b'THE HEALIN< \nOF SOULS \n\nT OUIS ALBERT BANKS \n\n\n\n*4fct -\xe2\x80\xa2v \n\n\n\nC?^ \n\n\n\n\n\nClass BVyfll \n\nBook - 3 2.U- \n\nCopight^\xc2\xb0_ \n\n\n\nCOPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. \n\n\n\nC|je Healing of ^oub \n\nn &mz$ of \n\n3Ble\\Jt\\ial Sermons \n\n\n\n&ek ILoute albert 315antt0, a>\xc2\xaba>* \n\n2Cutfror of \n\'Ube Oreat Saints of tbe Bible." "Cbrist ant> Ibis ffdents," etc. \n\n\n\n\nBeta gorft: \xc2\xa9aton \xc2\xa3 JHains \nCincinnati: 3fenninfffii & fljpe \n\n\n\ne \n\n\n\n% <\\ \n\n\n\nof\\ \n\n\n\nTHE LIBRARY OF \nCONGRESS, \n\nTwo Cones Reowved \n\nOCT. 22 1902 \n\nCnpvwawr wrrav \n\njOLftsa ^ XXa Ho. \n\ncopy a \n\n\n\n\xc2\xa33 \n\n\n\n\n\n\nCopyright by \n\nEATON & MAINS. \n\n1902. \n\n\n\nTo My Friend \n\nthe \n\nRev. WILLIS P. ODELL, D.D. \n\nthis volume \n\nis affectionately dedicated \n\n\n\nTHE AUTHOR\'S GREETING \n\n\n\nThe sermons contained in this book were all \npreached in Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, \nNew York City, in a series of revival meetings held \nduring the month of January, 1902. The themes \nhad been selected long before, and illustrations and \nreferences gathered during several months previous, \nbut each sermon was finally fused in the midst of \nthe campaign, while the blood was hot and the \nnerves tense with that greatest of all spiritual ex- \ncitements which the true preacher ever knows. \n\nEach of these sermons has had set upon it the \napprobation of the Holy Spirit in the conversion of \nsouls. Night by night, throughout the entire \nmonth, the divine benediction so rested on the \nearnest proclamation of these simple Gospel mes- \nsages that some three hundred souls were persuaded \nduring the month to confess Christ as their personal \nSaviour. \n\nThe sermons are printed practically as they were \ndelivered, with the hope that wherever they go they \nwill carry to readers, and especially to preachers of \nthe Gospel, something of inspiration and sugges- \n\n\n\n6 THE AUTHOR\'S GREETING \n\ntion and illustrative help that will strengthen the \nevangelistic power of every man or woman into \nwhose hands they may come. Thus hoping that the \nfew hundreds of souls won on the personal delivery \nof these sermons may be multiplied into thousands \nthrough the printed page, they go forth followed \nby the author\'s tender and devoted prayer. \n\nLouis Albert Banks. \nNew York City, June 18, 1902. \n\n\n\nCONTENTS \n\n\n\nPAGE \n\nI. Jesus the Sinners\' Saviour. , 9 \n\nII. The Light that Condemns 21 \n\nIII. Treasures that Cannot be Stolen 30 \n\nIY. The Poisoned Spring 40 \n\nV. Not a Patch, but a New Suit 52 \n\nVI. The Great Physician 62 \n\nVII. Good Cheer for the Sinner 72 \n\nVIII. The Greatest Question of Exchange 82 \n\nIX. The Yoke that Brings Rest 90 \n\nX. The God within Reach 101 \n\nXL The Cast of the Net 110 \n\nXII. The House-Cleaning of the Soul. 120 \n\nXIII. The Comforter of Souls 131 \n\nXIV. Loosing a Soul from Bondage 139 \n\nXV. The Best Choice 148 \n\nXVI. Judging Ourselves 157 \n\nXVII. Witnesses and Testimony 165 \n\nXVIII. The Divine Christ 174 \n\nXIX. The Great Ransom 184 \n\nXX. A Sorrow that Worketh Joy 194 \n\nXXL The New Childhood 203 \n\nXXII. The Lust for Things 212 \n\nXXIII. Near Yet Outside 221 \n\nXXIV. The True Test of Love \'. 230 \n\nXXV. Plucking Out and Cutting Off 239 \n\nXXVI. The Duty of Confessing Christ 248 \n\nXXVII. The Man with a Bad Eye 258 \n\nXXVIII. The Greatest Thief 266 \n\nXXIX. Christ\'s Business in Heaven 274 \n\nXXX. The Unpardonable Sin 283 \n\nXXXI. The Day of Judgment 292 \n\n\n\nTHE \n\nHEALING OF SOULS \n\n\n\nJESUS THE SINNER\'S SAVIOUR \n\nThou shalt call his name Jesus : for he shall save his people from \ntheir sins.\xe2\x80\x94 Matthew i, 21. \n\nSin is the horror and the nightmare of the world. \nIt is sin which lays a withering blight on the joys \nof a home and leaves them blackened with the cruel \ntouch of hell. It is sin which lays its despoiling \nhand on fair youth and thwarts all its promise \nof noble manhood or holy womanhood. It is sin \nwhich has filled the cities with corruption and \nmade in them, here and there, deadly swamps and \ntreacherous quicksands, where men and women sink \ndown into despair every day in the year. It is sin \nwhich has covered the earth with wars and cru- \nelty. And it is because Jesus Christ comes to the \nworld, daring to deal with sin, to attack sin at \nits citadel, that he has caught the eye and the ear \nand aroused the hope of mankind. \n\n\n\n10 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nChrist would be no Saviour worth talking about \nif he could not save men from their sins. To save \na man in his sins, and leave their stain and foulness \non him, would mean nothing. There can be no \nreal salvation that does not save us from our sins. \nThat is what Christ came to do, and that is what \nhe is doing all the time. \n\nFirst of all, Christ delivers us from the penalty \nof our past sins. This is something that we can- \nnot do for ourselves. If we had never sinned in \nall the history of our lives we would only have \nbeen doing our duty, and after we have sinned \nagainst God there is nothing we can do which will \nmerit the setting aside of sin\'s penalty. It is some- \nthing that no one among our fellow-men can do for \nus. A mother cannot redeem her own son, though \nGod knows many a mother would be willing to do \nit at the price of her life. A mother came to me \nnot long ago and told me how her son was wan- \ndering away from God, and how sin was despoiling \nhis life and ruining him soul and body. And that \nwoman said to me, with her face wet with tears and \nher hands clinched together, "How gladly I would \ndie for him if I could set him back again the same \npure and wholesome boy that he was ten years \nago!" But all that mother\'s love had no power, \nand can have no power, to pay the penalty of sin \nand make it possible for sin to be pardoned. But \n\n\n\nf JESUS THE SINNER\'S SAVIOUR 11 \n\n"God so loved the world" that he gave Christ to \n\'die for us and redeem us. He was God\'s own Son. \nHe had no sin of his own to account for. He came \nto stand in our place, and offer himself as a sacri- \nfice for us. Peter says, "For Christ also hath once \nsuffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he \nmight bring us to God." Christ suffered for us \nthat he might save us from the one great cause \nwhich makes men suffer. It is sin that has brought \nsuffering into the world, and every cruel, bitter \nheartache that the world has known has somewhere \ncome from that one source. Men try to make \nthemselves happy while all the time they carry in \ntheir own hearts the sin which brings them under \ncondemnation to the penalty of God\'s broken law \nand makes happiness and peace impossible. Jesus \nChrist is the One, and the only One, who can cer- \ntainly give peace to every human heart, because \nthrough his death and suffering he has conquered \nthe great source of our suffering and our sorrow. \n\nDr. Arthur Brooks tells how there once stood in \nproud seclusion one of the steepest peaks in the \nAlps. Men looked at it and said that human foot \ncould never scale its heights. Bolder spirits tried \nevery way which they could devise, but still there \ntowered above them that inaccessible point. At \nlength a wiser, more experienced eye was turned \nto that very side which had been pronounced evi- \n\n\n\n12 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\ndently impossible ; and as he thus faced what had \nseemed the most despairing side of the problem he \nsaw that the strata of the earth below, broken sharp \noff in the upheaval of that majestic peak, fur- \nnished a series of steps which made possible a pas- \nsage directly to the summit; and now every year \neven inexperienced feet make their way over the \npath thus opened. \n\nSo human philosophers knew not how to solve \nthe problem of human sorrows and cure the heart- \nache and bring peace to the soul ; but Jesus Christ \nfound the way. He came, the Just One, and the \nHoly One, with no spot upon him, and he died, the \njust for the unjust, and through his stripes we \nmay be healed. I am able to preach to you to- \nnight the possibility of the forgiveness of your \nsins and the pardon of all your past transgressions \nonly because Jesus Christ came into the World \nand took upon himself your flesh and bore your \nsorrows and your sufferings and was tempted in \nall points like as you are, and yet in it all was with- \nout sin, and finally went to the cross and died \nthere, a cruel death, not because he had sinned, for \nthere was not one sin in his record, there was no \ncondemnation hanging over his head, but he died \nfor you, that he might redeem you and make it \npossible that, pleading his name and his merits, \nyou might have the forgiveness of your sins. \n\n\n\nJESUS THE SINNER\'S SAVIOUR 13 \n\nSurely it is not possible for any one of you to con- \ntemplate this without it touching the fountain of \ntears and arousing in you the sort of gratitude \nthat will lead you to give love and open confession \nto the Christ who died in your place. \n\nOnce a company of men who had taken part in \na rebellion and had been captured were sentenced \nto have every tenth man shot, to deter others from \nlike conduct. Among these were two, a father and \nson. They were drawn up in a long line. The \nfirst man and every tenth man thereafter was \nmarked for death. The father and son stood to- \ngether, and as the son ran his eye along the line he \ndiscovered that his father was a doomed man. He \nrealized what it would be to have their family left \nwithout a head, his mother a widow, the old home \nstripped of its life and joy, and, quick as thought, \nhe made his father change places with him, and a \nmoment later he fell in his stead. He became his \nfather\'s substitute. And do you wonder that in \nafter years the father could never speak of that \nson except with a quivering voice and tear-wet \neyes \xe2\x80\x94 the son that took his doom and died in his \nplace? So there came a time when you were \ndoomed, and all our race was doomed, because of \nsin ; and then Jesus came and stepped in your place, \nand he took the smiting that was meant for your \nshoulders, he took the spear in his heart that was \n\n\n\nU THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nmeant for you, and he died in your place. Is there \nno love in your heart to-night that rises up to \nreturn gratitude and loving confession to the Christ \nthat died to redeem and save you from the guilt and \npunishment due for your sins ? \n\nNothing stings us to the heart more than to feel \nthat one for whom we have suffered and toward \nwhom we have shown great love should be ungrate- \nful. But you have known about Jesus and about \nhis deathless love for you, some of you for many \nyears, and yet you have lived as though you did \nnot know it, or, if you did know it, as though you \ndid not care. How unnatural that is ! How un- \nworthy of you ! If any one of your acquaintances \nhad risked his life to save you, you would be \nashamed of yourself that you did not show him \nmore gratitude than you have shown to Jesus. \n\nThe Duke of Orleans, father of Louis Philippe, \nthe last king of the French, was on one occasion out \nriding, followed by his servant, who was also on \nhorseback. The Duke had safely crossed an old \nbridge over a rapid stream, but when his man- \nservant was following the bridge gave way and \nhorse and rider were thrown into the river. In a \nmoment the duke leaped from his horse\'s back, \nplunged into the stream, and with considerable peril \nand difficulty succeeded in saving the drowning man \nand bringing him to land. As soon as he could \n\n\n\n/ \n\n\n\nJESUS THE SINNER\'S SAVIOUR 15 \n\nrise, all dripping as he was, the man threw himself \nfull length at his master\'s feet, and promised him \nthat the gratitude and service of a lifetime should \nshow the sincerity of his love and thanksgiving for \nthe great mercy that had been shown him. \n\nO my friend, when there was no eye to pity and \nno arm to save, then Jesus came out from the heart \nof God and dared suffering and loneliness and in- \nsult and anguish and death to save you. And now, \nto-night, I beg of you that you give him your love, \nthat you give him your open confession of grati- \ntude and thanksgiving, and on this first night of \nthe new year let all the world know that hence- \nforth by the grace of God you will put this re- \ndeemed life of yours at the service of your divine \nLord. \n\nJesus not only saves from the penalty of sin, but \nhe is able and willing to save from the power of \nsin. O, how sin tyrannizes over men! There is \nno tyrant on earth so terrible as sin. Sin makes \nmen do things that shame and disgrace them in \ntheir own eyes and in the eyes of people they love \nbest. How many times men have said to me about \ncertain sins : "I am a slave. Over and over again I \nhave promised myself and my wife and my best \nfriend that I would do right ; but when the deadly \nspell is upon me I am driven like a man handcuffed \nto his dungeon. I wallow in my sin, and I cannot \n\n\n\n16 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nhelp it." It is an awful thing for a man to get into \na situation like that. And if I speak to some who \nare not Christians, and yet feel that this is an ex- \naggerated statement, I warn you to flee your sins \nnow and find freedom from them before the terrible \nshackles are fastened down upon your soul. And \nif there is anyone here to whom what I have been \nsaying does not seem exaggerated, because you \nare already yourself suffering from this terrible \ntyranny of sin, I bring the good news to you, and \nI would to God that you could hear it with new \nears to-night, that Jesus Christ is able to set you \nfree. How clearly Paul reasons it out in his letter \nto the Romans. He says : "Knowing this, that our \nold man is crucified with him, that the body of \nsin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should \nnot serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from \nsin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe \nthat we shall also live with him : knowing that Christ \nbeing raised from the dead dieth no more; death \nhath no more dominion over him. For in that he \ndied, he died unto sin once : but in that he liveth, \nhe liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also your- \nselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto \nGod through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin \ntherefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should \nobey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your \nmembers as instruments of unrighteousness unto \n\n\n\nJESUS THE SINNER\'S SAVIOUR 17 \n\nsin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that \nare alive from the dead, and your members as in- \nstruments of righteousness unto God. For sin \nshall not have dominion over you." \n\nThat is the great freedom which I offer you to- \nnight through Jesus Christ your Saviour. Some \nof you have been reared under the most earnest \nChristian influences, and I doubt not that for some \nof you loved ones have been sending up their \nprayers to God this very day. New Year\'s Day \nis a day when every praying mother thinks about \nher absent children, or her wandering ones, and \npleads with God for their salvation. O, that all \nsuch prayers might be answered to-night ! \n\nA few weeks ago in England the preacher in a \nlarge mission hall noticed a great broad-shouldered \nsailor coming in and taking his place in the con- \ngregation. He came in late, after the service had \nbegun, and at the close, when an invitation was \ngiven to an after-service, the sailor came into the \ninquiry room. He hailed a Christian man at the \ndoor, and said, "Look here, mister, does that preach- \ner mean what \\ie says?" \n\n"Certainly," was the rather curt reply. \n\n"And do you think the Lord Jesus would save \nme to-night ?" \n\n"Of course, if you are willing," said the gentle- \nman, in a softened tone, for he was beginning to \n\n\n\n18 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nfeel an interest in the big fellow standing before \nhim and questioning him so eagerly. \n\n"Willing! I am that, and I\'d like it settled \nstraight away." \n\n"Would you like to see the minister?" \n\n"Aye, I should that, if he wouldn\'t think it too \nmuch trouble to come." \n\nVery soon the preacher was at his side, and the \nsailor was saying : \n\n"I had no thought of being here to-night, parson. \nI\'ve been an unthinking fellow since I left home and \nmy old mother, two and a half years ago. Such a \nsaint mother was, and a widow too ; and I her only \nlad. Not that I\'ve been as bad as many of my \nmates by a long chalk, thank God; but that\'s all \nbecause I couldn\'t get away from thoughts of her \nand her prayers. But I\'ve never written to her, \nnor sent her money when I\'ve earned good wages, \nand many a time I\'ve drunk just to get rid of my \nuneasy thoughts, and to-night I was feeling down- \nright miserable, and I set off for a bit of a spree ; \nbut as I came down the street past the hall, the \nsinging sounded just heavenly \xe2\x80\x94 I used to be in our \nchoir at home \xe2\x80\x94 and I just longed to come in and \nhave a good sing in decent company once more ; and \nI got into the porch, and had my hand on the door, \nand then I remembered that I had never changed \nnor washed myself, and I was back in the street like \n\n\n\nJESUS THE SINNER\'S SAVIOUR 19 \n\na shot, thinking I would match the \' Green Dragon\' \nbetter than a place of worship. \' But somehow, try \nas I would, I could not get away from that door \nand that singing! Such a pull as I never felt \nbefore in my life was dragging me back again. I \ntried to bargain with myself that I\'d have a decent \nrig-out and put up an appearance next Sunday; \nbut it was no use, and before I well knew what I \nwas doing I was up the steps, in at the door, and \nstuck fast in a seat; and very soon I knew from \nyour discourse that it was the Lord that had been \ncalling me, and that he wanted me; and he\'s soft- \nened my heart, and if only he\'ll help me I\'ll be a \ngood lad and go home to mother." \n\nThe preacher talked and prayed with the big \nsailor until his faith beheld Christ as his Saviour \nand the light of heaven broke into his soul. And \nas he shook the preacher\'s hand, heartily, Tom \nMellor \xe2\x80\x94 for that was his name \xe2\x80\x94 exclaimed, joy- \nfully, "Aye, but I\'ve got a comfortable feeling at \nmy heart ! I have for sure ! And next Saturday \nI\'ll be off to see mother, and try to make up to her \nfor all the trouble I\'ve given her." \n\nNow, it happened that on Wednesday of that \nweek this preacher was conducting a service in a \nsmaller town many miles away, and during his ser- \nmon he told of the big sailor\'s conversion on the \nSunday night. As he came down from the pulpit \n\n\n\n20 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nhe was met by a respectable-looking old woman who \ntremblingly asked him if he knew the name of the \nsailor, and when he told her she exclaimed, "I \nthought so! That\'s my boy!" \n\nAnd then the dear old mother told the minister \nhow on the previous Sunday she had thought with \neven more than usual yearning of her wandering \nboy, and then had set out for the evening service. \nBut her shawl was thin and her steps feeble, and \nwhen she had gone about half the distance she \nencountered a heavy storm of rain and sleet and \nturned into a friend\'s house for shelter. She, \nalso, was a widow, and a woman of earnest piety \nand strong faith, and was very prompt in her sug- \ngestion that, as it seemed impossible for either of \nthem to attend public worship that night, they \nshould have a little prayer meeting all by them- \nselves instead; and, knowing her friend\'s great \nanxiety about Tom, she proposed that he should be \nthe special subject of their prayer. And at that \nvery hour, in a city many miles away, the prodigal \nwas led to his Father\'s house, and the poor widow, \nthough her eyes were still holden concerning the \ndeliverance, saved out of her distress. \n\nAre not some of you who hear me morally certain \nthat this day prayers have been going up in your \nbehalf? Let those prayers be answered to-night in \nyour salvation ! \n\n\n\nII \n\nTHE LIGHT THAT CONDEMNS \n\nAnd this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and \nmen loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. \n\xe2\x80\x94John iii, 19. \n\nWe shall be judged according to our light. No \nman will be judged worthy of condemnation who \nhas lived up to the light which God gave him. \nCondemnation comes when a man knows better than \nhe does. God will be entirely just with us. If \nwe are condemned at last it will be because, having \nseen the light and known the better way, we re- \nfused to enter that way and turned our faces \ntoward the darkness. It is the terrible folly of sin \nthat it often leads the sinner to refuse the light \nthat would lead him to salvation. This is true of \ndoubt. A man excuses himself for not becoming \na Christian because he cannot believe certain great \nChristian truths ; but he will not act on the truth \nhe does believe, which would lead him into all \ntruth. Down at the bottom he does not wish to \nbelieve, because his belief would bring condemna- \ntion on himself. The man who honestly doubts, \nand who is really willing to find the truth, is never \nkept long away from the light of salvation. Take \n\n\n\n22 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nthe case of Thomas, who was in that first group of \nfriends of Jesus when he was on earth. When \nthe other disciples came and told Thomas about \nthe resurrection of Christ he did not believe it. \nHe thought they had been deceived. Yet his heart \nwas heavy and he really wished it were true. But \nhe could not understand how it could be, and he \ndeclared that he would not believe unless he could \nput his own hands into the wounds of Jesus. Not \nlong after that Thomas was with the disciples when \nJesus appeared to them, and when, instead of re- \nproaching Thomas, Jesus accepted his terms and \nsaid to him, "Reach hither thy finger, and behold \nmy hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust \nit into my side : and be not faithless, but believing," \nall Thomas\'s doubts went to the winds. The very \nsight of Jesus was enough to convince Thomas. \nHe did not go to the length which he had demanded, \nbut instead he cried out with loving faith, "My \nLord and my God !" \n\nNow in Thomas you see an honest doubter who \naccepted the light when it came to him, and when \nhe was convinced did not hold out for a moment, \nbut immediately acknowledged his Lord. You \nhave a very different case in those men who put \nStephen to death. As Stephen urged home upon \nthem the prophecies which made it clear that Christ \nwas the true Messiah, and that they had put to \n\n\n\nTHE LIGHT THAT CONDEMNS 23 \n\ndeath the Saviour of the world, Luke, who writes \nthe account, says, "They were cut to the heart, and \nthey gnashed on him with their teeth." \n\nThe men that murdered Stephen believed what \nhe said. The light from heaven had shone upon \ntheir eyes, but the light condemned them, and they \nwould not have it, they would not accept it. They \ncould not have helped but admire the angel-like \nface of Stephen if it had not condemned them. In \nthat trying moment Stephen looked upward and \nthe heavenly world opened to his eyes. He saw \nGod seated upon the throne, and he saw Jesus, his \nSaviour, at the right hand of the Majesty on high. \nHe forgot all the rage that was around him, the \ncruel taunt and the stinging blow, and he cried out, \nin infinite joy, "Behold, I see the heavens opened, \nand the Son of man standing on the right hand of \nGod." And those men, looking on Stephen\'s face, \nbelieved it. They knew he was looking into \nheaven, for they saw light in his face brighter than \nany light of earth. But they could not yield to \nthe fact that he saw Christ, the Crucified, he whom \nthey themselves had crucified, in ascended glory, \nfor that meant condemnation to them. And so \nthey did what many men have been doing ever since \n\xe2\x80\x94 they "stopped their ears, and ran upon him with \none accord, and cast him out of the city." How \ninfinitely wiser it would have been to have kept \n\n\n\n24 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\ntheir ears open ; for the Christ who when hanging \non the cross prayed for his murderers, "Father, for- \ngive them," would not have refused his intercession \nand forgiveness to these wicked men now if, seeing \nthe light, they had welcomed it and turned from \ntheir sins. \n\nThis, then, is our great message to-night: Fol- \nlow the light which God gives you and it will lead \nyou to heaven. It does not take a great deal of \nlight to lead heavenward one who is willing to be \nled. \n\n( There was a Bohemian gypsy girl who was very \nbeautiful, and who, on account of her remarkable \nperfection of features, was employed by a great \nGerman artist to sit for him as a model. In his \nstudio she saw an unfinished painting of the Cruci- \nfixion, and asked him who "that wicked man" was \nand what he had done to deserve such punishment. \nThe artist smiled at her ignorance, and told her \nthat the man nailed to the cross was not wicked, but \ngood; indeed, the best man that had ever lived in \nthe world. From that time, the girl\'s interest in \nthe story of the cross never ceased. She never came \ninto the studio that her first look and her last were \nnot given to that picture of the crucifixion. She \nwas utterly untaught, and it was by her questions \n\xe2\x80\x94 rather grudgingly answered by the painter, who \nhad no real Christian sympathy \xe2\x80\x94 that she got her \n\n\n\nTHE LIGHT THAT CONDEMNS 25 \n\nfirst knowledge of the Saviour of mankind. She \nfelt the artist\'s lack of feeling, and wondered at it, \nand one day when this was more than usually ap- \nparent she said to him: \n\n"I should think you would love him, if he died \nfor you." \n\nThe remark fastened itself in the artist\'s mind. \nThe death of Christ had appealed to him as a pic- \ntorial tragedy. The divine life of Jesus had never \ntouched him. The ignorant Bohemian girl had \npresented the subject to him in another way, and it \nwould not let him rest until he sought religious \ncounsel, and before long became a servant and a \nsincere worshiper of the crucified Christ. \n\nUnder the inspiration of this new love for Christ \nhe took up the picture which had attracted the girl\'s \nattention, and finished it. It was hung in the Dus- \nseldorf gallery, with this inscription : \n\n"I did this for thee; what hast thou done for \nMe?" \n\nSome time afterward, going to the gallery, he \nfound the Bohemian girl, who had been the cause of \nhis own conversion, weeping in front of the paint- \ning. This time he could speak to her as a \nChristian. \n\n"Master," she sobbed, "did he die for the poor \nBohemians, too?" \n\n"Yes, he died for all." \n\n\n\n26 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nAnd that very hour the crucified Saviour gained \nanother disciple in the Bohemian girl. \n\nA few months later, dying in a gypsy camp not \nfar from the city, the girl sent for the artist, and \nthanked him. \n\n"I am going to him now," she said, joyfully. "I \nlove him, and I know he loves me." \n\nYears afterward a frivolous young nobleman \nlooked on the same picture, and the study of it and \nthe rebuking pathos of its inscription, "I did this \nfor thee; what hast thou done for Me?" so moved \nand influenced him that he consecrated himself to \nthe service of God. The young nobleman was \nCount Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravian \nChurch, and the man who wrote the hymn, \n\n"Jesus, thy blood and righteousness \nMy beauty are, my glorious dress; \n\'Midst naming worlds, in these arrayed, \nWith joy shall I lift up my head." \n\nHe wrote also that other hymn, \n\n"I thirst, thou wounded lamb of God, \nTo wash me in thy cleansing blood; \nTo dwell within thy wounds; then pain \nIs sweet, and life or death is gain." \n\nHow many more that picture won to Christ we \ncan never know. But see from how small a flame \nall this glorious result was kindled! How much \nmore light you have had than had that poor girl ! \n\n\n\nTHE LIGHT THAT CONDEMNS 27 \n\nAnd yet you are still in the darkness, with no con- \nsciousness that your sins are forgiven, going the \ndeeper into the darkness as the years go on. O my \nfriends, if you will only take the light you have \nto-night, and do as well as you know, here and now, \nit will lead you to the light of perfect day.} \n\nDr. A. C. Dixon tells of a prosperous worldly \nman whose Christian wife had died praying for his \nconversion. He was lying awake in the darkness \nof his room, one night, when he heard a voice from \na little bed at his side, "Papa, it\'s so dark, take my \nhand.\' 5 He took the little hand extended in the \ndark, and held it gently until the frightened child \ndropped asleep. Then this strong business man \nlooked up through the darkness, and said, "Father, \nit is so dark; take my hand as I have taken the \nhand of my dear child. Give me rest of soul for \nJesus\' sake." Peace entered his broken heart, and \nhe rejoiced in full salvation. A little beam of light \nhad come to him in his child\'s appeal to him in its \nweakness and fear. The sense of helpless weakness \nhad led him to stretch the hand of his soul up to \nGod, and Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the \ndead, was the hand by which God took hold and \nsaved him in a moment. Lift your hand up into \nthe darkness to-night, trusting God through Jesus \nChrist, and he will take hold upon you, and save \nyou, for Christ is able "to save them to the utter- \n\n\n\n28 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nmost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever \nliveth to make intercession for them." \n\nBut if you refuse this light which I bring to \nyou, and turn from it, you must needs enter into the \ndeeper darkness that can only mean sorrow and still \ngreater sorrow as the years go on. It is a terrible \nthing to grow old without God and without the \nprecious comforts of an unfailing hope and a cer- \ntain assurance of a happy immortality. \n\nA gentleman tells about meeting on the street a \nman who was nearing his fourscore years. His \nbody had all the marks of age. His shoulders were \nstooped. He walked tremblingly with a cane. \nHis voice was husky, his hair was white, his eye was \ndim, and his face had the furrows which time and \ntrial had plowed upon it. And yet his face was \njoyous, and there was about the old man an atmos- \nphere of gladness and hope. As he came up with \nhim he was humming the tune of a buoyant hymn, \nand as he slowed up by his side the gentleman said, \n"Why should an old man be so merry?" \n\n"All are not," said he. \n\n"Well, why, then, should you be so merry?" \n\n"Because I belong to the Lord." \n\n"Are none others happy at your time of life ?" \n\n"No, not one," said the old man, earnestly. "No \nman is happy at my age without God. The devil \nhas no happy old men." \n\n\n\nTHE LIGHT THAT CONDEMNS 29 \n\nAnd I press that home upon you young people, \nand you middle-aged men and women. The devil \nhas no happy old men or happy old women. It \nis not possible that a man or a woman should come \nto the end of life with no title to heaven, with no \nfellowship with God, with no certain hope in Jesus \nChrist, and have happiness and peace. O my \nfriend, if the light of the Gospel which I preach \nto you to-night condemns you, I pray you do not \nturn from it on that account, but turn toward it \nthat you may know the truth and that the truth \nmay make you free. You may be saved here and \nnow, if you will live up to the light you have. Dur- \ning the civil war an officer in the Union army, hav- \ning received his death wound, was visited in the \nhospital tent by the chaplain, who inquired if he \nwas prepared to meet his God. He smiled, and \nsaid: "Chaplain, I was once passing through the \nstreets of New York on Sunday, and heard singing. \nI went in and saw a company of poor people. \nThey were singing, \'There is a fountain filled with \nblood.\' I was impressed profoundly, and it came \nto me as a personal message, and right then and \nthere, while they sang, I gave my heart to God. \nSince then I have belonged to God, and have served \nhim. Death has lost its terror for me." You \nmay come to Christ just as readily if you will. \nCome to him now ! \n\n\n\nIll \n\nTREASURES THAT CANNOT BE STOLEN \n\nLay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and \nrust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal : but \nlay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor \nrust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal : \nfor where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.\xe2\x80\x94 Matthew \nvi, 19-21. \n\nA wise traveler never carries much money with him \nwhile on his journey. If he be a man of wealth and \nexpects to engage in large operations in the country \nto which he is going, he will carry with him a draft \nthat will be serviceable at his destination, or he will \nhave treasure forwarded so that he may have it to \ndraw upon when he arrives. To carry large sums \nof money on his person would only subject him to \nunnecessary care and anxiety, and also put him in \nconstant danger of being robbed, and quite pos- \nsibly of losing his life in order that he might be \nrobbed. Our journey through this world to the \neternity beyond is fairly described by that illustra- \ntion. While we are passing through the world we \nconstantly need sufficient of the goods of this \nworld to pay our way on our journey, but the \nmoney and treasure which worldly men value here \nwill be of no use whatever to us when we arrive \n\n\n\nTREASURES THAT ARE SECURE 31 \n\nat our final destination. It would be very unwise \nfor us to invest all our time and strength in acquir- \ning wealth which we cannot carry over the boundary \nline of death, and which if we could would be worth- \nless. If a man were going to San Francisco or to \nLondon from New York he would hardly think it \nworth while to carry paving stones with him, or \ngateposts, as a matter of treasure. But in heaven \nthe streets are paved with gold and the gates are \nstudded with jewels. There could be no greater \nfolly than for men and women, journeying so \nswiftly toward eternity where an endless life awaits, \nto squander all their time gathering treasures which \ncan only serve to make a tombstone, which is often \na monument of folly at the last. \n\nEspecially is this folly apparent when we are \ntold by the Lord Jesus that it is possible for us to \ntransfer spiritual treasures to the heavenly shores \nand to carry with us a draft on the Bank of Heaven, \nso that we shall not come to the shores of immor- \ntality bankrupt exiles, but may have a mansion \nfitted for us there. We may have treasures there \nthat no moth can corrupt, that no thief can steal, \nand that can never be taken from us. One of the \nmost beautiful things that Christ has told us is that \nit is possible for us to turn the gold of this world \ninto heavenly treasure if it is gained and used in \nthe spirit of love for him. The love that ministers \n\n\n\n32 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nin his name to the hungry and the naked and the \nsick becomes divine gold that shall be put to our \naccount in the Bank of Heaven. \n\nA young Swede who was a poor stable boy, a \nhostler in a Western livery stable, went up to \nAlaska a year or two ago, and prospered. He has \njust given a hundred thousand dollars to endow a \nWestern college. When a home missionary asked \nhim what he was going to do with his money, when \nit first began to come in in large amounts, the young \nfellow said, "I mean to do more for the world than \nthe world ever did for me." That was a splendid \nanswer, and spoken in the spirit of Christ, and the \nman who gives in that spirit transmutes his gold into \nheavenly coin. \n\nMrs. Farningham tells of a poor woman in Eng- \nland who was called to make a long journey to visit \nher sick son. She could ill afford the expense, and \nyet she could not stay away from her boy. She had \nmoney for a third-class ticket to where he lay ill, but \nhow would she get home again? But a mother\'s \nheart will take risks, and she went to the station, \nand as she went up to the ticket office she saw a \ngentleman who seemed to be watching the people \nas they passed up for their tickets. A porter stood \nbehind him carrying the man\'s bag. The gentleman \nlooked at her with a searching but kindly glance, \nand then dropped in next behind her. He, too, \n\n\n\nTREASURES THAT ARE SECURE 33 \n\nbought a third-class ticket. The porter looked on \nwith disapproval. He thought it a mean thing for \nso fine a gentleman to travel third-class. He stepped \nup to the gentleman. "First-class, sir?" \n\n"No, third." \n\nThe woman was nervously walking up and down \nthe platform, looking at the carriages. The gentle- \nman opened one. "Are you going on?" he inquired, \nkindly. "There is room here." \n\n"Thank you, sir." \n\nHe got in after her, and was soon taken up with \nhis newspaper. At first the poor woman was so de- \nlighted at being really on the way to her son that \nall other thoughts were banished, but presently the \nharassing question intruded itself again. She won^ \ndered how she was to return, and her face grew \npale and disturbed. \n\nThe gentleman, who had noticed the anxiety in \nher face at the ticket office and had suspected her \npoverty, began a conversation with his fellow- \npassenger : \n\n"Are you going far?" \n\nHis manner was gentle and sympathetic, and be- \nfore long he was in possession of the facts. They \nwere both silent afterward until his destination was \nnearly reached. Then he slipped a piece of gold \ninto her hand. "It is a habit of mine to travel third- \nclass, and give the difference between the cost of the \n3 \n\n\n\n34 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nfirst and the third to anyone in the carriage to whom \na little help seems acceptable," he said. \n\n"What a beautiful thing to do," said the woman, \nlooking at the money in great amazement. "Do \nyou mean this is for me, sir? Why, it is the cost of \nmy return ticket. I did not mean to beg when I \ntold you about my boy and my savings. You know \nI am doing it for love\'s sake, and \xe2\x80\x94 " \n\n"Yes, I am doing it for love\'s sake, too. Good- \nbye. I hope you will find your son better." \n\nWho doubts that that piece of gold was trans- \nmuted into heavenly wealth ? It was given for love \nof Christ, and no gifts in his name, given for love\'s \nsake, fail of recognition. \n\nA lady in Scotland, whose husband had left her \na competence, had two profligate sons who wasted \nher substance with riotous living. When she saw \nthat her property was being squandered she deter- \nmined to make an offering to the Lord. She took \ntwenty pounds and gave it to the London Mis- \nsionary Society. Her sons were very angry at this, \nand told her she might as well cast her money into \nthe sea. "I will cast it into the sea," she replied, \n"and it shall be my bread upon the waters." \n\nThe sons, having spent all they could get, enlisted \nin a regiment and were sent to India. Their posi- \ntions were far apart, but God so ordered that both \nwere stationed near good missionaries. The elder \n\n\n\nTREASURES THAT ARE SECURE 35 \n\none was led to repent of sin and embraced Christ. \nHe shortly afterward died. \n\nMeanwhile the widowed mother was praying for \nher boys. One evening, as she was taking down her \nfamily Bible to read, the door softly opened, and \nthe younger son appeared to greet the aged mother. \nHe told her that he had turned to God and Christ \nhad blotted out all his sins. Then he narrated his \npast history in connection with the influence the \nfaithful missionaries had had on his life; while his \nmother, with tears of overflowing gratitude, ex- \nclaimed: "O, my twenty pounds! My twenty \npounds ! I have cast my bread upon the waters, and \nnow I have found it after many days." \n\nFrom the treasures which we store up in heaven \nwe get a most precious income while we are travel- \ning through this world. One of the noblest treas- \nures that anyone can ever have in this world is a \nsincere and faithful friend, a friend that can always \nbe depended upon for sympathy and comfort and \ncongenial and loving fellowship. There are a \nthousand things that may interfere with earthly \nfriendships, but there is a friendship which you may \nmake, and you may begin it this very night, which \nnothing save coldness or indifference on your part \ncan ever interfere with, and a friendship which will \ngive you more joy and comfort of soul than any \nother friendship you could make on earth. \n\n\n\n36 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nMrs. Browning once asked Charles Kingsley to \ntell her the secret of his marvelous character and \nlife. "What is the secret of your life? Tell me," \nshe said, most earnestly, "because I wish my life to \nbe beautiful like yours." And the noble Kingsley \nanswered her in five words. They were, "I have had \na friend." Ah, yes, he had a friend ! He had made \nfriends with Jesus, and whenever he was tired or \noverburdened he sunned himself in conversation with \nhis Friend. When he was overborne by the world\'s \nsorrow which he was trying to lighten, and when he \nwas tempted to lose his faith in men and lose the \nhope of making them better, he went to his Friend, \nand his faith and hope grew strong again. Christ \nis willing to be just such a friend to you. Ah, we \nshall need him ! We need him always ; but there \ncome to every one of us times of sickness and pain \nand disappointment when Jesus is the only friend \nwho can come to our relief. How glorious then to \nhave a tender and loving friendship with him. \n\nOne of the noblest men this country has ever seen \nwas Major Whittle. A little while before he died, \nduring a sleepless night, when he could not sleep for \nthe pain, but while Jesus kept his heart bright and \njoyous with sweet fellowship, he wrote a little poem \nsuggested to him by the chimes of the bedroom clock \nthat announced the going of the hours to him. \nLying on his sick bed, he wrote : \n\n\n\nTREASURES THAT ARE SECURE 37 \n\n"Swift with melodious feet, \n\nThe midnight hours pass by; \nAs with each chiming bell so sweet \n\nI think, \'My Lord draws nigh.\' \n\n"I see heaven\'s open door, \n\nI hear God\'s gracious voice; \nI see the blood-washed round the throne, \n\nAnd with them I rejoice. \n\n"It may be that these sounds \n\nAre the golden bells so sweet, \nWhich tell me of the near approach \n\nOf the heavenly High Priest\'s feet. \n\n"But the Lord remains the same, \n\nFaithful he must abide; \nAnd on his word my soul I\'ll rest, \n\nFor he is by my side. \n\n"Some midnight, sleepless saints, \n\nMade quick by pain to hear, \nShall join the glad and welcome cry, \n\n\'The Bridegroom draweth near!\' \n\n"Then shall I see his face, \n\nHis beauteous image bear; \nI\'ll know his love and wondrous grace, \n\nAnd in his glory share. \n\n"So sing my soul in praise, \n\nAs bells chime o\'er and o\'er, \nThe coming of the Lord draws near, \n\nWhen time shall be no more." \n\nIf we have this friendship with Jesus Christ, God \npromises that we shall be fellow-heirs with Jesus, \nand all the treasures of the heavenly world will come \n\n\n\n38 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nto us. We get everything through Jesus. Give \nyour heart to Christ in sincere love, thus winning \nhis forgiving love in return, and all the treasures \nof a glorious immortality are yours. \n\nA quaint childless old man died leaving much \nwealth, and although careful search was made no \nwill could be found. After a while the house furni- \nture was put up for sale. An old woman was pres- \nent at the auction who had once been nurse to the \nold man\'s only son, till the angels called him away. \nShe had loved the boy dearly, and when a painted \nportrait of the little fellow was put up for sale \nquite a curious sensation came into her throat. \n\n"Who bids ?" cried out the auctioneer. \n\n"0, 1 wish I could !" sighed the poor woman, "but \nI have only a shilling, and it will never go for that." \n\nIt was a very poor sort of a picture, and no one \neven bid a penny. \n\n"Please, sir," the poor woman ventured to say, "I \nwill give a shilling for it, but I could not give more, \nas that is all I have." \n\n"A shilling is bid," cried out the man ; "anything \nfurther?" \n\nNo one said anything, and so the picture was \nknocked down to the shilling bidder. \n\nWhen she got the picture home she took it out of \nthe frame to clean it, and there was the old man\'s \nmissing will, and it read something like this : "Who- \n\n\n\nTREASURES THAT ARE SECURE 39 \n\never buys my son\'s portrait shall have all I possess ; \nfor perhaps some one will buy it who loved my son." \nThus the poor old woman became rich, and all \nthrough the love she bore the old man\'s son. \n\nGod\'s heart is the heart of a father also, and \nJesus said, "If any man serve me, him will my \nFather honor." \n\nMake friendship with Jesus to-night, and you \nshall have treasures better than any the world can \ngive, and treasures from which death cannot rob \nyou; treasures which will safely pass the judgment \nseat ; treasures that shall enrich your soul, and fill \nheaven with joy and welcome for you throughout \neternity. \n\n\n\nIV \n\nTHE POISONED SPRING \n\nFor from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, \nadulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickeduess, \ndeceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness : all \nthese evil things come from within, and defile the man.\xe2\x80\x94 Mark \nvii, 21-23. \n\nWe cannot but recall those other words of Jesus \nin which he declares that a good life comes from a \ngood heart, and a bad life comes from a bad heart ; \nthat the heart is like a fountain : if it be bitter, then \nthe waters that fill the stream cannot be sweet; if \nthe spring be poisoned, then the life will be deadly. \nAnd in our text Jesus distinctly declares that the \nheart which is poisoned and perverted by sin is the \nimmediate and direct source of all these vile sins \nwhich are mentioned here in our text. The solemn \nmessage which I have to bring you this evening is \nno matter of speculation or theory of my own. I \nbring you the solemn statement of Jesus Christ, \nthat the center of sin is in the heart itself. Unless \nthe heart be purified there can be no assurance of a \ngood life, but a certainty that the life will finally be \nevil. \n\nThe world has always been trying to reach re- \nspectable and honorable living by a short cut. A \n\n\n\nTHE POISONED SPRING 41 \n\nman finds that certain sins are disgracing him and \nshaming him, and he undertakes to lop off those \nsins. He does not take into consideration that the \ncause for these sins is in the love for sin in his own \nheart, and that the only real cure is to have his heart \ncleansed of that love for sin. \n\nHuman nature is just the same now as it was in \nthe days of Paul. Paul found it impossible to do \nright while there was in his heart a love for sin. He \nsays that he found the good that he wanted to do \xe2\x80\x94 \nthat is, the good that appealed to his judgment and \nhis reason and his higher nature \xe2\x80\x94 he did not do; \nand the evil thing which his judgment told him was \nwicked and disgraceful, and which he determined \nnot to do, he still found himself doing. He discov- \nered that the secret was that the fountain of his \nheart was poisoned by sin. He was like a man who \nhad chained about his neck a dead body, and he \ncould not do as he would. The only way that salva- \ntion could come to him was by setting him free from \nthat body of death, by purifying the heart that \nloved evil things, and then his judgment and his \nreason were brought into harmony with his affec- \ntions and desires, and all were under the dominion \nof Christ. So completely was this so that Paul was \nable to say, "I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in \nme." \n\nI doubt not I am speaking to some who have de- \n\n\n\n42 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\ntermined to do better. You have been looking back \nover jour life, and you are not satisfied with it, and \nyou have come to the conclusion that you will break \nwith some habits, and you will hold yourself more \ncompletely in line with better things. Yet you will \nfail unless the heart is changed. The fountain in \nyour breast must be cleansed or it will overcome all \nyour determination. Christ makes nothing more \nplain to us than this, that the fountain of sin is in \nour hearts. It is a poison of the blood, a curse that \nsmites the will, that paralyzes our power to do right. \nBut, thank God, while sin is in us, it is not yet of \nus ; it does not belong to us ; it is not our true self ; \nand it is the mission of Christ to cleanse and purify \nour hearts of it. \n\nSin is a foreign enemy in our hearts. Sin is a \nwitness that we are a good thing that has been \nspoiled. The sinner is a prodigal in a far country, \nbut he may be brought back home. "Man," says \nPascal, "has all the signs of being a king de- \nthroned." And as such I come to you, to urge upon \nyou that you recognize the evil possibilities that are \nin your heart, and that you bring your heart to \nChrist that it may be cleansed and purified. It is \nnot a small thing that I ask of you. Religion is not \na thing like a coat that a man can put on or off as \nhe will. I am not asking you simply to make good \nresolutions, I am asking you to turn from your sins, \n\n\n\nTHE POISONED SPRING 43 \n\nand turn to Christ in obedience. The promise is, \n"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to \nforgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all \nunrighteousness." I am asking you to repent of \nyour sins \xe2\x80\x94 that is, to turn away from them; to \ngive them up here and now; to break with them \nat once. \n\nRight there is where many fail. They say: \n"Well, I\'ll think about it. Sin has complicated my \nlife. It is not easy to break off at once, and say I \nwill not sin any more. I will try and arrange my \naffairs and get ready to quit my evil ways and be- \ncome a Christian." You cannot get ready in that \nway, and the minute you try to arrange things \nyourself by some sort of compromise, your treach- \nerous heart, that got you into your sins in the first \nplace, will betray you again, and you will be bound \ntighter than ever. You will sink the deeper into \nthe mire as you flounder and try to get out. \n\nNo, the way to get out is not by floundering in \nyour own strength. The way of escape is through \nsurrender to Jesus Christ. He knows all the evil \nof your heart. He knows all the wicked complica- \ntions into which your sin has brought you, and he \nalone knows how to cut the cords of evil that bind \nyou in a hundred ways. Drop everything and \ncome to Jesus. Throw yourself on his mercy ; put \nyourself into his hands, and he will make an infi- \n\n\n\n44 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nnitely better adjustment of all your difficulties than \nyou are able to make yourself. Besides, he will \ncleanse your heart and purify your soul. He will \nkindle in you a love for good things and for pure \nthings. He will pull your feet out of the mire \nwhere they are now sinking, and set them upon a \nrock, and will teach you to sing the new song of \nredeeming love. \n\nSometimes the devil keeps a man back by lifting \nhis wicked habits up into his gaze, and he sneeringly \nsays to him : "You are a pretty man to talk about \nbeing a Christian ! You know you can\'t live up to \nit. You will only bring disgrace on Christian peo- \nple and on yourself. Suppose you were forgiven \nfor your sins, what would that amount to? It \nwould not be two weeks till you would be sinning \nagain. 