11,//. I 
 
 ^ PRINCETON, N. J. <S^ 
 
 Presented by *JW\ot l^es Sorrel I , D.D 
 
 Burre 11 ^ . 
 1926 ' DaVld J ^e S , 184 
 
 The , laughter of 
 
 God and 
 
THE LAUGHTER OF GOD 
 
By 
 David James Burrell, D. D. 
 
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THE 
 
 LAUGHTER OF GOD 
 
 11 1918 
 
 : i 
 
 AND OTHER SERMONS 
 
 (Expository) 
 
 BY 
 
 DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D.D. 
 
 Pastor of the Marble Collegiate Church, New York 
 
 New York Chicago 
 
 Fleming H. Revell Company 
 
 London and Edinburgh 
 
Copyright, 1918, by 
 FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY 
 
 New York: 158 Fifth Avenue 
 Chicago: 17 N. Wabash Ave. 
 London: 21 Paternoster Square 
 Edinburgh: 75 Princes Street 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I The Laughter of God .... 7 
 
 II The Voice in the Storm ... 16 
 
 III The Traveller's Guide ... 25 
 
 IV The Trumpets of Zion ... 34 
 V The Forbidden Tree . . • . . 44 
 
 VI The Great Amnesty .... 54 
 
 VII The Hand of Macbeth ... 64 
 
 VIII The Beatific Vision ..... 74 
 
 IX A Prayer That Shook the Hills . 83 
 
 X The Bells of Bethlehem . . .92 
 
 XI Life on the Jericho Road . . . 100 
 
 XII "Love Your Enemies" . . „ no 
 
 XIII The Primacy of Peter . . . 120 
 
 XIV Children in the Marketplace . . 129 
 XV A Clinic in Tyre 140 
 
 XVI An Intelligible God .... 149 
 
 XVII A Model Church 158 
 
 XVIII Yea and Nay 167 
 
 XIX The Far-away Look . , . 176 
 
 XX Unutterable Things .... 185 
 
 XXI Unanswered Prayers .... 194 
 
 XXII Paul on His Knees .... 202 
 
 XXIII The Fourth Dimension . . . 210 
 
If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which 
 God giveth; that God in all things may be glorified through 
 Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever. 
 
I 
 
 THE LAUGHTER OF GOD 
 
 "Why do the heathen rage, 
 And the people imagine a vain thing? 
 The kings of the earth set themselves, 
 And the rulers take counsel together, 
 Against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, 
 ' Let us break their bands asunder, 
 And cast away their cords from us ! ' 
 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh." 
 
 Psalm 2. 
 
 I HAVE heard the Bible spoken of as " a back 
 number "; but only gross ignorance or crass prej- 
 udice could so characterize it. Read for your- 
 self and see. 
 
 It is the oldest of books; but it was adjusted in the 
 beginning by its divine Author to all the vicissitudes 
 of succeeding ages. 
 
 A back number indeed ! Tell me, then ; Why should 
 it be the best seller in the book-markets of the world 
 to-day ? 
 
 The second Psalm is offered in evidence. It was 
 written three thousand years ago ; nevertheless it is so 
 distinctly up-to-date that it sounds as if it has been 
 composed " somewhere in Flanders," within sound of 
 the heavy guns on the firing line. 
 
 It contains four stanzas of three verses each; and 
 in them we shall find an answer to four great ques- 
 tions which are disturbing the hearts of the people 
 just now. 
 
 7 
 
8 THE LAUGHTER OF GOD 
 
 In the first stanza we have an answer to the ques- 
 tion, 
 
 "who began this war?" 
 
 The kings and rulers of the earth are represented 
 as sitting in council to devise schemes for thwarting 
 the beneficent plans of the Father and his anointed 
 Son. 
 
 But kings and their counsellors are not alone to 
 blame. Behold the mob ! The heathen are raging and 
 the people imagining a vain thing. Hear them shout- 
 ing " Let us break his bands asunder and cast -away 
 his cords from us!" 
 
 What bands? The bands of law and order and 
 humanity and righteousness. Whose cords? The re- 
 straining cords of the Lord and his Anointed. 
 
 Thus rulers and people clasp hands in an effort to 
 cast off salutary restraint and revel in lawless free- 
 dom. This is the world's war — All hands to the firing 
 line ! It is a mad, reckless, tumultuous revolt against 
 God. 
 
 In the second stanza we have an answer to the 
 question, 
 
 "what was the occasion of the war?" 
 
 They say it was provoked by the assassination of a 
 prince in Vienna three years ago. That, however, was 
 a mere pretext, a convenient pretext for the kindling 
 of fagots which ambitious despots had for decades 
 been heaping up. 
 
 The plans were long maturing: as to some treaties 
 which were to be kept and others to be broken ; as to 
 the pathways of armies advancing to conquest in many 
 
THE LAUGHTER OF GOD 9 
 
 lands and over the seven seas. Then came the fulness 
 of time. An assassin's dagger pointed along the dial ; 
 but God struck the hour. The despots wanted war; 
 and he said, " They shall have it ! " Thus the light- 
 nings, once loosed, passed into mightier hands. 
 
 Listen ! A burst of laughter out of heaven ! Be not 
 deceived; God is not mocked; whatsoever a nation 
 soweth that shall it also reap. The mob that sowed 
 •the dragons' teeth shall cry for peace ; but behold, the 
 Reaper is abroad in the world and it will be for him 
 to say when they shall have it. Alas, for those who 
 run upon the bosses of the shield of God ! 
 
 But is there wrath in him? 
 
 Why not ? God's name is love, but let it not be for- 
 gotten that he has another name, to wit, " a consum- 
 ing fire." Who would respect a man incapable of 
 anger when occasion calls for it? A God with no 
 room in his nature for holy indignation — a God who 
 could look on bloodstained seas and desolated homes 
 without the making bare of his mighty arm — would not 
 be a respectable God. 
 
 Hence this burst of laughter. He is angry ; where- 
 fore the war goes on. In vain do pacifists conspire and 
 Vaticans plead for peace. An indignant God is in the 
 field, and the chastening must continue until the blas- 
 phemous schemes of the God-haters are brought 
 low. 
 
 Meanwhile he laughs at the fatuity of his enemies 
 as at a swarm of gnats that conspire against a cyclone, 
 or a nest of blind adders that spit out their venom 
 against the sun, or a convocation of earth-worms that 
 presume to lift up their crowned heads against the 
 king's chariot on his highway. 
 
10 THE LAUGHTER OF GOD 
 
 And he " speaks unto them in his wrath." Observe 
 what he says : " Yet have I set my King upon my holy 
 hill of Zion!' 
 
 There is a world of significance in that little " yet." 
 It means, " Despite your plotting and your rightful- 
 ness and your disregard of all laws human and divine, 
 my Anointed shall sit supreme among the nations and 
 his Golden Rule shall yet bring in the Golden Age. 
 Your heavy battalions, your airships and dread- 
 naughts and submarines shall not prevail against 
 him." 
 
 Moreover he " vexes them in his sore-displeasure." 
 Let us not mistake the significance of current events. 
 When God is sore displeased it behooves the people 
 to stop, look and listen. 
 
 There was a time in the history of France when the 
 Corps Legislatif passed a solemn resolution " That 
 there is no God." That word passed out of the As- 
 sembly and was caught up by the multitudes who 
 swept through the streets crying " There is no God ! " 
 A courtesan was brought in a triumphal chariot to 
 Notre Dame and enthroned at the high altar as God- 
 dess of Reason. That night " The Terror " began : 
 and the gutters of Paris ran red with blood. The 
 seed-sowing of the wind was reaped in a whirlwind 
 of death. The people courted " vexation," and they 
 had it. 
 
 In the third stanza we have an answer to the ques- 
 tion, 
 
 "why do they keep on fighting?" 
 
 And the answer is, because they cannot help it. 
 The nations have in fact given up their dreams of con- 
 
THE LAUGHTER OF GOD 11 
 
 quest. Ahab no longer covets the Belgian vineyard. 
 But repentance comes too late. There is another King 
 now on the premises, and the belligerents must reckon 
 with him. 
 
 The Heir-apparent, that is, the Anointed, now ap- 
 pears and presents his credentials : " I will declare the 
 decree," he says; and he proceeds, as it were, to un- 
 fold the parchment on which is written, signed and 
 sealed with Jehovah's signet, " Thou art my Son, this 
 day have I begotten thee." 
 
 It thus appears that Christ the Anointed is the only 
 begotten and therefore co-equal Son of God. 
 
 All men are God's- sons by creation, and many are 
 his sons by adoption ; but he has only one begotten 
 Son, to whom belong the kingdoms of this world by 
 right of lineal descent and primogeniture. He is fore- 
 ordained to be King of kings and Lord of lords. The 
 government is upon his shoulder. Thus it is decreed 
 and thus it must be. 
 
 The day when this title was definitely assured to 
 him was the day when he rose triumphant from the 
 dead. By this he was " declared to be the Son of God 
 with power." 
 
 All doubt as to this most wonderful and singular 
 birth-day is removed by Paul's words in the syna- 
 gogue at Antioch : " We declare unto you glad tidings, 
 how that the promise which was made unto the 
 fathers God hath fulfilled the same unto us their chil- 
 dren, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is 
 also written in the second Psalm, ' Thou art my Son, 
 this day have I begotten thee.' " 
 
 In the paschal cup we drink to " The Day," as a 
 foregleam of the coming day of his coronation when 
 
12 THE LAUGHTER OF GOD 
 
 all kings shall prostrate themselves and every knee 
 shall bow before him. 
 
 And with the Decree goes a great promise; "Ask 
 of me and I will give thee the heathen for thy in- 
 heritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy 
 possession." 
 
 Has Christ ever asked this? Come to Calvary and 
 see. Was ever such a prayer offered since the 
 foundation of the world as when he, lifted up betwixt 
 heaven and earth to die for us men and our salva- 
 tion, stretched out his hands in divine appeal for 
 the heathen and the uttermost parts of the earth 
 to be given him as the fruit of the travail of his 
 soul? 
 
 In the fourth stanza we have an answer to the ques- 
 tion, 
 
 "when will this war end?" 
 
 It will end when the nations have learned the les- 
 son which God is trying to teach them and not before. 
 Certain it is that they have not learned it yet. Na- 
 tional pride must be brought low. Dreams of conquest 
 must be dissipated into thin air. Christ and his Gos- 
 pel of peace must be acknowledged as supreme over 
 all. 
 
 The time will come when, like Julian the Apostate, 
 the arrogant provokers of strife shall clutch the earth 
 and cry, " Galilean, thou hast conquered ! " Then 
 shall the end be. Meanwhile they are like rebellious 
 boys kept after school to con their unlearned les- 
 son. To them the Lord speaks; "Be wise, there- 
 fore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the 
 earth" 
 
THE LAUGHTER OF GOD 13 
 
 They will never yield until they are broken : never 
 until defeat and gaunt hunger and empty exchequers 
 and the draining of martial resources shall have 
 brought them to their knees. This is involved in the 
 divine plan ; as it is written, " Thou shalt break them 
 with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them to pieces as 
 a potter's vessel." 
 
 If this world is ever to be Christ's it is obvious that 
 some things must go. The pride of power and the lust 
 of conquest must go. Militarism must go. And they 
 are going, going at the pace that kills! 
 
 The freedom of the world is being purchased with a 
 great price ; but, when the sun rises upon a chastened 
 and regenerated race — ready for the coming of peace 
 — we shall see that the awful price was not too great 
 to pay for it. 
 
 Wherefore let kings and rulers and all who long 
 for brighter days "serve the Lord with fear and re- 
 joice with trembling." 
 
 The divine purposes are ripening fast. Day by day 
 it becomes more evident that God is making the wrath 
 of men to praise him. He is a great God; and we, 
 whose breath is in our nostrils, cannot afford to be at 
 odds with him. 
 
 If it be not so with you, " kiss the Son lest he be 
 angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is 
 kindled but a little." To kiss the prince, in ancient 
 times, was a token of fealty. Thus do we pass under 
 the yoke of Christ; submitting to his cords of truth 
 and his bonds of righteousness as our reasonable 
 service. 
 
 If we care for an echo of this up-to-date Psalm we 
 shall find it in the Battle Hymn of the Republic: 
 
14 THE LAUGHTER OF GOD 
 
 " I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel ; 
 As ye deal with my contemners so with you my grace shall 
 
 deal ; 
 Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his 
 heel, 
 
 Since God is marching on. 
 
 "He has sounded forth a trumpet that shall never call re- 
 treat ; 
 He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment 
 
 seat; 
 O be swift, my soul, to answer him! Be jubilant, my feet; 
 Our God is marching on." 
 
 It is fitting that a portion of Scripture so full of 
 the divine majesty — like a sky with alternating suns 
 and storms — should close with a benediction ; u Blessed 
 are all they that put their trust in hint!" This is our 
 supreme need, a more implicit trust in him. 
 
 The passing days call for great believers. Little- 
 Faith, who worships a little god, is inevitably at his 
 wits' end. The God in whom we trust is a great God ! 
 Clouds and darkness are round about him; righteous- 
 ness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. 
 But ever " behind a frowning providence he hides a 
 smiling face." 
 
 Let us rest assured that out of this world's war 
 will emerge a better world to live in. 
 
 If Christ were not strong enough to crush the ser- 
 pent with his heel, he would not be able to save unto 
 the uttermost all that come unto him. Our God is the 
 God of salvation. He is our refuge and our strength ; 
 therefore will we not fear though the earth be re- 
 moved and the mountains be cast into the midst of 
 the sea. 
 
THE LAUGHTER OF GOD 15 
 
 We are living in momentous times. These are the 
 times Isaiah foresaw when he wrote, " Who is this 
 that cometh from Bozrah, glorious in his apparel, 
 travelling in the greatness of his strength ? — I that 
 speak in righteousness, mighty to save — Wherefore art 
 thou red in thine apparel and thy garments like him 
 that treadeth in the winefat? — I have trodden the 
 winepress alone, and of the people there was none with 
 me. The day of vengeance is in my heart, and the 
 year of my redeemed is come." 
 
 These are the times of which John dreamed in 
 Patmos ; " I saw heaven opened, and beheld a white 
 horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful 
 and True. His eyes were as a flame of fire; on his' 
 head were many crowns, and in righteousness he doth 
 judge and make war. Out of his mouth goeth a sharp 
 two-edged sword, with which he doth smite the na- 
 tions. He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness 
 and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath upon his 
 vesture and upon his thigh a name written, King of 
 kings and Lord of lords." 
 
 " In an age on ages telling, to be living is sublime." 
 
 The King is on his triumphant march to the throne. 
 He comes amid the roar and tempest of Armageddon 
 to tread the red dragon under his feet and assume 
 his own dominion from the river unto the ends of 
 the earth. 
 
 Fall in with the logic of events, O people of Christ ! 
 Hosanna in the highest ! Welcome the righteous and 
 eternal peace! Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and 
 let the King of glory enter in ! 
 
( 
 
 II 
 
 THE VOICE IN THE STORM 
 
 "Give unto the Lord, O ye sons of the mighty, 
 Give unto the Lord glory and strength. 
 Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name; 
 Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. 
 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters! 
 
 The God of glory thundereth, 
 
 Even the Lord upon many waters. 
 
 The voice of the Lord is powerful ; 
 
 The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; 
 
 Yea, the Lord breaketh in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. 
 
 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; 
 
 Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild-ox. 
 
 The voice of the Lord cleaveth the flames of fire. 
 
 The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness; 
 
 The Lord shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. 
 
 The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to calve, 
 
 And strippeth the forests bare: 
 
 And in his temple everything saith, Glory! 
 
 The Lord sat as king at the Flood; 
 
 Yea, the Lord sitteth as king for ever. 
 
 The Lord will give strength unto his people; 
 
 The Lord will bless his people with peace." 
 
 Psalm 29. 
 
 "F m I JHERE are no songs like the songs of Zion." 
 So said John Milton, himself the sweetest 
 -*- of uninspired poets; and all reverent stu- 
 dents of the Scriptures agree with him. 
 
 16 
 
THE VOICE IN THE STORM 17 
 
 We have here one of the most sublime of these songs 
 of Zion. Its title is " The Voice in the Storm." 
 
 It begins with a Gloria and ends with a Pax Vobis- 
 cum. It is divided into three strophes. 
 
 In the first the storm is represented as gathering in 
 the North. The clouds assemble over Mount Hermon ; 
 there are ominous mutterings as before a battle. 
 
 In the second the gale comes sweeping toward the 
 South. The sky is rent with vivid lightnings and 
 reverberates with peals of thunder. The flood-gates 
 are open; the cedars of the forest are crashing; the 
 mountains are trembling. 
 
 In the third, the storm moves over the Wilderness 
 of Kadesh with lessening violence and dies away in 
 silence toward the Great Sea. 
 
 It is a wonderful Psalm; and should be read, as 
 Spurgeon says, " beneath the black wing of the tem- 
 pest; its verses marching to the tune of thunderbolts." 
 God is everywhere conspicuous. The earth is hushed 
 by the majesty of his presence. There are voices on 
 every hand ; but his voice is over all. 
 
 We have here the inspired conception of Nature as 
 a temple in which " everything saith, Glory ! " that is, 
 everything in heaven above and earth beneath does 
 homage to the Creator and Sovereign, crying, " Glory 
 to God!" 
 
 The ascription of a voice to Nature is distinctly 
 poetic. In fact nature has no voice : she gives forth 
 only inarticulate sounds. Yet Bryant rightly says, 
 
 "To him who, in the love of Nature, holds 
 Communion with her visible forms, she speaks 
 A various language." 
 
18 THE VOICE IN THE STORM 
 
 In like manner David sings in a spirit of rapt ado- 
 ration, 
 
 "The heavens declare the glory of God, 
 And the firmament showeth his handiwork: 
 Day unto day uttereth speech, 
 And night unto night showeth knowledge." 
 
 This thought is amplified by Addison in his mystic 
 hymn : 
 
 "The spacious firmament on high, 
 With all the blue, ethereal sky, 
 And spangled heavens, a shining frame, 
 Their great Original proclaim. 
 The unwearied sun, from day to day, 
 Does his Creator's powers display, 
 And publishes to every land 
 The work of an almighty hand. 
 
 " Soon as the evening shades prevail 
 The moon takes up the wondrous tale, 
 And nightly to the listening earth 
 Repeats the story of her birth ; 
 Whilst all the stars that round her burn, 
 And all the planets in their turn, 
 Confirm the tidings as they roll, 
 And spread the truth from pole to pole. 
 
 "What though in solemn silence all 
 Move round the dark terrestrial ball? 
 What though no real voice nor sound 
 Amidst their radiant orbs be found? 
 In reason's ear they all rejoice, 
 And utter forth a glorious voice, 
 Forever singing as they shine, 
 'The Hand that made us is divine !'" 
 
THE VOICE IN THE STORM 19 
 
 In like manner the poet Coleridge, in his " Hymn 
 before Sunrise in the Vale of Chamonix," invokes all 
 Nature to awake and utter praise : 
 
 "Ye ice falls, ye that from the mountain's brow 
 Adown enormous ravines slope amain ; 
 Motionless torrents, silent cataracts! 
 Who made you glorious as the gates of heaven 
 Beneath the keen full moon? Who bade the sun 
 Clothe you with rainbows? Who, with living flowers 
 Of loveliest blue, spread garlands at your feet? 
 God! Let the torrents like a shout of nations 
 Answer; and let the ice plains echo, God! 
 God ! Sing ye meadow streams with gladsome voice ! 
 Ye pine groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds! 
 And they, too, have a voice, yon piles of snow, 
 And in their perilous fall shall thunder God ! " 
 
 It is important, however, that we should distinguish 
 between the voice of nature and the Voice which is 
 beyond nature and above it. In these days there is 
 a tendency to identify God with his creation, which 
 is simple pantheism, and pantheism is only another 
 name for atheism. To say that " God is everything " 
 is practically to say that God is nothing. To identify 
 him with creation is to affirm that the elements sweep 
 by like a godless rabble on their automatic way. This 
 is not so. " He sitteth above the waters ! " His Voice 
 is over them all. 
 
 In one of John Calvin's sermons he says, " If any 
 one who wished to know a man should take no no- 
 tice of his face but fix his eyes only on the points of 
 his nails, his folly would justly be derided; but far 
 greater is the folly of those philosophers who out of 
 mediate and proximate causes weave for themselves 
 
20 THE VOICE IN THE STORM 
 
 veils, lest they should be compelled to acknowledge 
 the hand which manifestly displays itself in the works 
 of God." 
 
 In the early life of St. Augustine, led away by his 
 study of the Greek philosophies, he became a panthe- 
 ist. But he was unhappy because his soul was at sea. 
 At length, unable to escape from the memory of his 
 mother's prayers and finding no comfort in his vain 
 wanderings, he was driven to his knees. In his " Con- 
 fessions " he tells the story thus : " In my search for 
 God I asked the earth, and it said ' I am not he/ I 
 asked the sun and the depths, and they answered ' We 
 are not God : look above and beyond us ! ' I asked 
 the winds and the tempests, and they replied ' No ! 
 Anexamenes is wrong; there is something deeper 
 yet ! ' I asked the stars of heaven and they, too, said 
 ' We are not your God.' I addressed all the living 
 things that surround the doors of my fleshly senses, 
 ' Ye have said that ye are not God ; tell me somewhat 
 about him ' ; and with a great voice they answered, 
 with one accord, ' He made us ! ' " 
 
 The distinction we are making between God and 
 nature, or between the voice of the tempest and the 
 Voice that speaks through it, is important by reason 
 of certain inferences which flow from it. 
 
 The first of these inferences is Providence. It 
 clears the atmosphere to realize that the world we are 
 living in is not a fortuitous concourse of atoms, an 
 organism without an organizer, but that One sitteth 
 enthroned, as Law-giver and Executive, sustaining and 
 controlling all. 
 
 God rules in the physical world. The stars of 
 heaven sweep round in their orbits obedient to his 
 
THE VOICE IN THE STORM 21 
 
 will. He rules in infinities and infinitesimals alike. 
 He directs the wandering of the minutest vagrant of 
 earth and sea. " Who provideth for the raven his 
 food ? When his young ones wander for lack of meat, 
 they cry unto God." 
 
 He rales in history. The wars of nations are not 
 beyond his ken ; he maketh their wrath to praise 
 him. It is impossible to read history aright except 
 as one is able to read Providence between the lines. 
 u Come, Philip," said Luther to his friend Melancthon 
 in the darkest days of the Reformation, " come, let us 
 sing the forty-sixth Psalm: God is our refuge and 
 strength, a very present help in trouble ; therefore will 
 not we fear though the earth be removed and though 
 the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea ! " 
 
 He rules in the experience of individual men. If 
 he is not unmindful of the lilies of the field and the 
 fowls of the air, how much more shall he care for 
 you, O ye of little faith ? " A blessed a fortiori that ! 
 " How much more shall he care for you ! " The voice 
 in the storm is, therefore, a voice of comfort and 
 strength. 
 
 "The Lord our God is clothed with might; 
 
 The winds obey his will. 
 He speaks and, in his heavenly height, 
 
 The rolling sun stands still. 
 Rebel, ye waves, and o'er the land 
 
 With threatening aspect roar ; 
 The Lord uplifts his awful hand 
 
 And chains you to the shore! 
 Howl winds of night, your force combine; 
 
 Without his high behest, 
 Ye shall not, in the mountain pine, 
 
 Disturb the sparrow's nest. 
 
•2% THE VOICE IN THE STORM 
 
 His voice sublime is heard afar ; 
 
 In distant peals it dies ; 
 He yokes the whirlwind to his car, 
 
 And sweeps the howling skies! 
 Ye nations, bend; in reverence bend! 
 
 Ye monarchs, wait his nod; 
 And bid the choral song ascend 
 
 To celebrate our God ! " 
 
 'A second inference which follows from the con- 
 templation of the Voice above the Storm is the doc- 
 trine of Grace. 
 
 If it be true that there is a God who controls the 
 elements; and if it be further true that this God is 
 our Father; then it follows inevitably that he would 
 not suffer his sinful and suffering children to abide 
 without hope. He would not leave us adrift, on a 
 rudderless raft, upon a boundless sea. Is there no 
 eye to pity, no arm to save? Is there no relief from 
 " this certain fearful looking for Judgment " ? Is 
 there no remedy for sin? 
 
 The Voice in the storm proclaims him the Mighty 
 to save. He will make bare his arm in our behalf. 
 He does make bare his arm! Behold it on Calvary! 
 The arm of the Lord is there made bare, as when a 
 workman rolls back his sleeve to address himself to a 
 mighty task. The Lord thus stretches forth his omnip- 
 otent hand to deliver us. 
 
 So the voice of Revelation answers to the Voice in 
 the storm. The New Testament answers to the Old. 
 The Gospel responds to prophecy : " God so loved the 
 world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoso- 
 ever believeth in him should not perish but have ever- 
 lasting life/* 
 
THE VOICE IN THE STORM 23 
 
 Yes, the Voice of the Lord is upon the waters ; and 
 behold, he comes this way. He walks upon the bois- 
 terous sea! He has seen us toiling hopelessly at the 
 oars. Alas, that any should fail to recognize him. 
 See John and Peter and Andrew, looking into each 
 other's faces fearfully and whispering, " It is a spec- 
 tre ! " He speaks : his voice is the same that David 
 heard above the thunders of Kadesh; the same that 
 Job heard out of the whirlwind, the same that came to 
 Daniel when the four winds of heaven strove upon 
 the Great Sea ; " Be not afraid ; it is I ! " 
 
 Wherefore let all who worship in his temple say 
 "Glory!" Let them rejoice, because this God is the 
 God of salvation. 
 
 Open your ears, O men and women toiling at the 
 futile oars of self-reliance and despairing of help! 
 He speaks ; and his benediction is " Peace be unto 
 you." See that ye be not as those who, when he spake 
 through the open heavens, said, " Behold it thunder- 
 eth! " The sounds of nature are inarticulate; but the 
 Voice of nature's God is eloquent of hope and pardon 
 and eternal life. 
 
 And here is the joy of living. To him who can 
 distinguish between the sound of thunder and the voice 
 of the God that thundereth, life is no longer a vain 
 battling against infinite odds. The Almighty has come 
 into his philosophy; and he finds himself not a mere 
 creature of circumstance, but a beloved and cared-for 
 child of God. 
 
 So ends the storm. There is a great calm; and 
 the Voice that was heard through the warring ele- 
 ments now speaks in the silence of the trysting place. 
 
 It is recorded of Elijah that, when his soul was 
 
24 THE VOICE IN THE STORM 
 
 weary amid the troubles that befell him in the evil 
 reign of Ahab, " he went a day's journey into the wil- 
 derness and sat down under a juniper tree." There 
 the weariness of life overcame him: so that he cried 
 " It is enough ; O Lord, take me ! " Then he betook 
 himself to a cave ; where he still lamented, " I have 
 been very jealous for thee, O Lord: and they have 
 slain thy prophets and I only am left. Be pleased to 
 take me ! " He went forth and stood before the cave ; 
 and behold, the Lord passed by and a mighty wind 
 arose and rent the mountains ; but the Lord was not in 
 the wind. And after the wind there came an earth- 
 quake, so that the ground rocked beneath his feet; 
 but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after 
 the earthquake there was a fire; so that the forests 
 were crackling all about him; but the Lord was not 
 in the fire. And after the fire, a still, small Voice. 
 And the Voice spoke comfort and peace. 
 
 The Voice of the storm and the Voice of the silence 
 are one. God, who rules above the convulsions of 
 Nature and the confused noise of nations at strife, is 
 the same God who bids us enter into the secret place 
 of his pavilion and commune with him. And wher- 
 ever he speaks, he speaks a benediction. 
 
 The God who sitteth above the waters is come 
 near to us in the person of Christ, who said to his 
 disciples in the upper room, " Peace I leave with you, 
 my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth 
 give I unto you : let not your heart be troubled, neither 
 let it be afraid." Thus, to one who reverently hears 
 and heeds, comes the peace that passeth all under- 
 standing; peace that floweth like a river in the soul; 
 " peace eternal, sacred, sure"; the very peace of God. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE TRAVELLER'S GUIDE 
 (A New Year's Sermon) 
 
 " I to the hills will lift mine eyes, 
 
 from whence doth come mine aid. 
 My safety cometh from the Lord, 
 
 who heav'n and earth hath made. 
 Thy foot he'll not let slide, nor will 
 
 he slumber that thee keeps. 
 Behold, he that keeps Israel, 
 
 he slumbers not, nor sleeps. 
 
 The Lord thee keeps ; the Lord thy shade 
 
 on thy right hand doth stay: 
 The moon by night thee shall not smite, 
 
 nor yet the sun by day. 
 The Lord shall keep thy soul; he shall 
 
 preserve thee from all ill. 
 Henceforth thy going out and in 
 
 God keep for ever will." 
 
 Psalm 121: (Old Version). 
 
 IT is a mystery to me why so many people want 
 to make a noise on New Year's eve instead of 
 calmly contemplating the past and girding their 
 loins for the race that is set before them. 
 
 There are various ways of " seeing the old year 
 out." One is that of the revellers who betake them- 
 selves to the cabarets and dance-halls, for no con- 
 ceivable reason unless it be in the hope of drowning 
 the memory of the mislived past. A better way is 
 
 25 
 
26 THE TRAVELLER'S GUIDE 
 
 that of our Methodist friends who keep " watch- 
 night " in their churches. They spend the passing 
 hours in prayer and thanksgiving until the clock strikes 
 midnight, when all unite in " Wrestling Jacob/' that 
 most picturesque of Wesley's hymns: 
 
 " Come, O thou Traveller unknown, 
 Whom still I hold, but cannot see; 
 My company before is gone, 
 And I am left alone with thee ; 
 With thee all night I mean to stay, 
 And wrestle till the break of day. 
 
 " I need not tell thee who I am ; 
 My sin and misery declare; 
 Thyself hast called me by my name; 
 Look on thy hands, and read it there : 
 But who, I ask thee, who art thou? 
 Tell me thy name, and tell me now. 
 
 " I know thee, Saviour, who thou art, 
 Jesus, the feeble sinner's Friend; 
 Nor wilt thou with the night depart, 
 But stay and love me to the end : 
 Thy mercies never shall remove, 
 Thy nature, and thy name is Love." 
 
 I am frank to say, however, that I did not " watch 
 the old year out." I went to bed as usual, but I could 
 not sleep; the anticipation of the midnight uproar was 
 on my nerves. In the borderland of semi-conscious- 
 ness I seemed to see a man sitting before an open 
 ledger, his face greatly troubled because the record 
 was against him. Then I saw a Hand reaching over 
 his shoulder, and as it moved across the page it left 
 a red stain which obliterated all his liabilities; and 
 a Voice said, " Son, thy sins be forgiven thee ! " The 
 
THE TRAVELLER'S GUIDE 27 
 
 man looked up as if to express his thanks; but just 
 then a whistle blew and bells began to ring, and I 
 awoke, across the border of the year. Then above the 
 noise and uproar I seemed to hear a great congrega- 
 tion singing the last lines of Wrestling Jacob: 
 
 "Thy mercies never shall remove, 
 Thy nature, and thy name is Love." 
 
 It has been my usual custom to select some portion 
 of Scripture as a sort of oriflamme, or red-letter epi- 
 graph for the year. The choice for the incoming year 
 is the One hundred and twenty-first Psalm. 
 
 This is known familiarly as " The Traveller's 
 Psalm," and will therefore be appropriate. For what 
 are we but travellers ? Here we have no abiding city : 
 we are strangers and sojourners, looking for a better 
 country, even an heavenly, and for a city that hath 
 foundations whose builder and maker is God. 
 
 "Gently, Lord, O gently lead us, 
 Pilgrims in this vale of tears, 
 Through the trials yet decreed us, 
 Till our last great change appears : 
 And when mortal life is ended, 
 Bid us in thine arms to rest, 
 Till, by angels bands attended, 
 We awake among the blest ! " 
 
 In the superscription of this Psalm it is called a 
 " Song of Degrees." It is one of fifteen, from CXX to 
 CXXXIV inclusive, which were so called probably 
 because they were sung by pilgrims on their way to 
 the annual feasts at Jerusalem. On such occasions the 
 roads were thronged with travellers from every part 
 
28 THE TRAVELLER'S GUIDE 
 
 of Jewry. This particular Psalm was sung in all 
 probability when they caught sight of the Sacred City, 
 " beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth." 
 How grateful to the eyes of the travel-worn pilgrims 
 was the dome of the Temple, which to them was the 
 ancestral centre of the worship of the true God. 
 
 The Psalm is constructed on a perfect rhythmical 
 plan. It consists of four stanzas or strophes, in which 
 are set forth the three incommunicable attributes of 
 God ; and these are finally summed up in his provi- 
 dence, or constant care. 
 
 The first stanza celebrates the divine Omnipotence. 
 / will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence 
 cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which 
 made heaven and earth. 
 
 You may think it makes little difference, so far as 
 practical piety is concerned, whether the world came 
 to pass by the calm process of natural law or by a 
 creative fiat. 
 
 It made a great difference to Job, however, when, in 
 the midst of suffering which was due in large measure 
 to self-will and intellectual pride, he was rebuked by 
 the Voice out of the whirlwind saying, " Who is this 
 that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? 
 Gird up thy loins now like a man; for I will demand 
 of thee, and answer thou me. Where wast thou when 
 I laid the foundations of the earth, when the morning 
 stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for 
 joy?" 
 
 It made a great difference to Moses, also, when he 
 climbed the steeps of Nebo singing his farewell song: 
 " Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all gen- 
 erations. Before these mountains were brought forth, 
 
THE TRAVELLER'S GUIDE 29 
 
 or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, 
 even from everlasting to everlasting thou art God ! " 
 
 And it makes a great difference to all who are trust- 
 ing in Christ for their salvation ; since the Maker of 
 heaven and earth is also the Saviour of men. He who 
 sat upon the circle of the universe and called into 
 existence things that are out of those that were not is 
 none other than Christ, as it is written : " All things 
 were made by him, and without him was not anything 
 made that was made." He who created is mighty to 
 save ! Nothing is too hard for him. He is able to 
 save, even unto the uttermost, all that come unto him. 
 
 The second stanza sets forth the divine Omniscience. 
 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved; he that keep- 
 eth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth 
 Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 
 
 A sentinel may sleep at his post as the enemy draws 
 near: a pilot may sleep at the wheel as the vessel 
 speeds toward the reef; a weary mother may sleep 
 with an ailing infant in her arms ; but he that keepeth 
 Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. " Hast thou 
 not known; hast thou not heard, that the everlasting 
 God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth 
 not neither is weary? " There is no searching of his 
 understanding." 
 
 Ours is the God of the ever-open eyes. O those 
 eyes of the Lord, that " run to and fro through all the 
 earth to behold the evil and the good ! " Are we 
 afraid of them? 
 
 When Lafayette was a prisoner, during the Revo- 
 lutionary War, he was distressed beyond measure by 
 the fact that a guard was continually watching him 
 through an aperture in the door of his cell. But 
 
 
30 THE TRAVELLER'S GUIDE 
 
 those were the eyes of an enemy. Well may the 
 Omniscience of God be terrible to those who are not 
 on friendly terms with him. 
 
 But to those who love him his unceasing watch- 
 fulness must be a source of unspeakable joy. The 
 bond-woman who fled from oppression in Abraham's 
 tent and betook herself to the wilderness was bowed 
 down in utter loneliness and desolation until the Angel 
 of the Covenant spoke to her. Then, filled with won- 
 der and gratitude, she called the name of the place 
 Beer-lahai-roi, that is, " Thou God seest me." 
 
 The third stanza celebrates the divine Omnipres- 
 ence. The Lord is thy keeper; the Lord is thy shade 
 upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by 
 day nor the moon by night. 
 
 If the Lord is our keeper, who shall harm us? The 
 donjon of the castle is called " the keep/' because it is 
 a safe retreat. How much safer is the fortress of the 
 divine presence ; for as the mountains are round about 
 Jerusalem, so is the Lord around about them that fear 
 him. 
 
 To those who are at odds with the Father it is a 
 dreadful thought that he is " never far from any one 
 of us." It was under the sense of flagrant sin that 
 David cried, " Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or 
 whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend 
 up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in 
 hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the 
 morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, 
 even there shall thy hand lead me and thy right hand 
 shall hold me. If I say surely the darkness shall cover 
 me, even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the 
 darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth 
 
THE TRAVELLER'S GUIDE 81 
 
 as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike 
 to thee!" 
 
 So it was with Jacob, when, fleeing from the spectre 
 of an unforgiven sin, he dreamed the golden ladder 
 and awaking cried, " Verily, the Lord is in this place, 
 and I knew it not ! /^ But many a man, under like cir- 
 cumstances, finding comfort beyond words in the 
 thought of the divine Presence, has resumed his jour- 
 ney with the song, 
 
 "Though like a wanderer, 
 
 The sun gone down, 
 Darkness be over me, 
 
 My rest a stone; 
 Yet in my dreams I'd be 
 
 Nearer, my God to thee, 
 Nearer to thee." 
 
 In the fourth stanza the divine Omnipotence, 
 Omniscience and Omnipresence are all summed up in 
 Providence. The Lord shall preserve thee from all 
 evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall 
 preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this 
 time forth, and even for evermore. 
 
 Our life is made up of goings out and comings in. 
 It begins with a coming in and ends with a going out ; 
 and all between is naught but going out in the morning 
 and coming in at nightfall. And during this monoto- 
 nous round we are ever under the watchcare of the 
 11 Divinity that shapes our ends." 
 
 The man in " Pilgrim's Progress," who started out 
 from the City of Destruction, was never without a 
 Voice to direct him. In the Valley of Humiliation, 
 climbing the Hill Difficulty, passing through Vanity 
 
32 THE TRAVELLER'S GUIDE 
 
 Fair, crossing the Enchanted Ground, and onward to 
 the Delectable Mountains and the Land of Beulah, his 
 Guide was always with him. As he forded the deep 
 river and came in view of the Celestial City the gates 
 rolled back, and, amid the ringing of the city's bells, 
 he passed in to behold the King in his beauty. 
 
 O blessed Providence that never forsakes us ! O 
 wonderful promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even 
 unto the end ! " 
 
 " I have a friend so precious 
 So very dear to me; 
 He loves me with such tender love, 
 Loves me so faithfully; 
 I could not live apart from him ; 
 I long to feel him nigh; 
 And so we dwell together, 
 My Lord and I." 
 
 So shall this Song of Degrees be a strong staff to 
 lean upon in this New Year. As it is written : " Com- 
 mit thy ways unto the Lord ; trust in him and he shall 
 bring it to pass." 
 
 What shall he " bring to pass ? " Every dream of 
 conquest over sin ; every hope of salvation " worked 
 out" into character and usefulness; every aspiration 
 toward a holy life; every ambition to make our ener- 
 gies tell for the glory of God. Has he not promised 
 that all things shall work together for good to them 
 that love him? 
 
 Who shall say what the future has in store for us? 
 " I know not what awaits me ; God kindly veils mine 
 eyes." Thanks for my blindness! To-morrow is in 
 better hands than mine. 
 
THE TRAVELLER'S GUIDE 33 
 
 " So on I go, not knowing : 
 I would not if I might. 
 I'd rather walk in the dark with him 
 Than go alone in the light; 
 I'd rather walk by faith in him 
 Than go alone by sight." 
 
