arise and manifested his power when the enemies were become insolent, and when they had determined that they would set up such a mode of worship as they thought meet, and noways according to the pattern shown upon the mount. and indeed the lord, he uses ordinarily to do this, that even when the enemies of his people are become insolent, and they have determined that they will do such a thing instantly, then he takes them in their own snare. . to show that it is the lord's power only that works a work, he uses to begin at very small beginnings; and so the lord did in this same work;--he began at first with some few, and these not honourable, and yet now he has made it to cover the whole land through all the quarters thereof. . this is also a note of the power of god, that he has touched the hearts of people, that there was never such a howling and a weeping heard amongst them this long time as there is now; and yet it is not a weeping for sorrow, but a weeping for joy. how oft has there been preachings in the most part of the congregations of this land this long time past, and yet people have never found the power of it in working upon their hearts; and yet within this short space, when the lord has renewed his covenant with them, and they with him, he has displayed his banner, and made his power known in working upon the hearts of people. . in this the power of god is manifestly to be seen in this work, that the lord has made all the devices and plots of the adversars, that they have devised to further their own ends, to work contrair to these ends, and to work for the good of his own work. and, indeed, we may say that it has not been so mickle the courage and wisdom of these, that has been for this cause, that has brought it so far on, but the very plots and devices of the adversars that they have devised for their own good. this also is ane evident token of the lord's power. and now since the lord did arise when the enemies were become insolent, since he began at so small beginnings and has brought it so far, since the lord has wrought so on the hearts of people now, and since he has made all the plots of the enemies to work against themselves, and for his people, let us give this glory to god, and reverence him, and say that it is only by his power that the work is done, and that he has been pleased to manifest himself into the work. beloved, we may comfort ourselves in this, if all this has been done by the power of god, then we need not to fear the power of men; men can do nothing against god. the lord may indeed put his kirk to a trial, but he will not suffer her to be overthrown by any. and indeed, any who hears and knows what the enemies are doing here may see that they are not fighting against men, but against god, and that they are kicking against the pricks. iii. now, for the properties of thir people. the first of them is _willing_. the lord's people are a people of willingness in the day of his power: and indeed thir three go very well together, the people of god, the power of god, and a willing people. when the power of god works upon his people then he makes them to be a willing people. and indeed, it is no small matter to see a people willing in a good cause, for by nature we are unwilling, and naturally we are not set to affect anything that is right, except it be through hypocrisy. our hearts they are contrary to god; they are proud, disobedient, rebellious, and he who sees and knows his own heart sees all this to be in it; and he knows that it is the lord who cries upon him, in the day of his own power, and frames his heart in a new mould, and makes it to be so nimble and cheerful in any good work,--that albeit they had been before running with all their speed to the devil, yet he makes them to stand still in the way and look about them, and consider what they have been doing, and then to turn about again. albeit thou were like to paul, persecuting the church, yet he can then make a preacher of thee, and so affright thee that thou sall not know where thou art, but say, "here am i, lord:" and albeit thou were as unwilling to go as the prophet moses, yet he will make thee to say, "here am i, lord, send me," and be as elisha, when elias cuist (cast) his mantle about him, then he could not stay any longer. and when christ comes to peter, and calls upon them, they cannot stay any longer, but incontinent they leave all and follows him. i will not now begin to make any large discourse of the invincible power of god; i say no more of it now but only this for your use. if ye kent this power of god, it would make you ready and willing to give a confession to him this day, and even to confess him before men, and to forsake all and follow him. ye who are ignorant of the power of god, take heed to this,--it is the lord who commanded light to come out of darkness, who must make you to see christ; he who takes his rod in his hand to beat down the hard and humble the haughty heart, he must do this also. o if ye felt this power of god, ye would think nothing to forsake all and to follow him. he has suffered more for us nor we can suffer for him; and if we suffered anything for him, he would not suffer any of us yet to be a loser at his hand: but we cannot put him to a trial. now for this unwillingness of these people, it is well expressed here. they are called a people of willingness. and yet he thinks not this satisfactory, to call them a willing people, but he calls them a people of willingness, a noble, generous, high-minded people. and all this is to shew that when the people of god is wakened up in the day of his power, there is none who is able to express their willingness. they are so willing that if they had a thousand minds they would employ them all for him, and if they had a thousand faces, they would not let one of them look down, but they would hold them all up for the lord; if every hair in their head were a man, they would employ them all in his service. their willingness, indeed, it cannot be expressed. they cry to the lord, because they think they cannot run fast enough, "draw me and i sail run after thee:" they are flying together, as the dowes does to the holes of the rocks before a tempest come. in the canticles, christ says, "my soul made me as the chariots of my noble people;" and, indeed, to see a people running through the land, to meet together to keep communion with the lord, this is the best chariot that can be. and this willingness has been so great at some times in the children of god that they have fallen in a paroxysm, or like the fit of a fever, with it: as it is acts xvii. paul's spirit was stirred in him, when he saw the city of athens given to so much base idolatry as to worship the unknown god. and lot, also, he had such a fit as this; he vexed his righteous soul with the iniquities of sodom, that is, he tortured his soul with their sins, he never saw them committing sin but it was a grief to him. and, indeed, the children of god this while past have been grieved and vexed to behold the sins that has been committed into this same land. i insist upon this the rather because i would wish from my heart that ye would be thus willing, and that ye would be as forward for the glory and honour of god as ever any was. and then, indeed, it should do good to others also, when they should hear tell that the people of st. andrews were such a willing people. and, indeed, ye have just reason to be willing now. . because it is god's cause ye have in hand, and it is no new cause to us. it is almost sixty years old; it is no less since this same confession of faith was first subscribed and sworn to. and it has been still in use yearly to be subscribed and sworn to in some parts, among some in this land, to this day. and i think it would have been so in all the parts of the land if men had dreamed of what was coming upon us. whatever is added to it at this time, it is nothing but ane interpretation of the former part; and if men will be willing to see the right, they may see that there is nothing in the latter part but that whilk may be deduced from the first. and in the making of a covenant we are not bound to keep only these same words that were before, but we must renew it; and in the renewing thereof we must apply it to the present time when it is renewed, as we have done, renewed it against the present ills. for it is not necessar for us to abjure turkism or paganism, because we are not in fear to be troubled with that; but the thing that we are in danger of is papistry, and therefore we must abjure that. . a second reason to make you willing is, because this matter concerns you in all things,--in your bodies, in your estates, in your lives, your liberties, in your souls. i may say, if in the lord's providence this course had not been taken, ye would have found the thraldom whereinto that course, wherein ye were anes (once) going, would have brought you to or (ere) now, even ye who are most averse from it. . a third reason to make you willing is, ye have the precedency and testimony of the nobility in the land to it, and of all sorts of persons, noblemen, barons, gentlemen, burgesses, ministers, and commons; and wherefore, then, should not ye be willing to follow their example? and then, i may say, ye have the prayers of all the reformed kirks in europe for you, who have ever heard of the perturbations that has been, and yet are, into this land. and, moreover, beloved, whom have ye against you in this course? all the atheists, all the papists, and all the profane rogues in the country; they draw to that side, and it is only they who hate this cause. and should not all these make you willing to swear to it, and to hazard for it? and i may say, if ye be but willing to hazard all that ye have, that may be the heaviest distress that ever ye shall be put to. and if so be that ye had been willing at first, the lord would have touched the king's heart, and made him willing also; but because he is informed by some that the most part are not willing, that is a great part of the cause why he is not willing. the second property of god's people is holiness. "in the beauties of holiness;" a speech that is borrowed from the priest's garments under the law. sometimes they were broidered with gold, sometimes they were all white, especially in the day of expiation. not that ministers under the new testament should have such garments as these, for these were representations to them, both of their inward holiness and of their outward holiness, by (beyond) others; but now all believers are priests as well as ministers are, and therefore such garments as these are not necessar. indeed, if such garments as these had been necessar, then christ and his apostles had done great wrong to themselves, who never used the like; and they had done great wrong to the kirk also in not appointing such garments to be worn by ministers. there be garments of glory in heaven, and garments of grace in the earth; that party-coloured garment spoken of in the colossians, and this holiness whilk is spoken of here. concerning whilk we will mark two things:--first, as people are a people of willingness in a good cause, so they must also be a people of holiness, or otherwise their willingness is only but for some worldly respects: therefore, i would have you with willingness to put on holiness. and, indeed, if we saw what holiness were, we needed not to be persuaded to put it on, we would do it willingly. for it has three parts in it-- . a purgation from former filthiness. . a separation from the world. if thou will be holy, then thou must be separate from the world; thou must strive to keep thyself from those whose garments are spotted with the flesh. . holiness requires devotion or dedication to the lord. when there is purgation from filthiness, separation from the world, and dedication to the lord, there there is holiness and nowhere else. now, is there any of you but ye are obleist (obliged) to be holy? ye say that ye are the people of the lord. if so be, then ye must have your inward man purged of sin, and ye must stand at the stave's end against the corruptions of the time, and ye must devote yourselves only to serve and honour god. and your covenant, that ye are to swear to this day, oblishes you to this; and it requires nothing of you but that whilk ye are bound to perform. and, therefore, seeing this is required of you, purge yourselves within, flee the corruptions of the time, eschew the society of those whom ye see to be corrupt, and devote yourselves only to the lord. yet this is not that we would obleish you to perform everything punctually that the lord requires of you; there is none who can do that, but promise to the lord to do so, tell him that ye have a desire to do so, and join a resolution and a purpose, and say to him, lord, i sall prease (earnestly endeavour) to do als far as i can. and, indeed, there is no more in our covenant but this, that we sall endeavour to keep ourselves within the bounds of our christian liberty; and, albeit, none of you would swear to this, ye are bound to it by your baptism. and, therefore, think not that we are precisians, (or these who has set down this covenant), seeing all of you are bound to do it. secondly, "the _beauties_ of holiness." consider here that as holiness is necessar for the saints of god, so all god's courtiers they are full of beauty. god himself is full of beauty, and we have no power, beauty nor holiness but in his power, beauty, and holiness. holiness, it is the beauty of the son of god, jesus christ; and to him it is said in esay, "holy, holy, holy, lord god almighty": and the holy ghost has this style to be called holy. and the angels in heaven, they are clothed with holiness; and the saints who are in heaven, this is the long white robes wherewith they are clothed. and they who are begun to be sanctified here, they strive to be more and more clad with holiness. beloved, i would have you to count this to be your beauty, even holiness; for if ye have not this beauty, then all your other beauty will degenerate in a bastard beauty. now follows the marvellous _multiplication_ of thir people. "from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth." the words are somewhat obscure even to the learned ear, but look to the d psalm, and there ye will see a place to help to clear them. always (however) observe here, "from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth," that as in a may morning, when there is no extremity of heat, the dew falls so thick that all the fields are covered with it, and it falls in such a secret manner that none sees it fall, so the lord, in the day of his power, he sall multiply his people, and he sall multiply them in a secret manner; so that it is marvellous to the world, that once there should seem to be so few or none of them, and then incontinent he should make them to be through all estates. we have first to learn here, that the kirk of god, she has a morning; and in the morning the dew falls, and not in the night, nor in the heat of the day. so it is not in the night of defection, nor in the heat of the day of persecution, when the lord's people are multiplied, but it is in the morning of the day. beloved, i wish you may be a discerning people, to know the lord's seasons. sall we be as those, of whom our saviour complains, who can discern the face of the sky, but cannot discern the day of the lord's merciful and gracious visitation towards them? men indeed may be very learned and know things very well, and yet in the meantime be but ignorant of this; for there are sundry gifts bestowed upon men, and ilk are has not this gift, to discern the lord's merciful visitation. and therefore happy are ye, albeit ye be not great in other gifts, if so be that ye know this; for the lord, he has some gifts of his own bestowing allanerly (only), whilk he will bestow upon the meanest, and yet he will deny them to the proudest; even as the tops of the mountains, they will be dry and have no dew, while as the valleys will be wet with it. so those who exalts themselves high, and boasts themselves of their other gifts, of their knowledge, learning, experience, &c., the lord will, for all that, ofttimes leave them void of saving and sanctifying grace. "from the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth." that is, as the dew is multiplied upon the earth, so sall thy people be. this is are ordinar phrase in scripture. hushai says to absalom, "convene the people from dan to beersheba, and then we sall light upon david as the dew lighteth upon the ground; and then there sall not be left of him and of all the men that are with him so much as one." and this phrase is well set down, is. liv., "rejoice, o barren, and thou that didst not bear, break forth into singing and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child; for more are the children of the desolate than the married wife." and therefore he uses this form of speech, v. , "enlarge thy tents, and let them stretch the curtains of thy habitations; lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes." and all these things are requisite to be done when the people of god are multiplied thus. let us observe here, if the word of god continue in this land, in the purity thereof, and the sacraments be rightly administrate, the people of god will then multiply exceedingly here. the chiefest city in this land, they are forced to marvel where the people has been in former times that are in it now, so that they cannot get kirks to contain them. and they think, if the gospel continue in the purity thereof, all the kirks that they are building, with the rest, sall have enough ado to contain them. and it is a marvel to consider how the lord has multiplied his people, at this time. this is not that we are to glory in multitudes, but to let you see the great work of god, who has multiplied his people thus. and as it was at the beginning of the plantation of the christian religion, there was three thousand converted at one preaching of the apostle, i will not say that there has been three thousand converted at a preaching here, but i may say this, that at one preaching there has been some thousands wakened up, who had not been so for a long time before. and will it not be a hard matter, seeing that it is so, that saint andrews sall be as gideon's fleece; that all the kingdom about it sall be wet with the dew of heaven, and it sall only be dry? even so, will it not be a shame, that all others sall be stirred up, and ye not a whit stirred up in this day more than if there were not such a thing? and, therefore, beloved, i would have you to join yourselves with the rest of the people of god in this cause. "thy youth." that is, _thy young men_. those that are renewed by grace they are called young, albeit they were never so old, because their age is not reckoned by their first, but by their second birth. ay, moreover, still the older that the children of god grow in years, and the weaker in the world, they grow younger and stronger in grace. secondly, they are called young, because of the strength that they have to resist temptations. before they be renewed by grace and born again that way, they are like bairns, that every temptation prevails with them; but then they are as young men, who are able to resist temptations to sin, so that sin gets not liberty to exercise dominion over them. thirdly, they are called young, because they will contend with all their power and might for the faith. i would have all of you to be young in these respects, and labour to get ane evidence of your new birth by these, that ye are growing in grace, gaining still more strength to resist temptations, and by contending earnestly for the faith; even be bold in this, especially in contending for the truth. strive for the truth, for, if ye anes lose it, ye will not get it so easily again. and this same is the covenant of truth whilk ye are to swear to; for as our covenant is renewed, so also it is exponed (explained) according as the exigencies of the time requires, and it is applied to the present purpose. beloved, i told you already that ye have no cause of fear, for i avow and attest here before god, that what ye do is not against authority, but for authority, let some men who are wickedly disposed say what they will; but what ye do is for authority. and i told you of the obligations whereby authority are bound to this. and for the words of it, because they are conceived in a terrible manner, ye need not to stand in awe for this; and it were good that ye should read them over again, and think upon this wrath of god whilk we pray for to come upon us, if we do intend anything against authority. _objection._ we have oblished ourselves by our subscription already; what then needs us to obleish ourselves over again by our oath? _ans._ it's true, i grant, many of you has subscribed it already, and so ye are bound; but now ye are to swear also, that so through abundance of bands to god ye may know yourselves to be the more bound to him. david says, i have purposed, i have promised, i have sworn, and i sall perform thy righteous statutes. there be also here sundry acts of parliament, that are all of them made within this same kingdom for the maintainance of the true religion; and for thir, they speak for themselves. and i would have these who say we do anything against law and against our superiors, to see and try if there be anything against them, and not all directly for them. beloved, i hope that it will not be necessar for us to spend mickle time with you in removing of scruples. good things i know has over many objections against them from the devil, the world, and our own ill hearts. and i know some of them who are accounted the learnedst in the land, have assayed their wits and used their pens to object against this. but truly these who are judicious, they have confessed that they have been greatly confirmed by that whilk they have objected; and the reason of it was, because they who were the most learned assayed themselves to see what they could say, and yet when all was done, they had nothing to say that was worth the hearing. for the first part of this confession of faith, there is not a word changed in it; and if so be that men had keeped that part of it free of sinistrous glosses, and had applied it according to the meaning of those who were the penners thereof, there needed not to have such a thing ado as there is now; but because they have put sinistrous glosses upon it now and misapplied it, therefore it behoved to be explained and applied to the present time. the first thing that ye swear to is, that with your whole hearts ye agree and resolve, all the days of your life, constantly to adhere unto and defend the true religion. there is no scruple here. . that ye suspend and forbear the practice of all novations already introduced in the matters of the worship of god, or approbation of the corruptions of the public government of the kirk, or civil places and power of kirkmen, till they be tried and allowed in free assemblies and in parliaments. now, i know there be some who make scruples here. how can we, say they, bind ourselves to forbear the practice of that whilk acts of assembly allows, and acts of parliament commands? _ans._ we do not herein condemn the act as altogether unlawful, whatever our judgment be of it, but this is all what we do. because such ills has followed upon these novations, therefore we think it meet now to forbear the practice of them till they be tried by assembly and parliament. and this is not a breach of the act, when all is done. because the act is not set down in the manner of a command, but only as a counsel; for so the act of the pretended assembly bears. the words is, "the assemblie thinks good," &c., "because all memory of superstition is now past, therefore we may kneel at the communion." then, if there be any danger of superstition, by the very words of the act we may gather this, that we should not kneel: and so they who practice now keep the letter of the act, but they who forbear keep the meaning thereof more nearly than the practisers. . we promise and swear against the service-book, book of canons, and high commission, with all other innovations and ills contained in our supplications, complaints, and protestations. now for the service-book, i find every one almost to be so inclined willingly to quite (be done with) it. but let me attest your own consciences, if it had gone on for a while, and been read among you, as it was begun to be, if it had not been as hard for you to have quat it as to quit the articles of perth; and therefore, do not deceive yourselves, to let such things be practised any more. it is a pitiful thing, that those who are wise otherways should deceive themselves in the matters of god's service and worship, and suffer others to deceive them also. . ye promise and swear, to the uttermost of your power to stand to the defence of the king's majesty, in the defence and preservation of true religion: as also, every one of you to the mutual defence of another in the same cause. now there be a number who says, that in this we come under rebellion against the king, and we join in a combination against him, when we join ourselves thus, every one for the defence of another. i say no more of it but this. it is not disputed here, ye see, whether it be lawful for subjects to take up arms against their prince or not, whether in offence or defence; but that we will maintain the true religion, and resist all contrary corruptions, according to our vocation. and every one of us oblishes ourselves for the defence of another, only in maintaining the cause of true religion, according to the laws and liberties of this kingdom. and indeed, this is very reasonable to be done, albeit not asked of; for when your neighbour's house is burning, ye will not run to the king to speir (ask) if ye should help him or not, before it come to your own; but ye will incontinent put to your hand, both to help him, and to save your own house. ye may not say, neither, that because we may not oppose against authority, that we may not oppose against papists or against prelates; for that were to make ourselves slaves to men. and the very law of nature binds every one of us to help another, in a lawful manner, for a good cause. . ye swear, because ye cannot look for a blessing from god upon your proceedings, except that with your confession and subscription ye join such a life as becomes christians who has renewed their covenant with god,--therefore ye promise to endeavour at least, for yourselves and all that are under you, to keep yourselves within the bounds of your christian liberty, and to be good ensamples to others in all godliness, soberness, and righteousness, and of every duty we owe both to god and man. and there is none who needs to skarre (be frightened) at this; for we are not hereby to tie any to the obedience of the law, but to the obedience of the gospel: and i am sure all are bound at least to please to (strive after) this. and therefore i would have you to labour to it; and when ye find that ye cannot get it done, then run to christ, and beseech him to teach you to do it; and to give you strength, according to his promise made in his new covenant; and so ye sail give glory to god and get good to your own souls. and, indeed, all of you are obleist to amend your lives, and to live otherwise than ye have done. and last of all, there is the _attestation_. now, i hope all these things be so clear to you, that there is not any scruple in any of your minds. and therefore, that this work may be done aright, and may be accompanied by the power of god, i would have all of you to bow your knees before that great and dreadful lord, and beseech him that he would send down the holy ghost, and the power of his spirit, to accompany the work, that so ye may do it with all your hearts, to his glory and honour, and to your comfort in jesus christ. the national covenant: exhortation at inverness. _by andrew cant._[ ] long ago our gracious god was pleased to visit this nation with the light of his glorious gospel, by planting a vineyard in, and making his glory to arise upon scotland. a wonder! that so great a god should shine on so base a soil! nature hath been a stepmother to us in comparison of those who live under a hotter climate, as in a land like goshen, or a garden like eden. but the lord looks not as man: his grace is most free, whereby it often pleaseth him to compense what is wanting in nature: whence upon scotland (a dark obscure island, inferior to many) the lord did arise, and discovered the tops of the mountains with such a clear light, that in god's gracious dispensation, it is inferior to none. how far other nations outstripped her in naturals, as far did she out-go them in spirituals. her pomp less, her purity more: they had more of antichrist than she, she more of christ than they: in their reformation something of the beast was reserved; in ours, not so much as a hoof. when the lord's ark was set up among them, dagon fell, and his neck brake, yet his stump was left; but with us, stump and all was cast into the brook kidron. hence king james his doxology in face of parliament, thanking god who made him king in such a kirk that was far beyond england (they having but an ill-said mass in english) yea, beyond geneva itself; for holy-days (one of the beast's marks) are in part there retained, which (said he) to day are with us quite abolished. thus to a people sitting in darkness, and in the shadow of death, light is sprung up. thus, in a manner, the stone that the builders refused is become the head of the corner. the lord's anointed (to whom the ends of the earth were given for a possession and inheritance) came and took up house amongst us, strongly established on two pillars, jachin and boaz, and well ordered with the staves of beauty and bands, and borrowing nothing from the border of rome. her foundation, walls, doors, and windows were all adorned with carbuncles, sapphires, emeralds, chrysolites, and precious stones out of the lord's own treasure. god himself sat with his beauty and ornaments therein, so that it was the praise and admiration of the whole earth. strangers and home-bred persons wondered. such was the glory, perfection, order, and unity of this house, that the altar of damascus could have no peace, the canaanite no rest, heresy no hatching, schism no footing, diotrephes no incoming, the papists no couching, and jezebel no fairding. our church looked forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners. then god's tabernacle was amiable, his glory filled the sanctuary, the clear fresh streams watered the city of our god; the stoutest humbled themselves, and were afraid. if an idiot entered the lord's courts, so great power sounded from barnabas and boanerges, the sons of consolation and thunder, that they were forced to fall down on their face, and cry, "this is bethel, god is here." but alas! satan envied our happiness, brake our ranks, poisoned our fountains, mudded and defiled our streams; and while the watchmen slept, the wicked one sowed his tares: whence these divers years bygone, for ministerial authority, we had lordly supremacy and pomp; for beauty, fairding; for simplicity, whorish buskings; for sincerity, mixtures; for zeal, a laodicean temper; for doctrines, men's precepts; for wholesome fruits, a medley of rites; for feeders we had fleecers; for pastors, wolves and impostors; for builders of jerusalem, rebuilders of jericho; for unity, rents; for progress, defection. truth is fallen in the streets, our dignity is gone, our credit lost, our crown is fallen from our heads; our reputation is turned to imputation: before god and man we justly deserve the censure of the degenerate vine; a backsliding people, an apostate perjured nation, by our breaking a blessed covenant so solemnly sworn. yet, behold! when this should have been our doom, when all was almost gone, when we were down the hill, when the pit's mouth was opened, and we were at the falling in, and at the very shaking hands with rome; the lord, strong and gracious, pitied us, looked on us, and cried, saying, "return, return, ye backsliding people; come, and i will heal your backslidings." the lord hath been so saving, and the cry so quickening, that almost all of all ranks, from all quarters and corners, are awakened and on foot, meeting and answering the lord, saying, "behold we come unto thee, for thou art the lord our god, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, but by thee only will we make mention of thy name." all are wondering at the turn, and looking like them that dream, and are singing and saying, "blessed be the lord who hath not given us for a prey to their teeth; our souls are escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowler, the snare is broken, and we are escaped: our help is in the name of the lord who made the heaven and the earth." who thought to have seen such a sudden change in scotland, when all second causes were posting a contrary course? when proud men were boasting and saying, "bow down that we may go over;" and we laid our "bodies as the ground, and as the streets to them that went over." but now, behold one of god's wonders! so many of all ranks taking the honour and cause of christ to heart; all unanimously, harmoniously and legally conjoined as one man in supplications, protestations and declarations against innovations and innovators, corruptions and corrupters. behold and wonder! that old covenant (once and again solemnly sworn and perfidiously violated) is now again happily renewed, with such solemnity, harmony, oaths and subscriptions, that i dare say, this hath been more real and true in thee, o scotland, these few weeks bygone, than for the space of thirty years before. i know pashurs that went to smite jeremiahs, are become at this work magor-missabib, terror round about; zedekiahs that went to smite micaiahs, seek now an inner chamber to hide themselves. tobiah and sanballat gnaw their tongues, laugh and despise us, saying, "what is this ye do? will ye rebel against the king? will ye fortify yourselves? will ye make an end in a day? will ye remove the stones out of the heaps of rubbish that is burnt?" rehum the chancellor, shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions, cease not to fill the ears of a gracious prince with prejudice, saying, "be it known to thee, o king, if this city be built, and the walls thereof set up again, that they will not pay toll, tribute or custom." but to these we answer, "let the king live, and let all his enemies be confounded, let all that seek his damnation be put to shame here and henceforth: but as for you, ye are strangers, meddle not with the joy of god's people; ye have no portion, right, nor memorial in god's jerusalem." if the begun work vex them, it is no wonder; it does prognosticate the ruin of their kingdom, and that haman, who hath begun to fall before the seed of the jews, shall fall totally: the lord is about to prune his vineyard, and to drive out the foxes that eat the tender grapes; to pluck up bastard plants, and to whip buyers and sellers out of the temple. the lord is about to strike the gehazis with leprosy, and to bring low the simon maguses who were so high lifted up by satan's ministry. the lord is calling the great ones to put too their shoulder, and help his work; he hath been in the south, saying, "keep not back," and blessed be god, they have not. he hath now sent to the north, saying, "give up, bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth:" contend for the faith once delivered to scotland. there is one lord, one faith, one cause that concerns all. though this north climate be cold, i hope your hearts are not, at least they should not be. the earth is the lord's and its fulness, the world and they that dwell therein; the uttermost parts of the earth are given to christ for a possession; his dominion is from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. come then, and kiss the son; count it your greatest honour to honour christ, and to lend his fallen truths a lift; come and help to build the old wastes, that ye may be called the repairers of the breach; and then shall all generations call you blessed; then shall god build up your houses, as he did to the egyptian midwives, for their fearing god, and for their friendship to his people israel. be not like the nobles of tekoa, of whom nehemiah complained, that they would not put their necks to the work of the lord. be not like meroz, whom the angel of the lord cursed bitterly, for not coming to the help of the lord against the mighty. neither be ye like these mockers and scorners, at the renewing of the lord's covenant in hezekiah's days, but rather like those whose hearts the lord humbled and moved. be not like those invited to the king's supper, who refused to come, and had miserable excuses, and therefore should not taste of it. we hope better things of you; god hath reserved and advanced you for a better time and use: but if ye draw back, keep silence, and hold your peace, god shall bring deliverance and enlargement to his church another way; but god save you from the sequel. nothing is craved of you but what is for god and the king; for christ's honour, and the kirk's good, and the kingdom's peace. god give to your hearts courage, wisdom and resolution for god and the king, and for christ and his truths. _amen._ the national covenant sermon at glasgow.[ ] _by andrew cant._ "the kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, who made a marriage for his son: and he sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding; and they would not come," etc.--_matt._ xxii. , , , , . i purpose not to handle this parable punctually, because it stands not with the nature of a parable, neither will the time suffer me so to do. the parable runs upon an evident declaration and clear manifestation of god's sweetest mercies, in offering the marriage of his son, his own son, his well-beloved son, the son of his love, the son of his bosom, the son as good as the father, the son as great and as glorious as the father, the son whose generation none can declare. the father offers this his son in marriage: . to the jews, as you have in the first seven verses of the parable. . to the gentiles, in the rest of the parable. . to the jews, not because of their worthiness; "but even so, o father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." this offer was the effect of no merit, neither of congruity nor of condignity in the jews; for they were like that wretched and menstruous infant, ezek. xvi. , , unswaddled, unwashen, uncleansed, "lying in its blood, its navel not cut, nor salted at all, nor swaddled at all, cast out in the open field, having no eye to pity it." . as for the gentiles, ye may see what case they were in, if ye read this same parable, luke xiv. . "go ye out into the streets and lanes of the city, and call the poor, the lame, blind and maimed," etc. some were cripple, some poor and blind, and withered, and miserable, and naked, and leper, unworthy to come to our lord's gates, let be to have them opened wide to us; unworthy to be set down at his table, let be to be admitted to his royal marriage feast, and to get christ our lord to be our match, and to be the food and cheer of our souls: and therefore let all souls, let all pulpits, let all schools, let all universities, let all men, let all women, let all christians cry, grace, grace, grace, praise, praise, praise, blessing, blessing, for evermore to the lord's free grace. fy, fy, upon the man; fy, fy, upon the woman, that is an enemy to the lord's free grace. the fullest, and the fairest, and the freest thing in heaven or earth is the free grace of god, to our poor souls: "not unto us, o lord, not unto us, but unto thy name be the glory." at another occasion i handled the parable after a more general manner, and propounded these points unto you: . who was this great king? . who was the son of this great king? . this great king is god himself, "the king of kings, and lord of lords." then for the lord's sake, stand in awe of him, love him and fear him. and i charge you all here before that great and dreadful lord, that ye humble yourselves under his mighty hand, and that ye prostrate and submit yourselves under his almighty hand, and come away as ye promised. kiss the son, and embrace him, and then shall wrath be holden off you; and a shower of god's mercy shall come down upon you. then the king is god. . the king's son is christ. then there follows a dinner, "i have prepared my dinner." yea, i have a supper also, for luke says, he "prepared a great supper." i told you in what respects it is great. . i told you it was great in respect of the author of it, god. . i told you it was great in respect of the matter of it. ye know the matter of it, as holy scripture tells. whiles it gets base, silly, simple names, and is delineated and expressed under common terms: but the most common term it gets is so considerable that our case would not be good if it were wanting. whiles 'tis called "a feast of fat things full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined." whiles it is called "gold." whiles it is called "fatlings, and a fatted and fed calf." whiles 'tis "honey and milk." whiles it is called "oil and wine." whiles it is called the "bread of life." in a word, to tell you what this feast is, it is this christ and all his saving graces freely given to thy soul. then, . it is great in respect of the manner of its preparation: i confess, this feast, though prepared in silver, is often administered in earthen vessels, and clay dishes: and, though it be mingled with butter and honey, yet this makes the natural man, when he looks upon it, not to think much of it, because he looks on the outside of it only. but would to god your eyes were opened to see the inside of it, and not to be like proud naaman, who said, "what better is this water of jordan than the water of abana and pharpar, rivers of damascus?" as some say, what better is this feast than the feast we have at home? as the man of god prayed for his servant, "lord, open his eyes that he may see;" and the lord opened his eyes, and he saw another sight, even the mountain full of horses and flaming chariots of fire; so, i pray the lord open all your eyes, that ye may see the many differences between this feast and all other feasts; for other feasts are but feasts for the body, and they are but feasts for the belly; an esau may have them, a reprobate may feed upon them. these are nothing else but the swine's husks, whereon the prodigal fed for a time, and scarce could get them; but when he came back again to his father's house, then he fed upon the fatted calf; and then he got a feast, and then was there plenty, then did his well run over, then was his cup to the brim, and overflowing. o that ye knew your father's house, and the fatness, the fulness, the feast, and the plenty that are there, ye would all hunger after it, and would then say, alas! i have been feeding on husks too long, "now will i arise and go to my father's house, where there is bread enough." all the lord's steps drop plenty and fatness. . i told you that this supper is a great feast in respect of the great number that are called unto it. the poorest thing in all the land is called unto it: the jews are called, the gentiles are called, yea the poorest thing that is hearing me is called; such as a great man would not look on, but he would close the gates on such an one; a great man would not deign himself to look on them in his kitchen; yet come ye away to this feast, the king of kings has his house open, and his gates patent, he has a ready feast, and a room house, and fair open gates, and every body shall be welcome that will come. "whosoever thirsts; let him come, and take of the water of life freely." and now through all the nooks and corners of this kingdom of scotland, christ is sending out his servants, and i am sent out unto you this day, crying unto you, "come away, his oxen and fatlings are killed, his wine is drawn, and his table furnished, and all things ready." . i told you it was a great feast, in respect of the place where it is kept. there are two dining-rooms:--( ) a dining-room above. ( ) a dining-room below. a dining-room above, that is a high dining-room, that is a fair house, that is a trim place. o the rivers of the lord's consolations that run there: i confess, in this lower dining-room of the church, the waters come first to the ankles, then to the mid-leg, then to the knees, then to the thigh, and then past wading; but then shall ye get fulness, when ye come up to that dining-room. and when ye come there, there shall be no more hunger, no more thirst, there shall be no more scant nor want, nor any more sour sauce in your feasts, neither any more sadness, nor sorrowful days; but eat your fill, and drink your fill. and many shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down at the royal and rare covered table, with abraham, isaac, and jacob, and get their fill to their hungered--"when i awake (says david) i shall be filled with thy likeness." poor soul, thou canst never get thy fill; i wish to god thou got a sop and a drop to set thee by till then. indeed, if thou hadst a vessel, thou shouldst get thy fair fill even in this life. and i dare say, if thou wouldst seek, and seek on, and seek instantly, the lord would one day or other make thee drink of the new wine of the gospel; he would give thee a draught, a fair draught, a fill, a fair fill of the wine of his consolation, he would make you suck the milk at the breasts of his consolation; but he will aye keep the best wine hindmost, as he did at the marriage of cana. therefore, poor thing, lift up thy head, and gather thy heart; ere it be long thou shalt get a draught of the best wine in thy father's house, where there are many mansions, and many dwelling-places. "i go (says christ) to prepare a place for you:" and he will come again, and receive you to himself, where ye shall drink abundantly of the new wine of the gospel. _lastly_, this supper is a great one in respect of the continuance of it; it lasts not for one day, but for ever; it lasts not for a hundred and four-score days, but for ever, and evermore. poor thing, who possibly gets some blyth morning blinks in upon thy soul, and possibly gets a taste of this cup in the morning, and long ere even thou art hungering and thirsting again, and thou wots not where to meet thy lord, and all the thing thou hast gotten is forgotten; in the day that he shall come, then thou shalt feast constantly and continually in thy father's house, where thou shalt never want thy arms full, thou shalt never want thy lord out of thy sight, neither shall thy lord ever want thee, but he shall ever be with thee, and thou with him; thou shalt follow the lamb whithersoever he goes. "behold i have prepared my dinner." all this feast was for a marriage; and here is a wonder, a world's wonder, a behold, which notes divers things: . behold it for an admiration. . behold it for an excitation. . behold it for consolation. . behold it for instruction. behold, and be awakened; behold, and be excited; behold, and be comforted; behold, and admire; behold, and wonder, that the king of heaven's son will marry your soul! then behold, and come away to your own marriage; behold, lost man shall get a saviour, behold, the king's son will be a saviour to a slave; behold, the king's son will drink the potion, and the sick shall get health; behold, the king's son will marry himself upon thee! "i will marry thee unto me in faith and in righteousness." "thou that was a widow and reproached," like a poor widow that has many foes, but few friends; yet, says the lord, "thou shalt not remember the reproach of thy widow-hood any more." then behold, and come away to the marriage. now, "who are these that are invited to the marriage?" i told you, . the jews are invited. . the gentiles are invited; yea, you are invited; i thank the bridegroom you are invited; i shall bear witness of it, when i am gone from you, you are invited. and i thank the lord, i have more to bear witness of; yea, that which comforts my soul, by all appearance the greatest part of you are come in, and by all good appearance ye have the wedding garment. i hope god has a people among you; this i shall bear witness of, when i am gone from among you; the greatest part has lent an ear; the lord bear it in upon your hearts with his own blessed preference. . "he sent his servants forth." he gives many a cry himself, and many a shout himself. is not that one of god's cries, "come unto me, all ye that are weary and laden, and i will ease you." o but that is a sweet word, thou art a weary thing, with a sore load of sin upon the neck of thy soul, and thou art like to sink under it, and art crying, what will come of thee? he is bidding thee come away, and get a drink of the marriage-wine to cheer thy fainting spirit; and if thou be weary, he shall ease thee. _object._ alas! sin hinders me, that i cannot come; sin is so black and ugly upon me, and so heavy, that i cannot come. _ans._ "come (says the lord) i will reason with you," that is, i will have your faults discovered, and i will have you convicted of your faults; but when i have reasoned with you, will i cast you away? nay, but though your sins were red as "crimson, they shall be made white as snow or wool." _object._ . alas! but my sins are many, how can the lord look upon me or pardon me? _ans._ "let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the lord, for he will abundantly pardon; for my ways are not your ways, neither my thoughts your thoughts; but as the heaven is high above the earth, so are my thoughts, (in pardoning) higher nor yours" (in sinning). come away, poor thing, then, and get thy heart full of mercy; and because such a fair offer is hard to be laid hold on, therefore he goes to the market-cross, like an herald with a great o yes, that all men there may be awakened. it is not little that will awaken sleeping sinners, therefore he puts too an o yes. "ho, come every one that thirsteth, buy wine and milk without money, and without price. why do ye spend your money for nought?" ye have spent your strength too long in vain; ye have been feeding on husks too long; ye have forsaken mercy and embraced vanity too long. come away, and he "will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of david." . "he sent forth his servants." this is a great wonder, that he calls on his servants, and sends them to them; this is wonderful! he stood not on compliments, who should be first in the play: ye would never have sought him, if he had not sought you; ye would never have loved him, if he had not loved you with the love of christ. i would say a comfortable word to a poor soul; is there any soul in this house this day, that has chosen the lord for the love and delight of his soul? thou wouldst never have chosen him, if that loving and gracious god had not chosen thee. is there any soul in this house this day, that is filled with the love of christ? thou wouldst never have loved him if he had not loved thee first. is there any soul that is seeking unto him in earnest? be comforted, he is seeking thee, and hast found thee, and gart thee seek him. i might produce scripture for all these, but the points are plain. . lo, a greater wonder! "he sent forth his servants." ye would think, if any had wronged you, it were their part to seek you, and not yours to seek them; or if any baser than another had done a wrong, it beseemed him to be the most careful to take pains, and seek to him whom he had wronged. but behold here a wonder! the great god seeking base man! the offended god seeking offending man! and is this because he has need of you? nay, canst thou be a party for him? canst thou hold the field against him? nay, "shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?" shall the crawling worm and the pickle of small dust fight against the king of kings? art thou able to stand out against him, or pitch any field against him? nay, i tell thee, o man, there is not a pickle of hair in thy head, but if god arise in anger, he can cause it seem a devil unto thee, and every nail of thy fingers, to be a torment of hell against thee. o lord of hosts, and king of kings, who can stand out against thee? and yet thou hast offended him, and run away from him, and miskent him, and transgressed all his commandments, and hell, and wrath, and judgment is thy portion which thou deservest, and yet the lord is sending out his servants, to see if they can make an agreement. then, for god's sake, think on this wonder: for all this text is full of wonders, all god's works are indeed full of wonders, but this is the wonder of wonders. we then are god's ambassadors, i beseech you to be reconciled to god. should not ye have sought unto him first, with ropes about your necks, with sackcloth upon your loins, and with tears in your eyes? should not ye have lain at his door, and scraped, if ye could not knock? and yet the lord hath sent me to you, and our faithful men about here, crying, come away to the marriage: come away, i will renew my contract with you; i will not give you a bill of divorcement, but i will give my son to you; and your souls that are black and blae, i will make them beautiful. behold yet another wonder! when he has sent out other servants, and they got a nay-say; yet he will not take a nay-say. ye know a good neighbour, when he has prepared a dinner for another of his neighbours, sends out his servants, intimating that all things are ready, the table is covered, and dishes set on; if once warned, he refuses, he might well send once or twice to him, but at last he would take a displeasure, and not send again: but behold a wonder! he sends out his servants, in the plural number. but behold a great wonder! after one servant is abused, he sends out others, and when they are slain, and spitefully used by these who should have followed their call, and come in; what does the lord? read the chapter before, and ye shall see a great wonder; "he sent out his own son:" when moses cannot do it, when the prophets cannot do it, when john the baptist cannot do it; well, says the lord, i will see if my son can do it; i have not a son but one, and that is the son of my love, and i will make him a man, and send him down among them, and see how they will treat him: and when he comes, they cry out, "there is the heir, let us kill him." but behold a greater wonder! that after these servants are abused, and spitefully handled; and after the son himself is come, and has drunken of the same cup, after he has died a shameful death, and after they had put their hands on the heir; yet, when all is done, the lord sends servants upon servants, preachers upon preachers, apostles upon apostles to call in the people of the jews, to see if they will marry his son. then behold and wonder at all these wonders! and let all knees bow down before god. lord stamp your hearts with this word of god: god grant you could be kind to him, as he has been kind to you, and testified the same, by putting salve to your soul, and bringing it into the wedding. "he sent forth his servants." we may learn from this, that we who are the brethren in the ministry must be servants, and not lords. i wish at my heart, that we knew what we are, and that we knew our calling, and what we have gotten in trust; for we serve the best master in the world; but i'll tell you he is the strictest master that can be. i'll tell thee, o minister, and i speak it to thee with reverence, and i speak it to myself, there is a day coming, when thou must answer to god for what thou has got in charge, thou must answer to god for all the talents thou hast got, whether ten or two; for all have not got alike. but, dear brethren, happy is the man, if he had but one talent, that puts it out for his lord's use; and lord be thanked, that he will seek no more of me than he has given me. there are many things to discourage a faithful minister; but yet this may encourage us, that we serve the best master, and that is a sure recompence of reward that is abiding us. indeed he has not sent us out to seek ourselves, or to get gain to ourselves, he has not sent us out to woo a bride to ourselves, or to woo home the lord to our own bosom only: but he has sent us to woo a bride, and to deck and trim a spouse for our lord and master. and ye that are ministers of glasgow ye shall all be challenged upon this; whether or not ye have laboured to woo and trim a bride for your lord: but i know that you will be careful to present your flocks as a chaste spouse to him. and we also that are ministers in landwart, we are sent out for this errand, it matters not what part of the world we be in, if we do our master's service; and the day is coming when thou must answer to god for thy parish, whether thou hast laboured to present it as a chaste spouse to christ. it may gar the soul of the faithful minister leap for joy, when he remembers the day of his majesty's faithful meeting and his, when he shall give up his accounts, and then it shall be seen who has employed his talent well: then shall he say, "well done, good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things, i will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into thy master's joy." or rather "let thy master's joy enter into thee, and take and fill thy soul with it." many a sad heart has a faithful watchman; but there is a day coming when he shall get a joyful heart. but for whom especially is this joy reserved? it is even for those "who convert many to righteousness; they shall shine like the stars in the firmament, in the kingdom of their father." it is plain this belongs not to thee, o faithless watchman. what hast thou been doing? busking a bride for thyself? busking a bride for the pope of rome, the bishop of rome, even for antichrist? becking and bingeing to this table and that altar, bringing in the tapistry of antichristian hangings, and endeavouring to set the crown on another man's head, nor christ's? but thou that wilt not set on the crown on his head, and labour to hold it on, thou o preacher, the vengeance of god shall come upon thee, the blood of souls shall be upon thee. many a kirk-man eats blood, and drinks blood; lord deliver our souls from blood-guiltiness. dear brethren, let us repent, let us repent: i trow we have been all in the wrong to the bridegroom; shame shall be upon thee that thinks shame to repent. i charge you all, before the timber and stones of this house, and before that same day-light that ye behold, and that under no less pain nor the loss of the salvation of your souls, that ye wrong not the bridegroom nor his bride any more. but we come to our point: we are servants and not lords. i see never a word in this text, nay, nor in all the scripture that the master of the feast sent out lords to woo home his bride; he "sent out his servants," but not his lords. read all the bible from the beginning to the ending, you shall not find it. daft men may dispute, and by respect may carry it away; but read all the old and new testament both, and let me see if ever this lord prelate, or that lord bishop, was sent to woo home his bride. _object._ . we have our prerogative from aaron, from moses, from the apostles, from timothy. _ans._ i trow ye be like bastard bairns that can find no father. so they shall never be able to get a father, for man has set them up, and man is their father. _object._ . find we not the name of bishop under the new testament? _ans._ yes; but not the bishop of a diocese, such as my lord glasgow, and my lord st. andrew's; but we find a pastor or a bishop over a flock. it is a wonderful matter to me, that men should think to reason this way; for in the old testament there is not an office, nor an office-bearer, but is distinctly determined in the making of the tabernacle; there is not a tackle, nor the quantity of it, not a curtain, nor the colour thereof, not a snuffer, nor a candlestick, nor a besom that sweeps away the filth, nor an ash-pan that keepeth the ashes, but all are particularly set down; yet, ye will not get a bishop, nor an archbishop, nor this metropolitan, nor that great and cathedral man, no not within all the bible. the lord pity them; for indeed i think them objects of pity, rather than of malice. christ is a perfect king, and a perfect prophet. thou canst never own him to be a perfect priest and king, that denies him to be perfect prophet; and a perfect prophet he can never be, except he has set down all the offices and office-bearers requisite for the government of his house; but so has he done, therefore is he perfect. _obj._ . but they will call themselves servants. _ans._ . the fox may catch a while the sheep, and the pope may call himself _servus servorum_, the servant of servants: and they will call themselves brethren, when they write to us; but they will take it very highly and hardly, if we call them brethren, when we write back to them again: but men shall be known by their fruits, and by their works, to be what they are, and not what they call themselves. but if they will be called servants and yet remain lords, let them take heed that they be not such servants, as cursed canaan was, "a servant of servants shall he be." take heed that they be not serving men's wrath and vengeance, and not servants "by the grace of god, and by the mercy of god," as they style themselves. . let them take heed that they be not such servants as gehazi was; he was a false servant, he ran away after the courtier naaman, seeking gifts, and said his master sent him, when (god knows) his master sent him not; at the time he should have been praying to the lord, to help his poor kirk and comfort her; the curse and vengeance of god came upon him, and he was stricken with leprosy for his pains; such servants are these men who now sit down on their cathedral nests, labouring to make themselves great like gehazi: let them take heed that their hinder end be not like his. . let them take heed that they be not such servants as ziba was to mephibosheth, who not only took away what was his by right, but also went to the king with ill tales of poor cripple mephibosheth: such servants are these who not only rob the church of her privileges and liberties, but also run up to the king with lies and ill tales of poor mephibosheth, the cripple kirk of scotland. . let them take heed that they be not such servants as judas was, an evil servant indeed; he sold his master for gain, as ill servants do. or like these that strike the bairns when they are not doing any fault: and they are ill servants who busk their master's spouse with antichrist's busking. wo unto them, and the man who is the head of their kirk, whose cross and trumpery they would put on the lord's chaste spouse. but if they will call themselves servants, and yet remain lords, let them take heed that they be not of this category that i have reckoned up. the lord make us faithful servants, and the lord rid his house of them. time will not suffer me to go through the rest of the text, only i will take a glance of some things which make for your use at this time. _quest._ how are their servants treated? _ans._ some of them get _nolumus_ upon the back of their bill: some of them are beaten, and spitefully used and slain. dear hearts, know ye not how moses was used? how aaron and jeremiah, &c., were used? how zechariah was slain between the porch and the altar? how jeremiah was smitten; and he that did it, got his name changed into magor missabib, _terror round about_? know ye not that zedekiah struck micaiah; and how his threatenings against him came to pass? always we may learn from this, that the lord's best servants have been, and will be abused, and spitefully used? this is a great sin lying upon scotland, england and ireland. many faithful servants in the three kingdoms have been spitefully used; their cheeks burnt, their noses ript up, their faces marked; some of them put into a stinking prison, where they had not an hour's health, and many of them rugged from their flocks, and their flocks from them. look over to the kingdom of ireland, the many desolate congregations that are there; many a dear one there, that would have had a blyth soul, to have had your last sunday, or seen it, or to have assurance of such a day before they come into heaven. pray for the peace of zion, and pity those poor things who would be content to go from one sea-bank to the other, to be in your place to-day. and truly the blood of these poor things is crying for vengeance to light where it should light; for the blame lies upon none but the proud prelates. if i would pose you with this question, as you will answer to god, who have been the instruments of all this mischief? i am sure the most ignorant among you can answer, none but the proud beasts the prelates. the lord give them repentance. i know not how you have handled your pastors in this town, because i am but a stranger; but trow ye that two silly men that came among you can do any thing, if your own pastors had not laid the foundations: but, for god's sake, honour and respect your pastors, i mean those of them that keep the covenant of levi. and ye that have broken it, and will not come to renew it again, shame and dishonour will be upon you for evermore. i have my message from the nd of malachi, "i will pour contempt upon them who have broken the covenant of levi." therefore let pastors and people enter both within this covenant; for it is the sweetest thing in the world, to see pastors and a people going one way. therefore come away all of you unto the wedding, come and subscribe the contract, put your heart and hand to it. blessed be god for what already ye have done. some of the servants got a nay-say, and some of them were beaten; hence we learn, that every minister will not be beaten, nor will get the stroke to keep; but if a minister get a nay-say, it will make him as sad as if he had gotten sore strokes. if a minister get a nay-say that has been travailing these many years in the ministry, and yet cannot get one soul brought unto the lord, that will make him as sad as sore strokes will do. when an honest minister has laboured many years painfully in the sweat of his brows, and has never had another tune, but, come away, come away unto the marriage; and when he walks among them, and sees never one coming in, nor never one that has on the wedding garment, what will be the complaint of the poor man? o then he will cry out with isaiah, "lord, who believes my report, and to whom has the arm of the lord been made naked? lord, i have laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nought." what will come of me, after so many years' travail in the ministry? i have not brought forth one child. the lord forbid that ye our people break your ministers' hearts. and as for you, brethren, be more watchful over your flocks, be more busy in catechising and exhorting them. and urge the duty of the covenant upon them, and when they are on foot, hold them going; lead them to the fountain and cock-eye. lead them to the well-spring; and make meikle of them; feed the lord's lambs, as christ said to peter, "if thou lovest me, feed my sheep; lovest thou me? i say, feed my sheep." minister, lovest thou me? feed my bais'd sheep: lovest thou me? feed my lambs. you must be feeders, and not fleecers; pastors, but not wolves; builders, but not destroyers; and come away, and help up the broken-down wall of jerusalem. for if one of you can bring timber here, another bring mortar, a third bring stones, and make up a slap in zion; and i hope we that came here shall go home with blyth news to our congregations, that we cannot say we have got a cold welcome; so i hope ye will think it your greatest comfort, and your greatest credit also. venture in covenant with god, and whosoever thou be, that wilt not enter in covenant, we will have thy name, and we will pour out our complaints before god for thee; for we that are ministers must be faithful to our master; and i take you all to witness, that we have discharged our commission faithfully; and i hope the blessing of the lord shall be upon them that have given us an invitation of this kind: and it may be your greatest comfort, that now ye may go homely unto the lord, being formerly in covenant with him; and your greatest credit also, for ye never got such a credit, as to lend your master's honour a lift. we come to the excuses. "but they went their way, one to his farm, and another to his merchandise." luke is more large in this, and saith, "i have bought a piece of ground, and must needs go see it;" another said, "i have bought five yoke of oxen, and i go to prove them;" and the third said, "i have married a wife and therefore i cannot come." . we learn here, that never a man refuses christ but from some by-respects, such as a farm, oxen, and marriage. i never saw a man staying back from the covenant, but from some by-respects; either some respect to the world, or to men, or to the court, or such bastard by-respects to some statesmen, or to a prelate, or to the king himself, who, we trust, ere it be long, shall think them the honestest men that came in soonest; therefore cast away all by-respects. the apostle john includes their excuses under three different expressions, "the pride of life," including the farm; "the lust of the heart," including the merchandise; and "the lust of the flesh," including the marriage. therefore let every soul that would love and follow christ, deny himself, and lay aside excuses. deny thy own wit, will, and vanities, and lay aside all by-respects, and i shall warrand thou shalt come running, and get christ in thy arms. . is it a respect to prelacy that hinders thee, o scotland? cursed be the day that ever they were born. . is it a respect to the novations already come into scotland? i may say cursed be these brats of babel. it had been best to have rent them at the beginning, for many woful days have they brought on, and woful divisions have they brought in, and woful backslidings have they occasioned. therefore away with these by-respects. . is it a respect to the king? the lord bless our king. says not the covenant enough for the maintenance of the king? as for the word which they call combinations, it reserves always the honour of god, and the honour of the king; protesting, that we mind nothing that may tend to the diminution of the king's greatness and authority. yea, i know no other means under heaven to make many loyal subjects, but by renewing our covenant. i would have had the men that made these excuses framing them another way; i would have had him that married the wife, saying, my wife has married me; and he that bought his oxen, saying, my oxen have bought me; and he that went to his farm, saying, my farm has bought me. and if ye will mark the words, ye will find them run this way. . marriage is lawful; but when a man beasts himself in his carnal pleasures, then the wife marries the man; "therefore let them that have wives, be as though they had them not, and them that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not." . buying of farms is lawful, but when a man becomes a slave to his own gain, it takes away the soul of him, the farm buys the man; likewise husbandry is lawful, but when a man yokes his neck under the world, it trails and turmoils him so, that he cannot take on the yoke of jesus. . thus also the merchandise buys the man. then, for jesus christ's sake, cast away all excuses, and come away now, and marry christ. . away with thy bastard pleasures. . away with thy bastard cares, and come away to christ, and he shall season all thy cares. . away with thy falsehood, thy pride, vanity, &c. away with thy corn, wine and oil, and come to christ, and he shall lift up his countenance upon thee. the lord give thee a blink of that, and then thou wilt come hopping with all thy speed, like unto old jacob, when he saw the angels ascending and descending, then he ran fast, albeit he was tired, and had got a hard bed, and a far harder bolster the night before, yet he got a glorious sight, and his legs were soupled with consolation, which made him run. lord blink upon thy lazy soul with his amiable countenance, and then thou shalt rise and run, and thy fainting heart will receive strength, when the lord puts in his hand by the key-hole of the door, and leaves drops of myrrh behind him, then a sleepy bride will rise and seek her beloved. but to our point. marriage is lawful, merchandise is lawful, husbandry is lawful, but never one of these is lawful when they hinder thee from the lord. neither credit, pleasure, preferment, houses nor lands are lawful, when they hinder thee from the lord's sweet presence. jerome said well, "though my old father were hanging about my neck, and my sweet mother had me in her arms, and all my dear children were sticking about me, yet when my lord jesus called upon me, i would cast off my old father, and throw my sweet mother under foot, and throw away all my dear children, and run away to my lord jesus." lord grant, my beloved, that what ye have heard of christ may sink in your souls: and when ye have seen poor things running here and there, to get a prayer here, and a prayer there, and ye wonder what they are seeking, they are seeking their beloved; and if ye ask, "what is their beloved more than another?" they will answer, my beloved is the fairest and trimmest, and the highest and honourablest in the world; he has the sweetest eyes, the sweetest cheeks, the sweetest lips, and trimmest legs and arms, "yea he is altogether lovely;" and then they will be made to cry out, "o thou fairest among women, tell us whither is thy beloved gone, that we may seek him with thee?" o if we knew him! lord work upon you the knowledge of him. o what a business would you make to be at him! lord grant that our ministry may leave a stamp upon your hearts. then had we gotten a rich purchase. would to god ye were like that marquis in italy, who fled from thence to geneva, being persecuted by the jesuits; and when they followed him, and offered him sums of gold, he answered, "let those perish forever who part with an hour's fellowship with christ, for all the gold under heaven." and sundry of the martyrs being at the stake, having this and that offered to them, they had still this word, none but christ, none but christ: and when they were bidden, have mind of your well favoured wife, and your poor children; they answered, "if i had all the money and gold in the world, i would give it to stay with my wife and poor children, if it were but in a stinking prison; but sweet christ is dearer unto me than all." then cast away all excuse. would to god we were like that woman, when going to the stake; "i have borne many children, (says she) and yet notwithstanding of all these pains, i would suffer them all over again, for one hour's fellowship with my lord." then come away, come away, cast away all excuses, come away; as the saviour says, "the storm is past and over, the winter is away, the time of singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; arise, my fair one, and come away." god be thanked, there is a sad winter over scotland's head, and our figs are blossoming, and our trees are budding, and bringing forth fruit, now is the turtle singing, and his voice is heard in our land: now is christ's voice heard, now is our bridegroom standing waiting on our way-coming; and here am i in his name, crying unto you, come away: here am i to honour my master: all honour be to him for ever and ever. come away then, for the winter is going, the summer is approaching, our vines are blossoming, in token of a fair summer: arise, arise, and come away. ver. . "go ye, therefore, out to the highways:" as if he would say, well, i see the jews will not come in; "therefore go your ways and fetch in the gentiles." yet i hope in god, there shall many of the jews come in shortly. they spake for you, when ye could not speak for yourselves; they said, "we have a little sister, and she has no breasts; what shall we do for her in the day she shall be spoken for?" now pray ye for them. always they refused to come in, as ye heard; and not being worthy, they would not come to him, to make them worthy.--always, says the lord, go out, and call in the gentiles to my table, my son may not want a wife: he is too great a king to want a spouse, and my supper is too good cheer to be lost; therefore go and fetch in the gentiles. i thank the lord that ye are come in. i know not a town in the kingdom of scotland that is not come in, except one, and i am afraid for the wrath of god to light on that shortly. always god hath his own time. but trow ye, that god will give that honour to every one? nay. i protest in my own silly judgment (howbeit i cannot scance upon kings crowns) that it were the greatest honour that ever king charles got, to subscribe the covenant. but trow ye that every minister and every burgh will come in? nay: if you will read the history, chron. xxx. , you will see the contrary; when hezekiah was going to renew the covenant, and to keep the passover, the holy text says, that numbers mocked, and thought themselves over jelly to come in; but those whose hearts the lord had touched, they came in and kept the blyth day. indeed i was afraid once, that christ would have left old scotland, and gone to new scotland, and that he would have left old england, and gone to new england: and think ye not but he can easily do this? has he not a famous church in america, where he may go? indeed i know not a kingdom in all the world, but if their plots had gone on, they had been at antichrist's shore ere now; but all his limbs and liths, i hope shall be broken, and then shall our lord be great: therefore come away in with your wedding garment, and ye that have not put it on, now put it on, and come away to the marriage: and i thank the lord, that ye are prevailed with, by god's assisting of our faithful brethren to bring you in; the lord grant that ye may come in with your wedding garment. it is but a small matter for you to hold up your hand; and yet, i suspect, some of you when it was in doing took a back-side. i tell you that it is no matter of sport, to board with god: therefore come away with your wedding garment; for the master of the feast sees you, and knows all that are come to the marriage feast. i know you not, but my master knows you every one: he knows who came in on sabbath and who came in yesterday, and who will come in to-day, and who are going to put on their wedding garment, and cast away their duds. away with your duds of pride, your duds of greed and of malice; away with all these duds, and be like the poor blind man in the gospel, who when he knew that christ called him, he cast his old cloak from him, and came away; so do ye, cast aside all excuses, and come to the wedding. and now with a word of the wedding garment i will end. this wedding garment consists of three pieces: . there is one piece of it looks to god, and that is holiness. . there is another piece of it looks to ourselves, and that is sobriety. . another piece of it looks to our neighbour, and that is righteousness. the first is holiness; i charge you to put it on: ye that are the provost and bailies, i love you dearly, and all the members of the town; gentlemen, and all gentlewomen, and all of you i love you dearly; and therefore i charge you all before god, in my last farewell unto you, to be holy, according as ye have sworn in your covenant. . be sober. howbeit i be a stranger, yet i like brotherly love and christian fellowship well; but drunkenness and gluttony, feasting and carousing i hate, especially now when the kirk of scotland is going in dool-weed: therefore be sober. . be sober in your apparel; i think there is too much of gaudy apparel among you. . be sober in your conceits. . be sober in your judgments. . be sober in your self-conceiting. . be sober in your speaking. . be sober in your sleeping. . be sober in your lawful recreations. . be sober in your lawful pleasures: and finally be sober in all respects; that it may be seen ye are the people that have renewed your covenant. . be righteous. i know not if ye have false weights and balances among you; but whether there be or not, i give you all charge, who have sworn the covenant, to be righteous. in a word, this wedding garment is jesus christ; "put ye on the lord jesus christ." i cannot give you a better counsel nor christ gave to martha; forget the many things, and choose that one thing which is needful; and with david, still desire that one thing, "to behold the beauty of the lord in his temple;" and with paul, "forget the things that are behind, and press forward to the prize of the high-calling thro' jesus christ." the lord fill your hearts with the love of christ. if thou askest, what will this garment do to thee? i answer, this garment serves, . for necessity. . for ornament. . for distinction. . for necessity. and this is threefold. . to cover thy nakedness, and hide thy shame. . to defend thy body from the cold of winter, and heat of summer. . for necessity, to hold in the life of the body. so put on jesus christ this wedding garment; and, . he shall cover the shame of thy nakedness with the white linen of his righteousness. . he shall defend thee when the wind of trial begins to blow rough and hard, and when the blast of the terrible one is arising, to rain fire and brimstone upon the world; "then he shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day time from the heat, and a place of refuge for a covert from storm and from rain." "a refuge from the storm, and shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall." when men are pursuing, he shall be a brazen wall about thee; and when they pursue thee, he shall keep thee in his bosom. . a garment is for an ornament. who is the best favoured body; and the trimmest soul? even the poor soul that has put on the bridegroom jesus: that soul is fair and white, and altogether lovely, "there is no spot in it," because the lord hath put upon it, "broidered work, bracelets and ornaments." . a garment is for distinction. there must be a distinction among you, between you and the wicked world, because ye have renewed your covenant with god: and this distinction must not only be outwardly (for an hypocrite may seem indeed very fair) but it must be by inward application. i desire you all that are hearing me, not only to put it on, but to hold it on: put it on, and hold it on; for it is not like another garment, neither in matter, nor shape, nor in use, nor in durance. i may not insist to handle it, but it is not like other garments, especially it is not like a bridegroom's garment, which he has on to-day, and off to-morrow. therefore i charge you all your days, to hold it on. ay, that which ye had on upon sabbath last, and yesterday, and which you have on this day, see that ye cast it not off to-morrow. what heard you cried on sabbath last, and yesterday, and this day? hosanna, hosanna. and wherefore cried ye yesterday and this day, hosanna, hosanna? look that when we are away, and your ministers not preaching to you, that ye cry not, "crucify him, crucify him." i fear that many who last sabbath, yesterday and this day, have been crying hosanna, hosanna, shall, long ere the next sabbath, cry, "crucify him, and hang him up." but i charge you, o sons of zion, and ye daughters of jerusalem, that your tongues never cease in crying, hosanna, till christ come and dwell in your soul. ye that are masters of this college, if ye count me worthy to speak to you, i would have you keep your garments clean, and take heed that ye be not spotted with uncovenanted spots. ye that are scholars, take heed what sort of learning and traditions ye drink in, and hold your garments clean. we hear of too many colleges in the land, that are spotted; but we hope in god that ye are yet clean: and young and old of you, take all heed to your garments, that they be white, and clean, and beautiful. for the lord's sake, all ye that are hearing me, take heed to your garments, but especially ye that have subscribed your covenant, take heed to your garments; for blyth will your adversaries be, to see any spot on them. and therefore, for the lord's sake, study to be holy; otherwise papists will rejoice at it, and the weak will stumble at it: and so ye will wound and bore the sweet side of christ. and therefore put on your wedding garment, hold it on, and hold it clean; walk wisely and before the world. now i commend you to him who is able to strengthen, stablish and settle you: to him be glory, honour and dominion, for ever and ever. amen. [illustration: fac-simile of old title page of following sermon.] _the evil and danger of_ prelacy. a sermon preached at a general meeting, in the _black-fryar-church_ of _edinburgh_, upon the th day of _june_, , at the beginning of our last reformation from _prelacy_, after the renovation of the national covenant. by the reverand mr. andrew cant, sometime minister of the gospel at aberdeen. peter v , _neither as being lords over god's heritage: but being examples to the flock._ glasgow, printed for george paton, book-seller in _linlithgow_. mdccxli. sermon at edinburgh.[ ] _by andrew cant._ "who art thou, o great mountain? before zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, crying, grace, grace unto it." --_zech._ iv. . i perceive that god will have his temple built, which had been long neglected; partly by the worldliness of the people, who had greater care of their own houses, than of the house of god; as appears by the prophet haggai, chap. i. , . he reproves them for this fault, that they cared more for their own houses than for the house of god; partly, because of the great impediments and difficulties they apprehended in the work. yet god, having a purpose to have it builded, sends his prophets to stir them up to the building of it. as for impediments he promises to remove them all, and assures them of this by haggai and zechariah; yea, he shews to zerubbabel and the people, that although impediments were as mountains, yet they should be removed. i need not stand upon introductions and connections: this verse i have read, shows the scope of the prophet; viz. god will have his work going on, and all impediments removed. these times require that i should rather insist upon application to the present work of reformation in hand, than to stand upon the temple of jerusalem, which we know well enough was a type of christ's kirk, which in this land was once built, but now hath been defaced by the enemies of christ: we have long neglected the re-edifying of it; partly, men being given more to build their own houses, nor the house of christ; and partly, because of the great impediments that have discouraged god's people to meddle with it. now, it hath pleased god to stir up prophets, noblemen, and people of the land, to put their hands to this work. and i think god saith to you in this text, "who art thou, o great mountain? thou shalt become a plain." there are two parts in this text; . an impediment removed, under the name of a mountain, "who art thou, o great mountain? before zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain." . in the second part of the text, the work goeth up, and is finished, the impediment being removed, "he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, crying, grace, grace be unto it." but that ye may take up all that is to be said in order and method; there are six steps in the text, three in the mountain, impeding the work, and three in the work itself. the three in the mountain are these; . it is a mountain seen, "o great mountain!" . a mountain reproved, "who art thou, o great mountain? before zerubbabel." . a mountain removed, "thou shalt become a plain." the three in the work are; . a work growing and going up. . a work finished, "he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof." . a work praised, "he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, crying, grace, grace be unto it." i shall speak of all these, god willing, and apply them to the time. as for the three in the mountain. . it is a mountain seen; it is called a _great mountain_; under this are comprehended all impediments and difficulties impeding the building; all being taken together make up a great mountain, which is unpassable; the enemies who impede this work were this mountain: look and ye will see the adversaries of judah become a great mountain in the way of that work. that ye may take up this mountain the better, i find that kings are called mountains in scripture; and good kings are so called, for these three, . for their sublimity; as mountains are high above the valleys, so are kings lifted up in majesty above their subjects: some apply that place to kings, "hear ye, o mountains, the lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth." . they are called mountains for their strength to guard their people. david saith, "god hath made my mountain strong." . good kings are called mountains, by reason of their influence for peace to the people: "the mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills by righteousness." i find also, that the strong enemies of the church are called mountains, because of the great impediments to the kirk's building that are made by them, as ye may see in psalm cxliv. this mountain (that i may speak more plainly) is prelacy, which hath ever been the mountain in the way of our reformation. it may be, some of you that hear me, are not of my judgment concerning episcopacy; for my judgment, i ever condemned it, as having no warrant for it to be in christ's house; yet i am sure, that all of you that are here this day, will agree with me in this, that prelacy being antichristian, is intolerable: but such is the prelacy of this kirk, it is antichristian. i may easily prove, that amongst many marks of antichrist, these two are most evident, false doctrine and tyranny in government: where antichrist is, there is tyrannical government, imposing laws upon the consciences of god's people; where antichrist is, there is idolatry, superstition and error; these two are clearly in our prelacy: their idolatry, superstition, and error may be seen in their service-book, their tyranny may be seen in their book of canons. i think there are none here, but they may see this mountain: no greater tyranny hath ever been used by antichrist, than hath been used by our prelates, and exercised upon this kirk. this mountain being seen by you all; i would have you take a view of the quality of it. i find in scripture, that the enemies of the kirk being called mountains, are so called, because of these three qualities: the first is in psalm lxxvi. . they are called "mountains of prey;" so called, because from them the robbers rush down to the vallies, and prey upon the passengers. the second is in jer. li. , babylon, a great enemy to god's kirk, is called a "destroying mountain;" the word in its own language, is called a _pestiferous_ mountain, (so called) because the pest destroys. the third is in isa. ii. , they are called "mountains of pride;" compared with the twelfth verse, you will find these mountains called "mountains of pride." our mountain of prelacy hath all these three bad qualities: . it is a mountain from which they have, like robbers, made a prey of the kirk of christ. tell me, i pray you, and i appeal to your own consciences, who are my brethren, if there be any privilege or liberty that ever christ gave us, but they have taken it from us, and made a prey of it. . this mountain is a pestiferous mountain; it hath been the mountain that hath been as a pest, to infect the kirk of christ with superstition, heresy and error; and withal, it hath been a destroying mountain; for they have destroyed the fair carved work of our first reformation. . they are mountains of pride; for greater pride cannot be, than there is upon this mountain; they rule as tyrants over their brethren, and as lords over god's inheritance. ye that are noblemen are the natural mountains of this kingdom, descended of noble predecessors who have been as mountains indeed, defending both kirk and commonwealth. these men were but low vallies, and now are artificial mountains, made up by the art of man; at first, as low as their brethren sitting there; but piece and piece, they have mounted up; at first, commissioners for the kirk, and then obtained vote in parliament, and then they usurped all the liberties of the kirk benefices, and then constant moderators to make up this mountain; and at last, the high commission is given to make the mountain strong; it is like to daniel's tree. "the tree grew, and was strong;" and from it, we that are ministers of christ have our wreck. and let me speak to you noblemen, these artificial and stooted mountains have over-topped you who are the natural mountains; and if they have not done so, what means the great seal then? and if way could have made for it, they should have carried the white wand and privy-seal also: and this is just with god, that they have over-topped you; for every one of you came with your own shovel-ful, to make up this mountain. it was thought expedient to rear up this mountain, to command and bear down poor ministers. albeit, it is true, we have been borne down by them; yet ye that are the high mountains, have not been free from their hurt: it is very like to jotham's parable, "the trees of the forest will have a king over them; they come to the olive-tree, and say, be thou king over us: the olive saith, i will not leave my fatness to be king: they came to the fig-tree, and said, be thou our king; the fig-tree saith, i will not leave my sweetness to be king: they come likewise to the vine, and say, be thou our king; the vine saith, i will not leave my strength to be king: they come to the bramble and said, be thou our king; then said the bramble to the trees, if indeed ye anoint me king over you, then come and put your trust under my shadow; and if not, let fire come forth of the bramble, and devour the tall cedars of lebanon." the olive-trees of the ministry would not leave the fatness of god's grace, wherewith they were endued, to rule over the kirk: the fig-trees of the ministry would not leave the sweet fruits of their ministry, to bear rule in the kirk: the vines of the ministry would not leave the strong consolations of god, whereby many souls were comforted, to bear rule in the kirk: yet the brambles have taken this, and ye helped to exalt them, upon condition to trust under their shadow; and if fire hath not come forth from these brambles upon the tall cedars of this land, i leave to your own thoughts to judge. always this is the mountain which ye see all reared up this day, and standing in the way of our reformation. . the second thing in this great mountain is this, it is a mountain reproved: "who art thou, o great mountain? before zerubbabel." when he saith of zerubbabel, it is not only meant of zerubbabel, but of the rest of god's people. there, zerubbabel, joshua, and the rest of god's people obeyed the voice of the lord; and in the th verse, all these are said to work in the house of the lord: so under zerubbabel, all the rest of the people are comprehended; even so in this work of ours, all that are joined to this work, for the building of this work, are to be accounted workers; and for them also is this mountain reproved, "who art thou, o great mountain?" who art thou, who will impede this work, or shall be able to impede it, seeing god will have it forward. it is impossible for thee to impede it, in these three respects: . in respect of the work itself. . in respect of the workers. . in respect of the impeders. . in respect of the work itself. it is god's work; for the house is his, and he is in it. the lord saith, "be thou strong, zerubbabel, and joshua, and the remnant of the people and work, for i am with you, saith the lord of hosts." if god be with a work, who is he that will let or impede it? god is with this work of reformation, as ye yourselves can witness; and by all our expectations this mountain is shaken, and (god be praised) the difficulties are not so unpassable as they were. . no man is able to impede this work, in respect of the workers. it is said, "that god stirred up the spirit of zerubbabel, and of joshua, and of the people, and they came and wrought in the house of the lord." when god stirs up men to do a good work, nothing on earth can stay it: i am sure if ever god stirred up men to a good work, he hath stirred us up to this, both noblemen, ministers and people. wherefore, "who art thou, o great mountain" before god's people, that thinks to impede such a work? . in respect of the impeders: what are they but men, and wicked men, as ye may see in the adversaries of the jews. who are they that impede our work? even men that seek honour and preferment of this world, enemies to religion, fighting against god; to whom, i may say that word in job, "who hath hardened himself against god, and prospered?" with one word more i will reprove this mountain, and go forward. "who art thou, o great mountain?" wilt thou search thyself who thou art: art thou of god's building or not? i trow you are not _juris divini_, but _humani_; god nor christ hath never built thee: thou art only a hill of man's erecting; knowest thou not that zion, against which thou art, is a hill of god's building. i will say to you then that word, "the hill of god is a high hill, as the hill of bashan: why leap ye, ye hills? this is the hill that god desireth to dwell in; yea, and will dwell in it forever." and think ye to prevail against the people of zion? she hath stronger mountains to guard her than ye have, "as the mountains are round about jerusalem, so the lord is round about his people, from henceforth and forever." . the third thing in this mountain, is, it is a mountain removed, "thou shalt become a plain;" that is, god shall remove all impediments before zerubbabel, and his people; god is able to remove all that impedes his work; even the mightiest enemies that oppose themselves to the work of god. ye may observe a fourfold power of god against these mountains. . a _determining power_, whereby he sets such bounds to the greatest mountains, that ye see they fall not upon the vallies, albeit they overtop them. the lord hath set bounds to the great kings in the world which they could not pass, when they have set themselves against the lord's people. we may see an example of this in sennacherib. "therefore thus saith the lord concerning the king of assyria, he shall not come up to this city, nor shoot an arrow against it, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it." ye are afraid of the king, that he come against you: fear not, the lord by his restraining power is able to keep him back, that he shall not shoot so much as a bullet against this city. . god removes impediments by his _assisting power_, as he promised to do before cyrus. "i will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight; i will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the iron bars." albeit for any thing we see, there be brazen gates, and iron bars, closing out a reformation: yet let not this discourage you; god is with you by his assisting power to go before you, to make all crooked places straight, and to break the brazen gates, and to cut in sunder the iron bars. . god hath a _changing power_, whereby he makes mountains plain: how easy is it with god, to make the highest mountain that impedes his work a plain? "the king's heart is in the hand of the lord, as the rivers of waters, to turn it whithersoever he will." lord make our mountains thus plain. the th way how god removes mountains, is by an _overthrowing power_: if there be no change yet, god will bring it down. "every one that is lifted up shall be brought low." by this which hath been said, ye may understand how a mountain may be made plain. god makes mountains plains, either in mercy or in wrath. . in mercy, when he takes a grip of the heart, and of a proud haughty heart, makes it toward and plain: we have seen such a change by experience. this work had many enemies at the beginning, that impeded it, whom god hath taken by the heart, and made plain; yea, he hath made them furtherers of the work. . there is another way of making mountains plain, to wit, making plain in wrath; when god overthrows the mountains that stand up impeding his work. assure yourselves, if god bring not down this mountain we have to do with, in mercy, he shall overthrow it in wrath, and make it waste. that i may make this mountain more plain, ye shall consider how it shall become a plain, and how easily it may be made a plain. . i see you looking up to the height of it, and ye are saying within yourselves, how shall it come down? ye must not think that it will come down of its own accord; god useth instruments to pull down. i find that god hath made his own people instruments to pull down such mountains: "fear not, worm jacob, and ye men of israel, i will help thee, saith the holy one and thy redeemer, behold i will make thee a new threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff; thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them." mark these words, although jacob be a worm, despised by the great ones of the world, yet god will make him a threshing instrument, to beat these mountains in pieces. the professors of this land are despised by the mountains; yet fear not, for the sharp threshing instrument is made, i hope it shall beat the mountains in pieces. we think them very high, but if we had faith, that word would be verified. "ye shall say to this mountain, remove to yonder place, and it shall be removed, and nothing shall be impossible unto you." but one is saying, i have not faith, that all that are joined this day against the mountain shall continue. i hope they shall continue, i hope they shall; but if they do not, we trust not in men, that they shall bring down this mountain, but in god, who hath said, "behold i am against thee, o destroying mountain, i will stretch out my hand upon thee, i will roll thee down from the rocks, and make thee a burnt mountain; they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a foundation; thou shalt be desolate for ever." this mountain ye see so exalted, although men would hold it up, yet god will bring it down, and make it a burnt mountain: even so, o lord, do. . in the second place consider how this mountain may be made a plain: i told you it was but an artificial mountain, a stooted mountain, standing upon weak pillars; if ye would take a look of the whole frame of the mountain, it stands upon two main pillars; and upon the top of the mountain stands the house of dagon, an house of false worship, and take me the pillars from episcopacy, and it shall fall; take episcopacy away, and the house of dagon shall fall. the two main pillars that prelacy stands on are a civil and secular arm, and an ecclesiastical tongue, so to speak. . the _secular arm_ is the authority of princes, which have ever upholden that mountain: ye know secular princes uphold antichrist, and prelacy in this land is upholden by the secular power. . the second pillar i call _ecclesiastical_, that is, prelacy in this land hath been upholden by the tongues of kirkmen, preaching up this mountain, or, by their pens, writing up this mountain: and these are the two pillars whereupon our mountain of prelacy is stooted, the secular power, and the tongues of kirkmen. let the king withdraw his power and authority from the prelates, and they shall fall suddenly in dross; let kirkmen and ministers withdraw their tongues and pens from them, and our mountain (ere ye look about you) shall become a plain. as these two stoot up this mountain, so upon this mountain all false worship in the kirk is built, even dagon's house. "lead me," says samson, "to the pillars that dagon's house stands on, that i may be avenged for my two eyes." the philistines were never more cruel to samson in pulling out his eyes, than our prelates would have been to us: they pressed to put out our eyes, and ere ever we were aware, they thought to lead us to dagon's house, even to the tents of popery and idolatry. let us come to this main pillar of dagon's house, and apply all our strength to pull it down; that we may not only be avenged for our eyes, which they have thought to pull out, but also that the house of false worship, which is erected upon this mountain, may fall to the ground. i hear some say, minister, for all you are saying, the mountain will not come down at this time; ye think nothing but it will come down. i assure you, i would have it down, but ye must not think us that silly, as to think it will come down, because we have many for us; we trust not in men, but in god; and if this be the time that god will have it down, although ye should lay all your hands about their head, they shall come down: it appears they will come down, if there were no more but their pride, avarice, cruelty, and loose living to pull them down, especially when all these are come to height, as they are come to in them. and so much for the mountain; ye see we have reproved it, god remove it. i come now to the three in the work, the mountain being removed, . it is a work growing and going up; "he shall bring forth." . it is a work finished; "he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof." . it is a work praised; "he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shouting, crying, grace, grace, be unto it." we shall speak of all these three shortly. . it is a work going up; it was impeded, but now it is going up. there is something here very considerable; the work goes not up until the mountain be made a plain. the mountain must not be pared or topped, but it must altogether become plain, otherwise the work cannot go up, the mountain of prelacy must not be pared nor topped, something taken away, but it must be brought down wholly, otherwise the work of reformation cannot go on, neither christ's house go up. it will be said, what ails you? you shall have your desires, but the estate of bishops must stand; it is impossible to bring it down altogether; the king may not want an estate, (truly a good one both to kirk and commonwealth) ye shall have them brought within the old bounds and caveats set down to them; they shall not hurt the kirk any more. the lord knows how loath i was to speak from this place; but seeing god hath thrust me out, i must speak the truth. i say to you these quarters are not to be taken, because the mountain is not of god's making, but of man's; therefore make it what ye will, god will be displeased with it; yea it is impossible to set caveats to keep them. i appeal to all your consciences, is it possible to set caveats to their pride and avarice? their pride and avarice will break through ten thousand caveats. i will clear this impossibility by similitudes. tell me, if a fountain in the town of edinburgh were poisoned, whether were it more safe to stop up the fountain, than to set a guard to keep it, that none draw out of it, for there is hope the poison would do no harm? there is no man of a sound judgment, but he will think it more safe to stop up the fountain, than to guard it: this prelacy is the poisoned fountain, wherefrom the kirk of christ hath been poisoned with the poison of error and superstition. now the question is, whether it be safer to stop it up than to guard it? surely it is safer to stop it up; for all the caveats in the world will not keep the kirk unpoisoned, so long as it remains. i will give you another similitude: if the town of edinburgh were (as many towns have been, and are) taken and possest by cruel and obstinate enemies, who would take all your liberties from you, would not suffer your magistrates to judge, and would spoil you of your goods, and use all the cruelty that could be devised against the inhabitants, if god give you occasion to be free of such a cruel and obstinate enemy: what would you do if this were proponed to you? why may not you suffer the enemy to abide within the town? we shall take all their weapons from them, they shall never hurt you any more. would ye not think it far better to put them out of the town altogether; both because the inhabitants would be in fear, so long as they were in the town, and because the town would never be sure: for there might be traitors among yourselves, who would steal in weapons for their hands; and so they would bring you under the former tyranny, yea under a greater. even so it is in this case; the crudest and greatest enemies that ever the kirk of scotland saw are those prelates; they have spoiled us of all our liberties, and exercised intolerable tyranny over us. now the lord is shewing a way how to be quit of them: consider the condition offered. what ails you? may ye not let them abide within the kirk: we shall take all their weapons from them; as admission of ministers, excommunication, and that terrible high commission; they shall never hurt you again. this is but the counsel of man; the counsel of god is, to put them out of the kirk altogether, otherwise the kirk can never be secure; yea, i assure you, there are as many traitors among ourselves, as would steal in the weapons again in their hands; then shall our latter estate be worse than our first: if our yoke be heavy under them now, it shall be heavier then; if they chastise us now with whips, they shall chastise us then with scorpions. i think i hear men speak like that word, "hew down the tree, cut down his branches, shake off his leaves, scatter his fruits; nevertheless leave the stump of his roots with a band of iron and brass." the interpretation of that part of the vision is set down in the th verse; "thy kingdom shall be sure unto thee, after that thou hast known that the heavens bear rule." i hear men say, hew down the tree, cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, scatter his fruits; ye shall be quit of all that; but the stump must be left banded with iron. (if it were till they knew god, it were something, but there is no appearance of that.) consider, o man, who saith that. "no man, but the watcher, and the holy one, even he that made nebuchadnezzar's kingdom sure to him." if god had made this estate sure to them, it would and should stand; and if god would bind down the stump of it with iron bands, we would never fear the growth of it, nor the fruit of it; but seeing they are only bands to be laid on by men, albeit the tree were hewed down, it would grow again in all the branches of it, with all the leaves of its dignity, and we should taste of the bitter fruit of it: ye that are covenanters, be not deceived, if ye leave so much as a hillock of this mountain in despite of your hearts it shall grow to a high mountain, which shall fill both kirk and commonwealth. if the kirk would be quit of the troubles of it, and if ye would have this work of reformation going up, this mountain must be made a plain altogether, otherwise the spirit of god saith, ye shall never prosper. the second thing in this is a work finished; "he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof." when a head-stone is put on a house, the house is finished: ye who are reverend fathers in the kirk, who have seen the work of our first reformation, ye saw it going up, and brought to such a perfection, that the cope-stone was put on; purity of doctrine, and administration of sacraments, and sweetness of government, whereby the kirk was ruled; but woe's us all, we see with you now the roof taken off, the glorious work pulled down, and lying desolate. now, it hath pleased god to turn again, and offer a re-edifying of this work, as he did here to the people of this temple: seeing therefore the lord hath stirred up our spirits, to crave a re-edifying of christ's kirk, let us never take our hands from it, till christ have put the cope-stone on it. i hear some say, there is more ado ere that be done; ye sing the triumph before the victory; ye will not see it go up at leisure. ye are deceived; we sing not the triumph before the victory; some of us are afraid that it go not up so suddenly. i must say to you, if it be god's work, (as it is indeed) all the powers of the world shall never be able to hinder the putting on of the cope-stone. ay, but say ye, it will be hindered; ere ye get the work forward, ye will find the dint of the fire and sword. let it be so, if god will have it so, that will not impede the work: if our blood be spilt in this cause, the cope-stone shall be put on with our blood; for the kirk of god hath never prospered better nor by the blood of saints. fear not, beloved, this work, whether it be done peaceably or with persecution, the cope-stone shall be put on it. ye know in the beginning of the reformation, there was small likelihood that the work should go up, and be finished, because of the great power that was against it; yet the lord brought it forward against all impediments; and put the cope-stone on it: that same god lives yet, and is as able to put the cope-stone on this work, as he was then, if ye believe. the third thing in this work is a work praised; "he shall bring forth the head-stone thereof with shoutings, crying, grace, grace unto it." all ye that build and behold the work, will love the work, and will all wish it well. he alludes by appearance, who, when the foundation of a common work is laid, rejoices, and when it is finished, rejoices. ye may see this clear in ezra iii. : at the laying of the foundation of this temple, the people shouted with a great shout: if they did that at the laying of the foundation, much more shall they do it at the bringing forth of the head-stone thereof; as is said here, the words they cry, grace, grace. the phrase comprehends under it these three things: . a wish of the people of god, whereby they wish prosperity to the work. ye may see it was a common wish. "thus saith the lord of hosts, as ye shall use this speech in the land of judah, and cities thereof, when i shall bring again their captivity: the lord bless thee, o habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness." . it comprehends under it a thanksgiving; the workers give all praise to the work. when the builders laid the foundation of the temple, they set the priests with their trumpets, and the levites with their cymbals, to praise the lord, after the ordinance of david: "they sang by course, praising god, and giving thanks unto the lord, because he is good, and his mercy endureth forever." . the third thing it comprehends under it, is a faithful acknowledgment that the work is built and finished, by no power and strength of men, but by the grace of god. look the verse preceding the text, and ye will find it thus, "not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the lord of hosts:" ye may easily apply this. our work that god is bringing up, and will finish, should be a praised work, our wishes should be to it: "the lord bless thee, o habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness." our song of thanksgiving should be in our mouths, "god is good, and his mercy endureth forever."--albeit it go up, let us not ascribe any thing to ourselves, but let us ascribe all to the grace of god; and this will stop all the mouths of disdainers, who say, "who are ye, who think to finish such a work?" we answer, "it will be finished, not by might, nor by strength of man, but by the spirit of the lord of hosts." there are three sorts looking to this work, and to the going up of it: . evil-willers. . well-wishers. . neutrals. . the evil-willers are edom; and he was jacob's brother; yet in psalm cxxxvii. he cries, "raze, raze this work to the foundation." there is a number that is crying, raze, raze this work to the foundation. . there is a second sort that are well-wishers, crying, grace, grace be unto it. in those former years, the shout of raze, raze, hath been louder than grace, grace; but now, god be praised, the shout of grace, grace, is louder than raze, raze. . there is a third sort gazing upon this work, who dare not cry, raze, raze, because they are borne down with grace, grace; they dare not cry grace, grace, for fear of authority. what shall i say to these neutrals? they are so incapable of admonition, that it will be a spending of time to crave their concurrence to the work. to whom shall i speak then? my text is an apostrophe, if i may use one; that which i shall use first is god's own words from isaiah, "hear, o heavens, hearken, o earth, for the lord hath spoken, i have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me." i will next turn me to strangers and foreigners. all ye of reformed kirks (what! have i said strangers? these men who are brought up in the kirk, are strangers from the womb; but) ye are joined with us in a corporation; come therefore with your fellow-feeling, let us hear your shouts and cries of, grace, grace, be unto the kirk of scotland; and let your wishes condemn these ungrateful neutrals, who profess themselves children of this kirk, and yet will not rejoice with us for the good of our mother. now, ye have heard this text in all these six steps. . a mountain seen. . a mountain reproved and disdained. . a mountain to be removed. . a growing work. . to be finished. . with great applause of all well-willers, wishing grace unto the work. and seeing i have ado with this great mountain; both with mountains that impede this work, and all ranks of persons, removers of the work, i will direct my speech to these with the apostrophe in the text. and first, to the mountains lying in the way of this reformation: i rank them in two sorts, viz., prelates, and upholders of prelates. o prelates, if i had hope to come speed with you, i would exhort you in the name of christ, to lay down your worldly dignity, and help us to exalt the kirk of christ: but i fear ye have hardened yourselves so against the truth, that nothing will prevail with you, except ye keep your worldly monarchy; yet ye shall be forced to take up my apostrophe, "o mountains of gilboa, on whom the anointed of the lord is fallen, neither come dew nor rain upon you." ye are these mountains, upon whom christ and his anointed have been slain; the dew and rain of god's grace are not on you: ye may well receive fatness from beneath, to make you great in this world; but from above, ye are not bedewed with the grace of god, without which, whatever your bodies be, ye have clean souls. under this curse i leave you, and turn to you, o great mountains; great men, who are putting your shoulders to hold up this mountain of prelacy; i beseech you, if ye have any love to christ, to take your shoulders, and help from this pestiferous mountain the wreck of christ's kirk. and if exhortance will not prevail with you, i charge you in the name of the great god, and his son jesus christ, to whom one day ye must give your account, that ye in nowise underprop this mountain; the which if ye obey, i am sure the lord will bless you, and your posterity; but if ye will not, though ye were never so high a mountain in this kingdom, ye shall become a plain. in particular, i speak to all ranks of persons. o noblemen, who are the high mountains of this kingdom, bow your tops, and look on the kirk of christ, lying in the vallies, sighing, groaning, swooning and looking towards you with pitiful looks: if the sun of righteousness hath shined on you, let her have a shadow, as ye would have god to be a shadow to you in the day of your distress. barons and gentlemen, who are as the pleasant hills coming from the mountains (i speak to you for the relation that is betwixt you and the mountains, for by your descent ye are hewn out of the mountains) my heart is glad to see you lift your tops, as the palms of your hands reached to the mountains, that they and ye may be as a shelter for the kirk of christ. i pray you separate not your hands from theirs, till our work be brought forth with shouting. burrows (burghs), who are as the vallies god hath blessed with the fatness of the earth, and the merchandise of the sea; the mountains and hills are looking to you, and ye to them: join yourselves in an inseparable union, and compass the vineyard of christ; be to her a wall of defence, lest the wild beasts of the wood waste it, and the wild beasts of the forest devour it. ministers, and my faithful brethren in christ, whose feet are beautiful upon the mountains, say unto zion, "behold thy god reigneth." i tell you, within these two years, an honest man's feet were not beautiful upon the streets of edinburgh. we might have gone home to our houses again, and shaken the dust off our feet for a conviction against this unthankful generation; but now (god be praised) they are beautiful, and we are comely in their eyes, not for any thing in us, for we lay all down at the feet of christ; but because we are gone up upon mount zion, and as the lord's messengers, have cried, "behold thy god reigneth." i pray you, if ye have any love to the kirk of christ, withdraw both your tongues and pens from this mountain, and apply them against it; apply your wits, engines, spirits, and all your strength to beat down this mountain; yea, tread upon it, and use the sharp threshing instruments which god hath put into your hands, and thresh upon that mountain, till it be beaten small as the chaff. shall i pass you that are commons? truly my delight hath not been so great upon this mountain, as to make me overlook you. my good people, beloved in christ, have ye nothing to contribute for this work? have ye not so much power as the mountains and hills have? or, have ye not such substance as the vallies? yet something ye have, give it, and it will be acceptable, something against the mountain, and something for the work. if ye have no more against the mountain, let me have your tears, prayers, and strong cries; i am sure there is as great value in them, as in the rams' horns that blew down jericho: send up your prayers, and cry with the psalmist, "bow thy heavens, o lord, and come down, touch the mountains, and they shall smoke; cast forth lightning, and scatter them; shoot out thine arrows, and destroy them; send thine hand from above, and deliver me out of the great waters, from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, their right hand is a right hand of falsehood." as ye have your tears and prayers against this mountain, lend me also what ye have for the going up of this work: if ye have no more, let us have your shouts and hearty crying, "grace, grace be unto it." time will not suffer me to speak any more, yet time shall never bereave you or me of this. let us all resolve so long as our life is in, even to the last gasp, as god will help us, that this shall be our last cry, grace, grace be unto this work of reformation in the kirk of scotland. to this grace i recommend you, and close with that wish of the apostles in the new testament. _the grace of god be with you all._ amen. the solemn league and covenant. [illustration] the solemn league and covenant: _for reformation and defence of religion, the honour and happiness of the king, and the peace and safety of the three kingdoms of scotland, england, and ireland; agreed upon by commissioners from the parliament and assembly of divines in england, with commissioners of the convention of estates, and general assembly in scotland; approved by the general assembly of the church of scotland, and by both houses of parliament and assembly of divines in england, and taken and subscribed by them_, anno ; _and thereafter, by the said authority, taken and subscribed by all ranks in scotland and england the same year; and ratified by the act of parliament of scotland_, anno : _and again renewed in scotland, with an acknowledgment of sins, and engagement to duties, by all ranks_, anno , _and by parliament_ ; _and taken and subscribed by_ king charles ii. at spey, june , ; and at scoon, january , . we noblemen, barons, knights, gentlemen, citizens, burgesses, ministers of the gospel, and commons of all sorts in the kingdoms of scotland, england, and ireland, by the providence of god, living under one king, and being of one reformed religion, having before our eyes the glory of god, and the advancement of the kingdom of our lord and saviour jesus christ, the honour and happiness of the king's majesty and his posterity, and the true publick liberty, safety, and peace of the kingdoms, wherein every one's private condition is included: and calling to mind the treacherous and bloody plots, conspiracies, attempts, and practices of the enemies of god, against the true religion and professors thereof in all places, especially in these three kingdoms, ever since the reformation of religion; and how much their rage, power, and presumption are of late, and at this time, increased and exercised, whereof the deplorable state of the church and kingdom of ireland, the distressed estate of the church and kingdom of england, and the dangerous estate of the church and kingdom of scotland, are present and public testimonies; we have now at last, (after other means of supplication, remonstrance, protestation, and sufferings,) for the preservation of ourselves and our religion from utter ruin and destruction, according to the commendable practice of these kingdoms in former times, and the example of god's people in other nations, after mature deliberation, resolved and determined to enter into a mutual and solemn league and covenant, wherein we all subscribe, and each one of us for himself, with our hands lifted up to the most high god, do swear, i. that we shall sincerely, really, and constantly, through the grace of god, endeavour, in our several places and callings, the preservation of the reformed religion in the church of scotland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government against our common enemies; the reformation of religion in the kingdoms of england and ireland, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, according to the word of god, and the example of the best reformed churches: and shall endeavour to bring the churches of god in the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion, confession of faith, form of church-government, directory for worship and catechising; that we, and our posterity after us, may, as brethren, live in faith and love, and the lord may delight to dwell in the midst of us. ii. that we shall, in like manner, without respect of persons endeavour the extirpation of popery, prelacy, (that is, church-government by archbishops, bishops, their chancellors, and commissaries, deans, deans and chapters, archdeacons, and all other ecclesiastical officers depending on hierarchy,) superstition, heresy, schism, profaneness, and whatsoever shall be found to be contrary to sound doctrine and the power of godliness, lest we partake in other men's sins, and thereby be in danger to receive of their plagues; and that the lord may be one, and his name one, in the three kingdoms. iii. we shall, with the same sincerity, reality, and constancy, in our several vocations, endeavour, with our estates and lives, mutually to preserve the rights and privileges of the parliaments, and the liberties of the kingdoms; and to preserve and defend the king's majesty's person and authority, in the preservation and defence of the true religion, and liberties of the kingdoms; that the world may bear witness with our consciences of our loyalty, and that we have no thoughts or intentions to diminish his majesty's just power and greatness. iv. we shall also, with all faithfulness, endeavour the discovery of all such as have been or shall be incendiaries, malignants, or evil instruments, by hindering the reformation of religion, dividing the king from his people, or one of the kingdoms from another, or making any faction or parties amongst the people, contrary to this league and covenant; that they may be brought to public trial, and receive condign punishment, as the degree of their offences shall require or deserve, or the supreme judicatories of both kingdoms respectively, or others having power from them for that effect, shall judge convenient. v. and whereas the happiness of a blessed peace between these kingdoms, denied in former times to our progenitors, is, by the good providence of god, granted unto us, and hath been lately concluded and settled by both parliaments; we shall each one of us, according to our place and interest, endeavour that they may remain conjoined in a firm peace and union to all posterity; and that justice may be done upon the wilful opposers thereof, in manner expressed in the precedent article. vi. we shall also, according to our places and callings, in this common cause of religion, liberty, and peace of the kingdoms, assist and defend all those that enter into this league and covenant, in the maintaining and pursuing thereof; and shall not suffer ourselves, directly or indirectly, by whatsoever combination, persuasion, or terror, to be divided and withdrawn from this blessed union and conjunction, whether to make defection to the contrary part, or to give ourselves to a detestable indifferency or neutrality in this cause which so much concerneth the glory of god, the good of the kingdom, and honour of the king; but shall, all the days of our lives, zealously and constantly continue therein against all opposition, and promote the same, according to our power, against all lets and impediments whatsoever; and, what we are not able ourselves to suppress or overcome, we shall reveal and make known, that it may be timely prevented or removed: all which we shall do as in the sight of god. and, because these kingdoms are guilty of many sins and provocations against god, and his son jesus christ, as is too manifest by our present distresses and dangers, the fruits thereof; we profess and declare, before god and the world, our unfeigned desire to be humbled for our own sins, and for the sins of these kingdoms; especially, that we have not as we ought valued the inestimable benefit of the gospel; that we have not laboured for the purity and power thereof; and that we have not endeavoured to receive christ in our hearts, nor to walk worthy of him in our lives; which are the causes of other sins and transgressions so much abounding amongst us: and our true and unfeigned purpose, desire, and endeavour for ourselves, and all others under our power and charge, both in public and in private, in all duties we owe to god and man, to amend our lives, and each one to go before another in the example of a real reformation; that the lord may turn away his wrath and heavy indignation, and establish these churches and kingdoms in truth and peace. and this covenant we make in the presence of almighty god, the searcher of all hearts, with a true intention to perform the same, as we shall answer at that great day, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed; most humbly beseeching the lord to strengthen us by his holy spirit for this end, and to bless our desires and proceedings with such success, as may be deliverance and safety to his people, and encouragement to other christian churches, groaning under, or in danger of, the yoke of antichristian tyranny, to join in the same or like association and covenant, to the glory of god, the enlargement of the kingdom of jesus christ, and the peace and tranquility of christian kingdoms and commonwealths. the solemn league and covenant. act of the general assembly of the church of scotland. _at edinburgh, august th, , sess._ . the assembly having recommended unto a committee, appointed by them to join with the committee of the honourable convention of estates, and the commissioners of the honourable houses of the parliament of england, for bringing the kingdoms to a more near conjunction and union, received from the aforesaid committees the covenant after-mentioned, as the result of their consultations: and having taken the same, as a matter of so public concernment and of so deep importance doth require, unto their gravest consideration, did with all their hearts, and with the beginnings of the feelings of that joy, which they did find in so great measure upon the renovation of the national covenant of this kirk and kingdom, all with one voice approve and embrace the same, as the most powerful mean, by the blessing of god, for the settling and preserving the true protestant religion, with perfect peace in his majesty's dominions, and propagating the same to other nations, and for establishing his majesty's throne to all ages and generations. and therefore, with their best affections, recommended the same to the hon. convention of estates, that being examined and approved by them, it may be sent with all diligence to the kingdom of england, that being received and approven there, the same may be, with public humiliation, and all religious and answerable solemnity, sworn and subscribed by all true professors of the reformed religion, and all his majesty's good subjects in both kingdoms. the solemn league and covenant. exhortation at westminster. _by philip nye._[ ] a great and solemn work (honourable and reverend) this day is put into our hands; let us stir up and awaken our hearts unto it. we deal with god as well as with men, and with god in his greatness and excellency, for by him we swear; and at the same time we have to do with god and his goodness, who now reacheth out unto us a strong and seasonable arm of assistance. the goodness of god procuring succour and help to a sinful and afflicted people (such are we) ought to be matter of fear and trembling, even to all that hear of it. we are to exalt and acknowledge him this day, who is fearful in praises, swear by that name which is holy and reverend, enter into a covenant and league that is never to be forgotten by us nor our posterity, and the fruit i hope of it shall be so great, as both we and they shall have cause to remember it with joy; and such an oath as for matter, persons, and other circumstances, the like hath not been in any age or oath we read of in sacred or human history, yet sufficiently warranted in both. the parties engaging in this league, are three kingdoms, famous for the knowledge and acknowledgment of christ above all the kingdoms in the world; to swear before such a presence should mould the spirit of man into a great deal of reverence. what then to be engaged, to be incorporated, and that by sacred oath, with such an high and honourable fraternity? an oath is to be esteemed so much the more solemn, by how much greater the persons are that swear each to other; so in this business, where kingdoms swear mutually. and as the solemnity of an oath is to be measured by the persons swearing, so by the matter also that is to be sworn to. god would not swear to the covenant of works, he intended not to honour it so much, it was not to continue, it was not worthy of an oath of his; but to the covenant of grace, which is the gospel, he swears, and repents not of it. god swears for the salvation of men, and of kingdoms: and if kingdoms swear, what subject of an oath becometh them better than the preservation and salvation of kingdoms, by establishing the kingdom of a saviour amongst them, even our lord and saviour jesus christ, who is a mediator and saviour for nations as well as particular persons? the end also is great and honourable, as either of the former. "two are better than one," saith he, who knoweth what is best, and from whom alone every thing hath the goodness it hath. association is of divine offspring; not only the being of creatures, but the putting of them together. the cluster as well as the grape is the work of god. consort and harmony amongst men, especially amongst saints, is very pleasing unto the lord. if, when but two or three agree and assent upon any thing on earth, it shall be confirmed in heaven, and for this, because they gather together in his name; much more when two or three kingdoms shall meet, and consent together in his name, and for his name, that god "may be one, and his name one amongst them," and his presence amidst them. that prayer of christ seemeth to proceed from a feeling sense of his own blessedness, "father, that they may be one, as thou in me." unity among his churches and children must needs therefore be very acceptable unto him: for out of the more deep sense desires are fetcht from within us, the more pleasing will be the answer of them unto us. churches and kingdoms are near to god, his patience towards them, his compassions over them more than particular persons sheweth it plainly. but kingdoms willingly engaging themselves for his kingdom, his christ, his saints, the purity of religion, his worship and government, in all particulars, and in all humility sitting down at his feet to receive the law, and the rule from his mouth: what a price doth he set upon such? especially, when (as we this day) sensible of our infirmity, and of an unfaithful heart not steady with our god, but apt to start from the cause, if we feel the knife or the fire; who bind ourselves with cords, as a sacrifice to the horns of the altar; we invocate the name of the great god, that his vows, yea, his curse may be upon us, if we do not this; yea, though we suffer for so doing, that is, if we endeavour not so far as the lord shall assist us by his grace, to advance the kingdom of the lord jesus christ here upon earth, and make jerusalem once more the praise of the whole world, notwithstanding all the contradictions of men. what is this but the contents and matter of our oath? what do we covenant? what do we vow? is it not the preservation of religion, where it is reformed, and the reformation of religion, where it needs? is it not the reformation of three kingdoms, and a reformation universal, in doctrine, discipline, and worship, in whatsoever the word shall discover unto us? to practise is a fruit of love; to reform, a fruit of zeal; but so to reform, will be a token of great prudence and circumspection in each of these churches: and all this to be done according to god's word, the best rule, and according to the best reformed churches, and best interpreters of this rule. if england hath obtained to any greater perfection in so handling the word of righteousness, and truths that are according to godliness, as to make men more godly, more righteous: and, if in the churches of scotland any more light and beauty in matters of order and discipline, by which their assemblies are more orderly: or, if to any other church or person, it hath been given better to have learned christ in any of his ways, than any of us, we shall humbly bow, and kiss their lips that can speak right words unto us, in this matter, and help us into the nearest uniformity with the word and mind of christ in this great work of reformation. honourable and reverend brethren, there cannot be a more direct and effectual way to exhort and persuade the wise, and men of sad and serious spirits (and such are you to whom i am commanded to speak this day) than to let into their understandings the weight, and worth, and great importance of the work, they are persuaded unto. this oath is such, and, in the matter and consequence of it, of such concernment, as i can truly say, it is worthy of us; yea, of all these kingdoms; yea, of all the kingdoms of the world; for it is swearing fealty and allegiance unto christ, the king of kings; and giving up of all these kingdoms which are in his inheritance, to be subdued more to his throne, and ruled more by his sceptre, upon whose shoulders the government is laid, and "of the increase of whose government and peace there shall be no end." yea, we find this very thing in the utmost accomplishment of it, to have been the oath of the greatest angel that ever was, who setting his feet upon two of god's kingdoms, the one upon the sea, the other upon the earth, lifting up his hand to heaven, as you are to do this day, and so swearing. the effect of that oath you shall find to be this, "that the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of the lord and his christ, and he shall reign forever." his oath was for the full and final accomplishment, this of yours for a gradual, yet a great performance towards it. that which the apostles and primitive times did so much and so long pray for, tho' never long with much quietness enjoyed; that which our fathers in these latter times have fasted, prayed and mourned after, yet attained not; even the cause which many dear saints now with god, have furthered by extremest sufferings, poverty, imprisonment, banishment, death, even ever since the first dawning of reformation: that and the very same is the very cause and work that we are come now, through the mercy of jesus christ, not only to pray for, but swear to. and surely it can be no other, but the result and answer of such prayers and tears, of such sincerity and sufferings, that three kingdoms should be thus born, or rather new-born in a day; that these kingdoms should be wrought about to so great an engagement, than which nothing is higher. for this end kings reign, kingdoms stand, and states are upheld. it is a special grace and favour of god unto you, brethren, (reverend and honourable) to vouchsafe you the opportunity, and to put into your hearts, as this day, to engage your lives and estates in matters so much concerning him and his glory. and if you should do no more, but lay a foundation stone in this great work, and by so doing engage posterity after you to finish it, it were honour enough: but there may yet further use be made of you, who now are to take this oath. you are designed as chief master-builders, and choice instruments for the effecting of this settled peace and reformation; which, if the lord shall please to finish in your hands, a greater happiness on earth, nor a greater means to augment your glory and crown in heaven, you are not capable of. and this, let me further add for your encouragement, of what extensive good, and fruit in the success of it, this very oath may prove to be, we know not. god hath set his covenant like the heavens, not only for duration, but like also for extension. the heavens move and roll about, and so communicate their light, and heat, and virtue, to all places and parts of the earth; so doth the covenant of god; so may this gift be given to other covenants, that are framed to this pattern. how much this solemn league and oath may provoke other reformed churches to a further reformation of themselves; what light and heat it may communicate abroad to other parts of the world, it is only in him to define, to whom is given the utmost ends of the earth for his inheritance, and worketh by his exceeding great power great things out of small beginnings. but however, this i am sure of, it is a way in all probability most likely to enable us to preserve and defend our religion against our common enemies; and possibly a more sure foundation this day will be laid for ruining popery and prelacy, the chief of them, than yet hath been led unto in any age. for popery hath been a religion ever dexterous in fencing and mounting itself by association and joint strength. all sorts of professors amongst them are cast into fraternities and brotherhoods; and these orders carefully united by vow one with another, and under some more general notion of common dependence. such states also and kingdoms, as they have thus made theirs, they endeavour to improve and secure by strict combinations and leagues each to other; witness of late years that _la sainte ligue_, the holy league. it will not be unworthy your consideration, whether, seeing the preservation of popery hath been by leagues and covenant, god may not make a league or covenant to be the destruction of it. nay, the very rise of popery seemeth to be after such a manner, by kings, that is kingdoms assenting and agreeing perhaps by some joint covenant (the text saith, "with one mind," why not then with one mouth) to give their power and strength unto the beast, and make war against the lamb. for you read, "the lamb shall overcome the beast," and possibly with the same weapons. he is the lord of lords, and king of kings, he can unite kings and kingdoms, and give them one mind also to destroy the whore, and be her utter ruin. and may not this day's work be a happy beginning of such a blessed expedition? prelacy, another common enemy, that we covenant and swear against. what hath been, or what hath the strength of it been, but a subtile combination of clergymen, formed into a policy or body of their own invention, framing themselves into subordination and dependence one upon another; so that the interest of each is improved by all, and a great power by this means acquired to themselves, as by sad experience we have lately found. the joints and members of this body, you know, were knit together by the sacred engagement of an oath, the _oath of canonical obedience_, as they called it. you remember also, with what cunning industry they endeavoured lately, to make this oath and covenant more sure for themselves and their posterity, and intended a more public, solemn and universal engagement; than since popery, this cause of theirs, was ever maintained or supported by: and questionless, ireland and scotland also must at last have been brought into this holy league with england. but blessed be the lord, and blessed be his good hand, the parliament that, from the indignation of their spirits against so horrid a yoke, have dashed out the very brains of this project, and are now this day present before the lord, to take and give possession of this blessed ordinance, even an oath and covenant, as solemn, and of as large extent, as they intended theirs; uniting these three kingdoms into such a league and happy combination, as will doubtless preserve us and our reformation against them, though their iniquity, in the mysteries of it, should still be working amongst us. come, therefore (i speak in the words of the prophet) "let us join ourselves to the lord," and one to another, and each to all, "in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten." we are now entering upon a work of the greatest moment and concernment to us, and to our posterity after us, that ever was undertaken by any of us, or any of our forefathers before us, or neighbouring nations about us; if the lord shall bless this our beginning, it will be a happy day, and we shall be a happy people. an oath is a duty of the first commandment, and therefore of the highest and noblest order and rank of duties, therefore must come forth attended with choicest graces, especially with these two, humility and fear. fear, not only of god, which ought to be in an eminent measure. jacob sware by the fear of his father isaac, as if he coveted to inherit his father's grace, as well as his father's god: but also, fear of an oath, it being a dreadful duty, and hath this peculiar, it is established by the oath of god, "i have sworn, that unto me every tongue shall swear." it is made the very character of a saint, he fears an oath. humility is another grace requisite. set your hearts before god in an humble obedient frame. "thou shall fear the lord thy god, and serve him, and swear by his name." the apostle paul was sensible of this engagement, even in the very act of this duty. "i call god to witness, whom i serve in my spirit:" although it be a work of the lips, yet the heart, and the whole man must be interested, if we expect this worship to be acceptable. "accept the free-will offering of my mouth, and teach me thy judgments." also it must be done in the greatest simplicity and plainness of spirit, in respect of those with whom we covenant; we call god as a witness betwixt us, who searcheth the heart: "with him is wisdom and strength, the deceived and deceiver are his." he hath wisdom to discover, and strength to punish, if our hearts be not upright to our brethren in this matter. let us be contented with this, that the words of our covenant be bands; it may not be, so much as in the desire of our hearts, that they should become snares, no not to the weakest and simplest person that joineth with us. on the whole work make your address unto god, as jacob did to his father isaac, and let there be the like fear and jealousy over your spirits. "my father peradventure will feel me, and i shall seem to him as a deceiver, and i shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing." i take liberty with more earnestness to press this care upon you, because i have observed oaths and covenants have been undertaken by us formerly, and by the command of authority, the fruit whereof, though great, yet answered not our expectation; the lord surely hath been displeased with the slightness of our hearts in the work. i beseech you be more watchful, and stir up your hearts with more industry this day than ever before. as it is the last oath you are likely to take in this kind, so it is our last refuge, _tabula post naufragium_. if this help us not, we are likely to remain to our dying day an unhappy people; but if otherwise, "you will indeed swear with all your hearts, and seek the lord with your whole desire, god will be found, and give you rest round about." and having sworn, and entered into this solemn engagement to god and man, make conscience to do accordingly; otherwise it is better thou shouldst not vow. as is said of fasting, "it is not the bowing down of the head for a day;" so of this solemn swearing, it is not the lifting up of the hand for a day, but an honest and faithful endeavouring after the contents of this covenant, all our days. a truce-breaker is reckoned up amongst the vilest of christians, so a covenant-breaker is listed amongst the worst of heathens, but he that sweareth and changeth not, tho' he swear to his hurt, that is, he that will keep his covenant and oath, tho' the contents of it prove not for him, nay possibly against him, yet he will keep it for his oath's sake, such an one "shall have his habitation with the most high, and dwell in his tabernacle." and as for you, reverend brethren, that are ministers of the gospel, there is yet another obligation will lie upon you: let us look to ourselves, and make provision to walk answerable to this our covenant, for the gospel's sake: it will reflect a great aspersion upon the truth of the gospel, if we should be false or inconstant in any word or purpose, tho' in a matter of less consequence, as you can easily collect from that apology of paul. how much more in such a case as this is, if we should be found to purpose, nay more, to vow, and covenant, and swear, and all this according unto the flesh, and with us there should be, notwithstanding all these obligations, yea, yea, and nay, nay. that we may all, who take the covenant this day, be constant, immoveable, and abound in this work of the lord, that we may not start aside, or give back, or go on uncomfortably, there is a twofold grace or qualification to be laboured after. . we must get courage, spirits that are bold and resolute. it is said in haggai, that "the lord stirred up the spirit of zerubbabel, governor of judah, and the spirit of joshua, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and did work in the house of the lord." the work of god's house, reformation work especially, is a stirring work: read history, you find not any where, reformation made in any age, either in doctrine or discipline, without great stir and opposition. this was foretold by the same prophet, the promise is, "he will fill his house with glory." but what goeth before. "yet once it is a little while, and i will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land," that is, all nations, as in the words following. this place is applied to the removing jewish rites, the moveables of god's house. the like you find in the apostles' times, the truth being preached, some believed, others did not. here beginneth the stir. those that believed not, "took unto themselves certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city in an uproar;" and when they had done so, complained of the brethren to the rulers, as men that turn the world upside down. in such a work therefore, men had need be of stout, resolute and composed spirits, that we may be able to go on in the main, and stir in the midst of such stirs, and not be amazed at any such doings. it may possibly happen, that even amongst yourselves, there will be outcries: sir, you will undo all, saith one; you will put all into confusion, saith another; if you take this course, saith a third, we can expect nothing but blood. but a wise statesman, like an experienced seaman, knoweth the compass of his vessel, and tho' it heave, toss, and the passengers cry out about him, yet in the midst of all, he is himself, turneth not aside from his work, but steereth on his course. i beseech you, let it be seriously considered, if you mean to do any such work in the house of god, as this is; if you mean to pluck up what many years ago was planted, or to build up what so long ago was pulled down, and to go thro' with this work and not be discouraged, you must beg of the lord this excellent spirit, this resolute, stirring spirit, otherwise you will be outspirited, and both you and your cause slighted and dishonoured. . on the other hand, we must labour for humility, prudence, gentleness, meekness. a man may be very zealous and resolute, and yet very meek and merciful: jesus christ was a lion, and yet a lamb also; in one place, he telleth them he cometh to send "fire on the earth:" and, in another place, rebuketh his disciples "for their fiery spirits." there was the like composition in moses, and in paul; and it is of great use, especially in this work of reformation. i have not observed any disputes carried on with more bitterness in men's writings, and with a more unsanctified heat of spirit, yea, and by godly men too, than in controversies about discipline, church government, ceremonies, and the like. surely, to argue about government with such ungoverned passions, to argue for reformation with a spirit so unreformed, is very uncomely. let us be zealous, as christ was, to cast out all, to extirpate and root out every plant his heavenly father hath not planted; and yet let us do it in an orderly way, and with the spirit of christ, whose servants we are. "the servant of the lord must not strive, but be gentle to all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose." we solemnly engage this day our utmost endeavours for reformation; let us remember this, that too much heat, as well as too much coldness, may harden men in their ways, and hinder reformation. brethren, let us come to this blessed work with such a frame of heart, with such a mind, for the present, with such resolutions for the time to come; let us not be wanting to the opportunity god hath put into our hands this day; and then i can promise you, as the prophet, "consider this day and upwards, even from this day, that the foundation of the lord's work is laid, consider it, from this day will i bless you saith the lord." nay, we have received, as it were, the first fruits of this promise; for, as it is said of some men's good "works, they are manifest before-hand." even so may be said of the good work of this day, it is manifested before-hand. god hath, as it were before-hand, testified his acceptance; while we were thinking and purposing this free-will offering, he was protecting and defending our army, causing our enemies, the enemies of this work, to flee before us, and gave us a victory, not to be despised. surely this oath and covenant shall be judah's joy, the joy and comfort of this whole kingdom, yea, of all the three kingdoms. jesus christ, king of the saints, govern us by his spirit, strengthen us by his power, undertake for us according as he hath sworn, even the "oath which he sware to our father abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life." grant unto us also, that when this life is finished, and we gathered to our fathers, there may be a generation out of our loins to stand up in this cause, that his great and reverend name may be exalted from one generation to another, until he himself shall come, and perfect all his own wisdom: even so come lord jesus, come quickly. amen. the solemn league and covenant. address at westminster.[ ] _by alexander henderson._ although the time be far spent, yet am i bold (honourable, reverend, and beloved in the lord) to crave your patience a little. it were both sin and shame to us in this so acceptable a time in this day, which the lord hath made, to be silent and to say nothing. if we should hold our peace, we could neither be answerable to god, whose cause and work is in hand, nor to this church and kingdom, unto which we have made so large profession of duty, and owe much more; nor to our native kingdom, so abundant in affection towards you; nor to our own hearts, which exceedingly rejoice to see this day. we have greater reason than the leprous men sitting in a time of great extremity at the gates of samaria, to say one to another, "we do not well, this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace." it is true, the syrians are not yet fled; but our hope is through god, that the work begun this day, being sincerely performed, and faithfully pursued, shall put to flight, not only the syrians and babylonians, but all other enemies of the church of god, of the king's honour, and of our liberty and peace. for it is acceptable to god, and well pleasing in his sight, when his people come willingly in the day of his power (and how shall they not be willing in the day of his power?) to enter into a religious covenant with him, and amongst themselves, whatsoever be the condition of the people of god, whether in sorrow and humiliation before deliverance, or in rejoicing and thanksgiving after deliverance. this is it which the lord waits for at their hands, which they have been used to perform, and with which he hath been so well pleased, that it hath been the fountain of many deliverances and blessings unto them. when a people begin to forget god, he lifteth up his hand against them, and smiteth them: and when his people, humbled before him, lift up their hands, not only in supplication, but in covenant before the most high god, he is pleased (such is his mercy and wonderful compassion) first, to lift his hand unto them, saying, "i am the lord your god;" as we have it three times in two verses of the th of ezekiel: and next he stretcheth out his hand against his enemies and theirs. it is the best work of faith, to join in covenant with god, the best work of love and christian communion, to join in covenant with the people of god; the best work of the best zeal, to join in covenant for reformation, against the enemies of god and religion; the best work of true loyalty, to join in covenant for the preservation of our king and superiors; and the best proof of natural affection, (and to be without natural affection is one of the great sins of the gentiles) to join in covenant for defence of our native country, liberties and laws: such as from these necessary ends do withdraw, and are not willing to enter into covenant, have reason to enter into their own hearts, and to look into their faith, love, zeal, loyalty, and natural affection. as it is acceptable to god, so have we for it the precedent and example not only of the people of god of old, of the reformed churches of germany, and the low countries; but of our own noble and christian progenitors in the time of the danger of religion, which is expressed in the covenant itself. the defect was, they went not on thoroughly to enter into a solemn covenant, an happiness reserved for this time, which had they done, the corruptions and calamities of these days might have been prevented. and if the lord shall be pleased to move, loose, and enlarge the hearts of his people in his majesty's dominions to take this covenant, not in simulation, nor in lukewarmness, as those that are almost persuaded to be christians, but as becometh the people of god, it shall be the prevention of many evils and miseries, and a means of many and rich blessings, spiritual and temporal, to ourselves, our little ones, and the posterity that shall come after us, for many generations. the near and neighbouring example of the church and kingdom of scotland, is in this case worthy of our best observation. when the prelates there were grown by their rents, and lordly dignities, by their exorbitant power over all sorts of his majesty's subjects, ministers and others, by their places in parliament, council, college of justice, exchequer, and high commission, to a monstrous dominion and greatness, and, like giants, setting their one foot on the neck of the church, and the other on the neck of the state, were become intolerably insolent. and when the people of god, through their oppression in religion, liberties and laws, and what was dearest unto them, were brought so low, that they choose rather to die, than to live in such slavery, or to live in any other place, rather than in their own native country: then did the lord say, "i have seen the affliction of my people, and i have heard their groaning, and am come down to deliver them." the beginnings were small and contemptible in the eyes of the presumptuous enemies, such as used to be the beginnings of the greatest works of god; but were so seconded and continually followed by the undeniable evidences of divine providence, leading them forward from one step to another, that their mountain became strong in the end. no tongue can tell what motions filled the hearts, what tears were poured forth from the eyes, and what cries came from the mouths of many thousands in that land, when they found an unwonted flame warming their breasts, and perceived the power of god, raising them from the dead, and creating for them a new world, wherein shall dwell religion and righteousness. when they were destitute both of monies and munition, which, next unto the spirit and arms of men, are the sinews of war, the lord brought them forth out of his hid treasures, which was wonderful in their eyes, and matter of astonishment to their hearts: when they were many times at a pause in their deliberations, and brought to such perplexity, that they knew not what to choose, or to do for prosecuting the work of god, only their eyes were towards him; not only the fears and furies, but the plots also and policies of the adversaries opened the way unto them, their devices were turned upon their own heads, and served for promoting of the work of god. the purity of their intentions elevated above base and earthly respects, and the constant peace of their hearts in the midst of many dangers, did bear them out against the malicious accusations and aspersions put upon their actions: all which were sensible impressions of the good providence of god, and legible characters of his work; which the church and kingdom of england, exercised at this time with greater difficulty than theirs, have in part already found; so shall the parallel be perfected to their greater comfort in the faithful pursuing of the work unto the end. necessity, which hath in it a kind of sovereignty, and is a law above all laws, and therefore is said to have no law, doth mightily press the church and kingdom of scotland at this time. it is no small comfort unto them, that they have not been idle, and at ease, but have used all good and lawful means of supplications, declarations and remonstrances to his majesty, for quenching the combustion in this kingdom: and after all these, that they sent commissioners to his majesty, humbly to mediate for a reconcilement and pacification. but the offer of their humble service was rejected from no other reason, but that they had no warrant nor capacity for such a mediation; and that the intermixture of the government of the church of england, with the civil government of the kingdom, was such a mystery as could not be understood by them. although it be true, which was at that time often replied, that the eighth demand of the treaty, and the answer given thereunto, concerning the uniformity of religion, was a sufficient ground of capacity; and the proceedings of the houses of parliament against episcopal government, as a stumbling block hindering reformation, and as a prejudice to the civil state, was ground enough for their information. the commissioners having returned from his majesty without success, and the miseries of ireland, and the distresses of england, and the dangers and pressures of the kingdom of scotland, growing to greater extremity; such as were intrusted with the public affairs of the kingdom, were necessitate, according to the practice of former times, his majesty having denied a parliament, to call a convention of the estates, for considering of the present affairs, and for providing the best remedies: which, immediately upon their meeting, by the special providence of god, did receive information of divers treacherous attempts of papists, in all the three kingdoms, as if they had been called for that effect. and by the same providence, commissioners were sent from both houses of parliament, to consider with the estates of the kingdom of scotland, of such articles and propositions, as might make the conjunction betwixt the two nations more beneficial and effectual for the securing of religion and liberty against papists and prelates, with their adherents. their consultations with the commissioners of the general assembly did in the end bring forth a covenant, as the only means after all other had been essayed, for the deliverance of england and ireland out of the depths of affliction, preservation of the church and kingdom of scotland from the extremity of misery, and the safety of our native king and his kingdoms, from destruction and desolation. this is the manifold necessity which nature, religion, loyalty and love hath laid upon them. nor is it unknown in this honourable, reverend and wise audience, what errors and heresies in doctrine, what superstition and idolatry in worship, what usurpation and tyranny in government, what cruelty against the souls and bodies of the saints have been set on foot, exercised and executed for many generations, and now of late by the roman church: all which we hope, through the blessing of god upon this work, shall be brought to an end. had the pope at rome the knowledge of what is doing this day in england, and were this covenant written on the plaster of the wall over against him, where he sitteth, belshazzar-like in his sacrilegious pomp, it would make his heart to tremble, his countenance to change, his head and mitre to shake, his joints to loose, and all his cardinals and prelates to be astonished. when the reformed churches, which by their letters have been exciting us to christian communion and sympathy, in this time of the danger of religion and distress of the godly, shall hear of this blessed conjunction for uniformity in religion, according to the word of god, and the defence thereof, it shall quicken their hearts against the heaviness of oppressing sorrows and fears; and be no other than a beginning of a jubilee and joyful deliverance unto them, from the antichristian yoke and tyranny. upon these and the like considerations, we are very confident that the church and kingdom of scotland will most cheerfully join in this covenant; at the first motion whereof, their bowels were moved within them. and to give testimony of this our confidence, we who are commissioners from the general assembly, although we have no particular and express commission for that end (not from want of willingness, but of foresight) offer to join our hearts and hands unto it, being assured, that the lord in his own time will, against all opposition, even against the gates of hell, crown it with a blessing from heaven. the word of god is for it, as you have been now resolved by the consent and testimony of a reverend assembly of so many godly, learned and great divines. in your own sense and experience, upon seeking god in private or public, as in the evening of a well spent sabbath or day of fast and humiliation, the bent and inclinations of your hearts will be strongest to go through with this work. it is a good testimony that our designs and ways are agreeable to the will of god, if we affect them most when our hearts are farthest from the world, and our temper is most spiritual and heavenly, and least carnal and earthly. as the word of god, so the prayers of the people of god in all the reformed churches, are for us. that divine providence also which hath maintained this cause, and supported his servants in a marvellous manner unto this day, and which this time past hath kept things in an equal balance and vicissitude of success, will, we trust, from this day forth, through the weight of this covenant, cast the balance, and make religion and righteousness to prevail, to the glory of god, the honour of our king, the confusion of our common enemies, and the comfort and safety of the people of god; which, may he grant who is able to do above any thing that we can ask or think. [illustration: fac-simile of old title page of following sermon.] _the heart's engagement._ a sermon preached at st. _margaret's westminster_, at the publick entering into the covenant, by i. _some of the nobility, knighthood and gentry._ ii. _divers colonels, officers and soldiers._ iii. _those of the_ scotish _nation about the city._ iv. _many reverend divines here residing._ september th, anno . by the reverend mr. thomas coleman, one of the members of the _westminster_ assembly of _divines_. preached and published according to the several orders of the honourable house of commons. nehem. x. , . _the people ... entred into a curse, and into an oath to walk in god's law,_ &c. glasgow, printed for george paton, book-seller in _linlithgow_. mdccxli. the solemn league and covenant. sermon at westminster. _by thomas coleman._ "for who is this, that engaged his heart to approach unto me, saith the lord?"--_jerem._ xxx. . two things in this clause cause some obscurity: _first_, the uncertainty of the subject. _second_, the ambiguity of one phrase. . the uncertainty of the subject, or person of whom the prophet speaks here: whether of christ, by way of prophecy, or of some particular person, by way of story, or indefinitely of every one, by way of duty. . the ambiguity of that phrase, _engaged;_ which, according to the variety of its signification, is or may be variously rendered. _he adorned his heart; he applied his heart; he directed his heart; he engaged his heart._ hereupon the sense becomes various. . who is he, _viz._ christ, hath appointed his heart? can there be found a parallel to christ in the world, that hath so given himself up to god? made him and his ways his meat and drink, yea more than his ordinary food? . who hath fitted and adorned his heart? is there any that can adorn and prepare himself to approach unto god, without god? . to omit others of like nature: it may be true, that it is chiefly spoken of christ: the titles in the beginning of the verse look this way; his noble one, his ruler; but seeing christ is the head of the body, and one with his body, it may secondarily, and by way of communication, be also affirmed of his members; and to them we extend it. the clause therefore seems dependent, and as it is applied to man, hath reference to that which is an act of god, and seems to be a reason thereof. "i will cause him," saith god, "to draw nigh, and he then shall approach; for who is this that hath engaged his heart?" the force of which inference may look two ways. . shewing the impossibility in man to begin the action: "i will cause him to draw nigh; for who is this, that hath engaged his heart?" where is the man that can direct his heart, approach to me of himself, by his own power? not any, not one: "without me you can do nothing." . approving the endeavour to continue; i will cause him to draw near, that he may approach, and stay with me: he doeth his best, according to his strength; "he engageth his heart," i will help on with the work; "for who is this?" oh this is an excellent one; there are not many so; that any, that this is so, is beyond expectation, worthy of commendation. what an one is this? "who is it that hath engaged," tied, bound his heart from starting aside like a broken bow, to approach to, and to continue with me, saith the lord? in the words (to proceed methodically and clearly) i offer the sum of my thoughts, to be considered under four general heads, or parts. i. the opening of the phrases. ii. the propounding of the point. iii. the viewing of the duty. iv. the encouragement to the practice. in and through these we shall walk, as travellers, who speed their pace in those fields which yield no novelties, no fruit, no delight, but where they meet with varieties to delight the senses, fruitful places, green pastures to refresh themselves and beasts, they rest themselves and bait: so in some of these we shall only take and offer a taste, on others insist, as god shall direct; wherein an engagement of the attentions in the handling to me, may, through god's mercy, beget an engagement of the heart to god in the applying of them in order. i.--_the opening of the phrases._ for the fuller understanding of the prophet's drift, three words or phrases in this short sentence are a little to be cleared; for it containeth three parts: . an action of piety. . the object of this action. . the inquiry into both: and these are expressed in so many several particles. . the action of piety, engaging the heart. the heart may prove loose and wandering without an engagement: the engagement may be hypocritical and sinister, if it be not of the heart; but the one implying stability, the other sincerity, both together complete it as an action of piety. . the object of this action, "to approach unto me." sin may be the object pursued, and god may be beheld at a distance: in this, we do not approach; in that, we approach not to god; but either is needful. god abhors those that approach to sin: he minds not those that look to him at their distance: except then thou approach, and approach unto god, thy endeavour is either cold or cursed. . the inquiry into both, who is this? into the act of engagement, because it is not usual, into the part engaged, because it is subtile; and what we seldom see, or groundedly suspect, we have cause to inquire after. of the first; this engagement is a degree of the heart's motion towards any object, good and bad; for it was an engagement, though a bad one, when more than forty men bound themselves with an oath from eating and drinking, till they had killed paul. to this degree of engagement we ascend by these steps, and the heart of man perfects a motion towards god and good things thus gradually. . by an inclination or hankering, a propensity in the mind to this or that: this naturally is evil, and to evil; he that follows his inclination goes wrong, the whole frame of a man's disposition being continually ill-disposed. it is called in scripture the speech or saying of the heart, and used indifferently both of good and bad, yet with a notable mark of diversity in the original, though translations mind it not. eight times in the old testament is this phrase, "said in his heart," used: four times by the wicked, and as oft by the righteous; but constantly, whensoever a wicked man useth it, as david's fool, esau, haman, satan, it is in his heart; when a good man, as hannah, david, it is to his heart; and teacheth: . that the heart and courses of a wicked man are subject to his inclinations; they dictate to him; they command, and he obeys. . but the inclinations of a good man are subject to him; he dictates to them, commands them as things subdued, and fit to be kept under. both these different inclinations, different, i say, in respect of subject and object, are strengthened with nothing more than the often reiteration of suitable acts; an evil inclination with evil acts, a good with good. . sin gathereth strength by frequency of committing, and at last becomes as natural as meat or sleep. "by following vanity, they became vain." . a good inclination is furthered by good actions; frequency in performance turns to a habit: therefore the jews, to habituate their heart to mourning, do always, for the space of three days before the memorial of the temple's desolation, in their public meetings, read chapters of mourning; for (say they) three acts make a habit. and hereupon it was: that israel, above and before other nations, became a blessed people; blessings being even naturalized upon them by the holiness of the three patriarchs, abraham, isaac, and jacob, immediately succeeding one the other. . by a desire, which is an inclination augmented and actuated, carrying on the party to the thing desired, grounded on, or inclined by some external enforcements. this was in paul, who by that relation to, and interest that he had in, the thessalonians, endeavoured abundantly with much desire to see their face, which put him to the essay once and again. . a purpose, a determination to effect, to accomplish his desire. i have purposed, saith david, "that my mouth shall not transgress," which purposing, before it be taken up, should be well grounded, and, when taken up, not lightly altered. for see, how a change in such a purpose, put the apostle to a serious apology; he was minded to have visited them, he did not; he foresaw they might, they would tax him of lightness, as either not minding, or not being master of his own determinations, and so consequently his ministry, and therein the gospel might be blemished: the fear of which struck his heart, the prevention of which moved his spirit, that both they might be satisfied and himself remain without blame. . a resolve, a purpose settled; daniel was fully resolved, he had laid this charge upon his heart, that he would not defile himself with the king's meat. . a tie or obligation, whereby the heart, otherwise shifty, is bound to the work intended, sometime by a single promise, sometime by an oath or vow, and sometime more publicly by a solemn covenant. and this last and highest degree is that which the prophet speaks, at least in this sense i take it. this is that engagement of soul, whereby a man prevents his starting aside: and this is that first phrase that was to be opened. of the second; "to approach unto me." this is the object, and this approachment is threefold: . in his inward man. . in his outward man. . in both. . in his inward man; in heart, by drawing close to god, enjoying a sensible and blessed communion with him, which is comfortable in such a degree that, where it is felt, it needs no bidding to make an engagement. . in his outward man, in his person approaching to god in the practice of all duties commanded; god in his ordinances is powerfully present, man in their use stands within this presence. . in both, in all his abilities approaching to him in managing his holy cause; and therefore holy, because his. god walks in the midst of his people's armies: when thy sons, o zion, "are armed against thy sons," o greece, "the lord god is seen over them." these are those approachings of the saints to their god: the first is their happiness, the second their duty, the third their honour. it is a happy thing to enjoy god's comforts in soul; it is our enjoined duty to obey him in his ways, and it is an honour to be found standing for the way of righteousness. of the third. the inquiry, "who is this?" scripture questions are of several uses, hold forth several senses; here it seems to be an approbation of the action spoken of. who is this? what one is this, that so carefully engageth his heart? this is not ordinary among men, nor of an ordinary degree in man; few move, fewer engage themselves to move towards god. this approbation hath, . its foundation in a duty: i approve this engaging, and the man because he engageth. . its direction from the subject, heart. the engagement of the outward man may have wrong principles: that it may be right, let the heart, soul, inward parts, all that is within us be engaged to bless his holy name. . its limitation from the object, to approach unto me: to engage the heart to sin, to the creature, to vanity, is neither commendable, nor approvable; but to close with god, to come to, stay with, and act for him, this is that which the prophet, and god in the mouth of the prophet ever approves. and this brings us to, ii.--_the propounding of the point, and that in these words._ god observes with the eye of approbation, such as engage and tie themselves to him; he looks with an approving eye upon this carefulness: for such an engagement of soul is, . needful. . helpful; needful for the heart, helpful to our graces. the needfulness is evident. the heart is slow and subtile, backward and deceitful; except it be drawn with the cords of such an engagement, it puts slowly forward; and when thus drawn, it will fall quickly off. days of desolation beget resolves, times of terror produce engagements, which the heart (the storm past) will wilily and wickedly seek to evade. david suspected this cozenage in himself, when he cries out, oh! i have many good thoughts, but a naughty heart; many holy purposes, but a deceitful spirit: thou hast cause, as a creator, not to believe the tender of my obedience, nor as a just god, the promise of submission; but i call to thy mercy to give assistance. "be surety for thy servant for good:" for the performance of all good i promise. and hezekiah in his sickness was not without fear of this deceitfulness: "oh lord, i am oppressed, undertake for me;" i shall never keep my word, that word which my lips have spoken; and i have none dare pass his word for me: "do thou, o lord, undertake for me." . the helpfulness is undeniable; a heart from this engagement may fetch renewed strength continually. this engagement is a buckler of defence to arm us against satan's enticement, is armour of proof to withstand the world's inducement; it makes us without fear or failing stand upon our own ground, and renew our courage like the eagle. job was probably sometimes seduced with such foolish persuasions, to courses not less foolish, but he yielded not: what helped him? even his engagement: "i have made a covenant with mine eyes, how then shall i look on a maid?" constancy in good is well-pleasing to god; "if any draw back, his soul hath no pleasure in them." whatsoever then is needful for it, or helpful to it, he both prescribes and approves. o let us engage our hearts to this approachment, a duty enjoined, a sacrifice accepted. but there is one scripture that fully showeth the point, and the truth of it in all particulars. consider then. three things may seem necessary herein to be noted; the act, the approbation, and the reason; and here we have them all. . the act, engaging; or the persons, the engagers of themselves. thou hast avouched, set up god this day to be thy god, not only in thy conscience by the act of faith, but even by thy mouth thou hast uttered this, probably in some solemn league and covenant. "thou hast made to say:" so much the hebrew word imports. . the approbation; and god answers thee accordingly, he hath avouched, set up thee to be his people; particularly to two privileges; . to be his peculiar people, the people of his own proper possession, joined so high, united so near, that they are admitted to a participation of many heavenly privileges; the actions of the one being communicated to the other; man's prayer is called god's, "i will make them glad in the house of my prayer," god's people called man's, moses's people, moses's law: so in the law of god, and in his law, that is, the righteous man's law. . to keep his commands: this seems rather to be a duty than a prerogative, yet a prerogative it is for a christian to be holy, obedient, righteous: both directly, and accidently. . directly; the scripture teacheth so. the fruit of a christian's being made free from sin is unto holiness. "if you will fear the lord and serve him" (these are samuel's words to the people) "and not rebel:" what then? what shall we have? "then shall you and your king continue to follow the lord." solomon, setting down the recompence of a righteous person, saith, his reward shall be double, in himself, and in his posterity; in himself, "he shall walk on in his integrity," in his posterity, "they shall be blessed after him." . accidently: holiness is a privilege, as well as a duty; it is a reward, a benefit to him who walks therein. it may, and oft doth daunt their persecutors, that otherwise would have taken away their lives. the heathens observe that the majestic presence of a prince hath dashed the boldness, and so prevented the execution of some villanous attempt by a base traitor against their persons: and christians know that the power of holiness is able to dazzle the proudest spirits. herod, saith the text, "feared john," and so a long while did him no hurt. and the emperor adrian ceased his persecution against the christians of his time, when he understood of their holiness of life. so true it is both ways, that the punishment of sin is sin, and the reward of the command is the command. both these privileges are again repeated, and further are evidenced in the following verse; "thou art his peculiar people, therefore will he make thee high above all nations, in praise, name and honour, of more esteem than any; and, thou keepest his commandments, and so he advanceth thee to be a holy people unto the lord thy god:" all this evidenceth god's approbation of an engaging heart. . the reason and ground of god's approving this act, they are two. . because the matter or duties, to which by this bond the heart is tied, are such as god directly observes with an approving eye. the particulars are three here specified, and all elsewhere expressly subjected to this eye of god. _ st._ thou obligest thyself to walk in his ways, in the practice of all the duties of the second table; and upon such as depart from evil, and do good, upon such righteous ones, the eyes of the lord are fastened, not his omniscient eye, but his protecting, blessing eye, that eye the seeing whereof is of the same temper with the open ear following: "his eye is upon the righteous, and his ear open to their cry;" that eye which stands in opposition to his face, which is against the wicked. _ d._ and to observe his ordinances and judgments, reverently to practise all the duties of the first table to god, and to such also god casts his eye of respect: "the eye of the lord is upon those that fear him, and that hope in his mercy." _ d._ and to hearken to the means of both, to hear his voice: "when i counsel thee and instruct thee in the way that thou shouldst go, mine eye is upon thee, both to keep thee to it, and to bless thee in it." . because this engagement is a means to accomplish his promise: because thou hast avouched god, god hath avouched thee, and will do as he hath said, and again, as he hath said; the repetition whereof seems to argue contentedness in god, in that, by this avouchment, a way was opened for the accomplishment of his promise. "god is well pleased for his righteousness sake," delights, when he can evidence himself to be righteous and just, for the law and words of his mouth he will magnify and make honourable in the faithfulness of their accomplishment. mercy, the acts of mercy please him. god finds in a righteous man rest of spirit, because by him he sends down a full influence of his favour upon the world. "if the world knew (say some hebrew doctors,) of what worth a righteous man was, they would hedge him about with pearls." his life is beneficial to all, even in some sort to god himself; for by him mercy is shewn to the world: his death therefore is of great consequence; a greater affliction than those curses mentioned; "i will make thy plagues wonderful; thy heavens shall be brass, they shall distil no dew nor rain to water the earth; but i will do a marvellous thing, a marvellous and strange, a good man, a wise man shall be taken away; and i can send no more blessings upon you:" there remains not a heart engaged, to whom i delight to approach; whiles such were, mine eye was satisfied with seeing good, my heart with doing good; now the one is removed, the other stopped. o where is he that engageth his heart to approach to his god! iii.--_the examining of the duty._ this engagement being thus approved, and therefore to be entered on; let us a little examine the duty, and mind two things. . what particulars do engage us, by what acts or thoughts doth the heart become engaged? and, . what hinders this engagement, and stops our entrance thereupon? i. several and many ways doth the heart become engaged to god: no consideration can enter our hearts, no occurrent happen in our lives, but it offers reasons enforcing this duty. we are engaged to god by our being, by our receiving, by our doing: mind either, and acknowledge thyself engaged. . our being what we are, engageth us: _ st._ that we are creatures, and so not forgotten in the everlasting night of a not-being: that we are men, and not beasts; that we are christians, and not heathens; all are engagements. _ d._ but our being thus and thus; men of gifts and parts: placed in such callings; qualified with such endowments: interested in such privileges: these are engagements indeed. . what we have. _ st._ every thing we have received binds us; all the acts of god's providence over us; all the effects of god's goodness to us: health, food, callings, trades, friends, families, clothes, the service of the creatures; sun, rain, fruits of the earth: all, all these are bonds. _ d._ but especially, our more peculiar favours; inward experience of his love, and fruition of soul-communion with him: oh, who would not be engaged for this! . what we do, even our own actions become our obligations; and that which comes from us binds us. _ st._ our feeling prayers. who dare practise what he prays against? a prayer against the power of sin, obliges to walk in the power of that prayer; neither will any lightly omit what but late as an evil he hath confessed to god. _ d._ but especially (which is our present work) our solemn and serious vows, protestations, promises; our covenant in baptism, our particular covenants entered into, upon the apprehension of some approaching calamity, upon a day of humiliation, at a piercing sermon, or soul-searching prayer before a sacrament, or the like. if we have spoken with our lips, we cannot go back, we are engaged. ii. as for such things that may hinder, we should both note and avoid. . ignorance: "if thou knewest the gift of god," saith christ to the samaritan woman: want of praying comes from want of knowing. "have you received the holy ghost?" was paul's question, but the reply was, that could not be; we "have not so much as heard, whether there be a holy ghost, or no." have you engaged your souls in a solemn league? let this be our querry, and the answer will be, we have not so much as heard, whether there be such a duty, or no. ignorance hinders this bond. . wretched profaneness, which slights and sets at nought all duties, ordinary, extraordinary; such mind sin, and the fulfilling thereof; and bind themselves to mischief with cords of vanity; whilst in the mean time they are contented to sit loose from god. . wicked policy, both to avoid the taking, and to evade the keeping: scruples of conscience shall be pretended by such as know not what conscience means. scripture shall be alleged, by such as are little versed therein; this sentence shall be thus explained: this releasement shall be thus pretended: all is but seemingly to stop the mouth of conscience, that saith, they must both make and pay vows unto god. yet the wilfully ignorant will neglect it; the wretchedly profane will contemn it; the wickedly politic will avoid it; so the heart shall be left to its own swing, open to all corruption that breaks in like a flood. for the prevention whereof, let us come on to iv.--_encouragements to the practice._ the point thus propounded, and in several particulars described, wherein and whereby the soul may be engaged; there is nothing remaining, but the practice of it, and that is yours. up then, and be doing; disoblige yourselves, and be no longer servants to the world, to sin, to obey either in the lusts thereof; but be ye bound to serve righteousness, and the god of righteousness; for his service is perfect freedom. in this encouragement to this work, that i might do as much as i can, in this little time granted, and gained for preparation and delivery; i would advise, exhort, resolve, and so prevent irreverence, backwardness, and doubting; that neither the ignorant may profane, nor the refractory contemn, nor the scrupulous question this holy ordinance of god, as unholy needless, ambiguous. let this encouragement then be received in words: . cautionary. . hortatory. . satisfactory. . _cautionary._--let this great work be done judiciously, cautiously, and as an ordinance of god. take we heed therefore, . to the manner. . to the matter. . to the consequence. . _to the manner._ see that it be done; . cheerfully. . religiously. _first_, cheerfully and willingly; for so did the people of israel in their covenanting with god: "they swore unto the lord with a loud voice, with shoutings, and trumpets, and music, and they rejoiced because of the oath." god loves a cheerful giver, his heart is toward those that willingly offer themselves to the work of the lord. and here, let me not conceal the mercy of the lord to us, in the work now in hand; for why should not the lord have the glory of all his favours? god hath directed our hearts to this duty, cheered up our affections to this engagement. who almost sees not his hand in all this? this cheerfulness and forwardness i now call for, i did, i do, i hope, i shall see. st. _i did see._ which of us, brethren, hath not his heart yet rejoicing, but even to think upon this work, this last monday in this place? here was cheerfulness: who was not glad to see it? who was not encouraged to it? here was a willing people freely offering themselves to be bound to the lord. here was rejoicing; . in the performance: the like duty was never seen in our days within this land. it was, i am persuaded, the very birth-day of this kingdom, born anew to comfort and success; our hearts were then so elevated, they are not settled yet. . for the performance of such a duty, in such a manner, by such persons. you might here have seen the hon. house of commons, unanimously, with hearts and hands lifted up to the heavens, swearing to the most high god. here might you have seen our dear brethren, the noble and learned commissioners of scotland, willingly coming into this covenant of truth, as the representatives of, and a pledge for the whole kingdom. here might you have seen the grave and reverend assembly of divines, forwardly countenancing others, willingly submitting themselves to this bond of the lord. what i then saw, and now rehearse, most of you can attest. ask your fathers, consult with the aged of our times, whether ever such a thing were done in their days, or in the days of their fathers before them. d, _i do see;_ and believe the like now: i have ground to be persuaded, that you also come with alacrity to this service. . the order for the taking, honours you with this, that you were desirous of yourselves, without compulsion, to take this upon you: blessed therefore be you of the lord, and blessed be the lord for you. . the fulness of this present assembly, called only for this end, for this duty. the nature of your persons. nobles, knights, gentlemen, submit themselves to the yoke of the lord. colonels, captains, officers in the army, soldiers; even these also stand not off from, but close to, and for this work in hand. those of the scots nation within this city, by their willingness, do give a check to this cavil raised by some, who have nothing else to say, yet say this, perhaps the kingdom of scotland will not take it. we can instance in none, none that i know here. the ministers of the lord, that have refuged themselves to this little sanctuary, both increase and honour the number of them that swear, their own callings, and themselves. all these, as they have forwardly offered, so doubtless will earnestly repair, in their lot, the breaches made in the lord's house. here is cheerfulness. d, i hope, i shall see and hear, the next lord's day, or the next convenient time, all our people readily coming into this bond; that so, both english and scots, parliament and assembly, nobility and city, may all rejoice together. _second_, religiously: godly works must be done in a godly manner, that the act done for god's glory may be sanctified with god's presence. with what serious humiliation, and hearty prayers did nehemiah begin this duty? what a number of able men did josiah collect together? and how reverently did they read in the scriptures, and speak of the nature of the covenant? both nehemiah by praying, and josiah by reading, desired in this holy business to approve themselves followers of holiness in the sight of god. and at the last taking in this place, who was not touched with that feeling prayer, made by that man of god[ ]; that godly exhortation, which followed from another[ ]; that pithy relation by that man of name[ ]; that soul-affecting thanksgiving, wherewith a godly doctor closed the day[ ]? and, that no less piety and love of god might appear in you, after you resolved upon the work; you desired that the ordinance might be sanctified to you by the word of god and prayer; you moved me to this employment, and got it ordered accordingly: and now, i doubt not, but in the action, you will do it with such reverence of god's majesty, such awfulness of heart, that in lifting up your hands to the most high god, he may be pleased to accept the sacrifice, and make it comfortable. thus to the manner. ii. to the matter. for the matter, that it be lawfully warranted by the word of god. to examine these particularly, in all and several parts thereof, were the work of a volume, not of one sermon; that will be done by others: but to do something, and what we may for this time; it is not difficult to parallel from scripture this covenant in all the parts of it. the lawfulness of covenanting, i suppose not questionable, as a furtherance and help to a spiritual progress; we find it oft used: the new testament affords but rare instances, the church then in its infancy having little occasion, and as little need of such combining, fasting and days of prayer, which are of the same nature, we find often; and the angel "lift up his hand, (a covenanting gesture) and swore by him that liveth," (a covenanting act,) but the old testament is full. take then this as granted, and come to the particular materials, and in every part, for every article, we can find an instance. the articles in this covenant are six: the preamble sets forth, . the occasion; their aim at god's glory, their enemies aim at their ruin. . the pattern; the commendable practice of those kingdoms, and the example of churches in all ages. the close containeth their resolution against all impediments that may either stop the taking, or disable the keeping of this league, their own sins. the body of the covenant contains the articles; the lawfulness of which seems thus to be warranted. the first is the reformation of the false, and the preservation of the true worship of god, and the uniting of all the kingdoms in that truth thus reformed. such a covenant took asa, and his people. the first is for the reformation of religion decayed. he purged away all the dross, and removed all the defects. he repaired the altar of the lord, the main part of their ceremonial covenant. then for the uniting of the kingdoms in the embracing of this truth. asa gathered all judah and benjamin, this was his own people, the subjects of one kingdom; and with them the strangers, that is, the inhabitants of ephraim, manasseh, and simeon, these were the people of another land. so here are the persons covenanting, the matter covenanted to. the persons, the subjects, two several kingdoms; the matter, reformation, and to seek the god of their fathers; to this they all swear, like as the inhabitants of england, scotland and ireland, meet all in one duty, even a covenant, and that to one end, to seek and serve god in the purity of his ways, after the purity of his will; to this, as asa and his people, we swear. the second is the extirpation of idolatry and wickedness, and all things contrary to truth, not according to godliness, the proper and perpetual matter of all covenants. so did asa, so did joash, so did josiah, so did nehemiah. . asa took away all abominations. he was impartial, sparing neither sin, place, nor person: not sin, he removed all abominations; not place, from all places, towns of his inheritance, and of his conquest; not person, he deposed his mother, or rather grandmother from her state for her idolatry. . joash, or his covenanters. indeed the people of the land, (for such usually are most zealous) they ruined the altars, house and all. they broke down all the monuments of idolatry, all to pieces, thoroughly, to some purpose, priest and all. they slew matthan priest of baal with the sword. . josiah purged the whole kingdom: and nehemiah with zeal, extirpated the strange wives here is a covenant that rooted out idolatry, popery, the baalistical prelate matthan, and all his prelatical faction the chemarim, and all this, for this end, that the lord might be one, and his name one. the third is, the preservation of the liberties of the kingdom and the king, for matters merely civil. such was that covenant that jehoiada established, after their engagements for spirituals to god. he made a covenant between the king and people, that he should preserve their liberties, they his authority, and both each other mutually. the fourth, for the discovery and punishment of malignants, that increase or continue our division. without a covenant such a discovery did mordecai make of bigthan and teresh, the king's eunuchs. such a discovery made the jews of sanballat, and his fellows to nehemiah. josiah was not without his informers. but with a covenant was the punishment of such varlets settled. whosoever would not seek the lord god of their fathers, should be slain without sparing, be he whom he would be, small or great, man or woman. for why should not every one value the public above the private, the common good before his own? the fifth, the preservation of the union, and of the pacification between the two kingdoms. this is the matter of all civil leagues. such a league made isaac with abimelech, jacob with laban, david with hiram. but chiefly such a pacification doth god promise to make between israel and judah. they should both live under one king, so do the english and scots: and both dwell in one land, so do the english and scots: they shall have the same ministry and religion; so do labour the english and scots: and a pacification will god make between them, and that by covenant, and such a covenant, as should never be forgotten or broken; such a thing are we doing now, and then god's sanctuary shall be placed among us, the sanctuary of his presence, service, protection, which is our expectation and our hope. lastly, the firm adhering to this covenant, and continuance in the same notwithstanding all opposition, contradiction, dissuasion to the contrary whatsoever. all the people stood to the covenant. this was josiah's care not only for himself, but for his people; "he made all that were found in judah and benjamin to stand to it; so all his days they turned not back from the lord god of their fathers." this is the covenant, and this is a general view of the general matter; this is according to the aim of those that made it, take it, swear to it. who but an atheist can refuse the first? who but a papist the second? who but an oppressor, or a rebel, the third? who but the guilty, the fourth? who but men of fortune, desperate cavaliers, the fifth? who but light and empty men, unstable as water, the sixth? in a word, the duty is such, that god hath ordained; the matter is such, as god approveth; the taking such, as god observeth; and the consequences such, as god hath promised. and in them stands my third caution, to which i now come. iii. to the consequences. for the consequences, and issues that do or must follow upon the taking, be also cautelous; take heed that after this heart-engagement to god, none start back like a broken bow. see that you neither, . falsify the oath; or, . profane the oath. i. do not falsify the oath, making the actions of the outward man contrary to this action of the heart. an oath is one of the two immutable things, wherein it is impossible that god should lie; not fitting, that man should. the people's forementioned example teaches constancy, they stood to it. the covenants ordinary epithet [everlasting] implies continuance: neither can god, nor should man play the children, say and unsay. all our covenants in him should be yea; not yea, and nay. if we prove loose, we prove false, and lie unto god that made us. take heed to your covenant. this stone, these walls, these pillars, these seats shall witness against you, that ye denied him: to falsify the engagement, is to deny our god; his power, his revenging justice, his word, his presence, and the like; if you wilfully falsify this oath wherewith you are bound, as much as in you lies, you make god any thing but a god. keep truth and fidelity for ever. ii. do not profane it by a slight esteem, by an irreverent taking, by an unholy life. _first_, by a slight esteem, as a matter of no moment. can that be a trifle, which is the fruit of the judicious consultations of the agents of both kingdoms, as the only means to perpetuate the union? can that be a trifle, which was produced by such, who had merely the glory of god before their eyes as conducing much thereto? can that be a trifle, which is published as the main and sole preventive of all the bloody plots of god's enemies against the truth? can that be a trifle, which is now cleaved to as a means more effectual, and a degree above supplications, remonstrances, protestations, to preserve ourselves, and our religion? all this and more the preamble speaks. _second_, by irreverent taking. it was resolved on after mature deliberation. it is a lifting up of the hand to the most high god, and a swearing by his name, and god's name must not be taken in vain: such will god not hold guiltless. but of this before. _third_, by an unholy life. such a thing would mar all we have done; though defiled with former sins, yet now sin no more: our covenant forbids it: our state now stands thus. either by our sins we shall make a breach into our covenant, or by our covenant make a breach from our sins. in the close of the covenant, we resolve on the endeavour that this covenant may have its desired fruit. we desire to be humbled for our own sins, the land's sins, undervaluing the gospel, neglecting the power, and purity of it, no endeavour to receive christ into our hearts, no care to walk worthy of him in our lives. such and the like sins a godly covenanter must shun, lest he profane it. let us then prize it as an effectual means of good, take it with a reverend fear of god, honour it in holiness of life for ever. let us both verify it, and sanctify it by continuing to stand in it, by endeavouring to live by it to god's glory, that this taken covenant may be for the name, the honour, the praise of the great jehovah for ever. ii. _hortatory._ these cautions being observed; come all, and let us enter into an everlasting covenant with the lord; come on, and let us engage our hearts unto our god: we have a propensity to keep off; let a covenant keep us close: our hearts would be wandering; let a covenant bind them. will you trust yourselves without a tie? do you know yourselves? come to this work, with a heart, with a heart lifted up, as well as a hand, as high as a hand; "let us lift up our hearts to our hands;" let the ardency of our affection raise up our spirit to meet the lord, to whom we adjoin ourselves for ever. to you i cry, to whom the order speaks, to every one of you i call, come engage your hearts. _first_, nobles, both greater and lesser, think not the duty below you, too mean for you. there is but one way to heaven for all. scorn not to join with inferiors in this work. in christ there is neither male nor female, no respect of persons. the same way that the soul of the poorest is refreshed, is the soul of the richest. poor men pray, and princes must pray; common men humble their souls, and repent, and crowned kings must do so too. the people of god, they walk aright, and all men, great and small, must follow them alike: the eye of every ordinary man must be towards the lord. so as the tribes of israel are, and the same way must tyre and sidon look, though they be very wise. no largeness of parts, greatness of place, eminency in gifts, of wisdom, learning, wit, not amplitude of rule, nor any high thoughts can exempt; but he must subject himself to the condition and courses of the lowest sort. heaven regards not the goodliness of the person, looks not as man looks; for god regards the heart. _second_, soldiers, for you also are engagers. this says, you have a noble pattern; but i hope i may say, you outwrite your copy. they came to john baptist, and to the place, where he baptized. you come to the presence of god, and the place, where the heart is to be engaged. they came to be directed what to do; you to do what has been directed. ride you on prosperously in this righteous truth. it lies mainly upon you to be holy, yea, more than upon others. your adventures are more hazardous, your dangers more probable; yea, your deaths perhaps more near. therefore, . you must remove from you wickedness, and wicked men. wickedness from your hearts, wicked men from your armies. let both your persons be holy, and your companies holy. god himself commands the former, the prophet from god the latter. "when the host goeth forth, then, and then chiefly, thou shalt keep thee from every evil thing." when judah's king marched out, assisted with israelitish auxiliaries, which were idolaters; let not (saith the prophet) "the men of israel go with thee, for god is not with israel:" if thou do, thou shalt not prosper. if there were no evil sin in your hearts, no evil man in your hosts, god would be with you, with a shout, even the lord with the sound of a trumpet. and . your success depends on god's presence. when thou seest multitudes of armies encircling thee, fear not, for god is with thee, and god is with thee to save thee; he walks with thee to fight for thee, and to prosper thee. we shall be cast back, yea, quite off, if god go not forth with our armies; or, in our armies; the word bears either: when god goes not in our armies, rules not in our hearts, lives, conversations, by holiness; then he goes not forth with our armies by victory and success. . the want of godly agents, to manage a godly cause, a great lamentation. "help, lord, save, o god, for the godly fail, and the faithful cease from among men:" were there any such in being, they would bear rule with god, and be faithful for the saints, their persons and prayers would gain prevalency with god, their endeavours and constancy would show fidelity to the saints, and then in judah, our land, would things go well: and as once ezekiel of the scarcity of fit governors to rule, so we of fit men to fight, when corruption and looseness hath so possessed the hearts, and lives of our men of war, that there remains no sanctified and godly man to make a soldier; "this is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation." . what ground have we to expect good? when the sons of darkness go to cast out the prince of darkness, is this possible? can satan cast out satan? it is a satisfactory answer, that we rest in, and stops the mouths of all not incurably blinded, when we hear of protestations, and promises to maintain the protestant religion and laws of the land; when we see, that the effecting of the one is by the sword of papists, of the other, by the hand of delinquents; except we should think, that man can (as god) work happy ends by contrary means. for we say, how can satan cast out satan? so to ourselves, 'tis not very likely, that, if satan keep the hold he hath of our souls, you should dispossess him of that strong hold he hath of our land. but you know so much, and therefore by engaging your heart this day to god you first endeavour to expel satan out of your own consciences; and then shall you see clearly to drive him from our kingdom. _third_, our brethren of scotland, come you, and enter into this sure covenant. lay the foundation of such an eternal league and peace, that the sun shall never see broken: all your countrymen, your kingdom are not here. let your forwardness to this work tell us, what they would do, if they were. some having nothing else to say, yet cannot withhold to question, whether the scots will enter into it or no? as the question is without any ground, so shall it be without any other answer for the present, than this; all of that nation in town have been ready to this great work. can you instance in any that have been backward to swear unto the lord? if in none, then put away prejudicate thoughts, and entertain in their place earnest desires, that this covenant now by both kingdoms entered into, may be like ezekiel's sticks, which resembled the divided houses of judah and israel; which, as the prophet held them, became one in his hand. so this national covenant taken into the hand of god's merciful approbation, may this day, this year become one, and for ever remain one: so that (as israel and judah after this typical union in two sticks) england and scotland after this religious union in one covenant, may for ever be one people in this island of great britain; and that one king may continue king to them both; and that henceforth they may no more be two peoples, nor divided into kingdoms; that our religion be corrupted no more, as of late; but being cleansed, we may be the lord's people, and he may be our god for ever: that jesus christ may bear rule, and we both may have one ministry, and enjoy that truth, which christ, when he ascended up on high, gave as a gift to men, during our days, and the days of our posterity; we, and our sons, and our sons' sons, from this time forth, and for evermore: that the lord would plant his sanctuary among us, and make these two people his dwelling-place continually: that this covenant may be a covenant of peace, and a covenant of truth, and a covenant for everlasting. and let all that desire it, daily pray for it, and now express it, and with cheerfulness of heart say, amen, amen. _fourth_, you, my brethren of the ministry, your hearts are to be engaged too, that you also may gain god by the engagement: be not you behind the very forwardest of the lord's people; you are not an inconsiderable party in this land. the joy and happiness of israel was because of the levites that waited, that were diligent in their duties, and diligently attended upon the lord. "i will cause the horn of israel to flourish, saith god:" by what means? "i will give thee, ezekiel, an open mouth." that god may give you a heart to teach knowledge, come, engage your hearts as a gift to god. o, saith moses, "that all the lord's people were prophets!" o, say we, that all this land's people had prophets, but prophets of the lord, that might feed them with wisdom and understanding, that they all might know the lord, from the greatest to the least of them! but ah? lord god, the eye of this kingdom is distempered, dim, and dark; and then how great is this darkness! our prophets have prophesied lies, and our priests have pleaded for baal, and they have rejected the word of the lord; and what wisdom is in them? instead of standing for god, they have stood against him; and instead of being the best, they are become the basest: the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail. if god should come, as once, to seek for a man, that should stand in the gap, and make up the breach; among these he would find the fewest: in this respect our state may be like that which we find described. christ comes to make a perfect description of his church, and so consequently, a comfortable expression of himself to his church: and whereas the eyes are the chiefest seat of beauty, and therefore likeliest to be stood upon, he begins thus. "turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me." by eyes, understand the ministry; i come to speak comfortable things to my people, but set away the ministers out of my sight, for they have overcome my patience, and filled me with fury: now these being removed, the description doth lovingly go on. thy hair, thy young professors, are like a flock of goats; thy teeth, thy civil officers, like a flock of sheep; thy temples, thy ordinary and common christians. all right but the eyes, the eyes i cannot endure. but let none of us provoke this complaint, nor hold off any longer from the lord that invites. what say you? are you willing to this engagement? will you bind yourselves to the lord? let me extend my speech to all, and dispatch the remains of this point, and my meaning thus: that you may be encouraged to engage, consider two things. _first_, the seasonableness. _secondly_, the success of such engagements. _first_, the seasonableness: there is a time for all purposes, and every word and action is beautiful in his own time. a public engagement is then seasonable, . when a land hath been full of troubles: god by such troubles prepares a people for him in this duty. "i will cause you to pass under the rod, and so i will bring you into the bond of the covenant." and we know, we feel god hath chastised us sore of late; but in them he hath not given us over to death, that by them he might prepare us for himself. when a land hath been full of corruptions, and a shrewd decay hath been in spirituals: by a covenant hath such a people recovered themselves, and regained their god. after the great apostasy by athaliah, jehoiada renewed their interest by a covenant. when manasses and his son had suffered destruction from god, and advanced idolatry with or above god; josiah purged all by a covenant. our decays are evident, our corruptions destructive; our covenant therefore seasonable. come, let us engage our hearts to approach to god. . when the enemy begins to fall, and god begins to shine upon his own. asa returning from a victory, called his land to a covenant. when athaliah was slain, the league was sworn, by joash and his kingdom. since this motion of a covenant is come among us, god hath, as it were, begun to draw near, in the siege of gloucester raised, in the success at newbery, gained. god is worming out his and our adversaries, which he will do by little and little, till they be consumed. the covenant is seasonable. _second_, the success. come and see the works of the lord, what wonders he hath wrought, when a people hath thus bound themselves to be his. . a king injuriously put from his right by an usurping hand, after such a covenant was re-established, "he sat him down on the throne of the kings." . a land miserably put from its peace, after such a covenant, was re-settled, peace was re-obtained; and that as a fruit of prayer, and so acknowledged, "israel had sworn, and sought god; god was found of them: and the lord gave them rest round about." . religion craftily, and wickedly put from its purity after such a covenant, was reformed; after such a reformation continued. the engagement being made, "all josiah's days they returned not back from the lord god of their fathers." . rebels and rebellion, basely and bloodily backed and managed against the lord and his ways, against his people and their practices; after such a covenant, have been overthrown and subdued, "i will bring you into the bond of the covenant." then i will sever from among you the rebels; i will chase them from their own land, and hinder that they shall not enter into the land of israel. the lord give this success concerning ireland, sever out the rebels there from true subjects; chase them from their own land; and yet keep them from ever entering into our land, the land of the inheritance of the lord. now these successful effects of covenanting well minded, _first_, may hint to us a satisfactory reason, in case peace comes not presently. god hath some more adversaries to overthrow, to worm out; his sword hath not eaten flesh enough; neither are his arrows drunk with blood yet; with the blood of such earthly men, whom he hath appointed to destruction. the hearts of the philistines were so hardened, that they never sought after peace, "for it came of the lord, to the intent that they might be utterly destroyed." who knows, whether our peace hath been denied; our propositions cast out; our treaties fruitless, for such an end as this? it was of the lord, who hath a purpose to destroy more. god lays afflictions on his people, and they continue upon them; but in the mean space to quiet their spirits, he teacheth them out of his law, that these troubles must stay only "till a pit be digged for the wicked." _second_, may encourage us to go on. you have now armour of proof, such armour as is not ordinary, armed with a covenant: go, saith the angel to gideon, in this thy might. go (say i, to every one) in this thy might, the strength of this thy covenant, and the effect will be such, as is not ordinary. when the philistines perceived that the israelites had brought the ark of the covenant into the battle, they cried out, "woe unto us; for it hath not been so heretofore: woe unto us; who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty gods?" when your enemies shall perceive, that you come armed with the armour of a covenant with god, i hope they, struck with amazement, shall cry, "woe unto us; we were never so opposed before: woe unto us; who shall deliver us out of the power of this mighty prevailer?" if it will thus daunt, take it with you, be strong. again, i say, go in the might thereof, and god shall prosper thee for ever. iii. _satisfactory._ according to the condition of the person, such is the nature of the objection. one out of the malignity of his spirit, cavils against the work; another out of tenderness of conscience, scruples the taking. i shall briefly touch upon one or two, and wind up all in a few words. the queries i have met with, are such as these: two objections when i was designed to this service, were sent me in writing, which, when thoroughly viewed, i perceived nothing at all to concern our case, or covenant. _obj._ . whether by any law, divine or human, may reformation of religion be brought in by arms? _ans._ . what is this at all to the covenant, where there is no mention of arms at all? . what is this to our present condition, where reforming by arms is not at all the question? for if reformation of religion be the case of our affairs; then either the parliament are they that do it, or the cavaliers: not the cavaliers, for they are on the defensive: witness all their declarations. not the parliament, for then the cavaliers will be found fighters against religion, and resisters of god. . i answer negatively, it is not. the sword is not the means which god hath ordained to propagate the gospel: "go and teach all nations;" not, go and subdue all nations, is our master's precept. _obj._ . whether to swear to a government that shall be, or to swear not to dissent from such a future government, be not to swear upon an implicit faith? _ans._ . this is nothing to the covenant, neither can i see upon what ground any should raise such an impertinent scruple. . it is, he that so swears, swears upon an implicit faith: for one reason against the articles of the prelates was, that they forced us to swear to the homilies that shall be set out. but these things are extravagant. other objections by word of mouth have been propounded, some whereof i will here touch upon. _obj._ . one would make a stand at the phrase, [in our callings,] as if some politic mystery were therein involved, and would have it changed, [according to our callings, or so far forth as they extend.] there is an identity in the phrase, an action enjoined to be done in such a place, every corner, as far as that place extends, is that place, and no other. all is one. _obj._ how if the parliament should hereafter see a convenience in prelacy for this kingdom, were not this oath then prejudicial, either to the parliament's liberty, or kingdom's felicity? _ans._ this objection supposes, _first_, that the most wicked antichristian government may be a lawful government in point of conscience. _second_, that it is possible, that this prelatical government may be convenient for a state or kingdom. when as . they have been burdensome in all ages; what opposites in england have they been to our kings, till their interests were changed? . all reformed religions in the world have expelled them, as incompatible with reformation. . they have set three kingdoms together by the ears, for the least, and worst of causes, which now lie weltering in their own blood, ready to expire. . experience now shows, there is no inconvenience in their want; either in scotland, or in england. _obj._ but what, if the exorbitances be purged away, may not i, notwithstanding my oath, admit of a regulated prelacy? _ans._ . we swear not against a government that is not. . we swear against the evils of every government; and doubtless many materials of prelacy must of necessity be retained, as absolutely necessary. . taking away the exorbitances, the remaining will be a new government, and no prelacy. _obj._ for the discovery of all malignants, all that have been; whether, if i have a friend, that hath been a malignant, and is now converted, am i bound to discover him? _ans._ this his malignity, was either before the covenant, or since; if before, no. for then this league had no being, and a _non-ens_ can have no contrariety. if since, the discovery must be at the first appearance of malignity, whilst he is so. _obj._ what if one make a party to uphold prelacy, whilst it stands by law, must i oppose him, or discover him by virtue of this oath? doth the oath bind me to oppose legal acts? _ans._ i. quer. whether there be any particular law for prelacy? . quer. whether the making a party be legal? . quer. whether any thing, the extirpation of which is sworn by an ordinance of parliament, can be said to stand by law? these are some queries i have met with. i heartily wish that the same tenderness of conscience in all things may be seen, which if not, it will hardly be called a scruple of tenderness, but a cavil of malignity. what now remains but only prayers, that the great god of our judgments and consciences, would so clear and satisfy our souls in these leagues and bonds, that without reluctancy we may all swear to god, and, having sworn, we may have a care to keep the oath inviolable; that as once israel, so all england may rejoice because of the oath: and god may be established, and his kingdom settled; that his presence may dwell among men, and his protection among the sons of men; that he may be near in our covenanting, found in our prayers, and give us rest; and that we being engaged, may live to him, and not to others, henceforth and for ever. the solemn league and covenant: sermon at westminster. _by joseph caryl.[ ]_ "and because of all this, we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, levites, and priests, seal unto it." --_nehemiah_ ix. . the general subject of this verse, is the special business of this day. a solemn engagement to the lord, and among ourselves, in a sure covenant. wherein we may consider these five things. _first_, the nature of a covenant, from the whole. _secondly_, the grounds of a covenant, from those words, "because of all this." _thirdly_, the property of a covenant, in that epithet, sure--"we make a sure covenant." _fourthly_, the parties entering into, and engaging themselves in a covenant, expressed by their several degrees and functions, princes, levites, priests. and were these all? all whom this verse specifies, and enow to bring in all the rest? where the governors and the teachers go before in an holy example, what honest heart will not follow? and the next chapter shews us, all who were honest hearted, following this holy example, verse : "and the rest of the people, the priests, the levites, the porters, the singers, the nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands, unto the law of god, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding: they clave unto their brethren, their nobles, and entered into," &c. _fifthly_, the outward acts by which they testified their inward sincere consent, and engaged themselves to continue faithful in that covenant: first, writing it. second, sealing to it. third, (in the tenth chapter, ver. .) "they entered into a curse." fourth, "into an oath, to walk in god's law, which was given by moses the servant of god, and to observe to do all the commandments of the lord their god, with the statutes and judgments. and that they would not give their daughters to the people of the land," &c: with divers many articles of that covenant, tending both to their ecclesiastical and civil reformation. i begin with the first point, the nature of a covenant. concerning which, we may receive some light from the notation of the original words; . for a covenant. . for the making of a covenant. the hebrew _berith (a covenant)_ comes from _barah_, which signifieth two things: _first_, to choose exactly, and judiciously. _second_, to eat moderately, or sparingly. and both these significations of the root _barah_, have an influence upon this derivative _berith_, a covenant: the former of these intimating, if not enforcing, that a covenant is a work of sad and serious deliberation, for such are elective acts. election is, or ought to be made, upon the rational turn of judgment, not upon a catch of fancy, or the hurry of our passions. now, in a covenant, there is a double work of election: _first_, an election of the persons, between whom. _second_, an election of the conditions, or terms upon which the covenant is entered. as god's covenant people are his chosen people, so must ours. some persons will not enter into covenant, though invited; and others, though they offer themselves, are not to be admitted. they who are not fit to build with us, are not fit to swear with us. some offered their help to the jews in the repair of the temple, "let us build with you, for we seek your god." but this tender of their service was refused. "ye have nothing to do with us, to build an house unto our god; but we ourselves together will build." what should we do with their hands in the work, whose hearts, we know, are not in the work? the intendment of such enjoining, must be either to build their hay and stubble with our gold and silver, or else to pull down by night what they build by day, and secretly to undermine that noble fabric, which seemingly they endeavoured to set up. we find in this book of nehemiah, that the persons combining in that covenant, were choice persons. the text of the tenth chapter, sets two marks of distinction upon them. _first_, "all they that separated themselves from the people of the lands, unto the law of god." _second_, all "having knowledge, and having understanding." here are two qualifications, whereof one is spiritual, and the other is natural. the plain english of both may be this, "that fools and malignants, such as (in some measure) know not the cause, and such as have no love at all to the cause, should be outcasts from this covenant." such sapless and rotten stuff will but weaken, if not corrupt this sacred band. the tenor of the covenant now tendered, speaks thus respecting the persons. "we noblemen, barons, knights, gentlemen, citizens, burgesses, ministers of the gospel, and commons, of all sorts, in the kingdom of england, scotland, and ireland." and doth not this indistinctly admit all, and all, of all sorts? i answer, no. for the words following in the preface, shew expressly, that only they are called to it, who are of one reformed religion; which shuts out all papists, till they return. and the articles pass them through a finer sieve, admitting only such as promise, yea, and swear, that through the grace of god, they will sincerely, really, and constantly endeavour the preservation of the reformed religion, against the common enemy in the one kingdom, the reformation and extirpation of what is amiss in the other two; as also, in their own persons, families, and relations. they who do thus, are choice persons indeed, and they who swear to do thus, are (in charity and justice) to be reputed so, till their own acts and omissions falsify their oaths. thus our covenant makes an equivalent, though not a formal or nominal election of the persons. _second_, there must be a choice of conditions in a covenant; as the persons obliged, so the matter of the obligation must be distinct. this is so eminent in the covenant offered, that i may spare my pains in the clearing of it; every man's pains in reading of it, cannot but satisfy him, that there are six national conditions about which we make solemn oath, and one personal, about which we make a most solemn profession and declaration, before god and the world. and all these are choice conditions: such as may well be held forth to be (as indeed they are) the results and issues of many prayers, and serious consultations, in both the kingdoms of england and scotland. conditions they are, in which holiness and wisdom, piety and policy, zeal for god in purging his church, and care for man in settling the commonwealth, appear to have had (in a due subordination) their equal hand and share. thus much of a covenant, from the force of the word in the first sense, leading us to the choice both of persons and conditions. _second_, the root signifies, to eat moderately, or so much as breaks our fast. and this refers also to the nature of a covenant, which is to draw men into a friendly and holy communion, and converse one with another. "david describes a familiar friend, in whom he trusted, to be one, that did eat of his bread." and the apostle paul, when he would have a scandalous brother denied all fellowship in church-covenant, he charges it thus, "with such a one, no not to eat." hence it was a custom upon the making up of covenants, for the parties covenanting, soberly to feast together. "when isaac and abimelech sware one to another, and made a covenant; the sacred story tells us, that isaac made them a feast, and they did eat and drink." a covenant is a binder of affection, to assure it, but it is a loosner of affection, to express it. and their hearts are most free to one another, which are most bound to one another. how unbecoming is it, that they who swear together, should be so strange as scarce to speak together? that which unites, ought also to multiply our affections. further, the word hints so to converse together as not to sin together; for it signifies moderation in eating. as if it would teach us, that at a covenant-feast, or when covenanters feast, they should have more grace, than meat at their tables: or if (through the blessing of god) their meat be much, their temperance should be more. the covenant yields us much business, and calls to action: excess soils our gifts, and damps our spirits, fitting us for sleep, not for work. in and by this covenant, we (who were almost carried into spiritual and corporal slavery) are called to strive for the mastery. let us therefore (as this word and the apostle's rule instruct us) "be temperate in all things." intemperate excessive eaters will be but moderate workers, especially in covenant-work. a little will satisfy their consciences, who are given up to satisfy their carnal appetites. and he who makes his belly his god, will not make much of the glory of god. so much concerning the nature of a covenant, from the original word; for a covenant, signifying both to chuse, and to eat. we may take in some further light to discover the things from the original word, which we translate "make"--"let us make a covenant." that word signifies properly to cut, to strike, or to slay. the reason hereof is given, because at the making of solemn covenants, beasts were killed and divided asunder, and the covenant-makers went between the parts. when god made that first grand covenant with abraham, he said unto him, "take an heifer of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old. and he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid all those pieces one against another." "behold, a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp" (which latter was the token of god's presence for the deliverance of his people) passed between those pieces. in jeremiah we have the like ceremony in making a covenant, "they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof." upon this usage the phrase is grounded of cutting or striking a covenant. which ceremony had this signification in it, that when they passed between those divided parts of the slain beast, the action spake this curse or imprecation, "let him be cut asunder, let his members be divided, let him be made as this beast, who violates the oath of this covenant." from these observations about the words, we may be directed about the nature of the thing: and thence collect this description of a covenant. a covenant is a solemn compact or agreement between two chosen parties or more, whereby with mutual, free, and full consent they bind themselves upon select conditions, tending to the glory of god, and their common good. a covenant strictly considered, is more than a promise, and less than an oath; unless an oath be joined with it, as was with that in the text, and is with this we have now before us. a covenant differs from a promise gradually, and in the formalities of it, not naturally, or in the substance of it. god made promises to abraham, gen. xii. and gen. xiii. but he made no covenant with him, till chap. xv. ver. . "in that day the lord made a covenant with abraham." and the work of the lord in that day with abraham, had not only truth and mercy in it, but state and majesty in it. a covenant day, is a solemn day. as the collection of many stars makes a constellation, so the collection of many promises makes a covenant. or, as in the first of genesis, "the gathering together of the waters, was by the lord called seas:" so we may call the gathering together of promises, or conditions, a covenant. the lord doth (as it were) rally all the promises of mercy made to us, which lie scattered up and down through the whole volume of the scriptures, and puts them together into a covenant: and we do (as it were) rally all the promises of duty which we owe unto god, and to one another, and put them together in a covenant. such a bundle of duty is tied up in this present covenant; what duty is there which we owe to god, to his churches, or these commonwealths whereof we make not promise, either expressly, or by consequence in the compass of this covenant? and how great an obligation to duly doth this contain, wherein there is an obligation to every duty? seeing then this covenant, being taken, carries in it so great an obligation, it calls for great preparation before we take it. a slightness of spirit in taking this covenant, must needs cause a slightness of spirit in keeping it. all solemn duties, ought to have solemn preparations; and this i think, as solemn as any. a christian ought to set his heart (as far as he can through the strength of christ) into a praying frame, before he kneels down to prayer. and we ought to set our hearts in a promising frame, before we stand up to make such mighty promises. "take heed how ye hear," is our saviour's admonition in the gospel; surely then we had need take heed how we swear. "let a man examine himself (saith the apostle paul) and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup;" let him come examined to the sacrament: so i may say, "let a man examine himself, before he lift up his hand, or write down his name;" let him come examined to the covenant. i shall briefly propose three heads of preparatory examination, respecting our entrance into this covenant. _first_, examine your hearts, and your lives, whether or no you are not pre-engaged in any covenant contrary to the tenor and conditions of this covenant? if any such upon inquiry be found, be sure you avoid it, before you engage yourselves in this. a super-institution in this kind, is very dangerous. every man must look to it, that he takes this covenant _(corde vacante)_ with a heart emptied of all covenants which are inconsistent with this. for a man to covenant with christ and his people for reformation, while he hath either taken a covenant with others, or made a covenant in his own breast against it, is desperate wickedness. or if upon a self-search, you find yourselves clear of any such engagements, yet search further. every man by nature is a covenanter with hell, and with every sin he is at agreement: be sure you revoke and cancel that covenant, before you subscribe this. "if i regard iniquity in my heart, the lord will not hear my prayer;" that is, he will not regard my prayers, (saith david). and if we regard iniquity in our hearts, the lord will not hear us covenanting; that is, he will not regard our covenant. woe be unto those who make this league with god and his people, while they resolve to continue their league with sin: which is (upon the matter) a league with satan. god and satan will never meet in one covenant. "for what communion hath light with darkness? and what concord hath christ and belial?" _second_, before you enter into this covenant with god, consider of, and repent for this special sin, your former breaches and failings in god's covenant. "we who were sometimes afar off, aliens from the commonwealth of israel, and strangers from the covenant of promise, are made nigh by the blood of jesus," even so nigh, as to be in covenant with god. some who pretend to this privilege, will be found "such as have counted the blood of the covenant to be an unholy thing." and where is the man that walketh so holily in this covenant as becomes him, and as it requires? labour therefore to have those breaches healed by a fresh sprinkling of the blood of christ upon your consciences, before you enter this covenant: if you put this new piece to an old garment, the rent will be made worse: if you put this new wine into old bottles, the bottles will break, and all your expected comforts will run out and be lost. if you should not feel and search your own hearts, without doubt the lord will. "and if you be found as deceivers, you will bring a curse upon yourselves, and not a blessing." this is a covenant of amity with god: reconciliation must go before friendship, you can never make friendship till you have made peace, nor settle love, where hostility is unremoved. _third_, inquire diligently at your own hearts, whether they come up to the terms of this covenant? you must bid high for the honour of a covenanter, for a part in this privilege. "which of you," saith our lord christ to his hearers, "intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? lest haply after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it, begin to mock him, saying, this man began to build, and was not able to finish." we are met this day to lay the foundation of one tower, and to pull up the foundation of another; we are pulling up the foundation of babel's tower, and we are laying a foundation for zion's tower. we have seen some who have heretofore done as much, but they have done no more; when they had laid a foundation for those noble works in taking a solemn oath and covenant, they have never moved a hand after either to build or to pull down, unless it were quite cross to their own engagements, for the pulling down of zion's tower, and the building of babylon. and what was the reason of this stand, or contrary motion? this surely was one, they did not gage their own hearts before hand, neither did they sit down to count the cost of such an undertaking. and therefore when they perceived the charge to arise so high, they neither could finish, nor would they endeavour it, but left the work before it looked above the ground; and are justly become a mock and a scorn and a reproach in israel, these are the men that began in a solemn covenant to build, but could not finish; they had not stock enough either of true honour or honesty (tho' their stock of parts and opportunities was sufficient) to finish this work. let us therefore sit down seriously and count the cost; yea and consider whether we be willing to be at the cost. to lead you on in this, my humble advice is, that you would catechise your hearts upon the articles of this covenant. put the question to your hearts, and let every one say this unto himself: am i indeed resolved sincerely, really and constantly, through the grace of god, in my place and calling, to endeavour the preservation of the reformed religion in the church of scotland? the reformation of religion in the kingdoms of england and ireland? am i indeed resolved in like manner, without respect of persons, to endeavour the extirpation of popery, prelacy? am i indeed resolved never to be withdrawn or divided by whatsoever terror or persuasion from this blessed union and conjunction, whether to make defection to the contrary part, or to give myself to a detestable indifferency or neutrality in this cause of god? am i indeed resolved to humble myself for my own sins, and the sins of the kingdom? to amend myself, and all in my power, and to go before others in the example of a real reformation? according to these hints, propose the question upon every clause of this covenant. and then consider what the cost of performing all these may amount to, and whether you are willing to go to that cost. but it may be, some will say, what is this cost? i answer, the express letter of the covenant tells you of one cost which you must be constantly at, and that is sincere, real, and constant endeavour. pains is a price, i am sure real pains is. the heathens said, "that their gods sold them all good things for labour." the good things of this covenant are sold at that rate; yea, this is the price which the true god puts upon those things which he freely gives. to consent to this covenant, to wish well to this covenant, to speak well of this covenant, come not up to the price; you must do these, and you must do more, you must be doing, so the promise of every man for himself runs, i will through the grace of god endeavour. yet every endeavour is not current money, payable as the price of this covenant: there must be a threefold stamp upon it. unless it bear the image and superscription of sincerity, reality, and constancy, it will not be accepted. for so the promise runs, "i will sincerely, really, and constantly endeavour." neither yet is this all. such endeavours are virtually money; but as this covenant calls also for money formally, as the price of it, he that really endeavours after such ends, as here are proposed, must not only be at the cost of his pains, but also at the cost of his purse for the attainment of them. he must open his hand to give and to lend as well as to work and labour. unless a man be free of his purse as well as of his pains, he bides not up to the demands of this covenant, nor pays up to his own promise when he entered into it. can that man be said really to endeavour the maintenance of a cause while he lets it starve? or, to strengthen it while he keeps the sinews of it close shut up? would he have the chariot move swiftly, who only draws but will not oil the wheels? know then and consider it that the cost you must be at is both in your labours and in your estates. the engagement runs to both these: and to more than both these. the covenant engages us not only to do but to suffer, not only to endeavour but to endure. such is the tenor of the sixth article where every man promises for himself that he will not suffer himself to be withdrawn from this blessed union by any terrors. if not by any terror, then not by any losses, imprisonments, torments, no, nor by death, that king of terrors. you see, then, that the price of this covenant may be the price of blood, of liberty, and of life. sit down and consider. are you willing to be at this cost to build the tower? through the goodness of god in ordering these great affairs, you may never come actually to pay down so much, haply, not half so much, but except you resolve (if called and put to it by the real exigencies of this cause) to pay down the utmost farthing, your spirits are too narrow and your hearts too low for the honour and tenor of this covenant. if any shall say these demands are very high and the charge very great, but is a part in this covenant worth it? will it quit cost to be at so great a charge? wise men love to see and have somewhat for their money; and when they see they will not stick at any cost so the considerations be valuable. for the answering and clearing of this, i shall pass to the second point which holds forth the grounds of a covenant from those words of the text, "and because of all this." if any one shall be troubled at the "all this" in the price, i doubt not but the "all this" in the grounds will satisfy him. because of all this, we make a sure covenant. here observe: . a covenant must be grounded on reason: we must shew the cause why. god often descends, but man is bound, to give a reason of what he doeth. some of god's actions are above reason, but none without reason. all our actions ought to be level with reason and with common reason, for it is a common act. that which men of all capacities are called to do, should lie in the reach of every man's capacity. observe: . a covenant must be grounded on weighty reason; there must be much light in the reason (as was shewed before) but no lightness. "because of all this" saith the text. there were many things in it, and much weight in every one of them. and the reasons, in their proportion, must at least be as weighty as the conditions. weighty conditions will never be balanced with light reasons. if a man ask a thousand pounds for a jewel, he is bound to demonstrate that his jewel is intrinsically worth so much, else no wise man will come up to his demands. so when great things are demanded to be paid down by all who take part in this covenant, we are obliged to demonstrate and hold forth an equivalent of worth in the grounds and nature of it. hence observe . that the reasons of a covenant must be express, "because of all this." _this_ is demonstrative. here's the matter laid before you, consider of it, examine it thoroughly. this is fair dealing, when a man sees why he undertakes, and what he may expect, before he is engaged. and so may say, "because of this, and this, because of all this," i have entered into the covenant. but what were the particulars that made up the gross sum of all this? i answer, those particulars lie scattered throughout the chapter, the attentive reader will easily find them out; i shall in brief reduce them unto two heads. . the defection and corruptions that were crept in, or openly brought in among them. . the afflictions, troubles, and judgments that either were already fallen, or were feared would further fall upon them. the former of these causes is laid down in the and verses of this chapter. "neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers kept thy law, nor hearkened to thy commandments, and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst testify against them. for they have not served thee in thy kingdom, and in thy great goodness." the latter of these reasons is contained in the and verses. "behold, we are servants this day; and for the land which thou gavest unto our fathers, to eat the fruit thereof, and the good thereof, behold, we are servants in it." the close of all is, we are in great distress. from this narrative of the grounds, the making of a covenant is inferred as a conclusion, in the immediate subsequent words of the text, "because of all this." as if he had said, "because we are a people who have so departed from the laws and statutes of our god, and are so corrupted both in worship, and in practice; because we are a people so oppressed in our estates, and liberties, and so distressed by judgments and afflictions: therefore, because of all this, we make a sure covenant." and if we peruse the records of the holy scripture, we shall find, that either both these grounds conjoined, or one of them, are expressed as the reasons at any time inducing the people of god, to enter into the bond of a covenant. this is evident in asa's covenant, chron. xv. , . in hezekiah's, chron. xxix. . in josiah's, chron. xxxiv. , . in ezra's, chap. x. . to all which, i refer the reader for satisfaction. and, from all consenting with this in the text, i observe: that when a people are corrupted or declined in doctrine, worship, and manners; when they are distressed in their liberties, livelihoods, or lives; then, and at such a time they have warrantable and sufficient grounds to make and engage themselves (as their last and highest resort for redress) in the bonds of a sacred solemn covenant. what engagement can be upon us, which these reasons do not reach and answer? the liberty of our persons, and of our estates, is worth much; but the liberty of the gospel and purity of doctrine and ordinances, are worth much more. peace is a precious jewel, but who can value truth? the wise merchant will sell all that he hath with joy to buy this, and blesses god for the bargain. and because of all this, we are called to make a covenant this day. truth of doctrine and purity of worship were going, and much of them both were gone. the liberty of our persons, and property of our estates, were going, and much of them both were gone; we were at once growing popish and slavish, superstitious and servile; we were in these great distresses, "and because of all this we make a covenant this day." that these are the grounds of our covenant, is clear in the tenor of the covenant. the preamble whereof speaks thus: "we calling to mind the treacherous and bloody plots, conspiracies, attempts, and practices of the enemies of god, against the true religion and professors thereof, in all places, especially in these three kingdoms, ever since the reformation of religion; and how much their rage, power and presumption are of late, and at this time increased and exercised, whereof the deplorable estate of the church and kingdom of ireland, the distressed estate of the church and kingdom of england, and the dangerous estate of the church and kingdom of scotland, are present and public testimonies: we have now at the last, for the preservation of ourselves, and our religion, from utter ruin and destruction, after mature deliberation resolved and determined to enter into a mutual and solemn league and covenant." so then, if we be asked a reason of our covenant, here are reasons, clear reasons, easy to the weakest understanding, yea, open to every man's sense. who amongst us hath not felt these reasons? and how many have smarted their proof unto us? and as these reasons are so plain, that the most illiterate and vulgar understandings may conceive them; so they are so weighty and cogent, that the most subtile and sublime understandings cannot but be subdued to them; unless, because they are such masters of reason, they have resolved to obey none. and yet where conscience is indeed unsatisfied, we should rather pity than impose, and labour to persuade, rather than violently to obtrude. now seeing we have all this for the ground of a covenant, let us cheerfully and reverently make a sure covenant, which is the third point in the text, the property of this covenant: we make a sure covenant. in the hebrew, the word covenant is not expressed. the text runs only thus, we make a sure one, or a sure thing. covenants are in their own nature and constitution, things of so much certainty and assurance, that by way of excellency, a covenant is called, a sure one, or an assurance. when a sure one is but named, a covenant must be understood. as, the "holy one" is god, and the "holy one and the just," is christ. you may know whom the holy ghost means, when he saith "the holy one and the just." so the sure one, is a covenant. you may know what they made, when the holy ghost saith, they made a sure one. hence observe, that a well grounded covenant is a sure, a firm, and an irrevocable act. when you have such an _all this_, (and such you have) as is here concentrated in the text, to lay into, or for the foundation of a covenant, the superstruction is _æternitati sacrum_, and must stand for ever. a weak ground is but a weak obligation; and a sinful ground is no obligation. there is much sin in making a covenant upon sinful grounds, and there is more sin in keeping of it. but when the preservation of true religion, and the vindication of just liberties meet in the groundwork, ye may swear and not repent; yea, if ye swear, ye must not repent. for because of all such things as these, we ought (if we make any, and that we ought) to make a sure covenant. the covenant god makes with man is a sure covenant. hence called a "covenant of salt," because salt preserves from perishing and putrefaction. the covenant of god with man about temporal things, is called a "covenant of salt, and a covenant forever." for tho' his covenant about temporal things (as all temporals must) hath an end of termination, yet it hath no end of corruption: time will conclude it, but time cannot violate it. but as for his covenant about eternal things, that, like eternity, knows not only no end of corruption, but none of termination. "altho' my house (saith gasping david) be not so with god; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, altho' he make it not to grow." and what is it that makes the covenant of god with man thus sure? sure not only in itself, but (as the apostle speaks) to all the seed. is it not this, because it hath a strong foundation, a double, impregnable foundation? _first_, his own free grace. _second_, the blood of christ; which is therefore also called, the blood of the covenant. because of all this, this all, which hath an infinity in it, the lord god hath made with us a sure covenant. now, as the stability and everlastingness of god's covenant with his elect, lies in the strength of the foundation, "his own love, and the blood of his son:" so the stability and firmness of our covenant with god, lies in the strength of this foundation, the securing of the gospel, and the asserting of gospel-purity in worship, and privileges in government; the securing of our lives, and the asserting of our common liberties. when at any time ye can question, and, from the oracles of truth, be resolved, that these are sufficient grounds of making a covenant, or that these are not ours, ye may go, and unassure the covenant which ye make this day. _application._ let me therefore invite you in the words of the prophet jeremiah, "come let us join ourselves to the lord, in a perpetual covenant that shall never be forgotten." and do not these look like the days wherein the prophet calls to the doing of this? "in those days, and at that time, saith the lord." what time, and what days were those? the beginning of the chapter answers. "the word that the lord spake against babylon, declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard, publish and conceal not: say, babylon is taken, bell is confounded, merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces: for out of the north there cometh up a nation against her, which shall make her land desolate." then follows, "in those days and at that time saith the lord, the children of israel shall come. and they shall ask the way to zion, with their faces thitherward saying, come, and let us join ourselves to the lord, in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten." are not these the days, and this the time (i speak not of time to a day, but of time and days) wherein the lord speaks against babylon, and against the land of the chaldeans: wherein he saith, "declare among the nations, and publish, and set up the standard." are not these the days, and this the time, when out of the north there cometh up a nation against her? as face answers face in the water, so do the events of these days answer, if not the letter, yet much of the mystery of this prophecy. there seems wanting only the work which this day is bringing forth, and a few days more (i hope) will bring unto perfection, the joining of ourselves in a perpetual covenant, never to be forgotten. it is very observable, how the prophet, as it were, with one breath saith, "babylon is taken." and, "come let us join ourselves in covenant." as if there were no more in it but this, take the covenant, and ye take babylon. or, as if the taking of a covenant were the ready way, the readiest way to take babylon. surely at the report of the taking of this sure covenant, we in our prayer-visions (as the prophet habakkuk), "may see the tents of cushan in affliction, and the curtains of the land of midian tremble." or, as moses in his triumphant song, "the people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold of the inhabitants of palestina. the dukes of edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; the inhabitants of canaan (who are now the inhabitants of babylon) shall melt away. the towers of babylon shall quake, and her seven hills will move. the great mountain before our zerubbabel, will become a plain, and we shall bring forth the head-stone (of our reformation) with shouting, crying, grace, grace unto it." why may we not promise to ourselves such glorious effects (and not build these castles in the air) when we have laid so promising a foundation, this sure covenant, and have made a perpetual covenant, never to be forgotten? the three things i shall propose, which this covenant will bring in, as facilitating contributions to so great a work: . this covenant will distinguish men, and separate the precious from the vile. in the twentieth chapter of ezekiel, the lord promiseth his people, after this manner, "i will cause you to pass under the rod, and i will bring you into the bond of the covenant." the phrase of causing to pass under the rod, is an allusion to shepherds, or the keepers of cattle, who when they would take special notice of their sheep or cattle, either in their number to tithe them, or in their goodness to try them, they brought them into a fold, or some other inclosed place, when letting them pass out at a narrow door, one by one, they held a rod over them, to count or consider more distinctly of them. this action was called a "passing of them under the rod," as moses teaches us, "and concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock, even of whatsoever passeth under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the lord." the learned junius expounds that text in ezekiel by this in leviticus, giving the sense thus, "as if the lord had said, i will prove and try the whole people of israel, as a shepherd doeth his flock, that i may take the good and sound into the fold of my covenant, and cast out the wicked and unsound." which interpretation is not only favoured, but fully approved, in the words immediately following, "i will bring you into the bond of the covenant, and i will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me." a covenant is to a nation, as a fan to the floor, which purges away the chaff and purifies the wheat. it is like the furnace to the metal, which takes away the dross and shews you a refined lump. it is a shibboleth, to distinguish ephraimites from gileadites. and who knows not how great an advantage it is for the successful carrying on of any honourable design, to know friends from enemies, and the faithful from false brethren? some have thought it unpolitical to set-a-foot this covenant, lest it should discover more enemies than friends, and so holding out to the view more than otherwise can be seen, the weakness of a party may render them, not only more obnoxious, but more inconsiderable. to this i answer, in a word, invisible enemies will ever do us more hurt than visible; and if we cannot deliver ourselves from them, when they are seen and known, doubtless unseen and unknown, they will more easily, tho' more insensibly devour us. and i verily believe, we have already received more damage and deeper wounds from pretended friends, than from professed and open enemies. the sad stories of abner and amasa inform us, that there is no fence against his stroke, who comes too near us, who stabs while he takes us aside to speak kindly to us, who draws his sword, while he hath a kiss at his lips, and art thou in health, my brother, at his tongue. let us never think ourselves stronger, because we do not know our weakness; or safer, because we are ignorant of our danger. or that our real enemies and false friends will do us less hurt, because they are less discovered. i do not think, that a flock ever fared the better, because the wolves that were amongst them, went in sheep's clothing. rather will our knowledge be our security, and the discovery which this covenant makes, help on both our deliverance and our business. for as, possibly, this covenant may discover those who are faithful to be fewer, than was supposed before this strict distinction from others; so it will certainly make them stronger than they were before, by a stricter union among themselves. and this is . the second benefit of this covenant, which i shall next insist upon. as it doth separate those who are heterogeneal, so likewise it will congregate and embody those who are homogeneal. and therefore it cannot but add strength unto a people; for whatsoever unites, strengthens. a few united, are stronger than a scattered multitude. tho' they who subscribe this covenant should be, comparatively, so few, as the prophet speaks, "that a child may write them;" yet this few thus united are stronger than so many scattered ones, as exceed all arithmetic, whom (as john speaks,) "no man can number." cloven tongues were sent, to publish the gospel, but not divided tongues, much less divided hearts: the former hindered the building of babel, and the latter, tho' tongues should agree, will hinder the building of jerusalem. then a work goes on amain, when the undertakers, whether they be few or many, all speak and think the same thing. a people are more considerable in any work, because they are one, than because they are many. but when many and one meet, nothing can stand before them. so the lord god observed, when "he came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded." and the lord said, "behold, the people is one, and they have all one language: and this they begin to do; and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do." men may do as much as they can think, while they all think and do as one; and not only can such do great things, if let alone; but none can let them in doing what they intend; so saith the lord, "they have begun to do, and nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined." nothing could restrain, or let them from their work, but his power, who "will work, and none can let it." thus it is apparent that union is our strength. and it is as apparent that this covenant, through the blessing of god upon it, will be our union. to unite, is the very nature of a covenant. hence it is called "the bond of the covenant, i will bring you into the bond of the covenant," saith the lord. junius and some others render it, i will bring you _(ad exhibitionem foederis)_ to the giving or tendering of the covenant: deriving the word from _masar_, signifying, to exhibit or deliver. whence (to note that in passage) the traditionary doctrine among the jews is called _masora_, or _masoreth_. others (whom our translators fellow, and put the former sense, delivering, in the margin) others, i say, deriving the word from _asar_ to bind, render it the bond of the covenant. and this covenant is the bond of a twofold union. _first_, it unites us of this kingdom among ourselves, and this kingdom with the other two. _second_, it makes a special union of all those who shall take it holily and sincerely throughout the three kingdoms with the one-most god. weak things bound together, are strong, much more then, when strong are bound up with strong: most of all, when strong are bound up with almighty. if in this covenant, we should only join weak to weak, we might be strong. but, blessed be god, we join strong, as creatures may be accounted strong, with strong. the strong kingdoms of england and ireland, with the strong kingdom of scotland. a threefold cord twisted of three such strong cords, will not easily, if at all, be broken. they which single, blessed be god, have yet such strength, how strong may they be when conjoined? as the apostle writes, "i speak after the manner of men, because of the infirmity of your flesh:" so i speak now after the manner of men, concerning the strength of our flesh, outward means, in these kingdoms. for as the apostle peter speaks in like phrase, tho' to another occasion, "the lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness:" so i may say, no man, no kingdoms, are strong to any purpose, as the lord counts strength. and therefore, i reckon this the least part of our strength, that these three strong kingdoms will be united by this covenant. nay, if this were all the strength, which this union were like to make, i should reckon this no strength at all. wherefore, know that this covenant undoubtedly is, and will be a bond of union between strong and almighty: between three strong nations, and an almighty god. this covenant engages more than man, god also is engaged; engaged, through his free grace, in his power, wisdom, faithfulness, to do us good, and much good, tho' in and of ourselves unworthy of the least, unworthy of any good. all this considered, this covenant will be our strength: our brethren of scotland have, in a plentiful experience, found it so already. this covenant, thro' the blessing of god upon their councils and endeavours, hath been their samson's lock, the thing in fight, wherein their strength lieth. and why should not we hope, that it will be ours; if we can be wise, as they, to prevent or overcome the flattering enticements of those delilahs who would lull us asleep in their laps, only for an opportunity to cut or shave it off? then indeed, which god forbid, we should be but weak like other men, yea, weaker than ourselves were before this lock was grown, having but the strength of man; god utterly departing from us, for our falseness and unfaithfulness in this covenant. . this covenant observed will make us an holy people, and then, we cannot be an unhappy people. that which promotes personal holiness, must needs promote national holiness. the consideration that we are in the bonds of a covenant, is both a bridle to stop us from sin, and a spur to duty. when we provoke god to bring evil upon us, he stays his hand by considering his covenant. "i will remember my covenant, saith the lord, which is between me, and you; and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh." as if the lord had said, it is more than probable, that i shall quickly see as much cause, "all flesh corrupting all their ways before me," to drown the world with a second deluge, as i did for the first: the foulness of the world, will quickly call for another washing. but i am resolved, never to destroy it by water again; for, "i will remember my covenant." hence also in the second book of the chronicles, chap. xxi. where the reign and sins of jehoram are recorded; such sins as might justly put a sword into the hand of god to cut him off root and branch; howbeit, saith the text, "the lord would not destroy the house of david, because of the covenant that he had made with david, and as he promised to give a light to him, and to his sons forever." now, as the remembrance of the covenant on his part, stays the hand of god from smiting; so the remembrance of the covenant on our part, will be very effectual to stay our hands, and tongues, and hearts from sinning. a thought of that will damp and silence our lusts and passions, when they begin to move or quest within us: it will also break the blow of satan's temptations, when he assaults us. the soul in such cases will answer, true, i am now as strongly tempted to sin as ever, i have now as fair an opportunity to commit sin as ever, i could now be false to, and desert this cause with as much advantage, upon as fair hopes and promises as ever: o! but i am in covenant, i remember my covenant, i will not, i cannot do it; and so he falls a praying against the temptation: yea, he begs prayers of others, that he may be strengthened against, and overcome it. i read you an instance of this effect. before the sermon, a paper is sent to this congregation, containing this request: "one who through much passion oftentimes grievously offends the majesty of god by cursing and swearing, and that since his late taking the covenant, desires the prayers of this congregation, that his offence may be pardoned, and that he may be enabled to overcome that temptation from henceforwards." this is the tenor of that request, to a letter and a tittle, and therein you see how the remembrance of the covenant wrought. probably this party (whosoever he was) took little notice of, or was little troubled at the notice of these distempers in himself before; least of all sought out for help against them. and i have the rather inserted this to confute that scorn which, i hear, some have since put upon that conscientious desire. as if one had complained, that since his swearing to the covenant he could not forbear swearing, and that this sacred oath had taught him profane ones. but what holy thing is there which swine will not make mire of, for themselves to wallow in? i return; and i nothing doubt, but that this covenant, wherein all is undertaken through the grace of christ, will make many more gracious who had grace before, and turn others, who were running on amain in the broad way, from the evil and error of their ways, into the way which is called holy, or into the ways of holiness. every act wherein we converse with an holy god, hath an influence upon our spirits to make us holy. the soul is made more holy in prayer, tho' holiness be not the particular matter of the prayer: a man gets much of heaven into his heart, in praying for earthly things, if he pray in a spiritual manner; and the reason is because, in prayer, he hath converse with, and draws nigh to god, whatsoever lawful thing he prays about. and the same reason carries it in covenanting, tho' it were only about the maintenance of our outward estates and liberties, forasmuch as therein we have to do with god. how much more then will holiness be increased through this covenant which, in many branches of it, is a direct covenant for, and about holiness? and if we improve it home to this purpose, for the subduing of those mystical canaanites, those worst and indeed most formidable enemies, our sinful lusts: if we improve it for the obtaining of more grace, and the making of us more holy: tho' our visible canaanites should not only continue unsubdued by us, but subdue us; though our estates and liberties should continue, not only unrecovered, but quite lost; tho' we should neither be a rich, nor a free, nor a victorious people; yet if we are an holy people, we have more than all these, we have all, he is ours, "who is all in all." so much of the first general part of the application. the second is for admonition and caution, in three or four particulars. . take heed of "profaning this covenant," by an unholy life. remember you have made a covenant with heaven; then do not live as if you had made a "covenant with hell or were come to an agreement with death," as the prophet isaiah characters those monsters of profaneness. take heed also of "corrupting this covenant," by an unholy gloss. wo be unto those glossers that corrupt the text, pervert the meaning of these words: who attempt to expound the covenant by their own practice, and will not regulate their practice by the covenant. the apostle peter speaks of paul's writings, "that in them some things are hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction." we may fear, that tho' the text of this covenant be easy to be understood, yet some (who, at least think themselves learned), and whom we have found not only stable but stiffened in their own erroneous principles and opinions, will be trying their skill, if not their malice, to wrest, or, as the greek imports, to torture and set this covenant upon the rack, to make it speak and confess a sense never intended by the composers, or proposers of it: and whereof (if but common ingenuity be the judge) it never will, nor can be found guilty. all that i shall say to such is that in the close of the verse quoted from the apostle peter, let them take heed such wrestings be not (worst to themselves, even) to their own destruction. . take heed of delaying to perform the duties of this covenant. some, i fear, who have made haste to take the covenant, will take leasure to act it. it is possible, that a man may make too much haste (when he swears, before he considers what it is) to take an oath; but, having taken it upon due consideration, he cannot make too much haste to perform it. "be not rash with thy mouth," saith the preacher. that is, do not vow rashly, but, "when thou vowest a vow unto god, defer not to pay it: for he hath no pleasure in fools (slow performance is folly); pay that which thou hast vowed." speedy paying (like speedy giving) is double payment; whereas slow payment is no payment or as bad as none, for it is foolish payment. a bond, if i mistake not, is presently due in law, if no day be specified in the bond. it is so i am sure in this covenant; here is no day set down, and therefore all is due the same day you take it. god and man may sue this bond presently for non-payment: the covenant gives no day, and therefore requires the next day, every day. it is not safe to take day for payment, when the obligation is _in terminis de præsenti_, and none is given. . take heed of dallying with this covenant. it is more than serious, a sacred covenant. it is very dangerous jesting with edged tools. this covenant is as keen as it is strong. do not play fast and loose with it, be not in and out with it; god is an avenger of all such: he is a jealous god, and will not hold them guiltless, who thus take his name in vain. they who swear by, or to the lord, and swear by malcham, are threatened to be cut off. to be on both sides, and to be on no side; neutrality and indifferency differ little, either in their sin or danger. . above all, take heed of apostatizing from, or an utter desertion of, this covenant. to be deserted of god, is the greatest punishment, and to desert god, is the greatest sin. when you have set your hands to the plough, do not look back: remember lot's wife. besides the sin, this is, _first_, extremely base and dishonourable. it is one of the brands set upon those gentiles whom "god had given up to a reprobate mind, and to vile affections," that they were covenant breakers. and how base is that issue which is begotten between, and born from vile affections, and a reprobate mind? where the parents are such, it is easy to judge what the child must be. _second_, besides the sin and the dishonour, this is extremely dangerous and destructive. we are said in the native speaking, to cut a covenant, or to strike a covenant, when we make it; and if we break the covenant when we have made it, it will both strike and cut us, it will kill and slay us. if the cords of this covenant do not bind us, the cords of this covenant will whip us; and whip us, not as with cords, but as with scorpions. the covenant will have a quarrel with, and sends out a challenge unto such breakers of it, for reparation. and (if i may so speak) the great god will be its second. as god revenges the quarrel of his own covenant, so likewise the quarrel of ours. he hath already "sent a sword to revenge the quarrel of his covenant." he will send another to revenge the quarrel of this upon the wilful violators of it. yea, every lawful covenant hath a curse always waiting upon it, like a marshal or a sergeant, to attack such high contemners of it. it was noted before from the ceremony of killing, dividing, and passing between the divided parts of a beast, when covenants were made, that the imprecation of a curse upon the covenanters was implied, in case they wilfully transgressed or revolted from it. let the transgressors of, and revolters from this covenant, fear and tremble at the same curse, even the curse of a dreadful division: "that god will divide them and their posterity in jacob, and scatter them in our israel; yea, let them fear, that god will rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling wind before the whirlwind. this is (their portion, and) the portion of them that spoil us, and the lot of them that rob us." and if so, is not their lot fallen in an unpleasant place? have they not a dreadful heritage? to be under any curse is misery enough; but to be under a covenant curse, is the greatest, is all misery. for as the blessings we receive are most sweet, when they pass to us through the hands of a covenant; a mercy from a promise is far better than a mercy from bare providence, because then it is sprinkled with the blood of christ: so on the other side, the curse which falls upon any one is far more bitter when it comes through a covenant, especially an abused, a broken covenant. when the fiery beams of god's wrath are contracted into this burning glass, it will burn as low as hell, and none can quench it. that alone which quenches the fire of god's wrath is the blood of christ. and the blood of christ is the foundation of this covenant. not only is that covenant which god hath made with us founded in the blood of christ, but that also which we make with god. were it not by the blood of christ, we could not possibly be admitted to so high a privilege. seeing then the blood of christ only quenches the wrath of god, and this blood is the foundation of our covenant, how shall the wrath of god (except they repent, return and renew their covenant) be quenched towards such violators of it? and, as our saviour speaks upon another occasion, "if the light which is in them be darkness, how great is that darkness?" so, i say, if that which is our friend turn upon us as an enemy, how great is that enmity; and if that which is our mercy be turned into wrath, how great is that wrath, and who can quench it? it is said of good king josiah, that when he had made a covenant before the lord, "he caused all that were present in jerusalem, and in benjamin, to stand to it." how far he interposed his regal authority, i stay not to dispute. but he caused them to stand to it; that is openly to attest, and to maintain it. methinks the consideration of these things, should reign over the hearts of men, and command in their spirits, more than any prince can over the tongues or bodies of men, to cause them to stand to this covenant. ye that have taken this covenant, unless ye stand to it, ye will fall by it. i shall shut up this point with that of the apostle, "take unto you the whole armour of god, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, when ye have done all, to stand," (eph. vi. ). stand, and withstand, are the watchword of this covenant, or the impress of every heart which hath or shall sincerely swear unto it. for the helping of you to stand to this covenant, i shall cast in a few advices about your walking in this covenant, or your carriage in it, which, if followed, i dare say, through the mercy of the most high, your persons, these kingdoms, and this cause, shall not miscarry. . walk in holiness and uprightness. when god renewed his covenant with abraham, he makes this the preamble of it, "i am the almighty god, walk before me, and be thou perfect, and i will make my covenant between me and thee." as this must be a covenant of salt, in regard of faithfulness; so there must be salt in this covenant, even the salt of holiness and uprightness. the jews were commanded in all their offerings to use salt; and that is called the salt of the covenant, "every oblation of thy meat-offering shalt thou season with salt, neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy god to be lacking." what is meant by salt on our parts, is taught us by christ himself, "have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." which i take to be parallel in sense with that of the apostle, "follow peace with all men and holiness." as salt, the shadow of holiness, was called for, in all those jewish services; so holiness, the true substantial salt, is called for in all ours. as then it was charged, "let not the salt of the covenant of thy god be lacking:" so now it is charged, "suffer not the salt of thy covenant with god and his people to be lacking." seeing we have made a covenant of salt, that is, a sure covenant, let us remember to keep salt in our covenant. let us add salt to salt, our salt to the lord's salt, our salt of holiness to his salt of faithfulness, and we shall not miscarry. . walk steadily or stedfastly in this covenant. where the heart is upright and holy, the feet will be steady. unstedfastness is a sure argument of unsoundness, as well as a fruit of it. "their heart was not right with him; neither were they stedfast in his covenant." as if he had said, would you know the reason why this people were so unstedfast? it was, because they were so unsound. "their heart was not right with him." we often see the diseases of men's hearts breaking forth at their lips, and at their finger ends, in all they say or do. god will be steady to us; why should not we resolve to be so to him? and this covenant will be stedfast and uniform unto us, why should not we resolve to be so too, and in this covenant? the covenant will not be our friend to-day, and our enemy to-morrow, do us good to-day, and hurt to-morrow, it will not be the fruitful this year, and barren the next; but it is our friend to do us good to-day, and ever. it is fruitful and will be so for ever. we need not let it lie fallow, we cannot take out the heart of it, tho' we should have occasion to plough it, and sow it every year. much less will this covenant be so unstedfast to its own principles, as to yield us wheat to-day, and cockle to-morrow, an egg to-day, and to-morrow a scorpion; now bread, and anon a stone; now give us an embrace, and anon a wound; now help on our peace, and anon embroil us; now prosper our reformation, and anon oppose, or hinder it; strengthen us this year, and weaken us the next. no, as it will never be barren, so it will ever bring forth the same fruit, and that good fruit; and the more and the longer we use it, the better fruit. like the faithful wife, "it will do us good, and not evil, all the days of its life." it is therefore, not only sinful, but most unsuitable and uningenuous, for us to be up and down, forward and backward, liking and disliking, like that double minded man, "unstable in all our ways," respecting the duties of this covenant. . walk believingly, live much in the exercise of faith. as we have no more good out of the covenant of god, than we have faith in it; so no more good out of our own, than (in a due sense) we have faith in it. there is as much need of faith, to improve this covenant, as there is of faithfulness. we live no more in the sphere of a covenant, than we believe. and we can make no living out of it but by believing. all our earnings come in here also, more by our faith, than by our works. let not the heart of god be straitened, and his hand shortened by our unbelief. where christ marvelled at the unbelief of a people, consider what a marvel followed: omnipotence was as one weak. "he could do no mighty works among them." works less than mighty will not reach our deliverances or procure our mercies. the ancient worthies made more use of their faith, than to be saved, and get to heaven by it. "by faith the walls of jericho fell down. by faith they subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, (or exercised justice) stopped the mouths of lions. by faith they quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness they were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." we have jerichos to reduce, and kingdoms to subdue, under the sceptre and government of jesus christ: we have justice to execute, and the mouths of lions to stop: we have a violent fire to quench, a sharp edged sword to escape, popish alien armies to fight with; and we (comparatively to these mighty works) are but weak. how then shall we out of our weakness become strong, strong enough to carry us through these mighty works, strong enough to escape these visible dangers? if we walk and work by sense, and not by faith? and if we could get through all these works and dangers without faith, we should work but like men, not at all like christians, but like men in a politic combination, not in a holy covenant. there's not a stroke of covenant work (purely so called) can be done without faith. as fire is to the chemist, so is faith to a covenant people. in that capacity, they can do nothing for themselves without it; and they have, they can have, no assurance that god will. seeing then we are in covenant, we must go to counsel by faith, and to war by faith; we must pull down by faith, and build by faith; we must reform by faith, and settle our peace by faith. besides, to do a work so solemn and sacred, and then not to believe and expect no fruit; yea, then to believe and expect answerable fruit, is a direct taking of god's name in vain, and a mock to jesus christ. and if we mock christ by calling him to a covenant, which we ourselves slight, as a thing we expect little or nothing from: "he will laugh at our calamity," and "mock when our fear cometh." wherefore to close, "if ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established," no, not by this sure covenant. but, "believe in the lord your god, in covenant, so shall you be established; believe his prophets, so shall you prosper." . walk cheerfully. so it becomes those that have god so near them. such, even in their sorrows, should be like paul, "as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing." the (as) notes not a counterfeiting of sorrow, but the overcoming of sorrow. on this ground david resolves against the fear of evil, tho' he should see nothing but evil; "tho' i walk in the valley of the shadow of death, i will fear no evil: for thou art with me." in a covenant, god and man meet; he is with us who is more than all that are against us: and when he is with us, who can be against us? for then all things, and all persons, even while (to the utmost of their skill and power) they set themselves against us, work for us; and should not we rejoice? if we knew that every loss were our gain, every wound our healing, every disappointment our success, every defeat our victory, would we not rejoice? do but know what it is to be in covenant with god; and be sad, be hopeless, if you can. it is to have the strength and counsels of heaven engaged for you; it is to have him for you, "whose foolishness is wiser than men, and whose weakness is stronger than men." it is to have him with you, "who doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou?" it is to have him with you, "who frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh the diviners mad, who turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish." it is to have him with you, before whom "the nations are as the drop of a bucket, and as the dust of the balance, who taketh up the isles as a very little thing." in a word, it is to have him with you, "who fainteth not, neither is weary; there is no searching of his understanding. he giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength." this god is our god, our god in covenant; "this is our beloved and this is our friend, o daughters of jerusalem." and shall we not rejoice? shall we not walk cheerfully? tho' there be nothing but trouble before our eyes, yet our hearts should live in those upper regions, which are above storms and tempests, above rain and winds, above the noise and confusions of the world. why should sorrow sit clouded in our faces, or any darkness be in our hearts, while we are in the shine and light of god's countenance? it is said, "that all judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their heart:" if we have sworn heartily, we shall rejoice heartily. and for ever banish base fears, and killing sorrows from our hearts; and wipe them from our faces. they, who have unworthy fears in their hearts, give too fair an evidence that they did not swear with their hearts. . walk humbly and dependently; rejoice, but be not secure. trust to god in covenant, not to your covenant. make not your covenant your christ; no, not for this temporal salvation. as a horse trusted to, is a vain thing to save a man, so likewise is a covenant trusted to; neither can it deliver a nation by its great strength: tho' indeed the strength of it be greater than the strength of many horses. "in vain is salvation hoped for from this hill, or from a multitude of mountains," heaped up and joined in one by the bond of this covenant. surely in the lord our god, our god in covenant, is the salvation of england. we cannot trust too much in god, nor too little in the creature; there is nothing breaks the staff of our help, but our leaning upon it. if we trust in our covenant, we have not made it with god, but we have made it a god; and every god of man's making, is an idol, and so nothing in the world: you see, pride in, or trust to this covenant will make it an idol, and then in doing all this, we have done nothing; for "an idol is nothing in the world." and of nothing, comes nothing. by overlooking to the means, we lose all; and by all our travail shall bring forth nothing but wind: it will not work any deliverance in the land. wherefore, "rest not in the thing done, but get up, and be doing," which is the last point, and my last motion about your walking in covenant. . walk industriously and diligently in this covenant. you were counselled before to stand to the covenant, but take heed of standing in it. stand, as that is opposed to defection; but if you stand as that is opposed to action, you are at the next door to falling. a total neglect is little better than total apostasy. we have made a perpetual covenant, never to be forgotten, as was shewed out of the prophet. it is a rule, that words in scripture, which express only an act of memory, include action and endeavours. when the young man is warned to "remember his creator in the days of his youth," he is also charged to love, and to obey him. and while we say, this covenant is never to be forgotten; we mean, the duties of it are ever to be pursued, and, to the utmost of our power, fulfilled. as soon as it is said that josiah made all the people stand to the covenant; the very next words are, "and the inhabitants of jerusalem did according to the covenant of god, the god of their fathers." they stood to it, but they did not, like those, "stand all the day idle;" they fell to work presently. and so let us. having laid this foundation, a sure covenant, now let us arise and build, and let our hands be strong. do not think that all is done, when this solemnity is done, it is a sad thing to observe how some, when they have lifted up their hands, and written down their names, think presently their work is over. they think, now surely they have satisfied god and man for they have subscribed the covenant. i tell you, nay, for when you have done taking the covenant, then your work begins. when you have done taking the covenant, then you must proceed to acting the covenant. when an apprentice has subscribed his name, and sealed his indentures, doth he then think his service is ended? no, then he knows his service doth begin. it is so here. we are all sealing the indentures of a sacred and noble apprenticeship to god, to these churches and commonwealths; let us then go to our work, as bound, yet free. free to our work, not from it; free in our work, working from a principle of holy ingenuity, not of servility, or constraint. the lord threatens them with bondage and captivity, who will not be servants in their covenant, with readiness and activity. "i, saith the lord, will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant, which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof; the princes of judah, and the princes of jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf, i will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and their dead bodies shall be meat to the fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth." words that need no rhetoric to press them, nor any comment to explain them: they are so plain, that every one may understand them; and so severe, that every one, who either transgresses, or performs not, who doeth any thing against, or nothing for the words of this covenant, hath just cause to tremble at the reading of them: i am sure, to feel them will make him tremble. seeing then our princes, our magistrates, our ministers, and our people, have freely consented to, written, and sworn this covenant; let us all in our several places, be up and doing, that the lord may be with us; not sit still and do nothing, and so cause the lord to turn against us. you that are for consultation, go to counsel; you that are for execution, go on to acting; you that are for exhorting the people in this work, attend to exhortation; you that are soldiers, draw your swords; you that have estates, draw your purses; you that have strength of body, lend your hands; and all you that have honest hearts, lend your prayers, your cries, your tears, for the prosperous success of this great work. and the lord prosper the works of all our hands, the lord prosper all our handy-works. _amen._ the solemn league and covenant. sermon at london. _by thomas case_[ ] "and i will bring a sword upon you that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant."--_lev._ xxvi. . since covenant-violation is a matter of so high a quarrel as for the avenging whereof, god sends a sword upon a church or nation: for which, it is more than probable, the sword is upon us at this present, it having almost devoured ireland already, and eaten up a great part of england also, let us engage our council, and all the interest we have in heaven and earth, for the taking up of this controversy; let us consider what we have to do, what way there is yet left us, for the reconciling of this quarrel, else we, and our families, are but the children of death and destruction: this sword that is drawn, and devoured so much christian protestant flesh already, will, it is to be feared, go quite thro' the land, and, in the pursuit of this quarrel, cut off the remnant, till our land be so desolate, and our cities waste, and england be made as sodom and gomorrah, in the day of the fierce anger of jehovah. somewhat i have spoken already in the former use, to this purpose viz. "to acknowledge our iniquities that we have transgressed against the lord our god." to get our hearts broken, for breaking the covenant; to lay it so to heart, that god may not lay it to our charge. but this looks backward. somewhat must be done, _de futuro_: for time to come: that may not only compose the quarrel, but lay a sure foundation of an after peace between god and the kingdom. and for that purpose, a mean lies before us; an opportunity is held forth unto us by the hand of divine wisdom and goodness, of known use and success among the people of god in former times; which is yet to me a gracious intimation, and a farther argument of hope from heaven, that god has not sworn against us in his wrath, nor sealed us up a people devoted to destruction, but hath yet a mind to enter into terms of peace and reconciliation with us, to receive us into grace and favour, to become our god, and to own us for his people; if yet, we will go forth to meet him, and accept of such honourable terms as shall be propounded to us: and that is, by renewing our covenant with him; yea, by entering into a more full and firm covenant than ever heretofore. for, as the quarrel was raised about the covenant, so it must be a covenant more solid and substantial, that must compose the quarrel, as i shall show you hereafter. and that is the service and the privilege that lies before us; the work of the next day. so that, me-thinks, i hear this use of exhortation, which now i would commend unto you speaking unto us in that language; "come, let us join ourselves to the lord in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten." it is the voice of the children of israel, and the children of judah, returning out of captivity. "the children of israel shall come, they, and the children of judah together; seeking the lord," whom they had lost, and inquiring the way to zion; from whence their idolatry and adulteries had cast them out; themselves become now like the doves of the valley, mourning and weeping, because they had perverted their way, and forgotten the lord their god. "going and weeping they shall go, and seek the lord their god. they shall ask the way to zion with their faces thitherward." and if you inquire when this should be? the fourth verse tells you, in those days. and if you ask again, what days those are? interpreters will tell us of a threefold day, wherein this prophecy or promise is to be fulfilled; that is, the literal or inchoative, evangelical or spiritual, universal or perfect day. the first day is a literal or inchoative day, here prophesied of, and that is already past, past long since; viz., in that day wherein the seventy years of the babylonian captivity expired; then was this prophecy or promise begun in part to be accomplished: at what time the captivity of judah, and divers of israel with them, upon their return out of babylon, kept a solemn fast at the river "ahava, to afflict their souls before their god." there may you see them going and weeping, "to seek of him a right way for them, and their little ones." there you have them seeking the lord, and inquiring the way to zion with their faces thitherward. and when they came home, you may hear some of their nobles and priests, calling upon them to enter into covenant; so shechaniah spake unto ezra, the princes, and the people, "we have sinned against the lord, ... yet now there is hope in israel concerning this thing. now therefore let us make a covenant with our god." and so you may find the levites calling the people to confess their sins with weeping and supplications, in a day of humiliation, and at the end of it, to write, and swear, and seal a covenant with "the lord their god." this was the first day wherein this prophecy began to be fulfilled, in the very letter thereof. the second day is the evangelical day, wherein this promise is fulfilled in a gospel or spiritual sense; namely, when the elect of god, of what nation or language soever, being all called the israel of god, as is prophesied, "one shall say, i am the lord's; and another shall call himself by the name of jacob, ... and surname himself by the name of israel." i say, when these in their several generations and successions shall turn to the lord their god, either from their gentilism and paganism, as in their first conversion to christianity; as tertullian observes after the resurrection of christ, and the mission of the holy ghost; _aspice exinde universas nationes ex veragine erroris humani emergentes ad dominum deum, et ad dominum christum ejus_. from that day forward, you might behold poor creatures of all nations and languages, creeping out of their dark holes and corners of blindness and idolatry, and betaking them to god and his son jesus christ, as to their law-giver and saviour; or else turning from antichristian superstition, and false ways of worship, as in the after and more full conversion of churches or persons purging themselves more and more, from the corruptions and mixtures of popery and superstitions, according to the degree of light and conviction, which should break out upon them, and asking the way to zion, _i.e._, the pure way of gospel worship, according to the fuller and clearer manifestations and revelations of the mind of christ in the gospel. this was fulfilled in luther's time, and in all those after separations which any of the churches have made from rome, and from those relics and remains of superstition and will-worship, wherewith themselves and the ordinances of jesus christ have been denied. the third day wherein this prophecy or promise is to be made good, is that universal day, wherein both jew and gentile shall be converted unto the lord. that day of the restitution of all things, as some good divines conceive when "ten men out of all languages of the nations, shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a jew, saying, we will go with you; for we have heard that god is with you." and to what purpose is more fully expressed in the former verses, answering the prophecy in the text. "thus saith the lord of hosts, it shall come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, let us go speedily to pray before the lord, and to seek the lord of hosts; i will go also. yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the lord of hosts in jerusalem, and to pray before the lord." this i call the universal day, because, as you see, there shall be such an abundance of confluence of cities, and people, and nations, combining together in an holy league and covenant, to seek the lord. and a perfect day, because the mind and will of the lord shall be fully revealed and manifested to the saints, concerning the way of worship and government in the churches. the new jerusalem, _i.e._ the perfect, exact, and punctual model of the government of christ in the churches, shall then be let down from heaven. "the light of the moon being then to be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." by what hath been spoken, you may perceive under which of these days we are: past indeed the first, but not yet arrived at the third day; and therefore under the second day, that evangelical day; yet so, as if all the three days were met together in ours, while it seems to me, that we are upon the dawning of the third day: and this prophecy falling so pat, and full upon our times, as if we were not got beyond the literal; a little variation will do it. the children of israel, and the children of judah: scotland and england, newly coming out of babylon, antichristian babylon, papal tyranny and usurpations, in one degree or other, going and weeping in the days of their solemn humiliations, bewailing their backslidings and rebellions, to seek the lord their god, to seek pardon and reconciliation, to seek his face and favour, not only in the continuance, but in the more full and sweet influential manifestations of his presence among them; and to that end, asking the way to zion with their faces thitherward; that is, inquiring after the pure way of gospel worship, with full purpose of heart; that when god shall reveal his mind to them, they will conform themselves to his mind according to that blessed prophecy and promise, "he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." and that they may make all sure, that they may secure god and themselves against all future apostasies and backslidings, calling one upon another, and echoing back one to another: "come, let us join ourselves to the lord, in a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten." you see by this time i have changed my text, tho' not my project; to which purpose i shall remember that, in the handling of these words, i must not manage my discourse, as if i were to make a new entire sermon upon the text, but only to improve the happy advantages it holds forth, for the pursuit and driving on of my present use of exhortation. come, let us join. to this end therefore, from these words, i will propound and endeavour to satisfy these three queries, . what? . why? . how? i. what the duty is, to which they mutually stir up one another? ii. why, or upon what considerations? iii. how, or in what manner this service is to be performed? and in all these you shall see what proportion the text holds with the times. the duty in our text, with the duty in our hands, pressing them on still in an exhortatory way. for the first. what the duty is? _answ._ you see that in the text; it is to join themselves to the lord, by a solemn covenant; and so is that which we have now in our hands, to join ourselves to the lord by a covenant; how far they correspond, will appear in the sequel. this is the first and main end of a covenant between god and his people, as i have shewed you, "to join themselves to the lord. the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the lord, and take hold of his covenant." this, i say, is the first and main end of the covenant in the text: the second is subordinate unto it; namely, to inquire the way to zion, _i.e._, to inquire the way and manner, how god would be worshipped; that they might dishonour and provoke him no more, by their idolatries and superstitions, which had been brought in upon the ordinances of god, by the means of apostate kings, and priests, and prophets, as in jeroboam's and ahab's reigns, and for which they had been carried into captivity. and such is the covenant that lies before us: in the first place, as i say, to join ourselves to the lord, to be knit inseparably unto him, that he may be our god, and we may be his people. and in the next place, as subservient hereunto, to ask the way to zion; to inquire and search by all holy means, sanctified to that purpose, what is that pure way of gospel worship; that we and our children after us may worship the god of spirits, the god of truth, in spirit, and in truth. in spirit opposed to carnal ways of will-worship, and inventions of men; and in truth, opposed to false hypocritical shews and pretences, since the father seeks such to worship him. now, that this is the main scope and aim of this covenant before us, will appear, if you read and ponder it with due consideration; i will therefore read it to you distinctly, this evening, besides the reading of it again to-morrow, when you come to take it; and when i have read it, i will answer the main and most material objections, which seem to make it inconsistent with these blessed ends and purposes. attend diligently while i read it to you. (the covenant was then read.) this brethren, is the covenant before us; to which god and his parliament do invite us this day; wherein the ends propounded lie fair to every impartial eye. the first article in this covenant, binding us to the reformation of religion; and the last article, to the reformation of our lives. in both, we join ourselves to the lord, and swear to ask and receive from his lips the law of this reformation. truly, this is a why, as well as a what, (that i may a little prevent myself) a motive of the first magnitude. oh! for a people or person to be joined unto the lord; to be made one with the most high god of heaven and earth, before whom and to whom we swear, is a privilege of unspeakable worth and excellency. "seemeth it (said david once to saul's servants) a small thing in your eyes, to be son-in-law to a king," seeing i am a poor man? seemeth it, may i say, a small thing to you, for poor creatures to be joined, and married, as it were, to the great god, the living god; who are so much worse than nothing, by how much sin is worse than vanity? yea, to be one with him as christ saith in that heavenly prayer of his; as he and his father are one. "that they may be one, as thou father art in me, and i in thee; that they also may be one in us." and again, "that they may be one, even as we are one." yea, perfect in one; not indeed, in the perfection of that unity, but in unity of that perfection; not made perfect in a perfection of equality, but of conformity. this is the fruit of a right managed covenant; and the greatest honour that poor mortality is capable of. moses stands admiring of it. you may read the place at your leisure. but, against this blessed service and truth, are there mustered and led up an whole regiment of objections, under the conduct of the father of lies; though some of them may seem to have some shadow of truth; and therefore so much the more carefully to be examined. i shall deal only with some of the chief commanders of them, if they be conquered the rest will vanish of their own accord. objections propounded and answered. _object._ . if this were the end of this service, yet it were needless: since we have done it over and over again, in our former protestations and covenants; and so this repetition may seem to be a profanation of so holy an ordinance, by making of it so ordinary, and nothing else, but a taking of god's name in vain. to this i answer. _answ._ . it cannot be done too oft; if it be done according to the law and order of so solemn an ordinance. . the people in the text might have made the same objection; it lay as strong against the work, to which they encourage one another: for surely, this was not the first time they engaged themselves to god by way of covenant; but having broken their former covenants, they thought it their privilege, and not their burden to renew it again, and to make it more full, stable, and impregnable than ever; "a perpetual covenant that shall not be forgotten"; which hints . and that is, there was never yet so full and strict a covenant tendered to us since we were a people. former covenants have had their defect and failings, like the best of god's people: but i may say of this in reference to other covenants, as solomon of his good house-wife, in reference to other women; "other daughters have done well, but thou hast exceeded them all." other covenants have done well, but this hath exceeded them all; like paul among the apostles, it goes beyond them all, though it seems to be born out of due time. now, if your leases and covenants among men be either lame or forfeited; need men persuade you to have them renewed and perfected? of how much greater concernment is this, between god and us, o! ye of little faith? . you receive the sacrament of the lord's supper once a month, and some will not be kept off, tho' they have no part, nor portion in that mystery, say the ministers of christ what they can; and the sacrament is but the seal of the covenant; consider it, and be convinced. _object._ . but secondly, it is objected there be some clauses in this covenant, that serve rather to divide us farther from god, than join us nearer to him; as binding us to inquire the way to zion of men rather than of god; to receive the law of reformation from scotland, and other churches, and not from the lips of the great prophet of the churches. in the article, we swear first to maintain the religion, as it is already reformed in scotland, in doctrine, government, and discipline; wherein, first, the most shall swear they know not what; and secondly, we swear to conform ourselves here in england, to their government and discipline in scotland which is presbyterial, and for ought we know, as much tyrannical, and more antichristian than that of prelacy, which we swear to extirpate; yea, some have not been afraid to call it the antichrist that is now in the world. _answ._ . to whom i first answer, beseeching them in the bowels of compassion, and spirit of meekness, to take heed of such rash and unchristian censures, least god hear, and it displease him; and they themselves possibly be found to commit the sin and incur the woe of them that "call evil good, and good evil." . whereas they object that many shall swear they know not what, the most being totally ignorant of the discipline of scotland, and very few understanding it distinctly. i would have these remember and consider two examples in scripture the one of king josiah, the other of the women and children in nehemiah's time. josiah (as the text tells us) not being above eight years of age, "while he was yet young, began to seek after the lord god of david his father; and in the twelfth year he began to purge judah and jerusalem." and this purging and reformation he did by covenant, wherein he swore, to "walk after the lord, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes." which surely, at that age, we cannot conceive he did distinctly and universally understand; no more could all the men, their wives and their sons, and their daughters, that took the covenant (in nehemiah's time) understand all things in particular to which that covenant did bind them; since they did enter into a curse, and an oath, not only to refuse all intermarriages with the heathen, but also to walk in god's law, which was given by moses, and to observe and do all the commandments of the lord, and his judgments, and his statutes. surely there were in this multitude, not an inconsiderable number that were not acquainted with all the moral precepts, judicial laws, and ceremonial statutes, which god commanded the people by the hand of moses. there be two things i know, that may be replied against these instances. . that of those women and children in nehemiah, it is said in the same place, they were of understanding, "every one having knowledge, and having understanding; they clave unto their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse." . that there is a great difference between the laws and statutes to which they swore, and this government and discipline to which we swear in this covenant. those laws and statutes were ordained immediately of god himself; and therefore being infallibly right, unquestionably holy, and just, and good, josiah and the people might lawfully swear observance to them with an implicit faith; but not so in a government and discipline set up by man, by a church, be it never so pure and holy: for their light being but a borrowed light, and they not privileged with an infallible spirit (as the apostles) their resolutions and ordinances may be liable to mistake and error; and therefore, to swear observance to them by an implicit faith, is more than comes to their share, and as unwarrantable as it is unsafe for a people or person to do, who are yet ignorant or unsatisfied in the whole, or in any particular. to these objections i rejoin: _first_, that that description of the covenanters in nehemiah, that "they were of understanding, and knowledge," supposeth not a distinct actual cognizance of every particular ordinance, judgment, statute, and provision, in all the three laws, moral, judicial, ceremonial, in every one that took the covenant; that being not only needless but impossible; but it implies only a capacity to receive instruction and information in the things they swore unto, tho' at present they were ignorant of many of the severals contained in that oath. and so far this rule obtains among us; children that are not yet come to understanding, and fools, being not admitted to this service, as not capable of instruction. _answ._ . to the second (tho' more considerable) yet the answer is not very difficult: for, _first_, we do not swear to observe that discipline, but to preserve it: i may preserve that, which in point of conscience i cannot observe, or not, at least, swear to observe. _second_, we swear to preserve it, not in opposition to any other form of government that may be found agreeable to the word, but in opposition against a common enemy, which is a clause of so wide a latitude, and easy a digestion, as the tenderest conscience need not kick at it; this preservation relating not so much to the government, as to the persons or nation under this government; not so much to preserve it as to preserve them in it, against a prelatical party at home, or a popish party abroad, that should attempt by violence to destroy them, or to force another government upon them, that should be against the word of god; under which latitude, i see not but we might enter into the like covenant with lutherans, or other reformed churches, whose government, discipline, and worship, is yet exceedingly corrupted with degenerate mixtures. _third_, neither in the preservation of their government, nor in the reformation of ours, do we swear to any thing of man's; but to what shall be found to be the mind of christ. witness that clause, article : "according to the word of god:" so that upon the matter, it is no more than josiah and the people in nehemiah swore to; namely, "what shall appear to be the statutes and laws which christ hath left in his word, concerning the regimen of his church?" _fourth_, nay, not so much; for we are not yet called to swear the observation of any kind of government, that is or shall be presented to us, but to endeavour the reformation of religion in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, according to the word of god. in the faithful and impartial search and pursuit whereof, if scotland, or any of the reformed churches, can hold us forth any clearer light than our own, we receive it not as our rule, but as such an help to expound our rule, as christ himself hath allowed us. in which case, we are bound to kiss not the lips only, but the very feet of them that shall be able to shew us "the way to zion." so that still, it is not the voice of the churches but of christ in the churches, that we covenant to listen to, in this pursuit; that is to say, that we will follow them, as they follow christ: and when all is done, and a reformation (through the assistance and blessing of the lord jesus christ, that great king and prophet of his church) resolved on according to this rule thus interpreted, under what notion or obligation the observation of it shall be commended to us, _sub judice lis est_, it is yet in the bosom and breast of authority; we are as yet called to swear to nothing in this kind. so much in reference to the instances. _answ._ . i answer further to the satisfying of this second doubt, that by this covenant, we are bound no more to conform to scotland, than scotland to us: the stipulation being mutual, and this stipulation binding us not so much to conform one to another, as both of us to the word; wherein, if we can meet, who would not look upon it, as upon the precious fruit of christ's prayer: "that they might be one, as we are one?" and the beauty and safety of both nations, and of as many of the churches as the lord our god shall persuade to come into this holy and blessed association? _object._ . a third objection falls upon the second article or branch of this covenant; wherein it is feared by some, that we swear to extirpate that which, for ought we know, upon due inquiry, may be found the way to zion, the way of evangelical government, which christ and his apostles have set up in the church. _answ._ where lies that, think you? in what clause or word of the article? who can tell? surely not in popery; or if there be any that think that the way, i would wish their persons in rome, since their hearts are there already. is it in superstition? nay, superstition properly consisteth in will-worship, "teaching for doctrine the traditions of men;" this cannot be the way to zion, which christ hath chalked out to us in his word. no more can heresy, which is the opposition to sound doctrine; nor schism, which is the rent of the church's peace; nor profaneness, the poison of her conversation. none but superstitious heretics, schismatics, profane persons, will call these the way to zion; nor these neither, under the name and notion of superstition, heresy, schism, profaneness; for the heretic will not call his doctrine heresy; nor the superstitious, his innovation superstition; nor the schismatic, his turbulent practices schism; nor lastly, the profane person, his lewdness profaneness; tho' they love the thing, they hate the name. and this, before we go further, occasions another objection, which you must give me leave both to make and answer in a parenthesis, and then i will return. _object._ how can we swear the extirpation of these, since, who shall be judge? while some will be ready to call that schism and superstition, which is not; and others deny that to be heresy, superstition, schism, which is? _answ._ . to which i answer, by the same argument, we ought not to covenant against popery and drunkenness, sabbath-breaking, nor any other sin whatsoever, there being nothing so gross but it will find some friends to justify, and plead for it; which if we shall not condemn till all parties be agreed on the verdict, we shall never proceed to judgment, while the world stands. . the word must be the rule and the judge, say men what they please, _pro_ or _con_. . and if the matter be indeed so disputable, that it lies not in my faculty to pronounce sentence, i have my dispensation to suspend, till the world determine the controversy. i now return; if then in none of these, the doubt must of necessity lie in that word prelacy. and is that indeed the way of gospel government? is that it indeed which bears away the bell of _jure divino_? what is it then that hath destroyed all gospel order, and government and worship, in these kingdoms, as in other places of the christian world, even down to the ground? hath it not been prelacy? what is it that hath taken down a teaching ministry, and set up in the room a teaching-ceremony? is it not prelacy? what is it that hath silenced, suspended, imprisoned, deprived, banished, so many godly, learned, able ministers of the gospel; yea, and killed some of them with their unheard of cruelties, and thrust into their places idol, idle shepherds; dumb dogs that cannot bark (unless it were at the flock of christ; so they learned of their masters, both to bark and bite too) greedy dogs that could never have enough, that did tear out the loins and bowels of their own people for gain, heap living upon living, preferment upon preferment; swearing, drunken, unclean priests, that taught nothing but rebellion in israel, and caused people to abhor the sacrifice of the lord: arminian, popish, idolatrous, vile wretches, such as, had job been alive, he would not have set with the dogs of his flock; who, i say, brought in these? did not prelacy? what hath hindered the reformation of religion all this while in doctrine, government, and worship? prelacy, a generation of men they were, that never had a vote for jesus christ; yea, what hath poisoned and adulterated religion in all these branches, and hath let in popery and profaneness upon the kingdom like a flood, for the raising of their own pomp and greatness, but prelacy? in a word, prelacy it is, that hath set its impure and imperious feet, one upon the church, the other upon the state, and hath made both serve as pharaoh did the israelites, with rigour. surely, their government hath been a yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. now, that which hath done this, and a thousand times more violence and mischief to christ and his people, than the tongue or pen of man is able to express; can that be the way of or to zion? can that be the government of christ and his church? _object._ aye, but there be that will tell us, these have been the faults of the persons, and not of the calling? _answ._ . so cry some indeed, that ye like the men, as well as their calling, and would justify the persons as well as the office, but that their wickedness is made so manifest that impudency itself cannot deny it. but is it indeed only the fault of the men, not of the calling? what meant then that saying of queen elizabeth, "that when she had made a bishop, she had spoiled a preacher?" was it only a jest? . and i wish we had not too just cause to add, the man too. surely of the most of them we may say, as once arnobius spake of the gentiles, _apud vos optimi censentur quos comparatio pessimorum sic facit_. give me leave to vary it a little: he was a good bishop, that was not the worst man; but if there were some of a better complexion, who yet, _apparent rari nantes in gurgite vasto_, were very rarely discovered in their episcopal see; yet, . look into their families, and they were for the most part the vilest in the diocese, a very nest of unclean birds; and, . if you had looked into their courts and consistories, you would have thought you had been in caiaphas' hall, where no other trade was driven but the crucifying of christ in his members. . but fifthly, produce me one in this last succession of bishops (i hope the last) that had not his hands imbrued more or less in the blood of the faithful ministry, (i say not ministers, but ministry) produce a man amongst them all, that durst be so conscientious as to lay down his bishoprick, rather than he would lay violent hands upon a non-conforming minister, though he had failed but in one point of their compass of ceremonies, when their great master, the pope of canterbury, commanded it, although both for life, learning, and orthodox religion, their consciences did compel them to confess with pilate, "we find no fault in this just person." i say, produce me such a bishop amongst the whole bunch, in this latter age, and i will down on my knees, and ask them forgiveness. oh! it was sure a mischievous poisoned soil, in which, whatsoever plant was set did hardly ever thrive after. . but yet further, was not the calling as bad as the men? you may as well say so of the papacy in rome, for surely the prelacy of england, which we swore to extirpate, was the very same fabric and model of ecclesiastical regimen, that is in that antichristian world; yea, such an evil it is that some divines, venerable for their great learning, as well as for their eminent holiness, did conceive sole episcopal jurisdiction to be the very seat of the beast, upon which the fifth angel is now pouring out his vial, which is the reason that the men of that kingdom "gnaw their tongues for pain, and blaspheme the god of heaven." _object._ aye, but it is therefore pleaded further against this clause, that although it may be prelacy with all its adjuncts and accidents of archbishops, chancellors, and commissaries, deans, &c., may have haply been the cause of these evils that have broken in upon us, and perhaps antichristian; yet should we therefore swear the extirpation of all prelacy, or episcopacy whatsoever; since there may be found perhaps in scripture an episcopacy or prelacy, which, circumcised from these exuberant members and officers, may be that government christ hath bequeathed his church in the time of the gospel? _answ._ now we shall quickly close this business. for, . it is this prelacy, thus clothed, thus circumstanced, which we swear to extirpate; read else the clause again, prelacy, that is, church government by archbishops, bishops, their chancellors. not every, or all kinds of prelacy; not prelacy in the latitude of the notion thereof. . and secondly, let us join issue upon this point, and make no more words of it; if there be an episcopacy or prelacy found in the word, as the way of gospel-government, which christ hath bequeathed the churches, and this be made appear, we are so far from swearing to extirpate such a prelacy, as that rather we are bound by virtue of this oath to entertain it, as the mind and will of jesus christ. and this might suffice to warrant our covenanting to extirpate this prelacy, save that only. yet some seem conscientiously to scruple this in the last place. _object._ that they see not what there is to warrant our swearing, to extirpate that which is established by the law of the land, till the same law have abolished it. to which i answer, . if the law of the land had abolished it, we need not swear the extirpation of it. . in this oath, the parliaments of both kingdoms go before us, who, having the legislative power in their hands, have also _potestatem vitæ et necis_, over laws, as well as over persons, and may as well put to death the evil laws that do offend against the kingdom and the welfare of it, as the evil persons that do offend against the laws. . who therefore, thirdly, if they may lawfully annul and abolish laws that are found to sin against the law of god, and the good of the kingdom may as lawfully bind themselves by an oath, to use the uttermost of their endeavours to annul and abolish those laws; their oath being nothing else but a solemn engagement to endeavour to perform what they have warrantably resolved upon; and with the same equity may they bind the kingdom to assist them in so doing. . which is all that the people are engaged to by this covenant. not to outrun the parliament in this extirpation, but to follow and serve them in it, by such concurrence as they may expect from each person in their stations and callings; for that clause, expressed in the first and third article, is to be understood in all. _object._ if it be yet objected, that the members of parliament have, at one time or other, sworn to preserve the laws; and therefore to swear to endeavour the extirpation of prelacy, which is established by law, is to contradict their own oath and run the hazard of perjury: it is easy for any one to observe and answer. . that by the same argument, neither may king and parliament together change or annul a law, though found destructive to the good of the kingdoms, since his majesty, as well as his subjects, are bound up under the same oath at his coronation. . but again, there is a vast difference between the members of parliament, simply considered in their private capacities, wherein they may be supposed to take an oath to maintain the laws of the land; and that public capacity of a parliament, whereby they are judges of those laws, and may, as i said before, endeavour the removal of such as are found pernicious to the church or state, and make such as will advantage the welfare of others; his majesty being bound by his coronation-oath, to confirm these laws, which the commons shall agree upon and present unto his majesty. _object._ aye, but it seems this objection lies full and strong upon them that stand in their single private stations. i answer, that if there be any such oath, which yet i have never seen nor heard of, unless the objection mean that clause in the late parliament protestation, wherein we vow and protest to maintain and defend the lawful rights and liberties of the subject; surely, neither in that nor this, do we swear against a lawful endeavour to get any such laws or clause of the law repealed and abolished, which is found a wrong, rather than a right, and the bondage, rather than the liberty of the subject, as prelacy was. had we indeed taken the bishop's oath, or the like, never to have given our consent to have the government by episcopacy changed or altered, we had brought ourselves into a woful snare; but, blessed be god, that snare is broken, and we are escaped; while, in the mean time without all doubt, the subject may as lawfully use all lawful means to get that law removed, which yet he hath promised or sworn to obey, while it remains, when it proves prejudicial to the public safety and welfare; as a poor captive, that hath peradventure sworn obedience to the turk, (while he remains in his possession) may notwithstanding use all fair endeavours for an escape or ransom. or a prentice that is bound to obey his master; yet, when he finds his service turned into a bondage, may use lawful means to obtain his freedom. but once more to answer both objections; it is worth your inquiry, whether the plea of a legal establishment of this prelacy, sworn against in this covenant, be not rather a tradition, than any certain or confessed truth. sure i am, we have it from the hands of persons of worth and honour; the ablest secretaries of laws and antiquities in our kingdom, that there is no such law or statute to be found upon the file, among our records. which assertion, if it cannot find faith, we will once more join issue with the patrons or followers of this prelacy, upon this point, that when they produce that law or statute which doth enact and establish prelacy, as it is here branched in the article, we will then give them a fuller answer, or yield the question. to conclude therefore, since this prelacy in the article, this many headed monster of archbishops, bishops, their chancellors and commissaries, deans, deans and chapters, archdeacons, and all other ecclesiastical officers depending on that hierarchy, is the beast, wherewith we fight in this covenant, which hath been found so destructive to church and state; let us not fear to take this sword of the covenant of god into our hands, and say to this enemy of christ, as samuel said once to agag, (at what time he said within himself, "surely the bitterness of death is past") "as thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women." so hath prelacy flattered itself, finding such a party to stand up on its side among the rotten lords and commons, the debauched gentry, and abased people of the kingdom: "surely the bitterness of death is past." "i sit as a queen, and shall not know widow-hood, or loss of children." in the midst of this security and pride, the infallible forerunners of her downfall, let us call her forth, and say, as thy sword, prelacy, hath made many women childless, many a faithful minister peopleless, houseless and libertyless, their wives husbandless, their children and their congregations fatherless, and pastorless, and guideless; so thy mother, papacy, shall be made childless among harlots, your diocese bishopless, and your sees lordless, and your places shall know you no more. come, my brethren, i say, and fear not to take this agag, (prelacy, i mean, not the prelates) and hew it in pieces before the lord. _object._ . a fourth and main objection that troubles many, is, that in the following article there are divers things of another nature that should fall within the compass of such a covenant, as that which the text holds forth, "to join ourselves to the lord." there be state-matters, and such too, as are full of doubt, and perhaps of danger, to be sworn unto. i shall answer, first, the general charge, and then some of the particulars which are most material. in general, i answer, there is nothing in the body of this covenant which is not either purely religious, or which lies not in a tendency to religion, conducing to the securing and promoting thereof. and as, in the expounding the commandments, divines take this rule, that that command which forbids a sin, forbids also all the conducibles and provocations to that sin, all the tendencies to it: and that command which enjoins a duty, enjoins all the mediums and advancers to that duty; circumstances fall within the latitude of the command: so in religious covenants, not only those things which are of the substance and integrals of religion, but even the collaterals and subserviences that tend either to the establishing or advancing of religion, may justly be admitted within the verge and pale of the covenant. the cities of refuge had their suburbs appointed by god, as well as their habitations, and even they also were counted holy. the rights and privileges of the parliaments, and the liberties of the kingdom, mentioned in the third article; they are the suburbs of the gospel, and an inheritance bequeathed by god to nations and kingdoms, and, under that notion, holy. concerning which a people may lawfully reply to the unjust demands of emperors, kings, or states, as naboth once to ahab, when demanded to yield up his vineyard to his majesty: "god forbid, that i should give the inheritance of my father." these be the outworks of religion, the lines of communication, as i may so say, for the defence of this city; which the prelates well knew, and therefore you see, it was their great design first, by policy to have surprised, and, when that would not do, then, by main strength of battle, to storm these outworks: well knowing, that if they once had won these, they should quickly be masters also of the holy city, religion itself, and do what they listed. and, therefore, the securing of these must of necessity be taken into the same councils and covenant with religion itself. this premised in general, we shall easily and apace satisfy the particular scruples and queries as i go. . _scruple._ the most part that swear this covenant are in a great degree, if not totally, ignorant what the rights and privileges of the parliament, and the liberties of the kingdoms are, and how can they then swear to maintain they know not what? . by the same argument no man, or very few, might lawfully swear to maintain the king's prerogatives in the paths of allegiance and supremacy; nor the king himself swear to maintain the liberties of the subject, as he doth in his oath at his coronation. . but there is hardly any person so ignorant but knows there are privileges belonging to the parliaments, and liberties belonging to the subject. . and that it is the duty of every subject, according to his place and power, to maintain these; so that, in taking of this covenant, we swear to do no more than our duty binds us to; in which there is no danger, tho' we do not in every point know how far that duty extends in every branch and several thereof. . in swearing to do my duty, whether to god or man, if i be ignorant of many particulars, i oblige myself to these two things. . to use the best means to inform myself of the particulars. . to conform myself to what i am informed to be my duty. which yet, in the case in hand, doth admit of a further latitude, namely, that which lies in the very word and letter of this article (as in most of the rest) in our several vocations; which doth not bind every one to the same degree of knowledge, nor the same way of preservation: as for example, i do not conceive every magistrate is bound to know so much, no, nor to endeavour to know so much, as parliament-men; nor every member of parliament so much as judges; nor ministers so much as the lawyers; nor ordinary people so much as ministers; nor servants so much as masters; nor all to preserve them the same way; parliament-men by demanding them, lawyers by pleading, judges by giving the sense and mind of the law, ministers by preaching, magistrates by defending, people by assisting, praying, yielding obedience. all, if the exigencies arise so high, and the state call for it, by engaging their estates and lives, in case they be invaded by an unlawful power. and in case of ignorance, the thing we bind ourselves to is this, that if at any time any particular shall be in question, what the parliament shall make appear to be their right or the liberty of the subject, we promise to contribute such assistance for the preservation or reparation thereof, as the nature of the thing, and wisdom of the state shall call for at our hands, in our several places. . _scruple._ but some are offended, while they conceive in the same article, that the clause wherein we swear the preservation and defence of the king's person and authority, doth lie under some restraint, by that limitation; in the preservation and defence of the true religion, and the liberties of the kingdom. to which we reply. . it maintains him as far as he is a king: he may be a man, but sure no king, without the lists and verge of religion and laws, it being religion and laws that make him a king. . it maintains his person and estate, as far as his majesty himself doth desire and expect to be defended; for, sure his justice cannot desire to be defended against, but in the preservation of religion and laws; and his wisdom cannot expect it, since he cannot believe that they will make conscience of defending his person, who make no conscience of preserving religion and the laws; i mean, when the ruin of his person and authority may advance their own cursed designs. they that, for their ends, will defend his person and authority against religion and liberties of the kingdom, will with the same conscience defend their own ends against his person and authority, when they have power in their hands. the lord deliver his majesty from such defenders, by what names or titles soever they be called. . who doubts but that religion and laws, (wherein the rights and liberties of kingdoms are bound up) are the best security of the persons and authority of kings and governors? and the while kings will defend these, these will defend kings? it being impossible that princes should suffer violence or indignity, while they are within the munition of religion and laws; or if the prince suffer, these must of necessity suffer with him. . i make a question, whether this limitation lie any more upon the defence of the king's person and authority, than it doth upon the rights and privileges of parliaments, and the liberties of the kingdom, since there is no point or stop in the article to appropriate it more to the defence of the king's person and authority, than to the preservation of the rights and privileges of the parliaments, and the liberties of the kingdoms? . and lastly, this clause is not to be understood exclusive, as excluding all other cases wherein the kingdoms stand bound to preserve his majesty's person and authority, but only as expressing that case wherein the safety of his person and authority doth most highly concern both king and kingdoms, especially at such a time as this is, when both are so furiously and implacably encountered by a malignant army of desperate parricides, papists, and their prelatical party. these objections answered, and difficulties removed, we proceed to the examining of the rest of the particulars, in the following articles. the discovery of incendiaries or malignants that have been, or shall be, to which the fourth article binds us: doth it not lie also in a necessary tendency to the securing and preserving of this covenant inviolable with the most high god, in point of reformation? for can we hope a thorough reformation, according to the mind of christ, if opposers of reformation may escape scot-free, undiscovered and unpunished? or, can we indeed love or promote a reformation, and in the mean time countenance or conceal the enemies of it? this is clear, yet it wants not a scruple, and that peradventure which may trouble a sincere heart. _object._ it is this, having once taken this oath, if we hear a friend, or brother, yea, perhaps a father, a husband, or a wife, let fall a word of dislike of the parliament, or assembly's proceedings in either kingdom; or that discovers another judgment, or opinion; or a word of passion unadvisedly uttered, and do not presently discover and complain of it, we pull upon ourselves the guilt or danger of perjury, which will be a mighty snare to thousands of well affected people. to which i answer. . the objection lays the case much more narrow than the words of the article, which distinguisheth the incendiary or malignant, which is to be discovered by a threefold character, or note of malignity. _first_, hindering the reformation of religion. _secondly_, dividing the king from his people, or one kingdom from another. _thirdly_, making any faction or parties amongst the people, contrary to the league and covenant. now, every dislike of some passage in parliament or assembly's proceedings; every dissent in judgment and opinion; every rash word or censure, that may possibly be let fall through passion and inadvertency, will not amount to so high a degree of malignity as is here expressed, nor consequently bring one within the compass of this oath and covenant. a suitable and seasonable caution or conviction may suffice in such a case. . but, suppose the malignity to arise to that height here expressed in any of the branches thereof; i do not conceive the first work this oath of god binds us to, is to make a judicial discovery thereof; while, without controversy, our saviour's rule of dealing with our brethren in cases of offence is not here excluded; which is, . to see what personal admonition will do; which, toward a superior, as husband, parent, master, or the like, must be managed with all wisdom and reverence. if they hear us, we have made a good day's work of it; we have gained our brother; if not, then the rule directs us yet. . in the second place, to take with us two or three more; if they do the deed, thou mayest sit down with peace and thankfulness. . if, after all this, the party shall persist in destructive practices to hinder reformation, to divide the king from his people, or one kingdom from another; or lastly, to make factions or parties among the people; be it the man of thine house, the husband of thy youth, the wife of thy bosom, the son of thy loins: "levi must know neither father nor mother," private relations must give way to public safety; thou must with all faithfulness endeavour the discovery, thine "eye must not pity nor spare." it is a case long since stated by god himself; and when complaint is made to any person in authority, the plaintiff is discharged, and the matter rests upon the hands of authority. provided, notwithstanding, that there be, in the use of all the former means, that latitude allowed which the apostle gives in case of heresy; "a first and second admonition." this course, not only the rule of our saviour in general, but the very words of the covenant itself, doth allow, for, though the clause be placed in the sixth article, yet it hath reference to all, viz., "what we are not able ourselves to suppress or overcome, we shall reveal and make known." so that, if the malignity fall within our own or our friends' ability to conquer, we have discharged our duty to god and the kingdoms, and may sit down with comfort in our bosoms. that which remains in the other two articles, i cannot see how it affords any occasion of an objection; and the reference it hath to the reformation and preservation of religion, is easy and clear to any eye, that is not wilfully blind; the preservation of peace between the two kingdoms, in the fifth article, being the pillar of religion; for how can religion and reformation stand, if any blind malignant samson be suffered to pull down the pillars of peace and union? besides, it was a branch of that very covenant in the text, as well as of that in our hands. the children of israel and judah, which had a long time been disunited, and in that disunion had many bloody and mortal skirmishes and battles, now at length by the good hand of god upon them, take counsel to join themselves, first one to another, and then both unto god. let us "join ourselves," and then to "the lord, in a perpetual covenant." surely, not only this copy in the text, but the wormwood and the gall of our civil combustions and wars, which our souls may have in remembrance to our dying day, and be humbled within us, may powerfully persuade us to a cheerful engagement of ourselves, for the preservation of a firm peace and union between the kingdoms, to all posterity. and lastly, as peace is the pillar of religion, so mutual assistance and defence of all those that enter into this league and covenant, in the maintaining and pursuance thereof, (mentioned in that sixth and last article) is the pillar of that peace, _divide et impera_; desert one another, and we expose ourselves to the lusts of our enemies. and who can object against the securing of ourselves, and the state, against a detestable indifferency or neutrality, but they must, _ipso facto_, proclaim to all the world that they intend before-hand to turn neutrals or apostates? to conclude, therefore, having thus examined the several articles of the covenant, and the material clauses in those articles; and finding them to be, if not of the same nature, yet of the same design with the preface and conclusion; the one whereof, as i told you, at the entrance, obligeth us to the reformation of religion; the other, of our lives, as serving to the immediate and necessary support and perfecting of these blessed and glorious ends and purposes: i shall need to apologise no further in the vindicating and asserting of this covenant before us. could we be so happy, as to bring hearts suitable to this service: could we set up such aims and ends as the covenant holds forth; the glory of god, the good of the kingdoms, and honour of the king, to which, this covenant, and every several part thereof, doth humbly prostrate itself, all would conspire to make us and our posterity after us, an happy and glorious people to all generations. to them that object out of conscience, these poor resolutions may afford some relief, if not satisfaction; or, if these slender endeavours fall short of my design, and the reader's desires herein, i shall send them to their labours, who have taken more able and fruitful pains in this subject. to them that object out of a spirit of bitterness and malignity, nothing will suffice. he that is resolved to err, is satisfied with nothing but that which strengthens his error. and these i leave to such arguments and convictions, which the wisdom and justice of authority shall judge more proper; while i proceed to the second query propounded, for the managing of this use of exhortation; why? or, upon what considerations we may be persuaded to undertake this service? to enter into this holy covenant. and the first motive that may engage us hereunto is the consideration, how exceedingly god hath been dishonoured among us, by all sorts of covenant-violation, as hath been formerly discovered at large; in the avenging whereof, the angel of the covenant stands, as once at the door of paradise, with a flaming sword in his hand, ready to cut us off, and cast us out of this garden of god--this good land wherein he hath planted us thus long. i may say unto you therefore, concerning ourselves, as once moses in another case, concerning miriam; "if her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed?" if our father had but spit in our face by some inferior correction, should we not be ashamed? ought we not to be greatly humbled before him? how much more, when "he hath poured out upon us the fury of his wrath, and it hath burned us; and the strength of battle, and it hath set on fire round about?" should we not lay it to heart, and use all means to pacify the fierceness of his anger, lest it burn down to the very foundations of the land, and none be able to quench it? yea, secondly, a wonderful mercy, and an high favour we may count it from god, that yet such a sovereign means is left us for our recovery and reconciliation. infinite condescension and goodness it is in our god that, after so many fearful provocations by our unhallowed and treacherous dealing in the covenant, he will vouchsafe yet to have any thing to do with us, that he will yet trust or try us any more, by admitting us to renew our covenant with his majesty, when he might in justice rather say unto us, as to the wicked, "what have you to do, that you should take my covenant into your mouths, seeing you hate instruction, and cast my words behind you?" certainly, had man broken with us, as oft as we have broken with god, we should never trust them any more, but account them as the off-scouring of mankind, the vilest, the basest that ever trode upon god's ground; and yet that after so many unworthy and treacherous departures from our god, after so much unfaithfulness and perfidiousness in the covenant, (such as it is not in the capacity of one man to be guilty of towards another) that god should say to us, as once to his own people, "thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return to me, saith the lord:" oh, wonder of free grace! oh, might this privilege be offered to the apostate angels, which kept not the covenant of their creation, nor consequently their first estate, and to the rest of the damned souls in hell! would god send an angel from heaven to preach unto them a second covenant, upon the laying hold whereon, and closing wherewith, they might be received into grace and favour; how would those poor damned spirits bestir themselves! what rattling of their red-hot chains! what shaking of their fiery locks! in a word, what an uproar of joy would there be in hell, upon such glad tidings! how many glorious churches, as capernaum, bethsaida, the seven churches of asia, with others in latter times, who have for their covenant-violation been cast down from the top of heaven, where once they sat in the beauty and glory of the ordinances, to the very bottom of hell, a dark and doleful condition; and god hath never spoken such a word of comfort, nor made any such offer of recovery, and reconciliation unto them, as he hath done to us unto this day? "surely he hath not dealt so with any people." let it be our wisdom, and our thankfulness, to accept of it, with both hands; yea, both with hands and hearts. if god give us hearts suitable to this price that is in our hands, covenanting hearts, as he gives us yet leave and opportunity to renew our covenant, it will be to me a blessed security that we are not yet a lost people; and a new argument of hope, that he intends to do england good. if neglected and despised, whether this may not be the last time that ever england shall hear from god, i much doubt, unless it be in such a voice as that is, "i would have healed england, and she will not be healed; because i would have purged thee, and thou art not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till i have caused my fury to rest upon thee." the lord forbid such a thing: "for, how shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?" _thirdly_, we may be mightily encouraged to this service, in as much as it is prophesied of, as the great duty and privilege of gospel-times. you see the evangelical day, is one of those days wherein this prophecy and promise must be fulfilled. and it is the same privilege and happiness which was prophesied of, under the type of the sticks made one, in the hand of the prophet ezekiel, (ezek. xxxvii. . .) for, though in the literal sense, it be to be understood, as it is expressed, of the happy reunion of that unhappy divided seed of jacob, joseph and ephraim, israel and judah; yet in a gospel sense, it is to be applied to the churches of jesus christ, in the latter days, which tho' formerly divided and miserably torn by unnatural quarrels, and wars, yet christ, the king of the church, hath a day wherein he will make them one in his own hand: the great and gracious design which we humbly conceive christ hath now upon these two nations, england and scotland, even after all their sad divisions and civil discords, to make them one in his right hand, to all generations. and this gives me assurance, that the work shall go on and prosper, yea, prosper gloriously, it having a stronger foundation to support it than heaven and earth, for they are upheld but by a word of power. but this work, which is called the new heavens and the new earth, is upheld by a word of promise; for "we, according to his promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness." i say, by a word of prophecy and promise, which, it seems, is stronger than god himself; for his word binds him, so that he can as soon deny himself, as deny his promise. there shall be therefore an undoubted accomplishment of these things, which are told us from the lord. god will find, or make a people, who shall worship him in this holy ordinance; and upon whom he will make good all the mercy and truth; all the peace and salvation which is bound up in it: only therefore let me caution and beseech you, not to be wanting to yourselves and your own happiness: "judge not yourselves unworthy of such a privilege," nor "reject the counsel of god against your own souls; sin not against your own mercies," by withdrawing yourselves from this service, or rebelling against it. "god will exclude none, that do not exclude themselves." yea, further, this seems to speak an argument of hope, that the calling of the jews, and the fulness of the gentiles, is not far behind; inasmuch as god begins now to pour out his promise in the text upon the churches, in a more eminent manner than ever we, or our fathers, saw it in a gospel sense: and, surely, gospel performance must make way for that full and universal accomplishment thereof, which shall unite "israel and judah, jew and gentile, in one perpetual covenant unto the lord, that shall never be forgotten." the gospel day is nothing else but the dawning of that great universal day in the text, wherein god will make one glorious church of jew and gentile; the day star whereof is now risen in our horizon: so that i am humbly confident that the same shores shall not bound this covenant, which bound the two now covenanting nations; but, as it is said of the gospel, so it will be verified of this gospel covenant; "the sound thereof will go into all the earth, and the words of it to the ends of the world." there is a spirit of prophecy that doth animate this covenant, which will make it swift and active; swift to run: "his word runs very swiftly." and active, to work deliverance and safety not only to these two kingdoms, but to all other christian churches groaning under, or in danger of, the yoke of antichristian tyranny, whom god shall persuade to join in the same, or like association and covenant. so that, me-thinks, all that travail with the psalmist's desire "of seeing the good of god's chosen, and rejoicing in the gladness of his nation, and glorying with his inheritance," will certainly rejoice in this day, and in the goodness of god which hath crowned it with the accomplishment of such a precious promise as here lies before us: while none can withdraw from, much less oppose, this service, but such as bear evil will to zion, and would be unwilling to see the ruin and downfall of antichrist, which this blessed covenant doth so evidently threaten. _fourthly_, this hath been the practice of all the churches of god, before and since christ; after their apostasies, and captivities for those apostasies, and recoveries out of these captivities, the first thing they did was to cement themselves to god, by a more close, entire, and solemn covenant than ever. nehemiah, ezra, hezekiah, jeremiah, josiah, will all bring in clear evidences to witness this practice. this, latter churches have learned of them, germany, france, scotland. but what shall i need to mention the churches, whenas the god of the churches took this course himself; who, when he pleases to become the god of any people or person, it is by covenant; as with abraham, "behold, i make a covenant with thee." and whatever mercies he bestows upon them, it is by covenant. all the blessings of god's people are covenant blessings: to wicked men, god gives with his left hand, out of the basket of common providence; but to his saints, he dispenseth with his right hand, out of the ark of the covenant. "i will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of david." yea, which is yet more to our purpose, when the first covenant proved not, but miscarried, not by any fault that was in the covenant-maker, no, nor simply in the covenant itself; for, if man could have kept it, it would have given him life; i say, when it was broken, god makes a new covenant with his people. "not according to the covenant which i made with their fathers, which my covenant they brake.... but this shall be the covenant, ... i will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their god, and they shall be my people." because they could not keep the first covenant, god made a second that should keep them. oh! that while we are making a covenant with our god, he would please to make such a covenant with us; so would it be indeed a "perpetual covenant, that should not be forgotten." well, you see we have a covenanting god, a covenant-making god, and a covenant-renewing god; be we "followers of god, as dear children:" let us be a covenanting people, a covenant making, a covenant-renewing people; and as our god, finding fault with the first, let us make a "new covenant, even a perpetual covenant, that shall never be forgotten." a _fifth_ motive to quicken us to this duty, may be even the practice of the antichristian state and kingdom; popery hath been dexterous to propagate and spread itself by this means. what else have been all their fraternities and brotherhoods, and societies, but so many associations and combinations politic, compacted and obliged, by oaths and covenants, for the advancing of the catholic cause, whereby nations and kingdoms have been subdued to the obedience of the roman mitre? and prelacy (that whelp) hath learned this policy of its mother papacy (that lioness) to corroborate and raise itself to that height, we have seen and suffered by these artifices; while, by close combinations among themselves, and swearing to their obedience, all the inferior priesthood, and church-officers, by ordination engagements and oaths of canonical obedience, a few have been able to impose their own laws and canons, upon a whole kingdom; yea, upon three kingdoms, it being an inconsiderable company, either of ministers or people (the lord be merciful to us in this thing) that have had eyes to discover the mystery of iniquity, which these men have driven; and much more inconsiderable, that have had hearts to oppose and withstand their tyranny and usurpations. and why may not god make use of the same stratagem to ruin their kingdom, which they used to build it? yea, god hath seemed to do it already, while in that place where they cast that roaring canon, and formed their cursed oath, for the establishing their babel prelacy, with its endless perpetuity. in the very same place hath this covenant been debated and voted, once, and a second time, by command of public authority, for the extirpation of it root and branch, and the casting of it out for ever, as a plant which "our heavenly father hath not planted." and who knows, but this may be the arrow of the lord's deliverance, which, as it hath pierced to the very heart of prelacy, so it may also give a mortal wound to the papacy itself, of which it will never be healed by the whole college of physicians (the jesuits), who study the complexion and health of that babylonian harlot. in the sixth and last place, the good success this course hath found in the churches, may encourage us with much cheerfulness and confidence to undertake this service. it hath upon it a _probatum est_, from all that ever conscientiously and religiously used this remedy. it recovered the state and church of the jews, again and again, many a time, when it was ready to give up the ghost; it recovered and kept a good correspondency between god and them, all the time it was of any esteem and credit amongst them. it brings letters of testimonial with it, from all the reformed churches; especially from our neighbour nation and church of scotland, where it hath done wonders in recovering that people, when all the physicians in christendom had given them over. it is very remarkable. god promiseth to bring them "into the bond of the covenant;" and in the next verse it follows, "and i will purge out the rebels from among you." there is an [and] that couples this duty, and this mercy together; "i will bring you into the bond," "and i will purge out." the walls of jericho have fallen flat before it. the dagon of the bishop's service-book broke its neck before this ark of the covenant. prelacy and prerogative have bowed down, and given up the ghost at its feet. what a reformation hath followed at the heels of this glorious ordinance! and truly, even among us, as poorly and lamely, and brokenly, as it hath been managed among us. i am confident, we had given up the ghost before this time, had it not been for this water of life. oh! what glorious success might we expect, if we did make such cheerful, such holy, such conscientious addresses, as become the law of so solemn an ordinance! truly, could i see such a willing people in this day of god's power, as are here in the text, encouraging and engaging one another, in an holy conspiracy; "come, let us join ourselves to the lord, in a perpetual covenant;" i have faith enough to promise and prophesy to you in the name of the lord, and in the words of his servant haggai, "from this very day i will bless you." and that you may know of what sovereignty this ordinance is; take notice of this, that this is the last physic that ever the church shall take or need; it lies clear in the text; for it is an everlasting covenant; and therefore the last that ever shall be made. after the full and final accomplishment of this promise and duty, the church shall be of so excellent a complexion, that "the inhabitant shall not say, i am sick: the people that dwell therein, shall be forgiven their iniquity." the lord make it such physic to us for christ's sake. the solemn league and covenant. sermon at london. _by thomas case._ i come now to the third query, how? and this inquiry divides itself into two branches--how to (i.) acceptation and (ii.) perpetuity? for the satisfying of both which, i will fetch as much as may be out of the text, that so you may yet further behold what proportion there is between the duty there, and that which lies before us this day. in the first place, we must inquire how this duty may be so managed, that god may accept of us in the doing of it? how to acceptation? now, in the general, we must know that this service, being an ordinance of god, must be undertaken and managed with an ordinance frame of heart, _i.e._ according to the laws and rules of divine worship; and by how much the more sacred and solemn this ordinance is, by so much the more ought we to call up and provoke the choicest, and heavenliest of those affections and dispositions of spirit, wherewith we make our addressments to the holy things of god. in particular, _first_, we are to come to this service, with the most ponderous advisedness, and most serious deliberation of judgment, that may be. it is one of those grand qualifications which god himself calls for to an oath. "thou shalt swear in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness." in truth for the matter, and that we have already examined in the former sermon in righteousness, in reference to the keeping of the oath (of which hereafter) and in judgment, in respect of the taking or making of the oath, the thing which we are now about, that we should well consider what we do. and indeed, if at any time, and in any undertaking, that advice be useful, "ponder the path of thy feet," "and keep thy foot when thou enterest into the house of god;" then certainly it is most seasonable, when a people or person draw near to make or renew their covenant with the most high god. and it seems, in the latter of those two scriptures now quoted, the holy ghost doth principally refer to this duty of making vows and covenants with god; the second verse doth intimate such a business, "be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before god." to utter what? the fourth verse is express, "when thou makest a vow unto god." so that it is clear, the purpose of the holy ghost in that place is, as in all our holy services, so especially in this of vows, to caution all the people of god, when they draw near to utter their vows unto the lord, to manage it with the greatest deliberation, and solidness of judgment that is possible; to sit down and consider with ourselves before hand, with whom we have to deal? what we have to do? upon what warrant? by what rule? to what end? "the lame and the blind," god's soul hates for a sacrifice, the lame affections, and the blind ignorant judgment. and well he may; for certainly, they that do not swear in judgment, will not, cannot swear in righteousness; they that do not make their vows in judgment, will not, cannot pay, or perform them in righteousness. he that swears he knows not what, will observe he cares not how. incogitant making, will end in unconscionable breaking of covenant; and, if need be, in a cursed abjuration of it; for rash swearing is a precipice to forswearing. and therefore, if any of you have not well weighed this service, or be any ways unsatisfied, in whole, or in parts, i advise you to forbear, till your judgments be better informed. "whatsoever is not of faith, is sin." provided, that this be not done merely in a pretence to evade and elude this service, to which god and the two nations call you, as here in the text. "come, let us join." take heed of casting a mist of willing prejudice and affected ignorance, before your own eyes; such the apostle speaks of, to no other purpose, but that your own malignity may steal away in that mist undiscovered; for be sure, your sin will find you out. an ingenious ignorance and truly conscientious tenderness, is accompanied with an ingenuous and conscientious use of all means, for information and satisfaction; and to such, i make no question, the ministers of christ will be ready to communicate what light they have, for resolving doubts, removing scruples, and satisfying conscience, whensoever you shall make your addresses for that purpose. in the mean time, if there be any that, under pretence of unsatisfiedness, do shun the duty and information too; they will be found, but to mock god and authority; to whose justice and wisdom therefore i must leave them. god tells his people, when he joins himself to them, "i will marry thee to myself, in righteousness, and judgment." how in judgment? because god considers what he does, when he takes a people or person to himself; not that god chuseth for any wealth or worth in the creature, faith foreseen, or works foreseen; but that finding it (on the contrary) poor and beggarly, and undone, and foreseeing what it is like to prove, crooked and froward, unteachable and untractable; he sits down to speak after the manner of men, and considers, what course to take, and what it is like to cost him, to make them such a people, as he may delight in, and then consulting with his treasures, and finding he hath wherewithal to bear their charges, and to bring about his own ends; he resolves to take them, and marry them to himself, whatsoever it cost him. the result of such a consultation you may read, dropped from god's own pen, "and i said, how shall i put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations?" here is god's wise deliberation on the matter: "how shall i put thee?" that is, how shall i do this? but i must do it to mine own dishonour; for i see before-hand what thou wilt prove; thou wilt be the same that ever thou wast; as idolatrous, as adulterous, as unstable, as backsliding as ever. it is not a pleasant land, a goodly heritage, that will make thee better. well, after some pause, god was resolved what to do: and i said, hear his resolution, "thou shalt call me, my father, and shalt not turn away from me:" that is, as if he had said, i will take this course with thee, i will first give thee the heart of a child, "thou shalt call me, father:" and then i will give thee the inheritance of a child, "a goodly heritage." and when i have done; i will not leave thee to thyself, but i will knit thee to myself, by an indissoluble union. "i will put my spirit into thee." "and thou shalt not turn away from me." there is god's wise resolution; he resolves to do all himself, and then he is sure it will not fail his expectation; he undertakes it. "thou shalt call me, my father, and shalt not turn away from me." thus god, when he marrieth his people to himself, doeth it in judgment. now therefore, "be ye followers of god, as dear children." and since you come now about the counterpart of the same work; namely, to join or marry yourselves to god, do it in judgment. consider well what