ty PRINCETON, N. J. **ff 
 
 Presented byW<2,5\ ^<S/X^V^T?AV\or\ . 
 
 „1926. 1 ' DaVld 3a meS) 184 J 
 The morning co met h.» 
 
 
"THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 TALKS FOR THE TIMES 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. DAVID JAMES BURRELL, D. D. 
 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 150 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
COPYRIGHT, 
 
 AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 1893. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Watchman, What of the Night? page 5 
 
 The Pilot of the Fleet 15 
 
 The Soul's Moorings 28 
 
 The Children in the Market-Place $7 
 
 Let Us Go On 47 
 
 A Sensational Gospel 56 
 
 Character Building 67 
 
 Seven Wonders 75 
 
 Solomon ; or, a Worldly Wiseman at his Best 83 
 
 Asking the Way 92 
 
 The Work of the Comforter 100 
 
 The Mother of Jesus 108 
 
 Come In, Thou Blessed of the Lord. A New Year's Meditation. 117 
 
 The Testimony of Infidels to the Truth of Christianity 125 
 
 The Church and the People - 140 
 
 The Church in the Catacombs 148 
 
 A Busy Man's Blunder 156 
 
 The Baptism of Jesus 164 
 
 The Pharisee's Prayer 172 
 
 The Publican's Prayer 180 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 Washington's Religion 188 
 
 The Bible being Disposed of, What Then? 198 
 
 The Lost Name 209 
 
 The Old Landmarks 219 
 
 The Least Commandment _ 227 
 
 Singing as we Journey 235 
 
 The Happy Man 243 
 
 What Makes a Gentleman? 253 
 
 Darkness at High Noon 260 
 
 What Christianity Has Done for the Workingman 268 
 
 Shall We Know Each Other in Heaven? 277 
 
 We Beheld his Glory 2S7 
 
 Judas Iscariot; or, the Flower, Fruit, and Ashes of Sin 296 
 
 Ahab's Harness 3°4 
 
 The Song of the Vineyard 3" 
 
4 4 
 
 The Morning Cometh." 
 
 WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 
 
 "The burden of Dumah. He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, 
 what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watch- 
 man said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will 
 inquire, inquire ye: return, come." Isa. 21:11, 12. 
 
 Ours is probably the one lost world of the universe. 
 There are hundreds of millions of worlds floating in the 
 sea of infinite space, and it may be that multitudes of them 
 are inhabited ; if so, the probability is immense that not 
 one of those orbs has ever swerved from its moral orbit. 
 Sin is abnormal, unnatural. Sin is the sad prerogative of 
 the human race. It is the trade-mark of this world of 
 ours. If things transpiring here are known to the inhab- 
 itants of other spheres, the story of our disaster must be 
 told among them as a weird, uncanny tale. It must be 
 incomprehensible to beings who have not lost their inno- 
 cency as children of God. 
 
 It was an awful thing when sin entered into this world, 
 and death by sin. When God created it he said, This is 
 very good. The pride with which an artist looks upon 
 his master-piece is but a faint token of God's satisfaction 
 with his perfect work. And all his sons shouted for joy. 
 When he created man he breathed into his nostrils the 
 breath of a divine and immortal life ; and thenceforth, so 
 to speak, he expected great things of him. If all the hopes 
 
6 " THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 which fond fathers are entertaining for their children, if 
 all the dreams of loving mothers looking down into the 
 cradles of their little ones, were bound in one, they could 
 but faintly shadow forth the purposes which were in the 
 divine heart with respect to the newly created race. 
 
 Then came the fall. We sometimes speak of it lightly. 
 Perhaps the controversies of the ages have taught us lev- 
 ity. The secular press is wont to speak facetiously of the 
 eating of the forbidden fruit and to quote jocosely the old 
 New England rhyme : 
 
 11 In Adam's fall 
 We sinned all." 
 
 But oh, beloved, it was no slight matter when the world 
 swung out of its orbit. We mourn when a ship goes 
 down. Our hearts ache and tremble when the famine and 
 the pestilence sweep over a neighbor land. What then 
 must have been the responsive thrill in the celestial worlds 
 when it was known that the newly peopled earth had 
 passed into the dark shadow of spiritual death! It was as 
 if the noonday sun had suddenly gone out. Hope and 
 noble purposes and aspirations all ceased, as birds hush 
 their songs and fold their wings at twilight. The earth 
 was enveloped in night. 
 
 Night is the time when mists hang over the valley 
 and miasms rise from stagnant pools. Night is the time 
 when bats rustle their leathery wings and vampires suck 
 their fill of life. Night is the time when beasts prowl in 
 the forests and the hyena pursues its ghastly quest among 
 the tombs. Night is the time when the pestilence stalks 
 abroad, when vices come out of their lurking-places, 
 when bestiality reels through the streets hiccoughing 
 its bacchanalian songs. Night is the time when infants 
 
WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 7 
 
 wail, when the sick turn upon their restless beds and cry, 
 " Would God it were morning !" when wives and mothers 
 press their anguish-stricken faces against the window- 
 panes and hearken for the sound of uneven steps. Night 
 is the time when from upper chambers comes the sound 
 of rattling dice and laughter like the crackling of thorns. 
 Night is the time when the spark gleams under the lintel 
 of the door unhindered. Night is the time when Catiline 
 meets his friends and revenges are plotted. Now silence 
 reigns unbroken save by the foot- fall of the guardian of 
 the peace. Now is the harvest home of sin and ignorance, 
 of disease and death. 
 
 How appropriate that the reign oi unrighteousness 
 which began with our federal head should be character- 
 ized as night. The race began its life in a garden. It 
 passed under sentence of death out through the gates to 
 grope and suffer and toil. Its happiness was a dim 
 memory, a regretful dream. So utter and universal was 
 this moral declension that God is represented as looking 
 down from heaven to see if there were any that wrought 
 righteousness, and sadly saying, " There is none that doeth 
 good, no, not one." 
 
 On the walls of Zion the watchman paced to and fro. 
 And out of the deep darkness came the inquiry, Watch- 
 man, what of the night ? Is it fair or foul ? What is the 
 promise of the dawn? And the watchman said, The 
 morning cometh,and also the night! That is, the shadows 
 of the night are vainly struggling with the advancing day. 
 
 I. Stars of promise. It was a glorious thing to be a 
 watchman under the old economy. Though the world 
 was shrouded in darkness the skies above were studded 
 with the harbingers of day. 
 
 It was never God's purpose to leave the world in its 
 
8 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 estate of sorrow and death. No sooner had Adam fallen 
 than the protevangel was uttered, " The seed of the wo- 
 man shall bruise the serpent's head." That was a bright 
 star "flaming in the forehead of the morning sky;" nay, 
 rather, it was a constellation, Draco sub Chris to, a 
 mighty one with a wounded foot pressed upon a writh- 
 ing serpent's head. In it was the prophecy of the glo- 
 rious day. 
 
 Out on the heights of Moab where sacrifices were wont 
 to be offered to the Sun-god, a prophet of evil sought to 
 curse the chosen people. Cursing was in his heart, but 
 God had laid a finger on his lips. Down below were the 
 tents of the wandering nation. " How goodly are thy 
 tents, O Jacob," cried he perforce, "and thy tabernacles, 
 O Israel ! They shall be spread forth as a garden by the 
 river-side. Blessed is he that blesseth thee and cursed is 
 he that curseth thee." Once, twice, thrice did he vainly 
 try to pronounce the curse ; then his eyes were greeted 
 with a strange vision. He saw one drawing nigh dimly 
 through the darkness, in regal splendor, and he cried, " I 
 shall see him, but not now; I shall behold him, but not 
 nigh ! A star cometh out of Jacob, and a sceptre out of 
 Israel which shall govern the nations of the earth." 
 
 Along the bank of the Euphrates journeyed the father 
 of the faithful. To him in the long hours of darkness 
 were committed the oracles of God. Within the fluttering 
 curtains of his tent were the hope and promise of the uni- 
 versal church. Again and again, when his heart failed 
 him, God led him out under the mighty canopy of the 
 heavens and said, " Behold, so shall thy seed be ! So shall 
 be the multitude of those who shall seek righteousness 
 and honor the true God." 
 
 Thus in the long night of that economy of shadows, 
 
WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 
 
 the stars were kindled one by one until the oracles, like 
 the glowing arch above, were radiant with them. 
 
 " Look how the floor of heaven 
 Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold." 
 
 It was the province of the watchman to direct the thought 
 of the fallen race to these day-stars of promise, these 
 harbingers of the approaching Christ. He stood upon 
 the walls of Zion and cried, The mists and shadows scat- 
 ter with the dawn; the night lingereth, but the day com- 
 eth! 
 
 II. Daybreak. The darkest hour is just before the 
 dawn. There was a period of four hundred years be- 
 tween the old and the new economy when all the stars 
 were overcast in gloom. All open vision ceased. Men's 
 hearts failed them for fear. 
 
 The first gleam of the morning was seen in' far-away 
 Persia by men bending over old parchments whereon 
 were cabalistic signs and tokens. A new star in the 
 heavens led them to the place where the Christ-child lay. 
 The air was filled with singing— songs of the angels, of the 
 tremulous lips of old prophets, of the virgin mother, of 
 souls waiting for deliverance. Again all the sons of God 
 shouted for joy. It was as when by the original fiat the 
 darkness of chaos was scattered and the light shone upon 
 the earth. 
 
 " God said, Let there be light ! 
 Grim darkness felt his might 
 
 And fled away. 
 Then startled mists and mountains cold 
 Shone forth all bright in blue and gold 
 And cried, 'Tis day, 'tis day!" 
 
 If it was glorious to be a watchman under the old econo- 
 my, how much more to walk with the incarnate Jesus and 
 
IO "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 say, Behold the Lamb of God ! His life was as the morn- 
 ing sun shining into the habitations of cruelty and the 
 shadowy vale of death, yet how few there were that com- 
 prehended the glad tidings or knew that the long looked- 
 for Golden Age had come. In polar lands, when the weary 
 winter is drawing to a close, the people climb the hill-tops 
 and wait for the approaching dawn. And when the crim- 
 son forehead of the sun is seen above the horizon they call 
 in joyous greeting from hill-top to hill-top, " O beautiful 
 Sun ! O beautiful Sun !" How few there were to greet 
 with joy like this the rising of the Sun of Righteousness 
 who had healing in his beams ! He came unto his own 
 and his own received him not. The light shone in dark- 
 ness and the darkness comprehended it not. 
 
 III. The Sun hastening to the zenith. If it was a 
 splendid privilege in the olden time to point to the stars 
 of promise, if it was a joy during the earthly ministry of 
 Jesus to direct men to the grace of God shining in his 
 beautiful face, how much more glorious is the privilege of 
 the watchman now to stand upon the walls of Zion bidding 
 the world behold how the sun shines brighter and brighter 
 unto the perfect day. " Watchman, what of the night?" 
 The shadows struggle with the dawn ; nay, the day break- 
 eth ; nay, better still, the high noon of truth and right- 
 eousness draweth nigh. We preach not the Christ of 
 prophecy, nor yet the Christ infleshed and walking among 
 men, but the historic Christ who has vindicated his love 
 and wisdom and omnipotence in eighteen centuries of tri- 
 umphal progress. 
 
 We are living in an unfortunate time for pessimists. 
 The bulk of religious prosperity was never so great since 
 the foundation of the world. The signs of religious prog- 
 ress all around the horizon are so conspicuous and con- 
 
WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? II 
 
 elusive that fault-finding at this juncture must needs sug- 
 gest an impairment of the biliary or digestive functions. 
 The arm of the Lord is gloriously made bare for the over- 
 throw of iniquitous strongholds and for the upbuilding of 
 the kingdom of righteousness. Nations of the earth are 
 prostrating themselves before the Lord Christ. The flocks 
 of Kedar are gathered together and the rams of Nebaioth 
 are ministering unto him. The air is full of the rustling of 
 doves' wings and the crackling of the boughs of Lebanon. 
 (Isa. 60.) 
 
 (1.) In the matter of Faith. There never was a time 
 in human history when men were so loyal to the land- 
 marks of truth. There never was a time when the blessed 
 Bible was entrenched in so many faithful hearts. True, 
 there are controversies. God be praised ! The worst 
 that ever can befall the Christian Church is stagnation. 
 The kingdom of God is not likely to suffer from any in- 
 vestigation of its truth. To be sure, there are heretics 
 and schismatics. They perish by the way and their work 
 serves but to strengthen the battlements of truth, as coral 
 insects toiling in unknown depths leave their bones as a 
 contribution to the continents of coming ages. The truth 
 had never so many stalwart friends as it has this day. 
 
 (2.) As to Christian Ethics. Ideals are higher than 
 ever. Character means more. The character of Jesus 
 stands out more distinctly as the Exemplar of morals. 
 His incomparable portrait is the touchstone of character. 
 More is expected of men than ever before in human his- 
 tory. More is expected of kings, of politicians, of mer- 
 chants, of the average man. Compare the dignitaries of 
 our time with those of a few centuries ago : Queen Victo- 
 ria with Elizabeth, the President of the French Republic 
 with Louis the Grand, Gladstone with Machiavelli, Presi- 
 
12 " THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 dent Harrison with our Continental governors, the citizen, 
 the country gentleman, the ordinary church-goer or the 
 non- church-goer with those of a hundred years ago. I 
 say the ideals are higher and men are more eager in stri- 
 ving after them. There is more respect for common hon- 
 esty, for chastity and temperance, for benevolence. Many 
 of the vices that were common have disappeared from 
 public view. Human life is held in higher veneration. 
 Profane swearing is vulgar now. Gambling is for the 
 race-track and locked chambers. It was once a common 
 thing for gentlemen to be dragged from under their tables 
 to their beds. Now public inebriety is ruin to any public 
 man. Baccarat, that would have been regarded as a mere 
 peccadillo in Prince Hal, is a standing horror against the 
 present Prince of Wales. Loosenesses that once were 
 common at royal courts are now banished to the slums. 
 Our home-life is sweeter and purer. Fathers have a more 
 reasonable tenure of authority. Wives are more beloved 
 and respected. Childhood is granted its proper rights. 
 The vices of society are more decent and its virtues more 
 conspicuous. In most quarters character is the passport 
 into social life. Silly, sensual beauty is little thought of. 
 
 " The rank is but the guinea stamp : 
 The man 's the gowd." 
 
 So is it in industrial life. The workman is at the top. He 
 is a self-respecting, honest man, " who knows his rights, 
 and knowing, dare maintain." He claims an honest day's 
 wages for an honest day's work. At the same time 
 the rights of capital are held securely; and the controver- 
 sies of Capital and Labor are drawing to a settlement 
 under the beneficent influence of the Golden Rule. We 
 note a similar advance in political ethics. Freedom is 
 
WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT? 1 3 
 
 contagious. Kings are held in restraint. The word Peo- 
 ple is written with a capital initial. Legislators rule in 
 equity and courts administer justice in righteousness. Star 
 chambers and bloody councils are antiquated landmarks. 
 Wars are giving way to arbitration. The masses are 
 being educated. Milton's Angel of Light is waving his 
 torch along the remotest confines of darkness. " Watch- 
 man, what of the night?" The sun rises higher and high- 
 er : it shines brighter and brighter unto the perfect day ! 
 
 (3.) And what shall be said of the great propaganda ? 
 Our own is the Golden Age of the Kingdom of God. 
 We are building churches, hospitals, reformatories, at 
 home ; and we are stretching the cords of the tabernacle 
 to the remotest parts of the earth. The recent census of 
 the United States tells us that one-third of our entire 
 population is in organic connection with some religious 
 body. Was the like ever known since the foundation of 
 the world ? One in every three — men, women, and chil- 
 dren — an avowed seeker after the true God ! Other na- 
 tions are being similarly blessed. The gates of the Dark 
 Continent are being thrown open to the light. 
 
 It was but a hundred years ago that William Carey 
 sat in his cobbler shop in Northamptonshire, his attention 
 divided between the lapstone on his knee and a map of 
 the world hanging on the wall. He said, " There is gold 
 to be mined in India. I will go down after it if you will 
 hold the ropes." He sailed for that pagan land a hun- 
 dred years ago, went down into the mine, and souls have 
 been responding to that deed of consecration, born out of 
 Carey's travail, in countless multitudes — gold minted in 
 the heavenly treasury and stamped with the image and 
 superscription of our King! Oh, friends, everything is 
 going right. The nations of the earth are coming unto 
 
14 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 our God. " Watchman, what of the night ?" There is 
 no night ! The darkness is past and gone, the Sun of 
 Righteousness hath risen with healing in his beams ! Be 
 glad and rejoice, O people of God ; the sun shineth 
 brighter and brighter unto the perfect day ! 
 
 It is a joy to be a watchman in these times. When the 
 Bastile fell there was a controversy as to who should have 
 the privilege of opening the dungeon doors. How much 
 more shall we strive for the privilege of bearing the truth 
 and the glad prophecies of life to those who still are en- 
 veloped in shadows ! What a joy to draw the bolts and 
 say as to those bewildered souls of the Bastile, who for 
 years had not heard a human voice nor seen the shining 
 sun, " Come forth ! The day is bright, the air is clear, the 
 earth is glorified with the beauty of the Lord ; come out 
 and rejoice with us !" Oh, friends, let us rejoice together. 
 The sun shineth brighter, brighter, brighter, brighter unto 
 the perfect day ! 
 
THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 1 5 
 
 THE PILOT OF THE FLEET.* 
 
 " Their line is gone out through all the earth and their words to the 
 end of the world." — Psa. 19:4. 
 
 A polyglot psalter in the Astor Library is enriched by marginal notes made 
 by the Bishop Justinian of Corsica. Opposite Psalm 19:4 is written, " Columbus 
 boasteth that he is appointed to fulfil this prophecy." 
 
 Our God is the God of nations. The path of history- 
 is lined on either side with the ruins of thrones and dynas- 
 ties. God reared them and God overturned them. At a 
 time when we are singing the praises of Columbus as the 
 discoverer of the new world it is wise to remind ourselves 
 that he was controlled by the sovereign God. He was 
 indeed entitled the Admiral of the Ocean Seas ; but while 
 it is important to know the full measure of his achieve- 
 ment, it is far more important to inquire who piloted his 
 fleet. 
 
 In our inquiry as to the special providences which the 
 most casual observer must detect in the romantic story of 
 the discovery of the new world, the theme falls naturally 
 into a three-fold division : The time, The man for the time, 
 The man's Master. 
 
 I. As to the time. Is it not a curious fact that for so 
 many centuries a continent should have been held in re- 
 serve ? It was suspected, dreamed of, but never known. 
 Why? Was God holding it for the exigencies of the 
 future, for the enlargement of Zion ? It could not be dis- 
 
 * This sermon was preached by Dr. Burrell on the four-hun- 
 dredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. 
 
l6 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 covered. The opening up of that continent was not to 
 occur until the right moment. All things in divine prov- 
 idence occur when the hands of God's dial point to the 
 fulness of the time. 
 
 This event occurred in the morning twilight that fol- 
 lowed the Dark Ages. It was an era of universal awa- 
 kening. 
 
 (i.) It was marked by a general revival of learning. 
 The best blood of Europe had been vainly poured out in 
 the Crusades. Vainly ? Armies of indomitable men had 
 marked their pathways through the deserts with bleaching 
 bones. For what ? God reigns and overrules all things 
 for ultimate good. The remnant of those devoted armies 
 brought back from the Orient some of the learning of the 
 East. It has been asserted by authority that not one priest 
 in a thousand in Spain could write a letter of greeting to 
 his friend. In England things were scarcely better. The 
 Bible was a sealed book. A few learned scholars in the 
 monasteries sat poring over their old parchments and illu- 
 minating their breviaries while the people, rude and igno- 
 rant, were starving for the living bread under the shadow 
 of the sacred walls. But the darkness was broken when 
 the Crusades brought Arabia into contact with the 
 West. 
 
 One day in 1430 Lawrence Coster, a Dutchman in the 
 sleepy old town of Haarlem, went out with his children 
 along the towpath for a day in the country, to hear the 
 birds sing and breathe a little of God's fresh air. In the 
 beech grove he paused and cut his boy's initials. And 
 there a happy thought occurred to him : " Why not carve 
 letters in wood, ink them over, and make an impression 
 on paper?" A happy thought! It was a sun-burst. 
 That was the birth of the printing-press. Books began to 
 
THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 1 7 
 
 multiply. The Bible came into the market for 750 crowns. 
 Light began to shine into the hearts and consciences of 
 the people. 
 
 (2.) This period is also characterized as the day- 
 break of freedom. With the revival of learning it was 
 inevitable that the individuality of man should struggle to 
 rise. 
 
 The Pope's heel had been upon the neck of the king, 
 and the king's heel had been upon the necks of the 
 people. The Anglo-Saxon world had groaned under 
 despotism. 
 
 On June 15, 1215, in the meadow at Runnymede the 
 great charter was signed. It is commonly known as the 
 fundamental instrument of civil freedom. As you look 
 upon the old parchment now in the British Museum, you 
 are struck with two peculiar facts ; one is that the barons 
 who exacted that instrument from King John were, for the 
 most part, unable to affix their own signatures ; they 
 could only make the sign of the cross ; the other is that 
 no mention is made of the people. Magna Charta was in 
 the interest of the barons. It was a mighty stride towards 
 a glorious achievement, but it was only the first step. As 
 yet there was no thought of the rights of man as man. 
 Two centuries went by and the people were still the un- 
 recognized masses, their rights still trampled under foot, 
 but the Giant under ^tna was groaning and struggling to 
 uplift himself. Men were beginning to make their per- 
 sonality felt. The people were claiming somewhat of 
 their own. The Anglo-Saxon world was congested with 
 vast populations which were jostling each other for elbow 
 room and clamoring to be free. 
 
 (3.) This was also the birth-time of the Reformation. 
 There had been a long night of a thousand years. All 
 
18 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 sorts of vices hid behind the altar. There was a famine of 
 the Word of God. The Bianchi wandered about with 
 great crucifixes murmuring Misericordia ! Flagellants 
 went two and two along the thoroughfares chanting Mis- 
 ereres and scourging their naked backs. The mendicant 
 friars were in their glory. This was the golden age of 
 penance, Peter's pence, indulgences. Heaven was opened 
 with a golden key. The most scandalous sins could be 
 committed for a shilling. The world was burdened with 
 an idle, avaricious, and dissolute priesthood. This was 
 the period of the Inquisition, the rack, the thumb-screw. 
 Autos-da-fe were kindled on all the hills. Men walked 
 to the stake dressed in yellow gowns, wearing caps where- 
 on were painted black devils. Queen Isabella was the 
 patroness of the Inquisition. Torquemada was its high- 
 priest The ashes of Wycliffe were thrown upon the 
 Avon, the Avon bore them to the Severn, and the Severn 
 to the sea. The Church was shrouded in darkness. No- 
 where had there been an open Bible or freedom to wor- 
 ship God. 
 
 The time had come for the opening up of the new 
 world. The continent which God had been holding so 
 long in reserve was now to offer a shelter to his oppressed 
 people. The vine of Israel needed to be transplanted. 
 The place was prepared where it might take deep root 
 and fill the land, that the hills might be covered with the 
 shadow of it. (Psa. 80 : 8-1 1.) 
 
 In one of the visions of the Apocalypse a woman is 
 seen clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, 
 and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. With her 
 child she is pursued by a great red dragon. She flees 
 into the wilderness, " where she hath a place prepared of 
 God." It is a parable of the Church of the Reformation, 
 
THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 19 
 
 guarding the pure gospel of Christ, pursued by the de- 
 mon of persecution and finding shelter in the new world. 
 
 " Westward the course of empire takes its way. 
 The four first acts already past, 
 A fifth shall close the drama with the day ; 
 Time's noblest offspring is her last." 
 
 II. The man for the time. It is proposed at this junc- 
 ture to canonize Columbus, and there seems no good rea- 
 son why a Church that has seriously discussed the cano- 
 nization of Queen Isabella and Torquemada, patroness 
 and bloody Father of the Inquisition, should hestitate to 
 place Columbus in her calendar of saints. It is not my 
 purpose to stand as Advocatus Diaboli to present objec- 
 tions to sainthood. That were to strain out a gnat and 
 swallow a camel. It would be an easy matter to find fault 
 with him, but at this juncture it is far better to dwell on 
 the brighter side of his character. And there is much to be 
 said in praise of his illustrious name. He was a man chosen 
 as an instrument in divine providence to penetrate the mists 
 that hid the unknown continent of the Western sea. 
 
 (1) I pay tribute to his faith. It had been brought 
 to his notice that an oar had been picked up by a sailor 
 on the waters near the Canaries, an oar marked with 
 strange hieroglyphics. It had floated from the west. 
 There was, then, a world out yonder. This was the basis 
 of his creed. It was corroborated by Plato's story ot 
 Atlantis, and by tales told by the Carthaginians of green 
 islands in the west. A book called Imago Mundi is 
 still extant, with annotations in the margin made by Co- 
 lumbus, and in which Roger Bacon expressed the opinion 
 that it was not far from Spain to Asia. Two bodies had 
 been seen out upon the open sea, strange-looking bodies 
 
20 " THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 with bronzed faces such as were seen in India. The man 
 put this and that together and said, Why may we not 
 reach India by sailing into the west? 
 
 This was his creed, " India in the west." He be- 
 lieved it. A man with a creed is always a mighty man. 
 According to thy faith be it unto thee. They are foolish 
 folk who cry down creeds. Credo is a great word. Be- 
 lieve something if you would be anything. A man in 
 the industrial world must have his creed, his five points 
 as true and stubborn as the five points of Calvinism, to 
 wit: honesty, industry, self-control, courage, and perse- 
 verance. A man must have his creed in political life. He 
 must know what he believes as to tariff, the suffrage, and 
 sound currency. And the line of belief here marks the 
 difference between a demagogue and a statesman. A man 
 must have his creed in social life. 
 
 " Whene'er you feel your honor grip, 
 Let that aye be your border." 
 
 Why not also have a creed in religion? Faith is the basis 
 of ethics. As a man thinketh in his heart so is he. What 
 do you hold as to the great verities ? as to God, redemp- 
 tion, immortality, and judgment ? Tell me and I will tell 
 you what sort of a Christian you are. The whole life of 
 Columbus was moulded by the revelation that came to 
 him by that floating oar. " India in the west." It was 
 half right, half wrong, but he wholly believed it. " If 
 yonder," said he, " is the new world, I will find it." 
 
 (2) I pay tribute also to his persistence. He went to 
 his townsmen of Genoa and told them how he proposed 
 to find India by sailing to the west. " The man is crazy," 
 said they. He found his way to the Spanish camp where 
 Ferdinand and Isabella had marshalled their armies to 
 
THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 21 
 
 drive out the Moors. Vainly did he push his project 
 there. No time had they nor treasure to expend upon an 
 empty dream like that. Years passed. Friendless and 
 poverty-stricken, he knocked at the door of the Convent 
 of La Rabida to beg a crust and a cup of water for him- 
 self and his boy. To the Prior he imparted his project of 
 reaching India by sailing to the west. Said Father Pe- 
 rez, " Possibly there may be something in it." Ageing 
 and whitening, he found his way to the Council of Sala- 
 manca. There learned doctors and scientists gathered 
 about him. Maps and charts were spread upon the ta- 
 ble. " The earth is round," said he ; " why may it not be 
 circumnavigated?" But they answered, " If the earth is 
 round, why do not the waters fall from the under side? 
 And if the earth is round and you reached the antipodes, 
 would not sailing home be like climbing a hill ? If the 
 earth is round, what about those Scriptures which tell how 
 God stretched out the heavens like a pavilion ?" No, no, 
 the suggestion of heresy was here. The years pass on. 
 He finds his way to the Alhambra. The Moors have 
 been driven out. He begs again for royal patronage, but 
 in vain. He is riding away with a sad heart when a voice 
 calls and a hand beckons. He turns back. Isabella has 
 changed her mind. " You shall have your fleet ; I will 
 pledge my jewels." His eighteen years of waiting are 
 over. How the old man's heart must have leaped for 
 joy ! All things come round to him who will but wait. 
 
 What a lesson for faint hearts ! Is there a man here 
 who has faithfully pursued a project for years and years ? 
 Cheer up, friend ; all things come round to him who will 
 but wait. Are some of you discouraged because of your 
 slow progress in the Christian life ? Be of good courage. 
 Line upon line, precept upon precept, makes character 
 
22 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 at last. One step at a time, it only our faces are turned 
 to the heavenly light, will bring us at last to heaven's 
 gate. 
 
 (3) I pay tribute also to his courage, his indomitable 
 courage. The eventful day has come. Three caravels, 
 two of them undecked amid-ships, are swinging in the har- 
 bor of Palos, mere cockle-shells, of possibly a hundred 
 tons' burthen, worm-eaten, and quite unseaworthy. And 
 they are to sail out upon the unknown seas. The crew is 
 disorderly. They would not sail but that they have been 
 impressed to go. The canvas is set, the anchors are 
 raised, the Prior of La Rabida lifts his hands in blessing. 
 " Sail forth, O little fleet ! Breathe upon the canvas, O 
 breath of Jehovah ! give a favorable voyage !" 
 
 Then fifty-seven days of monotonous voyaging. There 
 are calms and gales, alternate hopes and disappointments, 
 and mutterings among the crew. A broken mast floats 
 by, memorial of some shipwreck, enough to awaken fears 
 of mutiny. Here is seaweed floating on the water. A 
 flock of paroquets flies past. There is land somewhere. 
 One day the cry is raised at evening, Land ! land ! The 
 next morning dispels the illusion ; they are still out upon 
 the open sea. At the bow stands Columbus looking out 
 towards the west. Surely God has something for a man 
 of courage like this. 
 
 It was on the twelfth of October, after the twilight had 
 gathered, that, as he stood gazing westward, he saw a 
 light, a flickering light. There are those who say it was a 
 torch carried by a woman along the shore as a signal for 
 her husband, returning after a day upon the sea in search 
 of food for his little family. At two o'clock the next 
 morning the gun was fired to signalize the end of the 
 journey. At sunrise they make ready to disembark. 
 
THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 23 
 
 Yonder lies a green, sun-lit island. They land. Co- 
 lumbus kneels and takes possession in the name of Jesus 
 Christ. The land reserved for centuries is found at last. 
 San Salvador it is christened under the banner of the 
 Cross. Land of the Saviour may it ever be ! The light, 
 the torch which was carried along the shore that night, 
 has grown brighter and brighter ever since. It is uplifted 
 to-day in the hand of Liberty — Liberty Enlightening the 
 World. 
 
 God has a similar reward for every courageous man. 
 It is the old story of the quest for the Golden Fleece, the 
 search for the Holy Grail. It is the story told over and 
 over again in every passing age of the sailing forth in 
 discovery of truth. God has no San Salvador for stay-at- 
 homes. He who borrows his dogmas from the symbols 
 of the Fathers, who is satisfied with what heredity and 
 environment have given him, will never come into posses- 
 sion of truth. Revelations are for those who sail be- 
 tween the Pillars of Hercules. You want to know about 
 the great solemnities : sail out into the west. There are 
 revelations of truth, priceless and incalculable, in the haze 
 of the western seas. But in going out in quest of truth 
 heed your Pilot, pay deference to the needle that points 
 to the Pole-star, and unless you would be a wild rover of 
 the seas, be obedient to your chart, the blessed Bible, the 
 revealed Word of God. 
 
 III. The maris Master. Who piloted the fleet ? 
 
 At this point we note a signal providence. The land- 
 breezes, the floating seaweed, and other tokens of not far- 
 distant land had moved the crew to earnestly implore 
 their captain to change his course; but he persisted. He 
 believed that India lay to the west, and westward he 
 sailed on. At length, however, a thorn-bush floated by 
 
24 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 with berries on. Its direction suggested that land lay to 
 the southwest, and yielding to the persistent entreaties of 
 his men, he changed the course of his fleet that way ; and 
 thereby he changed the course of history. Had he sailed 
 to the westward he would have landed on the coast of 
 Florida, and the continent would have fallen in the hands 
 of the Spaniards. As it was he landed on San Salvador. 
 Columbus never set foot upon the soil of what is now the 
 United States of America. Had he taken possession of 
 the mainland in the name of Ferdinand and Isabella, our 
 land would have been doomed to a Spanish civilization 
 and all its attendant horrors. What those would have 
 been may be plainly seen from the condition of Spain 
 itself, Mexico, and the South American Republics. It was 
 a hairbreadth escape. Columbus was indeed the Admi- 
 ral of the fleet, but the Sovereign God was at the helm. 
 He conducted the great navigator near enough to the con- 
 tinent, but not too near — near enough for the uses of dis- 
 covery, but not near enough for settlement. Columbus 
 died in utter ignorance of the true nature of his discovery. 
 He supposed he had found India, but never knew how 
 strangely God had used him. 
 
 The mainland of America lay practically unsettled for 
 more than one hundred years. In this interval strange 
 things happened. The Church was rent asunder. The 
 Unreformed and the Reformed branches set out upon di- 
 vergent paths. Luther nailed his ninety-five theses to the 
 door of the Castle Church and sent the echoes of the Ref- 
 ormation reverberating around the world. Shakespeare 
 lived ; Galileo lived. The great Armada was wrecked. 
 The bells tolled out the massacre of St. Bartholomew. 
 The Duke of Alva hurled the forces of the Inquisition 
 vainly against the dykes of Holland. That was a won- 
 
THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 25 
 
 derful century, and all the while God was manifestly pre- 
 paring for the settlement of the new world. It could not 
 occur until he spoke. In vain did the Papal nations seek 
 to possess it. De Mont sailed up and down the New 
 England coast, but the savages kept him off. The decree 
 had gone forth ; this was to be a Protestant land. It was 
 to be a shelter for the woman and her child. The Red 
 Dragon could not possess it. At length the time was 
 come — 1620 — Annus mirabilis ! 
 
 Then they came, the sifted peoples of the old world, 
 the stuff that heroes are made of, Puritans from Old Eng- 
 land who had resisted the fires of Smithfield, Huguenots 
 from France, who had heard from their fathers about St. 
 Bartholomew's Day, the" beggars " of Holland, racked 
 with fierce struggle against tyranny, the Covenanters of old 
 Scotland from their conventicles among the hills. That 
 migration to the new world was the most momentous the 
 world had known since Abraham departed out of the land 
 of the Chaldees into a country that he knew not of. God 
 had fanned the threshing-floor of all Europe to find this 
 wheat for the planting of America. This was the land 
 whereon the ultimate problem of civilization and ec- 
 clesiastical freedom was to be brought to a glorious con- 
 summation. Men of independence, integrity, intelligence, 
 industry, courage, and broad-mindedness, men schooled 
 by flame and scourge, men who hated oppression and 
 believed in human rights, were needed for it. Poor, but 
 independent, not frilled and powdered, but armed might- 
 ily with the sword of the Spirit, and with purpose of free- 
 dom pulsating at the very centres of their hearts — these 
 were the men whom God had chosen for the settlement 
 of this land. For a hundred years he had kept the 
 new world waiting until they should be ready to possess it. 
 
26 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 This delay meant everything for us. It meant, 
 
 (i.) Freedom. In all probability there would have 
 been no semblance of freedom had Columbus colonized 
 the mainland. Not one of the nations springing from 
 Spanish conquest and fostered under the pretensions of 
 the Papal See has enjoyed the rights and privileges of 
 popular government. In the cabin of the " Mayflower," in 
 mid-ocean, a constitution of the new settlement was drawn 
 up, its opening words — " In the name of God, Amen," 
 and its closing words — " In the name of God, Amen." 
 That instrument was adopted and John Carver was 
 elected, by ballot, Governor. This was the formal birth 
 of the elective franchise as we enjoy it. Out of that con- 
 ference on the high seas were born the liberty, equality, 
 and fraternity of the new world. 
 
 (2.) It meant Intelligence. To this, Catholic domi- 
 nation has been invariably fatal. If Rome could have its 
 way at this moment, our free school system would be 
 blotted out of existence. It is a notable fact that the three 
 nations who effected the original settlement of America, 
 the Dutch, the Puritans, and the Scotch, are the three 
 contestants for the honor of originating our system of 
 popular education. At the same time its only avowed 
 and recognized enemy is the Romish Church. There is 
 no menace anywhere to this fundamental element of our 
 American institutions save as we find it among the fol- 
 lowers of Leo XIII. The free school is an Anglo-Saxon 
 product, and we firmly believe that God who drove back 
 the Catholic Spaniards from our shore will not allow the 
 same pernicious influence to destroy the institutions 
 planted here. 
 
 (3.) It means, furthermore, a Pure Gospel. We have 
 in America an open Bible and a supreme Christ. Colum- 
 
THE PILOT OF THE FLEET. 27 
 
 bus sailed in the " Santa Maria " and prefaced the report 
 of his discovery with the words Jesu cum Maria. But 
 the civilization of America is like the luminous cloud 
 which gathered on the Mount of Transfiguration, of which 
 it is written that all human figures vanished ; " they saw 
 no man save Jesus only." An open Bible, a preeminent 
 Christ, and the right of every man to worship God accord- 
 ing to the dictates of his conscience — these are the shib- 
 boleths of our religious freedom. It has pleased God to 
 guard our land from the oppression and superstition 
 which have made Romanism a hissing and a byword 
 among the nations of the earth. 
 
 So God piloted the fleet. The great discoverer, with 
 all his heroic virtues, did not know whither he went. " He 
 sailed for the back door of Asia and landed at the front 
 door of America, and knew it not." He never settled the 
 continent. Thus far and no farther, said the Lord. His 
 providence was over all. 
 
 A great inheritance has been committed to us. God 
 sent his people, in the olden time, to a land which was 
 set apart by sea and desert and mountain from all the 
 surrounding world, and they were recreant to their trust. 
 They disregarded his Sabbaths, they kindled fires to 
 alien gods, and their land with all its fertile acres and fair 
 estates became a dwelling-place for the owl and the bit- 
 tern. Oh let us be true to the obligations of our great 
 inheritance ! God expects great things of us. He hath 
 not dealt so with any nation. John Foster says, " Power 
 to its last atom is responsibility." God has given us 
 broad acres and inexhaustible mines of treasure. Power 
 means responsibility. And God has given us civil and 
 ecclesiastical freedom, and with it he has laid a mighty 
 burden of responsibility upon us. 
 
28 "THE MORNING COMETH.' 
 
 THE SOUL'S MOORINGS. 
 
 " And God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of prom- 
 ise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 
 that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for 
 God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled 
 for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which 
 hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stead- 
 fast, and which entereth into that within the veil; whither the 
 forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made a High-Priest 
 for ever after the order of Melchizedek." Heb. 6:17-20. 
 
 The Hebrew lad who stood upon the piers of Tarsus 
 and watched the white-winged ships sailing- in from the 
 Mediterranean — who saw from afar the gladness on the 
 weather-beaten faces of the crews as they furled their can- 
 vas and dropped anchor in the harbor of their Cilician 
 home— who looked out over the waters many a time and 
 dreamed dreams and saw visions of storm and dismal 
 wreck, men clinging to floating spars, white faces amid 
 the foam, mists hiding sun and heavens and shore — 
 now grown to manhood and familiar with cares and am- 
 bitions and the heart-aches of an earnest life, calls back 
 his memories of the sea. His soul is as a ship far out 
 upon the waters, freighted with hopes and purposes, beat- 
 en by storms and swayed by tides, yet kept securely in 
 the hollow of His hand who rules tides and tempests 
 alike, and ever sailing on towards the harbor of that city 
 which hath foundations, whose founder and maker is 
 God. 
 
 Blow, ye favoring gales ! shine, thou benignant sun ! 
 
THE SOUL'S MOORINGS. 29 
 
 till we, like that Tarsian saint, shall all have reached our 
 haven of rest ! 
 
 A ship without an anchor is at the mercy of the ele- 
 ments. The chart, the rudder, the well-filled sails, are suf- 
 ficient for bright days and calm waters ; but when the 
 mists are gathered, the canvas whipped into shreds by 
 angry winds, the shattered hulk tossed like a feather and 
 drifting helplessly towards the lee shore with its white 
 line of angry breakers — what now, Master of the ship ? 
 Let down the anchor ! 
 
 " I see the good ship riding all in the perilous road, 
 The low reef roaring on her lee, the roll of ocean poured 
 From stem to stern, sea after sea ; the mainmast by the board, 
 The bulwarks down, the rudder gone, the boats stove at the 
 
 chains ; 
 But courage still, brave mariners, the bower still remains !" 
 
 As the bower-anchor is to a ship so is the hope of eternal 
 life in Jesus Christ to an earnest man. It maketh not 
 ashamed. It never disappoints. In treacherous calms, 
 when the tides of habit are tugging at the soul, as well as 
 in fierce tempests of trial, it has a sure and steadfast grip 
 on the power of God. 
 
 I. Observe, this hope enter eth into that within the veil. 
 The ark of the covenant with the luminous cloud, the 
 token of God's visible presence, was behind the fine- 
 twined curtain within the Holiest of All. In like manner 
 there is a veil dividing between the things which lie with- 
 in the province of the senses and the unseen things which 
 are most real and eternal. 
 
 Alas for the agnostic, the man who believes only what 
 lies within the reach of his finger-tips, the man to whom 
 the great solemnities are all as empty dreams ! My dog 
 is an agnostic. Stand up, Fido, and let me reason with 
 
30 "THE MORNING COMETH."' 
 
 thee ! Dost thou believe in God ? Dost thou believe in 
 life and immortality? His patient eyes are saying as 
 plainly as August Comte or Herbert Spencer, "Agnosco, I 
 know not ! These things are beyond my sphere of com- 
 prehension. Bid me gnaw a bone or chase a pheasant. 
 The things which are unseen are too hard for me." 
 
 Oh, blessed be God, we who are made in his likeness 
 can by faith apprehend the things which are invisible, the 
 sublime verities which fleshly eyes cannot see and hands 
 cannot handle, the eternal, substantial things which will 
 endure when gold and laurel wreaths and thrones and 
 monuments shall have vanished into nothingness! The 
 sublimities and profundities lie within the veil. 
 
 God is there. Our hope takes hold of him. We need 
 no argument as to the existence of the Divine Being ; we 
 know it by the tugging of the anchor-chain. How lonely 
 the life of one who holds no communion with Him ! he 
 dwells alone, like a man in a dungeon. Oh to feel the 
 touch of a living hand ! The soul needs Him, and intui- 
 tively reaches after Him, but the sure and steadfast hope 
 of the Christian lays hold upon Him as the flukes of the 
 anchor grip the everlasting rock. 
 
 The truth of i??imortality, also, is within the veil. Na- 
 ture yields no conclusive proof of it. If a man die will he 
 live again ? Ay ! Else whence these " precious hopes, 
 these fond desires, these longings after immortality ?" But 
 better than all intimations is this strong tugging at the 
 anchor-chain. The heart feels it and cries, I shall live 
 and not die ! 
 
 The assura?ice of infinite mercy is within the veil. 
 The senses cannot grasp it. We stand this side and 
 hear no voice from beyond. Love and justice are ever at 
 strife. We lift the veil ; lo ! the cover of the ark is 
 
THE SOULS MOORINGS. 3 1 
 
 sprinkled with blood ! God is love. The truth, Christ 
 crucified, which to the wisdom of this world is foolish- 
 ness, thus becomes to us the very wisdom and power of 
 God. 
 
 II. Observe, again, our hope is sure and steadfast, be- 
 ing confirmed by two immutable things. We want a trust- 
 worthy hope, the interests involved are so vast and 
 momentous. The hope of the hypocrite shall perish, it 
 shall be cut off; his hope is as a spider's web : " He 
 shall lean upon it, but it shall not stand ; he shall hold it 
 fast, but it shall not endure." The cunning architect 
 builds his beautiful fabric in kings' houses, a masterpiece 
 cf cunning ; but in the morning the housemaid with a 
 whisk of her broom sweeps it away. Such is the hope 
 based on mere feeling or on empty ceremony or on a falla- 
 cious view of the divine goodness or on a formal connection 
 with the church of God. But the sure hope of the be- 
 liever is held by a double cable, two immutable strands 
 of assurance twisted together, in both of which it is im- 
 possible for God to lie. 
 
 (1.) His word. " He hath not left us to spell out our 
 privilege." The Bible sparkles with promises, exceeding 
 great and precious, as the heavens above with stars. 
 " Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." 
 " Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord : 
 though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as 
 snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as 
 wool." " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their 
 strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles ; they 
 shall run and not be weary ; and they shall walk and not 
 faint." 
 
 (2.) His oath. As if his word were not enough, he 
 confirms it with an oath ; and because he can swear by no 
 
32 . "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 greater, he sweareth b)^ himself: As I live, saith the Lord ! 
 Now and then men say flippantly, " Upon my life !" How 
 trivial an asseveration ! A man's life is in his nostrils. 
 And how little a matter whether he goes or stays. But 
 here is a tremendous oath : As I live, saith the Lord! In 
 this is the assurance of our hope. He liveth. What if 
 an angel were to appear in mid-heaven announcing with a 
 trumpet - blast, God is dead ! What obsequies there 
 would be ! What sighing among the forests ! What 
 groanings among the tossing seas ! What sackcloth on 
 the heavens ! What a panic in the heavenly host ! How 
 the everlasting hills would go reeling and staggering back 
 to chaos, back to nothingness ! Such a calamity however 
 is unthinkable. God liveth, ever liveth, from everlasting 
 to everlasting, source and centre of all natural and spirit- 
 ual life. Every bird is singing it, every star is telling it, 
 every brook is murmuring it, all nature is resonant with it. 
 I Am that I Am. And because he liveth, we shall live 
 also. Thus doth God secure our hope with a double 
 cable, and the anchor holds. 
 
 III. Observe, furthermore, " we have a strong consola- 
 tion who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope 
 set before us." A strong consolation, a glorious impetus, 
 an inspiration. As the mainspring keeps the entire 
 mechanism of the chronometer in normal action, so does 
 the living hope of the believer direct and control his 
 entire life. 
 
 He that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself. A 
 hope is futile unless it is vitally interwoven with charac- 
 ter. I ask, Are you saved ? You answer, I have a hope. 
 Thus too often the hope is a mere certificate of character 
 which may be produced upon occasion. You may have 
 gone through a train at midnight and have seen the pas- 
 
THE soul's moorings. 33 
 
 sengers trying, in strained positions, to catch a little 
 slumber — here an emigrant, weary with long journey- 
 ing, there a mother fallen asleep with a child upon her 
 lap. The door opened and the conductor passed through 
 calling, " Tickets, please!" They awoke and rubbed their 
 eyes, produced their tickets, and settled back again to 
 sleep. The Lord deliver us from a Christian hope like 
 that! It must be interwoven with our life. It must 
 brighten our eyes and strengthen our arms and nerve our 
 hearts for right living. It must make us kinder at home, 
 more honest in business, more courteous in social life. 
 " The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, 
 gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance : against 
 such there is no law." 
 
 And more : our hope must lead us on to Christian 
 endeavor. It must sing to us like a sweet-voiced sister 
 while we are climbing the steep paths. It must urge us 
 on to participate in the great work of universal deliver- 
 ance, it must save us from spiritual melancholia. 
 
 " Your harps, ye trembling saints, 
 Down from the willows take ; 
 Loud to the praise of love divine 
 Bid every string awake." 
 
 Strong consolation, exhilarating courage, glorious incen- 
 tive, splendid inspiration — this must be the outcome of a 
 genuine hope of eternal life in Christ. 
 
 IV. Once more observe, the secret of the efficiency of 
 this hope is i?ifesns Christ. " It entereth into that within 
 the veil whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even 
 Jesus made a High-Priest for ever." Of all the living 
 verities which are within the veil none is comparable with 
 Christ himself. He is able to save unto the uttermost all 
 who come unto him. 
 
34 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 Here is a reference to the great Day of Atonement 
 when the High-Priest passed within the veil, not without 
 blood, to make expiation for the people's sin. It was a 
 solemn hour while they waited without. On the success 
 of his mediatorial errand their life depended. And when 
 at last — the blood sprinkled, the prayer offered, the an- 
 swer given — he came forth into the midst of the camp, 
 his face illuminated with a smile of heavenly acceptance, 
 with what joy did they welcome him ! 
 
 So hath Christ as our forerunner entered into the 
 Holiest of All where he ever liveth to make intercession 
 for us. " Up to the high hills we look, whither he hath 
 gone and whence cometh our help." Our hope is fixed 
 upon him. It is not our hope that saves, but He him- 
 self. Let not men have confidence in the saving power 
 of hope ; as well let them expect to board the anchor in- 
 stead of the ship for a voyage to Liverpool. It is faith 
 that saves, and faith only, as the cable that fastens the soul 
 to Jesus. As one of the fathers has said, " We are saved 
 by our grip on the blood." 
 