 The Omnipotent is able to care for me. The Omnis- 
 cient knows my every need. The Omnipresent will 
 " never, no never, no never forsake me." 
 
 " I know not where His islands lift 
 Their fronded palms in air; 
 I only know I cannot drift 
 Beyond His love and care." 
 
 So do I fare forth into the New Year, like an ex- 
 plorer crossing the border of an unknown land. No 
 one has ever before been this way. Therefore, I must 
 needs walk by faith, hand in hand with him. 
 
 One thing I know, beyond all doubt and peradven- 
 ture : " I know whom I have believed, and am per- 
 suaded that he is able to keep that which I have 
 committed unto him against that day." 
 
 
IV 
 
 THE TRUMPETS OF ZION 
 
 "I was glad when they said unto me, 
 Let us go into the house of the Lord. 
 Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem. 
 Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact 
 together : 
 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, 
 Unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto 
 
 the name of the Lord. 
 For there are set thrones of judgment, 
 The thrones of the house of David. 
 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: 
 N They shall prosper that love thee. 
 
 Peace be within thy walls, 
 
 And prosperity within thy palaces. 
 For my brethren and companions' sakes, 
 I will now say, Peace be within thee. 
 Because of the house of the Lord our God, 
 I will seek thy good." 
 
 Psalm 122. 
 
 WE act, as a rule, without conscious motives. 
 Habit is second nature. We work, and play, 
 and eat and sleep as a matter of course. 
 We are wound up at night like a music box, and in 
 the morning we proceed to play the tunes set for us. 
 When the Sabbath comes (If we have any; for, alas, 
 there are people to whom a real Sabbath never comes) 
 we put on a -different habit with our Sunday clothes. 
 The bell rings and we go to church, as a horse goes to 
 
 34 
 
THE TRUMPETS OF ZION 35 
 
 the manger after his work in the tread-mill, because it 
 is a part of the routine of life. But if church attend- 
 ance is worth while we ought to be able to give a 
 reason for it. 
 
 The man who wrote the 122nd Psalm was a church- 
 goer. It would appear that when he heard the footfall 
 of a company bound for Zion he listened to their in- 
 vitation, " Let us go into the house of the Lord " and 
 joyously accepted it. And, on thinking the matter 
 over, he was able to give five reasons for doing so. 
 
 His first reason was that it was " the House of the 
 Lord " : as it is written, " The Lord is in his holy 
 Temple ; let all the earth keep silence before him." 
 
 The Ark of the Covenant was in the Temple; and 
 this was the historic symbol of the presence of God. 
 He had promised, " I will meet with thee and com- 
 mune with thee from above the mercy seat, from be- 
 tween the wings of the cherubims which are upon the 
 ark." A further assurance of his presence was given 
 in the mysterious cloud, called " the Shekinah," which 
 hovered over the sacred place. 
 
 I am aware of the saying " all ground is holy 
 ground " ; which is true ; but some ground is holier 
 than other ground. The Greeks, though pagans, were 
 aware of this. When they were about to erect a 
 temple the priest drew a circle around a certain space 
 and set it apart : hence the word " Temple," which is 
 derived from temno, meaning to " cut off." The space 
 thus enclosed was secluded and separated from all the 
 rest of the world for sacred uses. 
 
 It has pleased God to promise a peculiar manifesta- 
 tion of his presence in places set apart for his wor- 
 ship. He is omnipresent, to be sure, and therefore we 
 
36 THE TRUMPETS OF ZION 
 
 can find him anywhere; but never so near, never so 
 approachable, never so easily entreated as at the mercy 
 seat in the trysting place. 
 
 In the desert of Midian there was one spot which, 
 by reason of its associations, was more sacred to 
 Moses than any other: it was the place where he saw 
 the acacia bush " aflame with God." He said, " I will 
 turn aside and see " : but out of the bush a Voice 
 admonished him ; " Take off thy shoes from off thy 
 feet; for the ground whereon thou standest is holy 
 ground " ; and as he stood with face bowed upon his 
 breast he received his great commission, " I am that I 
 am hath sent me unto you ! " 
 
 On the heights of Luz there was a spot more sa- 
 cred to Jacob than any other. It was where he lay 
 down at nightfall, — a lonely man and God forsaken as 
 he thought — and saw in a vision the ladder of light 
 with angels going up and coming down to assure him 
 that God remembered him. " Verily, the Lord is in 
 this place," he said ; " this is none other than the gate 
 of heaven." And he called it Bethel, that is, " the 
 house of God." 
 
 The second reason given by the Psalmist for church 
 attendance is " Thither the tribes go up." 
 
 The twelve tribes were usually at odds with one an- 
 other, for obvious reasons ; but when the Levites blew 
 the ramshorns on the heights to summon them to the 
 solemn assemblies, they forgot their differences and 
 came together as to a great gathering of the clans. 
 
 At the time of the annual festivals the thoroughfares 
 were thronged with multitudes on their way to Jeru- 
 salem to worship. They came from every direction : 
 Asshur from the northwest, with the sheaf upon his 
 
THE TRUMPETS OF ZION 37 
 
 banner; Benjamin from beyond the Cedron; Dan from 
 the head waters of the Jordan ; Ephraim waving his 
 standard, whereon were the horns of a unicorn; Gad 
 from the fords of Jericho; Zebulon from the lake 
 region ; and Napthali, " the hind let loose." All 
 marched under their own peculiar standards; but as 
 they neared the Holy City they folded their banners 
 and bowed together in worship of a common God. 
 
 It is an uplifting thought that, as we sit together in 
 this sanctuary, there are millions on millions, the world 
 over, of many tongues and nations, assembled in 
 churches and cathedrals, in meeting houses on the re- 
 mote frontiers, in conventicles among the hills, under 
 banyan trees in " the regions beyond," all lifting up 
 holy hands with their hearts to the same God whom 
 we worship and rejoicing in the salvation which has 
 come to us through the atoning grace of his beloved 
 Son. 
 
 The poor and the rich thus meet together and ac- 
 knowledge the Lord as the Maker of them all. Two 
 shibboleths are theirs, " Father " and " brethren " ; for 
 there is one God and Father of all. 
 
 "Blest be the tie that binds 
 Our hearts in Christian love ! " 
 
 The third reason given by this man for going to 
 church is that the " Testimony of the Lord" is there: 
 a clear reference to the Oracles, or Word of God. 
 
 A place in the side of the Ark was set apart for the 
 preservation of the parchments which were written 
 from time to time by holy men as they were moved 
 by the Spirit of God. The original nucleus of the 
 sacred volume thus formed was the Protevangel or 
 
38 THE TRUMPETS OF ZION 
 
 primal prophecy of Messiah, " The Seed of woman 
 shall bruise the serpent's head." To this were added 
 in the process of time the Law, the Annals and the 
 Prophets together with the Psalter, which was the 
 inspired Hymn Book of the Jews. These constituted 
 " The Testimony of the Lord," to which were referred 
 all questions pertaining to national and spiritual life. 
 
 On the Sabbath it was customary for the Priest to 
 read a portion of this Testimony and expound it as 
 the lesson of the day. This exposition was the 
 sermon. 
 
 We are accustomed to speak of "expository ser- 
 mons " : but in fact there is no true sermon which is 
 not expository. The man who shoves his Bible aside 
 and assumes to speak by personal authority, as if to 
 say, " I am Sir Oracle and when I ope my lips let no 
 dog bark " is out of place in the pulpit. 
 
 The reason why the people come to church is be- 
 cause they are troubled with doubts and questionings 
 for which there is no solution except in the Word of 
 God. They care nothing for the personal opinion of a 
 man whose breath is in his nostrils; but they are 
 profoundly concerned to know what God has to say 
 about the great verities. Wherefore it behooves all 
 preachers to hide themselves behind the Testimony 
 and give forth a clear utterance as to the divine will. 
 
 The fourth reason given by the Psalmist for going 
 to Zion is that " the Thrones of David are there." 
 
 The use of this plural " thrones " is significant. In- 
 asmuch as David had but a single throne it is obvious 
 that the reference is to his dynasty. As for himself 
 he had no hereditary title to any throne. God " took 
 him from the sheep cote, from following the sheep, to 
 
THE TRUMPETS OF ZION 39 
 
 be ruler over his people " ; and in so doing he entered 
 into a perpetual covenant with him saying, " I will 
 establish the throne of thy Kingdom forever." In 
 other words, he was to rule by a perpetual succession 
 until the coming of Shiloh, the Prince of Peace, of 
 whose dominion there should be no end. This was 
 "great David's greater Son." 
 
 On the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem he 
 was welcomed with the cry, " Hosanna ! Hosanna to 
 the Son of David ! " The hope of the coming of this 
 Messiah was called " the hope of Israel " ; and back 
 of all other motives this was what drew the people to 
 the Temple, whether they knew it or not. 
 
 It is for a like reason that people go to church in 
 these days. The deepest longing of the average man is 
 not for any of the adventitious attractions which are 
 frequently held out. At the back of his mind and at 
 the centre of his heart is a desire to solve the problem 
 of eternal life. " Is there a way to escape from the 
 shame and power and penalty of sin?" 
 
 The only answer to that question is Christ and him 
 crucified. He said, " I, if I be lifted up, will draw 
 all men unto me." What need of other attractions if 
 the great Magnet be lifted up? 
 
 Oh, that all ministers might stand closer to Calvary, 
 the throne of David's Son ! For he will draw the 
 people, and will keep on drawing until every knee shall 
 bow before him. 
 
 The fifth reason given by this man for going to 
 church is that the secret of prosperity is there. " They 
 shall prosper that love thee." 
 
 Who is the prosperous man? Is it the man who is 
 arrayed in purple and fine linen and fares sumptu- 
 
40 THE TRUMPETS OF ZION 
 
 ously every day? Is it one whose vaults are rilled 
 with bonds and mortgages ? Is it one who has attained 
 to such high honours and emoluments that all bonnets 
 are doffed when he goes by? 
 
 The span of our present life is but the small arc of 
 an infinite circle. How then shall we measure pros- 
 perity by earthly possessions, all of which shall pres- 
 ently take wings and fly away? 
 
 The only prosperous man is he who is safeguarded 
 for eternity ; who has his treasures laid up in bags 
 that wax not old ; who is rich in possessions which the 
 world can neither give nor take away. He alone is 
 prosperous who is thus " rich toward God." For him 
 the mislived past is blotted out, purged by the blood 
 that cleanseth from all sin; and the future is spanned 
 by a rainbow of hope. He has peace with God, power 
 for service, and the prospect of eternal life. 
 
 These are the things that make prosperity: and 
 these are the goings out of Zion. The people who 
 devoutly assemble there are not living within the 
 narrow circumscription of time but, stimulated by the 
 joyous hope of life and immortality brought to light 
 in the Gospel, they seek a better country, even an 
 heavenly, and a city which hath foundations whose 
 builder and maker is God. 
 
 To a casual observer the people who frequent our 
 churches are not more prosperous than others. 
 
 This was observed by Celsus, the great satirist who 
 in the second century assailed the church as an assem- 
 bly of reprobates. He said, " I have seen in your 
 conferences some who are recognized as former drabs 
 and drunkards and thieves. You have none of the 
 richer and more learned class. Your Master himself 
 
THE TRUMPETS OF ZION 41 
 
 who was a humble carpenter, is in evidence as to the 
 character of his followers, inasmuch as he said, ' I 
 am come not to call the righteous but sinners.' " 
 
 He was answered by Origen on this wise, " You 
 are right in saying that our Lord came not to call 
 the righteous but sinners; but you are unfair when 
 you pause there. His words were, ' I am come to 
 call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.' The 
 former profligates whom you have seen in our assem- 
 blies were taken by our Master out of the very gutters 
 and transformed into newness of life. He called them 
 to contrition and reformation; and their consistent 
 walk and conversation bear witness to his saving 
 power/' 
 
 This is the glory of the Gospel, that it goes out into 
 the highways and hedges in quest of lost sinners and 
 sets them on their feet, with the past forgiven and 
 the future glorified, with hearts full of peace and faces 
 toward the sky. This is the sort of prosperity that, as 
 Alexander Pope said, makes the Christian " the high- 
 est style of man." 
 
 I have recited the reasons given by the author of the 
 1 22nd Psalm for honouring the sanctuary service; but 
 there is another reason for our going to church in 
 these days. We have the advantage of some thou- 
 sands of years of intervening history which empha- 
 size the fact that the Church is the pozver house of 
 God. 
 
 Out of it have gone forth the great forces which have 
 made for progress and universal betterment. The light 
 of civilization has radiated so far forth from the 
 Church of Christ that the whole civilized world is 
 called by his name. Draw a line around " Christen- 
 
42 THE TRUMPETS OF ZION 
 
 dom " and you have practically excluded all darkness 
 and included all light; you have excluded ignorance 
 and included all institutions of learning; you have ex- 
 cluded barbarism and included humanity. That is to 
 say, the great dynamic of progress has its seat and 
 centre in the house of God. 
 
 If this be called in question, let those who are not 
 habitual church-goers be asked whether they would be 
 willing to dispense with the church : and with one con- 
 sent they would answer no. A churchless city, a 
 churchless community, a churchless country would be 
 a hissing and a byword. However a man may hold 
 himself aloof from the sanctuary he knows that he 
 shares its by-products; that he eats of its clusters as 
 of a vine growing over the wall. 
 
 It is a true saying, " Blessings brighten as they take 
 their flight." 
 
 If you were ever a wanderer in some far country 
 where there were no spires pointing like figures toward 
 heaven, you know how to sympathize with the exiled 
 Jews in their Babylonian song " We hanged our harps 
 on the willows and w r ept when we remembered Zion." 
 
 Do you recall how the Ancient Mariner, returned 
 from his weary wanderings, on hearing the bells ring- 
 ing for a wedding at the church, intercepted one of the 
 guests to say, 
 
 " O wedding guest, my soul hath been 
 Alone on a wide, wide sea ; 
 So lonely 'twas that God himself 
 Scarce seemed there to be?" 
 
 And that the lesson of his lonely isolation had come 
 home to him is evidenced by his adding, 
 
THE TRUMPETS OF ZION 43 
 
 " Oh sweeter than the marriage feast 
 Tis sweeter far to me, 
 To walk together to the kirk 
 With the goodly company." 
 
 It may be that there is some one present, not an at- 
 tendant at the sanctuary, who has simply happened in, 
 perhaps in the hope of whiling away a weary hour. If 
 so, my friend, I trust I have given you some concep- 
 tion of the real value of the privileges of Zion. But 
 in any case, I do not intend to part company with you 
 until I have advised you as to the latest news from the 
 front. I do not mean the last advices from " some- 
 where in Flanders," but news of peace, the peace of 
 God that passeth all understanding, the peace that 
 Christ alone can give by reconciling us with God. 
 
 This is the last thing out ; " God so loved the world 
 that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in him should not perish but have everlast- 
 ing life." 
 
 This is the message which the Church must ever 
 proclaim ; as it is written, " The Spirit and the bride 
 say Come ; and let him that heareth say Come ; and let 
 him that is athirst come; and whosoever will let him 
 take of the water of life freely." 
 
 This water of life is to be had for the taking. Will 
 you take it? 
 
V 
 
 THE FORBIDDEN TREE 
 
 "Now the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the 
 field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the 
 woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree 
 of the garden? 
 
 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the 
 fruit of the trees of the garden: 
 
 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the 
 garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall 
 ye touch it, lest ye die. 
 
 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely 
 die: 
 
 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then 
 your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing 
 good and evil. 
 
 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, 
 and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired 
 to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, 
 and gave also unto her husband with her ; and he did eat." — 
 Genesis 3 : 1-6. 
 
 WE call Genesis " the Book of Origins " be- 
 cause it gives an account of the beginning 
 of the world and the present order of things. 
 In the beginning God created the heavens and the 
 earth, land and sea, organic and inorganic matter, 
 trees and herbs, birds and beasts and fishes of the sea : 
 and man his masterpiece to have dominion over all. 
 He also set in operation the forces and principles 
 44 
 
THE FORBIDDEN TREE 45 
 
 which were to develop the institutions of domestic, 
 industrial and civil life. 
 
 It would be singular, under these circumstances, if 
 no account were given of the origin of sin. 
 
 For sin is an omnipresent and inescapable fact. The 
 question is, " Whence came it? " Obviously it did not 
 simply happen to be. It is here; and it has no busi- 
 ness here. It is an exotic; not to be regarded in any 
 sense as an essential or necessary part of human ex- 
 perience. We would all be infinitely better off without 
 it. But here it is ; how are we to account for it ? 
 
 At this point the scientists are dumb. They have 
 undertaken to explain pretty much everything else; 
 but so far as I am aware they have not successfully 
 tried their hand on sin. 
 
 It is only reasonable to suggest that the Biblical 
 record should remain until some other and better view 
 is proposed wherewith to supplant it. 
 
 In some quarters the Biblical story of the Fall is 
 characterized as " a myth." It is my present purpose 
 to carefully consider and analyze this alleged myth. 
 What are its essential parts ? 
 
 The first item in the narrative is Man. 
 
 The best definition of man as originally created is 
 found in the word anthropos by which the Greeks 
 characterized him. It literally means " the uplooker." 
 He was made erect, with his face toward the throne 
 of God. In other words he was a rational being not 
 only able to think but, as Kepler said, "to think God's 
 thoughts after him/' In this he was differentiated 
 from all the lower orders of life. 
 
 But this superiority over the lower orders goes 
 deeper still; it ranks him not simply as a rational, 
 
46 THE FORBIDDEN TREE 
 
 but as a moral being, that is, capable of character. 
 Having been created in the likeness of God it is obvi- 
 ous that he was intended to be like God. " Be ye holy, 
 saith the Lord; for I am holy." 
 
 As yet, however, he was not holy but merely inno- 
 cent ; that is to say, free from actual sin. The capacity 
 for holiness was there but it remained for him to 
 realize it. That, however, would be clearly impossible 
 unless he were not only rational and moral but free. 
 
 I cannot conceive how God could have created man 
 without a sovereign will. In that case, having no 
 power of choice, he would have been simply a lay 
 figure. His untried innocency was like that of a 
 block of marble which has no stain upon it. 
 
 In order to attain " unto the measure of the fulness 
 of the stature of a man " he must work out character 
 for himself; and the power of choice between good 
 and evil was necessary to that end. 
 
 It will be remembered that when the battleship 
 " Oregon " was launched she was regarded as an ex- 
 periment. Whether she would answer her purpose 
 or not remained to be seen. But after Captain Evans 
 had taken her around The Horn and back again, she 
 was justly pronounced a tried and trusty ship. 
 
 In like manner, if man was to be approved as a 
 divine masterpiece, he must be exposed to trial. As he 
 left the creative hand he was without positive char- 
 acter: the best that could be said of him was that he 
 was negatively free from sin. 
 
 The second item in the narrative is The Tree. 
 
 There was nothing in this particular tree that dis- 
 tinguished it from others in the garden. Its fruit was 
 like theirs, no better and no worse ; and " it was fair 
 
THE FORBIDDEN TREE 47 
 
 to look on." The only thing which differentiated it 
 from the other trees was that it was, as the Germans 
 say, verboten; that is, under the ban, as God said, 
 " Thou shalt not eat of it." 
 
 The name by which it was called is significant; 
 " the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." 
 
 If Adam partook of its fruit he would, by his dis- 
 obedience, come into an experimental knowledge of 
 the actual difference between sin and holiness. 
 
 It was therefore the tree of destiny. If the man 
 refrained from partaking of this tree he would enter 
 into life; in other words, character. If he disobeyed 
 he would die, that is, be alienated from God. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that the death here 
 threatened was not physical death or extinction. It 
 was impossible for Adam thus to die, since God had 
 breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and made 
 him a living soul; which means that he was endowed 
 with immortality. How could one cease to be whose 
 life was a spark thrown off from the eternal fire? 
 For better or worse he was as imperishable as the God 
 who created him. 
 
 But it was possible for him, by crossing the pur- 
 poses of God to part company with him; and this he 
 did. This crossing is " trans-gression" ; and transgres- 
 sion is spiritual death ; or alienation from God. 
 
 The third item in the story is The Tempter. 
 
 He is called " the adversary." As God's purpose 
 was to realize to the uttermost the splendid possibili- 
 ties of this new created man, the purpose of the ad- 
 versary was to bring him into enmity with God. 
 
 In what guise did he present himself? Had he been 
 permitted to come as an angel of light, that would 
 
48 THE FORBIDDEN TREE 
 
 have been to take an unfair advantage of the man. 
 Had he come in propria persona, with horns and 
 hoofs as he is often represented, he would have put 
 himself at such a disadvantage as to make success 
 impossible. It would have been an easy matter for 
 Adam to reject the overtures of such a foe. 
 
 How then should he appear? In what better or 
 more alluring guise than that of a serpent; silent, 
 sinuous and " more subtle than any creature which 
 the Lord had made " ? The temptation was thus 
 offered in most seductive form. 
 
 It is objected, however, that the serpent is repre- 
 sented as speaking; and who ever heard a serpent 
 speak? Ah, who has not? Have you never read of 
 Uriah Heep, or of Dr. Jekyll, or of Kipling's Vam- 
 pire, " a rag and a bone and a hank of hair " ? Is 
 there a man or woman in this presence who has not 
 heard the articulate hiss of the serpent gliding by? 
 
 The fourth item in the narrative is The Temptation. 
 
 This was of a character that quite beseemed an ad- 
 versary whom our Lord characterized as " a liar and 
 the father of lies." 
 
 The tempter began by denying the truth of God ; 
 " Yea, hath God said ? " Here is an intimation that 
 the divine word is merely a myth and not to be de- 
 pended on. 
 
 He then called in question the goodness of God, 
 saying ; " Ye shall not surely die." What he meant 
 was, " Do you suppose a good God would inflict so 
 severe a penalty for such a little thing as eating of 
 this tree ? Nay, impossible ! Ye shall not surely die." 
 
 And then he boldly assailed the divine integrity, by 
 intimating that there was something behind all this: 
 
THE FORBIDDEN TREE 49 
 
 " For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof 
 your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall know good 
 and evil, and be as God." 
 
 Thus the temptation was worthy of the father of 
 lies. There is this to be said however to the credit 
 of Satan, that in each instance he was, so to speak, 
 an honest liar. He did not come in canonicals, pro- 
 fessing loyalty to God's word while seeking to under- 
 mine it. 
 
 The fifth item in the narrative is The Result : " And 
 he did eat." 
 
 In believing Satan rather than God, this man sus- 
 tained a threefold loss. 
 
 To begin with, he lost his innocence. His soul had 
 previously been a tabula rasa without a stain upon it. 
 The whiteness now was gone ; his soul was defiled with 
 the black spot of sin. For sin is " any want of con- 
 formity unto or transgression of the divine law." 
 
 He lost his self-respect also : " His eyes were opened 
 and he knew that he was naked." That was the birth- 
 day of human shame. It was no longer possible that 
 the man should have a good opinion of himself. Write 
 
 " ' Ichabod ' upon his forehead, 
 For the glory has departed ! 
 Far off he stands with fearful eyes, 
 Nor dares to lift them to the skies." 
 
 Furthermore, he lost his life : the possibility of that 
 large, eternal life which had been opened up before 
 him. Had he obeyed he would have been forever on 
 cordial terms with God. As it was, on hearing the 
 voice of God walking in the Garden in the cool of 
 the day he hid himself among the trees. He was now 
 
50 THE FORBIDDEN TREE 
 
 at cross purposes with his Maker and himself. It re- 
 mained to be seen whether he could regain the ground 
 which he had lost and be again at peace with God. 
 
 But how are we personally concerned in this mat- 
 ter? Can we be held responsible for Adam's sin? 
 
 Let me in this connection, call to your remembrance 
 two obvious facts. One is that we are by lineal 
 descent the children of Adam; and the other is that 
 we are all sinners : as it is written, " There is no dif- 
 ference ; for all have sinned and come short of the 
 glory of God." It is for us to say whether there is 
 any logical connection between these two indubitable 
 facts. 
 
 I am not going to insist on the doctrine of original 
 sin. Let it suffice that there is something to be said 
 for the scientific doctrine of " heredity," which 
 amounts to the same thing. If it be not true that, in 
 the words of the New England Primer, " In Adam's 
 fall, we sinned all," it is at least indisputable that 
 from our earliest moments of conscious life we are all 
 alike sensible of a tendency toward sin. 
 
 A question of far more practical importance is, 
 What shall we do about it? 
 
 A man in a burning house would not be likely to 
 busy himself with a discussion as to the chemical 
 properties of caloric ; he would straightway look for a 
 fire escape and proceed to take advantage of it. 
 
 The facts being clear, the supreme problem is, How 
 to escape from the desperate situation in which we 
 find ourselves ; a difficulty that involves us in spiritual 
 and eternal death unless we can somehow extricate 
 ourselves from it. 
 
 It would scarcely be expected that the good God 
 
THE FORBIDDEN TREE 51 
 
 who had created man in his own likeness would leave 
 him in this extremity without exhausting all the di- 
 vine resources, if necessary in order to deliver him. 
 
 He had made a covenant with Adam in which 
 eternal life was promised on condition of obedience 
 to his holy law. The " covenant of works " was 
 broken, and the penalty — of which he had been duly 
 admonished — was " The soul that sinneth, it shall 
 die." 
 
 But the man was given another chance. The 
 " covenant of works " having failed, he was offered a 
 new covenant called " the covenant of grace." No 
 sooner had Adam sinned than he received the prophecy 
 of a coming Saviour who was to deliver him and all 
 succeeding generations from the shame and power and 
 penalty of sin. At the very gate of Paradise the 
 protevangel was proclaimed ; " The Seed of woman 
 shall come in the fulness of time and bruise the ser- 
 pent's head." 
 
 The only condition affixed to the full benefits of that 
 covenant was an appropriating faith in the Saviour 
 who stood at the centre of it. 
 
 We find a singular significance in the fact that 
 Christ is called " the second Adam " ; as it is written, 
 " The first Adam was made a living soul ; the last 
 Adam was made a quickened spirit; for as in Adam 
 all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. The 
 first man is of the earth earthy, the second man is as 
 the Lord from heaven." By this we are given to 
 understand that whereas Adam by his disobedience 
 passed under the sentence of death, the second Adam, 
 being made in the likeness of sinful man, paid the 
 full penalty by his vicarious death ; so that whosoever 
 
52 THE FORBIDDEN TREE 
 
 believeth in him — that is to say, whosoever is willing 
 to accept the benefits of his atonement — shall enter 
 into an eternal life of full, complete and eternal recon- 
 ciliation with God. 
 
 The first Adam yielded to the temptation of the 
 adversary to reject the Word of God; the second 
 Man went out into the wilderness to be tempted in 
 like manner; but to every suggestion of disobedience 
 he answered, " It is written." And having been 
 tempted thus, in all points like as we are, he is able 
 to succor them that are tempted. He not only saves 
 us from the penalty of sin, but comes to our relief 
 in the hour of temptation, and so lends a hand that 
 we may be able to withstand in the evil day and 
 " having done all, to stand " and quit ourselves like 
 men. 
 
 In view of these things it is difficult to see how 
 God could have done more for his vineyard than he 
 hath done for it. He has cast up an highway so 
 plain that the wayfaring man, however foolish, need 
 not err therein. He who receives the incarnate Word 
 of God upon the authority of his written Word has 
 recovered all his lost estate, and more ; for " where sin 
 abounded, grace hath much more abounded." 
 
 If we cannot claim the innocency of the original 
 Adam we can claim a pardon so complete and com- 
 prehensive that we stand in God's sight as if we had 
 never sinned against him. 
 
 And beyond that, the righteousness of Christ him- 
 self, is imputed unto us by faith in him. We thus 
 become " heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ 
 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that 
 fadeth not away." 
 
THE FORBIDDEN TREE 53 
 
 It appears, then, that everything is summed up in 
 Christ who is made unto us wisdom, and righteous- 
 ness and sanctification and redemption. He is our 
 Alpha and Omega ; first, last, midst and all in all. 
 
 As I sat on my piazza, one day in the country, a 
 Syrian came up the walk with his little boy. The man 
 carried a pedler's pack and, as he had nothing to offer 
 which I cared for, I beckoned him away ; but he came 
 right on. He could speak no English ; but his boy had 
 learned a little. I asked where they came from. The 
 boy answered " From Mount Lebanon in Syria." I 
 asked if they knew Henry Jessup, the missionary. 
 The old man, catching the name, threw up his hands 
 crying, " Henry Jessup ; he, Jesus man ! " I asked 
 what they knew about Jesus. The man caught that 
 word also and haltingly replied, " God-so-loved-the- 
 world-that-he-gave-his-only-begotten-Son-that-whoso- 
 ever-believeth-in-him-should- not -perish-but-have-eter- 
 nal-life." 
 
 He had discovered the saving truth! My friends, 
 it's all there : " God so loved the world ! " Let us 
 believe it. 
 
VI 
 
 THE GREAT AMNESTY 
 
 " Come now, and let us reason together, said the Lord : 
 though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; 
 though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." — 
 Isaiah i : 18. 
 
 THE prophecies of Isaiah cover a period of about 
 forty years, when Israel was hastening to its 
 fall. The Temple had been practically aban- 
 doned and the people were nocking with one accord to 
 the altars of the pagan gods. 
 
 Clouds of disaster were gathering thick and fast. 
 Egypt and Assyria were in arms and Babylon was 
 coming to the fore. The upper and nether millstone 
 of internal corruption and outward assault were 
 rapidly closing in upon the doomed nation. 
 
 Meanwhile Isaiah stood almost alone as a witness 
 for Jehovah. " Faithful among the faithless, only 
 he." His sermons were in the form of warnings, 
 remonstrances and persuasions, earnest exhortations ; 
 all being delivered as manifestoes from the throne of 
 God. 
 
 In our text we have one of these. It was prob- 
 ably affixed to the closed doors of the Temple : and 
 one may easily imagine the feelings it awakened in 
 those who passed by. 
 
 The Baalites smiled and wagged their heads. " The 
 54 
 
THE GREAT AMNESTY 55 
 
 old prophet," they^said, " is behind the times " — an 
 observation which hak a strangely familiar sound in 
 these days. 
 
 The religious leaders of Israel may have been moved 
 with compunction of conscience; but why should they 
 protest ? " Everybody is worshipping Baal and it be- 
 hooves us to follow the fashion." 
 
 There must have been some, however, who read 
 the parchment with a deep longing for the old re- 
 ligion, like that of David when he craved a drink of 
 water from the well beside the gate at Bethlehem. 
 
 " Oh, that old-time religion, 
 It is good enough for me." 
 
 But it was too late to arrest the momentum of 
 error. On went the fatuous nation, rushing upon 
 the bosses of the shield of God. 
 
 This Proclamation has a perpetual significance, as 
 one of the God's State Papers. It is addressed " to 
 all whom it may concern " ; and it concerns all sinners 
 of every age. For whatever may be the vicissitudes 
 of time, there are three constant factors in the prob- 
 lem of history ; to wit, God, man and the reconciliation 
 of man with God. 
 
 I. Observe the Headline. 
 
 It purports to be a Decree of Absolution. Its 
 thesis is The Pardon of Sin. It proposes to answer 
 the question which lies deepest in the human heart : 
 "What shall I do to be saved?" 
 
 This is a question that demands our earnest con- 
 sideration, because the issues of eternal life and death 
 are in it. 
 
 A young man who was obliged to submit to a surgi- 
 
56 THE GREAT AMNESTY 
 
 cal operation for a critical malady, looked into the 
 face of the surgeon and said pathetically, " You know, 
 doctor, what this means. You won't fool with me, 
 will you?" So here; there is a call for serious 
 thought : the scalpel grazes so near the centre of life ! 
 
 II. Observe the Red Seal upon it : " Thus saith the 
 Lord." 
 
 This means that the message is authentic and trust- 
 worthy. 
 
 The opinion of Isaiah himself in these premises is 
 of little moment. What we want to know is, Does he 
 bring a communication from God? And if so, what 
 is it? 
 
 The question is discussed by agnostics and rational- 
 ists from the standpoint of personal opinion; who 
 frame their conclusion in such terms as " I think thus 
 and so." But who cares what they think about it? 
 We want no ifs or peradventures : no guesses or con- 
 jectures. We must have a Yea and Amen. 
 
 The problem has to do with salvation; and its solu- 
 tion lies beyond all human ken. If solved at all, in- 
 finite wisdom must solve it. 
 
 In the time of our Civil War, when battles were 
 pending and the lives of dear ones were in the bal- 
 ance, the newspapers were full of canards, and 
 rumours of all sorts filled the air. But when we saw 
 on the bulletin boards a statement bearing the signa- 
 ture, " Stanton, Secretary of War," we knew that we 
 could depend upon it. 
 
 So in the present case. Will God keep silence when 
 men and women made in his likeness are perplexed 
 and bewildered and crying, " What shall we do?" 
 No; here is a message from the throne, bearing the 
 
THE GREAT AMNESTY 57 
 
 red seal of authenticity ; wherefore we can rely upon it. 
 
 III. Observe the Call : " Come now, saith the 
 Lord." 
 
 Strange language, when we pause to consider it. 
 Can we not see the wistful look on the Father's face 
 as he thus appeals to us? 
 
 Who speaks ? God. And who is this God ? " Be- 
 hold thou hast been our dwelling place in all genera- 
 tions. Before the mountains were brought forth or 
 ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even 
 from everlasting to everlasting thou art — God ! " 
 
 Of the essential God we know but little: never- 
 theless we must believe in his existence; for so it is 
 written, "He that cometh to God must believe that 
 he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently 
 seek him." 
 
 We know, however, that he is the high and Holy 
 One who inhabiteth eternity, and that angels and 
 archangels' veil their faces before him, crying, " Holy, 
 holy, holy, Lord God Almighty ! " 
 
 And we know that he is love; else why should he 
 say, " As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure 
 in the death of the wicked, but that all should turn 
 and live. Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die ? " 
 
 And to whom is he speaking? To men. What 
 is man ? " When I consider thy heavens, the work of 
 thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast 
 ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him; 
 or the son of man, that thou visitest him? " 
 
 He is the creature of God's hand; and as such is 
 as relatively insignificant as a mote flying in a sun- 
 beam. More and worse than that, he is a rebel against 
 the divine law. 
 
58 THE GREAT AMNESTY 
 
 Will a man, when stung by a wasp, hesitate to 
 crush it? Why, then, should God extend his over- 
 tures of mercy to those who persist in disobeying him ? 
 " He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor re- 
 warded us according to our iniquities." Why not? 
 We can only account for this by saying, " His 
 thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our 
 ways." 
 
 IV. Observe the Invitation : " Come now, saith the 
 Lord, and let us reason together." 
 
 Here is no short shrift for confessed criminals, but 
 an appeal to the reason of unreasonable men. 
 
 What a tribute to the dignity of our fallen nature! 
 Is it a ruin? Yes, but a splendid ruin even at its 
 worst; for man in his lost estate is still by nature a 
 child of God. 
 
 He is the only creature with whom God can reason ; 
 and by this fact man is differentiated from all the 
 lower orders of life ; as it is written, " How much bet- 
 ter is a man than a sheep." 
 
 He alone can sin. The sun hears the divine behest 
 " Go forth upon thy daily course," and it obeys. Man 
 alone is at odds with the laws of his being, since he 
 can defy God — and take the consequences. 
 
 And he alone can repent. For the monitor in his 
 bosom, however wronged and silenced, still, on occa- 
 sion, shakes its gaunt finger at him. 
 
 And he alone can pray. " He can think God's 
 thoughts after him," as Keppler said, reasoning pro 
 and contra with the infinite Being who created him. 
 
 And what a tribute have we here to the conde- 
 scension of God! His authority is veiled, for the 
 moment, while he stoops to conquer. He calls the 
 
THE GREAT AMNESTY 59 
 
 sinner not to trial but to argument. It is as if he 
 said, " Sit thou there and I here ; and we will confer 
 as to the matter in hand." 
 
 Here is also an eloquent tribute to the reasonable- 
 ness of our religion. It asks only to stand upon its 
 merits. It courts the verdict of every thoughtful man. 
 
 The only thing in the world that the religion of the 
 Bible dreads is human indifference; as it is written, 
 " Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the 
 Lord hath spoken : I have nourished and brought up 
 children and they have rebelled against me. The ox 
 knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib; but 
 Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider." 
 
 If men would only consider, the world would soon 
 fall in with God's overtures in the Gospel of his 
 grace. 
 
 V. Observe the Conference. 
 
 The sinner is now presumed to be sitting face to 
 face with God. The question at issue is the old ques- 
 tion, " How shall God be just and yet the justifier of 
 the ungodly ? " 
 
 And what shall the sinner say? 
 
 He is urged to " produce his strong arguments." 
 What are they? Shall he plead innocence? Nay; 
 there is not a man living in the world who does not 
 instantly respond to the statement, " All have sinned 
 and come short of the glory of God." 
 
 Shall he say that he sinned for want of knowl- 
 edge? Not that, surely; for all along he has been 
 clearly advised concerning the heinousness of sin and 
 the retribution that surely follows it. 
 
 Can he say that he did not mean to sin? No; for 
 he is aware of many presumptuous sins, which were 
 
60 THE GREAT AMNESTY 
 
 deliberately committed against his conscience, " accus- 
 ing or excusing him." 
 
 Can he say that he could not help it? He knows, 
 on the contrary, that he is unable to point to a single 
 sin in his whole life that was not distinctly voluntary. 
 For all sin is by the exercise of a sovereign will or 
 in obedience to wilfully contracted habit; otherwise 
 it would not be sin. 
 
 What then shall he say for himself? Nothing! He 
 can only enter the crestfallen plea of " Guilty." 
 Guilty and with no loophole of escape! 
 
 If there were any doubt he would surely have the 
 benefit of it; but there is none. The crowning evi- 
 dence of his guilt is confession. 
 
 He admits his default and is helpless to remedy it. 
 In his efforts to escape punishment he is like Sisyphus, 
 rolling a stone up a steep ascent only to have it ever 
 rolling back upon him. 
 
 In his hopelessness he is like Prometheus, chained 
 to the rock of the Caucasus, crying, " I must endure 
 my pain until one of the gods shall take my place and 
 bear it for me." But where is the god who will 
 bear it? 
 
 So much for man's place in the conference. Now 
 what does God say ? One thing only : " Though your 
 sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; 
 and though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
 wool." 
 
 This is God's answer to the silent shamefaced sin- 
 ner. He has a plan for his salvation; a plan briefly 
 comprehended in the single word blood. " The blood 
 of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." 
 
 A man once under conviction of sin had this dream : 
 
THE GREAT AMNESTY 61 
 
 he seemed to be travelling in a vast plain, weary and 
 famishing, in the face of an approaching storm. He 
 came, at length, in the gathering twilight to an upright 
 beam at whose foot he fell exhausted and clinging 
 like a weary child. In the deepening night he saw 
 monsters with red eyeballs glaring at him — the wraiths 
 of many sins. But for some reason they could not 
 reach him. Then he felt a warm drop on his face. 
 It was blood ! Looking up, he perceived the dim out- 
 line of the Cross and knew that he was safe. 
 