9 \' But the devil was a liar from the begin- \nning. What he says might be true enough if \nGod\'s forgiveness was like the forgiveness of man. \nThe governor of a State may forgive a thief, and \ngive him a free pardon, and send him out into the \nworld again; but with the old habit strong upon \nhim, and the old thievish propensity asserting \nitself in his heart, he will soon be back into the peni- \ntentiary. Jesus Christ does infinitely more than \nthat. He not only forgives the man who, turning \nfrom his sins, takes hold upon him by faith, but \nwith the pardon he gives him a changed heart. He \n\n\n\nTHE POISONED SPRING 45 \n\nrenews within him a right spirit. He is not only \nrelieved from condemnation, but he is taken into \nfriendship and fellowship with God and with Christ \nand with all good people, and angel visitors minister \nto him, and so long as he keeps himself in this loving \nassociation he is safe from all of the temptations \nto evil. \n\nChrist saves you not by the negative method of \nsimply putting you on guard to stand over your- \nselves, and watch for some evil appetite or passion \nor lust to lift its head like a serpent that has been \nhiding in the dark, and to strike it and drive it back \nagain until another occasion offers. Ah, no; if \nthat were all, a poor salvation it would be indeed. \nBut Jesus proposes to cleanse your hearts, not that \nthey may be left empty, but that instead of the vile \nregistry of visitors which are written down here in \\ \nour text there shall be a new registration of tenants \' \nin your soul. Love, and hope, and faith, and joy, \nand peace, and patience, and gentleness, and gen- \nerosity, and humility, and courage, and truth, and \nhonesty, and holiness shall come and dwell in your \nhearts, and a life of gladness and helpfulness shall \nbe carried on there, a positive life of goodness. \n\nNow I know that, as I speak to you, there is \nsomething in your hearts that answers to it. You \ndo not belong to the devil ; you are not made for sin \nand evil; you belong to goodness; Christ is your \n\n\n\n46 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nelder brother, and there is something in every one \nof your hearts that responds to all that I can say \nabout God and his love and the heaven to which he \ninvites you. You know that your home is not in \nthe camps of iniquity. Your home is not in the far \ncountry with the swine. Your home is in the \nFather\'s house, and I come to you with this appeal \nknowing that for you to come back to God and for- \nsake your sins is the most natural thing in the world \nfor you to do. It is but coming home. \n\nWhen the House of Commons, in England, ad- \njourns for the night it is the regular custom for \none of the officials to cry, "Who goes home?" But \nnobody pays any attention to his question in these \ndays. It is an old custom which once was alive \nwith meaning, but has no meaning now. In olden \ntimes it was very necessary, owing to the dangers \nin the streets from robbers and from the want of \nlights, for members going in the same direction to \njoin company for protection, and they went to- \ngether, well armed, and were lighted on their way \nhome by a linkboy. But in these times of compara^ \ntive safety and abundant facility for traveling all \nthe old precautions are needless, and if members \ndo leave the House of Commons together it is not \nfor mutual protection, but simply for the pleasure \nof having each other\'s company by the way. Still, \nit is interesting that the familiar cry should be \n\n\n\nTHE POISONED SPRING 47 \n\ncontinued, even though it has lost the meaning it \nonce had. \n\nThe old custom, and the intense meaning that \nonce illuminated it, ought to have a suggestion for \nus. The journey of life has many dangers. It is \nbeset by robbers who outrage unwary travelers and \nsteal from them all that is worth having. No man \nwalks safely on this journey except he has the \nfellowship of Jesus Christ and the helpful associa- \ntion of Christian men and women who are also \ngoing home to heaven. And I come to you this \nevening, and I cry out to you, "Who goes home?" \nIf you will come with us I am sure we will do you \ngood. We will share with you the love of our \nSaviour, and you will find him, as we have found \nhim, a sure defender in every time of need. \n\nI wish I knew what to say to you to make you \nknow how willing Christ is to take you, just as \nyou are, with all your sins, and forgive you, and \ngive you the gladness and the peace of a pure \nheart and the comfort of knowing that all your \nsins are blotted out and that God is pleased with \nyou. \n\nA while ago, in one of our New York city mis- \nsions, where there is a medical dispensary, a Chris- \ntian physician noticed a young man come into the \nconsulting room. His dress and appearance was \nmuch like the others, but something in his manner, \n\n\n\n48 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nand in the few words in which he described his \nillness, convinced the doctor that he was not a \nnative of this city. After prescribing for him the \ndoctor said, "You don\'t seem to belong to this \nneighborhood." \n\n"No, indeed," was the reply, uttered in a tone \nof regret. \n\n"Where is your home?" \n\nThere was a long-drawn sigh as he answered, \n"Three hundred miles away ;" and the young fellow \nseemed to be thinking that in another sense he was \nstill further off. \n\n"Long since you left home?" \n\n"Yes, sir, many a long month. I have traveled \nover all these States, and in California and Canada, \nand an awful rough time I\'ve had of it." \n\n"I don\'t doubt it, my boy. No place like home, \nis there?" \n\n"Indeed, no, sir. I wish I was there now, but \nI\'m in no condition to go." \n\nThe good doctor saw a chance to save a soul, and \nso he said, kindly: "It\'s a great comfort to think \nthose difficulties don\'t keep us from going to Christ \nwhen we wish to, is it not? He would receive us \nin any condition, and without money, you know. \nHave you been to him to save you in the same way \nas you have come to me trusting in my power to \ncure you?" \n\n\n\nTHE POISONED SPRING 49 \n\n"No, sir, I can\'t say I have ; at least not for many \na day, though I was well brought up." \n\n"Well, it is not too late to try. Christ will give \nyou a warm welcome ; he likes to receive people who \nwant to turn over a new leaf. Won\'t you try ?" \n\n"I will, doctor. You have spoken kindly to me, \nlike my own father used to. I ought to tell you \nthat the name I gave is not my right name." And, \nfeeling that one who had been so sympathetic was \nentitled to the confidence, the lad gave the doctor \nhis right name and the name of his native town. \n\nThe doctor appreciated this sign of confidence, \nand said: "I am glad you told me; it may be the \nfirst step toward better things." \n\nThe doctor wrote to a friend he had in the same \ntown, and the very next day a telegram reached him \nbegging that the boy be sent home at once. All \nexpenses would be defrayed and his aged parents \nwould give him a hearty welcome. \n\nThree days passed before the doctor could find \nthe youth. Pie inquired among the men at the \nmission, but none of them had seen him. At last, \non the third day, he walked into the consulting \nroom. \n\n"I heard you wanted to see me, doctor," he said. \n\n"Yes," said the doctor. "Here is a letter for \nyou. Do you know the writing ?" \n\n"That is my father\'s writing," said the boy, \n\n\n\n50 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nstaggering to a chair and tearing the letter open. \nAs he read it the tears ran down his face. \n\n"Well, it\'s a good job, is it not?" the doctor \nasked, as the young fellow looked up. \n\n"Yes, sir, and thank God for it. They want me \nto go home at once, but I can\'t go this way. I \nmust get some work, so I can get some better clothes. \nI would not like to go home in these dirty rags." \n\n"But think of your mother watching for you, and \nyour father going to meet the trains. You would \nnot like to keep them waiting while you earn the \nmoney for new clothes. They want you badly, \ndon\'t they? They know you are hard up." \n\n"Yes, sir. I\'ll go as I am. It would not be \nright to wait." \n\n"That\'s good. Now I want you to feel that way \nabout Christ. Don\'t wait to clean up, but go \nstraight to him as you are." \n\nGod had dealt so mercifully to him that the boy \nwas ready and willing, and right there on their \nknees together, in that consulting room, while the \ndoctor prayed, the boy gave his heart to Christ. \n\nBut there was no need to humiliate the boy and \nhis family by sending him home in his rags. The \nkind doctor took him to his house and gave him a \nbath and fitted him out with a suit of clothes, and \nthen put him on the train for home. \n\nA grateful letter soon came from the father de- \n\n\n\nTHE POISONED SPRING 51 \n\nscribing his son\'s reception. He and his second \nson had met him at the station, and gave him wel- \ncome ; but that was nothing to the welcome he got \nfrom his mother when they reached home. She \nkissed him and wept over him and clung to him, and \nwould not loose him until the neighbors, who had \nbeen called in, came to share in the joy of the \nreunited family. No such joyful meal had ever \nbeen eaten in that home. \n\nThat is what Jesus Christ is doing, and that is \nwhat God is waiting to do for you. Come to him \njust as you are. He knows your condition. He \nknows all your bad habits. He knows all your \nwicked thoughts. He knows all your sorrows. \nBut he loves you, and he longs to save you. Come \nhome! Come home, and come now! \n\n\n\nV \n\nNOT A PATCH, BUT A NEW SUIT \n\nNo man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that \nwhich is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is \nmade worse.\xe2\x80\x94 Matthew ix, 16. \n\nNothing could show more clearly the difference \nbetween God\'s way and man\'s way in dealing with \nthe human heart and life than this plain but striking \nillustration used by our Saviour. Man is always re- \nsorting to religious patchwork. God is ever deter- \nmined to clothe man anew with righteousness. Man \nis always seeking to patch up his habits and make his \nlife look respectable and presentable without affect- \ning the inner purposes which prompt life. But \nGod is continually teaching us that such a patch \nis of no account so long as the secret springs of \npersonality remain unchanged. Paul sets the mat- \nter very clearly before us in his letter to the \nColossians when he says, speaking to people who \nhave given themselves to Christ: \n\n"But now ye also put off all these ; anger, wrath, \nmalice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of \nyour mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that \nye have put off the old man with his deeds ; and have \nput on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge \n\n\n\nNOT A PATCH, BUT A NEW SUIT 53 \n\nafter the image of him that created him." There \nis no patchwork about that. Paul was urging \nupon these people a complete new suit in religious \ncharacter and life. \n\nI am sure there are many people who are nominal \nChristians who are cheating their souls and failing \nto live in joyous communion with their Saviour \nbecause, while they are willing to have their lives \npatched up and freshened in many ways, they have \nnot surrendered themselves completely to Christ to \ndo his will and follow him in all things. Christ \ncannot save us, he cannot transform and ennoble \nour lives, unless we open every secret closet of our \nhearts to him and permit him to work his will in us, \ncleansing us from all our sins. \n\nRev. F. B. Meyer tells us that there was a time \nwhen, though he was a nominal Christian, he real- \nized that there was a secret sin which he cherished, \nand that it was keeping him back from Christ. \nAnd yet he wished to surrender himself to Christ; \nhe longed for the forgiveness of his sins; his soul \nhungered and thirsted for communion with Christ. \nIt seemed to him as though he offered to Jesus a \nbunch of keys, in which the keys of all the chambers \nof his heart were placed upon the ring of his will, \nexcept the key to one little room. It was a small \nroom, and he hoped that Christ would not notice. \nHe knew that in that private closet he was treas- \n\n\n\n54 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nuring up what Christ could never permit, and so it \nwas with uneasiness of heart that he placed his \nbunch of keys in the hands of the Master. Jesus \nlooked at him with his searching eyes, those eyes \nthat look down into the secrets of the soul as they \nlooked into the heart of Zacchasus, and asked \nwhether they were all there. He blushed a little, \nwell knowing what the Master meant, and answered \nthat they were all there but one, and that that was \ntoo insignificant to be worth his care. \n\nThe Master saw that he evaded him, and said, \nsadly, as he returned the keys to him: "I cannot \ntake them. If you do not trust me in all you do not \ntrust me at all. Besides, how can I keep you clean \nand pure while in that secret closet all manner of \nevil is constantly breeding?" \n\nMr. Meyer says he saw the truth of the words, \nbut he thought he could not live without the con- \ntents of that secret chamber. He was conscious of \nan evil voice encouraging him in his refusal, and of \nunholy suggestions that, if he were to surrender all, \nthere was simply no limit to the demands that \nmight be made upon him. On the other hand, he \nknew that Jesus Christ had every right to have all \nthe rooms in his heart ; had the right to entire con- \ntrol of his life ; and that Jesus meant only good to \nhim.- So finally he gave up the struggle and sur- \nrendered unconditionally to Christ, and told him \n\n\n\nNOT A PATCH, BUT A NEW SUIT 55 \n\nhe was willing to give up the key. The key seemed \nto cling to the palm of his hand, against which it \nlay, beneath his clasped fingers, yet he was willing \nfor Christ to take it, if he would. And it seemed \nas if the Saviour\'s face lighted with a smile of \ninexpressible joy as he took the offered hand in \nhis and opened the fingers one by one. And \nso the Lord took the key that had been keeping \nhim out of the one locked chamber of that young \nlife. \n\nAs soon as it was in the hands of Jesus he went \nstraight and unlocked the door. Then they looked \nin together, and the Master blushed for him, as Mr. \nMeyer says he did for himself. Then with his own \nhands the merciful Lord took up the evil thing and \nbore it without the precincts of his soul, and instead \nof his dying for lack of it, to his surprise he lost all \ndesire for it. Jesus not only took away the evil \nthing, but he cleansed the place, opened a window \nin it which commands a view of heaven, and often \nthe Lord comes and sits with him there beside \nthat window, and they hold sweet communion to- \ngether. \n\nAnd so I am sure there are some of you who hear \nme who do not accept Jesus because you have not \nyet been deeply convicted of your sins. You have \nno deep and pungent consciousness of the awful- \nness of sin. If you could only know how evil your \n\n\n\n56 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nsin is ; if you could only see it "with clear eyes, I am \nsure you would abhor it, and loathe it, and be ready \nfor Christ to take it away. If, like Dr. Meyer, you \nwould give the key of your heart to Jesus, and let \nhim go and unlock the door that shuts in that secret \nsin, and look at it in the light of his faith, in the \nlight of heaven which he would let pour into that \nroom, I am sure that shame would mantle your \ncheeks, and you would cry out to your Saviour to \ncleanse your heart and your life from all sin. \n\nWe may be sure that only one kind of a charac- \nter will pass at the judgment. We must all meet \nat the judgment seat of Christ and before the great \nwhite throne we must be judged. A patched-up \ncharacter will not stand the test there. Sometimes \nyou are very lenient, and excuse yourself, and say, \n"O, well, I think my life averages up pretty well. \nI think it\'s as good as many church members." \nWell, suppose it is. Jesus says that there are many \nchurch members that will not get into heaven. He \nsays that many will come on that day and say, \n"Lord, have we not taken the communion ; have we \nnot been eating and drinking in thy name?" And \nhe will answer, "Depart from me. I never knew \nyou." O friend, these glib phrases about being as \ngood as your neighbor will die on your palsied \nlips when you come to stand trembling before the \ngreat white throne to give your account. Noth- \n\n\n\nNOT A PATCH, BUT A NEW SUIT 57 \n\ning then but the seamless robe of righteousness, \nmade white by the blood of the Lamb, will stand \nthe test. \n\nThere was a man in New Hampshire several \nyears ago who very much prided himself on his \nown self-righteous morality, and expected to be \nsaved by it. He often said: "I am doing pretty \nwell, on the whole. I sometimes get mad and \nswear, but then I am strictly honest. I work on \nSunday when I am particularly busy, but I give \na good deal to the poor, and I never was drunk in \nmy life." This man once hired a shrewd old \nScotchman to build a fence around his pasture, and \ngave him particular directions as to his work. In \nthe evening, when the Scotchman came in from \nhis labor, the farmer said, "Well, Jack, is the fence \nbuilt, and is it tight and strong?" \n\n"I cannot say that it is all tight and strong," \nreplied the Scotchman, "but it\'s a good average \nfence, anyhow. If some parts are a little weak, \nothers are extra strong. I don\'t know but I may \nhave left a gap here and there, a yard wide or so ; \nbut then I have made up for it by doubling the \nnumber of rails on each side of the gap." \n\n"What!" cried the farmer, not seeing the point, \n"do you tell me that you have built a fence around \nmy lot with weak places in it, and gaps in it? \nWhy, you might as well have built no fence at \n\n\n\n\xc2\xbb \n\n\n\n58 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nall. Don\'t you know, man, that such a fence is \nworthless ?" \n\n"I used to think so," said the dry Scotchman, \n"but I hear you talk so much about averaging \nmatters with the Lord that it seems to me we might \ntry it with the cattle. If an average fence won\'t \ndo for them I am afraid that an average character \nwon\'t do in the day of judgment." \n\nI am sure the old Scotchman was right, for it \nonly takes one gap to let the stock into the meadow ; \nit only takes one wheel broken in the machinery to \nrender a great manufacturing plant inefficient; it \nonly takes one rail loose on a railway track to wreck \na train and put in danger a hundred lives ; it only \nrequires that one inch of wire shall be cut to render \nthree thousand miles of wire useless. So it only \nrequires one sin to let in the flood of evil; it only \nrequires one patch on a man\'s spiritual life to show \nthat all is unsafe and not to be trusted. \n\nBut there need not any of us go with patched \ncharacters, either here or hereafter, for our divine \nLord is able to cleanse us from all our iniquities, \nto pardon all our sins, and clothe us in the white \nraiment of righteousness. He has again and again \nreceived the very chief of sinners, and he has never \nfailed yet to save any man that has truly come unto \nhim. He has taken the most vengeful and vicious \npeople on earth and transformed them into the \n\n\n\nNOT A PATCH, BUT A NEW SUIT 59 \n\nmost loving and gentle. A missionary in New \nZealand called all his converts together for a season \nof fellowship, to close with the communion service. \nWhile they were kneeling around the Lord\'s table J \nhe noticed one man rising from his knees and re- \nturning to his seat, then, after a little while, coming \nback to the place of kneeling. After the service \nwas over he asked him the cause of this strange \nconduct. The heathen convert said: "I suddenly \nfound myself kneeling beside the man who mur- \ndered my father. I once vowed that if I ever saw \nhim I would kill him. All this came over me, and I \ncould not bear the sight or the thought. Then, in \nmy seat, I seemed to see Christ hanging on the \ncross and to hear him pray for his enemies ; and I \nheard a voice saying in my soul, \'By this shall all \nmen know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love \none to another.\' I gladly forgave him in my \nheart, and received great peace and blessing." \nAnd Christ is able to take all the hate out of your \nheart ; to take from you all those evil feelings that \ncause you so much happiness and unrest. \n\nI do not appeal only to the motive of your own \ngood. In behalf of your influence upon others I \nappeal to you to give your heart to Christ and let \nhim make the best out of you. It may be that some \nof you have little children who are looking to you \nfor an example. They may be your own children \n\n\n\nJ \n\n\n\n60 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nor the children of your friends ; but they look up to \nyou and are influenced by your life. \n\nAn influential woman, the wife of a prominent \nlawyer, gave this account of her conversion : \n\n"My little girl came to me and said, \'Mamma, \nare you a Christian ?\' \n\n" \'No, Fannie, I am not.\' \n\n"She turned and went away, and as she walked \noff I heard her say, \'Well, if mamma isn\'t a Chris- \ntian I don\'t want to be one.\' " \n\nThat went straight to the mother\'s heart, and \nshe lost no time in giving her heart to Christ and \nputting her life where her child could safely fol- \nlow. O, in God\'s name I plead with you to take the \nsafe path ! Don\'t let some one you love stand in \nthe judgment and say, "If you had only used the \nright influence I would have been saved." \n\nBut I not only plead for your influence over \nothers, I plead for you to come to Christ because \nof the debt of gratitude you owe to him for his life \nand death given for you. One of our leading \nmagazines gives this little story of an old man who \nis a puddier in a foundry in one of our cities and \nearns good wages. Twenty years ago the wife and \nmother died, and a little daughter of five became \nthe old man\'s pet. Twelve years ago he sold all \nhis property and spent his money in sending her \nabroad to study music. She came back two years \n\n\n\nNOT A PATCH, BUT A NEW SUIT 61 \n\nago, a fine singer and a matchless beauty, and re- \nfused to own her father. But the heart-broken old \nfather has not turned against her, even though she \nhas so richly deserved it. For he has moved into \ncheap quarters, and lives very niggardly himself, \nthat he may have the more to send to her every \nweek, though she neither sees nor writes to him. \nWhat an ungrateful wretch that girl seems to us ! It \nmade my blood tingle to my finger-tips with indig- \nnation when I read of such base ingratitude. And \nthen my eyes filled with tears as I reflected that \nthat is just the way multitudes are treating Jesus \nChrist, who came down to earth, putting aside the \nglory of heaven, and died for them on the cross that \nthey might be saved. O, if you are standing in \nthat place of ingratitude to-night, I entreat you \ndo not stand there one more night. Come to Christ, \nrepent of the years of ingratitude you have passed, \nand, entreating his forgiveness, find this night the \njoys of salvation. You may go to your homes this \nevening with your heart flooded with "the peace of \nGod, which passeth all understanding." \n\n\n\nVI \n\nTHE GREAT PHYSICIAN \n\nTliey that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.\xe2\x80\x94 \nMatthew ix, 12. \n\nThe Bible always treats sin as an invader which \nhas come in from the devil\'s country. There is no \nsin in the normal, healthy condition of a human \nheart. Sin comes into our lives as does a disease, \nwhich fastens on the organs of the system and unless \ncast out preys and ravages there until we are de- \nstroyed. Sin comes when we give rein to qualities \nwhich, though good in themselves, when they be- \ncome master instead of God bring us into folly and \nrebellion. Eve was led away when she listened to \nthe serpent instead of to God. St. James describes \nto us the evolution of sin: "Let no man say," he \nsays, "when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: \nfor God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempt- \neth he any man : but every man is tempted, when he \nis drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then \nwhen lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin : and \nsin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." \n\nChrist comes as the Great Physician to heal the \nheart and soul of man from this worst of all mala- \ndies, the disease of sin. In the long story of the \n\n\n\nTHE GREAT PHYSICIAN 63 \n\nhuman race there have been many physicians who \nhave tried to prescribe for the sinner, but all have \nfailed except Jesus. \n\nAt the World\'s Fair, in Chicago, in 1893, there \nwere gathered together, in what was called the \nParliament of Religions, representatives from all \nthe great peoples of the world and from all the \nreligions of the earth, and each one sought to pre- \nsent a physician who might cure the deadly disease \nof sin. The meeting went on for two days and at \nthe close of a debate Dr. Barrows, who was in \ncharge, turned to Bishop Arnett, a colored minister \nfrom the Southland, and said, "Bishop, what do \nyou think about the model men of the world as \ncompared with Jesus Christ?" And the good \nbishop said, "I feel like singing the old Methodist \n\nnymn: \'Jesus! the name high over all, \nIn hell, or earth, or sky; \nAngels and men before it fall, \nAnd devils fear and fly.\' " \n\nThen Dr. Joseph Cook, who has recently gone \nhome to heaven, said, speaking of the great cer- \ntainties of religion, "Lady Macbeth hath blood \nstains on her hands," and he asked the representa- \ntives of each religion what they could do to remove \nthose stains. He waited for an answer, and at \nlast solemnly and with tremendous emphasis, which \nno man there present will ever forget, exclaimed, \n\n\n\n64 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\n"Nothing but the blood of Jesus !" The vast audi- \nence broke forth into applause \xe2\x80\x94 a reverent, rap- \nturous applause \xe2\x80\x94 agreeing that there is nothing \nthat can remove the stain of a guilty conscience, \nnothing that can heal the soul that is sick of sin, \nbut the blood of Jesus Christ. \n\nChrist is the one Great Physician able to heal not \nonly the malady of sin, but to keep the soul in per- \nfect health. He alone knows how to fill all the \nlongings and aspirations of the human heart. \nThere is an old poem in which the writer gives most \nbeautiful expression to this thought: \n\n"As pants the wearied hart for cooling streams; \nAs thirsts the traveler o\'er the burning sand \nFor the refreshing shade and living spring; \nAs sighs the exile for the loved embrace \nOf sire and mother-home and kindred dear, \nSo pants and sighs, O God, this heart of mine, \nFor thee and purity. \n\nIn vain the world, \nBedecked with fashion\'s gaudy tinselry, \nWith winning smile, invites my laboring heart \nTo join her feasts of mirth to find content. \nAmbition, too, has tried her artful wiles \nTo still with worldly hopes this yearning cry \xe2\x80\x94 \nBut all in vain. All earthly hopes are lost, \nAre swallowed up by this deep soul desire. \nAll earthly happiness I count but dross, \nAnd willingly, while still the earnest cry \nAnd craving of my heart is holiness. \nWhy is this inward thirst, my Father, why \nThis deep, intense desire for purity; \n\n\n\nTHE GREAT PHYSICIAN 65 \n\nThis constant yearning cry of soul, \'Create \n\nIn me, O God, a clean, a holy heart/ \n\nIf in that fount for rebel sinners oped \n\nI seek in vain for grace to purify? \n\nThou\'st told me in thy word, \'The blood of Christ \n\nHis Son doth cleanse from all unrighteousness.\' \n\nO hast thou in thy word and promise failed, \n\nOr failed in power? Hast thou, my God, inspired \n\nWithin this soul of mine a bitter thirst, \n\nWith naught to satisfy; a longing for \n\nA good thou canst or wilt not grant? \n\nMy heart, the impious thought. It cannot be \xe2\x80\x94 \n\nThat blood for thee on Calvary\'s summit shed \n\nIs full to-day, and free and powerful, all \n\nTo save, e\'en to the uttermost, the soul \n\nThat comes with faith to lave beneath its flood, \n\nIn whom of old, a Peter, Paul, or John \n\nWere \'cleansed,\' made free by its all-healing power. \n\nTake then, my soul, by humble faith the gift, \n\nThe blood-bought gift; no longer doubt its power \n\nOr slight his love, but yield to him at once \n\nThine all, a willing, holy sacrifice. \n\nSo shall thy joy increase, and brighter far \n\nShall grow the light that shines along thy way, \n\nTill in that land above, where all is love, \n\nAnd joy, and purity, thy light is lost \n\nIn heaven\'s eternal day." \n\nDuring Christ\'s life on earth he was a Physician \nof both body and soul. There was no sickness of \nthe body, no disease of the mind, no ache of the \nheart but Jesus could make it whole. Christ had \nonly to appeal to what he did as evidence of his \nmission. When John had been cast into prison, \nand, shut in by the four prison walls, grew lonely \n\n\n\n66 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nand depressed and wondered whether Christ were \nindeed the true Messiah or not, he told some of his \nfriends one day when they came to visit him in the \nprison, "Go, and see Jesus, and ask him if he is \nindeed the Messiah, or whether we shall still look \nfor another?" These friends of John went on a \nday when there was a great gathering of the peo- \nple to hear Jesus, and still more sick people who \nhad either come or been brought by their friends \nthat they might be healed. And when John\'s \nfriends put to Christ the question of their leader, \n"Art thou he that should come, or do we look for \nanother?" Christ turned about, and looked at the \ngreat throng surrounding them, and said, kindly: \n"Go and tell John the things you have seen and \nheard to-day. Ask these men and women what has \nhappened to them. Look at that pile of crutches \nthere, talk with the people who brought them. \nLook at those beds that were carried here with a man \nat each corner that are now laid aside as unneces- \nsary. Look at that little girl over there standing \nby her father, the distinguished-looking ruler in \nthe uniform of authority. He came to me one \nday in great haste, and thought his daughter was \ndying, and even while I talked to him the servants \ncame and told him that she was dead. I told him \nnot to worry, that she was not dead, but sleeping, \nand they all laughed at me with scorn ; but I went \n\n\n\nTHE GREAT PHYSICIAN 67 \n\ninto the room and took her by the hand, and she \narose alive, and see how well and strong she is to- \nday. See that man over there gesticulating to an \nacquaintance with whom he is talking. He is \ntelling a man how his hand was palsied, and that \nwhen he met me I caused him to stretch it forth \nand it became whole. Look at that man who \nseems to be gazing up at something in the sky in a \nrapture of delight. That is a young man who was \nblind, and I opened his eyes. Go tell John the \nthings you have seen and heard, that his heart may \nbe comforted." \n\nNow, Jesus, who was able to heal the maladies \nof men while he was here on earth, has not lost his \npower. He can still speak to the demon-possessed \nsoul and set it free. He can still forgive sins, and \ncast out anger, and hate, and viciousness of spirit, \nand make men loving and cheerful and glad. He \nis the Great Physician of the soul. Give him a \nchance to heal thine. Christ wrought no miracles \nwhile he was here on earth more wonderful than \nthe miracles of soul-healing which he is working \nnow. \n\nIn a certain dychouse, where there were a num- \nber of workmen who were very wicked, the foremost \none in their wickedness was brought under the \ninfluence of some earnest revival meetings and con- \nverted. Two of his friends among the workmen \n\n\n\n68 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nwere so struck by the change that for a time they \ntried to act just as he did, and succeeded very well. \nThe ridicule and scorn of the rest were, however, \ntoo strong for them, and they turned back to their \nold ways, while John, the real convert, clung close \nto Christ and stood firm as a rock. John did not \nsay much, but he answered scoffs and ridicule by a \nconsistent Christian life. One day, however, when his \nassociates were boasting what good infidelity could \ndo, and how much harm the Bible had done, his \nsoul was stirred within him ; he turned around, and \nsaid, feelingly but firmly : "Well, let us talk plainly \nabout this matter, my friends, and judge of the \ntree by the fruit it bears. You call yourselves infi- \ndels. Let us see what your principles do. Now, \nthere was Tom and Jem," pointing to the two who \nstarted out to do right and went back. "You have \ntried your principles on them. When they tried \nto serve Christ they were civil, good-tempered, kind \nhusbands and fathers. They were cheerful, hard- \nworking, and ready to oblige. What have you \nmade them? Look and see. They are cast down \nand cross; their mouths are full of cursing and \nfilthiness; they are drunk every week; their chil- \ndren half-clothed; their wives broken-hearted; \ntheir homes wretched. Now, I have tried Christ, \nand his religion, and what has it done for me ? You \nknow well what I used to be. There were none of \n\n\n\nTHE GREAT PHYSICIAN 69 \n\njou who could drink so much, swear so desperately, \nor fight with such recklessness. I had no money, \nno one would trust me. My wife was ill-used ; I was \nill-humored, hateful, and hating. What has re- \nligion done for me? Thank God, I am not afraid \nto put it to you. Am I not a happier man than I \nwas? Am I not a better workman and a kinder \ncompanion? Would I once have put up with what \nI now bear from you? I could whip any of you \nas easily now as ever. Why don\'t I? Do you \never hear a foul word from my mouth, or catch me \nat a public house? Go and ask my neighbors if \nI have not altered for the better. Go and ask my \nwife. Let my home bear witness. God be praised, \nhere is what Christianity has done for me. There \nis what infidelity has done for Jem and Tom." \nJohn stopped. The dyers had not a word to say. \nHe had used the logic they could not answer, the \nlogic of his own experience and life. He had been \na sick man, sick of the vilest sins, and he had met \nthe Great Physician, and he had healed him, and \nhe is able to heal you. \n\nIt is always waste of time for us to be special- \nizing our sins, as though there was some aristocracy \nor caste about sin. There is not, any more than \nthere is about consumption, or typhoid fever, or \npneumonia. All sin has death in it. All sin will \ndestroy your peace of conscience, bring you under \n\n\n\n70 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\ncondemnation, and cause your banishment from \nGod forever. There is only one way to get rid of \nsin, and that is to call in the Great Physician. The \nblood of Jesus Christ, and it alone, has power to \ncleanse us from sin. \n\nAn old blind man was taken to a hospital to die. \nHis grandchild, a little girl, went every day to \nread to him. One day she was reading in the New \nTestament, and came to the words, "And the blood \nof Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." \nThe old man raised himself up, and stopped the \nlittle girl, saying, with great earnestness: "Is that \nthere, my dear?" \n\n"Yes, grandpa." \n\n"Then read it to me again \xe2\x80\x94 I never heard it \nbefore." \n\nShe read it again. \n\n"You are quite sure that it is there?" \n\n"Yes, quite sure, grandpa." \n\n"Then take my hand and lay my finger on the \npassage, for I want to feel it." \n\nShe took the old blind man\'s hand, and placed his \nbony finger on the verse, when he said, "Now, read \nit to me again." \n\nWith a soft, sweet voice, she read, "And the blood \nof Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." \n\n"You are quite sure that it is there?" \n\n"Yes, quite sure, grandpa." \n\n\n\nTHE GREAT PHYSICIAN 71 \n\n"Then if anyone should ask how I died, tell them \nI died in the faith of these words: \'The blood of \nJesus Christ his Son cieanseth us from all sin.\' " \n\nWith that the old man passed forever into the \npresence of the Great Physician, who had cleansed \naway his sin and made him pure. \n\nO my friends, this is an auspicious time to call \nthe Great Physician. Jesus is now passing by. \nOthers are meeting him and are being healed by \nhim of their sins and sorrows. Isaiah says, "Seek \nye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him \nwhile he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, \nand the unrighteous man his thoughts : and let him \nreturn unto the Lord, and ne will have mercy upon \nhim; and to our God, for he will abundantly \npardon." \n\nJesus is near to you now. Obey him, confess \nhim, and he will heal and save you. \n\n\n\nVII \n\nGOOD CHEER FOR THE SINNER \n\nAnd, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on \na bed : and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy ; \nSon, be of good cheer ; thy sins be forgiven thee.\xe2\x80\x94 Matthew ix, 2. \n\nThere is always good cheer where Christ has his \nway. When the disciples were in the storm at \nnight, and had given up hope of ever reaching \nland again, Christ came walking to them over the \nrolling waves with his ringing, "Be of good cheer ; \nit is I; be not afraid." The waves were caressed \ninto peace, and the stormy winds were stilled, and \nthe peaceful stars shone forth in the sky when \nJesus came. Again, when those same friends were \noppressed and discouraged at the massing host of \ndifficulties that seemed to threaten them with fail- \nure, Christ\'s same joyous note of courage rang \nout, "Be of good cheer ; I have overcome the world." \nAnd it is this same encouraging word which Jesus \nutters to this poor palsied man who has been \nbrought to him for treatment. Christ has cheer for \nhim, not only for the paralysis that has handi- \ncapped his control over his body, but in his power \nto free him from the deadlier paralysis that has been \ngrowing on heart and soul. \n\n\n\nGOOD CHEER FOR THE SINNER 73 \n\nThe palsy of the soul is the most terrible thing \nthat can come to any of us. To be away from \nGod, to be without hope of heaven, to have no real \nfellowship with Jesus Christ our Saviour, and yet \nto be comparatively indifferent about it, to have a \ngrowing indifference to spiritual things, is the \nsaddest and most pitiable disease of sin that can fall \nupon a human heart. I do pray God that he may \ngrant us his Spirit, that the word to-night may \nreach whatever sensitive spot there is left in your \nheart, and quicken you to repentance and faith and \ndecision ere it is forever too late. \n\nIn the medical records in Paris there is an ac- \ncount of a man who was attacked by a creeping \nparalysis. Sight was the first to fail; soon after, \nhearing went ; then, by degrees, taste, smell, touch, \nand the very power of motion. He could breathe, \nhe could swallow, he could think, and, strange to \nsay, he could speak; that was all. Not the very \nslightest message from without could possibly, it \nseemed, reach his mind; nothing to tell him what \nwas near, who was still alive ; the world was utterly \nlost to him, and he all but lost to the world. At \nlast, one day, an accident showed that one small \nplace on one cheek had its feeling left. It seemed \na revelation from heaven. By tracing letters on \nthat place his wife and children could speak to him ; \nhis dark dungeon-wall was pierced. His tongue \n\n\n\n74 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nhad never lost its power, and once more he was a \nman among men. Strange this, and true ; a parable \nfull of suggestion in our present study. The \nworst kind of paralysis that ever strikes any man \nor woman is that of the heart and conscience. \nThere never was a man with no affections and no \nsense of right and wrong ; but I doubt not I speak \nto some this evening who are conscious of a very \nremarkable change as to the sensitiveness of con- \nscience as the years have gone on. You can recall \ndeeds that are contrary to God\'s will as plainly \nexpressed in the Bible that once you could not have \npermitted without the keenest rebuke from your \nconscience; but now you break the law of God at \nthat point with almost complete indifference. \nGradually you are silencing the voice of God in \nyour breast. If you had obeyed your conscience \nfrom the first it would have remained keenly alive, \nand would have been a perfect monitor to have \nkept you from the dangers of sin ; but because you \nhave disregarded it a creeping paralysis is crawling \nupon you. \n\nI am sure that some of you will recall occasions \nwhen you were very keenly alert and sensitive to \nthe duty of becoming a Christian. You were \ndrawn with a strange power toward the open con- \nfession and service of Jesus Christ. But some \nsecret sin, some love of the world, something, held \n\n\n\nGOOD CHEER FOR THE SINNER 75 \n\nyou back and, though knowing your duty, you did \nnot do it, and never since then have those spiritual \nimpressions been so clear as at that time. My \nfriends, all this does not mean that God\'s word has \nchanged. Sin is still sin, and the wages of sin is \ndeath, just as it used to be. But you have grieved \nthe Spirit of God until a deadly paralysis of the \nspiritual perception, of the conscience, and of the \nwill is creeping over the powers of your soul. I \npray God that the Holy Spirit may find the one \nsensitive point that is left yet, and may communicate \nfrom heaven with your heart to-night ! \n\nIt is never sin, but a lack of willingness to for- \nsake sin and accept the forgiveness and good cheer \nwhich Jesus brings, that keeps the sinner from \nChrist. Christ is able to save the chief of sinners, \nand whenever the heart will respond to him any \nsinner may be forgiven. \n\nA Sunday school teacher in a large city had a \nclass of girls. One of them was a singularly inter- \nesting girl, only sixteen years of age, the only \ndaughter of a widowed mother. One Sunday she \nwas missing from her class. Upon inquiry at home \nhe found that Mary had been lured from her \nmother\'s house by some wretch who had taken her \naway, and no trace remained whereby they could \nascertain where she was. The Sunday school \nteacher used every exertion to discover her, but in \n\n\n\n76 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nvain. At last, after several months, he received \nintelligence that the poor girl had been abandoned \nby her deceiver, and that she was slowly dying in \na miserable garret. He went to her mother, and \nasked if she had anything belonging to Mary in \nher possession. The mother drew herself up and, \nwith a frown, charged him never to mention Mary\'s \nname again in her presence. Still he persevered, \nand at last she went to a press, took out a little \nBible, and said, "There\'s her Bible \xe2\x80\x94 take it ; let me \nnever hear her name mentioned again." He took \nup the little Bible \xe2\x80\x94 many a passage was marked in \nit \xe2\x80\x94 and went out. \n\nAfter a couple of hours he found himself ascend- \ning the stairs which led to a squalid garret. There, \ncrouched over the embers of a half-consumed fire, \nhe saw the poor girl of whom he was in search. She \nturned around at the noise of the opening door. A \nbright hectic flush was on either cheek. There was \na hollow cough and a startled cry of shame and \nterror. \n\nHe went forward. "Mary," he said, "do you \nknow this book ?" \n\n"O!" she screamed, "my Sunday school Bible!" \nShe buried her pale, thin, emaciated face in her \nworn hands and wept violently. \n\n"Put on your shawl," he said, "and come along \nwith me." \n\n\n\nGOOD CHEER FOR THE SINNER 77 \n\nShe obeyed as though walking in a dream, fol- \nlowed him down the stairs into a cab, and they drove \nback to her mother\'s cottage. Mary said nothing, \nbut lay back in the corner as though she had \nfainted. At last she started. "Where are you tak- \ning me?" she cried. \n\nThey stopped before the mother\'s door. The \nteacher took the half-fainting girl in his arms and \nbore her inside. The mother was standing before \nthe grate as though changed to stone. The poor, \nwretched girl tottered feebly forward and fell upon \nher knees. \n\n"O mother, can you forgive me?" \n\nA wild, fierce gleam shot from her mother\'s eyes, \nbut it was followed by a holy, sweet, compassion- \nate, yearning look of love. She rushed forward, \nand the next moment poor Mary was clasped in her \nmother\'s arms. The faithful teacher turned away \nwithout a word. \n\nA few days later a letter reached him. It was \nblotted over with frequent tears. It said : "Mary is \ndead ; but ere she died she whispered to me, \'Moth- \ner, tell him, my Sunday school teacher, who, under \nGod, has saved my soul, tell him whom the Good \nShepherd sent after me to find me, that my last dy- \ning words were, "I, the poor lost one, washed in my \nprecious Saviour\'s blood from all my sins, and robed \nin his everlasting robe of righteousness \xe2\x80\x94 that I, \n\n\n\n78 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\npoor castaway, through his wondrous love, with dy- \ning breath cry, \n\nSalvation! O the joyful sound! \n\nWhat pleasure to my ears! \nA sovereign balm for every wound, \nA cordial for my fears." \' " \n\nThe Christ that brought good cheer to the poor \nman that was smitten with paralysis so that he had \nto be carried to Christ by his friends, and the Christ \nwho saved that poor girl in the hour of her despair, \nis able to save you. He will bring good cheer to \nyour heart and to your life if you will receive him \nto-night. \n\nMany whose lives have been so hedged about by \nthe church and by the influences of a Christian civ- \nilization that they have never fallen into shameful \nsin are in just as great danger of being lost at last \nthrough their failure to avail themselves by direct \nand personal obedience of the salvation purchased \nby the dying love of Jesus. It is strange how the \nchildren of Christian parents and the associates of \nChristian people, men and women who have had the \ntruth pressed home upon their heart again and \nagain, will sometimes so close their hearts against \nit that their indifference becomes a dangerous and \ndeadly paralysis. If only that indifference could \nbe shaken for a moment, so that you could see your \n\n\n\nGOOD CHEER FOR THE SINNER 79 \n\ngreat need of Christ and of the salvation which he \noffers, I am sure you would come to him to-night. \n\nFrank Wraithe was a very fine organist. His \nfather had been a devout Christian and had gone \nhome to heaven. But Frank, though he played in \nthe church, and enjoyed specially the music of the \nchurch, had grown utterly indifferent to the ques- \ntion of his personal salvation. There was in the \nchurch a man known as Bobby Turner. He was a \nquaint old man, odd and peculiar, but everybody \nloved him, he was so genuinely pervaded with the \nSpirit of Christ. One day the organist came into \nthe organ gallery late in the evening, when it was \ndark, for a piece of music he had forgotten, and \nwhile there he became conscious that some one else \nwas in the church below him. Bobby Turner was \npraying. He was talking to God as though he were \nsitting close at hand. In a moment Frank Wraithe \nwas trembling, for he recognized that the old man \nwas telling the Lord about him. \n\n"And now, my Father," the old man was saying, \n"there\'s that other matter I mentioned to thee this \nmorning. I was telling thee about Mister Frank, \nand begging thee to get him saved. Thou hast his \nfather up there beside thee, and he\'ll have told thee \nabout the lad. I fear my friend John will not have \nrealized all that he hoped he would. Him and me \nused to sing together : \n\n\n\n80 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\n\xc2\xab* \n\'And when I lose this stammering tongue \nI\'ll sing as loud as they.