(OLLEGE, ■ 
 
 ORTH FIELD 
 
PBESENTED TO THE LIBRARY 
 
 PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
 Professor flcnry van Dyke, D.D., LiLi.D, 
 
 BR 123 .S36 1888 
 
 Shanks, T. J. , 
 -^ College students at 
 '? Northfield 
 
COLLEGE STUDENTS 
 
 AT NORTHFIELD; 
 
 OR. 
 
 A COLLEGE OF COLLEGES, No. 2. 
 
 CONTAINING ADDRESSES BY 
 
 MR. D. L. MOODY; THE REV. J. HUDSON TAYLOR, M.D., F.R.G.S.! 
 
 THE REV. ALEXANDER McKENZIE, D.D. ; THE REV. JOHN 
 
 A. BROADUS, D.D., LL.D. ; BISHOP HENDRIX ; MR. 
 
 HENRY CLAY TRUMBULL ; PROF. W. B. 
 
 HARPER, AND OTHERS. 
 
 EDITED BY T. J. SHANKS. 
 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 12 Bible House, Astor Place. 
 
 CHICAGO : 
 148 AND 150 Madison Street. 
 
 Publisher of Evangelical Literature. 
 
COPYRIGHT, l888, BY 
 
 FLEMING H, REVELL. 
 
 edward 0. jenkins' sons, 
 Printers and Electrotypers, 
 North WiUiam Street, New York. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Variety marks all the operations of the Spirit of 
 God — in revelation no less than in creation. To look 
 for an exact repetition of some former blessing in any 
 of His later manifestations were futile. He leads us ever 
 into fresh realms of benison and delight. The " College 
 Students' Summer School and Encampment for Bible 
 Study" of 1888 in many lineaments differed from the 
 Summer School of the previous year, even as that was 
 unlike the initial gathering at Mount Hermon in 1886. 
 Not often has Mr. Moody been surrounded by a corps 
 of speakers so largely novel in personnel. Yet at the 
 close of the convocation it was felt that not one voice 
 could have been spared ; while the manner in which 
 all voices blended in accentuating certain important 
 teachings of the utmost practical import betokened in 
 wondrous degree the immediate presence of Him who 
 guides into all truth. In selecting from the numerous 
 addresses delivered, so many of some, and such extracts 
 from others, as could be comprised within the limits of 
 a single volume, care has been taken to preserve the 
 dominant features of the occasion. It is likely, there- 
 fore, that this book will be found to have a character 
 
 (3) 
 
4 PREFACE. 
 
 of its own. Not a few of its chapters will bear fre- 
 quent re-reading. Beginning with a vindication of the 
 doctrine of verbal inspiration, the perfection, beauty, 
 and wealth of the Divine Word are unfolded in a series 
 of expository discourses, which are given not only on 
 the score of the precious lessons with which they are 
 fraught, but as examples of the methods employed in 
 Scripture exegesis by eminent masters in Israel. Prom- 
 inence is given to Mr. Moody's question-drawer. The 
 sermons recorded from his lips are his newest. Per- 
 suasions to evangelical activity occupy the final pages. 
 In words of sacred writ the tenor of the entire work 
 may thus be denoted: "Great peace have they which 
 love Thy law." "The good Shepherd giveth His life 
 for the sheep." " He that winneth souls is wise." 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Young Men in Action, ........ 7 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 Verbal Inspiration, * 17 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 '-'In the Beginning," 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Ten Commandments, 46 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Consecration and Blessing » . 67 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Book of Amos, 87 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Satan Fallen from Heaven, 105 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Abiding in Christ 117 
 
 (5) 
 
6 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Justification by Faith „ . 134 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Resurrection of the Body, 150 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Christ and the Holy Spirit, 162 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Operations of the Spirit, ....•,• 173 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Fighting the Good Fight 189 
 
 CHAPTER XIV, 
 Mr. Moody's Question-Drawer, 201 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Repeating the Life of Christ, 225 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Missionary Work in China, ....... 244 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Evangelizing the World, 257 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Northfield Nuggets 266 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 "What hath God Wrought?" 279 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 YOUNG MEN IN ACTION. 
 
 A Review, by Mr. C. K. Ober, of One Year's Progress in the Work 
 of the College Young Men's Christian Associations, with a Sketch 
 of the Northfield Summer School of 1888 — Far-Reaching Results 
 of Former Efforts — Inviting Openings for Missionary Service — 
 Constant Blessing and Guidance — Another Helpful Conference 
 — Addresses by Eminent Christian Teachers — Mutual Counsel 
 and Stimulus — Increased Zeal. 
 
 From the " College of Colleges " at Northfield a year 
 ago there came a new inspiration into the colleges them- 
 selves. The students went back to their respective in- 
 stitutions, took up with new zest the various lines of 
 organized Christian work in connection with the Col- 
 lege Associations, and the year has been one of exten- 
 sion, development, and fruitage. The whole body of 
 Intercollegiate Young Men's Christian Associations, and 
 through these other institutions in which this work is 
 not yet organized, felt the stimulus. But not only was 
 there inspiration and power in the stream of influence 
 that flowed from Northfield. Results of a more tangi- 
 ble character are seen, a few of which may be briefly 
 mentioned. 
 
 Reference may first be made to the Scotch University 
 delegation and the college deputation work. Professor 
 Henry Drummond, who came from Scotland at Mr. 
 Moody's request to meet the American students at 
 Northfield, before leaving home, received a commission 
 from the " Students' Meeting " at Edinburgh University 
 
 (7) 
 
8 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTllllLLD. 
 
 to represent them in a tour of such of the American col- 
 leges as he might be able to visit before his return. 
 Later in the season four other representatives from that 
 university, two of them distinguished professors, joined 
 Prof. Drummond, and with him visited some of the lead- 
 ing Eastern colleges. They came before the students as 
 a deputation from the Scotch universities, addressed 
 large audiences, and met and helped many individual 
 students. Their tour was not social, but evangelistic. 
 In addition to the great good directly accomplished, the 
 object-lesson involved in their visit made a deep im- 
 pression, and led Yale, Princeton, Williams, the New 
 York colleges, and many others, to send out deputations 
 of Christian students to other colleges and to adjacent 
 towns until this became a marked feature in the inter- 
 collegiate work of the year. Up to April ist, Princeton 
 alone had sent out eighteen such deputations. 
 
 A second direct result of the Northfield meeting was 
 the organizing of foreign educational work. The steps 
 were simple and natural. To Silver, of Princeton, one 
 of the more than seventy students offering themselves 
 for foreign missionary work at the Mount Hermon meet- 
 ing two years ago, there came an opportunity to test the 
 sincerity of his purpose before that meeting adjourned. 
 In response to a definite call he offered himself, was ac- 
 cepted by the Missionary Board, and before Princeton 
 opened in September was on his way to his position as 
 a missionary teacher in Ceylon. At the beginning of 
 the next Northfield meeting it was rumored that in an 
 important field Christian college graduates might obtain 
 influential positions at living salaries with time and op- 
 portunity for Christian work. With the above instance 
 in mind, after searching unsuccessfully for further 
 knowledge, a cable despatch went out in Mr. Moody's 
 
YOUNG MEN IN ACTION. 9 
 
 name requesting particular information. The receipt 
 of this despatch, though the answer came too late for 
 the Northfield gatherings, awakened hope and expect- 
 ancy in the minds of Christians in that field, and urgent 
 and reiterated requests were received by Mr. Moody to 
 assist in securing competent Christian men for these 
 positions. With the help of others, after careful study 
 of the field, the opportunity, and the requirements, ten 
 picked men have been sent out, and have already entered 
 upon their work. 
 
 A third result is a marked awakening of the mission- 
 ary spirit in the metropolitan Young Men's Christian 
 Associations of America. In addition to the 350 college 
 students at Northfield in July, 1887, there were also 
 present many Association secretaries and prominent 
 workers. The " Plea for India," by the Rev. Dr. Cham- 
 berlain, of the Dutch Reformed Board, in his powerful 
 address at this meeting, included an appeal to the Amer- 
 ican Associations. "We want," he said, "a travelling 
 secretary for India, and we also want a local secretary 
 in each of the four great presidential cities : Bombay, 
 Calcutta, Madras, and Lahore." This appeal was not 
 lost upon the Association representation present, though 
 it did not yet appear just how this work could be taken 
 up. Loyal to their Churches, they must wait the call of 
 the Churches* representatives, the missionaries upon any 
 given field, as the indispensable condition of embarking 
 in such an enterprise. But the Spirit of Him who an- 
 swers before His people call had fanned into a flame 
 the spark of missionary consecration in many of the 
 American metropolitan Associations months before the 
 call to this country for an experienced General Secretary 
 had been signed by the nearly seventy missionaries in 
 Madras. 
 
10 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 The Meeting of 1888. 
 
 During the spring of 1888, Mr. Moody, for the third 
 time, sent an invitation to the members of the College 
 Young Men's Christian Asso lations throughout the 
 United States and British Provinces to come together? 
 at his home in Northfield, Massachusetts, for Bible 
 study, and for conference about Christian work. They 
 responded heartily. The gathering was held in the first 
 part of July in the buildings of the Northfield Sem- 
 inary. Mr. Moody not only opened these buildings for 
 the use of the students, but also gave his time, energy, 
 and minute supervision to make the conference suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 About four hundred students were present from over 
 ninet)' colleges. Every leading college in the United 
 States and Canada was represented. As was expected, 
 the colleges in the East sent the largest delegations. 
 Yale led with nearly forty men. Oberlin, over five hun- 
 dred miles distant, sent over twenty ; and Cornell, 
 Princeton, and Amherst were represented by delegations 
 fully as large. The South and Canada were more 
 wddely represented than ever; but the Western dele- 
 gations were no larger than those of last year. 
 
 The most notable feature in the attendance this year 
 was the strong delegation from the European universi- 
 ties. There were twelve representative men from the 
 Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, and 
 Utrecht. The American students gave them a most 
 hearty welcome. Their manly bearing, their thorough 
 consecration, and the great emphasis which they laid 
 upon living the life — upon carrying religion out into all 
 the little and great duties and relations of life — made a 
 lasting impression upon all who came in contact with 
 
YOUNG MEN IN ACTION. II 
 
 them. They also gave many suggestive hints about 
 holiday mission work among all classes of society. 
 They in their turn received benefit from the conference; 
 for they went home to their universities firmly con- 
 vinced of the need of a stronger and more practical 
 organization for religious work in their individual col- 
 leges, and persuaded also of the great benefit to be de- 
 rived from intercollegiate co-operation in religious 
 work. Besides the students, there were present many 
 pastors, professors, prominent Association workers, and 
 leading philanthropists. 
 
 The corps of speakers was representative and able. 
 Mr. Moody presided at the leading meetings, which were 
 held at lo a.m. and 8 p.m. He was at his best. His 
 sermons on the Holy Spirit, the Atonement, Daniel, 
 Qualifications for the Christian Worker ; his short talks 
 on methods of Bible study and of Christian work ; his 
 question-box, packed with sound spiritual advice ; — 
 all these were a source of constant inspiration. The 
 Oriental sidelights of Henry Clay Trumbull, and his 
 thrilling testimony and appeal on personal work, will 
 never be forgotten. Dr. John A. Broadus gave five 
 of his famous expository sermons. Not only did they 
 make a deep impression because of their subject-mat- 
 ter, but they also convinced the young men present 
 of the tremendous power of expository preaching. 
 Bishop Hendrix, among other addresses, had one of 
 peculiar power and appropriateness on laymen as factors 
 in religious work. Dr. McKenzie, of Cambridge, deeply 
 impressed the college men with his profound thought 
 and eloquent language. Prof. W. R. Harper, of Yale, 
 although present but one day, succeeded in making such 
 an impression upon the students with his address on the 
 inductive system of Bible study — accompanied with an 
 
12 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 illustrative analysis of the Book of Amos — that the 
 method will be introduced by a majority of them in 
 their colleges. The Rev. J. Hudson Taylor exerted a 
 deep spiritual influence on the entire conference. His 
 command of the Scriptures, his unwavering faith in 
 them, and his remarkable trust in God — combined to 
 make him a man of uncommon power. 
 
 An hour was spent each morning in discussing the 
 best Association methods. These conferences were con- 
 ducted by College Secretaries C. K. Ober and J. R. Mott. 
 They were greatly assisted by the General Secretary 
 of the International Committee, Mr. Richard C. Morse, 
 State Secretaries Hall of New York, Gordon of Con- 
 necticut, Humphrey of Indiana, S. M. Sayford, the col- 
 lege evangelist, James McConaughy, General Secretary 
 of the New York City Association, and other noted As- 
 sociation men. The following are some of the most 
 important topics discussed: 
 
 How to Reach and Hold New Students. 
 
 The Evangelistic Meeting. 
 
 The Bible Training Class and other Methods of Bible Study. 
 
 The Social Purity Work in College. 
 
 The General Secretaryship and its Claims on College Men. 
 
 Systematic Personal Work. 
 
 Thorough Organization ; its Importance and its Elements of 
 Success. 
 
 Deputation Work. 
 
 The Relation of the Visiting College Secretary to the Various Col- 
 lege Associations. 
 
 The Missionary Department of the College Associations, including 
 the Student Volunteer Movement toward Foreign Missions. 
 
 Every day at sunset a missionary meeting was held 
 " on the little hill just back of Mr. Moody's house." 
 These meetings were conducted by the student volun- 
 teers. About seventy of the old volunteers were pres- 
 
YOUNG MEN IN ACTION. I3 
 
 ent, and, before the close of the conference, they were 
 joined by thirty new volunteers. The Rev. J. Hudson 
 Taylor, founder and leader of the China Inland Mis- 
 sion ; the Rev. C. W. Chamberlain, a missionary from 
 Brazil, and Mr. Mateer, founder of the Interseminary 
 Missionary Alliance, rendered invaluable assistance in 
 these meetings. Mr. R. P. Wilder, who has done so 
 much in extending the student volunteer movement 
 toward foreign missions, was the moving spirit in the 
 missionary department of the conference. 
 
 The delegation meetings were among the most help- 
 ful features of the encampment. They were held each 
 day, and usually after all the other exercises. Each 
 delegation had one of these daily meetings ; or where 
 the delegation was too small, a number of colleges 
 combined to hold one. They met in some private room 
 or tent, or under some tree. In these meetings the men 
 discussed and prayed for the work of their home col- 
 leges. The influence of these little gatherings cannot 
 be overestimated. They bound the delegates of each 
 group together, and sent them back to their colleges a 
 unit in spirit and in determination to stand together in 
 carrying forward the religious work during the year. 
 Already the influence of these meetings can be traced 
 in the different Associations. 
 
 This year for the first time the entire afternoon was 
 given up to athletic sports. Baseball, cricket, football, 
 tennis, swimming, rowing, tramping — in fact, all the 
 principal forms of outdoor recreation, were heartily car- 
 ried on. Several afternoons were devoted to contests 
 between the different colleges. The athletic depart- 
 ment was under the direction of Stagg of Yale, Cowan 
 of Princeton, and Torrey of Harvard. 
 
 The sad death by drowning of Charles L. Griggs, of 
 
14 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 Cornell University, on July 4th, cast a deep shadow 
 over the conference. It was not, however, without a 
 good influence ; for it gave an intensity of spirit to the 
 remaining meetings which was felt to the closing day. 
 
 Among the many immediate beneficial effects of the 
 conference this year only a few can be noted: 
 
 1. Every delegate received a decided spiritual quick- 
 ening, which manifested itself in the home churches 
 and wherever the delegates spent their summer, and is 
 already being felt in their colleges. 
 
 2. The continued emphasis laid upon the importance 
 of the Word of God in college sent a majority of the dele- 
 gates back to their colleges resolved that there shall be 
 far more Bible study in them than in. the past. 
 
 3. The need of a perfect organization was realized by 
 scores of the Associations represented. The reports of 
 the different Associations showed that those which are 
 most thoroughly organized have done the most effective 
 work. 
 
 4. The key-note of the conference this year was in- 
 dividual work. All the meetings converged on this one 
 point. As a consequence, every delegate solemnly 
 pledged himself in secret to do far more for the Master 
 in his future hand-to-hand contact with men. 
 
 5. The conference impressed all, as never before, with 
 the breadth and wonderful possibilities of the College 
 Young Men's Christian Association movement, having 
 for its object the salvation of all the young men of the 
 world. 
 
 Stepping Forward. 
 
 The outlook for the coming college year in the work 
 of the intercollegiate Young Men's Christian Associa- 
 tions is full of promise, not only for its development in 
 this country but for its extension abroad. Mr. L. D. 
 
YOUNG MEN IN ACTION. 1 5 
 
 Wishard, of Princeton, the pioneer College Secretary, 
 after a continuous service in the American colleges for 
 more than eleven years, enters this autumn under the 
 World's Committee of the Young Men's Christian As- 
 sociations upon a tour of several years in the Orient as 
 a representative of that committee and of intercollegiate 
 co-operation in Christian work among the students of 
 Japan, China, India, Turkey, Syria, and other mission 
 fields. 
 
 As Secretaries of the International Committee, Mr. 
 C. K. Ober, of Williams, now in his fourth year of service 
 in this special field, and Mr. J. R. Mott, of Cornell, class 
 of '88, will seek to develop and stimulate the work of 
 the nearly three hundred Associations in the American 
 colleges. Associated with them for one-half of his time 
 is Mr. F. K. Sanders, of Yale, who is also aiding Prof. 
 W. R. Harper, of Yale University, in his Hebrew Cor- 
 respondence work, Mr. Sanders will act as editor of 
 The Intercollegia?i, and also give his Sundays to visiting 
 and strengthening the Associations. Equally encourag- 
 ing is the outlook of the International Committee's work 
 in the Metropolitan, Railroad, German, and other de- 
 partments of the Young Men's Christian Associations. 
 All this wide work for young men constitutes one great 
 movement, differing in methods according to the class 
 or circumstances of young men to be reached, but mani- 
 festing unity in fundamental principles, sympathy in the 
 objects to be attained, and harmony in their working 
 relations. 
 
 The outlook for work in the colleges this year in> 
 eludes also two special features of considerable interest. 
 Mr. R. P. Wilder, who, with Mr. J. N. Forman, made 
 the missionary tour of the colleges two years ago, is 
 to give another year to college visitation in strengthen- 
 
1 6 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 ing the missionary departments of the College Associa- 
 tions. 
 
 Mr. S. M. Sayfftrd, who for several years was the State 
 Secretary of the Massachusetts Young Men's Christian 
 Associations, and ha§ for the past six years been devot- 
 ing himself wholly to Gospel work, is to give this col- 
 lege year entirely to work among students, and will be 
 heartily welcomed in many colleges. 
 
 These three successive summer gatherings of college 
 students, called together by Mr. Moody and directed by 
 his wise Christian leadership, have exerted, by the bless- 
 ing and presence of the Holy Spirit, a mighty and 
 quickening influence upon multitudes of college under- 
 graduates. They have developed among these students 
 throughout the continent an unexampled enthusiasm in 
 Bible study and Christian work. Each succeeding year 
 has borne its testimony to the steady growth of these 
 good influences. In many colleges a desire for a larger 
 representation at future meetings is expressed. This is 
 echoed from over the sea by the students who have 
 come across the Atlantic to attend these summer schools, 
 and who return each time to increase the numbers of 
 those who, the next year, follow their example. Thus 
 already from both sides of the ocean we hear prayer 
 and expectation concerning the encampment of 1889, 
 with its blessed reports of the Christian college year 
 and its quickening atmosphere of Bible study, spiritual 
 teaching, delightful Christian fellowship, and wholesome 
 recreation. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 VERBAL INSPIRATION. 
 
 Address by the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor, D.D., of the China Inland 
 Mission — No Difficulty Presented by Variations in Manuscripts 
 — Testimony of the Word to Itself — Stress Placed Upon Single 
 Words— Precision of Expression Necessary in Revelation — Fidel- 
 ity of God to His Promises — Lovers of the Word Shall Prosper. 
 
 Two questions have been put into my hands on the 
 subject of inspiration. One is : " Are we not in danger 
 of trying to make Scripture mean too much — for instance, 
 by insisting on verbal inspiration ? " Well, dear friends ; 
 try and make it mean too much. Try and get half of its 
 fullness. I don't think there is very much danger in 
 this way. The other question is : " Do the Scriptures 
 teach that they are verbally inspired ? " That is a very 
 important question indeed, and the suggestion has been 
 made to me that I should say something as to how far 
 verbal inspiration is consistent with the fact that there 
 are so many different manuscripts. With regard to the 
 manuscripts, no one believes that every manuscript is 
 verbally and distinctly inspired, and that no copyist's 
 mistake may not have crept in. But the manuscripts 
 are very numerous, and they have been very carefully 
 compared, and many of you have the critical apparatus 
 at hand which will enable you to discover for yourselves 
 what is the extent of the variations. Well ; I needn't 
 tell you as college men that three-fourths of them are 
 simply questions that may be compared in English with 
 the question whether we are going to spell a certain syl- 
 
 (17) 
 
1 8 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 lable with an ou after the French fashion, or with an o 
 after the Latin fashion. It is a mere matter of spelling. 
 There is such a general consensus of all the manuscripts 
 that it isn't a matter of insuperable difficulty to discov- 
 er the fact that no question of doctrine anywhere from 
 Genesis to Revelation is affected by any doubtful read- 
 ing. There is no more perplexity from variations in 
 manuscripts than if we were to say : " How shall we as- 
 certain what is the perfect shape of a leaf when the cater- 
 pillars have been all through the tree ? " Look among 
 the fragments, and you will find at least one side of a 
 leaf, and then you will find the other side of one, and 
 by putting them together you will very easily find the 
 shape of a perfect leaf. And then there may be a good 
 many perfect leaves left on the tree. Look carefully, 
 and you may find one. 
 
 What the Scriptures teach, however, on inspiration is 
 a very important question, and I think we shall not 
 study the Scriptures without ascertaining the mind of 
 God on the subject. I need scarcely refer you to that 
 familiar passage in 2 Timothy iii. 16, 17 : "All Scrip- 
 ture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for 
 doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in 
 righteousness : that the man of God may be perfect, 
 thoroughly furnished unto all good works." There is • 
 another equally familiar one in 2 Peter i. 21 : "For the 
 prophecy came not in old time by the will of man : but 
 holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy 
 Ghost." You are also familiar with the use made in 
 Scripture of quotations from one book in another. The 
 Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle Paul, and in the 3d * 
 chapter of Galatians he has a very important matter to 
 discuss with the people who are being carried away by 
 Judaizing teachers. Now, on what does he base his ar- 
 
VERBAL INSPIRATION. 1 9 
 
 gument in the 3d chapter and i6th verse ? He wants to 
 prove that Jesus Christ is the seed of Abraham that was 
 promised by God, and that the law, which came in after 
 the promise to Abraham, could not disannul the promise 
 that was given before it. Here is his argument. " He 
 saith not. And to seeds" — the plural — "as of many; 
 but as of one. And to thy seed, which is Christ." Here 
 not merely one word, but even the number of the word — 
 whether it is singular or plural — is the argument : the 
 word is " seed," and not " seeds," as of many. He shows 
 that the neuter plural — which is so frequently used in 
 a very comprehensive way — is not employed here ; and 
 on that circumstance he builds this argument : that 
 Christ is the true seed of Abraham, and that that prom 
 ise could not be disannulled by the law which came 430 
 years afterwards. And the Lord Jesus in His discussion 
 with the Sadducees on the question of the resurrection 
 does not bring half-a-dozen Scripture proofs and say : 
 " From the general tenor of these remarks you will see that 
 the resurrection was in God's mind." He quotes one single 
 passage, and He builds His argument on the use of one 
 single word. He quotes the passage in which God calls 
 Himself the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. His 
 argument is : " God did not call Himself the Jehovah 
 of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He called Himself the 
 Elohim of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; and you Israel- 
 ites know very well that that is a word which is used 
 only with reference to living persons and living things. 
 Therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are still living." 
 Again, when Satan came to tempt Christ, He met every 
 assault by quoting the Word of God. As the Saviour 
 of the world — as an inspired Teacher — He might very 
 well have dealt with Satan directly ; but He quotes this 
 precious Word of God, and refutes Satan with what is 
 
20 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 written. " It is written," and what is written cannot be 
 broken. He doesn't mean merely that the general idea 
 of Scripture is true ; but whatever is written in the 
 Word of God cannot be broken. Again, He says in the 
 5th of Matthew : "Verily, I say unto you. Till Heaven 
 and earth pass away one jot or one tittle shall in no wise 
 pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." If that expres- 
 sion, " Not one jot or one tittle shall pass from the law 
 till all be fulfilled " — if that doesn't mean the verbal in- 
 spiration of Scripture, all I can say is, I don't under- 
 stand the passage at all. If you were to take a docu- 
 ment and say : " Here is a proclamation from our Gov- 
 ernment here, and I can't tell whether it is a correct 
 transcription of the proclamation or not " — what would 
 it be worth ? But if you should say : " I can tell you 
 there is not a dot of an i or the crossing of a / that 
 hasn't behind it the full authority of the Government " 
 — how different would be the effect ! From this state- 
 ment of Christ we gather that every letter of the law is 
 just as God has given it. He claimed that it was ver- 
 bally accurate — that is, that every letter was correct in 
 it. Just see for a moment what is the use of that jot, or 
 yod, in Hebrew. It is the great letter of inflection. 
 How do you form the Hebrew singular into the plural ? 
 Very often by that letter. How do you indicate certain 
 grammatical inflections in a verb ? By means of that 
 letter. Then what Christ meant was that not only every 
 word but every inflection of every word is inspired and 
 unchangeable. Isn't that a fair understanding of our 
 Saviour's words ? Take Cruden's Concordance and look 
 at that word "word," and see in how many instances 
 the expression " the word of God " is used in the plural : 
 "the words of God." They are far too numerous to 
 bring up here. When the Apostle Paul is writing to the 
 
VERBAL INSPIRATION. 21 
 
 Corinthians he tells them that he not only preaches the 
 truth in a general way, but he says : " Which things also 
 we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teach- 
 eth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth." It was so in 
 olden time. You remember when Balaam claimed that 
 the words he spake were from God, he said that he whose 
 "eyes were open" and had "heard the words of God" 
 said so-and-so. Moses told the Israelites all the words 
 that the Lord had spoken — not merely their general 
 purport. 
 
 How could the mind of God be conveyed except in 
 words? You know quite well that there is no such 
 thing as a perfect synonym. You can't express a thought 
 without modification in different language. You can't 
 modify a sentence without modifying the meaning of 
 the thought to some slight extent. Now, God has given 
 His Word in order that we can rest upon it. God said 
 to Isaiah : " I have put My words in thy mouth." The 
 Lord Jesus said : " The words that I speak unto you I 
 speak not of Myself : but the Father that dwelleth in 
 Me, He doeth the works," If the Lord Jesus Christ 
 Himself did not speak His own words, can we doubt 
 that equal inspiration was given to other messengers who 
 needed it far more than Christ did ? If you will look 
 through a few passages in the Gospel of John — v. 47 ; 
 xii. 47 ; xiv. 23 ; xv. 7 ; xvii. 8 — you will see what 
 Christ Himself says with regard to the words that were 
 given. We will just look at the last passage and then 
 pass on — John xvii. 8. Our Saviour in that wonderful 
 prayer that He offered before He left the earth, said : " I 
 have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me ; 
 and they have received them, and have known surely 
 that I came out from Thee, and they have believed that 
 Thou didst send Me." The friends of God receive God's 
 
22 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 words. God's Word is found by the prophet, and he 
 eats it. It is like honey to his taste. 
 
 And if the Scriptures were not verbally inspired, what 
 would be the alternative ? Everybody would have to 
 find out how much truth was in it by his own wits. 
 Suppose there is a chart of a dangerous coast. It gives 
 only a general outline. The navigator finds that that 
 mark indicating a rock is merely to let him know that 
 somewhere there is such a rock to be found. What is 
 the use of that chart ? Or suppose there is a compass 
 by which he is sailing. He knows that that compass is 
 diverted by some object — he doesn't know how much. 
 Of what use is it to him ? If God's Word didn't mean 
 what it said, of what use would it be to me ? Suppose 
 I should deal in this way with a commercial document : 
 Some one sends me a bank-note for a thousand pounds. 
 Sometimes, you know, a friend who wishes to give a 
 thousand pounds to the China Inland Mission doesn't 
 want it to be known, and so he gets a bank-note, in 
 which no signature is necessary. He doesn't want even 
 the bank-clerk to know what he is giving — it is for the 
 Lord Jesus to know it, and nobody else. Well, suppose 
 I get a Bank of England note of a thousand pounds, 
 and I say : " I don't for a moment imagine that he 
 means exactly what he says. No doubt there is a gen- 
 eral truth in it. He is going to do something liberal. 
 I should be disappointed if I shouldn't get at least five 
 pounds. Perhaps it will be ten." Why, if people were 
 to hear a man talking like that, wouldn't they assume 
 that such a man was a fool ? Dear friends, don't let 
 any one shake your confidence in the Word of God. 
 Eat and see if it isn't good nourishment. Study it care- 
 fully. Look it through and through. 
 
 I have had all sorts of experiences in all sorts of cir- 
 
VERBAL INSPIRATION. 23 
 
 cumstances, and when I have come to God and pleaded 
 His own promises in His own Word, I have never been 
 disappointed. I have been in circumstances of great 
 difficulty, and have been led to ask Him for remarkable 
 help. I was nearly wrecked when I was going out to 
 China the first time. Our vessel was becalmed, and 
 gradually drifting upon the coast of New Guinea. We 
 could see the savages on the shore. They had kindled 
 a fire, and were evidently expecting a good supper 
 that night. When I was a medical student some of the 
 other students used to jeer at me because I was going 
 among the heathen, and they would talk about "cold 
 missionary." Well, it did look that night as if some- 
 body was going to have a piece of hot missionary. The 
 captain said to me : '* We can't do anything else but let 
 down the long-boat." They had tried to turn the head 
 of the vessel around from the shore, but in vain. We 
 had been becalmed for several weeks, with never a 
 breeze, or any sign of one. In a few minutes we would 
 be among the coral reefs. We would be at the mercy of 
 those savages, and they didn't look as if they had much 
 mercy. " Well,"- I said, " there is one thing we haven't 
 done yet. Let the Christians on board pray about it." 
 There was a black man on board, a steward, who was a 
 very sweet Christian man, and the captain was a Chris- 
 tian, and myself. I proposed that we shculd retire to 
 our cabins, and in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 ask our Father, and His Father, for a breeze immediate- 
 ly. They agreed. I went to my cabin, and told the 
 Lord that I was just on my way to China ; that He had 
 sent me ; and that I couldn't get there if I was ship- 
 wrecked and killed ; and then I was going on to ask 
 Him for a breeze, but I felt so confident about it that I 
 couldn't ask Him, So I went up on deck. There was 
 
24 COLI.KGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIEI.D. 
 
 the second ofTicer, the chief mate — a very godless man, 
 I went up to him and said : " If I were you I would let 
 down the mainsail." Said he : "What do you want me 
 to let down the mainsail for ?" I said : " We have been 
 praying for a breeze, and it is coming directly, and the 
 sooner we are ready for it the better." With an oath he 
 said he would rather see a breeze than hear of one. As 
 he was speaking I instinctively looked up, and noticed 
 that one of the sails was quivering with the coming 
 breeze. Said I : " Don't you see that the corners of the 
 royals are already shaking ? My dear fellow, there is a 
 good breeze coming, and we had better be ready for it." 
 Of course, the mate went to work, and soon the sailors 
 were tramping over the deck. Before the sails were set 
 the wind was down upon us. The captain came up to 
 see what was the matter. He saw that our prayers had 
 been answered ; and we didn't forget to praise God for 
 so signal a deliverance from the perils to which we were 
 exposed. We have been penniless in the interior of Chi- 
 na ; but we simply turn to this book, and draw a check, 
 and it is always honored. 
 
 Now, when you can take Scripture and test it again, 
 and again, and again, in ten thousand different circum- 
 stances of life — when you find at every turn there is some- 
 thing appropriate, and a familiar passage that perhaps 
 you learned in childhood and never understood comes 
 to your mind when you need it, and just fits your case — 
 when you find that God is always true to His promises 
 — isn't all this evidence of verbal inspiration ? It is 
 words that proceed out of the mouth of God ; not ideas. 
 There are no unclothed ideas. You can't think without 
 thought formulating itself in words. Put the Word of 
 God to the test. The more you test it, and prove it, the 
 more satisfied you will be. 
 
VERBAL INSPIRATION. 2$ 
 
 Let US look for a moment at the first Psalm. It says 
 that if you will fulfil certain conditions, whatsoevei^ you 
 do shall prosper. Find a man who has fulfilled the 
 conditions and hasn't prospered in whatsoever he has 
 undertaken, and then you will have proof that this 
 Psalm is not verbally inspired. What does it say : 
 " Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of 
 the ungodly." It isn't, " that walketh in ungodly coun- 
 sel," mind you. A good many people walk in the coun- 
 sel of the ungodly just because it isn't ungodly counsel. 
 It is the " counsel of the ungodly" that is to be avoided. 
 I am afraid there are churches that sometimes walk in 
 the counsel of the ungodly. Sometimes a matter comes 
 up, and some counsellor in the church will say : " Well, 
 the first thing is to secure the money." That is the 
 *' counsel of the ungodly." The first thing is to know 
 the mind of God, and secure the blessing of God. 
 There are a great many maxims of the ungodly — and 
 some of them are very good when they are properly in- 
 terpreted. An example may be found in the maxim, 
 ''Take care of number one." Who is number one? 
 The ungodly man says : " I am number one." But God 
 is number one. Take care of God's interests first, and 
 He will look after yours. " The counsel of the ungod- 
 ly," then, is something different from ungodly counsel. 
 And you know, " standing in the way of sinners " doesn't 
 mean that we do wrong when we go am.ong sinners to 
 shine among them as lights in the world. But if we are 
 constantly among them without the purpose of doing 
 them good, we shall very soon find that " evil communi- 
 cations corrupt good manners." Then there is a warn- 
 ing against sitting in the seat of the scornful. What 
 does that mean ? It includes a good deal more, per- 
 haps, than we commonly think. If a man goes to church 
 
26 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 to criticise, is he not sitting in the seat of the scornful ? 
 " But his delight is in the law of the Lord : and in His 
 law doth he meditate day and night." A man who 
 loves the Word of God — a man who dwells upon what 
 it says — a man who keeps a little text in his mind to 
 think about as he is walking on his way, and that medi- 
 tates upon it day and night — " whatsoever he doeth 
 shall prosper." . If you can find a m.an who carries out 
 this direction and doesn't prosper, you can doubt the 
 inspiration of the first Psalm ; but find the man first. 
 Put the thing to the test and see if it isn't so. I have 
 very, very imperfectly and faultily carried out this direc- 
 tion for a good many years past, and it is wonderful 
 how the Lord has made things to prosper that I have 
 been connected with. Things that have seemed very 
 unlikely to prosper He has made to prosper. 
 
 Look at Joshua as an example. He was to be " strong 
 and very courageous " — not to fight battles and put 
 down the Canaanites, but to observe to do all that the 
 Lord directed, because the Lord's directions were verb- 
 ally in-pired, and they were inspired for the purpose of 
 making him who observed them prosperous in his work. 
 ** Thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou 
 mayest observe to do according to all that is written 
 therein ; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, 
 and then thou shalt have good success." When Solo- 
 mon came to the throne and had a great temple to 
 build, God told him that if he would observe all the things 
 that were written in the law, and do them, he would be 
 prosperous in building the temple and in governing the 
 realm. The book of Ezra is a very interesting study. 
 If you have never gone through it, take time to do so. 
 There is a gap of fifty-nine years between the sixth and 
 seventh chapters. The people were given a commission 
 
VERBAL INSPIRATION. 2/ 
 
 to build a temple at Jerusalem ; but after twelve years 
 they hadn't completed it yet, and they were so remiss 
 that God allowed obstacles to spring up, and the work 
 was stopped and nothing done for fifty-nine years. Then 
 there arose a man after God's own heart. " He was a 
 ready scribe in the law of Moses." *' Ezra had prepared 
 his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it." 
 That was the man that God used in the building of 
 the temple. Whatsoever that man did, the Lord pros- 
 pered it. 
 
 Here is a promise to test : " He that believeth on Me, 
 as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow 
 rivers of living water." Do you believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ as the Giver of this full blessing ? It 
 doesn't mean, " He that believeth on Me for the pardon 
 of his sins," because there are many persons who are 
 pardoned and who have not this fullness of blessing — 
 you can see that rivers of living water do not rush out 
 from them. But it is : " He that believeth on Me as 
 the Giver of the fullness of the Spirit." Look also at 
 that other passage : " Whosoever drinketh of the water 
 that I shall give him shall never thirst." I accept that 
 promise. I do believe I shall never thirst again. I do 
 believe that from me — poor little me — rivers shall flow, 
 rivers of living water ; and God shall be glorified, and 
 souls shall be saved. If we refuse to accept the prom- 
 ises of God, we make Him a liar. Why should we ex- 
 pect to be hungry when He says : " He that cometh to 
 Me shall never hunger " ? Why should we expect to 
 thirst when He says : " He that believeth on Me shall 
 never thirst " ? Those of you who are familiar with the 
 original know very w^ell that the word used there — 
 TtGDTtore — is the same as is used in another passage : 
 " Np man hath seen the Father at any time," So that 
 
28 coLLiu;!': sruDiiNTS AT N()k'nii'ii;Li). 
 
 the nitaiiiiijj^ of tlic passa^i; is : " lie thai coinctli to Mc 
 shall not Imn^cr at any time ; and he that believetli on 
 Me sliall not tliiist at any sini^h- time." I suppose he 
 will always hav(^ an appetite ; hut Ik; will never be fam- 
 ished and thirsty and unable to jj^et refreshment. Shall 
 we not take this promise and test it ? Oh, if we do so, 
 we shall liiid it such a source of blessinjj^ ! If we do 
 not, how much sorrow we may biing upon ourselves — 
 how much dishonor we may brin^ upon our Lord ! 
 ( )h, our Mastei- wants us to be stronjj^ ! 1 le wants to Jj^ive 
 us more of the Holy Spirit. When you are brought 
 into the presence of some poor soul who is in sorrow 
 and tiial, aiul you don't; know what to say to comfort 
 that soul, just look up and say, " [•\ith(;r, let the livinpc 
 water flow accordinj^ to Thy Word," and see if lie 
 doesn't answer that prayer. When you are brought 
 into some circumstance of perplexity, and there is a 
 question, perhaps, brouji^ht to you, and you don't know 
 how to answer it, and it must be dealt with, just look 
 up to Ilim, and ask Ilim who is All-Wisdom to be your 
 wisdom, and to guide you in this matter. You will find 
 you will TU'ver lack resources when you are resting in 
 the living God. God doesn't leave His people without 
 sufllcient resources for every circumstance. He will be 
 with you in any field into which lie may lead you to 
 labor in His name. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 "in the beginning." 
 
 Address by the Rev. Alexander McKenzie, of Cambridge — Various 
 Departments of Bible Study — Inter-Relation of the Old and New 
 Testaments — Genesis Examined in the Light of the Gospel of 
 John — Christ the Creator— Nature in a New Aspect— Jesus of 
 Nazareth Lord of All. 
 
 The Bible is studied in various ways. There are some 
 who study it to find out the exact words, and the exact 
 meaning of every word. A great many scholars have de- 
 voted their lives to this line of research, and the results 
 of their studies are extremely interesting. One of 
 the most profitable books that we can study is a 
 large dictionary. It is always entertaining reading. 
 Take, for example, that admirable lexicon of New 
 Testament Greek issued lately under the supervision 
 of Professor Thayer, wherein he not only tells you 
 what a word means, but traces it along through dif- 
 ferent passages and different writers that you may get 
 a more complete conception of it. And then others 
 are studying the Bible in connection with the his- 
 tory of all that is written, and throwing upon the 
 text all the light that they can gather from the rec- 
 ords of the ages. Others again are studying it in con- 
 nection with the antiquities involved. Thus we find in 
 the monuments of Nineveh a confirmation of the sa- 
 cred narrative concerning that city. And the excava- 
 
 (29) 
 
30 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 tions which are now in progress in Egypt have revealed 
 one of the treasure cities built by the Israelites under 
 the command of Pharaoh. In the remains of Pithom 
 houses have been found built for the purposes of a store- 
 city, of which the walls are of brick made partly with 
 straw and partly without straw — a trifling circumstance, 
 and yet a most interesting confirmation of Holy Writ. 
 
 These classes of investigators are all studying the Bi- 
 ble with different purposes, and their work becomes con- 
 tributory to ours. Let us take it, and make the best of 
 it. We are not able — you and I — to pursue such work for 
 ourselves. It is impossible in our time for men to be 
 great scholars and great anything else. In old times a 
 minister knew everything that was worth knowing, but 
 the world has been advancing. We have specialists now 
 in everything ; and we have specialists in sacred litera- 
 ture, sacred history, and sacred archaeology. We ought 
 to take whatever they are able to give, and believe that, 
 so far as it is true, it is confirmatory of the written Word. 
 I stand with you on your own plane, as a man who hap- 
 pens to be a minister, to be sure, but who has read the 
 Bible as you may have read it. The work that we have 
 to do is mainly two-fold : first, to read it for our own in- 
 struction and edification, and then to impart whatever 
 we have learned to others. My own work has been of 
 this character. It has been the work of a minister in a 
 large parish where I have had continually to read the 
 Bible in this practical way, for my own good, and for 
 the use which I was able to make of it in the pulpit. 
 
 Now, I think you Vv^ill find that there is no reason for 
 separating the Bible one part from another. Certainly 
 there is no reason for dividing the Old Testament and 
 the New. One of the greatest pieces of injury ever 
 done to the Church was the dividing of the Bible. 
 
"IN THE BEGINNING." 3 1 
 
 "Alexander the coppersmith," Paul says, "did me much 
 evil." But he hasn't done half as much harm as Alexan- 
 der the bookbinder ; and when he adds the impertinence 
 of inserting a family register between Malachi and Mat- 
 thew, the injury is aggravated. When the last Hebrew 
 writer closes his record, and lays aside his pen, he is 
 talking about John the Baptist who is to come ; and the 
 Gospel begins with John the Baptist coming. One of 
 the best ways to read the Bible is to treat it as you 
 would another book : to read it, or a part of it, straight 
 through. You can't divide it any more than you can a 
 letter from a friend. I remember once when travelling 
 in Europe I happened to be in a vessel that was quaran- 
 tined off the coast of Italy, at Brindisi. To while away 
 the time I took the book of Hebrews and read it through 
 as if it were the latest publication from the press. Dis- 
 regarding the division into chapters and verses, I read 
 it from beginning to end. By allowing nothing to break 
 the continuity of the argument I gained an understand- 
 ing of the Epistle such as I had never had before. 
 
 There is another thing — and it is this to which I wish 
 to direct your special attention. We have a right to 
 read into any record everything we know from other 
 sources. When we undertake, for instance, to read the 
 biography of a man with whose life we are familiar, we 
 have a right to take the impression and the spirit which 
 we have with regard to that man, and read these into the 
 biography, making them in some way interpret the bi- 
 ography to us. Suppose you take the life of General 
 Grant. When you are reading about his boyhood, you 
 can't help remembering that he became a great soldier 
 and the President of a great nation. With this impres- 
 sion which you have, and which you have a right to 
 have, you begin to read, and what you read is illustrated 
 
32 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 by what you already know. When we do this with the 
 Bible it doesn't become an old book to us. We don't 
 discard the Old Testament as a book w^e have outgrown, 
 but we fill into it what we have learned elsewhere. 
 
 I want to ask you to notice that there is no contrariety 
 or opposition between the Old Testament and the New. 
 You will hear people saying sometimes : " We must put 
 away the Old Testament because it doesn't agree with 
 the New." They tell us it was formed under a different 
 system of living and different circumstances — that it did 
 very well for its time, but we have nothing to do with 
 it now, and all that sort of thing. Now, the one thought 
 I would like to leave in your mind is this : That the 
 Old Testament and the New Testament are the same. 
 I don't wish to be extravagant — you will find it is al- 
 ways wise to limit your propositions, and there is a 
 tendency in religious themes to make extravagant state- 
 ments — I don't make an extravagant statement when I 
 say that there is not a single truth in the Old Testament 
 that is not found afterward in the New, and that there 
 is not a single principle in the New Testament that is 
 not in the Old, in the germ of it — the suggestion or im- 
 plication or hint of it. The New Testament is rather 
 the unfolding of the truths of the Old, while the Old 
 Testament is in some respects a larger setting forth of 
 the truths in the New. ■ You can't part with one any 
 more than with the other. A man can find the way to 
 life, as Timothy did, out of the Old Testament ; and he 
 can find it out of the New. I pray you, remember this. 
 Let me repeat it, that the truths of the Old and New 
 Testaments are the same truths ; they are not only con- 
 sistent truths, but they are identical. In the Epistle to 
 the Hebrews we are told that God spoke through the 
 prophets, and then spoke by His Son ; and God is not 
 
'*IN THE BEGINNING. 33 
 
 inconsistent with Himself. " I am the Lord, I change 
 not." Hence you don't expect to find one truth uttered in 
 Genesis, and something very different uttered in Romans 
 or the Gospels. You may find a truth more fully stated, 
 and carried out in greater detail. You may even find 
 what appears to be opposition ; but when you look into 
 the heart of things, and get down from the letter into 
 the spirit, you will be surprised to find how exactly the 
 statements are the same. Nothing has surprised me more 
 in the last two or three years than to find how full the 
 Old Testament is of simple Gospel truth. Dr. Guthrie 
 said you could find the Gospel in Ezekiel. He might 
 have said you could find it in Genesis, in the Chronicles, 
 anywhere. The Gospel is God's love to* man. Take 
 the Old Testament and the New, and you will be sur- 
 prised to find how marvellously they fit one intO" the 
 other. Take the ancient record, begin at the beginning, 
 and put down a list of the principles contained in it, as 
 if you were making a list of the contents of the book, 
 and then notice this : that every line you write refers 
 to something in the New Testament — the leading prin- 
 ciples in the Old Testament are a table of contents for 
 the New Testament. I don't believe you can write 
 down a single principle in this chapter of which I am 
 to speak to-day [the first of Genesis], which you don't 
 find carried out, illustrated, and enforced in the New 
 Testament. I want to be cautious In what I say, and 
 yet if you were to make out a list of the leading doc- 
 trines of the New Testament, and number them i, 2, 3, 
 and so on, I don't believe you could put a single prin- 
 ciple into that list which is not quite distinctly taught 
 or quite distinctly suggested in the Old Testament. 
 Here is an experiment to try, and I wish some time you 
 would try it. Take the book of Genesis, for example. 
 
34 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 and write down what you find in it — the first thing, 
 the second thing, the third thing, and so on — and 
 see if every one of those things does not point you 
 to something further in the New Testament. I'll tell 
 you what the result will be. You will find that it is 
 so, and you will feel the power of the truth more 
 than ever as it thus comes home with added strength 
 to your heart. 
 
 Now, let us begin to read the Bible in this way — and, 
 of course, we will not be able to go very far. What is 
 the first thing said in the Bible ? " In the beginning." 
 We are carried back to a period of time beyond which 
 there is nothing. You undertake to study American 
 history, and before you go very far back you come to 
 the history of England. You study English history, 
 and you come to the Northmen. Study the history of 
 the Northmen, and you are carried still farther back to 
 somewhere in the heart of Asia. But in this record the 
 first statement goes as far back as it is possible for hu- 
 man thought to reach, and infinitely beyond that. 
 
 What is the second thing ? " In the beginning God." 
 " God." Who is that ? A great name ? Tell a native 
 of the Fiji Islands that in the beginning was God, and 
 he says: "Well, who is He? What does it mean?" 
 Some men would say : " He is one of the great element- 
 ary forces of the universe." But have you ever heard 
 anything about God ? — heard anything anywhere ? If 
 you have, then let that interpret the word to you. Sup- 
 pose you take that simple answer of the Westminster 
 Catechism, and read the statement thus: " In the begin- 
 ning was God, a Spirit infinite, eternal and unchangeable, 
 in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, 
 and truth." And that is all there is existing. There 
 is nothing else. There is no one but that. " In the be- 
 
''IN THE BEGINNING. 35 
 
 ginning God." What more do 3"ou know about Him ? 
 You know that that God is your Father ; that He loves 
 you, and takes care of you ; that in the fullest sense 
 He is your Father. " In the beginning is my Father." 
 " Before there is anybody else in the universe there is 
 my Father." Or if you say, "a father" needs its cor- 
 relative term " a child," and there is no child — very 
 well ; in the thoughts and purposes of God there is no 
 distinction of time. For God to determine a thing is 
 equal to doing the thing. Man is always in His 
 thoughts, and the Fatherhood is always in His being. 
 What do you know about Him further ? " God is love " 
 — perhaps the highest assertion ever made in words. 
 " In the beginning, before there was anything else, love 
 was there." Well ; do you know anything more about 
 God ? I shall not follow the inquiry any farther ; but 
 you see how beautifully the doctrine of the Trinity 
 comes in there. You think of this solitary being in the 
 beginning — the infinite eternal beginning. His nature 
 is love. You like to think that held within it is that 
 Divine, eternal, unknown relationship : the Father, and 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghost. They tell us that the 
 doctrine of the Trinity has no practical value. It seems 
 to me when I sit down with my two children, there is 
 some practical value in the fact that we live together. 
 It is of some practical value to me that I love my boy, 
 and that my boy loves me. I like to feel that in that 
 eternal God, who is all alone, there is love ; and there 
 is a distinction of entity, of essence, of life, which makes 
 the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. I don't 
 know anything more about it than that. The Trinity 
 is taught distinctly in the New Testament. It seems to 
 me that it is a natural demand of the heart, and to me 
 it is one of the most precious truths. I like to think of 
 
36 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 a God who is love, loving ; and that means something 
 that can love and can be loved. 
 
 What is the next thing in the Bible ? The next thing 
 is creation. " In the beginning God created the heav- 
 en and the earth." Again you come upon a great 
 thought. We are not told that He fashioned those 
 things, or discovered those things ; He created them. 
 There was nothing but God, and there came to be a 
 sun, and a tree, and a bird, and a man. God created 
 you out of nothing by the very force of His own being 
 — by that which He had in His nature. By virtue of 
 that which was in God, and part of Him, God created 
 the heaven and the earth. 
 
 Here we have, then, the three primal assertions of the 
 Bible. And they are three mysteries. You cannot solve 
 them. They are great, which is one evidence that they 
 are true. I don't think Mr. Moody ever said a truer 
 thing than when he said that if he understood the Bible 
 it would not be true. A Bible that he can comprehend, 
 or anybody else can comprehend, is not very much of a 
 Bible. Infinite things cannot be grasped by the human 
 mind. The Bible opens with three great mysteries : the 
 mystery of time, the mystery of being, and the mystery 
 of creation. We can't understand them. They are past 
 our finding out. 
 
 Now, having begun with the earliest part of the Old 
 Testament, suppose we begin with the earliest part of 
 the New Testament. What part of the New Testament 
 carries us farthest back into these things ? Well ; of 
 course it is the Gospel of St. John. This is the last 
 book which St. John wrote. He wrote it, as you know, 
 after he had written the Apocalypse. It is interest- 
 ing to mark that it goes most deeply into the nature 
 and character of God — into His purposes, and into His 
 
*'IN THE BEGINNING." 37 
 
 works. It has been called "the heart of Christ," as 
 being more than anything else a revelation of the very 
 heart of Christ Himself. Taking this Gospel, which is 
 the very earliest so far as it relates to the earliest facts, 
 and which is the most profound and the most sublime in 
 its range, what do we notice ? At once we observe that 
 the first words are precisely the same words as we had 
 in Genesis: "In the beginning." We start from the 
 same point. In Genesis and "the heart of Christ" the 
 very first assertion is the same assertion. What next ? 
 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
 with God, and the Word was God." Dropping the in- 
 termediate words, what do you have ? " In the begin- 
 ning God." There is Genesis again. You have got two 
 thoughts, then, that are alike in John and Genesis. 
 What is the third thought in Genesis ? Creating. What 
 is the third thought in John? "All things were made 
 by Him ; and without Him was not anything made that 
 was made." Creation. The first three thoughts in Gen- 
 esis — three great mysteries — are the first three thoughts 
 in the New Testament. Is it not significant that when 
 we go into the very " heart of Christ," we are introduced 
 to the very same three thoughts to which we were intro- 
 duced in the opening of the Old Testament Scriptures ? 
 And yet men say that we don't need the Old Testament. 
 You will find that Genesis enlarges upon the fact of 
 creation, and describes it in order — first, secondly, third- 
 ly, and so on. John doesn't say anything about it. He 
 leaves the matter. You will find that Genesis leaves 
 God just where He is in the first verse, and doesn't add 
 anything more about Him. John takes up the thought 
 of God and carries it farther. Genesis expands creation, 
 and the Gospel expands the Creator ; and so they are 
 helpful one to the other. While they start with the 
 
38 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 same three truths, they are not repetitious. As touching 
 the Creator, in John's Gospel you will find this : "And 
 the Word " — He who created was 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 teaches us that the Creator of 
 the world was He whom we know as Jesus Christ our 
 Lord. I pause upon that for a moment. I wish it might 
 sink into our minds. It is one of the strangest things 
 in the whole history of Christian thought that it never 
 has been made very prominent. It is mentioned in no 
 prominent creed. In the so-called Apostles' Creed — not 
 made by the Apostles, of course, but coming to us from 
 the earliest times— we read : " I believe in God the Father 
 Almighty, maker of heaven and earth." I should like 
 to know upon what Scripture they base that. It would 
 be more correct to say : " I believe in God the Father 
 Almighty, and in Jesus Christ His Son, maker of heaven 
 and earth." John doesn't tell us that God the Father 
 made all things, but he says that He whom we know as 
 Christ made all things. You can draw your own infer- 
 ence. We are not shut up to that single assertion. 
 Reading a little farther, what do we find Jesus Himself 
 saying? Let us remember that when we call Him 
 "Jesus," that is His late name. We call Him " Christ," 
 but that simply describes His work in redemption. In 
 a certain sense there is a little anachronism when we 
 speak of Christ as creating heaven and earth ; and yet 
 there is no help for it but to keep to that usage. What 
 do we find the Saviour saying ? He prays to His Father, 
 with eleven men overhearing Him, and He speaks of 
 " the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." 
 In other words : "There was nothing, and I was in the 
 glory with God, and there was nobody but God." Turn- 
 
" IN THE BEGINNING/* 39 
 
 ing to a later part of the New Testament, what do we 
 find ? " By whom were all things created, that are in 
 heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible : . . . . 
 all things were created by Him and for Him : And He is 
 before all things, and by Him all things consist " — that is, 
 hold together, stand together. Again, we find that this 
 Jesus Christ is the same in that endless to-morrow, and 
 in that unbegotten yesterday, and here in our to-day. We 
 find this expression from His own lips : " I am Alpha and 
 Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last." 
 It is wonderful in all of Christ's teaching how He iden- 
 tifies everything with Himself. Thus He doesn't say : 
 " I teach the truth "; but, " I am the truth." He doesn't 
 say : "I give life "; but, " I am the life." For our pres- 
 ent purpose there is perhaps no saying more significant 
 than this : " I am the beginning." It is not : " I was 
 in the beginning "; but, " I am the beginning. There is 
 no beginning but Myself. I am the first ; I am the last. 
 I am the beginning." 
 
 Now, take these truths of the New Testament, and 
 throw them back into the Old Testament, and where 
 are you ? That first verse of Genesis contains the act 
 of Him who came incarnate into the world on that 
 Christmas-day when the angels made the air melodious 
 with their carols. You find the same One who walked 
 the streets of Galilee, who healed the sick and raised 
 the dead — you find the same One who redeemed the 
 world and ascended into His glory ; and is not this 
 something with which we are able to illuminate the 
 record ? What is the practical value of this ? Well ; 
 the practical value of this for any intelligent man is 
 that it is intelligence — it is knowledge. You want to 
 know what is true. Modern science in a very large de- 
 gree is unscientific, because it says, " I don't want to 
 
40 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 know." Science is knowledge. A truly scientific man 
 always wants to know. He keeps asking questions. 
 And the question, " Who made the heaven and the 
 earth ? " is more important than, " What is the history 
 of the heaven and the earth ?" Again, it exalts Christ 
 in our thoughts, and makes Him seem nearer to our 
 minds. Again, it brings Nature nearer to us. It has 
 not been created by certain primal forces. It has been 
 created by One whom we know. That makes Nature 
 dearer to us, because it is the work of One whom we 
 love. It is unchanging because the unchanging Christ 
 breathed into it. Every flower that blooms is in har- 
 mony with every thought that redeems, and every star 
 that shines has some vital connection with every word 
 of truth that illumines. The whole world becomes better 
 and dearer to us because Christ made it. I love the 
 Bible my father used to read. I hold sacred the letters 
 of my father and my mother. And I love this beautiful 
 world because there is not a blade of grass, there is not 
 a flower springing among the grass, there is not a bird 
 singing in the trees, there is not a star looking down 
 from heaven, which was not made by the best friend I 
 ever had — who loved me, and gave Himself for me, and 
 hallowed earth by treading its acres with the feet that 
 for its advantage were to be nailed upon the Cross. 
 
 Let me follow along a little farther. What is the 
 next thought of Genesis ? It is the thought of creation 
 day by day. " God said, Let there be light, and there 
 was light." The light was separated from the darkness, 
 and night from day. Then God created the firmament, 
 separating the waters under from the waters above. 
 Then came the grass, and the sun, and the moon, and 
 the stars, and fish for the waters, and birds and beasts 
 for the earth. These are the successive works of Him 
 
''IN THE BEGINNING. 4I 
 
 ivhom we know as Christ. We started with the begin- 
 ning, when there was only God — only Christ. All that 
 there was, was in Him. But He imparted His life to 
 various orders of creatures. He became the life of all 
 that is — as He said : " I am the life." What I want to 
 get clearly into our minds is this : that He who made 
 heaven and earth is the same God who gave His life 
 upon the Cross for us, and the same God who speaks in 
 the Gospels for our instruction ; and that by looking 
 at Him through His w^orks we may perhaps get a bet- 
 ter conception of Him. It is not only true that men 
 are to be judged by their actions, but equally true that 
 actions are to be judged by their men. You judge an 
 action by the man who does it. The value of a note of 
 hand depends on the man who has issued it. I heard 
 of a man the other day who gave a million to found an 
 hospital, but in the next sentence it was said that he 
 was in an insane asylum. What does the world mean ? 
 That depends on who made it. They tell you the world 
 is evil — that it is the devil's world — that matter is evil 
 — that force is evil. It isn't the devil's world ; it is 
 Christ's world. Christ's thought is imbedded in its 
 rocky foundations, and glitters in its spangled heavens. 
 All life is from Him. You look among the trees, and 
 you hear a bird ; you go out into the jungle, and you 
 see a lion. Where did that life come from ? The life of 
 a bird can only be the life of Christ iuiparted to the bird 
 — so much of it as has been shut up in the form of being 
 which we call a bird. There is no other life but that. 
 His life is imparted to everything that lives — the bird 
 of the air, and the tree in whose branches it builds its 
 nest — one life in all things. Perhaps some one says : 
 " That is pantheism." It is as far from pantheism as 
 heaven is from the earth. It hasn't the slightest con- 
 
42 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 nection with pantheism. Pantheism teaches that the 
 world is God — that there is no God but stones and birds 
 and beasts. Pantheism makes Nature to be God. This 
 makes Nature to be the creation of God. According to 
 Pantheism, if all things were destroyed God would be 
 destroyed. But according to this teaching, if all things 
 were destroyed, God would remain, as He was in the 
 beginning. He was God when there was nothing be- 
 side ; He would be God if everything besides perished. 
 He gives of His life to everything that is. Nature be- 
 comes more full of meaning when we look upon life as 
 being the life of Christ which is communicated to every 
 being, and is sustained in them by Him. It remains 
 His life, though it is in them. Take the beautiful crea- 
 ture which we call the humming-bird, whose destiny, it 
 would seem, is merely to grace a bonnet. You part 
 the beautiful feathers on its breast, and with your 
 sharp knife you cut the tender flesh, and lay bare the 
 little framework within. You part those delicate ribs, 
 which you can scarcely see, they are so fine. If your 
 surgery has been skilful, the life remains. Still that 
 tiny heart is beating — beating — beating. The life of 
 Jehovah in the heart of a humming-bird ! 
 