 " Beneath the Cross of Jesus, 
 I fain would take my stand. 
 The shadow of a mighty Rock, 
 Within a weary land. 
 A home within the wilderness, 
 A rest upon the way, 
 From the burning of the noon-tide heat, 
 And the burden of the day. 
 
 " There lies beneath its shadow, 
 But on the further side, 
 The darkness of an awful grave 
 That gapes both deep and wide; 
 And there between us stands the Cross, 
 Two arms outstretched to save, 
 Like a watchman set to guard the way 
 From that eternal grave. 
 
 "I take, O Cross, thy shadow, 
 For my abiding place ; 
 I ask no other sunshine 
 Than the sunshine of his face; 
 Content to let the world go by, 
 To know no gain nor loss, — 
 My sinful self, my only shame, — 
 My glory all the Cross." 
 
62 THE GREAT AMNESTY 
 
 One question only remains, How shall we get the 
 benefit of this? Here enters the doctrine of Justifi- 
 cation by Faith. " He that believeth shall enter into 
 life." 
 
 Faith is acceptance. It is the hyssop branch that 
 sprinkles the blood upon the heart, as of old it 
 sprinkled it upon the lintels of the door in pursuance 
 of God's promise, " When I see the blood I will pass 
 over you ! " 
 
 If any is a " universalist," I more. I believe that 
 Christ died for all and that all may be saved through 
 him. But as a sensible man, I am constrained to be- 
 lieve, also, that no man can be saved against his 
 will. The Scriptures affirm, over and over again, that 
 there is one condition affixed to the free gift of salva- 
 tion, namely, that a man shall accept it. He must 
 be willing to be saved that way. 
 
 So it is written, " He that believeth on the Son 
 hath eternal life : and he that believeth not, the wrath 
 of God abideth on him. v That is, if he refuses — 
 actively or passively — the sanctity of his sovereign 
 will is so respected that he remains where he chooses 
 to be. 
 
 In this case, his condition is worse than it would 
 have been if he had never heard of Christ. 
 
 Is there any other plan of salvation? I know of 
 none. 
 
 There are other religions and philosophies that sug- 
 gest the propriety of " turning over a new leaf " ; 
 but good resolutions cannot blot out the mislived past. 
 Can a man cancel his debts by resolving henceforth 
 to pay as he goes? Does not every hour of the day 
 have its own responsibilities, leaving no margin for 
 
THE GREAT AMNESTY 63 
 
 works of supererogation? If I, from this moment, 
 were never to commit another sin, how in reason 
 would that expiate my past sins? 
 
 If a man were standing on the edge of an abyss 
 separating time from eternity, with the lights of 
 heaven shining in the distance; and if a bridge were 
 to be seen crossing the abyss, and one bridge only, 
 would it not be the part of reason to cross it? 
 
 All that God asks of any one is that he will deal 
 fairly with himself. He invites the sinner to stop 
 and think. He wants him to go apart from the cares 
 and perplexities of life long enough to hold conference 
 with his Maker as to the great problem of destiny. 
 Alas for those who refuse to thus reason with God; 
 who hurry on to Judgment with no preparation for it. 
 
 A father was once reading the Parable of the 
 Prodigal Son to his child, who had before him a pic- 
 ture of the wayward youth in the far country, sit- 
 ting on the trough in the swinefield, gaunt with hun- 
 ger, in rags and tatters.. As the story proceeded the 
 boy, unable to restrain himself, cried, " O why doesn't 
 he go straight home ? " 
 
 That was the voice of common sense. God wants to 
 be gracious. The lights are kindled in the windows 
 of his house. The homeward path is plain. Why 
 does not every prodigal say, " I will arise and go " ? 
 
VII 
 
 THE HAND OF MACBETH 
 
 " Come, now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord ; 
 though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow ; 
 though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool."— 
 Isaiah i : 18. 
 
 IT is a far cry from Isaiah to Shakespeare: but a 
 reference to one of the terrific scenes in " Mac- 
 beth " will help us, perhaps, to a clearer view of 
 the relation of the Cross to the pardon of sin. 
 
 Act II, Scene 2. 
 (Enter Macbeth, looking on his hands) This is a sorry sight ! 
 Lady M. A foolish thought, to say a sorry sight. 
 
 Macb. There's one did laugh in's sleep, and one cried, 
 
 " Murder ! " 
 That they did wake each other; I stood and heard 
 
 them. 
 One cried, " God bless us ! " and " Amen," the 
 
 other, 
 As they had seen me with these hangman's hands. 
 Listening their fear, I could not say " Amen," 
 When they did say, " God bless us." 
 
 Lady M. Consider it not so deeply. 
 
 Macb. But wherefore could not I pronounce "Amen?" 
 I had most need of blessing, and " Amen " 
 Stuck in my throat. 
 64 
 
THE HAND OF MACBETH 65 
 
 Lady M. These deeds must not be thought 
 
 After these ways; so, it will make us mad. 
 
 Macb. Methought I heard a voice cry, " Sleep no more ! 
 Macbeth does murder sleep " ; the innocent sleep ; 
 Sleep that knits up the ravell'd sleave of care, 
 The death of each day's life, sore labour's bath, 
 Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course, 
 Chief nourisher in life's feast. 
 
 Lady M. What do you mean? 
 
 Macb. Still it cried, " Sleep no more ! . . . 
 
 Glamis hath murder'd sleep ; and therefore Cawdor 
 Shall sleep no more, Macbeth shall sleep no more ! " 
 
 Lady M. Who was it that thus cried? Why, worthy thane, 
 You do unbend your noble strength, to think 
 So brainsickly of things. Go get some water, 
 And wash this filthy witness from your hand. 
 
 'Macb. Whence is that knocking? 
 
 How is't with me, when every noise appals me? 
 What hands are here? Ha! they pluck out mine 
 
 eyes ! 
 Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood 
 Clean from my hand ? No ; this my hand will rather 
 The multitudinous seas incarnadine! 
 
 The question arises, Why should Macbeth be so 
 deeply distressed by a crimson stain on his hand? A 
 little water would easily wash that off. But was there 
 something beneath it ? In truth, the trouble lay deeper 
 down ; it was the ingrained sense of sin ! 
 
 I. Sin is a Fact. 
 
 This needs emphasis, because there is a disposition 
 in some quarters to explain it away. There are those 
 who regard sin as a physical malady, to be healed by 
 
66 THE HAND OF MACBETH 
 
 proper dieting and therapeutics. This, however, was 
 not the prognosis of the royal teech; for when Lady- 
 Macbeth entered, walking in her sleep and rubbing 
 her hands, with a smothered cry, " Out, damned spot ! 
 Will these hands ne'er be clean ? " he observed, " More 
 needs she the divine than the physician." Here is a 
 touch of true philosophy on the part of the great 
 dramatist. The stain is more indelible than crimson 
 on the hand. Sin lies deeper than the smarting un- 
 cleanness of any -overt act : and it behooves us to get 
 at the root of it. 
 
 II. Sin is a Universal Fact. 
 
 The malady of Macbeth makes him brother of us all. 
 " For there is no difference ; all have sinned and come 
 short of the glory of God." 
 
 By this we are not to understand that all alike are 
 guilty of conspicuous vices. In fact, there are many 
 Tespectable sinners among us. 
 
 It would have been difficult to find in all Jerusalem 
 a more presentable group of church members than the 
 Pharisees who dragged the adulterous woman to 
 Solomon's Porch and threw her at the feet of Jesus 
 saying, " Moses in the Law requireth that such as 
 she shall be stoned; but what sayest thou?" He 
 stooped in silence and wrote with his finger on the 
 pavement, while the poor creature with the scarlet 
 letter on her brow crouched before him. But see those 
 Pharisees now slinking away : as it is written, " They 
 went out one by one, beginning with the eldest." 
 Why so? They had followed the finger of Jesus as 
 he wrote, " Let him that is without sin cast the first 
 stone at her." Were they adulterers, then? Oh, no! 
 Not one of them would have been guilty of that par- 
 
THE HAND OF MACBETH 67 
 
 ticular sin. Nevertheless there was no room for 
 stone throwing: for they all lived in glass houses and 
 knew it. 
 
 III. So, then, sin is a Personal Matter. 
 
 It comes home to you and me. Why are we not all 
 in Sing Sing? Is it because we have not broken the 
 law? Who are these men and women in stripes? 
 Thieves, adulterers, murderers. That however is not 
 why they are behind the bars. In the light of the 
 Sermon on the Mount the Ten Commandments con- 
 demn us all. Covetousness is theft! Hatred is con- 
 structive murder ! Adultery flames in a lustful glance ! 
 The reason why these people are in Sing Sing while 
 we go scot free is not because they have broken the 
 Ten Commandments but because they have broken the 
 eleventh ; " Thou shalt not be found out." We have 
 not broken it. 
 
 I am aware that people do not like to be- -addressed 
 in this way. They feel as Lady Huntington did, who 
 went in her carriage to hear George Whitefield preach- 
 ing in the open fields and drove away indignant be- 
 cause, as she said, " He called me a v ulgar sinner, fctee 
 the— rctbbl^-about-iurtk" Yet this is Bible truth and 
 everybody knows it. ftJ^A*? 
 
 IV. Sin is a Germ-disease. 
 
 A friend of mine who has suffered from intolerable 
 pain for a fortnight, so that physicians could not re- 
 lieve her, tells me that she went out yesterday to an 
 X-ray operator who discovered a microbe gnawing 
 in a sinus near the eye. The Lord, in like manner, 
 lays his finger on the germ of sin when he says, " He 
 that hath offended in one point is guilty of the whole 
 law," thus tracing our malady to our first sin. 
 
68 THE HAND OF MACBETH 
 
 The word " trans-gression " means a crossing of 
 divine law. If a planet leaves its orbit, however 
 slight the departure, there is no power save that of its 
 Creator that can restore it. It is thenceforth an out- 
 law. The old name for sin is-tmornia: which means 
 " out of order." The instant a soul violates the divine 
 law, which is also the law of its own being, it is hence- 
 forth and — so far as its own power is concerned — 
 forever alienated from God. 
 
 A shepherd in the Valley of Chamonix saw an eagle 
 leave its eyrie on the mountain and wheel majestically 
 through the air. Then suddenly, with drooping wings, 
 it fell like a stone. On examination he found that an 
 adder was coiled around it. The moment the adder 
 struck its poisonous fang, the eagle fell. 
 
 The reason why sin does not cause immediate death 
 in the same way is because there is mercy in God. 
 " As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the 
 death of the wicked but that all should turn unto 
 me!" 
 
 But ah, that turning! There is the difficulty. We 
 sin and live and still keep on sinning and are spared ; 
 but never of ourselves do we return to God. Can the 
 Ethiopian change his spots? Can a wandering planet 
 swing back into its orbit? What hope, then, is there 
 for us? 
 
 V. Sin is a Malignant Disease. 
 
 " It eateth like a canker." It eats at nerve and 
 sinew, and to the very marrow of the bone; so that 
 our whole physical being is corrupted by it. 
 
 It eats into mind and conscience and heart: so that 
 our whole spiritual nature is defiled by it. u Out, 
 damned spot ! " cries Lady Macbeth : and her word 
 
THE HAND OF MACBETH 69 
 
 is well chosen, for sin means condemnation : " When 
 it is finished; it bringeth forth death." 
 
 The prophet Isaiah uses no exaggeration when he 
 says, " The whole head is sick and the whole heart 
 faint; from the sole of the foot even unto the head 
 there is no soundness in it, but wounds, and bruises 
 and putrifying sores." 
 
 The so-called doctrine of "total depravity " does not 
 mean that there is nothing good in us, but that every 
 power and faculty of body and soul is affected by sin. 
 VI. This malady is Incurable by any human means. 
 The ingenuity of science and philosophy has found ' 
 no germicide for sin. In a paper mill the scarlet rags 
 are separated from all others because their colour is 
 " fast." It cannot be extracted without destroying the 
 fibre. All sin is scarlet; all guilt is "blood guilti- 
 ness." It is essentially homicidal and suicidal, too. 
 Thus saith the Lord, " Though thou wash thee with 
 nitre and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is 
 marked before me." 
 
 So, then, Macbeth is right : " All great Neptune's 
 ocean cannot wash this blood clean from my hand ! " 
 And Lady Macbeth is right : " Here is the smell of 
 blood still! All the perfumes of Arabia will not 
 sweeten this little hand." Ours is apparently a des- 
 perate case. 
 
 But possibly death will erase the crimson stain? 
 No, death destroys nothing; not even the body, and 
 certainly it cannot change character. " He that is un- 
 just, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let 
 him be filthy still; and he that is righteous, let him 
 be righteous still ; and he that is holy, let him be holy 
 still!" 
 
70 THE HAND OF MACBETH 
 
 VII. What then shall we do? 
 
 This is an echo of the cry that was raised on the 
 day of Pentecost, when Peter said to the multitude, 
 " Ye men of Israel, hear these words : Ye have taken 
 Jesus of Nazareth, approved of God by miracles and 
 signs, and with wicked hands ye have crucified and 
 slain him ! " They saw the crimson. stain ; and " being 
 pricked to the heart, they cried out, ' Men and 
 brethren, what shall we do ?' And Peter said, ' Re- 
 pent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name 
 of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins !" 
 
 This is God's answer to our perplexity. He sent 
 his only begotten Son to bear the shame and penalty 
 of our sins in his own body on the tree : so that, " who- 
 soever believeth in him should not perish but should 
 have everlasting life.'* 
 
 In the last scene of the tragedy, Lady Macbeth is 
 represented as saying, " Come, come, give me your 
 hand. What's done cannot be undone ! " This is 
 quite true. There is no undoing of the past; but 
 God's thoughts are not our thoughts. There is an- 
 other way. 
 
 A few weeks ago I was present at a " Campfire " 
 of Federal and Confederate soldiers who met to ex- 
 change memories of the Civil War. The conversa- 
 tion turned to narrow escapes ; and presently the chair- 
 man said to a grey-haired veteran, " General, have 
 you nothing to recall ? " He answered, " I have noth- 
 ing to say for myself; but I should like to repeat a 
 story that a comrade told me not long ago. He said 
 that during the Campaign in the Wilderness, the Con- 
 federate officers were forewarned that spies were to 
 be sent through the lines to discover the disposition 
 
THE HAND OF MACBETH 71 
 
 of their troops. A number of sharp-shooters were ac- 
 cordingly put on sentry duty and enjoined to be 
 watchful and to fire on sight. My friend took his 
 place on a hillside and lay with his musket beside 
 him. An orchard was below and a wood beyond it. 
 He saw three men presently making their way through 
 the wood and acting suspiciously. He aimed once and 
 again but could not fire. Though he had been in many 
 engagements he had never aimed deliberately at any 
 particular man. / He had a mortal dread of sending a 
 soul into eternity. But presently the foremost of the 
 spies entered the orchard and, as he was dodging from 
 tree to tree, the sentry aimed and fired ! The man 
 threw up his hands and with a gush of blood from his 
 forehead, fell and lay with hands stretched out. His 
 two companions fled. That night my friend could not 
 sleep. The spectre of the dead man haunted him. It 
 1 murdered sleep/ As time passed he fell into a settled 
 melancholy. The war was over; but day and night, 
 the spectre of that dead man in the orchard was before 
 him. Not long ago as my friend was travelling 
 through Iowa he entered a smoking-car and fumbled 
 vainly for a match. In the seat before him was an 
 old man whom he asked for a light. The man turned 
 and showed a Grand Army badge on the lapel of his 
 coat. This led to reminiscences of the war, in the 
 course of which the Grand Army man told of a nar- 
 row escape he had while serving in the Wilderness. 
 He had been sent with two companions to learn the 
 disposition of the Confederate troops. In approach- 
 ing the lines they came to an orchard, where he must 
 have been careless, for a bullet struck him and he knew 
 no more. His two companions fled; but at nightfall 
 
72 THE HAND OF MACBETH 
 
 they returned and carried him to the hospital, where 
 he lay for weeks in delirium. ' My recovery/ he 
 said, ' was a miracle ; for see where the bullet struck 
 me.' With that he raised his hat and showed a scar 
 from the centre of his forehead and backward where 
 the bullet had ploughed its way. Up to this point my 
 friend had listened in silence with his heart in his 
 throat; but now he sprang to his feet and screamed, 
 screamed for joy! The horror of the weary years 
 was gone ! " 
 
 Oh, that it were possible thus to undo the past ! " I 
 would give my life," said John B. Gough, " if I could 
 undo the things this guilty hand has done ! " It can- 
 not be. 
 
 But, in divine mercy it has been provided that the 
 record may be blotted out. The past may be sub- 
 merged as in the depths of an unfathomable sea! 
 The Word of the Lord is : "I will cast your sins be- 
 hind my back : I will remember them no more against 
 you." Wonderful thought of God ! The thing which 
 is otherwise impossible is accomplished at the Cross. 
 
 The only condition affixed to the divine plan of sal- 
 vation is that we shall accept it. How plain, how 
 simple and reasonable ! " Come, now, saith the Lord, 
 and let us reason together; though your sins be as 
 scarlet they shall be white as snow, and though they be 
 red like crimson they shall be as wool." Do you know 
 any other way? 
 
 " Only believe ! " Only believe and the fountain 
 that is filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins 
 does instantly what " all great Neptune's ocean " could 
 never do. The stain is blotted out ! jf 
 
 The conclusion of the whole matter is found in the 
 
THE HAND OF MACBETH 73 
 
 last will and testament of the man who wrote Macbeth : 
 " I commend my soul into the hands of God, hoping 
 and assuredly believing, that through the only merits 
 of Jesus Christ my Saviour, I shall be made partaker 
 of everlasting life-" * 
 
 May we thus rest our hope in him ! 
 
 * In a lecture by Dr. Thomas of London on " The Theo- 
 logical Views of Shakespeare" he says, "All the schools oi 
 infidel thought are accustomed to parade the intellectual 
 merits of the great dramatist: but, while feathering the 
 arrows of their arguments with the productions of his mind, 
 they nevertheless disparage the Book which he recognized 
 as divine and in whose mental, if not moral, sunshine he 
 bathed his genius. To extol Shakespeare and deride the 
 Bible is therefore like praising the brook and belittling the 
 mountain springs that feed it, or praising the moon and be- 
 littling the sun from whom she borrows her light." 
 
 It is true there is no evidence to show that Shakespeare 
 lived a Christian life. On the contrary, his writings reflect 
 much of the corruption of the theatre of his time. But 
 there is no denying that his acquaintance with the Scriptures 
 was the source of practically all that is sweetest and purest in 
 his plays: and howeyer his life may have fallen short of his 
 creed his last Will and Testament shows that he was intel- 
 lectually in harmony with the Gospel of Christ. 
 
VIII 
 THE BEATIFIC VISION 
 
 " In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting 
 upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the 
 temple. Above it stood the seraphim : each one had six wings ; 
 with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered 
 his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto an- 
 other and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: the 
 whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door 
 moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled 
 with smoke. Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone; be- 
 cause I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst 
 of a people of unclean lips : for mine eyes have seen the 
 King! Then flew one of the seraphim unto me, having a 
 live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from 
 off the altar : and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this 
 hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and 
 thy sin is purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, say- 
 ing, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then 
 said I, Here am I; send me!" — Isaiah 6: 1-8. 
 
 IfT is important to note the influence which this 
 vision had on Isaiah's life and character; for it 
 cannot be imagined that such an event would be 
 without definite results. It was in fact a heart search- 
 ing, revolutionary experience ; insomuch, that he could 
 never again be the same man. 
 
 It produced three definite impressions upon him. 
 The first had to do with God. 
 
 He says, " I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, 
 high and lifted up." By this we are not to understand 
 
 74 
 
THE BEATIFIC VISION 75 
 
 that he really saw the essential God. " No man can 
 see God and live." 
 
 On a bright morning you look out of your window 
 and say, " I see the sun " : by which you mean only 
 that you see the corona which surrounds it. The 
 prophet saw the seraphim, each of them having six 
 wings, with twain covering his face, with twain cover- 
 ing his feet and with twain poising for flight to do his 
 Lord's will. He saw the foundations of the Temple 
 shaking and trembling. He saw the Shekinah, the pil- 
 lar of " smoke." 
 
 And that was all he saw. 
 
 But it was enough to assure him that God was 
 sitting upon his throne, controlling the affairs of the 
 children of men. It was enough to satisfy him that 
 notwithstanding the desperate condition of affairs in 
 Israel, the Lord had not abdicated his authority but 
 was still competent to administer in all things. And 
 the heart of Isaiah was lifted up accordingly within 
 him. 
 
 So did the courage of John, the Evangelist, revive 
 when, in lonely exile, meditating on the persecution of 
 his brethren, he saw the Lord walking in the midst of 
 the golden candlesticks and heard him say : " I am He 
 that liveth and was dead and, behold, I am alive for- 
 evermore and have the keys of death and hell ! " 
 
 If ever our courage fails, when the fountains of the 
 great deep seem to be broken up, let us also lift our 
 eyes to the Lord sitting upon His throne, high and 
 lifted up. The darkest clouds are far this side of 
 heaven, where in calm majesty the King wields his 
 sceptre. 
 
 Up with your hearts ! Siirsum Corda ! God is our 
 
76 THE BEATIFIC VISION 
 
 refuge and our strength ; a very present help in trouble. 
 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be re- 
 moved and though the mountains be carried into the 
 midst of the sea. 
 
 But along with this glimpse of the divine majesty 
 came also voices announcing the divine holiness. 
 " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts ! " He dwelleth 
 in light and glory unapproachable. The stars of 
 heaven are not clean in his sight. He is of purer 
 eyes than to behold iniquity. Angels and archangels 
 veil their faces before him. 
 
 The second impression had to do zvith himself, as 
 revealed in the reflected light of the divine glory. 
 
 He had been Court Chaplain now eighteen" years ; 
 and little wonder if, on entering the temple, clad in his 
 canonicals, he felt a sense of personal importance as 
 the prophet of God. But his pride was riding to a 
 fall. 
 
 In the light of this unveiling the prophet saw his 
 own littleness. Gazing toward the throne-room of the 
 universe he felt as David did, with his face turned 
 upward to the over-arching skies, " When I consider 
 thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, what is man that 
 thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou 
 visitest him? " 
 
 The tendency of our time is to magnify man and 
 minimize God. There are those who make no scruple 
 of intruding upon the divine Oracles, or taking lib- 
 erties with the Infinite. They thrust God aside, usurp 
 his prerogatives, discuss the gravest problems with an 
 air of omniscience and take upon themselves the re- 
 sponsibility for the general management of mundane 
 affairs. Thus fools rush in where angels fear to tread. 
 
THE BEATIFIC VISION 77 
 
 For such arrogance as this there is no remedy but 
 the ineffable vision of the divine glory. 
 
 Of still greater significance was the awful exposure 
 of his own sinfulness which came to Isaiah in this ex- 
 perience. Far as he was removed from God by the 
 fact that he was a mere infinitesimal in the presence 
 of the Infinite, he was still further removed by an 
 overwhelming sense of ill-desert. " Woe is me," he 
 cried, 4< for I am undone ! I am a man of unclean lips 
 and I dwell among a people of unclean lips ; and mine 
 eyes have seen the King ! " 
 
 He mentioned his lips particularly because, as a 
 prophet, he had been commissioned to witness for God. 
 He now perceived that he was not worthy to name 
 God, much less to witness for him. Thus does our 
 iniquity separate us from God and thus do our sins 
 hide his face from us. 
 
 The third impression had reference more particu- 
 larly to the relation of Isaiah with God. 
 
 He was definitely informed that, notwithstanding 
 his insignificance and imperfection, a personal place 
 was assigned to him in the divine plan. 
 
 It was eighteen years since he had received his 
 original commission and he had sought faithfully to 
 discharge it ; but he was now to start afresh. This 
 vision was destined to have a stupendous effect upon 
 him. The Lord had greater things for him to do than 
 he had ever dreamed of. 
 
 But before he could enter upon this enlarged sphere 
 of usefulness he must be qualified for it. The oppres- 
 sive sense of his sinful unworthiness must be taken 
 from him. His lips must be purged. " Then flew 
 one of the seraphim, having a live coal from off the 
 
78 THE BEATIFIC VISION 
 
 altar, and laid it upon his mouth, saying, Lo, this 
 hath touched thy lips, and thy iniquity is taken 
 away." 
 
 This coal from the altar of sacrifice spoke unmis- 
 takably of the sacrificial Lamb of God. His blood is 
 like fire, in that it burns out sin. And only so is a 
 man prepared for the service of God. 
 
 Now came the divine call : " Whom shall I send, 
 and who will go for us?" Isaiah had long served 
 under the constraint of duty; but there must be no 
 compulsion in the service of his after-life. The fu- 
 ture was dark before him. He saw no prospect of 
 success. He was summoned to go forth on a forlorn 
 hope. Would he go? 
 
 The response was immediate : " Here am I ; send 
 mel" 
 
 His words rang like those of Paul when, having 
 seen the sunburst and heard the Voice on the way 
 down to Damascus, he cried, " Lord, what wilt thou 
 have me to do?" He also had seen the King: and 
 the vision transformed his life. He was ready for 
 whatever awaited him : henceforth not duty but the 
 love of Christ constrained him. 
 
 Then followed the prophet's instructions : " Go thou 
 to a people whose ears are heavy, whose eyes are 
 holden, whose heart is fat; to a people that will not 
 hear thee ! " Was it strange that he answered, " Lord, 
 how long?" Alas, there was for him no hope of 
 brighter days. " Until the cities be wasted without 
 inhabitant, and the land be utterly desolate, and only 
 a remnant remains of the holy seed." In other words, 
 his preaching was to be as water poured upon the 
 ground. He was to warn a nation that was doomed 
 
THE BEATIFIC VISION 79 
 
 to die. He was to beat the air. He was to fail for 
 God. 
 
 But what of that ? Is not this '• the whole of man, 
 to fear God and keep His commandments? " Not suc- 
 cess but faithfulness is required of us. 
 
 The great harvests of the Lord have ever been 
 reaped from the graves of those who have toiled in 
 the night. 
 
 The old-time priests and prophets all failed. If the 
 ministry of Christ be measured by visible results, he 
 failed too. Paul and the apostles failed. Augustine 
 and Xavier and Judson and Carey failed; but only 
 as men count failure. " He always wins who sides 
 with God!" 
 
 In the long sweep of the centuries success is noth- 
 ing but simple, unquestioning, patient obedience to the 
 divine will. 
 
 The lesson of the beatific vision is of practical im- 
 port to all who profess the service of Christ. It is 
 many years since some of us closed in with the over- 
 tures of mercy and, accepting Christ as our Saviour, 
 set out to follow him. Have we been content with 
 mere perfunctory obedience? Have we only been 
 marking time when we should have been engaged on 
 the high places of the field? 
 
 If so a vision like that of Isaiah would open up a 
 new world of happy usefulness in the Christian 
 life. 
 
 It is our high privilege to see the King. He has 
 been pleased to unveil himself before us, not en- 
 veloped in " smoke " but visible to our fleshly eyes. 
 Listen to this : " He that hath seen me," said Jesus, 
 " hath seen the Father. How sayest thou then, ' Show 
 
80 THE BEATIFIC VISION 
 
 us the Father ? ' Believest thou not that I am in the 
 Father and the Father in me ? " 
 
 The theophanies of the Old Testament were but 
 foregleams or adumbrations of Christ. In him dwell- 
 eth the fulness of the Godhead bodily. He is the 
 exegesis of God. To see him is to behold a vision 
 that casts down and lifts up again; that convicts and 
 converts; that reveals our unworthiness and at the 
 same time endues us with supernatural power. 
 
 This is the vision that opens the door of efficiency 
 in the spiritual life. 
 
 I have in my study a remarkable book called " The 
 Ten Theophanies," by Dr. Baker, whose name is not 
 unfamiliar in the annals of lighter literature. As his 
 life was wearing to its close he felt a consuming de- 
 sire to publish his conception of the unveiling of God. 
 The book that resulted was written with a hand grow- 
 ing feebler and feebler, until it was finished in full view 
 of heaven. Here are its concluding words : " Try to 
 bring home to yourself this Friend of mine, who is 
 God yet man, and man yet God. He is ever lovingly 
 near, in the unlimited prime and plenitude and power 
 of his everlasting grace. — The man who is writing 
 these lines cannot see them for happy tears. He trem- 
 bles because unable to contain, while yet unable to 
 express, the thought Immanuel, God with us! And 
 now, awaiting the appearing of our Lord, let me sound 
 his praise. The blessed and only potentate, King of 
 kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, 
 dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto. 
 To him be honour and glory everlasting ! " His labour 
 of love was finished; the pen dropped from the trem- 
 bling fingers; a new Theophany had burst upon the 
 
THE BEATIFIC VISION 81 
 
 writer's soul. He was in the midst of the beatific 
 vision, at home with the God who had unveiled himself 
 before him. 
 
 To one who has thus looked on God, revealed in the 
 majesty and holiness of his beloved Son, there must 
 of necessity come a corresponding conviction of little- 
 ness and unworthiness. 
 
 So it was with Peter on that morning by the lake 
 of Galilee when he and his fellow fishermen, having 
 toiled all night and taken nothing, saw the Master on 
 the shore. At his bidding they " cast their nets on 
 the right side of the ship." Then came the miracle! 
 Peter had long known Jesus and endeavoured to serve 
 him; but in that wonderful moment he caught a 
 glimpse of his Lord's majesty and of the ineffable holi- 
 ness which ever accompanies it that filled him with 
 an overmastering awe and forced from his lips that 
 strange and apparently inconsequent cry, " Depart 
 from me, O Lord, for I am a sinful man ! " 
 
 Thus to see Christ is to see ourselves, not as others 
 see us, but as we really are in the clear white light of 
 his countenance. 
 
 And never until we have caught this vision, shall 
 we be the sort of Christians that we ought to be. 
 Never until then shall we rightly apprehend our place 
 in the plan of God. Never until then shall we escape 
 the drudgery of duty and enter on the joy of voluntary 
 service with the cry, " Here am I ; send me ! " 
 
 Meanwhile, let us cease from measuring life by 
 what men call success and hold ourselves in readiness 
 to fail, as men count failure, if our Lord so wills it. 
 
 A hopeless dreamer of dreams was Elijah until on 
 Horeb he caught the vision. He shook and trembled 
 
82 THE BEATIFIC VISION 
 
 as the earthquake and the tempest and the fire passed 
 by : after that came the still small Voice, " Go, re- 
 turn ! " Then and there a new and better life began 
 for him. He knew now that the King was on his 
 throne, high and lifted up ; and that this God was his 
 God forever and ever! 
 
 O, that the Voice might come to us, to us who feel 
 our inefficiency and would fain enter upon a higher 
 and more useful life ! 
 
 We may have the vision if we will. The Voice is 
 calling, " Whom shall I send, and who will go with 
 us?" 
 
 Are we ready to answer, " Here am I ; send me " ? 
 
IX 
 
 A PRAYER THAT SHOOK THE HILLS 
 (Preached on "Peace Day") 
 
 "The Prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth" 
 (i.e. in the major key).— Hab. 3. 
 
 OUR representative at the Court of France from 
 1776 to 1785 was Benjamin Franklin. At that 
 time a tidal wave of infidelity was sweeping 
 over the nations. In France the malign influence of 
 such leaders as Voltaire and Rousseau was preparing 
 the way for the unspeakable horrors of the Revolu- 
 tion. One evening Franklin, as the guest of honour in 
 a distinguished company of infidels, was requested to 
 read what he regarded as the finest masterpiece of 
 literature. He chose this Prayer, introducing it as 
 " a Pindaric ode." At its conclusion there were ex- 
 clamations of " Wonderful ! Wonderful ! " on every 
 side. " But this is not Pindaric," they said, " where 
 did you find it?" He replied that it was written by 
 an old prophet named Habakkuk. "Habakkook? 
 Habakkook?" they answered; "we never heard of 
 him!" 
 
 Little wonder they had never heard of him, since 
 the Bible was so generally a forgotten book in those 
 days. 
 
 The words of Habakkuk are more than a Pindaric 
 ode, more than a stately masterpiece of literature, 
 
 83 / 
 
a 
 
 84 A PRAYER THAT SHOOK THE HILLS 
 
 more than a surpassing outburst of dramatic ora- 
 tory: they are a monumental prayer, involving 
 within its narrow limits the whole philosophy of ap- 
 \ proach to God. 
 
 At the outset the prophet is seen standing upon 
 a watch tower, " to see what the Lord will say, and 
 what he shall answer him." He sweeps the horizon, 
 and descries in the far distance the approaching army 
 of the Chaldeans. There is danger to the Holy City 
 and no adequate provision to meet it. 
 
 i. He hears a Voice: the voice of God; whom the 
 sins of a stifl-necked people have provoked to holy 
 indignation. 
 
 " I heard," cries Habakkuk, " and I was afraid ! " 
 
 There are times when God speaks, as he did to 
 Elijah on Carmel, in " a still, small voice," full of 
 peace and comfort and hope; and again with a voice 
 like the portentous roll of thunder. So we are hear- 
 ing it in these terrible days when half the world is on 
 the firing line. Louder than the controversies of 
 nations, louder than the footfall of advancing armies, 
 louder than the clash of steel and roll of heavy artillery 
 is the voice of an indignant God. 
 
 Who is not afraid? Let the nations tremble and 
 all the earth keep silence before him! 
 
 2. The prophet falls upon his knees. What else 
 could he do? 
 
 " O Lord," he cries, " revive thy work in the midst 
 of the years, in the midst of the years make known; 
 in wrath remember mercy ! " 
 
 How little he knows the issues that are involved 
 in that plea. 
 
 It is an awful thing to pray. The child that kneels 
 
A PRAYER THAT SHOOK THE HILLS 85 
 
 beside its trundle-bed at night, saying, " Now I lay me 
 down to sleep: I pray the Lord my soul to keep," 
 touches a live wire that connects this old sin-cursed 
 world of ours with the dynamo of the universe. It 
 is a stupendous thing to touch it. 
 
 We are praying just now that God will make an 
 end of the horrors of war. He will answer; but he 
 reserves the right to answer in his own way. His 
 thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are his ways our 
 ways. The map of the world may be changed in 
 answer to these prayers of ours for the Truce of God. 
 
 I have been spending a week in the forests of 
 Maine. In the inns by the crossroads at evening 
 I have seen the farmers gathering in groups and set- 
 tling the affairs of the embattled nations as if they 
 knew precisely how to do it. 
 
 I have attended from year to year the Peace Con- 
 ferences at Lake Mohonk where the wise men and 
 women of the nation have come together in the inter- 
 est of international comity. A little while ago we 
 were confident that there would never be another war. 
 An arbitral Court was to be established at the Hague 
 for the settlement of all international disputes : and it 
 was a foregone conclusion that there could be no fur- 
 ther resort to arms. Alas, "the best laid plans of mice 
 and men gang aft aglee." 
 
 Have we been leaving God out of the reckoning? 
 He stands within the shadow keeping his own coun- 
 sel. The world, indeed, is moving on toward a final, 
 righteous and universal peace ; but how, or when, or by 
 what unexpected and fearful cataclysms, is for him to 
 say. 
 
 Not a prayer that ascends from the sanctuary or the 
 
86 A PRAYER THAT SHOOK THE HILLS 
 
 trysting place is unheard; nevertheless when he an- 
 swers he must needs answer like a God. 
 
 3. But here we note an interruption. 
 
 " The man who kneels yonder on the watch tower 
 is little better than a fool," some say, " if he expects 
 the infinite God to turn aside from the calm enforce- 
 ment of his rigid laws and disarrange the machinery of 
 the universe to hear his prayer and answer it" Is 
 that so? 
 
 Not long ago an engineer was speeding a passenger 
 train through the Water Gap, when he saw something 
 that forced his hand to the lever. It was a woman, 
 running from a cottage door with both her hands up- 
 lifted, screaming to him. A moment later, as the 
 locomotive swept around a curve, a little child was 
 seen playing heedlessly between the rails. Stop the 
 train ? Surely ! 
 
 That is what God sees and hears every moment of 
 every day. Nor is there any machinery of his which 
 does not allow for such uplifted hands and such agon- 
 izing cries. Is it to be supposed that his wisdom is 
 less or his heart harder than ours ? " Ye do err, not 
 knowing the power of God." 
 
 To your knees, therefore, and up with your hearts ! 
 He is the hearer and answerer of prayer. 
 
 " More things are wrought by prayer 
 Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice 
 Rise like a fountain night and day. 
 For what are men better than sheep or goats 
 That nourish a blind life within the brain, 
 If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer 
 Both for themselves and those who call them friend ?t 
 For so the whole round world is every way 
 Bound by gold chains about the feet of God." 
 
A PRAYER THAT SHOOK THE HILLS 87 
 
 Let it never be forgotten, however, that God must 
 answer for himself : not always according to our way 
 of thinking, but in his own wise time and way. 
 
 4. And here he comes. 
 
 God to the rescue ! The man on the watch tower is 
 heard and answered after a method more wonderful 
 than his wildest dream. 
 
 Behold the triumphal march ! " God comes from 
 Teman and the Holy One from Paran." The valley 
 of the Arabah, between those mountains, with thun- 
 dering Sinai in its midst, is in commotion. The 
 heavens are suffused with glory; sun and moon stand 
 still in their habitations; the deep lifts up its billowy 
 hands to greet the mighty One. The mountains trem- 
 ble and the perpetual hills are bowed. God rides upon 
 his chariot of salvation, his naked bow in hand and 
 arrow drawn to its head. Before him goeth the 
 pestilence and burning coals are under his feet. Light 
 radiates from his hands like horns of power. He 
 stands and measures the earth ! The tents of Cushan 
 and Midian are shaken as by a whirlwind. The heads 
 of the Great Powers are stripped even to their stub- 
 born necks. They said " Let us break his bands asun- 
 der and cast away his cords from us ! " He laughs 
 and holds them in derision. 
 
 Why all this commotion? 
 
 This is God's answer to the prayer of the man on 
 the watch tower, "O Lord, revive thy work; in the 
 midst of the years make known; in wrath remember 
 mercy." 
 
 We are praying for peace. Back of that is the 
 great prayer, " Thy Kingdom come." This is the 
 immemorial plea of all God's people. But as we make 
 
88 A PRAYER THAT SHOOK THE HILLS 
 
 that prayer let us remember that God reserves the 
 right to answer in his own wise way. If he come 
 with bow and arrow, the pestilence before him and 
 coals of fire under his feet, so be it. We must take 
 the consequences of our supplication. The coming of 
 God's Kingdom may involve the overturning of all 
 other kingdoms in fire and blood. 
 
 "The Lord our God is clothed with might, 
 The winds obey his will. 
 He speaks and in the heavenly height 
 The rolling sun stands still. 
 
 " Ye nations bend ! In reverence bend ! 
 Ye monarchs wait his nod! 
 And bid the choral song ascend 
 To celebrate our God." 
 
 We have offered our prayer and in the commotion 
 of the nations the Lord is answering us. The prayers 
 of all the centuries, the prayers of Washington at 
 Valley Forge, the prayers of Lincoln after Gettysburg, 
 the prayers of the little people at their trundle-beds; 
 innumerable prayers for peace and, above all, for 
 the coming of the Kingdom and the universal and 
 perpetual truce ; all these have gone up to high heaven 
 and the Lord is taking the petitioners at their word. 
 He comes from Teman and Paran with stupendous 
 glory to bring in the Golden Age. The world is con- 
 vulsed at his approach. The rebellious nations are 
 shrieking the Hymn of Hate. But God stands " meas- 
 uring " : and their wrath shall yet praise him. 
 