\' \n\nHe\'ll have lost the stammering tongue, but he\'ll \nstammer when he thinks of Mister Frank. He\'s a \ngrand lad is Mister Frank, my Father, and a bonny \ngood musician, and a rare good lad to his mother. \nHe just wants the needful, the one thing, the change \nof heart, the life that Jesus gives. I thought thee \nwould have done it before now, but thou\'ll have some \ngood reason for biding a while. My Father, have \na word with Mister Frank, and get things settled, \nand then the music here will be bad to beat, and my \nfriend John will be able to sing without stammer." \n\nFrank Wraithe was soon on his knees in the dark \nand silent gallery. The simple prayer of his fa- \nther\'s friend had opened the flood gates of his mem- \nory. His father\'s face was near him, the voice of \nthe dead was speaking, the prayers of the past were \nrepeated. His spirit\'s deeps were troubled. He \nhad known the holiest influences and been the ob- \nject of the dearest solicitude. The best within him \nwas in the ascendant. Thronging his mind were the \npast reminiscences. He was bathed in tears and \npraying \xe2\x80\x94 praying that his sins might be forgiven, \nand for the sense of peace. The good cheer of \nChrist came into his heart, and he went down out \nof that dark gallery with a soul full of light. \n\nFrank Wraithe went to the class meeting on \n\n\n\nGOOD CHEER FOR THE SINNER 81 \n\nTuesday night. He had never been there before. \nBobby Turner looked at him sharply when he en- \ntered. The old man knew not what to think. \n"What\'s thou want here, Mister Frank?" he asked, \nsuspicion in every tone. \n\n"Do you not want new members ?" Frank replied. \n\n"The Lord be praised ! Signs and wonders ! My \nfriend John will know, and what a time they\'ll have \nin heaven. Now he\'ll be singing in style! The \nLord be praised!" And Bobby Turner was grip- \nping the organist\'s hand and shaking it vigorously. \nAnd we are sure there was joy in heaven, for has not \nJesus said that there is joy there over one sinner \nthat repenteth? \n\nWill you not add to that heavenly joy to-night by \nobeying the Lord Jesus Christ and accepting all the \ngood cheer with which he waits to gladden your \nsoul ? \n\n6 \n\n\n\nVIII \n\nTHE GREATEST QUESTION OF EXCHANGE \n\nFor what shall it profit a man, if lie shall gain the whole world, and \nlose his own soul ? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his \nsoul?\xe2\x80\x94 Mark viii, 36, 37. \n\nI shall never talk on a more important theme, \nand you will never have offered to you for considera- \ntion a subject which has more in it to demand the \nfull measure of your power to weigh values and de- \ncide wisely, than the one brought to you in this text \nto-night. However it may seem to you now, the hour \nis coming, swift-winged, on the pinions of passing \ntime, when, no matter what else you have gained or \nlost, neither gain nor loss will be of any account \nunless you have made sure of the salvation of your \nsoul. \n\nWhen the great Gladstone was dying, and the \nyoung and brilliant and rich and world-famous \nLord Rosebery came to bid him good-bye, Glad- \nstone said, "Rosebery, look out for your soul," and \nthe Grand Old Man died, having looked out for his \nsoul. \n\nWhen Sir Walter Scott had reached the same \ntrying hour he drew Lockhart down to him and \nkissed him, and cried, tearfully, as he said: "Be \n\n\n\nQUESTION OF EXCHANGE 83 \n\ngood, my dear, be good. Nothing else counts \nwhen you come to lie here." Sir Walter Scott had \nknown much of gaining the world and of losing it, \nand had learned the great lesson that all other gain \nand loss is insignificant compared to the gain of \nthe soul. \n\nHow in contrast to these two cases stands Lord \nByron ! He was determined to gain the world, to \nwin fame and glory. Pie won it, but he lost his \nsoul, and in losing it lost even in this world all that \nmakes life of value. The poet describes his case \nwith graphic sadness : \n\n"Drank every cup of joy, heard every trump \nOf fame; drank early, deeply drank; drank draughts \n"Which common millions might have drank. Then died \nOf thirst, because there was no more to drink." \n\nI think that many people in reading this Scrip- \nture which we are studying, or in listening to a \ndiscussion about it, make the great mistake of im- \nagining that it is interesting only to people of large \nwealth or great genius who are tempted to strive \nfor the vast prizes of fortune. Nothing can be \nfarther from the truth than this. The fact is that \nthe spirit, the motive, which masters men and \nwomen and makes them good or bad is exactly the \nsame in the poor as in the rich. It is possible for \none whose salary is very small, and who has but \nlittle money to handle, to live and die a miser, and it \n\n\n\n84 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nis possible for one who deals with millions to live and \ndie in the spirit of a beggar. \n\n( A most interesting and suggestive story is told \nof Baron Rothschild, of Paris, and his close friend \nDuran, the artist. During the entire course of a \ncertain large dinner party the great financier noted \nthat the painter kept looking at him with a most \nintent and peculiar expression. After the coffee \nthe Baron drew his friend aside and said, "My dear \nfellow, pray tell me why you have stared at me so \npeculiarly this evening?" \n\n"I\'ll tell you with pleasure," answered Duran. \n"I am painting a beggar for the Salon, and have \nlooked all over Paris for a suitable head to draw \nfrom. I have finally found it. Yours is the \nideal." \n\nRothschild laughed heartily, and promised to sit \nfor his friend in suitable attire on the following \nday. \n\nDuring the progress of the sitting a young artist, \none of Duran\'s pupils, came into the room. Nat- \nurally he had not been in a position to meet people \nof Baron Rothschild\'s importance, and so did not \nknow him; but the beggar\'s miserable rags, wan \nface, and wistful expression appealed deeply to the \nyoung man\'s sympathies. Waiting until his master \nwas busy mixing colors, the poor young artist took \na franc from his vest pocket and held it out behind \n\n\n\nQUESTION OF EXCHANGE 85 \n\nhis back to the model, who seized it with feigned \navidity. \n\nThe man of millions lived, as had his fathers \nbefore him, with such an insatiable spirit of greed \nthat the lust for money had chiseled his face into a \nperfect type of the common beggar of the street. \nHe was the incarnation of greed for money. And \nso it is possible for one to live in very humble sur- \nroundings as well as in very high ones and yet have \nthis problem of the exchange of the soul for the \nfleeting values of this world as a question which he \nmust settle. \n\nIt is often a question which settles itself by de- \ngrees without seriously alarming the man or the \nwoman who is, in fact, exchanging immortal values \nfor the things of the world. How often is it true \nthat one who has been brought up to the Christian \nlife, and to whom the reading of the Bible, the daily \nprayer, and the attendance at church have been \nas natural as the air he breathed, has been drawn \naway from it all, not suddenly, but gradually, as \nthe world with its temptations and its allurements \nhas come in upon him like a flood, until finally \nChrist and prayer and heaven are blotted out and \nthe world has possession. ) \n\nOne day a gentleman was riding on a Western \nprairie and lost his way. Clouds arose in the sky, \nand not seeing the sun he quite lost his reckoning. \n\n\n\n86 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nNight came on, and as he knew not which way to \nguide his horse he let him take his own way. By \nand by a light glimmered in the distance, and it \nwas not long before the horse stopped before a log \ncabin. \n\n"Who\'s there ?" somebody shouted from within. \n\n"A benighted traveler. Can you give me a \nnight\'s lodging?" \n\n"You\'re welcome," said the man, appearing at \nthe door. \n\nThe traveler was thankful enough to give up his \nsaddle and bridle to the master of the log cabin. \nHe found the family at supper, and a place was \nsoon made for the stranger. \n\nSome time in the evening the settler asked, "Are \nyou a minister of the Gospel, sir?" \n\n"No," he answered; and seeing the man looked \ndisappointed he asked why he wished to know. \n\n"O sir," answered the man. "I hoped a minister \nhad come to help me build a family altar. I had \none once, but I lost it coming over the Alleghanies. \nIt is a great loss." \n\n"Perhaps I can help you to build one, though I \nam not a minister," said the gentleman, who always \nhad one himself; and after a little more talk the \nman handed him an old family Bible. He read, \nand they all knelt for prayer. The gentleman \nprayed, and then called upon the settler, who, \n\n\n\nQUESTION OF EXCHANGE 87 \n\ngreatly moved at this new consecration of his hum- \nble home to God, poured out his soul in penitence \nand promises of a better life. \n\nWhen they rose from their knees the master of \nthe log cabin said, "Sir, there is many an immigrant \nwho loses his family altar before he gets here \xe2\x80\x94 and \nit\'s a great loss." \n\nBut there are a great many more besides immi- \ngrants that lose their family altars. They are lost \nin shops and stores and in politics and in a hundred \nvicissitudes of daily life, and it is an irreparable \nloss, for many a man loses his soul through the loss \nof his secret prayer and his prayer in the family. \n\nIf we are going to be true to our best selves our \nfirst choice and our real master must be the will of \nGod. No man or woman can be truly good if the \nfirst question asked about any proposed conduct \nis, "What effect will it have on my fortune, or my \npopularity, or my success in a worldly way ?" No, \nthe great question must be, "What does God \ndesire?" , J \n\nOnce when Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale, ^ \nwas at Stockholm the king sent and requested her rS| \nto sing at his palace one Sunday afternoon at some \nsort of court festival. She refused, whereupon the \nking himself called on her and commanded her \npresence. Still she refused. "There is a higher \nKing, sir, to whom I owe my first allegiance," she \n\n\n\n\xe2\x80\xa2 \n\n\n\n88 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nsaid. In deed and song she always honored the \nOne who gave her her marvelous voice. The hom- \nage she received on both sides of the Atlantic, and \nwherever she went, was a literal fulfillment of the \npromise that "Them that honor me I will honor." \n\nThe question comes home to you to-night. \nThere is only one way to save the soul, and that \nis through Jesus Christ who died on the cross to \nbring you to God. To reject Christ, to refuse him \nobedience, to count the blood of his covenant an \nunholy thing, to trample under your feet his offer \nof love, is to choose the world and shut the door of \nhope on your own soul. \n\nAnd yet some of you are treating this question \nvery lightly. You have laughed and said, "It is not \na question I am interested in." Ah, my friend, that \nlaugh may come ringing back in mocking echo to \nyou some day when it will sound very differently. \n\\ A foolish young man, boasting of his infidelity, \nsaid, "I will sell to anyone all my interest in Christ \nfor five dollars." An old man in the crowd pro- \nduced five dollars, and took from his pocket a piece \nof paper on which he wrote, "I hereby, now and \nforever, sell all my interest in the divine mercy of \nJesus Christ, and any hope which I may have of \nheaven." \n\n"Write your name here," said the old man, "and \nthe money is yours." \n\n\n\nQUESTION OF EXCHANGE 89 \n\nThe young man took the pen and held it for a \nfew moments over the paper; hesitated, and, turn- \ning away, said, emphatically, "I was mistaken; I \ncannot afford to do it." ) \n\nThe thought uppermost in his mind at that time \nwas, "What will become of my soul?" He did not \ndare to sign that paper and in so solemn a way \nimperil his salvation. But what folly that he \nshould go on, letting all the opportunities and \nprivileges of life slip by, while every day his soul \nwas in peril. And are not you presuming on the \nmercy of God in the same way ? God\'s call is now, \nnot some time in the future. "To-day if ye will hear \nhis voice, harden not your heart!" Don\'t risk \nyour soul another day unsaved ! Make sure of the \nsalvation of your soul, and then nothing else will \ncount very much. You may be poor or sick in this \nworld, but if all eternity is made sure for happiness \nand peace, then your life will have been a tre- \nmendous success. But be you ever so rich, ever so \nsuccessful, ever so famous in this world, if you lose \nyour soul, and all eternity is given over to sorrow \nand remorse, then your life has been a stupendous \nfailure. Let\'s make sure of the best things, and \nof the greatest value. Let me close as I began: \n"What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the \nwhole world, and lose his own soul ? Or what shall \na man give in exchange for his soul?" \n\n\n\nIX \n\nTHE YOKE THAT BRINGS REST \n\nCome unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will \ngive you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me ; for I am \nmeek and lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For \nmy yoke is easy, and my burden is light.\xe2\x80\x94 Matthew xi, 28-30. \n\nJesus Christ is the only personality in the his- \ntory of mankind who could ever have made a state- \nment like that and have been taken seriously. \nThink of any other man uttering words of that \ncharacter ! Think over the great men of history \xe2\x80\x94 \nCharlemagne, Frederick the Great, Martin Luther, \nNapoleon, Washington. What folly such words \nwould be on their lips! There never has lived a \nconqueror or a ruler or a philosopher who dared to \nopen his arms to the tired and weary millions of \nearth and promise that if they would come to him he \nwould give them rest. \n\nDr. Barnardo, who has done so much for the \nstray waifs of London, tells us how the work was \nlaid upon his conscience. First he ran across one \nlittle barefooted, ragged, starving boy, and when \nsomething in the conversation led him to inquire if \nthere were any more like him who had no place to \nsleep, the boy led him along with him, and they \nclimbed out on the roof of a wretched building, and \n\n\n\nTHE YOKE THAT BRINGS REST 91 \n\nthere the little ragged, half-starved fellows were, \nlying around on the sooty roof without any pre- \ntense of a bed or comfort of any kind. The little \nfellow who had led him there was alert to get any \nbenefits he might for his companions, and so he \nlooked inquiringly into Dr. Barnardo\'s face and \nasked, "Shall I wake \'em?" "No, no," said the \npuzzled doctor, who did not know what he was \ngoing to do with the one he had. But Jesus Christ \nis not afraid for you to go forth and awaken all \nthe sad and weary and broken-hearted millions of \nearth. You may go to all the men and women who \nhave been broken and crushed by sin, and he will \nnot stay you, nay, he will urge you on to awaken \nevery one of them to a keen sense of their need, for \nhe is able to bestow forgiveness and rest on every \none. \n\nChrist is the only one who can take a life that has \nbeen seared and blighted by sin until it has lost its \nhope and courage and fertility, and cause it to send \nforth again new buds of hope and promise. I \ncould tell you from my own personal experience in \nwinning men and women to Christ of many who were \nso discouraged and disheartened with their own \nfailures that life had lost all its beauty and there \nwas no longer any desire to live. I have seen again \nand again a man or a woman like that on the very \nverge of suicide, but when I have been able to make \n\n\n\n92 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nhim or her believe that Jesus Christ meant all that \nthe words suggest when he said, "Come unto me, \nall ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will \ngive you rest," a new hope was born in the heart, \nand those same people are now hopeful and cheerful \nand are meeting all the struggle of life with cour- \nage. They have found that Christ told the truth \nwhen he declared, "My yoke is easy, and my burden \nis light." \n\nA traveler tells that some years ago, after an \nascent of Vesuvius, the suggestion was made by a \nreckless member of the party that they make a dash \nacross the crater. It so happened that at that time \nthe mouth of the volcano was bridged by irregular \nmasses of scoria that had fallen back upon each \nother, forming a broken cap through which the \nsulphurous smoke rose in stifling clouds. Wrap- \nping heavy shawls about their faces, so as to ex- \nclude the suffocating gases, they were soon toiling \namid the ragged rocks that almost blistered their \nfeet, keeping within touch of each other in order to \nrender any needed aid. It was a terrible expe- \nrience, and they were all glad to escape alive, and no \none thought of going back. They started down \nthe mountain very soberly and thoughtfully, but \nwere astonished in the descent, when just below \nthe lofty cone where the smoke and flames were \nbeing belched forth, to find a violet beside the road, \n\n\n\nTHE YOKE THAT BRINGS REST 93 \n\ngrowing up out of the rotting and decaying lava, \nand a little below, wide-stretching natural gardens \nof them, like a broidered carpet, met them on either \nhand. The chemistry of God\'s nature had taken \nthat scalding lava, so full of death, and by the \nagency of his sunshine and his breath from the sea \nhad changed it into the soil that produced these \nviolets and a little farther down produced smiling \nvineyards. \n\nSo, my friend, however sin may have hurt you \nand marred you, however your plans may have been \nthwarted and your heart broken with trouble, Jesus \nChrist is inviting you to come to him to-night and \nfind rest unto your soul. You remember those \nwonderful words of Paul, "Where sin abounded, \ngrace did much more abound." And that shall be \nrealized in your case if you will come to Christ with \nall your heart. The joys and hopes and ambitions \nwhich you have known and lost have been poor \nindeed to the joys and hopes and ambitions and \nachievements which you shall know if you go forth \nfrom this night in love and fellowship with Jesus \xe2\x80\x94 \xc2\xbb*-f \n\nChrist. y\\iy^ \n\nSome of you are suffering from the burdens of \\ \nsinful desire and evil habit. Perhaps the one \nthought that makes you pause most doubtfully \nabout becoming a Christian is the fear that you \ncould not be faithful to your vow. Put that aside \n\n\n\n94 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nentirely. It is not your part of the program to \nkeep yourself from sinful desire when you have \ngiven your heart to Christ. It is only your part \nto obey Christ and to keep yourself in the love of \nGod. So long as you trust Christ, and sun your- \nself in his confidence, Christ will keep you. He will \ngive you a new heart, full of the new desire and the \nnew purpose of righteousness. He will take out of \nyour breast the old heart, with its hates and its \njealousies and all its evil and impure feelings. \n\nA striking testimony to the perfection of Christ\'s \npower to do this was borne by a little negro servant \nwho waited on the faithful missionary, Moffat. He \nwas just a little bit of a black piece of humanity \nthat had been picked up out of heathenism, with all \nthe hate and viciousness of his heathen life per- \nvading him and clinging to him ; but with the sim- \nplicity of a child he had given his heart to Christ, \nand Jesus transformed his whole nature, and gave \nhim perfect rest from the power and dominion of \nsin. One day he came to Moffat in great distress \nbecause the watchdog had eaten some leaves of his \nTestament, and he was weeping over it. Moffat \ntold him it was not so serious a matter as he \nthought ; he could get him another Testament. \n\n"0, it is not that, massa ; there is more !" \n\n"Well, what is it?" \n\n"Well, before I knew anything about that book, \n\n\n\nTHE YOKE THAT BRINGS REST 95 \n\nwhen I hated some one I wanted to kill him; but \nwhen I got that book into my heart, when a person \ndid me wrong, I loved him and prayed for him. I \nam afraid that now the dog has eaten some of that \nbook he will love his enemies and let the flock be \neaten up !" \n\nOf course it was all wonderfully simple. The \nlittle fellow did not see the difference between the \nphysical eating and the spiritual. But what a clear \nand marvelous illustration of the power of Jesus \nChrist to free an ignorant and sinful soul from the \ntyranny of hate and anger and from all the evil \npowers that had been preying upon it. Christ can \nwork that transformation in you. There is not an \nevil habit, there is not a wicked passion that has \ncaused you sorrow and sin, but, if you will surrender \nyour heart to Christ, he will give you freedom \nfrom it, and you shall find rest unto your soul. \n\nBut you say, "There is a yoke mentioned in \nthe text, and a yoke means work." Yes, but a \nyoke, a harness in which you may work well and \nperform your true purpose in the world, is essen- \ntial to all true living. You surely do not imagine \nthat idle people are the happiest people. If so, \n3^ou have made a very great blunder. Of all the \npeople in the world, whether rich or poor, high or \nlow, the people who arc idle, who do not do any \ngood work in the world; who are animated by no \n\n\n\n96 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\ngreat purpose to help their fellow-men; who make \nno effort to do their part in the world\'s work ; who \nhave none of the joy of working together with God \nto make the world a better place in which to live ; \nwho have no hand in that divine struggle to cure \nthe heartaches of their fellow-men \xe2\x80\x94 of all people \nthese are the most miserable. \n\nThe ideally happy situation is to have work which \none may approach and carry with such a spirit and \nin such companionship that one may sing as he \nworks. And that is exactly what Christ offers. \nFirst, he will free you from all the yokes of the \nworld. No yoke of sin shall gall your shoulders. \nNo burden of iniquity shall press upon your back. \nFrom all these Christ will set you free and give \nyou rest. Then he will show you the work you \nought to do. He will give you the strength to do \nit. It will be a yoke, but his own neck will be in \nthe other end of it. It is his yoke. I was reared \nin the land of oxen, on the frontier in the forests, \nbut I never saw a yoke \xe2\x80\x94 and I have seen thousands \nof them \xe2\x80\x94 that was not made for two. They do \nnot work oxen alone. They work in pairs. Christ \nworks in the other half of our yoke. We shall pull \nno load where we shall not have his fellowship. \nThe yoke will be easy in such company. Love \nmakes labor light. Christ will ask you to carry no \nburden that it will not be an honor to carry. I \n\n\n\nTHE YOKE THAT BRINGS REST 97 \n\nassure you it is as great a privilege, it is as great \na joy, to get to wear Christ\'s yoke and bear Christ\'s \nburden as it is to get free from the cruel yokes of \nthe world and of sin. \n\nChrist will give to your soul rest from the fear of \ndeath. Death is the king of terrors to all who are \nnot Christians. But if you will give your heart \ncompletely to Christ he will take away that terror. \nWe have had a great illustration during the past \nyear of the power of Christ to do that. Perhaps \nduring his entire life President McKinley had no \nopportunity to be such an effective witness for Jesus \nChrist, his Saviour and his Lord, as when he came \nto die. Mr. James Creelman, in his book On the \nGreat Highway, gives an authorized version of his \nlast words. It is one of the most marvelous illustra- \ntions in history of the power of Jesus Christ to give \nperfect rest to the soul in its greatest emergency. \nIn the afternoon of his last day on earth the Presi- \ndent began to realize that his life was slipping away \nand that the efforts of science could not save him. \nHe asked his family physician to bring the surgeons \nin. One by one the surgeons entered and ap- \nproached the bedside. When they were gathered \nabout him the President opened his eyes and said : \n\n"It is useless, gentlemen; I think we ought to \nhave prayer." \n\nThe dying man crossed his hands on his breast \n\n\n\n98 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nand half closed his eyes. There was a beautiful \nsmile on his countenance. The surgeons bowed \ntheir heads. Tears streamed from the eyes of the \nwhite-clad nurses on either side of the bed. \n\n"Our Father which art in heaven," said the Pres- \nident, in a clear, steady voice. \n\nThe lips of the surgeons moved. \n\n"Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. \nThy will be done\xe2\x80\x94" \n\nThe sobbing of a nurse disturbed the still air. \nthe President opened his eyes and closed them again. \n\n"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." \n\nA long sigh. The sands of life were running \nswiftly. \n\n"Give us this day our daily bread ; and forgive us \nour debts as we forgive our debtors ; and lead us not \ninto temptation, but deliver us from evil." \n\nAnother silence. The surgeons looked at the \ndying face and the trembling lips. \n\n"For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and \nthe glory, forever. Amen." \n\n"Amen," whispered the surgeons. \n\nA little later the President was conscious again. \nHe asked for his wife. Presently she came to him, \nleaning feebly on the arm of his secretary. As she \nreached the side of her husband and lover \xe2\x80\x94 who \nhad read to her every day at twilight for years from \nthe Bible \xe2\x80\x94 she sank into a chair and, leaning her \n\n\n\nTHE YOKE THAT BRINGS REST 99 \n\nfrail form over the white counterpane, she took his \nhands in hers and kissed them. \n\nThe President\'s eyes were closed. His breath \ncame slowly. As he felt the touch of his wife\'s lips \nhe smiled. It was to be their last meeting on earth. \n\n"Good-bye ! Good-bye, all." \n\nMrs. McKinley gazed into the white face and \nstruggled for strength to bear it. \n\n"It is God\'s way. His will, not ours, be done." \n\nThe President turned his face slightly toward \nhis wife. A look of ineffable love shone in the hag- \ngard features. The ticking of the clock in the next \nroom could be heard. Once more the President \nspoke : \n\n"Nearer, my God, to thee \xe2\x80\x94 " \n\nHis soul was on his lips. His face was radiant. \n\n"E\'en though it be a cross \xe2\x80\x94 " \n\nThere was a moment of utter silence. \n\n"That has been my inextinguishable prayer." \n\nHis voice was almost inaudible. \n\n"It is God\'s way." \n\nIt was the last thought and the last word of the \ngentle President on earth. He awoke in heaven. \nHe had rest. \n\nWhat Christ did for President McKinley he will \n\ndo for the humblest and the poorest man or woman \n\nin the world who trusts him and loves him. Christ \n\nis no respecter of persons. He has not one kind of \n\nLLofC. \n\n\n\n100 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nlove and tenderness for a president and another \nfor a stable-boy or a blacksmith. No, indeed. \nThe Carpenter of Nazareth is the same loving \nSaviour, and is ready and able to give the same \nrest of soul to everyone that will come unto him. \n\n\n\nTHE GOD WITHIN REACH \n\nThey shall call his name Emmanuel, which heing interpreted is, \nGod with us.\xe2\x80\x94 Matthew i, 23. \n\nChrist brought God within reach of human eyes \nand ears and hands. He came and lived with us. \nGod\'s angels sang about him at his birth. God\'s \nstar guided the wise men to his side. He was God \nmanifest in the flesh. He was man, so that men and \nwomen and children were not afraid of him, and \nwere drawn to him in tender human love; and yet \nhe was God with divine power, so that he healed the \nlepers and opened the ears of the deaf and made the \nblind to see and healed all manner of diseases. He \nlived with us in all our ordinary trials and tempta- \ntions. He tasted of loneliness and homesickness. \nHe knew what it was to be poor and hungry and \ntired. He experienced that most bitter of all \nearthly sorrows, the ingratitude and betrayal of \nfalse friends. He was tempted in all points like as \nwe are. He was perfected through suffering. He \npaid the price of suffering to become the perfect \nCaptain of our salvation. He did not hold him- \nself aloof from any poverty or suffering or shame \nwhich we have to bear, and yet he passed through \n\n\n\n102 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nit all without sin. He was with us in God\'s \nstrength and purity and love. He was a God \nwithin reach when he came to die. He suffered and \nsorrowed like other men. When Judas betrayed \nhim he did it with a kiss of pretended friendship \nas he would have betrayed any other man. Christ \nstood before Pilate as a criminal. The soldiers \ncrowned him with thorns and spit upon him and \nmocked him as they would the most common man. \nThey stripped his shoulders and scourged him till \nthe blood ran down over his body like any poor, \nsuffering creature. They nailed his hands and his \nfeet to the cross just as they did the two thieves \nthat were crucified on either side of him. And yet \nit was a God that stood before Pilate, a God who \nsuffered on that cross, and the majesty of divine \nlove was in him. The majesty of divine power was \nin his words as he said to the dying thief who re- \npented of his sins and begged forgiveness, "To- \nday shalt thou be with me in paradise." \n\nChrist\'s resurrection from the dead did not sep- \narate him from us and put him beyond our reach. \nHis resurrection is the pledge that all who sleep in \nJesus shall win a similar victory. He is a sample \nsheaf in the heavenly garner. He has not with- \ndrawn from us. Stephen, the first man to die for \nhis Lord, was permitted to look into heaven, and \nhe saw Jesus there interceding for him, and with \n\n\n\nTHE GOD WITHIN REACH 103 \n\nperfect confidence he committed his spirit into the \nhands of his Saviour. \n\nChrist is still a God within reach. He promised \nus before he went away that whatsoever we should \nask of the Father in his name, with faith believing, \nshould be granted to us, and he will keep that \npromise. Christ\'s is the Supreme Will in the \nuniverse, and if we keep in touch with him he will \norder our lives for us. Some things among the \nforces of nature in this world God has put into our \nhands, and they obey our will. Steam and the \nelectric current obey our will, and do what we say, \nand we have only to go farther up, and appeal to \nthe Supreme Will in Jesus Christ, through prayer, \nand all the strength and wisdom and love of God is \ngiven unto us to the limit of our necessity. \n\nDr. O. P. Gifford uses this clear and simple \nillustration: We stand on the corner of the street. \nTo the right and to the left stretch the steel tracks \nand the trolley wires. On the corner stand six \nmen and women and a little boy. Down the track \ncomes a trolley car. The little boy steps out from \nthe curb and lifts his finger. What does he ex- \npect? He expects that trolley car will stop for \nhim. Science sneers. She has never seen any- \nthing of that sort. A boy stop a trolley car? \nCertainly. That trolley system was built for the \nboy\'s sake, and when there are no boys and girls and \n\n\n\n104 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nmen and women to stop trolley cars the system rusts \nback again, and the meaning of it all is found in \nthe men and women and boys and girls who want \nto stop by the wayside. The boy lifts the silent \nfinger, and the car stops. Has he broken any law? \nNo. But he has stayed one of the most tremendous \nforces known to our new century, because it was \norganized and built around that boy. He steps \ninto the car, and the car spins by. The other men \nand women there do not care for the car. They are \nnot going that way. The conductor comes along \nto the boy and asks for a fare. The boy has no \nfare. The car is stopped, he steps out on the street \nto walk. Do you remember the Scripture which \nsays, "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask \namiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts"? \nYou want the light that comes with answered \nprayer without complying with the conditions. \nAnd the answer is, "Canceled," and you become a \nweary footsore traveler again. But suppose the \nboy pays his fare. He rides on ten blocks. The \ncar has filled. He raises his finger, and the car \nstops. Nobody finds fault. It is part of its daily \nroutine to stop when a human will lifts its silent \nfinger. \n\nSo the entire universe of God was organized \naround man and there is not a force in all the stars \nin their courses, in all the tides from the ebbs and \n\n\n\nTHE GOD WITHIN REACH 105 \n\nfloods, from center to circumference, in God\'s \nuniverse, not a force or a law, that is not under the \ndivine will and cannot be used for the furtherance \nof human interests. And when through Jesus \nChrist our Saviour we take hold upon God in \nprayer, we have reached the source of all power. \n\nI want to urge this message home upon you be- \ncause the one great source of power for us in \nwinning souls in these special days of consecration \nto that one object is in God. I feel that there is \nnot prayer enough among us. We cannot do this \nwork in our own strength. We are by no means \nequal to the task. But if we will all take hold \nupon God, if we will besiege the throne of heavenly \ngrace, nothing can stand against us, and multi- \ntudes will be saved. \n\nThe whole story of human history is illuminated \nwith incidents of God\'s direct answer to prayer. \nA poor woman once came to Mr. Spurgeon, accom- \npanied by her neighbors. She was in very deep \ndistress. Her husband had fled the country. In \nher sorrow she had gone to hear Mr. Spurgeon \npreach, and something he said in the sermon made \nher think he was personally familiar with her case. \nHe had known nothing about her. He had used a \ngeneral illustration that fitted a particular case. \nShe told him her story, and a very sad one it was. \nMr. Spurgeon said, "There is nothing we can do but \n\n\n\n106 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nto kneel down and cry to the Lord for the imme- \ndiate conversion of your husband." They knelt \ndown, and Mr. Spurgeon led in the prayer that the \nLord would touch the heart of the deserter, convert \nhis soul, and bring him back to his home. When \nthey arose from their knees he said to the poor \nwoman : "Do not fret about the matter. I feel sure \nthat your husband will come home, and that he \nwill yet become connected with our church." Some \nmonths afterward she reappeared, with her neigh- \nbors and a man whom she introduced to Mr. Spur- \ngeon as her husband. He had indeed come back, \nand he had returned a converted man. On making \ninquiry and comparing notes they found that the \nvery day on which they had prayed for his con- \nversion he, being at that time on board a ship far \naway on the sea, stumbled most unexpectedly upon \na stray copy of one of Mr. Spurgeon\'s sermons. \nHe read it. The truth went to his heart. He re- \npented and sought the Lord, and as soon as pos- \nsible he returned to his wife, and they both became \nearnest and helpful members of Mr. Spurgeon\'s \nchurch. The preacher and the wife and her friends \nhad taken hold upon God through Jesus Christ, \nand he had touched that man\'s heart and brought \nhim back. \n\nA minister in a small town in the interior of New \nYork was preaching on the subject of prayer, and \n\n\n\nTHE GOD WITHIN REACH 107 \n\nlaid special emphasis on mothers\' prayers. At the \nclose of the sermon, when an invitation was given \nfor any to rise who would like to accept Christ, a \nyoung man arose, back at the door, and cried out \nin terror and anguish: "Some one of you pray for \nme. My mother\'s prayers are bothering me." \nThe young man had gone three times that morning \npast that church door, but had been drawn back by \nsome influence he could not account for, and finally \nhad to go in. It turned out that on that very \nevening, in Rochester, sixty-eight miles away, the \nyoung man\'s mother had been on her knees in a \nmothers\' meeting, with a burden of soul crying to \nGod for her son. She could not reach her son \ndirectly, but she reached God, and God reached \nher son\'s heart with his Spirit. \n\nA young man here in New York city was deeply \nconcerned for the salvation of his father, who lived \nin Massachusetts. One day in the Fulton Street \nprayer meeting his concern for his father\'s con- \nversion became so pungent that he went from the \nprayer meeting and took the Fall River steamer for \nhome. He took a stateroom and spent nearly all \nthat night wrestling with God, as Jacob did, pray- \ning for his father. On reaching home the next \nevening he took down the Bible and said, "Father, \nlet us read a chapter in the Bible and pray." "Cer- \ntainly," said the father; "you read." After the \n\n\n\n108 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nreading, to the boy\'s great astonishment and joy, \nhis father led in prayer, pouring forth the most \nearnest petitions. \n\n"Father," said the son, as they rose from their \nknees, "how long is it since God gave you a heart to \npray ?" \n\n"I first began last night," replied the father. \n"I was awakened in the night, and cried to God for \nmercy, and he has had mercy upon me." \n\nBut let me give you an incident nearer home. \nOn the seventeenth of December I received a letter \nsigned by a mother and her daughter telling me of \ntheir great interest in a son and brother who had \nbeen very indifferent to Christ and the church. \nThey were afraid for me to speak to him for fear \nI would drive him away entirely, but begged that \nI would join with them in prayer for his salvation. \nIt was a most earnest letter, and as I read it it \nthrilled me with the deep love and longing and faith \nin God that had prompted it. Most earnestly I \nprayed, as I am sure that mother and sister prayed, \nfor the salvation of that man and his wife. What \nwas the result? On Christmas night, only eight \ndays after the letter was received, and before the \nrevival meetings had begun, that son and brother, \nwith his wife, asked for prayer in the prayer meet- \ning, and gave their hearts to Christ. And the first \nnight of the revival meetings that young man stood \n\n\n\nTHE GOD WITHIN REACH 109 \n\nup beside his mother to bear his happy testimony \nto the power of Jesus Christ to save. \n\nMy friends, as you gather about the communion \naltar do not put Christ afar off, but draw near to \nhim in faith, and know that he is a God within \nreach. \n\n\n\nXI \n\nTHE CAST OF THE NET \n\nAnd he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, \nand ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able \nto draw it for the multitude of fishes.\xe2\x80\x94 John xxi, 6. \n\nThis little fishing story is full of suggestion. \nThese friends had been fishing all night, until they \nwere utterly worn out, and had caught nothing. \nTheir hearts had been sore and aching before, and \ntheir minds were perplexed and troubled. It had \nbeen to get rid of their harassing thoughts and to \nstill their aching hearts that Simon Peter had led \nthem off on this fishing trip, and now not only do \ntheir thoughts trouble them and their hearts ache, \nbut they are worn out in body as well. But just \nthen they saw Jesus on the side of the lake with a \nlittle fire built on the shore. They did not yet know \nit was the Lord. Suddenly he called to them. \nThey listened, and they heard him say, "Children, \nhave ye any meat?" And they answered him, \n"No." And again came back the shouted words, \n"Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye \nshall find." \n\nThey did as they were bid, no doubt full of \nwonder; but when the net was full of fishes, so \n\n\n\nTHE CAST OF THE NET 111 \n\nmany that they could not pull them in, John turned \nand whispered to Peter, "It is the Lord," and Peter \njumped overboard and swam ashore to see Jesus. \n\nThe disciples always caught fish when Jesus was \nalong, and he often used the net and the fisherman\'s \ncalling to illustrate the greater mission of win- \nning souls and capturing them for him. He prom- \nised those who were fishermen among his disciples \nthat if they would follow him he would make them \n"fishers of men," and he will do that with any man \nor woman who will follow him in humility and \nobedience. \n\nNow, we are trying in this church to cast the net \namong the people about us, so that we may capture \nimmortal souls for our divine Lord, save them from \ntheir sins here, and bring them to everlasting glory \nin heaven. If we are going to do this we must \nbring them to Jesus. During Christ\'s own ministry \nmen were healed and saved when they came into \ntouch with him, and if we are going to save men \nnow we must bring them into contact with our \ndivine Lord. Kate McNeill, an English singer, \ngives us a simple but very beautiful little poem \nwhich clearly brings out this mighty truth : \n\n"How long, O Jesus, shall we keep \nOur palsied from thy power away! \n\nWhen shall our lame take freedom\'s leap, \nOur darkened see thy day? \n\n\n\n112 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\n"Have we been healed to stand so calm, \nIn all our dignity and doubt, \n\nBetween the bruised and the balm, \nAnd never bring them out? \n\n"We dry no tear, no sickness cure \xe2\x80\x94 \nPull no infernal fortress down; \n\nWe bring no bounty to the poor, \nNo gem to Jesus\' crown. \n\n"Thy Gospel tells of those who brought \nTheir helpless, hopeless ones to thee; \n\nO, by those early Christians taught, \nMay we \'believe to see.\' \n\n"They said, \'Enough of vigils vain! \n\nWe\'ll call a halt to dead routine! \nOur poor demoniac shall be sane, \n\nOur leper shall be clean, \n\n" \'Our cripple shall not need his crutch, \nOur dumb shall sing, our deaf shall hear, \n\nFor Christ can heal them by a touch, \nAnd we will bring them near.\' \n\n"Lord, give us back the passion flame \nThat burned in thy disciples then, \n\nFor glory to thy precious name, \nAnd life to dying men! \n\n"Until the scoffer be compelled \nThe bare right arm of God to see, \n\nAnd slaves, in nameless bondage held, \nGo forth forever free. \n\n"Our lapsed have baffled all our skill, \nNo mortal aid the need can meet; \n\nO Jesus Christ! All-powerful still! \nWe bring them to thy feet." \n\n\n\nTHE CAST OF THE NET US \n\nWhen Jesus was here on earth in human form, \nas well as now, men and women were usually won \npersonally. The glory of a revival of religion is \nthat it arouses a large number of people to go out \npersonally with the hand net, and talk with men and \nwomen about Jesus, and bring them into contact \nwith him; and then, as these people come to the \nchurch and listen to the word, the preacher is \nable to cast the larger net in obedience to the \nMaster\'s command. No work we can do is so great \nand glorious as this. \n\nThe late President Harrison was a profound \nstudent of the Bible. He was, too, an earnest \nmember of the Presbyterian Church and an active \nSunday school worker. Among the attendants at \nhis Sunday school was a young man who was em- \nployed as a clerk in an Indianapolis store. This \nwas in 1881, during the session of the Legislature \nin which General Harrison was a candidate for the \nUnited States Senate. On account of the uncertain \ncomplexion of the Senate at that time, the Indiana \ncontest was one of national interest; the days and \nnights were occupied with planning and cam- \npaigning, and every moment of General Harri- \nson\'s time was demanded by his supporters. \nInquiries for him were constant. He left one \nconference only to be drawn into another. \n\nOne Sunday, at the conclusion of the regular \n\n8 \n\n\n\n114 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nservice, a member of Mr. Harrison\'s church ap- \nproached the young clerk and invited him to join \nthe church membership. The young man replied \nthat he could not formally affiliate himself with any \nchurch because, though he believed the Scriptures \nin a general way, he was still perplexed on a num- \nber of points. In that condition of mind he could \nnot conscientiously join a church. This conversa- \ntion was overheard by General Harrison. \n\nThe general quietly ascertained where the young \nman lived, and on the next evening called at his \nboarding house. The landlady, who recognized \nhim, was surprised and awed, and replied to an \ninquiry if the young man were at home that he was. \nShe invited the general into the parlor, but he said \nthat he would rather meet the young man in his \nown room. \n\nHe was conducted to a small rear room on the \nupper floor, and when the young man opened the \ndoor in answer to the landlady\'s knock and saw \nGeneral Harrison he said, as he was wont afterward \nto express it, that he might have been knocked down \nby a feather. Though he had long admired Mr. \nHarrison at a distance and had become accustomed \nto seeing him at church, he had never spoken to him. \nand had not imagined that the general was even \naware of his existence. \n\nMr. Harrison sat down, and with an unwontedly \n\n\n\nTHE CAST OF THE NET 115 \n\n\n\ncordial manner at once set the young man at his \nease. He told him that he had overheard his ex- \npression of doubts regarding the Scriptures, and \nsaid : "Now, I am a much older man than you. I \nhave for years been a student of the Bible, and per- \nhaps I may be able to throw some light upon the \npoints which you do not understand. I hope, too, \nthat you will not look upon my visit as an intrusion." \n\nHaving inquired as to what points were doubtful, \nGeneral Harrison proceeded to invest them with a \nclear and definite meaning, and then entered upon \nan elaborate and masterful exposition of the basic \ntruths of the Scriptures. At length the talk drew \nto a close, and Mr. Harrison looked at his watch. \n"Why, how late it is !" he said. \n\nIt was two o\'clock in the morning, and he had \ntalked with the young man for seven hours. \n\nThus, at a time when his political future was in \nthe balance, and when political workers were con- \nstantly looking for him, he spent hours in sowing \nthe spiritual seed in a field accidentally pointed out. \nBut he won the young man to an immediate decision \nfor Christ. \n\nNo doubt there might be a hundred influential \nmen and women brought to Christ within the next \nten days by the members of this church if only we \ncould be made to see with clear eyes our duty and \nbe anointed of the Holy Spirit for this service. \n\n\n\n116 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nMany men and women who are successful and well- \nto-do in business and isocial affairs have lonely \nhearts, and consciences which are ill at ease, and \nhours when they are filled with inexpressible longing \nfor the peace of God. O, if we could only each one \nof us use our hand net in Christ\'s dear name to \ncatch such souls for him ! \n\nDr. George F. Pentecost says he once ventured \nto speak to a very great man on religious matters, \nand ask him if he were a Christian; but he did so \nwith some trepidation, not knowing how the man \nwould receive it. At the close of the talk that \nensued the doctor expressed the hope that the man \nhad not considered him impertinent. The answer \nwas a warm grasp of the hand, as the distinguished \nman said : "Don\'t ever hesitate to speak to any man \nabout his soul. I have been longing for twenty \nyears to have some Christian speak to me." And \nhe continued : "I believe there are thousands of men \nin this city who are in the same condition that I am, \ncarrying an uneasy conscience and a great burden \non their souls; not courageous enough to seek \ninstruction, yet willing to receive it. \n\nBut if that is true of those who are supported \nand bulwarked about in many ways to their com- \nfort, how much more is it true of those who are in \nadversity, who are weighed down by misfortune \nand sorrow ! \n\n\n\nTHE CAST OF THE NET 117 \n\nLast summer a man came to this church in great \ndiscouragement and despair. He had been in the \nhospital, and came out of it weak and depressed, \nwith unpresentable clothing, and no money. He \ncame and saw Mrs. Low, our parish visitor. That \nwhite-haired saint had a conversation with him. \nHe said, "You do not give money, I know that ; but \nif I could only be cleaned up a little, so that I \ncould make a decent showing, I think I could get \nsomething to do." She went into her supply \ncloset and found some clothes. Then she took him \nto a barber and arranged that he should have a \nbath and be shaved. When he came out, respect- \nably clothed and with a clean face, she took him to a \nrestaurant and gave him his dinner. During all \nher conversation with him you may well believe she \nhad let no opportunity slip to put in an occasional \nword about her Lord. With all her motherly ten- \nderness she told him about Jesus. He could not \nbe vexed with her ; she was too kind to him for that ; \nand he could not doubt her, because he saw Jesus in \nher eyes and face. \n\nAfter he had had his meal he thanked her and \nwent down town to get work. Two or three days \nlater he came up on purpose to tell her that he had \ngotten work temporarily, and was getting along all \nright. Again she pointed him to Christ, and he \nwent away. She heard nothing more from him \n\n\n\n118 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\ntill last Christmas, and then there came from him. \nfrom a town in the West, a handsome present to the \nwhite-haired Christian woman who had been so good \nto him last summer, and with it a beautiful letter in \nwhich he told how he had found steady employment \nand was now comfortably situated. But better \nthan all, he was happy to tell her that he had found \nChrist as a personal Saviour, and that he was living \na happy and, he hoped, a useful Christian life. He \nassured her that he owed his salvation to her kind- \nness to him and the faithful words she had spoken \nto him about Christ. \n\nMy dear friends, the opportunities of casting a \nnet for Jesus are all around us when we are ready \nto work in harmony with our Lord. Christ expects \nus to help him in the salvation of the souls for whom \nwe are praying. We must help to answer our own \nprayers. \n\nDuring a certain revival a man became very \nearnest in his desire for the conversion of one of his \nneighbors. He prayed for him again and again. \nThere was one expression which he often repeated. \nIt was this: "O Lord, touch that man with thy \nfinger ; touch him with thy finger, Lord !" \n\nThe petition was repeated with great earnestness, \nwhen something said to him: "Thou art the finger \nof God ! Hast thou ever touched this thy neighbor ? \nHast thou ever spoken a single word to him on the \n\n\n\nTHE CAST OF THE NET 119 \n\nquestion of salvation? Go thou, and touch that \nman, and thy prayer shall be answered." \n\nIt was a voice from the very throne of God. The \nman arose from his knees, self -condemned. He had \nknown his neighbor as a man without God and with- \nout hope in Christ for a quarter of a century, yet \nhad uttered not a word of warning. Hundreds of \nopportunities had come and gone, but the supreme \nquestion of life had been set aside for such topics \nas the weather, the latest news, politics, and busi- \nness. His first and supreme duty as a Christian \nhad been left undone. \n\nGod help me to press this home upon your heart. \nAre you doing your duty as a personal friend of \nJesus Christ toward the people whom you know \nand whom you meet in business and social rela- \ntions? God help you that you may not forget to \ncast the net that shall save them for heaven ! \n\n\n\nN?V \n\n\n\nXII \n\nTHE HOUSE-CLEANING OF THE SOUL \n\nhen the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through \ndry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will \nreturn into my house from whence I came out ; and when he is come, \nhe findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh \nwith himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they \nenter in and dwell there : and the last state of that man is worse than \nthe first.