 Again, take light. Jesus says : " I am the light of 
 the world." It was fitting, then, that in the morning 
 of creation He should say : " Let there be light." It is 
 because He is the light that when He says, *' Let there 
 be light," there is light blazing from all the belfries of 
 the heavens. It is because He is light that He is able 
 to create and to sustain these things And how great 
 this light is ! Why, the ray of light that is streaming 
 down over this landscape has come ninety-five millions 
 of miles. It has come twelve millions of miles a minute, 
 to pass through this window and fall upon your face. 
 
*'IN THE BEGINNING." 43 
 
 You catch it upon your glass, and shatter it into its 
 separate splendors, and it holds its connection still with 
 the sun from which it has come, and the Christ which 
 has given it its power to shine. There are eighteen 
 million stars in our firmament, and there are four thou- 
 sand such firmaments, and more. The North Star — 
 which is the most useful of all, and by which we sail 
 our ships upon the sea — is three million times more 
 distant than the sun, and its light takes forty-eight 
 years to come to this earth. There was a boy born a 
 hundred years ago in the swamps of the South — a slave 
 child. He grew up into his boyhood, passed on into 
 his manhood, and bore the hardship and cruelty of his 
 lot till he was forty-eight years old. Then he left his 
 home, throwing himself into the swamp, that he might 
 perhaps seek refuge and liberty somewhere in the wide 
 country that was beyond him. When night came, he 
 lifted up his eyes for guidance, and that moment there 
 fell upon that fugitive a ray of light that started from 
 the North Star the moment that boy was born. It had 
 been travelling on its course all through his boyhood 
 and young manhood ; and the foreordination of God 
 and the eternal counsel of Christ brought the two to- 
 gether when that fugitive needed the guidance. In 1841 
 William Henry Harrison became President of the United 
 States. On the day of his inauguration a ray of light 
 started from the North Star. If the hopes and purposes 
 of many are fulfilled, his grandson will be inaugurated 
 next year. Suppose that should occur, and Benjamin 
 Harrison should be inaugurated on the 4th of March 
 next. If at the close of the day, weary with its ex- 
 ercises, he should walk out in the garden of the 
 White House, and look up at its marble walls, his 
 eye would meet for the first time a ray of light that 
 
44 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 started from the North Star the day his grandfather 
 was inaugurated President. Who appointed all these 
 things ? Who made the North Star ? Why, brethren ; 
 that was your Saviour. That was the One who died 
 upon the Cross for you. That was the One who 
 spake the Sermon on the Mount. '' Heaven and earth 
 shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away." 
 Of course not. The words of Christ were older. They 
 were before the heaven and the earth. It was He who 
 said, " Let there be light," and there was light. In Him 
 all things have their being. You might expect to find 
 some manifestation of this when He comes into the 
 world ; and indeed you do find it. As you read the 
 Gospels you have a revelation of the true humanity — 
 the true and perfect manhood of Christ ; but more dis- 
 tinct than that, you have a revelation of His divinity. 
 You find instances in which His divinity is presented as 
 the dominant thought. Thus, He is born into the 
 world on Christmas-day a child ; but the star guides 
 the wise men who lay their gifts at His cradle, and the 
 angels of Heaven chant jubilant strains at His birth. 
 He goes to Cana of Galilee, a guest ; but not content 
 with that. He exercises His Divine power, and makes 
 the water redden into wine. On the Sea of Galilee He 
 lays His head on the fisherman's rude leather cushion, 
 and falls asleep as a man ; but He awakes to still the 
 winds and the waves. At the v/ell of Samaria He sits 
 weary and athirst that sultry Syrian noon. Surely He 
 is a man. But there He declares Himself the Messiah. 
 He goes to the Cross, His hands and feet are nailed 
 to the wood, and He dies as a man. But in His dying 
 moments He takes the immortal soul of a dying peni- 
 tent upon His breast, and with His pierced hands He 
 opens the Kingdom of Heaven to a malefactor. They 
 
"in the beginning." 45 
 
 put Him in a tomb as a man, and the tomb is sealed 
 and watched. But at the appointed time, by His Di- 
 vine authority, the stone rolls back, and He walks again 
 among men. Like a man He goes up the heights of 
 Olivet, and stretches His hands in blessing over His 
 disciples. Then He rises ; and the clouds of heaven, 
 which He created, receive Him out of their sight — to 
 come again, as He had foretold, with all His holy angels, 
 and to sit on the throne of His glory, and have all na- 
 tions gathered before Him. And His work beyond this 
 is to be continued. We find in the Old Testament what 
 is more distinctly brought out in the New : " I create 
 new heavens, and a new earth." " Behold," says Christ 
 in the Apocalypse ; " I make all things new." We are 
 not surprised that He should make all things new who 
 gave being to all things that are old. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 
 
 Address by the Rev. Henry Clay Trumbull, D.D., of Philadelphia — 
 The Decalogue as a Covenant of Love — Not a Series of Arbitra- 
 ry Edicts — Light from Oriental Customs — Jehovah Condescends to 
 Form a Compact — The Commandments Severally Examined — 
 Their True Meaning. 
 
 All of us are familiar with the Ten Commandments, 
 given from God on two tables, or tablets, of stone to the 
 people of Israel at Mount Sinai. But not all of us are 
 accustomed to think of these Ten Commandments as 
 ten separate clauses of a loving covenant between God 
 and His chosen people, recorded on stone tablets for 
 their permanent preservation. Yet these witnessing tab- 
 lets are repeatedly called in the Bible " the tables of the 
 covenant," and "tables of testimony," not the tables of 
 the commandments ; while the casket which contained 
 them is called " the ark of the covenant," not the ark of 
 the commandments. 
 
 There is obviously a world-wide difference between a 
 loving covenant that binds two parties to each other in 
 mutual affection and fidelity, and a series of arbitrary 
 commandments enjoined by a sovereign upon his sub- 
 jects ; between a compact of union, having its statement 
 of promises on the one hand and of responsibilities on 
 the other, and an instrument that asserts the rights of 
 the ruler and defines the duties of the ruled. 
 (46) 
 
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 47 
 
 In our estimate of the Decalogue we have made too 
 much of the law element, and too little of the element of 
 love. As a consequence it has not been easy for us to 
 see how it is that God's law is love, and that love is the 
 fulfilling of God's law. But the Ten Commandments 
 are a simple record of God's loving covenant with His 
 people, and they are not the arbitrary commandings of 
 God to His subjects. They indicate the inevitable lim- 
 its within which God and His people can be in loving 
 union, rather than declare the limits of dutiful obedience 
 on the part of those who would be God's faithful subjects. 
 A close examination of the Decalogue will show that 
 this is its nature and scope. 
 
 It must be borne in mind in our Bible reading that the 
 Bible was originally written by Orientals for Orientals, 
 and that it is to be looked at in the light of Oriental man- 
 ners and customs, and Oriental modes of speech, in or- 
 der to its fullest understanding. Hence when we find 
 the term "covenant," or the term "commandment" in 
 the Bible, we are to inquire into the Oriental meaning of 
 the term, so that we may know the sense in which it was 
 employed by the Bible writers. 
 
 Now a "covenant" among Orientals is, and alv/ays 
 has been, a sacred compact binding two parties in loving 
 agreement. Oriental covenants are made in various 
 forms and by various ceremonies. The most sacred of 
 all forms of covenanting in the East is by two persons 
 commingling their own blood, by its drinking or by its 
 inter-transfusing, in order that they may come into a 
 communion of very life. Two persons who wish to be- 
 come as one in a loving blood-friendship will open each 
 a vein in his own arm, and allow the blood to flow into 
 a common vessel, from which both parties will drink of 
 the commingled blood. Or, again, each person will open 
 
48 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 a vein in one of his hands, and the two bleeding hands 
 will be clasped together so that the blood from the one 
 person shall find- its way into the veins of the other. In 
 each instance a union of life is sought after, or is sym- 
 bolized. Usually a written compact is signed by each 
 party and given to the other, with the stamp of the 
 writer's blood upon it, as a part of the ceremony of cov- 
 enanting, and this writing is carefully encased in a small 
 packet or casket, and guarded by its holder as his very 
 life. It is in the light of such customs as this that we are 
 to read of a sacred covenant entered into between God 
 and His Oriental people. 
 
 It was at the foot of Mount Sinai, that Moses came be- 
 fore the people of Israel with God's proffer to them of a 
 covenant, whereby they should bear His name and be 
 known as His people. " And he took the book of the cov- 
 enant, and read in the audience of the people : and they 
 said, All that the Lord hath spoken will we do, and be 
 obedient." Then it was that Moses took of substitute 
 blood and divided it into two portions, one half to be 
 sprinkled on the altar Godward, and the other half to be 
 sprinkled on the people ; and Moses said, " Behold the 
 blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with 
 you concerning all these words " — or, as the margin of 
 the Revised Version has it, " upon all these conditions" 
 (Exodus xxiv. 6-8). Moreover, we are told, in Hebrews 
 ix, 20, that Moses sprinkled the blood upon the record 
 or book of the covenant as well as upon the people. 
 It was after this — after the breach and the renewal 
 of the covenant between Israel and God — that the 
 stone tablets on which the covenant itself had a per- 
 manent record were encased in a casket, or an *'ark," 
 which was thenceforward guarded sacredly as cover- 
 ing and containing the charter of Israel's nationality, 
 
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 49 
 
 the testimony of the loving covenant between God and 
 His people. 
 
 But you may ask, Did not the tables of stone bear a rec- 
 ord of specific commandments rather than of articles of 
 a covenant ? And are not the words there recorded 
 specifically called in the Bible the "Ten Command- 
 ments " ? Look for yourselves, and see. It is true that 
 our English Bible speaks of the Ten Commandments re- 
 corded on these tables of stone ; but the word here trans- 
 lated " commandments " is more literally to be rendered 
 " words," as indeed it is given in the margin of the Re- 
 vised Version ; and it is applicable to any declaration, 
 injunction, or charge, made by one to another. It is by 
 no means to be understood as simply an arbitrary man- 
 date from an absolute sovereign to his subjects. Look- 
 ing at the Ten Commandments as a set of moral laws 
 covering man's duties to God and to his fellows, they 
 seem strangely defective, when we find among them no 
 command to pray to or to praise God, nor any command 
 to give sympathy or assistance to man. But when we 
 look at them as clauses of a loving covenant, indicating 
 the scope and limits of relations within which a child of 
 God's duties Godward and manward are to be exercised, 
 we find that they are far-reaching and all-inclusive. 
 Looking at them as the tables of the covenant between 
 God and His people in the light of Oriental views of 
 covenanting, we can see a great deal more in the words 
 on tho^e tables than when we look at them as the tables 
 of the commandments — in the light of our Western ideas 
 of commandings. 
 
 A covenant involves the idea of a two-fold agreement 
 between the parties making it. Even though God Him- 
 self be one of the parties, He will not refuse to be ex- 
 plicit in His words of covenanting. And so we find it 
 
50 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 to be in the record on the tables of the covenant which 
 were given to Moses at Mount Sinai. We call the open- 
 ing words of that record — "The Preface to the Ten 
 Commandments"; but they are more properly God's 
 covenanting words with His people. " I am Jehovah thy 
 God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out 
 of the house of bondage." The very name Jehovah in- 
 cludes the idea of a covenant-making and a covenant-keep- 
 ing God. The declaration of Jehovah's eternally-exist- 
 ing personality as Jehovah, is in itself a covenant prom- 
 ise for all time to come, to those who are His covenant 
 people. It is as though He were to say : " I, who was, 
 and am, and am to be, the same yesterday, and to-day, 
 yea and forever, will be your God unfailingly. As I 
 have given you a loving deliverance out of Egyptian 
 bondage, so I am ever ready to deliver you from every 
 evil that enthralls you." 
 
 Man, when he promises for the future, needs to say, 
 " I will do "; but God can say nothing stronger than " I 
 do," or than " I am." Thus the promise of promises of 
 Jesus to His disciples, as their ever-present, all-sustain- 
 ing Lord, is, " Lo, I am with you alway "; not, " Lo, I wt'// 
 de," but "Lo, I a?/i" And so it is that God's covenant 
 promise to Israel, to be their loving, guarding, and guid- 
 ing God for all time to come, is in the words : " I am 
 Jehovah thy God, which brought thee out of the land of 
 Egypt, out of the house of bondage." And this is the 
 promise of "the party of the first part," as we should say 
 in modern legal parlance, in this covenant between God 
 and His people Israel. 
 
 Then there follow the covenant agreements of God's 
 people, as " the party of the second part " in this loving 
 compact. As it is God who prescribes or defines the 
 terms on which this covenant is to be made, the indica- 
 
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 5 1 
 
 tion of these terms is mainly in the form of such prohi- 
 bitions as will distinguish the people of God from other 
 people about them, in the bearing of that people toward 
 God's personality, toward God's institutions, and toward 
 God's representatives. This is all that is needed in the 
 fundamental articles of covenant. The details of spe- 
 cific duties may be defined in special enactments under 
 the terms of this covenant, or they may be inferred from 
 its spirit. 
 
 The first requirement is that this covenanting God 
 shall be recognized as the only God ; that no other God 
 shall be conceded a place in God's universe. And this 
 requirement is vital to any such covenant. A divided 
 heart is no heart at all. He who can see any other ob- 
 ject of love and devotion comparable to the one to 
 whom He gives Himself in covenant union, is thereby 
 incapacitated from a covenant union. Therefore it is 
 that this first word of the Ten Words of the covenant 
 of God's people with their God is not an arbitrary man- 
 date, but is the simple expression of a truth which is 
 essential to the very existence of the covenant as a 
 covenant of union. 
 
 And this principle is as vitally important now as it 
 was in the days of Moses. The human heart is always 
 inclined to divide itself when it ought to be undivided. 
 It is reluctant to be wholly and always true to God 
 alone. But now as hitherto without wholeness of heart 
 a covenant of union with God is an impossibility. And, 
 indeed, the very idea of other gods seems to be an out- 
 growth of man's sense of an unfitness to be in oneness 
 of life with the one God ; in consequence of which man 
 seeks a lower divinity than the supreme God as the im- 
 mediate object of his worship. 
 
 The second requirement in this covenant of union is^ 
 
52 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 that no material image or representation of this cove- 
 nanting God shall be made use of as a help to His wor- 
 ship by His covenanting people ; that as a Spirit God 
 shall be worshipped in spirit by His people. Here, 
 again, is no arbitrary mandate, but only the recognition 
 of a vital truth. Because God is Creator of all, no 
 creation of God can be like God. Because God is a 
 Spirit, the human mind can best commune with Him 
 spiritually, without having its conceptions of Him de- 
 graded by any image or representation, which at the 
 best must be wholly unworthy of Him. 
 
 In this second requirement, as in the first, a danger is 
 indicated to which the Israelites were peculiarly ex- 
 posed in their day, and to which all the people of God 
 are exposed in any day. In the Assyrian, or Chaldean, 
 home of Abraham there was practically no image-wor- 
 ship, but there was a belief in a plurality of gods. In 
 the Egyptian home, from which the Israelites had just 
 come out, images in great variety were the objects of 
 worship. As the covenant people of God, the Israel- 
 ites were to refrain from the polytheism of their ances- 
 tral home in the far East, and from the grosser image- 
 worship of their more recent home in the West. And 
 so it must be with the people of God at all times ; they 
 must worship only God, and they must worship God 
 without any help from a material representation of the 
 object of their worship. 
 
 As there is still a temptation to give a divided heart 
 to God, so there is still a temptation to seek the help of 
 some visible representation or symbol of God's presence 
 in His worship. The Christian believer does not bow 
 down to an idol, but many a Christian believer thinks 
 that his mind can be helped upward in worship by look- 
 ing at some representation of his Saviour's face, or at 
 
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. $5 
 
 some symbol of his Saviour's passion. But just because 
 God is infinitely above all material representations and 
 symbols, so God can best be apprehended and discerned 
 spiritually. Anything coming between man's spirit and 
 God the Spirit is a hindrance to worship and not a help 
 to it. Suppose a young man were watching from a win- 
 dow for his absent mother's return, with a wish to catch 
 the first glimpse of her approaching face. Would he be 
 wise or foolish, in putting up a photograph of his 
 mother on the window before him, as a help to bearing 
 her in mind as he looks for her coming ? As there can 
 be no doubt about the answer to that question, so there 
 can be no doubt that we can best come into spiritual 
 communion with God by closing our eyes to everything 
 that can be seen with the natural eye, and opening the 
 eyes of our spirit to the sight of God the Spirit. This, 
 again, is no arbitrary requirement of God ; it is in the 
 very nature of His being and of our own. 
 
 The third requirement of this compact is, that there 
 shall be no insincerity on the part of God's covenant 
 people in their claiming and bearing His name, as the 
 name of their covenanting God. This requirement is 
 not generally understood in this light ; but all the facts 
 in the case go to show that this is its true light. In the 
 Oriental world, and in the primitive world everywhere, 
 one's name stands for one's personality ; and the right 
 to bear one's name, or even to call on one by his per- 
 sonal name, is a proof of intimate relation, if not of 
 actual union, with him. God was now covenanting with 
 this people to be His people ; thereby authorizing them 
 to bear His name and to be known as His representa- 
 tives. In the very nature of things this laid upon them 
 a peculiar obligation to bear His name reverently and 
 in all sincerity. 
 
54 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 It is not that God arbitrarily commanded His people 
 to have a care in the speakitig of His name, as if He were 
 jealous of its irreverent mention ; but it is that He re- 
 minded them that the coming into the privileges of His 
 name was the coming into the responsibilities of that 
 name. It was as though Mr. Moody were taking a little 
 street waif into his home to train the boy as his own 
 son, and were formally giving to that boy the right to 
 take and bear his name. Naturally he might say : 
 "Understand now, my boy, that wherever you go they'll 
 say, ' There goes a young Moody.' Now, I value my 
 name, and I don't want it disgraced. See to it that you 
 take care of that name wherever you are." So God said 
 to His people : " Thou shalt not take " — shalt not as- 
 sume, bear, carry — " the name of the Lord thy God in 
 vain" — insincerely, vainly — "for the Lord will not" — 
 cannot — " hold him guiltless that taketh " — claimeth the 
 privileges of — "His name in vain " — vainly, insincerely. 
 
 This covenant obligation also is on us as it was on 
 God's people of old. As Christians we are baptized 
 into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost. Wherever we go we are counted as members of 
 God's family. His name is on us, and His honor is in 
 our keeping. Wherefore, " let every one that nameth the 
 name of the Lord " — claimeth it as His own name — 
 "depart from unrighteousness"; and let him never feel 
 that it is a light or a vain thing to bear that name be- 
 fore the world. 
 
 Thus we see that the first three of the ten require- 
 ments of the loving covenant of God's people with their 
 God, are simply the requirements to worship God as the 
 only God, to worship Him in unhindered spirituality, 
 and to worship Him in all sincerity. These three funda- 
 mental requirements seem to have been in the mind 
 
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 55 
 
 of our Lord Jesus when He said to the woman of Sa- 
 maria at the well of Jacob : " God " — the One God — " is 
 a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him 
 in spirit and in truth." 
 
 Coming to the fourth requirement of the loving cove- 
 nant of God and His people, we find it differing in form 
 from the preceding three requirements ; differing also 
 from the form of all but one of those which follow it. 
 The preceding three are in the negative form ; this is 
 in the affirmative form, beginning with the injunction, 
 " Remember.'' Of course, there is a reason for this. 
 The first three requirements are in the line of obvious, 
 if not of self-evident, truths; the requirement of one day 
 in seven for rest and worship is not, however, of obvious 
 importance. Hence this requirement is specifically af- 
 firmed as an article of the covenant ; while the others 
 guard against departures from primal principles of vital 
 moment. 
 
 The " Sabbath " was a recognized institution long be- 
 fore the days of Moses. Traces of its strict and sacred 
 observance in the ancestral home of Abraham are dis- 
 closed in the Assyrian records unearthed in these later 
 days. And now that the Lord, at Sinai, is drawing 
 away His covenant people from the sins and errors of 
 their fathers and neighbors. He reminds them that there 
 is good in some of the observances of the past which 
 they are not to forsake or forget. " Remember," there- 
 fore He says, " the Sabbath-day to keep it holy " — as 
 your fathers in all their polytheism had a care to ob- 
 serve it of old. Bear that institution in mind, as worth 
 your remembering. 
 
 And here, again, there is affirmed a principle which 
 is for all time and for all people. Although the reason 
 for setting apart one day above another for rest and 
 
56 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NURTHFIELD. 
 
 worship is not on the surface of things, the experiences 
 of mankind as well as the teachings of God's Word go 
 to show that there is such a reason below the surface. 
 In the long run man can do more work, and do it better, 
 in six days of a week than he can in seven ; and unless 
 a man worships God at stated times, he is not likely to 
 worship Him at all. So it is that God makes it a part 
 of His loving covenant between Himself and His peo- 
 ple, that ever and always they shall worship Him stated- 
 ly, as well as worship Him sincerely, spiritually, and 
 solely ; because without this stated recognition of the 
 covenant, the covenant itself would be forgotten. 
 
 And now we come to the fifth of the ten covenant re- 
 quirements : " Honor thy father and thy mother." This 
 also is in the affirmative form, and for a very good rea- 
 son. God is here declaring, as it were, that those who 
 are in legitimate authority, are so far His representa- 
 tives. He wants it understood that while no other gods 
 are in existence, even in a subordinate place in the uni- 
 verse. He has His representatives in various spheres of 
 human government and rule, and they are to be honored 
 accordingly by His covenant people. 
 
 We are accustomed to speak of the division of the 
 Ten Commandments into two tables, the first compris- 
 ing four requirements, and the second six ; but it will 
 be seen that this fifth requirement belongs with the pre- 
 ceding four in the group of those which look Godward. 
 It is as though the one table pointed upward from our- 
 selves, while the other pointed outward. We are to 
 honor those who are over us in the Lord, not as our 
 fellows, but as our superiors ; not because of what they 
 are as men, but because they are, within the scope of 
 their rule, the representatives of our God. 
 
 And just here it is important to know that by Qri- 
 
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. ^7 
 
 ental custom the terms " father" and " mother" are by 
 no means limited to one's natural parents, but are ap- 
 plicable to superiors in years, or in wisdom, or in civil 
 or religious station. This truth was impressed on my 
 mind by an incident in my journey across the desert of 
 Sinai. My companions in travel were two young men, 
 neither of them a relative of mine — as my dragoman 
 very well knew. When, however, in mid-desert we met 
 an old Arab shaykh, through whose territory we were 
 to pass, my dragoman introduced me as the father of 
 these young men. " No ; they are not my sons,'' I said 
 to the dragoman ; but his answer was : " That's all 
 right. Somebody must be father here." And when I 
 found that according to the Arab idea every party of 
 travellers must have a leader, and that the leader of a 
 party was called its " father," I saw that it would look 
 better for me to be called the father of the young men, 
 than for one of them to be called my father. 
 
 Traces of this idea are found in the Bible use of the 
 term " father." In Genesis, Jabal is said to be " the 
 father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have 
 cattle "; the man who started the long line of nomad 
 shepherds. Jubal is called " the father of all such as 
 handle the harp and the organ"; the pioneer musician 
 of our race. Joseph in Egypt speaks of himself as " a 
 father to Pharaoh," in view of the confidence reposed 
 in him by the ruler of the empire. '' Be unto me a 
 father and a priest," says Micah to the young Levite, in 
 the days of the Judges ; because a religious guide is in 
 the East counted as in a peculiar sense a representative 
 of God. 
 
 It is not merely that the term father and mother may 
 include others besides human parents ; but it is that no 
 Oriental would think of limiting those terms to that re- 
 
58 COLLEGE STUDENIS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 lationship. Hence this fifth requirement of the covenant 
 of God's people with their God, just as it stands, is in 
 substance : Honor those who are over you in the Lord, 
 as the representatives of the Lord ; for the powers that 
 be are ordained of God, and he who fails to honor them, 
 lacks in due honor to Him who has deputed them to 
 speak and to act for Himself. And herein is affirmed 
 a principle which is as important to us to-day, as it 
 was to the Israelites in the days of Moses. Indeed, 
 it may be questioned whether any precept of the ten 
 covenant requirements has a more specific bearing on 
 the peculiar needs of the American people, than this in- 
 junction to reverence those who are in authority because 
 they are God's representatives in their sphere. Anarchy 
 can have no tolerance in the mind of a child of God ; 
 but reverence for rightful authority has its home there. 
 Turning from the first table of the covenant with its 
 upward look, to the second table with its outward look, 
 we find that each new requirement in its order stands 
 for a great principle which is applicable alike to all peoples 
 and to all times, and which has its basis in man's loving 
 union with God. The first of this series, the sixth of the 
 ten requirements, is : " Thou shalt not kill "; or, " Thou 
 shalt do no murder." Here is a great deal more than an 
 ordinance forbidding the striking down to death of a fel- 
 low-man. Here is a call of God to guard sacredly the 
 life of every child of God, as that which is dear to God. 
 In the Oriental world, as in the primitive world generally, 
 blood stands for life, and life is supposed to proceed from 
 God and to return to God. When, therefore, an Oriental 
 is told that he must not take it upon himself to shed 
 another's blood, he realizes that that prohibition is equiv- 
 alent to saying, that it is not for him to decide when a 
 life that God has given shall be recalled to God. 
 
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 59 
 
 This idea it is that runs through the whole system of 
 what is popularly known as " blood revenge," in the 
 East. " Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his 
 blood be shed ; for in the image of God made He man," 
 was the declaration of God as early as the days of Noah; 
 and it is in the line of that declaration that any man in 
 the East who sheds another's blood must surrender his 
 own blood to the other's family, at the present day — as 
 ever since the days of Noah. Not personal revenge, but 
 divine equity, is the real basis of this system. Not be- 
 cause the life belongs to the man, but because it belongs 
 to God, must it be guarded sacredly, and be accounted 
 for, if taken away. 
 
 It is on this principle that the magistrate, as the mes- 
 senger of God, takes the life of one who has taken 
 another's life in these days of the Christian dispensa- 
 tion. " He beareth not the sword in vain : for he is a 
 minister of God, an avenger for wrath to him that doeth 
 evil." A child of God must count sacred every life 
 which God has given ; and except while acting as a 
 specific messenger of God, he must never send back a 
 human life to God. 
 
 The seventh covenanting requirement is a call to re- 
 gard the family institution as an institution of God's 
 appointing, and to refrain from aught that tends to its 
 injury. " Thou shalt not commit adultery," means a 
 great deal more than. Refrain from unchastity, because 
 of its harm to yourself or to your neighbor. It means, 
 Guard God's primal institution for man, as an institu- 
 tion which God holds dear. At the very beginning of 
 the race, it was ordained of God that one man and one 
 woman — -'the "twain," not the three or the four, but the 
 twain — should be one flesh in loving union. This insti- 
 tution of God's ordaining is dear to God, and it ought 
 
6o COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFlELt). 
 
 to be dear to every child of His ; therefore God says to 
 those who would be in loving compact with Him : " Thou 
 shalt not commit adultery." *' Because your and My in- 
 terests are made one, you must not, you cannot as My 
 loving people, do aught that shall prove injurious to the 
 family, to the institution which I have established, and 
 which is dear to My heart." 
 
 This, again, is not an arbitrary commandment, nor is 
 it one for a single period, or for a single people only. 
 It is the enunciation of a principle which is vital to the 
 well-being of all peoples at all times. It was so from 
 the beginning, and it must be so unto the end. The 
 family is the unit in the State and in the Church. It 
 must not be ignored in the realm of society, of govern- 
 ment, or of religion. He who would be true to God 
 must be true to the institution of the family. And who 
 shall say that we have no need of remembering this 
 truth in our land and day ? 
 
 The eighth requirement of the covenant guards the 
 rights of property as within the plan and ordering of 
 God. "Thou shalt not stieal," is announced as an arti- 
 cle of the loving compact of God's people with their 
 God. Not merely because your fellow-man would ob- 
 ject to your taking his property from him, but because 
 the rights of property are of Divine appointment, are 
 you to refrain from claiming as your own that which 
 now belongs to another. 
 
 This idea of regarding property rights as of God's 
 appointment is peculiarly prevalent in the Oriental 
 mind. The lines of tribal division in the desert are 
 recognized as having Divine sanction ; and now as in 
 the days of old it is hardly less than sacrilege to remove 
 an ancient landmark in the East. Tribes which are at 
 eamity will make raids across these border lines for pur- 
 
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 6l 
 
 poses of plunder ; but this is in the nature of what 
 "civilized" nations call a "military necessity." Again, 
 a stranger who enters a tribal domain without obtain- 
 ing consent is treated as a smuggler, and all his prop- 
 erty is confiscated accordingly. This, however, merely 
 shows the primitive origin of the "high tariff" princi- 
 ple. Orientals who plunder from their enemies, or who 
 collect impost duties from immigrants, do so in the be- 
 lief that God sanctions these habits of the ages. 
 
 When one of the Arabs of our party, in crossing the 
 desert of Sinai, found he had dropped a bag of meal, 
 he went back to look for it, in perfect confidence that it 
 would be left untouched by others. On my asking him 
 if he had no fear that another Arab had carried it off, 
 he replied that no Arab would steal from an Arab. Dr. 
 Edward Robinson saw a black tent hanging on a tree, 
 where, as he was told, it had remained a full year await- 
 ing its owner's return ; and he says that if a loaded 
 camel dies on the desert its owner draws a circle on the 
 sand about it, and leaves it without any fear that it will 
 be disturbed in his absence. Burckhardt illustrates the 
 estimate put by the Arabs on stealing, by the story of 
 an Arab father who bound his own son hand and foot 
 and cast him headlong to death from a precipice, be- 
 cause the son had stolen from one of his tribal fellows. 
 Life can only be taken at the call of God ; but accord- 
 ing to this Oriental view he who violates the property 
 rights of one of God's children forfeits his own life 
 to God. 
 
 The principle underlying this estimate of the sacred- 
 ness of property rights, like every other principle enun- 
 ciated in the Decalogue, is not an outgrowth of an 
 arbitrary commandment, but it inheres in the very 
 nature of God's dealings with the sons of men. What 
 
02 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 hast thou, that thou didst not receive by God's consent? 
 What has thy fellow, that he did not receive by the 
 same permission ? It is God who gives. It is for God 
 to take away. No loving child of God will refuse to 
 heed the limits which his Father has assigned in the 
 distribution of His possessions among the children of 
 His love. That was the way in which the Orientals were 
 taught to look at it. That is the way which we ought 
 to view it. Anti - property communism is rebellion 
 against God. 
 
 Ninth in the list of the covenant requirements, comes 
 the summons to hold in sacred regard the personal rep- 
 utation, or good name, of every child of God. '' Thou 
 shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor," is a 
 prohibition of slander, or of careless speech affecting 
 the good name of one's fellow-man. This- is not, as 
 many have supposed, a mere injunction to truthful 
 speech on all occasions. Lying needs no specific prohi- 
 bition in a loving compact between God and His people ; 
 although the duty of truthfulness is inseparable from 
 the thought of any compact with God — who could not 
 be God if He were to approve untruthfulness. But a 
 disregard of the reputation of one's fellow-man does 
 need to be guarded against in such a compact ; there- 
 fore its mention has a place here. 
 
 A child's good name is always dear to his father. He 
 who loves and honors the father will not be heedless of 
 the reputation of the child. God is the Father of all. 
 The good name of every one of His children is dear to 
 Him. He who loves and honors God, will not be care- 
 less of the reputation of any one of God's children. 
 Therefore it is that, in the loving covenant of God with 
 His people, it is declared that love for God includes a 
 truthful fidelity to the good name of every child of God, 
 
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 63 
 
 How the application of this principle comes home to 
 us in our social life as God's children ! We are jealous 
 of the good name of the members of our own families. 
 We are tender of the reputation of those whom we know 
 to be very dear to our dearest friends. But how careless 
 we are of the good name of those in whom we feel no 
 special concern, or of the reputation of those who hap- 
 pen to be personally disagreeable to us. We hear and 
 repeat the words spoken to their discredit without know- 
 ing whether or not those words are true. By our un- 
 guarded speech or looks we help, perhaps, to give a 
 false impression to others concerning them. And all the 
 while they are God's dear children, and every spiteful 
 or thoughtless blow at them is a stroke at Him. Is this 
 consistent with our claim of loving union with their 
 God and ours ? 
 
 It was in the line of this principle that our Lord Jesus 
 gave emphasis to His one new commandment, that those 
 who loved Him should love one another, as being dear 
 to Him ; and, again, that He declared that whoever min- 
 istered tenderly to one of His disciples should be reck- 
 oned as ministering to Himself. God links Himself in 
 loving sympathy with all His children, and He wants 
 their welfare to be held dear by all who hold Him 
 dear. 
 
 And now we come to the tenth and last of the require- 
 ments of this covenant. Here we find an injunction 
 that goes deeper than those which precede it on the 
 second tablet of the written compact. " Thou shalt not 
 covet." Not only. Thou shalt not openly disregard 
 human life, or the family institution, or the property or 
 the reputation of any one of thy fellows ; but. Thou 
 shalt not want to do any of these things. Thou shalt 
 recognize thine own lot, and thy possessions, as God's 
 
64 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 assignment to thee ; and thou shalt be contented in 
 the sphere which lie has deemed best for thee. 
 
 This requirement in the second table of the compact 
 corresponds with the third requirement in the first table. 
 The one says that the child of God must be sincere and 
 unfeigned in his loving devotedness to God as his Fa- 
 ther ; the other says that the child of God must accept in 
 all heartiness his Father's ordering concerning himself, 
 in his relations to all his brothers and sisters in the great 
 family of God. 
 
 Here it is that we find the more spiritual teachings of 
 the Decalogue concerning man's obligations to his fel- 
 low-man in the loving service of God, as they are 
 pointed out and emphasized in the words of Jesus, in 
 what we call the " Sermon on the Mount." Here it is 
 that the lesson comes home to us that it is not enough 
 for us to refrain from actual murder, and adultery, and 
 theft, and false witnessing, but that it is inconsistent 
 with our devotedness to God as our loving Father, for 
 us to have a hateful thought toward one of His dear 
 children ; for us to look longingly in the direction of 
 another family assignment than that which is ours in the 
 way of God's appointment, or to turn a wistful thought 
 toward any possession of another which we have no right 
 to seek after. And all this is not of God's arbitrary 
 commanding, but is in the very essence of God's loving 
 covenanting with His chosen people. 
 
 And now in the light of these disclosures of the nature 
 and meaning of the successive clauses of this covenant 
 of God vv^ith his Oriental people, let us look back upon 
 it as a whole in its spirit and teachings, in order that we 
 may see what is covered by it, and wherein its applica- 
 tions are for us as well as for God's people of old. God 
 niust be recognized as God alone. No heart can love 
 
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 65 
 
 God as God, unless it loves God wholly. God must be 
 worshipped spiritually ; for spiritual things are spirit- 
 ually discerned, and only as a man is lifted above sight 
 and sense can he be in communion with the spiritual and 
 the infinite. Union with God must be sincere and 
 unfeigned ; for only by a complete and willing sur- 
 render of one's self can one's self be merged into a 
 holy and infinite Personality. The loving worship 
 of God must have its stated times, and hence of course 
 its stated places, in order to have its fitting hold on 
 the worshipper ; and the recognition of this truth 
 in the covenant is the authorization of all legitimate 
 seasons and methods of worship. God's represent- 
 atives in the family, in the State, and in the Church, are 
 to be honored as God's representatives ; and herein is 
 the authorization of all right forms of human rule. 
 These are the teachings of the first table of the cove- 
 nant ; and those of the second table are like unto them. 
 He who loves God must love all who are God's. As 
 the Apostle expresses it : " If a man say, I love God, 
 and hateth his brother, he is a liar ; for he that loveth 
 not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God 
 whom he hath not seen. And [therefore] this [second] 
 commandment have we from Him, that he who loveth 
 God love his brother also." Every child of man is a 
 child of God. Wayward and prodigal son though he 
 be, he still is one who was made in the image of God ; 
 and his Father's heart goes out toward him unfailingly 
 in love. Hence he who loves the Father must guard 
 with sacredness the life of every child of that Father. 
 He must honor the institution of the family, which is 
 the human hope of the children of that Father. He 
 must hold dear the property possessions and the good 
 name of each and every child of that Father. And in 
 
66 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORriiFIELD. 
 
 his heart there must be such love for that Father's chil- 
 dren as the children of his Father, that he will have no 
 wish to do aught that shall harm any one of them in any 
 degree. 
 
 Thus it is that the spirit and substance of the entire 
 covenant compact stand out in those words of our Lord 
 which lose their meaning if we look at the Ten Com- 
 mandments as ten arbitrary commandings of God. 
 When a certain lawyer came to Jesus with the knotty 
 question : " Master, which is the great commandment in 
 the law?" Jesus said unto him : "Thou shalt love the 
 Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
 and with all thy mind. This is the great and first com- 
 mandment. And a second like unto it is this, Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two com- 
 mandments hangeth the whole law, and the prophets." 
 And thus it is that we are enabled to realize that " love 
 is the fulfilment of the law." 
 
 The "Ten Commandments" are the law; but belt 
 remembered, they are not the Mosaic law. They were 
 not originated by Moses ; nor were they done away 
 with, when the Mosaic law was fulfilled and abrogated 
 in Christ. They are the law of love. Their origin is 
 in the nature of God ; and their continuance must be 
 coexistent with the needs of the children of God. With 
 all our shortcomings in love, and with all our failures in 
 fidelity to our covenant union with God in Christ Jesus, 
 just so far as we are in oneness with God by faith shall 
 we be true to the principles of this covenant compact 
 of God with His people. " God is love, and he that 
 abideth in love, abideth in God, and God abideth in 
 him." " And hereby know we that we know Him, if we 
 keep His commandments." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONSECRATION AND BLESSING. 
 
 Address by the Rev. Dr. J. Hudson Taylor — Spiritual Laws Invariable 
 — An Exposition of Two Chapters — Significant Repetitions — God's 
 Delight in the Offerings of His Children — Separation from the 
 World — The Three-Fold Blessing — Joyful Service the Outcome — 
 Infinite Resources at Command. 
 
 We find no difficulty in distinguishing between the 
 works of God and the works of man. God's works are 
 absolutely perfect ; man's are only relatively so. The 
 most perfect needle may be perfect for the work to 
 which it is adapted ; but make it a microscopic object, 
 and the smooth hole appears ragged, and the needle 
 becomes a honeycombed poker. Take, on the contrary, 
 a hair from the leg of a fly, or the dust from a butter- 
 fly's wing. Magnify these, and they are seen to be abso- 
 lutely perfect. Now, there is no more difficulty in rec- 
 ognizing the Word of God from the word of man than 
 there is in recognizing the work of God from the work 
 of man. You need the minute examination and the 
 anointed eye that can perceive its beauties — which don't 
 lie on the surface. In this way God's Word contains the 
 best evidence of its own inspiration. It could not have 
 been forged or manufactured. 
 
 The subject of Consecration has been suggested to 
 me, and though as a missionary the work I have been 
 so long engaged in, and the field in which I am so deep- 
 ly interested, are most prominent in my own mind, I 
 
 (67) 
 
68 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 feel the appropriateness of speaking on Consecration, 
 because apart from it there may be much work done 
 with comparatively little result. Spiritual laws are not 
 less definite and certain than natural laws : and an ex- 
 perience of many years in God's work has more and 
 more convinced me that cause and effect are as certain 
 in spiritual things as in natural things. A given num- 
 ber of atoms, say of sulphuric acid, combined with a 
 given number of atoms, say of carbonate of soda, will 
 produce a definite number of atoms of sulphate of soda. 
 In like manner a given amount of spiritual power oper- 
 ating according to spiritual laws will always produce 
 like and definite results. There is no change since 
 Apostolic times in this respect. Spiritual cause and 
 effect operate exactly now as they did then, for God is 
 unchanging. These spiritual laws may be discovered 
 by the prayerful study of the Word of God, in depend- 
 ence on His Spirit as a true interpreter. And here I 
 v/ould urge on my young friends the importance of 
 Bible study. We all desire to be truly prosperous men. 
 God desires that we should prosper — not in some of our 
 undertakings merely, but in them all. In the first two 
 verses of the first Psalm we have the path that leads to 
 unerring prosperity : " Whatsoever he doeth shall pros- 
 per." While the first verse points out the negative side 
 — the avoiding of the evils that would hinder — the sec- 
 ond verse gives us the all-important positive side : " His 
 delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law doth 
 he meditate day and night." It is very easy to ascertain 
 in what a man takes delight. Those who are fond of 
 athletics will be talking about them when not engaged 
 in them. Those who are fond of science have their 
 hearts full of it, and are always glad to speak of their 
 favorite pursuit as well as to engage in it. Do our 
 
CONSECRATION AND BLESSING. 69 
 
 friends discover that our delight, our hope, is in the 
 law of the Lord ? If they do, we shall not fail of pros- 
 perity. In pursuits, literary or commercial, in the home- 
 life, in things great and small, we shall prosper in what- 
 soever we set our hand to, if we carry out this great law 
 of God. 
 
 I propose this morning to draw your attention to the 
 two chapters of Numbers, vi. and vii., and to their con- 
 nection with each other. First, allow me to make a 
 remark upon the 7th chapter. It is the longest chapter 
 in the Bible. For a long time it was one of the most 
 uninteresting to me, because it was so full of repetitions. 
 One used to think all that was important in that chap- 
 ter might have been condensed in a very few verses. 
 No doubt the condensation might have been very easily 
 made, but at the expense of condensing out of the chap- 
 ter that which is its peculiar revelation ; the delight of 
 God as a Father in the loving offerings of His willing 
 people. The twelve princes brought their offerings for 
 dedication to the altar, and presented them before the 
 tabernacle. They expected that the whole thing would 
 be over — and it might have been over — in a few min- 
 utes. But God would not have it so. He designed to 
 spread it over twelve days ; and in the record He has 
 given us in this wonderful Bible, He has given the 
 longest chapter to record the offerings of each prince 
 on each day. As many words are used to describe the 
 offerings of the last of the princes as of the first. And 
 we are reminded of what we sometimes see at the mar- 
 riage of distinguished personages, where the wedding 
 presents are spread out in the most effective way so that 
 all the friends of the bride and bridegroom may see and 
 rejoice in the love-gifts they have received on this occa- 
 sion. The fact that several friends have presented a 
 
70 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTIIFIELD. 
 
 similar article is no reason why it shouldn't be well dis- 
 played. Thus we see in the chapter in question the 
 delight and satisfaction of God in the offerings of His 
 people, and especially in the offerer who had the heart to 
 give the gift. For the description of each prince's offer- 
 ing is commenced with his name and pedigree, and after 
 the gift objects have been named, we have again, " This 
 is the offering of so-and-so, prince of such a tribe." 
 Nor was all this detail sufficient to satisfy the heart of 
 our Father. Toward the close of this long chapter we 
 get the sum total of all the offerings brought out ; and 
 the total amount of the gold and the silver, and the 
 total number of the sacrifices for burnt-offerings, and 
 sin-offerings, and peace-offerings, are given us, as well 
 as each detail which the earlier part of the chapter 
 records. 
 
 Now, all this is very instructive ; and the record here 
 carries us forward to a coming day in which God will 
 bring to light every little hidden service of His children, 
 and will let assembled worlds see the delight He has 
 had in that which has met no eye, but which has glad- 
 dened the heart of our Father in Heaven. For He is a 
 Father indeed ; and it is delightful to realize that all 
 that fatherhood* ever has been or has produced — all that 
 motherhood has ever brought to our notice — all indeed 
 that is noble and pure and tender and true, is but an 
 outcome of the great, loving heart of our Heavenly Fa- 
 ther. There is more light in the glorious sun than in 
 any of the thousands of reflections in the little dew- 
 drops of a spring morning. So there is more love and 
 complacency and gratification in His children in the 
 heart of our Heavenly Father, than all the gratification 
 that earthly parents and earthly friends have ever felt 
 in the objects of their affection. May we not here remark 
 
CONSECRATION AND BLESSING. ^1 
 
 that it is an important consideration that God does not 
 take up natural objects end natural relationships as 
 more or less appropriate illustrations of Divine things, 
 but the Divine thought being pre-existing, natural rela- 
 tionships and natural objects were made to exemplify 
 them. We find in Scripture the word " true " used with 
 regard to a number of objects : the true bread, the true 
 wine, the true manna, the true tabernacle ; and what is 
 this intended to teach us ? God could have made man 
 to need no sleep — to need no food — as we have reason 
 to suppose the angels were made ; but had this been 
 the case, we should have known nothing of rest, as we 
 now know it, nor could we have learned the spiritual 
 truths revealed to us through the illustration of food 
 and nourishment. So that the bread w^e eat is not true 
 bread ; but Christ is the true bread, of which it is mere- 
 ly a type. And the earthly relationship of parent and 
 child is only a type and dim reflection of the pre-existing 
 relationship in the Divine mind ; and all that the bride- 
 groom and bride bring before us of trust and of love^ 
 are only intended to teach us the true relationship of 
 the Church to Christ, and of Christ to His Church. 
 Hence we are not making a mistake in feeling that 
 those joys and pleasures which affection brings with it 
 existed in the heart of our glorious Father and of the 
 great Bridegroom ; that we only rightly know Him 
 when we realize the privilege we have of making glad 
 the heart of God ; that to please God is to give God 
 pleasure, as earthly parents receive pleasure when their 
 children please them. Let me illustrate this by a little 
 incident that, not important in itself, will perhaps throw 
 light on this important truth. After a long absence 
 from home I returned to England many years ago ; and 
 on my birthday, my little daughter — a wee girlie of 
 
72 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 about four years of age — came to me with a curious 
 little thing in her hand, saying : " Papa, I thought you 
 would rather have something I made myself than any- 
 thing I could buy for you ; so I haven't bought you a 
 birthday present, but have made you one." How glad 
 my heart was that my dear child should recognize this 
 fact, that even her little work would bring more pleas- 
 ure to her father than anything that could be bought. 
 But I looked at the little gift with some, perplexity, not 
 wishing to grieve the child by letting her see I didn't 
 know what it was intended to be, and yet not knowing 
 what to make of it. There was a little piece of wood, 
 perhaps three inches by an inch and a half. The dear 
 child had bored a hole in the middle of it with a scis- 
 sors, and put a peg into the hole, on which she hung 
 half a cockle-shell. After some little puzzling, I was 
 obliged to say to her : " I am so glad, darling, you have 
 made me a pretty present, but what is it ?" She looked 
 at me with some surprise, and said : " Why, papa, don't 
 you know ? It is a ship to take you to China. I thought 
 nothing would please you so much as a ship to take you 
 to Chi-na." How glad my heart was that even my little 
 girlie understood my love for China and the Chinese, 
 and that she had so far sympathized with it as to make 
 me a little object which she thought would please me 
 because of its connection, in her mind, with China. I 
 have that rude toy now, carefully stored up among my 
 treasures, and the thought of it has been a joy to me 
 during many years of separation from her. But before 
 I left her a year and a half ago in China, where she is 
 now working as a missionary, she introduced me to two 
 Chinamen whom she had been the means of winning to 
 Christ, and my heart was still more glad. I reminded her 
 of the long-forgotten gift she had made me so many years 
 
CONSECRATION AND BLESSING. J^ 
 
 before. I told her that my heart was more glad now in 
 seeing the fruit of her work for Christ than it had been 
 then ; but the love of the little girlie was not the less 
 precious to memory on that account. Now, our service 
 to God may be as absolutely valueless as that little toy 
 was to me ; but if my finite heart took so much pleasure 
 in the loving wish to please my little child, how much 
 joy must the great heart of God be capable of when it 
 sees the fruit of heart and life devoted to His service ? 
 
 To revert : So far for this long chapter, the 7th of 
 Numbers ; but it is the second of the two to which I 
 wish to draw your attention. And I would specially 
 emphasize not merely the subject-matter of the two 
 chapters, but their relation to each other. The shorter 
 6th chapter is a prelude to the longer 7th, and in that 
 shorter 6th chapter we have two distinct thoughts 
 brought before us. The first is consecration, the sec- 
 ond is the blessing of God ; and then comes that long 
 7th chapter — the outcome of that blessing in practical 
 loving gift and service. Let us, however, look a little 
 in detail at the 6th chapter. We find under the old 
 covenant many blessings given to the people of God as 
 temporary gifts which are intended to be enjoyed under 
 the new covenant as permanent blessings. For instance, 
 in the matter of consecration, God said to an Israelite : 
 *' Now, if you wish to fully consecrate your life to Me, 
 to separate yourself unto the Lord, you are at liberty to 
 do so for any period that you desire." The vow of a 
 Nazarite might be taken for a year, or for five or seven 
 years — for a half or a whole lifetime. God seemed to 
 say : " You may just go in for as much consecration 
 and blessing as you have the heart to." But under the 
 new covenant God would have us all to recognize all 
 through our Christian life that we are not our own, that 
 
74 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTIIFIELD. 
 
 we are bought with a price, and that He has a rightful 
 claim to all we have and to all we are. In like manner 
 under the old covenant the Holy Spirit was given for 
 special service on special occasions, but it was needful 
 for the receiver to pray : " Take not Thy Holy Spirit 
 from me." The Spirit was given to Saul, but was taken 
 away ; and we might find other illustrations of the same 
 truth. But to the believer under the new covenant, the 
 Spirit is given as a seal upon a document, never to be 
 removed — as an earnest not to be recalled until the re- 
 demption of the purchased possession. We may grieve 
 the Spirit, and lose the benefit of His guidance ; but 
 the Spirit does not leave the believer. " If any man 
 have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." What 
 we want is to have the open ear, always ready to hear 
 and to obey the precious One who has taken His abode 
 within us. 
 
 With this thought in view — that consecration in the 
 believer should be permanent and constant, let us look 
 at a few of the particulars that are brought before us 
 by this chapter. When either man or woman separated 
 himself by the vow of a Nazarite, he was not hence- 
 forward to be guided by his own thoughts and desires, 
 but by the will of God so far as it was revealed to him- 
 Sometimes in the present day we find the children of 
 God brought into perplexity by this question : *' Can 
 you show me the sin of this or that — or the wrong of 
 this or that ? " These are scarcely the questions for the 
 loving child of God to raise. The question rather 
 should be : " Can you show me how I shall give pleasure 
 to God, and satisfaction to Him, by this or that?" In 
 the third verse of the sixth chapter the Nazarite was di- 
 rected to separate himself from wine and strong drink. 
 If this had been all^ we might have said there was a 
 
CONSECRATION AND BLESSING. 75 
 
 reason for it : wine and strong drink are so often abused, 
 and are injurious. But the verse continues that vinegar, 
 and any liquor of grapes, or moist grapes, or dried, were 
 equally to be avoided. "All the days of his separation 
 shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine-tree, from 
 the kernel even to the husk." Now, there is no fruit 
 that is more wholesome or more enjoyable than the fruit 
 of the vine. But just as God claimed His place in the 
 Garden of Eden by prohibiting the fruit of one tree, so 
 does He reclaim His place to the Nazarite by prohibit- 
 ing the fruit of this tree, good and excellent as it is in 
 itself. To avoid it was made the test of obedience. 
 Will not this principle oftentimes help us in Christian 
 life ? As servants of Christ must we not follow Him 
 who emptied Himself — not of that which is evil, for there 
 was nothing of evil in Him to be emptied, but of that 
 which was good in itself, yet unsuited to the special 
 service which He undertook for our salvation ? Again, 
 the Nazarite was wholly separated unto the Lord. He 
 was not merely to recognize this in what he partook of, 
 but for the time being his body was wholly the Lord's. 
 God claimed every hair of his head. All the outcome 
 of his life was holy to the Lord, as well as that life it- 
 self. And is it not written, dear friends, of us that the 
 very hairs of our head are all numbered ? It is beauti- 
 ful to see a young mother with fond endearment passing 
 her fingers through the silken hair of her darling child. 
 She loves that hair, for it is the hair of her child. But 
 she never thinks of counting the hairs of the head. 
 With more of thoughtful love, He with whom we have 
 to do counts the very hairs of our head and numbers 
 them, and not one falls to the ground unnoticed or un- 
 cared for by Hitn. In full consecration to God it is a 
 joy to recognize all our members, all our faculties — 
 
76 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 every fibre of our body, and f^iculty of mind, and appe- 
 tite, and propensity — all as His, for His service and 
 glory ; and as His children to do all to the glory of God : 
 when we lie down on the pillow at night, to rest the 
 body for Him^-when we rise in the morning, to rise for 
 His service and pleasure — to perform the acts of the 
 toilet for Him, that we may be worthy of Him who is 
 our Father ; and in each little thing of daily life pleas- 
 ing Him by recognizing that we are wholly His. Not 
 only was the Nazarite to recognize his hair as the Lord's : 
 he was not to trim it or cut it at his pleasure, but to al- 
 low it to grow long. But when his vow of Nazariteship 
 was terminated, he was never to take that hair, which 
 was the Lord's, as though it were his own, and devote 
 it to any common purpose. It must all be shaved off 
 and burned beside the altar, for it is wholly the Lord's. 
 Do we not need to remind ourselves of this great truth ? 
 Perhaps we consecrate ourselves to the Lord for some 
 special service ; and He puts a bar in the way, and de- 
 fers and delays our rendering Him this service ; and is 
 there not a danger that we may, as time goes on, recall 
 the gift, and take, as it were, the sacrifice from off the 
 altar ? We should rather pray : " Bind the sacrifice, O 
 Lord, with cords to the horns of the altar"; that once 
 given it may never be recalled. We had a beautiful 
 illustration of this in the history of our Mission. A 
 young lady, of a wealthy family, at the age of twenty 
 dedicated herself to missionary service. She thought 
 the Lord would soon open her way to the mission field. 
 She had an older sister, who seemed sufficient for home 
 duties, and who felt no such call ; and so at the age of 
 twenty she looked forward to the mission field as her 
 sphere of service. God accepted her offer, but deferred 
 the opening of the door. Her elder sister married ; her 
 
CONSECRATION AND BLESSING. JJ 
 
 parents became invalids ; and years passed on, and this 
 loving daughter never gave them to feel that they were 
 in the way, on the one hand, and yet never recalled the 
 gift she had given to the Lord for missionary service on 
 the other. Five years passed along, and she felt : " If I 
 am delayed much longer, the acquisition of the language 
 will become more difficult." But we waited God's time. 
 Ten years — twenty years — thirty years passed away ere 
 the Lord set her free. But the vow of twenty was as 
 bright in her mind at fifty as it had been when first 
 offered. Within three weeks of the funeral of her sur- 
 viving parent she wrote to our Mission-House in London 
 intimating her desire to spend the remainder of her days 
 in missionary service in China, stating that she had pri- 
 vate means, and would not need to be a burden on the 
 funds of the Mission, and therefore felt the more free to 
 fulfil her early consecration. I met her in London a 
 short time ago, and she said : " I am home after twelve 
 years' service for my first furlough, and hope to be in- 
 vigorated, that I may soon be able to return to China 
 again." I don't know whether she will ever be strong 
 enough to return to China, but I do know that her life 
 there has been an immense blessing. 
 
 Turning again to our chapter, we find that God pro- 
 hibits a separated one from going near to any dead 
 body. If time permitted we might dwell at length on 
 this important prohibition ; but we must briefly say 
 here that all dead works, however good or precious they 
 may seem to be in themselves, are not the things for a 
 fully consecrated man to take part in or to have fellow- 
 ship with. The outcome of spiritual life, and that alone, 
 is that in which one fully consecrated to God must en- 
 gage. He must be distinctly separated from the dead 
 world, and from all spiritual death. May I here remark, 
 
yS COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 however, on the important truth taught us in connec- 
 tion with the accidental or unavoidable contact with 
 death ? It was not considered undefiling because it was 
 accidental, or even unavoidable. If a man came in con- 
 tact with death, he could only be cleansed from that 
 contact by sacrifice. There is, perhaps, a danger in 
 some quarters at the present day of the thought being 
 accepted that certain things are right if we don't feel 
 them to be wrong — that certain things are right if we 
 are, so to speak, unavoidably thrown in contact with 
 them. We must ever bear in mind that we have in God's 
 will, as revealed in the Scripture, an absolute standard 
 of right and wrong ; and no ignorance on our part, 
 or want of opportunity on our part, can make the 
 wrong to be right. If a person does that which is con- 
 trary to God's revealed will in ignorance, it may not 
 at the time hinder communion ; but as soon as it is 
 revealed to him that the thing done is contrary to God's 
 will, it must be confessed, not as a misfortune, but as a 
 sin, and the atoning blood must be upon it before com- 
 munion can be fully and satisfactorily re-established. 
 And may I in this connection refer to the further truth 
 that when the vow of the Nazarite was fulfilled, and 
 when nothing had been ritually neglected, the Nazarite 
 was not to think he could stand without sacrifice in the 
 presence of God in the merit of his sacrifice ? There 
 was the sin of his holy things that needed atonement. 
 We are sinful creatures, and our holiest service can only 
 be accepted through Jesus Christ our Lord. When we 
 walk in the light, as He is in the light, and are having 
 unbroken fellowship with God, and God with us, it is 
 because the blood of Jesus Christ His Son is cleansing 
 us from all sin. No holy service is a ground of accept- 
 ance with God. Christ alone is that ground. On the 
 
CONSECRATION AND BLESSING. ^9 
 
 Other hand, the fact that our holiest things need to be 
 accepted through Christ is no reason why we should 
 neglect to be holy. Though sinful creatures, we must 
 not be sinning creatures — a very different thing indeed. 
 The Nazarite was to fulfil his vow, and then offer the 
 requisite sacrifices ; and he and his service were accepted 
 of God. 
 
 And now we come to the beautiful three-fold blessing, 
 in which we, as believers in the light of the present dis- 
 pensation, recognize distinctly the blessing of the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Before considering that 
 more fully, however, let us inquire what is the root-idea 
 of blessing. God blesses His people with peace, with 
 plenty, and with other rich gifts ; but the peace and the 
 plenty are not the gifts. We bless God with thanksgiv- 
 ing and praise, but the thanksgiving and praise are not 
 the blessing. The blessing is that deep going out of 
 heart toward the object of our affections which leads 
 on the one hand to gift and on the other hand to grate- 
 ful thanks and praise. We may illustrate this from a 
 frequent earthly happening. A mother opens the door 
 of her house, and at once her little child turns toward 
 her with a bright and glad face, and two little feet begin 
 to run across the room, and two little arms are stretched 
 out to meet and welcome the returning mother. But is 
 that all ? Are not two stronger feet hastening with 
 wider steps to meet the little one ? — are not two stronger 
 arms stretched out to welcome the little one ? — and soon 
 both are clasped in one loving embrace, the mother's 
 arms holding up the child, and clasping her to her 
 bosom, the little one's arms around the mother's neck in 
 fond affection. And both hearts are equally full. The 
 little one's heart i* just as glad as it is capable of being 
 glad, and the mother's heart is just as full as her heart 
 
So COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NOKTMFIELD. 
 
 can be filled. But whose heart is the larger? The mo- 
 ther has the larger share of gladness, because she is 
 capable of more gladness than her child. The mother 
 is blessing her child, and the child is blessing the mother. 
 So when a child of God blesses God, the heart of the 
 child is filled with joy, and the heart of the Father is also 
 filled with joy ; and His great infinite heart is capable 
 of more gladness than ours. This is true in the case of 
 the Saviour, the Bridegroom of His people ; and it is a 
 joy to feel that day by day we may make the Man of Sor- 
 rows the Man of Joys, by loving sympathy and holy 
 service in accordance with His will. 
 