you do; and, among other things, since you are so poor, and nothing in yourselves, as you have seen in the opening of this precious scripture; bethink yourselves where you will have strength and sufficiency, to make good this great and solemn engagement with your god. but of this more hereafter. _secondly_, see that you come to this service with a reverential frame of spirit, with that holy fear and awe, upon your hearts, as becomes the greatness and holiness of that god, and that ordinance, with whom you have to do; remembering that you are this day to swear before god, by god, to god: either of which, singly considered, might justly make us fear and tremble; how much more may this threefold cord bow and bind our hearts down in an humble, and holy prosternation? it is said of jacob, "he sware by the fear of his father isaac." jacob in his oath chooseth this title of fear, to give unto god, to shew with what fear he came; but to swear by this god, what should we do; when, as i say, we come to swear by him, and to him? surely, when he is so especially the object of our oath, he should then especially be the object of our fear. the consideration of that infinite distance between god and us, may wonderfully advantage us towards the getting of our hearts into this holy posture. great is that distance that is between a king and a beggar; and yet, there is but creature and creature; greater is that distance between heaven and earth; and yet these, but creature and creature; and yet, greater is the distance between an angel and a worm; and yet still, there is but creature and creature. but now, the distance that is between god and us, is infinitely wider; for behold, there is the "mighty, almighty creator, before whom all the nations are but as a drop of a bucket, and the small dust of the balance." and the poor nothing creature, "vanity, and altogether lighter than vanity." and yet, this is not all; yea, this is the shortest measure of that distance, whereof we speak; the distance of creator and the creature; lo, it is found between god and the angels in heaven, and the "spirits of just men made perfect;" in respect whereof, the psalmist saith of god, "he humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven." it is a condescension for that infinitely glorious being, who dwells in himself, and is abundantly satisfied in the beholding of his own incomprehensible excellencies, to vouchsafe to look out of himself, and behold the things that are in heaven; the best of those glorious inhabitants that stand round about his throne; who therefore, conscious of that infinite distance wherein they stand, make their addresses with the greatest self-abasements, "covering their faces, and casting themselves down" upon those heavenly pavements. but, behold! upon us, poor wretches, that dwell here below, in these houses of clay, there is found that which widens this distance beyond all expression or apprehension; sin sets us farther beneath a worm, than a worm is beneath an angel. i had almost said (bear with the expression, i use it, because no other expression can reach it) sin sets us as much beneath our creatureship, as our creatureship sets us beneath the creator. surely there is more of god to be seen in the worst of a creature, than there is of a creature to be seen in the best of sin; there is nothing vile and base enough under heaven, to make a simile of sin. and now, therefore, if it be such a condescension for the great god to behold the things that are in heaven, how infinite condescension is it, to behold the sinful things that are on earth! and if sinless saints, and spotless angels do tender their services, which yet are as spotless as their persons, with such reverential deportment; what abhorrency and self-annihilation can be sufficient to accompany our approaches to this god of holiness, in such high and holy engagements, in whom, when god looks out of himself, he can behold nothing besides our creatureship, of our own, but that which his soul hates! "let us therefore have grace, whereby we may serve god acceptably," in this so excellent an ordinance, "with reverence and godly fear; for our god is a consuming fire." the acceptable serving of god, is with reverence and godly fear. the lord teach us to bring fear, that so we may find acceptation. again, _thirdly_, to that end, labour to approve yourselves to god in this service, in the uprightness and sincerity of your hearts. the want of this, god lays oft to the charge of the israelites, as in other duties, so especially in this, which is now before us, "they lied to him with their tongues: for their heart was not right with him; neither were they stedfast in his covenant." and this stood between them and their acceptance: god tells the prophet ezekiel as much; "son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face; should i be inquired of at all by them?" they come with their hearts full of their lusts; so many lusts, so many idols; and for this god refuseth to be inquired of by them: "should i be inquired of?" is as much as, "i will not be inquired of." it is a denial with disdain; "should i?" or, if they be so impudent to inquire, he will not answer; or if he give them an answer, it shall be a cold one; he will give them their answer at the door; better none; "i will answer them according to the multitude of their idols," _i.e._ according to the merit of their idolatry: they bring the matter of their own damnation with them, and they shall carry away nothing else from me, but the answer or obsignation of that damnation. oh! it is a dangerous thing, to bring the love of any sin with us to the ordinances of god, "if i regard iniquity in my heart, the lord will not hear my prayer." and so may we say to our own souls; if i regard iniquity, the lord will not accept my person, he will not regard my covenant. if god see anything lie nearer our hearts than himself, he will scorn us, and our services. if, therefore, you would be accepted, "out with your idols;" cast out the love of sin, out of your hearts; and be upright with your god in this holy undertaking. it is the main qualification in the text, "they shall inquire the way to zion, with their faces thitherward," _i.e._, in sincerity, with uprightness of spirit, with the full set and bent of their souls: as it is said of christ, when he went to his passion; "he stedfastly set his face to go up to jerusalem." he went with all his heart to be crucified; with a strong bent of spirit. beloved, we are not going to "crucifying work," (unless it be to crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts) but to marriage work; "to join ourselves to the lord, in an everlasting covenant." let us do it "with our faces zion-ward;" yea, let us stedfastly set our faces reformation-ward and heaven-ward, and god-ward, and christ-ward, with whom we enter covenant this day. a man may inquire the way to zion, with his face towards babylon; a people or person may enter covenant with god, with their hearts rome-ward, and earth-ward, and sin-ward, and hell-ward. friends, look to your hearts. "peradventure, said jacob, my father will feel me, and i shall seem to him as one that mocks, and i shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing." without all peradventure, may we say, our father will feel us; for he searcheth all hearts, and understandeth the imagination of the thoughts. if we be found as they that mock, shewing much love with our mouths, while our hearts are far from him, we shall bring a curse upon ourselves; yea, and upon the kingdoms also, and not a blessing. it is reported to the honour of judah, in the day of their covenanting with their god; "they had sworn with all their heart, and with their whole desire." and their success was answerable to their sincerity; for so it follows, "and the lord was found of them, and gave them rest round about." oh! that this might be our honour and happiness in this day, of our lifting up our hands to the most high god, that god might not see in us a double heart, an heart and an heart, as the hebrew expresses it, _i.e._ one heart for god, and another for our idols; one heart for christ, and another for antichrist,: but he might see us a single, upright hearted people, without base mixtures and composition; for he loves truth, _i.e._ sincerity, in the inward parts; that he finding such sincerity as he looks for, we also might find such success as we look for; safety and deliverance to both the nations; yea, that both in respect of our sincerity and success, that might be made good upon us that is spoken to the eternal honour of that good king hezekiah, "and in every work that he began in the service of the house of god, and in the law, and in the commandments to seek his god, he did it with all his heart, and prospered." universal sincerity is accompanied with universal prosperity; in all he did, he was upright, and in all he did, he prospered. brethren, whatever you want, be sure you want not sincerity; let god see you fully set in your hearts to take all from sin, and to give all to jesus christ; me-thinks i hear god saying unto us, "according to your uprightness, so be it unto you." in the _fourth_ place, if you would be accepted by god in this holy service, labour to make god your end. it is your pattern in the text, "they shall go and seek the lord;" it was not now "howling upon their beds for corn and wine," as formerly; of which god says, "they cried not unto me," _i.e._, they did not make god the end of their prayers; as elsewhere god tells them: "when ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye fast to me, even unto me?" in seventy years, they kept sevenscore fasts in babylon; and yet, amongst them all, they kept not one day unto god; for though the duty looked upon god, they that did the duty did not look upon god; that is, they did not set up god, as their chief end, in fasting and praying: they mourned not so much for their sin, as for their captivity; or, if for their sin, they mourned for it not so much as god's dishonour, as the cause of their captivity; they were not troubled so much, that they had by their sins walked contrary to god, as that god, by his judgments, had "walked contrary to them." they fasted and prayed, rather to get off their chains than to get off their sins; to get rid of the bondage of the babylonians, than to get rid of the servitude of their own base lusts. but now, blessed be god, it was otherwise: "the children of israel shall come, they and the children of judah together" to what end? "they shall seek the lord," _i.e._ they shall seek god for himself, and not only for themselves; "going and weeping;" why? not so much that he hath offended them, as that they have offended him; for their sins, more than for their punishments; so it is more distinctly reported, "a voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of israel; because they have perverted their way, and have forsaken the lord their god." they had forgotten god before, not only in their sins, but in their duties; "they cried not to me; they fasted not to me; not at all unto me." but now they remember the lord their god; they seek his face; they labour to atone him; yea, they seek him to be their lord, as well as their saviour; to govern them, as well as to deliver them; "they ask the way to zion;" they require as well, and more, how they should serve him, as that he should save them. "the lord is our judge, the lord is our law-giver, the lord is our king, he will save us." beloved christians, let us write after this copy, and in this great business we have in hand, let us seek god, and seek him as a fountain of holiness, as well as a fountain of happiness. take we heed of those base, low, dung-hill ends, which prevailed upon the shechemites to enter into covenant with the god of the hebrews, "shall not their cattle and substance be ours?" let the two nations, and every soul in both the nations, that lift up the hand to the most high god, in this holy league and covenant, take heed of, and abhor such unworthy thoughts, if they should be crowding in upon this service, and say unto them, as once christ to peter, "get thee behind me, satan; thou savourest not the things that be of god, but the things that be of men." you may remember how it fared with hamor, and his son shechem, and their people, to whom they propounded these base ends. god did not only disappoint them of their ends, but destroy them for them; their aims were to get the hebrews' substance and cattle; but they lost their own, with lives to boot; "for it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of jacob, simeon and levi, came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. and the sons of jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city; they took their sheep, and their oxen, and all their wealth." a most horrid and bloody treachery and cruelty in them, which stands as a brand of infamy upon their foreheads to this day; but a most just and righteous censure from god, and a caution to all succeeding generations, of prostituting heavenly and holy ordinances to earthly and sensual ends. oh! let it be our "admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come, to the end, that we may not tempt god, as they also tempted." for, if god so much abhorred, and so severely punished these worldly respects in the men of the world; if god was so angry with poor purblind heathen, who had no other light for their guide, but the glimmering light of nature; how will his anger not only kindle, but flame in the avenging of such baseness upon christians, a people of his own, who have the glorious light of the gospel of jesus christ, to discover to them higher and heavenly ends and references? so that such a kingdom, people, or person, that should dare to bring such base carnal ends, to so spiritual and divine a contract, should be made a monument of the wrath and vengeance of divine justice; and while they propound to themselves safety, or riches, or greatness, from such an excellent ordinance, god makes it by a strange but a righteous hand, an occasion of misery and ruin to them and their posterity, to many generations. christians, labour to set up god in this day and duty, wherein you engage yourselves so nigh unto him; and if you would have heavenly blessings, see that you propound and pursue heavenly ends and aims; lest, while you come to make a covenant with god, you commit idolatry against him. whatsoever we make our ultimate and highest end, we make our god. if therefore you cannot make god your sole, your only end, yet be sure you make him your choicest, your chiefest end; keep god in his own place; and let all self-respects whatsoever vail to his glory, according to that great rule, "whether you eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of god." _fifthly_, to do this business to acceptation, we must do it cheerfully: as god loves a cheerful giver, so he loves a cheerful hearer, a cheerful petitioner, and a cheerful covenanter; and you have it in the text too, "come let us;" there is their readiness and cheerfulness to the work; as it was that for which the apostle doth commend his macedonians in another service. "this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave themselves to the lord." so these, they give themselves to god of their own accord, "come let us." oh! that the ministers of the gospel might have occasion to make the same boast of you, concerning this solemn ordinance before you, that they might say and rejoice, that you were a people, "that gave yourselves to the lord," and unto the work of reformation, not by a parliamentary fear, or by our ministerial compulsions; but, above our hopes, and beyond our expectations; of your own accord. see what a wonder, not only of cheerfulness, but of joy and triumph, is recorded of the jews in king asa's time, in their taking of the covenant. "they sware unto the lord with a loud voice, and with shouting; and with trumpets, and with cornets. and all judah rejoiced at the oath; for they had sworn with all their hearts." there was indeed a severe mulct, a capital censure enacted, against those that should refuse, and reject this ordinance. "they should be put to death, whether great or small, whether man or woman." a very grievous censure; but it seems there was neither need, nor use for it; "for all judah rejoiced at the oath;" the people looked upon this service, not as their pressure, but as their privilege; and therefore came to it, not with contentedness only, but an holy triumph, and so saved the magistrate and themselves the labour and charges of executing that sentence on delinquents. oh! that this may be your wisdom and honour; that whatever penalty the honourable parliaments of either nation, shall in their wisdom think fit to proportion to the grievous sin of rebelling against this covenant of the lord; (and it seems by the instance before, that whatsoever penalty they shall ordain less than death, will not be justice only but moderation) i say, whatever it shall be, it may be rendered useless and invalid by the forwardness and rejoicings of an obedient people; that all england, as well as scotland, would rejoice at the oath, and swear with all their hearts. for certainly it will not be so much our duty as our prerogative, as i have shewed you before, to enter into covenant with god and his people. it is the day of god's power: the lord make you a "willing people." and, as a testimony of this willingness and joy, imitate the people here in the text, and stir up one another, and provoke one another to this holy service. "let us join ourselves to the lord." they express their charity, as well as their joy; they would not go to zion alone; they call as many as they meet with them; "come let us join ourselves to the lord." oh, that this might be your temper! it is the very character of the evangelical church; as both isaiah and micah have described it; their words be the same. "many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the lord." oh! that while neutrals and malignants do discourage one another, and set off one another, and embitter one another's spirits; god and his ministers might find you encouraging each other, and provoking one another, and labouring to oil one another's spirits, to this (as other) gospel duty and prerogative; god could not choose, but be much pleased with such a sight. i might have made this a distinct qualification, but for brevity's sake, i couch it under this head. i come to the last. if you would be accepted, bring faith with you to this service: and that in a fourfold reference; . god. . the ordinance. . ourselves. . jesus christ. _first_, in reference unto god; "for he that will come to god," in any ordinance, "must believe that god is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." there is nothing god takes better at his people's hand, than when they come with their hearts as full of good thoughts of god as ever they can hold; such as, "lo, this is our god, we have waited for him, and he will save us; we have waited for him, we will be glad, and rejoice in his salvation." "he will save," "we will be glad," _i.e._, god will undoubtedly give us occasion of gladness and triumph in his praises. oh, sweet and blessed confidence of divine goodness! how well doth this become the children of such a father, who hath styled himself the father of mercies? good thoughts of god do mightily please, and even engage god to shew mercy to his people. "let us therefore come with boldness to the throne of grace;" even in this ordinance also, "that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in this time of our need." _secondly_, let us bring faith in reference to the duty; as we are to believe well of god, so we are to believe well of the duty, that it is an ordinance wherein god will be sanctified, and found of them that seek him. it is not enough, that we seek him in his ordinance, but that we believe it to be his ordinance. "whatever is not of faith, is sin;" he speaks not of a faith that doth justify the person; but of a faith that doth justify the performance; that is, a thorough conviction of conscience, that the work, whatsoever it is, is such that the word will bear me out in it, such as god himself doth approve. to do doubtfully, is to do sinfully; an ignorant person cannot please god. _thirdly_, bring faith in reference to your own persons; believe that god will accept of them in this ordinance; whatever your success shall be in regard of the kingdom, yet you shall find acceptance in regard of your persons: so the church. "thou meetest him that rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways." when a people or person can say, as the church in another place, "in the way of thy judgments, have we waited for thee, o lord; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee," god will not stay till they come unto him, but he will meet them half-way; "thou meetest him," like the father of the prodigal, while they are yet half-way, he will see, and run, and meet, and fall upon their neck; and while they weep at his feet, tears of contrition; he will weep over their necks, the tears of compassion: oh! stir up yourselves, and engage your faith to believe, and expect a gracious entertainment. if god see you coming in the integrity and uprightness of your hearts, to enter into covenant with god, to take him as your god, and to give up yourselves to be his people, to take away all from sin, and to give all to jesus christ; he will certainly take it well at your hands, and say unto you, "come, my people, and welcome; i will be your god, and you shall be my people;" which that you may not miss of, in the _fourth_ place, come believingly, in reference to jesus christ; be sure you bring a christ with you; for "he hath made us accepted in the beloved." come without a christ, and go without acceptance. the day of atonement among the jews was called the day of expiation; and the word _kippurim_ is derived from an hebrew root, that signifies to cover; and so the day of atonement was as much as to say, "the day of covering; the covering of nakedness: and the covering of sin." "blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered." in which very name of the day, the ground or reason is held forth, why it was called a day of atonement, because it was a day of covering: wherein christ was typified, who is the "the covering of the saints; the long white robes of his righteousness" covering both their persons and performances; so that the nakedness of neither doth appear in the eyes of his father; "he hath beheld no iniquity in jacob, neither hath seen perverseness in israel." why? not because there was no "iniquity in jacob, nor perverseness in israel," for there was hardly any thing else; but because their iniquity and perverseness were hid from his eyes, being covered with the mantle of his son's righteousness, the messiah, which he had promised, and they so much looked for. let us therefore in this service, as in all, "put on the lord jesus." that as jacob in the garments of his elder brother esau, so we in the garments of our elder brother jesus, may find acceptance and obtain the blessing. and thus much be spoken concerning the first branch of this third query, how to acceptation? i come now to the second branch of it, and that is, how to perpetuity? or, how may we perform this service so that it may be "an everlasting covenant, that may never be forgotten?" to that end, take these few brief directions, and i have done. _first_, labour to come to this service with much soul-affliction for former violation of the covenant, either in refusing, or profaning, or breaking thereof: the foundations must be laid low, where we would build for many generations. in what deep sorrows had you need to lay the foundations of this covenant, which you would have stand to eternity, that it may be "an everlasting covenant." this you have in the text; "they shall seek the lord, going and weeping;" weeping in the sense of their former rebellions and apostasies, whereby they forfeited their faith, and brake their covenant with the lord their god; and it was no ordinary slight business they made of it. "a voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplication." they were not a few silent tears: no, they "lift up their voices and wept," as was said of esau. they cried so loud, that they were heard a great way off. "a voice was heard upon the mountains;" and it was as bitter, as it was loud; "a great mourning, as the mourning of hadadrimmon in the valley of megiddon," when all judah, jerusalem, jeremiah the prophet, and all the singers, bewailed the death of their good king josiah, with a grievous lamentation, "and made it an ordinance forever." oh! that as we have their service in hand, so we had their heads and their hearts, to manage it with rivers of tears, for our former vileness: that we could weep this day together, and afterward apart, as it is prophesied, "every family apart, and our wives apart;" yea, and every soul apart, that we have dealt so evilly with so good a god, so unfaithfully with so faithful a god; that we could put our mouths in the dust, and smite upon our thigh, and be ashamed and confounded, for all the wickedness we have committed against god and his covenant, in any, or all these ways. such a posture god will see us in, before he will shew us "the way to zion;" before he will reveal to us the model and platform of reformation; for so was his charge to ezekiel, "if they be ashamed of all that they have done, shew them the forms of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the laws thereof, and write it in their sight." surely, this blessed prophecy hath an eye upon our times, for this is one of those days, as i told you before, wherein god will make good these gracious words unto his people; and god hath called together his ezekiels, his ministers, to "shew the house," _i.e._, the form and pattern of the evangelical house or church, unto the house of england and scotland. "shew the house to the house of israel, that they may be ashamed." that is, shew them the outside thereof, shew them "that there is such a house," which they never yet beheld with their eyes, that they may be humbled and ashamed of their former idolatries. and thus do our ezekiels tell us, there is a way of gospel government, of such beauty and excellency, as our eyes never yet beheld, nor the eyes of our forefathers; to the end, that we may be ashamed of all our former idolatries and superstitions, our monstrous mixtures of popery and will-worship in the ordinances of christ; and that we have not sooner inquired after the mind of christ, how he will be worshipped in his house; but now, unless we be ashamed, _i.e._, deeply and thoroughly humbled, for all that we have done unworthy of christ and his worship, and the covenant of our god, we shall never see the inside, that is, the laws and the ordinances, and the forms of this house, which are both various and curious; for so the variety and repetition of the words imply. the prophets are not to reveal these unto us, unless we be ashamed; god will either withdraw them from us, or, which is worse, withdraw himself from them; so that our eyes shall never behold the lord in the beauty of holiness; we shall not be admitted to see the beauty and glory of such a reformation, as our souls long for. and as god will see us in this posture, before he reveal to us the model and platform of reformation; so also, till we be in such a posture of deep humiliation, for our former abominations, we shall never be stedfast and faithful in the covenant of god. till our hearts be throughly broken for covenant-breach, we will not pass much for breaking covenant, upon every fresh temptation. yea, till that time we be humbled, not for a day only, and so forth: but unless we labour to maintain an habitual frame of godly sorrow upon our hearts for our covenant-violations, shall we ever be to purpose conscientious of our covenant? a sad remembrance of old sins is a special means to prevent new. when every solemn remembrance of former vileness, can fetch tears from our eyes, and blood from our hearts, and fill our faces with an holy shame, the soul will be holily shy of the like abominations, and of all occasions and tendencies thereunto: "remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. my soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled within me." when old sins cost dear, new sins will not find an easy entertainment. when old sins are new afflictions, when the remembrance of them is as wormwood and gall, the soul will not easily be bewitched to drink a new draught of that poisoned cup any more. christian, believe me, or thou mayest find it by experience too true, when thou hast forgot old sins, or canst remember them without new affliction of soul, thou art near a fall; look to thyself, and cry to god for preventing grace. there will be great hopes we shall be faithful in our new covenant, when we come with a godly sense and sorrow for our abuse of old, and labour to maintain it upon our spirits. _secondly_, if you would have this covenant to be a perpetual covenant, labour to see old scores crossed; do not only mourn for thy covenant-unfaithfulness; but labour to get thy pardon written and sealed to thee in the blood of the covenant. there is virtue enough in the blood of the covenant, to expiate the guilt of thy sins against the covenant. "i will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will i cleanse you." their sins of idolatry, were sins especially against their covenant; idolatry being the violation of the marriage-knot, between god and a people; yet even from them doth god promise to cleanse them, upon their repentance and conversion. the blood of the covenant, compared to water for the cleansing virtue thereof, should cleanse them from their covenant defilements. "the blood of jesus christ cleanseth us from all sin." "thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet, return again to me, saith the lord." it is a mighty encouragement to renew our covenants with god, that he is so ready to pardon the breach of old; and the sense of this pardon is a mighty engagement and strengthening, to keep our new covenants. oh! for god to say to a poor soul, "be of good cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee." "and i have blotted out thy sins as a cloud, and thy transgressions as a thick cloud." all thy unkindnesses and unfaithfulnesses, thy treacherous dealings against the covenant, shall be forgotten; they shall do thee no harm. this will mightily strengthen the hands, and fortify the heart, and even make it impenetrable and impregnable against all the solicitations and importunities of old temptations: see a notable instance of this, "i will heal their backslidings, i will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from him." "i will be as the dew to israel." "his branches shall spread." "they that dwell under his shadow shall return." what follows these gracious promises? why, ephraim shall say, "what have i to do any more with idols?" he that before was so inseparably joined to idols, that he could not be divorced from them; "ephraim is joined to idols." all the blows that god gave him, tho' god should have beaten him to pieces, as he himself afterward confessed, could not beat him off from his idols; insomuch, that god at length gave him over, as an hopeless child. "ephraim is joined to idols, let him lone." yet, no sooner doth this ephraim hear of a pardon, and of the love of god to him, but the bonds between him and his idols are dissolved, and away he thrusts them with indignation. ephraim shall say, "what have i to do with idols?" or as the prophet isaiah expresseth it, "ye shall defile the covering of the graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold; thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth, thou shalt say unto it, get thee hence." and thus it is with a people, or a person, when once "god sheds abroad his spirit in their hearts," and makes them "hear joy and gladness," in speaking, or sealing, a pardon upon their souls; they that before were joined to their idols, drunkenness, uncleanness, covetousness, pride, ways of false worship, old superstitious customs, and ceremonies, and the like; so that there was no parting of them; or those who had long been grappling and conflicting with their strong corruptions and old temptations, and in those conflicts had received many a foil, and got many a fall to the wounding of their consciences, and cutting deep gashes upon their souls; now they stand up with a kind of omnipotence among them, no temptation is able to stand before them; they say to their idols, whether sinful company, or sinful customs, "get ye hence, and what have i to do any more with idols?" what have i to do with such and such base company? what have i to do with such base filthy lusts? "i am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine." christ is mine, and i am his. the reason of it is, because pardon begets love; "she loved much, because much was forgiven her." and love begets strength: "for love is as strong as death": yea, stronger than sin or death; "they loved not their lives to the death," and "i count not my life dear," says paul, when once the man had tasted of the free grace of god in the pardon of his sins, "who before was a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious." he could find in his heart, not only to lay down a lust, but to lay down his life too for jesus christ: "for whose sake, (saith he), i have suffered the loss of all things; and i count not my life dear, so that i might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which i have received of the lord jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of god." my beloved christians, if you would be faithful in the covenant of god, into which you are now entering, sue out your pardon for what is past; yea, entreat the lord, not only to give a pardon, but to speak a pardon, and seal a pardon upon your hearts; and never give the lord rest, till the lord have given rest to your souls. "the joy of the lord is your strength." _thirdly_, if you would make an unchangeable covenant, with an unchangeable god, come furnished with and maintain upon your hearts, an abundant measure of self-distrust; labour to be thoroughly convinced of your own nothingness and disability. "by his own strength shall no man prevail." surely, thine own treachery may inform thee, and thine own backslidings may convince thee, to confess with jeremiah, "o lord, i know (i know it by sad experience) the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." staupitius confessed to luther, that he thought in his very conscience he had above a thousand times renewed his covenant with god, and as many times broken it: a sad confession, and yet how many among us may take up the like lamentation! be convinced of it, i beseech you, and maintain the sense of this conviction upon your spirits. say oft within yourself, i am nothing, worse than nothing. this treacherous heart of mine will betray me into the breach of my covenant, if the lord leave me to myself, i shall one day fall by the hand of my corruptions. he that walks tremblingly, walks safely. in the _fourth_ place, be often renewing your resolutions. it was the exhortation of that good man to the new converts at antioch, where they were first called christians, "that they should cleave unto the lord with full purpose of heart." this covenant, i have shewed you, is the ordinance whereby you cleave unto the lord, the joining ordinance. oh! do it with full purpose of heart, and be often putting on fresh and frequent resolutions, not to suffer every base temptation of satan, every deceitful, or malignant solicitation of the world, every foolish and carnal suggestion of the flesh, to bribe and seduce you from that fidelity which you swear this day to jesus christ and the kingdoms. a well grounded resolution is half the work, and the better half too; for he that hath well resolved, hath conquered his will; and he that hath conquered his will, hath overcome the greatest difficulty: no such difficulty in spiritual things, as to prevail with one's own heart. with these cords, therefore, of well bottomed resolutions, be oft binding yourselves to your covenant, as once ulysses did himself to his mast, that you may not be bewitched by any syrenian song of the flesh, world, or the devil, to violate your holy covenant, and drown yourselves in a sea of perdition. and to that end, it would not be altogether useless, to fix your covenant in some place of your houses, or bed-chamber, where it may be oftenest in your eyes, to admonish you of your religious and solemn engagements, under which you have brought your own souls. the jews had their "phylacteries, or borders upon their garments," which they did wear also upon their heads, and upon their arms; which, tho' they abused afterward, not only to pride, making them broader than their first size or pattern, in ostentation and boasting of their holiness, our saviour condemns in the scribes and pharisees. and to superstition, for they used them as superstitious helps in prayer, which they coloured under a false derivation of the word in the hebrew, yet god indulged them in this ceremony, as an help for their memories, to put them in remembrance to keep the law of the lord. and god himself seems to use this art of memory, as it were, when, comforting his people, he tells them, "behold i have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me." i must confess, the nature of man is very prone to abuse and pervert such natural helps to idolatry and superstition. this instance of the jews, wretchedly improving their phylacteries to superstitious purposes, their idolizing of the brazen serpent; and thereby of a cure, turning it into a plague, a snare, with the like, are sufficient testimonies. and we see how the papists have abused and adulterated the lawful use of natural mediums, to the unlawful use of artificial mediums of their own inventions; images and crucifixes, first to help their memories, and stir up their devotions in their prayers, and then to pray unto them, as mediums of divine worship. the more cautious had christians need be in the use of those mediums, which either god hath ordained by special command for the help of our memories, and stirring up of our graces, as the visible elements in the sacraments; or such natural advantages, which moral equity allows us for the help of our understandings and memories in spiritual concernments; such is this, we are now speaking of; it being the same with the use of books and tables. tertullian tells us of a superstitious custom among the ancient christians, that they were wont to set up images over their doors and chimneys, to keep witches when they came into their houses from bewitching their children; and so by a little kind of witchcraft, prevented witchcraft. but surely, to set up this covenant, where we might often see and read what engagements we have laid upon our souls, (and i could heartily wish christians would do it at least once a week) it will be an innocent and warrantable spell, to render the witchery of the flesh, world, and devil, fruitless and ineffectual upon our spirits, while the soul may say with david, "thy vows are upon me, o god: i will render praise unto thee." but _fifthly_, consider often and seriously, who it is that must uphold your resolutions; even he that upholds heaven and earth: no less power will do it; "for you are kept by the power of god through faith unto salvation." it is god that first gives the resolution, and then must uphold, and bring it into act; "it is god that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure," and therefore labour, i beseech you, to do these two things. _first_, put all your resolutions into the hands of prayer: david was a man of an excellent spirit, full of holy resolves. "i will walk in mine integrity," "and i will keep thy testimonies." and again, "i have sworn, and i will perform it, that i will keep thy righteous judgments." and yet again, "do not i hate them, o lord, that hate thee?" "i hate them with a perfect hatred." a thousand such sweet resolutions doth that precious servant of god breathe out all along the psalms; and yet so jealous the holy man is of himself, that he never trusts himself with his own resolutions; and therefore shall you find him always clapping a petition upon a resolution, as in the quoted places. "i will walk in mine integrity. redeem me, and be merciful unto me. i will keep thy testimonies, oh! forsake me not utterly." though thou hast let me fall fearfully, suffer me not to fall finally. and so when he had said, "i have sworn, and will not repent," he presently adds (within a word or two), "quicken me, o lord, according to thy word." and again, "accept, i beseech thee, the free-will offerings of my mouth, o lord, and teach me thy judgments." god must teach him, as to make, so to make good the free-will offerings of his mouth, _i.e._, his promises and vows. and so, when he had made that appeal to god, "do not i hate them that hate thee, lord?" he presently betakes himself to his prayers, "search me, o god, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts. and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." mark, i pray, "search me, try me, know my heart, know my thoughts, see whether there be any wicked way, lead me." he will neither trust himself for what he is, nor for what he shall be; "try me," he dares not trust his own trial: "lead me," he dares not trust his own resolutions: such a sweet holy jealousy of himself doth he breathe forth, with all his heavenly purposes and resolutions. oh! all you that would make an everlasting covenant with god, imitate holy david, upon every holy resolution, clap an earnest petition, say, i will reform my life; oh! redeem me, and be merciful unto me. i will set up christ in my heart, i will labour to walk worthy of him in my life: oh! forsake me not utterly, lord; leave me not to myself, i have sworn, and am utterly purposed in all my duties i owe to god and man, to amend my life, and to go before others in the example of a real reformation. o lord, teach me thy judgments: quicken me, o lord, according to thy word. thy vows are upon me, that i will, according to my place and calling, endeavour to preserve reformation in scotland, to procure reformation in england; that i will in like manner endeavour the extirpation of popery and prelacy; to preserve the rights and liberties of parliaments; discover incendiaries; endeavour the preservation of peace between the two kingdoms; defend all those that enter into this league and covenant, that i will never make defection to the contrary part, or to give myself to a detestable indifferency or neutrality. and this covenant i have made in the presence of almighty god, the searcher of all hearts, with a true intention to perform the same, as i shall answer at that great day. but now, add with david, "search me, o god, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there be any way of wickedness in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." in a word, put your covenant into frequently renewed resolutions: resolutions into prayer, and prayer, and all into the hands of god. it is god that must gird thee with strength, to perform all thy vows. this, the close of this blessed covenant, into which we enter this day, doth teach us. "humbly beseeching the lord to strengthen us by his spirit; for this end, and to bless our desires and proceedings." and the covenant in the text, was surely inlaid with prayer, while they engage themselves to seek the lord, not only to shew them the way to zion, but to give them strength to walk in that way. let it be your wisdom and piety, my brethren, to imitate both; oh pray, and be much in prayer, and be often in prayer: pray daily over the covenant; as you this day lift up your hands to swear to the most high god in this covenant, so lift up your hands every day to pray to that god for grace to keep this covenant. let sense of self-insufficiency keep open the sluice of prayer, that that may let fresh streams of strength every day into your souls, to make good your vows; when you be careless to pray over the covenant, you will be careless to keep the covenant; when you cease to pray, you will cease to pay. if you will be watchful in praying over your vows, prayer will make you watchful in paying your vows. if you will be faithful in crying to god, god will be faithful in hearing and helping. pray therefore, pray over every good purpose and resolution of heart towards the covenant of god which conscience shall suggest, or the spirit of god shall breathe into your bosoms, at this present or any time hereafter; as david once prayed over that good frame of spirit, which he observed in his people; what time they offered so willingly and liberally to the preparing for the house of god; "o lord god of abraham, isaac, and of jacob, our fathers, keep this for ever, in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart, and prepare their heart unto thee." to every command, god is pleased to add a promise; so that what is a command in one place, is a promise in another. "circumcise the foreskin of your heart." but it is a promise, "the lord thy god will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed to love the lord." again, "make you a new heart." so saith the word of command: "a new heart will i give you:" so speaks the word of promise. once more, "little children abide in him," that is the command. which in the immediate verse before is a gracious promise, "you shall abide in him." divers more such instances i could give you; and why thus? surely, the command teacheth us our duty, the promise our weakness and insufficiency to perform that duty. the command finds us work; the promise finds us strength: the command is to keep us from being idle; the promise to keep us from being discouraged. well, let us imitate god, and, as he couples a command and a promise, so let us couple a resolution and a petition. as god seconds and backs his command with his promise, so let us second and back our promises with our prayers; the one in sense of our duty, the other in sense of our weakness; by the one, to bring our hearts up to god: by the other, to bring god down to our hearts: resolve and petition, promise and pray, and the lord "prepare your heart to pray, and cause his ear to hear." _secondly_, since god only must uphold your desires, walk continually as in his presence; stability is only to be found in the presence of god; so far we live an unchangeable life, as we walk and live in the presence of an unchangeable god. the saints in heaven know no vicissitudes, or changes in their holy frame and temper of spirit, because they are perfected in the beholding of his face; "with whom is no variableness, nor shadow of changing:" and so far as the saints on earth can keep god in their presence so far the presence of god will keep them. "i have set the lord always before me; and because he is at my right hand, therefore i shall not be moved," sang david of himself literally, and in the person of christ typically: the privilege was made good to both, so far as either made good the duty. david, according to his degree, and proportion of grace, set god before him, placed him on his right hand; and so long as he could keep god's presence, the presence of god kept him; it kept him from sin, "i have kept myself from mine iniquity." how so? why, "i was upright before him," in the former part of the same verse. so long as he walked before god, in god's presence; so long he walked upright, and kept himself from his iniquity; or rather god's presence kept him: and, as it kept him from sin, so it kept him from fear also; "tho' i walk through the valley of the shadow of death, i will not fear." mark what he saith, though he walk, not step; and walk through, not step across; and through, not a dark entry, or a churchyard in the night-time, but a valley, a large, long, vast place; how many miles long i know not; and this not a valley of darkness only, but of death, where he should see nothing but visions of death, and not bare death, but the shadow of death: the shadow is the dark part of the thing; so that the shadow of death, is the darkest side of death; death in its most hideous and horrid representations; and yet behold, when he comes out at the farther end, and a man would have thought to have found him all in a cold sweat, his hair standing upright, his eyes set in his head, and the man beside himself. behold, i say, he doth not so much as change colour, his hand shakes not, his heart fails not; as he went in, he comes out; and though he should go back again the same way, he tells you, "i will not fear." how comes this to pass? how comes the man to be so undaunted? why, he will tell you in the very same verse, speaking to god, "for thou art with me." god's presence kept him from fear, in the midst of death and horror. thus it was, i say, with david, while he could keep god in his presence, he was immoveable, impregnable; you might as soon have stirred a rock, as stirred him, "i shall not be moved." indeed, so long as he was upon the rock, he was as immoveable as the rock itself; but alas! sometime he lost the sight of his god, and then he was like other men; "thou didst hide thy face from me, and i was troubled." when god hid his face from him, or he hid his eyes from god; then how easily is he moved? fear breaks in, "i shall one day fall by the hand of saul." sin breaks in, yea, one sin upon the heels of another; the adulterous act, upon the adulterous look, and murder upon adultery, as you know in that sad business of uriah the hittite; once off from his rock, and he is as weak as dust, not able to stand before the least temptation of sin or fear; and therefore as soon as he comes to himself again, he cries, "oh! lead me to the rock that is higher than i;" to my rock, lord, to my rock. but now, the lord jesus, the antitype of david here in this psalm, because he made good this, (duty shall i call it?) "for in him dwelt the fulness of the god-head bodily." to him therefore was this privilege made good perfectly in the highest degree; for tho' he had temptations that never man had, and was to do that which never man did; and to suffer that which never man suffered; the contradiction of sinners; the rage of hell; and the wrath of god: yet, because he set the lord always at his right hand; yea, indeed was always at the right hand of god; therefore he was not moved, but overcame even by suffering. beloved, you see where stability in covenant is to be had; even in the presence of god. labour, i beseech you, to walk in his presence, and to set him always at your right hand; behold, it shall keep you, so that you shall not be moved; or, if you be moved, you shall not be removed; if you stumble you shall not fall; or, if you fall, you shall not fall away; you shall rise again. there is a double advantage in it. _first_, it will keep your hearts in awe; he that sets god in his presence, dares not sin in his presence: "god sees," will make the heart say, "how shall i do this great evil, and sin against god?" _secondly_, there is joy in it; "in thy presence is fulness of joy." it is true, in its proportion of grace, as well as of glory; and joy will strengthen and stablish, as i shewed you before, "the joy of the lord is your strength." as long as the child is in its father's eye, and the father in its eye, it is secure. "because thou hast made the lord, which is my refuge, even the most high, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee." it will hold as well in the evils of sin, as in the evils of punishment: well, the lord make you know these precious truths in an experimental manner. i have held you too long; but the business requires it. remember, i beseech you, it is god that must uphold your desires and resolutions; and therefore, . be much in prayer. and, . set yourselves in the presence of god. he lives unchangeably that lives in the unchangeable god. in the _sixth_, and last place, if thou wouldst make an everlasting covenant with god, that shall never be forgotten, look up to jesus christ, go to jesus christ. he must help, and he must strengthen, and he must keep thee, or else thou wilt never be able to "keep thy covenant;" hear him, else, "without me ye can do nothing." and as christ speaks thus in the negative; so you may hear the apostle speaking by blessed experience in the affirmative; "i can do all things through jesus christ, who strengtheneth me." observe, i pray, "without me ye can do nothing. through christ i can do all things." nothing, all things. there is a good deal of difference between two men; take one without christ, and, be his parts never so excellent, his resolutions never so strong, his engagements never so sacred, "he can do nothing;" unless it be to "break his covenant and vows," as samson brake his cords like threads scorched with the fire; and, take the other with a christ standing by him, and be he in himself never so weak and mean, unlearned and ungifted, lo, as if he were clothed with omnipotency, "he can do all things," he can subdue such corruptions, conquer such temptations, perform such duties, and in such a manner, do such things, suffer such things, (and in all these keep his covenant with god) as to other men, and to himself before, were so many impossibilities; he could not before, now he can. nothing before, all things now. all things fit for an unglorified saint to do; all things god expects from him; all things in a gospel sense; all things comparatively to other men, and to himself, when he was another man. see, i beseech you, how without a christ, and thro' a christ, makes one man differ from another; yea, and from himself, as much as can and cannot; all things and nothing; impotency and omnipotency, "without me ye can do nothing." "through christ i can do all things." if therefore you would make a covenant with eternity to eternity, study christ more than ever, labour to "know nothing but jesus christ, and him crucified." and therein these two things, _first_, labour to get interest in christ. interest is the ground of influence; union the fountain or spring of communion; so christ, "as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me." there you have the truth and the simile of it; no fruit from christ, without being and abiding in christ; there is truth: illustrated and proved by the vine and the branch; there the simile, which is prosecuted and enlarged by our saviour. and, as all communion ariseth from union, so look what the union is, such is the communion; christ was filled with the fulness of god because united to god; the saints receive of the fulness of christ, because united to christ. "i in them, and thou in me." only here is the difference. christ's union with his father was personal, infinite, and substantial, and therefore the communications were answerable, "for god gave not the spirit by measure unto him." but the saints' union with christ, being of an inferior nature; their communications also are proportional; yet such as serve poor creatures to all blessed saving purposes. and therefore with paul, labour to "be found in christ," that so you may know experimentally the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings. all the power and virtue that are in jesus christ, are only for them that are in him, as the branch in the root, as the members in the body. christ is called the covenant of god. "i will give thee for a covenant of the people." as calvin well expounds it, _sponsor foederis_, the surety or undertaker of the covenant, of that second new covenant, between god and his people, not the jews only, but the gentiles also. a surety on both sides: the surety of god's covenant to them; "for all the promises of god are in him, yea, and in him, amen." he sees them all made good to the heirs of promise. and christ again is the surety of their covenant unto god; for he undertakes to make good all their covenants, and vows, and promises unto god. "those that thou gavest me, i have kept," saith christ. "and i live (saith paul), yet not i, but christ liveth in me." so that it is christ who makes the covenant good on both sides, as god's to his people, so his people's to god; and so it follows in that place of isaiah, "i have given thee for a covenant to the people, to establish the earth;" establishment must come from christ, the undertaker, the surety of the covenant; as he paid the debt for the time past, so he must see the articles of the covenant kept for the time to come. for want of such an undertaker or surety, the first covenant miscarried: it was between god and the creature, without a mediator; and so the creature changing, the covenant was dissolved; but the second, god meant should not miscarry, and therefore puts it into sure hands; "i have laid help upon one that is mighty," speaking of christ, and "i will give thee for a covenant to the people." god hath furnished christ wherewithal to be a surety; to make good his covenant to his people, and their covenant to him. but now, he hath this stock of all-sufficiency for none but these that are his members, he actually undertakes for none but those that are actually in him; "these that thou hast given me i have kept." he keeps none but them whom the father hath given him; given him so as to be in them, and they in him. "i in them, they in me." well, if thou wouldst be unchangeable in thy covenant, get interest in christ who is the covenant; the unchangeable covenant; "the amen, the faithful and true witness." "yesterday and to-day, and the same for ever." get interest, "count all things loss and dung, that thou mayst win christ, and be found in christ." yea, do not only labour to get interest, but prove thy interest. take not up a matter of so infinite concernment upon trust: all that thou dost covenant to god, and that god doth covenant to thee, depends upon it; and therefore, "work it out with fear and trembling, and give all diligence to make it sure unto thy soul." study evidences, and be content with none but such as will bear weight in the "balance of the sanctuary;" such as the word will secure; such as to which the word will bear witness, that they are inconsistent with any christless man or woman, whatsoever; and pray with unwearying supplications that god will not only give thee interest, but clear thy interest, and seal up interest upon thy soul and thee, to the day of redemption. _second_, study influence when in christ, then hast thou right to draw virtue from christ, for behold, all the fulness that dwells in christ is thine; all that life, and strength, and grace, and redemption, that is held forth in the promise, it is all laid up in christ, as in a magazine; and by virtue of thy interest in, and union with the lord jesus, it is all become thine. hence you hear the believing soul making her boast of christ, as before, for righteousness so also for strength. "in the lord have i righteousness and strength." as righteousness for acceptance, so strength also for performance of such duties, as god in his covenant doth require and expect at the believer's hands: i have no strength of mine own, but in christ i have enough; "in the lord i have righteousness and strength." christ is the lord-keeper, or lord high steward, or lord treasurer; to receive in and lay out, for and to all that are in covenant with the father. and this is one main branch of god's covenant with the redeemer, that he gives out to the heirs of promise, wherewithal to "keep their covenant with god;" so that they never depart from him. "as for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the lord, my spirit that is upon thee, and my words which i have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the lord, from henceforth and for ever." these be the words of god the father to the redeemer, concerning all his spiritual seed; "the redeemer shall come to zion." and that spirit, and these words of life and grace which were upon the redeemer, must be propagated to all his believing seed; by virtue whereof, their covenant with god, shall in its proportion be like god's covenant with them (for indeed the one is but the counterpart of the other) unchangeable, everlasting. "i will make an everlasting covenant with them, that i will not turn away from them to do them good; but i will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart away from me." now therefore, my brethren, since there is enough in christ, study how to draw it out: indeed it will require a great deal of holy skill to do it; it requires wisdom to draw out the excellencies of a man: "counsel in the heart of a man is deep, but a man of understanding will draw it out." it is a fine art to be able to pierce a man, that is like a vessel full of wine, and set him a running; but to draw out influence and virtue from the lord jesus is one of the most secret hidden mysteries in the life of a christian: indeed we may complain, "the well is deep, and we have nothing to draw withal." but labour to get your bucket of faith, that you may be able to "draw water out of this well of salvation." labour by vital acts of a powerful faith; set to work in meditation and prayer, to draw virtue and influence from jesus christ; the mouth of prayer, and the breathings of faith from an heart soakt and steept in holy meditations, applied to jesus christ, will certainly (tho' perhaps insensibly) draw virtue from him. behold, faith drew virtue from christ by a touch of his garments: shall it not much more draw out that rich and precious influence, by applying of him in the promises, and in his offices unto our souls? consider, o christian, whoever thou art, even thou that art in christ, consider, god hath not trusted thee with grace enough before hand, for one month, no, not for a week, a day; nay, thou hast not grace enough before hand for the performance of the next duty, or the conquering of the next temptation; nor for the expediting thyself out of the next difficulty; and why so? but that thou mayest learn to live by continual dependence upon jesus christ, as paul did, "the life that i now live in the flesh, i live it by the faith of the son of god." paul lived by fresh influence drawn from christ by faith, every day and hour; study that life, it is very mysterious, but exceeding precious. had we our stock before hand, we should quickly spend all, and prove bankrupts: god hath laid up all our treasure of "wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption in jesus christ," and will have us live from hand to mouth, that so we might be safe, and god's free grace be exalted: "it is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end your promise might be sure to all the seed." wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of this heavenly calling, look up to jesus christ, who is the covenant of his father, and your covenant; lo, he calls you. "look unto me, and be ye saved all the ends of the earth." surely they are worthy to perish, who will not bestow a look upon salvation: oh, look humbly, and look believingly, and look continually; look for interest, look for influence, look for righteousness, look for strength; and let jesus christ be all in all to thy soul: thou wilt never be any thing, nor do any thing in christianity, till thou comest to live in and upon jesus christ, and him only: humbly entreat the lord, and give him no rest, that he will make a covenant with thee in christ, which shall keep thee, and then thou wilt be able to keep thy covenant: look up to christ for covenant grace, to keep covenant-engagement, and so shalt thou do this service in a gospel sense, to acceptation, to perpetuity. i have now done with these three queries; what? why? how? how to ( ) acceptation? and ( ) perpetuity? i know much more might be added, but the work to which we are to address ourselves, will take up much time; the lord set home what hath been spoken. only give me leave to tell you thus much in a word, for the close of all; as this covenant prospers with us, so we are like to prosper under it; the welfare of the kingdom and of thy soul, is bound up now in this covenant: for i remember what god speaks of the kingdom of israel, brought into covenant now with the king of babylon, to serve him, and to be his vassals; that "by keeping covenant it should stand." and the breaking of that covenant was the breaking of zedekiah and his whole family and kingdom. now was covenant-breach, or fidelity the foundation of stability or ruin to that kingdom, which was struck, but with a dying man; how much more is the rise and fall of this kingdom; yea, of these two kingdoms, bound up in the observation or forfeiture of this covenant, which we make this day with the living god? you that wish well to the kingdoms, that would not see the downfall and ruin thereof; be from henceforth more conscientious of your covenant, than ever heretofore; for surely, upon the success of this covenant we stand or fall; as we deal with the covenant, god will deal with us; if we slight the covenant, god will slight us; if we have mean thoughts of the covenant, god will have mean thoughts of us; if we forget the covenant, god will forget us; if we break the covenant, we may look that god shall break these two nations, and break us all to pieces; if we reject it, god will reject us; if we regard our covenant, god will regard his covenant, and regard us too; if we remember the covenant, god will remember his, and remember us; if we keep the covenant, the covenant will keep us, and our posterity for ever. there are a people of whom i hear god speaking gracious words. "surely they are my people, children that will not lie." my people, mine by covenant; i have brought them into the bond of the covenant; i have made my covenant with them, and they have made their covenant with me: and they be children that will not lie; i know they will deal no more as a lying and treacherous generation with me, but will be a faithful people in their covenant; and i will be a faithful god unto them; "i will be their saviour, they will serve me, and i will save them." now the lord make us such a people unto him, children that will not lie, and he be such a god to us; he be our saviour, a saviour to both kingdoms, and every soul that makes this covenant; to save us from sin, and to save us from destruction; to save us from our enemies without, and to save us from our enemies within; to save us from the devil, and to save us from the world, and to save us from ourselves; to save us from the lusts of men, and to save us from our own lusts; to save us, and to save our posterity: to save us from rome, and save us from hell; to save us from wrath present, and from wrath to come; to save us here, and to save us hereafter; to save us to himself in grace, and to save us with himself in glory, to all eternity, for christ's sake, amen, and amen. the solemn league and covenant: an ordinance of the lords and commons, _issued february , ._ whereas a covenant for the preservation and reformation of religion, the maintenance and defence of laws and liberties, hath been thought a fit and excellent means to acquire the favour of almighty god towards the three kingdoms of england, scotland and ireland; and likewise to unite them, and by uniting, to strengthen and fortify them against the common enemy of the true reformed religion, peace and prosperity of these kingdoms: and whereas both houses of parliament in england, the cities of london and westminster, and the kingdom of scotland, have already taken the same; it is now ordered and ordained by the lords and commons in parliament, that the same covenant be solemnly taken in all places throughout the kingdom of england, and dominion of wales. and for the better and more orderly taking thereof, these directions ensuing are appointed and enjoined strictly to be followed. _instructions for the taking of the solemn league and covenant throughout the kingdom._ . that the speakers of both houses of parliament do speedily send, to the lord general, and all other commanders in chief, and governors of towns, forts, castles, and garrisons; as also to the earl of warwick, lord high admiral of england, true copies of the said solemn league and covenant, to the end it may be taken by all officers and soldiers under their several commands. . that all the knights and burgesses now in parliament, do take special care, speedily to send down into their several counties (which are, or shall hereafter be under the power of the parliament) a competent number of true copies of the said league and covenant, unto the committees of parliament in their several counties; and that the said committees do within six days at the most disperse the said copies to every parish-church or chapel in their several counties, to be delivered unto the ministers, church-wardens, or constables of the several parishes. . that the said committees be required to return a certificate of the day when they received the said copies, as also the day they sent them forth, and to what parishes they have sent them; which certificate they are to return to the clerk of the parliament, appointed for the commons' house, that so an account may be given of it, as there shall be occasion. . that the several ministers be required to read the said covenant publicly unto their people, the next lord's day after they receive it, and prepare their people for it, against the time that they shall be called to take it. . that the said league and covenant be taken by the committees of parliament, in the place where they reside, and tendered also to the inhabitants of the town, within seven days after it comes to the said committee's hands. . that the said committees after they have taken it themselves, do speedily disperse themselves through the said counties, so as three or four of them be together, on days appointed, at the chief places of meeting, for the several divisions of the said counties: and summon all the ministers, church-wardens, constables, and other officers unto that place, where, after a sermon preached by one appointed by the committee for that purpose, they cause the same minister to tender the league and covenant unto all such ministers, and other officers, to be taken and subscribed by them, in the presence of the said committees. . that the said committees do withal give the said ministers in charge, to tender it unto all the rest of their parishioners the next lord's day, making then unto their said parishioners some solemn exhortation, concerning the taking and observing thereof: and that the said committees do also return to the several parishes, the names of all such as have taken the covenant before them, who yet shall also subscribe their names in the book or roll with their neighbours, in their several parishes: and if any minister refuse or neglect to appear at the said summons, or refuse to take the said covenant before the committee, or to tender it to his parish, that then the committees be careful to appoint another minister to do it in his place. . that this league and covenant be tendered to all men, within the several parishes, above the age of eighteen, as well lodgers as inhabitants. . that it be recommended to the earl of manchester, to take special care, that it be tendered and taken in the university of cambridge. . that for the better encouragement of all sorts of persons to take it, it be recommended to the assembly of divines, to make a brief declaration, by way of exhortation, to all sorts of persons to take it, as that which they judge not only lawful, but (all things considered) exceeding expedient and necessary, for all that wish well to religion, the king and kingdom, to join in, and to be a singular pledge of god's gracious goodness to all the three kingdoms. . that if any minister do refuse to take, or to tender the covenant, or any other person, or persons, do not take it the lord's day that it is tendered, that then it be tendered to them again the lord's day following, and if they still continue to refuse it, that then their names be returned by the minister that tenders it, and by the church-wardens, or constables, unto the committees, and by them to the house of commons, that such further course may be taken with them, as the houses of parliament shall see cause. . that all such persons as are within the several parishes, when notice is given of the taking of it, and do absent themselves from the church at the time of taking it, and come not in afterwards, to the minister and church-wardens or other officers, to take it in their presence before the return be made, be returned as refusers. . the manner of the taking it to be thus; "the minister to read the whole covenant distinctly and audibly in the pulpit, and, during the time of the reading thereof, the whole congregation to be uncovered, and at the end of his reading thereof, all to take it standing, lifting up their right hands bare, and then afterwards to subscribe it severally by writing their names, (or their marks, to which their names are to be added) in a parchment roll, or a book, whereinto the covenant is to be inserted, purposely provided for that end, and kept as a record in the parish." . that the assembly of divines do prepare an exhortation for the better taking of the covenant: and that the said exhortation, and the declaration of the kingdoms of england and scotland, joined in the armies for the vindication and defence of their religion, liberties and laws, against the popish, prelatical and malignant party, and passed the thirty of january last, be publicly read, when the covenant is read, according to the fourth and fifth articles: and that a sufficient number of the copies of the said declaration be sent by the persons, appointed to send the true copies of the said covenant, in the first and second articles. the solemn league and covenant: exhortation by the westminster assembly. if the power of religion or solid reason, if loyalty to the king and piety to their native country, or love to themselves and natural affection to their posterity, if the example of men touched with a deep sense of all these, or extraordinary success from god thereupon, can awaken an embroiled, bleeding remnant to embrace the sovereign and only means of their recovery, there can be no doubt but this solemn league and covenant will find, wheresoever it shall be tendered, a people ready to entertain it with all cheerfulness and duty. and were it not commended to the kingdom by the concurrent encouragement of the honourable houses of parliament, the assembly of divines, the renowned city of london, multitudes of other persons of eminent rank and quality in this nation, and the whole body of scotland, who have all willingly sworn and subscribed it, with rejoicing at the oath, so graciously seconded from heaven already by blasting the counsels, and breaking the power of the enemy more than ever; yet it goeth forth in its own strength, with such convincing evidence of equity, truth and righteousness, as may raise in all (not wilfully ignorant, or miserably seduced) inflamed affections to join with their brethren in this happy bond, for putting an end to the present miseries, and for saving of both king and kingdom from utter ruin, now so strongly and openly laboured by the popish faction, and such as have been bewitched and besotted by that viperous and bloody generation. for what is there almost in this covenant, which was not for substance either expressed, or manifestly included in that solemn protestation of may th, , wherein the whole kingdom stands engaged until this day? the sinful neglect whereof doth (as we may justly fear) open one floodgate the more to let in all these calamities upon the kingdom, and cast upon it a necessity of renewing covenant, and of entering into this. if it be said, the extirpation of prelacy, to wit, the whole hierarchical government (standing, as yet, by the known laws of the kingdom) is new and unwarrantable: this will appear to all impartial understandings, (tho' new) to be not only warrantable, but necessary; if they consider (to omit what some say, that this government was never formally established by any laws of this kingdom at all) that the very life and soul thereof is already taken from it by an act passed in this present parliament, so as (like jezebel's carcase of which no more was left but the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands) nothing of jurisdiction remains, but what is precarious in them, and voluntary in those who submit unto them: that their whole government is at best but a human constitution, and such as is found and adjudged by both houses of parliament, (in which the judgment of the whole kingdom is involved and declared) not only very prejudicial to the civil state, but a great hindrance also to the perfect reformation of religion. yea, who knoweth it not to be too much an enemy thereunto, and destructive to the power of godliness, and pure administration of the ordinances of christ? which moved the well-affected, almost throughout this kingdom, long since to petition this parliament (as hath been desired before, even in the reign of queen elizabeth, and of king james) for a total abolition of the same. nor is any man hereby bound to offer any violence to their persons, but only in his place and calling, to endeavour their extirpation in a lawful way. and as for those clergymen, who pretend that they (above all others) cannot covenant to extirpate that government, because they have (as they say) taken a solemn oath to obey the bishops, _in licitis et honestis:_ they can tell, if they please, that they that have sworn obedience to the laws of the land, are not thereby prohibited from endeavouring by all lawful means the abolition of those laws, when they prove inconvenient or mischievous. and if yet there should any oath be found, into which any ministers or others have entered, not warranted by the laws of god and the land, in this case they must teach themselves and others, that such oaths call for repentance, not pertinacity in them. if it be pleaded, that this covenant crosseth the oaths of supremacy and allegiance; there can be nothing further from truth; for, this covenant binds all and more strongly engageth them to "preserve and defend the king's majesty's person, and authority, in the preservation and defence of the true religion and liberties of the kingdoms." that scruple, that this is done without the king's consent, will soon be removed, if it be remembered, that the protestation of the fifth of may, before-mentioned, was in the same manner voted and executed by both houses, and after (by order of one house alone) sent abroad to all the kingdom, his majesty not excepting against it, or giving any stop to it, albeit he was resident in person at whitehall. thus ezra and nehemiah (ezra x. neh. ix.) drew all the people into a covenant without any special commission from the persian monarchs (then their sovereigns) so to do, albeit they were not free subjects, but vassals, and one of them the servant of artaxerxes, then by conquest king of judah also. nor hath this doctrine or practice been deemed seditious or unwarrantable, by the princes, that have sat upon the english throne, but justified and defended by queen elizabeth of blessed memory, with the expense of much treasure and noble blood, in the united provinces of the netherlands combined not only without, but against the unjust violence of philip, king of spain; king james followed her steps, so far as to approve their union, and to enter into a league with them as free states; which is continued by his majesty now reigning, unto this day; who both by his expedition for relief of rochel in france, and his strict confederacy with the prince of orange, and the states general, notwithstanding all the importunity of spain to the contrary, hath set to his seal that all that had been done by his royal ancestors, in maintainance of those who had so engaged and combined themselves, was just and warrantable. and what had become of the religion, laws, and liberties of our sister nation of scotland, had they not entered into such a solemn league and covenant at the beginning of the late troubles there? which course however it was at first, by the popish and prelatic projectors, represented to his majesty, as an offence of the highest nature, justly deserving chastisement by the fury of a puissant army; yet when the matter came afterwards in cool blood to be debated, first by commissioners of both kingdoms, and then in open parliament here, (when all those of either house, who are now engaged at oxford, were present in parliament, and gave their votes therein) it was found, adjudged and declared by the king in parliament, that our dear brethren of scotland had done nothing but what became loyal and obedient subjects, and were by act of parliament publicly righted in all the churches of this kingdom, where they had been defamed. therefore, however some men, hoodwinked and blinded by the artifices of those jesuitical engineers, who have long conspired to sacrifice our religion to the idolatry of rome, our laws, liberties and persons to arbitrary slavery, and our estates to their insatiable avarice, may possibly be deterred and amused with high threats and declarations, flying up and down on the wings of the royal name and countenance, now captivated and prostituted to serve all their lusts, to proclaim all rebels and traitors who take this covenant; yet, let no faithful english heart be afraid to join with our brethren of all the three kingdoms in this solemn league, as sometimes the men of israel, although under another king, did with the men of judah, at the invitation of hezekiah. what though those tongues set on fire by hell do rail and threaten? that god who was pleased to clear up the innocency of mordecai and the jews, against all the malicious aspersions of wicked haman to his and their sovereign, so as all his plotting produced but this effect, that (esther ix.) "when the king's commandments and decree drew near to be put in execution, and the enemies of the jews hoped to have power over them, it was turned to the contrary, and the jews had rule over them that hated them, and laid hands on such as sought their hurt, so as no man could withstand them;" and that same god, who, but even as yesterday vouchsafed to disperse and scatter those dark clouds and fogs, which overshadowed that loyal and religious kingdom of scotland, and to make their righteousness to shine as clear as the sun at noon-day, in the very eyes of their greatest enemies, will doubtlessly stand by all those who, with singleness of heart, and a due sense of their own sins, and a necessity of reformation, shall now enter into an everlasting covenant with the lord, never to be forgotten, to put an end to all those unhappy and unnatural breaches between the king and such as are faithful in the land; causing their "righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations," to the terror and confusion of those men of blood, the confederate enemies of god and the king, who have long combined, and have now raked together the dregs and scum of many kingdoms, to bury all the glory, honour and liberty of this nation in the eternal grave of dishonour and destruction. the solemn league and covenant. sermon at london. _by edmond calamy._[ ] "truce-breakers (or covenant-breakers)."-- _tim._ iii. . in the beginning of the chapter, the apostle tells us the condition that the church of god should be in, in the last days. "this know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." in the second verse, he tells us the reason why these times should be such hard and dangerous times; "for men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous," &c. the reason is not drawn from the miseries and calamities of the last times, but from the sins and iniquities of the last times. it is sin and iniquity that make times truly perilous. sin, and sin only, takes away god's love and favour from a nation, and makes god turn an enemy to it. sin causeth god to take away the purity and power of his ordinances from a nation. sin makes all the creatures to be armed against us, and makes our own consciences to fight against us. sin is the cause of all the causes of perilous times. sin is the cause of our civil wars. sin is the cause of our divisions. sin is the cause why men fall into such dangerous errors. sin brings such kinds of judgments, which no other thing can bring. sin brings invisible, spiritual, and eternal judgments. it is sin that makes god give over a nation to a reprobate sense. sin makes all times dangerous. let the times be never so prosperous, yet if they be sinful times, they are times truly dangerous. and if they be not sinful, they are not dangerous, though never so miserable. it is sin that makes afflictions to be the fruits of god's avenging wrath, part of the curse due to sin, and a beginning of hell. it is sin, and sin only, that embitters every affliction. let us for ever look upon sin through these scripture spectacles. the apostle, in four verses, reckons up nineteen sins, as the causes of the miseries of the last days. i may truly call these nineteen sins, england's looking-glass, wherein we may see what are the clouds that eclipse god's countenance from shining upon us; the mountains that lie in the way to hinder the settlement of church-discipline: even these nineteen sins, which are as an iron-whip of nineteen strings, with which god is whipping england at this day; which are as nineteen faggots, with which god is burning and devouring england. my purpose is not to speak of all these sins; only let me propound a divine project, how to make the times happy for soul and body. and that is to strike at the root of all misery, which is sin and iniquity: to repent for and from all these nineteen sins, which are as the oil that feeds and increases the flame that is now consuming of us. for, because men are lovers of themselves, _usque ad contemptum dei et republicæ_; because men drive their own designs, not only to the neglect, but contempt of god and the commonwealth. because men are covetous, lovers of the world, more than lovers of god. because they are proud in head, heart, looks and apparel. because they are unthankful, turning the mercies of god into instruments of sin, and making darts with god's blessings to shoot against god. because men are unholy and heady, and make many covenants, and keep none. because they are (as the greek word _diaboloi_ signifieth) devils, acting the devil's part, in accusing the brethren, and in bearing false witness one against another. because they have a "form of godliness, denying the power thereof." hence it is that these times are so sad and bloody. these are thy enemies, o england, that have brought thee into this desolate condition! if ever god lead us back into the wilderness, it will be because of these sins. and therefore, if ever ye would have blessed days, you must make it your great business to remove these nineteen mountains, and repent of these land-devouring and soul-destroying abominations. at this time, i shall pick out the first and tenth sin to speak on. the first is, _self-love;_ which is placed in the forefront, as the cause of all the rest. self-love is not only a sin that makes the times perilous, but it is the cause of all these sins that make the times perilous; for, because men are lovers of themselves, therefore they are covetous, proud, unholy. the tenth sin is, _truce-breakers_, and, for fear lest the time should prevent me, i shall begin with this sin first. the tenth sin then is truce-breakers; or, as rom. i. ., "covenant-breakers." the greek word is _aspondoi_, which signifieth three things; _first_, such as are _foederis nescii_, as beza renders it; or, as others, _infoederabilis_; that is, such as refuse to enter into covenant. or, _secondly_, such as are _foedifragi, qui pacta non servant_, as estius hath it, or _sine fide_, as ambrose; that is, such as break faith and covenant. or, _thirdly_, such as are _implacabilis_; or, as others, _sine pace_; that is, such as are implacable, and haters of peace. according to this threefold sense of the word, i shall gather these three observations. doctrine . that to be a covenant-refuser is a sin that makes the times perilous. doct. . that to be a covenant-breaker is a sin that makes the times perilous. doct. . that to be a peace-hater, or a truce-hater, is a sin that makes the times perilous. doct. . that to be a covenant refuser is a sin that makes the times perilous; to be _foederis nescius_, or _infoederabilis_. for the understanding of this, you must know that there are two sorts of covenants, there are devilish and hellish covenants, and there are godly and religious covenants. first, there are devilish covenants, such as acts xxiii. , and isa. xxviii. , such as the holy league, as it was unjustly called in france, against the huguenots, and that of our gun-powder traitors in england. now, to refuse to make such covenants is not to make the times perilous, but the taking of them makes the times perilous. secondly, there are godly covenants, as psal. cxix. , and as chron. xv. : and such as this is which you are met to take this day. for you are to swear to such things which you are bound to endeavour after, though you did not swear. your swearing is not _solum vinculum_, but _novum vinculum_, is not the only, but only a new and another bond to tie you to the obedience of the things you swear unto; which are so excellent and so glorious, that if god gave those that take it a heart to keep it, it will make these three kingdoms the glory of the world. and as one of the reverend commissioners of scotland said, when it was first taken in a most solemn manner at westminster, by the parliament and the assembly, "that if the pope should have this covenant written upon a wall over against him sitting in his chair, it would be unto him like the hand-writing to belshazzar, causing his joints to loose, and his knees to smite one against another." and i may add, that if it be faithfully and fully kept, it will make all the devils in hell to tremble, as fearing lest their kingdom should not stand long. now then, for a man to be an anti-covenanter, and to be such a covenant-refuser, it must needs be a sin that makes the times perilous. and the reasons are, . because you shall find in scripture, that when any nation did enter into a solemn religious covenant, god did exceedingly bless and prosper that nation after that time, as "that thou shouldst enter into covenant with the lord thy god, that he may establish thee to-day for a people to himself, and that he may be unto thee a god." and therefore to be a covenant-refuser, is to make our miseries perpetual. . because it is the highest act of god's love to man, to vouchsafe to engage himself by oath and covenant to be his god; so it is the highest demonstration of man's love to god, to bind himself by oath and covenant to be god's. there is nothing obligeth god more to us, than to see us willing to tie and bind ourselves unto his service: and therefore, they that in this sense are anti-covenanters are sons of belial, that refuse the yoke of the lord, that say, "let us break his bands asunder, and cast away his cords, from us;" such as _oderunt vincula pietatis_, which is a soul-destroying, and a land-destroying sin. . because that the union of england, scotland and ireland, into one covenant, is the chief, if not the only preservative of them at this time. you find in our english chronicles, that england was never destroyed, but when divided within itself. our civil divisions brought in the romans, the saxons, danes and normans; but now the anti-covenanters divide the parliament within itself, and the city within itself, and england against itself; they are as stones separated from the building, which are of no use to itself, and threaten the ruin of the building. jesus christ is called in scripture, the "corner-stone," which is a stone that unites the two ends of the building together. jesus christ is a stone of union: and therefore they that sow division, and study unjust separation, have little of jesus christ in them. when the ten tribes began to divide from the other two tribes, they presently began to war one against another, and to ruin one another: the anti-covenanter, he divides and separates and disunites. and therefore he makes perilous times. my chief aim is at the second doctrine, doctrine . that for a covenant-taker to be a covenant-breaker, is a sin that makes the times perilous. for the opening of this point, i must distinguish again of covenants. there are civil, and there are religious covenants; a civil covenant is a covenant between man and man; and of this the text is primarily, though not only, to be understood. now, for a man to break promise and covenant with his brother, is a land-destroying, and a soul-destroying abomination. we read, sam. xxi., that because saul had broken the covenant that joshua made with the gibeonites, god sent a famine in david's time, of three years' continuance, to teach us that, if we falsify our word and oath, god will avenge covenant-breaking, though it be forty years after. famous is that text in jeremiah. because the princes and the people brake the covenant which they had made with their servants, though but their servants, god tells them, "because ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother.... behold, i proclaim liberty for you, saith the lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine: and i will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth." we read also, that god tells zedekiah, because he brake the covenant he had made with the king of babylon, that therefore, "he would recompense upon his head the oath that he had despised, and the covenant that he had broken, and would bring him to babylon, and plead with him there for the trespass which he had trespassed against the lord." david tells us, that it is a sin that shuts a man out of heaven. the turkish history tells us of a covenant made between amurath, that great turk, and ladislaus, king of hungary, and how the pope absolved ladislaus from the oath, and provoked him to renew the war: in which war the turk, being put to the worst, and despairing of victory, pulls out a paper which he had in his bosom, wherein the league was written, and said, "o thou god of the christians, if thou beest a true god, be avenged of those that have, without cause, broken the league made by calling upon thy name." and the story says, that after he had spoken these words, he had, as it were, "a new heart, and spirit put into him and his soldiers," and that they obtained a glorious victory over ladislaus. thus god avenged the quarrel of man's covenant. the like story we read of rudolphus, duke of sweden, who, by the pope's instigation, waged war with henry iv., emperor of germany, to whom he had sworn to the contrary. but, in the fight it chanced that rudolphus lost his right hand, and falling sick upon it, he called for it and said, "behold this right hand with which i subscribed to the emperor, with which i have violated my oath, and therefore i am rightly punished." i will not trouble you with relating that gallant story of regulus, that chose rather to expose himself to a cruel death, than to falsify his oath to the carthaginians. the sum of all is, if it be such a crying abomination to break covenant between man and man; and if such persons are accounted as the off-scouring of men, not worthy to live in a christian, no, not in a heathen commonwealth: if it be a sin that draws down vengeance from heaven; much more for a man to enter into covenant with the great jehovah, and to break such a religious engagement: this must needs be a destroying and soul-damning sin. and of such religious covenants i am now to speak. there are two covenants that god made with man, a covenant of nature, and a covenant of grace. the covenant of nature, or of works, was made with adam, and all mankind in him. this covenant adam broke, and god presently had a quarrel against him for breaking of it. and, to avenge the quarrel of the covenant, he was thrust out of paradise, and there was a sword also placed at the east end of the garden of eden, to avenge covenant-breaking. and by nature we are all children of wrath, heirs of hell, because of the breach of that covenant. and therefore we should never think of original sin, or of the sinfulness and cursedness of our natural condition, but we should remember what a grievous sin covenant-breaking is. but, after man was fallen, god was pleased to strike a new covenant, which is usually called a covenant of grace, or of reconciliation. this was first propounded to adam by way of promise, "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." and then to abraham by way of covenant, "in thy seed shall all the nations of the world be blessed." and then to moses by way of testament. it is nothing else but the free and gracious tender of jesus christ, and all his rich purchases to all the lost and undone sons of adam, that shall believe in him: or as the phrase is, "that shall take hold of the covenant." now you must know that baptism is a seal of this covenant, and that all that are baptised do, sacramentally at least, engage themselves to walk before god, and to be upright; and god likewise engages himself to be their god. this covenant is likewise renewed when we come to the lord's supper, wherein we bind ourselves, by a sacramental oath, unto thankfulness to god for christ. add further, that besides this general covenant of grace, whereof the sacraments are seals, there are particular and personal, and family and national covenants. thus, job had his covenant; and david. and when he came to be king, he joined in covenant with his people to serve the lord. thus asa, jehoiada, josiah, and others. thus the people of israel had not only a covenant in circumcision, but renewed a covenant at horeb and moab, and did often again and again bind themselves to god by vow and covenant. and thus the churches of christ. christians, besides the vows in baptism, have many personal and national engagements unto god by covenant, which are nothing else but the renovations and particular applications of that first vow in baptism. of this nature is that you are to renew this day. now give me leave to shew you what a sword-procuring and soul-undoing sin, this sin of covenant-breaking is; and then the reason of it. famous is that text, "and i will send my sword, which shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant." the words in the hebrew run thus, "i will avenge the avengement," which importeth this much, that god is at open war and at public defiance with those that break his covenant: he is not only angry with them, but he will be revenged of them. "the lord hath a controversy with all covenant-breakers." "the lord will walk contrary to them." first, god takes his people into covenant, and then he tells them of the happy condition they should be in, if they did keep the covenant; but if they did break covenant, he tells them, "that the lord will not spare him; but the anger of the lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the lord shall blot out his name from under heaven, and the lord shall separate him. and when the nation shall say, wherefore hath the lord done thus unto the land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? then shall men say. because they have forsaken the covenant of the lord god of their fathers." this was the sin that caused god to send his people israel into captivity, and to remove the candlestick from the asian churches. it is for this sin, that the sword is now devouring germany, ireland, and england. god hath sent his sword to avenge the quarrel of his covenant. the reasons why this sin is a god-provoking sin, are, first, because that, to sin against the covenant is a greater sin than to sin against a commandment of god, or to sin against a promise, or to sin against an ordinance of god. . it is a greater sin than to break a commandment of god; for the more mercy there is in the thing we sin against, the greater is the sin. now there is more mercy in a covenant than in a bare commandment. the commandment tells us our duty, but gives no power to do it. but the covenant of grace, gives power to do what it requires to be done. and therefore, if it be a hell-procuring sin to break the least of god's commandments, much more to be a covenant breaker. . it is a greater sin than to sin against a promise of god; because a covenant is a promise joined with an oath. it is a mutual stipulation between god and us: and therefore, if it be a great sin to break promise, much more to break covenant. . it is a greater sin than to sin against an ordinance, because the covenant is the root and ground of all the ordinances. it is by virtue of the covenant that we are made partakers of the ordinances: the word is the book of the covenant, and the sacraments are the seals of the covenant. and if it be a sin of an high nature to sin against the book of the covenant, and the seals of the covenant, much more against the covenant itself. to break covenant, is a fundamental sin; it razeth the very foundation of christianity, because the covenant is the foundation of all the privileges, and prerogatives, and hopes of the saints of god: and therefore we read that a stranger from the covenant is one "without hope." all hope of heaven is cut off, where the covenant is willingly broken. to break covenant is an universal sin, it includes all other sins. by virtue of the covenant, we tie ourselves to the obedience of god's commandments, we give up ourselves to the guidance of jesus christ, we own him for our lord and king; all the promises of this life, and that which is to come, are contained within the covenant. the ordinances are fruits of the covenant: and therefore they that forsake the covenant, commit many sins in one, and bring not only many but all curses upon their heads. the sum of the first argument is, "if the lord will avenge the quarrel of his commandments," if god was avenged upon the stick-gatherer for breaking the sabbath, much more will he be avenged upon a covenant-breaker. if god will avenge the quarrel of an ordinance; if they that reject the ordinances shall be punished, "of how much sorer punishment shall they be thought worthy, that trample under their feet the blood of the covenant?" if god was avenged of those that abused the ark of the covenant, much more will he punish those that abuse the angel of the covenant. the second reason why covenant-breaking is such a land destroying sin is, because it is a solemn and serious thing to enter into covenant with god; a matter of such great weight and importance, that it is impossible but god should be exceedingly provoked with these that slight it, and disrespect it. the vow in baptism is the first, the most general, and the solemnest that any christian took, saith chrysostom; wherein he doth not only promise, but engage himself by covenant in the sight of god, and his holy angels, to be the servant of jesus christ; and therefore god will not hold him guiltless, that breaks this vow. the solemnity and weightiness of covenant-taking consisteth in three things. . because it is made with the glorious majesty of heaven and earth, who will not be trifled and baffled withal; and therefore, what jehoshaphat said to his judges, "take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for men, but for the lord, who is with you in the judgment. wherefore now, let the fear of the lord be upon you," the like i may say to every one that enters into covenant this day; "take heed what ye do; for it is the lord's covenant, and there is no iniquity with the lord: wherefore now, let the fear of the lord be upon you; for our god is a holy god, he is a jealous god, he will not forgive your transgressions, nor your sins." . because the articles of the covenant are weighty, and of great importance. in the covenant of grace, god engageth himself to give christ, and with him all temporal, spiritual, and eternal blessings, and we engage ourselves to be his faithful servants all our days. in this covenant, we oblige ourselves to do great matters, that nearly concern the glory of god, the good of our souls, and the happiness of the three kingdoms. and in such holy and heavenly things, which so nearly concern our everlasting estate, to dally and trifle must needs incense the anger of the great jehovah. . the manner used both by jews, heathens and christians in entering into covenant, doth clearly set out the weightiness of it, and what a horrible sin it is to break it. the custom among the jews, will appear by divers texts of scripture. it is said, "and i will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof." the words they used when they passed between the parts, were "so god divide me, if i keep not covenant." nehemiah took an oath of the priests, and shook his lap, and said, "so god shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise; even thus be he shaken out and emptied. and all the congregation said, amen." abraham divided the heifer, and she-goat, and a ram. "and when the sun was down, a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp, passed between these pieces." this did represent god's presence, saith clemens alexandrinus, and as if god should say, "behold, this day i enter into covenant with thee, and if thou keepest covenant, i will be as a burning lamp to enlighten, and to comfort thee: but if thou breakest covenant, i will be like a smoking furnace to consume thee." thus also moses makes a covenant with israel, and offers sacrifices, and takes the blood of the sacrifices and divides it, and half of it he sprinkles upon the altar, (which represents god's part) and the other half he sprinkles upon the people, as if he should say, "as this blood is divided, so will god divide you, if ye break covenant." this was the custom among the jews, amongst the romans. sometimes they make covenants by taking a stone in their hands, and saying, "if i make this covenant seriously and faithfully, then let the great jupiter bless me; if not so, let me be cast away from the face of the gods, as i cast away this stone." this was called _jurare per jovem lapidem_. all these things are not empty notions and metaphorical shadows, but real and substantial practices; signifying unto us, that god will and must (for it stands with his honour to do it) divide and break them in pieces that break covenant with him. this day you are to take a covenant by the lifting up of your hands unto the most high god, which is a most emphatical ceremony, whereby we do as it were call god to be a witness and a judge of what we do, and a rewarder or revenger, according as we keep or break this covenant. if we keep it, the lifting up of our hands will be as an evening sacrifice; if we break it, the lifting up our hands will be as the lifting up of the hands of a malefactor at the bar, and will procure woe and misery, and wringing of hands at the great day of appearing. the third reason why god will be avenged of those that are covenant-breakers, is: because that a covenant is the greatest obligation and the most forcible claim that can be invented to tie us to obedience and service. god may justly challenge obedience without covenanting, by virtue of creation, preservation and redemption: he hath made us, and, when lost, he hath purchased us with his blood. but being willing more abundantly to manifest his love, that we be the more fastened to him, he hath tied himself to us, and us to him, by the strong bond of a covenant: as if god should say, oh ye sons of men! i see you are rebellious and sons of belial, and therefore, if it be possible, i will make sure. i will engage you unto me, not only by creation, preservation and redemption, but also by the right of covenant and association. i will make you mine by promise and oath. and surely he that will break these bonds is as bad as the man possessed with the devil in the gospel, whom no chains could keep fast. when we enter into covenant with god, we take the oath of supremacy, and swear unto him, that he should be our chief lord and governor, and that we will admit of no sovereign power or jurisdiction, but that god shall be all in all. we likewise take the oath of allegiance, to be his servants and vassals, and that he shall be our supreme in spirituals and temporals. now, for a christian that believes there is a god, to break both these oaths of allegiance and supremacy, it is cursed treason against the god of heaven, which surely god will be avenged of. amongst the romans, when any soldier was pressed, he took an oath to serve the captain faithfully, and not to forsake him, and he was called _miles per sacramentum_. sometimes one took an oath for all the rest, and the others only said, the same oath that a.b. took, the same do i. and these were called _milites per conjurationem_. and when any soldier forsook his captain, he had the martial law executed upon him. thus it is with every christian: he is a professed soldier of christ, he hath taken press-money, he hath sworn and taken the sacrament upon it to become the lord's, he is _miles per sacramentum_, and _miles per conjurationem_: and if he forsake his captain and break covenant, the great lord of hosts will be avenged of him, as it is written, "cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of the covenant." to break covenant is a sin of perjury, which is a sin of an high nature; and if for oaths the land mourneth, much more for breach of oaths. to break covenant is a sin of spiritual adultery; for by covenanting with god, we do as it were, "join ourselves in marriage to god," as the hebrew word signifieth. now, to break the marriage knot is a sin for which god may justly give a bill of divorce to a nation. to break covenant is a sin of injustice; for by our covenant we do enter, as it were, into bond to god, and engage ourselves as a creditor to his debtor; now the sin of injustice is a land-destroying sin. the fourth reason why god must needs be avenged on those that are covenant-breakers, is, it is an act of the highest sacrilege that can be committed. for, by virtue of the covenant, the lord lays claim to us as his peculiar inheritance. "i sware unto thee, and entered into covenant with thee, and thou becamest mine." "i will be their god, and they shall be my people." it is a worthy observation, that in the covenant there is a double surrender, one on god's part, and another on our part. god almighty makes a surrender of himself, and of his son, and of the holy ghost. behold, saith god, i am wholly thy god; all my power, and mercy, and goodness, all is thine; my son is thine, and all his rich purchases; my spirit is thine, and all his graces: this is god's surrender. on our part, when we take hold of the covenant, we make a delivery of our bodies and souls into the hands of god; we choose him to be our lord and governor, we resign up ourselves into his hands. lord, we are thine at thy disposing: we alienate ourselves, and make a deed of gift of ourselves, and give thee lock and key of head, heart, and affections. this is the nature of every religious covenant, but especially of the covenant of grace. but now, for a christian to call in, as it were, his surrender, to disclaim his resignation, to steal away himself from god, and lay claim to himself after his alienation; to fulfil his own lusts, to walk after his own ways, to do what he lists, and not what he hath covenanted to do, and so to rob god of what is his: this is the highest degree of sacrilege, which god will never suffer to go unpunished. and surely if the stick-gatherer, that did but alienate a little of god's time; and ananias and sapphira, that withheld but some part of their estate: and if belshazzar for abusing the consecrated vessels of the temple, were so grievously punished; how much more will god punish those that alienate themselves from the service of that god to whom they have sworn to be obedient? it is observed by a learned author, of the famous commanders of the romans, that they never prospered after they had defiled and robbed the temple of jerusalem. first, pompey the great, went into the _sanctum sanctorum_, a place never before entered by any but the high-priest, and the lord blasted him in all his proceedings, "that he that before that time wanted earth to overcome, had not at last earth enough to bury him withal." the next was crassus, who took away , talents of gold from the temple, and afterward died, by having gold poured down his throat. the third was cassius, who afterwards killed himself. if then god did thus avenge himself of those that polluted his consecrated temple; much more will he not leave them unpunished, that are the living temples of the holy ghost, consecrated to god by covenant, and afterwards proving sacrilegious, robbing god of that worship and service, which they have sworn to give him. the fifth reason why this sin makes the times perilous, is; because covenant-breakers are reckoned amongst the number of those that have the mark of reprobation upon them. i do not say that they are all reprobates, yet i say, that the apostle makes it to be one of those sins which are committed by those that are given up "to a reprobate mind." the words are spoken of the heathen, and are to be understood of covenants made between man and man; and then the argument will hold _a fortiori_. if it be the brand of a reprobate to break covenant with man, much more a covenant made with the great jehovah by the lifting up of our hands to heaven. the last reason is, because it is a sin against such infinite mercy. it is said, "which my covenant they brake, although i was an husband unto them;" that is, although i had chosen them for my spouse, and married myself unto them with an everlasting covenant of mercy, and entailed heaven unto them, yet they have broken my covenant. this was a great provocation. thus, "when thou wast in thy blood, and no eye pitied thee, to have compassion upon thee, i said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, live: yea, i said unto thee, live." it is twice repeated. as if god should say, "mark it, o israel, when no eye regarded thee, then i said unto thee, live." behold, saith god, "thy time was the time of love." behold, and wonder at it. "and i spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, i sware unto thee, and entered into covenant with thee, saith the lord, and thou becamest mine." and yet for all this, thou has sinned grievously against me. "wo, wo unto thee, saith the lord god." there is a fivefold mercy in the covenant, especially in the covenant of grace, that makes the sin of covenant-breaking to be so odious. . it is a mercy that the great god will vouchsafe to enter into covenant with dust and ashes. as david saith in another case, "is it a light thing to be the son-in-law of a king?" so may i say, "is it a light matter for the lord of heaven and earth to condescend so far as to covenant with his poor creatures, and thereby to become their debtors, and to make them, as it were, his equals?" when jonathan and david entered into a covenant of friendship, though one was a king's son, the other a poor shepherd, yet there was a kind of equality between them. but this must be understood warily, according to the text. "blessed be god, who hath called us unto the fellowship of his son jesus christ our lord." he is still our lord, though in fellowship with us. it is a covenant of infinite condescension on god's part, whereby he enters into a league of friendship with his people. . the mercy is the greater, because this covenant was made after the fall of adam. after we had broken the first covenant, that the lord should try us the second time, is not only an act of infinite goodness of god, but of infinite mercy. there is a difference between the goodness and the mercy of god. goodness may be shewed to those that are not in misery: but mercy supposeth misery. and this was our condition after the breach of the first covenant. . that god should make this covenant with man, and not with devils. . this sets out the mercy of the covenant, because it contains such rare and glorious benefits, and therefore it is called a covenant of life and peace. "an everlasting covenant even the sure mercies of david." it is compared to the waters of noah, isa. liv. . famous are those two texts; exod. xix. , ; jer. xxxii. , --texts that hold forth strong consolation. by virtue of the covenant, heaven is not only made possible, but certain to all believers, and certain by way of oath. it is by virtue of the covenant that we call him father, and may lay claim to all the power, wisdom, goodness and mercy, that are in god. as jehoshaphat told the king of israel, to whom he was joined in covenant, "i am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses:" so doth god say to all that are in covenant with him, "my power is thine, my holiness is thine." by virtue of this covenant, whatsoever thou wantest, god cannot deny it thee, if it be good for thee. say unto god, lord, thou hast sworn to take away my heart of stone, and to give me a heart of flesh, thou hast sworn to write thy law in my heart, thou hast sworn to circumcise my heart, thou hast sworn to give me christ, to be my king, priest and prophet. and god cannot but be a covenant-keeper. by virtue of this covenant, god cannot but accept of a poor penitent sinner, laying hold upon christ for pardon. in a word, we may challenge pardon and heaven by our covenant. god is not only merciful but just to forgive us; we may challenge heaven through christ, out of justice. and . that the condition of the covenant on our part should be upon such easy terms, therefore it is called a covenant of free grace, and all that god requires of us is to take hold of this covenant; to receive this gift of righteousness; to take all christ, as he is tendered in the covenant; and, that which is the greatest consolation of all, god hath promised in his covenant to do our part for us. therefore it is called a testament, rather than a covenant. in the new testament, the word _diatheke_, is always used by the apostle, and not _syntheke_. heaven is conveyed into the elect by way of legacy. it is part of god's testament, to write his law in our hearts, and to cause us to walk in his ways. put these together, seeing there is such infinite mercy in the covenant. a mercy, for god to enter into covenant with us, to do it with us, and not the angels; with us fallen, with us upon, such easy terms, and to make such a covenant that contains so many, and not only so but all blessings here and hereafter, in the womb of it. it must needs be a land-destroying, and soul-destroying sin, to be a covenant-breaker. the use and application of this doctrine is fourfold. . of information. if it be such a land-destroying sin to be a covenant-breaker, let us from hence learn the true cause of all the miseries that have happened unto england in these late years. the womb out of which all our calamities are come--england hath broken covenant with god, and now god is breaking england in pieces, even as a potter breaks a vessel in pieces. "god hath sent his sword to avenge the quarrel of his covenant," as christ whipped the buyers and sellers out of the temple, with whips made of the cords which they had brought to tie their oxen and sheep withal. a covenant is a cord to tie us to god; and now god hath made an iron whip of that covenant which we have broken asunder, to whip us withal. we are a nation in covenant with god, we have the books of the covenant, the old and new testament; we have the seals of the covenant, baptism, and the lord's supper; we have the messengers of the covenant, the ministers of the gospel; we have the angel of the covenant, the lord jesus christ, fully, freely, and clearly set out before us in the ministry of the word: but alas! are not these blessings amongst us, as the ark was amongst the philistines, rather as prisoners, than as privileges, rather _in testimonium et ruinam, quam in salutem_; rather for our ruin, than for our happiness? may it not be said of us, as reverend mulin said of the french protestants, "while they burned us (saith he) for reading the scriptures, we burned with zeal to be reading of them; now with our liberty is bred also negligence and disesteem of god's word." so is it with us, while we were under the tyranny of bishops; oh! how sweet was a fasting day? how beautiful were the feet of them that brought the gospel of peace unto you? how dear and precious were god's people one to another? but now, how are our fasting days slighted and vilified? how are the people of god divided one from another, railing upon (instead of loving) one another? and is not the godly ministry as much persecuted by the tongues of some that would be accounted godly, as heretofore by the bishop's hands? is not the holy bible by some rather wrested than read? wrested, i say, by ignorant and unstable souls, to their own destruction? and as for the seals of the covenant, . for the lord's supper, how oft have we spilt the blood of christ by our unworthy approaches to his table? and hence it is, that he is now spilling our blood; how hard a matter is it, to obtain power to keep the blood of christ from being profaned by ignorant and scandalous communicants? and can we think, that god will be easily entreated to sheath up his bloody sword, and to cease shedding our blood? . for the sacrament of baptism; how cruel are men grown to their little infants, by keeping of them from the seal of entrance into the kingdom of heaven, and making their children to be just in the same condition with the children of turks and infidels? i remember, at the beginning of these wars there was a great fear fell upon godly people about their little children, and all their care was for their preservation and their safety; and for the continuance of the gospel to them. but now, our little children are likely to be in a worse condition than ever. and all this is come upon us as a just punishment of our baptismal covenant-breaking. and as for jesus christ, who is the angel of the covenant: are there not some amongst us that ungod jesus christ? and is it not fit and equal that god should unchurch us and unpeople us? are there not thousands that have sworn to be christ's servants, and yet are in their lives the vassals of sin and satan? and shall not god be avenged of such a nation as this? these things considered, it is no wonder our miseries are so great, but the wonder is that they are not greater. . an use of examination. days of humiliation ought to be days of self-examination. let us therefore upon such a day as this, examine, whether we be not amongst the number of those that make the times perilous, whether we be not covenant-breakers? here i will speak of three covenants; . of the covenant we have made with god in our baptism. . of the covenant we have made with god in our distresses. . and especially of this covenant you are to renew this day. . of the covenant which we made in baptism, and renew every time we come to the lord's supper, and upon our solemn days of fasting. there are none here, but i may say of them, "the vows of god are upon you." you are _servi nati, empti, jurati_, you are the born, bought, and sworn servants of god, you have made a surrender of yourselves unto god and christ. the question i put to you is this: how often have you broken covenant with god? it is said, "the sinners in zion are afraid; who shall dwell with everlasting torments? who shall dwell with devouring fire?" when god comes to a church-sinner, to a sinner under the old testament, much more to a christian sinner, a sinner under the new testament, and layeth to his charge his often covenant-breaking, fearfulness shall possess him, and he will cry out, "oh! woe is me, who can dwell with everlasting burnings? our god is a consuming fire, and we are as stubble before him; who can stand before his indignation? who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? when his fury is poured forth like fire, and the rocks are thrown down before him. who can stand?" of all sorts of creatures, a sinful christian shall not be able to stand before the lord, when he comes to visit the world for their sins. for when a christian sins against god, he sins not only against the commandment but against the covenant. and in every sin he is a commandment-breaker, and a covenant-breaker. and therefore, whereas the apostle saith, "tribulation and anguish upon every soul that sinneth: but first upon the jews," i may add, first, upon the christian, then upon the jew, and then upon the grecian, because the covenant made with the christian is called a better covenant: and therefore his sins have a higher aggravation in them. there is a notable passage in austin, in which he brings in the devil thus pleading with god, against a wicked christian at the day of judgment. oh! thou righteous judge, give righteous judgment; judge him to be mine who refused to be thine, even after he had renounced me in his baptism; what had he to do to wear my livery? what had he to do with gluttony, drunkenness, pride, wantonness, incontinency, and the rest of my ware? all these things he hath practised, since he renounced the devil and all his works. mine he is, judge righteous judgment; for he whom thou hast not disdained to die for, hath obliged himself to me by his sins. now, what can god say to this charge of the devil's, but take him, devil, seeing he would be thine; take him, torment him with everlasting torments. cyprian brings in the devil thus speaking to christ in the great day of judgment. i have not (saith the devil) been whipped, and scourged, and crucified, neither have i shed my blood for those whom thou seest with me; i do not promise them a kingdom of heaven, and yet these men have wholly consecrated themselves to me and my service. indeed, if the devil could make such gainful covenants with us, and bestow such glorious mercies upon us as are contained within the covenant, our serving of satan and sin might have some excuse. but, whereas his covenant is a covenant of bondage, death, hell, and damnation; and god's covenant is a covenant of liberty, grace, and eternal happiness, it must needs be a sin inexcusable to be willingly and wilfully such a covenant-breaker. . let us examine concerning the vows which we have made to god in our distresses; in our personal distresses, and our national distresses. are we not like the children of israel, of whom it is said, "when he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired early after god. nevertheless they did flatter him with their mouth. for their heart was not right with him, neither were they stedfast in his covenant." are we not like little children that, while they are being whipped, will promise any thing; but, when the whipping is over, will perform nothing? or like unto iron that is very soft and malleable while it is in the fire, but, when it is taken out of the fire, returns presently to its former hardness? this was jacob's fault: he made a vow when he was in distress, but he forgot his covenant, and god was angry with him, and chastised him in his daughter, dinah, and in his two sons, simeon and levi; and at last god himself was fain to call him from heaven to keep covenant; and after that time god blessed jacob exceedingly. we read of david, that he professes of himself, "that he would go to god's house, and pay the vows which his lips uttered, and his mouth had spoken, when he was in trouble." but, how few are there that imitate david in this thing. . let us examine ourselves concerning this solemn league and covenant which we are to renew this day. and here i demand an answer to this question. quest. are we not covenant-breakers? do we not make the times perilous by our falsifying of our oath and covenant with god? in our covenant we swear to six things. . "that we will endeavour to be humbled for our own sins, and for the sins of the kingdom:" but where shall we find a mourner in england for his own abominations, and for the abominations that are committed in the midst of us? it is easy to find a censurer of the sins of the land, but hard to find a true mourner for the sins of the land. . we swear "that we will endeavour to go before one another in the example of a real reformation." but who makes conscience of this part of the oath? what sin hast thou left, or in what one thing hast thou reformed since thou didst take this covenant? we read, "that they entered into a covenant to put away their wives and children by them," which was a very difficult and hard duty, and yet they did it. but what bosom-sin, what beloved sin, as dear to thee as thy dear wife and children, hast thou left for god's sake, since thou tookest this oath? i read, that the people took an oath to make restitution, which was a costly duty, and yet they performed it. but alas! where is the man that hath made restitution of his ill-gotten goods since he took this covenant? i read, that king asa deposed his mother maachah, her even, from being queen, after he had entered into covenant: and that the people, after they had sworn a covenant, brake in pieces all the altars of baal thoroughly. but where is this thorough reformation. we say, we fight for a reformation, but i fear lest in a little time, we fight away our reformation. or, if we fight it not away, yet we should dispute it away. for all our religion is turned into questions, in so much that there are some that call all religion into question, and in a little while will lose all religion in the crowd of questions. there was a time not many years ago, when god did bless our ministry in the city, to the conversion of many people unto god; but now there are many that study more to gain parties to themselves, than to gain souls to god. the great work of conversion is little thought on, and never so few, if any at all, converted as in these days wherein we talk so much of reformation. and is this to keep covenant with god? . we swear "to endeavour to amend our lives, and reform not only ourselves, but also those that are under our charge." but where is that family reformation? indeed i read of jacob that when he went to perform his vow and covenant, he first reformed his family. and that joshua resolved, and performed it, "for himself and his family to serve the lord." and so did josiah. and oh! that i could add, and so do we. but the wickedness committed in our families proclaims the contrary to all the world. what noblemen, what aldermen, what merchants, families, are more reformed since the covenant than before? we speak and contend much for a church-reformation, but how can there be a church-reformation, unless there be a family-reformation? what though the church-worship be pure, yet if the worshippers be impure, god will not accept of the worship? and if families be not reformed, how will your worshippers be pure? . we swear to endeavour "to bring the churches of god in the three kingdoms to the nearest uniformity in religion confession of faith, form of church government, directory for worship, and catechising." but are there not some that write against an uniformity in religion, and call it an idol? are there not many that walk professedly contrary to this clause of the covenant? there are three texts of scripture that people keep quite the contrary way. the first is, "take no thought what ye shall eat; take no thought for to-morrow." and most people take thought for nothing else. the second is, "seek ye first the kingdom of god and his righteousness;" and most people seek this last of all. the third text is, "labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for the meat that endureth for ever;" and most people labour not for the meat that endureth for ever, but for the meat that perisheth. as these three texts are kept, so do many people keep this part of the oath; for there were never more divisions and differences in the church, never more deformity, and pleading against uniformity, than now there is. . we swear "to endeavour the extirpation of popery, prelacy, superstition, heresy, and schism." and yet, notwithstanding, there are some that have taken the oath that contend earnestly for a toleration of all religions. . we swear "against a detestable indifferency and neutrality in this cause, which so much concerneth the glory of god." and yet how many are there amongst us like unto gallio, that care not what becomes of the cause of god, so they may have peace and quiet? that will not be the backwardest of all, and yet will be sure not to be too forward; for fear lest, if the times turn, they should be noted amongst the chief of the faction? that are very indifferent which side prevail, so they may have their trading again? that say as the politicians say, that they would be careful not to come too near the heels of religion, lest it should dash out their brains: and as the king of arragon told beza, that he would wade no further into the sea of religion, than he could safely return to shore. in all these six particulars, let us seriously search and try our hearts, whether we be not among the number of those that make the times perilous. the third use is for humiliation. let the consideration of our covenant-breaking be a heart-breaking consideration to every one of us this day: let this be a mighty and powerful argument to humble us upon this day of humiliation. there are five considerations that are exceedingly soul-humbling, if god bless them to us. . the consideration of the many commandments of god, that we have often and often broken. . the consideration of the breaking of jesus christ for our sins, how he was rent and torn for our iniquities. . the consideration of the breaking of the bread, and pouring out of the wine in the sacrament, which is a heart-breaking motive and help. . the broken condition that the kingdoms of england, scotland, ireland, and germany, are in at this time. . the many vows and covenants that we have broken; our sacrament-covenants, our fasting-covenants, our sick-bed covenants; and especially the consideration of our often breaking our national covenant, which you come this day to renew. this is a sin in folio, a sin of a high nature: and if ever god awaken our conscience in this life, a sin that will lie like a heavy _incubus_ upon it. a greater sin than to sin against a commandment, or against an ordinance. a sin not only of disobedience, but of perjury; a sin of injustice, of spiritual adultery, a sin of sacrilege, a sin of great unkindness, a sin that not only makes us disobedient, but dishonest; for we account him a dishonest man, that keeps not his word. a sin that not only every good christian, but every good heathen doth abhor; a sin that not only brings damnation upon us, but casteth such an horrible disgrace and reproach upon god, that it cannot stand with god's honour not to be avenged of a covenant-breaker. tertullian saith, "that when a christian forsakes his covenant, and the colours of christ, and turns to serve as the devil's soldier, he puts an unspeakable discredit upon god and christ." for it is as much as if he should say, "i like the service of the devil better than the service of god." and it is just as if a soldier that hath waged war under a captain, and afterwards forsakes him, and turns to another; and after that, leaves this other captain, and turns to his former captain. this is to prefer the first captain before the second. this makes god complain, "what iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me?" and, "hath any nation changed their god, which yet are no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit." basil brings in the devil insulting over christ, and saying, "i never created nor redeemed these men, and yet they have obeyed me and contemned thee, o christ, even after they have covenanted to be thine." and then he adds, "i esteem this honouring of the devil over jesus christ at the great day, to be more grievous to a true saint than all the torments in hell." a saying worthy to be written in letters of gold. seeing then that covenant-breaking is so great an abomination, the lord give us hearts to be humbled for this great abomination this day. and this will be a notable preparation to fit you for the renewing of your covenant. for we read, that nehemiah first called his people to fast before he drew them unto a covenant: according to which pattern, you are here met to pray and humble your souls for your former covenant-breaking; and then to bind yourselves anew unto the lord our god. as wax, when it is melted, will receive the impression of a seal, which it will not do before: so will your hearts, when melted into godly sorrow for our sins, receive the seal of god abidingly upon them which they will not do when hardened in sin. is every man that sins against the covenant to be accounted a covenant-breaker, and a perjured sacrilegious person? by no means. for, as every failing of a wife doth not break covenant between her and her husband, but she is to be accounted a wife, till she, by committing adultery, break the covenant: so, every miscarriage against the covenant of grace, or against this national covenant doth not denominate us, in a gospel account, covenant-breakers: but then god accounts us, according to his gospel, to break covenant when we do not only sin, but commit sin against the covenant; when we do not only sin out of weakness, but out of wickedness; when we do not only fail, but fall into sin; when we forsake and renounce the covenant; when we deal treacherously in the covenant, and enter into league and covenant with those sins which we have sworn against; when we walk into anti-covenant paths, and willingly do contrary to what we swear; then are we perjured, and unjust, and sacrilegious, and guilty of all those things formerly mentioned. the fourth use presents unto you a divine, and therefore a sure project to make the times happy; and that is, let all covenant-takers labour to be covenant-keepers. it hath pleased god, to put it in your hearts to renew your covenant, the same god enabled you to keep covenant. it is said, "the king made a covenant before the lord. and he caused all that were present in jerusalem and benjamin to stand to it. and the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the lord. and all the people stood to the covenant." this is your duty, not only to take the covenant, but to stand to the covenant; and to stand to it maugre all opposition to the contrary, as we read, "and they entered into a covenant to seek the lord god of their fathers. that whosoever would not seek the lord god of israel, should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman." for it is not the taking, but the keeping of the covenant, that will make you happy. god is styled, "a god keeping covenant." o that this might be the honour of this city! that we may say of it, london is a city keeping covenant with god. great and many are the blessings entailed upon covenant-keepers. "now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me, above all people: for all the earth is mine; and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." "all the paths of the lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant." there are three covenants, i shall persuade you in a special manner to stand to. . the covenant you made with god in baptism. a christian (saith chrysostom) should never step out of doors, or lie down in his bed, or go into his closet, but he should remember the time when he did renounce the devil and all his works. oh, let us not forget that which we ought always to remember! let us remember to keep that covenant, as we ever desire god should remember us in mercy at the great day. . the covenant we make with god in our afflictions. famous is that passage of pliny in one of his epistles, to one that desired rules from him how to order his life aright; i will (saith he) give you one rule, which shall be instead of a thousand: that we should persevere to be such, when we are well, as we promise to be when we are sick. a sentence never to be forgotten: the lord help us to live accordingly. . the covenant which you are to take this day. the happiness or misery of england doth much depend upon the keeping or breaking of this covenant. if england keep it, england by keeping covenant shall stand sure. if england break it, god will break england in pieces. if england slight it, god will slight england. if england forsake it, god will forsake england, and this shall be written upon the tomb of perishing england, "here lieth a nation that hath broken the covenant of their god." remember what you have heard this day, that it is the brand of a reprobate to be a covenant-breaker, and it is the part of a fool to vow and not to pay his vows. and god hath no delight in the sacrifice of fools. "better not to vow, than to vow and not to pay." it is such a high profanation of god's name, as that god cannot hold a covenant-breaker guiltless; it is perjury, injustice, spiritual adultery, sacrilege. and the very lifting up of our hands this day, (if you do not set heart and hand on work to keep covenant) will be a sufficient witness against you at the great day. we read "that jacob and laban entered in covenant, and took a heap of stones, and they called the place mizpah, the lord watch between me and thee," and made them a witness, and said "this heap is a witness." "the god of abraham judge betwixt us." such is your condition this day. you enter into covenant to become the lord's, and to be valiant for his truth, and against his enemies, and the very stones of this church shall be witness against you, if you break covenant; the name of this place may lie called mizpah. the lord will watch over you for good, if you keep it, and for evil if you break it; and all the curses contained in the book of the covenant shall light upon a willing covenant-breaker. the lord fasten these meditations and soul-awakening considerations upon your hearts. the lord give you grace to keep close to the covenant and a good conscience, which are both lost by breaking covenant. there are four things i shall persuade you unto in pursuance of your covenant. . to be humbled for your own sins, and for the sins of the kingdom; and more especially, because we have not, as we ought, valued the inestimable benefit of the gospel, that we have not laboured to receive christ in our hearts, nor to walk worthy of him in our lives, which are the causes of other sins and transgressions so much abounding amongst us. gospel sins are greater than legal sins, and will bring gospel curses, which are greater than legal curses. and therefore let us be humbled according to our covenant, for all our gospel abominations. . you must be ambitious to go before one another in an example of real reformation. you must swear vainly no more, be drunk no more, break the sabbath no more. you must remember what david says. "but unto the wicked god saith, what hast thou to do to take my covenant in thy mouth? seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee." to sin willingly, after we have sworn not to sin, is not only to sin against a commandment, but to sin against an oath, which is a double iniquity, and will procure a double damnation. and he that takes a covenant to reform, and yet continueth unreformed, his covenant will be unto him as the bitter water of jealousy was to the woman guilty of adultery, which made her belly to swell, and thigh to rot. . you must be careful to reform your families, according to your covenant, and the example of jacob and joshua, and the godly kings fore-mentioned. . you must endeavour, according to your places and callings, to bring the churches of god in the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction, and uniformity in religion. o blessed unity! how comes it to pass, that thou art so much slighted and contemned? was not unity one of the chief parts of christ's prayer unto his father, when he was here upon the earth? is not unity amongst christians one of the strongest arguments to persuade the world to believe in christ? is it not the chief desire of the holy apostles, that we "should all speak the same things, and that there should be no division amongst us?" is not unity the happiness of heaven? is it not the happiness of a city, to be at unity with itself? "is it not a good and pleasant thing for brethren to dwell together in unity?" how comes it to pass then that this part of the covenant is so much forgotten? the lord mind you of it this day; and the lord make this great and famous city, a city of holiness, and a city of unity within itself: for if unity be destroyed, purity will quickly also be destroyed. the church of god is _una_, as well as _sancta_; it is but one church, as well as it is a holy church. and "jesus christ gave some to be apostles, etc. till we all come to the unity of the faith." the government of christ is appointed for keeping the church in unity, as well as purity. these things which god hath joined together, let no man put asunder. that government which doth not promote unity as well as purity, is not the government of christ. oh, the misery of the kingdom where church divisions are nourished and fomented! a kingdom or church against itself, cannot stand. would it not be a sad thing, to see twelve in a family, and one of them a presbyterian, another an independent, another a brownist, another an antimonian, another an anabaptist, another a familist, another for prelatical government, another a seeker, another a papist, and the tenth, it may be, an atheist, and the eleventh a jew, and the twelfth a turk? the lord in his due time heal our divisions, and make you his choice of instruments, according to your places, that the lord may be one, and his name one in the three kingdoms. _quest._ but some will say, "how shall i do to get up my heart to this high pitch, that i may be a covenant-keeper?" i will propound these three helps. . labour to be always mindful of your covenant, according to that text, "god is always mindful of his covenant." it was the great sin of the people of israel, that they were unmindful of the covenant. they first forgot the covenant, and afterwards did quickly forsake it. he that forgets the covenant, must needs be a covenant-breaker. let us therefore remember it, and carry it about us as _quotidianum argumentum_, and _quotidianum munimentum_. . let us make the covenant a daily argument against all sin and iniquity; and when we are tempted to any sin, let us say, "i have sworn to forsake my old iniquity, and, if i commit this sin, i am not only a commandment-breaker, but an oath-breaker. i am perjured. i have sworn to reform my family, and therefore i will not suffer a wicked person to tarry in my family; i have sworn against neutrality and indifferency, and therefore i will be zealous in god's cause." . let us make this covenant a daily muniment and armour of defence, to beat back all the fiery darts of the devil: when any one tempts thee by promise of preferment to do contrary to thy covenant, or threatens to ruin thee for the hearty pursuing of thy covenant, here is a ready answer, "i am sworn to do what i do, and, if i do otherwise, i am a perjured wretch." this is a wall of brass, to resist any dart that shall be shot against thee for well-doing, according to thy covenant. famous is the story of hannibal, which he told king antiochus, when he required aid of him against the romans, "when i was nine years old (saith he) my father carried me to the altar, and made me take an oath to be an irreconcilable foe to the romans. in pursuance of this oath, i have waged war against them thirty-six years. to keep this oath, i have left my country, and am come to seek aid at your hands, which, if you deny, i will travel all over the world, to find out some enemies to the roman state." if an oath did so mightily operate in hannibal; let the oath you are to take this day work as powerfully upon you; and make your oath an argument to oppose personal-sins and family sins, and to oppose heresy, schism, and all profaneness; and to endeavour to bring the church of god in the three kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and uniformity. and let this oath be armour-proof against all temptations to the contrary. and know this one thing, that if the covenant be not a daily argument and muniment against sin, it will become, upon your breaking of it, a daily witness against you, as the book of the law was, and an "everlasting shame and reproach" unto you and yours. . let us have high thoughts of the covenant. actions and affections follow our apprehensions. if thy judgment be belepered with a corrupt opinion about the covenant, thy affections and actions will quickly be belepered also: and therefore you ought to endeavour, according to your places, that nothing be spoken or written that may tend to the prejudice of the covenant. . you must take heed of the cursed sin of self-love, which is placed in the forefront, as the cause of all the catalogue of sins here named; "because men are lovers of themselves, therefore they are covetous," etc., and therefore they are covenant-breakers. a self-seeker cannot but be a covenant-breaker: this is a sin you must hate as the very gates of hell. and this is the second sin i promised in the beginning of my sermon to speak on: but the time, and your other occasions will not permit. there is a natural self-love, and a divine self-love, and a sinful self-love. this sinful self-love is, when we make ourselves the last end of all our actions, when we so love ourselves, as to love no man but ourselves, according to the proverb, "every man for himself." when we pretend god and his glory, and the common good, but intend ourselves, and our own private gain and interest; when we serve god upon politic designs. where this sinful self-love dwells, there dwells no love to god, no love to thy brother, no love to church or state. this sinful self-love is the caterpillar that destroyeth church and commonwealth. it is from this sinful self-love that the public affairs drive on so heavily, and that church-government is not settled, and that our covenant is so much neglected. of this sin, i cannot now speak; but, when god shall offer opportunity, i shall endeavour to uncase it you. in the meantime, the lord give you grace to hate it as hell itself. the national covenants. [illustration: fac-simile of old title page of following ceremony.] the form and order of the coronation of charles ii. king of _scotland_, _england_, _france_, and _ireland_. as it was acted and done at _scoon_, the first day of _january_, . by the reverend mr. robert douglas, minister at _edinburgh_, and one of the members of the _westminster_ assembly of _divines_. chron. xxix. . _then_ solomon _sat on the throne of the lord as king, in stead of_ david _his father, and prospered, and all_ israel _obeyed him._ prov. xx. . _a king that sitteth in the throne of judgment, scattereth away all evil with his eyes._ prov. xxv. . _take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness._ glasgow printed for george paton, and are to be sold at his shop in _linlithgow_, and other booksellers in town and country. . the national covenants coronation sermon at scone.[ ] _by robert douglas._ and he brought forth the king's son, and put the crown upon him; and gave him the testimony, and they made him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands, and said, god save the king. and jehoiada made a covenant between the lord, and the king, and the people, that they should he the lord's people; between the king also, and the people.--_ kings_ xi, , . in this text of scripture you have the solemn enthronizing of joash, a young king, and that in a very troublesome time; for athaliah, the mother of ahaziah, had cruelly murdered the royal seed, and usurped the kingdom by the space of six years. only this young prince was preserved by jehosheba, the sister of ahaziah, and wife to jehoiada, the high priest, being hid with her in the house of the lord, all that time. good interpreters do conjecture, though joash be called the son of ahaziah, that he was not his son by nature, but by succession to the crown. they say, that the race of solomon ceased here, and the kingdom came to the posterity of nathan, the son of david, because, 'tis said, "the house of ahaziah had no power to keep still the kingdom;" which they conceive to be for the want of children in that house, and because of the absurdity and unnaturalness of the fact, that athaliah, the grandmother, should have cut off her son's children. i shall not stand on the matter, only i may say, if they were ahaziah's own children, it was a most unnatural and cruel act for athaliah to cut off her own posterity. for the usurpation, there might have been two motives. _first_, it seemeth when ahaziah went to battle, athaliah was left to govern the kingdom, and, her son ahaziah being slain before his return, she thought the government sweet, and could not part with it, and because the royal seed stood in her way, she cruelly destroyed them, that she might reign with the greater freedom. _secondly_, she was earnest to set up a false worship, even the worship of baal, which she thought could not be so well done, as by cutting off the royal race, and getting the sole power in her hand, that she might do what she pleased. the business you are about this day, is not unlike: you are to invest a young king in the throne, in a very troublesome time, and wicked men have risen up and usurped the kingdom, and put to death the late king most unnaturally. the like motives seemed to have prevailed with them. _first_, these men by falsehood and dissimulation, have gotten power in their hands, which to them is so sweet, that they are unwilling to part with it; and because the king and his seed stood in their way, they have made away the king, and disinherited his children, that the sole power might be in their hand. _secondly_, they have a number of damnable errors, and a false worship to set up, and intend to take away the ordinances of christ, and government of his kirk: all this cannot be done, unless they have the sole power in their hands, and this they cannot have until the king and his posterity be cut off. but i leave this, and come to the present solemnity; there's a prince to be enthroned, good jehoiada will have the crown put upon his head. it may be questioned why they went about this coronation in a time of so great hazard, when athaliah had reigned six years. had it not been better to have defeated athaliah, and then to have crowned the king? two reasons may be rendered why they delay the coronation. ( ) to crown the king was a duty they were bound to. hazard should not make men leave their duty; they did their duty, and left the success to god. ( ) they crowned the young king, to endear the people's affections to their own native prince, and to alienate their hearts from her that had usurped the kingdom. if they had delayed (the king being known to be preserved), it might have brought on not only compliance with her, but also subjection to her government, by resting in it, and being content to lay aside the righteous heir of the crown. the same is observed in our case; and many wonder that you should crown the king in a dangerous time, when the usurpers have such power in the land. the same reasons may serve to answer for your doing. ( ) it is our necessary duty to crown the king upon all hazards, and to leave the success to god. ( ) it appeareth now it hath been too long delayed. delay is dangerous, because of the compliance of some, and treachery of others. if it shall be delayed longer, it is to be feared that the most part shall sit down under the shadow of the bramble, the destroying usurpers. i come to the particular handling of the present text: and, to speak from it to the present time, i have read the twelfth and seventeenth verses, because of these two which meet together in the crowning of a king, and his renewing the covenant. amongst many particulars which may be handled from this text, i shall confine myself to these five, . the crown, "he put the crown upon his head." . the testimony, "he gave him the testimony." . the anointing, "they anointed him." these three are in the twelfth verse. as for that which is spoken of the people's joy, we shall give it a touch when we come to the people's duty. . the covenant between god and king and the people; "jehoiada made a covenant between god and the king and the people, that they should be the lord's people." . the covenant between the king and the people; "between the king also and the people." i. the first thing is the crown is put upon his head. a crown is the most excellent badge of royal majesty. to discourse on crowns in a state way, i shall leave unto statesmen, and lay only these three before you of the crown. i. in putting on of the crown, it should be well fastened, for kings' crowns are oftentimes tottering, and this is a time wherein they totter. there are two things which make kings' crowns to totter, great sins, and great commotions and troubles; take heed of both. . there are many sins upon our king and his family: sin will make the surest crown that ever men set on to totter. the sins of former kings have made this a tottering crown. i shall not insist here, seeing there hath been a solemn day of humiliation thro' the land on thursday last, for the sins of the royal family; i wish the lord may bless it; and desire the king may be truly humbled for his own sins, and the sins of his father's house, which have been great; beware of putting on these sins with the crown; for if you put them on, all the well-wishers to a king in the three kingdoms will not be able to hold on the crown, and keep it from tottering, yea, from falling. lord, take away the controversy with the royal family, that the crown may be fastened sure upon the king's head, without falling or tottering. . troubles and commotions in a kingdom make crowns to totter. a crown at the best, and in the most calm times, is full of troubles; which, if it were well weighed by men, there would not be such hunting after crowns. i read of a great man who, considering the trouble and care that accompanied the crown, said, "he would not take it up at his foot, though he might have it for taking." now, if a crown at the best be so full of troubles, what shall one think of a crown at the worst, when there are so great commotions, wherein the crown is directly aimed at? surely it must be a tottering crown at the best, especially when former sins have brought on these troubles. as the remedy of the former is true humiliation, and turning unto god; so the remedy of the latter, speaking of david's crown, "thou settest a crown of pure gold upon his head." god set on david's crown, and therefore it was settled, notwithstanding of many troubles. men may set on crowns, and they may throw them off again; but when god setteth them on, they will be fast. enemies have touched the crown of our king, and cast it off in the other kingdom, and have made it totter in this kingdom. both the king who is to be crowned, and you who are to crown him, should deal earnestly with god, to set the crown on the king's head, and to keep it on against all the commotions of this cruel generation. ii. a king should esteem more of the people he reigneth over, than of his crown. kings used to be so taken up with their crowns, that they despise their people. i would have a king following christ the king of his people, who saith of them, "thou shalt be a crown of glory in the hand of the lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy god." christ accounteth his people, his crown and diadem; so should a king esteem the people of the lord, over whom he ruleth, to be his crown and diadem. take away the people, and a crown is but an empty symbol. iii. a king, when he getteth the crown on his head, should think, at the best it is but a fading crown. all the crowns of kings are but fading crowns: therefore they should have an eye upon that "crown of glory that fadeth not away." and upon a "kingdom that cannot be shaken." that crown and kingdom belongeth not to kings as kings, but unto believers; and a believing king hath this comfort, that when "he hath endured a while, and been tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the lord hath promised to them that love him." ii. the second thing in this solemnity is the testimony. by this is meant the law of god, so called, because it testifieth of the mind and will of god. it was commanded, "when the king shall sit upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write him a copy of this law in a book, and it shall be with him, that he may read therein all the days of his life." the king should have the testimony for these three uses. . for his information in the ways of god. this use of the king's having "the book of the law" is expressed, "that he may learn to fear the lord his god." the reading of other books may do a king good for government, but no book will teach him the way to salvation, but the book of god. christ biddeth "search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they testify of me." he is a blessed man, "who meditateth in the law of the lord day and night." king david was well acquainted herewith. kings should be well exercised in scripture. it is reported of alphonsus, king of arragon, that he read the bible fourteen times with glosses thereupon. i recommend to the king to take some hours for reading the holy scriptures; it will be a good means to make him acquainted with god's mind, and with christ as saviour. . for his direction in government. kings read books that may teach them to govern well, but all the books a king can read will not make him govern to please god, as this book. i know nothing that is good in government, but a king may learn it out of the book of god. for this cause, joshua is commanded "that the book of the law shall not depart out of his mouth;" and he is commanded "to do according to all that is written therein." he should not only do himself that which is written in it, but do, and govern his people according to all that is written in it. king david knew this use of the testimony, who said, "thy testimonies are my delight, and my counsellors." the best counsels that ever a king getteth are in the book of god: yea, the testimonies are the best and surest counsellors; because altho' a king's counsellors be never so wise and trusty, yet they are not so free with a king as they ought: but the scriptures tell kings very freely, both their sins and their duty. . for preservation and custody. the king is _custos utriusque tabulæ_, the keeper of both tables. not that he should take upon him the power, either to dispense the word of god, or to dispense with it: but that he should preserve the word of god and true religion, according to the word of god, pure, entire, and uncorrupted, within his dominions, and transmit them so to posterity; and also be careful to see his subjects observe both tables, and to punish the transgressors of the same. iii. the third thing in this solemnity is the "anointing of the king." the anointing of kings was not absolutely necessary under the old testament, for we read not that all the kings of judah and israel were anointed. the hebrews observe that anointing of kings was used in three cases. . when the first of a family was made king, as saul, david. . when there was a question for the crown, as in case of solomon and adonijah. . when there was an interruption of the lawful succession by usurpation as in the case of joash. there is an interruption, by the usurpation of athaliah, therefore he is anointed. if this observation hold, as it is probable, then it was not absolutely necessary under the old testament; and therefore far less under the new. because it may be said that in our case there is an interruption by usurpation, let it be considered that the anointing under the old testament was typical; although all kings were not types of christ, yet the anointing of kings, priests and prophets, was typical of christ, and his offices; but, christ being now come, all those ceremonies cease: and, therefore, the anointing of kings ought not to be used in the new testament. if it be said, anointing of kings hath been in use amongst christians, not only papist but protestant, as in the kingdom of england, and our late king was anointed with oil, it may be replied, they who used it under the new testament took it from the jews without warrant. it was most in use with the bishops of rome, who, to keep kings and emperors subject to themselves did swear them to the pope when they were anointed, (and yet the jewish priests did never swear kings to themselves.) as for england, although the pope was cast off, yet the subjection of kings to bishops was still retained, for they anointed the king and swore him to the maintenance of their prelatical dignity. they are here who were witnesses at the coronation of the late king; the bishops behoved to perform that rite; and the king behoved to be sworn to them. but now by the blessing of god, popery and prelacy are removed: the bishops as limbs of antichrist are put to the door; let the anointing of kings with oil go to the door with them, and let them never come in again. the anointing with material oil maketh not a king the anointed of the lord, for he is so without it; he is the anointed of the lord who, by divine ordinance and appointment is a king. god called cyrus his anointed; yet we read not that he was anointed with oil. kings are anointed of the lord, because, by the ordinance of the lord, their authority is sacred and inviolable. it is enough for us to have the thing, tho' we want the ceremony, which being laid aside, i will give some observations of the thing. . a king, being the lord's anointed, should be thinking upon a better unction, even that spiritual unction wherewith believers are anointed. "the anointing ye have received of him abideth in you." and "he that hath anointed us, is god, who hath also sealed us." this anointing is not proper to kings, but common to believers: few kings are so anointed. a king should strive to be a good christian, and then a good king: the anointing with grace is better than the anointing with oil. it is of more worth for a king to be the anointed of the lord with grace, than to be the greatest monarch of the world without it. . this anointing may put a king in mind of the gifts, wherewith kings should be endowed, for discharge of their royal calling. for anointing did signify the gifts of office. it is said of saul, when he was anointed king; "god gave him another heart." and "the spirit of god came upon him." it is meant of a heart for his calling, and a spirit of ability for government. it should be our desire this day, that our king may have a spirit for his calling; as the spirit of wisdom, fortitude, justice and other princely endowments. . this anointing may put subjects in mind of the sacred dues of the authority of a king. he should be respected as the lord's anointed. there are diverse sorts of persons that are enemies to the authority of kings; as . anabaptists, who deny there should be kings in the new testament: they would have no kings nor civil magistrates. . the late photinians, who speak respectfully of kings and magistrates, but they take away from them their power, and the exercise of it in the administration of justice. . those who rise against kings in open rebellion, as absalom and sheba, who said, "what have we to do with david, the son of jesse? to your tents, o israel." . they who do not rebel openly, yet they despise a king in their heart, like these sons of belial, who said of saul, after he was anointed king, "shall this man save us? and they despised him, and brought him no presents." all these meet in our present age. . anabaptists, who are against the being of kings, are very rife. you may find, to our great grief, a great number of them in that army, that hath unjustly invaded the land, who have trampled upon the authority of kings. . these are also of the second sort, who are secretly photinians in this point, they allow of kings in profession; but they are against the exercise of their power in the administration of justice. . a third sort are in open rebellion, even all that generation which are risen up not only against the person of a king, but against kingly government. . there is a fourth, who profess they acknowledge a king; but despise him in their heart, saying "shall this man save us?" i wish all had david's tenderness, whose heart did smite him, when he did but cut off the lap of saul's garment, that we may be far from cutting off a lap of the just power and greatness which god hath allowed to the king, and we have bound ourselves by covenant not to diminish. i have gone through the three particulars contained in verse . i come to the other two, in verse , which appertain also to this day's work; for our king is not only to be crowned, but to renew a covenant with god, and his people; and to make a covenant with the people. answerable hereto, there is a twofold covenant in the words, one between god, and the king, and the people: god being the one party, the king and the people, the other; another between the king and the people, the king being the one party, and the people the other. the covenant with god is the fourth particular propounded, to be spoken of. the sum of this covenant, ye may find in josiah's renewing the covenant, "to walk after the lord, and keep his commandments and testimonies, with all the heart, and to perform the words of the covenant." the renewing of the covenant was after a great defection from god, and the setting up of a false worship. the king and the people of god bound themselves before the lord, to set up the true worship, and to abolish the false. scotland hath a preference in this before other nations. in time of defection, they have renewed a covenant with god, to reform all; and because the king, after a great defection in the families, is to renew the covenant, i shall mention some particulars from the league and covenant. . we are bound to maintain the true reformed religion, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, established in this kingdom, and to endeavour the reformation of religion in the other two kingdoms, according to the word of god, and the example of the best reformed kirks. by this article, the king is obliged, not only to maintain religion as it was established in scotland, but also to endeavour the reformation of religion in his other kingdoms. the king would consider well, when it shall please god, to restore him to his government there, that he is bound to endeavour the establishment of the work of reformation there, as well as to maintain it here. . according to the second article, the king is bound without respect of persons, to extirpate popery, prelacy, superstition, heresy, schism, and profaneness, and whatsoever shall be found contrary to sound doctrine, and the power of godliness. and therefore popery is not to be suffered in the royal family, nor within his dominions; prelacy once plucked up by the root, is not to be permitted to take root again; all heresy and error whatsoever must be opposed by him, to the uttermost of his power; and by the covenant, the king must be far from toleration of any false religion within his dominions. . as the people are bound to maintain the king's person and authority, in the maintenance of the true religion, and liberties of the kingdom: so the king is bound with them, to maintain the rights and privileges of the parliament and the liberties of the subjects, according to the third article. . we are bound to discover, and to bring unto condign punishment, all such as have been, or shall be, incendiaries, malignants, or evil instruments, in hindering the reformation of religion; dividing the king from the people, or one of the kingdoms from another, or making any faction, or parties amongst the people. hereby the king is bound to have an eye upon such, and neither allow of them nor comply with them; but to concur according to his power, to have them censured and punished, as is expressed in the fourth article. i shall sum up all in this, that a king, in entering into covenant with god, should do as kings did of old, when they entered in covenant; they and their people went on in the work of reformation, as appeareth here. "and all the people of the land went into the house of baal, and brake it down," &c. and godly josiah, when he entered in covenant, made a thorough reformation. there is a fourfold reformation in scripture, and contained in the league and covenant. . a personal reformation. . a family reformation. . a reformation of judicatories. . a reformation of the whole land. kings have had their hand in all the four; and therefore i recommend them to our king. . a personal reformation. a king should reform his own life, that he may be a pattern of godliness to others; and to this he is tied by the covenant. the godly reformers of judah were pious and religious men. a king should not follow machiavelli's counsel, who requireth not that a prince should be truly religious, but saith, "that a shadow of it, and external simulation, are sufficient." a devilish counsel; and it is just with god to bring a king to the shadow of a kingdom, who hath but the shadow of religion. we know that dissembling kings have been punished of god; and let our king know that no king but a religious king, can please god. david is highly commended for godliness; hezekiah a man eminent for piety; josiah, a young king, commended for the tenderness of his heart, when he heard the law of the lord read; he was much troubled before the lord, when he heard the judgments threatened against his father's house, and his people. it is earnestly wished that our king's heart may be tender and truly humbled before the lord, for the sins of his father's house, and of the land; and for the many evils that are upon that family, and upon the kingdom. . a family reformation. the king should reform his family, after the example of godly kings. asa, when he entered in covenant, spared not his mother's idolatry. the house of our king hath been much defiled by idolatry. the king is now in covenant, and to renew the covenant, let the royal family be reformed; and, that it may be a religious family, wherein god will have pleasure, let it be purged, not only of idolatry, but of profanity and looseness, which hath abounded in it. much hath been spoken of this matter; but little hath been done in it. let the king and others, who have charge in that family, think it lieth upon them, as a duty, to purge it. and if ye would have a family well purged, and constitute, take david for a pattern, in the purgation and constitution of his, "the froward heart, wicked persons, and slanderers, he will have far from him: but his eyes are upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with him." if there be a man better than another in the land, he should be for the king, and his family: ye may extend his reformation to the court. a profane court is dangerous for a king. it hath been observed as a provoking sin in england, which hath drawn down judgment upon king and court, as appeareth this day. it is to be wished that such were in the court, as david speaketh of in that psalm. let the king see to it, and resolve with david, "that he who worketh deceit, shall not dwell within his house: and he who telleth lies, shall not tarry in his sight." . reformation in judicatories. it should be carefully seen to, that judicatories be reformed; and that men, fearing god and hating covetousness, may be placed in them. a king in covenant, should do as jehoshaphat did. "he set judges in the land, and said, take heed what ye do; ye judge not for men, but for the lord, who is with you in judgment: wherefore now, let the fear of the lord be before you." . the reformation of the whole land, the king's eye should be upon it. "jehoshaphat went out through the people, from beersheba to mount ephraim; and brought them back to the lord god of their fathers." our land hath great need of reformation; for there is a part of it that hath scarce ever yet found the benefit of reformation, they are lying without the gospel. it will be a good work for a covenanted king, to have a care that the gospel may be preached through the whole land. care also should be taken, that they who have the gospel may live suitably thereto. if a king would be a thorough reformer, he must be reformed himself, otherwise he will never lay reformation to heart. to make a king a good reformer, i wish him these qualifications, according to the truth and in sincerity, wherewith they report trajan the emperor to have been endued; he was, . devout at home. courageous in war. . just in his judicatures. . prudent in all his affairs. true piety, fortitude, justice and prudence, are notable qualifications in a prince who would reform a kingdom, and reform well. i come now to the fifth and last particular; and that is the covenant made between the king and the people: when a king is crowned and received by the people, there is a covenant or mutual contract between him and them, containing conditions, mutually to be observed: time will not suffer to insist upon many particulars. i shall only lay before you these three particulars. . it is clear from this covenant, that a king hath not absolute power to do what he pleaseth: he is tied to conditions by virtue of a covenant. . it is clear from this covenant, that a people are bound to obey their king in the lord. . i shall present the king with some directions for the right government of the people who are bound to obey. . it is clear, that the king's power is not absolute, as kings and flattering courtiers apprehend; a king's power is a limited power by this covenant; and there is a threefold limitation of the king's power. . in regard of subordination. there is power above his, even god's power, whom he is obliged to obey; and to whom he must give an account of his administration, (and yesterday ye heard that text, "by me kings reign.") kings have not only their crowns from god, but they must reign according to his will. he is called the "minister of god;" he is but god's servant. i need not stay upon this; kings and all others will acknowledge this limitation. . in regard of laws, a king is sworn at his coronation, to rule according to the standing received laws of the kingdom. the laws he is sworn to, limit him that he cannot do against them, without a sinful breach of this covenant between the king and the people. . in regard of government, the total government is not upon a king. he hath counsellors as a parliament or estates in the land, who share in the burden of government. no king should have the sole government: it was never the mind of those who received a king to rule them, to lay all government upon him, to do what he pleaseth, without controlment. there is no man able alone to govern all. the kingdom should not lay that upon one man, who may easily miscarry. the estates of the land are bound in this contract to bear the burden with him. these men who have flattered kings to take unto themselves an absolute power, to do what they please, have wronged kings and kingdoms. it had been good that kings, of late, had carried themselves so, as this question of the king's power might never have come in debate; for they have been great losers thereby. kings are very desirous to have things spoken and written, to hold up their arbitrary and unlimited power; but that way doth exceedingly wrong them. there is one, a learned man, i confess, who hath written a book for the maintenance of the absolute power of kings, called _defensio regis_, whereby he hath wronged himself in his reputation, and the king in his government. as for the fact, in taking away the life of the late king, (whatever was god's justice in it) i do agree with him to condemn it, as a most unjust and horrid act, upon their part who did it: but when he cometh to speak of the power of kings, in giving unto them an absolute and unlimited power, urging the damnable maxim, _quod libet licet_, he will have a king to do what he pleaseth, _impune_, and without controlment. in this, i cannot but dissent from him. in regard of subordination some say, that a king is accountable to none but god. do what he will, let god take order with it; this leadeth kings to atheism, let them do what they please, and to take god in their own hand: in regard of laws, they teach nothing to kings but tyranny: and in regard of government, they teach a king to take an arbitrary power to himself, to do what he pleaseth without controlment. how dangerous this hath been to kings, is clear by sad experience. abuse of power and arbitrary government, hath been one of god's great controversies with our king's predecessors. god in his justice, because power hath been abused, hath thrown it out of their hands: and i may confidently say that god's controversy with the kings of the earth is for their arbitrary and tyrannical government. it is good for our king to learn to be wise in time, and know that he receiveth this day a power to govern, but a power limited by contract; and these conditions he is bound by oath to stand to. kings are deceived who think that the people are ordained for the king; and not the king for the people; the scripture sheweth the contrary. the king is the "minister of god for the people's good." god will not have a king, in an arbitrary way, to encroach upon the possessions of subjects, "a portion is appointed for the prince." and it is said, "my princes shall no more oppress my people; and the rest of the land, shall they give unto the house of israel, according to their tribes." the king hath his distinct possessions and revenues from the people; he must not oppress and do what he pleaseth, there must be no tyranny upon the throne. i desire not to speak much upon this subject. men have been very tender in meddling with the power of kings; yet, seeing these days have brought forth debates concerning the power of kings, it will be necessary to be clear in this matter. extremities would be shunned. a king should keep within the bounds of the covenant made with the people, in the exercise of his power; and subjects should keep within the bounds of this covenant, in regulating that power. concerning the last, i shall propound these three to your consideration. . a king, abusing his power to the overthrow of religion, laws and liberties, which are the very fundamentals of this contract and covenant, may be controlled and opposed; and if he set himself to overthrow all these by arms, then they who have power, as the estates of a land, may and ought to resist by arms: because he doth, by that opposition, break the very bonds, and overthroweth all the essentials of this contract and covenant. this may serve to justify the proceedings of this kingdom against the late king, who, in an hostile way, set himself to overthrow religion, parliaments, laws and liberties. . every breach of covenant, wherein a king falleth, after he hath entered into covenant, doth not dissolve the bond of the covenant. neither should subjects lay aside a king for every breach, except the breaches be such as overthrow the fundamentals of religion, and of the covenant with the people. many examples of this may be brought from scripture. i shall give but one. king asa entered solemnly into covenant with god and the people. after that, he falleth in gross transgressions and breaches. he associated himself and entered into league with benhadad, king of syria, an idolater; he imprisoned hanani, the lord's prophet, who reproved him, and threatened judgment against that association, and at that same time he oppressed some of the people: and yet, for all this, they neither laid him aside, nor accounted him an hypocrite. . private persons should be very circumspect about that which they do in relation to the authority of kings. it is very dangerous for private men, to meddle with the power of kings, and the suspending them from the exercise thereof. i do ingenuously confess that i find no example of it. the prophets taught not such doctrine to their people, nor the apostles, nor the reformed kirks. have ever private men, pastors or professors, given in to the estates of a land as their judgment, unto which they resolve to adhere, that a king should be suspended from the exercise of his power? and, if we look upon these godly pastors, who lived in king james's time, of whom one may truly say, more faithful men lived not in these last times: for they spared not to tell the king his faults, to his face: yea, some of them suffered persecution for their honesty and freedom, yet we never read nor have heard, that any of these godly pastors joined with other private men, did ever remonstrate to parliament or estate as their judgment, that the king should be suspended from the exercise of his royal power. ii. it is clear from this covenant, that people should obey their king in the lord: for, as the king is bound by the covenant to make use of his power to their good; so, they are bound to obey him in the lord in the exercise of that power. about the people's duty to the king, take these four observations. . that the obedience of the people is in subordination to god; for the covenant is first with god, and then with the king. if a king command any thing contrary to the will of god--in this case, peter saith, "it is better to obey god, than man." there is a line drawn from god to the people, they are lowest in the line: and have magistrates inferior and supreme above them, and god above all. when the king commandeth the people that which is lawful, and commanded by god, then he should be obeyed; because he standeth in right line under god, who hath put him in his place. but if he command that which is unlawful, and forbidden of god, in that he should not be obeyed to do it; because he is out of his line. that a king is to be obeyed with this subordination, is evident from scripture; take one place for all. at the beginning, ye have both obedience urged to superior powers, as the ordinance of god, and damnation threatened against those who resist the lawful powers. it is said by some, that many ministers in scotland would not have king jesus, but king charles to reign. faithful men are wronged by such speeches. i do not understand these men. for, if they think that a king and jesus are inconsistent, then they will have no king: but i shall be far from entertaining such thoughts of them. if they think the doing a necessary duty for king charles is to prefer his interest to christ's, this is also an error. honest ministers can very well discern between the interest of christ, and of the king. i know no minister that setteth up king charles, with prejudice to christ's interest. there are three sorts of persons who are not to be allowed in relation to the king's interest, . such as have not been content to oppose a king in an evil course, (as they might lawfully do) but contrary to covenant vows and many declarations, have cast off kings and kingly government. these are the sectaries. . these who are so taken up with a king, as they prefer a king's interest to christ's interest; which was the sin of our engagers. . they who will have no duty done to a king, for fear of prejudicing christ's interest. these are to be allowed, who urge duty to a king in subordination to christ. i shall desire that men may be real, when they make mention of christ's interest; for these three mentioned profess and pretend the interest of christ. the sectaries cover their destroying of kings with christ's interest; whereunto, indeed, they have had no respect, being enemies to his kingdom. and experience hath made it undeniable. the engagers alleged they were for christ's interest; but they misplaced it. christ's interest should have gone before, but they drew it after the interest of a king, which evidenced their want of due respect to christ's interest. as for the third, who delay duty for fear of preferring the king's interest to christ's, i shall not take upon me to judge their intentions. i wish they may have charity to those who think they may do duty to a king in subordination to christ, yea, that they ought and should do duty, whatever men's fears be of the prejudice that may follow. if to be against the suspending of the king from the exercise of his power, and to be for the crowning of the king, according to the public faith of the kingdoms, he first performing all that kirk and state required of him in relation to religion, and civil liberties: if this be, i say, to prefer a king to christ, let all men that are unbiassed, be judges in the case. we shall well avow, that we crown a king in subordination to god and his interest, in subordination to christ's, which we judge, not only agreeable to the word of god, but also, that we are bound expressly in the covenant, to maintain the king in the preservation and defence of the true religion, and liberties of the kingdom, and not to diminish his just power and greatness. . that the covenant between god and the king and the people, goeth before the covenant between the king and the people; which sheweth, that a people's entering covenant with god doth not lessen their obedience and allegiance to the king, but increaseth it, and maketh the obedience firmer: because we are in covenant with god, we should the more obey a covenanted king. it is a great error to think, that a covenant diminisheth obedience, it was ever thought accumulative. and indeed true religion layeth strict ties upon men in doing of their duty. "wherefore ye must needs be subject not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake." a necessity to obey is laid upon all. many subjects obey for wrath, but the godly obey for conscience' sake. . that a king covenanted with god should be much respected by his subjects. they should love him. there is an inbred affection in the hearts of the people to their king. in the th verse it is said, that "the people clapped their hands for joy, and said, god save the king." they had no sooner seen their native king installed in his kingdom, but they rejoiced exceedingly, and saluted him with wishes of safety. whatever be men's affections, or respects, this day, to our king, certainly it is a duty lying on us both to pray for, and rejoice in his safety. the very end that god hath in giving us kings maketh this clear. "that we may live under them in godliness and honesty." and therefore, prayers and supplications are to be made for all kings; even for those that are not in covenant; much more for these that are in covenant. ye are receiving this day a crowned covenanted king, pray for saving grace to him, and that god would deliver him and us, out of the hand of these cruel enemies, and bless his government, and cause us to live a quiet and peaceable life under him in all godliness and honesty. . that as the king is solemnly sworn to maintain the right of the subjects against enemies, and is bound to hazard his life, and all that he hath for their defence: so, the people are also bound to maintain his person and authority, and to hazard life, and all that they have, in defending him. i shall not take the question in its full latitude, taking in what a people are bound to in pursuing of a king's right in another nation, which is not our present question. our question is, what a people should do when a kingdom is unjustly invaded by a foreign enemy, who seeketh the overthrow of religion, king and kingdom. surely, if men be tied to any duty to a king and kingdom, they are tied in this case. i have two sorts of men to meet with here, who are deficient in doing this covenanted duty: . these who do not act against the enemy. . these who do act for the enemy. . the first i meet with, are they who act not, but lie by, to behold what will become of all: three sorts of men act not for the defence of an invaded kingdom; . those who withdraw themselves from public councils, as from parliament or committee of estates: this withdrawing is not to act. . these act not who, upon an apprehension of the desperate state of things, do think that all is in such a condition, by the prevailing of the enemy, that there is no remedy: and therefore that it is best to sit still; and see how things go. they who do not act upon scruple of conscience. i shall ever respect tenderness of conscience; and i wish there be no more but tenderness. if there be no more, men will strive to have their consciences well informed. they may be supposed to scruple upon one of these grounds: . to act in such a cause, for the king's interest; sure i am, this was not a doubt before, but all seemed to agree to act for the king's interest, in subordination to christ's, and this day there is no more sought. we own the king's interest only in a subordination to christ's. or, . to join with such instruments as are enemies to the work of god. our answer to the estates' query resolves that such should not be entrusted: but we do not count these enemies who profess repentance, and declare themselves solemnly to be for the cause and the covenant, and evidence their willingness to fight for them. if it be said their repentance is but counterfeit, we are bound to think otherwise in charity, till the contrary be seen: no man can judge of the reality of hearts: for we have now found by experience, that men who have been accounted above all exception have betrayed their trust. if any who have not yet repented of their former course shall be intrusted, we shall be sorry for it; and plainly say, that it ought not to be. but i think there must be more in this, that men say they cannot act. for myself, i love not that word in our case; it is too frequent, he cannot act, and he cannot act. i fear there be three sorts of persons lurking under this covert. . such as are pusillanimous, who have no courage to act against the enemy; the word is true of them, they cannot act because they dare not act. . such as are selfish men, serving their idol credit: he hath been a man of honour, and now he feareth there will be no credit to fight against this prevailing enemy: therefore he cannot act, and save his credit. be who thou wilt that hast this before thee, god shall blast thy reputation. thou shalt neither have honour nor credit, to do a right turn in god's cause. . such as are compilers, who cannot act, because they have a purpose to comply. there are that cannot act in an army, but they can betray an army by not acting; there are that cannot act for safety of a kingdom, but they betray it by not acting. in a word, there are who cannot join to act with those whom they account malignants (i speak not of declared and known malignants; but of such as have been, and are, fighting for the cause; yet by them esteemed malignants), but they can join with sectaries, open and declared enemies to kirk and kingdom. i wish subjects, who are bound to fight for the kingdom, would lay by that phrase of not acting, which is so frequent in the mouth of compliers, and offensive to them, who would approve themselves in doing duty for endangered religion, king and kingdom. that men may be the more clear to act, i shall offer to your consideration some passages of scriptures, about those who do not act against a common enemy. . there are many reproved for lying still while an enemy had invaded the land: as reuben, with his divisions: gilead, dan, and asher seeking themselves, are all reproved for not joining with the people of god, who were willing to jeopard their lives against "a mighty oppressing enemy." but there is one passage concerning meroz, which fitteth our purpose, "the angel of the lord said, curse ye meroz, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; they came not to the help of the lord, to the help of the lord against the mighty." what this meroz was, is not clear: yet all interpreters agree that they had opportunity and power to have joined with, and helped the people of the lord, and it is probable they were near the place of the fight. they are cursed for not coming to the help of the lord's people. this may be applied to those in the land, who will not help the lord against the mighty. . another passage you have. reuben and gad having a multitude of cattle, and having seen the land of gilead, that it was a place for cattle, they desire of moses and the princes, that the land may be given them, and they may not pass over jordan. moses reproveth them in these words, "shall your brethren go to war; and shall ye sit still? wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of israel?" reuben and gad make their apology, showing that they have no such intention to sit still, only they desire their wives and little ones may stay there: they themselves promise to go over jordan, armed before israel, and not to return before they were possessed in the land. then moses said unto them, "if you do so, then this shall be your possession. but, if ye do not so, behold, ye have sinned against the lord, and be sure your sins will find you out." i may apply this to them that cannot act; will ye sit still, when the rest of your brethren are to hazard their lives against the enemy? we have reason to reprove you. if moses, that faithful servant of god, was still jealous of reuben and gad, even after their apology and promise to act--for he saith, "if ye do not so"--have not honest and faithful servants of god, ground to be jealous of their brethren who refuse to act? let them apologize what they will; for their not acting, i say, they sin against the lord, and their sins shall find them out. it will be clearly seen, upon what intention they do not act. . a third passage. saul hath david enclosed, that he can hardly escape. in that very instant there cometh a messenger to saul, saying, "haste thee, and come; for the philistines have invaded the land." at the hearing of this message, "saul returned from pursuing after david, and went against the philistines." it is true, the lord did provide for his servant david's escape, by this means: but, if ye consider saul, he took it not so. nothing moved him to leave this pursuit but the condition of the land, by the invading of an enemy. three things might have moved saul to stay and pursue david. . he hath him now in a strait, and hath such advantage, that he might have thought not to come readily by the like. . that altho' the philistines be enemies, yet david is the most dangerous enemy; for he aimeth at no less than the crown. it were better to take conditions off the enemy, than to suffer david to live, and take the crown. . he might have said, if i leave david at this time and fight with the philistines, and be beaten, he will get a power in his hand to undo me and my posterity. these may seem strong motives; but saul is not moved with any of them. the present danger is the philistines invading the land, and this danger is to be opposed, come of the danger from david what will. as if saul had said, i will let david alone, i will meet with him another time, and reckon with him: now there is no time for it, the philistines are in the land, let us make haste against them. i wish that many of our countrymen had as great a love to their country, and as public a spirit for it, as this profane king had, then there would not be so many questions for acting, as men make this day. the objections i have been touching are in men's thoughts and heads. first, some say, now the malignants are under, for this enemy is their rod. it is best to put them out of having any power: yea, there are some who would more willingly go to undo these, whom they account malignants, than against the common enemy, who are wasting the land. if they had saul's resolution, they would say, the philistines are in the land, let them alone, we will reckon with them at another time; we will now go against the common enemy. they have also the second objection, the malignants are more dangerous enemies than the sectaries. i shall not now compare them to equal distance, and abstract from the present danger: but i shall compare them to the present posture of affairs. i am sure the sectaries having power in their hands, and a great part of the land in their possession, are far more dangerous than malignants, who have no power for the present: and therefore, the resolution should be, the sectaries have invaded the land, and are destroying it, let us go against them. . the third observation weigheth much with many. the malignants, being employed to fight for their country, may get such power in their hands as may hurt the cause. for answer: . the resolution given the query of the estates provideth against that, for therein is a desire that no such power should be put in their hand. . this fear goeth upon a supposition, that they do not repent their former course. this is an uncharitable judgment. we are bound to be more charitable of men professing repentance, for with such we have to do only. and, to speak a word by the way to you who have been in a malignant course. little good is expected from you, i pray you be honest, and disappoint them. i wish you true repentance, which will both disappoint them, and be profitable to yourselves. . i desire it may be considered, whether or not, fear of a danger to come from men, if they prevail against the common enemy, being only clothed with a capacity to fight for their country, be an argument against rising to oppose a seen and certain danger, coming from an enemy, clothed with power, and still prevailing. i conceive, it ought to be far from any, to hinder men to defend their country in such a case. i confess, indeed, the cause which we maintain hath met with many enemies, who have been against it, which requireth much tenderness; therefore men are to be admitted to trust, with such exceptions as may keep them out who are still enemies to the cause of god, have not professed repentance, renounced their former courses, and declared themselves for cause and covenant. i doubt not, but it shall be found, that the admitting such to fight in our case as it standeth, is agreeable to the word of god, and is not against the former public resolutions of kirk and state. the second sort of persons we are to meet with, are such as act for the enemy, against the kingdom. if they be cursed who will not come out to help the lord against the mighty; what a curse shall be upon them, who help the mighty against the lord, as they do who act for the enemy? three ways is the enemy helped against the cause and people of god. . by keeping correspondence with them, and giving them intelligence; there is nothing done against kirk or state, but they have intelligence of it. a baser way hath never been used in any nation. your counsels and purposes are made known to them. if there be any such here (as i fear they be), let them take this to them, they are of these who help the mighty against the lord, and the curse shall stick to them. . by strengthening the enemies' hands with questions, debates and determinations, in papers tending to the justifying of their unjust invasion. whatever have been men's intentions in taking that way, yet the thing done by them, hath tended to the advantage of the enemy, and hath divided these who should have been joined in the cause, to the great weakening of the power of the kingdom, and this, interpretatively, is to act for the mighty against the lord. . by gross compliance with the enemy, and going into them, doing all the evil offices they can, against their native kingdom. if meroz was cursed for not helping, shall not these perfidious covenant-breakers and treacherous dealers against a distressed land be much more accursed, for helping and assisting a destroying enemy, so far as lieth in their power? these words may be truly applied to them who are helping strangers, enemies to god, his kirk, and religion, "both he that helpeth, shall fall; and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fall together." iii. the third particular about this covenant remains to be spoken of; _to wit_, some directions to the king, for the right performing of his duty, whereof i shall give seven. . a king, meeting with many difficulties in doing of duty, by reason of strong corruption within and many temptations without: he should be careful to seek god by prayer, for grace to overcome these impediments, and for an understanding heart to govern his people. solomon, having in his option to ask what he would, he asked an understanding heart, to go out and in before his people; knowing that the government of a people was a very difficult work, and needed more than ordinary understanding. a king hath also many enemies (as our king hath this day), and a praying king is a prevailing king. asa, when he had to do with a mighty enemy, prayed fervently and prevailed. jehoshaphat was invaded by a mighty enemy, he prayed and did prevail. hezekiah prayed against sennacherib's huge army and prevailed. sir, you have many difficulties and oppositions to meet; acquaint yourself with prayer, be instant with god, and he will fight for you. prayers are not in much request at court; but a covenanted king must bring them in request. i know a king is burthened with multiplicity of affairs, and will meet with many diversions; but, sir, you must not be diverted. take hours, and set them apart for that exercise: men being once acquainted with your way, will not dare to divert you. prayer to god will make your affairs easy all the day. i read of a king, of whom his courtiers said, "he spoke oftener with god, than with men." if you be frequent in prayer, you may expect the blessing of the most high upon yourself, and upon your government. . a king must be careful of the kingdom which he hath sworn to maintain. we have had many of too private a spirit, by whom self-interest hath been preferred to the public; it becometh a king well to be of a public spirit, to care more for the public than his own interest. senates and states have had mottoes written over the doors of their meeting-places. over the senate house of rome was written, _ne quid respublica detrimenti capiat_. i shall wish this may be written over your assembly-houses; but there is another which i would have written with it, _ne quid ecclesia detrimenti capiat_. be careful of both; let neither kirk nor state suffer hurt; let them go together. the best way for the standing of a kingdom is a well constitute kirk. they deceive kings who make them believe that the government of the kirk--i mean presbyterial government--cannot suit with monarchy. they suit well, it being the ordinance of christ, rendering unto god what is god's, and unto cæsar what is cæsar's. . kings who have a tender care of the kirk are called nursing fathers. you should be careful that the gospel may have a free passage through the kingdom; and that the government of the kirk may be preserved entire according to your solemn engagement. the kirk hath met with many enemies, as papists, prelates, malignants, which i pass as known enemies: but there are two sorts more, who at this time should be carefully looked on. . sectaries, great enemies to the kirk, and to all the ordinances of christ, and more particularly to presbyterial government, which they have, and would have, altogether destroyed. a king should set himself against these, because they are enemies, as well to the king as to the kirk, and strive to make both fall together. . erastians, more dangerous snares to kings than sectaries; because kings can look well enough to these, who are against themselves, and their power, as sectaries, who will have no king. but erastians give more power to kings than they should have, and are great enemies to presbyterial government; for they would make kings believe that there is no government but the civil, and derived from thence, which is a great wrong to the son of god, who hath the government of the kirk distinct from the civil, yet no ways prejudicial to it, being spiritual, and of another nature. christ did put the magistrate out of suspicion, that his kingdom was not prejudicial to civil government, affirming, "my kingdom is not of this world." this government, christ hath not committed to kings, but to the office-bearers of his house, who, in regard of civil subjection, are under the civil power as well as others; but, in their spiritual administration, they are under christ, who hath not given unto any king upon earth the dispensation of spiritual things to his people. sir, you are in covenant with god and his people, and are obliged to maintain presbyterial government, as well against erastians as sectaries. i know this erastian humour aboundeth at court. it may be, some endeavour to make you encroach upon that for which god hath punished your predecessors. be who he will that meddleth with this government to overturn it, it shall be as heavy to him as the burthensome stone to the enemies of the kirk. "they are cut in pieces, who burden themselves with it." . a king in covenant with the people of god, should make much of these who are in covenant with him, having in high estimation the faithful ministers of christ, and the godly people of the land. it is rare to find kings lovers of faithful ministers and pious people. it hath been the fault of our own kings to persecute the godly. . let the king love the servants of christ, who speak the truth. evil kings are branded with this, that they contemned the prophets. when amaziah had taken the gods of seir, and set them up for his gods, a prophet came to him and reproved him; unto whom the king said, "who made thee of the king's council? forbear, lest thou be smitten." this contempt of the prophet's warning is a forerunner of following destruction. be a careful hearer of god's word; take with reproof; esteem of it, as david did, "it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head." to make much of the faithful servants of christ, will be an evidence of reality. . let the king esteem well of godly professors. let piety be in account. it is a fault very common, that pious men, because of their conscientious and strict walking, are hated by the profane, who love to live loosely: it is usual with profane men to labour to bring kings to a distaste of the godly; especially when men who have professed piety have become scandalous, whereupon they are ready to judge all pious men to be like them; and take occasion to speak evil of piety. i fear at this time, when men who have been commended for piety, have fallen foully and betrayed their trust, that men will take advantage to speak against the godly of the land; beware of this, for it is satan's policy to put piety out of request: let not this move any; fall who will, piety is still the same, and pious men will make conscience both of their ways and trust; remember, they are precious in god's eyes who will not suffer men to despise them, without their reward. sir, let not your heart be from the godly in the land, whatever hath fallen out at this time: i dare affirm, there are very many really godly men who, by their prayers, are supporting your throne. . a king should be careful whom he putteth in places of trust, as a main thing for the good of the kingdom. it is a maxim, that trust should not be put in their hands who have oppressed the people, or have betrayed their trust. there is a passage in a story meet for this purpose: one septimus arabinus, a man famous, or rather infamous, for oppression, was put out of the senate, but re-admitted about this time; alexander severus being chosen to the empire, the senators did entertain him with public salutations and congratulations. severus, espying arabinus amongst the senators, cried out, _o numina! arabinus non solum vivit, sed in senatum venit_. ah! arabinus not only liveth, but he is in the senate. out of just indignation, he could not endure to see him. as all are not meet for places of trust in judicatures, so all are not meet for places of trust in armies. men should be chosen who are godly, and able for the charge. but there are some who are not meet for trust. . they who are godly, but have no skill or ability for the places. a man may be a truly godly man who is not fit for such place; and no wrong is done to him nor to godliness, when the place is denied to him. i wonder how a godly man can take upon him a place, whereof he hath no skill. . they who have neither skill nor courage, are very unmeet; for, if it be a place of never so great moment, faint-heartedness will make them quit it. . they who are both skilful and stout, yet are not honest, but perfidious and treacherous, should have no trust at all. of all these we have sad experience, experience which should not move you to make choice of profane and godless men, by whom a blessing is not to be expected, but it should move you to be wary in your choice; i am confident such may be had, who will be faithful for religion, king and kingdom. . there hath been much debate about the exercise of the king's power; yet he is put in the exercise of his power, and this day put in a better capacity to exercise it by his coronation. many are afraid that the exercise of his power shall prove dangerous to the cause, and indeed i confess there is ground of fear, when we consider how this power hath been abused by former kings: therefore, sir, make good use of this power, and see that you rather keep within bounds, than exceed in the exercise of it. i may very well give such a counsel as an old counsellor gave to a king of france; he, having spent many years at court, desired to retire into the country for enjoying privacy fit for his age; and, having obtained leave, the king his master required him to sit down, and write some advice of government, to leave behind him, which he out of modesty declined: the king would not be denied, but left with him pen and ink and a sheet of paper; he, being alone, after some thoughts, wrote with fair and legible characters in the head of the sheet, _modus_; in the middle of the sheet, _modus_; and in the foot of the sheet, _modus_; and wrote no more in all the paper, which he wrapped up and delivered to the king; meaning that the best counsel he could give him, was, that he should keep temper in all things. nothing more fit for a young king than to keep temper in all things. take this counsel, sir, and be moderate in the use of your power. the best way to keep power, is moderation in the use of it. . the king hath many enemies, even such as are enemies to his family and to all kingly government; and are now in the bowels of this kingdom, wasting and destroying; bestir yourself, according to vows and oaths that are upon you, to be active for the relief of christ's kingdom, borne down by them, in all the three kingdoms; and for the relief of this kingdom grievously oppressed by them. we shall earnestly desire that god would put that spirit upon our king, now entered upon public government, which he hath put upon the deliverers of his people from their cruel oppressors. in speaking of the king's behaviour to enemies, one thing i cannot pass. there is much spoken of a treaty with this enemy: i am not of the judgment of some, who distinguish a treaty before invasion and after invasion, and say, treatying is very lawful before invasion; because it is supposed that there is a little wrong done; but after invasion, when a kingdom is wronged and put to infinite losses, then they say a treaty is to be shunned; but in my judgment, a treaty may be lawful after invasion and wrongs sustained; the end of war is peace, neither should desire of revenge obstruct it, providing it be such a treaty and peace as is not prejudicial to religion, nor to the safety of the kingdom, nor to the undoubted right of the king, nor to the league and covenant, whereunto we are so solemnly engaged. but, i must break off this treaty with a story related in plutarch. the city of athens was in a great strait, wherein they knew not what to do. themistocles in this strait said he had something wherein to give his opinion, for the behoof of the state, but he thought it not fit to deliver himself publicly. aristides, a man of great trust, is appointed to hear him privately, and to make an account as he thought meet. when aristides came to make his report to the senate, he told them that themistocles' advice was indeed profitable, but not honest, whereupon the people would not so much as hear it. there is much whispering of a treaty, they are not willing to speak publicly of it: hear them in private, and it may be the best advice shall be profitable, but not honest. if a treaty should be, let it be both profitable and honest, and no lover of peace will be against it. . seeing the king is now upon the renewing of the covenants, it should be remembered that we enter into covenant, according to our profession therein, with reality, sincerity, and constancy, which are the qualifications of good covenanters. many doubt of your reality in the covenant, let your sincerity and reality be evidenced by your stedfastness and constancy; for many have begun well, but have not been constant. in the sacred history of kings, we find a note upon kings according to their carriages: one of three sentences is written upon them. . some kings have this written on them, "he did evil in the sight of the lord." they neither begin well, nor end well; such an one was ahaz, king of judah, and divers others in that history. . others have this written on them, "he did that which was right in the sight of the lord, but not with a perfect heart." such an one was amaziah king of judah. he was neither sincere nor constant: when god blessed him with victory against the edomites, he fell foully from the true worship of god, and set up the gods of edom. . a third sentence is written upon the godly kings of judah, "he did right in the sight of the lord, with a perfect heart." as asa, hezekiah, jehoshaphat, and josiah, they were both sincere and constant. let us neither have the first nor the second, but the third written upon our king, "he did right in the sight of the lord, with a perfect heart." begin well, and continue constant. before i close, i shall seek leave to lay before our young king, two examples to beware of, and one to follow. the two warning examples, one of them is in the text, another in our own history. the first example is of joash. he began well, and went on in a godly reformation all the days of jehoiada; but, it is observed, "that after the days of jehoiada, the princes of judah came, and did obeisance to the king, and he hearkened unto them." it appeareth, they had been lying in wait till the death of jehoiada; and took the opportunity to destroy the true worship of god, and set up false worship, flattering the king for that effect: for it is said, "they left the house of the lord, and served groves and idols;" and were so far from being reclaimed by the prophet of the lord that was sent unto them, that they conspired against zechariah, the son of jehoiada, who reproved them mildly for their idolatry, and stoned him with stones, and slew him at the king's commandment. and it is said, "joash remembered not the kindness that jehoiada his father had done to him, but slew his son." sir, take this example for a warning. you are obliged by the covenant to go on in the work of reformation. it may be, some great ones are waiting their time, not having opportunity to work for the present, till afterward they may make obeisance, and persuade you to destroy all that hath been done in the work of god, these divers years. beware of it; let no allurement or persuasion prevail with you, to fall from that which this day you bind yourself to maintain. another example i give you, yet in recent memory, of your grandfather, king james. he fell, to be very young, in a time full of difficulties: yet there was a godly party in the land who did put the crown upon his head. and when he came to some years, he and his people entered into a covenant with god. he was much commended by godly and faithful men, comparing him to young josiah standing at the altar, renewing a covenant with god; and he himself did thank god that he was born in a reformed kirk, better reformed than england: for they retained many popish ceremonies: yea better reformed than geneva; for they keep some holy days; charging his people to be constant and promising himself to continue in that reformation, and to maintain the same. notwithstanding of all this, he made a foul defection: he remembered not the kindness of them who had held the crown upon his head; yea he persecuted faithful ministers for opposing that course of defection: he never rested till he had undone presbyterial government and kirk assemblies, setting up bishops, and bringing in ceremonies, against which formerly he had given large testimony. in a word, he laid the foundation whereupon his son, our late king, did build much mischief to religion, all the days of his life. sir, i lay this example before you the rather because it is so near you, that the guiltiness of the transgression lieth upon the throne and family, and it is one of the sins for which you have professed humiliation very lately. let it be laid to heart, take warning, requite not faithful men's kindness with persecution; yea, requite not the lord so, who hath preserved you to this time, and is setting a crown upon your head. requite not the lord with apostasy and defection from a sworn covenant: but be stedfast in the covenant, as you would give testimony of your true humiliation for the defection of these that went before you. i have set up these two examples before you, as beacons to warn you to keep off such dangerous courses, and shall add one for imitation, which, if followed, may happily bring with it the blessing of that godly man's adherence to god. the example is of hezekiah, who did that "which was right in the sight of the lord." it is said of him, "he trusted in the lord god of israel, and he clave unto the lord, and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments." and "the lord was with him, and he prospered whithersoever he went forth." sir, follow this example, cleave unto the lord, and depart not from following him, and the lord will be with you, and prosper you, whithersoever you go. to this lord, from whom we expect a blessing upon this day's work, be glory and praise for ever. amen. charles ii. taking the covenants. sermon being ended, prayer was made for a blessing upon the doctrine delivered. the king began to renew the covenants. first the national covenant and then the solemn league and covenant were distinctly read. after the reading of these covenants, the minister prayed for grace to perform the contents of the covenants, and for faithful stedfastness in the oath of god: and then (the ministers, commissioners of the general assembly, desired to be present, standing before the pulpit) he administered the oath unto the king, who, kneeling and lifting up his right hand, did swear in the words following. "i charles, king of great britain, france and ireland, do assure and declare, by my solemn oath, in the presence of almighty god, the searcher of hearts, my allowance and approbation of the national covenant, and of the solemn league and covenant above written, and faithfully oblige myself to prosecute the ends thereof in my station and calling; and that i for myself and successors, shall consent and agree to all acts of parliament enjoining the national covenant and the solemn league and covenant, and fully establishing presbyterial government, the directory for worship, confession of faith, and catechisms, in the kingdom of scotland, as they are approven by the general assemblies of this kirk, and parliament of this kingdom; and that i shall give my royal assent, to acts and ordinances of parliament passed, or to be passed, enjoining the same in my other dominions: and that i shall observe these in my own practice and family, and shall never make opposition to any of these, or endeavour any change thereof."[ ] after the king had thus solemnly sworn the national covenant, the league and covenant, and the king's oath, subjoined unto both, being drawn up in a fair parchment; the king did subscribe the same, in presence of all. thereafter the king ascended the stage, and sitteth down in the chair of state. then the lords, great constable, and marshal, went to the four corners of the stage, with the lion going before them; who spoke to the people these words, "sirs, i do present unto you the king charles, the rightful and undoubted heir of the crown, and dignity of this realm: this day is by the parliament of this kingdom appointed for his coronation; and are you not willing to have him for your king, and become subject to his commandments?" in which action, the king's majesty stood up, showing himself to the people, in each corner; and the people expressed their willingness, by cheerful acclamations in these words, "god save the king, charles the second." thereafter the king's majesty, supported by the constable and marshal, cometh down from the stage, and sitteth down in the chair, where he heard the sermon. the minister, accompanied with the ministers before-mentioned, cometh from the pulpit toward the king, and requireth, if he was willing to take the oath, appointed to be taken at the coronation? the king answered, he was most willing. then the oath of coronation, as it is contained in the eighth act of the first parliament of king james, being read by the lion, the tenor whereof followeth: "because that the increase of virtue, and suppressing of idolatry, craveth, that the prince and the people be of one perfect religion; which of god's mercy is now presently professed within this realm: therefore it is statuted and ordained, by our sovereign lord, my lord regent, and three estates of this present parliament: that all kings, princes, and magistrates whatsoever, holding their place, which hereafter at any time shall happen to reign, and bear rule over this realm, at the time of their coronation, and receipt of their princely authority, make their faithful promise, in the presence of the eternal god; that, enduring the whole course of their lives, they shall serve the same eternal god to the uttermost of their power, according as he hath required in his most holy word, revealed and contained in the new and old testaments; and, according to the same words, shall maintain the true religion of christ jesus, the preaching of his holy word, and due and right ministration of the sacraments now received and preached within this realm: and shall abolish and gainstand all false religions, contrary to the same: and shall rule the people committed to their charge, according to the will and command of god, revealed in his foresaid word, and according to the loveable laws and constitutions received in this realm, no ways repugnant to the said word of the eternal god; and shall procure to the uttermost of their power, to the kirk of god and whole christian people, true and perfect peace, in time coming. the rights and rents, with all just privileges of the crown of scotland, to preserve and keep inviolated: neither shall they transfer, nor alienate the same. they shall forbid and repress, in all estates and degrees, rife oppression, and all kind of wrong: in all judgments they shall command and procure that justice and equity be keeped to all creatures, without exception, as the lord and father of mercies, be merciful unto them: and out of their lands and empire they shall be careful to root all heretics, and enemies to the true worship of god, that shall be convict by the true kirk of god, of the foresaid crimes; and that they shall faithfully affirm the things above written by their solemn oath." the minister tendered the oath unto the king, who, kneeling and holding up his light hand, swore in these words, "by the eternal and almighty god, who liveth and reigneth for ever, i shall observe and keep all that is contained in this oath." this done, the king's majesty sat down in his chair and reposeth himself a little. then the king riseth from his chair, and is disrobed by the lord great chamberlain, of the princely robe wherewith he entered the kirk, and is invested by the said chamberlain, in his royal robes. thereafter, the king being brought to the chair on the north side of the kirk, supported as formerly; the sword was brought by sir william cockburn of langtown, gentleman usher from the table, and delivered to lion king of arms; who giveth it to the lord great constable, who putteth the same in the king's hand, saying, "sir, receive this kingly sword, for the defence of the faith of christ, and protection of his kirk, and of the true religion, as it is presently professed within this kingdom, and according to the national covenant and league and covenant, and for executing equity and justice, and for punishment of all iniquity and injustice." this done, the great constable receiveth the sword from the king, and girdeth the same about his side. thereafter, the king sitteth down in his chair, and then the spurs were put on him by the earl marshall. thereafter, archibald, marquiss of argyle, having taken the crown in his hands, the minister prayed, to this purpose: "that the lord would purge the crown from the sins and transgressions of them that did reign before him; that it might be a pure crown; that god would settle the crown upon the king's head: and, since men that set it on were not able to settle it, that the lord would put it on, and preserve it." and then the said marquiss put the crown on the king's head. which done, the lion king of arms, the great constable standing by him, causeth an herald to call the whole noblemen, one by one, according to their ranks, who, coming before the king, kneeling, and with their hand touching the crown on the king's head, swore these words, "by the eternal and almighty god, who liveth and reigneth for ever; i shall support thee to my uttermost." and when they had done, then all the nobility held up their hands and "swore to be loyal and true subjects, and faithful to the crown." the earl marshall, with the lion, going to the four corners of the stage, the lion proclaimeth the obligatory oath of the people; and the people, holding up their hands all the time, did swear, "by the eternal and almighty god, who liveth and reigneth for ever, we become your liege men, and truth and faith shall bear unto you, and live and die with you against all manner of folks whatsoever, in your service, according to the national covenant, and solemn league and covenant." then did the earls and viscounts put on their crowns, and the lion likewise put on his. then did the lord chamberlain loose the sword wherewith the king was girded, and drew it, and delivered it drawn into the king's hands; and the king put it into the hands of the great constable, to carry it naked before him. then john, earl of crawford and lindsay, took the sceptre, and put it in the king's right hand, saying, "sir, receive this sceptre, the sign of royal power of the kingdom, that you may govern yourself right, and defend all the christian people committed by god to your charge, punishing the wicked, and protecting the just." then did the king ascend the stage, attended by the officers of the crown, and nobility, and was installed in the royal throne by archibald, marquiss of argyle, saying, "stand, and hold fast from henceforth the place whereof you are the lawful and righteous heir, by a long and lineal succession of your fathers, which is new delivered unto you by authority of almighty god." when the king was set down upon the throne, the minister spoke to him a word of exhortation as followeth. "sir, you are set down upon the throne in a very difficult time, i shall therefore put you in mind of a scriptural expression of a throne. "it is said, solomon sat on the throne of the lord." sir, you are a king, and a king in covenant with the lord; if you would have the lord to own you to be his king, and your throne to be his throne, i desire you may have some thoughts of this expression. . "it is the lord's throne. remember you have a king above you, the king of kings, and lord of lords, who commandeth thrones. he setteth kings on thrones, and dethroneth them at his pleasure: therefore take a word of advice; be thankful to him who hath brought you through many wanderings to set you upon this throne. kiss the son lest he be angry, and learn to serve him with fear who is terrible to the kings of the earth. . "your throne is the lord's throne, and your people the lord's people: let not your heart be lifted up above your brethren. they are your brethren, not only flesh of your flesh, but brethren by covenant with god. let your government be refreshing unto them as the rain upon the mown grass. . "your throne is the lord's throne. beware of making his throne a throne of iniquity: there is such a throne, which frameth mischief by a law; god will not own such a throne, it hath no fellowship with him. sir, there is too much iniquity upon the throne by your predecessors, who framed mischief by a law, such laws as have been destructive to religion, and grievous to the lord's people; you are on the throne, and have the sceptre, beware of touching mischievous laws therewith: but, as the throne is the lord's throne, let the laws be the lord's laws, agreeable to his word, such as are terrible to evil-doers, and comfortable to the godly, and a relief to the poor and oppressed in the land. . "the lord's throne putteth you in mind whom you should have about the throne. wicked counsellors are not for a king upon the lord's throne; solomon knew this, who said, 'take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness:' and 'a king upon the throne scattereth away all evil with his eyes.' . "the lord's throne putteth you in mind, that the judgment on the throne should be the lord's. take the exhortation, 'hear the word of the lord, o king of judah, that sittest upon the throne, thou and thy servants and thy people, execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressors, and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. for if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of david. but, if ye will not hear these words, i swear by myself, saith the lord, that this house shall become a desolation.' and 'i will prepare destroyers against thee.' "sir, destroyers are prepared for the injustice of the throne. i entreat you to execute righteous judgment, if ye do it not, your house will be a desolation; but, if ye do that which is right, god shall remove the destroyers: and you shall be established on your throne; and there shall yet be dignity in your house, for your servants, and for your people. "lastly, if your throne be the throne of the lord, take a word of encouragement against throne adversaries. your enemies are the enemies of the lord's throne: make your peace with god in christ, and the lord shall scatter your enemies from the throne; and he shall magnify you yet in the sight of these nations, and make the misled people submit themselves willingly to your government. "sir, if you use well the lord's throne on which you are set, then the two words in the place cited, spoken of solomon sitting on the throne of the lord, 'he prospered and all israel obeyed him,' shall belong unto you; your people shall obey you in the lord, and you shall prosper in the sight of the nations round about." then the lord chancellor went to the four corners of the stage, the lion king of arms going before him, and proclaimed his majesty's free pardon to all breakers of penal statutes, and made offer thereof: whereupon the people cried, "god save the king." then the king, supported by the great constable and marshall, and accompanied with the chancellor, arose from the throne, and went out at a door prepared for the purpose, to a stage; and sheweth himself to the people without, who clapped their hands, and cried with a loud voice a long time, "god save the king." then, the king returning, and sitting down upon the throne, delivered the sceptre to the earl of crawford and lindsay, to be carried before him: thereafter the lion king of arms rehearsed the royal line of the kings upward to fergus the first. then the lion called the lords one by one who, kneeling and holding their hands betwixt the king's hands, did swear these words, "by the eternal and almighty god, who liveth and reigneth for ever, i do become your liege man, and truth and faith shall bear unto you, and live and die with you, against all manner of folks whatsoever in your service, according to the national covenant and solemn league and covenant." and every one of them kissed the king's left cheek. when these solemnities were ended, the minister, standing before the king on his throne, pronounced this blessing: "the lord bless thee, and save thee; the lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the god of jacob defend thee; the lord send thee help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee out of zion. amen." after the blessing was pronounced, the minister went to the pulpit and had the following exhortation, the king sitting still upon the throne. ye have this day a king crowned, and entered into covenant with god and his people; look, both king and people, that ye keep this covenant; and beware of the breach of it. that ye may be the more careful to keep it, i will lay a few things before you. i remember when the solemn league and covenant was entered into by both nations. the commissioners from england being present in the east kirk of edinburgh, a passage was cited out of nehemiah, which i shall now again cite. nehemiah requireth an oath of the nobles and people, to restore the mortgaged lands, which they promise to do; after the oath was tendered, he did shake his lap, and said, "so god shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out and emptied. and all the congregation said, amen." since that time, many of those who were in the covenant, are shaken out of it; yea, they have shaken off the covenant, and laid it aside. it is true, they are prospering this day, and think that they prosper, by laying aside the covenant; but they will be deceived. that word spoken then shall not fall to the ground; god shall shake them out of their possession, and empty them for their perfidious breach of the covenant. the same i say to king and nobles, and all that are in covenant; if you break that covenant, being so solemnly sworn, all these who have touched your crown, and sworn to support it, shall not be able to hold it on; but god will shake it off, and turn you from the throne: and ye noblemen, who are assistant to the putting on of the crown, and setting the king upon the throne, if ye shall either assist, or advise the king to break the covenant, and overturn the work of god, he shall shake you out of your possessions, and empty you of all your glory. another passage i offer to your serious consideration. after that zedekiah had promised to proclaim liberty to all the lord's people, who were servants, and entered into a covenant, he and his princes let them go free, and according to the oath had let them go; afterwards they caused the servants to return, and brought them into subjection. what followeth upon this breach? "ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty; but ye turned, and made them servants again." and therefore, "i will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant, which they made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof; i will even give them into the hands of their enemies, into the hand of them that seek their life, even zedekiah and his princes." if the breach of the covenant made for the liberty of servants was so punished, what shall be the punishment of the breach of a covenant for religion, and the liberty of the people of god? there is nothing more terrible to kings and princes than to be given into the hand of enemies that seek their life: if ye would escape this judgment, let kings and princes keep their covenant made with god: your enemies who seek your life, are in the land; if ye break the covenant, it may be feared god will give you over unto them as a prey: but, if ye keep the covenant, it may be expected god will keep you out of their hands. let not the place ye heard opened, be forgotten, for in it ye have an example of divine justice against joash and the princes, for breaking that covenant. the princes who enticed to that breach, are destroyed: and it is said, "the army of the syrians came with a small company of men, and the lord delivered a very great host into their hand;" because they had forsaken the lord god of their fathers: so they executed judgment against joash. "his own servants conspired against him and slew him on his bed." the conspiracy of servants or subjects against their king is a wicked course: but god in his righteous judgment suffereth subjects to conspire and rebel against their princes, because they rebel against god: and he suffereth subjects to break the covenant made with a king, because he breaketh the covenant made with god. i may say freely, that a chief cause of the judgment upon the king's house hath been the grandfather's breach of covenant with god, and the father's following his steps in opposing the work of god, and his kirk within these kingdoms; they broke covenant with god, and men have broken covenant with them: yea, most cruelly and perfidiously have invaded the royal family and trodden upon all princely dignity. be wise by their example: you are now sitting upon the throne of the kingdom, and your nobles about you. there is one above you, even jesus, the king of zion; and i as his servant, dare not but be free with you: i charge you, sir, in his name, that you keep this covenant in all points; if you shall break this covenant and come against his cause, i assure you the controversy is not ended between god and your family: but will be carried on to the further weakening, if not the overthrow of it: but if you shall keep this covenant, and befriend the kingdom of christ, it may be from this day god shall begin to do you good. although your estate be very weak, god is able to raise you, and make you reign, maugre the opposition of all your enemies: and howsoever it shall please the lord to dispose, you shall have peace toward god, through christ the mediator. as for you who are nobles and peers of the land, your share is great in this day of coronation; ye have come and touched the crown, and sworn to support it; ye have handled the sword and the sceptre, and have set down the king upon his throne. . i charge you to keep your covenant with god; and see that ye never be moved yourselves to come against it in any head, or article thereof; and that ye give no counsel to the king to come against the doctrine, worship, government and discipline of the kirk, established in this land, as ye would eschew the judgment of covenant-breakers. if the king and ye who are engaged to support the crown, conspire together against the kingdom of christ, both ye that do support and he that is supported will fall together. i press this the more, because it is a rare thing to see a king and great men for christ. in the long catalogue of the kings, which ye have heard recited this day, they will be found few who have been for christ. . i charge you also, because of your many oaths to the king; that you keep them inviolable. be faithful to him, according to your covenant. the oaths of god are upon you; if, directly or indirectly, ye do anything against his standing, god, by whom ye have sworn, will be avenged upon you for the breach of his oath. and now, i will shut up all with one word more to you. sir, you are the only covenanted king with god and his people in the world; many have obstructed your entry in it: now, seeing the lord hath brought you in over all these obstructions, only observe to do what is contained therein; and it shall prove an happy time for you and your house. and because you are entered in times of great difficulty, wherein small strength seemeth to remain with you in the eyes of the world, for recovering your just power and greatness; therefore take the counsel which david when he was dying gave to his son solomon, "be strong, and show thyself a man; and keep the charge of the lord thy god: to walk in his ways, and keep his commandments; that them mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself." after this exhortation, the minister closed the whole action with prayer; and, psalm xx. being sung, he dismissed the people with the blessing. then did the king's majesty descend from the stage with the crown upon his head; and, receiving again the sceptre in his hand, returned with the whole train, in a solemn manner, to his palace, the sword being carried before him. the acts rescissory. first parliament of charles ii. january, .-- .--"_act concerning the league and covenant and discharging the renewing thereof without his majesties warrand and approbation._ "forasmuch as the power of armes, and entering into, and making of leagues and bonds, is an undoubted privilege of the crown, and a proper part of the royal prerogative of the kings of this kingdom, and that in recognisance of his majesties just right, the estates of parliament of this his most ancient kingdom of scotland, have declared it high treason to the subjects thereof, of whatsoever number, lesse or more, upon any pretext whatsoever, to rise, or continue in armes, or to enter into leagues and bonds, with forraigners, or among themselves, without his majesties special warrand and approbation, had and obtained thereto, and have rescinded and annulled all acts of parliament, conventions of estates, or other deeds whatsoever, contrary to, or inconsistent with the same; and whereas during these troubles, there have occurred divers things, in the making and pursuance of leagues and bonds, which may be occasion of jealousie in and betwixt his majesties dominions of scotland, england, and ireland. therefore and for preventing of all scruples, mistakes or jealousies that may hereafter arise upon these grounds, the king's majesty with advice and consent of his estates of parliament, doth hereby declare, that there is no obligation upon this kingdom by covenant, treaties or otherwise, to endeavour by armes a reformation of religion in the kingdom of england, or to meddle with the publick government and administration of that kingdom. and the king's majesty with advice and consent foresaid, doth declare, that the league and covenant, and all treaties following thereupon, and acts or deeds that do, or may relate thereto, are not obligatory, nor do infer any obligation upon this kingdom, or the subjects thereof, to meddle or interpose by armes, or any seditious way, in any thing concerning the religion and government of the churches of england and ireland, or in what may concern the administration of his majesties government there. and further, his majesty, with advice and consent of his estates, doth hereby discharge and inhibite all his majesties subjects within this kingdom, that none of them may presume upon any pretext of any authority whatsoever, to require the renewing or swearing of the said league and covenant, or of any other covenants, or publick oaths concerning the government of the church or kingdom, without his majesties special warrand and approbation; and that none of his majesties subjects offer to renew and swear the same, without his majesties warrand, as said is, as they will be answerable at their highest peril." same parliament.--_ .--"act rescinding and annulling the pretended parliaments in the years , , etc._ "the estates of parliament, considering that the peace and happiness of this kingdom, and of his majesties good subjects therein, doth depend upon the safetie of his majesties person, and the maintenance of his royal authority, power, and greatness: and that all the miseries, confusions, and disorders which this kingdom hath groaned under, these twenty-three years, have issued from, and been the necessarie and natural products of these neglects, contempts, and invasions, which, in and from the beginning of these troubles, were upon the specious (but false) pretexts of reformation (the common cloak of all rebellions) offered unto the sacred person and royal authority of the king's majesty, and his royal father of blessed memory. and notwithstanding, that by the sacred right, inherent to the imperial crown (which his majesty holds immediatelie from god almightie alone) and by the ancient constitution and fundamental laws of the kingdom; the power of convocating and keeping assemblies of the subjects; the power of calling, holding, proroguing and disolving of parliaments, and making of laws; the power of entering into bonds, covenants, leagues and treaties; the power of raising armes, keeping of strengths and forts are essential parts, and inseparable privileges of the royal authoritie and prerogative of the kings of this kingdom: yet, such hath been the madness and delusion of these times, that even religion itself, which holds the right of kings to be sacred and inviolable, hath been pretended unto, for warrand of these injurious violations and incroachments, so publickly done and owned, upon and against his majesties just power, authority and government; by making and keeping of unlawful meetings and convocations of the people; by entering into covenants, treaties and leagues; by seizing upon, and possessing themselves of his majesties castles, forts and strengths of the kingdom: and by holding of pretended parliaments, making of laws, and raising of armes for the maintaining of the same; and that not only without warrand, but contrary to his majesties express commands. and although the late king's majesty, out of his meer grace and respects to this his native kingdom, and the peace and quiet of his people, and for preventing the consequences which such bad example and practice might occasion, to the disturbance of the peace of his other kingdoms, was pleased in the year, one thousand six hundred and forty one, to come into this countrey, and by his own presence, at their pretended parliaments and other wayes, to comply with, and give way to, many things neerly concerning the undoubted interest and prerogative of the crown, expecting that such unparalleled condescentions should have made his subjects ashamed of their former miscariages, and the very thoughts thereof, to be hatefull to them and their posteritie for ever. yet, such was the prevalencie of the spirit of rebelion that raged in manie for the time, that not content with that peace and happiness which, even above their desires, was secured to them: nor of these manie grants of honour and profit, by which his majestie endeavoured to endear the most desperat of them to their duty and obedience, they then, when his majesty had not left unto them anie pretence or shaddow of anie new desire to be proposed, either concerning themselves or the kingdom, did most unworthilie engage to subvert his majesties government, and the publick peace of the kingdom of england: for which purpose, having joined in a league with some there, they, for the better prosecution of the same, did assume unto themselves the royal power, kept and held parliaments at their pleasure; by the pretended authoritie of which, they laid new exactions upon the people (which in one month did far exceed what ever by the kings authoritie had been raised in a whole year) levied armes, sent out edicts, requiring obedience unto their unlawful demands; and with all manner of violence pursued such as out of duty to his majesties authoritie opposed them by fines, confinements, imprisonment, banishment, death, and forfeiture of their property; and with their armie thus raised, invaded his majesties kingdom of england, and joyned with such as were in arms against his majestie there. and thus maintaining their usurped power, and violently executing the same against all law, conscience, honour and humanity, have made themselves instruments of much loss, shame and dishonour to their native countrey, and have justly forfeited anie favour they might have pretended to, from his majesties former concessions. and forasmuch as now it hath pleased almighty god, by the power of his own right hand, so miraculously to restore the kings majestie to the government of his kingdoms, and to the exercise of his royal power, and soveraigntie over the same, the estates of parliament do conceive themselves obliged, in discharge of their dutie and conscience to god and the kings majestie, to imploy all their power and interest, for vindicating his majesties authoritie from all these violent invasions that have been made upon it, and so far as possible to remove out of the way everything that may retain anie remembrance of these things, which have been so injurious to his majestie and his authoritie, so predjudicial and dishonourable to the kingdom, and destructive to all just and true interests within the same. and considering that, besides the unlawfulness of the publick actings during the troubles, most of the acts in all and every of the meetings of these pretended parliaments, do highly encroach upon, and are destructive of that sovereign power, authority, prerogative, and right of government, which by the law of god, and the ancient laws and constitutions of this kingdom, doth reside in, and belong unto, the kings majestie, and do reflect upon the honour, loyaltie, and reputation of this kingdom; or are expired, and serve only as testimonies of disloyaltie and reproach upon the kingdom, and are unfit to be any longer upon record. therefore the kings majestie and estates of parliament do hereby rescind and annull the pretended parliaments, kept in the years one thousand six hundred and fourty, one thousand six hundred and fourty one, one thousand six hundred and fourty four, one thousand six hundred and fourty five, one thousand six hundred and fourty six, one thousand six hundred and fourty seven, and one thousand six hundred and fourty eight, and all acts and deeds past and done in them, and declares the same to be henceforth void and null. and his majesty, being unwilling to take any advantage of the failings of his subjects during these unhappy times, is resolved not to retain any remembrance thereof, but that the same shall be held in everlasting oblivion: and that all difference and animosities be forgotten, his good subjects may in a happy union, under his royal government, enjoy that happiness and peace, which his majestie intends, and really wisheth unto them as unto himself, doth therefore, by advice and consent of his estates of parliament, grant his full assurance and indemnity to all persons that acted in, or by virtue of the said pretended parliaments, and other meetings flowing from the same, to be unquestioned in their lives or fortunes, or any deed or deeds done by them in their said usurpation, or by virtue of any pretended authority derived therefrom, excepting alwayes such as shall be excepted in a general act of indemnity, to be past by his majestie in this parliament. and it is hereby declared that all acts, rights and securities, past in any of the pretended meetings above written, or by virtue thereof, in favours of any particular persons for their civil and private interests shall stand good and valid unto them, untill the same be taken into further consideration, and determined in this, or the next session of this parliament." second session of first parliament of charles ii. edinburgh, may, .--_act for preservation of his majesties person, authority and government._ the estates of parliament, taking into their consideration the miseries, confusions, bondage and oppressions, this kingdom hath groaned under since the year, one thousand six hundred and thirty seven years, with the causes and occasions thereof: do, with all humble duty and thankfulness, acknowledge his majesties unparrallel'd grace and goodness, in passing by the many miscarriages of his subjects, and restoring the church and state to their ancient liberties, freedom, rights and possessions; and the great obligations thereby lying upon them to express all possible care and zeal in the preservation of his majesties person, (in whose honour and happinesse consisteth the good and welfare of his people) and in the security and establishment of his royal authority and government, against all such wicked attempts and practices for the time to come. and, since the rise and progress of the late troubles did, in a great measure, proceed from some treasonable and seditious positions infused into the people. that it was lawfull to subjects for reformation, to enter into covenants and leagues, or to take up arms against the king, or those commissionated by him, and such-like: and that many wilde and rebellious courses were taken and practised in pursuance thereof, by unlawful meetings and gatherings of the people, by mutinous and tumultuous petitions, by insolent and seditious protestations against his majesties royal and just commands, by entering into unlawfull oaths and covenants, by usurping the name and power of council tables and church judicatories, after they were by his majesty discharged, by treasonable declarations, that his majesty was not to be admitted to the exercise of his royal power, untill he should grant their unjust desires and approve their wicked practices, by rebellions rising in arms against his majestie and such as had commission from him; and by the great countenance, allowance and encouragement given to these pernicious courses by the multitude of seditious sermons, libels, and discourses, preached, printed and published in defence thereof: and considering that as the present age is not full freed of those distempers; so posterity may be apt to relapse therein, if timous remeed be not provided. therefore the king's majestie and estates of parliament do declare that these positions, that it is lawfull to subjects, upon pretence of reformation, or other pretence whatsoever, to enter into leagues and covenants, or to take up arms against the king; or that it is lawfull to subjects, pretending his majestys authority, to take up arms against his person or those commissionated by him, or to suspend him from the exercise of his royal government, or to put limitations upon their due obedience and allegiance, are rebellious and treasonable, and that all these gatherings, convocations, petitions, protestations, and erecting and keeping of council-tables, that were used in the beginning, and for carrying on, of the late troubles, were unlawful and seditious: and particularly, that these oaths, whereof the one was commonly called the national covenant, (as it was sworn and explained in the year one thousand, six hundred and thirty-eight, and thereafter) and the other entituled, a solemn league and covenant, were, and are in themselves unlawful oaths, and were taken by, and imposed upon, the subjects of this kingdom, against the fundamental laws and liberties of the same; and that there lyeth no obligation upon any of the subjects from the saids oaths, or either of them, to endeavour any change or alteration of government either in church or state; and therefore annuls all acts and constitutions, ecclesiastical or civil, approving the said pretended national covenant or league and covenant, or making any interpretations of the same or either of them. and also, it is hereby declared by his majesty and estates of parliament, that the pretended assemblie kept at glasgow in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty eight, was in itself (after the same was by his majestie discharged, under the pain of treason) an unlawfull and seditious meeting; and that all acts, deeds, sentences, orders, or decreets past therein, or by vertue of any pretended authority from the same, were in themselves from the beginning, are now, and in all time coming, to be reputed unlawful, void and null; and that all ratifications or confirmations of the same, past by whatsoever authority or in whatsoever meetings, shall from henceforth be void and null. likeas, his majesty and estates of parliament, reflecting on the sad consequences of these rebellious courses, and being carefull to prevent the like for the future, have therefore statute and ordained, and by these presents statutes and ordains, that, if any person or persons shall hereafter plot, contrive or intend destruction to the king's majesty, or any bodily harm tending to death or destruction, or any restraint upon his royal person, or to deprive, depose, or suspend him from the stile, honour and kingly name of the imperial crown of this realm, or any others his majesties dominions, or to suspend him from the exercise of his royal government, or to levy war or take up arms against his majesty or any commissionated by him, or shall entice any strangers or others to invade any of his majesties dominions; and shall by writing, printing, preaching or other malicious and advised speaking, express or declare such their treasonable intentions, every such person or persons, being upon sufficient probation legally convicted thereof, shall be deemed, declared and adjudged traitors, and shall suffer forfeiture of life, honour, lands, and goods as in cases of high treason. and further, it is by his majesty and estates of parliament declared, statute and enacted, that if any person or persons shall, by writing, printing, praying, preaching, libelling, remonstrating, or by any malicious and advised speaking, express, publish, or declare any words or sentences to stir up the people to the hatred or dislike of his majesties royal prerogative and supremacy in causes ecclesiastick, or of the government of the church by archbishops and bishops as it is now settled by law, or to justifie any of the deeds, actings, practices or things above-mentioned and declared against by this present act: that every such person or persons so offending, and being, as said is, legally convicted thereof, are hereby declared incapable to enjoy or exerce any place or imployment, civil, ecclesiastical, or military, within this church and kingdom, and shall be lyable to such further pains as are due by the law in such cases; provided alwayes, that no person be processed for any of the offences aforesaid, contained in this act, (other than these that are declared to be high treason) unless it be by order from his majesty, or by order of his privy council for the time; neither shall they incur any of the penalties above-mentioned, unless they be pursued within eight months after the offence committed, and sentenced thereupon within four months after the intenting of the process. and it is also declared, that if his majesty grant his pardon to any person convicted for any of the offences contained in this present act; after such pardon, the party pardoned shall be restored to all intents and purposes, as if he had never been pursued nor convicted any thing in this act to the contrary, notwithstanding. the torwood excommunication.[ ] after public worship, mr. cargill proceeded thus:--we have now spoken of excommunication, of the nature, subject, causes, and ends thereof. we shall now proceed to the action itself, being constrained by the conscience of our duty, and by zeal for god, to excommunicate some of those who have been the committers of such great crimes, and authors of the great mischiefs of britain and ireland, but especially those of scotland. in doing this, we shall keep the names by which they are ordinarily called, that they may be better known. i, being a minister of jesus christ, and having authority and power from him, do, in his name and by his spirit, excommunicate and cast out of the true church, and deliver up to satan, charles ii., king, etc., and that upon the account of these wickednesses:-- st, for his high contempt of god, in regard that after he had acknowledged his own sins, his father's sins, his mother's idolatry, and had solemnly engaged against them in a declaration at dunfermline, the th of august, , he hath, notwithstanding all this, gone on more avowedly in these sins than all that went before him. ndly, for his great perjury in regard that, after he had twice at least solemnly subscribed that covenant, he did so presumptuously renounce, and disown, and command it to be burnt by the hands of the hangman. rdly, because he hath rescinded all the laws for establishing that religion and reformation engaged unto in that covenant, and enacted laws for establishing its contrary; and also is still working for the introduction of popery into these lands. and thly, for commanding armies to destroy the lord's people, who were standing in their own just defence, and for their privileges and rights, against tyranny, and oppression and injuries of men, and for the blood he hath shed on fields, and scaffolds, and seas, of the people of god, upon account of religion and righteousness (they being willing in all other things to render him obedience, if he had reigned and ruled according to his covenant and oath), more than all the kings that have been before him in scotland. thly, that he hath been still an enemy to, and persecutor of, the true protestants; a favourer and helper of the papists, both at home and abroad; and hath, to the utmost of his power, hindered the due execution of the laws against them. thly, for his bringing guilt upon the kingdom, by his frequent grants of remissions and pardons to murderers (though it is in the power of no king to pardon murder, being expressly contrary to the law of god), an indulgence which is the only way to embolden men to commit murders, to the defiling of the land with blood. and lastly, to pass by all other things, his great and dreadful uncleanness of adultery and incest, his drunkenness, his dissembling both with god and men, and performing his promises, where his engagements were sinful. next, by the same authority, and in the same name, i excommunicate and cast out of the true church, and deliver up unto satan, james, duke of york, and that for his idolatry (for i shall not speak of any other sin but what hath been perpetrated by him in scotland), and for setting up idolatry in scotland to defile the lord's land, and for his enticing and encouraging to do so. next, in the same name, and by the same authority, i excommunicate and cast out of the true church, and deliver up unto satan, james, duke of monmouth, for coming unto scotland at his father's unjust command, and leading armies against the lord's people, who were constrained to rise, being killed in and for the worshipping of the true god, and for refusing, that morning, a cessation of arms at bothwell bridge, for hearing and redressing their injuries, wrongs and oppressions. next, i do, by virtue of the same authority, and in the same name, excommunicate and cast out of the true church, and deliver up unto satan, john, duke of lauderdale, for his dreadful blasphemy, especially for that word to the prelate of st. andrews, "sit thou at my right hand, until i make thine enemies thy footstool;" his atheistical drolling on the scriptures of god, and scoffing at religion and religious persons; his apostasy from the covenants and reformation, and his persecuting thereof, after he had been a professor, pleader, and presser thereof; for his perjury in the business of mr. james mitchell, who being in council gave public faith that he should be indemnified, and that, to life and limb, if he would confess his attempt on the prelate; and notwithstanding this, before the justiciary court, did give his oath that there was no such act in council; for his adultery and uncleanness; for his counselling and assisting the king in all his tyrannies, overturning and plotting against the true religion; for his gaming on the lord's day, and lastly for his usual and ordinary swearing. next, i do, by virtue of the same authority, and in the same name, excommunicate, cast out of the true church, and deliver up to satan, john, duke of rothes, for his perjury in the matter of mr. james mitchell; for his adulteries and uncleanness; for his allotting of the lord's day to his drunkenness; for his professing and avowing his readiness and willingness to set up popery in this land at the king's command: and for the heathenish, and barbarous and unheard of cruelty (whereof he was the chief author, contriver, and commander, notwithstanding his having engaged otherwise), to that worthy gentleman, david hackstoun of rathillet, and lastly, for his ordinary cursing, swearing, and drunkenness. and, i do, by virtue of the same authority, and in the same name, excommunicate, and cast out of the true church and deliver up to satan, sir george m'kenzie, the king's advocate, for his apostasy in turning into a profligacy of conversation, after he had begun a profession of holiness; for his constant pleading against, and persecuting unto the death, the people of god, and for alleging and laying to their charge things which in his conscience he knew to be against the word of god, truth and right reason, and the ancient laws of this kingdom; for his pleading for sorcerers, murderers, and other criminals, that before god and by the laws of the land ought to die, and for his ungodly, erroneous, fantastic, and blasphemous tenets printed in his pamphlets and pasquils. and, lastly, i do by virtue of the same authority, and in the same name, excommunicate, and cast out of the true church, and deliver up to satan, dalziell of binns, for his leading armies, and commanding the killing, robbing, pillaging and oppressing of the lord's people, and free subjects of this kingdom; for executing lawless tyrannies and lustful laws; for his commanding to shoot one findlay at a post at newmills, without any form of law, civil or military (he not being guilty of anything which they themselves accounted a crime); for his lewd and impious life, led in adultery and uncleanness from his youth, with a contempt for marriage, which is an ordinance of god; for all his atheistical and irreligious conversation, and lastly, for his unjust usurping and retaining of the estate of that worthy gentleman, william mure of caldwell, and his other injurious deeds in the exercise of his power. now i think, none that acknowledge the word of god, can judge these sentences to be unjust; yet some, it may be, to flatter the powers, will call them disorderly and informal, there not being warning given, nor probation led. but for answer: there has been warning given, if not with regard to all these, at least with regard to a great part of them. and, for probation, there needs none, their deeds being notour and public, and the most of them such as themselves do avow and boast of. and as the causes are just, so, being done by a minister of the gospel, and in such a way as the present persecution would admit of, the sentence is just, and there is no king, nor minister on earth, without repentance of the persons, can lawfully reverse these sentences upon any such account. god being the author of these ordinances to the ratifying of them, all that acknowledge the scriptures of truth, ought to acknowledge them. yet perchance, some will think that though they be not unjust, yet that they are foolishly rigorous. we shall answer nothing to this, but that word which we speak with much more reason than they that first used it, "should he deal with our sister, as with an harlot?" should they deal with our god as an idol? should they deal with his people as murderers and malefactors, and we not draw out his sword against them? act against conventicles.[ ] forasmuch as the assembling and convocating of his majesty's subjects, without his majesty's warrant and authority, is a most dangerous and unlawful practice, prohibit and discharged by several laws and acts of parliament, under high and great pains: and that notwithstanding thereof, diverse disaffected and seditious persons, under the specious but false pretences of religion and religious exercises, presume to make, and be present at conventicles and unwarrantable meetings and conventions of the subjects, which are the ordinary seminaries of separation and rebellion, tending to the prejudice of the public worship of god in the churches, to the scandal of the reformed religion, to the reproach of his majesty's authority and government, and to the alienating of the hearts and affections of the subjects from that duty and obedience they owe to his majesty, and the public laws of kingdom. for the suppressing and preventing of which for the time to come, his majesty, with advice and consent of his estates of parliament, hath thought fit to statute and enact, likeas they do hereby statute and command, that no outed ministers who are not licensed by the council, and no other persons not authorized, or tolerate by the bishop of the diocese, presume to preach, expound scripture, or pray in any meeting, except in their own houses, and to those of their own family; and that none be present at any meeting, without the family to which they belong, where any not licensed, authorized, nor tolerate as said is, shall preach, expound scripture, or pray: declaring hereby, all such who shall do in the contrary, to be guilty of keeping of conventicles; and that he, or they, who shall so preach, expound, or pray, within any house, shall be seized upon and imprisoned, till they find caution, under the pain of five thousand merks, not to do the like thereafter, or else enact themselves to remove out of the kingdom, and never return without his majesty's license; and that every person who shall be found to have been present at any such meetings, shall be _toties quoties_, fined according to their qualities, in the respective sums following, and imprisoned until they pay their fines, and further, during the council's pleasure, viz., each man or woman, having land in heritage, life-rent, or proper wadset, to be lined in a fourth part of his or her valued yearly rent; each tenant labouring land, in twenty-five pounds scots; each cottar, in twelve pounds scots, and each serving man, in a fourth part of his yearly fee: and where merchants or tradesmen do not belong to, or reside within burghs royal, that each merchant or chief tradesman be fined as a tenant, and each inferior tradesman as a cottar: and if any of the persons above-mentioned shall have their wives, or any of their children living in family with them, present at any such meeting, they are therefore to be fined in the half of the respective fines aforesaid, consideration being had to their several qualities and conditions. and if the master or mistress of any family, where any such meetings shall be kept, be present within the house for the time, they are to be fined in the double of what is to be paid by them, for being present at a house conventicle. and it is hereby declared, that magistrates of burghs royal are liable, for every conventicle to be kept within their burghs, to such fines as his majesty's council shall think fit to impose; and that the master or mistress of the house where the conventicle shall happen to be kept, and the persons present thereat, are to relieve the magistrates, as the council shall think fit to order the same; it being notwithstanding free to the council to fine the inhabitants of burghs for being present at conventicles within or without burghs, or where their wives or children shall be present at the same. and further, his majesty understanding that divers disaffected persons have been so maliciously wicked and disloyal, as to convocate his majesty's subjects to open meetings in the fields, expressly contrary to many public laws made thereanent, and considering that these meetings are the rendezvouses of rebellion, and tend in a high measure to the disturbance of the public peace, doth therefore, with advice and consent foresaid, statute and declare, that whosoever, without license or authority foresaid, shall preach, expound scripture, or pray, at any of those meetings in the field, or in any house where there be more persons than the house contains, so as some of them be without doors (which is hereby declared to be a field conventicle) or who shall convocate any number of people to these meetings, shall be punished with death, and confiscation of their goods. and it is hereby offered and assured, that if any of his majesty's good subjects shall seize and secure the persons of any who shall either preach or pray at these field-meetings, or convocate any persons thereto, they shall, for every such person so seized and secured, have five hundred merks paid unto them for their reward, out of his majesty's treasury, by the commissioners thereof, who are hereby authorised to pay the same; and the said seizers and their assistants are hereby indemnified for any slaughter that shall be committed in the apprehending and securing of them. and, as to all heritors and others aforesaid, who shall be present at any of these field-conventicles, it is hereby declared, they are to be fined, _toties quoties_, in the double of the respective fines appointed for house conventicles; but prejudice of any other punishment due to them by law as seditious persons and disturbers of the peace and quiet of the kirk and kingdom. and, seeing the due execution of laws is the readiest means to procure obedience to the same; therefore, his majesty, with consent and advice foresaid, doth empower, warrant, and command all sheriffs, stewarts of stewartries, lords of regalities, and their deputes, to call before them, and try all such persons who shall be informed to have kept, or been present at, conventicles within their jurisdictions, and to inflict upon these who shall be found guilty, the respective fines exprest in this act; they being always countable to the commissioners of his majesty's treasury, for the fines of all heritors within their bounds. and his majesty, for the encouragement of the said sheriffs, stewarts, and lords of regalities, to be careful and diligent in their duties therein, doth allow to themselves all the fines of any persons within their jurisdictions, under the degree of heritors; and requires the lords of his majesty's privy council to take exact trial of their care and diligence herein; and if the sheriffs, stewarts, and bailiffs, be negligent in their duties, or if the magistrates within burghs shall be negligent in their utmost diligence, to detect and delate to the council all conventicles within their burghs, that the council inflict such censures and punishments upon them as they shall think fit. and the lords of his majesty's privy council are hereby required to be careful in the trial of all field and house-conventicles kept since the first day of october, one thousand six hundred and sixty-nine, and before the date hereof, and that they punish the same conform to the laws and acts of state formerly made thereanent. and lastly, his majesty, being hopeful that his subjects will give such cheerful obedience to the laws as there shall not be long use of this act, hath therefore, with advice foresaid, declared that the endurance thereof shall only be for three years, unless his majesty shall think fit that it continue longer. the sanquhar declaration.[ ] it is not amongst the smallest of the lord's mercies to this poor land that there have been always some who have given their testimony against every course of defection, (that many are guilty of) which is a token for good, that he doth not as yet intend to cast us off altogether, but that he will leave a remnant in whom he will he glorious, if they, through his grace, keep themselves clean still, and walk in his way and method, as it has been walked in and owned by him in our predecessors of truly worthy memory, in their carrying on of our noble work of reformation in the several steps thereof, from popery, prelacy, and likewise erastian supremacy, so much usurped by him, who (it is true so far as we know) is descended from the race of our kings, yet he hath so far deborded from what he ought to have been, by his perjury and usurpation in church matters, and tyranny in matters civil, as is known by the whole land, that we have just reason to account it one of the lord's great controversies against us, that we have not disowned him and the men of his practices, (whether inferior magistrates or any other) as enemies to our lord and his crown, and the true protestant and presbyterian interest in thir lands, our lord's espoused bride and church. therefore, although we be for government and governors such as the word of our god and our covenant allows, yet we for ourselves and all that will adhere to us as the representatives of the true presbyterian kirk and covenanted nation of scotland, considering the great hazard of lying under such a sin any longer, do by thir presents disown charles stuart, that has been reigning (or rather tyrannizing as we may say) on the throne of britain these years bygone, as having any right, title to, or interest in, the said crown of scotland for government, as forfeited several years since, by his perjury and breach of covenant both to god and his kirk, and usurpation of his crown and royal prerogatives therein, and many other breaches in matters ecclesiastic, and by his tyranny and breach of the very _leges regnandi_ in matters civil. for which reason we declare, that several years since he should have been denuded of being king, ruler, or magistrate, or of having any power to act, or to be obeyed as such. as also, we, being under the standard of our lord jesus christ, captain of salvation, do declare a war with such a tyrant and usurper, and all the men of his practices, as enemies to our lord jesus christ and his cause and covenants; and against all such as have strengthened him, sided with, or any wise acknowledged him in his tyranny, civil or ecclesiastic, yea, against all such as shall strengthen, side with, or any wise acknowledge any other in the like usurpation and tyranny, far more against such as would betray or deliver up our free reformed mother-kirk unto the bondage of antichrist, the pope of rome. and by this we homologate that testimony given at rutherglen, the th of may, , and all the faithful testimonies of these who have gone before, as also of these who have suffered of late. and we do disclaim that declaration published at hamilton, june, , chiefly because it takes in the king's interest, which we are several years since loosed from, because of the foresaid reasons, and others, which may after this (if the lord will) be published. as also we disown, and by this resent the reception of the duke of york, that professed papist, as repugnant to our principles and vows to the most high god, and as that which is the great, though not alone, just reproach of our kirk and nation. we also by this protest against his succeeding to the crown; and whatever has been done, or any are essaying to do in this land (given to the lord), in prejudice to our work of reformation. and to conclude, we hope after this none will blame us for, or offend at our rewarding these that are against us as they have done to us as the lord gives opportunity. this is not to exclude any that have declined, if they be willing to give satisfaction according to the degree of their offence. _given at sanquhar, june nd, ._ protestation against the union.[ ] it will, no doubt, be reputed by many very unseasonable to protest at this time, against this union, now so far advanced and by their law established; but the consideration of the superabundant, palpable and eminent sins, hazards, and destructions to religion, laws, and liberties that are in it, and natively attend it, is such a pressing motive, that we can do no less, for the exoneration of our consciences in shewing our dislike of the same, before the sitting down of the british parliament, lest our silence should be altogether interpreted, either a direct or indirect owning of, or succumbing to the same: and though, having abundantly and plainly declared our principles formerly, and particularly in our last declaration, may , , against the then intended union; and waiting for more plain discovery of dissatisfaction with, and opposition unto this abominable course, by these of better capacitie, yet being herein so far disappointed in our expectations of such honourable and commendable appearances, for the laudable laws, and antient constitutions of this kingdom, both as to sacred and civil concerns, all these appearances, whither by addresses or protestations being so far lame and defective, as that the resolutions and purposes of such have never been fairly and freely remonstrat to the contrivers, promoters and establishers of this union. the consideration of which, and the lamentable case and condition the land already is, and may be in, by reason of the same, hath moved us, after the example and in imitation of the cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, to protest against the same, as being contrar to the word of god, and repugnant to our former union with england in the terms of the solemn league and covenant. and whereas it hath been the good will and pleasure of almighty god, to grant unto this nation a glorious and blessed reformation of the true christian religion, from the errors, idolatry, and superstition of popery and prelacy, and there withall to bless us with the power and purity of heavenly doctrine, worship, discipline, and government in the church of god, according to his will revealed in the holy scriptures; and to let us have all this accompanyed and attended with many great and singular blessings, in the conversion and comfort of many thousands, and in reforming and purging the land from that gross ignorance, rudeness and barbarity, that once prevailed among us. wherefore our zealous and worthy forefathers, being convinced of the benefit and excellency of such incomparable and unvaluable mercies, thought it their duty, not only by all means to endeavour the preservation of these, but also to transmit to posterity a fair _depositum_ and copy in purity and integrity, and as a fit expedient and mean to accomplish and perfect the same, they entered into the national covenant (no rank or degree of persons, from the highest to the lowest excepted) wherein they bound themselves to defend the reformation of religion in every part and point of the same, with their lives and fortunes to the outmost of their power, as may be seen in the national covenant of this church and kingdom, which was five times solemnly sworn. likeas the lord was so pleased to bless our land, and to beautify it with his presence, that our neighbour nations of england and ireland, who beheld this, and were groaning under and likeways aiming at the removal and abolishing of popery and prelacy, had sought and obtained assistance from this nation to help them in their endeavours for that end, and had been owned of god with success, they likeways thought it fit to enter into a most solemn league and covenant with this church and kingdom for reformation and defence of religion, wherein, with their hands lifted up to the most high god, they do bind and oblige themselves to maintain, preserve and defend, whatever measure and degree of reformation they had attained unto, and mutually to concurr, each with another with their lives and fortunes in their several places and callings, in opposition to all the enemies of the same, as may be seen at large in the solemn league and covenant. by means of which, these nations became (as it were) dedicated and devoted to god in a peculiar and singular manner, above all other people in the world and that by an indisolvable and indispensable obligation to perform, observe and fulfill the duties sworn too, and contained therein, from which no power on earth can absolve us. and so to prosecute and carry on the ends of the same, and to evidence our firm adherance to it, with the outmost of our endeavours, in opposition to every thing contradictory or contrar unto or exclusive of these our sacred vows. we have from time to time for these several years bypast, emitted and published several declarations and publick testimonies against the breaches of the same, as is evident not only from our declarations of late, but also from all the wrestlings and contendings of the faithful in former times, all which we here adhere to, approve of, and homologate, as they are founded upon the word of god and are agreeable thereto. and in this juncture to perpetuat and transmit to posterity the testimony of this church, and to acquit ourselves as faithful to god, and zealous for the concerns of religion, and every thing that's dear to us as men and christians. we here testify and protest against the prompters to, promoters or establishers of, and against every thing that hath tended to the promoting, advancing, corroborating, or by law establishing such a wicked and ruining union; and hereby we also declare against the validity of the proceedings of the late parliament with reference to the carrying on, and establishing the said union; and that their acts shall not be look't upon as obligatory to us, nor ought to be by posterity, nor any way prejudicial to the cause of god, and the covenanted work of reformation in this church, nor to the beeing, liberty, and freedom of parliaments, according to the laudable and antient pratique of this kingdom, the which we do not only for ourselves, but also in the name of all such as shall join or concurr with us in this our protestation, and therefore we protest. in regard, that the said union is a visible and plain subversion of the fundamental antient constitutions, laws and liberties of this kingdom, which we as a free people have enjoyed for the space of about two thousand years, without ever being fully conquered, and we have had singular and remarkable stepts of providence preventing our utter sinking, and preserving us from such a deludge and overthrow, which some other nations more mighty and opulent than we, have felt, and whose memory is much extinct: while by this incorporating union with england in their sinful terms, this nation is debased and enslaved, its antient independency lost and gone, the parliamentary power dissolved which was the very strength, bulwork and basis of all liberties and priviledges of persons of all ranks, of all manner of courts and judicatories, corporations and societies within this kingdom; all which, now, must be at the disposal and discreation of the british parliament, (to which, by this union, this nation must be brought to full subjection) and furder the number of peers, who have many times ventured their lives for the interest of their country, having reputation and success at home and were famous and formidable abroad: and the number of barons and burrows famous sometime, for courage and zeal for the interest of their country (and, more especially in our reforming times) all these, reduced to such an insignificant and small number in the brittish parliament, we say, (as is also evident from the many protestations given in to the late parliament against this union) how far it is contrary to the honour, interest, foundamental laws, and constitutions of this kingdom, and a palpable surrender of the soveraignity, rights and priviledges of the nation; and how by this surrender of parliament and soveraignity the people are deprived and denuded of all security, as to any thing that's agreed to by this union, and all that's dear to them, is daily in danger to be encroached upon, altered or subverted by the said brittish parliament, managed intirely by the english, who seldom have consulted our well-fare, but rather have sought opportunity to injure us, and are now put in a greater capacity with more ease to act to our prejudice: and poor people to be made lyable to taxes, levies and unsupportable burdens, and many other imminent hazards and impositions, all which we here protest against. as also that which is little considered (tho' most lamentable), how the foundamental constitutions should be altered, subverted, and overturned, not only, _renitente and reclamante populo_, but also by such men, who, if the righteous and standing laws of the nation were put in execution, are uncapable of having any vote or suffrage in any judicatory; seeing the covenants national and solemn league, which had the assent and concurrence of the three estates of parliament, and the sanction of the civil law, cordially and harmoniously assenting to, complying with, and coroborrating the acts and canons of ecclesiastick courts in favour of these covenants, whereby they became the foundation whence any had right to reign or govern in this land, and also became the foundation, limitation, and constitution of the government and succession to the crown of this realm, and the qualification of all magistrats supreame, and subordinate, and of all officers in church, state, or army, and likewise the ground and condition of the peoples obedience and subjection, as may be seen in the acts, laws, and practise of these times: witness the admission of charles ii. to the government, _anno_ . from all which it is evident how blind such men have been, who not only have enslaved the nation, but have rendered themselves unfamous by such an open and manifest violation of these solemn and sacred vows to the most high god, to the obligation of which they as well as the rest of the land, are indispensibly bound. but ah! when we mention these covenants, how notorious and palpable is the breach of, and indignity done to these solemn vows by this sinful union, by means whereof they come to be buried in perpetual oblivion, and all means for prosecuting their ends are so blockt up by this incorporating union with england, as that what ever is or may be done or acted contrair thereunto, or in prejudice thereof by any of the enemies of the same, cannot be remeided in a due and impartial exercise of church discipline, and execution of the laws of the land against such transgressors. and if we would open our eyes and consider a little with reference to our national covenant, we may clearly see that this incorporating union is directly contrar to that particular oath and vow made to god by us in this kingdom, which we are obliged to fulfill and perform in a national state and capacity, as we are a particular nation by ourselves, distinct in the constitution of our government and laws from these of england, and from all others: but now when we cease to be a particular nation, we being no way distinct from that of england (which is the very genuine and inevitable effect of this union) how then can we keep our national vows to god, when we shall not be a particular nation, but only (by means of this incorporating union) made a part of another nation, whose government is manag'd, as is very well known, in many things directly contrar to what is contained in this national covenant of this land; though we have charity to believe, there shall multitudes be found in the land who will grant and acknowledge themselves bound to the observation of that oath by an indispensibility, which no power on earth can disolve. and what a palpable breach is this wicked union of our solemn league and covenant, which was made and sworn with uplifted hands to the most high god, for purging and reforming his house in these three nations from error, heresie, superstition and profaneness, and whatever is contrar to sound and pure doctrine, worship, discipline, and government in the same: and so it involves this nation in most fearful perjury before god, being contrar to the very first article of the covenant wherein we swear to contribute our outmost endeavours in our several places and callings to reform england in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government; but by this union both we and they are bound up for ever from all endeavours and attempts of this nature, and have put ourselves out of a capacity to give any help or assistance that way; but on the contrar they came to be hardened in their deformation, impious and superstitious courses. and how far contrar to the second article, where we solemnly abjure prelacy for ever, when by this union, prelacy comes for ever to be established and settled on the surest and strongest foundations imaginable, as is evident from the ratification of the articles in the english parliament, with the exemplification of the same in the scots parliament, where the prelatick government in england is made a foundamental article of the union: so it is also impossible for us to fulfill the other part of that article, where we forswear schism, which a legal tolleration of errors will infer and fix among us, as the native result and inevitable consequence of this union; and how far this is contrar to the word of god, and to our covenants, any considering person may decern. as to the third article, any may see how far it is impossible for us to preserve the rights, liberties, and priviledges of parliament and kingdom, when divested both of our parliaments and liberties in a distinct national way, or yet as according to the same article, where we are obliged to maintain and defend the king, his majesty's person and government in defence and preservation of the true religion; how can it be supposed, that we can answer our obligation to this part of the covenant, when a corrupt religion is established, as is by this union already done, when prelatick government is made a foundamental thereof. and it is a clear breach of the fourth article of the solemn league and covenant, where we swear to oppose all malignants and hinderers of reformation and religion, and yet by this union, the prelats, who themselves are the very malignants and enemies to all further reformation in religion are hereby settled and secured in all their places of power and dignity, without the least appearance or ground of expectation of any alteration for ever. how offensive and displeasing unto god this accursed union is, may be further evident by its involving this land in a sinful conjunction and association with prelats, malignants, and many other enemies to god and godliness, and stated adversaries to our reformation of religion and sworn-to principles in our covenants national and solemn league, and particularly as this union imbodys and units us in this land in the strickest conjunction and association with england, a land so deeply already involved in the breach of covenant, and pestered with so many sectaries, errors and abominable practices, and joins us in issue and interest with these that are tollerators, maintainers and defenders of these errors, which the word of god strictly prohibits, and our sacred covenants plainly and expressly abjures. and further, how far and deeply it ingages this land in a confedracy and association with god's enemies at home and abroad in their expeditions and counsels; a course so often prohibeted by god in his word, and visibly pleagued in many remarkable instances of providences, as may be seen both in sacred and historical records, and the unlawfulness thereof, on just and scriptural grounds, demonstrate by famous divines, even of our own church and nation, and set down as a cause of god's wrath against this church and kingdom. and how detestable must such an union be, whose native tendency leads to wear off, from the dissenting party in england, all sight, sense, consideration and belief of the indispensibility of the solemn league, and hardening enemies in their opposition to it, and these of all ranks in the habitual breach of it: yea also, how shamefully it leads to the obliterating and extinguishing all the acts of parliaments and assemblies made in favours of these covenants and reformation, especially between and inclusive. and not only so, but to a trampling on all the blood of martyrs during the late tyrannical reigns, and a plain burying of all the testimonies of the suffering and contending party in this land, in their firm, faithful and constant adherance to the covenanted work of reformation, and their declarations, protestations, and wrestlings against all the indignities done unto, and usurpations made upon the royal crown and prerogative of the mediator, and all the priviledges and instrinsick rights of this church; we say, not only burying these in perpetual oblivion by this cope-stone of the land's sins and defections, but also opposing and condemning these as matters of the least concern and trivial, as not being worthy of the contending and suffering for, whereby these who ventured their lives and their all, may be reputed to have dyed as fools, and suffered justly. we cannot here omit also to declare and testify against the constitution of the british parliament, not only upon the consideration of the foresaid grounds and reasons, but also upon the account of the sinful mixture and unlawful admission of bishops and churchmen, to have a share in the legislative power, or in any place in civil courts or affairs, and thereto act or vote forensically in civil matters, a thing expressly forbidden and discharged by christ the only head and lord of his own house, whose kingdom, as mediator, is not of this world, but purely spiritual; and so the officers in his house must be spiritual; so that the civil power of church men is a thing inconsistent and incompatible with that sacred and spiritual function. upon which consideration, how palpable a sin will it be to subject to, or accept of any oath that may be imposed by the said british parliament, for the maintenance and support of such an union, or for recognoseing, owning and acknowledging the authority of the said parliament, and that because of our swearing, and promising subjection to the said parliament, we do thereby homologate the foresaid sinful constitution, and swear, and promise subjection to the bishops of england who are a considerable part of that parliament, and so we shall be bound and oblidged to maintain and uphold them in their places, dignities, and offices, which is contrar to the word of god and our covenants, while the very first article of the solemn league oblidges us to endeavour the reformation of the religion in the kingdom of england, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, according to the word of god, as well as in scotland. and it is very well known that the government of bishops is not according to the word of god, but contrar to it, and likeways contrar the second article of the solemn league whereby we are obliged to the extirpation of prelacy, that is, church government by archbishops, bishops, &c., which we will be obliged by such an oath to maintain and defend. and besides, from the consideration of the person that by the patrons and establishes of this union, and by the second article of the union itself, is nominated and designed to succeed after the decease of the present queen anne, in the government of these nations, to wit the prince of hanover, who hath been bred and brought up in the luthren religion, which is not only different from, but even in many things contrar unto that purity, in doctrine, reformation, and religion, we in these nations had attained unto, as is very well known. now, the admitting such a person to reign over us, is not only contrar to our solemn league and covenant, but to the very word of god itself; requiring and commanding one from among their brethren, and not a stranger who is not a brother, to be set over them: whereby undoubtedly is understood, not only such who were of consanguinity with the people of the land, but even such as served and worshipped the god of israel; and not any other, and that in the true and perfect way of worshipping and serving him, which he himself hath appointed, as they then did, to which this intended succession is quite contrary. and besides this, he is to be solemnly engaged and sworn to the prelats of england, to maintain, protect, and defend them in all their dignities, dominion, and revenues, to the preventing and excluding all reformation out of these nations for ever. and upon the like and other weighty reasons and considerations (as popish education, conversation, etc.) we protest against, and disown the pretended prince of wales from having any just right to rule or govern these nations, or to be admitted to the government thereof: and whereas (as is reported) we are maliciously aspersed by these who profess themselves of the presbyterian perswasion, especially the laodicean preachers, that we should be accessory to the advancement of him whom they call the prince of wales to the throne of britain: therefore to let all concerned be fully assured of the contrary, we protest and testifie against all such so principled to have any right to rule in thir lands, because we look upon all such to be standing in a stated opposition to god and our covenanted work of reformation. not that we contemn, deny or reject civil government and governours (as our former declared principles to the world make evident) but are willing to maintain, own, defend and subject to all such governours as shall be admitted according to our covenants, and laws of the nation, and act in defence of our covenanted work of reformation, and in defence of the nations ancient liberties and priviledges, according to the laudable laws and practique of this kingdom. and further, we cannot but detest, abominate and abhor, and likeways protest against the vast and unlimitted tolleration of error and sectaries, which, as a necessary and native consequence of this union, will inevitably follow thereupon, and whereby a plain and patent way is laid open for these errors, which will certainly have a bad influence upon all the parts, pieces, and branches of the reformation, both in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, yea even upon the most momentuous and fundamental articles of the christian faith: for hereby anabaptists, erastians, socinians, arminians, quakers, theists, atheists, and libertines of all kinds, with many others (which abound and swarm in that land) will come crouding and thronging in among us, venting and vomiting up their damnable and hellish tenets and errors to the destruction of souls, and great dishonour of god in many respects, and that without any check or control by civil authority, as is evident from the present practice of england, as having gotten full and free libertie for all this by means of this accursed union. how then ought not every one to be affrayed, when incorporating themselves with such a people so exposed to the fearful and tremendous judgments of god, because of such gross impieties and immoralities (not that our land is free of such hainous wickednesses as may draw down a judgment, but there these evils are to a degree) for what unparalelled, universal, national perjury is that land guilty of, both toward god and man (though there were no more) by the breach of the solemn league and covenant that they once made with this nation, for the defence and reformation of religion: but also what abominable lasciviousness, licentiousness, luxury, arrogancy, impiety, pride and insolence, together with the vilest of whoredoms, avowed breach of sabbath, and most dreadful blasphemies, yea, the contempt of all that's sacred and holy; gets liberty to reign and predomine without check or challenge, so that joining with such people, cannot but expose us, as well as them, to the just judgment of god, while continuing in these sins. and here we cannot pass by the unfaithfulness of the present ministers (not that we judge all of them to be cast in the same ballance) who at the first beginning of this work seemed to be so zealously set against it, and that both in their speeches, sermons and discourses (which was duty). but yet in a very little after flinched from, and became generally so dumb, silent, indifferent or ambiguous to the admiration of many, so that people knew not what to construct. but from what cause or motive they were so influenced, they know best themselves: sure their duty both to god and man was, to shew and declare how shameful, hurtful, and highly sinful this course was as so circumstantiat. and if ministers faithfulness and zeal to the concerns of christ had led them to such freedom and plainness, as was duty in such a matter, and had discovered how contrary this union was to the fundamental laws and sworn principles, by all probability they might have had such influence as to stop such an unhallowed and unhappy project. but it seems their policy hath utwitted their piety, their pleasing of man in conniving at, if not complying with their design that was carried on, hath weighed more with them, than the pleasing of god, in their witnessing and testifying against it. (but to say no more) by the negligence of ministers on the one hand, and the politicks of statesmen on the other hand, this wicked and naughty business has been carryed on and accomplished, to the provocking of god, enslaving the nation, and bringing the same under manifest perjury and breach of covenant. but how to evite the judgments pronunced against such, we know not, but by returning to their first love, taking up their first ground, and standing to sworn covenants, solemnly unto god, and adhereing to the cause of god, and the faithful testimonies of this church, and seeking back unto the old path, abandoning and shaking off and forsaking all these god-provoking and land-ruining courses; we say, we know and are perswaded, there can be no mean to retrive us in this land, but by unfeigned repentance, and returning unto him from whom we have so deeply revolted. and among the politicks of this age, it could not but be reckoned the wisdom of the nation, if ever they get themselves recovered out of the snare, to animadvert upon all such, as have had any hand in the contriving or manadging it, as being enemies both to god and their country; which course, if it had been taken in former times, with such who were enemies to religion and liberty, it would have deterred such from being so active in this fatal stroak. upon these and many more weighty considerations, plain and demonstrable evils in this complex mass of sin and misery, all the true lovers of zion who desire to be found faithful to god, to their vows and sworn principles, and who seek to be found faithful in their generation and duty of the day: and all such, who desire, love and respect the honour, independency, liberty and priviledge of their native countrey, especially in such a juncture, when long threatned judgments are so imminent, and religion and liberty as it were, in their last breathing, will easily find it to be their bound duty (as they would not conspire with adversaries to religion and liberty) to show no favour or respect, and give no encouragement or assistance that may tend to the upholding or supporting this union; but that it is their duty and concernment (as well as ours) to testify and declare against the same, and to concurr with their utmost endeavours to stop and hinder the same, and to deny their accession to, connivance at, or complyance with any thing that may tend to the continuing such an unsupportable yoke upon themselves or their posterity. and now to draw this, our protestation, to a conclusion, we heartily invite, and in the bowels of our lord jesus christ intreat all in both nations, who tender the glory of god, the removing the causes of his wrath, indignation and imminent judgments upon us, and who desire the continuance of his tabernacle, gospel ordinances, and gracious presence among us, and seek and contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints; and labour to follow the footsteps of these who throu' faith and patience inherit the promise, the noble cloud of witnesses who have gone before us; we say, we heartily invite and intreat such to consider their ways, and to come and join in a harmonious, zealous, and faithful withstanding all and every thing that may be like a hightning, or cope-stone of our defections, and particularly to join with us (according to our reformation, covenants, confession of faith, and testimonies of our church, as agreeable to the sacred and unerring rule of faith and manners, the holy scriptures) in this our protestation and testimony. and for these effects, we desire that this our protestation may be a standing testimony to present and succeeding ages, against the sinfulness of this land-ruining, god-provoking, soul destroying and posterity-enslaving and ensnaring union, and this _ad futurum rei memoriam_. and to evite the brand and odium of passing the bounds of our station, and that this our protestation may be brought to the view of the world; we have thought fit to publish and leave a copy of the same at sanquhar by a part of our number, having the unanimous consent of the whole so to do. _given on the nd day of october, ._ secession from the revolution church.[ ] we, mr. john mackmillan, present minister of the gospel at balmaghie, and mr. john mackneil, preacher of the gospel, being most odiously and invidiously represented to the world as schismaticks, separatists and teachers of unsound and divisive doctrine, tending to the detriment of church and state, and especially by ministers with whom we were embodied, while there remained any hope of getting grievances redressed. therefore, that both ministers and professors may know the unaccountableness of such aspersions, let it be considered that this backsliding church (when we with others might have been big with expectations for advancement in reformation) continued in their defections from time to time, still, as occasion was given, evidencing their readiness to comply with every new backsliding course, instance that of the oath of alledgance, and bond of assurance to the present queen; which additional step to the former gave occasion and rise to our unhappy contentions and divisions. and now at this time, for the glory of god, the vindication of truth and of ourselves (as conscience and reason obligeth us), to make evident to the world the groundlesness of these aspersions and calumnies as renters and dividers, and particularly in the commissions late odious and malicious lybel, wherein are contained many gross falsehoods, such as swearing persons not to pay cess, and travelling throw the country with scandalous persons in arms, which, as they are odious culumnies in themselves, so they will never be proven by witnesses: and, as to our judgment anent the cess, we reckon it duty in the people of god to deny and withhold all support, succour, aid, or assistance that may contribute to the upholding or strengthening the man of sin, or any of the adversaries of truth, (as the word of god instructs us) or for supporting any in such a way, as tending to the establishing the kingdom of satan, and bringing down the kingdom of the son of god, in a course tending this way, how deeply these nations are engadged (contrar to the word of god and our indispensible oaths and covenants, whereby these lands were solemnly devoted to god) is too palpable and plain, especially in the sinful terms of the late god provoking, religion destroying, and land ruining union: we judge it most necessary to give to the world a brief and short account of our principles in what we own or disown (referring for larger, more ample information, to several protestations and testimonies given by some of the godly heretofore at different times and places) and hereby that truth may be vindicated and our consciences exonered. we declare to the world our hearty desire to embrace and adhere to the written word of god, contained in the holy scriptures of the old and new testament, as the only and compleat rule and adequat umpire of faith and manners, and whatever is founded thereupon, and agreeable thereunto; such as our confession of faith; larger and shorter catechisms; directory for worship; covenants national and solemn league; the acknowledgment of sin and engagement to duties; causes of god's wrath, and the ordinary and perpetual officers of christ's appointment, as pastors, doctors, elders and deacons, and the form of church government, commonly called presbyterian. next, we declare our firm adherence to all the faithful contendings for truth, whether of old or of late, by ministers and professors, and against whatever sinful courses, whether more refined or more gross, and particularly the public resolutions cromwel's usurpation, the toleration of sectaries, and heresies in his time, and against the sacraligious usurpation and tyranny of charles ii., the unfaithfulness of ministers and professors in complying with him, and accepting his indulgences first and last. and in a word to everything agreeable to the matter of this our testimony, as it is declared in page and of the informatory vindication; printed _anno_ . likeways, we declare our adherence unto the testimony against the abominable toleration granted by the duke of york, and given in to the ministers at edinburgh, by that faithful minister and now glorified martyr, mr. james renwick, january , . and to whatever wrestlings or contendings have been made, or testimonies given against the endeavours of any in their subtle and sedulous striving to insinuate and engadge us in a sinful confederacy with a malignant interest and cause, contrar to the word of god, our solemn league and covenant, and testimony of this church. next, we bear testimony against persons being invested with royal power and authority in thir covenanted lands, without a declaration of their hearty complyance with, and approbation of the national and solemn league and covenant and engadgment to prosecute the ends thereof, by consenting to and ratifying all acts and laws made in defence of these covenants, agreeable to the word of god, and laudable acts and practise of this kirk and kingdom in our best times. moreover, we bear testimony against all confederacies and associations with popish prelats and malignants, contrary to the word of god and our solemn engadgments. the magistrats adjourning and dissolving of assemblies, and not allowing them time to consider and exped their affairs: their appointing them dyets and causes of fasts, particularly that in january : and the thanksgiving aug. , _anno_ , which is a manifest encroachment upon, and destructive to the priviledges of this church: their protecting of curats in the peaceable exercise of their ministry, some in kirks, others in meeting houses, yea, even in the principal city of the kingdom, if qualified according to law by swearing the oath of alledgance. their not bringing unto condign punishment enemies to the covenant and cause of god, but advancing such to places of power and trust: all which we here bear testimony against. next, we bear testimony against lukewarmness and unfaithfulness in ministers anent the corruptions and defections the church was guilty of in the late times, not yet purged and removed by censures, and other ways, as was duty. and their not leaving faithful and joint testimonies against all the encroachments made upon the church by the civil powers, since the year . and we bear testimony against the settling the constitution of this church, according as it was established in the year . and the ministers not testifying against this deed, seems to import a disowning all the reformation attained to betwixt and inclusive. at least cowardice in not daring to avouch the same, or their being ashamed to own it, because many famous and faithful acts of assemblies, especially about the year , would have made them lyable to censure, even to the length of silencing and deposition; for their defection and unfaithfulness during the late times, of the lands apostasie. particularly, the weakning the hands and discouraging the hearts of the lord's suffering people, by their bitter expressions, and aspersions cast on them for their zeal and tenderness, which would not allow them to comply with a wicked, arbitrary and bloody council as many of them did. their not renewing the covenant buried for upwards of fifty years by the greatest part of the land, contrar to the former practise of this church, especially after some grosser steps of defection. their receiving of perjured curats into ministerial communion, without covenant tyes and obligations and evident signs of their repentance, contrary to the former practise of this church. their receiving some lax tested men, and curates, elders, into kirk offices, without some apparent signs at least of their repentance in a publick appearance, contrar to the former practise of this church in such like cases, evident by the acts of the assemblies. their not protesting formally, faithfully and explicitly against the magistrate adjourning and dissolving of assemblies, and recording the same, contrar to the practise of this church in our reforming times. we are not concerned to notice the protestation of some few persons at particular times, seeing their precipitancy and rashness in this matter, (as they accounted it) was afterward apologized for; and that it was not the deed of the assembly. their not asserting in any explicit and formal act the divine right of presbytry, and the instrinsick power of the church, though often desired by many privat christians, and some several members, their not confirming and ratifying the acts of the assemblies that were made in our best times for strengthening and advancing the work of reformation, contrar to the former practise of this church. their admitting in many places, ignorant and scandalous persons to the lord's table, contrar to the acts of former assemblies: their not protesting against the present sinful confederacy with papists, malignants, and other enemies of religion and godliness; contrar to the word of god, and former practise of this church: their offensive partiality in their respective judicatories as to some particular members, where, the more lax and scandalous are overlooked and past by, and the more faithful and zealous are severely dealt with and handled, contrar to the rule of equity and the former practise of this church: their refusing and shifting to receive and redress the people's just and great grievances, and little regard had to prevent the giving offence to the lord's people, and small endeavours to have these things removed that are stumbling and offensive to them, contrar to the apostle's rule and practise, who became all things to all men that by all means he might save some: their not declaring faithfully and freely against the sins of the land former and latter, without respect of persons, contrar to that express precept, "set the trumpet to thy mouth, and show my people their transgressions, and the house of jacob their sin." lastly, we bear testimony against ministers sinful and shameful silence, when called to speak and act by preaching and protesting against this unhallowed union, which, as it is already the stain, so we swear it will prove the ruin and bain of this poor nation; though some of them, we grant, signified their dislike thereof, before and about the time it was concluded, yet there was no plain and express protestation, faithfully and freely given in to the parliament, shewing the sinfulness and danger of this cursed union, being contrar, not only to the honour, interest, and fundamental laws, and constitutions of the kingdom, and a palpable surrender of the sovereignty, rights and priviledges of the nation, but also a manifest breach of our solemn league and covenant, which was made and sworn with uplifted hands to the most high god, for purging and reforming the three nations from error, heresy, superstition and prophaneness, and whatever is contrar to sound doctrine, the power of godliness, and the purity of worship, discipline and government in the same. and so it involves this nation into a most fearful perjury before god, being contrar to the first article of the covenant, wherein we swear to contribute with our outmost endeavours, in our several places and callings, to reform england in doctrine, worship, discipline and government; but by this union we are bound up for ever from all endeavours and attempts of this nature, and have put ourselves out of all capacity to give any help or assistance that way, as ye may see more fully in the late protestation against the union, published at sanquhar, october , . let none say, that what we have done here flows from ambition to exalt ourselves above others, for as we have great cause, so we desire grace from the lord, to be sensible of what accession we have with others in the land, to the provoking of his spirit, in not walking as becomes the gospel, according to our solemn engagements, neither proceeds it from irritation or inclination (by choice or pleasure) to discover our mother's nakedness or wickedeness, or that we love to be of a contentious spirit, for our witness is in heaven (whatever the world may say) that it would be the joy of our hearts, and as it were a resurrection from the dead, to have these grievances redressed and removed, and our backsliding and breaches quickly and happily healed, but it is to exoner consciences by protesting against the defections of the land, especially of ministers: and seeing we can neither with safety to our persons, nor freedom in our consciences, compear before the judicatories, while these defections are not acknowledged and removed, so we must, so long decline them, and hereby do decline them, as unfaithful judges in such matters: in regard they have, in so great a measure, yielded up the priviledges of the church into the hands and will of her enemies, and carried on a course of defection contrar to the scriptures, our covenants, and the acts and constitutions of this our church. and hereby we further protest and testify against whatever they may conclude, or determine, in their ecclesiastick courts by acts, ratifications, sentences, censures, &c., that have been, or shall be made or given out by them, and protest that the same may be made void and null, and not interpreted as binding to us or any who desire firmly to adhere to the covenanted work of reformation. but let none look upon what we have here said, to be a vilipending or rejecting of the free, lawful, and rightly constitute courts of christ, for we do acknowledge such to have been among the first most effectual means appointed of god for preserving the purity and advanceing the power of reformation in the church of christ; the sweet fruits and blessed effects whereof, this church hath sometimes enjoyed, and which we have been endeavouring and seeking after, and are this day longing for. we detest and abhorr that principle of casting off the ministry, wherewith we are odiously and maliciously reproached by these who labour to fasten upon us the hateful names of schismaticks, separatists, despisers of the gospel: but, herein as they do bewray their enmity to the cause we own, so till they bring in their own principles and practices, and ours also, and try them by the law and testimony, the measuring line of the sanctuary, the word of god, and the practice of this church, when the lord keeped house with, and rejoiced over her as a bridegroom over his bride, they can never prove us schismaticks or separatists from the kirk of scotland upon the account of our non-union with the backslidden multitude, ministers and others. finally, that we may not be judged by any, as persons of an infallible spirit, and our actions above the cognisance of the judicatories of christ's appointment: we appeal to the first free, faithful and rightly constitute assembly in this church, to whose decision and sentence in the things, lybelled against us we willingly refer ourselves, and crave liberty to extend and enlarge this our protestation, declinature, and appeal as need requires. jo. mackmillan. jo. mackneil. balmaghie manse, _sept. th, _. "the chiefest among ten thousand." aird & coghill printers, glasgow. footnotes: [footnote : this exhortation was prepared by "reverend ministers of the gospel," who met at edinburgh, february, , and "sent to every one of the lords of council severally," inviting them to subscribe the covenant.] [footnote : aberdeen, crail and st. andrews were the only burghs in scotland that had no commissioners at the renewing of the national covenant in edinburgh. henderson was appointed to proceed to st. andrews to secure its approval of the movement, and his mission resulted in complete success. this sermon was preached there about the end of march, .] [footnote : the author of this "discourse and exhortation" and of the two sermons that follow, was ordained minister of pitsligo, and in was inducted to st. nicholas' church, aberdeen. part of the inscription on his tombstone is, "a boanerges and barnabas: a magnet and adamant." he was a member of the assembly at glasgow, . this exhortation was at the renewing of the national covenant at inverness, th april, .] [footnote : this sermon was delivered in , immediately after the renovation of the national covenant and celebration of the lord's supper.] [footnote : this sermon was preached at a "general meeting" in greyfriars church, edinburgh, on th june, , after the renovation of the covenant. in erskine's edition, black-fryar is a misprint for gray-fryar.] [footnote : mr. nye was an independent and a distinguished member of the westminster assembly. this exhortation was given to the house of commons and the "reverend divines" of the westminster assembly before they took the solemn league and covenant, and was published by order of the house of commons.] [footnote : this address was given to the house of commons and the westminster assembly before taking the covenant and was published by order of the house of commons.] [footnote : mr. white.] [footnote : mr. nye.] [footnote : mr. henderson.] [footnote : dr. gouge.] [footnote : mr. caryl was a member of the westminster assembly. this sermon was given at westminster "at that publick convention (ordered by the honourable house of commons) for the taking of the covenant, by all such of all degrees as wilfully presented themselves, upon friday, october , ." the house of commons thanked caryl for the sermon and ordered its publication.] [footnote : mr. case, a member of the westminster assembly, gave this sermon and the one that follows, at the taking of the covenant in milk street church, london; the former on saturday evening, th september, , and the other on st october, on "the sabbath-day in the morning," immediately before the covenant was taken. both sermons, together with one on the fast, th september, wore dedicated to the commissioners from the church of scotland to the westminster assembly.] [footnote : this sermon was delivered by rev. edmond calamy, a member of the westminster assembly, on january , , "before the then lord mayor of the city of london, sir thomas adams; together with the sheriffs, aldermen, and common council of the said city, being the day of their taking the solemn league and covenant, at michael basenshaw, london."] [footnote : the coronation of charles ii. took place at scone, st january, . in the "chamber of presence," the nation's representatives invited the king to accept the crown; to which the king replied: "i do esteem the affections of my good people more than the crown of many kingdoms, and shall be ready, by god's assistance, to bestow my life in their defence, wishing to live no longer than i may see religion and this kingdom flourish in all happiness." thereafter, they proceeded to the "kirk of scoon, in order and rank, and according to their quality." the "king first settles himself in his chair for hearing of sermon. all being quietly composed unto attention, mr. robert douglas, moderator of the commission of the general assembly, after incalling on god by prayer, preached the following sermon." after the sermon, the king took the national covenant and the solemn league and covenant.] [footnote : this second coronation oath is inserted in the th act of parliament, and in the parliament, feb. th, ; and is, with the first coronation oath following, insert and approven in the declaration of the general assembly th july, .] [footnote : at torwood, stirlingshire, september , donald cargill pronounced this sentence of excommunication against charles ii.; the dukes of york, monmouth, lauderdale, and rothes; sir george m'kenzie, the king's advocate; and dalziell of binns.] [footnote : there were several acts for the suppression of field preachings. this one was prepared by archbishop sharpe and issued in .] [footnote : on june nd, , this declaration was read by richard cameron at sanquhar, amid the breathless silence of the inhabitants who flocked to the spot. it marked "an epoch," writes burton, "in the career of the covenanters."] [footnote : the faithful followers of the reformers and martyrs, who could not identify themselves with the church and state at the revolution, maintained their separate existence and testimony through their "societies," and they prepared and published this paper against the union with england. its full title is "the protestation and testimony of the united societies of the witnessing remnant of the anti-popish, anti-prelatic, anti-erastian, anti-sectarian, true presbyterian church of christ in scotland, against the sinful incorporating union with england and their british parliament, concluded and established, may, ."] [footnote : the rev. john mackmillan, minister of balmaghie, endeavoured for years to convince the established church that the church had submitted at the revolution to invasions of her independence by the state, and to persuade her to return to the attainments of the reformation. bitter opposition to his efforts led to his secession from the church, after tabling this "protestation, declinature and appeal." mr. john mackneil joined in the declinature. a tablet in memory of mr. mackmillan has been recently erected in balmaghie church by his great-great-grandson, dr. john grieve, glasgow. part of the inscription is, "a covenanter of the covenanters: a father of the reformed presbyterian church: a faithful minister of jesus christ."] generously made available by internet archive (https://archive.org) note: project gutenberg also has an html version of this file which includes the original illustrations. see -h.htm or -h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/ / -h/ -h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/ / -h.zip) images of the original pages are available through internet archive. see https://archive.org/details/johnblackapostle bryciala [illustration: rev. john black, d.d. the apostle of the red river.] john black the apostle of the red river or, how the blue banner was unfurled on manitoba prairies by rev. george bryce, m.a., ll.d. professor in manitoba college, winnipeg. toronto: william briggs wesley buildings. c. w. coates, montreal. s. f. huestis, halifax. entered according to act of the parliament of canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, by william briggs, at the department of agriculture. preface. we are in the habit of referring to the heroic deeds of our fathers, whether english, scottish, irish or french, in the struggles they endured and the sacrifices they made for country or religion. the service rendered to liberty and religion by cromwell and his ironsides at marston moor or naseby, by hamilton and his covenanters at drumclog, by king william and his followers at boyne and londonderry, or by henry and his huguenots at ivry, may well stir our bosoms with emotion. but this century has, in the piping times of peace, developed a new and, perhaps, greater heroism in the army of christian adventurers going to all lands, and proclaiming under king jesus a war against sin and idolatry, in which battles for the truth are fought against "principalities and powers" as real as those against prince rupert, or the bloody claverhouse. even the quieter life of a pioneer missionary like carey or livingstone requires the highest daring and the sublimest perseverance. to this class belongs the career of rev. john black, the apostle of the red river of the north. to leave home and friends at the call of duty, to cross the trackless prairies of the north-western states in order to reach the northern and secluded plains of rupert's land, to bury himself in obscurity, albeit he was engaged in laying the foundation of a spiritual empire of the future, was to give john black a true claim to the honor of self-sacrificing fame and highest patriotism. the work of the author has been a labor of love, and it is with the hope of awakening wider interest--especially in the minds of the young--in the sweetness of self-sacrifice, and in what the world may call the "reproach of the cross," that this little book is sent forth. contents. chapter page i. john black's early days ii. student and missionary iii. montreal to fort garry iv. a highland welcome v. the early settlers on red river vi. sowing and weeping vii. pastor and parish viii. a kindred spirit ix. red river becomes canadian x. the new settlements xi. college and schools xii. memorials illustrations. page rev. john black, d.d. _frontispiece_ st. boniface cathedral, burnt kildonan parish church rev. james nisbet winnipeg in knox church, winnipeg, knox church, winnipeg, manitoba college, public monument to dr. black memorial tablet in kildonan church john black _the apostle of the red river_ chapter i. his early days. john black was the apostle of the red river. he will be long remembered on the prairies of manitoba. in he passed away, all too soon to see the remarkable rise of the country for which he had planned and worked and prayed. he had reached the age of sixty-two, and nearly half of that time he had spent on the plains of the northwest. his name is a household word in many settlements, and his memory is revered by the white settlers and the christian red men alike, throughout manitoba, saskatchewan, and alberta. birthplace and childhood. on a visit to scotland, a few years ago, the writer of these sketches spent a few pleasant days on the scottish border. he was guest of a former canadian minister in the pretty parish on the river esk, of which sir walter scott speaks, where "there was racing and chasing on cannobie lee." one day a delightful drive led along the winding valley of the river to the town of langholm, to attend the presbytery meeting there. after the business was over the presbytery dinner was held, with all the forms of the "olden time." while at dinner one of the ministers addressed the writer: "oh, i'm the minister of eskdale muir, where your first minister on the red river, the rev. john black, was born." it was interesting to note that the pioneer of the western wilds was not forgotten in the place of his birth. on the th of january, , john black was born. he was the son of william black and margaret halliday, eskdale shepherd farmers, who lived on the farm of garwaldshiels. his ancestors had originally dwelt in the neighboring parish of ettrick, and some of them had been warm friends of the godly minister there, thomas boston, whose works, "fourfold state" and the "crook in the lot," were well-read books in many a scottish home. the farm of garwaldshiels was a lonely spot. its steading, as the farm buildings are called in scotland, was two miles from any other. indeed, the whole parish of eskdale muir is mountainous and sparsely settled, its inhabitants being chiefly sheep farmers and shepherds. in the church on sunday it is said the collie dogs were formerly almost as many as the men. sometimes the dogs became restless, and were apt to disturb the minister. the shepherds of the south of scotland are noted as a most intelligent lot of men. their quiet life on the hills with their flocks gives them time for thought. they are great readers, and undertake to master the deepest books. this is so uncommon among humble people, such as they, that visitors from outside scotland are greatly struck by it. it is said that a yorkshire wool merchant once visited the parish of eskdale muir on business, and was so surprised that he said: "they are the strangest people that ever i saw; the very shepherds talk about deep stoof (stuff)." the minister of this parish who baptized john black was in knowledge a leader of his people, for he was the author of a work called "antiquities of the jews," which was formerly very well known. about the time of the birth of john black, the shepherds of the border parishes had gained another accomplishment. many of them undertook to write poems. the reason of this was that a few years before, in the parish of ettrick, a remarkable man, james hogg, known as the "ettrick shepherd," had written a number of very beautiful poems, which had been published and widely read. this led many of the shepherds to imitate one of their own number. some of the poems produced were poor, but others were uncommonly good. it was strange to see such a burst of song in a people so severe in their thought. born of such a stock, and brought up in such surroundings, it was no wonder that the boy of eskdale muir should early show a disposition to study. he had a great thirst for knowledge, even as a child, and especially for bible stories and religious thoughts. in early childhood, we are told, he was noted for his affectionate disposition. he was a serious boy, and even early in life, at the age when most children are thoughtless and unconcerned, he showed a desire to become a follower of jesus christ. removal to highmoor. when john black was a boy of seven years of age his family removed from the lonely farm of garwaldshiels to highmoor, some twenty miles to the south. highmoor was situated in the parish of kilpatrick-fleming. it was a sheep farm, of about acres, and belonged to a celebrated border family, the maxwells of springkeld. it was in the very centre of historic ground. it was less than five miles from the scottish border where the little streamlet that divides scotland from england marks the change from the broad doric tongue to the very different dialect of cumberland. from the door of highmoor the solway frith was clearly in view, with its small sailing vessels and greater ships passing on the errands of commerce. between highmoor farm and the solway was not more than ten miles, and a beautiful little stream, the "kirtle water," ran through the farm and emptied into the frith. the windings and turns of the "kirtle" are well filled with the thoughts of romance, and within this short distance seven old castles are to be seen, the strongholds of the irvings and the bells, so well known along the scottish border. these old castles all had their legends, and almost every one of them was said by country folk to have been the scene of some great crime, and to be haunted by a ghost or evil spirit. while john black did not believe these old tales, he was always fond of the stories, and read with greatest interest the "tales of the border," and sir walter scott's poems of the border minstrelsy. highmoor was not more than four miles from ecclefechan, the town where the great scottish writer, thomas carlyle, was born. not half that distance from highmoor was the house where carlyle's father, mother, and brother long lived. even the hodden hill farm, which thomas carlyle for a time occupied, was not far from highmoor. upon this farm was a celebrated erection known as the "tower of repentance." on this farm carlyle was just becoming known as a genius in the days of john black's boyhood, and what were called his "longnebbit" words and striking sayings were often spoken of by his annandale neighbors. john black, to the day of his death, was proud of his fellow-dalesman, who became known as the "sage of chelsea." the wider view from highmoor was equally beautiful. looking eastward to the end of the solway frith, one could see the tall chimneys of the city of carlisle, so prominent a place in the border strife. towering to the sky were to be seen beyond in cumberland the gigantic skiddaw and other mountains, while beyond the heights of cumberland appeared dimly the yorkshire fells and the hills of durham. to the west the far view was interesting. majestic criffel appeared running out into the frith, and on a clear day the hills of the isle of man were seen in the middle of the irish sea. such a country, with natural beauty and historic memories, could scarcely fail to inspire those who dwelt in it. we are not surprised that john black was stirred to poetry in such surroundings, and we learn that, following the beginning as a verse-writer, made under the name of "glenkirtle" in the newspaper of his county, he all his life had a faculty of writing snatches of lively verse for his children and friends. schools and schoolmasters. the parish school in the wide parish of kilpatrick-fleming was seven miles from highmoor, but a second school, known as the "gair school," was at the corner of the farm. here, in , john black and one of his sisters began their education. the school was under the charge of a mr. william smith, the father of one afterwards well known in the presbyterian church in canada, the rev. dr. thomas smith, at one time minister in kingston, ontario. to this school came from far and near pupils from the scattered farms, some of them boarding in the nearest dwellings. the parish schools of scotland taught everything from the alphabet to the works of the highest latin and greek writers. mr. smith was a good scholar and a good teacher. young john black here laid a good foundation for his future attainments. mr. smith was followed as a teacher by mr. john roddick, also a man of much ability and skill as a teacher. he was, strange to say, the father of another canadian, dr. richard roddick, of montreal. under mr. roddick john black made remarkable progress. the young scholar had a great fondness for the languages. the sturdy lad had, however, to fight with obstacles in getting an education. to make a living on the farm his father needed the help of all his children, and john could not well be spared when he had reached the age when he could herd the cattle and watch the sheep. he was often unable to be present at school, but his desire to gain a higher education never left him. at last his father consented to his study of the languages, and the happy boy at the age of fifteen threw all his energy into his task. french was the first language on which he began under mr. roddick. a curious incident is connected with his entrance on the study of french. full of the thought of beginning a foreign language he walked all the way to the town of annan, nine miles distant, to buy a french grammar. on arriving in the town, he found the bookseller's shop shut and the bookseller along with almost all the people in the town, wending their way, week-day though it was, to the parish church. the boy followed the crowd, and found the greatest excitement prevailing. it was the day of the trial of the celebrated edward irving. irving was a native of annan and a great friend of thomas carlyle. he was a minister of great eloquence, who had first assisted dr. chalmers in glasgow, and afterwards been settled in london. he had adopted strange views as to the humanity of christ, and on the day of john black's visit was being tried for heresy by the presbytery of annan. the boy was present during the whole trial, and was wont to tell to his latest day of the prophet-like irving as he answered for himself and of dr. henry duncan, who was the advocate for a pure doctrine and a divine christ. thomas carlyle in his "reminiscences," defends his friend and throws ridicule on the presbytery, but the extravagant views of irving, remarkable man though he was, justified, to the mind of most of the people, the action that was taken by the presbytery in deposing him from the sacred office of the ministry. the young scholar was able after the exciting scenes of the day to find his way into the bookseller's shop, bought the french grammar, and returned home to begin his study with much enthusiasm. it was always his view that this french grammar exercised a great influence on his after life. it was through his knowledge of french that he was afterwards chosen, as we shall see, to work among the french-canadians, and it was thus through his being unattached to any special congregation that he was led to find his way to red river. the young scholar progressed very rapidly in his studies. of latin and greek he was very fond, while his love for the great authors of his own language was intense. he had a great craving for books. at the time of which we write, and in a country district in scotland, books were not easy to be had. fortunately for the young bookworm, a "library association" was formed in the village of waterback, which lay one mile to the west of highmoor. though the number of works was small, yet it represented nearly all classes of books. twenty huge volumes of brewster's edinburgh encyclopædia were there, and it is believed that john black before the age of twenty had pretty well read them through. as a shareholder of the association, he made full use of his privileges. he read widely in history, both ecclesiastical and general, and made a brave attempt to grapple with the thought of such writers as bacon, locke, butler, and paley. during this time also his religious life became stronger and more devoted. the parish minister was rev. george hastie, an earnest and devoted preacher of the gospel. under mr. hastie's instruction, and watered by the dew of heaven, the seed of truth, planted in early childhood, sprouted and grew into a flourishing plant. the young student made, under the faithful pastor, a public profession of his faith in christ. he was also much strengthened in the faith by his youthful companions of kindred christian feelings. one of these, walter smith, became afterwards free church minister of half-morton in eskdale. many years after, in a letter written from red river to his brother, we find john black speaking of this christian friend in far-off eskdale. at about the age of twenty, his old teacher, mr. roddick, having left gair school to accept a position in liverpool, john black was, for a time, called on to act as a substitute. this he did with much satisfaction to parents and pupils. it may have been this temporary work that suggested to the young man, who was rather retiring and bashful, the thought of teaching elsewhere. for some time after this he was engaged in teaching a school in one of the most beautiful and romantic villages of cumberland. while gaining great success in his school in england, his mind was dwelling on the fuller devotion of himself to the higher office of the ministry. the ministry had thus early a great attraction to him. he, however, hesitated, for there was, to the end of his life, a singular union of courage and diffidence in mr. black. it was his disposition never to push himself forward in any cause, but if it seemed to him a duty he would go through fire and through water to accomplish it. to america. he had now reached the age of twenty-three, when a complete overturn took place in all his plans. from hints thrown out in after years it is made plain that his father's family had not been prosperous in their sixteen years at highmoor farm. it seems that they were so severely tried that they were compelled to borrow money to take them to a new land. john black was his father's chief stay and counsellor, and so, giving up all the prospects in his english school, he threw in his lot with the rest of his family, and determined to go with them to america. it was a sad picture when the family was torn up by the roots from the home where it had grown. the far-off solway was to be left behind, the gently flowing kirtle to be deserted, school and church, where character has been formed, to be forsaken, and the sweet glens and historic rivers and market town were to be seen no more. oh, how sad the spectacle so often witnessed at the broomielaw in glasgow or on the docks of liverpool, where tens of thousands have thus been wrenched from the tender associations of home, and thrust out into the wide world! on june th, , john black, with father and mother, three brothers and four sisters, formed one of these sad companies, and, none too well provided with worldly goods, started from liverpool to gain a living in the new world. chapter ii. student and missionary. it was, as has been said, in the summer of , that john black's father with his family arrived in america. though canada was at this time enjoying a large british immigration, yet the family of highmoor was led to find its way to the united states. two sisters of william black, with their husbands, had years before found a comfortable home in the state of new york. twenty years' residence had made these murray and davidson families fairly prosperous, and to their rocky home the immigrants from scotland came, ascending the hudson river, reaching catskill, and then going by land carriage to bovina, in the county of delaware. this region of the catskill mountains, though not suited for ordinary agriculture, has long enjoyed, from its sweet grasses and clear streams, a great pre-eminence as a dairy-farming district. no doubt this was due to the skill, energy, and thrift of the farmers from the south of scotland who had settled there. after reaching bovina, the newly-arrived family took a farm in the neighborhood. for a time john gave some help in the work, but his heart was set on preaching the gospel. in order to obtain the means of continuing his studies, he engaged in teaching, and by his skill and enthusiasm awakened much interest in education among the young people of bovina. the work of teaching john black found to be an excellent preparation for the work of the ministry. the power to manage a school, the ability to understand the character of his scholars, and the habit of patience acquired were to him of great value in after life. desiring to carry on his education further before entering on the special study for the ministry, the young teacher looked about for an academy where he might pursue his general studies. this he found in delhi, the chief town of delaware county. here a most accomplished teacher, rev. daniel shepherd, was in charge of a school of a very high order. it is said that though this institution did not bear the name of either college or university, and gave no degrees, yet in scholarship many of its alumni were not behind university graduates. john black, now on fire with a high purpose, threw himself with all his soul into his studies. he at once took a high place in the school. the shepherd lad from the gair school in far-off eskdale reflected credit on his old teacher, mr. roddick. he planned a course of study in the needful branches of mathematics, but his chief delight was in classics. so excellent a scholar was he in greek that the original greek oration delivered by him on leaving the institution was for many years spoken of as being unusually meritorious. his metrical translations of latin authors, such as horace, were well done, and though not so often as formerly, yet now and then his muse took a poetic flight. like many scottish students, john black lived very economically in his school life in delhi, "cultivating," as has been said, "the muses on a little oatmeal." with him were two of his cousins as room-mates, william and david murray. these three lads, living in a little upstairs room, cooking for themselves the provisions received from home, gained in after life, though in different spheres, high and honorable distinction. william murray became judge of the supreme court of new york, and dr. david murray was the organizer of the educational system of japan, and for several years chief superintendent of education there. when he left japan to return to america he was invested by the emperor with the highest order of japanese nobility. he has since been state librarian at albany, new york. john black may not have received such earthly honors as fell to the lot of his cousins, although he had his share of these, too, but he has the joy of those of whom it is said "they shall shine as the stars for ever and ever." church life. though baptized in the church of scotland, and attached to its forms, john black became, on his arrival in bovina, an active member of the "associate church." this was one of the bodies which afterwards were united and became the "united presbyterian church of north america." the minister of the bovina congregation was rev. john graham, a native of montrose, scotland, a man of ability, especially as a writer. before his death he published his "autobiography," a most interesting book. of mr. graham it was said that he "was a man with eccentricities, but far more excellencies." in mr. graham john black found a true friend, as he did also in the other members of the congregation. true piety prevailed among them. perhaps some would call them narrow, but they were genuine. they had brought with them from the old land customs such as the regular observance of family worship, the keeping of the sabbath, and the habit of churchgoing, and these they put into practice in their new world home. as the country settled, many congregations, which are now strong, hived off from the original one in bovina. for three years john black remained a member of this congregation, and his family were very anxious that he should study for the ministry in connection with the associate church. he was unable to accept all the views of the church, however, and this kept him for some time in grave doubt. the associate church held that the scottish covenants were binding on the church in later times. it will be remembered that these covenants of and represent one of the grandest periods in scottish history. nobles and people alike, in greyfriars churchyard, edinburgh, and elsewhere in scotland, signed, in some cases with pens dipped in their own blood, the covenant or pledge to oppose prelacy and popery, and to keep the church of scotland pure and true. john black loved and admired the martyrs and covenanters who fought so nobly for liberty, but he was not sure that two centuries after those stirring times it was still necessary to subscribe these notable documents. the associate church required of those who entered its ministry to declare adhesion to "public covenanting," and this threw an obstacle in the way of the young candidate. his thought was then turned to princeton college, the seminary of the old school presbyterian church, as it was then called. some five or six years before this time the presbyterian church of the united states had been rent by doctrinal differences, and perhaps more especially by the question of negro slavery. princeton college would have satisfied the young aspirant to the ministry, but belonging, as it did, to the body which seemed unsound on the slavery question, john black, like all of british blood, was horrified at the thought of being connected in any way with so hideous and cruel a thing as slavery, and so he could not conscientiously join the old school. he still kept up correspondence with scotland, and his love was strong for the scottish church. at this time, too, a great religious movement was going on in scotland, which led to the disruption in , and the formation of the free church of scotland. after this event the young student in bovina began to turn his attention to canada, where the church was strongly scottish in its character and customs. just at this time, early in , a minister from canada came on a visit to his friends in bovina. this was the rev. james george, then a minister of the church of scotland in scarboro, in upper canada. mr. george's father and brothers were nearest neighbors of william black and his family in bovina. mr. george was at this time an examiner in queen's college, kingston, and, indeed, afterwards became a professor in that institution. young john black called upon mr. george during his visit to bovina, and enquired as to the opportunities for studying for the ministry in the canadian church. he also sought information as to what the church in canada would do in view of the disruption which had taken place in the mother church in scotland. mr. george stated that he had a strong hope that the church in canada would satisfy all parties, and thus prevent a division on this side of the atlantic. having examined mr. black, mr. george expressed himself as highly satisfied, and advised the young student to come over to canada in the autumn and to enter queen's college. mr. george returned to canada, the canadian synod met shortly afterwards in kingston, and there the disruption took place. mr. george thereupon wrote to mr. black informing him as to what had happened, but still urging him to come over and enter queen's college on its opening. after all the kindness which had been shown him he felt it to be a painful trial to refuse; but john black's sympathies were with the free church in the struggle, and he could not accept the kind invitation of his friend. it was with great grief that he saw the division in canadian presbyterianism. he never ceased to desire reconciliation, and he was greatly overjoyed that he lived to see the happy reunion in . college life. john black had not an acquaintance in canada other than mr. george. he had noticed in the newspapers that the rev. mark y. stark, of dundas, had been moderator of the synod at the time of its division, and that he had taken the side with which he himself sympathized. accordingly, he wrote to this gentleman about the arrangements for starting a college in connection with the new body, and the answer came, greatly to his satisfaction, that the commission of synod would meet in october to deal with this matter, and that it would be well for him to be present at the meeting. the synod was held in toronto, and, a number of students having sent in their names, knox college was founded. john black waited over for the opening of the college, which took place on november th, , and he may be said to have been its first student. the establishment of this college was a great and notable event, for here many well-known ministers of the presbyterian church have been trained for their work. there were two professors to begin with: the polished henry esson, who taught arts, and a gentleman from scotland, rev. andrew king, acting professor of theology. mr. king afterward became professor of theology in halifax. the beginning of the college was almost as simple as that of the well-known "log college" which gave instruction in early days to presbyterian students in the united states. it began in a single room in professor esson's house in toronto. shelves around the room contained the professor's library and a number of books for the use of the students, lent by other ministers. in the middle of the room was a long pine table, surrounded by benches and a few chairs. fourteen students received the attention of the two professors. this first session was a busy one, and at its close the enthusiastic young men were sent as home missionaries to different places. the session was one of great interest to john black. well prepared as he had been, a good greek scholar, well instructed in english literature, and well read in philosophy, he took a foremost place among his fellow-students. bursaries and prizes were won by him, and the session was thoroughly profitable. now fairly committed to the christian ministry, he thought often of the motives which were leading him. his letters of this time show a growing love for spiritual things, and, while there is always in them a spice of humor or of fancy, yet there runs through them a deep and earnest vein. among the greatest influences brought to bear upon him were those of the company of good friends, for he was a man of most sociable disposition. in after days he often spoke of the influence of that devoted man of god, william c. burns, who went as a missionary to china. this remarkable man was a nephew of dr. robert burns, of whom we shall speak more fully, and a friend of robert murray mccheyne, one of the most spiritual of the young preachers of his time. many a story is yet told of the remarkable sayings and doings of william c. burns during his memorable visit in canada. his influence, though that of a passing visitor, was very great over the students of knox college, and over young black in particular. at the end of his second year in knox college the young student was sent as a missionary to preach the gospel in a number of new settlements. the townships of brock, reach, uxbridge, and scott were then filling up with immigrants from great britain and ireland. john black thus writes to his brother: "brock, may th, . "i came here about five weeks ago, and have been very busy ever since. i have four preaching stations, two here and two in the next township south. i preach in three schoolhouses and a large barn. the people are mostly scotch, irish, and english. the four would make a decent congregation. i take them two each sabbath, and have prayer-meetings, when i can manage it, as well as week-day 'preachings.' to-morrow night i must ride six miles northwest to hold a meeting among some english people (whom i like best of all my people), and next day, friday, come back ten miles to a prayer-meeting in another place, saturday ten miles again to another, and sabbath two meetings." this shows the spirit of the man whose faithful and unremitting services in after years told so powerfully on the banks of the red river. a missionary. as john black drew to the end of his college course the work of the ministry became very real to him. his sympathies became more intense in his desire to reach and rescue perishing men. the little band of students in were all aglow with missionary zeal. the knox college missionary society, which has ever since been so good a training school for young missionaries, was formed in that early time. the society at that date not only did city mission work in toronto and cultivated the missionary spirit, but helped the missionary society of the free church of scotland to support a missionary in a foreign land. during the session of - the rev. mr. doudiet, a swiss protestant missionary, in the service of the french-canadian missionary society, visited knox college and addressed the students. the students decided to assist this movement. john black had, as we have seen, some knowledge of french, and was therefore urged by his fellow-students to enter upon this work. he would have preferred preaching in english, for he had enjoyed his summer in the mission field very greatly, but it was agreed that he should spend the following summer at pointe aux trembles, a french school near montreal, ever since well known. this he did, and returned in the autumn to take his last year in college. at the opening of this session he was made glad by his brother james joining him from bovina, to study for the ministry in knox college. not only had he intimate companionship with his brother, but there were three other students with whom he associated much and of whom he spoke with the highest regard to the day of his death; these were afterward well known as dr. robert ure, of goderich; dr. john scott, of london; and the rev. john ross, of brucefield--all of whom exercised a great influence on the western peninsula of upper canada. he was strongly attached to his professors. dr. burns he regarded as a fearless champion of the truth; professor esson he admired for his refined taste and wide scholarship; and professor rintoul, he tells us, he loved as he did his own father. french missions. on the close of the college session of john black was ready to enter on the work of the christian ministry, a work lying very near to his heart. it seemed, however, as if it were not to be. the students' missionary society insisted on his taking a part in the movement among the french roman catholics. he proceeded to montreal, and was soon busy studying french. he was not, however, allowed to continue at his work, for there were so many english-speaking congregations in and about montreal that he was compelled to take service in these week after week. this interfered with his plans, and we find him writing, in , from pointe aux trembles: "i left montreal and came here about five weeks ago. i have been making some progress in french, especially in conversation, for it is now the vacation and there are no lessons. it is a dour (difficult) job. i fear i shall never be able to use the french effectively." the estimate in which mr. black was held as a preacher and pastor may be seen from the fact that côte street church, montreal, the leading free church in canada, having failed to receive continuous help from scotland, was supplied for months together by the young missionary. he was in request by congregations in different parts of lower canada, but he still remained working for the french-canadians. at length, in may, , he resigned the secretaryship of the french-canadian missionary society. his letters at this time breathe a spirit of earnestness and devotion. he had paid a visit to his former home in new york state, and had seen his old father and mother, and always spoke with the most tender regard of their claims upon him. he was always anxious about the welfare of his brother, to whom he writes. he had then a habit which clung to him to the last, of enquiring minutely into his friends' affairs. his letters abound with direct questions to his brother, such as: "how do you do your work? do you sermonize, or expound, or what? do you write out your sermons? are the professors harmonious in the college? have you prayer-meetings in college and city? do you go out on sabbaths? how are you situated for money?" this habit arose from his warm interest in his friends. his questions at times may have seemed abrupt and forward, but the warmth of his nature showed that it was only "his way." three years had now passed in visiting congregations in canada and the united states, and in preparing himself more fully for his life work, although seriously interrupted by the pressing demands from new congregations. it was a time of great spiritual hope, and the minds of the students of that day had a strong evangelistic bent, which they retained throughout life. chapter iii. montreal to fort garry. while john black was wondering what special duty the lord would lay upon him he was startled by a cry for help from the wilds of rupert's land. forty years before this an enterprising scottish nobleman, lord selkirk, became a leading partner in the hudson's bay company, and shortly after undertook to settle a colony of highlanders on the banks of red river. the colonists had come in three separate companies, by way of hudson bay, and by a difficult route ascended the water courses to the very heart of north america, and settled on the banks of red river. with true highland fervor they longed for a minister and a place of worship. a highland elder, james sutherland, had accompanied one of the parties, and he had been given power to marry and baptize. he had gone east to canada, and no minister of their own land had ever come to these highland exiles. as we shall see, a church of england minister had been sent to them, and yet they remained presbyterian. after many disappointments their cry had reached scotland, and had been referred to canada to dr. robert burns, minister of knox church, toronto. we shall enter more fully into the steps they had taken to secure a minister, but at last the hudson's bay company governor at fort garry, mr. ballenden, as he was passing through toronto, had urged the matter upon dr. burns. the heart of the good man was touched, and he fixed upon john black as the missionary. the following extract of a letter to mr. james court, the secretary of the french canadian missionary society, speaks for itself: toronto, th june, . my dear sir,--"in the name of our synod's home mission, and for behoof of our poor brethren at red river in the hudson's bay territory, i have to solicit your aid in obtaining for a time the services of mr. john black, whom we have fixed on as a fit person to make an exploratory visit to the settlement. we would not have asked this could we have avoided it, but our fixed pastors and professors are difficult to move; and we know mr. black's peculiar qualifications. the truth is i was so impressed with the importance of such a visit, both for our people and the red men, and the french speaking settlers in that region, that i gave the pledge as chairman of the committee, and mr. ballenden will be entitled to hold me good for it personally, if i cannot get a substitute. if necessary i am ready to resign my charge here and throw myself on the far west, for i am clear that our church is called to do some good work in those regions; and if we lose the present opportunity, when may we have another? "if you agree, as i trust you will, mr. black should come direct to us." "most truly yours, "robt. burns. "mr. court, montreal." on the following day dr. burns wrote a letter to mr. black himself. of this we give a portion: "toronto, th june, . "my dear sir,--i send you a scroll sketch of instructions, or hints rather, for your guidance in your important mission, _but your own judgment_ and good sense will be the best guides. you are called at an early period of life to a most important duty, and on the manner in which you shall discharge it will depend, under god, the position which we as a church may be called upon to occupy in regard to the progress of christ's kingdom in these western regions. you will find in bishop anderson a pious and liberal episcopalian and a bishop--yea, _the bishop_! you know what i mean. already you know something of popery and its steps, open or close. the sabbath observance subject i commend to your serious notice. the company like hunting on the lord's day! the range is wide and long; but if you can get from the united states boundary to york fort, it will be desirable. your object being exploratory keep note of all. preach and exhort and expound, and conduct devotional exercises wherever you have an opportunity--sabbath days especially. * * * * "our prayers will accompany you, and our most fervent desires that your way may be prospered before you, and that you may be hailed by the settlers as a messenger of good tidings and a pioneer of salvation. "come up as soon as you can. "yours, etc., "robt. burns." the young missionary engrossed in his french canadian work received this communication. he was at the same time earnestly sought for by the congregation of north georgetown in lower canada. after due consideration, he refused dr. burns' offer to go to red river. he did this not because he was lacking in the true spirit of the missionary, but because he felt anxious about his old father and mother still alive in new york state. they were now left without any of their children beside them, and john black, as their eldest son, felt it to be his duty to be within reach of them. he therefore felt justified in declining the earnest call to visit the northwest. it is stated that on his refusal application was made to one who has since become known as one of the staunchest theologians and best preachers of the church, the rev. professor maclaren, d.d., of knox college, toronto. he, however, was not able to accept. very strong pressure was again brought to bear upon john black, and as the season was advancing his answer had to be given without delay. the following letter written to his brother explains his action in the matter: on to red river. toronto, july st, . my dear james,--"you will no doubt be surprised to learn that i am so far on my way to red river. i am to be ordained to-night and go on to-morrow morning at half-past