 The soul needs this sustaining strength of Christian 
 hope not only in stormy seas when the waves and the bil- 
 lows are passing over it, but in the routine of daily life. 
 The quietness of our still days is all illusory. There is 
 nothing common-place in human experience. There are 
 no uneventful days. Every moment from sunrise to sunset 
 has its Sibylline books. The most monotonous life, if we 
 could read it aright, is a struggle, a romance concealing 
 in its even flow the plot of an everlasting drama. Never 
 does the ship find better use for its anchor than in the 
 breathless calm that foretokens the mighty wind ; never 
 more than when the placid surface hides the treacherous 
 tides which drag us towards the hidden rocks. More 
 
THE SOUL'S MOORINGS. 35 
 
 souls are wrecked by the under-currents of habit than by 
 fierce Euroclydons of trial. How easy to drift, to sweep 
 around the swirling circle of custom or popular opinion 
 to its devouring centre. " Be not conformed unto this 
 world." Let your hope hold you to truth and righteous- 
 ness like an anchor, sure and steadfast. This is the Chris- 
 tian life — to be in the world but not of it — sailing upon its 
 waters yet not circling upon its whirlpools or drifting with 
 its tides. 
 
 But oh ! when the rains descend and the floods come 
 and the winds blow, then the staunchest ship must have 
 an anchor if she v/ould go unshattered through the storm ! 
 Trial is the conclusive test of character. Here is a mer- 
 chant who has borne the reputation of an honest man all 
 these years. Time has dealt kindly with him ; he has 
 gathered a competency and in the race for riches has 
 never brought reproach upon his name. He did run well ; 
 who did hinder him ? 
 
 Suddenly the trial comes ; the cords of financial strin- 
 gency are tightening around him ; his life-long dreams of 
 prosperity are succeeded by a nightmare of impending 
 ruin. Now let him look to his integrity. Will it hold 
 amid the storm ? A nervous stroke of the pen, a false 
 entry, a forged signature, and the emergency is over. 
 But alas ! the ship has foundered. The virtues of the 
 best moral character, if its morality is not upheld by the 
 firm supports of religion, are but as ropes of sand when 
 the winds are blowing from the north. We speak of com- 
 mon honesty, common morality ; but what we want is 
 uncommon honesty, an heroic morality, an integrity held 
 as by a mighty anchor-chain to the very heart of God. 
 
 This is the believer's safety. He is guarded by Om- 
 nipotence, the everlasting arms are under him ; the sure 
 
36 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 word of promise is his, " I will never leave thee, the river 
 shall not overflow thee, the flames shall not kindle against 
 thee." " He shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea, in 
 seven there shall no evil touch thee." Being in vital 
 union with God, we are as safe as God himself. " Fear 
 not," said Caesar to his boatman who grew pale when the 
 little craft was shaken by the billows, "fear not; thou 
 canst not sink ; thou earnest great Caesar and his fortunes 
 with thee." 
 
 Oh, believer, fear not; the Word of the Lord hath 
 spoken it, "I am with thee; be not dismayed. I will 
 hold thee, I will strengthen thee, yea, I will uphold thee 
 with the right hand of my righteousness." So for all 
 the vicissitudes of life this hope is commended to you, 
 a hope that will serve in treacherous calms as well as in 
 the sudden storms of life, a hope that will secure the soul 
 amid the gathering darkness of life's close and in the daz- 
 zling light of judgment. Remember the words of the 
 Lord Jesus how he said, " Come unto me and I will give 
 you rest " — rest from pain, rest in the ark when the wa- 
 ters of the great deep are broken up and the roar of the 
 surge is mingled with the cries of the dying and despair- 
 ing—a rest which this world can neither give nor take 
 away — " rest eternal, sacred, sure." 
 
THE CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 37 
 THE 
 
 CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 
 
 "But whereunto shall I liken this generation? It is like unto chil- 
 dren sitting in the markets and calling unto their fellows, and 
 saying, We have piped unto you and ye have not danced; we 
 have mourned unto you and ye have not lamented. For John 
 came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a 
 devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they 
 say, Behold a man gluttonous and a w#ine-bibber, a friend of 
 publicans and sinners. But Wisdom is justified of her chil- 
 dren." Matt. 11:16-19. 
 
 In the problem of history the one constant factor is 
 human nature. One generation passes away and an- 
 other takes its place with the regularity of ebbing and 
 flowing tides ; but the calm current of heredity flows on 
 for ever. The dispositions of the fathers are ever being 
 handed down to their posterity. You could not under- 
 stand why the child recently born into your family has 
 blue eyes. They could not be traced to parents or grand- 
 parents. You may however remember among the family 
 portraits a blue-eyed ancestress who lived far back in co- 
 lonial times. The family resemblance of the race is pre- 
 served in this way. So when the Lord said, " Unto whom 
 shall I liken this generation?" he spoke with no tran- 
 sient significance. The lesson of his discourse was in 
 the nature of a general truth. It was not more for the 
 people of that time than for us. 
 
 The great Preacher, as was his wont, found in one of 
 the familiar happenings of common life an illustration of 
 
38 " THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 a great spiritual truth. A group of lads at play, acting 
 now a mock marriage and again a mock funeral, complain 
 that certain of their comrades will not participate in their 
 games : " We have piped unto you and ye have not 
 danced ; we have mourned unto you and ye have not la- 
 mented." So, says the Teacher, in our broader and more 
 earnest life it is impossible to please the whims and hu- 
 mors of those around us. 
 
 But " Wisdom is justified of her children." Thank 
 God for that ! The understanding of the wise is open to 
 the truth. There are always some who are able to see the 
 reason and Tightness of things. 
 
 I. Let us apply this principle to the Scriptures. 
 
 The Bible is a severe and heroic paradox. It is the 
 two-fold expression of a great religious system. To this 
 fact must be attributed much of the opposition which it 
 encounters and most of the criticisms which are urged 
 against it. 
 
 The Old Testament opens with the story of the Fall 
 and the awful penalty passed upon sin : " The soul that 
 sinneth it shall die." In the midst of its ceremonial stands 
 an altar streaming with blood, a tribute at once to Re- 
 tributive Justice and to Redeeming Grace, an announce- 
 ment of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, 
 a prophecy of Christ and him crucified. But through all 
 and over all the laws and appointments of the Old Econ- 
 omy we detect the glow of the flaming mountain and the 
 sound of the trumpet waxing louder and louder, until its 
 inspired annals close with the admonition, " Lest He come 
 and smite the earth with a curse !" 
 
 How does all this commend itself to the children in the 
 market-place ? Not at all. It is quite too sombre. The 
 cry, " Repent ye," is abhorrent to them. To fall in with 
 
THE CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 39 
 
 its requirements would be like keeping step to the Dead 
 March in "Saul." They will have it that " God is Love." 
 
 Well, then, how fares the New Testament with them ? 
 Here is a book whose every page is sunlit with divine 
 love, beautiful with the ineffable virtues that shone in the 
 face of Jesus Christ. It opens with the song, " Glory to 
 God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will towards 
 men !" Here is the story of the marvellous Life ; here are 
 the discourses of One who spake as never man spake ; 
 here is the record of his merciful wonder-working. In the 
 midst of this economy stands the Cross, the token of the 
 divine overtures of mercy to guilty men. A voice cries, 
 " Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the 
 earth 1" And this book of the heavenly grace, its first 
 page vocal with the carol of angels, has its last illuminated 
 with a benediction, " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 be with you all !" 
 
 And how does this please the children of the market- 
 place ? Not in the least. The anthem of Free Grace is 
 quite too cheerful for them. Karma is now their creed, 
 the Law of Consequences : " Whatsoever a man soweth, 
 that shall he also reap." What virtue can there be, they 
 inquire, in the shedding of innocent blood ? Or what 
 value in faith? The harps and timbrels of salvation are 
 quite out of tune with their serious mood. They hold 
 themselves peevishly aloof and will not dance. 
 
 Now blend these books of the two economies together 
 into one Bible. How splendidly they blend ! Mercy and 
 Truth are here met together; Righteousness and Peace 
 have kissed each other ! Out of this paradox of fire and 
 blood comes the wondrous harmony of spiritual life. The 
 children of the market-place must not, however, be ex- 
 pected to assent to this. The paradox is to them an irre- 
 
40 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 concilable antagonism. The book is not a mosaic, but a 
 conglomerate. Whether it offer a funeral dirge or an 
 epithalamium, they decline in any case to respond to it. 
 
 But Wisdom is justified of her children. They mark 
 how the old economy develops into the new as bud into 
 blossom, as chrysalis into butterfly, as twilight into the gray 
 of morning and then into the full splendor of day. The Old 
 Dispensation and the New are the two halves of a pome- 
 granate from the King's orchard ; they are the warp and 
 woof of one heavenly fabric. Justice and Grace are God's 
 two eyes with which he looks towards the focus of salva- 
 tion, are God's two hands with which he lifts the world 
 into the glory of an endless life. Law and Gospel are the 
 two hinges on which rolls back the opening door into 
 the Father's house. 
 
 A rose-tree planted in Eden was nourished by Prov- 
 idence, cared for by angels, and watered by the tears of 
 penitents, until — putting forth the verdure of hope through 
 all the centuries — it blossomed at last on Calvary into a 
 red, red rose. 
 
 II. Let us make a further application of this thought 
 to the Church. Here is a body made up of all sorts ol 
 people having the common infirmities of the race. Not 
 one among them is perfect. Every one of them must 
 needs say, " I am not what I ought to be, I am not what 
 I would like to be, nor yet what I hope to be, but by the 
 grace of God I am what I am." 
 
 Here are many serious folk. The awfulness of sin 
 has made a profound impression upon them. They have 
 heard, ringing loud and clear from the mountain of the 
 Law, the voice of Retributive Justice. They realize that 
 the world is full of pain and remorse and shame, and that 
 it will presently be set on fire. The Judgment, " that day 
 
THE CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 41 
 
 of wrath, that awful day," is ever before them. Life is a 
 serious matter to such people and eternity is very nigh to 
 them. 
 
 How do these commend themselves to the children of 
 the market-place ? Do their critics fall in with the slow 
 measures of the miserere f Not they. Observe how 
 their comments are interlarded with references to Chad- 
 band and Pecksniff and Praise-God Barebones. 
 
 But here are merry-hearted people, too. Once they 
 sat by the highway-side, blind and friendless, and the 
 Lord came that way saying, " Receive your sight !" And 
 ever since they have been glorifying God. Why should 
 they not ? They live in a pleasant world ; the skies are 
 bright, the birds are singing, and heaven's blessing is over 
 all. They have a good conscience too ; for they have 
 done what they believed to be right in their relations with 
 God. The misspent past has been blotted out and 
 heaven's gates are opened wide before them. So they go 
 singing all the day. 
 
 And does this please the fault-finders? Not for a mo- 
 ment. They say, " If these people believed in the tre- 
 mendous truths of their religion they could not be so 
 merry." So whether we are lachrymose or cheerful, it is 
 all one. We cannot please the children in the market- 
 place. Now they cry " Aha !" and now " Oho !" They 
 will neither lament nor dance to any music which we fur- 
 nish for them. 
 
 What is the moral? Let us give little heed to the 
 voice of the fault-finder, but endeavor with all our might 
 to please God ; " not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, 
 but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from 
 the heart." He is our Lord. To him alone we stand or 
 fall. The sum total of our duty, therefore, is to strive for 
 
42 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 his approval, walking ever as under the great Taskmas- 
 ter's eye. 
 
 There are some things which are pretty well estab- 
 lished : (i.) The church, made up so heterogeneously of 
 serious and gladsome people, is not perfect. To expect 
 perfection in that quarter would betray a misapprehension 
 as to the definition of the church. It is not a company of 
 saints perfected, but of sinners saved by grace. It consists 
 not of good people, but of people who desire to be good. 
 The very reason of their banding themselves together is 
 because they are sensible of weakness. They feel their 
 need of mutual prayer and sympathy. They purpose to 
 stand by one another and help one another in the spirit- 
 ual life. It ought to be expected that their captious crit- 
 ics, professing self-dependence, should be more present- 
 able outwardly than these. For they have strength 
 enough of themselves to get along without this united 
 prayer, this fellowship of kindred minds. (2.) Nothing 
 better than the church has been developed thus far. This 
 is evidenced by the involuntary tributes which are paid by 
 outsiders to the life and character of church people. Not 
 long ago a flaming headline appeared in one of our daily 
 newspapers, "Another Deacon Gone Wrong." It 
 was a case of embezzlement. Such cases are, alas, too 
 common. But the fact that such headlines are ever seen 
 is demonstration of the general opinion as to Christian 
 life and character. Why do newspapers never fling out 
 the headline " Another Infidel Gone Wrong " ? Be- 
 cause in such case it is the expected that happens. There 
 is nothing odd in the fact of an infidel going wrong, 
 nothing sensational in that. The reporter does not care 
 for it. The reason why the world cries out against an 
 inconsistent church member is because it expects some- 
 
THE CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 43 
 
 tiling better of him. The church contains the best peo- 
 ple. No other organization since the foundation of the 
 world has ever marshalled so glorious a company of up- 
 right men and women, living for the public weal and for 
 the glory of God. (3.) The church answers its pur- 
 pose. The children of Wisdom are agreed upon that. 
 It helps men to escape from passions and evil habits. It 
 helps men to build up character. It gives them noble 
 employment in behalf of others. It encourages them to 
 hope for brighter things as the days pass on. 
 
 The church is like the Spartan phalanx in which com- 
 rades were banded together by an oath of mutual devo- 
 tion. They marched shoulder to shoulder with shields 
 overlapped. They resolutely pushed their way to vic- 
 tory, bearing the wounded aloft upon their shields, until 
 all found refuge in the citadel together. So are we pre- 
 sumed to stand by one another in this blessed fellowship 
 of the church. The joints of our harness are pierced by 
 many an arrow, but we push on, strengthened by our 
 comradeship and confidently hoping to stand some bright 
 day together in the great city of God. 
 
 III. The same thought has pertinence with respect to 
 Christ himself. Why do the children in the market- 
 place so persistently find fault with him ? 
 
 In the olden time a burgher, who was about to cast 
 his ballot against Aristides the Just, was reasoned with 
 by one who said, "What has Aristides done? Is he not 
 a wise and patriotic citizen ? Has he not devoted him- 
 self to the welfare of the State ? Is he not the Just ?" 
 " Ay," said the burgher, as he dropped the black ballot 
 into the urn, " ay, I hate him because he is the Just." 
 
 It is not difficult to see why men, from the standpoint 
 of pure reason, should take exception to the Holy Scrip- 
 
44 " THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 tures. It is easy to see how any who are so disposed 
 may find fault with church members, imperfect as they 
 are. But who shall lay anything to the charge of Jesus ? 
 The sublimest truths of our religion are but slightly ap- 
 prehended and its precepts inadequately fulfilled in the 
 best Christian life. But back of all our faults and above 
 the company of his fallible disciples stands the Perfect One. 
 There is no guile in his heart, no guile upon his lips. 
 
 In the life of the Saviour there are three episodes 
 which have been the offence of the ages. His Birth con- 
 tains the great mystery of the Incarnation. It was the 
 most delightful thing that ever happened in human his- 
 tory. Not since the original creation had the sons of God 
 so shouted for joy. But those who are disposed to find 
 fault can find nothing in this glorious event to move them 
 to participate in the merry-making of the children of God. 
 His Cross is the symbol of the Atonement. It is a stum- 
 bling-block to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks, but 
 to them who are saved the very wisdom and power of 
 God. The death on Calvary was the very saddest thing 
 that ever happened, and yet it opened the gateway into 
 the world of eternal bliss. But whether the music of the 
 gospel be a dirge or a wedding march, the children of 
 the market-place decline to keep step with it. The Open 
 Sepulchre tells of life and immortality. The earth was 
 shrouded in gloom, but all heaven rejoiced when our 
 Lord took captivity captive and ascended up on high. 
 He hath for evermore at his girdle the keys of Death and 
 of Hell. 
 
 In these incidents of the wonderful Life we note at 
 once the strength and the weakness of the glorious gospel 
 of the blessed God. Its weakness is due to the perverse- 
 ness of the human heart. But the children of Wis- 
 
THE CHILDREN IN THE MARKET-PLACE. 45 
 
 dom are strengthened by it with all might in the inner 
 man. 
 
 There is an ever increasing multitude of such as see in 
 Christ Jesus the chiefest among ten thousand, the One 
 altogether lovely. To them He is the very unveiling of 
 the person of God. We cannot know God except as we 
 make his acquaintance in Jesus Christ. In him the bright- 
 ness of the noonday sun is adjusted to the sensitiveness 
 of human eyes. He is also the ideal man, the only one 
 who ever lived a perfect life. He is for all ages and gen- 
 erations the exemplar of character, without spot or blem- 
 ish or any such thing, and worthy therefore to be called 
 par excellence the Son of man. He is, moreover, a Sa- 
 viour. No other has ever proposed to rescue a sin- 
 stricken world from the bondage of sin ; no other has 
 ever claimed to avert the lifted sword of the broken 
 Law. 
 
 While John Huss was in prison awaiting his execution 
 he covered the walls of his cell with the name of Jesus. 
 One night he dreamed that black devils obliterated it 
 and went their way. But again a company of angels 
 came and wrote the Name and its praises in letters of 
 blood and colors of fire and said as they vanished, 
 " Now let them efface it !" All along history the good 
 Lord has been writing his wonderful gospel in ever 
 deeper and more enduring characters. An innumerable 
 company have risen up to call him blessed. His glory 
 brightens with every rising sun. As Renan said, "All 
 ages will proclaim that none has been born greater than 
 Jesus among the children of men." 
 
 The reason why our Lord and Saviour is rejected is 
 because men do not look him frankly in the face. Two 
 travellers sat in a railway car discussing the character of 
 
46 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 Christ. One said, " I think an interesting romance could 
 be written about him." The other replied, " And you 
 are just the man to write it. Set forth the correct 
 view of Jesus. Tear down the prevailing - sentiments as 
 to his divineness. Paint him as he was, a glorious man." 
 The suggestion was acted upon; the book was written. 
 The man who made the suggestion was Robert G. In- 
 gersoll ; the book is Ben-Hur ; the writer was Gen. Lew. 
 Wallace. In the process of constructing the book he 
 was required to study the life and character of Jesus and, 
 as he studied, he was convinced of his divine personality. 
 So must any man who will frankly look upon the face of 
 the Nazarene be at last humbled before him, and forced 
 to cry, " My Lord and my God !" 
 
LET US GO ON. 47 
 
 LET US GO ON. 
 
 " Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us 
 go on unto perfection." Heb. 6:1. 
 
 We are fond of saying in these times that Christianity- 
 is a life. If by this we mean that Christianity is adverse 
 or superior to dogma, the aphorism is perniciously false. 
 But there is a definite sense in which it is true. Christian- 
 ity is a doctrinal and ethical system abiding in the soul 
 and expressing itself in walk and conversation. It is 
 preeminently a living thing. It is a creed going about 
 doing good. 
 
 The evidence of the life of Christianity isjn its neces- 
 sity of growth. All organic things are under the same 
 law. A stone differs from a plant. The stone receives 
 accretions from without ; the plant is wrought upon and 
 developed by an internal principle. Thus a man differs 
 from a mummy. One wails in a mother's arms for a time, 
 creeps, toddles, walks upon his feet, breaks from his lead- 
 ing-strings, and hurries over the threshold into youth, 
 and from youth to vigorous manhood. But the mummy 
 of old Rameses looks at you through the glass doors of 
 the Boolak Museum just as it looked at the wailing 
 mourners who carried it past the Pyramids to its burial 
 four thousand years ago. 
 
 The man whose spiritual nature has come into contact 
 with the supernatural Source and Centre of life is thrilled 
 with a vital principle as really as if God had touched him 
 with an electric spark. And thenceforth, by virtue of the 
 
48 " THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 communication of that spiritual life, the necessity of un- 
 ceasing- growth is upon him. 
 
 This thought pervades the Scriptures. The Old Testa-, 
 ment is full of it. Life is structural. The chiefest thing- 
 is edification — temple-building — the soul rising into a glo- 
 rious fabric fit for the indwelling of the Spirit of God. 
 The teachings of Christ are pervaded by it. The king- 
 dom of heaven, that is, righteousness in the soul, is like 
 the leaven which a woman put in three measures of meal, 
 and behold the whole lump was leavened. And again, 
 the kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard- 
 seed which a man took and sowed in his field ; which in- 
 deed is the least of all seeds, but when it is grown it is 
 the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the 
 birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. 
 The philosophy of St. Paul would be as dry as a summer 
 heath without this thought, " We are bound to thank God 
 always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your 
 faith groweth exceedingly." 
 
 So here. Paul is writing to the Diaspora, the Jews 
 scattered abroad. They had been bound in the fetters of 
 the ceremonial law and blinded by prejudice against the 
 spiritual worship of the true God. Christ came with his 
 wonder-working power and they arose in newness of life. 
 Their chains were broken, their eyes were opened, the 
 song of salvation thrilled on their lips. Just then came 
 the great danger, the danger of standing still. The word 
 of the apostle is like a trumpet-call : Let us go on. 
 Leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go 
 on unto perfection !" 
 
 By leaving the principles or principia he did not mean 
 that they were to forsake, renounce, or forget them. 
 Principles are never to be renounced. They were to leave 
 
LET US GO ON. 
 
 49 
 
 them as the plant leaves its root, piercing the crust of 
 earth, seeking the sun's warmth, putting forth verdure, 
 and blooming in beauty. They were to leave the princi- 
 ples of the gospel as the brook leaves the mountain spring, 
 leaping from shelf to shelf, winding in and out to irrigate 
 the growing fields, increasing in volume as it murmurs on, 
 turning the wheels of industry, and bearing at length upon 
 the majestic bosom of the river the commerce of die world. 
 
 What are these principles ? 
 
 I. _Salvatio?i. The apostle entreats these people not 
 to lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works 
 and faith towards God. Repentance and faith are the 
 negative and the positive side of salvation or deliverance 
 from sin. With these begins the Christian life. But how 
 many there are who linger here, spending weary hours in 
 self-examination, doubting as to the validity of their hope, 
 sadly questioning, 
 
 " Oft it causes anxious thought, 
 Am I His or am I not?" 
 
 What fretting and worrying about " assurance " ! I know 
 of no assurance except the assurance of faith, and " faith is 
 the evidence of things not seen." Our hope of salvation 
 rests upon an absolute trust in God. He hath said, " He 
 that liveth and believeth in me shall never die." The secret 
 of assurance is in taking him at his word. A sure cure 
 for doubt and despondency is to get down upon one's 
 knees and do there again the first works, surrendering in- 
 stantly to Christ, instantly and unconditionally. Then arise 
 and trust him. Do not keep pumping out the hold for 
 ever. Stop the leak and sail on. 
 
 Salvation is more than mere deliverance from death. 
 It is a great word and means, in its fulness, an entire con- 
 
 4 
 
50 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 fortuity to God. Salvation means not repentance and 
 faith only, but all the graces of character. Salvation 
 means perfection. Wherefore the apostle says, " Work 
 out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Work 
 it out, out to its uttermost results, out to its splendid ful- 
 filment, out to its glorious consummation. 
 
 The old fathers of art, with scarcely an exception, did 
 their best when working on the statues of their gods. 
 One might carve a laughing child or a sporting satyr, 
 but when he wrought his masterpiece he must needs get 
 his model and his inspiration from the Olympiad — a Jupi- 
 ter Tonans or a Venus rising from the sea. We also do 
 our very best when copying, not human models, but the 
 glorious Son of God. He is our Exemplar, and to imi- 
 tate him is to be ever growing towards the full stature of 
 a man. We soar highest when working out to its perfec- 
 tion the godlikeness which is implanted in us. 
 
 II. Belief. Our creed is one of those principia which 
 we are to~Teave in going on unto perfection. At the be- 
 ginning of the Christian life we receive certain fundamen- 
 tals as true. They form the very basis of our profession : 
 " I believe in God, the Father Almighty ; I believe in 
 Jesus Christ, who was born of a woman, crucified for me, 
 and in his resurrection brought life and immortality to 
 light ; I believe in the Scriptures as the only infallible rule 
 of faith and practice." In war times if a man breathed a 
 word against the Constitution of the United States it was 
 proof positive of disloyalty. He was in danger of Fort 
 Lafayette. He was pointed at as he walked along the street. 
 The man who questions the authority of the Scriptures, 
 which are the constitution of the Christian life, has reason 
 to investigate his loyalty. For in entering upon his 
 Christian confession he professed to believe that the 
 
LET US GO ON. 5 1 
 
 court of last appeal in matters of faith and conduct is 
 the Word of God. 
 
 These things are received as postulates ; if they are 
 not so received we have not really entered upon the 
 Christian life at all. In fact, however, a multitude of us 
 are all the while questioning as to the existence of God 
 and the divine work of Jesus and the trustworthiness of 
 the Scriptures, and so are " ever learning and never able 
 to come to the knowledge of the truth." 
 
 O men and women, let us leave the rudiments and go 
 on unto perfection ! There are vast realms of truth before 
 us, but we shall never explore them so long as we insist 
 upon going around and around the old doctrines which 
 in all good reason should have been settled at the outset. 
 Multitudes of Christians are threshing old straw while the 
 yellow sheaves of truth lie all about them untouched. 
 
 The troubles in the church as well as in the individual 
 Christian life are largely due to this tedious discussion of 
 long-settled truths. At this moment there is scarcely a 
 denomination which is not fretted by logomachies as to 
 baptism or the laying on of hands, or as to problems of 
 eschatology or the inspiration of the Word. If young 
 people were to pursue their education along such lines 
 they would never get beyond b-a ba k-e-r ker, baker. 
 
 There was a time when Alfred Tennyson was a lad in 
 bib and tucker and played with alphabet-blocks as other 
 lads do, building bridges and forts and cathedrals ; but as 
 time passed the larger tasks of life summoned him. He 
 left his alphabet, not renouncing it, but passing on to the 
 practical uses and applications of it. His A, B, C grew 
 into the "Idylls of the King" and "In Memoriam. ,, 
 When the supreme moment came it would have been a 
 strange thing if the Laureate, dying there in the moonlight, 
 
52 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 had still been fumbling his building-blocks. But no, he 
 died with great thoughts in his brain and the open page 
 of "Cymbeline" before him. "When I was a child I 
 spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a 
 child; but uhen I became a man I put away childish 
 things." 
 
 The time for us to determine upon the fundamen- 
 tals is when we stand upon the threshold. That crossed, 
 we pass on to ulterior conquests in the realm of spiritual 
 and eternal truth. Ne Plus Ultra was the legend on 
 the Pillars of Hercules. Ne plus ultra ? Nay, rather — 
 Plus Ultra for ever and ever. There is always more 
 beyond. The beyond is the illimitable. Let us not go 
 cruising around the fringes of the Mediterranean, but 
 turn our prows towards the Pillars of Hercules and sail 
 out towards the west. 
 
 \l\. JDutXi— The rudimental questions of ethics are 
 among these principles which we are to leave in order 
 that we may go on unto perfection. There are three rules 
 of conduct which are settled at the beginning of the Chris- 
 tian life. These are : 
 
 (i.) I must do nothing knowingly to offend God. 
 
 (2.) I must do nothing to wrong myself. 
 
 (3.) I must do nothing that will be an occasion of 
 stumbling for my fellow-men. 
 
 These are the touchstones by which we determine most 
 of the questions that arise in common life. How much of 
 our time and energy are spent in simple questions of cas- 
 uistry which these rules should determine in the twinkling 
 of an eye — questions as to certain darling sins, old habits, 
 eating and drinking, and as to the rhythmical movements 
 of our nether limbs. A jeweller's clerk who has served his 
 apprenticeship long enough to tell gold from pinchbeck at 
 
LET US GO ON. 53 
 
 a glance needs not get down his acid-bottle every time a 
 customer brings in a brooch or earring. The question 
 settles itself in an instant when he sees it. So should our 
 common questions of conscience, and so would they if we 
 had not fallen into the habit of trifling with them. 
 
 Oh let us go on ! let us leave the principles and go 
 on unto perfection. Life is too large and momentous to 
 be spent in such small questionings. The growing boy 
 outgrows his clothes. The best proof that a man is advan- 
 cing in the spiritual life is that he has gotten beyond the 
 routine of small scruples and has entered upon the more 
 earnest responsibilities of the kingdom of God. 
 
 Duty is the great matter. Duty is the sum total 
 of Christian service. Duty is ethical purpose in perfec- 
 tion. Let us go on unto it. When Saul of Tarsus asked 
 of the Lord, "What wilt thou have me to do?" he did 
 not mean, " May I visit the stadium exhibitions as I have 
 been accustomed to do ? May I mingle in the Isthmian 
 games ? May I continue to be a Jewish zealot haling 
 Christians to judgment and death ?" These things had 
 all been instantly disposed of. What he meant was, 
 " In the new world of usefulness, which this sun-burst of 
 heaven has opened before me, where wilt thou have me 
 to go, Lord, and what shall I do ?" 
 
 To be for ever engaged in the round of ethical ques- 
 tionings as to the right and the wrong, of the small affairs 
 of life is a task as fruitless as that of the Danaides, who 
 were doomed to draw v/ater from a deep well and fill an 
 immense^ sieve with it. This is the pain of minimum 
 piety which keeps us for ever doing the same things over 
 and over with nothing to show for it. O beloved, let us 
 go on to the larger tasks of the kingdom of God. Duty 
 is, to do with truth and righteousness whatever, in the 
 
54 " THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 providence of God, is laid upon us. The world lieth in 
 darkness ; go thou with a flaming torch and help to illu- 
 minate it ! The fields are yellow unto the harvest ; thrust 
 in thy sickle and reap! Souls are waiting to be saved; 
 go thou and bring them back to God ! 
 
 A few words of closing counsel. 
 
 First. Begin. There is no growth in life unless you 
 have gotten hold of the principles. You must leave them 
 to seek things beyond. The difference between a Chris- 
 tian and a non-Christian is the difference between a man 
 plodding to Jerusalem with staff in hand and another 
 man who hopes to go to Jerusalem but who has not 
 started out. 
 
 Second. Be ambitious to make the most of yourself, to 
 do the most for God. We have only one life here ; let 
 us realize the utmost possibilities of it. The children of 
 Israel might have gone straight from Egypt into the 
 promised land, but alas, they were hindered by their sins 
 and murmurings, and went round and round by the way 
 of the wilderness for forty long years. So we go lusting 
 for quails and making golden calves for ourselves and 
 dancing around them. Canaan is just yonder. I hear 
 the rushing flood of Jordan. I see the palm-trees wa- 
 ving on the farther shore. Let us hasten on and possess 
 the land. 
 
 Third. Do not be discouraged. Rome was not built 
 in a day. Character is a slow growth. He that believeth 
 shall not make haste. Digging up a newly planted bulb 
 is not going to hasten the blooming of the lily. The 
 kingdom of God cometh not with observation. The day 
 does not break instantly. A beam — an arrow of light 
 shooting aloft — a deepening glow — the lifting of darkness 
 like the lifting of a veil, the stars vanishing one by one 
 
LET US GO ON. 55 
 
 like quenched candles — the scattering of shadows like 
 panic-stricken ghosts — the clouds changing from black to 
 gray, from gray to amber, from amber to glorious crim- 
 son, from crimson to burning gold — the red dawn creeping 
 upward like a flush over a human face — the woodman's 
 axe ringing from the forest on yonder hill — the smoke 
 rising from the chimney in the meadow beneath — the dew 
 sparkling on the grass — the flowers swinging their cen- 
 sers — the birds singing — sounds of busy life coming from 
 afar — at last, at last, the world is awake ! So is the 
 progress of righteousness in the soul — it shineth brighter 
 and brighter unto the perfect day. 
 
 And then, passing through the gates of heaven we 
 shall still be going on, going on to larger measures of 
 perfection in truth and character. There is no solstice 
 there. " We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the 
 glory of the Lord, shall be changed into the same image 
 from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 
 Let us go on! 
 
56 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 A SENSATIONAL GOSPEL. 
 
 " It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that 
 believe." i Cor. 1:21. 
 
 In the divine economy it has been determined that 
 preaching — the foolishness of preaching — should be the 
 instrument for the conversion of the world. Why not the 
 sword ? Because God's thoughts are not as our thoughts. 
 When earthly kings resolve on conquest we hear the 
 marshalling of the hosts, the sound of the hammer in the 
 ship-yards, the trumpet-blast. But when God goeth 
 forth, conquering and to conquer, he gathers around him 
 a company of fishermen and other humble folk and bids 
 them go armed only with the "Sword of the Spirit" 
 which is the Word of God. 
 
 When Jesus stood in the midst of his little group of 
 followers, none of them rich or learned or influential, and 
 said, " Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to 
 every creature," princes and priests did not tremble, for 
 none dreamed that in the fulfilment of that prophetic com- 
 mand all thrones and oracles should be overturned and 
 the cords of the tabernacle of Jesus should be extended 
 from the river to the ends of the earth. Yet so it is. 
 This foolishness of preaching is in reality the very wisdom 
 and power of God. The truths of the gospel rightly 
 presented must of necessity find their way to heart and 
 conscience. What need of adventitious helps or resorts 
 to sensationalism, so called, save to that which rests in 
 the intrinsic power of the truth ? They are ruled out. 
 
A SENSATIONAL GOSPEL. 57 
 
 First, se?isational themes ; that is, such as have no im- 
 mediate bearing on the soul's eternal welfare. 
 
 Second, sensational methods, the methods of a mitred 
 mountebank who 
 
 " Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven 
 As make the angels weep." 
 
 Third, the sejisationalism of mere rhetoric ; choice 
 words, rounded periods with no practical helpfulness in 
 them, no message from the Throne. 
 
 "Water, water, everywhere! 
 
 And all the boards did shrink. 
 Water, water, everywhere, 
 And not a drop to drink !" 
 
 Fourth, the sensationalism of heresy. The cheapest 
 popularity in these times is to be won by repudiating the 
 symbols which were solemnly espoused in the ordination 
 vow. The crowd runs together to see a man strike his 
 mother church in the breast. A breach of common hon- 
 esty in the pulpit will win immediate applause from those 
 who are not in cordial sympathy with truth and righteous- 
 ness. But the man who resorts to this sensational device 
 is neither a worthy minister nor an honest man. 
 
 The gospel is in itself sensational to the last degree, if 
 it be worthily preached. Its truths are tremendous in 
 their import and take hold upon the innermost fibres of 
 the soul. Dulness in the pulpit is intolerable. It can 
 only be accounted for on the assumption that the preacher 
 has not apprehended his theme. " Why is it," said a 
 clergyman to David Garrick, " that you draw the multi- 
 tudes while I preach to empty pews ?" " Because," re- 
 plied the actor, " I set forth fiction as if it were true, while 
 you preach the truth as if it were fiction." We in the 
 
58 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 ministry need to be more and more drenched by the real- 
 ity of gospel truth. When the saintly Summerfield was 
 dying he said, " Oh ! now if I could return to my pulpit 
 but for an hour, how I could preach, for I have looked 
 into eternity !" Would that God might give us clear eyes 
 to see those things which, being unseen, are most real 
 and eternal. How then could we preach ! No need then 
 of the vanity of adventitious helps. We should then be 
 able to set forth burning thoughts in breathing words and 
 bring our people face to face with the solemnities and pro- 
 fundities of the gospel of Christ. In our seminary course 
 we theological students were taught to divide truth under 
 three heads, to wit: Theology, Anthropology, Soteriol- 
 ogy. These comprehended the sum and substance of the 
 Christian System. Each of these divisions of doctrine 
 has in it such possibilities of interest and conviction that 
 we who preach them are without excuse if they do not 
 find their way to the centre of the hearts of men. 
 
 I. Theology, i. e., the science of God. 
 
 God ! ! a great word. A word of three letters only, 
 but of infinite dimensions ; easy to say, but how difficult 
 to apprehend ! " Canst thou by searching find out God?" 
 Our work is to bring him near to the hearts and con- 
 sciences of the people, to make God real. It is ours to 
 declare the contents of the Name. 
 
 (i.) God essential. Try to define him. Here is 
 the best definition that ever was formulated : " God is a 
 Spirit (what is spirit?), infinite (what is infinitude?), eter- 
 nal (eternity!), unchangeable (how can we grasp immu- 
 tability?), in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, 
 goodness, and truth." We attempt to simplify the great 
 mystery, and lo, a new mystery is contained in every word. 
 Turn your telescope towards the farthest nebula in infinite 
 
A SENSATIONAL GOSPEL. 59 
 
 space, and lo, from far yonder comes back the word, 
 " Canst thou by searching find out God ?" Turn your 
 microscope upon the last reduction of life, protoplasm, 
 primordial germ, and out of that comes a faint whisper, 
 " Canst thou by searching find out God ?" 
 
 (2.) God personal. It is ours to bring God near to 
 the people. Sir John Franklin relates that when trying 
 to persuade a tribe of Esquimaux of the divine presence 
 and interest, the chief answered him, " There may be a 
 God, but he surely knows nothing about us. Behold our 
 poverty, our rude homes, our tattered garments ! Behold 
 yon icy crags ! There may be such a being as you men- 
 tion ; but if so, he is surely afar off." It devolves upon 
 us to let the people know that our God is a real person- 
 ality, with eyes to see our pain and sorrow, with a heart to 
 pity and mighty arms to help. 
 
 (3.) God paternal. It was observed by Madame de 
 Gasparin that if Jesus had done nothing in his earthly 
 ministry but to teach men how to say " Our Father, which 
 art in heaven," that would have been abundant compen- 
 sation for the vast outlay involved in his dwelling among 
 men. 
 
 Thus to declare the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable 
 One is surely a work that should enlist our utmost enthu- 
 siasm and insure us against the least possibility of dul- 
 ness. Ours is the glorious work to help the people to find 
 God and apprehend him. Do you remember Moses' 
 " call to the ministry " and how it came to him ? He was 
 out in the wilderness of Horeb, a fugitive from his people 
 and from duty. While following Jethro's flocks amid the 
 solitudes he saw an acacia-bush on fire. He drew nigh, 
 wondering. The flames leaped through the bush, yet not 
 a leaf was shrivelled, not a twie was burned I As he won- 
 
60 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 dered a voice said, " Draw not hither; put off thy sanaafs; 
 the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." He 
 reverently bowed his head ; it had come at last, " I am the 
 God of thy fathers." He was afraid to look or to utter a 
 word. " I am come down to deliver my people. Come 
 now, I will send thee." " Who am I," he cried, "that I 
 should go ?" " I will be with thee." " What is thy 
 name ?" " Go say unto them, Jehovah (I Am That I 
 Am) hath sent thee unto them." This was his call. 
 
 He went. He gathered the elders and told them about 
 Jehovah. He assembled the people, and with signs and 
 wonders showed them that Jehovah is God. He made his 
 way to the Egyptian court and presented his demand : 
 " Thus saith Jehovah, Let my people go." And Pharaoh 
 replied with a derisive smile, "Jehovah? I know Isis, I 
 know Osiris, I know all the gods of Egypt ; but who, pray, 
 is this Jehovah ?" And Moses said, " I will declare him 
 unto thee. Thou believest in the Nile-god, in the holy 
 Scarabseus, in the Frog-headed One, in Apis, in the divine 
 Leek, in all forms of adorable life; but Jehovah will prove 
 himself the master of all the gods." He waved his rod, 
 and the Nile was a rolling torrent of blood ; he waved 
 again, and frogs came up from the water-side into their 
 ovens, their kncading-troughs, their bed-chambers. Once 
 more, and the air was full of gnats and beetles. They 
 should have enough of holy Scarabaeus ! Again, and a 
 murrain fell upon the cattle ; lo, Apis was put to shame ! 
 Again, and destruction rained down upon fields of wheat 
 and the gardens of leeks and onions. Yet once more, 
 and the homes of Egypt sent forth a mighty wail for the 
 dead. " I Am That I Am " thus proved himself Lord of 
 Life and of Death. At last Pharaoh bowed his head, con- 
 vinced that Jehovah alone is God. 
 
A SENSATIONAL GOSPEL. 6 1 
 
 This too is our commission, to let rulers and people 
 know that Jehovah reigns and will have his way among 
 the children of men. 
 
 II. Anthropology, that is, the science of man. 
 
 We do not know ourselves. It is a .true saying, " The 
 proper study of mankind is man." It devolves upon us 
 to make the people see themselves, not " as ithers see 
 them," but as they are and as they appear in the clear 
 sight of God. In so doing we shall find ourselves at no 
 loss for material to enchain the attention. There is no 
 room for dulness here. 
 
 (i.) We are to throw upon the canvas the picture of 
 man as God created him. He breathed into his nostrils 
 the breath of life, and he became a living soul. He made 
 him a little lower than God. Here he is under the trees 
 of Paradise, his heart full of happiness, conscience clear as 
 the sunlight ; he walks with God in the cool of the day. 
 He has kingly dominion over all the creatures. What a 
 splendid heritage is his ! What a glorious outlook is be- 
 fore him ! 
 
 (2.) We are to throw upon the canvas another pic- 
 ture — of man exiled from Paradise, sent out into a wilder- 
 ness of toil and sorrow, his head fallen on his breast, 
 his heart full of shame, his conscience smitten with re- 
 morse, tottering on towards the Valley of the Shadow of 
 Death. 
 
 Man, lost and ruined ; on his brow one word, Icha- 
 bod — the glory hath departed ! 
 
 (3.) We are to throw upon the canvas another pic- 
 ture — a spectre black as midnight — Sin. 
 
 It was sin that wrought the awful calamity. Sin has 
 dug every grave. Sin has unsheathed every sword that 
 has ever been flashed upon a battlefield. Sin has desola- 
 
62 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 ted homes, corrupted social life, and ruined governments. 
 Sin bloats the face of youth and scars its beauty with foul 
 traces of lust and inebriety. Sin dethrones the proudest 
 intellects and sets the maddened soul on fire of hell. Sin 
 sharpened the dagger that pierced the heart of the Only 
 Begotten Son of God. 
 
 It is easy to preach smooth things. The multitudes 
 demand them (Isa. 30:10), but we must turn not aside. 
 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet 
 and show the people their sin — sin, and death following 
 after. Not sin in the abstract, not sin floating in the air 
 like the breath of a pestilence or exhaling like miasma 
 from the slums, but sin abiding in human hearts and 
 making itself manifest in human lives — sin in you and in 
 me. 
 
 So the call came to Nathan, " Go show David his sin." 
 The king had committed a dreadful offence. He had 
 murdered Uriah and taken Bathsheba to wife. He had 
 kept his crime in his own breast, but his soul was troubled. 
 Over the blue skies, where once he loved to read the 
 divine glory, was written — Murder ! The winds that 
 whistled round his palace shrieked — Adultery ! In the 
 watches of the night he saw in letters of fire on the dark 
 walls of his chamber — Uriah ! And when he knelt in 
 prayer, voices called to him from the corners of his 
 closet — Bathsheba ! In the temple the hosannas and hal- 
 lelujahs of the great choirs had an undertone like a wail 
 of sorrow that reminded him of his dreadful sin. 
 
 The court preacher entered. After a respectful salu- 
 tation he laid before the king a case for judgment, a 
 trifling affair yet worthy of the royal attention. " A poor 
 man had one little ewe lamb. It was dear as a daughter, 
 ate of his food and drank of his cup. His rich neighbor 
 
A SENSATIONAL GOSPEL. 63 
 
 had many flocks and herds, but when his hospitality was 
 needed he spared to take of his own possessions and 
 seized upon the ewe lamb." Thus far when the king in- 
 terrupted him, "As the Lord liveth, the man that hath 
 done this thing shall surely die !" The moment has come. 
 A sermon is a thrust. Draw thy blade, O prophet of the 
 Lord ! " Thou art the man !" 
 
 The iron enters into David's soul; he sees himself 
 stripped of purple and ermine, a sinner before God. Up 
 the winding stairway he staggers to his closet on the 
 house-top, the face of Uriah staring into his — a cold, reso- 
 lute, brave face. He bends in his closet, and from every 
 nook and cranny the filmed eyes of the dead Uriah are 
 gazing at him. He kneels — listen at his door : " Have 
 mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving-kind- 
 ness ; according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies 
 blot out my transgressions. For I acknowledge my 
 transgressions ; and my sin is ever before me. Against 
 thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in thy 
 sight." 
 
 This is the tremendous fact which we are to declare to 
 our people— we are all alike and there is no difference ; 
 we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. 
 In our brain, our conscience, our heart, is the black 
 plague-spot of sin. 
 
 To preach this as it ought to be preached is of neces- 
 sity to touch men at the very core of their being. If we 
 did but apprehend the truth in its reality we should preach 
 it with such effect as was seen when Jonathan Edwards 
 spoke of "sinners in the hands of an angry God," when 
 men and women cried out in their anguish of conviction 
 and clung for support to the pillars of the church. No 
 need of adventitious helps to win attention. No room for 
 
64 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 dulness here, if only we have ourselves realized the ex- 
 ceeding sinfulness of sin. Rom. 7: 13. 
 
 III. Soteriology , i. e., the science of salvation. This 
 is the third link in the gospel chain of reconciliation with 
 God. The substance of the gospel is perfectly compre- 
 hended in three startling truths : 
 
 (1.) The Incarnation. Great is the mystery of god- 
 liness'; God was manifested in the flesh! We are to 
 stand at the threshold of the stable in Bethlehem and 
 bring to the knowledge of our people this wondrous 
 adumbration of Deity. Here are heard the songs of 
 angels, the laughter of children, the joy of those who 
 have been groping for the Infinite. Here all the sons of 
 God are shouting for joy. Who does not covet the 
 privilege of him who stands here to usher sorrowing, be- 
 wildered souls into the presence of the enfleshed God ? 
 
 (2.). The Atonement. All souls are asking, " What 
 shall we do to be saved?" All are desiring to know how 
 man may be reconciled with God. We preach the re- 
 demptive glory of the cross. We cry, "Look, and 
 live!" 
 
 A poor demented creature, a fisherman's wife, came to 
 the minister with her hands full of wet sand, saying, " Do 
 you see it ? Oh my sins ! as the sands of the sea-shore 
 for multitude, as the sands of the sea-shore !" " Where 
 did you get it?" said he. " Down by the beacon." " Go 
 down by the beacon and put it there. Dig deep and pile 
 up as high as ever you can. Wait until the tide rolls in." 
 She went down by the beacon, heaped up the sand, and 
 stood waiting. She watched the waves as they crept 
 higher and higher until they swept over her sins, and she 
 clapped her hands for joy. It was a pantomime of the 
 glorious truth. Oh, beloved, the tide, the crimson tide, 
 
A SENSATIONAL GOSPEL. 65 
 
 rolls in ! Here under the cross we preach the gospel of 
 Redemptive Love. The tide rolls in ; " It cleanseth me, 
 it cleanseth me ; oh praise the Lord, it cleanseth me !" 
 
 (3.) The Resurrection. Life and immortality are 
 brought to light. The darkest night the world ever saw 
 was when Jesus lay in his sepulchre. The Sun of Right- 
 eousness was eclipsed. But the brightest dawn was when 
 he broke the bands of death and ascended up on high and 
 took captivity captive. Here at the open sepulchre we 
 stand pointing to the open heavens whither he has gone. 
 Lo, yonder the keys of death and hell are at his girdle, 
 and the seal of divine indorsement is put upon his media- 
 torial work. Here is comfort for all who mourn. Here 
 is courage for all who tremble before the King of Terrors. 
 Here is the triumph of heavenly grace. Why need I 
 fear? 
 
 " The world recedes, it disappears ; 
 
 Heaven opens on mine eyes ! Mine ears 
 
 With sounds seraphic ring. 
 Lend ! lend your wings ! I mount ! I fly ! 
 O grave, where is thy victory ? 
 
 O death, where is thy sting?" 
 
 What splendid opportunities of enchaining the atten- 
 tion and capturing the hearts of men ! We stand as did 
 the sentinel upon the wall of Orleans when reinforcements 
 came. The walls had been breached and shattered, the 
 people were reduced to the last extremity. The old 
 priest, Anianus, was praying in their midst. From the 
 ramparts came the cry, " I see the rescue of the Lord !" 
 It was only a cloud far yonder on the hills. Nearer and 
 nearer it came. " I see the glistening of spears, I see the 
 waving of the Gothic banners !" The cloud drew nearer 
 from the distance; it was the squadron of Theodoric. 
 
 5 
 
66 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 The people were saved. Oh, beloved, it is ours to stand 
 upon the outer ramparts of death and announce the " Res- 
 cue of the Lord." The banners are waving, the shields 
 of heaven aglow with the morning light, heaven is opened, 
 hosannas and hallelujahs are all around us. 
 
 These are the glorious truths which we are commis- 
 sioned to declare unto you. Pray for us that our lips 
 may be touched with a live coal from the heavenly altar. 
 (Isa. 6.6.) Pray for us that our hearts may be filled 
 with the glory of the truth. Pray for us that the vision of 
 the burning bush may be vouchsafed to us. And pray 
 for yourselves, beloved, that your hearts may be opened 
 to receive the truth. For though we spake with the 
 tongues of angels, yet our utterances would be vain unless 
 the bolts were drawn and the doors opened to receive 
 the message of truth. Spiritual things are spiritually dis- 
 cerned. Oh, Holy Ghost, come and prepare the way 
 before the truth ! Force its passage through barriers 
 which sin has heaped up before it. Help us to hearken. 
 Give us the hearing ear and the understanding heart. 
 For if this everlasting gospel is true at all it is awfully, 
 eternally, divinely true. So help us to receive it, for Je- 
 sus' sake. Amen. 
 