 With this deeper thought of blessing in our minds, 
 let us look at the three-fold blessing of verses 24 to 26. 
 " Jehovah, the Father, bless thee, and keep thee." What 
 is more natural — what is more proper than that that 
 great fatherly heart yearning in love over his child 
 should be the keeper of that child ? Some of us have 
 tried to keep ourselves ; but we have found by expe- 
 rience that the self-kept child is a badly-kept child — 
 that the self-kept life is a badly-kept life, is an unsatis- 
 factory life. But it is not so with regard to heart or 
 life committed to the fatherly keeping of Him who is 
 prepared to accept and to care for that which we commit 
 to His care. Have we not, beloved friends, failed to 
 enter into the deep spirit of this first of blessings : 
 " Jehovah, the Father, bless thee, and keep thee " ? Oh, 
 how much of care and worry, how much of failure, how 
 much of sin, has been the outcome of this forgetfulness ! 
 Imagine a beloved child resting on her mother's lap, 
 and as the mother looks fondly down upon her darling, 
 instead of seeing the reflection of her love in the happi- 
 ness of her child, she sees the child distressed, and the 
 eyes filling with tears, and the large drops beginning to 
 
CONSECRATION AND BLESSING. 8l 
 
 flow. The mother says : " What is troubling my dar- 
 ling child?" The little one replies: "O mamma; I 
 am growing so fast. 1 can't help it, and I don't know 
 what to do. I have been trying to save up my pennies. 
 I haven't bought any sweets or a doll or anything for a 
 long time ; but I am growing so fast I sha'n't be able 
 to wear this little frock much longer, and I sha'n't have 
 enough to buy another." How foolish and unnecessary 
 would be the troubles of such a child ! Would it please 
 the mother that the child didn't trust her to provide 
 the new frock when it was needed ? And when the 
 new frock was needed, would it be bought in whole or 
 in part by the saved pennies ? All the care and all the 
 worry were unnecessary and unhelpful, for the mother 
 cares for her child. And can we know our privilege of 
 " casting all our care upon Him, for He careth for us," 
 and continue to be careful and worried about many 
 things ? Surely if we do, it shows our failure to enter 
 into this first of blessings : " Jehovah, the Father, bless 
 thee, and keep thee." And not less precious is the sec- 
 ond blessing : " Jehovah, the Son — the Bridegroom of 
 His people — make His face shine upon thee, and be 
 gracious unto thee." If He, the great Bridegroom of 
 the soul, has His right place in the heart, His presence 
 is love. The light of His countenance is sufficient to 
 satisfy our deepest longings — to meet and supply our 
 every need. And there need be no hiding of His 
 countenance from us. The blessing is : " Jehovah, the 
 Son, make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious 
 unto thee." What do we not possess in the love of this 
 Bridegroom ! Unlike the earthly relationship, which 
 circumstances may interfere with or interrupt, we have 
 His word : " I will never leave thee — will never fail 
 thee — will never forsake thee." And while ever present 
 
82 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHEIELD. 
 
 with His aid, it is not so much His aid as His gracious 
 presence — His smile — His benediction — that is the joy 
 of Christian life and the strength of Christian service. 
 But I must pass on. The third blessing is equally pre- 
 cious : "Jehovah, the Spirit, lift up His countenance 
 upon thee, and give thee peace." Do we always suf- 
 ficiently realize the personality of the Holy Ghost ? 
 Do we recognize Him as being as distinctly personal as 
 the Father and the Son, and rejoice in His love as well 
 as His presence ? And do we accept His great gift : 
 the gift of peace — peace that flows like a river, widening 
 and deepening as it flows — peace that the world cannot 
 give or take away — peace that circumstances can never 
 mar, or break, or interrupt — peace that passeth all un- 
 derstanding ; not merely enjoyed, but garrisoning the 
 heart and keeping all surges of care and worry and 
 unrest clean outside the battlements ? Oh, beloved 
 friends, what a gift is this ! How little have we accepted 
 it ! How little have we enjoyed it ! Instead of tell-tale 
 faces telling the world what a full salvation we have 
 had, how often a long face has suggested to the world 
 that they had better take their fill of happiness first 
 before they leave it behind by becoming Christians. 
 May God make us more faithful witnesses for Him, and 
 give us so to live winning lives that others will be al- 
 lured to desire the same blessings we enjoy ! 
 
 And now we have briefly considered the question of 
 consecration, and its necessary following of blessing. 
 But this blessing is only the prelude to the longest 
 chapter in the Bible ; and God's blessing is just the 
 prelude to a service of love and the service of eternity. 
 We at once see the outcome of the blessing in the offer- 
 ings of the people of God. Will it not be helpful to us- 
 if we realize more of the privilege we have as the chil- 
 
CONSECRATION AND BLESSING. 83 
 
 dren of God, if engaged in His service ? There is never 
 any lack of resources for the work of God. There was 
 promised to Solomon for the building of the earthly 
 sanctuary a beautiful combination : willing, skilful men 
 for every department of service. Some men are willing 
 enough, but far from skilful in their work. Others, 
 again, who have the skill do not always possess the will. 
 But to Solomon there was promised every skilful man 
 for every department of service ; and he was further 
 told that the princes and all the people would be 
 wholly at his commandment. When we need men or 
 means for God's service, it is well to remember that 
 they are not promised to us^ but they are to our royal 
 Master ; and we should go to Him with confidence for 
 those things which are needful for the department of 
 service into which He calls us to enter. We are called 
 "children" of a rich Father. His resources are infinite ; 
 and all we have to do is to keep on the right side of our 
 Father to get from Him whatever is needed. I am de- 
 lighted but not surprised at what I see here at North- 
 field. That our dear friend, Mr. Moody, has been sup- 
 plied by God with all that has been needful for the 
 erection of these beautiful buildings, and the mainten- 
 ance of these institutions, is not at all surprising. Only 
 let us take the Divine path of consecration and bless- 
 ing, and we shall find no lack of resources for carrying 
 on God's work. May I draw your attention to the fact 
 that so soon as the tabernacle, as mentioned in verse i, 
 had been anointed and sanctified, " with all the instru- 
 ments thereof, both the altar and all the vessels thereof," 
 then the princes of Israel at once freely and spontane- 
 ously offered their offerings. Do not be so concerned 
 about getting the means to carry on the work, as about 
 being sure that the work is after the Lord's pattern, and 
 
84 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 that the work and workers are sanctified and anointed 
 ones. Given this preparation, and the -means will not 
 be lacking. To look farther back, remember that when 
 the tabernacle itself had to be made, Moses was brought 
 into difficulty — not from the lack of material, but from 
 its superabundance ; and in his perplexity he had to 
 send a proclamation through the camp to the people 
 forbidding them to bring any more — a condition that 
 we don't hear very much of in ordinary church work 
 and church life to-day. At the commencement of the 
 China Inland Mission we had the nearest approach that 
 we have had to this difficulty in the matter of funds for 
 the outfit and support of the first large party we sent out. 
 A party of seventeen or eighteen fully consecrated men 
 and women had been selected and tested. That they 
 were soul-winners had been proved in the East End of 
 London. They were prepared to go out with no other 
 guarantee of support than that which they carried with- 
 in the covers of their own pocket Bibles — for they be- 
 lieved the Word of God. And now came the question : 
 " How are the means to be provided for their going 
 forth ? " It was estimated that ^1,500— possibly ;^i,8oo 
 or ;^2,ooo — might be needed ; for we didn't know what 
 we should have to pay for passage-money. The journey 
 to China was then along one — of some months' duration, 
 around the Cape of Good Hope. I had already sent 
 out five or six to China, and was in receipt of small 
 sums of money for their support as free-will offerings 
 through the post. From the ist of January to the 6th 
 of February, 1866, I received about ;^i7i; but of course 
 a much larger sum was needed if this large party was 
 to go out. I therefore wrote a little pamphlet, intending 
 to circulate it among my friends, stating that this party 
 was prepared to go, that such sums of money would be 
 
CONSECRATION AND BLESSING. 85 
 
 required, and that free-will offerings sent spontaneously 
 through the post would be thankfully accepted. On 
 the day after I sent my manuscript to the printer I 
 called a daily prayer-meeting, and from 12 to i o'clock 
 every day we met to ask from God this money. Through a 
 fire in the press the bringing out of the pamphlet was de- 
 layed, and the printed pamphlets reached me on the 12th 
 of March. On that day I added up my Mission cash-book 
 to tell my friends what God had done in answer to 
 prayer alone. Before our prayer-meeting a month and 
 six days had brought in ;£"i7i or thereabouts. The sec- 
 ond month and six days — from February 6th to March 
 12th — I had received through the post ;^i,774 15s. iid. 
 My friend, Mr. Grattan Guinness, in Ireland, had re- 
 ceived £,200 ; making a total of ;^i,974 15s. iid., before 
 the pamphlets were ready for circulation. Now, what 
 was one to do ? I didn't want to waste the pamphlets ; 
 yet money kept coming in, and we soon had more than 
 was needful according to our own estimate, and I 
 couldn't send out the pamphlets stating that money 
 was needed which was already in hand. A colored leaf 
 was inserted into each one, stating that the money re- 
 quired had already been received in answer to prayer ; 
 that no further gifts for this object should be sent ; but 
 that if any wished to assist in the permanent support of 
 the work, a friend who lived thirty-eight miles from 
 London, and two or three from the nearest village post- 
 office, was willing to receive any contributions through 
 the post, and once a month to remit the aggregate sum 
 to us in China. This was the simple organization of the 
 Mission when commenced twenty-two years ago. God 
 has not disappointed the trust which was placed in Him. 
 There are now over two hundred and ninety workers, 
 besides over a hundred native helpers ; and still it re. 
 
86 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 mains as true as ever that there is no want to those who 
 fear Him. 
 
 Just a word in conclusion on the first offering of the 
 princes : six covered wagons and twelve oxen. Those 
 of us who have been in India or in China, and have rid- 
 den in those rude bullock wagons, know very well what 
 they were. In riding over the rough roads of China in 
 such a cart I have more than once bound a feather pil- 
 low around my head ; for the jolting and the knocking 
 about as one wheel falls into a rut of a foot or more 
 deep, to be followed by the other wheel in a few mo- 
 ments getting into a similar rut, and throwing you to 
 the opposite side of the wagon, required it. Yet, rude 
 as these wagons were, the Word of God was : " Take it of 
 them, and use those wagons for the service of the taber- 
 nacle of the congregation." God accepts what His 
 people are able and willing to give, and puts to high 
 and holy uses that which we put in His hands for His 
 service. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE BOOK OF AMOS. 
 
 Address by Prof. W. R. Harper, of Yale University— The Herdman 
 of Tekoa and his Message — An Adroit Introduction — First Ser- 
 mon—Profligacy of Israel — Dire Punishment Threatened — God's 
 Forbearance— Warnings Ignored— The Limit of Mercy Overpast 
 — Second Sermon — Further Upbraiding — Awful Severity of the 
 Coming Retribution — A Series of Visions — Eventual Restoration 
 to Favor. 
 
 I AM going to ask you to join me in a study of the 
 book of Amos. I would like to get before us the book 
 of Amos as a book, so that hereafter in reading this 
 prophecy we may read the verses with reference to the 
 object of this book. And a word of introduction, if 
 you please, about prophecy : one or two general princi- 
 ples upon which we must build. You believe and I be- 
 lieve that a prophet of God was not a prophet merely 
 to man, but that he was a Divinely appointed messen- 
 ger sent to do a Divinely appointed work. I think v.^e 
 will all agree, further, that each prophet had his own 
 work to do. Each prophet had his particular work. 
 We all know the work of Isaiah ; I needn't explain it. 
 And we know that the love of God is nowhere presented 
 more forcibly or more vividly than by the prophet 
 Hosea, who was sent to convey that message. Not even 
 the New Testament teaches more clearly or more dis- 
 tinctly the love of God than does the prophecy of Hosea. 
 
 (87) 
 
88 , COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 And so each prophet had his particular work to do. 
 Our one thought and purpose will be to find out the 
 particular work of the prophet Amos. And then, again, 
 we will all agree that a prof)het — whatever may have 
 been the deeper meaning of his words— whatever may- 
 have been their meaning to future generations — was a 
 man of his time. His words had a meaning there and 
 then, whatever the meaning they had to future times. 
 A prophet was a preacher of his times, and his message 
 was intended for the people whom he addressed. I think 
 we too often lose sight of this fact. We have a feeling 
 that the prophecies were written exclusively for us. 
 Now, this is right in one sense : they were written for 
 us ; but yet not exclusively. The prophecies were writ, 
 ten for the people in whose times they were written and 
 declared. They had a meaning then which they don't 
 mean now ; and the meaning they have for us to-day 
 depends largely upon the meaning which they had in 
 their primary purpose. 
 
 Now, let us begin together. "Words concerning 
 Israel." This is a prophecy concerning the Israelitish 
 nation — concerning Israel as distinct from Judah. Only 
 once or twice, perhaps, the prophet includes Judah in 
 what he says. These are words uttered directly for the 
 inhabitants of the northern kingdom. They had their 
 first reference to those people. " The words of Amos,, 
 who was among the herdmen of Tekoa." Amos was not 
 a royal prophet, as was Isaiah, Amos was one of the 
 most uncultured of the prophets — the most uncultured. 
 As we read Amos's prophecy in the original to-day, w^e 
 see his mistakes of grammar and syntax. We see he 
 did not write the language which Isaiah wrote. His 
 Hebrew is very different from the Hebrew of Isaiah. 
 Amos was an uneducated man, he tells us farther on ; 
 
THE BOOK OF AMOS. 89 
 
 but he was a man that had a message to deliver, and he 
 was not prevented from delivering that message by the 
 faot that he was without education. "Which he saw 
 concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, 
 and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of 
 Israel." This was a time of great political prosperity, 
 greater even than during the reign of Solomon. At no 
 period in her whole history did Israel reach the height 
 of prosperity that she reached at this time. But on the 
 other hand, there was no time in her whole history in 
 which she descended so low morally. This prophet and 
 the other prophets of the time tell us of the great sin — 
 the licentiousness and the debaucheries — which pre- 
 vailed. Keep in mind this fact, that it is at this time, when 
 Jeroboam is strong in his own strength, that Amos 
 speaks. He adds : " Two years before the earthquake." 
 Just what the reference is here is perhaps doubtful. 
 Some think the earthquake is mentioned merely as a 
 date — as a help in fixing the particular time of the say- 
 ing. There are others, however, who think the passage 
 means that as the prophecy had been delivered before 
 the time of the earthquake, and as this prophecy was a 
 prophecy of destruction from beginning to end, the 
 prophet would have the people to understand that the 
 earthquake was in consequence of, or in connection with, 
 the destruction promised in his prophecy. This, then, 
 is our title-page. Call it the title-page of the book — ^^and 
 there is no book concerning which there is less doubt 
 than the book of Amos. 
 
 The second verse gives us the text, and it is a quoted 
 text. Amos does as ministers do to-day. He takes a 
 text, and quotes from his predecessor Joel. Joel iii. 16 ; 
 " The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His 
 voice from Jerusalem." The latter part of the verse 
 
90 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 Amos puts in his own language. He is a herdman — a 
 man from the people — a countryman. Imagine a coun- 
 tryman coming into a great city to-day, and preaching 
 — dressed as a countryman, talking like a countryman — 
 and you have a picture of Amos as he appeared. Listen 
 to his text : "The Lord will roar." "Roar" means de- 
 struction. "The Lord will send destruction out of 
 Zion " — the headquarters of the theocracy ; " and He 
 will utter His voice from Jerusalem " — a repetition of 
 the same thought. And then the herdman prophet adds : 
 "And the pastures of the shepherds shall mourn, and 
 the top of Carmel shall wither." He draws his figures, 
 you see, from his life. Being a herdman, he speaks of 
 the pastures. " The pastures of the shepherds shall 
 mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither — all Pales- 
 tine shall be laid waste." This is his text. The whole 
 book of Amos rests on this verse. It is intended to be 
 an explanation of this verse. What have you got, then ? 
 The title-page : " Words concerning Israel, by one Amos 
 — not a professor in some theological seminary, but the 
 herdman Amos. Such and such a date, in such and 
 such circumstances." As clear a title-page as that of 
 any book that is published to-day. Next you have the 
 text : " The Lord shall roar from Zion, and utter His 
 voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shep- 
 herds shall m.ourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither." 
 And now we come to the prophecy. Remember that 
 Amos was from Judah. He got a call to preach a mes- 
 sage ; but it wasn't given him to preach to his own peo- 
 ple — to the people of the southern kingdom. He was 
 sent by God to the northern nation of Israel. Keep 
 that fact in mind also. Amos has left his home, has 
 come to the headquarters of the king of the northern 
 kingdom, and is now casting about for some way of 
 
THE BOOK OF AMOS- 9I 
 
 delivering his message. How shall he convey this mes- 
 sage so that it will tell ? That was the great point in 
 those days, as that is the great point to-day. How can 
 he have it put forth so that it will count — or that results 
 will count ? And that thing troubles Amos, as it troubles 
 many a minister to-day. Amos has come. You can 
 imagine you see him on the street-corner, with a crowd 
 of people around him. As a countryman, you see, he 
 would attract attention at once. His speech, his dress, 
 the fact that he w^as from Judah, would attract atten- 
 tion ; and it doesn't take him long to draw a crov/d. 
 " For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I 
 will not turn away the punishment thereof ; because 
 they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments 
 of iron : I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, 
 which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. I will 
 break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the in- 
 habitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth 
 the sceptre from the house of Eden : and the people of 
 Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the Lord." 
 What had that to do with Israel ? The prophet stand- 
 ing before this crowd says : " O Israel, God tells me 
 that Damascus — Syria — your neighbor right here in the 
 north — is to be destroyed for her sins." There had been 
 long war between Damascus and Syria. There was 
 deep hatred between them. What would be the recep- 
 .^ion of this message ? Every Israelite would shout 
 "Amen!" He goes on: " I will punish Gaza, because 
 they carried away captive the whole captivity. I will 
 cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him that hold- 
 eth the sceptre from Ashkelon ; and I will turn mine 
 hand against Ekron: and the remnant of the Philistines 
 shall perish." As he thus describes the punishment that 
 comes upon the Philistines — those Philistines by whom 
 
92 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 they had been troubled from the very time they came 
 into the land — every Israelite would shout, "Amen ! 
 You are a man of the right color." But he doesn't stop 
 yet. " For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, 
 I will not turn away the punishment thereof ; because 
 they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and re- 
 membered not the brotherly covenant." There had 
 been a covenant between Tyre and Israel ; but Tyre 
 had forgotten it, and the Phoenicians had taken Israel- 
 itish captives, and sold them into captivity. For this 
 crime Tyre was to be punished. " I will send a fire 
 upon Tyre, and shall devour the palaces thereof." The 
 same idea : " O Israel, God has sent me to tell you 
 that He is going to destroy your enemies." Every 
 Israelite would look with favor upon such a message 
 as that. Notice — three nations : Damascus, Philistia, 
 Phoenicia. 
 
 Now, the fourth is Edom. " Because he did pursue 
 his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and 
 his anger did tear- perpetually, and he kept his wrath 
 forever — I will send a fire upon Teman, which shall de- 
 vour the palaces of Bozrah." " Edom " signified the 
 descendants of Esau. Esau and Jacob were brothers. 
 The Edomites were cousins to the Israelites, and yet 
 there had been all this trouble between them. Again 
 the Israelites would say "Amen!" Still further, the 
 prophet takes up the children of Ammon, and then he 
 takes up Moab. You remember, the Moabites and the 
 Ammonites were descendants of Lot, and Lot was the 
 nephew of Abraham. The first three were outside 
 nations : Damascus, Philistia, and Tyre. The next 
 three were related nations — related to each other and to 
 Israel : Edom, Ammon, and Moab. Although related, 
 there had been such contention and strife between them 
 
THE BOOK OF AMOS. 93 
 
 that they were now to be destroyed. Amos is coming 
 down closer and closer. 
 
 Next he says : '' For three transgressions of Judah — 
 my own country." Everybody knew he was a Jew. 
 " For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will 
 not turn away the punishment thereof ; because they 
 have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept 
 His commandments, and their lies caused them to err, 
 after the which their fathers have walked : But I will 
 send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces 
 of Jerusalem." Although we know that there were 
 times when a sort of good-fellowship existed between 
 Israel on the north and Judah on the south, yet from 
 the time of the disruption of the original kingdom there 
 was always a feeling of enmity and jealousy between the 
 two nations. As Amos delivers this message we can 
 imagine we hear the Israelites cheering. " The Lord is 
 going to destroy Judah, is He ? " 
 
 Now he has got them just where he wants them. He 
 says : " You think it is a good thing to destroy Damas- 
 cus, Tyre, and even Judah. Listen. I have still another 
 word. Thus saith the Lord : For three transgressions 
 of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punish- 
 ment thereof ; because they sold the righteous for sil- 
 ver, and the poor for a pair of shoes ; that pant after the 
 dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside 
 the way of the meek." These were the characteristics 
 of the Israelites in that time. " A m^n and his father 
 profane the same maid. From the altar they drink the 
 wine of such as have been fined." The prophet has in- 
 troduced himself. You see the roundabout way he has 
 taken, and you see how he has been able to strike home. 
 We may doubt whether there were any " Amens " at the 
 end of this passage. "O Israel," he says, "you are well 
 
94 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 enough satisfied that Edom is to be destroyed — Moab, 
 Ammon, Philistia, Tyre, Damascus. But you too, Israel, 
 shall be punished. You have been guilty of the most 
 outrageous crimes. You committed those crimes al- 
 though I gave you prophets and Nazarites. You com- 
 pelled the Nazarites to break their vows, and the proph- 
 ets you would not allow to prophesy. Behold, the 
 mighty shall not deliver himself, neither shall he stand 
 that handleth the bow. He that is swift of foot shall 
 not deliver himself, nor he that rideth the horse. He 
 that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away 
 naked in that day, saith the Lord." Now every Israel- 
 ite knows what Amos came for. His message is deliv- 
 ered. Notice the way he introduced it. He gained the 
 consent of the people to every proposition till he had 
 gone through seven propositions ; and then he brought 
 out the eighth as his application. 
 
 Well; the prophet is introduced, and the 3d and 4th 
 chapters give us his first sermon. Will you understand 
 that this is a sermon ? Will you study it with the 
 understanding that it is preached by a preacher — not in 
 a pulpit, perhaps, but on the street-corner, before 
 crowds of people ? What is his message ? " O Israel, 
 and the whole family I brought up out of Egypt — the 
 only nation I have known among all the nations of the 
 earth ; I will punish you for your iniquities." Then the 
 prophet seems to say, speaking for himself : " Don't 
 suppose I came from Judah to deliver this message be- 
 cause it is a pleasant task. I speak because I must. 
 'Can two walk together except they be agreed?' 
 Would God through me threaten punishment if you were 
 not ripe for it? 'Will a lion roar in the forest when he 
 hath no prey?' Would God roar forth in judgment if 
 you were not prey right in His hands? 'Will a young 
 
THE BOOK OF AMOS. 9$ 
 
 lion cry out of his den if he have taken nothing ? ' 
 Would God roar forth in judgment if you were not in 
 His power ? ' Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth 
 where no gin is for him ? ' Can destruction take you 
 unless it is for your sin ? 'Shall a trumpet be blown in 
 the city, and the people not be afraid ? ' The procla- 
 mation which I make ought to terrify this city. 'Shall 
 there be evil in a city, and the Lord hath not done it ? ' 
 The calamity which is to burst upon this city is from 
 Jehovah. * Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but 
 He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets.' 
 He will not bring punishment and calamity without 
 having first warned you through His messengers. But 
 on the other hand, the warning shall be surely followed 
 by the punishment. ' The lion hath roared, who will not 
 fear ? ' Can one fail to fear when the lion roars ? ' The 
 Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy ? ' Can 
 one fail to prophesy when God has commanded him?" 
 To sum up the first eight verses : *'0 men of Israel — 
 God's chosen people, and for that reason to be punished 
 because of your sins ; I have a terrible message for you 
 — one which I would fain withhold, but one which I 
 must announce. I must prophesy what God com- 
 mands." He invites the inhabitants of Philistia and 
 Egypt — the unrighteous and ungodly nations around 
 about — to come and see the tumult and the violence in 
 this city of Samaria. "Ah," he says, "an enemy comes 
 who will hurl down your glory, and plunder your pal- 
 aces. There will remain something perhaps ; but as a 
 shepherd taketh out of the mouth of a lion two shin- 
 bones, or a piece of an ear, so shall it be with the luxu- 
 rious grandees who sit on costly couches. In the day of 
 my visitation, I will destroy every altar in Bethel. I 
 will utterly destroy every summer-house — every palace 
 
96 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFlELD. ' 
 
 — everything." Will you sum that up and condense it 
 a little more ? " Let all the outside and ungodly nations 
 come and see the abominations and wickedness of this 
 city, and testify of them. Says the Lord God : An 
 enemy will utterly destroy all this glory. Every altar, 
 every palace, will be destroyed." 
 
 He continues, in the 4th chapter : " Hear this word, 
 ye kine of Bashan " — the voluptuous women of Samaria, 
 who had committed every debauchery. "God swears — 
 hear well His oath — that you shall be torn violently away 
 from your present debaucheries. You will be led away 
 like cattle. You will be carried out through breaches in 
 the wall to a far-off country. Yes, Israel," — in the 4th 
 verse — " multiply your sins. Make your idolatrous sacri- 
 fices and tithes and free-will offerings. That is just like 
 you. I have made every effort to save you. Famine 
 has failed to draw you back to Me. Drought has failed 
 to draw you back to Me ; and don't think this drought 
 was by chance, for — don't you remember ? — I caused it 
 to rain upon one city, and didn't cause it to rain upon 
 another, and two or three cities staggered into one city 
 for water and didn't get sufficient. Then came the de- 
 struction of your crops, and pestilence, and the slaying 
 of your young men in war, till you couldn't bear the 
 stench of your camps. These things haven't brought 
 you back. Destruction like that of Sodom and Gomor- 
 rah has failed to bring you back. Therefore, since these 
 chastisements have failed, I will do this to you : I will 
 utterly and absolutely destroy you as a people ; and 
 since I am to do this, prepare ! Ah ! you smile ; and 
 you ask whose threat is this, and who it is that an- 
 nounces this terrible thing. He that formed the moun- 
 tains and created the wind, and declareth unto man 
 what is His thought, that maketh the morning dark- 
 
THE BOOK OF AMOS. 9/ 
 
 ness, and walketh upon the heights of the mountains — 
 Jehovah, God of hosts, is His name." This was the 
 conclusion of the first sermon. Will you sum it all up ? 
 Imagine that you are Israel, and I am Amos. Let us 
 get this thing before us vividly. " O men of Israel — 
 God's chosen people, and for that reason to be punished 
 because of your sins : I have a terrible message which 
 I must announce. It is coming. God wants you 
 warned. I, His prophet, must prophesy because He has 
 commanded me." And to the outside and ungodly na- 
 tions : " Come and look into this city, and see and 
 testify unto the wickedness and abominations that exist 
 here." Again to Israel : " Let me tell you there is com- 
 ing an enemy that will destroy all this glory, and leave 
 scarcely a vestige of all these haughty and sensual 
 nobles. Every altar, every palace, will be destroyed. 
 And not only will men suffer ; women too — sharers of 
 your debaucheries — will be dragged away through 
 broken walls to a far-off country. Yes, Israel ; go on 
 in your idolatrous course. Every effort has been made 
 to save you. Every chastisement has been sent — fam- 
 ine, drought, destruction of property, pestilence, war 
 — but nothing has succeeded. The utter destruction is 
 coming — the destruction — the absolute destruction. 
 Thus saith the Almighty God." 
 
 The second sermon of Amos is contained in the 5th 
 and 6th chapters. He begins : " Hear ye this word 
 which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O 
 house of Israel. The virgin of Israel is fallen, never 
 more to rise. But a tenth is left of all the armies of 
 Israel." This is his first statement. And then he mor- 
 alizes : " This is indeed terrible ; but you deserve to be 
 destroyed, for you have done exactly the opposite of 
 what God commanded you to do." In the 4th verse : 
 
98 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 " Seek Me. Seek not Bethel, or Gilgal, or Beersheba. 
 Seek Me, lest I break out like fire, and there be none to 
 quench it. Ye that turn judgment to wormwood, and 
 leave off righteousness in the earth ; seek God who 
 curneth morning into darkness — who calleth for the 
 waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face 
 of the earth. The Lord is destruction upon the strong. 
 What have you done ? You hate your teachers ; you 
 abhor those who speak uprightly ; you trample upon 
 the poor. You shall be punished. Your sins are many. 
 You take bribes ; you turn aside the needy." In the 
 13th verse he begins to specialize certain classes of 
 people in his audience. To the first class he says : " If 
 there are any of you who would escape this judgment, I 
 will tell you how to do it. Seek God. Hate the evil, 
 and love the good ; establish judgment ; and it may be 
 that God will be gracious to the remnant. For the time 
 is coming when there will be great mourning — when 
 there shall be in all the roads and streets men crying, 
 Alas ! Alas ! and in all the vineyards wailing." Then 
 there is another class : those who think Israel will be 
 redeemed from her misery. He says : "Woe to all such. 
 Of what good is the day of Jehovah to you ? It is 
 darkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a 
 lion, and a bear met him ; or went into the house and 
 leaned his hand on the wall and a serpent bit him. 
 Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, and not 
 light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?" Then 
 there is a third class of people in his audience. These 
 are the people who have been depending upon the car- 
 rying out of the ceremonial law. He says to them : 
 " Nor will these threatened judgments be averted by 
 your feasts and sacrifices. Away with them ! I despise 
 your feast-days ; yea, though ye think to offer me offer- 
 
THE BOOK OF AMOS. 99 
 
 ings, I will not accept them. Take thou away from 
 Me the noise of thy songs ; for I will not hear the 
 melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as 
 waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. The 
 fact is, O Israel, you have been idolatrous from time 
 immemorial. In the desert you went into idolatry. In 
 all the times of all your kings, you practised idolatry. 
 Therefore I will carry you away beyond Damascus." 
 In the 6th chapter he goes on : " Woe to you, chief men 
 of Zion, who trust in the mountains of Samaria — ye 
 that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of 
 violence to come near. Woe to you who live lives of 
 licentiousness and debauchery. I abhor you. I will 
 give up your city to the enemy. Not one of you shall 
 escape." The loth is a very interesting verse : "When 
 a man's uncle shall take him up, and he that burneth 
 him, to bring out the bones out of the house, and shall 
 say unto him that is in the innermost parts of the house, 
 Is there any yet with thee ? and he shall say, No ; then 
 shall he say. Hold thy peace, for we may not make men- 
 tion of the name of the Lord." So utter is this destruc- 
 tion that everybody shall be destroyed ; and yet if some 
 one should remain — a tenth man, the other nine being 
 dead — he will be so terrified that he will go into the 
 back part of the house, and when he is discovered, he 
 will say : "Be quiet. Don't mention the name of God. 
 We don't want Him to know there is any of us left." So 
 terrible is this destruction ! " Nor will you," continues 
 the prophet, " when everything is ready, be able to turn 
 aside the punishment." This closes the second sermon. 
 Will you try to grasp it as a whole ? " Israel is fallen — 
 never more to rise. Why? Because you did just the 
 opposite of what God commanded you to do. Because 
 you served at Bethel and Gilgal. Yet God says : 'Seek 
 
lOO COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 Me, O ye that turn judgment to wormwood.' Though 
 you are commanded to seek God, you will not. You 
 hate your teachers, and abhor the upright. You shall 
 be punished. Your sins are many. You shall be swept 
 away. If there are any of you who as individuals would 
 escape this, do good. If any of you are thinking there 
 will be a day of redemption, rid your minds of such a 
 thought, for there is nothing in it. If there are any of 
 you who are resting upon sacrifices and offerings, let me 
 tell you, I hate the whole thing. I will have nothing to 
 do with them. The fact is, O Israel, you have been 
 idolaters from the beginning. You deserve punish- 
 ment. You shall be punished. And the chief men — 
 your leaders in self-indulgence — will be leaders among 
 the captives in a short time. I abhor you. Your city 
 shall be wiped out of existence. You who have turned 
 judgment into bitterness shall taste bitterness. A na- 
 tion shall be raised up to afflict you." 
 
 Will you imagine, if you please, that the prophet stops 
 for a while ? He has preached two sermons. The peo- 
 ple know what he has come for. It may have been a 
 week after, or a year — we don't know — it must have 
 been some time — he appears again upon the street. You 
 have the beginning of his further discourse in the 7th 
 chapter. He says : " I had a vision last night." This 
 time he changes his method of dealing with the people. 
 He is, however, endeavoring to accomplish the same 
 end. " Thus hath the Lord God showed me a vision — 
 a dream : Behold, He formed locusts ; and, lo, it was in 
 the latter growth after the king's mowings. And it 
 came to pass that when they had made an end of eating 
 the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, 
 I beseech Thee." Then he tells the people the Lord 
 God repented, and said, "It shall not be." Amos says 
 
THE BOOK OF AMOS. lOI 
 
 that the destruction came out to destroy, but that at his 
 interposition God withdrew His hand. No doubt the 
 people thanked God that there was one among them 
 whose interposition was so effective. Next morning he 
 goes on. He has had another vision. The people crowd 
 around him to hear what it is. "The Lord God called 
 to contend by fire ; and it devoured the great deep, and 
 would have eaten up the land. Then said I, O Lord 
 God, cease, I beseech Thee : how shall Jacob stand ? fot- 
 he is small. And the Lord said : This also shall not 
 be." Again the people rejoice that there is one in their 
 midst who can turn aside the hand of God from destroy- 
 ing them. Next day or next week he appears again. 
 He says : " I have seen another vision. The Lord God. 
 stood beside a wall with a plumb-line, and He said to 
 me, Behold, I will set a plumb-line in the midst of My 
 people Israel : I will not again pass by them any more." 
 Israel had been carefully taken care of. Her towns had 
 been built by the plumb-line. Now they were to be just 
 as carefully demolished as they had been built. " I will 
 set a plumb-line in the midst of My people Israel : I 
 will not again pass by them any more : and the high 
 places of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of 
 Israel shall be laid waste." Notice what follows : "And 
 I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the 
 sword." This was too much. Jeroboam was king. For 
 the first time the preacher mentioned his name. "Then 
 Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to Jeroboam, king 
 of Israel, saying, Amos hath conspired against thee in 
 the midst of the house of Israel : the land is not able to 
 bear all his words. For thus Amos saith, Jeroboam 
 shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led 
 captive out of their own land." This third sermon of 
 Amos was too much for the people, and Amaziah sent 
 
I02 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 to the king. In the 12th v^rse the high-priest Amaziah 
 calls Amos, and says to him : " O thou seer, go, flee thee 
 away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and 
 prophesy there : but prophesy not again any more at 
 Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal 
 house." Amos is ordered to stop. How does he receive 
 the message ? " Then answered Amos and said to Ama- 
 ziah, I am no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son. I 
 am not one of those men that go under the name of 
 prophets. I am no minister. Nor am I a prophet's son: 
 I never was educated in a school of the prophets. I 
 was a herd man and a dresser of sycamore trees. And 
 the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord 
 said unto me. Go, prophesy unto My people Israel. Now 
 therefore hear thou the word of the Lord : Thou say- 
 est. Prophesy not against Israel. Thus saith the Lord : 
 Thy wife shall be an harlot in the city, and thy sons and 
 daughters shall fall by the sword, and thy land shall be 
 divided by line ; and thou thyself shalt die in a land 
 that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away cap- 
 tive out of his land. I am simply setting before you 
 what I was commanded by God to declare. You can't 
 stop me. The king can't stop me." 
 
 The fourth vision is that of summer fruit. " Behold," 
 says Amos, " I saw a basket of summer fruit. And the 
 Lord said. The end is come upon My people Israel. I 
 will not again pass by them any more. And the songs 
 of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the 
 Lord ; the dead bodies shall be many ; in every place 
 shall they cast them forth with silence." This was his 
 vision. There is no interposing hand now. He doesn't 
 pray to God asking Him to cease, and to forbear. The 
 time is past for that. He goes right on, and foretells 
 utter destruction. Before the command came for him 
 
THE BOOK OF AMOS. JO3 
 
 to Stop work, Amos merely delivered his visions. The 
 first three are merely statements. Then the order came 
 from the king that he should depart and preach no 
 more. He sees that it is of no use to plead for this peo- 
 ple. So this time he isn't satisfied with merely deliver- 
 ing his vision. He announces his vision and then 
 preaches a sermon upon it — as he does also with the 
 next vision. Here is his sermon. [The speaker read 
 the remainder of the 8th chapter.] 
 
 And now in the 9th chapter we find that Amos ap- 
 pears again — the next day, or the next month. He has 
 had another vision, and this is the most terrible of all. 
 *' I saw the Lord," he says, " standing beside the altar ; 
 and He said. Smite the chapiters, that the thresholds 
 may shake ; and break them in pieces on the head of 
 all of them ; and I will slay the last of them with the 
 sword : there shall not one of them flee away, and there 
 shall not one of them escape." This was the vision : 
 an altar broken. The nation is supposed to stand at 
 the threshold of the temple ; a blow is rtruck on the 
 top, and the whole building is destroyed. He preaches 
 again upon this. [The speaker read verses 2-10.J 
 
 Now, will you go back to the beginning ? Will you 
 remember the introduction ? — the destruction of Damas- 
 cus, of Philistia, of Tyre ; the destruction of Edom, of 
 Moab, of Ammon ; the destruction of Judah ; the de- 
 struction of Israel. Will you recall the first sermon — 
 foretelling punishment for sin ; and the second sermon — 
 filled with lamentation over Israel ? Then came the five 
 visions, every one of which breathes forth destruction — 
 the locusts, the fire, the plumb-line, the summer-fruit, 
 and the broken altar. Is there any bright side ? Is the 
 future beyond altogether night ? No. For although 
 Israel is to be destroyed, there is a remnant — a precious 
 
104 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTIIFIELI). 
 
 remnant. And dark and terrible as have been his words, 
 Amos closes with five verses of promise, beginning with 
 the nth verse : " In that day will I raise up the taber- 
 nacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches 
 thereof ; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build 
 it as in the days of old." The royal line of David shall 
 be raised up and given dominion over all the nations. 
 The 13th verse indicates a rapid succession of harvests, 
 and abundant. material prosperity. These were the Old 
 Testament modes of representing this great and glorious 
 epoch that was to come. He goes on in the 14th verse : 
 " Israel shall be restored from captivity, and shall build 
 cities, and plant vineyards and gardens. And never 
 again will I pluck them out of their land, saith Jehovah, 
 thy God." 
 
 Several important questions arise, such as : " When 
 was all this fulfilled ? " and, " Is there to be a return of 
 the Jews to Palestine — a return after which they shall 
 never more be plucked out of their land ?" These ques- 
 tions cannot be considered here. Whatever answer you 
 may make to them, the question just now is, What is the 
 great lesson — the great message — of this book ? It is 
 one which many ministers in our day hesitate to preach, 
 but one upon which the very truth of the Gospel hangs : 
 punishment — punishment ! — yes, the punishment of sin- 
 ners ; and yet the redemption and love of those who 
 acknowledge God. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SATAN FALLEN FROM HEAVEN. 
 
 Address by Bishop Hendrix, of the Southern Methodist Church — 
 Mission of the Seventy Disciples — Our Saviour's Vision — His 
 Joy in Beholding a Consecrated and Aggressive Church — Activ- 
 ity of the Laity Essential to Progress — Centuries of Stagnation — 
 Modern Recognition of Lay Service — Christian Evolution — Char- 
 acter Indispensable to Success. 
 
 Will you please turn to the loth chapter of Luke's 
 Gospel ? I shall seek to expound to you this morning 
 the mission of the seventy, as recorded in the first 24 
 verses of that chapter. We know much about the twelve 
 Apostles. We know each one of their names, which are 
 again and again repeated. But we don't know a single 
 name of the seventy. The circumstances of the sending 
 out of the twelve and of the seventy were deeply im- 
 pressive. In the case of the twelve our Lord spent the 
 whole night in prayer previous to their being sent forth, 
 and their appointment seemed to fill His mind with 
 great anxiety. But special joy seemed to fill His heart 
 over the labors of the seventy — seemingly more than 
 over the labors of the twelve ; for when they returned, 
 announcing the results of their work, He rejoiced before 
 them all, declaring that as they were laboring He wit- 
 nessed the speedy overthrow of Satan. Attending both 
 appointments there was some measure of formality. In 
 the case of the Apostles, they seem to have been or- 
 dained, or solemnly set apart, to the work. In the case 
 
 (105) 
 
I06 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTIIFIELD. 
 
 of the seventy, while perhaps there was less ceremony, 
 our Lord's aim seems to have been to fill their hearts 
 with a sense of their responsibility to those to whom 
 they were sent. 
 
 Now, shall we read the passage ? "After these things." 
 The incident which we are to consider occurred during 
 the latter part of our Lord's ministry, or possibly within 
 six or eight months of His decease. Luke places it after 
 the Transfiguration. We know that the Transfiguration 
 of Christ occurred not a great while before His death 
 and ascension. "After these things ": after the twelve 
 had been appointed and had been at work. When the 
 twelve were being ordained, no doubt there was many 
 a heart among the spectators aching to do something 
 for the Lord. Many a disciple, possibly, would have 
 been glad to go forth and announce in some village or 
 city : " The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you." 
 Then " the Lord appointed other seventy also," and sent 
 them forth ; and, like the Apostles, He sent them forth 
 two and two. The very names of the Apostles are 
 usually given two together. In the Acts recording their 
 labors, it is " Paul and Silas," " Paul and Barnabas " — 
 co-laborers. Whenever Paul was left alone, despond- 
 ency seems to have seized him. The Apostles and the 
 disciples were sent forth two by two in order that they 
 might comfort and strengthen each other. God has a 
 wonderful arithmetic. He makes two ten times more 
 than one. " How should one chase a thousand, and two 
 put ten thousand to flight?" We all need the friend- 
 ship, help, and sympathy that can come from contact 
 with kindred spirits. "Therefore saith He unto them. 
 The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few ; 
 pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest, that He 
 would send forth laborers into His harvest" The same 
 
SATAN FALLEN FROM HEAVEN. I07 
 
 language is used here as in the sending out of the 
 twelve. And much of the language which directs their 
 labors is similar : " Go your ways ; Behold, I send you 
 j^orth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor 
 scrip, nor shoes ; and salute no man by the way." "Your 
 business is urgent." The habits of the Orientals are to 
 linger by the roadside, and to interchange compliments, 
 and gossip, and spend hours of valuable time in that 
 manner. Jesus would have His disciples salute no man 
 by the way— refrain from any of those interchanges of 
 courtesy by virtue of the importance of their mission. 
 " And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be 
 to this house." A layman or a minister needs to respect 
 the proprieties of life, and the rights of others. To en- 
 ter a man's home is a delicate matter. You must enter 
 it in the name and with the spirit of Christ, if you would 
 find access to human hearts. To talk to a man about 
 his soul is a delicate matter. It should never be done 
 brusquely or rudely ; but rather kindly — in the spirit of 
 peace. "And if the son of peace be there, your peace 
 shall rest upon it." " If the man is easily receptive of 
 the kindly and gentle influence, your peace will abide." 
 " If not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same 
 house remain, eating and drinking such things as they 
 give : For the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not 
 from house to house." By this I understand that the 
 Master would caution them against a too social life — a 
 too free participation in hospitality, by which their 
 minds might be diverted ; just as He bade them refrain 
 from ordinary salutations in order that valuable time 
 might be saved for more important work. There are 
 sins of the table of which ministers of God may be 
 guilty, which they need to guard against if they would 
 devote themselves wholly to the work of the Lord, 
 
I08 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 "And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive 
 you, eat such things as are set before yoa." " Don't be 
 squeamish as to food offered to idols. Let none of those 
 matters interfere with your single work. It is nothing 
 to you. what idols your food may have stood before." 
 " And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them : 
 The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into 
 whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go 
 your ways out into the streets of the same, and say : 
 Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, 
 we do wipe off against you ; notwithstanding, be ye sure 
 of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. 
 But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable in 
 
 that day for Sodom than for that city He that 
 
 heareth you, heareth Me ; and he that despiseth you, 
 despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him 
 that sent Me." 
 
 That was the extent of the commission. The dis- 
 ciples were seemingly given like authority with the 
 Apostles, save in this : there was no special commission 
 to preach, and there was no special commission to cast 
 out devils. Their commission was to go and prepare 
 the way of the Lord, like John the Baptist — to heal the 
 sick, and announce Christ's coming — to say: "The 
 Master Himself will sooa be here. The kingdom of 
 God is come nigh unto you." Now, observe what fol- 
 lowed. "And the seventy returned again with joy, 
 saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through 
 Thy name." He hadn't given them any authority to 
 cast out devils ; but such was their zeal and delight in 
 His service that when they found some of those unfor- 
 tunate persons who in our Lord's day were possessed by 
 evil spirits, they essayed to cast them out, and suc- 
 ceeded. They accomplished what the Apostles, although 
 
. SATAN FALLEN FROM HEAVEN. 109 
 
 clothed with authority, sometimes failed to accomplish. 
 They had become conscious of power which they could 
 use for the Master, assured of His blessing. Had Satan 
 multiplied himself in numberless forms ? Had evil 
 spirits become incarnate in unfortunate victims ? Then 
 the Lord could send forth a multitude of men able to 
 cast out those evil spirits. They returned, we are told, 
 with joy, announcing to the Lord this wonderful result. 
 " And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning 
 fall from Heaven." "While you were engaged in this 
 work, now and then casting out an evil spirit, I had a 
 vision of the overthrow of the kingdom of evil. I saw 
 Satan fallen " — so the new version renders it — " like 
 lightning from Heaven, his kingdom actually over- 
 thrown." "Fallen"; and "fallen like lightning." A 
 marvellous declaration ! These seventy brought to the 
 vision of our Lord a thrilling experience that the work 
 of the twelve hadn't brought. He had a joy in their 
 labor that seemingly did not come to Him from the work 
 of the Apostles themselves. 
 
 Now, I submit to you this question : When there was 
 granted during our Lord's lifetime a vision like that, of 
 the speedy overthrow of the kingdom of evil, why the 
 delay — and the Qhurch of the living God for centuries 
 crying out : " How long, O Lord, how long ? " What 
 was the explanation of the joy of our Lord in that 
 eventful hour ? For this joy was the great undertone of 
 His life. We speak of Him as a Man of Sorrows. He 
 was really a Man of Joys — "who, for the joy that was 
 set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, 
 and was set down at the right hand of the throne of 
 God " — and oftentimes the joy in Him was so exuber- 
 ant that it burst out in expression. In this case He re- 
 joiced before His disciples, so that they were profoundly 
 
no COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 impressed with His joy. Why was that joy granted to 
 the Master then? And the consummation which He 
 beheld so speedily effected — why has it been so long 
 delayed ? 
 
 From this mission of the seventy I propose to draw 
 some lessons, which I trust will be of large profit under 
 God to each of us. The first one is this : The secret of 
 our Master's joy was the vision of a consecrated and 
 aggressive Church. Those seventy, at that time seemed, 
 apart from the Apostles, to have constituted the entire 
 Church. They composed the rank and file of the 
 Church. They were the Master's laborers, on whom He 
 could depend. They responded eagerly to His call and 
 went forth joyfully to His work. I don't think they 
 were ministers — though many of them possibly after- 
 wards became ministers. They were what we would 
 now designate as lay preachers — also engaged in secular 
 employment, now and then essaying religious work, and 
 doing it with the signal blessing of God resting richly 
 upon them. It was this spectacle — not of the twelve at 
 work, but of the seventy at work — that so thrilled our 
 Lord with holy joy. Their consecrated activities were 
 a pledge of what the Church should do when wholly 
 enlisted in the work of extending the kingdom of our 
 Lord. A false view of the Church has greatly delayed 
 its achieving this result. It is too often supposed to be 
 simply the ministry. The true conception of the Church 
 is that it is a body of faithful persons among whom 
 God's Word is preached and the sacraments are duly 
 administered. The preacher is but the minister or ser- 
 vant of the Church. The Church in the Scriptures is 
 always designated by " the faithful " — *' the saints." 
 The minister is appointed to feed this flock of Christ. 
 It is his duty to instruct them, to stimulate and direct 
 
SATAN FALLEN FROM HEAVEN. Ill 
 
 their labors, and to organize them for the greatest effi- 
 ciency. Whenever the Church has supposed that its 
 battles are to be fought merely by its officers, or the 
 ministers of the Word, it has failed to achieve any sig- 
 nal result. The Church is the body of Christ — " the 
 fulness of Him that filleth all in all." He is as incar- 
 nate in His Church to-day as He was in the person of 
 Mary's son. And the Church manifests to the world 
 His spirit and life. It is a vision of " the faithful " — 
 "the saints " — heartily enlisted for the extension of His 
 kingdom — eagerly doing His bidding — enterprising 
 large things in His name, and achieving signal success 
 — that fills Him with such joy, and calls forth from His 
 lips the announcement of the speedy consummation of 
 His work. 
 
 Another lesson is this : In all normal periods in the 
 history of the Church, the laymen have abounded in ac- 
 tivity for God. The father of the faithful himself — 
 Abraham — was a layman. The patriarchs, in the name 
 of whose God Israel was wont to pray — Isaac and Jacob 
 — were laymen. Joseph, the mighty statesman of Israel 
 and Egypt — whose faith and courage saved a nation 
 alive, and whose unburied bones remained a pledge of 
 his own confidence that the Promised Land should be 
 given to his seed, until, borne by the triumphant host, 
 they rested in the Holy Land itself — was, like the other 
 patriarchs, a layman. Caleb and Joshua, appointed to 
 lead those hosts to victory, were laymen. Gideon and 
 Barak, Jephthah and Samson, called to complete the 
 victories which those other laymen had won, were them- 
 selves also laymen. And the time would fail to tell of 
 Mordecai, and of Nehemiah, and of the three Hebrew 
 children, and of the Maccabees — all devout laymen, 
 whose faith in the darkest hours quickened the faith of 
 
112 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 Others. Nor is it less true of the laity of the New Tes- 
 tament that they usually abounded in labors for the 
 Master. Two of them were chosen as evangelists to 
 write the story of the Lord's life — one writing also the 
 record of the Acts of the Apostles. So full of zeal and 
 labor were Mark and Luke that we need to be reminded 
 that they were not of the twelve, though possibly they 
 were of the seventy. Laymen like Cornelius, and 
 Aquila, and Gains, and Stephen, and Philip — saints like 
 the Marys, and Salome, and Dorcas, and Lydia — how 
 can their names disappear from the sacred record with 
 which they are so inseparably connected ? In those 
 normal days of the history of the Church, the laity 
 were intimately associated with the Apostles, alike in 
 trial and in labor. Many were devoted students of the 
 Scriptures ; and Aquila and Priscilla could instruct an 
 Apollos. Lois and Eunice developed the religious life 
 of a Timothy. And the same continued to be the case 
 in the early Church, when Origen of Alexandria, widely 
 known for his diligence as a student of the Scriptures, 
 was invited by the bishops of Caesarea and Jerusalem to 
 preach before them. A false notion, however, of the 
 work of the ministry — that they were to serve in an in- 
 termediary relation between the laity and the Saviour — 
 led to the Synod of Rome in 502 refusing the laity per- 
 mission to participate in the affairs of the Church. This 
 led subsequently to their being refused the sacrament in 
 both kinds, and not long after to their being denied the 
 reading of the Scriptures. This paralysis of the body 
 soon led to a paralysis of the tongue itself ;. and thelay> 
 men ceasing to read, and in a measure to expound the 
 Scriptures, resulted in not a sermon being preached by 
 a bishop of Rome for a period of five hundred years. 
 The priests ceased to be expounders of the Word, and 
 
SATAN FALLEN FROM HEAVEN. II3 
 
 worship became simply a matter of ritual In this state 
 of affairs preaching monks arose — the Dominicans 
 and the Franciscans — who went everywhere preaching 
 the Word as they knew it. Though they were laymen, 
 so were they hailed on every side that they began to be 
 known as the regular clergy, in distinction from the 
 priests, who were called the secular clergy. The work 
 of these laymen helped to save the Church of Rome 
 from complete disintegration. With the beginning of 
 Protestantism, laymen entered, as in the Apostolic times, 
 into the work of extending the kingdom of our Lord. 
 All honor to the Presbyterian Church, which, in such an 
 early day, called into its councils wise and godly lay- 
 men — an example that has been followed by other de- 
 nominations in the Protestant world, until to-day there 
 is not a leading church in Christendom that doesn't al- 
 low laymen to share in its deliberations and legislation. 
 And the consequence is that out of this awakened life 
 of the Church there has gone forth an influence upon 
 the world, helping to reproduce the vision of Satan 
 fallen like lightning from Heaven. A dead church 
 means inactive laymen. A preacher who cannot enlist 
 and stir the laity into activity is himself to be pitied. 
 He reproduces himself ten-fold — an hundred-fold — 
 through the activities of the laity. The whole concep- 
 tion of the ministry, my brethren, is to feed the flock, 
 and to set them to work. Let us bear that in mind, and 
 be delivered from those false views which would as- 
 sume for ourselves the doing of this work. No — no ! 
 Let us have the spirit of Moses when he said : " Would 
 that all the Lord's people were prophets." We note in 
 our day manifold forms of lay activity — not only in the 
 Sabbath-school, in medical mission work, in hospital 
 work at home, and in city missionary work, but in Bible 
 
114 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 study, and the wide-reaching influence of the Young 
 Men's Christian Association — an organization which, in 
 view of the development it has given to the work of 
 laymen, I venture to call the religious movement of the 
 nineteenth century. Our Lord would seem to be again 
 sending out an army composed of the rank and file of 
 His Church into every place whither He Hiftnself would 
 come. 
 
 The third lesson I wish to draw is this : From the 
 ranks of consecrated laymen God calls men to preach 
 His Gospel. This is the process of evolution in the 
 Church of the living God. [Mr. Moody — I believe in 
 that kind of evolution.] The Apostles were first laymen, 
 taught by Christ, before He commissioned and sent 
 them forth to preach His Gospel. And doubtless 
 from the ranks of those seventy He sent forth later 
 many to preach His Gospel. Stephen and Philip 
 may have been of the number — possibly Barnabas and 
 Silas. Many of the seventy may have been of those who 
 went out after the persecution of Stephen everywhere 
 preaching the Gospel. And this has been the history of 
 the calling of men to the holy ministry in all periods. 
 A notable instance occurred in the history of Ambrose, 
 who was Governor of Northern Italy, living in his palace 
 at Milan. The Bishop of Milan having died, and great 
 excitement prevailing on account of the Arian heresy 
 that was then assuming formidable proportions, the 
 multitude filled the streets in front of the palace of 
 Ambrose, proclaiming their anxiety for the very life of 
 the Church. The Roman Governor stepped forth to 
 quiet their fears with words of wise counsel. He as- 
 sured them that Christ who was Head over all things to 
 His Church would soon fill the place made vacant by 
 the death of their pastor. So were they impressed by 
 
SATAN FALLEN FROM HEAVEN. II5 
 
 his faith and love for the Church, and knowing so well 
 his life of piety and his beautiful Christian character, 
 that the voice of the multitude cried : "Let Ambrose be 
 bishop." The clamor was taken up on all sides, and the 
 accomplished orator and wise Governor found himself 
 called, alike by the voice of the people and by a sense 
 of personal duty, to the work of the holy ministry. At 
 his feet, drawn by his fame as a rhetorician, sat Augus- 
 tine, who, returning to Africa, w^as himself called, in 
 recognition alike of his gifts and of his piety, to preach 
 the Gospel as the Bishop of Hippo. And so it has 
 transpired in all ages of the Church's history, that God 
 lays His hand upon laymen, devout and zealous, to de- 
 vote themselves wholly to His service. I have no fear 
 as to the future of any man whose greatest delight is to 
 obey and serve his Saviour. He settles first of all the 
 matter of personal consecration, saying : ^' Lord God, 
 make the best possible use of me "; and along that line 
 he finds the highest joy in life, because he puts himself 
 where His Master can use him. 
 
 The other point I wish to make is this : That charac- 
 ter is more important than service. To the exultant 
 seventy announcing that the devils were subject to them 
 in His name, Christ said : " Rejoice not that the spirits 
 are subject unto you ; but rather rejoice that your names 
 are written in Heaven." My dear brethren, it is not 
 what we are, but what we do, that is the most important 
 thing. The Apostle feared that having preached to 
 others he himself might become a castaway. The vital 
 question, at the basis of all Christian work, is what we 
 are. The service we are rendering is best measured by 
 that standard. Many a heart grows despondent because 
 it is not doing more, when the fact is that it is accom- 
 plishing far more than it has any knowledge of. Brother 
 
Il6 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 layman, you can never bring any one nearer to Christ 
 than you are yourself. Brother minister, you will never 
 lift your congregation nearer to the Saviour than you 
 are yourself. If you are abiding in Christ you are re- 
 producing yourself in thousands of instances when you 
 are wholly unaware of it, because you have possessed so 
 much of the spirit and life of your Master. Out of this 
 personal relationship between the soul and Christ come 
 the fruits of holy living. The vine does not bear fruit 
 of itself ; it bears its fruit through the branches. Our 
 unconscious influence becomes thus far more fruitful 
 than our conscious influence. In that day many shall 
 bewail that they have accomplished so little, and look- 
 ing at the scanty results shall say : " When saw we 
 Thee hungry and fed Thee ; or athirst and gave Thee 
 drink ? " — to find that unconsciously their lives had 
 abounded in fruits well pleasing in the Master's sight. 
 It is from such holy lives as this that is derived our 
 Master's highest joy. It is when the whole body of 
 Christ becomes instinct with His spirit that the world 
 is made conscious of His Divine Headship over the 
 Church. 
 
 By way of personal application : To the young men 
 before me let me say that the best service you can ren- 
 der the Master is to be yourselves like Him. You can- 
 not be too diligent as students, not only of His Word, 
 but in all the departments of human science. But what- 
 ever attainment you possess, bring it, as did the wase 
 men of the East, their gifts ; lay it at the feet of the 
 Saviour ; and from such holy service God may call you 
 to higher orders of service. Brethren, if you cannot be of 
 the twelve, at least rejoice to be of the seventy. And may 
 God multiply your labors abundantly. May you thrill 
 the heart of your Lord as He gazes upon your efforts. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ABIDING IN CHRIST. 
 
 Address by the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor—" I am the True Vine "— 
 Significance of the Language — Giving Out and Taking In — 
 Cleansing Through the Word — The Difference between Abiding 
 and Feeding — Fruits of Abiding : Growth in Grace and Ineffable 
 Joy in Service— "Abide in Me, and I in You" — A Mysterious 
 Union. 
 
 Will you open with me to the 15th chapter of the 
 Gospel of St. John : " I am the true vine, and My Father 
 is the husbandman." It is a great help in studying 
 Scripture to get, if we can, the key of the passage under 
 consideration ; and you will very frequently find it at 
 the beginning of a book or at the beginning of a chap- 
 ter. We get the key to the whole question of fruit- 
 bearing, which is the subject of this chapter, in the first 
 two words : " I am." It is not what you are, but what 
 He is, that is the all-important thing. " I am." As an- 
 other illustration, take the 23d Psalm. What is the key 
 of that Psalm ? You get it there again in the first two 
 words : " The Lord." It is about the Lord. It is not 
 about you ; it is about Him. As to what we are — why, 
 we are as changeable as the winds and the clouds ; but 
 as to what He is. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and 
 forever. The blessing of the 23d Psalm— and that ap- 
 plies to-day — depends upon this : upon what the Lord 
 is, and upon what the Lord does. And the question of 
 fruit-bearing depends, not upon what we are, not where 
 
 (117) 
 
Il8 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 we are. Our surroundings are — I was going to sa}' im- 
 material. They are not. immaterial, because they are 
 what God has ordered and arranged. God puts every 
 man in the very best place for himself and for the world 
 at the time. Young people whose hearts are stirred 
 about missionary work are apt to say : " Well, you 
 know, I am surrounded by very unfavorable circum- 
 stances — surrounded by such a set of college compan- 
 ions ; or at home the influences are against me. If I 
 could only go to India or China, I could shine for Jesus." 
 Why, dear friends, a candle that won't shine in one room 
 is very unlikely to shine in another. If you don't shine 
 at home — if your father and mother, your sister and 
 brother, if the very cat and dog in the house are not the 
 better and happier for your being a Christian, it is a 
 question whether you really are one. It isn't our sur- 
 roundings and circumstances that are the all-important 
 thing ; but how far we are linked — how close is the 
 union between our souls and God. What do we know 
 about Him ? What is He to us ? This is the all-import- 
 ant question. And this beautiful chapter — we are all 
 longing to be fruit-bearers, you know — brings the whole 
 question before us in the first verse, I might almost say 
 in the first words : " I am." It is just here ; and in 
 reading the Bible — if I may still dwell on this subject a 
 little before I read — you will be surprised if your atten- 
 tion has not been drawn to it before, how the Lord 
 renders prominent all through the Bible what He is, and 
 what He is going to do. Take for instance that won- 
 derful chapter, the 36th of Ezekiel, where the Lord says 
 that He is going to take His people out from among the 
 heathen ; He is going to bring them back into their own 
 land, and He is going to sprinkle clean water upon them 
 and make them clean ; He is going to write His law in 
 
ABIDING IN CHRIST. IIQ 
 
 their hearts, and He is going to keep them right, as well 
 as put them right. It is what He is all the way through. 
 Take that chapter and read it through, and emphasize 
 the first personal pronoun where it clearly refers to the 
 Lord ; and if it doesn't surprise and delight you, it will 
 do less for you than it has done for me. So in reading 
 this chapter — the 15th of John — we have got to lose 
 sight of what we are, and fix our attention upon the 
 true vine, our Saviour, and upon His Father. " I am the 
 true vine," he says ; " and My Father is the husband- 
 man." 
 