seven o'clock. i have been forced into it against my will. it is a very important mission, but i leave one important also, and what grieves me much is that i go without seeing friends--yourself and family at home. nobody else would go and so i am called on to do so. i shall not be able to return before next spring--be a good boy till i come back. write frequently home and comfort them. i doubt somewhat if i am in the way of duty in leaving father and mother now in their old age. * * * * i have no time to write more. may god bless you and keep you! do not cease to pray for my preservation and success and i shall do the same for you. god bless you, dear brother." yours, etc., j. black. p.s. now mind you write often home, or if you could possibly go over i should like it very much. j. b. on the following day, august st, the young missionary who had been ordained for the work of the ministry on the evening before, in knox church, toronto, started on his long journey to red river. twenty years afterward the writer left toronto for red river, and could not find before leaving how he was to accomplish the journey after st. paul, in minnesota, had been reached. how much more difficult when the long journey of eight hundred miles to st. paul had to be performed over bad roads by stage coach and mississippi steamboat! the journey that now takes thirty hours from toronto, _via_ detroit, chicago, and st. paul, then took two full weeks. the young missionary arrived at where the city of minneapolis now stands, and wrote the following letter. falls of st. anthony, august th, . dear james: "i am so far on my way and hope to begin another stage of my journey on monday next. my journey has yet been comparatively pleasant, though diversified with a good deal of the disagreeable, owing chiefly to bad roads and anxiety as to being too late. i am, however, here and well, and hope to get through. pray for strength and protection and faithfulness and success. there is now to be a regular monthly mail and so i hope you will write regularly. the mail starts from here on the st of the month. to be in time you must post in the middle of the month previous. i add no more at present. may god bless and keep you evermore. do not forget me at a throne of grace." yours, etc., john black. when the traveller reached the capital of minnesota he was in the greatest perplexity. his coming had been anxiously looked for by a deputation of the scottish settlers from red river. but they were nearly five hundred miles from home and a tedious cart journey lay before them, so that the time of the year did not permit their delaying any longer. on the st of august, just at the time their long-looked-for missionary was leaving toronto, the deputation left the falls of st. anthony to return to red river. a friend in need. at this most important point a happy deliverance came to the young missionary. he learned that alexander ramsey, the governor of minnesota, was soon to set out to the north of minnesota, attended with a mounted escort. governor ramsey had organized the territory of minnesota two years before, and had the year before negotiated a treaty with the sioux indians, by which they ceded a large tract of land in southern minnesota. he was now to proceed northward to pembina, to make a treaty with the chippewa indians. mr. black, though, as he tells us, at a considerable expense to himself, was given the privilege of going to his northern home along with this party. we are fortunate in having two camp-fire sketches written by mr. j. w. bond, who was also one of the party. he tells us that the party met from several different points near the sauk rapids, on the upper mississippi. besides the governor and his staff there were rev. john black and mr. bond. the escort consisted of twenty-five dragoons from fort snelling, commanded by an american military officer, and accompanied by six two-horse baggage wagons. the baggage of the party and the provisions were carried in light red river carts, with eight french-canadian and halfbreed drivers. in number there were comprised about fifty souls in all. john black and mr. bond, each mounted on an indian pony, became companions during the journey, and mr. black won the regard of all the members of the party. en route. we may give a few notes of the journey over the prairies: sauk rapids, august st, : "fine, clear, cool day. we struck tents and went away early. passed over the worst piece of road between the rapids and pembina. the dragoons were busy for several hours in repairing the 'corduroy' for the passage of the teams." august rd: "we to-day rode over the rolling prairie, full of strips of marsh, when, after a march of ten miles, we came to an almost impassable swamp. we crossed with some difficulty by pulling the carts and horses across by ropes, during which rev. mr. black and mr. bond completely mired their ponies, and came near going with them to the bottom, if there was any. after this we took a cup of tea to refresh ourselves." august th (sunday). "to-day our french-canadians and halfbreeds, who have charge of the provision and baggage carts, have been shooting pigeons and ducks, and also making new cart axles. the day has not seemed much like sunday." august th. "mosquitoes are very bad, although the weather is quite cold and bracing." august th. "we had a very good dinner to-day, consisting of bouillon (broth) made of geese, ducks, etc., with ham, pork, coffee, bread and butter, etc." august th. "cool, cloudy, and quite cold early in the morning; fine weather for travelling; up at daylight, and away upon our march at half-past five. we are to-day passing on the dividing ridge between the head waters of the red, minnesota, and mississippi rivers." august th. "to-day suffered much from mosquitoes. no imagination can do them justice--they must be seen and felt to be appreciated. mr. bond rode a cream-colored horse, and declared that he was unable to distinguish the color of the animal, so thickly was he covered with the pests. during supper they swarmed around like bees hiving, and entered the mouth, nose, eyes, and ears, and had it not been for a cool fresh evening breeze they would have been unbearable." august st. "our hunters discovered two buffalo bulls about two miles ahead. they immediately equipped and started, and soon surrounded and killed both. we soon joined them and encamped. the buffaloes were skinned, the choice parts cut out, and the liver and kidney fried for dinner. these were our first buffaloes, and there was much excitement over them." september st. "another buffalo to-day, but a sad accident. during the chase pierre bottineau, our best french halfbreed guide, was thrown violently from his horse, which stumbled. bottineau was picked up insensible, terribly stunned, though not much hurt. he was bled, brought to camp in the carriage and put to bed." september th. "the prairie is so bare that no wood is to be had. having no wood we were obliged to boil our kettle, and the french boys their pork and buffalo, over a fire made of buffalo chips, _i.e._, of dried buffalo manure picked up on the prairie. only a few mosquitoes troubled us, and they were driven to leeward by the strong smoke and smell of the buffalo chips." september th. "to-night there was the finest exhibition of the _aurora borealis_ that any of us have ever seen. to attempt a description is the height of vanity. the rev. mr. black and mr. bond gazed very long upon it, as a most remarkable manifestation in the heavens, before they could tear themselves away and return to rest. mr. black, who had seen the northern sky in scotland and canada, says it was much the finest exhibition he has ever seen. bottineau declared that he had never seen its equal this side of hudson bay." september th. "it is three weeks to-day since we left st. paul." september th. "a furious thunderstorm overtook us. it came down a deluge, a perfect torrent of falling waters, though the heaviest of the storm had passed around us to the south." september th. "arrived at pembina. the houses were full of halfbreeds, who saluted us with the discharge of guns, etc. two of the staff rode on ahead, and were treated to milk and potatoes--a treat equal to that of the milk and honey received by the israelites of old. near the village, on the muddy banks of red river, stood an admiring group of several hundred whites, halfbreeds, and indians of all sizes, with any quantity of dogs, very large and wolfish. amid this babel of cries, yelps, barks, and shouts, from the said big dogs and little papoose indians, we came to a halt and reconnoitred, standing almost glued fast in the sticky, tenacious mud caused by the rains and overflow of the red and pembina rivers for three years past. the journey to pembina has been accomplished, including the two rest days, in twenty-five days in all." september th. "cloudy, cold, raw, and windy, quite unpleasant and unseasonable. an overcoat is necessary out of doors this morning, and fires in the house for comfort. to-day we had preaching by the rev. john black, in the dining-room of the governor's house; a novelty most certainly in this far distant region. the congregation consisted of about a dozen whites and three halfbreeds. the rev. charles tanner, a halfbreed missionary among the indians of red lake, met us here, and in the afternoon preached to the assembled chippewas in their own tongue. he moved to this place a week ago, and intends farming, teaching school, etc., for a livelihood after the conclusion of the treaty. his wife is a halfbreed, and they reside at present in a lodge in the yard at this place." down the red river. after sunday was past for two days the weather was bad, but on wednesday, th, the day was fine, and the two companions of the voyage, messrs. black and bond, determined to leave the party behind and proceed down the red river to the selkirk settlement, a distance by land of sixty miles, but not less than three times as far by the winding river. astir by daylight, the travellers were soon ready, and in a birch bark canoe, fifteen feet long and three wide, managed by two french halfbreeds or bois-brulés (burnt sticks, referring to their dusky faces), their bedding, baggage, and provisions, and finally the two passengers were stowed away for the journey. the voyage was a tedious one, but not without interest. the canoe was somewhat leaky, and at times had to be hauled up on the bank, overturned, emptied, and calked with white spruce gum. large flocks of ducks and geese were swimming almost within paddle length from the canoe. everywhere were to be seen traces of the high water which had prevailed for several years, and marks upon the trees thirty feet above the water were seen, where in spring the freshets had reached. a night scene. the party halted for the night some forty miles below pembina. the description given by mr. black's travelling companion of the camp on the river bank is graphic: "the night is very clear and fine, the face of heaven is smiling amid myriads of twinkling stars; the northern horizon is lit up with the rays of dancing beams of an aurora, while the woods and silent-flowing river are illuminated by our camp fire; our voyageurs are fast asleep upon the ground before us, and not a sound is heard save that of the leaping, crackling flames and the low tone of our own voices as we chat merrily. and now, as my companion reads a chapter in his french pocket bible, and i pencil down these sketches of fact and fancy by the light of the burning fagots--but hark! we have company, it seems, and are not so lonely as i thought; that was the hoot-owl's cry, and sounds like the wailing of a fiend in misery; that was the cry, long drawn out and dismal, of a distant wolf; and near, the pack like hungry curs are heard yelping and barking furiously. in the bushes beside the camp i see two gleaming, fiery eyeballs. "take that, to light you to better quarters!" i hurl a blazing firebrand toward the beast, who, with a dismal cry, leaves us to repose and quiet sleep." another day and still another night of camping, and next morning the party started on the home stretch. with a head wind the voyageurs toiled on, and both passengers relieved the monotony by landing on the right bank, walking along it, and cutting off the bends kept ahead of the canoe. during the day they found by the appearance of houses along the banks that they were approaching their destination. the vivid description given by mr. bond fell, in some way, into the hands of the american poet, whittier, and he has left us a sweet poem, with which we should be acquainted. the scene is that of the voyageurs coming down the stream, and as they approach their destination there is first the sound of bells, and then the sight of the roman catholic cathedral of st. boniface with the two towers. a picture much like this was seen as the voyageurs in the old days left ste. anne on the ottawa, not far from montreal, and took their leave, under the protection of providence, for their long journey to the interior. thomas moore, the irish poet, was much impressed by the sight, on his visit to canada, when he wrote the canadian boat song: "faintly as tolls the evening chime, our voices keep tune and our oars keep time." so the weary voyageurs approaching st. boniface are filled with expectation and delight at the end of their journey by the cheery chimes of the roman mission. the red river voyageur out and in the river is winding the links of its long red chain, through belts of dusky pine land and gusty leagues of plain. only at times a smoke wreath with the drifting cloud-rack joins-- the smoke of the hunting lodges of the wild assiniboins! drearily blows the north-wind from the land of ice and snow; the eyes that look are weary, and heavy the hands that row. and with one foot on the water, and one upon the shore, the angel of shadow gives warning, that day shall be no more. is it the clang of wild geese? is it the indians' yell, that lends to the voice of the north-wind the tones of a far-off bell? the voyageur smiles as he listens to the sound that grows apace; well he knows the vesper ringing of the bells of st. boniface. the bells of the roman mission that call from their turrets twain; to the boatman on the river, to the hunter on the plain! even so in our mortal journey the bitter north-winds blow, and thus upon life's red river our hearts, as oarsmen, row. and when the angel of shadow rests his feet on wave and shore, and our eyes grow dim with watching, and our hearts faint at the oar, happy is he who heareth the signal of his release in the bells of the holy city, the chimes of eternal peace! [illustration: the bells of the roman mission, that call from their turrets twain; to the boatman on the river, to the hunter on the plain!] in the afternoon the party disembarked and found a kindly shelter in the hospitable home of an old french family, the marions, not far from the cathedral, opposite the point where the assiniboine falls into the red river, and the stone walls of fort garry in view in the distance. chapter iv. a highland welcome. a short rest having been made in the hospitable home of the marions, the young missionary, anxious to meet his future flock, crossed the red river by canoe and disembarked about a mile below, at "colony gardens." this was the house of alexander ross, sheriff of assiniboia, who had been a leader in all the efforts to obtain a minister. here the expected minister received a highland welcome, and the ross mansion became his home. a short sketch of sheriff ross and his wife is an absolute necessity to our understanding of the red river community to which john black came. alexander ross was a highlander who, about , at the age of twenty-one, came with the disbanded soldiers of the highland regiment of glengarry fencibles to upper canada. he went with them to glengarry district on the st. lawrence, and, being a fair scholar, taught school there for some time. in he entered the astor fur company, which had its headquarters in new york. sailing from that city, he rounded cape horn, went up the pacific coast, and helped to build astoria, a fort at the mouth of the columbia river, on the pacific. he led a rough and dangerous life for a number of years, and found his way in the service of the northwest fur company of montreal, to the mountains of british columbia. here he married an indian maiden, the daughter of the chief of the okanagan indians. the writer was well acquainted, many years after, with "granny" ross, as she was called, and can speak of her kindness and christian character. at the end of the first quarter of the century alexander ross was brought across the mountains and prairies by governor george simpson, and took up his abode on the banks of red river, on what is now the site of the city of winnipeg. here he reared a large family, and took a leading part in all the affairs of the red river settlement. mr. black's companion writes: "the old gentleman met us on the bank, welcomed us to the selkirk settlement, and escorted us up to his house--a white, rough-cast, two-storey stone, which stands upon a large bend of the river and commands a view both ways; and that view is certainly the finest i have seen for a long time." the scene about colony gardens on that september afternoon was a very striking one. "a village of farmhouses with barns, stables, hay, wheat, and barley stooks, with small cultivated fields or lots, well fenced, are stretching along the meandering river, while the prairies, far off to the horizon, are covered over with herds of cattle, horses, etc., the fields filled with a busy throng of whites, halfbreeds, and indians--men, squaws, and children--all reaping, binding, and stacking the golden grain, while hundreds of carts, with a single horse or ox harnessed in their shafts, are brought in requisition to carry it to the well-stored barn, and are seen moving, with their immense loads rolling along like huge stacks in all directions. add to this the numerous wind-mills, some in motion, whirling around their giant arms, while others, motionless, are waiting for a grist. just above, fort garry sits in the angle at the junction of the assiniboine and red rivers, with a blood-red flag inscribed with the letters 'h. b. co.' floating gaily in the breeze." of the house of sheriff ross the writer says: "we spent the night with mr. ross and family, and found him to be a very intelligent and interesting old gentleman, full of information as regards the northwest region, and of selkirk colony in particular. he published a book descriptive of the country and of the rocky mountains, vancouver and the pacific coast, where he spent some fifteen years of his life, since which he has been residing in this colony, and has been for a long time one of its leading citizens." a book entitled "red river settlement," published by sheriff ross, some years after this time, is really a lively and correct account in most respects of the selkirk colony. we have gleaned from his writings, and from the information communicated to dr. burns by him, the main facts leading up to the coming of john black to the highland colony. no doubt, late into that first night, the religious story of the forty years preceding, was told by the old fur trader to the youthful missionary. we may well rehearse the tale of disappointment now to be turned to joy. the scottish settlers of red river were chiefly emigrants from the north of scotland, brought to the country during and before the year , by the earl of selkirk. they had a clergyman of their own persuasion promised by his lordship at the time of leaving their native country, the rev. mr. sage, but he remained behind them for a year in order to perfect himself in the gaelic language. he was expected to follow them. next year, however, came and passed away and with it no clergyman; and up to the time of mr. black's coming no presbyterian minister had ever visited rupert's land. in the winter of - the settlers had to abandon the colony for want of food, and they betook themselves to the plains for buffalo, and to the lakes for fish, and wintered among the natives in all directions. in , after their return to the settlement, they were driven from the colony at the muzzle of the gun by the northwest fur traders, who did not want a farming settlement in rupert's land, and they spent the following winter three hundred miles to the north of the colony, at the foot of lake winnipeg. led by the vicissitudes of his settlers, lord selkirk visited his colony in , made a treaty with the indians, and made promises to his settlers, among other things, to send them a minister of their own faith. much encouraged by his lordship's visit, the people settled down to work, when they were invaded by a grasshopper scourge, and had been compelled again to leave their farms and seek subsistence by the chase of the buffalo on the plains. at this juncture ( ) they were surprised at the arrival of two roman catholic priests sent from montreal, on the request of lord selkirk, for the roman catholic colonists taken out by him, and the french halfbreeds of red river. but no presbyterian minister was sent. it is to be said for lord selkirk that the financial difficulties of his colony and the strife and opposition which had arisen preyed on his mind to such an extent that he died in the south of france in . he had, however, given strict charges to his agent, then in london, to send out a minister as promised. the agent was an englishman and seemed to have used his position with the directors of the hudson bay company very unfairly. in there arrived in red river rev. john west, a good and suitable man, but the settlers complained that he was of the church of england, and that there were not "twenty individuals in the whole colony belonging to the church of england." much dissatisfied, the colonists, in , applied to lord selkirk's executors for redress, but no answer was made to them. governor donald mackenzie, who was in charge at fort garry, made them, in the year following, a promise that a minister of their own persuasion would be sent them. a petition sent to scotland for assistance received no reply. years rolled on, the people still adhering in their homes to the customs of their fathers, holding prayer meetings from house to house and teaching the shorter catechism in their families. in they saw six roman catholic priests in the settlement, and four church of england ministers, but none of their own faith. the state of depression produced by these unavailing efforts may be seen in the fact that in a party of one hundred and ten persons, all scotch settlers, left the colony for the united states, "solely because at the selkirk settlement they had neither minister nor church of their own." two years after a number of additional families left the country for the same reason. the indiscreet and uncalled for public address of one of their ministers, who had been once a presbyterian but was so no longer, did much to influence their feeling and stir up resentment. in the year , duncan finlayson, a scotchman, who was governor at fort garry, advised another application to be made to the company in london. the petition of the people is really a most pathetic one. in it they say that "they are in danger of forgetting that they have brought with them into this land, where they have sought a home, nothing so valuable as the faith of christ, or the primitive simplicity of their form of worship; and that their children are in danger of losing sight of those christian bonds of union and of worship, which everywhere characterize the sincere follower of christ." in reply to this petition, the company denied any promise of lord selkirk to the settlers in the matter, but agreed to pay the expenses of a minister of their own faith to the country, provided they were willing to undertake his support. again stirred up to vindicate their position, the leaders made affidavits as to lord selkirk's promise in their old highland home of helmsdale, in sutherlandshire, before the colonists emigrated, as well as at the time in when his lordship gave the grant of land for church and school. the response to these declarations from the hudson's bay company was no more satisfactory than the former had been, and thus ended the expectation which the kildonan people had fondly cherished for more than thirty years of having a minister sent them by the company. now that they had learned the wisdom of the admonition--"put not your trust in princes," the disappointed colonists began to turn their thoughts to the sympathy of the scottish people. in they addressed a letter to the free church of scotland, which in the following year reached the colonial committee of that church. this committee sought in vain to obtain a minister for red river, in scotland, and in turn, through dr. bonar, the convener of the committee, handed the matter over to the free church in canada. then the persistent settlers of red river transferred their case to montreal, and wrote to sir george simpson, who has been called the "emperor of rupert's land," and asked for his countenance and support. though very diplomatic, sir george seems to have favored them. an interesting correspondence between rev. mr. rintoul, of montreal, and sir george, now took place. the work of obtaining a suitable missionary was, as we have seen, in the hands of rev. dr. robert burns, of knox church, toronto, a relative of dr. bonar. chief factor ballenden, resident governor at fort garry, took much interest in the matter, and pressed the case of the red river settlers on dr. burns and his committee. we have already seen the steps by which the apostle of red river was sent upon his way. mr. black had faced the journey, and now on the scene of his future labors heard the details of the well-nigh forty years of disappointment, as well as of the highland welcome awaiting him. the joy that took possession of the highland hearts of the people of red river was almost beyond measure. they had unremittingly striven in the face of many rebuffs for a pure gospel and for the coming of the house of the lord. and now in many of the homes of red river at their family worship they sang: when sion's bondage god turned back as men that dreamed were we, then filled with laughter was our mouth, our tongue with melody. as streams of water in the south, our bondage, lord, recall. who sow in tears a reaping time of joy enjoy they shall. that man who, bearing precious seed, in going forth doth mourn, he doubtless bringing back his sheaves, rejoicing shall return. it was friday afternoon when john black arrived at his destination on red river. on sabbath following he went with the people to the episcopal church of st. john's, now on the north side of the city of winnipeg, in which the kildonan people always claimed a share. expecting their minister, the people had made a compromise with the hudson's bay company as to property, and had been given a glebe lot called "la grenouilliere," frog plain, two or three miles down the river, as a site for church and manse. here they had already erected a manse for their new minister, and though not quite finished, it served as a meeting-place for the people in their worship for the first year or two of the mission. during the week after mr. black's arrival, the news went quickly about the settlement, so that on sabbath, september th, , three hundred of the selkirk settlers, who had a week before met in st. john's, assembled for service in the manse at kildonan. here the first sermon was preached by a presbyterian minister in the wide region west of lake superior, where now the presbyterian church is much the largest body engaged in spreading the gospel. chapter v. the early settlers on red river. on the banks of the red river of the north for well nigh forty years before the coming of john black, there had existed the red river settlement. fort garry was its centre for upwards of thirty years of that period. the fur trader on the mackenzie river looked to the settlement as his probable haven of rest when he should have finished his days of active service and retired; the half-breed hunter of the plains thought of it as the paradise to which he might make his annual visit, or the place where he might at last settle, while the kildonan settler boasted that there was no place like his "oasis" in the northwest wilderness, and that the traveller who had tasted the magical waters of red river would always return to them again. the canadian youth read in his school-book of a far distant outpost, fort garry, and chilled by the very sound of the name, whispering "cold as siberia," passed on to the next subject. the canadian statesman dreamed of a canada from ocean to ocean, but as he thought of the thousand miles of impassable rocks and morasses between him and the fur-traders, he could only shudder and say, "perhaps sometime," while the secretary of the hudson's bay company house in london with darkest secrecy folded together his epistles, addressed them "_via_ pembina," and then slipped quietly away to his suburban residence, knowing that he had the key in his pocket to unlock the door to half a continent, around which was built an impenetrable chinese wall. as early as the earl of selkirk, a man of philanthropic and liberal views, stirred by the accounts given by sir alexander mackenzie ( ) and other traders to the indian country, wrote to the british government of the day a letter now in the british archives, proposing the establishment in red river of a colony for the purpose of relieving irish disaster and highland misery. it was not until that lord selkirk succeeded in obtaining, by purchase from the hudson's bay company, of which in the meantime he had become a member, the district of assiniboia on red river, comprising , square miles. by way of hudson bay was the route chosen, and in the letters of the founder occur the words--words of still unfulfilled, but no doubt true prophecy: "to a colony in these territories the channel of trade must be the river of port nelson." the highlanders. at this time ( ) there were sad times in the highlands of scotland. cottars and crofters were being driven from their small holdings by the duchess of sutherland and others, to make way for large sheep farms. strong men stood sullenly by, women wept, and wrung their hands, and children clung to their distressed parents as they saw their steadings burnt before their eyes. the "highland clearances" have left a stain on the escutcheons of more than one nobleman. lord selkirk, whose estates were in the south of scotland, and who had no special connection with the celts, nevertheless took pity on the helpless highland exiles. ships were prepared, and the following are the numbers of highland colonists sent out in the respective years: in , reaching red river in , there were in , reaching red river in , there were (a part highland) or in , reaching red river in , there were in , reaching red river in the same year, there were --- total selkirk highland colonists, about the names of these settlers were those still well known in manitoba, as sutherland, mckay, mcleod, mcpherson, matheson, macdonald, livingstone, polson, mcbeth, bannerman, and gunn. from the above list it will be seen that at the end of the colony had reached the number of one hundred and eighty or two hundred. over these ruled the hudson's bay company governor, capt. miles macdonell, a u. e. loyalist from glengarry, in canada. the fact that the highland settlers were under the protection of the hudson's bay company roused against them the opposition of the northwest fur company, of montreal, which had for thirty or forty years before their coming carried on trade in the country. the two companies had their rival posts side by side at many points throughout the territories. the nor'wester fort standing immediately at the junction of the red and assiniboine rivers was called fort gibraltar. the fort occupied by the colony was less than a mile down the bank of the red river, and was known as fort douglas from lord selkirk's family name. it is of no consequence to our present object to determine who opened hostilities or who was to blame in the contest of the companies. strife prevailed, and through this the colonists suffered. in arrived on the scene a jauntily-dressed officer of the nor'west company, brandishing a sword and signing himself captain--one duncan cameron. this man was a clever, diplomatic, and rather unscrupulous instrument of his company, and coming to command fort gibraltar, cultivated the colonists, spoke gaelic to and entertained them with much hospitality, and ended by inducing about one hundred and fifty of the two hundred of them to desert red river and go with him to upper canada. by a long and wearisome journey to fort william, and then in small boats along lakes superior and huron, they reached penetanguishene, and found new homes near toronto, london, and elsewhere. to the faithful half hundred who remained true to their pledges all honor is due. the arrival of the third party of highlanders in reinforced the remnant who had resisted cameron's seductive proposals. the colony again rose to three-fourths its original strength. in the nor'westers adopted still more extreme measures to destroy the colony. an attack was made on the settlers on the th of june, and the new governor, robert semple, was killed, with a number of his attendants, at a spot a short distance north of the present city of winnipeg. lord selkirk on the receipt of the news of the colony in had come to montreal, and was proceeding up the lakes to assist his people in , when the news reached him, on the way, of the skirmish of "seven oaks" and the death of the governor. he was at the very time bringing with him as settlers, a number of disbanded soldiers, who have usually been known as the "de meurons." the regiments to which these men belonged were part of the body of german mercenaries which had been raised during the napoleonic wars. the name of col. de meuron, one of the principal officers, was given to the whole. these new settlers were not all germans, but had among them a number of swiss and piedmontese. the regiments had been employed by britain in the war of - , and were disbanded in montreal at its close. lord selkirk engaged four officers and one hundred men to go to red river. the men were promised certain wages, as well as land grants at red river. in the autumn of the party arrived at fort william, which they seized and the camping place on the kaministiquia river is still called point de meuron. employed during the winter in opening out for a distance a military road, the party under command of capt. d'orsonnens in early spring pushed on by the way of the western shore of the lake of the woods, surprised the northwesters, and retook fort douglas from them. lord selkirk arrived at the red river in the last week of june, . in accordance with his agreement he settled all the de meurons who wished to remain, along the banks of the little river, the seine, which empties into the red river opposite point douglas. this stream has among the old settlers always been known as german creek in consequence. being mostly roman catholics they were the first settlers among whom the priests provencher and dumoulin took up their abode on their arrival in . from the nationality of the de meurons the first roman catholic parish formed in the country was called st. boniface, from winifred, or boniface, the german apostle and patron saint. the first roman catholic parish is now the town of st. boniface, and is the residence of the roman catholic archbishop of the country. some severe things have been said of the character of the de meuron settlers. they have been charged with turbulence, insobriety, and with having had predatory inclinations towards their neighbours' cattle. they almost all left the country after the disastrous year of , for the united states. no doubt like all bodies of men they had good and bad among them, but the fact of their having been disbanded mercenaries would not incline us to expect a very high morality of them. the swiss. in the same year ( ) in which lord selkirk went to france, to find, in the little town of pau, his death and burial place, a former officer of a disbanded regiment--col. may--a native of the swiss capital of berne, went as an agent of lord selkirk to switzerland. he had been in canada, but not at red river, and accordingly his representations among the swiss cantons were too much of the kind circulated by government emigration agents still. he succeeded in inducing a considerable number of swiss families to seek the red river settlement. crossing the ocean by hudson's bay company ships, they arrived at york factory in august, , and were borne in york boats to their destination. gathered, as they had been, from the towns and villages of switzerland, and being chiefly "watch and clock makers, pastry cooks, and musicians," they were ill-suited for such a new settlement as that of red river, where they must become agriculturists. they seem to have been honest and orderly people, though very poor. it will be remembered that the de meurons had come as soldiers; they were chiefly, therefore, unmarried men. the arrival of the swiss, with their handsome daughters, produced a flutter of excitement in the wifeless de meuron cabins along german creek. the results may be described in the words of a most trustworthy eye-witness of what took place: "no sooner had the swiss emigrants arrived than many of the germans, who had come to the settlement a few years ago from canada, and had houses, presented themselves in search of a wife, and, having fixed their attachment with acceptance, they received those families in which was their choice into their habitations. those who had no daughters to afford this introduction were obliged to pitch their tents along the banks of the river and outside the stockades of the fort, till they removed to pembina in better prospects of provisions for the winter." the metis. alongside the selkirk settlers others began to settle on the vacant banks of red river. most worthy of notice among them were the half-breeds of french or english descent, whose mothers were indian women. parkman, in his account of pontiac's conspiracy, has well shown the facility with which the french voyageurs and indian people coalesced. though a poor colonist, the french-canadian is unequalled as a voyageur and pioneer runner. when he settles on a remote lake or untenanted river, he is at home. here he rears in contentment his "dusky race." the french half-breed, called also metis, and formerly bois-brulé, is an athletic, rather good-looking, lively, excitable, easy-going being. fond of a fast pony, fond of merry-making, free-hearted, open-handed, yet indolent and improvident, he is a marked feature of border life. being excitable, he can be aroused to acts of revenge, of bravery, and daring. the mcgillivrays, grants, mcleods, and mackays, who had french, scotch, and indian blood, were especially determined. the metis, if a friend, is true, and cannot in too many ways oblige you. the offspring of the montreal traders with their indian spouses, so early as , numbered several hundreds, and they possessed a considerable esprit-de-corps. they looked upon themselves as a separate people, and, headed by their scoto-french half-breed leader, cuthbert grant, called themselves the new nation. having tasted blood in the death of governor semple, they were turbulent ever after. living the life of buffalo hunters, they preserved their warlike tastes. largely increased in numbers in , they committed the grave offence of rising, taking the law into their own hands, defying all authority, and rescuing a french half-breed prisoner named sayer. this was in the time of recorder thom. adam thom, the judge, deserves a word of notice. a native of scotland, of large frame, great intelligence, and strong will, he had had experience as a journalist in montreal. sent up to establish law and order, he certainly did his best, and should have had a proper force to support him. true, exception has been taken to his decisions, but where is the judge that escapes that? among the leaders in this affair was one with the ominous name of riel, a scoto-french half-breed, who owned a mill on the seine river. he was the father of louis riel, who afterwards led the french half-breeds in their two rebellions. louis riel, the younger, was the embodiment of the restless spirit of his race. ambitious, vain, capable of inspiring confidence in the breasts of the ignorant, yet violent, vacillating and vindictive, the rebel chieftain died to atone for the turbulence of his people. english half-breeds. as different as is the patient roadster from the wild mustang, is the english speaking half-breed from the metis. so early as the traveller, alexander henry, found orkney employees in the service of the hudson's bay company at cumberland house. the orkney islands furnished so many useful men to the company that in , when the bois-brulés came to attack the colony, though the colonists were mostly highlanders, they were called "les orcanais." since the same supply of employees to the company has continued and increased with occasionally an admixture of caithness-shire and other highlanders. accordingly the english-speaking half-breeds are almost entirely of scotch descent. from hudson's bay to distant yukon the steady-going orkney men have come with their indian wives and half-breed children and made the red river their home. we have but to mention such well-known respectable names as inkster, fobister, setter, harper, mowat, omand, flett, linklater, tait, spence, monkman, and others, to show how valuable an element of population the english half-breeds have been, though, of course, there are those bearing these names as well who are of pure orkney blood. hudson's bay company officers. no element, however, did so much for red river of old as the intelligent and high-spirited officers of the hudson's bay company, of whom many settled in the country. there was among them also a strong highland and orkney strain. in few countries is the speech of the people generally so correct as it was in the red river settlement. this undoubtedly arose from the influence of the educated hudson's bay company officers. at their distant posts on the long nights they read useful books and kept their journals. numbers of them collected specimens of natural history, indian curiosities, took meteorological observations, and the like. though all may not have been the pink of perfection, yet very few bodies of men retained, as a whole, so upright a character as they. we have but to mention such names as that of the notable governor, sir george simpson, of pruden, bird, bunn, stewart, lillie, campbell, christie, kennedy, heron, ross, murray, mackenzie, hardisty, graham, mctavish, bannatyne, cowan, rowand, sinclair, sutherland, finlayson, smith, balsillie, mclean, mcfarlane, and hargrave, and others who have settled on the red river, to establish this. the pensioners. most portions of the new world have grown from additions from the military, who have for some reason or other come to them. so it was in red river settlement. in the th regiment of foot, some three hundred and fifty strong, was sent out by way of hudson's bay under col. crofton, in connection with the oregon question, then disturbing the relations of great britain and the united states. few of the regiment remained in the country. the troublous state of affairs in recorder thom's time induced the company to send out a number of pensioners and settlers who should be settled near the fort, and be useful in time of emergency as police. it was in that col. caldwell, with fifty-six non-commissioned officers and men, of whom forty-two were married and had families, came out by way of hudson's bay, each man being promised twenty acres of land and each sergeant forty. it was after their arrival that the sayer emeute took place. the census. the nucleus of kildonan settlers in had with it a few metis, already settled down, but there was a need for a settlement for the heart of the vast fur territories. the north-west company, ever opposed to settlement, we learn from harmon's book, had a scheme on foot at this time to establish a native settlement on rainy river, and had the money subscribed for an educational institution there. a settlement having been once established on red river, many flocked to it. thus it was that in ten years after the death of governor semple there were of highlanders, de meurons, swiss, french voyageurs, metis, and orkney half-breeds, not less than fifteen hundred settlers. it was certainly a motley throng. the rev. mr. west the first missionary, tells us that he distributed copies of the bible in english, gaelic, german, danish, italian, and french, and they were all gratefully received in this polyglot community. though the colony lost by desertion, as we have seen, yet it continued to gain by the addition of retiring hudson's bay company officers and servants, who took up land, as allowed by the company, in strips along the river, after the lower canadian fashion, for which they paid small sums. there were in many cases no deeds, simply the registration of the name in the company's register. a man sold his lot for a horse, and it was a matter of chance whether the registration of the change in the lot took place or not. this was certainly a mode of transferring land free enough to suit the greatest radical. the land reached as far out from the river as could be seen by looking under a horse, say two miles, and back of this was the limitless prairie, which became a species of common where all could cut hay, and where herds could run unconfined. wood, water and hay, were the three r's of a red river settler's life; to cut poplar rails for his fences in spring and burn the dried rails in the following winter was quite the proper thing. there was no inducement to grow surplus grain, as each settler could only get a market for eight bushels of wheat from the hudson's bay company. it could not be exported. pemican from the plains was easy to get; the habits of the people were simple, their wants were few, and while the picture was hardly arcadian, yet the new order of things since that time has borne pretty severely upon many, so that they feel as did the kindly old lady, "granny" ross, of whom we have spoken, that they were "shut in" by so many people coming to the country. the census of the whole settlement in amounted to , . the parishes. no municipal government was ever provided for the people of red river, though extensive petitions were forwarded to britain for changes to be made in the government of the country. the assiniboia council, however, passed certain ordinances, appointed road overseers, and from a slight tariff of four per cent. on imports, enough was raised to carry on public affairs. the local sub-divisions of assiniboia were national and religious. french and roman catholics taking up a certain portion of river bank, church of england half-breeds another, scottish settlers and presbyterians another. this was done sometimes by the will of the hudson's bay company and sometimes without it. the first parish was kildonan, so set apart and named by lord selkirk, on his visit in ; the de meuron and swiss settlement ( - ) on the seine, was the next, resulting in the parish of st. boniface. it was to this community with its varied elements and many conflicting interests that john black found his way. it was here his life was spent, and with this people we shall see he at length threw in his lot. the population when he reached red river was estimated at about , in all. the settlement was at length swallowed up in the manitoba of to-day. it did its work though what that was will probably never be quite appreciated by those who see the manitoba of to-day. it marked the slow but sure process of an influence of the christianization and semi-civilization of many of our indians; it gave the introduction from a barbarous and wandering life to habits of order and settled work; it furnished a valuable pioneering and trading agency for the fur trade, for surveying our plains, and for our canadian exploration. it gave the nucleus of the present educational and religious organizations, it made the hudson's bay company not only a trading company but a company helping forward in different ways, the improvement of the indians, and made them the friends of education and religion, and if we read the story of its history aright, it saved to britain and canada, the vast northwest which would otherwise not unlikely have met the fate of oregon. and to do so great a work was not to fail. chapter vi. sowing and weeping. it was not strange that the mixture of population should be a matter of anxiety to the young pioneer of the red river. almost all the highlanders and their descendants followed the newly-arrived preacher; but the orkneymen, who had largely in the hudson's bay company outposts married indian women, seemed to form a guild of their own, and were more inclined to adhere to the church of england. no doubt the highland pride of character and connection of the selkirk settlers kept the orcadians at arm's length. twenty years afterward the writer found a sentiment of this kind in kildonan. the hope of dr. burns that john black might, on account of his knowledge of french, gain an entrance to the metis was never to any extent realized. though never able to speak more than a few words of indian, yet the minister had, as we shall afterwards see, a warm side for the red men. thus shut in, the young man found himself surrounded from the first by stalwart theologians, and for these he framed his habits of thought and course of action. so successfully did he do this that he reached their ideal as a preacher, though he knew not a word of gaelic, and "bore his faculties so meek" that he won unusual admiration and regard on red river. no infancy or childhood. the work of the hardy pioneer is usually a slow and painful process of gathering together a few people at a time, of making the community familiar with his voice and thought, and at last from a small beginning growing gradually stronger and stronger. this is the natural course of development, but in kildonan mr. black found a congregation ready made, and it arose like minerva, fully armed and scarcely needing equipment. its infancy, childhood, and youth were all omitted. within two months of mr. black's arrival, and while the people worshipped in the manse, which was used as a temporary church, the organization was begun. at this time the pioneer wrote as follows: "red river, dec. th, . "the temporary church will accommodate or persons, and is always well filled with a most attentive auditory. we have service forenoon and afternoon, and also a lecture on wednesday. we have a large and interesting sabbath-school. there are ninety-six scholars, thirty-six of whom are young people in my own class. finding, as i did, that the congregation was pretty ripe for organization, i proceeded, with the help of a few of the heads of families, whom the people at my request appointed to aid me in the work, to examine and admit to the privilege of church membership, such as presented themselves with this desire." the elders of the people. in any other than a highland community it would have been a dangerous experiment to choose elders so soon in the history of the congregation. but the highlander has the natural tendency to follow leaders. his chief is everything to him. every highland community, by a process of natural selection--character of a lofty kind being a chief element--chooses its ideal men. precisely seven weeks after the first presbyterian service was held in red river six elders were chosen by ballot by the people who had been admitted by mr. black. alexander ross, of whom it was said that his work for the people for twenty-five years laid the people under a debt that they could never discharge, was chosen as leading elder. he died four years afterward. a second, james fraser, a man of high spiritual power, filled the office for eleven years, till his death. george munro, donald matheson, and john sutherland made up the five who accepted office. one chosen, robert mcbeth, did not see his way to enter upon the office. the ordination of this first kirk session took place on the th of december. the young minister was always a wholesome upholder of the principle of doing everything "decently and in order." he did not even perform a baptism till the session was formed. a most interesting entry is made at this time in the session record: "on the same day as the ordination of the elders took place, the ordinance of baptism was dispensed for the first time in the congregation, the recipient being the child of mr. richard salter, the only englishman in the community. it was also the first baptism dispensed by the minister." at this time, too, came the recognition of the new minister by the governor and council of assiniboia. a resolution was passed authorizing any legally ordained presbyterian minister belonging to the settlement to solemnize marriages. this was regarded as a very considerable concession at the time. a highland communion. to the highland imagination the communion stands out as the great feast day at jerusalem did to the ancient jew. the celt is highly imaginative and is especially fervid. few of us can estimate how much religion owes in the old world and the new to celtic fervor. the communion is looked forward to as an especially close approach to god himself. at times we have to deplore a false view that keeps some in highland communities from coming forward until late in life to the lord's table. how much it must have meant to the exiles on red river, forty years after some of them had partaken of the communion in the kildonan in sutherlandshire to now take part in kildonan on red river. due preparation was made for the first celebration of the new testament feast by the newly constituted session. on december th, , the people met together for a preparatory service--not now with perhaps thousands gathered from parishes far and near, but with the few hundreds dwelling side by side. tokens of admission to the lord's table were cautiously distributed, and we learn that the position of the tables was carefully determined, as well as the number of table services and the part each elder should take in the administration. the method seen by the writer twenty years after this date was then introduced. it was to have the table covered with linen and to have it successively occupied by different relays of communicants. the number of communicants, at this first communion after the presbyterian form on red river, was . the services following the communion were carried out as rigidly as those preceding it. rev. john black wrote in his description of this same service: "it was to all of us a solemn day, being the first time in which, according to our simple and scriptural form, that blessed ordinance was ever dispensed here. it was also the first time for the pastor who administered; the first time for the elders who served; and the first time for not a few who sat at the table--among others, two old men--the one and the other years of age; and all this in addition to its own intrinsic solemnity." arise and build! to the settlers on red river the only true ideal was that of the parish church--and it was the parish church of the beginning of this century when in the highlands dissent was unknown. new settlers elsewhere have been willing to erect such temporary structures as their circumstances permit and to wait for better days. in new countries this plan has some advantages. but to the highland hearts on red river old kildonan parish church must be reproduced in the kildonan of the new world. but stone and mortar were needed, and there were few stone buildings in the settlement. the site on which the church was to be built had been given by the hudson's bay company along with £ toward the new church, as an equivalent to the people for their rights in st. john's church which they relinquished to the church of england, although they retained an interest in the burying ground in which their dead were lying. the new site at frog plain was really more centrally situated than that at st. john's for the scottish settlers, and it contained glebe land amounting to some three hundred acres. already their manse and school had been erected upon it. it had formerly been a camping place for the indians, and of it mr. black remarked in one of his letters: "the church is to be erected on a piece of land long desecrated by the idolatrous revels of the indians, and the sabbath evening sports of some who bore a better name, but whose works were not so much better than theirs." ten miles away from red river on the open plain is an old silurian outlier of limestone rock, which still furnishes building stone for winnipeg. even by the end of december the people had quarried at stony mountain nearly all the stone required, and with red river cart or ox-sled had brought the most of the material to the new site on frog plain. the limestone of stony mountain produces excellent lime, and a sufficient quantity had already been burnt and placed on the ground ready for work in the spring. it was a time of earnest enthusiasm in kildonan, and the most real parallel to it which comes to the mind of the writer is where in the days of ezra after the captivity "the people gathered themselves together as one man to jerusalem" and "when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the lord." the floods oppose. the people but awaited the opening of spring in to erect the building for which they had the material on the ground. the winter had been one of great blessing to the newly-founded church. there had, however, been a great fall of snow and the swamps and streams had been filled with water in the autumn. the red and assiniboine rivers run through flat prairie lands, and an overflow in time of high water is very possible. in the valley of the red river had been flooded, the water reaching in a great lake for miles across the country. the fathers of kildonan remembered that former date when in tents they had dwelt on stony mountain and the higher lands back from the river. now to the people ardent to go on with their church building--which was all in all to their highland hearts--it came as a great disappointment to see another flood, which, while not so great as the former, yet was very serious. we are fortunate in having a letter of mr. black's which gives us a vivid description of the scattering of the people. "red river, may th, . "the only thing of great consequence of which i have to tell is that we are at present suffering from a great inundation--second only to that of the year , of which you have heard. the consequence is that we are living in a tent on the stony hill, whither many have fled for shelter, and where i have been for more than two weeks and have the prospect of being so for some time longer. "the ice began to break up on the river about the rd of april; by the th, the water was coming over the lower lands. its increase was about a foot per day, and those whose houses were low had to flee to the heights on the st of may. still rising, on the th and th the river began to carry down floating houses from the upper or french part of the settlement, where the banks are lower and the houses less substantial. on sabbath th, i preached for the last time in our temporary church and had to go part of the way to it in a canoe. on monday th, the flight from the scotch part of the settlement was general. on that very day twenty-six years before had the poor people fled from the former flood. "such a scene it has never before been my lot to see. the water was now a considerable depth in many of the houses and flowing in behind them completely surrounded the people. in trying to reach a place of safety men and women were seen plunging through the water, driving and carrying, while the aged and little children were conveyed in carts drawn by oxen or horses. most of the scotch settlers had from to bushels of wheat in lofts which they kept from year to year in case of failure, and now for this there was much anxiety. the first night we encamped on the plain without wood or shelter, saving what we erected; and amid the lowing of cattle and the bleating of sheep, and the roaring of calves, and the squealing of pigs, and the greeting of bairns, you may be sure we had a concert. after three days we arrived here which is a beautiful woody ridge far from water mark, but thirteen miles from our houses. a few families are with me here, but my congregation is scattered, so that, from extreme to extreme is, i suppose, more than thirty miles. a sea of waters. "thus the waters prevailed and spread themselves over the cultivated lands, sweeping away everything loose and much that was thought fast. houses, barns, byres, stacks of wheat, etc., were floating down thick and fast. the rail fences--and there were no other--were swept clean away. not a bridge is left on the road in all the flooded district. sometimes the wind blew very strong, and acting on the lakelike expanse of waters agitated them like a sea, and this was very destructive to the houses of the settlers. the breadth flooded in our part of the settlement might be eight or nine miles, while the ordinary width of the river is not more than yards. the destruction of property has been immense. from , to , people have been driven from their homes, though the water did not rise so high as in by feet inches. i have crossed this wide expanse twice to visit our people on the east side. it is like a great lake. i have now three preaching stations instead of one--_all camp meetings_. the water began to fall about the st. we hope to be home again in about two weeks. our sacrament was to have been held last sabbath, but we have had to defer it indefinitely. the whole will be a serious blow to the settlement, and will be an injury to the congregation. many will be rendered much less able to pay their subscriptions for church building." home again. the pastor and his people reached their desolated homes in june. the country presented a dreary aspect. crops to a limited extent were sown and yet the harvest, though the floods had done their worst, according to the promise did not fail. the church building was again taken up. the flood during its continuance had destroyed a considerable portion of the lime prepared for the building. a quantity of lumber was drifted off, and timbers for the couples had been floated away but were secured again. the people resumed the work with great cheerfulness. during the season following, the church was erected. alexander ross in his "red river settlement," says: "it was finished in ; and though small, it is considered the neatest and most complete church in the colony. it is seated for persons and is always well filled. its cost was £ , stg. the manse is also completed; and it is pleasing to add that when it was finished there was not a shilling due on either church or manse." in mr. black returned to canada, and spent the summer there. he was induced to return to red river, and had the pleasure of opening the new church in january, . his heart was gladdened. [illustration: kildonan parish church.] "he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." chapter vii. pastor and parish. the uncertainty as to whether he was to be the permanent leader of the red river presbyterians remained for years in the mind of john black. five years at least after his arrival we find him wondering whether the committee intended to recall him or not. this arose from a strain in his nature which rendered him liable to depression, and also from a deep desire to see the spiritual development of the people, which he determined should not be hindered by his personal defects. he was a man of intense humility. in the year after the red river flood ( ), when he saw the church building fairly under way, he returned to canada, undoubtedly to allow a substitute to be sent if such were possible. the impression made by the pioneer missionary during his year and a half of labor had been so marked that the people of red river were determined that he should not be replaced. the hudson's bay company, as before stated, had been averse to another denomination entering rupert's land until they saw that the presbyterians could not be refused. then sir george simpson, with a stroke of diplomacy, allowed the privilege in his letter to rev. mr. rintoul, of montreal. the company's attitude was still for various reasons one of caution. mr. black had been exceedingly wise and politic. in one of his letters he states that at times when his inclination had impelled him to interfere yet he had studiously refrained from taking sides in the struggle which was beginning between the company and the people. he had a strong sense of the fact that he was an ambassador of peace. that he had succeeded well is shown by an extract from a letter written him by sheriff ross on his first return to toronto. sir george simpson won over. "colony gardens, red river, june th, . "i have just had an interview with sir george simpson, the governor-in-chief of rupert's land, who regrets very much he had not been in time to see you before you left the settlement, and desires me to write immediately and intimate to you, that he would be most happy to see you in passing through toronto. "sir george has expressed himself in a very kind and friendly manner, and says that from the high sense the committee in london entertains of your moderation, zeal, and peace-working ministrations, while in the colony, he is authorized to convey to you a sense of its esteem for your character and to grant you a certain sum annually from the company as minister of the presbyterian congregation in red river, and adds, 'if i had been here i should not have consented to mr. black's leaving the settlement at this time.' "in connection with what has been said, i must further observe that the offer sir george is prepared to make to you, on the part of the company as already stated is not to be considered to be made to any presbyterian clergyman that may come to labor in red river, no, _but to you_, distinctly intended for you, for the great satisfaction you have given and the high esteem you are held in by all classes in the colony. this high and flattering opinion of the company at home will, we trust, be an additional motive for your return to resume your duties among us. we all look for it, will expect it, if god spare your health." the pioneer returns. after an absence of five months the longed for pastor returned. the committee had not succeeded in finding one to replace him, and, indeed, do not seem to have striven hard to do so. in a spirit of submission he turned northwestward, though immediately on his arrival he wrote to his aged father: "whether the canadian church will allow me to stay here or not i do not yet know. i am perfectly willing to return if they get some one to supply the place. for some reasons i would wish it to be so. we shall see." his return to red river on this occasion was one that even he confessed to be "tedious and toilsome." he actually took forty-nine days to reach his destination, starting from galena, on the mississippi river. on his northward journey he reached the establishment of the presbyterian missionaries at red lake, in minnesota. supplied by these kind friends with pemican, bread, and flour, mr. black and his voyageur, about the end of october, pushed through red lake in their birch bark canoe, the missionary having to paddle as well as the boatman. on the third day, on account of the ice, the canoe could proceed no further. unwillingly the travellers retraced their course and reached again the shelter of their missionary friends. in the following week the start was again made, but again to be interrupted by ice. the party then camped on the shore for several days, until the ice would bear their weight, when they proceeded on their slippery way. they walked over the ice for forty miles, until having obtained a horse and cart they reached by land carriage, in four and a half days, pembina, a fort on the boundary line. at the pembina trading post a good presbyterian fur trader named murray supplied the pioneers with a conveyance, and the journey was again resumed to fort garry. the horse was weak and the weather cold, and so mr. black trudged most of the way and reached the ross mansion, near fort garry, at the close of his last day's walk of forty miles. surely it needs a man of iron frame for frontier mission work! and yet mr. black writes of this journey with a cheerful heart: "during all these hardships and toils and disappointments, sleeping in the open air in northern frosts, i have reason to bless god i have enjoyed the most vigorous health and have not as much as caught a cold." the cure of souls. with the new church now almost ready the pastor settled down to regular work. his parish proper was his kingdom. he regarded every parishioner as worthy of his attention and most anxious thought. years after it was a well-known sight to behold the faithful pastor, staff in hand, a gray checked plaid thrown over one shoulder, and with light moccasined feet tripping along the banks of red river on his errand of mercy. on account of the settlement of red river, being like that of the french canadians along the st. lawrence, his parish was an example of length without breadth. the kildonan houses were in two rows, facing each other from each side of the river, and made a continuous village along each bank. the writer has heard the announcement from kildonan pulpit that the pastor, during the coming week, would visit from the house of mr. donald matheson to that of mr. samuel matheson. on another occasion from mr. harper's to mr. gunn's, and the like. these visits were very thorough. all the children expected the minister; all the housewives had their houses swept and garnished; even the men, on the day of the expected visit, laid aside their working garb, and the godly pastor emulated, in many ways, goldsmith's "village preacher." as everyone knows, every preacher has not the faculty of successful visitation of the sick. this was, however, an especially strong feature of the kildonan pastor. his sympathy, deep feeling, and wise regard for the condition of the invalid, are spoken of to this day. in cases of severe illness his visits were daily and unremitting. "in his duty prompt at every call he watched, wept, prayed, and felt for all." the parish school. to a man brought up in the parish schools of his native land, and so impressed with the value of education, the parish school of scotland was the model. the conditions in red river settlement were favorable for it. john knox's ideal of the parish church and manse and parish school were easily realizable; and so church and school went up side by side. even before the church was built we find the following entry ( ) in a letter by the pioneer: "the york factory boats have just come and brought the annual supply of goods. they have brought in the box of school books which we had ordered all safe. we have, among other things, ten large wall maps. our school will now be the best furnished in the settlement." the kildonan parish school always retained its pre-eminence on the red river. the government of the country under the hudson's bay company gave no aid. the church of england and catholics had their schools supported by private effort, and the kildonan parish school was of the same kind. even after the transfer of the red river country to canada the writer remembers being present at a kildonan school meeting when it was decided still to continue the support of the school by voluntary subscriptions. mr. black was soon instrumental in sending three kildonan young men to toronto to complete their education. donald fraser, a youth of great promise, who died early; alex. matheson, afterwards a minister of the church, and now a resident of his native parish of kildonan; and james ross, son of sheriff ross, a young man who was afterwards on the editorial staff of the toronto _globe_. the pastor afterwards at times helped studious boys privately with their latin and greek, and did his best to encourage good education in the parish. the preacher. but great as john black was as a pastor and as an educator, he was not less noted as a preacher. he always retained the dialect of the scottish south country, but this was modified somewhat by a pronunciation, said to have arisen from his use of french in his mission work. he pronounced the letter a broad in such words as "grace," "congregation," and the like. his manner was very free and natural, though in voice he was possibly a little louder than some would have desired. he was, however, regarded all over the country as an excellent preacher. the writer remembers his first opportunity of hearing john black, and this more than a quarter of a century ago. kildonan church was plain, even to severity. on the right hand, as you entered the church, was a small vestry under the stair. here the pastor entered, and waited for the signal from the ringing bell, as it called the worshippers from all parts of the parish. it was the custom always to use the geneva gown. on the morning referred to, mr. black came forth, gowned, as the bell ceased, and ascended the high pulpit. in accordance with the custom of the country at that time, the pastor was shod with moccasins, which gave the quick, lively motion which so characterized him. the psalm was given out with rapid movement and much impressiveness, the prayer was purely extempore, and entered with considerable minuteness into the needs of his people, and marked a man of unmistakable devotion. the lessons were read with perhaps a want of variety. when the preacher began his sermon it was evident, from the attitude assumed by his auditors, that they regarded this as the chief part of the service, and that they waited with expectancy for its development. mr. black always wrote his sermons in full, and had the sermon before him in the pulpit. like dr. chalmers, however, he was not hampered by his "manuscript." as the preacher opened his subject, it was plain to see that his method was textual and expository, and showed intimate acquaintance with scripture. as the sermon progressed the speaker became more and more animated, and frequently rose to the heights of eloquence. his denunciation of sin and wrong-doing were fearless, and at times reminded one of the fervor of the hebrew prophets. he was, however, very tender, and frequently was moved to tears, and his appeals to sinners were most touching and effective. in mr. black's preaching there was much variety of subject, though there was little of dealing with popular questions of the day. congregation and preacher alike had very strict views as to what was dignified and suitable to the house of god. as a result of the high standard of preaching of the pioneer, the kildonan people became excellent judges of sermonizing, and after hearing many preachers in the later part of mr. black's ministry and since that time, are of opinion that mr. black was the greatest of them all. habits of study. that mr. black was able to maintain himself in the same congregation for thirty years as an interesting preacher arose, no doubt, from his systematic method of study. in writing during his earlier ministry to his brother, who was also a minister, and had been settled in caledonia, upper canada, mr. black says: "how do you get along with study? what is your plan in preparing sermons? do you write fully and commit, or how? what are your general studies? how many hours a day can you spend? tell me all about it--your hebrew, greek, philosophy, theology, etc. how are you in natural science and astronomy, geology, etc.? these and such like branches we would need to study nowadays if we would not be despised by everyone with a smattering of knowledge. my much travelling and my long separation from my books have inflicted an injury upon me that i will never recover i suppose in this world. i am trying to study four hours a day four days in the week--the other two are devoted to sermon-making. my subjects are greek testament, hebrew bible, systematic or philosophical theology, and practical theology, and an hour to biblical interpretation. of course i indulge to some extent also in general reading. the work that has attracted my mind most of late in the theological department is mccosh's 'divine government,' which i esteem about the noblest performance that ever i read. i lay out my time regularly, but am constantly getting into debt and becoming a literary bankrupt, failing to carry out my plans. and so i have almost given up hope of ever being anything more than a third or fourth-rate man." such words as these show the aspiration of the true student, and show mr. black to have been a man well qualified to shine in the highest walks of church and scholarly life. domestic life. on the return of mr. black from his first visit to canada the longing of his heart for domestic sympathy shewed itself. indeed it was a necessity of his life that he should be surrounded by friends and companions. that he needed the cheering influence of friends was shown all through his career. no one ever loved his friends more strongly, delighted more to sit and spend hour after hour in a social chat, and loved home life more tenderly than he. the house of sheriff ross had been his home from the first day of his arrival in red river settlement. it was not strange that his heart should incline to henrietta ross, one of the tall and handsome daughters found in the numerous family of his highland host. miss ross was, it is true, one of the daughters of the land, being, as we have seen, on the mother's side, related to the okanagan indians of the rocky mountains. this attachment created, indeed, a ripple of excitement among the scottish settlers, who were somewhat exclusive in their notions, but miss ross was attractive in appearance, well educated, having had the advantages of the excellent "mccallum school" at st. john's, and was distinguished for christian character and worth. so the pastor was married and the establishment seemed to mr. black complete--church, school, manse, and the last now with the appearance and tone of home. in this home there grew to manhood and womanhood three sons and three daughters, all living to-day in different places in the valley of red river. one of the family the pastor named after the father of the red river mission, robert burns. in the collection of letters is a most pathetic account of the death by accident of this promising little boy, and the sore bereavement seems to have for years cast a deep shadow over the kildonan manse. the home thus founded was the very abode of hospitality. the circumstances of red river were such that suitable accommodation for visitors or newcomers was very hard to obtain. the bountiful table at the manse was rarely without visitors, and the writer, a quarter of a century after enjoying such hospitality, still remembers the kind-hearted and noble mistress of the manse. the home at kildonan was plunged into the deepest gloom by the death of mrs. black in . the day of the funeral is still remembered as one of the coldest and fiercest days of the cold years of the early seventies. it was long before the desolated hearts of the husband and children recovered from the terrible stroke. dr. black some years after married miss bannatyne, a lady connected with one of the leading families of the country. she was a mother indeed to the motherless children, and still lives in the family home in kildonan. public duties. with a sympathy for every good work mr. black was identified with every moral movement in red river settlement. coming as he did to people who had had for forty years an unfortunate religious experience, he had naturally to take a firm stand against evil of every kind. the highland ideal of church discipline is very high, and mr. black seemed equally solicitous with his people to suppress aggravated forms of sin. it would neither be interesting nor expedient to detail the session cases which came up as the years rolled on. there was one thing always to be said, that the moderator never flinched in his duty, but it is plain to see that he rather aimed at the reclamation of the wrongdoer, than took satisfaction in meting out punishment to the offender. he associated himself very heartily with the ministers of the church of england, who welcomed his assistance in joint meetings for prayer and temperance reform throughout the parishes. he was instrumental in carrying out the work of the bible society. he was also very anxious to gain the acquaintance of the officers and men of the hudson's bay company--many of them his countrymen--scattered over the northwest. with these men he kept up a correspondence, and hardly a chief factor or trader from the interior visited fort garry, who did not think it a duty and a pleasure to take the five miles journey from the fort to kildonan manse to visit the representative of the church of his fathers. so strong did this feeling become that in governor dallas invited mr. black to hold service at fort garry, and this was undertaken with the approval of kildonan session, and thus was begun the first presbyterian service on the site of the city of winnipeg, which has become one of the strongholds of the presbyterian church in canada to-day. in every good thing the kildonan pastor was a leader, and while his sympathetic nature encouraged many a confidence, and many a sad story that caused him trouble and anxiety, yet he was full of resource, and thought nothing of pain and trouble and expense if he might be helpful to the vicious, or lead the young into wisdom's ways, "as a bird each fond endearment tries to tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the skies, he tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay, allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way!" [illustration: rev. james nisbet, presbyterian pioneer indian missionary, .] chapter viii. a kindred spirit. it might not be right to say that it was john black's intermarriage with the native people of the country and the fact of his own children having indian blood rather than the christian sentiment in favor of carrying the gospel to the wandering indian tribes of the prairies, that more strongly influenced him, but it is certain that early in his ministry he began to cry out for a presbyterian mission among the indians. his ardent appeal led to the synod so early as passing a resolution in favor of undertaking this work. the comforting task of passing favorable resolutions was indulged in for ten years, but toward the end of this decade some money had been accumulated and the church undertook its first work among the red indians of the plains. this period was a time of much anxiety to john black, the ardent advocate of the project. sitting in his lonely study on red river it was discouraging to read letters from toronto telling how one year more, and another year, and so on was deemed necessary to mature the scheme. one year he refers to the agitation going on at the red river in favor of union with canada and to a petition signed by upwards of five hundred heads of families being forwarded to the british government to further this object. john black's chief thought was that if the petition were granted, and the northwest became a part of canada, something would surely then be done for the poor indian. a selection made. while not quite prepared to undertake the mission the church went so far in as to send to mr. black's assistance at red river, one of its ministers who should be engaged in learning the indian language, and otherwise preparing himself for the indian work resolved on. this agent was rev. james nisbet, minister of oakville, upper canada. james nisbet was of a missionary family, his brother, dr. nisbet, who paid a visit to canada, more than a quarter of a century ago, having been honored to take a leading place in the south sea mission of the free church of scotland. james nisbet had come out to canada from scotland full of the fervor of the period of the disruption and though a skillful tradesman, had thrown in his lot with the first band of students which entered knox college. the minister of kildonan and he had been fellow students and co-workers, and now that james nisbet had been appointed to red river, john black found in him a kindred spirit. on his arrival in , being an unmarried man, he became a resident at the kildonan manse, and we find frequent reference, in the collection of letters, to the hearty co-operation of the two ministers, and the spirit of rejoicing that now they could overtake kildonan, little britain, headingly, and the new station to which the governor had given an invitation at fort garry. mr. nisbet while an earnest preacher, and as mr. black writes, "working diligently and acceptably," yet had a remarkable liking for building. at kildonan there is still pointed out the parish schoolhouse, a stone building, much of the woodwork of which was done by mr. nisbet personally. mr. nisbet very readily fell into the ways of the red river people, and two or three years after his arrival was married to mary mcbeth, a member of one of the best known kildonan families, and sister of the present minister of augustine church, winnipeg. heathen indians. the question of how and where to begin work among the indians was a difficult one, and on mr. black largely fell the responsibility of determining the question. he had the confidence of the committee in the east, and he was the friend of the hudson's bay company in the far west. the church of england and roman catholics were carrying on work among the swampy crees, saulteaux, and other ojibways about lake of the woods and lake manitoba, as well as in the far off mackenzie river district, while the former had almost a monopoly of the missions around hudson bay. the english wesleyans had for years carried on missions among the indians near norway house and the north end of lake winnipeg, and after the visit of john ryerson, whose letters about the region were published, the work was taken over by the methodist church in canada. it was manifest that the call sent the presbyterian church was to the indians of the western prairies, who had only seen the passing missionary and were still in absolute heathenism. after much deliberation it was decided to undertake work among the crees of the plains, of whom there were said to be from ten to fifteen thousand largely without the gospel. these indians are among the finest physically and mentally of the canadian indians. they are of the same race as the ojibways, belonging to the great algonquin family known on the atlantic sea-board and continuing along the laurentian country to the north of our canadian lake chain. leaving behind the rocky regions where the birch-bark canoe and wigwam, and the fish of the streams, with the game of the forest, had been their chief dependence, the crees of the plains used horses, of which they had numerous bands, chased the buffalo to obtain a bountiful subsistence, and lived in leathern teepees. the language of the crees, while the same in structure as that of the ojibways, has yet its vocabulary much modified from that of the parent tongue. while the crees, in their love of the buffalo and fondness for following the herds over the plains, were thoroughly nomadic and likely to be difficult to evangelize, yet the task was undertaken cheerfully. their great camps were the scenes of the wildest excitement and greatest excesses, and yet they were a brave, self-reliant, and able people. the cut given of four of their chiefs who visited brantford at the time of the unveiling of the brant statue in , gives a good illustration of the appearance of staidness and solidity found among them. the task begun. in mr. nisbet was recommended to the synod for a mission among this uncivilized but interesting people. the gravity of the enterprise is to be borne in mind. hudson's bay company traders had for many years ventured among the tribes of the plains. the hudson's bay company trader, however, had the union jack flying over him; he was housed in a strong fort; in his hands were weapons, and the power of the company was felt over the whole land; but the missionary came with a message of peace; he had no emblem of force about him, he preached the doctrine, "if one cheek was smitten to turn the other also," and so to proceed miles from red river and break ground on the saskatchewan, to be largely dependent on the locality for sustenance, and to trust to the good-will of the indians, required courage and resource. and these qualities james nisbet had. he was not a man of display, was a man of quiet, undemonstrative manner, but had no cowardice or surrender in him. like his countryman, the highland piper, who was asked to play the "retreat," he could reply that he had never learned that tune. mr. nisbet's theology was of a very exact kind. he was in the habit of advising complete reliance in god, perhaps there was a strain of the severe, even of the stoical, in it; but in the case of our pioneer indian missionary, he lived out and exemplified it as well as preached it. for christ and country. a journey from the red river to the saskatchewan by the canadian pacific railway to-day is a comparatively trifling matter, taking twenty-five or thirty hours; but thirty years ago it meant much. it required an outfit that could serve the purpose for forty or fifty days. the sending of a missionary, known to the people of kildonan and by marriage one of themselves, profoundly stirred the highland parish. in one of mr. black's letters he states that the people of the parish had raised between £ and £ sterling for the purpose of making a suitable send-off for the man who had become so popular among them. mr. nisbet's plan, in so far as we can gather, was from the first to be practical and industrial. his effort was to induce the nomadic indians to settle, to cultivate the land, and to make the indian independent of the precarious results of the chase. in order to accomplish his ideal it was necessary to provide himself with a considerable establishment, so that the mission party, inclusive of his wife and little child and two other children, numbered ten persons. they were provided with the necessary outfit for hunting, fishing, building, and farming. the day of departure was the th of june, , and it was a day of great moment for kildonan. the saskatchewan was being looked to as the land of promise. gold had been discovered in its sands, and one of mr. black's letters mentions that a number of kildonan young men had been among the fortunate explorers. the establishment had about it the air of a kildonan enterprise, and these elements added wider interest to the christian effort to evangelize the heathen, which was so dear to mr. nisbet's heart. it was a high day for john black, for he had felt it a scandal that his church should be the only one of the four churches at work in rupert's land not doing something for the aborigines of the country. into the wilderness. we are fortunate in having a letter, quoted in dr. gregg's "short history," giving in mr. nisbet's own words an account of the journey into the wilderness. from this we make a few extracts: "all our goods were carried in carts; each cart was drawn by one ox, harnessed something like a horse. mrs. nisbet and our little girl and a young woman rode on a light wagon with a canvas top, such as you sometimes use in canada. for myself i was generally on horseback but frequently walking, as the oxen do not go very fast. we had tents, such as soldiers use, which we pitched every night, and in them we were generally very comfortable. the sabbaths were delightful to us. both men and animals were prepared for the weekly rest. it was pleasant to see the poor oxen evidently enjoying the rich pasture of the wilderness and the rest they had from their daily toil. we had regular sabbath services, and they were very devout. "we had a good many creeks and rivers to cross, and i dare say you would have been much amused had you seen the plans that were fallen upon for crossing such as were too deep for loaded carts. few of my friends in the east have seen a boat made with two cartwheels tied together and an oilcloth spread over them, or one made of ox hides sewed together and stretched on a rough frame, that would take two carts and their loads at a time. such were the contrivances for getting over streams where there are no bridges or large boats by which we could cross. we passed over a great deal of beautiful country, with hills and valleys, streams, lakes, and ponds. hundreds of ducks were swimming about in the little lakes, and sometimes they furnished dinners for us. sandhill cranes were also seen occasionally, and a few of them were shot for our sabbath dinners. forty days after we left our red river homes we got to a place called carlton house, on the north branch of the great saskatchewan river, and there we camped for one week, while i went to see some places that i could fix upon for our future home." prince albert founded. at carlton, george flett, the interpreter of the mission, who had been in the service of the hudson's bay company at edmonton, met the party. he has since become known to the church as its oldest living indian missionary. born on the saskatchewan of scottish and indian extraction, he had received a good english education at the schools on red river. his wife was a member of the ross family, being a sister of mrs. john black. the gathering of missionary agents also included mr. john mckay, a scoto-french-indian native, who belonged to a family well known at red river for its energy and influence. john mckay was married to a sister of mrs. nisbet, and he steadfastly clung to mr. nisbet in the prosecution of the indian work. the party at fort carlton made a considerable impression upon the indians. while the indians were glad to see so many of the red river people coming to them, yet some trouble arose when the decision was made to settle at a point sixty miles south-east of carlton house and not far from the forks where the north and south branches of the saskatchewan unite. no treaties had as yet been made with the indians, and they objected to the incomers erecting buildings, ploughing fields, and taking possession of the land as the agents of the mission proposed to do. george flett was the useful man for the occasion. his mother's people were crees, and he was among the very band, whose members he recognized as relations. with his characteristic shrewdness he claimed his portion and gave permission to the red river party to utilize his rights. this claim seems to have been at once admitted by the cree band of the locality. the new mission was appropriately named after the prince consort, albert the good, who had passed away a few years before. mission work begun. the plan of the establishment was soon vigorously worked out. during the first year two small buildings were erected, and what was since known as the large mission building in the year after. a school was immediately opened, a farm begun, and every means taken to attract the indians to the place. as was not unnatural, the maimed, the halt, and the blind were brought to the kind-hearted missionary, and it must be stated that no small trouble was experienced in protecting the missionary from the cunning and the lazy among the indian bands. the indian's view of salvation is very often a willingness to accept the white man's religion provided the consideration offered is sufficient. how to meet this difficulty was one of mr. nisbet's chief concerns. for four years mr. black was the sole intermediary between the foreign mission committee of the church and mr. nisbet. when the presbytery of manitoba was established in matters took a slightly different shape. a foreign mission committee of presbytery was formed, of which mr. black was convener. mr. nisbet did such itinerant work as he was able. he journeyed to edmonton, a point upwards of miles west of prince albert. he visited the indians of carlton house once a month and had success with them. but the management of an industrial centre, such as prince albert had become, was plainly inconsistent with any large amount of sowing the gospel "broadcast" among the wandering tribes, from fifty to five hundred miles away. another difficulty overtook prince albert as an indian mission in a few years after its founding. it was the centre of a fertile region very attractive to white settlers. the white settlement led the bands of wandering crees to retreat to more remote districts. the writer in became a member of the presbytery's committee, of which mr. black was convener, and well remembers the unrest of the period. at this time the large expense of an establishment like prince albert was meeting opposition in the church and this, along with the other considerations stated, brought much trouble to the venerable convener in regard to the mission which he loved as a child of his own. in dr. moore, of ottawa, went as a delegate to the saskatchewan, in behalf of the general assembly. his report led to the discontinuance of the industrial phase of the mission, but it also rendered a tribute of commendation and praise to the faithful work that had been done by the founder, to the high reputation borne by the mission among all the bands of crees, and to the steady influence for righteousness attached to the name of james nisbet. in the course of time the indian mission at prince albert ceased to be, unless the mission school among a wandering band of sioux still maintained there be so regarded. john mckay, afterwards ordained, was invited to a band of crees north of carlton, and till his death ministered to mistawasis' band. other churches have taken hold of the bands about prince albert, and to-day as a result direct or indirect, of james nisbet's work, few indians of the district are without the gospel. shortly after dr. moore's visit to prince albert, mr. nisbet and his wife visited his old home in ontario, and he was present at the general assembly of . he returned to his dear prince albert, but being left alone by the resignation of rev. edward vincent who had come to manitoba, and finding his plans somewhat changed by the action of the church, he arrived with his wife at kildonan, in september, seeking a temporary rest. the writer well remembers them as they returned. their work seemed to be done, and the presbytery soon decided to lay hands on hugh mckellar, an earnest student, and license and ordain him for the work in prince albert. mrs. nisbet soon passed away in the home where she was born, and eleven days afterward her husband followed her. they are together in kildonan churchyard. his grave marks the spot where lies as true, brave and single-minded a man as ever laid a foundation stone in the work of missions. a new departure. though mr. black as convener of the foreign mission committee of the presbytery had some sympathy for the industrial ideal of missions among the indians held by mr. nisbet, yet, on the decision of the general assembly being given, he loyally accepted the plan proposed, of attending simply to evangelistic work among the tribes and to teaching the young. it is to be remembered, however, that between and circumstances had changed. it was evident in that the buffalo was soon to be a thing of the past, and the canadian government approved the plan of settling the indians upon reserves and of teaching them to be farmers. the policy of the government thus left the church to pursue its own method. the committee now began to extend its work. george flett, who had left prince albert mission in , was sent to two bands, one near fort pelly, the other on the west side of riding mountain. these missions were very successful. mr. flett was ordained as an indian missionary, and lived to see the okanese reserve on little saskatchewan entirely christianized. the fort pelly band was left to a young half-breed of red river, cuthbert mckay, since dead, and has grown to be the crowstand mission of to-day. in the sioux or dakota band of refugees from the united states living on the birdtail creek were taken under the care of the presbytery's foreign mission committee and a pure blooded sioux missionary from the states obtained for them. this mission is still maintained, and is part of the constituency of the birtle indian boarding school. mr. black lived long enough to see the mistawasis, okanese, pelly, and birdtail missions fairly established. nothing delighted him more than to preside at the meeting of his committee, read the letters from the missionaries, and then to write the necessary letters of counsel and advice, and at times even of gentle fault-finding, which were agreed on. all his friends lament that he passed away too soon to know of round lake, file hills, the western qu'appelle valley reserves and the portage la prairie, birtle and regina indian schools. he saw enough, however, to assure him that his dream of a christianized indian population would in the end be realized. chapter ix. red river becomes canadian. the union of red river settlement with canada was in the air in . in a letter to his brother, mr. black, after discussing the reasons given by the settlers for the change, says in his own cautious way: "i do not know whether canadian annexation will much better them. however, it looks as if the time was come for a change, and if we suffer some inconvenience during the transition period perhaps 'the good time coming' may compensate for all. i have taken no part for or against the movement. i do not think it is good for ministers to jump into the maelstrom of politics. let them stop till they are pushed in. i have my views and preferences, _and aiblins it wadna hae taen a muckle dunch to ding me in_, but in the meantime i am better pleased to be out." while mr. black was thus so politic the leaders among the people of red river were by no means undecided. the movement seems to have taken so strong a form that the greater part of the people, who were not immediately connected with the hudson's bay company, strongly favored it. ten or eleven years before this, the desire for self-government took a much more disagreeable form. petitions from some of the people of red river at that time were to the american government asking it to "annex the red river territory to the united states, and promising assistance against the hudson's bay company in case of war." but we shall be free. this shameful proposal had completely failed, but now a large petition to "the president of the executive council, toronto, canada," was signed by "roderick kennedy and others," reciting their grievances, and appealing for reception by canada. the petition says: "we love the british name! we are proud of that glorious fabric, the british constitution, raised by the wisdom, cemented and hallowed by the blood of our forefathers.... it will be seen, therefore, that we have no other choice than the canadian plough and printing press, or the american rifle and fugitive slave law." one of the most active and influential men in this movement was the hon. david gunn, the leading elder in the little britain congregation. a caithness highlander, he had come out in lord selkirk's time, had been schoolmaster, meteorological observer, smithsonian agent, and now took a leading part in all public matters. being the literary man of the movement, he wrote a document setting forth very well the advantages of the red river country, and showing the profit the country would be to canada. this statement may be found in the government publications of the time. donald gunn lived for many years after and became a member of the legislative council of manitoba after confederation. canada made a strong effort under the leadership of chief justice draper and others to obtain the northwest, and the british commons ordered a complete investigation by committee into the case, but it took a number of years more to bring about the desired result. canadian settlers. immediately after this movement, canadian settlers began to drop by ones and twos into the red river settlement. an important exploration of the red river, assiniboine, and saskatchewan valleys took place by henry youle hind, and the report of this was at the time a mine of interesting and useful information. the well-known dr. schultz arrived in . two english-canadians, messrs. buckingham and coldwell, came to the settlement at this time with a printing press, and began to publish the _nor'-wester_, the first newspaper of the country. this paper soon passed into other hands, and had a stormy existence, being regarded by many, certainly by the hudson's bay company, as a disturber of the peace. the arrival of a number of aggressive and determined men during this decade introduced much strife into the hitherto quiet and easy-going settlement, and the weakness of the hudson's bay company, which was rather uncertain of its powers, encouraged restless spirits to insubordination. the formation of what was called a "canadian party" during this time certainly did not improve the chances of a peaceful and speedy union of the country with canada. shortly after the transfer the writer remembers mr. black when speaking of the disturbed and clamorous times through which we were passing, sighing for "the peaceful days of the old red river." oh! but responded the writer, in his youthful canadian enthusiasm, "surely you would not have the broad acres of red river locked up from cultivation! life is hardly worth living without progress!" "better fifty years of europe than a cycle in cathay." "well, perhaps so," said mr. black, "but there are animals that like to lie at the bottom of the pool and bask in peace and quiet." the grasshoppers. the steady flow of small groups of canadians to the banks of the red and assiniboine rivers, and the interest taken by a few of the representatives in the canadian parliament led to negotiations of a more definite kind between the canadian government, the imperial government and the hudson's bay company. in the year a destructive visitation of grasshoppers took place in the red river settlement. any one who has not seen this locust invasion cannot imagine it. the pictures given by the prophet joel were reproduced. myriads of voracious insects ate up every green thing, and heaps of their dead, decaying and putrid, filled the air with disgusting odors. sympathy in britain and america was awakened for the people left without food in red river settlement. the hudson's bay company gave £ , stg. to relieve the distress, and canada sent her quota. mr. john black, as a member of the relief executive, took an active part in relieving the distress, and was in his element in comforting the discouraged and the suffering. the canadian government determined on a plan of assistance which led to serious complications, though at the time, it seemed [missing word] judicious charity. the canadian government thought it better to give public work to the destitute than to bestow indiscriminate charity. accordingly they undertook to build the wagon road from fort garry to the lake of the woods, which has since been known as the dawson road. this was really a work of much importance, the distance of miles through the wet country being much shorter than the long circuit by winnipeg river and lake winnipeg. though begun with the most benevolent intention it was not long before the question was raised by what right the canadian government undertook it when they did not own the territory. the canadian agents, messrs. snow and mair, who were in charge of the work, paid all those who chose to work upon the road, but there were questions as to the rate of wages, method of payment, and the like, that became bitter enough. trifling remarks of the contractors and their assistants, as to the new state of affairs likely to come to the country, to their seizure of land, and dispossession of the old settlers and halfbreeds, were told about, and a very disagreeable state of feeling was thus engendered. "the canadian party" was certainly most unwise in its attitude to the old settlers of the country, though it is quite evident also that unreasonable suspicion took possession of the people of red river. the leaders of opinion in the settlement were, however, in favor of the change to join fortunes with canada. mr. black was most outspoken in favor of the advantage it would be to have canadian law established, and to be brought in closer touch with his own church, and the brethren from whom for twenty years he had been in a measure severed. the flame bursts out. the negotiations between canada and the hudson's bay company had been favorable, the wide fields of the northwest were to become canadian, and a million and a half of dollars were to make up the loss to the veteran company. hon. william mcdougall was chosen as first governor and was sent by way of minnesota and dakota to his new vice-royalty. suddenly one of the canadian party, on october , , appeared before the master of fort garry and made affidavit that forty french halfbreeds, fully armed and equipped, had taken possession of the queen's highway, some nine miles south of fort garry, and proposed to prevent mr. mcdougall, the new governor, entering the colony. this startling news proved to be true and was a great surprise to the company and to all the english-speaking people of red river. all seemed paralyzed. some were afraid of bloodshed, some thought the demonstration of the french was mere bravado, some that after a parley with the incoming governor it would be arranged by his giving a promise of just treatment and equal rights. the inactivity of the civil authorities encouraged riel, the french halfbreed leader of the unruly metis. riel was a vain-glorious fellow, and he must do something brilliant. the party defending the "barriere" at st. norbert began to tamper with the mails. next, though most of his followers opposed it, riel, by a _coup-de-main_, quartered a number of his men in the fort, much to the disgust of the hudson's bay officers. here again there was criminal inactivity on the part of the authorities. riel, the dictator, became still more bold, and issued a call to the parishes to send delegates to a meeting in the fort. a show of opposition, even at this stage, on the part of the english-speaking people would probably have checked the insolent desperado at the fort. the feeling of disgust on the part of the english at the impudent assumption of power by riel was strong. why, then, it may be asked, did not the spirit of their race assert itself at all hazards? divided counsels. the answer is easily given. jealousy and rivalry prevailed among the english speaking people themselves. the leader in the canadian party was regarded as a selfish and unscrupulous man. he had for years instilled discontent through the columns of the _nor'-wester_. many of the people of the settlement disliked him intensely. the incoming governor seemed to the people to be simply the shadow of this man. colonel dennis, the head of the surveying party was personally popular, but lacked penetration and decision. had governor mctavish, who unfortunately was in poor health, been able to make a call on the loyalty of the people, all would have been well, but this sentiment of distrust and dislike prevented it, and nothing was done. the bishop of rupert's land declared he had gone to the first meeting of the council of assiniboine "prepared to recommend a forcible putting down of the insurrection." mr. black was as firm as any man could be against the arrogant impostor who held the fort. mr. bannatyne, who understood the french people thoroughly, was forward in endeavoring to avert the disaster, but inaction, arising from mutual hatred, lost the opportunity, and encouraged by this, the french halfbreeds in the fort grew to be six hundred in number. too late. then it was too late. the canadian garrison in dr. schultz's store but aggravated the feeling; the gathering of the english halfbreeds and others in kildonan church only roused bitterness without accomplishing anything. it was useless to throw water on the fire, after standing and gazing listlessly at the blaze till it had grown strong. the stealing by riel and his followers at the "barriere" of goods which were being imported to the settlement, the breaking open of the stores and looting the cellars of the fort by his hungry horde, the killing of scott, the suffering of the prisoners confined in fort garry, and the loud vapouring and personal insults of the insolent chief of the "new nation" were part of the penalty inflicted on the people of the country, for the masterly inactivity arising from divided counsels, which had been shown. mr. black and the highland parish stood sullenly by amazed and disgusted at the current of events. with few exceptions the whole parish would have responded to the call of authority, but the call never came. mr. mcdougall issued a proclamation when he was no governor, col. dennis was divided in his mind and had no real authority, the true source of power--the company--felt itself unable to act, and in the meantime the rebellion triumphed. the collapse. the rebellion had been agoing for two months, and riel seemed at the summit of his power, when, two days after christmas, donald a. smith, a prominent member of the hudson's bay company, arrived from canada, at fort garry. the canadian government had realized its blunder, and now sought to do by negotiation what it should have done three months before. if instead of the hasty visit of hon. joseph howe, which itself did some good, two members of the government, one french and the other english, had come up and conferred with the people, there would have been no rebellion. it is so easy to be wise after the event! mr. smith was virtually a prisoner in riel's hands, was watched by him with suspicion, and was treated as discourteously by the petty tyrant as he dared to do. however, by degrees, the commissioner, who displayed great tact as well as decision, began to sap the foundation of riel's authority. a monster meeting of the people was held january th, in the open air at fort garry, with the thermometer at degrees below zero. riel, with the true instincts of a desperado, had seized a number of the papers sent by the governor-general of canada. the mass meeting, however, resulted in a demand for the election of representatives to consider the invitation from mr. smith to formulate their grievances. one of the most useful and trusted men at this time in the red river settlement was a. g. b. bannatyne, merchant and postmaster, in the village of winnipeg, near fort garry. mr. bannatyne was the real representative chosen to the convention for winnipeg, but an american mob by force elected one of themselves. mr. bannatyne acted as intermediary between the english and french, and long after wielded much influence in winnipeg. he was, however, openly opposed to the leader of the canadian party. step by step the power of riel waned until on the th of march, probably to awe the people and regain his weakening power, he committed the desperate act of executing thomas scott, a canadian, contrary to the pleadings of donald a. smith, mr. bannatyne and others. that was the beginning of the end. the party to meet the canadian government, bearing a bill of rights, left soon after for ottawa. the news of the execution of scott threw canada into a blaze. ten thousand volunteers would have reported in a day to go to red river, if they had been called. the name of riel was despised and hated throughout the english-speaking parishes and by many of the french. the canadian government busied itself in passing the manitoba act, which established a province in a part of rupert's land. the wolseley expedition started as soon as the spring opened, and the followers of riel began to leave him. the back of the rebellion was broken. late in august, , the vanguard of the expedition reached fort garry. shortly before their arrival riel and two of his lieutenants left the fort. the th regiment were anxious to have a brush with the rebels, but the three captains, as the troops appeared in the distance, "folded their tents like the arabs and silently stole away." restoring peace. the coming of governor archibald and the establishment of canadian institutions took place in the same year as the arrival of the expedition. but it took years to establish peace. the writer came to manitoba in the year after this, and well remembers the bitterness and hatred which continually showed themselves. the two old english-speaking factions struggled for supremacy. the influx of new people in due time, however, overcame the feuds. the sentiment against riel and his associates burned as strongly years after as it did in the time of the troubles. peace never came really until in chief justice wood's court riel and lepine were found guilty of murder and sedition. the springs of action in communities are hard to trace, but it is plain to see that the burning questions which have agitated manitoba, and through her the whole dominion, since that time, have gained their intensity from the terrible months--for they were nothing short of that--from november to march, of the red river rebellion. undoubtedly the heat of feeling of the "canadian party" included for a time mr. black as being one of the other wing of the english-speaking people. but in his case this soon passed away. his personal character, his kindly and friendly manner, his open hospitality, and his unwavering loyalty to british institutions made new-comers find in the "apostle of red river" a friend, willing to aid all. some of the more extreme of the so-called "canadian party" attempted to misinterpret a casual remark of the good old pioneer to his disadvantage, but it was not accepted generally, and a few years after mr. black was as acceptable as a preacher to the rising congregation of winnipeg as in his own beloved kildonan. often, often did he commiserate the people compelled to go through such an experience as that of - . chapter x. the new settlements. to some, the story of early settlement appears prosaic. to the deep thinking, there is in it romance of the most thrilling kind. who has not read with sympathetic interest the story of abraham going into a far country that god would tell him of? how scottish hearts have been moved with the accounts of the highland clearances, when thousands of crofts and straths and glens were left behind, and their occupants hurried forth to find homes in pictou, glengarry, or on the banks of the hudson! it is not only in the painful separations, the leaving behind of spots and scenes consecrated with the dearest memories, and in some degree the sense of failure in having to give up old associations forced by hard necessity; but the tearful outlook into the unknown, the dread of meeting the inhospitality of a cold world, and the utter feeling of uncertainty that give its human interest to the emigrant ship as it sails forth from the old-world port, or the settler's wagon as it wends its way through the bush or over the "interminable prairie." all the pathetic scenes of early settlers' life became familiar in connection with the red river becoming a part of canada. as soon as the rebellion had been quelled, and manitoba became open for settlement, a movement took place from all parts of canada to occupy the fertile prairies of the west. farmers, whose families were finding the small farm of one hundred acres or less on which they had grown up too strait for them, sold off their possessions and journeyed to manitoba to take homesteads and pre-emptions on its virgin prairies. for the first few years the journey was made by rail to st. paul, in the american state of minnesota. here the old-fashioned settler's wagon with its canvas top--the prairie schooner as it has been called--was revived; the household goods and a stock of provisions were packed in closely, and after them the women and children entered to undertake a journey of nearly five hundred miles to the new land of hope in the north. the father and sons drove the herd of cattle and the extra horses; and from camping place to camping place groups of settlers' wagons moved in daily caravans over the prairie trails. in one such wagon the writer remembers to have seen an old lady of over eighty years, who, seated in her commodious arm chair, held her post among the boxes and bedding and farming tools over this long and weary route. at a stopping place in the then utterly wild territory of dakota, the writer remembers to have seen the quaint entry in the register of the wayside hostelry of j. w., "citizen of the world." the traveller had evidently been impressed with the illimitable stretch of the prairie, so like the sea. at times the unbridged coulée, with its depth of water, was to be crossed, when all the goods had to be unloaded from the wagons, the goods and chattels floated across, the horses and cattle made to swim over; and a delay, sometimes dangerous, of several hours checked the forward advance of the caravan. sometimes the fierce storm of the prairie rose, and compelled the parties to keep camp for two or three days. the writer calls to mind one storm in that blew over tents, drove horses and cattle hither and thither over the prairies, and well-nigh brought bands of travellers to despair. such are the dramatic features of frontier life. at times the settler and his family went by rail as far as the red river, and reached a town two hundred and twenty-five miles by land above fort garry. here a red river steamer was taken, and by following seven hundred miles of the winding river the destination was reached. the red river steamer was of the mississippi type, flat-bottomed and easily running over shallows. indeed, speaking in western phrase, it could run over the prairie if there was a good heavy dew upon the grass. the extra goods were towed in barges behind the steamer, and old-timers still delight to recount the picturesque scenes connected with the red river steamboat. at times, when the river had flooded its banks, the steamer lost her course in the night, and was compelled to fasten her bow to a tree on a prairie bluff till the morning. thousands of the early settlers of manitoba remember the river steamers--the delay of days together when stranded on the rapids--the wretched meals, and the primitive accommodation. arrived at fort garry, the settler found the troubles and discomforts soon forgotten in the hurry and bustle of a new life. then the toilsome journey, on steamboat or over muddy roads, with myriads of mosquitoes and inevitable hardships, was past, and the steamer "tied up" at the warehouse, or the prairie caravan crossed the ferry of the assiniboine and camped by the walls of fort garry. the sun seemed to shine all the brighter and the air was all the more exhilarating since the goal had been reached and the land of promise entered on. at a distance of about half a mile from the fort was now springing up the straggling village of winnipeg. this nucleus of the present city was a separate place, with different ideals and often divergent aspirations, from old fort garry. for years the struggle prevailed as to which should rule, but the increase of population, the influx of men of wider view, and the softening influence of time abolished the rivalries, and the hudson's bay company has in late years entered into all the objects and prospects of the city along with its most enterprising citizens. the picture of that early winnipeg is a strange contrast to the city of to-day. soon after his arrival the family patriarch and his stalwart sons found their way to the land office, inspected the list of vacant lands, ascertained where acquaintances had gone, and after visits and journeys hither and thither, made up their minds where to take up lands from the embarrassing plenty that was offered them. new townships were opening up in all directions where the surveyors had gone, and east and west new settlements sprang up like magic. the kildonan people, from their greater intelligence than that of their neighbors, and their long residence in the country, were naturally much consulted as to the best parts of the country and the localities most desirable for settlement. their habits of life, however, being more pastoral than agricultural, had led them to different views from those taken by the majority of the new-comers who were farmers. the writer remembers very well in hearing of several canadian families, who had broken the immemorial custom of settling along the river bank, and had ventured beyond bird's hill on the one hand, and stony mountain on the other, several miles from the river. these were looked upon by some of the old settlers as simply mad, their failure was prophesied, and the expectation was strongly held that they would be frozen on the plains, or lost in the snow-drifts if they attempted during the winter to find their way to the old settlement. to-day, tens of thousands of manitoba settlers have their comfortable houses on the open plains. sound the gospel clarion. wherever the settler goes, there must the herald of the gospel follow him. many of the early settlers of manitoba came from the congested agricultural districts of bruce, huron and lanark counties, in ontario. as these were strongly presbyterian localities, a very large proportion of the incoming settlers belonged to the church whose foundation john black had been for twenty years so industriously and firmly laying. the presbytery of manitoba had been formed just in time ( ) to deal with this great influx of people, and applications came to it from almost every new locality to have the gospel preached. it was a great responsibility. money and men were scarce, and the source of both these lay in the older provinces, from which so many of the older settlers were coming. the doctrine was laid down that it was the duty of settled pastors, ordained missionaries, college professors, students and also efficient elders, to occupy the new and rising settlements, and the leading members of presbytery cherished it as an ambition to be the first church to preach the gospel in each rising settlement. that ambition has been largely fulfilled in the quarter of a century that has elapsed since it was formed. it involved great self-denial to accomplish this. but the spirit prevailed. it has led to the enormous growth that has taken place, as seen in the fact that the nine preaching places of have increased to the vast number, north and west of lake superior, of in . church statesmanship. much more, however, than this was necessary. the new province of manitoba was unknown. people do not send their contributions largely to places of which they know nothing. there were many in the eastern provinces who had no confidence in the future of manitoba. one of the leaders of the church denounced it as a frozen siberia, and declared himself unwilling to spend a dollar of mission money within its hyperborean limits. it became the duty of john black and his colleagues to do away with this false notion. they knew well their advantage as belonging to the presbyterian church. it is a church which legislates in its highest court--the general assembly--for the weak as well as for the strong; for the maligned as well as for the popular; for the distant as well as for the central interests. accordingly the manitoba men began the work by letter, and full report, and map, and speech, and personal influence, with the purpose of letting the church know the capabilities of the country, and the prospect of a large population coming to cultivate its fertile soil. and this was not a mere spasmodic effort, but it has continued from that day to this. the presbytery of manitoba kept up a constant agitation as to its wants, knowing that the kindly mother in the east but needed to hear the cry of her children and she would relieve them. and so it has been. the outlook of the church has been so widened that to day money flows freely to manitoba, assiniboia, alberta, saskatchewan and british columbia for the wide mission work of the west. hard work. but the organization and development of the work in the new settlements was a mighty task. in mr. black's letters are frequently found: "received your letter as i was leaving to visit grassmere"; "have just returned from the new settlement in springfield"; "paid a visit on church work to the portage," and the like. this was to an equal or larger extent the same with every ordained missionary, professor and other laborer. the great question became, who could do the most, not, who could escape the most. the work was carried on during the winter as thoroughly as in summer. in one of the ministers undertook to supply a new settlement, forty miles from winnipeg, once a month during winter. preaching at the distant point on sabbath morning he came towards the city, about half way took another service among people who had come in that very year, and then struck homeward across the treeless, pathless, uninhabited prairie, having nothing to guide him but the stars. the roads over the prairie in early days were nothing but trails running in a most perplexing manner, and missionaries were constantly losing their way, and sometimes spent the night in the shelter of a bluff, or solitary stack in the wide hay meadow. in some years the roads were very bad. to become "mired" or "bogged" in a "slough," and to have the shaganappi or indian pony coolly lie down in the mud, was an occurrence by no means uncommon. winter with its biting blasts gave no respite to the faithful missionary. the history of manitoba missions has been a marvellous record of faithful, uncomplaining, self-denying service. men have been placed in charge of six or seven townships with settlers scattered sparsely through them. they have carried on for years, in winter's cold and summer's heat, service at six and seven points, three and even four on a sabbath, and all this on small and poorly paid stipends. truly christ said, "my kingdom is not of this world." the honor roll. did time and general interest permit, the growth from year to year, and from district to district, in manitoba might be traced; the special work of faithful missionaries might be given and their great services recounted. this is not our present purpose. the presbytery, in its early missionary plans in , consisted of revs. john black, james nisbet, william fletcher, john mcnabb, and the writer. mr. nisbet was five hundred miles west, at prince albert, and the little knot of members seemed too small to face so large a work; but missionary after missionary was sent by the generous and patriotic home mission committee in toronto. prof. hart, a missionary of the church of scotland in canada, came to join us in the following year, and rev. james robertson two years after that. [illustration: winnipeg in .] frazer, matheson, donaldson, and vincent were active members of presbytery and worthy foundation builders. mckellar, bell and stewart were a trio who did yeoman service in the splendid farming region of portage la prairie and gladstone. scott and borthwick and ross took hold of southern manitoba and laid the foundations of numerous congregations, such as emerson, carman, morden and others, now self-sustaining and influential. alex. campbell, james douglas, a. h. cameron, and alexander smith all earned a good degree in the later seventies, and are still residents of the west. such men as mcguire, wellwood, donald mcrae, hodnett, and polson were hard-working pioneers in the last years in which john black yet remained with us. st. paul's list of worthies was well called a cloud of witnesses in his wonderful chapter in the hebrews, and we honor those whose names have become world wide for their faith and self-sacrifice; but many of the names now mentioned are also those of men of unflinching courage, of splendid endurance, of godly lives, and truest influence. the fact that numbers of them, and others who have since come to the west, were willing to bury themselves in obscure mission stations for the sake of christ, but showed them to be men of the same spirit as john black, and their virtues call for admiration and regard. special difficulties. the great mission work, from to , was of the most difficult and trying kind. the settlements were new, the people were very scattered, were strangers to one another, their resources were small, and mission work was carried on under the greatest disadvantages. but such faithful, self-denying work never goes unrewarded. during one-half of this decade the country suffered from the terrible plague of the grasshoppers. the new farmers all through the settlements were greatly discouraged. about the year there were thousands of settlers of manitoba reduced to the scantiest fare. the writer recalls those dark days of the new settlement. if ever the consolations of religion were needed, and indeed largely appreciated, it was during the years of the grasshopper scourge. the services were held in settlers' houses. the settlers kindly invited the missionaries after service to share their scanty fare, and many a time the missionary felt ashamed to be a burden on those who were literally suffering from the lack of sufficient food. the settlers were, however, in a country from which they had not means to return to their eastern homes, and so, ragged and hungry, they were compelled to wait to be delivered by a higher hand. in the last grasshoppers left manitoba, and gradually the new settlements have risen, till now neatly built presbyterian churches dot the landscape in all quarters of manitoba, and the sacrifice of pioneer missionaries, elders and people has been rewarded. early winnipeg. perhaps the most picturesque and successful example of mission effort was that in what was at the beginning of the period the village of winnipeg. for years before the transfer of the red river country to canada service had been held by mr. black in the court house near fort garry. there had been little growth. the expectation roused by the new state of things led to the erection of a small presbyterian church in the village. john black obtained some $ assistance from canada, and erected a wooden building, × feet. this building, yet unfinished, but sufficiently advanced to be used, was opened for public worship by rev. dr. black on december rd, . the completion of this building was interfered with by the rebellion of - , but the arrival of the troops and the coming of a few canadians led to the partial fitting up of the church in , a committee consisting mostly of the officers and men of the volunteer force doing the work necessary. a view of the cut given herewith will show the appearance of the church. the original intention was to have a tower on the top, and in the sketch the timbers are shown which were to have been the mainstays. for a year these posts were an eyesore to the community, but one night they disappeared. it is said that the sexton, acting on a hint from some quarter, clambered on the roof and removed the offending posts. the interior of the church was somewhat ambitious for those times. the pulpit had a high gothic backpiece, in harmony with the churchly windows to be seen in the sketch. the committee of the troops in partitioned off a portion of the interior as ante-rooms, and left the church seated for about one hundred and fifty persons. to this little building john black gave the name knox church, in memory of the mother church in toronto, of which dr. burns, the patron of the red river mission, had been pastor. knox church organized. in october, , the writer was placed in charge of knox church, and regular services twice a day were begun. john black took the most lively interest in everything connected with the congregation. he knew that it represented the movement in a city which was to become the central fortress of presbyterianism in manitoba and in all the far west. the congregation was organized in with eleven members, and a session was elected in the following year. in the congregation had grown to have seventy-three members, and unanimously called rev. james robertson, of norwich, ontario, and though small in numbers guaranteed a salary of $ , per annum. in the church building had been enlarged, again in and a third addition took place in . during the pastorate of mr. robertson, which lasted seven years, there was a large immigration to the province. knox church grew very rapidly. mr. robertson was a most faithful pastor, and took an especial interest in the incoming population. he was ever willing to give a helping hand to the lonely or discouraged newcomer. knox church has ever been known as a great supporter of the home mission work of the church. [illustration: knox church, winnipeg, .] as has been well said: "the greatest enterprise in which the congregation engaged, in addition to its regular and missionary work in mr. robertson's pastorate, was the new knox church building. this is known as the second knox church. this was largely accomplished through the energy and personal effort of the pastor. indeed so sedulously did the pastor work up the subscription list, that it has been said that it was in this that mr. robertson laid the foundation of the great success that he has since gained in finances as superintendent of missions." the congregation had in grown to have four hundred names upon the roll, and thus desired to have a more comfortable place of worship. the second knox church, as will be seen from the accompanying illustration, was a handsome and commanding building. in august, , the first colony from knox church went off to form st. andrew's church. this was placed in the northern part of the city, and was begun just in time to meet the great railway population which came in in connection with the canadian pacific railway. it was ministered to by the rev. c. b. pitblado. these two congregations represented the presbyterianism of winnipeg during the life of dr. black, but he always believed in the growth of winnipeg. how greatly he would have rejoiced could he have lived to see the handful he had nursed and seen begun as a congregation in the little wooden church with eleven members, develop into seven self-sustaining congregations and two missions, with nine church buildings in all to-day, numbering two thousand five hundred and fifty-four communicants in the city of winnipeg. as we have said before, it has often been spoken of regretfully by the friends of the pioneer that john black was taken away just when the fuller measure of the success of presbyterianism in the great west was dawning. however, simeon-like, he was satisfied. he lived to see the foundations well laid in the new settlements, including the new city of the prairies. he saw the mission work become too large for management by the ordinary machinery of the presbytery. he was quite in sympathy with his brethren as to the necessity of a special agent being set apart to superintend the rapidly rising missions, and when dr. robertson was unanimously chosen as superintendent of missions, though mr. black regretted his being taken from knox church congregation, yet he rejoiced in the appointment and gave his heartiest congratulation to the new superintendent. dr. robertson had just begun his work, which has yielded such a magnificent fruitage to the cause of christ in the west, while the good pastor of kildonan was struggling for health in the last few months of his life. how often do we see the true, the good, the noble, thus "by affliction touched and saddened." "but the glories so transcendant that around their memories cluster, and on all their steps attendant, make their darkened lives resplendent with such gleams of inward lustre." [illustration: knox church, winnipeg, .] [illustration: manitoba college, .] chapter xi. college and schools. next to john black's desire for the spiritual good of the people among whom he labored, was his anxiety for the education of the young. born in scotland, where to be illiterate is looked upon as disgraceful; brought up under teachers in the parish school, who had a real love of knowledge and whose joy it was to select from their pupils every "lad of pairts"; afterwards well trained in a higher institution in new york state; and having finished his course in canada at a time when a new educational impulse led to the founding of knox college, the pastor of kildonan could scarcely fail to be an educationist. his bent of mind constantly showed itself in his desire to help forward promising youths. it was not enough to him that the parish school of kildonan should be the best in the red river settlement. he took those who were looking forward to professional life, and in his own study drilled them in the latin and greek classics, with which he was so familiar. a number of the kildonan lads went on to higher positions, led in their earlier stages by his kindly hand. higher educational facilities were not wanting to kildonan, for upon the borders of the parish, and beside the very church where until the fathers of the kildonan people had attended public worship, was st. john's college. here a good education was given, and, so far as known to the writer, there were no restrictions placed upon those students who were not members of the church of england; but john black desired to mould the leaders of the presbyterian people after a fashion to preserve the best traditions of the race from which they sprang. the small number of people in the red river settlement, and their remoteness from highly civilized life, was for a time an objection to the founding of another college on the banks of the red river. now, however, the vista of hope was opening out before the country, as a new province was entering on its career as one of the canadian sisterhood. the kildonan school reached the culmination of its excellence during the years and under the direction of mr. david b. whimster, a teacher from western ontario. the attendance was large, the educational interest was great, and a goodly number of the best pupils were being instructed in latin and french by mr. black. now seemed the time for carrying out the dream which the kildonan pastor had long cherished. the college planned. in the autumn of , the very year in which the young province of manitoba was born, a provisional board of twelve of the leading presbyterians of the province signed a prospectus and circulated it through the province inviting assistance for an institution to give a training in classics, mathematics, chemistry, natural history, moral and mental philosophy, and the modern languages. we may certainly say there was no restricted view in the minds of the founders of the infant college. early in , £ sterling had been subscribed on the red river, and before the meeting of the general assembly material for the new building had been secured and the building was expected to be sufficiently advanced for use in the autumn of the year. the general assembly met that year in quebec, and the rev. william fletcher, a commissioner from manitoba, strongly presented the case for the new college. the assembly decides. as usual "some doubted," but the assembly entered with spirit upon the project, and after certain negotiations the writer was appointed to go to manitoba and lay the foundations of the new institution. he was ordained for the work in gould street church, toronto, in company with dr. mackay of formosa, and pushed on to reach manitoba before winter. after a long and toilsome journey, in october the writer arrived at red river, and looks back with pleasure to the first night spent in company with john black at kildonan manse. the rev. william fletcher and the writer on arriving at fort garry could find no accommodation in the crowded hotel in winnipeg, and accordingly they walked down the four miles or more to the manse on a pleasant autumn evening. the apostle of the red river, with a mass of iron gray hair, as shown in his portrait, with well marked and yet kindly face, and his dumfrieshire doric, not yet displaced by forty years of absence from his native moorlands, was in high spirits. so often had the people of red river seen those coming to them foiled in their plans by the too early approach of winter that their fears had been awakened lest another disappointment would reach them. but the journey had been made, and now the pioneer, whose tastes had always remained scholastic and literary, even in the remote solitudes of the west, saw one of his strongest anticipations about to be realized. he spoke of the youths ready to go on with their work, of the numbers coming into the country, of the bright prospects of the church, and the value of education as a factor of national growth. late into the night all phases of the subject were discussed and plans laid for immediately beginning work. manitoba college begun. a few days afterward the provisional board met, and the name "manitoba college" was adopted for the new institution--a name which has meant much in the educational development of the western prairies. on november th, , classes were opened, and the work immediately took hold of the minds and hearts of the presbyterian people of the country, and of many others as well. the first building was of logs covered with siding, and so manitoba college while not emulating the fame of the log college, out of which great princeton college grew, yet has a similarity in its first housing and surroundings. the cut on page gives a view of the first college building at kildonan, with the kildonan church in the background. in the year following the opening of the college the staff was strengthened by the arrival of the rev. thomas hart, b.d., who was the representative of the church of scotland in canada. professor hart came under an arrangement with the church of scotland synod to take part in the educational work, and has in the quarter of a century since his coming labored with unwearied diligence for the good of the college. the co-operation of the two branches of the church in college work three years before the union of the churches proved the advisability of the scheme of union, and was the harbinger of that event which has been such a blessing to religion throughout the dominion of canada. removal to winnipeg. the college steadily progressed for two sessions, when an event took place which seriously tried the stability and attachment to principle of the presbyterians of the country, more especially of the people of kildonan. this was nothing less than the proposed removal of the newly-founded college from kildonan to winnipeg. there can be no doubt that this was one of the most trying things to mr. black in his whole experience. kildonan was four or five miles distant from the rising capital of the province. three miles nearer the city than manitoba college stood st. john's college. the methodist church had opened an academy in the heart of winnipeg, and the disadvantages of fair development under which manitoba college lay at kildonan were manifest. the matter came up in the presbytery of manitoba, and the scheme favorable to beginning work in the provincial centre was carried by the casting vote of the moderator. it was naturally a great grief to the people of kildonan, and especially to their earnest pastor. to see the longed-for tree of knowledge so speedily plucked up by the roots seemed to the good old pioneer unnatural and uncalled for. and yet it was the struggle between reason and sentiment. the good of the institution itself and the plan to be adopted for its greatest usefulness must be the highest considerations. the matter was necessarily taken to the general assembly. mr. black had not intended to be present that year at the general assembly, but at the wish of kildonan itself went in order that he might give the view of the people against the removal of the college. all who were present at that assembly will remember the address of the valiant representative. with singular clearness and the highest dignity, though with deep emotion, he recounted the struggles of the people of kildonan, the sacrifices they had made for the church and country, the hopes that had been awakened, and the damage it would do the college among the relatively small number of presbyterians yet settled in the country. the assembly was deeply impressed by the appeal of the devoted and unselfish advocate. the writer recalls the fact of one of the most respected pillars of the church, hon. john mcmurrich, coming to him privately and saying, "i quite agree with the argument in favor of removing the college to the rising town, but it does seem hard that after all the struggles of the faithful pioneers of presbyterianism on the red river, and especially after the devoted and self-sacrificing life that john black has lived, that there can be found no way in which their wishes may be gratified." there was not a member of the general assembly who did not feel in the same way as good old john mcmurrich. but it was a critical moment in the history of northwestern presbyterianism. to have hesitated at that time would have been to take up the same movement in a few years again with the added difficulty of a falling cause and a sense of failure. deputation sent. the assembly acted with extreme caution and discernment in the matter. a commission of two of its members, drs. ure, of goderich, and cochrane, of brantford, the former an old fellow-student and warm friend of mr. black, was appointed to visit manitoba and report upon the case. the commission decided that after a year the college should be removed to winnipeg, and carry on its whole work there. this was naturally a great disappointment to mr. black. he was not convinced by the decision, and feared especially that hurt would be done the college among the old settlers of the country. he quoted in confirmation of his opinion the statement made by the bishop of rupert's land, the head of st. john's college, that the removal was a mistake. in this john black, to his own surprise and happiness also, found himself mistaken. the kildonan people, to their infinite credit, stood true to their principles and in the next and succeeding years, numbers of their young men were educated in their own college in winnipeg, notwithstanding their feeling of disappointment at the loss of the college. acting in the same manner as he had done when his views were not carried out in regard to the policy of managing the prince albert mission, the true-hearted presbyterian pastor still gave his unwavering support to the college, and for several years when the college undertook the instruction of a small band of theological students, came, in company with dr. robertson, at considerable inconvenience to himself, and unrewarded except by the gratitude of the board and the high appreciation of the students, to deliver lectures in church history of which he was so complete a master. it was with the deepest appreciation of his scholarship and high character that the board of manitoba college congratulated him in , when the sister institution in the church, queen's college, conferred the degree of doctor of divinity upon the one who had been the originator and strong supporter of general and theological education among the presbyterians of the western prairies. the university established. the college continued to grow and, after the union of , obtained a building of its own in the northern part of winnipeg. it became in , along with the church of england college of st. john and the roman catholic college of st. boniface, a part of the university of manitoba, which was established in that year. from the first it took the lead in the university of manitoba, and to-day has upwards of one hundred and eighty graduates in arts. dr. black was among the earliest representatives of the college on the council of the university. the needs of the college became so great that in the beautiful college building represented in the accompanying cut was erected at a cost of $ , . the marquis of lome laid the corner stone of the new college. dr. black lived to see the erection of the building, but passed away too soon to witness its occupation in the autumn of . the difficulties of the college were many during these early years. as has been said, "this part of its history was the period of uncertainty, and of many sleepless nights for its professors. eleven or twelve years of no visible means of support, of inevitable friction, arising from the necessary change from kildonan to winnipeg, of an utterly insufficient staff for undertaking the university work in which it early took part, and of its professors each weighted down with as much missionary work as an ordinary missionary, to enable them to gain remuneration from the home mission committee--these were the struggles of development with which the young organism grew into strength." no one was more sympathetic than john black in encouraging the professors in their toil. during its whole history manitoba college has been a missionary centre for the west. the authorities of the college have always been anxious to make the college in every way useful to the church. its professors have taken a very active part in the home mission work and indian missions, and its students have been strongly possessed with the missionary spirit. before the college had the status of a theological college, in co-operation with the presbytery of manitoba, it gave instruction to students in theology with the approval of the general assembly. in the year following that of the death of dr. black, manitoba college was granted a regular theological department, and this part of the college work has been well organized and maintained under dr. king and professor baird. no less than graduates in theology have left the walls of the college between and the present time ( ). in token of its absorbing interest in home mission work, manitoba college has willingly placed itself at the service of the church in conducting a summer session in theology, for the better supply of the mission stations of the synods of manitoba and british columbia. dr. black would have greatly rejoiced, could he have seen the present prosperity of the institution for which he prayed and labored so long. public schools. the change made by the first parliament of manitoba from the denominational schools formerly prevailing to a system of public schools was a very striking one. the desire of the roman catholics to have separate schools for themselves was granted, and thus the germ of the great question which has for years disturbed manitoba was introduced. those, who in the old red river settlement days had been accustomed to their parish schools, were not seriously opposed to the separate school system. to them it seemed simply a more systematic way of working their parish schools, and receiving the assistance of a government grant. dr. black thus became the representative of the presbyterian parishes and was a member of the first board of education for the province. matters worked with a fair amount of smoothness, but there was a constant grasping of power by the roman catholic hierarchy to make a greater and greater division between the two sections of the board, until in ten years after the formation of the province the roman catholic schools were to all intents and purposes managed privately by the catholic section of the board, and the roman catholic archbishop recognized as the authority by whom, for his own section, all books in religion and morals should be approved. protests in the newspapers, in political campaigns and otherwise were made against this gradual aggression on the part of the roman catholics. action taken. the protestant section of the board at length took action in the matter. a series of resolutions were passed on oct. th, , by a majority of the section, looking toward the doing away of separate schools. the matter promised to bring on a great agitation in the country, and dr. black ceased to be a member of the board, though rev. dr. robertson, who was also a presbyterian representative on the board, held with the majority and ardently approved of the national school ideas. dr. black in this matter felt that he could not be a party to interfere with the amity between protestants and roman catholics, which had been a feature of the old days of the red river settlement. while he probably differed little from the other members of the board as to what should be done, yet his strongly expressed desire to be freed from the personal turmoil and discussion of this difficult question was regarded, and the burden thrown on younger men. the government interferes. the provincial government of the time became alarmed at the action of the protestant section of the board, and took the strong measure of reconstituting the board at the time of next appointment. some of the more aggressive members were replaced by others of a more pacific character and the crisis was thus postponed. dr. black's anticipations of the reality of this struggle were by no means mistaken. for several years the question slumbered, with, in , a new aggression on the part of the roman catholics, making the two systems more distinct and maintaining the share of joint stock company assessments, which were almost entirely those of protestant stockholders, _pro rata_ for roman catholic schools. dr. black's fears of trouble were soon to be realized, for after ominous rumblings, on the incoming of a new government, in a few years the educational change took place ( ), giving rise to what has been widely known throughout the world as the "manitoba school question." dr. black died a number of years before this reformation came about. chapter xii. memorials. in the thirtieth year of mr. black's ministry a considerable religious movement took place in winnipeg and the neighboring country. mr. black's interest in vital religion was ever one of his outstanding features. his conception of the christian minister was that he was in reality a shepherd of the flock. it was his high mission to study the times and the seasons and to avail himself of any wise and timely circumstances which might arise in connection with the religious life of the parish. the influx of a large number of new settlers can hardly be said to have had a favorable influence on the highland parish. the life of the colonist or settler, even when he is well disposed, is likely to lead to carelessness in religious things, to laxity in the observance of the sabbath, and to exposure to many temptations. kildonan parish, being near winnipeg, and much in touch with the new settlers, was thus exposed to hurtful influences. as a wise watchman, the pastor of kildonan saw this, and gladly welcomed tokens of spiritual revival, and took part very heartily in the movement to have special services in his beloved parish. we are fortunate in having a sermon of the pastor on the subject of revivals, published some years before the time of which we are speaking. referring to revivals, mr. black says: "happy the ministers thus privileged to be instruments in god's hand. happy the souls who plentifully partake of this extraordinary grace! and it is well worth remembering how beautifully this mode of dealing with men is adapted to the wants and weaknesses of the race. "not only do spiritual affections become languid and require to be freshened with new life, but even the very ideas and impressions of a spiritual and eternal world wax dim upon the soul through the lapse of time, and the influence of the world and something extraordinary is required to renew these--some fresh testimony that there is a god and an eternity. "it must be familiar to all, how events and appearances, however stupendous in themselves, lose their impressions by such regular recurrence as renders them familiar to our minds. what, for instance, can present a more magnificent spectacle than the passage of the sun through the heavens on a clear summer day? yet so familiar are we with the spectacle that we scarcely think of it. it is a part of the regular operations of nature and passes unobserved. "but suppose some day that the sun should appear of double size, or that another sun of equal brilliancy were to traverse the heavens from north to south, then all would be struck and filled with amazement--it may be with alarm--for then it would appear that there is some power superior to nature that can interfere with its regular course when he will. god would thus be brought near. "so it is in spiritual things; however mightily the work of god might be carried on, men would soon begin to forget god in it, and to attribute the deep and earnest religious feelings prevailing to natural causes, and so something higher still would be needed to prove that the work was of god. much more is this needed in a time of comparative indifference to bring palpably before men's minds that there is a god and a spiritual world. men require something uncommon to stir them up from to time. our private devotions would be more ready to sink into coldness and apathy were they not quickened by the public services of the sanctuary, and the sabbath services would also degenerate, were we not stirred up by the occasional occurrence of sacramental services. so god's ordinary dealings require the aid of these seasons of revival." some drops descend. the meetings, as conducted by the evangelist in kildonan church, were attended with good. there was much in the manner of the professional evangelist that did not commend itself to the more staid religious customs of kildonan, but dr. black and his session, being in earnest in the cure of souls, overlooked the defects and sought to make the most of the efforts of the messenger of god sent amongst them. a considerable quickening took place among the young people, and the older people were helped as well. this was a great joy to the pastor. the strain upon the faithful minister in his person was, however, very great. the frequency of the services and the feeling of responsibility told upon his deeply moved nature, and by the time the meetings were ended the godly man was prostrated in body. rest was tried, and a visit to the province of ontario was undertaken, but without very much permanent benefit. the good old apostle took advantage of his eastern visit to attend the meeting of the general assembly in kingston in . he was expected to be present at it, and it seemed to be the desire of the leading ministers of the church that the honor of the moderatorship should be conferred on dr. black, as no less than ten presbyteries had nominated him. on the opening of assembly a letter was read from dr. black, declining, on account of his poor health, to be put in nomination for this exalted position. a high estimate. the grounds for the proposed honor were not only the fact that john black was the first missionary to the red river, but that he had so well fulfilled the functions of pastor, preacher, and leader. few had, indeed, heard the apostle of red river, but it was well-known that he was a preacher of no mean order. his reputation as a theologian was well established, an evangelical tone was highly characteristic of his sermons, and his fervid appeals and denunciation of wrong-doing were telling, while a poetic and eloquent power of expression was certainly possessed by him in his nobler efforts. as an example of his successful preaching, we may refer to a very effective and touching sermon delivered by him in the earlier part of his ministry. among the youths who had gone from red river to study, we have already mentioned donald fraser. he was a young man of singularly attractive disposition, who as a boy had suffered from a disease in the hip joint. recovering somewhat, he had gone on with his education, and had in entered knox college, toronto, where he continued a student for three years. it is said of him that in addition to his more than ordinary ability and diligence, he was distinguished for "his deep and steady, yet gentle, cheerful, unobtrusive piety." on his return to red river, the disease increased, and attended by the kindly and continuous spiritual care of his minister, in the late winter he passed away, joyfully exclaiming, "i am going to glory." ardently attached to his young friend, the kildonan pastor preached a beautiful sermon on rev. vii. , , , entitled, "from tribulation to glory." we may well give an extract or two: "how many have been thus removed who seemed the very men to labor for god here! this is the lord's doing. it is marvellous in our eyes." it is mysterious, yet we can see reason in it--the lord will show that he is not dependent on men. and there is mercy in it--he spares the green and takes the ripe. to our departed brother the change is unspeakable gain--he is gone forth out of all his tribulations. faith is changed into sight, hope into enjoyment. he is gone to see the saviour, whom long he had trusted and long loved. faith, we may be well sure (a favorite form of speech of john black), had many a struggle to realize a present redeemer; but now there is no struggle; he sees him as he is, and is like him. we are left. his form is no longer before our eyes. but in his meekness and gentleness of disposition, in his christian consistency and cheerfulness, in his patience under suffering, in his prayerfulness and faithfulness, and in his kindness of heart and spirituality of mind, he has left us an example which woe unto us if we forget. and in his happy, joyful deathbed, unvisited by doubt or fear, we have another blessed evidence of the reality of religion and the faithfulness of god. to the family the loss is great, but their sorrow is mingled with joy, for not the shadow of doubt is left upon their minds. to myself the loss is also great. there i found sympathy, counsel, encouragement, prayer. but that heart and those lips are now still. "in robes of white." "see these glorious, these shining ones, walking in brightness the golden streets of the new jerusalem. they are clothed in white robes--angels' garments. such was the clothing of our lord on the day of his transfiguration, and such was the clothing of the angel that rolled the stone away from the door of his tomb." the white robe is the emblem of purity. the white robe without signifies the pure and holy heart within. these are purified, holy souls. in them has been fulfilled to the utmost, david's prayer: "purge me with hyssop and i shall be clean; wash me and i shall be whiter than snow." no stain of guilt now remains upon their consciences, no stain of corruption now defiles their hearts; no sinful desire, no vile or tumultuous passion now agitates their minds. their thoughts are all pure; their affections are all heavenly; they are conformed to the image and the will of god. not the smallest thing in them is out of keeping with the holy heaven in which they now dwell. the white robe is also an emblem of joy. it is the wedding garment--the dress of the bride, the lamb's wife--the garment of the guests that sit at the heavenly banquet. the white robe without signifies the joyful heart within. and, oh, a happy company are all these white-robed ones in their heavenly father's home! the sorrows of earth are all left behind, and not even the shadow of evil now obscures the sunshine of their holy joys. no sin, no sorrow, no care, no toil, no fear, no conflict; but purity, peace, delight--their father's smile, their saviour's presence, the society of the redeemed and of holy angels, the sight of heavenly beauty, the sounds of heavenly music, the fragrance of celestial flowers, the sweetness of the water of life, the exercises of heavenly devotion, all conspiring to fill their minds with gladness ineffable. the marriage robe without is the emblem of the joyful heart within. the white robe is the emblem of victory. it was worn by those who after victory returned to the imperial city and passed in triumphal procession through the crowded streets, and the admiring and shouting multitudes. those who have entered the new jerusalem have gained the victory; they now enjoy the triumph. they have fought the good fight; they have finished their course, they have kept the faith; henceforth they are to enjoy their crowns of righteousness, their white robes, and their evergreen palms. long and hard was the conflict; many and fierce were their enemies; but now the victory is won--sin, satan and the world are subdued; and the sword and the breastplate, the buckler and the shield have been exchanged for the white robes of victory and of peace. "they hang their trumpet in the hall and study war no more." out of affliction. "many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the lord delivereth him out of them all." they were in pain, in sickness, in poverty, in hunger, thirst, and nakedness; they were exposed to shame, they were oppressed by tyranny; they have been captives, slaves, victims of cruelty and injustice; they have seen their dearest snatched from their embraces, they have passed through the trials which are common to man, and many peculiar to themselves; but they have come out of all their tribulations--sickness and pain, captivity and bereavement, oppression and suffering are now forever ended, and god has wiped away all tears from their eyes. a beloved elder. we have before us another address of mr. black worthy of being quoted. this was delivered on the death of one of his best beloved elders, john pritchard. this elder was the son of an english fur trader of the same name, who had been in the service of the northwest fur company, and afterward acted as lord selkirk's agent. the tender heart of john black comes out in his words for his departed friend: "john pritchard was a man of god. in him we have lost a man of much prayer--of deep humility, and one who knew well how to speak the truth in love, and who in his deportment beautifully mingled the gravity and the cheerfulness of true religion--a gravity without gloom or austerity--a cheerfulness without levity--a mingling or union of qualities which gave him at once the respect of the aged and the confidence of the young. "in him his family have lost a wise, faithful, loving head--a large connexion has lost one of its most beloved members--society has lost a man of much usefulness and christian worth--for myself, i have lost a good counsellor and a faithful and confiding friend; and you, as a congregation, have lost an office-bearer whose place it will not be easy to supply. "how often in private have many of you heard his earnest counsels; at how many sickbeds and deathbeds have you been comforted by his consolations; how often, here and elsewhere, have we heard his earnest pleading voice in prayer; and how often has that voice been lifted up in wrestling intercession for us all, when there was no ear to hear but that of our father in heaven." life declining. it was in april, , that mr. black so felt the need of rest that he obtained leave of absence from the presbytery of manitoba and went to ontario and to his old home in new york state, seeking health. after spending some months in the east and being present at the meeting of the general assembly, he returned to manitoba, feeling much improved. unfortunately he caught a severe cold on his return journey and was again reduced in strength. reaching kildonan he sought to minister to his devoted people, but after a few sabbaths was again compelled to make application to the presbytery for relief. this was granted most willingly, but at the same time with a feeling of great anxiety on the part of his brethren. it seemed the presage of the approaching end. the affectionate attention of friends and relations was given him, but he remained very weak. reclining on his sofa, he received his ministerial and other friends, and still with clear mind discoursed on the topics of the day and on the blessedness of the service of christ with the great future rewards of the people of god. even in the time of declining strength his was no weak or halting faith, but a strong and unwavering confidence. the old year passed away and the opening days of january saw no marked change. his interest in the affairs of the parish did not flag, but he was patiently resigned in his weakening strength. at last as the opening hours of the second sabbath, th, of february, , were approaching, the spirit of the devoted minister passed away to its eternal rest. the event, though somewhat expected, yet produced a shock in the parish, and on the word reaching winnipeg references were made in the city pulpits on that day to the departure of the good man. tributes. the tributes of kind friends came from all directions. the leading newspaper of the province referred to the great service he had rendered the whole northwest, and said: "in the midst of his many duties he was able in a wonderful degree to keep abreast of the literature of the day. although occupying so remote a field, he was remarkable for the superiority of his scholarship, so that he enjoyed an eminent reputation as a man of learning and particularly as a theologian." last sad rites. on the following wednesday the funeral took place, the service being held in kildonan church. the day was one of the most bitterly cold days of the season. yet the people of all denominations were there, and representatives from the river parishes and winnipeg, so that the church was pretty well filled with men and women. several of the oldest members of the presbytery were absent from the province at the time, and were prevented from paying their last tokens of respect to the departed leader. rev. professor hart, who had been for ten years intimately acquainted with mr. black, took the service and made the address. in the course of his remarks he said: "in reference to dr. black's public life, i have only a word or two to say. as a preacher he was well known to us all as being clear, forcible, simple, impressive and eloquent in his exposition of divine truths; as a pastor he was indefatigable, visiting regularly in succession all the families in his parish, especially in times of sickness, distress or in death. he was active in forwarding the interest of the sabbath-school and also of the bible society, of which for years he was president. "every good cause found in him a faithful and zealous advocate. as a friend, the departed was judicious, faithful, steadfast and true. his whole course among us was, i may add, such as became a true and faithful man of god. when work was to be done he did it up to the measure of his strength and even beyond it. hence, though naturally of a strong and healthy constitution, he succumbed--not to old age, but to excess of work. he was worn out by his exertions, and his death took place at a time when in his prime, intellectually, years of activity and usefulness might be looked forward to. "the all wise disposer of events seemed to say that our friend's work on earth was done, and called for him from labour and trial here to the rest that remains for the just. the last illness of our brother (and father), though protracted to nearly a year, was not during the latter portion of it accompanied with much pain. to the end his faith remained unshaken, his hope undimmed, his peace of mind undisturbed. that end came quietly. he sweetly fell asleep in the arms of jesus. just as that day he loved the best was being ushered in, just as that earthly sabbath dawned, he passed away to the enjoyment of an eternal sabbath in the courts above." [illustration: public monument erected to rev. john black, d.d. in kildonan churchyard.] the rev. alexander matheson, a native of kildonan, then led in prayer; the rev. c. b. pitblado, the minister of the new st. andrew's congregation of winnipeg, pronounced the benediction; the rev. alexander campbell was also present, and the rev. r. y. thompson took the service at the grave. retrospect. we have now completed our long journey from garwaldshields farm in eskdale muir, where john black was born, to kildonan kirkyard, where his honoured bones now lie. sixty-four years was his alloted span, and no one who has followed our story can fail to admit that the character and life described are those of a true man. born among the shepherd people of the region that has been made historic by the names of thomas boston, james hogg, edward irving and thomas carlyle, the worthy lad of eskdale very early showed the features of a religious and deep-laid character. what he would have been had he remained in the land of his birth we can only conjecture, but it is certain that wherever he was to dwell his earnest, manly, studious boyhood was the promise of a useful life. perhaps nothing shows the chivalry of his nature more than his surrendering all the bright hopes of a student life, and the career of a successful teacher, in order that he might with his family, which had suffered losses, seek a new world home to better their condition. his unselfish devotion led to his becoming the mainstay in the counsels of the family as they settled in the state of new york. years afterwards we find his love of his aged parents in the catskills a matter for consideration in choosing where his lot should be cast. the return of john black to the canadian branch of the church of his fathers illustrates two or three points in his character. there was in him a strong attachment to old associations. the scottish type of presbyterianism was to him the best, and he sought his defence in the shelter of the "burning bush." his characteristic discrimination and determination to follow his convictions were shown in his choice of the newly formed free church, while his love of the past and strong personal attachment would have led him to cling to the church of scotland. his love of country was also strong, and there can be no doubt that he greatly preferred the shadow of the union jack to that of any other flag. his student and missionary life were characterized by great thoroughness and enthusiasm. while strongly evangelical, and counting all things other than the gospel as "wood and hay and stubble," yet he valued knowledge, and laid the foundation of subsequent excellence in latin, greek, history, and english literature. his missionary life in brock, in upper canada, in the district of montreal, and on behalf of the french canadian society, all indicates the spirit of thorough consecration, which is the beauty and strength of the aspirant to the christian ministry. the most critical time in the life of john black was his reception of the command, for it was nothing else, of dr. burns to go to red river settlement. those who knew dr. burns can easily imagine the ardency and enthusiasm with which he would argue the case. he was a man of strong personality, and to him his opinions had all the strength of principles. mr. black could not resist what was put to him as the call of duty. it is somewhat remarkable to see, however, that year after year he was not convinced that the red river was to be his permanent sphere of labor. this no doubt arose from a certain sensitiveness of disposition, and an unwillingness to stand in the way of what he thought was the highest spiritual good of his people. and yet it was as all his friends said it would be: god's finger pointed out the red river unmistakably as his lifelong sphere. the founding of a new cause among a people who, for thirty or forty years had been without their own form of faith, was a great work. the church building, the alarming flood which hindered his work, the severe task of supplying, while still alone, the small groups of presbyterians outside of kildonan, the anxiety about the spiritual condition and insobriety of so many of the native people about him, cases of discipline which required at the same time firmness and tact--all these filled up the measure of his busy life. the effect of the arrival of an additional laborer in the person of rev. james nisbet, in , can hardly be estimated by us now. the fact that another clergyman may arrive now in the field of manitoba missions is an everyday occurrence, and gives rise to little comment; but when the arrival of a laborer doubled the available missionary force it made it an event of first importance. when, four years later, james nisbet began the indian missions of the church it was something, too, of immense moment. john black's dream of fifteen years was then realized, and he saw in the future the vista of a reclaimed and civilized race in place of the helpless and sin-afflicted savages by whom he was surrounded. when the stirring days of the riel rebellion were over, there came the rush of immigration, which startled the quiet solitudes of the red river prairies. it was to mr. black, as to the older people of the country, a time of change, but the religious needs of the new settlements were well looked after, and the movement begun of the mission advance, which has been so notable a feature of the presbyterian cause in the northwest, and has led to the church, which john black came to the west to found, becoming much the largest and most influential body of the prairies. not only in winnipeg, with its thoroughly organized body of communicants, and in portage la prairie, brandon, regina and calgary have the presbyterian views of church doctrine and life become potential; but, in more than a score of towns, such as morden, pilot mound, deloraine, carman, glenboro, treherne, holland, miami, minnedosa, russell, rapid city, gladstone, moosomin, prince albert, edmonton, souris, virden, boissevain, emerson, keewatin, rat portage, fort william, and port arthur have strong self-sustaining churches been established. notably is the church strongly ensconced in the affections of the agricultural communities spread over the prairies. it would gladden the heart of john black to-day could he see the presbytery of which he was the first moderator now developed into two synods with fourteen presbyteries, and could he realize how "the little one has become a thousand." as an educationist, we have shown the really fundamental work of mr. black in the cause of education. it is very rare to see the men who lay foundations equally strong on the missionary and on the educational sides. it shows the even balance of his mind, that mr. black was as much interested in one direction as in the other. manitoba college is the outcome to-day of the hopes and pleadings and plans of this scion, transplanted from the parish schools of scotland, and of the early love of knowledge of the presbyterianism of canada, which took root in the favorable soil of the red river, assiniboine, and saskatchewan valleys. these are the memorials of the apostle of red river. we are not carried away by any absurd sentiment which would lead us to make john black a hero. as a rule the surroundings of his life were not of an exciting kind. the red river community was isolated, its opportunities of communication with the outer world were small; for two-thirds of the life of john black upon the red river there was little increase in the population, but during his thirty years of northwest life we see in him the white lily of a blameless life, we see the spirit of an ardent social reformer, we see the public sentiment leading him to labor for the educational good of his people, we see the exercise of a diligent pastorate, and the attainment of honorable distinction as a preacher--in short, we see in him the embodiment of high domestic, social, public and christian virtues. we shall cherish the memory of "the apostle of the red river." [illustration: in memoriam of the rev. john black, d.d. first presbyterian missionary to rupert's land sept. th, , and first pastor of this parish to whose spiritual wants he ministered for more than thirty years. died feb. th, at the age of years "_he being dead yet speaketh._" tablet in kildonan church.] advertisements the selkirk settlers in real life by rev. r. g. macbeth, m.a. with introduction by hon. sir donald a. smith, k.c.m.g. (lord strathcona and mount royal). price, - - - cents, postpaid press comments "in every instance mr. macbeth tells his story in happy terms, and supplies many details of the life of the settlers."--_royal colonial institute journal._ "the author is a descendant of one of the hardy scots who were in the red river valley a life-time before riel was born. his story is the more romantic for its very simplicity."--_st. john sun._ "not a dry collection of details, but an interesting account of the settlement.... these experiences are unique.... mr. macbeth is to be congratulated on his book."--_canadian magazine._ "a fascinating little volume, telling a tale that redounds to the honor of the scottish race.... mr. macbeth's sketch gives a pleasing impression of the sterling worth and industry of the settlers."--_review of historical publications_, vol. ii. "a small but useful contribution to the history of the north-west.... mr. macbeth was brought up in the colony, and recalls some of its primitive laws, methods of agriculture and social customs, with a flavor of personal reminiscence."--_montreal witness._ "the story of the red river settlement is one of unique interest. its early days were a perfect iliad of disaster. flood, famine and hostile indians sorely tried the faith and patience of the brave pioneers. a descendant of one of these tells in these pages the stirring story."--_onward._ rev. robert murray, editor of the _presbyterian witness_ (halifax, n.s.), writes the author: "accept of my thanks for your most readable and refreshing book. i am delighted with it. brought up among the highlanders i appreciate some of the chapters more than others; but the book as a whole is excellent. i only wish it were ampler in its details." "as the title indicates, the aim of the writer is to give to the people of to-day an idea of how the settlers lived in their homes, as apart from their struggles as a community for political and commercial rights. in this he has been eminently successful, and a valuable picture of the social life as it then was has been preserved for future generations."--_winnipeg tribune._ william briggs, publisher - richmond street west, toronto, ont. leaves from manitoba my life in the prairie memories province. by rev. george young, d.d., _founder of methodist missions in the "red river settlement."_ with introduction by rev. alexander sutherland, d.d., _general secretary of the missionary society of the methodist church._ in extra english cloth boards, with portraits and illustrations. price, $ . , postpaid. personal and press comments "the book is of fascinating interest, and gives authentic information not elsewhere to be obtained on the stirring events of the early history of manitoba. it is handsomely printed, with numerous portraits and other engravings."--_onward._ "the reader will readily perceive that one who has lived so long in such varied scenes as have fallen to the lot of dr. young must have witnessed many things worthy of record, and will rejoice with the present writer that the venerable author, notwithstanding his characteristic modesty, was prevailed upon, after much entreaty, to send forth this charming volume."--_mail and empire._ "an interesting chapter is devoted to the fenian raid of ; another to dr. lachlan taylor's tour among the missions in the 'great lone land,' taken from dr. taylor's own report and journal; and still another chapter recounts the history of the early educational movement in the west. on the whole the book is a very interesting and indeed valuable one, not only to members of the author's church, but also to the general reader."--_ottawa citizen._ s. r. parsons, esq., writes: "only one who has lived in that land of 'illimitable possibilities,' and experienced the brightness of its winter and summer sunshine, and tasted of the water of the red river, that ever after leaves an unquenchable thirst, and sniffed the ozone of the prairies, and mingled with the heartiest and most friendly people on earth, can fully appreciate this book. the high respect in which the author is deservedly held will, no doubt, ensure a large sale for the work. in the north-west, particularly, it should be in every home and sunday school library." william briggs, publisher, - richmond st. west, toronto, ont. the warden of the plains and other stories of life in the canadian north-west. by john maclean, m.a., ph.d., _author of "canadian savage folk," etc._ _illustrated by j. e. laughlin._ cloth, $ . , postpaid. contents: the warden of the plains--asokoa, the chief's daughter--the sky pilot--the lone pine--the writing stone--akspine--old glad--the spirit guide--alahcasla--the hidden treasure--the white man's bride--the coming of apauakas. [illustration: cover] "dr. maclean's familiarity with western life is evident in this collection of stories. all are well told."--_the westminster._ "dr. maclean has rendered a distinct service to canadian literature by photographing in this series of pictures a type of canadian life which is fast passing away."--_rev. w. h. withrow, d.d._ "these stories are admirably written. they present the life and legends of the great north-west in a manner calculated to excite a sincere and useful interest among strangers."--_mail and empire._ "a collection of short stories, some dramatic, some pathetic, all serious.... the indian tales are very pathetic and most interesting from an ethnological standpoint.... the stories are accurate pictures of north-west life."--_victoria times._ william briggs, publisher, - richmond st. west, toronto, ont. some notable canadian books [illustration] biographical and historical canadian men and women of the time. by henry j. morgan. cloth $ haliburton: a centenary chaplet. a series of biographical and critical papers, with portrait and illustrations life and times of major-general sir isaac brock. by d. b. read, q.c., with portrait and illustrations life and work of d. j. macdonnell. edited by prof. j. f. mccurdy, ll.d. with portraits, etc. popular history of canada. by w. h. withrow, d.d. illustrated history of canada. by w. h. p. clement, ll.b. with maps and illustrations history of british columbia. by alex. begg, c.c. with portrait and illustrations in the days of the canada company. by robina and kathleen m. lizars. illustrated humours of ' , grave, gay and grim. rebellion times in the canadas. by robina and kathleen m. lizars the story of the union jack. by barlow cumberland. illustrated in colors ten years of upper canada in peace and war-- - . by mrs. j. d. edgar the selkirk settlers in real life. by r. g. macbeth, m.a. the making of the canadian west. by r. g. macbeth, m.a. with portraits and illustrations the history of annapolis county, including old port royal and acadia. by judge savary. with portraits the history of lunenburg county. by judge desbrisay. with illustrations canadian savage folk. by john maclean, ph.d. illustrated the forge in the forest. a historical romance of acadia. by chas. g. d. roberts. illustrated _postpaid to any address._ william briggs, publisher, - richmond street west, toronto, ont. across the sub-arctics of canada _ , miles by canoe and snowshoe through the barren lands_ by j. w. tyrrell, c.e., d.l.s. _illustrated by engravings from photographs and from drawings by arthur heming._ cloth, $ . , postpaid. press comments [illustration: cover across the sub-arctics of canada] "a story of immense scientific value."--_toronto globe_. "a most valuable contribution to the literature of the great north-west.... mr. tyrrell's touches of description are delightful."--_victoria times._ "as a mere record of adventure, of imminent peril and hair-breadth escapes, of hunting polar bears, and taking a winter tramp of a thousand miles, we know no narrative of more absorbing character."--_methodist magazine._ "upon the whole, no book of travel and exploration in canada has appeared since butler's 'great lone land' was published, that combined the interest and value of mr. tyrrell's book."--_hamilton herald._ "a remarkable trip of exploration, one of the most important of recent years."--_buffalo illustrated express._ "the tale is a marvellous one; the only wonder is the party ever succeeded in returning to civilization."--_christian guardian._ "the record of their journey will be found delightful reading by those who feel the peculiar fascination of the vast melancholy northland.... altogether the volume is one of solid merit."--_christian advocate_ (new york). "there is a variety in this narrative which those of strictly arctic expeditions lack. it leads through wonderful lakes and rivers hitherto unvisited by white men, with thrilling adventures in running unknown and perilous rapids."--_the bookman_ (new york). "the illustrations have the double virtue of illustrating the subject and of being trustworthy; and this final remark applies to the whole book."--_n. y. independent._ william briggs, publisher, - richmond st. west. toronto, ont. _and_ judas iscariot together with other evangelistic addresses by j. wilbur chapman hodder & stoughton new york george h. doran company copyright the winona publishing company contents and judas iscariot an old-fashioned home the swelling of jordan a call to judgment a changed life the lost opportunity a great victory paul a pattern of prayer a startling statement the grace of god conversion five kings in a cave definiteness of purpose in christian work the morning breaketh an obscured vision the compassion of jesus sanctification an unheeded warning the approval of the spirit a reasonable service the true christian life introduction the sermons contained in this volume are published in response to numerous requests that they might be put into permanent form. the author of these sermons needs no introduction to the christian readers of america. his fame as an author, preacher and evangelist is more than national. as director of the evangelistic work carried on by the general assembly's committee of the presbyterian church, he has achieved distinction as a preacher of the gospel. under his direction simultaneous evangelistic campaigns have been held in many of the leading cities of the land, and the christian church and the world have had an experience of a new, aggressive and emphatic evangelism that has stirred the church, revived christian service and been the means under god of turning thousands to a life of allegiance to jesus christ. therefore it is a privilege and pleasure to put into book form some of the sermons which dr. chapman has preached in his evangelistic work and also as the director of the interdenominational bible conference at winona lake, indiana. thousands have borne witness to the profound impression and enduring influence of those messages. especially is this true of "and judas iscariot" and "an old-fashioned home." one can never forget the scene when the latter sermon was preached on thanksgiving day, , in the great theater in jersey city. great numbers of men have confessed their sins and accepted jesus christ as a personal savior following the preaching of "the swelling of jordan." the book is sent forth with devout gratitude to god for his blessing upon the preaching of these sermons, and with a prayer that even the reading of them may be attended with deeper devotion to jesus christ, and increasing service to those for whom christ died. parley e. zartmann. and judas iscariot and judas iscariot text: "_and judas iscariot._"--mark : . there is something about the name of this miserable man which commands our attention at once. there is a sort of fascination about his wickedness, and when we read his story it is difficult to give it up until we have come to its awful end. it is rather significant, it would seem to me, that his name should come last in the list of the apostles, and the text, "and judas iscariot," would suggest to me not only that his name was last, but that it was there for some special reason, as i am sure we shall find out that it was. it is also significant that the first name mentioned in the list of the apostles in this third chapter of mark was simon, who was surnamed peter. the first mentioned apostle denied jesus with an oath, the one last referred to sold him for thirty pieces of silver and has gone into eternity with the awful sin of murder charged against him. the difference between the two is this: their sins were almost equally great, but the first repented and the grace of god had its perfect work in him and he was the object of christ's forgiveness; the second was filled with remorse without repentance and grace was rejected. the first became one of the mightiest preachers in the world's history; the second fills us with horror whenever we read the story of his awful crime. different names affect us differently. one could not well think of john without being impressed with the power of love; nor could one consider paul without being impressed first of all with his zeal and then with his learning. certainly one could not study peter without saying that his strongest characteristic was his enthusiasm. it is helpful to know that the spirit of god working with one who was a giant intellectually and with one who was profane and ignorant accomplished practically the same results, making them both, paul and peter, mighty men whose ministry has made the world richer and better in every way. but to think of judas is always to shudder. there is a kindred text in this same gospel of mark, but the emotions it stirs are entirely different. the second text is, "and peter." the crucifixion is over, the savior is in the tomb, poor peter, a broken-hearted man, is wandering through the streets of the city of the king. he is at last driven to the company of the disciples, when suddenly there rushes in upon them the woman who had been at the tomb, and she exclaims, "he is risen, has gone over into galilee and wants his disciples to meet him." this was the angel's message to her. all the disciples must have hurried to the door that they might hasten to see their risen lord--all save peter. and then came the pathetic and thrilling text, for the woman gave the message as jesus gave it to the angels and they to her, "go tell his disciples--_and peter_." but this text, "and judas iscariot," brings to our recollection the story of a man who lost his opportunity to be good and great; the picture of one who was heartless in his betrayal, for within sight of the garden of gethsemane he saluted jesus with a hypocritical kiss; the recollection of one in whose ears to-day in eternity there must be heard the clinking sound of the thirty pieces of silver; and the account of one who died a horrible death, all because sin had its way with him and the grace of god was rejected. the scene connected with his calling is significant. mark tells us in the third chapter of his gospel that when jesus saw the man with the withered hand and healed him, he went out by the seaside and then upon the mountain, and there called his apostles round about him, gave them their commission and sent them forth to do his bidding. in matthew the ninth chapter and the thirty-sixth to the thirty-eighth verses, we are told that when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion, and he commissioned the twelve and sent them forth that they might serve as shepherds to the people who appeared to be shepherdless. "then saith he unto his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest." and then he sent the twelve forth. as a matter of fact the scriptures concerning judas are not so very full, but there is a good outline, and if one but takes the points presented and allows his imagination to work in the least, there is a story which is thrilling in its awfulness. the four evangelists tell us of his call, and these are practically identical in their statement except concerning his names. matthew and mark call him the betrayer; luke speaks of him as a traitor, while john calls him a devil. the next thing we learn concerning him is his rebuke of the woman who came to render her service to jesus as a proof of her affection. in john the twelfth chapter, the fourth to the sixth verse, we read, "then saith one of his disciples, judas iscariot, simon's son, which should betray him, why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? this he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein." next we hear of him bargaining with the enemies of jesus for his betrayal. the account is very full in matthew, the twenty-sixth chapter the fourteenth to the sixteenth verse. "then one of the twelve called judas iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said unto them, what will ye give me, and i will deliver him unto you? and they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver. and from that time he sought opportunity to betray him." then we are told of his delivering jesus into the hands of his enemies, in matthew, the twenty-sixth chapter, the forty-seventh to the forty-ninth verses: "and while he yet spake, lo, judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude, with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, whomsoever i shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. and forthwith he came to jesus, and said, hail, master; and kissed him." and then finally comes his dreadful end, the account of his remorse in matthew, the twenty-seventh chapter, the third and the fourth verses. "then judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, i have sinned in that i have betrayed the innocent blood. and they said, what is that to us? see thou to that." and the statement of his suicide in matthew, the twenty-seventh chapter, the fifth verse, "and he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself." i the natural question that comes to every student of the life of judas must be, "why was he chosen?" but as joseph parker has said, "we may well ask why were we chosen ourselves, knowing our hearts as we do and appreciating our weakness as we must." it has been said that if we study the apostles we will find them representatives of all kinds of human nature, which would go to show that if we but yield ourselves to god, whatever we may be naturally, he can use us for his glory. it was here that judas failed. i have heard it said that jesus did not know judas' real character and that he was surprised when judas turned out to be the disciple that he was; but let us have none of this spirit in the consideration of jesus christ. let no man in these days limit jesus' knowledge, for he is omniscient and knoweth all things. let us not forget what he said himself concerning judas in john the thirteenth chapter and the eighteenth verse, "i speak not of you all; i know whom i have chosen; but that the scripture may be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me." again, in the sixth chapter and the seventieth verse, "jesus answered them. have not i chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?" and finally, in the sixth chapter and the sixty-fourth verse, "but there are some of you that believe not. for jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him." there were others who might have been chosen in his stead. the apostles found two when in their haste they determined to fill the vacancy made by his betrayal. acts : - , "and they appointed two, joseph called barsabas, who was surnamed justus, and matthias. and they prayed, and said, thou, lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. and they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles." it seems to me that there can be no reason for his having been called of christ except that he was to serve as a great warning to those of us who have lived since his day. there are many such warnings in the scriptures. jonah was one. god said to him, "go to nineveh," and yet, with the spirit of rebellion, he attempted to sail to tarshish and we know his miserable failure. let it never be forgotten that if nineveh is god's choice for you, you can make no other port in safety. the sea will be against you, the wind against you. it is hard indeed to struggle against god. jacob was a warning. deceiving his own father, his sons in turn deceived him. may we never forget the scripture which declares, "whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." esau was a warning. coming in from the hunt one day, weary with his exertions, he detects the savory smell of the mess of pottage, and his crafty brother says, "i will give you this for your birthright," which was his right to be a priest in his household; a moment more and the birthright is gone; and in the new testament we are told he sought it with tears and could find no place of repentance. but many a man has sold his right to be the priest of his household for less than a mess of pottage, and in a real sense it is true that things done cannot be undone. saul was a warning. he was commanded to put to death agag and the flock, and he kept the best of all the flock and then lied to god's messenger when he said that the work had been done as he was commanded. he had no sooner said it than, behold, there was heard the bleating of the sheep, and the lowing of the oxen. "be sure your sin will find you out." the new testament has many warnings like these in the old, but judas surpasses them all. there is something about him that makes us shudder. it is said that in oberammergau, where the passion play is presented, the man taking the character of judas is always avoided afterwards. he may have been ever so reputable a citizen, but he has been at least in action a judas, and that is enough. i was once a pastor at schuylerville, n. y., where on the burgoyne surrender ground stands a celebrated monument. it is beautiful to look upon. on one side of it in a niche is general schuyler, and on the other side, if i remember correctly, general gates; on the third, in the same sort of a niche, another distinguished general is to be seen, but on the fourth the niche is vacant. when i asked the reason i was told that "it is the niche which might have been filled by benedict arnold had he not been a traitor." the story of judas is like this. he might have been all that god could have approved of; he is throughout eternity a murderer, and all because grace was rejected. numerous lessons may be drawn from such a story. certain things might be said concerning hypocrisy, for he was in the truest sense a hypocrite. reference could be made to the fact that sin is small in its beginnings, sure in its progress, terrific in its ending, for at the beginning he was doubtless but an average man in sin, possibly not so different from the others; but he rejected the influence of christ. or, again, from such a character a thrilling story could be told of the end of transgressors, for hard as may be the way the end baffles description. judas certainly tells us this. ii however much of a warning judas may be to people of the world, i am fully persuaded that there are four things which may be said concerning him. first: he gives us a lesson as christians. there were many names given him. in matthew the tenth chapter and the fourth verse, and in mark the third chapter and the nineteenth verse, we read that he was a betrayer; in luke the sixth chapter and the sixteenth verse he was called a traitor; in john the sixth chapter and the seventieth verse he is spoken of as a devil, but in john the twelveth chapter and the sixth verse he is mentioned as a thief. to me however one of the best names that could be applied to him is that which paul feared might be given to him when he said, "lest when i have preached to others i myself should be [literally] disapproved" ( corinthians : ). it is indeed a solemn thought, that if we are not right with god he will set us aside, for he cannot use us. i have in mind a minister, who once thrilled great numbers of people with his message. under the power of his preaching hundreds of people came to christ. there was possibly no one in the church with a brighter future. to-day he is set aside, for god cannot use him. i have in mind a sunday school superintendent, who used to be on every platform speaking for christ, and then yielded to undue political influence of the worst sort, lost his vision of christ and his power in speaking, and to-day is set aside. but of all the illustrations, i know of nothing which so stirs me as the story of judas. he might have been true and faithful and he might have been with christ to-day in glory; instead, he is in hell, a self-confessed murderer, with the clinking of the thirty pieces of silver to condemn him, and his awful conscience constantly to accuse him. it is indeed enough to make our faces pale to realize that, whatever we may be to-day in the service of god, we can be set aside in less than a week, and god will cease to use us if we have anything of the spirit of judas. second: i learn also from judas that environment is not enough for the unregenerate. it is folly to state that a poor lost sinner simply by changing his environment may have his nature changed. as john g. woolley has said, "it is like a man with a stubborn horse saying, 'i will paint the outside of the barn a nice mild color to influence the horse within.'" the well on my place in the country some years ago had in it poisoned water. it was an attractive well with a house built around about it, and the neighbors came to me to say that i must under no circumstances drink from it. what if i had said, "i will decorate the well house that i may change the water?" it would have been as nonsensical as to say, "i will change the environment of a man who is wicked by nature, and thereby make him good." judas had lived close to jesus, he had been with him on the mountain, walked with him by the sea, was frequently with him, i am sure, in gethsemane, for we read in john the eighteenth chapter and the second verse, "and judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place: for jesus ofttimes resorted thither with his disciples." he was also with him at the supper. but after all this uplifting, heavenly influence of the son of god he sold him for silver and betrayed him with a kiss. nothing can answer for the sinner but regeneration. his case is hopeless without that. third: hypocrisy is an awful thing. the text in galatians is for all such. "be not deceived; god is not mocked." those words in matthew in connection with the sermon on the mount are for such, when men in the great day shall say, "have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?" jesus will say, "i never knew you." if we read the commission in matthew the tenth chapter the fifth to the twentieth verses inclusive, we shall understand that these apostles were sent forth to do a mighty work, and evidently they did it. judas had that commission, and he may have fulfilled it in a sense, but he is lost to-day because he was a hypocrite. the disciples may not have known his true nature. in john the thirteenth chapter the twenty-first to the twenty-ninth verses we read, "when jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, verily, verily, i say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake. now there was leaning on jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom jesus loved. simon peter therefore beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake. he then lying on jesus' breast saith unto him, lord, who is it? jesus answered, he it is to whom i shall give a sop when i have dipped it. and when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to judas iscariot, the son of simon. and after the sop satan entered into him. then said jesus unto him, that thou doest, do quickly. now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. for some of them thought, because judas had the bag, that jesus had said unto him, buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or that he should give something to the poor." which would seem to impress this thought upon us. oh, may i say that it is a great sin to be untrue? the only time that jesus is severe is not when sinners seek him out, nor when the woman taken in adultery is driven to him by those who would stone her with stones, nor with the thief on the cross, but when he faces hypocrites; he can have no tenderness for them. fourth: i learn from judas that sin is of slow progress. there may have been first just a natural ambition. he thought that the kingdom of jesus was to be a great temporal affair, and he desired to be a part of it. how many men to-day have wrecked their homes and all but lost their souls, because of unholy ambitions! it may be an ambition for your family as well as for yourself. doubtless jacob had such when he stopped at shechem. the result of his tarrying was his heart-breaking experience with the worse than murder of his daughter. there are souls to-day in the lost world who were wrecked upon the rock of ambition. fifth: he was dishonest. it is a short journey from unholy ambition to dishonesty. the spirit of god himself calls him a thief. but, sixth: let it be known that while sin is of slow progress, it is exceedingly sure. in the twenty-second chapter of luke and the third to the sixth verses we read that satan entered into judas. it seems to me as if up to that time he had rather hovered about him, tempting him with his insinuations, possibly causing him to slip and fall in occasional sins, but finally he has control and then betrayal, denial and murder are the results. i looked the other day into the face of a man who said to me, "do you know me?" and i told him i did not, and he said, "i used to be a christian worker and influenced thousands to come to christ. in an unguarded moment i determined to leave my ministry and to become rich. my haste for riches was but a snare. i found myself becoming unscrupulous in my business life and now i am wrecked, certainly for time--oh," said he, "can it be for eternity? i am separated from my wife and my children, whom i shall never see again." and rising in an agony he cried out as i have rarely heard a man cry, "god have mercy upon me! god have mercy upon me!" iii there are but three things that i would like to say concerning judas as i come to the end of my message. the first is that he was heartless in the extreme. it was just after a touching scene recorded in matthew the twenty-sixth chapter the seventh to the thirteenth verses, "there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat. but when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, to what purpose is this waste? for this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. when jesus understood it, he said unto them, why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. for ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always. for in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial. verily i say unto you, wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her." it was after this that judas went to the enemies of jesus and offered to sell him, and as if that were not enough, it was just after he had left gethsemane, in matthew the twenty-sixth chapter the forty-fifth to the forty-ninth verses, that he betrayed him with his kiss. "then cometh he to his disciples and saith unto them, sleep on now, and take your rest; behold, the hour is at hand, and the son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. and while he yet spake, lo, judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude, with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, whomsoever i shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. and forthwith he came to jesus, and said, hail, master; and kissed him." the blood drops had just been rolling down the cheeks of the master, for he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood; and i can quite understand how upon the very lips of judas the condemning blood may have left its mark. but do not condemn him; he is scarcely more heartless than the man who to-day rejects him after all his gracious ministry, his sacrificial death and his mediatorial work of nineteen hundred years. second: his death was awful. acts : , "now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out." i can imagine him going out to the place where he is to end it all, remembering as he walked how jesus had looked at him, recalling, doubtless, some of his spoken messages, and certainly remembering how once he had been with him in all his unfaithful ministry. all this must have swept before him like a great panorama, and with the vision of his betrayed master still before him he swings himself out into the eternity; and then as if to make the end more terrible the rope broke and his body burst and his very bowels gushed forth. oh, if it be true that the _way_ of the transgressor is hard, in the name of god what shall we say of the end? third: i would like to imagine another picture. what if instead of going out to the scene of his disgraceful death he had waited until after jesus had risen? what if he had tarried behind some one of those great trees near the city along the way which he should walk, or, possibly on the emmaus way? what if he had hidden behind some great rock and simply waited? while it is true that he must have trembled as he waited, what if after it all he had simply thrown himself on the mercy of jesus and had said to him, "master, i have from the first been untrue; for thirty pieces of silver i sold thee and with these lips i betrayed thee with a kiss; but jesus, thou son of david, have mercy upon me"? there would have been written in the new testament scriptures the most beautiful story that the inspired book contains. nothing could have been so wonderful as the spirit of him who is able to save to the uttermost, and who never turned away from any seeking sinner, and he would, i am sure, have taken judas in his very arms; he, too, might have given him a kiss, not of betrayal, but of the sign of his complete forgiveness, and judas might have shone to-day in the city of god as shines joseph of arimathaea, paul the apostle, peter the preacher. the saddest story i know is the story of judas, for it is the account of a man who resisted the grace of god and must regret it through eternity. an old-fashioned home text: "_what have they seen in thy house?_"-- kings : . if you will tell me what is in your own house by your own choice i will tell you the story of your home life and will be able to inform you whether yours is a home in which there is harmony and peace or confusion and despair. let me read the names of the guests in your guest book, allow me to study the titles of the books in your library in which you have special delight, permit me to scan your magazines which you particularly like, allow me to listen to your conversation when you do not know that you are being overheard, give me the privilege of talking but for a moment to your servants, and make it possible for me to visit with your friends in whom you have particular delight--and i will write a true story of what you have been, of what you are, and of what you will be but for the grace of god, even though i may not know you personally at all. in other words, whatever may be seen in your home determines what your home is. i was a man grown before i visited washington, the capital of the nation. i was the guest of a member of the president's cabinet. riding with him the first evening, when the moon was shining, we suddenly came upon the national capitol, and i said to my host, "what in the world is that?" he said, with a smile, as if he pitied me, "that is the capitol building, and that is the home of the nation." i am sure he was right in a sense, because the building is magnificent, and is in every way the worthy home of such a nation as ours; but i think i take issue with him, after careful thought, in his statement that the capitol building is the home of the nation. i can recall a visit made to a home which was not in any sense palatial, where the old-fashioned father every morning and evening read his bible, knelt in prayer with his household about him, commended to god his children each by name, presented the servants at the throne of grace, and then sang with them all one of the sweet hymns of the church; and from the morning prayer they went forth to the day of victory, while from the evening prayer they went to sleep the undisturbed sleep of the just, with the angels of heaven keeping watch over them. i recall another home in the state of ohio where the father and mother were scarcely known outside of their own county. the size of their farm was ten acres, but they reared two boys and two girls whose mission has been world-wide and whose names are known wherever the church of christ is known and wherever the english language is spoken. these, in the truest sense, are the homes of the nation, and such homes give us men and women as true as steel. napoleon once was asked, "what is the greatest need of the french nation?" he hesitated a moment and then said, with marked emphasis, "the greatest need of the french nation is mothers." if you will ask me the greatest need of america i could wish in my reply that i might speak with the power of a napoleon and that my words might live as long, for i would say, the greatest need of the american nation to-day is homes; not palatial buildings, but homes where christ is honored, where god is loved, and where the bible is studied. a returned missionary, who had been for twenty-five years away from his home because he would not accept his furloughs, was asked after he had been in california for a little season what impressed him the most after his absence of a quarter of a century. the reporter expected him to say that he was impressed with the telephone system which bound houses and cities together, or that he was amazed at the wireless telegraphy, by means of which on the wave currents of the air messages were sent from one city to another; but the returned missionary expressed no such surprise. he said, "when i went away from america almost every home had its family altar; now that i have returned i have watched very carefully and find that a family altar in a home is the exception and not the rule." wherever this is true there is real cause for great alarm, for in proportion as the home fails the nation is in danger. hezekiah had been sick unto death. the word of the lord by the mouth of the prophet came to him, saying, "set thy house in order, for thou must die." then he recovered for a season. the king of babylon sent messengers to him, and when the messengers had gone isaiah asked him the question of the text, "what have they seen in thy house?" the dearest and most sacred spot on earth is home. around it are the most sacred associations, about it cluster the sweetest memories. the buildings are not always palatial, the furnishings are not always of the best, but when the home is worthy of the name ladders are let down from heaven to those below, the angels of god come down, bringing heaven's blessing and ascend, taking earth's crosses. such a home is the dearest spot on earth, because there your father worked and your mother loved. there is no love which surpasses this. some years ago, when the english soldiers were fighting and a scotch regiment came to assist, the scotchmen, strangely enough, began to die in great numbers. the skill of the physicians was baffled. they could not tell why it was that there seemed to be such a rapid falling away of the men. but at last they discovered the cause. the scotch pipers were playing the tunes that reminded the scotchman of the heather and the hills, and they were dying of homesickness. when the music was changed the deaths in such large numbers almost instantly ceased. we are drifting away from our old-fashioned homes; fathers have grown too busy, mothers have delegated their god-given work to others. we have lost instead of gained. wherever the homes are full of weakness the government is in danger. the homes of our country are so many streams pouring themselves into the great current of moral and social life. if the home life is pure, then all is pure. i stand with that company of people today who believe that we are at the beginning of a great revival of religion, and i am persuaded that this revival is to be helped on not so much by preaching, though that is not to be ignored; nor by singing, though that in itself is useful; but it is to be helped or hindered by the condition of the homes in our land. i i have a friend, george r. stuart, who says that when god himself would start a nation he made home life the deciding question. he selected abraham as the head of the home, and in genesis, the eighteenth chapter and the nineteenth verse, he gives the reason for this in these words: "for i know him, that he will command his children and his household after him." there are two great principles which must prevail in every home: first: _authority_, suggested by the word "command." second: _example_, suggested by the expression, "he will command his children and his household after him." in order that one may rightly command he must himself be controlled or be able to obey an authority higher than his own. it is absolutely impossible for one to be the father he ought to be and not be a christian, or to be worthy of the name of mother and not yield allegiance to jesus christ. if we are to set before those about us a right example, we cannot begin too soon. your children are a reproduction of yourself, weakness in them is weakness in yourself, strength in them is but the reproduction of your own virtue. a convention of mothers met some years ago in the city of cincinnati and was discussing the question as to when one ought properly to begin to train the child for christ. one mother said, "i begin at six"; another suggested seven as the proper age; another said, "i begin when my child takes his first step, and thus point him to christ, or when he speaks his first word i teach him the name of jesus." finally an old saint arose and said, "you are all of you wrong; the time to begin to train the child is the generation before the child is born," and this we all know to be true. but the responsibility does not rest simply upon mothers; fathers cannot ignore their god-given position. judge alton b. parker and his favorite grandson, alton parker hall, five years old, narrowly escaped death by drowning in the hudson river. for half an hour the two played in the water. then judge parker took the boy for a swim into deep water. placing the boy on his back, he swam around for awhile, and then, deciding to float, turned over, seating the boy astride his chest. in this manner the judge floated a distance from the wharf before noticing it. then he attempted to turn over again, intending to swim nearer the shore. in the effort to transfer the boy to his back the little fellow became frightened and tightly clasped the judge about the neck. judge parker called to the boy to let go his hold, but the youth only held on the tighter, and, frightened at the evident distress of the judge, began to whimper. in a few moments the grasp of the boy became so tight that judge parker could not breathe. he tried to shake the boy loose, and then attempted to break his grasp. the boy held on with the desperation of death, however, and every effort of the judge only plunged them both beneath the choking waves. with his last few remaining breaths, judge parker gave up the struggle and shouted for assistance. the mistake that the distinguished man made was that he went too far from shore with the boy. there are too many men to-day who are doing the same thing. they are going out too far in social life, they are too lax in the question of amusements, they are too thoughtless on the subject of dissipation. some day they will stop, themselves recovering, but their boys will be gone. example counts for everything in a home. it there is any blessing in my own life or others, if there has been any helpfulness in my ministry to others, i owe it all to my mother, who lived before me a consistent christian life and died giving me her blessing; and to my father, who with his arms about me one day said, "my son, if you go wrong it will kill me." i was at one time under the influence of a boy older than myself and cursed with too much money. i had taken my first questionable step at least, and was on my way one night to a place which was at least questionable if not sinful. i had turned the street corner and ahead of me was the very gate to hell. suddenly, as i turned, the face of my father came before me and his words rang in my very soul. if my father had been anything but a consistent christian man i myself, i am sure, would have been far from the pulpit, and might have been in the lost world. there are those who seem to think that the height of one's ambition is to amass a fortune, to build a palace or to acquire a social position. my friend, george r. stuart, says you may build your palaces, amass your fortunes, provide for the satisfaction of every desire, but as you sit amid these luxurious surroundings waiting for the staggering steps of a son, or as you think of a wayward daughter, all this will be as nothing, for there is nothing that can give happiness to the parents of godless, wayward children. some one has said, "every drunkard, every gambler, every lost woman once sat in a mother's lap, and the downfall of the most of them may be traced to some defect in home life." the real purpose of every home is to shape character for time and eternity. the home may be one of poverty, the cross of self-sacrifice may be required, suffering may sometimes be necessary, but wherever a home fulfills this purpose it is overflowing with joy. one of my friends has drawn the following picture which he says is fanciful, but which i think is absolutely true to life: back in the country there is a boy who wants to go to a college and get an education. they call him a book-worm. wherever they find him--in the barn or in the house--he is reading a book. "what a pity it is," they say, "that ed cannot get an education!" his father, work as hard as he will, can no more than support the family by the products of the farm. one night ed has retired to his room and there is a family conference about him. the sisters say, "father, i wish you would send ed to college; if you will we will work harder than we ever did, and we will make our old dresses do." the mother says, "yes, i will get along without any hired help; although i am not as strong as i used to be, i think i can get along without any hired help." the father says, "well, i think by husking corn nights in the barn i can get along without any assistance." sugar is banished from the table, butter is banished from the plate. that family is put down on rigid, yea, suffering, economy that the boy may go to college. time passes on. commencement day has come and the professors walk in on the stage in their long gowns and their classic but absurd hats. the interest of the occasion is passing on, and after a while it comes to a climax of interest as the valedictorian is introduced. ed has studied so hard and worked so well that he has had the honor conferred upon him. there are rounds of applause, sometimes breaking into vociferation. it is a great day for ed. but away back in the galleries are his sisters in their old plain hats and faded clothes, and the old-fashioned father and mother; dear me, she has not had a new hat for six years; he has not had a new coat for a longer time. they rise and look over on the platform, then they laugh and they cry, and as they sit down, their faces grow pale, and then are very flushed. ed gets the garlands and the old-fashioned group in the gallery have their full share of the triumph. they have made that scene possible, and in the day that god shall more fully reward self-sacrifice made for others, he will give grand and glorious recognition. "as his part is that goeth down to battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff." this experience describes a home in the truest sense of the word better than all the palaces the world has ever known where love is lacking and the spirit of god is gone. ii there are two great forces in every home. i speak of the father and the mother, not but that the children have their part in either making or breaking a household, but these two are the mightiest of agencies. the mother stands first. there are certain things which must be true of every mother. she must be a christian. the father may fail if he must, but let the mother fail and god pity the children. she must be consistent. the children may forget the inconsistencies of the father but when the mother fails the impression is lasting as time and almost as lasting as eternity. she must be prayerful. i do not know of anything that lifts so many burdens or puts upon the face such a look of beauty as the spirit of prayer. and she must study her bible. when we pray we talk with god, but when we read the bible god talks with us and every mother needs his counsel. a poor young man stood before a judge in a great court to be sentenced to death. when asked if he had anything to say, he bowed his head and said, "oh, your honor, if i had only had a mother!" a mother's love is unfailing. when i was in atlanta, georgia, in october, , a little girl and an old mother came to see the governor. they had met on the train, and the child agreed to take the old lady to see the governor of the state. they entered the governor's office and she spoke as follows: "i want to see the governor," was the straightforward request of the little lady addressed to major irwin, the private secretary to the governor, as he inquired her errand. "that is the governor standing there. he will see you in a moment," replied the major, indicating governor terrell standing in the group. the governor went over to her. "what can i do for you, dear?" he asked. throwing back her curls she opened wide her baby brown eyes and said: "governor, it is not for me; it is for this old lady. her name is mrs. hackett, and she wants to talk to you about pardoning her boy." this was said by a little lady of eleven, who spoke with all the grace and _savoir-faire_ of a woman twice her age. in a voice choked with emotion, mrs. hackett began her tearful, scarcely audible story and presented her petition for clemency for her boy. "governor, have mercy on me," she began, and threw back her bonnet, showing a face wrinkled by age and furrowed and drawn by suffering, "and give me back my boy." breaking down under the strain of talking to the governor, whom she had planned for months to see, the pleading mother gave way to her grief. the governor was visibly moved, and continued to stroke the curly hair of mrs. hackett's little guide. "give me back my boy. i am an old woman, going on seventy-nine, and i cannot be here long. i know i am standing with one foot in the grave, and i do want to hear my boy, my baby, say to me, 'ma, i'm free.' let me go down on my knees to you and beg that you have mercy on a mother's breaking heart. during the last month i picked five hundred pounds of cotton and made two dollars to get here to see you. i got here without a cent, and this little angel gave me a dollar--her all. i don't care if i have to walk back home, for i've seen you and told you of my boy." with unsteady voice the governor told her the law, and referred her gently to the prison commission, assuring her that they would give her petition the most considerate attention. i am told that when the books were examined the crime was found to be one of the blackest on the calendar, and yet the mother loved him. her love always stimulates love. it lasts when everything else fails. a man cannot wander so far from god as to forget his mother, or go so deep in sin as to be unmindful of her sweet influence. the following is a sketch, full of touching interest, of a little ragged newsboy who had lost his mother. in the tenderness of his affection for her he was determined that he would raise a stone to her memory. his mother and he had kept house together and they had been all to each other, but now she was taken, and the little fellow's loss was irreparable. getting a stone was no easy task, for his earnings were small; but love is strong. going to a cutter's yard and finding that even the cheaper class of stones was far too expensive for him, he at length fixed upon a broken shaft of marble, part of the remains of an accident in the yard, and which the proprietor kindly named at such a low figure that it came within his means. there was much yet to be done, but the brave little chap was equal to it. the next day he conveyed the stone away on a little four-wheeled cart, and managed to have it put in position. the narrator, curious to know the last of the stone, visited the cemetery one afternoon, and he thus describes what he saw and learned: "here it is," said the man in charge, and, sure enough, there was our monument, at the head of one of the newer graves. i knew it at once. just as it was when it left our yard, i was going to say, until i got a little nearer to it and saw what the little chap had done. i tell you, boys, when i saw it there was something blurred my eyes, so's i couldn't read it at first. the little man had tried to keep the lines straight, and evidently thought that capitals would make it look better and bigger, for nearly every letter was a capital. i copied it, and here it is; but you want to see it on the stone to appreciate it: my mother shee died last weak shee was all i had. shee sed shead bee waiting fur-- and here the boy's lettering stopped. after awhile i went back to the man in charge and asked him what further he knew of the little fellow who brought the stone. "not much," he said; "not much. didn't you notice a fresh little grave near the one with the stone? well, that's where he is. he came here every afternoon for some time working away at that stone, and one day i missed him, and then for several days. then the man came out from the church that had buried the mother and ordered the grave dug by her side. i asked if it was for the little chap. he said it was. the boy had sold all his papers one day, and was hurrying along the street out this way. there was a runaway team just above the crossing, and--well--he was run over, and lived but a day or two." he had in his hand when he was picked up an old file sharpened down to a point, that he did all the lettering with. they said he seemed to be thinking only of that until he died, for he kept saying, "i didn't get it done, but she'll know i meant to finish it, won't she? i'll tell her so, for she'll be waiting for me," and he died with those words on his lips. when the men in the cutter's yard heard the story of the boy the next day, they clubbed together, got a good stone, inscribed upon it the name of the newsboy, which they succeeded in getting from the superintendent of the sunday school which the little fellow attended, and underneath it the touching words: "he loved his mother." god pity the mother with such an influence as this if she is leading in the wrong direction! it is necessary also to say just a word about the father. there are many pictures of fathers in the bible. jacob gives us one when he cries, "me ye have bereft of my children." david gives another when he cries, "o absalom, my son." the father of the prodigal adds a new touch of beauty to the picture when he calls for the best robe to be put upon his boy. i allow no one to go beyond me in paying tribute to a mother's love, but i desire in some special way to pay tribute to the devotion and consistency of a father. there are special requisites which must be made without which no father can maintain his god-given position. he must be a christian. i rode along a country road with my little boy some time ago. i found that he was speaking to my friends just as i spoke to them. one man called my attention to it and said, "it is amusing, isn't it?" to me it was anything but amusing. if my boy is to speak as i speak, walk as i walk, then god help me to walk as a christian. he must be a man of prayer. no man can bear the burdens of life or meet its responsibilities properly if he is a stranger to prayer. he must be a man of bible study. one of the most priceless treasures i have is a bible my father studied, the pages of which he turned over and over, and which i never used to read without a great heart throb. "i con its pages o'er and o'er; its interlinings mark a score of promises most potent, sweet, in verses many of each sheet; albeit the gilding dull of age, and yellow-hued its every page, no book more precious e'er may be than father's bible is to me. "its tear-stained trace fresh stirs my heart the corresponding tear to start; of trials, troubles herein brought, for comfort never vainly sought, for help in sorest hour of need, for love to crown the daily deed, no book more precious e'er may be than father's bible is to me." he must also erect in his house a family altar. i know that many business men will say this is impossible, but it is not impossible. if your business prevents your praying with your children, then there must be something wrong with your business. if your life prevents it, then you ought to see to it that your life is made right and that quickly. my friend, george r. stuart, one of the truest men i know, gave me the following picture of a christian home. he said: "when i was preaching in nashville, at the conclusion of my sermon a methodist preacher came up and laid his hand upon my shoulder and said, 'brother stuart, how your sermon to-day carried me back to my home! my father was a local preacher, and the best man i ever saw. he is gone to heaven now. we have a large family; mother is still at home, and i should like to see all the children together once more and have you come and dedicate our home to god, while we all rededicate ourselves to god before precious old mother leaves. if you will come with me, i will gather all the family together next friday for that purpose.' i consented to go. the old home was a short distance from the city of nashville. there were a large number of brothers and sisters. one was a farmer; one was a doctor; one was a real estate man; one was a bookkeeper; one was a preacher; and so on, so that they represented many professions of life. the preacher brother took me out to the old home, where all the children had gathered. as we drove up to the gate i saw the brothers standing in little groups about the yard, whittling and talking. did you never stand in the yard of the old home after an absence of many years, and entertain memories brought up by every beaten path and tree and gate and building about the old place? i was introduced to these noble-looking men who, as the preacher brother told me, were all members of churches, living consistent christian lives, save the younger boy, who had wandered away a little, and the real object of this visit was to bring him back to god. "the old mother was indescribably happy. there was a smile lingering in the wrinkles of her dear old face. we all gathered in the large, old-fashioned family room in the old-fashioned semicircle, with mother in her natural place in the corner. the preacher brother laid the large family bible in my lap and said, 'now, brother stuart, you are in the home of a methodist preacher; do what you think best.' "i replied, 'as i sit to-day in the family of a methodist preacher, let us begin our service with an old-fashioned experience meeting. i want each child, in the order of your ages, to tell your experience.' the oldest arose and pointed his finger at the oil portrait of his father, hanging on the wall, and said in substance about as follows: 'brother stuart, there is the picture of the best father god ever gave a family. many a time he has taken me to his secret place of prayer, put his hand on my head, and prayed for his boy. and at every turn of my life, since he has left me, i have felt the pressure of his hand on my head, and have seen the tears upon his face, and have heard the prayers from his trembling lips. i have not been as good a man since his death as i ought to have been, but i stand up here to-day to tell you and my brothers and sisters and my dear old mother that i am going to live a better life from this hour until i die.' overcome with emotion, he took his seat, and the children in order spoke on the same line. each one referred to the place of secret prayer and the father's hand upon the head. at last we came to the youngest boy, who, with his face buried in his hands, was sobbing and refused to speak. the preacher brother very pathetically said, 'buddy, say a word; there is no one here but the family, and it will help you.' "he arose, holding the back of his chair, and looked up at me and said, 'brother stuart, they tell me that you have come to dedicate this home to god; but my old mother here has never let it get an inch from god. they tell you that this meeting is called that my brothers and sisters may dedicate their lives to god, but they are good. i know them. i am the only black sheep in this flock. every step i have wandered away from god and the life of my precious father, i have felt his hand upon my head and heard his blessed words of prayer. to-day i come back to god, back to my father's life, and so help me god, i will never wander away again.' "following his talk came a burst of sobbing and shouting, and i started that old hymn, 'amazing grace (how sweet the sound!) that saved a wretch like me!' etc., and we had an old-fashioned methodist class-meeting, winding up with a shout. as i walked away from that old homestead i said in my heart, 'it is the salt of a good life that saves the children.' a boy never gets over the fact that he had a good father." "what have they seen in thy house?" if we are to help our children for time and eternity, our homes must be better, our lives must be truer, our ambition to do god's will must be supreme. when these conditions are met it will be possible for us to answer the question of the text. the swelling of jordan text: "_how wilt thou do in the swelling of jordan?_"--jer. : . high up in the mountains of anti-lebanon a famous river was born which was to play so important a part in the history of god's people that it would not have been strange if the birds of heaven had chanted their praises when first it began its journey. from four different places in the mountain the stream starts. then the four streams become one, and in a single channel the river makes its way across the plain. there are two chief characteristics which must be borne in mind. the first is that a part of its journey is through a rocky country, and caves are on either side of the river, sometimes one above another; frequently three caves are to be seen one above another. the other characteristic is that it overflows its banks in all the time of harvest. these two things must be kept in mind if the text would teach its lesson. there are certain people who will always remember the river jordan--the children of israel first of all, because it separated them from the promised land; and while scripturally canaan does not stand for heaven, yet in the mind of many it does, and the jordan typifies an experience which stands between us and the future. naaman will remember it, for when he came as a leper to the servant of god he was bidden to wash seven times in this river. at first he rebelled against the thought, finally he entered the stream, bathed twice, three times, four, five, six times, and was still a leper; but you will remember the word of the lord, seven times must he bathe, and when the seventh plunge was taken, behold, his flesh was as the flesh of a little child! no man need expect to have light and peace and power or eternal life until he has fulfilled all the commands of god. the wild beasts frequently make their way to these caves as a place of refuge. when the waters begin to rise they are driven out, when they go to the higher cave, and then to the highest of all, and the waters constantly rising fill this cave and they are overpowered and put to death. they are an illustration for us. men of to-day are in caves of different sorts; some in the cave of dissipation, others in the cave of infidelity, and still others in the cave of morality. one day the waters of judgment will begin to rise, and it will be an awful thing to stand in terror before god, driven forth without refuge. i _dissipation_. "i am in the clutch of an awful sin," wrote some one to me recently, whether man or woman i cannot tell, but this was the story: three years before the writer had been free, and then in an unguarded moment had gone down. now came the pathetic cry, "i am helpless and hopeless." i do not know what the sin was, but it makes no difference; any sin can bind us if we but yield to it. under the subject of dissipation i do not speak of drinking as the worst of sins, because it is not the worst, by any means. i had a thousand times rather admit to my home the drunkard who has been cursed with his appetite than to admit there the man who is lecherous, who possibly stands high in society and in the business world, but whose sin is great and whose heart is vile beyond description. i speak of drinking because it is the most common of sins. john b. gough cries out concerning this sin, "i do not speak of it boastingly," said he, "for i have known what the curse of strong drink is; i have felt it in my own life and seen it in others, but i say the truth, let the bread of affliction be given me to eat, take away from me the friends of my old age, let the hut of poverty be my dwelling place, let the wasting hand of disease be placed upon me, let me live in the whirlwind and dwell in the storm, when i would do good let evil come upon me--do all this, merciful god, but save me from the death of a drunkard." when he would speak in such language, god pity the man who yields to such a sin. it may be that gambling is your weak point. when i was in colorado a young man who was a graduate of harvard, the honor man of his class, and who had recently buried his wife, sat at the gambling table, staked his last dollar and lost it; then deliberately put up his little child and lost her; and then, in despair, blew out his brains and sent his soul to hell. when such a man of culture and training would go down under such a sin, god pity the man who yields to it. or it may be licentiousness, that sin which makes men lower than the beasts of the field, from which one can scarcely break away. i do not know what the sin may be that clutches your life, but if you have given way to it and rejected christ, how wilt thou do in the swelling of jordan, when the waters rise higher and higher and you are without christ and without hope? ii some are in the cave of infidelity. that there are honest skeptics in the world we all believe, and the honest skeptic is one who says, "i cannot believe as you do, and i do not know that i would if i could, but if your hope is any comfort to you, then cling to it and go down to your grave trusting in it." the dishonest skeptic is the man who sneers at my faith, who laughs at the old-fashioned religion, who says that once he believed in it but has grown away from it, seemingly forgetting that the greatest men the country has ever produced have been humble followers of jesus of nazareth. infidelity does not satisfy. it leaves an aching void in life and mocks us in death. besides, it is deceiving and the talk of the infidel orator is deceiving. said one of the most eloquent not many years ago, "when i think of the christian's god and the christian's bible, i am glad i am not a christian. i had rather be the humblest german peasant that ever lived, sitting in his cottage, vine clad, from which the grapes hang, made purple by the kiss of the sun as the day dies out of the sky, shod with wooden shoes, clad in homespun, at peace with the world, his family about him, with never a thought of god--i say the truth i had rather be such a peasant than any christian that i have ever known." and when he said it the people cheered him. it was, however, but the trick of an orator. let us change the sentences and give a new ring to the thought. "when i think of what infidelity would do i am glad i am not an infidel; how it would rob me of the hope of seeing my mother and meeting again my child; how it would take me in despair to the grave and send me away with a broken heart--i say i am glad i am not an infidel. i had rather be the humblest german peasant that ever lived, sitting in his cottage, vine clad, from which the grapes hang, made purple by the kiss of the sun as the day dies out of the sky, clad in homespun, shod with wooden shoes, at peace with the world and at peace with god, his family bible upon his knees, the look of ineffable joy in his face and singing that grand old hymn of luther's, 'a mighty fortress is our god'--i had rather be such a german peasant than to be the mightiest infidel the world has ever known," and so i would, a thousand thousand times. god pity you if you allow yourself to put christ out of your life and stand in the midst of the rising floods with no hope in him! how wilt thou do in the swelling of jordan? iii some are in the cave of morality. it seems a strange thing to have a word to say against it, only when we remember that he that offends in one point is guilty of all, and when we remember god's word as he has declared, "cursed is every one that continueth not in all the things written in the book of the law to do them." then the question for the moralist is this, "have you ever offended in one point?" a splendid steamer was launched on lake champlain. she made her way safely across the lake and started back, when a storm came upon her, the engines were disabled and she drifted to the rocks. "out with the anchor," said the captain, and the command was obeyed, but still she drifted, and although the anchor was down she crashed against the rocks with an awful force, and all because the anchor chain was three feet too short. your morality so far as it goes may be a good tiling, but it does not reach the standard of god, nor can it until you are safely united to christ; and if you have put him out of your life and stand alone in the midst of the rising floods, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of jordan? sin is a terrible thing. it not only blights our hopes and prospects for the future, but it wrecks the strongest characters. one has only to open his eyes to see, if he will but look abroad, what dreadful havoc this awful evil hath wrought in the world, and yet the wonderful thing is that "god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life," and no matter how dreadful the wreck or how awful the ruin, jesus christ comes seeking to save that which was lost. major whittle used to tell the story of the aged quaker named hartmann whose son had enlisted in the army. there came the news of a dreadful battle, and this old father, in fear and trembling, started to the scene of conflict that he might learn something concerning his boy. the officer of the day told him that he had not answered to his name, and that there was every reason to believe that he was dead. this did not satisfy the father, so, leaving headquarters, he started across the battlefield, looking for the one who was dearer to him than life. he would stoop down and turn over the face of this one and then the face of another, but without success. the night came on, and then with a lantern he continued his search, all to no purpose. suddenly the wind, which was blowing a gale, extinguished his lantern, and he stood there in the darkness hardly knowing what to do until his fatherly ingenuity, strength and affection prompted him to call out his son's name, and so he stood and shouted, "john hartmann, thy father calleth thee." all about him he would hear the groans of the dying and some one saying, "oh, if that were only my father." he continued his cry with more pathos and power until at last in the distance he heard his boy's voice crying tremblingly, "here, father." the old man made his way across the field shouting out, "thank god! thank god!" taking him in his arms, he bore him to headquarters, nursed him back to health and strength, and he lives to-day. over the battlefield of the slain this day walks jesus christ, the son of god, crying out to all who are wrecked by this awful power, "thy father calleth thee," and if there should be but the faintest response to his cry he would take the lost in his arms and bear them home to heaven. will you not come while he calls to-day? a call to judgment text: "_i call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that i have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live._"--deut. : . moses was a wonderful man; whether you view him as a poet or as a leader of men, he is alike great. this text was spoken by him to the people of israel at the close of his career. the leadership of god's chosen people is now to be transferred to joshua, and it is in order that he may speak to them as they should be addressed, and at the same time in order that he may free himself from judgment, that he speaks as he does. i have two great desires as i present this message. first, that i might myself be faithful, and that it might be said that i am free from the blood of all men, for i have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of god. second, that i might help some one to the knowledge of christ. this is no time for argument, for argument always calls forth discussion. it is no time for theory. practical, every-day people of the world care nothing for mere theories. and it is no time for speculation, for to give such to the people is like giving a stone when they have asked for bread. but it is time for eternal choice. the audience of the preacher vanishes when he thinks of the text and its meaning and he is face to face with the judgment when he shall be judged for the way he has spoken, and the people shall be called to account for the way they have heard. it is indeed a solemn word. "i call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that i have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." i _record_. i desire to use this word as if it were a noun for the time being, for it will bring to us the same truth. this leads me to say that every one is making a record, either good or bad. deep down through the surface of the earth you will find the evidence of storms centuries ago; the record was indelibly made. two records are being kept. this is indicated in the twentieth chapter of revelation, where it is said, "and the books were opened." notice that it is plural and not singular. there is a record in heaven kept by the recording angel. if it were in the memory of god it would be an awful thing, for while god does not remember forgiven sin, he cannot, from the very nature of the case, forget unpardoned sin, and if that is the record one day we shall meet it face to face. there is also a record upon earth. we have seen it in the characters of men who have gone astray, and in the faces of those who have been affected by their sins. in an eastern city where i was preaching my attention was called to a young man of brilliant prospects. he was a member of a great wholesale grocery firm, and young men looked at him almost with envy; but he began to drink, and at the end of a year the senior partner called him in to say that he must change his conduct or retire from the firm. he made promises only to break them, and finally, going from bad to worse, he was forced to retire. one morning we read the news in the paper that his bloated body had been found floating in the hudson river; and his old father, up to a few years ago, walked up and down the streets with bowed head, giving every evidence of an almost broken heart. sin is an awful thing and makes its record on whatever it touches. ii _two ways_. there are just two ways in this world along which men may walk, and they are not parallel ways. i used to have that idea, but i am sure it is wrong. as a matter of fact, it is but one way; going in one direction is death, and in the opposite direction is life. first: away from god, away from his love, every step only leads us farther from him--not because of anything he is, but because of what we have done ourselves. a father in the south sent his boy to a northern university, and for seven years he was away from the restraints of his home. then he came back with his diploma but with the habit of intemperance fastened upon him. it seemed impossible for him to break it, and his old father was fairly crushed. his mother broke her heart and died, all because of her boy. and yet the father loved him. one day the old father stepped from his carriage in the town in which he lived. the son was heard to make a request of him, and when evidently it was refused the boy turned and struck him full in the face. the old father staggered and would have fallen to the walk except for assistance. he entered his carriage, drove back to his home, the servants saw him go out into the grove where his wife was buried, throw himself on the grave and shriek aloud. some time later the boy returned and the father met him at the door to say, "you must go away; you have disgraced my name and killed your mother and broken my heart." this is the measure of a father's love perhaps in this one instance, but think how many times you have trifled with god, spurned his love, disregarded his son, and yet he has loved you. and remember also that word which says, "there is a time, we know not when, a place, we know not where, that seals the destiny of men for glory or despair." second: _towards god_. how easy a thing it is, therefore, to be saved if there is but one way and this way runs in opposite directions, meaning either life or death. it is just to "right about face," as the soldier would say, by an act of the will and with the help of god to turn away from sin and from self. i am very sure we can do it, because it is commanded in this text, and god would not mock us with a command which could not be obeyed. i am equally sure that we must do it now, for god has plainly stated this in his word. iii _choose life_. as has been indicated, the text proves that we may choose life if we will, but i have more especially in mind the question, "why should we do it?" and i answer, because it is the best sort of life and the only life. one of my friends used to tell of a man whom he saw in colonel clarke's mission. the man rose for prayers and accepted christ. later on he saw him again in the mission. he went forward to testify. he had that look upon his face the result of sin, because of which you could not tell whether he was young or old, and leaning up against the platform he gave his testimony. among other things he said: "i came to chicago some little time ago from my home in the east, my father having made two requests--first, that i should change my name because i had disgraced his; second, that i should go away and never return. i had fallen too low here for them to receive me even in the station house, and i was on my way to end it all when i heard the music of this mission and came in and found christ. as i came down the aisle this evening i heard one man say to another, 'he is getting paid for this,' and i wish to say that i am. i have a letter in my pocket from my father, and he tells me that i cannot come home too soon for him. boys, i am getting paid. i have a sister at home whose name i would hardly dare to have taken upon my impure lips, and she writes me that every day she has prayed for me and that a welcome home awaits me. i am getting paid, for to-night i am starting back to my new england home." it is life which we may choose, and life of the very best sort. it is better than anything that this world can give. men have tried other ways, and they have ended in despair and shame and death, but this way is the path of the just and shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. therefore choose life and choose it now. in st. paul's cathedral in london it is said that under the dome there is a red mark, and i have been told that this mark indicates the place where a workman lost his life. he fell from the scaffolding and was dashed to pieces upon the floor. i have been told that in the alps very frequently you will see black crosses where men have slipped into eternity as the result of an accident. but i suggest these stories in order that i may say that where you are at this present moment may be the black cross of death, because there some one rejected christ. if you feel this, choose jesus christ; choose him, and choose him now. "i call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that i have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live." a changed life text: "_and, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up. and when jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity: and he laid his hands on her; and immediately she was made straight, and glorified god._"--luke : - . these verses present to us one of the most interesting stories imaginable--of interest to us first because it is one of our lord's miracles, and one has only to study these manifestations of his power to be persuaded of his divinity; interesting, again, because it is the account of a remarkable recovery from a great infirmity, for instead of bondage which had held this woman for eighteen years we behold her standing upright glorifying god. but it is all the more interesting to us because it presents a picture of what may be called the overflow ministry of jesus, of which there are many instances--as, for example, the account of the staunching of the issue of blood when the woman touched the hem of his garment. he was going upon another errand, but was so filled with virtue that when one of the multitude at his side touched him, by faith healing was the result. and, again, we have an illustration in the raising of jairus' daughter, and once again in the rescue of the widow's son from death. he was on his journey across the country and beheld the funeral procession coming. mr. moody used to say that jesus broke up every funeral he attended, and he stops long enough in this journey to restore this boy to his broken-hearted mother. again, in the case of the woman of samaria, when he is going about his father's business, he stops by the wellside to rest, and even in his resting moments forgives a woman's sins, so that under her influence an entire city is moved. would that we could learn that it is the overflow of our lives that gives power to our christian experience! this text is one of the best illustrations of this truth in the life of our savior. i many lessons might be drawn from this scripture, the first of which would be his power to uplift womanhood; but this is so well understood that it is unnecessary to take a moment of time to discuss it, except to say in passing that all that woman is today she owes to jesus of nazareth. she was as truly bound as this afflicted woman, and just as truly was she set free. but i prefer rather to let the woman of samaria illustrate many christians to-day who are bound in one way or another and so are shorn of power. for this suggestion i am indebted to my dear friend, the rev. f. b. meyer, a brief outline of whose sermon i recently had the privilege of reading. she was a daughter of abraham, as we read in verse , "and ought not this woman, being a daughter of abraham, whom satan had bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?" and therefore she was like many children of god whom we know. what it is that binds them we cannot always tell. with this person it is fashion, and with that it is earnings; with another it is pride, and still another selfishness; with this one it is the encouragement of some passion, and with still another it is the practice of some secret sin. it is not necessary to describe the bondage; it is true, alas, that many of us are sadly crippled in our influence because of these things, for this woman was just as truly bound as if she had been in chains. when jesus entered the synagogue his eye saw her instantly, and he detected her difficulty. he is in the midst of us to-day, and while we are unconscious of the bondage of the one who is beside us, he understands it perfectly. that minister who has lost his old power and is therefore an enigma to his people, that church officer who is out of communion and whose testimony has lost its old ring of genuineness, that young woman bordering on despair because in her heart she knows she is not right with god, and that young man whose character is being undermined by the cultivation of a secret sin--all these are known to him. he looks them through and through, and not a point of weakness is hidden from his gaze. note again, that she was powerless to help herself. i doubt not that she had tried again and again to lift herself up. she had been unable to turn her eyes upward to see the stars, her vision had been centered upon things below, and in this way she is like many a christian attempting to be satisfied with earthly things and making life a miserable failure. the scriptures declare that she "could in no wise lift up herself," and i have been told that this expression is the same word which is used in another place in the epistle to the hebrews, where jesus is said to be able to save to the uttermost; so that really the scriptures mean that she tried to the uttermost to lift herself up and failed, and that she had gone to the uttermost in the matter of bondage, and then because jesus is able to save to the uttermost he set her free; or, in other words, her need was met by his power. oh, what an encouragement to know that the thing which has been your defeat and mine he may easily conquer! it is a striking picture to me; he laid his hands on her and said, "woman, thou art loosed," and she stood straight and glorified god. some years ago there came into the mcauley mission, in new york city, a man who was, because of his sin, unable to speak and was bound down until, instead of standing a man six feet high, as he should have done, he was like a dwarf. he came to christ in the old mission, and when kneeling at the altar he accepted him, as if by a miracle jesus set him free also, and when he stood up the bonds were snapped that held him, and he had his old stature back again. his speech, however, was not entirely recovered. it is the custom in the mission for one to observe his anniversary each year and to give a testimony. whenever the anniversary of this man occurred he always had another read his lesson, then he would stand before the people bowed down as he had been in sin and suddenly rise before them in the full dignity of his christian manhood, glorifying god in his standing. this was like the woman of the text, and oh, that it might be like some one reading this who, bound by an appetite or a passion, shall be set free by the power of god! the difference between this woman in the one case bound and wretched and in the other straight and glorifying god is the difference between christians bound by appetite, pride or sin and when set free by the power of christ. it is the difference between the average christian experience and what god means we should be. two things this woman had--first, his word, when he said, "woman, thou art loosed"; and, second, the touch of his hand as he laid his hands upon her. both of these privileges we may have. ii have you really taken all that god meant you should have? your life is the test of this question. if you are constantly failing at the same point, if you are dominated by a spirit of unrest, if you are lacking in spiritual power, something is wrong and you need the touch of the living christ. the early disciples were an illustration of those of us who have not yet fully appreciated and appropriated our savior. he had given them life, for in the seventeenth of john he declares that this is true. they had peace as a possession, for in the fourteenth chapter and twenty-seventh verse he says, "peace i leave with you, my peace i give unto you: not as the world giveth, give i unto you. let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." they also had joy as a gift, for he said, "these things have i spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full"; and yet they quarreled among themselves, one of them denied him with an oath, and all of them forsook him. they were a weak, vacillating company of men, but suddenly there came a remarkable change. it was as if there had been two peters. the first was a coward, the second a perfect giant in his fearlessness. the first was afraid of a little girl, the second faced a mob and fearlessly proclaimed the truth of god that condemned him; and the secret of this change is found in the fact that the holy ghost had fallen upon him and upon them. this is what we need. jesus was god's gift to the world, and the holy ghost is his gift to the church. have we failed to take both? a man over in england, telling his pastor about his experience, said that he had taken jesus for his eternal life and the holy ghost for his internal life. this is certainly what we need to do more than anything else. we need the holy spirit of god in our lives. he would illuminate our minds as we read the bible, strengthen our faith as we appropriate christ, transform our lives as he came to do, and enable us to live and preach in demonstration of the spirit and with power. have you ever stopped to think what is really associated with the full acceptance of the third person of the trinity? first, _power_. "ye shall receive power after that the holy ghost has come upon you." second, _ability to pray_. "we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the spirit himself maketh intercession for us." third, _victory over sin_. "for the law of the spirit of christ in christ jesus sets me free from the law of sin and death." fourth, _cleanness of life_. "ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit." fifth, _the representation of jesus christ_. not imitation, but reproduction, is what we need. two artists are painting before a picture. the work of one is sadly deficient, the other an inspiration, for one is copying while the other is reproducing his own work. oh, that we might be so filled with the spirit of god that men should take knowledge of us that we not only had been with jesus but were like him! two things we need, both of which we may have: _his word and his touch_. first, his word. we surely have this. has he not said, "ye shall receive power"? but with this there is coupled a condition, "come out from among them and be ye separate." fulfilling this condition, we have only to step out upon his promise on the ground of the fact that he has said, "that ye might receive the promise of the spirit through faith." second, we have the touch of his hand. this emphasizes his reality. one of the greatest dangers of the day, it seems to me, is the fact that we are so inclined to make him unreal. it also indicates his nearness. he can fill us so that his life may come throbbing into our very being, and this is the secret of victory in the time of temptation. we must be empty to be filled, but no man can empty himself. two ways may be presented for the emptying of a jar of air. first, use the air pump; but in this way it cannot be perfectly done. second, fill the jar with water. this is the better way. when christ fills our lives he empties us of self and sin. to some unknown friend i am indebted for four steps which we must take if we would be loosed from our bondage and stand straight in the presence of god and men. first: what god claims i will yield; that is myself. second: what i yield god accepts. since i have taken my hands off from myself i am not my own. "i have not much to bring thee, lord. for that great love which made thee mine, i have not much to bring thee, lord, but all i am is thine." third: what god accepts he fills. fourth: what god fills he uses. iii mind you, it is not once and for all that we are filled with the spirit of god; there will be a necessity for daily renewal, not only because we may sin but also because we may use the strength which he has imparted to us. three suggestions may be made, therefore, for our constant infilling. first: make his word your daily portion. count that day lost which passes without a portion of his word absorbed into your life. second: make his will supreme. there can be no joy in the household when the children rebel against the parents. there can be no power in christian experience when our wills are contrary to his. third: make him the king of your life. his coronation will one day come, when he shall be proclaimed king of kings and lord of lords; but while we wait for that we may crown him in our own lives. when queen victoria had just ascended her throne she went, as is the custom of royalty, to hear "the messiah" rendered. she had been instructed as to her conduct by those who knew, and was told that she must not rise when the others stood at the singing of the hallelujah chorus. when that magnificent chorus was being sung and the singers were shouting "hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujah! for the lord god omnipotent reigneth," she sat with great difficulty. it seemed as if she would rise in spite of the custom of kings and queens, but finally when they came to that part of the chorus where with a shout they proclaim him king of kings suddenly the young queen rose and stood with bowed head, as if she would take her own crown from off her head and cast it at his feet. let us make him our king and every day be loyal to him. this is the secret of peace. the lost opportunity text: "_and as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. and the king of israel said unto him, so shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it._"-- kings : . there is a very striking incident connected with this text. the great battle is raging, a certain important prisoner has been taken, and if you read between the lines you seem to know that upon him depend many of the issues of war. his skill in leading the enemy had been marvelous, his courage in the thick of the fight striking; and now he is a prisoner. the king puts him in the keeping of a jewish soldier, saying, "guard this man; if he escapes thy life shall be demanded for his." it is possible that they gave an extra pull to the thongs that bound the enemy and the guard was left alone with him. it is an important duty he has to perform. his life hangs in the balance. he must have been impressed with it. but, as we read on between the lines, strange as it may seem, he becomes negligent, his bow is laid down and his spear is left standing against the tent. he becomes hungry and takes a few small cakes to eat, he is weary and lies down to doze and sleep. suddenly there is a snap and a bound, and the guard arouses himself just in time to see his prisoner dash into the thicket, and he is gone. now the king requires the prisoner at the guard's hand. terror-stricken, he falls upon his face to cry aloud in the words of the text, "and as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone. and the king of israel said unto him, so shall thy judgment be; thyself hast decided it." it is my purpose to show in this illustration that god is always placing opportunities within our grasp. in a sense they are bound, for they may be made to do our will if we rightly use them. and it is also my purpose to show that as saint and sinner alike we have permitted opportunities to slip away while we doze in weariness or give attention to matters of less importance. god save us all from the expression, "it might have been," when it is too late, for even god himself cannot reverse the wheels of time and bring back the lost opportunity. we see this all about us. i hold in my hands a piece of cold iron. i cannot bend it; if i put it in the fire it becomes pliant; if i take it out it is cold again. there is a point in time, however, where it is bent as easily as a piece of paper. years ago our nation sent astronomers to africa to witness the transit of venus. preparation for this great sight had been going on for months. there was a critical moment when the sun, venus and the earth were all in line. every astronomer knew that at that moment his eye must be at the smaller end of the glass if he would see the planet go flying past the larger end. if he should miss that moment no power on earth could bring the planet back again. the world is full of these moments. galileo studied the eye of an ox and beheld the principle of the lens. watts [transcriber's note: watt?] looked at the teakettle lid as it was lifted by steam, columbus saw the wind's direction and knew there was land not far away. the difference between these men, to whom the world is indebted, and many others is this, that they have looked at the oxen's eyes and have been unmoved, have allowed the teakettle to boil without making an impression upon them, and the wind to blow without leading them to any shore. the opportunity for greatness is gone. there is not a person in the world but to whom at some time a great opportunity has been given, and for the use or abuse of it we shall be called to a strict account. i these opportunities for doing good come to the one who is a christian. first: i would not preach to others what i did not first preach to myself, but there are many of us as ministers like chalmers, who was one day visiting an old man seventy-two years of age, apparently in perfect health. they talked together about everything but christ. the minister was inclined to speak about his soul, but did not. before morning the old man was dead. dr. chalmers returned to the house, called all the old man's household about him, and offered the most touching apology and prayer. he spent the entire day in the woods, saying, "if i had been faithful this might not have been." i have no question but god would say, "so shall thy judgment be." second: you who are christian workers have failed. a christian merchant was told that there was a certain man with whom he had traded for years to whom he had never spoken about his soul. "i will speak the next time i see him," he said, but he never came, for while he was busy here and there the man was gone from him. before he came again death met him. so shall his judgment be. third: you who are parents have failed. years ago a young scotchman from fife, in scotland, was leaving home. he was not an active christian. his mother went with him to the turn of the road and said, "now, robert, there is one thing you must promise before you go." "no," said the lad, "i will not promise until i know." "but it will not be difficult," said his mother. "then i will promise," he said. and she said, "every night before you lie down to sleep read a chapter and pray." he did not want to promise it, but he did. who was that robert? it was robert moffat, the great missionary, who, when he came into the kingdom, brought almost a continent in after him. many a mother has lost her opportunity to speak to her boy, and she has lost it because she has not lived as a mother should who would help her boy. so shall her judgment be. ii these opportunities come to the unsaved. the bible is full of men who have had an opportunity to be saved but are lost. first: there is herod. his face blanches as he listens to the truth, he is ready to forsake some of his sin; but more is required than that to be a christian, and herod fails. second: look at felix. as he gazes into the face of paul the apostle and hears his message, he trembles; a moment more he will be a christian; but more is required than that to be saved, and felix is lost. third: behold judas. see him at the feet of jesus. later he is full of remorse because he has sold him for thirty pieces of silver; but mere remorse never saved a soul, and judas is lost. you have doubtless heard of that young girl of whom the poet tells us. she had a string of pearls in her hand and her hand is in the water, the string is broken, and one by one the pearls slip away. so it has been with you who have been christians. my hope is that there may be one pearl left yet. to-day is the accepted time; do not let the opportunity slip. iii the bible is full of men just the opposite who had opportunities to be saved and embraced them. first: zaccheus. there was just one day, one hour, one moment; when jesus would pass by, and zaccheus ran to the sycamore tree; but he made haste and came down, and that saved him. second: bartimeus. there was just a moment when jesus was near to hear the sound of his voice. if bartimeus failed that moment he would be blind forever. i can see him quickly turning his sightless eyes in the direction of the savior. he cried unto him and it was his earnestness that saved him. we must make haste while yet it is to-day. third: coming down from the mountain, where he had preached his great sermon, jesus beheld the leper. he was dead, according to the law, yet he had a napkin bound about his mouth. if one had called to him, "your child is dead," he could not have gone to see the little one. but he breaks through all of this and cries, "if thou wilt thou canst make me clean." it was his desperation that saved him. fourth: look at the dying thief, so near that he could have touched christ if he had been free. here yawned before him the very brink of hell, here was judgment for his sins, for he acknowledged that he was justly punished. i can see him struggle to decide whether he shall speak or not, and at last he cries, "lord, remember me." and jesus said, "to-day shalt thou be with me in paradise." it was his last chance, and he took it. and this may be yours. god forbid that you should let the opportunity slip away. but whether my message is to ministers, to christian workers, to parents or to the unsaved, i call your attention to this fact: it was when the soldier was busy that the prisoner escaped. many of you have been busy about pleasure, and some day it will mock you. you have been caught by the fascination of business, and it does not prevent your soul having been surrounded by sin from which after a while you cannot escape, and if the opportunity slips away so shall our judgment be, for we must decide it. in a few years at the latest, possibly in a few months, perhaps in a few weeks--who knows but within a few days?--eternity shall be upon us. if it is an opportunity that is gone or a soul that is lost it will be a sad eternity indeed for us. to this end may god keep us watchful. a great victory text: "_and they stood every man in his place round about the camp, and all the host ran, and cried, and fled._"--judges : . few things in this world are so inspiring to the traveler and at the same time so depressing as a city or temple in ruins. i remember a delightful experience in passing through the ruins of karnak and luxor, on the nile in egypt, and later passing through phylae at assuan on the nile; and these two thoughts, each the opposite of the other, kept constantly coming to my mind. the loneliness is oppressive, and one would be delighted to hear the song of a bird, the bark of a dog, or the cry of a child. these ruins were once happy homes, or were temples filled with worshipers. here little children played and gray-haired patriarchs worshiped their gods. akin to this picture is the one of the people of israel at the time of this story, and the alternating feelings of pleasure and sadness keep constantly coming and going. the condition of the land beggared description. homes were there, but no children were about the doors; there were fields, but no crops to be harvested; pastures, but no cattle fed upon them; the hills were to be seen, but no flocks bleated on their sides; people were there, but they were found in the caves and hiding away on the mountain sides. when they had entered canaan, these chosen people of god, he had said unto them, "and it shall come to pass, if thou shall hearken diligently unto the voice of the lord thy god, to observe and to do all his commandments which i command thee this day, that the lord thy god will set thee on high above all nations of the earth; and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the lord thy god. blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. the lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face; they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. the lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the lord thy god giveth thee. the lord shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the lord thy god, and walk in his ways. and all the people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the lord; and they shall be afraid of thee." we have here the old testament beatitudes, and there is nothing like them. the story with which the text is associated really begins in the first verse of the sixth chapter of judges, "and the children of israel did evil in the sight of the lord; and the lord delivered them into the hand of midian seven years." but there must also be read in connection with this the last verse of the fifth chapter of judges, "so let all thine enemies perish, o lord; but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. and the land had rest forty years." it seems incredible that there could be such a difference in the experiences of god's people, and yet, as you study them in all their wanderings, you will find, if you turn over but one leaf of the bible, the people who sing to-day are active in evil to-morrow, and the history of israel is the history of one's self. life is like a short ladder, as some one has said, and we spend most of our time going up to pray and down to sin. there is a striking picture in the second verse of the sixth chapter. the chosen people of god were dwelling in caves instead of their rightful positions in their homes, and the same is true to-day; men who ought to be at the front are left behind because they are living selfish lives or lives of sin. do not for a moment think that i am saying that because a man is living out of sight that he is doing nothing, for we have only to remember gideon to know that this is not true. he was a hidden man doing an honest work, and the angel of the lord called him, saying, "the lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." to this gideon makes a significant reply in the thirteenth verse of the sixth chapter of judges, "and gideon said unto him, oh, my lord, if the lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, did not the lord bring us up from egypt? but now the lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the midianites." for the angel had said, "the lord is with thee, gideon," and gideon had said, "if the lord is with us, then how can these things be?" and the angel did not say it. how often it is true that we miss the truth of god because we miss the grammar of the bible. when gideon had thus replied, we read in the fourteenth verse of the sixth chapter, "and the lord _looked_ upon him, and said, go in this thy might, and thou shalt save israel from the hand of the midianites; have not i sent thee?" and the thing to pay special attention to there is that the angel _looked_ at gideon. sometimes in translating a foreign language you come upon a word which you cannot express in your own language; so it is with us here, for the lord looked gideon into a new man and said unto him, "go and thou shalt save the people," which leads me to say that one man right with god is mightier than a host against god. the seventh chapter of judges opens with the significant word "then." you must have all that goes before in your mind to appreciate this word. god has a plan for every life, and all your sickness, your disappointment, your discipline, is for something. there must be a "then" for you. it is the call of god and the answer to it that makes real life. compare gideon the farmer with gideon the soldier, and you will see the difference in a human life. let one, however low or ignorant, but hear the voice of god and respond to it, and when such an one answers god's call for his country, for the church, or for christ, the heroic in him is being stirred. it is said that years ago there used to be a man in mr. spurgeon's tabernacle who never had spoken in his social meetings, for the reason that he had a stammering tongue. one day he heard the great preacher say that the lord could use even the tongue of the stammerer. it sent him to his home, and to his knees, and when he rose to his feet after having yielded himself wholly to god, as if by miracle god gave him the gift of speech, and i have been told that no one in the tabernacle spoke more to the edification of the people or the praise of god than he. some years ago when john g. woolley was delivering his closing address on the commencement day at college a young boy heard him under peculiar circumstances. he had walked in from the country. it was a hot day, and to quench his thirst he had tasted the water of one of the springs. it made him very ill, and just to escape the heat of the sun he crept under the platform, which had been erected upon the college campus for the commencement exercises. while there he fell asleep and was awakened by the sound of a musical voice. something that the graduating student said stirred his soul, and he there made a vow that he would be a preacher. it was god's call to him and his answer. he has since become one of the world's most famous preachers, and his influence has been as wide as the world itself. when the midianites stood against the children of israel god called gideon to lead an army against them, and this text is part of this story. the scene was remarkable. thirty-two thousand people following gideon's leadership with the first flush of the battle upon them. they were ready to march, and god said when he looked at them, "the people are too many." they would seem to us to have been too few, for literally a multitude of midianites stood against him. but we go wrong so often by applying human arithmetic to divine decrees. it is said that when napoleon marched with his soldiers he was counted as being equal to , of his men, and so, after all, it is not a question of numbers with god, but of the few men whom he can use. the test by means of which gideon's army was decreased was remarkable. in judges, the seventh chapter and the second to seventh verses, we read, "and the lord said unto gideon, the people that are with thee are too many for me to give the midianites into their hands, lest israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, mine own hand hath saved me. now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount gilead. and there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. and the lord said unto gideon, the people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and i will try them for thee there; and it shall be, that of whom i say unto thee, this shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever i say unto thee, this shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. so he brought down the people unto the water; and the lord said unto gideon, every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. and the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men; but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. and the lord said unto gideon, by the three hundred men that lapped will i save you, and deliver the midianites into thine hand; and let all the other people go every man unto his place." this test is going on now among men; by the way we walk and talk, by the way we listen and work, men form their judgment of us, and so does god. we may measure our spiritual state by the way we spend our leisure moments, by the way we spend our saturday afternoons, by our rest days, and by the books we read. there is flowing past us the stream of literature and the stream of pleasure, and the question is whether we are going to fall down before these streams to drink or whether we are just going to dip up as we hurry along to fulfill our mission; or, in other words, whether we are to be so taken up with god's plan that we have no time to idle away and no disposition to turn aside. "it does not so much matter how many members one may have in his church, for under the banner of a popular christianity soldiers march. what if there should be a struggle ahead when to be a christian would mean to suffer martyrdom, or dying at the stake, or contending with the beasts of ephesus like paul, how then do you think it would be?" and yet all the time to-day the struggle is going on; both from within and from without the foe is assailing us, the bible is being attacked, christ is being denied, the resurrection is counted a myth, and the future is being questioned, and in every part of the church it would seem as if men thought that the life of the christian was all a holiday, for people are idling, gossiping, buying and selling, marrying and giving in marriage, instead of being in the thick of the fight in the name of the lord of hosts. give us three hundred in the church right with god rather than the thirty-two thousand compromising with sin and the world, and we shall win the victory. i i am impressed in this story with the thought of how much may be accomplished without wealth, influence or material strength. we somehow seem to think that we cannot work as ministers without a fine equipment. we have an idea that we must have a committee back of us to be assured of success, that if we are without influence we have a small mission in the world, forgetting that michelangelo wrought the frescoes in the sistine chapel with the ochres which he digged with his own hands in the garden of the vatican; forgetting also that the greatest work in the world has been accomplished by men like gideon, who delayed not for elaborate preparation, but just took firebrands and torches--indeed, anything they could lay their hands upon--and cried out, "the sword of the lord and of gideon," and won the victory. the text is most striking, and presents an outline which any one ought to be able to see. ii _they stood_. it is not so easy to stand as to march or to fight. i have been told that the most difficult service of the soldier is picket duty; and yet never until we learn to stand shall we be able to fight. in the fourteenth chapter of exodus, the thirteenth and fourteenth verses, we read, "and moses said unto the people. fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the lord, which he will shew to you to-day, for the egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more forever. the lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace." and again, in chronicles, the twentieth chapter and the seventeenth verse, it is recorded, "ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the lord with you, o judah and jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to-morrow go out against them, for the lord will be with you." three thoughts are impressed upon my mind: first: _before any service, let us stand, giving god a chance with us_. let him use you and not you use him so much. in the beginning of his christian service hudson taylor, the china inland missionary, was desirous of being used and cried out for god to send him out into service. at last god seemed to say to him, "my child, i have made up my mind to save inland china. if you will come and walk with me i will do it through you," and the china inland mission was born. second: _wait for orders_. in ephesians the sixth chapter and the tenth to the thirteenth verses, we have the following description of a soldier: "finally, my brethren, be strong in the lord, and in the power of his might. put on the whole armor of god, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. wherefore take unto you the whole armor of god, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." the striking part of that description is the sentence, "having done all, to stand." in other words, with all our ingenuity and our planning, with all our preparation and equipment, we lack one thing: that one thing is the touch of the almighty god. third: _be willing to do the common thing_. it was rather interesting to march with thirty-two thousand, and a striking thing to break pitchers and cry aloud, "the sword of the lord and of gideon," but just to stand was a different matter, and not at all easy. if we were only willing to do the common things for christ we should accomplish more in our lives. the great bethany sunday school building standing in philadelphia is a model in its perfect equipment. the mighty sunday school held there is one of the wonders of the world. the building was begun not only in the mind and heart of the distinguished superintendent, the hon. john wanamaker, but when he appealed for funds as they were then needed one of the poorest children in the city made practically the first and best contribution. she gathered bones from the alleyways, sold them and brought her few pennies to help make this wonderful work a success. iii _every man in his place_. first: let us remember that god has a plan for every life. ephesians : - , "wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? he that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.) and he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of christ; till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the son of god, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of christ." second: that which in our lives fits into god's plans dignifies and strengthens in every way. a few years ago there was a young man selling farming implements. he felt inclined to do christian work, and later on became a christian association secretary. he became known locally because of his ability to sing in a male quartette. he was a good singer. whether he was more than the average secretary i do not know. he one day felt the call to preach and shrank back from it because he felt he was without ability, then gave himself to god without reserve. he has since become one of the greatest preachers to men in our country, has possibly led more men to christ than any other man of his day, and it was my privilege a short time ago to see hundreds of men under the power of his preaching come to christ; and this was all because fred b. smith gave himself unreservedly to christ. third: it may be a very ordinary service that god calls you to perform, but if you feel it your place your service will please him. rev. dr. torrey tells the story of the poor mother who by hard day's work made it possible for her boy to attend college. the day of the graduation came, and he said to her, "you must go with me to the commencement." naturally she shrank from it, for her clothing was of the poorest sort; but he said that there would be no commencement without her. he was the valedictorian of his class. proudly he led her into the hall, and with beaming face she listened while the great throng applauded his brilliant speech. when he received his gold medal he walked down from the platform and pinned it upon her breast, saying, "this is yours," and she was as proud as any queen could have been. it was a very common thing to wash and iron for one's daily living, but to be honored thus was something any mother might long to experience. she simply did her best in a humble way and pleased god. iv _round about the camp_. first: let it be remembered that we have a responsibility to others. some years ago on the irish sea a terrific storm was raging. it was known that just off the coast a vessel was going to pieces. suddenly two men, an old sea captain and his son, put out through the storm. everybody tried to persuade them not to do so, for it seemed to be absolutely useless. over the waves, which appeared almost mountain high, they pushed along until at last amid the cheers of the waiting throng they returned with their little boat filled with those who had been all but lost upon the ship. when the minister said to the old sea captain, "why do you do this? why take such a risk?" he answered, "i have been there myself, and i knew the danger." it is because we have been once in sin and now are redeemed by the precious blood of christ that we say something to those who are about us. second: we are responsible for others. when horace bushnell was a tutor in yale he was a stumbling block to all the students because he was not a christian. he realized this himself, and yet he said, "how can i accept christ or the bible, for i do not believe in either one." and then the question came to him as from god, "what do you believe?" and he said, "i only know there is a difference between right and wrong." god seemed to say to him, "have you ever taken that stand where you would say, 'i am committed to the right even if it ends in death'?" and he said, "i never have." falling upon his knees he said, "o god, if jesus christ be true, reveal him to me and i will follow him." and he began to walk in the light, which constantly increased, and almost every student in yale came to christ. "no man liveth unto himself alone." we are responsible for the souls of other men. we are also responsible for their service; if we are half-hearted they will surely be. v "_and the host ran, and cried and fled._" what hosts are against us to-day? first: as individuals there may be coming constantly to our minds a question of doubt, of pride, or of secret sin, and we wonder if these are evidences that we are not christians. not at all. they are but the fruit of our old nature, and are the hosts encamped against us. we have only to take our stand with christ, right with him, and we shall win the victory. second: in the church we meet with indifference, worldliness, infidelity, and we wonder how we may win the victory. the answer is simply, "we have but to be right with god and to walk with god," and three hundred such followers of his could put the enemy to rout quickly. third: there is also a battle which those of us who are christians are obliged to fight. it has to do with the unsaved man. men are not christians to-day not because they do not believe, not because they are without interest in the future, but simply because they have put off and put off, and i know of no way to overcome this difficulty except by taking one's stand with christ and with those who are like-minded with christ. having first concern for the lost, then his intense earnestness in their salvation, the proscrastination of the sinner will flee away. for such a victory as this we plead and pray. paul a pattern of prayer text: "_if ye shall ask anything in my name i will do it._"--john : . jesus testified in no uncertain way concerning prayer, for not alone in this chapter does he speak but in all his messages to his disciples he is seeking to lead them into the place where they may know how to pray. in this fourteenth chapter of john, where he is coming into the shadow of the cross and is speaking to his disciples concerning those things which ought to have the greatest weight with them, the heart of his message seems to be prayer. what an encouragement it is to his disciples to pray when they remember that he said, "verily, verily, i say unto you. he that believeth on me, the works that i do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because i go unto my father. and whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will i do, that the father may be glorified in the son" (john : - ). jesus was himself a pattern of prayer. he had prayed under all circumstances; with him the day was born in prayer, went along in meditation and closed in most intimate fellowship and communion with his father. under all circumstances, whether it be the raising of lazarus from the dead, or the breathing in of the very spirit of god so essential to him in his earthly ministry, he prayed; and because he was a man of prayer himself, he could speak to his disciples with authority concerning this subject. if we ourselves would know how to pray there are certain great principles which must be remembered when we come to him. first: _we must believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him_. if one has hazy or mystical ideas of christ then from the very nature of the case prayer is impossible. second: _we must believe his word_. mr. spurgeon's statement that when he went to god he always went pleading a promise is the secret of his great success as a man of prayer. earthly parents are not insensible to the pledges they make to their children and surely god cannot be. third: _we must confess and forsake our sins_. to confess sin is to arraign before us those sins of which we know ourselves to be guilty, and when they appear before us in solemn and awful procession we must heartily renounce them. if we do not we cannot pray. in another place in god's word we read, "ye ask and receive not, because, . . ." and while in the verse the rest of the sentence is "ye ask amiss," we might finish by saying, "we ask and receive not, because our lives are not right in god's sight." fourth: _we must exercise our faith_. the little child who prayed for rain and then wanted to carry an umbrella with her when the sun was shining is an oft repeated illustration, but such faith as this is what every child of god must practice. the text is exceedingly broad. "if ye shall ask anything in my name i will do it." it is broad enough to include temporal blessing and spiritual power, comprehensive enough to lead us to believe that god will direct our lives if we ask him and will bear our burdens even though they be almost insignificant in their weight. thank god for the "anything" in the text! it may be stated truly that god's promises to israel are especially concerning temporal blessing and that his promises to the church have particular reference to spiritual possessions; and they both, the history of israel and the history of the church, prove that god will give to us temporally as well as spiritually. these blessings are included in the "anything." i have been greatly impressed with paul as a pattern in prayer, and for the outline of this message as well as for many of the suggestions i am indebted to an english clergyman, the rev. e. w. moore, who has written, "the christ controlled life," and "christ in possession," and has recently sent out a little book entitled, "the pattern prayer book." i have noticed in studying paul that the burden of his prayer was for spiritual blessing rather than for temporal power, and throughout the epistles at least seven illustrations are to be found concerning this subject. i _prayer for pentecost_. ephesians : - , "that christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth and height; and to know the love of christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of god." just what is the burden of this prayer of paul's? first: he is not asking for that indwelling which is ours at conversion; for this he would not need to pray, for at the moment of regeneration christ is ours and eternal life (which is only another way of saying, "the life of the eternal") is our never failing possession. second: he is not asking for the bodily presence of christ, as some have suggested, for in this scripture he states that it is by faith that christ is to dwell with us. third: it is by no means a figurative expression, for if this were true there would be no comfort in it to god's children. yet, as a matter of fact, this prayer of paul's has been an inspiration to god's people everywhere. it is rather a special pentecostal privilege for god's children concerning which paul is praying. in galatians : we read, "my little children, of whom i travail in birth again until christ be formed in you." and this is his petition. let it be noticed that the tense of the verb in this connection denotes singleness of action, so that paul's prayer may be answered not gradually but immediately. if this be true then let it be answered now for you and for me. there are three blessings which would flow out of this answer to prayer. first: _constancy of experience_. "that christ may dwell," pleads the apostle. it does not mean that he is to come in a fitful experience, but the language of the hymn is true, "abide with me; fast falls the even tide, the darkness deepens; lord, with me abide; when other helpers fail, and comforts flee, help of the helpless, oh, abide with me." second: _strength will be our possession_, for the apostle tells us that we are to be "rooted and grounded in him." as the roots of the tree take hold upon the ground and the giant oak withstands the storms of the northern coasts, so we may withstand temptation and trial and be more than conquerors if this prayer is answered. third: _there will be cleansing_, for we are told that "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he." we are told also that we must keep our hearts with all diligence, for out of them are the issues of life. it is easy enough to understand how our lives would be pure if christ were only in possession. ii _prayer for perception_. colossians : - , "for this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that ye might walk worthy of the lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of god." the need of this prayer was not that the colossians were weak, or that they had been conspicuous in the failure of their christian experience, for in the third and fourth verses of the first chapter of colossians, paul says concerning them, "we give thanks to god and the father of our lord jesus christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in christ jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints"; and then in the face of this statement he prayed earnestly for them. the subject of his prayer was not that he desired anything, humanly speaking, very great for them; he did not ask honor, nor did he desire that wealth should be theirs, but merely states in the ninth verse that they might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. i have been told that literally, this means that they might have full knowledge, not simply a passing opinion concerning him and his work. if we study this particular scripture in which paul is praying for the colossians we will learn how this prayer is to be answered. first: we must meditate upon god's word. he makes himself especially known to his people in his word. there are certain great principles which we must remember if we would know god's will. ( ) _we must present our bodies to him_. romans : , "i beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of god, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto god, which is your reasonable service." ( ) _we must be delivered from this present evil age_. galatians : , "who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of god and our father." ( ) _we must separate ourselves from the world_. thessalonians : , "for this is the will of god, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." ( ) _we must be thankful_. thessalonians : , "in everything give thanks; for this is the will of god in christ jesus concerning you." ( ) _we must continue patiently to serve and follow him_. peter : , "for so is the will of god, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." all of these things are god's will for us. if we but practice them the results can be only beneficial. as a result of such a study of god's word the general knowledge of god and his will shall be ours. second: the spiritual perception spoken of in this particular scripture may be ours, as we listen to the spirit of god, for he will speak to us god's message and make known to us god's will. the purpose of this prayer of paul's for the colossians was that they might walk worthy to all pleasing. what a joy it is to know that we may please god! for this we should be grateful. iii _prayer for purity_. thessalonians : - , "and the very god of peace sanctify you wholly; and i pray god your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our lord jesus christ. faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." this prayer is also remarkable if we notice the spiritual condition of the thessalonians, for of them we read that they had received the word of god with joy, and had turned from idols to serve the living god, and yet the apostle prays for their sanctification. by this he does not mean sinlessness, and a careful study of his position would lead us to know that he does not teach that sanctification may be ever apart from growth. we must day by day come more and more into the likeness of christ. there are three words which it would be well for us to remember in our study of this subject. first: _position_. if we would grow unto his likeness we must be where he can let shine upon us the light of his countenance. frances ridley havergal had an aeolian harp sent to her which she tried to play with her fingers, and failed. at last a friend suggested that she place it in the window, and the music as the wind touched the strings was entrancing. we must be where he can use us. second: _purification_. sanctification is necessary because god uses only that which is clean, never an unclean life. third: _possession_. it is really christ filling us, and he will fill us if we give him the opportunity. the extent of this work is made plain in paul's prayer: ( ) the spirit is touched, and the spirit is that part of our nature which is capable of fellowship with god. ( ) the soul is filled, and the soul is the seat of all our intellectual faculties. ( ) the body is possessed, and since the body is just the servant of the higher powers of man, we can easily understand how necessary the work is. it is needful, (_a_) for our peace, for the god of peace is to sanctify us. (_b_) for our prayers. for paul is talking about prayer when he praises. (_c_) for our praise, for we are told that we must rejoice evermore. iv _prayer for power_. ephesians : - , "wherefore i also, after i heard of your faith in the lord jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the god of our lord jesus christ, the father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power; which he wrought in christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places." the church at ephesus was in every way remarkable, but to this people paul wrote his most spiritual epistle, which in itself is a compliment to them, for as in another instance it was not necessary for him to write unto them as if they were carnal. with this people for the space of two or three years he labored, as we find recorded in acts the nineteenth chapter and the tenth verse, "and this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in asia heard the word of the lord jesus, both jews and greeks." acts : , "therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years i ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." there were no divisions in this church as at corinth; there were no heresies as at galatia, and no dissensions as at philippi; and yet, for all that, he prays most earnestly. the natural question for us to ask is, just what is it for which he prays, and the question is easily answered. first: for advancement in knowledge; he asks god that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened. under this general petition there are three special requests. ( ) _that they might know the hope of their calling_. we have but to study paul's epistles to realize that this calling involved: a perfect vision, for one day it is christ's promise and teaching that they shall see him as he is. the hope of this would keep them faithful. it involved, in the next place, a perfect likeness, for, seeing him as he is, they would become like him, and the hope of this would keep them clean. it involved, in the third place, a perfect union, for when this hope of their calling is fulfilled there is no possibility of anything coming between the believer and christ; so the fellowship must be perfect. ( ) paul also requests that they may know the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. that is very wonderful. he does not say the riches of the saints in him--that could be easily understood; but what an inspiration it is to know that he has glory in us, and that the mere possession of poor, frail creatures like ourselves is to him a perfect delight! we sometimes say that we could not get along without christ, but how inspiring it is to know that he could not and he would not get along without us! ( ) the apostle also prays that the church at ephesus might know what is the exceeding greatness of christ's power towards us. it is not simply a great power that is described but an exceedingly great power. there is absolutely no limit to what he can accomplish in and through us if we but yield ourselves unreservedly to him. second: another question, may naturally come to us. why have we not this power of his? the answer is simply because the eyes of our understanding have not been enlightened. we have been too much self-centered and too closely wedded to the world. we need a stronger vision. there are stars in the heavens to-day that have never yet been seen, not because they do not exist but because there has been no glass invented strong enough to take them in. each new day brings a vision of new heavenly bodies. we also need stronger faith, for if we have become persuaded of the fact that he can do all things the victory is won when we take this position. v _prayer for perseverance_. philippians : - , "and this i pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent, that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of christ. being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by jesus christ, unto the glory and praise of god." paul has a tender affection for this philippian church. naturally he would wish for them only the best things, and the burden of this prayer of his is, first: that they might be able to persevere to the end, or rather to the day of christ. let it not be forgotten that he who said, "nothing can separate us from the love of god," at the same time prays that those who are the object of this love may be faithful in their perseverance until time shall be no more. it is god's privilege to preserve us, it is our privilege to persevere; and if we study the words "preserve" and "persevere" we shall find that they are composed of almost the same letters with only a slightly different arrangement. we must be exceedingly careful in our walk and we must rely perfectly upon christ. second: paul prays for the purity of these philippians when he asks that they may be sincere and without offence. i have been told that the word "sincere" sometimes means sunlight; which leads me to say that our conduct as christians should be such as to bear the clearest light of investigation. possibly the use of this word grew out of the custom of the people who stored away their goods in the darkest corners of the bazaar where their defects could not be seen plainly. when the purchase had been consummated they were brought out into the sunlight. the word also means "wax." it is said that in the days of imperial rome when a sculptor came to a flaw in the marble he filled it with wax to hide the defect, but when the hot days came and the wax was melted the defect was seen plainly. paul is desiring for these philippians that there may be none of this, but that their lives should commend themselves both to god and to men. third: he desires that they may be filled with the fruits of righteousness, not simply that they may produce fruit of one sort or another. it is not enough simply to bear fruit. "herein is my father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." this is the overflow experience of the christian and must be realized by us all. vi _prayer for perfectness_. hebrews : - , "now the god of peace, that brought again from the dead our lord jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through jesus christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. amen." the burden of this prayer of the apostle is that his people may do the will of god. this is required in all times and for various reasons. first: the glory of god demands it, and unless we are doing his will we are robbing him of his glory. revelation - , "thou art worthy, o lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." second: our own happiness depends upon it. let it not be thought for a moment that we are simply to do god's will when some sort of trial is upon us, but rather let us remember the scriptural expression, "i delight to do thy will, o god." what if god's will should be done for but one year in all things in any of our cities; would the result be anything else than perfect joy? third: our safety depends upon it. we must lean hard upon god's will. in switzerland at one of the most dangerous passes, where men used to travel with their faces white with fear, to-day any ordinary traveler can pass in safety because along the edge of the cliff there is an iron rail against which you may lean and have almost no danger beside you. this iron rail corresponds to the will of god for christians. paul also asks in this prayer that god's people may be made perfect to do his will. we need not be afraid of this word perfect, nor of paul's prayer, for as dr. moore has said, it is not a perfection of doing but a perfection to do, not a finality but a fitting. the same greek word is used elsewhere, as for example, "fitted." romans : , "what if god, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction." "prepared." hebrews : , "wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me." "framed." hebrews : , "through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of god, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." "restored." galatians : , "brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." "mend." mark : , "and when he had gone a little farther thence, he saw james the son of zebedee, and john his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets." the illustration has been used of a man with his leg out of joint. he cannot walk except with great pain, but when he puts himself without reserve into the hands of the doctor and the leg is set he can then rise and walk. he is not a perfect walker, but he is made perfect to walk. and the idea of all the verses above quoted is that we may be set with right relations to christ that he may have his way with us, that we may stand where he willed we should stand; and as a result we shall be well pleasing in his sight. vii _prayer for peace_. thessalonians : , "now the lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. the lord be with you all." peace is most difficult to define. it is the opposite of unrest, confusion and strife; and this peace for which the apostle prays is, first, not the peace of indifference. let this never be forgotten. second: it is not the peace of prosperous surroundings. some people frequently fail at this point but it is the very peace of god himself. the peace here prayed for looks in three directions. first: godward. "being justified by faith we have peace with god." his pardoning voice we hear and he is reconciled. second: inward. "peace i leave with you, my peace i give unto you; let not your heart be troubled." third: outward. with such a possession we may meet trial and bear burdens and never be moved. how may we secure such a possession? ( ) by having confidence in christ's work, for when he met his disciples and showed them his hands and his side, he said, "peace be unto you." ( ) by submission to christ's rule. "thou wilt keep him in perfect peace," or, as the literal translation is, "thou wilt keep him in peace, peace, who trusteth in thee because his mind is set on thee." this is our possession, and for that paul prays. a startling statement text: "_the wicked shall not be unpunished._"--prov. : . there are very many passages of scripture which ought to be read in connection with this text; as for example, "fools make a mock at sin" (proverbs : ), for only a fool would. better trifle with the pestilence and expose one's self to the plague than to discount the blighting effects of sin. and, again, "the soul that sinneth it shall die" (ezekiel : ). from this clear statement of the word of god there is no escape. or, again, "our secret sins in the light of thy countenance" (psalm : ). there is really nothing hidden from his sight. we may conceal our sinful thoughts from men and sometimes even our evil practices; but not from god. or again, "sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death" (james : ). here is unexampled progress indicated from which there never has been the slightest deviation. but one of the sharpest texts in all the word of god, and one which men somehow in these days seem to ignore, is paul's expression, "be not deceived; god is not mocked: whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (galatians : ), and if we compare this reference in the new testament to the text in the old testament the harvest indeed seems to be sure, for "the wicked shall not be unpunished." there is a note of truth in all of these statements for both saint and sinner. jeremiah the thirtieth chapter and the eleventh verse, "for i am with thee, saith the lord, to save thee: though i make a full end of all nations whither i have scattered thee, yet i will not make a full end of thee: but i will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished." the old prophet is speaking to the people of israel; and while he tells them that they are god's people, nevertheless they shall not altogether go unpunished, for if they sow to the flesh they must of the flesh reap corruption. in deuteronomy the fifth chapter and the ninth verse, we read, "thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for i the lord thy god am a jealous god, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." it is a solemn fact that the sins of the fathers descend upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. it is more solemn that so blighting is the effect of sin that the fourth generation is the last. there is no fifth. even though we be pardoned from sin forever, we shall not altogether go unpunished. certainly it is true that if one rejects jesus christ, punishment for him is absolutely certain. the other day in the city of chicago the following appeared in the _inter-ocean_ as an editorial under the title of "preaching for men." "to those who look upon men as they are it is simply astounding that so many preachers should act as if the hope of reward alone could be efficient to move average mankind to leave sin and follow after righteousness. in every other relation of human life every man is constantly confronted with the alternative: do right and be rewarded; do wrong and be punished. the pressure of fear as well as the pressure of hope is continually upon him. he knows that he may conceal his wrongdoing from the eye of man, but he is always under the fear of discovery and punishment. but he goes to church, and in nine cases out of ten the preacher, while insisting that he can hide nothing from the eye of god, yet says nothing to arouse in him that fear of god which is the beginning of wisdom. if he turn from religion to science he finds science more positive of the certainty of punishment than of the certainty of reward. science cannot, for example, assure him of a long life, even though he scrupulously obey hygienic laws. but it can assure him of a speedy death if he wantonly violates those laws. precisely this fact that the consequences of sin in punishment can be foretold more positively than the consequences of righteousness in reward is what makes fear the strongest influence dominating and directing human conduct. yet many preachers deliberately abandon the appeal to fear and then wonder why their preaching does not move men to active righteousness. when more preachers recover from the delusion into which so many of them have fallen such complaints will diminish. for all human experience proves that the preaching that appeals to fear of punishment as well as to hope of reward is the preaching that is really effective--is the preaching of all the great preachers of the past and the present--is the preaching that moves." the statement of the text is exceedingly plain and the teaching is unquestioned. it is a good thing for us to-day to understand what sin is, for if we have a wrong conception of sin it naturally follows that we shall have a wrong conception of the atonement. without an understanding of sin there is no sense of guilt, and without the sense of guilt there is no cry for pardon. the best definitions that i have ever found for sin are written in the word of god. i . "whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law" ( john : ). the word "transgression" means to go across. does your life parallel god's law or cross it? your answer to this question determines the measure of your sin. you have only to read the ten commandments and try to mold your life by them to find your answer. better still, you have only to read these commandments in the light of jesus' interpretation, where the look of lust is adultery and anger without cause is murder, to see how far short you have come; and if this is true certainly you are a sinner, and the text is for you. "the wicked shall not be unpunished." . "all unrighteousness is sin; and there is a sin not unto death" ( john : ). righteousness means right relations with god. you may make ever so strong a claim to right living and speak ever so vehemently concerning the good that you are accomplishing in the world, but the first question for you to settle is this, what is your relation to god and what have you to say with reference to your acceptance or rejection of jesus christ? it is a solemn thought that whatever we do counts for nothing if our relation to god be wrong, while the little that we may do may count for much if we have taken the right position before him. . "therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (james : ). omission, according to this scripture, is sin; neglected opportunity is sin, shirking responsibility is sin, refusing to obey god is sin; and so when i ask you about being a christian, if it is best and right and you acknowledge that it is, then if you are not a christian, this very fact is in itself sin, for when one knows the right and refuses to do it he is a sinner, and the text is true--"the wicked shall not be unpunished." . "and he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (romans : ). active doubt is sin. if you have a doubt concerning the sinfulness of certain things, then to do those things is sin. if i have the least doubt concerning the amusements which may be questionable, or the position which may be doubtful, so long as a doubt or a question remains these things are sin; and the bible states the fact that "the wicked shall not be unpunished." . "and when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (john : ). unbelief is the chiefest of sins. it is to reject jesus christ, it is to close in our own faces the door of hope, it is to trample the blood of the son of god under our feet, and it means also to insult the spirit of grace. one morning in the city of new york a man dashed down the street and past three men standing on the pier. they could not tell how old he was, nor how he was dressed, but they saw him jump upon the bulkhead near by, strip off his overcoat, coat and hat, and, before they could stir to save him, plunge off the end of the pier. there was a short rope lying near by, and seizing this a man ran with his companions to the point from which the man had jumped. they threw the rope toward the struggling figure that they could just make out below them. the rope fell a foot and a half too short. then they ran back to the gas plant and got a longer rope. the ice was running so thick in the river that the man's head and shoulders were still to be seen above the water when they returned. taking careful aim they threw the rope squarely across the struggling form, shouting, "catch it and we'll pull you in." the unknown man, however, making a last effort, threw the rope aside and shouted back: "oh, to h--- with it! i'm through!" then he sank out of sight. that is a picture of the man who, having offered to him mercy and grace in jesus christ, spurns all that god offers, and is therefore hopeless. sin separates us from god. sin separates us from each other. sin pollutes us and we become impure. sin deceives us and we are in danger and know it not. a friend of mine walking along the streets of cincinnati early one morning saw a young girl standing upon the very edge of the roof of one of the highest office buildings. she was carefully balancing herself and every moment it seemed as if she would fall. the elevator was not running, but he made his way hurriedly to the roof of the building, walked carefully across it, seized her by the hand, drew her back and found that she had risen in her sleep and all unconsciously was standing on the very brink of eternity. this is what sin does for us, and it is a solemn thought that for all such the text is true, "the wicked shall not be unpunished." ii i do not make my appeal, however, on the ground that the punishment is all for the future, for that is indeed sure. i ask you the question, do you believe in heaven as a place of rewards? if so, the same argument will prove the existence of hell. do you reject hell, because it seems to you to be inconceivable? then the same argument will blot heaven out of existence. what it is that awaits the wicked, i am sure i do not know--only that it is to be away from god, with the door of hope shut forever, and the bible tells me that there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, for the wicked shall not be unpunished. i lift my voice against the punishment here, for sin is so sure in its deadly work, it is so insidious in its influence, that before you know it it is upon you; just one day of trifling and you are gone. the people about pittsburg will never forget the cheswick mine horror in , when one hundred and eighty-two dead men were taken from the mine. under the direction of one of the mining engineers, a rescuing party started into the mine to see if there was any hope of saving the men who might be yet alive. the journey is described by one who volunteered to go with the engineer on his perilous journey. "when we got to the foot of the shaft, mr. taylor lighted a cigar. he blew out a great cloud of smoke and watched it drift into a passage. 