CHARACTER-BUILDING. 6j 
 
 CHARACTER-BUILDING. 
 
 " For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is 
 Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, 
 silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work 
 shall be made manifest ; for the day shall declare it, because 
 it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's 
 work of what sort it is." i Cor. 3:11-13. 
 
 In my hand is a letter addressed by a college student 
 to his mother, in which he says : 
 
 " I want your advice upon the comprehensive subject of char- 
 acter-building. I wish mine to be built right, but I fear I do 
 not know how to go about it. It is not enough to avoid putting 
 in poor material ; the edifice cannot rise rapidly or well unless 
 good material is put in. And I don't know just what quarries 
 to visit in search of this, nor, more important still, how to get it 
 from the quarries and apply it to my needs. Perhaps it is be- 
 cause my needs are" as yet rather vague and undefined, for I 
 have never thought much on this matter until recently. What 
 shall I do ? Where shall I go ?" 
 
 A youth who can write in this manner is surely not far 
 from the kingdom of God. It is written of the young 
 ruler who ran to prostrate himself before Jesus that he 
 asked, " What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life ?" 
 and Jesus, beholding him, loved him. The heart of the 
 Master ever goes out to an earnest young man. The 
 world is so full of youth who are chasing thistle-down that 
 one who seriously confronts the problems of eternal life is 
 worthy ol profound consideration. Nor could any ques- 
 tion be of more serious import than this of character- 
 building. "Where shall I go? and what shall I do?" 
 
63 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 Our life is structural. That the apostle Paul so re- 
 garded it may be learned from his frequent use of the 
 words edify and edification, the etymological meaning of 
 which is " house-building." We are each building a 
 house to dwell in — to dwell in for ever. Character is the 
 enduring thing. " Thou delightest my heart," said the 
 Emperor Augustus to Piso, who was rearing a splendid 
 edifice of marble, " because thou art building as if Rome 
 were eternal." We build for eternity. As the tree fall- 
 eth, so shall it lie. As death leaves us, eternity finds us. 
 Over the portal through which we pass out of probation 
 into destiny is written, " He that is unjust, let him be 
 unjust still; he that is righteous, let him be righteous 
 still." So we build for eternity, for weal or woe, a 
 thatched hut, fit only for bats and vermin to revel in, or a 
 sanctuary that shall resound with hallelujahs. 
 
 St. Paul is writing to the Corinthians. Corinth was a 
 cuv of striking contrasts, of vast wealth and sordid pov- 
 erty. The abject multitudes dwelt in " ergastula," straw 
 huts and hovels; but there were multitudes ol palatial 
 homes. The palace of the Proconsul was there, the Posi- 
 donium, or Temple of Neptune, and the magnificent thea- 
 tre for the Isthmian games. So the people who dwelt in 
 Corinth would understand the apostle's architectural fig- 
 ure, ''we are building." We are building in our quietest 
 hours ; the still moments of our life have in them the plot 
 of eternal dramas. Let us build well. 
 
 I. As to the foundation. Let us make no mistake here. 
 It makes a vast difference what we build on. The Lord 
 tells us of two shepherds who led their flocks down by 
 the water courses and sought for a suitable place whereon 
 to build their watch-huts. One selected a place by the 
 river-side where the herbage was green and easy of access. 
 
CHARACTER-BUILDING. 69 
 
 The other, more prudent, preferred a shelf of the rock. 
 Every handful of straw for its thatching must be carried 
 up a toilsome path. It would be a difficult matter, more- 
 over, to fold his flocks at eventide. But presently the 
 stormy season was at hand ; the rains descended, the floods 
 came, the winds blew and beat upon his house, but it ftll 
 not. He stood in his doorway and saw the torrent roll 
 through the wady below — with infinite but vain compas- 
 sion saw it sweep away his neighbor's house to utter ruin. 
 Oh yes, it makes a difference what a man builds on. 
 
 The foundation is already laid for us. " Other foun- 
 dation can no man lay than is laid, which is Jesus Christ," 
 the Rock of Ages. 
 
 And what is it to build on Christ? It is not merely 
 to receive his teachings by an intellectual assent. The 
 learned Grotius, who had taught theology all his life, 
 lamented at the last that truth had taken no vital grip 
 upon his heart. It is not to receive Christ sentimentally. 
 To be a Christian is something vastly other than merely 
 to rhapsodize about the Lord or to sing " All hail the 
 power of Jesus' name !" Nor is it merely to enroll our- 
 selves upon the roster of the Christian Church, for there 
 will be multitudes who at the last shall knock, saying, 
 "Lord, Lord, open unto us. We have cast out devils 
 in thy name, and in thy name done many wonderful 
 works ;" but he shall say, " I never knew you : depart 
 from me, ye that work iniquity." 
 
 To build on Jesus Christ is to receive him in such a 
 manner that our lives shall be blended in his and we shall 
 be able to say, " I am crucified with him ; nevertheless I 
 live, yet not I, but Christ iiveth in me." 
 
 It is to accept him with such an all-embracing consent 
 that his will shall be our will, his work our work, his people 
 
70 "THE MORNING COMETH.' 
 
 our people, his manner of life our rule of action, his Bible 
 the man of our counsel, his slightest wish our law, himself 
 our first, last, midst, and all in all. 
 
 (i.) We receive him as our Pi'ophet, i. e., as our au- 
 thoritative teacher. In seeking after wisdom, which is the 
 principal thing, we as believers in Jesus Christ pass by all 
 the philosophical schools and come at length unto the 
 clear visions of Tabor, where we behold no man save Jesus 
 only, and voices from heaven speak, " This is my beloved 
 Son ; hear him." 
 
 His word is our court of last appeal. If he teaches 
 the doctrine of eternal retribution — the undying worm 
 and the unquenchable fire — we can listen no more to the 
 suggestions of a " second probation." The Lord has spo- 
 ken, and his is the final word. If he says, " Ask, and it 
 shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and it 
 shall be opened unto you : for every one that asketh receiv- 
 eth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh 
 it shall be opened," we are not at liberty to question as to 
 our Father's willingness to hear, or to resort to any prayer- 
 test whatsoever, for his is the final word. If he delivers the 
 Bible to us as an infallible rule of faith and practice, that 
 ends the question as to the validity of Holy Writ. If 
 there were mistakes in the original Scriptures and he was 
 ignorant of them, he surely was not wise enough to be a 
 prophet for us ; or if he was aware of them and gave no 
 hint or intimation to enlighten us, he surely was not frank 
 enough to be a prophet for us. He has spoken, " Search 
 the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, 
 and these are they which testify of me." If we are Chris- 
 tians, the final word has been spoken. We have no alter- 
 native but to receive Christ's teaching with respect to the 
 Scriptures as the veritable Word of God. 
 
CHARACTER-BUILDING. 7 1 
 
 (2.) We receive Him as our Priest. He alone is com- 
 petent to make atonement for us. Once wounded for our 
 transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, by his stripes 
 he healeth us. He bare our sins, their shame, their bond- 
 age, and their penalty, in his own body on the accursed 
 tree. We repose our only hope of eternal life in him. 
 
 " The atoning work is done, 
 The Victim's blood is shed ; 
 And Jesus now is gone 
 
 His people's cause to plead. 
 He stands in heaven their great High Priest 
 And bears their names upon his breast." 
 
 (3.) We receive him also as our King. He is a Sa- 
 viour with a sceptre. It is ours to obey, as one of the 
 fathers has written, " without sciscitation." In vain will 
 you search your dictionary for that word "sciscitation," 
 but we may conjecture as to its meaning. To obey with- 
 out sciscitation means without questioning, without mur- 
 muring, without interposing our personal judgment, with- 
 out trepidation, without a doubt as to the Master's right 
 to command us. " Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye 
 say well, for so I am." If we have received him as our 
 King, the word of the virgin mother should be for our 
 guidance, " Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." 
 
 II. So far as to the foundation. We are now ready for 
 the superstructure. The superstructure is character 
 which we, as Christians, are to build on Christ the ever- 
 lasting Rock. 
 
 "But let every man take heed how he buildeth there- 
 upon, for if any shall build upon this foundation, gold, 
 silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, his v/ork shall 
 be made manifest, for the day shall declare it and the fire 
 shall try it." 
 
J2 " THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 The reference of the apostle, in these words of admo- 
 nition, was probably to the conflagration of Mummius 
 which consumed a large portion of Corinth, B. C. 146. 
 The marble homes and palaces were unharmed, but the 
 straw-thatched huts were utterly swept away. The poor 
 tenants were saved, but they wept over the loss of their 
 " all." So, says Paul, take heed how ye build, for the 
 time is coming when your fabric shall be put to the test ; 
 the day shall declare it, the fire shall try it. 
 
 But what are the things which go to make up char- 
 acter ? 
 
 (1.) Creed. Archimedes was wont to say that he 
 could lift the world if only he might find a place for the 
 fulcrum of his lever. A man's creed is his pou sio, his 
 point of leverage. Our power is measured by our faith. 
 The potter, Palissy, believed in white enamel and spent 
 his life in an endeavor to produce it. Peter the hermit 
 believed in the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre, and roused 
 all Christendom to accomplish it. Alexander T. Stewart 
 believed in gold as the principal thing, and died in pos- 
 session of an abundance of it. Columbus believed in 
 " India to the West," and found San Salvador. William 
 Carey believed in " India for Christ," and gave the primal 
 impulse to the great missionary propaganda. A man 
 without a creed is a purposeless do-naught. As a man 
 thinketh in his heart, so is he. 
 
 (2.) The next thing in the making up of character is a 
 consistent vianner of life. A man must exemplify his 
 creed in his walk and conversation. The only piety that is 
 worth the having is piety that tells the truth, that pays its 
 debts when they fall due, that gives sixteen ounces to the 
 pound, that votes for the upright candidates, that utters 
 never an envious or unsavory word, that laughs with the 
 
CIIARACTER-EUILDING. 73 
 
 clear sweet laughter of childhood and not with that dry 
 cachinnation of folly which is as the crackling- of thorns, 
 which conserves the peace of the home and the comfort of 
 the neighborhood, which fears to do evil and loves to do 
 well. 
 
 When the cynic, Diogenes, was informed that a fellow 
 philosopher of unsavory character was still engaged upon 
 an elaborate system of truth, he dryly remarked, " So ! 
 and when will he begin to practise it ?" A wiser than 
 he has said, " Ye are the salt of the earth ; but if the 
 salt hath lost its savor it is thenceforth good for naught 
 but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men." 
 
 (3.) The last element in the building of character is co- 
 operation with God. Without this the edifice is but a 
 roofless thing. To spend one's energy in the mere for- 
 mulation of a creed and the elaboration of personal graces 
 is to live a purely selfish life. 
 
 Not long ago a ship foundered off this coast and 
 many of her passengers went down. Her captain, wear- 
 ing two life-preservers, was dragged aboard a fishing- 
 boat, more dead than alive. On recovering, his first 
 words were, " Where are my wife and children ?" He 
 should have thought of that before. If he had been a 
 thorough man he would have buckled those life-preserv- 
 ers on his wife and children and struck out for himself. 
 Too much of the worrying we Christians do is about 
 our own salvation. We are all too little concerned about 
 the deliverance of the great multitude of struggling swim- 
 mers in the deep. The Lord said, " My Father worketh 
 and I work." God worketh. In the footfall of mission- 
 aries who tread dangerous paths and pursue weary jour- 
 neyings in pagan lands, in the prayers of mothers who 
 are pleading for their wayward children, in the voices of 
 
74 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 those who declare the glorious gospel from ten thousand 
 pulpits, we note the tokens that our Father is at work. 
 Oh that we may all, in sympathy with Jesus, answer, 
 " And I work !" He stood between the market-place and 
 the harvest-field: on one hand were the idlers, on the 
 other the golden grain, and he said, " Go ye, thrust in the 
 sickle and reap." It is for us, if we are true men and 
 loyal, eager to build up character in the likeness of Jesus, 
 the ideal man, to enter into eager participation with him 
 in the great work of delivering the enslaved race from 
 its bondage of sin. 
 
 Cannot a man be saved without such a character ? 
 Ay, that he can : he can be saved so as by fire. He can 
 stand at the last like those poor Corinthians when the con- 
 flagration had swept away their homes, saved but lament- 
 ing the loss of their all. O God, let us come to heaven's 
 gate not like idlers, empty-handed, but laden with the 
 golden sheaves of the harvest. Let us come, not like 
 those trustees of the heavenly bounty who, having re- 
 ceived one talent, shall bring it in an earth-stained nap- 
 kin, but rather as those who are burdened with the 
 riches of the spiritual life. Let us come not as fugitives 
 escaping from the avengers of blood, with the footsteps 
 close behind them, but rather as victors, bearing in our 
 bodies the marks of the Lord Jesus, the scars of many 
 valiant struggles with our darling sins, of many an earnest 
 conflict with the strongholds of iniquity, and leading with 
 us a company of captives of hope, saying, " Here, Lord, 
 am I and those whom thou hast given me." O Lord, 
 save us not as by fire, but rather minister unto us an 
 abundant entrance at heaven's gate ! 
 
SEVEN WONDERS. 75 
 
 SEVEX WOXDERS. 
 
 " Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this." Jer. 2 : 12. 
 
 Our curiosity is a racial trait. We smile at the Athe- 
 nians because they spent their time in nothing else but 
 to see and hear some new thing, but we all have the 
 same infirmity. A dime museum will attract more pa- 
 trons than a university lecture course. We run after the 
 outr6, the extraordinary, the abnormal. Like the Jews 
 we are always clamoring for a sign, for something out of 
 the common. The parents of the olden time were wont 
 to tell their eager children of the seven wonders. These 
 were: (1.) The Pyramids. (2.) The Temple of the great 
 Diana of the Ephesians. (3.) The Statue of Jupiter at 
 Olympia. (4.) The Tomb of Mausolus. (What a satire on 
 immortality ! Who was Mausolus ? We know not, but 
 the mausoleum is with us. He gave his name and glory 
 to his tomb.) (5.) The Colossus at Rhodes. (6.) The 
 Pharos at Alexandria. (7.) The Hanging Gardens of 
 Babylon. 
 
 The world has been moving, however. The old won- 
 ders are obsolete. One can reach with his finger-tips 
 seven more wonderful wonders than they : the steam- 
 engine — the sewing-machine — the phonograph — the sub- 
 marine cable — St. Patrick's Cathedral (that marvel of 
 beautiful architecture and municipal fraud !) — Greenwood 
 Cemetery (abounding with marvels of sculpture and in- 
 scriptions of hope beyond what the ancient world knew) — 
 and our Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World. 
 
76 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 We have to do, however, at this moment with marvels 
 in the province of the spiritual life. There are some 
 things here touching our relations with the spiritual world 
 whereat heaven must wonder. A thoughtful man will 
 find it impossible to explain them. 
 
 First Wonder — an Unclaimed Crown. God made man 
 in His likeness, with a splendid birthright and glorious 
 possibilities before him. He was of the line royal, the 
 blood of the King of kings flowing in his veins. He was 
 made rational, able to ponder the great questions of the 
 spiritual life. He was made immortal, animated by the 
 breath which God himself had breathed into his nostrils 
 and destined to live for ever. He was made an heir of 
 the kingdom. If a child of God, then an heir of glory, 
 and joint-heir with God's only Son to an inheritance in- 
 corruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away. 
 
 Where is the man to whom God extends this crown ? 
 See him yonder chasing butterflies, pursuing thistle-down. 
 He calls this pleasure. See him toiling with a muck-rake, 
 his eyes downcast, plucking coins out of the garbage and 
 loading himself with them. He calls this wealth. See him 
 climbing laboriously the rocky side of yonder cliff that he 
 may carve his initials upon its face — and fall. And this is 
 fame ! All the while the windows of heaven are open 
 above him and the glory of the celestial realms is unveiled 
 before him. He gives no heed. God reaches forth to 
 him a crown of righteousness. He gives no heed. Hear, 
 O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for this is a marvellous 
 thing ! 
 
 Second, a Secret Sin. Here we touch the lowest part 
 of our nature. A dog with a bone sneaks off to a cor- 
 ner of the garden and buries it, watching meanwhile out 
 of the corners of his eyes that none may know his secret. 
 
SEVEN WONDERS. 'JJ 
 
 So we bury our darling sins, so we flatter ourselves that 
 none shall ever find us out. An Egyptian princess died 
 four thousand years ago and her body was committed to 
 a company of priests for embalming. They said, " Let us 
 save ourselves the trouble; it will never be known." So 
 they dipped the body of a common Egyptian into bitumen 
 and placed it in the princess' casket. It was a clever 
 trick ; but a few years ago, before a company of scientists 
 at Tremont Temple, gathered together to witness the un- 
 swathing of the royal mummy, the bands of byssus were 
 unwound and the fraud perpetrated by those priests, now 
 forty centuries dead and turned to dust, was detected. 
 There is indeed nothing hidden that shall not be brought 
 to light, and that which is done in a corner shall be pro- 
 claimed on the housetop. " Thou hast set our iniquity 
 before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance !" 
 Noonday, calcium light, electric light, the terrible light- 
 ning showing the landscape for one vivid instant — what 
 are these to the flames glowing from the eyes of a justly 
 indignant God ? 
 
 O man, keep thyself from secret faults, for the trum- 
 pets shall blazon them forth in the last day ; they shall be 
 written as in flame across the heavens. The fiends shall 
 deride thee for them, the angels shall weep. 
 
 Third, a Reprobate 's Lazigh. Not long ago I heard 
 the merry laughter of a girl and looked that way. A 
 carriage was passing by. Through the open window I 
 saw two women, the one old, haggard, bedizened — it was 
 easy to discern her vocation — the other a sweet-faced 
 girl late from some country home, going garlanded to 
 death. God help her ! 
 
 How dare they laugh who are hurrying on unprepared 
 to the judgment bar ? Yet they are making merry every- 
 
78 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 where. The dice are rattling in the upper rooms, the 
 revellers are staggering along the streets, the ungodly are 
 making their merry quips — it is enough to break an 
 angel's heart to hear it. An asylum is afire ; a wretched 
 creature sits aloft watching the blazing rafters, wringing 
 his hands and shrieking with laughter — it is the merriest 
 moment of his life ; the walls sway, creak, fall in a mass 
 of flaming ruins ! It is a parable of the false revelry of 
 the wicked. O men and women, let us be safe and then 
 be merry. Let us never laugh again until our peace is 
 made with God. 
 
 Fourth, a Christians Groan. We profess to believe 
 that the past is forgiven, all gone like a nightmare, and 
 that heaven is open before us and that Christ walks with 
 us, an ever-present and helpful friend. If a man believes 
 these things, how can he ever hang his head like a bul- 
 rush ? Surely something is wrong. If his sins are for- 
 given, if glory is sure, he ought to be singing, " Praise 
 God, from whom all blessings flow." He ought, like the 
 cripple at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, whom 
 Peter healed, to be " walking and leaping and praising 
 God." 
 
 One night in Newgate prison a man sang cheerily and 
 swung like a boy on the post of his bed. " Fine shining 
 shall we have to-morrow !" Who is this and what 
 " shining " shall there be? This is John Bradford, and 
 to-morrow he is to die at the stake. But what matter, if 
 the day after to-morrow he shall be in the midst of the 
 merry-making of heaven ? Why shall he not with glad- 
 some heart be praising God ? 
 
 The joy of the Christian should be as the joy of the 
 spring-time, as the song of the vintage, as the rejoicing 
 over treasure found, as the shouting: of those who divide 
 
Seven wonders. 79 
 
 the spoil. The world knows full well that if we are sin- 
 cere in our profession of belief we cannot but be light- 
 hearted. Our God hath girded us with gladness, he hath 
 compassed us about with songs. 
 
 Fifth, a Tattered Livery. Our Lord tells of a marriage 
 feast whereat a certain one was found who had not on 
 the wedding gown. His host remonstrated with him, 
 " Friend, how earnest thou in hither in this garb?" And 
 the man was silent. We are going to the Marriage Sup- 
 per of the Lamb. Our heavenly Host has provided for us 
 fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of 
 the saints; as it is written, "Come now, let us reason 
 together, saith the Lord : though your sins be as scarlet 
 they shall be as snow ; though they be red like crimson, 
 they shall be as wool." To appear in that heavenly 
 presence clad in our own righteousness is to be found 
 arrayed in rags and tatters, for all our righteousnesses are 
 as filthy rags. 
 
 Oh how preposterous to suppose that our poor virtues 
 should entitle us to recognition at the heavenly court ! 
 To think of God bartering the incalculable riches of 
 eternal life for our poor invoice of good works ! Unclothe 
 yourself, O friend, and be clothed upon with the imputed 
 virtue of the crucified Redeemer. 
 
 Nor are all the self-righteous outside the charmed 
 circle of the Christian Church. To trust in the virtue of 
 devotional pomp and ceremonial, of baptismal water or 
 sacramental elements, is to prepare for ourselves an eternal 
 disappointment. " To the angel of the Church of the Lao- 
 diceans write : Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with 
 goods, and have need of nothing ; and knowest not that 
 thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and 
 naked : I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, 
 
80 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 that thou mayest be rich ; and white raiment, that thou 
 mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness 
 do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that 
 thou mayest see." 
 
 "Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness 
 My beauty are, my glorious dress ; 
 'Midst flaming worlds, in these arrayed, 
 With joy shall I lift up my head." 
 
 Sixth, an Averted Face. A few days ago, at a hanging 
 in a neighboring State, it is said that twenty thousand peo- 
 ple left town and tramped four miles along a country road 
 to see a poor wretch swung from the gallows-tree. There 
 is, indeed, something brutal in our human nature. When 
 our Lord Jesus was dying on the accursed tree it is writ- 
 ten. " The people stood beholding." He was bearing 
 their sins in his own body yonder, the iron of retributive 
 justice had entered his soul, he was being wounded for 
 their transgressions and bruised for their iniquities, that 
 by his stripes they might be healed, and they stood with 
 cold eyes " beholding." Ay, there is something brutal in 
 our human nature. 
 
 Is it strange that men should look on anguish with a 
 calm delight? Was it strange that men could look at 
 Jesus dying and feel no responsive thrill of sympathy? 
 Ah ! a thousand times stranger is it that some of us 
 should refuse to look upon him ! We hide, as it were, 
 our faces from him ; he is despised and we esteem him 
 not. 
 
 He came to die for us, he came to set an example of 
 ideal manhood, of perfect character. He came to offer 
 us a helping hand for the lifting of life's burdens, the en- 
 during of the ills which human flesh is heir to, but we 
 
SEVEN WONDERS. 8 1 
 
 turn away our faces from him. He is here now, as if 
 we could behold him clad in garments like the sun and 
 offering all the treasures of eternal life for the taking. 
 O poor blind eyes of ours that cannot see him ! O stu- 
 pid hearts, O palsied wills, that will not behold him ! 
 
 Seventh, a Waiting God. " Behold, I stand at the door 
 and knock. If any man will open unto me, I will come 
 in and sup with him and he with me." Wonderful pa- 
 tience ! Love that passeth knowledge ! His arms are 
 loaded with the dainties of the kingdom, apples and 
 pomegranates from the King's gardens, and bread of life. 
 Oh let us draw the bolts that he may come in and sup 
 with us ! 
 
 " Knocking, knocking, who is there? 
 Waiting, waiting, oh how fair! 
 'Tis a Pilgrim, strange and kingly, 
 
 Never such was seen before. 
 Ah, my soul, for such a wonder 
 
 Wilt thou not undo the door?" 
 
 He hath not dealt with us after our sins nor rewarded 
 us according to our iniquities. If he had, we should not 
 be here. Were he to do so, the next thunder-bolt from 
 heaven would seal our doom. We have kept him out- 
 side our closed hearts, lo, these many years, and still he 
 waits. When we were children the dear mother told us 
 the sweet story of the Saviour's love and bade us prom- 
 ise to love Him. Years passed, and the sermon from the 
 village pulpit may have touched us and half moved us 
 to resolution. We said, " To-morrow I will surrender to 
 him." The years passed, and some of us are bent and 
 gray and our hearts are hard and our wills are stubborn, 
 and still he stands without the door — a sight to fill won- 
 dering angels with awe and pity. 
 
 6 
 
82 
 
 " Knocking, knocking — what, still there? 
 Waiting, waiting, grand and fair ; 
 Yes, the pierced hand still knocketh, 
 
 And beneath the crowned hair 
 Beam the patient eyes so tender 
 
 Of thy Saviour waiting there." 
 
 Oh look upon him, the chiefest among ten thousand 
 and altogether lovely ! All heaven is aglow with the 
 splendor of his face. Hear him say, " Open, and I will 
 come in!" Why not this hour? Why not draw the 
 bolts and say, " Come in, thou Blessed One, come in 
 and sup with me !" 
 
A WORLDLY WISEMAN. 83 
 
 SOLOMON; OR, A WORLDLY WISEMAN 
 AT HIS BEST. 
 
 "The words of the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 
 Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, vanity of vanities ; all 
 is vanity." — Eccl. 1:1, 2. 
 
 In the last year of David's reign a band of conspira- 
 tors met together in the gardens of En-rogel. Their 
 design was to frustrate the king's plans as to the succes- 
 sion by placing his elder son, the wicked Adonijah, on the 
 throne. It was presumed that David was too old and 
 feeble to oppose them. But they reckoned without their 
 host. The plot having been revealed to him, his languid 
 energies revived like fire from the ashes, and David 
 was himself again. "As the Lord liveth," said he, " Solo- 
 mon shall reign after me." At his command the young 
 prince was mounted upon the royal mule and sent to the 
 Fountain Gihon, escorted by a stately retinue, to be for- 
 mally inaugurated. The sacred oil was poured upon his 
 bushy locks, the trumpet gave the signal, and the people 
 with one accord cried out, " God save King Solomon !" 
 In their festivities at En-rogel the conspirators heard the 
 distant cry; a few moments later a herald brought the 
 tidings, " David hath anointed Solomon." The meeting 
 was broken up in confusion and the treasonable oaths of 
 allegiance to Adonijah were given to the winds. 
 
 Not long afterwards the youthful king was summoned 
 to the death- bed of his father. The last words of David 
 were worthy of him : " My son, know thou the God of 
 
84 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 thy father and serve him with a perfect heart. If thou 
 seek him he will be found of thee ; but if thou forsake him 
 he will cast thee off for ever. I go the way of all the 
 earth; be thou strong, therefore, and show thyself a man." 
 With these admonitory yet hopeful words the eventful 
 reign of David passed over into that of Solomon. 
 
 And never was sunrise brighter than the beginning of 
 this administration, with the promise of a cloudless 
 day. 
 
 On the high places of Gibeon the coronation ceremo- 
 nies were terminated by a royal sacrifice. One hundred 
 and twenty thousand sheep and two and twenty thousand 
 oxen were consumed upon the altars. After this magnifi- 
 cent oblation the newly crowned king fell into a profound 
 sleep, in which the Lord appeared to him, saying, " What 
 shall I give thee?" Important moment! Portentous 
 offer! Young, earnest, with life's splendor all before him, 
 how natural if he should ask for wealth or pleasure or 
 glorious conquest. But hear his request : " O my God, I 
 am but a little child ; I know not how to rule this so great 
 people. I know not how to go out or come in before 
 thee : give me therefore an understanding heart." Bless- 
 ed is the man who can say, 
 
 " I am a scholar, and my God my tutor is, 
 Who from above 
 All that want learning to his school invites." 
 
 Here is the gracious promise : " If any of you lack wis- 
 dom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally 
 and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him." 
 
 As Solomon eventually did many foolish and wicked 
 things, it is important to ascertain the nature of this wis- 
 dom for which the young monarch prayed and with which 
 he was so preeminently endowed. It was obviously not 
 
A WORLDLY WISEMAN. 85 
 
 that wisdom which has to do with spiritual things, the wis- 
 dom which seeks the perfection of religious character and 
 the attainment of eternal life. It would have been well for 
 Solomon, as the sequel shows, had he sought this envia- 
 ble gift, for he lived to discover the truth so sadly uttered 
 by the despairing Faust : 
 
 " I have heaped upon my brain 
 The gathered treasures of man's thought, in vain. 
 The tree of knowledge is not that of life." 
 
 The wisdom of Solomon was such as would be re- 
 quired for the management of governmental affairs. It 
 was aptitude for liberal culture, clearness of discernment, 
 and practical sagacity for the administration of his royal 
 office. 
 
 He was the most learned scholar of his time, the Au- 
 gustus of Jewish letters. The rabbis have a tradition that 
 his manuscripts fell into the hands of Aristotle, who de- 
 rived from them all that is best in his philosophy. Be that 
 as it may, he was the patron of learning. He " built an 
 house of wisdom on seven pillars," in other words, a uni- 
 versity. He himself was a scientist of no mean reputa- 
 tion. He spake of trees, from the wide-spreading cedar 
 to the hyssop that springeth from the wall. He spake of 
 birds and beasts and creeping things. He wrote three 
 thousand proverbs, the juices expressed. from shrewdness 
 and common sense so as to be portable and convenient for 
 the needs of common life. His songs were a thousand 
 and five. He wrote an epithalamium which is rightly 
 called the Song of Songs. Who has ever written so 
 sweetly of the springtime : " My beloved spake and said 
 unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. 
 For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; the 
 
86 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 flowers appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of 
 birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our 
 land ; the fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, and the 
 vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my 
 love, my fair one, a7id come away." 
 
 But the wisdom that Solomon most fervently craved 
 was such as he required for the governing of this so great 
 people, and was to discern judgment, i. e., for the admin- 
 istration of justice. As king of the theocracy he com- 
 bined in himself all the various functions of the govern- 
 ment, the legislative, the judicial, and the executive. He 
 was eminent for his skill in discovering the clew 'of real 
 evidence in the maze of conflicting testimony, as in the 
 case of the two mothers who contended for the living 
 child. The years of his administration were character- 
 ized by an unwonted peace. His people dwelt securely, 
 every man under his own vine and fig-tree, from Dan 
 even unto Beersheba. The neighboring tribes were either 
 allied in friendly intercourse or held in check by a vigor- 
 ous display of martial force. The king's very name was 
 a benediction — Shelomoh, the peaceful. For the first time 
 in the history of Israel an extensive commerce was car- 
 ried on with foreign lands. Down at Ezion-geber the ship- 
 builders were at work. Fleets sailed out to Ophir and 
 to Sheba, bearing wine and oil and barley, and returned 
 with ivory, gold and precious stones, and other commod- 
 ities of those distant lands. This maritime traffic, besides 
 extensive commerce with Egypt, Tyre, and the Valley of 
 the Euphrates, was under the control of the king; he was 
 the prince of merchant princes ; wealth poured into his ex- 
 chequer. He built for himself a magnificent palace — its 
 pillars of cedar, its capitals of gold — and suspended on 
 its outer walls a thousand golden shields. The royal feasts 
 
A WORLDLY WISEMAN. 87 
 
 were superb. The drinking- vessels were of gold ; none 
 was of silver, because silver was nothing thought of in the 
 days of Shelomoh. The daily allowance of the royal 
 household was one hundred sheep and thirty oxen, with 
 harts and fallow deer and fatted fowl. The king's gar- 
 dens were called paradises. His stables were furnished 
 with four thousand stalls. It is difficult in these days of 
 republican simplicity to form a just conception of such a 
 royal establishment. But grander than all this gorgeous 
 array was the king himself when he appeared in the cha- 
 riot of state, bright and ruddy, stalwart, sceptre in hand, 
 sword upon thigh, guards around, archers following after, 
 robes perfumed with myrrh and aloes, flowing hair pow- 
 dered with dust of gold. Such was the personage in 
 whom our Lord himself found the idea of regal splen- 
 dor, "Solomon in all his glory." 
 
 But the picture has a dark side. It is said that in the 
 staff on which this ruler leaned was a worm which ever 
 slowly gnawed it asunder. One sin stands out black and 
 forbidding against the dazzling background of Solomon's 
 splendor : it is his profound and all-pervading selfishness. 
 He ruled for his own glory. His rare endowment was 
 expended on mere mental and physical enjoyment, while 
 the divine Giver was ignored. His commerce stretched 
 forth its Briarean hands and gathered the world's treasure 
 into his own insatiable grasp. His wealth was used with 
 a prodigality never equalled, not for the development of 
 the natural resources of the kingdom, but to gratify his 
 own voluptuous tastes. In his harem were seven hundred 
 wives and three hundred concubines ; and these seduced 
 him to the worship of false gods. At his command shrines 
 were built in the imperial gardens to the honor of idols, 
 impure, bloody, and altogether abominable. How are the 
 
88 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 mighty fallen ! and how is the fine gold dimmed ! " O 
 Solomon," cries Bishop Hall, " where was thy wisdom 
 while thy vain affections were running away with thee into 
 such vile voluptuousness? The perfection of sagacity 
 does not argue the inward power of self-government. 
 Thine eye may be clear but thy hand palsied." And 
 then he adds in his own quaint way, " How many a man 
 have I known whose head was thus broken with his own 
 rib!" 
 
 There is nothing sadder in history than the story of 
 this wise man's fall — Solomon so gloriously endowed, so 
 splendidly equipped, and going down to his grave with 
 11 Fool " written across his brow. We have seen Adam 
 hiding his shame among the trees in the garden, Noah 
 drunken and uncovered at noonday, Samson blind, bound 
 with brazen fetters, grinding at the mill, David playing 
 the idiot and scrabbling on the gates of Gath ; but we have 
 never seen a more sad and shameful sight than this — Solo- 
 mon among his concubines, bowing his silvery locks be- 
 fore the smoking altars of their idol gods ! 
 
 "So fallen! so lost! the light withdrawn 
 Which once he wore ! 
 The glory from his gray hairs gone 
 For evermore ! 
 
 "Of all we loved and honored, naught 
 Save power remains — 
 A fallen angel's pride of thought, 
 Still strong in chains. 
 
 "All else is gone; from those great eyes 
 The soul has fled ; 
 When faith is lost, when honor dies, 
 The man is dead ! 
 
A WORLDLY WISEMAN. 89 
 
 "Then pay the reverence of old days 
 To his dead fame ; 
 Walk backward, with averted gaze, 
 And hide the shame !" 
 
 May we not gather up some valuable flotsam and jet- 
 sam from this lamentable wreck ? 
 
 First, the folly of self-dependence. Let him that 
 thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. Solomon 
 leaned upon his own strength and found it a broken reed 
 that pierced his hand. Plato was accustomed to say that 
 the conclusive mark of manhood was self-dependence. 
 But danger lies that way. 
 
 Try it, O man with a burden of sorrow upon thee ! 
 Try it, O brother, O friend, in thy conflict with an evil 
 habit ! Try it and see how thy strength is reduced to 
 utter weakness. No, no, we look unto the hills from 
 whence cometh our help. The Lord is our strength, our 
 sun, and our salvation. His gentleness shall make us 
 great. 
 
 Second. The folly of self-pampering, or (shall we say ?) 
 of grand larceny ; for talents are trust funds, and to use 
 them upon self is to rob God. At the first Solomon real- 
 ized this. He drained his revenues to build a temple for 
 the worship of Jehovah, a marvel of architectural magni- 
 ficence. But as he grew older and the world took firmer 
 hold upon him he abandoned the holy house and gave his 
 homage to self; his god was his belly, his glory was in his 
 shame. His downfall is a warning to all such as, being 
 equipped for holy service, do yet prefer, as Lord Bacon 
 says, "goodness personal and practical rather than sem- 
 inal and generative." The word of the Master with respect 
 to our talents is this : " Trade ye herewith till I come." 
 And his blessing is upon those who at the last can say, 
 
90 " THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 " Lord, here is thy pound; it hath gained thee yet another 
 pound." 
 
 Third. A lesson as to pride of culture, or intellectual 
 vertigo — a dangerous sort of softening of the brain. It is 
 a true saying that knowledge is power. It would be 
 equally true to say that knowledge is weakness ; for all 
 depends upon our way of using it. How hardly shall they 
 that be learned be saved. It is easier for a camel to pass 
 through the eye of a needle than for them that trust in 
 knowledge to enter into the kingdom of God. 
 
 The wisdom of the wisest philosopher is, by the side 
 of omniscience, as the spark of the glow-worm in the shi- 
 ning of the noonday sun. Our extremest wisdom is fool- 
 ishness with God. It were better to be an idiot than to 
 presume upon our culture or to oppose ourselves by rea- 
 son of mental acquirements against the prescriptions of 
 the all-wise God. 
 
 What then is wisdom and where is the place of under- 
 standing ? "lam the Way," said Jesus, " and the Truth 
 and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father save by 
 me." He is the Wisdom that standeth at the corner of the 
 street, in his left hand riches and in his right length of days. 
 There is nothing better than to know God and his Incar- 
 nate Word. For except ye become as little children ye 
 shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of God. It is 
 pleasant to believe that Solomon came to himself in 
 his last days. The rabbis tell of his public confession 
 before the Sanhedrin and how the king went barefoot 
 about the streets, like a mendicant friar, saying, " Give 
 alms, give alms !" A better ground for belief of his 
 after repentance is found in the book of Ecclesiastes. 
 In this monologue we have his sober second thought. 
 Experience is a bitter school, but fools will learn in no 
 
A WORLDLY WISEMAN. 9 1 
 
 other. Solomon has learned his lesson, his soul is now 
 escaped out of the hand of the fowler, the snare is broken 
 and he is delivered. Thus he reviews the past : " Vanity 
 of vanities, saith the preacher ; all is vanity. I looked on 
 all that my hands had wrought, and behold all was vanity 
 and a striving after wind. I said, Go to, I will try thee with 
 mirth ; therefore enjoy pleasure : and behold this also is 
 vanity. I said, I will be wise, but it was far from me. I 
 applied my heart to know and search out wisdom and the 
 reason of things, and lo, this also was vanity and vexation 
 of spirit. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: 
 Fear God and keep his commandments." 
 
 To you, O young men and women, for whom the 
 future smiles like L' Allegro with wreathed hands and 
 tripping feet, beckoning to a life of pleasure ; to you, men 
 and women cumbered with much serving, ambitious to be 
 rich, to be learned, to occupy the highest seats ; to you 
 all, fellow-travellers to the eternal world, leaving Kib- 
 broth-hattaavah where the graves of lust are, passing Van- 
 ity Fair where all the houses are card-houses and all the 
 visioned plans are only bubbles painted with rainbows ; 
 to you, O sons and daughters of the living God, divine in 
 birth and destiny, come the last words of Solomon, " Let 
 us hear the conclusion of the whole matter : Fear God and 
 keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." 
 
92 "THE MORNING COMETH.' 
 
 ASKING THE WAY. 
 
 " The}' shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, say- 
 ing, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpet- 
 ual covenant that shall not be forgotten." Jer. 50:5. 
 
 The children of Israel had been in exile nearly seventy- 
 years. One generation had gone and another had come. 
 Their memory of former days in Palestine was as a dream. 
 They had been told by their fathers of the time when 
 every one had dwelt in peace under his own vine and fig- 
 tree, of that golden age when the sceptre was wielded 
 by Solomon in his glory, of the flocks and herds, of 
 bountiful harvests and songs of the vintage. They had 
 heard of the temple so exceeding magnifical and of its 
 splendid ritual, solemn pageantry, and antiphonal services ; 
 of the caravans of pilgrims, the booths on the hill-sides, 
 the smoking altars, the effusion of waters ; and they wept 
 when they remembered these things. They were loyal 
 to their traditions. To this day, the world over, the 
 Israelites keep their morale as they keep their physiogno- 
 my. So their harps were hung upon the willows. By 
 the Babylonish' rivers they renewed their vows. "If I 
 forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her 
 cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave 
 to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above 
 my chief joy." 
 
 The captivity was now drawing to a close. A time- 
 limit had been set. For a period of four hundred and 
 ninety years they had disregarded the Sabbatical law ; 
 
ASKING THE WAY. 93 
 
 seventy Sabbatical years neglected — year for year they 
 must expiate their sin. Now there were intimations that 
 deliverance was at hand and that Babylon was soon to 
 fall. 
 
 At this point a question of practical importance oc- 
 curred to them. Where is the way to Zion ? 
 
 We also are in exile, we are of the blood royal, we 
 have gone far from the Father's house. Our human nature 
 is like a ruined temple in which the echo of old hymns 
 and prayers still lingers and where a spectral Levite walks 
 and murmurs of a lost glory. Hence our longing to re- 
 turn. All souls in their lowest depths are troubled to 
 know the way of everlasting life. It is this universal 
 consensus of aspiration which led Plato to speak of the 
 " wings of our preexistent state." The homesick are 
 everywhere. The prodigal in the far country is ever di- 
 vided betwixt two, whether to rest content in his sordid 
 surroundings or to say, with a noble impulse, " I will 
 arise and go to my Father." The world is full of men 
 and women who as Jesus passes by are half moved to 
 throw themselves before him as the young ruler did, cry- 
 ing, " What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" 
 
 It is our vocation, as ministers of the gospel, to point 
 out the way to Zion. A grave responsibility rests upon 
 us. Not long ago a signal man swung a white lantern as 
 the railroad train swept by. On it went with impetuous 
 speed until, on a sudden, there came a shock like a thun- 
 der-bolt and the train plunged down an embankment. 
 The cars were piled one upon another, and oh the shriek- 
 ing and praying then ! Who shall depict the anguish of 
 that scene ? Its record will be told on grave-stones and 
 in the sable garments of the mourners who go about the 
 streets. It was all because of the mistaken signal. He 
 
94 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 swung the white light when it should have been a red 
 signal of danger. Who then is sufficient to stand in this 
 sacred place and direct souls into the way of spiritual 
 life ? No one of us could dare do this thing were it not 
 that we have a sure oracle. We turn to the Scriptures 
 for our authority, and can do it with a clear conscience 
 because these Scriptures are the veritable word of God. 
 Here are promises and admonitions to direct us like the 
 guide-boards along the way to the ancient cities of refuge. 
 This way to safety ! This way to deliverance from death ! 
 This way to the kingdom of God ! 
 
 At the outset we are admonished in these Scriptures 
 that there is only one way to Zion. It used to be a prov- 
 erb, " All roads lead to Rome." In the centre of the Fo- 
 rum was a golden mile-stone, Milliarium Aureum, whereat 
 all thoroughfares converged. If a traveller even in a dis- 
 tant province should ask, " Which way to Rome?" the 
 answer would be, " Keep on and you will reach the golden 
 mile-stone." There are those who seem to think that all 
 ways, in like manner, lead to heaven's gate. If you are 
 only sincere, keep on and you will get there. But alas, 
 the Scriptures speak with a different voice: " There is a 
 way which seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof is 
 death." All roads lead out into the wilderness save one, 
 and that is the King's highway, whereof the prophets 
 spake, "A highway shall be there, and a way, and it 
 shall be called the way of holiness." Here went the 
 prophets and the patriarchs : Enoch walking with God ; 
 Abraham with a far-away look in his eyes, looking for a 
 better country, even a heavenly, and for a city that hath 
 foundations, whose builder and maker is God ; Isaiah with 
 his eyes full of visions, singing as he went, until he fell in 
 with a company of the ransomed who came to Zion with 
 
ASKING THE WAY. 
 
 95 
 
 songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. This way- 
 went Polycarp and Ignatius and all the noble army of 
 martyrs. There is blood in their foot-prints. Here 
 passed along our fathers and mothers whom we shall 
 presently meet in the golden streets. 
 
 The ages have in no wise shortened the journey nor 
 improved the thoroughfare. A railway has been laid 
 from Joppa to Jerusalem. When Jonah trudged that way 
 alone, in a vain desire to escape from the face of the Lord, 
 it was a two days' journey. It required nearly as long 
 when Solomon rode in his chariot of state to view the 
 rafts of cedar that had been floated from the north. Now 
 the journey is made in two short hours. But the King's 
 highway to the heavenly Zion is just as it used to be. 
 Truth and righteousness never change. The flail, the 
 spinning-wheel, the stage-coach have all gone their way ; 
 but there are some things which cannot change. The air 
 we breathe is the same that Adam breathed; the sun- 
 light is the same that sifted through the mists of primitive 
 chaos; and water is the same as when Jesus, being athirst, 
 sat upon the curb of Jacob's well and tipped the water-jar 
 to his lips. The gospel is like air, like sunlight, like 
 spring water, the same always and unchangeable. 
 
 " We go the way the prophets went, 
 The way that leads from banishment, 
 The King's highway of holiness." 
 
 First, the King's highway leads down through the 
 valley of Bochim, the place of tears. In other words, re- 
 pentance is prerequisite to an entrance into life. 
 
 I know this is an old-fashioned doctrine. Time was 
 when sinners came beating upon their breasts. 
 
 "Show pity, Lord; O Lord, forgive, 
 Let a repenting rebel live !" 
 
go "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 But there is a generation now, oh how lofty are their eyes 
 and their eyelids are lifted up ! In these days men and 
 women come into the kingdom with heads erect and 
 hearts unbroken. The old hymns of godly contrition 
 have gone out of fashion. Nevertheless John the Baptist 
 is ever the forerunner of Jesus, crying, Repent ye! repent 
 ye ! If the rent is to be healed the needle of the Law 
 must enter before the thread of the Gospel. The heart 
 must be broken before it can be bound up. 
 
 The duty of repentance has behind it the tremendous 
 fact of sin. Sin is a dreadful thing, just as dreadful now 
 as when David cried for mercy or the publican sighed, 
 " God be merciful to me a sinner!" A wrong conception 
 of sin is a mortal error. Sin is not a flaw in our nature, 
 not a defect, not a misdemeanor. Sin is in the nature of 
 lese-majeste\ a capital offence against a just, holy, and jeal- 
 ous God. It surely ends in spiritual and eternal death. 
 
 To repent is to make a frank acknowledgment of sin 
 and to forsake it. Is there aught unreasonable in this ? 
 If I have wronged a fellow-man do I not count it a point 
 of honor to make amends to him ? Shall we not observe 
 as high a rule of honor and manliness in our attitude to 
 God as we do in our human relationships ? If I offend 
 shall I not make the amende honorable f It is the right 
 and manly thing to repent towards God. 
 
 Secondly, the King's highway runs over the hill of 
 Atonement. It is the royal way of the Cross. 
 
 The Law speaks on Calvary. It says to the sinner, 
 " The soul that sinneth it shall die." Nor is it possible to 
 exaggerate the dreadfulness of that death. The Lord 
 spoke of it under the figure of fire and the undying worm. 
 If we abandon the literal meaning of these words we 
 must not destroy the sharpness of their truth. 
 
ASKING THE WAY. 97 
 
 To Christ also the law speaks : Thou mayest expiate 
 the sinner's guilt. The sword awakes against the Shep- 
 herd. The only-begotten Son of God, assuming our 
 place before the law, is wounded for our transgressions 
 and bruised for our iniquities. He dies that we may 
 live. But between the sinner with the death-sentence 
 resting upon him and Christ suspended upon the shame- 
 ful cross there is a mighty chasm. How can the innocent 
 suffer for the guilty? and what avails it for the sinner 
 that Jesus dies ? Over that chasm faith springs a mighty 
 arch. By divine appointment the exercise of faith on the 
 part of the sinner is made the sole condition of salvation. 
 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Does 
 any one object ? Who can interpose an objection ? The 
 parties to this covenant of grace are the Father, his only- 
 begotten Son, and the sinner. If these parties to the cov- 
 enant all consent, who shall prevent the consummation of 
 this glorious Atonement ? The Father is willing, the Son 
 is willing, and if I, the sinner, am willing, the covenant 
 holds and I live. 
 
 Thus it is written : " There is therefore now no con- 
 demnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk 
 not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the 
 Spirit of life in Jesus Christ hath made me free from the 
 law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in 
 that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own 
 Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned 
 sin in the flesh. What shall we then say to these 
 things? If God be for us, who can be against us ? He 
 that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for 
 us all, how shall he not also freely give us all things? 
 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor an- 
 gels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor 
 
 7 
 
98 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other crea- 
 ture, shall be able to separate us from the love of God 
 which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 Thirdly. The King's highway runs thenceforth across 
 the open country to heaven's gate. No skulking here ! 
 With the heart man believeth unto righteousness and 
 with the lips confession is made unto salvation. 
 
 It is sometimes held that religion is a secret principle 
 that hides behind the lattice, a shy and modest thing. 
 For this there is no warrant in Scripture. The Lord did 
 lift up his voice against the blowing of the trumpets in 
 giving alms and the making of long prayers on the cor- 
 ners of the streets and the broadening of the fringes and 
 phylacteries; but he said also, " Ye are the light of the 
 world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither 
 do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on 
 a candlestick ; and it giveth light unto all that are in the 
 house. Let your light so shine before men that they 
 may see your good works and glorify your Father which 
 is in heaven." There is no reason anywhere to believe 
 that true piety dwelling in the human heart is like that 
 maid in "Twelfth Night," who 
 
 "never told her love, 
 But let concealment, like a worm i' the bud, 
 
 Feed on her damask cheek." 
 