 Notice what the Lord Jesus says here : " I am the 
 true vine." Of course, this refers to the 15th chapter 
 of Ezekiel, where Israel is spoken of as a vine brought 
 out of Egypt. I wish I had leisure to compare these 
 two chapters together, because the 15th of Ezekiel and 
 the 15th of John are both about a vine — the one about 
 a vine brought out of Egypt, and the other about the true 
 vine. Israel proved a false vine. He bore fruit for him- 
 self ; not for God. But Christ is the true vine. And 
 then there is another thought about this expression — 
 " I am the true vine." What is the meaning of the 
 word "true" ? It isn't sure ; it isn't true as opposed to 
 false ; it isn't that the vine-trees that we have in our 
 gardens and from which we pluck clusters of grapes are 
 not real vines — not true vines in one sense : these are 
 vines, while there are worthless ones. But it is " true " 
 in the sense that that which is the substance is opposed 
 to that which is the shadow ; just as the tree in the 
 orchard is a true tree, and the copy of it in your pic- 
 ture, or painting, you know, is only after all a picture. 
 The vines in our vineyards are only pictures of some- 
 thing higher and more substantial, that was in the Di- 
 vine mind before the vine-tree was created. Thus 
 
120 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 Christ says : " I am the true vine." Oh, there is a world 
 of meaning in those words ! I could dwell upon them 
 nearly all the morning. I used to read this chapter — 
 which was a favorite chapter of mine from the time I 
 was converted, forty years ago— and I always misread 
 it. I will tell you how I read it. I read : " I am the 
 true root"; and I used to say to myself : "That is true. 
 Oh, there is fatness in that root. But how is my poor 
 puny branch going to get fatness out of that root ? " I 
 learned, however, that that is not the problem at all. 
 He doesn't say : " I am the true root "; it is, " I am the 
 true vine." The branch has only to remain in the vine 
 to enjoy everything that is in that vine. Some of us 
 are very foolish indeed. We are like the younger son 
 who wanted his father to divide his substance and give 
 him a good share, and let him go a long way off and en- 
 joy it. You know what he came to. The same result 
 would befall us if we did the same thing. But the Lord 
 is too wise. He won't divide His substance. He won't 
 let you go a long way off and enjoy it. You would soon 
 come to grief, and want to come back to your Father's 
 house. The Lord Jesus says: "I am the true vine." 
 Why ; that is the root, and the rootlets, and the stem, 
 and the trunk, and the vine, and the branches, and the 
 leaves, and the flowers, and the fruit. It is all one vine, 
 and there is nothing outside of it. And if you want 
 fruit-bearing, there is no fruit-bearing outside of the 
 living Christ. You can do nothing of yourself. You 
 can bear no fruit of yourself. If you attempt to sever 
 yourself from the vine, and think you will strike out a 
 root for yourself, you will be disappointed. You know, 
 young vines don't bear fruit, and the object isn't to fill 
 the vineyard with new roots. There is a vine in the 
 gardens at Kew, that bears an enormous amount of fruit 
 
ABIDING IN CHRIST. 121 
 
 — I should be afraid to tell you how much it bears — 
 several hundredweight. It is all one vine. If you were 
 to cut one of the branches off, you wouldn't find it 
 would be fruitful like the original vine. It would re- 
 quire years of growth and development to reach that 
 stage. And we are not intended for growth and devel- 
 opment separate from Jesus ; but just as members of 
 the true vine to enjoy our all in Him. Now suppose 
 that I should take a piece of cord and tie it around my 
 finger here, and say : " Whatever becomes of the rest of 
 my blood, I am going to secure a fingerful for this 
 finger." Do you think the finger would thrive ? Why ; 
 it would turn black, and it would swell, and it would 
 ache, until I would be glad to get the cord off again. If 
 I kept it on too long it would spoil the finger forever. 
 God doesn't give a little share of life to you and to me. 
 It requires all the blood of the whole body to keep this 
 one finger. The heart is pumping it in and the veins 
 are bringing it out, and all the life in my body is at the 
 disposal of that finger to keep it in healthy condition. 
 And the finger is expected to co-operate with the rest of 
 the body, toward the building up of the whole frame. 
 So there is the whole Christ-life in the believer. We 
 don't come to Him and ask Him to give us life, for that 
 we have already. If we are not in Christ we have no 
 life at all. If we are in Him He is our life. " When 
 Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also 
 appear with Him" — be manifested with Him — "in 
 glory." " I am the vine " — the whole vine. 
 
 Well, this is very good. To be branches of that vine 
 is indeed a source of rejoicing. But a great deal de- 
 pends upon the culture of the vine. You see, the 
 branches of the vine cannot go walking, and seek the 
 sunshiny places ; or if the sun is very hot, seek the 
 
122 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 shady places. It can't go around to inspect and see if 
 the soil if fat, and decide that it will live here or there. 
 They are united to the vine ; and as to their particular 
 position, that altogether depends upon the skill of the 
 cultivator. If you underprune a vine, it vi^on't bear 
 fruit as it should ; and if you overprune it, you will 
 prevent its proper development. And here is an import- 
 ant thing to bear in mind : It isn't the sap that comes 
 out of the root that builds up the vine. The sap that 
 comes out of the root is a very thin saline fluid, with no 
 carbon in it, or next to none. There is nothing in it at 
 all to build up. But it circulates, and presses up until 
 it reaches the branches, and then it goes into the twigs, 
 and then into the leaves ; and there it gives out in the 
 sunshine a good deal of its own fluid, and while it is 
 giving out it is taking in. There is no taking in with- 
 out giving out. If you think you can stop giving out 
 you will soon cease to be able to take in, and then you 
 will have no healthy life. While the sap is in the leaves 
 it is taking in carbon from the atmosphere ; and a rich, 
 nourishing, thick sap then comes back through the 
 twigs and the branches, and all the growth is in the re- 
 turn circulation. There are some people, indeed, who 
 are very, very greedy. They are spiritual misers. They 
 come to conventions like this, and hear sermons, and 
 try to get all the benefit out of them they can for them- 
 selves, but never think of giving it out again to others. 
 The natural result very soon follows. Their digestion 
 becomes clogged. They are not lightsome, and not 
 happy. The circulation isn't keeping up. If they would 
 only go back and give out what they have gained, the 
 return circulation would make them so much the hap- 
 pier and richer. The whole vine would grow and thrive. 
 It is only as we give that we get. Suppose you should 
 
ABIDING IN CHRIST. I23 
 
 see a stream running here down the mountain side, and 
 you should build a pond or tank to hold it, and keep it 
 from running away. Could you keep it there as living 
 water ? As soon as you keep it there it ceases to be liv- 
 ing water, and begins to putrefy. You know that is how 
 it is with the Dead Sea in Palestine. The water is all 
 the time running in, but it doesn't run out again, or 
 improve the surrounding country at all. There is a day 
 coming when there will be a channel made — when the 
 water will burst right through to the Gulf of Akabah. 
 Then the water of the Dead Sea will become alive, and 
 there will be plenty of living fishes there, and a totally 
 different state of things brought about. Let us not be 
 satisfied with merely taking in for selfish purposes, but 
 let there be an equivalent giving out. This is one of 
 the truths taught us by this most precious verse : " I 
 am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman." 
 
 " Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit. He 
 taketh it away ; and every branch that beareth fruit, 
 He cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit." I am 
 reading from the Revised Version ; and there is an ad- 
 vantage here in the Revised Version, because it renders 
 the same word the same way in this and in the next 
 verse : " Already ye are clean, because of the word 
 which I have spoken unto you." Perhaps some of us 
 have read that verse in the old version, " He purgeth 
 it"; and we have thought of the sharp pruning-knife, 
 and rather dreaded the operation of it. We have 
 thought it meant, perhaps, the cutting away of the right 
 hand, or the removal of our dearest friends ; and we 
 have been afraid to submit ourselves to the Lord lest 
 His discipline should be sharper and harder than we 
 are able to bear. Why ; He knows what we are able to 
 bear better than we do, a good deal; and He has a good 
 
124 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 deal more love to us than we have to ourselves. It is 
 safe to trust Him unreservedly. The word used here is 
 just the word that we get in the next verse, and so that 
 explains what is meant here : " He cleanseth every 
 branch, that it may bring forth more fruit." 
 
 Then He says that those disciples to whom He was 
 speaking were already clean. They were cleansed be- 
 cause of the word which Christ had spoken to them. 
 Many of you are intending to be preachers of the Word. 
 Be careful students of the Bible. Get to know it thor- 
 oughly. " Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly 
 in all wisdom." Don't study the Bible to find texts to 
 preach upon, or chapters to expound ; but study it to 
 find something that will feed your own heart. If you 
 do this, you will find it a most delightful book, and 
 when it is a delight to you, God will enable you to make 
 it a delight to others. Let us go to the Bible to feed 
 ourselves, and not to feed other people, and then we 
 will understand how to feed other people so much the 
 better. Let us first take the learners' class, and then 
 we will be able to teach. Let us be learners, and keep 
 in the learners' class our whole life long, and look up to 
 the gracious Spirit, who delights to expound to us the 
 Word, asking Him to give to our own souls a fresh 
 blessing, that we may bless God and serve our genera- 
 tion ; then we shall not be badly equipped as teachers 
 and expounders of God's holy Word. 
 
 Now, it is by this word that the disciples to whom 
 Christ spoke were clean. " Already ye are clean " — ye 
 are cleansed — " because of the word which I have spoken 
 unto you. Abide in Me, and I in you." Oh, precious 
 words ! What a privilege thus to be allowed to abide 
 in Him ! And what a blessed thing it is to be com- 
 manded to abide in Him ! May we all obey ! May our 
 
ABIDING IN CHRIST. I25 
 
 Dible-reading this morning give us some intelligence on 
 this subject of abiding ! Oh, how many years I was in 
 the dark on this subject. I longed to abide in Christ ; 
 but I didn't know what abiding was. I confounded it 
 altogether ; and such is the perversity of human nature 
 that I read this verse many thousand times and never 
 for a moment saw what it meant. Now, I believe most 
 thoroughly in the inspiration of the Scriptures. I put 
 them to the test and they don't fail me, and I have good 
 reason to believe. I use my Bible as I use my check- 
 book in the bank — only with this difference : I have to 
 tear a leaf out every time I cash a check, and can't use 
 it a second time ; but in taking from this book I can 
 leave the leaf in, and use it again and again. It is a 
 sort of circulating letter, you know ; you never come to 
 the end of it. I believe most thoroughly in the verbal 
 inspiration of Scripture. If you put it under a micro- 
 scope you will see as much proof of its Divine origin as 
 in the structure of a leaf. I am not going to give you 
 any theory as to how it was brought about ; but here is 
 the book, verbally inspired, and you may rest upon 
 every word that God speaks through it. Now — "Abide 
 in Me." I used to read this, and I will tell what I used 
 to get out of it. Instead of thinking what the word 
 " abide " really means, I thought it was a sort of hand- 
 over-hand climbing — climbing up a rope, or a pole, after 
 the manner of an athlete. I used to feel that I hadn't 
 managed this climbing. I thought abiding in Christ 
 was to become one of a sort of spiritual aristocracy, 
 which very few people ever could attain or reach to. 
 "Abide in Me, and I in you." The Greek word that is 
 used here you will find rendered in similar passages by 
 the word " to dwell," or by the word " to remain "; and 
 that just gives us the meaning of the word "abiding." 
 
126 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 I am not a very strong man— I may not be able to pull 
 myself hand-over-hand up to the ceiling here ; but if I 
 am sitting in a chair, it doesn't take a great deal of 
 strength to remain there. Christ says : " I am the vine ; 
 ye are the branches." You see where you are ; and you 
 can't get into a better place, and you are never out of 
 it. There is an all-important point. We have Christ 
 Jesus all the time. "Abide in Me, and I in you." I 
 never saw this until God was pleased to show it to me 
 when I was very, very needy — hungry and thirsty for 
 the truth. One afternoon in an inland city in China, 
 feeling almost in spiritual despair, I was reading my 
 Greek Testament ; and in the 6th chapter of St. John's 
 Gospel, reading in course, I came across a verse which 
 struck me as it had never done before. I was reading 
 from the 5 2d verse onward, and if you will just turn to 
 that passage, perhaps the train of thought that was such 
 a help to me may help some one else here. In the 56th 
 verse : " He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My 
 blood, abideth in Me and I in him." I had read the 
 verse in the Authorized Version, " dwelleth in Me, and I 
 in him," a hundred times ; and never connected it in 
 mind with this 15th chapter, where the word happens to 
 be rendered in that version, " abide in Me." But of 
 course, reading it in the original, my mind was carried 
 on by the verb from the 6th to the 15th chapter, and I 
 saw at once — why ! here is a little light on this great 
 and difficult problem. I have evidently been making a 
 mistake about this subject of " abiding in Christ." I 
 had thought that abiding in Christ meant keeping our 
 hearts so fixed upon Christ — so constantly meditating 
 upon Him and dwelling in Him — that we never lost the 
 consciousness of His presence. I thought we were con- 
 tinually, so to speak, to realize His presence, and con- 
 
ABIDING IN CHRIST. 12/ 
 
 tinually to look to Him for blessing and help and guid- 
 ance. Now, what I thought was abiding I have since 
 seen was feeding upon Christ. Feeding is a voluntary 
 act. We go to the table and sit down, and partake of 
 what is there. That is a voluntary act. But the man 
 who wanted to feed all the day, and wanted to feed all 
 the night, too, wouldn't be a desirable member of any 
 community. This was what I was trying to do, and be- 
 cause I couldn't manage it, I would get into a sort of 
 almost religious dyspepsia. I had a little hospital and 
 dispensary work that kept me busy. Perhaps a man 
 would be brought into the place with an artery cut and 
 in imminent danger — within half an hour the question 
 whether he would live or die would be settled, and one's 
 whole attention would be wrapped up in the patient, 
 and one wouldn't think of a thing else until the result 
 was known ; and then the thought would steal over me, 
 " Why, for two hours I haven't thought about Jesus " — 
 and I would go off into my closet almost in despair and 
 confess this sin. I was in very great distress indeed. I 
 wanted to be feeding at the table all the time. Now, if 
 a man has two or three square meals every day, and 
 perhaps a lunch or two between, he ought to be able to 
 go to work. Abiding in Jesus isn't fixing our attention 
 on Christ, but it is being one with Him. And it doesn't 
 make any difference what we are doing, or whether we are 
 asleep or awake. A man is abiding just as much when 
 he is sleeping for Jesus as when he is awake and work- 
 ing for Jesus. Oh, it is a very sweet thing to have one's 
 mind just resting there. About ten years ago the Lord 
 gave me a very great blessing. I had a little girlie who 
 had a crib by my bedside, and about six o'clock in the 
 morning her nurse came tapping at the door to give this 
 little one her bath. And we missionaries who are so 
 
128 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 much separated from our children do so delight when 
 we are with them. It is such a treat. It is an ordinary 
 enjoyment to most of you, but it is a very great treat to 
 us, I can tell you. I saw my little girlie asleep, and I 
 gave her a little kiss. She woke up and put her arms 
 around my neck, and as she looked up to me, I just 
 looked up to God and said : " O Lord, wake me up 
 morning by morning with a kiss of love. Let that kiss 
 be the first thing every morning." That was fully ten 
 years ago, and He hasn't forgotten it since. It is a 
 wonderful '' good-morning." I am so glad that my love 
 for my little girl just led me to make that prayer in that 
 way. When you ask for a thing, look for it. We so 
 frequently ask for things and don't expect to get them, 
 and of course we are like Mr. Spurgeon's student. One 
 of Spurgeon's students said to him : " I am afraid I 
 have mistaken my calling, and that the ministry really 
 isn't my proper work." " Why," said Spurgeon ; " what 
 is the reason you have come to that conclusion ? " 
 " Well ; I have been working in such a place for such 
 and such a time, and I don't seem to have accomplished 
 much." " Why, man alive ! You didn't expect that 
 every time you preached a sermon somebody would be 
 converted, did you ?" "No; of course I didn't expect 
 that." "Well, you don't get it then." Expect results 
 and you will find them. 
 
 Now, as to this abiding in Christ : I don't say that to 
 eat or to drink is to abide. It wasn't the act of eating 
 that was the abiding. It doesn't say : " While you eat 
 you are abiding." It says (such is the meaning of the 
 original) : "He who habitually does eat and drink My 
 blood is abiding." When I realized this, I thought : 
 "There is something tangible, I know I do delight in 
 God's love. When I get a little measure of it I know I 
 
ABIDING IN CHRIST. 1 29 
 
 turn to it with more enjoyment. I do feed upon Him, 
 however faulty my poor life may be. And whoever 
 does that, He says, is abiding. But am I quite sure that 
 this is the feeding that always follows regeneration ? " 
 Then I looked back and read : " Except ye eat of the 
 flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have 
 no life in yourselves" — "you have no life at all." 
 " Well," I thought ; " it is quite evident that every true 
 believer has fed upon Him some time or other. This 
 feeding upon Christ is not a privilege or attainment of 
 a spiritual aristocracy — of some very few of God's 
 children ; but it is what every one of God's cliildren 
 has done. If I have fed upon Christ I am abiding in 
 Him, and I am to continue to feed in order that I may 
 grow. 
 
 "Well, then," I thought ; "there is another difficulty. 
 If that is the case, I have been feeding, and yet all the 
 fruits of abiding have not been found. We are told 
 that if we abide we will have all our prayers answered, 
 and my prayers are not all answered." I remembered 
 the words in the first Epistle of John : "He that saith 
 he abideth in Him, ought himself so to walk even as 
 He walked." If I abide in Him I will walk as He 
 walked, and I don't walk that way ; and there are other 
 things predicated of those who walk with Christ that I 
 don't find in my life ; and yet I have been feeding." 
 Then I thought : " Well ; God may have given us a 
 good deal, and we have used very little of it. There 
 has been a large amount of capital at our disposal, and 
 we have either not known it or not availed ourselves of 
 it." And I saw that the promises in connection with 
 abiding in Christ were to be claimed by faith, and I just 
 held the Lord to His word, I didn't feel any change 
 taking place in myself, but I said : " Thou dost say that 
 
I30 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 he who does feed is abiding ; and I accept that state- 
 ment. Now, Lord, let the fruits of abiding appear." 
 Since that day they have appeared as they never ap- 
 peared before ; and I have had a joy in Christ, and a 
 strength, and a delight, and a blessing, to which I was 
 a stranger before. It hasn't been ebbing and flowing 
 as it used to be — coming and going as it used to be ; 
 but it has been a deepening joy — constantly deepening. 
 God's Word has been very precious to me as it never 
 was before. It was precious before, but it is far more 
 precious now. God's service is sweeter now than it 
 used to be. It was very often sweet before, but not al- 
 ways ; it is always very sweet now, and I get those fruits 
 for which I was seeking. Accept Christ's statement, 
 and claim it for yourself, and see if you are not brought 
 into this enjoyment and blessing. 
 
 Now let us, with these thoughts in our minds, turn 
 back again to this 15th chapter from which we have 
 started. "Abide in Me, and I in you." This is rather 
 a difficult sentence to construe. You know it is some- 
 times paraphrased : " If ye abide in Me, I will abide in 
 you." But there is no " if " there. It is just, " Abide in 
 Me, and I in you." What is the meaning of this ex- 
 pression ? I think there is a double meaning in it. If 
 we turn to the 14th chapter we may perhaps find a little 
 illustration that will hplp us to grasp the meaning. In 
 that chapter the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to Philip 
 says : " Have I been so long time with you, and hast 
 thou not known Me, Philip ? He that hath seen Me hath 
 seen the Father ; and how sayest thou then. Show us 
 the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, 
 and the Father in Me?" There was a mutual indwell- 
 ing— " I am in the Father, and the Father in Me." And 
 the idea there, is not at all the idea of the greater con- 
 
ABIDING IN CHRIST. I31 
 
 taining the less, because you see it is mutual. It isn't 
 mutual that we are in this room. We are in this hall, 
 but the hall is not in us. The hall is bigger than us, 
 and couldn't be in us. That is clearly not the idea. If 
 you were to take a glass of wine and a glass of water, 
 and pour them together, the water would be in the wine, 
 wouldn't it ? — and the wine would be in the water. 
 There would be such a thorough commingling that you 
 couldn't get a drop of the water without the wine 
 flavoring it, and you couldn't get a drop of the wine 
 without the water tempering it. The idea is that they 
 are so thoroughly one that they are inseparable ; and 
 " Abide in Me, and I in you," as I understand it, is like 
 one of those algebraic symbols we sometimes use in 
 which we put a compound quantity within brackets and 
 put one figure or mark outside to govern the whole. It 
 is as if Christ said : " You abide in Me, and I in you. 
 Live in the continual recognition of this fact, that we 
 are no longer two, but one ; that we are united together ; 
 that I am dwelling in you and you are dwelling in Me, 
 and that we are in this way really one." Abiding in 
 Christ is keeping in the consciousness of our union with 
 the Lord Jesus Christ — going forth in service never 
 thinking of what we are in ourselves, but realizing what 
 Christ is in us, and expecting to find Divine resources 
 to operate wherever the Divine Spirit leads us. Now, 
 when this is realized it takes away all anxiety ; it takes 
 away all carefulness. There is no fear of failure. The 
 service will not be in vain in the Lord which is carried 
 on in this spirit of realized union v/ith the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. Temptations flee before one who has realized 
 the joy of abiding in Christ. "Ah," says he ; "I have 
 fallen a thousand times before that temptation ; but 
 now, thank God, I don't meet it in myself. I am in 
 
132 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 Christ, and He is in me, and when I meet temptation 
 He carries me through and gives me the victory." The 
 Lord our God is a mighty one. He will save ; and when 
 He wills to save, who is going to hinder Him doing it? 
 It is so blessed to know this union in Christ. And may 
 I draw your attention again to that passage in the 6li. 
 chapter as illustrating by the use of food a deep spirit- 
 ual truth, because it has been very helpful to me, and 
 may be more to you. What is natural food to the 
 natural body ? Let us go to the insignificant life you 
 hold in your hands — a little babe, say a week old. It is 
 not very long ; it weighs perhaps seven or eight, or it 
 may be ten pounds ; and you say, " What a little dar- 
 ling ! " It is very light on your arm, and you look at 
 its little fingers, and they are very puny indeed — they 
 can't grasp anything yet. You look at the little eye ; it 
 is very pretty indeed, but it can't see — the eye hasn't 
 learned to see yet. Put anything in the little hand and 
 it lets it drop. That little infant, how weak ! How lit- 
 tle it is, and yet there is perfect life there. Perfect life, 
 but how immature ! Go and see that child three months 
 afterwards, and the little hand can grasp, and the little 
 eye can look with intelligence, and mamma is recognized 
 when she comes along ; and it may be when it looks at 
 you, a stranger, the eye is not so bright because it is al- 
 ready beginning to be afraid of strangers. It is begin- 
 ning to develop. Go and see it three years afterwards, 
 and you see a strong and healthy child, with a great in- 
 crease of weight. Where has the increase of weight 
 come from ? It is all assimilated food — at first milk, 
 then bread, and then other suitable nourishment. This 
 food is something totally distinct from the body of that 
 child — outside of it and separate from it ; and yet as it 
 has been taken into the body it has been digested and 
 assimilated, and has become hair, and brains, and flesh. 
 
ABIDING IN CHRIST. 1 33 
 
 and nerve, and muscle. Through that assimilated food 
 the child is now thinking, seeing, grasping. By con- 
 tinuing to take food it will continue to grow till it be- 
 comes a healthy man or a healthy woman. So thor- 
 oughly has the food become assimilated and become 
 part and parcel of the man that you can't go and pick 
 that man to pieces and make a babe of him again. No 
 separation can take place. Now, if you are feeding 
 upon Christ — if you are dwelling with Christ, continu- 
 ally feeding upon Him, you will grow up into Him 
 your living Head, and He will become your power and 
 strength, and there will be a blessed union, and there 
 will be no separation. 
 
 But I must close. In speaking upon this interesting 
 chapter it is difficult to know where to break off, it 
 would be so easy to dwell all day upon any part of it. 
 Just one word further. Only abide in Christ and you 
 will bear fruit. You can't bear fruit if you are not 
 abiding. Don't imagine that abiding in Christ is a 
 question of a little more or a little less — of being a little 
 more perfect or a little less perfect. " Apart from Me 
 you can do nothing." You can do any amount of work, 
 but you can bear no fruit. Fruit-bearing is the result 
 of abiding in Christ. Abiding in Christ, your prayers 
 will not some of them be answered, but all of them will 
 be answered. Oh, it is such a blessed thing to know- 
 that there is a day coming when every secret thing will 
 be laid bare. In that day when every hidden thing will 
 be revealed, there won't be one single instance brought 
 to light of the prayer of one abiding in Christ that 
 hasn't been answered. Not one single instance ! God 
 will fulfil His promises. Don't think about your faith, 
 or you will become despondent ; but think about God's 
 faithfulness, and you will not be disappointed. He is 
 faithful. May we abide in Him evermore ! 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 
 
 Adcjress by the Rev. John A. Broadus, D.D., of Louisville— An 
 Analysis of the Epistle to the Romans— Deplorable State of Un- 
 regenerate Man— His Helplessness— Divine Wisdom Provides a 
 Means of Rescue— Relation of Justification to Sanctification— 
 How Sin can be Vanquished— Glorious Privileges of the Re- 
 deemed. 
 
 The theme of the Epistle to the Romans is justifica- 
 tion by faith. This theme is stated in chapter i. i6, 17. 
 The Apostle declares that he is ready to preach the 
 Gospel at Rome — " for I am not ashamed of the Gospel 
 of Christ : for it is the power of God unto salvation, to 
 every one that believeth For therein is the right- 
 eousness of God revealed from faith to faith." We need 
 not stop to discuss the exact history of this term " right- 
 eousness," and its various uses. Suffice it to say at 
 present that the Gospel reveals justification by faith, 
 and that makes it the power of God unto salvation. 
 
 The first section of the Epistle, following this state- 
 ment of its theme, is from i. 18 to iii. 20, in which the 
 Apostle shows a necessity for justification by faith, as 
 grounded in the guilty and condemned state of all men, 
 Jews and Gentiles. He shows this first in regard to the 
 Gentiles — or, as we should say, the heathen — and always 
 combines them with the Jews in the universal conclu- 
 sion. Notice in i. 18 : " For the wrath of God is re- 
 vealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unright- 
 (134) 
 
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 1 35 
 
 eousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness." 
 This declares that all men do have truth, or have means 
 of knowing truth, concerning God. And he proceeds 
 to show that this is so in regard to the heathen, " be- 
 cause — ." Observe how frequently here the Apostle 
 says "for" or "because." In general I am willing to 
 make this compact with you : If you will understand 
 every conjunction in the Apostle Paul's writings, I will 
 be security for your understanding all the rest. His 
 favorite conjunctions are "for," or "because," and 
 " therefore." Look out for them. Now, the reason 
 why the wrath of God is revealed against men is " Be- 
 cause that which may be known of God is manifest in 
 them." And the proof or explanation of this is — in 
 verse 20 : " For the invisible things of Him from the 
 creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood 
 by the things which are made." Ever since the creation 
 existed it has been possible for intelligent beings to 
 know from the creation much about the Creator. And 
 the special statement here added is : " Even His eternal 
 power and Godhead." He doesn't say that men might 
 know His Divine holiness or mercy, but that they might 
 know from the creation His almightiness and deity. 
 And the consequence is, as he adds, that the heathen 
 are without excuse, because (verse 40) " when they knew 
 God they glorified Him not as God, neither were thank- 
 ful." They didn't live up to the knowledge they pos- 
 sessed, but they corrupted that knowledge by vain imag- 
 inations — foolish speculations concerning God. They 
 devised idolatry, imagining that it would be a help in 
 worshipping God, but really thereby changing the glory 
 of the incorruptible God into images — not merely im- 
 ages of man, but of the lower animals, even of reptiles, 
 30 low did idolatry gradually sink. Now, notice what 
 
136 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 he says in verse 24 : " Wherefore, God also gave them 
 up to" immorality, because they gave Him up, and 
 turned from worshipping Him according to the knowl- 
 edge they might have had, unto the mere worship of 
 idols. " He gave them up." Observe that this is three 
 times stated. Verse 24 : " God also gave them up to 
 uncleanness .... who changed the truth of God into 
 a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than 
 the Creator." And again, verse 26 : " God gave them 
 up unto vile affections." And verse 28 : "And even as 
 they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God 
 gave them over to a reprobate mind." Three times 
 over it is thus declared that because they abandoned 
 God and plunged into idolatry. He gave them up to 
 vile immorality. Such is the dark and sad history of 
 the heathen world. And observe, a little later, when 
 He is speaking of the Jews — in chapter ii. 12 and fol- 
 lowing — He declares that both Jews and Gentiles stand 
 guilty and condemned in God's sight — "For as many as 
 have sinned without law shall also perish without law : 
 and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged 
 by the law." Some might have said : " We can see how 
 those who have the law and don't keep it shall be con- 
 demned ; but how can the heathen be condemned who 
 have no law ? " The Apostle answers : " They have a 
 law — a law written in their hearts, or their own moral 
 nature." Whenever they do by nature the things con- 
 tained in the law — as, for instance, when they reverence 
 parents ; when they condemn and abstain from anything 
 as being wrong — they thereby show that they possess a 
 moral nature. And this is practically a moral law, writ- 
 ten in themselves, and for the violation of which they 
 stand condemned. Oh, the majesty of this human sense 
 of moral obligation ! Oh, the dignity of the word 
 
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 1 37 
 
 '' ought " — " I ought to do this," and '' I ought to do 
 that." The lowest animals show some intelligence — 
 even a rudimentary reasoning and planning ; but they 
 show no sense of feeling moral obligation. Now, the 
 question is sometimes asked, whether Gentiles who con- 
 form to this law written in their hearts are thereby jus- 
 tified. It is enough to answer at the moment that the 
 Apostle presents all this, not as a ground for their justi- 
 fication, but as explaining their condemnation and vin- 
 dicating it. 
 
 Pass on, then, through this chapter and the 3d. Ob- 
 serve where }n iii. 10 he makes a mournful mosaic of 
 solemn passages from the Old Testament to show the 
 universal sinfulness of men. Verse 19 : " That every 
 mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become 
 guilty before God " — the heathen guilty and the Jews 
 guilty. None of them have any power to effect justifi- 
 cation by their own doings. And this is his general con- 
 clusion in verse 20 : '' Therefore by the deeds of the 
 law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight : for by 
 the law is the knowledge of sin." But here he throws 
 out, in a manner characteristic of the Apostle, a thought 
 to be hereafter developed : The law does not deliver 
 from sin. It only makes us more vividly conscious of 
 sin. Such, then, are the thoughts of this first section. 
 Justification by faith is shown to be necessary by the 
 fact that all mankind — heathen and Jews — stand guilty 
 and condemned in God's sight by their own works : by 
 keeping the law of Moses, or the law written on the 
 heart, that can never secure justification. 
 
 The next section is the remainder of this 3d chapter 
 — verses 21-31. Here the Apostle declares that the Gos- 
 pel sets forth the Divine provision for justification : the 
 righteousness of God which is by faith in Jesus Christ, 
 
138 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 and which is unto all them that believe — unto all men, 
 whether Jews or Gentiles. " For all have sinned," and 
 men of every class can be justified only by faith in 
 Christ. Notice how strong is his expression : " being 
 justified freely " — that is, gratis, without merit of any 
 kind — " by this grace " ; yet not without ground, for they 
 are justified " through the redemption that is in Christ 
 Jesus." And this redemption — this propitiation by His 
 blood — not only furnishes the ground of forgiveness for 
 men who believe in it, but it furnishes an explanation of 
 God's having heretofore passed over the sins of men, 
 instead of smiting them with utter destruction. The 
 word "remission " in verse 25 is a wrong translation. It 
 should be rather "pretermission"; or, as in the original 
 and in the Revised Version, "passing over." How 
 could it be right for the just God so long to pass over 
 the sins of men, and let the guilty race live on in suc- 
 cessive ages ? The work of Christ explains this Divine 
 forbearance, and offers the ground of present salvation 
 to those who believe. And see the conclusion in verse 
 26 : "That He might be just, and the justifier of Him 
 which believeth in Jesus " — that He might be just while 
 justifying, because He justifies without ground in us, 
 but with ample ground in the redemption, the propitia- 
 tion, that is in Christ Jesus. 
 
 The next section is chapters iv. and v., in which the 
 Apostle gives further illustration and proof of justifica- 
 tion by faith. Chapter iv. refers to Abraham. He says 
 that Abraham was justified by faith. The Jews derived 
 all their hopes from Abraham, and took pride in their 
 descent from him ; and yet they were clinging to the 
 notion that they were to be justified in keeping the law. 
 Abraham, says the Apostle, was justified by faith. He 
 was not justified by being circumcised. He was justified 
 
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 1 39 
 
 before circumcision, and the circumcision was given him 
 as a sign and seal of the justification he had already re- 
 ceived. The Scripture expressly declares that Abraham 
 was justified on the ground of believing, and it was ac- 
 counted to him for righteousness. If his belief was 
 accounted to him for righteousness, he was justified by 
 faith. Ah, that seemed to the Jews, I suppose, like up- 
 turning the very foundations of the solid earth — to say 
 that Abraham himself was justified by believing. The 
 Apostle proves it, you see. He proves it out of Genesis, 
 and goes on to explain it through the chapter. 
 
 In chapter v., verses i-ii, he sets forth in a general 
 way the blessed results of justification by faith. We 
 have peace with God, and access into the possession of 
 grace — favor in God's sight — rejoicing in the hope 
 of the glory of God. Not only so, but we glory in 
 tribulations also, because to a Christian — one who is 
 justified by faith — tribulations will be made a blessing. 
 " Tribulation worketh patience " — not necessarily by 
 any natural law. We talk about the furnace of afflic- 
 tion. Put clay into a furnace that has some impurities 
 — does it come out purified ? It comes out with the im- 
 purities burned in so that you never can get them out 
 afterward. Put gold into the furnace, and let it stay 
 there long enough ; it will come out purified. Tribula- 
 tion doesn't work patience through natural law. " Trib- 
 ulation worketh patience " in the believer through the 
 work of God. It is a remarkable thing that three of the 
 Apostles have set forth the same idea on this subject; 
 and it was a brand-new idea in the world. When the 
 liberties of Greece had perished — when Rome had be- 
 come a great iron machine that ruled the world — there 
 was much speculation among men as to how a man had 
 best try to live in evil tiroes ; and there were two great 
 
140 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 schools of opinion that arose — the Epicureans and the 
 Stoics. Paul met them both in the agora at Athens. 
 The Epicureans said : '' We don't know whether there 
 are any gods, and if there are, we don't know that they 
 care anything about us. This world is full of trials. 
 The best thing you can do is to have a good time and 
 enjoy yourself." That was the teaching; but the fol- 
 lowers of Epicurus ran it down at the heel in a fright- 
 ful fashion. The Stoics said : " There are trials in life ? 
 — yes. But let me live myself in all life's trials to fight 
 and conquer." The sublimest spectacle in human ex- 
 istence is that of a good man struggling against fate- 
 vainly struggling, and struggling well. And some of 
 the grandest of the Romans took up that idea— Marcus 
 Antoninus, for example. A grand idea it was for men 
 that were grand enough in their make-up to believe in 
 it and practise it. That was the option that men had 
 offered them : either the Epicurean advice — " Take it 
 easy, and have a good time if you can get it"; or the 
 Stoic notion of struggling against fate, " and if you 
 can't conquer, you can kill yourself, at least, like a 
 Roman and a man." Into the midst of this uncertainty 
 a new note sounds out : that the trials of life by the 
 grace of God may make us better. You have it three 
 times in three of the Epistles. Here we have it in the 
 beginning of this 5th chapter of Romans. Turn to 
 James i. i, 2 : " My brethren, count it all joy when ye 
 fall into divers temptations." " Temptations and trials " 
 — it takes both of these in English ears to express the 
 idea here. *' Knowing this, that the trying of your faith 
 worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect 
 work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting noth- 
 ing." Notice : the Epistle of James actually declares 
 that if a man has perfect patience, he has a perfect char- 
 
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. I41 
 
 acter. I wish I had a voice that could ring over our 
 run-mad country, in this end of the nineteenth century, 
 when men are tumbling over each other, rushing after 
 nothing and finding it. I would like to proclaim this 
 lesson : Whoever has perfect patience has a perfect 
 character. And the trials of life by God's grace pro- 
 mote patience. Look now at i Peter i. 6, 7 : " Wherein 
 ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, 
 ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations : that 
 the trial of your faith, being much more precious than 
 of gold which perisheth, though it be tried with fire, 
 might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the 
 appearing of Jesus Christ." James and Paul and Peter 
 — all three — set forth this new, strange, blessed thought: 
 that the trials of life by God's grace may make us 
 better. I can say no more about this section of Romans 
 — chapters iv, and v. i-ii — although there are in it 
 many delightful thoughts that I would like to dwell 
 upon. Let us examine the remainder of this chapter — 
 verses 12-21. The Apostle has been setting forth that 
 justification by faith existed in the case of Abraham. 
 He here declares that justification by faith in the one 
 Redeemer may be compared to the effect of Adam's sin 
 upon his posterity. As Adam's sin involved all his pos- 
 terity, so there need be no difficulty in believing that 
 Christ's work in salvation may bring blessing to all that 
 believe in Him. The Jews were familiar with the idea 
 that Adam's sin involved all his posterity. It is taught 
 in som.e of the early books of the Talmud. Taking that 
 as an illustration, the Apostle uses it, and says : " You 
 needn't think it strange that the work of the one Re- 
 deemer may bring blessing to many, when you remem- 
 ber that the guilty sin of Adam brought ruin upon all 
 his posterity." 
 
142 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 We thus find that chapters i. to v. give the Apostle's 
 whole discussion as to the necessity for justification by 
 faith, with the proofs that it exists and some of its bless- 
 ed results. Now we meet an entirely new section of 
 the Epistle — chapters vi. to viii. Here the Apostle pre- 
 sents the bearing of justification by faith upon the work 
 of sanctification — the work of making men personally 
 holy. Many were ready to say, as many say now, that a 
 provision for justification by faith by mere believing in 
 Christ will encourage men to live on in sin. We will 
 sometimes hear a moral man complaining that accord- 
 ing to our teachings some wretched criminal or vilely 
 wicked person may be forgiven and saved by simply be- 
 lieving, while he, forsooth, with all his moral propriety 
 may be condemned. There were such persons in Paul's 
 time. The trouble with them was and is, a failure to 
 understand what a real and mighty thing is believing in 
 God — believing in Christ. And the Apostle, at the out- 
 set of this section, shows the absurdity of supposing 
 that justification by faith will encourage men to live in 
 sin. He does this by three illustrations— arguments 
 from analogy. First, in chapter vi., verses 3 to 14, he 
 says that if men are believers they are dead to sin, and 
 risen to live a new life. That doesn't look like en- 
 couraging them to live on in the old life. The second 
 image is in verses 15 to 23 : If a man is a believer, he has 
 ceased to be a slave to sin, and become a slave, so to 
 speak, to holiness — a servant of God — and all his present 
 work is for the new Master, and not for the old. The 
 third image is in chapter vii., verses i to 6 : If a man is 
 a believer, he is like a woman whose husband died, 
 and who is now married to a new husband. The fruit 
 of this union will be the children of the new husband, 
 and not at all of the old. So, then, it means much to 
 
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. I43 
 
 be a believer. It means as great a change in a man's 
 relations to sin, on the one hand, and on the other, to 
 holiness in God's service, as is involved in the idea of 
 being dead and risen again — of being transferred from 
 one master to another, or from one husband to another. 
 It is thus absurd to say that justification by faith will 
 encourage men to live on in sin, for really believing in 
 Christ involves a very great change in a man's whole 
 relations to sin and holiness. The Apostle next passes 
 to show in chapter vii. 7-25, what is the best that the 
 law can do towards making a man holy. We cannot 
 here give all the details, but the main points are not 
 numerous. First, the law makes us conscious of sin. 
 He says : *' I had not known sin but through the law ; 
 as, for example, J had not known coveting except 
 through the law that said, ' Thou shalt not covet.' But 
 that commandment not only made me conscious of my 
 departures from its requirement, but — ." He immedi- 
 ately adds that it did something terrible : " But sin, 
 taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me 
 all manner of coveting." The restraints which God's 
 law imposes actually stimulate man's sinful propensi- 
 ties. That is a solemn and awful fact of human nature. 
 You can see it in a little child. When the parent says, 
 "You shall not dp this," the child is thereby excited to 
 greater desire — so reluctant is human nature to be re- 
 strained by authority. In like manner, God's law, in- 
 stead of keeping men from doing wrong, stimulates 
 them to do worse. Yet this does not show the law to 
 be evil, or defective — for the law is holy and just and 
 good. It only shows what a bad thing sin is, that it 
 should actually seize upon the holy law of God, which 
 ought to restrain, and make it an occasion of still greater 
 wrong-doing. To this the Apostle adds that there is a 
 
144 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 divorce in human nature. There is something in a man 
 which approves God's holy law — admits its claims — 
 sometimes reaches up towards obeying it ; but there is 
 an opposing tendency in man which by the law of God 
 is only stimulated to do worse, and so the man is di- 
 vided against himself. And he says — verse 15 : " For 
 that which I do, I know not." Our version has the term 
 "allow," but the margin says ''know," which i^s the only 
 correct translation. "That which I do, I know not. I 
 don't know what I am doing. I practise what I don't 
 wish. I fail to practise what I do wish. I am unable 
 to act out my aims. I don't know what I am about." 
 So there is a great conflict in a man's soul — between the 
 better and the worse in him. And the Apostle goes on 
 to state this over and over again : the struggle in our 
 bosoms. In verse 21 he says that it is a law — using the 
 term law in a peculiar sense — it is a law of our moral 
 nature and history that this conflict exists. There is a 
 battle going on between the better in me which delights 
 in the law of God, and another tendency in me whicTi 
 he calls "another la\v in my members." And, ala? ! this 
 evil law gains the upper hand, and the man becomes a 
 captive slave — as he had said above, sold under sin. 
 Thus the very best that the law can do towards making 
 any man holy is to make him cry out in agony and al- 
 most despair : " Oh, wretched man that I am ! who shall 
 deliver me from this sinful nature, which is leading me 
 to death ? " The question has been long and constantly 
 disputed whether this picture is that of a renewed man, 
 or of an unrenewed. I think the true view is that of 
 Meyer and others, that it is not a picture distinctively of 
 a renewed, nor distinctively of an unrenewed man ; but 
 that it describes the best that the law can do towards 
 making any man holy. Many who are without spiritual 
 
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. 145 
 
 renewal have been painfully conscious of this divorce 
 and conflict in the bosom. Remarkable statements of 
 it are to be found in the Greek and Roman writers ; and 
 examples might be found in our own time. Any man 
 who honestly tries to do right merely according to his 
 sense of right, and in his own strength, or who honestly 
 tries in his own strength to live according to the laws of 
 God, will find that his efforts can result in nothing 
 better than a painful sense of his sinfulness. But having 
 given this outcry of agony, the Apostle turns with one 
 of the quick transitions only of passion, and says : " I 
 thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." There the 
 deliverance is indicated. Before proceeding to develop 
 this thought, he sums up at the end of verse 25 : " So, 
 then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God ; but 
 with the flesh the law of sin." And thus the law cannot 
 deliver from sin. It takes hold of part of us ; but that 
 part is overcome by the stronger sinful part of our na- 
 ture, and the law fails^-not through any fault of its 
 own, but because sin is by the law unconquerable. 
 
 Now, the Apostle turns in the early part of chapter 
 viii., to show what the Gospel can do towards making a 
 man holy. There are here three points : First, the Gospel 
 sets us free from condemnation for the sins of the past. 
 It pays the bankrupt's debts, and gives him a chance to 
 set out again. Second, it introduces into the conflict in 
 the human bosom a new moral force : that of the Holy 
 Spirit. Verse 2 : Having spoken above of the two con- 
 tending forces as the law of God and the law in the 
 members, he calls this third force a law also. He says : 
 "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath eman- 
 cipated me from the law of sin and death." Above he 
 was a captive slave ; but the new moral force that enters 
 into the conflict sets free from this bondage, and turns 
 
146 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTIIFIELD. 
 
 the tide of battle, and is able to give victory over our 
 sinful propensities. So then, the Gospel, by introducing 
 the Spirit of God, brings in a conquering force to decide 
 the battle in man's bosom. " That the requirement of 
 the lav\^ " — for the word " righteousness " in verse 4 is 
 not the term as rendered above in the Epistle, but 
 means, as in the margin and the Revised Version, the 
 " requirement." " That the requirement of the law- 
 might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, 
 but after the Spirit " — that is, after the Spirit of God 
 dwelling in us and giving us the victory. Now, just in 
 proportion as any man does truly walk, not after the 
 flesh, but after the Spirit, he does fulfil the requirpment 
 of the law, and only thus is this possible. But there is 
 a third thing which the Gospel does as bearing upon 
 the work of making us holy. It introduces a new and 
 blessed motive, namely, the motive of grateful love to 
 God. Those whom God's Spirit is leading (verse 14) 
 are God's sons, and in the spirit of sonship they are 
 moved to serve Him. " For ye have not received the 
 spirit of bondage again to fear." The Christian does 
 not serve God as a trembling slave serves a hard master 
 — for fear he will be punished. Nor does he serve God 
 as a mere hireling, giving so much work for so much 
 pay. The Christian is a loving son, who gladly serves 
 a loving Father. " Ye have received the spirit of adop- 
 tion, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Truly a great 
 thought is this. The new Gospel motive of obedience 
 is grateful love to Him who saves us. And, full of this 
 great thought of sonship to the Heavenly Father, the 
 Apostle hasn't been content to express it in the Greek 
 alone ; he falls back upon the language of his childhood 
 and says : " Whereby we cry, Abba " — a word with which 
 he used to address his own father. It is as if vou were 
 
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. I47 
 
 Speaking some foreign language, and beginning to 
 make a moving statement about your mother, you 
 should feel that at that point you must take the Eng- 
 lish word that you used to speak when a child. Young 
 men are more familiar with the idea of the tender love 
 of mother. Perhaps it is only as we grow old that there 
 is developed the full tenderness towards father. Some 
 day when your father is dead and gone, you may be 
 able to read this saying of the Apostle with a greater 
 depth of feeding and passion than would now be possi-. 
 ble. O Father — Father in Heaven — I wish to know, 
 and lovingly to do, Thy holy will. 
 
 In three great ways, then, does the Gospel act towards 
 making men holy, which the law cannot do. The re- 
 maining portion of this section occupies itself with the 
 thoughts growing out of this grand conception that we 
 are the children of God. " If children," says the Apos- 
 tle, " then heirs : heirs of God, and joint-heirs with 
 Christ." That leads to the thought that as we are here- 
 after to be joint-heirs with Christ, so here already we 
 are joint sufferers with Christ. And so the Apostle pro- 
 ceeds to consider the question why God leaves His dear 
 children to a life of suffering. Why doesn't He take 
 them at once away from all earthly sin and sorrow to 
 the pure and blessed life ? Now, he gives various rea- 
 sons for this. The first is already implied : We suffer 
 in union with Christ, that in union with Christ we may 
 hereafter be glorified. That is surely a consolation in 
 suffering. A second explanation is given in verse 18, 
 namely : that the present sufferings are not worthy to 
 be compared with the coming glory — these are so slight 
 and that will be so great. The third point is (verses 19 
 to 23) : We live in a world of suffering. The whole cre- 
 ation shows signs of suffering, and seems looking for- 
 
148 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 ward to future deliverance in connection with the com- 
 pleted salvation of God's children. We live in a world 
 of suffering, and so it is not strange that we too are left 
 to suffer. This impressive image has not been by any 
 other writer so fitly developed, I think, as in Mrs. 
 Browning's " Drama of Exile." She takes up Adam 
 and Eve where Milton has left them, as they go forth 
 exiles from Eden, and find scenes of suffering in the 
 world around. Another point is the fact that "we were 
 saved by hope " (verse 24) — for the Greek has the past 
 tense, as in the Revised Version. When we became 
 Christians and entered into a state of salvation, it was 
 by hoping in Christ, and so we needn't be surprised if 
 the full fruition remains for the future. " If we hope 
 for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." 
 Still another point : We are left amid sufferings and 
 wickedness ; but the Spirit helps our weakness (verse 
 26). For example, "We know not what we should pray 
 for as we ought ; but the Spirit itself maketh interces- 
 sion for us." How is this to be understood ? The Greek 
 or Roman advocate helped his client in two different 
 ways. Sometimes he spoke for the client before the 
 tribunal as our advocates do, and it is in this sense that 
 Christ is called our Advocate, pleading for us before the 
 throne. But in other cases the ancient advocate merely 
 prepared a speech which the client might speak for him- 
 self. It is in this sense that the Holy Spirit is our Ad- 
 vocate. He teaches us what to pray for. The desires 
 which the Spirit works in the heart will often be too 
 deep to find adequate expression in human language ; 
 and so the Spirit is said to intercede with groanings 
 which cannot be uttered. But their meaning is fully 
 known to God (verse 27) ; and the prayer which the 
 Spirit works in us is sure to be according to the will of 
 
JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH. I49 
 
 God — and it is as sure to be answered. Still another 
 reason why we may be reconciled to the fact that God's 
 children are left to suffer is the great thought of verse 
 28 : " We know that all things work together for good 
 to them that love God." Here is a greater thought than 
 we can fairly take in. Observe : He doesn't say that 
 everything by itself works for our good. Many individ- 
 ual things would, if they stood alone, work us harm ; 
 but he says that all things work together for good to 
 them that love God. And how do we know that this is 
 so ? How may we be sure of this great and blessed co- 
 operation of all things ? He proceeds to say it is because 
 those who love God are the called according to God's 
 eternal and unchangeable purpose ; and therefore we 
 know that all things do work together for their good. 
 
 The remainder of this chapter passes into a psalm — 
 as often in the prophets the argument turns into a song. 
 " What shall we then say to these things ? If God is for 
 us, who is against us?" Men strive to be against us — 
 proclaim themselves against us. But their opposition 
 only co-operates with all other things to do us good. 
 Who passes condemnation upon God's elect, when they 
 have God's Son as their Saviour ? — who died and rose 
 again for them, and now at the right hand of God 
 makes intercession for them. And who shall separate 
 us from the love of that interceding Lord ? Shall tribu- 
 lation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or naked- 
 ness, or peril, or sword ? Nay ; in all these things we 
 are more than conquerors through God tliat loved us. 
 Instead of separating us from His love, they are con- 
 quered by us through His love. And then the Apostle 
 ends with those triumphant words which the very angels 
 in Heaven might borrow as a song of praise before the 
 throne of God and of the Lamb. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 
 
 Address by Dr. Broadus— Paul's Reply to Pseudo-Christians at 
 Corinth— The Resurrection of Christ a Great Fact — What it Se- 
 cures : Revivification of the Body and Salvation of the Soul — 
 Further Arguments — The Christian's Hope in Affliction — Bound- 
 less Variety in Nature, Animate and Inanimate — Qualities of the 
 Spiritual Body Foreshadowed — Instant Metamorphosis of the 
 Living — The Harvest-Home. 
 
 Will you examine with me the 15th chapter of the 
 first Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians ? The subject of 
 this grand chapter is the resurrection of the body. 
 There were some of the professed Christians in Corinth 
 who denied that there is any such thing as a resurrec- 
 tion of dead men. They might naturally do so for the 
 obvious reasons which occur to many people now. But 
 besides, it is probable that some of them were influenced 
 by a curious speculative theory which in the next cen- 
 tury is called Gnosticism. We see that theory appear- 
 ing in the errors condemned by Paul in writing to the 
 Colossians, and by John in his Epistles. It seems far 
 away from us, but it was a very proud philosophy in its 
 day, boasting of itself as science. The fundamental 
 position of the Gnostics was that matter is necessarily 
 the seat of evil : all evil resides in matter, and no mat- 
 ter is free from evil. We can at once see how they 
 would deny the possibility of a resurrection of the body, 
 because that would involve the perpetuating of evil, 
 (150) 
 
RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 151 
 
 However this may be as to the Corinthians, there were 
 some of them who not merely questioned the doctrine 
 of a general resurrection, but positively denied that 
 there is any such thing as a resurrection of dead men. 
 The Greek has no article. It is not strictly " resurrec- 
 tion of the dead"; but they said, "there is no resurrec- 
 tion of dead men " — as iEschylus long before had de- 
 clared : "When a man has once died there is no resur- 
 rection to him." 
 
 Now, in the first section of the chapter — verses 1-19 — 
 the Apostle says : To affirm that there is no resurrection 
 of dead men is to deny the resurrection of Christ, and 
 thus to destroy Christianity. He begins by reminding 
 them that the Gospel which he originally preached to 
 them — from which they derived all their know^ledge of 
 Christianity — involved and rested upon the fact that 
 Christ had been raised from the dead. " For I de- 
 livered unto you first of all ... . that Christ died for 
 our sins according to the Scriptures ; and that He was 
 buried ; and that He hath been raised on the third day 
 according to the Scriptures." Both His death and His 
 resurrection were in accordance with the predictions of 
 the Old Testament. Then the Apostle proceeds to 
 speak of witnesses to the risen Christ : First, Cephas, 
 whom we call Peter. Second, the twelve. Third, above 
 five hundred brethren at once, "of whom," he says, " the 
 greater part are still living." It had been no great inter- 
 val of time. We know most exactly that this Epistle was 
 written in a.d. 57 — it cannot have been more than a year 
 earlier or later. Most probably our Lord's resurrection 
 was in a.d. 30, with a possible variation of one or two 
 years. So it had been about twenty-seven years since His 
 resurrection. Consider a moment. It is twenty-eight 
 years since our great civil war began, and twenty-three 
 
152 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 years since it ended. The older persons present remem- 
 ber with perfect familiarity ail its events from beginning 
 to end. And there had been only the same lapse of 
 time in the case of these witnesses whom Paul mentions. 
 No class of skeptics at the present day will think of deny- 
 ing that Paul wrote this Epistle : and he declares that 
 more than half of those five hundred witnesses were 
 still living. Afterwards he adds that Christ appeared 
 to James, and then again to all the Apostles, and finally 
 to Paul himself. This statement of the testimony of 
 our Lord's resurrection is surely remarkable, and is to 
 be added to the evidence furnished in the four Gospels, 
 in the Acts, and in the other Epistles. Allow me to say 
 as a student of history desiring to speak calmly : If I 
 don't know that Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead, 
 then I know nothing in the history of mankind. It is a 
 great assured fact ; and rightly considered it carries 
 with it the truth of Christianity in general. And not 
 merely is our Lord's resurrection a pillar of Christian 
 evidence, but it is a part of His work of salvation. In 
 2 Cor. V. 15 we read : " He died for all, that they which 
 live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto 
 Him who for their sakes died and rose again." He did 
 not merely die for them ; but for them He both died 
 and rose again. And in Romans iv. 25 : " Who believe 
 in Him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who 
 was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised up 
 for our justification." I cannot now elaborate this 
 thought ; but these passages plainly teach that our 
 Lord's resurrection is a part of His saving work. He 
 died and rose again for our salvation. Now, let us see 
 the Apostle's argument: ''If the resurrection of Christ 
 is a cardinal part of Christianity, how say some among 
 you that there is no resurrection of dead men ? " Observe: 
 
RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 153 
 
 this was not the general belief of the Corinthian Chris- 
 tians, but only of some, who are carefully distinguished 
 elsewhere in the chapter also, from the general body of 
 the brotherhood. The Apostle declares that to deny a 
 resurrection of dead men will necessarily exclude the 
 resurrection of Christ. Notice the argument in verse 
 13. He doesn't say : " Unless it is true that there is a 
 resurrection of the dead in general, then Christ is not 
 risen." That wouldn't be sound logic — for Christ might 
 have risen as an isolated fact. But he says — and the 
 Greek shows the difference plainly : " If it be true, as 
 some among you maintain, that there is no resurrection 
 of dead men, then Christ is not risen." He doesn't say: 
 ei jATf avaGraaii veupc^v iariv j but he says: ei dl 
 avaaraai? vsHpcSv ovh effrirz=^'li it is true that a 
 resurrection of dead men does not exist." Again and 
 again he repeats this — verses 14-17 — showing that to 
 deny a resurrection of dead men is to deny Christ's res- 
 urrection, which overthrows Christianity and destroys 
 all the hopes founded on it. And that not only as to 
 the living, but — in verse 18 — as to those who are fallen 
 asleep in Christ. Their existence has ceased — they are 
 perished— if what these men say be true. As to our- 
 selves also (verse 19): "If in this life only we have hoped 
 in Christ, we are of all men most miserable." The word 
 "miserable" used to signify, not as now "wretched," 
 but "pitiable"; and the Revised Version here says: 
 "We are of all men most pitiable." If we have simply 
 hoped in Christ in this life, and it will turn out to be all 
 a delusion — there being no future life — then we are of 
 all men most to be pitied, because we have cherished 
 such a delusion. I have heard good men sometimes say: 
 "If Christianit}^ be a delusion, I should wish to cherish 
 it Still, because it makes me happy." But I say : " No ! 
 
154 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 I want no delusions — no happiness coming from delu- 
 sions. I want truth — reality. My soul was born to 
 know truth, and to love truth. And, blessed be God ! 
 He has given me the means of learning truth through 
 His Spirit ; and I don't wish to be cheated with delusive 
 hopes." It is to that feeling the Apostle here appeals. To 
 deny the Christian's hope of a future existence is to make 
 his a pitiable lot. 
 
 Now comes the second section of the chapter — verses 
 20 to 28. Before completing his argument the Apostle 
 turns to the other side in a manner quite characteristic 
 of him. He says : " But now Christ is risen from the 
 dead, and this secures the resurrection of His people." 
 He proceeds to speak only of the resurrection of Christ's 
 people. We know full well that he believed in a gen- 
 eral resurrection of all mankind. A little more than a 
 year later — in Acts xxiv. 15 — v/e find him saying before 
 Felix that he expects a resurrection of the dead, both of 
 the just and unjust. But in our passage he confines his 
 view to the resurrection of the just, and declares that of 
 this Christ's resurrection is the pledge and assurance. 
 Christ was the first-fruits, and the first-fruits of the 
 harvest gave promise of all that should follow. So he 
 proceeds to remind us that death came through Adam, 
 and in like manner the resurrection comes in Christ. It 
 is wholly beside the mark to quote as teaching universal 
 salvation the statement in verse 22 : "As in Adam all 
 die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive "; for the 
 whole connection shows plainly that he speaks of bodily 
 death and bodily resurrection. And so he declares that 
 Christ's people will all rise at His coming. Having 
 mentioned the coming of the Lord, he declares that 
 then Christ will deliver up the kingdom to God, and 
 will Himself also be subject to God, " that God may be 
 
RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 155 
 
 all in all." This does not conflict with the plain teach- 
 ing elsewhere that Christ is Himself Divine. The refer- 
 ence is to the authority delegated to Him as the God- 
 man — the Mediator. As He told the disciples just be- 
 fore His ascension : '' All authority in Heaven and in 
 earth was given unto Me "; so here we are told that this 
 delegated Mediatorial authority will at last be turned 
 back again to God who gave it, and Messianic dominion 
 will be merged in the general dominion of God. 
 