\xe2\x80\x94 Matthew xii, 43-45. \n\nThe message of this text is very clear. It is \nthis : Reformation is an empty thing, only tempting \nevery vagrant spirit of sin, unless the heart is gar- \nrisoned by the divine Presence and given to pos- \nitive, earnest deeds of righteousness. As the new \nyear has opened many of you have promised your- \nselves that your life shall be truer and cleaner and \nbraver than in the year that has passed. You have \nswept it clean in your purpose, and have garnished \nit with new resolutions ; but all this will end in mis- \nerable failure unless you open }^our heart to God \nand invite Jesus Christ to come and dwell as the \ndominating guest in your soul. \n\nI want to impress upon you that it is a great deal \neasier to do entirely right, to live a thoroughly con- \nsecrated Christian life, than to live a life just \nmoderately good. I have heard a great many \npromises by people that they intended to do better, \n\n\n\nHOUSE-CLEANING OF THE SOUL 121 \n\nand I frankly confess to you I have never known \nanyone yet to keep that kind of a promise. The \nfact is, it is not good enough to be kept. There is \nnot enough in it to stir the soul of a man and make \nhim do his best. But I have known thousands to \nbe transformed under the decision, "God helping \nme, I will be a Christian!" When you are ready \nto go the whole length of the journey between sin \nand the mercy seat ; when you are willing to go the \nwhole journey from the world to Christ, and fill \nyour life with a positive purpose to not only do \nbetter, but to do right, your life is transformed \nand lifted up into a new realm. \n\nIt is a very common thing to see a man who has \nbeen caught in the awful meshes of strong drink \ndetermine to break off that habit. I have written \nhundreds of pledges in the course of my life, for \nas many different men, who have come to me one \nat a time, through the years, and told me stories \nthat would break any man\'s heart. I have written \nout a pledge and seen a man sign it and, lifting his \nhand over his head, with the tears running down his \ncheeks, say through his clinched teeth, "I call God \nto witness that I will die before I break that \npledge!" And I have seen that very man drunk \ninside of two weeks. Do you think the man didn\'t \nmean it? Then you do not know men. He did \nmean it as truly and genuinely as ever any man \n\n\n\n122 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nmeant anything on earth. Why did he give way ? \nHe gave way because that empty house got its \nseven devils again. There was no tenant there. \nHe had put nothing in its place. \n\nI have had so much experience of this sort, and \nhave sought to reform so many men and women \nfrom strong drink simply through their own reso- \nlution or the care and attention of their friends, \nthat I have ceased to give a man any encourage- \nment or to encourage any expectation to hope that \nhe can break away from the habit of drunkenness \nunless he is willing not only to break with the one \nsin, but to break with all sin by giving his heart to \nthe Lord Jesus Christ. When a man will do that, \nthen there is no length I will not go in my sym- \npathy, in my self-denying service, to save a man \nfrom the devil of strong drink. For I know that \nthat can be done. There has not been a year in \nall the thirty years since, a boy of sixteen, I began \nto preach the Gospel, that I have not known of \nsome, and in some years scores, who were utterly \nhopeless and despairing through their bondage to \nstrong drink, but were ransomed and redeemed by \nopening their hearts to Jesus Christ and accepting \nhim as a divine Saviour. \n\nJessie MacGregor saw in the paper a pitiful \nletter entitled "Confessions of a Human Wreck." \nIt so stirred her heart that, taking the words of \n\n\n\nHOUSE-CLEANING OF THE SOUL 123 \n\nChrist, "I will give unto him that is athirst of the \nfountain of the water of life freely," she wrote a \nbeautiful poem entitled "The Love that Conquers \nWine:" \n\n"O God, when the awful, treacherous thirst \n\nAssails this breast of mine, \nStand by me, Lord, and pour for me \n\nThe love that conquers wine! \n\n\'Thy love is better than wine!\' \n\nI grasp at the hope divine, \nI stretch my hands for the blessed boon \n\nThat conquers love of wine. \n\n"0, helpless, horrified, benumbed, \n\nI slip o\'er the steep incline! \nThe soul of the drunkard asks to grasp \n\nThe love that conquers wine. \n\n\'Thy love is better than wine,\' \n\nI want that love for mine; \nI want a love that is greater far \n\nThan thirst for mad\'ning wine! \n\n"I come to thee! Thou dost call the lost; \n\nThat calls for this soul of mine. \nThou art stronger, Lord, than sin and woe \xe2\x80\x94 \n\nJesus, make me thine. \n\n\'Thy love is better than wine!\' \nLet me my thirst resign. \nI stretch my hands to take the love \nThat conquers mad\'ning wine. \n\n"No longer death, but life, sweet life; \n\n1 taste of the drink divine. \n\nThy dripping hands have brought me life \nAnd the love that conquers wine. \n\n\n\n124 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\n\'Thy love is better than wine!\' \nIt conquers sin\'s design. \nThe spell of the bitter cup no more \nO\'ercomes this soul of mine. \n\n"I\'ll keep on drinking, always drink \n\nOf the fountain meant for me; \nAt morning, noon, in blackest night \n\nOf haunting tragedy. \n\nThrough every hour that\'s mine \n\nI take of the heavenly wine \xe2\x80\x94 \nThe soul of the drunkard washed of woe \n\nTo revel in grace divine." \n\nDr. MacArthur was once called to visit a dying \nwoman in a house in a part of a city which was \nresting under grave suspicion as to its moral char- \nacter. He had no sooner entered the house than \nhis suspicions were reassured. But here was a \nyoung woman evidently near death. She was con- \nscious of great guilt, and was earnestly crying \nunto God for mercy. His duty was clear. He \nmust point her to Christ as the only hope for lost \nmen or women. Never did the Gospel seem more \nsuitable to a poor sinner\'s case than on this occa- \nsion. He read the Scriptures that seemed to offer \nhope to the poor girl, and she listened as though \nthey came from the lips of Christ himself. There \nwere a number of others in the room. At the side \nof the bed stood a woman in mature life who was \nat the head of this wicked house, and several young \nwomen who were, like the dying one, members of \n\n\n\nHOUSE-CLEANING OF THE SOUL 125 \n\nthe sinful household. There were also two young \nmen, who were visitors at the place, and one of \nwhom had a special interest in the dying woman. \nDr. MacArthur said that the charm of the Mas- \nter\'s words, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and \nare heavy laden, and I will give you rest," were \nwitnessed as he had never before seen; and the \nother words of Jesus, "He that is without sin \namong you, let him first cast a stone at her ;" and \nthe words, "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and \nsin no more." And then he read that wonderful \nstor}\' of the dinner party in Simon\'s house, and the \nwoman that bathed Christ\'s feet with her tears and \nwiped them with the hair of her head, and the \nword of the Lord, "Her sins, which are many, are \nforgiven." Then he turned to the great promises \nof salvation, and read, "The blood of Jesus Christ \ncleanseth us from all sin," and followed it with the \npromise, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise \ncast out." \n\nThere followed a wonderful scene. It was an \nillustration of Christ\'s statement that "the pub- \nlicans and the harlots" have often a better chance \nfor salvation, since they are not blinded to the fact \nthat they are sinners, than self-righteous people \nwho are too proud to surrender themselves humbly \nto Jesus. Not only the dying woman, but the \nentire group, tearfully turned to God. \n\n\n\n126 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nTwo days afterward the visit was repeated. The \nyoung woman was then rejoicing in the conscious- \nness that her sins were forgiven and that Christ \nwas her personal Saviour and Lord. She spoke \ngratefully of the blessedness of the forgiveness of \nsin and the loving-kindness of her gracious Re- \ndeemer. She exhorted all around her to seek \nChrist, that the past might be forgiven and that \nthe future might be lived in purity of heart and \nlife. \n\nThe end came a few days later. Dr. MacArthur \nofficiated at the funeral. The room was filled with \nmen and women of the classes represented on the \noccasion of the first visit. Again he urged upon \nthem the necessity of forsaking sin and accepting \nChrist. The closing days of the redeemed woman \nhad had a tremendous effect upon her friends, and \nthey heard his earnest message as the very truth of \nGod. The result was that the woman who was at \nthe head of that house was soundly converted and \nreceived into the fellowship of one of the churches \nof this city, and six others who stood around that \n(deathbed, four women and two men, were converted \nto Christ, turned away from all their sins, and lived \npure lives. O my friend, you cannot tell me any- \nthing that Jesus Christ has done for a poor sinner \nso wonderful that I will not believe it. \n\nAnd now I come to you and I offer you Christ \n\n\n\nHOUSE-CLEANING OF THE SOUL 127 \n\nas your Saviour. It is a wondrous truth that \nJesus comes seeking for an opportunity to dwell \nin your heart and garrison your soul against every \nevil that may come against you. It would seem \nthat you ought to be seeking him instead of his \nseeking you; but in boundless love he seeks you. \nHe comes and knocks at the door of your heart. \nWill you let him in? How tenderly Mrs. Stowe \nsings of his coming : \n\n"Knocking, knocking, ever knocking, \n\nWho is there? \nTis a Pilgrim, strange and kingly, \n\nNever such was seen before; \nAh! sweet soul, for such a wonder \n\nUndo the door. \n\n"No! that door is hard to open; \nHinges rusty, latch is broken, \n\nBid him go. \nWherefore with that knocking dreary \nScare the sleep from one so weary? \n\nSay him, No. \n\n"Knocking, knocking, ever knocking! \n\nWhat! Still there? \nO sweet soul, hut once behold him \n\nWith the glory-crowned hair; \nAnd those eyes, so strange and tender, \n\nWaiting there; \nOpen! Open! Once behold him \xe2\x80\x94 \n\nHim, so fair! \n\n\n\n128 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\n"Did she open? Doth she? Will she? \nSo, as wondering we behold, \nGrows the picture to a sign, \nPressed upon your soul and mine; \nFor in every breast that liveth \nIs that strange, mysterious door; \nThough forsaken and betangled, \nIvy-gnarled and weed-bejangled, \nDusty, rusty, and forgotten \xe2\x80\x94 \nThere the pierced Hand still knocketh. \nAnd with ever-patient watching, \nWith the sad eyes true and tender, \nWith the glory-crowned hair \xe2\x80\x94 \nStill a God is waiting there." \n\nMany of you have been expecting to become \nChristians all your lives, and I doubt not you are \nastonished yourselves that so many years should \nhave passed away without your becoming a positive \nand earnest Christian. It is so easy to let oppor- \ntunities slip by. What you need is to be brought \nby God\'s grace to a decision, and I call you to \ndecide now. "Choose you this day whom ye will \nserve!" A decision is a turning point, and if you \nwould now decide for Christ and make an open con- \nfession of him it would open a new epoch, a new \nera of divine peace, for your soul. \n\nAn interesting story is told of David Farragut. \nHe was a cabin boy to his father, brave George Far- \nragut, who had taken part in the Revolutionary \nand the Indian wars. The boy was becoming dis- \nsipated. One day the father called David into the \n\n\n\nHOUSE-CLEANING OF THE SOUL 129 \n\ncabin, locked the door, and said to him, "David, \nwhat do you mean to be?" \n\n"I mean to follow the sea," he said. \n\n"Follow the sea!" exclaimed his father. "Yes, \nbe a poor, miserable, drunken sailor before the \nmast, kicked and cuffed about the world, and die in \na fever hospital in some foreign clime !" \n\n"No, father," the boy replied, "I will tread the \nquarter-deck and command, as you do." \n\n"No, David; no boy ever trod the quarter-deck \nwith such principles as you have and such habits \nas you exhibit. You will have to change your \nwhole course of life if you ever become a man." \n\nHis father left him, and went on deck. The boy \nwas stunned by the rebuke and overwhelmed with \nmortification. " \'A poor, miserable, drunken sailor \nbefore the mast, kicked and cuffed about the world, \nand die in some fever hospital!\' That\'s my fate, \nis it? I\'ll change my life, and I will change it at \nonce. I will never utter another oath, never drink \nanother drop of intoxicating liquor, and never \ngamble." In later years, when he became the great \nadmiral, he said that God had helped him to keep \nthe vows made that day. \n\nWendell Phillips went home one night, a boy \n\nfourteen years old, from hearing Lyman Beecher \n\npreach a sermon that had stirred him to the very \n\ncore. He went to his room and locked the door, \n9 \n\n\n\n130 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nand in his passionate earnestness he threw himself \ndown flat on his face on the floor, and gave himself \nto God through Jesus Christ. He promised God \nfrom that hour that he would serve him, and prayed \nGod that whatever was right to do he might have \nthe strength to do it, and that whatever was wrong \nto do might have no power over him. And that was \nthe secret of his strong life. \n\nAnd so I come to you to-night, pleading for a \ndecision; a life that only drifts always drifts to \nruin. Decide now for Christ and righteousness and \nheaven ! \n\n\n\nXIII \n\nTHE COMFORTER OF SOULS \n\nIt is expedient for you that I go away : for if I go not away, the \nComforter will not come unto you ; hut if I depart, I will send him \nunto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and \nof righteousness, and of judgment.\xe2\x80\x94 John xvi, 7, 8. \n\nThe friends to whom Christ spoke these words \nwere sadly in need of comfort. They had given up \nall and followed him. True, their "all" had not \nbeen very much, and yet when a man gives his "all," \nthough his little world may be small, it is as much \nto him as is the "all" of the man who deals with the \nlargest affairs. Of this little group Christ was the \ncenter. All their hopes and plans for the future \nrested on him. And now he was going away. \nSlowly but steadily the black cloud was drawing \nnear, and they could feel already the cold breath \nof its coming shadow. They could not understand \nas yet the full meaning of it, and their hearts were \nheavy at the thought of separation from the best \nFriend and the noblest Leader any group of men \nhad ever had. So these words which I have read for \nour text were given to them as words of comfort. \nChrist tells them that it is better for them that he \nis going away. His mission is to be a world-wide \nmission. If he continued to live in a human body. \n\n\n\n132 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nhe could not be with all his disciples at once, but \nwhen he departs, and goes back to his native \nheaven, he will send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, \nwho will always be with them, and whose comforting \npresence need never be withdrawn from their hearts. \nThere seems something very strange, and at the \nfirst glance contradictory, in the statement made \nhere by our Lord, that he goes to send the Com- \nforter to them, and then, in the very first sentence \ndescribing the work of the Comforter, he says he \nwill "reprove" the world, convince them of their \nsin, arouse them to righteousness, and keep them \nin mind of the judgment. Those two words, \n"comfort" and "reprove," seem to be words not in \nharmony with each other; and yet the more we \nstudy them the more certain we shall be that they \nare spoken advisedly and wisely. The only way to \ncomfort a man who is wrong is to get him out of his \nwrong position and make him right. If a man is \nliving a sinful life the worst enemy he has in the \nworld is the man or the woman who would try to \ncomfort him in his sins and still leave him to go on \nsinning against God without fear. There can be \nno salvation, there can be no true peace of the soul, \nexcept through the banishment of sin from the \nheart and the pardon of sin through the acceptance \nof Christ\'s death in our behalf. Isaiah voices God\'s \nmessage to us when he cries : "Peace, peace to him \n\n\n\nTHE COMFORTER OF SOULS 133 \n\nthat is far off, and to him that is near, saith the \nLord ; and I will heal him. But the wicked are like \nthe troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters \ncast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith \nmy God, to the wicked." \n\nFrom this and many other passages, as well as \nfrom our text, there can be no doubt that the only \nway we may come into the blessed fellowship and \nministry of the Comforter of souls is by being \nhealed of our sins by the Great Physician. As \nFrederick Robertson aptly says, "Peace and cure \nmust go together." There is no peace for the soul \nwhere there is no cure. You may have lulled your \nconscience to sleep for a while, but the slightest \nincident may wake it into all the horrors of remorse \nat any moment if the fact of your sin is still there. \nHerod gave the order that John the Baptist should \nbe beheaded. His conscience rebuked him. He \nfelt that he had grievously sinned against God. \nBut with all a king\'s resources he threw himself \ninto business and pleasure, and I have no doubt \nflattered himself that he would soon forget all about \nit. But one day one of his courtiers said to \nhim, "Your majesty, I had a strange experience \nyesterday." \n\n"Is that so?" said Herod. "What was it?" \n"I was interested at what I had heard of this \nstrange young rabbi, whom they call Jesus, and so \n\n\n\n134 THE HEALING OP SOULS \n\nI went out to one of his meetings. I supposed he \nwas a humbug, of course, but I tell you he did some \nwonderful things. I saw them bring a man that \nhad the shaking palsy on a bed. There was one \nman at each corner, and they brought him and laid \nhim down at the feet of the rabbi. Jesus looked \nat him strangely for a moment, then he took him \nby the hand, and said, \'Arise, take up thy bed, and \nwalk.\' And that man got up and, after he had \nthanked the rabbi, put his bed over his shoulder \nand walked off. It would have warmed your heart \nto see the happiness of those men who had brought \nhim. Then there was a little girl who came leading \na blind man. A man who stood by me said that \nhe knew the man, and that he had been born blind. \nWell, that rabbi spat on the ground in the dust, \nand reached over and made a little clay out of the \nspittle, and put it on the man\'s eyes, and said \nsomething \xe2\x80\x94 I was too far away to hear what he \nsaid \xe2\x80\x94 and as sure as I live that man\'s eyes seemed \nas clear and as good as mine. He came back, his \nface all covered with wonder and smiles, and the \nlittle girl danced around a while, and then shot off \nthrough the crowd to tell her mother. There were \nlots of other cases, and they tell me that he has \ncured lepers, and that over at the town Nain he \nstopped a funeral procession and brought the son \nof a widow back to life." \n\n\n\nTHE COMFORTER OF SOULS 135 \n\nHerod had not been much interested at first, but \nas the story went on it came to have a terrible \nfascination for him. His under jaw dropped; \nhis eyes bulged out in horror, and at last he broke \nthe story off with a cry of fright as he exclaimed, \n"It is John! It is John the Baptist, whom I be- \nheaded! He has risen from the dead!" Herod\'s \nsin would not down ; time gave him no peace. And \ntime will give you no peace. There is no greater \nfolly than to think that because you have forgotten \nyour sin for a while God has also forgotten it. \nThere is a law in this world that sin and sorrow \nshall be joined together. Years may pass by \nbetween the sin and its punishment, but God does \nnot need to hurry. He can wait. God\'s word \nwhich I have quoted to you is true, "There is no \npeace, saith my God, to the wicked." \n\nThere is only one thing that can interfere be- \ntween sin and its punishment, and that is pardon \nthrough the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The \none thing that can give peace to the sinner is the \nblood of Christ, so applied to the heart, so cleansing \nthe affections of the soul, that the guilty can go \nfree and the sinning soul be at peace. \n\nSin is forever making strife and discord in the \nworld, and the Comforter of souls is forever seek- \ning to make peace \xe2\x80\x94 peace between man and God, \npeace between man and man, peace between sev- \n\n\n\n136 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nered friends, peace where sin has broken the heart. \nBut he can only give peace and comfort by first \nreproving sin and securing the consent of the \nsinner to sin\'s banishment. \n\nAt a great revival meeting in Detroit, Michigan, \nat a service one afternoon, when the presence of the \nHoly Spirit was keenly felt by hundreds of people, \na very interesting and remarkable event happened, \nthough not many people in the meeting knew about \nit. There was there that afternoon a man who \nhad had hard usage, but he listened to the preacher \nwith wide-open eyes that were often full of tears. \nNot very far away from him sat a woman in scanty, \nworn attire. There was a pathetic expression in \nher eyes that spoke of hardships and disappoint- \nment. Among the great throng of people few \nseemed more desolate than she. Dr. J. Wilbur \nChapman was the preacher. He announced for his \ntext the words, "What wilt thou say when he shall \npunish thee?" He began to tell of the day of \nwrath; he emphasized the awfulness of the day of \njudgment, and warned his hearers of the all-per- \nvading presence of God. There was no escaping \nhis eye, or the judgment to come. "If you take \nthe wings of the morning, and fly to the uttermost \nparts of the earth, behold, he is there; if you de- \nscend into hell, lo, he is there," rang out the warning \nof the earnest preacher. \n\n\n\nTHE COMFORTER OF SOULS 137 \n\nThe man whom we have noted was all attention, \nthe woman\'s head was bowed. \n\n"What will you do in the day of judgment? Do \nyou know what it is to pass into eternity?" There \nwas a deep hush on the audience as the speaker \npaused. Then he went on to describe the terrors \nof the judgment to the unsaved. He quoted Paul\'s \nsolemn words, "Be not deceived; God is not \nmocked : for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he \nalso reap," and said that every man who is mocking \nGod knows not the day or the hour when he may \nvisit him. \n\nThe worn and weary man of whom I have been \nspeaking stared at the preacher with tear-stained \neyes ; the woman\'s head was still bowed. \n\n"The way of the transgressor is hard," said Dr. \nChapman, in a broken voice. "The day will come, \nmy friends, when, if you do not accept this sal- \nvation, God will say to you, \'I never knew you.\' " \nA singer began to sing, "Shall I be saved to- \nnight?" And as he did so the Holy Spirit seemed \nmarvelously to fall upon the people. As the \nsinger closed, Dr. Chapman rose again. He asked \nthose who had a desire to be prayed for, and were \nwilling to accept Christ then and there, to hold up \ntheir hands. \n\nOur man whom we have been following had his \nhand up first of all. Then the woman held up her \n\n\n\n138 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nhand, and instantly their eyes met. Then a change \nas sudden came over the expression of both. But \nthey only held the secret of its meaning. \n\n"Those who can say, \'I now confess Jesus Christ \nas my Saviour,\' stand up," said Dr. Chapman, and \nthe man and woman rose to their feet. \n\nAs the great throng passed out the man and \nthe woman met at the door. "Tom," she said, \nthen her lips quivered. \n\n"Mary," he responded, as he dashed away a tear. \nThen their hands met and clasped. \n\n"You have come home, Tom?" \n\n"Yes, Mary," and their eyes told the rest. They \nwent on arm in arm. It was a husband and wife \nwhom sin had separated. Sin had filled their hearts \nwith anger and their lives with strife, but now each \nheart had found through faith in Jesus Christ the \npeace and comfort of God that brought them \ntogether again. \n\nAnd that incident is a typical story, for it is a \ntrue illustration of the way the Comforter of souls \nis able to cure all our sorrows. Get rid of your \nsins. Surrender yourself to Jesus Christ. With \nyour sins forgiven all comfort and peace is possible \nto your soul. \n\n\n\nXIV \n\nLOOSING A SOUL FROM BONDAGE \n\nAnd, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity \neighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up \nherself. And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto \nher, "Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And he laid his \nhands on her : and immediately she was made straight, and glorified \nGod.\xe2\x80\x94 Luke xiii, 11-13. \n\nThis act is fairly typical of the entire ministry \nof Jesus Christ. He always had an eye open for \npeople who were crippled or infirm, who were handi- \ncapped in any way, and he was quick to stretch \nout the hand of help and give them release from \nthe cruel bondage of their infirmity. Sometimes \nit was a blind eye, sometimes a deaf ear, occasionally \na withered hand; at other times it was a deadly \nleprosy, and again a consuming fever; but the \nparticular difficulty made no difference to Jesus, \nfor he could remove one just as well as another. \n\nChrist is still doing that work in the world. He \nis seeking to save men and women and set them free \nfrom their most cruel and terrible bondage. Here \nwas a woman who had been in the grip of this \nawful infirmity for eighteen years. She was bowed \nover so that she could not walk along the street \nwithout attracting everybody\'s attention to her \n\n\n\n140 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\ncrippled condition. Every hour of life was full of \npain to her. The doctors could do nothing for her, \nand she had long since given up all hope of walking \nstraight and upright and graceful like other people, \nand when she went to the synagogue that Sabbath \nshe had no expectation of finding any release from \nthe bondage of her lifelong infirmity. And then, \nsuddenly, the new rabbi, Jesus, looked at her. She \nwas startled at something searching and yet infi- \nnitely kind in his glance. \n\n"Come to me," he said. \n\nShe did not know what to make of it, but she \nwent. And when she drew near to him he laid his \nhands on her and, with a voice that was sweeter \nthan any music she had ever heard, said, "Woman, \nthou art loosed from thine infirmity." And she \nstraightened up; all that cruel stiffness of her \njoints and muscles disappeared, and she was as \nstraight as any woman in the synagogue. No \nwonder she glorified God. \n\nI wish to spiritualize this suggestive story. \nSin has always had the power to make men crooked \nand infirm in their characters, and Christ is always \nseeking to set them loose from its bondage and make \nthem whole again. The strange thing is that many \npeople are crooked and bent by sin who do not \nseem to know it. It is often well known to other \npeople while they themselves are to a great degree \n\n\n\nLOOSING A SOUL FROM BONDAGE 141 \n\nunconscious of it. Many a man who is not a Chris- \ntian would flee his sins this very night if he could \nonly see himself as others see him. \n\nA drunkard in New Orleans recently was saved \nfrom continuing his career of dissipation in a \npeculiar manner. The young man in question was \nof a fine family, and had splendid gifts, but was \ngoing down as fast as it was possible for a man to \ngo through strong drink. His friends had pleaded \nwith him, but he had taken their warnings as an \ninsult. One day one of them, who was a court ste- \nnographer, determined to try a new tack with him. \nHe was sitting in a restaurant one evening, when \nthe young man in question came in with a compan- \nion, taking the table next to him, and sitting down \nwith his back to him and not seeing him. He was \njust drunk enough to be talkative about his private \naffairs, and on the impulse of the moment the ste- \nnographer pulled out his notebook and took a full \nshorthand report of every word he said. It was \nthe usual maudlin folly of a young man with his \nbrain muddled by drink, and included a number of \nhighly candid details of his daily life \xe2\x80\x94 things which \nwhen he was sober he would as soon have thought \nof putting his hand in the fire as of speaking about \nto a casual acquaintance. The next morning the \nstenographer copied the whole thing neatly, and \nsent it around to his office. In less than ten minutes \n\n\n\n142 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nhe came tearing in with, "What is this, anyhow?" \n"It\'s a stenographic report of your monologue at \nthe restaurant last evening," his friend replied, and \ngave him a brief explanation. "Did I really talk \nlike that?" he asked, faintly. "I assure you it is an \nabsolutely verbatim report," was the reply. He \nturned pale and walked out. He never drank \nanother drop. He turned to God in deep and \nhumble repentance that very hour. He had caught \na glimpse of himself. \n\nMany men would cease not only the sin of drunk- \nenness, but other sins as well, if they could see \nthemselves as others see them. Christ sees all our \nimperfections, and they must look more terrible to \nhis eyes than they do to the eye of anyone else ; but \nlike the mother who hates drunkenness when it ap- \npears in her son more than anyone else can hate \nit, and yet would gladly die to save her boy, so \nChrist, who did die to save the sinner, does not gaze \non our infirmities with an eye of disdain or contempt, \nbut with an eye filled with infinite pity and love. \n\nThe sinner is like this poor woman in that he has \nno power to heal himself. He is held in the grip of \nsin for which he himself is to blame, but from which \nhe has no power to free himself. \n\nA yacht captain, sailing along the eastern shore \nof Maryland, saw a splendid specimen of the \nAmerican eagle speeding along like the wind over the \n\n\n\nLOOSING A SOUL FROM BONDAGE 143 \n\nsurface of the water, yet evidently propelled by no \neffort of its own. In fact, the eagle seemed to be \nusing all its efforts to stay its progress and rise \nfrom the water. The captain turned his yacht, \nheaded off the speeding eagle, and succeeded in \ngrabbing it by the neck, although the bird fought \nfiercely against him with beak and wings. \n\nWhen the captain got hold of the eagle he dis- \ncovered why it was taking that strange journey \nagainst its will. The eagle\'s talons were so deeply \nburied in the back of a big carp that the bird could \nnot get them out. The carp was too heavy for the \neagle to rise with, and the eagle too much weight, \nfor the present, for the carp to sink deeper into the \nwater; but the eagle would undoubtedly have been \ndrowned with that fatal clutch he himself had made \nif the captain had not interfered by cutting him \nloose and letting him fly away. \n\nSurely that is a clear illustration of the danger \nand sorrow into which men thrust themselves \nthrough sin. Men seize hold on vile and evil things \nthrough the strong talons of their affections, and \nthen when they want to get away they cannot. O, \nhow hard is the struggle sometimes to escape, and \nall in vain. But there is a way of escape. As that \ncaptain took his sharp knife and cut the eagle\'s \nfeet loose from that which held him down to danger \nand death, so Christ is ready and willing to lift \n\n\n\n144 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\njour feet out of the mire and the clay of your sin, \nand set them on the rock, and put a new song in \nyour mouth, a song of praise and glory to God. \n\nI am sure that a great many stay away from \nChrist, and delay the open confession of their sins, \nbecause sin has so blinded their eyes that they do \nnot see clearly how terribly real and awful a thing \nit is. Sin gets into our hearts and so masters us \nthat we are no longer our own master. Paul says, \n"If I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, \nbut sin that dwelleth in me." An English preacher, \ncommenting on this statement, says that there are \nmen who would have us believe that sin is but the \nnecessary offspring of weakness and ignorance, that \nit is the unavoidable failure to reach ideal perfec- \ntion, or that it is the fruit of the insurgent senses \nwhich will not be controlled. But this passage \nteaches us that it is something more \xe2\x80\x94 that it is a \ntaint, a corruption, affecting the inner nature, \nwarping, marring, darkening all the soul. \n\nSome people have thought that by cultivating \nthe natural powers the sinner might be slowly re- \nfined and purified. But it has always failed. If \nsin were only weakness there might be hope in the \ngospel of development. Some men have pointed to \neducation as the moral regenerator, and have \nclaimed that if men were all well educated sin would \ndie out of the world with ignorance. But that is \n\n\n\nLOOSING A SOUL FROM BONDAGE 145 \n\ndisproved by the fact that some of the best-educated \nmen that have ever lived have been the most wicked. \nThe fact is that sin is a poison in the very blood, \nand no mere appeal to the will can bring about the \nneeded change. By merely working on himself, on \nhis body of sin and death, the sinner can do but \nlittle in the way of self -restoration. The will has \nno power to create or re-create. Sin is not merely, \nan act or a series of acts, it is a crippled state like \nthat of the poor infirm woman. A man can no more \nby an act of will change his own heart than could \nthat infirm woman by an act of will straighten her \nbody. \n\nNow, when a man or a woman sees intelligently \nand clearly sin as it is, there always happens what \nused to be called more frequently than now "con- \nviction for sin." When the Holy Spirit reveals to \nthe sinning soul its true condition it is a terrible \nsight. Death, inevitable death, is present to him, \nfor the law, stern and unrelenting to eternity, de- \nnounces him. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." \nHe has sinned, he is ever sinning, it seems as though \nhe must sin; death he cannot escape. Amazed, \nhopeless, agonized, the cry breaks from his lips \xe2\x80\x94 \n"O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me \nfrom the body of this death ?" And there is silence. \nNot a voice in the wide world is raised to give him \n\nanswer of comfort till there is heard that sweetest \n10 \n\n\n\n146 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nvoice that ever fell upon a sinner\'s ears \xe2\x80\x94 the voice \nof the sinner\'s Saviour, the same voice that charmed \nthe poor infirm woman, "Come unto me, all ye that \nlabor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." \nEvery one of you may accept that invitation to- \nnight, knowing that Christ will keep his word. On \none occasion during the civil war, when Mr. Moody \nwas acting as chaplain, he was awakened one night \nwhen he was very tired to go and see a dying soldier. \nWhen he began to speak to him about God the \nsoldier said, "He cannot save me ; I have sinned all \nmy life." And Moody began to think of his \nmother a long way off, and he thought probably \nthe mother was praying for her boy even then, and \nhe sat up through the night, telling him promise \nafter promise, praying with him, but nothing would \navail. At last he read the third chapter of John, \nhow Nicodemus came to the Master. As he read he \nnoticed that the young fellow\'s eyes became riveted \nupon him, and he seemed to drink in every syllable. \nWhen he came to the words, "As Moses lifted up \nthe serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son \nof man be lifted up : that whosoever believeth in him \nshould not perish, but have eternal life," he stopped \nMr. Moody, and asked, "Is that true?" "Yes," \nMoody said. "Well," he said, "I never knew that\' \nwas in the Bible. Read it again." Leaning on \nhis elbow on the side of the cot, he drew his hands \n\n\n\nLOOSING A SOUL FROM BONDAGE 147 \n\ntogether tightly, and when Moody had finished \nreading he said: "That is good! Won\'t you read \nit again?" Slowly he repeated the passage the \nthird time. When he had finished he saw that the \nyoung soldier\'s eyes were closed, and the troubled \nexpression on his face had given way to a peaceful \nsmile. His lips moved, and as Moody bent over \nhim to catch what he was saying he heard, in a \nfaint whisper, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in \nthe wilderness, even so must the Son of man be \nlifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should \nnot perish, but have eternal life." He opened his \neyes and said, "That is enough. Do not read any \nmore." The next day Mr. Moody found that he \nhad passed away peacefully with the words of that \npromise on his lips. \n\nYou may find your salvation to-night, just as he \ndid, by heeding the invitation and promise of Christ. \nHe is seeking for you. He sees your infirmities, he \nknows all about your sin ; but, bless God, he is just \nas powerful to save and just as willing to save now \nas ever, and he is still crying out to sinful men and \nwomen, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise \ncast out !" \n\n\n\nXV \n\nTHE BEST CHOICE \n\nBut one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, \nwhich shall not he taken away from her.\xe2\x80\x94 Luke x, 42. \n\nA member of the English Parliament visited \nAndrew Carnegie in his great castle in Scotland. \nAfter they had had a long talk together the rich \nman drove with his guest to the station. As they \nwent Mr. Carnegie spoke about his wealth and said, \nbitterly : "I am not really to be envied. How can \nmy wealth help me? I am sixty years old, and I \ncannot digest my food. I would give you all my \nmillions if you could give me youth and health." \nThen there came another remark, which the listener \ndeclares he will never forget. They had driven on \nfor some time in silence, when Mr. Carnegie sud- \ndenly turned, and with a hushed voice, and with \nbitterness and depth of feeling quite indescribable, \nsaid: "If I could make Faust\'s bargain I would. \nI would gladly sell anything to have half my life \nover again," and his visitor saw his hands clinch as \nhe spoke. \n\nThere could not be a clearer illustration than \nthat of the worthlessness of mere wealth as a treas- \nure, so transient is its power to give happiness. \n\n\n\nTHE BEST CHOICE 149 \n\nThere are so many things that can take it away, \nand even if it remains, as with Mr. Carnegie, youth \npasses, health disappears, and the ministry of wealth \nloses its power to bless. But, thank God, there are \nsome things within the reach of us all that cannot \nbe taken away. \n\nMary of Bethany was one of the few people who \nsaw into the heart of the mission of Jesus. Her \nlove discerned what stronger intellects could not \nfathom. She accepted Jesus as her Lord and \ncrowned him in her heart. Christ said that she had \nmade a choice that could never be taken from her, \nand it has been true even for this world, for Mary \nof Bethany is one of the immortals. We see her \non still another occasion. It is the day that Simon, \nthe rich Pharisee, invited Jesus to dine with him. \nAnd as Simon is treating the Master with a sort of \npatronizing superciliousness Mary of Bethany \ncomes into the room. She came unbidden. She \nhad brought with her, with which to anoint the head \nof Jesus, an alabaster box of precious ointment, \nvery costly indeed. So costly was it that some of \nhis own disciples thought it a wasteful thing. But \nJesus received it with gratitude and love, and he \nsaid about it, and her, "I say unto you, that where- \nsoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole \nworld, then this also that she hath done shall be \ntold for a memorial of her." I wonder if it has \n\n\n\n150 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\noccurred to you that we have in New York harbor \na monument to Mary of Bethany? The next time \nyou go down the harbor, and you see that grand \nstatue, "Liberty Enlightening the World," remem- \nber that the inscription on its side was uttered by \nJesus of Nazareth. "She hath done what she \ncould" Mary chose immortality for this world \nwhen she chose Christ ; and far more than that, for \nthis world itself will grow old, and be rolled together \nas a scroll, but Mary shall be loved and honored \nby her divine Lord throughout all eternity. \n\nNo other choice we can make will continue to be \nappropriate and useful to us under all circum- \nstances. The changing scenes of life often reduce \nvalues or take away the value entirely. Certain \nthings that are of great importance to us at one \nperiod of life are looked upon with contempt at \nanother period; but if you choose Jesus Christ as \nyour Saviour and your Lord, and worship him with \nall your heart, there will not be one day from youth \nto old age that he will not be the source of more \nhappiness and inspiration and comfort than all \nthe other treasures of life put together. Not \nonly so, but as life draws to a close, and as death \nlooms up in the distance, Christ will appear the \nmore precious and indispensable at the moment all \nother treasures are dropping from your nerveless \nfingers. \n\n\n\nTHE BEST CHOICE 151 \n\nIn the Kentucky backwoods a young woman lay \ndying on her humble cot. Suddenly she roused and \ncalled, "Abraham!" \n\nA boy almost destitute of clothing, who had \nbeen watching the birds as they flew from one \ntree to another outside the cabin door, hastened \nto her side, and asked in a troubled voice, "What \nis it?" \n\nShe drew him within her feeble arms, and said, \nin a voice weak and tremulous, yet still thrilling with \na mother\'s love and hope : \n\n"I am going to leave you, Abe, and 0, how hard \nit is to part with you! How beautiful it is out- \ndoors ! It is beautiful wherever God is, and I am \ngoing. to meet him in a brighter world than this. \nI learned to love him at the old camp meetings, and \nI want you to learn to love him too. \n\n"I have not had much to make me happy," \nshe continued, still more slowly, and with a heavy \nsigh \xe2\x80\x94 "I have not had a great deal to make me \nhappy; but my voice has never failed to rise in \npraise whenever a feeling of thanksgiving has come \nto me. \n\n"Abraham Lincoln, you have my heart. I am \nthankful God gave you to us. Love everybody, \nhinder nobody, and the world will be glad some day \nthat you were born. This is a beautiful world to \nthe loving and believing. I am grateful for life; \n\n\n\n152 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nfor everything, but, more than all else, because you \nhave my heart." \n\n"But he can\'t sing, Nancy !" \n\nA tall pioneer in buckskin stood in the cabin \ndoorway. He saw death\'s shadow in the sunlight \nthat fell on the floor. He had added a ripple of \nlaughter to his words, for he wanted to cheer his \nwife even though she was passing from him. \n\nThe woman was silent. Thomas Lincoln ap- \nproached his wife\'s deathbed. Then he repeated \nhis words, still more kindly : "But he can\'t sing like \nyou, Nancy !" \n\n"The heart sings in many ways," she replied, \nvery feebly. "Some hearts make other hearts sing. \nAbraham may not have my voice, but he has my \nheart, and he may make others sing." \n\nAnd so Nancy Lincoln went away, leaving the \nblessing of her pure life and of her loving, grateful \nfaith in God as a benediction on the head of Abra- \nham Lincoln. Surely Nancy Lincoln had chosen, \nlike Mary, the treasure that never could be taken \naway from her. If the good in heaven are per- \nmitted to watch over the careers of earth, what \nsongs she must have sung during all those years \nwhen Abraham Lincoln so bravely and with such \nsublime patience, driven again and again to God for \nhelp, carried the nation\'s burdens on his shoulders \nand the nation\'s sorrows in his heart. How much \n\n\n\nTHE BEST CHOICE 153 \n\nAmerican civilization and the progress of Chris- \ntianity and humanity in the world owe to the fact \nthat Nancy Lincoln, that plain backwoods settler\'s \nwife, at some camp-meeting altar gave her heart to \nGod, and became a sincere Christian, we can never \nknow; but I wish to impress it on all our hearts \nthat it is possible for every one of us, if we become \nfaithful Christians, to not only have comfort in our \nspiritual treasures, but to be able thereby to enrich \nand bless all who come in touch with us. \n\nNothing makes me sadder than to see fathers or \nmothers with children growing up around them, \nrefusing Christ and failing to give to their children \nthe example and the influence which will after a \nwhile be the very dearest treasure that the child can \nhave. I have never yet heard anyone speak with \nthanksgiving or gratitude because his father or \nmother was not a Christian. Whenever that has \nbeen the case it has been a fact for silence or for \nsad regrets. But how many have I heard \xe2\x80\x94 hun- \ndreds and thousands of people \xe2\x80\x94 thank God for the \nmemory of the prayers and the example of Christian \nparents ! \n\nAt an experience meeting in England, not long \nago, the oldest man in the room, white-headed, ven- \nerable, and plain of speech, stood up and said : "My \nmother was an ailing woman for years. When I \nwas a young man I walked into Bradford and \n\n\n\n154 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nbought a rocking-chair for her. I carried it home \non my back, about three miles, and for fourteen \nyears my mother sat in that chair every day. Then \nshe died. Friends, when I pray to God every morn- \ning, before going to my work, I kneel me down by \nthat chair!" \n\nNo mother could ask for a more enduring monu- \nment than to leave behind her such an influence as \nwould summon her children to prayer and praise for \nso many years. \n\nI do not see how parents who believe in God and \nin heaven and in Christ can let the impressionable \nyears of their children go by, knowing that sickness \nand death is abroad in the land and that they may \nbe called at any moment \xe2\x80\x94 I do not see how they can \nlet the days go by without becoming themselves so \nearnestly Christian that they will constantly be \nleaving some touch upon their children the memory \nof which in case they were called from them would \nlead them toward heaven. \n\nA little boy was sailing a boat with a playmate \na good deal larger than himself. The boat had \nsailed some distance out into the pond, and the big \nboy said : "Go in, Jim, and get her. It isn\'t over \nyour ankles, and I\'ve been in every time." \n\n"I daren\'t," said Jim. "I\'ll carry her all the \nway home for you, but I can\'t go in there ; she told \nme I mustn\'t dare to." \n\n\n\nTHE BEST CHOICE 155 \n\n"Who\'s \'she?