'this way,' he said, 'the smoke will follow the pure air draught.' so we went on, mr. taylor blowing clouds of smoke, and we following them. suddenly he wheeled and yelled; 'the black damp is coming!' the cigar smoke had stopped as though it had come to a stone wall, and was now drifting over our heads. we ran with death at our heels, ran with our tongues dry and swelling and our eyes smarting like balls of fire. it seemed only a minute until mr. taylor shrieked and fell forward on his face. he crawled along for a while on his hands and knees, and then fell again and lay still. i stopped for a second, with the idea of carrying him. then i realized how hopeless that was. we were still a quarter of a mile from the mouth of the pit. he was a very heavy man, and i, as you see, am small and weak. again i ran choking and beating my head with my hands. i fell, cut my face, called upon god, struggled to my feet and fell again. so i plunged on, falling and fighting forward. black madness came upon me. the horrible, sickening after-damp was tearing my heart up through my dry throat. my brain was bursting through my temples. then a stroke, as though by a sledge hammer, and i knew nothing more. they found me at ten minutes past one tuesday morning. at first they thought i was dead. then they saw my head rise and fall while i weakly pounded on a rock with a stick that i had caught in my delirium." this is to me a striking picture of what sin does for us. there is no one so strong but he may be overpowered by its awful influence. god save us from it, for "the wicked shall not be unpunished." iii oh, is there no hope? for it would seem from the message thus far as if nothing but despair was ahead of us. two ways to escape from the power of sin have been suggested; one is man's way, the other is god's. let us consider them both. . man suggests reformation. but how about the sins of the past? they are still untouched. man tells the sinner to do his best; but how about the will which has been weakened by sinful practices, and which seems unable to act? man tells the depraved man to change his surroundings; but how about the heart that is unclean? the fact is, man's way will not reach us. in january, , the american liner new york left southampton and came into the new york harbor with a sad story to tell. a sailor was suspended over the side of the vessel making repairs when an enormous wave tore him away, and he was very soon under the forepart of the ship. the waves began to carry him away, and a life line was thrown to him with a buoy attached. the sailor, sometimes visible and then obscured by the rising of a swell, grasped the line, and a cheer went up. he took a half turn with the line around his waist, was rolling himself over into the bight of the line and it looked as if he would be saved. the sailors on deck were just about to haul in. the poor fellow's hands and fingers must have been numb, for he suddenly rolled out of the half-formed bight, losing his grip upon the line. none of the passengers could help the man, none of the crew dared jump to his rescue, no boat could live in such a maelstrom. the sailor, who was struggling and being whirled around and bobbing like a cork, his oilskins partially spreading out and sustaining him, kept drifting further and further away. aroused by the commotion, the second officer came on deck just as the sailor lost his hold. tossing aside his cap, overcoat and jacket, he bade the seamen take a bowline hitch around his body and lower him away. the volunteer life-saver was cheered by the passengers as he went over. it was bitter cold, the sleet sharp and the swells ugly. a strong swim in the trough of the seas and over the crests and the officer might reach the seaman. it was his only chance. he had no more than touched the spume before the waves hurled him against the side of the steamer again and again, bruising his ankle and knee, but he struck out bravely and gradually drew nearer the sailor. for fifteen minutes the second officer struggled. during one of his brave spurts in the direction of the struggling man he looked up to the rail. the practiced eye of the seafaring man saw something that caused him suddenly to turn and breast his way back to the ship. the line was too short. the seaman holding the line attached to the officer had in his hands the mere end of it, and there was not another bit to pay out. it was a sixty fathom line, "all gone," and the officer yet only half way to the drowning man. it was too late to splice another. had it been thought of in time the man might have been saved. a longer struggle was useless, and the officer allowed himself to be hauled aboard, leaving the helpless man to go to his last account. that is always the difficulty with man's effort to save the lost. it does not reach far enough and fails just when it ought to hold. . god's way. "the blood of jesus christ his son cleanses us from all sin," that is god's message. "let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our god, for he will abundantly pardon." this is god's invitation. "i even i, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." this is god's pledge, and he has never failed to keep it. in the old days, when england and scotland were at war, the english came up against bruce. they drove him from his castle and as he fled away from them they let loose his own bloodhounds and set them upon his trail. his case seemed hopeless. he could hear the bay of the hounds in the distance, and those who were with him had just about given up in despair; but not so with bruce. he came to a stream, flowing through the forest, he plunged in, waded three bow-shots up the stream and then out upon the other side. the hounds came up to the stream, stopped and sniffed; they had lost the track. they turned back defeated, and bruce in time won the day. is it not like this with our sins? like a pack of hounds they are after me; wherever i flee they are close upon me. "the wages of sin is death," i am told, but i have found the way of escape. here flows a stream which runs red with the blood of jesus christ, and i plunge in and am free. "there is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from immanuel's veins; and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains." the grace of god text: "_i, even i, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins._"--isaiah : . in looking over an old volume of sermons preached by h. grattan guiness, forty-five years ago, i came across the message which he delivered with this text as a basis. so deep was the impression made upon me by my first reading of the sermon that i have taken mr. guiness' outline and ask your careful attention to its development. if one should enter a jewelry store and ask to see a diamond, or any other precious stone, the jeweler would first spread upon his show case a black cloth and then place the diamonds upon it, not only for protection but also in order that the black background might bring out distinctly the brilliancy and worth of the gems. so god gives this best of all his promises with the dark picture of sin clearly and thoughtfully portrayed. in verses twenty-second to the twenty-fourth we read, "but thou hast not called upon me, o jacob; but thou hast been weary of me, o israel. thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honored me with thy sacrifices. i have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense. thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine iniquities." in these verses god says that his people have not called upon him in prayer, they have not presented their offerings, neither have they presented unto him themselves. he also affirms that they have wearied of him, and that they have also wearied him with their iniquities, and then he exclaims, "i have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee with incense," and with these clear statements he gives us the gracious statement of the text, "i, even i, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." mr. guiness gives us four beautiful thoughts in this text concerning our sins. first: they are blotted out from god's book. second: they are blotted out with god's hand. third: they are blotted out for his sake. fourth: they are blotted from his memory. a more admirable outline of a text of scripture i do not know, a more cheering message to a child of god i have never found. i not long ago, in chicago, a young man was induced to confess to one whom he thought was his friend the killing of his father and mother. as the confession was being made, as he supposed to but one person, it was all being taken down by those who were near enough to hear him speak, and when he appeared before the court his own confession was used against him and sent him to a life imprisonment in the penitentiary. what was true of this young man is true of us. every sermon the minister preaches is recorded, every word an individual speaks is put down. it is a solemn thought to realize, that at the judgment we shall give account for even our idle words. science has proven that our acts, our words and even our thoughts make their indelible record. not long ago in our home we came across a long-unused phonograph. we started it going, placing upon it one of the cylinders which had been packed away with the phonograph, and were startled to hear the voice of one who had been dead for years. we heard the message he dictated, the song in which he joined and the laugh with which he closed it, and yet his voice has long been silent in death. there is not a sin of your youth which has not made its record, not a passion of your mature years that does not stand somewhere against you, not an act, a feeling or an imagination that has not been indelibly written; not all the changes of time, not all the efforts of man, can wipe these things out. in the british museum there is a piece of stone not larger than the average bible at least four thousand years old, and in the center of the stone there is a mark of a bird's foot; four thousand years ago the track was made, and for four thousand years the record has stood. if these things are true of us--and they are, according to the word of god--then what prospect is there for us but that of eternal punishment? for when we stand at the judgment there shall appear before us the sins of omission and the sins of commission, the sins we have forgotten and the sins we have but recently committed against ourselves, against our fellow men, and against god. it is indeed a black picture, and with whitened faces and rapidly beating hearts we ask, is there any hope? i bring you god's gracious answer to this important question: "i, even i, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." notice, it is the voice of god speaking. "i, even i," he exclaims, "will blot out your transgressions." it is, first of all, a commercial term. we were in debt to god, hopelessly in debt, and our obligation has been canceled; over against our sin is placed the righteousness of the son of god, and we are free. "jesus paid it all, all to him i owe; sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow." it is also a chemical expression, for it is a picture of god applying the blood of jesus christ to every page of the written record. the sins of our youth long ago passed out of mind; the sins of our manhood, which have taken up every part of our being, the sins of to-day--all have gone, for he himself has blotted them out. when we realize that we are forgiven of god it means more than if we were forgiven of men, for in the might of his forgiveness our past sins are gone, they shall not even be mentioned against us; the fear of judgment is taken away, for jesus himself says, "verily, verily, i say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (john : ). it is the passover story over again, "when i see the blood, i will pass over you." thus are our sins blotted out. ii it is with god's hand that the work is done; and for very many reasons this is a great comfort to us. first: because it was god's hand that made the record, he it was who put down all your sins. he never rested in his work; week after week, month after month, year after year, the recording work was being done until your record became blacker than the blackest midnight; and behold the hand that made the record blots it out. second: it was his hand against which you offended. your sin was against yourself. it is true it hurt your character, lowered your self-respect; but more especially was it against god, for you despised his authority, forsook his service, broke his laws, defied his justice; you grieved his spirit, and you crucified his son. and behold it is the hand against which you committed all these offenses which blotted out your transgressions. third: it is the offended hand which blots them out. it was the hand that opened the fountains of the deep, and behold the floods came, the waters above and the waters below clasped their hands and destruction was everywhere save in the ark. it was his hand that brought destruction upon the cities of the plain, consuming them with a mighty flame, and it was his hand that opened the sea for the children of israel and then closed the sea over the pursuing egyptians. the very thought of the offended hand makes us tremble, but behold, it is this hand that blots out all our transgressions. fourth: it is the hand of justice that does the work. the same hand wrote, "the wicked shall not go unpunished," and wrote again, "the soul that sinneth it shall die," and wrote yet again, "the wages of sin is death." this hand is stretched forth in our behalf. i doubt not the question has often come to us, "how can god be just and be the justifier of them that believe?" in the light of such statements as these just quoted i am sure it is for this reason--it is for the offering of the just for the unjust. he made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of god in him. a man was needed for such an offering, and christ became man. the man required must be born under the law, so christ came in the likeness of sinful flesh. the man born under the law must be without sin, so he was born pure. the man born under the law and without sin must be willing to die, and so he came saying, "i delight to do thy will, o god." and the man born under the law, without sin and willing to die must be able to provide an atonement which would make the wandering sinner and the love of god one, and so christ at the command of god was thus furnished a sacrifice of sufficient power and magnitude to save the whole world. it is this hand of god that blots out our transgressions. fifth: it is the hand of the supreme being that does the work. what a word of encouragement this is. it was this hand that made the worlds and hurled them off into space. it was this hand that created man and made him in the likeness of god. it was this hand that formed the countless number of angels, and has ever directed their heavenly movements. it was this hand that wrote the law upon sinai. and it was this hand that holds the keys of the kingdoms of heaven and hell. he blots out our transgressions. from his decision there can be no appeal. with such a work as this, who shall lay anything to the charge of god's elect? would god that justifieth do it, or christ that died consent to it? in the light of such a thought the apostle paul says, "for i am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of god, which is in christ jesus our lord" (romans : - ). iii our sins are blotted out for his sake. god saves the sinner not alone because of pity for the sinner, and certainly not simply because he is in danger of hell, but in order that he may glorify himself; and this is no selfish glorification, but rather in order that he may show to us now and throughout all the ages what he really is. god has made different revelations of himself. we have beheld his wisdom in creation, in his providences and in his word. we have seen his justice in that he gave his only begotten son to die for poor lost men. we have seen his power in the working of miracles and the transforming effect of his grace. it remains for us to see his love in the story of salvation, for until we behold him as the savior of the sinner we do not know him. it is this that shall make us not only rejoice here in time but rejoice with joy unspeakable in eternity. the apostle paul writes in ephesians : - , "that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through christ jesus. for by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of god." iv our sins are blotted out from god's memory. the last of this wonderful text is the best. when we detect a failure of memory here in this world among our friends it is an evidence of weakness, but it is no weakness in god to forget. this is but another one of those expressions descriptive of god in which human language is used to describe a thought and in which human language is too poor an agency to convey all the depth of the meaning. it is just another picture of god stooping down to meet our weakness and it is god assuring us that our sins are gone completely. it is as if they never had existed, for they shall never stand against us and in the day of judgment they shall not even be mentioned. our sins must have been a grief to him, just as the sin of an earthly child is the source of sorrow to an earthly parent; but they are so no longer, for he has forgotten. the bible represents god as being angry because of our transgressions, but if ever there was anger with him it is so no longer, for you cannot be angry with a person whose injury against you you have forgotten entirely. we do not in this world speak of what we have forgotten, nor will god speak of our sins. we do not punish what we have forgotten, nor will god permit us to be punished, for he has blotted out our transgressions and will remember them no more. there is no awaiting penalty for your sin, there is no judgment to meet at the great white throne, there is no hell for you at the last, for your sins, for christ's sake, have been forgotten. if you cast a stone into the water and it sinks away there is for a time a ripple, where the stone has gone down; but in a moment it has gone forever, you can see it no more. so god has cast our sins into the sea and the place where they have gone cannot even be found. v but what must i do to take advantage of all this gracious offer of god? i answer according to the scripture. there must be true repentance; repentance is a change of mind, it is having a new mind for god. there must be regeneration; regeneration is a change of nature, it is a new heart for god. there must be conversion; conversion is a change of living and a new life for god. if we would be born from above we must accept god's word. two friends were conversing one evening. one of them with a skeptical mind had just rejected the bible because it did not tell him the things that he would know. he insisted on knowing how the worlds were made, and demanded that he should be told concerning the origin of heaven and why god permitted it, and because the bible failed here he would have none of it. just as his friend was leaving the skeptic said to him, "here is my lantern. i want you to take it and it will light you home." but the lantern was refused by the christian man, "for," said he, "this lantern will not light up the mountains in the distance, nor the valley stretching away at my feet." his friend was amazed. "man," said he, "take the lantern; it will make a road for you across the moor and light up your pathway home." "oh," said his friend, "if that is true i will take it; but listen to me. so is the bible not for distant paths of investigation; it is not so much to tell us concerning creation and existence--we shall know these things by and by. it is for the path at your feet and it will light you home a space at a time." the skeptical man saw it in an instant, he took god's word and came back again to the faith of his childhood. so i offer it to you with its promises as of lanterns, if its commands are carefully received and followed out. you, too, may pass from darkness into light and you may claim from god this text of mine which says, "i even i, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins." conversion text: "_and said, verily i say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven._"--matt. : . jesus christ was the world's greatest teacher and preacher. multitudes followed him because he taught them, not as the scribes, but as one having authority. he came to them with the deepest truth of god, but couched in such familiar expressions, and told in such a fascinating way, that all men heard him and went their way rejoicing that so great a teacher had come into the world as the messenger of god. he desired to speak to them concerning the kingdom, and seeing on the distant hillside a farmer sowing his seed, he gave them the parable of the sower; and every farmer in his company began to understand his message. he told them the story of a woman baking bread, and in the spreading of the leaven every housekeeper had a vision of one of the deepest principles of the coming kingdom. he gave them the account of the boy who went away from his home, breaking his mother's heart, and, according to tradition, putting her in her grave; causing his old father to bow his head in shame again and again, and yet in spite of it all, his father loving him; and every listener learned from the story a lesson concerning the love of god which could have been given to him in no other way. he was acknowledged as the world's greatest teacher and preacher. the text is introduced by the word "verily," and this is peculiar to jesus. the word calls especial attention to the coming message. it was as if he had sounded a bell and said, "stop and listen"; and wherever the word "verily" occurs the bible reader would do well to give heed to the message of jesus. what hope is there for the moralist when jesus said, "except ye be converted"? what hope can there be for the man who says god is so merciful that he will not allow him finally to be lost when jesus said "ye shall not enter into the kingdom, except ye be converted and become as little children." it will be necessary for us to read carefully verses eight and nine in this eighteenth chapter of matthew, if we would be impressed with the importance of conversion. there are solemn words here. "wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. and if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hellfire." i have been told that there are two ways of reading this text. the first is as we have it in the king james version; the second would make it read thus: "verily, i say unto you, except ye convert yourselves and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." those who hold to this second reading say that there is a difference between regeneration and conversion--that regeneration is god's part of the contract, while conversion is ours; that conversion is simply having the willing mind, while regeneration is god's imparting to us his own life; and to convert one's self is simply to be willing to be saved. and this is all-important, for even god himself cannot save us against our wills. but i prefer to use, in my treatment of the text, the generally accepted idea of conversion, and wish my message to center around the following questions: what is conversion? how may i be converted? do i know when i was converted? how may i know certainly? i what is conversion? i own a piece of property, and you desire to purchase it. you pay me a price, and the property is transferred from my ownership to yours. it is a converted piece of property. this is just a hint as to what conversion is. we were sold under sin; and if any should object to this expression, we have sold ourselves under sin. jesus came and in the shedding of his own blood paid the price of our redemption. as a child of god, i am bought back from bondage to freedom. to be converted is to be turned about. going away from god, i turn towards him. with my face set away from heaven, i deliberately turn and accept jesus, who said, "i am the way, the truth, and the life." to be converted is to cross the line which separates light from darkness, and may be done as easily as if one drew a line in the path before him and stepped over it. both of these would be by the act of one's will; only it is to be remembered that when by faith we accept jesus there is imparted to us a knowledge which comes from the holy ghost alone; while we seem to be acting in our own strength, yet really it is in the strength of god. let it be remembered, however, that no two people may have exactly the same experience. there is an illustration of this in the healing of the blind men in the new testament. i can imagine them having a convention, and each giving his testimony. one declares that the only way to receive your sight is to have clay and spittle put upon your eyes and to wash in the pool of siloam. another ridicules this experience and declares that only the touch of the fingers of jesus is necessary. still another speaks and emphatically declares that even the touch of jesus is superfluous, for at the command of jesus he saw clearly. another says that instantaneous sight is impossible, and describes his own experience, when he saw men like trees, walking. but when all have given their testimony, they finally unite in declaring that whereas they once were blind, now they can see; and after all this is the important matter. a friend of mine described a number of people who came to view "the angelus" that celebrated masterpiece of millet's. some people admired the perspective; others, the figure of the man; others, that of the woman. one man simply stood aghast as he looked, and exclaimed, "what a marvelous frame that picture has!" and no two people expressed the same opinion concerning the masterpiece. how could we expect them to have the same experience in coming to christ? it may be that some will say, "why insist upon conversion when my life is a moral one?" and my answer is that the difficulty with morality is that it is worked out according to men's standard and falls far short of god's. in my first pastorate i had a blind man as one of my hearers. he used to walk about the village where i preached, generally without a guide, and apparently went as easily as a man with eyes. he had a little stick in his hands, with which he touched the trees and the fences, and seemed to know by the very sound where he was. one day at noon, when he should be going home, i saw him walking rapidly away from his home. i finally convinced him that he was going in the wrong direction, and he asked me to set him straight, which i did. going in the new direction, he used his stick in the same fashion, used his legs in the same mechanical way, but the difference between the man in the first instance and the second was this--that in the first picture he was going away from home, while in the second he was going homeward rapidly. the trouble with man's morality is that it is self-centered and not christ centered if he is rejected. ii how may i be converted? for from the text which says "except ye be converted" it would seem as if some power outside of ourselves must be working in our behalf, and this is true. the foundation of it all is the atonement by christ, his sacrificial death upon the cross. rejecting this truth, there is no hope for us. in our sinful condition, the spirit of god rouses us, convicts us of sin, convinces us of our need of a savior, and finally god, in his grace, gives us the strength to yield, and we pass from darkness to light. sometimes great need drives us to light, as in the case of nicodemus; while again great sin compels us to come to him, as in the case of the thief on the cross. but whether it be need or sin, let us start with little faith, if we have no more, and god will meet us the moment we start. i once conducted services in a soldiers' home. the commanding officer told me, when the service was concluded, of a former inmate, an old sea captain, who came to the institution a confessed infidel. he refused to attend any of the services in the chapel; finally he was taken ill, and then the commanding officer entered his room, asking him to read the scriptures, which he declined to do. again he came suggesting that he read the bible to see if there was any part he could believe, and a bottle of red ink and a pen were left by his bedside, the officer suggesting that he mark any verse red if he could accept it. this appealed to the dying man and he said, "where shall i read?" the officer said "begin with john's gospel." and he did so. he read through two chapters without making a mark, and through fifteen verses of the third chapter. then he came to the sixteenth verse, which is a picture of the very heart of god, and he reached for his pen and marked the verse red. when this much of the story had been told we reached the old captain's room and passed the threshold to find the bed empty, for he was gone. "i wish you might have seen his bible," said the captain. "i sent it to his family recently. there was not a page in it that was not marked red." over his bed swung a pasteboard anchor; marked upon it were these words--"i have cast my anchor in safe harbor." for he had gone home. iii do you know when you were converted? that is, do you know the exact time? there are two extremes in experiences in this matter. i recall the experience of an old man who sat in my lecture room one friday evening, and just as the hands of the clock marked the hour : he said "i will," and came to christ. that was the moment of his conversion. but, as for myself, i have not had this experience; i do not know just when i turned to christ. it must have been when i was but a small child. one of the best women i know has had an experience similar to mine, while one of the greatest preachers in the land has told me that he was a drunkard until he was years of age, and then, on his knees, by his father's death bed, he came to the savior. after all, it is not so much a question of the knowledge of the day, or the hour, or the month of one's conversion as "do we now know christ?" iv how may we know that we have passed from death into life? certainly not with our feelings as a proof, for they change as the sands shift on the seashore. if our feelings be the foundation, then we may be in the kingdom and out of it a great many times a day. it is not always to be determined by a great change in one's life, for men who have not accepted christ have had such an experience. there is only one sure way of knowing it, and that is on the authority of the word of god. john : , "verily, verily, i say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life." and john : , "verily, verily, i say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life." it is said that napoleon while riding in front of his soldiers lost control of his horse, when a private stepped from the ranks, seized the horse's bridle and saved the officer's life. napoleon saluted him and called him captain. "but, sir," said he, "i am not a captain, only a private." "then," said napoleon, "i will commission you captain." and immediately he stepped into the company of those officers; they ordered him to the ranks, but he said, "i am a captain." "by whose authority?" they said. if then he had replied, "because i feel like a captain," how ridiculous it would have been! pointing to napoleon, he said, "i am a captain, because he said it." thus with god's word as a foundation we stand secure. v do not forget to notice that we are told that we must come like little children. not like the philosophers of the world, but like little children who always trust implicitly those who are about them. if we would be saved, we must be willing to be taught, and we must some time make a beginning. then why not now? some years ago john b. gough visited a home in a new england city, and the heartbroken mother told him that her boy, who was an inebriate, was confined in an upper room in the house, which was much like a cell. the great temperance leader went to speak to him and said "edward, why don't you pray?" and he said, "because i don't believe in prayer." "but," said mr. gough, "you must believe in god." and he replied, "i do not believe in anything." "i am sure you are wrong in this," said he, "for i know that you believe in your mother." then there came a new look into his face when he said, "yes, i believe in her." "well," said mr. gough, "you must then believe in love. let us fall upon our knees and pray." and the young man began, "o love," and the spirit of god said unto him, "god is love," and he changed his prayer and said "o god," and then came the same spirit and said, "god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son," and he said "o christ," and when he said this the deed was done. he immediately rose from his knees, and he has been free ever since. five kings in a cave text: "_and it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto joshua, that joshua called for all the men of israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. and they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them. and joshua said unto them, fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the lord do to all your enemies against whom ye fight._"--joshua : - . the history of the children of israel is one of the most fascinating stories ever written. it abounds in illustrations which are as practical and helpful as any that may be used to-day, drawn from our every-day experience. god certainly meant that we should use their story in this way, for in the new testament we read that the things which happened to them were as ensamples for us. the word "ensample" means type, or figure, or illustration. to appreciate this text and the story of the five imprisoned kings we must go back a little bit to the place where the leadership of moses had been transferred to joshua. god is never at a loss for a man; his plans are never frustrated. if moses is to be set aside joshua is in preparation for his position. doubtless joshua may have felt somewhat restrained, as he was kept in a position of not very great prominence, but he certainly realized when he stood as the leader of the children of israel that all things had been working together for the good of his leadership, and doubtless he praised jehovah for his goodness to him. there are many incidents in connection with the immediate story of the children of israel which should be mentioned here. when they were ready to move towards canaan joshua told them that when the soles of the feet of the priests touched the water of the jordan the water would stand on either side before them and they could pass dry shod into canaan. suddenly the marching began. they stood within three feet of the waters, which ran the same as they had been running for years; then two feet, then one, and then six inches, but there was no parting of the waters before them. let us remember that god had said, "when the soles of the feet of the priests touch the water they shall separate." and it was even as he said, and on dry land the children of israel passed over to the other side. it is a perfectly natural thing for one who is unregenerate to say, "why insist upon confession, and the acceptance of christ, and how can the mere acceptance of the savior save me from the penalty and the power of sin?" but a countless multitude will rise to-day to say, "it was when we stepped out upon what we could not understand and what seemed as impassable and impossible as the parting of the waters of the jordan that god gave us light and peace." when once they were in canaan what an interesting story that is in connection with rahab of jericho! the spies had entered her home and a mob outside was seeking them that they might put them to death. rahab promised them deliverance, only she exacted from them a promise in return that they would save alive her father and her mother and her loved ones; and when she let them down by means of a cord from the window of her home they said to her, "bind this scarlet cord in the window and gather your loved ones here and they shall be saved." and when the children of israel had marched about jericho and the walls were about to fall, suddenly they lifted their eyes and they saw the red cord fluttering from the window, and while all else was destroyed rahab and all her loved ones were saved. what a little thing evidently stood between them and death--just a red cord! and yet as a matter of fact it is only a red cord that is between us and death--namely, the blood of the son of god; for, as in the old testament times when god saw the blood and the destroying angel passed over the home, so in these new testament times the blood which has been received by faith insures us our safety and we are set free from sin's penalty and sin's power. the story of achan is a note of warning. it is rather singular that when the children of israel had taken jericho they failed at ai, and yet not singular when we realize that one man had sinned in all the company. he had taken gold and silver and a babylonish garment and had hidden the same in his tent, and this was in direct disobedience to the commands of joshua. the sad thing about sin is that we cannot sin and suffer alone. our friends suffer, our kindred must bear a part of the woe with us. when achan sinned the children of israel lost a victory. sin is progressive. in the seventh chapter of joshua and the twenty-first verse, we read, "when i saw among the spoils a goodly babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then i coveted them, and took them; and behold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it." and you will notice that, first he saw, then he coveted, then he took. it is always thus; a sinful imagination will lead to outbreaking iniquity, and a small sin encouraged will ultimately mean disgrace. the story of the gibeonites is also interesting. they had heard of the power of the children of israel and were afraid of them; but they made up their minds to deceive them. so, lest the israelites should think that they came from a near by territory and therefore should turn against them they put on old clothes, wore old shoes upon their feet and carried musty bread in their baggage. then they stood before israel and said, "we have come from a far country; look at our clothing, it is worn out; and at our shoes, they are in holes; and at our bread, it was fresh when we started, it is musty to-day." and joshua said, "we will make them hewers of wood and drawers of water," and they were saved from death but they served in bondage. let this be remembered always that deception inevitably means bondage. one is in bondage to his conscience, for it constantly reproves him. he is in bondage to the one he has deceived, for he can never stand honestly before him. he is most of all in bondage to his sin, for he will surely be found out. the amorites were against the children of israel and they were a great company. it is in connection with their struggle against this power that the text is written. i the israelites started in this conflict with a mighty power against them, as we have seen. but so have we. there are first of all the tendencies of our old nature against which we must fight, for just as with the law of gravitation if i take my hand away from a book or a stone it falls to the floor or the ground because this law pulls it downward, so there is a law in my members and has been in the life of every man since adam's day pulling me away from the true to the false. it is for this reason that it is easier to do wrong than to do right, to be untrue than to be true. then there is against us the very world in which we live. its atmosphere, its business, even its social life is tainted with that which is sinful or to say the least questionable, and he who lives in the world and is in any sense of it has a hard battle to fight. but there are two special things which are against us. first: the sins which we have encouraged. it may be in the beginning very small, but satan is perfectly satisfied if he can have the least hold upon the life of the one whom he wishes to wrong. i read in a chicago paper the story of a woman who was making a heroic struggle against an awful curse. she had become addicted to the use of morphine. for fourteen years she was a consumer of the drug. apparently she could not shake off the habit. building up a resistance to the action of the drug, her system became accustomed to enormous quantities of it. she could not eat, nor sleep, nor work without it. most of her scanty earnings went to purchase it. she was a seamstress, and by toiling many hours a day managed to get enough money to buy it. some years back she had been a happy wife and mother. her husband loved her; she was devoted to him and to their two children. she lost him; she lost the care of her children; rapidly she drifted away from them. the powerful narcotic helped to deaden her pain. when her anguish became unbearable a double dose of it would enable her to drowse away the hours. "i will never again touch or taste morphine, so help me god!" she said. immediately she discontinued the use of the drug wholly. she could get no sleep; she could not swallow food half the time or retain it. she was beset by horrible visions. she was racked by an inexpressible longing. but she held on. those who knew her and watched her agonizing battle with astonishment and sympathy told her that she was killing herself. "it may be," she would answer, "but i shall die true to my oath." "but," they would urge, "a habit like yours, which has obtained for years, should be broken gradually." "i will master it. i have blotted it from my life," she would answer. "i shall quit it this way even if i go into the grave. it has mastered me; it has cost me my home, husband and children; now i will master it." she started at shadows, her nights were nights of horror; she would bury her nails in the palms of her hands and compress her lips to keep from screaming. there was no rest for her. still she tried to work and grew weaker. "you cannot give me that," she said, "i remember my oath. give me any medicine you choose save opium. god would forsake me now if i forsook my promise to him." the physician remonstrated with her, but in vain, so he gave her a substitute which failed of its effect, as he knew it would, and she died. even when the hand of death had clutched her grimly, though her terrific sufferings would have been allayed by the poison, she refused to take it. any person in the room would have bought it for her and administered it gladly, so that she might pass away in peace, but she would not prove traitor to herself. she was a friendless woman except for acquaintances recently made. her life had been sad and hard. held in the grip of an enemy that set its mark upon her, she was shunned and went her downward way alone. those who were with her say that just before the end came she smiled, knowing that she had won her fight; and yet years ago she began to trifle with sin, and it had mastered her. again, we have against us sins which not only have been encouraged but have been committed again and again until they have become a habit of our lives, and he who has such a sin as this finds himself in the grip of one who is a tyrant. in a city paper the other day i came across the story of a man who once had some prominence in the world but began to go wrong, naturally drifted towards the evil and finally found himself surrounded by the lowest of companions. because of his natural ability he easily assumed leadership. the particular form of crime they practiced was administering chloral to those who sat at the bar in the saloon to drink. they did this by attracting the attention of the man who was to drink to something else in the room and then the deadly knock-out drops would be administered and they would rob the man. one night the dose was too strong and the victim died. the one who caused his death came before the city authorities recently to give himself up and pitifully ask that he might be quickly sent to death to pay the penalty of his crime for, said he, "from that moment my mind has never been at rest. i wandered about town for two or three days trying to get rid of the sight of that fellow's face; but at night was when i suffered. the moment i dozed off i could see him in my dreams beckoning and laughing as he dragged me over some cliff, and i waked up cold with fear. no one knows what i suffered. i left the city. i went to denver. i went to butte. i traveled everywhere, but wherever i went night and day that dead man was hovering around me. i couldn't sleep and my mind began to weaken. one night i went into a gambling den. i thought the excitement might drive that vision out of my head. i played roulette. i bet on the black; the red won. and right before me i saw that printer's face just like i see you now, grinning as the dealer dragged in my money. i ran out of that club like a crazy man and wandered about town till i saw a freight train pulling out of the yards. i climbed into an empty box car and lay down in the corner to rest. for a few moments the face was gone. suddenly a flash of lightning lit up that car as bright as this cell, and there, just a couple of feet from me, i saw that man i'd killed plainer than i see you. he reached out and caught me by the arm. i screamed and jumped out of the car. they found me next day lying beside the track; and when they got me to a hospital, as i hope for pardon, that thing's black and blue finger marks showed on my shoulder. i've been in a lot of places since that but i never got over it. finally it got so bad i couldn't stand it and i came back to chicago to confess." and just as we have all these things against us so the children of israel had the amorites against them and the five kings were unitedly arrayed to fight them. ii but there was a sure deliverance for israel and there is a sure deliverance for us. god promised to be with joshua and his people. joshua : , "there shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as i was with moses, so i will be with thee: i will not fail thee, nor forsake thee." even the things that were impossible he helped them to accomplish. joshua : - , "now jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of israel: none went out, and none came in. and the lord said unto joshua, see, i have given unto thine hand jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor." even where men had failed him he gave them victory. joshua : - , "and the lord said unto joshua, fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to ai: see, i have given into thy hand the king of ai, and his people, and his city, and his land; and thou shalt do to ai and her king as thou didst unto jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it." even where the forces were combined against them it made no difference. joshua : , "and the lord said unto joshua, fear them not: for i have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee." so it is with us. god has promised to deliver us, and over our sinful nature, the atmosphere of the world, sins encouraged and sins committed, we may expect a complete victory. everything is at man's disposal if only god is with him. in connection with the children of israel even the day was made longer that they might fight their battles. joshua : - , "then spake joshua to the lord in the day when the lord delivered up the amorites before the children of israel, and he said in the sight of israel, sun, stand thou still upon gibeon; and thou, moon, in the valley of ajalon. and the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. is not this written in the book of jasher? so the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. and there was no day like that before it, or after it, that the lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the lord fought for israel." the weak were made strong that the enemy might not triumph over them. "if god be for us who can be against us?" in this struggle with the amorites israel won the day. iii the victory of the israelites over the amorites was like the general deliverance which god has given us from the power of sin, but there are certain sins which may pursue us, and from these we ought to be set free. when the children of israel started from egypt and had passed through the red sea certain of the egyptians started after them, the waters of the sea came together and they were put to death. the next day the israelites camped upon the shore and they could easily go back. doubtless more than one could say as he turned over the body of a dead man to see his face, "why, this is my old tax master who used to beat me. he will never have power over me again." is such a deliverance as this from individual sins possible? i think it is. i can think of five sins which stand in the way of men and which maybe likened to the five kings shut up in the cave. first: sinful imagination or secret sins. i doubt not but that almost every one whose eyes may light upon this sentence has been guilty at this point. he may have said again and again, "i will never do this thing again," and he has put the king into the cave and rolled the stone against the door. second: impurity. it may be that some one who reads this sentence will plead guilty at this point, and he may have said, "this sin which is now my defeat began with only a suggestion of evil which i encouraged; but i will never be guilty again," and he puts the sin into the cave and rolls the stone against the door. third: intemperance, not simply in the matter of drinking strong drink, but it may be intemperance in the matter of dress, or eating, or pleasure; in other words, it is the lack of self-control. this has been the defeat of more men than one, and as you stop and think you say, "i will never lose control of myself again," and you put the sin within the cave and roll the stone against the door. fourth: dishonesty; not simply in what you do but in what you say, for one may be dishonest in speech as well as in appropriating that which does not belong to him. if you should be condemned just here and have determined never to fail again at this point, by an act of your will you consign this king to the cave and close up the entrance. five: unbelief, which is the greatest sin of all and is the last and greatest sin to be put into the cave. as a result of such an action there may be temporary relief, but not permanent, for the kings may break away from the cave and organize their forces against you once more and you go down. here comes in the power of the text. bring the kings out, every one of them, and put your feet upon their necks and stand in all your right and dignity as christian men, and expect deliverance not so much because of what you are but because of the fact that from the days of the first sin it has been said, "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." near toledo, ohio, there used to live an old doctor noted for his infidelity. he was violent in his opposition to the church. one day he called robert ingersoll to the town where he lived and paid him two hundred dollars, that he might by means of his lecture break up the revival meeting. everybody was afraid of him. he heard of an old preacher back in the country who was a stranger to the schools but not a stranger to god, and he asked his friends to make it possible for him to meet him. finally they met, and the infidel with a sneer said, "so you believe the bible, do you?" and he said, "yes, sir; do you?" "and you believe in god, do you?" and he said, "yes, sir." "well, i want you to understand that i am an infidel, and believe none of these things." the old minister looked at him and said simply, "well, is that anything to be proud of?" and it was an arrow that went straight through the unbeliever. he went back to his office and began to think it over. "anything to be proud of," he said, and he finally realized that he was not in a favorable position. then he thought of an old christian he knew and said, "if i could be such a christian as that i would come to christ." he went to tell the minister, and the minister said to him, "get down on your knees and tell god so," and he began to tell him, then broke down and sobbed out his confession of sin. his cry for deliverance was heard, and he rose up a free man in christ jesus. from that day till this he has been freed from every one of his sins, is preaching the gospel and counts it his highest joy to contribute in every possible way to the enlargement of the bounds of the kingdom of god. so there is deliverance from every form of sin if we will but move in god's way. definiteness of purpose in christian work text: "_salute no man by the way._"--luke : . luke is the only one of the evangelists giving us the account of the sending out of the seventy. the others tell us that christ called certain men unto him and commissioned them to tell his story; but in this instance after jesus had said, "foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not where to lay his head," he calls the seventy and sends them forth prepared to endure any sacrifice or suffer any affliction if only they may do his will. and when he had said unto another, "follow me," but he answered, "suffer me first to go and bury my father," jesus said unto him (luke : - ), "let the dead bury their dead; but go thou and preach the kingdom of god. and another also said, lord, i will follow thee; but let me first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house. and jesus said unto him, no man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of god." from this expression of the master we quite understand that no other service, however important it may seem to us, is to come between us and our devotion to him. and in the expression concerning the man having put his hand to the plow and looking back we have one of the strongest illustrations that jesus ever used. he does not say that if any one puts his hand to the plow and turns back to some other form of service he is not fit for the kingdom of god, but what he says is this: if any man has his hands to the plow and simply looks back he is not fit for the kingdom; and this for two reasons: first: because no man could plow as he ought to unless he would keep his eyes straight ahead of him, and second: no man could plow if he has his mind fixed upon something else. jesus wants his disciples to know that his work is the important work, that nothing can surpass it. not only is it wrong for us to turn away from him to any other service but it is a sin even to take our eyes off of him to gaze upon anything else. under such sharp teaching as this he sends forth the seventy. let it be noted, first, that he sent them forth two by two. perhaps one was sent because he was strong in the opposite direction from his fellow laborer. who knows but one could speak and the other could sing? certainly one was the complement of the other. and they went forth with burning hearts to give the message of jesus. that illustration in the new testament where four men brought the sick man to jesus is along the same line. two men might have failed utterly, three men would have found it difficult service, for four men it was easy. i once made my way into the office of a doctor to ask him to come to christ. the meetings were in progress in the church and i thought he was interested. he received me kindly, but firmly declined even to talk of christ and i left him, utterly discouraged. the next night the man gave his heart to christ, and for this reason, i believe. we had made him in a little company of church officers a subject of prayer, and you cannot pray earnestly for one for any length of time without speaking to him concerning his soul's salvation. without having had a conference four men determined to see the doctor, and they all called upon him within two hours of time. when the first came he laughed at him; when the second came his prominence in the business world at least commanded the doctor's respect; when the third came, having driven four miles in from the country, he began to be interested; and with the coming of the fourth there was awakened in him a deep conviction. he closed his office, went to his home and before the evening hour of service came had accepted christ. we have practically the same commission as the seventy. "as the father hath sent me even so send i you," said jesus to us. these conditions are as true to-day as in those days in the work of the seventy. the harvest is great. there possibly never has been a time when more people are absenting themselves from the church than at the present time. these men and women are fit subjects for the gospel. the seventy went as the messengers of peace, so may we go. there are troubled hearts all about us, there are those who are in despair, men and women who are saying, "peace, peace," when there is no peace, while ours is the very message of peace. jesus said to them, "carry neither purse nor scrip nor shoes," for their dependence was upon him. so must it be to-day. not upon method nor upon skill must we depend, nor upon the schemes of men, however successful they may have been in the past, but upon him. in those days the men were sick and troubled, in these days they are dead in sins and as his messengers we carry the message of love. i this expression of the text meant very much to the oriental, for as a matter of fact the salutation of the eastern people frequently took a half an hour of time, and sometimes an hour would be consumed. they touched their turbans, fell upon their knees, saluted one another with a holy kiss, talked together concerning their own interests. these things were a part of the salutation. jesus says to the seventy, "salute no man as you go." they were not bidden to be impolite--this is farthest from the spirit of the christian--yet they were commissioned to be about the king's business and the king's business required haste. the idea of the text is that there must be definiteness of purpose in christian work. when elisha kept his eyes fixed upon elijah there came to him as the result the mantle of elijah and he was clothed with power. when gehazi followed elisha's command and as he went to the home of the shunammite saluted no one he became the forerunner of life to the child. and when paul said, "this one thing i do," and nothing could swerve him from his path of duty, he became the mightiest preacher in the world's history since christ. but let it not be thought for a moment that we are advocating a gloomy religion; far from it. i like the story of the little girl who went one day into her grandfather's room to ask him to read to her and found him asleep with his head upon the back of the chair, his bible upon his knees and the sunlight coming through the window at the proper angle to cast about him a halo of glory, and she ran to her mother saying, "i have been in grandpa's room and i have seen god." if as a christian the people of the world can have any thought other than this, that we at times at least remind them of christ, something is wrong with our christian experience. there were two sides to the experience of jesus. in one we see him at the wedding rejoicing with those that did rejoice, making wine out of water and contributing to the happiness of all those who were present. in the other instance we see him upon the mountain side and crying out, "o jerusalem, jerusalem!" with an almost breaking heart. when charles g. finney was in utica there came down to see him a woman who was concerned for the town in which she lived. she returned to her home and through days and nights found it impossible either to eat or to sleep because she realized the lost condition of those about her. at last when she was so weak that she could not pray, she had rest only when those about her prayed for her. when mr. finney reached that town one of the greatest revivals in his history as an evangelist was the result. i was one day engaged with other pastors in an eastern city in a gospel campaign. the ministers were preaching in turn each day and when it came my time to preach i could find in all the audience scarcely one of my people. up to that day the interest had been remarkable, but somehow from that day on, although people had been converted by the hundred, there was no perceptible spiritual impression. when the meetings had closed one of the prominent society leaders of my church came to explain to me why she was away from the service and she said, "i gave my afternoon reception and the people of our church were there." when i told her that i felt that as a result of that afternoon reception our own church had lost a blessing she seemed utterly amazed; and yet to this day i am firmly persuaded that hundreds of people might have come to christ if we had not in that day grieved the spirit. ii the text means that those of us who are christians shall show by our very faces that we are on the king's business and that it is solemn business. one day a man knocked at the door of my study, was admitted, sat down on the couch in the room and began to sob. he did not need to tell me why he had come. i knew, but finally when he sobbed it out this was his message: "i have come to ask you to bury my wife, and to ask if you will not go with me to comfort the children, for they are heartbroken." i knew by the very look of his face that he had lost a loved one. do you think for a moment that those who gaze at us would imagine that we had the least conviction that people away from christ were lost? i am sure they would not. the text also means that we shall be desperately in earnest. a father and his boy heard a minister preach a sermon on the judgment and as they went to their home the father said, "my boy, it was a great sermon and you must think about it." and the boy did. he made his way to his room and threw himself on his bed only to hear his father downstairs laughing and singing; and he said to himself, "it is not true, for if my father believed i was in danger of the judgment he could not laugh and he would not sing." that day was the turning point in the boy's life. he became a man of renown but never a believer in jesus christ as we accept him. the text also indicates how we should pray, with an eye single to his glory but with a purpose that cannot be shaken. pray as the shunammite prayed, pray as the woman besought the unjust judge; such prayer brings victory. iii did you ever realize that you were standing in the way of the conversion of your friends? how about your living? if your testimony rings anything else than true to christ you are a stumbling block in the way of some one. how about your testimony? in the meetings to which i referred there came a young woman one day evidently greatly moved. first one pastor would speak to her and then another, and finally i was given the privilege. for a long time i could not understand her words for her sobs and then she said, "i am a christian, a member of one of the churches in this movement. i have been engaged to a young man for the last three years. he was not a christian. three weeks ago he was taken ill and a week ago he died. in all the time that i knew him i never spoke to him about christ. i do not know that he even knew that i was a christian, and now," she said, with a heart which seemed to be literally crushed, "he has gone and i never warned him." and the text means that no one could come within the reach of our influence without having at least a suggestion made by ourselves to them that we are the followers of christ and that we long to have them know him who means so much to us. the morning breaketh text: "_watchman, what of the night? the watchman said, the morning cometh, and also the night._"--isaiah : - . it is very interesting to note that, whether we study the old testament or the new, nights are always associated with god's mornings. in other words, he does not leave us in despair without sending to us his messengers of hope and cheer. the prophet isaiah in this particular part of his prophecy seems to be almost broken-hearted because of the sin of the people. as one of the scotch preachers has put it, he has practically sobbed himself to sleep. a great shadow has fallen upon the people of god and he is in despair because of it. they have sown to the wind and now they are reaping the whirlwind, a result which is inevitable. they are away from zion with its temple, and are deprived of the view of those mountains which are round about jerusalem and to this day are clad with vines and olive trees. they are in captivity and are the abject slaves of the enemies of god. isaiah's heart is well-nigh crushed, but in the midst of the despair he has a vision of the chariots coming and hears a cry which rejoices his soul, "babylon is fallen." it is because of these tidings that he cries out in the words of the text. what a night they had had of it! they had been in darkness that was ever increasing, and the song of thanksgiving which used to fill their souls because of the nearness of jehovah had entirely departed from them. the figure of the watchman is often used in the bible, as for example when he stands upon the city walls and is told that if he sounds the trumpet telling of the approach of the enemy and the people hear and do not take warning their blood is upon their own heads, while if he fails to sound the trumpet and the people are cut off, their blood is required at the watchman's hand. and again in the first chapter of zechariah the eighth to the eleventh verses, "i saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled and white. then said i, o my lord, what are these? and the angel that talked with me said unto me, i will shew thee what these be. and the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, these are they whom the lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. and they answered the angel of the lord that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, we have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold all the earth sitteth still and is at rest." for here the man standing in the midst of the myrtle trees is him of whom the prophets did speak, while the messengers are those who bring him tidings of the progress of his kingdom. but again where david comes to the watch tower and sees the two messengers running, the second one bringing him tidings of the death of his son, and from this watch tower he staggers back again to his room crying out, "o absalom, my son, would god i had died for thee!" the poet usually sings of the night as a time of beauty. he sings of the moon and the stars; but in the bible night always stands for that which is dark, foul, loathsome, sinful, cold and deadly. there are different nights mentioned in the scripture, for the most part in the old testament. there was that night in eden when sin blinded the eyes of adam and eve and a great darkness fell round about them. there was the night of the flood, all because the people had neglected god; and there was the night of the destroying angel passing over the cities of egypt, all because of the indifference of those who knew not god. but even in these nights god does not leave his people without help, for in eden we read, "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head"; while in the flood behold the ark; and in the passover night we see the blood of the paschal lamb sprinkled upon the lintels of the door. there are different mornings mentioned in the scriptures, and as a rule we find them in the new testament. the morning of his birth. the morning of his resurrection. the morning of his miracle when the empty nets are filled and the discouraged fishermen are made to rejoice. the morning of his return, when, after the rising of the morning star, an endless day of blessing shall be ushered in. it used to be the custom in scotland, especially in aberdeen, for the night watchman of the city guard as he paced the streets to cry aloud, "twelve o'clock and the night is dark; one o'clock and the storm is heavy," and the restless sleeper would toss upon his pillow and listen for the tidings of the morning hour, "two o'clock and the morning is starry." it is in this spirit that we listen to-day to the cry of the watchman when he declares, "the morning cometh and also the night." i we are in a sense in the night in these days, even though we are christians. first: because of the existence of sin. it is everywhere, in the heart as a mighty principle of evil pulling us down as the law of gravitation pulls material substances toward the earth's center. in the life as shown by our habits and practices, for these are the fruits of sin. in the very air we breathe sin is manifest, and sin has brought the night. second: i sometimes think that the darkness is increasing because as ministers we fail to preach concerning sin. we speak of it as an error or a mistake; we talk about the devil and call him his satanic majesty; we preach about hell and call it the lost world, while it is true that in the olden days when men trembled under the word of the preacher the man of god spoke of the devil and hell and sin in all their awfulness. but the morning cometh, for while it is true that sin is in the world and it has gripped many of us, yet because of christ's death upon the cross we are free from the penalty of sin; we may be free from the power of sin, for the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus sets us free from the law of sin and death; we may be free from the practice of sin, for christ is the secret of our deliverance. but the text tells us that while the morning cometh the night also appears. and so for those of us whose lives have been such a struggle we cry, "is there no deliverance?" and i answer, yes, we shall one day be free from the presence of sin; and that will be at his return when we shall see him and be like him, and the new day which is never to close shall be upon us. third: we are in the night because of the existence of sorrow. next to sin this is the greatest fact in the world, for men are born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. and somehow the morning and the night as they are fastened together in this text present to us the story of our lives, for we are first in the morning when everything seems peaceful, and almost immediately in the night when we are really in despair. i journeyed from naples to rome over a fine piece of railway and found myself now in the darkness of a tunnel and almost immediately rushing out onto a fertile plain. that railroad is the story of many a life. but "is there no deliverance that is complete?" and i answer, yes, there is a time coming when there shall be no sea and no tears and no night, for the former things are passed away. fourth: we are in the night because of mystery. life is full of questions. "why must i have this trial or pain or trouble?" so many of us are asking these questions, and there is really no answer, at least none for the present. and yet god has not deceived us, for he has said, "what i do thou knowest not now but thou shalt know hereafter." he tells us that when we see him we shall know, but also declares that no one can see his face and live; and then, said the sainted augustine, "let me die that i may see him." it is true that we shall go on from light into darkness, from morning into the night, but is there no final deliverance? and i answer, yes, when we see him and become like him we shall know as we are known. let us wait and believe until that day. have you ever seen a perfect rainbow--that is, a rainbow in a perfect circle? i never have. the most perfect one i have ever seen was on the plains of jericho, but it was a half circle. however, in the revelation we are told that in that day there shall be a rainbow round about the throne, when half circles shall be made whole and half things shall be made complete; that is the morning for which we long. ii but there is another suggestion, "the morning cometh and also the night." there is the thought of the transition from the one to the other. we certainly have been in the night so far as our living is concerned and our working, but now i feel sure there is coming a change and we are living in a critical time. may god help us to be faithful. all truth is like a cycle and at different points in the circumference there are truths which must be especially emphasized. the late a. j. gordon once preached a sermon on the "recurrence of doctrine," in which he stated that while in one day justification by faith was the prominent truth for the church, in another sanctification was prominent, in still another the return of the lord, and in still another the doctrine of the holy spirit. all this i firmly believe and it only proves to me that the prominent truth for to-day is every man for his neighbor, every friend for his friend, every parent for his child, the individual seeking the individual for christ. god is calling us to action; let us not fail. i have a friend who used to use an illustration of a sea captain, his first mate and his wife wrecked upon a rocky shore, huddled together upon a rock out from the shore but too far for them to escape by throwing themselves into the waves. the life-line is shot out to them and the captain puts it round his first mate and bids him jump and he is drawn to the shore in safety. then he put the cord around the waist of his wife, but the current is running in such a way that she must spring at just the proper second or she will be thrown back against the rocks and be killed. and he shouts to her, "spring!" but she waited to kiss him and waited too long, sprang into the sea and was thrown back against the rock and drawn shoreward lifeless. whether that story is true or not i cannot say, but it is an illustration of the present day to me. god is saying, "now is the day of opportunity." may he pity us if we fail! iii while all that has been said is true concerning the morning of the eternal day, in another sense it is true that already a brighter day is breaking. first: a better day for bible study. this old book which people have feared was going to pass away is better to-day than ever. it is the object of deeper affection, and there is no question but that more people are believing in it to-day as the inspired word of god than for years; and all because they have tested it and it has stood the test. second: a better day of prayer is dawning. fifty thousand people in great britain are banded together to pray and to pray until the blessing comes if that be for years. oh, that god would teach us to pray! we do not half understand what it means to ask god for blessings. a story of prayer which would seem impossible if i did not know it to be true, for i have friends who have been in the town where it occurred and have met the descendants of the old sea captain, is the story of the captain who took his boy and others to fish and in the midst of the hurricane the boy was washed over board. broken-hearted, he returned to the shore and the fisher wife, as was her custom, came down to meet them, only to sob her way back to her home because her boy was gone. they spent the night in the kirk in prayer, when the minister said, "why not ask god to restore his body?" and they did. they put out to sea and journeyed sixty miles until he told them to stop and when they let over the grappling hooks they knew by the very tug of the rope that they had his body. they bore it back again to the broken-hearted captain and his wife, who had all the time been waiting in the kirk in prayer. may god teach us how to pray! a brighter day is dawning, and while it may be that some of us cannot see it, while there may be skeptics who say it is not exactly true, yet i know from what i have seen myself that the darkness is passing away. in june, , the steamer catalonia at ten o'clock at night was found to be on fire. one of my friends has told me that he paced the deck and considered himself lost because the flames were burning fiercely. finally the fire was under control and the people sang, "praise god from whom all blessings flow." telling me of the lessons that he learned on this awful journey, he said: "that night at twelve o'clock, when the pumps were being forced and the clouds of smoke were taking on new dimensions and we were wondering what the morning would bring us, the man on the bridge shouted, as he had at each midnight of the trip, 'eight bells, all's well!'" had the man down in a stateroom watching by the side of his sick wife heard the words, he might have said, "it's a falsehood," but that man's vision was restricted by the narrow walls of his stateroom. had the mother and daughter, sitting in the cabin, with their arms about each other, wondering why they had been allowed to sail on the catalonia and leave their loved ones behind, heard it, they might have said, "the man is beside himself," but they could not see beyond the cabin. had the lonely traveler who stood near the hatchway given it a thought he might have said, "it's a lie," but he could not see through the clouds of smoke at which he stared silently. but the vision of the watch swept the horizon, and there was no obstruction in the ship's path. he knew that each revolution of the catalonia's machinery pushed the ship on her way to queenstown. he had a right to say it. i somehow seem to hear the sound of the goings in the tops of the trees and have evidence that god is coming to his church with blessing. it is true there is in some quarters indifference, in many places worldliness, but i can see no insurmountable barrier in the way of the progress of the kingdom of god. an obscured vision (preached at the opening of the winona lake bible conference.) text: "_where there is no vision, the people perish._"--proverbs : . it is not altogether an easy matter to secure a text for such an occasion as this; not because the texts are so few in number but rather because they are so many, for one has only to turn over the pages of the bible in the most casual way to find them facing him at every reading. feeling the need of advice for such a time as this, i asked a number of my friends who knew me intimately and knew the occasion which was before me to suggest what in their minds would be an appropriate scripture, and in their suggestions i have had the most singular indication of the leading of providence. one said, "use hosea : , where god in speaking concerning his people israel says, 'they will not frame their doings,'" which means that his people would not set before themselves the way in which they were going; or it might mean that they would not set up a plan for their lives which would be according to his will and which he might bring on to completion. another said, "use genesis : ," where we are told that isaac digged again the wells of his father abraham. this is a suggestive incident and has in it a message for to-day, for if there is one thing needed more than another it is that the old wells at which our fathers drank and were refreshed and which, alas! in these modern times have been filled in, at least to a certain extent, should be opened and men be summoned once again to drink of their living waters. another said, "use jeremiah : , 'ask for the old paths;'" for as a matter of fact we cannot improve upon the ways in which our fathers walked, so far as the revelation of god is concerned or the doing of his will. still another suggested that i should use isaiah : , "gather out the stones, lift up a standard for the people," in which the description is of a great prince coming and all hindrances should be removed that the journey might be robbed of its difficulties and dangers. you will notice if you have watched the suggestions of these christian workers that the texts are practically all the same, and then when i tell you that the line of thought they have indicated was the very line which god suggested to me weeks and months before the conference you will be impressed as i have been that this subject is not of my own choosing, and therefore must be a message from god. neither is the text one of my own choosing, for god pressed it in upon me again and again and from it i was afraid to turn away. i like the text because it is in the book of proverbs. this book is not simply a collection of wise sayings and affectionate exhortations, for you will remember that the proverbs were put down after the event and not before its occurrence. this being true, proverbs presents an established fact: here we find what the wise men in all the ages have learned to be truth. if they speak of sin and its penalty they do it in the light of their own experience; if they say the fear of the lord is the beginning of knowledge they mean that they have tried other sources of wisdom and all have failed but this. all this makes the text exceedingly valuable, for the wise men of other days must have tried to walk without the vision and not only failed themselves but have set the people astray. by a vision we do not mean simply an imagination or dream which might come to some person who had little practical understanding of the ways of life, but we mean an appreciation of god's thought and approximate understanding of his plan and a desire to know his will. the word "perish," does not mean destruction, but rather the idea is to "run wild"; so the literal rendering of the text is, "where there is no revelation the people run wild"--that is to say, if god is put out of thought every man is a law unto himself and therefore is dangerous to the community in which he lives. he is like a ship sailing for a harbor without chart or compass and with utter indifference to the pole star. whatever your impressions, convictions or purposes, they should always be squared by reverent, careful and profound study of god's will and word. the first sentence of the bible is this, "in the beginning god," and it must be the first sentence of every plan and of every purpose of the individual and the community or there is danger ahead. i there ought never to be an age without a vision, indeed without repeated visions. if there should be such a time it might be a time of prosperity, but inevitably souls would be neglected. there ought not to be an individual without a vision. if there should be such an one he is missing the best of his life. if there be no vision the horizon of man may be bounded by his office, his store, his home, his own city or his native land, while as a matter of fact this is only a part of what god meant him to do and to be. god's plans are from everlasting to everlasting. the wonderful work he is doing in this world is only a part of the plan, for in the ages to come he expects to show forth the manysidedness of his grace and reveal to us the depth of his love to us in christ. john mcneill's friend had an eagle which he had reared in the farm yard with the ordinary fowl that lived there. this friend sold his property and determined to move to another part of scotland. he could dispose of his horses and sell his chickens but no one wanted the eagle. what should he do with it? he determined to teach it to fly, and threw it up in the air only to have it come down with a thud upon the ground. then he lifted it and placed it upon the barn yard fence and was holding it for a moment when suddenly the eagle lifted its eyes and caught a glimpse of the sun. it stretched forth its head as far as it could, threw out one wing, then another, and with a scream and a bound was away flying upward until it was lost in the face of the sun. this is what we are needing to-day--namely, to lift up our eyes and see god's plan and try to understand his purposes. the eagle so long had held its head down that it had lost the vision of the sun; the first glimpse of it set him free. what we mean by a vision, therefore, is an appreciation of god's purposes and plans and a hearty yielding to him for service in the accomplishment of the same. joseph cook when he was making a plea for china's millions said one day, "put your ear down to the ground and listen and you will hear the tramp, tramp, tramp of four hundred millions of weary feet." i have to say this morning, lift up your eyes and look, open your ears and listen and you will both see and hear that god has a great plan for us which he will reveal to all if only we will permit him to do so. in proportion as a people loses its faith in a revelation from god it falls into decay. the student of history recalls vividly the story of the french revolution, which is a proof of this statement. god has always spoken concerning his plans and it has been to living men and women that he has granted visions. he came to abraham and he saw christ's day and was glad: he visited moses and he endured as seeing him who is invisible: he was lifted up before isaiah and he first confessed his sin and shame, then cried, "here am i, send me." he granted saul of tarsus a vision of himself as he approached damascus until he cried, "who art thou?" and then began to walk in fellowship with him until like the hero that he was he mounted from the eternal city to that city which has foundations whose builder and maker is god. he stood before john as in apocalyptic vision he saw him with his head and his hair, white like wool, as white as snow and his eyes as a flame of fire. but if you should say, "oh, yes, but this is in bible times and we are living in a different age," then hear me when i say that he has come to living men and women in our own day with a revelation of his will. he spoke to zinzendorf and we have a mighty work among the moravians. he revealed himself to the wesleys and we have the mighty movement of methodism. he talked with edwards and we have the great revival of new england. he revealed himself to finney and we have the great manifestation of power in the state of new york. he walked and talked with moody and we have the greatest evangelistic work of his day and generation with moody as his instrument. these were all men with visions. he has come to great missionaries like paton who saw the new hebrides islands evangelized while yet they sat in darkness, because he saw god. he has spoken to our own fulton in china, who writes that the people are flocking to christ. to him it is no surprise, for he knew that they would do it while others were still skeptical. he knew it because he knew god. let us remember that, however true it may be that god speaks in conscience, providence, through the church and by the preaching of his word, his supreme revelation is in his own word. this book contains the revealed will of god and this book is his word. ii why are we not having revelations to-day as we know they have been given at other times? why is not some one in our own land especially working out some of the great plans and purposes of god? the question is easily answered. the difficulty is not with god. he is the same forever. we alone must be at fault. without any spirit of harsh criticism and with a prayer to god that he will make my spirit as he would have it, permit me to say that i fear the visions are not being given to us for the following reasons: first: because of the disrespect shown to his son. we have come to a time when men seek to limit his knowledge, and occasionally they are saying that he did not know concerning the things of which he spake. such blasphemy makes us shudder. there is a disposition to misinterpret his teaching. they did it in paul's day and he spoke by inspiration when he said, "if any man present another gospel than that which i have presented let him be accursed." there is a disposition to rob him of his deity. "is jesus divine?" was the question asked not long ago of one who called himself a minister, and he answered, "yes, in the sense that buddha is divine or confucius is divine." our faces grow white with fear as we listen to such blasphemous statements in such an age as this. this helps to overcast the sky and god can hardly trust us with a vision in such an atmosphere. second: an irreverent criticism of the word of god. that there is a reverent criticism all will allow, and that many who are walking these paths are devout believers in god and in his word i would like to be among the first to acknowledge. there are three kinds of critics to-day. first: those who honestly want the best and who are studying carefully and prayerfully to know the truth. second: those who ape scholarship. third: those whose lives may not be right, and for them if any part of the bible could be cut away they would be less condemned. we need not fear, however; our bible is not in danger, for this is largely a question of scholarship. some of you who listen to me may not class yourselves as scholars. i certainly do not put myself in that company, but one thing i know: i have seen the bible work as no other book has ever worked, and i have seen jesus christ save miraculously multitudes of poor lost sinners. i am not disturbed for the future; there are as great scholars as the world has ever known who still hold to your mother's bible and who have lost not one whit of confidence in it. thomas newberry, a devout english student, spent fifty years in study to give the world his newberry bible. he said, "i accept the theory of the plenary inspiration of the scriptures. i have studied every 'jot and tittle' of the word of god and after these fifty years i see no reason for changing my position." scholars' names almost without number could be mentioned as believing in the scriptures as the divinely inspired word of god. for myself i would have great assurance in standing side by side with dr. paton, and i would not think of trembling so long as our sainted dr. moorehead walks courageously along life's journey as he nears its end with faith in god's word unshaken, with confidence in god's son constantly growing. this blessed old book has been railed at in all the ages. men have professed to overthrow it, they have cut and slashed at it like jehoiakim of old, but it is better than ever to-day. it is the word of god. heaven and earth may pass away but this word, never. not long ago i attended a conference of christian workers and was told by one of them that i could not appreciate the bible except i read it with the thought of literary criticism in mind. my friend interpreted a portion of the word of god for me in this way and it was beautiful. it reminded me of nothing so much as a diamond perfectly cut, kissed by the sunlight and throwing back its sparkling light to me as i gazed upon it. another said that i would never be able to understand the bible until i read it from the standpoint of the elocutionist in the best use of that expression, and he read in my hearing the story of joseph and his brethren and i felt that i myself had never read the bible before and really had never heard it read. still another came with his higher criticism and said that much of the bible was mythical, that the stories i had loved were simply allegorical; and i listened to him and went back to my bible to read, only to find that you may read it any way, spell it out in your youth letter by letter, read it through your tears as you reach middle life and your heart is aching, hold it against your heart when your eyes are too dim to read its pages, and it will yield to you a sweetness which is actually beyond the power of man to describe. this is a wonderful book and in this book god reveals himself. handle it irreverently and you will have no vision. third: it seems to me that the church is not what she ought to be, and this being true the vision is denied. one of my friends said the other day that the difficulty with the church is that she has lost her interrogation point. at the day of pentecost people were saying, "what do these things mean?" to-day they never think of saying it. i have been told in a little pamphlet issued by an english writer that the church has lost her possessive case, which means that somehow she has gone on without realizing that the risen, glorified christ is her blessed lord. it is a great thing to say "jesus"; infinitely greater is it to say "my jesus." the church has lost her imperative mode. in days that are past it was possible for the church to stand in the presence of evil and say, "in the name of almighty god this iniquity must stop." but to-day it is not possible. the church has lost her present tense. we are constantly looking for blessings in the future. god's promises are all written for the present. it is to the church on fire that god grants a vision. fourth: some of the difficulty must rest with us as ministers of the gospel. i fear that some of us have lost our message. it has loosened its grip upon us, and you never can move another man until you are first moved yourself by the message you would give to him. at a great gathering not long ago i heard a distinguished eastern professor speaking. the topic of his lecture was "my foster children," and these foster children were some animals which he had had as pets, whose habits he had carefully studied. one was a gila monster from the plains of arizona, another was a horned owl, the third was a rat, and the fourth was an opossum. if you can imagine more uninteresting subjects than these you are more imaginative than myself, and yet he thrilled me and held three thousand people in breathless interest. oh, my brethren, if i believe in jesus christ as the son of god and as a savior able not only to save to the uttermost but to keep through eternity, and that message grips me, i am a poor preacher if i fail with it to grip and move other men. i fear we have lost our boldness. i am a minister of the glorious gospel of the grace of god and i have a right to demand a hearing and to give my message, not because of what i am myself--god forbid--but because of what my savior is. some of us have lost our passion for souls; we mourn over it, we know that when we once had this it was the secret of a successful ministry. it is not wrong for me to say to you this morning that to the minister without a message, to the minister who has lost his holy boldness, to the minister who has anything less than a burning passion for souls, god cannot give his vision. iii i know that i have your deepest sympathy in the longing which i now express for this great gathering--namely, that god would give to us a vision. first: as to what the bible really is. one of my friends told me the other day of a blind girl who could not read because she had been too busy and somehow had not thought that she could use the raised letters which have been such a boon to god's blind children. i am told she learned that she might read while on these grounds last summer. it was made possible later on for her to have a teacher and she began to study little books until she could read quite fluently. one day unknown to her there was brought into her home a bible with raised letters and without telling what the book was it was opened at the fourteenth chapter of john and she was bidden to read in it. she had no sooner touched the page, her fingers enabling her to read, "let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in god, believe also in me," than with radiant face she exclaimed, "why this is god's word; the very touch of it is different." i would that we might have this vision. second: i wish that we might have a vision of christ. he is the chiefest among ten thousand, and the one altogether lovely. he is a mighty savior and a mighty helper. i cannot bring him a burden too great, nor talk to him about a trial too insignificant. oh, that we might see him as he is! and finally, i wish that we might know what service is, for knowing this we would be instant in season and out of season. some years ago fannie crosby, the blind hymn writer, was speaking in one of the missions in new york city. suddenly she stopped and said, "i wonder if there is not some wandering boy in this audience this evening who would have the courage to step out from this audience and come up and stand by my side so that i might put my arms around him and kiss him for his mother?" there was a hush upon the audience; then a boy from the rear seat started and came to the platform, and with her arms around about him and her lips against his cheek for his mother's sake, fannie crosby said, "oh, my friends, let us rescue the perishing." from this meeting she went to her home, and sitting in her room wrote: "rescue the perishing, care for the dying, snatch them in pity from sin and the grave, weep o'er the erring one, lift up the fallen, tell them of jesus, the mighty to save." years afterward she spoke in st. louis at a great meeting and related this incident. before she had finished a man in the audience sprang to his feet and said, "miss crosby, listen to me. i am a prosperous merchant in this city, a husband and a father, a christian and an officer in the church. i was that boy around whom you threw your arms." such an experience as that is worth a lifetime of service. i wish to put myself on record. i know that many of you are with me. i stand for nothing in these days that would in the least obscure men's vision of the power of god, or their vision of the glorious majesty of the son of god, and i count nothing worth while except to do that thing which would mean the winning of a soul to jesus christ. i believe god is giving to some men in these days a vision as to what may be accomplished if only a mighty work of grace should be given to us. he certainly is ready to pour out his spirit upon his own people, and it is only necessary that we should first of all realize our weakness, then understand his power, realize that souls are lost and dying and then know that he is able to save to the uttermost; and above all to realize that in all ages he has used human instruments for the accomplishment of his purposes, and realizing these things to see that our lives are right in his sight, to have such a victory for god as the world has never seen. for this day we hope and pray and cry aloud, "o lord, how long, how long?" the compassion of jesus text: "_but when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion._"--matt. : . the keynote of the earthly ministry of jesus christ was "compassion." you have but to follow him in his journeys by day and by night to find the proof of this statement. whether he ministers to the sick of the palsy, turns aside to help the father whose child is dead, heals the woman with the issue of blood, drives away the leprosy from the man dead by law, stops to open the eyes of the blind man by the wayside, helps the beggar or wins the member of the sanhedrim, he is always the same. if you journey with him in the morning on the shores of the sea of galilee, or at noon rest with him as he sits on the well curb of jacob's well; it you stop with him in the evening as he bares his side and thrusts forth his hand to the doubting thomas, or behold him as he is roused from his sleep in the boat to quiet the storm; if you study him on the mountain side at midnight or behold him in the garden of gethsemane when no one beholds his agony but the eye of his father--you will learn that he was always compassionate. you cannot discover him under any circumstances when this statement is not true of him. this ninth chapter of matthew is indeed remarkable. it can be appreciated only when we read the closing part of the eighth chapter, for it is here that the people, angry because of the destruction of the swine, besought him to leave their country; and it is here we see him taking his departure. men have since that time driven him from their hearts and their homes for reasons quite as trifling. it is a sad thing to know that any one can drive him away if he chooses to do so. the chapter is remarkable, however, because here we not only read the story of the calling of matthew from his position of influence, but find more specific cases of healing than in most other chapters of the new testament. there is the healing of the sick of the palsy in the second verse, the significant part of which is he was healed when jesus saw _their_ faith; the picture of the father whose child was dead and then raised by him, in the eighteenth verse and the twenty-fifth verse; the account of the woman with the issue of blood, in the twentieth verse, and the picture of discouragement when all earthly physicians had failed changed into great joy when the virtue of the great physician healed her: the account of the dumb man, in the thirty-second verse, who was possessed of a devil as well; and then in the thirty-fifth verse a general statement concerning him to the effect that he healed all manner of diseases. the chapter is also remarkable because these cases presented to jesus were of the very worst sort. the man with the palsy could not come himself, however much he wanted to do so, and four men were required to bring him; the child was dead and so beyond all human help; the two blind men were undoubtedly beggars and outcasts; the dumb man was possessed of a devil in addition to his dumbness; the group of people who were subjects of his healing power had every manner of disease, but while the people were different and the cases were desperate, jesus was always the same. there were six specific illustrations of healing: three of these came to jesus for themselves, the two blind men and the woman; two others were brought to him, the man sick with the palsy and the man who was dumb; and for the other case the father came and took jesus to the child. in all the general cases jesus went himself to the suffering. when all these subjects have been presented then comes the text, which is its own outline. there is first the picture of the multitudes, a great number of people. then the statement that they had fainted; literally it is, "they were tired." then they were described as sheep, the only animal known which in its wandering cannot find its way home of itself. and finally it was stated that they had no shepherd, the responsibility for their wandering resting upon others rather than upon themselves. this is the outline of this message. i the picture which jesus beheld as he walked through his own country is repeated to-day on every side of us, and he is still moved with compassion because of those who are helpless and undone. it is true we have done something for him. the last census shows that the membership of the protestant churches has increased more rapidly than the population. for this we should be thankful. it is also true that the church machinery of the day is well nigh perfect: the buildings and equipment with which we have to do have never been excelled. yet, counting the membership of both the catholic and protestant churches, there are forty million people to-day in our land who are not in the church and who evidently do not care for the church. with these people there seems to be a growing indifference to everything that is spiritual. a man in an apartment house in new york, when asked the other day to do something for a poor family for the sake of god, answered blasphemously, "i do not care for the opinion of men, i do not even care for god himself; i am for myself first, last and all the time." as we walk the streets we ought to be impressed with the fact that men on every side of us are lost in the proportion of one to four. as we sit in a car we ought to be impressed with the fact that one in four have rejected christ and are hopeless. in every city it is literally true that there are thousands of unchurched people without god and without hope in the world. of them the text would be true. "but when he saw the multitudes he was moved with compassion." ii when jesus saw these multitudes he saw them fainting or literally "growing tired," and this is the picture of lost people to-day. i am persuaded that they are tired of many things which follow in the wake of sin. . they must be weary of the hollowness of the world, for it cannot satisfy. i one day talked with a woman in massachusetts whose opportunity to mingle with the so-called best people of the world had been unexcelled. she had been a chosen and welcomed guest in the homes of royalty and knew intimately every president of the united states since she had grown to womanhood. after her conversion i asked her if the life of the world had satisfied; her answer was, "it is hollowness and sham almost from beginning to end." . the unchurched people must be weary of an accusing conscience. there is no unrest like it. the man who sees the folly of his conduct and whose conscience will not let him sleep, the man who realizes the blighting power of sin and yet seems powerless to heed the call of conscience, is in a pitiful condition. "and i know of the future judgment, how dreadful so'er it may be, that to sit alone with my conscience would be judgment enough for me." . they must be tired of the world's sorrow, for it is on every side. we are born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward and i cannot but think that in all parts of our cities to-day the people away from christ are saying, "oh, that i knew where peace might be found." . i know they are tired of the slavery of satan. a man formerly prominent in social and political circles, the cashier of a bank, when he found that he was a defaulter took his own life and left a letter for his wife in which he said, "oh, if some one had only spoken to me when i so much needed help all this might have been different." iii in the old testament and new, god's people are represented by the figure of sheep. especially it seems to me this must be a good figure, because sheep when wandering find it impossible to seek again for themselves their home, and in their helplessness they fittingly represent the one who wanders away from god. there are so many people to-day who are trying to find their way back without christ. they are like wandering sheep. there are so many who are seeking to climb up some other way into the favor of god. these are on every side of us, and the time has come for us to present unto them jesus christ the savior of the world. iv these people that jesus saw were shepherdless. the responsibility for their wandering therefore rested not so much upon themselves as upon the fact that the one who should have cared for them was not doing so. we are our brother's keeper, whether we are willing to acknowledge it or not. in meetings in california one of the ministers went forth during the week to invite those who were away from christ to come to him. he found an old white-haired soldier who said, "when i was in the army years ago i promised god that i would be a christian. i have never kept my word. yes, i will come to him now." and when he came his wife and children came with him. "all these years," he said, "i have waited for some one to ask me." he called upon another man who had been impressed in the meetings and this man acknowledged that he had long felt his need of help, that he had prayed the night before, "o god, if you want me to come to thee send some one to speak to me." when the minister came the man trembled when he said, "you must be the messenger of god for whom i have been waiting," and he came beautifully to christ. on every side of us people are waiting as sheep without a shepherd for us simply to do our duty. v the result of this vision which jesus had was that he did an unusual thing. in the tenth chapter and the first verse we read, "and when he had called unto him his twelve disciples he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease." which leads me to say that we must have the same spirit. our present day church methods reach not more than one-fourth the unsaved and many of these come from the ranks of our sunday schools and from christian homes where for one reason or another they have not made a profession of their faith in christ. three-fourths of the lost are left to wander farther and farther away simply because they will not yield to our present day church methods. this is not as jesus would have it. in the twenty-first chapter of john the fifth and sixth verses we read, "then jesus saith unto them, children, have ye any meat? they answered him, no. and he said unto them, cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. they cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitudes of fishes." although these disciples had toiled and taken nothing the results were all changed when they cast their net on the right side of the boat. may it not be that we have been fishing on the wrong side or fishing in our own strength, or, as some one has said, fishing in too shallow water, when we should have been casting our nets in the deep? the fact is, we need him and without him we can do nothing. i have been told that of the forty distinct cases of healing in the new testament only six came to jesus by themselves. twenty were brought to jesus and to the fourteen others jesus was taken. i doubt not that the proportion is the same to-day, and if it is true then our methods of work must be changed and instead of praying for them to seek jesus we must either take them to jesus or bring the master into their company. there can be no successful winning of the multitudes until the personal element enters into it all. . there must be prayer. when jacob went forth to meet esau he walked with fear and trembling, but in genesis thirty-second chapter and twenty-eighth verse we read, "and he said, thy name shall be called no more jacob, but israel, for as a prince hast thou power with god and with men, and hast prevailed," so that long before esau was met victory was won. there must be no attempt to win the lost without first of all we have gained an audience with god in prayer, and if we pray as we ought to pray he will give us the assurance of victory before we start upon our mission. . there must be personal contact. it is said that a man recently went into a jewelry store to buy an opal and rejected all that were presented to him. one of them he rejected instantly. the salesman picked it up and closed it in his hand and finally in a casual way opened his hand and placed the opal upon the counter. "why," said the customer, "that is the opal i want. i have never seen anything finer," and yet he had rejected it first. the salesman told him that it was a sensitive opal and needed the touch of a human hand before it could reveal its beauty. oh, how many souls there are like this in the world! i have read that when robert louis stevenson visited the island of the lepers where father damien did his illustrious work he played croquet with the children, using the same mallets that they used; and when it was suggested that he put gloves upon his hands he refused to do so because, he said, "it will remind them the more of the difference between us." this spirit must prevail in our work if we are to win souls. two things we may do to reach the lost. ( ) speak to them. the power of human speech is simply marvelous. a sunday school boy appeared in a baptist church to apply for membership and when they asked him about his conversion he said, "my sunday school teacher took me for a walk one sunday in prospect park and talked with me about jesus and i gave myself to him." one of the officers of my church when an unsaved man was asked by his minister to attend special services in the church and then was urged by his wife to go with her. both invitations were angrily declined. he at last agreed to escort her to the church but not to enter in. the biting cold wind of the night drove him into the church and he was just in time to hear the minister's appeal to the unsaved. all were asked to lift their hands who would know christ and then he remembered that when he was a boy and had been drowning in lake george he lifted up his hand as high as he could and his brother took hold of it and kept him from sinking. suddenly it came to him in the church that he was sinking in another way, and instantly he raised his hand and christ took hold of it. i do not know of a more godly man among all my list of friends than he; and he says to-day that the invitation given to him and refused with anger led him to christ. ( ) write. the chief justice of the supreme court of a western state was not a christian until a few years ago. he was a genial, kindly man, and naturally a great lawyer, but he had never confessed christ as his savior, and apparently had little real interest in the church. one day the pastor of the presbyterian church determined that he would write him a letter, and then decided that so great a man would not receive his communication and destroyed it. but the pastor's wife had more faith and urged him to write again. he did so, and sent the second letter and forwarded with it spurgeon's "all of grace." he received word almost instantly that the chief justice had been deeply impressed, and that as a matter of fact he was waiting for years for some one to speak to him. the letter moved him and the little book gave him the instructions needed. to-day he is one of the brightest christians i know. his face is a benediction. he said to me one day that it was a wonderful thing to be a christian; that he never allowed any one to meet him that he did not talk with him about his soul. are there not hundreds and thousands of other men waiting, as the chief justice waited, for some one to speak or write? . there must be a personal consecration not only to christ but to the work if we would be successful. the biography of helen kellar [transcriber's note: keller?], who was released from her imprisonment by the devotion of her teacher, is an illustration along this line. this teacher must go to this girl sitting in darkness and describe to her the commonest objects of every-day life. she told her about water, heat and cold and when something hurt her she told her with the language of touch that she loved her and helen kellar [transcriber's note: keller?] answered back, "i love you, too." the devotion of this teacher brought this noble soul to light and power. a work like this awaits many of us in bringing the lost to christ. when elisha went down to raise the shunammite's boy he put his eyes to the eyes of the boy, his hands to the boy's hands and his mouth to his mouth. something like this we must do. we have friends who possess eyes and see not, we must have eyes for them; they have lips and speak not, we must speak to god for them; they have hands and reach them not out after god, and we must have faith for them. in other words, we must not let them go away from christ. such a spirit as this pleases god and such a spirit saves our friends. a friend told me that with the ship's surgeon of a vessel he once crossed the sea. he said the doctor told him that one day a boy fell overboard and was rescued but the case seemed hopeless. the ship's surgeon casually passing along the deck said to those who labored with him, "i think you can do nothing more; you have done all that is possible," and then curiosity led him to look at the boy for himself. instantly his whole spirit was changed. he blew into his nostrils, breathed into his mouth, begged god to spare him, labored for four hours with him before he could bring him back to life, for the boy was his own boy. what if we should not have this spirit with the lost! "if grief in heaven could find a place, or shame the worshiper bow down, who meets the savior face to face, 'twould be to wear a starless crown." but on the other hand, what if we should simply be faithful? then may the following be true of us: "perhaps in heaven, some day, to me some sainted one shall come and say, all hail, beloved, but for thee my soul to death had fallen a prey. and, oh, the rapture of the thought, one soul to glory to have brought." general booth of the salvation army describes a vessel making its way home from the australian gold fields. the miners had struggled to get rich and at last every man had around about him his belt of gold. the ship lost her way in the ocean and, set out of her course, suddenly crashed upon the rocks of an island near by. almost instantly she sank. as one miner stood looking at the shore he knew that he was strong enough as a swimmer to save his gold and save his own life; but as he was about to throw himself into the sea a little girl whose mother and father had been washed overboard came over to him to say, "oh, sir, can you not save me?" it was then a choice between the child and the gold. the struggle was terrific but at last the gold was thrown aside, the child fastened to his body and he struggled through the waves until he fell exhausted and fainting upon the shore. the great salvation army officer says that when this strong man came to himself the little child was by his side. throwing her arms about his neck she exclaimed with sobs, "oh, sir, i am so glad you saved me." "that was worth more to him than the gold," said general booth. and if in heaven some day upon the streets of gold we shall meet just one redeemed soul who was once lost and in the darkness, and we know that that one soul is there because we were true, the streets of gold will be better, the gates of pearl will be brighter, the many mansions more beautiful, the music sweeter, and, if such a thing were possible, the vision of christ more entrancing. certainly it would be thrilling to hear him say to us, "inasmuch as ye did it unto these little ones ye did it unto me." sanctification text: "_this is the will of god, even your sanctification._"-- thess. : . it is quite significant that the apostle paul writes explicitly concerning sanctification to a church in which he had such delight that he could write as follows: "paul, and silvanus, and timotheus, unto the church of the thessalonians in god our father and the lord jesus christ: grace be unto you, and peace, from god our father, and the lord jesus christ. we are bound to thank god always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of god for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of god, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of god, for which ye also suffer: seeing it is a righteous thing with god to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us; when the lord jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not god, and that obey not the gospel of our lord jesus christ: who shall be punished with ever-lasting destruction from the presence of the lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day" ( thessalonians : - ). no higher commendation than this could be paid to any followers of the lord jesus christ, and yet unto such a people we find him saying, "this is the will of god, even your sanctification." it reminds us of that other scene in the new testament when nicodemus comes to jesus by night. he was a member of the sanhedrim, he was in the truest sense of the word a moral man, and yet jesus, knowing all this, deliberately looked into his face and said with emphasis, "verily, verily, i say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of god. that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. marvel not that i said unto thee, ye must be born again" (john : - ). both of these statements lead us to believe that god's requirements for his people are very high. these we may not attain unto at all in our own strength or the energy of our flesh or because of any inherited righteousness which we may possess. there is no way to reach his standard except by complete identity with christ; and this is made possible by means of faith. to know the will of god concerning anything is a great satisfaction. it is like food to our souls if we can say with jesus, "my meat is to do god's will." it is an indescribable pleasure if we can say with the son of god, "i delight to do thy will." it is the key to the highest form of knowledge, for we have found it true that "he that doeth the will of god shall know of the doctrine." it is the promise of eternal life, for we are told in god's word, "he that doeth the will of god abideth forever." there is possibly no place where god's will for us is more clearly stated than in this text. sometimes we may know his will by praying. how often revelations have come thus to us as if from the very skies concerning his desires for us! we may know it sometimes by thinking. if one would but yield his mind perfectly to god in his providences as well as in his word he would know god's will concerning him. we may know it sometimes by talking to others, for not infrequently god gives a revelation to one child of his for the guidance of another's life. but in this connection it is most definitely stated, "this is the will of god, even your sanctification." and the apostle emphasizes his words, first: by the use of the most affectionate expression, "furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the lord jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please god, so ye would abound more and more" ( thessalonians : ). second: he speaks on the authority of jesus himself. "for ye know what commandments we gave you by the lord jesus" ( thessalonians : ). third: he emphasizes it by referring to the second coming of our lord, for he well knew that if one was looking for the appearing of the son of god he would turn away from fleshly lusts and abstain from that which was unclean, thus encouraging the work of sanctification. the apostle paul says to the thessalonians after he has clearly set before them god's will concerning their living, "but i would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. for if we believe that jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in jesus will god bring with him. for this we say unto you by the word of the lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. for the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of god: and the dead in christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the lord. wherefore comfort one another with these words" ( thessalonians : - ). it was not enough for them, in his judgment, to abide in the faith; they must abound in the works of the gospel. to talk well without walking well is not pleasing to god, for the character of the christian is thus described, "he walks not after the flesh but after the spirit." the presentation of this subject impresses upon us the fact that we have lost many of the best words in the bible because they have been misused and their teaching misapprehended. if you speak of holiness men look askance at you, and yet holiness is simply wholeness or healthfulness and is to the soul what health is to the body. who, then, would be without it? if you speak of sanctification immediately your hearers imagine you are talking concerning sinlessness, and yet there is no better word in the scriptures than sanctification, for in one way it means separation from sin, in another way it means an increasing likeness to christ. there are six particular effects of faith. first: there is union with christ. it is true that we were chosen in him before the foundation of the world and that we are an elect people, but it is also true that we are by nature the children of wrath and it is necessary that we should make a deliberate choice of him as a savior. when by faith we have taken christ as a savior we are united to him. faith is counting that which seems unreal as real, as untrue as true and that which seems not to exist as if it existed. faith unites us to him. without him we are as nothing. second: justification. "there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in christ jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit" (romans : ). "he that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten son of god" (john : ). as we believe in christ we are clothed with his righteousness. whether we can explain it or not, this righteousness answers every demand of god's justice. thus it is that romans the eighth chapter the thirty-third and the thirty-fourth verses becomes true for us. let it be noticed, however, that in both of these verses the two words, "_it_," and "_is_" are in italics, which would indicate that they were not in the original. concerning those who are justified, therefore, the verses would read as follows: "who shall lay anything to the charge of god's elect." the rest of the verse is a question, "god that justifieth?" the thirty-fourth verse reads, "who is he that condemneth?" and the answer is a question, "christ that died, yea rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of god who also maketh intercession for us?" and paul here simply means to say that if god can lay nothing to our charge and christ would not condemn us then we are free, and justification at least to the layman carries with it this thought: . the justified man stands as if he had not sinned at all. his record is clean. . the debt which sin had incurred is paid and instead of being afraid and trembling at the thought of sin we sing with rejoicing, "jesus paid it all, all to him i owe." third: participation of his life. paul writes to the galatians, "i live, and yet not i, but christ liveth in me." and in the fifteenth chapter of john the first six verses we read, "i am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman. every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. now ye are clean through the word which i have spoken unto you. abide in me, and i in you. as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. i am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and i in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. if a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." so faith unites us to him and his life becomes a very part of our being. (a) it is like the principle of grafting. when the branch is grafted into the tree the life of the tree throbs its way into the branch and ultimately there is fruitfulness. if we only could sustain the right relations to christ we would have the cure for worldliness. (b) because of this participation and privilege we need not be concerned. i have heard of a man who grafted a branch into a tree and then went each day to take the graft out to see what progress it had made, and the branch died. (c) our life need not be intermittent--that is, hot to-day and cold to-morrow--but it may be all the time an abundant life; not because of what we are but because of what christ is. fourth: peace. romans : , "therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ." and peace arises from a sense of reconciliation. if faith is strong, then peace is abundant; if it is fitful peace partakes of the same character. that man who has faith in jesus christ as a personal savior has the following threefold blessing--first, _peace with god_; second, _the peace of god_; third, _the god of peace_. fifth: sanctification. acts : , "to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of satan unto god, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me." of this we shall speak more at length a little later. sixth: assurance. this is plainly written in god's word. notice john : , "for god so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." and john : , "verily, verily, i say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation: but is passed from death unto life." the entire first epistle of john also emphasizes the same truth. i sanctification is therefore entirely by faith. first: by faith we receive the indwelling of the spirit and he makes christ real to us. because christ is real by faith we may walk with him; and that man who keeps step with jesus christ will find that he has come day by day to turn away from those things which were formerly his defeat. we may also talk with him. that hymn which we sometimes sing, "a little talk with jesus, how it smooths the rugged way," has been true in the experience of many of us. we may also be so constantly associated with him that we may find ourselves actually like him; and to grow like christ by the power of the spirit is to have the work of sanctification carried on. second: by faith exercised in god the spirit continues his work. we have only to remember the promises of god concerning him, the first of which is that the spirit is here carrying on his special work in his particular dispensation. his second promise is that he is in us if we be children of god, and we need only to yield to his presence day by day to be delivered from the power of sin. his third promise is that he will take of the things of god and show them unto us. things which the world's people cannot understand he makes plain unto us. "eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which god hath prepared for those who love him," but the spirit hath revealed them unto us. the fourth promise is that he will not leave us. we may resist the spirit, we may grieve the spirit, but we will not grieve him away. his power may be greatly limited in our lives, the work of sanctification under the influence of his presence be greatly hindered, but he is with us, "nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature can separate us from him." third: by faith we have a vision of things unseen and they become real to us. faith is to the soul what the eye is to the body. the things of god become actually real, and becoming so they are powerful. under the influence of this vision temporal things are trifling. the christian who is true to his position lives in heaven, breathes its atmosphere, is pervaded by its spirit and so becomes pure, tender, obedient, loving. no wonder that to these people whose lives were so attractive paul wrote in the text, "this is the will of god, even your sanctification." ii justification and sanctification ought to be compared to appreciate the latter. the first is an act, the second is a work. we do not grow in justification. there is no distinction between christians in this respect; the smallest child accepting christ is as truly justified as the saint of a half century. so far as sanctification is concerned there is the widest possible difference. justification depends upon what christ does for us, sanctification depends upon what christ does in us. first of all it is a supernatural work. in this respect among others it differs from reformation. henry drummond has said that in reformation men work from the circumference, in sanctification they work from the center. the triune god may really be counted upon as the author of this work. in thessalonians the fifth chapter and the twenty-third verse we have the work of the father. "and the very god of peace sanctify you wholly; and i pray god your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our lord jesus christ." in ephesians fifth chapter twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth verses we have the work of the son. "husbands, love your wives, even as christ also loved the church and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word." in john the seventeenth chapter and the seventeenth verse we have special emphasis laid upon the work of the spirit. "sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth." what folly, therefore, to think that we could carry on this work by ourselves! second: just what, therefore, is this work of sanctification? when we are regenerated we have given to us an entirely new nature. the old nature and the new are absolutely different; and the old and the new war one against the other. the bible is full of the accounts of those who have met this inward conflict. some of the most eminent people in the world whose names have been mentioned in the bible and out of it have told the story of their backsliding, their falling, their repentance, and their lamentation because of their weakness. you have all read the seventh chapter of romans. whether this is the story of paul's experience or not, it is the story of yours. galatians the fifth chapter sixteenth and seventeenth verses gives us the same thought. "this i say then, walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. for the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary, the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." what is it, therefore? it is just the working day by day of the spirit of christ in us. it is the growth of that spiritual nature which after a while controls our whole being. it is the bringing into subjection of the old nature until it has no more dominion over us. after paul's struggle in the seventh chapter of romans he comes triumphantly to the second verse of the eighth chapter of romans and exclaims, "for the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." iii it god is the author, then certain things need to be emphasized. first: we need only to be yielding day by day to his efforts and presence and power to become more and more sanctified. his life flows along the path of least resistance; if there is difficulty with us in the matter of temper, sharpness of tongue, an impure mind or an unforgiving spirit, give him liberty and the work is complete. second: we must learn that the least thing may hinder his work in us. it became necessary for me recently to purchase a hayrake. i was told of two different kinds, one the old-fashioned kind where the prongs of the rake must be lifted by hand, the other an automatic arrangement where by simply touching the foot to a spring the movement of the wheels would lift the rake at the proper time so that raking hay was a delight. the first day the rake was in the field it was almost impossible to use it. it was too heavy to lift by hand and the foot attachment would not work. we sent for the man who had sold us the implement. there was just one little part of the attachment missing. missing that, hard effort was required and poor work was accomplished. it may be that some little thing stands in the way of your blessing, or the lack of some little thing hinders your usefulness. third: we have only to remember the law of growth. we do not grow by trying. who ever heard of a boy growing in this way? who ever heard of a doctor who had a prescription for growth? our effort for christian growth is just a succession of failures. how many times we have said, "i am determined to be better; my temper shall never get the better of me again"! we are beginning at the wrong end. instead of dealing with the symptoms, let us see that we are in right relations with christ and he will effect the cure. let us, therefore, just observe the right attitude towards christ and we have the secret. henry drummond has said in one of his books that the problem of the christian life is simply this: "men must be brought to observe the right attitude. to abide in christ is to be in right position and that is all." much work is done on board a ship in crossing the atlantic, yet none of this is spent in making the ship go. the sailor harnesses his vessel to the wind, he lifts his sail, lays hold of his rudder and the miracle is wrought. god creates, man utilizes. god gives the wind, the water, the heat, and man lays hold of that which god has given us, holding himself in position by the grace of god, and the power of omnipotence courses within his soul. iv we are in this world slowly but surely coming to be like christ. to be christ-like is one thing--we may be in this way or that--but to be like christ is entirely different. wonderful transformations have been wrought in this world by education and by culture. i remember when i was a lad in indiana being told of a celebrated indianapolis physician who advertised for the most helpless idiot child and the most hopeless was brought to him. for weeks and months no impression could be made upon that child. he used every day to take the child into his parlor, put him down on the floor and then lie beside him with the sunlight streaming in his face. he said over and over one syllable of a word until at last the child caught it, and i remember as a boy seeing that same child stand upon a platform, repeat the lord's prayer and the twenty-third psalm and sing a hymn to the praise of god [transcriber's note: part of page torn away here, and one, possibly two, words are missing] is wonderful; but more remarkable than that is the work which is going on in us day by day. we are becoming more christlike; one day we shall be _like christ_. "but _when_?" you say. this is the answer: "beloved, now are ye the sons of god, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." an unheeded warning text: "_my spirit shall not always strive with men._"--genesis : . for the truth of this statement one needs only to study his bible and he will find written in almost every book of old testament and new a similar expression. at the same time in the study of god's word it will be revealed to him that god has a great plan which he is carefully working out. we must be familiar with the beginning and the unfolding of this plan and with the conclusion he reached. when after the rebellion of his people and their unwillingness to obey his precepts we find him saying, "and god saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. and it repented the lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. and the lord said, i will destroy man whom i have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that i have made them." then turning to the new testament scriptures we find almost a similar expression when jesus reaches the climax of his compassionate and gracious ministry with the children of israel. "he came unto his own and his own received him not"; and in the twenty-third chapter of matthew and the thirty-seventh to the thirty-ninth verse, inclusive, we hear him saying, "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! behold, your house is left unto you desolate. for i say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the lord." from that day on his special ministry was to the gentiles, and he has been seeking in every possible way to bring us to an appreciation of what it means to know him and to be filled with all his fullness. we have but to stop for a moment and consider to realize that by many his overtures have been declined, his spirit grieved and his son rejected. men have lived as if they had no responsibility towards him at all and in many instances they have put him entirely out of their consideration. if we compare present day indifference and sin with the condition of things at the time of the flood, and then again compare them with the position of israel when jesus turned away from them with tears, it would seem almost as if the world of the present day had made progress both in the matter of indifference and rejection; and therefore it is not strange that such an old testament text as this would be applicable to people living about us. it is a solemn text. "_my spirit shall not always strive with men_." it is along the line of those solemn words of dr. alexander: "there is a time, we know not when; a place, we know not where, that seals the destiny of man for glory or despair." again we read, "ye shall seek me and shall not find me, and where i am there ye cannot come." that also is the spirit of the text. god tells us, "to-day if ye will hear his voice harden not your heart," which simply means that if we neglect to hear the heart will become hardened, the will stubborn, and we shall be unsaved and hopeless. again he tells us, "now is the accepted time, and now is the day of salvation." so for men to act as if they might come at any time and choose their own way of salvation is to sin against him, and to all such he speaks the text--"my spirit shall not always strive with men." it is assumed that the spirit of god does strive with men. if he will not strive always, then he does strive at some particular time, and with many of us he is striving now. we may not be willing to confess it to our friends, but nevertheless it is true. in many ways he is bringing to our attention the eternal interests of our souls, and this is striving. it is implied that men are resisting the spirit of god. if this were not so there could be no striving, and the text indicates that men may continue so long to resist him and to sin against him that after a while the door of mercy will close and hope be a thing of the past. i what is the striving of the spirit? i have no doubt but that many are asking this question seriously and fearfully and it is worthy of our most careful consideration. . it is just god speaking to us and causing us to say to ourselves if not to others, "well, i ought to be a christian; this life of worldliness does not pay." there is nothing but an accusing conscience, a weakened character and a blighted life as the result of it. do not for a moment think that this is just an impression that has come to you; it is the voice of god and you would do well to hear it. this striving of the spirit is simply the spirit of god seeking to convince men that the only safe life is that which is hid with christ in god, safe not only for eternity--the most of us believe that--but safe for time. temptations are too powerful for us to withstand alone and trials are too heavy for us to bear in our own strength. the striving of the spirit is just our heavenly father graciously attempting to persuade us to yield to him, sometimes by providences. when but a lad my old pastor used one night an illustration from which i never have been able to get away. it was the story of the old fisherman who took his little boy with him to fish and found that on his accustomed fishing grounds he was unsuccessful; so, leaving the boy upon the little island, he started away to fish alone. the mists came down in his absence and, missing his way, he lost his boy. he rowed everywhere calling him and at last he heard him in the distance, saying, "i am up here, papa; over this way." the fisherman found him, but not quickly enough to enable him to escape the cold night winds, and the boy sickened and died. the old fisherman said: "every night when i stood at my window i could see his outstretching hands and always above the storm i could hear his voice calling me upward. i could not but be a christian." my mother had just a few weeks before gone home to god, and i heard her voice as plainly as i could hear the voice of my friend at my side. every vision of a mother in heaven, of a child in the skies, is a call of god. he seeks to persuade us by calamities. the chicago theater horror, with its hundreds of women and children dead and disfigured, was god's call to a great city and to the world. this is the striving of the spirit. not with audible voice does he speak to us but by means of impressions and convictions. let us not think for a moment that these come simply because the preacher has influence and may possibly be possessed of a certain kind of genius or power. these are god's warnings to us. be careful, therefore, how you resist them. jesus said in john the sixteenth chapter the seventh to the eleventh verses, "nevertheless i tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that i go away: for if i go not away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if i depart, i will send him unto you. and when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness and of judgment. of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because i go to my father, and ye see me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." the word "_reprove_" is a judicial word. when the judge has heard the testimony for or against the criminal and the arguments of the counsel, he himself sums up the case and lays it before the jury, bringing out the strong points or the weak ones in relation to the criminal. this is reproving, and it is this that the spirit does. he brings before us jesus christ and then presents unto god our treatment of him, and so it is easy to understand how the text could be true. "my spirit shall not always strive with men." . how may we know that he is striving? there are very many ways. ( ) if the attention is aroused and centered upon religious subjects and interests, then be careful how you treat god. the student who finds his mind constantly escaping from his books to the thought of eternity; the business man who cannot possibly escape the thought that he owes god something and ought not to slight him, these have proofs that the spirit is striving. after an evangelistic meeting which i recently conducted i received the following letter, which clearly indicates the striving of the spirit: "i had not attended the church for years until to-night, but being a visitor in c. and hearing that you were from the east and a presbyterian i determined to go. i was lonely and it may be the spirit was calling me. i heard you speak of your little boys and of the sainted mother who has gone before and my proud heart was touched. i, too, have two darling boys back in the old state, a loving christian wife and a dear old mother who in parting said, 'dear son, i am old and i may never see you again on earth, but if i am not here when you return, remember, my son, my boy, we must meet in heaven.' "how much that meant to her! i did not quite realize it then, but your talk to-night impressed me and i believe that her prayers are being answered together with those of a loving, courageous, steadfast christian wife, and that i am at last, at the age of forty-two, beginning to see how great my opportunities to do good have been and how my example has been a great hindrance and stumbling block to others in the way of life. admitting that this life has no stronger emotion than our love for our families, how much more i am impressed to-night with my duty to him who gave his only son to suffer that we might live in the life everlasting! "in a busy business life and career i had drifted away from the safe anchorage of the church and sunday school of my boyhood and had almost convinced myself that by charity and exercising good will and kindliness in my business i could do almost as much good as if i were in the church; but i see my mistake. to make an army effective we must stand in the ranks, must be soldiers in the army of christ ready and willing to do at all times whatever we see before us. "i have written my dear old mother a letter to-night which i know will please her far more than if i had told her i had found a mine of california gold; her prayers, my wife's, yours and those of other true christian men and women have been answered, and i realize that now, (not next week, nor next month, nor when i get my business finished and go back to the east) is the day and the hour to remember christ and know that his love for us is greater even than the love that tugs at our heartstrings when we think of the dear little ones at home who lovingly call us father, and for whom we gladly endure the heartaches of separation when we know that our labors will contribute to their comfort and happiness. "i realize from the standpoint of a business man how many there are in the world to criticise your best efforts and your work and how few who ever stop to say, 'i thank you; you have done me good.' i take time to-night to do more. i want to say that your message from the king of kings has not fallen on stony ground. i shall try to enter again the battle of life, not as only in search of the wealth of this world but in search of the wealth that the world cannot take away--life everlasting. "you were right. preach and pray the fathers into the kingdom of god and the rest is easy, for all unconsciously our children follow in our footsteps, watch our every word and action; then how much, how much it means if our example is wrong!" ii ( ) whenever we are convinced especially of the sinfulness of sin we may be sure that the spirit is striving with us. there are times when we may be thoughtless and sin with impunity; but not so when the spirit is doing his work, for sin is an awful thing. ( ) whenever we are impressed with the heinousness of unbelief be assured that the spirit is at work, for the worst sin in all this world is not impurity but rather that we should not believe on jesus christ. to reject him is to sneer at god, to trample the blood of his son under foot, to count his sacrifice a common thing and really to crucify him afresh. in all this impression god speaks. ( ) when we see the danger of dying in our sins he is moving us. it is a mystery to me how men can close their eyes in sleep when they realize that any night god might simply touch them and time would give way to eternity and the judgment would be before them. as a matter of fact men are not indifferent to this, and the fact that they are not proves that the spirit of god is opening their eyes. ( ) when he strips us of excuses be sure that he is working. the man who has said, "i will wait until i am better," begins to realize that his past sins must be taken into account and no future resolutions can touch them. the man who has said, "there is time enough," suddenly realizes that between him and eternity there is but a beat of the heart. the one who has claimed that hypocrisy in the church kept him out of it comes to see that hypocrisy proves the life of the church, for men never counterfeit that which is bad money but rather that which is good. ( ) whenever we see the folly of trusting in any other word than christ's then the spirit of god is with us. not reformation, for it does not touch the sins of the past; not resolution, for this is too weak, and though we may seem better than others, this may be true only according to our own standard. when we see the folly of these positions the spirit of god is doing his work; so be careful how you treat him. iii what would be the consequences of the spirit ceasing his work? we really could not express it in words. no man has power or energy to make it plain. we can only just hint at the condition. . there would be an opposition to religion, for whenever you find a man turning against that which has been the world's hope remember that the state of that man is awful in the extreme and will grow worse. . there will be an opposition to revivals, to all preaching and to the ministers of the gospel wherever this spirit is made manifest. we ought to tremble for ourselves if this is our spirit, or for others if it is theirs. . wherever men settle down into some form of error this is a description of one who has sinned against the spirit of god, for there is a longing in every soul for something outside of and beyond one's self; and the things of the world cannot alone satisfy. . when men continue to grow worse and worse and seem to glory in their shame there is great cause for solemn thought. in the light of these suggestions the text is given, "my spirit shall not always strive with men." iv why should he cease his striving? not because he is not compassionate, for he is; nor forbearing, for that is his character; not that he is without patience, for he is infinite in this grace; nor because he is without mercy, for his mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. . but because it will do the sinner no good to continue his pleadings. it is a known law of the mind that truth resisted loses its power. why should god continue when we only spurn his offers of mercy? agassiz, the great christian scientist, tells of his work in the mountains when his assistants lowered him to his work by means of a rope and a basket. they always tested his weight before letting him down; and yet he said that one day when they had lowered him deeper than ever they found that they could not lift him, though they had tested his weight before he had been lowered. they must go away over the mountains to secure other assistance. "and then," said the scientist, "when they did lift me they found that their failure was due to the fact that they did not take into account the weight of the rope." every time you refuse jesus christ as your savior and god calls you again you must lift against that other refusal, and this is why it is so difficult for some to come to christ. . because to continue warning is to hinder the sinner. the more light we have the greater guilt. better would it be for the sinner when all hope is gone for the spirit to leave, for he shall be called to account for warnings. oh, the solemnity of the day of judgment! . because to resist the spirit of god is for men to sin willfully if the rejection is final. it is a sad thing to say "no" to god, and if we sin willfully there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins. v what is meant by the spirit not striving? not that he will be withdrawn from men in general, but rather from the individual. . he may not follow the sinner, who will be indifferent to preaching, to praying, to his own spiritual condition, for he has given himself over to error. . it simply means that we have come to the limit of his patience, for we have trifled with him in our continued rejection. . it also means that there is just some one point where he will cease to work. that point may be here and that day may be now, and so the text is solemn. a long time ago an old woman tripped and fell from the top of a stone stairway in boston as she was coming out of the police station. they called the patrol and carried her to the hospital and the doctor examining her said to the nurse, "she will not live more than a day." and when the nurse had won her confidence the old woman said, "i have traveled from california, stopping at every city of importance between san francisco and boston, visiting two places always--the police station and the hospital. my boy went away from me and did not tell me where he was going, so i have sold all my property and made this journey to seek him out. some day," she said, "he may come into this hospital, and if he does tell him that there were two who never gave him up." when the night came and the doctor standing beside her said, "it is now but a question of a few minutes," the nurse bent over her to say, "tell me the names of the two and i will tell your son if i see him." with trembling lips and eyes overflowing with tears she said, "tell him that the two were god and his mother," and she was gone. i cannot believe that god has given any of you up. you would not be listening to this message, you certainly would not be reading these words if he had. he has not given you up. i beseech you therefore hear him. it would be a sad thing for you to say no to him at the last and have him take you at your word, and if he has not given you up i am persuaded that there is some one else in the world deeply concerned for your soul. the approval of the spirit text: "_yea, saith the spirit._"--rev. : . the world has had many notable galleries of art in which we have been enabled to study the beautiful landscape, to consider deeds of heroism which have made the past illustrious, in which we have also read the stories of saintly lives; but surpassing all these is the gallery of art in which we find the text. humanly speaking john is the artist while he is an exile on the island of patmos in the aegean sea. the words he uses and the figures he presents are suggested by his surroundings, and it would be difficult to imagine anything more uplifting than the book of revelation if it be properly studied and understood. when john speaks of the son of man he describes his voice as the sound of many waters--undoubtedly suggested by the waves of the sea breaking at his feet. locked in by the sea on this lonely island he gives to us this revelation for which every christian should devoutly thank god. his eyes are opened in an unusual way and before him as in panoramic vision the past, the present and the future move quickly, and he makes a record of all the things that he beholds. his body is on patmos but as a matter of fact he seems to be walking the streets of the heavenly city and gives to us a picture of those things which no mortal eye hath yet beheld. he describes the risen christ. it is a new picture, for as he beholds him his head and his hair are white like wool, as white as snow; and yet it is an old picture he gives, for he is presented as the lamb that has been slain, with the marks of his suffering still upon him, and these help to make his glory the greater, and if possible to increase the power and sweetness of the angels' music. he presents to us a revelation of the glorified church and of the four and twenty elders falling down at the feet of jesus, casting their crowns before him and giving him all adoration and praise. he cheers us with a knowledge of the doom of satan, for in the closing part of the book he presents him to us as bound, cast into the pit and held as a prisoner for a thousand years, while in every other part of the bible he is seen going about like a raging lion seeking whom he may devour. he gives to us some conception of the final judgment, and the great white throne is lifted up before us; the dead, small and great, stand before god, the books are opened and those whose names are not found written in the book are cast away from his presence forever; and then as a climax of the picture we have before us the new heaven and the new earth. again i say, there is nothing so wonderful as revelation if only we have the mind of the spirit in its interpretation. in this text john is speaking of those who die in the lord and the whole verse reads as follows: "and i heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, write, blessed are the dead which die in the lord from henceforth: yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them" (revelation : ). ordinarily this text has been used only on funeral occasions, but literally interpreted the text which stands as the heart of the verse may be read as follows, "amen, saith the spirit." it would seem as if the holy ghost were giving his assent to the truth which has been spoken. "blessed are the dead which die in the lord." it is like an old time antiphonal service, when choir answered choir in the house of god; or, to put it in another way, it is one of those remarkable interruptions several instances of which are found in the scriptures. one is in hebrews the thirteenth chapter and the eighth verse, "jesus christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." according to the revision this verse has an added word and reads as follows, "jesus christ the same yesterday and to-day, _yea_ and forever." i call special attention to the little word "yea." somebody has said that it is as if the apostle were saying that jesus is the same to-day that he was yesterday, than which no thought could be more comforting. and it would seem at the closing part of the verse as if the angels of god had broken in upon his message to say, "yea, and he is forever the same," which is certainly true. could anything be more inspiring than to know that we have the approval of the holy ghost of the things we say or think? there are many representations of the spirit of god in the bible. his love is presented under the figure of the mother love, as in genesis the first chapter and the second verse; "and the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. and the spirit of god _moved_ [or brooded] upon the face of the waters." in this text the spirit broods over the world as the mother bird hovers over her little ones. we see him in the figure of the dove in matthew the third chapter and the sixteenth verse: "and jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were opened unto him and he saw the spirit of god descending like a _dove_, and lighting upon him." and here we have a revelation of his gentleness. again he is presented to us under the figure of the wind, "and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty _wind_, and it filled all the house where they were sitting" (acts : ). here we see his power. we catch a vision of him in the fire in acts the second chapter and the third verse, "and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them"; and here we understand his cleansing influence. but here in this text we have his directing power. it is as if he were giving particular attention to all that john is saying and giving his approval to it because it is the truth. since the day of pentecost he has occupied a new position. however, he has existed from all eternity. we behold him in his work in the old testament scriptures. but from the day of pentecost the affairs of the church have been committed to him, its organization, its development, its services, whether it be the preaching, the praying or the singing. we cannot ignore him, for he has to do with all the work and with the preaching of the word. he convicts of sin. john : , "no man can come to me, except the father which hath sent me draw him: and i will raise him up at the last day." he applies christ to the awakened sinner, "howbeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. he shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." he helps to interpret the word of god because he inspired men to write it. it is impossible to get along without him. i put no mark of disrespect upon scholarship. i know what it has accomplished; it has filled libraries with knowledge which has made the world rich, it has weighed planets and given us almost a perfect understanding of the heavenly bodies. it has estimated the velocity of light until we have stopped to say, "such things are too wonderful for us." it has read the tracings upon obelisks, and made the past an open book to us, giving us the secrets of men who have been thousands of years in their tombs, but i do wish to say that that which comes to us directly from the spirit of god is beyond scholarship. hear what paul has said to us in corinthians the second chapter and the ninth to the fourteenth verses. "but as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which god hath prepared for them that love him. but god hath revealed them unto us by his spirit: for the spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of god. for what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of god knoweth no man, but the spirit of god. now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of god; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of god. which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the holy ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of god: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." there are certain great truths to which i am sure the holy ghost would say a deep amen. i the bible _is_ the word of god--not simply that it _contains_ the word of god, but is that very word. peter tells us where we got our bible. peter : , "for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost." it is an inspired book, and inspiration is the inbreathing of god himself. this makes the bible different from every other book. we cannot study it exactly as we study others. we may pick it up and say it is just paper, ink and leather, like any other book, but we have missed the power of it if we say this. we might say, "jesus is just a man, eating, drinking, sleeping, suffering like a man"; but we have missed his power if we say only this, for the bible is filled with god, and jesus is god himself. jesus said, "ye must be born again if ye are to enter my kingdom," and this makes the difference in men. because of this new birth one man sees the things of god to which another would be totally blind, and this makes the difference in books and leaves the bible incomparably beyond all other books. how may we know that the bible is the word of god? not simply scientifically, although the bible is a scientific book; but not in this way any more than we could find life in the body by cutting it up with a knife. the bible is like a sensitive plant; approach it in the wrong way and it will close its leaves and withhold its fragrance. come to it reverently and there is no blessing that it cannot bestow. . accept it by faith and act according to its principles. if god exists, as we know he does, then talk with him; if christ is here presented to us with all his uplifting teachings, then walk with him; if the promises of god are written here, as we know they are, then present them to him expecting him to keep his word. general booth of the salvation army once said in a great meeting where i was present that we were poor, weak christians to-day because we were not living up to our privileges as christians. he described a young man who had lost his position and had gone from one degree of poverty to another until at last he was on the verge of starvation. with his wife and little ones about him he sits in deepest gloom. there is a rap at the door and the postman brings a letter which is a message from a former employer who tells him that he has just learned of his distress, that he will help him, and that in the meantime he incloses his check for a sum of money which he hopes may make him comfortable. a check is simply a promise to pay. the young man, says general booth, looks at it a moment and then begins to rush about the room in great excitement. "poor man," said his wife, "i knew it would come to this. his mind is giving way." then he presents the check to her and says, "i know what i shall do with it. i will frame it and hang it on the wall." then again he exclaims, "i shall take it to my friend and have him set it to music and sing it each day," and he might do both of these and starve to death. what he should have done was to present it for payment and live off of its proceeds. "we have been framing god's promises long enough," said general booth, "and singing them quite long enough; let us now present them for payment, and we shall know that god is true." . live its truth. whatever god presents as a principle translate into your life and then believe that god will transform your living. it will support you in trial and it will comfort you in the deepest sorrow. the world was shocked by that great railroad accident which meant the death of mrs. booth-tucker, but when in carnegie hall commander booth-tucker stood to speak great words concerning his noble wife he said: "i was once talking with a man in chicago about becoming a christian and he said to me, 'if god had taken away your beautiful wife and you were left desolate with your little children would you believe in him?' and," said the commander before his great new york audience, "if that man is in this audience to-day let me tell him. god has taken my beautiful wife and i am here surrounded by my children, but i never believed in him more thoroughly and was never more confident of the truth of his word." ii jesus christ is the son of god. to this truth i am very sure the holy ghost will add his amen. in john the fifteenth chapter and the twenty-sixth verse we read, "but when the comforter is come, whom i will send unto you from the father, even the spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the father, he shall testify of me." and if you would know that jesus christ is god's son i would suggest, . that you simply test him; try him in heathen lands and tell me if any other story could thrill and transform as does the story of his life and death. dr. torrey says that whether the story was told in china or england, whether the story was told in india or australia, it was always the same and never was without effect. . try him in your own life. one day in a service in a western city an old woman was wheeled into the church in an invalid's chair. i knew by the expression of her countenance that she was suffering. when i met her after the service and asked her about her story she said as the most excruciating pain convulsed her body, "i have not been free from pain in twenty years and have scarcely slept a night through all that time," and then, brushing the tears from her eyes, and with an expectant face, she exclaimed, "but if i could tell you all that jesus christ has been to me in these twenty years i could thrill you through and through." . if you would know that he is the son of god just lift him up and behold him as he draws all men unto him. this is the secret of the power of great preaching. it made mr. moody known whereever the english language is spoken and constituted mr. spurgeon one of the world's greatest preachers. as a matter of fact there is no other theme which may be presented in the pulpit by the minister with an assurance of the co-operation of the holy ghost. there may be times when he may feel obliged to preach concerning philosophy, poetry, art and science, but unless these things lead directly to christ we have no reason for believing that the holy ghost will add his amen to our message, and without this amen the time is almost lost. iii the church is the body of christ. i am persuaded that to this truth he will give his hearty assent. this is paul's over and over. notice the following verses. acts : , "then they that gladly received his word were baptized; and the same day there were added _unto them_ about three thousand souls." the words "unto them" are in italics, so not in the original, and we ask "added to what?" acts : , "praising god, and having favor with all the people. and the lord '_added to the church_' daily such as should be saved." here we are beginning to get the truth. acts : , "and believers were the more added _to the lord_, multitudes both of men and women." this is the truth. you will see that christ is the head, the church is his body and we are, as individual members of the church, just being added to him. one day the body will be completed and then the lord himself will appear. if christ is the head he must control the body. if his life is hindered and not permitted to flow through every part of it there is confusion, strife, unrest and loss of power. there are certain things which we must do if we are to be in this world as he would have us. he must control the preaching. if given an opportunity he will direct in the choice of a theme, he will quicken our intellect in the development of that theme, he will give us an insight into the best way to present it to our hearers, and putting faith in these preliminary conditions he will take care of the results. he must also dictate the praying in a church. there is much of it that is meaningless. it is too formal, too lifeless, and entirely too general in its character. in matthew the eighteenth chapter and the nineteenth verse, we read, "again i say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my father which is in heaven." it does not mean that if the two should agree together as touching any one thing, but agree with him, for wherever you find two in prayer there are three, and wherever there are three there are four, and the additional one present is the spirit of god waiting to help us in our praying and to present our prayers unto the father in the name of jesus christ. he must inspire the singing of the church. in ephesians the fifth chapter and the nineteenth verse we read, "speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the lord." one reason why there is such a lack of power in many churches in this country is due to the fact that the singing is simply used as filling for the services. hymns are used in a haphazard way with little thought as to their bearing upon the theme to be presented. i am quite persuaded that when the preaching, praying and singing are all submitted to his control, whatever may be man's opinion of the service, he himself will give to it his hearty amen. iv we are the sons of god. in romans the eighth chapter the sixteenth and seventeenth verses we read, "the spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of god; and if children, then heirs; heirs of god, and joint-heirs with christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." to this truth he will say amen. a careful study of the scriptures will reveal the fact that, . we are heirs. if therefore this be true we have but to claim our birthright privilege, and there is no weakness in our lives but may be offset by the strength of his. whatever christ has received as the head of the church he has received in trust for the body and we may have our possession in him if we but appropriate it. a man in england died the other day in the poorhouse. he had a little english farm upon which he could raise no grain and he let it go to waste and died a pauper. his heirs discovered that on this little english possession there was a copper mine and they are living in luxury to-day in the possession of that which belonged to their ancester [transcriber's note: ancestor?] all the time but was not appropriated and used by him. . being sons of god, we are not free from trial; but there is this one thing to say about our christian experience: "our light afflictions which are but for a moment work for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory," and god's presence with us in trial is infinitely better than his absence from us in the time of prosperity. our trials are but the discipline through which we must pass in order that we may one day be prepared to stand in his presence and do his bidding throughout eternity. . being sons of god, we are sure one day of glory. the song which has been singing its way around the world in the torrey-alexander meetings presents this thought to us beautifully. "when all my labors and trials are o'er and i am safe on that beautiful shore, just to be near the dear lord i adore will thro' the ages be glory for me. "when by the gift of his infinite grace i am accorded in heaven a place, just to be there and look on his face will thro' the ages be glory for me. "friends will be there i have loved long ago; joy like a river around me will flow; yet just a smile from my savior, i know, will thro' the ages be glory for me. _chorus._ "oh, that will be glory for me, glory for me, glory for me, when by his grace i shall look on his face, that will be glory, be glory for me." whatever may be our limitations here, they shall be gone there; whatever may be our weakness here, it shall be lost there. dr. charles hodge in his "lectures on theology" has given us an imaginary picture of laura bridgman, the famous deaf-mute. the celebrated theologian has described her standing in the presence of christ in that great day when we shall all be before him, when christ shall touch her eyes and say, "daughter, see," and there shall sweep through her vision all the glories of the sky; when he shall touch her ears, which have been so long closed, and say, "daughter, hear," and into her soul shall come all the harmonies of heaven; when he shall touch her lips, which on earth have never spoken a human word, and say, "daughter, speak," and with all the angel choir she will burst into the new song. what dr. hodge has said concerning laura bridgman will be true of us. our day of limitations will be past, the experiences of weakness be gone, and we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. this, therefore, is a good outline of a creed for us to-day. we believe the bible is the word of god, we believe that jesus is the son of god, we believe that the church is the body of christ, we believe that we are by regeneration the sons of god, and making such a statement we have a right to stop and listen and i am sure we shall hear as from the skies, "amen, saith the spirit." a reasonable service text: "_i beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of god, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto god, which is your reasonable service._"--romans : . there is perhaps no chapter in the new testament, certainly none in this epistle, with which we are more familiar than this one which is introduced by the text; and yet, however familiar we may be with the statements, if we read them carefully and study them honestly they must always come to us not only in the nature of an inspiration but also with rebuke, especially to those of us who preach. paul's intellectual ability has never been questioned. yet, giant though he was in this respect, he was not ashamed to be pathetic when he likens his care for his people to the care of a nurse for her children. he is not ashamed to be extravagant when he likens his sorrow and pain at their backsliding to the travail of a woman for her child. he is not ashamed to be intense when in the ninth chapter and the first, second and third verses he says, "i say the truth in christ, i lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy ghost, that i have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. for i could wish that myself were accursed from christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." we must also be impressed with the fact that he was not at all afraid of public criticism. he not only sat at gamaliel's feet but the great lawmaker might well have taken his place at his feet, and yet he says, "i am willing to be counted a fool if only i may win men to christ." he is not bound by custom. he not only preaches in the synagogue and in the places set apart for the churches of the early days, but he goes about from house to house entreating people to come to christ. he is not ashamed to weep, for he sends his messages to the people and exclaims, "i tell you these things weeping"; and here in this text he is strikingly unusual, for he is not a preacher speaking with dignity, nor an apostle commending obedience, but a loving friend beseeching in the most pathetic way the yielding of themselves to christ. there are two things to remember about paul in the study of such a subject. first: he was a jew and he knew all about offerings. sacrifices were not forms to him and a living sacrifice was not a meaningless expression. he had been present on the great day of atonement when the scapegoat bore away the sins of the people. he had heard the chimes of the bells on the high priest's robe as he moved to and fro before the entrance to the holy of holies, and he had waited with breathless silence for him to come forth giving evidence in his coming of the fact that israel could once more approach jehovah. the text to him was throbbing with holy memories and was full of significance. second: he received his instructions concerning these things of god, not from men, for when he writes to the galatians he says: "but i certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for i neither received it of man, neither was i taught it, but by the revelation of jesus christ" (galatians : - ). and so, since he is a heaven-taught man, we must listen while he speaks and give heed to his entreaties. i _the context_. we shall not appreciate this striking text unless we take into account its setting. the first chapters of romans present to us a black cloud indeed, for when the first sentences are spoken we shudder because of their intensity. we read in the twenty-fourth verse that god gave the people _up_ to uncleanness; in the twenty-sixth verse that he gave them _up_ to vile affections, but in the twenty-eighth verse that he gave them _over_ to a reprobate mind. with this awful condition of affairs we start; and yet for fear that the man who counts himself a moralist might read these verses and feel that they did not apply to him, paul writes in the third chapter and the twenty-second verse these words, "even the righteousness of god, which is by faith of jesus christ, unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference." but when the cloud is the blackest the rays of light begin to appear, and they are rays of light from heaven; looking on the one side at mystery and catching a vision on the other side of grace, paul exclaims, "i beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of god, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto god, which is your reasonable service" (romans : ). the word mercy is of frequent occurrence in the bible. "from everlasting to everlasting is god's mercy," we read. this gives us some idea of duration. "new every morning and fresh every evening are his mercies." this reveals to us the fact that they are unchanging. "he is a god of mercy." this is his character. "let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the lord and he will have mercy upon him." this is the invitation of god given to all the world! but paul is not speaking of mercy in general; he goes on in his masterful argument outlining the doctrines of grace and on the strength of that he uses the text. first: we are justified. the fifth chapter and the first verse, "therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ." in justification our sins are pardoned and we are accepted as righteous because of the righteousness of christ, which is imputed unto us and received by faith alone. and yet to him this definition in every day language means that, being justified, we stand before god as if we never had sinned. no wonder that in the light of such a doctrine paul could say, "i beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of god, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto god, which is your reasonable service" (romans : ). second: _we are kept safe_. romans : , "for if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to god by the death of his son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." literally the closing part of this verse is, "we are kept safe in his life." a child in its mother's arms could not be so secure as we in his life. underneath us are the everlasting arms and around about us the sure mercies of god. third: _we are baptized into his death_. "know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into jesus christ were baptized into his death?" (romans : ). "the wages of sin is death." this is god's irrevocable statement, but christ died for our sins and paul's argument here is that we died with him, so the demands of the law have been met and we are to go free. no wonder paul could say, "i beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of god, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto god, which is your reasonable service." fourth: _we are alive unto god_. romans : , "likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto god through jesus christ our lord." not only are we justified and kept safe and crucified with him and buried with him but in the plan of god we are risen with him. what a wonderful mercy this is! fifth: _we have deliverance from the self life_. the seventh chapter of romans is just the cry of a breaking heart and reaches its climax in the twenty-fourth verse, "o wretched man that i am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" but the deliverance is in the eighth chapter, especially in the second verse, "for the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." what a mercy this is! sixth: _for those of us who believe there is no condemnation_. romans : , "there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in christ jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit." judgment is past because he has been judged. we have nothing to do with the great white throne; christ as our substitute has met sin's penalty and paid our debts. what a mercy this is! no wonder paul is thrilled with the thought of it. seventh: _no separation_. romans : - , "for i am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of god, which is in christ jesus our lord." so that for time we are safe and our eternity is sure. was there ever such a catalogue of mercies? in the light of all this the apostle exclaims, "i beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of god, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto god, which is your reasonable service" (romans : ). it is a good thing to study paul's "_therefores_." he is a logician of the highest type. in romans : , there is the "_therefore of justification_." in romans the eighth chapter and the first verse there is the "_therefore of no condemnation_." in romans the twelfth chapter and the first verse there is the "_therefore of consecration_," and this as a matter of fact is the outline of the epistle. ii _present your bodies_. this means the entire yielding of one's self to christ. it corresponds to the old testament presentation of the burnt offering all of which was consumed. back in the old testament times for fourteen years there had been no song in the temple, for it was filled with rubbish and uncleanness, but the rubbish was put away and the uncleanness vanished, the burnt offering was presented and the song of the lord began again. if you have lost your song and have been deprived of the harmony of heaven then present your bodies a living sacrifice. there is a threefold division in man's nature. _the spirit_, where god abides if we are his children. this is like the holy of holies. _the soul_, which is the abode of the man himself. _the body_, which is the outer court. when christ was crucified the veil of the temple was rent in twain and the whole was like one great compartment. i cannot but think that if we should come to the place of complete consecration, the acceptance in our lives of what was purchased for us when he was crucified, for us the veil of the temple would be rent in twain and not only would god abide in our spirits but he would suffuse our whole nature, look with our eyes, and speak with our lips. this must have been what paul meant when he said, "i live, yet not i, but christ liveth in me." iii _a living sacrifice_. that is in contrast with the dead offering of the old testament sacrifice. suppose for a moment that it would have been possible for an offering to have been presented in the old testament times and then after that for it to have lived again; it is inconceivable that this offering would have been put to any unholy use. i have many times tried to imagine the surprise of the son of the widow of nain and the daughter of jairus after their being raised from the dead. they certainly could not have lived selfish, sinful lives again, and i am sure that lazarus when once he had been in the grave and was raised at the voice of the master could never again have been worldly and unclean. but let it not be forgotten that we are a risen people; we were crucified with christ, we died with christ, we were buried with christ, we have risen with christ! how then ought we to live? in one of our western cities a minister told me recently of a young man who had graduated at a school for stammerers and came to see him one day. keeping time with his fingers in the use of his words he said slowly: "i--want--to--speak--to--you." without following his method of speech through i will quote what he said: "i have for a long time wanted to be a christian and was ashamed to attempt to speak when it was so imperfectly done, but now i have graduated and i have the control in part at least of my speech, and i have come to you to-day to make my confession, for the first use i make of my voice must be the confession of him who loved me and gave himself for me." iv _your reasonable service_. it is a reasonable service, first: because god uses human instrumentality and he needs you, and it is therefore a reasonable demand to make, for we should place ourselves absolutely at his disposal. in the guest book of a friend i saw recently a few lines written by dr. john willis baer in which he said, quoting from another: "god gave himself for us. "god gave himself to us. "god wants to give himself through us." but if our lives are inconsistent and our hearts are unclean he cannot do it. if we have not yielded ourselves altogether god himself is limited. second: it is a reasonable request to make because of what god has done for us. one of the distinguished ministers of the presbyterian church told us the other day in a conference in a western city that a little boy who had been operated upon by dr. lorenz said as soon as he came out from under the anesthetic, "it will be a long time before my mother hears the last of this doctor"; and then, said my friend, "i thought of an incident in my own life of a poor german boy whose feet were twisted out of shape, whose mother was poor and could not have him operated upon, and i determined to bring him to a great doctor and ask him to take him in charge. the operation was over and was a great success. when the plaster cast had been taken off from his feet my friend said he went to take him home. he called his attention to the hospital and the boy admired it, but he said, 'i like the doctor best.' he spoke of the nurses and the boy was slightly interested, but said, 'they are nothing compared to the doctor.' he called his attention to the perfect equipment of the hospital and he was unmoved except as again and again he referred to the doctor. they reached the missouri town and stepped out of the station together, and the old german mother was waiting to receive him. she did not look at her boy's face nor at his hands but she fell on her knees and looked at his feet and then said sobbing, 'it is just like any other boy's foot.' taken into her arms, the minister said all the boy kept saying to her over and over was, 'mother, you ought to know the doctor that made me walk.'" then my friend said, "there is not one of us for whom jesus christ has not done ten thousand times more for us than the doctor did for this boy, and we have never spoken for him, we have not yielded ourselves to him." it must have been with some such spirit as this that the apostle said, "i beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of god, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, which is your reasonable service" (romans : ). the true christian life text: "_my beloved is mine, and i am his._"--sol. song : . "_i am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine._"--sol. song : . "_i am my beloved's and his desire is toward me._"--sol. song : . these three texts should be read together, and the significant change found in each text as the thought unfolds should be studied carefully. they remind one of three mountain peaks one rising higher than the other until the third is lifted into the very heavens. indeed, if one should live in the spirit of this third text he would enjoy what paul has described as a life in the heavenly places, and his picture of christ would be surpassingly beautiful. at the same time the three texts give us a complete picture of a true christian life. the first text may be regeneration, the second text consecration, and the third text sanctification. the jews counted this book, the song of solomon, as exceedingly sacred. they hid it away until the child had come to maturity before he was allowed to read it, and it was to them the holy of holies of the old testament scripture. these texts are also like the division of the ancient tabernacle. there was first of all the outer court where the altar of sacrifice was to be found--and this must be constantly kept in mind, for no one can say "my beloved is mine" until he has passed the altar of sacrifice. it is only by faith in jesus christ that we are adopted into the membership of the family of god. the second division was the holy place, where was found the laver. here the priests made themselves clean, and they could not minister in the presence of jehovah until they had been made clean from all earthly defilement. this second text gives us the same thought, for here the writer changes the order exactly and says, "i am my beloved," instead of saying, "my beloved is mine." this is consecration and the consecration of a clean life. god will not accept or use that which is unclean, and it is only as we come to the place where we allow him to have full control of our lives that we realize we are his. the third division of the tabernacle was the holy of holies, where the high priest made his way once a year that he might stand in the presence of jehovah. in this third text, where the writer says, "i am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me," we have come to the place in our experience where if his desire for us controls our living we are in the holy of holies indeed; where we can see him and enjoy his presence. i "_my beloved is mine._" this is regeneration. a minister once preaching to his congregation said, "let every one say jesus," and from all over the congregation there came the music of his name. "now," said the minister, "let all those who can, say 'my jesus,'" and the response was not so hearty. a line ran through the congregation separating husband from wife and parents from children. it is only by faith in christ and by the operation of the grace of god that we can experience this first text. two things are true concerning this point. first: he wants to make better all that we have. whatever may be our natural characteristics, he can make all that we have more beautiful. one day in colorado i wanted to make a journey to the summit of pike's peak, only to find that throughout the entire day the train was chartered. i was turning away in despair when a railroad man said, "why do you not go up at three o'clock to-morrow morning, for then," he said, "you can see the sun rise, and the sight is beautiful." so the next morning we started. just as i was going on the train a railroad man said, "when you come to the sharp turn in the way as you go up, look over in the cripple creek district and you will see a sight never to be forgotten." we climbed higher and higher, leaving the darkness at the foot of the mountain, until at last we came to the place indicated and i looked away, only to be intensely disappointed. the sight was almost commonplace. as we pursued the journey upward finally we came to another place, where i heard some one give an exclamation of delight. as i looked in the same direction there was a marvelous transformation. i could see before me a mountain which looked like a white-robed priest and another like a choir of angels and still another like a golden ladder reaching up into the skies, and all because the sun had risen upon the same scenery which a moment ago was uninteresting. if christ could only thus take possession of our lives and become our savior the transformation would be quite as great. second: he is ours to exercise in our behalf all that he is as prophet, priest and king. his office of prophet relates to the past, his office of king to the future when he shall be crowned king of kings and lord of lords, but his office as priest is now being fulfilled and he is my great high priest to intercede for me with god and make explanation for all my weakness. adelaide proctor has given us the story of a young girl who was in a convent in france, whose special work it was to attend the portal and keep the altar clean. the war swept over france, the battle raged near the convent, many of the soldiers were killed and a number injured. these were borne into the hospital that they might be nursed back to strength, and one of them was given to this young girl. her nursing was successful, but he tempted her to leave the convent. they made their way to paris, where she lost everything that makes life worth living. then, just a wreck of her former self, she came back again to die within the sound of the convent bell. she touched the portal and instantly it was opened, not by a girl such as she had been but by a woman such as she might have been--true and noble. she bore her in her arms to her old cell, nursed her back again to a semblance of her old strength, and then she slipped into her old place to answer the portal and keep the altar clean, and not a nun in all the convent ever knew that she had sinned. this is christ's ministry in our behalf at this time. making up for my weakness, answering for my defects, he is my high priest. ii "_i am my beloved's._" this is really better than the first text, because if he is mine, and faith is like a hand of the soul, then faith may grow weary and the result would be sad; if i am his and he holds me then that is different. in john the tenth chapter, the twenty-eighth to the thirtieth verses, we have a picture of the true sheepfold and of the place where the child of god may rest, held in the hand of god and of his dear son. "and i give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. my father, which gave them unto me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. i and my father are one." what a joy it is to know that we are his! first: his by redemption, for we are redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of christ. "ye are not your own but ye are bought with a price." second: we are his because god gave us to him; in his wonderful intercessory prayer jesus said, "thou gavest them to me," and again, "ye are not our own." third: we are his because again and again we have said so with our lips. how true the text is, then, in the light of the scripture! if this is true then what is consecration? it is not giving god something, for how could we give him that which is already his own? consecration is simply taking our hands off and letting him have his way with us in everything. the late george macgregor used to tell the story of one of the bishops of the church of england, who had an invalid wife and who never could surrender beyond a certain point. he was unwilling to say that he would give up his wife, for god might call him to some mission he could not perform, and she had been the constant object of his care. but at last he won the victory and rose from his knees to say to his friend that the surrender should be complete, and then they went into the room of his invalid wife to tell her. with a sweet smile upon her face she said, "i have reached the same decision and you can go to the ends of the earth if need be." that night the old bishop's wife died and when they went across the hall to tell the bishop there was no answer to their knock. when they entered the door they found the bishop with eyes closed, hands folded and heart still. he, too, had gone. god did not want to separate them. he wanted them to be united, their wills surrendered to him and then he would send them in the same chariot up into heaven. iii "_i am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me._" if we would know god's desire for us we have only to study the scriptures, and if we should fulfill his desires we would have an experience of heaven upon earth. first: it is his desire that we should be holy. ephesians : , "according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love." holiness in not sinlessness, it is to the spiritual nature what health is to the physical life. in other words, god desires that we should be spiritually healthy, and this we cannot be with secret sins in our lives. second: it is his desire that we should be sanctified. thessalonians : , "for this is the will of god, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." sanctification is not sinlessness, it is separation. it is absolutely useless to think of pleasing god if we are in touch with the world in any way, for since the days of the crucifixion it has been against him. third: it is his desire that we should present ourselves unto him in the sense above suggested--namely, that we should take our hands off from ourselves and allow him to direct and to control his own possession. romans : - , "i beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of god, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto god, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of god." romans : , "neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto god, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto god." in these expressions the tense of the verb indicates that the action is to be definite and that it is to be once and for all. he has certain desires for us also expressed in the seventeenth chapter of john. first: he desires that we should have joy. joy is better than happiness; happiness depends upon our surroundings and circumstances, joy has nothing to do with these but rather is the result of centering our affections upon him. second: he desires that we should be one with him. by this i am sure he means that we should be one in our thought of sin, one in our desire for holiness, one in our efforts to reach the unsaved, and one in our longing in all things to be pure and true and good. third: he desires to make us the object of his love. in this seventeenth chapter of john he tells us that the same love which he had for his son he has for those of us who are in his son. thank god for this. if he must open the windows of heaven to speak forth his love for that son and then has the same for us, oh, what joy it is to be a christian! proofreading team. new tabernacle sermons by t. de witt talmage, d.d. author of "_crumbs swept up_," "_the abominations of modern society_," etc. delivered in the brooklyn tabernacle. vol. i new york: george munro, publisher, to vandewater street. . [illustration: t. de witt talmage] _entered according to act of congress, in the year , by_ george munro, _in the office of the librarian of congress, washington, d.c._ contents. page brawn and muscle the pleiades and orion the queen's visit vicarious suffering posthumous opportunity the lord's razor windows toward jerusalem stormed and taken all the world akin a momentous quest the great assize the road to the city the ransomless the three groups the insignificant the three rings how he came to say it castle jesus stripping the slain sold out summer temptations the banished queen the day we live in capital and labor despotism of the needle tobacco and opium why are satan and sin permitted? brawn and muscle. "and samson went down to timnath."--judges xiv: . there are two sides to the character of samson. the one phase of his life, if followed into the particulars, would administer to the grotesque and the mirthful; but there is a phase of his character fraught with lessons of solemn and eternal import. to these graver lessons we devote our morning sermon. this giant no doubt in early life gave evidences of what he was to be. it is almost always so. there were two napoleons--the boy napoleon and the man napoleon--but both alike; two howards--the boy howard and the man howard--but both alike; two samsons--the boy samson and the man samson--but both alike. this giant was no doubt the hero of the playground, and nothing could stand before his exhibitions of youthful prowess. at eighteen years of age he was betrothed to the daughter of a philistine. going down toward timnath, a lion came out upon him, and, although this young giant was weaponless, he seized the monster by the long mane and shook him as a hungry hound shakes a march hare, and made his bones crack, and left him by the wayside bleeding under the smiting of his fist and the grinding heft of his heel. there he stands, looming up above other men, a mountain of flesh, his arms bunched with muscle that can lift the gate of a city, taking an attitude defiant of everything. his hair had never been cut, and it rolled down in seven great plaits over his shoulders, adding to his bulk, fierceness, and terror. the philistines want to conquer him, and therefore they must find out where the secret of his strength lies. there is a dissolute woman living in the valley of sorek by the name of delilah. they appoint her the agent in the case. the philistines are secreted in the same building, and then delilah goes to work and coaxes samson to tell what is the secret of his strength. "well," he says, "if you should take seven green withes such as they fasten wild beasts with and put them around me i should be perfectly powerless." so she binds him with the seven green withes. then she claps her hands and says: "they come--the philistines!" and he walks out as though they were no impediment. she coaxes him again, and says: "now tell me the secret of this great strength?" and he replies: "if you should take some ropes that have never been used and tie me with them i should be just like other men." she ties him with the ropes, claps her hands, and shouts: "they come--the philistines!" he walks out as easily as he did before--not a single obstruction. she coaxes him again, and he says: "now, if you should take these seven long plaits of hair, and by this house-loom weave them into a web, i could not get away." so the house-loom is rolled up, and the shuttle flies backward and forward and the long plaits of hair are woven into a web. then she claps her hands, and says: "they come--the philistines!" he walks out as easily as he did before, dragging a part of the loom with him. but after awhile she persuades him to tell the truth. he says: "if you should take a razor or shears and cut off this long hair, i should be powerless and in the hands of my enemies." samson sleeps, and that she may not wake him up during the process of shearing, help is called in. you know that the barbers of the east have such a skillful way of manipulating the head to this very day that, instead of waking up a sleeping man, they will put a man wide awake sound asleep. i hear the blades of the shears grinding against each other, and i see the long locks falling off. the shears or razor accomplishes what green withes and new ropes and house-loom could not do. suddenly she claps her hands, and says: "the philistines be upon thee, samson!" he rouses up with a struggle, but his strength is all gone. he is in the hands of his enemies. i hear the groan of the giant as they take his eyes out, and then i see him staggering on in his blindness, feeling his way as he goes on toward gaza. the prison door is open, and the giant is thrust in. he sits down and puts his hands on the mill-crank, which, with exhausting horizontal motion, goes day after day, week after week, month after month--work, work, work! the consternation of the world in captivity, his locks shorn, his eyes punctured, grinding corn in gaza! i. first of all, behold in this giant of the text that physical power is not always an index of moral power. he was a huge man--the lion found it out, and the three thousand men whom he slew found it out; yet he was the subject of petty revenges and out-gianted by low passion. i am far from throwing any discredit upon physical stamina. there are those who seem to have great admiration for delicacy and sickliness of constitution. i never could see any glory in weak nerves or sick headache. whatever effort in our day is made to make the men and women more robust should have the favor of every good citizen as well as of every christian. gymnastics may be positively religious. good people sometimes ascribe to a wicked heart what they ought to ascribe to a slow liver. the body and the soul are such near neighbors that they often catch each other's diseases. those who never saw a sick day, and who, like hercules, show the giant in the cradle, have more to answer for than those who are the subjects of life-long infirmities. he who can lift twice as much as you can, and walk twice as far, and work twice as long, will have a double account to meet in the judgment. how often it is that you do not find physical energy indicative of spiritual power! if a clear head is worth more than one dizzy with perpetual vertigo--if muscles with the play of health in them are worth more than those drawn up in chronic "rheumatics"--if an eye quick to catch passing objects is better than one with vision dim and uncertain--then god will require of us efficiency just in proportion to what he has given us. physical energy ought to be a type of moral power. we ought to have as good digestion of truth as we have capacity to assimilate food. our spiritual hearing ought to be as good as our physical hearing. our spiritual taste ought to be as clear as our tongue. samsons in body, we ought to be giants in moral power. but while you find a great many men who realize that they ought to use their money aright, and use their intelligence aright, how few men you find aware of the fact that they ought to use their physical organism aright! with every thump of the heart there is something saying, "work! work!" and, lest we should complain that we have no tools to work with, god gives us our hands and feet, with every knuckle, and with every joint, and with every muscle saying to us, "lay hold and do something." but how often it is that men with physical strength do not serve christ! they are like a ship full manned and full rigged, capable of vast tonnage, able to endure all stress of weather, yet swinging idly at the docks, when these men ought to be crossing and recrossing the great ocean of human suffering and sin with god's supplies of mercy. how often it is that physical strength is used in doing positive damage, or in luxurious ease, when, with sleeves rolled up and bronzed bosom, fearless of the shafts of opposition, it ought to be laying hold with all its might, and tugging away to lift up this sunken wreck of a world. it is a most shameful fact that much of the business of the church and of the world must be done by those comparatively invalid. richard baxter, by reason of his diseases, all his days sitting in the door of the tomb, yet writing more than a hundred volumes, and sending out an influence for god that will endure as long as the "saints' everlasting rest." edward payson, never knowing a well day, yet how he preached, and how he wrote, helping thousands of dying souls like himself to swim in a sea of glory! and robert m'cheyne, a walking skeleton, yet you know what he did in dundee, and how he shook scotland with zeal for god. philip doddridge, advised by his friends, because of his illness, not to enter the ministry, yet you know what he did for the "rise and progress of religion" in the church and in the world. wilberforce was told by his doctors that he could not live a fortnight, yet at that very time entering upon philanthropic enterprises that demanded the greatest endurance and persistence. robert hall, suffering excruciations, so that often in his pulpit while preaching he would stop and lie down on a sofa, then getting up again to preach about heaven until the glories of the celestial city dropped on the multitude, doing more work, perhaps, than almost any well man in his day. oh, how often it is that men with great physical endurance are not as great in moral and spiritual stature! while there are achievements for those who are bent all their days with sickness--achievements of patience, achievements of christian endurance--i call upon men of health to-day, men of muscle, men of nerve, men of physical power, to devote themselves to the lord. giants in body, you ought to be giants in soul. ii. behold also, in the story of my text, illustration of the fact of the damage that strength can do if it be misguided. it seems to me that this man spent a great deal of his time in doing evil--this samson of my text. to pay a bet which he had lost by guessing of his riddle he robs and kills thirty people. he was not only gigantic in strength, but gigantic in mischief, and a type of those men in all ages of the world who, powerful in body or mind, or any faculty of social position or wealth, have used their strength for iniquitous purposes. it is not the small, weak men of the day who do the damage. these small men who go swearing and loafing about your stores and shops and banking-houses, assailing christ and the bible and the church--they do not do the damage. they have no influence. they are vermin that you crush with your foot. but it is the giants of the day, the misguided giants, giants in physical power, or giants in mental acumen, or giants in social position, or giants in wealth, who do the damage. the men with sharp pens that stab religion and throw their poison all through our literature; the men who use the power of wealth to sanction iniquity, and bribe justice, and make truth and honor bow to their golden scepter. misguided giants--look out for them! in the middle and the latter part of the last century no doubt there were thousands of men in paris and edinburgh and london who hated god and blasphemed the name of the almighty; but they did but little mischief--they were small men, insignificant men. yet there were giants in those days. who can calculate the soul-havoc of a rousseau, going on with a very enthusiasm of iniquity, with fiery imagination seizing upon all the impulsive natures of his day? or david hume, who employed his life as a spider employs its summer, in spinning out silken webs to trap the unwary? or voltaire, the most learned man of his day, marshaling a great host of skeptics, and leading them out in the dark land of infidelity? or gibbon, who showed an uncontrollable grudge against religion in his history of one of the most fascinating periods of the world's existence--the decline and fall of the roman empire--a book in which, with all the splendors of his genius, he magnified the errors of christian disciples, while, with a sparseness of notice that never can be forgiven, he treated of the christian heroes of whom the world was not worthy? oh, men of stout physical health, men of great mental stature, men of high social position, men of great power of any sort, i want you to understand your power, and i want you to know that that power devoted to god will be a crown on earth, to you typical of a crown in heaven; but misguided, bedraggled in sin, administrative of evil, god will thunder against you with his condemnation in the day when millionaire and pauper, master and slave, king and subject, shall stand side by side in the judgment, and money-bags, and judicial ermine, and royal robe shall be riven with the lightnings. behold also, how a giant may be slain of a woman. delilah started the train of circumstances that pulled down the temple of dagon about samson's ears. and tens of thousands of giants have gone down to death and hell through the same impure fascinations. it seems to me that it is high time that pulpit and platform and printing-press speak out against the impurities of modern society. fastidiousness and prudery say: "better not speak--you will rouse up adverse criticism; you will make worse what you want to make better; better deal in glittering generalities; the subject is too delicate for polite ears." but there comes a voice from heaven overpowering the mincing sentimentalities of the day, saying: "cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgressions and the house of jacob their sins." the trouble is that when people write or speak upon this theme they are apt to cover it up with the graces of belles-lettres, so that the crime is made attractive instead of repulsive. lord byron in "don juan" adorns this crime until it smiles like a may queen. michelet, the great french writer, covers it up with bewitching rhetoric until it glows like the rising sun, when it ought to be made loathsome as a small-pox hospital. there are to-day influences abroad which, if unresisted by the pulpit and the printing-press, will turn new york and brooklyn into sodom and gomorrah, fit only for the storm of fire and brimstone that whelmed the cities of the plain. you who are seated in your christian homes, compassed by moral and religious restraints, do not realize the gulf of iniquity that bounds you on the north and the south and the east and the west. while i speak there are tens of thousands of men and women going over the awful plunge of an impure life; and while i cry to god for mercy upon their souls, i call upon you to marshal in the defense of your homes, your church and your nation. there is a banqueting hall that you have never heard described. you know all about the feast of ahasuerus, where a thousand lords sat. you know all about belshazzar's carousal, where the blood of the murdered king spurted into the faces of the banqueters. you may know of the scene of riot and wassail, when there was set before esopus one dish of food that cost $ , . but i speak now of a different banqueting hall. its roof is fretted with fire. its floor is tesselated with fire. its chalices are chased with fire. its song is a song of fire. its walls are buttresses of fire. solomon refers to it when he says: "her guests are in the depths of hell." our american communities are suffering from the gospel of free loveism, which, fifteen or twenty years ago, was preached on the platform and in some of the churches of this country. i charge upon free loveism that it has blighted innumerable homes, and that it has sent innumerable souls to ruin. free loveism is bestial; it is worse--it is infernal! it has furnished this land with about one thousand divorces annually. in one county in the state of indiana it furnished eleven divorces in one day before dinner. it has roused up elopements, north, south, east, and west. you can hardly take up a paper but you read of an elopement. as far as i can understand the doctrine of free loveism it is this: that every man ought to have somebody else's wife, and every wife somebody else's husband. they do not like our christian organization of society, and i wish they would all elope, the wretches of one sex taking the wretches of the other, and start to-morrow morning for the great sahara desert, until the simoom shall sweep seven feet of sand all over them, and not one passing caravan for the next five hundred years bring back one miserable bone of their carcasses! free loveism! it is the double-distilled extract of nux vomica, ratsbane, and adder's tongue. never until society goes back to the old bible, and hears its eulogy of purity and its anathema of uncleanness--never until then will this evil be extirpated. iv. behold also in this giant of the text and in the giant of our own century that great physical power must crumble and expire. the samson of the text long ago went away. he fought the lion. he fought the philistines. he could fight anything, but death was too much for him. he may have required a longer grave and a broader grave; but the tomb nevertheless was his terminus. if, then, we are to be compelled to go out of this world, where are we to go to? this body and soul must soon part. what shall be the destiny of the former i know--dust to dust. but what shall be the destiny of the latter? shall it rise into the companionship of the white-robed, whose sins christ has slain? or will it go down among the unbelieving, who tried to gain the world and save their souls, but were swindled out of both? blessed be god, we have a champion! he is so styled in the bible: a champion who has conquered death and hell, and he is ready to fight all our battles from the first to the last. "who is this that cometh from edom, with dyed garments from bozrah, mighty to save?" if we follow in the wake of that champion death has no power and the grave no victory. the worst man trusting in him shall have his dying pangs alleviated and his future illumined. v. in the light of this subject i want to call your attention to a fact which may not have been rightly considered by five men in this house, and that is the fact that we must be brought into judgment for the employment of our physical organism. shoulder, brain, hand, foot--we must answer in judgment for the use we have made of them. have they been used for the elevation of society or for its depression? in proportion as our arm is strong and our step elastic will our account at last be intensified. thousands of sermons are preached to invalids. i preach this sermon this morning to stout men and healthful women. we must give to god an account for the right use of this physical organism. these invalids have comparatively little to account for, perhaps. they could not lift twenty pounds. they could not walk half a mile without sitting down to rest. in the preparation of this subject i have said to myself, how shall i account to god in judgment for the use of a body which never knew one moment of real sickness? rising up in judgment, standing beside the men and women who had only little physical energy, and yet consumed that energy in a conflagration of religious enthusiasm, how will we feel abashed! oh, men of the strong arm and the stout heart, what use are you making of your physical forces? will you be able to stand the test of that day when we must answer for the use of every talent, whether it were a physical energy, or a mental acumen, or a spiritual power? the day approaches, and i see one who in this world was an invalid, and as she stands before the throne of god to answer she says, "i was sick all my days. i had but very little strength, but i did as well as i could in being kind to those who were more sick and more suffering." and christ will say, "well done, faithful servant." and then a little child will stand before the throne, and she will say, "on earth i had a curvature of the spine, and i was very weak, and i was very sick; but i used to gather flowers out of the wild-wood and bring them to my sick mother, and she was comforted when she saw the sweet flowers out of the wild-wood. i didn't do much, but i did something." and christ shall say, as he takes her up in his arm and kisses her, "well done, well done, faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy lord." what, then, will be said to us--we to whom the lord gave physical strength and continuous health? hark! it thunders again. the judgment! the judgment! i said to an old scotch minister, who was one of the best friends i ever had, "doctor, did you ever know robert pollock, the scotch poet, who wrote 'the course of time'?" "oh, yes," he replied, "i knew him well; i was his classmate." and then the doctor went on to tell me how that the writing of "the course of time" exhausted the health of robert pollock, and he expired. it seems as if no man could have such a glimpse of the day for which all other days were made as robert pollock had, and long survive that glimpse. in the description of that day he says, among other things: "begin the woe, ye woods, and tell it to the doleful winds and doleful winds wail to the howling hills, and howling hills mourn to the dismal vales, and dismal vales sigh to the sorrowing brooks, and sorrowing brooks weep to the weeping stream, and weeping stream awake the groaning deep; ye heavens, great archway of the universe, put sack-cloth on; and ocean, robe thyself in garb of widowhood, and gather all thy waves into a groan, and utter it. long, loud, deep, piercing, dolorous, immense. the occasion asks it, nature dies, and angels come to lay her in her grave." what robert pollock saw in poetic dream, you and i will see in positive reality--the judgment! the judgment! the pleiades and orion. "seek him that maketh the seven stars and orion."--amos. v. a country farmer wrote this text--amos of tekoa. he plowed the earth and threshed the grain by a new threshing-machine just invented, as formerly the cattle trod out the grain. he gathered the fruit of the sycamore-tree, and scarified it with an iron comb just before it was getting ripe, as it was necessary and customary in that way to take from it the bitterness. he was the son of a poor shepherd, and stuttered; but before the stammering rustic the philistines, and syrians, and phoenicians, and moabites, and ammonites, and edomites, and israelites trembled. moses was a law-giver, daniel was a prince, isaiah a courtier, and david a king; but amos, the author of my text, was a peasant, and, as might be supposed, nearly all his parallelisms are pastoral, his prophecy full of the odor of new-mown hay, and the rattle of locusts, and the rumble of carts with sheaves, and the roar of wild beasts devouring the flock while the shepherd came out in their defense. he watched the herds by day, and by night inhabited a booth made out of bushes, so that through these branches he could see the stars all night long, and was more familiar with them than we who have tight roofs to our houses, and hardly ever see the stars except among the tall brick chimneys of the great towns. but at seasons of the year when the herds were in special danger, he would stay out in the open field all through the darkness, his only shelter the curtain of the night, heaven, with the stellar embroideries and silvered tassels of lunar light. what a life of solitude, all alone with his herds! poor amos! and at twelve o'clock at night, hark to the wolf's bark, and the lion's roar, and the bear's growl, and the owl's te-whit-te-whos, and the serpent's hiss, as he unwittingly steps too near while moving through the thickets! so amos, like other herdsmen, got the habit of studying the map of the heavens, because it was so much of the time spread out before him. he noticed some stars advancing and others receding. he associated their dawn and setting with certain seasons of the year. he had a poetic nature, and he read night by night, and month by month, and year by year, the poem of the constellations, divinely rhythmic. but two rosettes of stars especially attracted his attention while seated on the ground, or lying on his back under the open scroll of the midnight heavens--the pleiades, or seven stars, and orion. the former group this rustic prophet associated with the spring, as it rises about the first of may. the latter he associated with the winter, as it comes to the meridian in january. the pleiades, or seven stars, connected with all sweetness and joy; orion, the herald of the tempest. the ancients were the more apt to study the physiognomy and juxtaposition of the heavenly bodies, because they thought they had a special influence upon the earth; and perhaps they were right. if the moon every few hours lifts and lets down the tides of the atlantic ocean, and the electric storms of last year in the sun, by all scientific admission, affected the earth, why not the stars have proportionate effect? and there are some things which make me think that it may not have been all superstition which connected the movements and appearance of the heavenly bodies with great moral events on earth. did not a meteor run on evangelistic errand on the first christmas night, and designate the rough cradle of our lord? did not the stars in their courses fight against sisera? was it merely coincidental that before the destruction of jerusalem the moon was eclipsed for twelve consecutive nights? did it merely happen so that a new star appeared in constellation cassiopeia, and then disappeared just before king charles ix. of france, who was responsible for st. bartholomew massacre, died? was it without significance that in the days of the roman emperor justinian war and famine were preceded by the dimness of the sun, which for nearly a year gave no more light than the moon, although there were no clouds to obscure it? astrology, after all, may have been something more than a brilliant heathenism. no wonder that amos of the text, having heard these two anthems of the stars, put down the stout rough staff of the herdsman and took into his brown hand and cut and knotted fingers the pen of a prophet, and advised the recreant people of his time to return to god, saying: "seek him that maketh the seven stars and orion." this command, which amos gave years b.c., is just as appropriate for us, a.d. in the first place, amos saw, as we must see, that the god who made the pleiades and orion must be the god of order. it was not so much a star here and a star there that impressed the inspired herdsman, but seven in one group, and seven in the other group. he saw that night after night and season after season and decade after decade they had kept step of light, each one in its own place, a sisterhood never clashing and never contesting precedence. from the time hesiod called the pleiades the "seven daughters of atlas" and virgil wrote in his Ã�neid of "stormy orion" until now, they have observed the order established for their coming and going; order written not in manuscript that may be pigeon-holed, but with the hand of the almighty on the dome of the sky, so that all nations may read it. order. persistent order. sublime order. omnipotent order. what a sedative to you and me, to whom communities and nations sometimes seem going pell-mell, and world ruled by some fiend at hap-hazard, and in all directions maladministration! the god who keeps seven worlds in right circuit for six thousand years can certainly keep all the affairs of individuals and nations and continents in adjustment. we had not better fret much, for the peasant's argument of the text was right. if god can take care of the seven worlds of the pleiades and the four chief worlds of orion, he can probably take care of the one world we inhabit. so i feel very much as my father felt one day when we were going to the country mill to get a grist ground, and i, a boy of seven years, sat in the back part of the wagon, and our yoke of oxen ran away with us and along a labyrinthine road through the woods, so that i thought every moment we would be dashed to pieces, and i made a terrible outcry of fright, and my father turned to me with a face perfectly calm, and said: "de witt, what are you crying about? i guess we can ride as fast as the oxen can run." and, my hearers, why should we be affrighted and lose our equilibrium in the swift movement of worldly events, especially when we are assured that it is not a yoke of unbroken steers that are drawing us on, but that order and wise government are in the yoke? in your occupation, your mission, your sphere, do the best you can, and then trust to god; and if things are all mixed and disquieting, and your brain is hot and your heart sick, get some one to go out with you into the starlight and point out to you the pleiades, or, better than that, get into some observatory, and through the telescope see further than amos with the naked eye could--namely, two hundred stars in the pleiades, and that in what is called the sword of orion there is a nebula computed to be two trillion two hundred thousand billions of times larger than the sun. oh, be at peace with the god who made all that and controls all that--the wheel of the constellations turning in the wheel of galaxies for thousands of years without the breaking of a cog or the slipping of a band or the snap of an axle. for your placidity and comfort through the lord jesus christ i charge you, "seek him that maketh the seven stars and orion." again, amos saw, as we must see, that the god who made these two groups of the text was the god of light. amos saw that god was not satisfied with making one star, or two or three stars, but he makes seven; and having finished that group of worlds, makes another group--group after group. to the pleiades he adds orion. it seems that god likes light so well that he keeps making it. only one being in the universe knows the statistics of solar, lunar, stellar, meteoric creations, and that is the--creator himself. and they have all been lovingly christened, each one a name as distinct as the names of your children. "he telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names." the seven pleiades had names given to them, and they are alcyone, merope, celæno, electra, sterope, taygete, and maia. but think of the billions and trillions of daughters of starry light that god calls by name as they sweep by him with beaming brow and lustrous robe! so fond is god of light--natural light, moral light, spiritual light. again and again is light harnessed for symbolization--christ, the bright and morning star; evangelization, the daybreak; the redemption of nations, sun of righteousness rising with healing in his wings. oh, men and women, with so many sorrows and sins and perplexities, if you want light of comfort, light of pardon, light of goodness, in earnest, pray through christ, "seek him that maketh the seven stars and orion." again, amos saw, as we must see, that the god who made these two archipelagoes of stars must be an unchanging god. there had been no change in the stellar appearance in this herdsman's life-time, and his father, a shepherd, reported to him that there had been no change in his life-time. and these two clusters hang over the celestial arbor now just as they were the first night that they shone on the edenic bowers, the same as when the egyptians built the pyramids from the top of which to watch them, the same as when the chaldeans calculated the eclipses, the same as when elihu, according to the book of job, went out to study the aurora borealis, the same under ptolemaic system and copernican system, the same from calisthenes to pythagoras, and from pythagoras to herschel. surely, a changeless god must have fashioned the pleiades and orion! oh, what an anodyne amid the ups and downs of life, and the flux and reflux of the tides of prosperity, to know that we have a changeless god, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. xerxes garlanded and knighted the steersman of his boat in the morning, and hanged him in the evening of the same day. fifty thousand people stood around the columns of the national capitol, shouting themselves hoarse at the presidential inaugural, and in four months so great were the antipathies that a ruffian's pistol in washington depot expressed the sentiment of a great multitude. the world sits in its chariot and drives tandem, and the horse ahead is huzza, and the horse behind is anathema. lord cobham, in king james' time, was applauded, and had thirty-five thousand dollars a year, but was afterward execrated, and lived on scraps stolen from the royal kitchen. alexander the great after death remained unburied for thirty days, because no one would do the honor of shoveling him under. the duke of wellington refused to have his iron fence mended, because it had been broken by an infuriated populace in some hour of political excitement, and he left it in ruins that men might learn what a fickle thing is human favor. "but the mercy of the lord is from everlasting to everlasting to them that fear him, and his righteousness unto the children's children of such as keep his covenant, and to those who remember his commandments to do them." this moment "seek him that maketh the seven stars and orion." again, amos saw, as we must see, that the god who made these two beacons of the oriental night sky must be a god of love and kindly warning. the pleiades rising in mid-sky said to all the herdsmen and shepherds and husbandmen: "come out and enjoy the mild weather, and cultivate your gardens and fields." orion, coming in winter, warned them to prepare for tempest. all navigation was regulated by these two constellations. the one said to shipmaster and crew: "hoist sail for the sea, and gather merchandise from other lands." but orion was the storm-signal, and said: "reef sail, make things snug, or put into harbor, for the hurricanes are getting their wings out." as the pleiades were the sweet evangels of the spring, orion was the warning prophet of the winter. oh, now i get the best view of god i ever had! there are two kinds of sermons i never want to preach--the one that presents god so kind, so indulgent, so lenient, so imbecile that men may do what they will against him, and fracture his every law, and put the cry of their impertinence and rebellion under his throne, and while they are spitting in his face and stabbing at his heart, he takes them up in his arms and kisses their infuriated brow and cheek, saying, "of such is the kingdom of heaven." the other kind of sermon i never want to preach is the one that represents god as all fire and torture and thundercloud, and with red-hot pitch-fork tossing the human race into paroxysms of infinite agony. the sermon that i am now preaching believes in a god of loving, kindly warning, the god of spring and winter, the god of the pleiades and orion. you must remember that the winter is just as important as the spring. let one winter pass without frost to kill vegetation and ice to bind the rivers and snow to enrich our fields, and then you will have to enlarge your hospitals and your cemeteries. "a green christmas makes a fat grave-yard," was the old proverb. storms to purify the air. thermometer at ten degrees above zero to tone up the system. december and january just as important as may and june. i tell you we need the storms of life as much as we do the sunshine. there are more men ruined by prosperity than by adversity. if we had our own way in life, before this we would have been impersonations of selfishness and worldliness and disgusting sin, and puffed up until we would have been like julius cæsar, who was made by sycophants to believe that he was divine, and the freckles on his face were as the stars of the firmament. one of the swiftest transatlantic voyages made last summer by the "etruria" was because she had a stormy wind abaft, chasing her from new york to liverpool. but to those going in the opposite direction the storm was a buffeting and a hinderance. it is a bad thing to have a storm ahead, pushing us back; but if we be god's children and aiming toward heaven, the storms of life will only chase us the sooner into the harbor. i am so glad to believe that the monsoons, and typhoons, and mistrals, and siroccos of the land and sea are not unchained maniacs let loose upon the earth, but are under divine supervision! i am so glad that the god of the seven stars is also the god of orion! it was out of dante's suffering came the sublime "divina commedia," and out of john milton's blindness came "paradise lost," and out of miserable infidel attack came the "bridgewater treatise" in favor of christianity, and out of david's exile came the songs of consolation, and out of the sufferings of christ came the possibility of the world's redemption, and out of your bereavement, your persecution, your poverties, your misfortunes, may yet come an eternal heaven. oh, what a mercy it is that in the text and all up and down the bible god induces us to look out toward other worlds! bible astronomy in genesis, in joshua, in job, in the psalms, in the prophets, major and minor, in st. john's apocalypse, practically saying, "worlds! worlds! worlds! get ready for them!" we have a nice little world here that we stick to, as though losing that we lose all. we are afraid of falling off this little raft of a world. we are afraid that some meteoric iconoclast will some night smash it, and we want everything to revolve around it, and are disappointed when we find that it revolves around the sun instead of the sun revolving around it. what a fuss we make about this little bit of a world, its existence only a short time between two spasms, the paroxysm by which it was hurled from chaos into order, and the paroxysm of its demolition. and i am glad that so many texts call us to look off to other worlds, many of them larger and grander and more resplendent. "look there," says job, "at mazaroth and arcturus and his sons!" "look there," says st. john, "at the moon under christ's feet!" "look there," says joshua, "at the sun standing still above gibeon!" "look there," says moses, "at the sparkling firmament!" "look there," says amos, the herdsman, "at the seven stars and orion!" don't let us be so sad about those who shove off from this world under christly pilotage. don't let us be so agitated about our own going off this little barge or sloop or canal-boat of a world to get on some "great eastern" of the heavens. don't let us persist in wanting to stay in this barn, this shed, this outhouse of a world, when all the king's palaces already occupied by many of our best friends are swinging wide open their gates to let us in. when i read, "in my father's house are many mansions," i do not know but that each world is a room, and as many rooms as there are worlds, stellar stairs, stellar galleries, stellar hallways, stellar windows, stellar domes. how our departed friends must pity us shut up in these cramped apartments, tired if we walk fifteen miles, when they some morning, by one stroke of wing, can make circuit of the whole stellar system and be back in time for matins! perhaps yonder twinkling constellation is the residence of the martyrs; that group of twelve luminaries is the celestial home of the apostles. perhaps that steep of light is the dwelling-place of angels cherubic, seraphic, archangelic. a mansion with as many rooms as worlds, and all their windows illuminated for festivity. oh, how this widens and lifts and stimulates our expectation! how little it makes the present, and how stupendous it makes the future! how it consoles us about our pious dead, that instead of being boxed up and under the ground have the range of as many rooms as there are worlds, and welcome everywhere, for it is the father's house, in which there are many mansions! oh, lord god of the seven stars and orion, how can i endure the transport, the ecstasy, of such a vision! i must obey my text and seek him. i will seek him. i seek him now, for i call to mind that it is not the material universe that is most valuable, but the spiritual, and that each of us has a soul worth more than all the worlds which the inspired herdsman saw from his booth on the hills of tekoa. i had studied it before, but the cathedral of cologne, germany, never impressed me as it did this summer. it is admittedly the grandest gothic structure in the world, its foundation laid in , only two or three years ago completed. more than six hundred years in building. all europe taxed for its construction. its chapel of the magi with precious stones enough to purchase a kingdom. its chapel of st. agnes with masterpieces of painting. its spire springing five hundred and eleven feet into the heavens. its stained glass the chorus of all rich colors. statues encircling the pillars and encircling all. statues above statues, until sculpture can do no more, but faints and falls back against carved stalls and down on pavements over which the kings and queens of the earth have walked to confession. nave and aisles and transept and portals combining the splendors of sunrise. interlaced, interfoliated, intercolumned grandeur. as i stood outside, looking at the double range of flying buttresses and the forest of pinnacles, higher and higher and higher, until i almost reeled from dizziness, i exclaimed; "great doxology in stone! frozen prayer of many nations!" but while standing there i saw a poor man enter and put down his pack and kneel beside his burden on the hard floor of that cathedral. and tears of deep emotion came into my eyes, as i said to myself: "there is a soul worth more than all the material surroundings. that man will live after the last pinnacle has fallen, and not one stone of all that cathedral glory shall remain uncrumbled. he is now a lazarus in rags and poverty and weariness, but immortal, and a son of the lord god almighty; and the prayer he now offers, though amid many superstitions, i believe god will hear; and among the apostles whose sculptured forms stand in the surrounding niches he will at last be lifted, and into the presence of that christ whose sufferings are represented by the crucifix before which he bows; and be raised in due time out of all his poverties into the glorious home built for him and built for us by 'him who maketh the seven stars and orion.'" the queen's visit. "behold, the half was not told me."--i kings x: . solomon had resolved that jerusalem should be the center of all sacred, regal, and commercial magnificence. he set himself to work, and monopolized the surrounding desert as a highway for his caravans. he built the city of palmyra around one of the principal wells of the east, so that all the long trains of merchandise from the east were obliged to stop there, pay toll, and leave part of their wealth in the hands of solomon's merchants. he manned the fortress thapsacus at the chief ford of the euphrates, and put under guard everything that passed there. the three great products of palestine--wine pressed from the richest clusters and celebrated all the world over; oil which in that hot country is the entire substitute for butter and lard, and was pressed from the olive branches until every tree in the country became an oil well; and honey which was the entire substitute for sugar--these three great products of the country solomon exported, and received in return fruits and precious woods and the animals of every clime. he went down to ezion-geber and ordered a fleet of ships to be constructed, oversaw the workmen, and watched the launching of the flotilla which was to go out on more than a year's voyage, to bring home the wealth of the then known world. he heard that the egyptian horses were large and swift, and long-maned and round-limbed, and he resolved to purchase them, giving eighty-five dollars apiece for them, putting the best of these horses in his own stall, and selling the surplus to foreign potentates at great profit. he heard that there was the best of timber on mount lebanon, and he sent out one hundred and eighty thousand men to hew down the forest and drag the timber through the mountain gorges, to construct it into rafts to be floated to joppa, and from thence to be drawn by ox-teams twenty-five miles across the land to jerusalem. he heard that there were beautiful flowers in other lands. he sent for them, planted them in his own gardens, and to this very day there are flowers found in the ruins of that city such as are to be found in no other part of palestine, the lineal descendants of the very flowers that solomon planted. he heard that in foreign groves there were birds of richest voice and most luxuriant wing. he sent out people to catch them and bring them there, and he put them into his cages. stand back now and see this long train of camels coming up to the king's gate, and the ox-trains from egypt, gold and silver and precious stones, and beasts of every hoof, and birds of every wing, and fish of every scale! see the peacocks strut under the cedars, and the horsemen run, and the chariots wheel! hark to the orchestra! gaze upon the dance! not stopping to look into the wonders of the temple, step right on to the causeway, and pass up to solomon's palace! here we find ourselves amid a collection of buildings on which the king had lavished the wealth of many empires. the genius of hiram, the architect, and of the other artists is here seen in the long line of corridors and the suspended gallery and the approach to the throne. traceried window opposite traceried window. bronzed ornaments bursting into lotus and lily and pomegranate. chapiters surrounded by network of leaves in which imitation fruit seemed suspended as in hanging baskets. three branches--so josephus tells us--three branches sculptured on the marble, so thin and subtle that even the leaves seemed to quiver. a laver capable of holding five hundred barrels of water on six hundred brazen ox-heads, which gushed with water and filled the whole place with coolness and crystalline brightness and musical plash. ten tables chased with chariot wheel and lion and cherubim. solomon sat on a throne of ivory. at the seating place of the throne, on each end of the steps, a brazen lion. why, my friends, in that place they trimmed their candles with snuffers of gold, and they cut their fruits with knives of gold, and they washed their faces in basins of gold, and they scooped out the ashes with shovels of gold, and they stirred the altar fires with tongs of gold. gold reflected in the water! gold flashing from the apparel! gold blazing in the crown! gold, gold, gold! of course the news of the affluence of that place went out everywhere by every caravan and by wing of every ship, until soon the streets of jerusalem are crowded with curiosity seekers. what is that long procession approaching jerusalem? i think from the pomp of it there must be royalty in the train. i smell the breath of the spices which are brought as presents, and i hear the shout of the drivers, and i see the dust-covered caravan showing that they come from far away. cry the news up to the palace. the queen of sheba advances. let all the people come out to see. let the mighty men of the land come out on the palace corridors. let solomon come down the stairs of the palace before the queen has alighted. shake out the cinnamon, and the saffron, and the calamus, and the frankincense, and pass it into the treasure house. take up the diamonds until they glitter in the sun. the queen of sheba alights. she enters the palace. she washes at the bath. she sits down at the banquet. the cup-bearers bow. the meat smokes. the music trembles in the dash of the waters from the molten sea. then she rises from the banquet, and walks through the conservatories, and gazes on the architecture, and she asks solomon many strange questions, and she learns about the religion of the hebrews, and she then and there becomes a servant of the lord god. she is overwhelmed. she begins to think that all the spices she brought, and all the precious woods which are intended to be turned into harps and psalteries and into railings for the causeway between the temple and the palace, and the one hundred and eighty thousand dollars in money--she begins to think that all these presents amount to nothing in such a place, and she is almost ashamed that she has brought them, and she says within herself: "i heard a great deal about this place, and about this wonderful religion of the hebrews, but i find it far beyond my highest anticipations. i must add more than fifty per cent. to what has been related. it exceeds everything that i could have expected. the half--the half was not told me." learn from this subject what a beautiful thing it is when social position and wealth surrender themselves to god. when religion comes to a neighborhood, the first to receive it are the women. some men say it is because they are weak-minded. i say it is because they have quicker perception of what is right, more ardent affection and capacity for sublimer emotion. after the women have received the gospel then all the distressed and the poor of both sexes, those who have no friends, accept jesus. last of all come the people of affluence and high social position. alas, that it is so! if there are those here to-day who have been favored of fortune, or, as i might better put it, favored of god, surrender all you have and all you expect to be to the lord who blessed this queen of sheba. certainly you are not ashamed to be found in this queen's company. i am glad that christ has had his imperial friends in all ages--elizabeth christina, queen of prussia; maria feodorovna, queen of russia; marie, empress of france; helena, the imperial mother of constantine; arcadia, from her great fortunes building public baths in constantinople and toiling for the alleviation of the masses; queen clotilda, leading her husband and three thousand of his armed warriors to christian baptism; elizabeth of burgundy, giving her jeweled glove to a beggar, and scattering great fortunes among the distressed; prince albert, singing "rock of ages" in windsor castle, and queen victoria, incognita, reading the scriptures to a dying pauper. i bless god that the day is coming when royalty will bring all its thrones, and music all its harmonies, and painting all its pictures, and sculpture all its statuary, and architecture all its pillars, and conquest all its scepters; and the queens of the earth, in long line of advance, frankincense filling the air and the camels laden with gold, shall approach jerusalem, and the gates shall be hoisted, and the great burden of splendor shall be lifted into the palace of this greater than solomon. again, my subject teaches me what is earnestness in the search of truth. do you know where sheba was? it was in abyssinia, or some say in the southern part of arabia felix. in either case it was a great way off from jerusalem. to get from there to jerusalem she had to cross a country infested with bandits, and go across blistering deserts. why did not the queen of sheba stay at home and send a committee to inquire about this new religion, and have the delegates report in regard to that religion and wealth of king solomon? she wanted to see for herself, and hear for herself. she could not do this by work of committee. she felt she had a soul worth ten thousand kingdoms like sheba, and she wanted a robe richer than any woven by oriental shuttles, and she wanted a crown set with the jewels of eternity. bring out the camels. put on the spices. gather up the jewels of the throne and put them on the caravan. start now; no time to be lost. goad on the camels. when i see that caravan, dust-covered, weary, and exhausted, trudging on across the desert and among the bandits until it reaches jerusalem, i say: "there is an earnest seeker after the truth." but there are a great many of you, my friends, who do not act in that way. you all want to get the truth, but you want the truth to come to-you; you do not want to go to it. there are people who fold their arms and say: "i am ready to become a christian at any time; if i am to be saved i shall be saved, and if i am to be lost i shall be lost." a man who says that and keeps on saying it, will be lost. jerusalem will never come to you; you must go to jerusalem. the religion of the lord jesus christ will not come to you; you must go and get religion. bring out the camels; put on all the sweet spices, all the treasures of the heart's affection. start for the throne. go in and hear the waters of salvation dashing in fountains all around about the throne. sit down at the banquet--the wine pressed from the grapes of the heavenly eschol, the angels of god the cup-bearers. goad on the camels; jerusalem will never come to you; you must go to jerusalem. the bible declares it: "the queen of the south"--that is, this very woman i am speaking of--"the queen of the south shall rise up in judgment against this generation and condemn it; for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of solomon: and, behold! a greater than solomon is here." god help me to break up the infatuation of those people who are sitting down in idleness expecting to be saved. "strive to enter in at the strait gate. ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you." take the kingdom of heaven by violence. urge on the camels! again, my subject impresses me with the fact that religion is a surprise to any one that gets it. this story of the new religion in jerusalem, and of the glory of king solomon, who was a type of christ--that story rolls on and on, and is told by every traveler coming back from jerusalem. the news goes on the wing of every ship and with every caravan, and you know a story enlarges as it is retold, and by the time that story gets down into the southern part of arabia felix, and the queen of sheba hears it, it must be a tremendous story. and yet this queen declares in regard to it, although she had heard so much and had her anticipations raised so high, the half--the half was not told her. so religion is always a surprise to any one that gets it. the story of grace--an old story. apostles preached it with rattle of chain; martyrs declared it with arm of fire; death-beds have affirmed it with visions of glory, and ministers of religion have sounded it through the lanes, and the highways, and the chapels, and the cathedrals. it has been cut into stone with chisel, and spread on the canvas with pencil; and it has been recited in the doxology of great congregations. and yet when a man first comes to look on the palace of god's mercy, and to see the royalty of christ, and the wealth of this banquet, and the luxuriance of his attendants, and the loveliness of his face, and the joy of his service, he exclaims with prayers, with tears, with sighs, with triumphs: "the half--the half was not told me!" i appeal to those in this house who are christians. compare the idea you had of the joy of the christian life before you became a christian with the appreciation of that joy you have now since you have become a christian, and you are willing to attest before angels and men that you never in the days of your spiritual bondage had any appreciation of what was to come. you are ready to-day to answer, and if i gave you an opportunity in the midst of this assemblage, you would speak out and say in regard to the discoveries you have made of the mercy and the grace and the goodness of god: "the half--the half was not told me!" well, we hear a great deal about the good time that is coming to this world, when it is to be girded with salvation. holiness on the bells of the horses. the lion's mane patted by the hand of a babe. ships of tarshish bringing cargoes for jesus, and the hard, dry, barren, winter-bleached, storm-scarred, thunder-split rock breaking into floods of bright water. deserts into which dromedaries thrust their nostrils, because they were afraid of the simoom--deserts blooming into carnation roses and silver-tipped lilies. it is the old story. everybody tells it. isaiah told it, john told it, paul told it, ezekiel told it, luther told it, calvin told it, john milton told it--everybody tells it; and yet--and yet when the midnight shall fly the hills, and christ shall marshal his great army, and china, dashing her idols into the dust, shall hear the voice of god and wheel into line; and india, destroying her juggernaut and snatching up her little children from the ganges, shall hear the voice of god and wheel into line; and vine-covered italy, and wheat-crowned russia, and all the nations of the earth shall hear the voice of god and fall into line; then the church, which has been toiling and struggling through the centuries, robed and garlanded like a bride adorned for her husband, shall put aside her veil and look up into the face of her lord the king, and say: "the half--the half was not told me." well, there is coming a greater surprise to every christian--a greater surprise than anything i have depicted. heaven is an old story. everybody talks about it. there is hardly a hymn in the hymn-book that does not refer to it. children read about it in their sabbath-school book. aged men put on their spectacles to study it. we say it is a harbor from the storm. we call it our home. we say it is the house of many mansions. we weave together all sweet, beautiful, delicate, exhilarant words; we weave them into letters, and then we spell it out in rose and lily and amaranth. and yet that place is going to be a surprise to the most intelligent christian. like the queen of sheba, the report has come to us from the far country, and many of us have started. it is a desert march, but we urge on the camels. what though our feet be blistered with the way? we are hastening to the palace. we take all our loves and hopes and christian ambitions, as frankincense and myrrh and cassia, to the great king. we must not rest. we must not halt. the night is coming on, and it is not safe out here in the desert. urge on the camels. i see the domes against the sky, and the houses of lebanon, and the temples and the gardens. see the fountains dance in the sun, and the gates flash as they open to let in the poor pilgrims. send the word up to the palace that we are coming, and that we are weary of the march of the desert. the king will come out and say: "welcome to the palace; bathe in these waters, recline on these banks. take this cinnamon and frankincense and myrrh and put it upon a censer and swing it before the altar." and yet, my friends, when heaven bursts upon us it will be a greater surprise than that--jesus on the throne, and we made like him! all our christian friends surrounding us in glory! all our sorrows and tears and sins gone by forever! the thousands of thousands, the one hundred and forty-and-four thousand, the great multitudes that no man can number, will cry, world without end: "the half--the half was not told us!" vicarious suffering. "without shedding of blood is no remission."--heb. ix: . john g. whittier, the last of the great school of american poets that made the last quarter of a century brilliant, asked me in the white mountains, one morning after prayers, in which i had given out cowper's famous hymn about "the fountain filled with blood," "do you really believe there is a literal application of the blood of christ to the soul?" my negative reply then is my negative reply now. the bible statement agrees with all physicians, and all physiologists, and all scientists, in saying that the blood is the life, and in the christian religion it means simply that christ's life was given for our life. hence all this talk of men who say the bible story of blood is disgusting, and that they don't want what they call a "slaughter-house religion," only shows their incapacity or unwillingness to look through the figure of speech toward the thing signified. the blood that, on the darkest friday the world ever saw, oozed, or trickled, or poured from the brow, and the side, and the hands, and the feet of the illustrious sufferer, back of jerusalem, in a few hours coagulated and dried up, and forever disappeared; and if man had depended on the application of the literal blood of christ, there would not have been a soul saved for the last eighteen centuries. in order to understand this red word of my text, we only have to exercise as much common sense in religion as we do in everything else. pang for pang, hunger for hunger, fatigue for fatigue, tear for tear, blood for blood, life for life, we see every day illustrated. the act of substitution is no novelty, although i hear men talk as though the idea of christ's suffering substituted for our suffering were something abnormal, something distressingly odd, something wildly eccentric, a solitary episode in the world's history; when i could take you out into this city, and before sundown point you to five hundred cases of substitution and voluntary suffering of one in behalf of another. at two o'clock to-morrow afternoon go among the places of business or toil. it will be no difficult thing for you to find men who, by their looks, show you that they are overworked. they are prematurely old. they are hastening rapidly toward their decease. they have gone through crises in business that shattered their nervous system, and pulled on the brain. they have a shortness of breath, and a pain in the back of the head, and at night an insomnia that alarms them. why are they drudging at business early and late? for fun? no; it would be difficult to extract any amusement out of that exhaustion. because they are avaricious? in many cases no. because their own personal expenses are lavish? no; a few hundred dollars would meet all their wants. the simple fact is, the man is enduring all that fatigue and exasperation, and wear and tear, to keep his home prosperous. there is an invisible line reaching from that store, from that bank, from that shop, from that scaffolding, to a quiet scene a few blocks, a few miles away, and there is the secret of that business endurance. he is simply the champion of a homestead, for which he wins bread, and wardrobe, and education, and prosperity, and in such battle ten thousand men fall. of ten business men whom i bury, nine die of overwork for others. some sudden disease finds them with no power of resistance, and they are gone. life for life. blood for blood. substitution! at one o'clock to-morrow morning, the hour when slumber is most uninterrupted and most profound, walk amid the dwelling-houses of the city. here and there you will find a dim light, because it is the household custom to keep a subdued light burning: but most of the houses from base to top are as dark as though uninhabited. a merciful god has sent forth the archangel of sleep, and he puts his wings over the city. but yonder is a clear light burning, and outside on the window casement a glass or pitcher containing food for a sick child; the food is set in the fresh air. this is the sixth night that mother has sat up with that sufferer. she has to the last point obeyed the physician's prescription, not giving a drop too much or too little, or a moment too soon or too late. she is very anxious, for she has buried three children with the same disease, and she prays and weeps, each prayer and sob ending with a kiss of the pale cheek. by dint of kindness she gets the little one through the ordeal. after it is all over, the mother is taken down. brain or nervous fever sets in, and one day she leaves the convalescent child with a mother's blessing, and goes up to join the three in the kingdom of heaven. life for life. substitution! the fact is that there are an uncounted number of mothers who, after they have navigated a large family of children through all the diseases of infancy, and got them fairly started up the flowering slope of boyhood and girlhood, have only strength enough left to die. they fade away. some call it consumption; some call it nervous prostration; some call it intermittent or malarial disposition; but i call it martyrdom of the domestic circle. life for life. blood for blood. substitution! or perhaps the mother lingers long enough to see a son get on the wrong road, and his former kindness becomes rough reply when she expresses anxiety about him. but she goes right on, looking carefully after his apparel, remembering his every birthday with some memento, and when he is brought home worn out with dissipation, nurses him till he gets well and starts him again, and hopes, and expects, and prays, and counsels, and suffers, until her strength gives out and she fails. she is going, and attendants, bending over her pillow, ask her if she has any message to leave, and she makes great effort to say something, but out of three or four minutes of indistinct utterance they can catch but three words: "my poor boy!" the simple fact is she died for him. life for life. substitution! about twenty-four years ago there went forth from our homes hundreds of thousands of men to do battle for their country. all the poetry of war soon vanished, and left them nothing but the terrible prose. they waded knee-deep in mud. they slept in snow-banks. they marched till their cut feet tracked the earth. they were swindled out of their honest rations, and lived on meat not fit for a dog. they had jaws all fractured, and eyes extinguished, and limbs shot away. thousands of them cried for water as they lay dying on the field the night after the battle, and got it not. they were homesick, and received no message from their loved ones. they died in barns, in bushes, in ditches, the buzzards of the summer heat the only attendants on their obsequies. no one but the infinite god who knows everything, knows the ten thousandth part of the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of anguish of the northern and southern battlefields. why did these fathers leave their children and go to the front, and why did these young men, postponing the marriage-day, start out into the probabilities of never coming back? for the country they died. life for life. blood for blood. substitution! but we need not go so far. what is that monument in greenwood? it is to the doctors who fell in the southern epidemics. why go? were there not enough sick to be attended in these northern latitudes? oh, yes; but the doctor puts a few medical books in his valise, and some vials of medicine, and leaves his patients here in the hands of other physicians, and takes the rail-train. before he gets to the infected regions he passes crowded rail-trains, regular and extra, taking the flying and affrighted populations. he arrives in a city over which a great horror is brooding. he goes from couch to couch, feeling of pulse and studying symptoms, and prescribing day after day, night after night, until a fellow-physician says: "doctor, you had better go home and rest; you look miserable." but he can not rest while so many are suffering. on and on, until some morning finds him in a delirium, in which he talks of home, and then rises and says he must go and look after those patients. he is told to lie down; but he fights his attendants until he falls back, and is weaker and weaker, and dies for people with whom he had no kinship, and far away from his own family, and is hastily put away in a stranger's tomb, and only the fifth part of a newspaper line tells us of his sacrifice--his name just mentioned among five. yet he has touched the furthest height of sublimity in that three weeks of humanitarian service. he goes straight as an arrow to the bosom of him who said: "i was sick and ye visited me." life for life. blood for blood. substitution! in the legal profession i see the same principle of self-sacrifice. in , william freeman, a pauperized and idiotic negro, was at auburn, n.y., on trial for murder. he had slain the entire van nest family. the foaming wrath of the community could be kept off him only by armed constables. who would volunteer to be his counsel? no attorney wanted to sacrifice his popularity by such an ungrateful task. all were silent save one, a young lawyer with feeble voice, that could hardly be heard outside the bar, pale and thin and awkward. it was william h. seward, who saw that the prisoner was idiotic and irresponsible, and ought to be put in an asylum rather than put to death, the heroic counsel uttering these beautiful words: "i speak now in the hearing of a people who have prejudged prisoner and condemned me for pleading in his behalf. he is a convict, a pauper, a negro, without intellect, sense, or emotion. my child with an affectionate smile disarms my care-worn face of its frown whenever i cross my threshold. the beggar in the street obliges me to give because he says, 'god bless you!' as i pass. my dog caresses me with fondness if i will but smile on him. my horse recognizes me when i fill his manger. what reward, what gratitude, what sympathy and affection can i expect here? there the prisoner sits. look at him. look at the assemblage around you. listen to their ill-suppressed censures and their excited fears, and tell me where among my neighbors or my fellow-men, where, even in his heart, i can expect to find a sentiment, a thought, not to say of reward or of acknowledgment, or even of recognition? gentlemen, you may think of this evidence what you please, bring in what verdict you can, but i asseverate before heaven and you, that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, the prisoner at the bar does not at this moment know why it is that my shadow falls on you instead of his own." the gallows got its victim, but the post-mortem examination of the poor creature showed to all the surgeons and to all the world that the public were wrong, and william h. seward was right, and that hard, stony step of obloquy in the auburn court-room was the first step of the stairs of fame up which he went to the top, or to within one step of the top, that last denied him through the treachery of american politics. nothing sublimer was ever seen in an american court-room than william h. seward, without reward, standing between the fury of the populace and the loathsome imbecile. substitution! in the realm of the fine arts there was as remarkable an instance. a brilliant but hypercriticised painter, joseph william turner, was met by a volley of abuse from all the art galleries of europe. his paintings, which have since won the applause of all civilized nations, "the fifth plague of egypt," "fishermen on a lee shore in squally weather," "calais pier," "the sun rising through mist," and "dido building carthage," were then targets for critics to shoot at. in defense of this outrageously abused man, a young author of twenty-four years, just one year out of college, came forth with his pen, and wrote the ablest and most famous essays on art that the world ever saw, or ever will see--john ruskin's "modern painters." for seventeen years this author fought the battles of the maltreated artist, and after, in poverty and broken-heartedness, the painter had died, and the public tried to undo their cruelties toward him by giving him a big funeral and burial at st. paul's cathedral, his old-time friend took out of a tin box nineteen thousand pieces of paper containing drawings by the old painter, and through many weary and uncompensated months assorted and arranged them for public observation. people say john ruskin in his old days is cross, misanthropic, and morbid. whatever he may do that he ought not to do, and whatever he may say that he ought not to say between now and his death, he will leave this world insolvent as far as it has any capacity to pay this author's pen for its chivalric and christian defense of a poor painter's pencil. john ruskin for william turner. blood for blood. substitution! what an exalting principle this which leads one to suffer for another! nothing so kindles enthusiasm or awakens eloquence, or chimes poetic canto, or moves nations. the principle is the dominant one in our religion--christ the martyr, christ the celestial hero, christ the defender, christ the substitute. no new principle, for it was as old as human nature; but now on a grander, wider, higher, deeper, and more world-resounding scale! the shepherd boy as a champion for israel with a sling toppled the giant of philistine braggadocio in the dust; but here is another david who, for all the armies of churches militant and triumphant, hurls the goliath of perdition into defeat, the crash of his brazen armor like an explosion at hell gate. abraham had at god's command agreed to sacrifice his son isaac, and the same god just in time had provided a ram of the thicket as a substitute; but here is another isaac bound to the altar, and no hand arrests the sharp edges of laceration and death, and the universe shivers and quakes and recoils and groans at the horror. all good men have for centuries been trying to tell whom this substitute was like, and every comparison, inspired and uninspired, evangelistic, prophetic, apostolic, and human, falls short, for christ was the great unlike. adam a type of christ, because he came directly from god; noah a type of christ, because he delivered his own family from deluge; melchisedec a type of christ, because he had no predecessor or successor; joseph a type of christ, because he was cast out by his brethren; moses a type of christ, because he was a deliverer from bondage; joshua a type of christ, because he was a conqueror; samson a type of christ, because of his strength to slay the lions and carry off the iron gates of impossibility; solomon a type of christ, in the affluence of his dominion; jonah a type of christ, because of the stormy sea in which he threw himself for the rescue of others; but put together adam and noah and melchisedec and joseph and moses and joshua and samson and solomon and jonah, and they would not make a fragment of a christ, a quarter of a christ, the half of a christ, or the millionth part of a christ. he forsook a throne and sat down on his own footstool. he came from the top of glory to the bottom of humiliation, and changed a circumference seraphic for a circumference diabolic. once waited on by angels, now hissed at by brigands. from afar and high up he came down; past meteors swifter than they; by starry thrones, himself more lustrous; past larger worlds to smaller worlds; down stairs of firmaments, and from cloud to cloud, and through tree-tops and into the earners stall, to thrust his shoulder under our burdens and take the lances of pain through his vitals, and wrapped himself in all the agonies which we deserve for our misdoings, and stood on the splitting decks of a foundering vessel, amid the drenching surf of the sea, and passed midnights on the mountains amid wild beasts of prey, and stood at the point where all earthly and infernal hostilities charged on him at once with their keen sabers--our substitute! when did attorney ever endure so much for a pauper client, or physician for the patient in the lazaretto, or mother for the child in membranous croup, as christ for us, and christ for you, and christ for me? shall any man or woman or child in this audience who has ever suffered for another find it hard to understand this christly suffering for us? shall those whose sympathies have been wrung in behalf of the unfortunate have no appreciation of that one moment which was lifted out of all the ages of eternity as most conspicuous, when christ gathered up all the sins of those to be redeemed under his one arm, and all their sorrows under his other arm, and said: "i will atone for these under my right arm, and will heal all those under my left arm. strike me with all thy glittering shafts, o eternal justice! roll over me with all thy surges, ye oceans of sorrow"? and the thunderbolts struck him from above, and the seas of trouble rolled up from beneath, hurricane after hurricane, and cyclone after cyclone, and then and there in presence of heaven and earth and hell, yea, all worlds witnessing, the price, the bitter price, the transcendent price, the awful price, the glorious price, the infinite price, the eternal price, was paid that sets us free. that is what paul means, that is what i mean, that is what all those who have ever had their heart changed mean by "blood." i glory in this religion of blood! i am thrilled as i see the suggestive color in sacramental cup, whether it be of burnished silver set on cloth immaculately white, or rough-hewn from wood set on table in log-hut meeting-house of the wilderness. now i am thrilled as i see the altars of ancient sacrifice crimson with the blood of the slain lamb, and leviticus is to me not so much the old testament as the new. now i see why the destroying angel passing over egypt in the night spared all those houses that had blood sprinkled on their door-posts. now i know what isaiah means when he speaks of "one in red apparel coming with dyed garments from bozrah;" and whom the apocalypse means when it describes a heavenly chieftain whose "vesture was dipped in blood;" and what peter, the apostle, means when he speaks of the "precious blood that cleanseth from all sin;" and what the old, worn-out, decrepit missionary paul means when, in my text, he cries, "without shedding of blood is no remission." by that blood you and i will be saved--or never saved at all. in all the ages of the world god has not once pardoned a single sin except through the saviour's expiation, and he never will. glory be to god that the hill back of jerusalem was the battle-field on which christ achieved our liberty! the most exciting and overpowering day of last summer was the day i spent on the battle-field of waterloo. starting out with the morning train from brussels, belgium, we arrived in about an hour on that famous spot. a son of one who was in the battle, and who had heard from his father a thousand times the whole scene recited, accompanied us over the field. there stood the old hougomont château, the walls dented, and scratched, and broken, and shattered by grape-shot and cannon-ball. there is the well in which three hundred dying and dead were pitched. there is the chapel with the head of the infant christ shot off. there are the gates at which, for many hours, english and french armies wrestled. yonder were the one hundred and sixty guns of the english, and the two hundred and fifty guns of the french. yonder the hanoverian hussars fled for the woods. yonder was the ravine of ohain, where the french cavalry, not knowing there was a hollow in the ground, rolled over and down, troop after troop, tumbling into one awful mass of suffering, hoof of kicking horses against brow and breast of captains and colonels and private soldiers, the human and the beastly groan kept up until, the day after, all was shoveled under because of the malodor arising in that hot month of june. "there," said our guide, "the highland regiments lay down on their faces waiting for the moment to spring upon the foe. in that orchard twenty-five hundred men were cut to pieces. here stood wellington with white lips, and up that knoll rode marshal ney on his sixth horse, five having been shot under him. here the ranks of the french broke, and marshal ney, with his boot slashed of a sword, and his hat off, and his face covered with powder and blood, tried to rally his troops as he cried: 'come and see how a marshal of french dies on the battle-field.' from yonder direction grouchy was expected for the french re-enforcement, but he came not. around those woods blucher was looked for to re-enforce the english, and just in time he came up. yonder is the field where napoleon stood, his arm through the reins of the horse's bridle, dazed and insane, trying to go back." scene of a battle that went on from twenty-five minutes to twelve o'clock, on the eighteenth of june, until four o'clock, when the english seemed defeated, and their commander cried out; "boys, can you think of giving way? remember old england!" and the tides turned, and at eight o'clock in the evening the man of destiny, who was called by his troops old two hundred thousand, turned away with broken heart, and the fate of centuries was decided. no wonder a great mound has been reared there, hundreds of feet high--a mound at the expense of millions of dollars and many years in rising, and on the top is the great belgian lion of bronze, and a grand old lion it is. but our great waterloo was in palestine. there came a day when all hell rode up, led by apollyon, and the captain of our salvation confronted them alone. the rider on the white horse of the apocalypse going out against the black horse cavalry of death, and the battalions of the demoniac, and the myrmidons of darkness. from twelve o'clock at noon to three o'clock in the afternoon the greatest battle of the universe went on. eternal destinies were being decided. all the arrows of hell pierced our chieftain, and the battle-axes struck him, until brow and cheek and shoulder and hand and foot were incarnadined with oozing life; but he fought on until he gave a final stroke with sword from jehovah's buckler, and the commander-in-chief of hell and all his forces fell back in everlasting ruin, and the victory is ours. and on the mound that celebrates the triumph we plant this day two figures, not in bronze or iron or sculptured marble, but two figures of living light, the lion of judah's tribe and the lamb that was slain. posthumous opportunity. "if the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth there it shall be."--eccles. xi: . there is a hovering hope in the minds of a vast multitude that there will be an opportunity in the next world to correct the mistakes of this; that, if we do make complete shipwreck of our earthly life, it will be on a shore up which we may walk to a palace; that, as a defendant may lose his case in the circuit court, and carry it up to the supreme court or court of chancery and get a reversal of judgment in his behalf, all the costs being thrown over on the other party, so, if we fail in the earthly trial, we may in the higher jurisdiction of eternity have the judgment of the lower court set aside, all the costs remitted, and we may be victorious defendants forever. my object in this sermon is to show that common sense, as well as my text, declares that such an expectation is chimerical. you say that the impenitent man, having got into the next world and seeing the disaster, will, as a result of that disaster, turn, the pain the cause of his reformation. but you can find ten thousand instances in this world of men who have done wrong and distress overtook them suddenly. did the distress heal them? no; they went right on. that man was flung of dissipations. "you must stop drinking," said the doctor, "and quit the fast life you are leading, or it will destroy you.". the patient suffers paroxysm after paroxysm; but, under skillful medical treatment, he begins to sit up, begins to walk about the room, begins to go to business. and, lo! he goes back to the same grog-shops for his morning dram, and his even dram, and the drams between. flat down again! same doctor. same physical anguish. same medical warning. now, the illness is more protracted; the liver is more stubborn, the stomach more irritable, and the digestive organs are more rebellious. but after awhile he is out again, goes back to the same dram-shops, and goes the same round of sacrilege against his physical health. he sees that his downward course is ruining his household, that his life is a perpetual perjury against his marriage vow, that that broken-hearted woman is so unlike the roseate young wife that he married, that her old schoolmates do not recognize her; that his sons are to be taunted for a life-time by the father's drunkenness, that the daughters are to pass into life under the scarification of a disreputable ancestor. he is drinking up their happiness, their prospects for this life, and, perhaps, for the life to come. sometimes an appreciation of what he is doing comes upon him. his nervous system is all a tangle. from crown of head to sole of foot he is one aching, rasping, crucifying, damning torture. where is he? in hell on earth. does it reform him? after awhile he has delirium tremens, with a whole jungle of hissing reptiles let out on his pillow, and his screams horrify the neighbors as he dashes out of his bed, crying: "take these things off me!" as he sits, pale and convalescent, the doctor says: "now i want to have a plain talk with you, my dear fellow. the next attack of this kind you will have you will be beyond all medical skill, and you will die." he gets better and goes forth into the same round again. this time medicine takes no effect. consultation of physicians agree in saying there is no hope. death ends the scene. that process of inebriation, warning, and dissolution is going on within stone's throw of this church, going on in all the neighborhoods of christendom. pain does not correct. suffering does not reform. what is true in one sense is true in all senses, and will forever be so, and yet men are expecting in the next world purgatorial rejuvenation. take up the printed reports of the prisons of the united states, and you will find that the vast majority of the incarcerated have been there before, some of them four, five, six times. with a million illustrations all working the other way in this world, people are expecting that distress in the next state will be salvatory. you can not imagine any worse torture in any other world than that which some men have suffered here, and without any salutary consequence. furthermore, the prospect of a reformation in the next world is more improbable than a reformation here. in this world the life started with innocence of infancy. in the case supposed the other life will open with all the accumulated bad habits of many years upon him. surely, it is easier to build a strong ship out of new timber than out of an old hulk that has been ground up in the breakers. if with innocence to start with in this life a man does not become godly, what prospect is there that in the next world, starting with sin, there would be a seraph evoluted? surely the sculptor has more prospect of making a fine statue out of a block of pure white parian marble than out of an old black rock seamed and cracked with the storms of a half century. surely upon a clean, white sheet of paper it is easier to write a deed or a will than upon a sheet of paper all scribbled and blotted and torn from top to bottom. yet men seem to think that, though the life that began here comparatively perfect turned out badly, the next life will succeed, though it starts with a dead failure. "but," says some one, "i think we ought to have a chance in the next life, because this life is so short it allows only small opportunity. we hardly have time to turn around between cradle and tomb, the wood of the one almost touching the marble of the other." but do you know what made the ancient deluge a necessity? it was the longevity of the antediluvians. they were worse in the second century of their life-time than in the first hundred years, and still worse in the third century, and still worse all the way on to seven, eight, and nine hundred years, and the earth had to be washed, and scrubbed, and soaked, and anchored, clear out of sight for more than a month before it could be made fit for decent people to live in. longevity never cures impenitency. all the pictures of time represent him with a scythe to cut, but i never saw any picture of time with a case of medicines to heal. seneca says that nero for the first five years of his public life was set up for an example of clemency and kindness, but his path all the way descended until at sixty-eight he became a suicide. if eight hundred years did not make antediluvians any better, but only made them worse, the ages of eternity could have no effect except prolongation of depravity. "but," says some one, "in the future state evil surroundings will be withdrawn and elevated influences substituted, and hence expurgation, and sublimation, and glorification." but the righteous, all their sins forgiven, have passed on into a beatific state, and consequently the unsaved will be left alone. it can not be expected that doctor duff, who exhausted himself in teaching hindoos the way to heaven, and doctor abeel, who gave his life in the evangelization of china, and adoniram judson, who toiled for the redemption of borneo, should be sent down by some celestial missionary society to educate those who wasted all their earthly existence. evangelistic and missionary efforts are ended. the entire kingdom of the morally bankrupt by themselves, where are the salvatory influences to come from? can one speckled and bad apple in a barrel of diseased apples turn the other apples good? can those who are themselves down help others up? can those who have themselves failed in the business of the soul pay the debts of their spiritual insolvents? can a million wrongs make one right? poneropolis was a city where king philip of thracia put all the bad people of his kingdom. if any man had opened a primary school at poneropolis i do not think the parents from other cities would have sent their children there. instead of amendment in the other world, all the associations, now that the good are evolved, will be degenerating and down. you would not want to send a man to a cholera or yellow fever hospital for his health; and the great lazaretto of the next world, containing the diseased and plague-struck, will be a poor place for moral recovery. if the surroundings in this world were crowded of temptation, the surroundings of the next world, after the righteous have passed up and on, will be a thousand per cent. more crowded of temptation. the count of chateaubriand made his little son sleep at night at the top of a castle turret, where the winds howled and where specters were said to haunt the place; and while the mother and sisters almost died with fright, the son tells us that the process gave him nerves that could not tremble and a courage that never faltered. but i don't think that towers of darkness and the spectral world swept by sirocco and euroclydon will ever fit one for the land of eternal sunshine. i wonder what is the curriculum of that college of inferno, where, after proper preparation by the sins of this life, the candidate enters, passing on from freshman class of depravity to sophomore of abandonment, and from sophomore to junior, and from junior to senior, and day of graduation comes, and with diploma signed by satan, the president, and other professorial demoniacs, attesting that the candidate has been long enough under their drill, he passes up to enter heaven! pandemonium a preparative course for heavenly admission! ah, my friends, satan and his cohorts have fitted uncounted multitudes for ruin, but never fitted one soul for happiness. furthermore, it would not be safe for this world if men had another chance in the next. if it had been announced that, however wickedly a man might act in this world, he could fix it up all right in the next, society would be terribly demoralized, and the human race demolished in a few years. the fear that, if we are bad and unforgiven here, it will not be well for us in the next existence, is the chief influence that keeps civilization from rushing back to semi-barbarism, and semi-barbarism from rushing into midnight savagery, and midnight savagery from extinction; for it is the astringent impression of all nations, christian and heathen, that there is no future chance for those who have wasted this. multitudes of men who are kept within bounds would say, "go to, now! let me get all out of this life there is in it. come, gluttony, and inebriation, and uncleanness, and revenge, and all sensualities, and wait upon me! my life may be somewhat shortened in this world by dissoluteness, but that will only make heavenly indulgence on a larger scale the sooner possible. i will overtake the saints at last, and will enter the heavenly temple only a little later than those who behaved themselves here. i will on my way to heaven take a little wider excursion than those who were on earth pious, and i shall go to heaven _via_ gehenna and _via_ sheol." another chance in the next world means free license and wild abandonment in this. suppose you were a party in an important case at law, and you knew from consultation with judges and attorneys that it would be tried twice, and the first trial would be of little importance, but that the second would decide everything; for which trial would you make the most preparation, for which retain the ablest attorneys, for which be most anxious about the attendance of witnesses? you would put all the stress upon the second trial, all the anxiety, all the expenditure, saying, "the first is nothing, the last is everything." give the race assurance of a second and more important trial in the subsequent life, and all the preparation for eternity would be _post-mortem_, post-funeral, post-sepulchral, and the world with one jerk be pitched off into impiety and godlessness. furthermore, let me ask why a chance should be given in the next world if we have refused innumerable chances in this? suppose you give a banquet, and you invite a vast number of friends, but one man declines to come, or treats your invitation with indifference. you in the course of twenty years give twenty banquets, and the same man is invited to them all, and treats them all in the same obnoxious way. after awhile you remove to another house, larger and better, and you again invite your friends, but send no invitation to the man who declined or neglected the other invitations. are you to blame? has he a right to expect to be invited after all the indignities he has done you? god in this world has invited us all to the banquet of his grace. he invited us by his providence and his spirit three hundred and sixty-five days of every year since we knew our right hand from our left. if we declined it every time, or treated the invitation with indifference, and gave twenty or forty or fifty years of indignity on our part toward the banqueter, and at last he spreads the banquet in a more luxurious and kingly place, amid the heavenly gardens, have we a right to expect him to invite us again, and have we a right to blame him if he does not invite us? if twelve gates of salvation stood open twenty years or fifty years for our admission, and at the end of that time they are closed, can we complain of it and say, "these gates ought to be open again. give us another chance"? if the steamer is to sail for hamburg, and we want to get to germany by that line, and we read in every evening and every morning newspaper that it will sail on a certain day, for two weeks we have that advertisement before our eyes, and then we go down to the docks fifteen minutes after it has shoved off into the stream and say: "come back. give me another chance. it is not fair to treat me in this way. swing up to the dock again, and throw out planks, and let me come on board." such behavior would invite arrest as a madman. and if, after the gospel ship has lain at anchor before our eyes for years and years, and all the benign voices of earth and heaven have urged us to get on board, as she might sail away at any moment, and after awhile she sails without us, is it common sense to expect her to come back? you might as well go out on the highlands at neversink and call to the "aurania" after she has been three days out, and expect her to return, as to call back an opportunity for heaven when it once has sped away. all heaven offered us as a gratuity, and for a life-time we refuse to take it, and then rush on the bosses of jehovah's buckler demanding another chance. there ought to be, there can be, there will be no such thing as posthumous opportunity. thus, our common sense agrees with my text--"if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be." you see that this idea lifts this world up from an unimportant way-station to a platform of stupendous issues, and makes all eternity whirl around this hour. but one trial for which all the preparation must be made in this world, or never made at all. that piles up all the emphases and all the climaxes and all the destinies into life here. no other chance! oh, how that augments the value and the importance of this chance! alexander with his army used to surround a city, and then would lift a great light in token to the people that, if they surrendered before that light went out, all would be well; but if once the light went out, then the battering-rams would swing against the wall, and demolition and disaster would follow. well, all we need do for our present and everlasting safety is to make surrender to christ, the king and conqueror--surrender of our hearts, surrender of our lives, surrender of everything. and he keeps a great light burning, light of gospel invitation, light kindled with the wood of the cross and flaming up against the dark night of our sin and sorrow. surrender while that great light continues to burn, for after it goes out there will be no other opportunity of making peace with god through our lord jesus christ. talk of another chance! why, this is a supernal chance! in the time of edward the sixth, at the battle of musselburgh, a private soldier, seeing that the earl of huntley had lost his helmet, took off his own helmet and put it upon the head of the earl; and the head of the private soldier uncovered, he was soon slain, while his commander rode safely out of the battle. but in our case, instead of a private soldier offering helmet to an earl, it is a king putting his crown upon an unworthy subject, the king dying that we might live. tell it to all points of the compass. tell it to night and day. tell it to all earth and heaven. tell it to all centuries, all ages, all millenniums, that we have such a magnificent chance in this world that we need no other chance in the next. i am in the burnished judgment hall of the last day. a great white throne is lifted, but the judge has not yet taken it. while we are waiting for his arrival i hear immortal spirits in conversation. "what are you waiting here for?" says a soul that went up from madagascar to a soul that ascended from america. the latter says: "i came from america, where forty years i heard the gospel preached, and bible read, and from the prayer that i learned in infancy at my mother's knee until my last hour i had gospel advantage, but, for some reason, i did not make the christian choice, and i am here waiting for the judge to give me a new trial and another chance." "strange!" says the other; "i had but one gospel call in madagascar, and i accepted it, and i do not need another chance." "why are you here?" says one who on earth had feeblest intellect to one who had great brain, and silvery tongue, and scepters of influence. the latter responds: "oh, i knew more than my fellows. i mastered libraries, and had learned titles from colleges, and my name was a synonym for eloquence and power. and yet i neglected my soul, and i am here waiting for a new trial." "strange," says the one of the feeble earthly capacity; "i knew but little of worldly knowledge, but i knew christ, and made him my partner, and i have no need of another chance." now the ground trembles with the approaching chariot. the great folding-doors of the hall swing open. "stand back!" cry the celestial ushers. "stand back, and let the judge of quick and dead pass through!" he takes the throne, and, looking over the throng of nations, he says: "come to judgment, the last judgment, the only judgment!" by one flash from the throne all the history of each one flames forth to the vision of himself and all others. "divide!" says the judge to the assembly. "divide!" echo the walls. "divide!" cry the guards angelic. and now the immortals separate, rushing this way and that, and after awhile there is a great aisle between them, and a great vacuum widening and widening, and the judge, turning to the throng on one side, says: "he that is righteous, let him be righteous still, and he that is holy, let him be holy still;" and then, turning toward the throng on the opposite side, he says: "he that is unjust, let him be unjust still, and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still;" and then, lifting one hand toward each group, he declares: "if the tree fall toward the south or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be." and then i hear something jar with a great sound. it is the closing of the book of judgment. the judge ascends the stairs behind the throne. the hall of the last assize is cleared and shut. the high court of eternity is adjourned forever. the lord's razor. "in the same day shall the lord shave with a razor that is hired, namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of assyria."--isaiah vii: . the bible is the boldest book ever written. there are no similitudes in ossian or the iliad or the odyssey so daring. its imagery sometimes seems on the verge of the reckless, but only seems so. the fact is that god would startle and arouse and propel men and nations. a tame and limping similitude would fail to accomplish the object. while there are times when he employs in the bible the gentle dew and the morning cloud and the dove and the daybreak in the presentation of truth, we often find the iron chariot, the lightning, the earthquake, the spray, the sword, and, in my text, the razor. this keen-bladed instrument has advanced in usefulness with the ages. in bible times and lands the beard remained uncut save in the seasons of mourning and humiliation, but the razor was always a suggestive symbol. david says of doeg, his antagonist: "thy tongue is a sharp razor working deceitfully;" that is, it pretends to clear the face, but is really used for deadly incision. in this morning's text the weapon of the toilet appears under the following circumstances: judea needed to have some of its prosperities cut off, and god sends against it three assyrian kings--first sennacherib, then esrahaddon, and afterward nebuchadnezzar. those three sharp invasions, that cut down the glory of judea, are compared to so many sweeps of the razor across the face of the land. and these circumstances were called a hired razor because god took the kings of assyria, with whom he had no sympathy, to do the work, and paid them in palaces and spoils and annexations. these kings were hired to execute the divine behests. and now the text, which on its first reading may have seemed trivial or inapt, is charged with momentous import: "in the same day shall the lord shave with a razor that is hired--namely, by them beyond the river, by the king of assyria." well, if god's judgments are razors, we had better be careful how we use them on other people. in careful sheath these domestic weapons are put away, where no one by accident may touch them, and where the hands of children may not reach them. such instruments must be carefully handled or not handled at all. but how recklessly some people wield the judgments of god! if a man meet with business misfortune, how many there are ready to cry out: "that is a judgment of god upon him because he was unscrupulous, or arrogant, or overreaching, or miserly. i thought he would get cut down! what a clean sweep of everything! his city house and country house gone! his stables emptied of all the fine bays and sorrels and grays that used to prance by his door! all his resources overthrown, and all that he prided himself on tumbled into demolition! good for him!" stop, my brother. don't sling around too freely the judgments of god, for they are razors. some of the most wicked business men succeed, and they live and die in prosperity, and some of the most honest and conscientious are driven into bankruptcy. perhaps his manner was unfortunate, and he was not really as proud as he looked to be. some of those who carry their head erect and look imperial are humble as a child, while many a man in seedy coat and slouch hat and unblacked shoes is as proud as lucifer. you can not tell by a man's look. perhaps he was not unscrupulous in business, for there are two sides to every story, and everybody that accomplishes anything for himself or others gets industriously lied about. perhaps his business misfortune was not a punishment, but the fatherly discipline to prepare him for heaven, and god may love him far more than he loves you, who can pay dollar for dollar, and are put down in the commercial catalogues as a . whom the lord loveth he gives four hundred thousand dollars and lets die on embroidered pillows? no: whom the lord loveth he chasteneth. better keep your hand off the lord's razors, lest they cut and wound people that do not deserve it. if you want to shave off some of the bristling pride of your own heart do so; but be very careful how you put the sharp edge on others. how i do dislike the behavior of those persons who, when people are unfortunate, say: "i told you so--getting punished--served him right." if those i-told-you-so's got their desert they would long ago have been pitched over the battlements. the mote in their neighbor's eyes--so small that it takes a microscope to find it--gives them more trouble than the beam which obscures their own optics. with air sometimes supercilious and sometimes pharisaical, and always blasphemous, they take the razor of the divine judgment and sharpen it on the hone of their own hard hearts, and then go to work on men sprawled out at full length under disaster, cutting mercilessly. they begin by soft expressions of sympathy and pity and half praise, and, lather the victim all over before they put on the sharp edge. let us be careful how we shoot at others lest we take down the wrong one, remembering the servant of king william rufus who shot at a deer, but the arrow glanced against a tree and killed the king. instead of going out with shafts to pierce, and razors to cut, we had better imitate the friend of richard coeur de lion, who, in the war of the crusades, was captured and imprisoned, but none of his friends knew where. so his loyal friend went around the land from stronghold to stronghold, and sung at each window a snatch of song that richard coeur de lion had taught him in other days. and one day, coming before a jail where he suspected his king might be incarcerated, he sung two lines of song, and immediately king richard responded from his cell with the other two lines, and so his whereabouts were discovered, and immediately a successful movement was made for his liberation. so let us go up and down the world with the music of kind words and sympathetic hearts, serenading the unfortunate, and trying to get out of trouble men who had noble natures, but, by unforeseen circumstances, have been incarcerated, thus liberating kings. more hymn-book and less razor. especially ought we to be apologetic and merciful toward those who, while they have great faults, have also great virtues. some people are barren of virtues. no weeds verily, but no flowers. i must not be too much enraged at a nettle along the fence if it be in a field containing forty acres of ripe michigan wheat. at the present time, naturalists tell us, there is on the sun a spot twenty thousand miles long, but from the brightness and warmth i conclude it is a good deal of a sun yet. again, when i read in my text that the lord shaves with the hired razor of assyria the land of judea, i bethink myself of the precision of god's providence. a razor swung the tenth part of an inch out of the right line means either failure or laceration, but god's dealings never slip, and they do not miss by the thousandth part of an inch the right direction. people talk as though things in this world were at loose ends. cholera sweeps across marseilles and madrid and palermo, and we watch anxiously. will the epidemic sweep europe and america? people say, "that will entirely depend on whether inoculation is a successful experiment; that will depend entirely on quarantine regulations; that will depend on the early or late appearance of frost; that epidemic is pitched into the world, and it goes blundering across the continents, and it is all guess-work and an appalling perhaps." my friends, i think, perhaps, that god had something to do with it, and that his mercy may have in some way protected us--that he may have done as much for us as the quarantine and the health officers. it was right and a necessity that all caution should be used, but there has come enough macaroni from italy, and enough grapes from the south of france, and enough rags from tatterdemalions, and hidden in these articles of transportation enough choleraic germs to have left by this time all brooklyn mourning at greenwood, and all philadelphia at laurel hill, and all boston at mount auburn. i thank all the doctors and quarantines; but, more than all, and first of all, and last of all, and all the time, i thank god. in all the six thousand years of the world's existence there has not one thing merely "happened so." god is not an anarchist, but a king, a father. when little tod, the son of president lincoln, died, all the land sympathized with the sorrow in the white house. he used to rush into the room where the cabinet was in session, and while the most eminent men of the land were discussing the questions of national existence. but the child had no care about those questions. now god the father, and god the son, and god the holy ghost are in perpetual session in regard to this world and kindred worlds. shall you, his child, rush in to criticise or arraign or condemn the divine government? no; the cabinet of the eternal three can govern and will govern in the wisest and best way, and there never will be a mistake, and like razor skillfully swung, shall cut that which ought to be cut, and avoid that which ought to be avoided. precision to the very hair-breadth. earthly time-pieces may get out of order and strike wrong, saying that it is one o'clock when it is two, or two when it is three. god's clock is always right, and when it is one it strikes one, and when it is twelve it strikes twelve, and the second hand is as accurate as the minute hand. further, my text tells us that god sometimes shaves nations: "in the same day shall the lord shave with the razor that is hired." with one sharp sweep he went across judea and down went its pride and its power. in god shaved our nation. we had allowed to grow sabbath desecration, and oppression, and blasphemy, and fraud, and impurity, and all sorts of turpitude. the south had its sins, and the north its sins, and the east its sins, and the west its sins. we had been warned again and again, and we did not heed. at length the sword of war cut from the st. lawrence to the gulf, and from atlantic seaboard to pacific seaboard. the pride of the land, not the cowards, but the heroes, on both sides went down. and that which we took for the sword of war was the lord's razor. in , again, it went across the land. in again. in again. then the sharp instrument was incased and put away. never in the history of the ages was any land more thoroughly shaved than during those four years of civil combat; and, my brethren, if we do not quit some of our individual sins, national sins, the lord will again take us in hand. he has other razors within reach besides war: epidemics, droughts, deluges, plagues--grasshopper and locust; or our overtowering success may so far excite the jealousy of other lands that, under some pretext, the great nations of europe and asia may combine to put us down. this nation, so easily approached on north and south and from both oceans, might have on hand at once more hostilities than were ever arrayed against any power. we have recently been told by skillful engineers that all our fortresses around new york harbor could not keep the shells from being hurled from the sea into the heart of these great cities. insulated china, the wealthiest of all nations, as will be realized when her resources are developed, will have adopted all the modes of modern warfare, and at the golden gate may be discussing whether americans must go. if the combined jealousies of europe and asia should come upon us, we should have more work on hand than would be pleasant. i hope no such combination against us will ever be formed, but i want to show that, as assyria was the hired razor against judea, and cyrus the hired razor against babylon, and the huns the hired razor against the goths, there are now many razors that the lord could hire if, because of our national sins, he should undertake to shave us. in , germany was the razor with which the lord shaved france. england is the razor with which very shortly the lord will shave russia. but nations are to repent in a day. may a speedy and world-wide coming to god hinder, on both sides the sea, all national calamity. but do not let us, as a nation, either by unrighteous law at washington, or bad lives among ourselves, defy the almighty. one would think that our national symbol of the eagle might sometimes suggest another eagle, that which ancient rome carried. in the talons of that eagle were clutched at one time britain, france, spain, italy, dalmatia, rhactia, noricum, pannonia, moesia, dacia, thrace, macedonia, greece, asia minor, syria, phoenicia, palestine, egypt, and all northern africa, and all the islands of the mediterranean, indeed, all the world that was worth having, an hundred and twenty millions of people under the wings of that one eagle. where is she now? ask gibbon, the historian, in his prose poem, the "decline and fall of the roman empire." ask her gigantic ruins straggling their sadness through the ages, the screech owl at windows out of which world-wide conquerors looked. ask the day of judgment when her crowned debauchees, commodus and pertinax, and caligula and diocletian, shall answer for their infamy? as men and as nations let us repent, and have our trust in a pardoning god, rather than depend on former successes for immunity! out of thirteen greatest battles of the world, napoleon had lost but one before waterloo. pride and destruction often ride in the same saddle. but notice once more, and more than all in my text, that god is so kind and loving, that when it is necessary for him to cut, he has to go to others for the sharp-edged weapon. "in the same day shall the lord shave with a razor that is hired." god is love. god is pity. god is help. god is shelter. god is rescue. there are no sharp edges about him, no thrusting points, no instruments of laceration. if you want balm for wounds, he has that. if you want salve for divine eyesight, he has that. but if there is sharp and cutting work to do which requires a razor, that he hires. god has nothing about him that hurts, save when dire necessity demands, and then he has to go clear off to some one else to get the instrument. this divine geniality will be no novelty to those who have pondered the calvarean massacre, where god submerged himself in human tears, and crimsoned himself from punctured arteries, and let the terrestrial and infernal worlds maul him until the chandeliers of the sky had to be turned out, because the universe could not endure the indecency. illustrious for love he must have been to take all that as our substitute, paying out of his own heart the price of our admission at the gates of heaven. king henry ii., of england, crowned his son as king, and on the day of coronation put on a servant's garb and waited, he, the king, at the son's table, to the astonishment of all the princes. but we know of a more wondrous scene, the king of heaven and earth offering to put on you, his child, the crown of life, and in the form of a servant waiting on you with blessing. extol that love, all painting, all sculpture, all music, all architecture, all worship! in dresdenian gallery let raphael hold him up as a child, and in antwerp cathedral let rubens hand him down from the cross as a martyr, and handel make all his oratorio vibrate around that one chord--"he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquity." but not until all the redeemed get home, and from the countenances of all the piled-up galleries of the ransomed shall be revealed the wonders of redemption, shall either man or seraph or archangel know the height, and depth, and length, and breadth of the love of god. at our national capital, a monument in honor of him who did more than any one to achieve our american independence, was for scores of years in building, and most of us were discouraged and said it never would be completed. and how glad we all were when in the presence of the highest officials of the nation, the work was done! but will the monument to him who died for the eternal liberation of the human race ever be completed? for ages the work has been going up; evangelists and apostles and martyrs have been adding to the heavenly pile, and every one of the millions of the redeemed going up from earth, has made to it contribution of gladness, and weight of glory is swung to the top of other weight of glory, higher and higher as the centuries go by, higher and higher as the whole millenniums roll, sapphire on the top of jasper, sardonyx on the top of chalcedony, and chrysoprasus above topaz, until, far beneath shall be the walls and towers and domes of the great capitol, a monument forever and forever rising, and yet never done. "unto him who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests forever." allelujah, amen. windows toward jerusalem. "his windows being open and his chamber toward jerusalem."--dan. vi: . the scoundrelly princes of persia, urged on by political jealousy against daniel, have succeeded in getting a law passed that whosoever prays to god shall be put under the paws and teeth of the lions, who are lashing themselves in rage and hunger up and down the stone cage, or putting their lower jaws on the ground, bellowing till the earth trembles. but the leonine threat did not hinder the devotion of daniel, the coeur-de-lion of the ages. his enemies might as well have a law that the sun should not draw water or that the south wind should not sweep across a garden of magnolias or that god should be abolished. they could not scare him with the red-hot furnaces, and they can not now scare him with the lions. as soon as daniel hears of this enactment he leaves his office of secretary of state, with its upholstery of crimson and gold, and comes down the white marble steps and goes to his own house. he opens his window and puts the shutters back and pulls the curtain aside so that he can look toward the sacred city of jerusalem, and then prays. i suppose the people in the street gathered under and before his window, and said: "just see that man defying the law; he ought to be arrested." and the constabulary of the city rush to the police head-quarters and report that daniel is on his knees at the wide-open window. "you are my prisoner," says the officer of the law, dropping a heavy hand on the shoulder of the kneeling daniel. as the constables open the door of the cavern to thrust in their prisoner, they see the glaring eyes of the monsters. but daniel becomes the first lion-tamer, and they lick his hand and fawn at his feet, and that night he sleeps with the shaggy mane of a wild beast for his pillow, while the king that night, sleepless in the palace, has on him the paw and teeth of a lion he can not tame--the lion of a remorseful conscience. what a picture it would be for some artist; darius, in the early dusk of morning, not waiting for footmen or chariot, hastening to the den, all flushed and nervous and in dishabille, and looking through the crevices of the cage to see what had become of his prime-minister! "what, no sound!" he says: "daniel is surely devoured, and the lions are sleeping after their horrid meal, the bones of the poor man scattered across the floor of the cavern." with trembling voice darius calls out, "daniel!" no answer, for the prophet is yet in profound slumber. but a lion, more easily awakened, advances, and, with hot breath blown through the crevice, seems angrily to demand the cause of this interruption, and then another wild beast lifts his mane from under daniel's head, and the prophet, waking up, comes forth to report himself all unhurt and well. but our text stands us at daniel's window, open toward jerusalem. why in that direction open? jerusalem was his native land, and all the pomp of his babylonish successes could not make him forget it. he came there from jerusalem at eighteen years of age, and he never visited it, though he lived to be eighty-five years. yet, when he wanted to arouse the deepest emotions and grandest aspirations of his heart, he had his window open toward his native jerusalem. there are many of you to-day who understand that without any exposition. this is getting to be a nation of foreigners. they have come into all occupations and professions. they sit in all churches. it may be twenty years ago since you got your naturalization papers, and you may be thoroughly americanized, but you can't forget the land of your birth, and your warmest sympathies go out toward it. your windows are open toward jerusalem. your father and mother are buried there. it may have been a very humble home in which you were born, but your memory often plays around it, and you hope some day to go and see it--the hill, the tree, the brook, the house, the place so sacred, the door from which you started off with parental blessing to make your own way in the world; and god only knows how sometimes you have longed to see the familiar places of your childhood, and how in awful crises of life you would like to have caught a glimpse of the old, wrinkled face that bent over you as you lay on the gentle lap twenty or forty or fifty years ago. you may have on this side of the sea risen in fortune, and, like daniel, have become great, and may have come into prosperities which you never could have reached if you had stayed there, and you may have many windows to your house--bay-windows, and sky-light-windows, and windows of conservatory, and windows on all sides--but you have at least one window open toward jerusalem. when the foreign steamer comes to the wharf, you see the long line of sailors, with shouldered mail-bags, coming down the planks, carrying as many letters as you might suppose would be enough for a year's correspondence, and this repeated again and again during the week. multitudes of them are letters from home, and at all the post-offices of the land people will go to the window and anxiously ask for them, hundreds of thousands of persons finding that window of foreign mails the open window toward jerusalem. messages that say: "when are you coming home to see us? brother has gone into the army. sister is dead. father and mother are getting very feeble. we are having a great struggle to get on here. would you advise us to come to you, or will you come to us? all join in love, and hope to meet you, if not in this world, then in a better. good-bye." yes, yes; in all these cities, and amid the flowering western prairies, and on the slopes of the pacific, and amid the sierras, and on the banks of the lagoon, and on the ranches of texas there is an uncounted multitude who, this hour, stand and sit and kneel with their windows open toward jerusalem. some of them played on the heather of the scottish hills. some of them were driven out by irish famine. some of them, in early life, drilled in the german army. some of them were accustomed at lyons or marseilles or paris to see on the street victor hugo and gambetta. some chased the chamois among the alpine precipices. some plucked the ripe clusters from italian vineyard. some lifted their faces under the midnight sun of norway. it is no dishonor to our land that they remember the place of their nativity. miscreants would they be if, while they have some of their windows open to take in the free air of america and the sunlight of an atmosphere which no kingly despot has ever breathed, they forgot sometime to open the window toward jerusalem. no wonder that the son of the swiss, when far away from home, hearing the national air of his country sung, the malady of home-sickness comes on him so powerfully as to cause his death. you have the example of the heroic daniel of my text for keeping early memories fresh. forget not the old folks at home. write often; and, if you have surplus of means and they are poor, make practical contribution, and rejoice that america is bound to all the world by ties of sanguinity as is no other nation. who can doubt but it is appointed for the evangelization of other lands? what a stirring, melting, gospelizing theory that all the doors of other nations are open toward us, while our windows are open toward them! but daniel, in the text, kept this port-hole of his domestic fortress unclosed because jerusalem was the capital of sacred influences. there had smoked the sacrifice. there was the holy of holies. there was the ark of the covenant. there stood the temple. we are all tempted to keep our windows open on the opposite side, toward the world, that we may see and hear and appropriate its advantages. what does the world say? what does the world think? what does the world do? worshipers of the world instead of worshipers of god. windows open toward babylon. windows open toward corinth. windows open toward athens. windows open toward sodom. windows open toward the flats, instead of windows open toward the hills. sad mistake, for this world as a god is like something i saw the other day in the museum of strasburg, germany--the figure of a virgin in wood and iron. the victim in olden time was brought there, and this figure would open its arms to receive him, and, once infolded, the figure closed with a hundred knives and lances upon him, and then let him drop one hundred and eighty feet sheer down. so the world first embraces its idolaters, then closes upon them with many tortures, and then lets them drop forever down. the highest honor the world could confer was to make a man roman emperor; but, out of sixty-three emperors, it allowed only six to die peacefully in their beds. the dominion of this world over multitudes is illustrated by the names of coins of many countries. they have their pieces of money which they call sovereigns and half sovereigns, crowns and half crowns, napoleons and half napoleons, fredericks and double fredericks, and ducats, and isabellinos, all of which names mean not so much usefulness as dominion. the most of our windows open toward the exchange, toward the salon of fashion, toward the god of this world. in olden times the length of the english yard was fixed by the length of the arm of king henry i., and we are apt to measure things by a variable standard and by the human arm that in the great crises of life can give us no help. we need, like daniel, to open our windows toward god and religion. but, mark you, that good lion-tamer is not standing at the window, but kneeling, while he looks out. most photographs are taken of those in standing or sitting posture. i now remember but one picture of a man kneeling, and that was david livingstone, who in the cause of god and civilization sacrificed himself; and in the heart of africa his servant, majwara, found him in the tent by the light of a candle, stuck on the top of a box, his head in his hands upon the pillow, and dead on his knees. but here is a great lion-tamer, living under the dash of the light, and his hair disheveled of the breeze, praying. the fact is, that a man can see further on his knees than standing on tiptoe. jerusalem was about five hundred and fifty statute miles from babylon, and the vast arabian desert shifted its sands between them. yet through that open window daniel saw jerusalem, saw all between it, saw beyond, saw time, saw eternity, saw earth, and saw heaven. would you like to see the way through your sins to pardon, through your troubles to comfort, through temptation to rescue, through dire sickness to immortal health, through night to day, through things terrestrial to things celestial, you will not see them till you take daniel's posture. no cap of bone to the joints of the fingers, no cap of bone to the joints of the elbow, but cap of bone to the knees, made so because the god of the body was the god of the soul, and especial provision for those who want to pray, and physiological structure joins with spiritual necessity in bidding us pray, and pray, and pray. in olden time the earl of westmoreland said he had no need to pray, because he had enough pious tenants on his estate to pray for him; but all the prayers of the church universal amount to nothing unless, like daniel, we pray for ourselves. oh, men and women, bounded on one side by shadrach's red-hot furnace, and the other side by devouring lions, learn the secret of courage and deliverance by looking at that babylonish window open toward the south-west! "oh," you say, "that is the direction of the arabian desert!" yes; but on the other side of the desert is god, is christ, is jerusalem, is heaven. the brussels lace is superior to all other lace, so beautiful, so multiform, so expensive--four hundred francs a pound. all the world seeks it. do you know how it is made? the spinning is done in a dark room, the only light admitted through a small aperture, and that light falling directly on the pattern. and the finest specimens of christian character i have ever seen or ever expect to see are those to be found in lives all of whose windows have been darkened by bereavement and misfortune save one, but under that one window of prayer the interlacing of divine workmanship went on until it was fit to deck a throne, a celestial embroidery which angels admired and god approved. but it is another jerusalem toward which we now need to open our windows. the exiled evangelist of ephesus saw it one day as the surf of the icarian sea foamed and splashed over the bowlders at his feet, and his vision reminded me of a wedding-day when the bride by sister and maid was having garlands twisted for her hair and jewels strung for her neck just before she puts her betrothed hand into the hand of her affianced: "i, john, saw the holy city, new jerusalem, coming down from god out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." toward that bridal jerusalem are our windows opened? we would do well to think more of heaven. it is not a mere annex of earth. it is not a desolate outpost. as jerusalem was the capital of judae, and babylon the capital of the babylonian monarchy, and london is the capital of great britain, and washington is the capital of our own republic, the new jerusalem is the capital of the universe. the king lives there, and the royal family of the redeemed have their palaces there, and there is a congress of many nations and the parliament of all the worlds. yea, as daniel had kindred in jerusalem of whom he often thought, though he had left home when a very young man, perhaps father and mother and brothers and sisters still living, and was homesick to see them, and they belonged to the high circles of royalty, daniel himself having royal blood in his veins, so we have in the new jerusalem a great many kindred, and we are sometimes homesick to see them, and they are all princes and princesses, in them the blood imperial, and we do well to keep our windows open toward their eternal residence. it is a joy for us to believe that while we are interested in them they are interested in us. much thought of heaven makes one heavenly. the airs that blow through that open window are charged with life, and sweep up to us aromas from gardens that never wither, under skies that never cloud, in a spring-tide that never terminates. compared with it all other heavens are dead failures. homer's heaven was an elysium which he describes as a plain at the end of the earth or beneath, with no snow nor rainfall, and the sun never goes down, and rhadamanthus, the justest of men, rules. hesiod's heaven is what he calls the islands of the blessed, in the midst of the ocean, three times a year blooming with most exquisite flowers, and the air is tinted with purple, while games and music and horse-races occupy the time. the scandinavian's heaven was the hall of walhalla, where the god odin gave unending wine-suppers to earthly heroes and heroines. the mohammedan's heaven passes its disciples in over the bridge al-sirat, which is finer than a hair and sharper than a sword, and then they are let loose into a riot of everlasting sensuality. the american aborigines look forward to a heaven of illimitable hunting-ground, partridge and deer and wild duck more than plentiful, and the hounds never off the scent, and the guns never missing fire. but the geographer has followed the earth round, and found no homer's elysium. voyagers have traversed the deep in all directions, and found no hesiod's islands of the blessed. the mohammedan's celestial debauchery and the indian's eternal hunting-ground for vast multitudes have no charm. but here rolls in the bible heaven. no more sea--that is, no wide separation. no more night--that is, no insomnia. no more tears--that is, no heart-break. no more pain--that is, dismissal of lancet and bitter draught and miasma, and banishment of neuralgias and catalepsies and consumptions. all colors in the wall except gloomy black; all the music in the major-key, because celebrative and jubilant. river crystalline, gate crystalline, and skies crystalline, because everything is clear and without doubt. white robes, and that means sinlessness. vials full of odors, and that means pure regalement of the senses. rainbow, and that means the storm is over. marriage supper, and that means gladdest festivity. twelve manner of fruits, and that means luscious and unending variety. harp, trumpet, grand march, anthem, amen, and hallelujah in the same orchestra. choral meeting solo, and overture meeting antiphon, and strophe joining dithyramb, as they roll into the ocean of doxologies. and you and i may have all that, and have it forever through christ, if we will let him with the blood of one wounded hand rub out our sin, and with the other wounded hand swing open the shining portals. day and night keep your window open toward that jerusalem. sing about it. pray about it. think about it. talk about it. dream about it. do not be inconsolable about your friends who have gone into it. do not worry if something in your heart indicates that you are not far off from its ecstasies. do not think that when a christian dies he stops, for he goes on. an ingenious man has taken the heavenly furlongs as mentioned in revelation, and has calculated that there will be in heaven one hundred rooms sixteen feet square for each ascending soul, though this world should lose a hundred millions yearly. but all the rooms of heaven will be ours, for they are family rooms; and as no room in your house is too good for your children, so all the rooms of all the palaces of the heavenly jerusalem will be free to god's children and even the throne-room will not be denied, and you may run up the steps of the throne, and put your hand on the side of the throne, and sit down beside the king according to the promise: "to him that overcometh will i grant to sit with me in my throne." but you can not go in except as conquerors. many years ago the turks and christians were in battle, and the christians were defeated, and with their commander stephen fled toward a fortress where the mother of this commander was staying. when she saw her son and his army in disgraceful retreat, she had the gates of the fortress rolled shut, and then from the top of the battlement cried out to her son, "you can not enter here except as conqueror!" then stephen rallied his forces and resumed the battle and gained the day, twenty thousand driving back two hundred thousand. for those who are defeated in the battle with sin and death and hell nothing but shame and contempt; but for those who gain the victory through our lord jesus christ the gates of the new jerusalem will hoist, and there shall be an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our lord, toward which you do well to keep your windows open. stormed and taken. "and abimelech gat him up to mount zalmon, he and all the people that were with him, and abimelech took an ax in his hand, and cut down a bough from the trees, and took it, and laid it on his shoulder.... and all the people likewise cut down every man his bough, and followed abimelech, and put them to the hold, and set the hold on fire upon them; so that all the men of the tower of shechem died also, about a thousand men and women."--judges ix: , . abimelech is a name malodorous in bible history, and yet full of profitable suggestion. buoys are black and uncomely, but they tell where the rocks are. the snake's rattle is hideous, but it gives timely warning. from the piazza of my summer home, night by night i saw a lighthouse fifteen miles away, not placed there for adornment, but to tell mariners to stand off from that dangerous point. so all the iron-bound coast of moral danger is marked with saul, and herod, and rehoboam, and jezebel, and abimelech. these bad people are mentioned in the bible, not only as warnings, but because there were sometimes flashes of good conduct in their lives worthy of imitation. god sometimes drives a very straight nail with a very poor hammer. the city of shechem had to be taken, and abimelech and his men were to do it. i see the dust rolling up from their excited march. i hear the shouting of the captains and the yell of the besiegers. the swords clack sharply on the parrying shields, and the vociferation of two armies in death-grapple is horrible to hear. the battle goes on all day, and as the sun is setting abimelech and his army cry "surrender!" to the beaten foe. and, unable longer to resist, the city of shechem falls; and there are pools of blood, and dissevered limbs, and glazed eyes looking up beggingly for mercy that war never shows, and dying soldiers with their head on the lap of mother, or wife, or sister, who have come out for the last offices of kindness and affection: and a groan rolls across the city, stopping not, because there is no spot for it to rest, so full is the place of other groans. a city wounded! a city dying! a city dead! wail for shechem, all ye who know the horrors of a sacked town! as i look over the city i can find only one building standing, and that is the temple of the god berith. some soldiers outside of the city, in a tower, finding that they can no longer defend shechem, now begin to look out for their own personal safety, and they fly to this temple of berith. they get within the door, shut it, and they say, "now we are safe. abimelech has taken the whole city, but he can not take this temple of berith. here we shall be under the protection of the gods." oh, berith, the god! do your best now for these refugees. if you have eyes, pity them. if you have hands, help them. if you have thunderbolts, strike for them. but how shall abimelech and his army take this temple of berith and the men who are there fortified? will they do it with sword? nay. will they do it with spear? nay. with battering-ram, rolled up by hundred-armed strength, crashing against the walls? nay. abimelech marches his men to a wood in zalmon. with his ax he hews off a limb of a tree, and puts that limb upon his own shoulder, and then he says to his men, "you do the same." they are obedient to their commander. oh, what a strange army, with what strange equipment! they come to the foot of the temple of berith, and abimelech takes his limb of a tree and throws it down; and the first platoon of soldiers come up and they throw down their branches; and the second platoon, and the third, until all around about the temple of berith there is a pile of tree-branches. the shechemites look out from the windows of the temple upon what seems to them childish play on the part of their enemies. but soon the flints are struck, and the spark begins to kindle the brush, and the flame comes up all through the pile, and the red elements leap to the casement, and the woodwork begins to blaze, and one arm of flame is thrown up on the right side of the temple, and another arm of flame is thrown up on the left side of the temple, until they clasp their lurid palms under the wild night sky, and the cry of "fire!" within, and "fire!" without announces the terror, and the strangulation, and the doom of the shechemites, and the complete overthrow of the temple of the god berith. then there went up a shout, long and loud, from the stout lungs and swarthy chests of abimelech and his men, as they stood amid the ashes and the dust, crying: "victory! victory!" now, i learn first from this subject the folly of depending upon any one form of tactics in anything we have to do for this world or for god. look over the weaponry of olden times--javelins, battle-axes, habergeons--and show me a single weapon with which abimelech and his men could have gained such complete victory. it is no easy thing to take a temple thus armed. i saw a house where, during revolutionary times, a man and his wife kept back a whole regiment hour after hour, because they were inside the house, and the assaulting soldiers were outside the house. yet here abimelech and his army come up, they surround this temple, and they capture it without the loss of a single man on the part of abimelech, although i suppose some of the old israelitish heroes told abimelech: "you are only going up there to be cut to pieces." yet you are willing to testify to-day that by no other mode--certainly not by ordinary modes--could that temple so easily, so thoroughly have been taken. fathers and mothers, brethren and sisters in jesus christ, what the church most wants to learn this day is that any plan is right, is lawful, is best, which helps to overthrow the temple of sin, and capture this world for god. we are very apt to stick to the old modes of attack. we put on the old-style coat of mail. we come up with the sharp, keen, glittering steel spear of argument, expecting in that way to take the castle, but they have a thousand spears where we have ten. and so the castle of sin stands. oh, my friends, we will never capture this world for god by any keen saber of sarcasm, by any glittering lances of rhetoric, by any sapping and mining of profound disquisition, by any gunpowdery explosions of indignation, by sharp shootings of wit, by howitzers of mental strength made to swing shell five miles, by cavalry horses gorgeously caparisoned pawing the air. in vain all the attempts on the part of these ecclesiastical foot soldiers, light horsemen, and grenadiers. my friends, i propose this morning a different style of tactics. let each one go to the forest of god's promise and invitation, and hew down a branch and put it on his shoulder, and let us all come around these obstinate iniquities, and then, with this pile, kindled by the fires of a holy zeal and the flames of a consecrated life, we will burn them out. what steel can not do, fire may. and i, this morning, announce myself in favor of any plan of religious attack that succeeds--any plan of religious attack, however radical, however odd, however unpopular, however hostile to all the conventionalities of church and state. we want more heart in our song, more heart in our alms-giving, more heart in our prayers, more heart in our preaching. oh, for less of abimelech's sword, and more of abimelech's conflagration! i have often heard "there is a fountain filled with blood" sung artistically by four birds perched on their sunday roost in the gallery, until i thought of jenny lind, and nilsson, and sontag, and all the other warblers; but there came not one tear to my eye, nor one master emotion to my heart. but one night i went down to the african methodist meeting-house in philadelphia, and at the close of the service a black woman, in the midst of the audience, began to sing that hymn, and all the audience joined in, and we were floated some three or four miles nearer heaven than i have ever been since. i saw with my own eyes that "fountain filled with blood"--red, agonizing, sacrificial, redemptive--and i heard the crimson plash of the wave as we all went down under it: "for sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains." oh, my friends, the gospel is not a syllogism; it is not casuistry, it is not polemics, or the science of squabble. it is blood-red fact; it is warm-hearted invitation; it is leaping, bounding, flying good news; it is efflorescent with all light; it is rubescent with all glow; it is arborescent with all sweet shade. i have seen the sun rise on mount washington, and from the tip-top house; but there was no beauty in that compared with the day-spring from on high when christ gives light to a soul. i have heard parepa sing; but there was no music in that compared with the voice of christ when he said: "thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace." good news! let every one cut down a branch of this tree of life and wave it. let him throw it down and kindle it. let all the way from mount zalmon to shechem be filled with the tossing joy. good news! this bonfire of the gospel shall consume the last temple of sin, and will illumine the sky with apocalyptic joy that jesus christ came into the world to save sinners. any new plan that makes a man quit his sin, and that prostrates a wrong, i am as much in favor of as though all the doctors, and the bishops, and the archbishops, and the synods, and the academical gownsmen of christianity sanctioned it. the temple of berith must come down, and i do not care how it comes. still further, i learn from this subject the power of example. if abimelech had sat down on the grass and told his men to go and get the boughs, and go out to the battle, they would never have gone at all, or, if they had, it would have been without any spirit or effective result; but when abimelech goes with his own ax and hews down a branch, and with abimelech's arm puts it on abimelech's shoulder, and marches on--then, my text says, all the people did the same. how natural that was! what made garibaldi and stonewall jackson the most magnetic commanders of this century? they always rode ahead. oh, the overcoming power of example! here is a father on the wrong road; all his boys go on the wrong road. here is a father who enlists for christ; his children enlist. i saw, in some of the picture-galleries of europe, that before many of the great works of the masters--the old masters--there would be sometimes four or five artists taking copies of the pictures. these copies they were going to carry with them, perhaps to distant lands; and i have thought that your life and character are a masterpiece, and it is being copied, and long after you are gone it will bloom or blast in the homes of those who knew you, and be a gorgon or a madonna. look out what you say. look out what you do. eternity will hear the echo. the best sermon ever preached is a holy life. the best music ever chanted is a consistent walk. i saw, near the beach, a wrecker's machine. it was a cylinder with some holes at the side, made for the thrusting in of some long poles with strong leverage; and when there is a vessel in trouble or going to pieces out in the offing, the wreckers shoot a rope out to the suffering men. they grasp it, and the wreckers turn the cylinder, and the rope winds around the cylinder, and those who are shipwrecked are saved. so at your feet to-day there is an influence with a tremendous leverage. the rope attached to it swings far out into the billowy future. your children, your children's children, and all the generations that are to follow, will grip that influence and feel the long-reaching pull long after the figures on your tombstone are so near worn out that the visitor can not tell whether it was in , or , or that you died. still further, i learn from this subject the advantages of concerted action. if abimelech had merely gone out with a tree-branch the work would not have been accomplished, or if ten, twenty, or thirty men had gone; but when all the axes are lifted, and all the sharp edges fall, and all these men carry each his tree-branch down and throw it about the temple, the victory is gained--the temple falls. my friends, where there is one man in the church of god at this day shouldering his whole duty there are a great many who never lift an ax or swing a blow. oh, we all want our boat to get over to the golden sands, but the most of us are seated either in the prow or in the stern, wrapped in our striped shawl, holding a big-handled sunshade, while others are blistered in the heat, and pull until the oar-locks groan, and the blades bend till they snap. oh, religious sleepy-heads, wake up! while we have in our church a great many who are toiling for god, there are some too lazy to brush the flies off their heavy eyelids. suppose, in military circles, on the morning of battle the roll is called, and out of a thousand men only a hundred men in the regiment answered. what excitement there would be in the camp! what would the colonel say? what high talking there would be among the captains, and majors, and the adjutants! suppose word came to head-quarters that these delinquents excused themselves on the ground that they had overslept themselves, or that the morning was damp and they were afraid of getting their feet wet, or that they were busy cooking rations. my friends, this is the morning of the day of god almighty's battle! do you not see the troops? hear you not all the trumpets of heaven and all the drums of hell? which side are you on? if you are on the right side, to what cavalry troop, to what artillery service, to what garrison duty do you belong? in other words, in what sabbath-school do you teach? in what prayer-meeting do you exhort? to what penitentiary do you declare eternal liberty? to what almshouse do you announce the riches of heaven? what broken bone of sorrow have you ever set? are you doing nothing? is it possible that a man or woman sworn to be a follower of the lord jesus christ is doing nothing? then hide the horrible secret from the angels. keep it away from the book of judgment. if you are doing nothing do not let the world find it out, lest they charge your religion with being a false-face. do not let your cowardice and treason be heard among the martyrs about the throne, lest they forget the sanctity of the place and curse your betrayal of that cause for which they agonized and died. may the eternal god rouse us all to action! as for myself, i feel i would be ashamed to die now and enter heaven until i have accomplished something more decisive for the lord that bought me. i would like to join with you in an oath, with hand high uplifted to heaven, swearing new allegiance to jesus christ, and to work more for his kingdom. are you ready to join with me in some new work for christ? i feel that there is such a thing as claustral piety, that there is such a thing as insular work; but it seems to me that what we want now is concerted action. the temple of berith is very broad, and it is very high. it has been going up by the hands of men and devils, and no human enginery can demolish it; but if the fifty thousand ministers of christ in this country should each take a branch of the tree of life, and all their congregations should do the same, and we should march on and throw these branches around the great temples of sin, and worldliness and folly, it would need no match, or coal, or torch of ours to touch off the pile; for, as in the days of elijah, fire would fall from heaven and kindle the bonfire of christian victory over demolished sin. it is kindling now! huzzah! the day is ours! still further, i learn from this subject the danger of false refuges. as soon as these shechemites got into the temple they thought they were safe. they said: "berith will take care of us. abimelech may batter down everything else; he can not batter down this temple where we are now hid." but very soon they heard the timbers crackling, and they were smothered with smoke, and they miserably died. and you and i are just as much tempted to false refuges. the mirror this morning may have persuaded you that you have a comely cheek; your best friends may have persuaded you that you have elegant manners. satan may have told you that you are all right; but bear with me if i tell you that, if unpardoned, you are all wrong. i have no clinometer by which to measure how steep is the inclined plane you are descending, but i know it is very steep. "well," you say, "if the bible is true i am a sinner. show me some refuge; i will step right into it." i suppose every person in this audience this moment is stepping into some kind of refuge. here you step in the tower of good works. you say: "i shall be safe here in this refuge." the battlements are adorned; the steps are varnished; on the wall are pictures of all the suffering you have alleviated, and all the schools you have established, and all the fine things you have ever done. up in that tower you feel you are safe. but hear you not the tramp of your unpardoned sins all around the tower? they each have a match. they are kindling the combustible material. you feel the heat and the suffocation. oh, may you leap in time, the gospel declaring: "by the deeds of the law shall no flesh living be justified." "well," you say, "i have been driven out of that tower; where shall i go?" step into this tower of indifference. you say: "if this tower is attacked, it will be a great while before it is taken." you feel at ease. but there is an abimelech, with ruthless assaults, coming on. death and his forces are gathering around, and they demand that you surrender everything, and they clamor for your immortal overthrow, and they throw their skeleton arms in the windows, and with their iron fists they beat against the door; and while you are trying to keep them out you see the torches of judgment kindling, and every forest is a torch, and every mountain a torch, and every sea a torch; and while the alps, the pyrenees, and himalayas turn into a live coal, blown redder and redder by the whirlwind breath of a god omnipotent, what will become of your refuge of lies? "but," says some one, "you are engaged in a very mean business, driving us from tower to tower." oh, no. i want to tell you of a gibraltar that never has been and never will be taken; of a wall that no satanic assault can scale; of a bulwark that the judgment earthquakes can not budge. the bible refers to it when it says: "in god is thy refuge, and underneath thee are the everlasting arms." oh, fling yourself into it! tread down unceremoniously everything that intercepts you. wedge your way there. there are enough hounds of death and peril after you to make you hurry. many a man has perished just outside the tower, with his foot on the step, with his hand on the latch. oh, get inside! not one surplus second have you to spare. quick, quick, quick! great god, is life such an uncertain thing? if i bear a little too hard with my right foot on the earth, does it break through into the grave? is this world, which swings at the speed of thousands of miles an hour around the sun, going with tenfold more speed toward the judgment-day? oh, i am overborne with the thought; and in the conclusion i cry to one and i cry to the other: "oh, time! oh, eternity! oh, the dead! oh, the judgment-day! oh, jesus! oh, god!" but, catching at the last apostrophe, i feel that i have something to hold on to: for "in god is thy refuge, and underneath thee are the everlasting arms." and, exhausted with my failure to save myself, i throw my whole weight of body, mind, and soul on this divine promise, as a weary child throws itself into the arms of its mother; as a wounded soldier throws himself on the hospital pillow; as a pursued man throws himself into the refuge; for "in god is thy refuge, and underneath thee are the everlasting arms." oh, for a flood of tears with which to express the joy of this eternal rescue! all the world akin. "and hath made of one blood all nations of men."--acts xvii: . some have supposed that god originally made an asiatic adam and a european adam and an african adam and an american adam, but that theory is entirely overthrown by my text, which says that all nations are blood relatives, having sprung from one and the same stock. a difference in climate makes much of the difference in national temper. an american goes to europe and stays there a long while, and finds his pulse moderating and his temper becoming more calm. the air on this side the ocean is more tonic than on the other side. an american breathes more oxygen than a european. a european coming to america finds a great change taking place in himself. he walks with more rapid strides, and finds his voice becoming keener and shriller. the englishman who walks in london strand at the rate of three miles the hour, coming to america and residing for a long while here, walks broadway at the rate of four miles the hour. much of the difference between an american and a european, between an asiatic and an african, is atmospheric. the lack of the warm sunlight pales the greenlander. the full dash of the sunlight darkens the african. then, ignorance or intelligence makes its impression on the physical organism--in the one case ignorance flattening the skull, as with the egyptian; in the other case intelligence building up the great dome of the forehead, as with the german. then the style of god that the nation worships decides how much it shall be elevated or debased, so that those nations that worship reptiles are themselves only a superior form of reptile, while those nations that worship the natural sun in the heavens are the noblest style of barbaric people. but whatever be the difference of physiognomy, and whatever the difference of temperament, the physiologist tells us that after careful analysis he finds out that the plasma and the disk in the human blood have the same characteristics: so that if you should put twenty men from twenty nationalities abreast in line of battle, and a bullet should fly through the hearts of the twenty men, the blood flowing forth would, through analysis, prove itself to be the same blood in every instance. in other words, the science of the day confirming the truth of my text that "god hath made of one blood all nations of men." i have thought, my friends, it might be profitable this morning if i gave you some of the moral and religious impressions which i received when, through your indulgence, i had transatlantic absence. first, i observe that the majority of people in all lands are in a mighty struggle for bread. while in nearly all lands there are only a few cases of actual starvation reported, there is a vast population in every country i visited who have a limited supply of food, or such food as is incompetent to sustain physical vigor. this struggle in some lands is becoming more agonizing, while here and there it is lightened. i have joy in reporting that ireland, about the sufferings of which we have heard so much, has far better prospects than i have seen there in previous visits. in , coming home from that land, i prophesied the famine that must come upon, and did come upon, the deluged fields of that country. this year the crops are large, and both parties--those who like the english government and those who don't like it--are expecting relief. i said to one of the intelligent men of ireland: "tell me in a few words what are the sufferings of ireland, and what is the land relief enactment?" he replied: "i will tell you. suppose i am a landlord and you a tenant. you rent from me a place for ten pounds a year. you improve it. you turn it from a bog into a garden. you put a house upon it. after a while i, the landlord, come around, and i say to my agent: 'how much rent is this man paying;' he answers, 'ten pounds.' 'is that all? put his rent up to twenty pounds.' the tenant goes on improving his property, and after awhile i come around and i say to my agent, 'how much rent is this man paying?' he says, 'twenty pounds.' 'put his rent up to twenty-five pounds.' the tenant protests and says, 'i can't pay it.' then i, the landlord, say, 'pay it or get out;' and the tenant is helpless, and, leaving the place, the property in its improved condition turns over to the landlord. now, to stop that outrage the relief enactment comes in and appoints commissioners who shall see that if the tenant is turned out, he shall receive the difference of value between the farm as he got it and the farm as he surrenders it. moreover, the government loans money to the tenant, so that he may buy the property out and out if the landlord will sell." mighty advancement toward the righting of a great wrong! but there and in all lands, not excepting our own, there is a far-reaching distress. and let those who broke their fast this morning, and those who shall dine to-day, remember those who are in want, and by prayer and practical beneficence do all they can to alleviate the hunger swoon of nations. another impression was--indeed the impression carried with me all the summer--the thought already suggested, the brotherhood of man. the fact is that the differences are so small between nations that they may be said to be all alike. though i spent the most of the summer in silence, i spoke a few times and to people of different nations, and how soon i noticed that they were very much alike! if a man knows how to play the piano, it does not make any difference whether he finds it in new orleans or san francisco or boston or st. petersburg or moscow or madras; it has so many keys, and he puts his fingers right on them. and the human heart is a divine instrument, with just so many keys in all cases, and you strike some of them and there is joy, and you strike some of them and there is sorrow. plied by the same motives, lifted up by the same success, depressed by the same griefs. the cab-men of london have the same characteristics as the cab-men of new york, and are just as modest and retiring. the gold and silver drive piccadilly and the boulevards just as they drive wall street. if there be a great political excitement in europe, the bourse in paris howls just as loudly as ever did the american gold-room. the same grief that we saw in our country in you may find now in the military hospitals of england containing the wounded and sick from the egyptian wars. the same widowhood and orphanage that sat down in despair after the battles of shiloh and south mountain poured their grief in the shannon and the clyde and the dee and the thames. oh, ye men and women who know how to pray, never get up from your knees until you have implored god in behalf of the fourteen hundred millions of the race just like yourselves, finding life a tremendous struggle! for who knows but that as the sun to-day draws up drops of water from the caspian and the black seas and from the amazon and the mississippi, after a while to distill the rain, these very drops on the fields--who knows but that the sun of righteousness may draw up the tears of your sympathy, and then rain them down in distillation of comfort o'er all the world? who is that poor man, carried on a stretcher to the afghan ambulance? he is your brother. if in the pantheon at paris you smite your hand against the wall among the tombs of the dead, you will hear a very strange echo coming from all parts of the pantheon just as soon as you smite the wall. and i suppose it is so arranged that every stroke of sorrow among the tombs of bereavement ought to have loud, long, and oft-repeated echoes of sympathy all around the world. oh, what a beautiful theory it is--and it is a christian theory--that englishman, scotchman, irishman, norwegian, frenchman, italian, russian, are all akin. of one blood all nations. that is a very beautiful inscription that i saw a few days ago over the door in edinburgh, the door of the house where john knox used to live. it is getting somewhat dim now, but there is the inscription, fit for the door of any household--"love god above all, and your neighbor as yourself." i was also impressed in journeying on the other side the sea with the difference the bible makes in countries. the two nations of europe that are the most moral to-day and that have the least crime are scotland and wales. they have by statistics, as you might find, fewer thefts, fewer arsons, fewer murders. what is the reason? a bad book can hardly live in wales. the bible crowds it out. i was told by one of the first literary men in wales: "there is not a bad book in the welsh language." he said: "bad books come down from london, but they can not live here." it is the bible that is dominant in wales. and then in scotland just open your bible to give out your text, and there is a rustling all over the house almost startling to an american. what is it? the people opening their bibles to find the text, looking at the context, picking out the referenced passages, seeing whether you make right quotation. scotland and wales bible-reading people. that accounts for it. a man, a city, a nation that reads god's word must be virtuous. that book is the foe of all wrong-doing. what makes edinburgh better than constantinople? the bible. oh, i am afraid in america we are allowing the good book to be covered up with other good books! we have our ever-welcome morning and evening newspapers, and we have our good books on all subjects--geological subjects, botanical subjects, physiological subjects, theological subjects--good books, beautiful books, and so many good books that we have not time to read the bible. oh, my friends, it is not a matter of very great importance that you have a family bible on the center-table in your parlor! better have one pocket new testament, the passages marked, the leaves turned down, the binding worn smooth with much usage, than fifty pictorial family bibles too handsome to read! oh, let us take a whisk-broom and brush the dust off our bibles! do you want poetry? go and hear job describe the war-horse, or david tell how the mountains skipped like lambs. do you want logic? go and hear paul reason until your brain aches under the spell of his mighty intellect. do you want history? go and see moses put into a few pages stupendous information which herodotus, thucydides, and prescott never preached after. and, above all, if you want to find how a nation struck down by sin can rise to happiness and to heaven, read of that blood which can wash away the pollution of a world. there is one passage in the bible of vast tonnage: "god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." oh, may god fill this country with bibles and help the people to read them! i was also impressed in my transatlantic journeys with the wonderful power that christ holds among the nations. the great name in europe to-day is not victoria, not marquis of salisbury, not william the emperor, not bismarck; the great name in europe to-day is christ. you find the crucifix on the gate-post, you find it in the hay field, you find it at the entrance of the manor, you find it by the side of the road. the greatest pictures in all the galleries of italy, germany, france, england, and scotland are bible pictures. what were the subjects of raphael's great paintings? "the transfiguration," "the miraculous draught of fishes," "the charge to peter," "the holy family," "the massacre of the innocents," "moses at the burning bush," "the nativity," "michael the archangel," and the four or five exquisite "madonnas." what are tintoretto's great pictures? "fall of adam," "cain and abel," "the plague of the fiery serpent," "paradise," "agony in the garden," "the temptation," "the adoration of the magi," "the communication," "baptism," "massacre of the innocents," "the flight into egypt," "the crucifixion," "the madonna." what are titian's great pictures? "the flagellation of christ," "the supper at emmaus," "the death of abel," "the assumption," "the entombment," "faith," "the madonna." what are michael angelo's great pictures? "the annunciation," "the spirits in prison," "at the feet of christ," "the infant christ," "the crucifixion," "the last judgment." what are paul veronese's great pictures? "queen of sheba," "the marriage in cana," "magdalen washing the feet of christ," "the holy family." who has not heard of da vinci's "last supper"? who has not heard of turner's "pools of solomon"? who has not heard of claude's "marriage of isaac and rebecca"? who has not heard of dürer's "dragon of the apocalypse"? the mightiest picture on this planet is rubens' "scourging of christ." painter's pencil loves to sketch the face of christ. sculptor's chisel loves to present the form of christ. organs love to roll forth the sorrows of christ. the first time you go to london go into the doré picture gallery. as i went and sat down before "christ descending the steps of the prætorium," at the first i was disappointed. i said: "there isn't enough majesty in that countenance, not enough tenderness in that eye;" but as i sat and looked at the picture it grew upon me until i was overwhelmed with its power, and i staggered with emotion as i went out into the fresh air, and said; "oh, for that christ i must live, and for that christ i must be willing to die!" make that christ your personal friend, my sister, my brother. you may never go to milan to see da vinci's "last supper;" but, better than that, you can have christ come and sup with you. you may never get to antwerp to see rubens' "descent of christ from the cross," but you can have christ come down from the mountain of his suffering into your heart and abide there forever. oh, you must have him! we are all so diseased with sin that we want that which hurts us, and we won't have that which cures us. the best thing for you and for me to do to-day is to get down on our bended knees before god and say: "oh, almighty son of god, i am blind! i want to see. my arms are palsied. i want to take hold of thy cross. have mercy on me, o lord jesus!" why will you live on husks when you may sit down to this white bread of heaven? oh, with such a god, and with such a christ, and with such a holy spirit, and with such an immortal nature, wake up! once more, i was impressed greatly on the other side the sea with the wonderful triumphs of the christian religion. the tide is rising, the tide of moral and spiritual prosperity in the world. i think that any man who keeps his eyes open, traveling in foreign lands, will come to that conclusion. more bibles than ever before, more churches, more consecrated men and women, more people ready to be martyrs now than ever before, if need be; so that instead of there being, as people sometimes say, less spirit of martyrdom now than ever before, i believe where there was once one martyr there would be a thousand martyrs if the fires were kindled--men ready to go through flood and fire for christ's sake. oh, the signs are promising! the world is on the way to millennial brightness. all art, all invention, all literature, all commerce will be the lord's. these ships that you see going up and down new york harbor are to be brought into the service of god. all those ships i saw at liverpool, at southampton, at glasgow, are to be brought into the service of christ. what is that passage, "ships of tarshish shall bring presents"? that is what it means. oh, what a goodly fleet when the vessels of the sea come into the service of god! no guns frowning through the port-holes, no pikes hung in the gangway, nothing from cut-water to taffrail to suggest atrocity. those ships will come from all parts of the seas. great flocks of ships that never met on the high sea but in wrath, will cry, "ship ahoy!" and drop down beside each other in calmness, the flags of emmanuel streaming from the top-gallants. the old slaver, with decks scrubbed and washed and glistened and burnished--the old slaver will wheel into line; and the chinese junk and the venetian gondola, and the miners' and the pirates' corvette, will fall into line, equipped, readorned, beautified, only the small craft of this grand flotilla which shall float out for the truth--a flotilla mightier than the armada of xerxes moving in the pomp and pride of persian insolence; mightier than the carthaginian navy rushing with forty thousand oarsmen upon the roman galleys, the life of nations dashed out against the gunwales. rise, o sea! and shine, o heavens! to greet this squadron of light and victory! on the glistening decks are the feet of them that bring good tidings, and songs of heaven float among the rigging. crowd on all the canvas. line-of-battle ship and merchantmen wheel into the way. it is noon. strike eight bells. from all the squadron the sailors' songs arise. "surely the isles shall wait for thee, and the ships of tarshish to bring thy sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the lord thy god, and the holy one of israel." a momentous quest. "seek ye the lord while he may be found."--isa. lv: . isaiah stands head and shoulders above the other old testament authors in vivid descriptiveness of christ. other prophets give an outline of our saviour's features. some of them present, as it were, the side face of christ; others a bust of christ; but isaiah gives us the full-length portrait of christ. other scripture writers excel in some things. ezekiel more weird, david more pathetic, solomon more epigrammatic, habakkuk more sublime; but when you want to see christ coming out from the gates of prophecy in all his grandeur and glory, you involuntarily turn to isaiah. so that if the prophecies in regard to christ might be called the "oratorio of the messiah," the writing of isaiah is the "hallelujah chorus," where all the batons wave and all the trumpets come in. isaiah was not a man picked up out of insignificance by inspiration. he was known and honored. josephus, and philo, and sirach extolled him in their writings. what paul was among the apostles, isaiah was among the prophets. my text finds him standing on a mountain of inspiration, looking out into the future, beholding christ advancing and anxious that all men might know him; his voice rings down the ages: "seek ye the lord while he may be found." "oh," says some one: "that was for olden times." no, my hearer. if you have traveled in other lands you have taken a circular letter of credit from some banking-house in new york, and in st. petersburg, or venice, or rome, or antwerp, or brussels, or paris; you presented that letter and got financial help immediately. and i want you to understand that the text, instead of being appropriate for one age, or for one land, is a circular letter for all ages and for all lands, and wherever it is presented for help, the help comes: "seek ye the lord while he may be found." i come, to-day, with no hair-spun theories of religion, with no nice distinctions, with no elaborate disquisition; but with a plain talk on the matters of personal religion. i feel that the sermon i preach this morning will be the savor of life unto life, or of death unto death. in other words, the gospel of christ is a powerful medicine: it either kills or cures. there are those who say: "i would like to become a christian, i have been waiting a good while for the right kind of influences to come;" and still you are waiting. you are wiser in worldly things than you are in religious things. if you want to get to albany, you go to the grand central depot, or to the steam-boat wharf, and, having got your ticket, you do not sit down on the wharf or sit in the depot; you get aboard the boat or train. and yet there are men who say they are waiting to get to heaven--waiting, waiting, but not with intelligent waiting, or they would get on board the line of christian influences that would bear them into the kingdom of god. now you know very well that to seek a thing is to search for it with earnest endeavor. if you want to see a certain man in new york, and there is a matter of $ , connected with your seeing him, and you can not at first find him, you do not give up the search. you look in the directory, but can not find the name; you go in circles where you think, perhaps, he may mingle, and, having found the part of the city where he lives, but perhaps not knowing the street, you go through street after street, and from block to block, and you keep on searching for weeks and for months. you say: "it is a matter of $ , whether i see him or not." oh, that men were as persistent in seeking for christ! had you one half that persistence you would long ago have found him who is the joy of the forgiven spirit. we may pay our debts, we may attend church, we may relieve the poor, we may be public benefactors, and yet all our life disobey the text, never seek god, never gain heaven. oh, that the spirit of god would help this morning while i try to show you, in carrying out the idea of my text, first, how to seek the lord, and in the next place, when to seek him. "seek ye the lord while he may be found." i remark, in the first place, you are to seek the lord through earnest and believing prayer. god is not an autocrat or a despot seated on a throne, with his arms resting on brazen lions, and a sentinel pacing up and down at the foot of the throne. god is a father seated in a bower, waiting for his children to come and climb on his knee, and get his kiss and his benediction. prayer is the cup with which we go to the "fountain of living water," and dip up refreshment for our thirsty soul. grace does not come to the heart as we set a cask at the corner of the house to catch the rain in the shower. it is a pulley fastened to the throne of god, which we pull, bringing the blessing. i do not care so much what posture you take in prayer, nor how large an amount of voice you use. you might get down on your face before god, if you did not pray right inwardly, and there would be no response. you might cry at the top of your voice, and unless you had a believing spirit within, your cry would not go further up than the shout of a plow-boy to his oxen. prayer must be believing, earnest, loving. you are in your house some summer day, and a shower comes up, and a bird, affrighted, darts into the window, and wheels about the room. you seize it. you smooth its ruffled plumage. you feel its fluttering heart. you say, "poor thing, poor thing!" now, a prayer goes out of the storm of this world into the window of god's mercy, and he catches it, and he feels its fluttering pulse, and he puts it in his own bosom of affection and safety. prayer is a warm, ardent, pulsating exercise. it is the electric battery which, touched, thrills to the throne of god! it is the diving-bell in which we go down into the depths of god's mercy and bring up "pearls of great price." there was an instance where prayer made the waves of the gennesaret solid as russ pavement. oh, how many wonderful things prayer has accomplished! have you ever tried it? in the days when the scotch covenanters were persecuted, and the enemies were after them, one of the head men among the covenanters prayed: "oh, lord, we be as dead men unless thou shalt help us! oh, lord, throw the lap of thy cloak over these poor things!" and instantly a scotch mist enveloped and hid the persecuted from their persecutors--the promise literally fulfilled: "while they are yet speaking i will hear." oh, impenitent soul, have you ever tried the power of prayer? god says: "he is loving, and faithful, and patient." do you believe that? you are told that christ came to save sinners. do you believe that? you are told that all you have to do to get the pardon of the gospel is to ask for it. do you believe that? then come to him and say: "oh, lord! i know thou canst not lie. thou hast told me to come for pardon, and i could get it. i come, lord. keep thy promise, and liberate my captive soul." oh, that you might have an altar in the parlor, in the kitchen, in the store, in the barn, for christ will be willing to come again to the manger to hear prayer. he would come in your place of business, as he confronted matthew, the tax commissioner. if a measure should come before congress that you thought would ruin the nation, how you would send in petitions and remonstrances! and yet there has been enough sin in your heart to ruin it forever, and you have never remonstrated or petitioned against it. if your physical health failed, and you had the means, you would go and spend the summer in germany, and the winter in italy, and you would think it a very cheap outlay if you had to go all round the earth to get back your physical health. have you made any effort, any expenditure, any exertion for your immortal and spiritual health? no, you have not taken one step. o that you might now begin to seek after god with earnest prayer. some of you have been working for years and years for the support of your families. have you given one half day to the working out of your salvation with fear and trembling? you came here this morning with an earnest purpose, i take it, as i have come hither with an earnest purpose, and we meet face to face, and i tell you, first of all, if you want to find the lord, you must pray, and pray, and pray. i remark again, you must seek the lord through bible study. the bible is the newest book in the world. "oh," you say, "it was made hundreds of years ago, and the learned men of king james translated it hundreds of years ago." i confute that idea by telling you it is not five minutes old, when god, by his blessed spirit, retranslates it into the heart. if you will, in the seeking of the way of life through scripture study, implore god's light to fall upon the page, you will find that these promises are not one second old, and that they drop straight from the throne of god into your heart. there are many people to whom the bible does not amount to much. if they merely look at the outside beauty, why it will no more lead them to christ than washington's farewell address or the koran of mohammed or the shaster of the hindoos. it is the inward light of god's word you must get or die. i went up to the church of the madeleine, in paris, and looked at the doors which were the most wonderfully constructed i ever saw, and i could have stayed there for a whole week; but i had only a little time, so, having glanced at the wonderful carving on the doors, i passed in and looked at the radiant altars, and the sculptured dome. alas, that so many stop at the outside door of god's holy word, looking at the rhetorical beauties, instead of going in and looking at the altars of sacrifice and the dome of god's mercy and salvation that hovers over penitent and believing souls! o my friends! if you merely want to study the laws of language, do not go to the bible. it was not made for that. take "howe's elements of criticism"--it will be better than the bible for that. if you want to study metaphysics, better than the bible will be the writings of william hamilton. but if you want to know how to have sin pardoned, and at last to gain the blessedness of heaven, search the scriptures, "for in them ye have eternal life." when people are anxious about their souls--and there are some such here to-day--there are those who recommend good books. that is all right. but i want to tell you that the bible is the best book under such circumstances. baxter wrote "a call to the unconverted," but the bible is the best call to the unconverted. philip doddridge wrote "the rise and progress of religion in the soul," but the bible is the best rise and progress. john angell james wrote "advice to the anxious inquirer," but the bible is the best advice to the anxious inquirer. o, the bible is the very book you need, anxious and inquiring soul! a dying soldier said to his mate: "comrade, give me a drop!" the comrade shook up the canteen, and said: "there isn't a drop of water in the canteen." "oh," said the dying soldier, "that's not what i want; feel in my knapsack for my bible," and his comrade found the bible, and read him a few of the gracious promises, and the dying soldier said: "ah, that's what i want. there isn't anything like the bible for a dying soldier, is there, my comrade?" o blessed book while we live! blessed book when we die! i remark, again, we must seek god through church ordinances. "what," say you, "can't a man be saved without going to church?" i reply, there are men, i suppose, in glory, who have never seen a church: but the church is the ordained means by which we are to be brought to god; and if truth affects us when we are alone, it affects us more mightily when we are in the assembly--the feelings of others emphasizing our own feelings. the great law of sympathy comes into play, and a truth that would take hold only with the grasp of a sick man, beats mightily against the soul with a thousand heart-throbs. when you come into the religious circle, come only with one notion, and only for one purpose--to find the way to christ. when i see people critical about sermons, and critical about tones of voice, and critical about sermonic delivery, they make me think of a man in prison. he is condemned to death, but an officer of the government brings a pardon and puts it through the wicket of the prison, and says: "here is your pardon. come and get it." "what! do you expect me to take that pardon offered with such a voice as you have, with such an awkward manner as you have? i would rather die than so compromise my rhetorical notions!" ah, the man does not say that; he takes it! it is his life. he does not care how it is handed to him. and if, this morning, that pardon from the throne of god is offered to our souls, should we not seize it, regardless of all criticism, feeling that it is a matter of heaven or hell? but i come now to the last part of my text. it tells us when we are to seek the lord. "while he may be found." when is that? old age? you may not see old age. to-morrow? you may not see to-morrow. to-night? you may not see to-night. now! o if i could only write on every heart in three capital letters, that word n-o-w--now! sin is an awful disease. i hear people say with a toss of the head and with a trivial manner: "oh, yes, i'm a sinner." sin is an awful disease. it is leprosy. it is dropsy. it is consumption. it is all moral disorders in one. now you know there is a crisis in a disease. perhaps you have had some illustration of it in your family. sometimes the physician has called, and he has looked at the patient and said: "that case was simple enough; but the crisis has passed. if you had called me yesterday, or this morning, i could have cured the patient. it is too late now; the crisis has passed." just so it is in the spiritual treatment of the soul--there is a crisis. before that, life! after that, death! o my dear brother, as you love your soul do not let the crisis pass unattended to! there are some here who can remember instances in life when, if they had bought a certain property, they would have become very rich. a few acres that would have cost them almost nothing were offered them. they refused them. afterward a large village or city sprung up on those acres of ground, and they see what a mistake they made in not buying the property. there was an opportunity of getting it. it never came back again. and so it is in regard to a man's spiritual and eternal fortune. there is a chance; if you let that go, perhaps it never comes back. certainly, that one never comes back. a gentleman told me that at the battle of gettysburg he stood upon a height looking off upon the conflicting armies. he said it was the most exciting moment of his life; now one army seeming to triumph, and now the other. after awhile the host wheeled in such a way that he knew in five minutes the whole question would be decided. he said the emotion was almost unbearable. there is just such a time to-day with you, o impenitent soul!--the forces of light on the one side, and the siege-guns of hell on the other side, and in a few moments the matter will be settled for eternity. there is a time which mercy has set for leaving port. if you are on board before that, you will get a passage for heaven. if you are not on board, you miss your passage for heaven. as in law courts a case is sometimes adjourned from term to term, and from year to year till the bill of costs eats up the entire estate, so there are men who are adjourning the matter of religion from time to time, and from year to year, until heavenly bliss is the bill of costs the man will have to pay for it. why defer this matter, oh, my dear hearer? have you any idea that sin will wear out? that it will evaporate? that it will relax its grasp? that you may find religion as a man accidentally finds a lost pocket-book? ah, no! no man ever became a christian by accident, or by the relaxing of sin. the embarrassments are all the time increasing. the hosts of darkness are recruiting, and the longer you postpone this matter the steeper the path will become. i ask those men who are before me this morning, whether, in the ten or fifteen years they have passed in the postponement of these matters, they have come any nearer god or heaven? i would not be afraid to challenge this whole audience, so far as they may not have found the peace of the gospel, in regard to the matter. your hearts, you are willing frankly to tell me, are becoming harder and harder, and that if you come to christ it will be more of an undertaking now than it ever would have been before. oh, fly for refuge! the avenger of blood is on the track! the throne of judgment will soon be set; and, if you have anything to do toward your eternal salvation, you had better do it now, for the redemption of your soul is precious, and it ceaseth forever! oh, if men could only catch just one glimpse of christ, i know they would love him! your heart leaps at the sight of a glorious sunrise or sunset. can you be without emotion as the sun of righteousness rises behind calvary, and sets behind joseph's sepulcher? he is a blessed saviour! every nation has its type of beauty. there is german beauty, and swiss beauty, and italian beauty, and english beauty; but i care not in what land a man first looks at christ, he pronounces him "chief among ten thousand, and the one altogether lovely." o my blessed jesus! light in darkness! the rock on which i build! the captain of salvation! my joy! my strength! how strange it is that men can not love thee! the diamond districts of brazil are carefully guarded, and a man does not get in there except by a pass from the government; but the love of christ is a diamond district we may all enter, and pick up treasures for eternity. oh, cry for mercy! "to-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." there is a way of opposing the mercy of god too long, and then there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin, but a fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversary. my friends, my neighbors, what can i say to induce you to attend to this matter--to attend to it now? time is flying, flying--the city clock joining my voice this moment, seeming to say to you, "now is the time! now is the time!" oh, put it not off! why should i stand here and plead, and you sit there? it is your immortal soul. it is a soul that shall never die. it is a soul that must soon appear before god for review. why throw away your chance for heaven? why plunge off into darkness when all the gates of glory are open? why become a castaway from god when you can sit upon the throne? why will ye die miserably when eternal life is offered you, and it will cost you nothing but just willingness to accept it? "come, for all things are now ready." come, christ is ready, pardon is ready! the church is ready. heaven is ready. you will never find a more convenient season, if you should live fifty years more, than this very one. reject this, and you may die in your sins. why do i say this? is it to frighten your soul? oh, no! it is to persuade you. i show you the peril. i show you the escape. would i not be a coward beyond all excuse, if, believing that this great audience must soon be launched into the eternal world, and that all who believe in christ shall be saved, and that all who reject christ will be lost--would i not be the veriest coward on earth to hide that truth or to stand before you with a cold, or even a placid manner? my dear brethren, now is the day of your redemption. it is very certain that you and i must soon appear before god in judgment. we can not escape it. the bible says: "every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him." on that day all our advantages will come up for our glory or for our discomfiture--every prayer, every sermon, every exhortatory remark, every reproof, every call of grace; and while the heavens are rolling away like a scroll, and the world is being destroyed, your destiny and my destiny will be announced. alas! alas! if on that day it is found that we have neglected these matters. we may throw them off now. we can not then. we will all be in earnest then. but no pardon then. no offer of salvation then. no rescue then. driven away in our wickedness--banished, exiled, forever! have you ever imagined what will be the soliloquy of the soul on that day unpardoned, as it looks back upon its past life? "oh," says the soul, "i had glorious sabbaths! there was one sabbath in autumn when i was invited to christ. there was a sabbath morning when jesus stood and spread out his arm and invited me to his holy heart. i refused him. i have destroyed myself. i have no one else to blame. ruin complete! darkness unpitying, deep, eternal! i am lost! notwithstanding all the opportunities i have had of being saved, i am lost! o thou long-suffering lord god almighty, i am lost! o day of judgment, i am lost! o father, mother, brother, sister, child in glory, i am lost!" and then as the tide goes out, your soul goes out with it--further from god, further from happiness, and i hear your voice fainter, and fainter, and fainter: "lost! lost! lost! lost! lost!" o ye dying, yet immortal men, "seek the lord while he may be found." but i want you to take the hint of the text that i have no time to dwell on--the hint that there is a time when he can not be found. there is a man in new york, eighty years of age, who said to a clergyman who came in, "do you think that a man at eighty years of age can get pardoned?" "oh, yes," said the clergyman. the old man said: "i can't; when i was twenty years of age--i am now eighty years--the spirit of god came to my soul, and i felt the importance of attending to these things, but i put it off. i rejected god, and since then i have had no feeling." "well," said the minister, "wouldn't you like to have me pray with you?" "yes," replied the old man, "but it will do no good. you can pray with me if you like to." the minister knelt down and prayed, and commended the man's soul to god. it seemed to have no effect upon him. after awhile the last hour of the man's life came, and through his delirium a spark of intelligence seemed to flash, and with his last breath he said; "i shall never be forgiven!" "o seek the lord while he may be found." the great assize. doctor talmage's sermon, preached at cork, ireland, sunday morning, sept th, . "when the son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats."--matthew xxv: , . half-way between chamouny, switzerland, and martigny, i reined in the horse on which i was riding, and looked off upon the most wonderful natural amphitheater of valley and mountain and rock, and i said to my companion, "what an appropriate place this would be for the last judgment. yonder overhanging rock the place for the judgment seat. these galleries of surrounding hills occupied by attendant angels. this vast valley, sweeping miles this way and miles that, the audience-room for all nations." but sacred geography does not point out the place. yet we know that somewhere, some time, somehow, an audience will be gathered together stupendous beyond all statistics, and just as certainly as you and i make up a part of this audience to-day, we will make up a part of that audience on that day. a common sense of justice in every man's heart demands that there shall be some great winding-up day, in which that which is now inexplicable shall be explained. why did that good man suffer, and that bad man prosper? you say, "i don't know, but i must know." why is that good christian woman dying of what is called a spider cancer, while that daughter of folly sits wrapped in luxury, ease, and health? you say, "i don't know, but i must know." there are so many wrongs to be righted that if there were not some great righting-up day in the presence of all ages, there would be an outcry against god from which his glory would never recover. if god did not at last try the nations, the nations would try him. we are, therefore, ready for the announcement of the text. the world never saw christ except in disguise. if once when he was on earth he had let out his glory, instead of the blind eyes being healed, all visions would have been extinguished. no human eye could have endured it. and instead of bringing the dead to life, all around about him would have been the slain under that overpowering effulgence. disguise of human flesh. disguise of seamless robe. disguise of sandal. disguise of voice. from bethlehem caravansary to mausoleum in the rock, a complete disguise. but on the day of which i speak the son of man will come in his glory. no hiding of luster. no sheathing of strength. no suppression of grandeur. no wrapping out of sight of the godhead. any fifty of the most brilliant sunsets that you ever saw on land or sea would be dim as compared with the cerulean appearance on that day when christ rolls through, and rolls on, and rolls down in his glory. the air will be all abloom with his presence, and everything from horizon to horizon aflame with his splendor. elijah rode up the sky-steep in a chariot, the wheels of whirling fire and the horses of galloping fire, and the charioteer drawing reins of fire on bits of fire; but christ will need no such equipage, for the law of gravitation will be laid aside, and the natural elements will be laid aside, and christ will descend swiftly enough to make speedy arrival, but slowly enough to allow the gaze of millions of spectators. in his glory! glory of form, glory of omnipotence, glory of holiness, glory of justice, glory of love. in his glory! an unveiled, an uncovered god descending to meet the human race in an interview which will be prolonged only for a few hours, and yet which shall settle all the past and all the present and all the future, and be closed before the end of that day, which will close, not with setting sun, but with the destruction of the planet as a snuffers takes off the top of a burned wick. it is a solemn time in a court-room when there is an important case on hand, and the judge of the supreme court enters, and he sits down, and with gavel strikes on the desk commanding bar and jury and witnesses and audience into silence. all voices are hushed, all heads are uncovered. but how much more impressive when christ shall take the judgment seat on the last day of the last week of the last month of the last year of the world's existence, and with gavel of thunder-bolt shall smite the mountains, commanding all the land and all the sea into silence. can you have any doubt about who it is on the seat on the judgment day? better make investigation, to see whether there are any scars about him that reveal his person. apparel may change. you can not always tell by apparel. but scars will tell the story after all else fails. i find under his left arm a scar, and on his right hand a scar, and on his left hand a scar, and on his right foot a scar, and on his left foot a scar. oh, yes, he is the son of man in his glory. every mark of wound now a badge of victory, every ridge showing the fearful gash now telling the story of pain and sacrifice which he suffered in behalf of the human race. but what is all that commotion and flutter, and surging to and fro above him and on either side of him? it is a detailed regiment of heaven, a constabulary angelic, sent forth to take part in that scene, and to execute the mandates that shall be issued. ten regiments, a hundred regiments, a thousand regiments of angels; for on that day all heaven will be emptied of its inhabitants to let them attend the scene. all the holy angels. from what a center to what a circumference. widening out and widening out, and higher up and higher up. wings interlocking wings. galleries of cloud above galleries of cloud, all filled with the faces of angels come to listen and come to watch, and come to help on that day for which all other days were made. who are those two taller and more conspicuous angels? the one is michael, who is the commander of all those who come out to destroy sin. the other is gabriel, who is announced as commander of all those who come forth to help the righteous. who is that mighty angel near the throne? that is the resurrection angel, his lips still aquiver and his cheek aflush with the blast that shattered the cemeteries and woke the dead. who is that other great angel, with dark and overshadowing brow? that is the one who in one night, by one flap of his wing, turned one hundred and eighty-five thousand of sennacherib's host into corpses. who are those bright immortals near the throne, their faces partly turned toward each other as though about to sing? oh, they are the bethlehem chanters of the first christmas night! who are this other group standing so near the throne? they are the saviour's especial bodyguard, which hovered over him in the wilderness and administered to him in the hour of martyrdom, and heaved away the rock of his sarcophagus, and escorted him upward on ascension day, now appropriately escorting him down. divine glory flanked on both sides by angelic radiance. but now lower your eye from the divine and angelic to the human. the entire human race is present. all nations, says my text. before that time the american republic, the english government, the french republic, all modern modes of government may be obliterated for something better; but all nations, whether dead or alive, will be brought up into that assembly. thebes and tyre and babylon and greece and rome as wide awake in that assembly as though they had never slumbered amid the dead nations. europe, asia, africa, north and south america, and all the nineteenth century, the eighteenth century, the twelfth century, the tenth century, the fourth century--all centuries present. not one being that ever drew the breath of life but will be in that assembly. no other audience a thousandth part as large. no other audience a millionth part as large. no human eye could look across it. wing of albatross and falcon and eagle not strong enough to fly over it. a congregation, i verily believe, not assembled on any continent, because no continent would be large enough to hold it. but, as the bible intimates, in the air. the law of gravitation unanchored, the world moved out of its place. as now sometimes on earth a great tent is spread for some great convention, so over that great audience of the judgment shall be lifted the blue canopy of the sky, and underneath it for floor the air made buoyant by the hand of almighty god. an architecture of atmospheric galleries strong enough to hold up worlds. surely the two arms of god's almightiness are two pillars strong enough to hold up any auditorium. but that audience is not to remain in session long. most audiences on earth after an hour or two adjourn. sometimes in court-rooms an audience will tarry four or five hours, but then it adjourns. so this audience spoken of in the text will adjourn. my text says, "he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats." "no," says my universalist friend, "let them all stay together." but the text says, "he shall separate them." "no," say the kings of this world, "let men have their choice, and if they prefer monarchical institutions, let them go together, and if they prefer republican institutions, let them go together." "no," say the conventionalities of this world, "let all those who moved in what are called high circles go together, and all those who on earth moved in low circles go together. the rich together, the poor together, the wise together, the ignorant together." ah! no. do you not notice in that assembly the king is without his scepter, and the soldier without his uniform, and the bishop without his pontifical ring, and the millionaire without his certificates of stock, and the convict without his chain, and the beggar without his rags, and the illiterate without his bad orthography, and all of us without any distinction of earthly inequality? so i take it from that as well as from my text that the mere accident of position in this world will do nothing toward deciding the questions of that very great day. "he will separate them as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats." the sheep, the cleanliest of creatures, here made a symbol of those who have all their sins washed away in the fountain of redeeming mercy. the goat, one of the filthiest of creatures, here a type of those who in the last judgment will be found never to have had any divine ablution. division according to character. not only character outside, but character inside. character of heart, character of choice, character of allegiance, character of affection, character inside as well as character outside. in many cases it will be a complete and immediate reversal of all earthly conditions. some who in this world wore patched apparel will take on raiment lustrous as a summer noon. some who occupied a palace will take a dungeon. division regardless of all earthly caste, and some who were down will be up, and some who were up will be down. oh, what a shattering of conventionalities! what an upheaval of all social rigidities, what a turning of the wheel of earthly condition, a thousand revolutions in a second! division of all nations, of all ages, not by the figure , nor the figure , nor the figure , nor the figure , nor the figure , nor the figure ; but by the figure . two! two characters, two destinies, two estates, two dominions, two eternities, a tremendous, an all-comprehensive, an all-decisive, and everlasting two! i sometimes think that the figure of the book that shall be opened allows us to forget the thing signified by the symbol. where is the book-binder that could make a volume large enough to contain the names of all the people who have ever lived? besides that, the calling of such a roll would take more than fifty years, more than a hundred years, and the judgment is to be consummated in less time than passes between sunrise and sunset. ah! my friends, the leaves of that book of judgment are not made out of paper, but of memory. one leaf in every human heart. you have known persons who were near drowning, but they were afterward resuscitated, and they have told you that in the two or three minutes between the accident and the resuscitation, all their past life flashed before them--all they had ever thought, all they had ever done, all they had ever seen, in an instant came to them. the memory never loses anything. it is only a folded leaf. it is only a closed book. though you be an octogenarian, though you be a nonagenarian, all the thoughts and acts of your life are in your mind, whether you recall them now or not, just as macaulay's history is in two volumes, although the volumes may be closed, and you can not see a word of them, and will not until they are opened. as in the case of the drowning man, the volume of memory was partly open, or the leaf partly unrolled; in the case of the judgment the entire book will be opened, so that everything will be displayed from preface to appendix. you have seen self-registering instruments which recorded how many revolutions they had made and what work they had done, so the manufacturer could come days after and look at the instrument and find just how many revolutions had been made, or how much work had been accomplished. so the human mind is a self-registering instrument, and it records all its past movements. now that leaf, that all-comprehensive leaf in your mind and mine this moment, the leaf of judgment, brought out under the flash of the judgment throne, you can easily see how all the past of our lives in an instant will be seen. and so great and so resplendent will be the light of that throne that not only this leaf in my heart and that leaf in your heart will be revealed at a flash, but all the leaves will be opened, and you will read not only your own character and your own history, but the character and history of others. in a military encampment the bugle sounded in one way means one thing, and sounded in another way it means another thing. bugle sounded in one way means, "prepare for sudden attack." bugle sounded in another way means, "to your tents, and let all the lights be put out." i have to tell you, my brother, that the trumpet of the old testament, the trumpet that was carried in the armies of olden times, and the trumpet on the walls in olden times, in the last great day will give significant reverberation. old, worn-out, and exhausted time, having marched across decades and centuries and ages, will halt, and the sun and the moon and the stars will halt with it. the trumpet! the trumpet! peal the first: under its power the sea will stretch itself out dead, the white foam on the lip, in its crystal sarcophagus, and the mountains will stagger and reel and stumble, and fall into the valleys never to rise. under one puff of that last cyclone all the candles of the sky will be blown out. the trumpet! the trumpet! peal the second: the alabaster halls of the air will be filled with those who will throng up from all the cemeteries of all the ages--from greyfriar's churchyard and roman catacomb, from westminster abbey and from the coral crypts of oceanic cave, and some will rend off the bandage of egyptian mummy, and others will remove from their brow the garland of green sea-weed. from the north and the south and the east and the west they come. the dead! the trumpet! the trumpet! peal the third: amid surging clouds and the roar of attendant armies of heaven, the lord comes through, and there are lightnings and thunder-bolts, and an earthquake, and a hallelujah, and a wailing. the trumpet! the trumpet! peal the fourth: all the records of human life will be revealed. the leaf containing the pardoned sin, the leaf containing the unpardoned sin. some clapping hands with joy, some grinding their teeth with rage, and all the forgotten past becomes a vivid present. the trumpet! the trumpet! peal the last: the audience breaks up. the great trial is ended. the high court of heaven adjourns. the audience hie themselves to their two termini. they rise, they rise! they sink, they sink! then the blue tent of the sky will be lifted and folded up and put away. then the auditorium of atmospheric galleries will be melted. then the folded wings of attendant angels will be spread for upward flight. the fiery throne of judgment will become a dim and a vanishing cloud. the conflagration of divine and angelic magnificence will roll back and off. the day for which all other days are made has closed, and the world has burned down, and the last cinder has gone out, and an angel flying on errand from world to world will poise long enough over the dead earth to chant the funeral litany as he cries, "ashes to ashes!" that judgment leaf in your heart i seize hold of this moment for cancellation. in your city halls the great book of mortgages has a large margin, so that when the mortgagor has paid the full amount to the mortgagee, the officer of the law comes, and he puts down on that margin the payment and the cancellation; and though that mortgage demanded vast thousands before, now it is null and void. so i have to tell you that that leaf in my heart and in your heart, that leaf of judgment, that all-comprehensive leaf, has a wide margin for cancellation. there is only one hand in all the universe that can touch that margin. that hand this moment lifted to make the record null and void forever. it may be a trembling hand, for it is a wounded hand, the nerves were cut and the muscles were lacerated. that record on that leaf was made in the black ink of condemnation; but if cancellation take place, it will be made in the red ink of sacrifice. o judgment-bound brother and sister! let christ this moment bring to that record complete and glorious cancellation. this moment, in an outburst of impassioned prayer, ask for it. you think it is the fluttering of your heart. oh, no! it is the fluttering of that leaf, that judgment leaf. i ask you not to take from your iron safe your last will and testament, but i ask for something of more importance than that. i ask you not to take from your private papers that letter so sacred that you have put it away from all human eyesight, but i ask you for something of more meaning than that. that leaf, that judgment leaf in my heart, that judgment leaf in your heart, which will decide our condition after this world shall have five thousand million years been swept out the heavens, an extinct planet, and time itself will be so long past that on the ocean of eternity it will seem only as now seems a ripple on the atlantic. when the goats in vile herd start for the barren mountains of death, and the sheep in fleeces of snowy whiteness and bleating with joy move up the terraced hills to join the lambs already playing in the high pastures of celestial altitude, oh, may you and i be close by the shepherd's crook! "when the son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats." oh, that leaf, that one leaf in my heart, that one leaf in your heart! that leaf of judgment! oh, those two tremendous words at the last, "come!" "go!" as though the overhanging heavens were the cup of a great bell, and all the stars were welded into a silvery tongue and swung from side to side until it struck, "come!" as though all the great guns of eternal disaster were discharged at once, and they boomed forth in one resounding cannonade of "go!" arithmetical sum in simple division. eternity the dividend. the figure two the divisor. your unalterable destiny the quotient. the road to the city. "and an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there; and the ransomed of the lord shall return, and come to zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."