 If I have found a Saviour, and the joy of the great dis- 
 covery has come into my heart, I cannot but sing my ho- 
 sannas. The power of godliness is like ointment in the 
 hand, which ever bewrayeth itself. 
 
 This then is the heavenward way, through the valley 
 of Bochim, across the hill of Atonement, and along the 
 open to the kingdom of God. These are the prerequi- 
 
ASKING THE WAY. 99 
 
 sites of life, Repent, believe, and be baptized, i. e., give 
 an outward token of your inward faith. 
 
 If any of us are asking the way to Zion, with face 
 turned thitherward, the Lord now calls us. It is a happy 
 journey and glory is at its end. In Bunyan's dream he 
 saw that Christian and Hopeful, having passed beyond 
 the enchanted ground and the valley of shadows, came to 
 the land of singing birds and blooming flowers. In the 
 far distance the heavenly city glowed in the sun and at 
 length the pilgrims came to the King's gardens where 
 they ate of the grapes and pomegranates and passed on. 
 Then shining ones came out to meet them from the in- 
 numerable company of angels and just men made perfect, 
 and these greeted them, saying, " Blessed are ye that are 
 called to the marriage supper of the Lamb." On they 
 went with singing and trumpets, nearer and nearer to the 
 Heavenly City. And now they were so near they could 
 read above its gates, " Blessed are they that do his com- 
 mandments, that they may have right to enter in." And 
 then the gates were opened and voices said unto them, 
 " Enter into the joy of your Lord." And the dreamer 
 saw as they passed in that they were transfigured. He 
 looked in for a moment through the gates and caught a 
 glimpse of the ineffable glory, saw the heavenly company 
 walking to and fro, heard the singing, and then they shut 
 to the gates. "Which," says the dreamer, "when I had 
 seen, I wished myself among them !" O friends in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be presently among them ; 
 we shall behold the glory, mingle with the heavenly 
 throng, have part in the triumphant chorus, and be for 
 ever with the Lord ! 
 
ICO "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 THE WORK OF THE COMFORTER. 
 
 " Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is expedient for you that I go 
 away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto 
 you ; but if I depart, I will send him uuto you. And when he 
 is come he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness 
 and of judgment: of sin, because they believed not on me ; of 
 righteousness, because I go to my Father and ye see me no 
 more ; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged." 
 John 16:7-11. 
 
 In the days of man's innocency he held communion 
 with God as one friend with another. They walked to- 
 gether in the garden " in the cool of the day." There 
 were strange confidences, wonderful trysts. We cannot 
 understand it. 
 
 Then came the fall, and with it alienation : the two 
 friends parted. Manifestations of God thereafter were 
 mere glimpses, an occasional theophany, the Angel of the 
 Covenant or a shadowy presence known only by the rust- 
 ling of his garments. The time came, however, when 
 God bowed the heavens and came down and dwelt among 
 men. He took flesh upon him and walked along the 
 common thoroughfares of life. We can understand that. 
 Men saw him, clasped hands with him, ate with him. He 
 was their fellow. Was it not a glorious privilege to look 
 upon this incarnate God and talk with him by the way ? 
 Of all the songs our children sing none is sweeter than 
 this: 
 
 "I think, when I read that sweet story of old, 
 
 When Jesus was here among men, 
 How he called little children as lambs to his fold ; 
 
 I should like to have been with them then. 
 
THE WORK OF THE COMFORTER. IOI 
 
 " I wish that his hands had been placed on my head, 
 That his arm had been thrown around me, 
 And that I might have seen his kind look when he said, 
 ' Let the little ones come unto me.'" 
 
 I am not sure, however, that ours is not a far more bless- 
 ed privilege. He has indeed vanished out of our sight ; 
 his face is a sweet memory, a blissful hope; but his spir- 
 itual presence is with us. 
 
 " It is expedient," said he, " that I go away from you ; 
 for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come ; but if 
 I depart, I will send him unto you." This Jesus had been 
 with them as child and man for thirty years. They had 
 heard his words and were prepared- to say, " Never man 
 spake like this man." They had seen his works and could 
 testify, " No man could do these things except God were 
 with him." And what was the result ? A little group of 
 fishermen and other humble folk had gathered about 
 him. That was all. To outward seeming his work was 
 a fiasco. His announced purpose was to revolutionize 
 the spiritual structure of the world ; but what an insignifi- 
 cant outcome ! 
 
 Where was the trouble ? It lay in the limitations of 
 the flesh. All bodily presence is weak. No man in the 
 flesh has ever attained to universal conquest or ever will. 
 Caesar ? 
 
 " Imperial Caesar, dead and turned to clay, 
 May stop a hole to keep the wind away." 
 
 Alexander? When all was told he lay dead under his 
 supper-table. Napoleon ? In lonely, friendless exile he 
 wore away his life. If a man is going to lift the world, 
 the fulcrum of his lever must be set outside of it. 
 
 So long as Jesus dwelt among his disciples they were 
 wholly dependent upon his bodily presence. One night, 
 
102 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 while rowing across the Sea of Gennesaret, the storm fell 
 upon them and they were overwhelmed with fear. What 
 at that moment was their Master's power to them ? Yet 
 he was only three miles away. Theii faith was so sensu- 
 ous it reached only to their finger-tips. He must there- 
 fore vanish out of their sight; for their sake, for the 
 world's sake, he must leave them. 
 
 Lycurgus who, about 900 B. C, prepared a code of 
 laws for Sparta, believing that his personal presence was 
 a hindrance to the just observance of that code, mys- 
 teriously disappeared and was never seen or heard of. 
 In like manner, to secure the legitimate fruits of his min- 
 istry Christ must go away. 
 
 But when he vanished he left behind him a bequest 
 which was to be a manifold equivalent for every loss. 
 The Holy Ghost, his last and unspeakable gift, was not 
 hemmed in by any environment of time or space. To 
 this Omnipresent Power the work was now to be trans- 
 ferred, and he was to carry it on unto " the restitution of 
 all things." The followers of Jesus would indeed know 
 him no more after the flesh, but they would know him 
 far more gloriously and effectively in the power of this 
 Spirit of God. 
 
 So he went his way. He bowed his weary shoulders, 
 burdened with the world's sorrows, and passed through 
 the narrow wicket. And what then ? For a season his 
 followers felt that all was over. " I go a-fishing," said 
 Peter; and the others said, " We also go with thee." 
 
 Then, after his resurrection, Christ reappeared and 
 remained among his disciples forty days — long enough to 
 convince them that whereas he had died he was now 
 alive for evermore — long enough to mark out for them 
 the plan of the campaign. Then, having emphasized their 
 
THE WORK OF THE COMFORTER. 103 
 
 great commission, " Go ye everywhere and preach the gos- 
 pel," he breathed on them, saying, " Receive ye the Holy 
 Ghost ;" and the clouds received him out of their sight. 
 
 The gift of the Holy Ghost thus conferred was only 
 an earnest of what was to come. Ten days passed by ; 
 then, while they were praying in the open court, on a 
 sudden the sound of a rushing mighty wind was heard, 
 the flame, parting asunder into tongues of fire, sat upon 
 each one of them, and they began to speak with divers 
 tongues. This advent of the Holy Ghost was signalized 
 by the conversion of three thousand in a single day. His 
 power is abroad to-day. Through it the Father and the 
 Son are working for the regeneration of the world. To 
 be clothed with it is to be endued with extraordinary en- 
 ergy. The Master promised, after he had gone to the 
 Father, that his disciples, being thus energized, should 
 perform greater works than his own. The twelve who 
 had been unable to cast out an unclean spirit unless their 
 Lord stood by, and who, struck with terror, had forsaken 
 him in the supreme moment of his agony, now went 
 everywhere with holy zeal and courage proclaiming the 
 gospel. Souls were converted by tens of thousands. 
 The foundations of the ultimate conquest were laid, the 
 strategic points were occupied. As time passed the 
 power was transferred to other hands ; but the Holy 
 Spirit wrought through all. 
 
 We are living in this Dispensation of the Spirit. It is 
 the golden age of privilege and opportunity. Any one 
 who desires may have part in it. The measure of power 
 is willingness. The harvest is plenteous, the fields are 
 yellow. Go, thrust in a sickle and reap ! 
 
 But the vast multitudes care nothing for this power of 
 the Holy Ghost. They are of the earth, earthy. They 
 
104 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 have low conceptions of spiritual truth. It is as if they 
 were hypnotized. They can see coins, wreaths, stone 
 houses, monuments — but they are blind to the welfare of 
 the world, to eternity and God. Gibbon says that the 
 Germans who dwelt along the Rhine and Danube had no 
 idea of values. They cared more for earthen vessels 
 than for silver vases and traded amber for toys and trink- 
 ets. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Until our 
 misapprehensions of the great verities are corrected we 
 shall always prefer a transient and material success to 
 those eternal achievements of men baptized from on high 
 and made partners in the transcendent work of the Spirit 
 of God. 
 
 Let us dwell more specifically upon this function of 
 the Holy Ghost in correcting our misapprehensions of 
 spiritual truth. This function is threefold: "When the 
 Comforter is come he will convict the world in respect of 
 sin and of righteousness and of judgment to come." 
 
 First, of sin, "because they believe not on me." 
 
 How little we know about the true character of sin. 
 We see its outward tokens in wars and excesses, in vices 
 and dishonesties. The newspapers are full of them. 
 They thrust themselves upon our notice as we pass along 
 the streets. But these are mere symptoms. These are 
 not sin, but eruptions of sin. And when we try to cure 
 them with chains and prisons and scaffold- trees we are 
 merely doctoring the symptoms. The malady itself lies 
 deeper down. 
 
 What is sin ? // is enmity against God. Its supreme 
 manifestation is not theft or adultery or murder, but the 
 rejection of God's well-beloved Son. " This is the con- 
 demnation, that men love darkness better than light." 
 They will not have Messiah to rule over them. This is 
 
THE WORK OF THE COMFORTER. 105 
 
 the head and front of all offending. This is the un- 
 pardonable sin. 
 
 The work of the Holy Ghost is to convict the world 
 of sin by showing Christ rejected. On the day of Pente- 
 cost, when Peter, with the lambent flame of the Spirit 
 upon his forehead, stood up in the midst to preach the 
 gospel, he told the multitude of the dreadful thing which 
 they had done : " Ye have taken Jesus and with wicked 
 hands have crucified him !" They were made to see 
 their hands red with their Messiah's blood. Then, smit- 
 ten with sudden anguish, they cried out, " What shall 
 we do ?" 
 
 No man knows the character of sin until he has felt 
 himself guilty of the great tragedy. 
 
 " T was I that shed that sacred blood, 
 I nailed Him to the tree." 
 
 To reject Christ in the clear light of this gospel age is to 
 crucify him afresh. It is the work of the mighty Revela- 
 tor to lay his hand on our blind eyes that this awful truth 
 may flash upon us. 
 
 Second, He convicts the world of righteozisness, " be- 
 cause I go to my Father and ye see me no more." 
 
 What is righteousness ? Here again our apprehen- 
 sion is perverted. The nearest approach to righteous- 
 ness with which the natural heart is familiar is morality 
 or external presentableness. It is this of which Isaiah 
 says, "All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Take 
 the best man you ever knew and uncover his deepest 
 heart, and lo, it is a foul nest of unsuspected things. Our 
 personal merit is as rags, tattered, torn, mildewed, moth- 
 eaten, defiled, and falling asunder in rotten shreds. 
 
 Another form of righteousness with which we are 
 
106" "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 acquainted is an outward compliance with ceremonial 
 law — the form of godliness without the power thereof. 
 The poet Shelley says that his father was wont to say, 
 
 "At church on Sunday to attend 
 Will serve to keep the world your friend." 
 
 There may be truth in this, but it surely cannot com- 
 mend us to a holy God. He tells us that many will 
 knock at his gate crying, Lord ! Lord ! but shall not be 
 able to enter in. 
 
 The Spirit corrects these false and superficial views of 
 righteousness by pointing to Christ glorified. He has 
 ascended up on high to give gifts unto men. His best 
 gift is righteousness. He from his exalted throne ad- 
 ministers justification in the pardon of sin. And he 
 imputes his own merit also to such as are willing to 
 receive it. This is real righteousness, that " fine linen," 
 clean and white, which is the righteousness of the saints. 
 
 Third, he reproves the world of judgment, " because 
 the prince of this world is judged." 
 
 " The prince of this world," he says, " is judged," net 
 will be. This judgment is now going on. We are in the 
 midst of the great controversy. Light and Darkness are 
 met at Armageddon. It is a mistake to suppose that 
 all judgment is waiting for the blast of the trumpet. The 
 trumpet-blast will mark the close of earthly judgment and 
 the consummation of all things. 
 
 At the time when the seventy returned to Jesus, re- 
 porting that they had been able to heal diseases and do 
 all manner of wonderful works in his name, he said — as if 
 this working of wonders were but a mere episode in the 
 great struggle — as if all along he had known the end from 
 the beginning — " I saw Satan fall from heaven." In that 
 
THE WORK OF THE COMFORTER. 107 
 
 glance of his all history was projected upon the canvas 
 before him. He had set out upon a work of universal 
 conquest, and all the gates of hell could not prevail 
 against him. The victory was sure. He heard already 
 the rattling of the chains of the red dragon as he was 
 hurled into the smoking pit. 
 
 The history of these nineteen centuries is a continuous 
 story of the overthrow of evil. The world was never so 
 far advanced in truth and righteousness as it is this day. 
 Everything is going right ! Oh that our eyes, like those 
 of the Master, might see how truth is ever uppermost, how 
 Satan falls from heaven ! The work of the Holy Ghost 
 makes optimists. It opens the eyes of the believer to be- 
 hold the mountains full of horses and chariots. It dispels 
 doubt and cures hypochondria. It attunes our hearts to 
 hosannas and hallelujahs. 
 
 Thus the three great facts in the province of spiritual 
 truth — Sin, Righteousness, and Judgment — are opened 
 up to us by the work of the Comforter. Without his aid 
 we cannot understand them. Come, Holy Spirit, come ! 
 Come as light to illuminate our dull understanding ! 
 Come as the morning dew to refresh our wearied ener- 
 gies and give us hopeful and joyous views of spiritual 
 truth ! Come as the fire and enkindle within us new 
 zeal for holiness, new devotion to the kingdom of God ! 
 
108 "THE MORNING COMETH.' 
 
 THE MOTHER OF JESUS. 
 
 " Hail, thou that art highly favored ! the Lord is with thee. Blessed 
 art thou among women." Luke i:2S. 
 
 If it be true that the angels have joy over the return 
 of a wanderer to his Father's house, what a gala day that 
 must have been in heaven when one went forth to an- 
 nounce that the fulness of time was come for the advent 
 of Jesus Christ; for that portended the gathering in 
 of a great multitude. The flight of the ambassador sent 
 to apprise the world of His near approach was directed 
 not to Rome, Athens, or Jerusalem, but to the most ill- 
 reputed town in a contemptible province ; and his mes- 
 sage was delivered not to any of the great or learned, but 
 to a maid of low degree. No doubt she was startled by 
 his salutation : " Hail, thou that art highly favored !" and 
 it may be easily seen why she was " troubled " by the 
 announcement that followed : " Thou shalt bring forth a 
 son ancl call his name Jesus." 
 
 The words of this angel, familiarly known as the <c Ave 
 Maria," form the first part of the Prayer to the Virgin 
 which is made so prominent in the liturgy of the Roman 
 Catholic Church. In the sixteenth century was added the 
 idolatrous Ora pro nobis : "Holy Mary, mother of God, 
 pray for us sinners, now and in the dying hour !" No 
 portion of Scripture has been put to baser uses than this 
 original Ave Maria ; yet none the less is it worthy of our 
 reverential study, as a prelude to the sweetest rhapsody 
 that ever fell from an angel's lips. 
 
THE MOTHER OF JESUS. 1 09 
 
 Let us take it asunder and learn its lessons with re- 
 spect to the Virgin Mother. 
 
 I. The protevangel had said that the serpent's head 
 should be bruised by the Seed of the woman. Three thou- 
 sand years later Isaiah wrote, " A Virgin shall conceive 
 and bear a son and call his name Immanuel." The ap- 
 pointed time had come. As by the weakness of one wo- 
 man sin had entered into the world, so to another was 
 granted the distinguished honor of bringing forth out of 
 her travail the Hope of eternal life. This was not by rea- 
 son of any peculiar merit of her own. She was not di- 
 vine, not even akin with angels. We have no reason to 
 suppose that she was even gifted with unusual personal 
 charms. Monks in reverie and poets in rhapsody have 
 vied with each other in extolling her beauty. One of 
 them describes her as " leaning out among the jessamines 
 in the window of her home and watching the white clouds 
 floating in the azure sky ; young and beautiful, not only 
 with the voluptuous necromacy of Oriental grace, but with 
 those superior charms which come from riches of the 
 soul, of thought and fancy and emotion, which lavish 
 themselves in a perfect symmetry of mental and physical 
 development ; beautiful after the manner of the Hebrew 
 daughters, in raven locks and lustrous eyes and the deep 
 glowing complexion of the East, and beautiful besides 
 with that radiance which is enkindled by the indwelling 
 of a peace that the world knoweth not of." All this is 
 unsubstantial as the stuff that dreams are made of. Let 
 it suffice that she had common part with us in human na- 
 ture, for in this lies the clew of the Incarnation. When 
 the fulness of time was come God sent forth his Son made 
 of a woman. He took not on him the nature of angels, but 
 of men. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. 
 
HO "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 " God rest ye all, good Christians ! 
 Upon this blessed morn ; 
 The Lord of all good Christians 
 Was of a woman born." 
 
 II. It is next to be observed that Mary was a sinful 
 woman ; she was " one among women," and not above 
 them ; being in all points such as we are, not merely in 
 the constitution of her being, but in its defilement also. 
 She had both inherited sin and committed it. The so- 
 called Immaculate Conception of the Virgin has not the 
 slightest warrant in reason or holy writ. It reads thus : 
 " That the most blessed Virgin Mary, in the first moment 
 of her conception, by a special grace and privilege of 
 Almighty God, in virtue of the merits of Christ, was pre- 
 served immaculate from all stain of original sin." Not so 
 have we understood her own words, " My spirit hath re- 
 joiced in God my Saviour'' That was a sinner's cry. 
 
 Elizabeth Barrett Browning represents the Virgin 
 Mother as thus addressing her unconscious child : 
 
 " Sleep, sleep, my Holy One ! 
 My flesh, my Lord ! What name ? I do not know 
 A name that seemeth not too high or low, 
 Too far from me or heaven. 
 My Jesus ! thai is best ! that word being given 
 By the majestic angel whose command 
 Was softly as a man's beseeching said, 
 W T hen I and all the earth appeared to stand 
 In the great overflow 
 
 Of light celestial from his wings and head. 
 Sleep! sleep! My Saving One!" 
 
 The doctrine of the sinlessness of Mary was invented by 
 the schoolmen in the Middle Ages. After a debate of six 
 hundred years in which popes, cardinals, holy fathers and 
 philosophers took part, it was at last made an article of 
 
THE MOTHER OF JESUS. Ill 
 
 faith by a formal decree of Pius IX. on the 8th of Decem- 
 ber, 1S54. This tenet is the corner-stone of Mariolatry. 
 Its germ can be traced as far back as the fourth century ; 
 at that time a new word was coined, Theoiokos, meaning 
 " mother of God." By this it was not intended to assert 
 that Mary was in any sense mother of the Uncreated Es- 
 sence, but the word was liable to this interpretation. The 
 right of Mary to the title Theotokos was denied by Nesto- 
 rius, who was thereupon condemned for heresy in the 
 Council of Ephesus, A. D. 431. His condemners marched 
 through the city with torches and swinging censers. 
 
 From that moment we may regard Mariolatry as fairly 
 under way. The troubadors celebrated the praises of Mary 
 in sacred song, and painters represented her as crowned 
 with a diadem of stars. The church began to sing — 
 
 " Hail, virginal mother ! hail, temple divine ! 
 The glory of angels and purity's shrine ! 
 Thee from eternity 
 God did ordain 
 Over his household 
 As mistress to reign !" 
 
 She was honored with such titles as Queen of Heaven, 
 Crown of Virginity, Temple of the living God, Paradise 
 of the Second Adam, Dwelling-place of the Trinity, Loom 
 of the Incarnation, and Sceptre of Orthodoxy. It was 
 declared that through her alone the fallen creature was 
 raised to heaven. Thus it came to be impressed upon 
 the popular mind that she was deserving not merely of 
 reverence but of worship. 
 
 This was at the beginning of the Dark Ages. As 
 the inner life of religion was quenched its outer forms 
 were multiplied. The walls of the churches were cov- 
 ered with pictures of the Madonna. Five hundred years 
 
112 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 have dimmed but not obliterated the colors of those 
 splendid masterpieces. On panel and ceiling and vault- 
 ed chancel the Virgin and her Child are still pointed 
 out. The Christ-Child is thrown into the background ; 
 the mother is made conspicuous and surpassingly beauti- 
 ful. So by progressive steps she came to be looked on as 
 a co-redeemer with Christ. Then from Rome was sent 
 forth an invitation, not yet called a mandate, that all 
 should kiss the hand before the Queen of Heaven. This 
 was in the black night before the Reformation. It was in 
 1 5 17 that Luther nailed his theses to the door of the town 
 hall at Wittenberg and made his protest against the wor- 
 ship of any but the living God. All hail the protest ! 
 
 For a while Mary-worship was repressed, but only to 
 revive again in recent years as a formal dogma or pronun- 
 ciamento of the Catholic Church. At this hour there are 
 multitudes all over the world bowing at the shrine of this 
 woman of Nazareth and crying, " Holy Mary, mother of 
 God, pray for us !" If she herself could appear in the 
 midst of these devotees, of a certainty she would cry out, 
 as the angel did in the vision of St. John, " See thou do 
 it not; for I am thy fellow-servant. Worship God!" 
 
 "Say of me as the Heavenly said, ' Thou art 
 The blessedest of women ' — blessedest, 
 Not holiest nor noblest — no high name 
 Whose height misplaced may pierce me like a shame 
 When I sit meek in heaven." 
 
 In the gospel story she is represented as keeping her- 
 self for the most part in modest retirement. Not once do 
 we find her laying claim to superhuman dignity or to any 
 exemption from the ills that common flesh is heir to. 
 
 Our Lord indeed, as if with prophetic reference to the 
 apotheosis of his mother, gave warning against it by im- 
 
THE MOTHER OF JESUS. 113 
 
 plication once and again, as when he rebuked her at the 
 marriage in Cana for unbecoming pride and assumption of 
 authority. So at another time, when a certain woman in 
 the multitude cried out, " Blessed is the womb that bare 
 thee !" he would not allow even those impulsive words to 
 go unchallenged, but said, " Nay rather, blessed are they 
 that keep the word of God !" She was a sinner in need 
 of a Saviour. And her chiefest honor was not that she 
 bare Christ but that she loved him. 
 
 III. But while the Virgin Mother is stripped of these 
 false honors which she herself would be the first to repu- 
 diate, she still challenges our highest admiration. Why 
 should we hesitate to speak of her as "blessed Mary" 
 or " the blessed Virgin," when the angel thus addressed 
 her? It is no slight honor that her name should be 
 found in the most venerable of our creeds and mingled 
 with the soul's confession of a Saviour: "I believe in 
 Jesus Christ, who was born of the Virgin Mary." If we 
 decline to worship, we do not therefore disesteem her. 
 The most beautiful traits of womanhood are associated 
 with her character. We revere her as an ideal of femi- 
 nine purity and devotion. When Gabriel told her that 
 she was to be overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and 
 bring forth a Son, she knew that her fair name was in 
 danger, that the world would point its finger at her. She 
 knew that she must wear the scarlet letter on her breast. 
 But she bowed her head without a murmur, saying, 
 " Behold the servant of the Lord." There was hero- 
 ism ! It would doubtless have been easier to die; yet 
 her faithful heart asked no question, interposed no argu- 
 ment, but " set itself at once to quiet expectation." Bishop 
 Hall says, " There is no more noble proof of faith than 
 thus to captivate all our powers unto God and, without 
 
 8 
 
114 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 sciscitation, go blindfold whither He will." It was enough 
 for her that God required it : " Be it unto me according 
 to thy word !" 
 
 We must also remark upon the simplicity and tender- 
 ness of her affection towards Christ. Of many pious 
 women it is written that "they loved much:" Mary of 
 Bethany whom we always think of as sitting at Jesus' 
 feet; Mary of Magdala who anointed him with oil of 
 spikenard very precious; and others who followed Him 
 and loved Him through evil and good report. Ah, yes; 
 many daughters have done virtuously, but thou, Mary of 
 Nazareth, exceliedst them all ! Bending over her divine 
 Child in the manger, seeking him with tears in the streets 
 of Jerusalem, waiting en Him as a handmaid in the tasks 
 and journeys and sufferings of his ministry, not once 
 losing faith in his power and Messiahship though she 
 saw him begrimed with the dust of the workshop and 
 stained with the blood of Golgotha ; resignedly baring 
 her own breast to the sword of anguish when his supreme 
 hour came — was ever greater devotion than hers, a 
 purer love or deeper reverence for Christ ? 
 
 IV. The meaning of her name was " bitterness ;" but 
 as Marah was sweetened by the tree cast into its waters, 
 so Mary was ennobled and sanctified by her strange ma- 
 ternity. 
 
 " O wondrous mother, was there ever joy like thine ; 
 To thee it came, that message from the Highest, 
 Such as to woman ne'er before descended ! 
 The Almighty's shadowing wings thy soul o'erspread, 
 And with thy life the life of worlds was blended." 
 
 It is not to be wondered at that the angel hailed her 
 as one " highly favored !" or that Elizabeth was moved to 
 call her "blessed among women," or that she herself 
 
THE MOTHER OF JESUS. 115 
 
 broke forth into singing, " My soul doth magnify the 
 Lord ; for He hath regarded the low estate of His hand- 
 maid !" What an honor was this— to be the mother of 
 the Desire of all Nations — to be the mother of Jesus the 
 Christ ! 
 
 But an honor higher than this is conferred by grace on 
 every true believer. On one occasion it was reported to 
 Jesus that his mother and brethren stood without, desiring 
 to speak with him. " But he answered and said, Who is 
 my mother ? and who are my brethren ? And he stretched 
 forth his hand towards his disciples, saying, Behold my 
 mother and my brethren ! For whosoever shall do the 
 will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my 
 brother and sister and mother." 
 
 We then, beloved, are elect to a spiritual oneness 
 with Jesus which is more precious than the nearest kin- 
 ship of flesh. The ties of nature are but as green withes 
 in the titanic hands of adversity or death ; but what shall 
 separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus 
 our Lord ? We are one with him — " one " is the word — 
 if we have entered into the fellowship of his toil and suf- 
 fering and death. We think too lightly of this mystical 
 union. We neither fully apprehend nor take advantage 
 of it. The King hath brought us into his chambers ; how 
 fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights ! The 
 tie by which Mary was united to her Son is not compar- 
 able to this espousal of the believing soul with Him. 
 
 Let us remember the words of our Lord Jesus when he 
 lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, " Father, I pray for 
 these, that they all may be one ; as thou art in me and I 
 in thee, that they also may be one in us : that the love 
 wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in 
 them." " I in them !"— O friends, what manner of love is 
 
Ii6 
 
 this ! Blessed indeed among women was Mary, mother 
 of Jesus ; but still more highly favored is every believer 
 who has realized this fellowship with Him, who can echo 
 the words of Bengel to his bride : 
 
 "Jesus in heaven, 
 Jesus in the heart, 
 The heart in heaven, 
 Heaven in the heart!" 
 
A NEW YEAR'S MEDITATION. 117 
 
 COME IX, THOU BLESSED OF THE LORD. 
 
 A NEW YEAR'S MEDITATION. 
 
 " Come in, thou blessed of the Lord !" Gen. 24 : 31. 
 
 At the doorway of Bethuel's house in Mesopotamia 
 stands a wayfarer, weary and dust-stained. He is the 
 servant of an Oriental prince. He asks entertainment for 
 himself and his train. At a little distance his camels are 
 kneeling under their burden of packs and bundles. The 
 daughter of the house has just summoned her brother 
 Laban, who seems in doubt until his glance falls upon 
 the rich gifts which she has received from the stranger — 
 ear-rings and bracelets, gratuities which were extraordi- 
 nary even in those generous days. He infers therefrom 
 that the new-comer represents a master of no mean im- 
 portance. So right cheerily he says, " Come in, thou 
 blessed of the Lord! Wherefore standest thou without?" 
 
 This was an eventful day for Bethuel's house. Much 
 depended upon the entertainment accorded to that 
 stranger. Out of his visit came an alliance with the 
 princely lineage of Abraham. The name of Bethuel 
 was thenceforth to take its place in the history of the 
 ages. 
 
 So stands the New Year at our threshold, laden with 
 treasures, new gifts of heaven, hopes, aspirations, golden 
 purposes, rings and bracelets for the adornment of per- 
 sonal character. We stand expectant while he unties his 
 pack ; he has great things in store for us. Welcome, O 
 
Il8 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 New Year, bearer of glad tidings, ambassador of peace, 
 herald of the Great King ! Come in, thou blessed of the 
 Lord! 
 
 The air is resonant with good wishes. " A happy New 
 Year !" It is the children's greeting. Lips tremulous with 
 age utter it. Sick-rooms are cheered by it. Pains are 
 forgotten while dear ones whisper, "A happy New Year !" 
 The world is brighter for it. 
 
 But what does this mean ? What is happiness ? 
 Varro made a catalogue of two hundred and eighty defi- 
 nitions of it. The three leading philosophical schools in 
 Greece were represented by Plato, Epicurus, and Zeno; 
 cf whom the first said, " Happiness is to live reflectively;" 
 the second, " Happiness is to live cheerily : let us eat, 
 drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die;" and the 
 third, " Happiness is to live with fortitude, to accept 
 whatever comes with a brave heart, for whatever is to be, 
 will be." 
 
 In each of these is a modicum of truth. Plato was 
 right in saying that the happy man lives thoughtfully. 
 Face the great problems : if there is a God, believe it ; if 
 death ends all, assure yourself of that; if the Bible is true, 
 it is the business of every serious man to be confident of 
 it ; if Jesus Christ is the only Saviour, no man is just to 
 himself who has not accepted him. 
 
 Epicurus was right in saying that the happy man lives 
 cheerily. We are in a pleasant world with a good God 
 over all. Rejoice, therefore, and again I say rejoice. De- 
 light thyself in the ways of thine heart and in the sight 
 of thine eyes, but know thou that for all these things God 
 will call thee into judgment, i. e., in the midst of thy 
 pleasure be mindful that thou livest for ever and make 
 merry as becometh a child of God. 
 
A NEW YEARS MEDITATION. 1 1 9 
 
 Zeno was right in saying the happy man lives with 
 fortitude. He is superior to his environment— not indif- 
 ferent, but superior to it. Why not ? If he loves God 
 all things are working together for his good. If he be 
 cast into a furnace of affliction heated seven times hotter 
 than ever before, he can endure it because he knows that 
 it is working a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
 glory, and because in the midst of the flame there walks 
 with him One like unto the Son of God. 
 
 The three prerequisites of happiness are found in an 
 inscription on the keystone of an ancient castle. Who 
 was lord of the castle no one knows. 
 11 His sword is rust, 
 His good steed dust, 
 His soul is with his God, we trust." 
 
 Here is the device : a hand reached upward, as in suppli- 
 cation, and over it the legend "WILL, GOD, I CAN." 
 In that old Saxon legend, if it be rightly understood, lies 
 the secret of happiness. 
 
 I. Will. The beginning of all is choice. Without 
 that a man is always a mere creature of circumstance. 
 
 One windy day a kite, flying aloft, struggled to be 
 loosed from the invisible cord that held it. A fleck of 
 cloud floated by and said, "Come with me; the skies are 
 clear and this is a merry life." The kite, struggling vainly 
 to be free, cried, " I cannot ; I am held." A ball of thistle- 
 down whispered as it was carried past, " Come with me ; 
 this is delight." The kite replied, " I cannot; I am held." 
 A wisp of paper went whirling by. " Oh this is a joyous 
 life ; come with me." " I cannot," replied the kite ; " I 
 am held." We, beloved, are in the midst of currents and 
 counter-currents, in perpetual danger of being carried 
 hither and yon by capricious winds. Oh blessed is the 
 
120 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 soul that is held ! — held to something, held by a ruling 
 purpose. Blessed is the man who goes not with the 
 multitude, but holds his place while it goes surging 
 by. 
 
 Have you a ruling purpose ? Is your eye single for 
 anything? The double-minded man is unstable in all his 
 ways. Albert Bushnell was fond of saying, " Grasp the 
 handle of your being." Ay, that way lies success. Grasp 
 it as a man grasps the tiller of a boat. Hold it with a 
 calm, strong hand. Hold steady and all is well. 
 
 II. God. Alas for the man that leaves God out of his 
 reckoning, for the chief end of man is to glorify Him. 
 
 It is necessary not only that we should choose, but 
 that we should choose the highest and best. 
 
 (i.) A man may set out to live for himself, to live for 
 self-culture, for the building up of character. So far as it 
 goes this is well. 
 
 (2.) A man may live for the good of those around 
 him. And this is better still. Sydney Smith said, " Life 
 is in two heaps, the one of joy, the other of sorrow. If I 
 can on any day take a little from the heap of sorrow and 
 add it to the heap of joy, I reckon that a well-spent day." 
 It is indeed a blessed thing to serve the common weal, to 
 make the lives of those around us a little brighter and 
 sweeter. 
 
 (3.) But the highest level of life is that whereon we 
 seek the divine glory ; for the ultimate of everything is 
 God. It was said among the ancients, to every one was 
 given a choice of three urns. One was a golden urn full 
 of blood, and in it was the single word " Empire." The 
 second was of amber ; it was full of ashes, and in it was the 
 word " Glory." The third was an urn of clay, and empty, 
 but in the bottom was written " God." The last was the 
 
A NEW YEARS MEDITATION. 121 
 
 best of all, for, as they were wont to say, one letter of that 
 name outweighs the world. 
 
 And true happiness is impossible to the soul that is 
 without God. If we set out to lean upon ourselves we 
 shall find our strength a broken reed that will pierce 
 through the hand. If in time of trouble we seek comfort 
 from within, it will be as when a foolish man seeks to hide 
 in his own shadow. David tried it and failed. Over and 
 over again he failed. Then he cried, " I will look unto the 
 hills from whence cometh my help !" Nor did God ever 
 fail him. Sometimes he was sorrowful, but never in de- 
 spair. " Why art thou cast down, oh my soul, and why 
 art thou disquieted within me ? Hope thou in God, for I 
 shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance 
 and my God." 
 
 III. I can. This means resolution. 
 
 Resolution is more than choice. Choice is a voli- 
 tional act, but resolution is a persistent force. In the 
 equipment of a soldier it is represented by sandals. " Put 
 ye on," says the apostle, "the whole armor of God," to 
 wit, the girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, 
 the shield of faith, wherewith we shall be able to quench 
 all the fiery darts of the adversary ; and take the Sword 
 of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Is that all ? Oh 
 no. See to it that ye have your feet shod with the prep- 
 aration of the gospel of peace. In those times battles 
 were fought not with heavy artillery. from distant hilltops, 
 nor by sharp-shooters from rifle-pits, but with short 
 swords, face to face and eye to eye. Much depended then 
 upon a man's footing. The spiked sandals were of the 
 utmost importance. Put on the sandals, therefore, O 
 follower of Christ, who in the coming year must confront 
 the adversary ten thousand times. Put on the sandals 
 
122 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 of resolution, that you may be able to withstand in the evil 
 day, and having done all, to stand. 
 
 Still further, resolution is more than resolutions. The 
 latter are fragmentary volitions. On New Year's Eve a 
 multitude are wont to turn over a new leaf, and, alas, the 
 new leaf is pretty sure to be like the old one, blotted and 
 stained with short-comings. But resolution is one per- 
 sistent energy that covers the twelvemonth. And this 
 indeed we must have, for there is no discharge in this war. 
 
 " Ne'er think the victory won, 
 Nor lay thine armor down ; 
 Thine arduous work will not be done 
 Till thou obtain thy crown." 
 
 A little while ago we were watching for the comet. 
 Astronomers were questioning whether it was a fragment 
 of Biela's or an independent body on an eccentric orbit of 
 its own. Though the stars were shining all the while 
 no one heeded them. But while we were watching and 
 questioning, lo, the comet was gone — gone, no one knew 
 whither. Then in the blue heavens the stars still shone 
 on. There are cometary resolves that last for a moment; 
 there are stellar purposes that endure for ever. It is not 
 a thousand choices, but one resolution made in depend- 
 ence upon divine strength, that wins. That was a wise 
 thing that Dr. Johnson said in his old age : " I have 
 been resolving these fifty-five years ; now I take hold on 
 God." 
 
 I think there must have been an extraordinary charm 
 in Jesus' face, some magnetism in the glance of his eye — 
 else why was it that when he passed through the gate and 
 said to the publican, "Arise, and follow me," he was in- 
 stantly obeyed ? And when he walked along the seashore 
 and said to the fishermen, " Come, follow me," they left 
 
A NEW YEAR'S MEDITATION. 1 23 
 
 their nets and became his disciples ? Oh that he might 
 pass this way and lift upon us the light of his countenance 
 and draw us with the glance of his eye ! 
 
 To some he has been speaking, lo these many years. 
 You have seen his face, but you have not heeded him. 
 Now at the opening of this New Year he speaks again, 
 11 Arise, and follow me." The beginning of the spiritual 
 life is in the exercise of the will. All depends upon that 
 " I will." But, alas, we wrong our wills again and again 
 until they are as helpless as a fakir's hand. Time was 
 when that hand lay white and chubby on a mother's 
 breast. Time was when it was strong and supple. But 
 the devotee has held it so long in one strained position 
 that the nails have grown into the palm, the flesh has 
 shrunken, the muscles are tense as whip-cords, the veins 
 are dried up, and the whole hand is as helpless as a mum- 
 my's hand. So is it with your wills. I say, " Love 
 God." You answer, " I cannot." I say, " Believe in the 
 Lord Jesus Christ." You say, " I cannot." It is indeed 
 a desperate case. There is blessed encouragement, how- 
 ever, in the fact that when God commands he gives the 
 power to obey. Work out your own salvation, for it is 
 God that worketh in you. The Christ who says, " Arise, 
 and follow me," will give you power this moment to obey 
 him. But whether that will ever be true again, who shall 
 say ? 
 
 The battle of Waterloo was fought in a twenty-acre 
 field. " Now " is a little word of only three letters, but 
 your destiny is in it. 
 
 The old year is behind us. To look over our shoul- 
 ders is to grow sad, but blessed be God, we can forget. 
 One of God's chiefest gifts is oblivion for our sins. He 
 will remember them no more against us. Nor need 
 
124 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 we ourselves remember them. The Japanese have a 
 proverb : 
 
 " My sleeve with tears is always wet, 
 I have forgotten to forget." 
 
 But here is our word touching the past : " Forgetting 
 those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto 
 those things which are before, I press towards the mark 
 for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 
 
 The New Year is before us. We stand, as Abraham 
 stood upon the banks of the Euphrates, looking off 
 towards an unknown country. Our strength at this 
 moment is in the living God. " Oh carry us not up hence 
 except thou go with us !" If He be Guide and Counsellor, 
 all will be well. Let us set forth bravely as Sir Walter 
 Raleigh did when he sang : 
 
 11 Give me my scallop-shell of quiet, 
 My staff of faith to lean upon ; 
 My scrip of joy, immortal diet ; 
 My bottle of salvation ; 
 My gown of glory, hope's true gauge; 
 And thus I take my pilgrimage." 
 
 Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so 
 easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that 
 is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher 
 of our faith. 
 
 Up with your heart, O believer — sursum corda I and 
 up with your hand— WILL, GOD, and I CAN. 
 
 Without Him I can do nothing ; I can do all things 
 through Christ which strengthened! me. 
 
THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 125 
 
 THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS 
 
 TO THE 
 
 TRUTH OF CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 " For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies them- 
 selves being judges." Deut. 32:31. 
 
 It is the business of the ministry to commend the 
 religion of Christ. People want to know whether the 
 system of doctrine and ethics set forth in the Scriptures 
 is true or not. We profess to believe that it is. It is 
 our business to prove it. This is our case. If we turn 
 aside to other considerations they are mere diversions. 
 There are various ways of approaching the matter in 
 hand. 
 
 First. We may use the a priori method ; that is, 
 we may take an antecedent probability and proceed to 
 verify it. If there is a God he would probably reveal 
 himself in a Book and in a Life. The Bible meets the 
 requirements of the Book and Jesus Christ is the Life. 
 
 Second. The a posteriori method ; that is, reasoning 
 from facts to conclusions. For there are certain facts 
 known and visible to all men for which it is impossible to 
 account otherwise than by attributing a supernatural 
 power to the religion which centres in the Cross. 
 
 Third. Our case may be substantiated by external 
 evidence. If we open history we discover that the genius 
 of Christianity has come down through the ages like the 
 
126 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 Angel of the Morning, illuminating on every side the 
 abodes of such as dwell in darkness and the shadow of 
 death. If we open our geography it is equally apparent 
 that the lands of Christendom are the sunlit portions of 
 the earth. In these, and these only, the wildernesses re- 
 joice and blossom like the rose. 
 
 Fourth. Internal evidence or personal experience. 
 There is no escaping the power of this kind of proof. 
 "I know not," said the blind man, "as to the nature or 
 character of this Jesus, but I do know that whereas I was 
 blind, now I see." An innumerable company of people 
 is prepared to testify as to the power of the religion of 
 Jesus to help in time of trouble, to deliver from sin, to 
 comfort and sustain in every hour that trieth the soul of 
 a man. 
 
 Fifth. In demonstrating the truth of Christianity we 
 may use the testimony of its friends. An army of such 
 witnesses is ever marching past. Here are kings and 
 potentates from Constantine to Queen Victoria. Here 
 are scholars innumerable, the Bacons and Newtons of 
 many centuries. Here are philanthropists like Howard 
 and Wilberforce glad to acknowledge that in their benefi- 
 cent work they were merely following out the precepts of 
 Scripture and treading in the footsteps of that Gracious 
 One whose life was told briefly in the saying, " He went 
 about doing good." 
 
 Sixth. There is still another view-point, however, to 
 wit, the testimony of the enemy. The ancients believed 
 that it was wise to learn ab hoste, that is, from the wea- 
 pons of the adversary. 
 
 "There 's wit there ye '11 get there 
 Ye '11 find nae ither-where." 
 
 On the way down to Timnath a lion sprang out upon 
 
THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. \2J 
 
 the strong man, and he rent its jaws asunder as if it had 
 been a kid. Not long after, going that way, he found the 
 carcass. A swarm of bees was housed within it. From 
 this incident came the riddle : " Out of the eater came 
 forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." 
 All along the thoroughfares of history and experience the 
 enemy has lain in wait for the unarmed and heedless. But 
 infidelity has ever been worsted, and to-day we pluck 
 honey from between the lion's ribs. 
 
 It is our present purpose to pursue a brief argument 
 from the concessions made by infidels and unbelievers as 
 to the divineness of Jesus and the power of the religion 
 which has its living centre in Him. 
 
 Let us begin at the beginning. 
 
 I. Our first witnesses shall be a group of three who 
 were able to testify from more or less intimate acquaint- 
 ance with the living Christ. 
 
 (i.) Pilate. It was he who sentenced Jesus to death. 
 Yet at the supreme moment he took water and washed 
 his hands before the multitude, saying, " I am innocent of 
 the blood of this just person." The word rendered just 
 person is dikaios, the same used by Plato in character- 
 izing the ideal man. 
 
 (2.) The Centurion who had charge of the crucifixion 
 of Jesus. He was a tried and trusty soldier, accustomed 
 to scenes of blood, but he was profoundly impressed with 
 the demeanor of Jesus in his agony on the cross. " Cer- 
 tainly," he said, " this was a righteous man !"* Here he 
 was a Unitarian. As time passed, observing His humility, 
 His divine patience, His forgiving grace, he cried, lifted 
 up above his Unitarianism, "Truly this was the Son of 
 God !" He knew the hopes of Israel respecting the 
 * Dikaios. Plato's word again. 
 
128 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 coming of Messiah, one of whose distinctive titles was 
 "the Son of God," and he was persuaded that those 
 hopes were realized in this Jesus whom they had sen- 
 tenced to the accursed tree. 
 
 (3.) Judas. On the morning of the crucifixion he 
 entered the hall Gazith, the meeting-place of the Sanhe- 
 drin, and threw upon the floor the silver coins that were 
 the price of his treachery. It was but last night that he 
 coolly bargained away his Lord ; now remorse has seized 
 upon him. The ring of those red-stained pieces of silver 
 has come down through the ages with the cry of the 
 traitor, " I have betrayed innocent blood !" 
 
 II. We now come to the post-apostolic period and 
 summon a coterie of stalwart enemies of Christ. 
 
 (4.) Josephus, the Jewish historian, who wrote in the 
 first century of the Christian era. In his " Antiquities "* 
 he says, " About this time lived Jesus, a wise man — if it be 
 proper to call him a man, for he was a doer of wonderful 
 works. He was a teacher of such men as receive the 
 truth. He was called the Christ. And when Pilate, at the 
 instigation of our principal men, had condemned him to 
 the cross, those who had loved him did not forsake him. 
 And he appeared to them alive again on the third day, 
 the prophets of old having foretold these and many other 
 wonderful things concerning him. And the sect of Chris- 
 tians, so named after him, is not extinct unto this day." 
 
 (5.) Celsus, a Greek philosopher of the second cen- 
 tury, who wrote vigorously against the sect of Galileans. 
 He quotes liberally from the New Testament and con- 
 cedes the genuineness of the miracles of Christ, while 
 
 * The question of the authenticity of this passage is discussed at 
 length in the Appendix of Schaft's " Person of Christ," to which credit 
 is due for most of the extracts used in this discourse. 
 
THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 1 29 
 
 attributing them to the influence of evil spirits. It is 
 noteworthy at this point that the fact that miracles were 
 wrought by Jesus was not called in question in those early 
 days. It was admitted, but accounted for generally on the 
 ground that he was a sorcerer, or, as in the Talmud, that 
 he was a master of the magical arts of Egypt. In any 
 case it was conceded that he wrought many wonderful 
 works. 
 
 (6.) Porphyry of the second century, a Neo-platonist,- 
 who wrote fifteen volumes against Christianity. -He says;, 
 in speaking of the oracles, " The goddess Hecate hath 
 declared Jesus to be a most pious man, tuVsoul, like the 
 souls of other pious men, favored with immortality after 
 death. The Christians do mistakenly worship him. And 
 when we asked at the oracle, ' Why then was he con- 
 demned?' she answered, 'The body is liable to suffer- 
 ing, but the soul of the pious dwells in heavenly mansions.' 
 He hath indeed been the occasion of error in leading 
 others away from the acknowledgment of the immortal 
 Jove ; but, being himself pious, he is gone to the dwelling 
 of the gods." 
 
 (7.) Julian, the Apostate, emperor of the fourth cen- 
 tury. He was a bitter enemy of Christianity. He tried 
 to restore the pagan worship. He rebuilt the temples and 
 went in person to sacrifices. But the multitude had lost 
 confidence in the old superstitions. His failure to revive 
 the dying spark of paganism filled him with anger and 
 bitterness. He vented his spleen in satire against Christ 
 and his followers. The story of his death is familiar. In 
 a campaign against the Persians he fell, pierced with a 
 spear. Clutching the dust in his last agony, he cried, 
 " Galilean, thou hast conquered !" He says, " Jesus, hav- 
 ing persuaded a few of the baser sort of Galileans to attach 
 
 9 
 
130 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 themselves to him, has now been celebrated about three 
 hundred years. He did nothing in his lifetime worthy of 
 fame, unless it be counted a great work to heal lame and 
 blind people and exorcise demoniacs." A splendid trib- 
 ute, this, to the beneficent work of Jesus ! For is it not a 
 great thing to heal lame and blind people and cast out 
 evil spirits ? Is it not a vastly greater thing than to rule 
 an empire as Julian did ? 
 
 III. We leap a thousand years and come to another 
 group of unbelievers. We are now in the midst of influ- 
 ences which are ultimately to provoke a social and politi- 
 cal upheaval throughout the civilized earth. 
 
 (8.) Spinoza. He is referred to as the father of mod- 
 ern pantheism. He did not believe in the personality of 
 God, but regarded him as an all-pervading something 
 with the attributes of extension and thought. As to this 
 God, however, he says that "Jesus Christ was his temple. 
 In him God has most fully revealed himself." This is 
 a faint echo of that which is written, " In the beginning 
 was the Word, and the Word was with God and the 
 Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and 
 dwelt among us." 
 