 On the darkest day of our Civil War, March ist, 
 1864, General Grant was made Commander in Chief 
 of the American Army. He was instructed to com- 
 
A PRAYER THAT SHOOK THE HILLS 89 
 
 bine all our scattered and disorganized forces and 
 conquer peace at any cost. In pursuance of that 
 order he thrust thousands and tens of thousands of 
 men into a blazing chasm; and then, standing amid 
 the rising clouds of battle, he said, " Let us have 
 peace." As we look backward now through the vista 
 of the years it is plain to be seen that, frightful as 
 was the price we paid, the outcome was worth it. 
 
 So will our children review the carnage of these 
 days and say, " God knew best." If the wrath of 
 men and nations must need exhaust itself in war, far 
 better have it burn itself out in one awful conflagra- 
 tion than continue through more and more weary cen- 
 turies in a running fire of perpetual strife. 
 
 If only, when this is over, the world shall see the 
 utter absurdity of arms and armament! 
 
 If only it shall be proven beyond peradventure that, 
 from the mere economic standpoint, peace is cheaper 
 than war! 
 
 If only the beatitude of the great Peacemaker shall 
 descend and forever rest upon us! 
 
 The like was never seen. Half the world and more 
 on the thin red line. " Gog and Magog to the fray ! " 
 But the Lord knows how to manage the affairs of this 
 world and, whether we like his way of doing things 
 or not, we shall have to leave the issue with him. 
 
 I have said it is an awful thing to pray. Neverthe- 
 less, let us pray on ! Let us get right with God and 
 keep in touch with him. Let us bring all our plans 
 and purposes into harmony with his. Let us be will- 
 ing to take the responsibilities involved in prayer; 
 knowing that the God of infinite wisdom will answer 
 wisely and well ; and saying ever " Thy will be done ! " 
 
90 A PRAYER THAT SHOOK THE HILLS 
 
 Moreover, let every prayer of ours, like that of 
 Habakkuk, close with an Amen of confidence: 
 
 "Though the fig-tree shall not flourish, 
 Though no fruit be in the vines, 
 Though the labour of the olive fail 
 And the fields yield no food; 
 Though the flock be cut off from the fold, 
 And there be no herd in the stall; 
 Yet will I rejoice in the Lord 
 And joy in the God of my salvation." 
 
 On a dark night the disciples of Christ were caught 
 in a terrific storm on the Sea of Galilee. In vain did 
 they labour at the oars. Would that the Master were 
 there to quiet the storm ! But alas, he was three miles 
 away ; and they were at their wits' end. On a sudden 
 they saw Him, walking on the crested billows and 
 drawing near; but they knew him not. They sup- 
 posed it to be a spectre : and " they were affrighted." 
 How often he comes to us thus, answering our prayers 
 in some unexpected guise. Far more frightful than 
 the storm is the spectral Presence in the midst of it. 
 But listen ; " Be not afraid ; it is I ! " 
 
 It is a true saying, " God's in his heaven ; all's right 
 with the world." We mark his stately steppings in the 
 progress of the ages. 
 
 In Lauderdale's Version this Prayer of Habakkuk 
 is entitled, " I sing the Warrior and his mighty deeds." 
 
 From the protevangel at the gateway of Paradise he 
 moves along the centuries to the final strife at 
 Armageddon and " the restitution of all things." 
 
 Wars and rumours of wars are incidents made nec- 
 essary by the wrath of men : but all are subsidized 
 to the final issue, " the one supreme divine event to 
 
A PRAYER THAT SHOOK THE HILLS 91 
 
 which the whole creation moves " ; namely, the 
 triumph of the Prince of Peace. 
 
 Never has God's hand in history been more manifest 
 than now. Some hundreds of millions of people have 
 been kneeling at the threshold of every opening day to 
 ask of God that his will " may be done on earth as it is 
 in heaven." His answer to that prayer is heard in the 
 roar of ten thousand cannon on the firing line. Shall 
 we murmur if he takes us at our word ? Nay, rather, 
 let us listen like Elijah with our faces between our 
 knees until we catch the undertone of prophecy which 
 assures the coming of a brighter and better day. 
 
 And meanwhile, let no happening, however porten- 
 tous, disturb our faith. It is written, " Thou will keep 
 him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee." 
 
 No storm can rage so furiously as to drown the 
 majestic voice of him who rules the winds and waves : 
 "Fear not; it is I." 
 
X 
 
 THE BELLS OF BETHLEHEM 
 (A Christmas Sermon) 
 
 " For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the 
 government shall be upon his shoulder. 
 
 And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the 
 mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. 
 
 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be 
 no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to 
 Order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice 
 from henceforth even for ever. 
 
 The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." — Isaiah 
 9 : 6-7. 
 
 THE Word of the Lord is yea and amen. When 
 he told Adam, who had been beguiled by the 
 serpent, that the Seed of Woman would come 
 in the fulness of time to bruise the serpent's head, he 
 meant it. But the years dragged their slow length 
 along until centuries had passed, and still he came not. 
 The shadows deepened into an Egyptian night. All 
 open vision ceased and the lights went out. Then 
 Isaiah rang the chimes of prophecy with a gladsome 
 sound. 
 
 THE FIRST NOTE 
 
 " His name shall be called Wonderful." Wonder- 
 ful in his birth ; as it is written, " Great is the mys- 
 tery of godliness, God is manifest in flesh : the angels 
 desire to look into it." Who shall explain the inter- 
 
THE BELLS OF BETHLEHEM 93 
 
 weaving of Deity and humanity, as warp and woof, in 
 the fabric of this Child wrapped in swaddling-bands 
 and lying in a manger? 
 
 Wonderful in his life — a life briefly comprehended 
 in this monograph, " He went about doing good " — 
 a life so blameless that he who lived it could chal- 
 lenge the world to lay anything to his charge — a life so 
 immortal that its influence along the centuries shines 
 brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. 
 
 Wonderful is his death; for never man died like 
 this Man. He tasted death not for himself but for 
 every man. He was innocent of sin, yet he bore the 
 burden of the world's sin until his great heart broke 
 under it. 
 
 Wonderful in his resurrection; for by the power 
 of an indwelling life he triumphed over the King 
 of Terrors and, ascending up on high, took captivity 
 captive that he might forevermore give gifts unto 
 men. 
 
 Wonderful — most wonderful — in his life after 
 death; for now he sitteth upon his throne high and 
 lifted up, directing the course of current events. " Is 
 it not amazing," said Napoleon, " that whereas the 
 ambitious dreams of Caesar and Alexander and my- 
 self should have vanished into thin air, a mere Judaean 
 peasant should be able to stretch a dead hand across 
 the centuries and control the destinies of nations and 
 the children of men ? n 
 
 THE SECOND NOTE 
 
 " His name shall be called Counsellor." That is 
 to say, he shall answer the world's need of counsel. 
 And what do men want but to know the way — the way 
 
94 THE BELLS OF BETHLEHEM 
 
 of truth and righteousness — the way back to God ? If 
 ever thou standest at the crossroads, unable to dis- 
 cern betwixt the worse and better reason, behold, thou 
 shalt hear a Voice behind thee saying, " This is the 
 way, walk ye in it." And if thou knowest not the 
 Voice, remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he 
 said, " I am the way, and the truth and the life ; no 
 man cometh unto the Father but by me." 
 
 THE THIRD NOTE 
 
 " His name shall be called the mighty God." We 
 shall never see God except as he has revealed him- 
 self in his only begotten Son. When Moses desired 
 to see the divine glory he hid himself in a cleft of 
 the rock and saw nothing, heard nothing but the rustle 
 of a garment as the Lord passed by. Come now to 
 Bethlehem and behold the hiding of infinite strength ! 
 Is proof demanded of the Godhood of Jesus? Leave 
 that to the theologians. For us the breaking of the day 
 requires no proof. It is enough that the joy of the 
 morning quivers in the air, that the time of the sing- 
 ing of birds is come, that the eastern sky is radiant 
 with advancing light, that the world grows brighter 
 under the influence of the Sun of Righteousness with 
 every passing hour. 
 
 THE FOURTH NOTE 
 
 " His name shall be called the everlasting Father." 
 How then shall he be the only begotten Son? In 
 the mystery of the ineffable Trinity there are not 
 three Gods but three persons in one : and Jesus is 
 " the fulness of the Godhead bodily." As Ulysses, 
 returning from the wars, unbuckled his armour that 
 
THE BELLS OF BETHLEHEM 95 
 
 his children might recognize him, so the Father un- 
 veils himself in the person of Christ. " Show us the 
 Father," said Philip, " and it sufficeth us." And 
 Jesus said, " Have I been so long time with you and 
 yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath 
 seen me hath seen the Father. How sayest thou 
 then, ' Show us the Father ? ' Believest thou not that 
 I am in the Father and the Father in me ? " 
 
 THE FIFTH NOTE 
 
 " And his name shall be called the Prince of Peace. ,, 
 His Gospel is the Gospel of Reconciliation; of recon- 
 ciliation between God and man by the blotting out of 
 sin, and of man with his fellow men by the Golden 
 Rule which is destined to bring in the Golden Age. 
 How, then, after the lapse of nineteen centuries, 
 should the nations be arrayed against each other? 
 The day never dawns with a sunburst. In due time he 
 that shall come will come and will make no tarrying. 
 But the way to ultimate peace is over many a bloody 
 field. " I am come," said Jesus, " not to bring peace 
 but a sword " — a sword that shall ever leap from its 
 scabbard when the beacons of justice and humanity are 
 kindled on the hills. Progress is a fact, and history 
 is not a closed book. We can afford to wait. Mean- 
 while the royal standards onward go. 
 
 THE SIXTH NOTE 
 
 It was seven hundred years before the bells were 
 heard again. Then clear and resonant they rang out. 
 " His name shall be called Jesus ! " 
 
 In Bethlehem of Judea a mother is crooning a 
 lullaby to her Child lying in a manger. This is the 
 
96 THE BELLS OF BETHLEHEM 
 
 long-looked- for Messiah, " whom kings and prophets 
 longed to see and died without the sight." The nam- 
 ing has been arranged for. The angel of the annuncia- 
 tion said, " His name shall be called Jesus, because 
 he shall save his people from their sins." The five 
 prophetic names — Wonderful, Counsellor, mighty God, 
 everlasting Father and Prince of Peace are here rolled 
 into one. 
 
 "There is no name so sweet on earth, 
 No name so sweet in heaven, 
 The name before his wondrous birth 
 To Christ the Saviour given." 
 
 By virtue of his office as Saviour " the government 
 is upon his shoulder." The picture is of an oriental 
 sovereign bearing the keys as the symbol of a rightful 
 reign. And with this investiture comes a great prom- 
 ise, " Of the increase of his government there shall 
 be no end," — a promise which is abundantly verified 
 by the logic of events. There has never been a year 
 nor a day since the advent of Christ that has not wit- 
 nessed such an increase of his authority. At that 
 time all Christendom was embraced in a little patch 
 of sunlight on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, 
 which has widened in the process of the years until it 
 covers the whole civilized world. The feeble band of 
 five hundred that gathered on the Mount of Ascension 
 has multiplied into some hundreds of millions; and 
 others are continually falling in. 
 
 But " the end is not yet." God moves in great 
 cycles of time. With him one day is as a thousand 
 years. Wherefore after the lapse of nineteen cen- 
 turies we are still waiting — waiting and crying, " How 
 
THE BELLS OF BETHLEHEM 97 
 
 long, O Lord, how long ? " But he that believeth shall 
 not make haste. Listen! 
 
 THE SEVENTH NOTE 
 
 " His name shall be called King of kings and Lord 
 of lords ! " 
 
 Have you heard it, sounding loud and clear above 
 the roar of the world's artillery? Blessed are they 
 who can interpret the signs of these troublous times! 
 It would appear that the war in which the nations 
 are now engaged marks the beginning of the end. The 
 Prince of Peace leads his white battalions against the 
 hosts of darkness. It is truth against error, justice 
 against oppression, humanity against frightfulness, 
 Christ against the prince of the power of the air. And 
 the end may be seen from the beginning: for "his 
 Kingdom shall be established in justice from hence- 
 forth even forever ! " 
 
 Where shall we look for an authentication of this 
 hope ? " The seal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform 
 it." This zeal, literally " the burning " of the Lord, — 
 is witnessed in every battle waged today. The God 
 of justice is vindicating his right to reign from the 
 river unto the ends of the earth. The Great Powers 
 totter to their fall. The smoke of Armageddon will 
 presently be dissipated and we shall see, inscribed in 
 letters of fire across the skies, the name that was writ- 
 ten on the swaddling-bands of the Child of Bethlehem, 
 " King of kings and Lord of lords/' 
 
 The conviction of the ancients that the problems 
 of history are insoluble was embodied in the grim 
 statue of the Sphinx looking down with bewildered 
 eyes on caravans moving out through the desert into 
 
98 THE BELLS OF BETHLEHEM 
 
 the unknown. One of the masterpieces of French art, 
 called " The Repose in Egypt," represents the virgin- 
 mother at night resting in the arms of the Sphinx 
 with the divine Child asleep on her bosom. But today 
 we have another vision of that Child, awaking not 
 only to solve the problems of history but to claim his 
 own. Here is what Isaiah saw: 
 
 " Who is this that cometh from Bozrah ; this that 
 is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness 
 of his strength ? " 
 
 " I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save ! " 
 
 " Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, as one 
 that treadeth the wine-press ? " 
 
 " I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the 
 people there was none with me! I looked, and there 
 was none to help ; therefore mine' own arm brought 
 salvation ! " 
 
 This is the Lord who bringeth salvation today ; and 
 the world trembles at his coming. Listen and you 
 shall hear the Bells of Bethlehem ringing out for his 
 coronation; and behold, all principalities and powers 
 shall bring their honour and their glory unto 
 him. 
 
 The path of progress must needs be over an 
 undulating country; but it leads right on to the 
 Golden Age. Wherefore let the sons of Asaph 
 raise the tune, " Joy to the world, the Lord is 
 come ! " 
 
 Laugh on, O children, at your happy firesides: 
 dance round the Tree of Gifts, and lead your elders 
 in the service of praise. Noel ! Noel ! Let hope 
 revive beneath the lurid skies and faith discern the 
 coming of the Truce of God. 
 
THE BELLS OF BETHLEHEM 99 
 
 " Ring out wild bells, to the wild sky ! 
 
 " Ring out the old, ring in the new ! 
 Ring out the false, ring in the true! 
 
 "Ring out old shapes of foul disease, 
 Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; 
 Ring out the thousand wars of old, 
 Ring in the thousand years of peace. 
 
 " Ring in the valiant man and free, 
 The larger heart, the kindlier hand, 
 Ring out the darkness of the land, 
 Ring in the Christ that is to be." 
 
XI 
 LIFE ON THE JERICHO ROAD 
 
 " And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from 
 Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped 
 him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving 
 him half dead. 
 
 And by chance there came down a certain priest that way; 
 and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 
 
 And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and 
 looked on him, and passed by on the other side. 
 
 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he 
 was ; and when he saw him, he had compassion on him. 
 
 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in 
 oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him 
 to an inn, and took care of him. 
 
 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two 
 pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take 
 care of him : and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I 
 come again, I will repay thee. 
 
 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour 
 unto him that fell among the thieves? 
 
 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said 
 Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise." — Luke io : 30-27. 
 
 THE way the so-called " Parable of the Good 
 Samaritan " happened to be spoken was this : 
 A certain lawyer (by which is meant not 
 a barrister, but an expert in the Mosaic law) came 
 to Jesus with the purpose of " tempting " him or put- 
 ting him to the test, asking what he should do in 
 order to inherit eternal life. 
 
 300 
 
LIFE ON THE JERICHO ROAD 101 
 
 The Lord thereupon directed his attention to 
 the shema, or " frontlet between his eyes," on which 
 were written the two great commandments, say- 
 ing, " What is written in the Law ; how readest 
 thou ?" 
 
 The man's answer was in the words of his frontlet, 
 " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart 
 and with all thy soul and with all thy mind; and Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." 
 
 Jesus said, " Thou hast answered right ; this do and 
 thou shalt live " ; which was in accordance with the 
 covenant of works, " He that doeth the law shall live 
 by it." 
 
 But the lawyer was not satisfied. His conscience 
 was apparently clear so far as his relations with God 
 were concerned, but he was not so clear about his 
 relations with his fellowmen. As a loyal Jew he 
 recognized no special obligation to any who did not 
 belong to the household of faith. Wherefore, " wish- 
 ing to justify himself," he asked, " But who is my 
 neighbour ? " 
 
 Then Christ told this story of the Waylaid Traveller; 
 in which he cleverly turned the tables on his questioner 
 by answering not the question " Who is my neigh- 
 bour?" but the vastly broader one which lies at the 
 centre of all true philanthropy, " Whose neighbour 
 ami?" 
 
 This is usually spoken of as a Parable ; but there is 
 no sufficient reason for so regarding it. On the other 
 hand, it sounds like an account of an actual occur- 
 rence. Had there been a daily newspaper in Jeru- 
 salem the incident would probably have been an- 
 nounced in such headlines as these: 
 
102 LIFE ON THE JERICHO ROAD 
 
 VIOLENCE ON THE JERICHO ROAD. 
 
 A TRAVELLER WAYLAID AND ROBBED. 
 
 HE IS BEATEN AND LEFT FOR DEAD. 
 
 But whether we regard this as a parable or not, it is 
 clearly an apologue of life. We are introduced to four 
 men who started out on the Jericho Road on the event- 
 ful day referred to. 
 
 The first is the Traveller. He started on his jour- 
 ney alone; and he should have known better, for the 
 road from Jerusalem to Jericho was proverbially a 
 dangerous one. It was called, and is still called, " The 
 Bloody Way." A portion of it runs through an ancient 
 river-bed, a deep ravine with caves and inaccessible 
 cliffs furnishing lurking places for banditti. Ali Babi 
 and his forty thieves are there. No prudent footman 
 ventures on that road without a dragoman and band to 
 safeguard him. But this traveller went unattended; 
 and it was a foregone conclusion that he would be 
 robbed along the way. 
 
 The highroad of life runs through like dangers. Its 
 most lamentable tragedies are due to the rejection of 
 the divine Guide and the inspired Guide-book. How 
 many have thus fallen among thieves, to find them- 
 selves despoiled of their faith by false teachers and 
 of their character by tempters and temptresses lying 
 in wait for the unwary. When one's Bible is lost and 
 his habit of prayer and his good conscience he is in- 
 deed " down and out." 
 
 But how does this concern us as followers of Christ? 
 Are we responsible? "Am I my brother's keeper?" 
 Surely. This is our high calling; to seek and to save 
 
LIFE ON THE JERICHO ROAD 103 
 
 the lost, to rescue the perishing, to do good as we 
 have opportunity unto all men. 
 
 The second man on the highway is the Clergyman. 
 Here he comes. " And by chance there came down 
 a certain priest that way." He probably had an ap- 
 pointment to preach in the Temple and if so, after the 
 manner of preachers, he was doubtless meditating on 
 what he should say. 
 
 " And when he saw the wounded traveller, he passed 
 by on the other side." The word " saw " indicates a 
 passing glance. Had it suited his convenience he 
 would no doubt have ministered to the necessity of 
 this man ; but the sound of a ramshorn in the distance 
 reminded him that he must make haste to keep his 
 appointment. 
 
 To his mind the sermon was the important thing. 
 It should have occurred to him that a sermon is like 
 a homeopathic pellet, which is ineffective unless dipped 
 in the mother-tincture. The mother-tincture of 
 preaching is love ; as it is written, " Love is the ful- 
 filling of the Law." 
 
 The third man is the Elder. " A Levite likewise, 
 when he was at the place, came and looked on the 
 wounded man and passed by on the other side." 
 
 The word " looked " indicates more than a passing 
 glance. He turned his gaze intently on the wounded 
 man and was inclined to help him. But he also was in 
 haste to reach Jerusalem for an assignment. As one 
 of the Levites, midway between the priesthood and 
 the people, it was his business to look after the rites 
 and ceremonies. It may be that he was charged on 
 this particular day with the kindling of the lights of 
 the golden candlestick. He probably said in his heart, 
 
104 LIFE ON THE JERICHO ROAD 
 
 " I'm sorry for this poor fellow ; but if I touch him 
 as he lies weltering in blood I shall be defiled for the 
 Temple service/' And when the sound of the distant 
 ramshorn fell upon his ear that settled it. He must 
 hurry on. 
 
 He should have remembered however that the prime 
 business of the ministry is to minister. There is 
 nothing more important for the eldership and the 
 diaconate in our Christian churches than to heed the 
 cry of the unfortunate; and the air is vibrant with 
 that cry. It sounds louder even than the ringing of 
 the church bell. 
 
 The fourth man is the Outsider: as it is written, 
 " A certain Samaritan as he journeyed, when he saw 
 the man, had compassion on him and bound up his 
 wounds and brought him to an inn and took care of 
 him. ,, 
 
 The Jews " had no dealing with the Samaritans." 
 They did not recognize them as belonging to the 
 household of faith. At the time of the Babylonish 
 captivity those who were left behind intermarried with 
 the Assyrians who had been brought in to occupy the 
 land; and the result was a race of half-breeds who 
 were looked down on. At the time of the Restoration 
 they were not allowed to lend a hand in the rebuilding 
 of the Temple; not because they did not have the 
 same Bible or worship the same God, but because they 
 did not belong to " the established church." They 
 were regarded as " aliens from the commonwealth of 
 Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise." 
 Such hide-bound sectarianism is not wholly unknown 
 in our time. Nevertheless it would appear that this 
 Samaritan was a truer son of Israel than either the 
 
LIFE ON THE JERICHO ROAD 105 
 
 Priest or the Levite, because his heart beat responsive 
 to the divine love for all the children of men. 
 
 He not only " saw " the wounded traveller and 
 " looked " on him but he " had compassion upon him " : 
 and his was the practical sort of compassion which 
 takes the definite form of helpfulness. He put the 
 wounded traveller on his beast of burden and carried 
 him to an inn where, having paid the reckoning, he 
 said to the landlord, " Take care of him ; and what- 
 soever thou spendest more, when I come again I will 
 repay thee." By this it would appear that his credit 
 was good ; which is what we should expect : for a true 
 philanthropist is not only generous but just; he is al- 
 ways an honest man. 
 
 So much for the "parable." Its practical point is 
 in the closing words, " Go thou and do likewise." 
 There are four reasons why we should follow this 
 injunction : 
 
 First, because we belong to a universal fellowship, 
 in which the welfare of one should be the interest of 
 all. By virtue of our common birth we are under 
 bonds to minister to all sorts and conditions of men. 
 It matters not whether they are, as we say, deserving 
 or undeserving ; when they suffer they have a natural 
 claim upon us. 
 
 In all the world there is none beyond the possibility 
 of restoration. On the shield of the Humane Society of 
 London is the picture of a child bending over a dying 
 fire and breathing upon it: and above this are the 
 words, Forsitan scintilla, " There is perhaps a linger- 
 ing spark." No soul is irretrievably lost until the 
 great doors of the outer darkness have closed behind 
 him. While there is life, there is hope. The drabs 
 
106 LIFE ON THE JERICHO ROAD 
 
 and drunkards, the thieves and ne'er-do-wells who 
 jostle us in the thronged streets, all have in them a 
 lingering spark which may be quickened into life. 
 
 " Down in the human heart, 
 Crushed by the tempter, 
 Feelings lie buried that grace can restore; 
 
 Touched by a loving heart, 
 
 Wakened by kindness, 
 Chords that were broken will vibrate once more." 
 
 The second reason for this sort of ministry lies in 
 the fact that we profess to be followers of Christ. 
 He was no respecter of persons. As he travelled 
 along the Bloody Way he ministered to all who had 
 been waylaid and robbed. Thieves and magdalenes 
 were not ruled out. In this he was distinctly at odds 
 with the Jews, whose only neighbours were their fel- 
 low Jews ; and equally with the Greeks, in whose phi- 
 losophy all but themselves were characterized as " bar- 
 barians." Their conception of neighbourliness was 
 indicated in the concentric circles of Hierocles. The 
 innermost of these circles was for self, that is, " Look 
 out for number one " ; the next larger was for one's 
 household, that is, " God bless me and my wife, my 
 son John and his wife, us four and no more " ; the 
 next was for the people of Athens; the next for the 
 citizens of Greece; and, if anything was left over 
 the outside world might have it. 
 
 But this is not according to the Gospel of Christ. 
 Here we have a new definition of the word " neigh- 
 bour." It does not mean nachbar, that is, the man who 
 lives next door. Our neighbour is not the " near 
 dweller " ; he may be a dweller at the antipodes. Our 
 neighbour is the man who needs us. 
 
LIFE ON THE JERICHO ROAD 107 
 
 And never was there a better exemplification of this 
 definition than in the life of Christ himself. He was 
 neighbour to every man. He touched the leper, he 
 relieved the frenzied demoniac, he cheered the trou- 
 bled soul of an abandoned woman with the hope of 
 better things. There was healing in the hem of his 
 garment, there was comfort in the kindly glance of his 
 eye. He has been painted by the great masters with 
 a halo encircling his head and hands crossed over a 
 bleeding heart ; but what if some artist could have 
 caught the gracious look upon his face as he passed 
 through the porches of Bethesda, laying a gentle hand 
 upon the suffering and speaking a helpful word to 
 all! 
 
 His church is a benevolent society. Its name ec- 
 clesia is significant of its vocation. It is " called out " 
 of the world to uplift the fallen. No other association 
 on earth has a like commission. The State, if true to 
 its function, puts up lights along the windings of the 
 Bloody Way and, so far forth, furnishes safeguards 
 for its travellers; but it does not undertake to trans- 
 form character or restore to spiritual life those who 
 are dead in their sins. This is the business of the 
 Christian church ; and only such as are in cordial sym- 
 pathy with the philanthropic Gospel of Christ can 
 properly belong to it. 
 
 The third reason for engaging in this gracious serv- 
 ice is that it qualifies us for Heaven. The redeemed 
 up yonder are not wholly engaged in singing praises 
 and playing on golden harps. " Are they not all 
 ministering spirits, sent forth to minister?" Where- 
 fore, blessed are they who so serve their apprentice- 
 ship here and now that, when translated to glory, they 
 
108 LIFE ON THE JERICHO ROAD 
 
 may know how to minister in the name and after the 
 manner of God's beloved Son. 
 
 A man wearing the uniform of the Salvation Army- 
 was passing along one of our streets on a winter night, 
 twelve years ago, when he saw a forlorn fellow, ill- 
 clad and far spent with hunger. He led him to the 
 nearest barracks of the Salvation Army and saw that 
 he was properly cared for. It turned out subse- 
 quently that this man was an ex-President of Nicara- 
 gua, who had been waylaid and robbed on the Bloody 
 Way. He soon disappeared; but here is the sequel. 
 Two years ago his helper, now a Major in the Salva- 
 tion Army, was ordered by Commander Booth to 
 proceed to Belgium and superintend the distribution 
 of the relief funds which had been collected for the 
 unfortunate people there. But, notwithstanding his 
 passports, he found it impossible to reach his destina- 
 tion. He was detained here and there for many weeks 
 and, on reaching the boundaries of Germany, he was 
 held up as an English spy. At this juncture the editor 
 of a Spanish newspaper in Berlin happened to hear of 
 his case and, by personal intercession with the Kaiser, 
 secured for him an exceptional permit which enabled 
 him to enter Belgium and carry on his relief work. It 
 turned out that this influential friend was none other 
 than the Nicaraguan who had so long been lost sight 
 of. Thus does bread cast upon the waters return to 
 us again after many days : and thus do " little deeds of 
 kindness " pave the way for larger deeds of kindness 
 further on. 
 
 The benevolent tasks of heaven are for those who 
 have familiarized themselves with beneficence in this 
 present life. " Then shall the King say, ' Come, ye 
 
LIFE ON THE JERICHO ROAD 109 
 
 blessed of my father, inherit the Kingdom prepared 
 for you from the foundation of the world. For I was 
 an hungered and ye gave me meat, I was a stranger 
 and ye took me in, I was sick and in prison and ye 
 visited me. Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of 
 the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto 
 me." 
 
 There is a fourth reason why we should engage in 
 this neighbourly service, namely, because it safeguards 
 the Bloody Way for other travellers. It is thus that 
 we make our world a better world to live in. All our 
 policemen would presently be off duty if well-disposed 
 people would only practise their kindly thoughts. Let 
 us here remember the inspired definition of religion, 
 which is " to visit the fatherless and widows in their 
 affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the 
 world." 
 
 In order to keep oneself unspotted from the world 
 one must needs accept Christ as his Saviour, whose 
 blood alone cleanseth from all sin. That done, noth- 
 ing remains but to translate his piety into generous 
 deeds. 
 
 Come then, my friends, while we pursue the jour- 
 ney of life let us, as true followers of Christ, be 
 neighbours to all. 
 
XII 
 " LOVE YOUR ENEMIES " 
 
 " Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love 
 thy neighbour and hate thine enemy. 
 
 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that 
 curse you, do good to them that hate you and pray for them 
 that despitefully use you and persecute you; that ye may 
 be the children of your Father who is in heaven. For he 
 maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth 
 rain on the just and the unjust. 
 
 For if ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? 
 Do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your 
 brethren only, what do ye more than others? Do not even 
 the publicans so? 
 
 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in 
 heaven is perfect." — Matt. 5 : 43-48. 
 
 WHO is this that presumes to lift his voice 
 against the teaching of " them of old 
 time?" 
 Behold a man in homespun challenging the wisdom 
 of the world and the centuries! 
 
 This " I say unto you," intimates either infinite 
 presumption or divine authority. Which shall it be? 
 In the logic of history it appears that these words of 
 the unaccountable Man not only went crashing like 
 a thunderbolt through the corridors of the past but 
 have come down along the passing centuries like the 
 rising of a sun that is likely to keep on shining 
 brighter and brighter unto the perfect day. 
 
 110 
 
"LOVE YOUR ENEMIES" 111 
 
 Who is this that presumes to formulate new policies 
 for nations and a new rule of action for all the chil- 
 dren of men? 
 
 The conclusion is inevitable. He was either the 
 most grotesque charlatan that ever aimlessly beat the 
 air, or else he was what he claimed to be, namely, the 
 sovereign Son of God. 
 
 There is no middle ground to stand on. 
 
 But who had ever said, " Thou shalt love thy 
 neighbour and hate thine enemy " ? You will not find 
 it in the Old Testament, which was the Bible of the 
 Jews. In the Levitical Law it is written, " Thou shalt 
 love thy neighbour as thyself " ; but we must search 
 elsewhere for the addendum, " Thou shalt hate thine 
 enemy." 
 
 The greatest day of the year in Israel — the Day 
 of Atonement — was set apart for the healing of 
 grudges, the forgiveness of injuries and the right ad- 
 justment of all mutual relations in the interest of 
 peace. It is only among the toldoth or " traditions of 
 the elders " — with which Jesus says the Scribes and 
 Pharisees had " made the Law to be of none effect " — 
 that we shall find any suggestion of personal hatred 
 toward those who have wronged us. 
 
 This, however, is the teaching of the world. Not 
 only barbarous tribes but even the most civilized of 
 non-Christian nations have been and are ruled by the 
 lex talionis, " An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a 
 tooth and burning for burning." 
 
 In the golden age of learning in Greece, " mother 
 of arts and eloquence," a magnificent statue of Nemesis 
 the goddess of vengeance, was erected by the Athenians 
 in the very midst of their philosophic schools. The 
 
112 " LOVE YOUR ENEMIES " 
 
 resentment of personal slights and the avenging of 
 personal wrongs was regarded as a matter of course. 
 
 It is recorded that when Tamerlane led an army 
 of a hundred thousand men to reduce the city of 
 Bagdad which had offended him, he gave orders that 
 no man should return from the final charge without 
 the trophy of a human head; and his victory was 
 commemorated by a pyramid of skulls. 
 
 Not long ago Bagdad was again besieged and taken 
 by the entente allies ; but no such pyramid was reared 
 beneath its walls. Why not? Because of something 
 that happened nineteen hundred years ago. 
 
 We have reason to lament a thousand deeds of 
 frightfulness in the warfare of our time ; but roll 
 them all together and the record of a single day of 
 Nero or Caligula will force the conclusion that the 
 Gospel of Christ has brought in a better order of 
 things. 
 
 He taught us to " love our enemies." 
 
 It is easy enough to love one's friends: but to love 
 those who are bitter against us, there's the rub. Yet 
 this is imperative for those who follow Christ. 
 
 We may not be able to like them; indeed we are 
 under bonds not to look with approval on the un- 
 worthy; but to love them is quite another thing. 
 
 It may be necessary in the interest of the public 
 good that they should be stood up blindfolded against 
 a wall and put out of the way; but with that, in our 
 private capacity, we have nothing to do. 
 
 He taught us to " bless them that curse us." Be- 
 hind that blessing always lies forgiveness; and with 
 forgiveness goes forgetfulness of personal wrongs. 
 
 To say " I can forgive but not forget " is to betray 
 
" LOVE YOUR ENEMIES " 118 
 
 an utter insincerity. There is no room for a grudging 
 pardon in the teaching of Christ. And Peter said, 
 " Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and 
 I forgive him ? Till seven times ? " Jesus answered, 
 " I say unto you, not until seven times but until 
 seventy times seven ! " That is, we are to forgive and 
 forget, without reserve and to the very end. 
 
 He taught us to " do good to them that hate us." 
 
 These words are amplified by Paul where he says, 
 "if thine enemy hunger feed him; if he thirst give 
 him drink ; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire 
 on his head." This is a literal quotation from the 
 Proverbs of Solomon which were written a thousand 
 years before the beginning of the Christian era 
 (Proverbs 15:20). In the reference to "coals of 
 fire " there is no suggestion of personal revenge but 
 rather of good will : for there is no discipline like the 
 grace of forgiveness, which burns like purifying fire 
 to bring one's enemy to repentance and a better mind. 
 
 He taught us to "pray for them that despitefully 
 use us." If one can pray for his enemy, all else goes 
 with it. How can a man intercede for one at the 
 throne of heavenly grace and feel unkindly toward 
 him? 
 
 In the time of our Revolutionary War an old 
 Quaker named Miller was persistently wronged by 
 one of his Tory neighbours. It chanced that this man 
 was presently arrested as a spy and condemned to 
 death. The Quaker thereupon made his way to Wash- 
 ington's headquarters and interceded for him. The 
 General said, " I should be glad, in view of your loyal 
 services, to do anything within reason for your friend, 
 but — " Just there the Quaker interrupted him : " He 
 
114 " LOVE YOUR ENEMIES " 
 
 is not my friend ; but I am his. He has inflicted grave 
 injuries upon me; but I am a Christian. I have been 
 praying for him ; and therefore I entreat you to spare 
 him." 
 
 This is " the mind that was in Christ Jesus " ; and 
 the mind that was in Christ Jesus must also be in 
 those who profess to follow him. 
 
 But what becomes of justice in this case? If all 
 wrongs are forgiven would not our social fabric be 
 at loose ends? Not at all. Justice must be admin- 
 istered, but not by you or me. 
 
 This is a divine prerogative. " Vengeance is mine, 
 saith the Lord, I will repay." Righteousness and 
 judgment are the habitation of his throne. A day is 
 appointed when all the obvious inequalities in human 
 affairs shall be finally righted : and the hand that holds 
 the scales will hold them so evenly that in all the uni- 
 verse, even among those who pass into outer darkness, 
 there will be no complaint. All will unite then in 
 paying tribute to the even-handed justice of God. 
 
 In the meantime the administration of justice is 
 committed to Magistrates as the " powers that be." 
 It is for this that they are " ordained of God." 
 
 The imprecatory Psalms are in evidence, and such 
 other portions of Scripture as call down vengeance 
 upon the unrighteous. It was in their magisterial 
 capacity that the inspired writers indicated with ap- 
 proval the exact justice which is certain to be admin- 
 istered upon all who impiously run upon the bosses of 
 the divine shield. 
 
 If the avengement of wrongs were a personal mat- 
 ter what room would there be for the magisterial office 
 or for courts of justice? 
 
"LOVE YOUR ENEMIES » 115 
 
 It is true, as Hamlet says, that " in the corrupted 
 currents of the world, Offense's guilty hand doth often 
 shove by justice " ; nevertheless it remains that, in 
 the interest of social order, personal retribution must 
 yield to official arbitrament. Yet even here love is 
 not ruled out. A magistrate may be constrained for 
 the general good to send a culprit to the electric chair ; 
 but in his personal capacity he may and should feel 
 kindly towards him. 
 
 The judge who, in 1849, passed sentence of death \ 
 on Professor Webster for a sanguinary crime did so 
 with tears running down his cheeks : " You and I 
 were classmates," he said, " but the law must have its 
 course ! " 
 
 A nation like ours may be forced, in the interest 
 of humanity and the world's welfare, to engage in 
 war: but that does not mean that our armies on the 
 march should keep step to the grim music of the Hymn 
 of Hate. 
 
 It is recorded that President Lincoln when looking 
 over the bloody field of Gettysburg said in a broken 
 voice, " This is awful — awful, — but it must go 
 on!" 
 
 A soldier on the thin red line may, in the line of 
 military duty and for the putting down of evils which 
 menace the public welfare, aim a deadly shot at his 
 adversary without ceasing to love him. 
 
 So far as we are individually concerned, however, 
 love and not justice must control us. What do we 
 know about justice anyway? Can we discern the 
 motives which lie back of the actions of men? " Who 
 knows the heart, 'tis he alone decidedly can try us." 
 
 We always fail when we undertake to administer 
 
116 " LOVE YOUR ENEMIES " 
 
 justice for the vindication of our personal rights; but 
 we make no failures in dispensing love. 
 
 Not long ago I had occasion to go into a delicates- 
 sen store where the German proprietor, after waiting 
 on me asked if I remembered how cheerful his wife 
 was when I last saw her. " She now lies," he added, 
 " in the Lutheran churchyard. A few days after you 
 were here she suddenly lost her mind and became so 
 violent that we had to take her to the hospital; and 
 now she's gone : and I and my three children are very, 
 very lonely without her." When I asked how she hap- 
 pened to lose her mind he replied that it was brooding 
 on the war and on the loss of former friends who 
 turned their backs upon her. 
 
 Alas, how true it is that " man's inhumanity to man 
 makes countless thousands mourn ! " And by that fact 
 it becomes more and more obvious that, so far as we 
 personally are concerned, " love is the fulfilling of the 
 law." 
 
 This rule of action was not emphasized by our 
 Lord without his giving good and sufficient reasons 
 for it. Observe how he placed the approval of the 
 Triune God behind it. 
 
 First: " So shall ye be the children of your Father 
 which is in Heaven." In the distribution of the gifts 
 of Providence there is no respect of persons. u He 
 maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, 
 and sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust." 
 All alike are sinners, yet all alike are beneficiaries of 
 his bounty. Even the most malignant infidel is per- 
 mitted to bask in his sunlight and breathe his air. 
 Thus God is Love; and he that loveth not, in like 
 manner, is not born of God. 
 