 In the third section of the chapter — verses 29 to 34 — 
 the Apostle gives further arguments against those per- 
 sons at Corinth who denied the re-surrection. This 
 section needs to be closely connected with the end of our 
 first section at verse 19. The Apostle here practically 
 identifies the question of a resurrection with that of a 
 future existence. We know that he believed in and 
 taught a conscious existence of the spirit between death 
 and the resurrection of the body. In 2 Cor, v. 6-8 he 
 declares : " We are always confident, knowing that 
 whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from 
 the Lord. We are confident, and willing rather to be 
 absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." 
 Here he distinctly asserts a conscious existence in the 
 presence of Christ while absent from the body ; but in 
 the passage with which we are dealing he speaks only 
 of the re-embodied existence, and points out that for 
 them to deny a resurrection is to deny a future exist- 
 ence. The Corinthians would make no distinction. The 
 first argument he here presents has awakened much dis- 
 putation, and I have thought all the trouble arises from 
 the unwillingness of many readers to take the passage 
 in its plain and obvious sense. I don't know how you 
 have found it, but I think one of the commonest sources 
 of difficulty in understanding the Bible is a certain un- 
 
156 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 willingness to let the Bible mean what it wants to mean. 
 We don't fancy the obvious meaning of some passage, 
 and we say, " Oh, it cannot mean that," and proceed to 
 look for another meaning. Then the plainer the lan- 
 guage is, the more difficulty we find in drawing from it 
 any other meaning ; and so we call the passage ex- 
 tremely difficult. I do not say that you have ever done 
 this, but certainly I have, and have become conscious 
 of it again and again. Now, the obvious meaning of 
 this passage — verse 29 — is that some persons among this 
 party at Corinth had been baptizing living persons in- 
 stead of those who had died without baptism. There 
 is a great disposition in human nature to magnify the 
 externals of Christianity. This would easily arise 
 among Jews and among Greeks. We know that a dis- 
 position to exaggerate the importance of Christian cere- 
 mony existed not many generations after this, and it 
 might easily have existed at the beginning among some 
 persons. And as to this particular matter, we know 
 from several Fathers that there were in the second 
 century certain professed Christians who did actually 
 practise the baptism of a living person for the benefit of 
 one who had died without baptism. Of course, that is 
 all nonsense from the Christian's point of view ; but I 
 pray you to observe that the Apostle doesn't present 
 this as his own argument in favor of his own teaching 
 — he presents it as what the logicians call an argument 
 ad'hominein : an argument specially applying to the per- 
 sons addressed. He wishes to show them how incon- 
 sistent it is for some of them to be practising this bap- 
 tism for the dead when they say that dead men will 
 never live again. He carefully distinguishes the per- 
 sons who do this from himself and from the Church in 
 general. It is not, " What shall we do who are baptized 
 
RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. i$7 
 
 for the dead ? " but, " What shall they do ? " Before and 
 after he speaks of the Christians in general as "a/^." 
 All the difficulty about this passage appears to have 
 arisen from a failure to observe that the Apostle intro- 
 duces it only as an ad homine7n argument, to silence cap- 
 tious objectors ; even as he tells Titus concerning cer- 
 tain unruly persons, that their mouths must be stopped. 
 Our Lord used a similar argument when they charged 
 Him with casting out demons by a league with Beelze- 
 bub, and He said : "Well, then ; by whom do your sons 
 cast them out ? " It was a mere argument ad hominetn 
 to silence unreasonable controversialists. The Apostle 
 then proceeds to further considerations addressing 
 themselves to all Christians. "Why do we also stand in 
 jeopardy every hour — constantly exposed to peril, to 
 death, in the service of Christ — if there be no future 
 life ? " For his part he declares that his sufferings 
 amount to daily death. And why should he have fought 
 with beasts at Ephesus if there be no resurrection ? We 
 don't know whether he means that he has literally 
 fought with beasts, or means it figuratively ; and it 
 doesn't at all matter for the understanding of his argu- 
 ment. He had encountered great perils and sufferings 
 in the service of Christ ; and what was the use of bear- 
 ing all this if there be no future ? Naturally enough 
 might one then say, as the wicked Jews had said long 
 before — Isaiah xxii. \t^\ "Let us eat and drink, for 
 to-morrow we die." People would very generally say 
 this if they abandoned all belief in a future existence. 
 But the Apostle checks them : " Be not deceived. Don't 
 adopt any such ruinous notion. Don't allow the people 
 who assert that there is no resurrection to communicate 
 their ideas to you." And then he quotes a line of a 
 Greek poet. We don't know whether he was quoting 
 
158 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 directly from the poet, or the saying had become pro- 
 verbiaL You college gentlemen may notice that it is what 
 you call an iambic trimeter : cpOsipovffiv tjOt] xP^}^^ 
 ojxikiai uanai. It is a little difficult to translate. " Com- 
 munications " is not indeed the word. The revisers say 
 " evil company." It means evil intercourse or conversa- 
 tions. And the word rendered " manners " signifies 
 both morals and manners. We have no term that de- 
 notes both at once, as they have in German — *' SittClt." 
 The thought is surely one of great importance — perhaps 
 especially to the young : " Evil conversations and inter- 
 course corrupt good morals and manners." The Apostle 
 has repeatedly quoted Greek poets, as a missionary in 
 China now likes to quote some saying of Confucius, 
 because that will take hold upon his hearers. 
 
 The remainder of the chapter presents a reply to ob- 
 jectors. The first objection, which is answered in verses 
 35-49> turns upon the inquiry : " How can the same body 
 be raised?" The Apostle introduces it in a manner 
 characteristic of his writings, by representing some in- 
 dividual objector as speaking. " But some one will say, 
 How are the dead raised ? and with what kind of body 
 do they come?" Now, this is not the question of a sin- 
 cere and anxious inquirer wishing to have difficulties 
 removed out of the way of his faith. It is the question 
 of a curious and hostile objector. We see that from the 
 harsh term with which the Apostle introduces his reply. 
 He says : " Thou fool ! " — a strong expression, which an 
 inspired teacher might employ because he would know 
 that it was deserved, and could use it without improper 
 feeling on his own part. There are occasions on which 
 for us also this would be the most appropriate answer 
 to use ; but we feel a difficulty in making it. Apart 
 from the matter of civility, there is danger of wrong 
 
RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. 1 59 
 
 judgment or wrong feeling on our own part ; so we 
 sometimes have to shrink from saying : " You are a fool, 
 and you know you are," — or : '' You are a fool, and have 
 not sense enough to know it " — although at times that 
 would be the only logical reply. To this silly objector 
 the Apostle now answers that there are many different 
 kinds of bodies in the world ; and so the risen body may 
 be very different from the present body, and yet be in 
 some just sense the same. He illustrates this, first, from 
 sowing wheat. The grain of wheat that we sow must 
 die in order to be made alive. The body that grows 
 out of it : the stalk, the leaves, the head, the blossoms, 
 and many grains — are in one sense the same as the sin- 
 gle seed we planted, though in another sense they are 
 very different. Again, there are many kinds of flesh, he 
 declares : flesh of men, flesh of beasts, flesh of fishes, 
 flesh of birds. There are also many bodies : bodies ce- 
 lestial and terrestrial ; and the celestial bodies widely 
 differ in glory. You see the point of all these illustra- 
 tions. The risen body may be in a true sense the same, 
 while yet in the conditions of its existence exceedingly 
 different. It will be incorruptible, glorious, powerful — 
 a spiritual body. You ask just what the spiritual body 
 is ; and I answer : We don't know — we are at the end 
 of our information on the subject. But you see at once 
 that there is no propriety in questioning or denying the 
 resurrection on the ground that the matter composing 
 the body becomes widely scattered — even enters into 
 new bodies, and that the same body contains entirely 
 different matter at different periods of its existence, and 
 all that. The risen body will not be in the strict sense 
 a flesh and blood body : it will be incorruptible and 
 spiritual ; so the objection is cut off, and that is what 
 the Apostle undertook to do. He is not attempting to 
 
l6o COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 define for us the nature of the risen body, but only to 
 meet the objector by showing that it will be exceedingly 
 different from the present one. 
 
 The second objection — in verses 50-57 — asks how it 
 will be with those living when Christ shall appear. 
 That difficulty might well present itself at the begin- 
 ning. People would say : " Grant that the dead will 
 rise again. How about those whom Christ finds alive? 
 The Apostle declares that they will immediately be 
 changed without passing through the experience of 
 death. They must be changed, because flesh and blood 
 unchanged cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and the 
 corruptible must become incorruptible. So, when the 
 dead shall have been raised, and the living at that mo- 
 ment shall have been changed, then all the consequences 
 of death will have been destroyed. Then — as written 
 in Isaiah xxv. 8— death will be swallowed up in victory. 
 And, borrowing from the prophet Hosea, the Apostle 
 breaks into an outburst of rejoicing : " O death, where 
 is thy sting ? — O grave, where is thy victory ? " It is a 
 triumph which Christianity warrants — a victory which 
 Christianity promises. He adds : " The sting of death 
 is sin ; and sin cannot be overcome by the law : nay, the 
 law gives strength to sin " — a thought here mentioned in 
 passing, and to be developed a few months later in the 
 7th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. The law has 
 no power to take away the sting of death by conquering 
 sin ; but the Gospel has this power. And so he adds : 
 " But thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 The conclusion of this great chapter — in verse 58 — 
 contains a two-fold exhortation, and a great encourage- 
 ment. He exhorts, first, to be fixed in Christian con- 
 victions. " Be ye steadfast, unmovable." Second : To 
 
RESURRECTION OF THE BODY. l6l 
 
 be active in Christian work—" always abounding in the 
 work of the Lord." Only fixed convictions will produce 
 permanent Christian activity ; and only those who are 
 actively at work will maintain fixed convictions. The 
 two may stand together : either attempted alone will 
 fail. Observe how strong is the expression here : not 
 merely " engaged " in the work of the Lord ; but 
 " abounding in the work of the Lord," and " always 
 abounding." Then he adds the encouragement to 
 steadfastness and activity : " Forasmuch as ye know 
 that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." It is not in 
 vain, because it shall not fail of good results. Labor in 
 the Lord is never in vain. Speak any word for Christ 
 in public or in private, that is in accordance with the 
 Bible, and pray God's blessing upon it, and it will, and 
 must, and does do good. You are engaged in a cause 
 which cannot fail — which is destined to success. Your 
 King must reign till He hath put all enemies under His 
 feet. And it is not in vain, because you shall not fail of 
 eternal reward. There is a resurrection — a future life — 
 and in that future life will God recompense for all sacri- 
 fice and all toil in the Saviour's service. Brother, don't 
 talk about the sacrifices you have made for Christ ; but 
 think only of what you may do in the future. Ah, if 
 there be sorrow in the home of the glorified, methinks 
 the keenest sorrow with which we shall look back upon 
 our earthly life will spring from remembering that we 
 did not make more sacrifices and engage in greater toils 
 for the good of men and for the glory of Christ. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 Address by Mr. Moody — Participation of the Spirit in Six Steps of 
 our Lord's Earthly Life — His Conception — His Baptism — The 
 Wilderness Temptation — Preaching in the Synagogue — A Gra- 
 cious Message — What He Might have Read — His Miracles — His 
 Resurrection — Spiritual Anointing — A Short Road to Holiness. 
 
 I WANT to call your attention to the way in which the 
 Holy Spirit took part in six different steps of our blessed 
 Lord's life, or the six great events of His life when the 
 Holy Spirit was there. If you have got your Bibles, just 
 turn to Matthew i. 20. In the first place the Holy Spirit 
 was at the conception — Jesus was conceived by the 
 Spirit. "But while he thought on these things, be- 
 hold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a 
 dream." I have an idea that this was Gabriel. We are 
 not told who the angel was, simply that it was an angel 
 of the Lord. What leads me to think it was Gabriel is 
 this : Gabriel was generally the messenger that brought 
 tidings about Christ. Five hundred years before this 
 he brought the tidings to Daniel in Babylon that Christ 
 was to be born, and be cut off, not for His own sins, but 
 for the sins of the people. Then he brought tidings to 
 Mary, and Elisabeth, and Zacharias ; and I suppose this 
 is the same Gabriel. " But while he thought on these 
 things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him 
 in a dream, saying : Joseph, thou son of David, fear not 
 (162) 
 
CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. 1 63 
 
 to take unto thee Mary thy wife ; for that which is con- 
 ceived in her is of the Holy Ghost ; and she shall bring 
 forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He 
 shall save His people from their sins." 
 
 Now, turn over, please, to the 3d chapter of Matthew, 
 and you will find that the Holy Ghost is there — at His 
 baptism. He seems interested in every step that Christ 
 takes, from the cradle to the grave — yea, before the 
 cradle, and after the grave. Look at the i6th verse : 
 " And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straight- 
 way out of the water : and lo, the heavens were opened 
 unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending 
 like a dove, and lighting upon Him. And lo, a voice 
 from Heaven, saying. This is My beloved Son, in whom 
 I am well pleased." I remember Dr. Gordon speaking 
 about the Spirit coming in the form of a dove and light- 
 ing upon Christ. He said that the dove had found a 
 resting-place. When Noah sent a dove out it found no 
 resting-place, and came back to the ark. Then he sent 
 out a raven, which lived on carrion, and didn't come 
 back. The raven represents the old nature ; the dove 
 represents the new nature — it is typical of the Spirit. 
 At last it found rest upon Christ. And you will notice 
 that Jesus was baptized not only with water but with 
 the Spirit. A good many people are satisfied with 
 water baptism ; but if we want to have power, we must 
 be baptized with the Spirit. 
 
 Turn to the 4th of Luke and the ist verse : " And 
 Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from 
 Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 
 being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those 
 days He did eat nothing : and when they were ended. 
 He afterward hungered." Now, notice, He was full of 
 the Holy Ghost, and yet He was tempted. Temptation 
 
164 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 comes upon a man with its strongest power when he is 
 nearest to God. I used to believe it was just the reverse 
 — that when he got near to God he was free from temp- 
 tation ; but when you are very near to God, then it is 
 that temptation makes its strongest attack upon you. 
 When Jesus was anointed for service, then it was that 
 the devil tempted Him for forty days. As some one has 
 said, the devil aims high. He got one Apostle to curse 
 and swear and say he didn't know Christ. Very few 
 men have such conflicts with the devil as Martin Luther 
 had. Why ? Because he was going to shake the very 
 kingdom of hell. Oh, what conflicts John Bunyan had ! 
 If a man has much of the Spirit of God he will have 
 great conflicts with the tempter. 
 
 Look at the 14th verse of the same chapter : "And 
 Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee ; 
 and there went out a fame of Him through all the re- 
 gion round about." If a man has got the Spirit of God 
 resting on him he will not be long unheard — there will 
 be a fame of his power spread — it will be noised abroad. 
 There is no power in the world like the Holy Spirit. 
 There is no power on earth that can draw a crowd like 
 a man filled with the Spirit of God. So when Christ 
 went to Galilee, it was noised abroad, and the house 
 was full. "And He taught in their synagogues, being 
 glorified of all. And He came to Nazareth, where He 
 had been brought up: and, as His custom was, He went 
 into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up 
 for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the 
 book of the prophet Esaias. When He had opened the 
 book, He found the place where it was written. The 
 Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed 
 Me to preach the Gospel to the poor ; He hath sent Me 
 to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the 
 
CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. 165 
 
 captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at 
 liberty them that are bruised ; to preach the acceptable 
 year of the Lord." 
 
 Now, notice : He didn't commence His ministry until 
 the Spirit of God came. I can't conceive of a greater 
 mistake than for any man to attempt to do the Lord's 
 work without first receiving an anointing. Education 
 is very good — all you get in your college is a great help; 
 but yet your life will be a failure unless you get an 
 anointing of the Spirit. Jesus Christ lived for thirty 
 years without preaching — almost unheard of : it was 
 only when the Spirit of God came upon Him that He 
 began to preach. He went into the synagogue and took 
 the parchment, and found the place where it was writ- 
 ten : "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me." The Spirit 
 had come upon men before ; it wasn't a new thing. 
 The Spirit came upon Moses. You can see how he 
 brought the plagues upon Egypt, and right into the 
 homes of those Egyptians. The Spirit came upon 
 Joshua, and he slew the enemies before him, and nation 
 after nation was conquered by him, and city after city 
 fell, and thousands were destroyed. The Spirit came 
 upon Gideon, and he destroyed the whole army of 
 Midian. The Spirit came upon Samson, and he took 
 the jawbone of an ass and slew a thousand men. The 
 Spirit came upon Elijah, and there came neither dew 
 nor rain from Heaven but according to his word. The 
 Spirit of God came upon Elisha, and the army of Syria 
 was smitten with blindness. So, you see, the Spirit of 
 God came in different periods, and every time it was for 
 a different work. Jesus said : " The Spirit of the Lord 
 is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the 
 Gospel." He was anointed for that purpose. And I 
 believe you and I have got to have this anointing be- 
 
1 66 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTIIFIELD. 
 
 fore we can be used. If you are really in earnest about 
 getting it, I don't believe you will be disappointed. 
 " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 
 righteousness." What does a hungry man want ? Food. 
 What does a thirsty man want ? Water. Suppose I see 
 a man dying of hunger, and I offer him a bag of gold 
 — will that satisfy him ? Oh, no. He will say : " I don't 
 want this gold. I want bread." Suppose I see a man 
 dying of thirst, and say to him : " You can have a grand 
 time here on the ball-ground." He will say : " I don't 
 want that I want water ! " Suppose I say : " You can 
 have a night of pleasure." He will say : "I don't want 
 that ; I want water ! " When you and I get where 
 we want this one thing — and want to drink deeper than 
 we have ever drank before — we are going to have it. In 
 the 2oth verse of this chapter are these words : " And 
 He closed the book, and He gave it again to the min- 
 ister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were 
 in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He be- 
 gan to say unto them : This day is this Scripture ful- 
 filled in your ears." Now, notice ; that very day, and 
 that very hour, this Scripture was fulfilled in their ears. 
 What was fulfilled ? The Spirit had come upon Him. 
 My point is this : If Jesus, the Son of God, manifest in 
 the flesh — if He needed to be anointed before He began 
 His ministry, don't you think we need it ? And don't 
 you think we are making a great mistake if we don't 
 cry to God for it — cry to God continually that we may 
 get the same power that came upon Him? We have 
 got to have the same power. And don't you notice. His 
 last teaching to His disciples was that they should tarry 
 in Jerusalem till they received power. They had been 
 with Jesus for three years, and after hearing His words 
 and seeing His miracles, you would think they would 
 
CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. 1 6/ 
 
 have been qualified to preach ; but I believe if Peter 
 had commenced the sermon he preached on the day of 
 Pentecost before the Pentecostal power came, it would 
 have been a stupendous failure. I have no doubt those 
 Christians would have been exterminated. But they 
 waited for the unction— for the power -and when the 
 power came, they began to preach the glorious Gospel 
 of the Son of God. That is the very thing we want to 
 do. Look at the representatives of these different col- 
 leges. Suppose they get endowed with power. What 
 is going to be the result ? I tell you, eternity alone can 
 tell the result. 
 
 Now, notice what Jesus might have read. Sometimes 
 I like to go through this book of Isaiah to see the things 
 that really might have made them angry with some occa- 
 sion if He had read them. I haven't time to touch upon 
 half the verses. It is astonishing that they got angry 
 when He came back with such a loving message : " The 
 Spirit of God is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me 
 to preach the Gospel to the poor." You might have 
 thought the poor would have been glad to hear the 
 Gospel. " He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted." 
 You might have thought the broken-hearted would have 
 been glad to be healed. " To preach deliverance to the 
 captives." You might have thought that the captives — 
 those who were bound with passion and lust — would 
 have been glad when He came to open the prison-doors 
 by preaching the Gospel — the good news. How sweet 
 that news must have been to those who really wanted 
 to be delivered from sin ! I don't believe man has ever 
 heard — or ever will hear — better news on this side of 
 Heaven than the Gospel of the grace of God. Man 
 likes to hear good news generally. How strange that 
 those people got Singry when our Saviour came to them 
 
l68 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 with such loving words ! If they got angry with what 
 He did read, let us see what He might have read out of 
 the book in His hand. He might have turned to the 
 first chapter and read : " The ox knoweth his owner, 
 and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel doth not know, 
 My people doth not consider." He might have told 
 them that the ox and the ass knew more than they did. 
 But He didn't. He mi*ght have turned to the 7th chap- 
 ter : " Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, 
 and shall call his name Immanuel." He might have 
 said : " I am Immanuel — God in the flesh." But He 
 hadn't proved His Messiahship then, and it wasn't time 
 for Him to proclaim Himself Immanuel. He might 
 have turned to the 40th chapter : *' The voice of him 
 that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the 
 Lord ; make straight in the desert a highway for our 
 God." He might have said : " John the Baptist was My 
 forerunner. I am God ; I am the One he proclaimed." 
 He might have read the 9th verse of the same chapter : 
 " O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into 
 the high mountain ; O Jerusalem, that bringest good 
 tidings, lift up thy voice with strength ; lift it up, be not 
 afraid ; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God." 
 He might have said : '' I am that God that the Prophet 
 was speaking of seven hundred years ago." He might 
 have made them angry if He had proclaimed just then 
 His divinity. He might have turned to the 41st chap- 
 ter : " I the Lord will hold thy right hand, saying unto 
 thee. Fear not ; I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm 
 Jacob, and ye men of Israel ; I will help thee, saith the 
 Lord and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." He 
 might have said : " I am that Holy One." Or He might 
 have turned to that grand 53d chapter and read : " He 
 was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for 
 
CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. 169 
 
 our iniquities : the chastisement of our peace was upon 
 Him ; and with His stripes we are healed. All we, like 
 sheep, have gone astray ; we have turned every one to 
 His own way ; and the Lord hath laid upon Him the 
 iniquity of us all." He might have said : " I am the one 
 who bore away your iniquities and your sins. I was 
 born with that purpose. For that purpose I have come 
 into the world." But He didn't read that. And He 
 passed by that 55th chapter : " Ho, every one that thirst- 
 eth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money ; 
 come ye, buy, and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and milk 
 without money and without price." There had yet to 
 be a fountain opened to the house of David before that 
 prophecy could really be fulfilled. He passed by all 
 that, and turned to the 6ist chapter, and He found the 
 place where it is written : " The Spirit of the Lord is 
 upon Me." The Lord had anointed Him to preach the 
 Gospel. 
 
 Now, dear friends, let each and every one of us seek 
 this anointing. Some of you, perhaps, are saying : " I 
 don't expect to be a preacher." Well, if you go into 
 law you will need this anointing from on high. If you 
 go into the medical profession you will need this anoint- 
 ing. Who can do more good than a doctor as he enters 
 into the homes of the sick, and goes with them right up 
 to the very gates of death ? I don't care what your oc- 
 cupation is going to be, if you live an unconsecrated 
 life, that life is going to be a failure. But if you are 
 truly consecrated — if you receive this Divine anointing — 
 there can be no failure. When Jesus Christ began His 
 work at Nazareth, it might have looked to a worldly 
 man as if it had been a stupendous failure. He was re- 
 jected ; He was driven out of the city. What a failure 
 that must have seemed to a worldly man, or a man who 
 
I/O COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 knew nothing about the plans of God. Look how that 
 sermon has come down the ages — how it has afforded 
 good cheer to the people of God ! 
 
 The next thing is the miracles. Turn to Matthew xii. 
 28 : " If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the 
 kingdom of God is com.e unto you." He had been cast- 
 ing out devils, and they accused Him of doing it by the 
 power of Beelzebub. He says : *' It is by the Spirit of 
 God I have done this," He raised the dead by the 
 Spirit that came upon Him. That is how He did His 
 work. 
 
 Then again, in i Peter iii. 18, we read : " For Christ 
 also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, 
 that He might bring us to God, being put to death in 
 the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." 
 
 Now, there are the six steps I want to call your attention 
 to : His conception was by the Spirit. His baptism was 
 into the Spirit, as well as in the water. He was tempted, 
 and the Spirit was there in His temptation. In His 
 preaching the Spirit of God was upon Him. Then His 
 miracles : we find that it was by the Spirit of God He 
 performed those miracles. And His resurrection : that 
 dead body of Jesus Christ was raised by the Holy Ghost 
 — by the same power. Six things, remember : Born of 
 the Spirit, that is the first thing. There is no spiritual 
 life until we are born of God. Let every one take this 
 question home to himself, and be sure that he is born of 
 the Spirit of God. " God is a Spirit, and they that wor- 
 ship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." But, 
 then, we must not be satisfied merely with being born 
 of the Spirit. We must have power. The next thing, 
 then, is. Quickened by the Spirit. That is what Christ 
 was. In His baptism He was quickened. We need the 
 same quickening. The third step is, Sanctified by the 
 
CHRIST AND THE HOLY SPIRIT. 171 
 
 Spirit. There is nothing that will separate us from the 
 world like the Spirit of God. We are sanctified by the 
 Spirit. "Sanctify them through Thy Word ; Thy Word 
 is truth." And the Word is the Sword of the Spirit. I 
 used to be terribly confused about sanctification. I 
 suppose I had hundreds of people laboring with me, 
 and asking me : "Are you wholly sanctified ? " Then I 
 would go to work and try to get what they called sanc- 
 tification. But I tell you, if God will fill me with the 
 Holy Spirit, that is the short cut to holiness. If the 
 Lord will keep me full of the Holy Ghost, I will let 
 sanctification take care of itself. It is a command that 
 we be filled with the Spirit of God. Every one of us 
 may be filled if we will. The fourth step is. Guided by 
 the Spirit. The mistake many of us make is in follow- 
 ing our own will, when our own will may be really in 
 opposition to God's will. What we want to do is to put 
 our will right alongside of God's will, so that the two 
 will move in the same direction. " My yoke is easy." 
 You will find the yoke of Christ very easy when the 
 heart is filled with the Spirit of God. Then you will 
 understand that passage : " Come unto Me, all ye that 
 labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 
 Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me ; for I am 
 meek and lowly in heart ; and ye shall find rest unto 
 your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is 
 light." Now, if a young man finds the yoke of Christ 
 galling, what is the trouble ? He hasn't got enough of 
 the Spirit. That is the trouble. If the yoke chafes, he 
 can't be wholly sanctified. You remember what John 
 the Baptist said : " He must increase, but I must de- 
 crease." I want to tell you what I heard Dr. Bonar say. 
 He says : "If you hear a man all the time talking about 
 jhimself, you may know that he is not filled with the 
 
172 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 Spirit of God. He is filled with his own spirit ; because 
 when a man is filled with the Spirit of God he will be 
 talking about Jesus Christ, and not be talking about 
 himself," He said : "A gentleman came to me to labor 
 with me and get me into the 'higher life.' For an hour 
 that man was with me, and he referred to himself more 
 than a hundred times. It was ' I— I — I.' " And so he 
 said : " I can always tell whether a man has got the 
 Spirit of God or has got some other spirit by the way 
 he talks about himself." The nearer I get to God the 
 less I will think about myself. "He must increase, but 
 I must decrease." Let us get this capital I abolished — 
 get it out of the way. Then we will not only be filled 
 with the Spirit, but be guided by the Spirit. The fifth 
 step is. Led by the Spirit. Just follow the Spirit as the 
 children of Israel followed the cloud in the wilderness. 
 When the cloud moved, they moved ; and when the 
 cloud rested, they rested. They kept their eye on the 
 cloud. What you and I want is to let the Spirit of God 
 lead us. How He will open doors of usefulness ! How 
 He will lead us into green pastures ! Let us learn this 
 lesson : not to be led by the flesh, which will lead you 
 into bondage and darkness ; but be led by the Spirit of 
 God, who will lead you out into liberty — lead you into 
 fields of usefulness, and your life will be anything but 
 a failure. The sixth step is. The Spirit of God will 
 strengthen you. There are, then, these six steps : Born 
 of the Spirit. Quickened by the Spirit. Sanctified by 
 the Spirit. Guided by the Spirit. Led by the Spirit. 
 Strengthened by the Spirit. 
 
CHAPTER Xli. 
 
 OPERATIONS OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 Questions Answered by Mr. Moody — How to Empty Oneself — Griev- 
 ing the Holy Ghost— Pentecost Again Possible— A Distinction 
 Between Indwelling and Enduement — Christians With and With- 
 out Power — Mode of Obtaining the Gift — The Unpardonable 
 Sin — Ancient Manifestations of the Spirit — Teaching and Preach- 
 ing—Power Lost and Regained— The Old and the New Man. 
 
 On one occasion Mr. Moody having invited his hear- 
 ers to send him written questions, proceeded to answer 
 such as he received : 
 
 Q. How can I empty myself ? A. That is impossible. 
 You can't do it, any more than you can fill yourself. I 
 think a great many people make a mistake there. They 
 go to work trying to empty themselves, and then when 
 they can't do it they get discouraged. If, when this 
 building was put up, the builder hadn't put any windows 
 in, it would have been folly for the trustees of this institu- 
 tion to have got a hundred men to come here with 
 buckets and try to bale out the darkness. The quickest 
 way to get the darkness out is to let the light in. Just 
 let in the light. Sometimes I have used this illustration. 
 [Here Mr. Moody took a glass in his hand.] Say that 
 tumbler is filled with jealousy, selfishness, pride, arro- 
 gance — every enemy to righteousness — and we go to 
 work trying to get selfishness out, and pride out ; and 
 we work on and work on, and find we can't do it. Well ; 
 
 (173) 
 
174 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 God's way isn't for us to try to get those things out. But 
 here is the way. [Taking a pitcher of water in his hand, 
 Mr. Moody filled the glass.] That is the way God wants 
 us to let Him drive these things out of our hearts. Hasn't 
 He said : " I will pour water upon the dry ground " ? 
 Some of us here are pretty dry. " Blessed are they 
 which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they 
 shall be filled." That is the promise. Christ gave it in 
 the Sermon on the Mount. It is a good thing to be 
 born of the Spirit, but that isn't all. We need to be 
 filled. " Shall be." He has promised to fill us. 
 
 Q. What does the passage mean about grieving the 
 Holy Spirit ? A. It is a Christian that grieves the Spirit 
 of God. An unconverted person doesn't grieve the Spirit, 
 because he has never given Him access to his heart. 
 We speak about grieving a friend. We don't speak 
 about grieving an enemy. People of the world resist 
 the Holy Spirit ; Christians grieve Him. Let us turn to 
 the 4th of Ephesians and the 29th verse : " Let no cor- 
 rupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but 
 that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may 
 minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the 
 Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of re- 
 demption." Now notice : " Let all bitterness, and wrath, 
 and anger, and clamor, and evil-speaking, be put away 
 from you, with all malice: and be ye kind, one to another, 
 tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for 
 Christ's sake hath forgiven you." It seems to me that 
 Paul throws light upon that very thing. Dissensions 
 and differences always grieve the Spirit of God. I have 
 seen how a blessed work in a church has all been spoiled 
 by differences coming in, and by dissensions. And then, 
 if a man isn't willing to confess Christ, that is grieving 
 the Spirit of God. Then again, young men have asked 
 
OPERATIONS OP THE SPIRIT. r/S 
 
 me this question : " Can I go here and there — to the 
 theatre or the ball-room ? " If you go, and find when 
 you come home at night and get alone in your closet 
 with your Master that there seems to be a sort of lean- 
 ness, and you feel you have spent an unprofitable night, 
 I should say you have grieved the Spirit. Confess your 
 wrong, and don't go and do it again. Don't go and 
 ask this minister and that if it is right to go here or 
 there, but just make up your mind that if you have 
 spent your time unprofitably you have grieved the 
 Spirit of God, and don't do it again. And you may go 
 into the company of scoffers and hear a number of 
 things that will have a bad effect on you. That will 
 grieve the Spirit of God. Get out of their society. 
 Right on that line is the question of quenching the 
 Spirit. Too much pleasure will quench the Spirit — too 
 much business, too many cares— and therefore we ought 
 to be on our guard. We are told not to quench the Spirit. 
 " They that will be rich fall into temptation." Now, if I 
 am out on a desert, and I have got a fire, and there is a 
 terrible storm coming, and my life depends on that fire, 
 how I will take care of it, and watch over it, and nurse 
 it. Our spiritual life depends a good deal upon us. 
 We must be careful how we guard this life. It is the 
 most precious thing we have down here in this world. 
 We want to be on guard continually, and watchful. 
 
 Q, Didn't the Holy Spirit come on the day of Pente- 
 cost for all time, and are we to pray that He come 
 again? A. I think it is perfectly Scriptural to pray 
 that the Spirit may come in power. You will notice in 
 the 2d chapter of Acts that when the Spirit came 3,000 
 people were converted. That was a great day. But 
 turn a Httle farther on in Acts, and you find Peter and 
 John arrested and brought before the Sanhedrim. They 
 
1/6 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 were instructed not to preach any more in the name of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. What did they do ? They had 
 another prayer-meeting, and the place was shaken where 
 they were praying, and they went into the temple and 
 began to preach with new power and there were 5,000 
 people converted. Going on a little farther, to the loth 
 chapter, we find Peter down in Csesarea, in the house of 
 Cornelius. As he spake, " the Holy Ghost fell on all 
 them which heard the word." This was ten years after 
 the day of Pentecost. I believe it is perfectly Scriptural 
 to come together and pray that the Holy Ghost may 
 fall upon us ; and I believe if the Church of God would 
 rise to that blessing, we might have Pentecostal fire 
 back again, and we would soon light up this dark world. 
 Q. Isn't the Holy Spirit in every believer ? A. Yes ; 
 the Spirit dwells in every true believer, but we may 
 have more than that. There are some men that I be- 
 lieve are Christians — I can't doubt that — but they have 
 got no unction — no power ; and then again, there are 
 Christians with unction — with power. I heard a man 
 use this illustration. He said he saw a sign on a build- 
 ing : ^' This store is to rent with power or without pow- 
 er" — that is, with steam or without steam. It would 
 be a good thing if we would say to a person when he 
 wants to join the church : " Do you want to be one of 
 the members with power or without power?" If I were 
 the pastor of a church and some one wanted to be a 
 member without power, I think I would say : " We have 
 got enough of that kind now." It is the privilege of 
 every one of us to have power. But we have got to pay 
 the price. Do you know what the price is ? It is a 
 complete and unconditional surrender to God for any- 
 thing. If God wants me to leave my home and start 
 for Africa, I am to go. That is what it means. I have 
 
OPERATIONS OF THE SPIRIT. I77 
 
 lived long enough to make this discovery — I don't know 
 my own heart, but I think I have got this far — I think 
 if Gabriel should come and tell me that I could have 
 my own will in everything, and I might have my own 
 will to the end of my life, I would say in an instant, 
 " No ! Let the Lord's will be done." If the Lord 
 wanted me to go to Africa I would start this afternoon. 
 I'd rather a thousand times be in Africa with God than 
 to be in America without Him. The trouble is, we are 
 afraid to surrender. We are afraid God is going to take 
 away our health or our pleasure. Not at all. He is a 
 loving Father. The fact is, God can't trust us with 
 power. Do you think railroad men would put trains in 
 the hands of madmen ? God isn't going to put this 
 power in the hands of a man who has got unholy ambi- 
 tion ! He can't do that. If our aim is to give glory to 
 God He can trust us with power. 
 
 Q. Can we expect a baptism of the Holy Ghost ? A 
 Well ; I will not talk about terms. You have been in 
 some meetings before now when it seemed as if the 
 Spirit of God just brooded over you — where you felt as 
 Moses must have felt when he heard the voice saying : 
 " Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place 
 whereon thou standest is holy ground." You have been 
 in meetings where hundreds were under deep conviction 
 of sin, and the unseen world seemed to be more of a 
 reality than the world we are living in. That is how 
 God works through the Spirit. I think it is perfectly 
 Scriptural to pray that He should come in power into 
 our midst. 
 
 Q. How shall I set out to get this power? A. Have 
 just one desire. Have just one aim. Let everything 
 else go. Make everything else secondary. Make up 
 your mind that you are willing to lay everything else 
 
178 COLLEOE STUDENTS AT NORTlIFIELb. 
 
 aside that you can get this power. Hunger and thirst 
 for it. " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst 
 after righteousness, for they shall be filled." 
 
 Q. Is there any danger of expecting too much ? A. 
 No ; I don't think so. I don't think we expect 
 enough. I will tell you where the trouble is. We 
 may mark out a way for God to give us the bless- 
 ing. We may set the time. Now, there are no dates 
 in God's promises. There are no two persons con- 
 verted exactly alike, and I don't suppose any two per- 
 sons get this power exactly alike. A great many people 
 don't come to Christ because some member of the 
 family — some aunt or some grandmother — had a certain 
 experience, and they are expecting the same kind of an 
 experience. That is a great mistake. No two persons 
 ever looked alike. There is great variety in this world. 
 Have an experience of your own. Ask God to deal with 
 you personally. Christ never healed two men alike. 
 Suppose the man He healed of his blindness in Jeru- 
 salem is walking along the street. Bartimeus, we will 
 suppose, comes up and says : " How did you get your 
 sight ? " The man says : "A certain man named Jesus 
 — I don't know who He was — took pity on me. He spat 
 on the ground and made some clay and filled my eyes." 
 You'd think that was enough to put out his eyes — to fill 
 them with clay. " Then He said to me, * Go and wash 
 in the pool of Siloam.' I went and washed and received 
 my sight." " Why," says Bartimeus, " I don't believe 
 you have got your sight. He didn't send me to any 
 pool. He just spoke and I saw." You can run all 
 through the miracles of Jesus Christ and you will find 
 no two are alike. That is a lesson for us. There is great 
 variety in God's Kingdom. You have seen those little 
 tin soldiers, haven't you, that all come out alike ? I 
 
OPERATIONS OF THE SPIRIT. lyg 
 
 suppose if we were making men we would make all 
 alike. We'd make them in one mould, and if they didn't 
 fit we'd break every bone in them to make them fit the 
 mould. [Laughter.] God's way is to bless you accord- 
 ing as you use what He has given you already. Use 
 what you have got, and keep looking for more, and it 
 will just increase. That is- brought out, I think, in the 
 parable of the talents. 
 
 Q. How would you explain the unpardonable sin ? 
 A. I think that really explains itself. Just turn to the 
 1 2th chapter of Matthew. A great many people give 
 themselves up to remorse and despair. I meet them all 
 over the country. [Here Mr. Moody read Matt. xii. 
 22-27.] I read that to show that this sin that is called 
 unpardonable is connected with that accusation they 
 brought against Christ of being possessed with the 
 prince of the devils — the lord of filth. They railed 
 against and denied the work of the Holy Ghost. Turn 
 to Mark iii. 22: "And the scribes which came down 
 from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the 
 prince of the devils casteth He out devils. And He 
 called them unto Him, and said unto them in parables, 
 How can Satan cast out Satan ? . . . . Verily I say unto 
 you. All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, 
 and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: 
 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost 
 hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal dam- 
 nation." Now, I have met a great many skeptics — I 
 have met a great many wicked men first and last — but 
 I never met a man who thought Christ was possessed 
 with a devil. Never ! I never met a man who brought 
 that charge, that Christ wrought His miracles with the 
 power of the devil. But a great many people have got 
 an idea that this terrible statement applies to them. I 
 
I80 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 don't go into a town but I meet from one to a dozen, 
 cases. The devil is tormenting them day and night. 
 Why, if the Spirit of God had left them, they would be 
 as dead as that desk. They would have no feeling in 
 the matter. The very fact that they are troubled about 
 their sins shows that the Spirit of God hasn't left them. 
 Mr. Trumbull, what do you say about this ? 
 
 Mr. Henry Clay Trumbull — As Mr. Moody says, that 
 question is continually coming up. I was in active evan- 
 gelistic work a good many years ago, and especially in 
 looking up those who were in remote districts, from 
 Maine to California, and I will say this, that while I 
 have had personal conversation with tens of thousands 
 individually, talking with them about their souls, I have 
 not but in two cases met those w^ho I believed had com- 
 mitted the unpardonable sin. And in each case the men 
 were perfectly callous. One man said to me, when I 
 talked with him and wanted him to have his children 
 gathered into a Sunday-school : " I believed in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and I lived in His service, as you call it, 
 for a while, but I found Him false, and the whole thing 
 a lie, and I hate Him, and I hate everything connected 
 with Him, and I hate those who believe in Him." With 
 that starting-point, he sat there before me, and simply 
 blasphemed the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He 
 wanted no forgiveness — no salvation. He was in per- 
 sistent and intelligent hostility to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 How can such a man be saved ? — for there is no other 
 name under Heaven or among men whereby we can be 
 saved but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ ; and when 
 one says Jesus Christ shall not save him, there is no 
 forgiveness possible, because he will not accept the 
 only forgiveness possible. But as long as one wants 
 to be saved, there is forgiveness for him. When one 
 
OPERATIONS OF THE SPIRIT. l8l 
 
 will not be forgiven, God Himself will not force for- 
 giveness. 
 
 Q. Did not the Holy Spirit work in the Old Testa- 
 ment dispensation ? Is this the only time the Holy 
 Spirit has worked ? A. Certainly not. ** Holy men of 
 God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 
 Simeon and Anna were in the Spirit when the infant 
 Christ was brought into the Temple. The Spirit 
 wrought miracles before the time of Christ. One man 
 — I think it is Mr. Erdman — has brought out this idea. 
 The Spirit of God worked all through the Old Testa- 
 ment period, but yet there is a prophecy of extraordi- 
 nary gifts to be fulfilled in the time of the Messiah. He 
 brings out five different points. The prophecy is in 
 Joel ii. 28 : " And it shall come to pass afterward, that 
 I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh ; and your sons 
 and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall 
 dream dreams, your young men shall see visions : And 
 also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those 
 days will I pour out My Spirit." The first thing is, 
 Upon all flesh. Then, From on high. Isaiah xxxii. 15: 
 " Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and 
 the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field 
 be counted for a forest." Next, Upon the thirsty : Isaiah 
 xliv. 3 : " For I will pour out water upon him that is 
 thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground : I will pour 
 out My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon 
 thine offspring." Next, He shall be in you. Ezekiel 
 xxxvi. 27 : "And I will put My Spirit within you, and 
 cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My 
 judgments, and do them." And then. Forever. That is 
 in Isaiah lix. 21 : "As for Me, this is My covenant with 
 them, saith the Lord; My Spirit that is upon thee, and 
 My words which I have put into thy mouth, shall not 
 
1 82 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy 
 seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the 
 Lord, from henceforth and forever." I think the Spirit 
 of God, of course, worked in the Old Testament dis- 
 pensation ; but He works in a different way now from 
 what He did then. 
 
 Q. Is the Holy Spirit always manifested by the con- 
 version of sinners ? May not one fail of much result 
 and still have the Spirit ? A. I think that is quite true. 
 There are some people that have a gift to teach and 
 have no gift to preach ; and again, there are other men 
 that have got great gifts for preaching, but they are not 
 " apt to teach." There are some men not blessed with 
 many conversions, and yet the Spirit of God is with 
 them. At the same time, we are to look for results. 
 ^' Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." 
 I don't know but that a man who prepares others to 
 preach is doing as much good as if he were preaching 
 himself, because he is constantly reproducing himself. 
 I believe that what we want in this country to-day is 
 more teaching and less preaching — or perhaps as much 
 preaching, but certainly more teaching. There are a 
 great many sermons that are all exhortation. Some- 
 times you can go into a meeting and there isn't an un- 
 converted person there, and some one will get up and 
 deliver a sermon to the unconverted. Now, a man 
 needs the Spirit of God to teach as much as he does to 
 preach. If he is building up those that are in the king- 
 dom of God, he is doing a work that is just as import- 
 ant, if not more so. 
 
 Q. We sometimes hear ministers refer to the Holy 
 Spirit as " it," or as an influence, and all that. Is that 
 right ? A. You will notice that the Bible always speaks 
 of the Holy Spirit as a person. " When He shall come," 
 
OPERATIONS OF THE SPIRIT. 183 
 
 '''■ Himy In Christ's own teaching — in the 14th, 15th, 
 i6th, and 17th of John, where He is teaching so much 
 about the Spirit — you will find that four or five times 
 He speaks of Him as a person. "When He is come He 
 will convince the world of sin." He^WX do this or that. 
 He is always spoken of in Scripture as a person, and 
 not just as a mere influence. 
 
 Q. Need any one expect the power of the Spirit for 
 service who is not serving God with the power he has 
 already ? A. Certainly not. God is not going to waste 
 His grace. Is God going to waste His power ? If we 
 use all the grace God has given us, and hunger and 
 thirst for more — if we want more power, and make good 
 use of what power God has already given us, and walk 
 consistently, He will increase that power. But if a man 
 buries his gift he can't expect to have the gift increased- 
 
 Q. Is there a difference between being born of the 
 Spirit and being anointed by the Spirit ? A. It strikes 
 me there is a difference, and yet when a man is born of 
 the Spirit he may at the same time receive an anointing 
 — a great anointing — and be ready to go to work. The 
 disciples must have been "born of the Spirit, or they 
 wouldn't have left their fishing-smacks and followed a 
 stranger, who had nothing to offer them apparently, and 
 whose own end was death. Undoubtedly the disciples 
 experienced a work of the Spirit when they followed 
 Christ ; yet He tells them that they are to wait till they 
 are endued with power. It is clearly taught that they 
 did wait till they received that power. I m.ake a dis- 
 tinction between the Spirit of God in a man and the 
 Spirit of God on him. I may have the Spirit of God 
 dwelling in me, but I can't have unction in service till I 
 have the Spirit of God on me. What we want is not to 
 be satisfied till we get power. Get this power, and you 
 
1 84 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 will do more good in one week than you could do with- 
 out it in many years. Jonathan Edwards said there was 
 more done down here in Northampton in one week than 
 there had been in seven years when the Holy Ghost 
 came in power and Christians were quickened. 
 
 Q. How do you account for men losing power who 
 were once used by God mightily? A. Well; Samson 
 lost his strength, and you know how he lost it — through 
 the lusts of the flesh. The old man isn't dead. We are 
 to reckon him dead. There is a good deal of difference 
 between reckoning a man dead and knowing that he is 
 really dead. I am to put the old man in the place of 
 death, and keep him there, and keep my body under. 
 If I don't keep my body under, sin is going to get me 
 under. That is how it was with Samson. He was a 
 giant — had mighty power ; yet he lost it because he fell 
 into sin. But there is one consolation about Samson : 
 they didn't pull his hair out by the roots ; it grew again. 
 And there are men who have lost their power, but, thank 
 God, they can get it back. Peter lost his ; but I tell 
 you he got it back when he stood up there and preached 
 to those Jews on the day of Pentecost. He could never 
 have spoken as he did if he hadn't known what it was 
 to be overcome by sin. Bear in mind that greater re- 
 sults followed Peter's preaching than that of any other 
 man. He was a restored backslider. Bear that in mind; 
 and when you see a man that has been used by God, and 
 has fallen back, don't give him up. If he repents, God 
 can use him a thousand times more than before. Look 
 at David. Probably we should never have had the ^26. 
 Psalm and the 51st Psalm if it hadn't been for David's 
 fall. Whal a blessing those psalms have been to the 
 people of God all through the ages — written by a re- 
 stored backslider. 
 
OPERATIONS OF THE SPIRIT. 1 85 
 
 A Voice — You speak of a distinction between a per- 
 son being dead and being reckoned dead. What is the 
 meaning of that passage in the third of Colossians: 
 " For ye are dead " ? 
 
 Mr. Moody — That means that we are judicially dead. 
 It must mean that the old man is judicially dead, be- 
 cause my experience is that he is not dead. Some one 
 said to a Scotchman : " Have nothing to do with the 
 old man. Just let him alone." " Ah," said the Scotch- 
 man, " but he won't let me alone. If I try to cut his ac- 
 quaintance, he won't cut mine." You may think the old 
 man is dead, but by and by up comes your temper. The 
 first two or three years after I was converted I was a 
 mystery to myself. I was a contradiction. I couldn't 
 understand myself. Thank God I never lost sight of 
 Jesus Christ since I first met Him — I never lost my hope 
 in Jesus Christ — but I tell you, I was an awful mystery 
 to myself. I thought when I was converted that my 
 temper was gone. Such a gush of love came into my 
 soul that I felt as if some mighty current was sweeping 
 me right into Heaven ; but I soon found that I had a 
 battle on hand. I had got to overcome sin, or sin would 
 overcome me. I'd got to fight the world, the flesh, and 
 the devil all the while — and I think, after all these 
 years, that the flesh is the meanest of the lot. I have a 
 good deal of sympathy with that man who said : " Re- 
 sist the devil and he will flee from you ; but resist the 
 flesh and it still clings to you." I am to reckon myself 
 crucified with Jesus Christ — I am to reckon that I stand 
 on resurrection ground — death and the judgment are all 
 behind me, and I am an heir of glory ; but at the same 
 time I am down here in the flesh yet, and if I don't watch 
 the flesh and don't keep myself under — keep the body 
 under— then he is going to get the victory over me. I 
 
1 86 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 think that is the teaching of Scripture. That is the 
 teaching of the 7th and 8th chapters of Romans, where 
 it is clearly brought out that we have a lower nature and 
 a higher nature — the old nature sinning, and the new na- 
 ture condemning. Very often you hear men saying they 
 have got a complete victory over themselves ; but they 
 haven't got to the bottom of their hearts. By-and-by they 
 will find something they never thought was there. When 
 I hear a man say, " I love God, with all my heart," I say, 
 " As far as he knows it." It's awfully deceiving. Oh, the 
 heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. 
 Who knows his own heart? So I believe that when 
 Paul says, " Reckon yourselves dead," he means : '' Put 
 yourselves in the place of death, and keep yourselves 
 right there, and if the flesh comes up and asserts its su- 
 premacy over you, just say : ' No ; I have got another 
 master. I will not let the flesh reign over me ! ' " I 
 think some people have a good deal more trouble than 
 others. I have great respect for a man that has got a 
 mean, contemptible nature and overcomes it. I have a 
 great respect for Jacob. He is a sort of twin brother 
 of mine. I think there are very few Josephs. If there 
 are many I don't meet them ; but I meet lots of Jacobs. 
 
 Another Voice — What is the meaning of the words : 
 " Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwell- 
 eth in me " ? 
 
 Mr. Moody — It wasn't him — it was the old man in 
 him. A man was once brought into court, and he said 
 he hadn't done the thing he was charged with ; it was 
 the old man in him. *' Well," the judge said ; " I'll send 
 the old man to prison, and the new man can go where 
 he's a mind to." You may have heard of the little child 
 that went for berries when she had been told not to. 
 Her mother said : " Why did you go into those berry 
 
OPERATIONS OF THE SPIRIT. 187 
 
 bushes after I had said you mustn't ? " " Well," said the 
 child ; " the devil pushed me right in." A good many 
 people excuse themselves in that way. There's a battle 
 that rages all the while between me and the temptations 
 of the flesh, and I am either to overcome them or they 
 will overcome me. That is the question for me to set- 
 tle. There may be a man here saying : " I never had a 
 conflict." That is a true sign that you never have been 
 born of the Spirit. The moment a man is born 
 again, a great conflict begins. " The flesh lusteth 
 against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh." 
 1 never had a conflict with myself till I was born of 
 the Spirit. I had a pretty good opinion of myself. 
 That was the trouble with the elder brother. Talk 
 to people that have never been born of the Spirit, 
 and they will say : *' I never did anything wrong." 
 Talk to them about an inward conflict and they will say: 
 " I don't know anything about it." You may have heard 
 the story of an old judge who had a slave that was a 
 Christian. The judge was an infidel. The slave often 
 talked about the battles he was having with the devil. 
 One day the judge was driving on his circuit with the 
 slave, and said to him : " You are all the time talking 
 about the conflict you are having with the devil. Now 
 / don't have any conflict with the devil. I must be a 
 good deal better than you are." The poor colored man 
 didn't understand anything about those two natures — 
 he didn't know much about the Bible — but he knew 
 there was a conflict. He couldn't make any answer just 
 then ; but pretty soon they came to a place where they 
 saw some ducks. The judge took up his gun and shot 
 at them. Looking to see the result, they found that 
 there was only one dead, but there was a wounded duck 
 struggling in the water. The slave went to bring in the 
 
1 88 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 birds. He was going to bring the dead one, when the 
 judge shouted : ''Let that duck go. Go quick and get 
 the wounded duck." The slave went after the wounded 
 duck, and then on his way back brought the dead one 
 too. When he got to the carriage he said : " Ah, massa ; 
 I can explain the matter now. You are like the dead 
 duck. The devil has got you anyway. I am like the 
 wounded duck, and the devil is trying to get me." If a 
 man is dead in trespasses and sins, the devil lets him 
 alone. But if he is born of God, there is a conflict in 
 him between the lower nature and the higher nature. I 
 don't know of anything I get so much comfort out of as 
 the doctrine that I am a partaker of God's nature — that 
 I have God's nature in me. It is hard for a man to 
 serve God before he has got that nature. You might as 
 well ask him to jump over the sun. " God is a Spirit, 
 and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit 
 and in truth." You cannot do that unless you have the 
 Spirit of God. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT. 
 
 Address by Mr. Moody on " Overcoming" — Instances of Failure in 
 One's Strongest Point — Triumphs of Faith — A Three-Fold Battle 
 — Our Enemies : The World, the Flesh, and the Devil — Their 
 Deadly Power — Enemies Within and Without — A Desperate Con- 
 flict — Encouragement — The Eight " Overcomes" of Revelation. 
 
 I WOULD like to have you open your Bibles and turn 
 to ist John, 5th chapter, and the 4th and 5th verses : 
 " For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world : 
 and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even 
 our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but 
 he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God." I want 
 to talk to you a little while this morning about over- 
 coming. When a battle is fought, all are anxious to 
 know who are the victors. In these verses we are told 
 who is to get this victory of life. When I was converted 
 I made this mistake : I thought the battle was already 
 mine. I thought the victory was won — the crown was 
 already mine. But I found out after serving Christ for 
 a few months that there was a battle on hand, and that 
 if I was to get a crown I had got to fight for it — got to 
 work for it. Salvation is a gift. " To him that worketh 
 not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, 
 his faith is counted for righteousness." You get that as 
 you would get any other gift. But if you get a reward, 
 that comes from service ; and it is folly for any man to 
 attempt to fight this battle in his own strength — in his 
 
 (189) 
 
IQO COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTIIFIELD. 
 
 own name. The world, the flesh, and the devil are too 
 much for any man, I don't care who he is. But if we 
 have faith in Jesus Christ, and are linked with Him, and 
 Christ is formed in us, the hope of glory — then it is we 
 get the victory over every enemy. That brings me to 
 the 4th verse of the 4th chapter of the same Epistle : 
 " Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome 
 them : because greater is He that is within you than he 
 that is in the w^orld." The only man that ever con- 
 quered this world — was complete victor — was Jesus 
 Christ. When He shouted on the cross, " It is fin- 
 ished ! " it was a shout of victory — it was the shout of 
 a conqueror. He had overcome every enemy. He had 
 met sin, and death, and the grave — He had met every 
 foe that you and I have got to meet — and had come off 
 victor. Now, if I have got Christ — if I have got that 
 same life — in me, then it is that I have got a power that 
 is greater than any power that is in the world, and with 
 that same power I overcome the world. Young men, 
 notice that everything human in this world fails. Every 
 man, the moment he takes his eye off from God, has 
 failed. Every man has been a failure at some period of 
 his life. Abraham failed. Moses failed. Elijah failed. 
 Take the men that have become so famous and that 
 were so mighty — the moment they got their eye off from 
 God they were weak like other men ; and it is a very 
 singular thing that those men failed on the strongest 
 point in their character. Abraham was noted for his 
 faith, and he failed right there — he denied his wife. 
 Moses was noted for his humility, and he failed right 
 there — he got angry, and was kept out of the promised 
 land because he lost his temper. I know he was called 
 " the servant of God," and that he was a mighty man, 
 and had power with God, but, humanly speaking, he 
 
FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT. I9I 
 
 failed, and was kept out of the promised land. Take 
 Elijah. He was the boldest man of his day, and stood 
 before Ahab, and the royal court, and all the prophets 
 of Baal ; yet when he heard that Jezebel had threatened 
 his life, he ran away to the desert, and under a juniper 
 tree prayed that he might die. Look at Peter— the 
 boldest of the disciples. A young maid frightened him 
 almost out of his life. As soon as she spoke about him 
 he began to tremble, and he swore that he didn't know 
 Christ. I have often said to myself that I'd like to have 
 been there on the day of Pentecost alongside of that 
 maid when she saw Peter preaching. " Why," I suppose 
 she said ; " what has come over that man ? He was 
 afraid of me only a few weeks ago, and now he stands 
 up before all Jerusalem, and charges those Jews with 
 the murder of Jesus Christ." The moment he got his 
 eye off the Master he failed ; and every man, I don't 
 care who he is — even the strongest — every man that 
 hasn't Christ in him, is a failure. John, the beloved dis- 
 ciple, was noted for his meekness ; and yet we hear of 
 him wanting to call fire down from Heaven on a little 
 town because it had refused the common hospitalities. 
 
 Now, how are we to get the victory over all these 
 enemies ? Turn to Galatians ii. '20 : " I was crucified 
 with Christ : nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ 
 liveth in me : and the life which I live in the flesh, I 
 live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me : and 
 gave Himself for me." We live by faith. We get this 
 life by faith, and become linked to the Emmanuel — 
 " God with us." If I have God for me, I am going to 
 overcome. How do we gain this mighty power ? By 
 faith. The next passage I want to call your attention 
 to is Romans xi. 20 : " Because of unbelief they were 
 broken off ; and thou standest by faith. Be not high- 
 
192 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 minded, but fear." The Jews were cut off on account 
 of their unbelief. We were grafted in on account of 
 our belief. So notice : We live by faith, and we stand 
 by faith. The next thing is : We walk by faith. 2 Cor- 
 inthians V. 7 : " For we walk by faith, not by sight." 
 The most faulty Christians I know of are those who 
 want to walk by sight. They want to see the end — how 
 a thing is going to come out. That isn't walking by 
 faith at all — that is walking by sight. I think the char- 
 acters that represent this difference are Joseph and Ja- 
 cob. Jacob was a man who walked with God by sight. 
 He never could have gone through the temptations and 
 trials that his son Joseph did. Joseph represents a 
 higher type of Christian. He could walk in the dark. 
 Lot and Abraham are a good illustration. Lot turned 
 away from Abraham and tented on the plains of Sodom. 
 He should have stayed with Abraham. He was a weak 
 character, and he should have kept with Abraham in 
 order to get strong. A good many men are just like 
 that. As long as their mothers are living, or they are 
 bolstered up by some godly person, they get along very 
 well ; but they can't stand alone. Lot walked by sight ; 
 but Abraham walked by faith. And now : We fight by 
 faith.- Ephesians vi. 16 : "Above all, taking the shield 
 of faith, whereby ye shall be able to quench all the fiery 
 darts of the wicked." Every dart Satan can fire at us 
 we can quench by faith. By faith we can overcome the 
 Evil One. 
 
 Turn to i John ii. 15. Dr. McKenzie was trying to 
 show you, a few days ago, how the first chapter of John's 
 Gospel and the first chapter of Genesis corresponded. I 
 want to show you how this Epistle of John and the first 
 part of Genesis correspond. " Love not the world, 
 neither the things that are in the world. If any man 
 
FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT. 1 93 
 
 iove the world, the love of the Father is not in him." 
 Now, people want to know what is the world. When 
 you talk with them about the world they say : '' Well, 
 when you say ' the world,' what do you mean?" Here 
 we have the answer in the next verse : " For all that is 
 in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the 
 eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of 
 the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust 
 thereof : but he that doeth the will of God abideth for- 
 ever." Turn now to the third chapter of Genesis and 
 the 6th verse. You will notice there those three things 
 in John : the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and 
 the pride of life. " 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." Notice 
 three things there. " Good for food." That is the lust 
 of the flesh. Second : "Pleasant to the eyes." That is 
 the lust of the eyes. Third : " To make one wise." 
 That is the pride of life. So you see that the same 
 thing brought out in the first Epistle of John is brought 
 out in Genesis. The battle rages really on those three 
 lines. You and I have got to overcome the lust of the 
 flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. 
 Most of you are too young to remember, but some of the 
 older people here can remember when our war broke 
 out. Secretary Seward, who was Lincoln's Secretary of 
 State — a long-headed and shrewd politician — came out 
 with a prophecy that the war would be over in ninety 
 days ; and young men in thousands and hundreds of 
 thousands came forward and volunteered to go down to 
 Dixie and whip the South. They thought they would 
 be back in ninety days ; but the war lasted four yearf 
 
194 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 and cost about half a million of lives. What was the 
 matter ? Why ; the South was a good deal stronger 
 than the North supposed. Its strength was underesti- 
 mated. And that is the reason why so many Christians 
 fail all through life — they underestimate the strength of 
 the enemy. My dear friends, you and I have got a terrible 
 enemy to contend with. Don't let Satan deceive you. 
 It is a warfare. Nearly everything we see has a tendency 
 to draw us away from God. We have enemies within 
 and without. 
 