 (9.) Thomas Chubb, a leader of the modern deists. He 
 was a tallow-chandler in his early life and his sympathies 
 were with the common people. Though he rejected the 
 divineness of the gospel, yet he was pleased to compli- 
 ment it as a religion for the poor. He says, " In Christ 
 we have an example of a quiet and peaceable spirit, of a 
 becoming modesty and sobriety — just, honest, upright, 
 sincere, and above all of a most gracious and benevolent 
 temper and behavior — one who did no wrong, no injury 
 to any man, in whose mouth was no guile ; who went 
 about doing good, not only by his ministry, but also in 
 
THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 131 
 
 curing all manner of diseases among the people. His 
 life was a beautiful picture of human nature in its own 
 purity and simplicity, and showed at once what excellent 
 creatures men might be under the influence of his gos- 
 pel.' , 
 
 IV. And now we present three malignant spirits, than 
 whom no others in history have probably exercised a more 
 disastrous influence on human thought, the master-spirits 
 of the period of the French Revolution. 
 
 (10.) Diderot, father of the Encyclopedic which was 
 the dragon's egg of the Reign of Terror. In a conversa- 
 tion with the Baron de Holbach he is represented as say- 
 ing, " For a wonder, gentlemen, I know nobody, either in 
 France or elsewhere, who could write as these Scriptures 
 are written. This is a Satan of a book. I defy any one 
 to prepare a tale so simple, so sublime and touching, as 
 that of the passion of Jesus Christ." 
 
 (11.) Jean Jacques Rousseau, brilliant, erratic, incon- 
 sistent. Here is a remarkable saying of his : " I will con- 
 fess to you that the majesty of the Scriptures strikes me 
 with admiration, as the purity of the gospel has its influ- 
 ence on my heart. Peruse the works of our philosophers, 
 with all their pomp of diction — how mean, how contempti- 
 ble are they compared with the Scriptures ! Is it possi- 
 ble that a book so simple and at once so sublime should 
 be merely the work of man ? Is it possible that the sacred 
 personage whose history it contains should be himself a 
 mere man ? Do we find that he assumed the tone of an 
 enthusiast or ambitious sectary ? What sweetness, what 
 purity in his manner ! What an affecting gracefulness in 
 his instructions ! What sublimity in his maxims ! What 
 profound wisdom in his discourses! What presence of 
 mind, what subtlety, what fitness in his replies! How 
 
I3 2 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 great the command over his passions ! Where is the 
 man, where the philosopher, who could so live and so die 
 without weakness and without ostentation ? When Plato 
 describes his imaginary just man, loaded with all the 
 punishments of guilt, yet meriting the highest rewards of 
 virtue, he describes exactly the character of Jesus Christ, 
 and the resemblance is so striking that all the Church 
 Fathers perceived it. . . What prepossession, what blind- 
 ness, must it be to compare the son of Sophroniscus to 
 the son of Mary ! What an infinite disproportion be- 
 tween them ! The Spartans were a sober people before 
 Socrates recommended sobriety. Before he had even 
 defined virtue his country abounded in virtuous men. 
 But where could Jesus learn among his contemporaries 
 that pure and sublime morality of which he only has 
 given us both precept and example ? The greatest wis- 
 dom was made known among the most bigoted fanati- 
 cism ; and the simplicity of the most heroic virtues did 
 honor to the vilest people on the earth. The death of 
 Socrates, peacefully philosophizing among his friends, ap- 
 pears the most agreeable that one could wish : while that 
 of Jesus, expiring in agonies, abused, insulted, and ac- 
 cused by a whole nation, is the most horrible that one 
 could fear. Socrates, indeed, in receiving the cup of 
 poison, blessed the weeping executioner who adminis- 
 tered it: but Jesus, amid excruciating tortures, prayed 
 for his merciless tormentors. Yes, verily, if the life and 
 death of Socrates zvere those of a sage, the life a?id death 
 of Jesus were those of a God." 
 
 (12.) Voltaire. No man ever lived who wrote more 
 viciously or bitterly of the Christian religion than he ; yet 
 hear this letter, the last he ever wrote, expressed in an 
 honest hour and worthy of consideration as the utterance 
 
THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 1 33 
 
 of a dying man : " I, the underwritten, do declare that for 
 these four days past, having been afflicted with vomiting 
 of blood — at the age of eighty-four — and not being able to 
 drag myself to church, the reverend Rector of Sulpice 
 having been pleased to add to his many favors that of 
 sending me the Abbe Gautier, I did confess to him, and if 
 it please God to dispose of me, I would die in the Church 
 in which I was born. Hoping that the divine mercy will 
 pardon my faults, I sign myself in the presence of Abbe 
 Mignot, my nephew, and Marquis de Villeville, my friend, 
 Voltaire. March 2, 1778." 
 
 V. We here introduce a witness who stands alone, 
 the most colossal figure in history. 
 
 (13.) Napoleon. If not an unbeliever in the radical 
 sense, he was certainly a fatalist. His star of destiny was 
 his only Providence. In his Egyptian campaign he car- 
 ried a Bible and Koran together, labelled " Politics." His 
 soul was absorbed in personal ambition. He died mur- 
 muring, " France, Josephine, Head of the Army !" On 
 one occasion, during his exile, Gen. Bertrand said to him, 
 " I cannot conceive, sire, how a great man like you could 
 believe that a Supreme Being could exhibit himself to 
 man in human guise." Napoleon answered, " I know 
 men ; and I tell you that jesus Christ was not a man. Su- 
 perficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the 
 founders of empires and the gods of other religions. 
 That resemblance does not exist. There is between 
 Christianity and whatever other religions the distance of 
 infinity. We can say to the authors of every other reli- 
 gion, ' You are neither gods, nor the agents of the Deity. 
 You are but missionaries of falsehood, moulded from the 
 same clay with the rest of mortals. You are made with all 
 the passions and vices inseparable from them. Your 
 
134 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 temples and your priests proclaim your origin.' Such 
 will be the judgment, the cry of conscience, of whoever 
 examines the gods and the temples of paganism. . . 
 It is not so with Christ. Everything in him astonishes 
 me. His spirit overawes me and his will confounds me. 
 Between him and whoever else in the world there is no 
 possible term of comparison. He is truly a being by 
 himself. His ideas and his sentiments, the truth which he 
 announces, and his manner of convincing, are not ex- 
 plained either by human organization or by the nature of 
 things. His birth and the history of his life; the pro- 
 fundity of his doctrine, which grapples the mightiest diffi- 
 culties, and which is of those difficulties the most admira- 
 ble solution ; his gospel, his apparition, his empire, his 
 march across the ages and the realms — everything is for 
 me a prodigy, a mystery insoluble, which plunges me 
 into reveries which I cannot escape ; a mystery which is 
 there before my eyes, a mystery which I can neither deny 
 
 nor explain. Here I see nothing human And 
 
 what a mysterious symbol, the instrument of the punish- 
 ment of the Man- God ! His disciples were armed with it. 
 1 The Christ,' they said, ' God, has died for the salvation of 
 men.' What a strife, what a tempest, these simple words 
 have raised around the humble standard of the punish- 
 ment of the Man- God ! On the one side we see rage and 
 all the furies of hatred and violence : on the other there 
 are gentleness, moral courage, infinite resignation. For 
 three hundred years spirit struggled against the brutality 
 of sense, conscience against despotism, the soul against 
 the body, virtue against all the vices. The blood of Chris- 
 tians flowed in torrents. They died kissing the hand 
 which slew them. The soul alone protested, while the 
 body surrendered itself to ail tortures. Everywhere 
 
THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 1 35 
 
 Christians fell, and everywhere they triumphed. You 
 speak of Caesar, of Alexander, of their conquests, and of 
 the enthusiasm which they enkindled in the hearts of their 
 soldiers ; but can you conceive of a dead man making 
 conquests, with an army faithful and entirely devoted to 
 his memory ? . . . Now that I am at St. Helena, now that 
 I am alone, chained upon this rock, who fights and wins 
 empires for me ? who are the courtiers of my misery and 
 misfortunes ? who thinks of me ? who makes effort for 
 me in Europe ? Where are my friends ? . . . Such is 
 the fate of great men. So it was with Caesar and Alex- 
 ander. And I, too, am forgotten; and the name of a con- 
 queror and an emperor is a college theme. Our exploits 
 are tasks given to pupils by their tutors, who sit in judg- 
 ment upon us, awarding censure or praise. And mark 
 what is soon to become of me : assassinated by the Eng- 
 lish oligarchy, I die before my time ; and my dead body, 
 too, must return to the earth, to become food for worms. 
 Behold the destiny of him whom the world called the 
 great Napoleon ! What an abyss between my deep misery 
 and the eternal reign of Christ, which is proclaimed, loved, 
 adored, and which is extending over all the. earth! Is 
 this to die? is it not rather to live? The death of 
 Christ — it is the death of God." 
 
 VI. We summon now two witnesses from among the 
 poets, both of whom, gifted with extraordinary genius, re- 
 jected the gospel of Christ. 
 
 (14.) Goethe. He said, " I consider the Gospels to be 
 thoroughly genuine, for in them is the effective reflection 
 of the sublimity which emanates from Jesus, and this is as 
 divine as ever the divine appeared on earth." 
 
 (15.) Jean Paul Richter, worshipper of the beautiful. 
 " Jesus of Nazareth is the purest among the mighty, the 
 
136 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 mightiest among the pure, who with his pierced hand has 
 raised empires from their foundations, turned the stream 
 of history from its old channel, and still continues to rule 
 and guide the ages." 
 
 VII. The two who are now to appear and bear testi- 
 mony are representative leaders of the right and left wings 
 of modern Unitarianism. 
 
 (16.) Dr. Channing, leader of the conservatives, says, 
 " I maintain that this is a character wholly remote from 
 human conception. To imagine it to be the production 
 of imposture or enthusiasm shows a strange unsoundness 
 of mind. I contemplate it with a veneration second only 
 to the profound awe with which I look upward to God. It 
 bears no mark of human invention. It belongs to and 
 manifested the beloved Son of God. I feel as if I could 
 not be deceived. The Gospels must be true. They were 
 drawn from a living original. The character of Jesus is 
 not a fiction. He was what he claimed to be and what 
 his followers attested. Nor is this all. Jesus not only 
 was, he is still, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. 
 He has entered the heaven to which he always looked 
 forward on earth. There he lives and reigns. With a 
 clear, calm faith I see him in that state of glory, and I 
 confidently expect, at no distant period, to see him face to 
 face. We have indeed no absent friend whom we shall so 
 surely see. Let us then, by imitation of his virtues and 
 obedience to his word, prepare ourselves to join him in 
 those pure mansions where he is surrounding himself with 
 the good and the pure, and will communicate to them for 
 ever his own spirit and power and joy." 
 
 (17.) Theodore Parker, leader of the radicals, says, 
 "Jesus combines in himself the sublimest precepts and 
 divinest practices, thus more than realizing the dream of 
 
THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 1 37 
 
 prophets and sages. He puts away the doctors of the 
 law, subtle, learned, irrefragable, and pours out a doctrine 
 beautiful as the light, sublime as heaven, and true as God. 
 The philosophers, the poets, the prophets, the rabbis — he 
 rises above them all. That mightiest heart that ever beat, 
 stirred by the Spirit of God, how it wrought in his bosom ! 
 What words of rebuke, of comfort, counsel, admonition, 
 promise, hope, did he pour out ! words that stir the soul 
 as summer dews call up the faint and sickly grass. What 
 profound instruction in his proverbs and discourses ! 
 What wisdom in his homely sayings, so rich with Jewish 
 life ! What deep divinity of soul in his prayers, his ac- 
 tion, sympathy, resignation ! Eighteen centuries have 
 passed since the tide of humanity rose so high. What 
 man, what sect, what church, has mastered his thought, 
 comprehended his method, and so fully applied it to life? 
 Let the world answer in its cry of anguish. Measure him 
 by the shadow he has cast into the world— no, by the light 
 he has shed upon it. Shall we be told that such a man 
 never lived? Suppose that Newton never lived. But 
 who did his works ? and thought his thoughts ? It takes 
 a Newton to forge a Newton. What man could have 
 fabricated a Jesus f None but Jesus." 
 
 VIII. The two witnesses who remain have been fore- 
 most leaders of modern unbelief. 
 
 (18.) David Strauss, the author of the mythical theory 
 of the story of Jesus — perhaps the most conspicuous fig- 
 ure in recent German thought. A few years ago he was 
 buried without a prayer or word of Christian song. He 
 says, " If in Jesus the union of self-consciousness with the 
 consciousness of God has been real, and expressed not 
 only in words but actually revealed in all the conditions 
 of his life, he represe?its within the religious sphere the 
 
133 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 highest point, beyond which humanity cannot go — yea, 
 whom it cannot equal, inasmuch as every one who here- 
 after should climb to the same height could only do so 
 with the help of Jesus who first attained it. He remains 
 the highest model of religion within our thought, a?id no 
 perfect piety is possible without his presence in the heart." 
 
 (19.) Ernest Renan, author of the legendary theory. 
 He rejected the supernatural from the gospel record. 
 His romantic biography of Jesus concludes in these words, 
 " Repose now in thy glory, noble founder! Henceforth, 
 beyond the reach of frailty, thou shalt witness, from the 
 heights of divine peace, the infinite results of thy work. 
 For thousands of years the world will defend thee ! Thou 
 shalt be the banner about which the hottest battle will be 
 given . . . Whatever may be the surprises of the future, 
 Jesus will never be surpassed. His worship will grow 
 young without ceasing; his legend will call forth tears 
 without end; his sufferings will melt the noblest hearts; 
 all ages will proclaim that among the sons of men there is 
 none born greater than Jesus." 
 
 In view of these concessions made by the leading rep- 
 resentatives of unbelief all along the centuries, it is sub- 
 mitted that thoughtful people cannot pause in a partial or 
 qualified rejection of Jesus Christ. 
 
 (A.) As to his person. Was he man? Ay, grandly 
 so. But he was either less than a true man or more. His 
 enemies themselves being witnesses, he was either an im- 
 postor or the Divine Man, as he claimed to be. 
 
 (B.) As to his character. He was the one bright par- 
 ticular star in a firmament of imperfect lights. He alone 
 is worthy to be the exemplar of character, for he alone 
 meets the conditions of the ideal manhood. 
 
 (C.) As to his teaching. There have been other sacred 
 
THE TESTIMONY OF INFIDELS. 1 39 
 
 teachers — Seneca, Confucius, Zoroaster, Sakya-Muni — but 
 these were in comparison with him as glow-worms to the 
 noonday sun. Never man spake like this Man. 
 
 (D.) As to his work. " He went about doing good." 
 And since his crucifixion he has continued the building 
 up of a kingdom of truth and righteousness on earth. 
 Its outward form is the church, " fair as the moon, clear 
 as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners." 
 
 (E.) As to the manner of his death. Ah, here the 
 mystery thickens ! Here the power converges. Under 
 his cross we learn the truth, justice, holiness, and mercy 
 of the living God. And here Christ comes into vital rela- 
 tion with our souls. Our God is the God of salvation. 
 
 What therefore shall we say ? As for me, I do be- 
 lieve this Jesus is destined to reign even unto the ends 
 of the earth. The story of his church is an unbroken 
 record of triumph. The government is upon his shoul- 
 ders. He is King over all and blessed for ever. 
 
 What more ? As for me, this Christ shall be my Sa- 
 viour. Shall he be yours? To doubting Thomas he 
 said, " Reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my 
 side, and be not faithless but believing." We have 
 stood in the presence of his foes; we have listened to 
 their words concerning him. Faint praise, indeed ! and 
 intended, ofttimes, to pierce as sharp arrows. We have 
 thrust our fingers into the wounds of the perfect One. 
 Oh let us be faithless no more, but believing! His ene- 
 mies themselves being his judges, he is chiefest among 
 ten thousand and altogether lovely. By their testimony 
 he is proven to be worthy of our love and devotion. Let 
 us therefore, like Thomas, all doubts dispelled, fall before 
 him, crying, " My Lord and my God !" 
 
140 "THE MORNING COMETH.' 
 
 THE CHURCH AND THE TEOPLE. 
 
 "And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the high- 
 ways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may 
 be filled." — Luke 14:23. 
 
 The holy life is set forth as a feast. It is a feast of 
 fat things and wine upon the lees. All things are ready ; 
 abundant provision has been made; the invitations are 
 sent out. But, strange to tell, no one accepts. All with 
 one consent begin to make excuse. " I have bought a 
 piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it ; I pray 
 thee have me excused." There spoke the prosperous 
 man, whose field was a competence and who had no need 
 of spiritual things. " I have purchased five yoke of oxen, 
 and am going to try them ; I pray thee have me excused." 
 There spoke the busy man, whose devotions were hin- 
 dered by his cares. " I have married a wife, and there- 
 fore I cannot come." There spoke the happy man, who 
 suffered the best of earth's blessings to stand between him 
 and heaven. All excuses are bad. Nothing should keep 
 a sinner from the feast of God. 
 
 All declined the invitation. Every one of us, without 
 exception, if we were left to ourselves, would remain away 
 from God ; but, blessed be his name, he worketh in us of 
 his own good pleasure to draw us heavenward. He moves 
 us by the sweet constraints of love. 
 
 " Why was I made to hear his voice 
 And enter while there's room, 
 While thousands make a wretched choice 
 And rather starve than come ? 
 
THE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE. 141 
 
 " 'T was the same love that spread the feast 
 That sweetly forced me in, 
 Else I had still refused to taste 
 And perished in my sin." 
 
 We turn our attention to the multitude who are out 
 among the highways and the hedges. 
 
 The lapsed masses, the unchurched people — they are in 
 all points by nature such as we. They have a common 
 birth, a common experience of joy or sorrow, a common 
 destiny. They have the same longing at the bottom of 
 their hearts for everlasting life ; but they have a quarrel 
 with the church, and, alas, a quarrel with God ! Who 
 are they ? 
 
 First, an army of tramps and other disreputables. 
 Tens of thousands of them are walking our streets at 
 night, ill-clad, hungry, friendless, penniless, with no place 
 to rest their aching bones, many of them sodden with 
 drink, many ready for any desperate deed. These are 
 the submerged tenth. " Submerged !" Significant word ; 
 they strangle in the overwhelming flood of sin and shame. 
 Yet every one of them was born to noble things and is 
 capable of upbuilding into the likeness of God. 
 
 Second, a vast proportion of the artisan class, the 
 industrious middle class who are the very bone and sinew 
 of the prosperity of our land. In some way they are 
 largely alienated from the church. Is it possible that we 
 have put Christ away from them ? Have we forgotten 
 that Jesus was a carpenter ? On the walls and chancels of 
 our great cathedrals we have pictured him as the Holy 
 Child in Mary's arms, with a circle of light about his head, 
 as the boy Christ in the midst of the learned doctors, as 
 the wayfarer going about doing good, as the Redeemer 
 in the anguish of the cross, as the Conqueror of death 
 
142 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 ascending into the heavens, and always and everywhere 
 with that luminous halo about his head. Would it not be 
 better to paint him as the carpenter in his shop, the im- 
 plements of his trade about him, chips and shavings around 
 his feet, weary with the day's toil, wiping the perspiration 
 from his brow ? Would it not be better to omit the halo 
 and put a workman's cap upon his head ? In that direc- 
 tion lies the success of the propaganda among the working 
 classes who are the dependence of the nations. We can 
 get on without the paupers, though God knows we fain 
 would win them to his glory ; we can get on without the 
 millionaires, though their souls are beyond price in the 
 Father's eyes ; but we cannot get on without the men who 
 till the fields and fell the forests and wield the industries 
 of the world. 
 
 Third, the lapsed aristocracy. The church has seemed 
 oblivious of the fact that in our great metropolitan centres, 
 and notably on Manhattan Island, a centrifugal drift has 
 long been going on which has carried off a great number 
 of our homekeepers. Their places have been taken by a 
 greater number of eminently respectable people who dwell 
 in our splendid apartment-houses or in palatial suites in 
 magnificent hotels. These have thrown off the responsi- 
 bilities of domestic life, and with them have largely ab- 
 solved themselves, alas, from the responsibilities of the 
 sanctuary. A large proportion of this class is prayerless 
 and practically godless. The Sunday newspaper is their 
 Sabbath soporific. If they go to church it is as Bedouins, 
 not as regular worshippers. Of all the unchurched mul- 
 titudes, for obvious reasons, these people are the most 
 difficult to reach. The church has not yet recognized 
 the claims of this lapsed aristocracy. It is high time that 
 God's people should go out and constrain them to come in. 
 
THE CHURCH AND THE TEOPLE. 143 
 
 How shall these various classes of unchurched people 
 be reached ? The key of the situation is in two watch- 
 words, " The Old Gospel" and " New Methods." 
 
 I. The Old Gospel. There is no improvement here. 
 None is possible in the nature of the case. Human 
 nature is a constant factor. We have the same wants, 
 longings, aspirations, that our fathers had. And the same 
 gospel is needed to meet them. This gospel is briefly 
 summed up in three facts. 
 
 (1.) Sin. Sin everywhere, dark, abominable, corrupt- 
 ing, damning, all-pervasive, ending in spiritual and eter- 
 nal death. Any attempt to tone down the character of 
 sin is sure to result in inefficiency. The people must 
 come to-day as they have always needed to come, beating 
 upon their breasts and crying, God be merciful ! 
 
 (2.) Salvation. The cross is ever in the midst. This 
 is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that 
 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The 
 blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin, and without the 
 shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. 
 
 (3.) Sanctification. The agent in sanctification is the 
 Holy Ghost, the medium is Scripture. So Christ prayed, 
 " Sanctify them through thy truth ; thy word is truth." It 
 is said in certain quarters now that Christianity is not a 
 religion of a book. But Christ made it so. " Search the 
 Scriptures," he said, " for in them ye think ye have eter- 
 nal life, and they are they which testify of me." A loss 
 of confidence in the Scriptures means a loss of power. A 
 slighted Bible means debility and enervation. A lost Bible 
 means absolute and utter weakness. A minister of the 
 gospel who cannot in all honesty commend the old-fash- 
 ioned Book as an infallible rule of faith and practice will 
 not be able to convict, convert, or build up character. 
 
144 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 Let us therefore, if we would win the multitudes, hold fast 
 to the Scriptures as the veritable word of God. 
 
 II. New Methods. Principles are eternal, but the forces 
 for their application must be adjusted to the times. Truth 
 is the same for ever, but new methods are needed for its 
 promulgation. The Bible is the same for ever, yet that 
 was a great truth that John Robinson uttered at the em- 
 barkation of the pilgrims, " New light shall ever more 
 burst forth from the Word of God." Christ is the same 
 always, yet history sheds an ever-increasing splendor 
 upon his face and gives a greater glory to his presence. 
 
 (i.) We need more zeal than ever. Our earnestness 
 must be abreast of this age. When men travelled by land 
 in coaches and by sea in galleons the church might pursue 
 her work with corresponding deliberation, but now she 
 must adjust her plans to those of universal industry. If 
 other people are diligent in business, we should be more. 
 The Lord himself at the outset of his ministry said, "The 
 Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, for he hath anointed 
 me to work wonders and preach the gospel to the poor." 
 By the same token we are anointed, consecrated by the 
 Spirit, to the building up of the kingdom of truth and 
 righteousness. It behooves us to rest not day nor night 
 until we have done our utmost to accomplish it. 
 
 (2.) We need a closer touch with the people. Our 
 Lord had an intense sympathy with the cares and troubles 
 of the masses. He had compassion on the multitude. He 
 felt for the rich ; beholding the young ruler, he loved him. 
 He felt for the poor and championed their rights. In 
 many a poverty-stricken home, this bitter winter's day, 
 there are mothers kneeling with their little children about 
 them and praying with a desperate fervor that we can 
 scarcely apprehend, " Give us this day our daily bread." 
 
THE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE. 145 
 
 The heart of Christ's church must ever throb in response 
 to human want. In the troublous times of the French 
 Revolution a speaker in the Corps Legislatif asked, " Why- 
 do not our great men, our priests and philosophers, move 
 and save the people?" A solemn voice replied, " Because 
 they are cast in bronze." We who profess the service of 
 Christ shall never win the multitudes until our hearts are 
 clearly responsive to all their appeals for the betterment 
 of body and soul. 
 
 (3.) A broader sweep. All the while we are tempted 
 to narrow the application of the gospel. We are warned 
 away from the domain of civil life. We are admonished 
 not to meddle overmuch with commercial ethics. But 
 the gospel has to do with everything that can affect human 
 life and citizenship. We must not be warned off. The 
 gospel has to do with the physical and metaphysical, with 
 science and politics and sociology, with municipal reform, 
 with home life and social life. Its lines are gone out into 
 all the world and there is nothing hid from the light 
 thereof. The gospel is the most universally diffused, 
 freest, most unbindable and irrepressible thing in the uni- 
 verse. It claims a boundless range, an infinite latitude. 
 No man nor government nor ecclesiastical judicatory 
 must be permitted to place bands or fetters upon it. In 
 behalf of the multitude it must be allowed to concern itself 
 with all projects that have to do with the physical and 
 moral uplifting of the race. 
 
 (4.) An open door. Much that is said against the 
 system of renting pews in our churches is ill-grounded 
 and fallacious. There is no good reason why we should 
 not have our " family pews." But there is a theory of 
 pew-renting which is utterly abominable ; to wit, that be- 
 cause a man rents a pew he owns it in fee simple and 
 
 10 
 
I4 6 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 holds an exclusive right to it. This giveth an evil savor 
 in the nostrils of God. All pews must be taken under 
 the conditions of Christian hospitality. If a man feels 
 bound by common courtesy to admit the stranger who 
 stands at the doorway of his home, he surely has no right 
 to close his pew- door and keep the stranger waiting in 
 the vestibule. The courtesy of the sanctuary should be 
 upon as high a level as the courtesy of the home. And 
 let it ever be remembered that the sanctuary is not the 
 house of the pew-holder, but the house of God. 
 
 (5.) A going out. A paper was recently read in a 
 ministerial association, " The Secret of Winning the 
 Masses." There is no secret about it. The Lord made 
 the whole thing plain long ago. He marked out the plan 
 of campaign. As to foreign missions he said, " Go ye into 
 all lands and preach my gospel," and as to home missions 
 he said, " Go ye out into the highways and hedges and 
 compel them to come in." In any case and always, 
 " Go." It is not enough to build churches and invite the 
 people to come in. We must go out and constrain them. 
 Paul won Macedonia when he v/ent out after it. Hans 
 Egede won Greenland when he went out after it. The 
 Salvation Army is winning the unchurched multitudes 
 because it is going out after them. Christ won the world 
 because he laid aside the robes of heaven and went out 
 after it. The church will win when it leaves its cloistered 
 retirement and goes forth to win. 
 
 (6.) We must keep our singers in front. There is 
 quite too much of melancholy in our methods. " Go 
 down against the enemy," said Jahaziel, " and be not dis- 
 mayed, for the Lord will be with you." At daybreak 
 the army went forth with the singers in front, who as they 
 marched sang, " Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth 
 
THE CHURCH AND THE PEOPLE. 147 
 
 for ever." A great victory was the result, so that they 
 were three days gathering the spoil. 
 
 We speak sometimes as if the multitudes were really 
 drifting away from God ; it is not true. Much remains to 
 be done, indeed, but there are more people in the Lord's 
 house to-day than ever before in the history of the world. 
 At the close of the first century there were only five hun- 
 dred thousand Christians ; at the close of the fifth century 
 there were fifteen millions ; at the close of the tenth, fifty 
 millions ; at the close of the fifteenth, one hundred mil- 
 lions ; at the close of the eighteenth, two hundred millions ; 
 we have not reached the close of the nineteenth century, 
 and there are more than four hundred million adherents 
 to the religion of Christ. Surely we have reason to thank 
 God and take courage. Everything is going right. The 
 Master's house shall be full, the feast is certain to be 
 thronged with guests. The only question is whether you 
 and I shall be there, and how many happy guests will 
 feast themselves at that richly loaded table, under the 
 smile of the Glorious Host, because we have gone out 
 and compelled them to come in. 
 
148 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 THE CHURCH IX THE CATACOMBS. 
 
 " They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and 
 caves of the earch." Heb. 11:38. 
 
 It is a rare thing for a son to appreciate his inherit- 
 ance. The father earns his wealth by driving a plough 
 or shoving a plane ; his son, chasing thistledown, squan- 
 ders it. " Easy come, easy go." It holds true also in 
 spiritual things. The fathers of the church labored, and 
 we have entered into their labors. We sit in our pleasant 
 sanctuaries and worship God with none to molest us or 
 make us afraid, but oh this freedom was purchased origin- 
 ally at a great price ! We shall love it the more fervently 
 and cherish it the more zealously when we reflect how 
 our forebears wrought, toiled, and suffered to secure it. 
 
 An important part of the story is to be learned from 
 the catacombs of Rome. These excavations in the tufa, 
 or soft volcanic rock which underlies the imperial city, 
 were probably made by quarry-men. The galleries are 
 three or four feet wide, winding in and out on different 
 levels, crossing and recrossing, a distance of four hundred 
 miles in all, or greater than from end to end of Italy. On 
 either side are shelves or niches for the dead. Here are 
 more than three million graves. It is a vast subterranean 
 city of the dead — dark, lonely, dismal beyond expres- 
 sion, the silence of death over all. This was the rude 
 cradle of the infant church. 
 
 On the night of July 16, A. D. 64, a great conflagra- 
 tion swept over the city of Rome, burning fiercely for six 
 
THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS. 149 
 
 days and destroying ten of its fourteen wards. This was 
 regarded as a manifestation of the anger of the gods. 
 They must be appeased ; a sacrifice must be found. 
 How natural that the lot should fall upon the lowly Chris- 
 tians. The imperial word went out against them ; " they 
 were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were slain 
 •with the sword." Whither should they flee? To the 
 catacombs. In these dark galleries they found a near 
 and safe retreat. And here they were wont to resort for 
 a period of three centuries, during the persecutions under 
 the successive emperors, under Domitian and Trajan and 
 that excellent Marcus Aurelius who divided his time be- 
 twixt a philosophy of sweetness and light and the slaugh- 
 ter of God's little ones. 
 
 Imagine the life of the early Christians in this desolate 
 retreat. They uttered their prayers in low voices, listen- 
 ing for the footfall of pursuers, and while they bowed in 
 their small chapels under the flickering gleam of lamps 
 placed in the burial niches round about, they heard the 
 low rumble of the chariot-wheels overhead, telling how 
 the bravery and beauty of Rome were hastening to the 
 Coliseum, perhaps to witness the heroic death of some of 
 their loved ones. At night the mangled bodies of the 
 dead were stealthily brought to them and were put away 
 in their narrow resting-places. But these were glorious 
 days, the seedtime of heroism from which we gather the 
 harvests of peace. The hymns they sang were in the 
 spirit of heroic resignation to God's sovereign will. Here 
 is one which has come down to us : 
 
 " Tear as you will this mangled frame, 
 Prone to mortality ; 
 But think not, man of blood, to tame 
 Or take revenge on me. 
 
150 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 " This, which you labor to destroy 
 With so much madness, so much rage, 
 
 Is but a vessel formed of clay, 
 
 Brittle, and hastening to decay. 
 Let nobler foes your arms employ ; 
 
 Subdue the indomitable soul ; 
 Which, when fierce whirlwinds rend the sky, 
 Looks on in calm security 
 
 And bows to God's control." 
 
 We may gain an insight into the life and character of 
 these early believers from the symbols which were carved 
 in their underground chapels and on the sepulchres of 
 their dead. 
 
 I. One of the most familiar symbols is the fish. It 
 gets its significance from the fact that the letters of the 
 Greek word ichtlnis, meaning fish, are the initials of the 
 words Itfccwc Xpca-og Geov Twf Zuttjp, Jesus Christ, the Son of 
 God, the Saviour. It was not safe to place the name of 
 Jesus on the sepulchres of those who believed in him, but 
 here was a cipher which could be used to mark their 
 narrow homes. And how significant of heroic constancy ! 
 These people had left everything for Jesus ; homes, pos- 
 sessions, sw r eet associations — all were gone. Christ only 
 remained for them. He was their Alpha and Omega now. 
 
 It is a curious fact in this connection that among the 
 inscriptions in the catacombs there is not one to indicate 
 that any special reverence was paid to the Virgin Mary. 
 Rome is the centre of Mariolatry to-day; yet in these 
 galleries beneath the Vatican, where three centuries of the 
 earliest Christian life are outlined, there is no Ave Maria. 
 Is it not noteworthy that the church lived three cen- 
 turies here and left on every side the story of her de- 
 votion to Jesus, yet no word or syllable to authenticate 
 the Mariolatrous litany of the Romish Church ! It was 
 
THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS. 151 
 
 not until the believers had passed the heroic period of 
 their history that the words began to be heard, " Holy 
 Mother of God, pray for us !" 
 
 II. Another symbol used in the catacombs is the cross. 
 It is met with everywhere, in the little chapels where 
 the living were wont to worship and on the sepulchres of 
 the dead. To these refugees of the early church the cross 
 meant everything. It was the eloquent token of their 
 spiritual life. By it the Saviour had brought life and 
 immortality to light for them. We, alas, have abandoned 
 the symbol. I venture the opinion that at this point the 
 pendulum of the Reformation, in receding from supersti- 
 tion, has swung too far the other way. Why should not 
 the cross of Jesus Christ adorn the walls of our churches? 
 Why should it not tower aloft from our spires ? 
 
 To the Christians of the catacombs it was an emblem 
 full of the power of life. It spoke to them not merely of 
 the Saviour's death, but of their own fellowship with it. 
 They knew what it was to die daily for Jesus' sake. They 
 had indeed taken up the cross to follow him. In these 
 piping times of peace we can but dimly apprehend its full 
 meaning. Yet then, as evermore, the way of the cross is 
 the way of spiritual and eternal life — " Via crucis via 
 
 lucis." 
 
 " Must I be carried to the skies 
 On flowery beds of ease, 
 While others fought to win the prize 
 And sailed through bloody seas ? 
 
 " Sure I must fight if I would reign ; 
 Increase my courage, Lord ! 
 I '11 bear the toil, endure the pain, 
 Supported by thy word." 
 
 III. A third symbol which frequently occurs in the 
 catacombs is the anchor. " Which hope we have as an 
 
152 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which en- 
 tereth into that within the veil ; whither the forerunner is 
 for us entered, even Jesus." The life of these heroic be- 
 lievers was indeed a stormy voyage ; but they had with 
 them a safe chart and a steadfast anchor, and looked on 
 towards a final and eternal haven of rest. " A passage 
 perilous maketh a port pleasant." 
 
 There is no evidence to show that the life of these 
 dwellers in the catacombs was enveloped in gloom. On 
 the other hand they were cheery and bright-hearted. On 
 one of the chapel walls there is written : 
 
 "There is light in this darkness ; 
 There is music in these tombs." 
 
 It is easy for us to say, " For our light affliction, which 
 is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding 
 and eternal weight of glory ;" but oh how full of signifi- 
 cance that assurance must have been to those sufferers for 
 the truth's sake ! To them the present was a hand's- 
 breadth, the future was illuminated with a regal splendor; 
 a moment here, eternity yonder ; affliction now, glory for 
 ever. On the sepulchres of their loved ones they inscribed 
 Dormit. To sleep suggests an awakening. " If he sleep, 
 he shall do well." For them weeping might endure for a 
 night, but joy was sure to come in the morning. In the 
 morning they would awake in the likeness of their Lord ; 
 in the morning they would clasp hands with those who 
 had gone before them. 
 
 IV. Yet another of the symbols in the catacombs was 
 the palm-branch. Its significance is shown from the fact 
 that beside it are frequent portrayals of hooks and forceps 
 and iron combs for tearing the flesh. The palm-branch is 
 the mark of the martyr's grave. There are multitudes of 
 tombs thus designated where those lie resting of whom 
 
THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS. 1 53 
 
 " the world was not worthy." The Dreamer in the desert 
 island saw these multitudes in the upper realms. " After 
 this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man 
 could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and 
 tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, 
 clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and 
 cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God 
 which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And 
 one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are 
 these which are arrayed in white robes ? and whence 
 came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. 
 And he said to me, These are they which came out of 
 great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made 
 them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they 
 before the throne of God and serve him day and night in 
 his temple: and he that sitteth upon the throne shall 
 dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither 
 thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light on them, nor 
 any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the 
 throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living 
 fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away all tears 
 from their eyes." (Rev. 7:9-17.) 
 
 The end of this long story of tribulation came in the 
 year 404 A. D., on this wise. A great triumph was being 
 celebrated in Rome. The Coliseum was filled with an 
 expectant multitude. The games were under way. The 
 rope-dancing, the bear-baiting, the performing elephants, 
 the foot-races, the chariot-races were followed by the play 
 of Orpheus, in which the hero was doomed to the beasts. 
 This gave the people their taste for blood. The gladia- 
 tors were called for and came forth — Ave Ccosar / moritu- 
 ri te salutamus ! They crossed swords and went down 
 one by one, the people gloating furiously over every 
 
154 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 death. All this was witnessed by brave knights and centu- 
 rions, by vestal virgins and by mothers and little children. 
 But the choicest of the sports was yet to come. A clam- 
 orous cry was heard — " The Christians to the lions !" 
 And while the arena was being strewn with fresh sand, a 
 rude man sprang over the barriers into the open circus, 
 bareheaded, barefooted, and signalled to the weary glad- 
 iators, waiting on their swords, to fall back. " Oh, ye 
 people !" he cried, " cease from the shedding of blood. 
 There is a God above; take heed!'' There was a mo- 
 ment of silence, and then the fury of the populace broke 
 forth and the cry arose to the gladiators, " Cut him 
 down!" He folded his hands and lifted his face in 
 prayer. A moment later his mangled body lay upon the 
 sand ; but the face of the nameless monk was seen after- 
 wards in dreams. His life had not been squandered ; that 
 was the last fight in the Coliseum. Not long afterwards 
 the decree of toleration was issued, and the Christians 
 came forth out of their hiding-places and praised God 
 for the right to worship him. 
 
 How long ago it all seems ! What wonders have been 
 wrought since then ! Let us come forth out of the cata- 
 combs and look around us. Here are the seven hills ; 
 yonder is the desolate Campagna; the sluggish tide of the 
 Tiber still rolls by. The Forum is there, but its columns 
 all are crumbling and the voices of its mighty ones are 
 hushed. Yonder on the Palatine was Nero's golden house ; 
 and Nero's gardens were just over there, lit once by liv- 
 ing torches, the Christians smeared with pitch and fired 
 to illuminate the revels. In the midst of Nero's gardens 
 now rises the magnificent St. Peter's, the golden cross 
 upon its dome shining red in the light of the setting 
 sun. And the Flavian amphitheatre which rang with the 
 
THE CHURCH IN THE CATACOMBS. 1 55 
 
 cry, "Ad leoncs /" its walls are broken and gray and soli- 
 tude pervades it. On yonder arch of Titus is the fig- 
 ure of the golden candlestick carried away in triumph by 
 Jehovah's foes ; but He that standeth in the midst of the 
 golden candlestick hath triumphed over all. Above the 
 monument of Titus' victory there arises another arch 
 spanning the heavens and the earth from sea to sea, a 
 bow of promise painted with all the colors of glory and 
 formed by the Sun of heaven shining through the tem- 
 pest of history ; and lo, there is a cry, " Hosanna ! ho- 
 sana! blessed is he that cometh in the name of the 
 Lord !" The heavens rend asunder ; He draws near whose 
 right it is to reign, clothed with the sun, crowned with a 
 diadem of stars, behind him a retinue of angels praising 
 him and saying, Thou art worthy to receive power and 
 dominion and riches and wisdom and strength and honor 
 and glory and blessing for ever and ever ! 
 
 I have read somewhere of a Roman soldier, a vet- 
 eran, scarred and crippled, who, hearing over the distant 
 hills the dull sounds of battle, buckled on his sword and 
 struggled with swift stumbling steps towards the field, 
 praying to the gods at every step that he might live to 
 mingle in the fray once more. 
 
 O beloved in Christ, the great Armageddon is be- 
 ing fought to-day. God through the centuries, working 
 through his militant church, has been hastening on the 
 fatal consummation. Let us crave the honor of fighting 
 at the fore, let us win the service chevron by lending all 
 our powers to the heroic struggle for the upbuilding of 
 the kingdom of truth and righteousness, for the hastening 
 of the triumph of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 
 
156 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 A BUSY MAN'S BLUNDER. 
 
 "And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone." 
 
 1 Kings 20:40. 
 
 Ahab was a wicked king and a weak one. He had a 
 divine commission to destroy Syria. Every man has a 
 commission of some sort ; his life-work is to discharge it. 
 But Ahab was busy about other things. He was adorn- 
 ing his palace ; he was introducing a new state-religion ; 
 he was perfecting an elaborate cultus ; he was dallying 
 with strange pleasures. The king of Syria came up 
 meanwhile and laid siege to Samaria, his capital city. 
 A prophet, probably Micaiah, Ahab's good genius, said, 
 " Now is your opportunity, O king ; seize it." The 
 enemy was in his power ; there had been a protracted de- 
 bauch and Ben-hadad was sodden with drink. " Hast 
 thou seen all this multitude? Behold, I will deliver it 
 into thy hand this day, and thou shalt know that I am 
 the Lord." Then Ahab went out against the besiegers 
 and put them to flight ; but unfortunately the pursuit was 
 not followed up. He went back, congratulating himself on 
 his momentary success. Meanwhile the Syrian king, hav- 
 ing recovered from his inebriety, called his councillors to- 
 gether. They said, " The God of the Israelites is a God of 
 the mountains : go out against them and entice them into 
 the plains." In pursuance of this advice he rallied his 
 army for another assault. Then the prophet came again 
 to Ahab and said, " Thou hast another opportunity. Thus 
 saith the Lord, ' Because Ben-hadad has said, The God of 
 the Israelites is the God of the hills and not of the valleys, 
 
A BUSY MAN'S BLUNDER. 1 57 
 
 go out against him, and thou shalt know that I am God.' " 
 Then followed another terrible battle, in which the Syri- 
 ans were overwhelmed ; the ground was covered with their 
 dead. Ben-hadad and his body-guard of lieutenants and 
 commanders, after hiding for a season, came out and sur- 
 rendered with sackcloth on their loins and ropes around 
 their necks. Then Ahab, soft-hearted, vainglorious, un- 
 mindful of his great commission, proud of showing favor 
 to the illustrious power of Syria, spared his royal captive. 
 He called him " My brother ;" he invited him into his 
 chariot ; he entered into an alliance with him. So he lost 
 his advantage and fell short of his opportunity; like a 
 truant boy who goes bird-nesting when he ought to be 
 plodding through the rule of three. 
 
 The Lord is a persistent teacher, and if it be possible 
 will teach Ahab yet. Now it is by an acted parable. As 
 the king sits in his council-chamber a sorely wounded sol- 
 dier enters. He is under sentence of death and begs for 
 mercy. This is the story he tells : " O my lord, I went 
 forth into the midst of battle and a captive was brought 
 unto me by one who said, ' Keep him ; if he escape, thy 
 life for his life ;' and while I was busy here and there, ab- 
 sorbed in the interest of that fierce hour, carried away by 
 the enthusiasm of conflict, lo he was gone !" The king 
 cast upon him an angry glance, saying, " So shall thy 
 judgment be ; thou hast spoken it ; away to thy death !" 
 Then the soldier threw off his disguise and stood forth 
 in the prophet's garb. It was Micaiah. " O king, be it 
 unto thee as thou hast said : thou art the culprit ; to thee 
 was entrusted a great commission; thou mightest have 
 made for thyself an immortal name in the chronicles of 
 Israel ; the opportunity was thine ; thou hast lost it. 
 Busy about thine own affairs, thou hast forgotten thy 
 
153 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 nobler tasks; the judgment hath gone forth, the king- 
 dom shall be taken from thee." 
 
 I speak to busy men and women. The streets are 
 thronged with an eager, hurrying crowd, busy, all busy, 
 each in his own province eager to win success. We live 
 in a busy age, a busy land, a busy city. There is no rest. 
 The very children on their way to school seem over-ear- 
 nest. The brows which are presently to be furrowed with 
 the sorrow of increasing years are already knit with care. 
 All are intent on getting on in the world. 
 
 What is the secret of success ? Sir Walter Scott said, 
 11 If you would succeed, beware of dawdling." There is 
 little danger of dawdling in our tense American life. Be- 
 ware rather of over-earnestness in the sordid affairs of life ; 
 beware of squandering the vital forces ; beware of burning 
 life's candle at both ends. 
 
 One of our recent millionaires said, "The secret of 
 success is to do one thing." No, this were to attain but 
 the briefest and the narrowest success. Do two things 
 and do them well, for we are creatures of two worlds. 
 We must needs attend to the affairs of the shop and the 
 office, the brod-iind-batterschaft, and we must never for- 
 get the higher tasks. The carpenter of Nazareth did hon- 
 est work at his bench, but all the while his heart was say- 
 ing, " I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how my 
 soul is straitened until I shall accomplish it !" Be faithful, 
 O friend, in the common duties of this lower world; but 
 oh remember that to seek the kingdom of God and his 
 righteousness is first of all. 
 
 Jules Simon says, " The secret of success is to be free. 
 If one is free, soul and body, he can do whatsoever he 
 will." True indeed. Down at the prison-house at Gaza 
 the strong man, blind and fettered, is grinding at the mill. 
 
A BUSY MAN'S BLUNDER. 1 59 
 
 The heavens are blue above him, the fields are verdant, 
 the vineyards on the hillsides are purpling for the vint- 
 age ; but, alas, he sees it not, his eyes are out ; the task- 
 master stands over him crying, " Grind on !" The merry- 
 makers are dancing ; little children laugh as they pass by ; 
 it is nothing to him. Grind on ! Grind on ! So many a 
 man lives, bound to the tasks of his shop or office, seeing 
 no visions, though the windows of heaven are open above 
 him, and having no interest in the nobler pursuits of life 
 around him, for ever grinding at the mill, all his powers 
 absorbed in the accomplishing of some narrow, selfish end, 
 a mean ambition holding over him a whip of scorpions 
 and crying, " Grind on !" until at last, with groping, trem- 
 ulous hands, he finds the pillars, and life, like Dagon's 
 temple, comes crashing down upon him. O God, open 
 our blind eyes, break off our fetters, and for the accom- 
 plishing of our important tasks give us that glorious free- 
 dom with which the truth makes free ! 
 
 I say therefore to you, busy men and women, cum- 
 bered with serving, absorbed in the round of earthly 
 cares, stop and think. Give yourselves time and oppor- 
 tunity to dwell upon the great issues which reach on for 
 ever. Loose yourselves from the bands of sensual servi- 
 tude, lift your eyes from the muck-rake affairs, the get- 
 ting and hoarding of this world. Stop and think. 
 
 Think of what ? 
 
 I. I live for ever ; think of that. The moth flies in at 
 the window, circles about the candle, singes its poor wings, 
 flutters and dies. The eagle mounts upward, kindling its 
 eyes at the sun of heaven ; an arrow pierces it — it falls 
 and dies. A lion roams the forest, falls into the pit which 
 the hunter has prepared for it, struggles in vain, roars in 
 its strong agony and dies. And man — he lives, bears his 
 
l60 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 burdens, meets his responsibilities, bows under his sor- 
 rows, dreams dreams and sees visions, hopes, suffers, 
 agonizes and — dies ? Oh no. His friends bend over him 
 and say the man is dead ; but he lives — lives on for ever. 
 His body returns to the earth as it was, but his spirit to 
 God who gave it. 
 
 And in this he has dominion over all lower forms of be- 
 ing. He shares the immortality of that God who breathed 
 into his nostrils the breath of an endless life. The ever- 
 lasting hills shall crumble to their bases, the last blade of 
 grass shall wither in the verdant fields, the last drop of 
 water shall be exhaled from the ocean, the world shall be 
 burned until it is scorched and barren as yon ruined moon, 
 the heavens themselves shall be rolled up as a parched 
 scroll, the last star in the firmament shall blink like a 
 sleepy eye and then be quenched ; but you and I, chil- 
 dren of the immortal God, shall live on for ever and for 
 ever. 
 
 Do you ask proof of immortality ? It is forthcoming, 
 not from the preacher's lips, but in the voice of the angel 
 that dwells in every human soul. Ask of yourself, " If a 
 man die shall he live again ?" and hear from within the 
 answer, " I shall live and not die." 
 
 The fisherman loves his boat. It has shared with him 
 the dangers of the stormy sea. He loves its tiller, the 
 oars worn by the heavy grasp of his calloused hands. 
 But after a while its seams gap open and his boat wears 
 out. He draws it up upon the sands and goes on plying 
 his trade in a new boat. I am the boatman, my body is 
 the boat; my body, worn out at last, is beached, but I toil 
 on. 
 