" LOVE YOUR ENEMIES " 117 
 
 Second: It is thus that we vindicate our calling as 
 disciples of Christ. It matters not whether he be ac- 
 cepted or rejected, he " tasted death for every man." 
 His followers are called " a peculiar people " because 
 they try to be like him. 
 
 This is implied in the words " If ye love them that 
 love you what reward have ye? Do not even the 
 publicans the same ? " By this it would appear that 
 Christians are expected to do " more than others." 
 And this " more " is specified in the ministry of 
 love. 
 
 Christ himself, in his capacity as a man among men, 
 declined to administer justice. He said, " The Son of 
 Man is come not to condemn the world, but that the 
 world through him might be saved." 
 
 On one occasion the Rabbis dragged an adulterous 
 woman up the marble steps of the Temple and threw 
 her before him saying, " Moses in the Law commanded 
 that such should be stoned ; but what sayest thou ? " 
 He stooped and wrote on the dust of the pavement, 
 " Let him that is without sin among you cast the first 
 stone at her." When they had gone out " one by one, 
 beginning at the eldest," he asked of the woman 
 " Hath no man condemned thee ? " She answered 
 " Nay, Lord." Then said he " Neither do I condemn 
 thee ; go and sin no more ! " This does not mean that 
 he condoned her offence ; only that his earthly ministry 
 was not magisterial. And in thus speaking he marked 
 out a definite rule of action for all who profess to 
 follow him. 
 
 Third: In the ministry of love we are led by the 
 Holy Spirit along the pathway of sanctification to 
 the fulness of character. This is intimated in the 
 
118 " LOVE YOUR ENEMIES " 
 
 words, " Be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is 
 perfect/' 
 
 It is true that we cannot attain to the absolute 
 perfection of our divine Father; but under the influ- 
 ence of the sanctifying Spirit we may grow in grace 
 and in the knowledge of Christ so as ultimately to 
 reach the perfection of love; and, so far forth, we 
 shall be like him. 
 
 For a life thus lived in " labour of love and patience 
 of hope " there is a great reward even here and now. 
 Love is indeed its own reward. There is no warm- 
 ing of the heart like that which Cowper calls " the 
 generous pleasure of a kindly deed." Let Portia 
 speak : 
 
 " The quality of mercy is not strained : 
 It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
 Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed : 
 It blesseth him that gives and him that takes." 
 
 But there is another sort of reward awaiting us 
 at the Great Day. Our Lord said, " Judge not that 
 ye be not judged; for with what measure ye mete it 
 shall be measured unto you again." We never offer 
 the Lord's Prayer without saying " Forgive us our 
 debts as we forgive our debtors." In that little word 
 " as " we call God to witness that we ask no better 
 treatment at his hands than we are now according to 
 those who trespass against us. This is our plea; 
 " The mercy I to others show, that mercy show to 
 me!" 
 
 And there is still another consideration for all who 
 desire to make their lives tell for the betterment of 
 things ; namely, that by this ministry of love we enter 
 
" LOVE YOUR ENEMIES " 119 
 
 into co-operation with God himself in the bringing in 
 of the Golden Age. Our deeds of kindness are the 
 " coals of fire " which are destined to burn out all 
 those personal animosities which provoke wars and 
 rumours of war. 
 
 It is for us to say when the Prince of Peace shall 
 come. Let private vengeance cease and never more 
 will red beacons blaze upon the headlands of the 
 earth. When every Peter puts up his sword into its 
 sheath, the swords of all nations will be beaten into 
 ploughshares and the Hymn of Hate will give way to 
 the Old Hundredth. 
 
 Welcome the Truce of God! Welcome the Parlia- 
 ment of Man! Welcome the day when the world 
 shall give back the song which now the angels sing, 
 " Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth and good 
 will to men ! " 
 
XIII 
 THE PRIMACY OF PETER 
 
 " I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock 
 I will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall not prevail 
 against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom 
 of heaven : and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be 
 bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth 
 shall be loosed in heaven." — Matt. 16: 18-19. 
 
 YOU are aware, of course, that this text is " fight- 
 ing ground " ; but I am not in a belligerent 
 mood. My purpose is purely exegetical; that 
 is, to expound this Scripture without bias and in such 
 manner as to arrive at a clear understanding of it. 
 
 There are three questions here requiring our atten- 
 tion ; namely as to the meaning of the rock, the keys 
 of the kingdom of heaven, and the power of binding 
 and loosing. 
 
 First, then, as to the meaning of the Rock. 
 
 In this connection there are two Greek words to be 
 considered, one of these, petra, is feminine ; the other, 
 petros, is masculine; and they are never synonymous 
 or interchangeable.* The former is used with refer- 
 ence to the foundation of the church : " On this rock 
 will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not 
 prevail against it." The other occurs in the saying, 
 
 * " There is no example in good authors of petra in the 
 significance of petros.!' — Liddell and Scott. 
 
 120 
 
THE PRIMACY OF PETER 121 
 
 " Thou art Peter," where Jesus confers a new name 
 on the apostle who had just witnessed for him. 
 
 In order to a clear understanding of the relation 
 of these two words in the passage under the considera- 
 tion we must recall the circumstances. Our Lord was 
 on his last journey to Jerusalem, that memorable jour- 
 ney of which it is written, " He set his face steadfastly 
 to go." The shadow of the Cross was over him, but 
 he did not swerve a hair's breadth from the path which 
 had been marked out for him. He was a lonely Man, 
 with a great secret in his breast which, thus far, he 
 had not been able to confide to those who followed him. 
 It was necessary that they should know him better 
 before they would be " able to bear it." 
 
 As they journeyed he asked of his disciples, " Who 
 do men say that I am ? " They answered that some 
 said one thing and some another. — " But who say ye 
 that I am?" — Then Peter, with a ringing voice, wit- 
 nessed his good confession, " Thou art the Christ, the 
 Son of the living God ! " 
 
 This was a pronouncement far beyond any that had 
 been previously made ; and to the divine Man, longing 
 for sympathy in his great redemptive purpose, it must 
 . have been as grateful as a cup of cold water to thirsty 
 lips. Wherefore he said, " Blessed art thou, Simon, 
 son of Jonas; for flesh and blood hath not revealed 
 it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." 
 
 Then followed the giving of the new name, " Thou 
 art Petros; and on this petra will I build my church." 
 
 From these facts we draw two conclusions : One is 
 that the Church is built upon the proposition laid 
 down by Peter, that is, the Supremacy of Jesus as the 
 long-looked-for Christ, the Son of the living God. 
 
lm THE PRIMACY OF PETER 
 
 Here is a solid ledge of rock on which the structure 
 which it was proposed to build could securely rest, and 
 upon which, as an historical fact, the Church has stood 
 through all the centuries so firmly that the gates of 
 hell have not prevailed against it. 
 
 No other interpretation of this passage is consistent 
 with the indisputable claim of our Lord's supremacy, 
 as where it is written, " Other foundation can no man 
 lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 
 
 The other conclusion is that the new name which 
 was given to Simon the son of Jonas was eminently 
 appropriate, by reason of the fact that he was the 
 pioneer of the disciples in announcing this mighty 
 truth. Inasmuch as his confession was the Rock on 
 which the church was to rest, as on a sure foundation, 
 he might well receive honour as a stone hewn out of 
 that rock. 
 
 It is precisely as Scipio for his eastern conquests 
 was surnamed " Af ricanus " ; and as Balboa, who first 
 from the peak in Darien gazed out upon the western 
 sea was thenceforth known as " Pacificus." 
 
 All honour to the disciple who was thus crowned 
 with a well-earned " primacy "■ for his announcement 
 of the fundamental truth of Christ's sole pre-eminence 
 as the Rock of Ages! 
 
 Not long after the crucifixion, when Peter was called 
 before the Sanhedrin to answer for the healing of the 
 cripple at the Gate Beautiful, he disavowed all per- 
 sonal power in the miracle, saying, " Be it known unto 
 you that by the name of Jesus Christ whom ye have 
 crucified, even by him was this man healed. This is 
 the stone, set at nought by you builders, which is be- 
 come the head of the corner. Neither is there salva- 
 
THE PRIMACY OF PETER 123 
 
 tion in any other; for there is none other name under 
 heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." 
 
 This surely does not look as if Peter regarded him- 
 self as the rock-foundation of the church. 
 
 A quarter of a century later, in a letter written by 
 Peter to his fellow-Christians he says, " Ye also as 
 living stones, are built up into a spiritual house, an 
 holy priesthood, to offer up acceptable sacrifices by 
 Jesus Christ " ; by which he gives us to understand, 
 that the honour which was conferred upon him is in a 
 measure extended to all who truly accept Christ as the 
 foundation not only of the Church, but of their per- 
 sonal faith, as living members of it. 
 
 Second, as to " the keys of the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 The question here is, what are we to understand by 
 "the kingdom of heaven"? 
 
 The phrase has a double meaning. It is sometimes 
 used to designate the Church triumphant; that is, the 
 great assembly of the redeemed in heaven : as where 
 Christ says, " Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs 
 is the kingdom of heaven " ; and again, " They shall 
 sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the 
 kingdom of heaven." 
 
 In this case, however, the doors are " opened and 
 shut " by Christ alone. 
 
 In the vision of the Golden Candlestick he is seen 
 with the keys at his girdle. 
 
 In his own announcement of the Great Day he 
 represents himself as standing at heaven's gate and 
 saying, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the 
 kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the 
 world." 
 
 In the gathering of the " great multitude which no 
 
124 THE PRIMACY OF PETER 
 
 man can number," all with one accord ascribe their 
 entrance into heaven to the washing of their robes 
 in the blood of the lamb ; " therefore are they before 
 the throne of God." 
 
 But the phrase " the kingdom of heaven " is more 
 frequently applied to the Church militant; that is, to 
 the kingdom of heaven on earth. 
 
 This is particularly clear in the parables, as when 
 Jesus says, " The kingdom of heaven is like unto a 
 net that was cast into the sea, and it gathered of 
 every kind both good and bad." And again, " The 
 kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man who sowed 
 good seed in his field; but while men slept his enemy 
 came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his 
 way." 
 
 It is obvious that the reference in such passages 
 is not to the General Assembly of the first born in 
 heaven, but to the imperfect church in which the 
 " tares and wheat must grow together until the great 
 day." 
 
 Now which of these meanings is to be taken in the 
 passage before us? Certainly not the first; for it is 
 unthinkable that the Saviour who " openeth and no 
 man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth " 
 should have abdicated the stewardship of those keys. 
 But to Peter were committed the keys which opened 
 the doors of Israel, the exclusive church of the Old 
 Economy, to all the children of men. 
 
 In order to verify this fact let us transport our- 
 selves to an open court in Jerusalem. It is the day 
 of Pentecost. A great company is assembled not of 
 Jews only but of " Parthians, Medes, Elamites, dwell- 
 ers in Mesopotamia and Cappadocia, Phrygia and 
 
THE PRIMACY OF PETER 125 
 
 Pamphylia, Cretes and Arabians, strangers of Rome, 
 Jews and proselytes. " Suddenly there is a sound 
 from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind and the 
 disciples begin to speak in divers tongues of the un- 
 searchable riches of Christ. The people are amazed 
 and cry, " What meaneth this? " Others mocking say, 
 " These men are full of new wine." Peter arises ; 
 " This is not wine," he says, " but the intoxication of 
 the Spirit! This is that which was spoken of by the 
 prophet Joel, ' It shall come to pass in the last days 
 that I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and 
 your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.' This is 
 a manifestation of the power of Jesus Christ, whom 
 ye crucified and who is risen from the dead and 
 exalted at the right hand of God ! " On hearing this 
 they are pricked to heart and cry, " Men and brethren, 
 what shall we do?" Now listen to Peter; "Repent 
 and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus 
 Christ for the remission of your sins ! For the promise 
 is unto you and to your children and to all that are 
 afar off, even to as many as the Lord our God shalt 
 call!" 
 
 At that moment the keys were turned, and the gates 
 of the Ancient Church were thrown open to all. The 
 Christian Church, as the lineal successor and residuary 
 legatee of Israel has kept open house ever since that 
 day. 
 
 If there be any question as to this interpretation of 
 Peter's keys, let his own words settle it. Years after- 
 ward in the Christian Council at Jerusalem, we hear 
 him saying, " Men and brethren, ye know how God 
 made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth 
 should hear the Gospel and believe.' , 
 
126 THE PRIMACY OF PETER 
 
 What higher honour could be conferred on any mor- 
 tal man? 
 
 Third, as to the power of " binding and loosing." 
 
 In so far as this refers to the administering of disci- 
 pline in the- Church there is no grave difference of 
 opinion; but there is a serious disagreement when it 
 is referred to so-called " absolution." This word is 
 used in two ways. 
 
 First, there is "plenary absolution," by which is 
 meant the power to forgive sins: and this is ac- 
 corded to no man. 
 
 The Son of Man alone " hath power on earth to for- 
 give sins." This is his exclusive prerogative, " I, even 
 I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, for mine 
 own sake, and will not remember thy sins." 
 
 But there is also " declarative absolution " ; that is, 
 the authority to extend absolution in the name of 
 Christ to all who will repent and believe in him. This 
 authority was conferred upon Peter ; but not upon him 
 only. 
 
 If evidence on that point is called for, let us visit 
 the upper room on the evening of the resurrection. 
 The disciples are assembled with closed doors " for 
 fear of the Jews." Suddenly Jesus appears in their 
 midst saying, " Peace be unto you ! As my Father 
 hath sent me, so send I you." Then breathing on them 
 he continues, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose- 
 soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; 
 and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained, ." 
 
 By this it appears that whatever power of absolu- 
 tion was conferred on Peter was shared by all the 
 disciples who were associated with him. 
 
 And just here we find the gravest item of respon- 
 
THE PRIMACY OF PETER 127 
 
 sibility in Christian service. As Jesus was sent " to 
 seek and to save the lost " by offering absolution to 
 as many as would repent and believe in him, so has he 
 sent us, even the humblest of his followers, to declare 
 that absolution to all who are sensible of sin and de- 
 sirous of reconciliation with God. 
 
 There are no more solemn words in Scripture than 
 these, " When I say unto the wicked, ' Thou shalt 
 surely die,' and thou givest him not warning nor 
 speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way 
 to save his life; he shall die in his iniquity, but his 
 blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn 
 the wicked and he turn not from his wickedness nor 
 from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity ; but 
 thou hast delivered thy soul." 
 
 In pursuance of that injunction I, here and now, 
 as an ambassador of Christ, offer free and full 
 absolution to as many as are willing to renounce their 
 evil ways and receive him as their Saviour, who 
 alone hath power on earth to forgive sins. 
 
 I offer you absolution as Peter did to the multitude 
 at Pentecost, " Repent and be baptized every one of 
 you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of 
 sins." 
 
 I offer you absolution as Peter did to the people who 
 thronged about him in Solomon's Porch, " Repent and 
 be converted that your sins may be blotted out ! " 
 
 I offer you absolution as Peter did to the arrogant 
 rabbis of the Sanhedrin, " This Jesus is the stone 
 which was set at nought by the builders but is now 
 become the head of the corner; neither is there salva- 
 tion in any other ! " 
 
 I offer you absolution as Peter did to the Gentiles 
 
128 THE PRIMACY OF PETER 
 
 at Csesarea, " To Jesus Christ as Lord of all bear all 
 the prophets witness, that through his name every one 
 that believeth in him shall receive remission of sins." 
 
 I offer you absolution as Peter does in his General 
 Epistle to all believers, " Ye therefore, beloved, see- 
 ing that ye know these things, beware lest ye be led 
 into error and fall from your own steadfastness; but 
 grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ; to whom be glory both now 
 and forever." 
 
 If we are finally received at the gate of heaven it 
 will not be through any merit of our own or by reli- 
 ance on the supererogation of any other man. 
 
 The only countersign there is that of the Crusaders, 
 " In his name ! " If it chanced that one of them was 
 pursued by the enemy he rode for his life toward the 
 nearest castle from whose turret floated the red banner 
 of the Cross. Weary and hard bestead he gave the 
 countersign ; whereat the portcullis was raised and 
 over the drawbridge he rode into safety. Herein is a 
 parable of life. 
 
 We are always fleeing from the foe and finding sanc- 
 tuary only in the shadow of the Cross; and at our 
 journey's end we enter heaven through him who gave 
 himself for us. 
 
 His is the welcome, " Enter into the joy of thy 
 Lord ! " 
 
 And his shall be the glory forever, as it is written, 
 " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, 
 and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour and 
 blessing forever and ever, amen ! " 
 
XIV 
 CHILDREN IN THE MARKETPLACE 
 
 "And Jesus said ' Whereunto shall I liken this generation? 
 It is like unto children sitting in the markets and calling to 
 their fellows and saying; "We have piped unto you and ye 
 have not danced ; we have mourned unto you and ye have 
 not lamented." For John came neither eating nor drinking 
 and they say " He hath a devil." The Son of Man came eat- 
 ing and drinking and they say, " Behold a man gluttonous and 
 a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." But wisdom 
 is justified of her children.' " — Matt, ii : 16-19. 
 
 A T this time John the Baptist was a prisoner in 
 /-\ the Castle of Machaerus. He had gone up and 
 •** "^ down as the forerunner of Jesus proclaiming, 
 " The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand ! There cometh 
 one after me whose shoes' latchet I am unworthy to 
 unloose ! " 
 
 And now Jesus was at the height of his popularity, 
 while his pursuivant was immured in a dungeon. Was 
 it strange that the eye of the caged eagle should be 
 dimmed? If Jesus was indeed the Messiah how could 
 he thus forget his friend in adversity? 
 
 Two of John's disciples were sent accordingly to 
 ask, " Art thou he should come, or look we for an- 
 other?" They found him in Solomon's Porch with 
 the multitude gathered about him. 
 
 In answer to their question he bade them stand 
 aside and see what they should see. He then con- 
 tinued his preaching and his miracles of healing. " Go 
 
 129 
 
130 CHILDREN IN THE MARKETPLACE 
 
 now," he said, " and tell John the things which ye have 
 seen and heard : the blind receive their sight, the lame 
 walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead 
 are raised up and the poor have the Gospel preached to 
 them. And say unto him, Blessed is he that shall not 
 be offended in me." 
 
 Then, having dismissed the messengers, he turned 
 his attention to the faultfinders who were nearby. 
 
 After paying a splendid tribute to John as " the 
 greatest born of woman," he continued : " But where- 
 unto shall I liken this generation? It is like a group 
 of children at play in the market, acting now a mock 
 marriage and again a mock funeral, and complaining 
 that their fellows will not participate in the games; 
 * We have piped unto you for a wedding and ye re- 
 fuse to dance ; we have mourned unto you for a funeral 
 and you will not lament with us.' " 
 
 Here is an intimation of the folly of trying to please 
 the faultfinders. He concludes with these words: 
 " Wisdom is justified of her children " : that is, an 
 unbiased mind is always open to the truth, so as to per- 
 ceive the reason and Tightness of things. 
 
 It is a queer world that we are living in. 
 
 The one constant factor in history is human nature. 
 One generation passes away and another takes its 
 place with the regularity of the ebbing and flowing 
 tides : but the calm current of heredity flows on. The 
 children of this generation are not unlike the children 
 of other generations. 
 
 I once sat on a broken pedestal in the Roman 
 Forum and studied a strange geometrical figure which 
 had been rudely cut on the marble pavement. A 
 passing Italian explained it by saying that the children 
 
CHILDREN IN THE MARKETPLACE 131 
 
 of ancient Rome used to play here and this was one 
 of their games. Then I remembered the " hop- 
 scotch " of my boyhood ; how we used exactly such 
 a diagram, hopping from one section to another and 
 pushing a pebble before us. 
 
 Verily, as Solomon said, " There is no new thing 
 under the sun." 
 
 And by the same token the faultfinders are still 
 with us, and always complaining of their fellows in 
 the old-fashioned way. 
 
 I. It is obvious, at the outset, that Christ himself is 
 no more acceptable to his censorious critics than he 
 was so long ago. There are many who see in him 
 " no form nor comeliness, nor any beauty that they 
 should desire him." They find in him four particular 
 grounds of offence. 
 
 The first is his singular birth. " Great is the mys- 
 tery of godliness, God is manifest in flesh ! " Is it 
 possible that divinity and humanity could be thus inter- 
 woven, as warp and woof, in the person of a child 
 lying in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes ? 
 They cannot believe it. 
 
 The second is his unaccountable life. Never man 
 lived like this man ! His challenge was, " Who lay- 
 eth anything to my charge ? " It is claimed for him 
 that in a world of sinners he alone, as the Nonesuch 
 Professor says, " brought the bottom of his life up 
 to the top of his light." Is this credible? The fault- 
 finders decline to believe it. 
 
 The third is his vicarious death. All others are 
 born alone, live and suffer and toil alone, and musl 
 pass all alone through the little wicket gate. But if 
 the claim of Jesus be allowed he " tasted death for 
 
132 CHILDREN IN THE MARKETPLACE 
 
 every man." The burden of the world's sin was 
 upon him until his great heart broke under it. But 
 how could the innocent suffer for the guilty in that 
 way? So it comes to pass that the cross is "to the 
 Jew a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness," 
 while to them that believe it is the very wisdom and 
 power of God. 
 
 The fourth of the offences is the resurrection of 
 Christ. It is claimed that by virtue of his indwelling 
 power, as the self-existent source and centre of life, 
 he triumphed over death and ascended up on high, 
 taking captivity captive and bringing life and im- 
 mortality to light. But this is against the analogy 
 of all human experience. u It is an hard saying ; who 
 can receive it ? " 
 
 No doubt these are all mysteries ; but shall they be 
 rejected on that account? The most irrational man 
 in the world is he who refuses to believe in what 
 he cannot understand. We are enveloped by mys- 
 teries which we accept without a murmur because 
 they are indubitable facts. 
 
 Not all the scientists and philosophers in the world 
 can explain the influence of mind over matter, or even 
 the beating of my pulse or how I lift my hand at 
 the command of my will. The question is not whether 
 things are comprehensible, but whether they are facts 
 or not; and that must always be determined by the 
 evidence in the case. 
 
 The reason why the four wonderful facts which 
 centre in Christ are rejected is not because they are 
 mysterious, nor because they are not sustained by 
 adequate evidence, but because they lead to conclusions 
 which are repellent to the carnal mind. 
 
CHILDREN IN THE MARKETPLACE 133 
 
 If Christ was born and lived and died and rose 
 again as claimed, then he " showed himiself with 
 power " to be the veritable Son of God : in which 
 event he is able to save unto the uttermost all who will 
 come unto him. 
 
 This is the quod erat demonstrandum which lies 
 back of all the thousands of excuses which are offered 
 for rejecting Christ. 
 
 The faultfinders do not object to being reconciled 
 with God but they decline to be saved that way. And 
 this is because " the carnal mind is enmity against 
 God." 
 
 It remains, therefore, as true as ever that, whether 
 the music of the Gospel be a dirge over the sinfulness 
 of sin or a jubilate on the way to a marriage feast, the 
 children in the marketplace decline to keep step 
 with it. 
 
 But Christ is the same yesterday, today and for- 
 ever; and the faultfinders cannot dispose of him. 
 
 It is related that when John Huss was awaiting his 
 execution he covered the walls of his prison with 
 the theological propositions in defence of which he 
 had ventured his life. He dreamed one night that a 
 troop of black devils entered his cell and obliterated 
 them all ; and that afterward an angel came and wrote 
 the name of Jesus in colours of blood and fire, say- 
 ing as he vanished, " Let them efface that if they 
 can ! " 
 
 It is true that, whatever may befall our interpreta- 
 tions of the Gospel, the unaccountable Man can never 
 be bowed out of court. His glory brightens with every 
 rising sun. " All ages," as the infidel Renan said, 
 " will call him blessed ; and future generations will 
 
134 CHILDREN IN THE MARKETPLACE 
 
 proclaim that none has ever been born greater than 
 Jesus among the children of men." 
 
 II. But if Christ was not immune from criticism 
 is it at all surprising that his disciples should suffer 
 in the same way? 
 
 Did he not say, " The servant is not greater than his 
 lord; if they have been offended in me shall they not 
 also be offended in you ? " 
 
 And unfortunately there are serious grounds of 
 offence in us. The church is made up of all sorts 
 and conditions of people, having the common in- 
 firmities of the race ; so that all alike must say, " I 
 am not what I ought to be, nor what I would like 
 to be, nor yet what I hope to be ; but by the grace of 
 God I am what I am ! " 
 
 One ground of offence is found in their serious- 
 ness. 
 
 In the process of repentance they have come to 
 realize the exceeding sinfulness of sin. Men all about 
 them are going to Judgment, lockstep, quickstep, un- 
 prepared and laughing as they go. Such facts as this 
 should make us serious. But the people in Vanity Fair 
 do not like the slow measures of our miserere. They 
 would have us dance to their piping as we pass 
 on. 
 
 No more are they pleased with our hallelujahs. 
 
 We sing because our hearts are light. Our sins 
 which were as scarlet are made whiter than snow, 
 washed away by the red fountain drawn from Im- 
 manuel's veins. How can we keep step to the Dead 
 March in Saul when the mislived past is blotted out 
 and heaven's gates are open before us? 
 
 But what matters it? Whether we laugh or weep, 
 
CHILDREN IN THE MARKETPLACE 135 
 
 it is all one ; we cannot please those who are disposed 
 to find fault with us. 
 
 Then they remind us of our loud profession : and 
 just here is where they totally misunderstand us. 
 
 We do not profess to be saints. There is not one 
 saint in the universal church : " for there is no dif- 
 ference; all have sinned and come short of the glory 
 of God." The only difference is that while we ac- 
 knowledge ourselves to be sinners we profess to be 
 sinners saved by grace. We have accepted the divine 
 overtures of mercy in Christ and, not for any personal 
 merit but only for the righteousness which is by faith 
 in him, we look for everlasting life. 
 
 But they ask, " What are you doing to exemplify 
 your faith? To be sure you are sending the Gospel 
 to Borria-boola-gha ; but charity begins at home. Why 
 do you not feed the hungry and clothe the naked and 
 show some practical interest in the destitute who are 
 all around us? " 
 
 Behold, how small an argument will put them down ! 
 Here is a little book called the " Charities Directory 
 of the City of New York," in which there are above 
 two thousand organized forms of public beneficence. 
 How many of these are being carried on by those who 
 hold themselves aloof from religious organizations? 
 Not as many as can be counted on the fingers of a 
 dozen hands ! 
 
 It is respectfully submitted that before our critics are 
 fully qualified they should be able to show that they 
 themselves are doing a little M charity at home." 
 
 The Red Cross also is in evidence. It is the reli- 
 gious women of our country who are doing practically 
 all that is being done for the men on the firing line. 
 
136 CHILDREN IN THE MARKETPLACE 
 
 The symbol on the flag that floats over them is a 
 tribute of praise to the charitable work of the church 
 and an unanswerable reproach to those who oppose it. 
 
 The Church is confessedly not what it ought to 
 be; but it is doing so much, not only for the relief 
 of the needy at home, but for the evangelization of 
 the regions beyond, that its censorious critics have 
 abundant reason to lay their hands upon their lips. 
 
 The followers of Christ are banded together like 
 the ancient phalanx of the Spartans, who marched 
 shoulder to shoulder, with shields overlapped, push- 
 ing their way to victory, while bearing the wounded 
 aloft upon their shields. The joints of their harness 
 are pierced by many a well-aimed arrow; but they 
 push on, carrying the weak and wounded with them, 
 in the confident hope of standing together some day 
 in the refuge of the Holy City. 
 
 III. It is time, however, to turn the tables upon 
 the faultfinders. And frankness on our part is surely 
 warranted by the frankness with which they are wont 
 to criticize us. 
 
 We venture, therefore, to call to their remembrance 
 the great professions which they make. 
 
 Oh ! but they say, " We make no profession." Let 
 us see. 
 
 The followers of Christ do not profess to be good 
 people but only trying to do good ; and because they 
 find it no easy matter they not only invoke the divine 
 help but band themselves together for mutual prayer 
 and sympathy. But how is it with these others ? They 
 profess such confidence in themselves that they need 
 no such fellowship. They need no God, no Saviour, 
 no Bible and no church. The reason why they do not 
 
CHILDREN IN THE MARKETPLACE 137 
 
 pray is because they can get along without it. A great 
 profession this; and what have they to show for it? 
 
 Their practice is out of gear. Their profession is 
 like sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. The very 
 criticisms which they pass upon the church are in 
 evidence against them. 
 
 Why is it that ever and anon there are flaming head- 
 lines in the newspapers like this, " Another Deacon 
 gone wrong "? Is it not because Deacons are expected 
 to go right? 
 
 Tell me why the newspapers never fling out this 
 headline? "Another infidel gone wrong!" It is be- 
 cause in the world's opinion, that would be no extraor- 
 dinary thing. The average reporter is looking for 
 something sensational and therefore he would not take 
 the trouble to make a note of it. 
 
 What an inadvertent tribute is thus paid to Christian 
 character; and what a serious reflection upon the 
 average character of those who oppose it ! 
 
 In this connection let me remind you of Apol- 
 lodorus, the Athenian artist who invented the mixing 
 of colours and the blending of lights and shadows. 
 His sketches were so imperfect and experimental that 
 over each of them he wrote his apology in these 
 words : 
 
 " Tis no hard thing to reprehend me ; 
 But let the men that blame me, mend me." 
 
 It is no easy matter to live a consistent Christian 
 life. It means hard wrestling day by day to get the 
 better of one's meaner self, and an unceasing effort 
 to converge one's energies upon the betterment of 
 the world for the glory of God. 
 
138 CHILDREN IN THE MARKETPLACE 
 
 " Hard pounding, gentlemen," as Wellington said 
 at Waterloo. If you do not believe it, my friend, come 
 into our fellowship and try it. Or if you still prefer 
 to stand aloof, then " let him that blames us, mend 
 us." 
 
 It is thus that " Wisdom is justified of her chil- 
 dren." 
 
 The best we can do is to do our best and turn a deaf 
 ear to the faultfinders. For to our own Master we 
 stand or fall. 
 
 Wherefore " not with eye-service as men-pleasers, 
 but as the servants of Christ," let us strive to please 
 him. 
 
 We may not count ourselves to have apprehended, 
 as though we were already perfect; but this one thing 
 we can do, we can " reach forth unto the things which 
 are before and press toward the mark for the prize of 
 of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 
 
 We shall all alike have to plead guilty in the Great 
 Day : but blessed are those who, leaning on him as 
 Saviour and Intercessor, shall at length be delivered 
 from the shame and power and penalty of sin. 
 
 In the meantime the Gospel must in all fairness be 
 judged not by the character of Christians but by that 
 of Christ himself. Whatever may be our imperfec- 
 tions, he stands forth, as once he stood at Gabbatha, 
 challenging the world to criticize him. 
 
 Two infidels once sat in a railway car discussing 
 his wonderful life. One of them said, " I think an 
 interesting romance could be written about him." 
 The other replied, " And you are just the man to write 
 it. Set forth the correct view of his life and char- 
 acter. Tear down the prevailing sentiment as to his 
 
CHILDREN IN THE MARKETPLACE 139 
 
 divineness and paint him as he was — a man among 
 men." The suggestion was acted on and the romance 
 was written. The man who made the suggestion was 
 Colonel Ingersoll : the author was General Lew Wal- 
 lace ; and the book was " Ben-Hur." In the process 
 of constructing it he found himself facing the unac- 
 countable Man. The more he studied his life and 
 character the more profoundly he was convinced that 
 he was more than a man among men ; until at length 
 like the centurion under the Cross, he was constrained 
 to cry, " Verily, this was the Son of God." 
 
 If these words should, perchance, fall under the eyes 
 of any honest doubter let him go and do likewise. 
 For no man can frankly look into the eyes of Jesus 
 without believing in him. If all other miracles were 
 disposed of, Christ would still remain the greatest 
 miracle of all. 
 
 " Reach hither thy finger," said Jesus, " and thrust 
 it into my wounds " ; and doubting Thomas fell before 
 him — as every other honest doubter must do — with 
 the adoring cry " My Lord and my God ! " 
 
XV 
 A CLINIC IN TYRE 
 
 "And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of 
 Tyre and Sidon, and entered into a house, and would have 
 no man know it; but he could not be hid. 
 
 For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an un- 
 clean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: 
 
 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and 
 she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her 
 daughter. 
 
 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled : for 
 it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto 
 the dogs. 
 
 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the 
 dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. 
 
 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the 
 devil is gone out of thy daughter. 
 
 And when she was come to her house, she found the devil 
 gone out, and her daughter laid upon the bed."— Mark 
 7 : 24-30. 
 
 OUR Lord was everybody's friend. Jew and 
 Greek, barbarian, Scythian, bond and free 
 were all alike to him. He was no narrow- 
 minded provincial, but a_cosmo,politan Saviour with a 
 Gospel for all sorts and conditions of men. 
 
 But his disciples were of a different mind. They 
 had been trained in the school of Jewish prejudice and 
 were as narrow as he was broad. He was like the 
 sun which shines for all; but they were like twelve 
 
 140 
 
A CLINIC IN TYRE 141 
 
 candles set in a row, their light shining in such a small 
 circle that a bushel could easily hide it. 
 
 If they were ever to be of any particular use in a 
 kingdom of universal love they must somehow be in- 
 oculated with the mind of the Master. But how should 
 this be brought to pass ? 
 
 Here was the problem that confronted Jesus when 
 he set out on his journey toward the North. So long 
 as he remained in Jerusalem the Twelve were quite 
 willing to co-operate with him, provided too much of 
 his time was not devoted to the betterment of " the 
 devil's poor " : but when he crossed over into Samaria, 
 the land of the half-breeds, they were reluctant to fol- 
 low him. Once when they found him talking at high 
 noon with a woman of ill repute they were amazed 
 beyond measure, for " the Jews had no dealings with 
 the Samaritans." And when he pressed on still fur- 
 ther into " the regions beyond," where there were none 
 but Gentiles, who were " aliens from the common- 
 wealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of 
 promise," they sympathetically and practically parted 
 company with him. 
 
 On reaching his destination in the North Country, 
 being wearied with his journey, he " entered into a 
 certain house and would have no man know it." But 
 it is written, " he could not be hid." What a tribute 
 to his reputation! It was as when a cargo of spices 
 from the West Indies comes into port and the pungent 
 odour of spicery pervades the atmosphere all along the 
 river-front. The fame of the wonder-worker had 
 gone before, him. The people of the village were on 
 the qui vivc to see and hear him. 
 
 The first of his visitors was a woman with an aching 
 
142 A CLINIC IN TYRE 
 
 heart. She had a wayward daughter who was " pos^ 
 sessed of an unclean spirit." In vain was human 
 help ; but having heard of the arrival of Jesus she came 
 with her trouble to him. 
 
 Just here is where Jesus began to teach his disciples 
 the lesson of magnanimity. It calls to remembrance a 
 clinic which I attended in the New York Hospital 
 many years ago. The patient was a little fellow who 
 was suffering from hip-disease. He lay upon the 
 operating-table where the surgeon kept him waiting 
 while, with uplifted scalpel, he instructed a class of 
 medical students who were gathered about him. So 
 the Good Physician kept this sore-hearted woman 
 waiting while he taught his disciples how to deal with 
 cases like hers. 
 
 " She fell at his feet and told him all." It was the 
 old, old story of a skeleton in the closet of an other- 
 wise happy home : the story of a daughter grown im- 
 patient of parental restraint, falling into bad company, 
 allured by temptation and so fallen that the whole 
 household was scandalized by the shame of it. 
 
 Could Jesus help her? Surely; for nothing was too 
 hard for him. But would he ? Never in all his min- 
 istry had he refused a request like hers. Wherever he 
 went the sick were brought out on couches along the 
 way and the record is that " he healed them all." 
 
 Nevertheless in this case " he answered not a word." 
 How unlike him ! Had he nothing to say ? Presently 
 he would have something to say; but not until this 
 eloquent silence should be rightly interpreted by his 
 disciples, to whom it makes this dumb appeal, " What 
 would you do in a case like this ? " He has changed 
 places with them for the nonce and is lending himself 
 
A CLINIC IN TYRE 143 
 
 to their narrow prejudice that he may expose it. He 
 is silent because they would have it so. 
 
 But the woman persists " Lord, pity me ! " And 
 surely he will pity her; for it is written of him " He 
 is very pitiful," that is full of pity, and " his compas- 
 sions fail not." 
 
 Not so his disciples. They cry, " Send her away, 
 Lord, she troubleth us ! " The sight of distress which 
 their sectarian bigotry must decline to relieve is natu- 
 rally an annoyance to them. There is nothing in the 
 world so troublesome as the sympathy which finds no 
 outlet in kindliness: and unfortunately, this is one of 
 the common ills that human frailty is heir to. 
 
 But the clinic goes on. The Lord, for the business 
 in hand, still occupies the standpoint of his disciples. 
 " I am not sent," he says, " but unto the lost sheep of 
 the house of Israel." A strange rebuff to be adminis- 
 tered by the gracious Son of God! How shall we 
 reconcile it with those other words, " Him that cometh 
 unto me I will in no wise cast out "? 
 
 And still the woman persists : " Lord have compas- 
 sion upon us ! " Her petition is now duplicated by 
 bringing her wayward daughter into it. But this 
 would only increase the reluctance of the disciples to 
 help her: since, however they might look with com- 
 passion on the sorrow of the distressed mother, for 
 her wayward girl they had none. Let her reap what 
 she had sown ! Why should drabs and drunkards 
 complain when justice overtakes them? 
 
 Again Jesus falls in with their way of thinking. " It 
 is not meet," he says, " to take the children's bread 
 and fling it to dogs." This is like a blow in the face. 
 The disciples are looking at each other as if to say. 
 
1U A CLINIC IN TYRE 
 
 " Just as we thought ! If there were any of the lost 
 sheep of the house of Israel in this neighbourhood he 
 would gladly minister to them; but never to such as 
 these." For, be it remembered, all Gentiles were re- 
 garded as pariahs. The Jews were accustomed to call 
 them " dogs of Gentiles," esteeming them no better 
 than the curs that whine and howl outside the gates 
 of Oriental cities. 
 
 But when Christ fell in with this prejudice it was 
 only that he might reprove it. He echoed their thought 
 in order to expose its brutality and put it to an open 
 and perpetual shame. 
 
 Let us, however, be chary of reproof at this point 
 lest we be found in a similar case. For, of all of our 
 besetting sins, bigotry is the last that dies. It is like 
 the snakes of our boyhood that, when decapitated, 
 wriggled till the going down of the sun. Witness the 
 mean proverb, " Charity begins at home," which is 
 only another way of saying " Charity never goes 
 abroad." And witness the sectarianism which turns its 
 back on " dissenters " and " non-conformists " with the 
 cry, " The Temple of the Lord are we ! " 
 
 Was this the mind of Jesus? A thousand times no! 
 It is however the logic of the clinic. It is the irony of 
 infinite goodness rebuking meanness and inhumanity. 
 Not for the world would Christ play needlessly upon 
 the quivering heartstrings of a mother. Never in all 
 his ministry had such words fallen from his lips, nor 
 would they now but for the great purpose in view. 
 The patient is kept waiting in her painful solicitude 
 because the disciples must be taught their lesson; but 
 presently he will abundantly repay her. 
 