\' " \n\n"My mother," replied Jim, rather softly. \n\n"Your mother ! Why, I thought she was dead," \nsaid the big boy. \n\n"That was before she died. Eddie and I used to \ncome here and sail our boats, and she never let us \ncome unless we had strings enough to haul in with. \nI ain\'t afraid \xe2\x80\x94 you know I\'m not ; only she did not \nwant me to, and I can\'t do it." \n\nOne of the best men I have ever known told me \nthat his mother died when he was only three years \nold, and after she was gone they told him how his \nmother had prayed for him, and how she used to \npray to God every day. When he was four years \nold he was put to live in a family that did not be- \nlieve in God or in prayer, and he saw nothing but \nwickedness about him; but the memory of that \nmother\'s prayers followed him, and he gave his \nheart to God before he was six years old, and all his \nlife he has been a Christian with the infinitely gra- \ncious background of that saintly mother, who was \ncalled home when he was only three years old. She \nhad chosen the treasure that could never be taken \naway. Thank God, you may have that treasure \nto-night. The greatest treasure on the earth may \nbe had for the asking \xe2\x80\x94 yes, greater than any treas- \nure on earth, the greatest treasure that can come \nto an immortal soul, you may have to-night without \n\n\n\n\n\n\n156 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nmoney and without price. There are many things \nyou think you need, but Jesus Christ says, "Seek \nye first the kingdom of God, and his righteous- \nness; and all these things shall be added unto \nyou." \n\n\n\nXVI \n\nJUDGING OURSELVES \n\nAnd Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews ? And he \nanswering said unto him, Thou sayest it.\xe2\x80\x94 Mark xv, 2. \n\nIn the great pictures which have been painted \nof this scene of the meeting of Pilate a,nd Jesus, in \nthe poems that have been written about it, and in \nthe sermons and essays that have portrayed the \nstriking situation, it has been common to call it, \n"Christ Before Pilate." But the truer order would \nbe, "Pilate Before Christ." It was not so much the \njudgment of Pilate on Jesus as it was the judgment \nof Pilate on himself. There is something very \nsignificant and striking in this language of Jesus \nto Pilate. Pilate was a great man for evading \nresponsibility, and it was in the same spirit that \ndrove him afterward to wash his hands before the \nmob, to try to clear himself from the cruel and un- \njust condemnation of Jesus, that Pilate asked Jesus \nto judge himself, and say whether he was the king \nor not. But this Christ declined to do. He threw \nthe judgment back on Pilate in the words, "Thou \nsayest it." \n\nSo we are judging ourselves every day by our \nattitude toward Jesus Christ. We have on our \n\n\n\n158 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nhands the same question that Pilate had, and which \nhe asked of the people to relieve himself when \nthey wanted Barabbas released: "What shall I do \nthen with this Jesus which is called Christ?" \n\nThat is a question which I want to push home to \nour hearts to-night. What judgment are you \ngoing to pass on Jesus Christ ? Christ comes claim- \ning to be a king. As such, he claims to have the \nright to all your worship and your service. You \ncannot treat him as you would anyone else. You \nmust either reject his claim as impudent and un- \nwarranted or you must accept his claim as proper \nand right. Your judgment in the case will greatly \nalter your conduct. If you judge Christ to have \nno right to your service, no claim on your honor \nor worship, then you will go on, indifferent toward \nhim, worshiping your own pride, seeking success \nin your own way, and expecting to meet death at \nlast without any help from heaven ; but if, on the \nother hand, you admit that Christ has the right to \nyour service, that he has a just claim to your honor \nand love and worship, then you are in duty bound \nto at once obey him and do whatever he asks at \nyour hands. There could be no greater inconsist- \nency than to admit that Christ is the true king and \nlord of your soul, and has every right to your wor- \nship and your love, and then go on living in indif- \nference to his desires and commands. What say \n\n\n\nJUDGING OURSELVES 159 \n\nyou about Christ to-night? Is he your rightful \nking, or is he only a pretender ? \n\nYour judgment must again be placed upon \nChrist as a Saviour from sin. Christ comes offer- \ning to be your Saviour from the guilt and condem- \nnation of sin. He came into the world and lived a \nlife of hardship and suffering, and finally died upon \nthe cross, that he might become the Saviour of the \nworld, that he might make propitiation for the sins \nof the whole world. And from the day he forgave \nthe dying thief, while he was hanging on the cross, \nuntil now, men have been seeking in Christ\'s mercy \nand love and through his atonement the forgiveness \nof their sins. \n\nSin is in all lands and among all peoples. Peo- \nple everywhere have felt its cruel hand. It has \ndestroyed the peace, it has defiled the purity, it has \noutraged the innocence, it has broken the heart of \npeople in every land under heaven. The beginning \nof every religion, the foundation of every ethical \nphilosophy, has been because of the consciousness \nof sin and a persistent longing of the human heart \nto free itself from that awful "body of death." \nBut everywhere failure has met the most ardent \nseeker save the man or the woman who has knelt at \nthe feet of Jesus Christ. There the only relief has \nbeen found. Christ has never failed to give satis- \nfaction to any earnest, seeking soul. In him the \n\n\n\n160 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nproud and the haughty have found the grace of \nhumility. At the foot of his cross the miser has \nfound generosity and love. In association with \nJesus the drunkard has gained power to be his own \nmaster and has gone forth a free man. Men and \nwomen whose consciences were loaded down with \nguilt have lost their burden at his feet and have \ngone away with a new self-respect and with heart \nso light that they have sung songs of gladness and \npraise. There is no fact in history more thor- \noughly established than the fact that Jesus Christ \nhas power on earth to forgive sins. Perhaps there \nis no other fact so well established, for the evidence \nruns over hundreds of years. There are millions \nand millions of people on the earth to-day who, if \nit were necessary, would go to the stake and suffer \nmartyrdom before they would recant their evidence \nthat Jesus Christ has pardoned their sins. \n\nNow, what do you say about Jesus Christ as a \nSaviour? Christ comes offering to save you from \nyour sins. He offers to pay your debt to the \nbroken law of God. He offers to lift the burden of \nguilt from your conscience. He offers to cleanse \nyour heart from evil and impure desires. He offers \nto come into your soul as King and Saviour, and \ndwell there from day to day a sympathetic Friend, \na Friend with wisdom to advise and with unlimited \npower to give aid in every time of need. What will \n\n\n\nJUDGING OURSELVES 161 \n\nyou do with this Saviour? Is he to be your \nSaviour? Nobody can answer that but yourself. \nChrist is standing before you with heart-searching \ngaze, and saying to you as he did to Pilate, "Thou \nsayest it." \n\nChrist claims to be our Intercessor between man \nand God. We cannot approach God except through \nhim. Our sins have broken God\'s holy law. We \nhave no merit in ourselves, but we have much de- \nmerit. The law says, "The wages of sin is death." \nBut Christ went and took the punishment in our \nstead. "He was bruised for our iniquities." He \ndied for us, so that God might still be just and yet \nbe "the justifier of him that believeth on Jesus." \nAnd as the high priest in the olden time was accus- \ntomed to enter into the holiest place with the sacri- \nfice and there plead for the people, so Christ, at \nonce our Sin Offering and our Priest, ascended on \nhigh and entered into the holiest place of all that \nhe might be an Intercessor for us. Isaiah proph- \nesied this hundreds of years before Christ came into \nthe world, when he said, "He bare the sins of many, \nand made intercession for the transgressors." \nAnd Stephen, the first of the long line of Christian \nmartyrs, when his enemies were gnashing upon him \nwith their teeth and were stoning him to death in \ntheir hate, kneeled down and looking upward cried, \n\nwith a face so glowing that even his enemies de- \nll \n\n\n\n162 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nclared it was the face of an angel, "Behold, I see \nthe heavens opened, and the Son of man standing \non the right hand of God." \n\nWhat will you do with Christ the Intercessor? \nHe offers to intercede for you in the court of heaven, \nhe offers to be your High Priest, and stand before \nthe throne of God to plead not your merits but the \nmerits of his own blood, shed on Calvary\'s cross \nin your behalf. Christ stands before you now. \nasking what you will do with him as an Intercessor. \nYou must answer it for yourself. Those sad and \nloving eyes are on your face, and Jesus is saying \nto you, "Thou sayest it." \n\nChrist offers to prepare for your happy immor- \ntality. He offers, if you will accept his forgiveness \nand love and permit him to reign in your heart and \ncommune with you in sweet fellowship through your \nearthly life, not only to fit you for heaven, but to \nfit a place in heaven for you. We are all of us \nhastening on toward the future, that future that \nlies on the other side of the gates of death. Life is \nuncertain to every one of us. It is the unexpected \nthat happens. Going home to-night, or in the \nslumber afterward before the dawn, you are liable \nto come short up against the gates of death. No \nman has a lease of his life for a single day, and it \ncannot come to an end so suddenly that it will be \nmore sudden than is happening to others every day \n\n\n\nJUDGING OURSELVES 163 \n\nin the year. Surely there can be no man so full \nof folly that he does not feel that anything that \noffers to prepare the way for happiness in the life \nbeyond is worth the most serious and honest con- \nsideration. Christ is the only teacher that has come \nto us from the throne of God and has gone back \nagain to dwell in the court of heaven. And he has \ndeclared that he will look out for us there, and that \neveryone that will love him and give his heart \nto him shall be the special object of his care and \nlove, and that when death comes it shall be no \nlonely going out into the darkness. When he was \ngoing away from his disciples he talked the matter \nover in the most comforting way with them, and \nsaid, gently: "Let not your heart be troubled: ye \nbelieve in God, believe also in me. In my Father\'s \nhouse are many mansions : if it were not so, I would \nhave told you. I go to prepare a place for you. \nAnd if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come \nagain, and receive you unto myself; that where I \nam, there ye may be also." How different that \nmakes the thought of death! We shall not go \ndown into the grave with the body, but Christ will \nmeet us and lead us to the home which he has pre- \npared for us. He will introduce us to our heavenly \nFather, and the angels, and the great and good, and \nwe shall rejoice in the fellowship of loved ones who \nhave shared with us in the love of Christ on earth. \n\n\n\n164 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nI have seen a great many Christians die, and, as \nWesley said, "they die well." I have never known \nChrist to forsake or fail to give comfort to a Chris- \ntian believer in the hour of death. On the other \nhand, I have seen many a sick room that was per- \nvaded with an atmosphere of heavenly courage, and \nI have watched the going away of men and women \nand children where the dying have not only been \nwithout the shadow of a fear, but with infinite joy \nand confidence and with smiling, rapturous faces \nhave gone to meet their Lord. \n\nNow, what are you going to do with Christ, who \ncomes asking to be your representative in heaven, \nand offering to fit for you a heavenly mansion, and \nto be at once your comforter on earth and your \nfriend before God? Die you must. How soon \nyou cannot tell. What will you do with this offer \nof Jesus Christ assuring you of a happy and vic- \ntorious immortality? The question comes home to \nyour heart to-night. You must either accept him \nor reject him. Christ stands there knocking before \nthe door of your heart. His tender gaze is fixed \nupon you, as it was long ago upon Pilate, and those \ngentle lips are saying, "Thou sayest it." You \nare your own judge. By the flexible instrument of \nyour own will you must form and seal your eternal \ndestiny. God help you ! \n\n\n\nXVII \n\nWITNESSES AND TESTIMONY \n\nVerily, verily, I say unto thee, "We speak that we do know, and tes- \ntify that we have seen ; and ye receive not our witness.-\xc2\xab7b/m iii, 11. \n\nIt is good in a world so full of doubt to find \nsome things that can be known. Christ is talking \nto Nicodemus about the new birth which is neces- \nsary to salvation, and he declares that it is some- \nthing which men know about as an absolute cer- \ntainty, and that it is a great folly not to receive \ntestimony of competent witnesses concerning this \nas readily as about anything else. Now, the mes- \nsage I have for you to-night is along this line. \nThe salvation which we preach to you is something \nthat may be experienced in a human heart and life. \nMultitudes of men and women have obeyed the \nGospel. They have confessed their sins and for- \nsaken them, and have asked of Christ divine \nforgiveness. The burden has been lifted from their \nconsciences. They have been given a new impulse \ntoward righteousness, and in multitudes of instances \nthe whole current of life has been changed. Now, \nwe claim that this testimony ought to be sufficient \nto convince any intelligent mind and persuade any \ntrue heart to turn to God. \n\n\n\n166 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nI am convinced that, despite all that is said about \nthe failings of church members and professed Chris- \ntians, there is in many who claim to be skeptical far \nmore confidence than they are often willing to \nadmit in the divine power of Jesus Christ to control \nthe heart and the life and preserve the soul from \nevil. \n\nA Texas ranger, a sort of mounted policeman to \nprotect the people from cattle robbers, recently told \nan experience he had as a guest in a dugout on one \nof his rounds. \n\nHe had ridden hard all day, tracking some guilty \nmen. As the sun went down he saw smoke curling \nup from the ground. He rode toward it. No \nliving thing could be seen. He saw the dugout, and \nknew people were living there by the smoke coming \nfrom the dirt chimney. He checked his horse before \nthe doorway, and shouted, "Halloa !" \n\nSomebody inside shouted back, "Halloa your- \nself!" \n\nTo feel his way toward a chance of stopping for \nthe night, he called back, "Can you tell me where I \ncan get lodging for the night?" \n\n"Forty miles ahead of ye!" was the sharp, curt \nanswer. \n\nHe was very tired and hungry, and the thought \nof forty miles more over the prairie made him heart- \nsick. But there seemed no help for it. He must \n\n\n\nWITNESSES AND TESTIMONY 167 \n\ngo, since there was no hope contained in the harsh \nanswer given to him of getting lodging there. So \nhe tightened his reins, and clucked, and spurred his \nhorse to move on. \n\n"You blame fool, you ! What you gwine to ride \nforty mile this here time o\' night for?" was yelled \nat him. \n\nHe turned and stared at a grizzly, red-headed old \nman standing in the doorway of the dugout. He \nwas big and tall, with long red beard and eyelashes. \nHe waved to him, and ordered him, "Take your \ncritter down there in the hollow and tether it, and \ncome in here." \n\nWith all his gruff talk, the ranger felt it safer to \nrisk the night in the dugout than in forty miles of \nriding in the dark across the plains, so he dis- \nmounted and accepted the invitation. When he \nwent into the dugout, he found it anything but \nencouraging. Two long bowie knives dangled \nfrom the man\'s belt, as well as two pistols, while he \nkept a rifle within reach of his hand. After a little \ndesultory conversation a shadow in the doorway \nthat obstructed the light made the ranger look up. \nAnother rough, tall fellow stepped inside, loaded \ndown with knives and pistols in his belt. The old \nman nodded toward the stranger and said to the \nnewcomer, "Son, this here fellow happened by jist \nbefore night, and I gin him welcome." \n\n\n\n168 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nThe young man gave him a very slight acknowl- \nedgment and proceeded to get supper. The hum- \nble supper was soon over, and it was a very uncom- \nfortable meal to the ranger, who now thoroughly \nbelieved that he would be murdered that night ; but \nat the close of the supper the old man went to a \nshelf against the dirt wall and took down a mustard \nbox. He opened it, and said, as he looked the \nranger straight in the face: "Stranger, we goes to \nbed right arter supper. Before we does we allers \nreads outer this here little book. The old woman \ndied and left us two year ago. Son reads outen \nthis every night \'cause it was hern. She allers read \nouten it. It was her onlyist book she brought when \nwe moved outen here. We is been powerful broke up \never since she took sick and died, and we put her out \nyonder under that scrub pine. When we reads \nouten her book somehow it \'pears like we ain\'t so \nlonesome, and it keeps us from losing heart about \nher." \n\nThe old man took from the inside of the mustard \nbox a very small Bible, and handed it reverently to \nhis son, who sat down on the floor and read a chap- \nter by the flickering firelight. All the ranger\'s des- \nperate suspicion vanished into thin air as he watched \nthe faces of the two lonely men as the words were \nread from the dead woman\'s Bible, who in her iso- \nlated habitation from church or neighbors had left \n\n\n\nWITNESSES AND TESTIMONY 169 \n\nsuch a sacred remembrance of herself in her humble \nhome. The younger man read a chapter, and closed \nthe book. The older one took it reverently and put \nit back into the mustard box, and placed it on the \nshelf. \n\nThey stretched themselves upon pallets upon the \ndirt floor. The ranger went to sleep with no sus- \npicions that he might be killed. He felt that two \nmen, desperate, and armed as they were with weap- \nons which they did not lay aside even to sleep, who \nkept up the memory of the dead wife and mother \nby reading a chapter each evening from the Bible, \nwhich teaches men the path of right, could not be \nmurderers. And they were not. \n\nThis true incident of frontier life illustrates how \neven a slight association with the Bible, and with \none who had loved and trusted it, had tamed the \nsavage in desperate men and made them trust- \nworthy. How much more should the testimony of \nthose who have opened their hearts to the full pres- \nence and power of Christ insure our believing in \nthe divine Lord who can work such miracles of \nblessing ! \n\nA Swiss artist who was an avowed infidel, and was \nblasphemously antagonistic to Jesus Christ, went to \nSheffield, England, in 1880. His business there was \nto make a caricature of a Salvation Army meeting. \nHe went there on that errand, and scanned the faces \n\n\n\n170 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nof the people. With his own heart like the troubled \nsea that could not find rest, tossed and driven by \ntempests of passion, and tormented by a conscience \nburdened with sin, he looked on the assembled wor- \nshipers and saw peace written on their faces and an \ninward joy beaming from their countenances. The \nsight convinced him that Christianity was true. He \nthrew up his contract and gave his own heart to \nChrist. \n\nA young minister became very greatly interested \nin a family living near his church who were out- \nspoken in their opposition to religion. He called on \nthe lady one day and she told him that she had no \nfaith in such things and wanted nothing to do with \nthe church. "Well," he said, "we are going to pray \nfor you. You are the mother of beautiful children, \nwho ought to be brought up Christians, and without \nmentioning your name we will pray for you at the \nchurch until you are converted to God." \n\n"Surely you cannot mean this?" \n\n"Yes, indeed, I do." \n\nHe called on her several times, and each time she \nasked him almost excitedly, "Are you praying for \nme?" And he replied, "Yes, we are." She would \nhave done anything to induce him to stop, and she \ndeclared that she never would become a Christian ; \nbut after a while her spirit of curiosity was so great- \nly aroused that she began to attend the meetings. \n\n\n\nWITNESSES AND TESTIMONY 171 \n\nThere the Lord met her and convinced her of sin. A \nfew days later, when calling on her, the minister saw \nthat there was a complete change. Her face was \nlighted up with joy. Something had happened. \n\n"Why, Mrs. Thomas, what\'s the matter? You \nlook very happy." \n\n"Happy ? Yes, I am happy. I have got Christ, \nand I am saved !" \n\n"Praise God," said the minister. "Tell me about \nit." \n\nShe said: "I could not bear the thought of all \nyour prayers hanging over my head. I felt satisfied \nwith myself, but I knew you were not satisfied about \nme. I tried to forget it, but it haunted me night \nand day. When you preached the other Sunday \nabout the woman falling down before Jesus, and \ntelling him all the truth, I felt simply awful. I \ncame out of the church with the question ringing in \nmy ears, \'Dear sinner, won\'t you fall down before \nJesus and tell him all the truth ?\' For several days \nI tried to shake off the thought, but I felt worse and \nworse, so I got down on my knees, told him all the \ntruth, and accepted him as my Saviour. I can \nhardly believe it is true, and my infidel husband \nthinks it is a miracle ; but, thank God, I know in my \nheart I am saved. O do kneel down with me, and \npray for my poor husband, that he may be saved \nalso." They knelt and prayed earnestly that God \n\n\n\nL \n\n\n\n172 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nwould work upon the husband\'s heart and bring him \nto accept Christ. \n\nLeaving the wife brimming over with joy and \nthankfulness to God for his great goodness, the min- \nister hurried to the husband\'s place of business. \nDrawing him aside, he said: "Mr. Thomas, every- \nbody knows you as a man who professes not to be- \nlieve in God, in the devil, in the Bible as God\'s word, \nin heaven, or in hell. Is that so?" \n\nHe said : "I\'m afraid that I have never believed \nin these things, but rather opposed them." \n\n"Well, now, I want to ask you a question : Your \nwife has been converted. She has given her heart \nto God. She has started to walk on the way to \nheaven as a Christian. Now I want to ask you hon- \nestly, \'Do you believe in your wife\'s conversion ?\' \' \n\nHe answered at once: "Believe it? Why, I can\'t \nhelp believing it. It beats me altogether to explain \nit. There is no doubt that something wonderful has \nhappened to her. Why, she now reads her Bible, \nkneels down to pray with the children, kneels down \nand prays before retiring to bed, and even several \ntimes she has actually got out of bed in the middle \nof the night when she thought I was asleep and be- \ngun praying for me. I never thought there was \nanything in religion before, but I don\'t know \nwhat to think. Religion must have something in \nit, if it can make such an alteration in a woman \n\n\n\nWITNESSES AND TESTIMONY 173 \n\nlike my wife, for it certainly takes a lot to move \nher." \n\nThe fact of his wife\'s real conversion, her \nchanged life, her testimony, and her prayers for his \nconversion very strongly influenced him, and in less \nthan a week he gave himself unreservedly to the \nLord Jesus. \n\nNow I come to you this evening with the testi- \nmony of Christian experience. Here we are about \nyou. You would take our testimony in court about \nthe gravest and most important things. The testi- \nmony of any three or four of us here would mean \nthe life or death of a man in any case of that sort. \nAnd here we are, scores of us, with nothing to gain \nby bearing anything but a perfectly true witness, \nand we do testify to you that Jesus Christ has \npower on earth to forgive sins, and that we know it \nbecause he has pardoned us and given us a con- \nscience at peace with God. And we come asking you \nto accept Christ on our evidence and test him for \nyourself. Thank God, it is not a mere theory ; it is a \nmatter of experience. Obey Christ and you shall \nknow for yourself that it is true. Come, "taste, and \nsee that the Lord is good!" \n\n\n\nXVIII \n\nTHE DIVINE CHRIST \n\nJesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life : no man \ncometh unto the Father, but by me.\xe2\x80\x94 John xiv, 6. \n\nThis is one of those rare gems of Scripture where \ngreat truth is packed into the shortest, simplest \nwords, that even a little child can understand. \nChrist makes three statements about himself. He \ndeclares that he is the way, and the truth, and the \nlife. Let us try to study the text in as simple and \nstraightforward a manner as that in which the \nMaster has given it to us. \n\nFirst, Christ declares, "I am the way." The \nvery manner in which this text is stated shows that \nit is a plain way. It was not meant that it should \nbe hard to find. David long ago prayed God, \n"Lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies." \nThere are many pitfalls along the way of life, and \nthe most careful and prudent will pass through very \nmany uncomfortable experiences. It is therefore \nof the greatest importance that the road to heaven \nis a plain path. If you tell me that you do not \nthink so, because you have lived in the world for \nmany years and have not found it, then there is one \nthing I know about you \xe2\x80\x94 I know you have not come \n\n\n\nTHE DIVINE CHRIST 175 \n\nto Christ. For he is the way, and he is so open- \nhearted and open-handed that no one can seek him \nsimply and honestly without finding him. There \nis no aristocracy about Jesus. \n\nA German paper tells a pretty story of a courte- \nous act of the king of Wurtemburg. A soldier was \nreturning to the barracks of Ludwigsburg from \nan excursion in the suburbs. It was near the time \nfor the evening drill, and he was in fear of being \nlate. Suddenly a small vehicle driven by a man in \ncivilian\'s clothes appeared. "May I take the \nvacant seat at your side, sir?" asked the soldier. \n"I am late for drill." \n\n"I\'ll be glad of your company," came the reply. \n\nThe trooper took his seat. A few minutes later, \nlooking at his watch, he grew pale. "Pardon me," \nhe went on, "but might I ask you to drive faster? \nI have a great fear of my captain, who is a strict \ndisciplinarian. If I am a minute late he will put \nme in the guardhouse." \n\n"To what barracks do you belong?" \n\n"The K barracks." \n\n"Very well ; we shall arrive in time." \n\nThe driver whipped up his team, and in a short \ntime drew up before the gate of the barracks. \n\n"Thank you, sir," said the soldier in descending. \n\nWhile the young trooper was still bowing his \nacknowledgments the officer on duty at the armory \n\n\n\n176 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nhad ordered the guard to present arms. To the \nsoldier\'s astonishment, his driver had been the king. \n\nBut Jesus Christ came far closer than that to the \nhearts of men and women. He went fishing with \nhis disciples. He ministered to them and to the \npoor and afflicted with his own hands. He laid \nhis own palm upon the brow of the fever-stricken. \nIt was his own touch by which he made the blind to \nsee and the deaf to hear. No man was so leprous \nor possessed of demons so malignant, no woman was \nso lost to reputation and character, that Jesus \nChrist drew away from them or treated them coldly \nor with reserve. There was no reserve in the na- \nture of Jesus. He came on earth to be the way \nover which man might travel to God, and his heart \nis as open as the highway on which men tread with \ntheir feet or drive their wagons. O my friends, it \nis a plain way. It is easy to find, and it is easy to \nkeep. \n\nThere is no stern ticket-taker to scan the people \nwho come desiring to enter upon this way. Over \nthe gate is written, in letters of living light, "Who- \nsoever will may come." I am sure that takes you in. \n\nA very poor, ignorant old man had come under \nsome religious influence and had become interested \nin his soul\'s salvation. He had taken to reading the \nBible. His wife did not care about it, and one day \nshe said to him, "Why, James, man, I wonder that \n\n\n\nTHE DIVINE CHRIST 177 \n\nyou trouble yourself over that old Bible. You\'re \nno scholar, and you\'ll make nothing out with all \nyour studying. For my part, I think there is a \ndeal more satisfaction in a newspaper." And Han- \nnah Simpson, as she spoke, left her work at the \nother end of the kitchen and, wiping her hands on \nher apron, came and stood looking over her hus- \nband\'s shoulder as he sat at the table near the fire \nwith an old-fashioned family Bible open before him. \n\nJames took no heed of his wife\'s presence, his \nbrows being knit over his task, his horny finger \nmaking slow progress over the paper, tracing out \nthe letters of the words he was striving to read. \n"W-h-o," he spelled, "s-o-e-v-e-r \xe2\x80\x94 aye, but that\'s \na heavy word!" And he breathed a deep sigh of \nmingled excitement and discouragement. "I can \nmake out that it\'s about something rare and good," \nhe exclaimed again, after he had slowly and labori- \nously spelled his way through the remainder of the \nverse. " \'Let him take the water of life freely,\' \nthat\'s just what the preacher said, and he told us \nthat \'water of life\' meant salvation; but who is to \ntake it? That beats me." Then, glancing around \nin his perplexity, he became conscious for the first \ntime that his wife was near. \n\n"Hannah, I wish you could tell me what that long \n\nword is." \n\nHannah, who scarcely knew one letter from an- \n12 \n\n\n\n178 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nother, bent down and looked closely at the "long \nword." Then she shook her head. \n\n"No, James, I can\'t help you; it\'s all Greek to \nme. If our little Tim had lived we\'d have made \nhim a scholar. But don\'t take on about it, man. \nMaybe it don\'t mean anything in particular, after \nall." \n\nSo Hannah returned to her work, casting occa- \nsional sympathizing glances at her husband as he \nstill bent over the book, and wishing with an in- \ncreased soreness of her mother-heart that their little \nTim had not been taken; the house had been so \nlonesome ever since, and that was it surely that had \nset James to studying and saying such strange \nthings about being a sinner. \n\nWhile Hannah\'s thoughts were thus busy her \nhusband sat still and pondered. For some weeks \npast he had been carrying a heavy load on his heart. \nHe scarcely knew how it first came there. It was \nstrangely mixed up in his thoughts with the death \nof his child and a hymn that had been sung at little \nTim\'s grave by the scholars of the Sunday school \nthat he used to attend. James had always been a \nsteady man, but he had lived with scarcely a thought \nof God, and his Sabbaths had been spent in careless, \nidle lounging instead of being used for the worship \nof God and the development of heart and soul. But \nwhen the dearly loved child had suddenly stepped \n\n\n\nTHE DIVINE CHRIST 179 \n\nfrom his father\'s side into a solemn eternity, speak- \ning to the last of "Lord Jesus," and smiling joy- \nfully as the Good Shepherd took the little lamb in \nhis arms, James realized what a life of terrible \ntrifling his had been, and ever since he had been \ngroping after the truth as it is in Jesus. \n\nOnly the Sunday before the words of a street \npreacher had fallen on his ear, words that told of \nthe "Water of Life," and of the love of Jesus in \nobtaining it for poor, perishing sinners ; and James \nhad got a glimpse of the truth that made him long \npainfully for more. He knew now that this burden \non his heart was unforgiven sin, and the preacher \nhad said that Jesus would forgive sin. \n\nThen James, in his slow way, had reasoned it \nout that to take the "Water of Life" and to get sin \npardoned were perhaps the same thing. There \nwere two things about which he was quite clear. \nHe needed salvation, and he would not rest until he \nfound out how to get it ; and he thought that if he \ncould but discover who it was that was so freely \ninvited in that "long word" to take the "Water of \nLife" in the Scripture he had been reading it would \nthrow great light on the subject. \n\nSuddenly he had a happy idea. He knew of a \nboys\' boarding school, and he thought one of those \nboys would know the meaning of that "long word." \nHe hurried down the street until he came to the \n\n\n\n180 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\noutskirts of where some boys were playing ball. A \ngood-humored-looking young fellow came running \nafter the ball near the fence where James Simpson \nwas standing. \n\n"I say, young master, can I have a word with \nyou?" \n\n"You can have two or three words if you like, \nand if you\'ll be quick about it," said the jolly boy ; \n"but the fellows will want me back in a minute." \n\n"I thought you\'d, maybe, tell me what these let- \nters make up when they are put together," said \nJames, and, with the air of a great schoolboy \nrepeating his lesson, he slowly spelled out the long \nword that had so perplexed him. \n\n"That\'s whosoever" said the boy, proudly. \n\n"And will you be pleased to tell me what whoso- \never means?" asked James, anxiously. \n\n"O, it means you, me, or anybody." \n\n"Thank you kindly, young sir ; you\'ve done me a \ngreat service." \n\nAnd James Simpson gave his heart to Christ as \nhe walked home that day. It came upon him like a \ngreat burst of sunshine. He kept saying over and \nover, "You, me, or anybody." \n\nI thank God that that is still what it means, and \nthat all the great blessings of salvation are open \nto everyone that will come to Christ to-day. Not \none need be left behind. \n\n\n\nTHE DIVINE CHRIST 181 \n\nChrist is the truth. The truth about God is in \nhim. The truth about man is in Jesus Christ. \nThe truth about heaven and immortality all centers \nin Jesus. Many men and women who call them- \nselves truth-seekers go on through weary years in \ntheir search after truth, and grow more discouraged \nand more restless and uneasy with the search, be- \ncause they do not search in the right place. Christ \nis the great source of truth concerning all the great \nproblems of man and his destiny. The greatest \nminds the world has ever seen have found that in \nJesus Christ alone could they find satisfying spirit- \nual truth. My brother, come to Jesus and find the \ntruth about yourself. He knows what is in man. \nHe knows what is in you. He knows the longings \nand the desires of your heart. He alone can par- \ndon your sins, purify your spirit, inspire your soul, \nand comfort your heart. \n\nChrist is the life. No one else is able to quicken \nour life as does Jesus Christ. \n\nThe story is told of Mendelssohn that at a con- \ncert at which he was to play he was late in arriving, \nand meanwhile a local organist filled up the interval \nof waiting with a selection of Scottish airs. Men- \ndelssohn, when he came, slipped unobserved into \nhis place at the organ, and, putting his hands upon \nthe keyboard, carried on, without any break, the \nScottish strain with his own brilliant improvising. \n\n\n\n188 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nAt once a thrill went through the audience. They \nfelt the change and, looking up, saw the explana- \ntion of it. The master himself was there. So \nChrist is the great Master in his power to give life \nto the human heart. When Christ comes, and when \nhis touch is felt upon our heart, and that most mar- \nvelous of musical instruments gives forth its music \nfrom under the hand of the Master, everyone knows \nthat Christ has come. \n\nChrist is the fountain of life. He came that we \nmight have life, and that we might have it more \nabundantly. Though you are dead in trespasses \nand in sins, Christ is able to bring you from the \ndead. He is able to arouse your soul and to give \nyou freedom from your awful bondage of sin. He \ncan speak into life your nobler powers that have \nbeen slumbering almost in unconsciousness. He \nalone can awaken your whole being to its splendid \npossibility of being a child of God. \n\nI am sure many of you must feel that you have \nbeen living far beneath your privilege. You have \nbeen living as though this world were all. You \nhave gone on as though everything ended at the \ngrave. You have lived as though you had no soul, \nas though there were no immortality, as though \nthere were no heaven, no hell, and no Christ to be \nyour Saviour and fit you for noble living here and \nglorious living beyond. My friends, you are not \n\n\n\nTHE DIVINE CHRIST 183 \n\nmere creatures of the earth, to eat and drink and \nlook after your present appearance, like an ox in \nhis stall or a horse in his pasture ! No, no, you are \ninfinitely greater than that. You are a child of the \nInfinite, and there is a life for you that feels even \nhere the throb of eternity in its pulse-beat. Jesus \nChrist can waken that life in you, and give it such \npower that it will sustain you amid all life\'s sorrows \nand struggles and grow great and glorious in you \nas you near the crowning day beyond the gates of \ndeath. Yield him all your heart, and all your life ! \n\n\n\nXIX \n\nTHE GREAT RANSOM \n\nThe Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, \nand to give his life a ransom for many.\xe2\x80\x94 Mark x, 45. \n\nDr. Robertson Nicoll, in his sermon on "Geth- \nsemane, the rose-garden of God," brings out with \ngreat clearness the fact that this idea of atone- \nment, of ransom through the shedding of blood, the \ngiving of the life itself in sacrifice, is elemental in \nthe very idea of religion. The word "bless" is \nderived from the Anglo-Saxon word for "blood," \nand the idea dimly aimed at is that before you can \nreally bless another you must part with your life, \nor some of your life, for him. It takes a life to \nsave a life. There was no way that man could be \nsaved except by the life and death of Jesus. The \nmob that gathered about the foot of the cross \nuttered a greater truth than they knew when they \nsaid, "He saved others ; himself he cannot save." \nHe could not save others and save himself. Man \ncould only be ransomed and redeemed from his sins \nby the Saviour\'s blood. I want above all things \nto place this thought before you simply and plainly \n\xe2\x80\x94 that Jesus Christ took your place and gave his \nlife on the cross as a ransom for you. \n\n\n\nTHE GREAT RANSOM 185 \n\nOn one of Abraham Lincoln\'s excursions to For- \ntress Monroe, in 1863, his attention was directed \nto a narrow door, bound with iron, on one of the war \nvessels, the use of which he was anxious to learn. \n\n"What is this?" he asked. \n\n"O, that is the \'sweat box,\' " was the reply. "It \nis used for refractory and insubordinate seamen. \nA man in there is subjected to steam heat and has \nvery little ventilation. It generally brings him to \nterms very quickly. \n\nPresident Lincoln\'s curiosity was aroused. \n"This," he said to himself, "is treatment to which \nthousands of American seamen are probably sub- \njected every year. Let me try it for myself, and \nsee what it really is." \n\nTaking off his hat, he entered the inclosure, which \nhe found to be little more than three feet in actual \nwidth. He gave orders that at a signal from him- \nself the door should be immediately opened. It \nwas then closed, and the steam turned on. \n\nHe had been inside hardly three minutes before \nthe signal was given. President Lincoln had \nexperienced enough of what was then regarded as \nnecessary punishment for American seamen. There \nwas very little ventilation, and the short exposure \nto the hot and humid air had almost suffocated \nhim. \n\nTurning to the Secretary of the Navy, the Presi- \n\n\n\n186 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\ndent ordered that no such inclosure as the "sweat \nbox" should ever after be allowed on any vessel \nflying the American flag. \n\nIt was not an hour after this order had been \ngiven before the news had spread to many vessels, \nand many of the older sailors wept for joy. How \nthey loved Abraham Lincoln for that humane relief, \nand yet he had only gone into their place for three \nminutes ; and the relief how small compared to that \nwhich Jesus Christ came to bring. \n\nThere is in England on the Tichborne estate a \ntract known as "the Tichborne Crawls." Many \nyears ago the English lord who owned this land \nhad a humane and sensible wife who took sorely to \nheart the condition of their wretched tenants and \nmade every effort in her power to help them ; but \nshe was a cripple. \n\nThe peasants on the estate, owning nothing, lived \nidle and squalid lives, being simply retainers of the \nmanorial house. Their only inspiration of a better \nsort was their love for their mistress. The lady \ncould see that they needed the spur of industry and \nresponsibility, and she often besought her husband \nto set off to them a tract of arable land, giving each \nlaborer a life lease of the soil and the annual pro- \nceeds of his tillage. Her importunities finally \ntired him out, and he told her, half in anger and \nhalf in jest, that he would set apart to the poor \n\n\n\nTHE GREAT RANSOM 187 \n\ntenants for nine hundred and ninety-nine years as \nmuch land as she would travel around alone in a \nmonth, beginning at the corner of the parish \nchurchyard. \n\nThe crippled lady was resolute, and she surprised \nher husband by taking him at his word. Carried \nby her attendants to the churchyard corner, she \nbegan her severe task, but she could not allow them \nto assist her. She persevered. Every morning, \nexcepting Sundays, she was set down at her last \nfinishing point, and made her painful day\'s prog- \nress, in all weathers, till, at the end of the month, \nshe had surrounded a number of acres that aston- \nished herself and everybody else. With her bent \nbody and feeble limbs her motion was more like a \ncrawl, but she won the land, and the tract has been \ncalled "the Tichborne Crawls" ever since. \n\nThe poor tenants, who with pity and shame had \nwitnessed their good lady\'s suffering for their sake \nand had begged her in vain to desist, resolved to \nmake themselves better worth the sacrifice as far \nas they could. They went home and washed them- \nselves and their children, cleaned up their dirty \ncabins, and sought to keep their hands and heads \nhonestly busy. The day the land came into their \npossession was a double jubilee, for it found an \neager people ready to improve and enjoy it, and it \nis not probable that any woman was ever more de- \n\n\n\n188 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nvoutly loved than the woman who did that Christ- \nlike deed in behalf of the poor and the helpless. As \nthey had looked at her creeping along on her \ncrippled limbs, knowing that every step was a pain, \nthe tears had ran down their cheeks as they said \nto one another, "She is doing that for us I" \n\nMy friends, I want to point you to Jesus Christ \nsuffering and dying for you, and I want you to \nremember that he did it for you. Come with me \nout into the garden of Gethsemane. The Last \nSupper has been taken with his friends. Judas has \ngone away to sell his Lord for thirty pieces of \nsilver. Christ, with Peter and James and John, \nhas gone out into the garden to seek relief in prayer. \nAs he prays the weight of the world\'s sin rests upon \nhis shoulders and it seems as though his heart would \nbreak. We cannot tell what that awful agony \nmeant. He sweat, as it were, great drops of blood. \nHe comes back to his disciples and finds them sleep- \ning. He returns again to prayer, and an angel \ncomes and communes with him. He goes back to \nthe disciples, and they see a light coming, and hear \nnoises. Soon the great mob following at the feet \nof the soldiers is on them. Judas has his thirty \npieces of silver in his pocket. He comes up to \nChrist, and gives him a kiss of pretended affection. \nO, how that kiss must have hurt Jesus. He had \nloved Judas as he had the rest. He had done \n\n\n\nTHE GREAT RANSOM 189 \n\neverything he could to save him. But Judas had \nloved money more than he did his own soul, and now \nhe has not only sold his Lord, he has sold his \nimmortal soul for thirty pieces of silver. \n\nDo you see Jesus as he draws back in pain from \nthat kiss and says, in a tone of infinite pity, "Judas, \nbetrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss" ? \n\nThe soldiers take him and go away with him to \nthe house of the high priest. And while they wait \nwhere are the disciples? All are gone but Peter, \nwho, sitting warming himself at the fire of his \nenemies, is suddenly asked if he was not one of the \nfriends of Jesus. He denied it. Pretty soon \nanother came around and said, "Surely I saw you \nwith him. And Peter denied again. A little later \nthe servant girl, pointing to Peter, said, "This man \nwas with him, too." And Peter went into a rage \nthis time and cursed and swore that he had never \nseen him. \n\nAt this point some strange influence drew Peter \nabout, and he saw that Jesus was looking, and the \nlook on the face of Christ he had never seen on any \nface before. It was the look of heartbroken, infi- \nnite love. And when he looked on that face, and \nsaw the heartbreak in it, everything in him that \nwas angry or proud or self-willed died. He went \nout into the darkness and sat down and cried like a \nchild. For once and for all that night Peter \n\n\n\n190 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nrepented. O, I would that every sinner here might \njust now get a look like that from Jesus Christ ! \n\nThen there came the trial before Pilate. There \nhe stood, pale but patient, standing there for you. \nPilate was hard and unfeeling, but he was a good \nlawyer and did not like to condemn an innocent \nman. However, the men who hated Jesus got \naround among the people and stirred them up \nagainst him, so whenever Pilate would say he would \nlet him go they would cry out, "Crucify him, cru- \ncify him!" Pilate sends him to Herod. Herod \nsends him back again. The soldiers crown him \nwith thorns. They press the thorn-wreath down \non his tender brow until the blood runs down over \nhis cheeks. My brother, he wore that crown of \nthorns that you might have a crown of life. Then, \nat last, when Pilate gives up to the mob, he orders \nhim to be scourged. They strip him down to the \nwaist; they bend his body over a beam with arms \noutstretched, tying him there so that he cannot \nescape, no matter how great the agony, then they \ntake a whip of knotted leather, every stroke of which \ncuts the quivering flesh like a knife, and the cruel \nsoldiers do their awful work. Brother, he bore \nthat for you. It was no accident. Hundreds of \nyears before he came into the world that very thing \nhad been prophesied. When Jesus Christ left his \nthrone on high and came down to earth to give his \n\n\n\nTHE GREAT RANSOM 191 \n\nlife as a ransom he knew that he would take that \nbeating for you. Isaiah had prophesied it, and had \nsaid, u He was wounded for our transgressions, he \nwas bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of \nour peace was upon him ; and with his stripes we are \nhealed." \n\nThen they bring out the big cross, and put it on \nthe shoulders of Jesus; across that poor, bleeding \nback they lay the rough beam. Can you see him \nas he staggers out of the judgment hall? His \npoor body is faint and weak, and he staggers under \nthe cross, and after a few paces he goes down on \nhis knees with a moan. His murderers are alarmed \nnow; they fear he will die at once. They do not \nwant him to die so soon. With fiendish cruelty \nthey wish the agony to be longer continued. So \nthey take the cross and put it on the shoulders of a \nstranger who happens to be near, looking on. \nWhat an honor was his to bear the cross for Jesus ! \n\nNow, let us join the procession as it marches on \nits way up to Mount Calvary. As we draw near \nwe see that there are others there already. Two \nthieves from the jail have been brought to the place, \nand one of them is to be crucified on either side of \nJesus. The cross is laid down on the ground, and \nthey lay Jesus down along that upright beam. His \npoor bruised and bleeding back is forced down \nagainst it. His arms are outstretched. The man \n\n\n\n192 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nwho is accustomed to doing this sort of tiling \nuntil it is brutally commonplace to him takes up a \nbig spike and a heavy mallet to drive the nail \nthrough the quivering palm of the Son of God. \nAh, that was the hand that he put on the heads of \nlittle children when he said, "Suffer them to come \nunto me." That was the hand that he put on the \neyes of the blind man and gave him sight. That \nwas the kindly, loving hand that had never done \nanything but good deeds. But they drove the spike \nthrough his hands, and they drove another huge \nspike through his feet \xe2\x80\x94 feet that had always walked \nin the paths of mercy and of goodness. And now \nwatch while a dozen men take hold of that cross \nand lift it up to its place, until with a dull and \nheavy thud the upright piece slips into the hole \nprepared for it, and there he hangs. \n\nO brother, he hangs there for you and for me. \nHe came for that purpose, to give his life as a ran- \nsom. Draw near while the mob hoots, while men \nwag their heads, while they shout their curses, and \nthen listen. A hush falls over the brutal crowd. \nHe is saying something. A hand is raised here and \nthere. Hush ! hush ! See what reply he will make. \nThey think they will get a dying man\'s curse, per- \nhaps. They hope they will get something to turn \ninto ridicule. But in a voice of such marvelous \npity and tenderness that wicked as they were not a \n\n\n\nTHE GREAT RANSOM 193 \n\nman present ever forgot it, they heard the prayer, \n"Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they \ndo." O my brother, he is saying the same thing to- \nnight about you. You would have been cut down \nas a cumberer of the ground long ago if it had not \nbeen that Jesus was still interceding for you. \n\nWait a moment longer beside that cross. Hard- \nhearted with sin, one of the thieves dying at his \nside joins his curses with those of the mob. But \nthe other has heard that prayer and has felt that no \nmere man could have so prayed for his enemies. He \nhas a flash of the truth. Suddenly he believes that \nJesus is what he says he is, and with a great out- \nburst of repentance, a cry for mercy, he says, \n"Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy \nkingdom!" That prayer had immediate answer. \nChrist is never too busy about anything else to \ndelay the answer to a sinner\'s cry for mercy. For- \ngetting his own agony and pain, he replies, "To- \nday shalt thou be with me in paradise." \n\nAnd then there is a cry, "It is finished!" and \nthe ransom has been paid. Christ has made it \npossible for God to be just, and yet the justifier of \neveryone that will accept mercy through him. My \nbrother, he did all that for you. What have you \ndone for him ? Come to him to-night ! \n13 \n\n\n\nXX \n\nA SORROW THAT WORKETH JOY \n\nLikewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels \nof God over one sinner that repenteth.