 II. Life here is the key of life hereafter. Stop and 
 think of that. Death is important, not as being the end 
 
A BUSY MAN'S BLUNDER. l6l 
 
 of life, but rather as being its commencement. Death 
 ends probation, that is all. It marks the crystallization 
 of character. " He that is unjust, let him be unjust still ; 
 and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; he that is 
 righteous, let him be righteous still ; and he that is holy, 
 let him be holy still." 
 
 The penalty of faithlessness is to lose one's opportu- 
 nity of reaching the noble end. No pain of retribution 
 can be more terrible than that which was involved in the 
 Master's curse upon the barren tree : " No man eat fruit 
 of thee for ever !" This is to lose one's life, to lose the 
 noblest and blessedest part of it. 
 
 The reward of faithfulness is promotion to higher 
 tasks. He that is faithful in a little shall be made to rule 
 over ten cities. With powers enlarged, with possibilities 
 and opportunities multiplied, we shall go on doing good 
 and serving God through the endless ages. 
 
 Death determines whether the penalty of faithlessness 
 or the reward of faithfulness shall be accorded to us. On 
 the night when John Bradford was sentenced to death 
 the jailer's wife came running in and said, " O Mr. Brad- 
 ford, I bring thee heavy tidings ! To-morrow thou diest ! 
 The men are even now gathering the fagots for the fire." 
 He answered, "Good dame, why tremblest? What 
 matters it whether I die to-morrow or the day after ? I 
 am quite ready." 
 
 III. Duty is the principal thing. Here is something 
 worthy of your attention. Stop and think of it. 
 
 Duty is the thing which is due. To whom ? 
 
 (i.) To one's self. It is a matter of the utmost mo- 
 ment that a man shall make the most of himself. That 
 was a gracious word which was spoken by Norman Mac- 
 Leod in old Barony Kirk in his eulogy of Prince Albert, 
 ii 
 
162 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 " The most valuable thing he left was character." And, 
 indeed, the good prince could scarcely have left a more 
 valuable thing. 
 
 (2.) Duty is what we owe to others. The old poet 
 Daniel said wisely, 
 
 " Unless he can 
 Erect himself above himself, 
 How poor a thing is man." 
 
 It behooves us all as well-meaning people to do good as 
 we have opportunity unto all men. 
 
 (3.) The summit of duty is what we owe to God. Not 
 merely to worship him, but to live for his glory. There 
 is no more beautiful ruin than Melrose Abbey ; its out- 
 lines are so graceful, its sculptures so delicate. Climb up 
 along its columns and look in between the scrolls of its 
 capitals, and you shall see that all its carvings, even 
 where there was no probability that any human eye should 
 see, are almost as delicate as lace. It means that the 
 devout old monks and other workmen wrought as being 
 mindful that God would see. Oh that we might thus be 
 ever living as under the great Taskmaster's eye 1 All 
 that we do, though it be only to eat or drink, should be 
 done to the glory of God. 
 
 These are thoughts to dwell upon amid the hurry of 
 our daily life. Let us look forth as from the windows of 
 a high tower upon the blessed things of the far country ; 
 let us be mindful that our life here is only a hand- 
 breadth, while its issues reach on through countless 
 ages. 
 
 Life is our prisoner. Alas ! if we should lose it. " For 
 what shall a man be profited, if he shall gain the whole 
 world and forfeit his life ? or what shall a man pive in 
 
A BUSY MAN'S BLUNDER. 163 
 
 exchange for his life ?"* Have you wasted it thus far ? 
 The blood cleanseth : be forgiven and let the past suffice 
 for the working of the will of the flesh. Now begin to 
 live. Lord Bacon said many wise things, but never a 
 wiser than this : " Not to resolve is to resolve not." To 
 postpone the great decision is to refuse to make it — yes, 
 even worse, is to decide against God and heaven and 
 eternal blessedness. 
 
 " To-morrow ! and to-morrow ! and to-morrow ! 
 Creeps in this petty pace from day to day 
 Till the last syllable of recorded time, 
 And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
 The way to dusty death." 
 
 If these considerations seem just and weighty, let us 
 act upon them ; if in our past life we have neglected the 
 important things of eternity, let us trifle no longer, let us 
 be wise to-day. 
 
 * Revised Version. 
 
164 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 
 
 "And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth 
 of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straight- 
 way coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened 
 and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him: and there 
 came a voice from heaven, saying, Thou art my beloved Son, 
 in whom I am well pleased." Mark 1:9-11. 
 
 " In those days " — that is, in the days of the world's 
 despair. The lights were gone out in the sanctuary. 
 There was no more open vision. The oracles were dumb. 
 The gods, exposed and derided, had fallen from their 
 pedestals and lay with their faces in the dust. The phi- 
 losophers were put to an open shame. The rabbis of 
 Israel were chattering about mint and anise and cummin. 
 The people had settled down into confessed and hopeless 
 apathy. 
 
 The spirit of the age found expression in such ques- 
 tions as, Is there a God ? What is truth ? If a man die, 
 will he live again ? Is there anything better than to eat, 
 drink, and be merry ? 
 
 " On that hard pagan world disgust 
 And sated loathing fell ; 
 Deep weariness and sated lust 
 Made human life a hell. 
 
 " In his cool hall with haggard eyes 
 The Roman noble lay, 
 He drove abroad in furious guise 
 Along the Appian Way. 
 
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 165 
 
 He made a feast, drank fierce and fast, 
 And crowned his hair with flowers ; 
 
 No easier nor no quicker passed 
 The impracticable hours." 
 
 In those days there was a carpenter in the town of 
 Nazareth who was destined to wield the sceptre of the 
 ages. He was waiting for the fulness of time, and mean- 
 while he wrought steadily at his lower tasks. The farmer 
 came with his wooden plough, the village dame with her 
 decrepit furniture, and he mended them. The children 
 of the village passed by his door ; he smiled upon them, 
 spoke a cheery word, and they went their way. As he 
 stood among the shavings, plying the implements of his 
 trade, he must oftentimes have murmured, " I have a 
 baptism to be baptized with, and how is my soul strait- 
 ened until it shall be accomplished !" 
 
 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching and 
 saying, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at 
 hand." Out of the wilderness, clad in a prophet's garb, 
 with a hempen cord about his loins, a gaunt, stern 
 man, he came announcing the coming of the Christ. 
 " The woodman cometh," he cried, " with an axe in his 
 hand, and he will lay it at the root of the tree, and every 
 barren tree shall be cut down and cast into the fire." 
 " The winnower cometh," he cried, " with fan in hand, 
 and he shall surely purge the floor and the chaff shall be 
 cast into unquenchable fire." A strange gospel this, a 
 strange heralding of the Prince of Peace — the axe, the 
 fan, and always the unquenchable fire ! Repent ye ! 
 repent ye ! for He cometh whose shoe's latchet I am not 
 worthy to loose. 
 
 The air is close and heavy before the storm ; the 
 skies are yellow; we struggle for breath. Then comes 
 
166 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 the tempest ; the clouds sweep overhead, the winds roar 
 through the forest like voices of fury; the trees are 
 twisted and torn, the windows above are opened; the 
 skies are seamed with lurid lightnings, like knotted and 
 swollen veins upon an angry face. Then comes the lull 
 of the tempest, calm and silence, sunshine and the sing- 
 ing of birds, and you throw your shoulders back and 
 breathe ; the whole world is brighter and better for the 
 storm. So came John the Baptist preaching of the axe 
 and the winnowing-fan and preparing the way for the 
 Prince of Peace. 
 
 One day he was baptizing at the water's edge at Beth- 
 abara. The bank of the swift Jordan was lined with the 
 eager multitudes who had come thronging from Jerusalem 
 and Judaea, the regions round about. " Repent ye ! re- 
 pent ye !" rang his voice above the roar of the swift-roll- 
 ing, tumultuous river. " Cast up a highway for the coming 
 of the King !" One and another of his hearers came down 
 to the water's edge, saying, " I repent ; baptize me." The 
 day waned; it was towards eventide. Then one de- 
 tached himself from the crowd and came down towards 
 the river — a man of the people in homespun garb, before 
 whom the prophet of the wilderness quailed and trembling 
 cried, " Behold ! behold the Lamb of God !" 
 
 And as Jesus came near he said, " Not thou, O Mas- 
 ter. I am the unworthy one ! I have need to be baptized 
 of thee." And Jesus answered, " Suffer it to be so now, 
 for thus it becometh me to fulfil all righteousness." Then 
 the heavens were opened above and a blessed commerce 
 began — prayers ascending and blessings returning — which 
 never has ceased until this day. And down from above 
 came the Spirit of God in form like a brooding dove, 
 symbolizing the descent of peace to the sin-troubled world, 
 
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 167 
 
 and bringing to earth a benediction that passeth all un- 
 derstanding. And a voice was heard, " This is my be- 
 loved Son." It was heard afterward, again and again. Some 
 said, " It thundereth," and they spake well, for it was in- 
 deed a tremendous truth that was uttered, " This is my 
 beloved Son." O friend, have you ever heard it uttered 
 in reverberating tones from heaven ? " This is my be- 
 loved Son ; hear ye him." 
 
 What was the significance of all this ? What is the 
 meaning of this baptism of Jesus ? It was the formal 
 induction into the active duties of his mediatorial office. 
 He would return to the carpenter's shop no more. In 
 vain shall the farmer bring his plough. Little children will 
 look wonderingly at the closed door. The saw will hang 
 against the wall, the dust lie thick upon the bench, the 
 shavings be undisturbed on the floor. The carpenter 
 of Nazareth has left his lower tasks and entered upon his 
 ministry. The hour has come; his soul shall be straitened 
 no more. 
 
 What does this mean for us ? 
 
 I. To-day he enters with us into the fellowship of 
 duty. Thus it becometh me, he said, to fulfil all right- 
 eousness. He was a loyal Jew, and the new economy 
 had not begun as yet. If a son of Levi must be washed 
 at the brazen laver on assuming his ministerial functions, 
 so shall Jesus ; but instead of the temple we have the deep 
 valley and the overarching skies ; instead of the laver, 
 the swift-flowing Jordan ; instead of the anointing, the de- 
 scent of the dove, the Spirit of God. 
 
 This Jesus is the source and centre of all the right 
 precepts and injunctions ; his heart is the throne of law ; 
 the writings of Sinai are the flashings of his eye ; yet 
 under the Law he bows and passes into servitude. 
 
TOo "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 Though equal with God, he took upon him the form of a 
 servant and became obedient. The inaugural rite is his 
 bounden duty ; to obey is better than sacrifice. " Thus it 
 becometh me, as the ideal man, the Son of man, to fulfil 
 all righteousness." If he thus respected the humblest 
 duty, then surely, beloved, the same is becoming in us. 
 
 There is no nobler word in all our vocabulary than 
 " duty." Our mere apprehension of moral obligation is 
 the token of our divine lineage. An infant grasps at the 
 stars. No offspring of the lower orders does it. Time 
 passes and the infant, grown to manhood, still reaches for 
 the stars. But they are far away ; and the interstellar 
 spaces are infinite. The province of duty is our vast uni- 
 verse. When we have done our best we must still confess, 
 " I count not myself to have apprehended." The stars are 
 still far away. But this is God-like, to reach forth, to 
 strive after character, to obey, to fulfil all righteousness to 
 the utmost of our power. Jesus revered his duty ; so let 
 us bow to ours. 
 
 II. In this ordinance our blessed Lord comes with us 
 into the fellowship of penitence. We mourn sometimes 
 that at the tenderest point of human life and experience he 
 cannot feel with us, for he was human in all points, yet 
 without sin. He could not indeed mourn over personal 
 sin. Of all the multitude that lined the Jordan bank, 
 hearkening to John's call to repentance, he alone could 
 say, " I need it not." 
 
 And yet there is a sense in which Jesus can sympathize 
 with our sorrow for sin. He took upon himself the bur- 
 den of our transgressions ; he identified himself with us in 
 our attitude of guilt before the offended law. He was no 
 sinner, and yet in our behalf he became the very chief of 
 sinners, for the world's sin was laid upon him. He felt 
 
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 169 
 
 our pain, our contrition, our despair; all that sin entails 
 upon a guilty soul he bore for us. 
 
 A strange thing happened recently in one of our courts 
 of justice. A young man was asked if he had aught to say 
 why the extreme penalty should not be passed upon him. 
 At that moment a gray-haired man, his face furrowed 
 with sorrow, stepped into the prisoner's box unhindered, 
 placed his hand affectionately upon the culprit's shoulder, 
 and said, " Your honor, we have nothing to say. The 
 verdict which has been found against us is just. We have 
 only to ask for mercy." " We !" — there was nothing 
 against this old father; yet in that moment he lost himself; 
 he identified his very being with that of his wayward boy. 
 
 So Christ in this baptism pushes his way to a place 
 beside us, lays his hand upon the sinner's shoulder, and 
 bears the shame and sorrow with him. Oh presently, up 
 yonder, he will stand beside us ; again we shall be silent 
 and shamefaced, but he will speak : " Thou Judge of all 
 the earth, true and righteous altogether, the sentence has 
 gone forth justly against this man ; but I have borne his 
 penalty ; my heart broke on Calvary under the burden of 
 his sin; for my sake let him go free." So it is written, 
 " He was numbered with the transgressors ; he bare the 
 sins of many ; the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of 
 us all." 
 
 III. He enters also in this inaugural ordinance into the 
 fellowship of divine filiation with us. " Thou," said the 
 voice from above, " art my beloved Son." We were alien- 
 ated from the Heavenly Father; but in the sonship of 
 Jesus the way of restoration is opened unto us. He be- 
 comes the first-born among many brethren ; in him we 
 receive the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, " Abba ! 
 Father !" 
 
170 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 Thanks be to God for this voice of thunder, " Thou 
 art my Son." We have heard it reverberating- along the 
 corridors of truth. The scriptures are full of the sonship 
 of Jesus. He walks amid the oracles, his face like the sun 
 shining in his strength. We have heard it in the story of 
 personal experience : the sorrowing Magdalens, the peni- 
 tent thieves, the weeping Peters of all the centuries, have 
 certified to the grace of the Elder Brother as the only- 
 begotten of God. We have heard it in history. There is 
 a mingled sound of falling thrones and dynasties, of ham- 
 mers and trowels among the stones of rising temples, of 
 the rustling wings of the angels of the morning, of the 
 singing of the nations that were once in darkness and the 
 shadow of death, like the sound of many waters, like the 
 reverberance of the heavens, " This is my beloved Son." 
 Oh sweet and blessed fellowship ! We are his humble 
 brethren, and there is something more in Christ Jesus 
 still before us : " Now are we the sons of God, and it doth 
 not yet appear what we shall be." 
 
 The grace of the infinite God came down to earth as 
 Pharaoh's daughter came down to the river side, and found 
 us helpless, motherless, famishing. It has taken us up to 
 the King's house, brought us to the King's table, clothed 
 us in purple, and given us the assurance of a royal inher- 
 itance. We also are sons and daughters of the living 
 God. Not like Jesus indeed. Oh ! there is a bridgeless 
 gulf between his affiliation with God and ours ; he is the 
 11 Only-Begotten ;" and yet we are acknowledged in the 
 Beloved as children of God. The time will come when 
 the full significance of this will be revealed to us. Mean- 
 while we pass here our years of apprenticeship; doing 
 faithful work in the province of duty ; earnest, steadfast, 
 hopeful ; mending ploughs and harrows in the shop, until 
 
THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 171 
 
 one bright day we too shall be called away to hear the 
 voice, " Thou art my beloved son !" Let us bow our 
 backs cheerfully to the burden ; let us acquiesce in salu- 
 tary discipline; let us with lowly heart receive the full 
 blessing of our divine adoption ; and oh ! let us love with 
 pure hearts, fervently, this Brother of ours by whose me- 
 diation we have the great inheritance, whose right hand 
 will presently lead us through the door of the Father's 
 house to the Father's table, where we shall abide as mem- 
 bers of the family of God ! 
 
l 7 2 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 THE PHARISEE'S PRAYER. 
 
 " The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank 
 thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, 
 adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, 
 I give tithes of all that I possess." Luke iS : n, 12. 
 
 If we should be unsaved, the Lord will be blameless. 
 He has wooed us and warned us to the utmost. He has 
 set before us a multitude of exceeding great and precious 
 promises covering the present time and reaching out unto 
 the life everlasting, and he has compassed us about with 
 admonitions. It is written, (( A reproof entereth more into 
 a wise man than a hundred stripes into a fool." The 
 Lord knew whereof he spake ; the traps and the pitfalls of 
 the journey were all known to him. His warnings are 
 like beacons kindled along the way. 
 
 Here is one. A man in the night and the solitude is 
 conning his ledger. He congratulates himself on his 
 magnificent profits. " What shall I do ?" he murmurs ; 
 " my goods are greatly increased. I will tear down my 
 barns and build greater ; I will say to my soul, Soul, thou 
 hast much goods laid up for many years ; take thine ease, 
 eat, drink, and be merry." And a voice breaks in upon 
 his soliloquy, " Thou fool ! this night thy soul shall be re- 
 quired of thee : then whose shall those things be which 
 thou hast provided ?" And what is the lesson ? Beware 
 of avarice, of covetousness, of a selfish life. 
 
 Here is another of these beacons. A man stands at 
 the corner of the street making his long prayer. Broad 
 
THE PHARISEE'S PRAYER. 1 73 
 
 are his ceremonial fringes and conspicuous is the band 
 upon his forehead, upon which is written, " Hear, O 
 Israel, the Lord, thy God, is one Lord." He drops 
 his eyes, he folds his hands. The people who pass by 
 behold him with admiration, saying, "This is a holy 
 man." But the Voice breaks in upon his devotion, " Woe 
 unto thee, O rabbi ! praying in order to be seen of men ; 
 how shalt thou escape the damnation of hell ?" What is 
 the lesson ? Take heed and beware of hypocrisy, of wear- 
 ing a mask and of seeming to be better than thou art. 
 
 And here are five virgins, sleeping by the wayside in 
 the flickering light of their expiring lamps. At the cry, 
 " Behold, the bridegroom cometh !" they arise and rub the 
 slumber from their eyes, trim their lamps, and hasten to 
 the bridegroom's house. Too late ! They knock and 
 cry, " Lord ! Lord ! open unto us !" And the voice from 
 within answers, " I never knew you." And the lesson ? 
 Beware of procrastination, of heedlessness, of putting off 
 thy duty. Be wise to-day. 
 
 Here is a group of malefactors on their way to execu- 
 tion, their faces fallen upon their breasts, their hands 
 manacled. What have they done? To them was com- 
 mitted the husbandman's estate. The just demand for 
 recompense was refused again and again. At length the 
 Master sent his beloved son, saying, " Surely they will heed 
 him." But they stoned him and cast him out; wherefore 
 they are sentenced to death, and with manifest justice. 
 What will the Master teach thereby ? Beware of adding 
 to the category of thy many sins the crowning iniquity of 
 rejecting the King's Son. 
 
 So are we admonished again and again by these para- 
 bolic figures, clear and impressive as those living torches 
 which Nero cruelly kindled along the Roman ways. 
 
174 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 This Pharisee is one of them. His sin was self- right- 
 eousness. The Lord spake this parable, as it is written, 
 '* unto certain that trusted in themselves that they were 
 righteous, and despised others." 
 
 There is danger of passing a too severe judgment on 
 this man. There are some things to be said in his favor, 
 
 First, he was no hypocrite. Among his co-reli- 
 gionists there were those who pretended to be what they 
 knew they were not. But this man thought himself to be 
 righteous and frankly said so. He would not have been 
 honest otherwise. Had he confessed himself a sinner 
 while believing himself to be a saint, he would have been 
 a hypocrite. God desireth truth in the inmost parts. The 
 meanest of all sins is hypocrisy. It is something to be 
 able to absolve an evil-doer of this. 
 
 " God knows I 'm no the thing I should be, 
 Nor am I e'en the thing I could be ; 
 But twenty times I rather would be 
 
 An atheist clean, 
 Than under gospel colors hid be 
 
 Just for a screen." 
 
 Secoyid, he was no flagrant malefactor. He was not, 
 as he said, " like other men." Near by stood a money- 
 changer, an extortioner, a very Shylock, wont to devour 
 widows' houses and grind the faces of the poor. " I thank 
 thee, Lord, that I am not like this man." Yonder stood 
 an adulterer, his name bandied about from mouth to 
 mouth, his offence an open scandal against the church. 
 " I thank thee, Lord," said our Piiarisee very justly, " that 
 I am not like this man." Off yonder stood a publican, 
 shame-faced, beating on his breast, as well he might, for 
 was he not a wretched renegade, an apostate from Israel ? 
 " I thank thee," said our Pharisee again, " that I am not 
 
THE PHARISEES PRAYER. 1 75 
 
 like this man." Let us give him his utmost due. He 
 avoided the conspicuous vices ; he was a moral man. 
 
 Third, he was no infidel. On the other hand, he was 
 scrupulous in his attendance to the requirements of the 
 ceremonial law. No doubt he occupied one of the high- 
 est seats in the synagogue. He was, as we say, a mem- 
 ber of the church in good and regular standing. He hon- 
 ored the stated appointments. " I fast twice every week," k 
 said he. The law required him to fast only on the great 
 Day of Atonement — just one day in each year — but he 
 accumulated virtue by abstaining from food every Monday 
 and Thursday. " I pay tithes of all I possess." This also 
 was beyond the necessity of the case. The law required 
 only a tithe of the income. This man, however, was 
 known as a great giver — a giver of the tithe of his mint 
 and anise and cummin. In all these things our Pharisee 
 was right in saying that he was not as other men. 
 
 Fourth, he was thankful. Deep down in his heart he 
 rejoiced in this splendid showing of morality and piety. 
 There are men who feel precisely as he did, but have 
 not the grace to make public acknowledgment of it. 
 That " I thank thee, God," is certainly to the credit of the 
 man who uttered it. 
 
 So indeed this Pharisee was not as black as we have 
 oftentimes painted him. As we have seen, there were 
 many things in his favor, and so far as we are aware there 
 was only one thing against him. 
 
 We turn now to consider this worshipper's one fault, 
 his self-righteousness. He was a type of a multitude of 
 eminently respectable people who trust in themselves that 
 they are righteous. Let us observe what is involved in 
 this sin. 
 
 (1.) Infatuation. The Pharisee was utterly mistaken 
 
176 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 as to his real character. He said, " I am not like other 
 men." God said, " There is no difference." 
 
 A sinner is a sinner. His respectability does not alter 
 or modify the main fact. At this moment all Paris is dis- 
 turbed over the conviction of some of its most eminent 
 dignitaries of misappropriating the Panama Canal funds. 
 There is a general outcry against the punishment of these 
 reputable gentlemen. What matters it that they have 
 stolen outright some millions of francs ? Are they not 
 gentlemen, cultured, eminent indeed in society? On the 
 outer boulevards the canaille are perpetrating their petty 
 thefts, stealing a loaf for their hunger or a ragged garment 
 to cover their nakedness. Away to the prison with them ; 
 but as for De Lesseps and Eiffel, let them go ! Ah, 
 God's thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as 
 our ways. There are no respectable sinners in the divine 
 sight. There is no difference : we have all sinned and 
 come short of the glory of God. 
 
 (2.) Uncharitableness. Another element in the self- 
 righteousness of this Pharisee was uncharitableness ; as it is 
 written, "He despised others." It takes a rogue to catch 
 a rogue. For a like reason, none but the conscious sin- 
 ner can feel for his erring brother. A fellow-feeling 
 makes one wondrous kind. 
 
 Who was it wrote the "Universal Prayer"? 
 
 " Teach me to feel another's woe, 
 To hide the fault I see ; 
 That mercy I to others show, 
 That mercy show to me." 
 
 Who but Alexander Pope with his thousand open 
 faults ? 
 
 Who was it wrote the " Bridge of Sighs "? 
 
THE PHARISEE'S PRAYER. 1 77 
 
 " Owning her weakness, 
 Her evil behavior, 
 And leaving, with meekness, 
 Her sins to her Saviour !" 
 
 Who but Tom Hood, with his many weaknesses ? 
 
 And who was it that wrote the " Address to the unco' 
 guid"? 
 
 " Then at the balance let 's be mute, 
 We never can adjust it ; 
 What 's done we partly may compute, 
 But know not what 's resisted." 
 
 Who but Robbie Burns, who many a time staggered 
 down the road from Tarn O'Shanter's inn to Alloway 
 cottage ? 
 
 We cannot despise others when we know our own in- 
 firmities. Find me a complacent moralist, and I will find 
 you a man with no bowels of compassion. 
 
 (3.) Mark the Pharisee's presumption. With respect 
 to himself his self-righteousness was infatuation ; with 
 respect to others it was uncharitableness ; with respect to 
 God it was arrant presumption. 
 
 We speak of this Pharisee's prayer, but he made no 
 prayer. He confessed no fault, no need. " I thank thee, 
 God," said he, " that I am not as other men." It was an 
 imposing laudation of self. 
 
 The quaint old poet Crashaw puts it thus : 
 
 1 ' Two went to pray, 
 Or rather to say, 
 One went to brag — 
 The other to pray. 
 " One stands up close 
 And treads on high 
 Where the other 
 Dares not lend his eye. 
 12 
 
178 «"THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 " One nearer to 
 
 God's altar trod, 
 The other to 
 The altar's God." 
 
 The Pharisee's prayer was like a painted ship upon a 
 painted ocean, as fair to outward seeming as any vessel 
 under sail; but its keel cut no furrow in the mighty deep; 
 it carried no wants to the regions beyond and brought 
 back no cargo of gold and spices. The Pharisee knew 
 no sin and therefore asked for no pardon. His righteous- 
 ness lacked the one thing needful. He had heard of 
 Messiah who was to die in behalf of his people, that they 
 might be delivered from the shame and penalty and 
 bondage of their sins. He had no need, however, for 
 the gracious offices of that Mediator. He was proud of 
 his own attainments and did not perceive that in the sight 
 of the Holy God all his righteousnesses were but as filthy 
 rags. 
 
 " One thing thou lackest," said the Saviour to the 
 young ruler. The one thing lacking in his case, as in that 
 of this Pharisee, was the very thing on which salvation is 
 conditioned, to wit : an apprehension of God's pardoning 
 grace. A stowaway, dragged out from behind the casks 
 and bundles in the hold of a vessel, is in no wise worse 
 than a cabin passenger, save only that he lacks a ticket ; 
 but therein he lacks the great pre-requisite, in default of 
 which he must needs take his place among the stokers. 
 
 O friend, conscious of a noble purpose to live up- 
 rightly, yet refusing the strength and guidance of God's 
 own beloved Son, and unshriven for the mislived past, 
 one thing thou lackest! Go, part with everything and 
 win an interest in the Saviour's sacrifice, and then, boast- 
 ful no longer of thine own righteousness, lean hard on 
 
THE PHARISEE S PRAYER. 
 
 179 
 
 Him for ever. If thou shalt ever present thyself accept- 
 able at the throne of heaven, it will be, not because of 
 personal merit, but clothed in His righteousness as with 
 fine linen, clean and white. 
 
 When we have done our utmost we still fall short of 
 the glory of God. The best of sinners has a reason to 
 cry out at every eventide, " Have mercy upon me, O God, 
 according to thy lovingkindness !" The most immaculate 
 of moralists is still a guilty man. 
 
 In its last reduction the only virtue is faith in the 
 Saviour of the world. 
 
 14 Talk they of morals ? O thou bleeding Lamb ! 
 The true morality is love of Thee." 
 
180 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 THE PUBLICAN'S PRAYER. 
 
 " And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as 
 his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God 
 be merciful to me a sinner." Luke 18:13. 
 
 Our Lord gave little attention to the inculcation of 
 abstract truth. He taught in object-lessons, using in large 
 measure the kindergarten method. There was no attempt 
 at the appearance of profundity. He desired to present 
 truth in terms so simple that a wayfaring man, though a 
 fool, might understand it. The truths which are advanced 
 in his gospel are in concrete form and not infrequently 
 formulated in living flesh and blood. This is of advantage 
 for both plainness and picturesqueness. 
 
 Here is a woman afflicted with an incurable malady, 
 who, learning that Jesus is passing through the village, 
 makes her way through the crowd in the desperate hope 
 of being healed by his touch. She accomplishes her pur- 
 pose, lays her hand upon the hem of his garment, and 
 feels with inexpressible joy the sudden thrill of health. 
 What does this mean ? Faith. It teaches the power of 
 faith, that is, of personal contact with the Divine, only 
 more effectively than could have been done in an elabo- 
 rate discourse. 
 
 Here is a poor creature rescued from the slums by the 
 encouraging word of Jesus, " Come unto me, all ye that 
 labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." In 
 deep passion of gratitude she brings an alabaster-box of 
 ointment, her most priceless possession, and pours it upon 
 
THE PUBLICAN'S PRAYER. l8l 
 
 Jesus' feet, weeping- meanwhile and wiping his feet with 
 her flowing hair. And when the disciples would have 
 rebuked her, the Lord said, " Let her alone ; she hath 
 wrought a good work on me." What does this mean ? 
 Love — love that covereth a multitude of sins. A whole 
 library of elaborate discourses could not have shown its 
 nature so well. 
 
 In the court of the temple a poor widow drops two 
 mites into Corban. There are other contributors there, 
 rich men and ostentatious pietists, who throw their golden 
 coins sonorously into the trumpet-mouth of the contribu- 
 tion-box : but of this poor widow the Master said, " She 
 hath given more than they all." What does this mean ? 
 The grace of giving. Nor has all the literature on syste- 
 matic beneficence in these last days covered the case so 
 thoroughly. 
 
 A wayfarer as he passes along the " bloody way " that 
 leads from Jerusalem down to Jericho hears a groan and 
 turns aside to answer it. The priests have been along that 
 way and the Levites have given no heed. He finds the 
 suffering one, binds up his wounds, and cares for him. 
 The lesson is benevolence. All that Herbert Spencer 
 and the professors of sociology have contributed to the 
 subject have added little or nothing to this simple and 
 comprehensive outline of true neighborliness. 
 
 A thief is dying on the cross. His life has been passed 
 in sin and shame, but he cries in the supreme moment of 
 his anguish and despair, " Lord, remember me !" The 
 answer is, "To-day thou shalt be with me in Paradise." 
 Thus briefly does the great Master teach the power of 
 saving grace. 
 
 " Twixt the saddle and the ground, 
 Mercy sought is mercy found." 
 
182 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 It will be observed that all the foregoing persons were 
 nameless. Names are nothing ; the important thing is the 
 virtue that shines through the life. And here in this 
 publican we have another of the anonymi. There is little 
 or nothing attractive about him. He was a pariah, a 
 renegade Jew, a collector of Roman tribute. He was 
 hated and despised — a dog of a publican. He was not 
 allowed to enter the Temple or to testify in the courts of 
 justice. It is a noteworthy fact that tax-collectors are a 
 despised class in Oriental countries to this day. And how 
 they are hated over in Ireland ! the factors, the landlord's 
 men ; and in Scotland too. Burns pays them his compli- 
 ments in the " Twa Dogs :" 
 
 " Poor tenant bodies, scant o' cash, 
 How they maun thole a factor's snash : 
 He'll stamp an' threaten, curse an' swear, 
 He '11 apprehend them, poind their gear; 
 While they maun stan' wi' aspect humble 
 An' hear it a', an' fear an' tremble !" 
 
 The ancient tax-collector was much the same. He had 
 only one friend ; Jesus was called the " Friend of publi- 
 cans." 
 
 The publican here referred to was chosen to enforce 
 the lesson how to approach God. 
 
 I. Observe his face. It expresses a want. " Prayer is 
 the soul's sincere desire." The first assurance of success 
 at the mercy-seat is to " want something." 
 
 We were taught in the theological seminary that every 
 well-ordered prayer should consist of four parts, to wit, 
 adoration, thanksgiving, confession, and supplication. 
 But this man in his eagerness forgot all courtesy and 
 leaped over ail but the last. In like manner Bartimaeus 
 spent no time in the preliminaries of devotion, but cried 
 
THE PUBLICAN'S PRAYER, 183 
 
 again and again, " O thou Son of David, have mercy 
 upon me !" One thing he desired, one thing he must 
 have : " Oh that I might receive my sight !" 
 
 We complain of wandering thoughts : we kneel at our 
 devotions and our thoughts go fluttering away from us 
 like the English sparrows that flit and twitter in the trees. 
 The remedy for this is to have a want. Let us pause at 
 the threshold oi prayer as Jeanie Deans did at the door 
 of the audience-room, laying her hand upon her heart. 
 Let us, if we would present a petition at the throne of 
 heavenly grace, feel the parchment to make sure it is 
 there. 
 
 II. Observe his egotism, " God be merciful to me." 
 Here was no circumlocution. He had been told, doubt- 
 less, that rulers and all in authority must be prayed for. 
 He knew that the heathen multitudes lying in darkness 
 and the shadow of death should be prayed for. But he 
 did not think of one beside himself. And he was right. 
 Let the sinner, first of all, set himself right with God. To 
 say the Lord's Prayer, to repeat the Litany, to pray for the 
 world in its weakness and wickedness, if the suppliant 
 himself is still unreconciled with God, is surely an empty 
 form. This publican felt his sin. It rose to vast propor- 
 tions before his eyes. It seemed like a mountain separa- 
 ting between him and God. There might be other 
 sinners in the world, but he was aware of only one. " God 
 be merciful to me, the sinner." He heard the Pharisee 
 saying, " God, I thank thee that I am not as other men ; I 
 fast twice every week, I give tithes of all I possess." And 
 he in his distress murmured, " Oh, if I were only as good 
 as he ! I have done no fasting, I have paid in no tithes ; 
 God pity me !" 
 
 III. Observe his theology. For there is a whole system 
 
1 84 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 of theology in his brief prayer. The sum and substance 
 of all spiritual truth is in the linking of sin with pardon, in 
 finding a bridge to span the infinite chasm between a 
 condemned culprit and his offended God. This publican 
 had found it. That bridge is Mercy — " God be merci- 
 ful." In that word is the one answer to the old query, 
 " How can God be just and yet justify the ungodly ?" For 
 the prayer is literally, " Be propitiated unto me." In 
 that word, which finds its full significance in the sacrifice 
 upon the Cross, is the full answer to the query, " How 
 shall a man be just with God ?" 
 
 In 1848 Fergus O'Connor came up to the House of 
 Commons with a Chartist petition to which were affixed 
 5,700,000 names. All these had one desire and thus uni- 
 tedly expressed it. But in all the world there is not one 
 living man who does not need mercy. There are sixteen 
 hundred millions of people, and every one of them is a 
 sinner under sentence of spiritual and eternal death. In 
 the heart of every one is a longing to know the way of 
 escape, and the only way of escape is in the mercy of God. 
 
 IV. Observe his attitude. He stood afar off, thus 
 showing his reverence. He drooped his eyes, thus mani- 
 festing his humility. He beat upon his breast where all 
 his trouble lay, for his was a malady of the heart, and thus 
 he showed his earnestness. This man had not learned his 
 prayer in any philosophic school nor at the feet of any 
 doctrinal teacher, but out of the deep experience of his 
 soul, and every word that he uttered was blistered with a 
 tear. 
 
 Our Lord tells of a certain widow who, having suffered 
 wrong, presented herself before the magistrate, entreating 
 him to avenge her. It was his business to avenge her ; 
 this is what justices are for. If all who have been wronged 
 
THE PUBLICAN'S PRAYER. 185 
 
 were to present themselves at the door of our justices and 
 magistrates — the widows and those who are worse than 
 widows, the fatherless and those who have been made 
 worse than fatherless by the iniquities of the dramshop 
 and the gambling hell— the days and nights would be 
 vociferous with their appeals. But alas ! the magistrates 
 of to-day are much like those of the olden time. This 
 widow could not get a hearing, but she went again and 
 again. He could not rid himself of her. She wearied 
 him. As he entered his home at night he saw her. Then 
 in his dreams he saw her at his door. In the early morn- 
 ing there she was, crying, "Avenge me." At length he 
 said, " Because she wearieth me I will avenge her." 
 Shall not the Lord much more — oh blessed a fortiori I — ■ 
 avenge his own elect? Shall he not hear those who come 
 with their wrongs, their burdens, their aching hearts, and 
 give him no peace ? The kingdom of heaven suffereth 
 violence and the violent take it by force. 
 
 V. Observe the sequel : "And this man went down to 
 his house justified." Justification is an act of God's free 
 grace whereby he pardoneth all our sins and accepteth us 
 as righteous in his sight. It means that his burden was 
 lifted, his sins forgiven. In the International Exposition 
 of 1862 there were two notable pictures. In one of them 
 was represented a group of persons in the ante-room of a 
 judgment hall. A woman sat wringing her hands in an 
 agony of silent suspense; her little children stood by, 
 sharing in the grief which they could not fathom. The 
 aged grandmother with woe-begone face held a puling 
 infant in her lap. The dog looked up in silent wonder. 
 Through the door opening into the court-room might be 
 seen a man in the prisoner's box. This was called, 
 " Waiting for the Verdict." In the other the man stood 
 
1 86 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 with his arm about the woman and her head lay upon his 
 breast. The children were tugging at their mother's 
 skirts, the grandmother was holding up the baby to kiss 
 its father's face, the dog was licking his hand. And this 
 was called, "Acquitted." There is no joy in heaven or on 
 earth like that which the sinner feels when his judgment is 
 over and he is, for Jesus' sake, acquitted before God. 
 
 This publican had come up to the temple with a 
 mighty heartache ; his sins were heavy upon him. He 
 went down to his house justified, singing now the song of 
 salvation. There were rich men in Jerusalem, but not one 
 who owned such treasure as he ; there were king's favor- 
 ites, but not one who felt so proud and happy as he. A 
 long while he lay awake that night for joy, and in the 
 morning when he arose and looked out towards the east, 
 it was as if the dawn of heaven had burst upon him. 
 
 This is a great prayer, " God be merciful to me a sin- 
 ner." Friend, have you ever offered it ? You have said 
 your prayers many a time ; you have uttered the form- 
 ulas, you have read the litanies ; but have you ever out 
 of the anguish of a surcharged heart cried out for the 
 mercy of God ? When the learned Grotius was dying 
 at Rostock, after a life of theological study and good 
 works, he asked for this parable to be read, and his last 
 word was, " That publican am I." 
 
 In one of Joseph Cook's lectures he tells of a 
 wealthy man of affairs who came to an evangelist 
 with a desire to know " whether the gospel were true or 
 not." "Are you sincere ?" said the evangelist. " I am," 
 said he. " I will do anything to find out whether the 
 gospel is true or not." " Let us kneel down," said the 
 evangelist, "here and now; and do you say, from your 
 heart, ' God be merciful to me a sinner.' " The merchant 
 
THE PUBLICAN'S PRAYER. 1 87 
 
 did so, earnestly and genuinely, and there came to him a 
 sudden and inexpressible peace. He arose from his knees 
 saying, " This is a singular experience." And seeking 
 his business partner, he related all and said, " Will you 
 not try it?" His partner had been a skeptic, but he 
 consented. They knelt down together and he offered 
 the publican's prayer, and " he too arose smitten across 
 the forehead with a light that falls out of those celestial 
 spaces from which all souls come and into which all men 
 haste." 
 
 Get down, my friend, upon thy knees, if thou art an 
 unforgiven sinner, and pray, " God be merciful to me." 
 And as sure as God lives, the answer will come. "Ask, 
 and it shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, 
 and it shall be opened unto you." The mouth of the 
 Lord hath spoken it. 
 
1 88 "THE MORNING COMETH.' 
 
 WASHINGTON'S RELIGION 
 
 " A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children." 
 
 Prov. 13:22. 
 
 It is a true saying, " The boy is father of the man." 
 In a copy-book used by George Washington when a boy 
 is this sentence: "Labor to preserve in your bosom that 
 lingering spark of heavenly fire which men call con- 
 science." Out of such fountains flow the streams of an 
 earnest life. This boy was left fatherless at ten years of 
 age; but he had a glorious mother, and he was not 
 ashamed to be a mother's boy. He received through 
 the kindness of a kinsman a midshipman's warrant in 
 the British Navy. His arrangements were all made; 
 the boat that was to carry him across the sea was at 
 anchor in the stream ; but as he was setting out he saw 
 tears in his mother's eyes. That was enough for him ; 
 he turned back. 
 
 It would be curious to speculate what the result would 
 have been had he persisted in his purpose, for on such 
 small events turns the history of the ages. 
 
 Long afterwards, when Lafayette brought to Washing- 
 ton's mother a glowing report of his brave deeds, she 
 quietly answered, " I am not surprised ; George was 
 always a good boy." 
 
 At twenty- one, during the war with the French and 
 Indians, he was chosen to bear a remonstrance to the com- 
 mander of the enemies' forces. It was a delicate and dan- 
 
WASHINGTON'S RELIGION. 1 89 
 
 gerous errand, involving a journey of six hundred miles 
 over the mountains and across the wilderness. He made 
 it successfully, fording streams, scaling mountains, and 
 braving the hostilities of savage tribes. For this he was 
 promoted to larger responsibilities. A vote of thanks 
 being accorded him in the House of Burgesses, he arose 
 to reply, but his tongue clave to the roof of his mouth. 
 " Sit down, Mr. Washington," said the presiding officer, 
 " your modesty alone can equal your valor." 
 
 In 1774 he was elected to the first Congress, and was 
 presently made Commander-in-chief of the Continental 
 forces. Then came those eight years of travail-pain out 
 of which was born our constitutional freedom. At the 
 close of the war he gracefully resigned his sword, saying, 
 " The chaplains of the army will render thanks to Al- 
 mighty God." 
 
 In 1787 he attended the Constitutional Convention and 
 was unanimously chosen to preside over it. Soon after- 
 wards he was elected the first President of the United 
 States. On taking the Presidential chair he said, " No 
 people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invis- 
 ible Hand which conducts the affairs of men, more than 
 the people of the United States. Every step by which 
 they have advanced to the character of an independent 
 nation seems to have been distinguished by some token 
 of providential agency" And further on in the same ad- 
 dress, " I shall take my present leave, but not without re- 
 sorting once more to the benign Parent of the human race 
 in humble supplication that, since he has been pleased to 
 favor the American people with opportunities for deliber- 
 ating in perfect tranquillity, and a disposition for deciding 
 with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for 
 the securing of their Union and the advancement of their 
 
IQO "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 happiness, so this divine blessing may be equally conspic- 
 uous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, 
 and the wise measures on which the success of this Gov- 
 ernment must depend." At the close of his second term 
 as President he delivered a farewell address, in which he 
 observed, " Of all the dispositions and habits which lead 
 to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispen- 
 sable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute 
 of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pil- 
 lars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties 
 of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with 
 the pious man, ought to respect and cherish them. A 
 volume could not trace all their connections with private 
 and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the 
 security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense 
 of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the in- 
 struments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let 
 us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can 
 be maintained without religion. Whatever can be con- 
 ceded to the influence of refined education on minds of 
 peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us 
 to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of 
 religious principle. It is substantially true that virtue or 
 morality is a necessary spring of popular government. 
 The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every 
 species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend 
 to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the 
 foundation of the fabric ?" At the expiration of his second 
 presidential term he retired to Mt. Vernon, where, as a 
 simple American citizen, he passed the remainder of his 
 days. He died full of years and honors. His last words 
 were, " It is well." 
 
 We are familiar with his civic virtues, not so familiar 
 
WASHINGTON'S RELIGION. IQI 
 
 with his religious character. His success was due less 
 to natural gifts or adventitious circumstances than to 
 his devotion to religious principles. Let those who pay 
 tribute to his character not forget that religion was at the 
 bottom of it. 
 
 I. He believed in God. He believed not merely in 
 Universal Law or in a Pervading Force or a Something 
 that maketh for righteousness, but in a personal God, in 
 whose providence he had an abiding faith. In writing of 
 Braddock's defeat he said, " By the all-powerful dispensa- 
 tion of Providence I have been protected beyond all hu- 
 man probability, for I had four bullets through my coat 
 and two horses shot under me, yet I escaped unhurt 
 while death was levelling my companions on every side 
 of me." 
 
 Nor did he trust Providence alone in his personal 
 affairs. He believed that a gracious God was protecting 
 the interests of his country. " A man must be worse than 
 an infidel," said he at the close of the Revolutionary War, 
 " who does not see the goodness of God or has not grati- 
 tude enough to acknowledge it." On resigning his com- 
 mission as Commander-in-chief of the Continental forces 
 he said, " I consider it an indispensable duty to close this, 
 my last official act, by commending the interests of our 
 dearest country to the protection of Almighty God." 
 
 II. He believed in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 
 In his inmost heart he realized that he was a sinner, and 
 he saw no possibility of pardon save at the cross. He 
 therefore held to the vital doctrine of justification by faith. 
 
 Nor was it only with respect to himself that he be- 
 lieved in Christ. He held that our Government was 
 established on the fundamental principles of the gospel. 
 In these days the question is raised whether or no ours 
 
192 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 is a Christian nation. He never doubted it. " It is my 
 most earnest prayer," he says in an address to the gov- 
 ernors of the several States, " that God would have you 
 and the States over which you preside in his holy pro- 
 tection ; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to 
 cultivate the spirit of subordination and obedience to 
 government; and finally, that he would be most gra- 
 ciously pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love 
 mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humil- 
 ity, and pacific temper of mind which were the character- 
 istics of the divine Author of our blessed religion, with- 
 out a humble imitation of whose example in these things 
 we can never hope to be a happy nation." 
 
 It is a curious fact that while the great majority of 
 our American people are not committed to the Christian 
 religion in any way whatsoever, yet they inadvertently 
 betray their convictions in continuously casting their 
 ballots for Christian men. From George Washington to 
 Grover Cleveland, all our Presidents, with perhaps one 
 exception only, have been in sympathy with the funda- 
 mentals of the Christian faith. Of the eight candidates 
 for President and Vice-President at the recent election, 
 every one was a professed believer in the gospel of 
 Christ. The people thus, whatever their open avowal 
 may be, admit that in their judgment the country is safe 
 only in Christian hands. 
 
 III. He was a member of the Christian church. It is 
 not an uncommon thing to find men in the councils of 
 the nation who privately admit their belief in the gospel 
 while yet declining, for prudential or other reasons, to 
 make confession of it. No such considerations weighed 
 with Washington. He was a vestryman in the Episco- 
 palian church at Alexandria. His pastor, Rev. Lee 
 
WASHINGTON'S RELIGION. 193 
 
 Massy, said, " I never knew so constant an attendant on 
 church as he, and his behavior in the house of God was 
 ever so deeply reverent that it produced the happiest 
 effects." While a churchman, however, he was a broad 
 Christian man. At the time when the army was encamped 
 at Morristown, learning of an approaching Communion 
 in the Presbyterian church, he asked if he might be per- 
 mitted to participate. The answer was substantially this, 
 " We do not propose to celebrate a Presbyterian Supper 
 nor yet an Episcopalian Supper, but the Supper of the 
 Lord. Come and welcome, if you love Him." He was 
 there. The whole world knows that any narrower inter- 
 pretation of the Holy Communion than this is a shame 
 and a reproach not merely to Christian fellowship but to 
 sanctified common sense. It is preposterous to build 
 such hedges around the sacred table as that persons 
 shall be excluded who will yet be made welcome at the 
 Marriage Supper of the Lamb. 
 
 IV. He held to the integrity of the Bible as the Word 
 of God. He was wont to refer to it as " the pure and 
 benignant light of revelation." He loved it ; he searched 
 it as for hidden treasure. He believed that he found in 
 it the riches of spiritual life. 
 
 In those times there was no controversy as to the 
 inerrancy of the Scriptures. There were only two par- 
 ties in the world. On the one hand there were unbeliev- 
 ers who rejected the Bible, holding that it was a human 
 composition, a splendid landmark of literature, contain- 
 ing some wonderful maxims and profound truths, but 
 still not absolutely true nor worthy to be called, in any 
 honest sense, the veritable Word of God. On the other 
 hand, all of Christ's people received the Scriptures in 
 good faith, as their infallible rule of faith and practice. 
 
194 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 They held that whatever numerical or literary errors 
 there might be in its various versions, it was, as it left 
 the hands of the holy men who wrote by inspiration, the 
 absolutely true and inerrant Word of God. As yet schol- 
 ars had not learned to juggle with words. " Infallible " 
 meant infallible in those days. The two parties, believers 
 and unbelievers, stood squarely divided along the lines 
 of Scriptural truth. It was never dreamed in those days 
 that it would be possible for a man to belong to both 
 parties at once. It was left to be discovered more 
 recently that a man may reject the substantial truth of 
 Scripture and still receive it as infallible; that he may 
 regard it as largely false and still the very Word of 
 God. 
 
 On one occasion the nephew of Washington, coming 
 suddenly into his room, found him on his knees with an 
 open Bible before him. If we were accustomed in these 
 times to read our Bible on our knees we would love it 
 more devotedly and find fewer faults in it. The sin of 
 our time is irreverence. Fools rush in where angels fear 
 to tread. 
 