 What are our enemies from without ? For one thing, 
 worldly habits and fashions. I am to go against the 
 customs of the world. I have great respect for a man 
 who can stand up for what he believes is right against all 
 the world. A man who can stand alone is a hero. 
 There are a good many times in your college life when 
 you have got to go against some custom. Perhaps it is 
 fashionable to drink wine, and you have conscientious 
 scruples against drinking wine. You have got to take 
 your stand, and you need all your courage. Suppose it 
 is the custom for young men to do certain things you 
 wouldn't like your mother to know of — things that your 
 mother taught you were wrong. You may have to 
 stand up alone among all your companions. They will 
 say : "You can't get away from your mother, eh ? Tied 
 to your mother's apron-strings ! " But just you say : 
 " Yes ! I have some respect for my mother ; she taught 
 me what is right, and she is the best friend I have. I 
 believe that is wrong, and I am going to stand for the 
 right," What young men want to do is to take their 
 stand for the right, and if they have got to stand alone, 
 to stand. Another enemy is worldly pleasure. A great 
 many people are just drowned in pleasure. They have 
 no time for any meditation at all. Then again, there 
 
FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT. 1 95 
 
 are a great many men who go into business and think of 
 nothing else. You have got to overcome these enemies 
 and get the mastery over them, or they will get the 
 mastery over you ! Are you going to have the mastery 
 over pleasure, or let pleasure get the mastery over you ? 
 Will you have the victory over business, or business 
 over you ? And custom, fashion, and all that — are you 
 going to be a slave to these things, or are you going to 
 bring them into captivity and subjection ? 
 
 Take the enemies that come from within — what are 
 they ? Well ; there is appetite. How many young men 
 in our colleges are just ruined by the appetite for strong 
 drink ! That is their appetite, and they are wrecked. 
 Many a young man has gone up to some university, and 
 instead if being a blessing to his father and mother, has 
 been a curse to them. Let me say right here : I have 
 been working a good deal with drinking men, and I 
 think the rest of my work will be with the young. Once 
 in a while a drunkard may stand up for a time and keep 
 away from the cup ; but it takes all his strength and all 
 his time to fight against the habit. It is a good deal 
 better to begin when you are young and never get the 
 appetite fastened on you. Then there is the lust of the 
 flesh. How many men are ruined by the accursed sin 
 of adultery, or impure thoughts ! We are to bring every 
 appetite into subjection. We are to get the victory 
 over our lusts and passions, and not let them get the 
 victory over us. Don't let any man think he can con- 
 quer the world until he has conquered himself first. 
 Then there is temper. I wouldn't give much for a man 
 that hasn't temper. Steel isn't good for anything if it 
 hasn't got temper. But when temper gets the mastery 
 over me I am a slave to my temper, and it is a source of 
 weakness. It may be made a great power for good all 
 
196 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 through my life, and help me ; or it may become my 
 greatest enemy from within, and rob me of power. I 
 must keep it under control. Take the sin of covetous- 
 ness. There is more said in the Bible against covetous- 
 ness than against drunkenness. I am to get that out of 
 me — destroy it, root and branch, and not let it have do- 
 minion over me. I am not to become a covetous man. 
 Do you say : '' How am I going to check covetousness ? " 
 Well ; I don't think there is any difficulty about that. 
 If you find yourself getting very covetous — very miserly 
 — wanting to get everything you can into your posses- 
 sion — just begin to scatter. Just say to covetousness 
 that you will strangle it, and rid it out of your disposi- 
 tion. That is a thing we want to overcome. And then 
 there is deceit and jealousy, and all that sort of thing. 
 Those are enemies that come from within. They have 
 all got to be overcome. And bear this in mind : Every 
 temptation you overcome makes you stronger to over- 
 come others, while every temptation that defeats you 
 makes you weaker. You can become weaker and 
 weaker, or you can become stronger and stronger. How 
 many men have been overcome by some little thing. 
 Sometimes you can brace yourself up against a great 
 temptation ; and almost before you know it you fall be- 
 fore some little thing. A great many men are overcome 
 by a little persecution. Do you know, I don't think 
 we have enough persecution nowadays. Some people 
 say we have persecution that is just as hard to bear as 
 in the Dark Ages. Anyway, I think it would be a good 
 thing if we had a little of the old-fashioned persecution 
 just now. It would bring out the strongest characters 
 and make us all healthier. I have heard men get up in 
 prayer-meeting and say they were going to make a few 
 remarks, and then keep on till you would think they 
 
FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT. 197 
 
 were going to talk all week. If we had a little persecu- 
 tion, people of that kind wouldn't talk so much. If 
 there were a few stakes for burning Christians, 1 think 
 it would take all the piety out of some men. I admit 
 they haven't got much ; but then if you are not willing 
 to suffer a little persecution for Christ, you are not fit 
 to be His disciple. We are told: "All that will live 
 godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." Make 
 up your mind to this : If the world has nothing to say 
 against you, Jesus Christ will have nothing to say for 
 you. A great many shrink from the Christian life be- 
 cause they will be sneered at. And then, sometimes 
 when persecution won't bring a man down, flattery will. 
 Foolish persons often come up to a man after he has 
 spoken and flatter him. Sometimes ladies do that. 
 Perhaps they will say to some worker in the church : 
 " You talk a great deal better than so-and-so "; and he 
 becomes proud, and begins to strut around as if he was 
 the most important person in the town. I tell you, we 
 have a wily devil to contend with. If he can't overcome 
 you with opposition, he will try flattery or ambition ; 
 and if that doesn't serve his purpose, perhaps there will 
 come some affliction or disappointment, and he will 
 overcome you in that way. But I want you to remem- 
 ber that any one that has got Christ to help him can 
 overcome every foe, and overcome them singly or col- 
 lectively. Let them come. If we have got Christ 
 within us, we will overthrow them all. Remember what 
 Christ is able to do. In all the ages men have stood in 
 greater temptations than you and I will ever have to 
 meet. 
 
 Now, there is one thing on this line : I have either 
 got to overcome the world, or the world is going to 
 overcome me. I have either got to conquer sin in me — 
 
198 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 or sin about me — and get it under my feet, or it is going 
 to conquer me. A good many people are satisfied with 
 one or two victories, and think that is all. I tell you, 
 my dear friends, we have got to do something more 
 than that. It is a battle all the time ; it is a conflict. 
 We have this to encourage us : we are assured of victory 
 at the end. We are promised a glorious triumph. 
 
 Let me give you the eight " overcomes " of Revela- 
 tion. The first is : " To him that overcometh will I give 
 to eat of the tree of life." He shall have a right to the 
 tree of life. When Adam fell he lost that right. God 
 turned him out of Eden lest he should eat of the tree of 
 life and live as he was forever. Perhaps He just took 
 that tree and transplanted it in the Garden above ; and 
 through the second Adam we are to have a right to eat 
 of it. Second : " He that overcometh shall not be hurt 
 of the second death." Death has no terrors for him. 
 Death cannot touch him. Why ? Because Christ tasted 
 death for every man. Hence he is on resurrection 
 ground. Death may take this body, but that is all. 
 This is only the house I live in. We need have no fear 
 of death if we overcome. Third : " To him that over- 
 cometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will 
 give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name 
 written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth 
 it." If I overcome, God will feed me with bread that 
 the world knows nothing about, and give me a new 
 name. Fourth : " He that overcometh, and keepeth 
 My works unto the end, to him will I give power over 
 the nations." Think of it. What a thing to have ; 
 power over the nations ! A man that is able to rule 
 himself is the man that God can trust with power, and 
 He will give him power over the nations. Only a man 
 who can govern himself is fit to govern other men, I 
 
FIGHTING THE GOOD FIGHT. I99 
 
 have an idea that God is just polishing us for some 
 higher service. Fifth : " He that overcometh, the same 
 shall be clothed in white raiment ; and I will not blot 
 his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his 
 name before My Father, and before His angels." He 
 shall present us to the Father in white garments, with- 
 out spot or wrinkle. Every fault and stain shall be 
 taken out, and we be made perfect. Sixth : " Him that 
 overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My 
 God ; and he shall go no more out ; and I will write 
 upon him the name of My God, and the name of the 
 city of My God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh 
 down out of Heaven from My God : and I will write 
 upon him My new name." Seventh : " To him that 
 overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, 
 even as I also overcame, and am set down with My 
 Father in His throne." My heart has often melted as I 
 have looked at that. Dear young men, what a high 
 calling. Think of it : the Lord of glory coming down 
 and saying : " I will grant to you to sit on My throne, 
 even as I sit on My Father's throne, if you will just 
 overcome." Isn't it worth fighting for ? Isn't it worth 
 a struggle ? How many will fight for a crown that is 
 going to fade away ! Yet we are to be placed higher 
 than the angels, if we only overcome ! May God help 
 us to overcome ! May God put strength into every one 
 of us to fight the battle of life, so that we may sit with 
 Him on His throne. We are joint-heirs with Christ. 
 No one can be a joint-heir with the Prince of Wales. 
 When Frederick of Germany was dying, his own son 
 wouldn't have been allowed to sit with him on the 
 throne, nor to have let any one else sit there with him. 
 Yet we are told that we are joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, 
 and that we are to sit with Him in glory ! And now, the 
 
200 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 last thought I like best of all : " He that overcometh 
 shall inherit all things ; and I will be his God, and he 
 shall be My son." My dear friends, isn't that a high 
 calling ? Just see what a kingdom we shall come into : 
 we shall inherit all things ! Do you ask me how much 
 I am worth ? I don't know. The Rothschilds cannot 
 compute their wealth. They don't know how many 
 millions they own. That is my condition. I haven't 
 the slightest idea how much I am worth. God has no 
 poor children. If we overcome we shall inherit all 
 things. Oh, my dear friends, what an inheritance ! 
 Let us get the victory over the world, the flesh, and the 
 devil. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 MR. Moody's question-drawer. 
 
 Conditions of Successful Prayer — Power from on High — Its Effect 
 upon Character — Hints to Speakers — Value of Irregular Meth- 
 ods — Outdoor Work — Preparing Sermons — Sectarianism — Begin- 
 ning Work Promptly — How to Hold Inquiry-Meetings — Mistakes 
 to be Avoided— Bible Study — The Call to the Ministry. 
 
 Q. Is the prayer of faith always answered ? A. I 
 haven't time to answer that question as I would like to 
 do ; but faith must have a warrant. A good many peo- 
 ple think they have faith enough when they ask for cer- 
 tain things ; yet their prayers are not answered, and 
 they wonder why. The trouble is, their faith had no 
 warrant. For instance, if I should go out to meet the 
 army of Midian at the head of three hundred men with 
 empty pitchers, I should probably be routed. Gideon 
 had a warrant. God told him to go, and he went, and 
 Midian couldn't stand. We have got to have some foun- 
 dation for our faith — some promise of God to base our 
 faith upon. Then again, if we don't get our prayers 
 answered just as we want them, it is no sign that God 
 doesn't answer prayer. For instance, my little boy when 
 he was eight years old, wanted a pony. He got his an- 
 swer : It was " No." Was his prayer answered ? Of 
 course it was. I got him a goat. A pony might have 
 kicked his head off. A goat was a good deal better for 
 a boy eight years old than a pony. It is a foolish idea 
 to think that God has got to do everything you ask. 
 
 (20I) 
 
202 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 You will notice that the people whose prayers are re- 
 corded in the Bible didn't always have their prayers 
 answered just as they wanted them to be, but often in 
 some other way. In all true prayer you will say : " Not 
 my will, but Thine, be done "; and all true prayer will be 
 answered if you have made it in that spirit. God likes 
 to have His children ask for just what they want even 
 though the answer He will give may be very different 
 from what they expect, I want my children to ask me 
 for what they want ; but I don't give them all they ask 
 for by a good deal. So make your requests known unto 
 God, and the peace of God shall keep you. Look at 
 those three men of Scripture that take up more room 
 than any other three men in the whole Bible : Moses, 
 Elijah, and Paul. Look at Moses and Elijah in the Old 
 Testament. They didn't get their prayers answered in 
 the way they wanted them, and yet God answered their 
 prayers. You remember Moses wanted to go with the 
 children of Israel into the goodly land — the promised 
 land. You can imagine how strong that desire w^as 
 after he had been with them for forty years wandering 
 in the desert. He wanted to go into the promised land 
 and see his children settled in their home. But it wasn't 
 the will of God that Moses should go. And that wasn't 
 because God did not love Moses, for He took him up 
 into Pisgah and showed him the whole country. A 
 great many years later Moses did stand in the promised 
 land — on the Mount of Transfiguration. His prayer 
 wasn't answered in his way. God had better things in 
 store for Moses ; and certainly I would rather be on the 
 Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus Christ, and Peter, 
 James, and John, than to have had to go over and fight 
 as Joshua did. So we are not to think that God doesn't 
 answer our prayers because He doesn't answer them 
 
MR. MOODY'S QUESTION-DRAWER. 203 
 
 just in the way and the time we want them answered. 
 Take Elijah. If there ever was a man that knew how to 
 pray it was Elijah. In the power of prayer he stood 
 before Ahab and wrought wonders. After all that, he 
 prayed that he might die under the juniper tree. Was 
 his prayer answered in his way ? Why ; he was the 
 only man under that dispensation who was to go to 
 Heaven without dying. I heard of a little boy four 
 years old who asked his father to let him take a razor 
 in his hand. His father said : " Oh, no, my boy, you 
 will cut yourself." Then that little fellow just sat down 
 and cried as if his heart would break. A great many 
 grown-up people are just like that : they are praying 
 for razors. Elijah prayed for a razor — he wanted his 
 throat cut. But his prayer wasn't ansv/ered that way. 
 God wasn't going to take his life, or let him take it. 
 He had something better for him. And now look at 
 Paul. No one takes up so much space in the New 
 Testament as Paul, and if there ever was a man that 
 had power with God he had it ; and yet, he prayed 
 three times that the Lord would take the thorn out of 
 his flesh. The Lord said : " I won't take it out, but I 
 will give you more grace"; and Paul said: "Thank 
 God ! I wouldn't have it taken out now if I could. I 
 have got more grace by it." If you have got a thorn in 
 the flesh, remember that God has sent it for some wise 
 purpose. God sends us tribulations for our good. Paul 
 said he gloried in persecutions, because they lifted him 
 nearer to God and made him more like Jesus Christ. 
 
 Q. If a man has sinned, is it necessary to confess his- 
 sin to men ? A. There are three kinds of confession. 
 For instance, if I have been a public transgressor — if I 
 have been known in the streets of Northfield as a public 
 transgressor — I ought not only to confess my sins to God, 
 
204 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELU. 
 
 but to the whole town. The confession ought to be just 
 as public as the transgression was. I ought to be will 
 ing to confess in as public a manner as I can my sin, 
 and let people know that I have changed my life. Then, 
 there is another kind of confession. If I have done 
 that man down there a wrong, and no one knows it but 
 himself and myself, I ought to go to him and confess 
 my sin to him and before God. If I have got too much 
 pride to do that, I haven't got much chance of being- 
 saved. Then there is a third kind of confession, and 
 that is between me and my God alone. I go to Him 
 with all my sins that nobody knows anything about but 
 myself, and confess them to Him. " If we confess our 
 sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and 
 to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Bear in mind, 
 then, that there are three kinds of confession : to God, to 
 individuals that we have wronged, and to the public. 
 
 Q. You speak of sudden conversions. Are all con- 
 versions instantaneous ? A. Oh, no ; I believe there are 
 a great many people, especially children, who don't 
 know the time they were converted, and yet they have 
 passed from death to life. With some it is like the 
 gradual rise of the morning light ; with others it is like 
 a flash of lightning. But that doesn't change the fact 
 that there must be a time when we are born into God's 
 kingdom. 
 
 Q. Is the Holy Spirit in different persons in different 
 degrees ? A. I should say so decidedly. That is, it is 
 manifested in different degrees. Some men give them- 
 selves up to be controlled and influenced by the Holy 
 Spirit ; others quench Him and grieve Him. 
 
 Q. How far does baptism for service make up for lack 
 of education ? A. One of the things that the Spirit of 
 God does is to give a man a desire for knowledge. If 
 
MR. MOODY S QUESTION-DRAWER. 20$ 
 
 you receive this baptism you will want to learn more 
 about Jesus Christ. It will give you a new relish for 
 the Bible. It will give you such a thirst for knowledge 
 that you will begin to study as you never did before. 
 
 Q. We have asked and sought the enduement of 
 power. Are we to believe we have it, or look for some 
 token ? A. You shouldn't be looking for any token. 
 Just keep asking and waiting for power. And remem- 
 ber, if you get filled here, it is no sign that you are 
 going to have it always. The fact is, we are very leaky 
 vessels. We need to keep right under the fountain all 
 the time. I have seen men that were filled up years 
 ago, but they have lost their power and don't know it. 
 Samson lost his strength without knowing it. A good 
 many men lose their power and don't know it. They 
 just go on talking and working, and there are no results, 
 because they have gone away — unconsciously perhaps — 
 from the Master, and haven't the power they once had. 
 
 Q. How will it be manifested if a man has this power? 
 A. Well, there will be great love — love to every one. You 
 can love your enemies ; you can pray for them ; and 
 there will be nothing in your heart but love. A sense 
 of God's love just melts your heart, and makes you al- 
 most a new man. There will be no enmity in your heart 
 — nothing but love. 
 
 Q. According to the Bible, are there any conditions 
 to be complied with before receiving the unction of the 
 Holy Spirit ? A. There must be a complete and uncon- 
 ditional surrender to the will of God. You must give 
 yourself wholly, unreservedly — to be anything — to do 
 anything — to be a hewer of wood or drawer of water. 
 If a man is proud and lifted up, and isn't willing to do 
 anything or everything for the Lord, I don't believe he 
 will get the Spirit. God can't trust him with power. 
 
2o6 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 But when a man is completely emptied of self, and is 
 ready to do anything or to go anywhere, then it is that 
 God fills him. 
 
 Q. Can a man receive more power unless he uses 
 what he has ? A. It is a law of the kingdom of God : 
 Use or lose. If you don't use what you have, you will 
 lose even that. 
 
 Q. When a man receives the baptism of the Spirit, 
 does it make a permanent change in him ? A. I think 
 it does decidedly. Any person who comes in contact 
 with you will notice a difference. You will have a ten- 
 derness and gentleness that you never had before. Peo- 
 ple who have anything to do with you will see a wonder- 
 ful change. A gentleman came from Edinburgh to see 
 me in London, and stayed with me for ten days. After- 
 wards when I went to Edinburgh his minister said : 
 ^' What did you do with that man ? Why," said he ; 'Mie 
 is a different man. Everywhere he goes he is wonder- 
 fully blessed." It was the power of God coming on him 
 for service. That's what made the difference. A lady 
 in Philadelphia came to me and said : " You described 
 me exactly when you said you pitied down deep in your 
 soul any man or woman who never had the luxury of 
 leading a soul to Jesus Christ. My husband is not a 
 Christian. None of my servants are Christians. I have 
 a Bible-class, and not one of them has been converted. 
 I don't know what the trouble is." I said : " Are you 
 in the habit of getting angry with your servants and 
 scolding them?" "Yes," she said. "Then," I said; 
 " when you think you would like to talk to them about 
 their souls, your own life comes up and condemns you." 
 "Yes," she said; "that is my difficulty." Said I: 
 " Sometimes you get out of patience with your husband, 
 and scold him ; and then when you want to talk with 
 
MR. MOODY'S QUESTION-DRAWER. 20/ 
 
 him about his soul, your own life comes up before you." 
 '' Yes," she said. " What will I do ? " " Why," I said : 
 " instead of praying for them, pray for yourself. Pray 
 that you may be endued with power and grace to over- 
 come your own inconsistencies." I prayed for that lady. 
 After a while she came back to me and said : " I really 
 don't know whether I am in the flesh or out of it. Why; 
 I am the happiest mortal on the face of the earth. 
 When I prayed for myself, and asked for power to live 
 better, it seemed as if I was a different person. There 
 came such a blessing to my soul that I went direct to 
 my husband and I said that I hadn't lived as I should 
 have done, and that I had professed what I hadn't pos- 
 sessed ; and I wanted him to forgive me. He broke 
 right down, and he was the first soul that God gave me. 
 Three of my servants have been converted, and eight of 
 my Bible-class are converted, and I have accomplished 
 more by my Christian life these last few days than I ever 
 did before with all my talking." I believe that will be 
 the experience of every Christian when he is anointed 
 for service. 
 
 Q. What is the cure for weak faith? A. I don't think 
 there is any cure for weak faith but the Word of God, 
 and the whole of it. If a man has weak faith I don't 
 believe half the Bible is going to help him. He has got 
 to have it from Genesis to Revelation, and the more he 
 reads it the more faith he v/ill have. I never have seen 
 a godly man that had a Bible well marked, and was 
 building on the promises, that had any doubts. It is 
 the people who neglect their Bibles that are full of un- 
 belief and doubts. Here is another thought. People 
 have got a false idea about how faith comes. I used to 
 think that if we would get together and pray for faith, 
 that was the way we would get it. Years ago, when I 
 
208 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 was at work in Chicago, I used to get people together 
 in prayer-meetings, and exhort them to pray for faith. 
 " Faith ! faith ! " I would say ; "that is what we want. 
 If we had faith enough we could turn Chicago upside 
 down. Oh, if we could only get faith." I thought if 
 we would pray for faith it would come down like a flash 
 of lightning. But I happened one day to be reading 
 the loth chapter of Romans and the 17th verse : "So 
 then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word 
 of God." That revolutionized me. Faith depends upon 
 knowledge. The more you know of a bad man the less 
 you will trust him ; but the more you know of a true 
 man the more faith you will have in him. The way to 
 know more about God is to read His Word, and test 
 His promises. God doesn't ask us to believe without 
 giving us something to believe. For six thousand years 
 devils and men have been trying to break God's Word, 
 and they haven't broken it yet. Did God ever break a 
 promise ? Didn't He keep His word with Abraham and 
 Moses ? Isn't every Jew we meet to-day a monument 
 to the fidelity of God to His promise to Abraham ? I 
 believe you could blot the sun out of the heavens easier 
 than you could break God's promises. Some people 
 talk about their intellectual difficulties. Where do their 
 difficulties come from ? They are of the devil, and he 
 is a liar — that is all. 
 
 Q. How can a man who wants to preach overcome 
 nervousness ? A. That is a practical question, my 
 friend. Do you remember the first time you got up to 
 preach ? — how your knees went thump ! thump ! I'll 
 tell you what to do. Get so full of your subject that 
 you forget yourself. Be occupied with the subject, and 
 you are all right. This opens the question of preach- 
 ing ; and I would just like to say a few words about 
 
MR. MOODY'S QUESTION-DRAWER. 209 
 
 that, if you will allow me. When a man gets up to 
 speak — and let me say right here that I like to say " to 
 speak" better than "to preach," because if I can only 
 get people to think I am talking with them, and not 
 preaching, it is so much easier to hold their attention. 
 If I can get people to say that I don't preach, but only 
 talk, I'd rather have that compliment than any other. 
 The other night I was walking down here in the dark, 
 and a couple of persons right behind me were talking 
 about the meeting. One of them said : " Did Moody 
 speak to-night ? " The other said : " No ; he didn't 
 speak ; he only talked." " Did you ever hear him be- 
 fore ? " " Yes." " How do you like him ? " " Well, we 
 do7i!t like him. He never has the Church service, and he 
 doesn't have on any robes. And then his speaking : 
 why, he doesn't speak at all — he just talks." I thought 
 that was quite a compliment. I am glad if I can make 
 people think I am talking with them. I think some- 
 times we almost preach the people to death — it is 
 preach, preach, preach. If you can get the idea out of 
 their minds that you are going to preach, and just let 
 them think you are going to talk, you are more likely to 
 reach them. — Another thing : Be yourself. I do detest 
 the kind of people that have a religious tone — a relig- 
 ious voice — who always change their tone when they 
 begin to talk to you on the subject of religion, and have 
 a peculiar whine that makes you think of cant. Be nat- 
 ural. Talk on this subject as you would on any other 
 subject. — Another thing : Get hold of the people's curi- 
 osity. If you take up Dr. Guthrie's sermons and look 
 at them, you will find that he begins, you would think, 
 a thousand miles away from his text, and you wonder 
 how he is ever going to get back to his theme. When 
 he has got the curiosity of the whole congregation ex- 
 
210 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 cited, he comes back to his text. You will find he al- 
 most invariably begins in that way. — Another point : If 
 you have got a good thing to say, say it in the begin- 
 ning. Get the people's attention. Don't get into the 
 ruts. Strike out a path of your own. Don't say : 
 " First," and " secondly," and " thirdly," and then 
 *' finally," " in conclusion," and " lastly," and all that. 
 Take the whole truth, or the whole text, and throw it 
 right at them ; then go about and try to drive it home. 
 —Again : Don't get up and tell the people that you are 
 a man of common sense. I never hear a man say that 
 he is a man of common sense but I think if it were 
 really so he wouldn't have told it — he would have let 
 the people find it out. Another expression is : "I am a 
 practical man, and I will give you a practical talk." If 
 you are a practical man never mind talking about it. 
 Give the people something practical, and they will find 
 out soon enough what you are. Remarks like those 
 don't sound well, because they draw attention to your- 
 self, and that is the last thing you want to do. It is said 
 of Cicero, the great Roman orator, that when he had 
 spoken, every one would go out of the building saying : 
 " What a magnificent address ! What an orator ! " But 
 when Demosthenes, the Greek orator, had finished, the 
 people would say : " Let us go and fight Philip ! " 
 They wanted to fight right off. He had fired them up 
 with the cause ; and what we want, dear friends, is to 
 get the attention of the people away from ourselves and 
 on the subject. If they will go asleep, it is a good thing 
 to stop and say : " Won't you open the window and let 
 a little air in? Here is a gentleman that has gone 
 asleep." That'll wake up the whole of them. You can't 
 reach a man when he is asleep. Men may talk in their 
 sleep, but you can't talk to a man when he is asleep. An 
 
MR. MOODY'S QUESTION-DRAWER. 211 
 
 interruption like that won't do any harm, especially if it 
 makes the people think it wasn't your preaching that 
 put the man to sleep — it was the bad air. — Another 
 thing : It is very much better to get the reputation of 
 being brief than to have people saying you preach long 
 sermons. Say what you have got to say in just as few 
 words as you can. And then stop when you get through. 
 Some men go on and feel around for a good stopping- 
 place. I'd rather stop abruptly than do that. Don't 
 waste any time. Remember, we are living in an intense 
 age. • Men think quicker than they used to. The time 
 was when if a man wanted to do a little business in 
 Boston he would write half-a-dozen sheets of foolscap 
 and send them by mail. Now he puts it all in a tele- 
 gram of ten words. What we want in our preaching is 
 to condense. Get the reputation of being short and 
 people will want to hear you. If you get a reputation 
 for being long you will have very few to hear you. 
 Then it is a good thing to keep your hands out of your 
 pockets. Keep your hands free. You will want to use 
 them to emphasize your sermon. Very often you will 
 wake a man up by pointing right down there [pointing 
 toward an individual in the audience]. Sometimes I 
 have seen a man just gone to sleep, and I would — [a 
 heavy stamp]. One man asleep will just publish to the 
 whole audience that you are a dry preacher. And you 
 can't afford to have a man asleep on the platform. Any- 
 thing but a man asleep on the platform — nodding ! All 
 the people see him. What you want is to get the at- 
 tention of the audience, even if you have to go a little 
 out of the line. I remember once preaching at Limer- 
 ick. Our hymn-books over there were new then. A 
 young man came in and joined the choir. There were 
 three or four hundred people on the stage, and he took 
 
212 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 a front seat. He got a hymn-book just when I began 
 to preach, and turned over the leaves. Commencing 
 with the first hymn he went on as if he was going to 
 examine every hymn in the book. I thought to myself: 
 " Have I got to preach till he gets all through that book 
 before I can get the attention of the people?" What to 
 do I didn't know. Finally I used him as an illustration. 
 Speaking of a young man in America, I said : " He was 
 about the age of this young man reading a hymn-book." 
 The result was that when I asked all those in the house 
 that wanted us to pray for them, he rose. That young 
 man was the first soul God gave me in Limerick. If he 
 had gone on reading that hymn-book it would have 
 been very hard for me to get hold of the people. Get 
 the attention of your audience somehow. If you are 
 going to be public speakers, train yourselves for that. 
 It can be done. — And then, Aim at the heart. Just keep 
 thundering away at a man's heart and you will get it, 
 and if you get his heart you get his head and his feet 
 and everything — you get the whole man. The story of 
 the Prodigal Son will melt any man's heart. So will 
 the story of the Good Samaritan. Or take any of the 
 miracles of healing — how Christ saw a man blind or 
 paralyzed, and came to him, and had compassion on 
 him. Just open the heart of Christ to the people, and 
 draw the multitude around Him. If you want to get 
 hold of an audience, aim at the heart ; and there is 
 nothing that will warm up the heart like the Gospel of 
 Jesus. 
 
 Q. What is the best training a man can have after get 
 ting through the seminary and before going into the min- 
 istry ? A. One good thing would be to become a book- 
 agent. If a man will travel about these United States 
 and go around from house to house trying to sell books 
 
MR. MOODY'S QUESTION-DRAWER. 213 
 
 he will see a good deal of human nature. Or let him 
 peddle tin for about six months. What we want is to 
 learn how to get hold of a man, and, as a general thing, 
 public speakers fail right there. They have been 
 through the seminaries, and perhaps have got all the 
 books pretty well learned, but they don't just know how 
 to reach human nature. It is a good thing if you are 
 in a city to go into a mission-school, and just take a 
 class of what you call street-Arabs — keen, sharp boys 
 that will pick your pockets if they get a chance — and 
 try to interest them. If you can hold their attention 
 for fifteen or twenty-five minutes, you can hold the at- 
 tention of almost any audience, and it is a very good 
 place to practise. If you are living in a city, I don't, 
 know anything better than just to do that kind of work. 
 Make up your mind that you are going for the masses 
 — that you are going to reach them. I heard a story a 
 little while ago. There were two young men studying 
 medicine in the same college. Both of them graduated 
 at the same time. One stood at the head of his class; 
 the other hadn't done so well with his books. But after 
 they had been working away for some years, the one 
 that had done well at college had a very large practice, 
 while the other that had stood at the head of his class 
 had only a small practice. One day they met, and they 
 sat there talking, and finally the man that hadn't a large 
 practice, said : " I wish you would tell me how it is that 
 you have such a large practice, and I have such a small 
 practice." Said the other, pointing to the window- 
 where there were a great many people passing : " How 
 many of those men do you suppose are thinking men — 
 who think for themselves ? " " Well," said the first one; 
 " I should say about one in twenty." " Then," said the 
 other, " you have gone for the twentieth man : and I 
 
214 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 have gone for the nineteenth." I believe that is where 
 a great many ministers fail. They go for the select few 
 — the cultivated and the educated — and let the masses 
 go. If you want to reach the select classes, reach the 
 masses. Go for the masses, and you will reach all. The 
 common people heard Christ gladly, and what we want 
 is to follow in His footsteps as near as we can. 
 
 Q. What is the best way to get up an open-air meet- 
 ing ? A. If you can get half-a-dozen men and women, 
 or children, to sing, get on the corner of a street and 
 start them singing. Get on some great thoroughfare. 
 If you are going fishing you go where the fish are. And 
 then after the singing take one text, or two or three 
 verses of Scripture. If you can quote them it is better 
 than to read. If you open a Bible the crowd will think 
 you are going to read a whole chapter and preach a 
 sermon. What you want to do is to hold them — hold 
 them on the wing. Ring out such a text of Scripture 
 as, " God so loved the world that He gave His only be- 
 gotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not 
 perish, but have everlasting life." Then go on in any 
 way you can think of to get the truth lodged in the 
 hearts, of the people. Have perfect freedom. Strike 
 out a path of your own. I remember when we were in 
 London we used to have some overflow meetings, and 
 there was a very prominent minister who took an over- 
 flow meeting one night. I w^as at his house after the 
 meeting and asked him how he got along. He told me 
 that after Mr. Sankey sang, he told the people that if 
 they wanted to go they might, and they kept going till 
 there was hardly any one left. I said : " If I had been 
 in your place I wouldn't have let them go." Said he : 
 " Well ; they might have stayed to hear you, because 
 they would have thought you had somethimg more im- 
 
MR. MOODY S QUESTION-DRAWER. 215 
 
 portant for them than Mr. Sankey had." Said I : " That 
 is according to taste. I have been with Mr. Sankey a 
 great many years, and I know there are thousands of 
 people who come to hear him sing that wouldn't go 
 across the road to hear me preach." He took the hint. 
 The next night Mr. Sankey sang " Eternity." As soon 
 as he had finished the minister jumped up and shouted, 
 "Eternity! Eternity!" The whole audience stayed. 
 I say that man had tact, don't you ? That was a great 
 deal better than to have let them go. If a man is going 
 to preach in the open air, he will need to have his wits 
 about him ; he'll get upset if he doesn't. Some hard- 
 headed infidel will come along and try to trip him up. 
 A man was once preaching at an open-air meeting, and 
 an infidel in the crowd said that the man who invented 
 gas had accomplished more for the world than all the 
 ministers in it. The man who was preaching got con- 
 fused, and didn't know what to say. But another man 
 with him jumped up and said : "This is a free country. 
 Every man has a right to his own opinion. That man 
 down there says that the man who invented gas has 
 done more for the world than all the ministers in it. He 
 has a right to his opinion, and I have a right to mine. 
 Now, I suppose if that man were sick and dying, 
 he would send for a gas-fitter. I would send for a man 
 who could read to me the 4th of John." Then he 
 opened his Bible at the 4th chapter of John, and had 
 the whole crowd. That skeptic had swung the crowd 
 away ; this man swung it back by that simple method. 
 What we want is to know how to take advantage of a 
 thing of that kind. 
 
 Q. How do you get up your sermons ? A. I will tell 
 you how I do it— that is, I have no secrets. I have an 
 envelope for every subject, large enough to take a sheet 
 
2l6 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 of paper right in. I study more in subjects than I do 
 in texts. I will take up Regeneration, Grace, Peace, 
 Atonement, Redemption, and so on. If, when I am 
 reading, I meet a good thing on any of those subjects, 
 I just slip it into the right envelope and let it lie there. 
 I always carry a note-book, and if I hear anything in a 
 sermon that will throw light on that subject I put it 
 down and slip it into the envelope. Perhaps I let it lie 
 for a year or more. When I want a new sermon, I just 
 take everything that has been accumulating. Between 
 what I find there and the results of my own study, I 
 have material enough. Then I am all the time going 
 over my sermons, taking out a little here and adding a 
 little there. In that way they never get very old. I am 
 never ashamed to repeat a sermon. A great many peo- 
 ple are afraid to repeat. There was a man who 
 preached a sermon once that he had given a good many 
 times before, and when he had finished another preacher 
 said to him : " I have heard you preach that sermon at 
 least five times in the last five years, and I know it by 
 heart." Said the other : " I heard you preach five 
 years ago, and I can't remember anything you said." 
 If you have got a sermon that is good for anything, 
 pass it around. If the Lord blesses it here to-night, 
 why can't He bless it ten miles away, or ten years hence ? 
 Study by subjects, and get so full of your subject that 
 all you have got to do is to stand up and say as much 
 as you can within the time. I think on some subjects I 
 could speak without any difficulty for eight or nine or 
 ten nights. When I commenced I couldn't speak more 
 than five minutes. I would speak for five minutes and 
 sit down. By-and-by I got so I could preach fifteen 
 minutes. If any one were to ask me when I began to 
 preach I couldn't tell you. I began with the children. 
 
MR, MOODY S QUESTION-DRAWER. 21/ 
 
 By-and-by they brought their parents. By-and-by I 
 noticed that about half the audience were adults. I 
 like to take up a Bible character. I've got some notes 
 from Mr. Taylor here on Job. The next time I speak 
 on Job I think I'll have something new. When I get 
 hold of a man who is versed in the Word of God, I just 
 pump him. It is a great privilege to have the thoughts 
 that these men have been digging for all their lives. 
 
 Q. Do you have a certain line of truth to present 
 when you go into a town in your regular work ? A. I 
 don't have anything regular. I am a very irregular 
 man. I think my friends will testify that I like to upset 
 any programme. Mr. Sankey used to want to know 
 what hymns were to be used, and I would give him a 
 list ; and then a great many times I wouldn't close the 
 sermon the way I expected, and would want a different 
 hymn. How a man can write everything out, and dot 
 every / and cross every /, and then ask the Holy Spirit 
 to come and tell him what to say, I never could under- 
 stand. If you want to be used by the Holy Spirit, let 
 Him have liberty. Let Him have the right of way. 
 Break up any programmes, and just say : "I will let the 
 Spirit have His way." 
 
 Q. What is the best way to keep up a union meeting ? 
 A. I'll tell you how not to keep one up. Some people 
 work very hard to get up a union meeting, and then the 
 first thing they do is to bring up some controverted 
 point. Why, I could break up these meetings within 
 twenty-four hours, and destroy this influence and the 
 good that has been accomplished here by a little indis- 
 cretion. Suppose I should take up the question of bap- 
 tism — whether true baptism is by immersion or sprink- 
 ling ; and I very seldom go into a place where I don't 
 have that question forced on me. Or suppose I should 
 
2l8 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 take up the doctrine of Arminianism. If you want to 
 have union meetings let those controverted points go. 
 We will settle them in the millennium. We'll have time 
 then. Take the question of predestination ; they won't 
 have that settled in my day. Here is Bishop Hendrix — 
 a good Methodist. If I should preach Calvinism I would 
 preach him out of the door. Or if I should preach in- 
 fant baptism Dr. Broadus here would take his hat, and 
 his wife and children would follow him. 
 
 Dr. Broadus — I would get up and reply to you, if you 
 would let me. 
 
 Mr. Moody— But, you see, that would break the unity, 
 wouldn't it ? 
 
 Dr. Broadus — Yes. 
 
 Mr. Moody — And you would have the people going 
 out saying, *' I am for Broadus. I am a Broadus man." 
 That is where all these isms have come from. Now, we 
 have got a school here, and another on the other side of 
 the river, with perhaps thirty or forty teachers, and I 
 can't tell you what denominations they belong to. That 
 question never comes up. We are all in Christ, and for 
 nine years there has never been a word of discord that 
 I know of. I belong to a church in Chicago, and there 
 are about as many nationalities in it as there are in 
 these two schools, and yet I never heard a word of dis- 
 cord there, or controversy. I think that every man who 
 is in Christ is under bonds to keep the peace. Some 
 men are all the time breaking up churches, and mission 
 works, and revival meetings. I have seen revival meet- 
 ings all broken up by some indiscreet man getting up 
 and discussing some controverted point. 
 
 Q. Do you think it is best to take up some Christian 
 work while you are in college, or wait until you are 
 through ? A. I think that question has been settled this 
 
MR. MOODY'S QUESTION-DRAWER. 219 
 
 week right here in Northfield, don't you ? [alluding to 
 the accidental drowning of a student]. Supposing young 
 Griggs had said : " I will wait till I get through college 
 — I will go through college, and then go through the 
 seminary, and then begin preaching." Isn't it a good 
 thing that Mr. Mott was able to tell us what he had 
 been doing ? Let us remember, we may be spending 
 our last year on earth. You may never get through 
 college. Work while you can. And I don't believe 
 there is a place where a young man can accomplish as 
 much as right in college. Wait ? Not a bit ! " What- 
 soever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might ; for 
 there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, 
 in the grave whither thou goest." We don't know that 
 we will have to-morrow. I don't know where I will be — 
 I may be in eternity to-morrow. Go to work at once 
 where you are. You may turn some young man to 
 Christ whose influence will never cease. When the 
 mother of John and Charles Wesley was training those 
 boys, little did she know they were going to be used by 
 God as they were. Suppose you just turn one little boy 
 to Jesus Christ while you are at college, you don't know 
 what that boy may do. He may become a Knox, a 
 Whitefield, a Newton, or a Bunyan. Perhaps this dear 
 young man who fell in the river this week has turned 
 some soul to Christ who will go as a flame of fire all 
 through this country. He may have accomplished more 
 in that way than Whitefield ever did — no one can tell. 
 Begin at once. Don't wait till you get through college. 
 Q. What is the best book to put into the hands of 
 college men ? A. It is hard to say — there are so many 
 good ones. There is one book I wish you would get if 
 you haven't got it already: "A College of Colleges." 
 It contains Professor Drummond's addresses, and a 
 
220 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 great many of the best things that were said here a 
 year ago. I have sent out several hundred copies. It 
 is a good thing to put a good book in a young man's 
 hand ; it may turn him to righteousness. 
 
 Q. How can you reach an infidel ? A. Not by all the 
 time preaching to him. By a godly life. By being 
 cheerful. Show him that you have an inner life that he 
 knows nothing about. 
 
 Q. How can we get young men in our meetings to 
 take part ? A. Get a young man to pray first before 
 one or two ; then in a small meeting ; then in a larger 
 meeting. It is a good thing to get a man to testify. 
 Some of the best things I have ever heard have been 
 where a man gets up, and breaks down, and can't say 
 more than two or three words. He has given his testi- 
 mony for Jesus Christ ; and Christ says : " Whosoever 
 shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also be- 
 fore My Father, which is in Heaven." It is a great 
 thing to get a man to stand up and confess the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, if he can only do it in a few words. 
 
 Q. How can you have an inquiry-meeting where you 
 have only one room ? A. Well ; it isn't a very difficult 
 thing, especially if it is in a place where you are ac- 
 quainted. If you have charge of the meeting, and you 
 know everybody there, I would say when the time comes 
 to close the first meeting — and that reminds me : I 
 wouldn't have the first meeting more than an hour long. 
 If I was going to have an after-meeting, I wouldn't have 
 the first meeting more than half an hour long. If a 
 man is kept much longer than that, he says : " I am 
 going home." But if you close the meeting fifteen or 
 twenty or thirty minutes earlier than he expects, he says : 
 " Why, it's only nine o'clock. I thought the meeting 
 would close about half-past nine. I'll stay here." 
 
MR. MOODY'S QUESTION-DRAWER. 221 
 
 You've got him. Let me say something about giving 
 out the notice of the after-meeting. Don't put a great 
 big IF about four feet long before a person : " IF there 
 is any one that is concerned about his soul who will 
 stay, some of us will talk with you." Put the " if " the 
 other way. Say : " If any of you have got to go, you 
 can go while we sing this old hymn " — as if you didn't 
 expect them to go. Then say : " Now there are two 
 classes that we want to stay. Any one here that is in- 
 terested in the extension of Christ's kingdom can stay ; 
 and every one that wants to be a Christian is invited to 
 remain." Then about the benediction : I wouldn't have 
 any benediction. Americans understand that that is a 
 polite invitation — " We want you to go." While they 
 are singing I would step up to that man [pointing], and 
 say, " Mr. Jones, I wish you would speak to that person 
 next you "; and I would walk among the people in that 
 way getting the workers assigned. Then I would have 
 them sit down, and I would say : " Now we are very 
 glad to have these friends remain." Put Christ before 
 them as plain as you can, and then turn the meeting 
 into an inquiry-meeting in such a way that the people 
 will hardly know it. If we look for inquirers I firmly 
 believe we will have them. If we expect them, and aim 
 for them, we are going to get them. A friend of mine 
 who died lately in New York told me that when he tried 
 to get after-meetings started in his church, his minister 
 said : " We old Presbyterians don't believe in that sort 
 of thing." Well ; you know, the Episcopalians are hav- 
 ing these after-meetings. They are going right in among 
 the people and getting hold of them. What we want is 
 to break up this miserable stiffness — get it buried and 
 out of the way. My friend the Presbyterian elder in 
 New York believed in this, and was anxious to have his 
 
222 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 minister begin holding after-meetings. Finally the min- 
 ister said : " If you want them so much, we will try it. 
 I will hold one to-morrow night, just to please you, but 
 I don't believe any one will stay." So the next night, 
 after preaching, he said : " Now, if there is any one con- 
 cerned about his soul, the session will be in the session- 
 room after this meeting, and will be glad to examine 
 you." Why ; you might as well ask a man to go before 
 a justice of the peace as to ask an inquirer to go before 
 a whole session. That'll scare him out of his wits. It 
 took all the courage I had to let one man talk with me 
 on the subject of religion. If I had had to go before a 
 session I don't think I'd have gone. And I suppose 
 other people feel as I did. We have got to make it easy 
 for these men and women, and even catch them by guile. 
 We have Scripture for that. Make up your mind that if 
 you can't get people one way, you will another, and then 
 you'll get them. I have often said that if I had to give 
 up my inquiry-meetings, I would give up preaching, be- 
 cause I think more good is done in those inquiry-meet- 
 ings than in any meetings I have been connected with. 
 Get men to the point of decision ; get them to come to 
 Christ. I would have the inquiry-meeting right after 
 the preaching service. Don't wait till the next night. 
 By that time the impression will be gone. Why, I have 
 heard ministers preach with such power that you would 
 think the unseen world was opened before 5^ou, and then 
 spoil it all by saying : " If there is any one here who is 
 interested in his personal salvation, I will be in the pas- 
 tor's study every Friday night, and will be glad to meet 
 you." Not follow up his work till Friday night ! The 
 devil is sure to catch awa)?- the seed before then. Lose 
 no time. 
 
 Q. What method of Bible study would you recom- 
 
MR. Moody's question-drawer. 223 
 
 mend ? A. It is a good thing to take the Bible up top- 
 ically — take it up by subjects. Get a Concordance. 
 You can get one now for about a dollar — and if I had 
 to give up my Concordance and couldn't get another, 
 I'd rather let my whole library go. Take up one sub- 
 ject at a time. For example, take up Grace ; find out 
 all that the Bible says about the grace of God. How 
 easy it will be for you to talk about the grace of God 
 when you know all about it ! Or, take up Faith, or 
 Assurance, or Atonement, or Justification, or Sanctifica- 
 tion — any of those great fundamental doctrines. Get 
 yourself posted up. Take twelve great doctrines of the 
 Bible, and suppose you spend twelve months in studying 
 those twelve doctrines, you will get such a foundation 
 of truth as will serve you all your life. Then take up a 
 Bible character. Take the whole sweep of one man's 
 life from the cradle to the grave. Learn everything 
 about Noah. Take the life of Abraham. Read that up. 
 What a record he left behind him ! Get full of those 
 Bible characters, and you will want to tell others about 
 them. Then when you get up to speak you will have 
 something to say, and people will be glad to hear you. 
 
 Q. Will you give your views in regard to the call for 
 Christian work ? Do you think there is a special call to 
 the ministry different from that to any other Christian 
 service ? A. I'll tell you what I believe firmly. I be- 
 lieve a call to be a disciple is one thing, and a call to be 
 a minister is another. A good many people make a 
 mistake because they haven't made that distinction. I 
 think Peter, James, and John were called to be disciples. 
 They wouldn't have left their nets and their fishing 
 smacks and followed Christ if they hadn't been called. 
 And then, afterwards, they were called to be Apostles, 
 I believe no man ought to go into the ministry unless 
 
224 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 he is forced into it by the Spirit of God. There's a lot 
 of men nowadays who think if they can't do anything 
 else they will turn their hand to the ministry. They are 
 not fit for it. They might better be hammering iron, or 
 making clothes, or sowing wheat. I'd rather plough or 
 saw wood than be in God's work and believe God hadn't 
 sent me. If a man runs before he is sent, he will be a 
 miserable failure — he'll break down. But if a man waits 
 till he gets his commission, he is going to bear good tes- 
 timony, and God will bless his testimony. And the way 
 to tell whether you have been called is to look at the 
 results of your work. If you preach because you can't 
 help it, and your whole soul is in it, and people like to 
 hear you, and souls are won to Christ, that is a pretty 
 good sign that you have been called of God. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 REPEATING THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 
 
 Address by Dr. McKenzie — The Meaning of Discipleship — Youth 
 and its Freedom — Dangers of Liberty — How to Use It — Economy 
 of Restraint — Pursuing a Dominant Purpose — Christ our Ex- 
 emplar — Ministering Unto Others — "No Man" at Bethesda — 
 Illustrations of Self-Sacrifice— " Thy Will be Done." 
 
 Life is the strongest thing in the world. Life is 
 everywhere fighting against death, and is destined to 
 eternal triumph. The rough stone that is in the meadow 
 can't be let alone, but life comes to it, and a green and 
 living moss tries to cover its deformity. If a cathedral 
 or palace falls into decay, the ivy will climb over it, try- 
 ing to cover the ruin which it has not been able to 
 prevent. Life is everywhere. Life is most of all in us 
 who are living as God's children ; and life is especially 
 in you who are young— who have before you possioly 
 many years, and who have in you the fullness and the 
 strength of life to-day. You don't stand looking back- 
 ward and thinking of death. Your situation is not that 
 of the ancient gladiators, who turned to Caesar and ut- 
 tered that cry of devotion and of despair : Te morittiri 
 salutamiis — " We who are about to die salute thee." 
 Rather might you cry : " O Csesar, we who are about to 
 live salute thee." In these few moments which I have 
 to speak to you, I want to talk a little further about life, 
 because all the life there is, is the life of Him whom we 
 love best — our Lord and our Redeemer. I have said, 
 
 (225) 
 
226 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 and again I say it, that the life we now have, and all the 
 life we can hope for, are to us the gift of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ. He came into the world that we 
 might have life more abundantly. Spiritual life is di- 
 rectly the gift of God. It comes to us by faith. It en- 
 ters into us ; we are born again ; our thoughts, and pur- 
 poses, and desires, and passions, and affections, are set 
 on things above. We are brought up out of the reign 
 of carnality, and placed under the power of an endless 
 life. " Beloved, now are we children of God, and it is 
 not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that, 
 if He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him ; for we 
 shall see Him even as He is." 
 
 I want to push out a little farther this morning on the 
 subject of life, and see what is to come of it. I ap- 
 proach this whole matter of living — of service — from 
 Christ's side, and not from the world's side. I might 
 present a strong plea, and ask you to give your life to 
 the world because the world hath need of you ; but I 
 take the other side, and I ask you to live not alone in 
 the thought that the world needs you, but that Christ 
 employs you. I might say : " The world demands our 
 lives." I would rather say : " O Christ, Thou hast given 
 me life. What shall I do with it ? " This is a primal 
 principle, which we should always remember : The life 
 of Christ in us is to be what the life of Christ was in 
 Him. Christ did not mean to have His life changed 
 when He passed it over into His followers : He meant to 
 have it just the same, in its feeling, its principle, its de- 
 sire, its purpose. He shut it up indeed in human limi- 
 tations ; but we were to imbibe His character, so that 
 for a man to do a thing in Christ's name and in Christ's 
 spirit was as if He did it Himself. One reason why 
 He should say, " It is expedient that I go away," 
 
REPEATING THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 22/ 
 
 was that by His going away the Holy Spirit should 
 come and carry over this Christ-life, not into one Jesus 
 of Nazareth, but into ten thousand men, so that with 
 ten thousand voices and hands the work of Christ might 
 be advanced — so that that work should be accomplished 
 for which He came into the world ; — not one shepherd 
 going up into the mountain after one lamb, but a thou- 
 sand single shepherds going up into a thousand moun- 
 tains for a thousand separate lambs. This is the work 
 which Christ gives into our hands, multiplying Himself 
 by making us His disciples. And it is the greatest in- 
 stance of faith the world has ever seen. I am sure the 
 world has never seen any faith like that shown by our 
 Lord Jesus Christ : coming into the world with all His 
 Divine power and Divine life, and going to the Cross 
 that He might redeem the race, and then leaving the 
 whole work in the hands of eleven men, who were to be 
 multiplied into other men, and their successes were to 
 be His successes. I am sure, brethren, that if everything 
 else should fail, this will hold : We can't — we can't dis- 
 appoint Him. I suppose the saddest thing that ever 
 comes in life is to be disappointed in one whom you 
 have trusted, and whom you had a right to trust. No 
 stranger can wound you like your friend. Nobody can 
 hurt a father like his child. Nobody can wound the 
 Lord Jesus like a disciple. The wounds of the world 
 He can bear more easily than the wounds of those He 
 trusts ; and we are held by every motive of gratitude, 
 by every thought of love and of devotion — we are held 
 to this : that He shall not be disappointed in the confi- 
 dence He puts in us. We can never be disappointed in 
 Him. There is a story of a boy^a Scotch boy — that 
 died ; and the minister, standing by his coffin trying to 
 comfort the mother, said : " Remember the words of 
 
228 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 the Lord Jesus, how He said, ^ I am the resurrection 
 and the life/" "Ah, sir," she answered; "yes — he 
 went away believing that, and he will be sorely disap- 
 pointed if he doesn't find it so." Now turn the other 
 way : Christ's faith in us — Christ's confidence in our 
 word, in the sincerity of our life ; and can anything be 
 sadder than that the summing up of life should be that 
 He who so truly trusted us shall be disappointed in us ? 
 To carry through this Saturday the feeling that He is 
 disappointed in the way we lived yesterday and this 
 forenoon — to carry this all the way down the years — can 
 anything be sadder than that ? So that what we are to 
 do is to stand with our heart open for the incoming of 
 this life, and just to let it fill us with His own spirit and 
 His own power. 
 
 We are asked sometimes what we are to do. Per- 
 haps the best answer is : To do whatever the life of 
 Christ will do in us. If He lays His hand gently upon 
 us, let us observe it ; where He points let us follow ; and 
 the impressions that are given to our prayerful and wait- 
 ing hearts may be accepted as the teaching of Christ, 
 and the movement of His life within us — to carry for- 
 ward His work in the world even as it upholds the very 
 constitution and permanence of the world. We stand 
 committed to this trust as Christ's disciples. And it is 
 interesting to mark that it is not given to us as those 
 who are to be coerced or compelled to this service : it 
 comes to those who are rendering this service in the 
 freedom of a great affection. What is the one marked 
 trait which distinguishes the life of a young man from 
 that of an old man ? Our Saviour mentioned it. The 
 great thing that marks your life is liberty. You re- 
 member that passage in which Christ said to Peter : 
 "When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and 
 
REPEATING THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 229 
 
 walkedst whither thou wouldest : but when thou shalt 
 be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another 
 shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest 
 not." The ability to go where one pleases is the dis- 
 tinguishing trait of youth. I can't go where I please. 
 I am tied to my profession. You can take any one of 
 twenty professions. It would be a mistake for me to 
 leave the one in which I am engaged. You can go to 
 any place in the wide world. I am mortgaged to one 
 place, and it would be folly for me to leave it. Your 
 habits are not formed : mine are. You have this liberty, 
 and the question is, how it is to be used. God never 
 owned a slave. Our Lord never had a bondman. He 
 makes us free in order that any service we render to 
 Him shall be rendered freely. 
 
 What, then, is the first thing w^e are to do ? The first 
 thing we are to do with liberty is to inform it. We are 
 to learn — to sit down at the feet of those who are older, 
 and let them instruct us. My pastor, when I was a boy, 
 and as I entered on my Christian life, gave me a piece 
 of advice. He said : " Get in with some old Christian, 
 and talk with him." I think it is an admirable piece of 
 advice for any young disciple, and quite as likely to 
 hold good if the older Christian is somebody in humble 
 life. I heard Professor Park say when I was a student : 
 " I learned more from an old woman in an almshouse 
 than from anybody else." Not long ago the distin- 
 ;;^Liished man at the head of Andover said : "I owe very 
 much to a poor serving-woman. She came into my 
 aouse to serve, but I have learned more from her than 
 from any of my distinguished colleagues upon whose 
 preaching I am delighted to wait." Let us gain from 
 the experience of others. The most critical point of 
 life is when we are starting out, realizing our liberty. 
 
230 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 As long as a ship is in the harbor, a boy can take care 
 of her. Out at sea she is under the control of her cap- 
 tain and crew. Now, there is a class of men whose 
 work is entirely between the harbor and the sea. It is 
 in that difficult passage especially that the ship needs 
 guidance ; and so we find a distinct and separate class of 
 men whose duty is to conduct a vessel safely among the 
 shallows of the coast. The captain who should not 
 take a pilot on board, and thus should lose his ship, 
 couldn't collect a cent of insurance. So it is with a 
 young man — no longer tied to his mother's side, and 
 yet not a man in the conflict of the world, with a man's 
 strength and experience. What he needs especially is 
 guidance. He should sit down at the feet of the elders 
 — sit down at the feet of those who have had experience 
 in the Christian life ; and above all, sit down with the 
 Word of God. Let us be instructed by God Himself 
 directly, and through the lives and lips of those whom 
 God has instructed, what seems to be a curtailment of 
 liberty may really be its enlargement. 
 
 The second thing is devotion to some one object. 
 Select some one thing, and then give yourself up to it. 
 *' Ah," says one ; "let me do anything I want to." You 
 will do a great deal better if you will select some one 
 thing, and let other things contribute to that. Take 
 one dominant thing, and make that your choice. He 
 who hunts two hares loses both, "Unstable as water, 
 thou shalt not excel." Suppose you want to go to 
 Europe. The moment you step into the vessel, you find 
 that the rule is submission. The passengers are required 
 to submit to a certain restraint imposed for the good of 
 all. Perhaps you say : " I am not going to be restrained. 
 I will jump off with a log, and I will swim as far as I 
 can^ and then I dare say a passing vessel will pick me 
 
REPEATING THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 23 1 
 
 Up. If they try to' govern me, I'll get off again, and 
 swim a little farther, and by-and-by in this way, without 
 consenting to restraint, I will get to Europe." But will 
 you get there ? Not at all. You will be drowned — or 
 you ought to be. How can you get there ? By sub- 
 mitting to the wills of others for a certain period. You 
 go on board a steamship, and the first thing that meets 
 you is a commandment — " Thou shalt eat thy breakfast 
 at a certain time "; and you find a great many other re- 
 quirements. By consenting to them you make all those 
 things subservient to that one choice of yours, and you 
 get to your destination. You have entered into a com- 
 pact, and soon your eyes are greeted by Fastnet Light. 
 All great men have understood this. They understand 
 that we must turn from things that are agreeable and 
 profitable, and turn to something else that is more 
 profitable. I am not very much afraid of you regard- 
 ing the choice between the right and the wrong. You 
 have chosen the right. But I do think there is danger 
 here : the difficulty with you is not the choice between 
 the right and the wrong, but the choice between the 
 good and the best. The great danger is not that we 
 will choose whether to drown ourselves or to swim; but 
 how we will choose between the log and the ship — 
 whether we shall choose to do well, or "about as well 
 as we can." There comes the great danger, and there 
 is a wonderful saving of strength and a wonderful 
 economy of time when once we have used our liberty 
 v/isely — by choosing deliberately the one thing we will 
 do, and then making everything else subservient to it. 
 This is what St. Paul did. You remember his proud 
 boast to the Corinthians. He says : " Am I not free ? " 
 and then goes on to mention three cases in which he is 
 free, " Have we no right to eat and to drink ? " They 
 
?32 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTIIFIELD. 
 
 had been discussing the question of eating meat offered 
 to idols. Paul taught that it made no difference if meat 
 liad been placed before a stone image ; and he says : "I 
 have a perfect right to eat of it, but I won't." Again he 
 says : " I have a perfect right to be married, but I 
 won't." And again he says : " Do you say, 'You have 
 no right to draw your salary. You are not an ordained 
 minister.' I am. I have seen Jesus. I am an Apostle, 
 and I have a right to draw my salary ; and having a 
 right to take it, I won't take it." There were many 
 things he had a right to do ; but for the sake of the 
 greater efficiency of his work he turned from them all, 
 and went steadily on in the pursuit of his mission. You 
 had a beautiful instance in the life of Bishop Hanning- 
 ton. In his youth he was insubordinate ; but finally he 
 said : " This won't do. I can't have a dozen different 
 plans. What shall I do ? I will do this : I will become 
 a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ." As soon as he 
 had thus resolved, he made everything else give way to 
 his one purpose. He gathered the country people, and 
 preached to them. After a while he needed money to 
 promote his work. He had a beautiful horse. It was a 
 very desirable animal, but he wanted money more than 
 he wanted the horse ; so, without taking counsel of any- 
 body, because everybody said he was foolish, he led out 
 his favorite, passed his hand over its slender neck, 
 looked down into the deep brown eyes, and then went 
 out and sold it, and took the money, and went on with 
 his great purpose. Men might have said he was re- 
 stricting his rights. Not at all. He was enlarging his 
 rights. He turned the carriage-house into a chapel, and 
 labored among the people of his neighborhood. By- 
 and-by there came a time when he was guided anew. 
 He saw Africa opening before him. Giving up every- 
 
REPEATING THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 233 
 
 thing of value, he responded to the call. Didn't he like 
 England ? Yes. Didn't he like his family and friends ? 
 Certainly. But nothing must prevent him from devot- 
 ing himself to the one thing he had chosen to do. It 
 wasn't a choice between the right and the wrong, but it 
 was between the good and the best. James Russell 
 Lowell tells of a Boston merchant who made up his 
 mind that he would be a man. Said he to himself : " I 
 am not going to be controlled by the world. I am go- 
 ing to be just as great and good a man as ever I can." 
 In course of time a ship he owned with a valuable cargo 
 became over-due. Two or three days passed, and it 
 didn't come. A week went by, and it didn't come. He 
 began to be a little troubled. Then he awoke, and said 
 to himself : " How is this ? I am too anxious. I am 
 staking my manhood on a ship. Have I got down to 
 that ? I'll fight the thing out." He went and took an 
 amount of stocks equal to the value of the cargo, and 
 gave it away in charity. He said : "You don't get me 
 that way. I am not going to sell my manhood for two 
 or three hundred thousand dollars." Didn't he value the 
 ship ? Certainly. If you ever find a man who speaks 
 lightly of money, keep clear of him. It isn't healthy 
 for a man not to like money — I wish we all had it. It 
 wasn't wrong to like money, or to want the ship to 
 come in ; but then it wasn't the best He had set out 
 to be a man, and the ship came in the way. 
 