--isaiah xxxv: - . there are hundreds of people in this house this morning who want to find the right road. you sometimes see a person halting at cross roads, and you can tell by his looks that he wishes to ask a question as to what direction he had better take. and i stand in your presence this morning conscious of the fact that there are many of you here who realize that there are a thousand wrong roads, but only one right one; and i take it for granted that you have come in to ask which one it is. here is one road that opens widely, but i have not much faith in it. there are a great many expensive toll-gates scattered all along that way. indeed at every road you must pay in tears, or pay in genuflexions, or pay in flagellations. on that road, if you get through it at all, you have to pay your own way; and since this differs so much from what i have heard in regard to the right way, i believe it is the wrong way. here is another road. on either side of it are houses of sinful entertainment, and invitations to come in, and dine and rest; but, from the looks of the people who stand on the piazza i am very certain that it is the wrong house and the wrong way. here is another road. it is very beautiful and macadamized. the horses' hoofs clatter and ring, and they who ride over it spin along the highway, until suddenly they find that the road breaks over an embankment, and they try to halt, and they saw the bit in the mouth of the fiery steed, and cry "ho! ho!" but it is too late, and--crash!--they go over the embankment. we shall turn, this morning, and see if we can not find a different kind of a road. you have heard of the appian way. it was three hundred and fifty miles long. it was twenty-four feet wide, and on either side the road was a path for foot passengers. it was made out of rocks cut in hexagonal shape and fitted together. what a road it must have been! made of smooth, hard rock, three hundred and fifty miles long. no wonder that in the construction of it the treasures of a whole empire were exhausted. because of invaders, and the elements, and time--the old conqueror who tears up a road as he goes over it--there is nothing left of that structure excepting a ruin. but i have this morning to tell you of a road built before the appian way, and yet it is as good as when first constructed. millions of souls have gone over it. millions more will come. "the prophets and apostles, too, pursued this road while here below; we therefore will, without dismay still walk in christ, the good old way." "an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. no lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there; and the ransomed of the lord shall return, and come to zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away!" i. first, this road of the text is the king's highway. in the diligence you dash over the bernard pass of the alps, mile after mile, and there is not so much as a pebble to jar the wheels. you go over bridges which cross chasms that make you hold your breath; under projecting rock; along by dangerous precipices; through tunnels adrip with the meltings of the glaciers; and, perhaps for the first time, learn the majesty of a road built and supported by government authority. well, my lord the king decided to build a highway from earth to heaven. it should span all the chasms of human wretchedness; it should tunnel all the mountains of earthly difficulty; it should be wide enough and strong enough to hold fifty thousand millions of the human race, if so many of them should ever be born. it should be blasted out of the "rock of ages," and cemented with the blood of the cross, and be lifted amid the shouting of angels and the execration of devils. the king sent his son to build that road. he put head and hand and heart to it, and, after the road was completed, waved his blistered hand over the way, crying, "it is finished!" napoleon paid fifteen million francs for the building of the simplon road, that his cannon might go over for the devastation of italy; but our king, at a greater expense, has built a road for a different purpose, that the banners of heavenly dominion might come down over it, and all the redeemed of earth travel up over it. being a king's highway, of course it is well built. bridges splendidly arched and buttressed have given way and crushed the passengers who attempted to cross them. but christ, the king, would build no such thing as that. the work done, he mounts the chariot of his love, and multitudes mount with him, and he drives on and up the steep of heaven amid the plaudits of gazing worlds! the work is done--well done--gloriously done--magnificently done. ii. still further: this road spoken of is a clean road. many a fine road has become miry and foul because it has not been properly cared for; but my text says the unclean shall not walk on this one. room on either side to throw away your sins. indeed, if you want to carry them along, you are not on the right road. that bridge will break, those overhanging rocks will fall, the night will come down, leaving you at the mercy of the mountain bandits, and at the very next turn of the road you will perish. but if you are really on this clean road of which i have been speaking, then you will stop ever and anon to wash in the water that stands in the basin of the eternal rock. ay, at almost every step of the journey you will be crying out: "create within me a clean heart!" if you have no such aspirations as that, it proves that you have mistaken your way; and if you will only look up and see the finger-board above your head, you may read upon it the words: "there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is death." without holiness no man shall see the lord; and if you have any idea that you can carry along your sins, your lusts, your worldliness, and yet get to the end of the christian race, you are so awfully mistaken that, in the name of god, this morning i shatter the delusion. iii. still further, the road spoken of is a plain road. "the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein." that is, if a man is three fourths an idiot, he can find this road just as well as if he were a philosopher. the imbecile boy, the laughing-stock of the street, and followed by a mob hooting at him, has only just to knock once at the gate of heaven, and it swings open: while there has been many a man who can lecture about pneumatics, and chemistry, and tell the story of farraday's theory of electrical polarization, and yet has been shut out of heaven. there has been many a man who stood in an observatory and swept the heavens with his telescope, and yet has not been able to see the morning star. many a man has been familiar with all the higher branches of mathematics, and yet could not do the simple sum, "what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?" many a man has been a fine reader of tragedies and poems, and yet could not "read his title clear to mansions in the skies." many a man has botanized across the continent, and yet not know the "rose of sharon and the lily of the valley." but if one shall come in the right spirit, crying the way to heaven, he will find it a plain way. the pardon is plain. the peace is plain. everything is plain. he who tries to get on the road to heaven through the new testament teaching will get on beautifully. he who goes through philosophical discussion will not get on at all. christ says: "come to me, and i will take all your sins away, and i will take all your troubles away." now what is the use of my discussing it any more? is not that plain? if you wanted to go to albany, and i pointed you out a highway thoroughly laid out, would i be wise in detaining you by a geological discussion about the gravel you will pass over, or a physiological discussion about the muscles you will have to bring into play? no. after this bible has pointed you the way to heaven, is it wise for me to detain you with any discussion about the nature of the human will, or whether the atonement is limited or unlimited? there is the road--go on it. it is a plain way. "this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that christ jesus came into the world to save sinners." and that is you and that is me. any little child here can understand this as well as i can. "unless you become as a little child, you can not see the kingdom of god." if you are saved, it will not be as a philosopher, it will be as a little child. "of such is the kingdom of heaven." unless you get the spirit of little children, you will never come out at their glorious destiny. iv. still further: this road to heaven is a safe road. sometimes the traveler in those ancient highways would think himself perfectly secure, not knowing there was a lion by the way, burying his head deep between his paws, and then, when the right moment came, under the fearful spring the man's life was gone, and there was a mauled carcass by the roadside. but, says my text, "no lion shall be there." i wish i could make you feel, this morning, your entire security. i tell you plainly that one minute after a man has become a child of god, he is as safe as though he had been ten thousand years in heaven. he may slip, he may slide, he may stumble; but he can not be destroyed. kept by the power of god, through faith, unto complete salvation. everlastingly safe. the severest trial to which you can subject a christian man is to kill him, and that is glory. in other words, the worst thing that can happen a child of god is heaven. the body is only the old slippers that he throws aside just before putting on the sandals of light. his soul, you can not hurt it. no fires can consume it. no floods can drown it. no devils can capture it. "firm and unmoved are they who rest their souls on god; fixed as the ground where david stood, or where the ark abode." his soul is safe. his reputation is safe. everything is safe. "but," you say, "suppose his store burns up?" why, then, it will be only a change of investments from earthly to heavenly securities. "but," you say, "suppose his name goes down under the hoof of scorn and contempt?" the name will be so much brighter in glory. "suppose his physical health fails?" god will pour into him the floods of everlasting health, and it will not make any difference. earthly subtraction is heavenly addition. the tears of earth are the crystals of heaven. as they take rags and tatters and put them through the paper-mill, and they come out beautiful white sheets of paper, so, often, the rags of earthly destitution, under the cylinders of death, come out a white scroll upon which shall be written eternal emancipation. there was one passage of scripture, the force of which i never understood until one day at chamounix, with mont blanc on one side, and montanvent on the other, i opened my bible and read: "as the mountains are around about jerusalem, so the lord is around about them that fear him." the surroundings were an omnipotent commentary. "though troubles assail, and dangers affright; though friends should all fail, and foes all unite; yet one thing secures us, whatever betide, the scriptures assure us the lord will provide." v. still further: the road spoken of is a pleasant road. god gives a bond of indemnity against all evil to every man that treads it. "all things work together for good to those who love god." no weapon formed against them can prosper. that is the bond, signed, sealed, and delivered by the president of the whole universe. what is the use of your fretting, o child of god, about food? "behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly father feedeth them." and will he take care of the sparrow, will he take care of the hawk, and let you die? what is the use of your fretting about clothes? "consider the lilies of the field. shall he not much more clothe you, o ye of little faith?" what is the use worrying for fear something will happen to your home? "he blesseth the habitation of the just." what is the use of your fretting lest you will be overcome of temptations? "god is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." o this king's highway! trees of life on either side, bending over until their branches interlock and drop midway their fruit and shade. houses of entertainment on either side the road for poor pilgrims. tables spread with a feast of good things, and walls adorned with apples of gold in pictures of silver. i start out on this king's highway, and i find a harper, and i say: "what is your name?" the harper makes no response, but leaves me to guess, as, with his eyes toward heaven and his hand upon the trembling strings this tune comes rippling on the air: "the lord is my light and my salvation. whom shall i fear? the lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall i be afraid?" i go a little further on the same road and meet a trumpeter of heaven, and i say: "haven't you got some music for a tired pilgrim?" and wiping his lip and taking a long breath, he puts his mouth to the trumpet and pours forth this strain: "they shall hunger no more, neither shall they 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 lead them to living fountains of water, and god shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." i go a little distance further on the same road, and i meet a maiden of israel. she has no harp, but she has cymbals. they look as if they had rusted from sea-spray; and i say to the maiden of israel: "have you no song for a tired pilgrim?" and like the clang of victors' shields the cymbals clap as miriam begins to discourse: "sing ye to the lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and the rider hath he thrown into the sea." and then i see a white-robed group. they come bounding toward me, and i say: "who are they? the happiest, and the brightest, and the fairest in all heaven--who are they?" and the answer comes: "these are they who came out of great tribulations, and had their robes washed and made white with the blood of the lamb." i pursue this subject only one step further. what is the terminus? i do not care how fine a road you may put me on, i want to know where it comes out. my text declares it: "the redeemed of the lord come to zion." you know what zion was. that was the king's palace. it was a mountain fastness. it was impregnable. and so heaven is the fastness of the universe. no howitzer has long enough range to shell those towers. let all the batteries of earth and hell blaze away; they can not break in those gates. gibraltar was taken, sebastopol was taken, babylon fell; but these walls of heaven shall never surrender either to human or satanic besiegement. the lord god almighty is the defense of it. great capital of the universe! terminus of the king's highway! doctor dick said that, among other things, he thought in heaven we should study chemistry, and geometry, and conic sections. southey thought that in heaven he would have the pleasure of seeing chaucer and shakespeare. now, doctor dick may have his mathematics for all eternity, and southey his shakespeare. give me christ and my old friends--that is all the heaven i want, that is heaven enough for me. o garden of light, whose leaves never wither, and whose fruits never fail! o banquet of god, whose sweetness never palls the taste, and whose guests are kings forever! o city of light, whose walls are salvation, and whose gates are praise! o palace of rest, where god is the monarch and everlasting ages the length of his reign! o song louder than the surf-beat of many waters, yet soft as the whisper of cherubim! o my heaven! when my last wound is healed, when the last heart-break is ended, when the last tear of earthly sorrow is wiped away, and when the redeemed of the lord shall come to zion, then let all the harpers take down their harps, and all the trumpeters take down their trumpets, and all across heaven there be chorus of morning stars, chorus of white-robed victors, chorus of martyrs from under the throne, chorus of ages, chorus of worlds, and there be but one song sung, and but one name spoken, and but one throne honored--that of jesus only. the ransomless. "beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom can not deliver thee."--job xxxvi: . trouble makes some men mad. it was so with job. he had lost his property, he had lost his physical health, he had lost his dear children, and the losses had led to exasperation instead of any spiritual profit. i suppose that he was in the condition that many are now in who sit before me. there are those here whose fortunes have begun to flap their wings, as though to fly away. there is a hollow cough in some of your dwellings. there is a subtraction of comfort and happiness, and you feel disgusted with the world, and impatient with many events that are transpiring in your history, and you are in the condition in which job was when the words of my text accosted him: "beware lest he take thee away with his stroke and then a ransom can not deliver thee." i propose to show you that sometimes god suddenly removes from us our gospel opportunities, and that, when he has done so, our case is ransomless. "beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom can not deliver thee." i. sometimes the stroke comes in the removal of the intellect. "oh," says some man, "as long as i keep my mind i can afford to adjourn religion." but suppose you do not keep it? a fever, the hurling of a missile, the falling of a brick from a scaffolding, the accidental discharge of a gun--and your mind is gone. if you have ever been in an anatomical room, and have examined the human brain, you know what a delicate organ it is. and can it be possible that our eternity is dependent upon the healthy action of that which can be so easily destroyed? "oh," says some one, "you don't know how strong a mind i have." i reply: losses, accident, bereavement, and sickness may shipwreck the best physical or mental condition. there are those who have been ten years in lunatic asylums who had as good a mind as you. while they had their minds they neglected god, and when their intellect went, with it went their last opportunity for heaven. now they are not responsible for what they do, or for what they say; but in the last day they will be held responsible for what they did when they were mentally well; and if, on that day, a soul should say: "oh, god, i was demented, and i had no responsibility," god will say: "yes, you were demented; but there were long years when you were not demented. that was your chance for heaven, and you missed it." oh, better be, as the scotch say, a little "daft," nevertheless having grace in the heart; better be like poor richard hampson, the cornish fool, whose biography has just appeared in england--a silly man he was, yet bringing souls to jesus christ by scores and scores--giving an account of his own conversion, when he said: "the mob got after me, and i lost my hat, and climbed up by a meat-stand, in order that i might not be trampled under foot, and while i was there, my heart got on fire with love toward those who were chasing me, and, springing to my feet, i began to exhort and to pray." oh, my god, let me be in the last, last day the cornish fool, rather than have the best intellect god ever created unillumined by the gospel of jesus christ! consider what an uncertain possession you have in your intellect, when there are so many things around to destroy it; and beware, lest before you use it in making the religious choice, god takes it away with a stroke. i know a good many of my friends who are putting off religion until the last hour. they say when they get sick they will attend to it, but generally the intellect is beclouded; and oh; what a doleful thing it is to stand by a dying bed, and talk to a man about his soul, and feel, from what you see of the motion of his head, and the glare of his eye, and from what you hear of the jargon of his lips, that he does not understand what you are saying to him. i have stood beside the death-bed of a man who had lived a sinful life, and was as unprepared for eternity as it is possible for a man to be, and i tried to make him understand my pastoral errand; but all in vain. he could not understand it, and so he died. oh! ye who are putting off until the sick hour preparation for eternity, let me tell you that in all probability, you will not be able in your last hour to attend to it at all. there are a great many people who say they will repent on the death-bed. i have no doubt there are many who have repented on the death-bed, but i think it is the exception. albert barnes, who was one of the coolest of men, and gave no rash statistics, said thus: that in a ministry of nearly half a century--he was over seventy when he went up to glory--he had known a great many people who said they repented on the dying bed, but, unexpectedly to themselves, got well; and he says, how many of those, do you suppose, who thought it was their dying bed, and who, after they repented on that dying bed, having got well, lived consistently, showing that it was real repentance, and not mock repentance--how many? not one! not one! ii. again: this stroke may come to you in the withdrawal of god's spirit. i see people before me who were, twenty years ago, serious about their souls. they are not now. they have no interest in what i am saying. they will never have any anxiety in what any minister of the gospel says about their souls. their time seems to have passed. i know a man, seventy-five years of age, who, in early life, became almost a christian, but grieved away the spirit of god, and he has never thought earnestly since, and he can not be roused. i do not believe he will be roused until eternity flashes on his astonished vision. it does seem as if sometimes, in quite early life, the holy spirit moves upon a heart, and being grieved away and rejected, never comes back. you say that is all imaginary? a letter, the address of which i will not give, dated last monday morning, came to me on tuesday, saying this: "your sermon last night (that is, last sabbath night) did not fit my case, although i believe it did all others in the academy; but your sermon of a week ago did fit my case, for i am 'past feeling.' i am not ashamed to be a christian. i would as soon be known to be a christian as anything else. indeed, i wish i was, but i have not the least power to become one. don't you know that with some persons there is a tide in their spiritual natures which, if taken at the flood, leads on to salvation? such a tide i felt two years ago. i want you to pray for me, not that i may be led to christ--for that prayer would not be answered--but that i may be kept from the temptation to suicide!" what i had to say to the author of that i said in a private letter; but what i have to say to this audience is: beware lest you grieve the holy ghost, and he be gone, and never return. next wednesday, at two or three o'clock, a cunard steamer will put out from jersey city wharf for liverpool. after it has gone one hour, and the vessel is down by the narrows, or beyond, go out on the jersey city wharf, and wave your hand, and shout, and ask that steamer to come back to the wharf. will it? yes, sooner than the holy ghost will come back when once he has taken his final flight from thy soul. with that holy spirit some of you have been in treaty, my dear friends. the holy spirit said: "come, come to christ." you said: "no, i won't." the spirit said, more importunately: "come to christ." you said: "well, i will after awhile, when i get my business fixed up; when my friends consent to my coming; when they won't laugh at me--then i'll come." but the holy spirit more emphatically said: "come now." you said: "no, i can't. i can't come now." and that holy spirit stands in your heart to-night, with his hand on the door of your soul, ready to come out. will you let him depart? if so, then, with a pen of light, dipped in ink of eternal blackness, the sentence may be now writing: "ephraim is joined to his idols. let him alone! let him alone!" when that fatal record is made, you might as well brace yourselves up against the sorrows of the last day, against the anguish of an unforgiven death-bed, against the flame and the overthrow of an undone eternity; for though you might live thirty years after that in the world, your fate would be as certain as though you had already entered the gates of darkness. that is the dead line. look out how you cross it! "'there is a line by us unseen, that crosses every path; the hidden boundary between god's patience and his wrath.'" and some of you, to-night, have come up to that line. ay, you have lifted your foot, and when you put it down, it will be on the other side! look out how you cross it! oh, grieve not the spirit of god, lest he never come back! iii. this fatal stroke spoken of in the text may be our exit from this world. i hear aged people sometimes saying: "i can't live much longer." but do you know the fact that there are a hundred young people and middle-aged people who go out of this life to one aged person, for the simple reason that there are not many aged people to leave life? the aged seem to stand around like stalks--separate stalks of wheat at the corner of the field; but when death goes a-mowing, he likes to go down amid the thick of the harvest. what is more to the point: a man's going out of this world is never in the way he expects--it is never at the time he expects. the moment of leaving this world is always a surprise. if you expect to go in the winter, it may be in the summer; if in the summer, it may be in the winter; if in the night, it maybe in the day-time; if you think to go in the day-time, it may be in the night. suddenly the event will rush upon you, and you will be gone. where? if a christian--into joy. if not a christian--into suffering. the gospel call stops outside of the door of the sepulcher. the sleeper within can not hear it. if that call should be sounded out with clarion voice louder than ever rang through the air, that sleeper could not hear it. i suppose every hour of the day, and now, while i am speaking, there are souls rushing into eternity unprepared. they slide from the pillow, or they slip from the pavement, and in an eye-twinkling they are gone. elegant and eloquent funeral oration will not do them any good. epitaph, cut on polished scotch granite, will not do them any good. wailing of beloved kindred can not call them back. but, says some one: "i'll keep out of peril; i will not go on the sea, i will not go into battle--i'll keep out of all danger." that is no defense. thousands of people, last night, on their couches, with the front door locked, and no armed assassin anywhere around, surrounded by all defended circumstances, slipped out of this life into the next. if time had been on one side of the shuttle and eternity on the other side of the shuttle, they could not have shot quicker across it. a man was saying: "my father was lost at sea, and my grandfather, and my great-grandfather. wasn't it strange?" a man, talking to him, said: "you ought never to venture on the sea, lest you, yourself, be lost at sea." the man turned to the other, and said: "where did your father die?" he replied: "in his bed." "where did your grandfather die?" "in his bed." "where did your great-grandfather die?" "in his bed." "then," he said, "be careful, lest some night, while you are asleep on your couch, your time may come!" death alone is sure. suddenly, you and i will go out of life. i am not saying anything to your soul that i am not going to say to my own soul. we have got to go suddenly out of this life. if i am prepared for that change, i do not care where my body is taken from--at what point i am taken out of this life. if i am ready, all is well. if i am not ready, though i might be at home, and though my loved ones might be standing around me, and though there might be the best surgical and medical ability in the room, i tell you, if i were not prepared, i would be frightened more than tongue can tell. it may seem like cowardice, but i am not ashamed to say that i should have the most indescribable horror about going out of this world if i thought i was unprepared for the next--if i had no christ in my soul; for it would be a plunge compared with which a leap from the top of mont blanc would be nothing. but this brings me to the most tremendous thought of my text. the text supposes that a man goes into ruin, and that an effort is made afterward for his rescue, and then says the thing can not be done. is that so? after death seizes upon that soul, is there no resurrection? if a man topples off the edge of life, is there nothing to break his fall? if an impenitent man goes overboard, are there no grappling-hooks to hoist him into safety? the text says distinctly: "then a great ransom can not deliver thee." i know there are people who call themselves "restorationists," and they say a sinful man may go down into the world of the lost; he stays there until he gets reformed, and then comes up into the world of light and blessedness. it seems to me to be a most unreasonable doctrine--as though the world of darkness were a place where a man could get reformed. is there anything in the society of the lost world--the abandoned and the wretched of god's universe--to elevate a man's character and lift him at last to heaven? can we go into companionship of the neroes and the herods, and the jim fisks, and spend a certain number of years in that lost world, and then by that society be purified and lifted up? is that the kind of society that reforms a man and prepares him for heaven? would you go to shreveport or memphis, with the yellow fever there, to get your physical health restored? can it be that a man may go down into the diseased world--a world overwhelmed by an epidemic of transgressions--and by that process, and in that atmosphere, be lifted up to health and glory? your common sense says: "no! no!" in such society as that, instead of being restored, you would go down worse and worse, plunging every hour into deeper depths of suffering and darkness. what your common sense says the bible reaffirms, when it says: "these shall go away into three months of punishment." i have quoted it wrong. "these shall go away into ten years of punishment." i have quoted it wrong. "these shall go into a thousand years of punishment." i have quoted it wrong. "these shall go into _everlasting_ punishment." and now i have quoted it right; or, if you prefer, in the words of my text: "then a great ransom can not deliver thee." now just suppose that a spirit should come down from heaven and knock at the gates of woe and say: "let that man out! let me come in and suffer in his stead. i will be the sacrifice. let him come out." the grim jailer would reply: "no, you don't know what a place this is, or you would not ask to come in; besides that, this man had full warning and full opportunity of escape. he did not take the warning, and now a great ransom shall not deliver him." sometimes men are sentenced to imprisonment for life. there comes another judge on the bench, there comes another governor in the chair, and in three or four years you find the man who was sentenced for life in the street. you say: "i thought you were sentenced for life." "oh!" he says, "politics are changed, and i am now a free man." but it will not be so for a soul at the last. there will be no new judge or new governor. if at the end of a century a soul might come out, it would not be so bad. if at the end of a thousand years it might come out, it would not be so bad. if there were any time in all the future, in quadrillions and quadrillions of years, that the soul might come out, it would not be so bad; but if the bible be true, it is a state of unending duration. far on in the ages one lost soul shall cry out to another lost soul: "how long have you been here?" and the soul will reply: "the years of my ruin are countless. i estimated the time for thousands of years; but what is the use of estimating when all these rolling cycles bring us no nearer the terminus." ages! ages! ages! eternity! eternity! eternity! the wrath to come! the wrath to come! the wrath to come! no medicine to cure that marasmus of the soul. no hammer to strike off the handcuff of that incarceration. no burglar's key to pick the locks which the lord hath fastened. sir francis newport, in his last moment, caught just one glimpse of that world. he had lived a sinful life. before he went into the eternal world he looked into it. the last words he ever uttered were, as he gathered himself up on his elbows in the bed: "oh, the insufferable pangs of hell!" the lost soul will cry out: "i can not stand this! i can not stand this! is there no way out?" and the echo will answer: "no way out." and the soul will cry: "is this forever?" and the echo will answer: "forever!" is it all true? "these shall go away into everlasting punishment, while the righteous go into life eternal." are there two destinies? and must all this audience share one or the other? shall i give an account for what i have told you to-night? have i held back any truth, though it were plain, though it were unpalatable? must i meet you there, oh, you dying but immortal auditory? i wish that my text, with all its uplifted hands of warning, could come upon your souls: "beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom can not deliver thee." glory be to god, there is a ransom that can now deliver you, braver than grace darling putting out in a life-boat from eddystone light-house for the rescue of the crew of the forfarshire steamer--christ the lord launched from heaven, amid the shouting of the angels. thirty-three years afterward, christ the lord launched from earth to heaven, amid human and infernal execration; yet staying here long enough to save all who will believe in him. do you hear that? to save all who will believe in him. oh, that pierced side! oh, that bleeding brow! oh, that crushed foot! oh, that broken heart! that is your hope, sinner. that is your ransom from sin, and death, and hell. why have i told you all these things to-night, plainly and frankly? it is because i know there is redemption for you, and i would have you now come and get it. oh, men and women long prayed for, and striven with, and coaxed of the mercy of god--have you concentrated all your physical, mental, and spiritual energies in one awful determination to be lost? is there nothing in the value of your soul, in the graciousness of christ, in the thunders of the last day, in the blazing glories of heaven, and the surging wrath of an undone eternity to start you out of your indifference, and make you pray? oh, must god come upon you in some other way? must he take another darling child from your household? must he take another installment from your worldly estate? must life come upon you with sorrow after sorrow, and smite you down with sickness before you will be moved, and before you will feel? oh, weep now, while jesus will count the tears! sigh, now in repentance, while jesus will hear the grief. now clutch the cross of the son of god before it be swept away. beware, lest the holy spirit leave thy heart. beware, lest this night thy soul be required of thee. "beware, lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom can not deliver thee." oh, lord god of israel, see these impenitent souls on the verge of death ready to topple over! see them! is there no help? is this plea all in vain? i can not believe it, blessed god. oh, thou mighty one, whose garments are red with the wine-press of thine own sufferings, in the greatness of thy strength ride through this audience, and may all this people fall into line, the willing captives of thy grace. men and women immortal! i lay hold of you to-night with both hands of entreaty and of prayer, and i beg of you, prepare for death, judgment, and eternity. the three groups. "and they sat down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties."--mark vi: . the sun was far down in the west, night was coming on, and there were five thousand people tired, hungry, shelterless. you know how washington felt at valley forge, when his army was starving and freezing. you may imagine how any great-hearted general would feel while his troops were suffering. imagine, then, how christ, with his great heart, must have felt as he saw these five thousand hunger-bitten people. yes, i suppose there were ten thousand there, for the bible says there were five thousand men, besides women and children. the case is put in that way, not because the women and children were of less importance than the men, but because they would eat less; and the whole force of the miracle turns on the amount of food required. how shall this great multitude be supplied? i see a selfish man in that crowd pulling a luncheon out of his own pocket, and saying: "let the people starve. they had no business to come out here in the desert without any provisions. they are improvident, and the improvident ought to suffer." there is another man, not quite so heartless, who says: "go up into the village and buy bread." what a foolish proposition! there is not enough food in all the village for this crowd; besides that, who has the money to pay for it? xerxes' army, one million strong, was fed by a private individual of great wealth for only one day, but it broke him. who, then, shall feed this multitude? i see a man rising in that great crowd and asking: "is there any one here who has bread or meat?" a kind of moan goes through the whole throng. "no bread--no meat." but just at that time a lad steps up. you know when a great crowd goes off upon an excursion, there are always men and boys to go along for the purpose of merchandise and to strike a bargain: and so, i suppose, this boy had gone along for the purpose of merchandise; but he was nearly all sold out, having only five loaves and two fishes left. he is a generous boy, and he turns them over to christ. but these loaves would not feed twenty people, how much less ten thousand! though the action was so generous on the part of the boy, so far as satisfying the multitude, it was a dead failure. then jesus comes to the rescue. he is apt to come when there is a dead lift. he commands the people that they sit down "in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties," as much as to say: "order! order! so that none be missed." it was fortunate that that arrangement was made; otherwise, at the very first appearance of bread, the strong ones would have clutched it, while the feeble and the modest would have gone unsupplied. i suppose it was no easy work to get that crowd seated, for they all wanted to be in the front row, lest the bread give out before their turn come. no sooner are they seated than there comes a great hush over all the people. jesus stands there, his light complexion and auburn locks illumined by the setting sun. every eye is on him. they wonder what he will do next. he takes one of the loaves that the boy furnished and breaks off it a piece, which immediately grows to as large a size as the original loaf, the original loaf staying as large as it was before the piece was broken off. and they leaned forward with intense scrutiny, saying: "look! look!" when some one, anxious to see more minutely what is going on, rises in front, they cry: "sit down in front! let us look for ourselves." and then, when the bread is passed around, they taste of it skeptically and inquiringly, as much as to say: "is it bread? really, is it bread?" yes, the best bread that was ever made, for christ made it. bread for the first fifty and second fifty. bread for the first hundred and the second hundred. bread for the first thousand and the second thousand. pass it all around the circle: there, where that aged man sits leaning on his staff, and where that woman sits with the child in her arms. pass it all around. are you all fed? "ay! ay!" respond the ten thousand voices; "all fed." one basket would have held the loaves before the miracle; it takes twelve baskets now. sound it through all the ages of earth and heaven, that christ the lord comes to our suffering race with the bread of this life in one hand, and the bread of eternal life in the other hand. you have all immediately run out the analogy between that scene and this. there were thousands there; there are thousands here. they were in the desert; many of you are in the desert of trouble and sin. no human power could feed them; no human power can feed you. christ appeared to them; christ appears to you. bread enough for all in the desert; bread enough for all who are here. and, as on that occasion, so in this: we have the people "sit down in ranks by hundreds and by fifties;" for the fact that many of you stand is no fault of ours, for we have tried to give you seats. as christ divided that company into groups, so i divide this audience into three groups: the pardoned, the seeking, the careless. i. and, first, i speak to the pardoned. it is with some of you half past five in the morning, and some faint streaks of light. with others it is seven o'clock, and thus full dawn. with others it is twelve o'clock at noon, and you sit in full blaze of gospel pardon. i bring you congratulation. joseph delivered from potiphar's dungeon; daniel lifted from the lion's den; saul arrested and unhorsed on the road to damascus. oh, you delivered captives, how your eyes should gleam, and your souls should bound, and your lips should sing in this pardon! from what land did you come? a land of darkness. what is to be your destiny? a land of light. who got you out? christ, the lord. can you sit so placidly and unmoved while all heaven comes to your soul with congratulation, and harps are strung, and crowns are lifted, and a great joy swings round the heavens at the news of your disinthrallment? if you could realize out of what a pit you have been dug, to what height you are to be raised, and to what glory you are destined, you would spring to your feet with "hosanna!" in there was a meeting of the emperors of france and russia at erfurt. there were distinguished men there also from other lands. it was so arranged that when any of the emperors arrived at the door of the reception-room, the drum should beat three times; but when a lesser dignitary should come, then the drum would sound but twice. after awhile the people in the audience-chamber heard two taps of the drum. they said: "a prince is coming." but after awhile there were three taps, and they cried: "the emperor!" oh, there is a more glorious arrival at your soul to-night! the drum beats twice at the coming in of the lesser joys and congratulations of your soul; but it beats once, twice, thrice at the coming in of a glorious king--jesus the saviour, jesus the god! i congratulate you. all are yours--things present and things to come. ii. i come now to speak of the second division--those who are seeking; some of you with more earnestness, some of you with less earnestness. but i believe that to-night, if i should ask all those who wish to find the way to heaven to rise, and the world did not scoff at you, and your own proud heart did not keep you down, there would be a thousand souls who would cry out as they rose up: "show me the way to heaven!" that young man who smiled to the one next to him, as though he cared for none of these things, would be on his knees crying for mercy. why this anxious look? why this deep disquietude in the soul? why, at the beginning of this service, did you do what you have not done for years--bow your head in prayer? you are seeking. "i am a gambler," says one man. there is mercy for you. "i am a libertine," says another. there is mercy for you. "i have plunged into every abomination." mercy for you. the door of grace does not stand ajar to-night, nor half swung around on the hinges. it is wide, wide open; and there is nothing in the bible, or in christ, or god, or earth, or heaven, or hell, to keep you out of the door of safety, if you want to go in. christ has borne your burdens, fought your battles, suffered for your sins. the debt is paid, and the receipt is handed to you, written in the blood of the son of god--will you have it? oh, decide the matter now! decide it here! fling your exhausted soul down at the feet of an all-compassionate, all-sympathizing, all-pitying, all-pardoning jesus. the laceration on his brow, the gash in his side, the torn muscles and nerves of his feet beg you to come. but remember that one inch outside the door of pardon, and you are in as much peril as though you were a thousand miles away. many a shipwrecked sailor has got almost to the beach, but did not get on it. there are thousands in the world of the lost who came very near being saved--perhaps as near as you are to-night--but were not saved. on the eastern coast of england, a few weeks ago, in a fishing-village, there was a good deal of excitement. while people were in church, the sailors and fishermen hearing the gospel on the sabbath, there was a cry: "to the beach!" and the minister closed the bible, and with his congregation went out to help, and they saw in the offing a ship in trouble; but there was some disorder amid the fishing-smacks, and amid all the boats, and it was almost impossible to get anything launched. but after awhile they did, and they pulled away for the wreck, and came almost up, when suddenly the distressed bark in the offing capsized, and they all went down. oh, if the lifeboats had only been ten minutes quicker! and how many a life-boat has been launched from the gospel shore! it has come almost up to the drowning, and yet, after all, they were not rescued. somehow they did not get into it! i suppose there are people who have asked for our prayers, and i suppose there were some in the side room, last sabbath night, talking about their souls, who will miss heaven. they do not take the last step, and all the other steps go for nothing until you have taken the last step, for i have here, in the presence of god and this people, to announce the solemn truth, that to be almost saved is to be lost forever. that is all i have to say to the second division. iii. i come now to speak to the careless. you look indifferent, and i suppose you are indifferent. you say: "i came in here because a friend invited me to see what is going on, but with no serious intentions about my soul. i have so much work, and so much pleasure on hand, don't bother me about religion." and yet you are gentlemanly, and you are lady-like, in your behavior, and, therefore, i know that you will listen respectfully if i talk courteously. christian people are sometimes afraid to talk to men and women of the world lest they be insulted. if they talk courteously to people of the world, they will listen courteously. so now i try to come in that way, and in that spirit, and talk to those of you who tell me that you are careless about your soul. then you have a soul, have you? yes, precious, with infinite capacity for joy or suffering, winged for flight somewhere. beckoned upward, beckoned downward. fought after by angels and by fiends. immortal! "the sun is but a spark of fire, a transient meteor in the sky: the soul, immortal as its sire, can never die." your body will soon be taken down, the castle will be destroyed, the tower will be in the dust, the windows will be broken out, and the place where your body sleeps will be forgotten; but your soul, after that, will be living, acting, feeling, thinking--where? where? oh, there must be something of incomputable worth in that for which heaven gave up its best inhabitant, and christ went into martyrdom, and at the coming of which angels chant an eternal litany and devils rush to the gate. when everything above you, and beneath you, and around you, is intent upon that soul, you can not afford to be careless, especially when i think, this moment while i speak, there are thousands of souls in heaven rejoicing that they attended to this matter in time, while at this very instant there are souls in the lost world mourning that they did not attend to it in time. hark to the howling of the damned! oh, if this room could be vacated of this audience, and you were all gone, and the wan spirits of the lost could come up and occupy this place, and i could stand before them with offers of pardon through jesus christ, and then ask them if they would accept it, there would come up an instantaneous, multitudinous, overwhelming cry: "yes! yes! yes! yes!" no such fortune for them. they had their day of grace, and sacrificed it. you have yours; will you sacrifice it? i wish that i could have you see these things as you will one day see them. suppose, on your way home, a runaway horse should dash across the street, or between the dock and the boat you should accidentally slip, where would you be at twelve o'clock to-night or seven o'clock to-morrow morning? or for all eternity where would you be? i do not answer the question. i just leave it to you to answer. but suppose you escape fatal accident. suppose you go out by the ordinary process of sickness. i will just suppose now that your last hour has come. the doctor says, as he goes out of the room: "can't get well." there is something in the faces of those who stand around you that prophesies that you can not get well. you say within yourself: "i can't get well." where are your comrades now? oh, they are off to the gay party that very night! they dance as well as they ever did. they drink as much wine. they laugh as loud as though you were not dying. they destroyed your soul, but do not come to help you die. well, there are father and mother in the room. they are very quiet, but occasionally they go out into the next room and weep bitterly. the bed is very much disheveled. they have not been able to make it up for two or three days. there are four or five pillows lying around, because they have been trying to make you as easy as they could. on the one side of your bed are all the past years of your life--the bibles, the sermons, the communion-tables, the offers of mercy. you say: "take them away." your mother thinks you are delirious. she says: "there is nothing there, my dear, nothing there." there is something there! it is your wasted opportunities. it is your procrastinations. it is those years you gave to the world that you ought to have given to christ. they are there; and some of them put their fingers on your aching temples, and some of them feel for the strings of your heart, and some put more thorns in your tumbled pillow, and you say: "turn me over." and they turn you over, but, alas! there is a more appalling vision. you say: "take that away!" they say: "there is nothing there, nothing there." there is--an open grave there! the judgment is there! a lost eternity is there! take it away! they can not take it away. you say: "how dark it is getting in the room!" why, the burners are all lighted. your family come up one by one, and tenderly kiss you good-bye. your feet are cold, and the hands are cold, and the lips are cold, and they take a small mirror and they put it over your mouth to see if there is any breathing, and that mirror is taken away without a single blur upon it; and they whisper through the room: "she is gone." and then the door of the body opens and the soul flashes out. make room for the destroyed spirit. push back that door! lost! let it come into its eternal residence. woe! woe! no cup of merriment now, but cup of the wrath of almighty god. the last chance for heaven gone. the door of mercy shut. the doom sealed. the blackness of darkness forever! voltaire is there. herod is there. robespierre is there. the debauchees are there. the murderers are there. all the rejectors of jesus christ are there. and you will be there unless you repent. you can not say, my dear brother, that you were not warned. this sermon would be a witness against you. you can not say that god's holy spirit never strove with your heart. he is striving now. you can not say that you had no chance for heaven, for the omnipotent son of god offers you his rescue. you can not say: "i had no warning about that world; i didn't know there was any such place," for the bible distinctly rings in your ears to-day, saying: "at the end of the world the angels shall separate the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire." and again that book says: "the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget god." and again it says: "the smoke of their torment ascendeth for ever and ever." you can not say that you did not hear about heaven, the other alternative, for you hear of it now: "the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall lead them to living fountains of water, and god shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." no sorrow, no suffering, no death. oh, will you be careless any longer, when i tell you that christ, the conqueror of earth and hell, offers you now escape from all peril, and offers to introduce you this very hour into the peace and pardon of the gospel, preparing you for that good land? the sides of calvary run blood for you. jesus, who had not where to lay his head, offers you his heart as a pillow of rest. christ offers with his own body to bridge over the chasm of death, saying: "walk over me; i am the way." o suffering jesus! the thief scoffed at thee, and the malefactor spat on thee, and the soldiers stabbed thee; but these who sit before thee to-day have no heart to do that. o jesus! tell them of thy love, tell them of thy sympathy, tell them of the rewards thou wilt give them in the better land. groan again, o blessed jesus! groan again, and perhaps when the rocks fall, their hard hearts may break. "nothing brought him from above, nothing but redeeming love." the promise is all free, the path all clear. come, mary, and sit to-night at the feet of jesus. come, bartimeus, and have your eyes opened. come, o prodigal! and sit at thy father's table. come, o you suffering, sinning, dying the soul! and find rest on the heart of jesus. the spirit and bride say "come," and churches militant and triumphant say "come," and all the voices of the past, mingling with all the voices of the future, in one great thunder of emphasis, bid you "come now!" are not those of you who are in the third class ready to pass over into the second division, and become seekers after christ? ay, are you not ready to pass over into the first division, and become the pardoned sons and daughters of the lord almighty? i can do no more than offer you, through jesus christ, peace on earth and everlasting residence in his presence. "when god makes up his last account of natives in his holy mount, 'twill be an honor to appear as one new-born and nourished there." good-night! the lord bless you! go to your homes seeking after christ. sleep not until you have made your peace with god. good-night--a deep, hearty, loving, christian good-night! the insignificant. "and she went, and came, and gleaned in the field after the reapers: and her hap was to light on a part of the field belonging unto boaz, who was of the kindred of elimelech."--ruth ii: . the time that ruth and naomi arrive at bethlehem is harvest-time. it was the custom when a sheaf fell from a load in the harvest-field for the reapers to refuse to gather it up: that was to be left for the poor who might happen to come along that way. if there were handfuls of grain scattered across the field after the main harvest had been reaped, instead of raking it, as farmers do now, it was, by the custom of the land, left in its place, so that the poor, coming along that way, might glean it and get their bread. but, you say, "what is the use of all these harvest-fields to ruth and naomi? naomi is too old and feeble to go out and toil in the sun; and can you expect that ruth, the young and the beautiful, should tan her cheeks and blister her hands in the harvest-field?" boaz owns a large farm, and he goes out to see the reapers gather in the grain. coming there, right behind the swarthy, sun-browned reapers, he beholds a beautiful woman gleaning--a woman more fit to bend to a harp or sit upon a throne than to stoop among the sheaves. ah, that was an eventful day! it was love at first sight. boaz forms an attachment for the womanly gleaner--an attachment full of undying interest to the church of god in all ages; while ruth, with an ephah, or nearly a bushel of barley, goes home to naomi to tell her the successes and adventures of the day. that ruth, who left her native land of moab in darkness, and traveled through an undying affection for her mother-in-law, is in the harvest-field of boaz, is affianced to one of the best families in judah, and becomes in after-time the ancestress of jesus christ, the lord of glory! out of so dark a night did there ever dawn so bright a morning? i. i learn, in the first place, from this subject how trouble develops character. it was bereavement, poverty, and exile that developed, illustrated, and announced to all ages the sublimity of ruth's character. that is a very unfortunate man who has no trouble. it was sorrow that made john bunyan the better dreamer, and doctor young the better poet, and o'connell the better orator, and bishop hall the better preacher, and havelock the better soldier, and kitto the better encyclopædist, and ruth the better daughter-in-law. i once asked an aged man in regard to his pastor, who was a very brilliant man, "why is it that your pastor, so very brilliant, seems to have so little heart and tenderness in his sermons?" "well," he replied, "the reason is, our pastor has never had any trouble. when misfortune comes upon him, his style will be different." after awhile the lord took a child out of that pastor's house; and though the preacher was just as brilliant as he was before, oh, the warmth, the tenderness of his discourses! the fact is, that trouble is a great educator. you see sometimes a musician sit down at an instrument, and his execution is cold and formal and unfeeling. the reason is that all his life he has been prospered. but let misfortune or bereavement come to that man, and he sits down at the instrument, and you discover the pathos in the first sweep of the keys. misfortune and trials are great educators. a young doctor comes into a sick-room where there is a dying child. perhaps he is very rough in his prescription, and very rough in his manner, and rough in the feeling of the pulse, and rough in his answer to the mother's anxious question; but years roll on, and there has been one dead in his own house; and now he comes into the sick-room, and with tearful eye he looks at the dying child, and he says, "oh, how this reminds me of my charlie!" trouble, the great educator. sorrow--i see its touch in the grandest painting; i hear its tremor in the sweetest song; i feel its power in the mightiest argument. grecian mythology said that the fountain of hippocrene was struck out by the foot of the winged horse pegasus. i have often noticed in life that the brightest and most beautiful fountains of christian comfort and spiritual life have been struck out by the iron-shod hoof of disaster and calamity. i see daniel's courage best by the flash of nebuchadnezzar's furnace. i see paul's prowess best when i find him on the foundering ship under the glare of the lightning in the breakers of melita. god crowns his children amid the howling of wild beasts and the chopping of blood-splashed guillotine and the crackling fires of martyrdom. it took the persecutions of marcus aurelius to develop polycarp and justin martyr. it took the pope's bull and the cardinal's curse and the world's anathema to develop martin luther. it took all the hostilities against the scotch covenanters and the fury of lord claverhouse to develop james renwick, and andrew melville, and hugh mckail, the glorious martyrs of scotch history. it took the stormy sea, and the december blast, and the desolate new england coast, and the war-whoop of savages, to show forth the prowess of the pilgrim fathers-- "when amid the storms they sung, and the stars heard, and the sea, and the sounding aisles of the dim wood rang to the anthems of the free." it took all our past national distresses, and it takes all our present national sorrows, to lift up our nation on that high career where it will march along after the foreign aristocracies that have mocked and the tyrannies that have jeered, shall be swept down under the omnipotent wrath of god, who hates despotism, and who, by the strength of his own red right arm, will make all men free. and so it is individually, and in the family, and in the church, and in the world, that through darkness and storm and trouble men, women, churches, nations, are developed. ii. again, i see in my text the beauty of unfaltering friendship. i suppose there were plenty of friends for naomi while she was in prosperity; but of all her acquaintances, how many were willing to trudge off with her toward judah, when she had to make that lonely journey? one--the heroine of my text. one--absolutely one. i suppose when naomi's husband was living, and they had plenty of money, and all things went well, they had a great many callers; but i suppose that after her husband died, and her property went, and she got old and poor, she was not troubled very much with callers. all the birds that sung in the bower while the sun shone have gone to their nests, now the night has fallen. oh, these beautiful sun-flowers that spread out their color in the morning hour! but they are always asleep when the sun is going down! job had plenty of friends when he was the richest man in uz; but when his property went and the trials came, then there were none so much that pestered as eliphaz the temanite, and bildad the shuhite, and zophar the naamathite. life often seems to be a mere game, where the successful player pulls down all the other men into his own lap. let suspicions arise about a man's character, and he becomes like a bank in a panic, and all the imputations rush on him and break down in a day that character which in due time would have had strength to defend itself. there are reputations that have been half a century in building, which go down under some moral exposure, as a vast temple is consumed by the touch of a sulphurous match. a hog can uproot a century plant. in this world, so full of heartlessness and hypocrisy, how thrilling it is to find some friend as faithful in days of adversity as in days of prosperity! david had such a friend in hushai; the jews had such a friend in mordecai, who never forgot their cause; paul had such a friend in onesiphorus, who visited him in jail; christ had such in the marys, who adhered to him on the cross; naomi had such a one in ruth, who cried out: "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; where thou diest will i die, and there will i be buried: the lord do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." iii. again, i learn from this subject that paths which open in hardship and darkness often come out in places of joy. when ruth started from moab toward jerusalem, to go along with her mother-in-law, i suppose the people said: "oh, what a foolish creature to go away from her father's house, to go off with a poor old woman toward the land of judah! they won't live to get across the desert. they will be drowned in the sea, or the jackals of the wilderness will destroy them." it was a very dark morning when ruth started off with naomi; but behold her in my text in the harvest-field of boaz, to be affianced to one of the lords of the land, and become one of the grandmothers of jesus christ, the lord of glory. and so it often is that a path which often starts very darkly ends very brightly. when you started out for heaven, oh, how dark was the hour of conviction--how sinai thundered, and devils tormented, and the darkness thickened! all the sins of your life pounced upon you, and it was the darkest hour you ever saw when you first found out your sins. after awhile you went into the harvest-field of god's mercy; you began to glean in the fields of divine promise, and you had more sheaves than you could carry, as the voice of god addressed you, saying: "blessed is the man whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered." a very dark starting in conviction, a very bright ending in the pardon and the hope and the triumph of the gospel! so, very often in our worldly business or in our spiritual career, we start off on a very dark path. we must go. the flesh may shrink back, but there is a voice within, or a voice from above, saying, "you must go;" and we have to drink the gall, and we have to carry the cross, and we have to traverse the desert and we are pounded and flailed of misrepresentation and abuse, and we have to urge our way through ten thousand obstacles that have been slain by our own right arm. we have to ford the river, we have to climb the mountain, we have to storm the castle; but, blessed be god, the day of rest and reward will come. on the tip-top of the captured battlements we will shout the victory; if not in this world, then in that world where there is no gall to drink, no burdens to carry, no battles to fight. how do i know it? know it! i know it because god says so: "they shall 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 lead them to living fountains of water, and god shall wipe all tears from their eyes." it was very hard for noah to endure the scoffing of the people in his day, while he was trying to build the ark, and was every morning quizzed about his old boat that would never be of any practical use; but when the deluge came, and the tops of the mountains disappeared like the backs of sea-monsters, and the elements, lashed up in fury, clapped their hands over a drowned world, then noah in the ark rejoiced in his own safety and in the safety of his family, and looked out on the wreck of a ruined earth. christ, hounded of persecutors, denied a pillow, worse maltreated than the thieves on either side of the cross, human hate smacking its lips in satisfaction after it had been draining his last drop of blood, the sheeted dead bursting from the sepulchers at his crucifixion. tell me, o gethsemane and golgotha! were there ever darker times than those? like the booming of the midnight sea against the rock, the surges of christ's anguish beat against the gates of eternity, to be echoed back by all the thrones of heaven and all the dungeons of hell. but the day of reward comes for christ; all the pomp and dominion of this world are to be hung on his throne, uncrowned heads are to bow before him on whose head are many crowns, and all the celestial worship is to come up at his feet, like the humming of the forest, like the rushing of the waters, like the thundering of the seas, while all heaven, rising on their thrones, beat time with their scepters: "hallelujah, for the lord god omnipotent reigneth! hallelujah, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our lord jesus christ!" "that song of love, now low and far, ere long shall swell from star to star; that light, the breaking day which tips the golden-spired apocalypse." iv. again, i learn from my subject that events which seem to be most insignificant may be momentous. can you imagine anything more unimportant than the coming of a poor woman from moab to judah? can you imagine anything more trivial than the fact that this ruth just happened to alight--as they say--just happened to alight on that field of boaz? yet all ages, all generations, have an interest in the fact that she was to become an ancestor of the lord jesus christ, and all nations and kingdoms must look at that one little incident with a thrill of unspeakable and eternal satisfaction. so it is in your history and in mine: events that you thought of no importance at all have been of very great moment. that casual conversation, that accidental meeting--you did not think of it again for a long while; but how it changed all the phase of your life! it seemed to be of no importance that jubal invented rude instruments of music, calling them harp and organ; but they were the introduction of all the world's minstrelsy; and as you hear the vibration of a stringed instrument, even after the fingers have been taken away from it, so all music now of lute and drum and cornet is only the long-continued strains of jubal's harp and jubal's organ. it seemed to be a matter of very little importance that tubal cain learned the uses of copper and iron; but that rude foundry of ancient days has its echo in the rattle of birmingham machinery, and the roar and bang of factories on the merrimac. it seemed to be a matter of no importance that luther found a bible in a monastery; but as he opened that bible, and the brass-bound lids fell back, they jarred everything, from the vatican to the furthest convent in germany, and the rustling of the wormed leaves was the sound of the wings of the angel of the reformation. it seemed to be a matter of no importance that a woman, whose name has been forgotten, dropped a tract in the way of a very bad man by the name of richard baxter. he picked up the tract and read it, and it was the means of his salvation. in after-days that man wrote a book called "the call to the unconverted," that was the means of bringing a multitude to god, among others philip doddridge. philip doddridge wrote a book called "the rise and progress of religion," which has brought thousands and tens of thousands into the kingdom of god, and among others the great wilberforce. wilberforce wrote a book called "a practical view of christianity," which was the means of bringing a great multitude to christ, among others legh richmond. legh richmond wrote a tract called "the dairyman's daughter," which has been the means of the salvation of unconverted multitudes. and that tide of influence started from the fact that one christian woman dropped a christian tract in the way of richard baxter--the tide of influence rolling on through richard baxter, through philip doddridge, through the great wilberforce, through legh richmond, on, on, on, forever, forever. so the insignificant events of this world seem, after all, to be most momentous. the fact that you came up that street or this street seemed to be of no importance to you, and the fact that you went inside of some church may seem to be a matter of very great insignificance to you, but you will find it the turning-point in your history. v. again, i see in my subject an illustration of the beauty of female industry. behold ruth toiling in the harvest-field under the hot sun, or at noon taking plain bread with the reapers, or eating the parched corn which boaz handed to her. the customs of society, of course, have changed, and without the hardships and exposure to which ruth was subjected, every intelligent woman will find something to do. i know there is a sickly sentimentality on this subject. in some families there are persons of no practical service to the household or community; and though there are so many woes all around about them in the world, they spend their time languishing over a new pattern, or bursting into tears at midnight over the story of some lover who shot himself! they would not deign to look at ruth carrying back the barley on her way home to her mother-in-law, naomi. all this fastidiousness may seem to do very well while they are under the shelter of their father's house; but when the sharp winter of misfortune comes, what of these butterflies? persons under indulgent parentage may get upon themselves habits of indolence; but when they come out into practical life their soul will recoil with disgust and chagrin. they will feel in their hearts what the poet so severely satirized when he said: "folks are so awkward, things so impolite, they're elegantly pained from morning until night." through that gate of indolence how many men and women have marched, useless on earth, to a destroyed eternity! spinola said to sir horace vere: "of what did your brother die?" "of having nothing to do," was the answer. "ah!" said spinola, "that's enough to kill any general of us." oh! can it be possible in this world, where there is so much suffering to be alleviated, so much darkness to be enlightened, and so many burdens to be carried, that there is any person who cannot find anything to do? madame de staël did a world of work in her time; and one day, while she was seated amid instruments of music, all of which she had mastered, and amid manuscript books which she had written, some one said to her: "how do you find time to attend to all these things?" "oh," she replied, "these are not the things i am proud of. my chief boast is in the fact that i have seventeen trades, by any one of which i could make a livelihood if necessary." and if in secular spheres there is so much to be done, in spiritual work how vast the field! how many dying all around about us without one word of comfort! we want more abigails, more hannahs, more rebeccas, more marys, more deborahs consecrated--body, mind, soul--to the lord who bought them. vi. once more i learn from my subject the value of gleaning. ruth going into that harvest-field might have said: "there is a straw, and there is a straw, but what is a straw? i can't get any barley for myself or my mother-in-law out of these separate straws." not so said beautiful ruth. she gathered two straws, and she put them together, and more straws, until she got enough to make a sheaf. putting that down, she went and gathered more straws, until she had another sheaf, and another, and another, and another, and then she brought them all together, and she threshed them out, and she had an ephah of barley, nigh a bushel. oh, that we might all be gleaners! elihu burritt learned many things while toiling in a blacksmith's shop. abercrombie, the world-renowned philosopher, was a philosopher in scotland, and he got his philosophy, or the chief part of it, while, as a physician, he was waiting for the door of the sick-room to open. yet how many there are in this day who say they are so busy they have no time for mental or spiritual improvement; the great duties of life cross the field like strong reapers, and carry off all the hours, and there is only here and there a fragment left, that is not worth gleaning. ah, my friends, you could go into the busiest day and busiest week of your life and find golden opportunities, which, gathered, might at last make a whole sheaf for the lord's garner. it is the stray opportunities and the stray privileges which, taken up and bound together and beaten out, will at last fill you with much joy. there are a few moments left worth the gleaning. now, ruth, to the field! may each one have a measure full and running over! oh, you gleaners, to the field! and if there be in your household an aged one or a sick relative that is not strong enough to come forth and toil in this field, then let ruth take home to feeble naomi this sheaf of gleaning: "he that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." may the lord god of ruth and naomi be our portion forever! the three rings. "put a ring on his hand."--luke xv: . i will not rehearse the familiar story of the fast young man of the parable. you know what a splendid home he left. you know what a hard time he had. and you remember how after that season of vagabondage and prodigality he resolved to go and weep out his sorrows on the bosom of parental forgiveness. well, there is great excitement one day in front of the door of the old farmhouse. the servants come rushing up and say: "what's the matter? what _is_ the matter?" but before they quite arrive, the old man cries out: "put a ring on his hand." what a seeming absurdity! what can such a wretched mendicant as this fellow that is tramping on toward the house want with a ring? oh, he is the prodigal son. no more tending of the swine-trough. no more longing for the pods of the carob-tree. no more blistered feet. off with the rags! on with the robe! out with the ring! even so does god receive every one of us when we come back. there are gold rings, and pearl rings, and carnelian rings, and diamond rings; but the richest ring that ever flashed on the vision is that which our father puts upon a forgiven soul. i know that the impression is abroad among some people that religion bemeans and belittles a man; that it takes all the sparkle out of his soul; that he has to exchange a roistering independence for an ecclesiastical strait-jacket. not so. when a man becomes a christian, he does not go down, he starts upward. religion multiplies one by ten thousand. nay, the multiplier is in infinity. it is not a blotting out--it is a polishing, it is an arborescence, it is an efflorescence, it is an irradiation. when a man comes into the kingdom of god he is not sent into a menial service, but the lord god almighty from the palaces of heaven calls upon the messenger angels that wait upon the throne to fly and "put a ring on his hand." in christ are the largest liberty, and brightest joy, and highest honor, and richest adornment. "put a ring on his hand." i remark, in the first place, that when christ receives a soul into his love, he puts upon him the ring of adoption. eight or ten years ago, in my church in philadelphia, there came the representative of the howard mission of new york. he brought with him eight or ten children of the street that he had picked up, and he was trying to find for them christian homes; and as the little ones stood on the pulpit and sung, our hearts melted within us. at the close of the services a great-hearted wealthy man came up and said: "i'll take this little bright-eyed girl, and i'll adopt her as one of my own children;" and he took her by the hand, lifted her into his carriage, and went away. the next day, while we were in the church gathering up garments for the poor of new york, this little child came back with a bundle under her arm, and she said: "there's my old dress; perhaps some of the poor children would like to have it," while she herself was in bright and beautiful array, and those who more immediately examined her said that she had a ring on her hand. it was a ring of adoption. there are a great many persons who pride themselves on their ancestry, and they glory over the royal blood that pours through their arteries. in their line there was a lord, or a duke, or a prime minister, or a king. but when the lord, our father, puts upon us the ring of his adoption, we become the children of the ruler of all nations. "behold what manner of love the father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of god." it matters not how poor our garments may be in this world, or how scant our bread, or how mean the hut we live in, if we have that ring of christ's adoption upon our hand we are assured of eternal defenses. adopted! why, then, we are brothers and sisters to all the good of earth and heaven. we have the family name, the family dress, the family keys, the family wardrobe. the father looks after us, robes us, defends us, blesses us. we have royal blood in our veins, and there are crowns in our line. if we are his children, then princes and princesses. it is only a question of time when we get our coronet. adopted! then we have the family secrets. "the secret of the lord is with them that fear him." adopted! then we have the family inheritance, and in the day when our father shall divide the riches of heaven we shall take our share of the mansions and palaces and temples. henceforth let us boast no more of an earthly ancestry. the insignia of eternal glory is our coat of arms. this ring of adoption puts upon us all honor and all privilege. now we can take the words of charles wesley, that prince of hymn-makers, and sing: "come, let us join our friends above, who have obtained the prize, and on the eagle wings of love to joy celestial rise. "let all the saints terrestrial sing with those to glory gone; for all the servants of our king, in heaven and earth, are one." i have been told that when any of the members of any of the great secret societies of this country are in a distant city and are in any kind of trouble, and are set upon by enemies, they have only to give a certain signal and the members of that organization will flock around for defense. and when any man belongs to this great christian brotherhood, if he gets in trouble, in trial, in persecution, in temptation, he has only to show this ring of christ's adoption, and all the armed cohorts of heaven will come to his rescue. still further, when christ takes a soul into his love he puts upon it a marriage-ring. now, that is not a whim of mine: "and i will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, i will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies." (hosea ii: .) at the wedding altar the bridegroom puts a ring upon the hand of the bride, signifying love and faithfulness. trouble may come upon the household, and the carpets may go, the pictures may go, the piano may go, everything else may go--the last thing that goes is that marriage-ring, for it is considered sacred. in the burial hour it is withdrawn from the hand and kept in a casket, and sometimes the box is opened on an anniversary day, and as you look at that ring you see under its arch a long procession of precious memories. within the golden circle of that ring there is room for a thousand sweet recollections to revolve, and you think of the great contrast between the hour when, at the close of the "wedding march," under the flashing lights and amid the aroma of orange-blossoms, you set that ring on the round finger of the plump hand, and that other hour when, at the close of the exhaustive watching, when you knew that the soul had fled, you took from the hand, which gave back no responsive clasp, from that emaciated finger, the ring that she had worn so long and worn so well. on some anniversary day you take up that ring, and you repolish it until all the old luster comes back, and you can see in it the flash of eyes that long ago ceased to weep. oh, it is not an unmeaning thing when i tell you that when christ receives a soul into his keeping he puts on it a marriage-ring. he endows you from that moment with all his wealth. you are one--christ and the soul--one in sympathy, one in affection, one in hope. there is no power in earth or hell to effect a divorcement after christ and the soul are united. other kings have turned out their companions when they got weary of them, and sent them adrift from the palace gate. ahasuerus banished vashti; napoleon forsook josephine; but christ is the husband that is true forever. having loved you once, he loves you to the end. did they not try to divorce margaret, the scotch girl, from jesus? they said: "you must give up your religion." she said: "i can't give up my religion." and so they took her down to the beach of the sea, and they drove in a stake at low-water mark, and they fastened her to it, expecting that as the tide came up her faith would fail. the tide began to rise, and came up higher and higher, and to the girdle, and to the lip, and in the last moment, just as the wave was washing her soul into glory, she shouted the praises of jesus. oh, no, you can not separate a soul from christ! it is an everlasting marriage. battle and storm and darkness can not do it. is it too much exultation for a man, who is but dust and ashes like myself, to cry out this morning: "i am persuaded that neither height, nor depth, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature shall separate me from the love of god which is in christ jesus my lord"? glory be to god that when christ and the soul are married they are bound by a chain, a golden chain--if i might say so--a chain with one link, and that one link the golden ring of god's everlasting love. i go a step further, and tell you that when christ receives a soul into his love he puts on him the ring of festivity. you know that it has been the custom in all ages to bestow rings on very happy occasions. there is nothing more appropriate for a birthday gift than a ring. you delight to bestow such a gift upon your children at such a time. it means joy, hilarity, festivity. well, when this old man of the text wanted to tell how glad he was that his boy had got back, he expressed it in this way. actually, before he ordered sandals to be put on his bare feet; before he ordered the fatted calf to be killed to appease the boy's hunger, he commanded: "put a ring on his hand." oh, it is a merry time when christ and the soul are united! joy of forgiveness! what a splendid thing it is to feel that all is right between me and god. what a glorious thing it is to have god just take up all the sins of my life and put them in one bundle, and then fling them into the depths of the sea, never to rise again, never to be talked of again. pollution all gone. darkness all illumined. god reconciled. the prodigal home. "put a ring on his hand." every day i find happy christian people. i find some of them with no second coat, some of them in huts and tenement houses, not one earthly comfort afforded them; and yet they are as happy as happy can be. they sing "rock of ages" as no other people in the world sing it. they never wore any jewelry in their life but one gold ring, and that was the ring of god's undying affection. oh, how happy religion makes us! did it make you gloomy and sad? did you go with your head cast down? i do not think you got religion, my brother. that is not the effect of religion. true religion is a joy. "her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." why, religion lightens all our burdens. it smooths all our way. it interprets all our sorrows. it changes the jar of earthly discord for the peal of festal bells. in front of the flaming furnace of trial it sets the forge on which scepters are hammered out. would you not like to-day to come up from the swine-feeding and try this religion? all the joys of heaven would come out and meet you, and god would cry from the throne: "put a ring on his hand." you are not happy. i see it. there is no peace, and sometimes you laugh when you feel a great deal more like crying. the world is a cheat. it first wears you down with its follies, then it kicks you out into darkness. it comes back from the massacre of a million souls to attempt the destruction of your soul to-day. no peace out of god, but here is the fountain that can slake the thirst. here is the harbor where you can drop safe anchorage. would you not like, i ask you--not perfunctorily, but as one brother might talk to another--would you not like to have a pillow of rest to put your head on? and would you not like, when you retire at night, to feel that all is well, whether you wake up to-morrow morning at six o'clock, or sleep the sleep that knows no waking? would you not like to exchange this awful uncertainty about the future for a glorious assurance of heaven? accept of the lord jesus to-day, and all is well. if on your way home some peril should cross the street and dash your life out, it would not hurt you. you would rise up immediately. you would stand in the celestial streets. you would be amid the great throng that forever worship and are forever happy. if this day some sudden disease should come upon you, it would not frighten you. if you knew you were going you could give a calm farewell to your beautiful home on earth, and know that you are going right into the companionship of those who have already got beyond the toiling and the weeping. you feel on saturday night different from the way you feel any other night of the week. you come home from the bank, or the store, or the shop, and you say: "well, now my week's work is done, and to-morrow is sunday." it is a pleasant thought. there is refreshment and reconstruction in the very idea. oh, how pleasant it will be, if, when we get through the day of our life, and we go and lie down in our bed of dust, we can realize: "well, now the work is all done, and to-morrow is sunday--an everlasting sunday." "oh, when, thou city of my god, shall i thy courts ascend? where congregations ne'er break up, and sabbaths have no end." there are people in this house to-day who are very near the eternal world. if you are christians, i bid you be of good cheer. bear with you our congratulations to the bright city. aged men, who will soon be gone, take with you our love for our kindred in the better land, and when you see them, tell them that we are soon coming. only a few more sermons to preach and hear. only a few more heart-aches. only a few more toils. only a few more tears. and then--what an entrancing spectacle will open before us! "beautiful heaven, where all is light, beautiful angels clothed in white, beautiful strains that never tire, beautiful harps through all the choir; there shall i join the chorus sweet, worshiping at the saviour's feet." i stand before you on this sabbath, the last sabbath preceding the great feast-day in this church. on the next lord's-day the door of communion will be open, and you will all be invited to come in. and so i approach you now with a general invitation, not picking out here and there a man, or here and there a woman, or here and there a child; but giving you an unlimited invitation, saying: "come, for all things are now ready." we invite you to the warm heart of christ, and the inclosure of the christian church. i know a great many think that the church does not amount to much--that it is obsolete; that it did its work and is gone now, so far as all usefulness is concerned. it is the happiest place i have ever been in except my own home. i know there are some people who say they are christians who seem to get along without any help from others, and who culture solitary piety. they do not want any ordinances. i do not belong to that class. i can not get along without them. there are so many things in this world that take my attention from god, and christ, and heaven, that i want all the helps of all the symbols and of all the christian associations; and i want around about me a solid phalanx of men who love god and keep his commandments. are there any here who would like to enter into that association? then by a simple, child-like faith, apply for admission into the visible church, and you will be received. no questions asked about your past history or present surroundings. only one test--do you love jesus? baptism does not amount to anything, say a great many people; but the lord jesus declared, "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," putting baptism and faith side by side. and an apostle declares, "repent and be baptized, every one of you." i do not stickle for any particular mode of baptism, but i put great emphasis on the fact that you ought to be baptized. yet no more emphasis than the lord jesus christ, the great head of the church, puts upon it. the world is going to lose a great many of its votaries next sabbath. we give you warning. there is a great host coming in to stand under the banner of the lord jesus christ. will you be among them? it is going to be a great harvest-day. will you be among the gathered sheaves? some of you have been thinking on this subject year after year. you have found out that this world is a poor portion. you want to be christians. you have come almost into the kingdom of god; but there you stop, forgetful of the fact that to be almost saved is not to be saved at all. oh, my brother, after having come so near to the door of mercy, if you turn back, you will never come at all. after all you have heard of the goodness of god, if you turn away and die, it will not be because you did not have a good offer. "god's spirit will not always strive with hardened, self-destroying man; ye who persist his love to grieve may never hear his voice again." may god almighty this hour move upon your soul and bring you back from the husks of the wilderness to the father's house, and set you at the banquet, and "put a ring on your hand." how he came to say it. "if any man love not the lord jesus christ, let him be anathema maranatha."--i cor. xvi: . the smallest lad in the house knows the meaning of all those words except the last two, anathema maranatha. anathema, to cut off. maranatha, at his coming. so the whole passage might be read: "if any man love not the lord jesus christ, let him be cut off at his coming." well, how could the tender-hearted paul say that? we have seen him with tears discoursing about human want, and flushed with excitement about human sorrow; and now he throws those red-hot iron words into this letter to the corinthians. had he lost his patience? ok, no. had he resigned his confidence in the christian religion? oh, no. had the world treated him so badly that he had become its sworn enemy? oh, no. it needs some explanation, i confess, and i shall proceed to show by what process paul came to the vehement utterance of my text. before i close, if god shall give his spirit, you shall cease to be surprised at the exclamation of the apostle, and you yourselves will employ the same emphasis, declaring, "if any man love not the lord jesus christ, let him be anathema maranatha." if the photographic art had been discovered early enough, we should have had the facial proportions of christ--the front face, the side face, jesus sitting, jesus standing--provided he had submitted to that art; but since the sun did not become a portrait painter until eighteen centuries after christ, our idea about the saviour's personal appearance is all guess work. still, tradition tells us that he was the most infinitely beautiful being that ever walked our small earth. if his features had been rugged, and his gait had been ungainly, that would not have hindered him from being attractive. many men you have known and loved have had few charms of physiognomy. wilberforce was not attractive in face. socrates was repulsive. suwarrow, the great russian hero, looked almost an imbecile. and some whom you have known, and honored, and loved, have not had very great attractiveness of personal appearance. the shape of the mouth, and the nose, and the eyebrow, did not hinder the soul from shining through the cuticle of the face in all-powerful irradiation. but to a lovely exterior christ joined all loveliness of disposition. run through the galleries of heaven, and find out that he is _a non-such_. the sunshine of his love mingling with the shadows of his sorrows, crossed by the crystalline stream of his tears and the crimson flowing forth of his blood, make a picture worthy of being called the masterpiece of the eternities. hung on the wall of heaven, the celestial population would be enchanted but for the fact that they have the grand and magnificent original, and they want no picture. but christ having gone away from earth, we are dependent upon four indistinct pictures. matthew took one, mark another, luke another, and john another. i care not which picture you take, it is lovely. lovely? he was altogether lovely. he had a way of taking up a dropsical limb without hurting it, and of removing the cataract from the eye without the knife, and of starting the circulation through the shrunken arteries without the shock of the electric battery, and of putting intelligence into the dull stare of lunacy, and of restringing the auditory nerve of the deaf ear, and of striking articulation into the stiff tongue, and of making the stark-naked madman dress himself and exchange tombstone for ottoman, and of unlocking from the skeleton grip of death the daughter of jairus to embosom her in her glad father's arms. oh, he was lovely--sitting, standing, kneeling, lying down--always lovely. lovely in his sacrifice. why, he gave up everything for us. home, celestial companionship, music of seraphic harps, balmy breath of eternal summer, all joy, all light, all music, and heard the gates slam shut behind him as he came out to fight for our freedom, and with bare feet plunged on the sharp javelins of human and satanic hate, until his blood spurted into the faces of those who slew him. you want the soft, low, minor key of sweetest music to describe the pathos; but it needs an orchestra, under swinging of an archangel's baton, reaching from throne to manger, to drum and trumpet the doxologies of his praise. he took everybody's trouble--the leper's sickness, the widow's dead boy, the harlot's shame, the galilean fisherman's poor luck, the invalidism of simon's mother-in-law, the sting of malchus' amputated ear. some people cry very easily, and for some it is very difficult to cry. a great many tears on some cheeks do not mean so much as one tear on another cheek. what is it that i see glittering in the mild eye of jesus? it was all the sorrows of earth, and the woes of hell, from which he had plucked our souls, accreted into one transparent drop, lingering on the lower eyelash until it fell on a cheek red with the slap of human hands--just one salt, bitter, burning tear of jesus. no wonder the rock, the sky, and the cemetery were in consternation when he died! no wonder the universe was convulsed! it was the lord god almighty bursting into tears. now, suppose that, notwithstanding all this, a man can not have any affection for him. what ought to be done with such hard behavior? it seems to me that there ought to be some chastisement for a man who will not love such a christ. does it not make your blood tingle to think of jesus coming over the tens of thousands of miles that seem to separate god from us, and then to see a man jostle him out, and push him back, and shut the door in his face, and trample upon his entreaties? while you may not be able to rise up to the towering excitement of the apostle in my text, you can at any rate somewhat understand his feelings when he cried out: "after all this, 'if a man love not the lord jesus christ, let him be anathema maranatha.'" just look at the injustice of not loving him. now, there is nothing that excites a man like injustice. you go along the street, and you see your little child buffeted, or a ruffian comes and takes a boy's hat and throws it into the ditch. you say: "what great meanness, what injustice that is!" you can not stand injustice. i remember, in my boyhood days, attending a large meeting in tripler hall, new york. thousands of people were huzzaing, and the same kind of audiences were assembled at the same time in boston, edinburgh, and london. why? because the madaii family, in italy, had been robbed of their bible. "a little thing," you say. ah, that injustice was enough to arouse the indignation of a world. but while we are so sensitive about injustice as between man and man, how little sensitive we are about injustice between man and god. if there ever was a fair and square purchase of anything, then christ purchased us. he paid for us, not in shekels, not in ancient coins inscribed with effigies of hercules, or Ã�gina's tortoise, or lyre of mitylene, but in two kinds of coin--one red, the other glittering--blood and tears! if anything is purchased and paid for, ought not the goods to be delivered? if you have bought property and given the money, do you not want to come into possession of it? "yes," you say, "i will have it. i bought and paid for it." and you will go to law for it, and you will denounce the man as a defrauder. ay, if need be, you will hurl him into jail. you will say: "i am bound to get that property. i bought it. i paid for it!" now, transpose the case. suppose jesus christ to be the wronged purchaser on the one side, and the impenitent soul on the other, trying to defraud him of that which he bought at such an exorbitant price, how do you feel about that injustice? how do you feel toward that spiritual fraud, turpitude and perfidy? a man with an ardent temperament rises and he says that such injustice as between man and man is bad enough, but between man and god it is reprehensible and intolerable, and he brings his fist down on the pew, and he says: "i can stand this injustice no longer. after all this purchase, 'if any man love not the lord jesus christ, let him be anathema maranatha'!" i go still further, and show you how suicidal it is for a man not to love christ. if a man gets in trouble, and he can not get out, we have only one feeling toward him--sympathy and a desire to help him. if he has failed for a vast amount of money, and can not pay more than ten cents on a dollar--ay, if he can not pay anything--though his creditors may come after him like a pack of hounds, we sympathize with him. we go to his store, or house, and we express our condolence. but suppose the day before that man failed, william e. dodge had come into his store and said: "my friend, i hear you are in trouble. i have come to help you. if ten thousand dollars will see you through your perplexity, i have a loan of that amount for you. here is a check for the amount of that loan." suppose the man said: "with that ten thousand dollars i could get through until next spring, and then everything will be all right; but, mr. dodge, i don't want it; i won't take it; i would rather fail than take it; i don't even thank you for offering it." your sympathy for that man would cease immediately. you would say: "he had a fair offer; he might have got out; he wants to fail; he refuses all help; now let him fail." there is no one in all this house who would have any sympathy for that man. but do not let us be too hasty. christ hears of our spiritual embarrassments, he finds that we are on the very verge of eternal defalcation. he finds the law knocking at our door with this dun: "pay me what thou owest." we do not know which way to turn. pay? we can not pay a farthing of all the millions of obligation. well, christ comes in and says: "here is my name; you can use my name. your name would be worthless, but my red handwriting on the back of this obligation will get you through anywhere." now suppose the soul says: "i know i am in debt; i can't meet these obligations either in time or eternity; but, oh, christ, i want not thy help; i ask not thy rescue. go away from me." you would say: "that man, why, he deserves to die. he had the offer of help; he would not take it. he is a free agent; he ought to have what he wants; he chooses death rather than life. ought you not give him freedom of choice?" though awhile ago there was only one ardent man who understood the apostle, now there are hundreds in the house who can say, and do say within themselves: "after all this ingratitude, and rejection, and obstinacy, 'if any man love not the lord jesus christ, let him be anathema maranatha.'" i go a step further, and say it is most cruel for a man not to love jesus. the meanest thing i could do for you would be needlessly to hurt your feelings. sharp words sometimes cut like a dagger. an unkind look will sometimes rive like the lightning. an unkind deed may overmaster a sensitive spirit, and if you have made up your mind that you have done wrong to any one, it does not take you two minutes to make up your mind to go and apologize. now, christ is a bundle of delicacy and sensitiveness. how you have shocked his nerves! how you have broken his heart! did you, my brother, ever measure the meaning of that one passage: "behold, i stand at the door and knock"? it never came to me as it did this morning while i was thinking on this subject. "behold, i stand at the door and knock." some january day, the thermometer five degrees below zero, the wind and sleet beating mercilessly against you, you go up the steps of a house where you have a very important errand. you knock with one knuckle. no answer. you are very earnest, and you are freezing. the next time you knock harder. after awhile with your fist you beat against the door. you must get in, but the inmate is careless or stubborn, and he does not want you in. your errand is a failure. you go away. the lord jesus christ comes up on the steps of your heart, and with very sore hand he knocks hard at the door of your soul. he is standing in the cold blasts of human suffering. he knocks. he says: "let me in. i have come a great way. i have come all the way from nazareth, from bethlehem, from golgotha. let me in. i am shivering and blue with the cold. let me in. my feet are bare but for their covering of blood. my head is uncovered but for a turban of brambles. by all these wounds of foot, and head, and heart, i beg you to let me in. oh, i have been here a great while, and the night is getting darker. i am faint with hunger. i am dying to get in. oh, lift the latch--shove back the bolt! won't you let me in? won't you? 'behold, i stand at the door and knock!'" but after awhile, my brother, the scene will change. it will be another door, but christ will be on the other side of it. he will be on the inside, and the rejected sinner will be on the outside, and the sinner will come up and knock at the door, and say: "let me in, let me in. i have come a great way. i came all the way from earth. i am sick and dying. let me in. the merciless storm beats my unsheltered head. the wolves of a great night are on my track. let me in. with both fists i beat against this door. oh, let me in. oh, christ, let me in. oh, holy ghost, let me in. oh, god, let me in. oh, my glorified kindred, let me in." no answer save the voice of christ, who shall say: "sinner, when i stood at your door you would not let me in, and now you are standing at my door, and i can not let you in. the day of your grace is past. officer of the law, seize him." and while the arrest is going on, all the myriads of heaven rise on gallery and throne, and cry with loud voice, that makes the eternal city quake from capstone to foundation, saying: "if any man love not the lord jesus christ, let him be anathema maranatha." sabbath audience in the brooklyn tabernacle, and all to whom these words shall come on both sides the sea, notice here the tremendous alternative: it is not whether you live in pierrepont street or carlton avenue, walk trafalgar square or the "canongate;" nor whether your dress shall be black or brown; nor whether you shall be robust or an invalid; nor whether you shall live on the banks of the hudson, the shannon, the seine, the thames, the tiber; but it is a question whether you will love christ or suffer banishment; whether you will give yourselves to him who owns you or fall under the millstone; whether you will rise to glories that have no terminus or plunge to a depth which has no bottom. i do not see how you can take the ten-thousandth part of a second to decide it, when there are two worlds fastened at opposite ends of a swivel, and the swivel turns on one point, and that point is now, now. is it not fair that you love him? is it not right that you love him? is it not imperative that you love him? what is it that keeps you from rushing up and throwing the arms of your affection about his neck? my text pronounces anathema maranatha upon all those who refuse to love christ. anathema--cut off. cut off from light, from hope, from peace, from heaven. oh, sharp, keen, sword-like words! cut off! everlastingly cut off! behold, therefore, the goodness and severity of god: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. maranatha--that is the other word. "when he comes" is the meaning of it. will he come? i see no signs of it. i looked into the sky as i rode down to church. i saw no signs of the coming. no signal of god's appearance. the earth stands solid on its foundation. no cry of welcome or of woe. will he come! he will. maranatha! hear it ye mountains, and prepare to fall. ye cities, and prepare to burn. ye righteous, and prepare to reign. ye wicked, and prepare to die. maranatha! maranatha! but, oh, my brother, i am not so aroused by that coming as i am by a previous coming, and that is the coming of our death hour, which will fix everything for us. i can not help now, while preaching, asking myself the question--am i ready for that? if i am ready for the first i will be ready for the next. are you ready for the emergency? shall i tell you when your death hour will come? "oh, no," says some one, "i don't want to know. i would rather not know." some one says: "i would rather know, if you can tell me." i will tell you. it will be at the most unexpected moment, when you are most busy, and when you think you can be least spared. i can not exactly say whether it will be in the noon, or at the sundown when people are coming home, or in the morning when the world is waking up, or while the clock is striking twelve at night. but i tell you what i think, that with some of you it will be before next saturday night. a minister of the gospel said to an audience: "before next sabbath some of you will be gone." and a man said during the week: "i shall watch now, and if no one dies in our congregation during this week i shall go and tell the minister his falsehood." a man standing next to him said: "why, it may be yourself." "oh, no," he replied; "i shall live on to be an old man." that night he breathed his last. standing before some who shall be launched into the great eternity, what are your equipments? about to jump, where will you land? oh, the subject is overwhelming to me; and when i say these things to you, i say them to myself. "lord, is it i? is it i?" some of us part to-night never to meet again. if never before, i now here commit my soul into the keeping of the lord jesus christ. i throw my sinful heart upon his infinite mercy. but some of you will not do that. you will go over to the store to-morrow, and your comrades will say: "where were you yesterday?" you will say: "i heard talmage preach, and i don't believe what he preaches." and you will go on and die in your sins. feeling that you are bound unto death eternal i solemnly take leave of you. be careful of your health, for when your respiration gives out all your good times will have ended. be careful in walking near a scaffold, for one falling brick or stone might usher you into the great eternity for which you have no preparation. a few months, or weeks, or days, or hours will pass on, and then you will see the last light, and hear the last music, and have the last pleasant emotion, and a destroyed eternity will rush upon you. farewell, oh, doomed spirit! as you shove off from hope, i wave you this last salutation. oh, it is hard to part forever and forever! i bid you one long, last, bitter, eternal adieu! castle jesus. "who have fled for refuge."--heb. vi: . paul is here speaking of the consolations of christians. he styles them these "who have fled for refuge." moses established six cities of refuge--three on the east side of the river jordan, and three on the west. when a man had killed any one accidentally he fled to one of these cities. the roads leading to them were kept perfectly good, so that when a man started for the refuge nothing might impede him. along the cross-roads, and wherever there might be any mistake about the way, there were signs put up pointing in the right way, with the word "refuge." having gained the limits of one of these cities the man was safe, and the mothers of the priests provided for him. some of us have seen our peril, and have fled to christ, and feel that we shall never be captured. we are among those "who have fled for refuge." christ is represented in the bible as a tower, a high rock, a fortress, and a shelter. if you have seen any of the ancient castles of europe, you know that they are surrounded by trenches, across which there is a draw-bridge. if an enemy approach, the people, for defense, would get into the castle, have the trenches filled with water, and lift up the draw-bridge. whether to a city of safety, or a tower, paul refers, i know not, and care not, for in any case he means christ, the safety of the soul. but why talk of refuge? who needs it, if the refuge spoken of be a city or a castle, into which men fly for safety? it is all sunlight here. no sound of war in our streets. we do not hear the rush of armed men against the doors of our dwellings. we do not come with weapons to church. our lives are not at the mercy of an assassin. why, then, talk of refuge? alas! i stand before a company of imperiled men. no flock of sheep was ever so threatened or endangered of a pack of wolves; no ship was ever so beaten of a storm; no company of men were ever so environed of a band of savages. a refuge you must have, or fall before an all-devouring destruction. there are not so many serpents in africa; there are not so many hyenas in asia; there are not so many panthers in the forest, as there are transgressions attacking my soul. i will take the best unregenerated man anywhere, and say to him, you are utterly corrupt. if all the sins of your past life were marshaled in single file, they would reach from here to hell. if you have escaped all other sins, the fact that you have rejected the mission of the son of god is enough to condemn you forever, pushing you off into bottomless darkness, struck by ten thousand hissing thunder-bolts of omnipotent wrath. you are a sinner. the bible says it, and your conscience affirms it. not a small sinner, or a moderate sinner, or a tolerable sinner, but a great sinner, a protracted sinner, a vile sinner, an outrageous sinner, a condemned sinner. as god, with his all-scrutinizing gaze, looks upon you to-day, he can not find one sound spot in your soul. sin has put scales on your eyes, and deadened your ear with an awful deafness, and palsied your right arm, and stunned your sensibilities, and blasted you with an infinite blasting. the bible, which you admit to be true, affirms that you are diseased from the crown of your head to the sole of your foot. you are unclean; you are a leper. believe not me, but believe god's word, that over and over again announces, in language that a fool might understand, the total and complete depravity of the unchanged heart: "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." in addition to the sins of your life there are uncounted troubles in pursuit of you. bereavements, losses, disappointments are a flock of vultures ever on the wing. did you get your house built, and furnished, and made comfortable any sooner than misfortune came in without knocking, and sat beside you--a skeleton apparition? have not pains shot their poisoned arrows, and fevers kindled their fire in your brain? many of you, for years, have walked on burning marl. you stepped out of one disaster into another. you may, like job, have cursed the day in which you were born. this world boils over with trouble for you, and you are wondering where the next grave will gape, and where the next storm will burst. oh, ye pursued, sinning, dying, troubled, exhausted souls, are you not ready now to hear me while i tell you of christ, the refuge? a soldier, during the war, heard of the sickness of his wife and asked for a furlough. it was denied him, and he ran away. he was caught, brought back, and sentenced to be shot as a deserter. the officer took from his pocket a document that announced his death on the following morning. as the document was read, the man flinched not and showed no sorrow or anxiety. but the officer then took from his pocket another document that contained the prisoner's pardon. then he broke down with deep emotion at the thought of the leniency that had been extended. though you may not appear moved while i tell you of the law that thundered its condemnation, while i tell you of the pardon and the peace of the gospel i wonder if they will not overcome you. jesus is a safe refuge. fort hudson, fort pulaski, fort moultrie, fort sumter, gibraltar, sebastopol were taken. but jesus is a castle into which the righteous runneth and is safe. no battering-ram can demolish its wall. no sappers or miners can explode its ramparts, no storm-bolt of perdition leap upon its towers. the weapons that guard this fort are omnipotent. hell shall unlimber its great guns as death only to have them dismantled. in christ our sins are pardoned, discomforted, blotted out, forgiven. an ocean can not so easily drown a fly as the ocean of god's forgiveness swallow up, utterly and forever, our transgressions. he is able to save unto the uttermost. you who have been so often overcome in a hand-to-hand fight with the world, the flesh, and devil, try this fortress. once here, you are safe forever. satan may charge up the steep, and shout amid the uproar of the fight, forward, to his battalions of darkness; but you will stand in the might of the great god, your redeemer, safe in the refuge. the troubles of life, that once overwhelmed you, may come on with their long wagon-trains laden with care and worryment; and you may hear in their tramp the bereavements that once broke your heart; but christ is your friend, christ your sympathizer, christ your reward. safe in the refuge! death at last may lay the siege to your spirit, and the shadows of the sepulcher may shake their horrors in the breeze, and the hoarse howl of the night wind may be mingled with the cry of despair, yet you will shout in triumph from the ramparts, and the pale horse shall be hurled back on his haunches. safe in the refuge! to this castle i fly. this last fire shall but illumine its towers; and the rolling thunders of the judgment will be the salvo of its victory. just after queen victoria had been crowned--she being only nineteen or twenty years of age--wellington handed her a death-warrant for her signature. it was to take the life of a soldier in the army. she said to wellington: "can there nothing good be said of this man?" he said: "no; he is a bad soldier, and deserves to die." she took up the death-warrant, and it trembled in her hand as she again asked: "does no one know anything good of this man?" wellington said: "i have heard that at his trial a man said that he had been a good son to his old mother." "then let his life be spared," said the queen, and she ordered his sentence commuted. christ is on a throne of grace. our case is brought before him. the question is asked: "is there any good about this man?" the law says: "none." justice says: "none." our own conscience says: "none." nevertheless, christ hands over our pardon, and asks us to take it. oh, the height and depth, the length and breadth of his mercy! again, christ is a near refuge. when we are attacked, what advantage is there in having a fortress on the other side of the mountain? many an army has had an intrenchment, but could not get to it before the battle opened. blessed be god, it is no long march to our castle. we may get off, with all our troops, from the worst earthly defeat in this stronghold. in a moment we may step from the battle into the tower. i sing of a saviour near. during the late war the forts of the north were named after the northern generals, and the forts of the south were named after the southern generals. this fortress of our soul i shall call castle jesus. i have seen men pursued of sins that chased them with feet of lightning, and yet with one glad leap they bounded into the tower. i have seen troubles, with more than the speed and terror of a cavalry troop, dash after a retreating soul, yet were hurled back in defeat from the bulwarks. jesus near! a child's cry, a prisoner's prayer, a sailor's death-shriek, a pauper's moan reaches him. no pilgrimages on spikes. no journeying with a huge pack on your back. no kneeling in penance in cold vestibule of mercy. but an open door! a compassionate saviour! a present salvation! a near refuge! castle jesus! oh, why do you not put out your arm and reach it? why do you not fly to it? why be riddled, and shelled, and consumed under the rattling bombardment of perdition, when one moment's faith would plant you in the glorious refuge? i preach a jesus here; a jesus now; a fountain close to your feet; a fiery pillar right over your head; bread already broken for your hunger; a crown already gleaming for your brow. hark to the castle gates rattling back for your entrance! hear you not the welcome of those who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us? again, it is a universal refuge. a fortress is seldom large enough to hold a whole army. i look out upon fourteen hundred millions of the race; and then i look at this fortress, and i say that there is room enough for all. if it had been possible, this salvation would have been monopolized. men would have said: "let us have all this to ourselves--no publicans, no plebeians, no lazzaroni, no converted pickpockets. we will ride toward heaven on fierce chargers, our feet in golden stirrups. grace for lords, and dukes, and duchesses, and counts. let napoleon and his marshals come in, but not the common soldier that fought under him. let the girards and the barings come in, but not the stevedores that unloaded their cargoes, or the men who kept their books." heaven would have been a glorified windsor castle, or tuileries, or vatican; and exclusive aristocrats would have strutted through the golden streets to all eternity. thank god, there is mercy for the poor! the great doctor john mason preached over a hundred times the same sermon; and the text was: "to the poor the gospel is preached." lazarus went up, while dives went down; and there are candidates for imperial splendors in the back alley, and by the peat-fire of the irish shanty. king jesus set up his throne in a manger, and made a resurrection day for the poor widow of nain, and sprung the gate of heaven wide open, so that all the beggars, and thieves, and scoundrels of the universe may come in if they will only repent. i can snatch the knife from the murderer's hand while it is yet dripping with the blood of his victim, and tell him of the grace that is sufficient to pardon his soul. do you say that i swing open the gate of heaven too far? i swing it open no wider than christ, when he says: "whosoever will, let him come." don't you want to go in with such a rabble? then you can stay out. the whole world will yet come into this refuge. the windows of heaven will be opened; god's trumpet of salvation will sound, and china will come from its tea-fields and rice-harvests, and lift itself up into the light. india will come forth, the chariots of salvation jostling to pieces her juggernauts. freezing greenland, and sweltering abyssinia, will, side by side, press into the kingdom; and transformed bornesian cannibal preach of the resurrection of the missionary he has slain. the glory of calvary will tinge the tip of the pyrenees; and lebanon cedars shall clap their hands; and by one swing of the sickle christ shall harvest nations for the skies. i sing a world redeemed. in the rush of the winds that set the forest in motion, like giants wrestling on the hills, i see the tossing up of the triumphal branches that shall wave all along the line of our king as he comes to take empire. in the stormy diapason of the ocean's organ, and the more gentle strains that in the calm come sounding up from the crystal and jasper keys at the beach, i hear the prophecy: "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of god as the waters fill the sea." the gospel morning will come like the natural morning. at first it seems only like another hue of the night. then a pallor strikes through the sky, as though a company of ministering spirits, pale with tedious watching through the night, had turned in their flight upward to look back upon the earth. then a faint glow of fire, as though on a barren beach a wrecked mariner was kindling a flickering flame. then chariots and horses of fire racing up and down the heavens; then perfect day: "who is she that cometh forth as the morning?" come in, black hottentot and snow-white caucasian, come in, mitered official and diseased beggar; let all the world come in. room in castle jesus! sound it through all lands; sound it by all tongues. let sermons preach it, and bells chime it, and pencils sketch it, and processions celebrate it, and bells ring it: room in castle jesus! again, christ is the only refuge. if you were very sick, and there was only one medicine that would cure you, how anxious you would be to get that medicine. if you were in a storm at sea, and you found that the ship could not weather it, and there was only one harbor, how anxious you would be to get into that harbor. oh, sin-sick soul, christ is the only medicine; oh, storm-tossed soul, christ is the only harbor. need i tell a cultured audience like this that there is no other name given among men by which ye can be saved? that if you want the handcuffs knocked from your wrists, and the hopples from your feet, and the icy bands from your heart, there is just one almighty arm in all the universe to do everything? there are other fortresses to which you might fly, and other ramparts behind which you might hide, but god will cut to pieces, with the hail of his vengeance, all these refuges of lies. some of you are foundering in terrible euroclydon. hark to the howling of the gale, and the splintering of the spars, and the starting of the timbers, and the breaking of the billow, clear across the hurricane deck. down she goes! into the life-boat! quick! one boat! one shore! one oarsman! one salvation! you are polluted; there is but one well at which you can wash clean. you are enslaved; there is but one proclamation that can emancipate. you are blind; there is but one salve that can kindle your vision. you are dead; there is but one trumpet that can burst the grave. i have seen men come near the refuge but not make entrance. they came up, and fronted the gate, and looked in, but passed on, and passed down; and they will curse their folly through all eternity, that they despised the only refuge. oh! forget everything else i have said, if you will but remember that there is but one atonement, one sacrifice, one justification, one faith, one hope, one jesus, one refuge. there is that old christian. many a scar on his face tells where trouble lacerated him. he has fought with wild beasts at ephesus. he has had enough misfortune to shadow his countenance with perpetual despair. yet he is full of hope. has he found any new elixir? "no," he says; "i have found jesus the refuge." christ is our only defense at the last. john holland, in his concluding moment, swept his hand over the bible, and said: "come, let us gather a few flowers from this garden." as it was even-time he said to his wife: "have you lighted the candles?" "no," she said; "we have not lighted the candles." "then," said he, "it must be the brightness of the face of jesus that i see." ask that dying christian woman the source of her comfort. why that supernatural glow on the curtains of the death-chamber; and the tossing out of one hand, as if to wave the triumph, and the reaching up of the other, as if to take a crown? hosanna on the tongue. glory beaming from the forehead. heaven in the eyes. spirit departing. wings to bear it. anthems to charm it. open the gates to receive it. hallelujah! speak, dying christian--what light do you see? what sounds do you hear? the thin lips part. the pale hand is lifted. she says: "jesus the refuge!" let all in the death-chamber stop weeping now. celebrate the triumph. take up a song. clap your hands. shout it. hallelujah! hallelujah! but this refuge will be of no worth to you unless you lay hold of it. the time will come when you will wish that you had done so. it will come soon. at an unexpected moment it will come. the castle bridge will be drawn up and the fortress closed. when you see this discomfiture, and look back, and look up at the storm gathering, and the billowy darkness of death has rolled upon the sheeted flash of the storm, you will discover the utter desolation of those who are outside of the refuge. what you propose to do in this matter you had better do right away. a mistake this morning may never be corrected. jesus, the great captain of salvation, puts forth his wounded hand to-day to cheer you on the race to heaven. if you despise it, the ghastliest vision that will haunt the eternal darkness of your soul will be the gaping, bleeding wounds of the dying redeemer. jesus is to be crucified to-day. think not of it as a day that is past. he comes before you to-day weary and worn. here is the cross, and here is the victim. but there are no nails, and there are no thorns, and there are no hammers. who will furnish these? a man out yonder says: "i will furnish with my sins the nails!" now we have the cross, and the victim, and the nails. but we have no thorns. who will furnish the thorns? a man in the audience says: "with my sins i will furnish the thorns!" now we have the cross, the victim, the nails, and the thorns. but we have no hammers. who will furnish the hammers? a voice in the audience says: "my hard heart shall be the hammer!" everything is ready now. the crucifixion goes out! see jesus dying! "behold the lamb of god, that taketh away the sins of the world." stripping the slain. "and it came to pass on the morrow, when the philistines came to strip the slain, that they found saul and his three sons fallen in mount gilboa."--i. sam. xxxi: . some of you were at south mountain, or shiloh, or ball's bluff, or gettysburg, and i ask you if there is any sadder sight than a battle-field after the guns have stopped firing? i walked across the field of antietam just after the conflict. the scene was so sickening i shall not describe it. every valuable thing had been taken from the bodies of the dead, for there are always vultures hovering over and around about an army, and they pick up the watches, and the memorandum books, and the letters, and the daguerreotypes, and the hats, and the coats, applying them to their own uses. the dead make no resistance. so there are always camp followers going on and after an army, as when scott went down into mexico, as when napoleon marched up toward moscow, as when von moltke went to sedan. there is a similar scene in my text. saul and his army had been horribly cut to pieces. mount gilboa was ghastly with the dead. on the morrow the stragglers came on to the field, and they lifted the latchet of the helmet from under the chin of the dead, and they picked up the swords and bent them on their knee to test the temper of the metal, and they opened the wallets and counted the coin. saul lay dead along the ground, eight or nine feet in length, and i suppose the cowardly philistines, to show their bravery, leaped upon the trunk of his carcass, and jeered at the fallen slain, and whistled through the mouth of the helmet. before night those cormorants had taken everything valuable from the field: "and it came to pass on the morrow, when the philistines came to strip the slain, that they found saul and his three sons fallen in mount gilboa." before i get through to-day i will show you that the same process is going on all the world over, and every day, and that when men have fallen, satan and the world, so far from pitying them or helping them, go to work remorselessly to take what little is left, thus stripping the slain. there are tens of thousands of young men every year coming from the country to our great cities. they come with brave hearts and grand expectations. they think they will be rufus choates in the law, or drapers in chemistry, or a.t. stewarts in merchandise. the country lads sit down in the village grocery, with their feet on the iron rod around the red-hot stove, in the evening, talking over the prospects of the young man who has gone off to the city. two or three of them think that perhaps he may get along very well and succeed, but the most of them prophesy failure; for it is very hard to think that those whom we knew in boyhood will ever make any stir in the world. but our young man has a fine position in a dry-goods store. the month is over. he gets his wages. he is not accustomed to have so much money belonging to himself. he is a little excited, and does not know exactly what to do with it, and he spends it in some places where he ought not. soon there come up new companions and acquaintances from the bar-rooms and the saloons of the city. soon that young man begins to waver in the battle of temptation, and soon his soul goes down. in a few months, or few years, he has fallen. he is morally dead. he is a mere corpse of what he once was. the harpies of sin snuff up the taint and come on the field. his garments gradually give out. he has pawned his watch. his health is failing him. his credit perishes. he is too poor to stay in the city, and he is too poor to pay his way home to the country. down! down! why do the low fellows of the city now stick to him so closely? is it to help him back to a moral and spiritual life? oh, no! i will tell you why they stay; they are the philistines stripping the slain. do not look where i point, but yonder stands a man who once had a beautiful home in this city. his house had elegant furniture, his children were beautifully clad, his name was synonymous with honor and usefulness; but evil habit knocked at his front door, knocked at his back door, knocked at his parlor door, knocked at his bedroom door. where is the piano? sold to pay the rent. where is the hat-rack? sold to meet the butcher's bill. where are the carpets? sold to get bread. where is the wardrobe? sold to get rum. where are the daughters? working their fingers off in trying to keep the family together. worse and worse, until everything is gone. who is that going up the front steps of that house? that is a creditor, hoping to find some chair or bed that has not been levied upon. who are those two gentlemen now going up the front steps? the one is a constable, the other is the sheriff. why do they go there? the unfortunate is morally dead, socially dead, financially dead. why do they go there? i will tell you why the creditors, and the constables, and the sheriffs go there. they are, some on their own account, and some on account of the law, stripping the slain. an ex-member of congress, one of the most eloquent men that ever stood in the house of representatives, said in his last moments: "this is the end. i am dying--dying on a borrowed bed, covered by a borrowed sheet, in a house built by public charity. bury me under that tree in the middle of the field, where i shall not be crowded, for i have been crowded all my life." where were the jolly politicians and the dissipating comrades who had been with him, laughing at his jokes, applauding his eloquence, and plunging him into sin? they have left. why? his money is gone, his reputation is gone, his wit is gone, his clothes are gone, everything is gone. why should they stay any longer? they have completed their work. they have stripped the slain. there is another way, however, of doing that same work. here is a man who, through his sin, is prostrate. he acknowledges that he has done wrong. now is the time for you to go to that man and say: "thousands of people have been as far astray as you are, and got back." now is the time for you to go to that man and tell him of the omnipotent grace of god, that is sufficient for any poor soul. now is the time to go to tell him how swearing john bunyan, through the grace of god, afterward came to the celestial city. now is the time to go to that man and tell him how profligate newton came, through conversion, to be a world-renowned preacher of righteousness. now is the time to tell that man that multitudes who have been pounded with all the flails of sin and dragged through all the sewers of pollution at last have risen to positive dominion of moral power. you do not tell him that, do you? no. you say to him: "loan you money? no. you are down. you will have to go to the dogs. lend you a shilling? i would not lend you five cents to keep you from the gallows. you are debauched! get out of my sight, now! down; you will have to stay down!" and thus those bruised and battered men are sometimes accosted by those who ought to lift them up. thus the last vestige of hope is taken from them. thus those who ought to go and lift and save them are guilty of stripping the slain. the point i want to make is this: sin is hard, cruel, and merciless. instead of helping a man up it helps him down; and when, like saul and his comrades, you lie on the field, it will come and steal your sword and helmet and shield, leaving you to the jackal and the crow. but the world and satan do not do all their work with the outcast and abandoned. a respectable, impenitent man comes to die. he is flat on his back. he could not get up if the house were on fire. adroitest medical skill and gentlest nursing have been a failure. he has come to his last hour. what does satan do for such a man? why, he fetches up all the inapt, disagreeable, and harrowing things in his life. he says: "do you remember those chances you had for heaven, and missed them? do you remember all those lapses in conduct? do you remember all those opprobrious words and thoughts and actions? don't remember them, eh? i'll make you remember them." and then he takes all the past and empties it on that death-bed, as the mail-bags are emptied on the post-office floor. the man is sick. he can not get away from them. then the man says to satan: "you have deceived me. you told me that all would be well. you said there would be no trouble at the last. you told me if i did so and so, you would do so and so. now you corner me, and hedge me up, and submerge me in everything evil." "ha! ha!" says satan, "i was only fooling you. it is mirth for me to see you suffer. i have been for thirty years plotting to get you just where you are. it is hard for you now--it will be worse for you after awhile. it pleases me. lie still, sir. don't flinch or shudder. come now, i will tear off from you the last rag of expectation. i will rend away from your soul the last hope. i will leave you bare for the beating of the storm. it is my business to strip the slain." while men are in robust health, and their digestion is good, and their nerves are strong, they think their physical strength will get them safely through the last exigency. they say it is only cowardly women who are afraid at the last, and cry out for god. "wait till i come to die. i will show you. you won't hear me pray, nor call for a minister, nor want a chapter read me from the bible." but after the man has been three weeks in a sick-room his nerves are not so steady, and his worldly companions are not anywhere near to cheer him up, and he is persuaded that he must quit life: his physical courage is all gone. he jumps at the fall of a teaspoon in a saucer. he shivers at the idea of going away. he says: "wife, i don't think my infidelity is going to take me through. for god's sake don't bring up the children to do as i have done. if you feel like it, i wish you would read a verse or two out of fannie's sabbath-school hymn-book or new testament." but satan breaks in, and says: "you have always thought religion trash and a lie; don't give up at the last. besides that, you can not, in the hour you have to live, get off on that track. die as you lived. with my great black wings i shut out that light. die in darkness. i rend away from you that last vestige of hope. it is my business to strip the slain." a man who had rejected christianity and thought it all trash, came to die. he was in the sweat of a great agony, and his wife said: "we had better have some prayer." "mary, not a breath of that," he said. "the lightest word of prayer would roll back on me like rocks on a drowning man. i have come to the hour of test. i had a chance, and i forfeited it. i believed in a liar, and he has left me in the lurch. mary, bring me tom paine, that book that i swore by and lived by, and pitch it in the fire, and let it burn and burn as i myself shall soon burn." and then, with the foam on his lip and his hands tossing wildly in the air, he cried out: "blackness of darkness! oh, my god, too late!" and the spirits of darkness whistled up from the depth, and wheeled around and around him, stripping the slain. sin is a luxury now; it is exhilaration now; it is victory now. but after awhile it is collision; it is defeat; it is extermination; it is jackalism; it is robbing the dead; it is stripping the slain. give it up to-day--give it up! oh, how you have been cheated on, my brother, from one thing to another! all these years you have been under an evil mastery that you understood not. what have your companions done for you? what have they done for your health? nearly ruined it by carousal. what have they done for your fortune? almost scattered it by spendthrift behavior. what have they done for your reputation? almost ruined it with good men. what have they done for your immortal soul? almost insured its overthrow. you are hastening on toward the consummation of all that is sad. to-day you stop and think, but it is only for a moment, and then you will tramp on, and at the close of this service you will go out, and the question will be: "how did you like the sermon?" and one man will say: "i liked it very well," and another man will say: "i didn't like it at all;" but neither of the answers will touch the tremendous fact that, if impenitent, you are going at eighteen knots an hour toward shipwreck! yea, you are in a battle where you will fall; and while your surviving relatives will take your remaining estate, and the cemetery will take your body, the messengers of darkness will take your soul, and come and go about you for the next ten million years, stripping the slain. many are crying out: "i admit i am slain, i admit it!" on what battle-field, my brothers? by what weapon? "polluted imagination," says one man; "intoxicating liquor," says another man; "my own hard heart," says another man. do you realize this? then i come to tell you that the omnipotent christ is ready to walk across this battle-field, and revive, and resuscitate, and resurrect your dead soul. let him take your hand and rub away the numbness; your head, and bathe off the aching; your heart, and stop its wild throb. he brought lazarus to life; he brought jairus' daughter to life; he brought the young man of nain to life, and these are three proofs anyhow that he can bring you to life. when the philistines came down on the field, they stepped between the corpses, and they rolled over the dead, and they took away everything that was valuable; and so it was with the people that followed after our army at chancellorsville, and at pittsburg landing, and at stone river, and at atlanta, stripping the slain; but the northern and southern women--god bless them!--came on the field with basins, and pads, and towels, and lint, and cordials, and christian encouragement; and the poor fellows that lay there lifted up their arms and said: "oh, how good that does feel since you dressed it!" and others looked up and said: "oh, how you make me think of my mother!" and others said: "tell the folks at home i died thinking about them;" and another looked up and said: "miss, won't you sing me a verse of 'home, sweet home,' before i die?" and then the tattoo was sounded, and the hats were off, and the service was read: "i am the resurrection and the life;" and in honor of the departed the muskets were loaded, and the command given: "take aim--fire!" and there was a shingle set up at the head of the grave, with the epitaph of "lieutenant ---- in the fourteenth massachusetts regulars," or "captain ---- in the fifteenth regiment of south carolina volunteers." and so to-night, across this great field of moral and spiritual battle, the angels of god come walking among the slain, and there are voices of comfort, and voices of hope, and voices of resurrection, and voices of heaven. christ is ready to give life to the dead. he will make the deaf ear to hear, the blind eye to see, the pulseless heart to beat, and the damp walls of your spiritual charnel-house will crash into ruin at his cry: "come forth!" i verily believe there are souls in this house who are now dead in sin, who in half an hour will be alive forever. there was a thrilling dream, a glorious dream--you may have heard of it. ezekiel closed his eyes, and he saw two mountains, and a valley between the mountains. that valley looked as though there had been a great battle there, and a whole army had been slain, and they had been unburied; and the heat of the land, and the vultures coming there, soon the bones were exposed to the sun, and they looked like thousands of snow-drifts all through the valley. frightful spectacle! the bleaching skeletons of a host! but ezekiel still kept his eyes shut; and lo! there were four currents of wind that struck the battle-field, and when those four currents of wind met, the bones began to rattle; and the foot came to the ankle, and the hand came to the wrist, and the jaws clashed together, and the spinal column gathered up the ganglions and the nervous fiber, and all the valley wriggled and writhed, and throbbed, and rocked, and rose up. there, a man coming to life. there, a hundred men. there, a thousand; and all falling into line, waiting for the shout of their commander. ten thousand bleached skeletons springing up into ten thousand warriors, panting for the fray. i hope that instead of being a dream it may be a prophecy of what we shall see here to-day. let this north wall be one of the mountains, and the south wall be taken for another of the mountains, and let all the aisles and the pews be the valley between, for there are thousands here to-day without one pulsation of spiritual life. i look off in one direction, and they are dead. i look off in another direction, and they are dead. who will bring them to life? who shall rouse them up? if i should halloo at the top of my voice i could not wake them. wait a moment! listen! there is a rustling. there is a gale from heaven. it comes from the north, and from the south, and from the east, and from the west. it shuts us in. it blows upon the slain. there a soul begins to move in spiritual life; there, ten souls; there, a score of souls; there, a hundred souls. the nostrils throbbing in divine respiration, the hands lifted as though to take hold of heaven, the tongue moving as in prayer and adoration. life! immortal life coming into the slain. ten men for god--fifty--a hundred--a regiment--an army for god! oh, that we might have such a scene here to-day! in ezekiel's words, and in almost a frenzy of prayer, i cry: "come from the four winds, o breath! and breathe upon the slain." you will have to surrender your heart to-day to god. you can not take the responsibility of fighting against the spirit in this crisis which will decide whether you are to go to heaven or to hell--to join the hallelujahs of the saved, or the lamentations of the lost. you must pray. you must repent. you must this day fling your sinful soul on the pardoning mercy of god. you must! i see your resolution against god giving way, your determination wavering. i break through the breach in the wall and follow up the advantage gained, hoping to rout your last opposition to christ, and to make you "ground arms" at the feet of the divine conqueror. oh, you must! you must! the moon does not ask the tides of the atlantic ocean to rise. it only stoops down with two great hands of light, the one at the european beach, and the other at the american beach, and then lifts the great layer of molten silver. and god, it seems to me, is now going to lift this audience to newness of life. do you not feel the swellings of the great oceanic tides of divine mercy? my heart is in anguish to have you saved. for this i pray, and preach, and long, glad to be called a fool for christ's sake, and your salvation. some one replies: "dear me, i do wish i could have these matters arranged with my god. i want to be saved. god knows i want to be saved; but you stand there talking about this matter, and you don't show me how." my dear brother, the work has all been done. christ did it with his own torn hand, and lacerated foot, and bleeding side. he took your place, and died your death, if you will only believe it--only accept him as your substitute. what an amazing pity that any man should go from this house unblessed, when such a large blessing is offered him at less cost than you would pay for a pin--"without money and without price." i have driven down to-day with the lord's ambulance to the battle-field where your soul lies exposed to the darkness and the storm, and i want to lift you in, and drive off with you toward heaven. oh, christians, by your prayers help to lift these wounded souls into the ambulance! god forbid that any should be left on the field, and that at last eternal sorrow, and remorse, and despair should come up around their soul like the bandit philistines to the field of gilboa, stripping the slain. sold out. "ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money."--isa. lii: . the jews had gone headlong into sin, and as a punishment they had been carried captive to babylon. they found that iniquity did not pay. cyrus seized babylon, and felt so sorry for these poor captive jews that, without a dollar of compensation, he let them go home. so that, literally, my text was fulfilled: "ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money." there is enough gospel in this text for fifty sermons; though i never heard of its being preached on. there are persons in this house who have, like the jews of the text, sold out. you do not seem to belong either to yourselves or to god. the title-deeds have been passed over to "the world, the flesh, and the devil," but the purchaser has never paid up. "ye have sold yourselves for nought." when a man passes himself over to the world he expects to get some adequate compensation. he has heard the great things that the world does for a man, and he believes it. he wants two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. that will be horses, and houses, and a summer-resort, and jolly companionship. to get it he parts with his physical health by overwork. he parts with his conscience. he parts with much domestic enjoyment. he parts with opportunities for literary culture. he parts with his soul. and so he makes over his entire nature to the world. he does it in four installments. he pays down the first installment, and one fourth of his nature is gone. he pays down the second installment, and one half of his nature is gone. he pays down the third installment, and three quarters of his nature are gone; and after many years have gone by he pays down the fourth installment, and, lo! his entire nature is gone. then he comes up to the world and says: "good-morning. i have delivered to you the goods. i have passed over to you my body, my mind, and my soul, and i have come now to collect the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars." "two hundred and fifty thousand dollars?" says the world. "what do you mean?" "well," you say, "i come to collect the money you owe me, and i expect you now to fulfill your part of the contract." "but," says the world, "_i have failed. i am bankrupt._ i can not possibly pay that debt. i have not for a long while expected to pay it." "well," you then say, "give me back the goods." "oh, no," says the world, "they are all gone. i can not give them back to you." and there you stand on the confines of eternity, your spiritual character gone, staggering under the consideration that "you have sold yourself for nought." i tell you the world is a liar; it does not keep its promises. it is a cheat, and it fleeces everything it can put its hands on. it is a bogus world. it is a six-thousand-year-old swindle. even if it pays the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for which you contracted, it pays them in bonds that will not be worth anything in a little while. just as a man may pay down ten thousand dollars in hard cash and get for it worthless scrip--so the world passes over to you the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in that shape which will not be worth a farthing to you a thousandth part of a second after you are dead. "oh," you say, "it will help to bury me, anyhow." oh, my brother! you need not worry about that. the world will bury you soon enough, from sanitary considerations. after you have been deceased for three or four days you will compel the world to bury you. post-mortem emoluments are of no use to you. the treasures of this world will not pass current in the future world; and if all the wealth of the bank of england were put in the pocket of your shroud, and you in the midst of the jordan of death were asked to pay three cents for your ferriage, you could not do it. there comes a moment in your existence beyond which all earthly values fail; and many a man has wakened up in such a time to find that he has sold out for eternity, and has nothing to show for it. i should as soon think of going to chatham street to buy silk pocket-handkerchiefs with no cotton in them, as to go to this world expecting to find any permanent happiness. it has deceived and deluded every man that has ever put his trust in it. history tells us of one who resolved that he would have all his senses gratified at one and the same time, and he expended thousands of dollars on each sense. he entered a room, and there were the first musicians of the land pleasing his ear, and there were fine pictures fascinating his eye, and there were costly aromatics regaling his nostril, and there were the richest meats, and wines, and fruits, and confections pleasing the appetite, and there was a soft couch of sinful indulgence on which he reclined; and the man declared afterward that he would give ten times what he had given if he could have one week of such enjoyment, even though he lost his soul by it. ah! that was the rub. he did lose his soul by it! cyrus the conqueror thought for a little while that he was making a fine thing out of this world, and yet before he came to his grave he wrote out this pitiful epitaph for his monument: "i am cyrus. i occupied the persian empire. i was king over asia. begrudge me not this monument." but the world in after years plowed up his sepulcher. the world clapped its hands and stamped its feet in honor of charles lamb; but what does he say? "i walk up and down, thinking i am happy, but feeling i am not." call the roll, and be quick about it. samuel johnson, the learned! happy? "no. i am afraid i shall some day get crazy." william hazlitt, the great essayist! happy? "no. i have been for two hours and a half going up and down paternoster row with a volcano in my breast." smollett, the witty author! happy? "no. i am sick of praise and blame, and i wish to god that i had such circumstances around me that i could throw my pen into oblivion." buchanan, the world-renowned writer, exiled from his own country, appealing to henry viii. for protection! happy? "no. over mountains covered with snow, and through valleys flooded with rain, i come a fugitive." molière, the popular dramatic author! happy? "no. that wretch of an actor just now recited four of my lines without the proper accent and gesture. to have the children of my brain so hung, drawn, and quartered, tortures me like a condemned spirit." i went to see a worldling die. as i went into the hall i saw its floor was tessellated, and its wall was a picture-gallery. i found his death-chamber adorned with tapestry until it seemed as if the clouds of the setting sun had settled in the room. the man had given forty years to the world--his wit, his time, his genius, his talent, his soul. did the world come in to stand by his death-bed, and clearing off the vials of bitter medicine, put down any compensation? oh, no! the world does not like sick and dying people, and leaves them in the lurch. it ruined this man, and then left him. he had a magnificent funeral. all the ministers wore scarfs, and there were forty-three carriages in a row; but the departed man appreciated not the obsequies. i want to persuade my audience that this world is a poor investment; that it does not pay ninety per cent. of satisfaction, nor eighty per cent., nor twenty per cent., nor two per cent., nor one; that it gives no solace when a dead babe lies on your lap; that it gives no peace when conscience rings its alarm; that it gives no explanation in the day of dire trouble; and at the time of your decease it takes hold of the pillow-case, and shakes out the feathers, and then jolts down in the place thereof sighs, and groans, and execrations, and then makes you put your head on it. oh, ye who have tried this world, is it a satisfactory portion? would you advise your friends to make the investment? no. "ye have sold yourselves for nought." your conscience went. your hope went. your bible went. your heaven went. your god went. when a sheriff under a writ from the courts sells a man out, the officer generally leaves a few chairs and a bed, and a few cups and knives; but in this awful vendue in which you have been engaged the auctioneer's mallet has come down upon body, mind, and soul: going! gone! "ye have sold yourselves for nought." how could you do so? did you think that your soul was a mere trinket which for a few pennies you could buy in a toy shop? did you think that your soul, if once lost, might be found again if you went out with torches and lanterns? did you think that your soul was short-lived, and that, panting, it would soon lie down for extinction? or had you no idea what your soul was worth? did you ever put your forefingers on its eternal pulses? have you never felt the quiver of its peerless wing? have you not known that, after leaving the body, the first step of your soul reaches to the stars, and the next step to the furthest outposts of god's universe, and that it will not die until the day when the everlasting jehovah expires? oh, my brother, what possessed you that you should part with your soul so cheap? "ye have sold yourselves for nought." but i have some good news to tell you. i want to engage in a litigation for the recovery of that soul of yours. i want to show that you have been cheated out of it. i want to prove, as i will, that you were crazy on that subject, and that the world, under such circumstances, has no right to take the title-deed from you; and if you will join me i shall get a decree from the high chancery court of heaven reinstating you into the possession of your soul. "oh," you say, "i am afraid of lawsuits; they are so expensive, and i can not pay the cost." then have you forgotten the last half of my text? "ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money." money is good for a great many things, but it can not do anything in this matter of the soul. you can not buy your way through. dollars and pounds sterling mean nothing at the gate of mercy. if you could buy your salvation, heaven would be a great speculation, an extension of wall street. bad men would go up and buy out the place, and leave us to shift for ourselves. but as money is not a lawful tender, what is? i will answer: blood! whose? are we to go through the slaughter? oh, no; it wants richer blood than ours. it wants a king's blood. it must be poured from royal arteries. it must be a sinless torrent. but where is the king? i see a great many thrones and a great many occupants, yet none seem to be coming down to the rescue. but after awhile the clock of night in bethlehem strikes twelve, and the silver pendulum of a star swings across the sky, and i see the king of heaven rising up, and he descends, and steps down from star to star, and from cloud to cloud, lower and lower, until he touches the sheep-covered hills, and then on to another hill, this last skull-covered, and there, at the sharp stroke of persecution, a rill incarnadine trickles down, and we who could not be redeemed by money are redeemed by precious and imperial blood. we have in this day professed christians who are so rarefied and etherealized that they do not want a religion of blood. what do you want? you seem to want a religion of brains. the bible says: "in the blood is the life." no atonement without blood. ought not the apostle to know? what did he say? "ye are redeemed not with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, but by the precious blood of christ." you put your lancet into the arm of our holy religion and withdraw the blood, and you leave it a mere corpse, fit only for the grave. why did god command the priests of old to strike the knife into the kid, and the goat, and the pigeon, and the bullock, and the lamb? it was so that when the blood rushed out from these animals on the floor of the ancient tabernacle the people should be compelled to think of the coming carnage of the son of god. no blood, no atonement. i think that god intended to impress us with the vividness of that color. the green of the grass, the blue of the sky, would not have startled and aroused us like this deep crimson. it is as if god had said: "now, sinner, wake up and see what the saviour endured for you. this is not water. this is not wine. it is blood. it is the blood of my own son. it is the blood of the immaculate. it is the blood of god." without the shedding of blood is no remission. there has been many a man who in courts of law has pleaded "not guilty," who nevertheless has been condemned because there was blood found on his hands, or blood found in his room; and what shall we do in the last day if it be found that we have recrucified the lord of glory and have never repented of it? you must believe in the blood or die. no escape. unless you let the sacrifice of jesus go in your stead you yourself must suffer. it is either christ's blood or your blood. "oh," says some one, "the thought of blood sickens me." good. god intended it to sicken you with your sin. do not act as though you had nothing to do with that calvarian massacre. you had. your sins were the implements of torture. those implements were not made of steel, and iron, and wood, so much as out of your sins. guilty of this homicide, and this regicide, and this deicide, confess your guilt to-day. ten thousand voices of heaven bring in the verdict against you of guilty, guilty. prepare to die, or believe in that blood. stretch yourself out for the sacrifice, or accept the saviour's sacrifice. do not fling away your one chance. it seems to me as if all heaven were trying to bid in your soul. the first bid it makes is the tears of christ at the tomb of lazarus; but that is not a high enough price. the next bid heaven makes is the sweat of gethsemane; but it is too cheap a price. the next bid heaven makes seems to be the whipped back of pilate's hall; but it is not a high enough price. can it be possible that heaven can not buy you in? heaven tries once more. it says: "i bid this time for that man's soul the tortures of christ's martyrdom, the blood on his temple, the blood on his cheek, the blood on his chin, the blood on his hand, the blood on his side, the blood on his knee, the blood on his foot--the blood in drops, the blood in rills, the blood in pools coagulated beneath the cross; the blood that wet the tips of the soldiers' spears, the blood that plashed warm in the faces of his enemies." glory to god, that bid wins it! the highest price that was ever paid for anything was paid for your soul. nothing could buy it but blood! the estranged property is bought back. take it. "you have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money." o atoning blood, cleansing blood, life-giving blood, sanctifying blood, glorifying blood of jesus! why not burst into tears at the thought that for thee he shed it--for thee the hard-hearted, for thee the lost? "no," says some one; "i will have nothing to do with it except that, like the jews, i put both my hands into that carnage and scoop up both palms full, and throw it on my head and cry: 'his blood be on us and on our children!'" can you do such a shocking thing as that? just rub your handkerchief across your brow and look at it. it is the blood of the son of god whom you have despised and driven back all these years. oh, do not do that any longer! come out frankly and boldly and honestly, and tell christ you are sorry. you can not afford to so roughly treat him upon whom everything depends. i do not know how you will get away from this subject. you see that you are sold out, and that christ wants to buy you back. there are three persons who come after you to-night: god the father, god the son, and god the holy ghost. they unite their three omnipotences in one movement for your salvation. you will not take up arms against the triune god, will you? is there enough muscle in your arm for such a combat? by the highest throne in heaven, and by the deepest chasm in hell, i beg you look out. unless you allow christ to carry away your sins, they will carry you away. unless you allow christ to lift you up, they will drag you down. there is only one hope for you, and that is the blood. christ, the sin-offering, bearing your transgressions. christ, the surety, paying your debts. christ, the divine cyrus, loosening your babylonish captivity. would you not like to be free? here is the price of your liberation--not money, but blood. i tremble from head to foot, not because i fear your presence, for i am used to that, but because i fear that you will miss your chance for immortal rescue, and die. this is the alternative divinely put: "he that believeth on the son shall have everlasting life; and he that believeth not on the son shall not see life, but the wrath of god abideth on him." in the last day, if you now reject christ, every drop of that sacrificial blood, instead of pleading for your release as it would have pleaded if you had repented, will plead against you. it will seem to say: "they refused the ransom; they chose to die; let them die; they must die. down with them to the weeping and the wailing. depart! go away from me. you would not have me, now i will not have you. sold out for eternity." o lord god of the judgment day! avert that calamity! let us see the quick flash of the cimeter that slays the sin but saves the sinner. strike, omnipotent god, for the soul's deliverance! beat, o eternal sea! with all thy waves against the barren beach of that rocky soul, and make it tremble. oh! the oppressiveness of the hour, the minute, the second, on which the soul's destiny quivers, and this is that hour, that minute, that second! i wonder what proportion of this audience will be saved? what proportion will be lost? when the "schiller" went down, out of three hundred and eighty people only forty were saved. when the "ville du havre" went down, out of three hundred and forty about fifty were saved. out of this audience to-day, how many will get to the shore of heaven? it is no idle question for me to ask, for many of you i shall never see again until the day when the books are open. some years ago there came down a fierce storm on the sea-coast, and a vessel got in the breakers and was going to pieces. they threw up some signal of distress, and the people on the shore saw them. they put out in a life-boat. they came on, and they saw the poor sailors, almost exhausted, clinging to a raft; and so afraid were the boatmen that the men would give up before they got to them, they gave them three rounds of cheers, and cried: "hold on, there! hold on! we'll save you!" after awhile the boat came up. one man was saved by having the boat-hook put in the collar of his coat; and some in one way, and some in another; but they all got into the boat. "now," says the captain, "for the shore. pull away now, pull!" the people on the land were afraid the life-boat had gone down. they said: "how long the boat stays. why, it must have been swamped, and they have all perished together." and there were men and women on the pier-heads and on the beach wringing their hands; and while they waited and watched, they saw something looming up through the mist, and it turned out to be the life-boat. as soon as it came within speaking distance the people on the shore cried out: "did you save any of them? did you save any of them?" and as the boat swept through the boiling surf and came to the pier-head, the captain waved his hand over the exhausted sailors that lay flat on the bottom of the boat, and cried: "all saved! thank god! all saved!" so may it be to-day. the waves of your sin run high, the storm is on you, the danger is appalling. oh! shipwrecked soul, i have come for you. i cheer you with this gospel hope. god grant that within the next ten minutes we may row with you into the harbor of god's mercy. and when these christian men gather around to see the result of this service, and the glorified gathering on the pier-heads of heaven to watch and to listen, may we be able to report all saved! young and old, good and bad! all saved! saved from sin, and death, and hell. saved for time. saved for eternity. "and so it came to pass that they all escaped safe to land." summer temptations. "come ye yourselves apart unto a desert place and rest awhile."--mark vi: . here christ advises his apostles to take a vacation. they have been living an excited as well as a useful life, and he advises that they get out into the country. when, six weeks ago, standing in this place, i advocated, with all the energy i could command, the saturday afternoon holiday, i did not think the people would so soon get that release. by divine fiat it has come, and i rejoice that more people will have opportunity of recreation this summer than in any previous summer. others will have whole weeks and months of rest. the railway trains are being laden with passengers and baggage on their way to the mountains and the lakes and the sea-shore. multitudes of our citizens are packing their trunks for a restorative absence. the city heats are pursuing the people with torch and fear of sunstroke. the long silent halls of sumptuous hotels are all abuzz with excited arrivals. the crystalline surface of winnipiseogee is shattered with the stroke of steamer, laden with excursionists. the antlers of adirondack deer rattle under the shot of city sportsmen. the trout make fatal snaps at the hook of adroit sportsmen and toss their spotted brilliance into the game-basket. already the baton of the orchestral leader taps the music-stand on the hotel green, and american life puts on festal array, and the rumbling of the tenpin alley, and the crack of the ivory balls on the green-baized billiard tables, and the jolting of the bar-room goblets, and the explosive uncorking of champagne bottles, and the whirl and the rustle of the ball-room dance, and the clattering hoofs of the race-courses, attest that the season for the great american watering-places is fairly inaugurated. music--flute and drum and cornet-à-piston and clapping cymbals--will wake the echoes of the mountains. glad i am that fagged-out american life for the most part will have an opportunity to rest, and that nerves racked and destroyed will find a bethesda. i believe in watering-places. let not the commercial firm begrudge the clerk, or the employer the journeyman, or the patient the physician, or the church its pastor, a season of inoccupation. luther used to sport with his children; edmund burke used to caress his favorite horse; thomas chalmers, in the dark hours of the church's disruption, played kite for recreation--as i was told by his own daughter--and the busy christ said to the busy apostles: "come ye apart awhile into the desert and rest yourselves." and i have observed that they who do not know how to rest do not know how to work. but i have to declare this truth to-day, that some of our fashionable watering-places are the temporal and eternal destruction of "a multitude that no man can number," and amid the congratulations of this season and the prospect of the departure of many of you for the country i must utter a note of warning--plain, earnest, and unmistakable. i. the first temptation that is apt to hover in this direction is to leave your piety all at home. you will send the dog and cat and canary bird to be well cared for somewhere else; but the temptation will be to leave your religion in the room with the blinds down and the door bolted, and then you will come back in the autumn to find that it is starved and suffocated, lying stretched on the rug stark dead. there is no surplus of piety at the watering-places. i never knew any one to grow very rapidly in grace at the catskill mountain house, or sharon springs, or the falls of montmorency. it is generally the case that the sabbath is more of a carousal than any other day, and there are sunday walks and sunday rides and sunday excursions. elders and deacons and ministers of religion who are entirely consistent at home, sometimes when the sabbath dawns on them at niagara falls or the white mountains take the day to themselves. if they go to the church, it is apt to be a sacred parade, and the discourse, instead of being a plain talk about the soul, is apt to be what is called _a crack sermon_--that is, some discourse picked out of the effusions of the year as the one most adapted to excite admiration; and in those churches, from the way the ladies hold their fans, you know that they are not so much impressed with the heat as with the picturesqueness of half-disclosed features. four puny souls stand in the organ-loft and squall a tune that nobody knows, and worshipers, with two thousand dollars' worth of diamonds on the right hand, drop a cent into the poor-box, and then the benediction is pronounced and the farce is ended. the toughest thing i ever tried to do was to be good at a watering-place. the air is bewitched with "the world, the flesh, and the devil." there are christians who in three or four weeks in such a place have had such terrible rents made in their christian robe that they had to keep darning it until christmas to get it mended! the health of a great many people makes an annual visit to some mineral spring an absolute necessity; but, my dear people, take your bible along with you, and take an hour for secret prayer every day, though you be surrounded by guffaw and saturnalia. keep holy the sabbath, though they denounce you as a bigoted puritan. stand off from those institutions which propose to imitate on this side the water the iniquities of baden-baden. let your moral and your immortal health keep pace with your physical recuperation, and remember that all the waters of hathorne and sulphur and chalybeate springs can not do you so much good as the mineral, healing, perennial flood that breaks forth from the "rock of ages." this may be your last summer. if so, make it a fit vestibule of heaven. ii. another temptation around nearly all our watering-places is the horse-racing business. we all admire the horse. there needs to be a redistribution of coronets among the brute creation. for ages the lion has been called the king of beasts. i knock off its coronet and put the crown upon the horse, in every way nobler, whether in shape or spirit or sagacity or intelligence or affection or usefulness. he is semi-human, and knows how to reason on a small scale. the centaur of olden times, part horse and part man, seems to be a suggestion of the fact that the horse is something more than a beast. job sets forth his strength, his beauty, his majesty, the panting of his nostril, the pawing of his hoof, and his enthusiasm for the battle. what rosa bonheur did for the cattle, and what landseer did for the dog, job, with mightier pencil, does for the horse. eighty-eight times does the bible speak of him. he comes into every kingly procession and into every great occasion and into every triumph. it is very evident that job and david and isaiah and ezekiel and jeremiah and john were fond of the horse. he came into much of their imagery. a red horse--that meant war; a black horse--that meant famine; a pale horse--that meant death; a white horse--that meant victory. as the bible makes a favorite of the horse, the patriarch and the prophet and the evangelist and the apostle, stroking his sleek hide, and patting his rounded neck, and tenderly lifting his exquisitely formed hoof, and listening with a thrill to the champ of his bit, so all great natures in all ages have spoken of him in encomiastic terms. virgil in his georgics almost seems to plagiarize from the description of job. the duke of wellington would not allow any one irreverently to touch his old war-horse, copenhagen, on whom he had ridden fifteen hours without dismounting at waterloo; and when old copenhagen died, his master ordered a military salute fired over his grave. john howard showed that he did not exhaust all his sympathies in pitying the human race, for when sick he writes home: "has my old chaise-horse become sick or spoiled?" but we do not think that the speed of the horse should be cultured at the expense of human degradation. horse-races, in olden times, were under the ban of christian people, and in our day the same institution has come up under fictitious names, and it is called a "summer meeting," almost suggestive of positive religious exercises. and it is called an "agricultural fair," suggestive of everything that is improving in the art of farming. but under these deceptive titles are the same cheating and the same betting, the same drunkenness and the same vagabondage and the same abominations that were to be found under the old horse-racing system. i never knew a man yet who could give himself to the pleasures of the turf for a long reach of time, and not be battered in morals. they hook up their spanking team, and put on their sporting-cap, and light their cigar, and take the reins, and dash down the road to perdition. the great day at saratoga, and long branch, and cape may, and nearly all the other watering-places, is the day of the races. the hotels are thronged, nearly every kind of equipage is taken up at an almost fabulous price, and there are many respectable people mingling with jockeys, and gamblers, and libertines, and foul-mouthed men and flashy women. the bar-tender stirs up the brandy-smash. the bets run high. the greenhorns, supposing all is fair, put in their money soon enough to lose it. three weeks before the race takes place the struggle is decided, and the men in the secret know on which steed to bet their money. the two men on the horses riding around long before arranged who shall beat. leaning from the stand or from the carriage are men and women so absorbed in the struggle of bone and muscle and mettle that they make a grand harvest for the pickpockets, who carry off the pocket-books and portemonnaies. men looking on see only two horses with two riders flying around the ring; but there is many a man on that stand whose honor and domestic happiness and fortune--white mane, white foot, white flank--are in the ring, racing with inebriety, and with fraud, and with profanity, and with ruin--black neck, black foot, black flank. neck and neck they go in that moral epsom. ah, my friends, have nothing to do with horse-racing dissipations this summer. long ago the english government got through looking to the turf for the dragoon and light-cavalry horse. they found the turf depreciates the stock, and it is yet worse for men. thomas hughes, the member of parliament and the author, known all the world over, hearing that a new turf enterprise was being started in this country, wrote a letter, in which he said: "heaven help you, then; for of all the cankers of our old civilization there is nothing in this country approaching in unblushing meanness, in rascality holding its head high, to this belauded institution of the british turf." another famous sportsman writes: "how many fine domains have been shared among these hosts of rapacious sharks during the last two hundred years; and unless the system be altered, how many more are doomed to fall into the same gulf!" the duke of hamilton, through his horse-racing proclivities, in three years got through his entire fortune of £ , , and i will say that some of you are being undermined by it. with the bull-fights of spain and the bear-baitings of the pit may the lord god annihilate the infamous and accursed horse-racing of england and america. iii. i go further, and speak of another temptation that hovers over the watering-places; and this is the temptation to sacrifice physical strength. the modern bethesda was intended to recuperate the physical health; and yet how many come from the watering-places, their health absolutely destroyed! new york and brooklyn idiots boasting of having imbibed twenty glasses of congress water before breakfast. families accustomed to going to bed at ten o'clock at night gossiping until one or two o'clock in the morning. dyspeptics, usually very cautious about their health, mingling ice-creams, and lemons, and lobster-salads, and cocoa-nuts, until the gastric juices lift up all their voices of lamentation and protest. delicate women and brainless young men chassezing themselves into vertigo and catalepsy. thousands of men and women coming back from our watering-places in the autumn with the foundations laid for ailments that will last them all their life long. you know as well as i do that this is the simple truth. in the summer you say to your good health: "good-bye, i am going to have a good time for a little while. i will be very glad to see you again in the autumn." then in the autumn, when you are hard at work in your office, or store, or shop, or counting-room, good health will come and say: "good-bye, i am going." you say: "where are you going?" "oh," says good health, "i am going to take a vacation!" it is a poor rule that will not work both ways, and your good health will leave you choleric and splenetic and exhausted. you coquetted with your good health in the summer-time, and your good health is coquetting with you in the winter-time. a fragment of paul's charge to the jailer would be an appropriate inscription for the hotel-register in every watering-place: "do thyself no harm." iv. another temptation hovering around the watering-place is to the formation of hasty and life-long alliances. the watering-places are responsible for more of the domestic infelicities of this country than all the other things combined. society is so artificial there that no sure judgment of character can be formed. those who form companionships amid such circumstances go into a lottery where there are twenty blanks to one prize. in the severe tug of life you want more than glitter and splash. life is not a ball-room where the music decides the step, and bow and prance and graceful swing of long trail can make up for strong common sense. you might as well go among the gayly painted yachts of a summer regatta to find war vessels as to go among the light spray of the summer watering-place to find character that can stand the test of the great struggle of human life. ah, in the battle of life you want a stronger weapon than a lace fan or a croquet mallet! the load of life is so heavy that in order to draw it, you want a team stronger than one made up of a masculine grasshopper and a feminine butterfly. if there is any man in the community that excites my contempt, and that ought to excite the contempt of every man and woman, it is the soft-handed, soft-headed fop, who, perfumed until the air is actually sick, spends his summer in taking killing attitudes, and waving sentimental adieus, and talking infinitesimal nothings, and finding his heaven in the set of a lavender kid-glove. boots as tight as an inquisition, two hours of consummate skill exhibited in the tie of a flaming cravat, his conversation made up of "ah's" and "oh's" and "he-hee's." it would take five hundred of them stewed down to make a teaspoonful of calves-foot jelly. there is only one counterpart to such a man as that, and that is the frothy young woman at the watering-place, her conversation made up of french moonshine; what she has on her head only equaled by what she has on her back; useless ever since she was born, and to be useless until she is dead: and what they will do with her in the next world i do not know, except to set her upon the banks of the river life for eternity to look sweet! god intends us to admire music and fair faces and graceful step, but amid the heartlessness and the inflation and the fantastic influences of our modern watering-places, beware how you make life-long covenants! v. another temptation that will hover over the watering-place is that of baneful literature. almost every one starting off for the summer takes some reading matter. it is a book out of the library or off the bookstand, or bought of the boy hawking books through the cars. i really believe there is more pestiferous trash read among the intelligent classes in july and august than in all the other ten months of the year. men and women who at home would not be satisfied with a book that was not really sensible, i found sitting on hotel-piazzas or under the trees reading books the index of which would make them blush if they knew that you knew what the book was. "oh," they say, "you must have intellectual recreation!" yes. there is no need that you take along into a watering-place "hamilton's metaphysics" or some thunderous discourse on the eternal decrees, or "faraday's philosophy." there are many easy books that are good. you might as well say: "i propose now to give a little rest to my digestive organs; and, instead of eating heavy meat and vegetables, i will for a little while take lighter food--a little strychnine and a few grains of ratsbane." literary poison in august is as bad as literary poison in december. mark that. do not let the frogs and the lice of a corrupt printing-press jump and crawl into your saratoga trunk or white mountain valise. would it not be an awful thing for you to be struck with lightning some day when you had in your hand one of these paper-covered romances--the hero a parisian _roué_, the heroine an unprincipled flirt--chapters in the book that you would not read to your children at the rate of $ a line? throw out all that stuff from your summer baggage. are there not good books that are easy to read--books of entertaining travel, books of congenial history, books of pure fun, books of poetry ringing with merry canto, books of fine engravings, books that will rest the mind as well as purify the heart and elevate the whole life? my hearers, there will not be an hour between this and the day of your death when you can afford to read a book lacking in moral principle. vi. another temptation hovering all around our watering-places is the intoxicating beverage. i am told that it is becoming more and more fashionable for woman to drink. i care not how well a woman may dress, if she has taken enough of wine to flush her cheek and put glassiness on her eyes, she is intoxicated. she may be handed into a $ carriage, and have diamonds enough to confound the tiffanys--she is intoxicated. she may be a graduate of packer institute, and the daughter of some man in danger of being nominated for the presidency--she is drunk. you may have a larger vocabulary than i have, and you may say in regard to her that she is "convivial," or she is "merry," or she is "festive," or she is "exhilarated," but you can not with all your garlands of verbiage cover up the plain fact that it is an old-fashioned case of drunk. now, the watering-places are full of temptations to men and women to tipple. at the close of the tenpin or billiard-game they tipple. at the close of the cotillon they tipple. seated on the piazza cooling themselves off they tipple. the tinged glasses come around with bright straws, and they tipple. first they take "light wines," as they call them; but "light wines" are heavy enough to debase the appetite. there is not a very long road between champagne at $ a bottle and whiskey at five cents a glass. satan has three or four grades down which he takes men to destruction. one man he takes up, and through one spree pitches him into eternal darkness. that is a rare case. very seldom, indeed, can you find a man who will be such a fool as that. when a man goes down to destruction satan brings him to a plane. it is almost a level. the depression is so slight that you can hardly see it. the man does not actually know that he is on the down grade, and it tips only a little toward darkness--just a little. and the first mile it is claret, and the second mile it is sherry, and the third mile it is punch, and the fourth mile it is ale, and the fifth mile it is porter, and the sixth mile it is brandy, and then it gets steeper and steeper and steeper, and the man gets frightened and says, "oh, let me get off!" "no," says the conductor, "this is an express train, and it does not stop until it gets to the grand central depot at smashupton." ah, "look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth its color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. at the last it biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder." and if any young man in my congregation should get astray this summer in this direction it will not be because i have not given him fair warning. my friends, whether you tarry at home--which will be quite as safe and perhaps quite as comfortable--or go into the country, arm yourself against temptation. the grace of god is the only safe shelter, whether in town or country. there are watering-places accessible to all of us. you can not open a book of the bible without finding out some such watering-place. fountains open for sin and uncleanliness; wells of salvation; streams from lebanon; a flood struck out of the rock by moses; fountains in the wilderness discovered by hagar; water to drink and water to bathe in; the river of god, which is full of water; water of which if a man drink he shall never thirst; wells of water in the valley of baca; living fountains of water; a pure river of water as clear as crystal from under the throne of god. these are watering-places accessible to all of us. we do not have a laborious packing up before we start--only the throwing away of our transgressions. no expensive hotel bills to pay; it is "without money and without price." no long and dirty travel before we get there; it is only one step away. california in five minutes. i walked around and saw ten fountains, all bubbling up, and they were all different. and in five minutes i can get through this bible _parterre_ and find you fifty bright, sparkling fountains bubbling up into eternal life. a chemist will go to one of these summer watering-places and take the water and analyze it and tell you that it contains so much of iron, and so much of soda, and so much of lime, and so much of magnesia. i come to this gospel well, this living fountain and analyze the water, and i find that its ingredients are peace, pardon, forgiveness, hope, comfort, life, heaven. "ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye" to this watering-place! crowd around this bethesda this morning! oh, you sick, you lame, you troubled, you dying--crowd around this bethesda! step in it! oh, step in it! the angel of the covenant this morning stirs the water. why do you not step in it? some of you are too weak to take a step in that direction. then we take you up in the arms of our closing prayer and plunge you clean under the wave, hoping that the cure may be as sudden and as radical as with captain naaman, who, blotched and carbuncled, stepped into the jordan, and after the seventh dive came up, his skin roseate-complexioned as the flesh of a little child. the banished queen. "also vashti the queen made a feast for the women in the royal house which belonged to king ahasuerus. on the seventh day when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded mehuman, biztha, harbona, bigtha, and abagtha, zethar, and carcas, the seven chamberlains that served in the presence of ahasuerus the king, to bring vashti the queen before the king with the crown royal, to show the people and the princes her beauty: for she was fair to look on. but the queen vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains; therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him."--esther i: - . we stand amid the palaces of shushan. the pinnacles are aflame with the morning light. the columns rise festooned and wreathed, the wealth of empires flashing from the grooves; the ceilings adorned with images of bird and beast, and scenes of prowess and conquest. the walls are hung with shields, and emblazoned until it seems that the whole round of splendors is exhausted. each arch is a mighty leaf of architectural achievement. golden stars shining down on glowing arabesque. hangings of embroidered work in which mingle the blueness of the sky, the greenness of the grass, and the whiteness of the sea-foam. tapestries hung on silver rings, wedding together the pillars of marble. pavilions reaching out in every direction. these for repose, filled with luxuriant couches, in which weary limbs sink until all fatigue is submerged. those for carousal, where kings drink down a kingdom at one swallow. amazing spectacle! light of silver dripping down over stairs of ivory on shields of gold. floors of stained marble, sunset red and night black, and inlaid with gleaming pearl. in connection with this palace there is a garden, where the mighty men of foreign lands are seated at a banquet. under the spread of oak and linden and acacia the tables are arranged. the breath of honeysuckle and frankincense fills the air. fountains leap up into the light, the spray struck through with rainbows falling in crystalline baptism upon flowering shrubs--then rolling down through channels of marble, and widening out here and there into pools swirling with the finny tribes of foreign aquariums, bordered with scarlet anemones, hypericums, and many-colored ranunculi. meats of rarest bird and beast smoking up amid wreaths of aromatics. the vases filled with apricots and almonds. the baskets piled up with apricots and figs and oranges and pomegranates. melons tastefully twined with leaves of acacia. the bright waters of eulæus filling the urns and dropping outside the rim in flashing beads amid the traceries. wine from the royal vats of ispahan and shiraz, in bottles of tinged shell, and lily-shaped cups of silver, and flagons and tankards of solid gold. the music rises higher, and the revelry breaks out into wilder transport, and the wine has flushed the cheek and touched the brain, and louder than all other voices are the hiccough of the inebriates, the gabble of fools, and the song of the drunkards. in another part of the palace, queen vashti is entertaining the princesses of persia at a banquet. drunken ahasuerus says to his servants, "you go out and fetch vashti from, that banquet with the women, and bring her to this banquet with the men, and let me display her beauty." the servants immediately start to obey the king's command; but there was a rule in oriental society that no woman might appear in public without having her face veiled. yet here was a mandate that no one dare dispute, demanding that vashti come in unveiled before the multitude. however, there was in vashti's soul a principle more regal than ahasuerus, more brilliant than the gold of shushan, of more wealth than the realm of persia, which commanded her to disobey this order of the king; and so all the righteousness and holiness and modesty of her nature rise up into one sublime refusal. she says, "i will not go into the banquet unveiled." ahasuerus was infuriate; and vashti, robbed of her position and her estate, is driven forth in poverty and ruin to suffer the scorn of a nation, and yet to receive the applause of after generations, who shall rise up to admire this martyr to kingly insolence. well, the last vestige of that feast is gone; the last garland has faded; the last arch has fallen; the last tankard has been destroyed; and shushan is a ruin; but as long as the world stands there will be multitudes of men and women, familiar with the bible, who will come into this picture-gallery of god and admire the divine portrait of vashti the queen, vashti the veiled, vashti the sacrifice, vashti the silent. i. in the first place, i want you to look upon vashti the queen. a blue ribbon, rayed with white, drawn around her forehead, indicated her queenly position. it was no small honor to be queen in such a realm as that. hark to the rustle of her robes! see the blaze of her jewels! and yet, my friends, it is not necessary to have place and regal robe in order to be queenly. when i see a woman with stout faith in god, putting her foot upon all meanness and selfishness and godless display, going right forward to serve christ and the race by a grand and a glorious service, i say: "that woman is a queen," and the ranks of heaven look over the battlements upon the coronation; and whether she comes up from the shanty on the commons or the mansion of the fashionable square, i greet her with the shout, "all hail, queen vashti!" what glory was there on the brow of mary of scotland, or elizabeth of england, or margaret of france, or catherine of russia, compared with the worth of some of our christian mothers, many of them gone into glory?--or of that woman mentioned in the scriptures, who put her all into the lord's treasury?--or of jephtha's daughter, who made a demonstration of unselfish patriotism?--or of abigail, who rescued the herds and flocks of her husband?--or of ruth, who toiled under a tropical sun for poor, old, helpless naomi?--or of florence nightingale, who went at midnight to stanch the battle wounds of the crimea?--or of mrs. adoniram judson, who kindled the lights of salvation amid the darkness of burmah?--or of mrs. hemans, who poured out her holy soul in words which will forever be associated with hunter's horn, and captive's chain, and bridal hour, and lute's throb, and curfew's knell at the dying day?--and scores and hundreds of women, unknown on earth, who have given water to the thirsty, and bread to the hungry, and medicine to the sick, and smiles to the discouraged--their footsteps heard along dark lane and in government hospital, and in almshouse corridor, and by prison gate? there may be no royal robe--there may be no palatial surroundings. she does not need them; for all charitable men will unite with the crackling lips of fever-struck hospital and plague-blotched lazaretto in greeting her as she passes: "hail! hail! queen vashti!" ii. again, i want you to consider vashti the veiled. had she appeared before ahasuerus and his court on that day with her face uncovered she would have shocked all the delicacies of oriental society, and the very men who in their intoxication demanded that she come, in their sober moments would have despised her. as some flowers seem to thrive best in the dark lane and in the shadow, and where the sun does not seem to reach them, so god appoints to most womanly natures a retiring and unobtrusive spirit. god once in awhile does call an isabella to a throne, or a miriam to strike the timbrel at the front of a host, or a marie antoinette to quell a french mob, or a deborah to stand at the front of an armed battalion, crying out, "up! up! this is the day in which the lord will deliver sisera into thy hands." and when the women are called to such out-door work and to such heroic positions, god prepares them for it; and they have iron in their soul, and lightnings in their eye, and whirlwinds in their breath, and the borrowed strength of the lord omnipotent in their right arm. they walk through furnaces as though they were hedges of wild-flowers, and cross seas as though they were shimmering sapphire; and all the harpies of hell down to their dungeon at the stamp of womanly indignation. but these are the exceptions. generally, dorcas would rather make a garment for the poor boy; rebecca would rather fill the trough for the camels; hannah would rather make a coat for samuel; the hebrew maid would rather give a prescription for naaman's leprosy; the woman of sarepta would rather gather a few sticks to cook a meal for famished elijah; phebe would rather carry a letter for the inspired apostle; mother lois would rather educate timothy in the scriptures. when i see a woman going about her daily duty, with cheerful dignity presiding at the table, with kind and gentle, but firm discipline presiding in the nursery, going out into the world without any blast of trumpets, following in the footsteps of him who went about doing good--i say: "this is vashti with a veil on." but when i see a woman of unblushing boldness, loud-voiced, with a tongue of infinite clitter-clatter, with arrogant look, passing through the streets with the step of a walking-beam, gayly arrayed in a very hurricane of millinery, i cry out: "vashti has lost her veil!" when i see a woman struggling for political preferment--trying to force her way on up to the ballot-box, amid the masculine demagogues who stand, with swollen fists and bloodshot eyes and pestiferous breath, to guard the polls--wanting to go through the loaferism and the defilement of popular sovereigns, who crawl up from the saloons greasy and foul and vermin-covered, to decide questions of justice and order and civilization--when i see a woman, i say, who wants to press through all that horrible scum to get to the ballot-box, i say: "ah, what a pity! vashti has lost her veil!" when i see a woman of comely features, and of adroitness of intellect, and endowed with all that the schools can do for one, and of high social position, yet moving in society with superciliousness and _hauteur_, as though she would have people know their place, and with an undefined combination of giggle and strut and rhodomontade, endowed with allopathic quantities of talk, but only homeopathic infinitesimals of sense, the terror of dry-goods clerks and railroad conductors, discoverers of significant meanings in plain conversation, prodigies of badinage and innuendo--i say: "vashti has lost her veil." iii. again, i want you this morning to consider vashti the sacrifice. who is this that i see coming out of that palace gate of shushan? it seems to me that i have seen her before. she comes homeless, houseless, friendless, trudging along with a broken heart. who is she? it is vashti the sacrifice. oh! what a change it was from regal position to a wayfarer's crust! a little while ago, approved and sought for; now, none so poor as to acknowledge her acquaintanceship. vashti the sacrifice! ah! you and i have seen it many a time. here is a home empalaced with beauty. all that refinement and books and wealth can do for that home has been done; but ahasuerus, the husband and the father, is taking hold on paths of sin. he is gradually going down. after awhile he will flounder and struggle like a wild beast in the hunter's net--further away from god, further away from the right. soon the bright apparel of the children will turn to rags; soon the household song will become the sobbing of a broken heart. the old story over again. brutal centaurs breaking up the marriage feast of lapithæ. the house full of outrage and cruelty and abomination, while trudging forth from the palace gate are vashti and her children. there are homes represented in this house this morning that are in danger of such breaking-up. oh, ahasuerus! that you should stand in a home, by a dissipated life destroying the peace and comfort of that home. god forbid that your children should ever have to wring their hands, and have people point their finger at them as they pass down the street, and say, "there goes a drunkard's child." god forbid that the little feet should ever have to trudge the path of poverty and wretchedness! god forbid that any evil spirit born of the wine-cup or the brandy-glass should come forth and uproot that garden, and with a lasting, blistering, all-consuming curse, shut forever the palace gate against vashti and the children. one night during the war i went to hagerstown to look at the army, and i stood on a hill-top and looked down upon them. i saw the camp-fires all through the valleys and all over the hills. it was a weird spectacle, those camp-fires, and i stood and watched them; and the soldiers who were gathered around them were, no doubt, talking of their homes, and of the long march they had taken, and of the battles they were to fight; but after awhile i saw these camp-fires begin to lower; and they continued to lower, until they were all gone out, and the army slept. it was imposing when i saw the camp-fires; it was imposing in the darkness when i thought of that great host asleep. well, god looks down from heaven, and he sees the fireside of christendom and the loved ones gathered around these firesides. these are the camp-fires where we warm ourselves at the close of day, and talk over the battles of life we have fought and the battles that are yet to come. god grant that when at last these fires begin to go out, and continue to lower until finally they are extinguished, and the ashes of consumed hopes strew the hearth of the old homestead, it may be because we have "gone to sleep that last long sleep, from which none ever wake to weep." now we are an army on the march of life. then we shall be an army bivouacked in the tent of the grave. iv. once more: i want you to look at vashti the silent. you do not hear any outcry from this woman as she goes forth from the palace gate. from the very dignity of her nature, you know there will be no vociferation. sometimes in life it is necessary to make a retort; sometimes in life it is necessary to resist; but there are crises when the most triumphant thing to do is to keep silence. the philosopher, confident in his newly discovered principle, waited for the coming of more intelligent generations, willing that men should laugh at the lightning-rod and cotton-gin and steam-boat--waiting for long years through the scoffing of philosophical schools, in grand and magnificent silence. galileo, condemned by mathematicians and monks and cardinals, caricatured everywhere, yet waiting and watching with his telescope to see the coming up of stellar reenforcements, when the stars in their courses would fight for the copernican system; then sitting down in complete blindness and deafness to wait for the coming on of the generations who would build his monument and bow at his grave. the reformer, execrated by his contemporaries, fastened in a pillory, the slow fires of public contempt burning under him, ground under the cylinders of the printing-press, yet calmly waiting for the day when purity of soul and heroism of character will get the sanction of earth and the plaudits of heaven. affliction enduring without any complaint the sharpness of the pang, and the violence of the storm, and the heft of the chain, and the darkness of the night--waiting until a divine hand shall be put forth to soothe the pang, and hush the storm, and release the captive. a wife abused, persecuted, and a perpetual exile from every earthly comfort--waiting, waiting, until the lord shall gather up his dear children in a heavenly home, and no poor vashti will ever be thrust out from the palace gate. jesus, in silence and answering not a word, drinking the gall, bearing the cross, in prospect of the rapturous consummation when "angels thronged their chariot wheel, and bore him to his throne, then swept their golden harps and sung, 'the glorious work is done!'" oh, woman! does not this story of vashti the queen, vashti the veiled, vashti the sacrifice, vashti the silent, move your soul? my sermon converges into the one absorbing hope that none of you may be shut out of the palace gate of heaven. you can endure the hardships, and the privations, and the cruelties, and the misfortunes of this life if you can only gain admission there. through the blood of the everlasting covenant you go through those gates, or never go at all. god forbid that you should at last be banished from the society of angels, and banished from the companionship of your glorified kindred, and banished forever. through the rich grace of our lord jesus christ, may you be enabled to imitate the example of rachel, and hannah, and abigail, and deborah, and mary, and esther, and vashti. the day we live in. "who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"--esther iv. . esther the beautiful was the wife of ahasuerus the abominable. the time had come for her to present a petition to her infamous husband in behalf of the jewish nation, to which she had once belonged. she was afraid to undertake the work, lest she should lose her own life; but her uncle, mordecai, who had brought her up, encouraged her with the suggestion that probably she had been raised up of god for that peculiar mission. "who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" esther had her god-appointed work; you and i have ours. it is my business to tell you what style of men and women you ought to be in order that you meet the demand of the age in which god has cast your lot. if you have come expecting to hear abstractions discussed, or dry technicalities of religion glorified, you have come to the wrong church; but if you really would like to know what this age has a right to expect of you as christian men and women, then i am ready in the lord's name to look you in the face. when two armies have rushed into battle the officers of either army do not want a philosophical discussion about the chemical properties of human blood or the nature of gunpowder; they want some one to man the batteries and swab out the guns. and now, when all the forces of light and darkness, of heaven and hell, have plunged into the fight, it is no time to give ourselves to the definitions and formulas and technicalities and conventionalities of religion. what we want is practical, earnest, concentrated, enthusiastic, and triumphant help. i. in the first place, in order to meet the special demand of this age, you need to be an unmistakably aggressive christian. of half-and-half christians we do not want any more. the church of jesus christ will be better without ten thousand of them. they are the chief obstacle to the church's advancement. i am speaking of another kind of christian. all the appliances for your becoming an earnest christian are at your hand, and there is a straight path for you into the broad daylight of god's forgiveness. you may have come into this tabernacle the bondsmen of the world, and yet before you go out of these doors you may become princes of the lord god almighty. you remember what excitement there was in this country, years ago, when the prince of wales came here--how the people rushed out by hundreds of thousands to see him. why? because they expected that some day he would sit upon the throne of england. but what was all that honor compared with the honor to which god calls you--to be sons and daughters of the lord almighty; yea, to be queens and kings unto god? "they shall reign with him forever and forever." but, my friends, you need to be aggressive christians, and not like those persons who spend their lives in hugging their christian graces and wondering why they do not make any progress. how much robustness of health would a man have if he hid himself in a dark closet? a great deal of the piety of the day is too exclusive. it hides itself. it needs more fresh air, more out-door exercise. there are many christians who are giving their entire life to self-examination. they are feeling their pulses to see what is the condition of their spiritual health. how long would a man have robust physical health if he kept all the days and weeks and months and years of his life feeling his pulse instead of going out into active, earnest, every-day work? i was once amid the wonderful, bewitching cactus growths of north carolina. i never was more bewildered with the beauty of flowers, and yet when i would take up one of these cactuses and pull the leaves apart, the beauty was all gone. you could hardly tell that it had ever been a flower. and there are a great many christian people in this day just pulling apart their christian experiences to see what there is in them, and there is nothing left in them. this style of self-examination is a damage instead of an advantage to their christian character. i remember when i was a boy i used to have a small piece in the garden that i called my own, and i planted corn there, and every few days i would pull it up to see how fast it was growing. now, there are a great many christian people in this day whose self-examination merely amounts to the pulling up of that which they only yesterday or the day before planted. o my friends! if you want to have a stalwart christian character, plant it right out of doors in the great field of christian usefulness, and though storms may come upon it, and though the hot sun of trial may try to consume it, it will thrive until it becomes a great tree, in which the fowls of heaven may have their habitation. i have no patience with these flower-pot christians. they keep themselves under shelter, and all their christian experience in a small, exclusive circle, when they ought to plant it in the great garden of the lord, so that the whole atmosphere could be aromatic with their christian usefulness. what we want in the church of god is more brawn of piety. the century plant is wonderfully suggestive and wonderfully beautiful, but i never look at it without thinking of its parsimony. it lets whole generations go by before it puts forth one blossom; so i have really more heartfelt admiration when i see the dewy tears in the blue eyes of the violets, for they come every spring. my christian friends, time is going by so rapidly that we can not afford to be idle. a recent statistician says that human life now has an average of only thirty-two years. from these thirty-two years you must subtract all the time you take for sleep and the taking of food and recreation; that will leave you about sixteen years. from those sixteen years you must subtract all the time that you are necessarily engaged in the earning of a livelihood; that will leave you about eight years. from those eight years you must take all the days and weeks and months--all the length of time that is passed in childhood and sickness, leaving you about one year in which to work for god. oh, my soul, wake up! how darest thou sleep in harvest-time and with so few hours in which to reap? so that i state it as a simple fact that all the time that the vast majority of you will have for the exclusive service of god will be less than one year! "but," says some man, "i liberally support the gospel, and the church is open and the gospel is preached: all the spiritual advantages are spread before men, and if they want to be saved, let them come to be saved; i have discharged all my responsibility." ah! is that the master's spirit? is there not an old book somewhere that commands us to go out into the highways and the hedges and compel the people to come in? what would have become of you and me if christ had not come down off the hills of heaven, and if he had not come through the door of the bethlehem caravansary, and if he had not with the crushed hand of the crucifixion knocked at the iron gate of the sepulcher of our spiritual death, crying, "lazarus, come forth"? oh, my christian friends, this is no time for inertia, when all the forces of darkness seem to be in full blast; when steam printing-presses are publishing infidel tracts; when express railroad trains are carrying messengers of sin; when fast clippers are laden with opium and rum; when the night-air of our cities is polluted with the laughter that breaks up from the ten thousand saloons of dissipation and abandonment; when the fires of the second death already are kindled in the cheeks of some who, only a little while ago, were incorrupt. oh, never since the curse fell upon the earth has there been a time when it was such an unwise, such a cruel, such an awful thing for the church to sleep! the great audiences are not gathered in the christian churches; the great audiences are gathered in temples of sin--tears of unutterable woe their baptism, the blood of crushed hearts the awful wine of their sacrament, blasphemies their litany, and the groans of the lost world the organ dirge of their worship. ii. again, if you want to be qualified to meet the duties which this age demands of you, you must on the one hand avoid reckless iconoclasm, and on the other hand not stick too much to things because they are old. the air is full of new plans, new projects, new theories of government, new theologies, and i am amazed to see how so many christians want only novelty in order to recommend a thing to their confidence; and so they vacillate and swing to and fro, and they are useless, and they are unhappy. new plans--secular, ethical, philosophical, religious, cisatlantic, transatlantic--long enough to make a line reaching from the german universities to great salt lake city. ah, my brother, do not take hold of a thing merely because it is new. try it by the realities of a judgment day. but, on the other hand, do not adhere to any thing merely because it is old. there is not a single enterprise of the church or the world but has sometimes been scoffed at. there was a time when men derided even bible societies; and when a few young men met near a hay-stack in massachusetts and organized the first missionary society ever organized in this country, there went laughter and ridicule all around the christian church. they said the undertaking was preposterous. and so also the work of jesus christ was assailed. people cried out, "who ever heard of such theories of ethics and government? who ever noticed such a style of preaching as jesus has?" ezekiel had talked of mysterious wings and wheels. here came a man from capernaum and gennesaret, and he drew his illustration from the lakes, from the sand, from the ravine, from the lilies, from the corn-stalks. how the pharisees scoffed! how herod derided! how caiaphas hissed! and this jesus they plucked by the beard, and they spat in his face, and they called him "this fellow!" all the great enterprises in and out of the church have at times been scoffed at, and there have been a great multitude who have thought that the chariot of god's truth would fall to pieces if it once got out of the old rut. and so there are those who have no patience with anything like improvement in church architecture, or with anything like good, hearty, earnest church singing, and they deride any form of religious discussion which goes down walking among every-day men rather than that which makes an excursion on rhetorical stilts. oh, that the church of god would wake up to an adaptability of work! we must admit the simple fact that the churches of jesus christ in this day do not reach the great masses. there are fifty thousand people in edinburgh who never hear the gospel. there are one million people in london who never hear the gospel. there are at least three hundred thousand souls in the city of brooklyn who come not under the immediate ministrations of christ's truth; and the church of god in this day, instead of being a place full of living epistles, read and known of all men, is more like a "dead-letter" post-office. "but," say the people, "the world is going to be converted; you must be patient; the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of christ," never, unless the church of jesus christ puts on more speed and energy. instead of the church converting the world, the world is converting the church. here is a great fortress. how shall it be taken? an army comes and sits around about it, cuts off the supplies, and says: "now we will just wait until from exhaustion and starvation they will have to give up." weeks and months, and perhaps a year, pass along, and finally the fortress surrenders through that starvation and exhaustion. but, my friends, the fortresses of sin are never to be taken in that way. if they are taken for god it will be by storm; you will have to bring up the great siege guns of the gospel to the very wall and wheel the flying artillery into line, and when the armed infantry of heaven shall confront the battlements you will have to give the quick command, "forward! charge!" ah, my friends, there is work for you to do and for me to do in order to this grand accomplishment! here is my pulpit, and i preach in it. your pulpit is the bank. your pulpit is the store. your pulpit is the editorial chair. your pulpit is the anvil. your pulpit is the house scaffolding. your pulpit is the mechanic's shop. i may stand in this place and, through cowardice or through self-seeking, may keep back the word i ought to utter; while you, with sleeve rolled up and brow besweated with toil, may utter the word that will jar the foundations of heaven with the shout of a great victory. oh, that this morning this whole audience might feel that the lord almighty was putting upon them the hands of ordination. i tell you, every one, go forth and preach this gospel. you have as much right to preach as i have, or as any man has. only find out the pulpit where god will have you preach, and there preach. hedley vicars was a wicked man in the english army. the grace of god came to him. he became an earnest and eminent christian. they scoffed at him, and said: "you are a hypocrite; you are as bad as ever you were." still he kept his faith in christ, and after awhile, finding that they could not turn him aside by calling him a hypocrite, they said to him: "oh, you are nothing but a methodist." that did not disturb him. he went on performing his christian duty until he had formed all his troop into a bible-class, and the whole encampment was shaken with the presence of god. so havelock went into the heathen temple in india while the english army was there, and put a candle into the hand of each of the heathen gods that stood around in the heathen temple, and by the light of those candles, held up by the idols, general havelock preached righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. and who will say, on earth or in heaven, that havelock had not the right to preach? in the minister's house where i prepared for college, there was a man who worked, by the name of peter croy. he could neither read nor write, but he was a man of god. often theologians would stop in the house--grave theologians--and at family prayers peter croy would be called upon to lead; and all those wise men sat around, wonder-struck at his religious efficiency. when he prayed he reached up and seemed to take hold of the very throne of the almighty, and he talked with god until the very heavens were bowed down into the sitting-room. oh, if i were dying i would rather have plain peter croy kneel by my bedside and commend my immortal spirit to god than the greatest archbishop, arrayed in costly canonicals. go preach this gospel. you say you are not licensed. in the name of the lord almighty, this morning, i license you. go preach this gospel--preach it in the sabbath-schools, in the prayer-meetings, in the highways, in the hedges. woe be unto you if you preach it not. iii. i remark, again, that in order to be qualified to meet your duty in this particular age you want unbounded faith in the triumph of the truth and the overthrow of wickedness. how dare the christian church ever get discouraged? have we not the lord almighty on our side? how long did it take god to slay the hosts of sennacherib or burn sodom or shake down jericho? how long will it take god, when he once arises in his strength, to overthrow all the forces of iniquity? between this time and that there may be long seasons of darkness--the chariot-wheels of god's gospel may seem to drag heavily; but here is the promise, and yonder is the throne; and when omniscience has lost its eyesight, and omnipotence falls back impotent, and jehovah is driven from his throne, then the church of jesus christ can afford to be despondent, but never until then. despots may plan and armies may march, and the congresses of the nations may seem to think they are adjusting all the affairs of the world, but the mighty men of the earth are only the dust of the chariot-wheels of god's providence. i think that before the sun of this century shall set the last tyranny will fall, and with a splendor of demonstration that shall be the astonishment of the universe god will set forth the brightness and pomp and glory and perpetuity of his eternal government. out of the starry flags and the emblazoned insignia of this world god will make a path for his own triumph, and, returning from universal conquest, he will sit down, the grandest, strongest, highest throne of earth his footstool. "then shall all nations' song ascend to thee, our ruler, father, friend, till heaven's high arch resounds again with 'peace on earth, good will to men.'" i preach this sermon because i want to encourage all christian workers in every possible department. hosts of the living god, march on! march on! his spirit will bless you. his shield will defend you. his sword will strike for you. march on! march on! the despotism will fall, and paganism will burn its idols, and mohammedanism will give up its false prophet, and judaism will confess the true messiah, and the great walls of superstition will come down in thunder and wreck at the long, loud blast of the gospel trumpet. march on! march on! the besiegement will soon be ended. only a few more steps on the long way; only a few more sturdy blows; only a few more battle cries, then god will put the laurel upon your brow, and from the living fountains of heaven will bathe off the sweat and the heat and the dust of the conflict. march on! march on! for you the time for work will soon be passed, and amid the outflashings of the judgment throne, and the trumpeting of resurrection angels, and the upheaving of a world of graves, and the hosanna and the groaning of the saved and the lost, we shall be rewarded for our faithfulness or punished for our stupidity. blessed be the lord god of israel from everlasting to everlasting, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. amen and amen. capital and labor. "whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."--matt. vii: . the greatest war the world has ever seen is between capital and labor. the strife is not like that which in history is called the thirty years' war, for it is a war of centuries, it is a war of the five continents, it is a war hemispheric. the middle classes in this country, upon whom the nation has depended for holding the balance of power and for acting as mediators between the two extremes, are diminishing; and if things go on at the same ratio as they are now going, it will not be very long before there will be no middle class in this country, but all will be very rich or very poor, princes or paupers, and the country will be given up to palaces and hovels. the antagonistic forces are closing in upon each other. the telegraphic operators' strikes, the railroad employés' strikes, the pennsylvania miners' strikes, the movements of the boycotters and the dynamiters are only skirmishes before a general engagement, or, if you prefer it, escapes through the safety-valves of an imprisoned force which promises the explosion of society. you may pooh-pooh it; you may say that this trouble, like an angry child, will cry itself to sleep; you may belittle it by calling it fourierism, or socialism, or st. simonism, or nihilism, or communism; but that will not hinder the fact that it is the mightiest, the darkest, the most terrific threat of this century. all attempts at pacification have been dead failures, and monopoly is more arrogant, and the trades unions more bitter. "give us more wages," cry the employés. "you shall have less," say the capitalists. "compel us to do fewer hours of toil in a day." "you shall toil more hours," say the others. "then, under certain conditions, we will not work at all," say these. "then you shall starve," say those, and the workmen gradually using up that which they accumulated in better times, unless there be some radical change, we shall have soon in this country three million hungry men and women. now, three million hungry people can not be kept quiet. all the enactments of legislatures and all the constabularies of the cities, and all the army and navy of the united states can not keep three million hungry people quiet. what then? will this war between capital and labor be settled by human wisdom? never. the brow of the one becomes more rigid, the fist of the other more clinched. but that which human wisdom can not achieve will be accomplished by christianity if it be given full sway. you have heard of medicines so powerful that one drop would stop a disease and restore a patient; and i have to tell you that one drop of my text properly administered will stop all those woes of society and give convalescence and complete health to all classes. "whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." i shall first show you this morning how this quarrel between monopoly and hard work can not be stopped, and then i will show you how this controversy will be settled. futile remedies. in the first place, there will come no pacification to this trouble through an outcry against rich men merely because they are rich. there is no member of a trades-union on earth that would not be rich if he could be. sometimes through a fortunate invention, or through some accident of prosperity, a man who had nothing comes to large estate, and we see him arrogant and supercilious, and taking people by the throat just as other people took him by the throat. there is something very mean about human nature when it comes to the top. but it is no more a sin to be rich than it is a sin to be poor. there are those who have gathered a great estate through fraud, and then there are millionaires who have gathered their fortune through foresight in regard to changes in the markets, and through brilliant business faculty, and every dollar of their estate is as honest as the dollar which the plumber gets for mending a pipe, or the mason gets for building a wall. there are those who keep in poverty because of their own fault. they might have been well-off, but they smoked or chewed up their earnings, or they lived beyond their means, while others on the same wages and on the same salaries went on to competency. i know a man who is all the time complaining of his poverty and crying out against rich men, while he himself keeps two dogs, and chews and smokes, and is filled to the chin with whisky and beer! micawber said to david copperfield: "copperfield, my boy, one pound income, twenty shillings and sixpence expenses: result misery. but, copperfield, my boy, one pound income, expenses nineteen shillings and sixpence; result, happiness." and there are vast multitudes of people who are kept poor because they are the victims of their own improvidence. it is no sin to be rich, and it is no sin to be poor. i protest against this outcry which i hear against those who, through economy and self-denial and assiduity, have come to large fortune. this bombardment of commercial success will never stop this quarrel between capital and labor. neither will the contest be settled by cynical and unsympathetic treatment of the laboring classes. there are those who speak of them as though they were only cattle or draught horses. their nerves are nothing, their domestic comfort is nothing, their happiness is nothing. they have no more sympathy for them than a hound has for a hare, or a hawk for a hen, or a tiger for a calf. when jean valjean, the greatest hero of victor hugo's writings, after a life of suffering and brave endurance, goes into incarceration and death, they clap the book shut and say, "good for him!" they stamp their feet with indignation and say just the opposite of "save the working-classes." they have all their sympathies with shylock, and not with antonio and portia. they are plutocrats, and their feelings are infernal. they are filled with irritation and irascibility on this subject. to stop this awful imbroglio between capital and labor they will lift not so much as the tip end of the little finger. neither will there be any pacification of this angry controversy through violence. god never blessed murder. the poorest use you can put a man to is to kill him. blow up to-morrow all the country-seats on the banks of the hudson, and all the fine houses on madison square, and brooklyn heights, and bunker hill, and rittenhouse square, and beacon street, and all the bricks and timber and stone will just fall back on the bare head of american labor. the worst enemies of the working-classes in the united states and ireland are their demented coadjutors. assassination--the assassination of lord frederick cavendish and mr. burke in phoenix park, dublin, ireland, in the attempt to avenge the wrongs of ireland, only turned away from that afflicted people millions of sympathizers. the recent attempt to blow up the house of commons, in london, had only this effect: to throw out of employment tens of thousands of innocent irish people in england. in this country the torch put to the factories that have discharged hands for good or bad reason; obstructions on the rail-track in front of midnight express trains because the offenders do not like the president of the company; strikes on shipboard the hour they were going to sail, or in printing-offices the hour the paper was to go to press, or in mines the day the coal was to be delivered, or on house scaffoldings so the builder fails in keeping his contract--all these are only a hard blow on the head of american labor, and cripple its arms, and lame its feet, and pierce its heart. take the last great strike in america--the telegraph operators' strike--and you have to find that the operators lost four hundred thousand dollars' worth of wages, and have had poorer wages ever since. traps sprung suddenly upon employers, and violence, never took one knot out of the knuckle of toil, or put one farthing of wages into a callous palm. barbarism will never cure the wrongs of civilization. mark that! frederick the great admired some land near his palace at potsdam, and he resolved to get it. it was owned by a miller. he offered the miller three times the value of the property. the miller would not take it, because it was the old homestead, and he felt about as naboth felt about his vineyard when ahab wanted it. frederick the great was a rough and terrible man, and he ordered the miller into his presence; and the king, with a stick, in his hand--a stick with which he sometimes struck his officers of state--said to this miller: "now, i have offered you three times the value of that property, and if you won't sell it i'll take it anyhow." the miller said, "your majesty, you won't." "yes," said the king, "i will take it." "then," said the miller, "if your majesty does take it, i will sue you in the chancery court." at that threat frederick the great yielded his infamous demand. and the most imperious outrage against the working-classes will yet cower before the law. violence and contrary to the law will never accomplish anything, but righteousness and according to law will accomplish it. well, if this controversy between capital and labor can not be settled by human wisdom, if to-day capital and labor stand with their thumbs on each other's throat--as they do--it is time for us to look somewhere else for relief, and it points from my text roseate and jubilant, and puts one hand on the broadcloth shoulder of capital, and puts the other hand on the homespun-covered shoulder of toil, and says, with a voice that will grandly and gloriously settle this, and settle everything, "whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." that is, the lady of the household will say: "i must treat the maid in the kitchen just as i would like to be treated if i were down-stairs, and it were my work to wash, and cook, and sweep, and it were the duty of the maid in the kitchen to preside in this parlor." the maid in the kitchen must say: "if my employer seems to be more prosperous than i, that is no fault of hers; i shall not treat her as an enemy. i will have the same industry and fidelity down-stairs as i would expect from my subordinates, if i happened to be the wife of a silk importer." the owner of an iron mill, having taken a dose of my text before leaving home in the morning, will go into his foundry, and, passing into what is called the puddling-room, he will see a man there stripped to the waist, and besweated and exhausted with the labor and the toil, and he will say to him: "why, it seems to be very hot in here. you look very much exhausted. i hear your child is sick with scarlet fever. if you want your wages a little earlier this week, so as to pay the nurse and get the medicines, just come into my office any time." after awhile, crash goes the money market, and there is no more demand for the articles manufactured in that iron mill, and the owner does not know what to do. he says, "shall i stop the mill, or shall i run it on half time, or shall i cut down the men's wages?" he walks the floor of his counting-room all day, hardly knowing what to do. toward evening he calls all the laborers together. they stand all around, some with arms akimbo, some with folded arms, wondering what the boss is going to do now. the manufacturer says: "men, times are very hard; i don't make twenty dollars where i used to make one hundred. somehow, there is no demand now for what we manufacture, or but very little demand. you see i am at vast expense, and i have called you together this afternoon to see what you would advise. i don't want to shut up the mill, because that would force you out of work, and you have always been very faithful, and i like you, and you seem to like me, and the bairns must be looked after, and your wife will after awhile want a new dress. i don't know what to do." there is a dead halt for a minute or two, and then one of the workmen steps out from the ranks of his fellows, and says: "boss, you have been very good to us, and when you prospered we prospered, and now you are in a tight place and i am sorry, and we have got to sympathize with you. i don't know how the others feel, but i propose that we take off twenty per cent. from our wages, and that when the times get good you will remember us and raise them again." the workman looks around to his comrades, and says: "boys, what do you say to this? all in favor of my proposition will say ay." "ay! ay! ay!" shout two hundred voices. but the mill-owner, getting in some new machinery, exposes himself very much, and takes cold, and it settles into pneumonia, and he dies. in the procession to the tomb are all the workmen, tears rolling down their cheeks, and off upon the ground; but an hour before the procession gets to the cemetery the wives and the children of those workmen are at the grave waiting for the arrival of the funeral pageant. the minister of religion may have delivered an eloquent eulogium before they started from the house, but the most impressive things are said that day by the working-classes standing around the tomb. that night in all the cabins of the working-people where they have family prayers the widowhood and the orphanage in the mansion are remembered. no glaring populations look over the iron fence of the cemetery; but, hovering over the scene, the benediction of god and man is coming for the fulfillment of the christlike injunction, "whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." "oh," says some man here, "that is all utopian, that is apocryphal, that is impossible." no. yesterday, i cut out of a paper this: "one of the pleasantest incidents recorded in a long time is reported from sheffield, england. the wages of the men in the iron works at sheffield are regulated by a board of arbitration, by whose decision both masters and men are bound. for some time past the iron and steel trade has been extremely unprofitable, and the employers can not, without much loss, pay the wages fixed by the board, which neither employers nor employed have the power to change. to avoid this difficulty, the workmen in one of the largest steel works in sheffield hit upon a device as rare as it was generous. they offered to work for their employers one week without any pay whatever. how much better that plan is than a strike would be." but you go with me and i will show you--not so far off as sheffield, england--factories, banking-houses, storehouses, and costly enterprises where this christ-like injunction of my text is fully kept, and you could no more get the employer to practice an injustice upon his men, or the men to conspire against the employer, than you could get your right hand and your left hand, your right eye and your left eye, your right ear and your left ear, into physiological antagonism. now, where is this to begin? in our homes, in our stores, on our farms--not waiting for other people to do their duty. is there a divergence now between the parlor and the kitchen? then there is something wrong, either in the parlor or the kitchen, perhaps in both. are the clerks in your store irate against the firm? then there is something wrong, either behind the counter, or in the private office, or perhaps in both. the great want of the world to-day is the fulfillment of this christ-like injunction, that which he promulgated in his sermon olivetic. all the political economists under the arch or vault of the heavens in convention for a thousand years can not settle this controversy between monopoly and hard work, between capital and labor. during the revolutionary war there was a heavy piece of timber to be lifted, perhaps for some fortress, and a corporal was overseeing the work, and he was giving commands to some soldiers as they lifted: "heave away, there! yo heave!" well, the timber was too heavy; they could not get it up. there was a gentleman riding by on a horse, and he stopped and said to this corporal, "why don't you help them lift? that timber is too heavy for them to lift." "no," he said, "i won't; i am a corporal." the gentleman got off his horse and came up to the place. "now," he said to the soldiers, "all together--yo heave!" and the timber went to its place. "now," said the gentleman to the corporal, "when you have a piece of timber too heavy for the men to lift, and you want help, you send to your commander-in-chief." it was washington. now, that is about all the gospel i know--the gospel of giving somebody a lift, a lift out of darkness, a lift out of earth into heaven. that is all the gospel i know--the gospel of helping somebody else to lift. "oh," says some wiseacre, "talk as you will, the law of demand and supply will regulate these things until the end of time." no, they will not, unless god dies and the batteries of the judgment day are spiked, and pluto and proserpine, king and queen of the infernal regions, take full possession of this world. do you know who supply and demand are? they have gone into partnership, and they propose to swindle this earth and are swindling it. you are drowning. supply and demand stand on the shore, one on one side, the other on the other side, of the life-boat, and they cry out to you, "now, you pay us what we ask you for getting you to shore, or go to the bottom!" if you can borrow $ you can keep from failing in business. supply and demand say, "now, you pay us exorbitant usury, or you go into bankruptcy." this robber firm of supply and demand say to you: "the crops are short. we bought up all the wheat and it is in our bin. now, you pay our price or starve." that is your magnificent law of supply and demand. supply and demand own the largest mill on earth, and all the rivers roll over their wheel, and into their hopper they put all the men, women, and children they can shovel out of the centuries, and the blood and the bones redden the valley while the mill grinds. that diabolic law of supply and demand will yet have to stand aside, and instead thereof will come the law of love, the law of cooperation, the law of kindness, the law of sympathy, the law of christ. have you no idea of the coming of such a time? then you do not believe the bible. all the bible is full of promises on this subject, and as the ages roll on the time will come when men or fortune will be giving larger sums to humanitarian and evangelistic purposes, and there will be more james lenoxes and peter coopers and william e. dodges and george peabodys. as that time comes there will be more parks, more picture-galleries, more gardens thrown open for the holiday people and the working-classes. i was reading only this morning in regard to a charge that had been made in england against lambeth palace, that it was exclusive; and that charge demonstrated the sublime fact that to the grounds of that wealthy estate eight hundred poor families have free passes, and forty croquet companies, and on the hall-day holidays four thousand poor people recline on the grass, walk through the paths, and sit under the trees. that is gospel--gospel on the wing, gospel out-of-doors worth just as much as in-doors. that time is going to come. that is only a hint of what is going to be. the time is going to come when, if you have anything in your house worth looking at--pictures, pieces of sculpture--you are going to invite me to come and see it, you are going to invite my friends to come and see it, and you will say, "see what i have been blessed with. god has given me this, and so far as enjoying it, it is yours also." that is gospel. in crossing the alleghany mountains, many years ago, the stage halted, and henry clay dismounted from the stage, and went out on a rock at the very verge of the cliff, and he stood there with his cloak wrapped about him, and he seemed to be listening for something. some one said to him, "what are you listening for?" standing there, on the top of the mountain, he said: "i am listening to the tramp of the footsteps of the coming millions of this continent." a sublime posture for an american statesman! you and i to-day stand on the mountain-top of privilege, and on the rock of ages, and we look off, and we hear coming from the future the happy industries, and smiling populations, and the consecrated fortunes, and the innumerable prosperities of the closing nineteenth and the opening twentieth century. while i speak this morning, there lies in state the dead author and patriot of france, victor hugo. the ten thousand dollars in his will he has given to the poor of the city are only a hint of the work he has done for all nations and for all times. i wonder not that they allow eleven days to pass between his death and his burial, his body meantime kept under triumphal arch, for the world can hardly afford to let go this man who for more than eight decades has by his unparalleled genius blessed it. his name shall be a terror to all despots, and an encouragement to all the struggling. he has made the world's burden lighter, and its darkness less dense, and its chain less galling, and its thrones of iniquity less secure. farewell, patriot, genius of the century, victor hugo! but he was not the overtowering friend of mankind. the greatest friend of capitalist and toiler, and the one who will yet bring them together in complete accord, was born one christmas night while the curtains of heaven swung, stirred by the wings angelic. owner of all things--all the continents, all worlds, and all the islands of light. capitalist of immensity, crossing over to our condition. coming into our world, not by gate of palace, but by door of barn. spending his first night amid the shepherds. gathering after around him the fishermen to be his chief attendants. with adze, and saw, and chisel, and ax, and in a carpenter-shop showing himself brother with the tradesmen. owner of all things, and yet on a hillock back of jerusalem one day resigning everything for others, keeping not so much as a shekel to pay for his obsequies, by charity buried in the suburbs of a city that had cast him out. before the cross of such a capitalist, and such a carpenter, all men can afford to shake hands and worship. here is the every man's christ. none so high, but he was higher. none so poor, but he was poorer. at his feet the hostile extremes will yet renounce their animosities, and countenances which have glowered with the prejudices and revenge of centuries shall brighten with the smile of heaven as he commands: "whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." despotism of the needle. "so i returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there was power; but they had no comforter."--eccles. iv: . very long ago the needle was busy. it was considered honorable for women to toil in olden time. alexander the great stood in his palace showing garments made by his own mother. the finest tapestries at bayeux were made by the queen of william the conqueror. augustus, the emperor, would not wear any garments except those that were fashioned by some member of his royal family. so let the toiler everywhere be respected! the needle has slain more than the sword. when the sewing-machine was invented some thought that invention would alleviate woman's toil and put an end to the despotism of the needle. but no; while the sewing-machine has been a great blessing to well-to-do families in many cases, it has added to the stab of the needle the crush of the wheel; and multitudes of women, notwithstanding the re-enforcement of the sewing-machines, can only make, work hard as they will, between two dollars and three dollars per week. the greatest blessing that could have happened to our first parents was being turned out of eden after they had done wrong. adam and eve, in their perfect state, might have got along without work, or only such slight employment as a perfect garden with no weeds in it demanded. but as soon as they had sinned, the best thing for them was to be turned out where they would have to work. we know what a withering thing it is for a man to have nothing to do. old ashbel green, at fourscore years, when asked why he kept on working, said: "i do so to keep out of mischief." we see that a man who has a large amount of money to start with has no chance. of the thousand prosperous and honorable men that you know, nine hundred and ninety-nine had to work vigorously at the beginning. but i am now to tell you that industry is just as important for a woman's safety and happiness. the most unhappy women in our communities to-day are those who have no engagements to call them up in the morning; who, once having risen and breakfasted, lounge through the dull forenoon in slippers down at the heel and with disheveled hair, reading ouida's last novel, and who, having dragged through a wretched forenoon and taken their afternoon sleep, and having passed an hour and a half at their toilet, pick up their card-case and go out to make calls, and who pass their evenings waiting for somebody to come in and break up the monotony. arabella stuart never was imprisoned in so dark a dungeon as that. there is no happiness in an idle woman. it may be with hand, it may be with brain, it may be with foot; but work she must, or be wretched forever. the little girls of our families must be started with that idea. the curse of american society is that our young women are taught that the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, tenth, fiftieth, thousandth thing in their life is to get somebody to take care of them. instead of that, the first lesson should be how under god they may take care of themselves. the simple fact is that a majority of them do have to take care of themselves, and that, too, after having, through the false notions of their parents, wasted the years in which they ought to have learned how successfully to maintain themselves. we now and here declare the inhumanity, cruelty, and outrage of that father and mother who pass their daughters into womanhood, having given them no facility for earning their livelihood. madame de staël said: "it is not these writings that i am proud of, but the fact that i have facility in ten occupations, in any one of which i could make a livelihood." you say you have a fortune to leave them. oh, man and woman, have you not learned that like vultures, like hawks, like eagles, riches have wings and fly away? though you should be successful in leaving a competency behind you, the trickery of executors may swamp it in a night? or some officials in our churches may get up a mining company and induce your orphans to put their money into a hole in colorado, and if by the most skillful machinery the sunken money can not be brought up again, prove to them, that it was eternally decreed that that was the way they were to lose it, and that it went in the most orthodox and heavenly style. oh, the damnable schemes that professed christians will engage in until god puts his fingers into the collar of the hypocrite's robe and strips it clear down to the bottom! you have no right, because you are well off, to conclude that your children are going to be as well off. a man died leaving a large fortune. his son fell dead in a philadelphia grog-shop. his old comrades came in and said as they bent over his corpse: "what is the matter with you, boggsey?" the surgeon standing over him said: "hush ye! he is dead!" "oh, he is dead," they said. "come, boys; let us go and take a drink in memory of poor boggsey!" have you nothing better than money to leave your children? if you have not, but send your daughters into the world with empty brain and unskilled hand, you are guilty of assassination, homicide, regicide, infanticide. there are women toiling in our cities for two and three dollars per week who were the daughters of merchant princes. these suffering ones now would be glad to have the crumbs that once fell from their fathers' table. that worn-out, broken shoe that she wears is the lineal descendant of the twelve-dollar gaiters in which her mother walked; and that torn and faded calico had ancestry of magnificent brocade that swept broadway clean without any expense to the street commissioners. though you live in an elegant residence and fare sumptuously every day, let your daughters feel it is a disgrace to them not to know how to work. i denounce the idea prevalent in society that, though our young women may embroider slippers and crochet and make mats for lamps to stand on without disgrace, the idea of doing anything for a livelihood is dishonorable. it is a shame for a young woman belonging to a large family to be inefficient when the father toils his life away for her support. it is a shame for a daughter to be idle while her mother toils at the wash-tub. it is as honorable to sweep the house, make beds or trim hats as it is to twist a watch-chain. as far as i can understand, the line of respectability lies between that which is useful and that which is useless. if women do that which is of no value, their work is honorable. if they do practical work, it is dishonorable. that our young women may escape the censure of doing dishonorable work, i shall particularize. you may knit a tidy for the back of an arm-chair, but by no means make the money wherewith to buy the chair. you may with a delicate brush beautify a mantel ornament, but die rather than earn enough to buy a marble mantel. you may learn artistic music until you can squall italian, but never sing "ortonville" or "old hundred." do nothing practical if you would in the eyes of refined society preserve your respectability. i scout these fine notions. i tell you a woman, no more than a man, has a right to occupy a place in this world unless she pays a rent for it. in the course of a life-time you consume whole harvests and droves of cattle, and every day you live, breathe forty hogsheads of good, pure air. you must by some kind of usefulness pay for all this. our race was the last thing created--the birds and fishes on the fourth day, the cattle and lizards on the fifth day, and man on the sixth day. if geologists are right, the earth was a million of years in the possession of the insects, beasts, and birds before our race came upon it. in one sense we were innovators. the cattle, the lizards, and the hawks had pre-emption right. the question is not what we are to do with the lizards and summer insects, but what the lizards and summer insects are to do with us. if we want a place in this world, we must earn it. the partridge makes its own nest before it occupies it. the lark by its morning song earns its breakfast before it eats it, and the bible gives an intimation that the first duty of an idler is to starve when it says: "if he will not work, neither shall he eat." idleness ruins the health; and very soon nature says: "this man has refused to pay his rent, out with him!" society is to be reconstructed on the subject of woman's toil. a vast majority of those who would have woman industrious shut her up to a few kinds of work. my judgment in this matter is that a woman has a right to do anything that she can do well. there should be no department of merchandise, mechanism, art, or science barred against her. if miss hosmer has genius for sculpture, give her a chisel. if rosa bonheur has a fondness for delineating animals, let her make "the horse fair." if miss mitchell will study astronomy, let her mount the starry ladder. if lydia will be a merchant, let her sell purple. if lucretia mott will preach the gospel, let her thrill with her womanly eloquence the quaker meeting-house. it is said, if woman is given such opportunities she will occupy places that might be taken by men. i say, if she have more skill and adaptedness for any position than a man has, let her have it! she has as much right to her bread, to her apparel, and to her home, as men have. but it is said that her nature is so delicate that she is unfitted for exhausting toil. i ask in the name of all past history what toil on earth is more severe, exhausting, and tremendous than that toil of the needle to which for ages she has been subjected? the battering-ram, the sword, the carbine, the battle-ax, have made no such havoc as the needle. i would that these living sepulchers in which women have for ages been buried might be opened, and that some resurrection trumpet might bring up these living corpses to the fresh air and sunlight. go with me and i will show you a woman who by hardest toil supports her children, her drunken husband, her old father and mother, pays her house rent, always has wholesome food on her table, and when she can get some neighbor on the sabbath to come in and take care of her family, appears in church with hat and cloak that are far from indicating the toil to which she is subjected. such a woman as that has body and soul enough to fit her for any position. she could stand beside the majority of your salesmen and dispose of more goods. she could go into your wheelwright shops and beat one half of your workmen at making carriages. we talk about woman as though we had resigned to her all the light work, and ourselves had shouldered the heavier. but the day of judgment, which will reveal the sufferings of the stake and inquisition, will marshal before the throne of god and the hierarchs of heaven the martyrs of wash-tub and needle. now, i say if there be any preference in occupation, let women have it. god knows her trials are the severest. by her acuter sensitiveness to misfortune, by her hour of anguish, i demand that no one hedge up her pathway to a livelihood. oh! the meanness, the despicability of men who begrudge a woman the right to work anywhere in any honorable calling! i go still further and say that woman should have equal compensation with men. by what principle of justice is it that women in many of our cities get only two thirds as much pay as men, and in many cases only half? here is the gigantic injustice--that for work equally well, if not better, done, woman receives far less compensation than man. start with the national government. women clerks in washington get nine hundred dollars for doing that for which men receive eighteen hundred dollars. the wheel of oppression is rolling over the necks of thousands of women who are at this moment in despair about what they are to do. many of the largest mercantile establishments of our cities are accessory to these abominations, and from their large establishments there are scores of souls being pitched off into death, and their employers know it. is there a god? will there be a judgment? i tell you, if god rises up to redress woman's wrongs, many of our large establishments will be swallowed up quicker than a south american earthquake ever took down a city. god will catch these oppressors between the two millstones of his wrath and grind them to powder. why is it that a female principal in a school gets only eight hundred and twenty-five dollars for doing work for which a male principal gets sixteen hundred and fifty dollars? i hear from all this land the wail of womanhood. man has nothing to answer to that wail but flatteries. he says she is an angel. she is not. she knows she is not. she is a human being who gets hungry when she has no food, and cold when she has no fire. give her no more flatteries; give her justice! there are sixty-five thousand sewing-girls in new york and brooklyn. across the sunlight comes their death groan. it is not such a cry as comes from those who are suddenly hurled out of life, but a slow, grinding, horrible wasting-away. gather them before you and look into their faces, pinched, ghastly, hunger-struck! look at their fingers, needle-pricked and blood-tipped! see that premature stoop in the shoulders! hear that dry, hacking, merciless cough! at a large meeting of these women held in a hall in philadelphia, grand speeches were delivered, but a needle-woman took the stand, threw aside her faded shawl, and with her shriveled arm hurled a very thunder-bolt of eloquence, speaking out the horrors of her own experience. stand at the corner of a street in new york at six or seven o'clock in the morning as the women go to work. many of them had no breakfast except the crumbs that were left over from the night before, or the crumbs they chew on their way through the street. here they come! the working-girls of new york and brooklyn. these engaged in head work, these in flower-making, in millinery, in paper-box making; but, most overworked of all and least compensated, the sewing-women. why do they not take the city cars on their way up? they can not afford the five cents. if, concluding to deny herself something else, she gets into the car, give her a seat. you want to see how latimer and ridley appeared in the fire. look at that woman and behold a more horrible martyrdom, a hotter fire, a more agonizing death. ask that woman how much she gets for her work, and she will tell you six cents for making coarse shirts and find her own thread. years ago, one sabbath night in the vestibule of this church, after service, a woman fell in convulsions. the doctor said she needed medicine not so much as something to eat. as she began to revive, in her delirium she said, gaspingly: "eight cents! eight cents! eight cents! i wish i could get it done, i am so tired. i wish i could get some sleep, but i must get it done. eight cents! eight cents! eight cents!" we found afterward that she was making garments for eight cents apiece, and that she could make but three of them in a day. hear it! three times eight are twenty-four. hear it, men and women who have comfortable homes! some of the worst villains of our cities are the employers of these women. they beat them down to the last penny and try to cheat them out of that. the woman must deposit a dollar or two before she gets the garments to work on. when the work is done it is sharply inspected, the most insignificant flaws picked out, and the wages refused and sometimes the dollar deposited not given back. the women's protective union reports a case where one of the poor souls, finding a place where she could get more wages, resolved to change employers, and went to get her pay for work done. the employer says: "i hear you are going to leave me?" "yes," she said, "and i have come to get what you owe me." he made no answer. she said: "are you not going to pay me?" "yes," he said, "i will pay you," and he kicked her down-stairs. oh, that women's protective union, clinton place, new york! the blessings of heaven be on it for the merciful and divine work it is doing in the defense of toiling womanhood! what tragedies of suffering are presented to them day by day! a paragraph from their report: "'can you make mr. jones pay me? he owes me for three weeks at $ . a week, and i can't get anything, and my child is very sick!' the speaker, a young woman lately widowed, burst into a flood of tears as she spoke. she was bidden to come again the next afternoon and repeat her story to the attorney at his usual weekly hearing of frauds and impositions. means were found by which mr. jones was induced to pay the $ . ." another paragraph from their report: "a fortnight had passed, when she modestly hinted a desire to know how much her services were worth. 'oh, my dear,' he replied, 'you are getting to be one of the most valuable hands in the trade; you will always get the very best price. ten dollars a week you will be able to earn very easily.' and the girl's fingers flew on with her work at a marvelous rate. the picture of $ a week had almost turned her head. a few nights later, while crossing the ferry, she overheard the name of her employer in the conversation of girls who stood near: 'what, john snipes? why, he don't pay! look out for him every time. he'll keep you on trial, as he calls it, for weeks, and then he'll let you go, and get some other fool!' and thus jane smith gained her warning against the swindler. but the union held him in the toils of the law until he paid the worth of each of those days of 'trial.'" another paragraph: "her mortification may be imagined when told that one of the two five-dollar bills which she had just received for her work was counterfeit. but her mortification was swallowed up in indignation when her employer denied having paid her the money, and insultingly asked her to prove it. when the protective union had placed this matter in the courts, the judge said: 'you will pay eleanor the amount of her claim, $ . , and also the costs of the court.'" how are these evils to be eradicated? some say: "give woman the ballot." what effect such ballot might have on other questions i am not here to discuss; but what would be the effect of female suffrage on women's wages? i do not believe that woman will ever get justice by woman's ballot. indeed, women oppress women as much as men do. do not women, as much as men, beat down to the lowest figure the woman who sews for them? are not women as sharp as men on washer-women and milliners and mantua-makers? if a woman asks a dollar for her work, does not her female employer ask her if she will not take ninety cents? you say, "only ten cents difference." but that is sometimes the difference between heaven and hell. women often have less commiseration for women than men. if a woman steps aside from the path of rectitude, man may forgive--woman never! woman will never get justice done her from woman's ballot. neither will she get it from man's ballot. how then? god will rise up for her. god has more resources than we know of. the flaming sword that hung at eden's gate when woman was driven out will cleave with its terrible edge her oppressors. but there is something for women to do. let young people prepare to excel in spheres of work, and they will be able after awhile to get larger wages. unskilled and incompetent labor must take what is given: skilled and competent labor will eventually make its own standard. admitting that the law of supply and demand regulates these things, i contend that the demand for skilled labor is very great and the supply very small. start with the idea that work is honorable, and that you can do some one thing better than anybody else. resolve that, god helping, you will take care of yourself. if you are after awhile called into another relation you will all the better be qualified for it by your spirit of self-reliance, or if you are called to stay as you are, you can be happy and self-supporting. poets are fond of talking about man as an oak and woman the vine that climbs it; but i have seen many a tree fall that not only went down itself, but took all the vines with it. i can tell you of something stronger than an oak for an ivy to climb on, and that is the throne of the great jehovah. single or affianced, that woman is strong who leans on god and does her best. many of you will go single-handed through life, and you will have to choose between two characters. young woman, i am sure you will turn your back upon the useless, giggling, irresponsible nonentity which society ignominiously acknowledges to be a woman, and ask god to make you an humble, active, earnest christian. what will become of that womanly disciple of the world? she is more thoughtful of the attitude she strikes upon the carpet than how she will look in the judgment; more worried about her freckles than her sins; more interested in her apparel than in her redemption. the dying actress whose life had been vicious said: "the scene closes--draw the curtain." generally the tragedy comes first and the farce afterward; but in her life it was first the farce of a useless life and then the tragedy of a wretched eternity. compare the life and death of such a one with that of some christian aunt that was once a blessing to your household. i do not know that she was ever asked to give her hand in marriage. she lived single, that, untrammeled, she might be everybody's blessing. whenever the sick were to be visited or the poor to be provided with bread she went with a blessing. she could pray or sing "rock of ages" for any sick pauper who asked her. as she got older there were many days when she was a little sharp, but for the most part auntie was a sunbeam--just the one for christmas eve. she knew better than any one else how to fix things. her every prayer, as god heard it, was full of everybody who had trouble. the brightest things in all the house dropped from her fingers. she had peculiar notions, but the grandest notion she ever had was to make you happy. she dressed well--auntie always dressed well; but her highest adornment was that of a meek and quiet spirit, which, in the sight of god, is of great price. when she died you all gathered lovingly about her; and as you carried her out to rest, the sunday-school class almost covered the coffin with japonicas; and the poor people stood at the end of the alley, with their aprons to their eyes, sobbing bitterly, and the man of the world said, with solomon: "her price was above rubies;" and jesus, as unto the maiden in judea, commanded, "i say unto thee, arise!" tobacco and opium. "let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed."--gen. i: . the two first born of our earth were the grass-blade and the herb. they preceded the brute creation and the human family--the grass for the animal creation, the herb for human service. the cattle came and took possession of their inheritance, the grass-blade; man came and took possession of his inheritance, the herb. we have the herb for food as in case of hunger, for narcotic as in case of insomnia, for anodyne as in case of paroxysm, for stimulant as when the pulses flag under the weight of disease. the caterer comes and takes the herb and presents it in all styles of delicacy. the physician comes and takes the herb and compounds it for physical recuperation. millions of people come and take the herb for ruinous physical and intellectual delectation. the herb, which was divinely created, and for good purposes, has often been degraded for bad results. there is a useful and a baneful employment of the herbaceous kingdom. there sprung up in yucatan of this continent an herb that has bewitched the world. in the fifteenth century it crossed the atlantic ocean and captured spain. afterward it captured portugal. then the french embassadors took it to paris, and it captured the french empire. then walter raleigh took it to london, and it captured great britain. nicotiana, ascribed to that genus by the botanists, but we all know it is the exhilarating, elevating, emparadising, nerve-shattering, dyspepsia-breeding, health-destroying tobacco. i shall not in my remarks be offensively personal, because you all use it, or nearly all! i know by experience how it soothes and roseates the world, and kindles sociality, and i also know some of its baleful results. i was its slave, and by the grace of god i have become its conqueror. tens of thousands of people have been asking the question during the past two months, asking it with great pathos and great earnestness: "does the use of tobacco produce cancerous and other troubles?" i shall not answer the question in regard to any particular case, but shall deal with the subject in a more general way. you say to me, "did god not create tobacco?" yes. you say to me, "is not god good?" yes. well, then, you say, "if god is good and he created tobacco, he must have created it for some good purpose." yes, your logic is complete. but god created the common sense at the same time, by which we are to know how to use a poison and how not to use it. god created that just as he created henbane and nux vomica and copperas and belladonna and all other poisons, whether directly created by himself or extracted by man. that it is a poison no man of common sense will deny. a case was reported where a little child lay upon its mother's lap and one drop fell from a pipe to the child's lip, and it went into convulsions and into death. but you say, "haven't people lived on in complete use of it to old age?" oh, yes; just as i have seen inebriates seventy years old. in boston, years ago, there was a meeting in which there were several centenarians, and they were giving their experience, and one centenarian said that he had lived over a hundred years, and that he ascribed it to the fact that he had refrained from the use of intoxicating liquors. right after him another centenarian said he had lived over a hundred years, and he ascribed it to the fact that for the last fifty years he had hardly seen a sober moment. it is an amazing thing how many outrages men may commit upon their physical system and yet live on. in the case of the man of the jug he lived on because his body was pickled. in the case of the man of the pipe, he lived on because his body turned into smoked liver! but are there no truths to be uttered in regard to this great evil? what is the advice to be given to the multitude of young people who hear me this day? what is the advice you are going to give to your children? first of all, we must advise them to abstain from the use of tobacco because all the medical fraternity of the united states and great britain agree in ascribing to this habit terrific unhealth. the men whose life-time work is the study of the science of health say so, and shall i set up my opinion against theirs? dr. agnew, dr. olcott, dr. barnes, dr. rush, dr. mott, dr. harvey, dr. hosack--all the doctors, allopathic, homeopathic, hydropathic, eclectic, denounce the habit as a matter of unhealth. a distinguished physician declared he considered the use of tobacco caused seventy different styles of disease, and he says: "of all the cases of cancer in the mouth that have come under my observation, almost in every case it has been ascribed to tobacco." the united testimony of all physicians is that it depresses the nervous system, that it takes away twenty-five per cent. of the physical vigor of this generation, and that it goes on as the years multiply and, damaging this generation with accumulated curse, it strikes other centuries. and if it is so deleterious to the body, how much more destructive to the mind. an eminent physician, who was the superintendent of the insane asylum at northampton, massachusetts, says: "fully one half the patients we get in our asylum have lost their intellect through the use of tobacco." if it is such a bad thing to injure the body, what a bad thing, what a worse thing it is to injure the mind, and any man of common sense knows that tobacco attacks the nervous system, and everybody knows that the nervous system attacks the mind. besides that, all reformers will tell you that the use of tobacco creates an unnatural thirst, and it is the cause of drunkenness in america to-day more than anything else. in all cases where you find men taking strong drink you find they use tobacco. there are men who use tobacco who do not take strong drink, but all who use strong drink use tobacco, and that shows beyond controversy there is an affinity between the two products. there are reformers here to-day who will testify to you it is impossible for a man to reform from taking strong drink until he quits tobacco. in many of the cases where men have been reformed from strong drink and have gone back to their cups, they have testified that they first touched tobacco and then they surrendered to intoxicants. i say in the presence of this assemblage to-day, in which there are many physicians--and they know that what i say is true on the subject--that the pathway to the drunkard's grave and the drunkard's hell is strewn thick with tobacco-leaves. what has been the testimony on this subject? is this a mere statement of a preacher whose business it is to talk morals, or is the testimony of the world just as emphatic? what did benjamin franklin say? "i never saw a well man in the exercise of common sense who would say that tobacco did him any good." what did thomas jefferson say? certainly he is good authority. he says in regard to the culture of tobacco, "it is a culture productive of infinite wretchdness." what did horace greeley say of it? "it is a profane stench." what did daniel webster say of it? "if those men must smoke, let them take the horse-shed!" one reason why the habit goes on from destruction to destruction is that so many ministers of the gospel take it. they smoke themselves into bronchitis, and then the dear people have to send them to europe to get them restored from exhausting religious services! they smoke until the nervous system is shattered. they smoke themselves to death. i could mention the names of five distinguished clergymen who died of cancer of the mouth, and the doctor said, in every case, it was the result of tobacco. the tombstone of many a minister of religion has been covered all over with handsome eulogy, when, if the true epitaph had been written, it would have said: "here lies a man killed by too much cavendish!" they smoke until the world is blue, and their theology is blue, and everything is blue. how can a man stand in the pulpit and preach on the subject of temperance when he is indulging such a habit as that? i have seen a cuspadore in a pulpit into which the holy man dropped his cud before he got up to read about "blessed are the pure in heart," and to read about the rolling of sin as a sweet morsel under the tongue, and to read about the unclean animals in leviticus that chewed the cud. about sixty-five years ago a student at andover theological seminary graduated into the ministry. he had an eloquence and a magnetism which sent him to the front. nothing could stand before him. but in a few months he was put in an insane asylum, and the physician said tobacco was the cause of the disaster. it was the custom in those days to give a portion of tobacco to every patient in the asylum. nearly twenty years passed along, and that man was walking the floor of his cell in the asylum, when his reason returned, and he saw the situation, and he took the tobacco from his mouth and threw it against the iron gate of the place in which he was confined, and he said: "what brought me here? what keeps me here? tobacco! tobacco! god forgive me, god help me, and i will never use it again." he was fully restored to reason, came forth, preached the gospel of christ for some ten years, and then went into everlasting blessedness. there are ministers of religion now in this country who are dying by inches, and they do not know what is the matter with them. they are being killed by tobacco. they are despoiling their influence through tobacco. they are malodorous with tobacco. i could give one paragraph of history, and that would be my own experience. it took ten cigars to make one sermon, and i got very nervous, and i awakened one day to see what an outrage i was committing upon my health by the use of tobacco. i was about to change settlement, and a generous tobacconist of philadelphia told me if i would come to philadelphia and be his pastor he would give me all the cigars i wanted for nothing all the rest of my life. i halted. i said to myself, "if i smoke more than i ought to now in these war times, and when my salary is small, what would i do if i had gratuitous and unlimited supply?" then and there, twenty-four years ago, i quit once and forever. it made a new man of me. much of the time the world looked blue before that, because i was looking through tobacco smoke. ever since the world has been full of sunshine, and though i have done as much work as any one of my age, god has blessed me, it seems to me, with the best health that a man ever had. i say that no minister of religion can afford to smoke. put in my hand all the money expended by christian men in brooklyn for tobacco, and i will support three orphan asylums as well and as grandly as the three great orphan asylums already established. put into my hand the money spent by the christians of america for tobacco, and i will clothe, shelter, and feed all the suffering poor of the continent. the american church gives a million dollars a year for the salvation of the heathen, and american christians smoke five million dollars' worth of tobacco. i stand here to-day in the presence of a vast multitude of young people who are forming their habits. between seventeen and twenty-five years of age a great many young men get on them habits in the use of tobacco that they never get over. let me say to all my young friends, you can not afford to smoke, you can not afford to chew. you either take very good tobacco, or you take very cheap tobacco. if it is cheap, i will tell you why it is cheap. it is made of burdock, and lampblack, and sawdust, and colt's-foot, and plantain leaves, and fuller's earth, and salt, and alum, and lime, and a little tobacco, and you can not afford to put such a mess as that in your mouth. but if you use expensive tobacco, do you not think it would be better for you to take that amount of money which you are now expending for this herb, and which you will expend during the course of your life if you keep the habit up, and with it buy a splendid farm and make the afternoon and the evening of your life comfortable? there are young men whose life is going out inch by inch from cigarettes. now, do you not think it would be well for you to listen to the testimony of a merchant of new york, who said this: "in early life i smoked six cigars a day at six and a half cents each. they averaged that. i thought to myself one day, i'll just put aside all i consume in cigars and all i would consume if i keep on in the habit, and i'll see what it will come to by compound interest." and he gives this tremendous statistic: "last july completed thirty-nine years since, by the grace of god, i was emancipated from the filthy habit, and the saving amounted to the enormous sum of $ , . by compound interest. we lived in the city, but the children, who had learned something of the enjoyment of country life from their annual visits to their grandparents, longed for a home among the green fields. i found a very pleasant place in the country for sale. the cigar money came into requisition, and i found it amounted to a sufficient sum to purchase the place, and it is mine. now, boys, you take your choice. smoking without a home, or a home without smoking." this is common sense as well as religion. i must say a word to my friends who smoke the best tobacco, and who could stop at any time. what is your christian influence in this respect? what is your influence upon young men? do you not think it would be better for you to exercise a little self-denial! people wondered why george briggs, governor of massachusetts, wore a cravat but no collar. "oh," they said, "it is an absurd eccentricity." this was the history of the cravat without any collar: for many years before he had been talking with an inebriate, trying to persuade him to give up the habit of drinking and he said to the inebriate, "your habit is entirely unnecessary." "ah!" replied the inebriate, "we do a great many things that are not necessary. it isn't necessary that you should have that collar." "well," said mr. briggs, "i'll never wear a collar again if you will stop drinking." "agreed," said the other. they joined hands in a pledge that they kept for twenty years--kept until death. that is magnificent. that is gospel, practical gospel, worthy of george briggs, worthy of you. self-denial for others. subtraction from our advantage that there may be an addition to somebody else's advantage. but what i have said has been chiefly appropriate for men. now my subject widens and shall be appropriate for both sexes. in all ages of the world there has been a search for some herb or flower that would stimulate lethargy and compose grief. among the ancient greeks and egyptians they found something they called nepenthe, and the theban women knew how to compound it. if a person should chew a few of those leaves his grief would be immediately whelmed with hilarity. nepenthe passed out from the consideration of the world and then came hasheesh, which is from the indian hemp. it is manufactured from the flowers at the top. the workman with leathern apparel walks through the field and the exudation of the plants adheres to the leathern garments, and then the man comes out and scrapes off this exudation, and it is mixed with aromatics and becomes an intoxicant that has brutalized whole nations. its first effect is sight, spectacle glorious and grand beyond all description, but afterward it pulls down body, mind, and soul into anguish. i knew one of the most brilliant men of our time. his appearance in a newspaper column, or a book, or a magazine was an enchantment. in the course of a half hour he could produce more wit and more valuable information than any man i ever heard talk. but he chewed hasheesh. he first took it out of curiosity to see whether the power said to be attached really existed. he took it. he got under the power of it. he tried to break loose. he put his hand in the cockatrice's den to see whether it would bite, and he found out to his own undoing. his friends gathered around and tried to save him, but he could not be saved. the father, a minister of the gospel, prayed with him and counseled him, and out of a comparatively small salary employed the first medical advice of new york, philadelphia, edinburgh, paris, london, and berlin, for he was his only son. no help came. first his body gave way in pangs and convulsions of suffering. then his mind gave way and he became a raving maniac. then his soul went out blaspheming god into a starless eternity. he died at thirty years of age. behold the work of accursed hasheesh. but i must put my emphasis upon the use of opium. it is made from the white poppy. it is not a new discovery. three hundred years before christ we read of it; but it was not until the seventh century that it took up its march of death, and, passing out of the curative and the medicinal, through smoking and mastication it has become the curse of nations. in there were imported into this country one hundred and seven thousand pounds of opium. in , nineteen years after, there were imported five hundred and thirty thousand pounds of opium. in there were in this country two hundred and twenty-five thousand opium-consumers. now, it is estimated there are in the united states to-day six hundred thousand victims of opium. it is appalling. we do not know why some families do not get on. there is something mysterious about them. the opium habit is so stealthy, it is so deceitful, and it is so deathful, you can cure a hundred men of strong drink where you can cure one opium-eater. i have knelt down in this very church by those who were elegant in apparel, and elegant in appearance, and from the depths of their souls and from the depths of my soul, we cried out for god's rescue. somehow it did not come. in many a household only the physician and pastor know it--the physician called in for physical relief, the pastor called in for spiritual relief, and they both fail. the physician confesses his defeat, the minister of religion confesses his defeat, for somehow god does not seem to hear a prayer offered for an opium-eater. his grace is infinite, and i have been told there are cases of reformation. i never saw one. i say this not to wound the feelings of any who may feel this awful grip, but to utter a potent warning that you stand back from that gate of hell. oh, man, oh, woman, tampering with this great evil, have you fallen back on this as a permanent resource because of some physical distress or mental anguish? better stop. the ecstasies do not pay for the horrors. the paradise is followed too soon by the pandemonium. morphia, a blessing of god for the relief of sudden pang and of acute dementia, misappropriated and never intended for permanent use. it is not merely the barbaric fanatics that are taken down by it. did you ever read de quincey's "confessions of an opium-eater?" he says that during the first ten years the habit handed to him all the keys of paradise, but it would take something as mighty as de quincey's pen to describe the consequent horrors. there is nothing that i have ever read about the tortures of the damned that seemed more horrible than those which de quincey says he suffered. samuel taylor coleridge first conquered the world with his exquisite pen, and then was conquered by opium. the most brilliant, the most eloquent lawyer of the nineteenth century went down under its power, and there is a vast multitude of men and women--but more women than men--who are going into the dungeon of that awful incarceration. the worst thing about it is, it takes advantage of one's weakness. de quincey says: "i got to be an opium-eater on account of my rheumatism." coleridge says: "i got to be an opium-eater on account of my sleeplessness." for what are you taking it? for god's sake do not take it long. the wealthiest, the grandest families going down under its power. twenty-five thousand victims of opium in chicago. twenty-five thousand victims of opium in st. louis, and, according to that average, seventy-five thousand victims of opium in new york and brooklyn. the clerk of a drug store says: "i can tell them when they come in; there is something about their complexion, something about their manner, something about the look of their eyes that shows they are victims." some in the struggle to get away from it try chloral. whole tons of chloral manufactured in germany every year. baron liebig says he knows one chemist in germany who manufactures a half ton of chloral every week. beware of hydrate of chloral. it is coming on with mighty tread to curse these cities. but i am chiefly under this head speaking of the morphine. the devil of morphia is going to be in this country, in my opinion, mightier than the devil of alcohol. by the power of the christian pulpit, by the power of the christianized printing-press, by the power of the lord god almighty, all these evils are going to be extirpated--all, all, and you have a work in regard to that, and i have a work. but what we do we had better do right away. the clock ticks now, and we hear it; after awhile the clock will tick and we will not hear it. i sat at a country fireside, and i saw the fire kindle and blaze, and go out. i sat long enough at that fireside to get a good many practical reflections, and i said: "that is like human life, that fire on the hearth." we put on the fagots and they blaze up, and out, and on, and the whole room is filled with the light, gay of sparkle, gay of flash, gay of crackle. emblem of boyhood. now the fire intensifies. now the flame reddens into coals. now the heat is becoming more and more intense, and the more it is stirred the redder is the coal. now with one sweep of flame it cleaves the way, and all the hearth glows with the intensity. emblem of full manhood. now the coals begin to whiten. now the heat lessens. now the flickering shadows die along the wall. now the fagots fall apart. now the household hover over the expiring embers. now the last breath of smoke is lost in the chimney. the fire is out. shovel up the white remains. ashes! ashes! why are satan and sin permitted? "wherefore do the wicked live?"--job xxi: , poor job! with tusks and horns and hoofs and stings, all the misfortunes of life seemed to come upon him at once. bankruptcy, bereavement, scandalization, and eruptive disease so irritating that he had to re-enforce his ten finger-nails with pieces of earthenware to scratch himself withal. his wife took the diagnosis of his complaints and prescribed profanity. she thought he would feel better if between the paroxysms of grief and pain he would swear a little. for each boil a plaster of objurgation. probably no man was ever more tempted to take the bad advice than when, at last, job's three exasperating friends came in, eliphaz, zophar, and bildad, practically saying to him, "you old sinner, serves you right; you are a hypocrite; what a sight you are! god has sent these chastisements for your wickedness." the disfigured invalid, putting down the pieces of broken saucer with which he had been rubbing his arms, with swollen eyelids looks up and says to his garrulous friends in substance, "the most wicked people sometimes have the best health and are the most prospered," and then in that connection hurls the question which every man and woman has asked in some juncture of affairs, "wherefore do the wicked live?" they build up fortunes that overshadow the earth. they confound all the life-insurance tables on the subject of longevity, dying octogenarians, perhaps nonagenarians, possibly centenarians. ahab in the palace, naboth in the cabinet. unclean herod on the throne, consecrated paul twisting ropes for tent-making. manasseh, the worst of all the kings of juda, living longer than any of them. while the general rule is the wicked do not live out half their days, there are exceptions where they live on to great age and in a paradise of beauty and luxuriance, and die with a whole college of physicians expending its skill in trying further prolongation of life, and have a funeral with casket under mountain of calla-lilies, the finest equipages of the city jingling and flashing into line, the poor, angle-worm of the dust carried out to its hole in the ground with the pomp that might make a spirit from some other world suppose that the archangel michael was dead. go up among the finest residences of the city, and on some of the door-plates you will find the names of those mightiest for commercial and social iniquity. they are the vampires of society--they are the gorgons of the century. some of these men have each wheel of their carriage a juggernaut wet with the blood of those sacrificed to their avarice. some of them are like caligula, who wished that all the people had only one neck that he might strike it off at one blow. oh, the slain, the slain! a long procession of usurers and libertines and infamous quacks and legal charlatans and world-grabbing monsters. what apostleship of despoliation! demons incarnate. hundreds of men concentering all their energies of body, mind, and soul in one prolonged, ever-intensifying, and unrelenting effort to scald and scarify and blast and consume the world. i do not blame you for asking me the quivering, throbbing, burning, resounding, appalling question of my text, "wherefore do the wicked live?" in the first place, they live to demonstrate beyond all controversy the long-suffering patience of god. you sometimes say, under some great affront, "i will not stand it;" but perhaps you are compelled to stand it. god, with all the batteries of omnipotence loaded with thunderbolts, stands it century after century. i have no doubt sometimes an angel comes to him and suggests, "now is the time to strike." "no," says god; "wait a year, wait twenty years, wait a century, wait five centuries." what god does is not so wonderful as what he does not do. he has the reserve corps with which he could strike mormonism and mohammedanism and paganism from the earth in a day. he could take all the fraud in new york on the west side of broadway and hurl it into the hudson, and all the fraud on the east side of broadway and hurl it into the east river in an hour. he understands the combination lock of every dishonest money-safe, and could blow it up quicker than by any earthly explosive. written all over the earth, written all over history are the words, "divine forbearance, divine leniency, divine long-suffering." i wonder that god did not burn this world up two thousand years ago, scattering its ashes into immensity, its aerolites dropping into other worlds to be kept in their museums as specimens of a defunct planet. people sometimes talk of god as though he were hasty in his judgments and as though he snapped men up quick. oh, no! he waited one hundred and twenty years for the people to get into the ark, and warned them all the time--one hundred and twenty years, then the flood came. the anchor line gives only a month's announcement of the sailing of the "circassia," the white star line gives only a month's announcement of the sailing of the "britannic," the cunard line gives only a month's announcement of the sailing of the "oregon;" but of the sailing of that ship that noah commanded god gave one hundred and twenty years' announcement and warning. patience antediluvian, patience postdiluvian, patience in times adamic, abrahamic, mosaic, davidic, pauline, lutheran, whitefieldian. patience with men and nations. patience with barbarisms and civilizations. six thousand years of patience! overtopping attribute of god, all of whose attributes are immeasurable. why do the wicked live? that their overthrow may be the more impressive and climacteric. they must pile up their mischief until all the community shall see it, until the nation shall see it, until all the world shall see it. the higher it goes up the harder it will come down and the grander will be the divine vindication. god will not allow sin to sneak out of the world. god will not allow it merely to resign and quit. this shall not be a case that goes by default because no one appears against it. god will arraign it, handcuff it, try it, bring against it the verdict of all the good, and then gibbet it so high up that if one half of the gibbet stood on mount washington and the other on the himalaya, it would not be any more conspicuous. about fifteen years ago we had in this country a most illustrious instance of how god lets a man go on in iniquity, so that at the close of the career his overthrow may be the more impressive, full of warning and climacteric. first, an honest chairmaker, then an alderman, then a member of congress, then a supervisor of a city, then school commissioner, then state senator, then commissioner of public works--on and up, stealing thousands of dollars here and thousands of dollars there, until the malfeasance in office overtopped anything the world had ever seen--making the new court house in new york a monument of municipal crime, and rushing the debt of the city from thirty-six million dollars to ninety-seven millions. now, he is at the top of millionairedom. country-seat terraced and arbored and parterred clear to the water's brink. horses enough to stock a king's equerry. grooms and postilions in full rig. wine cellars enough to make a whole legislature drunk. new york finances and new york politics in his vest pocket. he winked, and men in high place fell. he lifted his little finger, and ignoramuses took important office. he whispered, and in albany and washington they said it thundered. wider and mightier and more baleful his influence, until it seemed as if pandemonium was to be adjourned to this world, and in the satanic realm there was to be a change of administration, and apollyon, who had held dominion so long, should have a successful competitor. to bring all to a climax, a wedding came in the house of that man. diamonds as large as hickory nuts. a pin of sixty diamonds representing sheaves of wheat. musicians in a semicircle, half-hidden by a great harp of flowers. ships of flowers. forty silver sets, one of them with two hundred and forty pieces. one wedding-dress that cost five thousand dollars. a famous libertine, who owned several long island sound steamboats, and not long before he was shot for his crimes, sent as a wedding present to that house a frosted silver iceberg, with representations of arctic bears walking on icicle-handles and ascending the spoons. was there ever such a convocation of pictures, bronzes, of bric-à-brac, of grandeurs, social grandeurs? the highest wave of new york splendor rolled into that house and recoiled perhaps never again to rise so high. but just at that time, when all earthly and infernal observation was concentered on that man, eternal justice, impersonated by that wonder of the american bar, charles o'connor, got on the track of the offender. first arraignment, then sentence to twelve years' imprisonment under twelve indictments, then penitentiary on blackwell's island, then a lawsuit against him for six million dollars, then incarceration in ludlow street jail, then escape to foreign land, to be brought back under the stout grip of the constabulary, then dying of broken heart in a prison cell. god allowed him to go on in iniquity until all the world saw as never before that "the way of the transgressor is hard," and that dishonesty will not declare permanent dividends, and that you had better be an honest chairmaker with a day's wages at a time than a brilliant commissioner of public works, all your pockets crammed with plunder. what a brilliant figure in history is william the conqueror, the intimidator of france, of anjou, of brittany, victor at hastings, snatching the crown of england and setting it on his own brow, destroying homesteads that he might have a larger game forest, making a doomsday book by which he could keep the whole land under despotic espionage, proclaiming war in revenge for a joke uttered in regard to his obesity. harvest fields and vineyards going down under the cavalry hoof. nations horror-struck. but one day while at the apex of all observation he is riding out and the horse put his hoof on a hot cinder, throwing the king so violently against the pommel of the saddle that he dies, his son hastening to england to get the crown before the breath has left his father's body. the imperial corpse drawn by a cart, most of the attendants leaving it in the street because of a fire alarm that they might go off and see the conflagration. and just as they are going to put his body down in the church which he had built, a man stepping up and saying, "bishop, the man you praise is a robber. this church stands on my father's homestead. the property on which this church is built is mine. i reclaim my right. in the name of almighty god i forbid you to bury the king here, or to cover him with my glebe." "go up," said the ambition of william the conqueror. "go up by conquest, go up by throne, go up in the sight of all nations, go up by cruelties." but one day god said, "come down, come down by the way of a miserable death, come down by the way of an ignominious obsequies, come down in the sight of all nations, come clear down, come down forever." and you and i see the same thing on a smaller scale many and many a time--illustrations of the fact that god lets the wicked live that he may make their overthrow the more climacteric. what is true in regard to sin is true in regard to its author, satan, called abaddon, called the prince of the power of the air, called the serpent, called the dragon. it seems to me any intelligent man must admit that there is a commander-in-chief of all evil. the persians called him ahriman, the hindus called him siva. he was represented on canvas as a mythological combination of thor and cerberus and pan and vulcan and other horrible addenda. i do not care what you call him, that monster of evil is abroad, and his one work is destruction. john milton almost glorified him by witchery of description, but he is the concentration of all meanness and of all despicability. my little child, seven years of age, said to her mother one day, "why don't god kill the devil at once, and have done with it?" in less terse phrase we have all asked the same question. the bible says he is to be imprisoned and he is to be chained down. why not heave the old miscreant into his dungeon now? does it not seem as if his volume of infamy were complete? does it not seem as if the last fifty years would make an appropriate peroration? no; god will let him go on to the top of all bad endeavor, and then when all the earth and all constellations and galaxies and all the universe are watching, god will hurl him down with a violence and ghastliness enough to persuade five hundred eternities that a rebellion against god must perish. god will not do it by piecemeal, god will not do it by small skirmish. he will wait until all the troops are massed, and then some day when in defiant and confident mood, at the head of his army, this goliath of hell stalks forth, our champion, the son of david, will strike him down, not with smooth stones from the brook, but with fragments from the rock of ages. but it will not be done until this giant of evil and his holy antagonist come out within full sight of the two great armies. the tragedy is only postponed to make the overthrow more impressive and climacteric. do not fret. if god can afford to wait you can afford to wait. god's clock of destiny strikes only once in a thousand years. do not try to measure events by the second-hand on your little time-piece. sin and satan go on only that their overthrow may at last be the more terrific, the more impressive, the more resounding, the more climacteric. why do the wicked live? in order that they may build up fortresses for righteousness to capture. have you not noticed that god harnesses men, bad men, and accomplishes good through them? witness cyrus, witness nebuchadnezzar, witness the fact that the bastile of oppression was pried open by the bayonets of a bad man. recently there came to me the fact that a college had been built at the far west for infidel purposes. there was to be no nonsense of chapel prayers, no bible reading there. all the professors there were pronounced infidels. the college was opened, and the work went on, but, of course, failed. not long ago a presbyterian minister was in a bank in that village on purposes of business, and he heard in an adjoining room the board of trustees of that college discussing what they had better do with the institution, as it did not get on successfully, and one of the trustees proposed that it be handed over to the presbyterians, prefacing the word presbyterians with a very unhappy expletive. the resolutions were passed, and that fortress of infidelity has become a fortress of old-fashioned, orthodox religion, the only religion that will be worth a snap of your finger when you come to die or appear in the day of judgment. the devil built the college. righteousness captured it. in some city there goes up a great club-house--the architecture, the furniture, all the equipment a bedazzlement of wealth. that particular club-house is designed to make gambling and dissipation respectable. do not fret. that splendid building will after a while be a free library, or it will be a hospital, or it will be a gallery of pure art. again and again observatories have been built by infidelity, and the first thing you know they go into the hand of christian science. god said in the bible that he would put a hook in sennacherib's nose and pull him down by a way he knew not. and god has a hook to-day in the nose of every sennacherib of infidelity and sin, and will drag him about as he will. marble halls deserted to sinful amusements will yet be dedicated for religious assemblage. all these castles of sin are to be captured for god as we go forth with the battle-shout that oliver cromwell rang out at the head of his troops as he rode in on the field of naseby: "let god arise and let his enemies be scattered!" after a great fire in london, amid the ruins there was nothing left but an arch with the name of the architect upon it; and, my friends, whatever else goes down, god stays up. why do the wicked live? that some of them may be monuments of mercy. so it was with john newton, so it was with augustine, perhaps so it was with you. chieftains of sin to become chieftains of grace. paul, the apostle, made out of saul, the persecutor. baxter, the flaming evangel, made out of baxter, the blasphemer. whole squadrons, with streamers of emmanuel floating from the masthead, though once they were launched from the dry-docks of diabolism. god lets these wicked men live that he may make jewels out of them for coronets, that he may make tongues of fire out of them for pentecosts, that he may make warriors out of them for armageddons, that he may make conquerors out of them for the day when they shall ride at the head of the white-horse host in the grand review of the resurrection. why do the wicked live? to make it plain beyond all controversy that there is another place of adjustment. so many of the bad up, so many of the good down. it seems to me that no man can look abroad without saying--no man of common sense, religious or irreligious, can look abroad without saying, "there must be some place where brilliant scoundrelism shall be arrested, where innocence shall get out from under the heel of despotism." common fairness as well as eternal justice demands it. we adjourn to the great assizes, the stupendous injustices of this life. they are not righted here. there must be some place where they will be righted. god can not afford to omit the judgment day or the reconstruction of conditions. for you can not make me believe that that man stuffed with all abomination, having devoured widows' houses and digested them, looking with basilisk or tigerish eyes upon his fellows, no music so sweet to him as the sound of breaking hearts, is, at death, to get out of the landau at the front door of the sepulcher and pass right on through to the back door of the sepulcher, and find a celestial turnout waiting for him, so that he can drive tandem right up primrosed hills, one glory riding as lackey ahead, and another glory riding as postilion behind, while that poor woman who supported her invalid husband and her helpless children by taking in washing and ironing, often putting her hand to her side where the cancerous trouble had already begun, and dropping dead late on saturday night while she was preparing the garments for the sabbath day, coming afoot to the front door of the sepulcher, shall pass through to the back door of the sepulcher and find nothing waiting, no one to welcome, no one to tell her the way to the king's gate. i will not believe it. solomon was confounded in his day by what he represents as princes afoot and beggars a-horseback, but i tell you there must be a place and a time when the right foot will get into the stirrup. to demonstrate beyond all controversy that there is another place for adjustment, god lets the wicked live. why do the wicked live? for the same reason that he lets us live--to have time for repentance. where would you and i have been if sin had been followed by immediate catastrophe? while the foot of christ is fleet as that of a roebuck when he comes to save, it does seem as if he were hoppled with great languors and infinite lethargies when he comes to punish. oh, i celebrate god's slowness, god's retardation, god's putting off the retribution! do you not think, my brother, it would be a great deal better for us to exchange our impatient hypercriticism of providence because this man, by watering of stock, makes a million dollars in one day, and another man rides on in one bloated iniquity year after year--would it not be better for us to exchange that impatient hypercriticism for gratitude everlasting that god let us who were wicked live, though we deserved nothing but capsize and demolition? oh, i celebrate god's slowness! the slower the rail-train comes the better, if the drawbridge is off. how long have you, my brother, lived unforgiven? fifteen, twenty, forty, sixty years? lived through great awakenings, lived through domestic sorrow, lived through commercial calamity, lived through providential crises that startled nations, and you are living yet, strangers to god, and with no hope for a great future into which you may be precipitated. oh, would it not be better for us to get our nature through the grace of christ revolutionized and transfigured? for i want you to know that god sometimes changes his gait, and instead of the deliberate tread he is the swift witness, and sometimes the enemies of god are suddenly destroyed, and that without remedy. make god your ally. what an offer that is! do not fight against him. do not contend against your best interests. yield this morning to the best impulse of your heart, and that is toward christ and heaven. do not fight the lord that made you and offers to redeem you. philip of france went out with his army, with bows and arrows, to fight king edward iii. of england; but just as they got into the critical moment of the battle, a shower of rain came and relaxed the bow-strings so that they were of no effect, and philip and his army were worsted. and all your weaponry against god will be as nothing when he rains upon you discomfiture from the heavens. do not fight the lord any longer. change allegiance. take down the old flag of sin, run up the new flag of grace. it does not take the lord jesus christ the thousandth part of a second to convert you if you will only surrender, be willing to be saved. the american congress was in anxiety during the revolutionary war while awaiting to hear news from the conflict between washington and cornwallis, and the anxiety became intense and almost unbearable as the days went by. when the news came at last that cornwallis had surrendered and the war was practically over, so great was the excitement that the doorkeeper of the house of congress dropped dead from joyful excitement. and if this long war between your soul and god should come to an end this morning by your entire surrender, the war forever over, the news would very soon reach the heavens, and nothing but the supernatural health of your loved ones before the throne would keep them from being prostrated with overjoy at the cessation of all spiritual hostilities. the end. slavery ordained of god by rev. fred. a. ross, d.d. "the powers that be are ordained of god." romans xiii. . to the men north and south, who honor the word of god and love their country. preface. the book i give to the public, is not made up of isolated articles. it is one harmonious demonstration--that slavery is part of the government ordained in certain conditions of fallen mankind. i present the subject in the form of speeches, actually delivered, and letters written just as published. i adopt this method to make a readable book. i give it to the north and south--to maintain harmony among christians, and to secure the integrity of the union of this great people. this harmony and union can be preserved only by the view presented in this volume,--_i.e._ that _slavery is of god_, and to continue for the good of the slave, the good of the master, the good of the whole american family, until another and better destiny may be unfolded. the _one great idea_, which i submit to north and south, is expressed in the speech, first in order, delivered in the general assembly of the presbyterian church, buffalo, may , . i therein say:-- "let us then, north and south, bring our minds to comprehend _two ideas_, and submit to their irresistible power. let the northern philanthropist learn from the bible that the relation of master and slave is not sin _per se_. let him learn that god says nowhere it is sin. let him learn that sin is the transgression of the law; and where there is no law there is no sin, and that _the golden rule_ may exist in the relations of slavery. let him learn that slavery is simply an evil _in certain circumstances_. let him learn that _equality_ is only the highest form of social life; that _subjection_ to authority, even _slavery_, may, in _given conditions_, be _for a time_ better than freedom to the slave of any complexion. let him learn that _slavery_, like _all evils_, has its _corresponding_ and _greater good_; that the southern slave, though degraded _compared with his master, is elevated and ennobled compared with his brethren in africa_. let the northern man learn these things, and be wise to cultivate the spirit that will harmonize with his brethren of the south, who are lovers of liberty as truly as himself: and let the southern christian--nay, the southern man of every grade--comprehend that _god never intended the relation of master and slave to be perpetual_. let him give up the theory of voltaire, that the negro is of a different species. let him yield the semi-infidelity of agassiz, that god created different races of the same species--in swarms, like bees--for asia, europe, america, africa, and the islands of the sea. let him believe that slavery, although not a sin, is a degraded condition,--the evil, the curse on the south,--yet having blessings in its time to the south and to the union. let him know that slavery is to pass away in the fulness of providence. let the south believe this, and prepare to obey the hand that moves their destiny." all which comes after, in the speech delivered in new york, , and in the letters, is just the expansion of this one controlling thought, which must be understood, believed, and acted out north and south. the author. written in cleveland, ohio, may , . contents. speech before the general assembly at buffalo speech before the general assembly at new york letter to rev. a. blackburn what is the foundation of moral obligation? letters to rev. a. barnes:-- i.--results of the slavery agitation--declaration of independence-- the way men are made infidels--testimonies of general assemblies ii.--government over man a divine institute iii.--man-stealing iv.--the golden rule speech delivered at buffalo, before the general assembly of the presbyterian church. to understand the following speech, the reader will be pleased to learn--if he don't know already--that the general assembly of the presbyterian church, before its division in , and since,--both old school and new school,--has been, for forty years and more, bearing testimony, after a fashion, against the system of slavery; that is to say, affirming, in one breath, that slave-holding is a "blot on our holy religion," &c. &c.; and then, in the next utterance, making all sorts of apologies and justifications for the slave-holder. thus: this august body has been in the habit of telling the southern master (especially in the detroit resolutions of ) that he is a _sinner_, hardly meet to be called a _christian_; but, nevertheless, if he will only sin "from unavoidable necessity, imposed by the laws of the states,"--if he will only sin under the "obligations of guardianship,"--if he will only sin "from the demands of humanity,"--why, then, forsooth, he may be a slave-holder as long as _he has a mind to_. yea, he may hold one slave, one hundred or one thousand slaves, and till the day of judgment. happening to be in attendance, as a member of the body, in buffalo, may, , when, as usual, the system of slavery was touched, in a series of questions sent down to the church courts below, i made the following remarks, in good-natured ridicule of such preposterous and stultifying testimony; and, as an argument, opening the views i have since reproduced in the second speech of this volume, delivered in the general assembly which convened in new york, may, , and also in the letters following:-- buffalo, friday, may , . the order of the day was reached at a quarter before eleven, and the report read again,--viz.: " . that this body shall reaffirm the doctrine of the second resolution adopted by the general assembly, convened in detroit, in , and, " . that with an express disavowal of any intention to be impertinently inquisitorial, and for the sole purpose of arriving at the truth, so as to correct misapprehensions and allay all causeless irritation, a committee be appointed of one from each of the synods of kentucky, tennessee, missouri, and virginia, who shall be requested to report to the next general assembly on the following points:-- . the number of slave-holders in connection with the churches, and the number of slaves held by them. . the extent to which slaves are held from an unavoidable necessity imposed by the laws of the states, the obligations of guardianship, and the demands of humanity. . whether the southern churches regard the sacredness of the marriage relation as it exists among the slaves; whether baptism is duly administered to the children of the slaves professing christianity, and in general, to what extent and in what manner provision is made for the religious well-being of the slave," &c. &c. dr. ross moved to amend the report by substituting the following,--with an express disavowal of being impertinently inquisitorial:--that a committee of _one_ from each of the northern synods of ---- be appointed, who shall be requested to report to the next general assembly,-- . the number of northern church-members concerned, directly or indirectly, in building and fitting out ships for the african slave-trade, and the slave-trade between the states. . the number of northern church-members who traffic with slave-holders, and are seeking to make money by selling them negro-clothing, handcuffs, and cowhides. . the number of northern church-members who have sent orders to new orleans, and other southern cities, to have slaves sold, to pay debts owing them from the south. [see uncle tom's cabin.] . the number of northern church-members who buy the cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco, oranges, pine-apples, figs, ginger, cocoa, melons, and a thousand other things, raised by slave-labor. . the number of northern church-members who have intermarried with slave-holders, and have thus become slave-owners themselves, or enjoy the wealth made by the blood of the slave,--especially if there be any northern ministers of the gospel in such a predicament. . the number of northern church-members who are the descendants of the men who kidnapped negroes in africa and brought them to virginia and new england in former years. . the aggregate and individual wealth of members thus descended, and what action is best to compel them to disgorge this blood-stained gold, or to compel them to give dollar for dollar in equalizing the loss of the south by emancipation. . the number of northern church-members, ministers especially, who have advocated _murder_ in resistance to the laws of the land. . the number of northern church-members who own stock in under-ground railroads, running off fugitive slaves, and in sabbath-breaking railroads and canals. . that a special commission be sent up red river, to ascertain whether legree, who whipped uncle tom to death, (and who was a northern _gentleman_,) be not still in connection with some northern church in good and regular standing. . the number of northern church-members who attend meetings of spiritual rappers,--or bloomers,--or women's-rights conventions. . the number of northern church-members who are cruel husbands. . the number of northern church-members who are hen-pecked husbands. [as it is always difficult to know the temper of speaker and audience from a printed report, it is due alike to dr. r., to the whole assembly, and the galleries, to say, that he, in reading these resolutions, and throughout his speech, evinced great good-humour and kindness of feeling, which was equally manifested by the assembly and spectators, repeatedly, while he was on the floor.] dr. ross then proceeded:--mr. moderator, i move this amendment in the best spirit. i desire to imitate the committee in their refinement and delicacy of distinction. i disavow all intention to be _impertinently_ inquisitorial. i intend to be inquisitorial, as the committee say they are,--but not _impertinently_ so. no, sir; not at all; not at all. (laughter.) well, sir, we of the south, who desire the removal of the evil of slavery, and believe it will pass away in the developments of providence, are grieved when we read your graphic, shuddering pictures of the "middle passage,"--the slave-ship, piling up her canvas, as the shot pours after her from english or american guns,--see her again and again hurrying hogshead after hogshead, filled with living slaves, into the deep, and, thus lightened, escape. sir, what horror to believe that clipper-ship was built by the hands of northern, noisy abolition church-members! ["yes, i know some in new york and boston," said one in the crowd.] again, sir, when we walk along your _broadways_, and see, as we do, the soft hands of your church-members sending off to the south, not only clothing for the slave, but manacles and whips, manufactured expressly for him,--what must we think of your consistency of character? [true, true.] and what must we think of your self-righteousness, when we know your church-members order the sale of slaves,--yes, slaves such as st. clair's,--and under circumstances involving all the separations and all the loathsome things you so mournfully deplore? your mrs. stowe says so, and it is so, without her testimony. i have read that splendid, bad book. splendid in its genius, over which i have wept, and laughed, and got mad, (here some one said, "all at the same time?") yes--all at the same time. bad in its theology, bad in its morality, bad in its temporary evil influence here in the north, in england, and on the continent of europe; bad, because her isolated cruelties will be taken (whether so meant by her or not) as the general condition of southern life,--while her shelbys, and st. clairs, and evas, will be looked upon as angel-visitors, lingering for a moment in that earthly hell. the _impression made by the book is a falsehood_. sir, why do your northern church-members and philanthropists buy southern products at all? you know you are purchasing cotton, rice, sugar, sprinkled with blood, literally, you say, from the lash of the driver! why do you buy? what's the difference between my filching this blood-stained cotton from the outraged negro, and your standing by, taking it from me? what's the difference? you, yourselves, say, in your abstractions, there is no difference; and yet you daily stain your hands in this horrid traffic. you hate the traitor, but you love the treason. your ladies, too,--oh, how they shun the slave-owner _at a distance_, in _the abstract_! but alas, when they see him in the _concrete_,--when they see the slave-owner _himself_, standing before them,--not the brutal driver, but the splendid gentleman, with his unmistakable grace of carriage and ease of manners,--why, lo, behold the lady says, "oh, fie on your slavery!--what a _wretch_ you are! but, indeed, sir, i love your sugar,--and truly, truly, sir, _wretch_ as you are, i love you too." your gentlemen talk just the same way when they behold our matchless women. and well for us all it is, that your good taste, and hearts, can thus appreciate our genius, and accomplishments, and fascinations, and loveliness, and sugar, and cotton. why, sir, i heard this morning, from one pastor only, of two or three of his members thus intermarried in the south. may i thus give the mildest rebuke to your inconsistency of conduct? (much good-natured excitement.) sir, may we know who are the descendants of the new england kidnappers? what is their wealth? why, here you are, all around me. you, gentlemen, made the best of that bargain. and you have kept every dollar of your money from the charity of emancipating the slave. you have left us, unaided, to give millions. will you now come to our help? will you give dollar for dollar to equalize our loss? [here many voices cried out, "yes, yes, we will."] yes, yes? then pour out your millions. good. i may thank you personally. my own emancipated slaves would to-day be worth greatly more than $ , . will you give me back $ , ? good. i need it now. i recommend to you, sirs, to find out your advocates of _murder_,--your owners of stock in under-ground railroads,--your sabbath-breakers for money. i particularly urge you to find legree, who whipped uncle tom to death. he is a northern _gentleman_, although having a somewhat southern name. now, sir, you know the assembly was embarrassed all yesterday by the inquiry how the northern churches may find their absent members, and what to do with them. here then, sir, is a chance for you. send a committee up red river. you may find legree to be a garrison, phillips, smith, or runaway husband from some abby kelly. [here rev. mr. smith protested against legree being proved to be a smith. great laughter. [footnote: this gentleman was soon after made a d.d., and i think in part for that witticism.]] i move that you bring him back to lecture on the _cuteness_ there is in leaving a northern church, going south, changing his name, buying slaves, and calculating, without _guessing_, what the profit is of killing a negro with inhuman labor above the gain of treating him with kindness. i have little to say of spirit-rappers, women's-rights conventionists, bloomers, cruel husbands, or hen-pecked. but, if we may believe your own serious as well as caricature writers, you have things up here of which we down south know very little indeed. sir, we have no young bloomers, with hat to one side, cigar in mouth, and cane tapping the boot, striding up to a mincing young gentleman with long curls, attenuated waist, and soft velvet face,--the boy-lady to say, "may i see you home, sir?" and the lady-boy to reply, "i thank ye--no; pa will send the carriage." sir, we of the south don't understand your women's-rights conventions. women have their wrongs. "the song of the shirt,"--charlotte elizabeth,--many, many laws,--tell her wrongs. but your convention ladies despise the bible. yes, sir; and we of the south are afraid _of them_, and _for you_. when women despise the bible, what next? _paris,--then the city of the great salt lake,--then sodom, before_ and _after the dead sea_. oh, sir, if slavery tends in any way to give the _honour of chivalry_ to southern young gentlemen towards ladies, and the exquisite delicacy and heavenly integrity and love to southern maid and matron, it has then a glorious blessing with its curse. sir, your inquisitorial committee, and the north so far as represented by them, (a small fraction, i know,) have, i take it, caught a tartar this time. boys say with us, and everywhere, i _reckon_, "you worry my dog, and i'll worry your cat." sir, it is just simply a _fixed fact: the south will not submit to these questions_. no, not for an instant. we will not permit you to approach us at all. if we are morbidly sensitive, you have made us so. but you are directly and grossly violating the constitution of the presbyterian church. the book forbids you to put such questions; the book forbids _you to begin discipline_; the book forbids your sending this committee to help common fame bear testimony against us; the book guards the honour of our humblest member, minister, church, presbytery, against all this impertinently-inquisitorial action. have you a _prosecutor_, with his definite charge and witnesses? have you _common fame_, with her specified charges and witnesses? have you a request from the south that you send a committee to inquire into slanders? no. then hands off. as gentlemen you may ask us these questions,--we will answer you. but, ecclesiastically, you cannot speak in this matter. you have no power to move as you propose. i beg leave to say, just here, that tennessee [footnote: at that time i resided in tennessee.] will be more calm under this movement than any other slave-region. tennessee has been ever high above the storm, north and south,--especially we of the mountains. tennessee!--"there she is,--look at her,"--binding this union together like a great, long, broad, deep stone,--more splendid than all in the temple of baalbec or solomon. tennessee!--there she is, in her calm valour. i will not lower her by calling her unconquerable, for she has never been assailed; but i call her ever-victorious. king's mountain,--her pioneer battles:--talladega, emucfau, horse-shoe, new orleans, san jacinto, monterey, the valley of mexico. jackson represented her well in his chivalry from south carolina,--his fiery courage from virginia and kentucky,--all tempered by scotch-irish presbyterian prudence from tennessee. we, in his spirit, have looked on this storm for years untroubled. yes, jackson's old bones rattled in their grave when that infamous disunion convention met in nashville, and its members turned pale and fled aghast. yes, tennessee, in her mighty million, feels secure; and, in her perfect preparation to discuss this question, politically, ecclesiastically, morally, metaphysically, or physically, with the extreme north or south, she is willing and able _to persuade others to be calm_. in this connection, i wish to say, for the south to the north, and to the world, that we have no fears from our slave-population. there might be a momentary insurrection and bloodshed; but destruction to the black man would be inevitable. the greeks and romans controlled immense masses of white slaves,--many of them as intelligent as their lords. schoolmasters, fabulists, and poets were slaves. athens, with her thirty thousand freemen, governed half a million of bondmen. single roman patricians owned thirty thousand. if, then, the phalanx and the legion mastered such slaves for ages, when battle was physical force of man to man, how certain it is that infantry, cavalry, and artillery could hold in bondage millions of africans for a thousand years! but, dear brethren, our southern philanthropists do not seek to have this unending bondage; oh, no, no. and i earnestly entreat you to "stand still and see the salvation of the lord." assume a masterly inactivity, and you will behold all you desire and pray for,--you will see _america liberated from the curse of slavery_. the great question of the world is, what is to be the future of the american slave?--what is to be the future of the american master? the following _extract from the "charleston mercury"_ gives my view of the subject with great and condensed particularity:-- "married, thursday, th inst., the hon. cushing kewang, secretary of state of the united states, to laura, daughter of paul coligny, vice-president of the united states, and one of our noblest huguenot families. we learn that this distinguished gentleman, with his bride, will visit his father, the emperor of china, at his summer palace, in tartary, north of pekin, and return to the vice-president's tea pavilion, on cooper river, ere the meeting of congress." the editor of the "mercury" goes on to say: "this marriage in high life is only one of many which have signalized that immense emigration from christianized china during the last seventy-five years, whereby charleston has a population of , , , and the state of south carolina over , , ,--an emigration which has wonderfully harmonized with the great exodus of the negro race to africa." [some gentleman here requested to know of dr. ross the date of the "charleston mercury" recording this marriage. the doctor replied, "the date is th may, , exactly one hundred years from this day." great laughter.] sir, this is a dream; but it is not all a dream. no, i verily believe you have there the gordian knot of slavery untied; you have there the solution of the problem; you have there the curtain up, and the last scene in the last act of the great drama of ham. i am satisfied with the tendencies of things. i stand on the mountain-peak above the clouds. i see, far beyond the storm, the calm sea and blue sky; i see the canaan of the african. i like to stand there on the nebo of his exodus, and look across, not the jordan, but the atlantic. i see the african crossing as certainly as if i gazed upon the ocean divided by a great wind, and piled up in walls of green glittering glass on either hand, the dry ground, the marching host, and the pillar of cloud and of fire. i look over upon the niger, black with death to the white man, instinct with life to the children of ham. _there_ is the black man's home. oh, how strange that you of the north see not how you degrade him when you keep him here! you will not let him vote; you will not let him rise to honors or social equality; you will not let him hold a pew in your churches. send him away, then; tell him, begone. be urgent, like the egyptians: send him out of this land. _there_, in his fatherland, he will exhibit his own type of christianity. he is, of all races, the most gentle and kind. the _man_, the most submissive; the _woman_, the most affectionate. what other slaves would love their masters better than themselves?--rock them and fan them in their cradles? caress them--how tenderly!--boys and girls? honor them, grown up, as superior beings? and, in thousands of illustrious instances, be willing to give life, and, in fact, die, to serve or save them? verily, verily, this emancipated race may reveal the most amiable form of spiritual life, and the _jewel_ may glitter on the ethiop's brow in meaning more sublime than all in the poet's imagery. brethren, let them go; and, when they are gone,--ay, before they go away,--rear a monument; let it grow in greatness, if not on your highest mountain, in your hearts,--in lasting memory of the south,--in memory of your wrong to the south,--in memory of the self-denial of the south, and her philanthropy in training the slave to be free, enlightened, and christian. can all this be? can this double emigration civilize africa and more than re-people the south? yes; and i regard the difficulties presented here, in congress, or the country, as little worth. god intends both emigrations. and, without miracle, he will accomplish both. difficulties! there are no difficulties. half a million emigrate to our shores, from ireland, and all europe, every year. and you gravely talk of difficulties in the negro's way to africa! verily, god will unfold their destiny as fast, and as fully, as he sees best for the highest good of the slave, the highest good of the master, and the glory of christ in africa. and, sir, there are forty thousand chinese in california. and in cuba, this day, american gentlemen are cultivating sugar, with chinese hired labor, more profitably than the spaniards and their slaves. oh! there is china--half the population of the globe--just fronting us across that peaceful sea,--her poor, living on rats and a pittance of red rice,--her rich, hoarding millions in senseless idolatry, or indulging in the luxuries of birds'-nests and roasted ice. massed together, they must migrate. where can they go? they must come to our shores. they must come, even did god forbid them. but he will hasten their coming. they can live in the extremest south. it is their latitude,--their side of the ocean. they can cultivate cotton, rice, sugar, tea, and the silkworm. their skill, their manipulation, is unrivalled. their commonest gong you can neither make nor explain. they are a law-abiding people, without castes, accustomed to rise by merit to highest distinctions, and capable of the noblest training, when their idolatry, which is waxing old as a garment, shall be folded up as a vesture and changed for _that_ whose years shall not fail. the english ambassador assures us that the chinese negotiator of the late treaty was a splendid gentleman, and a diplomatist to move in any court of europe. shem, then, can mingle with japheth in america. the chinese must come. god will bring them. he will fulfil benton's noble thought. the railroad must complete the voyage of columbus. the statue of the genoese, on some peak of the rocky mountains, high above the flying cars, must point to the west, saying, "there is the east! there is india and cathay." let us, then, north and south, bring our minds to comprehend _two ideas_, and submit to their irresistible power. let the northern philanthropist learn from the bible that the relation of master and slave is not sin _per se_. let him learn that god nowhere says it is sin. let him learn that sin is the transgression of the law; and where there is no law, there is no sin; and that _the golden rule_ may exist in the relations of slavery. let him learn that slavery is simply an evil _in certain circumstances_. let him learn that _equality_ is only the highest form of social life; that _subjection_ to authority, even _slavery_, may, in _given conditions_, be _for a time_ better than freedom to the slave, of any complexion. let him learn that _slavery_, like _all evils_, has its _corresponding_ and _greater good_; that the southern slave, though degraded _compared with his master_, is _elevated_ and _ennobled compared with his brethren in africa_. let the northern man learn these things, and be wise to cultivate the spirit that will harmonize with his brethren of the south, who are lovers of liberty as truly as himself. and let the southern christian--nay, the southern man of every grade--comprehend that _god never intended the relation of master and slave to be perpetual_. let him give up the theory of voltaire, that the negro is of a different species. let him yield the semi-infidelity of agassiz, that god created different races of the same species--in swarms, like bees--for asia, europe, america, africa, and the islands of the sea. let him believe that slavery, although not a sin, is a degraded condition,--the evil, the curse on the south,--yet having blessings in its time to the south and to the union. let him know that slavery is to pass away, in the fulness of providence. let the south believe this, and prepare to obey the hand that moves their destiny. ham will be ever lower than shem; shem will be ever lower than japheth. all will rise in the christian grandeur to be revealed. ham will be lower than shem, because he was sent to central africa. man south of the equator--in asia, australia, oceanica, america, especially africa--is inferior to his northern brother. the _blessing_ was upon shem in his magnificent asia. the _greater blessing_ was upon japheth in his man-developing europe. _both blessings_ will be combined, in america, _north of the zone_, in commingled light and life. i see it all in the first symbolical altar of noah on that mound at the base of ararat. the father of all living men bows before the incense of sacrifice, streaming up and mingling with the rays of the rising sun. his noble family, and all flesh saved, are grouped round about him. there is ham, at the foot of the green hillock, standing, in his antediluvian, rakish recklessness, near the long-necked giraffe, type of his _africa_,--his magnificent wife, seated on the grass, her little feet nestling in the tame lion's mane, her long black hair flowing over crimson drapery and covered with gems from mines before the flood. higher up is shem, leaning his arm over that mouse-colored horse,--his _arab_ steed. his wife, in pure white linen, feeds the elephant, and plays with his lithe proboscis,--the mother of terah, abraham, isaac, jacob, joseph, david, and christ. and yet she looks up, and bows in mild humility, to _her_ of japheth, seated amid plumed birds, in robes like the sky. her noble lord, meanwhile, high above all, stands, with folded arms, following that eagle which wheels up towards ararat, displaying his breast glittering with stars and stripes of scarlet and silver,--radiant heraldry, traced by the hand of god. now he purifies his eye in the sun, and now he spreads his broad wings in symbolic flight to the _west_, until lost to the prophetic eye of japheth, under the bow of splendors set that day in the cloud. god's covenant with man,--oh, may the bow of covenant between us be here to-day, that the waters of _this flood_ shall never again threaten our beloved land! speech delivered in the general assembly new york, . the circumstances, under which this speech was delivered, are sufficiently shown in the statement below. it was not a hasty production. after being spoken, it was prepared for the "journal of commerce," with the greatest care i could give to it: most of it was written again and again. unlike pascal, who said, as to his longest and inferior sixteenth letter, that he had not had time to make it shorter, i had time; and i did condense in that one speech the matured reflections of my whole life. i am calmly satisfied i am right. i am sure god has said, and does say, "well done." the speech brings to view a wide range of thought, all belonging to the subject of slavery, of immense importance. as introductory,--there is the question of the abolition agitation the last thirty years; then, what is right and wrong, and the foundation of moral obligation; then, the definition of sin; next, the origin of human government, and the relations, in which god has placed men under his rule of subjection; finally, the word of god is brought to sustain all the positions taken. the challenge to argue the question of slavery from the bible was thrown down on the floor of the assembly, as stated. presently i took up the gauntlet, and made this argument. the challenger never claimed his glove, then nor since; nor has anybody, so far as i know, attempted to refute this speech. nothing has come to my ears (save as to two points, to be noticed hereafter) but reckless, bold denial of god's truth, infidel affirmation without attempt at proof, and denunciations of myself. _dr. wisner_ having said that he would argue the question on the bible at a following time, dr. ross rose, when he took his seat, and, taking his position on the platform near the moderator's chair, said,-- "i accept the challenge given by dr. wisner, to argue the question of slavery from the scriptures." _dr. wisner_.--does the brother propose to go into it here? _dr. ross_.--yes, sir. _dr. wisner_.--well, i did not propose to go into it here. _dr. ross_.--you gave the challenge, and i accept it. _dr. wisner_.--i said i would argue it at a proper time; but it is no matter. go ahead. _dr. beman_ hoped the discussion would be ruled out. he did not think it a legitimate subject to go into,--moses and the prophets, christ and his apostles, and all intermediate authorities, on the subject of what the general assembly of the presbyterian church in america had done. _judge jessup_ considered the question had been opened by this report of the majority: after which _dr. beman_ withdrew his objection, and _dr. ross_ proceeded. i am not a slave-holder. nay, i have shown some self-denial in that matter. i emancipated slaves whose money-value would now be $ , . in the providence of god, my riches have entirely passed from me. i do not mean that, like the widow, i gave all the living i had. my estate was then greater than that slave-property. i merely wish to show i have no selfish motive in giving, as i shall, the true southern defence of slavery. (applause.) i speak from huntsville, alabama, my present home. that gem of the south, that beautiful city where the mountain softens into the vale,--where the water gushes, a great fountain, from the rock,--where around that living stream there are streets of roses, and houses of intelligence and gracefulness and gentlest hospitality,--and, withal, where so high honor is ever given to the ministers of god. speaking then from that region where "_cotton is king_," i affirm, contrary as my opinion is to that most common in the south, that the slavery agitation has accomplished and will do great good. i said so, to ministerial and political friends, twenty-five years ago. i have always favored the agitation,--just as i have always countenanced discussion upon all subjects. i felt that the slavery question needed examination. i believed it was not understood in its relations to the bible and human liberty. sir, the light is spreading north and south. 'tis said, i know, this agitation has increased the severity of slavery. true, but for a moment only, in the days of the years of the life of this noble problem. farmers tell us that deep ploughing in poor ground will, for a year or two, give you a worse crop than before you went so deep; but that that deep ploughing will turn up the under-soil, and sun and air and rain will give you harvests increasingly rich. so, this moral soil, north and south, was unproductive. it needed deep ploughing. for a time the harvest was worse. now it is becoming more and more abundant. the political controversy, however fierce and threatening, is only for power. but the moral agitation is for the harmony of the northern and southern mind, in the right interpretations of scripture on this great subject, and, of course, for the ultimate union of the hearts of all sensible people, to fulfil god's intention,--to bless the white man and the black man in america. i am sure of this. i take a wide view of the progress of the destiny of this vast empire. i see god in america. i see him in the north and in the south. i see him more honored in the south to-day than he was twenty-five years ago; and that that higher regard is due, mainly, to the agitation of the slavery question. do you ask how? why, sir, this is the how. twenty-five years ago the religious mind of the south was leavened by wrong northern training, on the great point of the right and wrong of slavery. meanwhile, powerful intellects in the south, following the mere light of a healthy good sense, guided by the common grace of god, reached the very truth of this great matter,--namely, that the relation of the master and slave is not sin; and that, notwithstanding its admitted evils, it is a connection between the highest and the lowest races of man, revealing influences which may be, and will be, most benevolent for the ultimate good of the master and the slave,--conservative on the union, by preserving the south from all forms of northern fanaticism, and thereby being a great balance-wheel in the working of the tremendous machinery of our experiment of self-government. this seen result of slavery was found to be in absolute harmony with the word of god. these men, then, of highest grade of thought, who had turned in scorn from northern notions, now see, in the bible, that these notions are false and silly. they now read the bible, never examined before, with growing respect. god is honored, and his glory will be more and more in their salvation. these are some of the moral consummations of this agitation in the south. the development has been twofold in the north. on the one hand, some anti-slavery men have left the light of the bible, and wandered into the darkness until they have reached the blackness of the darkness of infidelity. other some are following hard after, and are throwing the bible into the furnace,--are melting it into iron, and forging it, and welding it, and twisting it, and grooving it into the shape and significance and goodness and gospel of sharpe's rifles. sir, are you not afraid that some of your once best men will soon have no better bible than that? but, on the other hand, many of your brightest minds are looking intensely at the subject, in the same light in which it is studied by the highest southern reason. ay, sir, mother-england, old fogy as she is, begins to open her eyes. what, then, is our gain? sir, uncle tom's cabin, in many of its conceptions, could not have been written twenty-five years ago. that book of genius,--over which i and hundreds in the world have freely wept,--true in all its facts, false in all its impressions,--yea, as false in the prejudice it creates to southern social life as if webster, the murderer of parkman, may be believed to be a personification of the _elite_ of honor in cambridge, boston, and new england. nevertheless, uncle tom's cabin could not have been written twenty-five years ago. dr. nehemiah adams's "_south-side view_" could not have been written twenty-five years ago. nor dr. nathan lord's "_letter of inquiry_." nor miss murray's book. nor "_cotton is king_". nor bledsoe's "_liberty and slavery"_. these books, written in the midst of this agitation, are all of high, some the highest, reach of talent and noblest piety; all give, with increasing confidence, the present southern bible reading on slavery. may the agitation, then, go on! i know the new school presbyterian church has sustained some temporary injury. but god is honored in his word. the reaction, when the first abolition-movement commenced, has been succeeded by the sober second thought of the south. the sun, stayed, is again travelling in the greatness of his strength, and will shine brighter and brighter to the perfect day. my only fear, mr. moderator, is that, as you northern people are so prone to go to extremes in your zeal and run every thing into the ground, you may, perhaps, become _too pro-slavery;_ and that we may have to take measures against your coveting, over much, our daughters, if not our wives, our men-servants, our maid-servants, our houses, and our lands. (laughter.) sir, i come now to the bible argument. i begin at the beginning of eternity! (laughter.) what is right and wrong? _that's the question of questions_. two theories have obtained in the world. the one is, that right and wrong are eternal facts; that they exist _per se_ in the nature of things; that they are ultimate truths above god; that he must study, and does study, to know them, as really as man. and that he comprehends them more clearly than man, only because he is a better student than man. now, sir, _this theory is atheism_. for if right and wrong are like mathematical truths--fixed facts--then i may find them out, as i find out mathematical truths, without instruction from god. i do not ask god to tell me that one and one make two. i do not ask him to reveal to me the demonstrations of euclid. i thank him for the mind to perceive. but i perceive mathematical relations without his telling me, because they exist independent of his will. if, then, moral truths, if right and wrong, if rectitude and sin, are, in like manner, fixed, eternal facts,--if they are out from and above god, like mathematical entities,--then i may find them for myself. i may condescend, perhaps, to regard the bible as a hornbook, in which god, an older student than i, tells _me_ how to _begin_ to learn what he had to study; or i may decline to be taught, through the bible, how to learn right and wrong. i may think the bible was good enough, may be, for the israelite in egypt and in canaan; good enough for the christian in jerusalem and antioch and rome, but not good enough, even as a hornbook, for me,--the man of the nineteenth century,--the man of boston, new york, and brooklyn! oh, no. i may think i need it not at all. what next? why, sir, if i may think i need not god to teach me moral truth, i may think i need him not to teach me any thing. what next? the irresistible conclusion is, i may think i can live without god; that jehovah is a myth,--a name; i may bid him stand aside, or die. oh, sir, _i will be_ the fool to say there is no god. this is the result of the notion that right and wrong exist in the nature of things. the other theory is, that right and wrong are results brought into being, mere contingencies, means to good, made to exist solely by the will of god, expressed through his word; or, when his will is not thus known, he shows it in the human reason by which he rules the natural heart. this is so; because god, in making all things, saw that in the relations he would constitute between himself and intelligent creatures, and among themselves, natural good and evil would come to pass. in his benevolent wisdom, he then _willed_ law, to control this _natural good and evil_. and he thereby made _conformity_ to that law to be _right_, and _non-conformity_ to be _wrong_. why? simply because he saw it to be good, and made it to be right; not because _he saw it to be right_, but because he _made it to be right_. hence, the ten specific commandments of the one moral law of love are just ten rules which god made to regulate the natural good and evil which he knew would be in the ten relations, which he himself constituted between himself and man, and between man and his neighbor. the bible settles the question:--_sin is the transgression of the law, and where there is no law there is no sin_. i must-advance one step further. _what is sin_, as a mental state? is it some quality--some concentrated essence--some elementary moral particle in the nature of things--something black, or red, like crimson, in the constitution of the soul, or the soul and body as amalgamated? no. is it self-love? no. is it selfishness? no. what is it? just exactly, _self-will._ just that. i, the creature, will _not submit_ to _thy_ will, god, the creator. it is the i am, _created_, who dares to defy and dishonor the i am, not created,--the lord god, the almighty, holy, eternal. _that_ is sin, _per se_. and that is all of it,--so help me god! your child there--john--says to his father, "i will _not to submit_ to your will." "why not, john?" and he answers and says, "because i will _not_." there, sir, john has revealed _all of sin_, on earth or in hell. satan has never said--can never say--more. "i, satan, will not, because i will _not to submit_ to thee, god; my will, not thine, shall be." this beautiful theory is the ray of light which leads us from night, and twilight, and fog, and mist, and mystification, on this subject, to clear day. i will illustrate it by the law which has controlled and now regulates the most delicate of all the relations of life,--viz.: that of the intercourse between the sexes. i take this, because it presents the strongest apparent objections to my argument. cain and abel married their sisters. was it wrong in the nature of things? [here dr. wisner spoke out, and said, "certainly."] i deny it. what an absurdity, to suppose that god could not provide for the propagation of the human race from one pair, without _requiring them to sin!_ adam's sons and daughters must have married, had they remained in innocence. they must then have sinned in eden, from the very necessity of the command upon the race:--"be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth." (gen. i. ). what pure nonsense! there, sir!--_that_, my one question, dr. wisner's reply, and my rejoinder, bring out, perfectly, the two theories of right and wrong. sir, abraham married his half-sister. and there is not a word forbidding such marriage, until god gave the law (lev. xviii.) prohibiting marriage in certain degrees of consanguinity. that law made, then, such marriage _sin_. but god gave no such law in the family of adam; because he made, himself, the marriage of brother and sister the way, and the only way, for the increase of the human race. _he commanded them thus to marry. they would have sinned had they not thus married_; for they would have transgressed his law. such marriage was not even a natural evil, in the then family of man. but when, in the increase of numbers, it became a natural evil, physical and social, god placed man on a higher platform for the development of civilization, morals, and religion, and then made the law regulating marriages in the particulars of blood. but he still left polygamy untouched. [here dr. wisner again asked if dr. r. regarded the bible as sustaining the polygamy of the old testament.] dr. r.--yes, sir; yes, sir; yes, sir. let the reporters mark _that_ question, and my answer. (laughter.) my principle vindicates god from unintelligible abstractions. i fearlessly tell what the bible says. in its strength, i am not afraid of earth or hell. i fear only god. god made no law against polygamy, in the beginning. therefore it was no sin for a man to have more wives than one. god sanctioned it, and made laws in regard to it. abraham had more wives than one; jacob had, david had, solomon had. god told david, by the mouth of nathan, when he upbraided him with his ingratitude for the blessings he had given him, and said, "and i gave thee thy master's house, and _thy master's wives_ into thy bosom." ( sam. xvii. .) god, in the gospel, places man on another platform, for the revelation of a nobler social and spiritual life. he now forbids polygamy. _polygamy now is sin_--not because it is in itself sin. no; but because god forbids it,--to restrain the natural and social evil, and to bring out a higher humanity. and see, sir, how gently in the gospel the transition from the lower to the higher table-land of our progress upward is made. christ and his apostles do not declare polygamy to be sin. the new law is so wisely given that nothing existing is rudely disturbed. the minister of god, unmarried, must have only one wife at the same time. this law, silently and gradually, by inevitable and fair inference of its meaning, and from the example of the apostles, passed over the christian world. god, in the gospel, places us in this higher and holier ground and air of love. we sin, then, if we marry the sister, and other near of kin; and we sin if we marry, at the same time, more wives than one, not because there is sin in the thing itself, whatever of natural evil there might be, but because in so doing we transgress god's law, given to secure and advance the good of man. i might comment in the same way on every one of the ten commandments, but i pass on. the subject of slavery, in this view of _right and wrong_, is seen in the very light of heaven. and you, mr. moderator, know that, if the view i have presented be true, i have got you. (great laughter.) [the moderator said, very pleasantly--yes--_if_--but it is a _long if_.] (continued laughter.) dr. r. touched the moderator on the shoulder, and said, yes, _if_--it is a _long if_; for it is this:--_if_ there is a god, he is not jupiter, bowing to the fates, but god, the sovereign over the universe he has created, in which he makes right, by making law to be known and obeyed by angels and men, in their varied conditions. he gave adam _that_ command,--sublime in its simplicity, and intended to vindicate the principle i am affirming,--that there is no right and wrong in the nature of things. there was no right or wrong, _per se_, in eating or willing to eat of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. but god made the law,--_thou shall not eat of that tree_. as if he had said,--i seek to _test_ the submission of your will, freely, to my will. and, that your test may be perfect, i will let your temptation be nothing more than your natural desire for that fruit. adam sinned. what was the sin? adam said, in heart, my will, _not thine_, shall be. _that_ was the sin,--_the simple transgression of god's law_, when there was neither sin nor evil in the _thing_ which god forbade to be done. man fell and was cursed. the law of the control of the superior over the inferior is now to begin, and is to go on in the depraved conditions of the fallen and cursed race. and, first, god said to the woman, "_thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." there,_ in that law, is _the beginning of government ordained of god. there_ is the beginning of the rule of the superior over the inferior, bound to obey. _there_, in the family of adam, is the germ of the rule in the tribe,--the state. adam, in his right, from god, to rule over his wife and his children, had _all the authority_ afterwards expanded in the patriarch and the king. this simple, beautiful fact, there, on the first leaf of the bible, solves the problem, whence and how has man right to rule over man. in that great fact god gives his denial to the idea that government over man is the result of a social compact, in which each individual man living in a state of natural liberty, yielded some of that liberty to secure the greater good of government. such a thing never was; such a thing never could have been. _government was ordained and established before the first child was born:_--"he shall rule over thee." cain and abel were born in a _state_ as perfect as the empire of britain or the rule of these united states. all that blackstone, and paley, and hobbs, or anybody else, says about the social compact, is flatly and fully denied and upset by the bible, history, and common sense. let any new york lawyer--or even a philadelphia lawyer--deny this if he dares. _life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness_ never were the _inalienable_ right of the _individual_ man. his self-control, in all these particulars, _from the beginning_, was subordinate to the good of the family,--the empire. the command to noah was,--"whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." (gen. ix. .) this command to shed blood was, and is, in perfect harmony with the law,--"thou shalt not kill." there is nothing right or wrong in _the taking of life_, per se, or in itself considered. it may or it may not be a natural good or evil. as a _general fact_, the taking of life is a natural evil. hence, "thou shalt not kill" is the general rule, to preserve the good there is in life. to take life under the forbidden conditions is sin, simply because god forbids it under those conditions. the sin is not in taking life, but in transgressing god's law. but _sometimes_ the taking of life will secure a greater good. god, then, commands that life be taken. not to take life, under the commanded conditions, is sin,--solely because god then commands it. this power over life, for the good of the one great family of man, god _delegated_ to noah, and through him to the tribe, the clan, the kingdom, the empire, the democracy, the republic, as they may be governed by chief, king, emperor, parliament, or congress. had ham killed shem, noah would have commanded japheth to slay him. so much for the origin of the power over life: now for the power over liberty. the right to take life included the right over liberty. but god intended the rule of the superior over the inferior, in relations of service, should _exemplify human depravity, his curse and his overruling blessing_. the rule and the subordination which is essential to the existence of the family, god made commensurate with mankind; for _mankind is only the congeries of families_. when ham, in his antediluvian recklessness, laughed at his father, god took occasion to give to the world the rule of the superior over the inferior. _he cursed him. he cursed him because he left him unblessed_. the withholding of the father's blessing, in the bible, was curse. hence abraham prayed god, when isaac was blessed, that ishmael might not be passed by. hence esau prayed his father, when jacob was blessed, that he might not be left untouched by his holy hands. ham was cursed to render service, forever, to shem and japheth. the _special_ curse on canaan made the general curse on ham conspicuous, historic, and explanatory, simply because his descendants were to be brought under the control of god's peculiar people. shem was blessed to rule over ham. japheth was blessed to rule over both. god sent ham to africa, shem to asia, japheth to europe. mr. moderator, you have read guyot's "_earth and man_." that admirable book is a commentary upon this part of genesis. it is the philosophy of geography. and it is the philosophy of the rule of the higher races over the inferior, written on the very face of the earth. he tells you why the continents are shaped as they are shaped; why the mountains stand where they stand; why the rivers run where they run; why the currents of the sea and the air flow as they flow. and he tells you that the earth south of the equator makes the inferior man. that the oceanic climate makes the inferior man in the pacific islands. that south america makes the inferior man. that the solid, unindented southern africa makes the inferior man. that the huge, heavy, massive, magnificent asia makes the huge, heavy, massive, magnificent man. that europe, indented by the sea on every side, with its varied scenery, and climate, and northern influences, makes the varied intellect, the versatile power and life and action, of the master-man of the world. and it is so. africa, with here and there an exception, has never produced men to compare with the men of asia. for six thousand years, save the unintelligible stones of egypt, she has had no history. asia has had her great men and her name. but europe has ever shown, and now, her nobler men and higher destiny. japheth has now come to north america, to give us his past greatness and his transcendent glory. (applause.) and, sir, i thank god our mountains stand where they stand; and that our rivers run where they run. thank god they run not across longitudes, but across latitudes, from north to south. if they crossed longitudes, we might fear for the union. but i hail the union,--made by god, strong as the strength of our hills, and ever to live and expand,--like the flow and swell of the current of our streams. (applause.) these two theories of right and wrong,--these two ideas of human liberty,--the right, in the nature of things, or the right as made by god,--the liberty of the individual man, of atheism, of red republicanism, of the devil,--or the liberty of man, in the family, in the state, the liberty from god,--these two theories now make the conflict of the world. this anti-slavery battle is only part of the great struggle: god will be victorious,--and we, in his might. i now come to particular illustrations of the world-wide law that service shall be rendered by the inferior to the superior. the relations in which such service obtains are very many. some of them are these:--husband and wife; parent and child; teacher and scholar; commander and soldier,--sailor; master and apprentice; master and hireling; master and slave. now, sir, all these relations are ordained of god. they are all directly commanded, or they are the irresistible law of his providence, in conditions which must come up in the progress of depraved nature. the relations themselves are all good in certain conditions. and there may be no more of evil in the lowest than in the highest. and there may be in the lowest, as really as in the highest, the fulfilment of the commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself, and of doing unto him whatsoever thou wouldst have him to do unto thee. why, sir, the wife everywhere, except where christianity has given her elevation, is _the slave_. and, sir, i say, without fear of saying too strongly, that for every sigh, every groan, every tear, every agony of stripe or death, which has gone up to god from the relation of master and slave, there have been more sighs, more groans, more tears, and more agony in the rule of the husband over the wife. sir, i have admitted, and do again admit, without qualification, that every fact in uncle tom's cabin has occurred in the south. but, in reply, i say deliberately, what one of your first men told me, that he who will make the horrid examination will discover in new york city, in any number of years past, more cruelty from husband to wife, parent to child, _than in all the south from master to slave_ in the same time. i dare the investigation. and you may extend it further, if you choose,--to all the results of honor and purity. i fear nothing on this subject. i stand on rock,--the bible,--and therefore, just before i bring the bible, to which all i have said is introductory, i will run a parallel between the relation of master and slave and that of husband and wife. i will say nothing of the grinding oppression of capital upon labor, in the power of the master over the hireling--the crushed peasant--the chain-harnessed coal-pit woman, a thousand feet under ground, working in darkness, her child toiling by her side, and another child not born; i will say nothing of the press-gang which fills the navy of britain--the conscription which makes the army of france--the terrible floggings--the awful court-martial--the quick sentence--the lightning-shot--the chain, and ball, and every-day lash--the punishment of the soldier, sailor, slave, who had run away. i pass all this by: i will run the parallel between the slave and wife. do you say, the slave is held to _involuntary service?