 V. Washington believed in the sanctity of the Sab- 
 bath. He required it to be observed by his fellow-officers 
 as well as by the rank and file of his army. And during 
 his chief-magistracy the presidential home was secluded 
 on the Lord's day. In this particular he was so scrupu- 
 lous that we may well believe he was regarded as a Sab- 
 batic bigot and fanatic. 
 
 Times have changed, you say, and men are more 
 liberal now. Ay, times have changed, but the fundamen- 
 tal principles of truth and morality abide for ever. The 
 sanction of Sabbath rest is in these words, " For in six 
 days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all 
 
WASHINGTON'S RELIGION. 195 
 
 that in them is, and rested the seventh day ; wherefore the 
 Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." The first 
 word of the Sabbath law is, " Remember." One of the 
 things to remember is that God established the Sabbath in 
 his own Sabbatic rest, and the law can obviously never 
 be abrogated until it be proved that God did not rest 
 on the seventh day. And another thing to be remem- 
 bered in this connection is that no nation ever disre- 
 garded the Sabbath law and lived. The paths of history 
 are marked with the ruins of nations that ran thus upon 
 the bosses of the shield of God. 
 
 VI. Washington was a praying man. On his leav- 
 ing home in early boyhood his mother said, " My son, 
 never neglect the duty of secret prayer." Nor did he. 
 It was his custom to rise at 4 A. m. for devotions. It is 
 known to every one how a certain Quaker while walking 
 along a creek near Valley Forge, hearing a voice from a 
 dense thicket, pushed his way through and found Wash- 
 ington upon his knees. His face was uplifted and suf- 
 fused with tears. At this time the Continental cause was 
 at the last extremity. The troops were barefoot and 
 hungry, the treasury depleted, and all hearts sick with 
 hope deferred. The Commander-in-chief was making a 
 desperate plea to God for the triumph of right and free- 
 dom. A man of prayer is ever a man of power. The 
 great leaders in the historic struggles for human rights 
 have been praying men, such as Cromwell, the Prince of 
 Orange, and Gustavus Adolphus, who entered battle with 
 a Pater Nosier on his lips. 
 
 VII. The things which Washington believed he also 
 exemplified in his daily life. The fruits of the Spirit, 
 love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, 
 faith, were witnessed in his walk and conversation. The 
 
I96 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 words which the lad had written in the copy-book, " La- 
 bor to preserve in your bosom that lingering spark of 
 heavenly fire which men call conscience," were as his 
 guiding star. His life was marked by an unchallenged 
 probity. It is said that the flour that was manufactured 
 at Mt. Vernon bearing the Washington mark was passed 
 without the customary inspection in West Indian ports. 
 The name of Washington was voucher for the genuine- 
 ness of whatever bore it. He had learned the Master's 
 word, Let your light so shine before men that they may 
 see your good works and glorify God. 
 
 It may be profitable in closing this monograph on the 
 character of the Father of his Country, to call attention to 
 a startling parallel. The cause of freedom was fought out 
 almost contemporaneously in America and France. When 
 the hour struck in our country the man was forthcom- 
 ing — Washington, who thoroughly believed in God. 
 When the hour struck in France the man also was forth- 
 coming — Napoleon, who followed his star of destiny. 
 While our people were nerving themselves in prayer and 
 consecration for the approaching struggle, the mobs were 
 gathering in the streets of Paris ; they were writing " Lib- 
 erty, fraternity, equality " across the dead walls and on 
 the doors of Notre Dame. The Continental Congress was 
 opened with prayer, while in the Corps Legislatif a reso- 
 lution was offered and passed, " There is no God." The 
 wives and children of the colonies, while their husbands 
 and fathers were enduring the rigors of war, bore hunger 
 and privation with prayerful patience. The women of 
 France marched out to Versailles and interrupted the 
 National Assembly there, crying, " This is no question of 
 politics ; this is a question of bread." While the fabric of 
 constitutional freedom was rising on this side of the sea, 
 
WASHINGTON'S RELIGION. 197 
 
 the sharp blade of the guillotine on the other was decapi- 
 tating the bravest and noblest of France. And when our 
 nation was rejoicing in the ultimate success of its glorious 
 struggle for human rights and giving praises to God, the 
 disappointed people of France were in unspeakable de- 
 spair because their hopes were extinguished and their ill- 
 founded temple of freedom had gone down in fire and 
 blood. So true is it that the nation that will not serve 
 God shall perish. Of men and nations alike Jehovah 
 hath said, " If ye seek me I will be found of you ; if ye 
 forsake me I will cast you off." 
 
 A last word. In commemorating the virtues of Wash- 
 ington do we reflect that we pay involuntary homage to 
 his religion ? If he was right, then those who revere him 
 and yet reject his Christian principles are surely wrong. 
 His life was moulded by his faith. So that unless our 
 reverence for him is merely sentimental, we pay tribute, 
 whether by intention or otherwise, to the God in whom he 
 believed, the Saviour in whom he trusted, the Bible in 
 which he had implicit confidence, the church whose in- 
 terests he espoused, the Sabbath which he scrupulously 
 observed, the habit of prayer which he regarded as the 
 bond of union between heaven and earth, and all those 
 Christian graces which, making up a perfect character, 
 find their only realization in the divine Son of Man. Let 
 us hear then the conclusion of the whole matter : — Can 
 we say it ? — His God shall be our God for ever and ever ! 
 
I9 8 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 THE BIBLE BEING DISPOSED OF, 
 WHAT THEN? 
 
 " And it came to pass when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he 
 cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the 
 hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on 
 the hearth." Jer. 36:23. 
 
 The Ten Commandments, written on two tables of 
 stone, which Moses received in the flaming mountain, were 
 kept in the Ark of the Covenant. They formed the nu- 
 cleus of the Canon of Scripture. As time passed, the five 
 books of Moses were added, then the Prophets and the 
 Hagiographa, or sacred poems. This body of inspired 
 writings was known as the Book of the Law. 
 
 The Book of the Law was not merely a religious sym- 
 bol, it was the Constitution of the Jewish Theocracy. 
 There should have been, therefore, a double interest in 
 preserving it. At times, however, it was almost ignored. 
 In the reign of the wicked kings, when altars were raised 
 everywhere to Baal and Astarte, the inspired scroll was 
 lost sight of. On one occasion, as certain of the attendants 
 of the temple were rummaging through a lumber-room, 
 they came upon a dust-covered scroll. They opened it 
 and were amazed by what they saw. It was the forgotten 
 Book of the Law. Its discovery was reported to the king, 
 Josiah. A new impulse was thereby given to his half- 
 formed purpose of reforming the nation. The high places 
 were thrown down, the idols shattered, the Passover was 
 
THE BIBLE DISPOSED OF, WHAT THEN? 1 99 
 
 restored. And so long as Josiah reigned, worship was 
 rendered to the true God. 
 
 The reformation was but temporary, however ; it was 
 not the break of a better day, but the fitful glow of northern 
 lights. At Josiah's death the darkness deepened, the 
 nation went hastening to its ruin. From the south came 
 the threatenings of Egypt ; in the east the heavy footfall 
 of the Assyrian host began to be heard ; meanwhile the 
 nation was torn asunder by two rival parties. The party 
 of the princes was substantially pagan, the party of the 
 priests nominally true to Jehovah, but in fact given over 
 to outward ceremonial and superstition of the basest sort. 
 Under the temple were chambers of imagery, from its 
 eastern porch worship was paid to the rising sun. When 
 Jehoiakim came to the throne his empire was a mere de- 
 pendency, and he a vassal of Egypt. 
 
 While these things were transpiring the voice of the 
 prophet Jeremiah was heard in earnest admonition. He 
 uttered faithful warnings in the temple courts and at the 
 palace doors ; he called upon ruler and people to heed the 
 Book of the Law. He was hated and cursed for his pains. 
 On the edge of Hinnom he held aloft an earthenware ves- 
 sel, dashed it upon the rocks below, crying, " So shall the 
 Great Potter shiver Jerusalem to pieces !" He was seized 
 and cast into prison. 
 
 In prison he had one faithful friend, the scribe Baruch, to 
 whom were committed the prophecies of those last fateful 
 years. A new canonical book was thus added to the Book 
 of the Law. It was determined that this should be publicly 
 read. On a December day, at the gate of the temple, the 
 writings were recited by Baruch in the presence of the mul- 
 titude. He was summoned to appear at the court to read 
 this Book of the Law. It struck terror to the hearts of his 
 
200 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 hearers. They told the king. " Bring the scroll," said he. 
 It was brought by Jehudi, one of his courtiers, who began 
 to read it. As he proceeded the king was more and more 
 offended by the frank warnings of the book. " I like not 
 that," he said ; " cut it out." And again, " I like not that ; 
 cut it out." And so, until Jehudi's penknife had cruelly 
 mutilated the parchment. At length, losing all patience 
 with the faithful book, the king cried, " Cast it into the 
 fire !" A brazier was burning near by ; the parchment was 
 thrown in and burned up. Was Jehoiakim relieved? 
 No doubt. The faithful book was gone, but alas, its 
 woes remained and the doom of the nation hastened 
 
 on 
 
 We have that Book of the Law. It is our infallible 
 rule of faith and practice. But the penknife of destructive 
 criticism is at work upon it. A considerable portion of 
 every book which has passed under review is being thrown 
 out because it does not comport with the prejudgments of 
 the so-called Biblical experts. And so far as the radical 
 scholars of Germany and Oxford are concerned, the 
 Scriptures are substantially thrown into the fire. It 
 is not my purpose, however, to enter into the current 
 controversy now. There is a party to this controversy 
 which has not been recognized thus far. A party of out- 
 siders there is who stand rubbing their hands and cry- 
 ing, Aha ! aha ! while the Book of the Law is being mu- 
 tilated and burned up. 
 
 Is it not a curious thing that all the unbelievers of 
 every sort should be on one side in this controversy? 
 There is not an infidel circle in the world which does not 
 rejoice at the suggestion that the Bible is not true. The 
 work of destructive criticism commends itself to all the 
 "lewd fellows of the baser sort." All dram-sellers and 
 
THE BIBLE DISPOSED OF, WHAT THEN? 201 
 
 gamblers and disreputables of all kinds whatsoever are 
 glad to be assured that inroads are being made upon the 
 trustworthiness of Holy Writ. Why should the ungodly 
 hate the Bible ? Why should they make merry at the 
 thought of having it put away ? Because the carnal mind 
 is enmity against God. They are offended by the doc- 
 trines and put to an open shame by the moral precepts of 
 this Book of the Law. 
 
 It will be worth while to inquire, however, wherein the 
 ungodly would be bettered if the Bible were burned up. 
 Let us suppose that all the present assaults upon the ve- 
 racity of the Scriptures are to be successful. What then ? 
 Were the Bible proved to be quite unworthy of confidence, 
 were it shown to be dotted everywhere with error as thick 
 as a leper with his loathsome scales, what advantage would 
 it be to godless men ? 
 
 I. God would still remain. The Bible does not make 
 God ; it does not even demonstrate the being of God. It 
 assumes him. Its opening words are, " In the beginning 
 God created." 
 
 It takes God for granted because the world in- 
 tuitively believes in him. The simplest argument in all 
 the world is that which phrases itself thus : Design sup- 
 poses a designer. Were I to say that John Milton made 
 " Paradise Lost" by jumbling letters in a bag and tossing 
 them forth, all reasonable men would laugh at me; but 
 this would be no more preposterous than is the allegation 
 that our universe is a fortuitous concourse of atoms. All 
 men know that back of law is the Lawgiver, back of order 
 the Arranger, back of design an Infinite Contriver. 
 
 But while the world would retain its belief in God, it 
 would, in the absence of the Scriptures, know nothing of 
 his Providence or of his Fatherhood. It could not dis- 
 
202 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 cern his " milder face." Men would still, however, be 
 Theists, sensible of an all-pervading Power and ever utter- 
 ing the sentiment which fills the pagan breast, " It is a 
 fearful thing to fall into the hands of God." 
 
 II. The sense of sin would remai7i. The Bible is not 
 responsible for the sense of sin. It did not make man, it 
 did not turn him aside from the path of virtue; it simply 
 takes him as it finds him. 
 
 If there were no Bible, our consciences would still 
 speak to us. When Prof. Webster was lying in prison 
 awaiting his doom he made formal complaint that he was 
 affronted by his keepers, who shouted at him, " Oh, you 
 bloody man !" and by his fellow-prisoners, who pounded 
 on the walls of his cell, shouting, " Oh, you bloody man !" 
 A watch was set, but no voice was heard ; it was his guilty 
 conscience that was crying out against him. It is the 
 voice of conscience that drives the pagan nations to their 
 knees and kindles the fires beneath their altars. It needs 
 no heavenly voice to convince us that we have sinned and 
 that sin carries with it a death-sentence. It is not the 
 Bible that gives us Ixion on the wheel, or Sisyphus vainly 
 rolling the stone up the mountain-side, or Tantalus up to 
 his lips in the ever-receding waters. No, in any case con- 
 science would remain; but in the absence of revelation we 
 should know no remedy for its sting. The only balm in 
 Gilead is the blood of Jesus. It alone has power to de- 
 liver from sin. 
 
 A notable passage in Paul's Epistle to the Galatians 
 tells us that we are all " concluded under sin." The new 
 version reads, " shut up under sin." But in either case 
 the underlying thought is that of imprisonment. There 
 is no difference; we are all behind the dungeon bars. 
 There are other religions which come and sing sweetly 
 
THE BIBLE DISPOSED OF, WHAT THEN? 203 
 
 under the windows ; there are other philosophies which 
 set forth charming ethical truths; but there is only one 
 gospel which draws the bolts and springs back the mighty- 
 doors and bids us come out and breathe the air of heaven 
 and dwell in the glorious liberty of the children of God. 
 
 III. Were the Bible destroyed, our sense of diity would 
 still remain. The word "duty" means something due or 
 owed. This sense of dueness or obligation which is ex- 
 pressed in the great word " ought" is native to the human 
 soul. 
 
 The moral law is set forth in the Scriptures in the Dec- 
 alogue and the Sermon on the Mount. The Decalogue, 
 however, was written in the human constitution long before 
 it found expression in Scripture. It is interwoven with 
 the nerves and sinews of the race. The Sermon on the 
 Mount is simply a broad and glorious exposition of the 
 Decalogue. There is nothing new or original here. We 
 are reminded that the Golden Rule itself did not originate 
 with Christ. The ethical system of the Bible is merely an 
 authoritative statement of certain laws which are written 
 in the soul of man. God here places his imprimatur on 
 those otherwise anonymous precepts which the whole 
 world recognizes as right. So, were the Bible to vanish, 
 the moral distinctions would remain and a man would 
 know his duty while, alas, ever sensible of not doing it. 
 
 The peace of Herod Antipas was greatly troubled by 
 John the Baptist, who kept insisting that he should put 
 away Mariamne. " It is not lawful for thee to have her," 
 said the Prophet of the Wilderness ; " Put her away, attend 
 to the serious tasks of thy kingdom, meet the great obli- 
 gations of thy royal life !" To drown this voice of disap- 
 proval he doomed the prophet to the black fortress and 
 at length slew him. The head of John the Baptist was 
 
204 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 brought in on a charger. He looked on the stern features 
 and doubtless said within himself, " I shall hear no more 
 of thy fierce reproaches." But the dim eyes of the weird 
 prophet looked at him from every nook and cranny and 
 pierced his soul in the watches of the night. And when a 
 new prophet arose and went about preaching righteous- 
 ness, Herod cried, " It is John the Baptist risen from the 
 dead !" So let this Bible, our divine monitor of duty, be 
 destroyed and still its voice will find us. 
 
 The one thing in this connection which the world 
 would most grievously miss would be the portrait of the 
 great Right-Doer. Man would still struggle in the ranks 
 of noble effort, but the Captain would be dead. In all 
 the world there would be then no living exemplification 
 of duty, no perfect Man, no Christ to stand on the heights 
 above, inspiring, beckoning, calling, " Follow Me." And 
 without Christ the thought of perfection would be mere 
 fancy ; he is the only dikaios. We should philosophize 
 about virtue and manhood and character, but never see 
 an exemplification of it. Thus it is written, " The whole 
 world groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, 
 waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God." This 
 longing is, without Christ, unsatisfied. God still look- 
 eth down from heaven to see, and behold ! there is none 
 that doeth righteousness, no, not one. 
 
 IV. The Bible gone, death would still remain; death — 
 and judgment followiiig after. The Bible is not respon- 
 sible for death. 
 
 It needs no revelation from on high to tell us that, as 
 Abd-el-Kader says, "the black camel kneels at our gate." 
 That admonition is written on the grave-stones that line 
 the journey of our life. 
 
"The air is full of farewells to the dying 
 And mournings for the dead." 
 
 But without the Scriptures we should have no hope of 
 triumph over death. There would be no story of the 
 great triumph which was wrought for us in Joseph's gar- 
 den. At twilight the bearers brought the lifeless body 
 of Jesus and with tears and lamentations laid it away in 
 the new-made sepulchre. A stone was rolled before it, 
 the seal of the Roman Empire was placed upon it, and a 
 guard was stationed. And then the King of Terrors 
 came and walked up and down before the grave. " I 
 have conquered the King of Life," he murmured. " I 
 have him here and I will hold him." The night wore on, 
 and still the grim patrol walked to and fro. " I have 
 conquered all," he said. " Adam — I slew him. Abraham, 
 called the Friend of God — I slew him. Noah, whom the 
 flood spared — I slew him. Moses went up into a moun- 
 tain alone, and I met and slew him there. Methuse- 
 lah — they thought I had forgotten him ; but though he 
 lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, yet must his 
 biographers add, ' He died.' I slew them all, and behold, 
 the Prince of Life lies yonder. I have Him and will keep 
 him !" But in the darkness the blood of the slain was 
 quickened, the flesh grew warm ; the cerements stirred ; 
 the wounded hand was lifted, loosed the napkin from 
 about the pale face and laid it away, was lifted again as 
 though a sceptre were within it, and thereat the stone 
 rolled from the grave's mouth. The King of Terrors 
 fled like a frightened spectre at daybreak, and the King 
 of Life came forth. " Now is Christ risen from the dead 
 and become the first-fruits of them that slept." So is 
 come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed 
 up in victory! O Death, where is thy sting? O Grave, 
 
20b "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 where is thy victory ? The sting of death is sin and the 
 strength of sin is the law; but thanks be to God which 
 giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ !" 
 
 V. The dream of immortality would still remain. 
 This is quite independent of Scripture. The Greeks put 
 an obolus upon the tongue of the dead to pay their fer- 
 riage across the Styx because there might be a happy 
 land beyond. The Indian chief was buried with his 
 bows and arrows at his side, because, if there should by 
 chance be a happy hunting-ground, he would need them 
 there. Thus immortality has always been a fond dream — ■ 
 a dream only. When Cicero lighted the lamp in the 
 grave of his daughter it was with the thought that possi- 
 bly her life, though extinguished for a time, might be 
 rekindled. When Socrates put the cup of hemlock to 
 his lips, he said, "I go ; whether to perish or to live 
 again I know not." The old fable of the Phcenix ex- 
 pressed the fondest of pagan hopes. 
 
 No, no, we should not lose the dream but we should 
 lose the certainty, for in the gospel life and immortality 
 are brought to light. The twilight vanishes, the dream 
 becomes a splendid reality. Just yonder through the 
 mists of the river we behold the better country, even an 
 heavenly, 
 
 "Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood, 
 All drest in living green." 
 
 Just yonder where the clouds had obscured the mountains 
 we observe the Holy City, New Jerusalem. " Its twelve 
 gates were twelve pearls, every several gate was one 
 pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were 
 transparent glass." It is a city that hath foundations, 
 whose builder and maker is God. Still yonder, through 
 the veil rent in the midst, we behold our Father's 
 
THE BIBLE DISPOSED OF, WHAT THEN? 20J 
 
 house, " Home, sweet Home." And the saints perfected 
 are drawing near and at the gateway are clasping hands 
 with loved ones who were " lost a while." Oh glorious 
 day of knitting severed friendships up ! 
 
 The dream of immortality would linger with us, but 
 the " better country," the " city that hath foundations," 
 the " Father's house " would disappear within the dim- 
 ness of the morning mist. 
 
 Thus all the bald and barren facts which we hold as 
 spiritual intuitions would still abide were the Scriptures 
 burned up — God, sin, duty, death, immortality — but all 
 these truths would lose their warmth and helpfulness, like 
 stars glowing in the distance, but cold and unhelpful for 
 ever. Let those who have thoughtlessly stood by the 
 brazier, sympathizing with the enemies of Holy Writ, 
 pause and reflect upon the loss which even they would 
 sustain were the folds of the great curtain, which God has 
 lifted, to close again upon us. 
 
 The sun is a great way off; it is so far distant as to 
 be of little particular interest to most of us, a round ball 
 far yonder in space, some millions of miles, looking not 
 larger than a brazen shield or a dinner-plate ; nor is it a 
 perfect orb. The maculae can be seen upon it with an un- 
 aided eye. And it resists an intrusive gaze. What care 
 we then for the sun ? But quench it — lo, the light is gone 
 out of the diamond, the sparkle from the brook, and 
 beauty from the whole earth ; the grass has withered, the 
 birds have ceased their singing, the planets themselves 
 have faded out. Our world would still be here or some- 
 where, rolling round an eccentric orb in silence, utter 
 darkness, and eternal solitude, an uninhabited and voice- 
 ruin. 
 
 The Bible is our noonday sun. Its glories are far 
 
20S "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 away from the multitude who will not receive it. There 
 are mysteries, vast and incomprehensible here ; but burn 
 the book, or what is the same, let the world lose its confi- 
 dence in it, and all that makes life worth living goes from 
 us. Our civil and ecclesiastical freedom, the sanctions of 
 home and social life, hope, triumphant faith — all are gone. 
 A sunless world is no more desolate than a Bibleless 
 world would be. 
 
 But the Bible is in no danger ; it has come to stay ; 
 it will glorify life and illuminate the valley of death until 
 the last penitent sinner has gone through heaven's gate. 
 The burning of the Scriptures is an old story. All along 
 the path of history are bonfires of the Book, and still 
 it lives. Votlaire said that he would pass through the 
 forest of the Scriptures and girdle all its trees so that 
 in a hundred years Christianity would be only a van- 
 ishing memory. The hundred years have expired; 
 Voltaire is gone, and "none so poor to do him rever- 
 ence," but Christianity is still here and the trees of the 
 Lord are full of sap. The brazier of Jehoiakim is a 
 golden altar, the fumes of which, like frankincense, have 
 gone through all the earth. The wrath of hostile criti- 
 cism in seeking to destroy the life of the Scriptures has 
 but crushed its spices, sending forth their fragrance to 
 the skies. The truth is indestructible. All flesh is as grass, 
 and the glory of man as the flower of the field that with- 
 ereth. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the 
 Word of our God shall stand for ever. 
 
THE LOST NAME. 2 0Q 
 
 THE LOST NAME. 
 
 " And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah ; 
 and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by 
 the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was 
 I not known to them. And I have also established my cove- 
 nant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of 
 their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have 
 also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the 
 Egyptians keep in bondage ; and I have remembered my 
 covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am 
 Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of 
 the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I 
 will redeem you with a stretched out arm and with great 
 judgments: and I will take you to me for a people, and I will 
 be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah your 
 God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the 
 Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land concerning 
 the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to 
 Jacob; and I will give it you for a heritage: I am Jehovah." 
 Exod. 6:2-8. (New Version.) 
 
 It is an interesting fact that up to the time here 
 referred to God was practically nameless. The titles 
 which were applied to him had reference to his essential 
 nature and attributes. (1.) El, which meant power, or in 
 the plural form, Elohim, powers, was a general term 
 corresponding to the idea which some learned people 
 now entertain of Deity when they speak of him as Law, 
 Force, All-pervading Energy, and the like. (2.) Adonai, 
 which meant Lord or Master, had reference to the di- 
 vine mastery and to that alone. Of such a God David 
 14 
 
210 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 Strauss said, " In the enormous machine of the universe, 
 amid the incessant hiss and whirr of its jagged iron wheels 
 and the deafening crash of its stamps and hammers, I find 
 myself a helpless and defenceless man, not sure for a 
 moment that the wheels may not seize and rend me or 
 the hammers crush me into powder." (3.) Jehovah. A 
 term used less frequently than the others, and having 
 respect to the divine essence. It was, in no sense, as yet, 
 a name for God. 
 
 The time had come when a name must be given 
 him. The family of Abraham, chosen to keep the ora- 
 cles and to transmit the forms of true worship to coming 
 ages, had multiplied into a vast horde of people who 
 were now bond-slaves in Egypt. God purposed that 
 they should be delivered out of bondage and developed 
 into a nation which should establish truth and righteous- 
 ness on the earth. To this end he spake out of the burn- 
 ing bush to Moses : " I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that 
 thou mayest bring forth my people out of Egypt." It 
 was natural for Moses to ask for credentials. " When I 
 come unto the children of Israel," said he, "and they 
 shall ask, What is the name of the God that hath sent 
 you? what shall I say?" And God said, " I AM THAT 
 I AM ; thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, 
 I AM hath sent me unto you." " This is my name for 
 ever and this is my memorial unto all generations." The 
 name here appropriated by him, I AM THAT I AM, is 
 identical with Jehovah. It is spoken of as a new name. 
 " I appeared unto thy fathers by the name of God Al- 
 mighty, but by my name Jehovah was I not known unto 
 them." The name Jehovah had been known, but only 
 now was adopted as the distinctive name of the true God. 
 So the rainbow had always been in the heavens, but at 
 
THE LOST NAME. 211 
 
 the subsidence of the flood it was made the token of a 
 divine covenant, as the Lord said, ■ I do set my bow in 
 the clouds, and it shall be for a token of the covenant 
 between me and thee." A new and blessed significance 
 was put upon it. 
 
 This mysterious name was used with the utmost rev- 
 erence. As time passed a superstitious value was attached 
 to it, insomuch that it became a word to juggle with. At 
 length it was wholly ruled out of common use. To utter 
 it became a sin. It was called the separated name, the 
 incommunicable name. The High Priest alone was now 
 permitted to pronounce it once a year on the great Day 
 of Atonement when he entered the Holiest of All. When 
 written, the four consonants were alone used, whence it 
 was called the tetragrammaton. This undue reverence 
 found its excuse in a misinterpretation of Leviticus 24 : 16, 
 " He that blasphemeth the name of Jehovah shall surely 
 be put to death." At length the pronunciation oi the 
 name was wholly lost. Tradition says that the secret 
 perished with Simeon the Just. At this moment there is 
 no living man who can declare with authority how the 
 word should be spoken. The judgment of scholars is 
 divided as to whether it should be Yahveh, Yehveh, 
 Jahvoh, or Jehovah. The modern Jews substitute the 
 name Adonai for it. 
 
 What is the meaning of this lost name of God ? 
 
 I. Its fundamental thought is that of Life. It was de- 
 rived from the verb to be. It tells us that God is ; i. e., 
 that he is not a mere dream or a fancy, but a veritable 
 fact. God lives ; he is not as Pantheism paints him, an 
 all-pervading essence, but a self-conscious personality. 
 God is self-existent ; not like the pagan gods who were 
 derived from trees or mountains or foam of the sea. 
 
212 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 11 He sits on no precarious throne, 
 Nor borrows leave to be." 
 
 God is the source and fountain of life. All the vital- 
 ity of the universe, physical as well as spiritual, is derived 
 from him. A scientist may wire and clamp together the 
 bones of a mastodon, but all the scientists of the world can- 
 not breathe into that form the breath of life. It is an ax- 
 iom of science that " life proceeds from life and from noth- 
 ing else." If man could create a living germ, a bacillus, 
 an animalcule, we might perhaps dispense with God. But 
 as matters now stand, all living things must derive their 
 being from the living God. 
 
 II. The name suggests the divine attribute of Eter- 
 nity. God liveth for ever. He is the High and Holy One 
 that inhabited! eternity. The temple of King Solomon 
 was " exceeding magnifical," with gold of Sheba, cedars of 
 Lebanon, and ivory from Ethiopia ; but what of the great 
 temple wherein God dwelleth ? Infinitude is its dome; 
 the immeasurable aeons are the buttresses of its walls. 
 
 In distinction from the endless existence of man, His 
 life is sempiternal, i. e., he never began to be and he will 
 never cease to be — he is without beginning or end of 
 days. 
 
 Let the mind wander back along the history of the 
 nations, past the beginning of human life, through the 
 dense steaming forests of the carboniferous era, past chaos, 
 past the primal nebulae and the primordial germ, and in 
 the infinite silence and solitude it confronts God. 
 
 The oldest scrap of literature in existence is probably 
 the ninetieth Psalm. It was written by Moses at the end 
 of his eventful life. He stood amid the summits of the 
 everlasting mountains and looked backward over the 
 desert pilgrimage. The way was lined on every side 
 
THE LOST NAME. 
 
 213 
 
 with graves ; the venerable heads of the tribes of Israel 
 had one by one paid the debt of nature. The thought of 
 the divine eternity came over him with irresistible force 
 and he sang, 
 
 "Jehovah, thou hast been our dwelling-place 
 In all generations. 
 
 Before the mountains were brought forth, 
 Or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, 
 Even from everlasting to everlasting, 
 Thou art God." 
 
 III. In this name there is reference to the divine im- 
 mutability, as if God said, I am that I was and will be. 
 He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. 
 
 There is, however, a vast difference between im- 
 mutability and immobility. He is not unchangeable in 
 any such sense as that he cannot be moved. The Egyp- 
 tians carved upon the over-towering cliffs an image of 
 Ammon-Ra, a blank- faced, immovable, stony-hearted god. 
 The Pharaohs bowed before it. Processions of slaves 
 prostrated themselves and cried, Oh hear and deliver us ! 
 The mothers of old Egypt brought their burdened hearts 
 and said their prayers here. But there was no voice nor 
 answer nor any that regarded. We too call our God 
 the Rock of Ages, but he is a prayer-hearing and a prayer- 
 answering God. Any philosophy of the decrees which 
 shuts out the possibility of the adjustment of the divine 
 mercy to human appeal must be false. Eyes are not eyes 
 if they cannot look down in compassion upon the suppli- 
 ant ; a heart is not a heart unless it can throb with love ; 
 and hands are not hands unless they can be stretched 
 forth to help. 
 
 There is one " difficulty " in the Scriptures for which 
 we may justly give thanks ; it is that which arises from 
 
214 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 the statement that " God repenteth." Not once, but over 
 and over again, he is said to repent. He looked down 
 upon the children of Israel while they danced in their mad 
 orgies around the golden calf and was moved with anger ; 
 but Moses kneeled before him crying, "Oh this people have 
 sinned a great sin, yet now, if thou wilt forgive them — and 
 if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book." And it is 
 written, The Lord repented of the evil which he had 
 thought to do unto his people. Thus it appears that 
 whatever the divine immutability may be, it is not immo- 
 bility ; it does not prevent his having mercy upon the 
 children of men. 
 
 He is immutable, however, in his nature and charac- 
 ter. The divine essence can be never more nor less. 
 He is the same in power as when he called out of nothing 
 the things that are ; the same in wisdom as when 
 in the beginning, he adjusted all things to their uses; 
 the same in justice as when he said, "The soul that 
 sinneth, it shall die;" the same in mercy as when he 
 sent his only-begotten and well-beloved Son to bear the 
 shame and suffering of the children of men; the same in 
 truth as when he said that he that believeth in the Son 
 hath everlasting life. 
 
 God is the Father of Lights. The sun rises and sets, 
 the moon has its phases, the stars are eclipsed and all the 
 bodies of the heavens cast a shadow by their turning. 
 With God, however, there is no variableness, neither 
 shadow of turning. 
 
 IV. The name, declares, also, the progressive mani- 
 festation of God in history. It might be rendered, and is 
 indeed so rendered by some Hebrew scholars, " I am what 
 I shall show myself to be," or " I will show what I am." 
 
 God is a constant factor in history. But theology is 
 
THE LOST NAME. 21 5 
 
 progressive ; we know more of God to-day than we did 
 yesterday. He is the Spirit in the wheels of human 
 affairs, and he makes himself known more and more, like 
 the sun coming- from behind a cloud. 
 
 In the Old Economy he was seen in dim outlines, in 
 the Shechinah, in theophanies, in dreams and visions of 
 the night. There were voices out of the darkness ; or a 
 man might hide in the cleft of the rock and hear the rust- 
 ling of God's garment as he passed by. 
 
 Then came the period of the Incarnation, a brief span 
 of thirty years, when God walked among men. It was 
 not best, however, that he should so abide. " It is ex- 
 pedient," he said, " that I go away." The best concep- 
 tion of Deity was not in knowing even Jesus after the 
 flesh. 
 
 So came the dispensation of the Spirit in which we 
 live. The Spirit of the Infinite One is abroad everywhere 
 and working among men. History is but the record of 
 his consummate plan for the restitution of all things. He 
 is building up on earth the kingdom of truth and right- 
 eousness. He is continually showing himself in the oper- 
 ations of his providence and grace. It is our grave mis- 
 fortune if we cannot see or hear him. Berkeley said, " I 
 am but a fly on the wheel of the King's chariot." A hu- 
 man life is at the best but one revolution of that wheel. 
 The greatest of mortal men is but an ephemera. Napo- 
 leon buzzed and stung for a brief season ; the wheel rolled 
 around, and yonder he lies in his porphyry coffin under the 
 dome of the Invalides, crushed into dust ; but the chariot 
 rolls on. Oh that our eyes might be opened to see, our 
 ears unstopped to hear, how God advances through the 
 years ! 
 
 V. Jehovah was the name by which God was pleased 
 
2l6 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 to make himself known as distinctively the God of Israel. 
 It was the name affixed to his covenant; it was the name 
 by which he certified to his truth, "As I live, saith the 
 Lord." He has sworn by himself because there was no 
 greater. 
 
 In the Old Testament we note the presence of a strange 
 figure, known as the Angel of the Covenant. It was he who 
 promised after the eating of the forbidden fruit that the 
 fruit of woman should bruise the serpent's head. It was 
 he who encouraged Abraham on his long journey by 
 the banks of the Euphrates to the land of promise, 
 pointing to the stars of heaven and saying, " So shall thy 
 seed be." He appeared to Isaiah in the guise of the 
 Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, lifting his pierced 
 hands and promising redemption to penitent souls. He 
 came to the prophets with assurances that the night of 
 Egyptian darkness was to be succeeded by a glorious 
 dawn. But for a while there was an end of dreams and 
 visions. The Angel of the Covenant came no more. The 
 lights in the sanctuary were extinguished, the Old Testa- 
 ment was closed, and that awful night of four hundred 
 years which intervened between the Old and the New 
 Economy closed in. 
 
 The Daybreak was announced by the song of the an- 
 gels on the Judsean hillsides, " Glory to God in the high- 
 est, peace on earth, good-will to men !" The Christ-child 
 lay in the manger. Behold the Messenger of the Cove- 
 nant was come back to dwell among men. This was his 
 claim. To the woman of Samaria, who expressed her 
 hope of the promised Messiah, he said, " I that speak to 
 you am He." In the porch of the temple, to the scribes 
 and Pharisees who boasted of their descent from Abra- 
 ham, he said, " Before Abraham was I am." Was there 
 
THE LOST NAME. .2 1 7 
 
 a suggestion in those words of the ancient name I AM ? 
 His assertion was regarded as blasphemy, for they took 
 up stones to stone him. On another occasion the people 
 said, " Tell us plainly, art thou the Christ or not ?" And 
 he answered, " I have told you and ye believed not ; the 
 works that I do bear witness of me. 1 and my Father are 
 one." At the end of his ministry, when Pilate asked him, 
 "Art thou a King?" — better, "Art thou the King?" 
 i. e., the promised one — he answered, " Thou sayest it." 
 The superscription of the cross was Jesus of Nazareth, 
 King of the Jews. This Jesus is the mysterious figure 
 whom we found walking through the history of Israel 
 in the olden time. 
 
 Let us hear then the conclusion of the whole matter. 
 Jehovah is our God. Our commission, like that of Mo- 
 ses, is from him : " I AM hath sent you." 
 
 It is not a fortuitous circumstance that the old name 
 by which God wished himself to be known among his cho- 
 sen people is lost and forgotten. A new name has taken 
 its place, the name that was given to the Christ-child : 
 " And thou shalt call his name Jesus, because he shall save 
 his people from their sins." The Angel of the Covenant, 
 the long-looked-for Messiah, the King who was to re- 
 store the kingdom to Israel, Jehovah, and Jesus are all one. 
 To us, the name of Jesus is significant of everything dear 
 and precious to our spiritual life. 
 
 An old negro who had long desired to read came to 
 his young mistress with the Bible in his hand and his 
 finger on the word "God." "Is this his name, G-o-d? 
 Does that spell God ? O bless the Lord, my old eyes 
 have read it !" How precious to us, beloved, should be 
 the name of Jesus, which is above every other that is 
 named in heaven or on earth, the only name whereby 
 
2I 3 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 any man can be saved. Let us speak it lovingly, let us 
 speak it triumphantly. 
 
 "Jesus, I love thy charming name, 
 Tis music to mine ear; 
 Fain would I sound it out so loud 
 That earth and heaven should hear. 
 
 "I'll speak the honors of thy name 
 With my last laboring breath ; 
 Then, speechless, clasp thee in mine arms, 
 The antidote of death !" 
 
THE OLD LANDMARKS. 219 
 
 THE OLD LANDMARKS. 
 
 " Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set." 
 
 Prov. 22:28. 
 
 The wisdom of the Mosaic code is nowhere more 
 manifest than in its provisions touching the tenure of land. 
 At the time of the Conquest an equitable distribution was 
 made of about fifteen millions of acres. This, allowing 
 for six hundred thousand heads of families, gave something 
 more than twenty acres to each, and still left above two 
 millions of acres for the public domain. The land thus 
 apportioned was to be held for ever. Every man in Israel 
 was a landholder, and what was more he must remain so. 
 If through improvidence or misfortune he lost his pos- 
 session it was expressly provided that it might be re- 
 deemed by a kinsman, called goal, or at the worst, in 
 default of such redemption, the title reverted to its origi- 
 nal proprietor in the fiftieth year — the year of Jubilee. 
 
 We need not be disciples of Henry George to perceive 
 the benefits of such an arrangement. It was impossible 
 for a shiftless father to pauperize his posterity. A few rich 
 owners could not monopolize the land. The lines could 
 not be drawn between plebeian and patrician. Thus the 
 dangers which befell the early republics of Greece and 
 Italy were averted by the Jewish agrarian laws. 
 
 It was customary to mark the boundaries of estates 
 by corner-stones. To remove these landmarks, if an 
 envious neighbor were so disposed, was an easy matter. 
 A repetition of this offence would, in course of time, 
 
220 " THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 involve a complete disarrangement of proprietary rights ; 
 it was therefore prohibited under a severe penalty. King 
 Ahab lost his crown for depriving a poor subject of his 
 patrimony in land. A violation of the sanctity of the 
 landmarks was in the nature of lese majeste ; it touched 
 the foundation of the commonwealth, for these landmarks 
 were the guarantees of individual freedom and were nec- 
 essary to the security of domestic life. 
 
 It is not with land tenure, however, that we have now 
 to do, but with the spiritual inheritance handed down by 
 our fathers as a rich bequest of truth and virtue. This 
 is of more value than boundless acres ; its title-deed is 
 sealed with the image and superscription of the King of 
 kings. It therefore behooves us to look well to its pres- 
 ervation. An attempt to remove the landmarks of this 
 inheritance is noted as one of the dangerous tendencies 
 of modern thought. 
 
 I. One of the landmarks by which this spiritual inher- 
 itance is secured to us is our belief in the supernatural. 
 
 The vandal hand reached forth to remove this boun- 
 dary is Agnosticism, the most popular form of current 
 unbelief. 
 
 The secret of spiritual wisdom is to be able to meas- 
 ure aright the relative value of things visible and invisi- 
 ble. The things which are seen are temporal, but the 
 things which are unseen are eternal. We look towards 
 the heavens and are impressed by what our eyes be- 
 hold ; but the invisible law by which those multitudinous 
 orbs are kept in their orbits with no perceptible pertur- 
 bation for countless ages, is more wonderful than aught 
 our eyes can see. We open the pages of history and 
 mark the procession of kings and thrones and dynasties, 
 amid noise and dust arising, triumphing, succeeding one 
 
THE OLD LANDMARKS. 221 
 
 another, pausing as they pass long enough to write their 
 epitaphs upon the overtowering cliffs, and vanishing like 
 the baseless fabric of a dream. Far more imposing than 
 all these visible powers is the philosophy of history ; the 
 spirit in the wheels is a thousand-fold more real and per- 
 sistent than anything which hands can handle or eyes 
 perceive. So with personal influence : men live, strug- 
 gle, attain greatness ; but at the last here lies Caesar at 
 the foot of Pompey's statue so helpless that you may 
 thrust him aside with your foot. But you cannot thrust 
 aside the impalpable, imponderable, intangible thing that 
 lingers after him. Influence never dies. 
 
 The truth thus outlined holds with ten-fold emphasis 
 in the province of spiritual things. We are environed by 
 a world infinitely greater than our physical horizons. 
 God and eternity are round about us. Now and then the 
 nearness of awful verities comes to us as to weary Balboa 
 and his troops came the sudden glimpse of the sea. A 
 hand is reached down into our narrow lives as real as the 
 hand that wrote upon the palace wall of Belshazzar. In 
 the midst of our sorrows we see the ladder of light stretch- 
 ing from our stony bed to the invisible throne of God ; 
 or in our best moments we are caught up like Paul into 
 a third heaven of visions, where we behold things which 
 it is not lawful to utter. And notwithstanding our sordid 
 lives, we believe in the unseen sublimities. The visible 
 and tangible things upon which we set our hearts are 
 passing away, but God and glory and our heavenly hope 
 are sublimely real. 
 
 All this, however, is denied by the Agnostic. " Of 
 your heaven," he says, " I know nothing. There may 
 be a God and heaven and endless life, but I have never 
 seen them. There are some things, however, that I 
 
222 ' 'THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 know. My bread-and-butter life is a tangible fact, the 
 cries of the suffering are ringing in my ears ; the duty 
 which should engage my attention is to live an honest, 
 earnest life, to do my best here and now, to make a 
 livelihood, deal fairly and honestly with my fellow-men, 
 relieve poverty and suffering, and make the world brighter 
 and better. I know this world and propose to make the 
 best of it : there may be another world, but I know noth- 
 ing about it." 
 
 With this specious form of unbelief the philosophy of 
 Jesus is at odds. It says this present life is real and ear- 
 nest, most of all because it is the preparation for an end- 
 less one. It bids me live as a man should who is born in 
 the divine likeness. Live for eternity. Be diligent in busi- 
 ness, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. In all things be 
 mindful of the hereafter. Seek first the kingdom of God. 
 
 II. A second of our spiritual landmarks is Revelation. 
 By this we mean the Holy Scriptures. All other views 
 of the unseen are mere fragmentary glimpses : for what- 
 ever communication there may have been in ancient times 
 between this world and heaven through dreams and vis- 
 ions and angels' visits, the medium of intercourse to-day 
 is the written Word. From the Bible we receive divine 
 direction as to our belief and the conduct of our daily life. 
 
 The enemy of Scripture to-day is Rationalism, by 
 which is meant any form of exalting the reason above a 
 " Thus saith the Lord." We are told that the loss of 
 Scripture or its impairment as an intrinsic oracle would 
 be of little relative moment, since we might fall back on 
 two coordinate sources of authority, to wit, the Church 
 and the Reason. 
 
 In this present controversy as to the trustworthiness 
 of Scripture we have already sustained a twofold loss : 
 
THE OLD LANDMARKS. 223 
 
 First, a loss of reverence. A theory of criticism which 
 requires of us an absolute surrender of all prejudgments 
 as to the sanctity of Holy Writ, to the end that we may 
 pass a fair judgment upon its merits, could not result 
 otherwise. It is not true that the Bible must, in fair criti- 
 cism, be approached as we approach any other book. 
 We cannot forget its divineness. " Put off thy shoes 
 from off thy feet ; for the place whereon thou standest is 
 holy ground." 
 
 Secondly, a loss of faith has been sustained. A theory 
 of criticism which requires the exclusive use of the induc- 
 tive process, the argument from tangible facts to conclu- 
 sions, rules out the exercise of faith. Faith is the evidence 
 of things not seen. The eternal verities lie within the 
 province of the unseen. Faith takes God at his word. 
 Rationalism in any form whatsoever must come in its last 
 reduction to the position of Theodore Parker, who said, 
 " I refuse to accept these things upon the authority of any 
 such person as God." 
 
 We are oftentimes reminded nowadays that Christian- 
 ity is not the religion of a book, but of a personal Christ. 
 The truth is, however, that it is the religion of Christ and 
 of the Book as well. 
 
 The landlords of old England held their titles under 
 the seal of William the Conqueror. All those titles were 
 recorded in what is historically known as the Domesday 
 Book. There was not in all England a single proprietor 
 who did not feel that his property was a royal gift ; and 
 yet there was not one who, when his title was questioned, 
 failed to fortify it by reference to the Domesday Book. 
 This Bible is our ultimate authority as to truth and con- 
 duct, nor can any man be loyal to Christ without being also 
 loyal to that Word whereto Christ has affixed his seal. 
 
224 
 
 III. The third of the landmarks is belief in Christ ; 
 and is there indeed danger at this point ? Ay, there is ! 
 
 In the later writings of John the Evangelist there 
 walks a dim figure which he calls Antichrist. It has 
 greatly bewildered exegetes to discover its meaning. The 
 fact is, however, that John himself declares Antichrist to 
 be any form of philosophy whatsoever which denies the 
 divine personality and authority of the only-begotten Son 
 of God. It was his prediction that this Antichrist should 
 come and exhibit his malignant powers with special vigor 
 in the last days. We observe that influence in many 
 forms of humanitarianism which are prevalent to-day. 
 The arrogation of profound regard for Jesus and insistence 
 that all true theology shall be Christo-centric, and senti- 
 mental claims of affection towards him, are not sufficient 
 evidence of real Christianity as long as there is a substan- 
 tial denial of what John calls the " doctrine of Christ." 
 
 It is a true saying that straws show which way the 
 wind is blowing. Twenty-five years ago the rationalistic 
 wing of the Reformed Church of Germany was craftily 
 engaged in controverting the authenticity of Christ's mir- 
 acles and the inerrancy of Scripture. To-day the same 
 school, led by Harnack, is demanding the elimination from 
 the Apostles' Creed of everything that teaches the divine- 
 ness of Christ. Ten years ago some theologians, having 
 disposed of the integrity of the Scriptures, were eloquently 
 discoursing of the " larger hope." To-day they send forth 
 their manifesto for a " re-statement of the doctrine of 
 Christ." In these tokens of deviation among the pro- 
 fessed followers of Christ we discover a dangerous drift. 
 
 As to the final outcome, it is quite beyond peradven- 
 ture that truth and righteousness as represented in the 
 Christian religion will triumph over all the earth. But it 
 
THE OLD LANDMARKS. 22$ 
 
 is well to be informed as to current modes of unbelief, 
 and to be on our guard against them. In that wonderful 
 Epistle which the aged John wrote to the " elect lady " he 
 cautions her not to extend the hospitality of her home to 
 such as travelled at that time disseminating false views 
 respecting the Saviour : " Receive not such an one into 
 thy house," he said ; " neither bid him God-speed." 
 
 IV. The fourth of the landmarks is tradition, and here 
 I am aware we impinge upon the popular prejudice, for 
 there is a clamor in these times against all traditionalism. 
 
 What is tradition ? A handing down. Is a thing 
 the worse for having been handed down ? Yet we are in 
 constant danger of running with the multitude who clamor 
 against the thing that bears the seal of antiquity. The 
 hand o(" Progress" is laid upon this landmark of truth. 
 When Madame Roland was being led away to her death, 
 during the Reign of Terror, she looked toward an image 
 of Freedom in the Place de la Revolution , saying, " O 
 Liberty, what dreadful things are done in thy name !" In 
 like manner we exclaim, O Progress, what dreadful things 
 are being done in thy name to-day ! Freedom of thought 
 is a sacred thing : but " Free Thought " has come to be a 
 hissing and a by-word. And Progress in theological 
 circles has come to mean a reckless abandonment of every- 
 thing that age has sanctified with its holy seal. 
 
 Is a thing the worse for being well approved by age ? 
 Do we feel less kindly toward our President that in his 
 recent inauguration he put aside the new imprint of the 
 Scriptures that he might take the oath of office upon his 
 mother's Bible ? Were the truths in that Bible the less 
 acceptable to a man abreast of the times, because his mo- 
 ther had loved and cherished them ? 
 
 This is the charge which is brought against dogma. 
 