\xe2\x80\x94 Luke xv, 10. \n\nIllustrating the statement made in the text, \nChrist has been telling those beautiful stories of the \nlost sheep and of the lost piece of money. A shep- \nherd had a hundred sheep, and he came home one \nnight and on counting them found but ninety and \nnine. He closed the door of the corral and went \naway through the gathering darkness, seeking \nafter the one that was lost. After a while he found \nit and put it on his shoulder and came home re- \njoicing. Then he gathered the other shepherds \ntogether and called on them to rejoice with him \nbecause he had found his sheep which was lost. \n\nA woman had ten pieces of silver and lost one \npiece, and she searched for it high and low until \nshe found it. Then she, too, called on her friends \nto rejoice with her, because she had found the piece \nwhich was lost. So Jesus says that the angels in \nheaven regard with infinite interest and love the \nsearch that is made for a lost soul, and when a \nsinner turns back to God, repenting of his sins, all \nheaven is animated with joy. \n\n\n\nSORROW THAT WORKETH JOY 195 \n\nThere is something very suggestive about this \njoy in heaven over human achievement. We are \nnot told that the angels rejoice when a man makes \na great fortune, or when one achieves vast success \nin science or in literature or in art. Perhaps that \nis because our wealth at the greatest seems a most \ninsignificant thing to those who dwell in heaven, \nand our dabbling in science and in literature and \nin art must seem a very small matter, the mere \namateur work of children, compared to the unfet- \ntered intelligence of those who bathe themselves in \nthe sunlight of infinite wisdom. No, there is only \none thing on earth which to that world of immor- \ntality is worth rejoicing over, and that is when an \nimmortal soul, becoming conscious of his sin, flees \nfrom it to Christ, the mighty Saviour, and finds \npeace and pardon. Then all the angels watching \non the heights of heaven rejoice. \n\nSome of you may have read the poem in which \nRobert Browning has used a little quotation from \na ballad taken from King Lear \xe2\x80\x94 how "Childe \nRowland to the Dark Tower Came" \xe2\x80\x94 and has pic- \ntured through it the last of the knights of a great \nband who had set out in early youth together on \nthe great venture to find this tower ; and he is now \nfound in midlife, weary and heartsick and hopeless \nand alone, with all his mates gone from him, dead \nor forsaken, and he himself has lost all thought of \n\n\n\n196 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\never coming to the end of his quest and finding his \ntower; and he is only going on his way because \nthrough sheer habit he must, and he has turned into \na plain that is ugly and bare, and he seems to have \nturned on that road by a lie which directed him \nfalsely, he thinks, and still he hardly cares to ask \nwhether it be true or false, the direction he is taking, \nhe has no hope rekindling at the end descried, only \nwishing at last some end might be. His whole \nworld-wide wandering had made his hope dwindle \ninto a ghost. And now he is like a sick man very \nnear to death, and he has so long suffered on this \nquest that he wishes he may die. He turns from \nthe bare, ugly plain that is about him to try and \ncheer himself with the thought of the companions \nof his youth, and he remembers only that this one \nwas lost in some disgrace, and that one came to \ngrief in this way and another in that, and all are \ngone. \n\n"Better this present than a past like that; \n\nBack, therefore, to my darkening path again!" \n\nAnd still the plain worsens, still there is every sign \nof evil and of unknown sins which have blackened \nthe surface of the earth. He cannot see a sight \nwhich does not bring him a thought of cruelty, of \npain, of weariness and death, and there are strange \nbeasts that flit by. And suddenly, just as the \nnight darkens, just as he expects the end to come, \n\n\n\nSORROW THAT WORKETH JOY 197 \n\nhe looks up, and, lo ! right in his face, all at once \nthere is the place, there is the tower \xe2\x80\x94 the very thing \nhe had been searching for his whole life through. \n"What in the midst lay but the Tower itself!" \nThere it is. He sees it as a shipwrecked man might \nsee the goal of all his desire. How did he miss \nseeing it before? The whole world is waiting on \nall the hills around like giants watching to see \nwhether he will be faithful in the quest at the last. \nAt first he thought the world was dark, blind, dumb, \nand now the whole earth is crying with voices, voices \nof his old, lost companions behind him which are \nringing in his ears. He sees them all, the long- \ndead companions of his youth, when hope was \nyoung, and he pulls and draws himself together for \nhis last act : \n\n"There they stood, ranged along the hillsides, met \nTo view the last of me, a living frame \nFor one more picture! In a sheet of flame \nI saw them and I knew them all. And yet \nDauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set, \nAnd blew, \'Childe Rowland to the Dark Tower \ncame.\' " \n\nLike that knight making his long pilgrimage, \ndiscouraged and defeated, seeking for the Dark \nTower that meant to him peace and rest and com- \nfort, so many a man has gone through the world \nseeking peace for his soul and finding it not. He \nhas sought for it in business, and it has escaped \n\n\n\n198 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nhim. He has sought for it amid the pleasures of \nthe world, and found there only transient j oy which \ndied out to leave an aching heart behind. He has \nsought it in earth\'s friendships, and death has \nrobbed him of its comfort. On, on he has pressed, \nthe sky ever darker, and with lessening promise \nfor the future, and then, suddenly, out of the dull, \nmonotonous plain of this worldly life, as Childe \nRowland came upon his tower, this man comes upon \nChrist and his promise of salvation and peace, and \nthere is given to him by the Holy Spirit a flash of \ndivine illumination, and he sees that here is the \npeace, the comfort, the joy that he has been seeking \nfor all these years, and in that quick glance he sees \nthat the angels of heaven are gathered to rejoice \nover his repentance and his coming to his own. A \nnew song is put into his mouth. As Childe Rowland \nblew his slug-horn, so this new-made Christian sings \nhis song of thanksgiving and of praise. \n\nNote that it is repentance on the part of the \nsinner that makes the angels sing. Now, repent- \nance does not mean simply sorrow. It means a \nturning away from one\'s sins. Judas was so sorry \nthat he hanged himself, but he did not truly repent. \nPeter was sorry, and wept, but he repented, and not \nonly never denied his Lord again, but forever \nafterward was his faithful and open defender. \nBecause repentance stands at the gate of the Chris- \n\n\n\nSORROW THAT WORKETH JOY 199 \n\ntian life some are tempted to turn away from it as \nbeing a hard life. But it is not. Repentance is like \nthe outer wall to keep robbers away from a beautiful \ngarden within. Repent of your sins, seeing that \nthey can only harm and ruin you, and turn from \nthem to Christ, and the minute you are inside the \ngate the bells will begin to ring for joy and heaven\'s \nchoir will sing. \n\nA gentleman tells of going to a seaside resort \nintending to stay for some time. On looking out \nfor lodgings he saw in a window the sign, "Apart- \nments to Let;" but as the house stood in a street \nwith apparently no sea view he thought they would \nnot be suitable. No others could be found, how- \never, and he was forced to return to these. What \nwas his surprise on entering the house to find that \nwhat he had seen from the street was the back of the \nbuilding, and that the windows at the other side \ncommanded a lovely view of sea and beach \xe2\x80\x94 just as \ngood a situation as he could have wished. It is like \nthat with salvation. The turning away from sin, \nthe renouncing it, and breaking with evil habits and \nevil associations \xe2\x80\x94 all these things have to do with the \nbeginnings ; but when you have given your heart to \nGod and really entered upon the Christian life \nthere are the associations of that life which are \ngood and pure; there is the approval of your own \nconscience; there is sweet communion with Christ \n\n\n\n200 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nand the Holy Spirit; there is the outlook upon a \nlife pleasing to God and an immortality filled with \ninfinite satisfaction. There is sorrow for the \nmoment but joy for the eternity. \n\nNow, all this is in perfect harmony with God\'s \ndealings with us in everything. Joy comes to us \nthrough hard experience and trial in many ways. \nOne Sunday morning, as Rev. Austin L. Park, of \nGardiner, Maine, was getting ready for church, a \nstalwart-looking man who had before been pointed \nout to him as the most determined and influential \ninfidel of the town was waiting at the door of the \nparsonage. He abruptly said : "Mr. Park, my wife \nwants you to come over to our house and pray for \nour little girl. She is very sick, perhaps dying. \nOf course you understand that it is my wife\'s con- \ncern, not mine. I do not believe in such things. \nBut to pacify her I came over." \n\nMr. Park replied, "I will go right over." And \nabridging his Sunday morning preparations as \nmuch as possible, he did so. The little girl ap- \npeared to be far gone from fever. The two phy- \nsicians called in could give no hope. Mr. Park \noffered prayer that she might recover. After pub- \nlic services the minister went back again to the \nbedside of the sick child. She was apparently \nunconscious and near death\'s door. The same state \nof affairs continued for two or three days, when \n\n\n\nSORROW THAT WORKETH JOY 201 \n\nfinally the father came to his house with the start- \nling announcement, "Mr. Park, I have got all over \nmy infidelity." \n\n"Got over your infidelity!" exclaimed the min- \nister. "What do you mean? How did that \nhappen?" \n\n"After you went away on that Sunday morning \nI went into the sick room saying to myself : \'There \nis not any God, and there is not any such thing as \nprayer. But I cannot let her go. I cannot live \nwithout her,\' and so I said, \'Wife, I\'ll go and try \nto pray,\' and so I went, saying over and over again, \n\'O God, save my child !\' For three days I did this \nsame thing. The first and the second time she was \nno better. Each time I came back saying to my- \nself, \'There is no God; this is all nonsense.\' The \nthird day I knew in my heart that there was a God, \nand that he was going to raise my darling. I told \nmy wife so. And the little one will recover." \n\nNow it was through this man\'s prayers for his \nchild and his great sorrow and anxiety on her be- \nhalf that he was led to believe in God and to repent \nof his own sins. It was his necessity which was \nGod\'s opportunity. When he found the little girl \nslipping away from his arms the father-heart which \nwas in him cried out to his own heavenly Father. \n\nI call you to-night to the greatest privilege any \nman or woman on earth can have. You are lost \n\n\n\n202 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nfrom God\'s fold. You have wandered away \nthrough sin, and the Good Shepherd is seeking \nafter you. If you hear his voice to-night do not \ngo deeper into the darkness, but come back to \nhim, and make your own heart glad, cause our \nhearts to rejoice, and set the joy bells in heaven \nringing by your return to Christ. \n\n\n\nXXI \n\nTHE NEW CHILDHOOD \n\nVerily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of \nGod as a little child, he shall not enter therein.\xe2\x80\x94 Mark x, 15. \n\nIf we are to go to heaven by the way of child- \nhood it behooves us to keep in touch with childhood \nand know well its characteristics. Childhood\'s \nsupreme power is in its perfect trust and confidence \nin the strong friends who surround it. Childhood \nis weak and helpless, and knows it, but its trust \nis its strength. \n\nIn English cities, and occasionally in America \nduring the last two years, there have been two pic- \ntures often placed side by side in shop windows. \nOne of these pictures represents Lord Roberts with \na little child on his knee, at Pretoria, in South \nAfrica, saying to a member of his staff who ap- \nproaches him with some message, "Don\'t you see I \nam busy ?" The other is that one in which a little \nchild is pictured as crossing a crowded street, and \nthe policeman is holding up his hand to stop the \ntraffic until it gets safely over. It is entitled "His \nMajesty the Baby." \n\nA gentleman who stood at one of these windows \nand watched the people as they glanced into it, or \n\n\n\n204 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nstopped to consider it, says it was a very interesting \nstudy. Many of them approached the window with \na look of abstraction or with even a frown on the \nbrow, some with a look of sadness and sorrow ; but \nas they went away their faces were lit up by a kindly \nsmile. The pictures seem to be popular with \neveryone, whether young or old, rich or poor. \nThey touch a tender chord in all hearts. \n\nThe little child has always had this majesty and \npower among good people the world over. The \nlittle Moses in his bulrush cradle captivated the \nroyal heart; he mastered the heart of Pharaoh\'s \ndaughter. It is said that some men are born booted \nand spurred, to ride; and some are born saddled \nand bridled, to be ridden. But these distinctions \nall come out after the years of childhood have \npassed. The truth is we are all born with boots and \nspurs and have our time of ruling. \n\nWhen we inquire into the secret of the child\'s \npower, we find that it is in its trust and confidence. \nIt is helpless ; it cannot fight for itself ; it can only \nwin through faith. Now I am sure that that was \none of the things that Christ had in his mind when \nhe uttered our text. We shall never win salvation \nby our own struggles. We shall never be able to \nifight our own way out of our sins and into the divine \nlife of peace and forgiveness. Our only hope is \nto surrender ourselves to Christ in childlike faith \n\n\n\nTHE NEW CHILDHOOD 205 \n\nand confidence, and when we do that the gates of \nthe kingdom of heaven will fly open and we shall \nrest at peace with God. \n\nChildhood is genuine. It has no cynicism, no \nmalice. Sin spurs men and women as they go on \nin life, and makes them bitter, and takes away the \nold attitude of gentle, confiding faith toward God. \nWe must get rid of that if we are to have peace with \nGod. The greatest man in the world can only come \nlike a little child to the feet of Jesus Christ and \nconfess his sin and ask for forgiveness. And when \nwe do that the worst sin will give way and be blotted \nout by his blood. \n\nMrs. J. K. Barney, whose missionary work in \nCuba has been so favorably regarded, tells a most \ninteresting story of a conversion which took place \non the Pacific coast in a mining region some years \nago. One day Mrs. Barney learned that over the \nhills from where she was stopping a man so un- \nspeakably vile that no one could stay with him was \nslowly dying by an incurable illness. This descrip- \ntion so moved Mrs. Barney that she called at the \nlittle adobe cabin. She found the sick man lying \non some straw and colored blankets. Her shadow \nin the doorway was the signal for him to break forth \ninto frightful oaths. Quietly advancing, however, \nshe placed within his reach some fruit she had \nbrought. Then, retreating to the door, she tried \n\n\n\n206 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nto reach his heart by speaking of his mother, his \nwife, and his God; but he cursed each one. Mrs. \nBarney was greatly discouraged, but the next day \nshe went back again, and she went every day for two \nweeks. He did not show the least gratitude. At \nthe end of that time she said, "I am not going any \nmore." \n\nThat night, when she was putting her little boys \nto bed, she did not pray for the miner as she had \nbeen accustomed to do. Her little Charlie noticed \nit, and said, "Mamma, you do not pray for the bad \nman." \n\n"No," she answered, with a sigh. \n\n"Have you given him up, mamma?" \n\n"Yes, I guess so." \n\n"Lias God given him up, mamma? Ought you \nto give him up before God does ?" \n\nThat night she could not sleep for thinking of \nthe man, dying, and so vile that no one cared. She \ngot up and went away by herself to pray. She \nlearned that night what she had never known before, \nwhat it was to travail for a human soul. She saw \nher Lord as she had never seen him before. She \nstayed there until the answer came. \n\nThe next day, the moment her little boys went off \nto school, she left her work, and hurried over the \nhills, not to see "that vile wretch," but to win a soul. \nShe thought the man might die. There was a \n\n\n\nTHE NEW CHILDHOOD 80Tf \n\nhuman soul in the balance, and she wanted to get \nthere quickly. As she passed on a neighbor came \nout of her cabin, saying, "I\'ll go over the hills with \nyou, I guess." \n\nMrs. Barney was in a hurry, and did not want \nher very much, so absorbed was she in her own \nthoughts ; but she learned that day that God could \nplan better than she could. The neighbor had her \nlittle girl with her, and as they reached the cabin \nshe said, "I\'ll wait out here, and you hurry, won\'t \nyou?" \n\nThe wicked miner met her as usual with an oath, \nbut it did not hurt as it had before. While she was \ntidying up his room and getting him some fresh \nwater the clear laugh of the little girl rang out \nupon the air like a bird note. "What\'s that?" \nasked the man, eagerly. \n\n"It\'s a little girl outside who is waiting for me." \n\n"Would you mind letting her come in?" said \nhe, in a different tone from any she had heard \nbefore. \n\nThe child was very sweet, her face framed in \ngolden curls, and her eyes tender and pitiful. In \nher hands she held the flowers she had picked on the \nway over the hills, and bending toward him she said : \n"I am sorry for you, sick man. Won\'t you have a \nposy?" \n\nHe laid his great bony hand beyond the flowers \n\n\n\n208 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\non the plump hand of the child, and the great \ntears came into his eyes as he said : "I had a little \ngirl once, and she died. Her name was Mamie. \nShe cared for me. Nobody else did. Guess I\'d \nbeen different if she\'d lived. I\'ve hated everybody \nsince she died." \n\nMrs. Barney then had the key to the man\'s heart. \nShe watched the man\'s face before her, and she saw \nthat memory was busy with scenes that were long \nsince gone, and that the agony of remorse was tor- \nturing him. At last he exclaimed to her, "What\'s \nthat, woman, you said the other day about talking \nto somebody out of sight?" \n\n"It\'s praying. I tell God what I want." \n\n"Pray now. Pray quick. Tell him I want \nmy little girl again. Tell him anything you \nwant to." \n\nMrs. Barney took the hands of the child and \nplaced them on the trembling hands of the man. \nThen, dropping on her knees, with the child in \nfront of her, she told the little girl to pray for the \nman who had lost his little Mamie and wanted to see \nher again. And the sweet little child prayed: \n"Dear Jesus, this man is sick. He has lost his little \ngirl, and he feels bad about it. I am so sorry for \nhim, and he\'s so sorry, too. Won\'t you help him, \nand show him where to find his little girl? Do, \nplease. Amen." \n\n\n\nTHE NEW CHILDHOOD 209 \n\nThe little girl slipped away soon, but the man \nkept saying, "Tell him more about it. Tell him \neverything." \n\nThere were no more oaths after that, but, led by \nthe little child\'s hand, and piloted by her sweet and \nsimple little prayers, the miner took hold upon the \nStrong Hands, and as he said in his own language \n"staked all" on "the Man that died for me." \n\nMrs. Barney was not with him when he died, but \none of the rude mountain men who was with him \nsaid to her, "I wish you could have seen him when \nhe went." \n\n"Tell me about it," she answered. \n\n"Well, all at once he brightened up about mid- \nnight, and smiling said, \'I am going, boys. Tell \nher I am going to see Mamie. Tell her I am \ngoing to see the Man that died for me.\' And he \nwas gone." \n\nThat poor, wretched miner lost all his cynicism, \nall his bitterness, all his oaths, all his hatred when \nhe got back to childhood again. He found the \nchild\'s faith that received the story of Jesus natu- \nrally and simply and trusted it implicitly. You may \nhave salvation on those terms to-night. It is not a \nmatter to speculate about. It is not a matter to \ntheorize over. It is not a matter for argument. \nIt is a matter to test by personal experience. Obey \n\nthe Lord Jesus Christ, and rest your faith on him, \n14 \n\n\n\n210 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nand you shall know for yourself "the peace that \npasseth all understanding." \n\nBut the thing I wish most to press home upon \nyour hearts is that you obey Christ, and obey him \nnow. Give yourself something that will guide you \nfrom this hour on a straight path for heaven. \n\nTwo men were out hunting, and were overtaken \nby a dense mist. One of the men, who knew the \ncountry well, said he would bring them out straight \nto the point they wanted, knowing the part of the \nstream at which they stood and the direction in \nwhich they wanted to go. For a while they went \non safely enough ; then one stopped and turned to \nbutton his waterproof. The guide turned for a \nmoment to speak to him. Then instantly he cried : \n"I have lost my bearings. That turn did it. I \ndon\'t know the way any longer." They went on, \nthinking they were right, but an hour later found \nthemselves back in the same place. They had gone \nin a complete circle. "Now," said the guide, "we \ncan start again; but we must not stop for any- \nthing." Away they went, and he led them right \nacross to the point he wanted. Later he explained \nto his friend that, knowing the direction at the out- \nset, he kept his eye on a certain tree or rock straight \nbefore him, and so led in a fairly straight line, \nknowing that if he lost that he was sure to go in a \ncircle. \n\n\n\nTHE NEW CHILDHOOD 211 \n\nNow, my dear friend, our safety lies in the same \nthing. Some of you have gone on for years, ex- \npecting all the while to become Christians and make \nyour way from earth to heaven ; but you have made \nno headway. You have gone round and round in \na circle, getting farther away from God and from \nrighteousness. Not only that, but you have lost \nyears in which you might have been growing into \na strong and happy Christian. Do not waste any \nmore time. With childlike simplicity and faith \nobey the Lord Jesus to-night. Confess him openly \nand set your eyes upon him. Take Paul\'s great \nwords, "This one thing I do, forgetting those things \nwhich are behind, and reaching forth unto those \nthings which are before, I press toward the mark \nfor the prize of the high calling of God in Christ \nJesus." \n\n\n\nXXII \n\nTHE LUST FOR THINGS \n\nA man\'s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he \npossesseth.\xe2\x80\x94 Luke xii, 15. \n\nOuu theme is very evident: Things do not make \nthe man. Many a man has brilliant and beautiful \nthings and is in himself, in his real personality, \ncommon and vulgar and even loathsome. On the \nother hand, it is true that many men and women \nwho have a very small supply of things \xe2\x80\x94 nothing, \nindeed, to attract the eye of the multitude \xe2\x80\x94 are yet \nin themselves brilliant and glorious. Christ was \nso poor he had not where to lay his head; yet the \nbright, brainy men of all the centuries since have \nrejoiced and marveled as they have studied into his \npersonality. The rich men of his day who owned \nthe broad fields and the great flocks and the long \npurses \xe2\x80\x94 who knows anything about them now? \nTheir names have gone to the bats of oblivion \neighteen centuries ago. \n\nThe whole world knows John Bunyan, the Bed- \nford tinker, who spent many years in jail and who \nwas always poverty-stricken, and the millions bless \nhim. Yet there is probably not a man on earth \nthat could give you the names of the richest men in \n\n\n\nTHE LUST FOR THINGS 213 \n\nLondon, or any one of them, during the years \nwhen Bunyan was writing The Pilgrim\'s Progress \nin Bedford jail. \n\nOne may have things until they form a desert in \nwhich the man starves to death and yet have no real \nvalue in his own personality. Indeed, one may be \ncaptured and destroyed by the very material success \nwhich he has achieved. Dr. Alexander McLaren \nsays that there is many a rich man whom the shouts \nof the stock exchange declare to be wonderfully \nsuccessful who from the highest point of view, the \nonly true point of view, is a dead failure. He has \ngained all that he desires, but instead of conquering \nthe world, the world has conquered him. It has \nnot helped him to know God, neither has it helped \nhim to be a man. His success has turned him into \na money-bag and hid from him the face of God. \nPeople say of him that he is successful, that he \nhas had a victorious life ; but his victory is like that \nof the soldier who was out on the picket line. He \nshouted in to his companions in camp, saying, "I \nhave taken a prisoner." But as he did not come \nin the officer shouted back to him, "Bring your \nprisoner along." And the answer was, "He won\'t \ncome !" Then came another command, "Then come \nin without him." To which there came back the \nreply, "He won\'t let me." That is the kind of vic- \ntory over the world, the kind of success, that a great \n\n\n\n214 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nmany people are winning. They are said to be \nsuccessful, but in truth they have been captured and \nare held in bondage. The noble visions of life \nwhich they had in the early years of youth have \nbeen lost in the fight for success. Though they \nnow have many things they have lost their souls. \nBetter a thousand times to fail in business ambitions \nthan to fail to be a man. No man is so terribly \ncheated as he who trades off his manhood, his honor, \nhis love for God, his title to heaven, for a few paltry \nthings that he may call his own only for a little \nwhile here on earth. "Take heed, and beware of \ncovetousness." The great prize of life is the \nprize of a pure soul, cleansed and redeemed by the \nblood of Christ. And if a man misses that, and \ncomes to the end at last a mere grubber after things, \nhe has been horribly cheated. \n\nNow I want you to ask yourself the question \nwhere your chief interest lies, as expressed by your \ndaily living and conversation. Is your attention \nlargely and with great preponderance given to the \nthings of this world, or is your chief attention and \nthought centered upon the far greater object of \nliving a true Christian life and developing a person- \nality that shall so please God that it shall shine \nforth redeemed and glorified at the judgment day? \nWhere is the emphasis laid in your life \xe2\x80\x94 on the \nworldly things which surround you or upon the \n\n\n\nTHE LUST FOR THINGS 215 \n\ngraces of the soul? Everything depends on the \nemphasis. That shows where your heart is. \n\nOn one occasion Ole Bull, the great violinist, was \na passenger on the City of Chester crossing the At- \nlantic. Among other notable passengers were Chief \nJustice Waite and Professor Anderson, afterward \nminister to Denmark. The passengers undertook \nto get up a concert, but Ole Bull declined to take \npart. All were deeply disappointed, and at this \ncrisis Professor Anderson came to the rescue. \n\n"There is one way, and one only," he said, "in \nwhich our man may be caught. A fund is being \nraised at present to erect a statue to Leif Ericsson, \nthe Norseman, at Madison, Wisconsin. Ole Bull \nis intensely patriotic, and if we made a written \nstatement to him that the proceeds of the concert \nwere to be contributed to do this honor to his \nimmortal fellow-countryman, I am sure he would \nconsent to play." \n\nThe suggestion was greeted with applause, and \nChief Justice Waite prepared the memorial, which \nwas a most ingenious and elaborate document. \nDuly signed by all the passengers, it was presented \nto Ole Bull, and when he saw the purport of the \npaper his face lighted up with pleasure, and he \ndeclared immediately that he would play. \n\nHe was as good as his word, and played in won- \nderful form and spirit. He responded to encore \n\n\n\n216 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nafter encore, until at last the captain, who was a \nmost enthusiastic Englishman, rose in the audience \nand asked him to play "God Save the Queen." \n\nNow, Ole Bull was a violent Republican, and had \nbut little respect for monarchical institutions of \nany kind. However, he bowed courteously, and \nwhispered to Professor Anderson: "You heard me \npromise to play \'God Save the Queen.\' Now wait \ntill I come to that." Finally it was reached, and, \ntrue to his promise, he gave the British anthem, but \nin a dull and lifeless way, without spirit or color. \nInstantly, upon its conclusion, he swept into the \nstirring strains of "Hail, Columbia," and played \nwith magnificent dash and fire. Then, with no \nstop, he passed to the Norwegian "Hymn of Lib- \nerty," a most thrillingly patriotic composition. \nThen, as he finished, he caught his friend\'s eye, and \nsmiled. He had buried "God Save the Queen" so \ndeep that nobody remembered that it had been \nplayed. \n\nMy friend, is not that a clear illustration of the \nway you have dealt with the spiritual strains of \nyour childhood and youth? You were taught to \npray at your mother\'s knee. You were told the \nstory of Christ by loving lips that it may be are \nnow forever silent on earth. You had visions of a \nChristian life and a Christian character that should \ngrow splendid and glorious as the years went on. \n\n\n\nTHE LUST FOR THINGS 217 \n\nBut as the years have passed you have buried all \nthese holy visions, all these sacred hopes and prom- \nises of youth, deep down under the muck and dirt \nof the things of this world \xe2\x80\x94 buried them so deep \nthat you seldom ever think of them any more. O, \nI pray God that the Holy Spirit may resurrect them \nand make them appeal to you again at this hour, \nthat you may be aroused to the vast importance of \nthe salvation of your soul. Multitudes of men and \nwomen in this city who have abundance of this \nworld\'s goods would be far richer in all true wealth \nif they could be stripped of houses and lands and \nstocks and money and left without a dollar, if they \ncould be left free from their sins, clean-hearted, \nwith faith in God, to start anew. \n\nSome years ago, one cold Sunday morning, a \nyoung man crawled out of a market house in Phil- \nadelphia into the chilly air just as the bells began \nto ring for church. He had slept under a stall all \nnight ; or, rather, had lain there in a stupor from a \ndebauch. His face, which had once been delicate \nand refined, was blue from cold and blotched with \nsores. His clothes were of a fine texture, but they \nhung about him in rags, covered with mud. He \nstaggered, faint with hunger and exhaustion; the \nsnowy streets, the gayly dressed crowds thronging \nto the churches, swam before his eyes ; his brain \nwas dazed for want of his usual stimulants. He \n\n\n\n218 THE HEADING OF SOULS \n\ngasped with a horrid, sick thirst, a mad craving for \nliquor, which the sober man cannot imagine. He \nlooked down at the ragged coat flapping about him, \nand then at his brimless hat, to find something he \ncould pawn for whisky, but had nothing. Then he \ndropped upon a stone step leading, as it happened, \ninto a church. \n\nSome elegantly dressed women, seeing the \nwretched sot, drew their garments closer, and hur- \nried by on the other side. One elderly woman \nturned to look at him just as two young men of his \nown age halted. \n\n"That is George C ," said one. "Five years \n\nago he was a promising lawyer. His mother and \nsisters think he is dead." \n\n"What did it?" \n\n"A fashionable set first, then brandy." \n\n"You have not had breakfast - yet, my friend," \nsaid one of them. "Come, let us go together and \nfind some." \n\nThe young man drew the arm of the poor sot \nthrough his own, and hurried him, trembling and \nresisting, down the street to a little hall where a \ntable was set with strong coffee and a hot, savory \nmeal. It was surrounded with men and women as \nwretched as himself. \n\nHe ate and drank ravenously. \n\nWhen he had finished his eye was almost clear and \n\n\n\nTHE LUST FOR THINGS 219 \n\nhis step was steady. As he came up to his new \nfriend he said : "Thanks ! You have helped me." \n\n"Let me help you farther. Sit down and listen \nto some music." \n\nSomebody touched a few plaintive notes on the \norgan and a hymn was sung, one of the old simple \nstrains which mothers sing to their children and \nbring themselves nearer to God. The tears stood \nin the eyes of the drunken lawyer. He listened \nwhile a few of the words of Jesus were read. Then \nhe rose to go. \n\n"I was once a man like you," he said, holding out \nhis hand. "I believe in Christ; but it is too late \nnow." \n\n"It is not too late," cried his friend. \n\nThen and afterward that Christian young man \nstuck faithfully to him until he won him to an open \nacceptance of Christ and salvation. And steadily \nfrom that day he began to rise. Through Christ \nhe got victory over his appetite and his evil habits, \nand he built up under God\'s grace a manly charac- \nter that all the world honored. He was a richer \nman in every true sense the morning he gave him- \nself to Christ, with all the wreckage behind him, \nthan he was when the world called him successful \nbut while he himself was given over to the greed \nand sensual pleasure that finally ruined him even \nfor this world. \n\n\n\n220 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nMy message this evening ought certainly to have \nin it a most earnest exhortation to accept Jesus \nChrist as the true wealth of the soul. Paul says \nthat if we give our hearts to Christ we become heirs \nof God and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. \nRespond to-night to the knocking of Christ on the \ndoor of your heart, and open the door to him, and \nthere shall be begun in your heart the development \nof spiritual riches that can never be taken away \nfrom you. No loss of property, no loss of health, \nno loss of friends can take away from you the \ncharm and the beauty and the happiness of the \nspiritual graces which Christ can cause to grow \nin your heart. And when Death, the grim tax- \ngatherer, shall come- \xe2\x80\x94 he who takes away all the \ngold and all the title deeds and leaves the million- \naire to go into his coffin as poor as the pauper \xe2\x80\x94 \nhe will have no power to rob you of the riches of \nfaith and hope and love which Christ has bestowed \nupon you. When worldly men are yielding up \ntheir title deeds with a sigh of despair you with a \nthrill of infinite delight will be coming into yours \nand will be rejoicing that you have "a title clear" \nto an inheritance incorruptible, undefined, and that \nfadeth not away, which is reserved in heaven for \n3^ou. The time to make sure of that title is now. \n"Now is the accepted time." \n\n\n\nXXIII \n\nNEAR YET OUTSIDE \n\nThou art not far from the kingdom of God.\xe2\x80\x94 Mark xii, 34. \n\nThe occasion of the utterance of these words by \nour Saviour was a conversation which he had with \nsome men known as "the scribes, 5 \' who were very \ncritical of him and who were ever seeking to con- \nfuse him and to put him in the wrong. One of \nthese men who had come in after the conversation \nhad started was of a better type than the others, \nand as the world judges men was a very good kind \nof a man. He had some very good ideas about re- \nligion, yet he lacked the one essential thing, the \nsurrender of his heart in devotion to God. He \nknew the creed of religion well. After he had \nlistened to the conversation for a time, and had \ngreatly admired the answers which Christ gave, he \nhimself put in an inquiry. "Which," asked he of \nChrist, "is the first commandment of all?" \n\nJesus answered him, "The first of all the com- \nmandments is, Hear, O Israel ; the Lord our God is \none Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God \nwith all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with \nall thy mind, and with all thy strength : this is the \n\n\n\nTHE HEALING OF SOULS \n\n\n\nfirst commandment. And the second is like, namely \nthis, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. \nThere is none other commandment greater than \nthese." \n\nTo this the scribe replied, "Well, Master, thou \nhast said the truth, for there is one God ; and there \nin none other but he : and to love him with all the \nheart, and with all the understanding, and with all \nthe soul, and with all the strength, and to love his \nneighbor as himself, is more than all the whole \nburnt offerings and sacrifices." \n\nJesus then made the remark of our text: "Thou \nart not far from the kingdom of God." Yet he \nwas not in the kingdom. He knew enough to be \nsaved, and yet might never be saved. And there \nare multitudes to-day who are living in the same \nsituation. They are not far from the kingdom, \nthey know the way to the kingdom, and yet they \nstay out. I know of nothing sadder. Knowledge \nis given us to act upon, and to have the knowledge \nof any important truth which has relation to our \nown duty and not to act upon it cannot help but \ninjure us. No man can know his duty and fail to \ndo it and be as good a man afterward as he was \nbefore. Every truth carries its obligation with it. \nIf we do not obey the truth which comes to us, then \nwe are morally degenerated by it. Christ said to \nthe scribes and Pharisees of his time that the pub- \n\n\n\nNEAR YET OUTSIDE 223 \n\nlicans and harlots, wicked as they were, had a better \nchance for salvation than the more moral people, \nbecause they had not had the truth presented to \ntheir minds and impressed upon their consciences \ntime and again and yet had hardened their hearts \nand refused to act on the wisdom God had given \nthem. I have often noticed that when a man has \nbeen strongly impressed with the duty of becoming \na Christian, and has had the matter earnestly and \npersistently placed before him, so that he has recog- \nnized the duty of confessing Christ and has seemed \nat the very door and in the very act of entering into \nthe kingdom, if he failed to enter he almost inev- \nitably drifted farther than ever away from God. \n\nMr. Spurgeon said it was his experience that \namong the people whom he knew those who after- \nward turned out to be the most determined enemies \nof the Gospel were those whom he had seen so near \nconversion that it was impossible to see how they \navoided it. Such persons seem ever after to take \nvengeance upon the holy influence which had almost \nproved too much for them. Hence our fear for \npersons under gracious impression; for if they do \nnot now decide for God they will become the more \ndesperate in sin. That which is set in the sun if it \nbe not softened will be hardened. I remember well \na man who under the influence of an earnest re- \nvivalist was brought to his knees to cry for mercy \n\n\n\n224 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nin the presence of his wife and others. But, refus- \ning to make a public confession of Christ in the \nchurch, he drifted entirely from Christian influence, \nand never afterward would he enter a place of wor- \nship or pay any attention to religious conversation. \nThat man had been on the very threshold of the \ngate of the kingdom, and yet he turned away to be \nlost forever. \n\nA Welsh minister says the saddest thing he ever \nhad to do in his life was to go and see the family of \na man lost in a wreck almost at his own door. A \nsailing vessel, the Royal Charter, after safely cir- \ncumnavigating the globe went to pieces in Moelfra \nBay, on the coast of Wales, and it was his melan- \ncholy duty to visit and seek to comfort the wife of \nthe first officer, made by that calamity a widow. \nThe ship had been telegraphed from Queenstown, \nand the lady was sitting in the parlor expecting her \nhusband, after his long voyage, with the table \nspread for his evening meal, when the messenger \ncame to tell her that he was drowned. "Never can \nI forget the grief," said the pastor, "so stricken and \ntearless, with which she wrung my hand, as she \nsaid, \'So near home, and yet lost !\' " That seemed \nthe most terrible of sorrows. And yet how insig- \nnificant is that sorrow to the anguish which must \nwring the soul which is compelled to say at last, \n"Once I was at the very gate of heaven, and had \n\n\n\nNEAR YET OUTSIDE 225 \n\nalmost entered in; but failing to enter I am lost, \nand lost forever !" \n\nThere are some moments of life that are infinitely \ncritical on all our after life. There are vision \nhours that come to us, and they often come in meet- \nings like this. Men see their sins in a different \nlight than they see them at other times, and they \nsee Christ as they do not see him at other times. \nAt such a time it is easy to be saved, and to neglect \nis the suicide of the soul. \n\nHenry Ward Beecher once said that when such \nluminous hours come a man should reflect that while \nthe mercy of God may call many times it is very \nlikely he will never have another call so powerful, \nand if a man in such an hour, when the Spirit \nspeaks to his soul, when his conscience is aroused, \nwhen everything urges him forward toward a nobler \nand a better life, will ratify his impulse to go \nforward, even though at first he stagger on the \njourney, he will find his way into the kingdom of \nGod; but if he waits, even a few hours may sub- \nmerge all these gracious influences and sweep him \nfar away into the darkness. The element of time- \nliness enters with great significance into human life. \nSome years ago all the civilized world sent out men \nto take an observation of the transit of Venus, and \nwhen the conjunction came it was indispensably \n\nnecessary to the success of the undertaking that the \n15 \n\n\n\n226 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nvery first contact should be observed. An astron- \nomer who had devoted six months to preparation, \nand had gone out to take this observation, ate a \nheavy dinner, and, taking copious draughts of \nliquid to wash it down, lay down, saying, "Call me \nat the proper time," and went to sleep. By and by \nhe was awakened and was told, "The planet ap- \nproaches." Half conscious, he turned over and \nsaid, "Yes, yes, yes, I will attend to it, but I must \nfinish my nap first ;" and before he was aware of it \nthe greatest opportunity in his whole scientific ca- \nreer had passed away, and he had thrown away \nthe pains of months of preparation. It was im- \nportant that he should be on hand to take the \nobservation on the second, and failing in that he \nfailed forever. \n\nBut, my dear friend, you are interested in a \nheavenly observation infinitely more important than \nthat which the astronomer lost. God has given you \nthis great opportunity to find the forgiveness of \nyour sins through Jesus Christ; the Christian \npeople are praying; many others have found sal- \nvation ; the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart ; your \nconscience has been awakened; you are not far \nfrom the kingdom of God. It is only a step to \nChrist. It is only, Look and be saved. And yet \nyou may turn away from all this and be lost. God \nforbid ! \n\n\n\nNEAR YET OUTSIDE 22T \n\nIt is so easy to be saved that it seems a terrible \nthing when men and women who know their duty \nand see the opportunity fail of it. Not long ago \na noble Christian woman who is always on the alert \nfor an opportunity to point somebody to Christ got \non the train in Boston, and on entering the car \nfound only one vacant seat at the extreme end. \nAs she sat down she observed directly opposite an \nold woman in shabby attire and with a most un- \nhappy look upon her face. On her head she had \nan old shawl, which with some difficulty she was \nholding in place with her thumb and fingers. The \ngood woman watching her took from her bag a \nglass-headed pin, and with a smile passed it to the \nevidently sad-hearted woman opposite. As the \nwoman clutched the pin the brakeman called out her \nstation, and she rose to go. \n\nPlacing her hands upon the shoulders of the \nlady, the sad-faced woman said, "I needed the pin \nawfully, but I thank you for the smile." \n\nThere was but a moment left. Desiring to \nacquaint the woman with the love of the heavenly \nFather, the lady bent over toward her and said, \ngently and tenderly: "Do you know God? You \ndon\'t look very happy. But I want you to know \nthat he cares." \n\nThe brakeman called again the name of the sta- \ntion ; the train had stopped ; and in haste, and with \n\n\n\nTHE HEALING OF SOULS \n\n\n\nthe shawl over her head, the sad woman passed \nout. \n\nWhen the lady reached home she told her mother, \nas her custom was, of the experience she had had; \nand her mother made a note of it in a little book \nin which she wrote the names of those in whom \nher daughter had for any reason become interested. \nNot knowing the name of the stranger, for want of \na better title she wrote her down as "the woman \nand the pin." \n\nA few weeks after this the lady was passing \nthrough the railroad station when she felt some- \nthing pull convulsively at her arm. Turning \nabout, she was surprised to see the same old woman ; \nbut the sadness was gone and there was a bright \nand happy expression upon her face as she said, \n"I\'m in an awful hurry, and I know you be ; but I \nthought I\'d just like to tell you that I know God \nnow." \n\nHow little light the old woman had compared to \nthat which has shone upon you, and yet she had \nenough to find her way into the kingdom. \n\nI do not suppose there is a single person here this \nevening who would admit for a moment, to anyone \nelse or to themselves, that they expect to remain \nall their lives outside of the kingdom of God. You \nfully expect some time to accept Christ\'s offer to \nbe your Saviour. And the great cry of my heart \n\n\n\nNEAR YET OUTSIDE 229 \n\nto-night is, to urge you not to presume on the mercy \nof God, and thus put your immortal soul in peril \nthrough delay. \n\nAn evangelist who had been holding meetings in \na Southern city returning to the same city after an \nabsence and stopping over between trains, was told \nthat there was dying in the hospital a man who had \nbeen deeply impressed in his meeting but who was \nwithout hope. He went to see the man and pleaded \nwith him to be a Christian, without avail. The time \ncame for his train to leave, and the man was still \nunsaved. He said to him, "I will pray with you \nfor the last few minutes. If you will accept Christ \njust press my hand." But there came no pressure, \nand as he was leaving the dying man he said to him, \n"Tell me when you will come," and he answered, "I \nthink I will come to-morrow." Before the evan- \ngelist reached the end of his journey a telegram \nfollowed him saying that the man was dead. \nTo-morrow for him never came on earth. He had \nbeen at the very door of the kingdom of heaven, \nand had looked in, and yet failed to enter. Make \nsure of your salvation here and now ! \n\n\n\nXXIV \n\nTHE TRUE TEST OF LOVE \n\nIf ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love ; even as \nI have kept my Father\'s commandments, and abide in his love.