_ so is the wife. her relation to her husband, in the immense majority of cases, is made for her, and not by her. and when she makes it for herself, how often, and how soon, does it become involuntary! how often, and how soon, would she throw off the yoke if she could! o ye wives, i know how superior you are to your husbands in many respects,--not only in personal attraction, (although in that particular, comparison is out of place,) in grace, in refined thought, in passive fortitude, in enduring love, and in a heart to be filled with the spirit of heaven. oh, i know all this. nay, i know you may surpass him in his own sphere of boasted prudence and worldly wisdom about dollars and cents. nevertheless, he has authority, from god, to rule over you. you are under service to him. you are bound to obey him _in all things_. your service is very, very, very often involuntary from the first, and, if voluntary at first, becomes hopeless necessity afterwards. i know god has laid upon the husband to love you as christ loved the church, and in that sublime obligation has placed you in the light and under the shadow of a love infinitely higher, and purer, and holier than all talked about in the romances of chivalry. but the husband may not so love you. he may rule you with the rod of iron. what can you do? be divorced? god forbids it, save for crime. will you say that you are free,--that you will go where you please, do as you please? why, ye dear wives, your husbands may forbid. and listen, you cannot leave new york, nor your palaces, any more than your shanties. no; you cannot leave your parlor, nor your bedchamber, nor your couch, if your husband commands you to stay there! what can you do? will you run away, with your stick and your bundle? he can advertise you!! what can you do? you can, and i fear some of you do, wish him, from the bottom of your hearts, at the bottom of the hudson. or, in your self-will, you will do just as you please. (great laughter.) [a word on the subject of divorce. one of your standing denunciations on the south is the terrible laxity of the marriage vow among the slaves. well, sir, what does your boston dr. nehemiah adams say? he says, after giving eighty, sixty, and the like number of applications for divorce, and nearly all granted at individual quarterly courts in new england,--he says he is not sure but that the marriage relation is as enduring among _the slaves in the south_ as it is among white people in new england. i only give what dr. adams says. i would fain vindicate the marriage relation from this rebuke. but one thing i will say: you seldom hear of a divorce in virginia or south carolina.] but to proceed:-- do you say the slave is _sold and bought?_ so is the wife the world over. everywhere, always, and now as the general fact, however done away or modified by christianity. the savage buys her. the barbarian buys her. the turk buys her. the jew buys her. the christian buys her,--greek, armenian, nestorian, roman catholic, protestant. the portuguese, the spaniard, the italian, the german, the russian, the frenchman, the englishman, the new england man, the new yorker,--especially the upper ten,--_buy the wife_--in many, very many cases. she is seldom bought in the south, and never among the slaves themselves; for they always marry for love. (continued laughter.) sir, i say the wife is bought in the highest circles, too often, as really as the slave is bought. oh, she is not sold and purchased in the public market. but come, sir, with me, and let us take the privilege of spirits out of the body to glide into that gilded saloon, or into that richly comfortable family room, of cabinets, and pictures, and statuary: see the parties, there, to sell and buy that human body and soul, and make her a chattel! see how they sit, and bend towards each other, in earnest colloquy, on sofa of rosewood and satin,--_turkey_ carpet (how befitting!) under feet, sunlight over head, softened through stained windows: or it is night, and the gas is turned nearly off, and the burners gleam like stars through the shadow from which the whisper is heard, in which that old ugly brute, with gray goatee--how fragrant!--bids one, two, five, ten hundred thousand dollars, and _she_ is knocked off to him,--that beautiful young girl asleep up there, amid flowers, and innocent that she is sold and bought. sir, that young girl would as soon permit a baboon to embrace her, as that old, ignorant, gross, disgusting wretch to approach her. ah, has she not been sold and bought for money? but--but what? but, you say, she freely, and without parental authority, accepted him. then she sold herself for money, and was guilty of _that_ which is nothing better than legal prostitution. i know what i say; you know what i say. up there in the gallery you know: you nod to one another. ah! you know the parties. yes, you say: all true, true, true. (laughter.) now, mr. moderator, i will clinch all i have said by nails sure, and fastened from the word of god. there is king james's english bible, with its magnificent dedication. i bring the english acknowledged translation. and just one word more to push gently aside--for i am a kind man to those poor, deluded anti-slavery people--their last argument. it is _that_ this english bible, in those parts which treat of slavery, don't give the ideas which are found in the original hebrew and greek. alas for the common people!--alas for this good old translation! are its days numbered? no, sir; no, sir. the unitarian, the universalist, the arminian, the baptist, when pressed by this translation, have tried to find shelter for their false isms by making or asking for a new rendering. and now the anti-slavery men are driving hard at the same thing. (laughter.) sir, shall we permit our people everywhere to have their confidence in this noble translation undermined and destroyed by the isms and whims of every or any man in our pulpits? i affirm, whatever be our perfect liberty of examination into god's meaning in all the light of the original languages, that there is a respect due to this received version, and that great caution should be used, lest we teach the people to doubt its true rendering from the original word of god. i protest, sir, against having a doctor-of-divinity _priest_, hebrew or greek, to tell the people what god has spoken on the subject of slavery or any other subject. (laughter.) i would as soon have a latin priest,--i would as soon have archbishop hughes,--i would as soon go to rome as to jerusalem or athens,--i would as soon have the pope at once in his fallible infallibility,--as ten or twenty, little or big, anti-slavery doctor-of-divinity priests, each claiming to give his infallible rendering, however differing from his peer. (laughter.) i never yet produced this bible, in its plain unanswerable authority, for the relation of master and slave, but the anti-slavery man ran away into the fog of _his_ hebrew or greek, (laughter,) or he jabbered the nonsense that god permitted the _sin_ of slaveholding among the jews, but that he don't do it now! sir, god sanctioned slavery then, and sanctions it now. he made it right, they know, then and now. having thus taken the last puff of wind out of the sails of the anti-slavery phantom ship, turn to the twenty-first chapter of exodus, vs. - . god, in these verses, gave the israelites his command how they should buy and hold the hebrew servant,--how, under certain conditions, he went free,--how, under other circumstances, he might be held to service forever, with his wife and her children. there it is. don't run into the hebrew. (laughter.) but what have we here?--vs. - :--"and if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. if she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. and if he hath betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. if he take him another wife, her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage shall he not diminish. and if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money." now, sir, the wit of man can't dodge that passage, unless he runs away into the hebrew. (great laughter.) for what does god say? why, this:--that an israelite might sell his own daughter, not only into servitude, but into polygamy,--that the buyer might, if he pleased, give her to his son for a wife, or take her to himself. if he took her to himself, and she did not please him, he should not sell her unto a strange nation, but should allow her to be redeemed by her family. but, if he took him another wife before he allowed the first one to be redeemed, he should continue to give the first one _food_, her _raiment_, and her _duty of marriage_; that is to say, _her right to his bed_. if he did not do _these three things_, she should go out free; _i.e._ cease to be his slave, without his receiving any money for her. there, sir, god sanctioned the israelite father in selling his daughter, and the israelite man to buy her, into slavery and into polygamy. and it was then right, because god made it right. in verses and , you have these words:--"and if a man smite his servant or his maid with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall be surely punished; notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money." what does this passage mean? surely this:--if the master gave his slave a hasty blow with a rod, and he died under his hand, he should be punished. but, if the slave lived a day or two, it would so extenuate the act of the master he should not be punished, inasmuch as he would be in that case sufficiently punished in losing his money in his slave. now, sir, i affirm that god was more lenient to the degraded hebrew master than southern laws are to the higher southern master in like cases. but there you have what was the divine will. find fault with god, ye anti-slavery men, if you dare. in leviticus, xxv. - , "both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they beget in your land: and they shall be your possession. and ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen forever." sir, i do not see how god could tell us more plainly that he did command his people to buy slaves from the heathen round about them, and from the stranger, and of their families sojourning among them. the passage has no other meaning. did god merely permit sin?--did he merely tolerate a dreadful evil? god does not say so anywhere. he gives his people law to buy and hold slaves of the heathen forever, on certain conditions, and to buy and hold hebrew slaves in variously-modified particulars. well, how did the heathen, then, get slaves to sell? did they capture them in war?--did they sell their own children? wherever they got them, they sold them; and god's law gave his people the right to buy them. god in the new testament made no law prohibiting the relation of master and slave. but he made law regulating the relation under greek and roman slavery, which was the most oppressive in the world. god saw that these regulations would ultimately remove the evils in the greek and roman systems, and do it away entirely from the fitness of things, as there existing; for greek and roman slaves, for the most part, were the equals in all respects of their masters. Ã�sop was a slave; terence was a slave. the precepts in colossians iv. , , tim. vi. - , and other places, show, unanswerably, that god as really sanctioned the relation of master and slave as those of husband and wife, and parent and child; and that all the obligations of the moral law, and christ's law of love, might and must be as truly fulfilled in the one relation as in the other. the fact that he has made the one set of relations permanent, and the other more or less dependent on conditions of mankind, or to pass away in the advancement of human progress, does not touch the question. he sanctioned it under the old testament and the new, and ordains it now while he sees it best to continue it, and he now, as heretofore, proclaims the duty of the master and the slave. dr. parker's admirable explanation of colossians, and other new testament passages, saves me the necessity of saying any thing more on the scripture argument. one word on the detroit resolutions, and i conclude. those resolutions of the assembly of decide that slavery is sin, unless the master holds his slave as a guardian, or under the claims of humanity. mr. moderator, i think we had on this floor, yesterday, proof conclusive that those resolutions mean any thing or nothing; that they are a fine specimen of northern skill in platform-making; that it put in a plank here, to please this man,--a plank there, to please that man,--a plank for the north, a broad board for the south. it is jackson's judicious tariff. it is a gum-elastic conscience, stretched now to a charity covering all the multitude of our southern sins, contracted now, giving us hardly a fig-leaf of righteousness. it is a bowl of punch,-- a little sugar to make it sweet, a little lemon to make it sour, a little water to make it weak, a little brandy to give it power. (laughter.) as a northern argument against us, it is a mass of lead so heavy that it weighed down even the strong shoulders of judge jessup. for, sir, when he closed his speech, i asked him a single question i had made ready for him. it was this:--"do you allow that mr. aiken, of south carolina, may, under the claims of humanity, hold three thousand slaves, or must he emancipate them?" the judge staggered, and stammered, and said, "no man could rightly hold so many." i then asked, "how many may he hold, in humanity?" the judge saw his fatal dilemma. he recovered himself handsomely, and fairly said, "mr. aiken might hold three thousand slaves, in harmony with the detroit action." i replied, "then, sir, you have surrendered the whole question of southern slavery." and, sir, the judge looked as if he felt he had surrendered it. and every man in this house, capable of understanding the force of that question, felt it had shivered the whole anti-slavery argument, on those resolutions, to atoms. why, sir, if a man can hold three slaves, with a right heart and the approbation of god, he may hold thirty, three hundred, three thousand, or thirty thousand. it is a mere question of heart, and capacity to govern. the emperor of russia holds sixty millions of slaves: and is there a man in this house so much of a fool as to say that god regards the emperor of russia a sinner because he is the master of sixty millions of slaves? sir, that emperor has certainly a high and awful responsibility upon him. but, if he is good as he is great, he is a god of benevolence on earth. and so is every southern master. his obligation is high, and great, and glorious. it is the same obligation, in kind, he is under to his wife and children, and in some respects immensely higher, by reason of the number and the tremendous interests involved for time and eternity in connection with this great country, africa, and the world. yes, sir, _i know_, whether southern masters fully know it or not, that _they hold from god_, individually and collectively, _the highest and the noblest responsibility ever given by him to individual private men on all the face of the earth._ for god has intrusted to them to train millions of the most degraded in form and intellect, but, at the same time, the most gentle, the most amiable, the most affectionate, the most imitative, the most susceptible of social and religious love, of all the races of mankind,--to train them, and to give them civilization, and the light and the life of the gospel of jesus christ. and i thank god he has given this great work to that type of the noble family of japheth best qualified to do it,--to the cavalier stock,--the gentleman and the lady of england and france, born to command, and softened and refined under our southern sky. may they know and feel and fulfil their destiny! oh, may they "know that they also have a master in heaven." letter from dr. ross. i need only say, in reference to this letter, that my friends having questioned my position as to the good of the agitation, i wrote the following letter to vindicate that point, as given, in the new york speech:-- huntsville, ala., july , . _brother blackburn_:--i affirmed, in my new york speech, that the slavery agitation has done, and will accomplish, good. your very kind and courteous disagreement on that point i will make the occasion to say something more thereon, without wishing you, my dear friend, to regard what i write as inviting any discussion. i said _that_ agitation has brought out, and would reveal still more fully, the bible, in its relation to slavery and liberty,--also the infidelity which long has been, and is now, leavening with death the whole northern mind. and that it would result in the triumph of the _true_ southern interpretation of the bible; to the honor of god, and to the good of the master, the slave, the stability of the union, and be a blessing to the world. to accomplish this, the sin _per se_ doctrine will be utterly demolished. that doctrine is the difficulty in every _northern mind,_ (where there is any difficulty about slavery,) whether they confess it or not. yes, the difficulty with every northern man is, that _the relation of_ master and slave is felt _to be_ sin. i know that to be the fact. i have talked with all grades of northern men, and come in contact with all varieties of northern mind on this subject. and i know that the man who says and tries to believe, and does, partially in sober judgment, believe, that slavery is not sin, yet, _in his feelings, in his educated prejudices_, he feels that slavery is sin. yes, _that_ is the difficulty, and _that_ is the whole of the difficulty, _between the north and the south_, so far as the question is one of the bible and morals. now, i again say, that that _sin per se_ doctrine will, in this agitation, be utterly demolished. and when that is done,--when the north will know and feel fully, perfectly, that the relation of master and slave is not sin, but sanctioned of god,--then, and not till then, the north and south can and will, without anger, consider the following questions:--whether slavery, as it exists in the united states, all things considered, be or be not a great good, and the greatest good for a time, notwithstanding its admitted evils? again, whether these evils can or cannot be modified and removed? lastly, whether slavery itself can or cannot pass away from this land and the world? now, sir, the moment the sin question is settled, then all is peace. for these other questions belong entirely to another category of morals. they belong entirely to the category of _what is_ wise _to realize_ good. this agitation will bring this great result. and therefore i affirm the agitation to be good. there is another fact also, the result, in great measure, of this agitation, which in my view proves it to have been and to be of great good. i mean the astonishing rise and present stability of the slave-power of the united states. this fact, when examined, is undeniable. and it is equally undeniable that it has been caused, in great part, by the slavery question in all its bearings. it is a wonderful development made by god. and i must believe he intends thereby either to destroy or bless this great union. but, as i believe he intends to bless, therefore i am fortified in affirming the good there has been and is in this agitation. let me bring out to view this astonishing fact. . twenty-five years ago, and previously, the whole slave-holding south and west had a strong tendency to emancipation, in some form. but the abolition movement then began, and arrested that southern and western leaning to emancipation. many people have said, and do say, that that _arrest_ was and is a great evil. i say it was and is a great good. why? answer: it was and would now be premature. had it been carried out, it would have been and would now be evil, immense, inconceivable,--to master, slave, america, africa, and the world; because neither master, slave, america, africa, the world, were, or are, ready for emancipation. god has a great deal to do before he is ready for emancipation. he tells us so by this _arrest_ put upon that tendency to emancipation years ago. for he put it into the hearts of abolitionists _to make the arrest_. and he stopped the southern movement all the more perfectly by permitting great britain to emancipate jamaica, and letting that experiment prove, as it has, a perfect failure and a terrible warning. jamaica is destroyed. and now, whatever be done for its negroes must be done with the full admission that what has been attempted was in violation of the duty britain owed to those negroes. but her failure in seeing and doing her duty, god has given to us to teach us knowledge; and, through us, to instruct the world in the demonstration of the problem of slavery. . god put it into the hearts of northern men--especially abolitionists--to give texas to the south. texas, a territory so vast that a bird, as webster said, can't fly over it in a week. many in the south did not want texas. but many longer-headed ones did want it. and northern men voted and gave to the south exactly what these longer-headed southern statesmen wanted. this, i grant, was northern anti-slavery fatuity, utterly unaccountable but that god made them do it. . god put it into the hearts of northern men--especially abolitionists--to vote for polk, dallas, and texas. this gave us the mexican war; and that immense territory, its spoil,--a territory which, although it may not be favorable for slave-labor, has increased, and will, in many ways, extend the slave-power. . this leads me to say that god put it into the hearts of many northern men--especially abolitionists--to believe what great britain said,--namely, that _free trade_ would result in slave-emancipation. _but lo! the slave-holder wanted free trade_. so northern abolitionists helped to destroy the _tariff policy_, and thus to expand the demand for, and the culture of, cotton. now, see, the gold of california has _perpetuated free trade_ by enabling our merchants to meet the enormous demand for specie created by free trade. so california helps the slave-power. but the abolitionists gave us polk, the mexican war, and california. . god put it into the hearts of the north, and especially abolitionists, to stimulate the settlement of new free states, and to be the ardent friends of an immense foreign emigration. the result has been to send down to the south, with railroad speed and certainty, corn, wheat, flour, meal, bacon, pork, beef, and every other imaginable form of food, in quantity amazing, and so cheap that the planter can spread wider and wider the culture of cotton. . god has, by this growth of the northwest, made the demand for cotton enormous in the north and northwest. again, he has made english and french experiments to procure cotton somewhere else than from the united states _dead failures_,--in the east indies, egypt, algeria, brazil. god has thus given to the southern planter an absolute monopoly. a monopoly so great that he, the southern planter, sits now upon his throne of cotton and wields the commercial sceptre of the world. yes, it is the southern planter who says to-day to haughty england, go to war, if you dare; dismiss dallas, if you dare. yes, he who sits on the throne of the cotton-bag has triumphed at last over him who sits on the throne of the wool-sack. england is prostrate at his feet, as well as the abolitionists. . god has put it into the hearts of abolitionists to prevent half a million of free negroes from going to liberia; and thereby the abolitionists have made them consumers of slave-products to the extension of the slave-power. and, by thus keeping them in america, the abolitionists have so increased their degradation as to prove all the more the utter folly of emancipation in the united states. . god has permitted the anti-slavery men in the north, in england, in france, and everywhere, so to blind themselves in hypocrisy as to give the southern slave-holder his last perfect triumph over them; for god tells the planter to say to the north, to england, to france, to all who buy cotton, "ye men of boston, new york, london, paris,--ye hypocrites,--ye brand me as a pirate, a kidnapper, a murderer, a demon, fit only for hell, and yet ye buy my blood-stained cotton. o ye hypocrites!--ye boston hypocrites! why don't ye throw the cotton in the sea, as your fathers did the tea? ye boston hypocrites! ye say, _if we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the slave-trade!_ wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves that ye are the children of them who, in fact, kidnapped and bought in blood, and sold the slave in america! for now, ye hypocrites, ye buy the blood-stained cotton in quantity so immense, that _ye_ have run up the price of slaves to be more than a thousand dollars,--the average of old and young! o ye hypocrites! ye denounce slavery; then ye bid it live, and not die,--in that ye buy sugar, rice, tobacco, and, above all, cotton! ye hypocrites! ye abuse the devil, and then fall down and worship him!--ye hypocrites,--ye new england hypocrites,--ye old england hypocrites,--ye french hypocrites,--ye uncle tom's cabin hypocrites,--ye beecher hypocrites,--ye rhode island consociation hypocrites! oh, your holy twaddle stinks in the nostrils of god, and he commands me to lash you with my scorn, and his scorn, so long as ye gabble about the sin of slavery, and then bow down to me, and buy and spin cotton, and thus work for me as truly as my slaves! o ye fools and blind, fill ye up the measure of your folly, and blindness, and shame! and this ye are doing. ye have, like the french infidels, made _reason_ your goddess, and are exalting her above the bible; and, in your unitarianism and neology and all modes of infidelity, ye are rejecting and crucifying the son of god." now, my brother, this controlling slave-power is a world-wide fact. its statistics of bales count by millions; its tonnage counts by hundreds of thousands; its manufacture is reckoned by the workshops of america and europe; its supporters are numbered by all who must thus be clothed in the world. this tremendous power has been developed in great measure by the abolition agitation, controlled by god. i believe, then, as i have already said, that god intends one of two things. he either intends to destroy the united states by this slave-power, or he intends to bless my country and the world by the unfoldings of his wisdom in this matter. i believe he will bless the world in the working out of this slavery. i rejoice, then, in the agitation which has so resulted, and will so terminate, to reveal the bible, and bless mankind. your affectionate friend, f.a. ross. rev. a. blackburn. what is the foundation of moral obligation? my position as to this all-important question, in my new york speech, was made subject of remark in the "presbyterian herald," louisville, kentucky, to which i replied at length in the "presbyterian witness," knoxville, tennessee. no rejoinder was ever made to that reply. but, recently, an extract from the younger edwards was submitted to me. to that i gave the following letter. the subject is of the first and the last importance, and bears directly, as set forth in my new york speech, on infidelity, and, of course, the slavery question:-- mr. editor:--in your paper of tuesday, th ult., there is an article, under this head, giving the argument of edwards (the son) against my views as to _the foundation of moral obligation_. i thank the writer for his argument, and his courteous manner of presenting it. in my third letter to mr. barnes, i express my preparation to meet "_all comers_" on this question; and i am pleased to see this "_comer_". if my views cannot be refuted by edwards, i may wait long for an "_uglier customer_." a word, introductory, to your correspondent. he says, "his [dr. ross's] theory was advanced and argued against in a former age." by this, i understand him to express his belief that my theory has been rejected heretofore. well. it may, nevertheless, be the true theory. the copernican astronomy was argued against in a former age and rejected; yet it has prevailed. newton's law of gravitation was argued against and rejected by a whole generation of philosophers on the continent of europe; yet it has prevailed. and now all school-boys and girls would call anybody a fool who should deny it. steam, in all its applications, was argued against and rejected; yet it has prevailed. so the electric telegraph; and, to go back a little, the theory of vaccination,--the circulation of the blood,--a thousand things; yea, edwards's (the father) theory of virtue, although received by many, has been argued against, and by many rejected; yet it will prevail. yea, his idea of the unity of the race in adam was and is argued against and rejected; yet it will prevail. i feel, therefore, no fear that my theory of moral obligation will not be acknowledged because it was argued against and rejected by many in a former age, and may be now. nay; facts to prove it are accumulating,--facts which were not developed in edwards's day,--facts showing, irresistibly, that edwards's theory, which is _that_ most usually now held, is what i say it is,--_the rejection of revelation, infidelity, and atheism_. the evidence amounts to demonstration. the question is in a nutshell; it is this:--_shall man submit to the revealed will of god_, or _to his own will?_ that is the naked question when the fog of confused ideas and unmeaning words is lifted and dispersed. my position, expressed in the speech delivered in the general assembly, new york, may, , is this:--"god, in making all things, saw that, in the relations he would constitute between himself and intelligent creatures, and among themselves, natural good and evil would come to pass. in his benevolent wisdom, he then _willed_ law to control this _good_ and _evil_; and he thereby made _conformity_ to that law to be _right_, and _non-conformity_ to be _wrong_. why? simply because he saw it to be _good_, and _made it to be_ right; not because _he saw it to be right_, but because _he made it to be right_." your correspondent replies to this theory in the following words of edwards:--"some hold that the foundation of moral obligation is primarily in the will of god. but the will of god is either benevolent or not. if it be benevolent, and on that account the foundation of moral obligation, it is not the source of obligation merely because it is the will of god, but because it is benevolent, and is of a tendency to promote happiness; and this places the foundation of obligation in a tendency to happiness, and not primarily in the will of god. but if the will of god, and that which is the expression of it, the divine law, be allowed to be not benevolent, and are foundation of obligation, we are obliged to conform to them, whatever they be, however malevolent and opposite to holiness and goodness the requirements be. but this, i presume, none will pretend." very fairly and strongly put; that's to say, if i understand edwards, he supposes, if god was the devil and man what he is, then man would not be under obligation to obey the devil's will! that's it! well, i suppose so too; and i reckon most _christians_ would agree to that statement, nay, more: i presume nobody ever taught that the mere naked _will_, abstractly considered, if it could be, from the _character_ of god, was the ground of moral obligation? nay, i think nobody ever imagined that the notion of an infinite creator presupposes or includes the idea that he is a malevolent being! i agree, then, with edwards, that the ultimate ground of obligation _is_ in the _fact_ that god is benevolent, or is a good god. i said _that_ in my speech quoted above. i formally stated that "_god, in his benevolent wisdom, willed law to control the natural good and evil_," &c. what, then, is the point of disagreement between my view and edwards's? it is in _the different ways by which we_ get at _the_ fact _of divine benevolence_. i hold that the revealed word _tells us who god is and what he does_, and is, therefore, the ultimate ground of obligation. but edwards holds that human reason _must tell us who god is and what he does_, and is, therefore, the primary ground of obedience. _that_ is my issue with edwards and others; and it is as broad an issue as _faith in revelation_, or the rejection of it. i do not charge that edwards did, or that all who hold with him do, deny the word of god; but i do affirm that their argument does. the matter is plain. for what is revelation? it is that god has appeared in person, and _told_ man in word that he is god; and _told_ him first in word (to be expanded in studying _creation_ and _providence_) that god is a spirit, eternal, infinite in power, wisdom, goodness, holiness,--the creator, preserver, benefactor. that word, moreover, he proved by highest evidence--namely, supernatural evidence--to be _absolute, perfect_ truth as to all fact affirmed _of him_ and _what_ he _does_. revelation, as claimed in the bible, was and is that thing. man, then, having this revelation; is under obligation ever to believe every jot and tittle of that word. he at first, no doubt, knew little of the meaning of some _facts_ declared; nay, he may have comprehended nothing of the sense or scope of many _facts_ affirmed. nay, he may now, after thousands of years, know most imperfectly the meaning of that word. but he was and he is, notwithstanding, to believe with absolute faith the word,--that god _is_ all he says he is, and _does_ all he says he does,--however that word may _go beyond_ his reason, or _surprise_ his feelings, or _alarm_ his conscience, or _command_ his will. this statement of what revelation is, settles the whole question as presented by edwards. for revelation, as explained, does fix _forever the foundation of man's moral obligation in the benevolence of god_, primarily, as it is _expressed_ in the word of god. revelation does then, in that sense, fix _obligation in the_ mere will of god; for, the moment you attempt to establish the foundation _somewhere else_, you have abandoned the ground of revelation. you have left the will of god _in his word_, and you have made your rule of right to be the will of man _in the_ self _of the_ heart. the proof of what i here say is so plain, even as the writing on the tables of habakkuk's vision, that he may run that readeth it. read, then, even as on the _tables_. god _says_ in his word, "i am all-powerful, all-wise, the creator." "you may be," says edwards, "but i want _primary foundation_ for my faith; and i can't take your _word_ for it. i must look first into _nature_ to see if evidence of infinite power and wisdom is there,--to see if evidence of a creator is there,--and if thou art he!" again, god _says_ in his word, "i am benevolent, and _my will_ in my law is expression of that benevolence." "you may tell the truth," edwards replies, "but i want _primary ground_ for my belief, and i must hold your word suspended until i examine into my reason, my feelings, my conscience, my will,--to see if your word _harmonizes_ with my heart,--to see if what you reveal tends to _happiness_ in my notion of happiness; _or tends to right_ in my notion of right!" that's it. that's the theory of edwards, barnes, and others. and what is this but the attempt to know the divine attributes and character in _some other way_ than through the divine word? and what is this but the denial of the divine word, except so far as it agrees with the knowledge of the attributes and character of god, obtained in that _some other way?_ and what is this but to make the word of god _subordinate_ to the teaching of the human heart? and what is this but to make the will _of god_ give place to the will _of man?_ and what is this but the rejection of revelation? yet this is the result (though not intended by him) of the whole scheme of obligation, maintained by edwards and by all who agree with him. carry it out, and what is the progress and the end of it? this. human reason--the human heart--will be supreme. some, i grant, will hold to a revelation of some sort. a thing more and more transcendental,--a thing more and more of fog and moonshine,--fog floating in german cellars from fumes of lager-beer, and moonshine gleaming from the imaginations of the drinkers. some, like socrates and plato, will have a god supreme, personal, glorious, somewhat like the true; and with him many inferior deities,--animating the stars, the earth, mountains, valleys, plains, the sea, rivers, fountains, the air, trees, flowers, and all living things. some will deny a personal god, and conceive, instead, the intelligent mind of the universe, without love. some will contend for mere law,--of gravitation and attraction; and some will suggest that all is the result of a fortuitous concourse of atoms! here, having passed through the shadows and the darkness, we have reached the blackness of infidelity,--blank atheism. no god--yea, all the way the "_fools_" were saying in their hearts, no god. what now is man? alas! some, the notts and gliddons, tell us, man was indeed _created_ millions of ages ago, the lord only knows when, in swarms like bees to suit the zones of the earth,--while other some, the believers in the _vestiges of creation_, say man is the result of development,--from fire, dust, granite, grass, the creeping thing, bird, fish, four-footed beast, monkey. yea, and some of these last philosophers are even now going to africa to try to find men they have heard tell of, who still have tails and are jumping and climbing somewhere in the regions around the undiscovered sources of the nile. this is the progress and the result of the edwards theory; because, deny or hesitate about revelation, and man cannot prove, _absolutely_, any of the things we are considering. let us see if he can. edwards writes, "on the supposition that the will or law of god is the primary foundation, reason, and standard of right and virtue, every attempt _to prove the moral perfection or attributes of god is absurd_." here, then, edwards believes, that, to reach the primary foundation of right and virtue, he must not take god's word as to his perfection or attributes, no matter how fully _god_ may have _proved_ his word: no; but he, edwards, he, man, must first _prove_ them in _some other way_. and, of course, he believes he can reach such primary foundation by such other proof. well, let us see how he goes about it. i give him, to try his hand, the easiest attribute,--"power." i give him, then, all creation, and providence besides, as his _black-board_, on which to work his demonstration. i give him, then, the lifetime of methuselah, in which to reach his conclusion of proof.--well, i will now suppose we have all lived and waited that long time: what is his _proof_ of infinite power? has he found the exhibition of _infinite power?_ no. he has found _proof_ of great power; but he has not reached the display of _infinite power_. what then is his _faith_ in infinite power after such _proof?_ why, just this: he infers _only_, that the power, _which did the things he sees, can go on, and on, and on, to give greater, and greater, and greater manifestations of itself!_ very good: _if so be, we can have no better proof_. but _that_ proof is infinitely below absolute proof _of infinite power_. and all manifestations of power to a _finite creature_, even to the archangel michael, during countless millions of ages, never gives, because it never can give to him, absolute proof _of infinite power_. but the word of god gives the proof absolute, _and in a moment of time!_ "i am the almighty!" the _perfect proof_ is in that word of god. i might set edwards to work to prove the _infinite wisdom_, the _infinite benevolence_, the _infinite holiness_--yea, the existence--of god. and he, finite man, in any examination of creation or providence, must fall infinitely below the perfect proof. so then i tell edwards, and all agreeing with him, that _it is absurd_ to attempt to _prove_ the moral perfection and attributes of god, if he thereby seeks to reach the highest evidence, _or if he thereby means to find the_ primary ground _of moral obligation_. do i then teach that man should not seek the _proof_ there is, of the perfection and attributes of god, in _nature and providence_? no. i hold that such proof unfolds the _meaning_ of the facts declared in the word of god, and is all-important, as such expansion of meaning. but i say, by authority of the master, that _the highest proof, the absolute proof, the perfect proof_, of the facts as to _who god is, and what he does_, and the primary obligation _thereupon, is in the_ revealed word. fred. a. ross. huntsville, ala., april , . n.b.--in notice of last witness's extract from erskine, i remark that thomas erskine was, and may yet be, a lawyer of edinburgh. he wrote _three works_:--_one_ on the _internal evidences_, the _next_ on _faith_, the _last_ on the _freeness of the gospel_. they are all written with great ability, and contain much truth. but all have in them fundamental _untruths_. there is least in the evidences; more in the essay on faith; most in the tract on the freeness of the gospel,--which last has been utterly refuted, and has passed away. his _faith_ is, also, not republished. the evidences is good, like good men, notwithstanding the evil. letters to rev. a. barnes. introduction. as part of the great slavery discussion, rev. a. barnes, of philadelphia, published, in october, , a pamphlet, entitled, "the church and slavery." in this tract he invites every man to utter his views on the subject. and, setting the example, he speaks his own with the greatest freedom and honesty. in the same freedom of speech, i have considered his views unscriptural, false, fanatical, and infidel. therefore, while i hold him in the highest respect, esteem, and affection, as a divine and christian gentleman, and cherish his past relations to me, yet i have in these letters written to him, and of him, just as i would have done had he lived in france or germany, a stranger to me, and given to the world the refined scoff of the one, or the muddy transcendentalism of the other. my first letter is merely a glance at some things in his pamphlet, in which i show wherein i agree and disagree with him,--_i.e._ in our estimate of the results of the agitation; in our views of the declaration of independence; in our belief of the way men are made infidels; and in our appreciation of the testimonies of past general assemblies. the other letters i will notice in similar introductions. these letters first appeared as original contributions to the christian observer, published and edited by dr. a. converse, philadelphia. i take this occasion to express my regard for him, and my sense of the ability with which he has long maintained the rights and interests of the presbyterian body, to which we both belong; and the wise and masterly way in which he has vindicated, from the bible, the truth on the slavery question. to him, too, the public is indebted for the first exhibition of mr. barnes's errors in his recent tract which has called forth my reply. no. i. rev. a. barnes:-- _dear sir_:--you have recently published a tract:--"the church and slavery." "the opinion of each individual," you remark, "contributes to form public sentiment, as the labor of the animalcule in the ocean contributes to the coral reefs that rise above the waves." true, sir, and beautifully expressed. but while, in harmony with your intimation, i must regard you one of the animalcules, rearing the coral reef of public opinion, i cannot admit your disclaimer of "special influence" among them in their work. doubtless, sir, you have "special influence,"--and deserve to have. i make no apology for addressing you. i am one of the animalcules. i agree, and i disagree, with you. i harmonize in your words,--"the present is eminently a time when the views of every man on the subject of slavery should be uttered in unambiguous tones." i agree with you in this affirmation; because the subject has yet to be fully understood; because, when understood, if the bible does _not_ sanction the system, the master must cease to be the master. the slave must cease to be the slave. he must be _free_, and equal in political and social life. _that_ is your "_unambiguous tone_". let it be heard, if _that_ is the word of god. but if the bible _does_ sanction the system, then _that_ "unambiguous tone" will silence abolitionists who admit the scriptures; it will satisfy all good men, and give peace to the country. that is the "_tone_" i want men to hear. listen to it in the past and present speech of providence. the time was when _you_ had the very _public sentiment_ you are now trying to form. from maine to louisiana, the american mind was softly yielding to the impress of emancipation, in some hope, however vague and imaginary. southern as well as northern men, in the church and out of it, not having sufficiently studied the word of god, and, under our own and french revolutionary excitement, looking only at the evils of slavery, wished it away from the land. it was a _mistaken_ public sentiment. yet, such as it was, you had it, and it was doing your work. it was quaker-like, mild and affectionate. it did not, however, work fast enough for you. you thought that the negro, with his superior attributes of body and mind and higher advantages of the nineteenth century, might reach, in a day, the liberty and equality which the anglo-american had attained after the struggle of his ancestors during a thousand years! you got up the agitation. you got it up in the church and state. you got it up over the length and breadth of this whole land. let me show you some things you have secured, as the results of your work. _first result of agitation_. . the most consistent abolitionists, affirming the sin of slavery, on the maxim of created equality and unalienable right, after torturing the bible for a while, to make it give the same testimony, felt they could get nothing from the book. they felt that the god of the bible disregarded the thumb-screw, the boot, and the wheel; that he would not speak for them, but against them. these consistent men have now turned away from the word, in despondency; and are seeking, somewhere, an abolition bible, an abolition constitution for the united states, and an abolition god. this, sir, is the _first result_ of your agitation:--the very van of your attack repulsed, and driven into infidelity. _a second result of agitation_. . many others, and you among them, are trying in exactly the same way just mentioned to make the bible speak against slave-holding. you get nothing by torturing the english version. people understand english. nay, you get little by applying the rack to the hebrew and greek; even before a tribunal of men like you, who proclaim beforehand that moses, in hebrew, and paul, in greek, _must_ condemn slavery because "_it is a violation of the first sentiments of the declaration of independence_." you find it difficult to persuade men that moses and paul were moved by the holy ghost to sanction the philosophy of thomas jefferson! you find it hard to make men believe that moses saw in the mount, and paul had vision in heaven, that this future _apostle of liberty_ was inspired by jesus christ. you torture very severely. but the muscles and bones of those old men are tough and strong. they won't yield under your terrible wrenchings. you get only groans and mutterings. you claim these voices, i know, as testimony against slavery. but you cannot torture in secret as in olden times. when putting the question, you have to let men be present,--who tell us that moses and paul won't speak for you,--that they are silent, like christ before pilate's scourging-men; or, in groans and mutterings,--the voices of their sorrow and the tones of their indignation,--they rebuke your pre-judgment of the almighty when you say if the bible sanctions slavery, "it neither ought to be nor could be received by mankind as a divine revelation." this, sir, is the _second result_ you have gained by your agitation. you have brought a thousand northern ministers of the gospel, with yourself, to the verge of the same denial of the word of god which they have made, who are only a little ahead of you in the road you are travelling. _a third result of agitation._ . meanwhile, many of your most pious men, soundest scholars, and sagacious observers of providence, have been led to study the bible more faithfully in the light of the times. and they are reading it more and more in harmony with the views which have been reached by the highest southern minds, to wit:--that the relation of master and slave is sanctioned by the bible;--that it is a relation belonging to the same category as those of husband and wife, parent and child, master and apprentice, master and hireling;--that the relations of husband and wife, parent and child, _were ordained in eden for man, as man_, and _modified after the fall_, while the relation of slavery, as a system of labor, is _only one form of the government ordained of god over fallen and degraded man_;--that the _evils_ in the system are _the same evils_ of oppression we see in the relation of husband and wife, and all other forms of government;--that slavery, as a relation, suited to the more degraded or the more ignorant and helpless types of a sunken humanity, is, like all government, intended _as the proof of the curse of such degradation, and at the same time to elevate and bless_;--that the relation of husband and wife, being for man, as man, _will ever be over him_, while slavery will remain so long as god sees it best, as a controlling power over the ignorant, the more degraded and helpless;--and that, when he sees it for the good of the country, he will cause it to pass away, if the slave can be elevated to liberty and equality, political and social, with his master, _in_ that country; or _out of_ that country, if such elevation cannot be given therein, but may be realized in some other land: all which result must be left to the unfoldings of the divine will, _in harmony with the bible_, and not to a newly-discovered dispensation. these facts are vindicated in the bible and providence. in the old testament, they stare you in the face:--in the family of abraham,--in his slaves, bought with his money and born in his house,--in hagar, running away under her mistress's hard dealing with her, and yet sent back, as a fugitive slave, by the angel,--in the law which authorized the hebrews to hold their brethren as slaves for a time,--in which parents might sell their children into bondage,--in which the heathen were given to the hebrews as their slaves forever,--in which slaves were considered so much the money of their master, that the master who killed one by an unguarded blow was, under certain circumstances, sufficiently punished in his slave's death, because he thereby lost his money,--in which the difference between _man-stealing_ and _slave-holding_ is, by law, set forth,--in which the runaway from heathen masters may not be restored, because god gave him the benefits of an adopted hebrew. in the new testament:--wherein the slavery of greece and rome was recognised,--in the obligations laid on master and slave,--in the close connection of this obligation with the duties of husband and wife, parent and child,--in the obligation to return the fugitive slave to his master,--and _in the condemnation of every abolition principle_, "as destitute of the truth." ( tim. vi. - .) this view of slavery is becoming more and more, not only the settled decision of the southern but of the best northern mind, with a movement so strong that you have been startled by it to write the pamphlet now lying before me. this is the _third result_ you have secured:--to make many of the best men in the north see the infidelity of your philosophy, falsely so called, on the subject of slavery, in the clearer and clearer light of the scriptures. _another result of agitation_. . the southern slave-holder is now satisfied, as never before, that the relation of master and slave is sanctioned by the bible; and he feels, as never before, the obligations of the word of god. he no longer, in his ignorance of the scriptures, and afraid of its teachings, will seek to defend his common-sense opinions of slavery by arguments drawn from "types of mankind," and other infidel theories; but he will look, in the light of the bible, on all the good and evil in the system. and when the north, as it will, shall regard him holding from god this high power for great good,--when the north shall no more curse, but bid him god-speed,--then he will bless himself and his slave, in nobler benevolence. with no false ideas of created equality and unalienable right, but with the bible in his heart and hand, he will do justice and love mercy in higher and higher rule. every evil will be removed, and the negro will be elevated to the highest attainments he can make, and be prepared for whatever destiny god intends. this, sir, is the _fourth result_ of your agitation:--to make the southern master _know_, from the bible, his right to be a master, and his duty to his slave. these _four results_ are so fully before you, that i think you must see and feel them. you have brought out, besides, tremendous political consequences, giving astonishing growth and spread to the slave power: on these i cannot dwell. sir, are you satisfied with these consequences of the agitation you have gotten up? i am. i thank god that the great deep of the american mind has been blown upon by the wind of abolitionism. i rejoice that the stagnant water of that american mind has been so greatly purified. i rejoice that the infidelity and the semi-infidelity so long latent have been set free. i rejoice that the sober sense north and south, so strangely asleep and silent, has risen up to hear the word of god and to speak it to the land. i rejoice that all the south now know that god gives the right to hold slaves, and, with that right, obligations they must fulfil. i rejoice that the day has dawned in which the north and south will think and feel and act together on the subject of slavery. i thank god for the agitation. may he forgive the folly and wickedness of many who have gotten it up! may he reveal more and more, that surely the wrath of man shall praise him, while the remainder of wrath he will restrain! _declaration of independence_. i agree with you, sir, that _the second paragraph_ of the declaration of independence contains _five affirmations_, declared to be self-evident truths, which, if truths, do sustain you and all abolitionists in every thing you say as to the right of the negro to liberty; and not only to liberty,--to equality, political and social. but i disagree with you as to their truth, and i say that not one of said affirmations is a self-evident truth, or a truth at all. on the contrary, that each one is contrary to the bible; that each one, separately, is denied; and that all five, collectively, are denied and upset by the bible, by the natural history of man, and by providence, in every age of the world. i say this now. in a subsequent communication, i will prove what i affirm. for the present i merely add, that the declaration of independence stands in no need of these false affirmations. it was, and is, a beautiful whole without them. it was, and is, without these imaginary maxims, the simple statement of the grievances the colonies had borne from the mother-country, and their right _as colonies_, when thus oppressed, to declare themselves independent. that is to say, the right given of god to oppressed children to seek protection in another family, or to set up for themselves somewhat before _twenty-one_ or natural maturity; right belonging to them _in the british family;_ right sanctioned of god; right blessed of god, in the resistance of the colonies _as colonies_--not as individual men--to the attempt of the mother-country to consummate her tyranny. but god gives no sanction to the affirmation that he has _created all men equal_; that this is _self-evident,_ and that he has given them _unalienable rights;_ that he has made government to _derive its power solely from their consent_, and that he has given them _the right to change that government in their mere pleasure_. all this--every word of it, every jot and tittle--is the liberty and equality claimed by infidelity. god has cursed it seven times in france since ; and he will curse it there seventy times seven, if frenchmen prefer to be pestled so often in solomon's mortar. he has cursed it in prussia, austria, germany, italy, spain. he will curse it as long as time, whether it is affirmed by jefferson, paine, robespierre, ledru rollin, kossuth, greeley, garrison, or barnes. sir, that paragraph is an _excrescence_ on the tree of our liberty. i pray you take it away. worship it if you will, and in a manner imitate the druid. he gave reverence to the _mistletoe_, but first he removed the _parasite_ from the noble tree. do you the same. cut away _this mistletoe_ with golden knife, as did the druid; enshrine its imaginary divinity in a grove or cave; then retire there, and leave our oak to stand in its glory in the light of heaven. men have been afraid to say all this for years, just as they have been timid to assert that god has placed master and slave in the same relation as husband and wife. public sentiment, which you once had and have lost, suppressed this utterance as the other. but now, men speak out; and i, for one, will tell you what the bible reveals as to that part of the declaration of independence, as fearlessly as i tell you what it says of the system of slavery. _how men are made infidels_. i agree with you that some men have been, are, and will be, made infidels by hearing that god has ordained slavery as one form of his government over depraved mankind. but how does this fact prove that the bible does not sanction slavery? why, sir, you have been all your life teaching that some men are made infidels by hearing any truth of the bible;--that some men are made infidels by hearing the trinity, depravity, atonement, divinity of christ, resurrection, eternal punishment. true: and these men find "_great laws of their nature,--instinctive feelings_"--just such as you find against slavery, and not more perverted in them than in you, condemning all this bible. and they hold now, with your sanction, that a book affirming such facts "_cannot be from god_." sir, some men are made infidels by hearing the ten commandments, and they find "_great laws of their nature_," as strong in them as yours in you against slavery, warring against every one of these commandments. and they declare now, with your authority, that a book imposing such restraints upon human nature, "_cannot be from god_" sir, what is it makes infidels? you have been wont to answer, "they _will not_ have god _to rule over them_. they _will not_ have the bible _to control the great laws of their nature."_ sir, that is the true answer. and you know that _the great instinct of liberty_ is only one of _three great laws_, needing special teaching and government:--that is to say, _the instinct to rule; the instinct to submit to be ruled; and the instinct for liberty._ you know, too, that the instinct _to submit_ is the strongest, the instinct _to rule_ is next, and that the _aspiration for liberty_ is the weakest. hence you know the overwhelming majority of men have ever been willing to be slaves; masters have been next in number; while the few have struggled for freedom. the bible, then, in proclaiming god's will _as to these three great impulses_, will be rejected by men, exactly as they have yielded forbidden control to the one or the other of them. the bible will make infidels of _masters_, when god calls to them to rule right, or to give up rule, if they have allowed _the instinct of power_ to make them hate god's authority. pharaoh spoke for all infidel rulers when he said, "_who is the lord that i should obey his voice?_" the bible will make infidels of _slaves_, when god calls to them to aspire to be free, if they have permitted _the instinct of submission to_ make them hate his commands. the israelites in the wilderness revealed ten times, in their murmuring, _the slave-instinct_ in all ages:--"_would to god we had died in the wilderness!_" you know all this, and you condemn these infidels. good. but, sir, you know equally well that the bible will make infidels of men _affirming the instinct of liberty,_ when god calls them to learn of him how _much liberty_ he gives, and _how_ he gives it, and _when_ he gives it, if they have so yielded to this law of their nature as to make them despise the word of the lord. sir, korah, dathan, and abiram spoke out just what the liberty-and-equality men have said in all time:--"_ye, moses and aaron, take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them: wherefore, then, lift ye up yourselves above the congregation?"_ verily, sir, these men were intensely excited by "_the great law of our nature,--the great instinct of freedom."_ yea, they told god to his face they had looked within, and found the _higher law of liberty and equality--the eternal right--in their intuitional consciousness_; and that they would not submit to his will in the elevation of moses and aaron _above them_. verily, sir, you, in the spirit of korah, now proclaim and say, "ye masters, and ye white men who are not masters, north and south, ye take too much upon you, seeing the negro is created your equal, and, by unalienable right, is as free as you, and entitled to all your political and social life. ye take, then, too much upon you in excluding him from your positions of wealth and honor, from your halls of legislation, and from your palace of the nation, and from your splendid couch, and from your fair women with long hair on that couch and in that gilded chariot: wherefore, then, lift ye up yourselves above the negro?" verily, sir, korah, dathan, and abiram said all we have ever heard from abolition-platforms or now listen to from you. but the lord made the earth swallow up korah, dathan, and abiram! i agree with you then, sir, fully, that some men have been, are, and will be, made infidels by hearing that god, in the bible, has ordained slavery. but i hold this to be no argument against the fact that the bible does so teach, because men are made infidels by any other doctrine or precept they hate to believe. sir, no man has said all this better than you. and i cannot express my grief that you--in the principle now avowed, _that every man must interpret the bible as he chooses to reason and feel_--sanction all the infidelity in the world, obliterate your "_notes_" on the bible, and deny the preaching of your whole life, so far as god may, in his wrath, permit you to expunge or recall the words of the wisdom of your better day. _testimonies of general assemblies_. i agree with you that the presbyterian church, both before and since its division, has testified, after a fashion, against slavery. but some of its action has been very curious testimony. i know not how the anti-slavery resolutions of were gotten up; nor how in some assemblies since. i can guess, however, from what i do know, as to how such resolutions passed in buffalo in , and in new york in . i know that in buffalo they were at first voted down by a large majority. then they were reconsidered in mere courtesy to men who said they wanted to speak. so the resolutions were passed after some days, in which the _screws_ were applied and turned, in part, _by female hands_, to save the chairman of the committee from _the effects_ of the resolutions being finally voted down! i know that, in new york, the decision of the assembly to spread the minority report on the minutes was considered, in the body and out of it, as a southern victory; for it revealed, however glossed over, that many in the house, who could not vote directly for the minority report, did in fact prefer it to the other. i was not in detroit in ; but i think it was established in new york last may that that detroit testimony was so admirably worded that both southern and northern men might vote for it with clear consciences! i need not pursue the investigation. i admit that, after this sort, you have the stultified abstractions of the new school presbyterian church,--while i have its common sense; you have its delphic words,--i have its actions; you have the traditions of the elders making void the word of god,--i have the providence of god restraining the church from destroying itself and our social organization under folly, fanaticism, and infidelity. you, sir, seem to acknowledge this; for, while you appear pleased with the testimony of the new school presbyterian church, such as it is, you lament that the old school have not been true to the resolutions of ,--that, in that branch of the church, it is questionable whether those resolutions could now be adopted. you lament the silence of the episcopal, the southern methodist, and the baptist denominations; you might add the cumberland presbyterian church. and you know that in new england, in new york, and in the northwest, many testify against _us_ as a pro-slavery body. you lament that so many members of the church, ministers of the gospel, and editors of religious papers, defend the system; you lament that so large a part of the religious literature of the land, though having its seat north and sustained chiefly by northern funds, shows a perpetual deference to the slave-holder; you lament that, after fifty years, nothing has been done to arrest slavery; you lament and ask, "why should this be so?" in saying this, you acknowledge that, while you have been laboring to get and have reached the abstract testimony of the church, all diluted as it is, the common-sense fact has been and is more and more brought out, in the providence of god, that _the slave-power has been and is gaining ground in the united states_. in one word, you have contrived to get, in confused utterance, the voice of the sanhedrim; while christ himself has been preaching in the streets of our jerusalem the true meaning of slavery as one form of his government over fallen men. these, then, are some of the things i promised to show as the results of your agitation. this is the "_tone_" of the past and present speech of providence on the subject of slavery. you seem disturbed. i feel sure things are going on well as to that subject. speak on, then, "in unambiguous tones." but, sir, when you desire to go from words to actions,--when you intimate that the constitution of the presbyterian church may be altered to permit such action, or that, without its alteration, the church can detach itself from slavery by its existing laws or the modification of them,--then i understand you to mean that you desire to deal, in fact, with slave-holders as _offenders_. then, sir, _you mean to exscind the south_; for it is absurd to imagine that you suppose the south will submit to such action. you mean, then, to _exscind the south, or to exscind yourself and others_, or to _compel the south to withdraw_. your tract, just published, is, i suppose, intended by you to prepare the next general assembly for such movement? what then? will you make your "american presbyterian," and your presbyterian house, effect that great change in the religious literature of the land whereby the subject of slave-holding shall be approached _precisely_ as you deal with "theft, highway-robbery, or piracy?" will you, then, by act of assembly, synod, presbytery, session, deny your pulpits, and communion-bread and wine, to slave-holding ministers, elders, and members? will you, then, tell new england, and especially little rhoda, we have purified our skirts from the blood: forgive us, and take us again to your love? what then? will you then ostracize the south and compel the abolition of slavery? sir, do you bid us fear these coming events, thus casting their shadow before from the leaves of your book? sir, you may destroy the integrity of the new school presbyterian church. so much evil you may do; but you will hereby only add immensely to the great power and good of the old school; and you will make disclosures of providence, unfolding a consummation of things very different from the end you wish to accomplish for your country and the world. i write as one of the animalcules contributing to the coral reef of public opinion. f. a. ross. no. ii. government over man a divine institute. this letter is the examination and refutation of the infidel theory of human government foisted into the declaration of independence. i had written this criticism in different form for publication, before mr. barnes's had appeared. i wrote it to vindicate my affirmation in the general assembly which met in new york, may last, on this part of the declaration. my views were maturely formed, after years of reflection, and weeks--nay months--of carefully-penned writing. and thus these truths, from the bible, providence, and common sense, were like rich freight, in goodly ship, waiting for the wind to sail; when lo, mr. barnes's abolition-breath filled the canvas, and carried it out of port into the wide, the free, the open sea of american public thought. there it sails. if pirate or other hostile craft comes alongside, the good ship has guns. i ask that this paper be carefully read more than once, twice, or three times. mr. barnes, i presume, will not so read it. he is committed. greeley may notice it with his sparkling wit, albeit he has too much sense to grapple with its argument. the evangelist-man will say of it, what he would say if christ were casting out devils in new york,--"he casteth out devils through beelzebub the chief of the devils." yea, this evangelist-man says that my version of the golden rule is "diabolical;" when truly that version is the _word_ of the spirit, as christ's casting out devils was the _work_ of the holy ghost. gerrett smith, garrison, giddings, do already agree with me, that they are right if jefferson spoke the truth. yea, whether the bible be true, is no question with them no more than with him. yea, they hold, as he did, that whether there be one god or twenty, it matters not: the fact either way, in men's minds, neither breaks the leg nor picks the pocket. (see jefferson's notes on virginia.) messrs. beecher and cheever will find nothing in me to aid them in speaking to the mobs of ephesus and antioch. they are making shrines, and crying, great is diana. mrs. stowe is on the dismal swamp, with dred for her charon, to paddle her light canoe, by the fire-fly lamps, to the limbo of vanity, of which she is the queen. none of these will read with attention or honesty, if at all, this examination of what randolph long ago said was a _fanfaronade of nonsense_. these are all wiser "than seven men that can render a reason." but there are thousands, north and south, who will read this refutation, and will feel and acknowledge that in the light of god's truth the notion of created equality and unalienable right is falsehood and infidelity. rev. a. barnes:-- dear sir:--in my first letter i promised to prove that the paragraph in the declaration of independence, which contains the affirmation of created equality and unalienable rights, has no sanction from the word of god. i now meet my obligation. the time has come when civil liberty, as revealed in the bible and in providence, must be re-examined, understood, and defended against infidel theories of human rights. the slavery question has brought on this conflict; and, strange as it may seem, the south, the land of the slave, is summoned by god to defend the liberty he gives; while the north, the clime of the free, misunderstands and changes the truth of god into a lie,--claiming a liberty he does not give. wherefore is this? i reply:--- god, when he ordained government over men, gave to the individual man rights, _only_ as he is under government. he first established the family; hence all other rule is merely the family expanded. the _good_ of the family limited the _rights_ of every member. god required the family, and then the state, so to rule as to give to every member the _good_ which is his, in harmony with the welfare of the whole; and he commanded the individual to seek _that good_, and no more. now, mankind being depraved, government has ever violated its obligation to rule for the benefit of the entire community, and has wielded its power in oppression. consequently, the governed have ever struggled to secure the good which was their right. but, in this struggle, they have ever been tempted to go beyond the limitation god had made, and to seek supposed good, not given, in rights, prompted by _self-will_, destructive of the state. government thus ever existing in oppression, and people thus ever rising up against despotism, have been the history of mankind. the reformation was one of the many convulsions in this long-continued conflict. in its first movements, men claimed the liberty the bible grants. soon they ran into licentiousness. god then stayed the further progress of emancipation in europe, because the spread of the asserted liberty would have made infidelity prevail over that part of the continent where the reformation was arrested. god preferred romanism, and other despotisms, modified as they were by the struggle, to rule for a time, than have those countries destroyed under the sway of a licentious freedom. in this contest the north american colonies had their rise, and they continued the strife with england until they declared themselves independent. that "declaration" affirmed not only the liberty sanctioned of the bible, but also the liberty constituting infidelity. its first paragraph, to the word "_separation_," is a noble introduction. omit, then, what follows, to the sentence beginning "_prudence will dictate_," and the paper, thus expurgated, is complete, and is then simply the complaint of the colonies against the government of england, which had oppressed them beyond further submission, and the assertion of their right to be free and independent states. this declaration was, in that form, nothing more than the affirmation of the right god gives to children, in a family, applied to the colonies, in regard to their mother-country. that is to say, children have, from god, right, as children, when cruelly treated, to secure the good to which they are entitled, as children, in the family. they may secure _this_ good by becoming part of another family, or by setting up for themselves, if old enough. so the colonies had, from god, _right_ as colonies, when oppressed beyond endurance, to exchange the british family for another, or, if of sufficient age, to establish their own household. the declaration, then, in that complaint of oppression and affirmation of right, in the colonies, to be independent, asserts liberty sanctioned by the word of god. and therefore the pledge to _that_ declaration, of "lives, fortune, and sacred honor," was blessed of heaven, in the triumph of their cause. but the declaration, in the part i have omitted, affirms other things, and very different. it asserts facts and rights as appertaining to man, not in the scriptures, but contrary thereto. here is the passage:-- "we hold these truths to be self-evident,--that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." _this is the affirmation of the liberty claimed by infidelity._ it teaches as a fact _that_ which is not true; and it claims as right _that_ which god has not given. it asserts nothing new, however. it lays claim to that individual right beyond the limitation god has put, which man has ever asserted when in his struggle for liberty he has refused to be guided and controlled by the word and providence of his creator. the paragraph is a chain of four links, each of which is claimed to be a self-evident truth. the _first_ and controlling assertion is, "that all men are created equal;" which proposition, as i understand it, is, that _every man and woman on earth is created with equal attributes of body and mind_. _secondly_, and consequently, that every individual has, by virtue of his or her being created the equal of each and every other individual, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, _so in his or her own keeping that that right is unalienable without his or her consent_. _thirdly_, it follows, that government among men must derive its just powers only from the _consent_ of the governed; and, as the governed are the aggregate of individuals, _then each person must consent to be thus controlled before he or she can be rightfully under such authority_. _fourthly_, and finally, that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, _as each such individual man or woman may think_, then each such person may rightly set to work to alter or abolish such form, and institute a new government, on such principles and in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. this is the celebrated averment of created equality, and unalienable right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, with the necessary consequences. i have fairly expanded its meaning. it is the old infidel averment. it is not true in any one of its assertions. _all men not created equal_. it is not a truth, _self-evident,_ that all men are created equal. webster, in his dictionary, defines "self-evident--evident without proof or reason: clear conviction upon a bare presentation to the mind, as that two and three make five." now, i affirm, and you, i think, will not contradict me, that the position, "_all men are created equal"_ is _not_ self-evident; that the nature of the case makes it impossible for it to be self-evident. for the created nature of man is not in the class of things of which such self-evident propositions can by possibility be predicated. it is equally clear and beyond debate, that it is not _self-evident_ that all men have _unalienable rights_, that governments derive their just powers from the _consent_ of the governed, and may be altered or abolished whenever _to them_ such rights may be better secured. all these assertions can be known to be true or false only from revelation of the creator, or from examination and induction of reasoning, covering the nature and the obligations of the race on the whole face of the earth. what revelation and examination of facts do teach, i will now show. the whole battle-ground, as to the truth of this series of averments, is on the first affirmation, "_that all men are created equal_." or, to keep up my first figure, the strength of the chain of asserted truths depend on _that_ first link. it must then stand the following perfect trial. god reveals to us that he created man in his image, _i.e._ a spirit endowed with attributes resembling his own,--to reason, to form rule of right, to manifest various emotions, to will, to act,--and that he gave him a body suited to such a spirit, (gen. i. , , ;) that he created man "_male and female_," (gen. i. ;) that he made the woman "_out of the man_," (gen. ii. ;) that he made "_the man the image and glory of god_, but the woman _the glory of the man_. for the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. neither was the man _created for the woman_, but the woman _for the man_," ( cor. xi.;) that he made the woman to be the weaker vessel, ( pet. iii. .) here, then, god created _the race_ to be in the beginning two,--a male and a female man; one of them _not equal_ to the other _in attributes of body and mind_, and, as we shall see presently, not equal in rights as to government. observe, this inequality was fact as to the two, in the perfect state wherein they were _created_. but these two fell from that perfect state, became depraved, and began to be degraded in body and mind. this statement of the original inequality in which man was created controls all that comes after, in god's providence and in the natural history of the race. _providence_, in its comprehensive teaching, "says that god, soon after the flood, subjected the races to all the influences of the different zones of the earth;"--"that he hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the lord if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us." (acts xvii. , .) these "bounds of their habitation" have had much to do in the natural history of man; for "_all men_" have been "_created_," or, more correctly, _born_, (since the race was "created" once only at the first,) with attributes of body and mind derived from the two unequal parents, and these attributes, in every individual, the combined result of the parental natures. "_all men_," then, come into the world under influences upon the amalgamated and transmitted body and mind, from depravity and degradation, sent down during all the generations past; and, therefore, under causes of inequality, acting on each individual from climate, from scenery, from food, from health, from sickness, from love, from hatred, from government, inconceivable in variety and power. under such causes, to produce infinite shades of inequality, physical and mental, in birth--if "all men" were created equal (_i.e._ born equal) in attributes of body and mind--such "creation" would be a violation of all the known analogies in the world of life. do, then, the facts in man's natural history exhibit this departure from the laws of life and spirit? do they prove that "all men are created equal"? do they show that every man and every woman of africa, asia, europe, america, and the islands of the seas, is created each one equal in body and mind to each other man or woman on the face of the earth, and that this has always been? need i extend these questions? methinks, sir, i hear you say, what others have told me, that the "declaration" is not to be understood as affirming what is so clearly false, but merely asserts that all men are "created equal" in _natural rights._ i reply that _that_ is _not_ the meaning of the clause before us; for _that_ is the meaning of the next sentence,--the _second_ in the series we are considering. there are, as i have said, four links to the chain of thought in this passage:-- . that all men are created equal. . that they are endowed by the creator with certain unalienable rights. . that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed. . that the people may alter and abolish it, &c. these links are logical sequences. all men--man and woman--are created equal,--equal in _attributes of body and mind_; (for _that_ is the only sense in which they could be _created_ equal;) _therefore_ they are endowed with right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, unalienable, except in their consent; _consequently_ such consent is essential to all rightful government; and, _finally_ and _irresistibly_, the people have supreme right to alter or abolish it, &c. the meaning, then, i give to that first link, and to the chain following, _is_ the sense, because, if you deny that meaning to the _first link_, then the others have no logical truth whatever. thus:-- if all men are _not_ created equal in attributes of body and mind, then the _inequality_ may be _so great_ that such men cannot be endowed with right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, unalienable save in their _consent_; then government over such men cannot rightfully rest upon their _consent_; nor can they have right to alter or abolish government in their mere determination. yea, sir, you concede every thing if you admit that the "declaration" does _not_ mean to affirm that all men are "_created_" _equal in body and mind_. i will suppose in the alps a community of cretins,--_i.e._ deformed and helpless idiots,--but among them many from the same parents, who, in body and mind, by birth are comparatively _napoleons_. now, this _inequality_, physical and mental, by birth, makes it impossible that the government over these cretins can be in their "_consent_." _the napoleons must rule_. the napoleons must absolutely control their "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness," for the good of the community. do you reply that i have taken an extreme case? that everybody admits sensible people must govern natural fools? ay, sir, there is the rub. _natural fools_! are some men, then, "_created_" natural fools? very well. then you also admit that some men are _created_ just a degree above natural fools!--and, consequently, that men are "_created_" in all degrees, gradually rising in the scale of intelligence. are they not "_created_" just above the brute, with savage natures along with mental imbecility and physical degradation? must the napoleons govern the cretins without their "consent"? must they not also govern without their "consent" these types of mankind, whether one, two, three, thirty, or three hundred degrees above the cretins, if they are still greatly inferior by nature? suppose the cretins removed from the imagined community, and a colony of australian ant-catchers or california lizard-eaters be in their stead: must not the napoleons govern these? and, if you admit inequality to be in birth, then that inequality is the very ground of the reason why the napoleons must govern the ant-catchers and lizard-eaters. remove these, and put in their place an importation of african negroes. do you admit _their inferiority by_ "creation?" then the same control over them must be the irresistible fact in common sense and scripture of god. _the napoleons must govern_. they must govern without asking "consent,"--if the inequality be such that "_consent_" would be evil, and not good, in the family--the state. yea, sir, if you deny that the "declaration" asserts "all men are created equal" in body and mind, then you admit the inequality may be such as to make it impossible that in such cases men have rights unalienable save in their "consent;" and you admit it to be impossible that government in such circumstances can exist in such "_consent_" but, if you affirm the "declaration" _does_ mean that men are "_created_ equal" in attributes of body and mind, then you hold to an equality which god, in his word, and providence, and the natural history of man, denies to be truth. i think i have fairly shown, from scripture and facts, that the first averment is not the truth; and have reduced it to an absurdity. i will now regard the second, third, and fourth links of the chain. i know they are already broken; for, the whole chain being but an electric current from a vicious imagination, i have destroyed the whole by breaking the first link. or was it but a cluster from a poisonous vine, then i have killed the branches by cutting the vine. i will, however, expose the other three sequences by a distinct argument covering them all. _authority delegated to adam_. god gave to adam sovereignty over the human race, in his first decree:--"_he shall rule over thee_." _that_ was the institution of government. it was not based on the "_consent_" of eve, the governed. it was from god. he gave to adam like authority to rule his children. it was not derived from their "_consent_". it was from god. he gave noah the same sovereignty, with express power over life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. it was not founded in "_consent_" of shem, ham, and japheth, and their wives. it was from god. he then determined the habitations of men on all the face of the earth, and _indicated_ to them, in every clime, the _form_ and _power_ of their governments. he gave, directly, government to israel. he just as truly gave it to idumea, to egypt, and to babylon, to the arab, to the esquimaux, the caffre, the hottentot, and the negro. god, in the bible, decides the matter. he says, "let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. for there is no power but of god: the powers that be are ordained of god. whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of god: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. for rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: for he is the minister of god to thee for good. but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of god, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake. for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are god's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. render, therefore, to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor." (rom. xiii. - .) here god reveals to us that he has _delegated to government his own_ right _over life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness_; and that that right is not, in any sense, from the "_consent_" of the governed, but is directly from him. government over men, whether in the family or in the state, is, then, as directly from god as it would be if he, in visible person, ruled in the family or in the state. i speak not only of the right simply to govern, but the _mode_ of the government, and the _extent_ of the power. government _can do_ all which god _would do,--just_ that,--_no more, no less_. and it is _bound to do just_ that,--_no more, no less_. government is responsible to god, if it fails to do _just_ that which he himself would do. it is under responsibility, then, to rule in righteousness. it must not oppress. it must _give_ to every individual "_life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness_," in harmony with the _good_ of the family,--the state,--_as god himself would give it_,--_just_ that, _no more, no less_. this passage of scripture settles the question, from whence has government right to rule, and what is the _extent_ of its power? the right is from god, and the extent of the power is _just_ that to which god would exercise it if he were personally on the earth. god, in this passage, and others, settles, with equal clearness, from whence is the obligation to _submit_ to government, and what is the _extent_ of the duty of obedience? the obligation to submit is not from individual right to consent or not to consent to government,--but the obligation _to submit_ is directly from god. the extent of the duty of obedience is equally revealed--in this wise: so long as the government rules in righteousness, the duty is perfect obedience. so soon, however, as government requires _that_ which god, in his word, _forbids the subject to do_, he must obey god, and not man. he must refuse to obey man. but, inasmuch as the obligation to submit to authority of government is so great, the subject must _know_ it is the will of god, that he shall refuse to obey, before he assumes the responsibility of resistance to the powers that be. his _conscience_ will not justify him before god, if he mistakes his duty. _he may be all the more to blame for having_ such a conscience. let him, then, be certain he can say, like peter and john, "whether it be right, in the sight of god, to hearken unto you more than unto god, judge ye." but, when government requires _that_ which god _does not forbid_ the subject to do, although _in that_ the government may have transcended the line of its righteous rule, the subject must, nevertheless, submit,--_until_ oppression has gone to _the point_ at which _god makes_ resistance _to be duty._ and _that point_ is when resistance will clearly be _less of evil, and more of good_, to the community, than further submission. _that_ is the rule of _duty_ god gives to the _whole_ people, or to the _minority_, or to the _individual_, to guide them in resistance to the powers that be. it is irresistibly _certain_ that _he who ordains_ government _has, alone, the right to alter or abolish it_,--that he who institutes the powers that be has, alone, the right to say when and how the people, in whole or in part, may resist. so, then, the people, in whole, or in part, have no right to resist, to alter, or abolish government, simply because _they_ may deem it destructive of the end for which it was instituted; but they may resist, alter, or abolish, _when it shall be seen that god so regards it_. this places the great fact where it must be placed,--_under the_ control _of the_ bible _and_ providence. _illustrations_. i will conclude with one or two illustrations. god, in his providence, ordains the russian form of government,--_i.e._ he places the sovereignty in one man, because he sees that such government can secure, for a time, more good to that degraded people than any other form. now, i ask, has the emperor _right_, from god, to change at once, in his mere "_consent_," the _form_ of his government to _that_ of the united states? no. god forbids him. why? because he would thereby destroy the good, and bring immense evil in his empire. i ask again, have the russian serfs and nobles,--yea, all,--"consenting," the right, from god, to make that change? no. for the government of the united states is not suited to them. and, in such an attempt, they would deprive themselves of the blessings they now have, and bring all the horrors of anarchy. do you ask if i then hold, that god ordains the russian type of rule to be perpetual over that people? no. the emperor is bound to secure all of "_life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness_," to each individual, consistent with the good of the nation. and he is to learn his obligation from the bible, and faithfully apply it to the condition of his subjects. _he will thus gradually elevate them_; while they, on their part, are bound to strive for this elevation, in all the ways in which god may show them the good, and the right, which, more and more, will belong to them in their upward progress. the result of such government and such obedience would be that of a father's faithful training, and children's corresponding obedience. the russian people would thus have, gradually, that measure of liberty they could bear, under the one-man power,--and then, in other forms, as they might be qualified to realize them. this development would be without convulsion,--as the parent gives place, while the children are passing from the lower to their higher life. it would be the exemplification of carlyle's illustration of the snake. he says, a people should change their government only as a snake sheds his skin: the new skin is gradually formed under the old one,--and then the snake wriggles out, with just a drop of blood here and there, where the old jacket held on rather tightly. god ordains the government of the united states. and _he places_ the _sovereignty_ in the _will_ of the majority, because he has trained the people, through many generations in modes of government, to such an elevation in moral and religious intelligence, that such sovereignty is best suited to confer on them the highest right, as yet, to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." but god requires that _that will of the majority_ be in perfect submission to him. once more then i inquire,--whether the people of this country, yea all of them consenting, have right from god, to abolish now, at this time, our free institutions, and set up the sway of russia? no. but why? there is one answer only. he tells us that our happiness is in this form of government, and in it, its developed results. _the "social compact" not recognised in the divine institute_. here i pause. so, then, god gives no sanction to the notion of a social compact. he never gave to man individual, isolated, natural rights, unalienably in his keeping. he never made him a caspar hauser, in the forest, without name or home,--a melchisedek, in the wilderness, without father, without mother, without descent,--a robinson crusoe, on his island, in skins and barefooted, waiting, among goats and parrots, the coming of the canoes and the savages, to enable him to "_consent_" if he would, to the relations of social life. and, therefore, those five sentences in that second paragraph of the declaration of independence are not the truth; so, then, it is not _self-evident_ truth that all men are created equal. so, then, it is not the truth, in fact, that they are created equal. so, then, it is not the truth that god has endowed all men with unalienable right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. so, then, it is not the truth that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. so, then, it is not the truth that the people have right to alter or abolish their government, and institute a new form, whenever to them it shall seem likely to effect their safety and happiness. the manner in which these unscriptural dogmas have been modified or developed in the united states, i will examine in another paper. i merely add, that the opinions of revered ancestors, on these questions of right and their application to american slavery, must now, as never before, be brought to the test of the light of the bible. f.a. ross. huntsville, ala., jan. . man-stealing. this argument on the abolition charge, against the slave-holder,--that he is a man-stealer,--covers the whole question of slavery, especially as it is seen in the old testament. the headings in the letter make the subject sufficiently clear. no. iii. rev. albert barnes:-- dear sir:--in my first letter, i merely touched some points in your tract, intending to notice them more fully in subsequent communications. i have, in my second paper, sufficiently examined the imaginary maxims of created equality and unalienable rights. in this, i will test your views by scripture more directly. "to the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (isaiah viii. ). the abolitionist charges the slave-holder with being a _man-stealer_. he makes this allegation in two affirmations. first, that the slave-holder is thus guilty, because, the negro having been kidnapped in africa, therefore those who now hold him, or his children, in bondage, lie under the guilt of that first act. secondly, that the slave-holder, by the very fact that he is such, is guilty of stealing from the negro his unalienable right to freedom. this is the charge. it covers the whole subject. i will meet it in all its parts. _the difference between man-stealing and slave-holding, as set forth in the bible_. the bible reads thus: (exodus xxi. :)--"he that stealeth a man and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death." what, then, is it to kidnap or steal a man? webster informs us--to kidnap is "to steal a human being, a man, woman, or child; or to seize and forcibly carry away any person whatever, from his own country or state into another." the idea of "_seizing and forcibly carrying away"_ enters into the meaning of the word in all the definitions of law. the crime, then, set forth in the bible was not _selling_ a man: but selling a _stolen_ man. the crime was not having a man _in his hand as a slave_; but......in _his_ hand, as a slave, a _stolen_ man. and hence, the penalty of _death_ was affixed, not to selling, buying, or holding man, as a slave, but to the specific offence of _stealing and selling, or holding_ a man _thus stolen, contrary to this law_. yea, it was _this law_, and this law _only_, which made it _wrong_. for, under some circumstances, god sanctioned the seizing and forcibly carrying away a man, woman, or child from country or state, into slavery or other condition. he sanctioned the utter destruction of every male and every married woman, and child, of jabez-gilead, and the seizure, and forcibly carrying away, four hundred virgins, unto the camp to shiloh, and there, being given as wives to the remnant of the slaughtered tribe of benjamin, in the rock rimmon. sir, how did that destruction of jabez-gilead, and the kidnapping of those young women, differ from the razing of an african village, and forcibly seizing, and carrying away, those not put to the sword? the difference is in this:--god commanded the israelites to seize and bear off those young women. but he forbids the slaver to kidnap the african. therefore, the israelites did right; therefore, the trader does wrong. the israelites, it seems, gave wives, in that way, to the spared benjamites, because they had sworn not to give their daughters. but there were six hundred of these benjamites. two hundred were therefore still without wives. what was done for them? why, god authorized the elders of the congregation to tell the two hundred benjamites to catch every man his wife, of the daughters of shiloh, when they came out to dance, in the feast of the lord, on the north side of bethel. and the children of benjamin did so, and took them wives, "whom they caught:" (judges xxi.) god made it right for those benjamites to catch every man his wife, of the daughters of shiloh. but he makes it wrong for the trader to catch his slaves of the sons or daughters of africa. lest you should try to deny that god authorized this act of the children of israel, although i believe he did order it, let me remind you of another such case, the authority for which you will not question. moses, by direct command from god, destroyed the midianites. he slew all the males, and carried away all the women and children. he then had all the married women and male children killed; but all the virgins, thirty-two thousand, were divided as spoil among the people. and _thirty-two_ of these virgins, _the lord's tribute_, were given unto eleazar, the priest, "as the lord commanded moses." (numbers xxxi.) sir, thomas paine rejected the bible on this fact among his other objections. yea, _his_ reason, _his_ sensibilities, _his_ great law of humanity, _his_ intuitional and eternal sense of right, made it impossible for him to honor such a god. and, sir, on your now avowed principles of interpretation, which are those of paine, you sustain him in his rejection of the books of moses and all the word of god. god's command _made it right_ for moses to destroy the midianites and make slaves of their daughters; and i have dwelt upon these facts, to reiterate what i hold to be the first truth in morals:--that a thing is right, not because it is ever so _per se_, but because god _makes it right_; and, of course, a thing is wrong, not because it is so in the nature of things, but because god makes it wrong. i distinctly have taken, and do take, that ground in its widest sense, and am prepared to maintain it against all comers. he made it right for the sons of adam to marry their sisters. he made it right for abraham to marry his half-sister. he made it right for the patriarchs, and david and solomon, to have more wives than one. he made it right when he gave command to kill whole nations, sparing none. he made it right when he ordered that nations, or such part as he pleased, should be spared and enslaved. he made it right that the patriarchs and the israelites should hold slaves in harmony with the system of servile labor which had long been in the world. he merely modified that system to suit his views of good among his people. so, then, when he saw fit, they might capture men. so, then, when he forbade the individual israelite to steal a man, he made it crime, and the penalty death. so, then, that crime was not the mere _stealing_ a man, nor the _selling_ a man, nor the _holding_ a man,--but the _stealing and selling_, or _holding_, a man _under circumstances thus forbidden of god_. _was the israelite master a man-stealer?_ i now ask, did god intend to make man-stealing and slave-holding the same thing? let us see. in that very chapter of exodus (xxi.) which contains the law against man-stealing, and only four verses further on, god says, "if a man smite his servant or his maid with a rod, and he die under his hand, he shall be surely punished: notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two he shall not be punished; for he is his money." (verses , .) sir, that man was not a hired servant. he was bought with money. he was regarded by god _as the money_ of his master. he was his slave, in the full meaning of a slave, then, and now, bought with money. god, then, did not intend the israelites to understand, and not one of them ever understood, from that day to this, that jehovah in his law to moses regarded the slave-holder as a man-stealer. man-stealing was a specific offence, with its specific penalty. slave-holding was one form of god's righteous government over men,--a government he ordained, with various modifications, among the hebrews themselves, and with sterner features in its relation to heathen slaves. in exodus xxi. and leviticus xxv., various gradations of servitude were enacted, with a careful particularity which need not be misunderstood. among these, a hebrew man might be a slave for six years, and then go free with his wife, if he were married when he came into the relation; but if his master had given him a wife, and she had borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children should be her master's, and he should go out by himself. that is, the man by the law became free, while his wife and children remained slaves. if the servant, however, plainly said, "i love my master, my wife, and my children; i will not go out free: then his master brought him unto the judges, also unto the doorpost, and his master bored his ear through with an awl, and he served him forever." (ex. xxi. - .) sir, you have urged discussion:--give us then your views of that passage. tell us how that man was separated from his wife and children according to _the eternal right_. tell us what was the condition of the woman in case the man chose to "go out" without her? tell us if the hebrew who thus had his ear bored by his master with an awl was not a slave for life? tell us, lastly, whether those children were not slaves? and, while on that chapter, tell us whether in the next verses, - , god did not allow the israelite father to sell his own daughter into bondage and into polygamy by the same act of sale? i will not dwell longer on these milder forms of slavery, but read to you the clear and unmistakable command of the lord in leviticus xxv. , :--"both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. moreover, of the children of the strangers that do sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they beget in your land: and they shall be your possession: and ye shall take them for an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; and they shall be your bondmen forever." sir, the sun will grow dim with age before that scripture can be tortured to mean any thing else than just what it says; that god commanded the israelites to be slave-holders in the strict and true sense over the heathen, in manner and form therein set forth. do you tell the world that this cannot be the sense of the bible, because it is "a violation of the first principles of the american declaration of independence;" because it grates upon your "instinct of liberty;" because it reveals god in opposition to the "spirit of the age;" because, if it be the sense of the passage, then "the bible neither ought to be, nor can be, received by mankind as a divine revelation"? _that_ is what you say: _that_ is what albert barnes affirms in his philosophy. but what if god in his word says, "both thy bondmen and thy bondmaids which thou shalt have shall be of the heathen that are round about you"? what if we may then choose between albert barnes's philosophy and god's truth? or will you say, god, under the circumstances, _permitted_ the israelites _to sin_ in the matter of slave-holding, just as he permitted them _to sin_ by living in polygamy. _permitted_ them _to sin!_ no, sir; god _commanded_ them to be slave-holders. he _made it_ the law of their social state. he _made it_ one form of his ordained government among them. moreover, you take it for granted all too soon, that the israelites committed sin in their polygamy. god sanctioned their polygamy. it was therefore not sin in them. it was right. but god now forbids polygamy, under the gospel; and now it is sin. or will you tell us the iniquity of the canaanites was then full, and god's time to punish them had come? true; but the same question comes up:--did god punish the canaanites by placing them in the relation of slaves to his people, by express command, which compelled them to sin? that's the point. i will not permit you to evade it. in plainer words:--did god command the hebrews to make slaves of their fellow-men, to buy them and sell them, to regard them as their money? he did. then, did the hebrews sin when they obeyed god's command? no. then they did what was right, and it was right because god made it so. then _the hebrew slave-holder was not a man-stealer_. but, you say, the southern slave-holder is. well, we shall see presently. just here, the abolitionist who professes to respect the scriptures is wont to tell us that the whole subject of bondage among the israelites was so peculiar to god's ancient dispensation, that no analogy between that bondage and southern slavery can be brought up. thus he attempts to raise a dust out of the jewish institutions, to prevent people from seeing that slaveholding then was the same thing that it is now. but, to sustain my interpretation of the plain scriptures given, i will go back five hundred years before the existence of the hebrew nation. i read at that time, (gen. xiv. :)--"and when abraham heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them even unto damascus," &c. (gen. xvii. :)--"and all the men of his house, born, in the house, and bought with the money of the stranger, were circumcised." (gen. xx. :)--"and abimelech took sheep and oxen, and men-servants and women-servants, and gave them unto abraham." (gen. xxiv. , :)--"and he said, i am abraham's servant; and the lord hath blessed my master greatly, and he is become great; and he hath given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-servants, and camels and asses." _was abraham a man-stealer?_ sir, what is the common sense of these scriptures? why, that the slave-trade existed in abraham's day, as it had long before, and has ever since, in all the regions of syria, palestine, arabia, and egypt, in which criminals and prisoners of war were sold,--in which parents sold their children. abraham, then, it is plain, bought, of the sellers in this traffic, men-servants and maid-servants; he had them born in his house; he received them as presents. do you tell me that abraham, by divine authority, made these servants part of his family, social and religious? very good. but still he regarded them as his slaves. he took hagar as a wife, but he treated her as his slave,--yea, as sarah's slave; and as such he gave her to be chastised, for misconduct, by her mistress. yea, he never placed ishmael, the son of the bondwoman, on a level with isaac, the son of the freewoman. if, then, he so regarded hagar and ishmael, of course he never considered his other slaves on an equality with himself. true, had he been childless, he would have given his estate to eliezer: but he would have given it to his slave. true, had isaac not been born, he would have given his wealth to ishmael; but he would nave given it to the son of his bondwoman. sir, every southern planter is not more truly a slave-holder than abraham. and the southern master, by divine authority, may, to-day, consider his slaves part of his social and religious family, just as abraham did. his relation is just that of abraham. he has slaves of an inferior type of mankind from abraham's bondmen; and he therefore, for that reason, as well as from the fact that they are his slaves, holds them lower than himself. but, nevertheless, he is a slave-holder in no other sense than was abraham. did abraham have his slave-household circumcised? every southern planter may have his slave-household baptized. i baptized, not long since, a slave-child,--the master and mistress offering it to god. what was done in the parlor might be done with divine approbation on every plantation. so, then, abraham lived in the midst of a system of slave-holding exactly the same in nature with that in the south,--a system ordained of god as really as the other forms of government round about him. he, then, with the divine blessing, made himself the master of slaves, men, women, and children, by buying them,--by receiving them in gifts,--by having them born in his house; and he controlled them as property, just as really as the southern master in the present day. i ask now, _was abraham a man-stealer?_ oh, no, you reiterate: but the southern master is. why? _is the southern master a man-stealer_? do you, sir, or anybody, contend that the southern master seized his slave in africa, and forcibly brought him away to america, contrary to law? that, and that alone, was and is kidnapping in divine and human statute. no. what then? why, the abolitionist responds, the african man-stealer sold his victim to the slave-holder; he, to the planter; and the negro has been ever since in bondage: therefore _the guilt_ of the man-stealer has cleaved to sellers, buyers, and inheritors, to this time, and will through all generations to come. that is the charge. and it brings up the question so often and triumphantly asked by the abolitionist; _i.e._ "you," he says to the slave-holder,--"you admit it was wrong to steal the negro in africa. can the slave-holder, then, throw off wrong so long as he holds the slave at any time or anywhere thereafter?" i answer, yes; and my reply shall be short, yet conclusive. it is this:--_guilt_, or criminality, is that state of a moral agent which results from _his_ actual commission of a crime or offence knowing it to be crime or violation of law. _that_ is the received definition of _guilt_, and _you_, i know, do accept it. the _guilt_, then, of kidnapping _terminated_ with the man-stealer, the seller, the buyer, and holders, who, knowingly and intentionally, carried on the traffic contrary to the divine law. that guilt attaches in no sense whatever, as a personal, moral responsibility, to the present slave-holder. observe, i am here discussing, _not the question of mere slave-holding,_ but whether the master, who has had nothing to do with the slave-trade, can _now_ hold the slave without the moral guilt of the man-stealer? i have said that _that_ guilt, in no sense whatever, rests upon him; for he neither stole the man, nor bought him from the kidnapper, nor had any _complicity_ in the traffic. here, i know, the abolitionist insists that the master _is_ guilty of this _complicity_, unless he will at once emancipate the slave; because, so long as he holds him, he thereby, personally and _voluntarily, assumes the same relation which the original kidnapper or buyer held to the african_. this is dr. cheever's argument in a recent popular sermon. he thinks it unanswerable; but it has no weight whatever. it is met perfectly by adding _one_ word to his proposition. thus:--_the master does_ not _assume the same relation which the original man-stealer or buyer held to the african_. the master's _relation_ to god and to his slave is now _wholly changed_ from that of the man-stealer, and those engaged in the trade; and his obligation is wholly different. what is his relation? and what is his obligation? they are as follows:---- the master finds himself, with no taint of personal concern in the african trade, in a christian community of white anglo-americans, holding control over his black fellow-man, who is so unlike himself in complexion, in form, in other peculiarities, and so unequal to himself in attributes of body and mind, that it is _impossible, in every sense_, to place him on a level with himself in the community. _this is his relation to the negro_. what, then, does god command him to do? does god require him to send the negro back to his heathen home from whence he was stolen? that home no longer exists. but, if it did remain, does god command the master to send his christianized slave into the horrors of his former african heathenism? no. god has placed the master under law entirely different from his command to the slave-trader. god said to the trader, _let the negro alone_. but he says to the present master, _do unto the negro all the good you can; make him a civilized man; make him a christian man; lift him up and give him all he has a right to claim in the good of the whole community_. this the master can do; this he must do, and then leave the result with the almighty. we reach the same conclusion by asking, what does god say to the negro-slave? does he tell him to ask to be sent back to heathen africa? no. does he give him authority to claim a created equality and unalienable right to be on a level with the white man in civil and social relations? no. to ask the first would be to ask a great evil; to claim the second is to demand a natural and moral impossibility. no. god tells him to seek none of these things. but he commands him to know the facts in his case as they are in the bible, and have ever been, and ever will be in providence:--that he is not the white man's equal,--that he can never have his level--that he must not claim it; but that he can have, and ought to have, and must have, all of good, in his condition as a slave, until god may reveal a higher happiness for him in some other relation than that _he must ever_ have to the anglo-american. the present slave-holder, then, by declining to emancipate his bondman, does not place himself in _the guilt_ of the man-stealer or of those who had complicity with him; but he stands _exactly_ in that nick _of time and place_, in the course of providence, where _wrong_, in the transmission of african slavery, _ends_, and _right begins_. i have, sir, fairly stated this, your strongest argument, and fully met it. _the southern master is not a man-stealer._ the abolitionist--repulsed in his charge that the slave-owner is a kidnapper, either in fact or by voluntarily assuming any of the relations of the traffic--then makes his impeachment on his second affirmation, mentioned at the opening of this letter. that the slave-holder is, nevertheless, thus _guilty_, because, in the simple fact of being a master, he _steals_ from the negro his unalienable right to freedom. this, sir, looks like a new view of the subject. the crime forbidden in the bible was stealing and selling a man; _i.e._ seizing and forcibly carrying away, from country or state, a human being--man, woman, or child--contrary to law, and selling or holding the same. but the abolitionist gives us to understand this crime rests on the slave-holder in another sense:--namely, that he steals from the negro a metaphysical attribute,--his unalienable right to liberty! this is a new sort of kidnapping. this is, i suppose, _stealing the man from himself_, as it is sometimes elegantly expressed,--_robbing him of his body and his soul_. sir, i admit this is a strong figure of speech, a beautiful personification, a sonorous rhetorical flourish, which must make a deep impression on dr. cheever's people, broadway, new york, and on your congregation, washington square, philadelphia; but it is certainly not the bible crime of man-stealing. and whether the southern master is _guilty_ of this sublimated thing will be understood by us when you prove that the negro, or anybody else, has such metaphysical right to be stolen,--such transcendental liberty not in subordination to the good of the whole people. in a word, sir, this refined expression is, after all, just the old averment that the slave-holder is guilty of _sin per se!_ that's it. i have given you, in reply, the old testament. in my next, i propose to inquire what the new testament says in the light of the _golden rule_. f.a. ross. huntsville, ala., jan. , . the golden rule. this view of the golden rule is the only exposition of that great text which has ever been given in words sufficiently clear, and, with practical illustrations, to make the subject intelligible to every capacity. the explanation is the truth of god, and it settles forever the slavery question, so far as it rests on this precept of jesus christ. no. iv. rev. albert barnes:-- dear sir:--the argument against slave-holding, founded on the golden rule, is the strongest which can be presented, and i admit that, if it cannot be perfectly met, the master must give the slave liberty and equality. but if it can be absolutely refuted, then the slave-holder in this regard may have a good conscience; and the abolitionist has nothing more to say. here is the rule. "therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets." (matt. vii. .) in your "_notes_," on this passage you thus write:--"this command has been usually called the savior's _golden rule_; a name given to it on account of its great value.--_all that you_ expect or desire _of others, in similar circumstances_, do to them." this, sir, is your exposition of the savior's rule of right. with all due respect, i decline your interpretation. you have missed the meaning by leaving out one word. observe,--you do not say, all that you ought to _expect_ or _desire_, &c., that _do to them_. no. but you make the expectation or desire, _which every man_ actually has _in similar circumstances_, the measure _of his_ duty _to every other man_. or, in different words, you make, without qualification or explanation, the mere expectation or desire which every man,--with no instruction, or any sort of training,--wise or simple, good or bad, heathen, mohammedan, nominal christian,--would have _in similar circumstances_, the law of obligation, _always binding_ upon him to do that same thing _unto his neighbor!_ sir, you have left out _the very idea_ which contains the sense of that scripture. it is this: christ, in his rule, _presupposes_ that the man to whom he gives it _knows_, and from the bible, (or providence, or natural conscience, _so far as in harmony_ with the bible,) the _various relations_ in which god has placed him; and the _respective duties_ in those relations; _i.e._ the rule _assumes_ that he knows what he ought to _expect_ or _desire_ in similar circumstances. i will test this affirmation by several and varied illustrations. i will show how christ, according to your exposition of his rule, speaks on the subject,--of _revenge, marriage, emancipation_,--_the fugitive from bondage_. and how he truly speaks on these subjects. _revenge--right according to your view of the golden rule_. indian and missionary--prisoner tied to a tree, stuck over with burning splinters. here is an indian torturing his prisoner. the missionary approaches and beseeches him to regard _the golden rule_. "humph!" utters the savage: "golden rule! what's that?" "why" says the good man, "all that you _expect_ or _desired_ other indians, in similar circumstances, do you even so to them." "humph!" growls the warrior, with a fierce smile,--"missionary--good: that's what i do now. if i was tied to that tree, i would _expect_ and _desire him_ to have _his_ revenge,--to do to me as i do to him; and i would sing my death-song, as he sings his. missionary, your rule is indian rule,--good rule, missionary. humph!" and he sticks more splinters into his victim, brandishes his tomahawk, and yells. sir, what has the missionary to say, after this perfect proof that you have mistaken the great law of right? verily, he finds that the rule, with your explanation, tells the indian to torture his prisoner. verily, he finds that the wild man has the best of the argument. he finds he had left out the word ought; and that he can't put it in, until he teaches the indian things which as yet he don't know. yea, he finds he gave the commandment too soon; for that he must begin back of that commandment, and teach the savage god's ordination of the relations in which he is to his fellow-men, before he can make him comprehend or apply the rule as christ gives it. _marriage--void under your interpretation of the golden rule_. lucy stone, and moses--lady on sofa, having just divorced herself--moses, with the tables of the law, appears: she falls at his feet, and covers her face with her hands. this woman, everybody knows, was married some time since, after a fashion; that is to say, protesting publicly against all laws of wedlock, and entering into the relation so long only as she, or her husband, might continue pleased therewith. very well. then i, without insult to her or offense to my readers, suppose that about this time she has shown her unalienable right to liberty and equality by giving her husband a bill of divorcement. free again, she reclines on her couch, and is reading the tribune. it is mid-day. but there is a light, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about her. and _he_, who saw god on sinai, stands before her, the glory on his face, and the tables of stone in his hands. the woman falls before him, veils her eyes with her trembling fingers, and cries out, "moses, oh, i believed till now that thou practised deception, in claiming to be sent of god to israel. but now, i know thou didst see god in the burning bush, and heard him speak that law from the holy mountain. moses, i know ... i confess.".... and moses answers, and says unto her, "woman, thou art one of a great class in this land, who claim to be more just than god, more pure than their maker, who have made their inward light their god. woman, thou in '_convention_' hast uttered _declaration of independence_ from man. and, verily, thou hast asserted this claim to equality and unalienable right, even now, by giving thy husband his bill of divorcement, in thy sense of the golden rule. yea, verily, thou hast done unto him all that thou _expectedst_ or _desiredst_ of him, in similar circumstances. and now thou thinkest thyself free again. woman, thou art a sinner. verily, thine inward light, and declaration of independence, and golden rule, do well agree the one with the other. verily, thou hast learned of jefferson, and channing, and barnes. but, woman, notwithstanding thou hast sat at the feet of these wise men, i, moses, say thou art a sinner before the law, and the prophets, and the gospel. woman, thy light is darkness; thy declaration of equality and right is vanity and folly; and thy golden rule is license to wickedness. "woman, hast thou ears? hear: i, by authority of god, ordained that the man should rule over thee. i placed thee, and children, and men-servants, and maid-servants, under the same law of subjection to the government ordained of god in the family,--the state. i for a time sanctioned polygamy, and made it right. i, for the hardness of men's hearts, allowed them, and made it right, to give their wives a bill of divorcement. woman, hear. paul, having the same spirit of god, confirms my word. he commands _wives_, and children, and servants, after this manner:--'wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the lord; children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing unto the lord; servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing god.' woman, paul makes _that rule_ the same, and _that submission_, the same. the _manner_ of the rule he varies with the relations. he requires it to be, in the _love_ of the husband, even as christ loved the church,--in the _mildness_ of the father, not provoking the children to anger, lest they be discouraged,--in _the justice and equity_ of the master, knowing that he also has a master in heaven: (colossians.) woman, hear. paul says to thee, the man _now_ shall have one wife, and he _now_ shall not give her a bill of divorcement, save for crime. woman, thou art not free from thy husband. christ's golden rule must not be interpreted by thee as a. barnes has rendered it; christ _assumes_ that thou _believest_ god's truth,--that thou _knowest_ the relation of husband and wife, and the _obligations and rights_ of the same, _as in the bible; then_, in the light of this _knowledge_, verily, thou art required to do what god says thou _oughtest_ to do. woman, thou art a sinner. go, sin no more. go, find thy husband; see to it that he takes thee back. go, submit to him, and honor him, and obey him." _emancipation--ruin--golden rule, in your meaning, carried out_. island in the tropics--elegant houses falling to decay--broad fields abandoned to the forest--wharves grass-grown--negroes relapsing into the savage state--a dark cloud over the island, through which the lightning glares, revealing, in red writing, these words:--"_redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled by the irresistible genius of universal emancipation"_.--[gospel--according to curran--and the british parliament.] jamaica, sir, to say nothing of st. domingo, is illustration of your theory of the golden rule, in negro emancipation. you tell the southern master that all he would _expect_ or _desire_, if he were a slave, he must do unto his bondman; that he must not pause to ask whether the relation of master and slave be ordained of god or not. no. you tell him, _if_ he would _expect_ or _desire_ liberty were he a slave, _that_ settles the question as to what he is to do! he must let his bondman go free. yea, _that_ is what you teach: because the moment you put in the word ought, and say, all that you ought to _expect_ or _desire_,--_i.e._ all that you _know_ god commands you to _expect _ or _desire_ in your relations to men, _as established by him,_--that _do to them_. sir, when you thus explain the golden rule, then your argument against slave-holding, so far as founded on this rule, is at once arrested; it is stopped short, in full career; it has to wait for reinforcement of fact, which may never come up. for, suppose the fact to be, that the relation of master and slave is one mode of the government ordained of god. then, sir, the master, _knowing that_ fact, and _knowing_ what the slave, _as a slave_, ought to _expect_ or _desire_, he, the master, then fulfils the golden rule when he does that unto his slave which, in similar circumstances, he ought to expect _to be done unto himself_. now comes the question, ought he then to _expect_ or _desire_ liberty and equality? that is the question of questions on this subject. and without hesitation i reply, the golden rule decides _that question_ yea or nay, _absolutely_ and _perfectly_, as god's word or providence shows that the good _of the family, the community, the state_, requires that the slave is or is not _to be set free and made equal_. that good, _as god reveals it_, settles the question. let the master then see to it, how he hears god's word as to that good. let him see to it, how he understands god's providence as to that good. let him see to it, that he makes no mistake as to that good. for god will not hold him guiltless, if he will not hear what he tells him as to that good. god will not justify him, if he has a bad conscience or blunders in his philosophy. god will punish him, if he fails to bless his land by letting the bond go free when, he ought to emancipate. and god will punish him, if he brings a curse upon his country by freeing his slave when he ought not to give him liberty. so, then, _the golden rule does not_, of itself, _reveal to man at all what are his_ relations _to his fellow-men; but it tells him what he is to_ do, _when he_ already knows them. so, then, you, sir, cannot be permitted to tell the world that this rule must emancipate all the negro slaves in the united states,--no matter how unprepared they may be,--no matter how degraded,--no matter how unlike and unequal to the white man by creation,--no matter if it be a natural and moral impossibility,--no matter: the golden rule must emancipate by authority of the first sentiments of the declaration of independence, and by obligation of the great law of liberty,--the intuitional consciousness of the eternal right! no. the rule, as said, _presupposes_ that he who is required to obey it does already _know_ the relations in which god has placed him, and the respective duties in those conditions. has god, then, established the relations of husband and wife, parent and child, master and slave? yes. then the command comes. it says to the husband, to aid you in your known obligations to your wife,--to give you a lively sense of it,--suppose yourself to be the wife: whatsoever, therefore, you ought, in that condition, to _expect_ or _desire_, that, as husband, do unto your wife. it says to the parent, imagine yourself the child; and whatsoever, as such, you ought to _expect_ or _desire, that_, as parent, do unto your child. it says to the master, put yourself in the place of your slave; and whatsoever you ought, in that condition, to _expect_ or _desire, that_, as master, do unto your slave. let husband, parent, master, _know_ his obligations from god, and obey the rule. _fugitive slave--obeying the golden rule under your version_. honorable joshua r. giddings and the angel of the lord--hon. gentleman at table--nine runaway negroes dining with him--the angel, uninvited, comes in and disturbs the feast. giddings has boasted in congress of having had nine fugitive slaves to break bread with him at one time. i choose, then, to imagine that, during the dinner, the angel who found hagar by the fountain stands suddenly in the midst, and says to the negroes, "ye slaves, whence came ye, and whither will ye go?" and they answer and say, "we flee from the face of our masters. this abolitionist told us to kill, and steal, and run away from bondage; and we have murdered and stolen and escaped. he, thou seest, welcomes us to liberty and equality. we _expect_ and _desire_ to be members of congress, governors of states, to marry among the great, and one of us to be president. giddings, and all abolitionists, tell us that these honors belong to us equally as to white people, and will be given under the golden rule." and the angel of the lord says to them, "ye slaves, return unto your masters, and submit yourselves under their hands. i sent your fathers, and i send you, into bondage. i mean it unto good, and i will bring it to pass to save much people alive." then, turning to the tempter, he says, "thou, a statesman! thou, a reader of my word and providence! why hast thou not understood my speech to hagar? i gave her, a slave, to sarah. she fled from her mistress. i sent her back. why hast thou not understood my word four thousand years ago,--that _the slave shall not flee from his master?_ why hast thou also perverted my law in deuteronomy, (xxiii. , ?) i say therein, 'thou shalt not deliver unto his master the servant which is escaped from his master unto thee: he shall dwell with thee, even among you, in that place which he shall choose, in one of thy gates where it liketh him best: thou shalt not oppress him.' why hast thou not known that i meant the _heathen slave_ who escaped from his _heathen master?_ i commanded, israel, in such case, not to hold _him_ in bondage. i made this specific law for this specific fact. why hast thou taught that, in this commandment, i gave license to all men-servants and maid-servants in the whole land of israel to run away from their masters? why hast thou thus made me, in one saying, contradict and make void all my laws wherein i ordained that the hebrews should be slave-owners over their brethren during years, and over the heathen forever? why hast thou in all this changed my golden rule? i, in that rule, _assume_ that men _know_ from revelation and providence the relations in which i have placed them, and their duties therein. i then command them to do unto others what they thus _know_ they _ought_ to do unto them in these relations; and i make the obligation quick and powerful, by telling every man to imagine himself in such conditions, and then he will _the better_ know '_whatsoever_' he should do unto his neighbor. why hast thou made void my law, by making me say, 'all that thou _expectest_ or _desirest_ of others, in similar circumstances, do to them'? i never imagined to give such license to folly and sin. why hast thou imagined such license to iniquity? verily, thou tempter, thou hast in thy golden rule made these slaves thieves and murderers, and art now eating with them the bread of sin and death. "why hast thou tortured my speech wherein i say that i have made of _one blood_ all nations of men, to mean that i have created all men equal and endowed them with rights unalienable save in their consent? i never said that thing! i said that i made all men to descend from _one parentage!_ that is what i say in that place! why hast thou tortured that plain truth? thou mightest as well teach that all 'the moving creatures that have life, and fowl that fly above the earth, in the open firmament of heaven,' are _created equal_, because i said i brought them forth _of the water_. thou mightest as well say that 'all cattle, and creeping thing and beast of the earth, _are created equal_, because i said i brought them forth _of the earth_, as to affirm the _equality of men_ because i say they are _of one blood_. nay, i have made men unequal as the leaves of the trees, the sands of the sea, the stars of heaven. i have made them so, in harmony with the infinite variety and inequality in every thing in my creation. and i have made them unequal in my _mercy_. had i made all men equal in attributes of body and mind, then _unfallen man_ would never have realized the varied glories of his destiny. and had i given _fallen man_ equality of nature and unalienable rights, then i had made the earth an aceldama and valley of gehenna. for what would be the _strife_ in all the earth among men equal in body and mind, equal in power, equal in depravity, equal in will, each one maintaining rights unalienable? when would the war end? who would be the victors where all are giants? who would sue for peace where none will submit? what would be _human social life?_ who would be the weak, the loving? who would seek or need forbearance, compassion, self-denying benevolence? who would be the grateful? who would be the humble, the meek? what would be _human_ virtue, what _human_ vice, what _human_ joy or sorrow? nay, i have made men _unequal_ and given them _alienable rights_, that i might institute human government and reveal human character. "why hast thou been willingly ignorant of these first principles of the oracles of god, which would have made thee truly a christian philosopher and statesman?" _fugitive slave--obeying the golden rule as christ gave it_ rev. a. barnes and the apostle paul--minister of the gospel in his study--fugitive slave, converted under his preaching, inquiring whether it is not his duty to return to his master--paul appears and rebukes the minister for wresting his gospel. with all respect and affection for you, sir, i imagine a slave, having run away from his master and become a christian under your preaching, might, with the bible in his hands and the holy spirit in his heart, have, despite your training, question of conscience, whether he did right to leave his master, and ought not to go back. and i think how paul would listen, and what he would say, to your interpretation of his epistle to philemon. i think he would say,-- "i withstand thee to thy face, because thou art to be blamed. why hast thou written, in thy '_notes_,' that the word i apply to onesimus may mean, not _slave_, but _hired servant?_ why hast thou said this in unsupported assertion? why hast thou given no respect to robinson, and all thy wise men, who agree that the word wherein i express onesimus's relation to philemon never means a hired servant, but a _slave_,--the property of his master,--a living possession? "why hast thou called in question the fact that philemon was a slave-holder? why hast thou taught that, if he was a slave-holder when he became a christian, he could not _continue, consistently_, to be a slave-owner and a christian,--that if he did so _continue_, he would not be in _good standing_, but an _offender_ in the church? (see notes.) "i say philemon was the master of onesimus, in the real sense of a slave-owner, under roman law, in which he had the right of life and death over him,--being thereby a master in possession of power unknown in the united states. and yet i call philemon 'our dearly beloved and fellow-laborer,' i tell him that i send to him again onesimus, who had been unprofitable to him in time past; but now, being a christian, he would be profitable. i tell him, i send him again, not a slave, (only,) but above a slave, a christian brother, beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto him, both _in the flesh_ and in the lord. dost thou know, albert barnes, what i mean by that word, _in the flesh?_ verily, i knew the things wherein the master and the slave are beloved, the one of the other, in the best affections of human nature, and in the lord! therefore i say to philemon that he, _as master_, could receive onesimus _as his slave_, and yet as a _brother_, more _beloved, by reason of his relation to him as master_, than i could regard him! yea, verily,--and i say to thee, albert barnes, thou hast never been in the south, and thou dost not understand, and canst not understand, the force, or even the meaning, of my words _in the flesh_; i.e. _in the love of the master and the slave to one another_. but philemon i knew would feel its power, and so i made that appeal to him. "why hast thou said, that i did not send onesimus back _by authority?_ i did send him back by authority,--yea, by authority of the lord jesus christ? for it was my duty to send him again to philemon, whether he had been willing to go or not; and it was his duty to go. but he was willing. so we both felt our obligations; and, when i commanded, he cheerfully obeyed. what else was my duty and his? had i not said, in line upon line and in precept upon precept, 'servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart, pleasing god'? (coloss. iii. .) had not peter written, 'servants, be subject to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward'? ( pet. ii. .) onesimus had broken these commandments when he fled from his master. was it not then of my responsibility to send him again to philemon? and was it not christ's law to him to return and submit himself under his master's hand? "why, then, hast thou not understood my speech? has it been even because thou couldst not _hear_ my word? what else has hindered? what more could i have said, than (in tim. vi. - ) i do say, to rebuke all abolitionists? yea, i describe them--i show their principles--as fully as if i had called them by name in boston, in new york, in philadelphia, and said they would live in . "and yet thou hast, in thy commentary on my letter to timothy, utterly distorted, maimed, and falsified my meaning. thou hast mingled truth and untruth so together as to make me say what was not and is not in my mind. for thou teachest the slave, while professing not so to teach him, that i tell him that he is _not_ to count his master worthy of all honor; that he _is_ to _despise_ him; that he is _not_ to do him service as to a christian faithful and beloved. _no_. but thou teachest the slave, in my name, to regard his christian master an _offender_ in the sight of christ, if he _continues_ a slave-owner. "thou tellest him to obey _only_ in the sense in which he is to submit to injustice, oppression, and cruelty; and that he is ever to seek to throw off the yoke in his created equality and unalienable right to liberty. (see notes.) "this is what thou hast taught as my gospel. but i commanded thee to teach and exhort _just the contrary_. i commanded thee to say after this way:--'let as many servants as are under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of god and his doctrine be not blasphemed. and they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. these things teach and exhort.' "thou, in thy 'notes,' art compelled, though most unwillingly, to confess that i do mean _slaves_ in this place, in the full and proper sense; yea, slaves under the roman law. good. then do i here tell slaves to count their masters, even when not christians, worthy of all honor; and, when christians, to regard them as faithful and beloved, and not to despise them, and to do them service? yet, after all this, do i say to these same slaves that they have a created equality and unalienable right to liberty, under which, whenever they think fit, i command them to dishonor their masters, despise them, and run away! sir, i did never so instruct slaves; nay, i did never command thee so to teach them. but i did and do exhort thee not so to train them; for i said then and say now to thee, 'if any man teach [slaves] otherwise, [than to honor their masters as faithful and beloved, and to do them service,] and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of the lord jesus christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness; from such withdraw thyself,' "what more could i have said to the abolitionists of my day? what more can i say to them in this day? _that_ which was true of them two thousand years ago, is true now. i rebuked abolitionists then, and i rebuke them now. i tell them the things in their hearts,--the things on their tongues,--the things in their hands,--are contrary to wholesome words, even the words of the lord jesus christ. canst thou _hear_ my words in this place without feeling how faithfully i have given the head, and the heart, and the words, and the doings of the men, from whom thou hast not withdrawn thyself? "verily, thou canst not _hear_ my speech, and therefore thou canst not interpret my gospel. thou believest it is impossible that i sanction slavery! hence it is impossible for thee to understand my words: for i do sanction slavery. how? thus:-- "i found slavery in asia, in greece, in rome. i saw it to be one mode of the government ordained of god. i regarded it, in most conditions of fallen mankind, necessarily and irresistibly part of such government, and therefore as natural, as wise, as good, in such conditions, as the other ways men are ruled in the state or the family. "i took up slavery, then, as such ordained government,--wise, good, yea best, in certain circumstances, until, in the elevating spirit and power of my gospel, the slave is made fit for the liberty and equality of his master, if he can be so lifted up. hence i make the rule of magistrate, subject, master and servant, parent and child, husband and wife, the same rule; _i.e._ i make it the same right in the _superior_ to control the _obedience_ and the _service_ of the _inferior_, bound to obey, whatever the difference in the relations and service to be rendered. yea, i give _exactly the same command_ to all in these relations; and thus, in all my words, i make it plainly to be understood that i regard slavery to be as righteous a mode of government as that of magistrate and subject, parent and child, husband and wife, during the circumstances and times in which god is pleased to have it continue. i saw all the injustice, the oppression, the cruelty, masters might be guilty of, and were and are now guilty of; but i saw no more injustice, oppression, and cruelty, in the relation of master and slave, than i saw in all other forms of rule,--even in that of husband and wife, parent and child. in my gospel i condemn wrong in all these states of life, while i fully sanction and sustain the relations themselves. i tell the magistrate, husband, father, master, how to rule; i tell the subject, wife, child, servant, how to submit. hence, i command the slave not to flee from bondage, just as i require the subject, the wife, the child, not to resist or flee from obedience. i warn the slave, if he leaves his master he has sinned, and must return; and i make it the duty of all men to see to it, that _he shall go back_. hence, i myself did what i command others to do: i sent onesimus back to his master. "thus i sanction slavery everywhere in the new testament. but it is impossible for thee, with thy principles,--thy law of reason,--thy law of created equality and unalienable right,--thy elevation of the declaration of independence above the ordinance of god,--to sustain slavery. nay, it is impossible for thee, with thy interpretation of christ's golden rule, to recognise the system of servile labor; nay, it is impossible for thee to tell _this_ slave to return to his master as i sent onesimus back; nay, thou art guarded by thy golden rule. thou tellest him that, if thou hadst been in his place, thou wouldst have _expected, desired_ freedom, that thou wouldst have run away, and that thou wouldst not now return; that thou wouldst have regarded thy created equality and unalienable right as thy supreme law, and have disregarded and scorned all other obligations as _pretended revelation from god_. therefore thou now doest unto him '_whatsoever_' thou wouldst _expect_ or _desire_ him to do unto thee in similar circumstances; _i.e._ thou tellest him he did right to run away, and will do right not to return! this is thy golden rule. but i did not instruct thee so to learn christ. nay, this slave knows thou hast not not given him the mind of christ; nay, he knows that christ commands thee to send him to his master again. and thus do what thou oughtest to _expect_ or _desire_ in similar circumstances; yea, _do_ now _thy duty_, and this slave, like onesimus, will bless thee for giving him a good conscience whenever he will return to his obedience. thus paul, the aged, speaks to thee." so, then, the golden rule is the whole bible; yea, christ says it is-"the law and the prophets;" yea, it is the old testament and the new condensed; and with ever-increasing glory of providence in one sublime aphorism, which can be understood and obeyed only by those who _know_ what the bible, or providence, reveals as to man's varied conditions and his obligations therein. i think, sir, i have refuted your interpretation of the golden rule, and have given its true meaning. the slave-holder, then, may have a good conscience under this commandment. let him so exercise himself as to have a conscience void of offence towards god and towards men. yours, &c. f.a. ross. conclusion. i intended to, and may yet, in a subsequent edition, write two more letters to a. barnes. the _one_, to show how infidelity has been passing off from the south to the north,--especially since the _christian death_ of jackson; the other, to meet mr. barnes's argument founded on the spirit of the age. the end. sermons to the natural man. by william g. t. shedd, d. d., author of "a history of christian doctrine," "homiletics and pastoral. theology," "discourses and essays," "philosophy of history," etc. new york: charles scribner & co., broadway. . preface. it is with a solemn feeling of responsibility that i send forth this volume of sermons. the ordinary emotions of authorship have little place in the experience, when one remembers that what he says will be either a means of spiritual life, or an occasion of spiritual death. i believe that the substance of these discourses will prove to accord with god's revealed truth, in the day that will try all truth. the title indicates their general aim and tendency. the purpose is psychological. i would, if possible, anatomize the natural heart. it is in vain to offer the gospel unless the law has been applied with clearness and cogency. at the present day, certainly, there is far less danger of erring in the direction of religious severity, than in the direction of religious indulgence. if i have not preached redemption in these sermons so fully as i have analyzed sin, it is because it is my deliberate conviction that just now the first and hardest work to be done by the preacher, for the natural man, is to produce in him some sensibility upon the subject of sin. conscience needs to become consciousness. there is considerable theoretical unbelief respecting the doctrines of the new testament; but this is not the principal difficulty. theoretical skepticism is in a small minority of christendom, and always has been. the chief obstacle to the spread of the christian religion is the practical unbelief of speculative believers. "thou sayest,"--says john bunyan,--"thou dost in deed and in truth believe the scriptures. i ask, therefore, wast thou ever killed stark dead by the law of works contained in the scriptures? killed by the law or letter, and made to see thy sins against it, and left in an helpless condition by the law? for, the proper work of the law is to slay the soul, and to leave it dead in an helpless state. for, it doth neither give the soul any comfort itself, when it comes, nor doth it show the soul where comfort is to be had; and therefore it is called the 'ministration of condemnation,' the 'ministration of death.' for, though men may have a notion of the blessed word of god, yet before they be converted, it may be truly said of them, ye err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of god." if it be thought that such preaching of the law can be dispensed with, by employing solely what is called in some quarters the preaching of the gospel, i do not agree with the opinion. the benefits of christ's redemption are pearls which must not be cast before swine. the gospel is not for the stupid, or for the doubter,--still less for the scoffer. christ's atonement is to be offered to conscious guilt, and in order to conscious guilt there must be the application of the decalogue. john baptist must prepare the way for the merciful redeemer, by legal and close preaching. and the merciful redeemer himself, in the opening of his ministry, and before he spake much concerning remission of sins, preached a sermon which in its searching and self-revelatory character is a more alarming address to the corrupt natural heart, than was the first edition of it delivered amidst the lightnings of sinai. the sermon on the mount is called the sermon of the beatitudes, and many have the impression that it is a very lovely song to the sinful soul of man. they forget that the blessing upon obedience implies a _curse_ upon disobedience, and that every mortal man has disobeyed the sermon on the mount. "god save me,"--said a thoughtful person who knew what is in the sermon on the mount, and what is in the human heart,--"god save me from the sermon on the mount when i am judged in the last day." when christ preached this discourse, he preached the law, principally. "think not,"--he says,--"that i am come to destroy the law or the prophets. i am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. for verily i say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." john the baptist describes his own preaching, which was confessedly severe and legal, as being far less searching than that of the messiah whose near advent he announced. "i indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than i, whose shoes i am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the holy ghost and with _fire_; whose _fan_ is in his hand, and he will _thoroughly purge_ his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will _burn up the chaff_ with unquenchable fire." the general burden and strain of the discourse with which the redeemer opened his ministry is preceptive and mandatory. its keynote is: "thou shalt do this," and, "thou shalt not do that;" "thou shalt be thus, in thine heart," and, "thou shalt not be thus, in thine heart." so little is said in it, comparatively, concerning what are called the doctrines of grace, that it has often been cited to prove that the creed of the church has been expanded unduly, and made to contain more than the founder of christianity really intended it should. the absence, for example, of any direct and specific statement of the doctrine of atonement, in this important section of christ's teaching, has been instanced by the socinian opponent as proof that this doctrine is not so vital as the church has always claimed it to be. but, christ was purposely silent respecting grace and its methods, until he had _spiritualized law_, and made it penetrate the human consciousness like a sharp sword. of what use would it have been to offer mercy, before the sense of its need had been elicited? and how was this to be elicited, but by the solemn and authoritative enunciation of law and justice? there are, indeed, cheering intimations, in the sermon on the mount, respecting the divine mercy, and so there are in connection with the giving of the ten commandments. but law, rather than grace, is the main substance and burden of both. the great intention, in each instance, is to convince of sin, preparatory to the offer of clemency. the decalogue is the legal basis of the old dispensation, and the sermon on the mount is the legal basis of the new. when the redeemer, in the opening of his ministry, had provided the apparatus of conviction, then he provided the apparatus of expiation. the great high-priest, like the levitical priest who typified him, did not sprinkle atoning blood indiscriminately. it was to bedew only him who felt and confessed guilt. this legal and minatory element in the words of jesus has also been noticed by the skeptic, and an argument has been founded upon it to prove that he was soured by ill-success, and, like other merely human reformers who have found the human heart too hard, for them, fell away from the gentleness with which he began his ministry, into the anger and denunciation of mortified ambition with which it closed. this is the picture of jesus christ which rénan presents in his apocryphal gospel. but the fact is, that the redeemer _began_ with law, and was rigorous with sin from the very first. the sermon on the mount was delivered not far from twelve months from the time of his inauguration, by baptism, to the office of messiah. and all along through his ministry of three years and a half, he constantly employs the law in order to prepare his hearers for grace. he was as gentle and gracious to the penitent sinner, in the opening of his ministry, as he was at the close of it; and he was as unsparing and severe towards the hardened and self-righteous sinner, in his early judaean, as he was in his later galilean ministry. it is sometimes said that the surest way to produce conviction of sin is to preach the cross. there is a sense in which this is true, and there is a sense in which it is false. if the cross is set forth as the cursed tree on which the lord of glory hung and suffered, to satisfy the demands of eternal justice, then indeed there is fitness in the preaching to produce the sense of guilt. but this is to preach the _law_, in its fullest extent, and the most tremendous energy of its claims. such discourse as this must necessarily analyze law, define it, enforce it, and apply it in the most cogent manner. for, only as the atonement of christ is shown to completely meet and satisfy all these _legal_ demands which have been so thoroughly discussed and exhibited, is the real virtue and power of the cross made manifest. but if the cross is merely held up as a decorative ornament, like that on the breast of belinda, "which jews might kiss and infidels adore;" if it be proclaimed as the beautiful symbol of the divine indifference and indulgence, and there be a studious _avoiding_ of all judicial aspects and relations; if the natural man is not searched by law and alarmed by justice, but is only soothed and narcotized by the idea of an epicurean deity destitute of moral anger and inflicting no righteous retribution,--then, there will be no conviction of sin. whenever the preaching of the law is positively _objected_ to, and the preaching of the gospel is proposed in its place, it will be found that the "gospel" means that good-nature and that easy virtue which some mortals dare to attribute to the holy and immaculate godhead! he who really, and in good faith, preaches the cross, never opposes the preaching of the law. still another reason for the kind of religious discourse which we are defending is found in the fact that multitudes are expecting a happy issue of this life, upon ethical as distinguished from evangelical grounds. they deny that they deserve damnation, or that they need christ's atonement. they say that they are living virtuous lives, and are ready to adopt language similar to that of mr. mill spoken in another connection: "if from this position of integrity and morality we are to be sent to hell, to hell we will go." this tendency is strengthened by the current light letters, in distinction from standard literature. a certain class, through ephemeral essays, poems, and novels, has been plied with the doctrine of a natural virtue and an innate goodness, until it has become proud and self-reliant. the "manhood" of paganism is glorified, and the "childhood" of the gospel is vilified. the graces of humility, self-abasement before god, and especially of penitence for sin, are distasteful and loathed. persons of this order prefer to have their religious teacher silent upon these themes, and urge them to courage, honor, magnanimity, and all that class of qualities which imply self-consciousness and self-reliance. to them apply the solemn words of the son of god to the pharisees: "if ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, we _see_, therefore your sin remaineth." it is, therefore, specially incumbent upon the christian ministry, to employ a searching and psychological style of preaching, and to apply the tests of ethics and virtue so powerfully to men who are trusting to ethics and virtue, as to bring them upon their knees. since these men are desiring, like the "foolish galatiana," to be saved by the law, then let the law be laid down to them, in all its breadth and reach, that they may understand the real nature and consequences of the position they have taken. "tell me," says a preacher of this stamp,--"tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law,"--do ye not hear its thundering,--"_cursed_ is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the law, to do them!" virtue must be absolutely perfect and spotless, if a happy immortality is to be made to depend upon virtue. if the human heart, in its self-deception and self-reliance, turns away from the cross and the righteousness of god, to morals and the righteousness of works, then let the christian thinker follow after it like the avenger of blood. let him set the heights and depths of ethical _perfection_ before the deluded mortal; let him point to the inaccessible cliffs that tower high above, and bid him scale them if he can; let him point to the fathomless abysses beneath, and tell him to descend and bring up perfect virtue therefrom; let him employ the very instrument which this _virtuoso_ has chosen, until it becomes an instrument of torture and self-despair. in this way, he is breaking down the "manhood" that confronts and opposes, and is bringing in the "childhood" that is docile, and recipient of the kingdom. these sermons run the hazard of being pronounced monotonous, because of the pertinacity with which the attempt is made to force self-reflection. but this criticism can easily be endured, provided the attempt succeeds. religious truth becomes almighty the instant it can get _within_ the soul; and it gets within the soul, the instant real thinking begins. "as you value your peace of mind, stop all scrutiny into your personal character," is the advice of what milton denominates "the sty of epicurus." the discouraging religious condition of the present age is due to the great lack, not merely in the lower but the higher classes, of calm, clear self-intelligence. men do not know themselves. the delphic oracle was never less obeyed than now, in this vortex of mechanical arts and luxury. for this reason, it is desirable that the religious teacher dwell consecutively upon topics that are connected with that which is _within_ man,--his settled motives of action, and all those spontaneous on-goings of his soul of which he takes no notice, unless he is persuaded or impelled to do so. some of the old painters produced powerful effects by one solitary color. the subject of moral evil contemplated in the heart of the individual man,--not described to him from the outside, but wrought out of his own being into incandescent letters, by the fierce chemistry of anxious perhaps agonizing reflection,--sin, the one awful fact in the history of man, if caused to pervade discourse will always impart to it a hue which, though it be monochromatic, arrests and holds the eye like the lurid color of an approaching storm-cloud. with this statement respecting the aim and purport of these sermons, and deeply conscious of their imperfections, especially for spiritual purposes, i send them out into the world, with the prayer that god the spirit will deign to employ them as the means of awakening some souls from the lethargy of sin. union theological seminary, new york, _february _, . * * * * * contents. i. the future state a self-conscious state ii. the future state a self-conscious state (continued) iii. god's exhaustive knowledge of man iv. god's exhaustive knowledge of man (continued) v. all mankind guilty; or, every man knows more than he practises vi. sin in the heart the source of error in the head vii. the necessity of divine influences viii. the necessity of divine influences (continued) ix. the impotence of the law x. self-scrutiny in god's presence xi. sin is spiritual slavery xii. the original and the actual relation of man to law xiii. the sin of omission xiv. the sinfulness of original sin xv. the approbation of goodness is not the love of it xvi. the use of fear in religion xvii. the present life as belated to the future xviii. the exercise of mercy optional with god xix. christianity requires the temper of childhood xx. faith the sole saving act sermons. the future state a self-conscious state. cor. xiii. .--"now i know in part; but then shall i know even as also i am known." the apostle paul made this remark with reference to the blessedness of the christian in eternity. such assertions are frequent in the scriptures. this same apostle, whose soul was so constantly dilated with the expectation of the beatific vision, assures the corinthians, in another passage in this epistle, that "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which god hath prepared for them that love him." the beloved disciple john, also, though he seems to have lived in the spiritual world while he was upon the earth, and though the glories of eternity were made to pass before him in the visions of patmos, is compelled to say of the sons of god, "it doth not yet appear what we shall be." and certainly the common christian, as he looks forward with a mixture of hope and anxiety to his final state in eternity, will confess that he knows but "in part," and that a very small part, concerning it. he endures as seeing that which is invisible, and cherishes the hope that through christ's redemption his eternity will be a condition of peace and purity, and that he shall know even as also he is known. but it is not the christian alone who is to enter eternity, and to whom the exchange of worlds will bring a luminous apprehension of many things that have hitherto been seen only through a glass darkly. every human creature may say, when he thinks of the alteration that will come over his views of religious subjects upon entering another life, "now i know in part; but then shall i know even as also i am known. i am now in the midst of the vapors and smoke of this dim spot which men call earth, but then shall i stand in the dazzling light of the face of god, and labor under no doubt or delusion respecting my own character or that of my eternal judge." a moment's reflection will convince any one, that the article and fact of death must of itself make a vast accession to the amount of a man's knowledge, because death introduces him into an entirely new state of existence. foreign travel adds much to our stock of ideas, because we go into regions of the earth of which we had previously known only by the hearing of the ear. but the great and last journey that man takes carries him over into a province of which no book, not even the bible itself, gives him any distinct cognition, as to the style of its scenery or the texture of its objects. in respect to any earthly scene or experience, all men stand upon substantially the same level of information, because they all have substantially the same data for forming an estimate. though i may never have been in italy, i yet know that the soil of italy is a part of the common crust of the globe, that the apennines are like other mountains which i have seen, that the italian sunlight pours through the pupil like any other sunlight, and that the italian breezes fan the brow like those of the sunny south the world over. i understand that the general forms of human consciousness in europe and asia, are like those in america. the operations of the five senses are the same in the old world that they are in the new. but what do i know of the surroundings and experience of a man who has travelled from time into eternity? am i not completely baffled, the moment i attempt to construct the consciousness of the unearthly state? i have no materials out of which to build it, because it is not a world of sense and matter, like that which i now inhabit. but death carries man over into the new and entirely different mode of existence, so that he knows by direct observation and immediate intuition. a flood of new information pours in upon the disembodied spirit, such as he cannot by any possibility acquire upon earth, and yet such as he cannot by any possibility escape from in his new residence. how strange it is, that the young child, the infant of days, in the heart of africa, by merely dying, by merely passing from time into eternity, acquires a kind and grade of knowledge that is absolutely inaccessible to the wisest and subtlest philosopher while here on earth![ ] the dead hottentot knows more than the living plato. but not only does the exchange of worlds make a vast addition to our stores of information respecting the nature of the invisible realm, and the mode of existence there, it also makes a vast addition to the kind and degree of our knowledge respecting _ourselves_, and our personal relationships to god. this is by far the most important part of the new acquisition which we gain by the passage from time to eternity, and it is to this that the apostle directs attention in the text. it is not so much the world that will be around us, when we are beyond the tomb, as it is the world that will be within us, that is of chief importance. our circumstances in this mode of existence, and in any mode of existence, are arranged by a power above us, and are, comparatively, matters of small concern; but the persons that we ourselves verily are, the characters which we bring into this environment, the little inner world of thought and feeling which is to be inclosed and overarched in the great outer world of forms and objects,--all this is matter of infinite moment and anxiety to a responsible creature. for the text teaches, that inasmuch as the future life is the _ultimate_ state of being for an immortal spirit, all that imperfection and deficiency in knowledge which appertains to this present life, this "ignorant present" time, must disappear. when we are in eternity, we shall not be in the dark and in doubt respecting certain great questions and truths that sometimes raise a query in our minds here. voltaire now knows whether there is a sin-hating god, and david hume now knows whether there is an endless hell. i may, in certain moods of my mind here upon earth, query whether i am accountable and liable to retribution, but the instant i shall pass from this realm of shadows, all this skepticism will be banished forever from my mind. for the future state is the _final_ state, and hence all questions are settled, and all doubts are resolved. while upon earth, the arrangements are such that we cannot see every thing, and must walk by faith, because it is a state of probation; but when once in eternity, all the arrangements are such that we cannot but see every thing, and must walk by sight, because it is the state of adjudication. hence it is, that the preacher is continually urging men to view things, so far as is possible, in the light of eternity, as the only light that shines clearly and without refractions. hence it is, that he importunes his hearers to estimate their duties, and their relationships, and their personal character, as they will upon the death-bed, because in the solemn hour of death the light of the future state begins to dawn upon the human soul. it is very plain that if a spiritual man like the apostle paul, who in a very remarkable degree lived with reference to the future world, and contemplated subjects in the light of eternity, was compelled to say that he knew but "in part," much more must the thoughtless natural man confess his ignorance of that which will meet him when his spirit returns to god. the great mass of mankind are totally vacant of any just apprehension of what will be their state of mind, upon being introduced into god's presence. they have never seriously considered what must be the effect upon their views and feelings, of an entire withdrawment from the scenes and objects of earth, and an entrance into those of the future state. most men are wholly engrossed in the present existence, and do not allow their thoughts to reach over into that invisible region which revelation discloses, and which the uncontrollable workings of conscience sometimes _force_ upon their attention for a moment. how many men there are, whose sinful and thoughtless lives prove that they are not aware that the future world will, by its very characteristics, fill them with a species and a grade of information that will be misery unutterable. is it not the duty and the wisdom of all such, to attempt to conjecture and anticipate the coming experience of the human soul in the day of judgment and the future life, in order that by repentance toward god and faith in the lord jesus christ they may be able to stand in that day? let us then endeavor to know, at least "in part," concerning the eternal state. the latter clause of the text specifies the general characteristic of existence in the future world. it is a mode of existence in which the rational mind "_knows_ even as it is known." it is a world of knowledge,--of conscious knowledge. in thus unequivocally asserting that our existence beyond the tomb is one of distinct consciousness, revelation has taught us what we most desire and need to know. the first question that would be raised by a creature who was just to be launched out upon an untried mode of existence would be the question: "shall i be _conscious_?" however much he might desire to know the length and breadth of the ocean upon which his was to set sail, the scenery that was to be above him and around him in his coming history,--nay, however much he might wish to know of matters still closer to himself than these; however much he might crave to ask of his maker, "with what body shall i come?" all would be set second to the simple single inquiry: "shall i think, shall i feel, shall i know?" in answering this question in the affirmative, without any hesitation or ambiguity, the apostle paul has in reality cleared up most of the darkness that overhangs the future state. the structure of the spiritual body, and the fabric of the immaterial world, are matters of secondary importance, and may be left without explanation, provided only the rational mind of man be distinctly informed that it shall not sleep in unconsciousness, and that the immortal spark shall not become such stuff as dreams are made of. the future, then, is a mode of existence in which the soul "knows even as it is known." but this involves a perception in which there is no error, and no intermission. for, the human spirit in eternity "is known" by the omniscient god. if, then, it knows in the style and manner that god knows, there can be no misconception or cessation in its cognition. here, then, we have a glimpse into the nature of our eternal existence. it is a state of distinct and unceasing knowledge of moral truth and moral objects. the human spirit, be it holy or sinful, a friend or an enemy of god, in eternity will always and forever be aware of it. there is no forgetting in the future state; there is no dissipation of the mind there; and there is no aversion of the mind from itself. the cognition is a fixed quantity. given the soul, and the knowledge is given. if it be holy, it is always conscious of the fact. if it be sinful, it cannot for an instant lose the distressing consciousness of sin. in neither instance will it be necessary, as it generally is in this life, to make a special effort and a particular examination, in order to know the personal character. knowledge of god and his law, in the future life, is spontaneous and inevitable; no creature can escape it; and therefore the bliss is _unceasing_ in heaven, and the misery is _unceasing_ in hell. there are no states of thoughtlessness and unconcern in the future life, because there is not an instant of forgetfulness or ignorance of the personal character and condition. in the world beyond this, every man will constantly and distinctly know what he is, and what he is not, because he will "be known" by the omniscient and unerring god, and will himself know in the same constant and distinct style and manner. if the most thoughtless person that now walks the globe could only have a clear perception of that kind of knowledge which is awaiting him upon the other side of the tomb, he would become the most thoughtful and the most anxious of men. it would sober him like death itself. and if any unpardoned man should from this moment onward be haunted with the thought, "when i die i shall enter into the light of god's countenance, and obtain a knowledge of my own character and obligations that will be as accurate and unvarying as that of god himself upon this subject," he would find no rest until he had obtained an assurance of the divine mercy, and such an inward change as would enable him to endure this deep and full consciousness of the purity of god and of the state of his heart. it is only because a man is unthinking, or because he imagines that the future world will be like the present one, only longer in duration, that he is so indifferent regarding it. here is the difficulty of the case, and the fatal mistake which the natural man makes. he supposes that the views which he shall have upon religious subjects in the eternal state, will be very much as they are in this,--vague, indistinct, fluctuating, and therefore causing no very great anxiety. he can pass days and weeks here in time without thinking of the claims of god upon him, and he imagines that the same thing is possible in eternity. while here upon earth, he certainly does not "know even as also he is known," and he hastily concludes that so it will be beyond the grave. it is because men imagine that eternity is only a very long space of _time_, filled up, as time here is, with dim, indistinct apprehensions, with a constantly shifting experience, with shallow feelings and ever diversified emotions, in fine, with all the _variety_ of pleasure and pain, of ignorance and knowledge, that pertains to this imperfect and probationary life,--it is because mankind thus conceive of the final state, that it exerts no more influence over them. but such is not its true idea. there is a marked difference between the present and the future life, in respect to uniformity and clearness of knowledge. "now i know in part, but then shall i know even as also i am known." the text and the whole teaching of the new testament prove that the invisible world is the unchangeable one; that there are no alterations of character, and consequently no alternations of experience, in the future life; that there are no transitions, as there are in this checkered scene of earth, from happiness to unhappiness and back again. there is but one uniform type of experience for an individual soul in eternity. that soul is either uninterruptedly happy, or uninterruptedly miserable, because it has either an uninterrupted sense of holiness, or an uninterrupted sense of sin. he that is righteous is righteous still, and knows it continually; and he that is filthy is filthy still, and knows it incessantly. if we enter eternity as the redeemed of the lord, we take over the holy heart and spiritual affections of regeneration, and there is no change but that of progression,--a change, consequently, only in degree, but none of kind or type. the same knowledge and experience that we have here "in part" we shall have there in completeness and permanency. and the same will be true, if the heart be evil and the affections inordinate and earthly. and all this, simply because the mind's knowledge is clear, accurate, and constant. that which the transgressor knows here of god and his own heart, but imperfectly, and fitfully, and briefly, he shall know there perfectly, and constantly, and everlastingly. the law of constant evolution, and the characteristic of unvarying uniformity, will determine and fix the type of experience in the evil as it does in the good. such, then, is the general nature of knowledge in the future state. it is distinct, accurate, unintermittent, and unvarying. we shall know even as we are known, and we are known by the omniscient and unerring searcher of hearts. let us now apply this general characteristic of cognition in eternity to some particulars. let us transfer our minds into the future and final state, and mark what goes on within them there. we ought often to enter this mysterious realm, and become habituated to its mental processes, and by a wise anticipation become prepared for the reality itself. i. the human mind, in eternity, will have a distinct and unvarying perception of the _character of god_. and that one particular attribute in this character, respecting which the cognition will be of the most luminous quality, is the divine holiness. in eternity, the immaculateness of the deity will penetrate the consciousness of every rational creature with the subtlety and the thoroughness of fire. god's essence is infinitely pure, and intensely antagonistic to sin, but it is not until there is a direct contact between it and the human mind, that man understands it and feels it. "i have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee, and i abhor myself." even the best of men know but "in part" concerning the holiness of god. yet it is noticeable how the apprehension of it grows upon the ripening christian, as he draws nearer to the time of his departure. the vision of the cherubim themselves seems to dawn upon the soul of a leighton and an edwards, and though it does not in the least disturb their saintly and seraphic peace, because they are sheltered in the clefts of the rock of ages, as the brightness passes by them, it does yet bring out from their comparatively holy and spiritual hearts the utterance, "behold i am vile; infinite upon, infinite is my sin." but what shall be said of the common and ordinary knowledge of mankind, upon this subject! except at certain infrequent times, the natural man does not know even "in part," respecting the holiness of god, and hence goes on in transgression without anxiety or terror. it is the very first work of prevenient grace, to disclose to the human mind something of the divine purity; and whoever, at any moment, is startled by a more than common sense of god's holy character, should regard it and cherish it as a token of benevolence and care for his soul. now, in eternity this species of knowledge must exist in the very highest degree. the human soul will be encircled by the character and attributes of god. it cannot look in any direction without beholding it. it is not so here. here, in this life, man may and does avert his eye, and refuse to look at the sheen and the splendor that pains his organ. he fastens his glance upon the farm, or the merchandise, or the book, and perseveringly determines not to see the purity of god that rebukes him. and _here_ he can succeed. he can and does live days and months without so much as a momentary glimpse of his maker, and, as the apostle says, is "without god" in this world. and yet such men do have, now and then, a view of the face of god. it may be for an instant only. it may be merely a thought, a gleam, a flash; and yet, like that quick flash of lightning, of which our lord speaks, that lighteneth out of the one part of heaven, and shineth unto the other part, that cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west,--like that swift momentary flash which runs round the whole horizon in the twinkling of an eye, this swift thought and gleam of god's purity fills the whole guilty soul full of light. what spiritual distress seizes the man in such moments, and of what a penetrating perception of the divine character is he possessed for an instant! it is a distinct and an accurate knowledge, but, unlike the cognition of the future state, it is not yet an inevitable and unintermittent one. he can expel it, and become again an ignorant and indifferent being, as he was before. he knows but "in part" at the very best, and this only temporarily. but carry this rational and accountable creature into eternity, denude him of the body of sense, and take him out of the busy and noisy world of sense into the silent world of spirits, and into the immediate presence of god, and then he will know upon this subject even as he is known. that sight and perception of god's purity which he had here for a brief instant, and which was so painful because he was not in sympathy with it, has now become everlasting. that distinct and accurate knowledge of god's character has now become his only knowledge. that flash of lightning has become light,--fixed, steady, permanent as the orb of day. the rational spirit cannot for an instant rid itself of the idea of god. never for a moment, in the endless cycles, can it look away from its maker; for in his presence what other object is there to look at? time itself, with its pursuits and its objects of thought and feeling, is no longer, for the angel hath sworn it by him who liveth for ever and ever. there is nothing left, then, to occupy and engross the attention but the character and attributes of god; and, now, the immortal mind, created for such a purpose, must yield itself up to that contemplation which in this life it dreaded and avoided. the future state of every man is to be an open and unavoidable vision of god. if he delights in the view, he will be blessed; if he loathes it, he will be miserable. this is the substance of heaven and hell. this is the key to the eternal destiny of every human soul. if a man love god, he shall gaze at him and adore; if he hate god, he shall gaze at him and gnaw his tongue for pain. the subject, as thus far unfolded, teaches the following lessons: . in the first place, it shows that _a false theory of the future state will not protect a man from future misery_. for, we have seen that the eternal world, by its very structure and influences, throws a flood of light upon the divine character, causing it to appear in its ineffable purity and splendor, and compels every creature to stand out in that light. there is no darkness in which man can hide himself, when he leaves this world of shadows. a false theory, therefore, respecting god, can no more protect a man from the reality, the actual matter of fact, than a false theory of gravitation will preserve a man from falling from a precipice into a bottomless abyss. do you come to us with the theory that every human creature will be happy in another life, and that the doctrine of future misery is false? we tell you, in reply, that god is _holy_, beyond dispute or controversy; that he cannot endure the sight of sin; and that in the future world every one of his creatures must see him precisely as he is, and know him in the real and eternal qualities of his nature. the man, therefore, who is full of sin, whose heart is earthly, sensual, selfish, must, when he approaches that pure presence, find that his theory of future happiness shrivels up like the heavens themselves, before the majesty and glory of god. he now stands face to face with a being whose character has never dawned upon him with such a dazzling purity, and to dispute the reality would be like disputing the fierce splendor of the noonday sun. theory must give way to fact, and the deluded mortal must submit to its awful force. in this lies the _irresistible_ power of death, judgment, and eternity, to alter the views of men. up to these points they can dispute and argue, because there is no ocular demonstration. it is possible to debate the question this side of the tomb, because we are none of us face to face with god, and front to front with eternity. in the days of noah, before the flood came, there was skepticism, and many theories concerning the threatened deluge. so long as the sky was clear, and the green earth smiled under the warm sunlight, it was not difficult for the unbeliever to maintain an argument in opposition to the preacher of righteousness. but when the sky was rent with lightnings, and the earth was scarred with thunder-bolts, and the fountains of the great deep were broken up, where was the skepticism? where were the theories? where were the arguments? when god teaches, "where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?" they then knew as they were known; they stood face to face with the facts. it is this _inevitableness_ of the demonstration upon which we would fasten attention. we are not always to live in this world of shadows. we are going individually into the very face and eyes of jehovah, and whatever notions we may have adopted and maintained must all disappear, except as they shall be actually verified by what we shall see and know in that period of our existence when we shall perceive with the accuracy and clearness of god himself. our most darling theories, by which we may have sought to solace our souls in reference to our future destiny, if false, will be all ruthlessly torn away, and we must see what verily and eternally is. all mankind come upon one doctrinal platform when they enter eternity. they all have one creed there. there is not a skeptic even in hell. the devils believe and tremble. the demonstration that god is holy is so irrefragable, so complete and absolute, that doubt or denial is impossible in any spirit that has passed the line between time and eternity. . in the second place, this subject shows that _indifference and carelessness respecting the future life will not protect the soul from future misery_. there may be no false theory adopted, and yet if there be no thoughtful preparation to meet god, the result will be all the same. i may not dispute the newtonian theory of gravitation, yet if i pay no heed to it, if i simply forget it, as i clamber up mountains, and walk by the side of precipices, my body will as surely be dashed to pieces as if i were a theoretical skeptic upon the subject of gravitation. the creature's indifference can no more alter the immutable nature of god, than can the creature's false reasoning, or false theorizing. that which is settled in heaven, that which is fixed and eternal, stands the same stern, relentless fact under all circumstances. we see the operation of this sometimes here upon earth, in a very impressive manner. a youth or a man simply neglects the laws and conditions of physical well-being. he does not dispute them. he merely pays no attention to them. a. few years pass by, and disease and torturing pain become his portion. he comes now into the awful presence of the powers and the facts which the creator has inlaid in the world, of physical existence. he knows now even as he is known. and the laws are stern. he finds no place of repentance in them, though he seek it carefully with tears. the laws never repent, never change their mind. the principles of physical life and growth which he has never disputed, but which he has never regarded, now crush him into the ground in their relentless march and motion. precisely so will it be in the moral world, and with reference to the holiness of god. that man who simply neglects to prepare himself to see a holy god, though he never denies that there is such a being, will find the vision just as unendurable to him, as it is to the most determined of earthly skeptics. so far as the final result in the other world is concerned, it matters little whether a man adds unbelief to his carelessness, or not. the carelessness will ruin his soul, whether with or without skepticism. orthodoxy is valuable only as it inspires the hope that it will end in timely and practical attention to the concerns of the soul. but if you show me a man who you infallibly know will go through life careless and indifferent, i will show you a man who will not be prepared to meet god face to face, even though his theology be as accurate as that of st. paul himself. nay, we have seen that there is a time coming when all skeptics will become believers like the devils themselves, and will tremble at the ocular demonstration of truths which they have heretofore denied. theoretical unbelief must be a temporary affair in every man; for it can last only until he dies. death will make all the world theoretically orthodox, and bring them all to one and the same creed. but death will not bring them all to one and the same happy experience of the truth, and lave of the creed. for those who have made preparation for the vision of god and the ocular demonstration of divine truth, these will rise upon their view with a blessed and glorious light. but for those who have remained sinful and careless, these eternal truths and facts will be a vision of terror and despair. they will not alter. no man will find any place of repentance in them, though, like esau, he seek it carefully and with tears. . in the third place, this subject shows that _only faith in christ and a new heart can protect the soul from future misery_. the nature and character of god cannot be altered, and therefore the change must be wrought in man's soul. the disposition and affections of the heart must be brought into such sweet sympathy and harmony with god's holiness, that when in the next world that holiness shall be revealed as it is to the seraphim, it will fall in upon the soul like the rays of a vernal sun, starting every thing into cheerful life and joy. if the divine holiness does not make this impression, it produces exactly the contrary effect. if the sun's rays do not start the bud in the spring, they kill it. if the vision of a holy god is not our heaven, then it must be our hell. look then directly into your heart, and tell us which is the impression for you. can you say with david, "we give thanks and rejoice, at the remembrance of thy holiness?" are you glad that there is such a pure and immaculate being upon the throne, and when his excellence abashes you, and rebukes your corruption and sin, do you say, "let the righteous one smite me, it shall be a kindness?" do you _love_ god's holy character? if so, you are a new creature, and are ready for the vision of god, face to face. for you, to know god even as you are known by him will not be a terror, but a glory and a joy. you are in sympathy with him. you have been reconciled to him by the blood of atonement, and brought into harmony with him by the washing of regeneration. for you, as a believer in christ, and a new man in christ jesus, all is well. the more you see of god, the more you desire to see of him; and the more you know of him, the more you long to know. but if this is not your experience, then all is ill with you. we say _experience_. you must _feel_ in this manner toward god, or you cannot endure the vision which is surely to break upon you after death. you must _love_ this holiness without which no man can see the lord. you may approve of it, you may praise it in other men, but if there is no affectionate going out of your own heart toward, the holy god, you are not in right relations to him. you have the carnal mind, and that is enmity, and enmity is misery. look these facts in the eye, and act accordingly. "make the _tree_ good, and his fruit good," says christ. begin at the beginning. aim at nothing less than a change of disposition and affections. ask for nothing less, seek for nothing less. if you become inwardly holy as god is holy; if you become a friend of god, reconciled to him by the blood of christ; then your nature will be like god's nature, your character like god's character. then, when you shall know god even as you are known by him, and shall see him as he is, the knowledge and the vision will be everlasting joy. [footnote : "she has seen the mystery hid, under egypt's pyramid; by those eyelids pale and close, now she knows what rhamses knows." elizabeth browning: on the death of a child.] the future state a self-conscious state. cor. xiii. .--"now i know in part; but then shall i know even as also i am known." in the preceding discourse, we found in these words the principal characteristic of our future existence. the world beyond the tomb is a world of clear and conscious knowledge. when, at death, i shall leave this region of time and sense and enter eternity, my knowledge, the apostle paul tells me instead of being diminished or extinguished by the dissolution, of the body, will not only be continued to me, but will be even greater and clearer than before. he assures me that the kind and style of my cognition will be like that of god himself. i am to know as i am known. my intelligence will coincide with that of deity. by this we are not to understand that the creature's knowledge, in the future state, will be as extensive as that of the omniscient one; or that it will be as profound and exhaustive as his. the infinitude of things can be known only by the infinite mind; and the creature will forever be making new acquisitions, and never reaching the final limit of truths and facts. but upon certain moral subjects, the perception of the creature will be like that of his maker and judge, so far as the _kind_ or _quality_ of the apprehension is concerned. every man in eternity, for illustration, will see sin to be an odious and abominable thing, contrary to the holy nature of god, and awakening in that nature the most holy and awful displeasure. his knowledge upon this subject will be so identical with that of god, that he will be unable to palliate or excuse his transgressions, as he does in this world. he will see them precisely as god sees them. he must know them as god knows them, because he will "know even as he is known." ii. in continuing the examination of this solemn subject, we remark as a second and further characteristic of the knowledge which every man will possess in eternity, that he will know _himself_ even as he is known by god. his knowledge of god we have found to be direct, accurate, and unceasing; his knowledge of his own heart will be so likewise. this follows from the relation of the two species of cognition to each other. the true knowledge of god involves the true knowledge of self. the instant that any one obtains a clear view of the holy nature of his maker, he obtains a clear view of his own sinful nature. philosophers tell us, that our consciousness of god and our consciousness of self mutually involve and imply each other[ ]; in other words, that we cannot know god without immediately knowing ourselves, any more than we can know light without knowing darkness, any more than we can have the idea of right without having the idea of wrong. and it is certainly true that so soon as any being can intelligently say, "god is holy," he can and must say, "i am holy," or, "i am unholy," as the fact may be. indeed, the only way in which man can truly know himself is to contrast himself with his maker; and the most exhaustive self-knowledge and self-consciousness is to be found, not in the schools of secular philosophy but, in the searchings of the christian heart,--in the "confessions" of augustine; in the labyrinthine windings of edwards "on the affections." hence the frequent exhortations in the bible to look at the character of god, in order that we may know ourselves and be abased by the contrast. in eternity, therefore, if we must have a clear and constant perception of god's character, we must necessarily have a distinct and unvarying knowledge of our own. it is not so here. here in this world, man knows himself but "in part." even when he endeavors to look within, prejudice and passion often affect his judgment; but more often, the fear of what he shall discover in the secret places of his soul deters him from making the attempt at self-examination. for it is a surprising truth that the transgressor dares not bring out into the light that which is most truly his own, that which he himself has originated, and which he loves and cherishes with all his strength and might. he is afraid of his own heart! even when god forces the vision of it upon him, he would shut his eyes; or if this be not possible, he would look through distorting media and see it with a false form and coloring. "but 'tis not so above; there is no shuffling; there the action lies in his true nature: and we ourselves compelled, even to the teeth and forehead of our faults, to give in evidence."[ ] the spirit that has come into the immediate presence of god, and beholds him face to face, cannot deceive him, and therefore cannot deceive itself. it cannot remain ignorant of god's character any longer, and therefore cannot remain ignorant of its own. we do not sufficiently consider and ponder the elements of anguish that are sleeping in the fact that in eternity a sinner _must_ know god's character, and therefore _must_ know his own. it is owing to their neglect of such subjects, that mankind so little understand what an awful power there is in the distinct perception of the divine purity, and the allied consciousness of sin. lord bacon tells us that the knowledge acquired in the schools is power; but it is weakness itself, if compared with that form and species of cognition which is given to the mind of man by the workings of conscience in the light of the divine countenance. if a transgressor knew clearly what disclosures of god's immaculateness and of his own character must be made to him in eternity, he would fear them, if unprepared, far more than physical sufferings. if he understood what capabilities for distress the rational spirit possesses in its own mysterious constitution, if when brought into contact with the divine purity it has no sympathy with it, but on the contrary an intense hostility; if he knew how violent will be the antagonism between god's holiness and man's sin when, the two are finally brought together, the assertion that there is no external source of anguish in hell, even if it were true, would afford him no relief. whoever goes into the presence of god with a corrupt heart carries thither a source of sorrow that is inexhaustible, simply because that corrupt heart must be _distinctly known_, and _perpetually understood_ by its possessor, in that presence. the thoughtless man may never know while upon earth, even "in part," the depth and the bitterness of this fountain,--he may go through this life for the most part self-ignorant and undistressed,--but he must know in that other, final, world the immense fulness of its woe, as it unceasingly wells up into everlasting death. one theory of future punishment is, that our globe will become a penal orb of fire, and the wicked with material bodies, miraculously preserved by omnipotence, will burn forever in it. but what is this compared with the suffering soul? the spirit itself, thus alienated from god's purity and _conscious_ that it is, wicked, and _knowing_ that it is wicked, becomes an "orb of fire." "it is,"--says john howe, who was no fanatic, but one of the most thoughtful and philosophic of christians,--"it is a throwing hell into hell, when a wicked man comes to hell; for he was his own hell before."[ ] it must ever be borne in mind, that the principal source and seat of future torment will be the sinner's _sin_. we must never harbor the thought, or fall into the notion, that the retributions of eternity are a wanton and arbitrary infliction upon the part of god. some men seem to suppose, or at any rate they represent, that the woes of hell are a species of undeserved suffering; that god, having certain helpless and innocent creatures in his power, visits them with wrath, in the exercise of an arbitrary sovereignty. but this is not christ's doctrine of endless punishment. there is no suffering inflicted, here or hereafter, upon any thing but _sin,_--unrepented, incorrigible sin,--and if you will show me a sinless creature, i will show you one who will never feel the least twinge or pang through all eternity. death is the wages of _sin_. the substance of the wretchedness of the lost will issue right out of their own character. they will see their own wickedness steadily and clearly, and this will make them miserable. it will be the carrying out of the same principle that operates here in time, and in our own daily experience. suppose that by some method, all the sin of my heart, and all the sins of my outward conduct, were made clear to my own view; suppose that for four-and-twenty hours continuously i were compelled to look at my wickedness intently, just as i would look intently into a burning furnace of fire; suppose that for this length of time i should see nothing, and hear nothing, and experience nothing of the world, about me, but should be absorbed in the vision of my own disobedience of god's good law, think you that (setting aside the work of christ) i should be happy? on the contrary, should i not be the most wretched of mortals? would not this self-knowledge be pure living torment? and yet the misery springs entirely out of the _sin_. there is nothing arbitrary or wanton in the suffering. it is not brought in upon me from the outside. it comes out of myself. and, while i was writhing under the sense and power of my transgressions, would you mock me, by telling me that i was a poor innocent struggling in the hands of omnipotent malice; that the suffering was unjust, and that if there were any justice in the universe, i should be delivered from it? no, we shall suffer in the future world only as we are sinners, and because we are sinners. there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, only because the sinful creature will be compelled to look at himself; to know his sin in the same manner that it is known by the infinite intelligence. and is there any injustice in this? if a sinful being cannot bear the sight of himself, would you have the holy deity step in between him and his sins, so that he should not see them, and so that he might be happy in them? away with such folly and such wickedness. for it is the height of wickedness to desire that some method should be invented, and introduced into the universe of god, whereby the wages of sin shall be life and joy; whereby a sinner can look into his own wicked heart and be happy. iii. a third characteristic of the knowledge which every man will possess in eternity will be a clear understanding of _the nature and wants of the soul._ man has that in his constitution, which needs god, and which cannot be at rest except in god. a state of sin is a state of alienation and separation from the creator. it is, consequently, in its intrinsic nature, a state of restlessness and dissatisfaction. "there is no peace saith my god to the wicked; the wicked are like the troubled sea." in order to know this, it is only necessary to bring an apostate creature, like man, to a consciousness of the original requirements and necessities of his being. but upon this subject, man while upon earth most certainly knows only "in part." most men are wholly ignorant of the constitutional needs of a rational spirit, and are not aware that it is as impossible for the creature, when in eternity, to live happily out of god, as it is for the body to live at all in the element of fire. most men, while here upon earth, do not know upon this subject as they are known. god knows that the whole created universe cannot satisfy the desires of an immortal being, but impenitent men do not know this fact with a clear perception, and they will not until they die and go into another world. and the reason is this. so long as the worldly natural man lives upon earth, he can find a sort of substitute for god. he has a capacity for loving, and he satisfies it to a certain degree by loving himself; by loving fame, wealth, pleasure, or some form of creature-good. he has a capacity for thinking, and he gratifies it in a certain manner by pondering the thoughts of other minds, or by original speculations of his own. and so we might go through with the list of man's capacities, and we should find, that he contrives, while here upon earth, to meet these appetences of his nature, after a sort, by the objects of time and sense, and to give his soul a species of satisfaction short of god, and away from god. fame, wealth, and pleasure; the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life; become a substitute for the creator, in his search, for happiness. as a consequence, the unregenerate man knows but "in part" respecting the primitive and constitutional necessities of his being. he is feeding them with a false and unhealthy food, and in this way manages to stifle for a season their true and deep cravings. but this cannot last forever. when a man dies and goes into eternity, he takes nothing with him but his character and his moral affinities. "we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out." the original requirements and necessities of his soul are not destroyed by death, but the earthly objects by which he sought to meet them, and by which he did meet them after a sort, are totally destroyed. he still has a capacity for loving; but in eternity where is the fame, the wealth, the pleasure upon which he has hitherto expended it? he still has a capacity for thinking; but where are the farm, the merchandise, the libraries, the works of art, the human literatures, and the human philosophies, upon which he has heretofore employed it? the instant you cut off a creature who seeks his good in the world, and not in god, from intercourse with the world, you cause him to know even as he is known respecting the true and proper portion of his soul. deprived of his accustomed and his false object of love and support, he immediately begins to reach out in all directions for something to love, something to think of, something to trust in, and finds nothing. like that insect in our gardens which spins a slender thread by which to guide itself in its meanderings, and which when the clew is cut thrusts out its head in every direction, but does not venture to advance, the human creature who has suddenly been cut off by death from his accustomed objects of support and pleasure stretches out in every direction for something to take their place. and the misery of his case is, that when in his reachings out he sees god, or comes into contact with god, he starts back like the little insect when you present a coal of fire to it. he needs as much as ever, to love some being or some thing. but he has no heart to love god and there is no other being and no other thing in eternity to love. he needs, as much as ever, to think of some object or some subject. but to think of god is a distress to him; to reflect upon divine and holy things is weariness and woe. he is a carnal, earthly-minded man, and therefore cannot find enjoyment in such meditations. before he can take relish in such objects and such thinking, he must be born again; he must become a new creature. but there is no new-birth of the soul in eternity. the disposition and character which a man takes along with him when he dies remains eternally unchanged. the constitutional wants still continue. the man must love, and must think. but the only object in eternity upon which such capability can be expended is god; and the carnal mind, saith the scripture, is _enmity_ against god, and is not subject to the law of god, neither indeed can be. now, whatever may be the course of a man in this life; whether he becomes aware of these created imperatives, and constitutional necessities of his immortal spirit or not; whether he hears its reproaches and rebukes because he is feeding them with the husks of earth, instead of the bread of heaven, or not; it is certain that in the eternal world they will be continually awake and perpetually heard. for that spiritual world will be fitted up for nothing but a rational spirit. there will be nothing material, nothing like earth, in its arrangements. flesh and blood cannot inherit either the kingdom of god or the kingdom of satan. the enjoyments and occupations of this sensuous and material state will be found neither in heaven nor in hell. eternity is a spiritual region, and all its objects, and all its provisions, will have reference solely to the original capacities and destination of a spiritual creature. they will, therefore, all be terribly reminiscent of apostasy; only serving to remind the soul of what it was originally designed to be, and of what it has now lost by worshipping and loving the creature more than the creator. how wretched then must man be, when, with the awakening of this restlessness and dissatisfaction of an immortal spirit, and with the bright pattern of what he ought to be continually before his eye, there is united an intensity of self-love and enmity toward god, that drives him anywhere and everywhere but to his maker, for peace and comfort. how full of woe must the lost creature be, when his immortal necessities are awakened and demand their proper food, but cannot obtain it, because of the aversion of the heart toward the only being who can satisfy them. for, the same hatred of holiness, and disinclination toward spiritual things, which prevents a man from choosing god for his portion here, will prevent him hereafter. it is the bold fancy of an imaginative thinker,[ ] that the material forces which lie beneath external nature are conscious of being bound down and confined under the crust of the earth, like the giant enceladus under mt. etna, and that there are times when they roar from the depths where they are in bondage, and call aloud for freedom; when they rise in their might, and manifest themselves in the earthquake and the volcano. it will be a more fearful and terrific struggle, when the powers of an apostate being are roused in eternity; when the then eternal sin and guilt has its hour of triumph, and the eternal reason and conscience have their hour of judgment and remorse; when the inner world of man's spirit, by this schism and antagonism within it, has a devastation and a ruin spread over it more awful than that of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. we have thus, in this and the preceding discourse, considered the kind and quality of that knowledge which every human being will possess in the eternal world. he will know god, and he will know himself, with a distinct, and accurate, and unceasing intelligence like that of the deity. it is one of the most solemn and startling themes that can be presented to the human mind. we have not been occupied with what will be _around_ a creature, what will be _outside_ of a man, in the life to come; but we have been examining what will be _within_ him. we have been considering what he will think of beyond the tomb; what his own feelings will be when he meets god face to face. but a man's immediate consciousness determines his happiness or his misery. as a man thinketh in his heart so is he. we must not delude ourselves with the notion, that the mere arrangements and circumstances of the spiritual world will decide our weal or our woe, irrespective of the tenor of our thoughts and affections; that if we are only placed in pleasant gardens or in golden streets, all will be well. as a man thinketh in his heart, so will he be in his experience. this vision of god, and of our own hearts, will be either the substance of heaven, or the substance of hell. the great future is a world of open vision. now, we see through a glass darkly, but then, face to face. the vision for every human creature will be beatific, if he is prepared for it; will be terrific, if he is unprepared. does not the subject, then, speak with solemn warning to every one who knows that he is not prepared for the coming revelations that will be made to him when he dies; for this clear and accurate knowledge of god, and of his own character? do you believe that there is an eternal world, and that the general features of this mode of existence have been scripturally depicted? do you suppose that your present knowledge of the holiness of god, and of your own sinful nature, is equal to what it will be when your spirit returns to god who gave it? are you prepared for the impending and inevitable disclosures and revelations of the day of judgment? do you believe that jesus christ is the eternal son of god, who came forth from eternity eighteen centuries since, and went back into eternity, leaving upon record for human instruction an unexaggerated description of that invisible world, founded upon the personal knowledge of an eye-witness? whoever thus believes, concerning the record which christ and his apostles have left for the information of dim-eyed mortals who see only "through a glass darkly," and who know only "in part," ought immediately to adopt their descriptions and ponder them long and well. we have already observed, that the great reason why the future state exerts so little influence over worldly men lies in the fact, that they do not bring it into distinct view. they live absorbed in the interests and occupations of earth, and their future abode throws in upon them none of its solemn shadows and warnings. a clear luminous perception of the nature and characteristics of that invisible world which is soon to receive them, would make them thoughtful and anxious for their souls; for they would become aware of their utter unfitness, their entire lack of preparation, to see god face to face. still, live and act as sinful men may, eternity is over and around them all, even as the firmament is bent over the globe. if theirs were a penitent and a believing eye, they would look up with adoration into its serene depths, and joyfully behold the soft gleam of its stars, and it would send down upon them the sweet influences of its constellations. they may shut their eyes upon all this glory, and feel only earthly influences, and continue to be "of the earth, earthy." but there is a time coming when they cannot but look at eternity; when this firmament will throw them into consternation by the livid glare of its lightnings, and will compel them to hear the quick rattle and peal of its thunder; when it will not afford them a vision of glory and joy, as it will the redeemed and the holy, but one of despair and destruction. there is only one shelter from this storm; there is only one covert from this tempest. he, and only he, who trusts in christ's blood of atonement, will be able to look into the holy countenance of god, and upon the dread record of his own sins, without either trembling or despair. the merits and righteousness of christ so clothe the guilty soul, that it can endure the otherwise intolerable brightness of god's pure throne and presence. "jesus! thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress; mid flaming worlds, in these arrayed, with joy shall i lift up my head." amidst those great visions that are to dawn upon every human creature, those souls will be in perfect peace who trust in the great propitiation. in those great tempests that are to shake down the earth and the sky, those hearts will be calm and happy who are hid in the clefts of the rock of ages. flee then to christ, ye prisoners of hope. make preparation to know even as you are known, by repentance toward god and faith in the lord jesus christ. a voice comes to you out of the cloud, saying, "this is my beloved son, in whom i am well pleased; hear ye him." remember, and forget not, that this knowledge of god and your own heart is _inevitable._ at death, it will all of it flash upon the soul like lightning at midnight. it will fill the whole horizon of your being full of light. if you are in christ jesus, the light will not harm you. but if you are out of christ, it will blast you. no sinful mortal can endure such a vision an instant, except as he is sprinkled with atoning blood, and clothed in the righteousness of the great substitute and surety for guilty man. flee then to christ, and so be prepared to know god and your own heart, even as you are known. [footnote : noverim me, noverim te.--bernard.] [footnote : shakespeare: hamlet, act iii., sc. .] [footnote : howe: on regeneration. sermon xliii.] [footnote : bookschammer: on the will.] god's exhaustive knowledge of man. psalm cxxxix. i- .--"o lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with, all my ways. for there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, o lord, thou knowest it altogether. thou, hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, i cannot attain unto it." one of the most remarkable characteristics of a rational being is the power of self-inspection. the brute creation possesses many attributes that are common to human nature, but it has no faculty that bears even the remotest resemblance to that of self-examination. instinctive action, undoubtedly, approaches the nearest of any to human action. that wonderful power by which the bee builds up a structure that is not exceeded in accuracy, and regularity, and economy of space, by the best geometry of athens or of rome; by which the beaver, after having chosen the very best possible location for it on the stream, constructs a dam that outlasts the work of the human engineer; by which the faithful dog contrives to perform many acts of affection, in spite of obstacles, and in the face of unexpected discouragements,--the _instinct_, we say, of the brute creation, as exhibited in a remarkably wide range of action and contrivance, and in a very varied and oftentimes perplexing conjuncture of circumstances, seems to bring man and beast very near to each other, and to furnish some ground for the theory of the materialist, that there is no essential difference between the two species of existences. but when we pass beyond the mere power of acting, to the additional power of _surveying_ or _inspecting_ an act, and of forming an estimate of its relations to moral law, we find a faculty in man that makes him differ in kind from the brute. no brute animal, however high up the scale, however ingenious and sagacious he may be, can ever look back and think of what he has done, "his thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing him." the mere power of performance, is, after all, not the highest power. it is the superadded power of calmly looking over the performance, and seeing _what_ has been done, that marks the higher agency, and denotes a loftier order of existence than that of the animal or of material nature. if the mere ability to work with energy, and produce results, constituted the highest species of power, the force of gravitation would be the loftiest energy in the universe. its range of execution is wider than that of any other created principle. but it is one of the lower and least important of agencies, because it is blind. it is destitute of the power of self-inspection. it does not know _what_ it does, or _why_. "man," says pascal,[ ] "is but a reed, and the weakest in all nature; yet he is a reed that _thinks_. the whole material universe does not need to arm itself, in order to crush him. a vapor, a drop of water is enough to destroy him. but if the whole universe of matter should combine to crush him, man would be more noble than that which destroyed him. for he would be _conscious_ that he was dying, while, of the advantage which the material universe had obtained over him, that universe would know nothing." the action of a little child is altogether nothing and vanity compared with the energy of the earthquake or the lightning, so far as the exhibition of force and the mere power to act is concerned; but, on the other hand, it is more solemn than centuries of merely natural processes, and more momentous than all the material phenomena that have ever filled the celestial spaces, when we remember that it is the act of a thinking agent, and a self-conscious creature. the power to _survey_ the act, when united with the power to act, sets mind infinitely above matter, and places the action of instinct, wonderful as it is, infinitely below the action of self-consciousness. the proud words of one of the characters in the old drama are strictly true: "i am a nobler substance than the stars, or are they better since they are bigger? i have a will and faculties of choice, to do or not to do; and reason why i do or not do this: the stars have none. they know not why they shine, more than this taper, nor how they, work, nor what."[ ] but this characteristic of a rational being, though thus distinctive and common to every man that lives, is exceedingly marvellous. like the air we breathe, like the light we see, it involves a mystery that no man has ever solved. self-consciousness has been the problem and the thorn of the philosophic mind in all ages; and the mystery is not yet unravelled. is not that a wonderful process by which a man knows, not some other thing but, _himself_? is not that a strange act by which he, for a time, duplicates his own unity, and sets himself to look at himself? all other acts of consciousness are comparatively plain and explicable. when we look at an object other than ourselves,--when we behold a tree or the sky,--the act of knowledge is much more simple and easy to be explained. for then there is something outside of us, and in front of us, and another thing than we are, at which we look, and which we behold. but in this act of _self_-inspection there is no second thing, external, and extant to us, which we contemplate. that which is seen is one and the same identical object with that which sees. the act of knowledge which in all other instances requires the existence of two things,--a thing to be known and a thing to know,--in this instance is performed with only one. it is the individual soul that sees, and it is that very same individual soul that is seen. it is the individual man that knows, and it is that very identical man that is known. the eyeball looks at the eyeball. and when this power of self-inspection is connected with the power of memory, the mystery of human existence becomes yet more complicated, and its explanation still more baffling. is it not exceedingly wonderful, that we are able to re-exhibit our own thoughts and feelings; that we can call back what has gone clear by in our experience, and steadily look at it once more? is it not a mystery that we can summon before our mind's eye feelings, purposes, desires, and thoughts, which occurred in the soul long years ago, and which, perhaps, until this moment, we have not thought of for years? is it not a marvel, that they come up with all the vividness with which they first took origin in our experience, and that the lapse of time has deprived them of none of their first outlines or colors? is it not strange, that we can recall that one particular feeling of hatred toward a fellow-man which, rankled in the heart twenty years ago; that we can now eye it, and see it as plainly as if it were still throbbing within us; that we can feel guilty for it once more, as if we were still cherishing it? if it were not so common, would it not be surprising, that we can reflect upon acts of disobedience toward god which we committed in the days of childhood, and far back in the dim twilights of moral agency; that we can re-act them, as it were, in our memory, and fill ourselves again with the shame and distress that attended their original commission? is it not one of those mysteries which overhang human existence, and from which that of the brute is wholly free, that man can live his life, and act his agency, over, and over, and over again, indefinitely and forever, in his self-consciousness; that he can cause all his deeds to pass and re-pass before his self-reflection, and be filled through and through with the agony of self-knowledge? truly _such_ knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, i cannot attain unto it. whither shall i _go_ from my _own_ spirit, and whither shall i flee from my _own_ presence. if i ascend up into heaven, it is there looking at me. if i make my bed in hell, behold it is there torturing me. if i take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there must i know myself, and acquit or condemn myself. but if that knowledge whereby man knows himself is mysterious, then certainly that whereby god knows him is far more so. that act whereby _another_ being knows my secret thoughts, and inmost feelings, is most certainly inexplicable. that cognition whereby _another_ person understands what takes place in the corners of my heart, and sees the minutest movements of my spirit, is surely high; most surely i cannot attain unto it. and yet, it is a truth of revelation that god searches the heart of man; that he knows his down-sitting and uprising, and understands his thought afar off; that he compasses his path and his lying-down, and is acquainted with all his ways. and yet, it is a deduction of reason, also, that because god is the creator of the human mind, he must perfectly understand its secret agencies; that he in whose essence man lives and moves and has his being, must behold every motion, and feel every stirring of the human spirit. "he that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?" let us, then, ponder the fact of god's exhaustive knowledge of man's soul, that we may realize it, and thereby come under its solemn power and impression. for all religion, all holy and reverential fear of god, rises and sets, as in an atmosphere, in the thought: "thou god seest me." i. in analyzing and estimating the divine knowledge of the human soul, we find, in the first place, that god accurately and exhaustively knows _all that man knows of himself_. every man in a christian land, who is in the habit of frequenting the house of god, possesses more or less of that self-knowledge of which we have spoken. he thinks of the moral character of some of his own thoughts. he reflects upon the moral quality of some of his own feelings. he considers the ultimate tendency of some of his own actions. in other words, there is a part of his inward and his outward life with which he is uncommonly well acquainted; of which he has a distinct perception. there are some thoughts of his mind, at which he blushes at the very time of their origin, because he is vividly aware what they are, and what they mean. there are some emotions of his heart, at which he trembles and recoils at the very moment of their uprising, because he perceives clearly that they involve a very malignant depravity. there are some actings of his will, of whose wickedness he is painfully conscious at the very instant of their rush and movement. we are not called upon, here, to say how many of a man's thoughts, feelings, and determinations, are thus subjected to his self-inspection at the very time of their origin, and are known in the clear light of self-knowledge. we are not concerned, at this point, with the amount of this man's self-inspection and self-knowledge. we are only saying that there is some experience such as this in his personal history, and that he does know something of himself, at the very time of action, with a clearness and a distinctness that makes him start, or blush, or fear. now we say, that in reference to all this intimate self-knowledge, all this best part of a man's information respecting himself, he is not superior to god. he may be certain that in no particular does he know more of himself than the searcher of hearts knows. he may be an uncommonly thoughtful person, and little of what is done within his soul may escape his notice,--nay, we will make the extreme supposition that he arrests every thought as it rises, and looks at it, that he analyzes every sentiment as it swells his heart, that he scrutinizes every purpose as it determines his will,--even if he should have such a thorough and profound self-knowledge as this, god knows him equally profoundly, and equally thoroughly. nay more, this process of self-inspection may go on indefinitely, and the man may grow more and more thoughtful, and obtain an everlastingly augmenting knowledge of what he is and what he does, so that it shall seem to him that he is going down so far along that path which the vulture's eye hath not seen, is penetrating so deeply into those dim and shadowy regions of consciousness where the external life takes its very first start, as to be beyond the reach of any eye, and the ken of any intelligence but his own, and then he may be sure that god understands the thought that is afar off, and deep down, and that at this lowest range and plane in his experience he besets him behind and before. o, this man, like the most of mankind, may be an unreflecting person. then, in this case, thoughts, feelings, and purposes are continually rising up within his soul like the clouds and exhalations of an evaporating deluge, and at the time of their rise he subjects them to no scrutiny of conscience, and is not pained in the least by their moral character and significance. he lacks self-knowledge altogether, at these points in his history. but, notice that the fact that he is not self-inspecting at these points cannot destroy the fact that he is acting at them. the fact that he is not a spectator of his own transgression, does not alter the fact that he is the author of it. if this man, for instance, thinks over his worldly affairs on god's holy day, and perhaps in god's holy house, with such an absorption and such a pleasure that he entirely drowns the voice of conscience while he is so doing, and self-inspection is banished for the time, it will not do for him to plead this absence of a distinct and painful consciousness of what his mind was actually doing in the house of god, and upon the lord's day, as the palliative and excuse of his wrong thoughts. if this man, again, indulges in an envious or a sensual emotion, with such an energy and entireness, as for the time being to preclude all action of the higher powers of reason and self-reflection, so that for the time being he is not in the least troubled by a sense of his wickedness, it will be no excuse for him at the eternal bar, that he was not thinking of his envy or his lust at the time when he felt it. and therefore it is, that accountableness covers the whole field of human agency, and god holds us responsible for our thoughtless sin, as well as for our deliberate transgression. in the instance, then, of the thoughtless man; in the case where there is little or no self-examination; god unquestionably knows the man as well as the man knows himself. the omniscient one is certainly possessed of an amount of knowledge equal to that small modicum which is all that a rational and immortal soul can boast of in reference to itself. but the vast majority of mankind fall into this class. the self-examiners are very few, in comparison with the millions who possess the power to look into their hearts, but who rarely or never do so. the great god our judge, then, surely knows the mass of men, in their down-sitting and uprising, with a knowledge that is equal to their own. and thus do we establish our first position, that god knows all that the man knows; god's knowledge is equal to the very best part of man's knowledge. in concluding this part of the discussion, we turn to consider some practical lessons suggested by it. . in the first place, the subject reminds us that _we are fearfully and wonderfully made_. when we take a solar microscope and examine even the commonest object--a bit of sand, or a hair of our heads-we are amazed at the revelation that is made to us. we had no previous conception of the wonders that are contained in the structure of even such ordinary things as these. but, if we should obtain a corresponding view of our own mental and moral structure; if we could subject our immortal natures to a microscopic self-examination; we should not only be surprised, but we should be terrified. this explains, in part, the consternation with which a criminal is filled, as soon as he begins to understand the nature of his crime. his wicked act is perceived in its relation to his own mental powers and faculties. he knows, now, what a hazardous thing it is to possess a free-will; what an awful thing it is to own a conscience. he feels, as he never did before, that he is fearfully and wonderfully made, and cries out: "o that i had never been born! o that i had never been created a responsible being! these terrible faculties of reason, and will, and conscience, are too heavy for me to wield; would that i had been created a worm, and no man, then, i should not have incurred the hazards under which i have sinned and ruined myself." the constitution of the human soul is indeed a wonderful one; and such a meditation as that which we have just devoted to its functions of self-examination and memory, brief though it be, is enough to convince us of it. and remember, that this constitution is not peculiar to you and to me. it belongs to every human creature on the globe. the imbruted pagan in the fiery centre of africa, who never saw a bible, or heard of the redeemer; the equally imbruted man, woman, or child, who dwells in the slime of our own civilization, not a mile from where we sit, and hear the tidings of mercy; the filthy savage, and the yet filthier profligate, are both of them alike with ourselves possessed of these awful powers of self-knowledge and of memory. think of this, ye earnest and faithful laborers in the vineyard of the lord. there is not a child that you allure into your sabbath schools, and your mission schools, that is not fearfully and wonderfully made; and whose marvellous powers you are doing much to render to their possessor a blessing, instead of a curse. when sir humphrey davy, in answer to an inquiry that had been made of him respecting the number and series of his discoveries in chemistry, had gone through with the list, he added: "but the greatest of my discoveries is michael faraday." this michael faraday was a poor boy employed in the menial services of the laboratory where davy made those wonderful discoveries by which he revolutionized the science of chemistry, and whose chemical genius he detected, elicited, and encouraged, until he finally took the place of his teacher and patron, and acquired a name that is now one of the influences of england. well might he say: "my greatest discovery was when i detected the wonderful powers of michael faraday." and never will you make a greater and more beneficent discovery, than when, under the thick scurf of pauperism and vice, you detect the human soul that is fearfully and wonderfully made; than when you elicit its powers of self-consciousness and of memory, and, instrumentally, dedicate them to the service of christ and the church. . in the second place, we see from the subject, that _thoughtlessness in sin will never excuse sin_. there are degrees in sin. a deliberate, self-conscious act of sin is the most intense form of moral evil. when a man has an active conscience; when he distinctly thinks over the nature of the transgression which he is tempted to commit; when he sees clearly that it is a direct violation of a command of god which he is about to engage in; when he says, "i know that this is positively forbidden by my maker and judge, but i _will do it_,"--we have an instance of the most heaven-daring sin. this is deliberate and wilful transgression. the servant knows his lord's will and does it not, and he shall be beaten with "many stripes," says christ. but, such sin as this is not the usual form. most of human transgressions are not accompanied with such a distinct apprehension, and such a deliberate determination. the sin of ignorance and thoughtlessness is the species which is most common. men, generally, do not first think of what they are about to do, and then proceed to do it; but they first proceed to do it, and then think nothing at all about it. but, thoughtlessness will not excuse sin; though, it is a somewhat less extreme form of it, than deliberate transgression. under the levitical law, the sin of ignorance, as it was called, was to be expiated by a somewhat different sacrifice from that offered for the wilful and deliberate sin; but it must be expiated. a victim must be offered for it. it was guilt before god, and needed atonement. our lord, in his prayer for his murderers, said, "father forgive them, for they know not what they do." the act of crucifying the lord of glory was certainly a sin, and one of an awful nature. but the authors of it were not fully aware of its import. they did not understand the dreadful significance of the crucifixion of the son of god, as we now understand it, in the light of eighteen centuries. our lord alludes to this, as a species of mitigation; while yet he teaches, by the very prayer which he puts up for them, that this ignorance did not excuse his murderers. he asks that they may be _forgiven_. but where there is absolutely no sin there is no need of forgiveness. it is one of our lord's assertions, that it will be more tolerable for sodom and gomorrah, in the day of judgment, than it will be for those inhabitants of palestine who would not hear the words of his apostles,--because the sin of the former was less deliberate and wilful than that of the latter. but he would not have us infer from this, that sodom and gomorrah are not to be punished for sin. and, finally, he sums up the whole doctrine upon this point, in the declaration, that "he who knew his master's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes; but he who knew not his master's will and did it not shall be beaten with few stripes." the sin of thoughtlessness shall be beaten with fewer stripes than the sin of deliberation,--but it shall be _beaten_, and therefore it is _sin_. the almost universal indifference and thoughtlessness with which men live on in a worldly and selfish life, will not excuse them in the day of accurate accounts. and the reason is, that they are capable of _thinking_ upon the law of god; of _thinking_ upon their duties; of _thinking_ upon their sins. they possess the wonderful faculties of self-inspection and memory, and therefore they are capable of bringing their actions into light. it is the command of god to every man, and to every rational spirit everywhere, to walk in the light, and to be a child of the light. we ought to examine ourselves; to understand our ruling motives and abiding purposes; to scrutinize our feelings and conduct. but if we do little or nothing of this, we must not expect that in the day of judgment we can plead our thoughtless ignorance of what we were, and what we did, here upon earth, as an excuse for our disobedience. god expects, and demands, that every one of his rational creatures should be all that he is capable of being. he gave man wonderful faculties and endowments,--ten talents, five talents, two talents,--and he will require the whole original sum given, together with a faithful use and improvement of it. the very thoughtlessness then, particularly under the gospel dispensation,--the very neglect and non-use of the power of self-inspection,--will go in to constitute a part of the sin that will be punished. instead of being an excuse, it will be an element of the condemnation itself. . in the third place, even the sinner himself _ought to rejoice in the fact that god is the searcher of the heart_. it is instinctive and natural, that a transgressor should attempt to conceal his character from his maker; but next to his sin itself, it would be the greatest injury that he could do to himself, should he succeed in his attempt. even after the commission of sin, there is every reason for desiring that god should compass our path and lying down, and be acquainted with all our ways. for, he is the only being who can forgive sin; the only one who can renew and sanctify the heart. there is the same motive for having the disease of the soul understood by god, that there is for having the disease of the body examined by a skilful physician. nothing is gained, but every thing is lost, by ignorance. the sinner, therefore, has the strongest of motives for rejoicing in the truth that god sees him. it ought not to be an unwelcome fact even to him. for how can his sin be pardoned, unless it is clearly understood by the pardoning power? how can his soul be purified from its inward corruption, unless it is searched by the spirit of all holiness? instead, therefore, of being repelled by such a solemn truth as that which we have been discussing, even the natural man should be allured by it. for it teaches him that there is help for him in god. his own knowledge of his own heart, as we have seen, is very imperfect and very inadequate. but the divine knowledge is thoroughly adequate. he may, therefore, devolve his case with confidence upon the unerring one. let him take words upon his lips, and cry unto him: "search me, o god, and try me; and see what evil ways there are in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." let him endeavor to come into possession of the divine knowledge. there is no presumption in this. god desires that he should know himself as he knows him; that he should get possession of his views upon this point; that he should see himself as he sees him. one of the principal sins which god has to charge upon the sinner is, that his apprehensions respecting his own character are in conflict with the divine. nothing would more certainly meet the approbation of god, than a renunciation of human estimates of human nature, and the adoption of those contained in the inspired word. endeavor, therefore, to obtain the very same knowledge of your heart which god himself possesses. and in this endeavor, he will assist you. the influences of the holy spirit to enlighten are most positively promised and proffered. therefore be not repelled by the truth; but be drawn by it to a deeper, truer knowledge of your heart. lift up your soul in prayer, and beseech god to impart to you a profound knowledge of yourself, and then to sprinkle all your discovered guilt, and all your undiscovered guilt, with atoning blood. this is _salvation_; first to know yourself, and then to know christ as your prophet, priest, and king. [footnote : pensÉes: grandeur de l'homme, . ed. wetstein.] [footnote : chapman: byron's conspiracy.] god's exhaustive knowledge of man. [*continued] psalm cxxxix. -- .--"o lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. thou knowest my down-sitting and mine uprising; thou understandest my thought afar off. thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, o lord, thou knowest it altogether. thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me. such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, i cannot attain unto it." in the preceding discourse upon this text, we directed attention to the fact that man is possessed of the power of self-knowledge, and that he cannot ultimately escape from using it. he cannot forever flee from his own presence; he cannot, through all eternity, go away from his own spirit. if he take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth, he must, sooner or later, know himself, and acquit or condemn himself. our attention was then directed to the fact, that god's knowledge of man is certainly equal to man's knowledge of himself. no man knows more of his own heart than the searcher of hearts knows. up to this point, certainly, the truth of the text is incontrovertible. god knows all that man knows. ii. we come now to the second position: that _god accurately and exhaustively knows all that man might, but does not, know of himself_. although the creator designed that every man should thoroughly understand his own heart, and gave him the power of self-inspection that he might use it faithfully, and apply it constantly, yet man is extremely ignorant of himself. mankind, says an old writer, are nowhere less at home, than at home. very few persons practise serious self-examination at all; and none employ the power of self-inspection with that carefulness and sedulity with which they ought. hence men generally, and unrenewed men always, are unacquainted with much that goes on within their own minds and hearts. though it is sin and self-will, though it is thought and feeling and purpose and desire, that is going on and taking place during all these years of religious indifference, yet the agent himself, so far as a sober reflection upon the moral character of the process, and a distinct perception of the dreadful issue of it, are concerned, is much of the time as destitute of self-knowledge as an irrational brute itself. for, were sinful men constantly self-examining, they would be constantly in torment. men can be happy in sin, only so long as they can sin without thinking of it. the instant they begin to perceive and understand _what_ they are doing, they begin to feel the fang of the worm. if the frivolous wicked world, which now takes so much pleasure in its wickedness, could be forced to do here what it will be forced to do hereafter, namely, to _eye_ its sin while it commits it, to _think_ of what it is doing while it does it, the billows of the lake of fire would roll in upon time, and from gay paris and luxurious vienna there would instantaneously ascend the wailing cry of pandemonium. but it is not so at present. men here upon earth are continually thinking sinful thoughts and cherishing sinful feelings, and yet they are not continually in hell. on the contrary, "they are not in trouble as other men are, neither are they plagued like other men. their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish." this proves that they are self-ignorant; that they know neither their sin nor its bitter end. they sin without the _consciousness_ of sin, and hence are happy in it. is it not so in our own personal experience? have there not been in the past ten years of our own mental history long trains of thought,--sinful thought,--and vast processions of feelings and imaginings,--sinful feelings and imaginings,--that have trailed over the spaces of the soul, but which have been as unwatched and unseen by the self-inspecting eye of conscience, as the caravans of the african desert have been, during the same period, by the eye of our sense? we have not felt a pang of guilt every single time that we have thought a wrong thought; yet we should have felt one inevitably, had we _scrutinized_ every such single thought. our face has not flushed with crimson in every particular instance in which we have exercised a lustful emotion; yet it would have done so had we carefully _noted_ every such emotion. a distinct self-knowledge has by no means run parallel with all our sinful activity; has by no means been co-extensive with it. we perform vastly more than we inspect. we have sinned vastly more than we have been aware of at the time. even the christian, in whom this unreflecting species of life and conduct has given way, somewhat, to a thoughtful and vigilant life, knows and acknowledges that perfection is not yet come. as he casts his eye over even his regenerate and illuminated life, and sees what a small amount of sin has been distinctly detected, keenly felt, and heartily confessed, in comparison with that large amount of sin which he knows he must have committed, during this long period of incessant action of mind, heart, and limbs, he finds no repose for his misgivings with respect to the filial examination and account, except by enveloping himself yet more entirely in the ample folds of his redeemer's righteousness; except by hiding himself yet more profoundly in the cleft of that rock of ages which protects the chief of sinners from the unsufferable splendors and terrors of the divine glory and holiness as it passes by. even the christian knows that he must have committed many sins in thoughtless moments and hours,--many sins of which he was not deliberately thinking at the time of their commission,--and must pray with david, "cleanse thou me from secret faults." the functions and operations of memory evince that such is the case. are we not sometimes, in our serious hours when memory is busy, convinced of sins which, at the time of their commission, were wholly unaccompanied with a sense of their sinfulness? the act in this instance was performed blindly, without self-inspection, and therefore without self-conviction. ten years, we will say, have intervened,--years of new activity, and immensely varied experiences. and now the magic power of recollection sets us back, once more, at that point of responsible action, and bids do what we did not do at the time,--analyze our performance and feel consciously guilty, experience the first sensation of remorse, for what we did ten years ago. have we not, sometimes, been vividly reminded that upon such an occasion, and at such a time, we were angry, or proud, but at the time when the emotion was swelling our veins were not filled with, that clear and painful sense of its turpitude which now attends the recollection of it? the re-exhibition of an action in memory, as in a mirror, is often accompanied with a distinct apprehension of its moral character that formed no part of the experience of the agent while absorbed in the hot and hasty original action itself. and when we remember how immense are the stores of memory, and what an amount of sin has been committed in hours of thoughtlessness and moral indifference, what prayer is more natural and warm than the supplication: "search me o god, and try me, and see what evil ways there are within me, and lead me in the way everlasting." but the careless, unenlightened man, as we have before remarked, leads a life almost entirely destitute of self-inspection, and self-knowledge. he sins constantly. he does only evil, and that continually, as did man before the deluge. for he is constantly acting. a living self-moving soul, like his, cannot cease action if it would. and yet the current is all one way. day after day sends up its clouds of sensual, worldly, selfish thoughts. week after week pours onward its stream of low-born, corrupt, unspiritual feelings. year after year accumulates that hardening mass of carnal-mindedness, and distaste for religion, which is sometimes a more insuperable obstacle to the truth, than positive faults and vices which startle and shock the conscience. and yet the man _thinks_ nothing about all this action of his mind and heart. he does not subject it to any self-inspection. if he should, for but a single hour, be lifted up to the eminence from which all this current of self-will, and moral agency, may be seen and surveyed in its real character and significance, he would start back as if brought to the brink of hell. but he is not thus lifted up. he continues to use and abuse his mental and his moral faculties, but, for most of his probation, with all the blindness and heedlessness of a mere animal instinct. there is, then, a vast amount of sin committed without self-inspection; and, consequently, without any distinct perception, at the time, that it is sin. the christian will find himself feeling guilty, for the first time, for a transgression that occurred far back in the past, and will need a fresh application of atoning blood. the sinner will find, at some period or other, that remorse is fastening its tooth in his conscience for a vast amount of sinful thought, feeling, desire, and motive, that took origin in the unembarrassed days of religious thoughtlessness and worldly enjoyment. for, think you that the insensible sinner is always to be thus insensible,--that this power of self-inspection is eternally to "rust unused?" what a tremendous revelation will one day be made to an unreflecting transgressor, simply because he is a man and not a brute, has lived a human life, and is endowed with the power of self-knowledge, whether he has used it or not! what a terrific vision it will be for him, when the limitless line of his sins which he has not yet distinctly examined, and thought of, and repented of, shall be made to pass in slow procession before that inward eye which he has wickedly kept shut so long! tell us not of the disclosures that shall be made when the sea shall give up the dead that are in it, and the graves shall open and surrender their dead; what are these material disclosures, when compared with the revelations of self-knowledge! what is all this external display, sombre and terrible as it will be to the outward eye, when compared with all that internal revealing that will be made to a hitherto thoughtless soul, when, of a sudden, in the day of judgment, its deepest caverns shall heave in unison with the material convulsions of the day, and shall send forth to judgment their long slumbering, and hidden iniquity; when the sepulchres of its own memory shall burst open, and give up the sin that has long lain buried there, in needless and guilty forgetfulness, awaiting this second resurrection! for (to come back to the unfolding of the subject, and the movement of the argument), god perfectly knows all that man might, but does not, know of himself. though the transgressor is ignorant of much of his sin, because at the time of its commission he sins blindly as well as wilfully, and unreflectingly as well as freely; and though the transgressor has forgotten much of that small amount of sin of which he was conscious, and by which he was pained, at the time of its perpetration; though on the side of man the powers of self-inspection and memory have accomplished so little towards the preservation of man's sin, yet god knows it all, and remembers it all. he compasseth man's path, and his lying-down, and is acquainted with all his ways. "there is nothing covered, therefore, that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known. whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the house-tops." the creator of the human mind has control over its powers of self-inspection, and of memory; and when the proper time comes he will compel these endowments to perform their legitimate functions, and do their appointed work. the torturing self-survey will begin, never more to end. the awful recollection will commence, endlessly to go on. one principal reason why the biblical representations of human sinfulness exert so little influence over men, and, generally speaking, seem to them to be greatly exaggerated and untrue, lies in the fact that the divine knowledge of human character is in advance of the human knowledge. god's consciousness and cognition upon this subject is exhaustive; while man's self-knowledge is superficial and shallow. the two forms of knowledge, consequently, when placed side by side, do not agree, but conflict. there would be less difficulty, and less contradiction, if mankind generally were possessed of even as much self-knowledge as the christian is possessed of. there would be no difficulty, and no contradiction, if the knowledge of the judgment-day could be anticipated, and the self-inspection of that occasion could commence here and now. but such is not the fact. the bible labors, therefore, under the difficulty of possessing an advanced knowledge; the difficulty of being addressed to a mind that is almost entirely unacquainted with the subject treated of. the word of god knows man exhaustively, as god knows him; and hence all its descriptions of human character are founded upon such a knowledge. but man, in his self-ignorance, does not perceive their awful truth. he has not yet attained the internal correspondent to the biblical statement,--that apprehension of total depravity, that knowledge of the plague of the heart, which always and ever says "yea" to the most vivid description of human sinfulness, and "amen" to god's heaviest malediction upon it. nothing deprives the word of its nerve and influence, more than this general lack of self-inspection and self-knowledge. for, only that which is perceived to be _true_ exerts an influence upon the human mind. the doctrine of human sinfulness is preached to men, year after year, to whom it does not come home with the demonstration of the spirit and with power, because the sinfulness which is really within them is as yet unknown, and because not one of a thousand of their transgressions has ever been scanned in the light of self-examination. but is the bible untrue, because the man is ignorant? is the sun black, because the eye is shut? however ignorant man may be, and may desire and strive to be, of himself, god knows him altogether, and knows that the representations of his word, respecting the character and necessities of human nature, are the unexaggerated, sober, and actual fact. though most of the sinner's life of alienation from god, and of disobedience, has been a blind and a reckless agency, unaccompanied with self-scrutiny, and to a great extent passed from his memory, yet it has all of it been looked at, as it welled, up from the living centres of free agency and responsibility, by the calm and dreadful eye of retributive justice, and has all of it been indelibly written down in the book of god's sure memory, with a pen of iron, and the point of a diamond. and here, let us for a moment look upon the bright, as well as the dark side of this subject. for if god's exhaustive knowledge of the human heart waken dread in one of its aspects, it starts infinite hope in another. if that being has gone down into these depths of human depravity, and seen it with a more abhorring glance than could ever shoot from a finite eye, and yet has returned with a cordial offer to forgive it all, and a hearty proffer to cleanse it all away, then we can lift up the eye in adoration and in hope. there has been an infinite forbearance and condescension. the worst has been seen, and that too by the holiest of beings, and yet eternal glory is offered to us! god knows, from personal examination, the worthlessness of human character, with a thoroughness and intensity of knowledge of which man has no conception; and yet, in the light of this knowledge, in the very flame of this intuition, he has devised a plan of mercy and redemption. do not think, then, because of your present ignorance of your guilt and corruption, that the incarnation and death of the son of god was unnecessary, and that that costly blood of atonement which you are treading under foot wet the rocks of calvary for a peccadillo. could you, but for a moment only, know yourself _altogether_ and _exhaustively_, as the author of this redemption knows you, you would cry out, in the words of a far holier man than you are, "i am undone." if you could but see guilt as god sees it, you would also see with him that nothing but an infinite passion can expiate it. if you could but fathom the human heart as god fathoms it, you would know as he knows, that nothing less than regeneration can purify its fountains of uncleanness, and cleanse it from its ingrain corruption. thus have we seen that god knows man altogether,--that he knows all that man knows of himself, and all that man might but does not yet know of himself. the searcher of hearts knows all the thoughts that we have thought upon, all the reflections that we have reflected upon, all the experience that we have ourselves analyzed and inspected. and he also knows that far larger part of our life which we have not yet subjected to the scrutiny of self-examination,--all those thoughts, feelings, desires, and motives, innumerable as they are, of which we took no heed at the time of their origin and existence, and which we suppose, perhaps, we shall hear no more of again. whither then shall we go from god's spirit? or whither shall we flee from his presence and his knowledge? if we ascend up into heaven, he is there, and knows us perfectly. if we make our bed in hell, behold he is there, and reads the secret thoughts and feelings of our heart. the darkness hideth not from him; our ignorance does not affect his knowledge; the night shineth as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to him. this great truth which we have been considering obtains a yet more serious emphasis, and a yet more solemn power over the mind, when we take into view the _character_ of the being who thus searches our hearts, and is acquainted with all our ways. who of us would not be filled with uneasiness, if he knew that an imperfect fellow-creature were looking constantly into his soul? would not the flush of shame often burn upon our cheek, if we knew that a sinful man like ourselves were watching all the feelings and thoughts that are rising within us? should we not be more circumspect than we are, if men were able mutually to search each other's hearts? how often does a man change his course of conduct, when he discovers, accidentally, that his neighbor knows what he is doing. but it is not an imperfect fellow-man, it is not a perfect angel, who besets us behind and before, and is acquainted with, all our ways. it is the immaculate god himself. it is he before whom archangels veil their faces, and the burning seraphim cry, "holy." it is he, in whose sight the pure cerulean heavens are not clean, and whose eyes are a flame of fire devouring all iniquity. we are beheld, in all this process of sin, be it blind or be it intelligent, by infinite purity. we are not, therefore, to suppose that god contemplates this our life of sin with the dull indifference of an epicurean deity; that he looks into our souls, all this while, from mere curiosity, and with no moral _emotion_ towards us. the god who knows us altogether is the holy one of israel, whose wrath is both real, and revealed, against all unrighteousness. if, therefore, we connect the holy nature and pure essence of god with all this unceasing and unerring inspection of the human soul, does not the truth which, we have been considering speak with a bolder emphasis, and acquire an additional power to impress and solemnize the mind? when we realize that the being who is watching us at every instant, and in every act and element of our existence, is the very same being who revealed himself amidst the lightenings of sinai as _hating_ sin and not clearing the thoughtless guilty, do not our prospects at the bar of justice look dark and fearful? for, who of the race of man is holy enough to stand such an inspection? who of the sons of men will prove pure in such a furnace? are we not, then, brought by this truth close up to the central doctrine of christianity, and made to see our need of the atonement and righteousness of the redeemer? how can we endure such a scrutiny as god is instituting into our character and conduct? what can we say, in the day of reckoning, when the searcher of hearts shall make known, to us all that he knows of us? what can we do, in that day which shall reveal the thoughts and the estimates of the holy one respecting us? it is perfectly plain, from the elevated central point of view where we now stand, and in the focal light in which we now see, that no man can be justified before god upon the ground of personal character; for that character, when subjected to god's exhaustive scrutiny, withers and shrinks away. a man may possibly be just before his neighbor, or his friend, or society, or human laws, but he is miserably self-deceived who supposes that his heart will appear righteous under such a scrutiny and in such a presence as we have been considering.[ ] however it may be before other tribunals, the apostle is correct when he asserts that "every mouth, must be stopped, and the whole world plead guilty before god." before the searcher of hearts, all mankind must appeal to mere and sovereign mercy. justice, in this reference, is out of the question. now, in this condition of things, god so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life. the divine mercy has been manifested in a mode that does not permit even the guiltiest to doubt its reality, its sufficiency, or its sincerity. the argument is this. "if when, we were yet sinners," _and known to be such, in the perfect and exhaustive manner that has been described,_ "christ died for us, much more, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from wrath through him." appropriating this atonement which the searcher of hearts has himself provided for this very exigency, and which he knows to be thoroughly adequate, no man, however guilty, need fear the most complete disclosures which the divine omniscience will have to make of human character in the day of doom. if the guilt is "infinite upon infinite," so is the sacrifice of the god-man. who is he that condemmeth? it is the son of god that died for sin. who shall lay anything to god's elect? it is god that justifieth. and as god shall, in the last day, summon up from the deep places of our souls all of our sins, and bring us to a strict account for everything, even to the idle words that we have spoken, we can look him full in the eye, without a thought of fear, and with love unutterable, if we are really relying upon the atoning sacrifice of christ for justification. even in that awful presence, and under that omniscient scrutiny, "there is no condemnation to them that are in christ jesus." the great lesson, then, taught by the text and its unfolding, is _the importance of attaining self-knowledge here upon earth, and while there remaineth a sacrifice for sins_. the duty and wisdom of every man is, to anticipate the revelations of the judgment day; to find out the sin of his soul, while it is an accepted time and a day of salvation. for we have seen that this self-inspection cannot ultimately be escaped. man was made to know himself, and he must sooner or later come to it. self-knowledge is as certain, in the end, as death. the utmost that can be done, is to postpone it for a few days, or years. the article of death and the exchange of worlds will pour it all in, like a deluge, upon every man, whether he will or not. and he who does not wake up to a knowledge of his heart, until he enters eternity, wakes up not to pardon but to despair. the simple question, then, which, meets us is: wilt thou know thyself _here_ and _now_, that thou mayest accept and feel god's pity in christ's blood, or wilt thou keep within the screen, and not know thyself until beyond the grave, and then feel god's judicial wrath? the self-knowledge, remember, must come in the one way or the other. it is a simple question of time; a simple question whether it shall come here in this world, where the blood of christ "freely flows," or in the future world, where "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." turn the matter as we will, this is the sum and substance,--a sinful man must either come to a thorough self-knowledge, with a hearty repentance and a joyful pardon, in this life; or he must come to a thorough, self-knowledge, with a total despair and an eternal damnation, in the other. god is not mocked. god's great pity in the blood of christ must not be trifled with. he who refuses, or neglects, to institute that self-examination which leads to the sense of sin, and the felt need of christ's work, by this very fact proves that he does not desire to know his own heart, and that he has no wish to repent of sin. but he who will not even look at his sin,--what does not he deserve from that being who poured out his own blood for it? he who refuses even to open his eyes upon that bleeding lamb of god,--what must not he expect from the lion of the tribe of judah, in the day of judgment? he who by a life of apathy, and indifference to sin, puts himself out of all relations to the divine pity,--what must he experience in eternity, but the operations of stark, unmitigated law? find out your sin, then. god will forgive all that is found. though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. the great god delights to forgive, and is waiting to forgive. but, _sin must be seen by the sinner, before it can be pardoned by the judge_. if you refuse at this point; if you hide yourself from yourself; if you preclude all feeling and conviction upon the subject of sin, by remaining ignorant of it; if you continue to live an easy, thoughtless life in sin, then you _cannot_ be forgiven, and the measure of god's love with which he would have blessed you, had you searched yourself and repented, will be the measure of god's righteous wrath with which he will search you, and condemn you, because you have not. [footnote : "it is easy,"--says one of the keenest and most incisive of theologians,--"for any one in the cloisters of the schools to indulge himself in idle speculations on the merit of works to justify men; but when he comes _into the presence of god_, he must bid farewell to these amusements, for there the business is transacted with seriousness. to this point must our attention be directed, if we wish to make any useful inquiry concerning true righteousness: how we can answer the _celestial judge_ when he shall call us to an account? let us place that judge before our eyes, not according to the inadequate imaginations of our minds, but according to the descriptions given of him in the scriptures, which represent him as one whose refulgence eclipses the stars, whose purity makes all things appear polluted, and who searches the inmost soul of his creatures,--let us so conceive of the judge of all the earth, and every one must present himself as a criminal before him, and voluntarily prostrate and humble himself in deep solicitude concerning; his absolution." calvin: institutes, iii. .] all mankind guilty; or, every man knows more than he practises. romans i. .--"when they knew god, they glorified him not as god." the idea of god is the most important and comprehensive of all the ideas of which the human mind is possessed. it is the foundation of religion; of all right doctrine, and all right conduct. a correct intuition of it leads to correct religious theories and practice; while any erroneous or defective view of the supreme being will pervade the whole province of religion, and exert a most pernicious influence upon the entire character and conduct of men. in proof of this, we have only to turn to the opening chapters of st. paul's epistle to the romans. here we find a profound and accurate account of the process by which human nature becomes corrupt, and runs its downward career of unbelief, vice, and sensuality. the apostle traces back the horrible depravity of the heathen world, which he depicts with a pen as sharp as that of juvenal, but with none of juvenal's bitterness and vitriolic sarcasm, to a distorted and false conception of the being and attributes of god. he does not, for an instant, concede that this distorted and false conception is founded in the original structure and constitution of the human soul, and that this moral ignorance is necessary and inevitable. this mutilated idea of the supreme being was not inlaid in the rational creature on the morning of creation, when god said, "let us make man in our image, after our likeness." on the contrary, the apostle affirms that the creator originally gave all mankind, in the moral constitution of a rational soul and in the works of creation and providence, the media to a correct idea of himself, and asserts, by implication, that if they had always employed these media they would have always possessed this idea. "the wrath of god," he says, "is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness; _because_ that which may be known of god is manifest in them, for god hath shewed it unto them. _for_ the invisible things of him, even his eternal power and godhead, are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made, so that they are without excuse; _because_ that when they _knew_ god, they glorified him not as god" (rom. i. - ). from this, it appears that the mind of man has not kept what was committed to its charge. it has not employed the moral instrumentalities, nor elicited the moral ideas, with which it has been furnished. and, notice that the apostle does not confine this statement to those who live within the pale of revelation. his description is unlimited and universal. the affirmation of the text, that "when man knew god he glorified him not as god," applies to the gentile as well as to the jew. nay, the primary reference of these statements was to the pagan world. it was respecting the millions of idolaters in cultivated greece and rome, and the millions of idolaters in barbarous india and china,--it was respecting the whole world lying in wickedness, that st. paul remarked: "the invisible things of god, even his eternal power and godhead, are clearly seen from the creation of the world down to the present moment, being understood by the things that are made; _so that they are without excuse_." when napoleon was returning from his campaign in egypt and syria, he was seated one night upon the deck of the vessel, under the open canopy of the heavens, surrounded by his captains and generals. the conversation had taken a skeptical direction, and most of the party had combated the doctrine of the divine existence. napoleon had sat silent and musing, apparently taking no interest in the discussion, when suddenly raising his hand, and pointing at the crystalline firmament crowded with its mildly shining planets and its keen glittering stars, he broke out, in those startling tones that so often electrified a million of men: "gentlemen, who made all that?" the eternal power and godhead of the creator are impressed by the things that are made, and these words of napoleon to his atheistic captains silenced them. and the same impression is made the world over. go to-day into the heart of africa, or into the centre of new holland; select the most imbruted pagan that can be found; take him out under a clear star-lit heaven and ask him who made all that, and the idea of a superior being,--superior to all his fetishes and idols,--possessing eternal power and supremacy ([greek: theotaes]) immediately emerges in his consciousness. the instant the missionary takes this lustful idolater away from the circle of his idols, and brings him face to face with the heavens and the earth, as napoleon brought his captains, the constitutional idea dawns again, and the pagan trembles before the unseen power.[ ] but it will be objected that it is a very dim, and inadequate idea of the deity that thus rises in the pagan's mind, and that therefore the apostle's affirmation that he is "without excuse" for being an idolater and a sensualist requires some qualification. this imbruted creature, says the objector, does not possess the metaphysical conception of god as a spirit, and of all his various attributes and qualities, like the dweller in christendom. how then can he be brought in guilty before the same eternal bar, and be condemned to the same eternal punishment, with the nominal christian? the answer is plain, and decisive, and derivable out of the apostle's own statements. in order to establish the guiltiness of a rational creature before the bar of justice, it is not necessary to show that he has lived in the seventh heavens, and under a blaze of moral intelligence like that of the archangel gabriel. it is only necessary to show that he has enjoyed _some_ degree of moral light, and that he _has not lived up to it_. any creature who knows more than he practises is a guilty creature. if the light in the pagan's intellect concerning god and the moral law, small though it be, is yet actually in advance of the inclination and affections of his heart and the actions of his life, he deserves to be punished, like any and every other creature, under the divine government, of whom the same thing is true. grades of knowledge vary indefinitely. no two men upon the planet, no two men in christendom, possess precisely the same degree of moral intelligence. there are men walking the streets of this city to-day, under the full light of the christian revelation, whose notions respecting god and law are exceedingly dim and inadequate; and there are others whose views are clear and correct in a high degree. but there is not a person in this city, young or old, rich or poor, ignorant or cultivated, in the purlieus of vice or the saloons of wealth, whose knowledge of god is not in advance of his own character and conduct. every man, whatever be the grade of his intelligence, knows more than he puts in practice. ask the young thief, in the subterranean haunts of vice and crime, if he does not know that it is wicked to steal, and if he renders an honest answer, it is in the affirmative. ask the most besotted soul, immersed and petrified in sensuality, if his course of life upon earth has been in accordance with his own knowledge and conviction of what is right, and required by his maker, and he will answer no, if he answers truly. the grade of knowledge in the christian land is almost infinitely various; but in every instance the amount of knowledge is greater than the amount of virtue. whether he knows little or much, the man knows more than he performs; and _therefore_ his mouth must be stopped in the judgment, and he must plead guilty before god. he will not be condemned for not possessing that ethereal vision of god possessed by the seraphim; but he will be condemned because his perception of the holiness and the holy requirements of god was sufficient, at any moment, to rebuke his disregard of them; because when he knew god in some degree, he glorified him not as god up to that degree. and this principle will be applied to the pagan world. it is so applied by the apostle paul. he himself concedes that the gentile has not enjoyed all the advantages of the jew, and argues that the ungodly jew will be visited with a more severe punishment than the ungodly gentile. but he expressly affirms that the pagan is _under law_, and _knows_ that he is; that he shows the work of the law that is written on the heart, in the operations of an accusing and condemning conscience. but the knowledge of law involves the knowledge of _god_ in an equal degree. who can feel himself amenable to a moral law, without at the same time thinking of its author? the law and the lawgiver are inseparable. the one is the mirror and index of the other. if the eye opens dimly upon the commandment, it opens dimly upon the sovereign; if it perceives eternal right and law with clear and celestial vision, it then looks directly into the face of god. law and god are correlative to each other; and just so far, consequently, as the heathen understands the law that is written on the heart does he apprehend the being who sitteth upon the circle of the heavens, and who impinges himself upon the consciousness of men. this being so, it is plain that we can confront the ungodly pagan with the same statements with which we confront the ungodly nominal christian. we can tell him with positiveness, wherever we find him, be it upon the burning sands of africa or in the frozen home of the esquimaux, that he knows more than he puts in practice. we will concede to him that the quantum of his moral knowledge is very stinted and meagre; but in the same breath we will remind him that small as it is, he has not lived up to it; that he too has "come short"; that he too, knowing god in the dimmest, faintest degree, has yet not glorified him as god in the slightest, faintest manner. the bible sends the ungodly and licentious pagan to hell, upon the same principle that it sends the ungodly and licentious nominal christian. it is the principle enunciated by our lord christ, the judge of quick and dead, when he says, "he who knew his master's will [clearly], and did it not, shall be beaten with many stripes; and he who knew not his master's will [clearly, but knew it dimly,] and did it not, shall be beaten with few stripes." it is the just principle enunciated by st. paul, that "as many as have sinned without [written] law shall also _perish_ without [written] law."[ ] and this is right and righteous; and let all the universe say, amen. the doctrine taught in the text, that no human creature, in any country or grade of civilization, has ever glorified god to the extent of his knowledge of god, is very fertile in solemn and startling inferences, to some of which we now invite attention. . in the first place, it follows from this affirmation of the apostle paul, that _the entire heathen world is in a state of condemnation and perdition_. he himself draws this inference, in saying that in the judgment "_every_ mouth must be stopped, and the _whole_ world become guilty before god." the present and future condition of the heathen world is a subject that has always enlisted the interest of two very different classes of men. the church of god has pondered, and labored, and prayed over this subject, and will continue to do so until the millennium. and the disbeliever in revelation has also turned his mind to the consideration of this black mass of ignorance and misery, which welters upon the globe like a chaotic ocean; these teeming millions of barbarians and savages who render the aspect of the world so sad and so dark. the church, we need not say, have accepted the biblical theory, and have traced the lost condition of the pagan world, as the apostle paul does, to their sin and transgression. they have held that every pagan is a rational being, and by virtue of this fact has known something of the moral law; and that to the extent of the knowledge he has had, he is as guilty for the transgression of law, and as really under its condemnation, as the dweller under the light of revelation and civilization. they have maintained that every human creature has enjoyed sufficient light, in the workings of natural reason and conscience, and in the impressions that are made by the glory and the terror of the natural world above and around him, to render him guilty before the everlasting judge. for this reason, the church has denied that the pagan is an innocent creature, or that he can stand in the judgment before the searcher of hearts. for this reason, the church has believed the declaration of the apostle john, that "the _whole_ world lieth in wickedness" ( john v. ), and has endeavored to obey the command of him who came to redeem pagans as much as nominal christians, to go and preach the gospel to _every_ creature, because every creature is a lost creature. but the disbeliever in revelation adopts the theory of human innocency, and looks upon all the wretchedness and ignorance of paganism, as he looks upon suffering, decay, and death, in the vegetable and animal worlds. temporary evil is the necessary condition, he asserts, of all finite existence; and as decay and death in the vegetable and animal worlds only result in a more luxuriant vegetation, and an increased multiplication of living creatures, so the evil and woe of the hundreds of generations, and the millions of individuals, during the sixty centuries that have elapsed since the origin of man, will all of it minister to the ultimate and everlasting weal of the entire race. there is no need therefore, he affirms, of endeavoring to save such feeble and ignorant beings from judicial condemnation and eternal penalty. such finiteness and helplessness cannot be put into relations to such an awful attribute as the eternal nemesis of god. can it be,--he asks,--that the millions upon millions that have been born, lived their brief hour, enjoyed their little joys and suffered their sharp sorrows, and then dropped into "the dark backward and abysm of time," have really been _guilty_ creatures, and have gone down to an endless hell? but what does all this reasoning and querying imply? will the objector really take the position and stand to it, that the pagan man is not a rational and responsible creature? that he does not possess sufficient knowledge of moral truth, to justify his being brought to the bar of judgment? will he say that the population that knew enough to build the pyramids did not know enough to break the law of god? will he affirm that the civilization of babylon and nineveh, of greece and rome, did not contain within it enough of moral intelligence to constitute a foundation for rewards and punishments? will he tell us that the people of sodom and gomorrah stood upon the same plane with the brutes that perish, and the trees of the field that rot and die, having no idea of god, knowing nothing of the distinction between right and wrong, and never feeling the pains of an accusing conscience? will he maintain that the populations of india, in the midst of whom one of the most subtile and ingenious systems of pantheism has sprung up with the luxuriance and involutions of one of their own jungles, and has enervated the whole religious sentiment of the hindoo race as opium has enervated their physical frame,--will he maintain that such an untiring and persistent mental activity as this is incapable of apprehending the first principles of ethics and natural religion, which, in comparison with the complicated and obscure ratiocinations of boodhism, are clear as water, and lucid as atmospheric air? in other connections, this theorist does not speak in this style. in other connections, and for the purpose of exaggerating natural religion and disparaging revealed, he enlarges upon the dignity of man, of every man, and eulogizes the power of reason which so exalts him in the scale of being. with hamlet, he dilates in proud and swelling phrase: "what a piece of work is man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculties! in form and moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals!" it is from that very class of theorizers who deny that the heathen are in danger of eternal perdition, and who represent the whole missionary enterprise as a work of supererogation, that we receive the most extravagant accounts of the natural powers and gifts of man. now if these powers and gifts do belong to human nature by its constitution, they certainly lay a foundation for responsibility; and all such theorists must either be able to show that the pagan man has made a right use of them, and has walked according to this large amount of truth and reason with which, according to their own statement, he is endowed, or else they consign him, as st. paul does, to "the wrath of god which is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness of _men who hold the truth in unrighteousness_." if you assert that the pagan man has had no talents at all committed to him, and can prove your assertion, and will stand by it, you are consistent in denying that he can be summoned to the bar of god, and be tried for eternal life or death. but if you concede that he has had one talent, or two talents, committed to his charge; and still more, if you exaggerate his gifts and endow him with five or ten talents, then it is impossible for you to save him from the judgment to come, except you can prove a _perfect_ administration and use of the trust.[ ] . in the second place, it follows from the doctrine of the text, that _the degraded and brutalized population of large cities is in a state of condemnation and perdition_. there are heathen near our own doors whose religious condition is as sad, and hopeless, as that of the heathen of patagonia or new zealand. the vice and crime that nestles and riots in the large cities of christendom has become a common theme, and has lost much of its interest for the worldly mind by losing its novelty. the manners and way of life of the outcast population of london and paris have been depicted by the novelist, and wakened a momentary emotion in the readers of fiction. but the reality is stern and dreadful, beyond imagination or conception. there is in the cess-pools of the great capitals of christendom a mass of human creatures who are born, who live, and who die, in moral putrefaction. their existence is a continued career of sin and woe. body and soul, mind and heart, are given up to earth, to sense, to corruption. they emerge for a brief season into the light of day, run their swift and fiery career of sin, and then disappear. dante, in that wonderful vision which embodies so much of true ethics and theology, represents the wrathful and gloomy class as sinking down under the miry waters and continuing to breathe in a convulsive, suffocating manner, sending up bubbles to the surface, that mark the place where they are drawing out their lingering existence.[ ] something like this, is the wretched life of a vicious population. as we look in upon the fermenting mass, the only signs of life that meet our view indicate that the life is feverish, spasmodic, and suffocating. the bubbles rising to the dark and turbid surface reveal that it is a life in death. but this, too, is the result of sin. take the atoms one by one that constitute this mass of pollution and misery, and you will find that each one of them is a self-moving and an unforced will. not one of these millions of individuals has been necessitated by almighty god, or by any of god's arrangements, to do wrong. each one of them is a moral agent, equally with you and me. each one of them is _self_-willed and _self_-determined in sin. he does not _like_ to retain religious truth in his mind, or to obey it in his heart. go into the lowest haunt of vice and select out the most imbruted person there; bring to his remembrance that class of truths with which he is already acquainted by virtue of his rational nature, and add to them that other class of truths taught in revelation, and you will find that he is predetermined against them. he takes sides, with all the depth and intensity of his being, with that sinfulness which is common to man, and which it is the aim of both ethics and the gospel to remove. this vicious and imbruted man _loves_ the sin which is forbidden, more than he loves the holiness that is commanded. he _inclines_ to the sin which so easily besets him, precisely as you and i incline to the bosom-sin which so easily besets us. we grant that the temptations that assail him are very powerful; but are not some of the temptations that beset you and me very powerful? we grant that this wretched slave of vice and pollution cannot break off his sins by righteousness, without the renewing and assisting grace of god; but neither can you or i. it is the action of _his own_ will that has made him a slave. he loves his chains and his bondage, even as you and i naturally love ours; and this proves that his moral corruption, though assuming an outwardly more repulsive form than ours, is yet the same thing in principle. it is the rooted aversion of the human heart, the utter disinclination of the human will, towards the purity and holiness of god; it is "the carnal mind which is enmity against god; for it is not subject to the law of god, neither indeed can be" (rom. viii. ). but there is no more convincing proof of the position, that the degraded creature of whom we are speaking is a self-deciding and unforced sinner, than the fact that he _resists_ efforts to reclaim him. ask these faithful and benevolent missionaries who go down into these dens of vice and pollution, to pour more light into the mind, and to induce these outcasts to leave their drunkenness and their debauchery,--ask them if they find that human nature is any different there from what it is elsewhere, so far as _yielding_ to the claims of god and law is concerned. do they tell you that they are uniformly successful in inducing these sinners to leave their sins? that they never find any self-will, any determined opposition to the holy law of purity, any preference of a life of licence with its woes here upon earth and hereafter in hell, to a life of self-denial with its joys eternal? on the contrary, they testify that the old maxim upon which so many millions of the human family have acted: "enjoy the present and jump the life to come," is the rule for this mass of population, of whom so very few can be persuaded to leave their cups and their orgies. like the people of israel, when expostulated with by the prophet jeremiah for their idolatry and pollution, the majority of the degraded population of whom we are speaking, when endeavors have been made to reclaim them, have said to the philanthropist and the missionary: "there is no hope: no; for i have loved strangers, and after them i will go" (jer. ii. ). there is not a single individual of them all who does not love the sin that is destroying him, more than he loves the holiness that would save him. notwithstanding all the horrible accompaniments of sin--the filth, the disease, the poverty, the sickness, the pain of both body and mind,--the wretched creature prefers to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, rather than come out and separate himself from the unclean thing, and begin that holy warfare and obedience to which his god and his saviour invite him. this, we repeat, proves that the sin is not forced upon this creature. for if he hated his sin, nay if he felt weary and heavy laden in the least degree because of it, he might leave it. there is a free grace, and a proffered assistance of the holy ghost, of which he might avail himself at any moment. had he the feeling of the weary and penitent prodigal, the same father's house is ever open for his return; and the same father seeing him on his return, though still a great way off, would run and fall upon his neck and kiss him. but the heart is hard, and the spirit is utterly _selfish_, and the will is perverse and determined, and therefore the natural knowledge of god and his law which this sinner possesses by his very constitution, and the added knowledge which his birth in a christian land and the efforts of benevolent christians have imparted to him, are not strong enough to overcome his inclination, and his preference, and induce him to break off his sins by righteousness. to him, also, as well as to every sin-loving man, these solemn words will be spoken in the day of final adjudication: "the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness, and unrighteousness, of men who hold down ([greek: katechein]) the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of god is manifest _within_ them; for god hath shewed it unto them. for the invisible things of him, even his eternal power and godhead, are clearly seen from the creation of the world, being understood by the things that are made; so that they are without excuse, because that when they knew god. they glorified him not as god." . in the third and last place, it follows from this doctrine of the apostle paul, as thus unfolded, that _that portion of the enlightened and cultivated population of christian lands who have not believed on the lord jesus christ, and repented of sin, are in the deepest state of condemnation and perdition._ "behold thou art called a jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of god, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law, and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness: an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes: which hast the form of knowledge, and of the truth, in the law: thou therefore that teachest another teachest thou not thyself? thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonored thou god?" if it be true that the pagan knows more of god and the moral law than he has ever put in practice; if it be true that the imbruted child of vice and pollution knows more of god and the moral law than he has ever put in practice; how much more fearfully true is it that the dweller in a christian home, the visitant of the house of god, the possessor of the written word, the listener to prayer and oftentimes the subject of it, possesses an amount of knowledge respecting his origin, his duty, and his destiny, that infinitely outruns his character and his conduct. if eternal punishment will come down upon those classes of mankind who know but comparatively little, because they have been unfaithful in that which is least, surely eternal punishment will come down upon that more favored class who know comparatively much, because they have been unfaithful in that which is much. "if these things are done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" the great charge that will rest against the creature when he stands before the final bar will be, that "when he knew god, he _glorified_ him not as god." and this will rest heaviest against those whose knowledge was the clearest. it is a great prerogative to be able to know the infinite and glorious creator; but it brings with it a most solemn responsibility. that blessed being, of right, challenges the homage and obedience of his creature. what he asks of the angel, that he asks of man; that he should glorify god in his body and spirit which are his, and should thereby enjoy god forever and forever. this is the condemnation, under which man, and especially enlightened and cultivated man, rests, that while he knows god he neither glorifies him nor enjoys him. our redeemer saw this with all the clearness of the divine mind; and to deliver the creature from the dreadful guilt, of his self-idolatry, of his disposition to worship and love the creature more than the creator, he became incarnate, suffered and died. it cannot be a small crime, that necessitated, such an apparatus of atonement and divine influences as that of christ and his redemption. estimate the guilt of coming short of the glory of god, which is the same as the guilt of idolatry and creature-worship, by the nature of the provision that has been made to cancel it. if you do not actually feel that this crime is great, then argue yourself towards a juster view, by the consideration that it cost the blood of christ to expiate it. if you do not actually feel that the guilt is great, then argue yourself towards a juster view, by the reflection that you have known god to be supremely great, supremely good, and supremely excellent, and yet you have never, in a single feeling of your heart, or a single thought of your mind, or a single purpose of your will, _honored_ him. it is honor, reverence, worship, and love that he requires. these you have never rendered; and there is an infinity of guilt in the fact. that guilt will be forgiven for christ's sake, if you ask for forgiveness. but if you do not ask, then it will stand recorded against you for eternal ages: "when he, a rational and immortal creature, knew god, he glorified him not as god." [footnote : the early fathers, in their defence of the christian doctrine of one god, against the objections of the pagan advocate of the popular mythologies, contend that the better pagan writers themselves agree with the new religion, in teaching that there is one supreme being. lactantius (institutiones i. ), after quoting the orphic poets, hesiod, virgil, and ovid, in proof that the heathen poets taught the unity of the supreme deity, proceeds to show that the better pagan philosophers, also, agree with them in this. "aristotle," he says, "although he disagrees with himself, and says many things that are self-contradictory, yet testifies that one supreme mind rules over the world. plato, who is regarded as the wisest philosopher of them all, plainly and openly defends the doctrine of a divine monarchy, and denominates the supreme being; not ether, nor reason, nor nature, but, as he is, _god_; and asserts that by him this perfect and admirable world was made. and cicero follows plato, frequently confessing the deity, and calls him the supreme being, in his treatise on the laws." tertullian (de test. an. c. ; adv. marc. i. ; ad. scap. c. ; apol. c. ), than whom no one of the christian fathers was more vehemently opposed to the philosophizing of the schools, earnestly contends that the doctrine of the unity of god is constitutional to the human mind. "god," he says, "proves himself to be god, and the one only god, by the very fact that he is known to _all_ nations; for the existence of any other deity than he would first have to be demonstrated. the god of the jews is the one whom the _souls_ of men call their god. we worship one god, the one whom ye all naturally know, at whose lightnings and thunders ye tremble, at whose benefits ye rejoice. will ye that we prove the divine existence by the witness of the soul itself, which, although confined by the prison of the body, although circumscribed by bad training, although enervated by lusts and passions, although made the servant of false gods, yet when it recovers itself as from a surfeit, as from a slumber, as from some infirmity, and is in its proper condition of soundness, calls god by _this_ name only, because it is the proper name of the true god. 'great god,' 'good god,' and 'god grant' [deus, not dii], are words in every mouth. the soul also witnesses that he is its judge, when it says, 'god sees,' 'i commend to god,' 'god shall recompense me.' o testimony of a soul naturally christian [i.e., monotheistic]! finally, in pronouncing these words, it looks not to the roman capitol, but to heaven; for it knows the dwelling-place of the true god: from him and from thence it descended." calvin (inst. i. ) seems to have had these statements in his eye, in the following remarks: "in almost all ages, religion has been generally corrupted. it is true, indeed, that the name of one supreme god has been universally known and celebrated. for those who used to worship a multitude of deities, whenever they spake according to the genuine sense of nature, used simply the name of god in the _singular_ number, as though they were contented with one god. and this was wisely remarked by justin martyr, who for this purpose wrote a book 'on the monarchy of god,' in which he demonstrates, from numerous testimonies, that the unity of god is a principle universally impressed on the hearts of men. tertullian (de idololatria) also proves the same point, from the common phraseology. but since all men, without exception, have become vain in their understandings, all their natural perception of the divine unity has only served to render them inexcusable." in consonance with these views, the presbyterian confession of faith (ch. i.) affirms that "the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of god, as to leave men inexcusable."] [footnote : the word [greek: apolountai], in rom. ii. , is opposed to the [greek: sotaeria] spoken of in rom. i. , and therefore signifies _eternal_ perdition, as that signifies _eternal_ salvation.-those theorists who reject revealed religion, and remand man back to the first principles of ethics and morality as the only religion that he needs, send him to a tribunal that damns him. "tell me," says st. paul, "ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? the law is not of faith, but the man that _doeth_ them shall live by them. circumcision verily profiteth if thou _keep_ the law; but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision." if man had been true to all the principles and precepts of natural religion, it would indeed be religion enough for him. but he has not been thus true. the entire list of vices and sins recited by st. paul, in the first chapter of romans, is as contrary to natural religion, as it is to revealed. and it is precisely because the pagan world has not obeyed the principles of natural religion, and is under a curse and a bondage therefor, that it is in perishing need of the truths of revealed religion. little do those know what they are saying, when they propose to find a salvation for the pagan in the mere light of natural reason and conscience. what pagan has ever realized the truths of natural conscience, in his inward character and his outward life? what pagan is there in all the generations that will not be found guilty before the bar of natural religion? what heathen will not need an atonement, for his failure to live up even to the light of nature? nay, what is the entire sacrificial cultus of heathenism, but a confession that the whole heathen world finds and feels itself to be guilty at the bar of natural reason and conscience? the accusing voice within them wakes their forebodings and fearful looking-for of divine judgment, and they endeavor to propitiate the offended power by their offerings and sacrifices.] [footnote : infidelity is constantly changing its ground. in the th century, the skeptic very generally took the position of lord herbert of cherbury, and maintained that the light of reason is very clear, and is adequate to all the religious needs of the soul. in the th century, he is now passing to the other extreme, and contending that man is kindred to the ape, and within the sphere of paganism does not possess sufficient moral intelligence to constitute him responsible. like luther's drunken beggar on horseback, the opponent of revelation sways from the position that man is a god, to the position that he is a chimpanzee.] [footnote : dante: inferno, vii. - .] sin in the heart the source of error in the head romans i. .--"as they did not like to retain god in their knowledge, god gave them over to a reprobate mind." in the opening of the most logical and systematic treatise in the new testament, the epistle to the romans, the apostle paul enters upon a line of argument to demonstrate the ill-desert of every human creature without exception. in order to this, he shows that no excuse can be urged upon the ground of moral ignorance. he explicitly teaches that the pagan knows that there is one supreme god (rom. i. ); that he is a spirit (rom. i. ); that he is holy and sin-hating (rom. i. ); that he is worthy to be worshipped (rom. i. , ); and that men ought to be thankful for his benefits (rom. i. ). he affirms that the heathen knows that an idol is a lie (rom. i. ); that licentiousness is a sin (rom. i. , ); that envy, malice, and deceit are wicked (rom. i. , ); and that those who practise such sins deserve eternal punishment (rom. i. ). in these teachings and assertions, the apostle has attributed no small amount and degree of moral knowledge to man as _man_,--to man outside of revelation, as well as under its shining light. the question very naturally arises: how comes it to pass that this knowledge which divine inspiration postulates, and affirms to be innate and constitutional to the human mind, should become so vitiated? the majority of mankind are idolaters and polytheists, and have been for thousands of years. can it be that the truth that there is only one god is native to the human spirit, and that the pagan "_knows_" this god? the majority of men are earthly and sensual, and have been for thousands of years. can it be that there is a moral law written upon their hearts forbidding such carnality, and enjoining purity and holiness? some theorizers argue that because the pagan man has not obeyed the law, therefore he does not know the law; and that because he has not revered and worshipped the one supreme deity, therefore he does not possess the idea of any such being. they look out upon the heathen populations and see them bowing down to stocks and stones, and witness their immersion in the abominations of heathenism, and conclude that these millions of human beings really know no better, and that therefore it is unjust to hold them responsible for their polytheism and their moral corruption. but why do they confine this species of reasoning to the pagan world? why do they not bring it into nominal christendom, and apply it there? why does not this theorist go into the midst of european civilization, into the heart of london or paris, and gauge the moral knowledge of the sensualist by the moral character of the sensualist? why does he not tell us that because this civilized man acts no better, therefore he knows no better? why does he not maintain that because this voluptuary breaks all the commandments in the decalogue, therefore he must be ignorant of all the commandments in the decalogue? that because he neither fears nor loves the one only god, therefore he does not know that there is any such being? it will never do to estimate man's moral knowledge by man's moral character. he knows more than he practises. and there is not so much difference in this particular between some men in nominal christendom, and some men in heathendom, as is sometimes imagined. the moral knowledge of those who lie in the lower strata of christian civilization, and those who lie in the higher strata of paganism, is probably not so very far apart. place the imbruted outcasts of our metropolitan population beside the indian hunter, with his belief in the great spirit, and his worship without images or pictorial representations;[ ] beside the stalwart mandingo of the high table-lands of central africa, with his active and enterprising spirit, carrying on manufactures and trade with all the keenness of any civilized worldling; beside the native merchants and lawyers of calcutta, who still cling to their ancestral boodhism, or else substitute french infidelity in its place; place the lowest of the highest beside the highest of the lowest, and tell us if the difference is so very marked. sin, like holiness, is a mighty leveler. the "dislike to retain god" in the consciousness, the aversion of the heart towards the purity of the moral law, vitiates the native perceptions alike in christendom and paganism. the theory that the pagan is possessed of such an amount and degree of moral knowledge as has been specified has awakened some apprehension in the minds of some christian theologians, and has led them, unintentionally to foster the opposite theory, which, if strictly adhered, to, would lift off all responsibility from the pagan world, would bring them in innocent at the bar of god, and would render the whole enterprise of christian missions a superfluity and an absurdity. their motive has been good. they have feared to attribute any degree of accurate knowledge of god and the moral law, to the pagan world, lest they should thereby conflict with the doctrine of total depravity. they have mistakenly supposed, that if they should concede to every man, by virtue of his moral constitution, some correct apprehensions of ethics and natural religion, it would follow that there is some native goodness in him. but light in the intellect is very different from life in the heart. it is one thing to know the law of god, and quite another thing to be conformed to it. even if we should concede to the degraded pagan, or the degraded dweller in the haunts of vice in christian lands, all the intellectual knowledge of god and the moral law that is possessed by the ruined archangel himself, we should not be adding a particle to his moral character or his moral excellence. there is nothing of a holy quality in the mere intellectual perception that there is one supreme deity, and that he has issued a pure and holy law for the guidance of all rational beings. the mere doctrine of the divine unity will save no man. "thou believest," says st. james, "that there is one god; thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble." satan himself is a monotheist, and knows very clearly all the commandments of god; but his heart and will are in demoniacal antagonism with them. and so it is, only in a lower degree, in the instance of the pagan, and of the natural man, in every age, and in every clime. he knows more than he practises. this intellectual perception therefore, this inborn constitutional apprehension, instead of lifting up man into a higher and more favorable position before the eternal bar, casts him down to perdition. if he knew nothing at all of his maker and his duty, he could not be held responsible, and could, not be summoned to judgment. as st. paul affirms: "where there is no law there is no transgression." but if, when he knew god in some degree, he glorified him not as god to that degree; and if, when the moral law was written upon the heart he went counter to its requirements, and heard the accusing voice of his own conscience; then his mouth must be stopped, and he must become guilty before his judge, like any and every other disobedient creature. it is this serious and damning fact in the history of man upon the globe, that st. paul brings to view, in the passage which we have selected as the foundation of this discourse. he accounts for all the idolatry and sensuality, all the darkness and vain imaginations of paganism, by referring to _the aversion of the natural heart_ towards the one only holy god. "men," he says,--these pagan men--"did not _like to retain_ god in their knowledge." the primary difficulty was in their affections, and not in their understandings. they knew too much for their own comfort in sin. the contrast between the divine purity that was mirrored in their conscience, and the sinfulness that was wrought into their heart and will, rendered this inborn constitutional idea of god a very painful one. it was a fire in the bones. if the psalmist, a renewed man, yet not entirely free from human corruption, could say: "i thought of god and was troubled," much more must the totally depraved man of paganism be filled with terror when, in the thoughts of his heart, in the hour when the accusing conscience was at work, he brought to mind the one great god of gods whom he did not glorify, and whom he had offended. it was no wonder, therefore, that he did not like to retain the idea of such a being in his consciousness, and that he adopted all possible expedients to get rid of it. the apostle informs us that the pagan actually called in his imagination to his aid, in order to extirpate, if possible, all his native and rational ideas and convictions upon religious subjects. he became vain in his imaginations, and his foolish heart as a consequence was darkened, and he changed the glory of the incorruptible god, the spiritual unity of the deity, into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things (rom. i. - ). he invented idolatry, and all those "gay religions full of pomp and gold," in order to blunt the edge of that sharp spiritual conception of god which was continually cutting and lacerating his wicked and sensual heart. hiding himself amidst the columns of his idolatrous temples, and under the smoke of his idolatrous incense, he thought like adam to escape from the view and inspection of that infinite one who, from the creation of the world downward, makes known to all men his eternal power and godhead; who, as st. paul taught the philosophers of athens, is not far from anyone of his rational creatures (acts xvii. ); and who, as the same apostle taught the pagan lycaonians, though in times past he suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, yet left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave them rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling their hearts with food and gladness. (acts xiv. , ). the first step in the process of mutilating the original idea of god, as a unity and an unseen spirit, is seen in those pantheistic religions which lie behind all the mythologies of the ancient world, like a nebulous vapor out of which the more distinct idols and images of paganism are struggling. here the notion of the divine unity is still preserved; but the divine personality and holiness are lost. god becomes a vague impersonal power, with no moral qualities, and no religious attributes; and it is difficult to say which is worst in its moral influence, this pantheism which while retaining the doctrine of the divine unity yet denudes the deity of all that renders him an object of either love or reverence, or the grosser idolatries that succeeded it. for man cannot love, with all his mind and heart and soul and strength, a vast impersonal force working blindly through infinite space and everlasting time. and the second and last stage in this process of vitiating the true idea of god appears in that polytheism in the midst of which st. paul lived, and labored, and preached, and died; in that seductive and beautiful paganism, that classical idolatry, which still addresses the human taste in such a fascinating manner, in the venus de medici, and the apollo belvidere. the idea of the unity of god is now mangled and cut up into the "gods many" and the "lords many," into the thirty thousand divinities of the pagan pantheon. this completes the process. god now gives his guilty creature over to these vain imaginations of naturalism, materialism, and idolatry, and to an increasingly darkening mind, until in the lowest forms of heathenism he so distorts and suppresses the concreated idea of the deity that some speculatists assert that it does not belong to his constitution, and that his maker never endowed him with it. how is the gold become dim! how is the most fine gold changed! but it will be objected that all this lies in the past. this is the account of a process that has required centuries, yea millenniums, to bring about. a hundred generations have been engaged in transmuting the monotheism with which the human race started, into the pantheism and polytheism in which the great majority of it is now involved. how do you establish the guilt of those at the end of the line? how can you charge upon the present generation of pagans the same culpability that paul imputed to their ancestors eighteen centuries ago, and that noah the preacher of righteousness denounced, upon the antediluvian pagan? as the deteriorating process advances, does not the guilt diminish? and now, in these ends of the ages, and in these dark habitations of cruelty, has not the culpability run down to a minimum, which god in the day of judgment will "wink at?" we answer no: because the structure of the human mind is precisely the same that it was when the sodomites held down the truth in unrighteousness, and the roman populace turned up their thumbs that they might see the last drops of blood ebb slowly from the red gash in the dying gladiator's side. man, in his deepest degradation, in his most hardened depravity, is still a rational intelligence; and though he should continue to sin on indefinitely, through cycles of time as long as those of geology, he cannot unmake himself; he cannot unmould his immortal essence, and absolutely eradicate all his moral ideas. paganism itself has its fluctuations of moral knowledge. the early roman, in the days of numa, was highly ethical in his views of the deity, and his conceptions of moral law. varro informs us that for a period of one hundred and seventy years the romans worshipped their gods without any images;[ ] and sallust denominates these pristine romans "religiosissimi mortales." and how often does the missionary discover a tribe or a race, whose moral intelligence is higher than that of the average of paganism. nay, the same race, or tribe, passes from one phase of polytheism to another; in one instance exhibiting many of the elements and truths of natural religion, and in another almost entirely suppressing them. these facts prove that the pagan man is under supervision; that he is under the righteous despotism of moral ideas and convictions; that god is not far from him; that he lives and moves and has his being in his maker; and that god does not leave himself without witness in his constitutional structure. therefore it is, that this sea of rational intelligence thus surges and sways in the masses of paganism; sometimes dashing the creature up the heights, and sometimes sending him down into the depths. but while this subject has this general application to mankind outside of revelation; while it throws so much light upon the question of the heathens' responsibility and guilt; while it tends to deepen our interest in the work of christian missions, and to stimulate us to obey our redeemer's command to go and preach the gospel to them, in order to save them from the wrath of god which abideth upon them as it does upon ourselves; while this subject has these profound and far-reaching applications, it also presses with sharpness and energy upon the case, and the position, of millions of men in christendom. and to this more particular aspect of the theme, we ask attention for a moment. this same process of corruption, and vitiation of a correct knowledge of god, which we have seen to go on upon a large scale in the instance of the heathen world, also often goes on in the instance of a single individual under the light of revelation itself. have you never known a person to have been well educated in childhood and youth respecting the character and government of god, and yet in middle life and old age to have altered and corrupted all his early and accurate apprehensions, by the gradual adoption of contrary views and sentiments? in his childhood, and youth, he believed that god distinguishes between the righteous and the wicked, that he rewards the one and punishes the other, and hence he cherished a salutary fear of his maker that agreed well with the dictates of his unsophisticated reason, and the teachings of nature and revelation. but when, he became a man, he put away these childish things, in a far different sense from that of the apostle. as the years rolled, along, he succeeded, by a career of worldliness and of sensuality, in expelling this stock of religious knowledge, this right way of conceiving of god, from his mind, and now at the close of life and upon the very brink of eternity and of doom, this very same person is as unbelieving respecting the moral attributes of jehovah, and as unfearing with regard to them, as if the entire experience and creed of his childhood and youth were a delusion and a lie. this rational and immortal creature in the morning of his existence looked up into the clear sky with reverence, being impressed by the eternal power and godhead that are there, and when he had committed a sin he felt remorseful and guilty; but the very same person now sins recklessly and with flinty hardness of heart, casts sullen or scowling glances upward, and says: "there is no god." compare the edward gibbon whose childhood expanded under the teachings of a beloved christian matron trained in the school of the devout william law, and whose youth exhibited unwonted religions sensibility,--compare this edward gibbon with the edward gibbon whose manhood was saturated with utter unbelief, and whose departure into the dread hereafter was, in his own phrase, "a leap in the dark." compare the aaron burr whose blood was deduced from one of the most saintly lineages in the history of the american church, and all of whose early life was embosomed in ancestral piety,--compare this aaron burr with the aaron burr whose middle life and prolonged old age was unimpressible as marble to all religious ideas and influences. in both of these instances, it was the aversion of the heart that for a season (not for _eternity_, be it remembered) quenched out the light in the head. these men, like the pagan of whom st. paul speaks, did not like to retain a holy god in their knowledge, and he gave them over to a reprobate mind. these fluctuations and changes in doctrinal belief, both in the general and the individual mind, furnish materials for deep reflection by both the philosopher and the christian; and such an one will often be led to notice the exact parallel and similarity there is between religious deterioration in races, and religious deterioration in individuals. the _dislike to retain_ a knowledge already furnished, because it is painful, because it rebukes worldliness and sin, is that which ruins both mankind in general, and the man in particular. were the heart only conformed to the truth, the truth never would be corrupted, never would be even temporarily darkened in the human soul. should the pagan, himself, actually obey the dictates of his own reason and conscience, he would find the light that was in him growing still clearer and brighter. god himself, the author of his rational mind, and the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, would reward him for his obedience by granting him yet more knowledge. we cannot say in what particular mode the divine providence would bring it about, but it is as certain as that god lives, that if the pagan world should act up to the degree of light which they enjoy, they would be conducted ultimately to the truth as it is in jesus, and would be saved by the redeemer of the world. the instance of the roman centurion cornelius is a case in point. this was a thoughtful and serious pagan. it is indeed very probable that his military residence in palestine had cleared up, to some degree, his natural intuitions of moral truth; but we know that he was ignorant of the way of salvation through christ, from the fact that the apostle peter was instructed in a vision to go and preach it unto him. the sincere endeavor of this gentile, this then pagan in reference to christianity, to improve the little knowledge which he had, met with the divine approbation, and was crowned with a saving acquaintance with the redemption that is in christ jesus. peter himself testified to this, when, after hearing from the lips of cornelius the account of his previous life, and of the way in which god had led him, "he opened his mouth and said, of a truth i perceive that god is no respecter of persons: but in every nation, he that feareth him and worketh righteousness is accepted with him" (acts x. , ).[ ] but such instances as this of cornelius are not one in millions upon millions. the light shines in the darkness that comprehends it not. almost without an exception, so far as the human eye can see, the unevangelized world holds the truth in unrighteousness, and does not like to retain the idea of a holy god, and a holy law, in its knowledge. therefore the knowledge continually diminishes; the light of natural reason and conscience grows dimmer and dimmer; and the soul sinks down in the mire of sin and sensuality, apparently devoid of all the higher ideas of god, and law, and immortal life. we have thus considered the truth which st. paul teaches in the text, that the ultimate source of all human error is in the character of the human heart. mankind do not _like to retain_ god in their knowledge, and therefore they come to possess a reprobate mind. the origin of idolatry, and of infidelity, is not in the original constitution with which the creator endowed the creature, but in that evil heart of unbelief by which he departed from the living god. sinful man shapes his creed in accordance with his wishes, and not in accordance with the unbiased decisions of his reason and conscience. he does not _like_ to think of a holy god, and therefore he denies that god is holy. he does not _like_ to think of the eternal punishment of sin, and therefore he denies that punishment is eternal. he does not _like_ to be pardoned through the substituted sufferings of the son of god, and therefore he denies the doctrine of atonement. he does not _like_ the truth that man is so totally alienated from god that he needs to be renewed in the spirit of his mind by the holy ghost, and therefore he denies the doctrines of depravity and regeneration. run through the creed which the church has lived by and died by, and you will discover that the only obstacle to its reception is the aversion of the human heart. it is a rational creed in all its parts and combinations. it has outlived the collisions and conflicts of a hundred schools of infidelity that have had their brief day, and died with their devotees. a hundred systems of philosophy falsely so called have come and gone, but the one old religion of the patriarchs, and the prophets, and the apostles, holds on its way through the centuries, conquering and to conquer. can it be that sheer imposture and error have such a tenacious vitality as this? if reason is upon the side of infidelity, why does not infidelity remain one and the same unchanging thing, like christianity, from age to age, and subdue all men unto it? if christianity is a delusion and a lie, why does it not die out, and disappear? the difficulty is not upon the side of the human reason, but of the human heart. skeptical men do not _like_ the religion of the new testament, these doctrines of sin and grace, and therefore they shape their creed by their sympathies and antipathies; by what they wish to have true; by their heart rather than by their head. as the founder of christianity said to the jews, so he says to every man who rejects his doctrine of grace and redemption: "ye _will_ not come unto me that ye might have life." it is an inclination of the will, and not a conviction of the reason, that prevents the reception of the christian religion. among the many reflections that are suggested by this subject and its discussion, our limits permit only the following: . it betokens deep wickedness, in any man, to change the truth of god into a lie,--_to substitute a false theory in religion for the true one_. "woe unto them," says the prophet, "that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter." there is no form of moral evil that is more hateful in the sight of infinite truth, than that intellectual depravity which does not like to retain a holy god in its knowledge, and therefore mutilates the very idea of the deity, and attempts to make him other than he is. there is no sinner that will be visited with a heavier vengeance than that cool and calculating man, who, because he dislikes the unyielding purity of the moral law, and the awful sanctions by which it is accompanied, deliberately alters it to suit his wishes and his self-indulgence. if a person is tempted and falls into sin, and yet does not change his religious creed in order to escape the reproaches of conscience and the fear of retribution, there is hope that the orthodoxy of his head may result, by god's blessing upon his own truth, in sorrow for the sin and a forsaking thereof. a man, for instance, who amidst all his temptations and transgressions still retains the truth taught him from the scriptures, at his mother's knees, that a finally impenitent sinner will go down to eternal torment, feels a powerful check upon his passions, and is often kept from outward and actual transgressions by his creed. but if he deliberately, and by an act of will, says in his heart: "there is no hell;" if he substitutes for the theory that renders the commission of sin dangerous and fearful, a theory that relieves it from all danger and all fear, there is no hope that he will ever cease from sinning. on the contrary, having brought his head into harmony with his heart; having adjusted his theory to his practice; having shaped his creed by his passions; having changed the truth of god into a lie; he then plunges into sin with an abandonment and a momentum that is awful. in the phrase of the prophet, he "draws iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart-rope." it is here that we see the deep guilt of those, who, by false theories of god and man and law and penalty, tempt the young or the old to their eternal destruction. it is sad and fearful, when the weak physical nature is plied with all the enticements of earth and sense; but it is yet sadder and more fearful, when the intellectual nature is sought to be perverted and ensnared by specious theories that annihilate the distinction between virtue and vice, that take away all holy fear of god, and reverence for his law, that represent the everlasting future either as an everlasting elysium for all, or else as an eternal sleep. the demoralization, in this instance, is central and radical. it is in the brain, in the very understanding itself. if the foundations themselves of morals and religion are destroyed, what can be done for the salvation of the creature? a heavy woe is denounced against any and every one who tempts a fellow-being. temptation implies malice. it is satanic. it betokens a desire to ruin an immortal spirit. when therefore the siren would allure a human creature from the path of virtue, the inspiration of god utters a deep and bitter curse against her. but when the cold-blooded mephistopheles endeavors to sophisticate the reason, to debauch the judgment, to sear the conscience; when the temptation is addressed to the intellect, and the desire of the tempter is to overthrow the entire religious creed of a human being,--perhaps a youth just entering upon that hazardous enterprise of life in which he needs every jot and tittle of eternal truth to guide and protect him,--when the enticement assumes this purely mental form and aspect, it betokens the most malignant and heaven-daring guilt in the tempter. and we may be certain that the retribution that will be meted out to it, by him who is true and the truth; who abhors all falsehood and all lies with an infinite intensity; will be terrible beyond conception. "woe unto you ye _blind guides_! ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell! if any man shall add unto these things, god shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book. and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, god shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things that are written in this book." . in the second place, we perceive, in the light of this subject, _the great danger of not reducing religious truth to practice_. there are two fatal hazards in not obeying the doctrines of the bible while yet there is an intellectual assent to them. the first is, that these doctrines shall themselves become diluted and corrupted. so long as the affectionate submission of the heart is not yielded to their authority; so long as there is any dislike towards their holy claims; there is great danger that, as in the instance of the pagan, they will not be retained in the knowledge. the sinful man becomes weary of a form of doctrine that continually rebukes him, and gradually changes it into one that is less truthful and restraining. but a second and equally alarming danger is, that the heart shall become accustomed to the truth, and grow hard and indifferent towards it. there are a multitude of persons who hear the word of god and never dream of disputing it, who yet, alas, never dream of obeying it. to such the living truth of the gospel becomes a petrifaction, and a savor of death unto death. we urge you, therefore, ye who know the doctrines of the law and the doctrines of the gospel, to give an affectionate and hearty assent to them _both_. when the divine word asserts that you are guilty, and that you cannot stand in the judgment before god, make answer: "it is so, it is so." practically and deeply acknowledge the doctrine of human guilt and corruption. let it no longer be a theory in the head, but a humbling salutary consciousness in the heart. and when the divine word affirms that god so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten son to redeem it, make a quick and joyful response: "it is so, it is so." instead of changing the truth of god into a lie, as the guilty world have been doing for six thousand years, change it into a blessed consciousness of the soul. believe_ what you know; and then what you know will be the wisdom of god to your salvation. [footnote : "there are no profane words in the (iowa) indian language: no light or profane way of speaking of the 'great spirit.'"--foreign missionary: may, , p. .] [footnote : plutarch: numa, ; augustine: de civitate, iv. .] [footnote : it should be noticed that cornelius was not prepared for another life, by the moral virtue which he had practised before meeting with peter, but by his penitence for sin and faith in jesus christ, whom peter preached to him as the saviour from sin (acts x. ). good works can no more prepare a pagan for eternity than they can a nominal christian. epictetus and marcus aurelius could no more be justified by their personal character, than saul of tarsus could be. first, because the virtue is imperfect, at the best: and, secondly, it does not begin at the beginning of existence upon earth, and continue unintermittently to the end of it. a sense of _sin_ is a far more hopeful indication, in the instance of a heathen, than a sense of virtue. the utter absence of humility and sorrow in the "meditations" of the philosophic emperor, and the omnipresence in them of pride and self-satisfaction, place him out of all relations to the divine _mercy_. in trying to judge of the final condition of a pagan outside of revelation, we must ask the question: was he penitent? rather than the question: was he virtuous?] the necessity of divine influences. luke xi. .--"if ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him?" the reality, and necessity, of the operation of the holy spirit upon the human heart, is a doctrine very frequently taught in the scriptures. our lord, in the passage from which the text is taken, speaks of the third person in the trinity in such a manner as to convey the impression that his agency is as indispensable, in order to spiritual life, as food is in order to physical; that sinful man as much needs the influences of the holy ghost as he does his daily bread. "if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone?" if this is not at all supposable, in the case of an affectionate earthly parent, much less is it supposable that god the heavenly father will refuse renewing and sanctifying influences to them that ask for them. by employing such a significant comparison as this, our lord implies that there is as pressing need of the gift in the one instance as in the other. for, he does not compare spiritual influences with the mere luxuries of life,--with wealth, fame, or power,--but with the very staff of life itself. he selects the very bread by which the human body lives, to illustrate the helpless sinner's need of the holy ghost. when god, by his prophet, would teach his people that he would at some future time bestow a rich and remarkable blessing upon them, he says: "i will pour out my spirit upon all flesh." when our saviour was about to leave his disciples, and was sending them forth as the ministers of his religion, he promised them a direct and supernatural agency that should "reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." and the history of christianity evinces both the necessity and reality of divine influences. god the spirit has actually been present by a special and peculiar agency, in this sinful and hardened world, and hence the heart of flesh and the spread of vital religion. god the spirit has actually been absent, so far as concerns his special and peculiar agency, and hence the continuance of the heart of stone, and the decline, and sometimes the extinction of vital religion. where the holy spirit has been, specially and peculiarly, there the true church of christ has been, and where the holy spirit has not been, specially and peculiarly, there, the church of christ has not been; however carefully, or imposingly, the externals of a church organization may have been maintained. but there is no stronger, or more effective proof of the need of the presence and agency of the holy spirit, than that which is derived from the _nature of the case_, as it appears in the individual. just in proportion as we come to know our own moral condition, and our own moral necessities, shall we see and feel that the origin and growth of holiness within our earthly and alienated souls, without the agency of god the holy spirit, is an utter impossibility. let us then look into the argument from the nature of the case, and consider this doctrine of a direct divine operation, in its relations to ourselves personally. why, then, does every man need these influences of the holy spirit which are so cordially offered in the text? . he needs them, in the first place, in order that _he may be convinced of the reality of the eternal world._ there is such a world. it has as actual an existence as europe or asia. though not an object for any one of the five senses, the invisible world is as substantial as the great globe itself, and will be standing when the elements shall have been melted with fervent heat, and the heavens are no more. this eternal world, furthermore, is not only real, but it is filled with realities that are yet more solemn. god inhabits it. the judgment-seat of christ is set up in it. heaven is in it. hell is in it. myriads of myriads of holy and happy spirits are there. myriads of sinful and wretched spirits are there. nay, this unseen world is the _only_ real world, and the objects in it the _only_ real objects, if we remember that only that which is immutable deserves the name of real. if we employ the eternal as the measure of real being, then all that is outside of eternity is unreal and a vanity. this material world acquires impressiveness for man, by virtue of the objects that fill it. his farm is in it, his houses are upon it, solid mountains rise up from it, great rivers run through it, and the old rolling heavens are bent over it. but what is the transient reality of these objects, these morning vapors, compared with the everlasting reality of such beings as god and the soul, of such facts as holiness and sin, of such states as heaven and hell? here, then, we have in the unseen and eternal world a most solemn and real object of knowledge; but where, among mankind, is the solemn and vivid knowledge itself? knowledge is the union of a fact with a feeling. there may be a stone in the street, but unless i smite it with my foot, or smite it with my eye, i have no knowledge of the stone. so, too, there is an invisible world, outstanding and awfully impressive; but unless i feel its influences, and stand with awe beneath its shadows, it is as though it were not. here is an orb that has risen up into the horizon, but all eyes are shut. for, no thoughtful observer fails to perceive that an earthly, and unspiritual mode of thought and feeling is the prevalent one among men. no one who has ever endeavored to arrest the attention of a fellow-man, and give his thoughts an upward tendency towards eternity, will say that the effort is easily and generally successful. on the contrary, if an ethereal and holy inhabitant of heaven were to go up and down our earth, and witness man's immersion in sense and time, the earthliness of his views and aims, his neglect of spiritual objects and interests, his absorption in this existence, and his forgetfulness of the other, it would be difficult to convince him that he was among beings made in the image of god, and was mingling with a race having an immortal destination beyond the grave. in this first feature of the case, then, as we find it in ourselves, and see it in all our fellow-men, we have the first evidence of the need of _awakening_ influences from on high. since man, naturally, is destitute of a solemn sense of eternal things, it is plain that there can be no moral change produced in him, unless he is first wakened from this drowze. he cannot become the subject of that new birth without which he cannot see the kingdom of god, unless his torpor respecting the unseen is removed. entirely satisfied as he now is with this mode of existence, and thinking little or nothing about another, the first necessity in his case is a startle, and an alarm. difficult as he now finds it to be, to bring the invisible world before his mind in a way to affect his feelings, he needs to have it loom upon his inward vision with such power and impressiveness that he cannot take his eye off, if he would. lethargic as he now is, respecting his own immortality, it is impossible for him to live and act with constant reference to it, unless he is wakened to its significance. is it not self-evident, that if the sinner's present indifference towards the invisible world, and his failure to feel its solemn reality, continues through life, he will certainly enter that state of existence with his present character? looking into the human spirit, and seeing how dead it is towards god and the future, must we not say, that if this deadness to eternity lasts until the death of the body, it will certainly be the death of the soul? but, in what way can man be made to realize that there is an eternal world, to which he is rapidly tending, and realities there, with which, by the very constitution of his spirit, he is forever and indissolubly connected either for bliss or woe? how shall thoughtless and earthly man, as he treads these streets, and transacts all this business, and enjoys life, be made to feel with misgiving, foreboding, and alarm, that there is an eternity, and that he must soon enter it, as other men do, either as a heaven or a hell for his soul? the answer to this question, so often asked in sadness and sorrow by the preacher of the word, drives us back to the throne of god and to a mightier agency than that of man. for one thing is certain, that this apathy and deadness will never of itself generate sensibility and life. satan never casts out satan. if this slumberer be left to himself, he is lost. should any man be given over to the natural inclination of his heart, he would never be awakened. should his earthly mind receive no check, and his corrupt heart take its own way, he would never realize that there is another world than this, until he entered it. for, the worldly mind and the corrupt heart busy themselves solely and happily with this existence. they find pleasure in the things of this life, and therefore never look beyond them. worldly men do not interfere with their own present actual enjoyment. who of this class voluntarily makes himself unhappy, by thinking of subjects that are gloomy to his mind? what man of the world starts up from his sweet sleep and his pleasant dreams, and of his own accord looks the stern realities of death and the judgment in the eye? no natural man begins to wound himself, that he may be healed. no earthly man begins to slay himself, that he may be made alive. even when the natural heart is roused and wakened by some foreign agency; some startling providence of god or some divine operation in the conscience, how soon, if left to its own motion and tendency, does it relapse into its old slumber and sleep. the needle has received a shock, but after a slight trembling and vibration it soon settles again upon its axis, ever and steady to the north. it is plain, that the sinner's worldly mind and apathetic nature will never conduct him to a proper sense of divine things. the awakening, then, of the human soul, to an effectual apprehension of eternal realities, must take its first issue from some other being than the drowzy and slumbering creature himself. we are not speaking of a few serious thoughts that now and then fleet across the human mind, like meteors at midnight, and are seen no more. we are speaking of that permanent, that everlasting dawning of eternity, with its terrors and its splendors, upon the human soul, which allows it no more repose, until it is prepared for eternity upon good grounds and foundations; and with reference to such a profound consciousness of the future state as this, we say with confidence, that the awakening must proceed from some being who is far more alive to the solemnity and significance of eternal duration than earthly man is. without impulses from on high, the sinner never rouses up to attend to the subject of religion. he lives on indifferent to his religious interests, until _god_, who is more merciful to his deathless soul than he himself is, by his providence startles him, or by his spirit in his conscience alarms him. never, until god interferes to disturb his dreams, and break up his slumber, does he profoundly and permanently feel that he was made for another world, and is fast going into it. how often does god say to the careless man: "arise, o sleeper, and christ shall give thee light;" and how often does he disregard the warning voice! how often does god stimulate his conscience, and flare light into his mind; and how often does he stifle down these inward convictions, and suffer the light to shine in the darkness that comprehends it not! these facts in the personal history of every sin-loving man show, that the human soul does not of its own isolated action wake up to the realities of eternity. they also show that god is very merciful to the human soul, in positively and powerfully interfering for its welfare; but that man, in infinite folly and wickedness, loves the sleep, and inclines to remain in it. the holy spirit strives, but the human spirit resists. ii. in the second place, man needs the influences of the holy spirit _that he may be convinced of sin_. man universally is a sinner, and yet he needs in every single instance to be made aware of it. "there is none good, no, not one;" and yet out of the millions of the race how very few _feel_ this truth! not only does man sin, but he adds to his guilt by remaining ignorant of it. the criminal in this instance also, as in our courts of law, feels and confesses his crime no faster than it is proved to him. through what blindness of mind, and hardness of heart, and insensibility of conscience, is the holy spirit obliged to force his way, before there is a sincere acknowledgment of sin before god! the careful investigations, the persevering questionings and cross-questionings, by which, before a human tribunal, the wilful and unrepenting criminal is forced to see and acknowledge his wickedness, are but faint emblems of that thorough work that must be wrought by the holy ghost, before the human soul, at a higher tribunal, forsaking its refuges of lies, and desisting from its subterfuges and palliations, smites upon the breast, and cries, "god be merciful to me a sinner!" think how much of our sin has occurred in total apathy, and indifference, and how unwilling we are to have any distinct consciousness upon this subject. it is only now and then that we feel ourselves to be sinners; but it is by no means only now and then that we are sinners. we sin habitually; we are conscious of sin rarely. our affections and inclinations and motives are evil, and only evil, continually; but our experimental _knowledge_ that they are so comes not often into our mind, and what is worse stays not long, because we dislike it. the conviction of sin, with what it includes and leads to, is of more worth to man than all other convictions. conviction of any sort,--a living practical consciousness of any kind,--is of great value, because it is only this species of knowledge that moves mankind. convince a man, that is, give him a consciousness, of the truth of a principle in politics, in trade, or in religion, and you actuate him politically, commercially, or religiously. convince a criminal of his crime, that is, endue him with a conscious feeling of his criminality, and you make him burn with electric fire. a convicted man is a man thoroughly conscious; and a thoroughly conscious man is a deeply moved one. and this is true, with emphasis, of the conviction of sin. this consciousness produces a deeper and more lasting effect than all others. convince a community of the justice or injustice of a certain class of political principles, and you stir it very deeply, and broadly, as the history of all democracies clearly shows; but let society be once convinced of sin before the holy and righteous god, and deep calleth unto deep, all the waters are moved. never is a mass of human beings so centrally stirred, as when the spirit of god is poured out upon it, and from no movement in human society do such lasting and blessed consequences flow, as from a genuine revival of religion. but here again, as in reference to the eternal state, there is no realizing sense. conviction of sin is not a characteristic of mankind at large. men generally will acknowledge in words that they are sinners, but they wait for some far-distant day to come, when they shall be pricked in the heart, and feel the truth of what they say. men generally are not conscious of the dreadful reality of sin, any more than they are of the solemn reality of eternity. a deep insensibility, in this respect also, precludes a practical knowledge of that guilt in the soul, which, if unpardoned and unremoved, will just as surely ruin it as god lives and the soul is immortal. since, then, if man be left to his own inclination, he never will be convinced of sin, it is plain that some agent who has the power must overcome his aversion to self-knowledge, and bring him to consciousness upon this unwelcome subject. if any one of us, for the remainder of our days, should be given over to that ordinary indifference towards sin with which we walk these streets, and transact business, and enjoy life; if god's truth should never again in this world stab the conscience, and god's spirit should never again make us anxious; is it not infallibly certain that the future would be as the past, and that we should go through this "accepted time and day of salvation" unconvicted and therefore unconverted? but besides this destitution of the experimental sense of sin, another ground of the need of divine agency is found in the _blindness_ of the natural mind. man's vision of spiritual things, even when they are set before his eyes, is dim and inadequate. the christian ministry is greatly hindered, because it cannot illuminate the human understanding, and impart the power of a keen spiritual insight. it is compelled to present the objects of sight, but it cannot give the eye to see them. vision depends altogether upon the condition of the organ. the eye sees only what it brings the means of seeing. the scaled eye of a worldling, or a debauchee, or a self-righteous man, cannot see that sin of the heart, that "spiritual wickedness," at which men like paul and isaiah stood aghast. these were men whose character compared with that of the worldling was saintly; men whose shoes' latchets the worldling is not worthy to stoop down and unloose. and yet they saw a depravity within their own hearts which he does not see in his; a depravity which he cannot see, and which he steadily denies to exist, until he is enlightened by the holy ghost. but the preacher has no power to impart this clear spiritual discernment. he cannot arm the eye of the natural man with that magnifying and microscopic power, by which hatred shall be seen to be murder, and lust, adultery, and the least swelling of pride, the sin of lucifer. he is compelled, by the testimony of the bible, of the wise and the holy of all time, and of his own consciousness, to tell every unregenerate man that he is no better than his race; that he certainly is no better than the christian church which continually confesses and mourns over indwelling sin. the faithful preacher of the word is obliged to insist that there is no radical difference among men, and that the depravity of the man of irreproachable morals but unrenewed heart is as total as was that of the great preacher to the gentiles,--a man of perfectly irreproachable morals, but who confessed that he was the chief of sinners, and feared lest he should be a cast-away. but the preacher of this unwelcome message has no power to open the blind eye. he cannot endow the self-ignorant and incredulous man before him, with that consciousness of the "plague of the heart" which says "yea" to the most vivid description of human sinfulness, and "amen" to god's heaviest malediction upon it. the preacher's position would be far easier, if there might be a transfer of experience; if some of that bitter painful sense of sin with which the struggling christian is burdened might flow over into the easy, unvexed, and thoughtless souls of the men of this world. would that the consciousness upon this subject of sin, of a paul or a luther, might deluge that large multitude of men who doubt or deny the doctrine of human depravity. the materials for that consciousness, the items that go to make up that experience, exist as really and as plentifully in your moral state and character, as they do in that of the mourning and self-reproaching christian who sits by your side,--your devout father, your saintly mother, or sister,--whom you know, and who you know is a better being than you are. why should they be weary and heavy-laden with a sense of their unworthiness before god, and you go through life indifferent and light-hearted? are they deluded in respect to the doctrine of human depravity, and are you in the right? think you that the deathbed and the day of judgment will prove this to be the fact? no! if you shall ever know anything of the christian struggle with innate corruption; if you shall ever, in the expressive phrase of scripture, have your senses exercised as in a gymnasium [ ] to discern good and evil, and see yourself with self-abhorrence; your views will harmonize most profoundly and exactly with theirs. and, furthermore, you will not in the process create any _new_ sinfulness. you will merely see the _existing_ depravity of the human heart. you will simply see what _is_,--is now, in your heart, and in all human hearts, and has been from the beginning. but all this is the work of a more powerful and spiritual agency than that of man. the truth may be exhibited with perfect transparency and plainness, the hearer himself may do his utmost to have it penetrate and tell; and yet, there be no vivid and vital consciousness of sin. how often does the serious and alarmed man say to us: "i know it, but i do not _feel_ it." how long and wearily, sometimes, does the anxious man struggle after an inward sense of these spiritual things, without success, until he learns that an inward sense, an experimental consciousness, respecting religious truth, is as purely a gift and product of god the spirit as the breath of life in his nostrils. considering, then, the natural apathy of man respecting the sin that is in his own heart, and the exceeding blindness of his mental vision, even when his attention has been directed to it, is it not perfectly plain that there must be the exertion of a divine agency, in order that he may pass through even the first and lowest stages of the religious experience? in view of the subject, as thus far unfolded, we remark: . first, that it is the duty of every one, _to take the facts in respect to man's character as he finds them_. nothing is gained, in any province of human thought or action, by disputing actual verities. they are stubborn things, and will not yield to the wishes and prejudices of the natural heart. this is especially true in regard to the facts in man's moral and religious condition. the testimony of revelation is explicit, that "the carnal mind is enmity against god, for it is not subject to the law of god, neither indeed can be;" and also, that "the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." according to this biblical statement, there is corruption and blindness together. the human heart is at once sinful, and ignorant that it is so. it is, therefore, the very worst form of evil; a fatal disease unknown to the patient, and accompanied with the belief that there is perfect health; sin and guilt without any just and proper sense of it. this is the testimony, and the assertion, of that being who needs not that any should testify to him of man, for he knows what is in man. and this is the testimony, also, of every mind that has attained a profound self-knowledge. for it is indisputable, that in proportion as a man is introspective, and accustoms himself to the scrutiny of his motives and feelings, he discovers that "the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint." it is, therefore, the duty and wisdom of every one to set to his seal that god is true,--to have this as his motto. though, as yet, he is destitute of a clear conviction of sin, and a godly sorrow for it, still he should _presume_ the fact of human depravity. good men in every age have found it to be a fact, and the infallible word of god declares that it is a fact. what, then, is gained, by proposing another than the biblical theory of human nature? is the evil removed by denying its existence? will the mere calling men good at heart, and by nature, make them such? "who can hold a fire in his hand, by thinking on the frosty caucasus? or cloy the hungry edge of appetite, by bare imagination of a feast? or wallow naked in december snow, by thinking on fantastic summer heat?"[ ] . in the second place, we remark that it is the duty of every one, _not to be discouraged by these facts and truths relative to the moral condition of man._ for, one fact conducts to the next one. one truth prepares for a second. if it is a solemn and sad fact that men are sinners, and blind and dead in their trespasses and sin, it is also a cheering fact that the holy spirit can enlighten the darkest understanding, and enliven the most torpid and indifferent soul; and it is a still further, and most encouraging truth and fact, that the holy spirit is given to those who ask for it, with more readiness than a father gives bread to his hungry child. here, then, we have the fact of sin, and of blindness and apathy in sin; the fact of a mighty power in god to convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and the blessed fact that this power is accessible to prayer. let us put these three facts together, all of them, and act accordingly. then we shall be taught by the spirit, and shall come to a salutary consciousness of sin; and then shall be verified in our own experience the words of god: "i dwell in the high and holy place, and with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." [footnote : [greek: ta aisthaeria gegurasmena.] heb. v. .] [footnote : shakspeare: richard ii. act i. sc. .] the necessity of divine influences. [*continued] luke xi. .--"if ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children; how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him." in expounding the doctrine of these words, in the preceding discourse, the argument for the necessity of divine influences had reference to the more general aspects of man's character and condition. we were concerned with the origin of seriousness in view of a future life, and the production of a sense of moral corruption and unfitness to enter eternity. we have now to consider the work of the spirit, in its relations, first, to that more distinct sense of sin which is denominated the consciousness of _guilt_, and secondly, to that saving act of _faith_ by which the atonement of christ is appropriated by the soul. i. sin is not man's misfortune, but his fault; and any view that falls short of this fact is radically defective. sin not only brings a corruption and bondage, but also a condemnation and penalty, upon the self-will that originates it. sin not only renders man unfit for rewards, font also deserving of punishment. as one who has disobeyed law of his own determination, he is liable not merely to the negative loss of blessings, but also to the positive infliction of retribution. it is not enough that a transgressor be merely let alone; he must be taken in hand and punished. he is not simply a diseased man; he is a criminal. his sin, therefore, requires not a removal merely, but also an _expiation_. this relation and reference of transgression to law and justice is a fundamental one; and yet it is very liable to be overlooked, or at least to be inadequately apprehended. the sense of _ill-desert_ is too apt to be confused and shallow, in the human soul. man is comparatively ready to acknowledge the misery of sin, while he is slow to confess the guilt of it. when the word of god asserts he is poor, and blind, and wretched, he is comparatively forward to assent; but when, in addition, it asserts that he deserves to be punished everlastingly, he reluctates. mankind are willing to acknowledge their wretchedness, and be pitied; but they are not willing to acknowledge their guiltiness, and stand condemned before law. and yet, guilt is the very essence of sin. extinguish the criminality, and you extinguish the inmost core and heart of moral evil. we may have felt that sin is bondage, that it is inward dissension and disharmony, that it takes away the true dignity of our nature, but if we have not also felt that it is _iniquity_ and merits penalty, we have not become conscious of its most essential quality. it is not enough that we come before god, saying: "i am wretched in my soul; i am weary of my bondage; i long for deliverance." we must also say, as we look up into that holy eye: "i am guilty; o my god i deserve thy judgments." in brief, the human mind must recognize all the divine attributes. the entire divine character, in both its justice and its love, must rise full-orbed before the soul, when thus seeking salvation. it is not enough, that we ask god to free us from disquietude, and give us repose. before we do this, and that we may do it successfully, we must employ the language of david, while under the stings of guilt: "o lord rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. be merciful unto me, o god be merciful unto me." what is needed is, more consideration of sin in its objective, and less in its subjective relations; more sense of it in its reference to the being and attributes of god, and less sense of it in its reference to our own happiness or misery, or even to the harmony of our own powers and faculties. the adorable being and attributes of god are of more importance than any human soul, immortal though it be; and what is required in the religious experience is, more anxiety lest the divine glory should be tarnished, and less fear that a worm of the dust be made miserable by his transgressions. and whatever may be our theory of the matter, "to this complexion must we come at last," even in order to our own peace of mind. we must lose our life, in order to find it. even in order to our own inward repose of conscience and of heart, there must come a point and period in our mental history, when we do actually sink self out of sight, and think of sin in its relation to the character and government of the great and holy god,--when we do see it to be _guilt_, as well as corruption. for guilt is a distinct, and a distinguishable quality. it is a thing by itself, like the platonic idea of beauty.[ ] it is sin stripped of its accompaniments,--the restlessness, the dissatisfaction, and the unhappiness which it produces,--and perceived in its pure odiousness and ill-desert. and when thus seen, it does not permit the mind to think of any thing but the righteous law, and the divine character. in the hour of thorough conviction, the sinful spirit is lost in the feeling of guiltiness: wholly engrossed in the reflection that it has incurred the condemnation of the best being in the universe. it is in distress, not because an almighty being can make it miserable but, because a holy and good being has _reason_ to be displeased with it. when it gives utterance to its emotion, it says to its sovereign and its judge: "i am in anguish, more because thou the holy and the good art unreconciled with me, than because thou the omnipotent canst punish me forever. i refuse not to the punished; i deserve the inflictions of thy justice; only _forgive_, and thou mayest do what thou wilt unto me." a soul that is truly penitent has no desire to escape penalty, at the expense of principle and law. it says with david: "thou desirest not sacrifice;" such atonement as i can make is inadequate; "else would i give it." it expresses its approbation of the pure justice of god, in the language of the gentlest and sweetest of mystics: "thou hast no lightnings, o thou just! or i their force should know; and if thou strike me into dust, my soul approves the blow. the heart that values less its ease, than it adores thy ways; in thine avenging anger, sees a subject of its praise. pleased i could lie, concealed and lost, in shades of central night; not to avoid thy wrath, thou know'st, but lest i grieve thy sight. smite me, o thou whom i provoke! and i will love thee still; the well deserved and righteous stroke shall please me, though it kill."