 Now, you will ask, what that one thing is. Our choice 
 in life must be a cubic choice. It must have three di- 
 mensions. First, it must be very high — as high as I can 
 reach with my life. Next, it must be very broad : cover- 
 ing all the powers of my life — mind, voice, hands, feet. 
 And then it must be very long — run out seventy years. 
 I can't afford to swap horses in the middle of the stream. 
 
234 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 I can't afford to change my choice at thirty or forty. 
 We are to make our choice the highest, the broadest, 
 and the longest possible. This is to be our aim : that 
 the life of Christ in us shall be and do what the life of 
 Christ was and did in Himself. We are so to live that 
 our life shall repeat the life of Jesus of Nazareth. That 
 and that only must be the choice. Have you chosen 
 that ? I thought of asking the other day if every man 
 here was a Christian. I supposed it was hardly neces- 
 sary ; but I observed in one of Mr. Moody's addresses 
 that he thought it possible there was some one here who 
 was not Christ's disciple. Is there such an one ? Then 
 start now. Let this be your choice at the outset of your 
 life. Do you so choose ? What comes of it ? Christ 
 employing us — using us. I hold that if there is any- 
 thing true, it is this : that when God wants a man to do 
 a thing, and the man wants to do it, God will tell him 
 what He wants him to do. Have you read that story 
 told, I think, by Anna Shipton ? Sitting on the strand, 
 she noticed five vessels at anchor. It was a very calm 
 morning. The vessels were anchored here and there, 
 and nobody seemed to be doing anything. At last one 
 vessel seemed to have a little movement. It wanted to 
 do something, as if it was alive. The sails went up, and 
 the anchor was raised, and the ship moved grandly into 
 the harbor. She watched it with interest, as it was the 
 only living thing in all the wide expanse, and wondered 
 curiously what the name of the vessel might be. Grad- 
 ually the stern of the boat came within her sight, and 
 there she read that the name of the adventurous craft 
 was, " The Willing Mind." If there be first a willing 
 mind, I am sure there will be Divine guidance, and Di- 
 vine instruction, and Divine employment — Christ setting 
 us to do the work which He Himself came into the world 
 
REPEATING THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 235 
 
 to do. Brethren, it is truer than we think that the life 
 of Christ is to repeat itself in us ; and the world is to 
 hear Him, and see Him, and feel Him, as it recognizes 
 our presence and our influence. 
 
 Now, let me adv^ance one step further. What is con- 
 secration ? It is simply a consenting to let the life of 
 Christ do what it wants to do in us. And that ought to 
 be a joy and a delight. Think out of how many per- 
 plexities and doubts and uncertainties it delivers us. I 
 remember in the height of our war, when every one 
 seemed at a loss to know what to do — President bewil- 
 dered, Congress bewildered. In a parlor in Washington 
 sat Admiral Farragut. Some one was speaking of the 
 uncertainty. Said the Admiral : " I have one great ad- 
 vantage in this matter. I have only to go where I am 
 sent." I think when a Christian quotes that language 
 he is taken out of all bewilderment. I often think of 
 an incident in the life of Leonard Woods, President of 
 Bowdoin College. When he was in Prance, he was in- 
 vited with others to dine with the king — Louis Philippe, 
 I think. They presented themselves at the palace, and 
 entering a large room, went down to meet the king at 
 the other end. The king met them with his accustomed 
 courtesy, and said : " We did not know that we were to 
 have the pleasure of your company to-day. You did 
 not answer our invitation." Leonard Woods said : " We 
 thought the invitation of a king was to be obeyed — not 
 answered." That was one of the wittiest and the read- 
 iest things ever said ; and it is the Christian thing. 
 
 " Theirs not to reason why — 
 Theirs but to do and die." 
 
 Or rather, "and live." What does the life of Christ 
 teach us? He said; "The Son of Man came to seek 
 
236 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 and to save that which was lost." Again He said : 
 " The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but 
 to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many," 
 This is what the Divine life is striving to do in us. If 
 we would be sure that we are doing the will of Christ, 
 there must be this element in our work : a seeking to 
 minister, and not to be ministered unto — a seeking to 
 save the lost. Does the life of Christ in you seem to be 
 different from what it was in Him ? There is very grave 
 reason to doubt whether it is in us at all if it is such a 
 different thing in us — if there is no sympathy — no desire 
 to help others — no reaching out in a sacrificial spirit 
 with the passion of seeking and saving that which is 
 lost. You can't take that out of the heart of Christ. 
 He said : " I am the vine ; ye are the branches." There 
 is this peculiarity about the vine. It is of no use at all 
 but to bear fruit. A tree gives us wood, with which we 
 build houses. There are a hundred things you can do 
 with a barren tree ; but what can you do with a barren 
 vine ? The solitary use of the vine is to bear fruit. Our 
 Lord says : " These things have I spoken unto you that 
 My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might 
 be full." And there can be no higher joy than that : to 
 receive the sacrificial life of Christ, so that men shall 
 drink of our life even as we drink the life of God. 
 
 Another thing that brings this matter a little closer is 
 this : Jesus reached thus out before men knew and un- 
 derstood it. He came to Jerusalem, and on a Sabbath 
 day went up te the Temple. Nobody wanted Him 
 there. The priests were there, the services were going 
 on ; but nobody cared for Him — a stranger in His Fa- 
 ther's house. He went out from the Temple, and went 
 through the sheepgate to the pool called Bethesda. It 
 was supposed that the waters of this pool had wonder- 
 
REPEATING THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 21J 
 
 ful virtue — that at certain times after an angel had 
 stirred them, whoever stepped in first was healed of 
 whatever disease he had. Jesus came and stood there. 
 He saw one man whom nobody else seemed to care 
 about, and looking in his face, spoke to him. He asked : 
 **Wilt thou be made whole?" Why; he had been a 
 cripple more years than Jesus had been in the world. 
 He was a cripple when the angels sang over Bethlehem. 
 Until that blessed moment this man was a poor wretched 
 cripple. He had found his way somehow to the pool, 
 but as yet had failed to derive any benefit from its heal- 
 ing waters. Jesus said: "Wilt thou be made whole?" 
 Said the poor cripple : " Sir, I have no man " — almost 
 the saddest cry in the Gospel story. *' I have no man " 
 in all that multitude of priests, and the throng passing 
 through the gate. " I have no man to put me into the 
 pool." There was a great vacancy in that thronged city 
 of Jerusalem. And Jesus came between — He stood 
 where no man would stand — He stood between the 
 mercy of God and the need of this cripple, and gave him 
 help ; and the man took up his couch, and went away 
 to his home. He stood between; He filled this place, 
 and gave the man to drink of His own Divine power. 
 And what came of him then ? I think I should like to 
 follow that man's life. It was not long, I have thought, 
 before he came back again to help others into the pool. 
 If he was in business, he closed his day half an hour 
 earlier in order to hasten to the pool — possibly there 
 might be some one that needed to be put in. Perhaps 
 there came to be an institution in Jerusalem, and this 
 man was the secretary, and the treasurer, and all the 
 officers — whose object was to fill the place where there 
 was "no man." I have sometimes fancied that among 
 the unrecorded miracles of which John speaks, there 
 
238 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NOKTHFIELD. 
 
 were some that were wrought because this man brought 
 the healing mercy to needy ones. And that place re- 
 mains still ; and the law of the Divine life — the law of 
 the Christian life, is this : that every Christian is bound 
 to stand where the " no man " is — between the mercy of 
 God and those who need it. Some one must stand be- 
 tween the hungry multitude and Christ with the bread; 
 and the disciples distributed His bounty Some one 
 must stand between the sick man and Jesus in the house 
 where He could heal; and four men bore the one smitten 
 with palsy. We are to come between the water and the 
 thirsty lips. How do you happen to be a Christian ? 
 By what agency did you come to Christ ? I presume 
 every one of us can say some one came between him and 
 Christ — your father, your mother, your teacher. Will 
 you allow me to give you a little of my own history ? 
 When I was a boy I had an ordinary Christian training. 
 I always went to the prayer-meeting. If they had had 
 inquiry-meetings in those days, and those who wished 
 to become Christians had been asked to rise, I think I 
 would have been one to rise. And I went on in that 
 way for some time. I wanted to be a Christian, and 
 didn't know how. I believe we overrate what people 
 know about coming to Christ. I don't believe it is put 
 simply enough. I remember meeting my pastor many 
 years afterward, and he knew me as one of his own 
 boys. I said : " I owe more to you than to any other 
 man." He seemed pleased. "Well," he said ; "if you 
 think you owe so much to me, it is to my wife you owe 
 it — or rather it is to her mother. I'll tell you the story. 
 I thought New Bedford was a hard place to work in. I 
 said : ' I can't do anything here. I will go along and 
 finish the year, and if things don't improve I will be 
 gone.' My wife's mother — ." I am speaking of George 
 
REPEATING THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 239 
 
 L. Prentiss, whose wife has taught us all of " Stepping 
 Heavenward." Mrs. Prentiss's mother came to visit her 
 daughter, and they were talking things over. '' My 
 wife's mother said : ' Why doesn't he preach to some one 
 in particular. Xov»', there is that young McKenzie. 
 Why doesn't he see if he can't do something with him ?' 
 Well ; Lizzie told me, and I asked you to come and see 
 me." Yes ; he asked me to go and see him ; and I 
 we^fcand here I am. He stood between me and the 
 water. I believe what Mr. Moody says about sudden 
 conversions. I believe in them more and more. I find 
 people who don't know the time of their conversion. I 
 can remember just as well as if it was this morning the 
 place where I knelt. I can see that little yellow church 
 now, where I knelt down just as he told me. I said : 
 " Lord, here is my heart, and here is my life." I was a 
 boy in a store, and as I went down the street, I remem- 
 ber that for the first time I enjoyed the Psalms. I 
 found myself singing along : " Praise the Lord I Praise 
 the Lord I " Now, that has been very instructive to me. 
 Oh, that " no man " — " no man to put me into the pool." 
 There is a beautiful incident in Louis Agassiz's life. 
 He lived in Switzerland, on the border of a lake. His 
 father was on the other side of the lake. He had a lit- 
 tle brother, and the two boys thought they would like 
 to join their father. The lake was covered with ice, and 
 they were to walk across. The mother stood at the 
 window watching them — anxious, as mothers are — see- 
 ing them getting along very well till at length they 
 came to a crack in the ice, perhaps a foot wide. Her 
 heart failed her. She thought : "That little fellow will 
 try to step over. Louis will get over well enough, but 
 the little fellow will fall in." She couldn't call to them 
 — thev were too far. What could she do ? I used to 
 
240 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 look at Louis Agassiz, when I was a student at Har- 
 vard College, and thought he was the finest-looking man 
 I ever saw ; but there is nothing in his life that interests 
 me so much as just this little story. His mother 
 watched him, and as she watched, Louis got down on 
 the ice — his feet on one side of the crack, his hands on 
 the other, just like a bridge — and his little brother crept 
 over him to the other side. Then Louis got up, and 
 they went on their way to their father. Oh, young 
 men, the only vacancy in the world to-day is over'that 
 crack. Every other place is filled. Every bank is 
 crowded. All the trades are crowded. There is only 
 one vacancy. Will you get down there ? " It costs 
 something." Will you get down ? " Ah, but it is wet." 
 I know. Will you get down ? " Well ; my clothes — " 
 Will you get down ? " Well ; I wasn't thinking of do- 
 ing that. I was thinking — " Will you get down ? 
 " Well ; somebody else might — " Will you get down ? 
 "Well ; I ought to go home and — " Will you get down 
 on the ice and let somebody go over you ? That is 
 what Christ did. He came down from the throne, 
 stretched Himself out upon the cross, and every soul 
 that ever finds Heaven goes over the Cross. He was 
 willing to get down — for one, for many. I went the 
 other day to Mount McGregor, and stood in the room 
 where General Grant died. There on the table was a 
 candle and its blackened wick. He blew it out with his 
 dying breath. Will you light it, and carry it through 
 the land ? Somewhere there is a rude candlestick, and 
 there is no candle in it. David Livingstone pressed his 
 way into the heart of Africa, came to an African's hut, 
 entered it sick and dying, fell upon his knees, and gave 
 up his soul to God. On that rough box by his side 
 a candle burned into its socket. And that candlestick 
 
REPEATING THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 241 
 
 is there. Have you got a spare candle ? Light it, and 
 light the dark continent. 
 
 And now, brethren, remember what the Lord Jesus 
 Christ said. Those words are- our highest authority — 
 our Divine commission. I never can read them but they 
 strengthen my faith. Jesus was speaking to His Father. 
 Eleven men overheard it, and one of them wrote down 
 what He said — thus : " Father, I pray for them. As 
 Thou didst send Me into the world, even so send I them 
 into the world." " Even so " — with the same love, for 
 the same sacrifice, by the same redemption. Brethren, 
 kneel for a moment. Let me lay those pierced hands 
 upon your head and ordain you with His own appoint- 
 ment. " Even so." And this other word : Jesus said 
 strange words of promise and of hope. He said. The 
 works that He did we should do, " and greater works 
 than these." He turns us from the miracles unto higher 
 things which are within our reach as His disciples. He 
 might have given to us to lay our fingers upon the be- 
 nighted eyes and give them sight ; to put our hands 
 upon the crooked ankle-bones and give them strength ; 
 to speak to the sick and bring them back to health, and 
 to summon the dead to life again. Greater works than 
 these are yours and mine. For if you shall open the 
 eyes of a man and he sees God — if you shall touch his 
 ankle-bones and he walks with God — if you shall bring 
 healing to his spirit, and he is made holy — if you shall 
 call the dead to the life of a child of God, your greater 
 work is done. Brethren, there is a vacancy. " Even so." 
 " He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he 
 do also ; and greater works than these shall he do." 
 That is what life means to-day. I happened a few years 
 ago to be on the coast of Maine, and on an island under 
 the British flag I found a little desolate closed chapel. 
 
242 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 I talked with an old fisherman, and when he was mourn- 
 ing over the desolation of Zion 1 asked him to get the 
 people together and I would hold a service. Going 
 home one day as we walked along, that old fisherman 
 invited me into his house. There upon the wall was a 
 little picture. It wasn't very fine ; it wasn't painted by 
 one of the Royal Academy ; it was a very simple little 
 picture : a vessel upon the rocks in a tempestuous sea, 
 and then a boat with two boys in it going to help. The 
 old fisherman looked at the picture, and with a tearful 
 face said : " That boat there — that is my boy." And 
 then he told me the story. He said : " That vessel went 
 upon the rocks. They saw it, and nobody knew what 
 to do. It was a terrible storm. The sea was very high, 
 so that they couldn't do anything. Yet they couldn't 
 bear to let the ship go down and the men without doing 
 something, and they went out in that vessel you see 
 there. They got up near, and they couldn't get any 
 nearer. They knew no boat could live in that sea, and 
 all they could do was just to stay there, and the vessel 
 on the rocks was going to pieces. My boy couldn't 
 stand it. He went to the captain and said : * Captain, I 
 am going to save those men.' And the captain said : 
 * Nelson, if you try it, you'll be drownded.' And my boy 
 says : * Captain, I'm not thinking of being drownded. 
 I'm thinking of saving those men.' And one of the men 
 said : * I'll go with you.' They went, and they saved 
 every one of the men in the wreck. And my boy said 
 to me after he got back : ' Father, it seemed to me as if 
 the waves were smoother near us than they were every- 
 where around.* And I said : * Nelson, my boy ; that is 
 God.' " This is the word I want to leave with you. If 
 you are thinking of being " drownded," why, " drownd- 
 ed " you will be ; but if you are thinking of "saving those 
 
REPEATING THE LIFE OF CHRIST. 243 
 
 men," saved those men will be. So we start to-day. 
 The great stream of life carries us forward. We part 
 to go our separate ways. You and I shall never meet, 
 all of us, again. What is your resolution ? The life 
 that is in us is the life of Christ. Let it do as He will. 
 Oh, Thou Christ ; Thy will be done ! And so our ves- 
 sels separate. God guide us, and keep us. God bless 
 you. Brother Moody, Brother Sankey ! God bless you 
 from over the sea, and those of our own land. We go 
 out to seek and to save — saving that which is lost ; and 
 God be with us till we meet again ! 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA. 
 
 Extracts from an Address by the Rev. J. Hudson Taylor — "All 
 Power" — Implicit Faith and Obedience— Our Immediate Duty — 
 Heathenism in its True Colors — Millions of Souls Dying — 
 Dilemma of Two Students — A Chinese Scholar's Experiment — 
 Conversion of an Outlaw — Persecution Overruled for Good. 
 
 "All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in 
 earth." The Lord made a great deal of that sentence 
 to me a few years ago, when He laid upon me the need 
 of the perishing millions of inland China. In China 
 proper there are eighteen provinces, and eleven of those 
 provinces hadn't a single witness for the Lord Jesus 
 Christ before the work of the China Inland Mission was 
 commenced. After spending three years in China, as 
 the first English missionary of the Chinese Evangeliza- 
 tion Society, I was engaged in London for several years 
 in revising a translation of the New Testament into col- 
 loquial Chinese. We had a map of China on the wall 
 of my study, so that we couldn't raise our eyes without 
 seeing it. We were feasting upon God's precious Word 
 as well as working upon it — finding how wonderfully 
 perfect it was, and finding more and more evidence of 
 how thoroughly it was verbally inspired — and desir- 
 ing to bring as much as we could of the force of the 
 original into our version, we looked up for guidance. We 
 saw that map of China there, and thought of the millions 
 and hundreds of millions for whom there was not a crumb 
 (244) 
 
MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA. 245 
 
 of the bread of life broken ; and oh, how soul-hungry 
 we became for those millions ! And the pain became 
 so great that we couldn't work, and we had to fall down 
 and pray, and roll the burden on the Lord. We went 
 on praying for a good while. You know, you may work 
 without praying, but you can't pray without working. 
 We used sometimes to go to the City of London and 
 have a talk with the Secretary of the Church Mis- 
 sionary Society, or the British and Foreign Bible So- 
 ciety, or the Baptist Missionary Society, or the Lon- 
 don, or Wesleyan, or some other missionary society, 
 trying to induce them to do something for inland China. 
 Well, we had very kindly attention, and everybody ad- 
 mitted that there was a very great need ; but the way 
 didn't seem open at all to meet that need. We very fre- 
 quently had the old money-bag brought forward. You 
 remember when our Lord fed the multitude, the disci- 
 ples were wondering, "How are we going to feed so 
 many?" Philip said : "Two hundred pennyworth will 
 not be enough." But Jesus began with what they had. 
 People always talk about money ; and it was so with 
 these missionary societies. Oh, how my heart blesses 
 God for what they are doing — every one of them ! I 
 wish they had ten times as much money as they have. 
 They would make good use of it, and God would bless 
 the use they made of it. But when we rely on it, dear 
 friends, we are beginning the wrong way. They said 
 that men were needed for Africa, and Madagascar, and 
 other places, and they hadn't the means to send them. 
 The money-bag came in the way. And then there was 
 this idea: "Well, you know," they said, "inland China 
 isn't open. We must wait until China is providentially 
 opened." A thoughtful man, when he hears that, is apt 
 to say: "What does that mean?" It means that we 
 
246 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIE'LD. 
 
 must wait till the servants of the Prince of Peace go to 
 war with the Chinese, and blow the people to pieces — 
 perhaps force more opium upon them ; and then when 
 the devil has done the devil's work, it will be safe for 
 us missionaries to go in there. If the Apostles of old 
 had waited until there was a treaty between the Phari- 
 sees and Sadducees, on the one hand, and the Roman 
 Empire on the other, to allow the peaceful propagation 
 of the Gospel, the world would not have been evangel- 
 ized to-day to the extent it is. Sometimes, in reply to 
 the objection that China was not open, I used a pleas- 
 antry. I said : " Do you ever pay a morning call ? If 
 you do, do you send a servant first to ascertain whether 
 the hall door is open, or do you go and knock until it is 
 opened ? " I didn't expect myself to find the door open 
 until, like Peter, we came up to the great gate ; and 
 then I expected it to open of itself — as, in point of fact, 
 it did. 
 
 When Jesus says: *'A11 power is given unto Me in 
 Heaven and in earth," surely we need nothing more. I 
 used to say : " The Lord Jesus now hdlds all the power 
 of China. The Lord Jesus now holds all the power of 
 those provinces in which the Gospel is not yet preached. 
 The Lord Jesus is able to set before us an open door. 
 Our Lord would have us step forward like Abraham, not 
 knowing where we are going. He will provide all that 
 is needful on the journey. 'All power is given.' Now, 
 it doesn't take any more power to open a Chinese city 
 than it does to open a European city. It doesn't take any 
 more power to open a Chinaman's heart than it does to 
 open the heart of an Englishman, or a Frenchman, or 
 any other man Nothing but Almighty power will open 
 any man's heart, and that very thing Almighty power is 
 ready and able to do, * All power is given unto Me.' 
 
MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA. 247 
 
 And He has got the power of the money-bag too. It is 
 a great thing to know that He has in His hand all the 
 gold of the world, and we have only to go to headquar- 
 ters to get all that is wanted." 
 
 " Go ye therefore, and teach all nations." In going to 
 China vve didn't try to evangelize. We saw before going 
 the fallacy of that idea : that we must try to 6bey the 
 commands of God as far as we could. I searched first 
 through the New and then the Old Testament to find 
 an instance in which God ever commanded His people 
 to try to do anything. Taking the " Englishman's He- 
 brew Concordance " and a Greek Concordance, I went 
 very carefully through the whole Bible to see if there 
 was any command to attempt to obey. We were not to 
 try to evangelize the eleven provinces of China, but to 
 evangelize them ; not to try to save, but definitely to 
 turn men from darkness to light, God wants us al- 
 ways to remember that we are united to Him by 
 faith, and that there is Divine power at the back of 
 us to fulfil Divine commands. Now, it has been for so 
 many years such a glad testimony that we have been 
 able to *^go." We have been into those provinces. We 
 didn't try to go, but we went ; we didn't try to evan- 
 gelize, but we did evangelize. And — praise the Lord ! 
 — He has been giving us the joy of baptizing over 3,000 
 souls during the last twenty-two years ; and there are 
 living, churches in, I think, over sixty places at the 
 present time, larger and smaller, of living Christians 
 who are living for the Lord Jesus Christ in various 
 parts of those long-closed provinces. We don't go on 
 any haphazard errand. 
 
 The Master is going to send you back to your uni- 
 versities and colleges with a distinct mission. You are 
 
248 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 to turn men from darkness to light — not to try to do it. 
 You are to deliver men from the power of Satan unto 
 the power of God, You go back to do it ; not to try to 
 do it — not hoping that somebody may be benefited by 
 your efforts. Go definitely to do it, in the power of the 
 Lord, and expecting to see it done. There will be a 
 glorious gathering here next year if you do. You will 
 have some grand testimonies to bring with you; and Mr. 
 Moody will give you a chance to give them, no doubt. 
 There will be something worth hearing if we go from this 
 convention determined that in our homes, our colleges, 
 and universities — wherever we go — we are going just to 
 fulfil this commission that the Lord gave to His ser- 
 vants long ago, and gives to each one of us now. And 
 may I say just here : Let us not despise a little circle of 
 usefulness. A little circle of usefulness is not to be de- 
 spised. A light that doesn't shine beautifully around 
 the family table at home — a light that isn't worth having 
 in the home or the college— isn't fit to take a long way 
 off to do a great service somewhere else. Let us just go 
 with this message to shine for Jesus, and to live and 
 work for Him wherever He sends us. 
 
 " Go ye therefore, and disciple all nations, baptizing 
 them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
 the Holy Ghost." This Word of God is not only verb- 
 ally inspired, but the very order of the words is inspired. 
 Ignatius Loyola had an immense amount of enthusiasm 
 and earnestness, and he went to China and said: " Bap- 
 tize those people right off." What came of it ? All his 
 work came to nothing. He didn't go the Lord's way 
 about it. We are to go, and make disciples, and then 
 baptize them. And after you have baptized them, re- 
 member that you have just begun. "Teaching them to 
 observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you/* 
 
MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA. 249 
 
 " Lo, I am with you alway, even •unto the end of the 
 world." Ah, the Lord is a living, bright reality to us, 
 when everybody else is gone, and we are far from every- 
 body else. I can tell you He does speak to our souls 
 out in China. I speak of the work I am most familiar 
 with; and I can tell you He reveals Himself to us out 
 there as He never did at home. Oh, if I were to read to 
 you extracts from the scores and scores and scores of 
 letters we have received since the missionaries went out 
 last year — one hundred and two of them — to China, you 
 would learn something of the blessing they enjoy. They 
 say that the Saviour is with them in a very remarkable 
 degree, and that He blesses them as He never did in 
 England, They are very thankful for their own sakes that 
 they went — they have got so rich by going. And when 
 I go there and see our missionaries, and see their beam- 
 ing faces, it is a great treat, I can assure you. When 
 our dear friend, Mr. George Studd, went amongst them, 
 he didn't find it was very depressing. I am quite sure 
 if he were to stand up here, he would tell you of the 
 peace and joy that he saw filling their hearts and shin- 
 ing in their countenances, making them independent of 
 the little rufflings of earth that otherwise might have 
 been sources of worry. I am on my way to China now, 
 and I am impatient to be there. I expect to get many a 
 grasp of the hand, and to hear many a missionary say: 
 " Praise the Lord for ever having sent me to China ! " 
 
 There are eighteen provinces in China proper. You 
 all know that China is divided into China proper and 
 the dependencies of China. These latter are Corea, 
 Manchuria, Mongolia, Turkestan, and Thibet. The 
 eighteen provinces of China proper are as large as Eu- 
 rope, including Russia. If you put in the dependencies, 
 you have a country there as large as a Europe and a half 
 
250 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT 'KORTIIFIELD. 
 
 — or nearly so. We'can't speak now of the dependencies 
 — three-fifths of the Chinese Empire; but just remember 
 as we leave them — ah, how many, many millions of un- 
 blessed souls are living there, all of them idolaters with- 
 out exception, and this Book tells us something about 
 idolaters. If you have lived amongst the heathen you 
 find that the Bible is true when it speaks of them as 
 abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and 
 sorcerers. Dear friends, some people seem to think that 
 the heathen are children of nature — a beautiful sort of 
 thing that has been unspoiled by the presence of Bibles 
 amongst them. But it is not so at all. Those who have 
 lived amongst them know what the heathen are. "But 
 the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and 
 murderers, and whoremongers, and idolaters, and all 
 liars " — and you know every idolater almost is a liar — 
 "shall have their part in the lake which burneth with 
 fire and brimstone ; which is the second death." Are 
 you content to leave those people to die and go to Christ- 
 less graves ? If you are, dear friends, I wouldn't be 
 one to induce you to go to China or any other mission- 
 ary field; we don't want you there. You would do no 
 good if you went there. We only want those who are 
 filled with compassion toward those heathen, and 
 who are ready to say : " Will you accept us for such 
 honorable service as to go and speak the name of the 
 Saviour and be His instruments in bringing many of 
 those poor idolaters from darkness to light ? " Of 
 those eighteen provinces of China proper, there were, 
 when we first went there, eleven that had never been 
 visited by a Christian missionary. Our work now 
 covers fifteen provinces — in two of which it is itinerant. 
 In 1865 two young men wrote to me from the West of 
 Scotland — nice, earnest, fine young fellows they were. 
 
MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA. 25 1 
 
 They had both had a good, sound English education. 
 They were engaged in places of business, and filling 
 them very acceptably. The Lord laid upon the heart of 
 each one of them the needs of inland China, and they 
 wrote to me, offering their services in connection with 
 the China Inland Mission. They had never been to col- 
 lege at all. Some of their friends said to them they 
 would make a great mistake if they went to China with- 
 out going through a regular college course. Now, don't 
 misunderstand me. I have recommended people to take 
 a regular college course before, and I am likely to do it 
 again; but I don't think it is necessary for every one to 
 have a college course who wants to preach the Gospel. 
 I said: " In China a million souls are dying every month. 
 In seven years there are eighty-four months. While you 
 are fitting yourself, therefore, to go to them, eight3^-f our 
 millions of those poor Chinese will have passed beyond 
 the reach of the Gospel. My dear friends, if I were in 
 your position I would go straight to China, and preach 
 the Gospel to some of those people as quickly as possi- 
 ble." A Christian philanthropist, much interested in 
 China, heard of these young men who were anxious to 
 go and labor there, and very kindly said to them: "I 
 will be at charges for you both if you will go first to 
 college, and then to the theological hall. I will bear 
 your expenses, and you will go out to China then well 
 equipped for your service." They wrote to me, saying: 
 "What shall we do? Shall we consider this a provi- 
 dential opening, and follow it up, or would you still ad- 
 vise us to go forward ?" I just said: "My dear friends, 
 I can't give you any advice. But during the next seven 
 years eighty-four millions of souls in China will pass 
 away from the earth." One of them went to college, 
 and one went to China. Years passed, and the one that 
 
252 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 went to China came home and met his fellow a few 
 months before he finished his college course. His fellow 
 seemed to be greatly depressed, and said to him: *' Do 
 you know, I have been working all this time to prepare 
 for China ; and the doctor says that hard study has 
 broken my constitution, and so the society has refused 
 me, and I am not allowed to go at all." The other man 
 that had just come home from China had founded fifteen 
 little churches in places where the Gospel had never 
 been heard, and baptized nearly a hundred converts. 
 
 I WOULD like to tell you about one of the converts 
 whom Mr. Stevenson [the missionary referred to in the 
 preceding incident] was instrumental in leading to 
 Christ. The Chinese gentleman of whom I wish to 
 speak was, like many other Chinese scholars, an intelli- 
 gent man — very glad to buy books on Western science 
 and that sort of thing. He had purchased a number of 
 scientific works, and did not, of course, understand a 
 great deal that was contained in them. He came to Mr. 
 Stevenson for information. After answering his ques- 
 tions Mr. Stevenson said : " Have you read any of our 
 religious books ? You seem interested in foreign litera- 
 ture ? " He said he had read a little of the New Testa- 
 ment, which he thought very uninteresting and unintel- 
 ligible. Mr. Stevenson pointed out that a book which 
 taught of spiritual things must be unintelligible without 
 a spiritual mind, and told him if he would pray for the 
 help of the Spirit, the book would become very interest- 
 ing. The man then ridiculed prayer. The Emperor 
 wouldn't attend to him, or the Viceroy. If there was 
 such a great God, He would have something better to 
 do than to be listening to his prayers or accepting his 
 suggestions. Mr. Stevenson put a kettle on the fire, and 
 said to him : " You are very clever at arguing, Mr. Nying. 
 
MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA. 253 
 
 I am quite sure you could prove that fire and water are 
 opposites, and that one would destroy the other, and 
 that they couldn't possibly be commingled. And then 
 you might say the fire was outside the kettle, and the 
 water was inside, and the fire couldn't get through the 
 kettle into the water. But all the time the kettle would 
 be on the fire, and when your argument had reached a 
 triumphant point, I should say : 'What moves the lid of 
 the kettle, and makes the steam come out of the spout? 
 The water is boiling.' So I have proved the power of 
 prayer again and again." He refused to pray himself. 
 Mr. Stevenson said : " I shall pray for you. I shall pray 
 that when you go home you will take up that book and 
 read it, and that you will find it has become a new book 
 to you." Mr. Nying said, as he went home, to himself : 
 " Well ; here's a strange thing. That man whom we 
 call a foreign devil has such faith in prayer, and such 
 interest in me, that he will pray for me, and he believes 
 that I will find that book a new book." Then he deter- 
 mined not to look at it. Yet, his curiosity got the upper 
 hand, and when his wife went to bed he went to his 
 study, took the book down, first looked at one cover 
 and then the other, somewhat irresolute ; and at last, in 
 a spirit of scientific experiment, uttered a few words of 
 prayer, something like these : " O God, if there be a 
 God ; give me light on this book, if there is any light 
 to be given." Opening the book he began to read, and 
 read till midnight, and read through the small hours of 
 the morning, and was so riveted that he could not put 
 it down till a short time before daylight. He went on 
 reading his Bible, and was converted, and became a very 
 successful and zealous missionary. The mandarin tried 
 to stop him, but he said he couldn't help preaching — his 
 heart was so full. The mandarin sent for the head of 
 
254 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 the literati, or chancellor of the university ; and he just 
 preached the Gospel to the chancellor, telling him he 
 couldn't help it — he couldn't keep such good news to 
 himself. 
 
 One day Mr. Nying was out in the streets preaching 
 Christ, the mighty to save. He had a crowd around 
 him, and he told the people that his Saviour was able to 
 save them from their sins. Said he : " Just come to my 
 Saviour, and He will cure you of opium-smoking. He 
 will take the power of it right out of your nature. And 
 some of you fellows are very fond of gambling. Just 
 put yourself and the gambling habit in the Master's 
 hand. The Lord Jesus will cure you of gambling." 
 And so he went through all the popular vices of the 
 Chinese. A poor gambler right behind him stood listen- 
 ing and trembling like an aspen leaf. He came around 
 to the front and said to the preacher : " Do you know 
 me?" Mr. Nying said: "I should like to know who 
 doesn't know you." He was a notorious character for 
 fifty miles around — everybody knew him. He was the 
 terror of the neighborhood, and the mandarins daren't 
 deal with him. Said he : " Now, tell me the honest 
 truth. Can your Saviour save a man like me ? " He 
 looked right into Mr. Nying's eyes as he asked the ques- 
 tion. Mr. Nying, of course, joyfully said that Christ 
 could save him. The man wanted to know when. Said 
 Mr. Nying : " Come to my Saviour, and He will save you 
 here, now and forever." He did come. There and then 
 he accepted Christ. Then he went to his home — about 
 ten miles from the city, and drove away a band of 
 vicious men and public women who were there. His 
 share of the gambling spoils that night would have 
 been $50 — equal to five or six months' wages, say for a 
 schoolmaster. He closed his place that very evening, 
 
MISSIONARY WORK IN CHINA. 255 
 
 and said it shouldn't be opened again until it had been 
 whitewashed from end to end, and then it should be 
 opened for the preaching of the Gospel. I have preached 
 the Gospel there myself. 
 
 When the Gospel reached the province of Shan-si, one 
 of the earliest converts was a Chinese scholar, Mr. Hsi. 
 I can't tell you the story of his conversion, because it 
 would take too much time : it is to be found in his own 
 language in " Days of Blessing in Inland China." Well ; 
 Mr. Hsi went home, and was the means of the conver- 
 sion of his dear mother and his wife. Very soon there 
 were about a dozen laborers brought to Christ ; and the 
 people of the village took fright at this. They said : 
 " Our gods will be very angry, and will send us another 
 famine or pestilence ; this foreign doctrine is affecting 
 the whole village. We must stamp it out before it is 
 our ruin." And so they adopted a policy that we know 
 a good deal about under the name of boycotting. They 
 said : " Let no Christian get employment in any way. 
 Let no shopkeeper sell anything to a member of a Chris- 
 tian family. They can't live without eating, and they 
 can't spend money without earning it, and that will soon 
 put a stop to this Christianity." They didn't know with 
 whom they were dealing, "All power is given unto 
 Me." The converts came to Mr. Hsi as their adviser, 
 and asked him what they were to do. He just looked 
 up for a little while, as I have often seen him do, and 
 then began to praise the Lord. Said he : " My friends, 
 if I am not mistaken God has a purpose in this. If you 
 go on in the ordinary way you won't get the people to 
 believe God is doing anything for you. You can't any 
 of you read. The Lord is going to give you a holiday, 
 and let you go to school. Come to me at six o'clock in 
 the morning, or whatever hour you go to work, and 
 
256 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELU. 
 
 learn to read the Bible. Then from noon until evening 
 you can help me on my farm and homestead. I shall 
 take out of my granary whatever you need for your 
 families. All I have is God's — my barns are His barns ; 
 my corn is His corn — and when He wants my corn for 
 His children, His children ought to have it." So day 
 by day those fellows read the Bible, and when they 
 could read a little they were rather proud of it ; and 
 they went into the villages round about and preached 
 the Gospel, and then did a little work in the afternoon. 
 Very soon in five or six villages there were little com- 
 panies of people worshipping God. Thus began a work 
 of village evangelization that is going on to-day. There 
 are scores of villages that have got village churches 
 which were started in that very way. Well ; after a 
 time the persecutors came together and said : " What 
 on earth are you going to do with people like this ? We 
 thought we were going to stamp out this religion ; and 
 here we have raised up a set of preachers, and they are 
 going everywhere." So the boycott was removed, and 
 the men were allowed to go back to their usual work. 
 But they didn't stop preaching. They work on week- 
 days, and then hold Sunday preaching services. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 EVANGELIZING THE WORLD. 
 
 Extracts from Addresses by Mr. Robert P. Wilder— Generosity of 
 College Students — Reflex Influence of Foreign Work— A Plea 
 for India — Millions of Hindus Turning, Whither? — The Good 
 and the Best — Reversed Conditions Imagined : Asia Christian 
 and Europe Heathen — How to Strengthen Home Work. 
 
 After last summer's school at Northfield we Prince- 
 ton boys thought that more should be done by us for 
 foreign missions. We said : " Princeton must support a 
 missionary." We wanted to do what that lady did who 
 worked twenty-four hours of every day. She was 
 asked how she did it. The reply was : " I work twelve 
 hours here, and when I lay down my work for the night 
 I have a representative in India who works for the next 
 twelve hours." We wanted the men in Princeton to 
 work twenty-four hours daily by supporting a man in 
 India. The plan was opposed. I find that the students 
 of every college think themselves worse off financially 
 than the students of every other college. The Prince- 
 ton men said: "We cannot raise $700 for the support 
 of a missionary. We are giving only $80 a year for for- 
 eign work, and our association is $125 in debt. It is im- 
 possible to raise $700." Well, the matter was presented, 
 and within twenty-eight hours $1,300 were pledged by 
 the undergraduates of Princeton College, and now the 
 fund stands at $1,600. And within three days after the 
 money was pledged our representative, Mr. Forman, 
 
 (257) 
 
258 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 sailed for India. My weak faith never received a more 
 severe shock. Then the theological students of Prince- 
 ton said: ''We must support a foreign missionary." 
 Now, I can testify that theological students are not well 
 off financially, as a rule. But those seminary students 
 pledged $850, and are sending a man to China. The 
 Union Theological Seminary adopted the plan. Last 
 year we Union students gave $480 for missions. This 
 year we have pledged $1,130 — nearly $9 apiece. But 
 the Xenia theological students have outdone us. The 
 subscribers in that seminary are giving $12 apiece for 
 their missionary. We can give if we wish to. One of 
 my classmates came to Union seminary, last fall, with 
 only $3 in his pocket and he gave $5, I believe, for our 
 missionary. [Mr. Moody said : " Tell them how he did 
 it." Ans.: "He went out and earned the money."] I 
 would like to tell of other institutions, but have not 
 time. [" Go on," said Mr. Moody.] Well, the 44 stu- 
 dents at the Protestant Episcopal theological seminary 
 of Virginia pledged $625, and five members of the fac- 
 ulty each pledged $25 a year for life. A member of the 
 senior class was chosen and hopes to sail soon for China 
 or Japan under the auspices of the Protestant Episcopal 
 Board of Foreign Missions. Rutgers College and Sem- 
 inary have united in the support of a man for India. 
 The students of the United Presbyterian theological semi- 
 nary of Allegheny, Pa., are sending out Mr. Martin as 
 seminary missionary. I believe that the time is coming 
 when our larger colleges will support two or three 
 alumni in foreign fields, and the smaller institutions at 
 least half a missionary. Fellows, let's work twenty-four 
 hours of each day. 
 
 Men are needed more than money. Fellows, why not 
 go ? Some talk as if they feared a general exodus of 
 
EVANGELIZING THE WORLD. 2^9 
 
 Christians out of this country. There is no immediate 
 danger of that. Out of every 100,000 communicants in 
 the United States only twenty-one go to the foreign 
 field. I do not think that this country is suffering for 
 lack of Christian workers. If we count three classes of 
 workers — the lay preachers, ordained preachers, and 
 Sabbath-school teachers — we have in the United States 
 an average of one Christian worker to every forty-eight 
 of our population. We have an average of one com- 
 municant to every five of our population. But the 
 quality is not up to the quantity. " There is nothing so 
 contagious as a good example." The Bishop of London, 
 the Bishop of Exeter, and leading men in this country 
 say that the more we do for foreign work the better it is 
 for home work. Stanley Smith, the stroke of the Cam- 
 bridge University crew, said : "It is my earnest prayer 
 that there may be such an outlet of men and women 
 from this country as shall lead to an inlet of blessing 
 from Heaven." I am offering this prayer for the United 
 States. 
 
 These are the two points I wish to emphasize : i. Home 
 work will not suffer by reason of foreign missionary ac- 
 tivity. 2. The world can be evangelized — not converted, 
 but evangelized — in the present generation. One hun- 
 dred and twenty missionaries in China, representatives 
 of over twenty Protestant societies, said : "We want 
 China emancipated from the thraldom of sin in this gen- 
 eration. It is possible. The Church of God can do it, 
 if she be only faithful to her great commission." This 
 is not the testimony of enthusiasts, but of those who are 
 face to face with the difficulties and discouragements, 
 who are facing 382,000,000 souls. Fellows, if our lives 
 are consecrated to this work we can set the churches on 
 fire. We have our hands on the lever that can, with 
 
26o COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 God's blessing, turn the world upside down. I do 
 not know where I will work, but God helping me I 
 am going where there are thousands and millions who 
 have never heard the name *' Jesus." I mean to open the 
 throttle valve and steam out on the main track of the 
 greatest need. If the Lord wishes me on a side track 
 He can switch me off. But even God cannot switch a 
 motionless engine. Let's move out on the main track of 
 the greatest need, fellows. God will switch us off if He 
 wishes us in a less needy place. 
 
 We have heard the claims of Siam and Japan pre- 
 sented. May I say a few words in behalf of India, where 
 I was born, where my father labored nearly thirty years 
 and where my mother and sister are now working? 
 Most of the educated young men of India have lost 
 faith in their old religion. According to the faith of 
 their fathers the earth is flat and placed on an elephant, 
 the elephant on a tortoise, and the tortoise on nothing. 
 How long can they believe this after Western science 
 comes in ? Western science has cut down their old 
 faith and left nothing in its place. In the Madras, Bom- 
 bay and other universities are thousands of young men 
 who have lost faith in their old religion. There are 
 3,000 young men connected with the Madras University. 
 The professors are almost to a man infidels. One of the 
 leading educators in India has spent twenty-five years 
 in the country doing all in his powder to oppose Chris- 
 tianity. A strange confusion exists in India. Recently, 
 the band which led a heathen procession to an idola- 
 trous festival was playing, " Dare to be a Daniel." On 
 the streets of Madras you can hear four kinds of preach- 
 ing on the same evening. Here stands a Brahmo 
 preacher ; there is a Christian catechist ; yonder a Mo- 
 hammedan, and near him a Hindu. The people are 
 
EVANGELIZING THE WORLD. 261 
 
 confused and bewildered. Sir Bartle Frere tells of a 
 village which had put away its idols. The people were 
 quasi-Christians. No missionary had visited the village, 
 so far as was known. A merchant left, when dying, a 
 copy of a Gospel and a few tracts to his servant. These 
 wrought the change. But the people were as ignorant 
 as the eunuch whom Philip met. They could not fully 
 understand what they read, for there was no man to 
 guide them. (Acts viii. 30, 31.) Thirty Fakirs were 
 found wandering along the streets of a Hindu city. 
 They had Jesus Christ as their ideal Fakir and the 
 seventh chapter of Matthew on their lips. But they 
 needed " some man " to guide them. I recently read of 
 a community in the Saadh, which is neither Atheistical 
 nor Pantheistical, neither Christian nor Mohammedan 
 nor Hindu ; but more Christian than anything else. 
 They need "some man" to guide them ere infidelity 
 seizes hold of them. A Hindu prince has given money 
 for the distribution of a million tracts opposed to Chris- 
 tianity. A Mohammedan presented to a press at Luck- 
 now $4,000 for the publishing of Moslem literature. 
 Many are now at the turning-point. They are turning 
 into Christianity or infidelity. Remember, fellows, that 
 the Hindus move in masses. Missionaries toiled thirty 
 years among the Telugus with scarcely any converts. 
 Then 2,222 were baptized in a single day, 10,000 in ninety 
 days, and now there are among them 26,000 communicants. 
 For twenty-five years the work among the Shanars seem- 
 ed nearly fruitless. Then 100,000 embraced Christianity. 
 More mass movements are coming. Shall they be to- 
 wards Christianity or infidelity ? After the battle of An- 
 tietam it seemed that the destiny of our Nation depended 
 on immediate supplies. An eye-witness describes the 
 supply train as it came rushing through Harrisburg 
 
262 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 Up-grade and down-grade it sped, regardless of brakes. 
 Its wheels were like balls of revolving fire. One hundred 
 trains might have followed. But this came just in time. 
 God grant that the crisis in India may be met with im- 
 mediate supplies. 
 
 "The good is a great enemy of the desf." Let me il- 
 lustrate this proverb. A young man was surveying 
 lands in the oak-Openings of Iowa. A Christian sur- 
 veyor can do good. But it was not the des^ this man 
 could do. So he ceased surveying, went to Boston and 
 offered his services to the Baptist Board. Though at 
 first rejected, he finally was accepted and sent to India, 
 to a mission which was almost barren for nearly thirty 
 years. But God so blessed him and his companions 
 that 10,000 were baptized in ninety days. I have often 
 contrasted Mr. Clough the surveyor with Mr. Clough 
 the missionary. He could have done good if he had re- 
 mained in the United States, but not the desf. At a 
 meeting in Michigan I spoke thus about Mr. Clough. 
 When I finished a Baptist minister said : " Some years 
 ago Mr. Clough came to me and asked me to go with 
 him to India. I wanted to go, but did not because I 
 was waiting for a ' call.* The need is the ' call.' " That 
 minister might have been in India helping Mr. Clough 
 to reap that wonderful harvest had he not waited for a 
 " call." Is there anything in the Bible to show that we 
 need more of a "call" to take us to India than to Da- 
 kota ? "The field is the world." A man in Columbus, 
 Ohio, said : " If that building is on fire, and there are 
 eight men up-stairs perishing and one in the cellar — if 
 six are trying to rescue that one man from the cellar 
 and none helping the eight up stairs, where am I called 
 to give my assistance ? " The /leed is the ca//. 
 
EVANGELIZING THE WORLD. 263 
 
 A MISSIONARY in India was met by a man who said : 
 " I have been north and bathed in the Ganges to get rid 
 of my sins. I have been to shrines in the east and in 
 the west. Once I was young — now I am old, but the 
 burden of sin is just as heavy as ever upon me. Can 
 you help me ? " As I thought of that man my mind 
 went back to the time when Paul and Barnabas crossed 
 the bridge spanning the Orontes. But instead of going 
 west they go east. Methinks I see India evangelized 
 instead of Greece, China instead of Rome, Asia instead 
 of Europe. The Anglo-Saxons are to-day in heathen 
 darkness. My father goes from one shrine to another 
 seeking peace. He journeys to the northern part of the 
 British Isles and dwells for months under a towering 
 oak, with a Druid priest. When he is dying he calls me 
 to his side and says : " Son, I have been to shrines in 
 the north ; I have travelled east and west. Once I was 
 young, now I am old. My hair and my beard have 
 grown gray, but I have not yet found peace. Can you 
 help me?" I answered, "No." My father died and I 
 took up the search. I studied medicine and astrology 
 trying to find peace. One day I saw a man who had 
 been in the south of France. He had met a missionary. 
 He said that the missionary was reading wonderful 
 words. Such words- 1 never had heard. These were 
 the words : " For God so loved the world, that He gave 
 His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him 
 should not perish, but have everlasting life." " Sir," 
 said I, "where can I find that missionary?" He told 
 me. . Staff in hand I started, and after two weeks' walk- 
 ing I met him in a village in Spain. Again he read 
 those words. " For God so loved the world,"' etc. I 
 stopped him. "Sir," said I; "how long is it since 
 Christ died ? " " Eighteen hundred years," " Did your 
 
264 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTIIFIELD. 
 
 father know about Christ ? " " Yes." " Did your grand- 
 father know about Christ?" "Yes." "Well; why 
 didn't your father come to tell my father, and your 
 grandfather to tell my grandfather ? " He could not 
 answer. " My father spent from childhood to old age 
 seeking peace, but he found it not. Sir, are there many 
 people in your land who know about Christ ? " " Yes. 
 We have an average of one Christian worker to every 
 forty-eight of our population. We have an average of 
 one church-member to every five of our population." 
 "Why do they not come and tell us Anglo-Saxons about 
 Christ?" He was speechless. Then God Himself 
 spake : " If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn 
 unto death, and those that are ready to be slain ; if thou 
 sayest, behold we knew it not ; doth not He that pon- 
 dereth the heart consider it ? And He that keepeth thy 
 soul, doth not He know it ? And shall not He render 
 to every man according to his works ? " 
 
 Are we going forth fully consecrated to our Captain ? 
 At a prayer-meeting in Union Theological Seminary one 
 of my classmates went to the blackboard. He drew a pic- 
 ture of a man sitting in a boat. With both hands he work- 
 ed the oars ; but no progress was made. Again he rowed 
 till exhausted, but the boat would not move. At last he 
 found a rope binding the boat to the shore. Fellows, are 
 we trying to row thus ? Our boats may be headed in 
 the right direction, our efforts may be vigorous, but is 
 there some hidden cord of selfishness that binds us to 
 the shore ? Let us cut every such cord with God's help. 
 
 May I say a few words to the volunteers, about 100 of 
 whom are before me ? Do not hesitate to become for- 
 eign missionaries because of the needs of home work. 
 My sister writes of a lady who sailed recently for China. 
 
EVANGELIZING THE WORLD. 265 
 
 She left England on the same steamer on which my 
 mother and sister sailed. Along the railway stations, 
 between London and Southampton, railway men saluted 
 her and slipped notes of farewell into her hands. Why ? 
 Because she had been the means of the conversion of 
 hundreds of these men. No doubt many said that 
 this lady was making a mistake by leaving her work in 
 
 England for China. But my sister writes, " Miss 's 
 
 going to foreign work has enlisted four ladies to take 
 up her home work." I believe that for every God-sent 
 man who leaves this country for foreign fields, four will 
 fill his place at home. Dr. Judson Smith recently said : 
 " If young men should rise in large numbers and go to 
 the foreign field, there would be such a revival at home 
 that men would flock into the ministry." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 NORTHFIELD NUGGETS. 
 
 Extracts from Addresses by Various Speakers — Partiality in Dis- 
 pensing the Bread of Life — One Business Not Overcrowded — 
 Laying Aside Encumbrances — Success in Personal Work — An 
 Entire Delegation Anointed for Service — College Life in Europe 
 — Iridescence of the Pearl — Voices from Siam and Japan. 
 
 Mr. Reginald Radcliffe (of England) : Christ was 
 filled with compassion toward the five thousand. He 
 satisfied the hunger of those fainting ones. How much 
 greater are His compassions for the millions on the earth 
 who at present have no chance of hearing His Gospel, 
 from the want of willing obedience of His followers I 
 The disciples had only five loaves and two fishes ; but 
 all that they had they yielded up into His hands. It 
 was not until they gave up all they had that the Lord 
 commenced to multiply. This little bread and fish — no 
 more than could have been carried by the boy with one 
 hand in a little basket — was entrusted to the Apostles. 
 Their trust was fairly to feed the whole multitude. 
 Now, supposing the multitude had been seated in a 
 hundred rows of fifty each, making five thousand — what 
 would be thought of the Apostles taking bread and fish 
 to the first eight rows ; and then returning again and 
 giving a second supply to the same eight rows ; and a 
 third ; and so continuing until the men and women had 
 to receive the food in their laps ; and yet continuing 
 until they had absolutely piled the bread and fish up tp 
 (266) 
 
NORTHFIELD NUGGETS. 267 
 
 the shoulders of these people, and over their ears, in 
 abundance, without giving a single crumb of bread and 
 fish to the ninety-two rows behind them ? Is not that 
 what America and Britain are now doing ? I cannot 
 speak for America, but speaking for my own country I 
 can say that this unfair distribution is attended with a 
 blight at home. Taking the statistics of the four major 
 British denominations, including the Church of Eng- 
 land, and comparing them with the increase of popula- 
 tion—our population, you know, only doubles itself 
 in fifty years, whilst yours doubles itself in twenty- 
 five years — it is a question with me whether the figures 
 do not show that we are not even numerically hold- 
 ing our own. If we are thus disobedient to the great 
 command — if we thus fail in our duty as trustees — I 
 don't know how England is to be saved. Jericho's walls 
 fell with obedience ; but when disobedience entered 
 into the camp, the same warriors had to flee before their 
 enemies issuing from Ai, on account of the wedge of 
 gold and the Babylonish garment. Witness the Apostles 
 commencing with one little basket of bread and fish, and 
 ending with each Apostle having a large hamper full of 
 broken bread and fish. It is still true that " there is that 
 scattereth and yet increaseth ; and there is that with- 
 holdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty." 
 Indeed, I don't know how England is to be saved unless 
 we be awakened to take up Christ's heathen as the work 
 of our home churches. Mr. Eugene Stock, the zealous 
 Secretary of the Church of England Foreign Missionary 
 Society, says that we have never yet taken up the sub- 
 ject of foreign missions as the work of the Church, but it 
 has only been taken up as a by-work. A lady eminent 
 for years of fruitful Christian labor in Britain, ponder 
 ing this statement of the unequal distribution of the 
 
268 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 loaves and fishes, went home, sat up until three o'clock 
 in the morning, and in face of her years of successful 
 work, was constrained before she went to bed to devote 
 herself to the heathen. She is now occupying a most 
 important sphere in China. 
 
 Mr. D. W. McWilliams (of Brooklyn) : Two years 
 ago at Mount Hermon, one Saturday night, after all the 
 other meetings were closed, in an upper room sixty stu- 
 dent volunteers for foreign missions were gathered. 
 Every man present was asked to answer this question : 
 "What led you to pledge yourself to become a foreign 
 missionary ? " That question was answered by each 
 man in one or two sentences. At last one man got up 
 and said : " My father was a missionary in China for 
 twenty or thirty years. His health is broken. He is 
 incapable of carrying on his work. I want to fit myself 
 to take it up, and take my father's place." One of the 
 noblest secretaries we have in the Young Men's Chris- 
 tian Association heard those words, and went away say 
 ing to himself : " Because of what the little man from 
 China said, I am going down from this place to work a 
 hundred times harder than I ever did before." This 
 last summer that Secretary v/on eight hundred souls for 
 Christ. Since he caught the fire at Mount Hermon I 
 venture to say he has won to Christ two or three thou- 
 sand souls. A gentleman in Brooklyn lately asked a 
 friend — a merchant — whether he could find an opening 
 for his son. Said the merchant : " Don't put him in my 
 line of business. The competition is terrible. There is 
 no place in my line of business for a young man." He 
 went to a second friend and heard the same, and to a 
 third and heard the same. One after another said : 
 "Competition has ruined my business. Put him in 
 some other," The Master*s business is never over- 
 
NORTHFIELD NUGGETS. 269 
 
 crowded. But what business in America besides that 
 is not overcrowded ? Young men, I envy your oppor- 
 tunity. I wish I were twenty, instead of fifty. If I 
 were, there is no secular business in this world that 
 could touch me. 
 
 Mr. George B. Studd (of England) : " Therefore 
 let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so 
 great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and 
 the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run 
 with patience the race which is set before us, looking 
 unto Jesus." Perhaps some of us came here with 
 weights. I hope we will leave them here, and go back 
 to run the race without the weights that may have been 
 hindering us in the past. All sorts of things may be- 
 come weights. And perhaps one of the most serious 
 weights in a young man's life is a love of athletics. In 
 its right place, I will admit as much as any man that 
 this is a splendid thing ; but — although it may appear 
 strange for me to say so— it may occupy such a place in 
 our lives as to encumber us rather than help us. Our 
 athletics must be laid at the feet of Jesus. Too often we 
 merely seek our own pleasure, or strive to obtain a po- 
 sition at college. Whatever we do, let it be done solely 
 
 as unto the Lord Are we "looking unto Jesus"? 
 
 Christian people are so apt to lean on their privileges ! 
 And, it seems to me that this is quite as dangerous in 
 America as in England — your organizations are so much 
 more perfect than ours are, while the more perfect they 
 are, the danger is increased. We are prone to lean on 
 some Christian organization, instead of leaning solely 
 and wholly on the Lord Jesus Christ. Organizations 
 may be made great helps to us ; but they are not helps 
 if they come between us and Christ. May God grant 
 that we may all just lift our eyes above the privileges — 
 
2-JO COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 above the glorious advantages we have had here, look- 
 ing to the Lord Jesus Christ and Him only for our help 
 and strength. Then our witness will be faithful — our 
 testimony will be true. 
 
 Mr. J. C. B. Geddes (of Edinburgh): One thing that 
 we have learned at home is : This work succeeds in pro- 
 portion as there are men who are taking it up — taking 
 up the responsibility of it — privately. Of course, we all 
 feel the advantage of united work. We have many op- 
 portunities of meeting together and working together 
 But still, I think I am safe in saying that the great mass 
 of the work of converting our fellow-students has been 
 private work — I might almost say lonely work. True, 
 we compare notes. If you are interested in a man, one 
 of the first things you do is to introduce him to some 
 friend. Still, my point remains — that this work has 
 been successful in Edinburgh just in proportion as there 
 were many men who would take the trouble to think 
 and scheme and pray in private for any particular men 
 in whom they were interested. Another thing is this : 
 We have learned, I think, in our University work that it 
 is very important to respect the individuality of the men 
 we are trying to help. The Bible is very clear upon this 
 point. We are to work out our own salvation — not any- 
 body else's salvation. Salvation is a tremendously per- 
 sonal thing. We all have our own characters, our own 
 temptations, the things that move us personally. If we 
 are to be successful in reaching a thoughtful class like 
 students, we must respect these things, and study them. 
 It takes a long time to find out what will move some 
 men. I don't know what it is — it seems to me that you 
 men here are more frank than we are in Scotland. 
 Some men in Scotland live deep, secret lives. It takes a 
 long time sometimes to find out what will best influence 
 
NORTHFIELD NUGGETS. 2jl 
 
 a man, and what is most likely to encourage him and 
 draw him to Christ. There is just one other thing, and 
 that is the importance of personal consecration in the 
 men who take up this work. I don't mean to say that 
 you are always to be on your knees, and always to be 
 singing hymns and attending lectures on religion, and 
 so on. These things are immensely valuable, and they 
 have their own place in a man's life. But really, when 
 we come to think of it, the most important part of our 
 life is the life that we live when we are alone. I don't 
 mean bodily alone, but alone in our own minds— alone 
 before God. As a man lives in that lonely life, so he 
 will influence his fellow-men and the generation in which 
 he is born. Consecration is a very wide and great 
 thing. It takes you into times of your life when there 
 is scarcely anything to remind you of Christ at all. It 
 is terrible to feel that we may lose our influence over 
 others by coming short in times when we are most apt 
 to forget whose we are and whom we serve. 
 