 Still the woman persists. Mother wit to the rescue ! 
 
A CLINIC IN TYRE 145 
 
 " Yea, Lord ; but even the dogs eat the crumbs which 
 fall from the master's table." 
 
 She has taken him at his word : " Bring forth your 
 strong arguments." And she wins her case. 
 
 Thus far Christ has spoken for his disciples : now 
 he speaks for himself ; " O woman, great is thy faith : 
 be it unto thee as thou wilt." And straightway she 
 speeds homeward to greet her daughter who, restored 
 to her right mind, is waiting in the doorway to receive 
 her. 
 
 So ends the clinic. The disciples have been taught 
 the greatest and most wonderful of lessons : to wit, that 
 Christ is a Saviour for all. 
 
 His first word is " Come " and his second word is 
 " Go." He leads the way to the slums, to the frontiers 
 and to the regions beyond, and bids us follow him. 
 City Missions, Home Missions, Foreign Missions, all 
 missions are for us. The word " Go ye out into the 
 highways and hedges and constrain them to come in " 
 has been sounding down along the centuries ; and still 
 we " tarry at Jerusalem." Christ would lead the way ; 
 but he cannot go without us. 
 
 Here then is our lesson : " The whole creation 
 groaneth and travaileth together until now, waiting " 
 — waiting for what ? — " for the manifestation of the 
 children of God." That is to say the world is un- 
 saved because we as God's children have not been 
 "manifested " as yet. We have not developed the 
 spirit of loving kindness which alone can save it. 
 
 Our Lord has infinite resources at his command; 
 bread enough for the hungry, comfort for the sorrow- 
 ing and salvation for all who wander in sinful ways: 
 but he works through us as his agents in the dispensa- 
 
146 A CLINIC IN TYRE 
 
 tion of his grace. So it comes to pass that the uncon- 
 verted world is groaning and travailing even until 
 now. It is still waiting for an enlargement of the 
 hearts of those who profess to be God's children. 
 
 The Twelve were slow to learn their lesson. Not 
 even when they saw the Master with his hands 
 stretched out on Calvary, as if to say " Look unto me 
 all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved," would 
 they consent that he was " tasting death for every 
 man." He was still a provincial Saviour, the Messiah 
 of the Jews. It was not until eight years after his 
 resurrection that Peter, while engaged in prayer on a 
 housetop in Joppa, saw Heaven open and a great sheet 
 let down in which were all manner of clean and un- 
 clean things. When a Voice called, " Rise Peter, 
 kill and eat," he objected, saying, " Not so, Lord: for 
 I have never eaten anything common or unclean." 
 The Voice replied, " What God hath cleansed that call 
 not thou common." But the vision must needs be 
 repeated thrice before this foremost man of the Twelve 
 could rightly interpret it. Then he said, " Of a truth 
 I perceive that God is no respecter of persons :" and 
 thereafter he, and the other disciples who had previ- 
 ously shared his provincial view of the Gospel, con- 
 sented that it was not only intended for the lost sheep 
 of the House of Israel but for " all that were afar off." 
 
 How strangely are the tables turned; now the prej- 
 udice that was once entertained by the Jews against 
 the Gentiles is all the other way. In New York City 
 there are a hundred times as many Jews as in the 
 city of Jerusalem : and they are practically regarded 
 as outside the pale of the Gospel. What is being done 
 to evangelize them? Practically nothing. There are 
 
A CLINIC IN TYRE 147 
 
 none so deep in the waters of Christian neglect as these 
 ancient people, once the chosen people of God. 
 
 But here is a more startling fact. There are twelve 
 hundred millions of people in the world who have 
 never heard the Gospel at all! They dwell in the 
 regions beyond, in " the regions of darkness and the 
 shadow of death." And the lamentable fact is that 
 there are multitudes of Christian people who refuse to 
 follow Christ across the borders of Galilee ! O God, 
 enlarge our hearts! Teach us thy great word whoso- 
 ever! Give us to understand the long unheeded sign 
 of the Golden Age, that " the Gospel must be first 
 preached throughout the whole world; then shall the 
 end be." 
 
 Here is a lesson for non-Christians also; namely 
 that the Gospel is not to be appraised by the incon- 
 sistent lives of those who profess to practise it. Is 
 it fair to judge of art or science or philosophy by 
 the blunders that artists and scientists and philoso- 
 phers are making every day? Is it just to rail at a 
 Republican form of government because of the mal- 
 feasance of near-statesmen who administer it? Truth 
 must stand upon its own merits, not upon the achieve- 
 ments of wayward Argonauts who wander hither and 
 yon in quest of the golden fleece. 
 
 We take no exception to the criticisms which are 
 passed upon us; but far above and behind us stands 
 One in whom the world can find u no fault at all." 
 Christ alone is the true exemplar of the Christian life. 
 If we are sinful, he is without sin. If we are sec- 
 tarian, he is cosmopolitan. If we are mean and selfish 
 and narrow minded, he is so magnanimous that, in 
 self-forgetful devotion to the welfare of humanity, he 
 
148 A CLINIC IN TYRE 
 
 set his face steadfastly to go toward the Cross and 
 there " tasted death for every man." 
 
 And here, finally, is a lesson for all petitioners. The 
 woman of Syrophenicia was one of many. The world 
 is full of mothers who agonize for wayward daughters, 
 and of fathers who stand in their doorways looking 
 off toward the hills and waiting for the return of their 
 prodigal sons. And the Lord is ever waiting to be 
 gracious. 
 
 The newspapers tell of the recent death of a woman 
 who twenty years ago at the Battery bade farewell to 
 her sailorman who never came back. Her mind was 
 crazed by hope deferred; so that every morning for 
 these weary years she has gone down to the Battery 
 and shaded her eyes to see if her ship were coming in. 
 Let us hope that she has passed on to a happy reunion 
 with her sailorman. In any case we may rest assured 
 that, however we may be kept waiting for a while, 
 the prayer-hearing and prayer-answering God will 
 never fail us. 
 
 In the long days when President Garfield sat on his 
 piazza at Elberon waiting for his last summons and 
 gazing out over the sea, he repeated again and again, 
 " The ships come in ! " God's ships always come in. 
 Therefore, 
 
 "Don't stop praying; 
 The Lord is nigh: 
 God has promised, 
 He'll hear your cry." 
 
 He that believeth shall not make haste. The times 
 and seasons are for God; but the great promises are 
 for us. u Ask and ye shall receive ; seek and ye shall 
 find ; knock and it shall be opened unto you." 
 
XVI 
 
 AN INTELLIGIBLE GOD 
 
 " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 
 God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning 
 with God. All things were made by him; and without him 
 was not anything made that was made. In him was life; and 
 the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in dark- 
 ness; and the darkness comprehended it not. . . . And the 
 word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld 
 his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), 
 full of grace and truth." — John i : 1-5, 14- 
 
 JOHN was under divine orders to write a Biog- 
 raphy of Jesus. It was to be bound up with 
 sixty-five other books as an important part of a 
 larger Book which was destined to be known every- 
 where and all through the centuries as The Word of 
 God. 
 
 For this work he was divinely equipped with a gift 
 called theopnenstia, or " inspiration." By this we are 
 given to understand that God proposed to safeguard 
 his writing against all possibility of error. In other 
 words, he was to write " as he was moved by the Spirit 
 of God." 
 
 But before he began this Biography there must be 
 a preface or Prologue which would explain its purpose. 
 We have this prologue in the first eighteen verses of 
 the Gospel according to John. It might properly be 
 entitled, 
 
 149 
 
150 AN INTELLIGIBLE GOD 
 
 HOW A MAN MAY BECOME ACQUAINTED WITH GOD. 
 
 We must know God : for " this is life eternal, to 
 know God." But how can the finite grasp the In- 
 finite ? " No man hath seen God at any time or can see 
 him." Can a child dip up the ocean in a gourd? 
 " Canst thou by searching find out God ? " 
 
 Let Job answer : " Oh that I knew where I might 
 find him, that I might come even to his seat ! I would 
 order my cause before him and fill my mouth with 
 arguments. I would know the words which he would 
 answer me, and understand what he would say unto 
 me. . . . Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; 
 and backward, but I cannot perceive him : on the left 
 hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him; 
 he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see 
 him." 
 
 We are told of an ancient philosopher named Si- 
 monides who was summoned before his king and com- 
 manded to formulate a definition of God. At the close 
 of the day he returned and said, " O king, I shall re- 
 quire a week." At the end of the week he came again 
 saying, " I shall require a month." At the end of the 
 month he said, " I shall require a year." And at the 
 end of the year he confessed, " O king, the more I 
 think of him the less I know of him ! " 
 
 Nevertheless, we must know God; for herein lies 
 the secret of eternal life. We came out from him; 
 we shall ultimately return to him; and everything 
 depends on our being right with him. 
 
 Moreover, it is morally certain that, being a good 
 God, he will somehow reveal himself to us. Would an 
 earthly father leave his children to wander helplessly 
 
AN INTELLIGIBLE GOD 151 
 
 and hopelessly in a barren waste forever? How then 
 should our heavenly Father fail to interpose in our 
 behalf by making himself known to us? 
 
 But how can he make himself known to us? How 
 do we become acquainted with each other? The ordi- 
 nary means of communication between man and man 
 is speech. In this way we are now becoming ac- 
 quainted with each other. The majority of this con- 
 gregation I have never seen before today ; but you are 
 now being introduced to me, not by this clerical garb 
 nor by my features but by my word. By this you 
 will presently know my way of thinking, my moral 
 convictions, my character and substantially what sort 
 of person I am. In like manner we become acquainted 
 with God. His Word is the index of himself. He 
 speaks and behold, we know him. 
 
 Now this is the substance of the Prologue to the 
 Gospel according to John : which is one of the most 
 profound portions of Scripture, yet so simple that a 
 child may comprehend it. And, because it involves 
 the issues of life eternal, it is worthy of our earnest 
 consideration. 
 
 " In the beginning was the Word." 
 
 That is to say, before the creation of man, or the 
 world, or chaos, or angels and archangels, or time and 
 space, or any other existing thing — in the beginning — 
 beyond the remotest possibilities of thought — there was 
 the Word. As yet this Word was unspoken. It was 
 the divine Power of Speech, waiting to find expres- 
 sion in the fulness of time. It was there, as the sun 
 is now behind our hemisphere biding the break of 
 day. 
 
 "And the Word was with God" 
 
152 AN INTELLIGIBLE GOD 
 
 This is an intimation that the Word was distinct 
 from God : or that Christ is distinct in personality 
 from the Father who sends him. If you see an elderly 
 man walking down the street and talking with a 
 younger one, it is scarcely necessary to say that these 
 are two. So when you hear of Christ being " with " 
 the Father and talking with him, you understand of 
 necessity that they are distinct personalities. 
 
 "And the Word was God." 
 
 Here is an affirmation of identity. These two are 
 one : that is, Christ in substance, though not in per- 
 sonality, is identical with God ; as he said : " I and 
 my Father are one." 
 
 Just here emerges the doctrine of the Trinity. It is 
 a great mystery ; wherefore it would be folly to at- 
 tempt to explain it. " Three Persons in one Sub- 
 stance." Let it go at that. 
 
 Surely you are not going to reject a fact because 
 you cannot comprehend it? If so you are involved in 
 a sea of troubles; for we are surrounded by mys- 
 teries which baffle all research. If you will explain 
 how you yourself, as a tripartite man, are so co- 
 ordinated that body and animating spirit and immortal 
 soul work together harmoniously in all the experiences 
 of common life : nay more, if you will explain how 
 mind so influences matter that I can lift my hand at 
 will, I will agree to make perfectly clear to you the 
 mystery of the triune God. So long as such simple 
 and indisputable facts as these are conceded to be 
 inexplicable it should be obvious that a divine fact 
 like the Trinity, which is confessedly not contra- 
 rational, must not be rejected on the mere ground 
 that we cannot comprehend it. 
 
AN INTELLIGIBLE GOD 153 
 
 " All things were made by him and without him was 
 not anything made that was made." 
 
 That is, all things were created by the Word or fiat 
 of God. " He spake and it was done ; he commanded 
 and it stood fast." He said, " Let there be light": 
 and there was light. It is a significant fact that 
 wherever " the Lord " occurs in the account of the 
 creation the Chaldaic, which is the oldest version of 
 the Scriptures, substitutes Memra or " The Word," 
 precisely as we have it in this Prologue. Thus Christ 
 as the Word, or expression of the divine mind, is 
 represented as bringing all things that are out of those 
 that were not. 
 
 "In him was life and the life was the light of 
 men." 
 
 That is, Christ the Word, who originated all exist- 
 ing things, was also the self-existing source and centre 
 not only of material but of spiritual life ; and as such 
 he has never failed to manifest himself in some man- 
 ner to the children of men. His light before the Ad- 
 vent was like that of the moon and stars which shine 
 before the rising of the sun. 
 
 God is manifest in nature ; but " nature speaks a 
 various tongue " ; wherefore many a scientist guided 
 only by this dim and imperfect light, has bowed God 
 out of doors by affirming that all things have come 
 into existence and continued by the calm processes of 
 impersonal law. 
 
 He manifests himself in history also; yet when the 
 nations march to Armageddon men fail to comprehend 
 the logic of events and cry, " How can there be a God 
 while such things be?" 
 
 He manifests himself in personal experience. 
 
154 AN INTELLIGIBLE GOD 
 
 u There's a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew 
 them how we will." Nevertheless, while things go 
 right, men are likely to conclude that they need no 
 God; and when things go wrong, they decline to call 
 upon him. 
 
 He watched over you last night as carefully as ever 
 a mother held an ailing infant in her arms; and quite 
 possibly you awoke and went about your business 
 without the scant courtesy of thanks. You breathe 
 his air and eat his food with scarcely a thought of 
 him. By this we conclude that " natural theology " is 
 not enough. " The light shineth in darkness and the 
 darkness comprehendeth it not.'' 
 
 What more can he do? O that he would speak 
 to us ! Then surely would we hear his Word and 
 know him. So be it. Enter Christ — the incarnate 
 Word of God ! 
 
 " The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." 
 
 The divine speech is thus articulated. We call it 
 the Incarnation. In Christ we have the full and com- 
 plete expression of the mind of God. The Light of the 
 Life now shines so clearly that those who dwell in 
 darkness are without excuse if they fail to compre- 
 hend it. 
 
 " There comes a galley laden, 
 A heavenly freight on board; 
 It bears God's Son, the Saviour, 
 The great undying Word. 
 
 " And proudly floats that galley, . 
 From troubled coast to coast; 
 Its sail is love and mercy; 
 Its mast, the Holy Ghost. 
 
AN INTELLIGIBLE GOD 155 
 
 " Now earth hath caught the anchor, 
 The ship hath touched the strand; 
 God's Word, in fleshly garment, 
 The Son, steps out on land ! " 
 
 It is related that when Ulysses came back from his 
 Trojan campaign he entered his home in full armour; 
 whereupon his son, overcome by terror, fled from him. 
 He then unbound his helmet and laid aside his coat of 
 glittering mail, and straightway the child ran sobbing 
 with joy to his outstretched arms. Thus does God in 
 Christ adjust his glory to our weakness. The Word 
 which he speaks is " altogether lovely." Who among 
 us can resist it ? Christ is God's " Come unto me." 
 
 But alas, he comes unto his own and his own re- 
 ceive him not ! I doubt not there are men and women 
 here tonight, as yet unacquainted with God, who re- 
 fuse to approach him through this " new and living 
 way." But listen to this : " To as many as received 
 him, to them gave he power to become the sons of 
 God ! " Thus do we recover our birthright lost through 
 sin. " If sons then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs 
 with Jesus Christ to an inheritance incorruptible and 
 undented and that fadeth not away." Behold, what 
 manner of love is here! How can any man turn his 
 back upon it? 
 
 So runs the Prologue ; and now John is ready to go 
 on with his book. But why should he go on with it? 
 
 Why must there be a written Word to supplement 
 the incarnate Word? 
 
 Because Christ lived in a remote corner of the 
 world for only a brief period of thirty-three years; 
 while his redemptive work was intended for all ages 
 and generations to the furthest limit of time. His min- 
 
156 AN INTELLIGIBLE GOD 
 
 istry must be universalized and perpetuated. The 
 incarnate Word is therefore complemented by the 
 written Word; which is to abide as the one ultimate 
 and infallible authority for all that God has spoken. 
 
 In this binomial Word, incarnate and written, God 
 makes a complete revelation of himself to the whole 
 world and to all sorts and conditions of men. 
 
 I give the average man credit for a sincere desire to 
 know the truth and live up to it. The difficulty is that 
 he is so absorbed in secular life that when God speaks 
 he either does not hear or fails to consider it. Once 
 when Jesus was teaching in Solomon's Porch there 
 came a Voice from heaven attesting his divine mis- 
 sion ; and the people who stood by said, " It thunder- 
 eth ! " So loath are we to rightly interpret the Voice. 
 Listen, my friend, and you will hear it! 
 
 A hunting party in the desert, having captured a 
 score of antelopes with other game, found themselves 
 short of water. On the point of famishing, their lips 
 parched with thirst, they knew not what to do. A 
 happy thought then occurred to one of them : " Let 
 loose the antelopes." It was done ; and the antelopes, 
 with the scent of water in their nostrils, made straight 
 for the springs. As God's men and women, made in 
 his likeness and after his image, we have within us 
 natural impulses that, but for the hindrance of our 
 meaner selves, would go coursing back to him. Mind, 
 conscience, heart and sovereign will, if left to their 
 right direction, would straightway see his glory in the 
 face of his beloved Son and accept in him eternal life. 
 " As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so pant- 
 eth my soul after thee, O God ! " 
 
 The nature of sin is suicidal. It " giveth wine to 
 
AN INTELLIGIBLE GOD 157 
 
 them that are under sentence of death." It dulls the 
 fine edge of conscience in the hour of temptation, 
 suppresses all our highest hopes and aspirations, and 
 makes us indifferent to the warnings and exhortations 
 of a Father who loves us with a love that passeth 
 knowledge. " Oh that my people had hearkened unto 
 me, saith the Lord ; then would I have fed them with 
 the finest of the wheat, and with honey out of the rock 
 would I have satisfied them." 
 
 It is written, " God who at sundry times and in 
 diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers 
 by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us 
 by his Son " ; and this is followed by the significant 
 question, " How shall we escape if we neglect so great 
 salvation?" It behooves us to "stop, look and 
 listen " ; for Christ is God's Word, his great Word, 
 his loving Word, and his last Word to sinful men. 
 
XVII 
 
 A MODEL CHURCH 
 
 " And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching 
 and fellowship, and in breaking of bread and in prayers. And 
 fear came upon every soul ; and many wonders and signs were 
 wrought by the apostles. And all that believed were together, 
 and had all things common, and sold their possessions and 
 goods and parted them to all, as every man had need. And 
 they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple and 
 breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with 
 gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having 
 favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church 
 daily such as should be saved." — Acts 2 : 42-47. 
 
 THE passengers on an Atlantic steamer awoke 
 one morning to find themselves passing the 
 Azores. On their right the island of San 
 Miguel rose precipitously to a height of three thousand 
 feet, sloping toward the east. The sky was overcast; 
 the sea gulls were flying in and out of their caves, 
 chattering of an approaching storm. The island was 
 overshadowed by dense clouds ; but as we left it in the 
 distance a rift opened overhead, through which the 
 sunshine fell brightly on a valley toward the summit, 
 where flocks could be seen peacefully grazing in the 
 fields, and men and women, looking like pigmies, were 
 going about the tasks of the day. 
 
 I thought of that scene as I read this brief account 
 of the early Church: a little company of believers, 
 assembled between the two opposing seas of Judaism 
 
 158 
 
A MODEL CHURCH 159 
 
 and Paganism, with the clouds of persecution gather- 
 ing thickly above them. How gloriously the sunshine 
 of God's grace and blessing seemed to rest upon them ! 
 
 This was indeed an ideal Church, a forecast of what 
 every Church should be. 
 
 I. Observe, to begin with, it was a Christian 
 Church; that is, Christ was the vital centre of it. 
 
 It was only a month before this that the Lord had 
 said farewell to his disciples in the upper room. At 
 that time he had instituted the sacrament, saying, " Do 
 this in remembrance of me." It was as when a mother 
 on her death-bed leaves a keep-sake to her children, 
 saying, " As often as you see this, think of me." And 
 these early disciples were loyal to their trust; for 
 " they continued daily in the breaking of bread from 
 house to house." The Lord was made known to them, 
 as to the disciples of Emmaus, in this breaking of 
 bread ; and thus they gratefully remembered him. The 
 glow and atmosphere of his personal presence still 
 lingered about them. They talked of him ; they called 
 to mind the words which he had spoken. Their greet- 
 ing was not " Good-night " and " Good-morning," but 
 Maranatha, that is, " The Lord cometh ! " He had 
 scarcely gone, and lo ! they were already looking for 
 his return. The apostles were their preachers; and 
 they did not discourse on the hypotheses of science or 
 the dreams of philosophy, or on " fixed fate, free will, 
 fore-knowledge absolute," but on Christ crucified, who 
 had said, " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto 
 me. 
 
 This is what every Church ought to be. Its preach- 
 ers should preach Christ; and its members should 
 find in him their all in all. 
 
160 A MODEL CHURCH 
 
 II. Moreover, this was an orthodox Church: As 
 it is written, " They gladly received his word, and con- 
 tinued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine." 
 
 The word of Christ was their ultimate rule of faith : 
 but they received the teaching of the apostles as of 
 equal authority, since he himself had said, " He that 
 heareth you, heareth me." He had appointed his apos- 
 tles to formulate his doctrine and had inspired them 
 accordingly. So from the teaching of Christ and his 
 apostles these early Christians derived a definite creed. 
 They believed something and were able to give a rea- 
 son for the faith that was in them. 
 
 This, also, is what every Church ought to be: a 
 company of believers holding to the great verities of 
 the Christian faith and expecting to adjust their con- 
 duct to their creed ; since " as a man thinketh in his 
 heart so is he." 
 
 III. Again, this was a praying Church: as it is 
 written, " they continued steadfastly in prayer, and 
 were daily with one accord in the temple, and went 
 from house to house praising God." 
 
 The temple was still recognized as the house of 
 God, and, inasmuch as Christ was " the hope of 
 Israel," it was natural that these disciples should be- 
 lieve that sooner or later the Jews would accept him. 
 Was not Jesus a Jew ? Had it not been written, " Sal- 
 vation is of the Jews " ? No doubt these early Chris- 
 tians joined with all their hearts in the temple service 
 when the Jews sang responsively their Messianic 
 psalms. Alas, for the hope of Israel! How far the 
 temple and the synagogues have drifted away from 
 him! 
 
 And these Christians prayed also " from house to 
 
A MODEL CHURCH 161 
 
 house." In every home, according to custom, there 
 was a family altar. The neighbours were invited in. 
 In these neighbourhood gatherings, under the linger- 
 ing shadow of the cross and in the sunlight of Olivet, 
 they praised the God of their salvation. 
 
 And this surely is what every Church should be ; 
 a place of prayer " without ceasing," where the fire on 
 the altar never goes out. For 
 
 " Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
 The Christian's native air; 
 His watchword at the gate of death; 
 He enters heaven with prayer." 
 
 IV. Furthermore, this was a practising Church. 
 The faith which the disciples professed in their 
 
 creed and in their mutual prayers was translated into 
 the terms of daily life, else would it never have been 
 written that " they had favour with all the people." 
 They were compassed about with witnesses, who were 
 watching them, taking knowledge of them, and passing 
 judgment upon them. And they were regarded with 
 favour by these witnesses because it was seen that they 
 were exemplifying their profession in a consistent life. 
 This, too, is what every Church ought to be. Christ 
 said, " Ye are the salt of the earth ; but if the salt have 
 lost its savour wherewith shall it be salted? It is 
 thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and 
 to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light 
 of the world ; let your light so shine before men that 
 they may see your good works and glorify God." 
 
 V. Further still, this was a fraternal Church; so 
 much so that " they had all things common." 
 
 The Communism here referred to is like a fore- 
 
162 A MODEL CHURCH 
 
 gleam of the Golden Age when " man to man the 
 world o'er shall brothers be." There was no respect 
 of persons among these early Christians. There were 
 some who owned property while others were prisoners 
 of poverty: but all were knit together by brotherly 
 love. There was no Utopian dream of Communism 
 in this community. It is not written that goods and 
 possessions were sold except so far as " every man had 
 need." The rich regarded their wealth as a divine 
 trust and, as stewards, they held it at the divine call : so 
 that, when there was need, they gladly sold and im- 
 parted to the poor. The Church was thus a fraternal 
 guild for mutual helpfulness. 
 
 This is obviously what every Church should be. The 
 sanctuary is the one place in all the world where rich 
 and poor should meet together and acknowledge the 
 Lord as the maker of them all. 
 
 VI. Again, this Church kept open house; so that 
 others were " added to it daily." 
 
 The pew-rental system had not yet come into vogue. 
 There was welcome and a glad hand for all. It was 
 a quarter of a century later when James was moved to 
 write, " My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ with respect of persons ; for if there come 
 unto your assembly a man with a gold ring in goodly 
 apparel and there come in also a poor man in vile 
 raiment, and ye have respect to him that weareth the 
 gay clothing and say unto him Sit thou here in a good 
 place, and say to the poor Stand thou there or Sit 
 here under my foot-stool, are ye not then partial in 
 yourselves and are become judges of evil thought? 
 Hearken, my beloved brethren ; hath not God chosen 
 the poor of this world rich in faith and heirs of the 
 
A MODEL CHURCH 163 
 
 kingdom which he hath promised to them that love 
 him? " 
 
 This also indicates what every Church should be. 
 No cold shoulder to strangers ; no distinctions of caste ; 
 no front seat for the man with a gold ring and back 
 seat for the man in mean apparel. Welcome is the 
 shibboleth that will win the people. No waiting in 
 the vestibule till pewholders are seated. If there must 
 needs be a pew-rental, let it be understood that the 
 Church is not the house of the pewholder, but the 
 house of God. There must be an equally cordial wel- 
 come for all. 
 
 VII. Once more this was a Church where signs 
 and wonders were wrought. 
 
 The miracle of Pentecost had just occurred. The 
 apostles had been endowed with the charismata, that 
 is, miraculous gifts of healing. These were necessary 
 in the infancy of the Church, as a scaffolding is while 
 a building is being erected; but they were merely in- 
 cidental and tributary to the important work which 
 the disciples of Christ were called upon to do. Their 
 supreme miracle was not the healing of the sick, but 
 the conversion of souls. In one day there were added 
 unto them about three thousand. What a day that 
 must have been when the voices of the three thousand 
 were raised with one accord in thanksgiving for de- 
 liverance from sin ! 
 
 And this, we will agree, is what every Church ought 
 to be. The annual report of one of our largest de- 
 nominations shows that last year the ingathering was 
 approximately one soul for each Church. There is 
 a famine in the land ! Why should not revivals be 
 the rule rather than the exception in our Churches? 
 
164 A MODEL CHURCH 
 
 Is God's arm shortened that he cannot save? Has 
 he forgotten his promise, " If earthly parents know 
 how to give good gifts to their children, how much 
 more shall your Father in Heaven give the Holy 
 Ghost to them that ask of him?" Where is the 
 blame? Do we really want revivals? Have we a 
 passion for souls? Do we recognize the vitarl impor- 
 tance of the gift of the Holy Ghost? Or are we in 
 default as to our tithes ; our tithes of time and energy 
 as well as of earthly possessions? The promise holds 
 good, now as ever, " Bring ye all the tithes into the 
 storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and 
 prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I 
 I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you 
 out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to 
 receive it." 
 
 But there was one thing lacking in this early Church; 
 to wit, the missionary spirit. 
 
 The Lord had said, " Go ye into all the world and 
 preach the gospel to every creature." He had told 
 them to " preach repentance and remission of sins in 
 his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem." 
 But they remained at Jerusalem, seeming to be content 
 with their work among their townsmen. They needed 
 a broader vision of the world-wide conquest. They 
 were working in upon themselves and zealously hus- 
 banding their resources in Jerusalem while the un- 
 evangelized world was stretching out its hands and 
 calling " Come over and help us ! " 
 
 How should this little home-keeping company of 
 Christians be broken up? Not long after the miracle 
 of Pentecost the Evangelist Stephen was stoned. This 
 was the signal of persecution. The disciples with 
 
A MODEL CHURCH 165 
 
 blanched faces fled for their lives ; " and they that were 
 scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the 
 Word." God will have his way with us. If we refuse 
 to learn the lesson of the miracle of the loaves he will 
 teach us our duty by the miracle of the storm. The 
 Church that tarries at Jerusalem cannot prosper. The 
 Gospel is not a pool on a private reservation, but a 
 river watering the fields everywhere on its glad way 
 to the sea. The ethical imperative is upon us. The 
 duty of the Christian is to go. Go ye out into the 
 highways and the hedges. Go ye into the dense centres 
 of life! Go ye out to the frontiers! Go to the utter- 
 most parts of the earth. Go everywhere and constrain 
 souls to come in ! Go in person if you can ; by your 
 influence in any case. But go the Church must, and 
 every soul within it. 
 
 All this is clear enough in the light of that early 
 picture of the ideal Church. We will agree that this 
 is what every Church ought to be : but we will also 
 probably agree that this is not what the Church is. 
 What then? It is the obvious duty of every true 
 Christian to do his utmost to make it so. 
 
 If we were faithful in our appointed places, the 
 result would be like that which was portrayed by 
 Piimyan in his Palace Beautiful. Then said Christian 
 to the porter, " Sir, what house is this ; and may I 
 lodge here for the night?" He answered, "This is 
 the house of the Lord of the Hill, and he built it for 
 the relief and security of pilgrims." The bell was rung 
 and the door was opened, and he was welcomed by 
 many of the family who said, 4l Come in thou blessed 
 of the Lord." The supper being over he was led to a 
 chamber called Peace, with a window toward the East; 
 
166 A MODEL CHURCH 
 
 and when the day broke, after a pleasant sleep, he 
 awoke and looked forth on the Delectable Mountains, 
 and saw in the far distance the Celestial City; where- 
 upon he sang: 
 
 "Where am I now? Is this the loving care 
 Of Jesus for the men that pilgrims are; 
 Thus to provide that I should be forgiven, 
 And dwell already the next door to heaven? " 
 
 Yes, this is what the Church ought to be : a place pro- 
 vided for the entertainment of strangers, " the next 
 door to heaven," with foretastes of the joys which 
 there await us. 
 
 A word to those who remain outside of the Church 
 because it is not what it ought to be. There is an old 
 proverb which says that people who live in glass houses 
 should not throw stones. We admit that the Church is 
 not what it ought to be, and that we are no better than 
 we ought to be; but we are putting up the best fight 
 we can for character and usefulness. We stumble and 
 fall, but by God's grace, we press on. 
 
 If you are like minded you could not do better than 
 join us : that is, if you feel the need of Christ as your 
 Saviour and are ready to accept him. Come thou with 
 us and we will do thee good. You can help us; and 
 we can help you while we journey on together toward 
 a better country, even an heavenly, and toward the 
 city that hath foundations whose builder and maker 
 is God. 
 
XVIII 
 
 YEA AND NAY 
 
 " But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and 
 nay. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached 
 among you by us, was not yea and nay; but in him was yea. 
 For all the promises of God in him are yea and in him Amen, 
 unto the glory of God by us."— II Cor. i : 18. 
 
 THE apostle was on the defensive ; his back was 
 against the wall. 
 In a letter written some time previously to 
 the Christians of Corinth he had promised to make 
 them a visit before he went to Macedonia and, if pos- 
 sible, to spend the winter with them. He had not 
 come; therefore he was charged with breaking his 
 word. It is a slight matter to break an arm or a 
 bloodvessel, as compared with breaking one's word. 
 But Paul was not to blame. The fact was that he 
 had been prevented by a severe attack of illness from 
 doing as he had promised : but his explanation was 
 briefly disposed of. He was less concerned for the 
 vindication of his own truthfulness than for the incul- 
 cation of certain truths which had a vital bearing on 
 the spiritual welfare of his Corinthian friends. " It 
 matters little,'* he writes, " what you think of me per- 
 sonally, so long as you receive the essential facts of 
 the Gospel to the saving of your souls." 
 i The first of these fundamental facts is that God is 
 
 167 
 
168 YEA AND NAY 
 
 true. In another place he emphasizes this in still 
 stronger terms, " Let God be true and every man a 
 liar" (Romans 3:4). 
 
 My associate, in his opening prayer, referred to 
 God as " the great Constant " : that is, the always 
 dependable One. " With him is no variableness, 
 neither shadow cast by turning." He is characterized 
 as " the God of truth." His yea is yea and his nay 
 is nay; and there is no possibility of misunderstanding 
 him. 
 
 It is said that when the Shorter Catechism was 
 being prepared by the Westminster Assembly of 
 divines a grave perplexity arose as to the proper 
 definition of God. One of the younger men was asked 
 to pray for guidance. He began in this manner : " O 
 God, thou who art a spirit infinite, eternal, and un- 
 changeable in thy being, wisdom, power, holiness, jus- 
 tice, goodness and truth " ; and those words were 
 incorporated in the historic symbol as furnishing the 
 best definition of God. He is indeed " unchangeable 
 in his truth." When he speaks it is without vagueness 
 or equivocation. His word is always the truth, the 
 whole truth and nothing but the truth. 
 
 It is not so with Satan. Of him Jesus said, " He is 
 a liar and the father of it." The first temptation was 
 when he sat, as Milton puts it, " squat like a toad 
 beside the ear of Eve," saying " Yea, hath God said 
 ' In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die ? ' 
 Thou shalt not surely die ! " Some thousands of years 
 after, he tempted Sapphira in the same way. When 
 Peter said " Tell me whether ye sold the land for so 
 much," she answered " Yea, for so much." This, be- 
 ing only half the truth, was rightly construed as a 
 
YEA AND NAY 169 
 
 suggestion of Satan to " lie unto the Spirit of God." 
 
 The second of the facts affirmed by Paul is that 
 "Jesus Christ, whom we have preached among you, 
 was not yea and nay; but in him was yea." 
 
 The only-begotten Son, the incarnate Word of God, 
 is himself the living and perpetual witness to the 
 divine veracity. No sooner had man sinned than the 
 protevangel was given, " The Seed of woman shall 
 come in the fulness of time to bruise the serpent's 
 head and deliver man from the shame and penalty 
 of sin." The world waited four thousand years for 
 his coming, waited so long that the lamps of the 
 golden candlestick were extinguished and hope de- 
 ferred had made the heart sick ; and then, in the dark- 
 est hour which is just before dawn, he came ! The 
 angel of the annunciation said to Joseph, " All this 
 is come to pass that it might be fulfilled which was 
 spoken by the prophet, saying, ' Behold a virgin shall 
 conceive and bear a Son, and his name shall be called 
 Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us.' ,J 
 So Christ, the great Fulfillment, is himself the standing 
 and eternal witness to the divine truth. 
 
 And his teaching was never yea and nay, but always 
 yea. No one who listened to him, as he preached 
 in the streets of Jerusalem or in Solomon's Porch or 
 on the Mount of Olives, ever knit his brows in per- 
 plexity as if to say, " I wonder what he means." He 
 spoke of the profoundest mysteries and the most be- 
 wildering problems that are ever presented to mortal 
 minds ; yet his logic rang clear as a bell. He declared 
 the truth about the truth so simply that the humblest 
 of truth-seekers could comprehend it. 
 
 Ask Jesus what he thinks about God ; " God is a 
 
170 YEA AND NAY 
 
 spirit; and they that worship him must worship him 
 in spirit and truth." Ask him what he thinks about 
 immortality: "I am the resurrection and the life; he 
 that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall 
 he live; and he that liveth and believeth in me shall 
 never die ! " Ask him what he thinks about the Bible : 
 " Thy Word is truth." Ask him what he thinks about 
 heaven : " In my Father's house are many mansions ; if 
 it were not so I would have told you." Ask him what 
 he thinks about hell : he answers with bated breath, 
 " Their fire is not quenched ; their worm dieth not." 
 You may not like his teaching; but you must con- 
 cede that there was no uncertainty about it. 
 
 He never taught with an if or a perhaps or a per- 
 adventure ; but always with a " Verily, verily I say unto 
 you." The people said, " He teacheth not as the 
 scribes " — that is, with an ever-recurring reference to 
 the opinions of others who had gone before him — 
 " but with authority." He was the greatest dogmatist 
 that ever lived in this world of ours. " Verily, verily 
 I say unto youl " 
 
 Is there any other preacher who would dare to speak 
 that way? The world would laugh at him. That 
 word of Jesus " I say " goes crashing through the 
 ancient corridors of rabbinical tradition like a thunder- 
 bolt. In vain will you search for any note of com- 
 promise. It is not enough for him to claim that his 
 teaching is true ; he said " I am the Truth ! " Before 
 his yea all schools of Philosophy come crashing down. 
 " Ye have heard how it was said by them of old 
 time ; but I say unto you ! " So positive, unqualified, 
 dogmatic and distinctly orthodox was the teaching of 
 Christ. It was precise as clockwork and clear as the 
 
YEA AND NAY 171 
 
 shining of the sun. How could it be otherwise, since 
 he claimed to be the incarnate Word of God? 
 
 The third fact emphasized by Paul is that the prom- 
 ises of the written Word were not yea and nay but 
 yea and amen, unto the glory of God. 
 
 The Bible is a handbook of " exceeding great and 
 precious promises." They are like stepping-stones to 
 help us over the marshy places of life. Adam Clark 
 undertook to compile them under a series of cate- 
 gories in a book called " The Faithful Promiser." His 
 purpose was to show how wonderfully they had been 
 fulfilled in history and human experience. But there 
 are some promises that he could not include in his 
 categories because they are mere intimations of good 
 things to come, faint suggestions of an inheritance as 
 yet undreamed of. Here is one of them : " Now are 
 we sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we 
 shall be." O my friends, great surprises await us 
 in the heavenly life ! " Eye hath not seen, nor ear 
 heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the 
 things which God has prepared for them that love 
 him." 
 
 And all these promises are " yea and amen in him." 
 You may read your Bible through without finding 
 ambiguity in any of them. Any such ambiguity would 
 be fatal to the divine truth. The three great promises 
 of the ancient Scriptures have to do with the Incarna- 
 tion, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of Christ. 
 Put an if under the manger and the whole Gospel is 
 blown to atoms. Put an if under the Cross and not 
 only the hope of saints militant but the song of the 
 saints triumphant is reduced to the stuff that dreams 
 are made of. Put an if under the open sepulchre, and 
 
172 YEA AND NAY 
 
 life and immortality vanish into thin air ; as Paul else- 
 where says, "If Christ be not risen then they which 
 are fallen asleep in Christ are perished ; our preaching 
 is vain, your faith also is vain, ye are yet in your 
 sins." 
 
 The fourth proposition which Paul lays down is 
 that his own preaching is not yea and nay but always 
 yea. And this he affirms not only for himself but for 
 Silvanus and Timothy and the other apostles who were 
 commissioned to preach a positive Gospel for the sal- 
 vation of men. 
 