[ ] now, it is only when the human spirit is under the illuminating, and discriminating influences of the holy ghost, that it possesses this pure and genuine sense of guilt. worldly losses, trials, warnings by god's providence, may rouse the sinner, and make him solemn; but unless the spirit of grace enters his heart he does not feel that he is ill-deserving. he is sad and fearful, respecting the future life, and perhaps supposes that this state of mind is one of true conviction, and wonders that it does not end in conversion, and the joy of pardon. but if he would examine it, he would discover that it is full of the lust of self. he would find that he is merely unhappy, and restless, and afraid to die. if he should examine the workings of his heart, he would discover that they are only another form of self-love; that instead of being anxious about self in the present world, he has become anxious about self in the future world; that instead of looking out for his happiness here, he has begun to look out for it hereafter; that in fact he has merely transferred sin, from time and its relations, to eternity and its relations. such sorrow as this needs to be sorrowed for, and such repentance as this needs to be repented of. such conviction as this needs to be laid open, and have its defect shown. after a course of wrongdoing, it is not sufficient for man to come before the holy one, making mention of his wretchedness, and desire for happiness, but making no mention of his culpability, and desert of righteous and holy judgments. it is not enough for the criminal to plead for life, however earnestly, while he avoids the acknowledgment that death is his just due. for silence in such a connection as this, is _denial_. the impenitent thief upon the cross was clamorous for life and happiness, saying, "if thou be the christ, save thyself and us." he said nothing concerning the crime that had brought him to a malefactor's death, and thereby showed that it did not weigh heavy upon his conscience. but the real penitent rebuked him, saying: "dost thou not fear god, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? and we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds." and then followed that meek and broken-hearted supplication: "lord remember me," which drew forth the world-renowned answer: "this day shalt thou be with me in paradise." in the fact, then, that man's experience of sin is so liable to be defective upon the side of guilt, we find another necessity for the teaching of the holy spirit; for a spiritual agency that cannot be deceived, which pierces to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and is a discerner of the real intent and feeling of the heart. ii. in the second place, man needs the influences of the holy spirit, in order that _he may actually appropriate christ's atonement for sin_. the feeling of ill-desert, of which we have spoken, requires an expiation, in order to its extinction, precisely as the burning sensation of thirst needs the cup of cold water, in order that it may be allayed, the sense of guilt is awakened in its pure and genuine form, by the holy spirit's operation, the soul _craves_ the atonement,--it _wants_ the dying lamb of god. we often speak of a believer's longings after purity, after peace, after joy. there is an appetency for them. in like manner, there is in the illuminated and guilt-smitten conscience an appetency for the piacular work of christ, as that which alone can give it pacification. contemplated from this point of view, there is not a more rational doctrine within the whole christian system, than that of the atonement. anything that ministers to a distinct and legitimate craving in man is reasonable, and necessary. that theorist, therefore, who would evince the unreasonableness of the atoning work of the redeemer, must first evince the unreasonableness of the consciousness of guilt, and of the judicial craving of the conscience. he must show the groundlessness of that fundamental and organic feeling which imparts such a blood-red color to all the religions of the globe; be they pagan, jewish, or christian. whenever, therefore, this sensation of ill-desert is elicited, and the soul feels consciously criminal before the everlasting judge, the difficulties that beset the doctrine of the cross all vanish in the _craving_, in the _appetency_, of the conscience, for acquittal through the substituted sufferings of the son of god. he who has been taught by the spirit respecting the iniquity of sin, and views it in its relations to the divine holiness, has no wish to be pardoned at the expense of justice. his conscience is now jealous for the majesty of god, and the dignity of his government. he now experimentally understands that great truth which has its foundation in the nature of guilt, and consequently in the method of redemption,--the great ethical truth, that after an accountable agent has stained himself with crime, there is from the necessity of the case no remission without the satisfaction of law. but it is one thing to acknowledge this in theory, and even to feel the need of christ's atonement, and still another thing to _really appropriate_ it. unbelief and despair have great power over a guilt-stricken mind; and were it not for that spirit who "takes of the things of christ and shows them to the soul," sinful man would in every instance succumb under their awful paralysis. for, if the truth and spirit of god should merely convince the sinner of his guilt, but never apply the atoning blood of the redeemer, hell would be in him and he would be in hell. if god, coming forth as he justly might only in his judicial character, should confine himself to a convicting operation in the conscience,--should make the transgressor feel his guilt, and then leave him to the feeling and with the feeling, forevermore,--this would be eternal death. and if, as any man shall lie down upon his death-bed, he shall find that owing to his past quenching of the spirit the illuminating energy of god is searching him, and revealing him to himself, but does not assist him to look up to the saviour of sinners; and if, in the day of judgment, as he draws near the bar of an eternal doom, he shall discover that the sense of guilt grows deeper and deeper, while the atoning blood is not applied,--if this shall be the experience of any one upon his death-bed, and in the day of judgment, will he need to be told what he is and whither he is going? now it is with reference to these disclosures that come in like a deluge upon him, that man needs the aids and operation of the holy spirit. ordinarily, nearly the whole of his guilt is latent within him. he is, commonly, undisturbed by conscience; but it would be a fatal error to infer that therefore he has a clear and innocent conscience. there is a vast amount of undeveloped guilt within every impenitent soul. it is slumbering there, as surely as magnetism is in the magnet, and the electric fluid is in the piled-up thunder-cloud. for there are moments when the sinful soul feels this hidden criminality, as there are moments when the magnet shows its power, and the thunder-cloud darts its nimble and forked lightnings. else, why do these pangs and fears shoot and flash through it, every now and then? why does the drowning man instinctively ask for god's mercy? were his conscience pure and clear from guilt, like that of the angel or the seraph,--were there no latent crime within him,--he would sink into the unfathomed depths of the sea, without the thought of such a cry. when the traveller in south america sees the smoke and flame of the volcano, here and there, as he passes along, he is justified in inferring that a vast central fire is burning beneath the whole region. in like manner, when man discovers, as he watches the phenomena of his conscience, that guilt every now and then emerges like a flash of flame into consciousness, filling him with fear and distress,--when he finds that he has no security against this invasion, but that in an hour when he thinks not, and commonly when he is weakest and faintest, in his moments of danger or death, it stings him and wounds him, he is justified in inferring, and he must infer, that the deep places of his spirit, the whole _potentiality_ of his soul is full of crime. now, in no condition of the soul is there greater need of the agency of the comforter (o well named the comforter), than when all this latency is suddenly manifested to a man. when this deluge of discovery comes in, all the billows of doubt, fear, terror, and despair roll over the soul, and it sinks in the deep waters. the sense of guilt,--that awful guilt, which the man has carried about with him for many long years, and which he has trifled with,--now proves too great for him to control. it seizes him like a strong-armed man. if he could only believe that the blood of the lamb of god expiates all this crime which is so appalling to his mind, he would be at peace instantaneously. but he is unable to believe this. his sin, which heretofore looked too small to be noticed, now appears too great to be forgiven. other men may be pardoned, but not he. he _despairs_ of mercy; and if he should be left to the natural workings of his own mind; if he should not be taught and assisted by the holy ghost, in this critical moment, to behold the lamb of god; he would despair forever. for this sense of ill-desert, this fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation, with which he is wrestling, is organic to the conscience, and the human will has no more power over it than it has over the sympathetic nerve. only as he is taught by the divine spirit, is he able with perfect calmness to look up from this brink of despair, and say: "there is no condemnation to them that are in christ jesus. the blood of jesus christ cleanseth from all sin. therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with god through our lord jesus christ. i know whom i have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which i have committed unto him against that day." in view of the truths which we have now considered, it is worthy of observation: . first, that _the holy spirit constitutes the tie, and bond of connection, between man and god_. the third person in the godhead is very often regarded as more distant from the human soul, than either the father or the son. in the history of the doctrine of the trinity, the definition of the holy spirit, and the discrimination of his relations in the economy of the godhead, was not settled until after the doctrine of the first and second persons had been established. something analogous to this appears in the individual experience. god the father and god the son are more in the thoughts of many believers, than god the holy ghost. and yet, we have seen that in the economy of redemption, and from the very nature of the case, the soul is brought as close to the spirit, as to the father and son. nay, it is only through the inward operations of the former, that the latter are made real to the heart and mind of man. not until the third person enlightens, are the second and first persons beheld. "no man," says st. paul, "can say that jesus is the lord, but by the holy ghost." the sinful soul is entirely dependent upon the divine spirit, and from first to last it is in most intimate communication with him during the process of salvation. it is enlightened by his influence; it is enlivened by him; it is empowered by him to the act of faith in christ's person and work; it is supported and assisted by him, in every step of the christian race; it is comforted by him in all trials and tribulations; and, lastly, it is perfected in holiness, and fitted for the immediate presence of god, by him. certainly, then, the believer should have as full faith in the distinct personality, and immediate efficiency, of the third person, as he has in that of the first and second. his most affectionate feeling should centre upon that blessed agent, through whom he appropriates the blessings that have been provided for sinners by the father and son, and without whose influence the father would have planned the redemptive scheme, and the son have executed it, in vain. . in the second place, it is deserving of very careful notice that _the influences of the holy spirit may be obtained by asking for them_. this is the only condition to be complied with. and this gift, furthermore, is peculiar, in that it is _invariably_ bestowed whenever it is sincerely implored. there are other gifts of god which may be asked for with deep and agonizing desire, and it is not certain that they will be granted. this is the case with temporal blessings. a sick man may turn his face to the wall, with hezekiah, and pray in the bitterness of his soul, for the prolongation of his life, and yet not obtain the answer which hezekiah received. but no man ever supplicated in the earnestness of his soul for the influences of the holy spirit, and was ultimately refused. for this is a gift which it is always safe to grant. it involves a spiritual and everlasting good. it is the gift of righteousness, of the fear and love of god in the heart. there is no danger in such a bestowment. it inevitably promotes the glory of god. hence our lord, after bidding his hearers to "ask," to "seek," and to "knock," adds, as the encouraging reason why they should do so: "for, _every one_ that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh, [always] findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall [certainly] be opened." this is a reason that cannot be assigned in the instance of other prayers. our lord commands his disciples to pray for their daily bread; and we know that the children of god do generally find their wants supplied. still, it would not be true that _every one_ who in the sincerity of his soul has asked for daily bread has received it. the children of god have sometimes died of hunger. but no soul that has ever hungered for the bread of heaven, and supplicated for it, has been sent empty away. nay more: whoever finds it in his heart to ask for the holy spirit may know, from this very fact, that the holy spirit has anticipated him, and has prompted the very prayer itself. and think you that god will not grant a request which he himself has inspired? and therefore, again, it is, that _every one_ who asks invariably receives. . the third remark suggested by the subject we have been considering is, that _it is exceedingly hazardous to resist divine influences_. "quench not the spirit" is one of the most imperative of the apostolic injunctions. our lord, after saying that a word spoken against himself is pardonable, adds that he that blasphemes against the holy ghost shall never be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the world to come. the new testament surrounds the subject of divine influences with very great solemnity. it represents the resisting of the holy ghost to be as heinous, and dangerous, as the trampling upon christ's blood. there is a reason for this. we have seen that in this operation upon the mind and heart, god comes as near, and as close to man, as it is possible for him to come. now to grieve or oppose such a merciful, and such an _inward_ agency as this, is to offer the highest possible affront to the majesty and the mercy of god. it is a great sin to slight the gifts of divine providence,--to misuse health, strength, wealth, talents. it is a deep sin to contemn the truths of divine revelation, by which the soul is made wise unto eternal life. it is a fearful sin to despise the claims of god the father, and god the son. but it is a transcendent sin to resist and beat back, _after it has been given_, that mysterious, that holy, that immediately divine influence, by which alone the heart of stone can be made the heart of flesh. for, it indicates something more than the ordinary carelessness of a sinner. it evinces a determined _obstinacy_ in sin,--nay, a satanic opposition to god and goodness. it is of such a guilt as this, that the apostle john remarks: "there is a sin unto death; i do not say that one should pray for it."[ ] again, it is exceedingly hazardous to resist divine influences, because they depend wholly upon the good pleasure of god, and not at all upon any established and uniform law. we must not, for a moment, suppose that the operations of the holy spirit upon the human soul are like those of the forces of nature upon the molecules of matter. they are not uniform and unintermittent, like gravitation, and chemical affinity. we may avail ourselves of the powers of nature at any moment, because they are steadily operative by an established law. they are laboring incessantly, and we may enter into their labors at any instant we please. but it is not so with supernatural and gracious influences. god's awakening and renewing power does not operate with the uniformity of those blind natural laws which he has impressed upon the dull clod beneath our feet. god is not one of the forces of nature. he is a person and a sovereign. his special and highest action upon the human soul is not uniform. his spirit, he expressly teaches us, does not always strive with man. it is a wind that bloweth when and where it listeth. for this reason, it is dangerous to the religious interests of the soul, in the highest degree, to go counter to any impulses of the spirit, however slight, or to neglect any of his admonitions, however gentle. if god in mercy has once come in upon a thoughtless mind, and wakened it to eternal realities; if he has enlightened it to perceive the things that make for its peace; and that mind slights this merciful interference, and stifles down these inward teachings, then god withdraws, and whether he will ever return again to that soul depends upon his mere sovereign volition. he has bound himself by no promise to do so. he has established no uniform law of operation, in the case. it is true that he is very pitiful and of tender mercy, and waits and bears long with the sinner; and it is also true, that he is terribly severe and just, when he thinks it proper to be so, and says to those who have despised his spirit: "because i have called and ye refused, and have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded, i will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh." let no one say: "god has promised to bestow the holy ghost to every one who asks: i will ask at some future time." to "ask" for the holy spirit implies some already existing desire that he would enter the mind and convince of sin, and convert to god. it implies some _craving_, some _yearning_, for divine influences; and this implies some measure of such influence already bestowed. man asks for the holy spirit, only as he is moved by the holy spirit. the divine is ever prevenient to the human. suppose now, that a man resists these influences when they are _already_ at work within him, and says: "i will seek them at a more convenient season." think you, that when that convenient season comes round,--when life is waning, and the world is receding, and the eternal gulf is yawning,--think you that that man who has already resisted grace can make his own heart to yearn for it, and his soul to crave it? do men at such times find that sincere desires, and longings, and aspirations, come at their beck? can a man say, with any prospect of success: "i will now quench out this seriousness which the spirit of god has produced in my mind, and will bring it up again ten years hence. i will stifle this drawing of the eternal father of my soul which i now feel at the roots of my being, and it shall re-appear at a future day." no! while it is true that any one who "asks," who really _wants_ a spiritual blessing, will obtain it, it is equally true that a man may have no heart to ask,--may have no desire, no yearning, no aspiration at all, and be unable to produce one. in this case there is no promise. whosoever _thirsts_, and _only_ he who thirsts, can obtain the water of life. cherish, therefore, the faintest influences and operations of the comforter. if he enlightens your conscience so that it reproaches you for sin, seek to have the work go on. never resist any such convictions, and never attempt to stifle them. if the holy spirit urges you to confession of sin before god, yield _instantaneously_ to his urging, and pour out your soul before the all-merciful. and when he says, "behold the lamb of god," look where he points, and be at peace and at rest. the secret of all spiritual success is an immediate and uniform submission to the influences of the holy ghost. [footnote : [greek: _anto, kath anto, meth anton, monoeides_.]--plato: convivium, p. , ed. bipont.] [footnote : guyon: translated by cowper. is expressed by vaughan in works iii. .--a similar thought "the eclipse." "thy anger i could kiss, and will; but o thy grief, thy grief doth kill."] [footnote : the sin against the holy ghost is unpardonable, not because there is a grade of guilt in it too scarlet to be washed white by christ's blood of atonement but, because it implies a total quenching of that operation of the third person of the trinity which is the only power adequate to the extirpation of sin from the human soul. the sin against the holy ghost is tantamount, therefore, to _everlasting_ sin. and it is noteworthy, that in mark iii. the reading [greek: _amartaemartos_], instead of [greek: kriseos], is supported by a majority of the oldest manuscripts and versions, and is adopted by lachmann, tischendorf, and tregelles. "he that shall blaspheme against the holy ghost.... is in danger of eternal _sin_."] the impotence of the law. hebrews vii. .--"for the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh to god." it is the aim of the epistle to the hebrews, to teach the insufficiency of the jewish dispensation to save the human race from the wrath of god and the power of sin, and the all-sufficiency of the gospel dispensation to do this. hence, the writer of this epistle endeavors with special effort to make the hebrews feel the weakness of their old and much esteemed religion, and to show them that the only benefit which god intended by its establishment was, to point men to the perfect and final religion of the gospel. this he does, by examining the parts of the old economy. in the first place, the _sacrifices_ under the mosaic law were not designed to extinguish the sense of guilt,--"for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin,"--but were intended merely to awaken the sense of guilt, and thereby to lead the jew to look to that mercy of god which at a future day was to be exhibited in the sacrifice of his eternal son. the jewish _priesthood_, again, standing between the sinner and god, were not able to avert the divine displeasure,--for as sinners they were themselves exposed to it. they could only typify, and direct the guilty to, the great high priest, the messiah, whom god's mercy would send in the fulness of time. lastly, the moral _law_, proclaimed amidst the thunderings and lightnings of sinai, had no power to secure obedience, but only a fearful power to produce the consciousness of disobedience, and of exposure to a death far more awful than that threatened against the man who should touch the burning mountain. it was, thus, the design of god, by this legal and preparatory dispensation, to disclose to man his ruined and helpless condition, and his need of looking to him for everything that pertains to redemption. and he did it, by so arranging the dispensation that the jew might, as it were, make the trial and see if he could be his own redeemer. he instituted a long and burdensome round of observances, by means of which the jew might, if possible, extinguish the remorse of his conscience, and produce the peace of god in his soul. god seems by the sacrifices under the law, and the many and costly offerings which the jew was commanded to bring into the temple of the lord, to have virtually said to him: "thou art guilty, and my wrath righteously abides within thy conscience,--yet, do what thou canst to free thyself from it; free thyself from it if thou canst; bring an offering and come before me. but when thou hast found that thy conscience still remains perturbed and unpacified, and thy heart still continues corrupt and sinful, then look away from thy agency and thy offering, to my clemency and my offering,--trust not in these finite sacrifices of the lamb and the goat, but let them merely remind thee of the infinite sacrifice which in the fulness of time i will provide for the sin of the world,--and thy peace shall be as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." but the proud and legal spirit of the jew blinded him, and he did not perceive the true meaning and intent of his national religion. he made it an end, instead of a mere means to an end. hence, it became a mechanical round of observances, kept up by custom, and eventually lost the power, which it had in the earlier and better ages of the jewish commonwealth, of awakening the feeling of guilt and the sense of the need of a redeemer. thus, in the days of our saviour's appearance upon the earth, the chosen guardians of this religion, which was intended to make men humble, and feel their personal ill-desert and need of mercy, had become self-satisfied and self-righteous. a religion designed to prompt the utterance of the greatest of its prophets: "woe is me! i am a man of unclean lips, and i dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips," now prompted the utterance of the pharisee: "i thank thee that i am not as other men are." the jew, in the times of our saviour and his apostles, had thus entirely mistaken the nature and purpose of the old dispensation, and hence was the most bitter opponent of the new. he rested in the formal and ceremonial sacrifice of bulls and goats, and therefore counted the blood of the son of god an unholy thing. he thought to appear before him in whose sight the heavens are not clean, clothed in his own righteousness, and hence despised the righteousness of christ. in reality, he appealed to the justice of god, and therefore rejected the religion of mercy. but, this spirit is not confined to the jew. it pervades the human race. man is naturally a legalist. he desires to be justified by his own character and his own works, and reluctates at the thought of being accepted upon the ground of another's merits. this judaistic spirit is seen wherever there is none of the publican's feeling when he said, "god be merciful to me a sinner." all confidence in personal virtue, all appeals to civil integrity, all attendance upon the ordinances of the christian religion without the exercise of the christian's penitence and faith, is, in reality; an exhibition of that same legal unevangelic spirit which in its extreme form inflated the pharisee, and led him to tithe mint anise and cummin. man's so general rejection of the son of god as suffering the just for the unjust, as the manifestation of the divine clemency towards a criminal, is a sign either that he is insensible of his guilt, or else that being somewhat conscious of it he thinks to cancel it himself. still, think and act as men may, the method of god in the gospel is the only method. other foundation can no man lay than is laid. for it rests upon stubborn facts, and inexorable principles. _god_ knows that however anxiously a transgressor may strive to pacify his conscience, and prepare it for the judgment-day, its deep remorse can be removed only by the blood of incarnate deity; that however sedulously he may attempt to obey the law, he will utterly fail, unless he is inwardly renewed and strengthened by the holy ghost. _he_ knows that mere bare law can make no sinner perfect again, but that only the bringing in of a "better hope" can,--a hope by the which we draw nigh to god. the text leads us to inquire: _why cannot the moral law make fallen man perfect_? or, in other words: _why cannot the ten commandments save a sinner_? that we may answer this question, we must first understand what is meant by a perfect man. it is one in whom there is no defect or fault of any kind,--one, therefore, who has no perturbation in his conscience, and no sin in his heart. it is a man who is entirely at peace with himself, and with god, and whose affections are in perfect conformity with the divine law. but fallen man, man as we find him universally, is characterized by both a remorseful conscience and an evil heart. his conscience distresses him, not indeed uniformly and constantly but, in the great emergencies of his life,--in the hour of sickness, danger, death,--and his heart is selfish and corrupt continually. he lacks perfection, therefore, in two particulars; first, in respect to acquittal at the bar of justice, and secondly, in respect to inward purity. that, therefore, which proposes to make him perfect again, must quiet the sense of guilt upon valid grounds, and must produce a holy character. if the method fails in either of these two respects, it fails altogether in making a perfect man. but how can the moral law, or the ceremonial law, or both united, produce within the human soul the cheerful, liberating, sense of acquittal, and reconciliation with god's justice? why, the very function and office-work of law, in all its forms, is to condemn and terrify the transgressor; how then can it calm and soothe him? or, is there anything in the performance of duty,--in the act of obeying law,--that is adapted to produce this result, by taking away guilt? suppose that a murderer could and should perform a perfectly holy act, would it be any relief to his anguished conscience, if he should offer it as an oblation to eternal justice for the sin that is past? if he should plead it as an offset for having killed a man? when we ourselves review the past, and see that we have not kept the law up to the present point in our lives, is the gnawing of the worm to be stopped, by resolving to keep it, and actually keeping it from this point? can such a use of the law as this is,--can the performance of good works, imaginary or real ones, imperfect or perfect ones,--discharge the office of an _atonement_, and so make us perfect in the forum of conscience, and fill us with a deep and lasting sense of reconciliation with the offended majesty and justice of god? plainly not. for there is nothing compensatory, nothing cancelling, nothing of the nature of a satisfaction of justice, in the best obedience that was ever rendered to moral law, by saint, angel, or seraph. _because the creature owes the whole_. he is obligated from the very first instant of his existence, onward and evermore, to love god supremely, and to obey him perfectly in every act and element of his being. therefore, the perfectly obedient saint, angel, and seraph must each say: "i am an unprofitable servant, i have done only that which it was my duty to do; i can make no amends for past failures; i can do no work that is meritorious and atoning." obedience to law, then, by a creature, and still less by a sinner, can never atone for the sins that are past; can never make the guilty perfect "in things pertaining to conscience." and if a man, in this indirect and roundabout manner, neglects the provisions of the gospel, neglects the oblation of jesus christ, and betakes himself to the discharge of his own duty as a substitute therefor, he only finds that the flame burns hotter, and the fang of the worm is sharper. if he looks to the moral law in any form, and by any method, that he may get quit of his remorse and his fears of judgment, the feeling of unreconciliation with justice, and the fearful looking-for of judgment is only made more vivid and deep. whoever attempts the discharge of duties _for the purpose of atoning for his sins_ takes a direct method of increasing the pains and perturbations which he seeks to remove. the more he thinks of law, and the more he endeavors to obey it for the purpose of purchasing the pardon of past transgression, the more wretched does he become. look into the lacerated conscience of martin luther before he found the cross, examine the anxiety and gloom of chalmers before he saw the lamb of god, for proof that this is so. these men, at first, were most earnest in their use of the law in order to re-instate themselves in right relations with god's justice. but the more they toiled in this direction, the less they succeeded. burning with inward anguish, and with god's arrows sticking fast in him, shall the transgressor get relief from the attribute of divine justice, and the qualities of law? shall the ten commandments of sinai, in any of their forms or uses, send a cooling and calming virtue through the hot conscience? with these kindling flashes in his guilt-stricken spirit, shall he run into the very identical fire that kindled them? shall he try to quench them in that "tophet which is ordained of old; which is made deep and large; the pile of which is fire and much wood, and the breath of the lord like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it?" and yet such is, in reality, the attempt of every man who, upon being convicted in his conscience of guilt before god, endeavors to attain peace by resolutions to alter his course of conduct, and strenuous endeavors to obey the commands of god,--in short by relying upon the law in any form, as a means of reconciliation. such is the suicidal effort of every man who substitutes the law for the gospel, and expects to produce within himself the everlasting peace of god, by anything short of the atonement of god. let us fix it, then, as a fact, that the feeling of culpability and unreconciliation can never be removed, so long as we do not look entirely away from our own character and works to the mere pure mercy of god in the blood of christ. the transgressor can never atone for crime by anything that he can suffer, or anything that he can do. he can never establish a ground of justification, a reason why he should be forgiven, by his tears, or his prayers, or his acts. neither the law, nor his attempts to obey the law, can re-instate him in his original relations to justice, and make him perfect again in respect to his conscience. the ten commandments can never silence his inward misgivings, and his moral fears; for they are given for the very purpose of producing misgivings, and causing fears. "the law worketh wrath." and if this truth and fact be clearly perceived, and boldly acknowledged to his own mind, it will cut him off from all these legal devices and attempts, and will shut him up to the divine mercy and the divine promise in christ, where alone he is safe. we have thus seen that one of the two things necessary in order that apostate man may become perfect again,--viz., the pacification of his conscience,--cannot be obtained in and by the law, in any of its forms or uses. let us now examine the other thing necessary in order to human perfection, and see what the law can do towards it. the other requisite, in order that fallen man may become perfect again, is a holy heart and will. can the moral law originate this? that we may rightly answer the question, let us remember that a holy will is one that keeps the law of god spontaneously and that a perfect heart is one that sends forth holy affections and pure thoughts as naturally as the sinful heart sends forth unholy affections and impure thoughts. a holy will, like an evil will, is a wonderful and wonderfully fertile power. it does not consist in an ability to make a few or many separate resolutions of obedience to the divine law, but in being itself one great inclination and determination continually and mightily going forth. a holy will, therefore, is one that _from its very nature and spontaneity_ seeks god, and the glory of god. it does not even need to make a specific resolution to obey; any more than an affectionate child needs to resolve to obey its father. in like manner, a perfect and holy heart is a far more profound and capacious thing than men who have never seriously tried to obtain it deem it to foe. it does not consist in the possession of a few or many holy thoughts mixed with some sinful ones, or in having a few or many holy desires together with some corrupt ones. a perfect heart is one undivided agency, and does not produce, as the imperfectly sanctified heart of the christian does, fruits of holiness and fruits of sin, holy thoughts and unholy thoughts. it is itself a root and centre of holiness, and _nothing_ but goodness springs up from it. the angels of god are totally holy. their wills are unceasingly going forth towards him with ease and delight; their hearts are unintermittently gushing out emotions of love, and feelings of adoration, and thoughts of reverence, and therefore the song that they sing is unceasing, and the smoke of their incense ascendeth forever and ever. such is the holy will, and the perfect heart, which fallen man must obtain in order to be fit for heaven. to this complexion must he come at last. and now we ask: can the law generate all this excellence within the human soul? in order to answer this question, we must consider the nature of law, and the manner of its operation. the law, as antithetic to the gospel, and as the word is employed in the text, is in its nature mandatory and minatory. it commands, and it threatens. this is the style of its operation. can a perfect heart be originated in a sinner by these two methods? does the stern behest, "do this or die," secure his willing and joyful obedience? on the contrary, the very fact that the law of god comes up before him coupled thus with a _threatening_ evinces that his aversion and hostility are most intense. as the apostle says, "the law is not made for a righteous man; but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners." were man, like the angels on high, sweetly obedient to the divine will, there would be no arming of law with terror, no proclamation of ten commandments amidst thunderings and lightnings. he would be a law unto himself, as all the heavenly host are,--the law working impulsively within him by its own exceeding lawfulness and beauty. the very fact that god, in the instance of man, is compelled to emphasize the _penalty_ along with the statute,--to say, "keep my commandments _upon pain of eternal death_,"--is proof conclusive that man is a rebel, and intensely so. and now what is the effect of this combination of command and threatening upon the agent? is he moulded by it? does it congenially sway and incline him? on the contrary, is he not excited to opposition by it? when the commandment "_comes_," loaded down with menace and damnation, does not sin "revive," as the apostle affirms?[ ] arrest the transgressor in the very act of disobedience, and ring in his ears the "thou shalt _not_" of the decalogue, and does he find that the law has the power to alter his inclination, to overcome his carnal mind, and make him perfect in holiness? on the contrary, the more you ply him with the stern command, and the more you emphasize the awful threatening, the more do you make him conscious of inward sin, and awaken his depravity. "the law,"--as st. paul affirms in a very remarkable text,--"is the _strength_ of sin,[ ]" instead of being its destruction. nay, he had not even ([greek: te]) known sin, but by the law: for he had not known lust, except the law had said, "thou shalt not lust." the commandment stimulates instead of extirpating his hostility to the divine government; and so long as the _mere_ command, and the _mere_ threat,--which, as the hymn tells us, is all the law can do,--are brought to bear, the depravity of the rebellious heart becomes more and more apparent, and more and more intensified. there is no more touching poem in all literature than that one in which the pensive and moral schiller portrays the struggle of an ingenuous youth who would find the source of moral purification in the moral law; who would seek the power that can transform him, in the mere imperatives of his conscience, and the mere struggling and spasms of his own will. he represents him as endeavoring earnestly and long to feel the force of obligation, and as toiling sedulously to school himself into virtue, by the bare power, by the dead lift, of duty. but the longer he tries, the more he loathes the restraints of law. virtue, instead of growing lovely to him, becomes more and more severe, austere, and repellant. his life, as the scripture phrases it, is "under law," and not under love. there is nothing spontaneous, nothing willing, nothing genial in his religion. he does not enjoy religion, but he endures religion. conscience does not, in the least, renovate his will, but merely checks it, or goads it. he becomes wearied and worn, and conscious that after all his self-schooling he is the same creature at heart, in his disposition and affections, that he was at the commencement of the effort, he cries out, "o virtue, take back thy crown, and let me sin."[ ] the tired and disgusted soul would once more do a _spontaneous_ thing. was, then, that which is good made death unto this youth, by a _divine_ arrangement? is this the _original_ and _necessary_ relation which law sustains to the will and affections of an accountable creature? must the pure and holy law of god, from the very nature of things, be a weariness and a curse? god forbid. but sin that it might _appear_ sin, working death in the sinner by that which is good,--that sin by the commandment might become, might be seen to be, exceeding sinful. the law is like a chemical test. it eats into sin enough to show what sin is, and there stops. the lunar caustic bites into the dead flesh of the mortified limb; but there is no healing virtue in the lunar caustic. the moral law makes no inward alterations in a sinner. in its own distinctive and proper action upon the heart and will of an apostate being, it is fitted only to elicit and exasperate his existing enmity. it can, therefore, no more be a source of sanctification, than it can be of justification. of what use, then, is the law to a fallen man?--some one will ask. why is the commandment enunciated in the scriptures, and why is the christian ministry perpetually preaching it to men dead in trespasses and sins? if the law can subdue no man's obstinate will, and can renovate no man's corrupt heart,--if it can make nothing perfect in human character,--then, "wherefore serveth the law?" "it was added because of transgressions,"--says the apostle in answer to this very question.[ ] it is preached and forced home in order to _detect_ sin, but not to remove it; to bring men to a consciousness of the evil of their hearts, but not to change their hearts. "for," continues the apostle, "if there had been a law given which could have given _life_"--which could produce a transformation of character,--"then verily righteousness should have been by the law," it is not because the stern and threatening commandment can impart spiritual vitality to the sinner, but because it can produce within him the keen vivid sense of spiritual death, that it is enunciated in the word of god, and proclaimed from the christian pulpit. the divine law is waved like a flashing sword before the eyes of man, not because it can make him alive but, because it can slay him, that he may then be made alive, not by the law but by the holy ghost,--by the breath that cometh from the four winds and breathes on the slain. it is easy to see, by a moment's reflection, that, from the nature of the case, the moral law cannot be a source of spiritual life and sanctification to a soul that has _lost_ these. for law primarily supposes life, supposes an obedient inclination, and therefore does not produce it. it is not the function of any law to impart that moral force, that right disposition of the heart, by which its command is to be obeyed. the state, for example, enacts a law against murder, but this mere enactment does not, and cannot, produce a benevolent disposition in the citizens of the commonwealth, in case they are destitute of it. how often do we hear the remark, that it is impossible to legislate either morality or religion into the people. when the supreme governor first placed man under the obligations and sovereignty of law, he created him in his own image and likeness: endowing him with that holy heart and right inclination which obeys the law of god with ease and delight. god made man upright, and in this state he could and did keep the commands of god perfectly. if, therefore, by any _subsequent action_ upon their part, mankind have gone out of the primary relationship in which they stood to law, and have by their _apostasy_ lost all holy sympathy with it, and all affectionate disposition to obey it, it only remains for the law (not to change along with them, but) to continue immutably the same pure and righteous thing, and to say, "obey perfectly, and thou shalt live; disobey in a single instance, and thou shalt die." but the text teaches us, that although the law can make no sinful man perfect, either upon the side of justification, or of sanctification, "the bringing in of a better _hope_" can. this hope is the evangelic hope,--the yearning desire, and the humble trust,--to be forgiven through the atonement of the lord jesus christ, and to be sanctified by the indwelling power of the holy ghost. a simple, but a most powerful thing! does the law, in its abrupt and terrible operation in my conscience, start out the feeling of guiltiness until i throb with anguish, and moral fear? i hope, i trust, i ask, to be pardoned through the blood of the eternal son of god my redeemer. i will answer all these accusations of law and conscience, by pleading what my lord has done. again, does the law search me, and probe me, and elicit me, and reveal me, until i would shrink out of the sight of god and of myself? i hope, i trust, i ask, to be made pure as the angels, spotless as the seraphim, by the transforming grace of the holy spirit. this confidence in christ's person and work is the anchor,--an anchor that was never yet wrenched from the clefts of the rock of ages, and never will be through the aeons of aeons. by this hope, which goes away from self, and goes away from the law, to christ's oblation and the holy spirit's energy, we do indeed draw very nigh to god,--"heart to heart, spirit to spirit, life to life." . the unfolding of this text of scripture shows, in the first place, the importance of having a _distinct and discriminating conception of law, and especially of its proper function in reference to a sinful being_. very much is gained when we understand precisely what the moral law, as taught in the scriptures, and written in our consciences, can do, and cannot do, towards our salvation. it can do nothing positively and efficiently. it cannot extinguish a particle of our guilt, and it cannot purge away a particle of our corruption. its operation is wholly negative and preparatory. it is merely a schoolmaster to conduct us to christ. and the more definitely this truth and fact is fixed in our minds, the more intelligently shall we proceed in our use of law and conscience. . in the second place, the unfolding of this text shows the importance of _using the law faithfully and fearlessly within its own limits; and in accordance with its proper function_. it is frequently asked what the sinner shall do in the work of salvation. the answer is nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart. be continually applying the law of god to your personal character and conduct. keep an active and a searching conscience within your sinful soul. use the high, broad, and strict commandment of god as an instrumentality by which all ease, and all indifference, in sin shall be banished from the breast. employ all this apparatus of torture, as perhaps it may seem to you in some sorrowful hours, and break up that moral drowze and lethargy which is ruining so many souls. and then cease this work, the instant you have experimentally found out that the law reaches a limit beyond which it cannot go,--that it forgives none of the sins which it detects, produces no change in the heart whose vileness it reveals, and makes no lost sinner perfect again. having used the law legitimately, for purposes of illumination and conviction merely, leave it forever as a source of justification and sanctification, and seek these in christ's atonement, and the holy spirit's gracious operation in the heart. then sin shall not have dominion over you; for you shall not be under law, but under grace. after that _faith_ is come, ye are no longer under a schoolmaster. for ye are then the children of god by faith in christ jesus.[ ] how simple are the terms of salvation! but then they presuppose this work of the law,--this guilt-smitten conscience, and this wearying sense of bondage to sin. it is easy for a _thirsty_ soul to drink down the draught of cold water. nothing is simpler, nothing is more grateful to the sensations. but suppose that the soul is satiated, and is not a thirsty one. then, nothing is more forced and repelling than this same draught. so is it with the provisions of the gospel. do we feel ourselves to be guilty beings; do we hunger, and do we thirst for the expiation of our sins? then the blood of christ is drink indeed, and his flesh is meat with emphasis. but are we at ease and self-contented? then nothing is more distasteful than the terms of salvation. christ is a root out of dry ground. and so long as we remain in this unfeeling and torpid state, salvation is an utter impossibility. the seed of the gospel cannot germinate and grow upon a rock. [footnote : rom. vii. - .] [footnote : cor. xv. .] [footnote : schiller: der kampf.] [footnote : galatians iii. .] [footnote : galatians iii. , .] self-scrutiny in god's presence. isaiah, i. .--"come now, and let us reason together, saith the lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." these words were at first addressed to the church of god. the prophet isaiah begins his prophecy, by calling upon the heavens and the earth to witness the exceeding sinfulness of god's chosen people. "hear, o heavens, and give ear o earth: for the lord hath spoken; i have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." such ingratitude and sin as this, he naturally supposes would shock the very heavens and earth. then follows a most vehement and terrible rebuke. the elect people of god are called "sodom," and "gomorrah." "hear the word of the lord ye rulers of sodom: give ear unto the law of our god ye people of gomorrah. why should ye be stricken, any more? ye will revolt more and more." this outflow of holy displeasure would prepare us to expect an everlasting reprobacy of the rebellious and unfaithful church, but it is strangely followed by the most yearning and melting entreaty ever addressed by the most high to the creatures of his footstool: "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." these words have, however, a wider application; and while the unfaithful children of god ought to ponder them long and well, it is of equal importance that "the aliens from the commonwealth of israel" should reflect upon them, and see their general application to all transgressors, so long as they are under the gospel dispensation. let us, then, consider two of the plain lessons taught, in these words of the prophet, to every unpardoned man. i. the text represents god as saying to the transgressor of his law, "come and let us reason _together_." the first lesson to be learned, consequently, is the duty of examining our moral character and conduct, _along with god_. when a responsible being has made a wrong use of his powers, nothing is more reasonable than that he should call himself to account for this abuse. nothing, certainly, is more necessary. there can be no amendment for the future, until the past has been cared for. but that this examination may be both thorough and profitable, it must be made _in company with the searcher of hearts_. for there are always two beings who are concerned with sin; the being who commits it, and the being against whom it is committed. we sin, indeed, against ourselves; against our own conscience, and against our own best interest. but we sin in a yet higher, and more terrible sense, against another than ourselves, compared with whose majesty all of our faculties and interests, both in time and eternity, are altogether nothing and vanity. it is not enough, therefore, to refer our sin to the law written on the heart, and there stop. we must ultimately pass beyond conscience itself, to god, and say, "against _thee_ have i sinned." it is not the highest expression of the religious feeling, when we say, "how can i do this great wickedness, and sin against my conscience?" he alone has reached the summit of vision who looks beyond all finite limits, however wide and distant, beyond all finite faculties however noble and elevated, and says, "how can i do this great wickedness, and sin against god?" whenever, therefore, an examination is made into the nature of moral evil as it exists in the individual heart, both parties concerned should share in the examination. the soul, as it looks within, should invite the scrutiny of god also, and as fast as it makes discoveries of its transgression and corruption should realize that the holy one sees also. such a joint examination as this produces a very keen and clear sense of the evil and guilt of sin. conscience indeed makes cowards of us all, but when the eye of god is felt to be upon us, it smites us to the ground. "when _thou_ with rebukes,"--says the psalmist,--"dost correct man for his iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth." one great reason why the feeling which the moralist has towards sin is so tame and languid, when compared with the holy abhorrence of the regenerate mind, lies in the fact that he has not contemplated human depravity in company with a sin-hating jehovah. at the very utmost, he has been shut up merely with a moral sense which he has insulated from its dread ground and support,--the personal character and holy emotions of god. what wonder is it, then, that this finite faculty should lose much of its temper and severity, and though still condemning sin (for it must do this, if it does anything), fails to do it with that spiritual energy which characterizes the conscience when god is felt to be co-present and co-operating. so it is, in other provinces. we feel the guilt of an evil action more sharply, when we know that a fellow-man saw us commit it, than when we know that no one but ourselves is cognizant of the deed. the flush of shame often rises into our face, upon learning accidentally that a fellow-being was looking at us, when we did the wrong action without any blush. how much more criminal, then, do we feel, when distinctly aware that the pure and holy god knows our transgression. how much clearer is our perception of the nature of moral evil, when we investigate it along with him whose eyes are a flame of fire. it is, consequently, a very solemn moment, when the human spirit and the eternal mind are reasoning together about the inward sinfulness. when the soul is shut up along with the holy one of israel, there are great searchings of heart. man is honest and anxious at such a time. his usual thoughtlessness and torpidity upon the subject of religion leaves him, and he becomes a serious and deeply-interested creature. would that the multitudes who listen so languidly to the statements of the pulpit, upon these themes of sin and guilt, might be closeted with the everlasting judge, in silence and in solemn reflection. you who have for years been told of sin, but are, perhaps, still as indifferent regarding it as if there were no stain, upon the conscience,--would that you might enter into an examination of yourself, alone with your maker. then would you become as serious, and as anxious, as you will be in that moment when you shall be informed that the last hour of your life upon earth has come. another effect of this "reasoning together" with god, respecting our character and conduct, is to render our views _discriminating_. the action of the mind is not only intense, it is also intelligent. strange as it may sound, it is yet a fact, that a review of our past lives conducted under the eye of god, and with a recognition of his presence and oversight, serves to deliver the mind from confusion and panic, and to fill it with a calm and rational fear. this is of great value. for, when a man begins to be excited upon the subject of religion,--it may be for the first time, in his unreflecting and heedless life,--he is oftentimes terribly excited. he is now brought _suddenly_ into the midst of the most solemn things. that sin of his, the enormity of which he had never seen before, now reveals itself in a most frightful form, and he feels as the murderer does who wakes in the morning and begins to realize that he has killed a man. that holy being, of whose holiness he had no proper conception, now rises dim and awful before his half-opened inward eye, and he trembles like the pagan before the unknown god whom he ignorantly worships. that eternity, which he had heard spoken of with total indifference, now flashes penal flames in his face. taken and held in this state of mind, the transgressor is confusedly as well as terribly awakened, and he needs first of all to have this experience clarified, and know precisely for what he is trembling, and why. this panic and consternation must depart, and a calm intelligent anxiety must take its place. but this cannot be, unless the mind turns towards god, and invites his searching scrutiny, and his aid in the search after sin. so long as we shrink away from our judge, and in upon ourselves, in these hours of conviction,--so long as we deal only with the workings of our own minds, and do not look up and "reason together" with god,--we take the most direct method of producing a blind, an obscure, and a selfish agony. we work ourselves, more and more, into a mere phrenzy of excitement. some of the most wretched and fanatical experience in the history of the church is traceable to a solitary self-brooding, in which, after the sense of sin had been awakened, the soul did not discuss the matter with god. for the character and attributes of god, when clearly seen, repress all fright, and produce that peculiar species of fear which is tranquil because it is deep. though the soul, in such an hour, is conscious that god is a fearful object of sight for a transgressor, yet it continues to gaze at him with an eager straining eye. and in so doing, the superficial tremor and panic of its first awakening to the subject of religion passes off, and gives place to an intenser moral feeling, the calmness of which is like the stillness of fascination. nothing has a finer effect upon a company of awakened minds, than to cause the being and attributes of god, in all their majesty and purity, to rise like an orb within their horizon; and the individual can do nothing more proper, or more salutary, when once his sin begins to disquiet him, and the inward perturbation commences, than to collect and steady himself, in an act of reflection upon that very being who _abhors_ sin. let no man, in the hour of conviction and moral fear, attempt to run away from the divine holiness. on the contrary, let him rush forward and throw himself down prostrate before that dread presence, and plead the merits of the son of god, before it. he that finds his life shall lose it; but he that loses his life shall find it. except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it remains a single unproductive corn of wheat; but if it _die_, it germinates and brings forth much fruit. he who does not avoid a contact between the sin of his soul and the holiness of his god, but on the contrary seeks to have these two things come together, that each may be understood in its own intrinsic nature and quality, takes the only safe course. he finds that, as he knows god more distinctly, he knows himself more distinctly; and though as yet he can see nothing but displeasure in that holy countenance, he is possessed of a well-defined experience. he knows that he is wrong, and his maker is right; that he is wicked, and that god is holy. he perceives these two fundamental facts with a simplicity, and a certainty, that admits of no debate. the confusion and obscurity of his mind, and particularly the queryings whether these things are so, whether god is so very holy and man is so very sinful, begin to disappear, like a fog when disparted and scattered by sunrise. objects are seen in their true proportions and meanings; right and wrong, the carnal mind and the spiritual mind, heaven and hell,--all the great contraries that pertain to the subject of religion,--are distinctly understood, and thus the first step is taken towards a better state of things in the soul. let no man, then, fear to invite the scrutiny of god, in connection with his own scrutiny of himself. he who deals only with the sense of duty, and the operations of his own mind, will find that these themselves become more dim and indistinct, so long as the process of examination is not conducted in this joint manner; so long as the mind refuses to accept the divine proposition, "come now, and let us reason _together_." he, on the other hand, who endeavors to obtain a clear view of the being against whom he has sinned, and to feel the full power of his holy eye as well as of his holy law, will find that his sensations and experiences are gaining a wonderful distinctness and intensity that will speedily bring the entire matter to an issue. ii. for then, by the blessing of god, he learns the second lesson taught in the text: viz., that _there is forgiveness with god_. though, in this process of joint examination, your sins be found to be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be discovered to be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. if there were no forgiveness of sins, if mercy were not a manifested attribute of god, all self-examination, and especially all this conjoint divine scrutiny, would be a pure torment and a pure gratuity. it is wretchedness to know that we are guilty sinners, but it is the endless torment to know that there is no forgiveness, either here or hereafter. convince a man that he will never be pardoned, and you shut him up with the spirits in prison. compel him to examine himself under the eye of his god, while at the same time he has no hope of mercy,--and there would be nothing _unjust_ in this,--and you distress him with the keenest and most living torment of which a rational spirit is capable. well and natural was it, that the earliest creed of the christian church emphasized the doctrine of the divine pity; and in all ages the apostolic symbol has called upon the guilt-stricken human soul to cry, "i believe in the forgiveness of sins." we have the amplest assurance in the whole written revelation of god, _but nowhere else_, that "there is forgiveness with him, that he may be feared." "whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall find mercy;" and only with such an assurance as this from his own lips, could we summon courage to look into our character and conduct, and invite god to do the same. but the text is an exceedingly explicit assertion of this great truth. the very same being who invites us to reason with him, and canvass the subject of our criminality, in the very same breath, if we may so speak, assures us that he will forgive all that is found in this examination. and upon _such_ terms, cannot the criminal well afford to examine into his crime? he has a promise beforehand, that if he will but scrutinize and confess his sin it shall be forgiven. god would have been simply and strictly just, had he said to him: "go down into the depths of thy transgressing spirit, see how wicked thou hast been and still art, and know that in my righteous severity i will never pardon thee, world without end." but instead of this, he says: "go down into the depths of thy heart, see the transgression and the corruption all along the line of the examination, confess it into my ear, and i will make the scarlet and crimson guilt white in the blood of my own son." these declarations of holy writ, which are a direct verbal statement from the lips of god, and which specify distinctly what he will do and will not do in the matter of sin, teach us that however deeply our souls shall be found to be stained, the divine pity outruns and exceeds the crime. "for as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" here upon earth, there is no wickedness that surpasses the pardoning love of god in christ. the words which shakspeare puts into the mouth of the remorseful, but _impenitent_, danish king are strictly true: "what if this cursed hand were thicker than itself with brother's blood? is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens to wash it white as snow? whereto serves mercy, but to confront the visage of offence?"[ ] anywhere this side of the other world, and at any moment this side of the grave, a sinner, _if penitent_ (but penitence is not always at his control), may obtain forgiveness for all his sins, through christ's blood of atonement. he must not hope for mercy in the future world, if he neglects it here. there are no acts of pardon passed in the day of judgment. the utterance of christ in _that_ day is not the utterance, "thy sins are forgiven thee," but, "come ye blessed," or "depart ye cursed." so long, and only so long, as there is life there is hope, and however great may be the conscious criminality of a man while he is under the economy of redemption, and before he is summoned to render up his last account, let him not despair but hope in divine grace. now, he who has seriously "reasoned together" with god, respecting his own character, is far better prepared to find god in the forgiveness of sins, than he is who has merely brooded over his own unhappiness, without any reference to the qualities and claims of his judge. it has been a plain and personal matter throughout, and having now come to a clear and settled conviction that he is a guilty sinner, he turns directly to the great and good being who stands immediately before him, and prays to be forgiven, and _is_ forgiven. one reason why the soul so often gropes days and months without finding a sin-pardoning god lies in the fact, that its thoughts and feelings respecting religious subjects, and particularly respecting the state of the heart, have been too vague and indistinct. they have not had an immediate and close reference to that one single being who is most directly concerned, and who alone can minister to a mind diseased. the soul is wretched, and there may be some sense of sin, but there is no one to go to,--no one to address with an appealing cry. "oh that i knew where i might find him," is its language. "oh that i might come even to his seat. behold i go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but i cannot perceive him." but this groping would cease were there a clear view of god. there might not be peace and a sense of reconciliation immediately; but there would be a distinct conception of _the one thing needful_ in order to salvation. this would banish all other subjects and objects. the eye would be fixed upon the single fact of sin, and the simple fact that none but god can forgive it. the whole inward experience would thus be narrowed down to a focus. simplicity and intensity would be introduced into the mental state, instead of the previous confusion and vagueness. soliloquy would end, and prayer, importunate, agonizing prayer, would begin. that morbid and useless self-brooding would cease, and those strong cryings and wrestlings till day-break would commence, and the kingdom of heaven would suffer this violence, and the violent would take it by force. "when i _kept silence_; my bones waxed old, through my roaring all the day long. for day and night thy hand was heavy upon me; my moisture was turned into the drought of summer. i _acknowledged_ my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity i no longer _hid_. i said, i will _confess_ my transgressions unto the lord; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. for this,"--because this is thy method of salvation,--"shall every one that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou mayest be found." (ps. xxxii. - .) self-examination, then, when joined with a distinct recognition of the divine character, and a conscious sense of god's scrutiny, paradoxical as it may appear, is the surest means of producing a firm conviction in a guilty mind that god is merciful, and is the swiftest way of finding him to be so. opposed as the divine nature is to sin, abhorrent as iniquity is to the pure mind of god, it is nevertheless a fact, that that sinner who goes directly into this dread presence with all his sins upon his head, in order to know them, to be condemned and crushed by them, and to confess them, is the one who soonest returns with peace and hope in his soul. for, he discovers that god is as cordial and sincere in his offer to forgive, as he is in his threat to punish; and having, to his sorrow, felt the reality and power of the divine anger, he now to his joy feels the equal reality and power of the divine love. and this is the one great lesson which every man must learn, or perish forever. the _truthfulness_ of god, in every respect, and in all relations,--his strict _fidelity to his word_, both under the law and under the gospel,--is a quality of which every one must have a vivid knowledge and certainty, in order to salvation. men perish through unbelief. he that doubteth is damned. to illustrate. men pass through this life doubting and denying god's abhorrence of sin, and his determination to punish it forever and ever. under the narcotic and stupefying influence of this doubt and denial, they remain in sin, and at death go over into the immediate presence of god, only to discover that all his statements respecting his determination upon this subject are _true_,--awfully and hopelessly true. they then spend an eternity, in bewailing their infatuation in dreaming, while here upon earth, that the great and holy god did not mean what he said. unbelief, again, tends to death in the other direction, though it is far less liable to result in it. the convicted and guilt-smitten man sometimes doubts the truthfulness of the divine promise in christ. he spends days of darkness and nights of woe, because he is unbelieving in regard to god's compassion, and readiness to forgive a penitent; and when, at length, the light of the divine countenance breaks upon him, he wonders that he was so foolish and slow of heart to believe all that god himself had said concerning the "multitude" of his tender mercies. christian and hopeful lay long and needlessly in the dungeon of doubting castle, until the former remembered that the key to all the locks was in his bosom, and had been all the while. they needed only to take god at his word. the anxious and fearful soul must believe the eternal judge _implicitly_, when he says: "i will justify thee through the blood of christ." god is truthful under the gospel, and under the law; in his promise of mercy, and in his threatening of eternal woe. and "if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself." he hath promised, and he hath threatened; and, though heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle of that promise shall not fail in the case of those who confidingly trust it, nor shall one iota or scintilla of the threatening fail in the instance of those who have recklessly and rashly disbelieved it. in respect, then, to both sides of the revelation of the divine character,--in respect to the threatening and the promise,--men need to have a clear perception, and an unwavering belief. he that doubteth in either direction is damned. he who does not believe that god is truthful, when he declares that he will "punish iniquity, transgression and sin," and that those upon the left hand shall "go away into everlasting punishment," will persist in sin until he passes the line of probation and be lost. and he who does not believe that god is truthful, when he declares that he will forgive scarlet and crimson sins through the blood of christ, will be overcome by despair and be also lost. but he who believes _both_ divine statements with equal certainty, and perceives _both_ facts with distinct vision, will be saved. from these two lessons of the text, we deduce the following practical directions: . first: in all states of religious anxiety, we should _betake ourselves instantly and directly to god_. there is no other refuge for the human soul but god in christ, and if this fails us, we must renounce all hope here and hereafter. "if this fail, the pillared firmament is rottenness, and earth's base built on stubble."[ ] we are, therefore, from the nature of the case, shut up to this course. suppose the religious anxiety arise from a sense of sin, and the fear of retribution. god is the only being that can forgive sins. to whom, then, can such an one go but unto him? suppose the religious anxiety arises from a sense of the perishing nature of earthly objects, and the soul feels as if all the foundation and fabric of its hope and comfort were rocking into irretrievable ruin. god is the only being who can help in this crisis. in either or in any case,--be it the anxiety of the unforgiven, or of the child of god,--whatever be the species of mental sorrow, the human soul is by its very circumstances driven to its maker, or else driven to destruction. what more reasonable course, therefore, than to conform to the necessities of our condition. the principal part of wisdom is to take things as they are, and act accordingly. are we, then, sinners, and in fear for the final result of our life? though it may seem to us like running into fire, we must nevertheless betake ourselves first and immediately to that being who hates and punishes sin. though we see nothing but condemnation and displeasure in those holy eyes, we must nevertheless approach them _just and simply as we are_. we must say with king david in a similar case, when he had incurred the displeasure of god: "i am in a great strait; [yet] let me fall into the hand of the lord, for very great are his mercies" ( chron. xx. ). we must suffer the intolerable brightness to blind and blast us in our guiltiness, and let there be an actual contact between the sin of our soul and the holiness of our god. if we thus proceed, in accordance with the facts of our case and our position, we shall meet with a great and joyful surprise. flinging ourselves helpless, and despairing of all other help,--_rashly_, as it will seem to us, flinging ourselves off from the position where we now are, and upon which we must inevitably perish, we shall find ourselves, to our surprise and unspeakable joy, caught in everlasting, paternal arms. he who loses his life,--he who _dares_ to lose his life,--shall find it. . secondly: in all our religious anxiety, we should _make a full and plain statement of everything to god_. god loves to hear the details of our sin, and our woe. the soul that pours itself out as water will find that it is not like water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. even when the story is one of shame and remorse, we find it to be mental relief, patiently and without any reservation or palliation, to expose the whole not only to our own eye but to that of our judge. for, to this very thing have we been invited. this is precisely the "reasoning together" which god proposes to us. god has not offered clemency to a sinful world, with the expectation or desire that there be on the part of those to whom it is offered, such a stinted and meagre confession, such a glozing over and diminution of sin, as to make that clemency appear a very small matter. he well knows the depth and the immensity of the sin which he proposes to pardon, and has made provision accordingly. in the phrase of luther, it is no painted sinner who is to be forgiven, and it is no painted saviour who is offered. the transgression is deep and real, and the atonement is deep and real. the crime cannot be exaggerated, neither can the expiation. he, therefore, who makes the plainest and most child-like statement of himself to god, acts most in accordance with the mind, and will, and gospel of god. if man only be hearty, full, and unreserved in confession, he will find god to be hearty, full, and unreserved in absolution. man is not straitened upon the side of the divine mercy. the obstacle in the way of his salvation is in himself; and the particular, fatal obstacle consists in the fact that he does not feel that he _needs_ mercy. god in christ stands ready to pardon, but man the sinner stands up before him like the besotted criminal in our courts of law, with no feeling upon the subject. the judge assures him that he has a boundless grace and clemency to bestow, but the stolid hardened man is not even aware that he has committed a dreadful crime, and needs grace and clemency. there is food in infinite abundance, but no hunger upon the part of man. the water of life is flowing by in torrents, but men have no thirst. in this state of things, nothing can be done, but to pass a sentence of condemnation. god cannot forgive a being who does not even know that he needs to be forgiven. knowledge then, self-knowledge, is the great requisite; and the want of it is the cause of perdition. this "reasoning together" with god, respecting our past and present character and conduct, is the first step to be taken by any one who would make preparation for eternity. as soon as we come to a right understanding of our lost and guilty condition, we shall cry: "be merciful to me a sinner; create within me a clean heart, o god." without such an understanding,--such an intelligent perception of our sin and guilt,--we never shall, and we never can. [footnote : shakspeare: hamlet, act iii. sc. .] [footnote : milton: comus, - .] sin is spiritual slavery john viii. .--"jesus answered them, verily, verily i say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." the word [greek: doulos] which is translated "servant," in the text, literally signifies a slave; and the thought which our lord actually conveyed to those who heard him is, "whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin." the apostle peter, in that second epistle of his which is so full of terse and terrible description of the effects of unbridled sensuality upon the human will, expresses the same truth. speaking of the influence of those corrupting and licentious men who have "eyes full of adultery, and that _cannot_ cease from sin," he remarks that while they promise their dupes "liberty, they themselves are the servants [slaves] of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he _brought in bondage_." such passages as these, of which there are a great number in the bible, direct attention to the fact that sin contains an element of _servitude_,--that in the very act of transgressing the law of god there is a _reflex_ action of the human will upon itself, whereby it becomes less able than before to keep that law. sin is the suicidal action of the human will. it destroys the power to do right, which is man's true freedom. the effect of vicious habit in diminishing a man's ability to resist temptation is proverbial. but what is habit but a constant repetition of wrong decisions, every single one of which _reacts_ upon the faculty that put them forth, and renders it less strong and less energetic, to do the contrary. has the old debauchee, just tottering into hell, as much power of active resistance against the sin which has now ruined him, as the youth has who is just beginning to run that awful career? can any being do a wrong act, and be as sound in his will and as spiritually strong, after it, as he was before it? did that abuse of free agency by adam, whereby the sin of the race was originated, leave the agent as it found him,--uninjured and undebilitated in his voluntary power? the truth and fact is, that sin in and by its own nature and operations, tends to destroy all virtuous force, all holy energy, in any moral being. the excess of will to sin is the same as the defect of will to holiness. the degree of intensity with which any man loves and inclines to evil is the measure of the amount of power to good which he has thereby lost. and if the intensity be total, then the loss is entire. total depravity carries with it total impotence and helplessness. the more carefully we observe the workings of our own wills, the surer will be our conviction that they can ruin themselves. we shall indeed find that they cannot be _forced_, or ruined from the outside. but, if we watch the influence upon the _will itself_, of its own wrong decisions, its own yielding to temptations, we shall discover that the voluntary faculty may be ruined from within; may be made impotent to good by its own action; may surrender itself with such an intensity and entireness to appetite, passion, and self-love, that it becomes unable to reverse itself, and overcome its own wrong disposition and direction. and yet there is no _compulsion_, from first to last, in the process. the man follows himself. he pursues his own inclination. he has his own way and does as he pleases. he loves what he inclines to love, and hates what he inclines to hate. neither god, nor the world, nor satan himself, force him to do wrong. sin is the most spontaneous of self-motion. but self-motion has _consequences_ as much as any other motion. because transgression is a _self_-determined act, it does not follow that it has no reaction and results, but leaves the will precisely as it found it. it is strictly true that man was not necessitated to apostatize; but it is equally true that if by his own self-decision he should apostatize, he could not then and afterwards be as he was before. he would lose a _knowledge_ of god and divine things which he could never regain of himself. and he would lose a spiritual _power_ which he could never again recover of himself. the bondage of which christ speaks, when he says, "whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin," is an effect within the soul itself of an unforced act of self-will, and therefore is as truly guilt as any other result or product of self-will,--as spiritual blindness, or spiritual hardness, or any other of the qualities of sin. whatever springs from will, we are responsible for. the drunkard's bondage and powerlessness issues from his own inclination and self-indulgence, and therefore the bondage and impotence is no excuse for his vice. man's inability to love god supremely results from his intense self-will and self-love; and therefore his impotence is a part and element of his sin, and not an excuse for it. "if weakness may excuse, what murderer, what traitor, parricide, incestuous, sacrilegious, may not plead it? all wickedness is weakness."[ ] the doctrine, then, which is taught in the text, is the truth that _sin is spiritual slavery_; and it is to the proof and illustration of this position that we invite attention. the term "spiritual" is too often taken to mean unreal, fanciful, figurative. for man is earthly in his views as well as in his feelings, and therefore regards visible and material things as the emphatic realities. hence he employs material objects as the ultimate standard, by which he measures the reality of all other things. the natural man has more consciousness of his body, than he has of his soul; more sense of this world, than of the other. hence we find that the carnal man expresses his conception of spiritual things, by transferring to them, in a weak and secondary signification, words which he applies in a strong and vivid way only to material objects. he speaks of the "joy" of the spirit, but it is not such a reality for him as is the "joy" of the body. he speaks of the "pain" of the spirit, but it has not such a poignancy for him as that anguish which thrills through his muscles and nerves. he knows that the "death" of the body is a terrible event, but transfers the word "death" to the spirit with a vague and feeble meaning, not realizing that the second death is more awful than the first, and is accompanied with a spiritual distress compared with which, the sharpest agony of material dissolution would be a relief. he understands what is meant by the "life" of the body, but when he hears the "eternal life" of the spirit spoken of, or when he reads of it in the bible, it is with the feeling that it cannot be so real and lifelike as that vital principle whose currents impart vigor and warmth to his bodily frame. and yet, the life of the spirit is more intensely real than the life of the body is; for it has power to overrule and absorb it. spiritual life, when in full play, is bliss ineffable. it translates man into the third heavens, where the fleshly life is lost sight of entirely, and the being, like st. paul, does not know whether he is in the body or out of the body. the natural mind is deceived. spirit has in it more of reality than matter has; because it is an immortal and indestructible essence, while matter is neither. spiritual things are more real than visible things; because they are eternal, and eternity is more real than time. statements respecting spiritual objects, therefore, are more solemnly true than any that relate to material things. invisible and spiritual realities, therefore, are the standard by which all others should be tried; and human language when applied to them, instead of expressing too much, expresses too little. the imagery and phraseology by which the scriptures describe the glory of god, the excellence of holiness, and the bliss of heaven, on the one side, and the sinfulness of sin with the woe of hell, on the other, come short of the sober and actual matter of fact. we should, therefore, beware of the error to which in our unspirituality we are specially liable; and when we hear christ assert that "whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin," we should believe and know, that these words are not extravagant, and contain no subtrahend,--that they indicate a self-enslavement of the human will which is so real, so total, and so absolute, as to necessitate the renewing grace of god in order to deliverance from it. this bondage to sin may be discovered by every man. it must be discovered, before one can cry, "save me or i perish." it must be discovered, before one can feelingly assent to christ's words, "without me ye can do nothing." it must be discovered, before one can understand the christian paradox, "when i am weak, then am i strong." to aid the mind, in coming to the conscious experience of the truth taught in the text, we remark: i. sin is spiritual slavery, if viewed in reference to man's _sense of obligation to be perfectly holy_. the obligation to be holy, just, and good, as god is, rests upon every rational being. every man knows, or may know, that he ought to be perfect as his father in heaven is perfect, and that he is a debtor to this obligation until he has _fully_ met it. hence even the holiest of men are conscious of sin, because they are not completely up to the mark of this high calling of god. for, the sense of this obligation is an exceeding broad one,--like the law itself which it includes and enforces. the feeling of duty will not let us off, with the performance of only a part of our duty. its utterance is: "verily i say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till _all_ be fulfilled." law spreads itself over the whole surface and course of our lives, and insists imperatively that every part and particle of them be pure and holy. again, this sense of obligation to be perfect as god is perfect, is exceedingly deep. it is the most profound sense of which man is possessed, for it outlives all others. the feeling of duty to god's law remains in a man's mind either to bless him or to curse him, when all other feelings depart. in the hour of death, when all the varied passions and experiences which have engrossed the man his whole lifetime are dying out of the soul, and are disappearing, one after another, like signal-lights in the deepening darkness, this one particular feeling of what he owes to the divine and the eternal law remains behind, and grows more vivid, and painful, as all others grow dimmer and dimmer. and therefore it is, that in this solemn hour man forgets whether he has been happy or unhappy, successful or unsuccessful, in the world, and remembers only that he has been a _sinner_ in it. and therefore it is, that a man's thoughts, when he is upon his death-bed, do not settle upon his worldly matters, but upon his sin. it is because the human conscience is the very core and centre of the human being, and its sense of obligation to be holy is deeper than all other senses and sensations, that we hear the dying man say what the living and prosperous man is not inclined to say: "i have been wicked; i have been a sinner in the earth." now it might seem, at first sight, that this broad, deep, and abiding sense of obligation would be sufficient to overcome man's love of sin, and bring him up to the discharge of duty,--would be powerful enough to subdue his self-will. can it be that this strong and steady draft of conscience,--strong and steady as gravitation,--will ultimately prove ineffectual? is not truth mighty, and must it not finally prevail, to the pulling down of the stronghold which satan has in the human heart? so some men argue. so some men claim, in opposition to the doctrine of divine influences and of regeneration by the holy ghost. we are willing to appeal to actual experience, in order to settle the point. and we affirm in the outset, that exactly in proportion as a man hears the voice of conscience sounding its law within his breast, does he become aware, not of the strength but, of the bondage of his will, and that in proportion as this sense of obligation to be _perfectly_ holy rises in his soul, all hope or expectation of ever becoming so by his own power sets in thick night. in our careless unawakened state, which is our ordinary state, we sin on from day to day, just as we live on from day to day, without being distinctly aware of it. a healthy man does not go about, holding his fingers upon his wrist, and counting every pulse; and neither does a sinful man, as he walks these streets and transacts all this business, think of and sum up the multitude of his transgressions. and yet, that pulse all the while beats none the less; and yet, that will all the while transgresses none the less. so long as conscience is asleep, sin is pleasant. the sinful activity goes on without notice, we are happy in sin, and we do not feel that it is slavery of the will. though the chains are actually about us, yet they do not gall us. in this condition, which is that of every unawakened sinner, we are not conscious of the "bondage of corruption." in the phrase of st. paul, "we are alive without the law." we have no feeling sense of duty, and of course have no feeling sense of sin. and it is in this state of things, that arguments are framed to prove the mightiness of mere conscience, and the power of bare truth and moral obligation, over the perverse human heart and will. but the spirit of god awakens the conscience; that sense of obligation to be _perfectly_ holy which has hitherto slept now starts up, and begins to form an estimate of what has been done in reference to it. the man hears the authoritative and startling law: "thou shalt be perfect, as god is." and now, at this very instant and point, begins the consciousness of enslavement,--of being, in the expressive phrase of scripture, "_sold_ under sin." now the commandment "comes," shows us first what we ought to be and then what we actually are, and we "die."[ ] all moral strength dies out of us. the muscle has been cut by the sword of truth, and the limb drops helpless by the side. for, we find that the obligation is immense. it extends to all our outward acts; and having covered the whole of this great surface, it then strikes inward and reaches to every thought of the mind, and every emotion of the heart, and every motive of the will. we discover that we are under obligation at every conceivable point in our being and in our history, but that we have not met obligation at a single point. when we see that the law of god is broad and deep, and that sin is equally broad and deep within us; when we learn that we have never thought one single holy thought, nor felt one single holy feeling, nor done one single holy deed, because self-love is the root and principle of all our work, and we have never purposed or desired to please god by any one of our actions; when we find that everything has been required, and that absolutely nothing has been done, that we are bound to be perfectly holy this very instant, and as matter of fact are totally sinful, we know in a most affecting manner that "whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin". but suppose that after this disheartening and weakening discovery of the depth and extent of our sinfulness, we proceed to take the second step, and attempt to extirpate it. suppose that after coming to a consciousness of all this obligation resting upon us, we endeavor to comply with it. this renders us still more painfully sensible of the truth of our saviour's declaration. even the regenerated man, who in this endeavor has the aid of god, is mournfully conscious that sin is the enslavement of the human will. though he has been freed substantially, he feels that the fragments of the chains are upon him still. though the love of god is the predominant principle within him, yet the lusts and propensities of the old nature continually start up like devils, and tug at the spirit, to drag it down to its old bondage. but that man who attempts to overcome sin, without first crying, "create within me a clean heart, o god," feels still more deeply that sin is spiritual slavery. when _he_ comes to know sin in reference to the obligation to be perfectly holy, it is with vividness and hopelessness. he sees distinctly that he ought to be a perfectly good being instantaneously. this point is clear. but instead of looking up to the hills whence cometh his help, he begins, in a cold legal and loveless temper, to draw upon his own resources. the first step is to regulate his external conduct by the divine law. he tries to put a bridle upon his tongue, and to walk carefully before his fellow-men. he fails to do even this small outside thing, and is filled with discouragement and despondency. but the sense of duty reaches beyond the external conduct, and the law of god pierces like the two-edged sword of an executioner, and discerns the thoughts and motives of the heart. sin begins to be seen in its relation to the inner man, and he attempts again to reform and change the feelings and affections of his soul. he strives to wring the gall of bitterness out of his own heart, with his own hands. but he fails utterly. as he resolves, and breaks his resolutions; as he finds evil thoughts and feelings continually coming up from the deep places of his heart; he discovers his spiritual impotence,--his lack of control over what is deepest, most intimate, and most fundamental in his own character,--and cries out: "i _am_ a slave, i am a _slave_ to myself." if then, you would know from immediate consciousness that "whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin," simply view sin in the light of that obligation to be _perfectly_ pure and holy which necessarily, and forever, rests upon a responsible being. if you would know that spiritual slavery is no extravagant and unmeaning phrase, but denotes a most real and helpless bondage, endeavor to get entirely rid of sin, and to be perfect as the spirits of just men made perfect. ii. sin is spiritual slavery, if viewed in reference to the _aspirations_ of the human soul. theology makes a distinction between common and special grace,--between those ordinary influences of the divine spirit which rouse the conscience, and awaken some transient aspirations after religion, and those extraordinary influences which actually renew the heart and will. in speaking, then, of the aspirations of the human soul, reference is had to all those serious impressions, and those painful anxieties concerning salvation, which require to be followed up by a yet mightier power from god, to prevent their being entirely suppressed again, as they are in a multitude of instances, by the strong love of sin and the world. for though man has fallen into a state of death in trespasses and sins, so that if cut off from _every_ species of divine influence, and left _entirely_ to himself, he would never reach out after anything but the sin which he loves, yet through the common influences of the spirit of grace, and the ordinary workings of a rational nature not yet reprobated, he is at times the subject of internal stirrings and aspirations that indicate the greatness and glory of the heights whence he fell. under the power of an awakened conscience, and feeling the emptiness of the world, and the aching void within him, man wishes for something better than he has, or than he is. the minds of the more thoughtful of the ancient pagans were the subjects of these impulses, and aspirations; and they confess their utter inability to realize them. they are expressed upon every page of plato, and it is not surprising that some of the christian fathers should have deemed platonism, as well as judaism, to be a preparation for christianity, by its bringing man to a sense of his need of redemption. and it would stimulate christians in their efforts to give revealed religion to the heathen, did they ponder the fact which the journals of the missionary sometimes disclose, that the divine spirit is brooding with his common and preparatory influence over the chaos of paganism, and that here and there the heathen mind faintly aspires to be freed from the bondage of corruption,--that dim stirrings, impulses, and wishes for deliverance, are awake in the dark heart of paganism, but that owing to the strength and inveteracy of sin in that heart they will prove ineffectual to salvation, unless the gospel is preached, and the holy spirit is specially poured out in answer to the prayers of christians. now, all these phenomena in the human soul go to show the rigid bondage of sin, and to prove that sin has an element of servitude in it. for when these impulses, wishes, and aspirations are awakened, and the man discovers that he is unable to realize them in actual character and conduct, he is wretchedly and thoroughly conscious that "whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin." the immortal, heaven-descended spirit, feeling the kindling touch of truth and of the holy ghost, thrills under it, and essays to soar. but sin hangs heavy upon it, and it cannot lift itself from the earth. never is man so sensible of his enslavement and his helplessness, as when he has a _wish_ but has no _will_.[ ] look, for illustration, at the aspirations of the drunkard to be delivered from the vice that easily besets him. in his sober moments, they come thick and fast, and during his sobriety, and while under the lashings of conscience, he wishes, nay, even _longs_, to be freed from drunkenness. it may be, that under the impulse of these aspirations he resolves never to drink again. it may be, that amid the buoyancy that naturally accompanies the springing of hope and longing in the human soul, he for a time seems to himself to be actually rising up from his "wallowing in the mire," and supposes that he shall soon regain his primitive condition of temperance. but the sin is strong; for the appetite that feeds it is in his blood. temptation with its witching solicitation comes before the will,--the weak, self-enslaved will. he _aspires_ to resist, but _will_ not; the spirit _would_ soar, but the flesh _will_ creep; the spirit has the _wish_, but the flesh has the _will_; the man longs to be sober, but actually is and remains a drunkard. and never,--be it noticed,--never is he more thoroughly conscious of being a slave to himself, than when he thus _ineffectually_ aspires and wishes to be delivered from himself. what has been said of drunkenness, and the aspiration to be freed from it, applies with full force to all the sin and all the aspirations of the human soul. there is no independent and self-realizing power in a mere aspiration. no man overcomes even his vices, except as he is assisted by the common grace of god. the self-reliant man invariably relapses into his old habits. he who thinks he stands is sure to fall. but when, under the influence of god's common grace, a man aspires to be freed from the deepest of all sin, because it is the source of all particular acts of transgression,--when he attempts to overcome and extirpate the original and inveterate depravity of his heart,--he feels his bondage more thoroughly than ever. if it is wretchedness for the drunkard to aspire after freedom from only a single vice, and fail of reaching it, is it not the depth of woe, when a man comes to know "the plague of his heart," and his utter inability to cleanse and cure it? in this case, the bondage of self-will is found to be absolute. at first sight, it might seem as if these wishes and aspirations of the human spirit, faint though they be, are proof that man is not totally depraved, and that his will is not helplessly enslaved. so some men argue. but they forget, that these aspirations and wishes are _never realized_. there is no evidence of power, except from its results. and where are the results? who has ever realized these wishes and aspirations, in his heart and conduct? the truth is, that every _unattained_ aspiration that ever swelled the human soul is proof positive, and loud, that the human soul is in bondage. these _ineffectual_ stirrings and impulses, which disappear like the morning cloud and the early dew, are most affecting evidences that "whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin." they prove that apostate man has sunk, in one respect, to a lower level than that of the irrational creation. for, high ideas and truths cannot raise him. lofty impulses result in no alteration, or elevation. even divine influences leave him just where they find him, unless they are exerted in their highest grade of irresistible grace. a brute surrenders himself to his appetites and propensities, and lives the low life of nature, without being capable of aspirations for anything purer and nobler. but man does this very thing,--nay, immerses himself in flesh, and sense, and self, with an entireness and intensity of which the brute is incapable,--in the face of impulses and stirrings of mind that point him to the pure throne of god, and urge him to soar up to it! the brute is a creature of nature, because he knows no better, and can desire nothing better; but man is "as the beasts that perish," in spite of a better knowledge and a loftier aspiration! if then, you would know that "whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin," contemplate sin in reference to the aspirations of an apostate spirit originally made in the image of god, and which, because it is not eternally reprobated, is not entirely cut off from the common influences of the spirit of god. never will you feel the bondage of your will more profoundly, than when under these influences, and in your moments of seriousness and anxiety respecting your soul's salvation, you aspire and endeavor to overcome inward sin, and find that unless god grant you his special and renovating grace, your heart will be sinful through all eternity, in spite of the best impulses of your best hours. these upward impulses and aspirations cannot accompany the soul into the state of final hopelessness and despair, though milton represents satan as sometimes looking back with a sigh, and a mournful memory, upon what he had once been,[ ]--yet if they should go with us there, they would make the ardor of the fire more fierce, and the gnaw of the worm more fell. for they would help to reveal the strength of our sin, and the intensity of our rebellion. iii. sin is spiritual slavery, if viewed in reference to the _fears_ of the human soul. the sinful spirit of man fears the death of the body, and the scriptures assert that by reason of this particular fear we are all our lifetime in bondage. though we know that the bodily dissolution can have no effect upon the imperishable essence of an immortal being, yet we shrink back from it, as if the sentence, "dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return," had been spoken of the spirit,--as if the worm were to "feed sweetly" upon the soul, and it were to be buried up in the dark house of the grave. even the boldest of us is disturbed at the thought of bodily death, and we are always startled when the summons suddenly comes: "set thy house in order, for thou must die." again, the spirit of man fears that "fearful something after death," that eternal judgment which must be passed upon all. we tremble at the prospect of giving an account of our own actions. we are afraid to reap the harvest, the seed of which we have sown with our own hands. the thought of going to a just judgment, and of receiving from the judge of all the earth, who cannot possibly do injustice to any of his creatures, only that which is our desert, shocks us to the centre of our being! man universally is afraid to be judged with a righteous judgment! man universally is terrified by the equitable bar of god! again, the apostate spirit of man has an awful dread of eternity. though this invisible realm is the proper home of the human soul, and it was made to dwell there forever, after the threescore and ten years of its residence in the body are over, yet it shrinks back from an entrance into this untried world, and clings with the desperate force of a drowning man to this "bank and shoal of time." there are moments in the life of a guilty man when the very idea of eternal existence exerts a preternatural power, and fills him with a dread that paralyzes him. never is the human being stirred to so great depths, and roused to such intensity of action, as when it feels what the scripture calls "the power of an _endless_ life." all men are urged by some ruling passion which is strong. the love of wealth, or of pleasure, or of fame, drives the mind onward with great force, and excites it to mighty exertions to compass its end. but never is a man pervaded by such an irresistible and overwhelming influence as that which descends upon him in some season of religious gloom,--some hour of sickness, or danger, or death,--when the great eternity, with all its awful realities, and all its unknown terror, opens upon his quailing gaze. there are times in man's life, when he is the subject of movements within that impel him to deeds that seem almost superhuman; but that internal ferment and convulsion which is produced when all eternity pours itself through his being turns his soul up from the centre. man will labor convulsively, night and day, for money; he will dry up the bloom and freshness of health, for earthly power and fame; he will actually wear his body out for sensual pleasure. but what is the intensity and paroxysm of this activity of mind and body, if compared with those inward struggles and throes when the overtaken and startled sinner sees the eternal world looming into view, and with strong crying and tears prays for only a little respite, and only a little preparation! "millions for an inch of time,"--said the dying english queen. "o eternity! eternity! how shall i grapple with the misery that i must meet with in _eternity_,"--says the man in the iron cage of despair. this finite world has indeed great power to stir man, but the other world has an infinitely greater power. the clouds which float in the lower regions of the sky, and the winds that sweep them along, produce great ruin and destruction upon the earth, but it is only when the "windows of heaven are opened" that "the fountains of the great deep are broken up," and "all in whose nostrils is the breath of life die," and "every living substance is destroyed which is upon the face of the ground." when fear arises in the soul of man, in view of an eternal existence for which he is utterly unprepared, it is overwhelming. it partakes of the immensity of eternity, and holds the man with an omnipotent grasp. if, now, we view sin in relation to these great fears of death, judgment, and eternity, we see that it is spiritual slavery, or the bondage of the will. we discover that our terror is no more able to deliver us from the "bondage of corruption," than our aspiration is. we found that in spite of the serious stirrings and impulses which sometimes rise within us, we still continue immersed in sense and sin; and we shall also find that in spite of the most solemn and awful fears of which a finite being is capable, we remain bondmen to ourselves, and our sin. the dread that goes down into hell can no more ransom us, than can the aspiration that goes up into heaven. our fear of eternal woe can no more change the heart, than our wish for eternal happiness can. we have, at some periods, faintly wished that lusts and passions had no power over us; and perhaps we have been the subject of still higher aspirings. but we are the same beings, still. we are the same self-willed and self-enslaved sinners, yet. we have all our lifetime feared death, judgment, and eternity, and under the influence of this fear we have sometimes resolved and promised to become christians. but we are the very same beings, still; we are the same self-willed and self-enslaved sinners yet. oh, never is the human spirit more deeply conscious of its bondage to its darling iniquity, than when these paralyzing fears shut down upon it, like night, with "a horror of great darkness." when under their influence, the man feels most thoroughly and wretchedly that his sin is his ruin, and yet his sinful determination continues on, because "whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin," has it never happened that, in "the visions of the night when deep sleep falleth upon men," a spirit passed before your face, like that which stood still before the temanite; and there was silence, and a voice saying, "man! man! thou must die, thou must be judged, thou must inhabit eternity?" and when the spirit had departed, and while the tones of its solemn and startling cry were still rolling through your soul, did not a temptation to sin solicit you, and did you not drink in its iniquity like water? have you not found out, by mournful experience, that the most anxious forebodings of the human spirit, the most alarming fears of the human soul, and the most solemn warnings that come forth from eternity, have no prevailing power over your sinful nature, but that immediately after experiencing them, and while your whole being is still quivering under their agonizing touch, you fall, you rush, into sin? have you not discovered that even that most dreadful of all fears,--the fear of the holy wrath of almighty god,--is not strong enough to save you from yourself? do you know that your love of sin has the power to stifle and overcome the mightiest of your fears, when you are strongly tempted to self-indulgence? have you no evidence, in your own experience, of the truth of the poet's words: "the sensual and the dark rebel in vain, slaves by their own compulsion." if, then, you would know that "whosoever committeth sin is the _slave_ of sin," contemplate sin in relation to the fears which of necessity rest upon a spirit capable, as yours is, of knowing that it must leave the body, that it must receive a final sentence at the bar of judgment, and that eternity is its last and fixed dwelling-place. if you would know with sadness and with profit, that sin is the enslavement of the will that originates it, consider that all the distressing fears that have ever been in your soul, from the first, have not been able to set you free in the least from innate depravity: but, that in spite of them all your will has been steadily surrendering itself, more and more, to the evil principle of self-love and enmity to god. call to mind the great fight of anguish and terror which you have sometimes waged with sin, and see how sin has always been victorious. remember that you have often dreaded death,--but you are unjust still. remember that you have often trembled at the thought of eternal judgment,--but you are unregenerate still. remember that you have often started back, when the holy and retributive eternity dawned like the day of doom upon you,--but you are impenitent still. if you view your own personal sin in reference to your own personal fears, are you not a slave to it? will or can your fears, mighty as they sometimes are, deliver you from the bondage of corruption, and lift you above that which you love with all your heart, and strength, and might? it is perfectly plain, then, that "whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin," whether we have regard to the feeling of obligation to be perfectly holy which is in the human conscience; or to the ineffectual aspirations which sometimes arise in the human spirit; or to the dreadful fears which often fall upon it. sin must have brought the human will into a real and absolute bondage, if the deep and solemn sense of indebtedness to moral law; if the "thoughts that wander through eternity;" if the aspirations that soar to the heaven of heavens, and the fears that descend to the very bottom of hell,--if all these combined forces and influences cannot free it from its power. it was remarked in the beginning of this discourse, that the bondage of sin is the result of the _reflex_ action of the human will upon itself. it is not a slavery imposed from without, but from within. the bondage of sin is only a _particular aspect_ of sin itself. the element of servitude, like the element of blindness, or hardness, or rebelliousness, is part and particle of that moral evil which deserves the wrath and curse of god. it, therefore, no more excuses or palliates, than does any other self-originated quality in sin. spiritual bondage, like spiritual enmity to god, or spiritual ignorance of him, or spiritual apathy towards him, is guilt and crime. and in closing, we desire to repeat and emphasize this truth. whoever will enter upon that process of self-wrestling and self-conflict which has been described, will come to a profound sense of the truth which our lord taught in the words of the text. all such will find and feel that they are in slavery, and that their slavery is their condemnation. for the anxious, weary, and heavy-laden sinner, the problem is not mysterious, because it finds its solution in the depths of his own _self-consciousness_. he needs no one to clear it up for him, and he has neither doubts nor cavils respecting it. but, an objection always assails that mind which has not the key of an inward moral struggle to unlock the problem for it. when christ asserts that "whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin," the easy and indifferent mind is swift to draw the inference that this bondage is its misfortune, and that the poor slave does not deserve to be punished, but to be set free. he says as st. paul did in another connection: "nay verily, but let them come themselves, and fetch us out." but this slavery is a _self_-enslavement. the feet of this man have not been thrust into the stocks by another. this logician must refer everything to its own proper author, and its own proper cause. let this spiritual bondage, therefore, be charged upon the _self_ that originated it. let it be referred to that self-will in which it is wrapped up, and of which it is a constituent element. it is a universally received maxim, that the agent is responsible for the _consequences_ of a voluntary act, as well as for the act itself. if, therefore, the human will has inflicted a suicidal blow upon itself, and one of the consequences of its own determination is a total enslavement of itself to its own determination, then this enslaving _result_ of the act, as well the act itself, must all go in to constitute and swell the sum-total of human guilt. the miserable drunkard, therefore, cannot be absolved from the drunkard's condemnation, upon the plea that by a long series of voluntary acts he has, in the end, so enslaved himself that no power but god's grace can save him. the marble-hearted fiend in hell, the absolutely lost spirit in despair, cannot relieve his torturing sense of guilt, by the reflection that he has at length so hardened his own heart that he cannot repent. the unforced will of a moral being must be held responsible for both its direct, and its _reflex_ action; for both its sin, and its _bondage_ in sin. the denial of guilt, then, is not the way out. he who takes this road "kicks against the goads." and he will find their stabs thickening, the farther he travels, and the nearer he draws to the face and eyes of god. but there is a way out. it is the way of self-knowledge and confession. this is the point upon which all the antecedents of salvation hinge. he who has come to know, with a clear discrimination, that he is in a guilty bondage to his own inclination and lust, has taken the very first step towards freedom. for, the redeemer, the almighty deliverer, is near the captive, so soon as the captive feels his bondage and confesses it. the mighty god walking upon the waves of this sinful, troubled life, stretches out _his_ arm, the very instant any sinking soul cries, "lord save me." and unless that appeal and confession of helplessness _is_ made, he, the merciful and the compassionate, will let the soul go down before his own eyes to the unfathomed abyss. if the sinking peter had not uttered that cry, the mighty hand of christ would not have been stretched forth. all the difficulties disappear, so soon as a man understands the truth of the divine affirmation: "o israel thou hast destroyed thyself,"--it is a real destruction, and it is thy own work,--"but in me is thy help." [footnote : milton: samson agonistes, - .--one key to the solution of the problem, how there can be bondage in the very seat of freedom,--how man can be responsible for sin, yet helpless in it,--is to be found in this fact of a reflex action of the will upon itself, or, a reaction of self-action. philosophical speculation upon the nature of the human will has not, hitherto, taken this fact sufficiently into account. the following extracts corroborate the view presented above. "my _will_ the enemy held, and _thence_ had made a chain for me, and bound me. for, of a perverse _will_ comes _lust_; and a lust yielded to becomes _custom_; and custom not resisted becomes _necessity_. by which links, as it were, joined together as in a chain, a hard bondage held me enthralled." augustine: confessions, viii. v. . "every degree of inclination contrary to duty, which is and must be sinful, implies and involves an equal degree of difficulty and inability to obey. for, indeed, such inclination of the heart to disobey, and the difficulty or inability to obey, are precisely one and the same. this kind of difficulty or inability, therefore, always is great according to the strength and fixedness of the inclination to disobey; and it becomes _total_ and _absolute_ [inability], when the heart is totally corrupt and wholly opposed to obedience.... no man can act contrary to his present inclination or choice. but who ever imagined that this rendered his inclination and choice innocent and blameless, however wrong and unreasonable it might be." samuel hopkins: works, i. - . "moral inability" is the being "unable to be willing." edwards: freedom of the will, part i, sect. iv. "propensities,"--says a writer very different from those above quoted,--"that are easily surmounted lead us unresistingly on; we yield to temptations so trivial that we despise their danger. and so we fall into perilous situations from which we might easily have preserved ourselves, but from which we now find it impossible to extricate ourselves without efforts so superhuman as to terrify us, and we finally fall into the abyss, saying to the almighty, 'why hast thou made me so weak?' but notwithstanding our vain pretext, he addresses our conscience, saying, 'i have made thee _too weak to rise from the pit_, because i made thee _strong enough not to fall therein_." rousseau: confessions, book ii.] [footnote : romans vii. - .] [footnote : some of the schoolmen distinguished carefully between the two things, and denominated the former, _velleitas_, and the latter, _voluntas_.] [footnote : milton: paradise lost, iv. - ; - .] the original and the actual relation of man to law. romans vii. .--"the commandment which, was ordained to life, i found to be unto death." the reader of st. paul's epistles is struck with the seemingly disparaging manner in which he speaks of the moral law. in one place, he tells his reader that "the law entered that the offence might abound;" in another, that "the law worketh wrath;" in another, that "sin shall not have dominion" over the believer because he is "not under the law;" in another, that christians "are become dead to the law;" in another, that "they are delivered from the law;" and in another, that "the strength of sin is the law." this phraseology sounds strangely, respecting that great commandment upon which the whole moral government of god is founded. we are in the habit of supposing that nothing that springs from the divine law, or is in any way connected with it, can be evil or the occasion of evil. if the law of holiness is the strength of sin; if it worketh wrath; if good men are to be delivered from it; what then shall be said of the law of sin? why is it, that st. paul in a certain class of his representations appears to be inimical to the ten commandments, and to warn christians against them? "is the law sin?" is a question that very naturally arises, while reading some of his statements; and it is a question which he himself asks, because he is aware that it will be likely to start in the mind of some of his readers. and it is a question to which he replies: "god forbid. nay i had not known sin, but by the law." the difficulty is only seeming, and not real. these apparently disparaging representations of the moral law are perfectly reconcilable with that profound reverence for its authority which st. paul felt and exhibited, and with that solemn and cogent preaching of the law for which he was so distinguished. the text explains and resolves the difficulty. "the commandment which was ordained to _life_, i found to be unto death." the moral law, in its own _nature_, and by the divine _ordination_, is suited to produce holiness and happiness in the soul of any and every man. it was ordained to life. so far as the purpose of god, and the original nature and character of man, are concerned, the ten commandments are perfectly adapted to fill the soul with peace and purity. in the unfallen creature, they work no wrath, neither are they the strength of sin. if everything in man had remained as it was created, there would have been no need of urging him to "become dead to the law," to be "delivered from the law," and not be "under the law." had man kept his original righteousness, it could never be said of him that "the strength of sin is the law." on the contrary, there was such a mutual agreement between the unfallen nature of man and the holy law of god, that the latter was the very joy and strength of the former. the commandment was ordained to life, and it was the life and peace of holy adam. the original relation between man's nature and the moral law was precisely like that between material nature and the material laws. there has been no apostasy in the system of matter, and all things remain there as they were in the beginning of creation. the law of gravitation, this very instant, rules as peacefully and supremely in every atom of matter, as it did on the morning of creation. should material nature be "delivered" from the law of gravitation, chaos would come again. no portion of this fair and beautiful natural world needs to become "dead" to the laws of nature. such phraseology as this is inapplicable to the relation that exists between the world of matter, and the system of material laws, because, in this material sphere, there has been no revolution, no rebellion, no great catastrophe analogous to the fall of adam. the law here was ordained to life, and the ordinance still stands. and it shall stand until, by the will of the creator, these elements shall melt with fervent heat, and these heavens shall pass away with a great noise; until a new system of nature, and a new legislation for it, are introduced. but the case is different with man. he is not standing where he was, when created. he is out of his original relations to the law and government of god, and therefore that which was ordained to him for life, he now finds to be unto death. the food which in its own nature is suited to minister to the health and strength of the well man, becomes poison and death itself to the sick man. with this brief notice of the fact, that the law of god was ordained to life, and that therefore this disparaging phraseology of st. paul does not refer to the intrinsic nature of law, which he expressly informs us "is holy just and good," nor to the original relation which man sustained to it before he became a sinner, let us now proceed to consider some particulars in which the commandment is found to be unto death, to every _sinful_ man. the law of god shows itself in the human soul, in the form of a _sense of duty_. every man, as he walks these streets, and engages in the business or pleasures of life, hears occasionally the words: "thou shalt; them shalt not." every man, as he passes along in this earthly pilgrimage, finds himself saying to himself: "i ought, i ought not." this is the voice of law sounding in the conscience; and every man may know, whenever he hears these words, that he is listening to the same authority that cut the ten commandments into the stones of sinai, and sounded that awful trumpet, and will one day come in power and great glory to judge the quick and dead. law, we say, expresses itself for man, while here upon earth, through the sense of duty. "a sense of duty pursues us ever," said webster, in that impressive allusion to the workings of conscience, in the trial of the salem murderers. this is the accusing and condemning _sensation_, in and by which the written statute of god becomes a living energy, and a startling voice in the soul. cut into the rock of sinai, it is a dead letter; written and printed in our bibles, it is still a dead letter; but wrought in this manner into the fabric of our own constitution, waylaying us in our hours of weakness, and irresolution, and secrecy, and speaking to our inward being in tones that are as startling as any that could be addressed to the physical ear,--undergoing this transmutation, and becoming a continual consciousness of duty and obligation, the law of god is more than a letter. it is a possessing spirit, and according as we obey or disobey, it is a guardian angel, or a tormenting fiend. we have disobeyed, and therefore the sense of duty is a tormenting sensation; the commandment which was ordained to life, is found to be unto death. i. in the first place, to go into the analysis, the sense of duty is a sorrow and a pain to sinful man, because it _places him under a continual restraint_. no creature can be happy, so long as he feels himself under limitations. to be checked, reined in, and thwarted in any way, renders a man uneasy and discontented. the universal and instinctive desire for freedom,--freedom from restraint,--is a proof of this. every creature wishes to follow out his inclination, and in proportion as he is hindered in so doing, and is compelled to work counter to it, he is restless and dissatisfied. now the sense of duty exerts just this influence, upon sinful man. it opposes his wishes; it thwarts his inclination; it imposes a restraint upon his spontaneous desires and appetites. it continually hedges up his way, and seeks to stop him in the path of his choice and his pleasure. if his inclination were only in harmony with his duty; if his desires and affections were one with the law of god; there would be no restraint from the law. in this case, the sense of duty would be a joy and not a sorrow, because, in doing his duty, he would be doing what he liked. there are only two ways, whereby contentment can be introduced into the human soul. if the divine law could be altered so that it should agree with man's sinful inclination, he could be happy in sin. the commandment having become like his own heart, there would, of course, be no conflict between the two, and he might sin on forever and lap himself in elysium. and undoubtedly there are thousands of luxurious and guilty men, who, if they could, like the eastern semiramis, would make lust and law alike in their decree;[ ] would transmute the law of holiness into a law of sin; would put evil for good, and good for evil, bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter; in order to be eternally happy in the sin that they love. they would bring duty and inclination into harmony, by a method that would annihilate duty, would annihilate the eternal distinction between right and wrong, would annihilate god himself. but this method, of course, is impossible. there can be no transmutation of law, though there can be of a creature's character and inclination. heaven and earth shall pass away, but the commandment of god can never pass away. the only other mode, therefore, by which duty and inclination can be brought into agreement, and the continual sense of restraint which renders man so wretched be removed, is to change the inclination. the instant the desires and affections of our hearts are transformed, so that they accord with the divine law, the conflict between our will and our conscience is at an end. when i come to love the law of holiness and delight in it, to obey it is simply to follow out my inclination. and this, we have seen, is to be happy. but such is not the state of things, in the unrenewed soul. duty and inclination are in conflict. man's desires appetites and tendencies are in one direction, and his conscience is in the other. the sense of duty holds a whip over him. he yields to his sinful inclination, finds a momentary pleasure in so doing, and then feels the stings of the scorpion-lash. we see this operation in a very plain and striking manner, if we select an instance where the appetite is very strong, and the voice of conscience is very loud. take, for example, that particular sin which most easily besets an individual. every man has such a sin, and knows what it is, let him call to mind the innumerable instances in which that particular temptation has assailed him, and he will be startled to discover how many thousands of times the sense of duty has put a restraint upon him. though not in every single instance, yet in hundreds and hundreds of cases, the law of god has uttered the, "thou shalt not," and endeavored to prevent the consummation of that sin. and what a wearisome experience is this. a continual forth-putting of an unlawful desire, and an almost incessant check upon it, from a law which is hated but which is feared. for such is the attitude of the natural heart toward the commandment. "the carnal mind is _enmity_ against the law of god." the two are contrary to one another; so that when the heart goes out in its inclination, it is immediately hindered and opposed by the law. sometimes the collision between them is terrible, and the soul becomes; an arena of tumultuous passions. the heart and will are intensely determined to do wrong, while the conscience is unyielding and uncompromising, and utters its denunciations, and thunders its warnings. and what a dreadful destiny awaits that soul, in whom this conflict and collision between the dictates of conscience, and the desires of the heart, is to be eternal! for whom, through all eternity, the holy law of god, which was ordained to life peace and joy, shall be found to be unto death and woe immeasurable! ii. in the second place, the sense of duty is a pain and sorrow to a sinful man, because it _demands a perpetual effort_ from him. no creature likes to tug, and to lift. service must be easy, in order to be happy. if you lay upon the shoulders of a laborer a burden that strains his muscles almost to the point of rupture, you put him in physical pain. his physical structure was not intended to be subjected to such a stretch. his creator designed that the burden should be proportioned to the power, in such a manner that work should be play. in the garden of eden, physical labor was physical pleasure, because the powers were in healthy action, and the work assigned to them was not a burden. before the fall, man was simply to dress and keep a garden; but after the fall, he was to dig up thorns and thistles, and eat his bread in the sweat of his face. this is a _curse_,--the curse of being compelled to toil, and lift, and put the muscle to such a tension that it aches. this is not the original and happy condition of the body, in which man was created. look at the toiling millions of the human family, who like the poor ant "for one small grain, labor, and tug, and strive;" see them bending double, under the heavy weary load which they must carry until relieved by death; and tell me if this is the physical elysium, the earthly paradise, in which unfallen man was originally placed, and for which he was originally designed. no, the curse of labor, of perpetual effort, has fallen upon the body, as the curse of death has fallen upon the soul; and the uneasiness and unrest of the groaning and struggling body is a convincing proof of it. the whole physical nature of man groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, waiting for the adoption, that is the _redemption of the body_ from this penal necessity of perpetual strain and effort. the same fact meets us when we pass from the physical to the moral nature of man, and becomes much more sad and impressive. by creation, it was a pleasure and a pastime for man to keep the law of god, to do spiritual work. as created, he was not compelled to summon his energies, and strain his will, and make a convulsive resolution to obey the commands of his maker. obedience was joy. holy adam knew nothing of _effort_ in the path of duty. it was a smooth and broad pathway, fringed with flowers, and leading into the meadows of asphodel. it did not become the "straight and narrow" way, until sin had made obedience a toil, the sense of duty a restraint, and human life a race and a fight. by apostasy, the obligation to keep the divine law perfectly, became repulsive. it was no longer easy for man to do right; and it has never been easy or spontaneous to him since. hence, the attempt to follow the dictates of conscience always costs an unregenerate man an effort. he is compelled to make a resolution; and a resolution is the sign and signal of a difficult and unwelcome service. take your own experience for an illustration. did you ever, except as you were sweetly inclined and drawn by the renewing grace of god, attempt to discharge a duty, without discovering that you were averse to it, and that you must gather up your energies for the work, as the leaper strains upon the tendon of achilles to make the mortal leap. and if you had not become weary, and given over the effort; if you had entered upon that sad but salutary passage in the religious experience which is delineated in the seventh chapter of romans; if you had continued to struggle and strive to do your duty, until you grew faint and weak, and powerless, and cried out for a higher and mightier power to succor you; you would have known, as you do not yet, what a deadly opposition there is between the carnal mind and the law of god, and what a spasmodic effort it costs an unrenewed man even to _attempt_ to discharge the innumerable obligations that rest upon him. mankind would know more of this species of toil and labor, and of the cleaving curse involved in it, if they were under the same physical necessity in regard to it, that they lie under in respect to manual labor. a man _must_ dig up the thorns and thistles, he _must_ earn his bread in the sweat of his face, or he must die. physical wants, hunger and thirst, set men to work physically, and keep them at it; and thus they well understand what it is to have a weary body, aching muscles, and a tired physical nature. but they are not under the same species of necessity, in respect to the wants and the work of the soul. a man may neglect these, and yet live a long and luxurious life upon the earth. he is not driven by the very force of circumstances, to labor with his heart and will, as he is to labor with his hands. and hence he knows little or nothing of a weary and heavy-laden soul; nothing of an aching heart and a tired will. he well knows how much strain and effort it costs to cut down forests, open roads, and reduce the wilderness to a fertile field; but he does not know how much toil and effort are involved, in the attempt to convert the human soul into the garden of the lord. now in this demand for a _perpetual effort_ which is made upon the natural man, by the sense of duty, we see that the law which was ordained to life is found to be unto death. the commandment, instead of being a pleasant friend and companion to the human soul, as it was in the beginning, has become a strict rigorous task-master. it lays out an uncongenial work for sinful man to do, and threatens him with punishment and woe if he does not do it. and yet the law is not a tyrant. it is holy, just, and good. this work which it lays out is righteous work, and ought to be done. the wicked disinclination and aversion of the sinner have compelled the law to assume this unwelcome and threatening attitude. that which is good was not made death to man by god's agency, and by a divine arrangement, but by man's transgression.[ ] sin produces this misery in the human soul, through an instrument that is innocent, and in its own nature benevolent and kind. apostasy, the rebellion and corruption of the human heart, has converted the law of god into an exacting task-master and an avenging magistrate. for the law says to every man what st. paul says of the magistrate: "rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. wilt thou, then, not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. for he is the minister of god to thee for good: _but if thou do that which is evil, be afraid_." if man were only conformed to the law; if the inclination of his heart were only in harmony with his sense of duty; the ten commandments would not be accompanied with any thunders or lightnings, and the discharge of duty would be as easy, spontaneous, and as much without effort, as the practice of sin now is. thus have we considered two particulars in which the divine law, originally intended to render man happy, and intrinsically adapted to do so, now renders him miserable. the commandment which was ordained to life, he now finds to be unto death, because it places him under a continual restraint, and drives him to a perpetual effort. these two particulars, we need not say, are not all the modes in which sin has converted the moral law from a joy to a sorrow. we have not discussed the great subject of guilt and penalty. this violated law charges home the past disobedience and threatens an everlasting damnation, and thus fills the sinful soul with fears and forebodings. in this way, also, the law becomes a terrible organ and instrument of misery, and is found to be unto death. but the limits of this discourse compel us to stop the discussion here, and to deduce some practical lessons which are suggested by it. . in the first place, we are taught by the subject, as thus considered, that _the mere sense of duty is not christianity_. if this is all that a man is possessed of, he is not prepared for the day of judgment, and the future life. for the sense of duty, alone and by itself, causes misery in a soul that has not performed its duty. the law worketh wrath, in a creature who has not obeyed the law. the man that doeth these things shall indeed live by them; but he who has not done them must die by them. there have been, and still are, great mistakes made at this point. men have supposed that an active conscience, and a lofty susceptibility towards right and wrong, will fit them to appear before god, and have, therefore, rejected christ the propitiation. they have substituted ethics for the gospel; natural religion for revealed. "i know," says immanuel kant, "of but two beautiful things; the starry heavens above my head, and the sense of duty within my heart."[ ] but, is the sense of duty _beautiful_ to apostate man? to a being who is not conformed to it? does the holy law of god overarch him like the firmament, "tinged with a blue of heavenly dye, and starred with sparkling gold?" nay, nay. if there be any beauty in the condemning law of god, for man the _transgressor_, it is the beauty of the lightnings. there is a splendor in them, but there is a terror also. not until he who is the end of the law for righteousness has clothed me with his panoply, and shielded me from their glittering shafts in the clefts of the rock, do i dare to look at them, as they leap from crag to crag, and shine from the east even unto the west. we do not deny that the consciousness of responsibility is a lofty one, and are by no means insensible to the grand and swelling sentiments concerning the moral law, and human duty, to which this noble thinker gives utterance.[ ] but we are certain that if the sense of duty had pressed upon him to the degree that it did upon st. paul; had the commandment "come" to him with the convicting energy that it did to st. augustine, and to pascal; he too would have discovered that the law which was ordained to life is found to be unto death. so long as man stands at a distance from the moral law, he can admire its glory and its beauty; but when it comes close to him; when it comes home to him; when it becomes a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; then its glory is swallowed up in its terror, and its beauty is lost in its truth. then he who was alive without the law becomes slain by the law. then this ethical admiration of the decalogue is exchanged for an evangelical trust in jesus christ. . and this leads us to remark, in the second place, that this subject shows _the meaning of christ's work of redemption_. the law for an alienated and corrupt soul is a burden. it cannot be otherwise; for it imposes a perpetual restraint, urges up to an unwelcome duty, and charges home a fearful guilt. christ is well named the _redeemer_, because he frees the sinful soul from all this. he delivers it from the penalty, by assuming it all upon himself, and making complete satisfaction to the broken law. he delivers it from the perpetual restraint and the irksome effort, by so renewing and changing the heart that it becomes a delight to keep the law. we observed, in the first part of the discourse, that if man could only bring the inclination of his heart into agreement with his sense of duty, he would be happy in obeying, and the consciousness of restraint and of hateful effort would disappear. this is precisely what christ accomplishes by his spirit. he brings the human heart into harmony with the divine law, as it was in the beginning, and thus rescues it from its bondage and its toil. obedience becomes a pleasure, and the service of god, the highest christian liberty. oh, would that by the act of faith, you might experience this liberating effect of the redemption that is in christ jesus. so long as you are out of christ, you are under a burden that will every day grow heavier, and may prove to be fixed and unremovable as the mountains. that is a fearful punishment which the poet dante represents as being inflicted upon those who were guilty of pride. the poor wretches are compelled to support enormous masses of stone which bend them over to the ground, and, in his own stern phrase, "crumple up their knees into their breasts." thus they stand, stooping over, every muscle trembling, the heavy stone weighing them down, and yet they are not permitted to fall, and rest themselves upon the earth.[ ] in this crouching posture, they must carry the weary heavy load without relief, and with a distress so great that, in the poet's own language, "it seemed as he, who showed most patience in his look, wailing exclaimed: i can endure no more."[ ] such is the posture of man unredeemed. there is a burden on him, under which he stoops and crouches. it is a burden compounded of guilt and corruption. it is lifted off by christ, and by christ only. the soul itself can never expiate its guilt; can never cleanse its pollution. we urge you, once more, to the act of faith in the redeemer of the world. we beseech you, once more, to make "the redemption that is in christ jesus" your own. the instant you plead the merit of christ's oblation, in simple confidence in its atoning efficacy, that instant the heavy burden is lifted off by an almighty hand, and your curved, stooping, trembling, aching form once more stands erect, and you walk abroad in the liberty wherewith christ makes the human creature free. [footnote : "she in vice of luxury was so shameless, that she made liking to be lawful by promulged decree, to clear the blame she had herself incurr'd." dante: inferno, v. .] [footnote : romans vii. , .] [footnote : kant: kritik der praktischen vernunft (beschlusz).--de stael's rendering, which is so well known, and which i have employed, is less guarded than the original.] [footnote : compare the fine apostrophe to duty. praktische vernunft, p. , (ed. rosenkranz.)] [footnote : "let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway." rom. xi. .] [footnote : dante: purgatory x. - .] the sin of omission. matthew xix. .--"the young man saith unto him, all these things have i kept from my youth up: what lack i yet?" the narrative from which the text is taken is familiar to all readers of the bible. a wealthy young man, of unblemished morals and amiable disposition, came to our lord, to inquire his opinion respecting his own good estate. he asked what good thing he should do, in order to inherit eternal life. the fact that he applied to christ at all, shows that he was not entirely at rest in his own mind. he could truly say that he had kept the ten commandments from his youth up, in an outward manner; and yet he was ill at ease. he was afraid that when the earthly life was over, he might not be able to endure the judgment of god, and might fail to enter into that happy paradise of which the old testament scriptures so often speak, and of which he had so often read, in them. this young man, though a moralist, was not a self-satisfied or a self-conceited one. for, had he been like the pharisee a thoroughly blinded and self-righteous person, like him he never would have approached jesus of nazareth, to obtain his opinion respecting his own religious character and prospects. like him, he would have scorned to ask our lord's judgment upon any matters of religion. like the pharisees, he would have said, "we see,"[ ] and the state of his heart and his future prospects would have given him no anxiety. but he was not a conceited and presumptuous pharisee. he was a serious and thoughtful person, though not a pious and holy one. for, he did not love god more than he loved his worldly possessions. he had not obeyed that first and great command, upon which hang all the law and the prophets, conformity to which, alone, constitutes righteousness: "thou shalt _love_ the lord thy god with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength." he was not right at heart, and was therefore unprepared for death and judgment. this he seems to have had some dim apprehension of. for why, if he had felt that his external morality was a solid rock for his feet to stand upon, why should he have betaken himself to jesus of nazareth, to ask: "what lack i yet?" it was not what he had done, but what he had left undone, that wakened fears and forebodings in this young ruler's mind. the outward observance of the ten commandments was right and well in its own way and place; but the failure to obey, from the heart, the first and great command was the condemnation that rested upon him. he probably knew this, in some measure. he was not confidently certain of eternal life; and therefore he came to the great teacher, hoping to elicit from him an answer that would quiet his conscience, and allow him to repose upon his morality while he continued to love this world supremely. the great teacher pierced him with an arrow. he said to him, "if them wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." this direction showed him what he _lacked_. this incident leads us to consider the condemnation that rests upon every man, for his _failure_ in duty; the guilt that cleaves to him, on account of what he has _not_ done. the westminster catechism defines sin to be "any _want of conformity_ unto, or any transgression of, the law of god." not to be conformed, in the heart, to the law and will of god, is as truly sin, as positively to steal, or positively to commit murder. failure to come up to the line of rectitude is as punishable, as to step over that line. god requires of his creature that he stand squarely _upon_ the line of righteousness; if therefore he is off that line, because he has not come up to it, he is as guilty as when he transgresses, or passes across it, upon the other side. this is the reason that the sin of omission is as punishable as the sin of commission. in either case alike, the man is off the line of rectitude. hence, in the final day, man will be condemned for what he lacks, for what he comes short of, in moral character. want of conformity to the divine law as really conflicts with the divine law, as an overt transgression does, because it carries man off and away from it. one of the greek words for sin [greek: (amurtanein)] signifies, to miss the mark. when the archer shoots at the target, he as really fails to strike it, if his arrow falls short of it, as when he shoots over and beyond it. if he strains upon the bow with such a feeble force, that the arrow drops upon the ground long before it comes up to the mark, his shot is as total a failure, as when he strains upon the bow-string with all his force, but owing to an ill-directed aim sends his weapon into the air. one of the new testament terms for sin contains this figure and illustration, in its etymology. sin is a want of conformity unto, a failure to come clear up to, the line and mark prescribed by god, as well a violent and forcible breaking over and beyond the line and the mark. the _lack_ of holy love, the _lack_ of holy fear, the _lack_ of filial trust and confidence in god,--the negative absence of these and other qualities in the heart is as truly sin and guilt, as is the positive and open violation of a particular commandment, in the act of theft, or lying, or sabbath-breaking. we propose, then, to direct attention to that form and aspect of human depravity which consists in coming short of the aim and end presented to man by his maker,--that form and aspect of sin which is presented in the young ruler's inquiry: "what lack i yet?" it is a comprehensive answer to this question to say, that every natural man lacks _sincere and filial love of god_. this was the sin of the moral, but worldly, the amiable, but earthly-minded, young man. endow him, in your fancy, with all the excellence you please, it still lies upon the face of the narrative, that he loved money more than he loved the lord god almighty. when the son of god bade him go and sell his property, and give it to the poor, and then come and follow him as a docile disciple like peter and james and john, he went away sad in his mind; for he had great possessions. this was a reasonable requirement, though a very trying one. to command a young man of wealth and standing immediately to strip himself of all his property, to leave the circle in which he had been born and brought up, and to follow the son of man, who had not where to lay his head, up and down through palestine, through good report and through evil report,--to put such a burden upon such a young man was to lay him under a very heavy load. looking at it from a merely human and worldly point of view, it is not strange that the young ruler declined to take it upon his shoulders; though he felt sad in declining, because he had the misgiving that in declining he was sealing his doom. but, had he _loved_ the lord god with all his heart; had he been _conformed unto_ the first and great command, in his heart and affections; had he not _lacked_ a spiritual and filial affection towards his maker; he would have obeyed. for, the circumstances under which this command was given must be borne in mind. it issued directly from the lips of the son of god himself. it was not an ordinary call of providence, in the ordinary manner in which god summons man to duty. there is reason to suppose that the young ruler knew and felt that christ had authority to give such directions. we know not what were precisely his views of the person and office of jesus of nazareth; but the fact that he came to him seeking instruction respecting the everlasting kingdom of god and the endless life of the soul, and the yet further fact that he went away in sadness because he did not find it in his heart to obey the instructions that he had received, prove that he was at least somewhat impressed with the divine authority of our lord. for, had he regarded him as a mere ordinary mortal, knowing no more than any other man concerning the eternal kingdom of god, why should his words have distressed him? had this young ruler taken the view of our lord which was held by the scribes and pharisees, like them he would never have sought instruction from him in a respectful and sincere manner; and, like them, he would have replied to the command to strip himself of all his property, leave the social circles to which he belonged, and follow the despised nazarene, with the curling lip of scorn. he would not have gone away in sorrow, but in contempt. we must assume, therefore, that this young ruler felt that the person with whom he was conversing, and who had given him this extraordinary command, had authority to give it. we do not gather from the narrative that he doubted upon this point. had he doubted, it would have relieved the sorrow with which his mind was disturbed. he might have justified his refusal to obey, by the consideration that this jesus of nazareth had no right to summon him, or any other man, to forsake the world and attach himself to his person and purposes, if any such consideration had entered his mind. no, the sorrow, the deep, deep sorrow and sadness, with which he went away to the beggarly elements of his houses and his lands, proves that he knew too well that this wonderful being who was working miracles, and speaking words of wisdom that never man spake, had indeed authority and right to say to him, and to every other man, "go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me." though the command was indeed an extraordinary one, it was given in an extraordinary manner, by an extraordinary being. that young ruler was not required to do any more than you and i would be obligated to do, _in the same circumstances_. it is indeed true, that in the _ordinary_ providence of god, you and i are not summoned to sell all our possessions, and distribute them to the poor, and to go up and down the streets of this city, or up and down the high-ways and by-ways of the land, as missionaries of christ. but if the call were _extra-ordinary_,--if the heavens should open above our heads, and a voice from the skies should command us in a manner not to be doubted or disputed to do this particular thing, we ought immediately to do it. and if the love of god were in our hearts; if we were inwardly "conformed unto" the divine law; if there were nothing lacking in our religious character; we should obey with the same directness and alacrity with which peter and andrew, and james and john, left their nets and their fishing-boat, their earthly avocations, their fathers and their fathers' households, and followed christ to the end of their days. in the present circumstances of the church and the world, christians must follow the ordinary indications of divine providence; and though these do unquestionably call upon them to make far greater sacrifices for the cause of christ than they now make, yet they do not call upon them to sell _all_ that they have, and give it to the poor. but they ought to be ready and willing to do so, in case god by any remarkable and direct expression should indicate that this is his will and pleasure. should our lord, for illustration, descend again, and in his own person say to his people, as he did to the young ruler: "sell all that ye have, and give to the poor, and go up and down the earth preaching the gospel," it would be the duty of every rich christian to strip himself of all his riches, and of every poor christian to make himself yet poorer, and of the whole church to adopt the same course that was taken by the early christians, who "had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men, as every man had need." the direct and explicit command of the lord jesus christ to do any particular thing must be obeyed at all hazards, and at all cost. should he command any one of his disciples to lay down his life, or to undergo a severe discipline and experience in his service, he must be obeyed. this is what he means when he says, "if any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. and whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple" (luke xiv. , ). the young ruler was subjected to this test. it was his privilege,--and it was a great privilege,--to see the son of god face to face; to hear his words of wisdom and authority; to know without any doubt or ambiguity what particular thing god would have him do. and he refused to do it. he was moral; he was amiable; but he refused _point-blank_ to obey the direct command of god addressed to him from the very lips of god. it was with him as it would be with us, if the sky should open over our heads, and the son of god should descend, and with his own lips should command us to perform a particular service, and we should be disobedient to the heavenly vision, and should say to the eternal son of god: "we will not." think you that there is nothing _lacking_ in such a character as this? is this religious perfection? is such a heart as this "conformed unto" the law and will of god? if, then, we look into the character of the young ruler, we perceive that there was in it no supreme affection for god. on the contrary, he loved _himself_ with all his heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. even his religious anxiety, which led him to our lord for his opinion concerning his good estate, proved to be a merely selfish feeling. he desired immortal felicity beyond the tomb,--and the most irreligious man upon earth desires this,--but he did not possess such an affection for god as inclined, and enabled, him to obey his explicit command to make a sacrifice of his worldly possessions for his glory. and this lack of supreme love to god was _sin_. it was a deviation from the line of eternal rectitude and righteousness, as really and truly as murder, adultery, or theft, or any outward breach of any of those commandments which he affirmed he had kept from his youth up. this coming short of the divine honor and glory was as much contrary to the divine law, as any overt transgression of it could be. for love is the fulfilling of the law. the whole law, according to christ, is summed up and contained, in these words: "thou shall _love_ the lord thy god with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself." to be destitute of this heavenly affection is, therefore, to break the law at the very centre and in the very substance of it. men tell us, like this young ruler, that they do not murder, lie, or steal,--that they observe all the commandments of the second table pertaining to man and their relations to man,--and ask, "what lack we yet?" alexander pope, in the most brilliant and polished poetry yet composed by human art, sums up the whole of human duty in the observance of the rules and requirements of civil morality, and affirms that "an honest man is the noblest work of god." but is this so? has religion reached its last term, and ultimate limit, when man respects the rights of property? is a person who keeps his hands off the goods and chattels of his fellow-creature really qualified for the heavenly state, by reason of this fact and virtue of honesty? has he attained the chief end of man?[ ] even if we could suppose a perfect obedience of all the statutes of the second table, while those of the first table were disobeyed; even if one could fulfil all his obligations to his neighbor, while failing in all his obligations to his maker; even if we should concede a perfect morality, without any religion; would it be true that this morality, or obedience of only one of the two tables that cover the whole field of human duty, is sufficient to prepare man for the everlasting future, and the immediate presence of god? who has informed man that the first table of the law is of no consequence; and that if he only loves his neighbor as himself, he need not love his maker supremely? no! affection in the heart towards the great and glorious god is the sum and substance of religion, and whoever is destitute of it is irreligious and sinful in the inmost spirit, and in the highest degree. his fault relates to the most excellent and worthy being in the universe. he comes short of his duty, in reference to that being who _more than any other one_ is entitled to his love and his services. we say, and we say correctly, that if a man fails of fulfilling his obligations towards those who have most claims upon him, he is more culpable than when he fails of his duty towards those who have less claims upon him. if a son comes short of his duty towards an affectionate and self-sacrificing mother, we say it is a greater fault, than if he comes short of his duty to a fellow-citizen. the parent is nearer to him than the citizen, and he owes unto her a warmer affection of his heart, and a more active service of his life, than he owes to his fellow-citizen. what would be thought of that son who should excuse his neglect, or ill-treatment, of the mother that bore him, upon the ground that he had never cheated a fellow-man and had been scrupulous in all his mercantile transactions! this but feebly illustrates the relation which every man sustains to god, and the claim which god has upon every man. our first duty and obligation relates to our maker. our fellow-creatures have claims upon us; the dear partners of our blood have claims upon us; our own personality, with its infinite destiny for weal or woe, has claims upon us. but no one of these; not all of them combined; have upon us that _first_ claim, which god challenges for himself. social life,--the state or the nation to which we belong,--cannot say to us: "thou shalt love me with all thy heart, and soul, and mind, and strength." the family, which is bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, cannot say to us: "thou shalt love us, with all thy soul, mind, heart, and strength." even our own deathless and priceless soul cannot say to us: "thou shalt love me supremely, and before all other beings and things." but the infinite and adorable god, the being that made us, and has redeemed us, can of right demand that we love and honor him first of all, and chiefest of all. there are two thoughts suggested by the subject which we have been considering, to which we now invite candid attention. . in the first place, this subject _convicts every man of sin_. our lord, by his searching reply to the young ruler's question, "what lack i yet?" sent him away very sorrowful; and what man, in any age and country, can apply the same test to himself, without finding the same unwillingness to sell all that he has and give to the poor,--the same indisposition to obey any and every command of god that crosses his natural inclinations? every natural man, as he subjects his character to such a trial as that to which the young ruler was subjected, will discover as he did that he lacks supreme love of god, and like him, if he has any moral earnestness; if he feels at all the obligation of duty; will go away very sorrowful, because he perceives very plainly the conflict between his will and his conscience. how many a person, in the generations that have already gone to the judgment-seat of christ, and in the generation that is now on the way thither, has been at times brought face to face with the great and first command, "thou shall love the lord thy god with all thy heart," and by some particular requirement has been made conscious of his utter opposition to that great law. some special duty was urged upon him, by the providence, or the word, or the spirit of god, that could not be performed unless his will were subjected to god's will, and unless his love for himself and the world were subordinated to his love of his maker. if a young man, perhaps he was commanded to consecrate his talents and education to a life of philanthropy and service of god in the gospel, instead of a life devoted to secular and pecuniary aims. god said to him, by his providence, and by conscience, "go teach my gospel to the perishing; go preach my word, to the dying and the lost." but he loved worldly ease pleasure and reputation more than he loved god; and he refused, and went away sorrowful, because this poor world looked very bright and alluring, and the path of self-denial and duty looked very forbidding. or, if he was a man in middle life, perhaps he was commanded to abate his interest in plans for the accumulation of wealth, to contract his enterprises, to give attention to the concerns of his soul and the souls of his children, to make his own peace with god, and to consecrate the remainder of his life to christ and to human welfare; and when this plain and reasonable course of conduct was dictated to him, he found his whole heart rising up against the proposition. our lord, alluding to the fact that there was nothing in common between his spirit, and the spirit of satan, said to his disciples, "the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me" (john xiv. ). so, when the command to love god supremely comes to this man of the world, in any particular form, "it hath nothing in him." this first and great law finds no ready and genial response within his heart, but on the contrary a recoil within his soul as if some great monster had started up in his pathway. he says, in his mind, to the proposition: "anything but that;" and, with the young ruler, he goes away sorrowful, because he knows that refusal is perdition. is there not a wonderful power to _convict_ of sin, in this test? if you try yourself, as the young man did, by the command, "thou shalt not kill," "thou shalt not steal," "thou shalt not commit adultery," you may succeed, perhaps, in quieting your conscience, to some extent, and in possessing yourself of the opinion of your fitness for the kingdom of god. but ask yourself the question, "do i love god supremely, and am i ready and willing to do any and every particular thing that he shall command me to do, even if it is plucking out a right eye, or cutting off a right hand, or selling all my goods to give to the poor?" try yourself by _this_ test, and see if you lack anything in your moral character. when this thorough and proper touch-stone of character is applied, there is not found upon earth a just man that doeth good and sinneth not. every human creature, by this test is concluded under sin. every man is found, lacking in what he ought to possess, when the words of the commandment are sounded in his ear: "thou shalt love the lord thy god with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength." this sum and substance of the divine law, upon which hang all the other laws, convinces every man of sin. for there is no escaping its force. love of god is a distinct and definite feeling, and every person knows whether he ever experienced it. every man knows whether it is, or is not, an affection of his heart; and he knows that if it be wanting, the foundation of religion is wanting in his soul, and the sum and substance of sin is there. . and this leads to the second and concluding thought suggested, by the subject, namely, that _except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of god._ if there be any truth in the discussion through which we have passed, it is plain and incontrovertible, that to be destitute of holy love to god is a departure and deviation from the moral law. it is a coming short of the great requirement that rests upon every accountable creature of god, and this is as truly sin and guilt as any violent and open passing over and beyond the line of rectitude. the sin of omission is as deep and damning as the sin of commission. "forgive,"--said the dying archbishop usher,--"forgive all my sins, especially my sins of omission." but, how is this lack to be supplied? how is this great hiatus in human character to be filled up? how shall the fountain of holy and filial affection towards god be made to gush up into everlasting life, within your now unloving and hostile heart? there is no answer to this question of questions, but in the person and work of the holy ghost. if god shall shed abroad his love in your heart, by the holy ghost which is given unto you, you will know the blessedness of a new affection; and will be able to say with peter, "thou knowest all things; thou knowest that i love thee." you are shut up to this method, and this influence. to generate within yourself this new spiritual emotion which you have never yet felt, is utterly impossible. yet you must get it, or religion, is impossible, and immortal life is impossible. would that you might feel your straits, and your helplessness. would that you might perceive your total lack of supreme love of god, as the young ruler perceived his; and would that, unlike him, instead, of going away from the son of god, you would go to him, crying, "lord create within me a clean heart, and renew within me a right spirit." then the problem would be solved, and having peace with god through the blood of christ, the love of god would be shed abroad in your hearts, through the holy ghost given unto you. [footnote : john ix. .] [footnote : even if we should widen the meaning of the word "honest," in the above-mentioned dictum of pope, and make it include the latin "honestum," the same objection would lie against dictum. honor and high-mindedness towards man is not love and reverence towards god. the spirit of chivalry is not the spirit of christianity.] the sinfulness of original sin. matthew xix. .--"the young man saith unto him, all these things have i kept from my youth up: what lack i yet?" in the preceding discourse from these words, we discussed that form and aspect of sin which consists in "coming short" of the divine law; or, as the westminster creed states it, in a "want of conformity" unto it. the deep and fundamental sin of the young ruler, we found, lay in what he lacked. when our lord tested him, he proved to be utterly destitute of love to god. his soul was a complete vacuum, in reference to that great holy affection which fills the hearts of all the good beings before the throne of god, and without which no creature can stand, or will wish to stand, in the divine presence. the young ruler, though outwardly moral and amiable, when searched in the inward parts was found wanting in the sum and substance of religion. he did not love god; and he did love himself and his possessions. what man has omitted to do, what man is destitute of,--this is a species of sin which he does not sufficiently consider, and which is weighing him down to perdition. the unregenerate person when pressed to repent of his sins, and believe on the lord jesus christ, often beats back the kind effort, by a question like that which pilate put to the infuriated jews: "why, what evil have i done?" it is the subject of his actual and overt transgressions that comes first into his thoughts, and, like the young ruler, he tells his spiritual friend and adviser that he has kept all the commandments from his youth up. the conviction of sin would be more common if the natural man would consider his _failures_; if he would look into his heart and perceive what he is _destitute_ of, and into his conduct and see what he has left _undone_. in pursuing this subject, we propose to show, still further, the guiltiness of every man, from the fact that he _lacks the original righteousness that once belonged to him_. we shall endeavor to prove that every child of adam is under condemnation, or, in the words of christ, that "the wrath of god abides upon him" (john iii. ), because he is not possessed of that pure and perfect character which, his maker gave him in the beginning. man is culpable for not continuing to stand upon the high and sinless position, in which he was originally placed. when the young ruler's question is put to the natural man, and the inquiry is made as to his defects and deficiency, it is invariably discovered that he lacks the image of god in which he was created. and for a rational being to be destitute of the image of god is sin, guilt, and condemnation, because every rational being has once received this image. god has the right to demand from every one of his responsible creatures, all that the creature _might_ be, had he retained possession of the endowments which he received at creation, and had he employed them with fidelity. the perfect gifts and capacities originally bestowed upon man, and not the mutilated and damaged powers subsequently arising from a destructive act of self-will, furnish the proper rule of measurement, in estimating human merit or demerit. the faculties of intelligence and will as _unfallen_, and not as fallen, determine the amount of holiness and of service that may be demanded, upon principles of strict justice, from every individual. all that man "comes short" of this is so much sin, guilt, and condemnation. when the great sovereign and judge looks down from his throne of righteousness and equity, upon any one of the children of men, he considers what that creature was by _creation_, and compares his present character and conduct with the character with which he was originally endowed, and the conduct that would naturally have flowed therefrom. god made man holy and perfect. god created man in his own image (gen. i. ), "endued with knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, having the law of god written in his heart, and power to fulfil it." this is the statement of the creed which we accept as a fair and accurate digest of the teachings of revelation, respecting the primitive character of man, and his original righteousness. and all evangelical creeds, however they may differ from each other in their definitions of original righteousness, and their estimate of the perfections and powers granted to man by creation, do yet agree that he stood higher when he came from the hand of god than he now stands; that man's actual character and conduct do not come up to man's created power and capacities. solemn and condemning as it is, it is yet a fact, that inasmuch as every man was originally made in the holy image of god, he ought, this very instant to be perfectly holy. he ought to be standing upon a position that is as high above his actual position, as the heavens are high above the earth. he ought to be possessed of a moral perfection without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. he ought to be as he was, when created in righteousness and true holiness. he ought to be dwelling high up on those lofty and glorious heights where he was stationed by the benevolent hand of his maker, instead of wallowing in those low depths where he has fallen by an act of apostasy and rebellion. nothing short of this satisfies the obligations that are resting upon him. an imperfect holiness, such as the christian is possessed of while here upon earth, does not come up to the righteous requirement of the moral law; and certainly that kind of moral character which belongs to the natural man is still farther off from the sum-total that is demanded. let us press this truth, that we may feel its convicting and condemning energy. when our maker speaks to us upon the subject of his claims and our obligations, he tells us that when we came forth from nonentity into existence, from his hand, we were well endowed, and well furnished. he tells us distinctly, that he did not create us the depraved and sinful beings that we now are. he tells us that these earthly affections, this carnal mind, this enmity towards the divine law, this disinclination towards religion and spiritual concerns, this absorbing love of the world and this supreme love of self,--that these were not implanted or infused into the soul by our wise, holy, and good creator. this is not his work. this is no part of the furniture with which mankind were set up for an everlasting existence. "god saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good." (gen. i. ). we acknowledge the mystery that overhangs the union and connection of all men with the first man. we know that this corruption of man's nature, and this sinfulness of his heart, does indeed, appear at the very beginning of his individual life. he is conceived in sin, and shapen in iniquity (ps. li. ). this selfish disposition, and this alienation of the heart from god, is _native_ depravity, is _inborn_ corruption. this we know both from revelation, and observation. but we also know, from the same infallible revelation, that though man is born a sinner from the sinful adam, he was created a saint in the holy adam. by origin he is holy, and by descent he is sinful; because there has intervened, between his creation and his birth, that "offence of one man whereby all men were made sinners" (rom. v. , ). though we cannot unravel the whole mystery of this subject, yet if we accept the revealed fact, and concede that god did originally make man in his own image, in righteousness and true holiness, and that man has since unmade himself, by the act of apostasy and rebellion,[ ]--if we take this as the true and correct statement of the facts in the case, then we can see how and why it is, that god has claims upon his creature, man, that extend to what this creature originally was and was capable of becoming, and not merely to what he now is, and is able to perform. when, therefore, the young ruler's question, "what lack i?" is asked and answered upon a broad scale, each and every man must say: "i lack original righteousness; i lack the holiness with which god created man; i lack that perfection of character which belonged to my rational and immortal nature coming fresh from the hand of god in the person of adam; i lack all that i should now be possessed of, had that nature not apostatized from its maker and its sovereign." and when god forms his estimate of man's obligations; when he lays judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet; he goes back to the _beginning_, he goes back to _creation_, and demands from his rational and immortal creature that perfect service which, he was capable of rendering by creation, but which now he is unable to render because of subsequent apostasy. for, god cannot adjust his demands to the alterations which sinful man makes in himself. this would be to annihilate all demands and obligations. a sliding-scale would be introduced, by this method, that would reduce human duty by degrees to a minimum, where it would disappear. for, the more sinful a creature becomes, the less inclined, and consequently the less able does he become to obey the law of god. if, now, the eternal judge shapes his requisitions in accordance with the shifting character of his creature, and lowers his law down just as fast as the sinner enslaves himself to lust and sin, it is plain that sooner or later all moral obligation will run out; and whenever the creature becomes totally enslaved to self and flesh, there will no longer be any claims resting upon him. but this cannot be so. "for the kingdom of heaven,"--says our lord,--"is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. and unto one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one; and straightway took his journey." when the settlement was made. each and every one of the parties was righteously summoned to account for all that had originally been intrusted to him, and to show a faithful improvement of the same. if any one of the servants had been found to have "lacked" a part, or the whole, of the original treasure, because he had culpably lost it, think you that the fact that it was now gone from his possession, and was past recovery, would have been accepted as a valid excuse from the original obligations imposed upon him? in like manner, the fact, that man cannot reinstate himself in his original condition of holiness and blessedness, from which he has fallen by apostasy, will not suffice to justify him before god for being in a helpless state of sin and misery, or to give him any claims upon god for deliverance from it. god can and does _pity_ him, in his ruined and lost estate, and if the creature will cast himself upon his _mercy_, acknowledging the righteousness of the entire claims of god upon him for a sinless perfection and a perfect service, he will meet and find mercy. but if he takes the ground that he does not owe such an immense debt as this, and that god has no right to demand from him, in his apostate and helpless condition, the same perfection of character and obedience which holy adam possessed and rendered, and which the unfallen angels possess and render, god will leave him to the workings of conscience, and the operations of stark unmitigated law and justice. "the kingdom of heaven,"--says our lord,--"is likened unto a certain king which would take account of his servants. and when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him which owed him ten thousand talents; but forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. the servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, lord, have patience with me, and i will pay thee all. then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt" (matt, xviii. - ). but suppose that that servant had _disputed_ the claim, and had put in an appeal to justice instead of an appeal to mercy, upon the ground that inasmuch as he had lost his property and had nothing to pay with, therefore he was not obligated to pay, think you that the king would have conceded the equity of the claim? on the contrary, he would have entered into no argument in so plain a case, but would have "delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him." so likewise shall the heavenly father do also unto you, and to every man, who attempts to diminish the original claim of god to a perfect obedience and service, by pleading the fall of man, the corruption of human nature, the strength of sinful inclination and affections, and the power of earthly temptation. all these are man's work, and not that of the creator. this helplessness and bondage grows directly out of the nature of sin. "whosoever committeth sin is the slave of sin. know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves slaves to obey, his slaves ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (john viii. ; rom. vi. ). in view of the subject as thus discussed, we invite attention to some practical conclusions that flow directly out of it. for, though we have been speaking upon one of the most difficult themes in christian theology, namely man's creation in holiness and his loss of holiness by the apostasy in adam, yet we have at the same time been speaking of one of the most humbling, and practically profitable, doctrines in the whole circle of revealed truth. we never shall arrive at any profound sense of sin, unless we know and feel our guilt and corruption by nature; and we shall never arrive at any profound sense of our guilt and corruption by nature, unless we know and understand the original righteousness and innocence in which we were first created. we can measure the great depth of the abyss into which, we have fallen, only by looking up to those great heights in the garden of eden, upon which our nature once stood beautiful and glorious, the very image and likeness of our creator. . we remark then, in the first place, that it is the duty of every man _to humble himself on account of his lack of original righteousness, and to repent of it as sin before god._ one of the articles of the presbyterian confession of faith reads thus: _every_ sin, both original and actual, being a transgression of the righteous law of god, and contrary thereunto, doth, in its own nature, bring _guilt_ upon the sinner, whereby he is "bound over to the wrath of god, and curse of the law, and so made subject to death, with all miseries spiritual, temporal, and eternal."[ ] the creed which we accept summons us to repent of original as well as actual sin; and it defines original sin to be "the want of original righteousness, together with the corruption of the whole nature." the want of original righteousness, then, is a ground of condemnation, and therefore a reason for shame, and godly sorrow. it is something which man once had, ought still to have, but now lacks; and therefore is ill-deserving, for the very same reason that the young ruler's lack of supreme love to god was ill-deserving. if we acknowledge the validity of the distinction between a sin of omission and a sin of commission, and concede that each alike is culpable,[ ] we shall find no difficulty with this demand of the creed. why should not you and i mourn over the total want of the image of god in our hearts, as much as over any other form and species of sin? this image of god consists in holy reverence. when we look into our hearts, and find no holy reverence there, ought we not to be filled with shame and sorrow? this image of god consists in filial and supreme affection for god, such as the young ruler lacked; and when we look into our hearts, and find not a particle of supreme love to god in them, ought we not to repent of this original, this deep-seated, this innate depravity? this image of god, again, which was lost in our apostasy, consisted in humble constant trust in god; and when we search our souls, and perceive that there is nothing of this spirit in them, but on the contrary a strong and overmastering disposition to trust in ourselves, and to distrust our maker, ought not this discovery to waken in us the very same feeling that isaiah gave expression to, when he said that the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint; the very same feeling that david gave expression to, when he cried: "behold i was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me?" this is to repent of original sin, and there is no mystery or absurdity about it. it is to turn the eye inward, and see what is _lacking_ in our heart and affections; and not merely what of outward and actual transgressions we have committed. those whose idea of moral excellence is like that of the young ruler; those who suppose holiness to consist merely in the outward observance of the commandments of the second table; those who do not look into the depths of their nature, and contrast the total corruption that is there, with the perfect and positive righteousness that ought to be there, and that was there by creation,--all such will find the call of the creed to repent of original sin as well as of actual, a perplexity and an impossibility. but every man who knows that the substance of piety consists in positive and holy affections,--in holy reverence, love and trust,--and who discovers that these are wanting in him by nature, though belonging to him by creation, will mourn in deep contrition and self-abasement over that act of apostasy by which this great change in human character, this great lack was brought about. . in the second place, it follows from the subject we have discussed, that every man must, by some method, _recover his original righteousness, or be ruined forever_. "without holiness no man shall see the lord." no rational creature is fit to appear in the presence of his maker, unless he is as pure and perfect as he was originally made. holy adam was prepared by his creation in the image of god, to hold blessed communion with god, and if he and his posterity had never lost this image, they would forever be in fellowship with their creator and sovereign. holiness, and holiness alone, enables the creature to stand with angelic tranquillity, in the presence of him before whom the heavens and the earth flee away. the loss of original righteousness, therefore, was the loss of the wedding garment; it was the loss of the only robe in which the creature could appear at the banquet of god. suppose that one of the posterity of sinful adam, destitute of holy love reverence and faith, lacking positive and perfect righteousness, should be introduced into the seventh heavens, and there behold the infinite jehovah. would he not feel, with a misery and a shame that could not be expressed, that he was naked? that he was utterly unfit to appear in such a presence? no wonder that our first parents, after their apostasy, felt that they were unclothed. they were indeed stripped of their character, and had not a rag of righteousness to cover them. no wonder that they hid themselves from the intolerable purity and brightness of the most high. previously, they had felt no such emotion. they were "not ashamed," we are told. and the reason lay in the fact that, before their apostasy, they were precisely as they were made. they were endowed with the image of god; and their original righteousness and perfect holiness qualified them to stand before their maker, and to hold blessed intercourse with him. but the instant they lost their created endowment of holiness, they were conscious that they lacked that indispensable something wherewith to appear before god. and precisely so is it, with their posterity. whatever a man's theory of the future life may be, he must be insane, if he supposes that he is fit to appear before god, and to enter the society of heaven, if destitute of holiness, and wanting the divine image. when the spirit of man returns to god who gave it, it must return as good as it came from his hands, or it will be banished from the divine presence. every human soul, when it goes back to its maker, must carry with it a righteousness, to say the very least, equal to that in which it was originally created, or it will be cast out as an unprofitable and wicked servant. _all_ the talents entrusted must be returned; and returned with usury. a modern philosopher and poet represents the suicide as justifying the taking of his own life, upon the ground that he was not asked in the beginning, whether he wanted life. he had no choice whether he would come into existence or not; existence was forced upon him; and therefore he had a right to put an end to it, if he so pleased. to this, the reply is made, that he ought to return his powers and faculties to the creator in as _good condition_ as he received them; that he had no right to mutilate and spoil them by abuse, and then fling the miserable relics of what was originally a noble creation, in the face of the creator. in answer to the suicide's proposition to give back his spirit to god who gave it, the poet represents god as saying to him: "is't returned as 'twas sent? is't no worse for the wear? think first what you are! call to mind what you were! i gave you innocence, i gave you hope, gave health, and genius, and an ample scope. return you me guilt, lethargy, despair? make out the invent'ry; inspect, compare! then die,--if die you dare!"[ ] yes, this is true and solemn reasoning. you and i, and every man, must by some method, or other, go back to god as good as we came forth from him. we must regain our original righteousness; we must be reinstated in our primal relation to god, and our created condition; or there is nothing in store for us, but the blackness of darkness. we certainly cannot stand in the judgment clothed with original sin, instead of original righteousness; full of carnal and selfish affections, instead of pure and heavenly affections. this great lack, this great vacuum, in our character, must by some method be filled up with solid, and everlasting excellencies, or the same finger that wrote, in letters of fire, upon the wall of the babylonian monarch, the awful legend: "thou art weighed in the balance, and art found wanting," will write it in letters of fire upon our own rational spirit. there is but one method, by which man's original righteousness and innocency can be regained; and this method you well know. the blood of jesus christ sprinkled by the holy ghost, upon your guilty conscience, reinstates you in innocency. when that is applied, there is no more guilt upon you, than there was upon adam the instant he came from the creative hand. "there is no condemnation to them that are in christ jesus." who is he that condemneth, when it is christ that died, and god that justifies? and when the same holy spirit enters your soul with renewing power, and carries forward his work of sanctification to its final completion, your original righteousness returns again, and you are again clothed in that spotless robe with which your nature was invested, on that sixth day of creation, when the lord god said, "let us make man in our image, and after our likeness." ponder these truths, and what is yet more imperative, _act_ upon them. remember that you must, by some method, become a perfect creature, in order to become a blessed creature in heaven. without holiness you cannot see the lord. you must recover the character which you have lost, and the peace with god in which you were created. your spirit, when it returns to god, must by some method be made equal to what it was when it came forth from him. and there is no method, but the method of redemption by the blood and righteousness of christ. men are running to and fro after other methods. the memories of a golden age, a better humanity than they now know of, haunt them; and they sigh for the elysium that is gone. one sends you to letters, and culture, for your redemption. another tells you that morality, or philosophy, will lift you again to those paradisaical heights that tower high above your straining vision. but miserable comforters are they all. no golden age returns; no peace with god or self is the result of such instrumentality. the conscience is still perturbed, the forebodings still overhang the soul like a black cloud, and the heart is as throbbing and restless as ever. with resoluteness, then, turn away from these inadequate, these feeble methods, and adopt the method of god almighty. turn away with contempt from human culture, and finite forces, as the instrumentality for the redemption of the soul which is precious, and which ceaseth forever if it is unredeemed. go with confidence, and courage, and a rational faith, to god almighty, to god the redeemer. he hath power. he is no feeble and finite creature. he waves a mighty weapon, and sweats great drops of blood; travelling in the greatness of his strength. hear his words of calm confidence and power: "come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and i will give you rest." [footnote : the augustinian doctrine, that the entire human species was created on the sixth day, existed as a _nature_ (not as individuals) in the first human pair, acted in and fell with them in the first transgression, and us thus fallen and vitiated by an act of self-will has been procreated or individualized, permits the theologian, to say that all men are equally concerned in the origin of sin, and to charge the guilt of its origin upon all alike.] [footnote : confession of faith. vi. vi.] [footnote : one of the points of difference between the protestant and the papist, when the dogmatic position of each was taken, related to the guilt of original sin,--the former affirming, and the latter denying. it is also one of the points of difference between calvinism and arminianism.] [footnote : coleridge; works, vii. .] the approbation of goodness is not the love of it. romans ii. -- .--"thou therefore which, teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? thou that makest thy boast of the law, through, breaking the law dishonorest thou god?" the apostle paul is a very keen and cogent reasoner. like a powerful logician who is confident that he has the truth upon his side, and like a pureminded man who has no sinister ends to gain, he often takes his stand upon the same ground with his opponent, adopts his positions, and condemns him out of his own mouth. in the passage from which the text is taken, he brings the jew in guilty before god, by employing the jew's own claims and statements. "behold thou art called a jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of god, and knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness, an instructor of the foolish. thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest that a man should not steal, dost thou steal? thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonorest thou god?" as if he had said: "you claim to be one of god's chosen people, to possess a true knowledge of him and his law; why do you not act up to this knowledge? why do you not by your character and conduct prove the claim to be a valid one?" the apostle had already employed this same species of argument against the gentile world. in the first chapter of this epistle to the romans, st. paul demonstrates that the pagan world is justly condemned by god, because, they too, like the jew, knew more than they practised. he affirms that the greek and roman world, like the jewish people, "when they knew god, glorified him not as god, neither were thankful;" that as "they did not like to retain god in their knowledge, god gave them over to a reprobate mind;" and that "knowing the judgment of god, that they which commit such things" as he had just enumerated in that awful catalogue of pagan vices "are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them." the apostle does not for an instant concede, that the gentile can put in the plea that he was so entirely ignorant of the character and law of god, that he ought to be excused from the obligation to love and obey him. he expressly affirms that where there is absolutely no law, and no knowledge of law, there can be no transgression; and yet affirms that in the day of judgment every mouth must be stopped, and the whole world must plead guilty before god. it is indeed true, that he teaches that there is a difference in the degrees of knowledge which the jew and the gentile respectively possess. the light of revealed religion, in respect to man's duty and obligations, is far clearer than the light of nature, and increases the responsibilities of those who enjoy it, and the condemnation of those who abuse it; but the light of nature is clear and true as far as it goes, and is enough to condemn every soul outside of the pale of revelation. for, in the day of judgment, there will not be a single human creature who can look his judge in the eye, and say: "i acted up to every particle of moral light that i enjoyed; i never thought a thought, felt a feeling, or did a deed, for which my conscience reproached me." it follows from this, that the language of the apostle, in the text, may be applied to every man. the argument that has force for the jew has force for the gentile. "thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest that a man should not steal, dost thou steal?" you who know the character and claims of god, and are able to state them to another, why do you not revere and obey them in your own person? you who approve of the law of god as pure and perfect, why do you not conform your own heart and conduct to it? you who perceive the excellence of piety in another, you who praise and admire moral excellence in your fellow-man, why do you not seek after it, and toil after it in your own heart? in paying this tribute of approbation to the character of a god whom you do not yourself love and serve, and to a piety in your neighbor which you do not yourself possess and cultivate, are you not writing down your own condemnation? how can you stand before the judgment-seat of god, after having in this manner confessed through your whole life upon earth that god is good, and his law is perfect, and yet through that whole life have gone counter to your own confession, neither loving that god, nor obeying that law? "to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (james iv. .) the text then, together with the chains of reasoning that are connected with it, leads us to consider the fact, that a man may admire and praise moral excellence without possessing or practising it himself; that _the approbation of goodness is not the same as the love of it_.[ ] i. this is proved, in the first place, from the _testimony_ of both god and man. the assertions and reasonings of the apostle paul have already been alluded to, and there are many other passages of scripture which plainly imply that men may admire and approve of a virtue which they do not practise. indeed, the language of our lord respecting the scribes and pharisees, may be applied to disobedient mankind at large: "whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do ye not after their works: for they say, and do not." (matt, xxiii. .) the testimony of man is equally explicit. that is a very remarkable witness which the poet ovid bears to this truth. "i see the right,"--he says,--"and approve of it, but i follow and practise the wrong." this is the testimony of a profligate man of pleasure, in whom the light of nature had been greatly dimmed in the darkness of sin and lust. but he had not succeeded in annihilating his conscience, and hence, in a sober hour, he left upon record his own damnation. he expressly informed the whole cultivated classical world, who were to read his polished numbers, that he that had taught others had not taught himself; that he who had said that a man should not commit adultery had himself committed adultery; that an educated roman who never saw the volume of inspiration, and never heard of either moses or christ, nevertheless approved of and praised a virtue that he never put in practice. and whoever will turn to the pages of horace, a kindred spirit to ovid both in respect to a most exquisite taste and a most refined earthliness, will frequently find the same confession breaking out. nay, open the volumes of rousseau, and even of voltaire, and read their panegyrics of virtue, their eulogies of goodness. what are these, but testimonies that they, too, saw the right and did the wrong. it is true, that the eulogy is merely sentimentalism, and is very different from the sincere and noble tribute which a good man renders to goodness. still, it is valid testimony to the truth that the mere approbation of goodness is not the love of it. it is true, that these panegyrics of virtue, when read in the light of rousseau's sensuality and voltaire's malignity, wear a dead and livid hue, like objects seen in the illumination from phosphorus or rotten wood; yet, nevertheless, they are visible and readable, and testify as distinctly as if they issued from elevated and noble natures, that the teachings of man's conscience are not obeyed by man's heart,--that a man may praise and admire virtue, while he loves and practises vice. ii. a second proof that the approbation of goodness is not the love of it is found in the fact, that _it is impossible not to approve of goodness_, while it is possible not to love it. the structure of man's conscience is such, that he can commend only the right; but the nature of his will is such, that he may be conformed to the right or the wrong. the conscience can give only one judgment; but the heart and will are capable of two kinds of affection, and two courses of action. every rational creature is shut up, by his moral sense, to but one moral conviction. he must approve the right and condemn the wrong. he cannot approve the wrong and condemn the right; any more than he can perceive that two and two make five. the human conscience is a rigid and stationary faculty. its voice may be stifled or drowned, for a time; but it can never be made to titter two discordant voices. it is for this reason, that the approbation of goodness is necessary and universal. wicked men and wicked angels must testify that benevolence is right, and malevolence is wrong; though they hate the former, and love the latter. but it is not so with the human _will_. this is not a rigid and stationary faculty. it is capable of turning this way, and that way. it was created holy, and it turned from holiness to sin, in adam's apostasy. and now, under the operation of the divine spirit, it turns back again, it _converts_ from sin to holiness. the will of man is thus capable of two courses of action, while his conscience is capable of only one judgment; and hence he can see and approve the right, yet love and practise the wrong. if a man's conscience changed along with his heart and his will, so that when he began to love and practise sin, he at the same time began to approve of sin, the case would be different. if, when adam apostatised from god, his conscience at that moment began to take sides with his sin, instead of condemning it, then, indeed, neither ovid, nor horace, nor rousseau, nor any other one of adam's posterity, would have been able to say: "i see the right and _approve_ of it, while i follow the wrong." but it was not so. after apostasy, the conscience of adam passed the same judgment upon sin that it did before. adam heard its terrible voice speaking in concert with the voice of god, and hid himself. he never succeeded in bringing his conscience over to the side of his heart and will, and neither has any one of his posterity. it is impossible to do this. satan himself, after millenniums of sin, still finds that his conscience, that the accusing and condemning law written on the heart, is too strong for him to alter, too rigid for him to bend. the utmost that either he, or any creature, can do, is to drown its verdict for a time in other sounds, only to hear the thunder-tones again, waxing longer and louder like the trumpet of sinai. having thus briefly shown that the approbation of goodness is not the love of it, we proceed to draw some conclusions from the truth. . in the first place, it follows from this subject, that _the mere workings of conscience are no proof of holiness_. when, after the commission of a wrong act, the soul of a man is filled with self-reproach, he must not take it for granted that this is the stirring of a better nature within him, and is indicative of some remains of original righteousness. this reaction of conscience against his disobedience of law is as necessary, and unavoidable, as the action of his eyelids under the blaze of noon, and is worthy neither of praise nor blame, so far as he is concerned. it does not imply any love for holiness, or any hatred of sin. nay, it may exist without any sorrow for sin, as in the instance of the hardened transgressor who writhes under its awful power, but never sheds a penitential tear, or sends up a sigh for mercy. the distinction between the human conscience, and the human heart, is as wide as between the human intellect, and the human heart.[ ] we never think of confounding the functions and operations of the understanding with those of the heart. we know that an idea or a conception, is totally different from an emotion, or a feeling. how often do we remark, that a man may have an intellectual perception, without any correspondent experience or feeling in his heart. how continually does the preacher urge his hearers to bring their hearts into harmony with their understandings, so that their intellectual orthodoxy may become their practical piety. now, all this is true of the distinction between the conscience and the heart. the conscience is an _intellectual_ faculty, and by that better elder philosophy which comprehended all the powers of the soul under the two general divisions of understanding and will, would be placed in the domain of the understanding. conscience is a _light_, as we so often call it. it is not a _life_; it is not a source of life. no man's heart and will can be renewed or changed by his conscience. conscience is simply a law. conscience is merely legislative; it is never executive. it simply says to the heart and will: "do thus, feel thus," but it gives no assistance, and imparts no inclination to obey its own command. those, therefore, commit a grave error both in philosophy and religion, who confound the conscience with the heart, and suppose that because there is in every man self-reproach and remorse after the commission of sin, therefore there is the germ of holiness within him. holiness is _love_, the positive affection of the heart. it is a matter of the heart and the will. but this remorse is purely an affair of the conscience, and the heart has no connection with it. nay, it appears in its most intense form, in those beings whose feelings emotions and determinations are in utmost opposition to god and goodness. the purest remorse in the universe is to be found in those wretched beings whose emotional and active powers, whose heart and will, are in the most bitter hostility to truth and righteousness. how, then, can the mere reproaches and remorse of conscience be regarded as evidence of piety? . but, we may go a step further than this, though in the same general direction, and remark, in the second place, that _elevated moral sentiments are no certain proof of piety toward god and man_. these, too, like remorse of conscience, spring out of the intellectual structure, and may exist without any affectionate love of god in the heart. there is a species of nobleness and beauty in moral excellence that makes an involuntary and unavoidable impression. when the christian martyr seals his devotion to god and truth with his blood; when a meek and lowly disciple of christ clothes his life of poverty, and self-denial, with a daily beauty greater than that of the lilies or of solomon's array; when the poor widow with feeble and trembling steps comes up to the treasury of the lord, and casts in all her living; when any pure and spiritual act is performed out of solemn and holy love of god and man, it is impossible not to be filled with sentiments of admiration, and oftentimes, with an enthusiastic glow of soul. we see this in the impression which the character of christ universally makes. there are multitudes of men, to whom that wonderful sinless life shines aloft like a star. but they do not _imitate_ it. they admire it, but they do not love it.[ ] the spiritual purity and perfection of the son of god rays out a beauty which really attracts their cultivated minds, and their refined taste; but when he says to them: "take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for i am meek and lowly of heart; take up thy cross daily and follow me;" they turn away sorrowful, like the rich young man in the gospel,--sorrowful, because their sentiments like his are elevated, and they have a certain awe of eternal things, and know that religion is the highest concern; and sorrowful, because their hearts and wills are still earthly, there is no divine love in their souls, self is still their centre, and the self-renunciation that is required of them is repulsive. religion is submission,--absolute submission to god,--and no amount of mere admiration of religion can be a substitute for it. as a thoughtful observer looks abroad over society, he sees a very interesting class who are not far from the kingdom of god; who, nevertheless, are not _within_ that kingdom, and who, therefore, if they remain where they are, are as certainly lost as if they were at an infinite distance from the kingdom. the homely proverb applies to them: "a miss is as good as a mile." they are those who suppose that elevated moral sentiments, an aesthetic pleasure in noble acts or noble truths, a glow and enthusiasm of the soul at the sight or the recital of examples of christian virtue and christian grace, a disgust at the gross and repulsive forms and aspects of sin,--that such merely intellectual and aesthetic experiences as these are piety itself. all these may be in the soul, without any godly sorrow over sin, any cordial trust in christ's blood, any self-abasement before god, any daily conflict with indwelling corruption, any daily cross-bearing and toil for christ's dear sake. these latter, constitute the essence of the christian experience, and without them that whole range of elevated sentiments and amiable qualities, to which we have alluded, only ministers to the condemnation instead of the salvation of the soul. for, the question of the text comes home with solemn force, to all such persons. "thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking of the law, dishonorest thou god?" if the beauty of virtue, and the grandeur of truth, and the sublimity of invisible things, have been able to make such an impression upon your intellects, and your tastes,--upon that part of your constitution which is fixed and stationary, which responds organically to such objects, and which is not the seat of moral character,--then why is there not a corresponding influence and impression made by them upon your heart? if you can admire and praise them, in this style, why do you not _love_ them? why is it, that when the character of christ bows your intellect, it does not bend your will, and sway your affections? must there not be an inveterate opposition and resistance in the _heart_? in the heart which can refuse submission to such high claims, when so distinctly seen? in the heart which can refuse to take the yoke, and learn of a teacher who has already made such an impression upon the conscience and the understanding? the human heart is, as the prophet affirms, _desperately_ wicked, _desperately_ selfish. and perhaps its self-love is never more plainly seen, than in such instances as those of that moral and cultivated young man mentioned in the gospel, and that class in modern society who correspond to him. nowhere is the difference between the approbation of goodness, and the love of it, more apparent. in these instances the approbation is of a high order. it is refined and sublimated by culture and taste. it is not stained by the temptations of low life, and gross sin. if there ever could be a case, in which the intellectual approbation of goodness would develop and pass over into the affectionate and hearty love of it, we should expect to find it here. but it is not found. the young man goes away,--sorrowful indeed,--but he goes away from the redeemer of the world, _never to return_. the amiable, the educated, the refined, pass on from year to year, and, so far as the evangelic sorrow, and the evangelic faith are concerned, like the dying beaufort depart to judgment making no sign. we hear their praises of christian men, and christian graces, and christian actions; we enjoy the grand and swelling sentiments with which, perhaps, they enrich the common literature of the world; but we never hear them cry: "god be merciful to me a sinner; o lamb of god, that takest away the sin of the world, grant me thy peace; thou, o god, art the strength of my heart, and my portion forever." . in the third place, it follows from this subject, that in order to holiness in man there must be a change in his _heart and will_. if our analysis is correct, no possible modification of either his conscience, or his intellect, would produce holiness. holiness is an affection of the heart, and an inclination of the will. it is the love and practice of goodness, and not the mere approbation and admiration of it. now, suppose that the conscience should be stimulated to the utmost, and remorse should be produced until it filled the soul to overflowing, would there be in this any of that gentle and blessed affection for god and goodness, that heartfelt love of them, which is the essence of religion? or, suppose that the intellect merely were impressed by the truth, and very clear perceptions of the christian system and of the character and claims of its author were imparted, would the result be any different? if the _heart_ and _will_ were unaffected; if the influences and impressions were limited merely to the conscience and the understanding; would not the seat of the difficulty still be untouched? the command is not: "give me thy conscience," but, "give me thy _heart_." hence, that regeneration of which our lord speaks in his discourse with nicodemus is not a radical change of the conscience, but of the _will_ and _affections_. we have already seen that the conscience cannot undergo a radical change. it can never be made to approve what it once condemned, and to condemn what it once approved. it is the stationary legislative faculty, and is, of necessity, always upon the side of law and of god. hence, the apostle paul sought to commend the truth which he preached, to every man's conscience, knowing that every man's conscience was with him. the conscience, therefore, does not need to be converted, that is to say, made opposite to what it is. it is indeed greatly stimulated, and rendered vastly more energetic, by the regeneration of the heart; but this is not radically to alter it. this is to develop and educate the conscience; and when holiness is implanted in the will and affections, by the grace of the spirit, we find that both the conscience and understanding are wonderfully unfolded and strengthened. but they undergo no revolution or conversion. the judgments of the conscience are the same after regeneration, that they were before; only more positive and emphatic. the convictions of the understanding continue, as before, to be upon the side of truth; only they are more clear and powerful. the radical change, therefore, must be wrought in the heart and will. these are capable of revolutions and radical changes. they can apostatise in adam, and be regenerated in christ. they are not immovably fixed and settled, by their constitutional structure, in only one way. they have once turned from holiness to sin; and now they must be turned back again from sin to holiness. they must become exactly contrary to what they now are. the heart must love what it now hates, and must hate what it now loves. the will must incline to what it now disinclines, and disincline to what it now inclines. but this is a radical change, a total change, an entire revolution. if any man be in christ jesus, he is a new creature, in his will and affections, in his inclination and disposition. while, therefore, the conscience must continue to give the same old everlasting testimony as before, and never reverse its judgments in the least, the affections and will, the pliant, elastic, plastic part of man, the seat of vitality, of emotion, the seat of character, the fountain out of which proceed the evil thoughts or the good thoughts,--this executive, emotive, responsible part of man, must be reversed, converted, radically changed into its own contrary. so long, therefore, as this change remains to be effected in an individual, there is and can be no _holiness_ within him,--none of that holiness without which no man can see the lord. there may be within him a very active and reproaching conscience; there may be intellectual orthodoxy and correctness in religious convictions; he may cherish elevated moral sentiments, and many attractive qualities springing out of a cultivated taste and a jealous self-respect may appear in his character; but unless he _loves_ god and man out of a pure heart fervently, and unless his will is entirely and sweetly submissive to the divine will, so that he can say: "father not my will, but thine be done," he is still a natural man. he is still destitute of the spiritual mind, and to him it must be said, as it was to nicodemus: "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of god." the most important side of his being is still alienated from god. the heart with its affections; the will with its immense energies,--the entire active and emotive portions of his nature,--are still earthly, unsubmissive, selfish, and sinful. . in the fourth, and last place, we see from this subject _the necessity of the operation of the holy spirit, in order to holiness in man_. there is no part of man's complex being which is less under his own control, than his own will, and his own affections. this he discovers, as soon as he attempts to _convert_ them; as soon as he tries to produce a radical change in them. let a man whose will, from centre to circumference, is set upon self and the world, attempt to reverse it, and set it with the same strength and energy upon god and heaven, and he will know that his will is too strong for him, and that he cannot overcome himself. let a man whose affections cleave like those of dives to earthly good, and find their sole enjoyment in earthly pleasures, attempt to change them into their own contraries, so that they shall cleave to god, and take a real delight in heavenly things,--let a carnal man try to revolutionize himself into a spiritual man,--and he will discover that the affections and feelings of his heart are beyond his control. and the reason of this is plain. the affections and will of a man show what he _loves_, and what he is _inclined_ to. a sinful man cannot, therefore, overcome his sinful love and inclination, because he cannot _make a beginning_. the instant he attempts to love god, he finds his love of himself in the way. this new love for a new object, which he proposes to originate within himself, is prevented by an old love, which already has possession. this new inclination to heaven and divine things is precluded by an old inclination, very strong and very set, to earth and earthly things. there is therefore no _starting-point,_ in this affair of self-conversion. he proposes, and he tries, to think a holy thought, but there is a sinful thought already in the mind. he attempts to start out a christian grace,--say the grace of humility,--but the feeling of pride already stands in the way, and, what is more, remains in the way. he tries to generate that supreme love of god, of which he has heard so much, but the supreme love of himself is ahead of him, and occupies the whole ground. in short, he is baffled at every point in this attempt radically to change his own heart and will, because at every point this heart and will are already committed and determined. go down as low as he pleases, he finds sin,--_love_ of sin, and _inclination_ to sin. he never reaches a point where these cease; and therefore never reaches a point where he can begin a new love, and a new inclination. the late mr. webster was once engaged in a law case, in which he had to meet, upon the opposing side, the subtle and strong understanding of jeremiah mason. in one of his conferences with his associate counsel, a difficult point to be managed came to view. after some discussion, without satisfactory results, respecting the best method of handling the difficulty, one of his associates suggested that the point might after all, escape the notice of the opposing counsel. to this, mr. webster replied: "not so; go down as deep as you will, you will find jeremiah mason below you." precisely so in the case of which we are speaking. go down as low as you please into your heart and will, you will find your _self_ below you; you will find sin not only lying at the door, but lying in the way. if you move in the line of your feelings and affections, you will find earthly feelings and affections ever below you. if you move in the line of your choice and inclination, you will find a sinful choice and inclination ever below you. in chasing your sin through the avenues of your fallen and corrupt soul, you are chasing your horizon; in trying to get clear of it by your own isolated and independent strength, you are attempting (to use the illustration of goethe, who however employed it for a false purpose) to jump off your own shadow. this, then, is the reason why the heart and will of a sinful man are so entirely beyond his own control. they are _preoccupied_ and _predetermined_, and therefore he cannot make a beginning in the direction of holiness. if he attempts to put forth a holy determination, he finds a sinful one already made and making,--and this determination is _his_ determination, unforced, responsible and guilty. if he tries to start out a holy emotion, he finds a sinful emotion already beating and rankling,--and this emotion is _his_ emotion, unforced, responsible, and guilty. there is no physical necessity resting upon him. nothing but this love of sin and inclination to self stands in the way of a supreme love of god and holiness; but _it stands in the way._ nothing but the sinful affection of the heart prevents a man from exercising a holy affection; but _it prevents him effectually_. an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit; a sinful love and inclination cannot convert itself into a holy love and inclination; satan cannot cast out satan. there is need therefore of a divine operation to renew, to radically change, the heart and will. if they cannot renew themselves, they must _be_ renewed; and there is no power that can reach them but that mysterious energy of the holy spirit which like the wind bloweth where it listeth, and we hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh or whither it goeth. the condition of the human heart is utterly hopeless, were it not for the promised influences of the holy ghost to regenerate it. there are many reflections suggested by this subject; for it has a wide reach, and would carry us over vast theological spaces, should we attempt to exhaust it. we close with the single remark, that it should be man's first and great aim _to obtain the new heart_. let him seek this first of all, and all things else will be added unto him. it matters not how active your conscience may be, how clear and accurate your intellectual convictions of truth may be, how elevated may be your moral sentiments and your admiration of virtue, if you are destitute of an _evangelical experience_. of what value will all these be in the day of judgment, if you have never sorrowed for sin, never appropriated the atonement for sin, and never been inwardly sanctified? our lord says to every man: "either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt." the _tree itself_ must be made good. the heart and will themselves must be renewed. these are the root and stock into which everything else is grafted; and so long as they remain in their apostate natural condition, the man is sinful and lost, do what else he may. it is indeed true, that such a change as this is beyond your power to accomplish. with man it is impossible; but with god it is a possibility, and a reality. it has actually been wrought in thousands of wills, as stubborn as yours; in millions of hearts, as worldly and selfish as yours. we commend you, therefore, to the person and work of the holy spirit. we remind you, that he is able to renovate and sweetly incline the obstinate will, to soften and spiritualize the flinty heart. he saith: "i will put a new spirit within you; and i will take the stony heart out of your flesh, and will give you an heart of flesh; that ye may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them; and ye shall be my people, and i will be your god." do not listen to these declarations and promises of god supinely; but arise and earnestly _plead_ them. take words upon your lips, and go before god. say unto him: "i am the clay, be _thou_ the potter. behold thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden parts _thou_ shalt make me to know wisdom. i will run in the way of thy commandments, when _thou_ shalt enlarge my heart. create within me a clean heart, o god, and renew within me a right spirit." _seek_ for the new heart. _ask_ for the new heart. _knock_ for the new heart. "for, if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give the holy spirit to them that ask him." and in giving the holy spirit, he gives the new heart, with all that is included in it, and all that issues from it. [footnote : see, upon this whole subject of conscience as distinguished from will, and of amiable instincts as distinguished from holiness, the profound and discriminating views of edwards: the nature of virtue, chapters v. vi. vii.] [footnote : compare, on this distinction, the author's' discourses and essays, p. sq.] [footnote : the reader will recall the celebrated panegyric upon christ by rousseau.] the use of fear in religion. proverbs ix. .--"the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom." luke xii. , .--"and i say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. but i will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, i say unto you, fear him." the place which the feeling of fear ought to hold in the religious experience of mankind is variously assigned. theories of religion are continually passing from one extreme to another, according as they magnify or disparage this emotion. some theological schools are distinguished for their severity, and others for their sentimentalism. some doctrinal systems fail to grasp the mercy of god with as much vigor and energy as they do the divine justice, while others melt down everything that is scriptural and self-consistent, and flow along vaguely in an inundation of unprincipled emotions and sensibilities. the same fact meets us in the experience of the individual. we either fear too much, or too little. having obtained glimpses of the divine compassion, how prone is the human heart to become indolent and self-indulgent, and to relax something of that earnest effort with which it had begun to pluck out the offending right eye. or, having felt the power of the divine anger; having obtained clear conceptions of the intense aversion of god towards moral evil; even the child of god sometimes lives under a cloud, because he does not dare to make a right use of this needed and salutary impression, and pass back to that confiding trust in the divine pity which is his privilege and his birth-right, as one who has been sprinkled with atoning blood. it is plain, from the texts of scripture placed at the head of this discourse, that the feeling and principle of fear is a legitimate one.[ ] in these words of god himself, we are taught that it is the font and origin of true wisdom, and are commanded to be inspired by it. the old testament enjoins it, and the new testament repeats and emphasizes the injunction; so that the total and united testimony of revelation forbids a religion that is destitute of fear. the new dispensation is sometimes set in opposition to the old, and christ is represented as teaching a less rigid morality than that of moses and the prophets. but the mildness of christ is not seen, certainly, in the ethical and preceptive part of his religion. the sermon on the mount is a more searching code of morals than the ten commandments. it cuts into human depravity with a more keen and terrible edge, than does the law proclaimed amidst thunderings and lightnings. let us see if it does not. the mosaic statute simply says to man: "thou shalt not kill." but the re-enactment of this statute, by incarnate deity, is accompanied with an explanation and an emphasis that precludes all misapprehension and narrow construction of the original law, and renders it a two-edged sword that pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. when the hebrew legislator says to me: "thou shalt not kill," it is possible for me, with my propensity to look upon the outward appearance, and to regard the external act alone, to deem myself innocent if i have never actually murdered a fellow-being. but when the lord of glory tells me that "whosoever is angry with his brother" is in danger of the judgment, my mouth is stopped, and it is impossible for me to cherish a conviction of personal innocency, in respect to the sixth commandment. and the same is true of the seventh commandment, and the eighth commandment, and of all the statutes in the decalogue. he who reads, and ponders, the whole sermon on the mount, is painfully conscious that christ has put a meaning into the mosaic law that renders it a far more effective instrument of mental torture, for the guilty, than it is as it stands in the old testament. the lightnings are concentrated. the bolts are hurled with a yet more sure and deadly aim. the new meaning is a perfectly legitimate and logical deduction, and in this sense there is no difference between the decalogue and the sermon,--between the ethics of the old and the ethics of the new testament. but, so much more spiritual is the application, and so much more searching is the reach of the statute, in the last of the two forms of its statement, that it looks almost like a new proclamation of law. our lord did not intend, or pretend, to teach a milder ethics, or an easier virtue, on the mount of beatitudes, than that which he had taught fifteen centuries before on mt. sinai. he indeed pronounces a blessing; and so did moses, his servant, before him. but in each instance, it is a blessing upon condition of obedience; which, in both instances, involves a curse upon disobedience. he who is meek shall be blest; but he who is not shall be condemned. he who is pure in heart, he who is poor in spirit, he who mourns over personal unworthiness, he who hungers and thirsts after a righteousness of which he is destitute, he who is merciful, he who is the peace-maker, he who endures persecution patiently, and he who loves his enemies,--he who is and does all this in a perfect manner, without a single slip or failure, is indeed blessed with the beatitude of god. but where is the man? what single individual in all the ages, and in all the generations since adam, is entitled to the great blessing of these beatitudes, and not deserving of the dreadful curse which they involve? in applying such a high, ethereal test to human character, the founder of christianity is the severest and sternest preacher of law that has ever trod upon the planet. and he who stops with the merely ethical and preceptive part of christianity, and rejects its forgiveness through atoning blood, and its regeneration by an indwelling spirit,--he who does not unite the fifth chapter of matthew, with the fifth chapter of romans,--converts the lamb of god into the lion of the tribe of judah. he makes use of everything in the christian system that condemns man to everlasting destruction, but throws away the very and the only part of it that takes off the burden and the curse. it is not, then, a correct idea of christ that we have, when we look upon him as unmixed complacency and unbalanced compassion. in all aspects, he was a complex personage. he was god, and he was man. as god, he could pronounce a blessing; and he could pronounce a curse, as none but god can, or dare. as man, he was perfect; and into his perfection of feeling and of character there entered those elements that fill a good being with peace, and an evil one with woe. the son of god exhibits goodness and severity mingled and blended in perfect and majestic harmony; and that man lacks sympathy with jesus christ who cannot, while feeling the purest and most unselfish indignation towards the sinner's sin, at the same time give up his own individual life, if need be, for the sinner's soul. the two feelings are not only compatible in the same person, but necessarily belong to a perfect being. our lord breathed out a prayer for his murderers so fervent, and so full of pathos, that it will continue to soften and melt the flinty human heart, to the end of time; and he also poured out a denunciation of woes upon the pharisees (matt, xxiii.), every syllable of which is dense enough with the wrath of god, to sink the deserving objects of it "plumb down, ten thousand fathoms deep, to bottomless perdition in adamantine chains and penal fire." the utterances, "father forgive them, for they know not what they do: ye serpents, ye generation of vipers! how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" both fell from the same pure and gracious lips. it is not surprising, therefore, that our lord often appeals to the principle of fear. he makes use of it in all its various forms,--from that servile terror which is produced by the truth when the soul is just waked up from its drowze in sin, to that filial fear which solomon affirms to be the beginning of wisdom. the subject thus brought before our minds, by the inspired word, has a wide application to all ages and conditions of human life, and all varieties of human character. we desire to direct attention to _the use and value of religious fear, in the opening periods of human life_. there are some special reasons why youth and early manhood should come under the influence of this powerful feeling. "i write unto you young men,"--says st. john,--"because ye are _strong_." we propose to urge upon the young, the duty of cultivating the fear of god's displeasure, because they are able to endure the emotion; because youth is the springtide and prime of human life, and capable of carrying burdens, and standing up under influences and impressions, that might crush a feebler period, or a more exhausted stage of the human soul. i. in the first place, the emotion of fear ought to enter into the consciousness of the young, because _youth is naturally light-hearted_. "childhood and youth," saith the preacher, "are vanity." the opening period in human life is the happiest part of it, if we have respect merely to the condition and circumstances in which the human being is placed. he is free from all public cares, and responsibilities. he is encircled within the strong arms of parents, and protectors. even if he tries, he cannot feel the pressure of those toils and anxieties which will come of themselves, when he has passed the line that separates youth from manhood. when he hears his elders discourse of the weight, and the weariness, of this working-day world, it is with incredulity and surprise. the world is bright before his eye, and he wonders that it should ever wear any other aspect. he cannot understand how the freshness, and vividness, and pomp of human life, should shift into its soberer and sterner forms; and he will not, until the "shades of the prison-house begin to close upon the growing boy."[ ] now there is something, in this happy attitude of things, to fill the heart of youth with gayety and abandonment. his pulses beat strong and high. the currents of his soul flow like the mountain river. his mood is buoyant and jubilant, and he flings himself with zest, and a sense of vitality, into the joy and exhilaration all around him. but such a mood as this, unbalanced and untempered by a loftier one, is hazardous to the eternal interests of the soul. perpetuate this gay festal abandonment of the mind; let the human being, through the whole of his earthly course, be filled with the sole single consciousness that _this_ is the beautiful world; and will he, can he, live as a stranger and a pilgrim in it? perpetuate that vigorous pulse, and that youthful blood which "runs tickling up and down the veins;" drive off, and preclude, all that care and responsibility which renders human life so earnest; and will the young immortal go through it, with that sacred fear and trembling with which he is commanded to work out his salvation? yet, this buoyancy and light-heartedness are legitimate feelings. they spring up, like wild-flowers, from the very nature of man. god intends that prismatic hues and auroral lights shall flood our morning sky. he must be filled with a sour and rancid misanthropy, who cannot bless the creator that there is one part of man's sinful and cursed life which reminds of the time, and the state, when there was no sin and no curse. there is, then, to be no extermination of this legitimate experience. but there is to be its moderation and its regulation. and this we get, by the introduction of the feeling and the principle of religious fear. the youth ought to seek an impression from things unseen and eternal. god, and his august attributes; christ, and his awful passion; heaven, with its sacred scenes and joys; hell, with its just woe and wail,--all these should come in, to modify, and temper, the jubilance that without them becomes the riot of the soul. for this, we apprehend, is the meaning of our lord, when he says, "i will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, i say unto you, fear him." it is not so much any particular species of fear that we are shut up to, by these words, as it is the general habit and feeling. the fear of _hell_ is indeed specified,--and this proves that such a fear is rational and proper in its own place,--but our lord would not have us stop with this single and isolated form of the feeling. he recommends a solemn temper. he commands a being who stands continually upon the brink of eternity and immensity, to be aware of his position. he would have the great shadow of eternity thrown in upon time. he desires that every man should realize, in those very moments when the sun shines the brightest and the earth looks the fairest, that there is another world than this, for which man is not naturally prepared, and for which he must make a preparation. and what he enjoins upon mankind at large, he specially enjoins upon youth. they need to be sobered more than others. the ordinary cares of this life, which do so much towards moderating our desires and aspirations, have not yet pressed upon the ardent and expectant soul, and therefore it needs, more than others, to fear and to "stand in awe." ii. secondly, youth is _elastic, and readily recovers from undue depression_. the skeptical lucretius tells us that the divinities are the creatures of man's fears, and would make us believe that all religion has its ground in fright.[ ] and do we not hear this theory repeated by the modern unbeliever? what means this appeal to a universal, and an unprincipled good-nature in the supreme being, and this rejection of everything in christianity that awakens misgivings and forebodings within the sinful human soul? why this opposition to the doctrine of an absolute, and therefore endless punishment, unless it be that it awakens a deep and permanent dread in the heart of guilty man? now, we are not of that number who believe that thoughtless and lethargic man has been greatly damaged by his moral fears. it is the lack of a bold and distinct impression from the solemn objects of another world, and the utter absence of fear, that is ruining man from generation to generation. if we were at liberty, and had the power, to induce into the thousands and millions of our race who are running the rounds of sin and vice, some one particular emotion that should be medicinal and salutary to the soul, we would select that very one which our lord had in view when he said: "i will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, i say unto you, fear him." if we were at liberty, and had the power, we would instantaneously stop these human souls that are crowding our avenues, intent only upon pleasure and earth, and would fill them with the emotions of the day of doom; we would deluge them with the fear of god, that they might flee from their sins and the wrath to come. but while we say this, we also concede that it is possible for the human soul to be injured, by the undue exercise of this emotion. the bruised reed may be broken, and the smoking flax may be quenched; and hence it is the very function and office-work of the blessed comforter, to prevent this. god's own children sometimes pass through a horror of great darkness, like that which enveloped abraham; and the unregenerate mind is sometimes so overborne by its fears of death, judgment, and eternity, that the entire experience becomes for a time morbid and confused. yet, even in this instance, the excess is better than the lack. we had better travel this road to heaven, than none at all. it is better to enter into the kingdom of god with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell-fire. when the saints from the heavenly heights look back upon their severe religious experience here on earth,--upon their footprints stained with their own blood,--they count it a small matter that they entered into eternal joy through much tribulation. and if we could but for one instant take their position, we should form their estimate; we should not shrink, if god so pleased, from passing through that martyrdom and crucifixion which has been undergone by so many of those gentle spirits, broken spirits, holy spirits, upon whom the burden of mystery once lay like night, and the far heavier burden of guilt lay like hell. there is less danger, however, that the feeling and principle of fear should exert an excessive influence upon youth. there is an elasticity, in the earlier periods of human life, that prevents long-continued depression. how rare it is to see a young person smitten with insanity. it is not until the pressure of anxiety has been long continued, and the impulsive spring of the soul has been destroyed, that reason is dethroned. the morning of our life may, therefore, be subjected to a subduing and repressing influence, with very great safety. it is well to bear the yoke in youth. the awe produced by a vivid impression from the eternal world may enter into the exuberant and gladsome experience of the young, with very little danger of actually extinguishing it, and rendering life permanently gloomy and unhappy. iii. thirdly, youth is _exposed to sudden temptations, and surprisals into sin_. the general traits that have been mentioned as belonging to the early period in human life render it peculiarly liable to solicitations. the whole being of a healthful hilarious youth, who feels life in every limb, thrills to temptation, like the lyre to the plectrum. body and soul are alive to all the enticements of the world of sense; and in certain critical moments, the entire sensorium, upon the approach of bold and powerful excitements, flutters and trembles like an electrometer in a thunder-storm. all passionate poetry breathes of youth and spring. most of the catastrophes of the novel and the drama turn upon the violent action of some temptation, upon the highly excitable nature of youth. all literature testifies to the hazards that attend the morning of our existence; and daily experience and observation, certainly, corroborate the testimony. it becomes necessary, therefore, to guard the human soul against these liabilities which attend it in its forming period. and, next to a deep and all-absorbing _love_ of god, there is nothing so well adapted to protect against sudden surprisals, as a profound and definite fear of god. it is a great mistake, to suppose that apostate and corrupt beings like ourselves can pass through all the temptations of this life unscathed, while looking _solely_ at the pleasant aspects of the divine being, and the winning forms of religious truth. we are not yet seraphs; and we cannot always trust to our affectionateness, to carry us through a violent attack of temptation. there are moments in the experience of the christian himself, when he is compelled to call in the _fear_ of god to his aid, and to steady his infirm and wavering virtue by the recollection that "the wages of sin is death." "by the fear of the lord, men,"--and christian men too,--"depart from evil." it will not always be so. when that which is perfect is come, perfect love shall cast out fear; but, until the disciple of christ reaches heaven, his religious experience must be a somewhat complex one. a reasonable and well-defined apprehensiveness must mix with his affectionateness, and deter him from transgression, in those severe passages in his history when love is languid and fails to draw him. says an old english divine: "the fear of god's judgments, or of the threatenings of god, is of much efficiency, when some present temptation presseth upon us. when conscience and the affections are divided; when conscience doth withdraw a man from sin, and when his carnal affections draw him forth to it; then should the fear of god come in. it is a holy design for a christian, to counterbalance the pleasures of sin with the terrors of it, and thus to cure the poison of the viper by the flesh of the viper. thus that admirable saint and martyr, bishop hooper, when he came to die, one endeavored to dehort him from death by this: o sir, consider that life is sweet and death is bitter; presently he replied, life to come is more sweet, and death to come is more bitter, and so went to the stake and patiently endured the fire. thus, as a christian may sometimes outweigh the pleasures of sin by the consideration of the reward of god, so, sometimes, he may quench the pleasures of sin by the consideration of the terrors of god."[ ] but much more is all this true, in the instance of the hot-blooded youth. how shall he resist temptation, unless he has some _fear_ of god before his eyes? there are moments in the experience of the young, when all power of resistance seems to be taken away, by the very witchery and blandishment of the object. he has no heart, and no nerve, to resist the beautiful siren. and it is precisely in these emergencies in his experience,--in these moments when this world comes up before him clothed in pomp and gold, and the other world is so entirely lost sight of, that it throws in upon him none of its solemn shadows and warnings,--it is precisely now, when he is just upon the point of yielding to the mighty yet fascinating pressure, that he needs to feel an impression, bold and startling, from the _wrath_ of god. nothing but the most active remedies will have any effect, in this tumult and uproar of the soul. when the whole system is at fever-heat, and the voice of reason and conscience is drowned in the clamors of sense and earth, nothing can startle and stop but the trumpet of sinai.[ ] it is in these severe experiences, which are more common to youth than they are to manhood, that we see the great value of the feeling and principle of fear. it is, comparatively, in vain for a youth under the influence of strong temptations,--and particularly when the surprise is sprung upon him,--to ply himself with arguments drawn from the beauty of virtue, and the excellence of piety. they are too ethereal for him, in his present mood. such arguments are for a calmer moment, and a more dispassionate hour. his blood is now boiling, and those higher motives which would influence the saint, and would have some influence with him, if he were not in this critical condition, have little power to deter him from sin. let him therefore pass by the love of god, and betake himself to the _anger_ of god, for safety. let him say to himself, in this moment when the forces of satan, in alliance with the propensities of his own nature, are making an onset,--when all other considerations are being swept away in the rush and whirlwind of his passions,--let him coolly bethink himself and say: "if i do this abominable thing which the soul of god hates, then god, the holy and immaculate, will burn my spotted soul in his pure eternal flame." for, there is great power, in what the scriptures term "the terror of the lord," to destroy the edge of temptation. "a wise man feareth and departeth from evil." fear kills out the delight in sin. damocles cannot eat the banquet with any pleasure, so long as the naked sword hangs by a single hair over his head. no one can find much enjoyment in transgression, if his conscience is feeling the action of god's holiness within it. and well would it be, if, in every instance in which a youth is tempted to fling himself into the current of sin that is flowing all around him, his moral sense might at that very moment be filled with some of that terror, and some of that horror, which breaks upon the damned in eternity. well would it be, if the youth in the moment of violent temptation could lay upon the emotion or the lust that entices him, a distinct and red coal of hell-fire.[ ] no injury would result from the most terrible fear of god, provided it could always fall upon the human soul in those moments of strong temptation, and of surprisals, when all other motives fail to influence, and the human will is carried headlong by the human passions. there may be a fear and a terror that does harm, but man need be under no concern lest he experience too much of this feeling, in his hours of weakness and irresolution, in his youthful days of temptation and of dalliance. let him rather bless god that there is such an intense light, and such a pure fire, in the divine essence, and seek to have his whole vitiated and poisoned nature penetrated and purified by it. have you never looked with a steadfast gaze into a grate of burning anthracite, and noticed the quiet intense glow of the heat, and how silently the fire throbs and pulsates through the fuel, burning up everything that is inflammable, and, making the whole mass as pure, and clean, and clear, as the element of fire itself? such is the effect of a contact of god's wrath with man's sin; of the penetration of man's corruption by the wrath of the lord. iv. in the fourth place, the feeling and principle of fear ought to enter into the experience of both youth and manhood, _because it relieves from all other fear_. he who stands in awe of god can look down, from a very great height, upon all other perturbation. when we have seen him from whose sight the heavens and the earth flee away, there is nothing, in either the heavens or the earth, that can produce a single ripple upon the surface of our souls. this is true, even of the unregenerate mind. the fear in this instance is a servile one,--it is not filial and affectionate,--and yet it serves to protect the subject of it from all other feelings of this species, because it is greater than all others, and like aaron's serpent swallows up the rest. if we must be liable to fears,--and the transgressor always must be,--it is best that they should all be concentrated in one single overmastering sentiment. unity is ever desirable; and even if the human soul were to be visited by none but the servile forms of fear, it would be better that this should be the "terror of the lord." if, by having the fear of god before our eyes, we could thereby be delivered from the fear of man, and all those apprehensions which are connected with time and sense, would it not be wisdom to choose it? we should then know that there was but one quarter from which our peace could be assailed. this would lead us to look in that direction; and, here upon earth, sinful man cannot look at god long, without coming to terms and becoming reconciled with him. v. the fifth and last reason which we assign for cherishing the feeling and principle of fear applies to youth, to manhood, and to old age, alike: _the fear of god conducts to the love of god_. our lord does not command us to fear "him, who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell," because such a feeling as this is intrinsically desirable, and is an ultimate end in itself. it is, in itself, undesirable, and it is only a means to an end. by it, our torpid souls are to be awakened from their torpor; our numbness and hardness of mind, in respect to spiritual objects, is to be removed. we are never for a moment, to suppose that the fear of perdition is set before us as a model and permanent form of experience to be toiled after,--a positive virtue and grace intended to be perpetuated through the whole future history of the soul. it is employed only as an antecedent to a higher and a happier emotion; and when the purpose for which it has been elicited has been answered, it then disappears. "perfect love casteth out fear; for fear hath torment," ( john iv. .[ ]) but, at the same time, we desire to direct attention to the fact that he who has been exercised with this emotion, thoroughly and deeply, is conducted by it into the higher and happier form of religious experience. religious fear and anxiety are the prelude to religious peace and joy. these are the discords that prepare for the concords. he, who in the psalmist's phrase has known the power of the divine anger, is visited with the manifestation of the divine love. the method in the thirty-second psalm is the method of salvation. day and night god's hand is heavy upon the soul; the fear and sense of the divine displeasure is passing through the conscience, like electric currents. the moisture, the sweet dew of health and happiness, is turned into the drought of summer, by this preparatory process. then the soul acknowledges its sin, and its iniquity it hides no longer. it confesses its transgressions unto the lord,--it justifies and approves of this wrath which it has felt,--and he forgives the iniquity of its sin. it is not a vain thing, therefore, to fear the lord. the emotion of which we have been discoursing, painful though it be, is remunerative. there is something in the very experience of moral pain which brings us nigh to god. when, for instance, in the hour of temptation, i discern god's calm and holy eye bent upon me, and i wither beneath it, and resist the enticement because i fear to disobey, i am brought by this chapter in my experience into very close contact with my maker. there has been a vivid and personal transaction between us. i have heard him say: "if thou doest that wicked thing thou shalt surely die; refrain from doing it, and i will love thee and bless thee." this is the secret of the great and swift reaction which often takes place, in the sinner's soul. he moodily and obstinately fights against the divine displeasure. in this state of things, there is nothing but fear and torment. suddenly he gives way, acknowledges that it is a good and a just anger, no longer seeks to beat it back from his guilty soul, but lets the billows roll over while he casts himself upon the divine pity. in this act and instant,--which involves the destiny of the soul, and has millenniums in it,--when he recognizes the justice and trusts in the mercy of god, there is a great rebound, and through his tears he sees the depth, the amazing depth, of the divine compassion. for, paradoxical as it appears, god's love is best seen in the light of god's displeasure. when the soul is penetrated by this latter feeling, and is thoroughly sensible of its own worthlessness,--when, man knows himself to be vile, and filthy, and fit only to be burned up by the divine immaculateness,--then, to have the great god take him to his heart, and pour out upon him the infinite wealth of his mercy and compassion, is overwhelming. here, the divine indignation becomes a foil to set off the divine love. read the sixteenth chapter of ezekiel, with an eye "purged with euphrasy and rue," so that you can take in the full spiritual significance of the comparisons and metaphors, and your whole soul will dissolve in tears, as you perceive how the great and pure god, in every instance in which he saves an apostate spirit, is compelled to bow his heavens and come down into a loathsome sty of sensuality.[ ] would it be love of the highest order, in a seraph, to leave the pure cerulean and trail his white garments through the haunts of vice, to save the wretched inmates from themselves and their sins? o then what must be the degree of affection and compassion, when the infinite deity, whose essence is light itself, and whose nature is the intensest contrary of all sin, tabernacles in the flesh upon the errand of redemption! and if the pure spirit of that seraph, while filled with an ineffable loathing, and the hottest moral indignation, at what he saw in character and conduct, were also yearning with an unspeakable desire after the deliverance of the vicious from their vice,--the moral wrath, thus setting in still stronger relief the moral compassion that holds it in check,---what must be the relation between these two emotions in the divine being! is not the one the measure of the other? and does not the soul that fears god in a _submissive_ manner, and acknowledges the righteousness of the divine displeasure with entire acquiescence and no sullen resistance, prepare the way, in this very act, for an equally intense manifestation of the divine mercy and forgiveness? the subject treated of in this discourse is one of the most important, and frequent, that is presented in the scriptures. he who examines is startled to find that the phrase, "fear of the lord," is woven into the whole web of revelation from genesis to the apocalypse. the feeling and principle under discussion has a biblical authority, and significance, that cannot be pondered too long, or too closely. it, therefore, has an interest for every human being, whatever may be his character, his condition, or his circumstances. all great religious awakenings begin in the dawning of the august and terrible aspects of the deity upon the popular mind, and they reach their height and happy consummation, in that love and faith for which the antecedent fear has been the preparation. well and blessed would it be for this irreverent and unfearing age, in which the advance in mechanical arts and vice is greater than that in letters and virtue, if the popular mind could be made reflective and solemn by this great emotion. we would, therefore, pass by all other feelings, and endeavor to fix the eye upon the distinct and unambiguous fear of god, and would urge the young, especially, to seek for it as for hid treasures. the feeling is a painful one, because it is a _preparatory_ one. there are other forms of religious emotion which are more attractive, and are necessary in their place; these you may be inclined to cultivate, at the expense of the one enjoined by our lord in the text. but we solemnly and earnestly entreat you, not to suffer your inclination to divert your attention from your duty and your true interest. we tell you, with confidence, that next to the affectionate and filial love of god in your heart, there is no feeling or principle in the whole series that will be of such real solid service to you, as that one enjoined by our lord upon "his disciples first of all." you will need its awing and repressing influence, in many a trying scene, in many a severe temptation. be encouraged to cherish it, from the fact that it is a very effective, a very powerful emotion. he who has the fear of god before his eyes is actually and often kept from falling. it will prevail with your weak will, and your infirm purpose, when other motives fail. and if you could but stand where those do, who have passed through that fearful and dangerous passage through which you are now making a transit; if you could but know, as they do, of what untold value is everything that deters from the wrong and nerves to the right, in the critical moments of human life; you would know, as they do, the utmost importance of cherishing a solemn and serious dread of displeasing god. the more simple and unmixed this feeling is in your own experience, the more influential will it be. fix it deeply in the mind, that the great god is holy. recur to this fact continually. if the dread which it awakens casts a shadow over the gayety of youth, remember that you need this, and will not be injured by it. the doctrine commends itself to you, because you are young, and because you are strong. if it fills you with misgivings, at times, and threatens to destroy your peace of mind, let the emotion operate. never stifle it, as you value your salvation. you had better be unhappy for a season, than yield to temptation and grievous snares which will drown you in perdition. even if it hangs dark and low over the horizon of your life, and for a time invests this world with sadness, be resolute with yourself, and do not attempt to remove the feeling, except in the legitimate way of the gospel. remember that every human soul out of christ ought to fear, "for he that believeth not on the son, the wrath of god abideth on him." and remember, also, that every one who believes in christ ought not to fear; for "there is no condemnation to them that are in christ jesus, and he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life." and with this thought would we close. this fear of god may and should end in the perfect love that casteth out fear. this powerful and terrible emotion, which we have been considering, may and ought to prepare the soul to welcome the sweet and thrilling accents of christ saying, "come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden," with your fears of death, judgment, and eternity, "and i will give you rest." faith in christ lifts the soul above all fears, and eventually raises it to that serene world, that blessed state of being, where there is no more curse and no more foreboding. "serene will be our days, and bright, and happy will our nature be, when love is an unerring light, and joy its own security." [footnote : the moral and healthful influence of fear is implied in the celebrated passage in aristotle's poetics, whatever be the interpretation. he speaks of a _cleansing [greek: (katharsin)]_ of the mind, by means of the emotions of pity and terror [greek: (phobos)] awakened by tragic poetry. most certainly, there is no portion of classical literature so purifying as the greek drama. and yet, the pleasurable emotions are rarely awakened by it. righteousness and justice determine the movement of the plot, and conduct to the catastrophe; and the persons and forms that move across the stage are, not venus and the graces but, "ghostly shapes to meet at noontide; death the skeleton and time the shadow." all literature that tends upward contains the tragic element; and all literature that tends downward rejects it. Æschylus and dante assume a world of retribution, and employ for the purposes of poetry the fear it awakens. lucretius and voltaire would disprove the existence of such a solemn world, and they make no use of such an emotion.] [footnote : wordsworth: intimations of immortality.] [footnote : lucretius: de rerum natura, iii. sq.; v. sq.] [footnote : bates: discourse of the fear of god.] [footnote : "praise be to thee, glory to thee, o fountain of mercies: i was becoming more miserable and thou becoming nearer, thy right hand was continually ready to pluck me out of the mire, and to wash me thoroughly, and i knew it not; nor did anything call me back from a yet deeper gulf of carnal pleasures, but _the fear of death, and of thy judgment to come_; which, amid all my changes, never departed from my breast." augustine: confessions, vi. ., (shedd's ed., p. .)] [footnote : "si te luxuria tentat, objice tibi memoriam mortis tuae, propone tibi futuruin judicium, reduc ad memoriam futura tormenta, propone tibi acterna supplicia; et etiaim propone aute oculos tuos perpetuosignes infernorum; propone tibi horribiles poenas gehennae. memoria ardoris gehennae extinguat in te ardorem luxuriane." bernard: de modo bene vivendi. sermo lxvii.] [footnote : baxter (narrative, part i.) remarks "that fear, being an easier and irresistible passion, doth oft obscure that measure of love which is indeed within us; and that the soul of a believer groweth up by degrees from the more troublesome and safe operation of fear, to the more high and excellent operations of complacential love."] [footnote : "thus saith the lord god unto jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of canaan; thy father was an amorite, and thy mother an hittite. thou wast cast out in the open field, to the loathing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born. and when i passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thy own blood, i said unto thee when, thou wast in thy blood, live; yea i said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, live." ezekiel xvi. , , .] the present life as related to the future. luke xvi. .--"and abraham said, son remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." the parable of dives and lazarus is one of the most solemn passages in the whole revelation of god. in it, our lord gives very definite statements concerning the condition of those who have departed this life. it makes no practical difference, whether we assume that this was a real occurrence, or only an imaginary one,--whether there actually was such a particular rich man as dives, and such a particular beggar as lazarus, or whether the narrative was invented by christ for the purpose of conveying the instruction which he desired to give. the instruction is given in either case; and it is the instruction with which we are concerned. be it a parable, or be it a historical fact, our lord here teaches, in a manner not to be disputed, that a man who seeks enjoyment in this life as his chief end shall suffer torments in the next life, and that he who endures suffering in this life for righteousness' sake shall dwell in paradise in the next,--that he who finds his life here shall lose his life hereafter, and that he who loses his life here shall find it here after. for, we cannot for a moment suppose that such a being as jesus christ merely intended to play upon the fears of men, in putting forth such a picture as this. he knew that this narrative would be read by thousands and millions of mankind; that they would take it from his lips as absolute truth; that they would inevitably infer from it, that the souls of men do verily live after death, that some of them are in bliss and some of them are in pain, and that the difference between them is due to the difference in the lives which they lead here upon earth. now, if christ was ignorant upon these subjects, he had no right to make such representations and to give such impressions, even through a merely imaginary narrative. and still less could he be justified in so doing, if, being perfectly informed upon the subject, he knew that there is no such place as that in which he puts the luxurious dives, and no such impassable gulf as that of which he speaks. it will not do, here, to employ the jesuitical maxim that the end justifies the means, and say, as some teachers have said, that the wholesome impression that will be made upon the vicious and the profligate justifies an appeal to their fears, by preaching the doctrine of endless retribution, although there is no such thing. this was a fatal error in the teachings of clement of alexandria, and origen. "god threatens,"--said they,--"and punishes, but only to improve, never for purposes of retribution; and though, in public discourse, the fruitlessness of repentance after death be asserted, yet hereafter not only those who have not heard of christ will receive forgiveness, but the severer punishment which befalls the obstinate unbelievers will, it may be hoped, not be the conclusion of their history."[ ] but can we suppose that such a sincere, such a truthful and such a holy being as the son of god would stoop to any such artifice as this? that he who called himself the truth would employ a lie, either directly or indirectly, even to promote the spiritual welfare of men? he never spake for mere sensation. the fact, then, that in this solemn passage of scripture we find the redeemer calmly describing and minutely picturing the condition of two persons in the future world, distinctly specifying the points of difference between them, putting words into their mouths that indicate a sad and hopeless experience in one of them, and a glad and happy one in the other of them,--the fact that in this treatment of the awful theme our lord, beyond all controversy, _conveys the impression_ that these scenes and experiences are real and true,--is one of the strongest of all proofs that they are so. the reader of dante's inferno is always struck with the sincerity and realism of that poem. under the delineation of that luminous, and that intense understanding, hell has a topographic reality. we wind along down those nine circles as down a volcanic crater, black, jagged, precipitous, and impinging upon the senses at every step. the sighs and shrieks jar our own tympanum; and the convulsions of the lost excite tremors in our own nerves. no wonder that the children in the streets of florence, as they saw the sad and earnest man pass along, his face lined with passion and his brow scarred with thought, pointed at him and said: "there goes the man who has been in hell." but how infinitely more solemn is the impression that is made by these thirteen short verses, of the sixteenth chapter of luke's gospel, from the lips of such a being as jesus christ! we have here the terse and pregnant teachings of one who, in the phrase of the early creed, not only "descended into hell," but who "hath the keys of death and hell." we have here not the utterances of the most truthful, and the most earnest of all human poets,--a man who, we may believe, felt deeply the power of the hebrew bible, though living in a dark age, and a superstitious church,--we have here the utterances of the son of god, very god, of very god, and we may be certain that he intended to convey no impression that will not be made good in the world to come. and when every eye shall see him, and all the sinful kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him, there will not be any eye that can look into his and say: "thy description, o son of god, was overdrawn; the impression was greater than the reality." on the contrary, every human soul will say in the day of judgment: "we were forewarned; the statements were exact; even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath" (ps. xc. ). but what is the lesson which we are to read by this clear and solemn light? what would our merciful redeemer have us learn from this passage which he has caused to be recorded for our instruction? let us listen with a candid and a feeling heart, because it comes to us not from an enemy of the human soul, not from a being who delights to cast it into hell, but from a friend of the soul; because it comes to us from one who, in his own person and in his own flesh, suffered an anguish superior in dignity and equal in cancelling power to the pains of all the hells, in order that we, through repentance and faith, might be spared their infliction. the lesson is this: _the man who seeks enjoyment in this life, as his chief end, must suffer in the next life; and he who endures suffering in this life, for righteousness' sake, shall be happy in the next._ "son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented." it is a fixed principle in the divine administration, that the scales of justice shall in the end be made equal. if, therefore, sin enjoys in this world, it must sorrow in the next; and if righteousness sorrows in this world, it must enjoy in the next. the experience shall be reversed, in order to bring everything to a right position and adjustment. this is everywhere taught in the bible. "woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation. woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. blessed are ye that hunger now; for ye shall be filled. blessed are ye that weep now; for ye shall laugh" (luke vi. , , ). these are the explicit declarations of the founder of christianity, and they ought not to surprise us, coming as they do from him who expressly declares that his kingdom is not of this world; that in this world his disciples must have tribulation, as he had; that through much tribulation they must enter into the kingdom of god; that whosoever doth not take up the cross daily, and follow him, cannot be his disciple. let us notice some particulars, in which we see the operation of this principle. what are the "good things" which dives receives here, for which he must be "tormented" hereafter? and what are the "evil things" which lazarus receives in this world, for which he will be "comforted" in the world to come? i. in the first place, the worldly man _derives a more intense physical enjoyment_ from this world's goods, than does the child of god. he possesses more of them, and gives himself up to them with less self-restraint. the majority of those who have been most prospered by divine providence in the accumulation of wealth have been outside of the kingdom and the ark of god. not many rich and not many noble are called. in the past history of mankind, the great possessions and the great incomes, as a general rule, have not been in the hands of humble and penitent men. in the great centres of trade and commerce,--in venice, amsterdam, paris, london,--it is the world and not the people of god who have had the purse, and have borne what is put therein. satan is described in scripture, as the "prince of this world" (john xiv. ); and his words addressed to the son of god are true: "all this power and glory is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever i will, i give it." in the parable from which we are discoursing, the sinful man was the rich man, and the child of god was the beggar. and how often do we see, in every-day life, a faithful, prayerful, upright, and pure-minded man, toiling in poverty, and so far as earthly comforts are concerned enjoying little or nothing, while a selfish, pleasure-seeking, and profligate man is immersed in physical comforts and luxuries. the former is receiving evil things, and the latter is receiving good things, in this life. again, how often it happens that a fine physical constitution, health, strength, and vigor, are given to the worldling, and are denied to the child of god. the possession of worldly good is greatly enhanced in value, by a fine capability of enjoying it. when therefore we see wealth joined, with health, and luxury in all the surroundings and appointments combined with taste to appreciate them and a full flow of blood to enjoy them, or access to wide and influential circles, in politics and fashion, given to one who is well fitted by personal qualities to move in them,--when we see a happy adaptation existing between the man and his good fortune, as we call it,--we see not only the "good things," but the "good things" in their gayest and most attractive forms and colors. and how often is all this observed in the instance of the natural man; and how often is there little or none of this in the instance of the spiritual man. we by no means imply, that it is impossible for the possessor of this world's goods to love mercy, to do justly, and to walk humbly; and we are well aware that under the garb of poverty and toil there may beat a murmuring and rebellious heart. but we think that from generation to generation, in this imperfect and probationary world, it will be found to be a fact, that when _merely_ earthly and physical good is allotted in large amounts by the providence of god; that when great incomes and ample means of luxury are given; in the majority of instances they are given to the enemies of god, and not to his dear children. so the psalmist seems to have thought. "i was envious,"--he says,--"when i saw the prosperity of the wicked. for there are no bands in their death; but their strength is firm. they are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. their eyes stand out with fatness; they have more than heart could wish. behold these are the _ungodly_ who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. verily _i_ have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. for all day long have _i_ been plagued, and chastened every morning" (ps. lxxiii). and it should be carefully noticed, that the psalmist, even after further reflection, does not _alter_ his statement respecting the relative positions of the godly and the ungodly in this world. he sees no reason to correct his estimate, upon this point. he lets it stand. so far as this merely _physical_ existence is concerned, the wicked man has the advantage. it is only when the psalmist looks _beyond_ this life, that he sees the compensation, and the balancing again of the scales of eternal right and justice. "when i thought to know this,"--when i reflected upon this inequality, and apparent injustice, in the treatment of the friends and the enemies of god,--"it was too painful for me, until i went into the sanctuary of god,"--until i took my stand in the _eternal_ world, and formed my estimate there,--"_then_ understood i their end. surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down to destruction. how are they brought into desolation as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors." dives passes from his fine linen and sumptuous fare, from his excessive physical enjoyment, to everlasting perdition. ii. in the second place, the worldly man _derives more enjoyment from sin, and suffers less from it_, in this life, than does the child of god. the really renewed man cannot _enjoy_ sin. it is true that he does sin, owing to the strength of old habits, and the remainders of his corruption. but he does not really delight in it; and he says with st. paul: "what i would, that do i not; but what i hate, that do i." his sin is a sorrow, a constant sorrow, to him. he feels its pressure and burden all his days, and cries: "o wretched man, who shall deliver me from the body of this death." if he falls into it, he cannot live in it; as a man may fall into water, but it is not his natural element. again, the good man not only takes no real delight in sin, but his reflections after transgression are very painful. he has a tender conscience. his senses have been trained and disciplined to discern good and evil. hence, the sins that are committed by a child of god are mourned over with a very deep sorrow. the longer he lives, the more odious does sin become to him, and the more keen and bitter is his lamentation over it. now this, in itself, is an "evil thing." man was not made for sorrow, and sorrow is not his natural condition. this wearisome struggle with indwelling corruption, these reproaches of an impartial conscience, this sense of imperfection and of constant failure in the service of god,--all this renders the believer's life on earth a season of trial, and tribulation. the thought of its lasting forever would be painful to him; and if he should be told that it is the will of god, that he should continue to be vexed and foiled through all eternity, with the motions of sin in his members, and that his love and obedience would forever be imperfect, though he would be thankful that even this was granted him, and that he was not utterly cast off, yet he would wear a shaded brow, at the prospect of an imperfect, though a sincere and a struggling eternity. but the ungodly are not so. the worldly man loves sin; loves pleasure; loves self. and the love is so strong, and accompanied with so much enjoyment and zest, that it is _lust_, and is so denominated in the bible. and if you would only defend him from the wrath of god; if you would warrant him immunity in doing as he likes; if you could shelter him as in an inaccessible castle from the retributions of eternity; with what a delirium of pleasure would he plunge into the sin that he loves. tell the avaricious man, that his avarice shall never have any evil consequences here or hereafter; and with what an energy would he apply himself to the acquisition of wealth. tell the luxurious man, full of passion and full of blood, that his pleasures shall never bring down any evil upon him, that there is no power in the universe that can hurt him, and with what an abandonment would he surrender himself to his carnal elysium. tell the ambitious man, fired with visions of fame and glory, that he may banish all fears of a final account, that he may make himself his own deity, and breathe in the incense of worshipers, without any rebuke from him who says: "i am god, and my glory i will not give to another,"-assure the proud and ambitious man that his sin will never find him out, and with what a momentum will he follow out his inclination. for, in each of these instances there is a _hankering_ and a _lust_. the sin is _loved and revelled in_, for its own deliciousness. the heart is worldly, and therefore finds its pleasure in its forbidden objects and aims. the instant you propose to check or thwart this inclination; the instant you try to detach this natural heart from its wealth, or its pleasure, or its earthly fame; you discover how closely it clings, and how strongly it loves, and how intensely it enjoys the forbidden object. like the greedy insect in our gardens, it has fed until every fibre and tissue is colored with its food; and to remove it from the leaf is to tear and lacerate it. now it is for this reason, that the natural man receives "good things," or experiences pleasure, in this life, at a point where the spiritual man receives "evil things," or experiences pain. the child of god does not relish and enjoy sin in this style. sin in the good man is a burden; but in the bad man it is a pleasure. it is all the pleasure he has. and when you propose to take it away from him, or when you ask him to give it up of his own accord, he looks at you and asks: "will you take away the only solace i have? i have no joy in god. i take no enjoyment in divine things. do you ask me to make myself wholly miserable?" and not only does the natural man enjoy sin, but, in this life, he is much less troubled than is the spiritual man with reflections and self-reproaches on account of sin. this is another of the "good things" which dives receives, for which he must be "tormented;" and this is another of the "evil things" which lazarus receives, for which he must be "comforted." it cannot be denied, that in this world the child of god suffers more mental sorrow for sin, in a given period of time, than does the insensible man of the world. if we could look into the soul of a faithful disciple of christ, we should discover that not a day passes, in which his conscience does not reproach him for sins of thought, word, or deed; in which he does not struggle with some bosom sin, until he is so weary that he cries out: "oh that i had wings like a dove, so that i might fly away, and be at rest." some of the most exemplary members of the church go mourning from day to day, because their hearts are still so far from their god and saviour, and their lives fall so far short of what they desire them to be.[ ] their experience is not a positively wretched one, like that of an unforgiven sinner when he is feeling the stings of conscience. they are forgiven. the expiating blood has soothed the ulcerated conscience, so that it no longer stings and burns. they have hope in god's mercy. still, they are in grief and sorrow for sin; and their experience, in so far, is not a perfectly happy one, such as will ultimately be their portion in a better world. "if in this life only,"--says st. paul,--"we have hope in christ, we are of all men most miserable" ( cor. xv. ). but the stupid and impenitent man, a luxurious dives, knows nothing of all this. his days glide by with no twinges of conscience. what does he know of the burden of sin? his conscience is dead asleep; perchance seared as with a hot iron. he does wrong without any remorse; he disobeys the express commands of god, without any misgivings or self-reproach. he is "alive, without the law,"-as st. paul expresses it. his eyes stand out with fatness; and his heart, in the psalmist's phrase, "is as fat as grease" (ps. cxix. ). there is no religious sensibility in him. his sin is a pleasure to him without any mixture of sorrow, because unattended by any remorse of conscience. he is receiving his "good things" in this life. his days pass by without any moral anxiety, and perchance as he looks upon some meek and earnest disciple of christ who is battling with indwelling sin, and who, therefore, sometimes wears a grave countenance, he wonders that any one should walk so soberly, so gloomily, in such a cheery, such a happy, such a jolly world as this. it is a startling fact, that those men in this world who have most reason to be distressed by sin are the least troubled by it; and those who have the least reason to be distressed are the most troubled by it. the child of god is the one who sorrows most; and the child of satan is the one who sorrows least. remember that we are speaking only of _this_ life. the text reads: "thou _in thy lifetime_ receivedst thy good things, and likewise lazarus evil things." and it is unquestionably so. the meek and lowly disciple of christ, the one who is most entitled by his character and conduct to be untroubled by religious anxiety, is the very one who bows his head as a bulrush, and perhaps goes mourning all his days, fearing that he is not accepted, and that he shall be a cast-a-way; while the selfish and thoroughly irreligious man, who ought to be stung through and through by his own conscience, and feel the full energy of the law which he is continually breaking,--this man, who of all men ought to be anxious and distressed for sin, goes through a whole lifetime, perchance, without any convictions or any fears. and now we ask, if this state of things ought to last forever? is it right, is it just, that sin should enjoy in this style forever and forever, and that holiness should grieve and sorrow in this style forevermore? would you have the almighty pay a bounty upon unrighteousness, and place goodness under eternal pains and penalties? ought not this state of things to be reversed? when dives comes to the end of this lifetime; when he has run his round of earthly pleasure, faring sumptuously every day, clothed in purple and fine linen, without a thought of his duties and obligations, and without any anxiety and penitence for his sins,--when this worldly man has received all his "good things," and is satiated and hardened by them, ought he not then to be "tormented?" ought this guilty carnal enjoyment to be perpetuated through all eternity, under the government of a righteous and just god? and, on the other hand, ought not the faithful disciple, who, perhaps, has possessed little or nothing of this world's goods, who has toiled hard, in poverty, in affliction, in temptation, in tribulation, and sometimes like abraham in the horror of a great darkness, to keep his robes white, and his soul unspotted from the world,--when the poor and weary lazarus comes to the end of this lifetime, ought not his trials and sorrows to cease? ought he not then to be "comforted" in the bosom of abraham, in the paradise of god? there is that within us all, which answers, yea, and amen. such a balancing of the scales is assented to, and demanded by the moral convictions. hence, in the parable, dives himself is represented as acquiescing in the eternal judgment. he does not complain of injustice. it is true, that at first he asks for a drop of water,--for some slight mitigation of his punishment. this is the instinctive request of any sufferer. but when his attention is directed to the right and the wrong of the case; when abraham reminds him of the principles of justice by which his destiny has been decided; when he tells him that having taken his choice of pleasure in the world which he has left, he cannot now have pleasure in the world to which he has come; the wretched man makes no reply. there is nothing to be said. he feels that the procedure is just. he is then silent upon the subject of his own tortures, and only begs that his five brethren, whose lifetime is not yet run out, to whom there is still a space left for repentance, may be warned from his own lips not to do as he has done,--not to choose pleasure on earth as their chief good; not to take their "good things" in this life. dives, the man in hell, is a witness to the justice of eternal punishment. . in view of this subject, as thus discussed, we remark in the first place, that no man can have his "good things," in other words, his chief pleasure, in _both_ worlds. god and this world are in antagonism. "for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the father, but is of the world. if any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him" ( john i. , ). it is the height of folly, therefore, to suppose that a man can make earthly enjoyment his chief end while he is upon earth, and then pass to heaven when he dies. just so far as he holds on upon the "good things" of this life, he relaxes his grasp upon the "good things" of the next. no man is capacious enough to hold both worlds in his embrace. he cannot serve god and mammon. look at this as a _matter of fact_. do not take it as a theory of the preacher. it is as plain and certain that you cannot lay up your treasure in heaven while you are laying it up upon earth, as it is that your material bodies cannot occupy two portions of space at one and the same time. dismiss, therefore, all expectations of being able to accomplish an impossibility. put not your mind to sleep with the opiate, that in some inexplicable manner you will be able to live the life of a worldly man upon earth, and then the life of a spiritual man in heaven. there is no alchemy that can amalgamate substances that refuse to mix. no man has ever yet succeeded, no man ever will succeed, in securing both the pleasures of sin and the pleasures of holiness,--in living the life of dives, and then going to the bosom of abraham. . and this leads to the second remark, that every man must _make his choice_ whether he will have his "good things" now, or hereafter. every man is making his choice. every man has already made it. the heart is now set either upon god, or upon the world. search through the globe, and you cannot find a creature with double affections; a creature with _two_ chief ends of living; a creature whose treasure is both upon earth and in heaven. all mankind are single-minded. they either mind earthly things, or heavenly things. they are inspired with one predominant purpose, which rules them, determines their character, and decides their destiny. and in all who have not been renewed by divine grace, the purpose is a wrong one, a false and fatal one. it is the choice and the purpose of dives, and not the choice and purpose of lazarus. . hence, we remark in the third place, that it is the duty and the wisdom of every man to let this world go, and seek his "good things" _hereafter_. our lord commands every man to sit down, like the steward in the parable, and make an estimate. he enjoins it upon every man to reckon up the advantages upon each side, and see for himself which is superior. he asks every man what it will profit him, "if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul; or, what he shall give in exchange for his soul." we urge you to make this estimate,--to compare the "good things" which dives enjoyed, with the "torments" that followed them; and the "evil things" which lazarus suffered, with the "comfort" that succeeded them. there can be no doubt upon which side the balance will fall. and we urge you to take the "evil things" _now_, and the "good things" _hereafter_. we entreat you to copy the example of moses at the court of the pharaohs, and in the midst of all regal luxury, who "chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of god, than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of christ, greater riches than the treasures in egypt: _for he had respect unto the recompense of reward_." take the _narrow_ way. what though it be strait and narrow; you are not to walk in it forever. a few short years of fidelity will end the toilsome pilgrimage; and then you will come put into a "wealthy place." we might tell you of the _joys_ of the christian life that are mingled with its trials and sorrows even here upon earth. for, this race to which we invite you, and this fight to which we call you have their own peculiar, solemn, substantial joy. and even their sorrow is tinged with glory. in a higher, truer sense than protesilaus in the poem says it of the pagan elysium, we may say even of the christian race, and the christian fight, "calm pleasures there abide--_majestic pains_."[ ] but we do not care, at this point, to influence you by a consideration of the amount of enjoyment, in _this_ life, which you will derive from a close and humble walk with god. we prefer to put the case in its baldest form,--in the aspect in which we find it in our text. we will say nothing at all about the happiness of a christian life, here in time. we will talk only of its tribulations. we will only say, as in the parable, that there are "evil things" to be endured here upon earth, in return for which we shall have "good things" in another life. there is to be a moderate and sober use of this world's goods; there is to be a searching sense of sin, and an humble confession of it before god; there is to be a cross-bearing every day, and a struggle with indwelling corruption. these will cost effort, watchfulness, and earnest prayer for divine assistance. we do not invite you into the kingdom of god, without telling you frankly and plainly beforehand what must be done, and what must be suffered. but having told you this, we then tell you with the utmost confidence and assurance, that you will be infinitely repaid for your choice, if you take your "evil things" in this life, and choose your "good things" in a future. we know, and are certain, that this light affliction which endures but for a moment, in comparison with the infinite duration beyond the tomb, will work out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. we entreat you to look no longer at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal. learn a parable from a wounded soldier. his limb must be amputated, for mortification and gangrene have begun their work. he is told that the surgical operation, which will last a half hour, will yield him twenty or forty years of healthy and active life. the endurance of an "evil thing," for a few moments, will result in the possession of a "good thing," for many long days and years. he holds out the limb, and submits to the knife. he accepts the inevitable conditions under which he finds himself. he is resolute and stern, in order to secure a great good, in the future. it is the practice of this same _principle_, though not in the use of the same kind of power, that we would urge upon you. _look up to god for grace and help_, and deliberately forego a present advantage, for the sake of something infinitely more valuable hereafter. do not, for the sake of the temporary enjoyment of dives, lose the eternal happiness of lazarus. rather, take the place, and accept the "evil things," of the beggar. _look up to god for grace and strength_ to do it, and then live a life of contrition for sin, and faith in christ's blood. deny yourself, and take up the cross daily. expect your happiness _hereafter_. lay up your treasure _above_. then, in the deciding day, it will be said of you, as it will be of all the true children of god: "these are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the lamb." [footnote : shedd: history of doctrine, ii., sq.] [footnote : the early religious experience of john owen furnishes a striking illustration. "for a quarter of a year, he avoided almost all intercourse with men; could scarcely be induced to speak; and when he did say anything, it was in so disordered a manner as rendered him a wonder to many. only those who have experienced the bitterness of a wounded spirit can form an idea of the distress he must have suffered. compared with this anguish of soul, all the afflictions which befall a sinner [on earth] are trifles. one drop of that wrath which shall finally fill the cup of the ungodly, poured into the mind, is enough to poison all the comforts of life, and to spread mourning, lamentation, and woe over the countenance. though the violence of owen's convictions had subsided after the first severe conflict, they still continued to disturb his peace, and nearly five years elapsed from their commencement before he obtained solid comfort." orme: life of owen, chap. i.] [footnote : wordsworth: laodamia.] the exercise of mercy optional with god. romans ix. .--"for he saith to moses, i will have mercy on whom i will have mercy, and i will have compassion on whom i will have compassion." this is a part of the description which god himself gave to moses, of his own nature and attributes. the hebrew legislator had said to jehovah: "i beseech thee show me thy glory." he desired a clear understanding of the character of that great being, under whose guidance he was commissioned to lead the people of israel into the promised land. god said to him in reply: "i will make all my goodness pass before thee, and i will proclaim the name of the lord before thee; and i will be gracious to whom i will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom i will shew mercy."[ ] by this, god revealed to moses, and through him to all mankind, the fact that he is a merciful being, and directs attention to one particular characteristic of mercy. while informing his servant, that he is gracious and clement towards a penitent transgressor, he at the same time teaches him that he is under no obligation, or necessity, to shew mercy. grace is not a debt. "i will have mercy on whom i _will_ have mercy, and i will have compassion on whom i _will_ have compassion." the apostle paul quotes this declaration, to shut the mouth of him who would set up a claim to salvation; who is too proud to beg for it, and accept it as a free and unmerited favor from god. in so doing, he endorses the sentiment. the inspiration of his epistle corroborates that of the pentateuch, so that we have assurance made doubly sure, that this is the correct enunciation of the nature of mercy. let us look into this hope-inspiring attribute of god, under the guidance of this text. the great question that presses upon the human mind, from age to age, is the inquiry: is god a merciful being, and will he show mercy? living as we do under the light of revelation, we know little of the doubts and fears that spontaneously rise in the guilty human soul, when it is left solely to the light of nature to answer it. with the bible in our hands, and hearing the good news of redemption from our earliest years, it seems to be a matter of course that the deity should pardon sin. nay, a certain class of men in christendom seem to have come to the opinion that it is more difficult to prove that god is just, than to prove that he is merciful.[ ] but this is not the thought and feeling of man when outside of the pale of revelation. go into the ancient pagan world, examine the theologizing of the greek and roman mind, and you will discover that the fears of the justice far outnumbered the hopes of the mercy; that plato and plutarch and cicero and tacitus were far more certain that god would punish sin, than that he would, pardon it. this is the reason that there is no light, or joy, in any of the pagan religions. except when religion was converted into the worship of beauty, as in the instance of the later greek, and all the solemn and truthful ideas of law and justice were eliminated from it, every one of the natural religions of the globe is filled with sombre and gloomy hues, and no others. the truest and best religions of the ancient world were always the sternest and saddest, because the unaided human mind is certain that god is just, but is not certain that he is merciful. when man is outside of revelation, it is by no means a matter of course that god is clement, and that sin shall be forgiven. great uncertainty overhangs the doctrine of the divine mercy, from the position of natural religion, and it is only within the province of revealed truth that the uncertainty is removed. apart from a distinct and direct _promise_ from the lips of god himself that he will forgive sin, no human creature can be sure that sin will ever be forgiven. let us, therefore, look into the subject carefully, and see the reason why man, if left to himself and his spontaneous reflections, doubts whether there is mercy in the holy one for a transgressor, and fears that there is none, and why a special revelation is consequently required, to dispel the doubt and the fear. the reason lies in the fact, implied in the text, that _the exercise of justice is necessary, while that of mercy is optional_. "i will have mercy on whom i _please_ to have mercy, and i will have compassion on whom i _please_ to have compassion." it is a principle inlaid in the structure of the human soul, that the transgression of law _must_ be visited with retribution. the pagan conscience, as well as the christian, testifies that "the soul that sinneth it shall die." there is no need of quoting from pagan philosophers to prove this. we should be compelled to cite page after page, should we enter upon the documentary evidence. take such a tract, for example, as that of plutarch, upon what he denominates "the slow vengeance of the deity;" read the reasons which he assigns for the apparent delay, in this world, of the infliction of punishment upon transgressors; and you will perceive that the human mind, when left to its candid and unbiassed convictions, is certain that god is a holy being and will visit iniquity with penalty. throughout this entire treatise, composed by a man who probably never saw the scriptures of either the new or the old dispensation, there runs a solemn and deep consciousness that the deity is necessarily obliged, by the principles of justice, to mete out a retribution to the violator of law. plutarch is engaged with the very same question that the apostle peter takes up, in his second epistle, when he answers the objection of the scoffer who asks: where is the promise of god's coming in judgment? the apostle replies to it, by saying that for the eternal mind one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, and that therefore "the lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;" and plutarch answers it in a different manner, but assumes and affirms with the same positiveness and certainty that the vengeance will _ultimately come_. no reader of this treatise can doubt for a moment, that its author believed in the future punishment of the wicked,--and in the future _endless_ punishment of the incorrigibly wicked, because there is not the slightest hint or expectation of any exercise of mercy on the part of this divinity whose vengeance, though slow, is sure and inevitable.[ ] some theorists tell us that the doctrine of endless punishment contradicts the instincts of the natural reason, and that it has no foundation in the constitution of the human soul. we invite them to read and ponder well, the speculations of one of the most thoughtful of pagans upon this subject, and tell us if they see any streaks or rays of light in it; if they see any inkling, any jot or tittle, of the doctrine of the divine pity there. we challenge them to discover in this tract of plutarch the slightest token, or sign, of the divine mercy. the author believes in a hell for the wicked, and an elysium for the good; but those who go to hell go there upon principles of _justice_, and those who go to elysium go there upon the _same_ principles. it is justice that must place men in tartarus, and it is justice that must place them in elysium. in paganism, men must earn their heaven. the idea of _mercy_,--of clemency towards a transgressor, of pity towards a criminal,--is entirely foreign to the thoughts of plutarch, so far as they can be gathered from this tract. it is the clear and terrible doctrine of the pagan sage, that unless a man can make good his claim to eternal happiness upon the ground of law and justice,--unless he merits it by good works,--there is no hope for him in the other world. the idea of a forgiving and tender mercy in the supreme being, exercised towards a creature whom justice would send to eternal retribution, nowhere appears in the best pagan ethics. and why should it? what evidence or proof has the human mind, apart from the revelations made to it in the old and new testaments, that god will ever forgive sin, or ever show mercy? in thinking upon the subject, our reason perceives, intuitively, that god must of necessity punish transgression; and it perceives with equal intuitiveness that there is no corresponding necessity that he should pardon it. we say with confidence and positiveness: "god must be just;" but we cannot say with any certainty or confidence at all: "god must be merciful." the divine mercy is an attribute which is perfectly free and optional, in its exercises, and therefore we cannot tell beforehand whether it will or will not be shown to transgressors. we know nothing at all about it, until we hear some word from the lips of god himself upon the point. when he opens the heavens, and speaks in a clear tone to the human race, saying, "i will forgive your iniquities," then, and not till then, do they know the fact. in reference to all those procedures which, like the punishment of transgression, are fixed and necessary, because they are founded in the eternal principles of law and justice, we can tell beforehand what the divine method will be. we do not need any special revelation, to inform us that god is a just being, and that his anger is kindled against wickedness, and that he will punish the transgressor. this class of truths, the apostle informs us, are written in the human constitution, and we have already seen that they were known and dreaded in the pagan world. that which god _must_ do, he certainly will do. he _must_ be just, and therefore he certainly will punish sin, is the reasoning of the human mind, the-world over, and in every age.[ ] but, when we pass from the punishment of sin to the pardon of it, when we go over to the merciful side of the divine nature, we can come to no _certain_ conclusions, if we are shut up to the workings of our own minds, or to the teachings of the world of nature about us. picture to yourself a thoughtful pagan, like solon the legislator of athens, living in the heart of heathenism five centuries before christ, and knowing nothing of the promise of mercy which broke faintly through the heavens immediately after the apostasy of the first human pair, and which found its full and victorious utterance in the streaming, blood of calvary. suppose that the accusing and condemning law written, upon his conscience had shown its work, and made him conscious of sin. suppose that the question had risen within him, whether that dread being whom he "ignorantly worshipped," and against whom he had committed the offence, would forgive it; was there anything in his own soul, was there anything in the world around him or above him, that could give him an affirmative answer? the instant he put the question: will god _punish_ me for my transgression? the affirming voices were instantaneous and authoritative. "the soul that sinneth it shall die" was the verdict that came forth from the recesses of his moral nature, and was echoed and re-echoed in the suffering, pain, and physical death of a miserable and groaning world all around him. but when he put the other question to himself: will the deity _pardon_ me for my transgression? there was no affirmative answer from any source of knowledge accessible to him. if he sought a reply from the depths of his own conscience, all that he could hear was the terrible utterance: "the soul that sinneth it shall die." the human conscience can no more promise, or certify, the forgiveness of sin, than the ten commandments can do so. when, therefore, this pagan, convicted of sin, seeks a comforting answer to his anxious inquiry respecting the divine clemency towards a criminal, he is met only with retributive thunders and lightnings; he hears only that accusing and condemning law which is written on the heart, and experiences that fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation which st. paul describes, in the first chapter of romans, as working in the mind of the universal pagan world. but we need not go to solon, and the pagan world, for evidence upon this subject. why is it that a convicted man under the full light of the gospel, and with the unambiguous and explicit promise of god to forgive sins ringing in his ears,--why is it, that even under these favorable circumstances a guilt-smitten man finds it so difficult to believe that there is mercy for him, and to trust in it? nay, why is it that he finds it impossible fully to believe that jehovah is a sin-pardoning god, unless he is enabled so to do by the holy ghost? it is because he knows that god is under a necessity of punishing his sin, but is under no necessity of pardoning it. the very same judicial principles are operating in his mind that operate in that of a pagan solon, or any other transgressor outside of the revelation of mercy. that which holds back the convicted sinner from casting himself upon the divine pity is the perception that god must be just. this fact is certain, whether anything else is certain or not. and it is not until he perceives that god can be _both_ just and the justifier of him that believeth in jesus; it is not until he sees that, through the substituted sufferings of christ, god can _punish_ sin while at the same time he _pardons_ it,--can punish it in the substitute while he pardons it in the sinner,--it is not until he is enabled to apprehend the doctrine of _vicarious_ atonement, that his doubts and fears respecting the possibility and reality of the divine mercy are removed. the instant he discovers that the exercise of pardon is rendered entirely consistent with the justice of god, by the substituted death of the son of god, he sees the divine mercy, and that too in the high form of _self-sacrifice,_ and trusts in it, and is at peace. these considerations are sufficient to show, that according to the natural and spontaneous operations of the human intellect, justice stands in the way of the exercise of mercy, and that therefore, if man is not informed by divine revelation respecting this latter attribute, he can never acquire the certainty that god will forgive his sin. there are two very important and significant inferences from this truth, to which we now ask serious attention. . in the first place, those who deny the credibility, and divine authority, of the scriptures of the old and new testaments _shut up the whole world to doubt and despair_. for, unless god has spoken the word of mercy in this written revelation, he has not spoken it anywhere; and we have seen, that unless he has spoken such a merciful word _somewhere_, no human transgressor can be certain of anything but stark unmitigated justice and retribution. do you tell us that god is too good to punish men, and that therefore it must be that he is merciful? we tell you, in reply, that god is good when he punishes sin, and your own conscience, like that of plutarch, re-echoes the reply. sin is a wicked thing, and when the holy one visits it with retribution, he is manifesting the purest moral excellence and the most immaculate perfection of character that we can conceive of. but if by goodness you mean mercy, then we say that this is the very point in dispute, and you must not beg the point but must prove it. and now, if you deny the authority and credibility of the scriptures of the old and new testaments, we ask you upon what ground you venture to affirm that god will pardon man's sin. you cannot demonstrate it upon any _a priori_ and necessary principles. you cannot show that the deity is obligated to remit the penalty due to transgression. you can prove the necessity of the exercise of justice, but you cannot prove the necessity of the exercise of mercy. it is purely optional with god, whether to pardon or not. if, therefore, you cannot establish the fact of the divine clemency by _a priori_ reasoning,--if you cannot make out a _necessity_ for the exercise of mercy,--you must betake yourself to the only other method of proof that remains to you, the method of testimony. if you have the _declaration_ and _promise_ of god, that he will forgive iniquity, transgression, and sin, you may be certain of the fact,--as certain as you would be, could you prove the absolute necessity of the exercise of mercy. for god's promise cannot be broken. god's testimony is sure. but, by the supposition, you deny that this declaration has been made, and this promise has been uttered, in the written revelation of the christian church. where then do you send me for the information, and the testimony? have you a private revelation of your own? has the deity spoken to you in particular, and told you that he will forgive your sin, and my sin, and that of all the generations? unless this declaration has been made either to you or to some other one, we have seen that you cannot establish the _certainty_ that god will forgive sin. it is a purely optional matter with him, and whether he will or no depends entirely upon his decision, determination, and declaration. if he says that he will pardon sin, it will certainly be done. but until he says it, you and every other man must be remanded to the inexorable decisions of conscience which thunder out: "the soul that sinneth it shall die." whoever, therefore, denies that god in the scriptures of the old and new testaments has broken through the veil that hides eternity from time, and has testified to the human race that he will forgive sin, and has solemnly promised to do so, takes away from the human race the only ground of certainty which they possess, that there is pity in the heavens, and that it will be shown to sinful creatures like themselves. but this is to shut them up again, to the doubt and hopelessness of the pagan world,--a world without revelation. . in the second place, it follows from this subject, that mankind must _take the declaration and promise of god, respecting the exercise of mercy, precisely as he has given it_. they must follow the record _implicitly_, without any criticisms or alterations. not only does the exercise of mercy depend entirely upon the will and pleasure of god, but, the mode, the conditions, and the length of time during which the offer shall be made, are all dependent upon the same sovereignty. let us look at these particulars one by one. in the first place, the _method_ by which the divine clemency shall be manifested, and the _conditions_ upon which the offer of forgiveness shall be made, are matters that rest solely with god. if it is entirely optional with him whether to pardon at all, much more does it depend entirely upon him to determine the way and means. it is here that we stop the mouth of him who objects to the doctrine of forgiveness through a vicarious atonement. we will by no means concede, that the exhibition of mercy through the vicarious satisfaction of justice is an optional matter, and that god might have dispensed with such satisfaction, had he so willed. we believe that the forgiveness of sin is possible even to the deity, only through a substituted sacrifice that completely satisfies the demands of law and justice,--that without the shedding of expiating blood there is no remission of sin possible or conceivable, under a government of law. but, without asking the objector to come up to this high ground, we are willing, for the sake of the argument, to go down upon his low one; and we say, that even if the metaphysical necessity of an atonement could not be maintained, and that it is purely optional with god whether to employ this method or not, it would still be the duty and wisdom of man to take the record just as it reads, and to accept the method that has actually been adopted. if the sovereign has a perfect right to say whether he will or will not pardon the criminal, has he not the same right to say _how_ he will do it? if the transgressor, upon principles of justice, could be sentenced to endless misery, and yet the sovereign judge concludes to offer him forgiveness and eternal life, shall the criminal, the culprit who could not stand an instant in the judgment, presume to quarrel with the method, and dictate the terms by which his own pardon shall be secured? even supposing, then, that there were no _intrinsic_ necessity for the offering of an infinite sacrifice to satisfy infinite justice, the great god might still take the lofty ground of sovereignty, and say to the criminal: "my will shall stand for my reason; i decide to offer you amnesty and eternal joy, in this mode, and upon these terms. the reasons for my method are known to myself. take mercy in this method, or take justice. receive the forgiveness of sin in this mode, or else receive the eternal and just punishment of sin. can i not do what i will with mine own? is thine eye evil because i am good?" god is under no necessity to offer the forgiveness of sin to any criminal upon any terms; still less is he hedged up to a method of forgiveness prescribed by the criminal himself. again, the same reasoning will apply to the _time during which the offer of mercy shall be extended_. if it is purely optional with god, whether he will pardon my sin at all, it is also purely optional with him to fix the limits within which he will exercise the act of pardon. should he tell me, that if i would confess and forsake my sins to-day, he would blot them out forever, but that the gracious offer should be withdrawn tomorrow, what conceivable ground of complaint could i discover? he is under no necessity of extending the pardon at this moment, and neither is he at the next, or any future one. mercy is grace, and not debt. now it has pleased god, to limit the period during which the work of redemption shall go on. there is a point of time, for every sinful man, at which "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin" (heb. x. ). the period of redemption is confined to earth and time; and unless the sinner exercises repentance towards god and faith in the lord jesus christ, before his spirit returns to god who gave it, there is no redemption for him through eternal ages. this fact we know by the declaration and testimony of god; in the same manner that we know that god will exercise mercy at all, and upon any conditions whatever. we have seen that we cannot establish the fact that the deity will forgive sin, by any _a priori_ reasoning, but know it only because he has spoken a word to this effect, and given the world his promise to be gracious and merciful, in like manner, we do not establish the fact that there will be no second offer of forgiveness, in the future world, by any process of reasoning from the nature of the case, or the necessity of things. we are willing to concede to the objector, that for aught that we can see the holy ghost is as able to take of the things of christ, and show them to a guilty soul, in the next world, as he is in this. so far as almighty power is concerned, the divine spirit could convince men of sin, and righteousness, and judgment, and incline them to repentance and faith, in eternity as well as in time. and it is equally true, that the divine spirit could have prevented the origin of sin itself, and the fall of adam, with the untold woes that proceed therefrom. but it is not a question of power. it is a question of _intention_, of _determination_, and of _testimony_ upon the part of god. and he has distinctly declared in the written revelation, that it is his intention to limit the converting and saving influences of his spirit to time and earth. he tells the whole world unequivocally, that his spirit shall not always strive with man, and that the day of judgment which occurs at the end of this dispensation of grace, is not a day of pardon but of doom. christ's description of the scenes that will close up this redemptive economy,--the throne, the opened books, the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left hand, the words of the judge: "come ye blessed, depart ye cursed,"--proves beyond controversy that "_now_ is the accepted time, and _now_ is the day of salvation." the utterance of our redeeming god, by his servant david, is: "_to-day_ if ye will hear his voice harden not your hearts." st. paul, in the epistle to the hebrews, informs the world, that as god sware that those israelites who did not believe and obey his servant moses, during their wanderings in the desert, should not enter the earthly canaan, so those, in any age and generation of men, who do not believe and obey his son jesus christ, during their earthly pilgrimage, shall, by the same divine oath, be shut out of the eternal rest that remaineth for the people of god (hebrews iii. - ). unbelieving men, in eternity, will be deprived of the benefits of christ's redemption, by the _oath_, the solemn _decision_, the judicial _determination_ of god. for, this exercise of mercy, of which we are speaking, is not a matter of course, and of necessity, and which therefore continues forever and forever. it is optional. god is entirely at liberty to pardon, or not to pardon. and he is entirely at liberty to say when, and how, and _how long_ the offer of pardon shall be extended. he had the power to carry the whole body of the people of israel over jordan, into the promised land, but he sware that those who proved refractory, and disobedient, during a _certain definite period of time_, should never enter canaan. and, by his apostle, he informs all the generations of men, that the same principle will govern him in respect to the entrance into the heavenly canaan. the limiting of the offer of salvation to this life is not founded upon any necessity in the divine nature, but, like the offer of salvation itself, depends upon the sovereign pleasure and determination of god. that pleasure, and that determination, have been distinctly made known in the scriptures. we know as clearly as we know anything revealed in the bible, that god has decided to pardon here in time, and not to pardon in eternity. he has drawn a line between the present period, during which he makes salvation possible to man, and the future period, when he will not make it possible. and he had a right to draw that line, because mercy from first to last is the optional, and not the obligated agency of the supreme being. therefore, _fear_ lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. for unto you is the gospel preached, as well as unto those israelites; but the word, did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. neither will it profit you, unless it is mixed with faith. god limiteth a certain day, saying in david, "_to-day_, after so long a time,"--after these many years of hearing and neglecting the offer of forgiveness,--"_to-day_, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." labor, therefore, _now_, to enter into that rest, lest any man fall, after the same example of unbelief, with those israelites whom the oath of god shut out of both the earthly and the heavenly canaan. [footnote : compare, also, the very full announcement of mercy as a divine attribute that was to be exercised, in exodus xxxiv. , . this is the more noteworthy, as it occurs in connection with the giving of the law.] [footnote : their creed lives in the satire of young (universal passion. satire vi.),--as full of sense, truth, and pungency now, as it was one hundred years ago. "from atheists far, they steadfastly believe god is, and is almighty--to _forgive_. his other excellence they'll not dispute; but mercy, sure, is his chief attribute. shall pleasures of a short duration chain a lady's soul in everlasting pain? will the great author us poor worms destroy, for now and then a sip of transient joy? no, he's forever in a smiling mood; he's like themselves; or how could he be good? and they blaspheme, who blacker schemes suppose. devoutly, thus, jehovah they depose, the pure! the just! and set up in his stead, a deity that's perfectly well-bred."] [footnote : plutarch supposes a form of punishment in the future world that is disciplinary. if it accomplishes its purpose, the soul goes into elysium,--a doctrine like that of purgatory in the papal scheme. but in case the person proves incorrigible, his suffering is _endless_. he represents an individual as having been restored to life, and giving an account of what he had seen. among other things, he "informed his friend, how that adrastia, the daughter of jupiter and necessity, was seated in the highest place of all, to punish all manner of crimes and enormities, and that in the whole number of the wicked and ungodly there never was any one, whether great or little, high or low, rich or poor, that could ever by force or cunning escape the severe lashes of her rigor. but as there are three sorts of punishment, so there are three several furies, or female ministers of justice, and to every one of these belongs a peculiar office and degree of punishment. the first of these was called [greek: poinae] or _pain_; whose executions are swift and speedy upon those that are presently to receive bodily punishment in this life, and which she manages after a more gentle manner, omitting the correction of slight offences, which need but little expiation. but if the cure of impiety require a greater labor, the deity delivers those, after death, to [greek: dikae] or _vengeance_. but when vengeance has given them over as altogether _incurable_, then the third and most severe of all adrastia's ministers, [greek: 'erinys] or _fury_, takes them in hand, and after she has chased and coursed them from one place to another, flying yet not knowing where to fly for shelter and relief, plagued and tormented with a thousand miseries, she plunges them headlong into an invisible abyss, the hideousness of which no tongue can express." plutarch: morals, vol. iv. p. . ed. . plato (gorgias . c.d. ed. bip. iv. ) represents socrates as teaching that those who "have committed the most extreme wickedness, and have become incurable through such crimes, are made an example to others, and suffer _forever_ ([greek: paschontas ton aei chronon]) the greatest, most agonizing, and most dreadful punishment." and socrates adds that "homer (odyssey xi. ) also bears witness to this; for he represents kings and potentates, tantalus, sysiphus, and tityus, as being tormented _forever_ in hades" ([greek: en adon ton aei chronon timoronmenos]).-in the aztec or mexican theology, "the wicked, comprehending the greater part of mankind, were to expiate their sin in a place of everlasting darkness." prescott: conquest of mexico, vol. i. p. .] [footnote : it may be objected, at this point, that mercy also is a necessary attribute in god, like justice itself,--that it necessarily belongs to the nature of a perfect being, and therefore might be inferred _a priori_ by the pagan, like other attributes. this is true; but the objection overlooks the distinction between the _existence_ of an attribute and its _exercise_. omnipotence necessarily belongs to the idea of the supreme being, but it does not follow that it must necessarily be _exerted_ in act. because god is able to create the universe of matter and mind, it does not follow that he _must_ create it. the doctrine of the necessity of creation, though held in a few instances by theists who seem not to have discerned its logical consequences, is virtually pantheistic. had god been pleased to dwell forever in the self-sufficiency of his trinity, and never called the finite into existence from nothing, he might have done so, and he would still have been omnipotent and "blessed forever." in like manner, the attribute of mercy might exist in god, and yet not be exerted. had he been pleased to treat the human race as he did the fallen angels, he was perfectly at liberty to do so, and the number and quality of his immanent attributes would have been the same that they are now. but justice is an attribute which not only exists of necessity, but must be _exercised_ of necessity; because not to exercise it would be injustice.-for a fuller exposition of the nature of justice, see shedd: discourses and essays, pp. - .] christianity requires the temper of childhood. mark x. .--"verily i say unto you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of god as a little child, he shall not enter therein." these words of our lord are very positive and emphatic, and will, therefore, receive a serious attention from every one who is anxious concerning his future destiny beyond the grave. for, they mention an indispensable requisite in order to an entrance into eternal life. "whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of god as a little child, he _shall not_ enter therein." the occasion of their utterance is interesting, and brings to view a beautiful feature in the perfect character of jesus christ. the redeemer was deeply interested in every age and condition of man. all classes shared in his benevolent affection, and all may equally partake of the rich blessings that flow from it. but childhood and youth seem to have had a special attraction for him. the evangelist is careful to inform us, that he took little children in his arms, and that beholding an amiable young man he loved him,--a gush of feeling went out towards him. it was because christ was a perfect man, as well as the infinite god, that such a feeling dwelt in his breast. for, there has never been an uncommonly fair and excellent human character, in which tenderness and affinity for childhood has not been a quality, and a quality, too, that was no small part of the fairness and excellence. the best definition that has yet been given of genius itself is, that it is the carrying of the feelings of childhood onward into the thoughts and aspirations of manhood. he who is not attracted by the ingenuousness, and trustfulness, and simplicity, of the first period of human life, is certainly wanting in the finest and most delicate elements of nature, and character. those who have been coarse and brutish, those who have been selfish and ambitious, those who have been the pests and scourges of the world, have had no sympathy with youth. though once young themselves, they have been those in whom the gentle and generous emotions of the morning of life have died out. that man may become hardhearted, skeptical and sensual, a hater of his kind, a hater of all that is holy and good, he must divest himself entirely of the fresh and ingenuous feeling of early boyhood, and receive in its place that malign and soured feeling which is the growth, and sign, of a selfish and disingenuous life. it is related of voltaire,--a man in whom evil dwelt in its purest and most defecated essence,--that he had no sympathy with the child, and that the children uniformly shrank from that sinister eye in which the eagle and the reptile were so strangely blended. our saviour, as a perfect man, then, possessed this trait, and it often showed itself in his intercourse with men. as an omniscient being, he indeed looked with profound interest, upon the dawning life of the human spirit as it manifests itself in childhood. for he knew as no finite being can, the marvellous powers that sleep in the soul of the young child; the great affections which are to be the foundation of eternal bliss, or eternal pain, that exist in embryo within; the mysterious ideas that lie in germ far down in its lowest depths,--he knew, as no finite creature is able, what is in the child, as well as in the man, and therefore was interested in its being and its well-being. but besides this, by virtue of his perfect humanity, he was attracted by those peculiar traits which are seen in the earlier years of human life. he loved the artlessness and gentleness, the sense of dependence, the implicit trust, the absence of ostentation and ambition, the unconscious modesty, in one word, the _child-likeness_ of the child. knowing this characteristic of the redeemer, certain parents brought their young children to him, as the evangelist informs us, "that he should touch them;" either believing that there was a healthful virtue, connected with the touch of him who healed the sick and gave life to the dead, that would be of benefit to them; or, it may be, with more elevated conceptions of christ's person, and more spiritual desires respecting the welfare of their offspring, believing that the blessing (which was symbolized by the touch and laying on of hands) of so exalted a being would be of greater worth than mere health of body. the disciples, thinking that mere children were not worthy of the regards of their master, rebuked the anxious and affectionate parents. "but,"--continues the narrative,--"when jesus saw it he was much displeased, and said unto them, suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of god;" and then immediately explained what he meant by this last assertion, which is so often misunderstood and misapplied, by adding, in the words of the text, "verily i say unto you, whosoever shall not _receive the kingdom of god as a little child"_ that is with a child-like spirit, "he shall not enter therein." for our lord does not here lay down a doctrinal position, and affirm the moral innocence of childhood. he does not mark off and discriminate the children as sinless, from their parents as sinful, as if the two classes did not belong to the same race of beings, and were not involved in the same apostasy and condemnation. he merely sets childhood and manhood over-against each other as two distinct stages of human life, each possessing peculiar traits and tempers, and affirms that it is the meek spirit of childhood, and not the proud spirit of manhood, that welcomes and appropriates the christian salvation. he is only contrasting the general attitude of a child, with the general attitude of a man. he merely affirms that the _trustful_ and _believing_ temper of childhood, as compared with the _self-reliant_ and _skeptical_ temper of manhood, is the temper by which both the child and the man are to receive the blessings of the gospel which both of them equally need. the kingdom of god is represented in the new testament, sometimes as subjective, and sometimes as objective; sometimes as within the soul of man, and sometimes as up in the skies. our text combines both representations; for, it speaks of a man's "receiving" the kingdom of god, and of a man's "entering" the kingdom of god; of the coming of heaven into a soul, and of the going of a soul into heaven. in other passages, one or the other representation appears alone. "the kingdom of god,"--says our lord to the pharisees,--"cometh not with observation. neither shall they say, lo here, or lo there: for behold the kingdom of god is within you." the apostle paul, upon arriving at rome, invited the resident jews to discuss the subject of christianity with him. "and when they had appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging, to whom he expounded and testified the kingdom of god,"--to whom he explained the nature of the christian religion,--"persuading them concerning jesus, both out of the law of moses, and out of the prophets, from, morning till evening." the same apostle teaches the romans, that "the kingdom of god is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the holy ghost;" and tells the corinthians, that "the kingdom of god is not in word, but in power." in all these instances, the subjective signification prevails, and the kingdom of god is simply a system of truth, or a state of the heart. and all are familiar with the sentiment, that heaven is a state, as well as a place. all understand that one half of heaven is in the human heart itself; and, that if this half be wanting, the other half is useless,--as the half of a thing generally is. isaac walton remarks of the devout sibbs: "of this blest man, let this just praise be given, heaven was in him, before he was in heaven." it is only because that in the eternal world the imperfect righteousness of the renewed man is perfected, and the peace of the anxious soul becomes total, and the joy that is so rare and faint in the christian experience here upon earth becomes the very element of life and action,--it is only because eternity _completes_ the excellence of the christian (but does not begin it), that heaven, as a place of perfect holiness and happiness, is said to be in the future life, and we are commanded to seek a better country even a heavenly. but, because this is so, let no one lose sight of the other side of the great truth, and forget that man must "receive" the kingdom as well as "enter" it. without the right state of heart, without the mental correspondent to heaven, that beautiful and happy region on high will, like any and every other place, be a hell, instead of a paradise.[ ] a distinguished writer represents one of his characters as leaving the old world, and seeking happiness in the new, supposing that change of place and outward circumstances could cure a restless mind. he found no rest by the change; and in view of his disappointment says: "i will return, and in my ancestral home, amid my paternal fields, among my own people, i will say, _here, or nowhere_, is america."[ ] in like manner, must the christian seek happiness in present peace and joy in the holy ghost, and must here in this life strive after the righteousness that brings tranquillity. though he may look forward with aspiration to the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth a _perfected_ righteousness, yet he must remember that his holiness and happiness there is merely an expansion of his holiness and happiness here. he must seek to "receive" the kingdom of god, as well as to "enter" it; and when tempted to relax his efforts, and to let down his watch, because the future life will not oppose so many obstacles to spirituality as this, and will bring a more perfect enjoyment with it, he should say to himself: "be holy now, be happy here. _here, or nowhere_, is heaven." such being the nature of the kingdom of god, we are now brought up to the discussion of the subject of the text, and are prepared to consider: _in what respects, the kingdom of god requires the temper of a child as distinguished from the temper of a man, in order to receive it, and in order to enter it_. the kingdom of god, considered as a kingdom that is within the soul, is tantamount to religion. to receive this kingdom, then, is equivalent to receiving religion into the heart, so that the character shall be formed by it, and the future destiny be decided by it. what, then, is the religion that is to be received? we answer that it is the religion that is needed. but, the religion that is needed by a sinful man is very different from the religion that is adapted to a holy angel. he who has never sinned is already in direct and blessed relations with god, and needs only to drink in the overflowing and everflowing stream of purity and pleasure. such a spirit requires a religion of only two doctrines: first, that there is a god; and, secondly, that he ought to be loved supremely and obeyed perfectly. this is the entire theology of the angels, and it is enough for them. they know nothing of sin in their personal experience, and consequently they require in their religion, none of those doctrines, and none of those provisions, which are adapted to the needs of sinners. but, man is in an altogether different condition from this. he too knows that there is a god, and that he ought to be loved supremely, and obeyed perfectly. thus far, he goes along with the angel, and with every other rational being made under the law and government of god. but, at this point, his path diverges from that of the pure and obedient inhabitant of heaven, and leads in an opposite direction. for he does not, like the angels, act up to his knowledge. he is not conformed to these two doctrines. he does not love god supremely, and he does not obey him perfectly. this fact puts him into a very different position, in reference to these two doctrines, from that occupied by the obedient and unfallen spirit. these two doctrines, in relation to him as one who has contravened them, have become a power of condemnation; and whenever he thinks of them he feels guilty. it is no longer sufficient to tell him. that religion consists in loving god, and enjoying his presence,--consists in holiness and happiness. "this is very true,"--he says,--"but i am neither holy nor happy." it is no longer enough to remind him that all is well with any creature who loves god with all his heart, and keeps his commandments without a single slip or failure. "this is very true,"--he says again,--"but i do not love in this style, neither have i obeyed in this manner." it is too late to preach mere natural religion, the religion of the angels, to one who has failed to stand fully and firmly upon the principles of natural religion. it is too late to tell a creature who has lost his virtue, that if he is only virtuous he is safe enough. the religion, then, that a sinner needs, cannot be limited to the two doctrines of the holiness of god, and the creature's obligation to love and serve him,--cannot be pared down to the precept: fear god and practise virtue. it must be greatly enlarged, and augmented, by the introduction of that other class of truths which relate to the divine mercy towards those who have not feared god, and the divine method of salvation for those who are sinful. in other words, the religion for a transgressor is _revealed_ religion, or the religion of atonement and redemption. what, now, is there in _this_ species of religion that necessitates the meek and docile temper of a child, as distinguished from the proud and self-reliant spirit of a man, in order to its reception into the heart? i. in the first place, _the new testament religion offers the forgiveness of sins, and provides for it_. no one can ponder this fact an instant, without perceiving that the pride and self-reliance of manhood are excluded, and that the meekness and implicit trust of childhood are demanded. pardon and justification before god must, from the nature of the case, be a gift, and a gift cannot be obtained unless it is accepted _as such_. to demand or claim mercy, is self-contradictory. for, a claim implies a personal ground for it; and this implies self-reliance, and this is "manhood" in distinction from "childhood." in coming, therefore, as the religion of the cross does, before man with a gratuity, with an offer to pardon his sins, it supposes that he take a correspondent attitude. were he sinless, the religion suited to him would be the mere utterance of law, and he might stand up before it with the serene brow of an obedient subject of the divine government; though even then, not with a proud and boastful temper. it would be out of place for him, to plead guilty when he was innocent; or to cast himself upon mercy, when he could appeal to justice. if the creature's acceptance be of works, then it is no more of grace, otherwise work is no more work. but if it be by grace, then it is no more of works (rom. xi. ). if the very first feature of the christian religion is the exhibition of clemency, then the proper and necessary attitude of one who receives it is that of humility. but, leaving this argument drawn from the characteristics, of christianity as a religion of redemption, let us pass into the soul of man, and see what we are taught there, respecting the temper which he must possess in order to receive this new, revealed kingdom of god. the soul of man is guilty. now, there is something in the very nature of guilt that excludes the proud, self-conscious, self-reliant spirit of manhood, and necessitates the lowly, and dependent spirit of childhood. when conscience is full of remorse, and the holy eye of law is searching us, and fears of eternal banishment and punishment are rakeing the spirit, there is no remedy but simple confession, and childlike reliance upon absolute mercy. the sinner must be a softened child and not a hard man, he must beg a boon and not put in a claim, if he would receive this kingdom of god, this new testament religion, into his soul. the slightest inclination to self-righteousness, the least degree of resistance to the just pressure of law, is a vitiating element in repentance. the muscles of the stout man must give way, the knees must bend, the hands must be uplifted deprecatingly, the eyes must gaze with a straining gaze upon the expiating cross,--in other words, the least and last remains of a stout and self-asserting spirit must vanish, and the whole being must be pliant, bruised, broken, helpless in its state and condition, in order to a pure sense of guilt, a godly sorrow for sin, and a cordial appropriation of the atonement. the attempt to mix the two tempers, to mingle the child with the man, to confess sin and assert self-righteousness, must be an entire failure, and totally prevent the reception of the religion of redemption. in relation to the redeemer, the sinful soul should be a vacuum, a hollow void, destitute of everything holy and good, conscious that it is, and aching to be filled with the fulness of his peace and purity. and with reference to god, the being whose function it is to pardon, we see the same necessity for this child-like spirit in the transgressor. how can god administer forgiveness, unless there is a correlated temper to receive it? his particular declarative act in blotting out sin depends upon the existence of penitence for sin. where there is absolute hardness of heart, there can be no pardon, from the very nature of the case, and the very terms of the statement. can god say to the hardened judas: son be of good cheer, thy sin is forgiven thee? can he speak to the traitor as he speaks to the magdalen? the difficulty is not upon the side of god. the divine pity never lags behind any genuine human sorrow. no man was ever more eager to be forgiven than his redeemer is to forgive him. no contrition for sin, upon the part of man, ever yet outran the readiness and delight of god to recognize it, and meet it with a free pardon. for, that very contrition itself is always the product of divine grace, and proves that god is in advance of the soul. the father in the parable saw the son while he was a great way off, _before_ the son saw him, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. but while this is so, and is an encouragement to the penitent, it must ever be remembered that unless there is some genuine sorrow in the human soul, there can be no manifestation of the divine forgiveness within it. man cannot beat the air, and god cannot forgive impenitency. ii. in the second place, the new testament religion proposes _to create within man a clean heart, and to renew within him a right spirit_. christianity not only pardons but sanctifies the human soul. and in accomplishing this latter work, it requires the same humble and docile temper that was demanded in the former instance. holiness, even in an unfallen angel, is not an absolutely self-originated thing. if it were, the angel would be worthy of adoration and worship. he who is inwardly and totally excellent, and can also say: i am what i am by my own ultimate authorship, can claim for himself the _glory_ that is due to righteousness. any self-originated and self-subsistent virtue is entitled to the hallelujahs. but, no created spirit, though he be the highest of the archangels, can make such an assertion, or put in such a claim. the merit of the unfallen angel, therefore, is a relative one; because his holiness is of a created and derived species. it is not increate and self-subsistent. this being so, it is plain that the proper attitude of all creatures in respect to moral excellence is a recipient and dependent one. but this is a meek and lowly attitude; and this is, in one sense, a child-like attitude. our lord knew no sin; and yet he himself tells us that he was meek and lowly of heart, and we well know that he was. he does not say that he was penitent. he does not propose himself as our exemplar in that respect. but, in respect to the primal, normal attitude which a finite being must ever take in reference to the infinite and adorable god, and the absolute underived holiness; in reference to the true temper which a holy man or a holy angel must possess; our lord jesus christ, in his human capacity, sets an example to be followed by the spirits of just men made perfect, and by all the holy inhabitants of heaven. in other words, he teaches the whole universe that holiness in a creature, even though it be complete, does not permit its possessor to be self-reliant, does not allow the proud spirit of manhood, does not remove the obligation to be child-like, meek, and lowly of heart. but if this is true of holiness among those who have never fallen, how much more true is it of those who have, and who need to be lifted up out of the abyss. if an angel, in reference to god, must be meek and lowly of heart; if the holy redeemer must in his human capacity be meek and lowly of heart; if the child-like temper, in reference to the infinite and everlasting father and the absolutely good, is the proper one in such exalted instances as these; how much more is it in the instance of the vile and apostate children of adam! besides the original and primitive reason growing out of creaturely relationships, there is the superadded one growing out of the fact, that now the whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint, and from the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in human nature. hence, our lord began his sermon on the mount in these words: "blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted. blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth. blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."[ ] the very opening of this discourse, which he intended should go down through the ages as a manifesto declaring the real nature of his kingdom, and the spirit which his followers must possess, asserts the necessity of a needy, recipient, asking mind, upon the part of a sinner. all this phraseology implies destitution; and a destitution that cannot be self-supplied. he who hungers and thirsts after righteousness is conscious of an inward void, in respect to righteousness, that must be filled from abroad. he who is meek is sensible that he is dependent for his moral excellence. he who is poor in spirit is, not pusillanimous as thomas paine charged upon christianity but, as john of damascus said of himself, a man of spiritual cravings, _vir desideriorum_. now, all this delineation of the general attitude requisite in order to the reception of the christian religion is summed up again, in the declaration of our text: "whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of god _as a little child_, he shall not enter therein." is a man, then, sensible that his understanding is darkened by sin, and that he is destitute of clear and just apprehensions of divine things? does his consciousness of inward poverty assume this form? if he would be delivered from his mental blindness, and be made rich in spiritual knowledge, he must adopt a teachable and recipient attitude. he must not assume that his own mind is the great fountain of wisdom, and seek to clear up his doubts and darkness by the rationalistic method of self-illumination. on the contrary, he must go beyond his mind and open a _book_, even the book of revelation, and search for the wisdom it contains and proffers. and yet more than this. as this volume is the product of the eternal spirit himself, and this spirit conspires with the doctrines which he has revealed, and exerts a positive illuminating influence, he must seek communion therewith. from first to last, therefore, the darkened human spirit must take a waiting posture, in order to enlightenment. that part of "the clean heart and the right spirit" which consists in the _knowledge_ of divine things can be obtained only through a child-like bearing and temper. this is what our lord means, when he pronounces a blessing upon the poor in spirit, the hungry and the thirsting soul. men, in their pride and self-reliance, in their sense of manhood, may seek to enter the kingdom of heaven by a different method; they may attempt to _speculate_ their way through all the mystery that overhangs human life, and the doubts that confuse and baffle the human understanding; but when they find that the unaided intellect only "spots a thicker gloom" instead of pouring a serener ray, wearied and worn they return, as it were, to the sweet days of childhood, and in the gentleness, and tenderness, and docility of an altered mood, learn, as bacon did in respect to the kingdom of nature, that the kingdom of heaven is open only to the little child. again, is a man conscious of the corruption of his heart? has he discovered his alienation from the life and love of god, and is he now aware that a total change must pass upon him, or that alienation must be everlasting? has he found out that his inclinations, and feelings, and tastes, and sympathies are so worldly, so averse from spiritual objects, as to be beyond his sovereignty? does he feel vividly that the attempt to expel this carnal mind, and to induce in the place thereof the heavenly spontaneous glow of piety towards god and man, is precisely like the attempt of the ethiopian to change his skin, and the leopard his spots? if this experience has been forced upon him, shall he meet it with the port and bearing of a strong man? shall he take the attitude of the old roman stoic, and attempt to meet the exigencies of his moral condition, by the steady strain and hard tug of his own force? he cannot long do this, under the clear searching ethics of the sermon on the mount, without an inexpressible weariness and a profound despair. were he within the sphere of paganism, it might, perhaps, be otherwise. a marcus aurelius could maintain this legal and self-righteous position to the end of life, because his ideal of virtue was a very low one. had that high-minded pagan felt the influences of christian ethics, had the sermon on the mount searched his soul, telling him that the least emotion of pride, anger, or lust, was a breach of that everlasting law which stood grand and venerable before his philosophic eye, and that his virtue was all gone, and his soul was exposed to the inflictions of justice, if even a single thought of his heart was unconformed to the perfect rule of right,--if, instead of the mere twilight of natural religion, there had flared into his mind the fierce and consuming splendor of the noonday sun of revealed truth, and new testament ethics, it would have been impossible for that serious-minded emperor to say, as in his utter self-delusion he did, to the deity: "give me my dues,"--instead of breathing the prayer: "forgive me my debts." christianity elevates the standard and raises the ideal of moral excellence, and thereby disturbs the self-complacent feeling of the stoic, and the moralist. if the law and rule of right is merely an outward one, it is possible for a man sincerely to suppose that he has kept the law, and his sincerity will be his ruin. for, in this case, he can maintain a self-reliant and a self-satisfied spirit, the spirit of manhood, to the very end of his earthly career, and go with his righteousness which is as filthy rags, into the presence of him in whose sight the heavens are not clean. but, if the law and rule of right is seen to be an inward and spiritual statute, piercing to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and becoming a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart, it is not possible for a candid man to delude himself into the belief that he has perfectly obeyed it; and in this instance, that self-dissatisfied spirit, that consciousness of internal schism and bondage, that war between the flesh and the spirit so vividly portrayed in the seventh chapter of romans, begins, and instead of the utterance of the moralist: "i have kept the everlasting law, give me my dues," there bursts forth the self-despairing cry of the penitent and the child: "o wretched man that i am.! who shall deliver me? father i have sinned against heaven and before thee." when, therefore, the truth and spirit of god, working in and with the natural conscience, have brought a man to that point where he sees that all his own righteousness is as filthy rags, and that the pure and stainless righteousness of jehovah must become the possession and the characteristic of his soul, he is prepared to believe the declaration of our text: "whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of god as a little child, he shall not enter therein." the new heart, and the right spirit,--the change, not in the mere external behavior but, in the very disposition and inclination of the soul,--excludes every jot and tittle of self-assertion, every particle of proud and stoical manhood. such a text as this which we have been considering is well adapted to put us upon the true method of attaining everlasting life. these few and simple words actually dropped, eighteen hundred years ago, from the lips of that august being who is now seated upon the throne of heaven, and who knows this very instant the effect which they are producing in the heart of every one who either reads or hears them. let us remember that these few and simple words do verily contain the key to everlasting life and glory. in knowing what they mean, we know, infallibly, the way to heaven. "i tell you, that many prophets and kings have desired to see those things which we see, and have not seen them: and to hear those things which we hear, and have not heard them." how many a thoughtful pagan, in the centuries that have passed and gone, would in all probability have turned a most attentive ear, had he heard, as we do, from the lips of an unerring teacher, that a child-like reception of a certain particular truth,--and that not recondite and metaphysical, but simple as childhood itself, and to be received by a little child's act,--would infallibly conduct to the elysium that haunted and tantalized him. that which hinders us is our pride, our "manhood." the act of faith is a child's act; and a child's act, though intrinsically the easiest of any, is relatively the most difficult of all. it implies the surrender of our self-will, our self-love, our proud manhood; and never was a truer remark made than that of ullmann, that "in no one thing is the strength of a man's will so manifested, as in his having no will of his own."[ ] "christianity,"--says jeremy taylor,--"is the easiest and the hardest thing in the world. it is like a secret in arithmetic; infinitely hard till it be found out by a right operation, and then it is so plain we wonder we did not understand it earlier." how hard, how impossible without that divine grace which makes all such central and revolutionary acts easy and genial to the soul,--how hard it is to cease from our own works, and really become docile and recipient children, believing on the lord jesus christ, and trusting in him, simply and solely, for salvation. [footnote : "concerning the object of felicity in heaven, we are agreed that it can be no other than the blessed god himself, the all-comprehending good, fully adequate to the highest and most enlarged reasonable desires. but the contemperation of our faculties to the holy, blissful object, is so necessary to our satisfying fruition, that without this we are no more capable thereof, than a brute of the festivities of a quaint oration, or a stone of the relishes of the most pleasant meats and drinks." howe: heaven a state of perfection.] [footnote : goethe: wilhelm meister, book vii., ch. iii.] [footnote : compare isaiah lxi. .] [footnote : ullmann: sinlessness of jesus, pt. i., ch. iii., § .] faith the sole saving act. john vi. , .--"then said they unto him, what shall we do, that we might work the works of god? jesus answered and said unto them, this is the work of god, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." in asking their question, the jews intended to inquire of christ what _particular_ things they must do, before all others, in order to please god. the "works of god," as they denominate them, were not any and every duty, but those more special and important acts, by which the creature might secure the divine approval and favor. our lord understood their question in this sense, and in his reply tells them, that the great and only work for them to do was to exercise faith in him. they had employed the plural number in their question; but in his answer he employs the singular. they had asked, what shall we do that we might work the _works_ of god,--as if there were several of them. his reply is, "this is the _work_ of god, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." he narrows down the terms of salvation to a single one; and makes the destiny of the soul to depend upon the performance of a particular individual act. in this, as in many other incidental ways, our lord teaches his own divinity. if he were a mere creature; if he were only an inspired teacher like david or paul; how would he dare, when asked to give in a single word the condition and means of human salvation, to say that they consist in resting the soul upon him? would david have dared to say: "this is the work of god,--this is the saving act,--that ye believe in me?" would paul have presumed to say to the anxious inquirer: "your soul is safe, if you trust in me?" but christ makes this declaration, without any qualification. yet he was meek and lowly of heart, and never assumed an honor or a prerogative that did not belong to him. it is only upon the supposition that he was "very god of very god," the divine redeemer of the children of men, that we can justify such an answer to such a question. the belief is spontaneous and natural to man, that something must be _done_ in order to salvation. no man expects to reach heaven by inaction. even the indifferent and supine soul expects to rouse itself up at some future time, and work out its salvation. the most thoughtless and inactive man, in religious respects, will acknowledge that thoughtlessness and inactivity if continued will end in perdition. but he intends at a future day to think, and act, and be saved. so natural is it, to every man, to believe in salvation by works; so ready is every one to concede that heaven is reached, and hell is escaped, only by an earnest effort of some kind; so natural is it to every man to ask with these jews, "what shall we _do_, that we may work the works of god?" but mankind generally, like the jews in the days of our lord, are under a delusion respecting the _nature_ of the work which must be performed in order to salvation. and in order to understand this delusion, we must first examine the common notion upon the subject. when a man begins to think of god, and of his own relations to him, he finds that he owes him service and obedience. he has a work to perform, as a subject of the divine government; and this work is to obey the divine law. he finds himself obligated to love god with all his heart, and his neighbor as himself, and to discharge all the duties that spring out of his relations to god and man. he perceives that this is the "work" given him to do by creation, and that if he does it he will attain the true end of his existence, and be happy in time and eternity. when therefore he begins to think of a religious life, his first spontaneous impulse is to begin the performance of this work which he has hitherto neglected, and to reinstate himself in the divine favor by the ordinary method of keeping the law of god. he perceives that this is the mode in which the angels preserve themselves holy and happy; that this is the original mode appointed by god, when he established the covenant of works; and he does not see why it is not the method for him. the law expressly affirms that the man that doeth these things shall live by them; he proposes to take the law just as it reads, and just as it stands,--to do the deeds of the law, to perform the works which it enjoins, and to live by the service. this we say, is the common notion, natural to man, of the species of work which must be performed in order to eternal life. this was the idea which filled the mind of the jews when they put the question of the text, and received for answer from christ, "this is the work of god, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." our lord does not draw out the whole truth, in detail. he gives only the positive part of the answer, leaving his hearers to infer the negative part of it. for the whole doctrine of christ, fully stated, would run thus: "no work _of the kind of which you are thinking_ can save you; no obedience of the law, ceremonial or moral, can reinstate you in right relations to god. i do not summon you to the performance of any such service as that which you have in mind, in order to your justification and acceptance before the divine tribunal. _this_ is the work of god,--this is the sole and single act which you are to perform,--namely, that you _believe_ on him whom he hath sent as a propitiation for sin. i do not summon you to works of the law, but to faith in me the redeemer. your first duty is not to attempt to acquire a righteousness in the old method, by doing something of yourselves, but to receive a righteousness in the new method, by trusting in what another has done for you." i. what is the _ground_ and _reason_ of such an answer as this? why is man invited to the method of faith in another, instead of the method of faith in himself? why is not his first spontaneous thought the true one? why should he not obtain eternal life by resolutely proceeding to do his duty, and keeping the law of god? why can he not be saved by the law of works? why is he so summarily shut up to the law of faith? we answer: because it is _too late_ for him to adopt the method of salvation by works. the law is indeed explicit in its assertion, that the man that doeth these things shall live by them; but then it supposes that the man begin at the beginning. a subject of government cannot disobey a civil statute for five or ten years, and then put himself in right relations to it again, by obeying it for the remainder of his life. can a man who has been a thief or an adulterer for twenty years, and then practises honesty and purity for the following thirty years, stand up before the seventh and eighth commandments and be acquitted by them? it is too late for any being who has violated a law even in a single instance, to attempt to be justified by that law. for, the law demands and supposes that obedience begin at the very _beginning_ of existence, and continue down _uninterruptedly_ to the end of it. no man can come in at the middle of a process of obedience, any more than he can come in at the last end of it, if he proposes to be accepted upon the ground of _obedience_. "i testify," says st. paul, "to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the _whole_ law" (gal. v. ). the whole, or none, is the just and inexorable rule which law lays down in the matter of justification. if any subject of the divine government can show a clean record, from the beginning to the end of his existence, the statute says to him, "well done," and gives him the reward which he has earned. and it gives it to him not as a matter of grace, but of debt. the law never makes a present of wages. it never pays out wages, until they are earned,---fairly and fully earned. but when a perfect obedience from first to last is rendered to its claims, the compensation follows as matter of debt. the law, in this instance, is itself brought under obligation. it owes a reward to the perfectly obedient subject of law, and it considers itself his debtor until it is paid. "now to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise work is no more work" (rom. iv. ; xi. ). but, on the other hand, law is equally exact and inflexible, in case the work has not been performed. it will not give eternal life to a soul that has sinned ten years, and then perfectly obeyed ten years,--supposing that there is any such soul. the obedience, as we have remarked, must run parallel with the _entire_ existence, in order to be a ground, of justification. infancy, childhood, youth, manhood, old age, and then the whole immortality that succeeds, must all be unintermittently sinless and holy, in order to make eternal life a matter of debt. justice is as exact and punctilious upon this side, as it is upon the other. we have seen, that when a perfect obedience has been rendered, justice will not palm off the wages that are due as if they were some gracious gift; and on the other hand, when a perfect obedience has not been rendered, it will not be cajoled into the bestowment of wages as if they had been earned. there is no principle that is so intelligent, so upright, and so exact, as justice; and no creature can expect either to warp it, or to circumvent it. in the light of these remarks, it is evident that it is _too late_ for a sinner to avail himself of the method of salvation by works. for, that method requires that sinless obedience begin at the beginning of his existence, and never be interrupted. but no man thus begins, and no man thus continues. "the wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies" (ps. lviii. ). man comes into the world a sinful and alienated creature. he is by nature a child of wrath (eph. ii. ). instead of beginning life with holiness, he begins it with sin. his heart at birth is apostate and corrupt; and his conduct from the very first is contrary to law. such is the teaching of scripture, such is the statement of the creeds, and such is the testimony of consciousness, respecting the character which man brings into the world with him. the very dawn of human life is clouded with depravity; is marked by the carnal mind which is at enmity with the law of god, and is not subject to that law, neither indeed can be. how is it possible, then, for man to attain eternal life by a method that supposes, and requires, that the very dawn of his being be holy like that of christ's, and that every thought, feeling, purpose, and act be conformed to law through the entire existence? is it not _too late_ for such a creature as man now is to adopt the method of salvation by the works of the law? but we will not crowd you, with the doctrine of native depravity and the sin in adam. we have no doubt that it is the scriptural and true doctrine concerning human nature; and have no fears that it will be contradicted by either a profound self-knowledge, or a profound metaphysics. but perhaps you are one who doubts it; and therefore, for the sake of argument, we will let you set the commencement of sin where you please. if you tell us that it begins in the second, or the fourth, or the tenth year of life, it still remains true that it is _too late_ to employ the method of justification by works. if you concede any sin at all, at any point whatsoever, in the history of a human soul, you preclude it from salvation by the deeds of the law, and shut it up to salvation by grace. go back as far as you can in your memory, and you must acknowledge that you find sin as far as you go; and even if, in the face of scripture and the symbols of the church, you should deny that the sin runs back to birth and apostasy in adam, it still remains true that the first years of your _conscious_ existence were not years of holiness, nor the first acts which you _remember_, acts of obedience. even upon your own theory, you _begin_ with sin, and therefore you cannot be justified by the law. this, then, is a conclusive reason and ground for the declaration of our lord, that the one great work which every fallen man has to perform, and must perform, in order to salvation, is faith in _another's_ work, and confidence in _another's_ righteousness. if man is to be saved by his own righteousness, that righteousness must begin at the very beginning of his existence, and go on without interruption. if he is to be saved by his own good works, there never must be a single instant in his life when he is not working such works. but beyond all controversy such is not the fact. it is, therefore, impossible for him to be justified by trusting in himself; and the only possible mode that now remains, is to trust in another. ii. and this brings us to the second part of our subject. "this is the work of god, that ye _believe_ on him whom he hath sent." it will be observed that faith is here denominated a "work." and it is so indeed. it is a mental act; and an act of the most comprehensive and energetic species. faith is an active principle that carries the whole man with it, and in it,--head and heart, will and affections, body soul and spirit. there is no act so all-embracing in its reach, and so total in its momentum, as the act of faith in the lord jesus christ. in this sense, it is a "work." it is no supine and torpid thing; but the most vital and vigorous activity that can be conceived of. when a sinner, moved by the holy ghost the very source of spiritual life and energy, casts himself in utter helplessness, and with all his weight, upon his redeemer for salvation, never is he more active, and never does he do a greater work. and yet, faith is not a work in the common signification of the word. in the pauline epistles, it is generally opposed to works, in such a way as to exclude them. for example: "where is boasting then? it is excluded. by what law? of works? nay, but by the law of faith. therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law. knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith of jesus christ, even we have believed in jesus christ, that we might be justified, by the faith of christ and not by the works of the law. received ye the spirit, by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"[ ] in these and other passages, faith and works are directly contrary to each other; so that in this connection, faith is not a "work." let us examine this point, a little in detail, for it will throw light upon the subject under discussion. in the opening of the discourse, we alluded to the fact that when a man's attention is directed to the subject of his soul's salvation, his first spontaneous thought is, that he must of _himself_ render something to god, as an offset for his sins; that he must perform his duty by _his own_ power and effort, and thereby acquire a personal merit before his maker and judge. the thought of appropriating another person's work, of making use of what another being has done in his stead, does not occur to him; or if it does, it is repulsive to him. his thought is, that it is his own soul that is to be saved, and it is his own work that must save it. hence, he begins to perform religious duties in the ordinary use of his own faculties, and in his own strength, for the purpose, and with the expectation, of _settling the account_ which he knows is unsettled, between himself and his judge. as yet, there is no faith in another being. he is not trusting and resting in another person; but he is trusting and resting in himself. he is not making use of the work or services which another has wrought in his behalf, but he is employing his own powers and faculties, in performing these his own works, which he owes, and which, if paid in this style, he thinks will save his soul. this is the spontaneous, and it is the correct, idea of a "work,"--of what st. paul so often calls a "work of the law." and it is the exact contrary of faith. for, faith never does anything in this independent and self-reliant manner. it does not perform a service in its own strength, and then hold it out to god as something for him to receive, and for which he must pay back wages in the form of remitting sin and bestowing happiness. faith is wholly occupied with _another's_ work, and _another's_ merit. the believing soul deserts all its own doings, and betakes itself to what a third person has wrought for it, and in its stead. when, for illustration, a sinner discovers that he owes a satisfaction to eternal justice for the sins that are past, if he adopts the method of works, he will offer up his endeavors to obey the law, as an offset, and a reason why he should be forgiven. he will say in his heart, if he does not in his prayer: "i am striving to atone for the past, by doing my duty in the future; my resolutions, my prayers and alms-giving, all this hard struggle to be better and to do better, ought certainly to avail for my pardon." or, if he has been educated in a superstitious church, he will offer up his penances, and mortifications, and pilgrimages, as a satisfaction to justice, and a reason why he should be forgiven and made blessed forever in heaven. that is a very instructive anecdote which st. simon relates respecting the last hours of the profligate louis xiv. "one day,"--he says,--"the king recovering from loss of consciousness asked his confessor, pere tellier, to give him absolution for all his sins. pere tellier asked him if he suffered much. 