 Mr. a. a. Stagg (of Yale) : Last Friday night Mr. 
 Moody came over to see the Yale delegation at Hillside 
 Cottage. He spoke to us on the Holy Spirit, and 
 prayed with us ; and asked us if we would like to be 
 filled with the Spirit ? Man by man we said we would. 
 We knelt on our knees, and prayed to God that He would 
 give us this power. We feel that we have received it. 
 We are going back to Yale, and filled with the Spirit of 
 God we intend to do a work there that will tell for the 
 Master and in the Judgment Day. We don't know, many 
 of us, why we came up here. Various were our objects, 
 various our purposes. But we are here, and w^e have re- 
 ceived a blessing. What are we going to do ? We are 
 going back to Yale a band of men consecrated to the 
 Lord. To-night, an hour ago, we knelt together, and man 
 
272 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 by man we pledged ourselves to do personal work next 
 year. We pledged ourselves to study up the Holy Scrip- 
 tures this summer, and to do work this summer ; that 
 the fire that is within us may not burn out, and that 
 when we get back to college we shall be ready to meet 
 the enemy and to fight him on his own ground. We 
 feel that we have a great work there in Yale to do. 
 It is different from being here living in a holy atmos- 
 phere ; but we feel that God is on our side, and with 
 Him on our side we have nothing to fear. We pledge our- 
 selves as a band to pray all summer long for the blessing 
 of the Holy Spirit upon us and upon Yale, and we 
 know that we shall have that blessing. We trust that 
 henceforth we shall not sing as we usually do, with the 
 emphasis on the "Yale": "For God, for country, and 
 for YaW; but we shall sing: "For God, for country, 
 and for Yale." 
 
 Mr. W. R. Nepveu (of Holland) : I would like to 
 speak a few words about our college at Utrecht. Amer- 
 ican students have a great many privileges that we have 
 not. During the short time I have been here I have 
 noticed that in America there are Christian presidents 
 of colleges, and Christian professors ; that there is a 
 college service every morning, and that a Christian 
 influence prevails. As to these things I am sorry to 
 say we have not all of them. We have every kind of 
 people in our University, and they are not very much 
 bound together. I must say in the department to which 
 I belong there is a set of young men who are living a 
 life of pleasure — who only study a little bit and don't 
 think of their spiritual life at all. And now, it is per- 
 haps in our people, but those of us who are religious 
 don't come out for Christ as I have seen in these days 
 is the American way ; but we keep it to ourselves. In 
 
NORTHFIELD NUGGETS. 2/3 
 
 the last year I have been at college I have seen very- 
 much that displeased me, and I am afraid I have not 
 come out for Christ myself enough. But I thank God 
 that I have seen in this convention that there is a way 
 to reach men. I have learned very many precious les- 
 sons here, which I hope to adopt in the college. There 
 is one thing I would like to say still, and that is : we 
 want more unity in our colleges — between the old coun- 
 try and the new — and to be more one in heart. I am 
 very, very glad to hear Mr. Ober say that next year 
 there will be a deputation coming over from this coun- 
 try to visit our colleges. I think that is very much 
 needed. We have been greatly impressed — I speak in 
 the name of those who have come over from England 
 and Scotland — we have been very much interested in the 
 great friendship there is among the colleges here in 
 America, and we would very much like to have that in 
 our country. I hope that you will pray for the colleges 
 and universities of my country and of the whole of 
 Europe, and especially for the University of Utrecht. 
 
 Mr. Norman H. Smith : Many remarkable discoveries 
 have recently been made as to the nature of pearls. 
 Among other things brought out in a paper recently 
 read on this subject before the Royal Society in London 
 was the fact that pearls increase in beauty, radiancy, and 
 value by exposure to the sun's light. As an example of 
 this we are told that quite recently a pearl was bought 
 by a specialist for the sum of ;^90o. This man, know- 
 ing the secret of the pearl, carefully exposed it to the 
 sunshine and with such good results that in a month or 
 two he found the value and brilliance of that pearl so 
 much increased that he sold it for ;£"i,5oo. Yes, but the 
 second man also treated it in a similar way, with the re- 
 sult that in a very short time he was able in his turn to 
 
274 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 sell the pearl once more, and this time the price was 
 ^2,000. The soul of the individual man is a pearl of 
 great price, and precious in the eyes of God ; but what 
 a lesson we have here as to the increased value that 
 comes from exposure to that Sun of righteousness, 
 which is Jesus Christ. Let us endeavor by the help of 
 God's grace to get rid of all that clogs and hinders our 
 spiritual life, and let our souls come immediately into 
 contact with the rays of that Divine sun, and so shall 
 they grow in radiance and in beauty, in brilliance and 
 in value, both in the eyes of God and of our fellow-men, 
 until we arrive at the stature of the manhood of Christ, 
 fully developed in body, soul, and spirit as Christ would 
 have us to be. 
 
 Boon Itt (of Siam) : What have missions given to the 
 world, or given unto us ? I desire to take as an illustration 
 my country. It is a little bit of a country ; but yet 
 what applies to Siam is true of all. I will only mention 
 two or three things : the contribution to science, educa- 
 tion, and commerce. If I were to mention what Siam 
 has contributed to science, you would laugh ; but we 
 all know that a bit of grass or herb of any kind that is 
 strange and new is invaluable to the scientific world, 
 and I know from personal experience what Siam has 
 furnished. In the educational line, our people, before 
 the missionaries went there, wxre under the control of 
 the priests. The learning was under them, and we had 
 to take just what they gave. The precepts and the 
 morals of Buddha were handed down and given by 
 those priests. We were ridden by the priests. But 
 when the missionaries came there, schools were founded 
 for both sexes ; and the young king has seen the good 
 of that, and he has established schools and then a little 
 king's college. Then, the third and last thing I want 
 
NORTHFIELD NUGGETS. 275 
 
 to speak about is commerce. See what Siam has re- 
 ceived. By the missionaries commerce has been opened, 
 and last year we see from the reports that commerce, 
 even in rice alone, has increased. You may say this is 
 not the result of missionary work. Let me quote to 
 you what the ex-regent of Siam said. He said : " Siam 
 has not been disciplined by English and French guns ; 
 but the country has been opened by missionaries." So 
 we owe everything — our education, a higher ideal of 
 life, and a purer standard of morality — we owe all as 
 the direct result of the missionaries' work. Is not that 
 some good ? But all this is nothing in comparison with 
 one single convert. I don't bring this up, because the 
 act at which the Trinity and the holy angels rejoice — 
 that is, the conversion of one sinner — is beyond our com- 
 parison. We have nothing on earth that compares with 
 it. That is the reason I have left it out. I would like 
 to say here that what we often call the command of 
 Christ is more than a command. In one sense it is a 
 command, but to me it is more of a privilege. You 
 know when Christ was on earth He said — or rather by 
 his life He showed what is in the first part of the prayer 
 He has taught us : " Our Father." When we say "our," 
 we mean that all are brothers, whether they be Christian 
 or be heathen. So to God's children the difference be- 
 tween the Christian man and the heathen is : One is 
 travelling home to God, and the other is not. But 
 whether they are travelling home or not, they are God's 
 children. The prodigal was just as much his father's 
 son when he was away among the swine as when he was 
 at home. When Christ was on earth He told the people 
 that they were God's children ; and His life-work was 
 to lead them back to God, their Father. But He told us 
 when He was going away : " Since you have known the 
 
276 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 way, I leave this work for you to do — to share in the high- 
 est work that I have been doing. Go and tell everyone 
 of your brothers that you meet — tell them all that they 
 are God's children, and that they are on the wrong wa}-. 
 Point them to the way. I am the Way, the Truth, and 
 the Life. Bring them to their God and their loving 
 Father, who is awaiting them." Is not that a privilege ? 
 I rejoice in the privilege ; and I feel very grateful and 
 thankful to think that, oh ! such grand work can be 
 given to a weak human being. Oh, to share in the 
 glory and the honor of that is so great ! See what God 
 has done by sending those who were not what you 
 wanted at home away to foreign missions. I ask you as 
 college young men, is that square dealing with God ? 
 What you don't want you send off. Is that square deal- 
 ing ? Look at the Apostles. Paul undoubtedly was the 
 most educated and the most refined of all ; and yet he 
 was sent to the heathen. Why should the best men go ? 
 Because it takes a man with a good mind and good un- 
 derstanding and a big head to teach the heathen. Let 
 me say that you find no mean foe in the Eastern world 
 to cope with. Now, the question comes naturally. Who 
 will go ? The nations have been progressing since they 
 have come under the influence of the missionaries, and 
 they are always on the moving-forward line. They want 
 something that is ahead of them to show them the way, 
 and we want the young men. 
 
 Kawamoto (of Japan) : I stand here to speak of the 
 most interesting mission field — your nearest neighbor 
 across the Pacific, beyond the setting sun. You have 
 often heard what a grand opening there is for the mis- 
 sion workers, and for the Christian teachers. You have 
 often heard what a grand progress Japan has made in 
 these latter years. Therefore I think it is almost need- 
 
NORTHFIELD NUGGETS. 2/7 
 
 less for me to add any more words. Twenty-five years 
 ago there was not a professing Christian in Japan ; but 
 to-day there are many thousands of native Christians 
 in that land working harmoniously for the common 
 cause of Christ. It was but a few weeks ago when two 
 great bodies of this Christian country were assembled 
 in the City of Brotherly Love to celebrate their centen- 
 nial. I watched the proceedings of the meeting con- 
 cerning the union of the Southern and the Northern 
 Presbyterian Churches. In Japan we are making more 
 rapid progress toward organic union. It is now pro- 
 posed that all the Christian Churches shall form one 
 Japanese Church of Christ. In these latter days mar- 
 vellous changes have come in the thinking of the people, 
 and their general feelings toward Christianity. About 
 seven years ago there were constant persecutions against 
 the Christian people not far from my native town. But 
 to-day, if you will visit that beautiful country, you will 
 find that the stones which were thrown by the people 
 against the Christians have been placed in the corner- 
 stone of their church. This is not the only way in 
 which Christians are working and Christianity is pro- 
 gressing in Japan. The skepticisms which have taken 
 hold of the educated men are losing their influence. A 
 great many people who take no satisfaction in the old 
 religion are seeking comfort in the truth which the re- 
 ligion of Christ alone conveys. And there is a constant 
 cry which will come to you. I myself, representing 
 millions of human souls, ask you to hear that Mace- 
 donian cry which is coming from that island across the 
 Pacific Ocean. This is not only the call of human souls 
 — it is not only the call of millions of Japanese ; but 
 the Master of the harvest is calling to you. The field 
 is white. Who will go ? Will you, my fellow-students. 
 
2/8 ■ COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 respond to this call from God, and these appeals from 
 the people ? Will you answer: " Here am I. Send me ! 
 Send me ! " Since I have been on this consecrated soil 
 of Northfield, I have often been asked whether Japan 
 will be evangelized in our lifetime. I answer that, 
 without doubt, if American churches and the churches 
 in Great Britain are active enough, Japan will be Chris- 
 tianized in this present century ; and, as a returned 
 missionary from China once said, Japan is the key to 
 China. 
 
 Dr. J. Hudson Taylor : A very beautiful thought 
 was given us by Professor Charteris at a united com- 
 munion service at the close of Professor Drummond's 
 series of meetings with the Edinburgh University men. 
 Some seven hundred were present, and the service was 
 very impressive. I wish I could give you the thought 
 of Professor Charteris in his own words ; but while I 
 cannot do this, it is so beautiful in itself that you will 
 value it though divested of the beauty of its dress. He 
 remarked that there had been one life on earth in which 
 there was progressive development from the cradle to 
 the Cross, but one only ; and that it appeared to him 
 that a true Christian life was the life of Christ looking 
 backwards-way. Beginning with the Cross, we receive 
 cleansing through the precious blood and regenerative 
 life through faith in Christ Jesus ; and then, going on 
 from the Cross backwards to the cradle, there should 
 be a progressive growth of the child-like spirit that will 
 end by leaving us trusting all our weight in the Ever- 
 lasting Arms as a child reposes in the arms of its 
 mother. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 "what hath god wrought?" 
 
 Utility of the Summer Schools — Glimpses of Good Accomplished — 
 How a Man from Oberlin was Transformed — A Reformation at 
 Cornell — Privilege and Responsibility — Moral Beauty — The 
 Whole World Akin— Pioneering in Heathen Lands — Heavenly 
 Citizenship. 
 
 Testimonies to the power of the two previous gather- 
 ings were given at one of the opening meetings of the 
 Conference. Two of these may here be reproduced : 
 one illustrating the fruits of the Summer School at 
 Northfield in 1887, and the other with reference to the 
 consequences of the Mount Hermon assembly in 1886. 
 
 Prof. E. F. BoswoRTH, of Oberlin, said : I suppose we 
 all of us dread to undertake any new enterprise unless 
 we are confident that God is in it — unless we are confi- 
 dent that it is something that God wants done. At the 
 beginning of this meeting we need to reinforce our zeal 
 with the thought that we are here to engage in an en- 
 terprise that God blesses. I suppose we all know the 
 great blessing that has flowed out from these meetings 
 in the past. There comes especially to my mind just 
 now a little piece of blessing which fell under my own 
 observation — an influence for good which came from 
 this meeting upon one life. I knew a young man — a 
 professing Christian — who was quite apathetic, or at 
 least inactive. He never took part in a prayer-meeting. 
 
 (279) 
 
28o COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 He seemed to be one of those who never could do any- 
 Christian work. He attended* this meeting last Sum- 
 mer. When he came back to the college last Fall he was 
 a transformed man— a changed man. He was ready to 
 work, and ready to ask others to work with him. His 
 example has been such a blessing that we have here 
 now twenty-nine men from that same institution. That 
 young life has been wholly changed, in these ways : 
 In the first place, some new truth from God's Word has 
 been understood better than it was before ; and in the 
 next place, that new truth has been instantly responded 
 to and put into practice. Now, there are two very dif- 
 ferent things : One of them is to understand a little 
 about the atonement of Jesus Christ — a little about His 
 great sacrifice ; but it is an utterly different thing to live 
 that truth — to make living sacrifices — to die daily, as 
 Paul says. First, understand the truth ; next, live the 
 truth. If a man will do this he is a changed man. It is 
 one thing for a man to get intellectually before his 
 mind the intense devotion of Jesus Christ to the will of 
 God His Father — toiling day after day in country towns 
 and villages — so anxious to do the will of God that 
 when tired and hungry He stood by the well-side and 
 preached to one soul, forgetting that He was tired and 
 hungry, and telling His disciples that His meat was 
 to do the will of Him that sent Him — it is one thing to 
 know that truth intellectually : it is another thing to 
 have the life transformed — to take the printed truth and 
 make it living truth. Our friend did this, and that is 
 exactly why he got his blessing. He came face to face 
 with two or three truths that he didn't know were in 
 the Word of God, and then he made his life conform to 
 them. There was an instantaneous response to those 
 truths, and he began to live them. Now, it seems to 
 
**WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT?" 28 1 
 
 me that a very practical question to every one of us is : 
 How are we going to get such a blessing out of this 
 meeting? And the answer is : By accepting the truths 
 we hear and beginning to live them. Take, for instance, 
 the great principle of Christian living as we find it in 
 Paul's letters to the Corinthians and Romans — a de- 
 termination on the part of a man to put out of his life 
 everything, if only by that means he may increase his 
 influence over somebody else. That is the great prin- 
 ciple which controlled Paul's life. If we get face to 
 face with that principle, and accept it, and respond to 
 it, we will get a blessing. I have been impressed with 
 one word Paul used in his second Epistle to the Thes- 
 salonians. Writing to his friends, and feeling the need 
 of their prayers, he said : " Pray for us, brethren, that 
 the word of the Lord may have free course, and be 
 glorified." What we have to do is to open our hearts. 
 Never let any truth be obstructed by any failure to ap- 
 propriate it instantly. Let us just open our hearts to 
 the truth and give it free course ; and then — we won't be 
 glorified, but -God will be. When a man not only re- 
 ceives the truth, but knows it, and begins to live it, then 
 he begins to have power. It seems to me we make a great 
 mistake sometimes in praying for power. We desire to be 
 powerful, and we pray for power, perhaps, in the wrong 
 way. Now, power isn't given to people except for a 
 special purpose. In Christian service it is given to help 
 us to wield a weapon. Here is the weapon — the Word 
 of God. " The word of God is quick, and powerful, and 
 sharper than any two-edged sword." Take hold of that 
 sword with a firm grip, and pray for God to use it, and 
 I think the power will come. Get the sword of the 
 Spirit in the hand, and the power of the Spirit in the 
 heart, and then the sword of the Spirit is in the Spirit's 
 
282 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTIlflELD. 
 
 own hand. Let us pray one and all that the Spirit of 
 God may thus have free course in our hearts, morning, 
 noon, and night. When we look into the Word of God, 
 let it be not idly, or in a spirit of mere curiosity; but 
 let it be to find some truth which we may instantaneous- 
 ly do, and then the Word of God will be glorified in our 
 transformed lives. 
 
 Mr. J. R. MoTT, of Cornell, said : 1 like the example 
 given me by the last speaker, and I will follow that ex- 
 ample by telling you of work done in my own college 
 as a direct result of these Summer Schools. I think 
 these Summer Schools do three things : first, they give 
 to every man himself a great spiritual uplift. In the 
 next place, they bring home to every man that he is his 
 brother's keeper — that when he goes back to his college 
 he is, in a great measure, responsible for the salvation 
 of his room-mate. In the third place, they give a man a 
 proper conception of the great movement among young 
 men in this country and in the world. As you study the 
 work of the colleges since the convening of these Con- 
 ferences, I think these points will become clearer and 
 clearer. Cornell has been no exception. I speak here 
 in no sense of praise to any individual. We give God 
 the praise, for the work cannot be traced to any man. 
 Only a few years ago Cornell was shunned by the religi- 
 ous people of the country in a great degree. The change 
 has been marvellous. Only 150 students were recognized 
 as Christians two years ago — men who had the courage 
 to stand out for Jesus Christ in any kind of Christian 
 work. We sent ten men that year to Mount Hermon. 
 These men received this spiritual impulse, every man of 
 them, and learned of new methods of work. They went 
 back to college, and within one year the number of pro- 
 nounced Christians had increased from 150 to 300, and 
 
"WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT?" 283 
 
 this number within the last year has grown to over 400. 
 Not only that, but there has been a line of Bible study 
 carried on actively bearing on personal work. Of course 
 we feel that this is far short of what it should be ; but 
 yet it is a great thing gained to have the Bible made 
 prominent there. And the first converts have been tak- 
 ing steps as a direct result of this meeting to introduce 
 the evangelistic methods that were derived here. More- 
 over, missionaries have been raised up for the foreign 
 field. Those ten men that were sent here to Mount Her- 
 mon came back so full of the missionary spirit that our 
 band of volunteers increased, till last year the number 
 was thirty. Ought we not to say, " God has helped us 
 hitherto " ? I went over to Mount Hermon yesterday. 
 My heart fairly burned within me. I couldn't help but 
 think how we went from that mount, and what had taken 
 place since. I saw the hill and valley where the little 
 band went out in the afternoon and in their consecration 
 conceived the idea of this great missionary movement, 
 which I believe will stand higher in the annals of the 
 Christian Church than any other similar movement up 
 to date. I remembered seeing representatives of one 
 State in prayer for the work in that State; and I thought 
 how successful they had been, so that the buildings and 
 the appliances are more extensive and the work in many 
 ways is far greater than it has ever been before. I re- 
 membered seeing delegations in prayer by themselves. 
 There was a Southern man at the Conference with whom 
 I became acquainted, and I saw the place in the woods 
 where I united with him in a prayer of consecration. I 
 couldn't help but feel that I was again on holy ground. 
 And as I thought what had resulted from those influ- 
 ences, little as they seemed to me then, but immeasurably 
 great as they appear when we think of what has taken 
 
284 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NORTHFIELD. 
 
 place within two years, the question came : Ought there 
 not to go out from this Conference now even greater 
 and more blessed influences? God has brought us up 
 here to form a link in a great chain of influences. I 
 couldn't help but ask what were the influences at Mount 
 Hermon ? and I thought the same influences must domi- 
 nate here. If this Conference is to be characterized by 
 the same power, we must place ourselves in the same 
 conditions. What was the pre-eminent condition ? It 
 was doing one thing. And what was that one thing then, 
 and what ought it to be to-day ? It was personal conse- 
 cration. You have no idea how much praying was done 
 at that Conference. I don't know how much there was 
 at Northfield last year — I wasn't here ; but at Mount 
 Hermon delegations would pray together, and often 
 single men would go out among the trees and fight the 
 battle with themselves — getting to the end of self in 
 their hearts. I believe if we would get power we must 
 do the same thing. We must have delegations in prayer 
 in these tents. We must unite upon one thing : to have 
 a victory in our own hearts. Then we will go back with 
 power ; and then, I think, we will say that this Confer- 
 ence has been characterized by greater results than that 
 which took place at Mount Hermon two years ago. 
 
 At the final meeting of the Conference about twenty 
 five-minute addresses were delivered. Extracts from 
 some of these are given elsewhere in this volume. Fur- 
 ther extracts may here be made : 
 
 Mr. S. M. Sayford, of Massachusetts, said : A sec- 
 retary of the Young Men's Christian Association was 
 once at the front of an evangelical French church in 
 
"WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT?" 285 
 
 Boston, when a Frenchman came up evidently looking 
 for that church, but not sure that it was the right place. 
 He couldn't speak English, but managed to make his in- 
 quiry understood. The secretary pointed to the name 
 on the building. So overjoyed was the Frenchman to 
 find that he was at the desired spot, that he just stood 
 on the threshold of the door, looked up into the face of 
 the secretary, and said : " You— me — Christ — brother." 
 I have looked into the faces of the men here from Ox- 
 ford and Cambridge and Edinburgh, from China and 
 Japan and Turkey. I have looked into the faces of rep- 
 resentatives of nearly all the American colleges. I don't 
 know these men ; but I can look into your faces and 
 turn my face Godward, and say : " You — me — Christ — 
 brethren." We have been here in these days of privilege 
 — and such privilege ! But I beg you to remember that 
 responsibility is always linked with privilege. We have 
 been talking a great deal about what we are to do for 
 other men. I beg you to remember that we must all 
 build ourselves up first, if we would be successful with 
 others. Turn to Jude 20 : " But ye, beloved, building up 
 yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy 
 Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God." 
 
 A delegate from Amherst said : When I came along 
 the street from the station toward these grounds, I 
 thought, " How beautiful ! " "When I got to these build- 
 ings and looked over the landscape, I thought, " How 
 beautiful ! " And when I came in contact with the differ- 
 ent speakers, I thought, '' How beautiful their lives, and 
 how we ought to look up to them ! " I hope every one 
 of us will take with us out of this convention something 
 beautiful. I will carry with me the memory of the most 
 beautiful thing I ever saw. Last Saturday night it was 
 my privilege to be with four or five young fellows in one 
 
286 COLLEGE STUDENTS AT NOKTHFIELD. 
 
 of the rooms over at the Marquand. Our conversation 
 turned on the subject of Christianity, and we found that 
 all of us, except one, were Christians. We began to talk 
 with him, and it finally led to his saying that he was will- 
 ing to be a Christian, but he didn't know just what to 
 believe. We all knelt down there on the floor, and if you 
 could have heard that group praying for tliat young 
 man, I am sure you would have said that was a beauti- 
 ful thing. Mr. Sayford was right when he said we 
 couldn't go away from this place without being differ- 
 ent men. I don't believe there is a man in this building 
 that wants to go away the same man. 
 
 A delegate from Iowa said : Two heathen converts 
 of different nationalities happened to meet. They were 
 not versed in each other's language, but they had got a 
 few English words from the missionaries. They looked 
 at each other in silence, and at length one placed his 
 hand upon his breast, and said, " Hallelujah ! " and the 
 other said, "Amen ! " I think that conveys our feelings 
 at this meeting. Those of us from the West realize the 
 wonderful blessing it is to bring so many of us together 
 from the various nationalities of the world. We can 
 make the circuit of the globe now in ninety days We 
 are much closer than we used to be : Europe, Asia, 
 Africa, and the isles of the sea. I feel a greater sympa- 
 thy with those nations than I have ever felt before. 
 Since I have been here I have been impressed with the 
 necessity for some meeting at the West similar to this 
 Northfield Summer School. We have Summer resorts 
 that might bring together a great many for the study 
 of the Word of God, and I am sure we might accom- 
 plish a great work by holding such a meeting. 
 
CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 
 
 COLLEGE STUDENTS. 
 
 Name. 
 
 EUROPE. 
 
 Cecil H. Clissold 
 
 F. W. W. Digby 
 
 Charles M. Douglas . . . 
 
 J. C. B. Geddes 
 
 H. Kempson 
 
 Robert Latta 
 
 A. V. Magee 
 
 W. R. Nepveu 
 
 L. B. Sladen.... 
 
 Norman H. Smith 
 
 CANADA. 
 D, J. Fvans 
 
 A. \V. Beall 
 
 S. T. Chown 
 
 T. R.Scott 
 
 T, C. Des Ban-is, Jr. . . 
 
 F. R. LiUie 
 
 George B. McClean . . . 
 
 C. A. Stuart 
 
 H. C. Henderson 
 
 ALABAMA. 
 
 S. M, Cornell 
 
 Loyd M. Hooper 
 
 CONNECTICUT 
 
 Henry Floy 
 
 W. J. Ford 
 
 Arthur W. Partch 
 
 Frank C. Roath 
 
 George Meek Slewn . . . 
 
 B. R. Abbe, Jr 
 
 H. A. G. Abbe 
 
 Max Baird 
 
 Frank T. Brown 
 
 W. H. Carbain 
 
 S. Colgate 
 
 Lyle A. Dickey 
 
 Robert M. Dodsworth . 
 
 T. E. Donnely 
 
 Joseph R. Ensign 
 
 College. 
 
 Cambridge 
 
 Oxford 
 
 Edinburgh 
 
 Christ's Ch], Oxford!! 
 
 Edinburgh 
 
 MertOn, Oxford 
 
 Utrecht 
 
 Pembroke, Oxford .... 
 St. John's, Cambridge 
 
 McGill 
 
 Queen's 
 
 University of Toronto 
 
 Univ. of New Bruns'k 
 University of Alabama 
 
 Wesleyan University . 
 Yale University 
 
 Class 
 
 ;89 
 91 
 90 
 
 '89 
 
 Resibencb. 
 
 Bath, Eng. 
 Birmingham, Eng. 
 Edinburgh, Scot. 
 
 Merton, Eng. 
 Edinburgh, Scot. 
 Palace, Peterborough. 
 Holland. 
 Deal, Eng, 
 Oxford, Eng. 
 
 Montreal, Que. 
 Whitby, Ont. 
 Kingston, " 
 
 Toronto, " 
 
 Brockville, " 
 
 Mt. Brydges, Ont. 
 
 Andover, N. B. 
 
 Tuscaloosa, Ala. 
 Selma, Ala. 
 
 Elizabeth, N. Y. 
 Westfield, Mass. 
 Hiawatha, Kan. 
 Washington, D. C. 
 Fillmore, Pa. 
 Hartford, Conn. 
 
 Chicago, 111. 
 Troy. N. Y. 
 Hartford, Conn. 
 Orange, N. J. 
 Haiku, Mani, H. I. 
 Los Angeles, Cal. 
 Chicago, 111, 
 Simsbury, Conn. 
 
 (287) 
 
288 
 
 CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Samuel H. Fisher 
 
 E. F. Fletcher 
 
 C. O. Gill 
 
 John C. Griggs 
 
 L. L. Hopkins 
 
 F. F. Jewett 
 
 Frederick M. Johnson . . . 
 
 C. F. Kent 
 
 H. Thajer Kingsbury .. . 
 
 J. Langdon 
 
 Harriman W, Lee 
 
 D. S. Merwin 
 
 Winthrope G. Noyes 
 
 E. L. Parsons 
 
 Herbert Parsons 
 
 T. G. Sherman, Jr 
 
 F. Louis Slade 
 
 H. A. Smith 
 
 A. Alonzo Stagg 
 
 H. E. Stevens, Jr 
 
 H. S. Stobis 
 
 J.T.Whittlesey 
 
 Glen Wright 
 
 ILLINOIS. 
 
 Lewis Rinaker 
 
 Louis B. Crane 
 
 G. A. Wilson 
 
 George Blanchard 
 
 N. H. Camp 
 
 T. A. Clark 
 
 M. B. Keplinger 
 
 L. E. Miller 
 
 IOWA. 
 
 B. F. Cokely 
 
 KANSAS. 
 J. T. Crawford 
 
 KENTUCKY. 
 J. P. Dudley, Jr 
 
 MAINE. 
 
 T. M. Singer 
 
 T. W. Singer 
 
 H. W. Small 
 
 B. E.Walker 
 
 J. W. Edgerly, Jr 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS 
 Edward A. Appleton . . . 
 
 H. C. Bemis 
 
 ^. A. Brick 
 
 W. E. Chancellor 
 
 W.P.Clarke 
 
 A. A. Cooley 
 
 A. W. Crocket 
 
 R. W. Crowell 
 
 College. 
 
 Yale University 
 
 Blackburn 
 
 Knox 
 
 Lake Forest 
 
 So. 111. Normal Univ. 
 University of Illinois. 
 
 Westfield 
 
 Western. 
 
 Ottawa 
 
 Georgetown 
 
 Bates. 
 
 Maine State. 
 
 Amherst 
 
 Class 
 
 '89 
 '89 
 
 Residence. 
 
 Cincinnati, O. 
 Southbridge, Mass. 
 Orange, N. J. 
 Centerbrook, Conn. 
 St. Paul, Minn. 
 Oberlin, O. 
 Norwich, Conn. 
 Palmyra, N. Y. 
 New York City. 
 Plymouth, Conn. 
 Buffalo, N. Y. 
 New Haven, Conn. 
 St. Paul. Minn. 
 Rye, N. Y. 
 New York. 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 New York. 
 Worcester, Mass. 
 Orange, N. J. 
 New York City. 
 
 Washington, D. C. 
 Cincinnati, O. 
 
 Carlinville, IlL 
 Mount Sterling, III. 
 Lake Forest, 111. 
 Tamaroa, 111. 
 Chanute, Kan. 
 Champaign, 111. 
 Franklin, 111. 
 Mechanicsburgj'.Pa. 
 
 Toledo, O. 
 La Betti, Kan. 
 Richmond, Va. 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Lewiston, Me. 
 Lisbon Falls, Me. 
 St. Johnsbury, Vt. 
 Princeton, Me. 
 
 Springfield, Mass. 
 Wooster, Mass. 
 Augusta, Me. 
 
 Bulgaria. 
 
 Auburndale, Mass. 
 Andover, " 
 
 Amherst, " 
 
CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 
 
 289 
 
 Name. 
 
 College. 
 
 Frank E. Crozier ! Amherst 
 
 E. P. Drone 
 
 A. A. Ewing 
 
 Charles E. Ewing, .... 
 
 George C. Ewing 
 
 G. H. Ewin? 
 
 Edward Fairbank 
 
 J. A. Fairley 
 
 Sidney R. Fleet 
 
 W. O. Gilbert 
 
 D. L. Kebbe 
 
 George L. Leonard . . . 
 Robert A. McFadden . 
 Max Wood Moorhead 
 Andrew A. Muliux . . . 
 
 E.C.Phillips 
 
 W.D.Rich.. 
 
 Yeer Sawayama 
 
 Cilfton L. Sherman .. 
 
 D. Ed. Smith 
 
 John T. Stone 
 
 A. Truslow 
 
 Walter Truslow 
 
 John J. Walker 
 
 E. C. Whiting 
 
 E. G. Derby 
 
 C. A. Eustman 
 
 H. S. Free 
 
 Lawrence Perry . ... 
 Benjamin W. Wood . 
 
 W. L. Barren 
 
 lohn K. Hastings . . . 
 
 H. K. Job 
 
 R. G. Leavitt 
 
 L. H. Roots 
 
 E. Sturgis 
 
 S. W. Sturgis 
 
 David C. Torrey 
 
 Yatavo Mishima 
 
 F. O. Williams 
 
 A. S.Williams 
 
 John S. West 
 
 WillardH. Roots.... 
 William G. Snow .... 
 
 R. B. Beaver 
 
 Kvan Burk 
 
 H. Clinton 
 
 W. F. Holbrook 
 
 H. C. Holton 
 
 V. T. IronsiU 
 
 C. "Kerbar 
 
 T. E. Lansier 
 
 J. McDonell.. 
 
 Thomas Melvin, Jr. . 
 
 A. G. Moody 
 
 H. F. Moulten 
 
 F. E. Newton 
 
 W. F. Newton 
 
 C. P. Spriry 
 
 W. S. Beard 
 
 Boston University. 
 
 Harvard. 
 
 Mass. Agricultural.. . . 
 
 Mass. Inst, of Tech'y 
 Mt. Hermon School. 
 
 '89 
 
 90 
 
 Residence. 
 
 Phillips Academy. 
 
 Harold C. Stowe Polytechnic 
 
 West Springfield, Mass. 
 Keene, N. H. 
 Dan vers, Mass. 
 
 Alniudnager, India. 
 Amherst, Mass. 
 Northfield, " 
 Hesperia, Mich. 
 Holliston, Mass. 
 Bellows Falls, Vt. 
 Harrisburg, Pa. 
 Erie, Pa. 
 Portland, Me. 
 Amherst, Mass. 
 Ware, Mass. 
 Kyoto, Japan. 
 Brattleboro, Vt. 
 Amherst, Mass. 
 Albany, N. Y. 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 Amherst, Mass. 
 Holliston, " 
 Middletown, Conn. 
 Flandreau. Dakota Ter. 
 North Brighton, Mass. 
 Jamaica Plain, Mass. 
 Boston, Mass. 
 Cambridge, Mass. 
 Boston, Mass. 
 
 Cambridge, Mass. 
 Little Rock, Ark. 
 Manchester, Mass. 
 
 East Hampton, Mass. 
 Tokio, Japan. 
 Sunderland, Mass. 
 
 Amherst, Mass. 
 Little Rock, Ark. 
 Watertown, Mass. 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Ouslerbeck, Holland. 
 
 Keene, N. H. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo. 
 
 Mt. Hermon. Mass. 
 Wyoming, Pa, 
 
 Northfield, Mass. 
 
 South Killinglv, Conn. 
 Ashburnham. Mass. 
 
290 
 
 CATALOGUE OF DP: LEGATES. 
 
 NAiMIC. 
 
 College. 
 
 R. A. Clark Sch. for Ch. Workers 
 
 W. L. Hatch I 
 
 D. A. McPhie i 
 
 F. L. Meske 
 
 W. W. Peck 
 
 Charles F. Powlison " " 
 
 A. G. Shepherd " " 
 
 H.C.Thompson ' '" 
 
 C.W. Tolley r... ! 
 
 W, H. Wyman ; 
 
 W. L. Swallen i University of Wooste 
 
 J.C.White .1 . " 
 
 G. S. Azhdesian Williams 
 
 Cecil Bullock " 
 
 f. W.Cook '• 
 
 E.J.Ellis ..j " 
 
 Boon Itt I " 
 
 T. J. Mather. Jr I '^ 
 
 F. N. Merriam " 
 
 J. Cyril Ross " 
 
 G. Van Vranken : " 
 
 Class 
 
 MICHIGAN. I 
 
 Henry Hospers, Jr Hope 
 
 H. A. Mosser Olivet 
 
 V. J. Obinaner '' 
 
 C. E. Reed '• 
 
 C. E. Goddard ! Univers'y of Michigan 
 
 Elnior E. Hubbard j " " 
 
 Arthur M. Hursey j " " 
 
 MINNESOTA. | 
 
 W. J. Pell Carleton 
 
 W. H. Humphrey Macalester 
 
 J. C. Faries Univ. of Minnesota. . . 
 
 MISSOURI. 
 
 F. W. McCluskey 
 
 W. T. Longshore 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 W. M. Amis 
 
 H. L. Harris 
 
 Lacy L. Little 
 
 Charles E. Taylor 
 
 Park 
 
 S. W. S. Nor. School. 
 
 Univ. of N. Carolina. 
 
 Wake Forest 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 R. C. Goodell ' Colbv Academy 
 
 A. B. Patten 
 
 C. S. Pease 
 
 H. G.Woods 
 
 NEW JERSEY. 
 
 J. Morton Davis Blair Presb. Academy 
 
 Peter V. Davis | " 
 
 Harry A. Mather " " "■ 
 
 A. C. Rowland Centenary Col. Inst .. 
 
 Frederick S. Hall High School 
 
 L. E. Brokaw Peddie Institute 
 
 93 
 '89 
 
 '?9 
 
 >9 
 
 Residenxe. 
 
 Williamstown, Mass. 
 London, Eng. 
 Truro, Nova Scotia, 
 Springfield, Mass. 
 Port Jervis, N. Y. 
 Plain field. N.J. 
 Springfield, Mass. 
 Buffalo, N. Y. 
 Springfield, Mass. 
 Elgin, 111. 
 Paris, O. 
 Wooster, O. 
 Marsovan, Turkey. 
 Royaliton, Mass. 
 Worcester, " 
 Oxford, Me. 
 Bangkok, Siam. 
 Morristown, N. J. 
 Oakland, Cal. 
 Montreal, Que. 
 Watervliet Centre, N. Y, 
 
 Holland, Mich. 
 Olivet, 
 Detroit, "• 
 Brewster, N. Y. 
 Winnebago, 111. 
 Kinchley, 111. 
 North Berwick, Me. 
 
 Northfield, Minn. 
 Hudson, Wis. 
 Minneapolis, Minn. 
 
 Holland Patent, N. Y. 
 Warrensburg, 2slo. 
 
 Franklinville, N. C. 
 Raleigh, N. C. 
 Little Miles, N. C. 
 VVakeforest, N. C. 
 
 Antrim, N. H. 
 Bowdoinham. Me. 
 Middlebury, Mass. 
 Calais, Me. 
 
 Delaware, N. J. 
 Pluckemin, N. J. 
 Morristown, N.J. 
 n, N. 
 
 Hackettstown 
 Mount Claire 
 New Maiket, 
 
 N.J. 
 
CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 
 
 291 
 
 Name. 
 
 College. 
 
 Byron S. Clarke Princeton 
 
 Hector W. Cowan 
 
 G. E. Gillespie 
 
 J. T. Halsey 
 
 H. W. Hathaway 
 
 W. H. Johnson 
 
 R. H. Life '. .. 
 
 Frank Lukens 
 
 H. F. Marshall 
 
 Frank Palmer 
 
 D. L. Pierson 
 
 Phillip A. Rollins 
 
 T. H, P. Sailer 
 
 W. \V. Smith 
 
 G. H. Stephens 
 
 M. C. Sulphen 
 
 F. E. Talcott 
 
 (ieorge R. Wallace ' 
 
 f . Morris Yeakle 
 
 A. D. Baldwin Rutgers . 
 
 George De W. Kelso 
 
 Reid F. Miller 
 
 I 
 
 NEW YORK. I 
 
 W. Adelbert Billings Colgate Academy 
 
 William B. Steele 
 
 Eugene B. Fuller Columbia 
 
 N. L. Glover " 
 
 Robert Goeller 
 
 Henry A. Sill 
 
 Frederick WiUets 
 
 George H. Ashley Cornell 
 
 L. D. Atwater 
 
 Charles T. Biuc; 
 
 G. D. Bull.. 
 
 C. H. Chapln 
 
 W. Dalton 
 
 George Donaldson 
 
 R. P. Felton 
 
 Charles L. Griggs 
 
 Robert J. Kellogg 
 
 Irvine J. Kerr 
 
 F. L. Korbright 
 
 C. H. Lee 
 
 R. S. Miller, Jr 
 
 J. R. Mott 
 
 Clifton Price 
 
 R. C. Reed.. 
 
 Louis Rouillion 
 
 John T. Skinner 
 
 A. R. Thomas 
 
 H.H.Wood 
 
 Jos. D. Ibbotson, Jr Hamilton 
 
 Albert H. Rodgers 
 
 C. H. Sharp 
 
 F. H. Divine Madison University. 
 
 A. C. Simmons State Normal School., 
 
 G. F, Shepherd Syracuse University. . 
 
 S. B. Barrett Univ. of Rochester. . . 
 
 E. H. Eaton " 
 
 Class 
 
 91 
 '91 
 'qi 
 '88 
 spec'l 
 
 '90 
 '88 
 ^90 
 '91 
 91 
 '91 
 '90 
 '89 
 
 90 
 
 Residence. 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Hobart, N. Y. 
 Elizabeth, N. J. 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Jersey City, N. J. 
 Sing Sing, N. Y. 
 Rye, N. Y. 
 Elizabeth, N. J. 
 Northfield. Mass. 
 Kennebunk Port, Me. 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 New York City. 
 Montrose, Pa. 
 Morristown, N. J. 
 New York City. 
 Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 Morristown, N.J. 
 Newark, N. J. 
 Newburgh, N. Y. 
 Sacramento, Cal. 
 
 Yonkers, N. Y. 
 Hamilton, " 
 Mount Vernon, N. Y 
 Parkville, N. Y. 
 New York City. 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 Rochester, N. Y. 
 Elmira, " 
 
 Ithaca, *' 
 
 Poquag, " 
 
 Antrim, N. H. 
 Utica, N. Y. 
 Gilbertsville, N. Y. 
 Plainview, "' 
 
 Kingston, " 
 
 Norfolk, O 
 Ithaca. N. Y. 
 Middletown, N. Y. 
 Pawnee City, Neb. 
 Ithaca, N. Y. 
 Postville. Iowa. 
 Ithaca, N.^Y. 
 
 Boston. Mass. 
 Rochester, N. Y. 
 West Eaton, N. Y, 
 Pittsburgh, Pa. 
 Richfield Springs, N. 
 Albany, N. Y. 
 Seneca Falls, N. Y. 
 Binghamton, " 
 Brockport, " 
 
 Oswego, " 
 
 Rochester, " 
 
 Springville, " 
 
292 
 
 CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 
 
 Namb. 
 
 College. 
 
 W. H. Hill... 
 John McGiiire. 
 A. H. Wilcox. . 
 
 OHIO. 
 
 C. E.Moore 
 
 Freder'ck Bridgeman .. 
 
 W. L. Curtis 
 
 F. H, Gushing 
 
 F. W. Davis 
 
 A. D. Edwards 
 
 C. K. Euring 
 
 R. S. Goldsbury 
 
 'I'anuis Havaski 
 
 W. J. Hutchins 
 
 W. F. Ireland 
 
 Charles A. Kofard 
 
 O. S. Kriebel 
 
 A. J. Leonard 
 
 F. E. Leonard 
 
 Univ. of Rochester. 
 
 Ada University, 
 Obeilin 
 
 A. Luethi <■- 
 
 S. J. Luethi 
 
 A. L. McClelland " 
 
 M. M. Metcalf. 
 
 P. H. Metcalf - 
 
 C.A.Nelson " '.'.'.'.'.'.['.'.'.'.'.'.'. 
 
 D. B. Penniman " ' ^ ^ 
 
 Frank F. Pierson i " 
 
 C. W. Savage 
 
 M. S. Terashina 
 
 F. J. Van Horn " '.'.'.'.''.'.'.".'.'.'.'. 
 
 E. B. Stephens Ohio VVcsleyan Univ.. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. i 
 
 A.H.Zimmerman Dickenson 
 
 J. H. Whitely Edinboro 
 
 R. C. Bryant Lafayette 
 
 A. E. Keigwin I •» 
 
 Thomas W. Pearson " 
 
 C. K. Reed " .■.■.■;.■.■.';■■. 
 
 J. H. Leuba Ursinus . '. . . 
 
 John H. Giroin j Univ. of Pennsylvania 
 
 Samuel M. Lindsey | " '' 
 
 T. E. Moffat Westminster 
 
 C. G. Roop Pennsylvania State . . . 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 John Lake 
 
 w. M. Smith ; ; ; 
 
 S. C. Military' Acad'y 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 G. W. Bull I Hampden Sydney. 
 
 E. M. Craig 
 
 S. M. Engle 
 
 J. M. Holladay 
 
 W. A. Christian Randolph Macon . 
 
 L. McK. Judkins 
 
 J. W. Pettyjohn 
 
 George H. Ray 
 
 92 
 
 89 
 90 
 89 
 91 
 90 
 
 '89 
 
 '91 
 90 
 
 Residence. 
 
 West Barre, N. V. 
 South Bend, Ind. 
 Rochester, N. V. 
 
 Spring Mountain, O. 
 
 Marion, Ala. 
 Turner, Me. 
 
 Dundee, 111. 
 York, Pa. 
 
 Minneapolis, Minn. 
 Tokio, Japan. 
 Oberlin, O. 
 
 Normal, 111. 
 Hereford, Pa. 
 Salt Lake City, 
 
 Gnaddenhatten, O. 
 
 Brandon, Wis. 
 Elyria, O. 
 
 Providence, R. I. 
 Oberlin, O. 
 East Orange, N. J. 
 Church ville, N. Y. 
 Tokio, Japan. 
 Northfield, O. 
 Cincinnati, O. 
 
 Carlisle, Pa. 
 Vanceville, Pa. 
 Danville, N. J. 
 Wilmington, Del. 
 Slippery Rock, Pa. 
 Mt. Hermon, Mass. 
 New York City. 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 New Wilmington, Pa. 
 
 Edgefield, Conn. 
 Glenn Springs, S. C. 
 
 Norfolk, Va. 
 Craigsville, Va. 
 Harper s Ferry, W. Va. 
 Lynchburg, Va. 
 
 Richmond, " 
 Lynchburg, " 
 Ashland, Va. 
 
CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 
 
 293 
 
 Name. 
 
 College. 
 
 Class 
 
 Residence. 
 
 J S. Richardson. 
 
 Randolph Macon .. . 
 Crozer Theo. Seih'y.. 
 
 '89 
 
 '8g 
 '88 
 '91 
 ,90 
 89 
 90 
 90 
 '89 
 
 '90 
 
 '90 
 '90 
 90 
 
 Barhamsville. Va. 
 
 F C Williams 
 
 Blackstone, Va. 
 
 W. G. Williams 
 
 Disputanta, Va. 
 
 VERMONT. 
 
 A. E. Seagrave 
 
 D. N. Blakely 
 
 R N. Fairbanks 
 
 Brattleboro, Vt. 
 Marlboro, N. H. 
 
 
 St. Johnsbury, Vt. 
 
 L. PoUend, Jr 
 
 Frederick Billings. Jr 
 
 Windsor A. Brown 
 
 C. W. Buckham 
 
 Frank Hazen . 
 
 »t 
 
 University of Vermont 
 
 Vermont Academy 
 
 Beloit 
 
 Woodstock, Vt. 
 Barre Plains, Mass. 
 Burlington, Vt. 
 Richmond, Vt. 
 
 Sho. Nemoto 
 
 L. G. Ketchum 
 
 Mito, Japan. 
 Cambridee, Mass. 
 
 C. H. Osgood 
 
 Bellows Falls, Vt. 
 
 WISCONSIN. 
 D. R. Williams , 
 
 BelDit, Wis. 
 
 G. D. Campbell 
 
 C. W. Turner 
 
 
 Ripon, " 
 Pognette, Wis. 
 
 Univ. of Wisconsin .. . 
 
 SECRETARIES AND OTHER EMPLOYES OF 
 YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION. 
 
 N.\ME. 
 
 Title. 
 
 Address. 
 
 J. L. Gordon 
 
 T. Humphrey 
 
 T. P. Day 
 
 W. A. Magee 
 
 William P. Taylor.. 
 
 Edward Durvee 
 
 W. G. Lotze'. 
 
 Walter Wheeler ... . 
 Frederick I. Fagg. . . 
 James M. L. Bates. . 
 
 W. B. Abbott 
 
 J. H. Manning 
 
 Frank W. Ober 
 
 Edward F. See 
 
 A. Candlish 
 
 James McConaughy 
 
 George A. Hall 
 
 John L. Wanzel . . . 
 W. S. Foster 
 
 D. C. Gilmore 
 
 A. Munrox 
 
 E. A. Pierce 
 
 W. A. Bowen 
 
 Edward Fawl 
 
 W. L. Anderson .. . . 
 Harry Hiebner . 
 
 A. Kennedy 
 
 Harry B. Rankin . . . 
 
 State Secretary. . . 
 General Secretary 
 
 Assistant Secretary 
 
 Secretary 
 
 General Secretary . 
 
 Secretary , 
 
 General Secretary 
 
 Hartford, Conn. 
 Indianapolis, Iiid. 
 Topeka, Kan. 
 Cambridge, Mass. 
 famaica Plains, Mass. 
 Newburyport, 
 Springfield, "■ 
 
 Assistant Secretar>' 
 General "■ 
 
 State " 
 
 Assistant " 
 
 Secretary' 
 
 Librarian 
 
 General Secretary. 
 
 Westfield, 
 Gardiner, Me. 
 Concord. N. H. 
 Plainfield, N. J. 
 Albany, N. Y. 
 Brooklyn, " 
 New York City, 
 
 N. Y 
 
 Assist. State Secretary. 
 
 General Sceretary 
 
 Assistant Secretary. . . . 
 
 Gymnasium Inst 
 Secretary 
 
 New York City, N. Y. 
 
 Yorkville, N. Y. 
 Rochester, " 
 Troy, " 
 
 Waterville, " 
 Harrisburgh, Pa. 
 
 Philadelphia, " 
 
 Morristown, 
 
294 
 
 CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 
 GENERAL. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Vocation*. 
 
 V. C. Hurt i Missionary 
 
 W. M. Smith ! 
 
 Janzo Kawamoto M.D 
 
 F. H. Ibingfield i 
 
 E. J. Steinity ; Minister 
 
 F. H. Taylor i Missionary 
 
 S. F. Whitehouse " 
 
 T. H. Taylor Minister 
 
 t Moffett ' 
 
 Robert Latte Minister 
 
 Stuart L. Roussel Evangelist 
 
 A. Bourquin : Minister 
 
 W. G. Mills ....I " 
 
 L. R. Montgomerie 
 
 F. H. DuVernet Professor 
 
 Cecil C. Owen Mini? ter 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Heard 
 
 Alexander Arthur i 
 
 R. L. Charlton j 
 
 Percy E. Judge | 
 
 R. S; Boss I 
 
 J. L. Sample ' Sturgis, Black Hi 
 
 Stuart H. Kyle r ••;■■. • 
 
 S. F. Whitehouse Missionary 
 
 Charles H. Gough 
 
 H. S. Hart! 
 
 F. M. Moody 
 
 W. L. Phelps 
 
 J. B. Reynolds 
 
 T. H. Meekins 
 
 L. O. Baird 
 
 E. R. Hendrick 
 
 W. T. Hussey 
 
 W. H. Beaman 
 
 G. S. Dickerman 
 
 C. R. Sherman 
 
 N.G. Clark 
 
 H. M. Fillebroron 
 
 B. Gunnison 
 
 L. E. Hanner 
 
 H. H. Hasting 
 
 L. P. Lane 
 
 William T-. Palmer 
 
 William J. H. Strong 
 
 J. G. Laken 
 
 George E. Taber 
 
 Robert T. Osgood 
 
 L. W. Riggs 
 
 T. Weston 
 
 C. S. Hemingway 
 
 N. J. Stutten 
 
 F. B. Towne 
 
 E. N.White 
 
 C. E. Ameion 
 
 Russell Sturgis 
 
 A. M. Spangler 
 
 H. Schwab 
 
 George H. Flinn 
 
 Address. 
 
 Nanking, China. 
 Florence, Italy. 
 Kobe, Japan. 
 Digby, Eng. 
 London, " 
 
 North London, Eng. 
 New Castle, " 
 
 Edinburgh, Scot. 
 Geneva, Switz. 
 Lausanne, Switz. 
 Kingston, Ont. 
 
 Toronto, " 
 
 P. E. I., Canada. 
 Montreal, Que. 
 
 Dakota Territory. 
 Bethel, Conn. 
 London, " 
 New Haven. Conn. 
 
 Minister 
 
 Manufacturer 
 
 Minister. 
 
 Teacher 
 
 Business 
 
 Northampton, 
 Chicago, 111. 
 Kansas City, Kan. 
 North Berwick. Me. 
 Amherst, Mass. 
 
 Boston, 
 
 Brookline, " 
 Campells, " 
 
 Cambridge, " 
 Georgetown, Mass. 
 Great Banington, Mass. 
 Holyoke, Mass. 
 
 Lowell, " 
 Manchester, Mass. 
 Mitteneague, '' 
 Mt. Hermon, " 
 Myricks, '' 
 
CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 
 
 295 
 
 Name. 
 
 VOC.M ION. 
 
 Address. 
 
 S. W. Sayford : 
 
 
 
 A. R. Weed .... 
 
 
 
 W S P:dv/ards 
 
 
 Northampton, Mass. 
 
 \V. F. Knowlton 
 
 
 W H Riley 
 
 
 (I ik 
 
 H. R. Crowell . 
 
 
 We-Jt Northfield " 
 
 -Miss Dakin 
 
 
 Springfield, 
 
 Miss Grace Fairbank. 
 
 
 W H. P Tanner . 
 
 
 wt it 
 
 M. J. Hall 
 
 
 Vl, 
 
 C C. Kenyon 
 
 
 kk li 
 
 
 
 U .1 
 
 W. H. Swallow 
 
 
 11 n 
 
 F Richardson . 
 
 
 Swansea, '* 
 
 Frederick L. Norton 
 
 Frederick Berry 
 
 F B Richards. 
 
 Lawyer 
 
 Evangelist 
 
 Westfield, 
 Rives, Mich. 
 Kalamazoo, Mich. 
 
 James Foldsburgh 
 
 f. G. Castain 
 
 Lee S. Pratt 
 
 Missionary 
 
 Teacher 
 
 
 
 Business 
 
 Minneapolis, Minn. 
 Grenada, Miss. 
 Parkville, Mo. 
 
 Stephen T. Livingston 
 
 W. F. Holbrook 
 
 Jaffrey, N. H. 
 
 ■Arthur T Smith 
 
 
 
 
 11 ii 
 
 George H Griffin 
 
 
 Zeene, " 
 
 
 
 Camden, N. J. 
 
 
 
 H Rooms 
 
 
 East Orange, N. J. 
 
 Edward S. Towne 
 
 
 
 William C. Finck . 
 
 
 
 Elizabeth, 
 
 
 
 Millers Falls, '' 
 
 
 
 
 L M Burr 
 
 Business . 
 
 
 Charles Bush 
 
 
 (i i. 
 
 C. S. Woodruff 
 
 
 Montclair, '" 
 
 A. D Woodruff 
 
 
 
 G B Merriam 
 
 
 New Brunswick, N. J. 
 Newark, N. J. 
 Perth Amboy, N. J. 
 Plamfield, N. J. 
 
 
 
 J H Owens. 
 
 Minister 
 
 W. E. Jones 
 
 Teacher 
 
 J. H. Robinson 
 
 F. B. Everitt 
 
 Minister 
 
 Medical Missionary 
 
 Evangelist 
 
 Jamesburgh, N. J. 
 Trenton, N. J. 
 Attica N. Y. 
 
 W. C. Kile . . 
 
 H. W Frost . 
 
 Miss J. D. Hubbard 
 
 Brooklyn, N. Y. 
 
 D. W. McWiUiams 
 
 
 John D Ritten 
 
 
 li k> 
 
 W. H. Snyder . . 
 
 
 
 H. E.Wheeler 
 
 Miss Lizzie Anderson 
 
 Miss Grace Anderson 
 
 J. W. Gillett. 
 
 Business 
 
 Cambridge, " 
 Cat«kill Station, N. Y. 
 
 E. M Lake 
 
 
 
 Flmira N Y 
 
 L F. Billinger 
 
 Civil Engineer 
 
 Ilion, " 
 
 W. C. Colburn, 
 
 Lansingburgh, N. Y. 
 
 G. W Eddy , 
 
 
 T. T. Hatten 
 
 
 It .>. 
 
 VV. F. Ottarson 
 
 
 11 tk 
 
 
 
 u n 
 
 M. E. Heddin- 
 
 Minister 
 
 
 Mrs. T. W. Phelps 
 
 Millers Falls, 
 
 
 
 
296 
 
 CATALOGUE OF DELEGATES. 
 
 T. J. Shanks 
 Williai 
 
 Name 
 
 J. A. Mcintosh 
 
 Kdward G. Zabreskie 
 
 R. D. Caslle 
 
 F. Love 
 
 William L. Ludlow 
 
 William D. Murray 
 
 I. S Merrick 
 
 W. H. Parsons 
 
 J. G. Ross 
 
 Address. 
 
 Missionary , 
 "New York Witness " 
 im M. Langdon ! Foreign Missionary 
 
 Alfred Williams. ' 
 
 W. W. Grove ; Missionary 
 
 William Giilett \ Teacher. 
 
 W. A. Dalton Minister. 
 
 J. F. Wiser. 
 
 J. H. Gilmore 
 
 f ohn Crawford ! Minister. 
 
 j. B. Searls 
 
 Robert P. Wilder Foreign Missionary 
 
 C. W. Chamberlain Business 
 
 F. S. Goodman i 
 
 Mrs. F. S. Goodman 1 
 
 I-'.. J. Bosworth I 
 
 T. A. Humphrey I Minister 
 
 F. H. Foster 
 
 R. M Mateer i Missionary 
 
 R. S. Rice I Minister. 
 
 H. W. Broadhead 
 
 J. A. Higgoiis 
 
 William ii. Mount | 
 
 Joseph Sailer ' 
 
 H. Clay Trumbull t 
 
 Reuben Hoffa ' 
 
 W. Speer 
 
 K. G. Osgood 
 
 J. B. Hall 
 
 George P. Cook . . 
 
 S. W. Edgett 
 
 Mrs. J. V. Estey.. 
 
 B. H. Farnsworth. 
 
 L. W. Hawley.... 
 
 A. P. Dunsium .. . 
 
 S. C. Armstrong. . 
 
 W. Hazen i 
 
 James Camron, Jr i Minister. 
 
 J. C. Hicks 
 
 ]. E. Strong ! 
 
 F. R. Burgess 
 
 J. M. Bain 
 
 A.T. Craig 1 
 
 E. E. Coness '■ ! 
 
 W. H. Doly 
 
 H. B. Fussill 
 
 E. B. Marod 
 
 F. E. Newton 
 
 Charles E. Westgate. 
 
 O. L. Ruddock 1 Chistian School 
 
 Mount Vernon, N. Y. 
 New York City, " 
 
 Norfolk, N. Y. 
 Pelham, " 
 Pleasant Valley, N. Y- 
 Rich\ille, N. Y. 
 Rochester, '' 
 Staten Island, N. Y. 
 
 Ashtabula, O. 
 Cleveland, " 
 
 Oberli 
 
 Wooster, " 
 
 New Bloomfield, Pa- 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa. 
 
 Reading, 
 Washington, 
 Bellows Falls, Vt. 
 Berlin, Vt. 
 Brattleboro, Vt. 
 
 Quechee, " 
 Hampton, Va. 
 Richmond, " 
 Salisburn. " 
 Oraro, Wi.s. 
 Beloit, " 
 
 Buckland. 
 
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 DATE DUE 
 
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 DEMCO 38-297 
 
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