\xe2\x80\x94 \nJohn xv, 10. \n\nChrist sets up here, as the true test of love \ntoward him, that we shall keep his commandments. \nObedience is always the supreme test of love toward \none greater than and superior to ourselves. The \ntest of love on the part of the strong is that they \nbear the burdens of the weak and use their power \nto protect and save. The test of love on the part \nof the weak toward the great is that they shall show \nreverent obedience. When we come to our rela- \ntion to God this thought is brought to its perfec- \ntion. Christ put aside the glory of heaven and \ngave himself to ransom us from our sins and make \npossible our salvation, and he calls upon us in turn \nto give to him our obedience, not grudgingly, but \nlovingly and with whole-hearted affection. He \ndied for us, and he asks us to live for him. \n\nThere is nothing unnatural or foreign to our \nhuman nature in this desire of Christ\'s. Love is \nthe greatest power in the world to control and \n\n\n\nTHE TRUE TEST OF LOVE 231 \n\nmaster us and cause us to do heroic things that we \nmay serve the one who has the right to our \nprotection and defense. \n\nI recall one of the most thrilling experiences of \nmy own life, which occurred some years ago on the \ntop of a mountain in Idaho. A party of us had \ngone out from Boise City, some thirty miles or \nmore, starting very early in the morning, and had \nhad our breakfast at the foot of the mountain. \nThe ladies of the party and one of the gentlemen \nremained about the camp, while a friend and myself \nwere bent on a hunting expedition for prairie \nchickens and sage hens. It was a hot day, and at \nnoon we found ourselves well up the mountain, \nseveral miles from camp, and suffering very much \nfor water. I had been in the same part of the \ncountry in the spring, and knew that there was a \nlake about a mile and a half farther up the moun- \ntain, and remembered also that an old herder had \ntold me that it would be a good place for ducks. \nSo we pressed on up the mountain, and were soon \nrefreshing ourselves in the shade of a big thorn \ntree which stood above a beautiful spring of cold \nwater that emptied into the lake. As soon as we \nhad rested we began to look about for the ducks, \nand started up several splendid flocks. We shot a \nnumber of the birds, which fell into the water, some \nnot far from the shore, but several of them out in \n\n\n\n232 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nthe middle of the lake two hundred yards away. \nThe dog we had with us, which we used in hunting \nfor prairie chickens, was not accustomed to the \nwater, and would not retrieve the birds. My friend \ncould not swim, so I swam out after some of the \nbirds nearest the shore and brought them in; and \ngaining courage with the exercise I determined to \nsecure those in the middle of the lake. I am a \nstrong swimmer and could easily have done it but \nfor the fact that as I drew near the center I \nfound a large mass of fine, slender, vinelike rushes \nwhich grew up from the bottom of the lake nearly \nto the top of the water. These would wind them- \nselves around my limbs, not only impeding me but \ntending to drag me down. I did not think much \nof it at first, but after I had gathered up the \nducks and started to return I began to feel their \ninfluence more and more. Unfortunately I chose \nthe nearest way toward the shore, which proved to \nbe the side where the weeds grew thickest and ex- \ntended nearly across the lake. I became more \nand more exhausted, and finally shouted to my \nfriend that I must surely sink. It was a terrible \nsituation for him, for he could not swim a stroke, \nand there was neither pole nor plank nor anything \nwithin reach for him to help me with. He ran in as \nfar as he could wade, but that was only a few yards, \nas the deep water ran up close to the shore. I had \n\n\n\nTHE TRUE TEST OF LOVE 233 \n\ndropped the ducks, of course, and had no thought \nof anything except saving my life. \n\nAt last it seemed as though I could struggle no \nmore. In my weariness and exhaustion my imag- \nination pictured the snakelike weeds which were \ntugging at my limbs to be demon fingers drawing \nme under to my death. But just as I was giving \nup all effort, and in a moment more should have \ngone to the bottom, there came up before me a \npicture of my young wife at the camp, all uncon- \nscious of danger or sorrow. In a flash I saw my \nfriend going back over the road we had come to tell \nher that I was drowned in that mountain lake. As \nthis came to me a new courage for resistance was \nborn in me, and I cried, "I must reach shore. For \nher sake I must not give up, and I will not !" \n\nI have often recalled that incident since then, \nwhen I have seen a man who was swimming his best \nagainst odds, trying to keep his head above water, \nwhen the temptations that were drawing him down \nwere fierce and terrible; and when it was thought \nthat he was gone, I have seen him strike out again \nwith new vigor for the sake of some one that was \ndear to him. \n\nNow, the Lord Jesus Christ has given you the \ngreatest possible pledge of love in his death upon \nthe cross. He has died for you, and he asks you to \nlive for him. Sin is pulling you downward. \n\n\n\n234 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nThose snakelike vines that twined themselves about \nme in that mountain lake are but a faint illustration \nof the demon fingers of appetite and passion and \nlust that tug away at the hearts of men and women \nand pull them down to their ruin. Christ calls to \nyou in the midst of your struggle against odds and \noffers you a help that my friend could not give me. \nYou have but to reach out your hand to Christ and \nhe will take it and bring you safe to land. Will \nyou not give Christ that test of love and obey him \nto-night ? \n\nWe do not treat any other friend who has been \ngood and kind with such ingratitude as we treat \nChrist when we fail to confess him and give him \nour service. If anyone has rendered us a great \nservice we lose no opportunity to show that we \nremember it tenderly. But Christ did more for you \nthan anyone ever did, and yet some of you have \nnever done anything to show that you appreciate \nhis love and his sacrifice. \n\nMy good Quaker friend, Rev. J. Walter Malone, \nof Cleveland, Ohio, was once on his way home from \nBoston, and had reached the point where the \nBoston and Albany train comes down on the western \nside of the Berkshire Hills. The train was delayed \nfor a little, and he stepped out on the bank with \na look of thoughtfulness on his face, seeking until \nhe found a very beautiful wild flower. He plucked \n\n\n\nTHE TRUE TEST OF LOVE 235 \n\nit carefully, and bought it with him into the \ntrain. \n\nThe train sped on its way toward Albany, and my \nfriend returned to his book ; but ever and anon an \nobserver would have seen him turn from the page \nhe was reading to glance with a sort of caressing \nlook at the little wild flower which he had plucked \nfrom the Berkshire hillside. Albany was reached, \nand on up the New York Central toward Buffalo \nrushed the car carrying our friend. Finally he \nlaid his book aside, and seemed to be watching very \ncarefully the country through which the train was \npassing, as if looking for some remembered land- \nmark. Suddenly a glance of recognition flashed \nin his eyes and glowed upon his face, and, raising \nwith one hand the window next to which he was \nsitting, he lifted to his lips the other with the little \nwild flower, and then he leaned far out the window \nuntil what seemed to be to him the exact place had \nbeen reached, when the little flower was loosened \nfrom his fingers and floated off to its resting place \nbeside the track. When Mr. Malone drew back \nfrom the window into his seat the passengers across \nthe aisle of the car saw that his face was wet with \ntears, and wondered what the little flower and the \nsudden tears could mean. \n\nThis is what they meant: Some years before a \ntrain coming down the New York Central ran into \n\n\n\n236 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\na landslide and was wrecked. The engineer was \npinned under his engine, fatally hurt. When some \nof the passengers ran to him to see whether they \ncould do anything for him they saw that the death \nagony was already on his brow. But, forgetting \nhimself, the faithful engineer with his last dying \nbreath exclaimed, "Flag the oncoming train! \nFlag the oncoming train !" With that he fell back \nand died. My friend Malone was a passenger in \nthat oncoming train. He had gathered his wild \nflower to drop as nearly as he could at the spot \nwhere the engineer\'s thoughtfulness and fidelity \nhad saved his life. And he told me that he never \npassed that spot without wet eyes and a flower to \ndrop in memory of the man who, when he was \ndying, was so faithful to the interests of the pas- \nsengers he never saw that he gave the last breath \nof his life to save them. \n\nNow that all seems natural to us. You say in \nyour heart, "Mr. Malone feels just right about \nthat engineer, and it would be very ungrateful if he \nshould pass that spot dry-eyed and with indiffer- \nence." But O, my friend, you that have not yet \nconfessed Christ, what condemnation do you put on \nyourself when you say that ! Jesus Christ gave his \nown blood on the cross for your salvation, but how \nmany times have you been in the church when the \ncommunion service has been celebrated, and your \n\n\n\nTHE TRUE TEST OF LOVE 237 \n\nfriends and your neighbors have gone to that com- \nmunion and taken the bread and the wine as em- \nblems of the broken body and the shed blood of \nyour Saviour, and you have never gone. Yet he \nexplicitly asks you to do this. He has asked that \nyou do this in remembrance of him. And you have \nalways refused to do it. Surely your heart must \ncondemn you, and every noble impulse of your \nsoul must rise up in judgment upon you for such \ningratitude. \n\nI continue to urge upon you that when you con- \nsider what Christ has done for you, that he has \ngiven himself for your salvation, there is nothing \nunnatural in his asking you for an open confession, \nand that you should let all the world know that you \nlove and serve him. \n\nA man employed at the docks in one of the sea- \nboard cities fell into the water, and was with great \ndifficulty rescued by a fellow-workman. In the \nevening, a woman with two little children ap- \nproached the rescuer saying, "Are you the man that \nsaved my husband ?" \n\n"Yes, I am." \n\n"Well, these two little boys want to kiss the man \nthat saved their father." \n\nThe workman wiped his face with his sleeve, and \nstooped down while the children kissed him. \n\nThen the woman, with the great tears in her \n\n\n\n238 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\neyes, said, "And I \xe2\x80\x94 I \xe2\x80\x94 feel \xe2\x80\x94 that \xe2\x80\x94 I \xe2\x80\x94 I \xe2\x80\x94 would \nlike to kiss him too." \n\n"And so ye shall, my lass," and, with an extra \nwipe of his face that lingered on his own wet eyes, \nthe man leaned toward the wife, who imprinted on \nhis manly cheek a holy, matronly kiss which told \nof her gratitude and love. \n\nNow, it does not seem unnatural to us that a \nloving woman, overflowing with gratitude for the \nsaving of her husband and the father of her sons, \nshould have felt and acted like that. But how \nstrange it is that one who is responsive to gratitude \nin every other relation can let the years go on and \nfail to show gratitude and love to Him who merits \nit more than anyone else. Give Christ your heart \nto-night. Confess him and obey him, and you shall \nabide in his love. Day by day his love shall shine \nabout you and warm your heart and give you peace. \n\n\n\nXXV \n\nPLUCKING OUT AND CUTTING OFF \n\nAnd if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee : \nfor it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and \nnot that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right \nhand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee : for it is profitable \nfor thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy \nwhole body should be cast into hell.\xe2\x80\x94 Matthew v, 29, 30. \n\nThe simple, straightforward teaching of these \nstrong sentences uttered by our Lord is very plain. \nThe great end of life is to have the right of way \nwith any sensible, honest Christian man or woman. \nWe are not to allow anything to interfere with \nstraightforward Christian character and conduct. \nThe great thing is to honor God and to live in \nfellowship with and obedient to Jesus Christ. \nFirst of all, we must be Christian\xe2\x80\x94 definitely, genu- \ninely, consciously Christian. Nothing must inter- \nfere with that, and the moment anything does inter- \nfere with it, that moment it must be banished. No \none can doubt that that is the teaching of this \npassage. These are the words of Jesus and are of \nthe first importance to us. \n\nThe first thought suggested to me is that the \nChristian is to live a life peculiarly set apart as the \ndisciple of Jesus. We ought not to object to this. \n\n\n\n240 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nWe ought to be glad to have some peculiarities \nby which the world will know us as Christians. We \nare to be a "peculiar people, zealous of good \nworks." And we should live our Christianity with \nsuch earnestness and such reverence for what will \nplease Christ that it will be noticeable in us, and \nno one among all our acquaintances will ever for a \nmoment forget that we are Christians. We may \nbe other things, and shall be \xe2\x80\x94 merchants and doc- \ntors and lawyers and clerks and students, husbands \nand wives, fathers and mothers and children, neigh- \nbors and friends. We shall have various relations \nin society and in business. But people who think \nof us ought to think the most prominent feature of \nour character is that we are devout friends of \nChrist. Having given Christ our hearts and con- \nsecrated our lives to him, we ought never to allow \nourselves to do anything that will in any way tar- \nnish or soil our personality as Christians. \n\nNo doubt some of you remember Schiller\'s ballad \nof "The Count of Hapsburg." The count was \nhunting the antelope, and was in the midst of the \nexcitement of the wild chase, when he heard the \nsound which told him that the last sacrament was \nbeing carried to the dying : \n"He heard in the distance a bell twinkling clear, \nAnd a priest with the host, he saw, soon drawing near." \n\nAnd as the priest passed along his way, the count \n\n\n\nPLUCKING OUT\xe2\x80\x94 CUTTING OFF 241 \n\nsaw that a brook, swollen by the mountain torrents \ncreated by a great storm, barred his steps. In- \nstantly dismounting from his horse, the count \nplaced the priest with his sacred burden on the \nsaddle, and thus enabled him to ride in safety over \nthe stream and take "provision for the way" to the \ndying man. \n\n"Then the count made him mount his stately steed, \nAnd the reins to his hands he confided; \n\nThat he duly might comfort the sick in his need, \nAnd that each holy rite be provided." \n\nOn the following morning, when the priest brought \nthe horse back to the count, with his thanks, the \ncount refused to take for common use what had \nborne a burden so holy, and devoted the horse as a \ngift to the service of God in the monastery : \n\n" \'God forbid that in chase or in battle,\' then cried \n\nThe count in humility lowly, \n\'The steed I henceforth should dare to bestride, \n\nThat hath borne my Creator so holy. \nAnd if as a guerdon he may not be thine, \nHe devoted shall be to the service divine.\' " \n\nI think we may find a suggestion in the story \n\ngiven us in Schiller\'s song. Having given our \n\nbodies to be the temple of the Holy Ghost, having \n\ncrowned Christ Lord over all in our hearts, having \n\nset ourselves apart to wear the colors of Jesus \n\nChrist and to be known as his servants and friends, \n16 \n\n\n\n242 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nwe ought not to allow anything in our daily living \nto hinder us from the highest Christian life. \n\nOur greatest danger often comes to us when sin \nassumes attractive forms. Dr. David Gregg has \nwell said: Sin as a caterpillar is bad enough, but \nsin as a butterfly is ever a thousand times worse. \nOn every wing there is a picture as varied as the \nrainbow. Every wing is iridescent with different \nlights that shift and change. The poets call the \nbutterfly "a flying and flashing gem," and a \n"flower of paradise," and things like that. But \nthe butterfly is only a caterpillar beautified with \nwings. It is only a painted worm, decked in a vel- \nvet suit, and adorned with sparkling gems. If sin \nin its grossest form be thus dangerous, what must \nbe the unmeasured power of sin when it puts on \nthe robes of beauty? Let me remind you of the \npower of sin to make itself attractive, and of the \npower of error to deck itself in robes that resemble \nthe robes of truth, so that the truest souls are in \ndanger of being deceived. \n\nIt is certainly important that we should not allow \neven beautiful things, and things that are good in \nthemselves, to become harmful to us by hindering \nus from doing our duty as Christians. A thing \ndoes not have to be bad in order to be dangerous for \nus if it step between us and the work which God \nhas given us to do. A story is told of Rev. Rich- \n\n\n\nPLUCKING OUT\xe2\x80\x94 CUTTING OFF 243 \n\nard Cecil, that when he went to Cambridge he \nmade a resolution restricting himself to a quarter \nof an hour daily in playing the violin, on which \ninstrument he greatly excelled, and of which he was \nextravagantly fond; but, on finding it imprac- \nticable to adhere to his determination, he cut the \nstrings and never afterward replaced them during \nhis entire term. He did not cut the strings of his \nviolin because he thought violin music was bad, but \nbecause he thought his education was better and far \nmore important, and, sweet as the violin music was \nto his ear, he would not have his manhood harmed \nand his career fail of its highest possibility even \nthrough so sweet a tempter as his violin. \n\nThis same noble man had at first studied to be a \npainter, and retained through life a fondness and \ntaste for the art ; but when he became a Christian \nand felt called of God to be a minister of the Gospel \nhe gave himself with all his soul to that work. He \nwas once called to visit a sick woman in whose, bed- \nroom there was a painting which so strongly at- \ntracted his notice that he found his attention \nabsorbed by it and diverted from the woman. \nFrom that moment he formed a resolution of mor- \ntifying a taste which he found so intrusive and so \nobstructive to him in his nobler pursuits, and de- \ntermined never again to frequent art exhibitions. \nYou may say that that was an extravagant act; \n\n\n\n244 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nbut, after all, was it not perfectly consistent? \nThe work which God had given him was to him the \ndearest thing in the world. To do his whole duty \nas a minister of Christ was the supreme thing, and \nhe was not willing that even so beautiful a thing \nas the love of art should interfere with the single- \neyed devotion which he owed the Lord Jesus. \n\nBut if we are wise to cut off pure things if they \ninterfere with the genuine Christian life on our \npart, how much more evidently wise to cut off those \nthings which are impure and degrading in \nthemselves. \n\nAn early missionary in Samoa says that when he \nlabored at Tutuila he often felt rebuked by the \nstrange conduct of a large species of land crab \ncalled there the malVo. It bores deep into the soil, \nthe holes sometimes extending a considerable dis- \ntance. At night this crab loves to make its way \nto the sea for the purpose of laving itself in the \nsalt water and drinking it. Now, it sometimes \nhappens that, when hurrying through the tall grass \nand fern, some of its legs become defiled by contact \nwith filth. So great is the vexation of this crab at \nits mishap that it delays its march to the sea in order \nto wrench off the offending legs! One may some- \ntimes meet a mutilated individual hobbling along \nminus two or three of its legs \xe2\x80\x94 a self-inflicted \npunishment. In some rare instances it has been \n\n\n\nPLUCKING OUT\xe2\x80\x94 CUTTING OFF 245 \n\nknown to wrench off all its eight legs to escape \ndefilement. It is then content to drag itself over \nthe ground with considerable difficulty by means of \nits nippers, until it reaches its hole, where it hides \nuntil the legs partially develop themselves again, \nthough not to their original length and beauty. \n"Were we," said the missionary, "as willing to part \nwith our favorite sins as this mali\'o crab is with its \ndefiled limbs, there would be no doubt of our \nreaching heaven ! This is what our Lord means \nby our cutting off our right hand and casting it \nfrom us." \n\nMy dear friends, I press home this solemn mes- \nsage upon your hearts and consciences. I am not \nasking you what your neighbors think about you \nor about your life. I am asking you what you \nthink of yourself in the light of God\'s word and in \nthe light of the Holy Spirit\'s testimony in your \nown conscience. Do you personally know of any- \nthing which you are doing that you honestly \nbelieve to be contrary to the will of God? If so, \nI beg of you, at whatever the cost, however it may \nmar or maim your worldly pleasure, to cut that \nthing off, though it be dear as a right hand; to \npluck it out, though it be tender as a right eye. \nBetter to maim your worldly pleasures for a few \nyears than to dwarf and despoil your soul through- \nout all eternity. That is not my argument nor \n\n\n\n246 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nmy logic, but the argument of Jesus Christ, your \nSaviour. \n\nLook at it on the other side. Remember, I am \nnot asking what anybody else thinks. I am bring- \ning it home to your own heart. Is there any duty \nwhich you are leaving undone? Is there work for \nwhich you are fitted and which would help on God\'s \ncause that you are refusing to do? Are there \nunconverted neighbors and friends about whom the \nHoly Spirit has said to you, "You ought to win \nthat man or that woman to Christ" \xe2\x80\x94 and yet you \ndo not do it? If this is true, and you stand guilty \nbefore the bar of your own conscience, as tenderly \nbut faithfully I press the matter home upon you, \nthen I beg of you to cleanse yourself from this \nfailure to do your duty. Cast out the pride, or \nthe self-love, or the idleness, or the indifference that \nhas kept you from doing your whole duty to Christ \nand to his church. \n\nDo not let anyone imagine that Christ meant \nthese words only for people who are already Chris- \ntians. No, indeed ! They come with the same \nforce, or, indeed, with perhaps more force, to those \nof you who have as yet made no effort to do the will \nof God. I come to you with the question: Will \nyou obey Christ ? Or will you obey your own will, \nyour own appetites, your own sinful desires ? The \nchoice is upon you, and you cannot escape it. If \n\n\n\nPLUCKING OUT\xe2\x80\x94 CUTTING OFF 247 \n\nyou follow jour own sinful path Christ has de- \nclared that there is only one outcome \xe2\x80\x94 "the wages \nof sin is death." And if you choose sin rather than \nChrist, the ultimate issue is eternal remorse. \n\nBut I thank God that for the backslidden Chris- \ntian and for the sinner conscious of guilt this is \nnot the day of judgment but the day of mercy, \nand you may come this day to the throne of grace \nand find forgiveness for your sins and peace for \nyour wounded heart. \n\nAn Alaskan steamer full of gold miners went down \nlast August. As the steamer was sinking two miners, \neach one with a huge bag of gold dust, came rush- \ning on deck and stood side by side. One man, \ntaking in the situation, promptly threw away his \nvalise containing forty thousand dollars and leaped \ninto the lifeboat and was saved. The other man \ncould not give up his treasure, and in spite of \nthe warning shouts he clung to his heavy bag as \nhe jumped and, falling short, went to the bottom \nwith his clog of gold. Which example are you \nfollowing? A \n\n\n\nXXVI \n\nTHE DUTY OF CONFESSING CHRIST \n\nWhosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess \nalso before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny \nme before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in \nheaven.\xe2\x80\x94 Matthew x, 32, 33. \n\nChristianity is a personal religion. It centers \nin Jesus Christ. It is not a mere system of philos- \nophy. It is faith in Christ as a Person and as a \nSaviour. The Bible from one end to the other is \na part of the life of Jesus Christ. He is prophe- \nsied about and his coming is foretold in its first \nbook, and the scarlet thread that tells of his coming \ninto the world and of his suffering and death to \nsave men from their sins runs through the whole \nBible, giving continuity to it all. At first glance \nthe Bible is made up of many books written in dif- \nferent parts of the world and in different ages by \nmen who never saw each other and who could not \nhave understood each other had they met, since \nthey spoke different languages. But the Bible is \nmade one book, and the Booh, because all these \nbooks have some relation to and cluster about the \ncoming and the death and the resurrection of Jesus \nChrist. \n\n\n\nDUTY OF CONFESSING CHRIST U9 \n\nStarting with Genesis, you are like a man travel- \ning over a vast plateau. At first there is only \nprairie, but after a while, far away in the distance, \nyou descry faint outlines of a range of mountains. \nOn and on you go \xe2\x80\x94 down into Egypt, out of \nEgypt with Moses, sojourning for a time in the \npromised land \xe2\x80\x94 on and on, until the times of David \nand the Psalms, when the mountains begin to loom \nup in the distance. They are still far away, but \nthey are easily seen. Still on you go, through the \nBible plateau that is ever climbing upward into \nIsaiah, and here you feel that at last you have \nreached the foothills of the great mountains of \nman\'s salvation. Looking through Isaiah\'s tele- \nscope of faith, you see the Christ in the distance, \nand you know the kind of man he is to be and the \nfate he is to suffer. On through the minor proph- \nets with rapid stride, climbing the heights until at \nlast you reach the summit of the mountains, and on \nthat summit there is a cross, and to that cross is \nnailed Jesus Christ. And you read over that cross, \n"God so loved the world, that he gave his only be- \ngotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should \nnot perish, but have everlasting life." On you go \nthrough the New Testament, and it is all about \nJesus. The Acts of the Apostles tell how Christ \nkept his promise with the disciples and sent them the \nHoly Spirit, and how under their preaching of \n\n\n\n250 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nChrist and him crucified multitudes were converted. \nPaul\'s letters to the Romans and to the Corinthians, \nand many others, are written to churches that he \nhas founded, to tell them about Jesus, and to build \nthem up in the most holy faith. All the other let- \nters and epistles, not only of Paul, but of John \nand James and Peter, are written to give glory and \nhonor to Jesus Christ, and that last book in the \nBible is a Revelation given to John, the beloved \ndisciple, in which Jesus speaks his last words until \nhe shall speak to us in heaven. You see it all \ngathers about Jesus Christ. \n\nNow all this is very significant and has every- \nthing to do with the study of our theme. The \nChristian religion is not a mere system of ethics. \nA man cannot say, "I am living a very good kind \nof a life," and feel that therefore he has done all he \nneeds to do. The question comes back at once. \nWhat have you done with Jesus Christ? Have \nyou done your duty toward Jesus ? It is a personal \nreligion. What is your personal attitude toward \nJesus Christ? Have you confessed Jesus Christ as \nyour Saviour and your Lord? That is the ques- \ntion of questions, and nothing else counts until that \nis settled. You may be living a very moral sort of \na life, but if every hour of your life is either \ndirectly or indirectly an act of the basest ingrati- \ntude to Jesus Christ, who died for you on the cross. \n\n\n\nDUTY OF CONFESSING CHRIST 251 \n\nthen your morality is all vitiated and you will have \nnothing with which to excuse yourself when you \nstand in judgment before God. \n\nSuppose a man should take a beautiful woman \nand lead her to the altar of the church and make \nher his wife through marriage. He promises that \nhe will love and cherish her in sickness and in \nhealth, so long as they both do live. And then he \ngoes away from the marriage altar and deserts her. \nHe goes off into a distant country, holds no com- \nmunication with her ; weeks, and months, and years \ngo by ; there are no letters, no confession of her as \nhis wife, no support. Would it be enough to say \nto that woman as an excuse for his conduct that he \nhas lived a very good kind of a life all the time that \nhe has been away from her? He has not stolen, he \nhas not blasphemed, and he has been known gener- \nally as a very honest, good kind of a man. Would \nthat be any excuse whatever to the wife who has \ngiven her love, and plighted her troth, and has had \na right during all these years that he should openly \nconfess himself as her husband and give her his \naffection and support? You know that would be \nno excuse. It would only seem to add to the \nenormity of the man\'s sin. You would say, If a \nman has enough sense and will-power to live as \ngood a life as that, what excuse is there for his \ntreating his wife with such shameful neglect? \n\n\n\n252 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nNow, that is a very clear illustration of our case, \nexcept that the case against you for neglecting \nJesus Christ is even more serious than that. It is a \nstronger case than the one I have mentioned. \nChrist has done more for you than any wife ever \ndid for a husband. Christ, with all the wealth and \nglory of heaven, with all the association and fellow- \nship of the angels, laid by his glory and his honor \nand came down to earth and suffered and died in \nyour behalf. Now he asks your confession, that \nyou shall recognize him personally as your Saviour. \nAnd yet you go on for years with indifference to his \nclaims, and when you are approached about it you \nsay, "O, I\'m not such a bad man, after all. True, \nI am not a Christian exactly, but live pretty near- \nly as well, possibly better, than some Christians." \nAnd you actually feel a little proud of that state- \nment. Yet every day for all these years you have \nbeen acting ingratitude so shameful that if it were a \ncase of one of your neighbors toward another \nneighbor it would shock you in the extreme. My \nfriends, it is unworthy of you that you should go \non showing this ingratitude toward the Lord Jesus \nChrist. \n\nI have heard more people here in New York say \nthat they are trying to live Christian lives, who yet \nare failing to give Christ the benefit of an open \nconfession by joining the church, than in all my \n\n\n\nDUTY OF CONFESSING CHRIST 253 \n\nministry prior to this time. This often comes \nabout through a man or a woman coming to the \ncity from some interior town and being a little \nuncertain at first about permanent settlement here. \nSo they drift about from one church to another \nand wait for some future time to decide what they \nwill do. At home they felt the responsibilities of \nthe church and the power of being openly com- \nmitted to Christ and his cause, which is of such \nvalue to all of us. But now they are like children \nout of school. They have no pastor and there are \nno church members to whom they feel any sense of \nresponsibility. There is a sort of guilty sense of \nfreedom about it. They can go where they please, \nand do what they please, and there is nobody to \nask any questions. There are tens of thousands of \npeople in this great city who started here just like \nthat, having no expectation of losing their peace \nwith God, who are to-night without God and with- \nout hope in the world and have become utterly \nworldly and prayerless, and a multitude more have \nbeen here from one to five years without trans- \nferring their membership and are on their road \nto the same destiny unless some message like \nthat which I bring you to-night shall be given \npower by the Holy Spirit to recall them to their \nduty. \n\nAs the late Dr. Maltbie D. Babcock said a little \n\n\n\n254 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nwhile before he died, a man who is trying to be a \nChristian is robbing both the church and Jesus \nChrist by staying outside of the church. You all \nvery well know that if everyone who believes in \nChrist and tried to live his life were to do as you \ndo who remain without, the church would all go to \npieces and there would be no churches, no Sunday \nschools, no Christian marriage, no Christian burial. \nAnd then, very soon, there would be no hospitals, \nno almshouses, no orphan asylums \xe2\x80\x94 for these all \nowe their birth to the Christian church and you \ncannot find one of them on earth except where the \nstory of the Good Samaritan has gone. Now, by \nstaying outside of the church of Christ your con- \nduct is saying just as plainly as words could put it, \n"I do not care whether the church of Christ lives \nor dies." \n\nAnd you are robbing the Lord Jesus if by his \nhelp you are living a life that is better and purer \nand stronger than it would be without him and yet \nnot confessing him. What a strange inconsistency \nthat you should deny your Lord here when the \ninvitation is given to confess him before men, and \nthen go home and pray to him before you lie down \nto sleep. You have no right to study the life of \nJesus and his word, and make your life better and \ntruer thereby, and then refuse to Christ the influ- \nence which would come through your publicly con- \n\n\n\nDUTY OF CONFESSING CHRIST 255 \n\nfessing him by uniting with the church. To stay \nout of the church is not only to rob the church but \nto rob Christ himself. "It is his household of \nfaith, his body, his bride. He has identified him- \nself with it in such wonderful intimacy that, when \nSaul struck at the church, Jesus said, \'Why per- \nsecutest thou me?\' There is no escaping the fact \nthat, when you withold your public allegiance from \nthe church of Christ, your name from its roll call, \nyour loyalty and sympathy and interest and \nstrength from its service, you are robbing the \nRedeemer of the church. It is the church of \nChrist, and bears his name in the world, and what \nyou do to the church is done to Christ, and what \nyou refuse the church you refuse Christ." \n\nThen think of the privileges you are excluding \nyourself from by refusing to confess Christ. I \nhave now been in the ministry for a good many \nyears. For thirty years I have been watching these \nthings, and I have never seen one victorious, tri- \numphant Christian, one who had been commanding \npower and influence, that remained outside of the \nchurch. Confess the Lord Jesus Christ. Commit \nyourself to him. Run Christ\'s flag up to the mast- \nhead of your life, and then you can claim Christ\'s \npromise that if you will confess him on earth he \nwil] confess you in heaven. \n\nI do not doubt if I were to come to some of you \n\n\n\n256 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nthis evening and ask you to make a public confes- \nsion of Jesus you would say, "I am not good \nenough," or "I am not fit." How absurd that is \nwhen you stop to reflect on it ! It is like saying, \n"I do not know enough to go to school," or "I am \nnot athlete enough to go to a gymnasium," or, "I \ncannot swim well enough to go to a swimming \nteacher." You know a boy goes to school just be- \ncause he is ignorant; he goes to the gymnasium \nbecause he is not an athlete; he goes to the swim- \nming master because he cannot swim. So when you \ntell me you are not good enough to begin to be a \nChristian, my reply is, "It is not your goodness, it is \nChrist\'s goodness." Take a good look at Christ \nto-night. Is he worthy that you should confess \nhim as your Saviour and your Lord ? If that is so, \ngive him your confession to-night, and trust to his \nhonor, which has never been broken, that he will for- \ngive your sins and save your soul. \n\nIf I were to go to some others you would say, "I \nwill be a Christian some day, but I am not ready \nyet." My friend, that means that you are in a \nmost dangerous situation. Some one well says, \n"To-morrow is the road to Never." It is impossible \nto make decisions for to-morrow. To-day is the \ntime for decisions. Act now, to-night, and every- \nthing that is good enough to be true is possible for \nyour soul. Let things you don\'t understand take \n\n\n\nDUTY OF CONFESSING CHRIST 257 \n\ncare of themselves. Just fix your eyes on Jesus. \nCome to him. \n\nA man who has been an unbeliever for many years \nwas recently led out of the darkness of infidelity \nand became a very happy Christian. He wrote a \nlittle poem telling how he found light : \n\n"I have tried in vain a thousand ways \nMy fears to quell, my hopes to raise; \nBut what I need, the Bible says, \nIs Jesus. \n\n"My soul is night, my heart is steel, \nI cannot see, I cannot feel, \nFor light, for life, I must appeal \nTo Jesus. \n\n"He died, he lives, he reigns, he pleads, \nThere\'s love in all his words and deeds, \nThere\'s all a guilty sinner needs \nIn Jesus. \n\n"Though some should sneer, and some should blame, \nI\'ll go with all my guilt and shame, \nI\'ll go to him because his name \nIs Jesus." \n17 \n\n\n\nXXVII \n\nTHE MAN WITH A BAD EYE \n\nThe light of the body is the eye : therefore when thine eye is single, \nthy whole body also is full of light ; hut when thine eye is evil, thy \nbody also is full of darkness.\xe2\x80\x94 Luke xi, 34. \n\nChrist compares the eye to the conscience and \nthe light of the world about us to the spiritual light \nwhich falls from his word and from the direct work- \ning of the Holy Spirit on our consciences. It is a \nvery interesting illustration. If the human eye is \nprotected and cared for and given proper exercise \nand training it is a marvelous machine. Science \nhas never found anything to equal the mechanism \nof the human eye. But the eye, in order to do its \nwork well, must be used, and it must be protected \nfrom injury. It is very delicate and very sensitive. \nIt takes a very small thing to put it out of order. \nI remember once going out on a flat car attached to \na passenger train when coming around the rapids \nof the famous Cascades of the Columbia. The \nscenery is among the finest in the world, and I was \nexpecting a most enjoyable experience. But as \nwe started off a little cinder from the locomotive, \nnot so large as the head of a pin, lighted in one of \nmy eyes, and it so darkened it and aroused such \n\n\n\nTHE MAN WITH A BAD EYE 259 \n\nsympathy in the other that I clung for dear life to \na stanchion on the car and passed the entire seven \nmiles through that wonderland of beauty without \neven a glimpse of it. When the cinder was removed \nI was astonished to see that it was only a little mote, \nbut it had closed all the world for me. Because of \nit the mountains were as though they were not and \nthe waterfalls lost all their attraction and their \nbeauty. My light was changed to darkness be- \ncause for the time my eye was evil. \n\nNow, our Saviour says that it is like that with \nthe conscience. God speaks to us through the con- \nscience as the world of nature speaks to us through \nthe eye. Through the Bible, through his provi- \ndential action in our daily life, and through the \nvoice of the Spirit speaking to our inmost self, God \nis giving us light. He thus enlightens our under- \nstanding. He arouses our affections. He inspires \nand stirs the will toward action. Our emotions are \nwarmed into being. I do not mean to indicate by \nthis that God will ever do this to such an extent that \na man cannot resist and will be compelled to be \ngood. That would be contrary to all the Bible \nteaching. And we need to remember that in our \nprayer for other people. We must not think that \nGod does not answer our prayers when we pray \nearnestly and faithfully for the conversion of \nfriends and they yet remain unconverted. There is a \n\n\n\n260 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\npoint beyond which even Almighty God cannot go \nin dealing with a human soul. He cannot force \nour will. If he could do that, then we should only \nbe like a cog in a wheel. We could not help our- \nselves and would not be accountable or responsible \nfor what we did. But each one of us is conscious \nthat, though we may be greatly moved upon by \ninfluences without us and within us, there remains in \nour own hearts, in our own wills, the power to choose. \nAnd so all we can do is to pray God to move upon \nthe heart, to arouse the conscience, and to speak to \nthe inmost soul of our friend and give him or her \nonce again the chance to choose. But notwithstand- \ning these prayers, and despite the moving of the \nSpirit of God, it is possible for a man or a woman \nsurrounded by the most gracious influences to close \nthe eye of the conscience and steel the heart against \nthe divine urging and be lost at last. \n\nThe human eye is capable of great development. \nThe eye that is carefully cherished and steadily \ncultivated becomes very far-reaching in its power \nand capable of seeing with wonderful accuracy. \nThe same is true of the eye of the soul. If from \nchildhood the conscience is developed by prayer \nand study of the Bible and meditation which listens \nfor the voice of the Spirit, so that a man is ever \nready to obey the voice of God, the conscience be- \ncomes radiant with light, illuminating the whole \n\n\n\nTHE MAN WITH A BAD EYE 261 \n\nnature of the man. You remember that among the \nearly preachers of Christ Philip was very popular \nin a certain city, and was having great success and \nmaking many converts. But he was suddenly made \nto feel that the Spirit desired him to go away into \nthe desert, and he went without murmuring or \nquestioning, and it was while he was there that the \ntreasurer of Queen Candace came driving along in \nhis chariot, and again it was no outward voice, but \nthe Spirit speaking in Philip\'s conscience, that told \nhim to join himself with this man for special duty. \nAs he came up beside the chariot, he found that the \nman was reading from the book of Isaiah a proph- \necy concerning Christ. He inquired of the man if \nhe understood what he was reading. The treasurer \nthen begged him to come up and sit with him in his \nchariot, and Philip took that prophecy for his text, \nand did not leave him until he was happily con- \nverted to Christ. Now, Philip was sensitive to the \nSpirit. His eye was single in doing the right ; to \nserve God and do his will was the single great pur- \npose of his life. There was nothing to darken his \nsoul. No selfishness obstructed the sunshine, and \nso his conscience was sensitive to God\'s voice. \n\nThere is something quite significant in this phra- \nseology of the text, "When thine eye is single." If \na man simply wants to know what is right, if a man \nis honestly seeking the truth and does not fail to \n\n\n\n262 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nact on the truth when he finds it, then spiritual light \nwill flood his soul ; but if a man is unwilling to face \nthe truth, or if, finding the truth, he will not act \nupon it, conscience is darkened. By refusing to do \nthe right when we know it we gradually lose the \npower to discern the right, so that after a while the \nspiritual judgment becomes so warped and the soul \nso full of darkness that we see men and women who \nwere once of good moral intelligence calling good \nevil and evil good. The eye was not single, but \npartial, and so its power of discernment was \ndestroyed. \n\nDr. Robert South says that every single gross act \nof sin is much the same thing to the conscience that \na great blow or fall is to the head ; its stun bereaves \nit of all use of its senses for a time. Thus David\'s \nmurder and adultery so mazed and even stupefied his \nconscience that it lay as it were in a swoon and void \nof all spiritual sense for almost a whole year. For \nwe do not find that he came to himself or to any true \nsight or sense of his horrid guilt till Nathan the \nprophet came and roused him up with a message \nfrom God. Such a terrible deadness and stupefac- \ntion did those two sins bring upon his soul that there \nis no evidence that David had for many months any \nkeen conception of the horrible character of his \nconduct. The reason of this was that his conscience \nhad been stunned and could not so much as open \n\n\n\nTHE MAN WITH A BAD EYE 263 \n\nits eyes so as to be able to look either upward or \ninward. This was his sad and forlorn condition \nnotwithstanding he had been graciously taught of \nGod all his life. He was now past the fiftieth year \nof his age, and yet this one falling into sin so dead- \nened the spiritual principle within him and left him \nso benumbed and blind and insensible that if it had \nnot been for the special message of God through \nthe voice of Nathan he would no doubt have never \nbeen recovered and would have died unrepentant \nand unforgiven. \n\nNow, it may be that I am speaking to some one \nhere who has been stricken by some besetting sin that \nhas separated you from the peace of God and \nbroken all connection between your heart and \nheaven, as David\'s sins did for him. If that is so, \nI pray God that he may commission me as he did \nNathan, and that the Holy Spirit may use the mes- \nsage this evening, and stand before the doorway of \nyour soul, and say with power to start you to \naction the words that broke the deadly lethargy of \nthe sinning king, "Thou art the man !" \n\nThere is another sort of danger to the human eye \nthat comes more slowly. Sometimes a film grows \nover the eye and covers it. It does not make a man \nblind all at once. I have a friend who has been \nslowly getting blind for ten years, and he can yet \nsee a little, though very dimly. So it is often the \n\n\n\n264 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\ncase that actual sin and refusal to obey God\'s com- \nmandments gradually obscures and darkens the \nlight of the conscience. Doing wrong and repeat- \ning the act over and over brings a film over the eye \nof the soul. Being aroused to see one\'s duty, hav- \ning the emotions stirred, being impressed with \nChrist\'s claims, and yet refusing to grant them, pro- \nduces gradually but surely a cataract on the eye of \nthe soul that no human power can remove. Jere- \nmiah sets forth clearly the deadly character of such \na habit of evil when he says, "Can the Ethiopian \nchange his skin, or the leopard his spots? then \nmay ye also do good, that are accustomed to do \nevil." \n\nI am sure that I speak to some of you this evening \nwho have already the film growing over the eye of \nyour conscience. You are not afraid of sin as you \nonce were. Evil things do not shock you as they \nonce did. You imagine sometimes that the reason \nfor this is that they are really not so bad as you \nthought they were. There you mistake. The \nsin is just as bad as ever ; but there has grown a film \nover your spiritual eyesight, so that you see now but \ndimly what you saw more clearly in your childhood \nand early youth. You are slowly growing blind. \nAs over my friend\'s eyes the film has been growing \nthat shuts out the light of heaven and makes it im- \npossible for him longer to behold with any clearness \n\n\n\nTHE MAN WITH A BAD EYE 265 \n\nthe people whom lie meets, so your disobedience to \nGod\'s law has gradually caused a film to come over \nthe eye of your soul, and you have but to go on until \nmorally you will become entirely blind, and will call \ngood evil and evil good. \n\nWhen a cataract forms over the eye there is only \none source of help, and that is a most skillful sur- \ngeon who can take the obstruction off with a sharp \nknife and give the eye again the chance to behold \nthe light of day. That is now done, sometimes \nwith wonderful success. In the spiritual world \nthere is only one Physician who has ever been able \nto do that \xe2\x80\x94 Jesus Christ. But he has that power. \nHe who opened the eyes of many blind men during \nhis earthly ministry has power to remove the cata- \nract from the eye of the soul and make your con- \nscience sensitive and clear, so that it shall behold \nthe spiritual light and flood the soul again with its \nknowledge. Thank God, you may have the services \nof this Great Physician, and have them freely this \nvery hour. Pie said of himself that he came as a \nPhysician to the sick. And just because you need \nhim sorely he will fly to your aid at your cry for \nhelp. \n\n\n\nXXVIII \n\nTHE GREATEST THIEF \n\nBut and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth \nhis coming.