'no,' replied the king, 'that's what troubles me. i should like to suffer more, for the expiation of my sins.'" here was a poor mortal who had spent his days in carnality and transgression of the pure law of god. he is conscious of guilt, and feels the need of its atonement. and now, upon the very edge of eternity and brink of doom, he proposes to make his own atonement, to be his own redeemer and save his own soul, by offering up to the eternal nemesis that was racking his conscience a few hours of finite suffering, instead of betaking himself to the infinite passion and agony of calvary. this is a work; and, alas, a "_dead_ work," as st. paul so often denominates it. this is the method of justification by works. but when a man adopts the method of justification by faith, his course is exactly opposite to all this. upon discovering that he owes a satisfaction to eternal justice for the sins that are past, instead of holding up his prayers, or alms-giving, or penances, or moral efforts, or any work of his own, he holds up the sacrificial work of christ. in his prayer to god, he interposes the agony and death of the great substitute between his guilty soul, and the arrows of justice.[ ] he knows that the very best of his own works, that even the most perfect obedience that a creature could render, would be pierced through and through by the glittering shafts of violated law. and therefore he takes the "shield of faith." he places the oblation of the god-man,--not his own work and not his own suffering, but another's work and another's suffering,--between himself and the judicial vengeance of the most high. and in so doing, he works no work of his own, and no dead work; but he works the "work of god;" he _believes_ on him whom god hath set forth to be a propitiation for his sins, and not for his only but for the sins of the whole world. this then is the great doctrine which our lord taught the jews, when they asked him what particular thing or things they must do in order to eternal life. the apostle john, who recorded the answer of christ in this instance, repeats the doctrine again in his first epistle: "whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandment, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight. and _this is his commandment_, that we should _believe_ on the name of his son jesus christ" ( john iii, , ). the whole duty of sinful man is here summed up, and concentrated, in the duty to trust in another person than himself, and in another work than his own. the apostle, like his lord before him, employs the singular number: "this is his commandment,"--as if there were no other commandment upon record. and this corresponds with the answer which paul and silas gave to the despairing jailor: "believe on the lord jesus christ,"--do this one single thing,--"and thou shalt be saved." and all of these teachings accord with that solemn declaration of our lord: "he that believeth on the son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the son shall not see life; but the wrath of god abideth on him." in the matter of salvation, where there is faith in christ, there is everything; and where there is not faith in christ, there is nothing. . and it is with this thought that we would close this discourse, and enforce the doctrine of the text. do whatever else you may in the matter of religion, you have done nothing until you have believed on the lord jesus christ, whom god hath, sent into the world to be the propitiation for sin. there are two reasons for this. in the first place, it is _the appointment and declaration of god_, that man, if saved at all, must be saved by faith in the person and work of the mediator. "neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (acts iv. ). it of course rests entirely with the most high god, to determine the mode and manner in which he will enter into negotiations with his creatures, and especially with his rebellious creatures. he must make the terms, and the creature must come to them. even, therefore, if we could not see the reasonableness and adaptation of the method, we should be obligated to accept it. the creature, and particularly the guilty creature, cannot dictate to his sovereign and judge respecting the terms and conditions by which he is to be received into favor, and secure eternal life. men overlook this fact, when they presume as they do, to sit in judgment upon the method of redemption by the blood of atonement and to quarrel with it. in the first punic war, hannibal laid siege to saguntum, a rich and strongly-fortified city on the eastern coast of spain. it was defended with a desperate obstinacy by its inhabitants. but the discipline, the energy, and the persistence of the carthaginian army, were too much for them; and just as the city was about to fall, alorcus, a spanish chieftain, and a mutual friend of both of the contending parties, undertook to mediate between them. he proposed to the saguntines that they should surrender, allowing the carthaginian general to make his own terms. and the argument he used was this: "your city is captured, in any event. further resistance will only bring down upon you the rage of an incensed soldiery, and the horrors of a sack. therefore, surrender immediately, and take whatever hannibal shall please to give. you cannot lose anything by the procedure, and you may gain something, even though it be little."[ ] now, although there is no resemblance between the government of the good and merciful god and the cruel purposes and conduct of a heathen warrior, and we shrink from bringing the two into any kind of juxtaposition, still, the advice of the wise alorcus to the saguntines is good advice for every sinful man, in reference to his relations to eternal justice. we are all of us at the mercy of god. should he make no terms at all; had he never given his son to die for our sins, and never sent his spirit to exert a subduing influence upon our hard hearts, but had let guilt and justice take their inexorable course with us; not a word could be uttered against the procedure by heaven, earth, or hell. no creature, anywhere can complain of justice. that is an attribute that cannot even be attacked. but the all-holy is also the all-merciful. he has made certain terms, and has offered certain conditions of pardon, without asking leave of his creatures and without taking them into council, and were these terms as strict as draco, instead of being as tender and pitiful as the tears and blood of jesus, it would become us criminals to make no criticisms even in that extreme case, but accept them precisely as they were offered by the sovereign and the arbiter. we exhort you, therefore, to take these terms of salvation simply as they are given, asking no questions, and being thankful that there are any terms at all between the offended majesty of heaven and the guilty criminals of earth. believe on him whom god hath sent, because it is the appointment and declaration of god, that if guilty man is to be saved at all, he must be saved by faith in the person and work of the mediator. the very disposition to quarrel with this method implies arrogance in dealing with the most high. the least inclination to alter the conditions shows that the creature is attempting to criticise the creator, and, what is yet more, that the criminal has no true perception of his crime, no sense of his exposed and helpless situation, and presumes to dictate the terms of his own pardon! . we might therefore leave the matter here, and there would be a sufficient reason for exercising the act of faith in christ. but there is a second and additional reason which we will also briefly urge upon you. not only is it the divine appointment, that man shall be saved, if saved at all, by the substituted work of another; but there are _needs_, there are crying _wants_, in the human conscience, that can be supplied by no other method. there is a perfect _adaptation_ between the redemption that is in christ jesus, and the guilt of sinners. as we have seen, we could reasonably urge you to believe in him whom god hath sent, simply because god has sent him, and because he has told you that he will save you through no other name and in no other way, and will save you in this name and in this way. but we now urge you to the act of faith in this substituted work of christ, because it has an _atoning_ virtue, and can pacify a perturbed and angry conscience; can wash out the stains of guilt that are grained into it; can extract the sting of sin which ulcerates and burns there. it is the idea of _expiation_ and _satisfaction_ that we now single out, and press upon your notice. sin must be expiated,--expiated either by the blood of the criminal, or by the blood of his substitute. you must either die for your own sin, or some one who is able and willing must die for you. this is founded and fixed in the nature of god, and the nature of man, and the nature of sin. there is an eternal and necessary connection between crime and penalty. the wages of sin is death. but, all this inexorable necessity has been completely provided for, by the sacrificial work of the son of god. in the gospel, god satisfies his own justice for the sinner, and now offers you the full benefit of the satisfaction, if you will humbly and penitently accept it. "what compassion can equal the words of god the father addressed to the sinner condemned to eternal punishment, and having no means of redeeming himself: 'take my only-begotten son, and make him an offering for thyself;' or the words of the son: 'take me, and ransom thy soul?' for this is what _both_ say, when they invite and draw man to faith in the gospel."[ ] in urging you, therefore, to trust in christ's vicarious sufferings for sin, instead of going down to hell and suffering for sin in your own person; in entreating you to escape the stroke of justice upon yourself, by believing in him who was smitten in your stead, who "was wounded for your transgressions and bruised for your iniquities;" in beseeching you to let the eternal son of god be your substitute in this awful judicial transaction; we are summoning you to no arbitrary and irrational act. the peace of god which it will introduce into your conscience, and the love of god which it will shed abroad through your soul, will be the most convincing of all proofs that the act of faith in the great atonement does no violence to the ideas and principles of the human constitution. no act that contravenes those intuitions and convictions which are part and particle of man's moral nature could possibly produce peace and joy. it would be revolutionary and anarchical. the soul could not rest an instant. and yet it is the uniform testimony of all believers in the lord jesus christ, that the act of simple confiding faith in his blood and righteousness is the most peaceful, the most joyful act they ever performed,--nay, that it was the first _blessed_ experience they ever felt in this world of sin, this world of remorse, this world of fears and forebodings concerning judgment and doom. is the question, then, of the jews, pressing upon your mind? do you ask, what one particular single thing shall i do, that i may be safe for time and eternity? hear the answer of the son of god himself: "this is the work of god, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." [footnote : romans iii. , ; galatians ii. , iii. .] [footnote : the religious teacher is often asked to define the act of faith, and explain the way and manner in which the soul is to exercise it. "_how_ shall i believe?" is the question with which the anxious mind often replies to the gospel injunction to believe. without pretending that it is a complete answer, or claiming that it is possible, in the strict meaning of the word, to explain so simple and so profound an act as faith, we think, nevertheless, that it assists the inquiring mind to say, that whoever _asks in prayer_ for any one of the benefits of christ's redemption, in so far exercises faith in this redemption. whoever, for example, lifts up the supplication, "o lamb of god who takest away the sins of the world, grant me thy peace," in this prayer puts faith in the atonement, he trusts in the atonement, by _pleading_ the atonement,--by mentioning it, in his supplication, as the reason why he may be forgiven. in like manner, he who asks for the renewing and sanctifying influences of the holy ghost exercises faith, in these influences. this is the mode in which he expresses his _confidence_ in the power of god to accomplish a work in his heart that is beyond his own power. whatever, therefore, be the particular benefit in christ's redemption that one would trust in, and thereby make personally his own, that he may live by it and be blest by it,--be it the atoning blood, or be it the indwelling spirit,--let him _ask_ for that benefit. if he would trust _in_ the thing, let him ask _for_ the thing. since writing the above, we have met with a corroboration of this view, by a writer of the highest authority upon such points. "faith is that inward sense and act, of which prayer is the _expression_; as is evident, because in the same manner as the freedom of grace, according to the gospel covenant, is often set forth by this, that he that _believes_, receives; so it also oftentimes is by this, that he that _asks_, or _prays_, or _calls upon_ god, receives. 'ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. for every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. and all things whatsoever ye shall _ask in prayer, believing_, ye shall receive (matt. vii. , ; mark xi. ). if ye _abide_ in me and my words abide in you, ye shall _ask_ what ye will, and it shall be done unto you' (john xv. ). prayer is often plainly spoken of as the expression of faith. as it very certainly is in romans x. - : 'for the scripture saith, whosoever _believeth_ on him shall not be ashamed. for there is no difference between the jew and the greek: for the same lord over all is rich unto all that _call_ upon him; for whosoever shall _call_ upon the name of the lord shall be saved. 'how then shall they _call_ on him in whom they have not _believed_.' christian prayer is called the prayer of _faith_ (james v. ). 'i will that men everywhere lift up holy hands, without wrath and _doubting_ ( tim. ii. ). draw near in full assurance of _faith_' (heb. x. ). the same expressions that are used, in scripture, for faith, may well be used for prayer also; such as _coming_ to god or christ, and _looking_ to him. 'in whom we have boldness and _access_ with confidence, by the _faith_ of him' (eph. iii. )." edwards: observations concerning faith.] [footnote : livius: historia, lib. xxi. .] [footnote : anselm: cur deus homo? ii. .] transcriber's note: table of contents added by transcriber. contents i. the lumberjacks and the lumberjack sky pilot. ii. the work at barnum, minnesota. iii. in the heart of the logging district. iv. the lumberjack in the camps. v. a view of the camp services. vi. itinerating in the camps. vii. work in the lumber towns. viii. muscular christianity. ix. the field and its possibilities. [illustration: the lumberjack sky pilot and his team, flash and spark] the lumberjack sky pilot by thomas d. whittles chicago the winona publishing company copyright, the winona publishing company foreword the intent of this little volume is not to glorify a man, but to present the parish of the pines. imagination has little part in its pages, for the incidents are actual happenings and the descriptions are taken from life. the condition of the foresters is really the theme, although the title draws attention to the missionary. because the rev. frank e. higgins has given himself devotedly to the men of forest and river, i have chosen his experiences as hooks on which to hang the pictures of pinery life. mr. higgins has labored with no thought of fame, but with devotion to god and man; and so i write not to exalt the missionary, but to introduce you to his interesting parishioners. i have written with love because i know the sky pilot. i have written with prayerful longing because i know the lumberjacks. if through my unskilled effort you become interested in the isolated, wayward woodsmen, i shall be fully repaid. march, . t. d. w. "men who plow the sea, spend they may--and free, but nowhere is there prodigal among those careless jacks who will toss the hard won spoil of a year of lusty toil like the prodigals of pickpole and the ishmaels of the ax." --_holman day._ introduction by the rev. john e. bushnell, d. d. it has long been felt by those familiar with the human side of the forest life that its call should be heard, and that the efforts of devoted hearts to minister to the peculiar needs of the men behind the axe and the saw should be made known. this volume is a timely response to that desire. through a veritable forest of material the author safely arrives with us at the camp-fire and heart-fire of the lumberjack. most writers must create their own heroes; ours found his awaiting him, for god created frank e. higgins, the hero of this book. it is just like god to make such a man when there is such a work to be done. it shows us how busy providence is in human affairs. the least we can do in return is to know that man and get his message. the dumb creatures of the wood have just now almost a superfluity of exponents and disciples. the humanity of the woods is just beginning to have its champions. the lure of the wild has long prevailed to call men forth to kill, or prospect, or sin, but in a lovelier guise it will possess the readers of this book to make them enter the wild to pity, love, and save. to most of them this narrative will come as a surprise. it may even raise the question of possible exaggeration as to the extent of human suffering and degradation involved in the simple task of felling the forests to meet the needs of a growing nation. to those, however, who have been over the trail, it will appeal as a moderate but faithful picture of scenes of intensest pathos and tragedy which are but commonplace in the parish of the sky pilot to the lumberjacks. the fierceness with which evil hunts its human prey, and makes strong men of our own day and nation no better than the old galley-slave, toiling to enrich their brutal masters, can be only partially set forth in the limits of these pages. we shall all be made better neighbors to our homeless brothers in the wilderness by following mr. whittles' surprising and fascinating story and by walking in the footsteps of the modest missionary of the cross, of whom he writes, on his round of mercy through camp and brush, for whose zeal the winter's blast is never too severe, and whose love for souls melts a pathway through drifted snow. we shall be reminded afresh of how rough is the work and how great the human sacrifice by which the wants of civilization are satisfied. we shall also be moved to resolve that the amount of the vicarious suffering of men for this end shall be reduced of all that portion of it that comes through our indifference and the activity of evil. this narrative adds a unique and valuable chapter to the records of our country. it will be read with gratitude by every one, who for whatever cause seeks wider knowledge of his fellowmen. most of all will it appeal to the christian hearts of our land to whom these men of the woods will seem as brothers, having more than their share of life's hardships and temptations and less than their share of its privilege and its opportunity. it is most earnestly to be hoped that it may reach all the homes of our land and cause them to rest a while from the fiction of the hour, that, in the glow of these human realities, stranger than the inventions of fancy, we may learn henceforth to suffer in the afflictions of our exceptional members and relieve the conditions which make them helpless without our aid. this little book i lovingly dedicate to sarah. my wife. chapter i. the lumberjacks and the lumberjack sky pilot. while i waited for a train, a woodsman entered the station. he was dressed in a rough mackinaw jacket; coarse socks held his trousers close to his legs, and on his hands were heavy woolen mittens. everything proclaimed him to be a man of the camps. "hello, jack," i said in greeting, "how were the woods this winter? anything new in the camps?" jack jammed the peerless into his strong-smelling pipe, struck a match and replied: "snowed so blank hard that half the gang jumped the job, and us fools that stayed worked up to our necks trying to get out the stuff. this winter was hades, but not quite so warm--no, not by a jugfull. why say, neighbor, in our camp the whisky froze up and kept the bunch sober until we got a new supply." he paused, looked me over, and began again: "you're a preacher, ain't you?" "i am," i replied. "well, then, here's news you'll enjoy. we're all thinking of joining the church--us fellows in the camps. funny, ain't it? the gospel sharks are in the tall timber and are getting bags of game that would shame a pot hunter. the cloth has donned overalls and is preaching at us. savvy, preacher?--we've actually got so civilized that they're preaching at us god-forsaken lumberjacks. how does that strike you for news?" he paused to see the effect this intelligence was having on me, then continued: "the sermons we get are the real thing. no sun-proof paint on them, no 'by-your-leave,' but the straight goods, the pure stuff--chips, bark and timber. everything we get is government sealed, punk proof, top-loaded and headed for the landing--which is us. it all comes our way and we hold our noses and take the medicine. what party do you happen to hitch to?" "denomination?" i asked, "i am a presbyterian." "good! so am i. i don't happen to belong yet, but if they keep on hewing to the line, i'll have to join--or hike. our sky pilot, frank higgins, belongs to your crowd. probably you know him?" "i have known him a long time," i replied. "shake! if you're a friend of his you'll do. he's onto his job, and if this keeps up, the guy that splashes ink on the church roll will be kept busy adding our names. there's my train." he was gone. may the day soon come when the half jesting prophecy of the lumberjack will be fulfilled. * * * * * stately and green is the forest of the north star state. from lake superior the great pineries of minnesota extend unbroken until the fertile silt of the red river valley limits the growth of the pines. two hundred miles is the width of the forest and the evergreen covers the northern half of the state. this is "the woods" of minnesota--the center of the logging industry. about five hundred camps mar this beautiful region with their rude shacks and temporary shelters, some of them being scores of miles from the permanent settlements. during the winter months twenty thousand men labor in the scattered camps of this vast territory, removing the growth of ages that the farms and cities may have comfort and protection. the primeval forest has been invaded, and on the zero air of the north the ring of the ax, the tearing of saws and the strange oaths of the teamsters mingle with the crash of falling trees. the workers of the forest are called lumberjacks. in all the country there is scarcely a more interesting group of men--interesting because so wayward and prodigal in life and habit, while their forest home appeals to every leaf-loving soul. they are the nomads of the west--farm hands and railroad constructionists in summer, woodsmen in winter--with no settled abode, no place they call home. a few years ago michigan claimed them; later their habitat was in the forests of wisconsin; now the woods of minnesota is their rendezvous. [illustration: lumber camp in the long, lace-like norways] the typical lumberjack is a man of large heart and little will. he sins with willing freedom, because he has almost lost the power to check his evil desires, and it is so easy to yield to the vultures who make sin convenient and righteousness hard. the saloon and brothel are ever alluringly near, while the church and bethel are slow to approach. the harpies of sin wait at every turn to prey upon the woodsman--though they damn his soul it matters not, if they obtain the cash. the railroads push their iron arms into the heart of the wooded lands, and the villages follow the railways, desiring to be near the camps for the trade they bring. almost without exception the first places of business are the saloons, to which are attached the outfits of the gamblers, and conveniently near are the places of shame. one new town in the pineries had between forty and fifty saloons (forty-six i believe is the number), five large brothels, and the gambling hells were many, yet the population of the place was little over two thousand. it was evident to the casual visitor that its chief industry was to separate the campmen from their earnings by preying on their weaknesses. another village is beautifully situated at the junction of two rivers. all around it is well timbered land, and from the nature of the soil the place is destined to be of importance in the coming years, but at the time of this writing the village with its adjacent territory only contains a population of about two hundred. the village has less than a dozen houses, but six saloons do a thriving business and the brothel has appeared. you ask where the places obtain their patronage? from the camps. the foresters are the source of profit; the population of the town would not be able to keep one saloon in business. nor are these solitary instances. the same conditions are to be found in almost every hamlet and village in the woods. day and night they ply their sinful trade, and soon the gold, which the lumberjack risked his life to win, jingles in the coffers of the shameless or gleams in the till of the saloon or gambling hell. sunday is the harvest day of iniquity. the men are released from labor and pour into the villages to spend the hours of rest. the wheel, whisky and women separate them from their earnings, and like the withered leaves of autumn the strong wielders of the ax and canthook fall easy victims. one night "to blow in the stake," regrets for a moment--then back to the loneliness of the winter woods again. he is said to be a poor lumberjack who can keep his wages over night. jack is not always a willing victim. often by knockout drops he is reduced to insensibility and robbed. he may complain of the treatment, but he is helpless through lack of evidence, and is told to "go up river," or is hustled unfeelingly out of town. "he's only a lumberjack and is better off when all in." this is all the sympathy the ishmaelite receives. no place is open to him except the one he should avoid. the churches are too weak to meet the large demands, and so no place of refuge opens its doors of hope to the prodigal. the balm of sympathy comes to him limitedly; humanity is as cold as the frozen streams of his winter's retreat. civilization is viewed only as a place of unbridled license where the law favors the spoiler. god is dead. christ is only a word of convenient profanity. the church has forgotten the prodigal while caring for the souls of the saved. thus he views life. in his wretchedness he labors for the keepers of the gates of death and is satisfied, if, by the sweat of his brow, he can win an hour of forgetfulness in the place of riot and shame. no picture was ever painted so dark as to exclude all light. god made it so. even in the neglected sons of the lumber-camps is seen a hopeful ray--for their hearts are as rich in charity as their lives are dark with sin. their sympathies can easily be touched. it is through the open freedom of their generous nature that the reforming power of the gospel can enter. the only remedy for the campmen is the sustaining power of the man of nazareth. when they shall learn to know the christ of god as the savior of men, the darkened lives of the foresters will be transformed, and the fruits they shall bring forth will be the wished for deeds of righteousness. when the rev. francis edmund higgins, the lumberjack sky pilot, began his work among these neglected ishmaelites, no religious society was making an effort to raise the moral and spiritual condition of the campmen. the catholic church, then as now, devoted itself to the hospital work in the nearby towns, but no denomination invaded the camps to lead the bunkmen to right living. at the time of this writing the presbyterian church is the only religious organization having special missionaries in the lumbercamps. regardless of denominational prejudice, the work of frank higgins appeals to the whole christian church, not only on account of its peculiar type, but also because of the interesting man conducting it. fitted by nature and training for his work, he is striving with heart and hand in a large and lonely field. he is the pastor of a large and scattered flock which for long and weary years has known no shepherd. depraved men are being reached, lifted and kept for god through him--men alone are his parishioners. seldom is a pastor more beloved by his people. the rough but kindly hearts of the lumberjacks go out to this fearless minister who self-sacrificingly breaks the bread of life to the husk-fed prodigals of the far north country. the lumberjacks will fight for their sky pilot; and even the ranks of the enemy--the saloonmen, the gamblers, the brothel keepers--are compelled to admire this earnest christian minister who is valiantly fighting a hard battle for god and righteousness. the rev. frank higgins is a resolute character, full of zeal and undaunted courage. god gave him a strong body and he is using it for the giver. that rare virtue we call tact, or sanctified common sense, shows itself in all his dealings with men. false dignity is absent from him, but the dignity of sterling purpose and determined endeavor is ever present. he is no slave to custom, but is a man who does things in his own way, and does them well. the title the loggers have conferred upon him is one of affection; he is the lumberjack sky pilot, and if you heard his forest parishioners speak that name, you would realize that his ordination was threefold--ordained of god, by the presbytery and by the lumberjacks. frank e. higgins was born in the queen city of the west, toronto, ontario, on the nineteenth day of august, . he was the seventh child to come into the home, but the only one to survive the vicissitudes of infancy. his parents were both irish, but his father, samuel higgins, was born in the dominion, and for some years prior to his death kept a hotel in toronto on the site where the walker house now stands. in this house frank was born. ann higgins, the mother, first saw the sun in the ulster settlement of ireland, her parents bringing her to canada when she was four years old. samuel higgins died when frank was seven years of age. two years after the death of frank's father, ann higgins married john castle, an englishman, who shortly afterwards moved the family to shelburne, dufferin county, ontario. here in the untouched wilderness the settlers began to force an opening for cabin and crops. the country was new. few white families were near, but on the higgins homestead were several camps of sioux indians. the land was forest covered, the towering cedar and hemlock stretched their graceful fingers heavenward, the spreading maples delighted the eye, and the white robes of the slender birch lent variety to the sylvan scene. with painful effort the sentinels were felled and squared for cabin and sheds, and fields of grain succeeded the fallen forest. the companions of frank higgins were the children of the sioux indians, whose tepees were near the homestead. with the children of the indians he took his lessons in woodcraft, learned to draw the bow, or childishly labored at the tasks of the growing braves. one of his early recollections is of secretly carrying a loaf of bread from his home to trade with an indian youth for bow and arrows. perhaps the subsequent strapping he received had something to do with the permanency and vividness of the recollection. for three years the indians were his constant playmates. from the warlike sioux, fearlessness was imbibed, their love of the forest became his, and an ineffaceable delight in tree and stream was stamped in the character of the growing boy. "i feel it now," he said to me, but recently when we were in the city together, "i want to get back to the solitudes where the trees have voices and every stream a story. i love the camps rather than the cities. i have never passed from my boyhood love--my first love--the trees, the hills, the brooks. in the pineries i feel as if i were a boy back in the old days again." [illustration: steam-jammer at work] these were days of gold and purple when the child was learning the mysteries of life, days of ceaseless roaming in which nature taught her truths through leaf and twig, through dew and whispering breeze. he was nature taught--all that touches "the wild and pillared shades" belongs to his free, frank nature. unknowingly he was beholding the beauty of his future kingdom and unconsciously equipping himself for the years of zealous toil among the white nomads whose weapons are the ax, the saw and the peavey--a change in equipment and complexion, with the same stage setting. few school privileges came to the forest lad. when he should have been at his studies there was no school to attend; when the school came, only brief periods were allowed to him. at twelve he took his place by his stepfather's side and assisted in supporting the family. every hand was needed, and the boy's little counted for much. there was ground to clear of trees and underbrush, there were rails to split and fields to fence, and in the winter logging, claimed his labor for the cash it gave in return. dufferin county could offer few advantages in those days. its sparsely settled condition meant absence of amusements and communal privileges. most of the new settlers were of english blood, and while they were willing to stint and sacrifice, yet they demanded the presence of the church. a church was organized near the castle home, to which john and ann castle gave their united support. frank's stepfather was a godly man, in whose life was reflected the spirit of our master's teaching. service and fellowship were the watchwords of the home. of material wealth the cabin could not boast, but in spiritual gifts its occupants were far from poor. it was largely through these examples of christian living that frank higgins acquired a knowledge and interest in the things of god. when frank was eighteen years old a wave of religious awakening swept through the community, and the stepson of john castle was one of the first to surrender to the master. immediately he interested himself in the welfare of his companions, doing personal work among them. the result was that most of his companions joined the company of believers. these young men then organized a semi-weekly prayer meeting in the schoolhouse and frank higgins led the first meeting. nine of those who attended those prayer meetings have since gone forth to preach the everlasting gospel. there must have been good stuff among the settlers of dufferin county. the ministry always had its charms for frank higgins. long before he united with the church, the desire to preach had possessed him. many were the sermons he delivered to the cattle, stumps and trees, while going the rounds of his daily labor. on one occasion the stepfather and hired man hid behind the stumps that they might receive edification from the discourses that so often wasted their sweetness on the desert air. unaware of their presence, frank worked a while, then, laying aside his ax, mounted a log and began his sermon to the stumps. vigorously he chided them for their inactivity. emphatic were the woes he pronounced upon them who were at ease, while the harvest called loudly for workers. enthusiastically he bade the stumps march forward and with unsheathed sword take possession of the promised land. the hidden ones, suppressing mirth that almost injured them, silently thrust their heads above the hiding place and looked with forced solemnity at the big, lonely preacher. so unexpected was their appearance, that he, who a moment before was willing to lead an army of stumps to victory, retreated to the cover of the forest, pursued by the convulsing laughter of his friends. years afterwards, when commenting on the above incident, he said: "you see, it was a sermon to men after all. i had intended it for stumps, but it produced action among men." he laughed. men have always been his auditors. from the time of his stump sermon they have listened to his story of the cross, and today among the stumps of the pineries he preaches with results that cause the angels to laugh in gladness. at the age of twenty frank higgins returned to toronto, the city of his birth, where he resided with relatives. he there entered the public schools, taking up the studies which the conditions in dufferin county prevented him from acquiring in boyhood. it took courage to enter the sixth grade of the city schools, a big brawny man among babes. unaccustomed to cities and civilization, he felt ill at ease away from his native woods. his hands were better acquainted with the ax than with the pen and pencil, but he stuck to his task while the blush of shame mounted his cheek as he sat among the little children of the grade. his teachers did not find him an apt scholar, but they bowed before the originality of his untutored mind. three years were spent in the grades and two in the high school, after which he left the dominion of canada and came to minnesota, at the age of twenty-five. in the fall of he began lay preaching in the methodist episcopal church at annandale, minnesota, and for two years labored in that field; doing very successful work. he was fortunate in the companionship of dr. a. m. ridgeway, a young physician who had recently begun to practice in the village. this friend did all he could to cover the defects of the frontiersman and to aid him to self-improvement. it was largely through dr. ridgeway's persuasion that higgins gave up his work at annandale and went to hamline university to continue his studies. for two years he applied himself to books, but owing to the scarcity of funds he was compelled to preach on the sabbaths, and the small salary thus obtained helped to support him in the university. the name of the late rev. l. m. merritt, of onesta m. e. church, duluth, minnesota, is held by him in revered memory for the timely encouragement and assistance rendered him at this period. in the way opened for him to enter the service of his mother church. the presbyterian church at barnum, minnesota, was offered to him and the layman found himself in the denomination of his youth. the work at barnum, minnesota, changed the whole course of his life. [illustration: river crew on lake bemidji] chapter ii. the work at barnum, minnesota. the new field to which mr. higgins went was a lumber town. barnum, minnesota, had a population of less than four hundred, but the nearby lumber camps added considerably to its business interests. the presbyterian church at that place was weak, and when presbytery sent the young canadian there to advance the cause of christ, it also took him under its care as a student for the ministry, and assigned studies suited to his special case. at barnum, frank higgins first came into touch with the loggers of minnesota. on all sides were the camps crowded with men who felled the forests during the winter, and in the spring floated the logs over lake and river to the large sawmills farther south. shortly after he changed his residence to the lumber town, he went with several friends across the country to where the river drivers were at work on the kettle river drive. it was spring. the ice-locked lakes and rivers were once more open, and now the accumulated logs that had been placed on the icy lakes and streams were floating with the current to the city mills. after several hours traveling through a rough and new country, parts of which were cut over lands, scenically uninviting, the party arrived at the point of the river where the men, who, in the parlance of the loggers are called "riverpigs," were at work. in midstream the men were sacking logs with peavey, or directing with pike pole. from log to log the skillful drivers leaped, now riding on the huge timbers, now wading in the shallows, or following the logs from the shore. it seemed an easy thing to do, to ride the swift moving logs, but only a master can keep his place on the unsteady, rolling steed. in a bend of the river, below the place where the drivers were working, the large flat-boat called the wannigan, was tied. the wannigan is a floating bunkhouse, cookshed and store combined. in it the men make their home during the drive. the supper hour was near when the visitors arrived at kettle river; the journey had been long, so the disturbing blast of the cookee's horn was a welcome sound. in response to the call the rivermen hastily made for shore, and headed for the grassy place near the wannigan. the example of the workers was followed by the visitors, who helped themselves to iron knives and forks, tin spoons, cups and dishes. the wet drivers sat around the campfire and ate with a heartiness that comes from a life spent in "god's own open air." the men lounged about the fire after the meal, and the topics of the village and the happenings of the river were discussed. just as the sun was tossing back his lingering kisses at the sleepy forest and ever wakeful river, the riverpigs requested mr. higgins to give them a gospel service. it was a surprising request, coming from such a source, for the river drivers looked and acted as if they cared not for these things. the preacher had heard their fluent profanity as they directed the logs, and when they asked for the gospel he could not veil his surprise. but the request was in harmony with the hour. nature was worshiping. the solemn hush of the evening was upon tree and stream and even the ceaseless babble of the river came only in whispers. man felt a desire to join in the creator's praise, and where is there a better sanctuary than in the cloistered halls of the greenwood, on the banks of a crystal stream? taking a log for a platform, unaided by bible or hymn book, mr. higgins began the service. "nearer my god to thee" was the hymn, and the men of the pickpole joined heartily in the song, "jesus lover of my soul;" they sang until it seemed that the sunset joined in the praise and the trees of the field clapped their hands in timely melody. over the running river the tall pines caught up the music and bowed in reverence, while the echoes answered back, "oh, receive my soul at last." with what supreme interest the men about the camp-fire listened to the old, old story of christ who loves the wanderer! the shades of night fell low upon the darkening earth while the preacher spoke of the light of the world, and the men sat wrapped in thoughts of things they had forgotten or never known. recollections of the home tree came back to some, and the sweet lullaby of a mother stole into minds long forgetful of home and other days. at the spring of boyhood they drank again, and the counsels of youth came with hallowed sweetness to the men seated in the playing shadows of the dying fire. faces long strange to tears were furrowed. wishes were born that later became realities of good. like a voice from another world came the benediction to the group about the bright glowing embers. from across the stream the echo floated back, and the "amen" of nature came like a mother's tender prayer. on the morrow when the visitors were returning, several of the rivermen went to the preacher and spoke of the pleasure they had derived from the service. "we're away out here in the timber and it ain't often the church comes our way," said one. "if some preacher would come here once in a while, he could give us a lift. the lord knows we need it," added another. "can't you come and give us a turn?" they asked. in response to the extended invitations, mr. higgins often went to the drive on kettle river. an appreciative audience was always waiting--an audience that would gladden the heart of any minister who was anxious to deliver god's message. prior to his visit to kettle river, mr. higgins had never been on the drive. everything about the work was new to him, but he joined the riverpigs on the stream, and added to their merriment by his unskilled attempts at logdriving. taking the long pickpole, the preacher mounted the floating log, while every driver looked out of the tail of his eye for the soon-coming moment when "his reverence" would descend to the depths--"so far," said one of the men, "that he would draw down the log with a suction." in the midst of their work the drivers shouted advice and encouragement. but a laugh does not deter a man like frank higgins. the love of the forest and river was in his blood, and the strong body and determined will welcomed the difficulties of the river. even the discomforts of a sudden bath did not cool his zeal. he believed that if these men were to be his hearers he must know how to appreciate their labors, and that appreciation could only be acquired by passing through the intricacies of the calling. so skill came with practice, and a knowledge of the drive after many sudden descents into the flowing waters. this was a part of the equipment for ministering--a strange preparation--but men whose labors demand strength of limb and skill of body are more likely to listen to him who can prove his physical ability. in the estimation of some, manual labor may not preserve the dignity of the cloth, but it adds to the dignity of the man. the lumberjacks and rivermen have no admiration for him who is fearful of hardship, or succumbs before the strenuous labor which they themselves must daily perform. the pineries is no place for weaklings, nor the drive for the fearful. among these men physical prowess wins where mental powers fail to get a hearing, but the combination of both, backed by a strong desire to serve, is a combination sure of success. "when you are in barnum i want you men to remember me," said the preacher to the drivers. "my home and church are open to you. you are just as welcome as the people of the village." shortly after the above invitation the boys came to town. it was sunday, and the hour of the morning service. three big rivermen entered the church and took seats in the rear of the building. they were dressed as the necessities of their vocation require, flannel shirts resplendent in fighting colors, broad belts, and heavy spike-soled boots. it was no small sensation their presence created. barnum was a lumber town, but although accustomed to the lumberjacks and drivers, it had never seen them in church. the saloons were their known retreats. before beginning the service mr. higgins went down to the drivers and bade them welcome. "we thought we'd drop in and see if you'd make us as welcome in the gospel shop as we made you in the bunkhouse," said the spokesman. "i guess he has, bill," he said, turning to his friend. after that they came to the little church whenever they sundayed in town. with the trio came others, for they knew they would be hospitably received. this proved to the minister that the man who wants a larger parish has only to remove the fence that encloses his present one. as often as his pressing duties would allow it, the missionary followed his new found flock. the distance was great to kettle river, yet he walked to the camp that service might be held on the bank of the stream. from the memories of the men who heard and of him who preached, the pleasure of those sunset gatherings will never be effaced. kettle river drive was more fruitful than preacher or logger dreamed. although mr. higgins grew to manhood in a timber country, yet he never had visited a large lumbercamp until the winter following his residence at barnum. in his youth he had logged in the forests of dufferin county, ontario, but the lumbering was on a small scale--it was only the logging of farmers. around barnum, minnesota, the camps were operated by the lumber kings of the west. the winter's cut was counted in millions of feet, not by hundreds or thousands. in the fall of a delegation of lumberjacks came to the sky pilot's home in barnum and asked to be taken into the circle of his ministration. "we need you just as much as the camp of drivers you preached to in the spring," they said, and they looked the part they professed. camp after camp petitioned for his services, and so the work grew until all the logging camps around the village were receiving occasional services from the unordained man who served the presbyterian mission church at barnum. the field was large, white for a willing harvest, but the laborers were few, few indeed--only one. mr. higgins had recently married, and through the union encouragement and effectiveness was given to his work in village and camp. in october of mr. higgins was married to miss eva l. lucas of rockford, minnesota. miss lucas was an active church worker in her own town, and after her marriage the bride often went with her husband to the filthy camps and furnished music on the little portable organ. her presence was appreciated by the foresters, and with the lead of the organ the music was bettered. these were days of exacting labor and little pay. in his spare moments frank higgins was trying to supplement the loss of university and seminary training, and the midnight lamp glowed in the study as he sought to prepare himself for ordination. there were sermons to prepare, calls to make, the dead to bury, and a thousand unexpected duties that are ever attendant on a village pastorate. but louder than all the demands was the ever increasing macedonian cry from the camps for services and assistance. so much to be done and so little one could do in comparison to the demand! frank higgins never asked for "flowery beds of ease." his physical strength was unlimited, and he loved action rather than repose. with the joy of a strong man he attacked his work and found an increasing happiness in duty done. a few days after one of his visits to the camps, two lumberjacks came to his door. "we want you quick," they said, "we've brought one of the boys from the camp to his homestead. he's asking for you. he's a very sick man." in company with the woodsmen mr. higgins went through the forest to the log cabin of the homesteader. the doctor had just arrived. turning to mr. higgins, the physician said: "if we could get him to st. luke's hospital in duluth there would be a chance for him. he cannot obtain the necessary care here in his shack." mr. higgins volunteered to accompany the sick man. they bundled the patient snugly into a sleigh, drove to the depot, and in a short time were in the hospital. only a few minutes passed before the physician in charge came to mr. higgins and said: "there is no chance for your friend's recovery. you had better break the news to him, for he is beyond our help." gently, tenderly, the rough camp preacher told the dying man of his condition and asked him to make preparation for the nearing end. [illustration: a small congregation] the lumberjack looked up at the weeping minister, and smilingly said: "thank god you came to the camp that night. i heard you preach of a savior, and all my being longed to know him. it was the first time in twenty years i had heard the gospel. i was raised in a christian home, and that night all the lessons of childhood came back to me. when the lanterns were put out, and the bunkhouse was silent, i got on my knees and prayed the forgiving god to forgive the past, and make me a better man. that night jesus christ brought his strong salvation to me, and i was forgiven." he paused through weakness and was still, then opening his eyes, now clouded with the mists of death, he looked at the minister. "brother higgins, go back to the camps and tell the boys of my savior. go back and tell the old story to the lumberjacks. they need you worse than the towns do. tell them of jesus who can make them live, go back to the lonely camps." he ceased to speak. more feebly came the breath, and soon the spirit returned to the god who gave it. the minister was left with a problem greater than any he had yet attempted to solve. in the corridors of the hospital he walked through the long night, carrying a sense of duty and sacrifice he had never known before. "can it be possible that god wants me to take up this work?" he asked. "has god spoken his will through the dying man?" ambition rebelled against the sacrifice; fond wishes refused to be set aside, but with every tempting prospect came the command of the dying man, "go back to the boys and carry the story of jesus." it sounded clearly. no man could misunderstand it. that night all his plans were changed. ambitions, such as come to all young men, were swept away. the large pulpits of which he had dreamed were superseded by the log or barrel which held the bible in the camp services, and the future audiences were men rough clothed, rough visaged, who dwelt not in homes of opulence, but slept in the hay-filled bunks in the log camps. that night in the hospital he consecrated himself to the service of god in the logging camps. he now began to look about the field in which his life work was to be done. the extent of the field and the intensity of the need was appalling. while there were christian men in the camps, and many whose lives were moral, yet these were few in comparison to the crowd who wasted their lives as did the younger son in the parable. ordination was now his great desire, for he wished to go to the men as one who could minister to all their spiritual needs. but ordination was far off. the studies were not completed, and would not be for several years. the spring after his decision, he was surprised on entering his home to find it filled with a crew of lumberjacks who were returning from the camps. "mr. higgins," began the spokesman, "we've dropped in today to tell you how we've enjoyed the preaching in our camp. the boys want me to make a spiel, but the saw is more in my line. you've treated us white, have given us more advice than we've digested, and never asked to see the color of our money. but this is no one-sided affair. the boys have all chipped in, and here's your stake for service rendered." as he closed he handed the minister a check for fifty-one dollars. in all his work the missionary had not asked for financial assistance. the boys at first thought he was preaching for "what there was in it," but when he asked not for money, they realized that love and devotion was the impelling cause. "the lumberjack is no cheap skate," so they gladly gave in return. through the benevolence of the woodsmen, mr. higgins saw a new possibility. he was willing to give himself to the work, but it was necessary that living and incidental expenses should be met. how to finance the mission work was the question, but now he saw the boys would pay a large part of the attendant expenses if some one would organize the work. the barriers were being removed; the doors were opening. only, ordination had yet to be received. the work at barnum was followed by his taking charge of a church in new duluth, where the mill hands formed a large part of the population. acquaintance with the men and their work led to an interest in him, and soon the church was on its feet. the same success that was seen at barnum followed the new duluth work, and after a short period of labor there, he was asked to take the bemidji church. here in the heart of the logging district the real work of his life began, for as never before he learned the ways of the lumberjack. chapter iii. in the heart of the logging district. in the spring of , frank e. higgins began his work in bemidji. the home missions committee of duluth presbytery had invited him to assist the little group of christians in the new town, where assistance was badly needed, for the place was in the heart of the logging district, and was infamous for its traffic in evil. the hosts of sin were well organized, but righteousness needed the encouragement of a strong man. the bemidji field was first opened to christian work by mr. s. a. blair, the sabbath school missionary of duluth presbytery, in . in those days no railway reached the place, but the pine forest beckoned to the logging companies and the mississippi river offered an outlet for the logs. bemidji could only be reached by following the rough trails through the swamps and around the hills from walker, minnesota, thirty-five miles away. most of the supplies were carried up the lakes and rivers and toted over the portages to the new village. when mr. blair started on his thirty-five mile tramp to bemidji, the baptist denomination also decided to send a man to organize for them. but the rains descended and the floods came, until the poorly made roads were more impassable than ever. not relishing the flooded condition, the immersionist gave up the task--for once water interfered with the baptist growth. but mr. blair, prior to his conversion, had been a lumberjack, and none of these things moved him. wading the depths and fording the streams, he at last arrived at the hamlet on lake bemidji, and organized the work. later a church was partly built by mr. blair, and occasional services were held. it was to take charge of this field that mr. higgins turned his steps to the north. he had seen the conditions of the woodsmen in barnum and other towns, yet he needed the bemidji experience to show him their real poverty of soul, and their utter helplessness in the face of open, alluring vice. here he saw them at their worst, given over to shame, encouraged in degradation. they were as sheep without a shepherd, a prey to every spoiler and evil designer. it would require one whose ability is far above mine to pen a picture that would adequately set forth the low plane of life found in the early days of bemidji. since that time it has changed for the better, but it is still influenced by the past and is far from a moral utopia. nature has done everything to make the place attractive and restful. lake bemidji and lake irving are inviting sheets of water with a shore line of nearly fifty miles. the great father of waters joins their crystal bodies, and at the point of meeting the little city of bemidji is built. every part of the city is pine-covered. those who platted the place removed only the larger trees, and the homes rest in the shelter of the constant green. like a huge emerald in a setting of purest silver is the green sheltered city with its rippling lakes and flowing river. nature had contributed lavishly, but when man came he brought with him the defects of humanity and painted the fair location with the blackness of unlicensed vice, filling the eden of beauty with the blight of sodom. it was a town with a wide open policy, in which saloons abounded, brothels flourished and gamblers worked unmolested. it was known as one of the most shameless places in the state, and in those days seemingly lived up to its reputation. the police force was little more than a name, for the saloon men were "the powers that be." it was to the interest of the liquor men that the town be run as wide open as possible, and the business interests as represented by the liquor sellers were far from the puritan mould. a convenient double blind was on justice. the law was roped and thrown. rum was the real owner of the town. it was above the law. it was master. gambling was connected with most of the saloons and numerous devices were in sight to attract the indifferent. not satisfied with what came to them, the runners of the saloons and dens went into the camps to drum up trade for their respective places of business--creating a sentiment that would induce the boys to visit their dens of vice. the brothels were large and accessible, being near the center of the town. in one of the places a large number of negresses was kept to pander to the bestial instincts of the men. it would be difficult to give a description of those early day conditions. a citizen of the town remarked, "you can't put enough black in the picture when you try to paint the early bemidji." in justice to the moral element of the place we must add that there were always those who strove for better conditions, and the efforts they made have met with some success, for the moral conditions of bemidji in are vastly superior to the conditions at the time of which we write. it was early in when mr. higgins became a resident of bemidji. the presbyterian church had been organized but a short time, yet it was in a state of coma that was rapidly passing into death. only two members could be found. a church building had been erected, but because of financial difficulties it had not been finished and was far from attractive or comfortable. frank higgins' task was to find the scattered adherents, then complete the building. for want of a more suitable place of residence, the unfinished edifice became the meeting place and manse combined. the few houses obtainable were mostly rude shacks whose exteriors were covered with tar paper, instead of weather boards, and even these temporary structures, poor and inadequate, were hard to obtain. during the early part of the bemidji ministry, marguerite, the only child of mr. and mrs. higgins, came to bless the parents' hearts and add joy to the missionary home. the years at bemidji were strenuous, but successful. the unfinished edifice was enlarged and completed during the first year of the layman's work. the year following found him building the cozy manse, while the membership grew with increasing steadiness. in connection with the church at bemidji was a station at farley, and during the third year a little chapel was erected there. by this time the bemidji congregation had outgrown the capacity of the building and in the fourth year a more commodious and suitable church was built. in these full years the camps had not been neglected. with the erection of the numerous buildings, to which he had contributed manual labor as well as superintendence, mr. higgins' hands were seemingly well filled. in addition to these duties, however, he every winter gave his personal attention to nine camps and regularly visited three of them each week. the seven addresses a week, the miles between the camps, and the pastoral calls consumed the hours, leaving no time for leisure and idleness, while from all sides came the demands of the foresters for religious instruction and services. one morning when he returned from the camps, mrs. higgins told him of an urgent call from the sisters' hospital. hastily he went to the ward and there found will mcdonald, a highland scotchman, at the point of death. mcdonald had met with a serious accident in the camps. the sky pilot and the teamster were well acquainted. mcdonald's boyhood days were spent among the bonny hills of the homeland, in a quiet christian home. in early manhood he came to minnesota and followed the winter woods. there, amidst the rough life he forgot his early instruction and traveled the ways to which temptation so readily pointed. on entering the ward the preacher tried to cheer the dying man, but the woodsman turned to him and said: "it's no use, frank, the jig is up. i've got to go. i'm nearing the landing with a heavy load. do you think i'll make the grade?" he was a teamster and had hauled many heavy loads up the grade, and now he was thinking of the unknown way he was traveling and the possibilities of the journey. "yes, you can make the grade, will, but you will have to look for help," said the preacher. "you mean i'll have to get another team of leaders to help me up the grade?" he asked. "that is it," said mr. higgins, "but thank god, mcdonald, you have the greatest leader to give you a lift--the lord jesus christ. every man he has helped has made the grade. listen, will, while i read you something." taking out his pocket testament, he read the story of the prodigal, and how by the father's help he made the grade. then came the strengthening text setting forth god's love for a lost world and the needlessness of perishing. "turn to him, will, and the grade will be easy." kneeling by the bed, the missionary prayed to the loving god for help, asking that the poor broken prodigal might make the grade and safely arrive at the heavenly landing. in the ward the other lumberjacks heard the prayer, and while the tears fell over faces unaccustomed to them, the boys uttered in silence a sympathetic prayer that will mcdonald might reach the hill-top. a few hours later mr. higgins called again at the hospital. the screen was around the bed and by the side sat the sister of charity with book and beads. the sky pilot knelt by the scotchman's side, and when the dying man saw the visitor a smile came upon his face. "you're right, frank, a great leader is jesus christ. i couldn't have made the grade without him. i needed his help, and he is strong. i'm going up the grade easily, we're going to make it sure." a moment more--the missionary bent close to catch the words, for mcdonald was passing rapidly away. "tell the boys i've made the grade," he whispered, and with a smile was gone. he had left the valley; the unfading green of heavenly plains was before him. he was with the great leader, through whose divine strength many a poor prodigal has made the grade. the presbyterian church has always stood for an educated ministry. the demands it makes of its candidates for ordination are of the highest order, and it is well that this should continue. the system of doctrine taught by it demands thorough preparation for the effort of presbyterianism has ever been directed to the intellect rather than to the emotions. it believes that men should be educated into the kingdom rather than persuaded into it. ever since the night of consecration in st. luke's hospital, where the dying man pleaded with him to "go back to the camps and tell the boys of jesus christ," frank higgins had desired to devote all his efforts to missionary work among the lumberjacks. he felt that he could labor more successfully if he went into the camps as an ordained minister rather than as a layman. there were many who felt that a layman could do the work as effectively as an ordained man, and some even claimed that a layman could do better work in such a field. frank higgins did not agree with the latter, and results have proven the correctness of his judgment. "the lumberjacks want no flunkey, but the real thing," as one expressed it. "we don't want a sunday school teacher, but a full baked sky pilot who has got all the degrees agoin'." mr. higgins knew this, and wished to go to them as an ordained man, hence his persistence in the pursuit of ordination. systematic theology has its difficulties to the seminarian, but more for him who attempts to master it alone. this and other studies composed the task that presbytery had placed before frank higgins, and it was necessary that a knowledge of these be obtained before the coveted "laying-on-of-hands" be granted. in the presence of his studies he saw the handicap in which he was placed through lack of scholastic training, and with the multitudinous demands of his large field he lacked the time for mental attainments. the nearest presbyterian pastor was ninety miles away, so he could look for little assistance from that quarter. he could not get advice and instruction from others, he must labor alone. for seven long years he struggled with his studies, often with disappointing results and with the feeling that it would never be said of him as of paul, "much learning doth make thee mad,"--although his unsuccessful attempts to acquire the desired learning threatened to this end. time and again the presbytery refused to grant the petitioner's request for ordination. meeting after meeting he came before them for examination, but still they did not feel that they could solemnly set him aside to the work of the christian ministry. the action of the presbytery must not be misunderstood. the members saw the lack of training, the mental defects of the man, the rough exterior of the petitioner--for there was little about him to suggest the pulpit--and while they loved and admired the hearty, consecrated missionary, they hesitated to confer the rite of ordination upon him. they were men who knew the standards of the church and felt that, measured by the plumb-line of presbyterian custom, he did not meet all its requirements. they were only men, and as such were compelled to judge by exteriors. it was not strange that they hesitated, for the sentiment of the church is against the ordination of men who have not qualified in the full course. stones there are, however, that no contrivance of man can make to shine, yet they fill a niche in the building where a glazed surface would be a conspicuous defect. such is frank higgins. try to polish him and he is still the same, but a rough ashler is as necessary to the building as a smooth and perfect one. one of his examiners asked him, "what seminary did you attend?" "i never saw a seminary," he answered. "what is your college?" was asked. "my college is the bible and yonder forest, as i believe god intended," he replied. "i do not ask for ordination because i am qualified by the schools, but because god calls me, and there is a work waiting for me." according to custom, the candidate was asked to withdraw while the discussion was held. for three hours the presbyters discussed his case and when the vote was taken the desired privilege was withheld. later in the session, in his remarks before the gathering, mr. higgins said: "i need not tell you that the decision of this body is disappointing, for i have long desired the boon of ordination. during the last seven years i have appeared before you many times, and asked to be set aside to the ministry. i know my insufficiencies; no man can know them better. i do not blame you for with-holding "the-laying-on-of-hands," but i was ordained of god long years ago to preach the unsearchable riches of christ, and although unsanctioned by man, i shall still preach the message with which he has provided me. i have asked ordination for the last time. i am satisfied with the call of god. it is sufficient for me. i ask no more." while he spoke, the spirit of god told of the inner life of the candidate and the brethren saw the consecrated heart. at a special meeting held shortly afterwards, the presbytery reconsidered its action, and frank e. higgins was ordained. while the presbytery had hesitated, it has never regretted its final action. it has never ceased to rejoice in the labors of the determined, undiscouraged man who amidst manifold labors and difficulties, worked, waited and prayed seven years, like jacob of old. his oft-repeated prayer for ordination having been answered, he looked to the camps as the field of his future endeavor. "lord, open the door," he had asked, and the door was opened. at the time of his ordination the bemidji congregation was building the new church. mr. higgins helped in the manual labor. one day while he was shingling the tower a boy brought him a letter requesting him to come to winona lake, indiana, and consult with the evangelistic committee relative to the conditions in the logging camps. as a result of the conference frank higgins was commissioned to take charge of this work in minnesota. the appointment was made in august, , and with it came the real opportunity for which he had waited since the night in the hospital. he was going "to tell the boys of jesus christ." shortly after his return to bemidji the rev. frank higgins took a strange ministerial, or rather, unministerial vacation. the woodsmen of winter are farm hands, railroad constructionists and wanderers in summer, and mr. higgins decided that he would acquaint himself with the summer life of the men. his visits to the camps during the past seven years had already given him a knowledge of their winter conditions. donning the clothes of a laboring man, he mounted a freight train and started on a long western trip of quiet investigation. in western north dakota he labored for several days as a harvest hand, meeting many of the men he had preached to in the minnesota camps. from this place he shipped with a gang of laborers and worked as a scraperman on a new railway in montana. shortly afterwards he was with the pick and shovel gang at the dalles in oregon, only to leave and work as a deck hand on a boat going down the columbia river. portland, oregon, ended his western trip. in all parts of his hobo trip he found the winter woodsmen, some laboring, some leisurely passing the warm and sunny days in idleness. mr. higgins visited the larger churches wherever he stopped and as a workingman entered their doors to see the reception they would tender to a man who apparently belonged to the wanderers. the trip broadened his experience and gave an insight into the life of the nomads among whom he was shortly to take up permanent work. he saw the life as one who had lived and experienced a portion of it. he felt the pangs of hunger, encountered the slights and rejections, the hardships and lovelessness to which their lives were subjected, and out of the knowledge came a broader sympathy, a more ready ability to help. when he returned to bemidji the new church was ready for dedication and after a few weeks he left the pastorate to give himself wholly to the twenty thousand men of minnesota's camps. the field was ready and he now became in reality, "the lumberjack sky pilot." [illustration: filling the water-tank--the street sprinkler of the forest] chapter iv. the lumberjack in the camps. a brief description of the camps and of the camp life will add to the interest of the reader who is unacquainted with the logging industry. when a lumber company contemplates logging in a given locality, a cruiser is sent through the forest to estimate the amount of lumber it will cut. after the report of the cruiser has been received, a crew of experienced woodsmen follows, and selects the place for the camp or camps, and lays out the logging roads. this latter is not an easy task, although to the inexperienced it seems to be, for the road must be as nearly level as the possibilities of the land will allow. a hill to be surmounted means a reducing of the size of the load and an increase in the cost of hauling; a grade scarcely enough to be noticed in ordinary traffic also adds danger and uncertainty to the haul. if there is a grade, its descent must be towards the landing, hence the need of skilled road-makers. it is in the early fall of the year that these logging roads are made. trees are felled, every stump is removed and the little hills are leveled until there appears in the forest a broad, level, often winding avenue that suggests a city speedway. when the cold binding wind of the north has frozen hill and glen and the swamp lands have become resistant to the tread, the rut cutter is sent over the newly made roads. this heavy, unsightly piece of mechanism cuts a deep groove or rut in each side of the road. later these ruts are partly filled with water and in the icy track the great runners of the heavy logging sleds travel with ease and safety. the logging sleds are huge affairs. the runners are eight feet long. the weight of the sled with its chains is about thirty-five hundred pounds--a good load in itself under normal conditions. on these sleds the logs are hauled to the landing, and from there pass by stream or rail to the distant sawmills. the camp is generally placed near the center of the land or on an elevation convenient to water. the buildings of the camp consist of a cookshed made large enough for cooking and dining-room purposes, a bunkhouse to house the men, a blacksmith shop, barns and office. all these are built of logs chinked with clay, and are quite warm, if properly constructed. a view of the interior of the cookshed is always interesting and visitors to the camp are apt to journey in that direction first of all, not simply because of appetite, but to satisfy their curiosity relative to the comforts of the crew. at one end of the room stands a large stove. the walls of the place resemble the interior of a country store, where all for man or beast is offered to the buyer. the rest of the space is reserved for the dining-room, and the tables present the appearance of a sea of oilcloth. the table dishes are of tin, but in a few camps enamelware has very acceptably been introduced. substantial iron knives and forks, and unsubstantial tin spoons are instruments of adornment and utility. the condiments or relishes are in boxes of large capacity or in bottles that once did duty for a favorite brand of whisky or a much-lauded patent medicine. often the labels remain on the bottles and the visitor is uncertain as to the sociability of the place or its unhealthfulness, and if not enlightened by the knowing ones he is apt to go without the desired vinegar or catsup--unless he is so constituted as to be ever on the lookout for a chance "to wet his whistle." the interior is substantial in appearance, but not altogether conducive to good appetite. "we use oleomargarine all the time," says a large placard adorning the walls, and the writer has never doubted the statement; in fact, he is willing to make an affidavit that it was used in every camp he visited, or at least a substitute whose dissembling he was willing to believe. [illustration: said to be the largest load of logs ever hauled out of a camp, . feet] "no talking at the tables" is conspicuous in some camps, and this is probably a wise precaution for it saves time, keeps the men from quarreling, and in case the food is not up to the standard the grumbler is silent until after he has left the table. but the food is generally better than the outsider would expect. it is strong, substantial, abundant, and of good quality, to which is added variety. the fastidious would hardly be satisfied with the service, but it is not intended for the fastidious. he who labors in the pine-laden air is not likely to quarrel with the service if the quality is right and the quantity abundant. beef, pork, potatoes, beans, peas and other seasonable vegetables form the bill of fare of the camps. the bunkhouses are large and roomy. on the long sides of the building double-decked bunks are built with the ends toward the center of the room, "muzzle-loaders," the boys call them. owing to the unsanitary conditions, it does not take long to generate a goodly number of "company," to use the name by which the woodsmen designate the vermin. fortunately, some of the camps are better kept and the men escape this additional irritation. a large cylindrical wood-stove is installed in the center of the room, and above it is built a rack for drying the clothes of the men. since every lumberjack wears several pairs of socks to keep out the cold, this rack in the evening holds several hundred pairs. in the heat of the place the drying socks begin to blossom, and it has been noticed by others than botanists that roses and socks do not produce a like aroma. few of the bunkhouses have any tables. water and tin basins are near the door for the use of those acquainted with the custom of bathing. in the office where the clerk, the bosses, scalers and others of more pretentious occupation sleep, one corner is set apart for the wannigan, as the small camp store is called. here the workers buy clothing, shoes, tobacco and the few articles needed in the camp. the stock is not extensive, but the price of the articles is far reaching. one of the clerks said, "i have charge of the wannigan--the first graft of the lumberjack." where once the timid deer cropped the tender herbage, the rough camps of the lumbermen are seen. before the mighty swing of the keen blades the solitudes are passing away. in minnesota, two billion board feet of lumber represent the cut of the winter months, and in the camps and mills almost forty thousand men are employed. logging is an extensive industry, and it has been brought to a high degree of efficiency in minnesota. every day the tote teams pass between the camps and the village carrying provisions for man and beast. these teams are the means of communication between the foresters and civilization. where there are several camps owned by the same company, the most important personage is the representative of the company who is known among the men as the "walking boss," because he is always passing from camp to camp, seeing to the interests of the firm. the "walking boss" gives his orders to the subordinate boss who has charge of an individual camp. this subordinate is known as the "push." under the "push" is another who goes by the name of the "straw push." the camps have their own nomenclature, and some of the names are interesting and humorous. the carpenter is the "wood butcher;" the clerk is the "ink splasher," or the "bloat that makes the stroke;" the man who tends the logging roads and keeps them free from anything that would interfere with the heavy sleds is called the "road monkey;" the workman who keeps the fires in the bunkhouse and does odd jobs around the camp goes by the title of "bull cook," because, in the old days when oxen were used his duty was to see to their comfort; the missionary is known as the "sky pilot," and the top-loader is called the "sky hooker." besides these named there are the cook and cookees, skidders, teamsters, sawyers, swampers, the barn boss and the blacksmith. "in the works" where the trees are felled, the men work in crews. the sawyers bring the giants to the earth and the swampers clear the trunk of its branches and make the openings through which the logs are drawn to the skidways. after the tree has fallen, a man called the "punk hunter" examines it to see if it be sound and marks the dimensions into which the log is to be sawn. the loads hauled from the skidways to the landings average differently in the camps, owing to the condition of the roads. where the roads are the best the amount drawn by two or four horses is almost incredible. in a load of logs was hauled into tenstrike, minnesota, which scaled over twenty thousand feet. one of the camps situated near shell lake, wisconsin, is said to have hauled the largest load of logs ever drawn out of a camp by four horses. the load contained thirty-one thousand four hundred and eighty feet. a thousand feet in the green log, with its attendant slabs and bark, will weigh nearly eight thousand pounds. the above figures will give some idea of the great weight of the loads, and also of the perfection to which the road-making must be carried to make such results possible. into these camps with the coming of winter the lumberjacks crowd. "why is it that they are willing to go into isolation and hardship?" you ask. we can only answer, "why does the sailor go down to the sea in ships?" it seems to get into the blood. douglas malloch, in "the calling of the pine," says: "when i listen to the callin' of the pine, when i drink the brimmin' cup of forest wine-- then the path of life is sweet to my travel-weary feet when i listen to the callin' of the pine." there are lots of men who have followed the camps from boyhood. i met one man who had spent forty-four winters in the woods and his brother almost as many. it had become a second nature to them and the lure of the camps was irresistible. in the towns and villages adjacent to the camps the lumberjacks are seen at their worst because civilization only welcomes them to its vices; in the camps the woodsmen are seen at their best because the causes of their depravity are absent. these big, hearty fellows may be strong in vices, but they are by no means lacking in virtues. they have their code of honor, and the man who departs from it will find it necessary to depart from the camp. depraved as are most of them, yet in many ways they command the respect of the men who are acquainted with their better natures. the old lumberjack will not tolerate the least word of slander against a good woman. if she is entitled to his respect she is entitled to his defense. he may be steeped in vice himself, but he esteems those whose lives are clean, and a good woman appeals to his chivalry. a woman is as safe in the camps as in her own home; her purity is her protection and his respect goes out to her. the sisters of charity go through the camps soliciting for the hospitals and schools. between the camps they are often miles from any habitation and when night overtakes them they sleep in the camps. i have never heard of one of them being molested in these lonely trips, and among the rough, profane foresters they are as safe as behind the carefully locked doors of the convent. the lumberjack who would molest one of them, or any good woman, would probably not leave the camp alive. shielded by her womanhood, she is safe even among the men who are foreign to restraint. on one occasion a camp foreman with his wife entered the caboose of a logging train. in the car a number of men were drinking. the bottle was passed around and all drank, the foreman included. as the bottle went the rounds it was offered to the foreman's wife, but scarcely had the bottle been extended to her when the husband floored the donor with his fist and proceeded to kick him out of the car. he was not going to allow any man to treat his wife as a woman of the street. in the settling of disputes, nature's weapons are the sole instruments used. the fist is the arbiter, although the boot is sometimes called into exercise. the gloves and wrestling help to pass many lonely hours, but sometimes these friendly bouts generate a battle in which hate is the ruling passion. fights due to personal animosity are to be expected where men are free from the restraints of civilization. in one of the camps an ex-convict worked and for some unknown reason made life unbearable to a pleasant, easy-going irishman. the ex-convict was ever trying for a fight, but the irishman's blood was more sluggish than that of the average son of erin. at last the attacks were more than the peace-loving fellow could stand. (how does the proverb read? "beware of the wrath of the silent man.") he went to his bunk and put on his spike boots and rushed out to meet the ex-convict. with a blow of his fist he floored the former prisoner and, beside himself with rage, kicked him until the body of his tormentor was a bloody jelly. had not the loggers interfered the ex-convict would have been murdered. the wounded man was taken to the hospital, where he remained for several weeks, and on recovering he left for other parts, to the satisfaction of all concerned. though the labor is hard and the hours long, for the men are at work when the sun appears and it is dark when they leave the works, yet there is a constant variety in their lives. it takes little to amuse them, and less to make them "jump their jobs." the lumberjack is not apt to complain when things go wrong, but rather to walk into the office and demand his wages, after which he will proceed to another camp. sometimes a whole camp will suddenly leave because of some imposition or provocation that may in itself seem slight. one of the men last winter "took the cake" in this. he went into the cookshed for his breakfast, but being a little late found that the pancake dough was all gone and there were no cakes for him. he immediately went to the clerk and demanded his wages. here is another case: something had gone wrong and jack olson was ready to leave the camp. he proceeded to the office and demanded the amount due him, but the clerk was a surly bully and in reply tossed the little norwegian out of the office. against such physical tactics olson felt he could do nothing, so he sat around the bunkhouse until his bunkmate returned from the works. "the bloat wouldn't give you your stake, hey?" said bunky. "and he kicked me out of the office," added olson. bunky was interested, very interested. his eyes twinkled as he thought of the splendid opening the action of the clerk had given him for a little added excitement. "come on, john, old boy," he said, affectionately taking olson by the waist and leading him to the office. "come on and watch the free show while the bloat makes out your check and mine." arriving at the office, bunky entered it with a jar. "sit down there, john, in that reserved seat while i raise the curtain and turn on the red fire." stepping close to the clerk, olson's husky bunkmate shook his monstrous fist under the nose of the astonished time-keeper, and said: "are you the guy that splashes ink? then sprinkle out my walk and do it infernally quick. sprinkle out olson's, too, and if you don't hurry this little shack will look like hades upset. splash the ink blank lively or i'll make a blotter out of you." without a word the "guy that splashes ink" began his work and the walks were sprinkled out in record time. bunky and olson left the office with the air of victorious generals and traveled to the nearest town to blow in the stake in fitting celebration. card playing is a great time killer in some of the camps and when the towns are not accessible the woodsmen often spend the whole of the sabbath playing with the greasy cardboards. some of the proprietors do not allow card playing and they say the prohibition has caused a more peaceful state. since the logging camp mission now distributes large quantities of literature a number of the workmen spend their spare moments in reading. many of them will discuss spiritual matters, and in language that is shockingly contrasted with the subject, for so habituated are they to profanity that it does not appear to the speaker as in the least incongruous. after one of the meetings it was discovered that mr. higgins had left a hymn book. the forgotten book fell into the hands of a lumberjack who could read music and who possessed a good voice. the following evening he began to sing the hymns and the camp gathered to listen. "that's a d--n fine song," said the singer enthusiastically, "the show don't reach it, not by a hades of a sight." he sang another and remarked on closing, for the sentiment of the song appealed to him: "how the devil do they think of such fine things? it's the prettiest little son of (the nameless) that i ever heard." this was said admiringly, and with the intention of expressing appreciation, but the habit of the man was profane and he knew not how to express his feelings unless with verbal gestures. profanity is so common to some of them that they seem to swear with every breath they draw. an old-timer told the writer of an incident he had witnessed. they were loading cars with a steam jammer. the sky-hooker, or top-loader, who was exceptionally profane, was at his post on the top of the car. one of the logs did not come up in the way that suited him and he broke into a stream of profanity that startled even the lumberjacks. the sky-hooker ended his profanity with a direct appeal to all the persons of the god-head--a most unspeakable oath. "it was the most blasphemous sentence i ever heard," said the old-timer, "and we stood around startled." less than ten minutes afterwards the hook broke, and an enormous log weighing several tons crushed the body of the hooker to pulp. "the father had answered," reverently remarked the woodsman. "i used to swear in those days but i never have since." if you wish to meet generous-hearted fellows, visit the logging camps. anyone who has dealings with the lumberjacks will testify to the truth of the above statement. the typical lumberjack is large-hearted, touched with generous impulse and responsive in his desire to ameliorate suffering. often he will impoverish himself to give to the causes that help humanity. money is of little value to him; it only represents the power of producing a short-lived pleasure, and he is therefore willing to share with others that they may be happy. as the following incidents will illustrate: one of the men had taken his family to the camp and built a little shack in which to house them during the winter. mr. higgins had held services in the camp, and the logger requested him to baptize their baby when he next visited them. happening to be in the city shortly afterwards the missionary mentioned the fact of the coming baptism and the ladies of the church in which he was speaking thought they would contribute to the happiness of the occasion by sending the baby a bundle of clothing. the missionary presented the package after the baptismal service was concluded and the parents hastened to view the contents. a crowd of campmen had been invited to witness the christening of "our kid," as they called the baby, and when they saw that the articles sent to the child were second-hand garments their wrath kindled. "our kid" was insulted and every man resented it. "we're no paupers," they cried. "what do the city folks mean by insulting the kid with duds like these?" "that kid has got to have the best glad rags. no make-overs for him." a collection was immediately taken, and every generous soul cast in his two bits so that the kid of the camp could hold up his head. b---- r---- was taken sick and had to leave the camp. for a year disease held him in its grip. he was a man of family, having a wife and seven children who were dependent on his labors. death visited the home and took one of the children, adding to the financial burden. the news of the family's needs came to wilson bros.' camps and , and immediately ninety dollars was raised and sent to mr. r---- to help him along. the boys were willing to respond and gave gladly. many a poor fellow has found true charity among these men, for their hearts are large and given to generosity. the dead lumberjack does not find a corner in the potter's field, the boys see that he is decently interred; the sick do not often fall on the community, for they are helped by their fellows. say what you will about the lumberjack, but put the grace of charity to his credit, and let it cover a multitude of sins. there is little chance for personal cleanliness in the camps. no facilities are there for bathing unless one is willing to do so in the presence of the whole camp; the clothing is often worn much longer than is conducive to health, and many of the things we consider so essential are missing, yet few of the men are affected with sickness. unsanitary are the surroundings, but the hours in the pure air and the hard, active lives of the workers seem to counteract the disease-breeding conditions. most of the cases that go to the hospitals are due to accidents rather than to disease. accidents are all too common in the camps. felling the large trees is never without hazard and the loading of the logs is more dangerous still. the heavy hauling adds an element of uncertainty, particularly where there are grades to be run on the way to the landing. it requires skill to let a load down the grade. this is done by means of sand or hay being placed in the ruts so that the runners of the sled are retarded in the descent, but if the load be checked suddenly it will cause the logs to shift, endangering the life of man and beast. from what has been written in the foregoing chapters we do not desire to convey the impression that all the campmen are depraved and sunken in vice. there are all kinds and conditions of men among them. many of them have been well educated, have come from homes of refinement and ease, but through adversity have gone to lower plains of life. others have followed the woods from youth and feel that they are not fitted for any other class of labor, yet amidst surroundings that tempt to viciousness they have kept their moral virtues with scrupulous care. the campmen are a neglected class of men. no one has in past years tried to touch them with the elevating power of good. they are what they are because their labors have isolated them from civilization and its agencies for good, while the vices of the provinces have followed them because there were dollars to be gained. the railway men of a few years ago were almost in the same condition as the lumberjacks of today. the saving power to the railroader was the restraint that their homes cast about them, and through their homes the gospel and other adjuncts of civilization were possible, but these are men who are separated from their homes or unblessed with home ties. when christian indifference was supplanted with christian activity a change was soon noted among the workers on the railroad and they became a respectable class of men, of whom the nation is justly proud. y. m. c. a.s were established for their benefit, missions were opened where they congregated, the church held out its hand in welcome, and under the stimulus of gospel encouragement they arose. but what has been done for the lumberjack? almost nothing. in the camps he works through the dreary, cruel winter, and when he returns to civilization in the spring only the hand of the depraved is extended in welcome. [illustration: interior of bunk-house] chapter v. a view of the camp services. "the woods were god's first temples." i cannot pass through the pineries, beholding the long fingers of cooling green pointing to the eternal blue, without feeling an exaltation of spirit, a desire to praise the creator. the shrub and towering tree, the aisles of the woods and the sweet soothing comfort of the silence all conduce to prayer and adoration. no temple is more suggestive of worship than that whose dome is of sheltering leaves and whose columns are living, graceful trees. but the camps are the destroyers of the primitive temples, and their denizens are not suggestive of devoutness; yet in the rude hewn shacks of the lumberjacks nature is heard speaking and her voice is persuasively calling to worship. in the gray of dawn her call is clear and sweet, and as the loggers tighten their heavy belts and view the new-born day she whispers, "praise." in the busy noon day, amidst the bruised and broken tops, the playing winds repeat the echo of the morning, "praise." then when the hush of evening falls o'er the dying day and the purple of the west shows through the crown of richest green, the evening shadows take up the chorus, "praise him for his goodness, for his love to the children of men." on visiting a camp for the first time frank higgins is apt to inquire, "ever had any preachers up this way?" "no. nobody cares whether we make the landing in hades or not," is likely to be the answer. "preachers are only after the stake," said one. "they don't care for us poor devils. heaven was made for the rich, and not for us lumberjacks. we're only welcome down the slide." "well, here is one who isn't after the stake," replied the minister, "and his interest is in the lumberjack." "where is the guy? i'd like to meet him," remarked the woodsman, evidently thinking such a preacher must be an unknown variety. "i'm the fellow," returned the missionary, "and i'll prove it by preaching in the bunkhouse tonight. what time will suit? : , you say? well, let all the boys know and come prepared to sing. that's your part of the service." the rev. frank higgins has not much suggestion of "the cloth" about him. if you met him on the logging road there is nothing in his dress to stamp him as a minister, but everything to proclaim him a lumberjack. his dress is that of his parishioners, mackinaw jacket, belt, boots, socks and cap suggest the logger. his physical appearance is in keeping with the camp; he is broad-shouldered and built for endurance. he is not a tall man, being but five feet nine or ten, but his weight is two hundred pounds of muscle. he does not look the preacher, but ask the lumberjacks about it and they will tell you "there is no other." the supper is over and the men have crowded into the bunkhouse where the meeting is to be held. what an audience! it is cosmopolitan; the ends of the earth have contributed, except the far east. all classes and conditions are in the group, evidences of the best and worst, but on all of them the stamp of isolation--they are far from the accustomed haunts of men, and everything proclaims it. sixty to one hundred and sixty men are in the log shack. the benches at the end of the bunks are filled with waiting men, the bunks above contain many who are lounging in attitudes of individual fancy. no straight, erect or formal audience is this; it is as free as the forest air, as informal as eden, but not so cleanly. the congregation is coatless, collarless, often bootless, for probably half of them are in their stocking feet, while the temporarily discarded boots are heaped around the huge stove to dry. pipes send forth long streams of smoke, and in various parts of the room card games are in progress. extra lanterns hang around the shack, sending out a dim uncertain light that only partly dissipates the gloom of the interior. the cylindrical stove contains the crackling logs and the emitted warmth is the only note of cheer. the rank odor of cheap tobacco mingles with the nauseating aroma of the myriad socks hung above the stove and the poorly ventilated place is stifling, oppressive and depressing. everything is unsuggestive of the sanctuary, but the father of men meets with his children in the heavy smelling bunkhouse the same as in the bright, costly cathedral. behind the upturned barrel, whose altar cloth is a coarse horse blanket, stands the preacher. no genevan gown lends its grace to his figure, but coatless he stands, an earnest man, physically fearless, powerful in the love for god and man. the hymnbooks have been passed around, some familiar hymn is announced and the command to sing is given. not such music as kisses the ear of the worshiper in the fashionable churches, where the trained voices blend in superb harmony, is the music in the camps. it lacks in sweetness, but is not deficient in volume and heartiness. scripture is read, or rather recited, for it is nearly impossible to read in the dim light emitted by the lanterns, then the sky pilot tells what the gospel can do for the loggers and what the christ can accomplish in them. he speaks plainly of their wasted lives, the folly of spending their money in the saloons, in gambling dens, in brothels, and points them to christ, who can keep a man from all that links him to the pit. do the men listen to the story of the savior? yes, with an interest that can only come from soul-starved men. they have been feeding on the husks, have known the companionship of swine in the form of men and vampires who resembled women, have wanted love and found only vice; so they listen gladly to the news of another life, another world, another love that is clean and pure. their dreams have been of heaven, but their lives have been lived in hell, and the sky pilot's story seems to make the dream attainable. i well remember a sermon he preached on the prodigal son, but the environment must be present if one is to reproduce the sermon. it was well suited to the audience, plain, too plain for a city audience, but an unmistakable message for the men of the forest. figures of speech had little place in it; of poetry there was little except the poetry of direct simplicity; it was unadorned anglo-saxon with the crash and clang of the language in its strength, but it was a story full of love, hope and cheer that appealed to the hundred men who breathlessly listened while the wind of winter beat the drifting snow against the camp. here are some extracts given wholly from memory: "one of the boys stayed at home and one left the old homestead. now it wasn't the fellow that stayed at home that the father was worrying about, but the fellow that packed his "turkey" and went out to blow his stake. you lumberjacks are in that youngster's place and the old folks are wondering where you are and what you are doing. because a man leaves home it isn't necessary to be a prodigal, but his chances to make a fool of himself are better if he is away from the old home and its memories." then came the story of his own home-leaving and how the mother watched him until the turn in the road hid him from view. "that mother's prayers have followed me through life. my story is yours with the names changed. some one wants to hear that you still live. write a letter tonight. "because the fellow had money he found friends, but there never was a friend worth having who was made or bought through money. this young fellow in the parable reminds me of the lumberjack coming down the river in the spring and landing in one of the logging towns. men who have never heard of him become his friends at once; the barkers of the dens wait at the train to give him the glad hand; he has friends galore and is the most popular man that enters the town--he has money. then they bleed him to a finish, as they did the prodigal in the bible. there are men in these towns who have your wages figured up already and they smile and chuckle as they toast their shins at the base burner, thinking what a good time they will have with your money when you come down in the spring. don't think you are working for yourselves; the saloonmen and their crowd are the ones who cash your checks and bank your coin. some of the men in the saloon business that came to these parts when i did and were as poor as i am, are now living in the finest houses in the north and eat the best the land affords. the wives of these men are dressed in silks, and their hands and necks glisten with the jewels you bought with your winter's labor--but you still wear the coarse socks and haven't a cent in the bank. now, men, were you ever invited into the homes you built for the saloonmen, gamblers and brothel keepers? were you ever given an introduction to the wives whom you dressed in silks and jewels? no, and you never will be. they don't want you; they are after your cash. that's how they treated the prodigal of old; that's how they treat the prodigal lumberjack of today. "well, after awhile the prodigal was broke and he asked his friends for a lift, but his friends weren't in the lifting business. it was their business to help him to spend, but not to spend for him. do you remember when you had spent all at the bar, the wheel, or the brothel, how you asked a loan for a lodging of the man in whose till your winter's earnings rested, and he gave you a hunch to go up river and earn more? well, the prodigal was in the same boat, for they said to him as they said to you, 'go up the river, old man. it's the husks and the hogs for you now.' "but when the men who rob and spoil will not give you a hand, the father will. in the father's home was the only place the prodigal found a hearty reception, and in the lord jesus christ you will find a welcome." then came the gospel message with its cheer and loving hope, the story of how god gave christ to die that the prodigal might have light and love, and how through him the homestead opens, where love undefiled and almighty help is given unstintedly. it was a homely sermon, a plain message, a description of life they too well understood because they had too often experienced it. many a head was bowed in shame as the story of the prodigal's life was told, for the listeners knew it was a tale, not of the times of christ, but taken from their own lives. when the preacher spoke of the loving father who warmly welcomes the wanderers there was expectancy in the faces of the auditors. it was after mr. higgins had preached this sermon on a former occasion that a young man came to him for a private conversation. the sermon had awakened a longing for a better life in which real love was to take the place of shame. he had been carried back to the old home, and heard the mother praying for the absent boy. "pilot," he said, "i want to pray for myself. tell me how and i'll do it." "come on, my boy," said the pilot, "and under the pines we'll pray together." out under the tall sentinels they went, and there on the frozen snow they knelt while the prayers of the minister and the lumberjack ascended to the ever-approachable throne. the next day the lad wrote home to his old mother in quebec, telling her of his hope in christ and his new relation to god. she had not heard from him in months, and now the news he sent made her join in the raptures of the angel chorus. immediately she wrote a letter of gratitude to mr. higgins and when the missionary read, "for this my son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found," he saw a new figure in the parable--it was the prodigal's mother. after the meeting is over and the shack is lighted only by the stray gleams that steal through the chinks of the stove, some of the men will continue to talk to the minister of their far-off homes and the loved ones they have not seen for years. the years are reviewed and there is a wish that life were different. by the burning fires of the bunkhouse many a long closed heart has been opened and many a life surrendered to god. sometimes a man will come to mr. higgins after the services and invite the missionary to sleep with him in the bunkhouse. since the missionaries are generously accorded the privileges of the office by almost all of the proprietors, the invitation of the lumberjack is one that holds in itself no allurement. the bunks in the sleeping quarters of the men are often filled with small annoyances that are fruitful and multiply and disturb the occupants of the bunks. but when such an invitation is given the missionary seldom refuses it. he knows that the man who gives it means more than to share the discomforts of his lodging--he wishes to get near the messenger so that in the darkness and quiet he can secure spiritual aid. in the bunks men have been helped over difficulties and have freely surrendered themselves to the divine son. there may be distasteful things to encounter, but the chance to help a man is worth more than the sacrifice of comfort. it was after a camp service that a young man came to the pilot and asked: "isn't there any way that i can make my life count? i'm sick of going on this way, pilot. i'm sledding in the wrong direction. tonight i'm disgusted, so give me a lift." as a result of the lift he was led to god and encouraged to save his money for future schooling. during the evenings of that winter the young man spent his time in study and when spring came a large part of his earnings were deposited in the bank. the following summer he procured work in the saw mill and books were the companions of his leisure hours. so absorbed did he become in his new purpose that he carried his book to the mill and when the machinery stopped to make repairs out came the book. the proprietor of the mill observed the diligence of the new hand and changed him to the sawdust pile where he could have more time for his books. so absorbed would he become that often he allowed the sawdust to take care of itself. the men called him "the book worm in the sawdust." school followed his winter's work, and now he is a successful civil engineer. in the bunkhouse on the night of his surrender a soul and a life were saved. that sweet old favorite hymn, the favorite of the home and prayer meeting, the source of comfort in the house of mourning, is the favorite in the camps--"jesus, lover of my soul." those unloved men of the distant places feel the influence of the hymn which speaks of the tender christ opening his bosom to the outcast as well as the respected. its plaintive melody appeals to them, and the lonely men of the forest sing it with the spirit of those who long for sympathy and unselfish love. the night before they had sung the old song over and over again. the whole camp had joined in with hearty spirit. after the breakfast was over the men went to the bunkhouse to wait for the word of the "push" ordering them to the morning's labor in the works. while they waited one of the men who possessed a rich tenor voice struck up the hymn, "jesus lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly." one by one the men joined in the song, and the solo passed into a chorus of one hundred voices. out through the twilight of the morning the melody rolled, waking the sleeping pines and crossing the frozen streams. the men in the stables, harnessing their horses, heard the song and softly whistled it; the cook, busy with his pots and pans, hummed in unison, and the swearing cookee closed his profane mouth and listened in wonder. over in the office where the proprietor and others of the higher grade of labor made their quarters, the song caused silent amazement, for it did not seem like the morning hour of the camp, where usually only profane sounds break the stillness. "other refuge have i none, hangs my helpless soul on thee," sang the men. "leave, ah, leave me not alone," and it came from the hearts of men who knew the weight of lonely weeks and months. the sky pilot in the office turned his face to the wall and prayed while they sang. "all out," cried the "push," and from the bunkhouse streamed the men, singing the song of comfort. into groups they separated, each going his appointed way, but the song still continued in all parts of the forest, until the sweet melody of the hymn died to tender murmurs and was lost in the distant evergreens. in all that north state no happier body of men went forth to toil, for with them went the spirit of the song. sometimes disturbances mar the meetings. but they are not as frequent as in the early days, when it was considered the proper thing in some camps to create a row. the earnestness of the man and the strength of his body has gained respect for this teacher of righteousness. the work, also, is better understood and a realization of the value of missionary effort has brought about a change in sentiment. when mr. higgins first began his work he used a little muscular christianity as well as persuasion in regulating the deportment of the men during the services; now he has learned a better way. the frenchman who undertook to create a rough house, and suddenly found himself standing on his head in a barrel of water, having been put there by the rev. frank higgins, will not feel like disturbing one of his services again. the persuasion of a man who can physically take care of a religious gathering is a great incentive to undisturbed worship, even though the meeting be held in the forest. the day after the meeting is the time for personal work, for hand-picked fruit, for heart-to-heart conversations. while the service is in progress the quick eye of the evangelist singles out those who are most receptive to the word of life, and on the morrow he goes to assist by private word the work done in the public meeting. from the clerk he finds where they are working in the forest and goes to join them in their labors. here is where the finely developed body comes into play for the king. one of the secrets of aiding workingmen is to understand their labors; they admire the man who is capable in their individual line, and frank higgins is a woodsman who knows how to swing the ax and pull the saw. while working with them he talks of christ and tries to draw the worker to him. in the bunkhouse, during one of the services, an old man sat in his bunk with his little nondescript dog in his lap. loneliness was written on his deep-lined face; while the others sang he was silent. "don't you sing?" asked the missionary, handing him a book. "none of your blank business," gruffly mumbled the old man. all through the service the old fellow was silent, seemingly hearing no word of the sermon. the next day the missionary went to the "ink splasher" and inquired where the old man could be found. "that's old grouchy. he's the road monkey and you'll find him on the east road about this time of day," directed the clerk. "good morning," was the greeting of the missionary as he came up to the road monkey. "mornin'," answered old grouchy, in non-committal tones. "your roads are in fine shape, almost perfect," said the missionary, sparring for an opening. "bad, infernally bad," answered the road monkey. "like the job?" asked the preacher to encourage conversation. "yes, the way the damned like their lodgings," burst out old grouchy. "but what is it to you whether i like it or not? you can't change it." before the preacher could make reply the little dog came out of the woods, where he had been in pursuit of a pine squirrel, and came to the minister for attention. it was a dog of many breeds, but the road monkey's eyes fell upon it lovingly and the minister saw the look. "a good friend of yours, i suppose," said the sky pilot. "the only friend i have," and the tone was soft and reflective. the minister knew that he had found the opening to the old man's heart and began to talk of his own dog team, the faithfulness and intelligence of the animals and the companionship they freely gave. old grouchy joined in the conversation and discussed with freedom the love he felt for the dumb creatures. from this they drifted to matters more personal until the whole story of the man's life was narrated and the cause of his cynicism was bared. it was a story of startling disappointment, of a home wrecked through unfaithfulness and broken trust. no man could hear the story and remain unsympathetic. "no wonder you see the world darkened," said the preacher; "if i had your experience i might feel as you do today." the missionary talked to the man and tried to lead him to the bright paths of peace, but nothing appealed to the sad soul of the lonely man. the gospel gave him no hope, the sun was set, and all was covered with the curtains of night. god to him was dead and in all the world the only love he knew was the dumb affection of the forlorn yellow dog. when mr. higgins went back to that camp in later days the road monkey would listen attentively to the presentation of the loving christ and seemed to wonder if it were possible that god could care for him. "sing, brother," said the missionary. but the old man only shook his head. he would not sing. nay! he could not. his heart strings were withered; melody had left him through the unfaithfulness of woman. he had passed into the starless night where no glimmer of hope entered, and in his solitude he caressed his little dog and perhaps wondered if the great god cared, if any being was interested in him besides the faithful little animal. the rev. frank higgins was preparing for the evening service. he had rolled the barrel into the center of the room where it was to do duty as a pulpit. the proprietor of the camp came in and seeing the barrel, but not knowing its intended purpose, appropriated it as a seat. not wishing to disturb the proprietor, mr. higgins stood by his side and conducted the service. the place was well filled and the interest was intense. the men entered heartily into the singing, and when the sermon came it was full of keen home thrusts. the errors of the lumberjacks were pointed out with freedom and a remedy forced with conviction. the proprietor sitting on the pulpit enjoyed the straightforward way in which the preacher dealt with the lumberjacks, and at every telling shot heartily applauded and added some words of encouragement to the speaker. "now you're getting them, higgins; keep the chips a-flying. give them another whirl, pilot; you have them where the hide is thin." with these and other suggestions he added his encouragement. it happened that while the proprietor was a man whose record as a logger was one of the best in the state, being able to get out his logs where others would fail, yet his morals were far below his business reputation. his son was following in his footsteps, much to the sorrow of the mother and the disgust of the father. after the proprietor had applauded several times and given his advice as to the style of preaching suited to the lumberjacks, mr. higgins turned his guns on the proprietors, contractors and foremen for the example some of them set before the men. "i do not wonder that you lumberjacks live shameless lives, for the leaders of the work often set you the worst examples. some of the proprietors, contractors and bosses are to be found drinking, gambling and carousing in the villages and towns, and they who should lead you into better things are only examples of riot and immorality. they are your examples and you are responding to them." the proprietor sat silent. "why don't you applaud that sentiment also?" asked the preacher of the proprietor. "it's just as true as the others." when mr. higgins went into the office that night the proprietor was there, and as he entered the logger looked up and said: "that was pretty blank plain, pilot." "i always preach so the audience will understand me," replied the minister. "but you needn't have shouted the whole blank thing before the crowd," returned the proprietor. "i didn't tell them a thing but what they already knew, mr. blank. the boys know how you are living and that your son is following pretty close in your footsteps. it's time to call a halt, for you can't be proud of the example you're setting." before the missionary left the camp the proprietor came and thanked him for not only fearlessly preaching to the lumberjacks but for being equally ready to preach to the lumber kings. while many refuse the word of life, yet the seed sown often springs up in later days to show that a dormant seed may yet come to fruitage. one who had often attended the services came to no decision as the result of the sowing. shortly afterwards he was seriously hurt and carried to the hospital. mr. higgins visited him and tried to bring him to a decision. since there was no hope of recovery he was carried to his canadian home to die among his kinsmen. there in the long days of pain and waiting the seed scattered in the meetings began to spring and come to full fruitage, for the dying man passed over the river lighted by the presence of one who said, "i am the light of the world." while the sky pilot preached in a certain camp there was a wondrous quiet, for the spirit of god brooded above the place, and his presence always brings life. no one was surprised when a woodsman walked up to the preacher and said, "mr. higgins, i want you to pray for me right now." the sermon closed without another word and prayer was offered for the desiring man who had boldly taken a stand for righteousness. when the minister had closed his prayer the man said, "i want to pray for myself," and in presence of the watching camp the man made his petition for pardon and received it. turning to his workmates he told them that this was the end of his old life and its works and that in the future he would work for christ as well as trust him. after supper was over the next evening the men of the camp received a new idea of christian service. the convert of the previous night took out his violin and began to play the favorite of the camps--"jesus lover of my soul." the lumberjacks listened and their interest turned to astonishment when the convert drew out a bible and began to read a chapter to the crowd. but if they were astonished at the reading they were dumbfounded when he announced that he was going to give them a talk. he had learned the principles of scripture in his youth and now he gave the boys the old gospel which was doubly precious to him because of his recent experience. through the winter he continued to hold meetings with the men, and in all the north woods there was no prouder camp, for it claimed to be the only one having a settled pastor. when mr. higgins returned to the camp he found the men happy in the new condition, stimulated with the encouragement the convert had given them and more ready to learn of the transforming power of the divine man of galilee. "the woods were god's first temples," and in the green solitudes, under the unchanging pines, men are worshiping. chapter vi. itinerating in the camps. in all parts of northern minnesota are found the logging camps. the distances traversed by the missionaries in reaching these outposts demand determined purpose, strength of body and love for humanity. the lumberjacks that are in a camp this winter are scattered all through the north with the opening of the next logging season, for there is little to tie a man to one employer in preference to another, and those who received the services of the mission workers one year are ever ready to claim them in their new place of labor. the result of this scattering is that requests come to mr. higgins from all parts of the lumber district, asking for the services of the missionaries. the demand is greater than the possibilities of the exchequer and many who ask meet with disappointment. a mission worker is placed over a group of camps, from eight to twenty, and from camp to camp he goes with his tidings of salvation, holding meetings every night in a different camp. the work is strenuous, and he must have a heart warm with the love for souls of men who would willingly, faithfully brave the dangers and privations consequent to the long distances between the camps. it would be hard to find a more devoted set of men than these hardy camp preachers, who set at naught the dangers that they may serve god and assist their fellows. rev. frank e. higgins is superintendent of the camp work and tries to reach every camp in which any of his workers are laboring. he is constantly on the go, "a sort of walking boss for the sky route co." the scattered flock is loved by the shepherd and he will brave any danger to serve the people he has chosen to reach. minnesota's winters are severe. it seldom thaws after november and the thermometer often registers thirty degrees below zero, not seldom reaching a much lower mark. if a strong wind is blowing when the temperature is low the cold penetrates even the warmest furs and pierces the wayfarer with its keen arctic shafts. [illustration: toting with flash] beautiful is the deep mantle of pinery snow. no soot or stain is on the bosom of the earth, only the long stretch of "the white silence." but too often the work of the missionaries is increased by the heavy snows, and the delight of the forest is lost in the heart-breaking labor of the journeys from camp to camp. put your "turkey" on your back and try the trudge through the deep snows, and see if the romance does not depart as weariness enters the limbs. step forward in the early morning through the new fallen snow. the north wind is visiting the earth, and his breath is penetrating even the furry clothing. go on! the camp that ends the journey is only the little distance of ten long, lonely, humanless miles. the pack may be heavy when you start, but before long you are transporting a mountain that has developed from a peak to an endless range of himalayas. the fun has departed and only the hard spirit of fatigue is your company. every step is an effort, every blast of the wind reaches the marrow: the exposed face feels like cold onyx, and the wind-inflamed eyes look through frozen lashes for the smoke of the cookshed above the distant trees. the fingertips send to the brain their protest against the numbing cold that stiffens them, and the arms are swinging to aid the frozen blood to reach the pained extremities. mile after mile, endlessly the trail stretches into the forest; mile after mile the pain and suffering continue; mile after mile the weary feet drag the heavy burden to carry the message of a savior to the neglected men who, far from civilization, work in the pine forests of the north star state. at last, yonder above the green sea of norway lances, the column of smoke rises like a beacon to tell of warmth and food, and the safe companionship of men. the sight of the unconscious smoke acts like a stimulant. at last the view of the crude camp breaks in fulness on your eyes. moses saw the promised land from a distance, but the sight of that collection of log shacks means more to you, tired and almost frozen, than the land beyond muddy jordan did to the writer of the pentateuch. it means a chance to rest, to warm--and to the missionary, who is daily making this journey through the frozen forest, a chance to preach the unsearchable riches of the world's savior. night after night the missionary holds his meetings, each night in a different camp. the day is spent in passing from one camp to another, for often the camps are far apart and transportation is primitive; it depends on first principles. during the first three years of mr. higgins' work he found that while a man could do much, a man and two dogs could do more. he secured two large st. bernard dogs and by means of his dog team made the long journey between the camps. the idea of using a dog team is a very practical one. it furnished an easy means of locomotion, the task of stabling was not difficult and the cost of food nothing. when the run was to be made between points on the railway the dogs and sled could easily be placed in the baggage car and be ready for the drive to the camp as soon as the train stopped. in all new work prejudice must be met, and in this respect the mission to the camps was no exception. some thought it a new species of graft, others desired to be left to the old ways and many had a prejudice due to another form of religion. it is not often that dogs assist in breaking religious prejudices, but flash and spark had a large part in assisting the logging camp mission into easy paths. the lumberjacks are passionately fond of animals, and the advent of the dog team made a favorable first impression in almost every camp. the doors of many bunkhouses are secured by a sliding latch, and when pressure is brought to bear against the outside of the door it will open without the raising of the latch. on arriving at the camp in the evening the missionary would drive his team against the door and right into the bunkhouse. the sudden, unexpected arrival immediately created interest, and while the men crowded around the handsome dogs the minister would explain his business and announce the time of meeting. the dogs were protectors as well as workers and at the beginning of this work the faithful animals silenced many a menace. the dogs were good travelers. over the rough forest trails they would drag their sled at the rate of six or eight miles an hour and be none the worse for thirty or forty miles. on a journey from northome to international falls, minnesota, the sky pilot lost his way on the little fork river. when night came on and it was evident that no sheltered lodging could be found the minister and his dogs prepared to camp under the zero sky. a large fire was built around a pine stump and wood collected for the night. the only food mr. higgins had with him was a rabbit he had shot, and this was divided between himself and the dogs. it was the only food since breakfast. the sweet green boughs of the pines furnished a bed above the snow and the robes from the sled gave a degree of comfort to the resting place, whose canopy was the frozen dome of heaven. by his side the dogs pressed closely for the warmth. the dark depths of night hung like a spangled sheet above, but nearer than the shades which surrounded the sleeper was the one who never slumbereth. during the night the howling of the timber wolves awakened the missionary and in the dark circle around him he could see the fireballs of their eyes, while their voices were distinct and near. arising, the missionary replenished the fire, and when it broke into a cheery blaze the howling of the disappointed wolves grew fainter until the silence of the forest again took up its interrupted reign. early the next morning the minister was on his way and soon arrived at the village of little forks, where he conducted the first religious service ever held in that place. on another occasion, when passing from one distant camp to another, mr. higgins was overtaken by a severe snowstorm and in a few minutes all sense of direction was lost in the raging blizzard. the dog team wandered from the beaten path into the muskeg and in the swamp they were compelled to spend most of the day. toward evening the worst of the blizzard had passed and he was able to complete his long and weary journey. after supper mr. higgins went to the barn to feed his dog team, but to his astonishment the dogs refused all food. he had driven them hard and long, so when they refused to eat he naturally thought it was due to overwork and reproached himself for being thoughtless of his friends. later he went to them again, but they would not touch a morsel of food. with a sore heart the preacher retired to his bed, but his rest was disturbed with dreams of the overdriven dogs. he arose early, and when going towards the barn met the proprietor, whose face was red with anger. "is them blank dogs yours?" asked the angry man. "they are," said the missionary, wondering if the man was going to add to the reproach by telling him that the dogs were dead. "then pay for the pork that the brutes chewed up while you were at supper last night. the hungry cannibals swiped half a hog and ate it. i ain't got nothin' but eggs and salt meat to give the boarders today." while the enraged hotel keeper was narrating his tale of woe a load of anxiety passed from the preacher's mind and before, the proprietor had finished he found his auditor laughing with hearty spirit. mr. higgins paid for the meal of the "hungry cannibals," but he remarked in telling it: "i did not object, for it was the only time i was ever asked to pay their board, and i assure you they earned it while we were trying to find our way in the blizzard." snow storms come up suddenly, and when the wind whirls the sheet of fallen flakes, all points of the compass are soon lost even to the well tried woodsman. the description of a blizzard may form an interesting page in fiction, but the experience adds to gray hairs and unending memory. in january, , rev. frank higgins was crossing red lake, when the snow began to fall. the uninterrupted wind, as it swept down the long stretch of ice, caught the loose snow and filled the air with its choking mass. the wooded shore was soon hidden by the veiling snow and all sense of direction had disappeared. down the twenty miles of the lake the crystal clouds swept with increasing volume. night was coming on, and yet the darkness could scarcely add to the helplessness of the wanderers. to the father, who ruleth the rain of summer and the snow of winter, the missionary raised his prayer for help, and what man could not do was done by the leading of the ever-helpful god. he who guideth the stars in their courses led the lost to the wooded shore. on the shore not a human habitation was to be seen, neither did the minister know the direction to the nearest village. for several hours he wandered in the unbroken forest, and near the low hour of midnight he came to the miserable shack of an indian squaw. his scanty knowledge of the indian tongue came into happy use and the lonely inhabitant granted him permission to sleep on the floor until morning came and the blizzard had spent itself. when the camp mission first began to distribute literature, it caused a change in the means of transportation, for there were heavy boxes of old magazines to carry to the camps and horses were needed to haul the loads. mr. higgins had noticed that there was little to amuse the men of the camps and nothing helpful for their leisure hours. he therefore wrote to the churches in the state asking them to collect old magazines and ship them to him for distribution. the churches responded and soon he and his helpers were distributing literature to about one hundred camps. from five to seven tons of magazines are distributed in a season. great good has come from this feature of the work; it gave the mind another channel for vent, the filthy conversation so common in the camps has largely passed away, and through reading the men are less inclined to quarrels. it has been noticed by the logging contractors that even the illiterate find recreation in the illustrations and many a dark hour has been brightened to the men who never read a line. on going into a camp which he was visiting for the first time, mr. higgins held his service and afterwards distributed his magazines. immediately there was a rush for the reading matter and then for the wannigan to buy lanterns by which to read. in a few minutes the clerk had sold every lantern he had in stock and could have disposed of several more, had they been on hand. "what are you doing?" asked the cranky clerk when the sky pilot entered the office a little later. "are you trying to turn the bunkshack into a night school? i've sold every lantern in the place and the jacks are crying like fiends for more." "i've only distributed a few magazines so the boys can read a little improving matter," said the minister. "lumberjacks improving their minds?" sarcastically replied "the guy that splashes ink." "this neck of the woods will have a university extension course next, if this thing keeps up." "you surely don't object to the boys reading?" asked the minister. "not at all," said the clerk sulkily, "but you might have remembered that a clerk has lots of time to read and have left a few of your mind-improvers for his use also." the clerk received his share of the reading matter before the pilot left the camp. often when a box of magazines is brought into the camp the men who have gone to their bunks will arise and greedily come forward to receive their share in the distribution. these magazines are passed from one to another until they are read and reread, or worn out from much handling. of the lonely lives cheered by them, god only could give the number. in a warehouse in akeley, minnesota, a bundle of magazines addressed to rev. frank e. higgins was waiting for the tote-team to carry it to a neighboring camp. the tote-team driver came in, somewhat the worse for the liquid refreshment he had taken. while looking over the bundles waiting for his load he espied the one addressed to the rev. frank e. higgins. the bundle interested him and he read aloud: "the rev. frank e. higgins. say, penpusher, who is this for? is it for our frank higgins, the sky pilot?" "that's the man," replied the clerk. "the rev. frank e. higgins," read again the driver, "some mistake here, penpusher, the sky pilot's no reverend, he's a christian. that man's no reverend, he's a christian." shouldering the bundle he carried it to the sleigh, still mumbling, "he's no reverend, he's a christian." pertaining to the use of the title "sky pilot," a little story is told. a minister who was going through the camps investigating the work of the mission referred to the various workers as "sky pilot davis," "sky pilot date," and others. he had heard the term used in reference to mr. higgins and naturally assumed that it was a title common to all the camp preachers. the push in one of the camps heard him, and turning to the clerk, asked: "what the devil does he mean by sky piloting around that way? you'd think the woods were full of sky pilots, while we all know there's only one, that's higgins." the tendency of the lumberjack is to give the title to mr. higgins alone, although it is occasionally given to the others, but seldom by the old time lumberjacks. higgins alone is the sky pilot to them. among the rigid catholics there is naturally a prejudice against protestant work, but it seems that the work must be done by protestants or left undone. a priest could hardly do the work. it would be difficult to go through the forms and ceremonies of catholicism in the camps. forms and ceremonies are not successful when interruptions are common and likely to occur at any time. but mike sullivan was no bigot. he could appreciate the idea that all men were striving to please god and hoping to reach the same heaven. "this idea of having many churches don't bother me any more," he said. "i think i get the idea. it's like this: these camps around here's all working for one company. o'brien is push on section nine, johnson's boss at camp on fourteen, kirk is foreman on the north half of twenty-six and white sees to the cuttin' on thirty-six, while every gang is landing its stuff on the same lake and in the spring they'll make the drive together down the river. gettin' out logs is what they're paid for and the lumber king in minneapolis foots the bill for the whole works. so what's the use of jawin' if the push in our camp wears a different kind o' shirt than the push on thirty-six. logs is what the man in minneapolis wants and he don't care how them different foremen skids the logs so long as they get the stuff to the landing. that's my way of looking at the churches." now the work has proved itself, it is much better understood and more highly appreciated by men of all religious persuasions. many of the catholics are deeply interested in the progress of the work, for they know that it does not strive to make protestants of them, but that its end and aim is to lead the lumberjacks to a better life through the simple presentation of jesus christ. the result is that all classes and conditions crowd into the place of meeting and give respectful attention to the word of life. one night at stewart's camp, out from blackduck, minnesota, the meeting was in full swing when two teamsters entered the bunkhouse and took their seats by the fire. it was after eight o'clock, and they had just returned from blackduck where they had been with their loads. on returning to the camp they learned that the sky pilot was holding service and came in supperless to enjoy the meeting. few of our towns people would forego the pleasures of the table, after the appetite had been sharpened by hours of labor in the keen air of winter, in order to attend a religious service. such a desire for the gospel on the part of the men fills the missionary with a desire to impart the truth. it is an inspiration to preach to an eager audience. the toil of the missionary increases with each day. exposure robs the body of its vitality, the severe temperature and the strong breath of the wind diminish the powers of the men who must endure them, be they ever so strong. the sky pilot had been hard at work for several months and the arduous labor had told on his unusual strength. he had taken cold through exposure, but the work was calling and he pushed on to the waiting camps. it was storming and the pack he was carrying grew heavier with every tired step. he thought that the exercise of the journey would in itself work a cure, but the pain increased and the wretchedness was accentuated by the cold. drearily he plodded on, hoping that some tote-team would come that way and carry him to the camp, but no welcome conveyance appeared. unable to proceed any further, he at last sat down in the drifted snow to rest. through the cut over lands the cold wind swept its unobstructed way, chilling the sick man to the marrow. off in the far north the tall norways lifted their long arms to heaven, while the blasts of the wind waved them like the grain fields of the treeless prairie. miles to the southward lay the habitations of men, and yonder in the hiding groves to the north was the camp he was hoping to reach. there was warmth there, and to the sick man the uninviting camp seemed a palace of comfort. if he could only reach the shacks, if he could reach the boys, that was all he asked. gathering his remaining strength, he struggled to his feet and pressed slowly towards the goal. at last he entered the uncut timber where the strength of the blast was broken by the trees. on through the untrodden snow he tramped, bent with weariness, worn and pained, pressing on in spite of illness until the smoke of the cookshed showed itself above the hollow in which the buildings were located. there the lumberjacks found him and assisted him to the shelter of the camp, where they tenderly worked to warm and comfort the man who had so often stood between them and death. everything that they could do for the missionary was gladly done, but they were limited by isolation and the minister was very sick. after supper the men in the bunkhouse discussed the situation: "the sky pilot's a pretty sick man," said the bull cook, "and we ought to do something to help the poor devil." this was rough but affectionate. "whiskey's a good thing for one that's ailin'," suggested one. "whiskey?" remarked another, "what's the use of talking about whiskey in this camp? you know that sweeny's tongue has been hanging out for a week and that's proof there isn't a drop in the camp." various remedies were suggested but they were not to be found. the men were discouraged in their helplessness. "we ought to do something for him," said a christian sawyer, "we can't give him any medicine for we haven't it, but i'll tell you boys, we can pray for the man that is always praying for us." the men were silent for a moment, then a driver said, "i guess it's the only thing we can do, but we've never logged much on that land. you start the deal, johnson, for you're onto that game more than the rest of the push. you say it aloud, johnson, and we'll sort of keep you company." reverently the men stood with bowed heads while the christian lumberjack led in a rude prayer, and silently the men, who prayed not for themselves, joined in the petition for the man who "was always praying for them." that night when the missionary heard of the praying lumberjacks he thanked god and wept himself to sleep. the morning brought a brighter day to the men, for they heard that their prayers had been answered,--the sky pilot was on the way to recovery. whiskey, the wheel and women are the three fates of the woodsmen. if the lumberjacks could be separated from these the chances for lifting them to a higher level would be increased. whiskey is the worst of them and leads to the others. for self protection the proprietors and contractors of the camps are compelled to watch that no liquor enters; with its introduction trouble begins and a reduced output of logs is the result. yet in spite of the care exercised by respectable foremen, it makes its way into the camp, being carried by the tote-teams, the bootlegger, and the men when returning from the neighboring towns. men with strong appetites generally find a way to satisfy their desires. the camp may be miles from civilization, but the curse of olympic gods and depraved men makes its way into the inaccessible places. where a camp is near a village alcohol is easy to obtain, and sunday, being a day of rest, is likely to be a day of carousing and shame. there were several camps near island lake, and on the sunday that frank higgins visited the camps there the boys had been "tanking up" with squirrel whiskey from early morn. at the afternoon meeting the spirit of whiskey showed itself in many disturbances. one intoxicated man was worse than the others and was finally thrown out of the bunkhouse by the minister, and after that things went smoothly. later in the day the missionary was in the village of island lake and while talking to a friend, the lumberjack he had ejected from the camp came staggering up. the campman was accompanied by a score of his mates who were also under the influence of liquor. "are you the blank preacher that fired me out of the camp?" asked the man of the sudden exit. there was passion in his tone and he was evidently anxious for a row. "i am the man," replied the brawny preacher, drawing himself up and advancing toward the lumberjack, "what have you to say against it?" the drunken man looked at the minister as steadily as his unsteady legs would allow him, and suddenly changed his mind about the intended row. [illustration: the sky pilot taking a man to the hospital] "not a word, preacher, not a word. i ain't got a word to say against it. preacher, don't you ever think i want to say anything against it. i just wanted to know if you was the man, that's all. you're all right, preacher, you're all right. 'twas a blank good throw. i ain't got nothin' against it." turning to the other lumberjacks, mr. higgins said: "boys, did you ever know higgins to do you a bad turn? can you show me where i have not tried to help you? yet for the sport of the thing you try to get this poor, drunken fellow to cause trouble, just for a moment's laughter. is that a proper return?" the men made no answer, but shame rested on many a winter beaten cheek. that night in a nearby camp almost every man of them came to the preacher after the meeting. "forget it, pilot," said the spokesman, "we're ashamed of the way we came at you, but you know it wasn't us, it was whiskey. that's your only enemy in these woods. say you'll forget it and shake." "thanks, boys, i have already. give me your hands." the pastorate has its trials, as every minister knows, but for unbounded variety of the unexpected the camp missionary has the city man far in the rear. church quarrels have bounds, but where are the limits of the quarrels of the lumberjacks? from words they readily pass to blows and in a moment's flight blood-shed results. in february of this year the writer received a letter from mr. higgins, describing a railway trip. a portion is appended: "i recently left deer river on the itasca logging railroad for fourtown, and experienced the worst trip it was ever my lot to take. the car was crowded with lumberjacks, few of whom were sober. the woodsmen had over twenty quarts of deer river squirrel whiskey, and in a short time things were moving at a terrific rate. you may call it a tempest in a teapot, but never have i seen anything like the affair; no human tongue could describe the sight. the irish, the swedes and the glengarry scotch were filled with whiskey, and every man was out for blood, and blood they had,--an abundance of it. an old time lumberjack said that in all his days in the woods he has yet to see the equal of the scene. "i took a hand in trying to keep the boys in order and although i succeeded in preventing three fights, the conditions were soon beyond me, for it was impossible, even for a traveling missionary, to be in more than one part of the car at the same time and the performance was more than a three ring affair. "when matters got to this pace i had to content myself with taking a hand only when it seemed that permanent injury would be done to the participants. one old man, very much under the influence of liquor, had his face battered beyond recognition. i pulled off the chastiser, but did not succeed in releasing the old man before one of his eyes had been closed and the mouth and face were covered with blood. no sooner had the champion of this affair been separated from the old man than another lumberjack was at the bully and the bully was taking the same medicine he had so liberally given to the old fellow. this second scrap placed another patient on my hands. "when we came to the different camps and the men began to get off the train, i had to literally drag them through the snow away from the track, so they would not be killed, for many of them were too drunk and excited to realize the danger. "i hope i shall never see such a condition again. was it not paul who said, 'i have fought with beasts at ephesus.' i had a like experience on that logging train. a sober woodsman who saw the fight of the drunken lumberjacks said, 'pilot, why do you continue to work among such men?' and i made answer, 'because my master died to save such.' this is to me a sufficient answer. the conditions need changing, and the only thing that will bring about a change is the gospel." in the sleigh of the sky pilot antiseptic bandages and a few medicines are carried. through them he is able to relieve the wounded and assist the sick. his sleigh is often converted into an ambulance and men who have met with accidents are carried to the nearest hospital for treatment. if the accident is severe he visits the wounded to give cheer and hope. there, in the hospital, the men have time to think of eternal things, and the comfort of christ is often the stimulus of the recovering and the solace of the dying. when death is approaching, the last letters are written and assurance of decent interment is given. the poor lumberjack may have no money to meet the expense, but the minister makes all arrangements for the funeral and after the body is entombed he goes back to the camp and tells the boys of their comrade's request for christian burial. the campmen pay back every cent the sky pilot has expended. "tell the boys that in this hour jesus christ brought his strong salvation to me," said a dying man. "ask them to trust him." when the missionary goes back to the camp with such a message from the dead the interest is profound. coming from one of themselves it seems more real than if it were the message of the preacher. when the testimony comes from their own mates they are more receptive to the gentle gospel of the cross. often in death a lumberjack, by his message to the foresters, has accomplished more than in his years of life. while speaking of this itinerating work we must add a paragraph concerning the homesteaders. in this forest region is much land that is open to settlement. the little cabins of the homesteaders, who have taken up claims, are seen in many parts of the forest, and the small clearings tell of man's presence. when the settlers hear that rev. frank e. higgins is to hold services in a neighboring camp they are often found at the bunkhouse meetings. mr. higgins is practically the only pastor who visits the scattered peasantry; he conducts their marriage ceremonies, baptizes their children and speaks the last words over their dead. into these homes he alone comes bearing spiritual tidings. some of these homesteaders work their farms in summer and in the winter help out the scanty increase of the little fields by working in the logging camps. so in passing the new homes he leaves the literature, "speaks a good word for jesus christ," adds a sentence of comfort and passes along the trail,--like a true servant of him who was gladly received by the common people because he went about doing good. "go ye into the highways and hedges," said the nazarene. work in the lumber towns chapter vii. work in the lumber towns. in the camps the missionary is largely a preacher; in the lumber towns the work he must do is cut to no design or pattern. one might call it pastoral work, and in a free use of the term it is, but i know of no pastor who is doing work of this nature unless it be the men in the city missions. it is work which consists largely of the unexpected--changing a chance circumstance into christian activity. the villages and towns have followed the railways, bringing in the many alluring vices of civilization. through the approaches of vice the campmen have been demoralized, their lives made almost worthless, and their characters seared with the brand of iniquity. the contractors find it a task to obtain suitable men for their crews, for the saloon and its concomitant evils have made many of the lumberjacks irresponsible and incapable. the men will leave their work on the least provocation to spend a few days in debauchery. often a contractor finds himself, in the parlance of the camps, "with one crew coming to camp, another working, and another leaving camp." this means loss on the part of the men and inability on the part of the contractor to deliver his contract of logs. as one contractor expressed it: "the jacks work until their hides begin to crack, then follow their tongues to the nearest irrigation plant, tank up until the stake is blown, then mosey to a camp to dry out again." the village and town saloons are largely the cause of this. the rum shops, and worse, are ever on the lookout for the boys, and he who escapes the clutches of the godless crowd must indeed be immune to temptation. mr. higgins was in a hotel in tenstrike, minnesota, when a lumberjack who had finished his winter's work came into the house to wait for the train going south. immediately the saloon men and gamblers were after him but he resisted and left the village with his check uncashed. the gamblers learned that he was going to bemidji so they wired to the gamblers of that place to meet him. when the woodsman left the train he was hailed by a waiting "toot." the "toot" was genial, gracious, sympathetic, and to cement the friendship, the one must treat and the other do likewise. while they drank the attendant at the wheel made music with the roulette ball and soon in response to the siren's singing the lumberjack was seated at the wheel where he lost in a few hours the wages it had taken him months to earn. when he left the place he was drunken, penniless, forsaken. the writer and frank higgins were going through a gambling den in one of the northern towns. at the roulette wheel sat a young traveling man playing his chips with liberal hand. merrily the ivory rattled in the groove and settled in the space. now he lost, now he won. joy or anguish was on his face as he played to increase his winnings or retrieve his losses. it was interesting to watch the play of the man's passions as expressed in his countenance. hour after hour the game dragged on. we visited other resorts of the lumberjack and returned at midnight, but the traveling man was still at the wheel. hope still lingered, but from the haggard, drawn expression of his face we could tell that he had lost heavily. it was : a. m., when the game ended and the man was without a cent. mr. higgins spoke to him in the lobby of the hotel. despair was depicted on the man's face. worn with anxiety, he staggered like one under the power of liquor, although not a drop had passed his lips, and the wild look of his eyes suggested the haunted mien of one who might attempt his own life. when mr. higgins spoke to him, he replied: "i am an embezzler tonight. i have spent all my own money and all the money with which my employer had trusted me. i deserve the penitentiary." continuing, he told us his story. he was trained to a profession but the confinement of his vocation brought on ill health and he had begun to travel for a well known firm. he was the only child of respectable parents, and in his present wretchedness he thought of the disappointment and grief coming to these aged ones as a result of his folly. i could not but admire the handsome fellow, foolish though he was, for his apparent love for his home. "i have disgraced them," he said in anguish, "and when they hear of my dishonesty it will kill them." he went to the desk and wrote a letter to the firm telling them of his fall and how he had lost their money in gambling. when he was about to mail the letter mr. higgins went to him again and tried to induce him to go to bed. "no," he said, "i could not sleep, and if i could, i have no money to pay for a room. i have been dishonest enough already without wronging the proprietor." "clerk, give him a room and charge it to me," said mr. higgins, taking the matter into his own hands. "now, brother, you go to bed and stay there until i call you, and we'll see what we can do. don't mail that letter. perhaps it won't be necessary in the morning." he went to breakfast with us. after the meal the missionary went out to interview the town and county officials. the result of the conference was that the gambler turned over to the traveling man the amount of money embezzled and took his note for the same. the traveling man pledged his word never to gamble again and went on his way sadder, and we hope wiser, because of the experience. the same night on which the above incident occurred, we entered a palatial saloon and gambling place and found but few men present, for it was a season when most of the men were in camp after spending the christmas holidays in town. we entered into conversation with the proprietor of the place. "things are pretty quiet," said mr. higgins, "i suppose you are not making expenses just now?" "hardly," answered the proprietor, "but i needn't worry, it will come in later." he nodded to the camps west of town, "all the boys are working." this is the attitude of these keepers. they consider the earnings of the lumberjack as their legitimate spoil and part of their yearly income. the wife of one of the saloon proprietors, overhearing a remark concerning her jewels and apparel, said: "i can afford to wear rich clothing. my husband has about a thousand men working for him in the woods." the meaning was obvious: that these men would spend their earnings in the saloon, at the gaming table, and in the retreats connected with her husband's establishment. the brazen effrontery of those engaged in this business is indescribable. the flesh and blood of men is to be lowered to the level of the brutes, appetites of lust are to be satisfied, passions of evil are to be encouraged, and no shade of shame is to be found on the countenances of this depraving element. where money is to be had the souls of men are not to be considered. human misery is nothing. there is money in the damning business--then damn the soul and get the money is the policy. an extensive self-satisfaction, a mantle of self-righteousness, clothes the men of this vocation. "bad? of course it's a bad business," said one, "but if we don't sell the stuff some one else will. as long as there are fools to buy it we intend to supply them. it's their lookout, not ours." "but don't you think you are morally responsible for tempting men?" i asked. "all a man is responsible for is being honest," he replied. "i have been honest in all i have done. no man was ever robbed in my place, and the games are straight. i may go to hell when i am through here, but my job will be shoveling coal to make it hotter for the hypocrites who profess to be honest and then steal when they get the chance." they talked freely of their business and one gambler had the courage to make this assertion: "there isn't a more honest set of men in the country than the professional gamblers. they are all right, but the associations are bad." the above may be a description of some gamblers, but not of all, for it is well known that the games are often crooked and by mechanical devices are made a sure thing for the house. in one of the range towns a cruiser entered a gambler's place with several thousand dollars in his possession. it was not long before he had lost all. satisfying himself that the game was not "on the square," he drew his gun and shot up both the gambler and the wheel, took his money from the till and left the place. the gambler was maimed for life. the saloons and gambling places are palatial and attractive. they are fitted with the best the town affords, resplendent with glitter and flash of lights, showy woodwork and decorated walls. courtesy and attention await the victims, for an army of men is ready to respond to any desire the lumberjacks may express, no matter how low. everything is designed to allure. no wonder the men who have known only the discomforts of the camps, with their hard, grinding labor and unaesthetic surroundings, are easily caught in the net that is spread at their feet. because of this lawless element so common in the lumber towns, and the unrestrained ways in which almost all of the towns are run, the "open" policy being the common one, there is work for the camp missionary to do. the rev. frank higgins goes into the saloons to find the stray sheep. his errands of mercy have led him into hundreds of dram shops and gambling places. the writer was with him in one of the towns and the following incidents are only a part of that day's work of helpfulness: having heard from a contractor that one of the boys had been reduced to helplessness through drink, and more than drink, mr. higgins started for the saloons and continued his search through many groggeries until at last he found the man. the poor drunken wretch was lying on the floor behind the stove, and the missionary put his strong arms around the besotted being and almost carried him to a lodging place where his needs were supplied. after that we visited the hospital to call on the camp boys. there he heard of a lumberjack who had been dismissed from the hospital that morning. the man was able to be around but too weak to work, and was penniless. so the second search began and the man was located in the lobby of a cheap hotel. mr. higgins went to the proprietor, guaranteed him against loss, and went on his way leaving the lumberjack free from care while regaining his strength. the man had been converted in the camps that winter, but so miserable had been his morals that no one trusted him. that was two years ago; today he is a respected christian worker. later came the assisting of another helpless lumberjack and the day closed with the incident of the gambling traveling man, described in this chapter. it is helpfulness that counts. on the banks of the galilean lake our master, who never wearied of doing good, met his disciple peter and said unto him, "simon, lovest thou me?" peter replied to the question, "yea, lord, thou knowest that i love thee." then the divine lips opened and gave to peter and to us the end and aim of the christian's relation to man--"feed my sheep." if we love our master, christian activity in the form of assisting men should be an ever-present result. in instances like the following the flesh may rebel, but the command still remains: for three weeks mike had been on a drunken spree; during the days and nights of debauchery he had not changed his clothes or even washed his hands. this was his condition when mr. higgins found him senseless with drink in the "snake room." the missionary took him to a lodging house and bathed the body from which the cleansing water had so long been absent. the man's feet were so swollen that the heavy boots were removed with difficulty and when the socks were taken off the skin came with them. it was no wonder that the effluvium drove the minister from the room. it was a hard task, against which the flesh rebelled, but the master gave the command, "feed my sheep," and here was one who needed attention. tenderly the sky pilot watched over the poor fellow, supplying his needs until a few days later he was able to return to the camp. the man thus helped had been educated for the catholic priesthood and drink had ruined him. actions such as these may not result in the great end of conversion, but they do result in aiding the cause of christ, for the men see in the missionary the spirit of the helpful master. many times during the period of mr. higgins' residence at bemidji, mrs. higgins was awakened at night by some poor, spent lumberjack who came to the sky pilot's home to ask for assistance. although she was alone, mr. higgins being in the camps, she would arise and feed the hungry man and then direct him to some place where he could spend the night. "who is that man?" asked a stranger who had been watching mr. higgins as he went among the lumberjacks in the village street. [illustration: loading from a lake] "that's the lumberjack sky pilot, a fellow who never turned a lumberjack down," said the woodsman, and added, "his job is keeping us out of hell." it was crudely expressed, but it represents the sentiment of the boys; with them christianity must act as well as speak. when a lumberjack is in trouble with the police he is quite sure to send for mr. higgins if the sky pilot happens to be in the village. mr. higgins is well known in these communities and the officials respect him for the interest he shows in his wayward flock. many a poor fellow, who awakens from a drunken sleep to find himself in the lockup, wonders if the sky pilot is near. the missionary has often pleaded for a light sentence or asked for the case to be annulled. on one occasion he had been called to the justice court to plead for a woodsman who was charged with being drunk and disorderly. the preacher asked the justice to make the sentence as light as possible and to allow the man to go after giving him a reprimand. the judge was an old friend of the missionary, and at the time of the trial could hardly be called sober. often he would appear in his office the worse for liquor and dispense justice to the petty offenders. in spite of his failing, the justice had a shrewd sense of right and a great respect for the dignity of his office. after hearing the plea that mr. higgins made for the lumberjack the judge decided to reprimand the man and dismiss the case. he tried to sober himself that the dignity of the law might not suffer through the weakness of the dispenser. he knew that the office called for erect deportment, so the bench straightened his figure and impressively began the reprimand: "w-whiskey is-s a bad thing. it ma-akes a f-fool of an h-honest man and a d-d--n f-fool of a f-fool. it s-shouldn't be used by l-lumberjacks; t-they belong to the l-last c-class already. it ma-akes a f-fool of every man t-that touches it. if you don't believe it, j-just l-look at the j-judge who has the p-power of sentencing you. see w-what w-whiskey has done for him. b-because of my f-friend higgins i'll let y-you off this t-time, but remember the j-judge and let w-whiskey alone. dis-dismissed." the example was a good one. even solomon could not have chosen a more timely illustration, for the judge vividly set forth in his own person what whiskey could do for a man, and the woodsman appreciated the force of the advice. taking the missionary with him, the lumberjack went to the hotel and drew off his shoes. from the toes of the shoes he extracted a roll of bills containing one hundred and fifty dollars. "if those blood suckers, who made me drunk, had known i had this, they would have robbed me of it the same as they did of the rest and i wouldn't have a cent now. well, pilot, i'm through with it. by god's help, this is the last." the man went to north dakota and settled on a farm. today he is the proud owner of three hundred and twenty acres, and is prospering. the writer is only trying to pen a brief picture of the field as it presents itself to the missionary. no man can give a full description of the wide privilege that is open to the minister in these places where the lumberjacks congregate. he is required to perform varying duties whether they are related to the minister's calling or not. often, in the regular ministrations, elements are introduced that suggest the burlesque rather than the solemn services common to the ministry, as the following incident will illustrate: it was the last day of the drive and the riverpigs were coming into town after their labors on the lakes and rivers. the town was reaping its harvest--at least the saloons and other evils were. as the rev. frank e. higgins walked the street, he was approached by a drunken riverpig. "say, pilot," he began, "one of our crew fell off a log, pulled the hole in after him and is at the coffin shop ready for the boneyard. we uns want him planted like a decent christian; he wa'n't no squaw man or indian. see to the trimmings, will you? do the job up right if you have to buy out every wannigan in town. are you on, pilot? when you're ready call for us at blank's saloon, for we want to go with you to jim's bunking place." the driver left him and entered blank's saloon to report progress to the boys and the minister proceeded to the undertaker's establishment to make the necessary arrangements for the funeral. he ordered a plain pine coffin, and after procuring a dray for a hearse, drove up to blank's saloon for the boys. out on the sidewalk the riverpigs came noisily, but when they saw the dray with its burden they stopped abruptly. "it won't go, pilot," said the one who had made the arrangements. "this is no jack-pine farmer's funeral; we're no cheap skates. this camp's got money and intends to blow it. see? give us a run for our money." then another rum-soaked riverpig spoke up: "if this was a tin-horn gambler or a bloated saloon-keeper they'd have a hearse and a brass band. jim's only a riverpig, but he's got to be planted with the frills just the same." "get a decent box and hearse and call again, pilot," they shouted as they backed into the saloon to "keep their hides from cracking." the funeral procession had a more imposing appearance when it drew up a second time at blank's saloon. a hearse led the procession and six carriages completed the cortege. by this time the mourners were in a state of intoxication, in which feelings of the sublime and the ridiculous blend without effort. "this is the way to do it," cried one of the riverpigs as he viewed the hearse and carriages. "wouldn't jim be tickled to death if he saw this show and knew that he was the whole blank thing?" "say, pilot," said one whom mr. higgins was helping into a carriage, "when we meet jim later he'll say, 'i'm proud of the way you fellows rid me out of town.'" "pretty near two months' wages gone for a box, but what's expense when we're planting jim," weepingly commented his bunkmate. "he'd 'a done as much for me if i'd 'a give him a show. it's his last blow out anyway." all the way to the cemetery the mourners talked in the above strain, constantly expressing their satisfaction over the "frills" of the obsequies and the "agony" they were showing for jim. there was an undertone of complaint because poor drowned jim did not come forward and personally thank them for the honor they had conferred. around the grave the riverpigs staggered and it looked as if more than jim were going to occupy the grave, for with difficulty they were kept from tumbling in on the corpse. the minister spoke a few words on the uncertainty of life and the need of preparation for eternity, but his brief address was interrupted by the weeping of the drunken attendants and their interjected praises of the dead. "speak a good word for jim, pilot," said a weeping poleman. "tell the lord he could ride a log as well as the best of us." "get him through if you can; he wasn't so bad," was the parenthesis of a french-canadian. "good bye, jim. our turn's comin'." the last words were said, the benediction pronounced, and the sky pilot turned to leave the cemetery. "hold on, there," cried the foreman to the minister. "this is no pauper you buried, but a man whose friends ain't broke." taking off his hat, he turned to the crew. "shell out, you blank sons of the nameless. jim's been planted o. k., now pay the sky pilot for the words he shed over his bones. this is no poor farm job." the boys shelled out eight dollars and sixty cents for the preacher's services. the lumberjacks, the homesteaders, the saloon men and the prostitutes claim the missionary as their spiritual friend. it is on him they call when sickness enters their places of abode, and his response is willing and natural. he, as the servant of christ, is the messenger to the poor and outcast; conditions of life are not considered. one night, when the pilot was in a brothel praying with a woman who was passing through the dark waters, the girls of the house crowded around to listen to the prayers and see the end. one of the girls invited him to a private conversation and in it told him the story of her life and the nearness of her death. the physician had informed her that six months was all she could hope to live. "i'll make a short six months of it, for this life is hell, and hell can't be any worse than this," she said. when the church service closed on the following sunday evening a messenger was waiting at the bemidji church to ask him to come at once to the brothel. there he found the girl with whom he had talked. she had taken blue vitrol and this was the end. she had been true to her statement and had made a short six months of it. the scarlet women turn to him naturally for aid, for they know that he will do all he can to assist in their reformation. his ready sympathy appeals to the outcasts. on a train leaving blackduck the sky pilot was sitting several seats from a woman whose business was unmistakable. the car was filled with men and the scarlet one was known to many in the coach. as the train started she beckoned to the preacher to come and sit beside her. a smile passed over the faces of the wise ones as the missionary took a seat at her side. but this is the woman's story: she had recognized mr. higgins, having seen him when he visited a woman who was dying in a brothel. she was leaving the place of her sin and degradation and did not know which way to turn for help. would he assist her? she was tired of it all and wanted to live a better life, but knew of no place that would open except such as linked her to the old. mr. higgins knew of a place where the hands of christians would welcome her and the doors were always open--a christian refuge in the city of duluth. acting on his advice, and assisted by a letter of introduction, she went to the place and today leads a respectable life under the influence of a savior. did not the one of nazareth say unto such, "go, and sin no more?" such is the condition that confronts the missionary in the towns and villages near the camps. you may ask, "are not the spoilers unfriendly, antagonistic to the missionary, since they see that his work is in opposition to theirs?" while they recognize mr. higgins as against their nefarious traffic, yet they admire his sincerity and honesty, and prove their respect for him by calling for his services in case of death. they know that their business is under the ban, but they also know that his christian zeal causes him to love the men while he is still an enemy to the business. in one of the saloons where the writer accompanied frank higgins, the saloon man asked us to take a drink of seltzer water. "i wouldn't take even a drink of water in one of your saloons," replied mr. higgins. "you know i am against your whole business." "we know it," returned the saloon man, "but while you fight us, you do it fair, and although you hurt us, we like you in spite of it." so without enemies, even among his opponents, he goes from place to place, helping pointing to christ the lumberjacks, the saloon men, the gamblers and the prostitutes, doing a work few are fitted to do. the logging camp mission work must of necessity be a disconnected one, and the missionary often does not see the final results of his labors as in a settled pastorate, but the churches reap the benefit of what is accomplished in the camps. many are brought to christ who would never have been touched by his saving power if it had not been for the itinerating work of the pineries. the church has too long neglected this large field. now she is attempting to redeem the time, but the present effort is a small supply for such a large demand. what is being done to counteract the influence that is thrown around the lumberjacks in the towns? at present there is practically nothing outside the two bethels at duluth, to help them, with the exception of a small effort in the way of reading rooms, and i know of only two of these, one in the town of akeley, minnesota, and the other in bemidji, minnesota. about a year ago mrs. t. b. walker and the m. e. church of akeley opened a public reading room particularly for the mill hands and employees of the red river lumber company. a little later mrs. thomas shevlin established the crookston lumber company's club room in the town of bemidji. here the men can congregate and read the papers and magazines provided. but these are lonely exceptions of helpfulness. the particular need of the lumbertown is a well-equipped, furnished and up-to-date bethel, for at present the only places open to the lumberjacks are degrading--tending to produce poverty of soul and of purse. the churches of these towns are not strong enough to carry on the work unaided. if the demands are to be met, outside help must be extended. the churches are willing, for the members see the need of bethels, but their own work calls for larger finances than at present they are able to command. if there is no place for him to enter except the saloons, then of course we must expect the lumberjack to go where he will find a welcome. open a place where he can find rest apart from the tentacles of temptation and we shall have done our part, and the forester will do his. a bethel will be to him a haven towards which his weary feet and hungering social nature will turn with readiness, and in many cases with more readiness than they now turn to the saloons. all men are social creatures; the lumberjack is no exception. he wants to be where his fellows are, to join in their conversations and to take part in their interests, but the saloon is the only place that furnishes a convenient rallying point. "i don't like the saloon, i don't care to drink," said one, "but all the fellows who are willing to talk to me are there and i must go where they are." to meet the needs of the homeless the bethel must be substituted for the saloon. since something is bound to grow, plant a virtue where you uproot a vice. the bethel is not an untried theory, but a proven success. where these institutions have been introduced they have been well patronized and great good has been accomplished. a gentleman of duluth, minnesota, told of being on the bowery in that city, and noticed a lumberjack looking at every sign as he passed along. the man wondered if he was having difficulty in finding a saloon where saloons were so numerous. suddenly the woodsman's face lighted up as he came in sight of a building bearing the sign of "branch bethel," and as he entered he seemed to say, "thank god, this is for me. here i shall find friends." once such rest places are opened they can be made self-supporting, or very nearly so. the lodging part of the plan would pay a good return, an employment agency could be carried on that, in itself, would be very helpful both to the men and employers, and add to the profits, while the missionary and christian woodsmen would advertise the effort and largely add to its support. but apart from this, the good they would accomplish can only be appreciated by those who know the present surroundings of the campmen in town. when temptation is reduced the increase in virtue is proportionate, where the stimulus to righteousness is given men must respond. to prevent evil is as much a christian work as saving the fallen, and prevention would give less need for cure. in the establishment of a system of bethels in the logging centers there is a fine opening for christian philanthropy. the men who have made their fortunes through the labors of the woodsmen should be the first to look to the uplifting of the fallen men in their employ. in dollars and cents it would pay the lumber kings, and many of the difficulties now present in the employment of men would be gradually reduced. the lumbermen are becoming interested, but it is a work that calls forth the interest of every lover of humanity. [illustration: clark and jacksons landing on the st. louis river. , , feet] chapter viii. muscular christianity. muscular christianity has a rather far-off sound in this matter-of-fact age where indifference is present and many a church is under the blight of apathy. but on the part of the logging camp missionary there is no apathy. his ministry is twofold: it is spiritual and muscular. let some one who is more interested in the dead past write the story of the rough but earnest crusaders, who fought in the name of the gentle christ with flesh-piercing spear and blood-letting sword. that is a tale, foreign, distant and past; the narrative i bring is native, near and present. this warfare is not with the weapons which are the product of the fire and anvil, yet it is muscular and strenuous; its purpose is not death, but life, and its spirit is love. the banner alone is the same--the sign of the cross. physical fitness of no common order is required of the missionary of the forest. in our northern pineries strength of limb, endurance and hardiness are the necessary capital of the workers. when the frolicsome winds drive the mercury thirty or forty degrees below zero and hold it in that low retreat for days, the men who work under the open sky must be vigorous to stand the taunts of the north wind and strong to resist the fettering cold. the pineries is no place for weaklings, either as pastor or logger. brawn is an asset not despised, muscle is honored, and endurance is the ideal of the lumberjack. the city pastor finds that head and heart predominate in his work for souls; the missionary of the logging camps soon realizes that the first essential is bodily excellency--heart and head are secondary in the estimation of the woodsmen. they pity a weakling, they respect a strong man. but to strength must be added devotion if the man who comes as christ's messenger is to win. they will willingly listen to the rough address of a rough and ready man who can fell a tree with precision and ease; the argument of the man who is scientific of fist and nimble of leg is sure of a ready reception. it follows that the same kind of ministry we look for in the city is not asked for in the camps. the object of the work is the same--the souls of men--but the methods and means are more varied. the man of tact soon sees that the body can be used to do a glorious work for the king, and that he who is fearful of manual exercise cannot be a winning ambassador for his master. physical christianity sounds like a story of the middle ages, but this form of godliness is being used successfully to point men to christ in the great north woods. it is not forcing men to accept his teaching, but doing with physical might for him whatever the hands find to do. of more value than discussion will be the narrative, and so i present to the reader a few plain tales of the lights and shadows, the labors and losses in the life of the missionary who spends his all for the men who are far from civilization, far from christ, lonely, wayward, rough, but still our brothers for whom our master died. the village was little more than a collection of rude shacks. in its confines two hundred people made their homes. even in the logging district one would search long for a place more under the influence of open sin. the camps were near and the village traffic was evil--almost exclusively evil. nine saloons were the ornaments of the place and the large brothel occupied a prominent place in the social life. there was little in the village to commend, much to condemn. its influence was vicious and its efforts were to impoverish the campmen. it was nearing the spring of . the camps would soon break up for the winter, and the rev. frank e. higgins, while making his rounds, found himself, after nightfall, in the village described above. the lunchroom was in the rear of a saloon and there the missionary took his belated meal. many drinking lumberjacks were at the bar and soon they crowded around the minister with invitations to drink with them. "i'll tell you what i'll do, boys; if my dog will drink the stuff you fellows are imbibing i'll drink with you," said mr. higgins. he called his dog to him, and at his command bess placed her front feet on the bar, but on smelling the beverage turned away. "can't do it, boys; i'd hate to set a bad example to my dog. you had better follow her lead. she has good sense, as you all know." the men enjoyed the incident, and the tired preacher went to his room. the sleeping place was over the barroom, but in spite of the carousing, he was soon asleep. shortly after midnight the minister was awakened by a loud noise in the room below. the sound of breaking glass and furniture, the curses and cries of men rang loudly through the house. a fight was in progress and it was evident to the missionary that it was more than a trivial affair. hastily he drew on some clothing and rushed down the stairway which opened into the barroom. in the middle of the saloon stood f----, a foreman from a nearby camp. he was crazed with liquor and his powerful frame shook with the excitement of the contest. over his head he held a heavy barroom chair, and lying near him were three men whom he had felled with the ready weapon. the bartender had taken refuge under the counter and outside of the open door were four lumberjacks who had fled into the cold, but now inviting, street. f---- was in possession of the field and the chair was both a weapon and a banner of victory. "canada against the world! the scotch and nae ithers!" cried the drunken logger in delight as he viewed the vanquished. rushing in, mr. higgins grabbed the foreman. "f----, think what you're doing, old man. do you want to kill some one?" "a hooligan struck me. think of a canadian being struck by a hooligan! its mair than flesh an' bluid can stan'," replied the foreman as he menacingly moved in the direction of the door where the enemy had retreated. "you can't afford to become a murderer because a man lost his temper," said the preacher. "put down that chair and show that you can control yourself, even if others can't." placing the chair on the floor, f---- watched mr. higgins assist the others to their feet, but the men in the street did not venture into the room until the preacher had led f---- up stairs. the sky pilot took the foreman to his room, and when he saw him soundly sleeping, crept in beside him and soon was lost to the day's tasks and disturbances. but the missionary's sleep was not destined to be undisturbed, for soon drunken oaths, the shriek of a terrified woman and the heavy blows of an ax falling on a door made the preacher rush from his bed into the hall, where he found the proprietor of the place trying to break into his wife's room. during the previous afternoon the proprietor's wife had learned that her husband was in a disreputable place and had gone to the brothel to persuade him to accompany her home. her efforts were unavailing and he remained there drinking and carousing until midnight. when he returned home under the influence of liquor, his offended dignity sought retaliation in the murder of his wife. with the assistance of the bartender, who by this time had gotten over his previous fright, mr. higgins disarmed the drunken proprietor and led him into another room, where the missionary remained with him until sleep held him fast. the next day was the sabbath. when the missionary had finished his breakfast he placed his phonograph on the table of the roulette wheel and started "rock of ages." the crowd of loungers had increased to a considerable number by the time several selections had been played, and when the song, "where is my wandering boy tonight," came to a close, it was in a receptive mood. portions of the old book were read and a heart to heart talk followed. the proprietor refused to serve any drinks while this strange service was being held, and at the close of the meeting he asked the minister to remember him in prayer. shortly after the affair in the saloon the sky pilot was in the camp where f---- was foreman. it was the time when the annual offering was to be given for the support of the mission work. mr. higgins arrived at the hour of the evening meal and learned that the sisters of charity had been in the camp at noon soliciting for the hospital work. when the intelligence came to him he decided to defer his request for an offering and visit the camp a few days later. after service mr. higgins said to the men: "it was my intention to ask you to contribute to this work tonight, but since the sisters have canvassed the camp today we will let it go until my next visit." the preacher had scarcely finished the announcement when f----, the foreman, sprang to his feet. "sit doon, pilot," he said. "you dinna need to ask ony collection in this shanty. we ken a guid thing an' are willin' to pay for't. i'll tak' up the collection, although it's a new job to me. shell oot, lads; remember the lord and f---- love a cheerfu' giver." when f---- had completed his self-imposed task he handed the missionary forty-seven dollars and fifty cents. * * * * * there is persuasiveness in a well-rounded muscular development. some people are impervious to argument and some to courtesy, but few will fail to respond to the persuasiveness of a strong man with a mighty arm. now i am not attempting to prove that this is best, nor would i care even to leave that intimation, but i remember the days when the rod properly applied was far more productive of good than all the homilies--in fact, the homilies were heard only because of the birch that, like damocles' sword, was ever waiting to fall. but this is not autobiography. some men remain children, and only the potentials that produced results in childhood will aid to fruitage in their manhood. corporal punishment was effective for good then, and if you read the next incident you will realize that it has its force after they have passed through the vicissitudes of youth and have attained the physical weight of manhood. the bunkhouse meeting was in full swing. the singing was hearty, strong and free. when the lumberjacks wish to sing they produce a volume that is inspiring in spite of discords. well, these men in parker's camp felt the spirit of song--but not all of them. an undertone of discontent came from a group of frenchmen who sat together at the end of the shack. they did not relish the protestant religion and intended to show their indigestion. the majority of the camp was in harmony with the preacher, but a small minority can easily turn peace into turmoil. [illustration: a camp crew] as the service progressed the opposition grew louder and remarks came freely from the french end of the house. mr. higgins went to the disturbers while the rest were singing and requested them to allow the others to enjoy the service. a second time the preacher solicited their sympathy and all went well until the address began. as the missionary proceeded in his message the rumble of the disturbers grew in volume until the address could not be heard. patience was no longer a virtue, but an assistant to evil. rolling up his sleeves, for he was preaching with his coat off, the minister left his barrel pulpit and visited the frenchmen, not as an angel of mercy, but as a son of mars. taking a position that could not be misunderstood, he addressed them: "you pea soup eaters will do one of two things," said the brawny evangelist, "you are going to listen to the gospel or take a thrashing. speak up, which do you want?" "throw them through the roof, pilot, we'll see fair play," cried a sympathizer. "take them one at a time, they won't last long," came from another. "give them both the thrashing and the preaching," said the swamper. "you've got to puncture the hide of that outfit to get any decency into their heads." then came a deep silence. only the winter wind outside and the roar of the stove within were heard. during the quiet the frenchmen carefully viewed this muscular exponent of christianity. on the preacher's arms stood the muscles in rounded hills and in his face was depicted determination and fearlessness. the examination was satisfactory; it was easy to decide in favor of a gospel message under such circumstances. the eyes of the frenchmen dropped and the preacher had won. "i would rather preach anyway," said the minister as he walked back to the barrel and took up the interrupted discourse. among the firm friends of the sky pilot that group of frenchmen are now to be found. the coatless figure, burning with righteous indignation, powerful in right and backed with physical prowess, won the admiration of the disturbers. conviction and fearlessness always open a way for him who is desirous of carrying the cross. even the opponents learn the lesson of respect. * * * * * on every fruit-bearing tree the worthless fruit clings with the good and mellow. every effort is not a success, as all can testify. some seed falls by the wayside and is trodden down. again, the sower is not even allowed to sow by the wayside. the devil is not dead and his agents are faithful to their commander. as long as man is sinful, opposition will show itself, but the darkness of night makes the day more resplendent by contrast. in the month of january, , our missionary procured a letter of introduction from the proprietor of a camp near kelliher, minnesota to the foreman in charge. the letter gave mr. higgins the privilege of holding service in the bunkhouse. armed with this letter, and accompanied by mr. f. e. davis, one of the camp workers, mr. higgins entered the camp. on arriving they went immediately to the office and left their personal effects and a box of literature, and then proceeded to find the foreman in order to present their credentials. near the cookshed they came across a burly irishman who immediately bristled up and without waiting for any greeting began: "are you higgins?" "i am," answered the missionary. "is this--" "i am g--," he interrupted. "i was looking for you mr. g--. i have a letter of introduction from the proprietor," said the missionary, at the same time producing the letter. "i don't care a d--n if you have a letter from god almighty," profanely burst out the push; "you can't preach in this camp. get your things out of the office blank quick and get to hades out of these works. i won't have any blank preachers among my men." mr. higgins looked at the profane man and quietly answered: "i am in no haste about leaving, mr. g--, in fact this camp has an added interest since i met you." "get out, or i'll throw you to hades out of here," said the wrathy foreman. "not so hasty, mr. g--," said the sky pilot. "i should be present during the disturbances and some one might get hurt. is your hospital ticket good?" while the minister looked at the cursing foreman he felt a strong desire to enforce a lesson in common courtesy,--that part of the foreman's education having evidently been neglected. but he thought, if i should do this physical duty the lumberjacks who are my friends will refuse to work for the foreman and the proprietor's kindness will be repaid with loss. he therefore decided to forego the privilege of improving the foreman's manner's, and for the proprietor's sake to say nothing that would come to the ears of the lumberjacks. when the missionaries left the camp mr. g-- was not through with the incident, for the foreman's remarks had been overheard by some of the men and were soon the common property of the camp. the next day the foreman went into the blacksmith shop, and not being over civil to the vulcan in charge, was suddenly seized, dragged over the anvil and kicked out into the snow by the wrathy smith. as g-- was gathering himself up, the man of metals gave him an extra kick and accompanied it with this enlightening remark: "there, blast your hades seared hide, is an extra one for the glad hand you gave the sky pilot yesterday. you son of the nameless, i'll teach you how to treat your betters and make your blank soul respect the clergy." as a result of the incident a number of the men quit the camp, refusing to work for a "push who ain't got no decency." * * * * * men who serve the master will at the same time serve men. it seems but proper to demand of the christian that he prove his profession by his love of humanity. the religion that is only preached meets few demands, the religion that is lived satisfies human wants. jesus christ bore a relation of helpfulness to the burdened world; the disciples of the nazarene cannot do less than follow the example of the man loving master. at least, this is the expectancy of the men, they simply take the christian at his word. mr. higgins has instanced this many times, for his parishioners feel that when a man is needed the christian should be the first to respond. "pilot," said a lumberjack to mr. higgins, "i've got a friend in the saloon over yonder and the drunken fool is blowing his stake as fast as he can throw it over the bar. i ain't able to get him out and the bar tender would give me a hunch to get out myself if i tried. will you help me?" "come on," said the preacher. "we'll see what we can do together." as they entered the barroom the woodsman pointed out his friend. paddy was in that hilarious state of intoxication where liberality knows no bounds. he staggered up to the bar and in drunken happiness cried: "here, bung swater, set up to the house. hades while the dough lasts. turn the spigot and give us a beer bath." paddy generously emptied his pockets on the metal counter and a roll of bills and a handful of silver lay before the crowd. the bar tender reached for the cash to sweep it into the till, but he was not quick enough, for the large hand of the missionary covered the roll of bills. "i'll take this for my treat, paddy," said mr. higgins in a quiet but decisive tone. "no you don't," said the saloon man and he hastened to attack the intruder. "stand back," said the preacher. "you're not in my class, and i can't reduce my heft to accommodate a middle weight at this late hour." the bar tender was full of fight and menacingly waved a weapon at the preacher, and several seconded him in the contest. "sit down, you heated fools," cried a campman; "that's the sky pilot, and the man that tackles him tackles me and some others." "paddy has had more than enough liquor already," continued the preacher, "the silver i left on the bar is more than sufficient to treat the crowd at his expense, so i'll keep the rest as paddy's banker until he is in a condition to know the value of it." turning to the saloonman, he said, "you call yourself a man and yet you would take all the winter's earnings of a poor fellow who is not in his right mind. you are a scoundrel or you would have sent this fellow away long ago." mr. higgins and his friend got paddy on the train and carried him to bemidji where they put him to bed. next morning paddy wandered into the lobby where the preacher was sitting. "some one robbed me last night," he began; "they took every cent i had and pinched my hat and coat. what am i goin' to do?" "go home. that's what you're going to do," said the preacher with decision. "nobody robbed you paddy, nobody needed to. when i met you last night you were throwing your money away faster than they could take it from you. you had already lost your coat and you threw your hat out of the car window on the way here. but we managed to save a little for you, enough to get you back home." the preacher handed him the roll of bills he had saved. it contained forty dollars. paddy took the advice of the sky pilot and left at once for home, never again to appear among his old associates in the pineries. he is the brother of a respected catholic priest, and comes of a prominent family. * * * * * the proverb reads, "a man is known by the company he keeps." in the main the proverb is true, but it is not always applicable. a slum worker differs from his associates; a camp worker is with the worst element of the camps more than with the men who walk straight; he goes where he is needed, and, like the master, he is a friend of publicans and sinners. but he who lifts another does not lower himself, even if he has to stoop in order to lift. in fact, i doubt if there be even the suggestion of stooping. although the physical figure implies the act--i rather believe that the good man lifts himself when he extends his hand down to another. let me tell you a story, one that is well known in the northern woods: a---- was built for doing things, and looked the part. if you were judging from appearances you would say that he was one of the best, and if you asked for confirmation of your opinion the lumberjack would answer regarding him, "none better in all the north woods,"--a high physical certification. for some time a---- had been a foreman. his abilities won the admiration of the men and his habits of life made him feared,--it was another case of what whiskey can do with a man. once when mr. higgins was preaching in a----'s camp, a---- came into the meeting and drunkenly listened to the minister as he pleaded with the men to forsake evil and get right with god. a tense stillness hung over the bunkhouse and all the audience listened in sympathy. suddenly another voice broke into the harmony. it was a---- crying in fervid encouragement: "lace it to them, higgins, give them hell, old boy, the drunken sons of the nameless need a dose of religion to make them log right." "don't notice him, boys," said mr. higgins; "that is whiskey that is talking. a---- would be ashamed of that sort of thing if he were sober, but whiskey isn't ashamed of anything." at the end of frank higgins' first year in bemidji, when the camps were pouring their men into the towns, he happened to visit the little town of farley, minnesota. the lumberjacks owned the town. the long drought of winter was turned into a deluge and it was the evident intention of the foresters to consume in a day enough to make up for the enforced abstinence. a stream of coin passed over the bar and a tide of liquor came from the other side. near a saloon a laughing crowd watched the antics of a powerful fellow who drunkenly wallowed in the mud. bewilderingly fluent and ingeniously profane was the man in the gutter, and his drunken comrades raised their laughter of approval at his antics and remarks. pushing his way through the crowd, mr. higgins came upon the object of their mirth--it was a----, the foreman, too drunk to care about or to understand his degradation. the missionary helped the foolish fellow to his feet and, leaning him against a building for support, scraped the filth from his garments with a shovel. the father and brother-in-law of a---- were in the village and to them the missionary, took his drunken charge. a---- had been working but a few miles from home but had not visited his people for two years. when the relatives saw their son and brother, at the same time realizing his helplessness in the presence of temptation, they asked the missionary to take him to the keeley cure at minneapolis, two hundred miles away. mr. higgins was not anxious for the task, but he knew that there was a chance for at least a partial reformation, and anything was an improvement on the present way of living. the only way to accomplish the journey with an unwilling patient was to keep the man drunk and get him to the institute while under the influence of his enemy--this was beating the devil with his first lieutenant. so the minister packed his grip with unministerial baggage--whiskey--and patiently waited his train. it took three men to get the logger into the car, and with the beginning of the journey the real troubles of the temperance worker began. on one side was the grip loaded with bottles, on the other a man loaded with whiskey. the only thing that suggested the ministry was the half fare permit, and that was out of sight. no wonder the conductor smiled when the minister presented his credentials. as the railroader punched the ticket, he said: "are you on your way to presbytery with a lay delegate, or are you both bound for a distillery convention?" the smoking car was crowded with woodsmen on their way to the city. a---- was in fighting trim and only the ever present bottle could keep him from stirring up the crowd. every few minutes the minister passed him the bottle and it acted like paregoric on a colicky baby. "it was the only time i tended bar all day, and i am not anxious to repeat the experience," said mr. higgins. at spur , a---- was sufficiently sober to recognize a friend who was waiting on the platform, and immediately he cried to the ministerial bar tender, "here, sky pilot, give kirk a drink. hand him the glass works and let him sample the cold tea." between farley and walker the effluvia from bodies long immune to water, the disregard of sanitary requirements, the expectorations and the foul air of the crowded car became unbearable. the missionary felt it very necessary that he should go elsewhere and breathe a cleaner atmosphere, so he called a teamster and installed him as bartender while he went into the day coach to breathe. a----'s father was in the day coach but did not dare to approach his drunken son. the missionary had not counted all the possible exigencies when he pressed the teamster into service. the substitute bartender had solaced himself with the liquid goods before entering the train, and was soon in a rapturous state from the mixture brought about from imbibing a----'s whiskey. every time a---- demanded a drink the driver took one himself, and being a frugal soul, drank largely because another was paying the bill. he was a happy jack and expressed himself in song. it was the eighteenth of march, the day after st. patrick's day. on the platform at walker a crowd of irishmen were lounging, the green ribbons of yesterday's celebration adorning their lapels. the maudlin teamster was a protestant irishman, and the green streamers aroused in his befuddled mind visions of glorious londonderry days where the fist played a larger part in religion than it does in minnesota. leaning far out the window, until he seemed to balance on his belt buckle, he began the soul stirring melody "protestant boys." at least it was soul stirring to the catholic irish. at the depot the old scenes of londonderry were renewed and a blow drove the teamster across the car and jammed him between the seats on the filthy floor. the feet of the orangeman stuck high in the air, and though the trainmen tried to release him, they could not. unaware of what was happening in the next car, the minister was talking with a----'s father when the conductor broke into the conversation. "come into the smoker and take care of your parishioners, mr. higgins," he said hurriedly, "we can't handle that booze-soaked crew." when mr. higgins entered the car he found that he had two patients that needed his immediate attention. at brainerd they changed cars and waited two hours for the minneapolis train. the minister took his charge into the station. here a---- gave an exhibition of drunken hilarity that drove out the self-respecting loungers and caused the station master to demand a----'s exit. the streets received the minister and his charge, but after a few improper acts and worse remarks an officer ordered them off the streets. the only places open to the strollers were the saloons, and the minister led his companion into one of them. the saloonmen, because of the natural results of their business can stand considerable of the unusual, but this woodsman was able to give the denizens of billingsgate advance instruction in the unprintable and nauseating. not having lost all sense of the fitness of things, the saloon keeper escorted the woodsman to the door and mr. higgins again linked himself to the staggering man. from one side of the walk to the other the powerful logger dragged the husky preacher, and as they continued through the streets the blasphemy and filth flowed on. it was the expected that happened; a representative of law and order threatened to lock up both pedestrians in the city jail--for the logger dragged the minister in his zig-zag course and both appeared drunken. but in spite of the rough clothes, the policeman soon recognized the sky pilot and placed the city jail at his disposal while waiting for the south bound train. when a---- realized he was in the police station his temper suddenly arose and he rushed with closed fist at his companion. mr. higgins anticipated the attack and deftly stepped aside. the heavy blow fell on the panel of the station door, and a split panel and bruised knuckles were the results. after some hours minneapolis was reached, a cab took them to the institute and the worst was over. the minister and the patient entered the big rest room of the institute just as the bell signaled the patients to prepare for treatment. the inmates began to remove their coats and to roll up their shirt sleeves so that the treatment could be injected into their arms. the removing of coats pleased a----, for it savored of a fight and he began to prepare for a conflict. hastily he removed his coat and with raised guard and closed fist staggeringly advanced towards the coatless men who had fallen into line to march past the doctor. instead of the anticipated fight, a---- received his first treatment,--the course in the keeley cure had begun. several years have passed since the above incident, but a---- is still a sober man. respected for his ability, honored by those who employ him, he stands high in the confidence of one of the largest lumber companies, and large interests are in his hands. while not a professing christian, yet he is a strong advocate of temperance, for, having known the degradation of drink, he now appreciates the virtue of sobriety. * * * * * quebec, with its french population, raises many loyal catholic sons. the training of the province does not develop a bias towards protestantism. anything savoring of it is distasteful to them, due to centuries of training. when these sons migrate to the woods of minnesota the inherited and trained prejudice is likely to accompany them. on the above paragraph a story hinges. in the north woods of tenstrike worked a french canadian, whom, for obvious reasons as well as convenience, we will call "old quebec." now, "old quebec" was neither a scholar nor a fool. he knew a few things, and the many things of which he knew nothing did not disturb his mental bias or unsettle his decision. he was a man of likes and dislikes and he gave his whole strength to either; he never asked himself whether his likes or dislikes were reasonable, he was simply satisfied to be out-and-out in opposition or comradeship. what he hated he cursed; what he respected he was always on hand to assist. well, he cursed the sky pilot whenever he saw him. "old quebec" had no love for religion of any kind, but if a man wished to profess any spiritual relationship, quebec was so trained that only catholicism was acceptable to him. therefore, when the rev. frank e. higgins came to the camp in which old quebec worked the frenchman thought him a non-entity because he was religious and a fool because he was not a catholic. if you had asked old quebec, "aren't you prejudiced?" he would have laughed, probably have sworn you out of countenance, and in his blasphemous way have given you the information, "what i know i know." his answer would have satisfied him and his profanity have settled you. so, at the meeting, on the missionary's first appearance, old quebec did all he could to disturb and interfere. when asked to give the others the privilege of hearing, he replied with a torrent of invective, blasphemy and vulgarity that shocked the ears of every decent man in the camp. now there are some men whom one can not easily eject. old quebec was probably one of these, at least, the missionary decided that discretion was the better part of valor. for once there were two speakers at the meeting, and mr. higgins, being more accustomed to public speaking, won out. few men could equal old quebec with the peavy. when there were logs to sack in the shallows of the river he was the man to keep the stuff from jamming, or when they jammed, to find the key log and break the obstruction. he was strong as hammered steel and bore himself as the king of the crew. he satisfied himself by cursing the missionary on all occasions, and the missionary was satisfied to talk him to a stand still. true, the missionary had tried to win the man, but old quebec was unapproachable. one sunday night the missionary went to a hotel in tenstrike and after spending some time in conversation with the loungers, he started for the barn to see if his dog team was comfortable for the night. on the way to the barn he passed the ice house, before which lay several cakes of ice. as he passed between the cakes the missionary stumbled over the body of a man. the body was motionless and cold, and although he felt for evidence of life he could discover none. rushing into the hotel saloon, the preacher called for assistance. old quebec was at the bar drinking. "come on, quebec," cried mr. higgins, "get the lantern and help me with a dead or dying man." procuring a lantern, the missionary and the frenchman hurried into the yard. "take hold of his feet, quebec," said the preacher as he put his arms around the cold body, but old quebec, true to his superstition, refused to touch what was apparently a dead body. the missionary got the body on his back, quebec held the lantern, and the body was carried into the saloon. fortunately the man was not dead, but was drunk and frozen, and, had it not been for the timely aid would soon have succumbed. in the saloon the missionary worked over the helpless man until consciousness returned. "take care of him," said the minister to the hotel man, "for i must leave early. charge the expense to me." old quebec heard the remark. in the course of a few days the sky pilot visited the camp in which old quebec worked. the service began, but no word from the old man, although he sat in a prominent place. "i suppose quebec's waiting till the preaching commences," whispered one of the boys to a neighbor. the preaching began. through it all quebec listened with attention, no sign of interruption came from him. "what's the matter with old quebec?" the minister asked himself, "is the fellow sick, there's so little action in him?" after the meeting was over the frenchman beckoned to the preacher. wonderingly, mr. higgins approached him. "there it is, pilot," said the frenchman, extending his hand, "that's yours now. will you shake it? i've been pretty rough on you. i ain't got much time for religion, but after what i saw that sunday night in tenstrike, i'm settled. you're willing to do for us poor fools what we ain't got sense enough to do for ourselves. anything i can do for you, pilot, i do. what i know i know. i'm with you." as strong in his friendship as he was in his hatred is old quebec, ever ready to give a helping hand to the missionary, and as a contrast to the past he now feels that he is responsible for the decorum of the camp. woe be it to the jack who dares to interfere with one of mr. higgins' meetings if old quebec is present. once in bemidji a crowd of lumberjacks was standing on the sidewalk when old quebec, who was in the group, saw mr. higgins approaching. "open up the road for the pilot," cried old quebec, "he's made the sledding easy for many a one of us, so i'll road monkey for him." (the road monkey is the man who keeps the ice roads clean.) the old fellow listens now, and others listen at his bidding,--faith cometh by hearing, so old quebec's chances are bettered, for the word is like leaven. * * * * * it is not preaching alone that is needed in the solitudes of the forest; even here pastoral work has its place, often a large place. had the apostle paul been visiting the lumber camps of asia minor when he wished to be all things to all men, or had he just beheld the ancient lumberjacks as they poured into the athenian bowery after a winter's chopping on the slopes of god forsaken olympia? whatever the cause of the thought, it expresses the need of the missionary who would work in the camps. but paul was himself a missionary, and that explains why he knew the qualities of heart and hand essential to successful work. frank higgins is a pastor, preacher, friend and brother to his heterogeneous flock. their concerns are his interests and they know that if they need assistance this minister will extend it gladly. the following incident will illustrate this point: a. m. was a man who had followed the camps for years. in his years of logging he had acquired a little property, was happily married, and several children came to lighten his home. his wages were above his expenditures and he was making financial progress. but if you wish to introduce a change in the even march of progress, introduce drink. this is what a. did. [illustration: a homesteader's shack] it was then the old, old story of retrogression through alcohol. the property he prized as the fruit of industry gradually passed into other hands and a darker side of life was seen, in which the woodsman, his wife and children were all involved. the saloons handled his wages and a respected man sank into the maw of appetite. in one of the saloons the rev. f. e. higgins found the rum-soaked scotchman on the verge of delirium tremens. the missionary took the helpless man to his home in the forest and began to nurse him back to health and sobriety. two days and nights he sat beside the bed until the drunken visions passed and reason began to return. while the missionary was attending his self-assumed patient he gathered every piece of the man's clothing into a bundle and sent them over to the home of a neighbor. not a single garment belonging to the man was left in the house. it was a course of heroic treatment that was in store for the patient. when m. began to regain his reason he was besides himself for liquor, but there was none to be had. leaping from the bed he sought in all parts of the house for his clothing so he could return to the saloons and quench the consuming thirst, but no successful find rewarded his diligence. he begged for his clothing, but the man who sat beside his bed was deaf to entreaty. it was a seige in which the besieged could not even claim the primitive fig leaf. if the watcher had not restrained him he would have rushed out of the house, but the man who had sent his clothes away never relaxed his vigilance the house was a prison. the hours passed and the man became milder. the sky pilot drew out memories of better days; the long-closed chambers of memory slowly opened, and with the return came the recollections of the days when freedom crowned the life and evil habits were as yet unborn. such remembrances create the desire to reproduce again the life of freedom. while m. was sighing for the past joys, mr. higgins was pointing him to the one who said, "i came that ye might have life, and have it more abundantly." at last in the shadow of the sin absorbing cross the brawny preacher and weakened slave knelt side by side. to him who proclaimed liberty to the captive and to them that are bound they prayed, and when they arose two freemen clasped hands in friendship and christian fellowship. m. realized that while he was free, yet sin had weakened him, so he gathered his belongings together and with his family left the place of his temptation and fall and emigrated to manitoba. while i write, a letter is on my desk. it is from m.'s wife telling of his later life. she who wrote the letter was a catholic, but she tells of the god-given strength that came to m., how during the years since his conversion he had lived under the sustaining grace of christ. "both my husband and son united with the presbyterian church here, and when at last they brought the father from a northern camp, bruised and dying, his faith held fast to the savior who took him from the pit." chapter ix. the field and its possibilities. the evangelistic committee of the presbyterian church has been active in the logging camp work since , when it first sent missionaries to preach in the camps of minnesota and wisconsin. the first missionaries it appointed to this work were rev. jos. oliver buswell and rev. f. e. higgins, the former taking the work in wisconsin and the latter in minnesota. both these men had been carrying on private work in the camps near their pastorates. prior to the work was largely experimental and on a small scale, but in the summer of the above-named year a strong sub-committee of the evangelistic committee took charge of the logging camp mission work and an aggressive campaign was inaugurated. in the foregoing pages of this little volume we have considered the work in minnesota exclusively and presented only the part which came directly under the hand of mr. higgins: now we desire to give a brief view of a more extended field. the sub-committee known as the lumberman's evangelistic council is composed of men who are individually interested in this work. they are prominent lumbermen or well-known ministers, as the personnel of the committee shows: mr. w. a. holt, oconto, wis. mr. arthur d. wheeler, chicago, ill. mr. c. a. barton, minneapolis, minn. mr. e. t. buxton, duluth, minn. dr. j. m. gray, chicago, ill. dr. w. o. carrier, waukesha, wis. mr. dewitt van ostrand, philips, wis. dr. j. beveridge lee, chicago, ill. dr. w. j. darby, evansville, ind. the officers of the council are: hon. hugh h. hanna, chairman, indianapolis, ind. mr. j. e. defebaugh, vice chairman, chicago, ill. dr. p. e. zartman, secretary and treasurer, winona lake, ind. rev. f. e. higgins, superintendent of camp work, rockford, minn. rev. j. o. buswell, general superintendent, lumber exchange, minneapolis, minn. the desire of the lumberman's evangelistic council is to place the services of the missionaries at the disposal of all the lumber camps in the west, so that the general morals of the workers may be raised and a corresponding plain of righteousness and ability be reached. [illustration: the steam hauler] the superintendents of this work are well equipped for the task before them. mr. buswell has been an interested worker in the camps for some years. he felt that god called him to this particular work, and has been instrumental in leading many of the foresters to christ. the reader of these pages knows that mr. higgins brings to the work the practical experience of twelve years, and a devotion to god and man that brings results. through mr. buswell and mr. higgins the claims of the lumberjacks have been presented to the churches and by their efforts almost all the money used to carry on the work in the past, except their own salaries, has been raised. under their direction a number of helpers have been at work in the field, the superintendents being individually responsible for their salaries and expenses. beyond the states of minnesota and wisconsin, a little work was also done in michigan and washington. in the state of washington mr. higgins spent the last two summers, taking with him, in , two of his best camp chaplains. the future is ruddy with promise. with the more extensive organization come hopes of greater efficiency and broader possibilities. the desires of a few men have become the wishes and prayers of a greater number. the sub-committee's intention is to reach all the western and southwestern states in which the men of ax and peavey are at work. as yet only the edges of the field have been approached; even in minnesota where the work is more extended, only one hundred camps are touched, while four hundred other camps are left entirely to themselves. many of the states are without any organized work in the lumber regions. a view of the states west and south will reveal larger timber districts where this mission work will find a welcome and where aggressive extension is immediately imperative. western montana has its camps on the tree-covered mountain slopes. idaho computes its timbered acres at ten millions. timber is one of the principal resources of the state of washington. the western slopes of the cascades are heavily wooded with fir and on the eastern side blue and yellow pine predominate. oregon is proud of its pine forests, the density of the woods is inviting to industry and solitude. the douglas spruce has made this state a world-famous mart for masts and spars. california is the home of the redwood, and all the world reads of its mammoths of the forest; but in the northern part of the state pine, oak and fir lure the lumber companies, and there the lumberjacks are calling for services. southwest of minnesota the numerous camps of the timbered black hills catch the eye, then come the sixteen million mountain acres of forest land in the neighboring state of wyoming, and an almost equal stretch in colorado. missouri is also well wooded, in all except the northern and western parts, and the state of arkansas has twenty-five million acres of timber wealth. louisiana has more than half of the timber acreage of arkansas. the state of texas does not count its wooded lands by acres; it presents the figures of sixty-four thousand square miles. the possibilities of this evangelistic work are noticeable in the above sketch of the western and southern forests. where the lumber is to be obtained, there are the lumber camps and the lumberjacks. the surroundings of the men are much the same as in minnesota, with the restraints of civilization removed and the agents of viciousness always at hand. the foresters present a picture at which the angels weep and the devils are joyful. lumbering has been a prominent industry for many years in michigan, wisconsin and minnesota, and it will continue to play a large part in the industry of these states for twenty years to come. in such states the camps are large, grouped and accessible therefore the mission work can be done with greater ease and economy than in the older states of the east where the lumbercamps are far apart and small. in the west a camp chaplain can serve as high as fifteen camps, giving them each a service at least twice a month. seventy-five dollars a month will support a chaplain. since the logging season is short, in minnesota about five and a half months, it will be seen that a large amount of good can be accomplished at a small expenditure. a chaplain will preach to from sixty to one hundred and sixty men every night in the week and on sunday perhaps preach in three different camps. he is the representative of spiritual truths to from six hundred to one thousand men. where, at so little cost, are the possibilities of good so great? where are these camp preachers to be obtained? "i believe that god will call to this work the men of the pineries rather than the men of the seminaries," said the rev. f. e. higgins. this has been so in the past. the men who are converted in the camps are equipped with a knowledge of conditions through experience, and where mental and spiritual ability are present they can do excellent work. several of the successful workers in the camp mission were once lumberjacks. mr. fred davis, who, since the promotion of mr. higgins, is superintendent of the minnesota work, was at one time a lumberjack. mr. davis refused an excellent business position in order to spend his life reaching the foresters. another worker is mr. l. c. michells, a former cruiser and estimator. mr. michells is not only a strong preacher, but is physically able to care for himself when opposition is presented,--to this the ex-mayor of a lumber town can testify to his sorrow, as can others who saw the fallen political boss hauled home on a dray after the encounter with right and might. at the time of writing, mr. michells is preaching in the camps of washington. god is raising up men. will the christian church raise the means? through the work done in minnesota and wisconsin an introduction has been secured to all the western states; the timber lands of the west are owned largely by the firms who have exploited the woods adjacent to the great lakes, and these companies know the good accomplished here, hence a ready welcome is given to the missionary going to more western fields. the lumberjacks are naturally wanderers and in the camps of the pacific slopes the minnesota and wisconsin woodsmen are already there to give the chaplains welcome. mr. higgins tells of preaching in a town on the tacoma eastern railway in washington: "in one town where no religious organization was at work, i held services in a dance hall, and seventy-five persons were present, sixty of whom were loggers. after the service two lumberjacks came up to me and said: 'hello, pilot, don't you know us? we're a couple of your minnesota boys. don't you remember preaching in the clearwater camps on 'the chances a fellow has if he'll take them?' well, we broke away from the gang, came out here, have saved our money, and are the ones who rustled the crowd for you tonight.' "on another occasion i was to speak in the open air, when an old minnesota campman brought a pitcher of lemonade and placed it by my side. after the meeting he invited me to his home and wanted me to make it mine while i labored in that place. such kindness from the men who had been my boys in the north star pineries did much to make my work in washington a pleasure." by the past work the doors of the present have been forced open. the waiting men are inviting the bearers of good tidings to enter--shall we refuse? where there is a need shall not the christian church supply it? douglas malloch, the lumbermen's poet, presents us a picture of the field in the following poem: the parish of the pines "where the winter's chill is deep and still, where summer days are long, where sighing breeze and branches fill the air with sob and song, there lies a parish of the lord no wall or street confines: there 'waits the coming of the lord the parish of the pines. "no tower uplifts its gilded spire above a house of prayer, no organ tower or swaying choir makes sweetest music there, for 'tis a vineyard choked with weeds and lush with tangled vines; yea, much it lacks and much it needs-- the parish of the pines. "yet word of god is word of god in camp or pulpit told, and men of forest and of sod await the story old. 'tis time to hew away the sin that now the soul confines, and let a little sunshine in the parish of the pines." transcriber's notes: punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. simple typographical errors were corrected. history and ecclesiastical relations of the churches of the presbyterial order, at amoy, china. by rev. j.v.n. talmage, missionary of the prot. ref. dutch church. new york: wynkoop, hallenbeck & thomas, printers, fulton st. . preface. _to the ministers, elders, and members of the reformed dutch church_: it is proper that i give some reasons for the publication of this paper. the importance of the subject of the ecclesiastical organization of the churches gathered in heathen lands, i conceive to be a sufficient reason. those who may differ in regard to the views set forth in this paper, will not dispute the importance of the subject. instead of the questions involved having been settled by any of the presbyterian denominations of this country (the dutch church included among them), by experiments in india or any other heathen land, very few of the churches gathered from the heathen, by these various denominations, have yet arrived at a stage of development sufficient for practical application of the experiment. (see foot-note, page .) there are, however, a few mission churches, where the subject is now becoming one of vast practical importance. the church at amoy stands out prominent among these. with the continuance of the divine blessing there will soon be many such. hence the importance of the discussion, and its importance _now_. many experiments have been made in reference to the best way of conducting the work of missions. the church has improved by them, and has been compelled to _unlearn_ many things. we are continually returning towards the simple plan laid down in god's word. as the church by experiment and by discussion has thus been led to retrace some of her steps in the preliminary work of missions, should she not be ready to take advantage of experiment and discussion, in reference to the ecclesiastical organization of the mission churches, and stand ready to retrace some of her steps in this second stage of the work of missions, if need be, in order to conform more fully to the doctrines of our presbyterial church polity? i would use the phrase _scriptural church polity_, but i suppose it is the universal belief of our church, that presbyterial polity is scriptural. at any rate, it is the duty of the church to examine the subject carefully. she has nothing to fear from such examination. she should fear to neglect it. in addition to the importance of the subject in itself considered, i have other reasons for discussing it at the present time. there are mistaken impressions abroad in the church, concerning the views and course of your missionaries at amoy, which must be injurious to the cause of missions in our church. it would seem to be a plain duty to correct these impressions. i will quote an extract from a letter, i recently received, from an honored missionary of a sister church: "i have heard much, and seen some notices in the papers of the battle you fought on the floor of synod, and would like to hear your side of the subject from your own mouth, as the question has also been a practical one with us. * * * * * we have our own presbytery, and manage our own business, and insist on not having too much of what they call the new science of missionary management; a science which, i believe, has been cultivated far too assiduously. it was this, more than anything else, which kept me from going out under the a.b.c.f.m., and to amoy. * * * * * i hear, however, from some, that what you and the brethren there had formed, was some sort of loose congregational association. if so, i must judge against you, for i believe in the _jure divino_ of presbytery (or classis if you choose so to call it), and i think you and they should have been allowed to form a presbytery there, and manage all your own affairs, and that your boards at home should be content to consider themselves a committee to raise and send on the funds. but it is hard for the d. d's and big folk at home to come to that. they think they must manage everything, or all will go wrong; while how little it is that they can be brought to know or realize of the real nature of the work abroad; and then it is the old battle of patronage over again. those who give the money must _govern_, and those who receive it must give up their liberty, and be no longer christ's freemen." this is only a specimen, one of many, of the mistaken impressions abroad in the church concerning the views and doings of your missionaries. may we not, _must_ we not, correct them? the letter also illustrates the evils resulting from allowing mistaken impressions to remain in the church uncorrected. there has long been an impression in our church that the a.b.c.f.m. interfered with the ecclesiastical affairs of our missions. we have been informed that several of our young men, before our church separated from that board, were deterred thereby from devoting themselves to the foreign missionary work. the writer of the above letter, probably having more of the missionary spirit, was not willing, on that account, to give up the work, but was led to offer himself to the board of a sister church. the mission at amoy, and our church, have thus been deprived of the benefit of his labors by means of an erroneous impression. when we learned the fact of such an impression existing in this country, we endeavored to correct it. in our letter of , to general synod, we called particular attention to the subject. here is a part of one sentence: "it seems to us a duty, and we take this opportunity to bear testimony, that neither dr. anderson, nor the prudential committee have ever, in any communication which we have received from them, in any way, either by dictation, or by the expression of opinions, interfered in the least with our ecclesiastical relations." we failed to get that letter published, and i find the erroneous impression still prevalent, working its mischief in the churches. but to return to the subject of the mistaken impressions concerning the views of your missionaries at amoy. these impressions would have been partly corrected in the church, if the report of the proceedings of synod, in "the christian intelligencer," had been more correct on this subject. that paper states, that, on friday evening, "rev. mr. talmage then took the floor, and addressed the synod for nearly two hours," but does not give a single word or idea uttered by him. it is careful to report the only _unkind words_ against the missionaries uttered during that whole discussion, which, with this single exception, was conducted in a spirit of the utmost christian kindness; but does not give a word of the remarks made on the friday evening previous, on that very subject, in justification of their course. it seems to be a duty, though painful, to speak particularly on this subject. look at the following language: "i know that we are told that the _hybrid organization_ [i.e. the classis, _a court of the church of christ_, at amoy] which now exists is every way sufficient and satisfactory; that it is the fruit of christian love, and that to disturb it would be rending the body of christ. here one might ask, how it came to exist at all, seeing that this synod spoke so plainly, and unambiguously, in ; and _i, for one, cordially concur in the remark of the elder, schieffelin, that the brethren there 'deserve censure_.' we do not censure them, nor do we propose to do so; _but that they deserve it is undeniable_. but the point is, how can our disapproval of _the mongrel classis_ mar the peace of the amoy brethren?" this language was used by the president of synod, after asking whether the synod was ready for the question, "the question being about to be put," when an attempt to answer it seemed altogether out of place. in all the circumstances it seemed almost like the charge of a judge to a jury. i do not say that there is any improper spirit manifested, or opprobrious expressions employed in this language, or that the president did wrong in waiting until the discussion was over before he uttered it, or that the missionaries are not deserving of such severe censure--of all these things let the church judge--but i do say that the spreading of such language and such charges broadcast, before the church and before the world, demands that the missionaries be heard in self-defense, or, which is all they ask, that they be allowed to state the facts and views which guided them in their action. doubtless it was an oversight that such a one-sided report on this subject appeared in the christian intelligencer. at least it was not at all designed that injustice be done to the missionaries, but, unless they be allowed to speak for themselves, is not injustice done them? it seemed to me that a very mistaken impression concerning the views expressed by me, near the close of the session of synod, was also conveyed by the report. this i attempted to correct by a note to the editor, but even the right of correcting my own sentiments and language was refused, my note garbled, and, as i thought, my views again misrepresented. more than this, the _implied_ charge is published to the world that i am seeking to excite "dissension among the churches," and "opposition to the constituted authority of synod."[ ] it would therefore be great dereliction of duty to return to my field of labor, allowing my own views, and the views of my co-laborers, to be thus mistaken in the church, and such serious charges against our course unanswered. i am not aware that any censorship of the press has been authorized by general synod. surely if others are allowed to be heard for us we should be allowed the right to be heard for ourselves. we were unable by writing from amoy to get our views before the church. i must, therefore, while in this land, endeavor to make them known. [footnote : if this language seem too strong or uncalled for, see appendix b, at the end.] i have been advised by some to delay the publication of this paper a few months, until we learn the effect of the decision of the last synod on the mission at amoy, and see what course the church there may feel compelled to adopt. i do not see the force of such advice. whatever may be the course of the church there, the intrinsic merits of the question will be unchanged thereby. besides this, i cannot afford such delay. i have been looking forward to as speedy return as possible to that field of labor. would it be right to leave the whole subject to the eve of my departure, and thus shut myself off from the possibility of defending or further explaining my views, if such defense or explanation be called for? i have been asked, why not bring this subject before the church through the columns of the _christian intelligencer_? this question, after what has been said above, need not now be answered. doubtless the editor is responsible for what appears in his columns. the only resource left the mission seems to be the one i have chosen. i regret the necessity of discussing the subject, since the action of the last synod, but we could not discuss it previously without running counter to the same advice which would now restrain us. i do not at all suppose, however, that by the course i am taking i shall become guilty of disobedience "to the authority of synod." neither should it be the occasion of creating "dissensions in the churches." the discussion of any important subject in a proper spirit is neither opposed to the doctrines of the sacred scriptures, nor to the doctrines of the dutch church, and i am willing to leave it to those who may read the following pages to decide whether there be in them any manifestation of an improper spirit. we, and those who differ from us, are all seeking the same end, i.e. the glory of god through the advancement of his cause. all that i ask for myself and co-laborers is an _impartial hearing_. perhaps, in order to guard against any mistaken impression, i ought to add that the relations between the missionaries and the board of foreign missions of our church, have always been of the most pleasant character. whatever have been their differences of opinion on this most important subject, or on any other subject, they have not caused, so far as i am aware, the least interruption of that warm christian friendship which has always existed, or been the occasion of one unkind utterance in all their mutual correspondence. why not so? cannot christians reason with each other, even on subjects of the highest moment, in such a spirit as not only to avoid animosities, but even to increase personal friendship? if this paper should prove the occasion of discussion in our church, let me express the hope that such discussion will be carried on in such a spirit. j.v.n. talmage. bound brook, n.j., october, . history and ecclesiastical relations of the churches of the presbyterial order, at amoy, china. the first protestant missionaries at amoy arrived there in the year . they were dr. abeel of the american reformed dutch church, and bishop boone of the american episcopal church. after these there arrived missionaries of the london missionary society, of the american presbyterian church, of the english presbyterian church, and others of the american reformed dutch church. bishop boone soon left amoy, and no others of his church have since then been stationed there. the american presbyterian mission was removed to other parts of china. at the present time there are three missions at amoy, viz.: the missions of the american reformed dutch church, of the london missionary society, and of the english presbyterian church. the missionaries of the london missionary society are independents or congregationalists, and have organized their churches after the congregational order. thus their churches form a distinct denomination, and nothing further need be said of them in this paper. the first missionary of the english presbyterian church at amoy was dr. jas. young. he arrived in may, . at that time there were two missionaries connected with our (r.d.c.) mission, viz.: rev. e. doty, on the ground, and rev. j.v.n. talmage, absent on a visit to the united states. there were then under our care six native church members. five of them had been baptized by our missionaries at amoy. the other had been baptized in siam, by a congregationalist or presbyterian minister of the a.b.c.f.m. dr. young, being a physician, and not an ordained minister, instead of commencing an independent work, inasmuch as our doctrines and order of church government did not essentially differ from those of his own church, very naturally became more especially associated with us in our work. a school under the care of our mission, of which mr. doty did not feel able to continue the charge, was passed over to his care. he also rendered medical assistance to the missionaries, and to the chinese, both in amoy, and by occasional tours in the country. in his labors he was usually assisted by native christians under our care. the first ordained missionary of the english presbyterian church, at amoy, was rev. william c. burns. he joined dr. young in july, . while he rendered considerable assistance to the brethren of the london missionary society, being ready to preach the gospel at every opportunity, providentially he became especially associated with us, and with the native christians under our care. a remarkable outpouring of the spirit of god had accompanied the labors of rev. mr. burns, in his native land. so the remarkable outpouring of that same spirit in amoy, and vicinity, occurred sometime after his arrival, and much of this good work was manifestly connected with his labors. the permanent work in the country around amoy commenced through his instrumentality, in connection with native members of the church under our care. we desired him to take the charge of that work, and gather a church at peh-chui-ia, under the care of the english presbyterian church. but, at his urgent request, we took the pastoral oversight of the work in that region, administering the sacraments to the native converts. rev. james johnstone, of the same mission, arrived in december, . he undertook the care of the church being gathered at peh-chui-ia, assuming, in behalf of the english presbyterian church, all the expenses thereof, we continuing the pastoral oversight until such time as his knowledge of the language should be sufficient to enable him to relieve us. in consequence of the ill-health of dr. young, he and mr. burns left amoy, in august, . mr. johnstone, in consequence of ill-health, left in may, , before he was able to relieve us fully from the pastoral care of the church at peh-chui-ia. rev. carstairs douglas, of the same mission, arrived at amoy in july, , and immediately entered on the work of mr. johnstone, we continuing the pastoral oversight of the church at peh-chui-ia, until his knowledge of the language enabled him to assume it. before the brethren of the english presbyterian church were able to assume pastoral responsibility, the work spread from peh-chui-ia to chioh-be. it was thought best that we take the charge of that station. after the departure of dr. young, all the missionaries of the english presbyterian church, for several years, were unmarried men. therefore, they resolved to devote themselves more especially to work in the country, leaving to our especial care the church in the city of amoy, and the one out-station at chioh-be. amoy was still necessarily their place of residence. all their work at amoy was in connection with the church under our care. in the country we assisted them as we had opportunity, and as occasion demanded. they did the same for us. in fact, we and they have worked together as one church, and almost as one mission, with the exception of keeping pecuniary matters distinct. more recently the english presbyterian mission was reinforced by one member with a family, and it seemed a proper time for them to commence more direct work at amoy. a very populous suburb (e-mng-kang) was selected as a suitable and promising station. they assumed the immediate care, and all the expense of it, employing, as at all the other stations, indiscriminately, members of their own or of our churches as helpers. we are not afraid that our church will ever blame us for working thus harmoniously, and unitedly, with our english presbyterian brethren, and we feel confident that none of her missionaries would consent to work on any other principles. if there be any who, under similar circumstances, would refuse thus to work, this would be sufficient evidence that they had mistaken their calling. if any blame is to be attached to the course the missionaries have pursued, it is not that they have worked thus in harmony and unison with the english presbyterian brethren, but that they have failed to keep the churches under their care ecclesiastically distinct. some do feel inclined to censure us for this. it must be, however, because of some great misapprehension on their part. the synod has distinctly uttered a contrary sentiment, i.e. that the course of the missionaries is not censurable. we do not believe that our church, when she understands the true state of the case, will ever censure us on this account. it would not be according to the spirit of her master. he prayed that his people might be one, but he never prayed for their separation from each other. when separation is necessary, it is a necessary _evil_. but more of this hereafter. our church might well have censured us, if we had adopted lower principles as her representatives in building up the church of christ in china. the first organization of a church at amoy under our care, by the ordination of a consistory, took place in . the missionaries of our board then on the ground were doty and talmage. mr. douglas was the only missionary of the english presbyterian church. (mr. joralmon, of our church, arrived between the time of the election and the ordination of office-bearers.) when the time came for the organization of the church, we felt a solemn responsibility resting on us. we supposed it to be our duty to organize the church in china with reference simply to its own welfare, and efficiency in the work of evangelizing the heathen around. believing (after due deliberation) that the order of our own church in america would best secure this end, of course we adopted it. we did not suppose that we were sent out to build up the _american_ dutch church in china, but a church after the same order, a purely chinese church. how much the growth and efficiency of our church in this country has been promoted by retaining (rather inserting) the term "_dutch_" in her name, i will not now attempt to discuss. i suppose the principal argument in favor thereof is found in the fact that our church, in the first instance, was a colony from holland. the church in china is not a colony from holland, or america. we must not, therefore, entail on her the double evil of both the terms "_american_" and "_dutch_" or the single evil of either of these terms. your missionaries will never consent to be instrumental in causing such an evil. we had already adopted the order and customs of our church at home, so far as they could be adopted in an unorganized church. the english presbyterian brethren had adopted the same. they found that there were no differences of any importance between us and them; the churches being gathered under our care and under theirs--growing out of each other and being essentially one--neither we nor they could see any sufficient reason for organizing two distinct denominations. especially had _we_ no reason for such a course, inasmuch as they were willing even to conform to our peculiarities. we most cordially invited mr. douglas to unite with us in the organization of the church, and he as cordially accepted of the invitation. in reference to this subject mr. douglas wrote to their corresponding secretary as follows: "i need hardly say that this transaction does not consist in members of one church joining another, nor in two churches uniting, but it is an attempt to build up on the soil of china, with the lively stones prepared by the great master-builder, an ecclesiastical body holding the grand doctrines enunciated at westminster and dort, and the principles of presbyterian polity embraced at the reformation by the purest churches on the continent and in britain; it will also be a beautiful point in the history of this infant church that the under-builders employed in shaping and arranging the stones, were messengers of two different (though not differing,) churches in the two great nations on either side of the atlantic." the course of mr. douglas met with the decided approval of their secretary, and, as he had reason then to believe, and has since fully learned, with the approval of their church. we also sent a communication to our church, addressing it to general synod. we directed it to the care of one of our prominent ministers, for a long time secretary of the board, with the request that it be laid before the church, using language as follows: "you will, doubtless, receive this paper some months before the time for the next meeting of that body [general synod]. we would suggest therefore, that the paper be published, that the members of the next general synod may have the matter before them, and be the better prepared to make such disposition of it as the subject may demand. we feel that the subject is one of very grave importance," &c. our communication was laid before the board of foreign missions. they designated it a _memorial_, and decided that they had no right to publish it. of course we had no means of publishing it ourselves. it was laid before synod among other papers of the board. the action of synod on the subject was as follows (minutes of synod, , pp. - ): "among the papers submitted to the synod is an elaborate document from the brethren at amoy, giving the history of their work there, of its gradual progress, of their intimate connection with missionaries from other bodies, of the formation of the church now existing there, and expressing their views as to the propriety and feasibility of forming a classis at that station. in reply to so much of this paper as respects the establishment of individual churches, we must say that while we appreciate the peculiar circumstances of our brethren, and sympathize with their perplexities, yet it has always been considered a matter of course that ministers, receiving their commission through our church, and sent forth under the auspices of our board, would, when they formed converts from the heathen into an ecclesiastical body, mould the organization into a form approaching as nearly as possible that of the reformed dutch churches in our own land. seeing that the converted heathen, when associated together, must have some form of government, and seeing that our form is, in our view, entirely consistent with, if not required by, the scriptures, we expect it will in all cases be adopted by our missionaries, subject, of course, to such modifications as the peculiar circumstances may for the time render necessary. the converts at amoy, as at arcot and elsewhere, are to be regarded as 'an integral part' of our church, and as such are entitled to all the rights and privileges which we possess. "and so in regard to the formation of a classis. the church at home will undoubtedly expect the brethren to associate themselves into a regular ecclesiastical organization, just as soon as enough materials are obtained to warrant such measure with the hope that it will be permanent. we do not desire churches to be prematurely formed in order to get materials for a classis, nor any other exercise of violent haste. but we equally deprecate unnecessary delay, believing that a regular organization will be alike useful to our brethren themselves, and to those who, under them, are training for the first office-bearers in the christian church on heathen ground. as to the difficulties suggested in the memorial, respecting the different particular synods to which the brethren belong, and the delays of carrying out a system of appellate jurisdiction covering america and china, it is enough to say:--( ) that the presbyterian church (o.s.) finds no insuperable difficulties in carrying into operation her system which comprehends presbyteries and synods in india as well as here; and ( ) that whatever hindrances may at any time arise, this body will, in humble reliance upon the divine aid and blessing, undertake to meet and remove them as far as possible. the church at home assumes the entire responsibility of this matter, and only asks the brethren abroad to carry out the policy, held steadily in view from the first moment when our missions began. "the following resolutions are recommended: "_resolved_, . that the synod view with great pleasure the formation of churches among the converts from heathenism, organized according to the established usages of our branch of zion. " . that the brethren at amoy be directed to apply to the particular synod of albany to organize them into a classis so soon as they shall have formed churches enough to render the permanency of such an organization reasonably certain." it should be noticed that, in the foregoing report, which was adopted by synod, the most important question--the vital question--of our communication, i.e. the _unity_ of the churches under the care of the english presbyterian missionaries and of us, is entirely ignored; and consequently, without the fact being stated, we were directed to divide those churches, and form a part of them into a distinct denomination. if the english presbyterian church had disapproved of the course of their missionaries in uniting with us in organizing the native churches with our peculiarities, we think even that would have been strange. it would have appeared to us as though they were sacrificing some of the essentials of presbyterianism for the sake of non-essentials, for, in our organization, they found all that they hold essential in doctrine, order, and customs. suppose the position of the two missions had been reversed, they had been first on the ground, and when we arrived we found the church being planted and beginning to grow up after their order. if we had found in the church thus growing up _all_ that we hold essential and important, even though it had some little peculiarities which were theirs and not ours, ought not our church to have permitted us to work with them, as they have been permitted to work with us? if such be not the true christian spirit, than we frankly confess that we know not, and despair of ever learning from the word of god, what the christian spirit is on such a subject. but whether such disapproval on the part of the english presbyterian church would have been strange or not, it would not have been so strange as was the decision of our church, that the churches organized by the english presbyterian brethren and by us--all one in fact, growing out of each other, and all adopting our order, should not be organically one. hence, when we learned from our board the decision of synod, we felt (correctly or incorrectly) that there must be some misapprehension. surely our church cannot have correct views of our position, and our course of proceeding. hence, we returned answer to the board as follows:--(letter dated december , .) after speaking of our hearty approval of the course of our church in separating from the a.b.c.f.m., though as individuals we took our leave of that board with feelings of sadness, we remarked: "it seems proper to us also, on the present occasion, to allude to a subject deeply affecting the interests of the little church which god has graciously gathered by our instrumentality from among this people. this church is now small, but we trust that, with a continuance of the divine blessing, the 'little one' will soon 'become a thousand,' and the 'small one a strong nation.' 'the lord will hasten it in his time.' we love this church, and cannot but watch over her interests with jealous care. besides this, the great shepherd has made us under-shepherds, and commanded us to watch over the interests of this flock. we gave a brief history of our work, and an account of the present condition and peculiar circumstances of the churches here under our care, and stated at considerable length our views in reference to the future ecclesiastical relations of these churches, in a paper prepared for the information of our church at home, and addressed to general synod. the facts thus communicated ought to be known by the church. it seems to us very unfortunate that that paper was not published according to our suggestion. it stated facts of grave importance. if we could have had a representative in general synod, the previous publication of our paper might have been unnecessary. but, without such a representative, it was hardly possible that the subject, by a single reading of so long a document, could be brought before the minds of all the members of synod with sufficient clearness.... therefore it is not strange that some of the important points in the paper should have been entirely overlooked, and also that certain grave misconceptions should have got abroad in the church concerning the views expressed by us. "so far as we can judge from the report of the proceedings of synod, as given in the christian intelligencer, one of the most important considerations--perhaps altogether the most important mentioned--why the church, gathered by us here, should not be an _integral part_ of the church in america, was entirely overlooked. that consideration relates to the _unity of christ's church_. our saviour prays: 'holy father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are one.' 'that they all may be one, as thou, father, art in me, and i in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. and the glory which thou gavest me, i have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one.' will our church require of us, will she _desire_ that those here who are altogether _one_--one in doctrine, one in their views of church order, and one in mutual love--be violently separated into two denominations? we cannot believe it. suppose the case of two churches originally distinct. by coming into close contact, and becoming better acquainted with each other, they find that they hold to the same doctrinal standards, and they explain them in the same manner; they have the same form of church government, and their officers are chosen, and set apart in the same way; they have the same order of worship, and of administering the sacraments; all their customs, civil, social, and religious, are precisely alike, and they love each other dearly; should not such churches unite and form but one denomination? yet, such a supposition does not, and cannot, even after you allow all the likeness and unity between the two churches it is possible to conceive of, represent the circumstances of the churches gathered by us, and by our scotch brethren of the english presbyterian church. our [theirs and ours] churches originally were one, and still are one; and the question is not whether those churches shall be united, but, shall they be separated? possibly (not probably) the question will be asked, why were these churches allowed originally to become one? we answer, _god made them so_, and that without any plan or forethought on our part, and now we thank him for his blessing that he has made them one, and that he has blessed them because they are one. "that misconceptions have got abroad in our church concerning our views, we have abundant evidence from various private letters. they were written with the most kindly feelings towards us, but evidently under the impression that we find difficulty in organizing our churches according to the order of the dutch church. we have never found any difficulty of this kind. it is true that when we were called to the solemn duty of _commencing_ a church organization in an empire containing one-third of the inhabitants of the globe, we gave the subject of church polity a more careful investigation than we had ever before given it. the result of this investigation was a cordial (and, as we think, intelligent) approval of the order and forms of our own church. we have commenced our organization according to the order of the dutch church, and we expect to proceed, as fast as the providence and grace of god lead the way, after the same order; and we use the forms of our own church. our presbyterian brethren unite with us in these things. "but it is not strange that such misconceptions should be spread in the church. they are the necessary result of publishing certain remarks made in synod concerning our paper, without publishing the paper itself. "in the report of the synod, synod's board, board of foreign missions, it is said: 'it would have been well if the memorial had been placed, in a printed form, in the hands of the ministry. this they [the missionaries] suggested, but the board felt it was purely a synodical matter--that they could not act in the case.' with all due respect, and with the kindest feelings, we desire to make three remarks on this subject. _first._ we do not understand the principle on which the board felt called upon to decide whether our letter should be published or not. it was not addressed to the board, nor sent to the care of the board. the opinion of members of the board as _individuals_ might have been asked, but we suppose that the board in their official capacity had nothing to do with the paper. _secondly._ inasmuch as the paper emanated from us, if 'it would have been well' to have had it published, our suggestion was a sufficient warrant for its publication. the responsibility would have been ours. it had not yet become a synodical matter. afterwards it would have been a legitimate question for the synod to decide whether they would entertain a paper coming before them in such a manner. this question might well have been left to general synod. _thirdly._ a short time previous to the writing of that paper, unless our memory is greatly at fault, a communication was received from the arcot mission (or classis of arcot), addressed to general synod, which was thus published, according to the request of the arcot brethren, and without the authority of synod. "our position is a somewhat painful one. we desire to give offense to no one, and we do not wish to appear before the church as disputants. we have no controversy with any. we have neither the time nor inclination for controversy. we are 'doing a great work' and cannot 'come down.' yet, our duty to these churches here, and to the church at home, and to our master, demands of us imperatively, that we state fully and frankly our views. we have the utmost confidence in our church. we have proved this by endeavoring to get our views fully known. and we feel grateful for the spirit of kindness towards us manifested in the action of synod, and also in the letters received from fathers and brethren in the ministry, notwithstanding their misconception of our views. but, we have also learned, how easily our views may be mistaken. in our paper, addressed to general synod, when discussing the difficulties in the way of the synod's jurisdiction over churches so far removed in time, distance, and circumstances, we remarked:--'will written correspondence supply the place of representation? it would place our classis under great disadvantages. there must usually be a delay of one or two years on every subject on which there is need of a decision by either synod. if anything is not understood, or is misunderstood, in our communications, there will be no one to explain for us. difficulties of this kind, from want of knowledge of the civil and social circumstances of this people may frequently occur. could we have representatives from among us, they could usually be easily explained; but without this representation, they can only be explained by a long correspondence, which may cause years of delay.' the whole of this misunderstanding, which has arisen out of our first communication, and the length of time and the amount of correspondence which may yet be necessary, before we can see 'eye to eye,' give a striking illustration of the force of these remarks." so far as the preamble and resolutions of the synod of embody the doctrines, and what we supposed to be the policy of our church, we heartily agreed with them. of course we were pained to see that they implied, that, in organizing a church at amoy, we had not proceeded according to the order of our church, or had found great difficulty in doing so. this was altogether a mistake, and was already producing evil results. we think there is another mistake in the preamble. it seems small, but because of this fact, and of its plausibility, it has done more, perhaps, than anything else in leading our church into the false position which she seems now to occupy. therefore, we should examine it with some care. it is the assumption, as a matter of course, that, "the converts at amoy" are "an _integral part_ of our church," in this country. what made them so? is it because they were converted through the instrumentality of the preaching of our missionaries? this is a new doctrine, that a convert as a matter of course belongs to the church of the preacher through whose instrumentality he has been led unto christ. perhaps it was the doctrine of some of the corinthians, when they said, "i am of paul, and i of apollos," &c., but it was not the doctrine of the apostle who reproved them. besides this, how shall we know which of them were converted through our instrumentality? the english presbyterian brethren and ourselves have preached indiscriminately. is it because they were baptized by our missionaries? but many of them were baptized by the english presbyterian brethren. they have baptized in our churches, and we in theirs. if they be an _integral part_ of the dutch church in america, they are also an integral part of the presbyterian church in england. we, it is true, baptized a majority, say two-thirds. are they, then, two-thirds of an integral part in america, and one-third of an integral part in england? no. the whole is a fallacy. each individual church there is an integral part of the whole of them. all together, they form an _integer_. they might by the act of our church, and _a correlative act on their own part_, become an integral part of the church in america? in a similar way they might become an integral part of the church in england. they are now an _integer_ of themselves. to make one portion of them an integral part of the church in this country, and another portion an integral part of the church in england, is to be guilty of causing _a violent rupture_. we felt that the consequences were so momentous, that, before we should allow ourselves to be instrumental in thus (as we supposed) rending the "body of christ" at amoy, we should make another effort to get the facts before the church. as yet, we could not, if we would, carry out the resolution of synod, and organize a classis in connection with the particular synod of albany, for, it was not till several years after, only very recently, that we had materials "enough to render the permanency of such an organization reasonably certain." therefore we wrote, as above, under date of december , , and frequently wrote on the subject, as occasion offered. although our views were not made public (the board judging that they had no right, or that it would not be for the good of the church, and the interests of the mission, to publish them), still we continued to prosecute our labors, in connection with the english presbyterian brethren, receiving and giving mutual assistance. we were encouraged thus to continue our work: . because of letters we received from home, some of them written by individuals who were able advocates of the decision of the synod of . they told us that it could not be otherwise than that a separation must come between us and the brethren of the english presbyterian church, but they would not have us inaugurate that separation. . (and more important) because a marvelous blessing from on high was attending our labors. . (and most important) because we knew this harmonious and mutual assistance to be entirely in accordance with the spirit of the gospel. in process of time a church was organized at chioh-be by the appointment of elders and deacons, then at peh-chui-ia, then at mapeng, and then the church at amoy was divided into two distinct organizations. thus we had five organized churches, all of our order--the elders and deacons chosen and set apart according to our forms, and all our forms in use so far as there was yet occasion for them. two of these churches were under the especial care of the english presbyterians, and pecuniarily the work was sustained by funds collected in england and scotland. the other three were under our especial care. the pecuniary expenses, beyond what the native churches could themselves raise, were borne by our church at home. one of the essential principles of our church polity is, that individual churches are not independent of each other. they are members one of another. they are to be subject to each other. they are individual parts of a whole. each part should be subject to the whole. hence the necessity of higher judicatories. thus we felt that these five churches had a right to an ecclesiastical organization, by which they might enjoy this essential principle of presbyterianism. [i trust we shall hear no more of the charge that the missionaries at amoy are congregationalists.] but we were afraid to give this organization to the native churches, lest we should give offense at home. we knew that we were misunderstood, and as yet could see no way to make the church acquainted with our position and our views. if the master should plainly call us to go forward, of course we must obey, and leave the results with him. these churches, having grown out of each other, were essentially one, and were as closely united together as it was possible for them to be, without a formal organization. the first formal meeting of all these churches was held at chioh-be (a church under _our_ care), in . no ecclesiastical power was assumed. the next similar meeting was held in april, , in the churches at amoy. this was still more formal. it was composed of all the missionaries of our own and of the english presbyterian church, and of one representative elder from each of the five organized churches. this body may be called an incipient classis. the only ecclesiastical power exercised, however, was connected with church discipline. heretofore each individual church, in connection with the missionaries, had exercised the power of discipline, even to excommunication. now certain cases of excommunication were referred by individual consistories to, and acted on by, this body. is it necessary to defend such acts? we felt that if each individual church could exercise such power, and the principles of our presbyterianism be scriptural, then could a body, composed of the representatives of these churches, together with the missionaries, with safety exercise such power. it was approaching as nearly as possible to the practice of our church at home. we expected soon to be called to the performance of ecclesiastical acts more momentous. already had two of the churches chosen two of the native members, who were now engaged in careful study, that in due time they might be set apart to the office of the ministry of the word, and ordained pastors of the churches respectively choosing them. but for reasons given above we would not go forward faster than we were plainly led by the hand of providence. therefore, while the missionaries, in presence of this assembly, examined these pastors-elect, in reference to their qualifications for the office of pastor, the body, as such, took no part in the examination. this incipient classis met next in the autumn of the same year at peh-chui-ia, a church under the care of the english presbyterian brethren. at this meeting it became a real classis, not fully developed as a classis in a mature church, but possessing the constituent elements and performing the functions of a classis. not only were there cases of discipline to act on, but a distinct application was made by one of the churches, that a pastor be ordained, and placed over them. the body decided, not only that they had the right, but that the plain call of the great head of the church made it their duty to go forward in this matter. preliminary steps were taken, other meetings of classis were appointed and held, candidates were examined, calls presented and approved, until early in the present year the first and second churches at amoy had each a native pastor ordained and installed over them. by the authority of this classis, in the early part of this year, a third church was organized at amoy according to our order. it is in the suburb called e-mng-kang, and is under the especial care of the english presbyterian brethren, as mentioned in a previous part of this paper. so now there are six organized churches, all of the same order, and some others almost ready to be organized. if the missionaries at amoy have been guilty of any great mistake, it has been in this matter of forming such a classis, and proceeding to the ordination and installation of native pastors, and the organization of new churches. therefore, this subject demands a careful examination. when we commenced the work among the heathen, it was found that the constitution of our church had made no provision for such work beyond the simple ordaining of men as missionaries. we might preach the gospel, but no provision was made for receiving into church fellowship, administering the sacraments, electing and ordaining office-bearers, and all the incipient steps of the organization of the church from among the heathen. the constitution was made for the government of a church already organized and matured, and in america; therefore, it is not strange that such things were not provided for. our duty seemed very plain. we must fall back on the great principles of church government taught in the word of god. we believed these principles to be set forth in the constitution, and other standards of our church. when, through the instrumentality of the preached word, men gave satisfactory evidence that they had experienced "the renewing of the holy ghost," without the advice of consistories, by virtue of our office of ministers of the word, we administered to them the sacrament of baptism, thus admitting them into the church. now the lord's supper must be administered to these believers, baptism to their infant children, and to new converts, and the discipline of god's house maintained. by virtue of that same office, and by virtue of the authority given by the master to his church, we felt that we had the right, aye, that it was our bounden duty, to perform such acts. we could not yet for a long time set apart a proper consistory, but we must not therefore be "lords over god's heritage." in receiving new members, and in all acts of discipline, we must advise with the church already gathered. the church grew, and in due time a consistory was called for; must the work stop, because the constitution had made no provision? no. the little church had the right to choose men, and having chosen suitable men, it was our duty to ordain them. the authority we thus exercised was not usurped, but was implied in the commission we received from our master through the church. the same may be said of the authority of the brethren at amoy, when, in connection with the representative elders of the various churches, they proceeded to the ordination of native pastors, and the organization of new churches. it was not necessary for the performance of every act to get a new commission from the church. when the church sent us out, the one commission contained all the authority necessary for the complete organization of the church. it is an absurdity to deny, on _constitutional grounds_, the right of the missionaries to perform these last acts unless you deny their right to perform all their other acts except the simple preaching of the gospel. their acts were all _extra_, not _contra_ constitutional. if their authority thus to act be justified in reference to the former acts, and denied in reference to the latter, the justification and denial must be on other grounds than the constitution of our church. will any one assert that the classis thus formed at amoy is not a classis _de facto_? or that the native pastors ordained and installed by that body are not _scripturally_ set apart to their offices, and that its other acts are null and void? if so, then, as yet, there are no organized churches--no consistories--at amoy, and there have been no scriptural baptisms, for all ecclesiastical acts performed there, have been performed on the same principles, and by the same authority. no one will have the hardihood to assert such a doctrine. it will be admitted that there is a classis _de facto_ at amoy. then it is competent to perform all the functions of a classis. but it will not be contended that that classis is a part of the dutch church in america. yet it is essentially like a classis in america, just so far as the present state of development of the church at amoy, and its chinese character, render likeness possible. it is _chinese_, not _american_. the organization of such a church is what we always supposed required of us. we never imagined that we were sent to organize the _american_ dutch church in china. if your missionaries are allowed to proceed, and are not required to repel the english presbyterian brethren from their united labors with us, there will be but one church at amoy of the presbyterian order. with the continued blessing of god on such harmonious labor, it will be _the church_ of that region. it will be dear to both the presbyterian church in england, and to our church in this land, and peculiarly dear to our church in this country, because of its dutch characteristics. your missionaries will still be your agents, responsible to the church at home, as they have always been. the near relation to the church in this land, which they have always held, they desire to retain. the late action of synod contemplates the _formation of two denominations at amoy of the presbyterian order, giving our peculiarities to one-half instead of to the whole, thus producing rivalries, injuring the efficiency of the native churches, and making the relation of the missionaries to the church at home more distant, thus weakening your hold on them_, and all, as we think, without any remunerating advantages. but before we proceed to the discussion of this subject, a few other preliminaries demand some attention. the english presbyterians, as they are accustomed to speak of all the classes of our church in america, call this classis at amoy "_a presbytery_." hence the question has been put to us with all sincerity and gravity, "is it a _classis_, or is it a _presbytery_?" some seem to be afraid that the church we are forming will be half dutch and half presbyterian, and that it will soon be swallowed up by the presbyterians! are there any ministers, or elders, or intelligent members of the dutch church, who have yet to learn that a classis is a presbytery, and that the dutch church is a presbyterian church? surely not. why, then, such questions and suggestions? can they be designed to prejudice the church at home against the ecclesiastical body which has grown up at amoy? we will not impute such a motive, and, therefore, i merely say that we are surprised at all such remarks. it is proper for the english presbyterian brethren to speak of the _presbytery_ at amoy. they never speak of it as an _english_ presbytery. they do not regard it as a part of the church in england, but as a purely chinese church. they have liberality enough to assist in building up such a church, even though it has some things peculiar to us, for it has all the essentials of their own order. will it not seem to them that our church is deficient in liberality, when they learn the decision of the last synod? in connection with this subject, it is proper to speak more particularly of the liberality of the english presbyterian church. when it is remembered that that church is really a branch of the free church of scotland, it will not be supposed that their liberality is the result of indifference to anything which they regard essential or important. seldom has our world witnessed such sacrifice for the sake of principle as was exhibited by that church, when she came out from the establishment. their liberality is a beautiful illustration of the christian spirit. the course of their missionaries at the first organization of a church at amoy, and the approval thereof, have been already alluded to. in consequence of the recent formation of a classis, the subject naturally came up again this year. it was laid before their synod, which met a few weeks previous to ours. in the report of their foreign committee, which corresponds to our board of foreign missions, the following language is used in reference to the church at amoy: "as all the elements of presbyterian organization thus existed [each church having native elders], a further step was taken last april [ ], when a presbytery was constituted at amoy by mutual consent, consisting of all the american brethren and our own, as well as representative elders from the several congregations. its name is neither the greek 'presbytery' employed in this country, nor is it the latin 'classis,' which has long been used in holland; but it is 'tai tiong-lo-hoey,' or great meeting of elders, genuine chinese, and a hopeful earnest of the facility with which our representative and consultative system of polity will find its way among a sensible and self-governing people. of course it is not intended that this presbytery should in any way come between the missionaries themselves and the committee or board by which the respective missions are administered at home; but for the management of local matters, for disposing of questions which may arise in the several congregations, and in regard to which a session may require counsel or control; and for the very important purpose of exemplifying in the most legitimate way ecclesiastical unity, it is essential that missionaries and native office-bearers should come together in some such capacity. the proceedings are conducted in chinese, which is the only language understood by all the members of court, and it is in chinese that the minutes are kept. three meetings have already been held. at the last, held in january, important business was transacted affecting the st and d congregations of amoy, both of which are under the immediate superintendence of the american mission. each congregation is desirous of the settlement of a stated pastor, and each has agreed to call a minister, the one congregation promising a stipend of $ a month, and the other $ . the calls were sustained, and the presbytery agreed to meet on february st, to proceed with the 'trials' of the brethren thus elected. as these proved satisfactory, sabbath, the th of last month, was appointed as the day for their ordination. "dr. peltz, the esteemed corresponding secretary of the board of foreign missions of the r.p.d.c. of n.a., has apprised the committee, that it is possible that a presbytery of this composite character may not secure the approval of their synod. in separating from the a.b.c.f.m., and in setting up a separate and ecclesiastically organized mission, that synod was anxious to introduce into its different mission fields a system of church government which it believed to be scriptural, and adapted to all lands. consequently, in these mission fields it sought to form classes or presbyteries which should be connected with provincial and general synods in the same way as are the classes on the american continent. and dr. peltz is apprehensive lest the general synod in america should regard as a deviation from this plan the amalgamation in one presbytery of their own agents with those of another church. "we are hopeful, however, that on further consideration, our brethren in america may allow their missionaries in china to continue the present arrangement, at least until such time as it is found that actual difficulties arise in the way of carrying it out. 'behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity;' and there are few brethren towards whom we feel closer affinity than the members of that church, which was represented of old by gomarus and witsius, by voet and marck, and bernard de moore, and whose synod of dort preceded in time, and pioneered in doctrine, our own westminster assembly. like them, we love that presbyterianism and that calvinism which we hold in common, and we wish to carry them wherever we go; but we fear that it would not be doing justice to either, and that it might compromise that name which is above every other, if, on the shores of china, we were to unfurl a separate standard. we would, therefore, not only respectfully recommend to the synod to allow its missionaries to unite, presbyterially as well as practically, with the brethren of the r.d.c.; but we would express the earnest hope that the synod of the sister church in america may find itself at liberty to extend to its missionaries a similar freedom." these sentiments were _unanimously_ adopted by the synod of the english presbyterian church. it seems perfectly reasonable that two churches of christ so nearly alike, in attempting to plant the church of christ in the same place in a heathen land, should strive, if possible, to form their converts into one organization. the existence of different denominations in the same place in any christian land, at the best, is only a necessary evil. god may bring some good out of this evil, but this is not a sufficient reason why we should create such divisions, for their own sake. hence, the liberality of the english presbyterian church is so manifestly in accordance with the christian spirit, that it might have attracted no especial notice from us. but the proceedings of our own synod, by contrast, as it seems to us, have forced it out in bold relief. _they_ were willing to support their missionaries in laboring with ours, and building up a chinese church, not differing essentially from theirs, but with some characteristics peculiar to ours. _we_, though the church thus organized has not only all the essentials but all the peculiarities of our own church, still refuse such christian co-operation, preferring to rend asunder the church already formed, and organize a part of it a distinct denomination, connected with the church in america. i cannot yet believe that such is the sentiment of our church. there must be some great misapprehension. but such is really the decision of the last synod. here is the language of the committee which was adopted by the general synod: "your committee do not see any propriety in re-enacting the law of already quoted, because it has never been repealed, and remains therefore in full force and virtue. nor, if the reasoning in this report be correct, would they have the law repealed, believing as they do, that the maintenance of the principle contained in it is essential to the success of our missionary operations in foreign parts, and to the wholesome liberality of the church at home. "the committee are not prepared, however, to recommend that any violent or coercive resolutions should be adopted for the purpose of constraining our brethren in amoy to a course of procedure which would rudely sever the brotherly ties that unite them with the missionaries of the english presbyterian church. but a christian discretion will enable them, on the receipt of the decision of the present synod in this matter, now under consideration, to take such initial steps as are necessary to the speedy formation of a classis. much must be left to their discretion, prudence, and judgment. but of the wish and expectation of this synod to have their action conform, as soon as may be, to the resolutions of , your committee think the brethren at amoy should be distinctly informed. they therefore offer the following: " . _resolved_, that the general synod, having adopted and tested its plan of conducting foreign missions, can see no reason for abolishing it, but, on the contrary, believe it to be adapted to the promotion of the best interests of the foreign missionary churches, and of the denomination supporting them. " . that the board of foreign missions be, and hereby is, instructed to send to our missionaries a copy or copies of this report, as containing the well-considered deliverance of the synod respecting their present relations and future duty. " . that the secretary of the foreign board be, and hereby is, directed to send to the rev. dr. hamilton, of london, convener of the presbyterian committee, a copy of this report, with a copy of the action of , and that he inform him by letter of the wishes and expectations of the synod respecting the ecclesiastical relations which this body desires its churches in amoy to sustain to it." the above is only an extract from the close of the report of the committee, and contains the result at which they arrived. in reference to it we would make three remarks. ( ). it (res. ) seems rather a cavalier answer to the fraternal wish of the synod of the english presbyterian church, as expressed in their action. ( .) the action of synod is made to rest (res. ) on the fact that synod had "tested" this "plan of conducting foreign missions." if this be so, and the plan had been found by experiment unobjectionable, the argument is not without force. but how and where has this test been applied, and found so satisfactory? our church has three missions among the heathen: one in india, one in china, and one in japan. has it been tested in japan? no. they have not yet a single _native_ church. has it been tested in china? if so, the missionaries were not aware of it. the test applied there has been of an opposite character, and has been wonderfully successful. the test has only been applied in india, and has only _begun_ to be applied even there. there, as yet, there is but one native pastor. their classis is more american than indian. we must wait until they have a native classis, before the test can be pronounced at all satisfactory. true, that mission has been very successful since they formed what is called a classis in connection with the synod in america. but has it been more successful than the mission at amoy? compare the amount of labor and the money expended on the two missions, and then look at the results, and thus decide about the tests. it is in no spirit of vainglory that we call for such a comparison. studiously have we avoided it, and the responsibility must rest on those who compel us to it. ( .) no consideration is had for the feelings, wishes, or opinions of the native churches. some consideration is shown for the feelings of the english presbyterian missionaries. this is as it ought to be. yet it is a matter of _comparatively_ little importance. _the inalienable rights of the native churches, their relation to each other, their absolute unity--things of the utmost consequence_--are not at all regarded, are entirely ignored! it would have occupied too much space to have quoted the whole of the report of the committee. the preceding part of it occupies nearly six pages of the minutes of synod. yet we may not pass that part over in silence, for, while with much of its contents we have no dispute, it contains some grave mistakes of fact, and, as we think, some very grave errors of doctrine. it grieves me to say thus much, and also to feel compelled to add the following strictures. but, in order to discuss this subject, duty required the careful examination of the whole of the report, and, finding in it such errors, the clear statement of them. it might be easy, perhaps, to account for the fact, that mistakes, in a report, unprinted, and of such length, should escape the notice of synod, but an attempt to apologize for that body might give occasion to infer more disrespect than simply to point out the mistakes. after some introductory remarks, chiefly concerning the difficulty of their task, the committee "begin with the assertion of principles." these they make three in number. the sum of the first principle is that _a church, by divine arrangement, has government_. the essential idea of their second principle, so far as we can understand it, is, that _the dutch church has a clearly defined government_. the missionaries at amoy, as well as the ministers in this country, admit both these principles fully. but they do not affect the question in dispute. not so with the third principle of the committee. lest i might be supposed to misrepresent, i will quote their own language: "no government can, voluntarily, relinquish its powers, and abnegate its authority without thereby inviting disorder, disquietude, and, in the end, its destruction." is this, indeed, as the committee assert, one of the "admitted principles" of our church? one of the "convictions in the mind of our church, hardly separable in idea from its very existence?" one of the "old truths maintained through blood and flame?" if the doctrine be true, the church in holland had no right to relinquish its authority over the church in america. if this doctrine be a "principle" of our church, never, _never_ could your missionaries consent to be instrumental in bringing the church in china, which now has liberty in christ jesus, into such _perpetual_ bondage. once bring the chinese churches under the authority of the church in america, and it matters not how great may be their growth, and how many centuries may pass away, the church in america can never relinquish her authority over them! but this is not an "admitted principle" of our church. the dutch church is _protestant_, not _papal_. instead of the principle being one of the "_old truths_ maintained through blood and flame" by her, it is an _old error of the papacy_, for rejecting which she poured out her blood so freely, and would do the same to-day. yet in the report of the committee this error of romanism, guilty of the blood of thousands upon thousands of the saints of the most high, is made to lie at the basis of the action of the last synod! the committee next proceed to the statement of "certain historic facts." as with the "admitted principles," so with the "historic facts." with some of them we have no dispute. but when they come to describe the present condition and relations of the churches at amoy, their language, to say the least, is very unfortunate. "these six churches," say they, "have grown up together under such an interchange and community of labor on the part of our own missionaries, and on the part of those belonging to the english presbyterian church, that all are said to have a two-fold ecclesiastical relation--one with england--one with america, and still a third, and economical and domestic relation among themselves, which is covered and controlled by what is styled 'the great presbyterial or classical council of amoy.'" we do not know by whom these native churches "are said" to have a two-fold or three-fold _ecclesiastical_ relation. it is not so said by the missionaries. they contend that the native churches are neither english, nor american, but _chinese_ churches. they are ecclesiastically related to each other, and ought to remain so. but the effort is now made to sever this ecclesiastical relation to each other, and bring half of them into ecclesiastical relationship with the church in america, making them the protestant reformed dutch church of _north america, in china_! at present the native churches have an intimate, but not an _ecclesiastical_, relation to both the church in england and america. from the above mistaken statement the committee have drawn out three "_particulars_" which they seem to think especially worthy of note. " st. that while this chinese presbyterial or classical council is itself an autonomy--having the right to ordain ministers, exercise discipline, and do whatever else a 'self-regulating classis' or presbytery can or may do, still the whole in england is claimed to be the presbytery of amoy, and to this synod it is reported as the classis of amoy." how dreadful! english presbyterians call the body at amoy a _presbytery_, and american dutchmen call it a _classis_! if this language is also meant to imply that the classis at amoy is usurping authority, it is answered in other parts of this paper. the next "particular" of the committee is: " d. the missionaries, while they are members of this grand presbyterial or classical council, exercising full ministerial functions in it, are, at the same time, members either of classes in america, or of presbyteries in great britain." the meaning of this second "particular" is, that the missionaries have a two-fold ecclesiastical relation. is there anything contrary to scripture doctrine, or to presbyterian principles, or to common sense, that ecclesiastical relations should correspond to fact?--that the missionaries should have some sort of an ecclesiastical relation, both to the church at home and to the church in china? they have a peculiar relationship to both these churches. why forget or ignore the fact that they are _evangelists_ and _not pastors_? why object to an ecclesiastical relationship exactly corresponding to, and required by, their office and position? the two parts of this relationship do not contradict each other. they are altogether correlative. the missionaries are still agents of the church which sent them out. their ecclesiastical relation to it should be direct, that they may be controlled by it, independent of any intermediate body. the church at home cannot afford to cut off her missionaries from this immediate relationship so long as they remain her agents. this does not conflict with, but requires some sort of a corresponding relationship to the churches planted and growing up through their instrumentality. their relationship to those churches must have reference especially to local matters, for the proper organization, and control, and development of the native churches, not at all to be controlled by them. when they cease to be agents of the church at home, and become the proper _pastors_ of the native churches, then will be the proper time to put themselves under the control of the native churches, instead of the church at home. we must not confound _evangelization_ with _colonization_. does any one imagine that paul and barnabas, and timothy and titus, or any of them (for they were not all apostles), had connection with the church which sent them out, _only_ through the churches and ecclesiastical bodies organized by them? or that they were in any sense under the control of those bodies? the next and last "particular" of the committee is " d. that while the churches, three at least, are organized under and according to the constitution of our church, it is, nevertheless, claimed that the members of said churches are not more members of the reformed dutch church here, than they are members of the presbyterian church of england." the words of this third "particular" are almost (not quite) accurate. yet they appear to us like special pleading. they would have been strictly correct if they had run as follows: "these churches are _all_ (why say, '_three at least_'?) organized according to (not '_under_'--see pages - ) the constitution of our church. therefore it is claimed that they form a church of our order in china, but that the members thereof are neither members of the reformed dutch church here, nor members of the presbyterian church in england." such are the facts. it would have been better if the committee had so stated them. the effort is now made to divide these churches, and make three of them a part of the dutch church in america. there is one more paragraph in the report of the committee which demands notice. it is: "your committee can easily understand how reluctantly our missionaries may have been, or may still be, to disturb, or alter, or modify the relations of the churches at amoy. but they conceive it to be their duty to say that feeling should never be allowed to take the place of conscience, nor to discharge its functions; and so long as our missionaries claim to be subordinate to the authority of general synod, they should allow this body to assume the responsibility of its chosen and deliberate policy." it seems to us the committee are not much more fortunate on the subject of casuistry, than on church "government" and "historic facts." the missionaries do "claim to be subordinate to the authority of general synod," but they also claim to be subordinate to the _supreme authority_. now suppose--we shall not be charged with insubordination for the mere supposition--suppose the synod, through some misapprehension, should direct us to pursue a course, which, after the most mature reflection, we felt to be injurious to the cause of christ, and consequently contrary to his will--will the fact of the synod "assuming the responsibility" clear our skirts? who is the lord of conscience? general synod? it seems to us, while the committee conceive it to be their duty to deliver to the missionaries at amoy a lecture on the importance of giving heed to conscience, in the very same sentence they direct us to hold conscience in abeyance. but where did the committee learn that their missionaries were influenced by _feelings_ and not by _conscience_, and that too in reference to the laying of the foundation of the church of christ in such an empire as that of china; that they felt called upon in this solemn manner to deliver such a lecture? would such a reflection have been cast on any other body of ministers in our church? or is it supposed that men who give themselves to the work of preaching the gospel in heathen lands are less under the influence of conscience than those who remain at home? _they conceived it to be their duty!_ was it? so much for the report of the committee of synod. the decision of synod has been given, as stated above. the important question now is, what will be the result of this decision on the church at amoy? this question, however, cannot yet be answered with certainty, for we cannot yet even guess what course the missionaries there, when they learn the decision of synod, will feel it their duty to pursue. there may be more, but i can now only think of three ways open before them. ( .) _to ask the board to recall them._ they firmly believe that their course of proceeding, in organizing the church at amoy, is not only in accordance with the teachings of the holy scriptures, but also with the principles of our church. to be the instruments, then, of dividing the church, which god has gathered by their hands, may be to sin against their consciences. they may therefore ask the board to appoint other agents to carry out the decision of synod. this would not be insubordination, but perfect subordination both to the authority of synod and also to that authority which all protestant christians acknowledge to be _supreme_. this, i suppose, would be the most natural course for the brethren to take, except for one consideration; that is, their love for the churches gathered by them, or under their care, and their responsibility in reference to the spiritual welfare of those disciples of the lord. it would be the severest trial they have ever been called on to endure to be recalled from their work. therefore ( .) _they may delay their action_, making one more effort to get their views published, hoping that the church will yet change her decision, and not require of them to engage in a proceeding which they think will be so injurious to the cause of christ; but, on the contrary, will approve of the course heretofore adopted by them as altogether scriptural, and the true doctrine of our church. or ( .) they may _possibly_, after mature reflection, think the _least evil_ will be _to carry out the decision of synod_, although that decision be altogether contrary to their own judgment. then they will take three of the six churches, which now are all of our order, and organize these three a separate denomination and an integral part of the church in america. this is the course which at home will be generally expected of them. now let us suppose that they will adopt this third course, and then let us look calmly at its results--at the supposed or real advantages thereof, and the supposed or real evils thereof. we first look at the _advantages_. . the most important is, or is supposed to be, that there will thus be higher courts of jurisdiction to which appeals may be made, and by which orthodoxy and good order may be the better secured to the church at amoy. such advantages, if they can be thus secured, we would by no means underrate. there sometimes are cases of appeal for which we need the highest court practicable--the collective wisdom of the church so far as it can be obtained; and the preservation of orthodoxy and good order is of the first importance. now let us see whether the plan proposed will secure these advantages. let us suppose that one of the brethren feels himself aggrieved by the decision of the classis of amoy, and he appeals to the particular synod of albany, and thence to the general synod. he will not be denied the right to such appeal. but, in order that the appeal may be properly prosecuted and disposed of, the appellant and the representative of classis should be present in these higher courts. can this be secured? is the waste of time, of a year or more, nothing? and where shall the thousands of dollars of necessary expense come from? now suppose this appellant to be a chinese brother. he also has rights. but how, on this plan, can he possibly obtain them? suppose (which of itself is an absurdity) that the money be raised for him, and he is permitted to stand on the floor of synod. he cannot speak, read, or write a word of english. not a member of synod can speak, read, or write a word of his language, except it be the brother prosecuting him. i ask, is it possible for him thus to obtain justice? but, waiving all these disadvantages, the only points on which there is the least probability that an appeal of a chinese brother would come up before the higher courts, are points on which these higher courts would not be qualified to decide. they would doubtless grow out of the peculiar customs and laws of the chinese--points on which the missionary, after he has been on the ground a dozen years, often feels unwilling to decide, and takes the opinion of the native elders in preference to his own. is it right to impose a yoke like this on that little church which god is gathering by your instrumentality in that far-off land of china? but it is said, that these cases of appeal (because of impracticability) will very rarely or never happen. be it so; then this supposed advantage will seldom or never occur, and if it should occur, it would prove a disadvantage. the highest practical court of appeal for the native churches can be secured only on the plan for which the missionaries contend. why must we deprive the native christians of the benefit of the collective wisdom of all the churches of like doctrine and order among them? as regards orthodoxy and good order, it is incumbent on the church at home to use her utmost endeavors to secure these. doubtless this was the great design of synod, both in the action of and in the action of . but will the plan of synod give us any greater security for these things? how can they be secured? we answer, under god, _only_ through your missionaries. the greater your hold on your missionaries, the better security for the churches under their care. the plan of synod would place your missionaries _ecclesiastically_ almost beyond your control. they must be dismissed from the various classes in this country, and, together with the native churches under their care, form themselves into a chinese classis. either they will have a controlling influence over the native portion of this classis or they will not. if they have, then your only way to discipline them will be to discipline their classis. it would be a new doctrine in our church, to make the board of foreign missions an _ecclesiastical_ medium between the synod and one of its classes, or to enforce discipline over the ministry by the _money rod_. the classis, _as such_, must be disciplined by the direct act of synod. or, suppose the missionaries do not have such controlling influence over the native members of classis, for the native members will outnumber, and, unless the action of synod (as we greatly fear) seriously retard the work at amoy, will very soon greatly outnumber the missionaries. what then? your missionaries are under the ecclesiastical control of the native converts. their doctrines and morals are to be decided on by a court composed mainly of recent converts from heathenism. the only way to bring them before the higher courts in this country, is through this native court, as we have already seen, almost an impossibility. is it not plain that the church at home will not thus have a moiety of the control over her missionaries she now has? is this the way to keep the church at amoy sound and pure? it seems to be supposed by some that the missionaries desire to be separated from the control of the church at home. this is altogether a mistake, and another result of withholding their views from the public. they have no such desire. the contrary is altogether the fact. they do not desire to be placed under the control of the native chinese churches. they did not derive their authority from those churches, they are not sustained by them, and they are in no sense their agents, but they derive their authority through, are sustained by, and are altogether the agents of the church in this country; therefore the church at home has and should retain control over them. they are amenable to the church at home, through their several classes. these are the only courts qualified to take cognizance of their doctrines and morals. they desire to remain in this relation. we think they have a right to demand this, until such time as they become agents of the church in china, instead of the church in america. suppose by some means suspicion should arise at home concerning the orthodoxy or morality of one or more of your missionaries. on the plan proposed, what can the church do with them? may the board of missions, on mere report or suspicion, recall them without giving them a proper trial? can the board try them? no. it is not an ecclesiastical court. will the church be satisfied with the decision of a court, a majority of whose members have recently been converted from heathenism through the instrumentality of these very missionaries? but continue the plan of the missionaries and all will be simple. if any of the missionaries give occasion for suspicion, let them be tried by their proper classes in this country. this is all that the church at home can do _ecclesiastically_ towards keeping the church pure in china. whether the proposed _nominal_ union be consummated or not, the only hold you will have on the chinese churches will be through your missionaries. if they will not receive the instructions, and listen to the advice of your missionaries and of the synod through them, you would not expect them to obey the injunctions of synod. your only other resort will be to withhold from them help. can you not do the same now? but in all this discussion, i fear, we lose sight too much of our dependence on the head of the church to keep his church pure. sure i am that the church in china cannot be kept pure by legislation on this, the opposite side of the globe. but we expect christ to reign over, and the holy spirit to be given to the churches, and the proper ecclesiastical bodies formed of them in china as well as in this land. why not? such are the promises of god. the way to secure these things is by prayer, and the preaching of the pure gospel, not by legislation. let the church be careful in her selection of missionaries. send only such as she has confidence in--men of god, sound in the faith, apt to teach--and then trust them, or recall them. don't attempt to control them contrary to their judgment. strange if this, which is so much insisted on as the policy of our church, be right, that she cannot get a single man, of all she sends out to china, to think so. can it be that the missionary work is so subversive of right reason, or of correct judgment, or of conscientiousness, that all become perverted by engaging in it? . another supposed advantage is the effect it will have in enlisting the sympathies of the church in behalf of the mission at amoy. it is said, tell the church that we have a flourishing classis at amoy, a part of ourselves, connected with general synod, just like all the other classes of our church, the effect will be wonderful in enlisting sympathy, money, and men in behalf of that mission; otherwise the opposite evil must be apprehended. if these things be so, they are indeed of grave importance. the mission in china cannot live without the sympathy of the church at home. but are these things so? it seems to us that the supposition takes for granted that our church in its missionary work is influenced by a desire for self-glory, or self-gratification; or, at least, that she is not a church of liberal views--that she is not at all to be compared, in this respect, with the english presbyterian church, or the free church of scotland. allusion has already been made to the liberality of the english presbyterian church. i may now also remark that a large amount of the funds for carrying on the work at amoy is raised in scotland from members of the free church. they never had any idea that the churches gathered in china were to be a part of their own church. they do not even ask that they be a part of their sister church in england. they only ask that they shall be sound in the faith and hold to the essentials of presbyterianism, even though they have some characteristics peculiar to the dutch and other reformed churches. these presbyterian brethren in england and scotland are not only ready to support their own missionaries in their work of building up the churches under their especial care, but they stand ready to assist the missionaries of our church in building up the churches under our especial care. of their frequent offers to assist us, when they feared we should be in want of funds, our board can bear testimony. we are not yet willing to believe that our people are a people of narrow views in a matter like this. it is contrary to our history in time past. it is contrary to the facts of the present day. it is contrary to all my observation among our churches. our people do not first ask whether it be building _ourselves_ up, before they sympathize with a benevolent object. we believe the contrary is the exact truth. it requires a liberal policy to call forth liberal views and action. as regards the enlisting of men, look at the facts. every man who has gone out from among you, to engage in this missionary work, begs of you not to adopt a narrow policy. so in regard to obtaining of funds. usually, the men who are most liberal in giving are most liberal in feeling. this must be so in the very nature of things. the way to alienate the sympathies of the church from the mission at amoy is to divide the church there by a sectarian policy; and the way to enlist her sympathies is to continue the former plan, and let the work go forward with the divine blessing as in days past. the people will be more encouraged, and praise god more heartily, when you tell them of six organized churches like our own, and many others growing up all around, than they will if you tell them of only three churches, and only a few out-stations, under our care. they will not object to hear that the english presbyterian brethren are laboring with us, and organizing churches so nearly like our own. however powerful the motive addressed to the desire to build up our own church, there are motives infinitely more powerful. such are the motives to be depended on in endeavoring to elevate the standard of liberality among our people. let brethren in the ministry try the experiment, and tell their people of the wonders of god's grace:--that he has led his servants from our own church in this land, and from the presbyterian church in great britain, in their work of evangelizing the heathen, and laying the foundation of the church of christ, to lay aside all national animosities, and rise above all denominational prejudices and jealousies--that he has given to the presbyterian church in england, and the sister church in scotland, a spirit of catholicity and liberality as exhibited in the previous part of this paper--and that, as a consequence, he is causing his church to grow up in the region of amoy in beautiful proportions, all the congregations under their care and ours also manifesting the same spirit of catholicity and liberality, submitting to each other according to the divine command, working together with the utmost harmony, and, as a consequence, with wonderful effectiveness. can you account for such things except by the energy of the spirit of god? surely it is not the spirit of the world, neither is it the spirit of the devil. try the experiment, then, and see whether the wonders of god's grace will alienate the hearts of his people. your missionaries have no doubt--we can hardly understand how any who examine the subject can doubt--we are sure that no one can personally behold the work and yet doubt, that the wonderful blessing of god, which has accompanied the work at amoy, has been both the cause and the result of this harmonious labor on the part of your missionaries, and those from the sister churches in england and scotland. therefore, we feel assured that the simple recital of the grace of god thus manifested, must influence the hearts of his people most powerfully, and therefore it is that we beseech the church not to interfere with, and hinder the work of god. may we not refer, without being charged with disrespect, to the synod of jerusalem as a proper example for our general synod? peter says, "why tempt ye god to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear?" and then the decree, which the synod sent to the churches, runs thus: "it seemed good to the holy ghost and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these _necessary_ things." the ecclesiastical "power which the lord hath given" to his church is "to _edification_, and not to _destruction_." if the missionaries be allowed to proceed in building up a church, like our own, simply with reference to the evangelization of china, doubtless brethren in the ministry, and other influential men, could take occasion therefrom to prejudice the churches against our work. they could do this, if they were so disposed, without any such occasion. but will they do it? we cannot believe that they will. they love the cause of christ too well, and desire to see the world converted to god too ardently, to permit them to throw any obstacles in the way of our work, even though that work be not carried forward in the manner which they consider altogether the best. if we are right, these brethren will soon see that we are right, and however powerful the motive to be addressed to the desire of extending our own church, they will find infinitely more powerful motives to be addressed to a more noble desire of the christian heart. if our people have not yet learned, they should be taught to engage in the work of evangelizing the world, not for the sake of our church in america, but for the sake of christ and his church, and when the church thus built up is like our own, they should be fully satisfied. we believe they will be satisfied with this. . the only other supposed advantage i can now think of, is the advantage of carrying out the _policy_ of our church. this, in itself considered, might be regarded worthy of but little attention. cannot--ought not--the church change her policy if wrong, or if a better can be adopted? surely her laws are not like those of the medes and persians. but the argument has been used with so much earnestness and perseverance, both in the reports of the committees and in the discussions in synod, that it demands some investigation. instead of the course pursued by the missionaries being, as it is contended, contrary to, it is the true policy of our church--the policy in existence long before the decision of . if the course now required of them be the present policy of our church, it is a _mistaken_ policy, contrary to the very genius of our institutions, and ought to be corrected. it is so contrary to our time-honored constitution that either it or the constitution must be sacrificed. in order to save the policy it was found necessary during the past year to amend the constitution by a clause so sweeping, that if the circumstances of a missionary classis require it, "_all the ordinary requirements of the constitution_" may be dispensed with by the general synod. can it be that a policy which requires _such constitutional changes_ can be the old and proper policy of our church? but if the policy be continued we are not yet done with changes. the very _name_ of our church must be changed. it now is "the reformed protestant dutch church _in north america_." we must expunge the words "_in north america_," or must add india, china, and japan, and every other country where the church may undertake missionary work. we know it has been said of this policy, "it is our _settled, irreversible_ policy." is every thing then to be regarded as _unsettled_ and _changeable_ but this policy of the church? we answer, no. the church may change her name, if she please, as she has changed her constitution. or she may change her policy. but there are certain fundamental principles of church government which she may not change. hence, even yet, the principles for which the missionaries contend must remain the true policy of our church, for they lie at the very foundation of presbyterial order. a full discussion of this subject will come up most naturally when we discuss the _evils_ of the course now required of us. i will now allude to only one fact. the board of foreign missions was formed on this principle. if the classes at arcot and amoy are to be considered _integral_ parts of the church in this country, related to general synod like the classes in this country, then the missionaries at those stations properly should come under the board of domestic missions. suppose, according to the new plan, the missionaries form themselves into the kind of classis now required of them; what will be the relation of the classis of amoy to the board of foreign missions? is the classis, in evangelizing the heathen around, to operate through the board, or the board through the classis? the classis at amoy decide on a certain course of ecclesiastical procedure, or evangelistic labor, and the board decides on another course; how is such a matter to be settled? will it be said, there is no danger of such difficulty? the classis and board will both be composed of men with infirmities. ask the board whether there have not already been incipient difficulties, in the supposed clashing of the powers of the board and the powers of the classis of arcot. but the classis of arcot as yet is little more than an _american missionary classis_. what will be the difficulties when it becomes an _indian_ classis? but we are told, "keep the mission and classis distinct." is the mission, then, to attend to all the evangelistic work, and the classis to do nothing? or are there to be two distinct evangelistic policies carried on at amoy, the one by the mission, and the other by the classis? or is the classis first to come over to the synod, and so get to the board in order to carry on the work around? instead of this new plan being the settled policy of our church, we believe it to be a solecism. when a church is established among the heathen after our order, then is the true policy of our church carried out. let the present relations of the missionaries to the board and to their several classes remain, and there will be no occasion for the clashing of the powers of the board with those of any ecclesiastical body. so much for the _advantages_. they are really disadvantages, leading to _serious evils_, which of themselves should be sufficient to deter the church from inaugurating the policy proposed, or, if it be already inaugurated, to lead her to retrace her steps, and adopt a better and a consistent policy. now let us consider the real or supposed _evils_ (in addition to the above) of carrying out the decision of synod. . it will not be for the credit of our church. she now has a name, with other churches, for putting forth efforts to evangelize the world. shall she mar this good name and acquire one for sectarianism, by putting forth efforts to extend _herself_, not her doctrines and order;--they are not sectarian, and her missionaries esteem them as highly as do their brethren at home--but _herself_, even at the cost of dividing churches which the grace of god has made one? the decision of the last synod may not be the result of sectarianism among the people of our church. we do not think it is. but it will be difficult to convince our presbyterian brethren and others, that it is not so. by way of illustration i will suppose a case. a. is engaged in a very excellent work. b. comes to him, and the following dialogue ensues: b. "friend a., i am glad to see you engaged in so excellent a work. i also have concluded to engage in it. i should be glad to work with you. you know the proverbs, 'union is strength,' and 'two are better than one.'" a. "yes, yes, friend b, i know these proverbs and believe them as thoroughly as you do. but i have a few peculiarities about my way of working. they are not many, and they are not essential, but i think they are useful, and wish to work according to them. therefore, i prefer working alone." b. "yes, friend a., we all have our peculiarities, and, if they be not carried too far, they may all be made useful. i have been making inquiries about yours, and i am glad to find they are not nearly so many, or so different from mine, as you seem to suppose, and as i once supposed. the fact is, i rather like some of them, and, though i may not esteem them all so highly as you do, still i am willing to conform to them; for i am fully persuaded that, in work of this kind, two working together can do vastly more than two working separately, and the work will be much better done. besides this, the social intercourse will be delightful." a. "i appreciate, friend b., your politeness, and am well aware that all you say about the greater efficiency and excellence of united work, and the delights of social intercourse is perfectly true. but--but--well, i prefer to work alone." . it will be destroying a _real_ unity for the sake of creating one, which, at the best, can be only _nominal_, and hence will really be a violation of presbyterial order. it seems strange to us that it should be constantly asserted that we are striving to create a formal union between two bodies which are essentially distinct. there is nothing of the kind. there are six organized churches at amoy. they are all dutch (i.e. reformed), and they are all presbyterian, for the dutch churches are all presbyterian. but they are chinese, not american, nor english, nor scotch. if these churches are not _one_, then it is impossible for two or more individual churches to be one. if schism in a church be a sin, then the separation of this church will be a sin, for it will be an actual schism. you can make nothing more nor less of it. if you say that schism is only an evil, then the separation of this church will, at least, be an evil. perhaps it will be thought that _schism_ is too hard a term whereby to designate the separation of the church at amoy. never mind the word, then, but let us look at the facts. the proper classis of amoy, composed of all the churches of like order, and of the missionaries, has proceeded, according to the order of our church, to ordain and install native pastors, and to perform a few other necessary ecclesiastical acts. these pastors are now called on to separate from, and break up that body, through which they received their office! the opinions and wishes of these native pastors, as well of the native classis, and the native churches, are all ignored! are such things right? are these the doctrines or policy of the dutch church? we are told that we need say nothing to the native churches on the subject. is this right? is the dutch church a hierarchy? does the general synod claim authority to order the division in such a manner of a classis of the church of christ without the consent of that classis? "_what god hath joined together let not man put asunder._" in consequence of fallen humanity, there are evils which we call necessary evils. such is the case of different denominations of christians in the same region of territory. they differ in sentiment on important (or supposed to be important) subjects, and because of this difference in sentiment, they can work together in greater harmony, and with greater efficiency, by being formed into distinct organizations. such, however, is not the case of the six churches at amoy, and others growing up under their care and the care of your own and the english presbyterian missionaries. even when churches agree in doctrine and order, it is sometimes better, and sometimes necessary, in consequence of geographical separation or national distinctions, to form distinct organizations. it is better, or necessary, that the churches in holland, and america, and south africa, be ecclesiastically distinct. we do not call this an evil, for all the advantages of ecclesiastical courts and control are better thus secured. but suppose a case. there are, say, thirty dutch churches in the city of new york. now, suppose there were no others of the same order throughout this whole land: instead of allowing these churches to remain one organic whole--forming classes and synods, as the growth and convenience may allow and direct--it is proposed to take one-half of these churches, form them into a distinct organization, thus depriving them of ecclesiastical relations to the other half, and attach them to an ecclesiastical body in china--a nation of different customs and different language. how should we designate such an act? the first part would be schism, and the last part would be folly. the only difference between such a procedure and that required of us is, that the churches at amoy have been gathered partly by our instrumentality, and are dependent partly on us for instruction. if our presbyterial order be scriptural, all these churches at amoy, growing out of each other, are bound to associate together, ecclesiastically. it is their duty to submit to each other. they would also be bound to submit to the church of the same order in england and america, and every other country throughout the world, if it were possible and convenient. but such relation is not convenient, or possible. therefore, we must choose that which is possible and most convenient. it is possible, and it is convenient, that they associate together. it is not possible that they all be subject to the church in england, and, at the same time, to the church in america. it is not convenient that they all be subject to either of these churches. we do not think it is convenient that one-half of them be subject to either of these churches. besides the sin, or evil, of schism, they never can be properly represented in the higher ecclesiastical bodies of either of these churches. they never can have an elder present (i speak now of their connection with the church in america, for this is the subject before us). they never can have a full representation of ministers. only very seldom can they have even one minister present. he usually will only be one who is ill, and consequently not a proper representative. the native element, _i.e., the chief element_ of the church can never be represented at all. the representation, at the best, will only be a representation of your missionaries, not at all of the chinese church. therefore, we assert that such a union would not be _real_, not even _apparent_, only _nominal_. in striving after it, we are pursuing a chimera, destroying a substance for the sake of a shadow. but it is offered as an objection to our views, that the presbyterian church (o.s.) has presbyteries and synods in india and china. yes, they have three presbyteries and a synod in india, and have had for twenty years. but even yet there is not so much of a native element in their whole synod as there is already in the little church in the region of amoy. as an ecclesiastical body, it is not _indian_ in its characteristics--it is _american_. so with all their presbyteries in siam and china, with the exception, perhaps, of the presbytery at ningpo. they are _american_ presbyteries, not native in their character.[ ] [footnote : the following statistics are from the minutes of general assembly, . _synod of northern india_--was organized in . is composed of three presbyteries. now has ministers (only one of these is a _native pastor_); churches; communicants. (how many of these are natives not reported.) _presbytery of canton_--has ministers; no native pastor; church; communicants. (how many of these are natives not reported.) _presbytery of ningpo_--has ministers; no native pastor; churches; native members. _presbytery of siam_--has ministers; no native pastor; church; communicants. (how many of these are native members not reported.) _presbytery of west africa_--has ministers; no native pastor; churches; communicants (probably all natives.) are these ecclesiastical bodies respectively indian, chinese, and african in their character? or are they all _essentially american_? yet these are the bodies to which the committee of general synod of referred when they said, "as to the difficulties suggested" [by the missionaries at amoy] "respecting the delays of carrying out a system of appellate jurisdiction covering america and china, it is enough to say, that the presbyterian church (o.s.) finds no insuperable difficulties in carrying into operation her system, which comprehends presbyteries and synods in india as well as here." why should there be many _insuperable_ difficulties so long as these bodies remain _american missionary bodies_, instead of being _native ecclesiastical bodies_? practically they do not need representation in the church at home more than our missions need representatives in the board of missions. in the aggregate of all the above-mentioned ecclesiastical missionary bodies, there is _but one native pastor_, and this, as might be expected, so far as we are aware, furnished the only case in which difficulty has occurred. doubtless in the instance referred to, the native pastor was in error, and, as he found some _insuperable difficulty_ in getting his case before the general assembly, a similar effort is not likely soon to be made.] so is the classis of arcot appealed to. such appeals put us in a somewhat painful position. as with the presbyterian bodies just mentioned, so with the classis of arcot. we have no rivalry with the brethren there, and do not wish to say a word that looks like stricture on their policy. we do not utter a word of this kind, except in self-defense. we rejoice in all their successes. but the time will come, if the blessing of god continues to follow their labors, when they will be compelled to adopt our principles. the missionaries at arcot are not properly _pastors_ of the native churches. they exercise the pastoral office only temporarily, until native pastors are raised up. their relation to the synods in this country is not like that of the other classes of our church. they never have had and never will have a proper representation in these higher courts. they have never had a native elder present. they never have even a partial representation of ministers, except under the afflictive dispensations of providence. for several years past they would have been without any representation at all, but for the fact of one of their number being in this country whose ill health forbids his return to that field of labor. it is by being unfitted to be a member of the classis that he becomes able to be a representative of the classis in the synod! at the present time, because of the still american character of their body, they may feel no serious inconvenience. if our position had been like theirs, occupying the ground at amoy alone, possibly we should have done as they have. we should have understood well enough that the connection of the native church with the church at home could only be _nominal_. but if our church desired this, so long as it did not injure the native church, we probably should have made no objections. but we are told that it is not desired that this connection with the church in america should be perpetual. it will last only until the church at amoy has sufficient development to stand alone. then, of course, our church will consent to the separation. (a very different doctrine, by the way, from the "_assertion_" of the committee of synod that the church can not "voluntarily relinquish its powers.") after that, the churches at amoy which have been under our care, and those which have been under the care of the english presbyterians, may again unite in one denomination, if they see fit. this sounds pretty well. but look at it. first separate the churches long enough to engender rivalries and allow prejudices to grow up, and then attempt to unite them, and what will be the result? unless they have a more liberal spirit than is usual in the churches in this land, instead of making one denomination out of two, we shall have three. but who shall be the judge when the proper time has arrived to liberate the church in china, if the opinions of those on the ground, and of the native churches, are all to be ignored? . it will injure the efficiency of the church at amoy. besides the objection--which the heathen will thus, as readily as the irreligious in this country, be able to urge against christianity--furnished by the increase of denominations, it will deprive the churches of the benefit of the united wisdom and strength of the whole of them for self-cultivation and for christian enterprise, and will introduce a spirit of jealous rivalry among them. we know it is said that there need be no such result, and that the native churches may remain just as united in spirit after the organization of two denominations as before. such a sentiment takes for granted, either that ecclesiastical organization has in fact no efficiency (such is not the doctrine of our church), or that the chinese churches have arrived at a far higher state of sanctification than the churches have attained to in this land. do not different denominations exhibit jealous rivalry in this land? why, your missionaries are already frequently charged with being too liberal towards their english presbyterian brethren in giving to them members and churches which, it is said, properly belong to us. is chinese human nature different from american? in consequence of such division, the native churches will not be so able to support the gospel among themselves. look at the condition of our western towns in this respect. why strive to entail like evils on our missionary churches? their strength will be weakened for evangelistic effort. their missionary efforts is one of the most striking and praiseworthy characteristics of the amoy churches. how will they be shorn of their strength by division and necessary rivalry! besides this, if the connection with the church at home be anything more than nominal, our churches should, in part at least, work through the church at home. no? then why form the connection? . instead of the dutch church being _the_ presbyterian church at amoy, it will only be a small church, bearing about the same proportion to the other christian churches there, that it does to the other churches in this land. why is not the dutch church the principal presbyterian body in this land? unless we are mistaken in regard to its excellency of order, it has all the adaptedness, and it was here first. do you wish a similar result in china? * * * * * that it may be seen whether the missionaries of amoy have asked of our church to "surrender the constitution, the policy, the interests of our church," "nay, even their own welfare, and that of the mission they are so tenderly attached to"--whether what they ask for "is flatly in the face of our constitution and order"--whether the "synod has no right to form, or to authorize any such self-regulating, ecclesiastical body, or to consent that any ministers of our church should hold seats in such a body"--whether, "if we do it, we transcend the most liberal construction which has ever been known to be given to the powers of the general synod"--whether, by granting the request of the missionaries, "we violate our own order, our fundamental principles, the polity to which we are bound by our profession, by our subscription, by every tie which can bind religious and honorable, men"--i will append the resolution which was offered by me in the general synod as a substitute for those offered by the committee. if it called for declamation like the above, well. these are the words: _resolved_, that the synod learn, with gratitude to god, of the great progress of the work of the lord at amoy, and in the region around, so that already we hear of six organized churches with their consistories, and others growing up, not yet organized; two native pastors, who were to have been ordained on the th of march last, and the whole under the care of a classis composed of the missionaries of our church and the english presbyterian church, and representative elders of the several churches. it calls for our hearty gratitude to the great head of the church, that the missionaries of different churches, and different countries, have been enabled, through divine grace, to work together in such harmony. it is also gratifying to us that these churches and this classis have been organized according to the polity of our church. inasmuch as the synod of the english presbyterian church has approved of the course of their missionaries in uniting with ours in the organization of the church at amoy, after our order, therefore, this synod would direct its board of foreign missions to allow their missionaries to continue their present relations with the missionaries of the english presbyterian church, and the churches under their several care, so long as the present harmony shall continue, and no departure shall be made from the doctrines and essential polity of our church, or until this synod shall otherwise direct. some, after reading the foregoing discussion, will be ready to say to us: "your views are in the main correct. it would have been better if synod had decided otherwise, but the decision has been made, and we must put up with it." we answer, not so. we must obey synod, but may not the church change or improve her decisions? here is one of the good things we hope to see come out of this mistake of the church. jesus rules, and he is ordering all things for the welfare of his church and the advancement of his cause. sometimes, the better to accomplish this end, he permits the church to make mistakes. when we failed in former days to get our views made public, it gave us no anxiety, for we believed the doctrine that jesus reigns. so we now feel, nothwithstanding this mistake. the master will overrule it for good. we do not certainly know how, but we can imagine one way. by means of this mistake the matter may be brought before our church, and before other churches, more clearly than it would otherwise have been for many years to come, and in consequence of this we expect, in due time, that our church, instead of coming up merely to the standard of liberality for which we have been contending, will rise far above anything we have asked for or even imagined, and other churches will also raise their standard higher. hereafter we expect to contend for still higher principles. this is the doctrine: let all the branches of the great presbyterian family in the same region in any heathen country, which are sound in the faith, organize themselves, _if convenient_, into one organic whole, allowing liberty to the different parts in things non-essential. let those who adopt dutch customs, as at amoy, continue, if they see fit, their peculiarities, and those who adopt other presbyterian customs, as at ningpo and other places, continue their peculiarities, and yet all unite as one church. this subject does not simply relate to the interests of the church at amoy. it relates to the interests of all the missionary work of all the churches of the presbyterian order in all parts of the world. oh that our church might take the lead in this catholicity of spirit--instead of falling back in the opposite direction--that no one may take her crown! but if she do not, then we trust that some other of the sacramental hosts will take the lead and receive too the honor, for it is for the glory of the great captain of our salvation, and for the interests of his kingdom. we need the united strength of all these branches of zion for the great work, which the master has set before us, in calling on us to evangelize the world. in expecting to obtain this union, will it be said, that we are looking for a chimera? it ought to be so, ought it not? then it is no chimera. it may take time for the churches to come up to this standard, but within a few years past we have seen tendencies to union among different branches of the presbyterian family in australia, in canada, in our own country, and in england and scotland. in many places these tendencies are stronger now than they have ever before been since the days of the reformation. true, human nature is still compassed with infirmities even in the church of christ. but the day of the world's regeneration is approaching, and as it approaches nearer to us, doubtless the different branches of the presbyterian family will approach still nearer to each other. god hasten the time, and keep us also from doing anything to retard, but everything to help it forward, and to his name be the praise forever. amen. appendix a. further to illustrate the unity of the churches under the care of the two missions, i will transcribe from the _reports_ of the amoy mission, for the years and . _from the report for _. dated feb. . . our work is so interwoven with that of the missionaries of the english presbyterian church, that we cannot give a full report of the state of our churches and out-stations without including in it a partial report of some of their stations. we have, therefore, thought it best, both on this account, and because the churches gathered by us and by them are really one, to give statistics of both missions with brief remarks. these, besides simplifying the matter, will enable the church at home to become better acquainted with the real progress of the cause of christ in this region. _missionaries and assistant missionaries of the reformed dutch church at amoy, at the close if the year_ . [here follow their names, and remarks concerning them.] _missionaries and assistant missionaries of the english presbyterian church at the close of the year_ . [here follow their names, and remarks concerning them.] _tabular view of the churches and mission stations under the care of the reformed dutch church, and english presbyterian church, in amoy and vicinity_. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |native | | |no. of |rec'd churches and |helpers | | |church |during mission |sustained | | |members, |the stations. |by mission.|elders.|deacons.|jan. , .|year. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- first church at amoy | | | | | second " " | | | | | church at chioh-be | | | | | " peh-chui-ia | | | .. | | " ma-peng | | | | | station at an-hai | | .. | .. | | " khang-khau| |the church members at this station | |are reckoned to the church at ma-peng. " kang-thau | |the church members at this station | |are reckoned to the first church at | |amoy. " e-mng-kang| |the church members at this station | |are reckoned to the first church at | |amoy. " chiang-chiu| | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |no. of | churches and | | |church |under mission | | |members, |suspension stations. |dead.|excommunicated.|dec. , .|dec., . ----------------------------------------------------------------------- first church at amoy | | | | second " " | | | | church at chioh-be | | .. | | " peh-chui-ia | | .. | | " ma-peng | | | | station at an-hai | | .. | | ... " khang-khau|the church members at this station are reckoned |to the church at ma-peng. " kang-thau |the church members at this station are reckoned |to the first church at amoy. " e-mng-kang|the church members at this station are reckoned |to the first church at amoy. " chiang-chiu| ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |infants |colporteurs| churches and |baptized |sustained | mission |during |by native |benevolent stations. |the year.|church. |contributions ----------------------------------------------------------------------- first church at amoy | | } | second " " | | } | $ . church at chioh-be | | | . " peh-chui-ia | | ... | ...... " ma-peng | | ... | ...... station at an-hai | | ... | ...... " khang-khau|the church members at this station are reckoned |to the church at ma-peng. " kang-thau |the church members at this station are reckoned |to the first church at amoy. " e-mng-kang|the church members at this station are reckoned |to the first church at amoy. " chiang-chiu| ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [then come remarks about _native helpers_, not included in the above; _schools_ sustained by each of the missions, and by the native churches; _theological class_; students sustained by each mission.] _remarks on the above tabular view_. the two churches at amoy, and the one at chioh-be are under the care of the missionaries of the reformed dutch church. * * * * * * the churches at peh-chui-ia and ma-peng, are under the care of the missionaries of the english presbyterian church. * * * * * * the congregation at an-hai is under the care of the english presbyterian missionaries. it has not yet been organized into a church. it is so far removed from amoy that it cannot conveniently be placed under the supervision of either of the consistories. * * * * * * khang-khau is a station under the care of the english presbyterian mission. * * * * * * kang-thau is under the care of the reformed dutch mission. e-mng-kang is a suburb of amoy. the congregation worshiping there belongs, mostly, to the first church at amoy. the station is under the care of the english presbyterian mission. * * * * * * chiang-chiu is a large city, some twelve miles or more beyond chioh-be, and about thirty-five miles from amoy. in times past, several efforts have been made to establish a station at chiang-chiu, but always without success, until during the past year. at the close of the year there had not yet been any baptisms at that station. since the beginning of this year, there have been several. the church members are reckoned to the church at chioh-be, and are under the oversight of the chioh-be consistory. both missions work as one at chiang-chiu. each mission is to furnish half the expense. to simplify the work, it was thought best that one mission be responsible for the control of the station, and direct the work. at present this is the mission of the reformed dutch church. if the work be prospered, it is proposed to form two stations, one under the care of each mission. [the remaining part of the report, having no bearing on the subject before us, need not be quoted.] _from the report for ._ [it will be sufficient merely to transcribe the _tabular view_, and add one or two explanatory remarks.] _churches and mission stations under the care of the reformed dutch and english presbyterian missions at amoy, december , ._ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- | | |no. of |died | | | |members, |during|excommunicated | | |dec. , |the |during |elders.|deacons.| . |year. |the year. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- first church at amoy | | | | | second " " | | | | ... | ... church at chioh-be | | | | | ... " " peh-chui-ia| | | | ... | ... " " ma-peng | | | | | ... station at an-hai | .. | .. | | | ... " " khang-thau|the members at this station are reckoned to the |first church, amoy. " " kang-khau |the members at this station are reckoned to the |church at ma-peng. " " e-mng-kang|the members at this station are reckoned to the |first church, amoy. " " chiang-chiu|the members at this station are reckoned to the |church at chioh-be. " " go-chhng | " " te-soa | " " khi-be | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |no. of |under |infant |helpers |members, |suspension |baptisms |supported by |dec. , |dec. , |during |native | . | . |the year. |church. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- first church at amoy | | | | second " " | | | | church at chioh-be | | | | " " peh-chui-ia| | ... | ... | ... " " ma-peng | | ... | ... | ... station at an-hai | | ... | ... | ... " " khang-thau|the members at this station are reckoned to the |first church, amoy. " " kang-khau |the members at this station are reckoned to the |church at ma-peng. " " e-mng-kang|the members at this station are reckoned to the |first church, amoy. " " chiang-chiu|the members at this station are reckoned to the |church at chioh-be. " " go-chhng | " " te-soa | " " khi-be | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [of the three new stations, go-chhng and te-soa, are under the care of the reformed dutch mission, khi-be under the care of the english presbyterian mission. the other churches and stations as in previous report.] the board of foreign missions, being simply the organ of synod, felt bound in their report to eliminate, as far as possible, all the presbyterian elements from the above reports of the mission. by so doing, we think that they, _undesignedly_ of course, keep our church in ignorance, not only of the absolute unity of the churches in the region of amoy, but also of the real progress of the cause of christ and of the church of our order there. among the members set down to our churches are those who belong to stations under the care of the english presbyterian mission, as is shown by the tabular views. the church at home, not aware of this fact, gives to their mission credit which does not belong to them; and then, when, in the progress of the work, new churches are organized at these stations, and these members are set off to them, because they belong there, the dutch mission is charged with deficiency of denominational feeling, in giving to the english presbyterians that which, "by all rules of christian courtesy and harmonious missionary action," belongs to the dutch church. is it well that we should be disputing among ourselves concerning who shall have that credit which all belongs to christ? i know it has been asked, with disapprobation, by very high authority (not, indeed, by the board) concerning the unity of the churches at amoy--"_how it came to exist at all_." in answer to such questions, let us consider one case, that of the station, now church, at e-mng-kang. it is near enough to the first church, at amoy, to be under its supervision. doubtless, we might have said to our presbyterian brethren, in gathering a church, we are willing to labor with you in preaching the gospel, for no one will censure us for that, and we admit that, by all principles of our church order, it would be altogether proper that the converts gathered in at e-mng-kang should be received and watched over by the first church, at amoy; but, by allowing this, there will be danger of unity between the christians at e-mng-kang and amoy ("that they all may be one"), which will be a violation of the important and radical distinction existing between them, because "some are supported by our funds, some by the funds of the english presbyterians;" and then, when it becomes necessary to divide these churches, for where there is such a radical distinction, "a division will necessarily come at some period, and the longer it is delayed, the more trying and sorrowful it will be," it will be found that the church at amoy can never "relinquish its powers and abnegate its authority" over the church at e-mng-kang--therefore, rather than incur such risks of unity, we had better violate our principles of church order at the commencement, and not allow the native elders any responsibility in receiving and watching over the church members. we might have acted on such principles, but shall we be _censured_ for not doing it? let it be distinctly understood, that i do not publish the above reports with such remarks with any design of throwing blame on the board of foreign missions. the members of it, and the missionaries, have had no feelings towards each other but such as are altogether pleasant. perhaps the board, in view of all the circumstances, has simply performed its duty. i add this appendix only to illustrate the unity of the churches at amoy, and show that the missionaries have acted according to the doctrines of god's word and the fundamental principles of our church order. appendix b. in the _christian intelligencer_ of june , , in the report of the proceedings of general synod of thursday, june , the last day of the session, appeared the following paragraphs: "amoy mission. "rev. dr. porter arose and said that he was about to utter what to himself was the gladdest and happiest word he had been permitted to speak during the synodical sessions, delightful as they all had been. he was informed by his beloved brother talmage, that by permission of synod, he would like to express briefly his content, in the main, with the action which the synod had taken respecting the amoy mission. it is of the lord. he has melted all hearts together as one, for his own work and honor. we see eye to eye, and zion may lift up her voice in thanksgiving. "rev. j.v.n. talmage said he wished to express his gratitude to the fathers and brethren for all their kindness to himself and the missionaries at amoy. if the synod has not arrived at the very best decision, he hoped it is the best under the circumstances. he felt no desire to disobey the synod, nor will the missionaries at amoy. if we cannot organize a classis at once, we will do the best we can. he had been defeated, and he had no qualms of conscience in submitting to the decision that had been reached." i was willing to allow the previous, and, as i considered, very partial, report of the proceedings of synod to pass unnoticed, but felt that i had no right to allow errors, such as are contained in the above two paragraphs, to remain uncorrected. therefore i addressed to the editor the following note: "_to the christian intelligencer._ "mr. editor: "in looking over the report of general synod, as given in the last number of the _intelligencer_, i find a very grave mistake in reference to the position taken by me near the close of the session. a similar mistake appears in the report made to the _new york observer_.[ ] [footnote : i addressed to the editors of the _observer_ a card, correcting the mistake which had appeared in their paper, and they published it.] "when, in the order of business on thursday morning, there seemed a suitable opportunity for me to address the synod, i was sitting near dr. porter, and remarked to him that i wished to make such address. he said that he desired to speak first. he arose and addressed the synod, in substance, as is reported. i was altogether surprised, for i had given him no authority to speak for me; neither had i expressed to him or any other man the sentiments he attributed to me. i felt that his speech was altogether unfortunate, for it seemed almost to demand of me a restatement of my views. but i felt, also, that it would be improper, then, to occupy the time of synod with any further discussion, and contented myself with merely taking exception to dr. porter's statement, saying that i could not use the language he had just used. "i also stated that although the synod had not arrived at the best decision, yet _perhaps_ it was the best under all the circumstances. as these circumstances seem to be entirely misunderstood by some, i may now explain them. i had remarked in the previous debate, and still firmly believe, that the decision of synod, if it be fully carried out, would only be disastrous in its results, as far as the churches at amoy were concerned. but there was another disaster to be apprehended. if the synod had allowed the work of god to proceed at amoy, as it had always been carried forward, and with such marvelous blessings from on high, for so many years past, it was feared that some of the members of synod would use their influence in the church against that mission, to such an extent as possibly to cut off the resources of the mission. such were the circumstances to which i alluded, and i was well understood, at least by some of the members of synod. it seemed necessary to choose between two evils. my own opinion was, and is, that the synod had chosen the greater evil, still i was willing to yield 'the benefit of the doubt,' and therefore remarked that _perhaps_ (i used the word 'perhaps') the decision was the best under the circumstances. "i did express for myself, and as i believed, in accordance with the views of the missionaries at amoy, that we did not wish, and never had wished to disobey the injunctions of synod. besides this, we were under obligations to do what was best for the churches under our care. if we were not allowed to do that which is absolutely best, we should do the best we could. "i also expressed my gratitude that the synod had manifested so much patience and christian courtesy towards myself and the mission, for with one or two exceptions, not an unkind word had been uttered. "the closing sentence of my remarks being somewhat playful, might have been omitted from the report, but if thought worthy of publication, it should have been given correctly. i know that i can give it now with accuracy, almost _verbatim_. 'i have fought hard, and have been beaten; i could wish i had been able to fight better, but i did my best, and consequently have no qualms of conscience on the subject.' does that mean that we had no qualms of conscience about 'submitting to the decision that had been reached?' no. it means that i was not responsible for the evils of that decision. "it will, i think, serve the cause of truth, mr. editor, if you will be so kind as to publish this card in your next issue. if i was so unfortunate in the use of language as not to express sentiments similar to the above, i desire now to express them. "allow me also to ask whether you will open the columns of your paper for a full statement of the views of the amoy mission on the subject of the ecclesiastical relations of the churches under their care? i find that there is still altogether a mistaken impression among our churches on this subject. our people who sustain the mission have a right to know the condition of that mission. from the report in the last intelligencer, they will get no light on that subject, but will get the impression that some great mistake has been committed by the missionaries at amoy. _allowing_ this to be the case, the missionaries have a right to be heard before the churches. let the churches understand the matter, and decide concerning the mistake. the missionaries have been desirous for years to get their views made public, but have not yet succeeded. "very truly, yours, &c, "j.v.n. talmage." june , . instead of finding my note inserted in the next number of the _intelligencer_ i found the following: "rev. mr. talmage's letter. "we have received from the rev. j.v.n. talmage, a communication respecting our report of his remarks at the close of the session of the general synod, accompanied with a request that he be permitted to appeal through these columns to the churches in support of his position. the communication is long, and perhaps we can give the substance of it briefly. " st. he wishes to correct the statement of rev. dr. porter. and this he shall do in his own words, viz.: "'i felt that his speech was altogether unfortunate, for it seemed almost to demand of me the restatement of my views. but i felt, also, that it would be improper then to occupy the time of synod with any further discussion, and contented myself with merely taking exception to dr. porter's statements, saying that i could not use the language he had just used. i also stated that, although the synod had not arrived at the best decision, yet perhaps it was the best, under all the circumstances.' "so far mr. talmage, in disclaiming agreement with the statement made by dr. porter. "we can, on this point, only express regret that there should have been either seeming or real difference. but as brother talmage confesses that our report correctly represents him as having said, that "'although the synod had not arrived at the best decision, yet perhaps it was the best, under all the circumstances,' "we therefore suppose that the report of verbal differences--if the spirit of the remarks be anything--between him and the gentleman to whom he refers, cannot be accounted as very serious. " d. as it respects the opening of these columns to a fresh discussion of the matter relating to the amoy churches before synod, we have simply to say that we dare not give consent, for the following reasons: the synod is the legislative body for the church. the documents and statements respecting the amoy churches were full and thorough in the information imparted. four sessions and more of the synod were occupied with a careful preparatory hearing and final adjudication of the matter, and it is not the duty of the _christian intelligencer_ to allow itself to be used as the agent of dissension among the churches, and of opposition to the constituted authority of the synod." whether my views were _misrepresented_, and whether i was charged with seeking a different object from that for which i had asked--i had not asked that the columns of the paper be opened for a fresh "_discussion_ of the matter" which had been "_before synod_," but "for a _full statement_ of the views of the amoy mission," because of "_mistaken impressions_" in "_our churches_"--the church will be able to decide as accurately as myself. but i wish to say this much. your missionaries do not consider that by becoming missionaries they lose their rights as _men_, and _ministers of the dutch church_. they have the right to expect that, when away from home, their reputation will be protected. when mistaken statements concerning their views get abroad in the church, there should be, and we believe there is, a responsible party whose duty it is to correct such statements. at any rate, a paper which professes to be the organ of the dutch church, has no right to refuse to the missionaries themselves the privilege of correcting mistaken statements of _their own views_ and _their own language_, that appear in its columns. the editor doubtless is responsible for what appears in his paper. he may refuse to publish improper articles, but he may not garble and misrepresent them without incurring reproof. the expense of publishing in pamphlet form corrections of mistakes which appear in the columns of a newspaper, is too heavy a tax to impose on any of the ministry of the church, especially on your missionaries; and, even then, the corrections can be read by only a small portion of those who read the misstatements.