 The reason why so-called u liberalism " takes issue 
 with the Pauline theology is because it declines all 
 compromise with error. The fact is, however, that 
 Paul's theology is simply the theology of Christ, re- 
 duced, by his authority and by divine inspiration, to 
 systematic form. He stands for the co-equal Godhood 
 of Jesus, the infallible integrity of Scripture and the 
 vital importance of justification by faith. To him 
 these are yea and amen. As to these fundamental 
 truths his trumpet rings with a note of unswerving 
 loyalty to his Lord, a note of fearless confidence out- 
 measuring that of Luther's great manifesto " Here I 
 stand ; I cannot otherwise, God help me ! " 
 
 The same is true of his ethical teaching. The Law 
 of Sinai, so far from being abrogated by the Law of 
 Olivet, is doubly riveted to the Christian life by the 
 Law of Liberty wherewith the Son makes free. 
 " What shall we say, then ? Shall we go on to sin that 
 grace may abound ? God forbid ! For being made 
 free from sin, ye are become the servants of righteous- 
 ness." Wherefore Paul concludes that a Christian is. 
 bound to yoke up his profession with practice and 
 
YEA AND NAY 173 
 
 bring the bottom of his life up to the top of his light. 
 This, in his philosophy, is " the glorious liberty of 
 the children of God." 
 
 What, now, are the practical lessons for us? 
 
 For me as a minister of the Gospel, the lesson is a 
 very searching one. In my covenant vow I volun- 
 tarily entered into a solemn covenant to " maintain and 
 defend " certain doctrines contained in the Word of 
 God. I have, therefore, no alternative but either to 
 stand foresworn or to imitate the straightforwardness 
 of Paul, who in his farewell to the elders of Ephesus 
 said, " I take you to record that I have not shunned 
 to declare the whole counsel of God." If this means 
 anything it means that, in common honesty, I am 
 bound to " keep nothing back " but to declare the 
 whole truth about the truth as God gives me to see it. 
 
 I am not at liberty to play fast and loose with 
 definitions, which is as blameworthy as uttering false 
 coin. The dictionary, based upon immemorial usage, 
 is the accepted standard of meanings. It was a true 
 saying of Mirabeau " Words are things." They are 
 more ; they are living things ; they are living thoughts 
 and beliefs going about to instruct or to deceive men. 
 
 If I say " I believe in God," while inwardly I con- 
 ceive him to be mere impersonal Law or Energy or 
 " a something not ourselves that maketh for right- 
 eousness," my definition is not that of common cur- 
 rency; and, so far forth, I have ceased to be an 
 honest man. 
 
 If I say u I believe in the only-begotten Son of 
 God " while holding that his " divinity " was not more 
 than that of other men, the truth is not in me. 
 
 If I say I believe in the resurrection of Christ, 
 
174 YEA AND NAY 
 
 meaning only that his influence survived him, I am 
 deceiving those who hear me. 
 
 If I say " I believe in the inspiration of the Scrip- 
 tures " while rejecting the claim that they were " writ- 
 ten by holy men as they were moved by the spirit of 
 God," that is, " God-breathed " and necessarily true, I 
 stand self-convicted of duplicity and prevarication. I 
 am playing hocus-pocus with doctrines which I have 
 sworn to maintain and defend. My definitions, pri- 
 vately made, are not coin of the realm. My word of 
 honour is not positive but yea and nay. My standard 
 of honesty is below that of the marketplace; my 
 I.O.U. is protested, not being worth the paper it is 
 written on. 
 
 But the lesson has a wider reach. It cuts deep into 
 the personal honesty of all who profess to follow 
 Christ. A true Christian is under bonds to say what 
 he means and to mean precisely what he says. He is 
 to imitate Christ in his devotion to truth. " Let the 
 mind that was in Christ Jesus be also in you." 
 
 " Lord make me like thyself ; 
 Lord make me be myself ; 
 Seeming as one who lives to thee, 
 And being what I seem to be." 
 
 The trouble with us is that we do not acquaint our- 
 selves with Christ sufficiently to catch the similitude 
 of his life and character. An occasional glimpse of 
 his face, in our morning and evening devotions, may 
 be enough to persuade us that he is indeed the chief- 
 est among ten thousand and altogether lovely, but 
 what we need is the holding of his hand while we walk 
 all day with him. Only so can we grow into the like- 
 
YEA AND NAY 175 
 
 ness of his love and justice and absolute clarity of 
 profession and life. 
 
 A South Sea islander once told his experience in 
 this way : " I heard the missionary preach about sin ; 
 and he and I were like two canoes going side by side. 
 Then he spoke of salvation; and I dropped behind, 
 with broken mast and torn sail. The winds drove me 
 to a barren shore where I lay hopeless for a time. 
 Then I arose in the darkness and felt my way like 
 a blind man groping along a wall. On a sudden I 
 touched a door: it opened before me, and there stood 
 my Saviour with the glory shining in his face. Low 
 at his feet, I cried, ' Lord, I believe ! ' He gave me his 
 hand and lifted me up ; saying ' Let us walk together.' 
 So now I walk with him." 
 
 The grip of that hand assures the Tightness of our 
 lives. Intimacy with him is our safeguard against 
 all allurements : for Truth was his name and honesty 
 was the keynote of his life. He said, " Let your com- 
 munication be yea yea, nay nay; for whatsoever is 
 more than these cometh to evil." Yea, yea to truth ! 
 Nay, nay to error! If we are Christians let us say 
 so and stand for it. 
 
XIX 
 
 THE FAR-AWAY LOOK 
 
 " For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh 
 for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 
 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the 
 things which are not seen ; for the things which are seen are 
 temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." — 
 
 II. COR. 4: 17. 
 
 IT is an old proverb that misfortunes never come 
 singly : or as Hamlet puts it, " When sorrows 
 come, they come not singly but in great bat- 
 talions." So it was with this man ; he was submerged 
 in a sea of troubles. Hear him, " Once was I stoned, 
 thrice I suffered shipwreck, five times have I received 
 forty stripes save one ; in journeying often, in perils of 
 waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own 
 countrymen, in perils in the city, in perils in the 
 wilderness, in weariness and painfulness; in hunger 
 and thirst, in cold and nakedness, in labours abun- 
 dant, in prisons frequent, in death oft." Yet what an 
 effervescent spirit have we here ! " None of these 
 things move me. I am troubled on every side yet 
 not distressed, perplexed but not in despair, perse- 
 cuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed. 
 If I must needs glory I will glory in tribulation! " 
 
 He speaks of his afflictions as " light." To him they 
 are like the feathers of a bird, a burden indeed, yet 
 helping him to mount upward into the clearer air. 
 
 176 
 
THE FAR-AWAY LOOK 177 
 
 He speaks of them as " but for a moment," when 
 in point of fact they had continued for upward of 
 thirty years with scarcely a breathing spell. It re- 
 minds us of old Robert Herrick's song, " Tumble me 
 down, and I will sit exultant on my ruins yet ! " How 
 shall we account for it? 
 
 By the far-away look in his eyes. He is seeing 
 things beyond the here and now. He thinks of him- 
 self as belonging to two worlds. He is a pilgrim on 
 his way to a better country, and the hardships that 
 befall him are as when a king's messenger trips and 
 falls and with the cry, " It is nothing," hurries on. 
 Thus, as Shakespeare says, " The labour we delight in 
 physics pain." 
 
 I. One of the two worlds to which this man belongs 
 is the zvorld of the seen; made up of the sum total of 
 material things which can be apprehended by the 
 physical senses. 
 
 This is the world of Natural Science, which takes 
 cognizance of nothing but tangible facts. Its denizens 
 are materialists. They see gold and therefore covet it. 
 They hear the sounds of merry-making in Vanity Fair 
 and mingle with it. They feel the pangs of hunger 
 and thirst and cry, " Let us eat and drink, for to- 
 morrow we die ! " 
 
 This world of the seen is a little world. It is like 
 a ten-acre farm among the hills, where a man toils 
 with never a look beyond his narrow environment 
 of time and space. No dreams o£~Garcassonne ! The 
 hills and the clouds are his horizons, and they fold 
 him in. 
 
 It is a transitory world. Not long ago the Czar of 
 Russia sat upon a throne which seemed most real, 
 
178 THE FAR-AWAY LOOK 
 
 because he could lay his hand upon it. He wore a 
 crown which, despite its sparkling glories weighed as 
 a real burden on a weary brow. He wielded a sceptre 
 whereat a hundred millions of abject people trembled 
 and bowed low. Where are they now ? " Sceptre and 
 crown must tumble down, and in the dust be equal 
 made with the poor crooked scythe and spade." So 
 passes away the glory of this little world. 
 
 " The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
 The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 
 Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve 
 And, like this unsubstantial pageant faded, 
 Leave not a rack behind." 
 
 In view of such considerations what fools we are to 
 live for things that perish with the using; to toil 
 with muckrakes for yellow dust that will presently 
 sift through our cold fingers, to seek for pleasure in 
 laughter that dies away like the crackling of thorns; 
 to climb up ladders to earthly emolument with nothing 
 but day-dreams to show for it! Let us go back to 
 our kindergartens and read again the story of Jack 
 and the Beanstalk; and may the mouths of babes and 
 sucklings teach us to quit ourselves like men. 
 
 II. The other world is the world of the unseen: 
 that is, of the things which lie beyond the narrow cir- 
 cumscription of the physical senses and can only be 
 comprehended by faith. 
 
 " Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, 
 the evidence of things not seen." It is a sixth sense, 
 by which we are distinguished from all the lower 
 orders of life. It belongs to us by virtue of the fact 
 that we are created in the image and after the likeness 
 
THE FAR-AWAY LOOK 179 
 
 of God. By it we are enabled to face the great veri- 
 ties and solve the problems of the spiritual life. 
 
 The world to which it introduces us is a great world. 
 " No pent up Utica contracts our powers." Go out 
 on a starry night with your telescope and look on 
 the spangled heavens. How far away is yonder moon ? 
 Two hundred thousand miles ! And yonder fixed star? 
 Some billions more! See how the ships of God's 
 armada come wheeling into the field of infinite space ! 
 Count them if you can. But you are still in the little 
 world of the seen. Look through the interstellar spaces 
 to the great beyond ! Leave time and space behind 
 and dream of the infinite. 
 
 There lies the great world to which we belong: a 
 world beyond our scope of fleshly vision. If faith 
 fails you now, give up all hope of apprehending it. 
 This is the world of invisible laws and forces, of 
 truths, and principles, of life beyond the swinging 
 of a pendulum, of provinces beyond the boundaries of 
 space, of souls beyond bodies and of immortals at 
 home with God. Thither I am destined by virtue of 
 my divine birthright. My three-score years and ten 
 are but the vestibule of life. 
 
 " It must be so ! Plato, thou reasonest well ; 
 Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire. 
 This longing after immortality? 
 'Tis the divinity that stirs within us ! 
 'Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter 
 And intimates eternity to man ! 
 The stars shall fade away, the sun himself 
 Grow dim with age and nature sink in years ; 
 But thou shalt flourish in eternal youth, 
 Unhurt amid the war of elements ; 
 The wreck of matter and the crush of worlds ! " 
 
180 THE FAR-AWAY LOOK 
 
 III. How then as to the reckoning between these 
 tzvo worlds ? Blessed is he who measures aright the 
 relative significance of the seen and the unseen. Put 
 this world into the balance with that other, and behold 
 a grain of sand against a universe. O world of the 
 seen, thou art weighed and found wanting ! The man 
 who reads not this parable is dull as that Belshazzar 
 who lost his Kingdom because he could not interpret 
 God's writing on the wall. " I reckon," said Paul after 
 striking the balance, " I reckon that the sufferings of 
 this present time are not worthy to be compared with 
 the glory that shall be revealed in us ! " 
 
 I call your attention to four important facts with 
 reference to these unseen things. 
 
 To begin with, they are more real than the things 
 that are visible and tangible. God is more real than 
 nature, because he made it. The soul, likewise, is 
 more real than the body that it lives in. The Romans 
 wrote on their graves Emigravit, " he has moved on." 
 So, says Paul, " We know that if our earthly house of 
 this tabernacle be dissolved we have an house not 
 made with hands, eternal in the heavens." What sor- 
 did creature shall tell me that " Death ends all ? " 
 Death ends nothing. It begins all. 
 
 Moreover, the things which are unseen and eternal 
 are more substantial than those which are seen and 
 temporal. Of our country we sing, " I love thy rocks 
 and rills, thy woods and templed hills " ; but he is a 
 poor citizen who does not build his patriotism on the 
 great principles that lend all beauty to our rocks and 
 rills. The flag which we proudly call " Old Glory " is 
 but a barren ideality except as it projects our loyalty 
 into the far more actual though invisible province of 
 
THE FAR-AWAY LOOK 181 
 
 freedom and human rights. The silver dollar that 
 you hold in your hand would be worth no more than 
 wampum were it not for its collateral security. The 
 superscription, " U. S. A.," which it bears, is not so 
 substantial as the invisible bond of the Commonwealth 
 behind it. But without faith we could never get be- 
 yond the dollar and the flag. Yet there are stupid 
 folk who think of faith as mere credulity, with no evi- 
 dence to support it! On the contrary, faith is sub- 
 sto; the substance of things hoped for. And faith is 
 e-videns, H the evidence of things not seen." 
 
 Still further, the things of the invisible world are 
 more immediate than those which we can see. We 
 say we are " floating on a river toward a boundless 
 sea." Nothing of the sort. There is no river; we are 
 already on the sea. Time is in eternity. It is an 
 infinitesimal arc of the infinite circle. Heaven is not 
 " a happy land, far, far away " ; we are in heaven or 
 hell here and now. When Confucius said, " I know 
 nothing about the future, and therefore I concern 
 myself only for the world I am now living in," he 
 laid the foundations of a materialistic philosophy 
 which doomed four hundred millions of Chinamen to 
 sordidness for a thousand years. And the man who 
 argues from the same premise will never rise above the 
 Chinese level of life. 
 
 It remains to add that the unseen things are more 
 knowable than the seen. We say '* seeing is believ- 
 ing ! " but we know better. Our physical senses are 
 all the while deceiving us. The lantern which you see 
 in yonder swamp is a will-o'-the-wisp. A roll of thun- 
 der proves to be merely a blast in a neighbouring 
 quarry. Any thimble-rigger can fool you. But when 
 
182 THE FAR-AWAY LOOK 
 
 faith has once implanted a conviction of God and the 
 invisible truths which centre in him there is no power 
 in the universe that can dislodge it. Here is the rock 
 on which the Christian rests. No if or peradventure 
 troubles him. His shibboleth is " I know ! " — " I know 
 that my Redeemer liveth ! " — " I know whom I have 
 believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep 
 that which I have committed unto him against that 
 day ! " His faith is a personal faith, taking hold on a 
 personal Christ, and finding all the great verities in him. 
 
 To this end Christ came into the world, that he 
 might give his people the far-away look. He postu- 
 lated all his teaching on the reality of the unseen world 
 and our vital interest in it. Take away God and im- 
 mortality, and the Gospel is resolved into nil. Take 
 away the supreme importance of other-worldliness and 
 the Cross is no more than two transverse beams on 
 which a man dies like other men. " I go to prepare 
 a place for you," said Christ ; " in my Father's house 
 are many mansions ; if it were not so I would have 
 told you." Wherefore we are enjoined to lay up 
 treasure not here but in the world further on. And 
 to make that injunction the more impressive, he pro- 
 pounds a problem that staggers all science and philos- 
 ophy, " What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole 
 world and lose his life?" 
 
 How, then, are we living? Are we among those 
 who, " forever hastening to the grave, stoop down- 
 ward as they run ? " Or have we the far-away look ? 
 Are we sojourning here as " pilgrims and strangers, 
 looking for a better country, even an heavenly, and 
 for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and 
 maker is God? ° 
 
THE FAK-AWAY LOOK 183 
 
 This is the secret of a happy life. In these troublous 
 times it solves the problems of history by enabling us 
 to read between the lines. Otherwise our hearts 
 would fail us, like that of the young man in Dothan 
 who, seeing the city invested by a hostile army, ex- 
 claimed, " Master, we are lost! What shall we do? " 
 And the prophet prayed, " O Lord, open his eyes that 
 he may see " ; whereupon the novice cried, " Master, 
 the mountains are full of the Lord's horses and 
 chariots ! " 
 
 It is for lack of the far-away look that we fail also 
 to interpret providence in our personal lives. It was 
 a rule among the epic poets that no incident should 
 be brought into the narrative which did not contribute 
 to the denouement. This was called " the rule of the 
 dramatic unities." A like rule is discernible in the 
 divine watch-care. It is obvious, however, that one 
 who reads only a page at a time sees life as a tangled 
 skein. The man who in the midst of his vicissitudes 
 perceives that time is only the preface of an endless 
 serial, and that prosperity and adversity are warp and 
 woof of a royal garment with which he is to be clothed 
 forever, speaks no more of threads and thrums but, 
 recognizing the dramatic unities, he rejoices that " all 
 things work together for good to them that love God." 
 What then shall we say? 
 
 " Rise, my soul, and stretch thy wings, 
 Thy better portion trace; 
 Rise from transitory things 
 Toward heaven, thy native place : 
 Sun and moon and stars decay; 
 Time shall soon this earth remove; 
 Rise, my soul, and haste away 
 To seats prepared above ! " 
 
184 THE FAR-AWAY. LOOK 
 
 One of the ancient poets tells of two doubters who 
 agreed that, whichever of them first passed on, was to 
 return and enlighten the other. One night, while 
 mourning for the recent death of his comrade, the 
 survivor heard above the soughing wind the patter of 
 a horse's hoofs and then a low voice saying, " These 
 things are true ! " The fable touches close on fact. 
 " Here we know in part and see as in a glass darkly " ; 
 but there we shall understand the relative importance 
 of material and spiritual things. 
 
 Meanwhile let us covet and cultivate the larger 
 scope of vision. Sursum corda! Up with thy heart! 
 " Eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither have en- 
 tered into the heart of man the things which God 
 hath prepared for them that love him." 
 
 We live forever! 
 
XX 
 
 UNUTTERABLE THINGS 
 
 " I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago (whether 
 in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I can- 
 not tell; God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third 
 heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body or 
 out of the body I cannot tell; God knoweth;) how that he 
 was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words, 
 which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will 
 I glory; yet of myself I will not glory but in mine infirmi- 
 ties.'' — II Cor. 12:2-5. 
 
 BLESSED is the man who has a vision. " The 
 world is so much with us." It is well that 
 dwellers in the Valley of Sordid Care should 
 climb the mountains now and then and look off into 
 the regions beyond. But, alas! the paths are steep, 
 and the journey is a long one, and Little Faith is ever 
 saying, " Let us be practical : the other world is a 
 great ways off; content yourself with the things that 
 are here and now." 
 
 It was fourteen years since Paul had this vision ; and 
 he had never mentioned it. Now, however, necessity 
 was laid upon him. His enemies, the false teachers of 
 Corinth and elsewhere, jealous of his growing influ- 
 ence, were buzzing about him like bees. They had 
 even undertaken to impugn his credentials as an apos- 
 tle of Christ. 
 
 So far as he was personally concerned he might have 
 185 
 
186 UNUTTERABLE THINGS 
 
 passed this by; but the fruits of his ministry were in 
 danger and the honour of his Master was at stake. He 
 could not keep silence. He must vindicate his au- 
 thority; even at the risk of being called a fool and a 
 braggart. He therefore presents his credentials on 
 this wise : " Bear with me in my folly. Seeing that 
 mine enemies glory. I will glory also. Are they He- 
 brews? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I 
 speak as a fool, I am more : in labours more abundant, 
 in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in 
 deaths oft. Do they trumpet their zeal ? So can I ; in 
 journeyings often, in perils without number, in weari- 
 ness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger 
 and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 
 Do they challenge my apostleship because, as they say, 
 I never saw Jesus? I am indeed as one born out of 
 due time; but on my journey to Damascus I saw him 
 so glorified that the sight blinded mine eyes. Do they 
 question my commission? He sent his messenger to 
 declare me ' a chosen vessel to bear his name before 
 the Gentiles/ Do they call for the fruits of my labour ? 
 Behold the seal of the Spirit in souls converted; ye 
 are my joy and crown. Ah, but they speak of dreams 
 and transports ! So be it. Let us come to visions and 
 revelations of the Lord." And then, veiling himself in 
 a transparent pseudonym, he tells what happened to 
 him fourteen years ago. 
 
 The one thing to be observed above all others in 
 this narrative is its scrupulous reserve. Paul says he 
 " was caught up into the third heaven." Where is 
 that third heaven ; and how was he caught up into it ? 
 Was it through some mysterious clairvoyance? Was 
 it a flight of the sub-conscious ego? Did he take his 
 
UNUTTERABLE THINGS 187 
 
 body with him ; or did he leave it as when a man goes 
 out of his house and closes the door behind him ? Paul 
 was a metaphysical expert, as much so probably as 
 any scholar of his time, yet his only answer is, 
 " Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot 
 tell." 
 
 And what did he see in that third heaven ? What 
 wonders burst on his poor, blinking eyes? Of these 
 he has nothing to say. The mere fact of the vision, 
 which had been held in reserve so scrupulously for 
 fourteen years, is all that he gives us. Why this 
 reticence ? It was doubtless due to the fact that he had 
 come up against certain limitations which are gener- 
 ally known and regarded by wise men. 
 
 I. There was the Limitation of Knowledge. In 
 this vision he had been transported to a region which 
 baffled the powers of a finite mind. He had been car- 
 ried beyond the purview of the physical senses into a 
 region where mortal man could only say, "This be- 
 wilders me ! " 
 
 The three heavens to which he refers are easy to 
 explain. The first is that which lies about us. It is 
 the heaven of the atmosphere and the floating clouds. 
 It is the heaven of the Weather Bureau. It is the little 
 heaven of the atmosphere, fifty miles deep or there- 
 abouts, enveloping our world. We know practically 
 all that need be known about it. 
 
 The second is the heaven of the stars; and with this 
 we are less familiar. Science has many things to say 
 in these premises ; some of which are the satisfactory 
 results of exact calculation, others of which are mere 
 guesswork. It is a vast heaven, where worlds innu- 
 merable float like the ships of a great armada on a 
 
188 UNUTTERABLE THINGS 
 
 boundless sea. As you gaze into the far distance, still 
 they come, new fleets of worlds, clouds of star-dust, 
 boundless, incomputable, apparently infinite ! A scien- 
 tist still in his 'teens will undertake to tell you all 
 about them ; but ask an old astronomer what he knows 
 with respect to this second heaven and he will say, " I 
 am still repeating what I learned at my mother's knee, 
 
 " ' Twinkle, twinkle, little star ; 
 How I wonder what you are/ " 
 
 The third heaven is beyond. Paul calls it " Para- 
 dise." This is the heaven where God's throne is; the 
 home of angels and archangels and saints triumphant. 
 It is the heaven where God means us to dwell forever : 
 yet how little we know about it. We are living on an 
 island in the midst of an immeasurable ocean. Now 
 and then a man wades out in the surf, but only a little 
 ways. A tall man, like John the Evangelist, can wade 
 further; but soon he, too, finds himself beyond his 
 depth. We catch a glimpse of a City afar off with 
 golden domes and pinnacles ; and again of a country 
 of " sweet fields beyond the swelling flood, all dressed 
 in living green." But these are only glimpses after all. 
 
 " We may not know how sweet its balmy air, 
 How bright and fair its flowers: 
 We may not hear the songs that echo there 
 Through those enchanted bowers. 
 But sometimes, when adown the western sky 
 The fiery sunset lingers, 
 The golden gates swing inward noiselessly, 
 Unlocked by unseen fingers : 
 And while they stand a moment half ajar 
 Gleams, from the inner glory, 
 Stream brightly through the azure vault afar 
 And half reveal the story." 
 
UNUTTERABLE THINGS 189 
 
 It was into this third heaven that Paul was caught 
 up ; but he does not venture to describe it ; possibly be- 
 cause he realized that he knew so little about it. Per- 
 haps he found the things of Paradise unutterable 
 because they were really unintelligible to him. Why 
 not ? Can a gourd hold the ocean ? No more can the 
 mind of a mortal man contain the things of Paradise. 
 Let it suffice that the place is there awaiting us. The 
 man who has had a vision never doubts it. 
 
 II. Another difficulty which confronted Paul was 
 the Limitation of Utterance. He says that he heard 
 " unspeakable words " and saw things " which it is not 
 lawful for a man to utter." What does he mean? 
 What " law " was it that hindered his speaking out? 
 
 Was it an interdict which God had laid upon him? 
 Had he been enjoined, as they say Peter Martyr was, 
 who is always represented with his finger on his 
 lips ? Had the Lord said to him, " See thou tell no 
 man"? 
 
 Or was it the boundaries of speech that gave him 
 pause? There are indeed many things in our experi- 
 ence for which there are no words in our vocabulary. 
 You will search the dictionary in vain for the where- 
 withal to express a mother's love. So there are " songs 
 without words." Did you never stand on a mountain- 
 top and look on a far-reaching landscape which baffled 
 the largest possibilities of speech? Who has ever ade- 
 quately described a storm at sea; or the beauty of a 
 sunset ; or the solemnity of a death-bed ? 
 
 " I wonder if ever a song was sung but the singer's heart sang 
 sweeter ; 
 I wonder if ever a hymn was rung but the theme surpassed 
 the meter; 
 
190 UNUTTERABLE THINGS 
 
 I wonder if ever a sculptor wrought 
 Till the cold stone echoed his ardent thought; 
 Or if ever a painter with light and shade 
 The dream of his inmost soul portrayed?" 
 
 Or perhaps the restraint of expediency was laid upon 
 him. It is not always wise to tell all that one knows. 
 There are frequent occasions when speech is silver, but 
 silence golden. This is the lesson of that homely fable 
 of y£sop where he tells of a lion calling to a sheep and 
 asking, "Is my breath sweet?" When the sheep an- 
 swered " No," he bit off his head for slander. He then 
 called a wolf and asked, " Is my breath sweet? " And 
 when the wolf answered " Yes," he bit off his head for 
 flattery. He then called a fox and asked, " Is my 
 breath sweet ? " And the fox, coughing and sneezing, 
 said, " I have such a cold that I really cannot say " ; 
 whereupon the lion said, " Come with me ; thou art the 
 wise one." We all talk too much; or, if not that, we 
 all say too much that had better be left unsaid, and 
 withhold too much of what might profitably be said to 
 those about us. 
 
 In the interview of Moses and Elias with Jesus on 
 the Mount of Transfiguration it is noteworthy that they 
 had nothing to say about the heaven they were living 
 in. Their entire conversation had to do with a certain 
 event which was about to transpire, not in Paradise, 
 but in this world of ours. The three disciples who 
 were present at that interview were profoundly inter- 
 ested in Paradise and would have given much to hear 
 what Moses and Elias had to say about it. One of 
 them had been there fifteen hundred years and the 
 other a thousand years. What a scroll of wonders they 
 might have unfolded! But not a word. They spake 
 
UNUTTERABLE THINGS 191 
 
 only of the approaching tragedy of the Cross ; only of 
 that which was of practical value to mortal men. Had 
 it been important for James and Peter and John to 
 know the details and particulars of Paradise, it is not 
 to be doubted that something would have been said to 
 enlighten them; but, as matters stand, we are left to 
 believe that they were better without it. 
 
 III. There was still another difficulty, which was 
 perhaps most insuperable, namely, the Limitation of 
 Confidence. 
 
 Not a few of our interviews with God are under 
 the ban of silence. The hour of conversion is of such 
 a character; a man of sensibility will think twice 
 before he calls in the passer-by. So with all our deep- 
 est experiences of joy and sorrow : " The heart know- 
 eth its own bitterness ; and a stranger doth not inter- 
 meddle with its joy." Have you never gone to the 
 trysting place, with burdens that seemed beyond all 
 bearing, and shut the door, and bared your soul before 
 God with strong crying, until you felt his near ap- 
 proach and his right hand laid upon you, and heard 
 his voice saying comfortable things ; so that you came 
 out at length with tears on your eyelashes and your 
 finger on your lips? 
 
 Who shall estimate the value of such visions in their 
 application to the needs of common life? Here is the 
 effective remedy for doubt. It is safe to say that 
 Paul's creed was emphasized by that excursion into 
 the third heaven. He had believed before : had be- 
 lieved as we do, in God and the Incarnation, the 
 Atonement, the sanctifying influence of the Spirit and 
 all the rudimentals of our faith ; but on coming back 
 from Paradise he must have said within himself, " Oh, 
 
192 UNUTTERABLE THINGS 
 
 these things are infinitely truer than I thought ! I do 
 believe. I cannot but believe. This is the Gospel of 
 reality." 
 
 And no doubt his character was influenced in the 
 same way. He could not have looked into the infinite 
 and eternal without forming a just conception of the 
 relative value of things. When he saw men in Corinth 
 busy with muckrakes, gathering a little yellow dust; 
 and pleasure-seekers busy in the eager chase of thistle- 
 down and butterflies ; and men a-tiptoe reaching vainly 
 after tinsel crowns, he must have thought, " Alas ! that 
 they should set their hearts on things that perish with 
 the using! Why do they ignore those graces which 
 enter into the enduring fabric of character?" And 
 pursuant to this thought he wrote a letter in which he 
 said, " Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 
 are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever 
 things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatso- 
 ever things are of good report; if there be any virtue 
 and if there be any praise, think on these things ! " 
 
 The vision must also have produced a deeper and 
 sweeter tone in all his preaching; for now he could 
 say, " That which we have heard, that which we have 
 seen with our eyes, that which we have handled, de- 
 clare we unto you ! " 
 
 I think it was Summerfield who, when he lay dying, 
 closed his eyes awhile and, on opening them, said to 
 a friend at his bedside, " Oh, now if I could go into 
 my pulpit, how I could preach ! For I have looked 
 into eternity ! I have seen the King in his beauty ! I 
 have been caught up like Paul into the third heaven! 
 Oh, how I could preach ! " 
 
 So I say blessed is the man who has a vision ! Yet 
 
UNUTTERABLE THINGS 193 
 
 the vision is nothing of itself but only a means to an 
 end. It has no value except as it illuminates the soul 
 and is translated into the terms of common life. This 
 was in the mind of Paul when he concluded his 
 reference to the vision by saying, " Yet if I must 
 needs glory, I will glory in mine infirmities; for in 
 my weakness the power of God resteth upon me." 
 
 Then he proceeds to give us the practical application 
 of the vision : " Lest I should be exalted above meas- 
 ure, through the abundance of the revelations, there 
 was given unto me a thorn in the flesh. For this thing 
 I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from 
 me ; and he said, ' My grace is sufficient for thee. For 
 my strength is made perfect in weakness.' Most 
 gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, 
 that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 
 
 It matters not whether it be a thorn or a vision, if 
 only it be thankfully received as the gift of a loving 
 God. His purpose is to prepare us for that third 
 heaven and for the tasks there awaiting us. Thorns or 
 visions, they are " all in the day's work " ; and all alike 
 are subsidized for the good of them that love God. 
 Power for service is what we need. If there is more 
 power in the thorn than in the vision, God help us to 
 welcome it ! There is no higher attainment than serv- 
 ice; no more desirable gift than power; no better 
 prayer than this : " Prepare me, Lord, for that which 
 thou hast prepared for me/' 
 
XXI 
 
 UNANSWERED PRAYERS 
 
 "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the 
 abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn 
 in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should 
 be exalted above measure. 
 
 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might de- 
 part from me. 
 
 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee : for my 
 strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore 
 will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ 
 may rest upon me." — II Cor. 12 : 7-9. 
 
 PAUL was a praying man. 
 He began his Christian experience on his 
 knees ; as it is written, " The Lord said to 
 Ananias, ' Go to the house of Judas in the street 
 which is called Straight and inquire for one Saul of 
 Tarsus, for behold, he prayeth.' " Beginning thus he 
 kept on praying all his life. 
 
 And his prayers were answered so graciously, so 
 abundantly, so wonderfully, that his life was one con- 
 tinuous sacrifice of praise. " Thanks be to God," he 
 cries, " who always maketh us to triumph in Christ " ; 
 and again, " We are enriched in everything, to all 
 bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving 
 to God." 
 
 Nevertheless one boon was denied him. He longed 
 to be delivered from an affliction which he calls his 
 
 194 
 
UNANSWERED PRAYERS 195 
 
 " thorn in the flesh," a painful malady that sorely- 
 crippled and oftentimes disabled him. " For this thing 
 I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from 
 me." But it did not depart from him. He lived and 
 died with it. 
 
 Why was his prayer not granted? The question is 
 one that comes home to all. For where is the Chris- 
 tian who has not a secret chamber in the back of his 
 memory where old prayers, offered once and again 
 with futile tears, are laid away as sad memorials of 
 hope deferred? Why were they not answered? 
 
 Surely it has not been because the Lord is unable 
 to grant our requests ; since " nothing is too hard 
 for him." 
 
 Nor has it been because he is unwilling to bless 
 us ; for " if earthly parents know how to give good 
 things to their children, how much more shall your 
 Father which is in heaven give good things to them 
 that ask him ? " 
 
 Is it, then, because our prayers have been at fault? 
 " Ye ask and receive not," says James, " because ye 
 ask amiss." Did Paul ask amiss? An inquiry as 
 to the manner of his prayer may help to solve the 
 problem of our disappointments. 
 
 Was his request denied because he had not been 
 really praying but only "saying his prayers" ; which is 
 a very different thing? God does not bow the heavens 
 to come down in answer to a rigmarole of "O Lords " 
 and " We beseech thees ".; any more than he heeds the 
 mechanical tally of a rosary. We are not heard for 
 our lip service, for much speaking, for vain repeti- 
 tions or for long prayers at the corners of the streets. 
 But Paul's prayers were not after that fashion. It is 
 
196 UNANSWERED PRAYERS 
 
 he who gives us that felicitous definition of prayer, 
 " the heart's desire." For in prayer " the lips ne'er 
 act the winning part without the sweet concurrence 
 of the heart." 
 
 Was it, then, because he had not learned to say 
 "Abba, Father"? Everything depends on that; as 
 Jesus said, " When ye pray, say, ' Our Father.' ' : A 
 wayward son who never comes home except to make 
 a demand upon his father's purse has a poor con- 
 ception of filial love. " He that cometh to God must 
 believe that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them 
 that diligently seek him." 
 
 But this was not the trouble in Paul's case; for it 
 is he who emphasizes " the spirit of adoption whereby 
 we cry, ' Abba, Father.' " He came lovingly and obedi- 
 ently to"*the- mercy seat, with full confidence in the 
 promise, " Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye 
 shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you." 
 
 Or perhaps he could not say, "In Jesus' Name." 
 This is the countersign at the door of the audience 
 chamber. No man has the shadow of a hope in his 
 own name. All the guards of justice stand round 
 about the King's door to prevent a self-righteous 
 suppliant from entering in. The only way is " the 
 new and living way " which was opened to us when 
 the veil was rent on Calvary into the Holiest of All. 
 Our only plea at the mercy seat is the blood which 
 is sprinkled upon it. 
 
 And Paul realized that fact ; for he says, " Being 
 justified by faith we have peace with God through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received access 
 by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice 
 in hope of the glory of God." 
 
UNANSWERED PRAYERS 197 
 
 Well, possibly, it was because Paul was cherishing 
 some duitohy sin. In that event he could not hope for 
 an audience, since, as David says, "If I regard 
 iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me." Not 
 that we are to be perfect before we can pray; but 
 a cherished sin, persisted in wilfully and deliberately, 
 stands as an impassable barrier between the soul and 
 God. 
 
 That, however, was not the case with Paul; for if 
 ever a man lived who hated sin it was he. Listen to 
 this ; " What shall we say then ? Shall we continue in 
 sin that grace may abound? God forbid! How shall 
 we that are dead to sin continue any longer therein? 
 Let not sin, therefore, have dominion over you; for 
 the wages of sin is death." The mere suggestion of 
 continuing in sin horrified him. 
 
 Or was his petition denied because he was entertain- 
 ing some grudge against a fcllowman? This is an- 
 other of the fatal hindrances to successful prayer. The 
 Lord said, " When ye stand praying, forgive if ye 
 have aught against any; for if ye forgive not men 
 their trespasses neither will your Father in heaven 
 forgive you." 
 
 It is certain that Paul had a hot temper. He quar- 
 relled with Peter and again with Barnabas; but he 
 was as quick to forgive as he was to resent a wrong. 
 The sun never went down upon his wrath. It is he 
 who writes, " Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, 
 an heart of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, 
 meekness, long-suffering; forbearing one another and 
 forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel 
 against any ; even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." 
 
 Well, then, was it because of a lack of faith? Jesus 
 
198 UNANSWERED PRAYERS 
 
 said, " If ye shall ask anything in my name, believing 
 that ye receive it, ye shall have it." The promises of 
 God are yea and amen. " Ask and ye shall receive.' , 
 Here is no if or peradventure. But hopelessness 
 claims no promise, looks for nothing and goes hun- 
 gry from the feast. 
 
 Paul, however, was proverbially the apostle of faith. 
 It is he who reminds us that we walk by faith, are 
 justified by faith and live by faith. It is enough to 
 say that he wrote the Eleventh of Hebrews, the roll- 
 call of the heroes of faith. 
 
 Or was Paul's request denied because of unfaithful- 
 ness? Had he forgotten his duty? Was he standing 
 in the marketplace with folded hands? Jesus said, 
 " If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall 
 ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you." 
 
 No, Paul was no idler. His life began with the 
 question, " What wilt thou have me to do ? " And 
 his years were passed in a self-denying spirit of con- 
 secration which gave him no rest ; as he said, " The 
 love of Christ constraineth me ! " 
 . May it have been because he was not sufficiently im- 
 portunate? God loves our importunity. Jesus said, 
 " Men ought always to pray and not to faint." It 
 is wrestling Jacob who prevails in prayer. It is the 
 Syrophenician woman, refusing to take no for an 
 answer, that carries away the blessing with her. 
 
 But this, again, was not the trouble with Paul. He 
 did not " faint." That was not why he quit praying. 
 He says he " besought the Lord thrice." Was that 
 all? There are many who have besought the Lord 
 thirty times thrice and have still kept on praying 
 apparently to no avail. The reason why Paul ceased 
 
UNANSWERED PRAYERS 199 
 
 praying was because the Lord said no; and what was 
 the use of going on ? 
 
 I have tried to eliminate every possible reason why 
 the boon that Paul so earnestly craved was denied 
 him. One solution of the problem remains and only 
 one: namely, perhaps his prayer was anszvered. 
 
 And indeed it was. In the story of this strange 
 experience you will not find a word of complaint or 
 an intimation that his prayer was unheard or that his 
 request was not granted in the best possible way. 
 
 To be sure, it was not in his way. Where will 
 you find any promise that the Lord will answer in 
 our way? Why should he? Paul himself says, " We 
 know not what to pray for as we ought." Shake- 
 speare says, " We, ignorant of ourselves, beg often 
 our own harms, which the wise powers deny us for 
 our good." A child may cry for a white powder 
 that looks like sugar; but the mother, who knows 
 it to be arsenic, would be neither wise nor kind to 
 give it. 
 