\xe2\x80\x94 Matthew xxiv, 48. \n\nSome one has well said that the value put upon \ntime indicates the high or low water mark of any \ncivilization. The American Indian counted time \nonly by suns and moons. No barbarous people \nhave ever had any timepiece, and it is only the \nhighly developed and cultivated civilization which \nmeasures time by seconds. Booker Washington \nsays it marked a great epoch in his advancement \nand in the growth of his manhood when he began to \nobserve regular hours for his meals. \n\nThis element of timeliness and the importance of \npromptness in doing our duty runs through all our \nlives, and we never can escape from it. A prom- \ninent minister recently stated in a public address \nthat he shook his fist at the chapel bell when it was \nringing for the last recitation of his academic \ncourse and said, "I have been ruled by that bell \nseven long years; but, thank God, I am free to- \nday." He soon found out his mistake. The moment \nhe plunged into his lif ework he found that he was \nmore than ever under obligation to measure every \n\n\n\nTHE GREATEST THIEF 267 \n\nhour, and carefully guard all the moments, and \nobserve every appointment of duty. \n\nThe Bible lays tremendous emphasis on our being \nprompt in our decisions and decisive in all our \nactions. Scattered all through the Bible are the \nwords, "now," "immediately," "straightway," and \nother words of the same import. And this is not \nunnatural, for all life is pervaded with this im- \nportance of prompt and decisive action. You let \nany clerk get into the habit of being ten minutes \nlate at his place of business, and he is absolutely out \nof the race for any great promotion. A feeling of \ncharity in a kind-hearted employer may keep him \non for a while, but he will never win success. \n\nNow, all this has to do directly with our theme. \nThis is a striking story which Christ tells here. He \npresents a man who has been absent from his home \nand has left it in charge of a servant who is tempo- \nrarily steward over his whole household. He is gone \na long time, but the steward takes care of every- \nthing with exactly the same fidelity that he would \nhave shown if the master had been present, so that \nwhen the master comes home he finds everything in \nfirst-class condition and bestows on the servant great \nreward. \n\nThen our Lord turns to the other side and tells us \na story of another kind of servant. He had exactly \nthe same opportunity that was given to the first, \n\n\n\n268 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nbut he said within himself, "My lord delayeth his \ncoming," and so he began to do as he pleased. He \ngave himself up to pleasure and to riot. He was \ncareless as to whether his life and conduct were such \nas would be pleasing to his master. And so, one \nday when he was not thinking about it, when every- \nthing was at loose ends, his master came back, and \nhis punishment of that servant was grievous. \n\nNow, the message is very simple, and it ought to \nbe very profitable to us. The greatest thief in the \nworld is delay. I speak to many of you this even- \ning who know enough of the Gospel and believe \nsufficiently in Jesus Christ to be saved if you would \nact at once on your knowledge and obey Christ. \nThe lack of decision is the cause of the doom of \nthousands. This is true in every department of \nlife. Goethe says that there are three essential \nelements of any strong and moving story. It must \nillustrate enterprise, it must involve the incurring \nof peril, and it must result in the achievement of \nsuccess. You cannot make anything moving and \nheroic out of the lives of men who took no risks and \nalways sailed so near the shore that they could \neasily swim to land in the event of disaster to their \ncraft. Mr. Beecher used to say that the most dan- \ngerous thing that happens to any man is coming \ninto the world at all; but having come, and being \nhere at all, you find yourself in conditions in which \n\n\n\nTHE GREATEST THIEF 269 \n\nthere are no "dead certainties." You simply have \nto act with your best judgment upon the light you \nhave, and take the consequences. Now, I do not \nbelieve there is a man here to-night who would not \nbecome a Christian at once, before leaving the house, \nif he acted on his judgment as a wise man acts in \nother things. It is the power of prompt decision \nthat makes the difference between success and fail- \nure every day in the week. \n\nWhen Balzac\'s father tried to discourage his son \nfrom the pursuit of literature he said to him, "Do \nyou know that in literature a man must be either \na king or a beggar?" "Very well," replied the boy, \n"I will be a king." His disgusted parent left him \nto his fate in a garret ; but he had made his decision, \nand he fought his way to victory. So there have \nbeen men whose companions have said to them, "To \nbe a great Christian is a fine thing, but to fail at \nit as some people do is disgusting." And the \nyoung man has said with decision, "By the help of \nGod I will be a genuine Christian," and has gone \nforth from that hour to the peace and happiness, \nthe struggles and victories, of a noble Christian life. \n\nLord Roscbery not long ago reminded his fellow- \ncountrymen of what he calls their great national \ndanger. He says it is "self-complacency." How-/^- \never that may be with the English nation, I am sure \nit is true of a great many people who are letting \n\n\n\n270 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nthe years go by without becoming Christians. Be- \ncause God has been so kind as to hedge your life \nabout with praying parents and Christian friends 3 \nso that you have been kept mercifully from falling \ninto outbreaking and shameful sins, you have a cer- \ntain pride and self-complacency about your con- \ndition, when it is quite probable that at the heart \nyou are farther from God and are in greater danger \nof being lost than is some poor drunkard or dis- \ncouraged woman whom you count as a much greater \nsinner than yourself. Surely there are no sadder \ncases than these men and women who have had the \nGospel light shining about them through all their \nlives, and who know their duty, and yet self-com- \nplacently take their own time, and fancy that their \nLord delays his coming and that there is no need \nthat they should make haste. I would to God that \nI knew how to arouse you and make you see your \ndanger ! \n\nThere is an old story of two painters who were \nfrescoing a magnificent cathedral. One of them \nhad just finished a very artistic figure, and had \nstepped back to survey it. So absorbed was he that \nhe forgot the high scaffolding upon which he stood. \nHe was standing on the very edge. One move more \nand he must be hurled to death. His companion \nsaw his danger, but dared not speak lest he should \nlose his balance. As a last resort he seized a wet \n\n\n\nTHE GREATEST THIEF 271 \n\nbrush and flung it against the wall, spattering the \nbeautiful picture with unsightly blotches of color- \ning. The imperiled man sprang forward to save \nhis work, but it was too late; it was gone. He \nturned upon his friend to upbraid him, when he was \ntold of the death he had escaped. And then, with \ntears of gratitude, he blessed the hand that saved \nhim even at such a cost. O that I could so arouse \nyou out of this deadly lethargy, this self-com- \nplacency which is putting your immortal soul in \nperil, and win you to accept Christ and give your \nheart to him! I know you would thank me for- \never for that greatest of all blessings one human \nbeing can bestow upon another. \n\nDelay is perilous from every standpoint. It is \nnot only that life is uncertain and may be cut off at \nany moment. Even if life be prolonged there is \nno certainty that the Spirit of God will ever strive \nwith your soul again as he is striving now. Never \nagain may you have an opportunity so favorable \nto accepting Christ and receiving the pardon of \nyour sins as you have this very hour. \n\nDr. John Watson tells an exceedingly interesting \nand touching story of an event which occurred in \nhis own ministry. He was called to go and see a \nyoung man who was ill. When he went into the \nroom the young man said, "Now, I have heard you \npreach, and I wanted to see you. I do not want to \n\n\n\nn% THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nbe a humbug, and I will tell you the situation \nThere were days in the past when I wished to be a \nChristian., but I thought that, on the whole, I would \nrather have a few years to myself. I have not \nmade a beast of myself, but it has been a selfish life. \nNow I am dying, and although the doctors will not \ntell me the truth, I know I will die within a few \ndays." And he did die within a few days. He \ntold Dr. Watson a number of things he wanted him \nto do for him, and he promised to attend to them. \nThen the minister said to him, "What about other \nthings?" Then the young man responded sadly, \n"I have thought it all over, and I have led a selfish \nlife, and I have done mean things sometimes, but \nI will not do the meanest thing I could conceive \xe2\x80\x94 \ntake the last three days of my life and offer them \nto Christ when I have had twenty-three years of \nlife that I used for myself." From that position \nDr. Watson could not move him by any argument \nhe knew or used, and the man died without any hope \nin Christ and expressing the infinite regret that he \nhad not accepted Christ when he was well and \nstrong. \n\nMy friends, do you intend to follow that exam- \nple? Surely you do not wish to do that. Then \nwhy will you not act now? Now while your heart \nis tender, while your conscience is awake, now is the \ntime to accept Christ and be forgiven. This may \n\n\n\nTHE GREATEST THIEF 273 \n\nbe the greatest hour in the history of the world for \njou, and it will be if you make it the hour of your \nsalvation\xc2\xbb \n\nI feel very keenly that it is a critical moment for \nsome souls. One of the great poets saved some of \nhis most lofty visions by leaping out of bed and \nseizing pen and paper to preserve the thought \nwhich came to him in the silent watches of the night, \nand which he knew if allowed to escape could never \nbe recalled on any to-morrow. There is a time \nwhen the harbor is open, when the wind is blowing, \nwhen the tide is running in, and everything speeds \nthe ship through the channel into the haven of rest. \nThis is such an hour, and such an opportunity. \nDelay not, but decide and act. \n18 \n\n\n\nXXIX \n\nCHRIST\'S BUSINESS IN HEAVEN \n\nIn my Father\'s house are many mansions : If it were not so, I \nwould have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go \nand prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto \nmyself; that where I am, there ye may be also.\xe2\x80\x94 John xiv, 2, 3. \n\nTake it all in all, there never was a more remark- \nable statement than this made by anyone in human \nform. Here is a man who is being intrigued against, \nand hounded by his enemies, and who admits that \nhe is soon to be put to death, and that the crue} \ndeath of the cross, and yet he talks about it with \nall the calmness and courage of a conqueror who \nhas achieved the purposes intended by a great \ncampaign and is now taking his departure to the \ngreat kingdom from whence he came. Christ \ntells his disciples that they are not to permit their \nhearts to give way to trouble, for he has overcome \nthe world, and through him they shall overcome. \nAlthough he departs from them, he will not lose \ninterest in them, and he will never go beyond the \npower to reach them with aid and comfort. \nHeaven is his native homeland, and from that cen- \ntral capital of the universe he will send forth mes- \nsengers with comfort and blessing to them. What- \n\n\n\nCHRIST\'S BUSINESS IN HEAVEN \xc2\xa375 \n\nsoever they ask of the Father in his name will be \ngranted. \n\nBut there is another significant statement in our \ntext which sets forth the important business of \nChrist in heaven as related to us. Christ assures \nthese troubled disciples that heaven is a splendid \nreality. He calls heaven the "Father\'s house," and \nsays that there are many mansions. Then follows \na very beautiful and loving touch that is just like \nJesus. He says, "If it were not so, I would have \ntold you." The more you study that phrase the \nmore beautiful it will seem to you. Its meaning is \nevident. If there had been no heaven, no land of \nbeauty and glory, for which God was redeeming and \ndeveloping and training his sons and daughters, \nChrist would have told us. He would not have \nlet us go on hoping and wishing and longing for \nthe immortal life, wondering if there was a future \nand if that future was kind, unless it were true. \nWith what hope this fills our hearts. It gives us \nthe right to believe that anything we hope for and \nlong for in our thoughts of heaven shall be true \nif it is good enough to be true. You need not \ndream about some loved desire concerning heaven \nand then say sadly, "It is too good to be true," for \nif it is good enough to be true it may be yours if \nyou are true to God. I am sure that our Saviour, \nwho is fitting up heaven for us, will meet the long- \n\n\n\n276 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nings of every true heart. Better even than our \nlongings and our dreams shall be the realization \nif we are faithful to Christ. Perhaps you have \nseen the little poem written by Henry Rowe voicing \nthe old Scotch mother\'s query, "Will the Heather \nBloom in Heaven?" \n\n"Th,e sunset rays were falling across \n\nThe slopes of the Grampian hills, \nAnd the deepening shades \'mid the firs and moss \n\nWere shrouding the rocks and rills. \nIn a cottage set on the edge of the glen, \n\nBy the side of the sobbing sea, \nA soul was passing beyond the ken \n\nOf the world to eternity. \n\n" \'O! laddie,\' she whispered, \'in heaven above \n\nD\'ye think that the heart of God \nWould find delight in the flowers we love, \n\nThat bloom from the highland clod? \nAmid all the beauty up there, dear lad, \n\nD\'ye think that he\'ll find some room \nIn the fields of glory to make us glad \n\nWith heather and with broom? \n\n" \'Will the bonnie Scotsman have a ham\xc2\xab \n\n\'Mid lakes and the craggy glen? \nWill the love of my laddie be the same, \n\nOnly stronger, dear heart, then? \nAnd among the robes of the ransomed, lad, \n\nWhich the angel spirits wear, \nMust we always miss the highland plaid \n\nWhen we cross the moors up there? \n\n\n\nCHRIST\'S BUSINESS IN HEAVEN 277 \n\n" \'Will the bagpipes play on the streets of gold? \n\nWill the skylark greet the morn? \xe2\x80\x94 \nO! I love them all, for I\'m growing old \n\nIn the hame where I was born. \nO laddie, my heart is sair awry, \n\nI\'m only a puir, weak lass, \nBut I fear me I\'ll breathe a homesick sigh \n\nAs through heaven\'s glad gate I pass.\' \n\n"The whisper ceased, and the life went out \n\nWith the dying light of day, \nBut the sainted soul we cannot doubt \n\nHas found its heavenward way; \nAnd we may believe in those distant fields, \n\nWhich the hand of God has sown, \nThe Scottish heather its beauty yields \n\nNot far from the great white throne." \n\nThere is something very comforting in the way- \nChrist makes the statement here that the great \npurpose of his leaving the earth and taking up his \nabode in heaven was that he should there look after \nthe interests of the men and women on earth who \nhave confessed his name and are seeking day by \nday to live in a way pleasing to him. These were \nby no means ideal men to whom Christ was speak- \ning. Peter had yet in him those seeds of disloyalty \nthat led him to deny his Lord, and Thomas had in \nhim the doubt that gave him those awful days of \ngloom after Christ\'s death and resurrection. But, \nimperfect as they were, they had turned their faces \nhonestly, seeking to know Christ and to do his will, \n\n\n\n278 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nand Christ knew that through his kindness and \nloving sympathy they would come to be grand and \nnoble men, fitted for heaven and eternal glory. So \nChrist looks at you to-night. And while he sees all \nyour sinfulness, and knows all the rough edges of \nyour hot and fiery temper, knows every rotten spot \nof self-indulgence there is in your nature, and while \nit looks more horrible to him than it does to you, \nhe also sees what you do not \xe2\x80\x94 that through his love \nand forgiveness and divine culture there may be \ndeveloped in you a pure and holy man or a noble \nand saintly woman with whom the angels will be \nglad to associate in heaven. As Michael Angelo \ntook the old refuse block of marble that many a \npoorer sculptor had rejected because it had a flaw \nin it, and chiseled from it his matchless David which \nstands on the heights above Florence \xe2\x80\x94 dared to \nchoose it because he saw what his skill and genius \ncould bring out of it in spite of its flaws \xe2\x80\x94 so Jesus \nChrist sees that though your temper be as quick \nand your disposition as erratic as Simon Peter\'s, \nand though your blood is as hot for sudden anger \nas John\'s, and though you be as ready to doubt and \nhave "the blues" as Thomas, his divine genius can \nmake out of you Peter, "the Rock," or John, "the \nbeloved disciple." \n\nSo if you will this night turn your face toward \nChrist, and humbly give your heart to him in re- \n\n\n\nCHRIST\'S BUSINESS IN HEAVEN 279 \n\npentance and faith, he will lay in heaven the foun- \ndation of a mansion for you. For that is Christ\'s \ngreat business in heaven. He is there preparing \nplaces for his people. No city on earth is growing \nlike heaven. The mansions are going up as they \nare being ordered from all over the world. How \nmany have begun to build during the last few weeks \non orders breathed from the prayerful lips and \nhumble broken hearts of those kneeling about this \naltar! And Christ is ready to start others to- \nnight. When the foundation of a new mansion in \nheaven is laid there is great joy about it. There is \nno selfishness about Christianity. The citizens of \nheaven are not afraid that the city will be over- \ncrowded, and the angels watch with glad hearts \nand joyous eyes the turning of a face toward \nheaven. Jesus says that there is joy among the \nangels over one sinner that repenteth, and the mo- \nment a man turns from his sin and seeks to follow \nChrist it is in reality the beginning of a journey \ntoward heaven, and as he journeys thither his home \nis preparing for him. \n\nWhat a home that will be ! I suppose none of us \nhas ever had a home that exactly suited. I have \nnever seen one that I would not change if it could be \ndone without any expense or annoyance. I have had \nthe privilege in Europe of looking over many of the \nfamous old palaces, some of which have played a \n\n\n\n280 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\ngreat part in history; the homes where kings were \nborn, and lived, and feasted, and ruled, and died. \nBut I never saw a palace so splendid but what, if I \nwere to move into it, and undertake to make a home \nof it, I should want to change it a good deal. We \nare hard to suit in the matter of homes. We know \nthat by the way people move about in this city. \nEvery week we see thousands moving from one \nstreet to another, from one apartment house to \nanother. People stop a while, and then move on, \nleaving the ills they have to dare other ills they \nknow not of. But if you will give your heart to \nChrist, and become his true and sincere friend, some \nof these days you shall have a home that you will \nnever become tired of for a single hour. Christ \nknows exactly what you need. He is the only one \nin the world who knows all your little peculiarities, \nand he will fit your individuality in your heavenly \nhome. How tender those words of promise that as \none whom his mother comforteth God will comfort \nthose that trust him! You may depend upon it \nthat if you will give up your heart to follow Christ \nthe home which he will fit for you in heaven will \nsatisfy all your needs. Your fondest dreams shall \nbe more than met in your heavenly home. \n\nAnd then this other promise, what infinite sweet- \nness breathes from it \xe2\x80\x94 "And if I go and prepare a \nplace for you, I will come again, and receive you \n\n\n\nCHRIST\'S BUSINESS IN HEAVEN 281 \n\nunto myself; that where I am, there ye may be \nalso." Christ is lonely in heaven without us. He \nwants us with him. Repent of your sins and ask \nfor forgiveness, and his love will envelop you with \ngreat strong arms of kindness, and he will lead you \nonward and upward until he receives you in heaven \nat last. This takes away all the bitterness and all \nthe dark forebodings about death. Without Christ, \nand a hope of heaven made clear and definite \nthrough him, death is an awful thing. I do not \nwonder that death has been called "the king of \nterrors," for it is an awful leap into the dark with- \nout Christ. But the moment you open your heart \nto this loving promise of Christ\'s the morning \nbreaks and the shadows flee away. Death will come \nto us as it does to other people, but Christ will come \nwith it, and he will receive us unto himself. And \nall our loved ones who have loved Christ, who have \ngone on before us \xe2\x80\x94 they, I am sure, will come with \nhim when he comes to bid us welcome. When I \nwent to California two or three years ago to visit \nthe old home fireside, as the train pulled up at the \nlittle country station there stood my father with his \nlong white beard, and my mother, and my sisters, \nwaiting to meet me and to give me welcome. How \nprecious it was to meet them thus on the way, at \nthe very threshold of the home farm. So it will \nbe with the heavenly meeting. If I were to go \n\n\n\n282 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nback to that little country station now, that white- \nhaired father would not be there to meet me. And \nas I looked into the faces of the others the tears \nwould come into all our eyes because of his absence. \nBut if death should come to me to-night, and I \nshould go out on the last journey, I know that, \nstanding beside my Saviour and his, I should find \nmy father, and my own little boy, and a great \nthrong of loved ones to whom I have said farewell \nand whom Christ has been receiving into the heav- \nenly home through all these years. \n\nDear friends, we want you with us ; with all our \nhearts we long to persuade you to accept our Lord \nand know the tender love and comfort which has \nbeen the sweetest thing that has ever come into any \nof our lives. He has loved you, and redeemed you, \nand if you will confess him to-night, and turn from \nyour sin, all the comforts of his grace and all the \nglories of heaven may be yours. \n\n\n\nXXX \n\nTHE UNPARDONABLE SIN \n\nBut lie that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never \nforgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.\xe2\x80\x94 Mar k iii, 29. \n\nThis is a sad and solemn theme. Sin is the trag- \nedy of the world. It casts its black clouds athwart \nthe sky and shuts out the sun. It turns life\'s \nsweetest honey into gall. No life is so full of \nyouthful promise that its poison cannot change it \ninto an old age bitter and revolting. And here we \nare face to face with sin at its climax. What is this \nunpardonable sin ? \n\nWhen we undertake to look for an answer we \nmust look at the remark which St. Mark, who writes \nthe story, adds immediately following the quota- \ntion from Christ. That shows us what it was that \ndrew out the remark in regard to the unpardonable \nsnio Mark says that Jesus said this because the \nPharisees were saying, "He hath an unclean spirit." \nJesus had been working a series of miracles which \nevery unbiased mind could see were divine. They \nwere wrought by the power of God. The Holy \nSpirit\'s presence was in every one of them. As \nmen looked on these miracles the first honest words \nthat sprang to their lips were, "Is not this the Son \n\n\n\n284 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nof God?" Now, the Pharisees believed also that \nJesus had divine power. But if they yielded to \nthat conviction, and let the popularity of Christ \nspread everywhere among the common people, their \nown power was gone, and the perfect purity and \ngenuineness of Christ would shame the hollow for- \nmalism of their daily lives. They determined \ntherefore, at any cost, even if they had to sacrifice \ntruth and honesty, that they would stamp out this \ngrowing faith in the hearts of the common people, \nwhich would soon center with great force on \nChrist. Hence they began with one accord to \ndeclare among the people that the miracles which \nChrist had been working were not the work of the \nHoly Spirit, but the work of the devil. It was \na reckless piece of business. They knew they were \nlying. But they set their teeth together and went \non, determined not to yield to Christ. They knew \nthe truth, but they closed their eyes against it, \nand vowed it was not the truth, but falsehood. \nNow it was this that drew out Christ\'s remark \nabout the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, a sin \nwhich could never be forgiven. It was opposition \nto truth and goodness on the part of men who knew \nbetter, but who determined to pursue the false way \nbecause it pleased their own selfishness. This in- \nterpretation is entirely supported by another say- \ning of Christ\'s on the same subject, when he says, \n\n\n\nTHE UNPARDONABLE SIN \xc2\xa385 \n\n\n\n"Whoso shall cause one of these little ones which \nbelieve on me to stumble, it is profitable for him, that \na great millstone should be hanged about his neck, \nand that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea." \n\nAn English minister, Rev. Henry T. Hooper, \nwhose comment on this subject I have been recently \nreading, raises these very pertinent questions in \nregard to this incident: Had these men already \ncommitted the unpardonable sin? Is it an act of \nsin or is it a state of sin that we are to regard as \nhopeless? Were these men already doomed, or \nwere they as yet but nourishing a tendency which \nwas in the direction of despair ? A single act of sin \nindicates an evil state of character; an act of sin \nrepeated indefinitely and of set purpose indicates an \nevil state of character which is in the way of be- \ncoming permanent. No single incident, perhaps, of \nblasphemy was unpardonable; had the incidents \nbeen so multiplied and so aggravated by deliberate \nrepetition as to have become a settled habit which \nwas already irreparable ? \n\nThese are questions only important to us as they \nthrow light on our own danger and warn us of the \npossibility of coming to such a state of hopelessness. \n\nSuppose a man among us, religiously nurtured \nfrom childhood, inheriting good and holy traditions \nfrom a Christian father and mother, and perhaps \ntheir fathers and mothers before them \xe2\x80\x94 suppose \n\n\n\n286 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nsuch a man, so brought up, giving himself to delib- \nerate and repeated sin, knowing it to be sin, against \nthe clear light of conscience deliberately going \nover to the devil\'s side; suppose, not content with \nthat, he of set purpose and by deliberate policy \nseeks to pervert others, and especially to pervert \nsimple, childlike believers, not once only, but by \nsettled and continuous and diabolical falsehoods. \nIs it too much to say that such a man\'s case is in the \nway of becoming hopeless? His very existence is \na continual act of sin. \n\nThe effect of sin in any sinning man or woman is \ncumulative. For there is surely a progression in \nsinfulness as there is in holiness. The man who \ngoes on disobeying God cannot remain as good as he \nis. He becomes a little harder at heart, a little \nmore dead at conscience, a little less likely to repent \nand become a Christian every day of his life. At \nwhat stage in a sinful man\'s career his sin reaches \nthe climax when it is unpardonable it is impossible \nto say. Whatever interpretation of this passage \nwe may adopt, you and I do not know the man so \nutterly vile and abandoned that we should think \nhim beyond the possibility of pardon. He may \nexist, but judgment is not with us. Of one thing, \nhowever, we are certain \xe2\x80\x94 so long as the Gospel \nmessage is still attractive, however little, in a sinful \nman\'s eyes, this fatal climax has not yet come to \n\n\n\nTHE UNPARDONABLE SIN 287 \n\nhim. Fear of the worst is the last barrier against \nthe arrival of the worst ; desire for the best, however \nfeeble that desire may be, is the proof that the best \nis still possible for us. No man is yet unpardon- \nable who honestly fears that such is the case. But \nany man who feels that should know that he is up \nagainst the last barrier between himself and eternal \ndoom. \n\nNo passage of Scripture, perhaps, brings out \nwith clearer outlines the terrible gravity of sin. \nSin is an awful thing. It is not a thing to jest \nabout or a thing to dare lightly. In itself now, and \nin its tendency hereafter, nothing is so unspeakably \nfatal as sin. I was almost shocked the other day to \ncome face to face with this statement, which at first \nI thought could not be true, but which on reflection \nI believe is true, that our Lord\'s utterances \nthroughout the Gospels are not nearly so often \nconcerned with forgiveness and goodness as with \nsin and punishment. Not forgiveness and good- \nness, but sin and punishment, is by far the most \nfrequent theme of his teaching. The good tidings \nis not always, nor nearly always, concerned with \ngreat joy Rather it is concerned with the reve- \nlation of the horror of sin, to save us from which \nChrist faced the sorrow of the garden of \nGethsemane and the agony of the cross on Calvary. \n\nI think the most terrible thing about this study; \n\n\n\n288 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nfor us must lie in this reflection, that everyone who \nis living in known sin is on the way to that fatal \nclimax for which there can be no forgiveness. The \nessence of the sin of these men to whom Christ was \nspeaking was that they knew the right and refused \nto accept it, and denied it. And is not that the \nessence of your sin? Are there not unsaved men \nand women who are listening to me now who believe \nthat Christ is the divine Saviour and the only \nSaviour of the world ? You believe that the Gospel \nrecord of Jesus Christ is true. You believe that he \nwas born and grew up and went forth to his minis- \ntry, as taught in the Gospel. You believe that he \nspake as never man spake; that he suffered the \nagony of Gethsemane and was nailed to the cross as \nan atonement for sin. You believe that he burst \nthe bonds of death and, leaving an empty grave, \nascended in triumph to the right hand of the \nMajesty on high, where he ever lives to intercede for \nyou. You believe that men who repent of their sins \nand ask forgiveness of him in faith are pardoned \nand set free from the bondage of their transgres- \nsions. You believe all this, and admit that Christ \nhas a rightful claim for your supreme love and \nfriendship, and yet, believing it all and admitting \nit all, you go on living as though it were all a \nfalsehood. You live as though Christ had never \nlived on earth ; you treat his claims with indifference, \n\n\n\nTHE UNPARDONABLE SIN 289 \n\nand day by day the deadly weight of this ingrati- \ntude grows and strengthens its grip upon your \nheart and conscience, making it less and less likely \nwith every recurring day that you will ever repent \nof your sins and be saved. \n\nIt is idle for men and women to imagine that they \ncan slowly and gradually work themselves into a \nbetter frame of mind, where they can in an easier \nway become Christians. It is just as great a folly \nto wait for some tide of feeling that will overwhelm \nyou with conviction, so that it will be impossible to \nresist the influence that leads toward Christ. There \nis not one place in the Bible where you are urged to \nwait for certain feelings before you repent of your \nsins. Repentance is urged as a duty; the accept- \nance of Christ and the obedience to Christ are urged \nas duty, and you are to do them because they are \nright. If you wait for such feelings you will never \nbe saved. Act upon the light you have, for you \nhave light enough. Your judgment is convinced; \nyour conscience warns you; follow them and you \nwill be saved. \n\nIf I speak to any who fear about themselves that \nthey have passed beyond the reach of pardon, then \nI assure you that that very fear is the quickening \nof the Holy Spirit and a pledge that if you will \nimmediately repent you will be forgiven. \n\nA most sinful and profane man at a revival \n\n19 \n\n\n\n290 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nmeeting in Evanston, Illinois, several years ago, \nwas asked to give himself to Christ. He refused to \ndo so, saying, "It would be of no use ; I have com- \nmitted the unpardonable sin." On being asked \nwhy, then, he had come to the service, he replied, \n"Because I want to see these two children of mine \nsaved." His great anxiety for them soon led him \nto pray audibly in their behalf. The pastor said \nto him, "Pray for yourself, man ! If God will hear \nyou for others he will hear you for yourself." He \nthen began confessing his sins to God, and pleading \nimportunately for mercy. Finally the Lord spoke \npeace to his soul and he and his daughters went \nhome rejoicing. \n\nThere is hope for any man when he can see his \nsins. When the conscience is blinded so that sin \ndoes not seem terrible, then the soul is in its greatest \ndanger. Christ came to save sinners, and he is able \nto save any sinner who recognizes his sin and turns \nto him with an honest heart. While Paul was \ngoing on in his wicked way, blind to the horror of \nhis sin, there was no hope of his salvation ; but when \nthat noonday on the road to Damascus he was \nstricken down and caught a vision of Christ he re- \ngarded himself as the chief of sinners. Then he \nbegan to pray, and he was soon rejoicing in sal- \nvation. It is not your sins that keep you from \nbeing saved. It is because you do not come to \n\n\n\nTHE UNPARDONABLE SIN 291 \n\nChrist. Christ will not refuse you because you are \na sinner. \n\nMr. Moody used to tell the story of a young man \nwho had a Christian mother who prayed for him, \nbut he was wild and reckless. Finally his mother \ndied, and after her death he began to be troubled. \nHe thought he would get into new company and \nleave his old companions. So he said he would go \nand join a secret society ; he thought he would join \nthe Odd Fellows. But they made inquiry about \nhim and they found he was a drunken, worthless \nfellow, so they blackballed him. They would not \nhave him. Then he went to the Freemasons; but \nhe had nobody to recommend him, so they inquired \nand found there was no good in his record, and they \ntoo blackballed him. They did not want him. One \nday some one handed him a little notice in the street, \ncalling attention to a Christian meeting, and he \nwent in. He heard that Christ had come to save \nsinners. He believed him; he took him at his \nword; and, in reporting the matter, he said he \n"came to Christ without a character, and Christ did \nnot blackball him." As he received that poor man \nwhom nobody else would receive, so he will receive \nyou, and pardon your sins, and give you the peace \nof heaven in your soul. \n\n\n\nXXXI \n\nTHE DAY OF JUDGMENT \n\nWhen the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angeis \nwith him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory : and hef ore \nhim shall he gathered ell nations: and he shall separate them one \nfrom another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.\xe2\x80\x94 Mat- \nthew xxv, 31, 32. \n\nWhat a contrast between the first coming and \nthe second coming of Jesus Christ to the world! \nFirst, he came to be born in the manger of Bethle- \nhem ; but when he shall come again it shall be as a \nroyal conqueror. True, angels sang his advent to \nthe shepherds, and a star guided the wise men to \nhis manger crib ; but he wore the guise of a helpless \nbabe, and throughout his whole life he was not min- \nistered unto, but himself ministered to the poor \nand the sick and the weak and the outcast. No \ndoubt when Christ comes again the same angels that \nsang his praises to the shepherds will be in the \nretinue that attend the triumphant Lord. They \nare as young now as they were then. Men and \nwomen do not get old in heaven ; there is no sickness \nor pain or weariness or old age, but all its inhab- \nitants have the fervor and enthusiasm of immortal \nyouth. But what glorious memories will those \nangels have who sung the "Peace on earth and good \n\n\n\nTHE DAY OF JUDGMENT 293 \n\nwill toward men" so long ago, when they come to \nthe final wind-up and judgment upon the world\'s \naffairs. \n\nIt is a striking thing that Jesus Christ, our \nSaviour, is to be our judge. We are sure it will be \njust judgment. Christ never did an unjust thing. \nDuring the years of his earthly life his bitterest \nenemies never claimed that he was unjust. He \nknows all our case. He has watched over our entire \ncareer. We may be certain that there will be no \nprejudice against us, and no false testimony. If \nour lives are right and are pleasing to him we are \nsure of an abundant acquittal and welcome into \nheaven. \n\nWe must be sure, however, that they are right, \nfor not one has ever spoken such words of sternness \nabout sin as Jesus Christ. It was Christ who said \nto evil men of his time : "Ye are of your father the \ndevil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He \nwas a murderer from the beginning, and abode not \nin the truth, because there is no truth in him. \nWhen he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: \nfor he is a liar, and the father of it." It was Christ \nthat said: "He that believeth on him is not con- \ndemned: but he that believeth not is condemned \nalready, because he hath not believed in the name of \nthe only begotten Son of God." It was Christ \nthat said : "The light of the body is the eye : there- \n\n\n\n294 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nfore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also \nis full of light ; but when thine eye is evil, thy body \nalso is full of darkness." It was Christ who told \nthe story of the rich man whose farm produced so \nabundantly, and who in the midst of his rich crops \nforgot the God who gave them, and said : "This will \nI do : I will pull down my barns, and build greater ; \nand there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. \nAnd I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much \ngoods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, eat, \ndrink, and be merry. But God said unto him, \nThou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of \nthee: then whose shall those things be, which thou \nhath provideth? So is he that layeth up treasure \nfor himself, and is not rich toward God." I bring \nforward these sayings of Christ that we may have \nclearly before us what Christ thinks about sin. \nFor we may be very sure that he who said to Nico- \ndemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a \nman be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of \nGod," will be the very same when he sits upon the \nthrone of judgment and we stand before him to give \nour account. He is "the same yesterday, and to- \nday, and forever." \n\nIt is surely the part of wisdom for us to honestly \nface this question of the judgment. It is idle and \nfoolish for us to put it aside because it disturbs us \nand makes us gloomy. The Scripture says, "It is \n\n\n\nTHE DAY OF JUDGMENT \xc2\xa395 \n\nappointed unto man once to die, but after this the \njudgment." We cannot escape the judgment any \nmore than we can escape death, and our only wise \ntreatment of the subject is to get ready for it, and \nso fit ourselves that we shall not fear to meet our \nSaviour there. \n\nThis picture of the judgment suggests to us the \ntremendous importance of our individuality. At \nthe judgment day every man must stand on his own \nfoundation. A righteous wife will not be able to \ncarry a wicked husband out of the throng on the \nleft hand to those on the right. A holy mother \nwill not be able to atone for the misdoings of a \nprodigal son. Each one standing alone before the \ngreat white throne must be judged alone by his \nown personality. We get so in the habit of judg- \ning ourselves in crowds; we think of ourselves as \nbelonging to a club, or a circle, or a community, and \nso evade the keen sense of responsibility. Even \nwhen I preach to you the most heart-searching \ntruths you evade the sharp probe of the truth by \nconsidering that there are others in the same posi- \ntion with you. You somehow feel that that lessens \nyour personal responsibility. But at the judgment \nthere will be no possibility of thrusting responsi- \nbility aside in that way. Each one will stand on his \nown personality and must answer to his own deeds. \nIn all the great events of life we are alone. In all \n\n\n\n296 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nthe great solemn decisions of life, in our death, and \nin our judgment we are alone with God. \n\nI want to call your attention to the fact that in \nthe solemn and awful separations that shall take \nplace at the judgment the basis on which they shall \ntake place is with reference to the personal atti- \ntude of each one toward Christ. Listen to the word \nof Jesus to the righteous who are gathered on his \nright hand: "Then shall the King say unto them \non his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, \ninherit the kingdom prepared for you from the \nfoundation of the world: for I was an hungered, \nand ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave \nme drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: \nnaked, and ye clothed me : I was sick, and ye visited \nme: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then \nshall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when \nsaw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, \nand gave thee drink? When saw we thee a \nstranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed \nthee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and \ncame unto thee? And the King shall answer and \nsay unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch \nas ye have done it unto one of the least of these my \nbrethren, ye have done it unto me." \n\nI am sure there is a great deal of false hope \nbuilt upon that wonderful declaration of Christ. \nMen and women who have been disobeying Christ \n\n\n\nTHE DAY OF JUDGMENT 397 \n\nall their lives, who have never confessed him, and \nwho have lived utterly out of harmony with his \nspirit, are lulling themselves to sleep in self-com- \nplacency, imagining that some work of charity \nthey have done will open the doors of heaven at \nlast. It is of such that Christ says he will say in \nthat day, "I never knew you." It was of just such \ncases as that that Paul was thinking when he said, \n"If I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if \nI give my body to be burned, but have not love, it \nprofiteth me nothing." If we obey the Lord Jesus \nChrist and give him our hearts in earnest and loving \ndevotion, then every cup of cold water which we give \nin his name shall have its reward. Our good works \ntoward our fellow-men get their value from our \nattitude toward Christ. If we love Christ and do \nwhat we do for them in loving appreciation of his \ngreat love for us and of their brotherhood to Christ, \nthen, indeed, Christ receives each kindly act as \nthough it were done for himself. But let us not \nforget that first of all we must be right with Christ. \nUntil we have given our hearts to him, until we have \nobeyed him by an open discipleship, we are still in \nour sins, unforgiven, and the condemnation of the \nbroken law of God is hanging over our heads. \n\nThe personality of the judgment comes out also \nin the sad and terrible words which Jesus utters to \nthose on the left : "Then shall he say also unto them \n\n\n\n298 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\non the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into \neverlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his \nangels : for I was an hungered, and ye gave me no \nmeat : I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink : I was \na stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye \nclothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited \nme not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, \nLord, when saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or \na stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did \nnot minister unto thee? Then shall he answer \nthem, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch \nas ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye \ndid it not to me. And these shall go away into ever- \nlasting punishment: but the righteous into life \neternal." \n\nNo more momentous words than those are printed \nin any language. And I call upon you again to \nnote that this whole question of the final judgment, \naccording to Christ himself, hinges on our personal \nattitude toward him. Christian goodness begins \nfirst in loyalty to Christ. We were lost in sin, \nwithout hope, and Christ ransomed us through his \nown blood on the cross, and we have no standing \nbefore God until we accept the conditions of that \nransom and are pardoned through the atonement \nChrist made for us. We have broken God\'s law, \nand not one man or woman among us will be able \nto come up before the judgment at last and say, \n\n\n\nTHE DAY OF JUDGMENT 299 \n\n"I have a right to go into heaven, because I have \nnever sinned." Not one of us will get in in that \nway. Our one hope there will be that our sins have \nbeen blotted out through the atoning blood of the \nChrist who shall sit on the great white throne to \njudge us. If we have accepted Christ, and given \nhim our love and our confession, we shall have \nnothing to fear. For the Judge on the throne will \nbe our friend, and he will keep his word with us, and \npublicly confess us before his Father and the holy \nangels. But if we have gone through life reject- \ning him, and refusing all his invitations of love, \nthen we shall stand speechless and in despair before \nthe judgment throne, and hear those awful words, \n"Depart from me." \n\nBut I thank God that the judgment day has not \nyet come, and that this is the day of mercy and of \ngrace, and every one of you may, if you will, make \nyour peace with God through the all-sufficient \natonement of Jesus Christ, so that all fear of death \nand the judgment shall be taken out of your hearts. \nMy friends, do not be storing up wrath against the \nday of wrath through your carelessness and your \nsin. One of the terrible things about sin is that we \nnot only hurt ourselves, but that every disobedience \nto God tends to hurt others who are often very near \nand dear to us. I think the most terrible agony I \nhave ever witnessed has been that of the fathers or \n\n\n\n300 THE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nmothers who felt that their own lack of faithfulness \nto God had been the ruin of a loved child. \n\nI never shall forget two stories which I once heard \nMr. Moody tell. One was the story of a father \nwho lived on the Mississippi River. He was a man \nof great wealth, yet he would have freely given it \nall could he have brought back his eldest boy from \nhis early grave. One day that boy had been borne \nhome unconscious. They did everything that man \ncould do to restore him, but in vain. "He must \ndie," said the doctor. \n\n"But, doctor," said the agonized father, "can \nyou do nothing to bring him to consciousness even \nfor a moment?" \n\n"That may be," said the doctor; "but he can \nnever live." \n\nTime passed, and after a terrible suspense the \nfather\'s wish was gratified. "My son," he whis- \npered, "the doctor tells me you are dying." \n\n"Well," said the boy, "you have never prayed \nfor me, father; won\'t you pray for my lost soul \nnow?" \n\nThe father wept. It was true he had never \nprayed. He was a stranger to God. And in a \nlittle while that soul, unprayed for, passed into its \ndark eternity. \n\nMy friends, are any of you storing up anguish \nlike that by your failure to do your duty to some \n\n\n\nTHE DAY OF JUDGMENT 301 \n\nwho are being influenced by you to forget God and \nlose their own souls ? \n\nThis was the other story : A father had a lovely \nboy, and one day he came home to find him at the \ngates of death. "A great change has come over \nour boy," said the weeping mother. "He has only \nbeen a little ill before, but it seems now as if he were \ndying fast." The father went into the room and \nplaced his hand on the forehead of his darling boy. \nHe could see that the boy was dying. He could \nfeel the cold damp of death. \n\n"My son, do you know you are dying?" \n\n"No; am I?" \n\n"Yes ; you are dying." \n\n"And shall I die to-day?" \n\n"Yes, my boy, you cannot live till night." \n\n"Well, then, I shall be with Jesus to-night, won\'t \nI, father?" \n\n"Yes, my son, you will spend to-night with the \nSaviour." \n\nAs he turned away the boy saw the tears trickling \nover his father\'s cheeks. \n\n"Don\'t weep for me, father," he said; "when I \nget to heaven I will go straight to Jesus, and tell \nhim that ever since I can remember you have tried \nto lead me to him." \n\nDo you suppose the wealth of worlds would take \n\n\n\nTHE HEALING OF SOULS \n\nthe memory of those words of his dying boy out of \nthat father\'s heart? \n\nLet us not miss the one great prize ! Life is but \na short race at best, and no possible success in this \nworld can for one moment repay us for the loss of \nheaven and everlasting life. Make sure of your \ntitle to heaven this very hour ! \n\n\n\nDeacidified using the Bookkeeper process. \nNeutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide \nTreatment Date: Oct. 2005 \n\nPreservationTechnologies \n\n; WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVAT.ON \n\n1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive \nCranberry Township, PA 16066 \n(724)779-2111 \n\n\n\n'