 But, if our prayers are not always granted in our 
 way, we may be confident that they are granted in 
 the best way. We always get what we ask or some- 
 thing better. We pray for wealth ; shall we complain 
 if we are made " rich toward God " ? We plead for 
 health; but if such prayers were always answered, 
 heaven would be indefinitely deferred, since none would 
 die. In the superior wisdom of God it may appear 
 that temporal gifts are not for our good ; but spiritual 
 gifts are never denied us. 
 
 If one seeming boon is refused it is only that a 
 better may be given us. We ask for a stone and get 
 bread, but never vice versa. God's promise is Yea 
 
200 UNANSWERED PRAYERS 
 
 and amen; and it is always full-filled, heaped up and 
 running over. Would you have it any other way? 
 
 Are we always sure that we really want what we 
 ask for? In the biography of St. Francis Borgia it 
 is related that his wife being mortally ill, — whom-he 
 loved as the apple of his eye — he wrestled all night 
 long in prayer that God would heal her. At daybreak 
 he heard a Voice saying, " My servant, thou shalt 
 have thy desire if thou sayest so; but this would be 
 calamitous for thee and her. Shall I still grant it ? " 
 What could he say? What would you have said? 
 There was nothing to say but, " Lord, have thy way 
 with me:" 
 
 So it was with Paul. He realized that his prayer 
 was answered and in the best way. The thorn re- 
 mained but grace was given him to bear it. And in 
 this he was not only content but joyously acquiescent. 
 Hear him : " I take pleasure in infirmities, in re- 
 proaches, in necessities, in distresses for Christ's sake ; 
 for when I am weak, then am I strong. Most gladly, 
 therefore, will I glory in my infirmities, that the power 
 of Christ may rest upon me ! " 
 
 The secret of prayer is to be learned at the gate of 
 Gethsemane; where we observe a singular parallel 
 to the case of Paul. Let us stand in the shadow of 
 the olive trees and listen to Jesus as the purple cup 
 of death was pressed to his lips. " He fell on his 
 face and prayed, ' My Father, if it be possible, let 
 this cup pass from me ! ' And again he prayed the 
 second time, ' If it be possible, let this cup pass from 
 me.' And again he prayed saying the same words, 
 ' If it be possible let this cup pass from me ! ' : But 
 in this case he added, "If it be not possible, thy will 
 
UNANSWERED PRAYERS 201 
 
 be done ! " Was that prayer denied ? Oh, no ! The 
 great answer was given him : for in the drinking of 
 that cup he was destined to see the travail of his soul 
 and be satisfied. The gates of heaven are thronged 
 with sinners saved by his grace and praising him 
 because he drank it. 
 
 Now listen to the beloved John ; " This is the con- 
 fidence that we have in him; that if we ask anything 
 according to his will he heareth us : and if we know 
 that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that 
 we have the petitions that we desired of him." So 
 then we are to ask with a due reference to the divine 
 will; and to keep ourselves in harmony with God's 
 beneficent purpose concerning us, in which " all things 
 work together for good to them that love him." For 
 nothing is truer than this : 
 
 " 111 that God blesses is our good, 
 And unblessed good is ill; 
 And all is right that seems most wrong, 
 If it be his dear will." 
 
 Shall we say that it ^avetrrs of fatalism, thus to 
 defer to the sovereign wisdom? Or that it puts an' 
 estoppel on prayer to assume that God has a definite 
 plan for us? 
 
 Do children stop asking for things because their 
 parents sometimes refuse, knowing what is best for 
 them ? Nay-, the little-people are not so foolish. They 
 keep on asking and they keep on receiving, too. 
 
 Thus prayer " moves the hand that moves the 
 world," and always moves it for our good. The an- 
 swer never fails when we pray aright ; and we cannot 
 fail to pray aright when we keep right with God. 
 
XXII 
 
 PAUL ON HIS KNEES 
 
 "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and 
 earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the 
 riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit 
 in the inner man : that Christ may dwell in your hearts by 
 faith ; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able 
 to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, 
 and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ which 
 passeth knowledge ; that ye might be filled with all the fulness 
 of God." — Eph. 3 : 14-19. 
 
 IF ever a man had " the gift of the knees " it was 
 Paul. He began his Christian life with a prayer, 
 " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? " That 
 was thirty years before our text; and he had been 
 praying ever since. 
 
 He was now a prisoner in the Pretorian Camp at 
 Rome. No more missionary journeys for him; no 
 more sermons on Mars Hill or in Solomon's Porch 
 or at the corners of the streets. Old and weary with 
 oft infirmities he was apparently disabled for service. 
 Disabled ? Not he ! " Love laughs at locksmiths." 
 This man had in his bosom a galvanic battery which 
 was constantly sending up wireless messages to 
 Heaven for his friends near and far. 
 
 A man of prayer is a man of power ; and his power 
 radiates in invisible streams of power for other men. 
 In our text we have one of Paul's wonderful pray- 
 202 
 
PAUL ON HIS KNEES 203 
 
 ers : in which he intercedes for his Christian friends 
 in Ephesus. And the burden of his prayer is for 
 power. To the young minister of the Ephesian Church 
 he had written once and again, " Be strong " ; and to 
 the members of the flock, " Be strong in the Lord and 
 in the power of his might." 
 
 He was not thinking of physical or intellectual 
 strength, but of the spiritual strength which enables a 
 man u to withstand in the evil day and having done all 
 to stand." This is what he means by being strength- 
 ened " in the inner man." 
 
 Paul never thinks of himself as one man but always 
 as two. Thus he says, " Though our outward man 
 perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day." 
 While the outward man is fainting with the cry, 
 " What shall I eat and what shall I drink and where- 
 with shall I be clothed ? " the inward man is growing 
 stronger in the graces that make for character and 
 influence and everlasting life. 
 
 So it was with the prisoner in the Pretorian Camp. 
 Physically he was old and infirm, but spiritually his 
 eyes were bright and his natural force unabated. Let 
 him speak for himself ; " I will glory in my infirmities, 
 that the power of Christ may rest upon me ; for when 
 I am weak then I am strong ! " And the strength of 
 which Paul was conscious is what he desires for his 
 Ephesian friends ; that they, like their old pastor, may 
 be strengthened with might by the Spirit who alone 
 can baptize with fire and power in the inner man. 
 
 But why this earnest plea? What advantage would 
 come to the church members of Ephesus through such 
 a baptism of power? 
 
 Only so, says Paul, could they attain unto the full 
 
204 PAUL ON HIS KNEES 
 
 measure of the Christian life. Without it they might 
 be minimum Christians, living at a poor dying rate, 
 like doves with their wings clipped; but with it they 
 could mount into the higher air. 
 
 And just here the great apostle opens up the Three 
 Great Mysteries of the Gospel — into which none can 
 be initiated save those who throw their hearts open to 
 the gift of power which God, " according to the riches 
 of his glory," would bestow upon all who love him. 
 
 The first of these mysteries is the indwelling of 
 Christ: namely, " that Christ may dwell in your hearts 
 by faith." 
 
 There are some church members who apparently 
 have only a speaking acquaintance with Christ. In 
 the morning they kneel down and have a brief conver- 
 sation with him, then part company for the day; and 
 in the evening when he comes again as a formal caller, 
 they kneel at their bedsides and have another short 
 conversation with him. But there are other Christians 
 who entertain him as an " indwelling " guest ; and 
 these know the true happiness of the spiritual life. 
 
 Our Lord speaks of this indwelling in the parable 
 of the Vine and the Branches ; " He that abideth in 
 me and I in him the same beareth much fruit." And 
 again in his conversation with Jude, " If a man love 
 me he will keep my words ; and my Father will love 
 him, and we will come in and make our abode with 
 him." And again in his sacerdotal prayer, " I in thee 
 and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one ; 
 that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be 
 in them and I in them." 
 
 The key to this happy hospitality is faith ; " that 
 Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." What is 
 
PAUL ON HIS KNEES 205 
 
 faith ? It is the reaching out of the soul to appropri- 
 ate the proffered gift. " Behold, I stand at the door 
 and knock;" says Christ, " if any man will open unto 
 me I will come in and sup with him and he with me." 
 Faith is the hand that draws the bolt to let him in. 
 " According to your faith be it unto you." 
 
 It will not answer to leave him on the threshold. 
 " Come in, thou blessed of the Lord ! " Come in and 
 spread for us the feast of fat things and wine upon the 
 lees; bread of life, apples and pomegranates from the 
 royal orchards and water from the King's wells ! 
 Come in and take possession of every room and closet 
 of our lives ! Come in and sup with us ! 
 
 The second of the mysteries is the knowing of the 
 unknowable love; " that ye may be able to compre- 
 hend wiiii all saints what is the breadth, and length, 
 and depth and height and to know the love of Christ 
 which passeth knowledge." 
 
 It is surmised that Paul is here intimating a com- 
 parison with the great temple of Diana, under whose 
 shadow these Christians of Ephesus were living. Its 
 dimensions were familiar; four hundred and twenty 
 feet long; two hundred feet wide; and seventy feet in 
 height. They could walk about that temple and meas- 
 ure it with ease ; but who among them could measure 
 the love of Christ? It is long as eternity and wide 
 as the universe, high as the heaven from which he 
 came on his errand of mercy, and deep as the hell 
 from which he has saved us. 
 
 " Could we with ink the ocean fill ; 
 Were the whole world of parchment made; 
 Were every several stick a quill ; 
 And every man a scribe by trade; 
 
206 PAUL ON HIS KNEES 
 
 To write the love of Christ alone 
 Would drain that ocean dry; 
 Nor could the scroll contain the whole, 
 Though stretched from sky to sky." 
 
 And the key of this mystery is love ; " that ye being 
 rooted and grounded in love may be able to compre- 
 hend it." No objective analysis will answer here. 
 We know about light not by reading Tyndall's essays, 
 but by lifting our eyes to the sun as he cometh forth 
 like a bridegroom out of his chamber. We know 
 about heat not by studying calorics, but by warming 
 our hands at the fire. A man may be familiar with the 
 chemistry of water and yet die for want of a cup of it. 
 
 A letter comes to me from an old-fashioned friend, 
 written in stilted phrases and a cramped hand. You 
 read it and smile ; there's nothing there for you. Ah, 
 but she's not your mother. Give me the letter, now; 
 how it warms my heart and bedews my eyes! Love 
 only can comprehend love. God's goodness is San- 
 scrit to any but his children. If you would under- 
 stand, you must yourself be " rooted " in it like a tree 
 drawing its life from a fountain beneath the hills ; and 
 " grounded " on it like a temple on a rock. So it comes 
 to pass that the love of Christ which is otherwise 
 unknowable is known and comprehended by those 
 who love him. 
 
 The third of the Mysteries is the full-filling of the 
 fulness of God; " that ye might be filled with all the 
 fulness of God." 
 
 At this point I confess myself at an utter loss. 
 What does this mean, to " be filled with all the fulness 
 of God?" How can the finite contain the infinite? 
 How can a human heart hold the divine plenitude? 
 
PAUL ON HIS KNEES 207 
 
 I find one commentator saying, " It is as when a 
 dewdrop shines and sparkles, up to the full measure of 
 its capacity, with the glory of the sun " : and another 
 " It is like a child dipping a gourd into the sea ; the 
 gourd, according to its measure, holds the fulness of 
 the sea." But such explanations do not explain. The 
 best we can say is " I do not know," and leave the 
 solution of this mystery to the brighter day. 
 
 Its key is held in reserve among the great surprises 
 that await us when we reach the Kingdom. " In that 
 day ye shall know." Meanwhile let us rest in this 
 assurance, " Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
 have entered into the heart of man the things which 
 God hath prepared for them that love him." 
 
 " There are depths of love that we cannot know 
 Till we cross the narrow sea; 
 There are heights of joy that we may not reach 
 Till we rest, O Lord, in thee." 
 
 But here is the practical question; Do we want the 
 spiritual strength that enables the soul to mount up 
 as on eagle's wings and kindle its eyes at these sublime 
 verities as at the noon day sun? 
 
 It goes without saying that one who is not a Christian 
 has no such aspiration. He has not even begun to 
 run up the heavenly way. His concern is for the wel- 
 fare of the outer man. At his heart stands Christ the 
 life giver, an unwelcome guest, with the door closed 
 against him. What hope is there for such a man? 
 His contentment on the lower levels shuts out all pos- 
 sible dreams and visions of better things further on. 
 
 But what about those who profess to be Christians? 
 Are they willing to receive this power " according to 
 
20$ PAUL ON HIS KNEES 
 
 the riches of his glory ? " Oh, to be willing in the day 
 of his power ! We are just as good Christians as we 
 want to be. I am glad the Lord did not say, " Blessed 
 are they that are satisfied," but " Blessed are they that 
 hunger and thirst; for they shall be filled." Where 
 there is no hunger or thirst there is no promise of the 
 bread and water of life. 
 
 If we fall short of our highest privilege it is not 
 because of any reluctance on God's part. He is will- 
 ing to bless the willing even unto the uttermost. Large 
 prayers honour his beneficence. " Open your mouths 
 wide," he says, " and I will fill them." 
 
 It is related by Mr. Moody that, after having his 
 name on the church roster for more than twenty years, 
 he became convinced that there was something beyond, 
 a glorious measure of ability and usefulness to which 
 he had not attained; and for this he began to pray. 
 One night, immediately following the Chicago fire, he 
 walked the streets pleading for the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost and power. At a late hour he retired to his 
 room and fell upon his knees resolved that there 
 should be no more reservation ; that the last bolt should 
 be drawn and the door thrown wide to the waiting 
 Christ. Then the blessing came — came so plentifully 
 that he found himself walking up and down his room 
 crying, " O Lord, stay now thy hand ! No more, no 
 more ! " Then and there he received the baptism 
 which enabled him to win souls to Christ as doves 
 flocking to their windows. 
 
 Oh, for this willingness to be strong ; this consuming 
 desire to be our noblest and do our best in return for 
 the unreserved love of the Saviour who gave himself 
 for us ! 
 
PAUL ON HIS KNEES 209 
 
 The day came when Paul was led out along the way 
 towards Ostia to his execution. There were priests 
 and beggars and Arab merchants and camel-drivers 
 who turned to look at the procession as it passed. 
 This was what they saw: an armed guard with a 
 Jewish culprit in chains ; an old man of " mean pres- 
 ence " who was destined to walk through history with 
 a commanding stride. The place was reached : there 
 was the flash of a heavy sword; a head fell from the 
 block. " There's an end of this zealot," said the exe- 
 cutioner to his men. 
 
 Little they knew ! The outward man had perished, 
 but the inward man still lives and renews his strength 
 along the centuries. He walks up and down in our 
 Church councils, with a determining voice in all 
 theological controversies until the end of time. Thus 
 Paul's death was but the widening of his parish. 
 
 " Out of sight sinks the stone 
 In the deep sea of time; 
 But the circles sweep on." 
 
 If we care for an abiding influence like that let us 
 make no reservation, as of doors ajar, in our welcome 
 to the waiting Christ ; but bid him come in and sup 
 with us. And while at the feast let us lift our hearts 
 like chalices to be filled with his inflowing grace. 
 
 So shall Christ dwell in our hearts by faith ; so 
 shall we, being rooted and grounded in love, be able to 
 comprehend the love unknowable ; so shall we move on 
 from grace to grace and from glory to glory until, in 
 the clearer light of heaven, we shall understand what 
 this means, to be " filled with all the fulness of God ! " 
 
XXIII 
 
 THE FOURTH DIMENSION 
 
 " That ye may be able to comprehend with all saints what is 
 the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the 
 love of Christ which passeth knowledge." — Eph : 3 : 18. 
 
 OUR text is a part of Paul's wonderful prayer 
 for the church members of Ephesus : " For 
 this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in 
 heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, 
 according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened 
 with might by his Spirit in the inner man ; that Christ 
 may dwell in your hearts by faith : that ye, being 
 rooted and grounded in love, may be able to compre- 
 hend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, 
 and depth and height ; and to know the love of Christ, 
 which passeth knowledge ; that ye might be filled with 
 all the fulness of God." 
 
 Here are three paradoxes in a row. 
 
 The first is theological ; " that ye might be filled 
 with all the fulness of God." Grasp that, if you can : 
 the finite filled with all the fulness of the infinite! 
 
 The second is rhetorical ; " that ye might know the 
 love of Christ which passeth knowledge." This would 
 appear to be the limit of hyperbole; for how can 
 one know the unknowable? 
 
 The third is mathematical, " that ye might be able to 
 210 
 
THE FOURTH DIMENSION 211 
 
 comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and 
 length and depth and height of it." 
 
 In this case the difficulty lies in the fact that four 
 dimensions are given while we are acquainted with 
 only three. A line has one dimension ; namely, length. 
 A surface has two; length and breadth. A space, like 
 a box or a room, has three ; length, breadth, and depth 
 or thickness. This completes all measurement, so far 
 as our knowledge goes. 
 
 A man on shipboard gets his bearings from time 
 to time, first by taking his latitude, second by taking 
 his longitude and third by dropping the lead. If 
 the plummet could go clear through to the other side 
 he would find the diameter of the world and so make 
 a complete measurement of it. 
 
 A good deal has been said of late with reference to 
 a fourth dimension; but nobody seems to know any- 
 thing about it. There are scientists who insist upon 
 its actuality; but when cornered they cannot even de- 
 fine it. Here, however, we have it. The Apostle in 
 his prayer is measuring the divine Love as manifest 
 in grace. It stands before him like a temple ; but, 
 unlike other temples, four dimensions are needed to 
 describe it. 
 
 First, as to its Length; or shall we say, its longi- 
 tude. We are now sailing north. How far must we 
 go to reach the furthest limit of the grace of God? 
 
 In the provisions of the Gospel it is announced 
 that God is able to save " unto the uttermost." There 
 is blood enough in the fountain drawn from Im- 
 manuel's veins to save every one of the sixteen hun- 
 dred millions of the world's inhabitants even to the 
 last man. The fact that twelve hundred millions are 
 
212 THE FOURTH DIMENSION 
 
 still unsaved is our fault, not his. He " tasted death 
 for every man," and " whosoever will " is invited to 
 partake of all the benefits of the cross. 
 
 The quantum of sin in any individual case pre- 
 sents no obstacle to the scope of divine grace. 
 " Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as 
 white as snow." The deeper the scarlet the more 
 sovereign the cure. " Where sin hath abounded grace 
 hath much more abounded." Drabs and drunkards 
 who accept the overture of mercy enter heaven before 
 self-righteous hypocrites who reject it. 
 
 Second, as to its Breadth; or, so to speak, its lati- 
 tude. Now we are sailing west. What is this that is 
 written ; u As far as the East is from the West, so far 
 have I removed your transgressions from you." 
 
 How far is the East from the West ? Set out from 
 San Francisco and see. Pass Honolulu and the Philip- 
 pines, on through the Straits of Malacca; whither 
 now ? Westward ho ! On through the Gulf of Aden, 
 the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean; out into the 
 broad Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, always 
 Westward, till we sail again through the Golden Gate. 
 Where then is the West? There is none ! So there is 
 no limit to pardoning grace. We sing, 
 
 " There's a wideness in God's mercy 
 Like the wideness of the sea." 
 
 But the measureless sweep of grace cannot be 
 likened to the wideness of the sea. A child stand- 
 ing on the beach and shading its eyes in vain might 
 speak of " the boundless deep." We know, how- 
 ever, by faith, which is " the evidence of things not 
 seen," that the sea has a further shore. But there 
 
THE FOURTH DIMENSION 213 
 
 is no distant shore whereon our exiled sins can find 
 a landing place. They are wanderers in Oblivion. 
 They are cast behind the back of God, so that he will 
 " remember them no more against us." 
 
 On the great Day of Atonement when the High 
 Priest came from the Holy of Holies, whither he 
 had gone to make atonement for the nation, he found 
 a scapegoat awaiting him. On its devoted head he 
 laid his hands, red with sacrificial blood, and " pressed 
 hard " as the rabbis say, to indicate the transfer of 
 the heavy burden of the people's sins. So do we 
 approach our Saviour, saying, 
 
 " My faith would lay her hand 
 On that dear head of thine, 
 While, like a penitent, I stand 
 And thus confess my sin." 
 
 And after that the scapegoat was sent away " by the 
 hand of a fit man, into the land of Azazel." Where 
 was Azazel? No one knows. Over the hills went 
 the scapegoat to Nomansland, into the mysterious 
 West, with its burden of sin. So vast is the latitude 
 of grace. So immeasurable is the love that redeems 
 us! 
 
 Third, as to its Depth. Now let the plummet fall! 
 How far did Christ come down to save us? Listen 
 to this : " He, being in the form of God, counted not 
 his equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emp- 
 tied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made 
 in the likeness of men : and, being found in fashion 
 as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto 
 death, even the death of the Cross." 
 
 A man is sometimes found — but rarely, thank God, 
 
214 THE FOURTH DIMENSION 
 
 in the church of these enlightened days — who says 
 " I do not believe in Foreign Missions." What has 
 he to say of this far missionary journey of the only- 
 begotten Son of God? Out of "the glory which he 
 had with the Father before the world was " he came — 
 laying aside his crown and sceptre, — down, down, 
 down into the very slums of this sin-stricken world 
 to redeem us. Drop the lead a million fathoms and 
 you shall not sound the depths of this humiliation. 
 
 If the sun were suddenly to descend at high noon 
 and assume the proportions of a glow-worm, it would 
 not parallel the miracle of the manger, " Great is the 
 mystery of godliness ; God manifest in flesh, the angels 
 desire to look into it." 
 
 But the plummet goes deeper yet. Not only did 
 Christ come down to earth in our behalf: "he de- 
 scended into hell," that he might bear the utmost 
 penalty of our sin. 
 
 As he entered the Garden of Gethsemane he said to 
 the disciples who were with him, " Tarry ye here, while 
 I go yonder." All alone he passed into the darker 
 shadow to put the purple cup to his lips. Not even 
 the chosen three could help him drink it. For thus it 
 was written, " I have trodden the wine-press alone, 
 and of the people there was none with me." 
 
 All alone he climbed up Via Dolorosa, while his 
 great heart was breaking under the burden of the 
 world's sin. Hear him now as, hung up betwixt heaven 
 and earth, he cries, Eloi, Eloi lama sabachthani! No 
 darkest night was ever pierced by a cry like that; 
 " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ! " 
 Then and there did he descend into hell for us ! Into 
 that lowest depth he carried our burden and left it 
 
THE FOURTH DIMENSION 215 
 
 there, " that we might be accepted of God and never 
 be forsaken of him." 
 
 For this reason we are able to say, " There is there- 
 fore no condemnation to them that are in Christ 
 Jesus." And here rings out the great challenge: 
 " Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's 
 elect ? It is God that justifieth ! Who is he that con- 
 demned? It is Christ that died; yea rather, that is 
 risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who 
 also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate 
 us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or dis- 
 tress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, 
 or sword ? Nay, in all these things we are more than 
 conquerors through him that loved us. For I am per- 
 suaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor 
 principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor 
 things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other 
 creature shall be able to separate us from the love of 
 God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord ! " 
 
 And now we come to the fourth dimension. We 
 have sought to estimate the breadth and length and 
 depth of redeeming grace ; but what shall be said 
 of its height ? " It is high as heaven ; I cannot attain 
 unto it." 
 
 How high are the heavens ? The nearest of the fixed 
 stars, in the constellation of The Centaur, is 200,000 
 times as far away as the sun. Alpha in Auriga is 
 4,000,000 times as far; and beyond lies infinite space, 
 thick-set with shining orbs. Gaze through the inter- 
 stellar spaces long and earnestly as you will, there are 
 always more beyond, wheeling into view like bat- 
 talions speeding to the battle front. There is no 
 limit to the beyond ! So is the altitude of divine grace. 
 
216 THE FOURTH DIMENSION 
 
 It is vast as the ether; near as the air we breathe; im- 
 measurable as the pathway to the throne. 
 
 This is the fourth dimension which baffles thought. 
 God's name is the Most High. He is " the high and 
 lofty One that inhabiteth eternity." Are we bewil- 
 dered by the mere effort of contemplating him ? So be 
 it. He speaks, " Be still and know that I am God ! " 
 
 Yet " though the Lord be high, he hath respect unto 
 to the lowly." In the Gospel of his grace he lifts us 
 out of the deepest depths of sin to labour together with 
 him here and be glorified forever with him. In Christ 
 we not only regain our lost birthright, but more. His 
 Cross bridges the infinite chasm that separates the 
 sinner from eternal communion with a holy God. 
 
 " His love, what mortal thought can reach, 
 What mortal tongue display? 
 Imagination's utmost stretch 
 In wonder dies away." 
 
 How vain all measurements! We have attempted 
 the impossible ; nothing less than to compass, with 
 our poor quadrants and calipers, the heart of the 
 Infinite. Yet in the bosom of Christ that heart is 
 " touched with a feeling of our infirmities." It defies 
 mathematics, but it yields to the feeblest cry of the 
 least of his little ones. I cannot know its breadth or 
 its length or its depth or its height; but, kneeling in 
 the trysting place, I can feel that heart beating against 
 mine ; and, behold, I am " as one whom his mother 
 comforteth." 
 
 I have seen in many a humble home the picture 
 of a " Burning Heart " under the shadow of a cross. 
 This is the setting forth of the love that passeth 
 
THE FOURTH DIMENSION 217 
 
 knowledge. " God so loved the world that he gave his 
 only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him 
 should not perish but have everlasting life." The love 
 of God and the life of man are both in that little, 
 immeasurable " so." 
 
 "It passeth knowledge, that dear love of thine! 
 My Jesus ! Saviour ! Yet this soul of mine 
 Would of that love, in all its depth and length. 
 Its height and breadth, and everlasting strength, 
 Know more and more. 
 
 " It passeth praises, that dear love of Thine ! 
 My Jesus ! Saviour ! Yet this heart of mine 
 Would sing a love so rich, so full, so free, 
 Which brought an undone sinner, such as me, 
 Right home to God." 
 
 What shall be rendered unto him for all this? Let 
 David answer; "I will take of the cup of thy salva- 
 tion and call upon thy name." None but an ingrate 
 would do less. Love for love, service for sacrifice, 
 praise forever; this is all that we can do. 
 
 "Just as I am, thy love unknown 
 Has broken every barrier down ; 
 Now to be thine, yea thine alone. 
 O Lamb of God, I come ! " 
 
 This is the love that " constraineth us ; because we 
 thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all die ; 
 that they who live should no longer live unto them- 
 selves, but unto him who died for them." 
 
 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift! 
 
 Printed in tie United States of America 
 
ON FAITH AND BELIEF 
 
 Author of'Mrttuui o/ 
 
 The Unshaken Kingdom 
 
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 Treats of the fundamentals of the Christian faith, against 
 which the storms of tunc In at in vain. There is a fine mis- 
 sionary spirit running through the hook, which finds a special 
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 Missions. 
 
 DA VIP BA 1NES- G R IFFITHS 
 
 When Faiths Flash Out 
 
 Essays in Spiritual Replenishment. Net $1.00. 
 
 "Thoroughly health-giving, evangelical and consequently 
 hopeful. The author possesses the power of felicitous ex- 
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 The World to Come 
 
 The Progressive Manifestation of the Kingdom of 
 God Among Men. i2mo, cloth, net $1.25. 
 
 Foints out that Christ's Messianic Kingdom, when com- 
 pleted, will he followed by that of the Father, and indicates 
 what the Bible teaches concerning this Dispensation, and its 
 place in the development of the Kingdom of God. 
 
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 ^— —^———— ———*—— ^— and th e AViv Psychology" 
 
 The Supernatural : or Fellowship with God 
 
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 "Virile and will stimulate earnest thinking and vitalize 
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 mission field. It will prove an effective weapon against 
 
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 DAVID J BURREI.L, P.P. 
 
 Why I Believe the Bible 
 
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 1 Does anyone knowing the author doubt his ability to give 
 in char, concise and convincing form his 'reasons' for a 
 definite faith in the Book of Books. The work will confirm 
 faiui, cure l a.d convert the honest enquirer. 
 
THE LIFE OF CHRIST 
 
 P. WHITWELL WILSON of the London Daily News 
 
 The Christ We Forget 
 
 A Life of Our Lord for Men of To-day. 8vo, 
 cloth, net $1.50. 
 
 A book with scarcely a peer in contemporary publishing. 
 The author, an English University man, brilliant journalist, 
 and sometime member of Parliament, writes the story of Jesus 
 of Nazareth in a wonderfully arresting fashion. His book is 
 utterly free from theological terminology or conventional view- 
 point presenting a picture of Jesus which while actually new 
 is astonishingly convincing. 
 
 EDGAR YOUNG MULLINS, D.D. Pres. Southern Baptist 
 
 — ^— — — — — — — — ^— ^— ^— ^— Thee 7 Sent., Louisville 
 
 The Life in Christ Net $1.25. 
 
 "Dr. Mullins has recognition throughout the country as a 
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 FRANCIS E. CL ARK, D.D. President United Society 
 
 ■ Christian Endeavor 
 
 Christ and the Young People 
 
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 "A study of the Life of Jesus in a quite unusual vein. 
 The editor has seldom during his life been so helped by 
 the printed page. It is indeed a remarkable presentation of 
 the life of Jesus, sincere and impartial." — Zyon'a Herald. 
 
 JAMES M. GRAY, D.D. Dean Moody Bible Institute 
 
 A Picture of the Resurrection 
 
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 A plain, unadorned examination of the historical fact of 
 Our Lord s Resurrection, of its indispensable prominence in 
 the faith of the Christian and of the power its acceptance 
 exercises in buttressing his belief in a physical resurrection 
 from the dead, and the attainment of life eternal. 
 
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 The Divinity of Christ in the Gospel 
 
 Of John i2mo, cloth, net $1.00. 
 
 "A fascinating study of the Gospel of John. The book is 
 not a full commentary on the Gospel, but an effort to de- 
 velop the thesis of the book with brevity and clearness, *» 
 that the average man may understand the book better as a 
 whole in detail." — Christian Observer. 
 
ESSAYS AND STUDIES 
 
 CHARLES !.. THOMPSON, D.I). irrs„t,;tt of ffrne 
 
 The Religious Foundations of America 
 
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 A survey of the religious elements which from various I'.u 
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 nation principlei, which are the very springs of her national 
 life, ft] their original Old World chann.ls, And their 
 
 eulminative influence in the New World met Wired and ap- 
 praised. 
 
 EDGAR WHITAKE R WORK, P.P. Author" The fasei 
 
 • ■• nation of the Book 
 
 The Bible in English Literature 
 
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 Dr. Work believes that English-speaking people possess the 
 Bible in the blood. When men bare their spirits to God, 
 • ne sees the naked soul of humanity in the creative literature 
 of the race A volume of singular freshness, to be read with 
 delight and to be studied with profit. 
 
 WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN 
 
 Heart-to-Heart Appeals 
 
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 The cream of Mr. Bryan's public utterance*, selected from 
 the principal speeches and lectures delivered by him during 
 his eventful and picturesque career. The topics treated of 
 include the following: Money; Imperialism; Labor; Trusts; 
 Income Tax: Peace; Religion; Pan-Americanism etc., etc. 
 A New Booklet by Mr. Bryan. 
 
 The First Commandment Boards, net 35c 
 
 GEORGE McC READY PRICE Professor of 'Chemist* 
 
 — ^— — — — — — — ^— — — physics. LoJt Afttatmf, Lai 
 
 Q. E. D., or New Light on the 
 Doctrines of Creation 
 
 i2mo, cloth, net 75c. 
 
 The author, an acknowledged conservative, has in his sev- 
 eral former volumes, found hearty approval and cordial en- 
 dorsement from Profeaaort Saycc, Parker, Wilkinson. John- 
 ind many others. The w rk is reverential but scientific, 
 frankly calling in question many recent popular hypotheses, 
 
 RICHARD I.. Sir A IN 
 
 The Real Key to Christian Science 
 
 i2ino, cloth, net 60c. 
 
 "The author's experience with 'leaders' of th? Scierce 
 Church, his defining of them f thru OWfl faith, t 
 
 by tht in <>f a latk;r part of his at. lur with the un- 
 
 oonchiaion is commended botk b . and 
 
 critics of, this i.ipidly growing ■yftt ci n of ethics. The W*tk 
 
 ift unique — unlike any previous study of the cult," 
 
LIGHT ON THE GREAT WAR 
 
 JAMES A. MACDONALD, LL.D. Editor TorenU GUbe 
 
 The North American Idea 
 
 The Cole Lectures for 1917. umo, cloth, net $1.25. 
 
 The famous Canadian editor enjoys a* established and 
 justly-earned reputation. In trenchant and stirring phrase 
 Dr. McDonald discusses the growth and development of that 
 ■pirit of liberty, just government, and freedom of individual 
 action, in the light o-f its relation to the Great World War. 
 
 ED WARD LEIGH PELL, D. D. Author of" Troublesome 
 
 ■ Religious Questions''' 
 
 What Did Jesus ReallyTeach About War? 
 
 i2mo, cloth, net $1.00. 
 
 Unquestionably war is a matter of consoieitoe. But in Dr. 
 Pell's opinion what America is suffering from just now is not 
 a troubled conscience so much as an untroubled conscience. 
 That is why this book does not stop with clearing up trouble- 
 some questions. 
 
 ARTHUR J. BROWN, D.D Author of" Unity and Missions" 
 •• "The Foreign Missionary," etc 
 
 Russia in Transformation 
 
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 Years may pass before New Russia will settle down to 
 stability of life and administration. Meanwhile we may be 
 helped to understand the situation and have a deeper sym- 
 pathy with Russian brethren, if we study the conditions lead- 
 ing up to the Revolution and mind ourselves of fundamental 
 characteristics which will undoubtedly affeet New Russia re- 
 gardless of the immediate outcome. The book is most timely. 
 
 R. A. TORREY, D.D. Supt. Los Angeles Bible Institute 
 
 The Voice of God in the Present Hour 
 
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 A new collection of sermons by the famous pastor-evan- 
 gelist. They contain stirring gospel appeals and also special 
 message© of enheartenment fer those who find themselves 
 perplexed and bewildered by the war conditions existing in 
 this and other lands. 
 
 JAMES M. GRAY, D.D. mjr J Dean of the 
 
 1 Moody Bible Institute, Chuago 
 
 Prophecy and the Lord's Return 
 
 l2mo, cloth, net 75c. 
 
 What is the purpose of God in connection with the present 
 international cataclysm. Does prophecy deal with the world 
 to-day. The author, Dean of the Moody Bible Institute, ef 
 Chicago, is well-known as a Bible student and expositor, 
 whose writings find appreciation throughout the Christian 
 world. Dr. Grey's chapters have unusual interest at this time. 
 
SERMONS AND ADDRESSES 
 
 /. H. JOWETT, D.D. rUth Avenue Pr.tbyterian Church 
 2 New York 
 
 The Whole Armour of God 
 
 i2mo, cloth, net $1.35. 
 
 "This popular preacher is, not only by his own people, but 
 also by large numbers of others, considered the very greatest 
 preacher. lie is possessed of a rare and perhaps unequalled 
 combination of the very qualities which captivate. His 
 thoughts are always expressed in the simplest possible diction, 
 so that their crystalline clearness makes them at once appre- 
 hended." — Christian Evangelist. 
 
 EDGAR DE WITT JONES Author of "The Inner Clr<l.» 
 
 The Wisdom of God's Fools 
 
 And Other Sermons. i2mo, cloth, net $1.15. 
 
 A volume of discourses, displaying the same facility for the 
 right word and fitting phrase which marked the author's pre- 
 vious work. Mr. Jones preaches sermons that read well — a 
 not at all common quality. He is a thinker too; and brings 
 to his thinking a lucidity and attractiveness which make hia 
 presentation 01 great truths an artistic, as well as an inspiring 
 achievement. A note of deep spirituality is everywhere mani- 
 fest. 
 
 FREDERICK F. SHANNON Patter of the Reformed- Church-on- 
 • the- Height! , Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 The Enchanted Universe 
 
 And Other Sermons. i2mo, cloth, net $1.00. 
 
 Mr. Shannon's reputation as an eloquent and forceful 
 preacher is still further enhanced by his new volume of ser- 
 mons. The fervid, glowing character of the popular Brooklyn 
 pastor's appeals, make the reading of his latest book, not only 
 an inspiring, but a fascinating exercise. 
 
 GEORGE W. TRUETT, D.D. Pastor Fnst Baptist 
 
 • Church, Dallas, Tex. 
 
 We Would See Jesus and Other Sermons 
 Compiled and edited by J. B. Cranfill. Net $1.15. 
 
 "One of the greatest — many would say the greatest — of all 
 the world's preachers to-day. It ranks high among the ex- 
 tant IxM.ks ot sermons, past and present, and deserves a place 
 in millions of homes." — Biblical Recorder. 
 
 BISHOP CHARLES EDWARD CHENEY 
 
 A Neglected Power 
 
 And Other Sermons. i2mo, cloth, net $1.00. 
 
 "Thoroughly evangelical in spirit, refreshing in Biblical 
 truth and abounding in helpful ministrations for every day 
 lite." — Hi-angelical Messenger. 
 
BOOKS FOR MEN 
 
 ROBERT E. SPEER, D.D. Merrick Lectures, 1917, 
 
 ' Ohio Wesleyan University 
 
 The Stuff of Manhood 
 
 Some Needed Notes in American Character, 
 net $1.00. 
 
 Dr. Speer holds that the moral elements of individual char- 
 acter are inevitably social and that one service which each 
 man must render the nation is to illustrate in his own life 
 and character the moral qualities which ought to character- 
 ize the State. To a discussion of these ideals and some sug- 
 gested methods of their attainment, Dr. Speer devotes this 
 stirring, uplifting book. 
 
 CORTLAND MYER S, D.D. Minister of 
 
 — — ——J—— Tremont Temple, Boston 
 
 Money Mad f 
 
 i2mo, cloth, net 50c. 4 
 
 The fearlessly-expressed views of a popular pastor and 
 preacher on the all-important question of Money. Dr. 
 Myers shows how a man may make, save, spend, and give 
 money without doing violence to his conscience, or his stand- 
 ing as a member of the Church of Christ. 
 
 CHARLES REYNOLDS BROWN, D.D. Yale University 
 
 Five Young Men 
 
 Messages of Yesterday for the Young Men of To- 
 day. i2mo, cloth, 75c. 
 
 Dean Brown's literary output is always assured of wel- 
 come and a large reading. His new work is specially suitable 
 to students in college, or young men in business or in the 
 home. But the general reader # of almost any type, will be 
 able to find something of value in this latest volume from the 
 pen of a recognized writer of light and leading. 
 
 DEWITT McMURRAY of the Dallas Daily News 
 
 The Religion of a Newspaper Man 
 
 i2mo, cloth, net $1.50. 
 
 "Every one of the chapters sparkles with a thousand gems 
 that Mr. McMurray has dug out of obscure as well as better- 
 known hiding-places and sprinkled in among his own thoughts 
 His quotations — and there are literally thousands of themr— 
 are exquisitely timed and placed."— Springfield Republican. 
 
 BURRIS A. JENKINS, D.D. 
 
 The Man in the Street and Religion 
 
 i2mo, cloth, net $1.25. 
 
 "In a convincing and inspiring way and in a graceful 
 style, the author presses home this truth, the result of years 
 ©1 trained study of human nature. The book is the kind 
 that 'the man in the street' well enjoy." — Boston Globe. 
 

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