 *5 
 
226 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 It has forsooth " been handed down." The word is used 
 for frightening timid people. In fact a dogma is nothing 
 more nor less than a formulated truth bearing the marks 
 of age and of long trial and the warrant of venerable 
 authority. Charcoal and diamonds are both essentially 
 the same — both carbon : charcoal was made but yester- 
 day, while diamonds have been under pressure for ages. 
 Current opinions are loose charcoal, a dogma is a soli- 
 taire. 
 
 God forbid that we should refuse to welcome a new 
 truth ! But, by the same token, God forbid that we should 
 part with the old without just reason for rejecting it ! 
 Let us sing with all our hearts, 
 
 "Ring out the old, 
 Ring in the new." 
 
 And with all our hearts let us add — 
 
 " Ring out the false, 
 Ring in the true." 
 
 The Jews lost their ancestral possessions because they 
 gave no heed to the divine sanctions which would have 
 preserved them, and they were sent forth a nomad and 
 bewildered race of peddlers and pawnbrokers. It is an 
 easy thing to lose one's spiritual inheritance. Let us take 
 heed therefore to the landmarks. 
 
 That was wise counsel which the aged Paul gave to his 
 son Timothy, " Continue thou in the things which thou 
 hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom 
 thou hast learned them ; and in the Scriptures which are 
 able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which 
 is in Christ Jesus." O friend, let no man rob thee of thy 
 patrimony of truth and virtue ; let no man take thy crown ! 
 
THE LEAST COMMANDMENT. 227 
 
 THE LEAST COMMANDMENT. 
 
 "If a bird's nest chance to be before thee in the way, in any tree, or 
 on the ground, whether they be young ones or eggs, and the 
 dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not 
 take the dam with the young ; but thou shalt in any wise let 
 the dam go, and take the young to thee ; that it may be well 
 with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days." 
 
 Deut. 22:6, 7. 
 
 The Jewish lawyer was a doctor of divinity. The law 
 schools^oFThe olden times were theological seminaries. 
 This was made necessary by the fact that the government 
 of Israel was a Theocracy. Its jurisprudence was based 
 on the Scriptures, as indeed the jurisprudence of all the 
 civilized nations of the earth restsjjpon the Word of God. 
 
 In the rabbinical schools of Israel much attention was 
 given to word-weaving and letter-worship. The lawyers 
 were fond of counting and measuring all the precepts of 
 the moral and ceremonial law. They said there are two 
 him^red_j^d^ojtx:eight affirmative and three hundred 
 and sixty-five negative precepts, which make a total of 
 six Km a! red and thirteen, that being the number of letters 
 in the Decalogue and also, strange to tell, the number of 
 veins and arteries in the human body. The same conclu- 
 sion was reached in another way. The fringe of the rab- 
 binical robe was called tsitsith, the letters of which, being 
 used numerically, made a total of six hundred ; to 
 this add eight for the threads of the braid and five for the 
 knots, and you have again six hundred and thirteen — 
 the full number of the precepts of the law. 
 
228 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 It was also considered a fine matter to discriminate 
 between the relative importance of the various precepts. 
 Some were light and others heavy, they said. As to 
 which was the greatest of the commandments there was a 
 difference of opinion. Some said it was the Sabbath law, 
 others the injunction against idolatry, others still, the rule 
 prescribing the breadth of the phylacteries. The lawyer 
 who came to Jesus with the query " Which is the greatest 
 commandment ?" was tempting him, i. e., testing his rabbin- 
 ical wisdom. When the Lord said, " How readest thou ?" 
 he may have pointed to the band upon the lawyer's fore- 
 head, whereon was written, " Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy 
 God is one Lord ;" and " Thou shalt love the Lord thy 
 God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all 
 thy strength, and with all thy mind." The Lord pro- 
 nounced this to be the greatest of the commandments and 
 added, to the lawyer's discomfiture, that the second was 
 similar, " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 But whatever difference of opinion there may have been 
 as to the greatest commandment, t here was a general con- 
 sensus as to th e leas t. It was the precept touching the 
 despoiling of a bird's nest. We shall .see, however, that 
 there was not sufficient ground for this conclusion. We 
 have here a very important commandment, and there are 
 some very salutary lessons to be learned from it. 
 
 I. A lesson in particular ethics. Blessed is the man 
 who has a conscience quick to discern between the right 
 and wrong in small matters. There is, indeed, a popular 
 prejudice against scrupulosity. But why should this be? 
 Our word scruple is derived from the Latin scrupulus, 
 meaning a small stone or bit of gravel. It seems a slight 
 matter ; but if it be under a man's eyelid it assumes a su- 
 preme importance ; or even in his shoe it gives him no 
 
THE LEAST COMMANDMENT. 229 
 
 end of pain, yet not so unless he step upon it. So is it 
 with a sensitive conscience. The pain is a word of 
 warning. It is wise to heed the scruple lest there be a 
 permanent injury to conscience. 
 
 We speak of little sins , but there are none. There is 
 no trifle in moral casuistry. How do we estimate the 
 strength of a building? By taking the average of the 
 stones and beams ? No ; rather by finding the weakest 
 stone in the foundation, the one that has a flaw running 
 through it. How do we estimate the staunchness of a 
 ship? By taking the girth of its massive hulk ? or cal- 
 culating the trustworthiness of its clamps and rivets? No, 
 but by finding its one worm-eaten plank. How do we 
 estimate the strength of a bridge ? By the imposing ap- 
 pearance of its piers or the bulk of its cables ? No, rather 
 by the weakest link in the chains that anchor its great 
 spans. How do we know the strength of a tiger's cage ? 
 By finding its weakest bar, for this lets the tiger out. And 
 strength of character is measured in the same way. We 
 go round about it until we find a point whereat it yields 
 to a darling sin. Thus it is wisely written, " He that of- 
 fendeth in one point is guilty of the whole law." 
 
 We speak of small duties — there are none. The least 
 of our moral obligations has in it the sanctity of a divine 
 edict. We are compassed about by whispers ; " Do this," 
 says the still voice, or " Do that." And our character 
 depends upon our heeding it. In the Cathedral of Mo- 
 dena there is a bucket which once belonged to the public 
 well. It was stolen by some soldiers in a frolic. Inquiry 
 was made and the bucket was passed from hand to hand. 
 At length it came into the possession of the young Prince 
 Henry of Sardinia. A battle was fought to secure it. 
 Prince Henry was made a prisoner. His imperial father 
 
230 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 offered a gold chain seven miles long for his ransom. It 
 was refused. The Prince lay twenty years in prison, 
 pined away and died. Meanwhile a war was fomented in 
 which most of the Governments of Europe engaged and 
 which involved the loss of thousands of lives. Oh no, 
 there are no trifles in human life. Or, if there are, we are 
 not competent to determine upon them. We cannot tell 
 the reach of their issues. " How far yon little candle 
 throws its beams." The safe plan is to heed the divine 
 voice in all matters whatsoever. " Whatsoever he saith 
 unto you, do it." 
 
 II. A lesson in the law of kindness. We have in this 
 precept not merely a precaution against the extirpation of 
 a species, but a command that advantage shall not be 
 taken of a mother-bird by reason of her solicitude for 
 her brood. 
 
 We emphasize the duty of beneficence towards our 
 fellow-man. The good Samaritan is our ideal. But the 
 law of kindness goes far deeper. It obliges us to take an 
 interest in the comfort and well-being of our poor rela- 
 tions in the lower orders of life. 
 
 (i.) Here is a question of rights. Has a dumb crea- 
 ture any'rights which the lords of creation are bound to 
 respect? Jeremy Bentham says wisely, " That interrog- 
 atory must be settled by this other, Can they suffer?" 
 Anything that can suffer has rights. Theodore Parker 
 says that when a mere lad he saw a turtle on a log and, 
 seizing a stone, crept cautiously towards it; he raised 
 the stone, but heard a voice within and could not throw 
 it. He ran to his mother and asked her what this meant. 
 She told him that it was the protest of the doctrine of 
 rights ; in other words, the voice of God. 
 
 (2.) Here also is a question of privilege, the high priv- 
 
THE LEAST COMMANDMENT. 23 1 
 
 ilege of manhood. Thoreau, of Concord, went out to 
 dwell in the woods near Walden Pond. He took no gun 
 or rod. The animals soon found him out and said, 
 " Here is a man that means no harm." The squirrels 
 came and nestled under his waistcoat; the very fish in 
 the pond seemed to know him. There was a pleasant 
 understanding between him and the dumb creatures around 
 him, and all the world loves Thoreau the better for it. 
 
 It is related of Abraham Lincoln that when he was 
 going the rounds of the circuit court with a company of 
 fellow-attorneys, the coach drove by a pool where a 
 wretched swine was making vain efforts to extricate itself 
 from the mire. The sight provoked laughter, but Lincoln 
 was silent. After a while he said, " I do n't know how 
 you feel about it, gentlemen, but I have got to go back." 
 And they watched him while he returned, went down into 
 the mire and helped the poor creature out of its distress. 
 We can but feel that there was somehow a vital connec- 
 tion between that incident and the one which afterwards 
 made him immortal — the freeing of four millions of slaves. 
 
 (3.) Here also is a question of Christian principle. It 
 has been said that a man is not a true Christian unless his 
 cat and dog are the better for it. The Ancient Mariner 
 was right when, at the door of the festal hall, he said : 
 
 " Farewell, farewell, but this I tell 
 To thee, thou wedding-guest : 
 He prayeth well who loveth well 
 Both man and bird and beast. 
 
 " He prayeth best who loveth best 
 All things both great and small ; 
 For the dear God who loveth us, 
 He made and loveth all." 
 
232 " THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 III. Here is a lesson also respecting the increase of 
 faith. In this small precept we have a deep insight into 
 the mind cf God. 
 
 He who guides the innumerable worlds in their orbits 
 cares also for the least living thing. " Are not two spar- 
 rows sold for a farthing?" said the Lord; "and one of 
 them shall not fall on the ground without thy Father." 
 He saw the sparrows exposed for sale in the gateways of 
 Jerusalem, plucked and strung on a willow twig, two for a 
 farthing. And God cared for them. Then came that 
 glorious argu7nentum a fortiori, " Shall he not much more 
 care for you, O ye of little faith ? The very hairs of your 
 head are all numbered." 
 
 Wh^L.do we doubt the special providences of God ? 
 Was it strange that Molinaeus, taking refuge in an oven 
 on the night of the massacre of St. Bartholomew, should 
 be spared? " O God," he prayed, <( cover me with thy 
 hand !" And while he prayed a spider wove its web 
 across the oven's mouth ; a gust of wind filled the web 
 with dust ; the dew came down and in the early morning 
 glistened upon it. The fugitive's heart stood still as the 
 footfall of his pursuers came nigh ; but seeing the spider's 
 web, they said, " He is not here," and passed on. Thus 
 the God who hears the chirp of the sparrow hearkens to 
 his people's cry. " Are ye not of more value than many 
 sparrows, and shall he not care for you ?" 
 
 O friend, art thou cumbered with much serving ? bur- 
 dened with the cares of a busy life ? " Unbind thy brow," 
 as quaint George Herbert says. Take no anxious thought. 
 Rest thou in God. Wait thou upon him. He that be- 
 lieveth shall not make haste. Art thou groping in quest 
 of truth as blind men feel their way along the wall ? Art 
 thou eager to know the great verities ? Let Him take thy 
 
THE LEAST COMMANDMENT. 233 
 
 hand and lead thee into light. Let him lead thee to Cal- 
 vary, where the voice speaks, "Thy sins be forgiven 
 thee !" and then let him lead thee over the hill of Re- 
 demption into the tasks and responsibilities of an ear- 
 nest life. Art thou aj^id_of^theJuture ? Ah yes, we are 
 all afraid. Who knoweth what the future, what the 
 morrow, shall bring forth? But why should we fear? 
 " Ye believe in God, believe also in Me. Let not your 
 heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." The Lord, 
 who remembers the mother-bird and her unfledged young, 
 will not be unmindful of us. To-morrow is a grisly 
 giant, who, like Goliath, comes to meet us, brandishing a 
 spear like a weaver's beam, and saying, " I will give thy 
 carcass to the beasts and the vultures." But let us gather 
 up the Lord's promises as the stripling took the smooth 
 stones from the brook for his sling, and let us go forth 
 and meet this giant in full confidence, saying, " Thou 
 comest to me with sword and buckler, but I come to thee 
 in the name of the Lord my God." O blessed faith ! Be- 
 lieve — only believe ; be able to say, with the apostle 
 Paul, " I know whom I have believed, and that he is able 
 to keep that which I have committed to him against that 
 day." 
 
 Of all that the poet Bryant has written there is nothing 
 more helpful than his " Odeto a Water-fowl." Its lesson 
 is plain to one who has ever noted the lone wanderer sep- 
 arated by the huntsman's gun from his fellows, pursuing 
 his way at a majestic height, guided unerringly along the 
 path marked out for him : 
 
 " Whither, 'midst falling dew, 
 
 While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, 
 Far through their rosy depths dost thou pursue 
 Thy solitary way? 
 
234 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 " Vainly the fowler's eye 
 
 Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, 
 As darkly limned upon the crimson sky 
 Thy figure floats along. 
 
 "Seek'st thou the plashy brink 
 
 Of weedy lake or marge of river wide, 
 Or where the rocking billows rise and sink 
 On the chafed ocean side ? 
 
 "There is a Power whose care 
 
 Teaches thy way along the pathless coast, 
 The desert and illimitable air, 
 
 Lone wandering but not lost. 
 
 " All day thy wings have fanned 
 
 At that far height the cold thin atmosphere, 
 Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, 
 Though the dark night is near. 
 
 "And soon thy toil shall end ; 
 
 Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest 
 And scream among thy fellows ; reeds shall bend 
 Soon o'er thy sheltered nest. 
 
 "Thou art gone ! The abyss of heaven 
 
 Hath swallowed up thy form ; yet in my heart 
 Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given, 
 And shall not soon depart. 
 
 " He who from zone to zone 
 
 Guides through the doundless sky thy certaifi flight, 
 In the long way that I must tread alone 
 Will lead my steps aright." 
 
SINGING AS WE JOURNEY. 235 
 
 SINGING AS WE JOURNEY. 
 
 "And when they had sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of 
 Olives." Matt. 26:30. 
 
 The upper chamber in Jerusalem, Thursday, thir- 
 teenth Nisan. A memorable time and a memorable place. 
 It was then and there that Jesus, girding himself with a 
 towel, and basin in hand, washed his disciples' feet, say- 
 ing, " I have given you an example, that ye should do 
 unto one another as I have done unto you." It was then 
 and there that he instituted the Holy Supper, the simple 
 feast of bread and wine which through all the centuries has 
 commemorated his vicarious death. It was then and there 
 that he bequeathed to his disciples his unspeakable peace, 
 " Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." 
 It was then and there He made his priestly supplication, 
 " Father, the hour is come ; glorify thy Son, that thy Son 
 also may glorify thee. I pray for them which thou hast 
 given me, for they are thine : all mine are thine, and thine 
 are mine ; and I am glorified in them. Holy Father, keep 
 through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, 
 that they may be one, as we are." 
 
 Then, the sermon and prayer being over, they sang a 
 hymn and went out. As was customary on the night 
 preceding the Passover, they doubtless sang the great 
 Hallel, " Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, 
 his mercy endureth for ever. The voice of rejoicing and 
 salvation is in the tabernacle of the righteous. The 
 
236 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The stone which 
 the builders refused is become the head-stone of the cor- 
 ner. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. 
 Bind the sacrifice with cords fast unto the horns of the 
 altar. Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he good, his 
 mercy endureth for ever." 
 
 I. It is pleasant to know that Jesus sang. We some- 
 times think of him as an austere man. In Quentin Mat- 
 sy's masterpiece he is represented with dishevelled locks, 
 hollowed cheeks, eyes dimmed, and brows overarched 
 with anguish — a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. 
 He was, however, no cynic, no anchorite, but a man 
 among men. It is not recorded that he ever laughed, yet 
 his heart must have been full of laughter; for, seeing the 
 sorrow of the world, he saw the joy beyond it. All men 
 laugh unless they are stolid or dyspeptic, and he was 
 neither. On this occasion he was passing into the dark 
 shadow of the cross, yet he joined in the great Hallel, 
 " Oh give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his 
 mercy endureth for ever." 
 
 Why should not Jesus sing ? 
 
 (1.) His heart was in sympathy with all things pure 
 and lovely and of good report. The town where he spent 
 his boyhood is overlooked by a precipitous hill six hun- 
 dred feet above the level of the sea. It is not to be 
 doubted that oftentimes he climbed up yonder to com- 
 mune with God. The mountain flowers were about his 
 feet, and every one of them was like a swinging censer full 
 of perfume. All about him were orchards and vineyards 
 and verdant pastures, and every grass-blade was inscribed 
 with his Father's name. He watched the eagles pois- 
 ing in the cloudless azure and heard the hum of busy life 
 in the village below ; saw Tabor to the eastward clothed 
 
SINGING AS WE JOURNEY. 237 
 
 with oak and terebinth, and beyond the western hills the 
 mists rising from the Great Sea; to the south lay the 
 plain of Esdraelon, scene of a hundred battles, and far 
 beyond were the gleaming domes of the Holy City. How 
 the soul of this Jewish youth must have rejoiced in the 
 memories of the past and in the promises of the future 
 triumph of Israel's God ! His heart gave thanks with the 
 leaping of the brooks ; the birds sang and he sang with 
 them. 
 
 (2.) Why should not Jesus sing? He had a clear 
 conscience, of all living men the one only who knew no 
 sin. He only could go to his rest at eventide with no 
 cry, " Have mercy upon me, O God ! against thee have 
 I sinned and done evil in thy sight." For him there 
 were no vain regrets, no " might have beens." There 
 was no guile in his heart, no guile on his lips. He was 
 conscious of no war in his members, his soul was set 
 on the discharge of duty. Out on yonder hilltop he 
 watched the sun rise, " as a bridegroom coming out of 
 his chamber, and rejoicing as a strong man to run a race." 
 He himself had thus issued from the palace of heaven. 
 He had before him the great work of redemption. No 
 being in the universe ever confronted so stupendous a 
 task, yet he shrank not, murmured not. " Lo, I come," 
 said he ; " in the volume of the book it is written of me, 
 I delight to do thy will, O my God." 
 
 (3.) Why should not Jesus sing? He clearly foresaw 
 the ultimate triumph of truth and goodness. " For the 
 joy that was set before him he endured the cross, despi- 
 sing the shame." Out on yonder hill at evening he 
 watched the sun go down in golden glory. Red banners 
 waved ; the spear-points of the heavenly host shone with 
 crimson splendor as they came forth marching to the great 
 
238 " THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 Armageddon, the final consummation of all things. Up 
 yonder he heard the clash of arms and the cry, " Baby- 
 lon the great has fallen ! has fallen !" and the rattle of 
 chains as the great enemy fell headlong into the abyss, 
 and then a rolling back of the mighty gates and the glad 
 acclaim of welcome, " Lift up your heads, O ye gates, 
 and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of 
 glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory ? The 
 Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." He saw thus the 
 end from the beginning. He knew that he was to see the 
 fruit of the travail of his soul. He knew that his blood 
 would water the world's wildernesses until they should 
 bloom like rose gardens. He knew that, whatever rebuffs 
 and reverses there might be, truth and righteousness were 
 sure to triumph in the end. 
 
 "The eternal step of Progress beats 
 To that great anthem, strong and slow, 
 Which God repeats." 
 
 There would be martyr-fires and persecutions and the 
 souls of the faithful would tremble within them, but his 
 trembled not. 
 
 " Take heart, the waster builds again ; 
 A charmed life old Goodness hath. 
 The tares may perish, but the grain 
 Is not for death." 
 
 He knew that through all the vicissitudes of history the 
 irresistible God would sit upon his throne, that everything 
 would be overruled to His ultimate glory. Oh if we could 
 only perceive this ! If only we had somewhat of the Mas- 
 ter's faith ! 
 
 " God works in all things ; all obey 
 His first propulsion from the night; 
 Wait, thou, and watch, the world is gray 
 With morning light." 
 
SINGING AS WE JOURNEY. 239 
 
 II. Observe that the disciples of Jesus sang with him. 
 The visible Church was gathered around the sacramental 
 table that night, and the upper chamber was filled with 
 the gladness of thanksgiving. I seem to hear two voices, 
 deep and rotund, accustomed to shouting through the tur- 
 moil of the stormy lake — the Sons of Thunder. Another 
 voice is a clear tenor, sonorous and perceptible among 
 them all, that of Matthew the publican. Another is timid 
 and tremulous, for neither in song nor otherwise was doubt- 
 ing Thomas ever quite sure of himself. One was a hoarse, 
 strident voice, making discord; brave, blundering Peter 
 might have no voice nor ear for music, but sure am I he 
 always did his part in making a joyful noise unto the Lord. 
 And while all these united in the great Hallel, under the 
 windows a watchman, or some belated Jerusalemite per- 
 haps, paused and listened and wondered who could be 
 singing thus at dead of night. 
 
 This was the beginning of the singing church. Taci- 
 tus says that the Christians were wont to rise at daybreak 
 and in retired places sing to the honor of the Christ, whom 
 they worshipped as God. The Church of Jesus Christ 
 has come down through the ages like a bird singing ever 
 with the dew of morning on its wings. 
 
 (1.) It is meet and proper that we should sing in the 
 services of the sanctuary. In Solomon's temple, when the 
 sons of Asaph in their white linen raised the tune, accom- 
 panied with the great orchestra of harps and cymbals 
 and followed by the mighty choirs shouting back from 
 the galleries in antiphonal service, the cloudy Presence 
 came forth from behind the fine-twined curtains and filled 
 the sacred place ; so while we sing, the doors of the sanc- 
 tuary move upon their hinges and He enters, whose pres- 
 ence brings to us fulness of life and joy. 
 
240 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 (2.) It is meet and proper that we should always sing 
 as we go about our tasks. The carpenter does better work 
 if he whistles as he drives his plane. The Puritan girl in 
 " The Minister's Wooing," humming the old Psalm tunes, 
 might well make her lover think of heaven and angels. 
 The soldiers, a hundred locked to every one of the great 
 guns, vainly sought to climb the steep ascent of St. Ber- 
 nard until the flutes struck up La Marseillaise, " Ye sons 
 of freedom, wake to glory !" We also lift our burdens the 
 more easily, meet our sorrows the more resignedly, per- 
 form our services and tasks the more joyously, when God's 
 praises are ringing in our hearts. 
 
 (3.) And in sorrow God giveth his people "songs 
 in the night." Paul and Silas at Philippi, their feet in 
 the stocks, their backs tingling with the pain of recent 
 scourging, made the dungeon ring with song, insomuch 
 " that the prisoners heard them." It was a most unusual 
 sound. Those dark corridors had rung with oaths and 
 curses many a time ; but who were these that could uplift 
 at midnight the melodies of thanksgiving? "The pris- 
 oners heard them." Ay, beloved, the prisoners always 
 hear us when we praise God in the darkness. And why 
 should we not? We do not sorrow as those who are 
 without hope. Has Death entered your doorway ? Then 
 conventionality has always said, " Draw the blinds, shut 
 out the sunlight, drape the mirrors, weep copious tears." 
 But God's angels come, saying, " Ye are not children of 
 the darkness but of the light ; sing therefore, 
 
 "Let sorrow's rudest tempest blow, 
 Each chord on earth to sever : 
 Our King says, ' Come !' and there 's our home, 
 For ever and for ever." 
 
 Old wrinkled Time says, " This is not your abiding- 
 
SINGING AS WE JOURNEY. 241 
 
 place." The angel says, " Ye seek another country, even 
 a heavenly, and a city that hath foundations, whose build- 
 er and maker is God." Sing then, 
 
 "O mother dear, Jerusalem, when shall I come to thee? 
 When shall my sorrows have an end, thy joys when shall I 
 see?" 
 
 Pilgrim, in the allegory, went singing clear from the 
 City of Destruction to heaven's pearly gate. He sang as 
 he dragged himself out of the Slough of Despond, as he 
 climbed the Hill of Difficulty, after his fight with Apollyon, 
 past the Giant's cave, in the Pleasant Meadows, by the 
 River of Life, when he escaped from Doubting Castle, as 
 he journeyed through the Delectable Gardens in the land 
 of Beulah, and so until he passed through heaven's gate. 
 Nor did his singing end there, nor shall ours end there. 
 
 Could we look aloft at this moment and see through the 
 open windows, our eyes would be dazzled by the efful- 
 gence of the glory which gathers about Him who sitteth 
 upon the throne ; we should hear the four-and-twenty eld- 
 ers lift their voices in the great Hallel and the circle of angels 
 and archangels, ten thousand times ten thousand and 
 thousands of thousands, swelling the great anthem, " O 
 give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy 
 endureth for ever and ever," and the still greater multi- 
 tude which no man can number, of saints triumphant, add- 
 ing their voices to the general praise, "Worthy is the 
 Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wis- 
 dom and strength and honor and glory and blessing." 
 
 But, good friend, you cannot join this chorus unless you 
 
 believe in Christ ; it is faith that pitches the tune. How 
 
 shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land ? We 
 
 must stand with him at the Sacrament in the upper cham- 
 
 16 
 
242 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 ber and hear his assurance of pardon and receive his 
 benediction, " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give 
 unto you : not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let 
 not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid," if you 
 would make mirth in your heart unto him. Let us pray 
 the prayer of David, " Open thou my lips, that my mouth 
 may show forth thy praise," for our sins, our shame, and our 
 sorrow have closed our lips. God's love in Jesus Christ 
 can put into our hands the harp that too long has hung 
 upon the willows and can attune our souls to the song of 
 salvation. " I waited patiently for the Lord ; and he in- 
 clined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up 
 also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set 
 my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And he 
 hath put a new song into my mouth, even praise unto our 
 God : many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the 
 Lord." 
 
THE HAPPY MAN. 243 
 
 THE HAPPY MAN. 
 
 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, 
 nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth 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. And he shall be 
 like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth 
 his fruit in his season ; his leaf also shall not wither ; and 
 whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so; 
 but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore 
 the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in 
 the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the 
 way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish. 
 
 The opening words of this Psalm furnish its title, 
 Ashrey ha-ish, literally, O the happinesses of that man ! It 
 is as if the Psalmist were present and bidding us behold in 
 this Happy Man a realization of the universal hope. For 
 there is no person living who does not desire to be happy* 
 Yet this desire is likely to be thwarted by the very eager- 
 ness with which we pursue it. It is a true saying, " Happi- 
 ness is a coy jade, ever fleeing from him who pursueth her." 
 
 " No man," said Solon, " is happy until, mayhap, 
 after he dies." The testimony of Abd-er-Rahman, the 
 Caliph of Cordova, was of similar import. " Fifty years 
 have elapsed," said he, "since I began to rule; I have 
 had friends, riches, and honors in abundance. On reckon- 
 ing up the days wherein I could say I was happy in them, 
 I find they have been fourteen days in all." 
 
 If ever a man pursued happiness under the most 
 favorable conditions, it was King Solomon. He had 
 
244 ''THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 wealth without stint. He sat upon a golden bull, with six 
 golden lions at his feet. His stables were on the most 
 magnificent scale. His gardens were called paradises. 
 An army of cup-bearers and other attendants waited upon 
 him. He had men and women singers and all sorts of 
 retainers to delight him. Yet this was his conclusion of 
 the whole matter, " Vanity of vanities, all is vanity." And 
 with respect to the pursuit of pleasure particularly, he 
 said, " Of laughter, it is mad ; and of mirth, what doeth 
 it?" 
 
 But here our attention is directed to a happy man. 
 John Trapp said quaintly, in 1660, "The Psalmist hath 
 said here more to the point respecting happiness than all 
 the philosophers ; for while they beat the bush, he hath put 
 the bird into our hand." 
 
 I. As to the character of this happy man. " He 
 walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in 
 the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." 
 In other words, he is described as being in the world but 
 not of it. 
 
 A man who would meet the conditions of his being 
 must be in the world as a living part of it. The Master's 
 plea for his disciples was, " I pray not that thou shouldst 
 take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep 
 them from the evil." The monks of the olden time made 
 a great mistake when, feeling that the world was very evil, 
 they sought to escape defilement by retiring from it. In 
 the solitude of the cloisters they passed the time in 
 droning their prayers, in illuminating missals, and count- 
 ing their beads. Under the very shadow of the monastery 
 walls the unshod people were crying out in their distress 
 for everything that makes life worth the living. There 
 was a famine of the Word, there was a universal call for 
 
THE HAPPY MAN. 245 
 
 help ; but the anchorites at their solitary devotions made 
 no response to it. No, this is not the Christian life. We 
 must needs be in the world — not dreamers among the 
 shadows, but men among men. The world has need of 
 us. The workshop and the office demand us. The secu- 
 lar cares of this world are, of necessity, upon us. Let us 
 fall in with the glorious army of producers and desire to 
 add to the world's possession of material good. To be 
 diligent in business is an essential part of a religious life. 
 Our Lord might have come upon his great errand of de- 
 liverance in the guise of a heavenly prince with the halo 
 about his brow, but he did not. He might have come as 
 a philosopher, holding himself aloof from the masses, 
 dreaming dreams and seeing visions, but he did not. He 
 was a man of the people, one of the great multitude of 
 average men. He entered into the fellowship of com- 
 mon toil, made ploughs and harrows, talked with his fel- 
 low-townsmen about the passing affairs of life, and was a 
 man among men — as we should be. 
 
 But the secret of true happiness is non-conformity. 
 Being in the world, we should not be of it. While our 
 associations must needs be in some measure with the 
 ungodly, their counsels, their way, and their seats are not 
 for us. There is a vital difference between those whose 
 interests are absorbed in the perishable things of this 
 world and such as have their conversation in heaven — 
 as real a difference as there is between a light-ship 
 anchored far out at sea, tossed by the winds, beaten by 
 the roaring storms, yet never moved from its moorings, 
 and the mighty ship that sails past with its canvas set, 
 breasting the waves and hastening on to its desired haven. 
 God's people go to their offices and their work-shops 
 just like other men, but their affections are not set upon 
 
246 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 this world; they are ever mindful of their noble birth, 
 their divine inheritance, their glorious destiny. Their 
 happiness is not worn upon their sleeves ; but they know 
 that earth is not their abiding-place, and that after a 
 while their pilgrimage will end in a blaze of glory at 
 heaven's gate. 
 
 It is written, " By faith Abraham, when he was called 
 to go out into a place which he should after receive for 
 an inheritance, obeyed and went out, not knowing 
 whither he went." No doubt, as he journeyed along the 
 banks of the Euphrates, he passed through many a ham- 
 let where men were dwelling in houses which their fathers 
 had built. And doubtless they said, "Abide with us." 
 But the voice from heaven bade him journey on. We 
 also have no abiding city here. We dwell in tabernacles, 
 looking for a better country, even a heavenly, and for a 
 city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is 
 God. 
 
 The man who realizes this non - conformity in his 
 daily life has reached the state of truest happiness which 
 this world can give. He is superior to all the vicissitudes 
 of this present world. His life is hid with Christ in God. 
 Oh the happinesses of that man ! 
 
 II. The secret of the happiness of that man is said 
 to be in his attitude towards tlie divine law. The " Law 
 of the Lord" was a Jewish phrase for the Scriptures. 
 The happy man possesses a right estimate of the import- 
 ance of the Word of God. 
 
 In one of Joseph Parkers sermons he says, " Why is 
 there so much incertitude in Christian profession and ol 
 inconsistency in Christian life? Because we have lost 
 our Bible." I do not believe, however, that the case is so 
 bad. It is true that a multitude of people are losing 
 
THE HAPPY MAN. 247 
 
 their faith in the Scriptures as an infallible rule of faith 
 and practice. And wherever that occurs the result is 
 doubt and bewilderment. For this reason it is surmised 
 that the present biblical controversy is unspeakably por- 
 tentous of evil. We have confidence to believe, however, 
 that the vast multitudes of God's people are still loyal to 
 revealed truth. They still hearken to the divine oracle 
 as the court of last appeal in all matters of truth and 
 righteousness. They believe with all their hearts in these 
 things which have been revealed from on high through 
 holy men who wrote as they were moved by the Spirit 
 of God. 
 
 (1.) The man who by reason of his happiness is here 
 called to our attention as " that man," is said to be a 
 reader of the Scriptures. 
 
 It is one of the hopeful signs of the times that the army 
 of young people who constitute the Society of Christian 
 Endeavor are pledged as follows : " Trusting in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ for strength I promise him that I will do 
 whatever he would like to have me do ; that I will make 
 it the rule of my life to pray and to read the Bible 
 every day." 
 
 No man can be a happy Christian who does not hold 
 communion with God through the appointed means. 
 Thomas a Kempis said, " I am never so happy as when 
 in a nook with the Book." 
 
 (2.) The man here referred to reads the Scriptures 
 " with delight." 
 
 We are much given in these times to a critical study 
 of the Word. It must not be assumed, however, that the 
 biblical expert gets the deepest or most comprehensive 
 grasp of the truth. The way to appreciate the beauty of 
 Murillo's picture of the Immaculate Conception is not to 
 
248 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 approach it with spatula and ammonia for purposes of 
 minute analysis, but rather to gaze upon it until we 
 are filled with the mighty thoughts that went surging 
 through the soul of the master genius v/ho painted it. It 
 is quite possible to know a thing too well to understand 
 it. In all literature there is scarcely anything finer than 
 Mark Antony's oration over the body of Caesar, yet we 
 smile at the mere suggestion of it : 
 
 " Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears ; 
 I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 
 The evil that men do lives after them ; 
 The good is oft interred with their bones : 
 So let it be with Caesar." 
 
 The reason why it fails to impress us is because in the old 
 school-days we parsed the life out of it. We resolved its 
 oratorical beauty into mere nominative cases and transi- 
 tive verbs. It is much to be feared that in like manner 
 we fritter away the glory of the Scriptures in mere 
 analysis. However we may devote ourselves to the 
 criticism of the text, let us be sure that the immense veri- 
 ties and spiritual sublimities do not lose their hold upon 
 us. 
 
 (3) This happy man not only reads the Scriptures 
 with delight, but he meditates in them. 
 
 The introduction of the art of printing has not been 
 without its compensation of evil. Time was when the 
 Bible was chained to the cathedral altar. In those days 
 it was a labor of love to reach it. The penitent sinner 
 came and turned over the leaves of the parchment until 
 he came to the place where it is written, " Though your 
 sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though 
 they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool ! " He 
 read that over and over again and took it away with 
 
THE HAPPY MAN. 249 
 
 him. The man in trouble came and knelt, with his great 
 burden, before the pages of the chained book and found 
 the place where it says, " Come unto Me, all ye that labor 
 and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And he 
 rolled that over like a sweet morsel under his tongue and 
 gave it a lodgment in heart and memory. The little 
 children were brought by their parents and permitted to 
 touch the passage where it says, " Suffer the children to 
 come unto me and forbid them not, for of such is the 
 kingdom of heaven." And though possibly they never 
 saw the book again in all their lives, they remembered that 
 and were helped by it. But nowadays we read and run, 
 and running we forget. We need to cultivate the habit 
 of meditating in the Word. For truth is inexhaus- 
 tible ; it is a bottomless mine of strength and comfort. 
 The deeper we dig, the more gold we get. The word 
 " meditateth " in this place is rendered by St. Augustine, 
 " chattereth." In God's law this man " chattereth day 
 and night." So in these spring-time days as we pass 
 along the streets we hear the sparrows chattering with 
 their hearts full of the prophecy of bloom and fruitful- 
 ness. So glad and happy are the souls that meditate 
 with delight in the divine law. The truth is like an Ori- 
 ental bride who never lifts her veil save for the one who 
 loves her. To see her face is the privilege of the chosen 
 one. Oh the happinesses of that man ! 
 
 III. We observe now the outcome of this happy 
 life, to wit, fruitfulness. " He shall be like a tree planted 
 by the rivers of water ! " 
 
 (1) This life is rooted well. It is nourished by the 
 river that flows from the throne of God. 
 
 (2.) Its leaf also shall not wither. It is the leaf that 
 shows the character of the tree. An elm does not need 
 
250 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 to cry aloud, " I am an elm-tree," nor a maple, " I am 
 a maple-tree," for the passer-by can lift his eyes to 
 the foliage and readily distinguish between them. The 
 man whose soul is full of truth and righteousness need 
 not be saying perpetually, "I am a Christian," for his 
 walk and conversation declare it. 
 
 (3.) He bringeth forth his fruit in due season. In the 
 parable of the vine and its branches a profound emphasis 
 is put upon fruitfulness. " If ye abide in Christ and he in 
 you, ye shall bring forth fruit, much fruit, more fruit, con- 
 tinually." In other words, we shall be ever doing good 
 as we have opportunity. No man is guaranteed that 
 happiness who has not known the generous pleasure of a 
 kindly deed. It is related of Alexander the Great that 
 while hunting in the forest, having ridden ahead of his 
 suite, he heard a groan and following it came upon a sore 
 wounded man. He bent over him, lifted his head, chafed 
 his temples, and did his utmost to restore him. When 
 one of his courtiers came the Emperor greeted him with 
 the cry, " Oh this is the happiest day of my life ! I have 
 saved a man !" He had subdued kingdoms ; the posses- 
 sions of vast empires were subject to his command ; the 
 dream of universal conquest had been almost realized in 
 his career ; yet he had never known such pleasure as in 
 helping this destitute and distressed one. And indeed 
 this is the very consummation of human joy. He who 
 follows most closely in the footsteps of Jesus, who went 
 about doing good, comes nearest to the possession of 
 happiness ; as it is written, " Oh the happinesses of that 
 man !" 
 
 There is, however, an obverse of this picture. The life 
 of the righteous is here summed up in one word/' pros- 
 perity." " Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." The 
 
THE HAPPY MAN. 25 1 
 
 contrast is marked in two words, "The ungodly are 
 not so." 
 
 (1.) As to his life— it is chaff. The wind sweepeth 
 over the threshing-floor and driveth it away. You can- 
 not gather it up, there is no profit in it. 
 
 (2.) As to his death, it is like a furrow in the sea— 
 " the way of the ungodly shall perish." When the farmer 
 drives his plough through the soil, it means that a harvest 
 will follow for the hungry ones ; and when the keel of the 
 vessel cuts the surface of the sea, there is a furrow marked 
 by a stream of phosphorescent light ; the light vanishes, 
 the waves sweep over, and all is gone. 
 
 (3.) And after death he shall, " not stand in judgment." 
 It was that word "judgment " that made Felix tremble in 
 his audience-room at Caesarea. There is a certain fearful 
 looking forward to judgment in every impenitent heart. 
 The man who lives aright sees heaven's windows open 
 above him and hears the songs of the angelic host. But 
 the ungodly are not so. 
 
 It is safe to say that most of us have been disappointed 
 in our pursuit of happiness. There is however a right 
 way and a sure way to pursue it. Jesus was the busi- 
 est of men. Whether in the workshop or "going about 
 doing good," he was always happy. And when he died 
 on the accursed tree with the darkness closing around 
 him, oh then his cup of happiness ran over ; for " He saw 
 of the travail of his soul and was satisfied." If we would 
 be happy let us join our fortunes with his. Let us sell 
 all and come and follow him. At his right hand are 
 pleasures for evermore. The princes of the olden time 
 were wont to take their distinguished guests into their 
 wine cellars and open for them the old vintages. Our 
 Lord invites his guests into the heavenly gardens, " Come 
 
252 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 into my garden and eat my pleasant fruits ; take of the 
 pomegranates, gather the clusters, pluck the apples from 
 the tree of life, dip down into the waters of the King's 
 well." Ay, here are pleasures for evermore. To be one 
 with Jesus Christ in self-denial, in labor of love and of 
 hope, is to enter into his joy. " These things have I 
 spoken unto you," said he, " that my joy might be filled 
 in you and that your joy might be full." 
 
 We shall never realize the full meaning of those words 
 until we see him standing at heaven's gate and saying, 
 " Well done; enter into the joy of thy Lord." 
 
WHAT MAKES A GENTLEMAN? 253 
 
 WHAT MAKES A GENTLEMAN ? 
 
 The servant of the Lord must be gentle unto all. 2 Tim. 2:24. 
 
 The word "gentleman" is not found in the Scrip- 
 tures. There is, however, much about manhood there — 
 as in the exhortation, " Quit yourselves like men ; be 
 strong," and in the call to perfect manhood in " the meas- 
 ure of the stature of the fulness of Christ " — which com- 
 pletely covers the case. For there is no true standard of 
 gentlemanliness which has not manhood for its basis. 
 The flaccid young fellows who arrogate to themselves this 
 title upon no better ground than the possession of a patri- 
 mony and an acquaintance with the latest fashions in 
 haberdashery are not gentlemen at all. 
 
 We want a definition to begin with. What is a gen- 
 tleman ? In Johnson's old dictionary the word is said to 
 include all above the rank of yeoman. Sir Thomas Smith 
 in his " Commonwealth " says, ' Whosoever studieth in 
 the university, and professeth liberal science, and can live 
 without labor, and beareth the charge and countenance of 
 a gentleman, shall be called so." In the " Merry Wives of 
 Windsor " we have an old-time silhouette — " A gentleman 
 born, master parson, who writes himself Armigero ; in 
 any bill, warrant, quittance, or obligation, Armigero." 
 Chapman says : 
 
 " Measure not thy carriage by any man's eye, 
 Thy speech by no man's ear ; 
 But be resolute and confident, 
 And this is the grace of a right gentleman." 
 
254 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 Sir Philip Sidney, quite competent to speak as being 
 himself the knight without reproach, puts all the chivalric 
 virtues into one brief sentence, " High thoughts seated in 
 a heart of courtesie." 
 
 Webster states it almost as briefly, " A gentleman is 
 one of education and good breeding." The gentleman's 
 portrait moreover is clearly drawn in Paul's First Epistle 
 to Timothy, as one " blameless, vigilant, sober, and of 
 good behavior." In other words, a gentleman is simply 
 the highest style of man. He may wear a threadbare 
 coat, may be penniless and friendless, but a man's heart 
 is beating in his breast. 
 
 I. The distinguishing feature of the gentleman — when 
 viewed by himself alone — is self-respect. Milton said, 
 " The pious and just honoring of ourselves may be 
 thought the radical moisture and fountain-head from 
 whence every laudable and worthy enterprise issues 
 forth." 
 
 By self-respect we do not mean vanity. Vanity is a 
 totally different thing. Vanity is the characteristic of a 
 coxcomb. In the moral province it assumes the form of 
 self-righteousness, and the outcome is a purblind Phari- 
 see. A moment of introspection must take the conceit 
 out of any honest man. For the inward look discovers 
 the fact that he is a sinner. " Naaman the Syrian was a 
 mighty man of valor — but he was a leper;" that fact must 
 have humbled all his pride. 
 
 But the fact that we are sinners does not affect our 
 divine birth or the glorious possibilities before us. The 
 human soul is 
 
 "A beam ethereal, sullied, and absorpt, 
 Though sullied and dishonored, still divine." 
 
 Our sin may be forgiven, our chains broken, and our 
 
WHAT MAKES A GENTLEMAN? 255 
 
 original estate recovered. Meanwhile, alas for him who 
 forgets his high dignity as a child of the living God. 
 
 A rational self-respect proceeds not only from a due 
 consideration of the natural glory of manhood, but, more- 
 over, from the possession of certain manly graces, such 
 as truth, purity, and moral sensitiveness. 
 
 A gentleman is a man of truth. His sense of honor 
 makes and keeps him so. Says Calvert : " He may 
 brush his own shoes or clothes, or mend or make them, 
 or roughen his hands with a helve, or foul them with 
 dye-work or iron-work ; but he must not foul his mouth 
 with a lie." "Will you have the word of a king?" said 
 Charles I. to his commoners. " Nay, more ; I give you 
 the word of a gentleman." When one's nice regard for 
 truth, candor, and sincerity goes out, forthwith shame 
 comes in. 
 
 He must also be a man of purity. Never will he de- 
 scend to the vocabulary of the bar-room. Many a young 
 man has a breath fouled beyond all sweetening of cloves 
 and cardamoms. A low jest leaves behind it a festering 
 sore. Vulgarity prints itself on the cheeks and in the 
 eyes. The sky is full of pictures, and the fields are full 
 of daisies ; why should a young man seek his pleasure in 
 mire and stagnant pools ? 
 
 " Pick from thy mirth all filthiness : 
 'T is the scum with which coarse wits abound ; 
 The fine may spare it." 
 
 The gentleman will be possessed also of moral sensi- 
 tiveness — an essential part of honor. Lord Chesterfield 
 was a gambler and therefore no gentleman. He wrote to 
 his son a series of elaborate letters on courtesy, yet that 
 son died in the gutter. The trouble lay in a blunted 
 moral sense. Beau Brummel was called the first gentle- 
 
256 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 man of Europe ; he required a quarter of an hour for the 
 creasing down of his cravat. Yet one of his precepts 
 was that we should not annoy ourselves with questions of 
 conscience. Therefore the world calls him no longer a 
 gentleman, but a knave, a dram-drinker, and a rake. 
 
 II. The gentleman, when viewed in relation to others, 
 is characterized by courtesy. Courtesy is the finest of hu- 
 man graces. It exacts a recognition of the just claims of 
 all sorts and conditions of men. It accepts the apostle 
 Peter's admonition, " Honor all men." 
 
 It rules out servility, for it is founded in the truth of 
 human equality. No gentleman can allow that God ever 
 created a man with larger natural rights than his own. 
 " The rank is but the guinea's stamp ; the man 's the 
 gowd." But there are certain relations founded in the 
 divine ordinance which impose upon us the duty oi sub- 
 jection without a murmur. Thus it is written, " Honor 
 thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long 
 upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." 
 And again it is written, " Honor the king," that is, the 
 constituted authority. Law is a sacred word to a gentle- 
 man. He regards the powers that be as entitled to rev- 
 erence because they are ordained of God. 
 
 A still severer test of gentility is in one's bearing to- 
 wards those whom adventitious circumstances have placed 
 beneath him. You never know whether a patrician is a 
 gentleman until you have observed his treatment of his 
 valet. The last words of Wellington seem common- 
 place at first glimpse, but in reality they were quite worthy 
 of " the iron duke." A trusted servant pressed upon him 
 a cup of tea, saying, " Will you drink, my lord?" " Yes, 
 if you please." 
 
 But the acid test is in one's treatment of the poor and 
 
WHAT MAKES A GENTLEMAN? 257 
 
 suffering. No gentleman ever laughs at a stammerer or 
 is surly to a child. It was said by Edmund Burke a 
 hundred years ago that chivalry was dead. It is indeed 
 true that knights go forth no more, with crosses on their 
 breasts and ladies' gloves fluttering from their spear- 
 points, to avenge the wronged and vindicate the weak. 
 " Their swords are rust, 
 
 Their good steeds dust, 
 
 Their souls are with their God, we trust." 
 
 But the spirit of true chivalry survives and is constantly 
 showing itself in valorous and magnanimous deeds. A 
 few years ago the ship " Birkenhead " struck upon a hidden 
 rock and, the sea pouring rapidly in, her crew and pas- 
 sengers knew that she must go down. On board were 
 the Ninety-first Highlanders under command of Captain 
 Wright. The order was given to place the women and 
 children in the boats. This being done, the skipper bade 
 the crew shift for themselves, and they struck out for the 
 already overladen boats. Captain Wright ordered the 
 bugle call ; whereat his men mustered on the upper deck 
 as if on dress parade. The ship reeled and staggered before 
 her final plunge. A last order was given ; the Highlanders 
 closed ranks, fired a feu dejoie, and went down. Oh no ! 
 while such things are done upon the earth it is not fair 
 to say that chivalry is dead. The Golden Rule is not a 
 dead letter. The mind that was in Christ Jesus is, in less- 
 er degree, in multitudes of men. 
 
 III. The invoice of the graces of gentlemanliness is 
 not complete until we have considered man in respect to 
 God. We may not leave God out of the reckoning. In 
 this relation the characteristic of a gentleman is devo- 
 tion. At this point there are three considerations which 
 press themselves upon us. 
 17 
 
258 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 Firsty Providence. In God we live and move and 
 have our being. We slept in his arms last night ; he has 
 cared for us all through the day. In our relations with 
 our fellow-men we count it a matter of common courtesy 
 to recognize a favor with thanks. Shall we withhold from 
 God the meed of courtesy which we concede to our fellow- 
 men ? We breathe his air ; we eat his food ; we are the 
 recipients of his favor continually. Is it too much to 
 kneel down and say " I thank thee " ? Is there one 
 among us who has not prayed or otherwise confessed his 
 obligations to the Giver of all good this day ? To such 
 a one I say in all candor, " Sir, by any test of gentility 
 that obtains in common life, you are no gentleman." 
 
 Second, Grace. If it be true that God gave his only- 
 begotten and well-beloved Son to die for our salvation ; 
 if it be true that his blood is the ransom paid for our 
 redemption, then it follows that we are placed under a 
 mighty obligation ; and as honorable men we should give 
 ourselves no rest until we have discharged it. It is writ- 
 ten " Ye are not your own ; ye are bought with a price," 
 not silver and gold, but the precious blood of Jesus, as of 
 a lamb without blemish and without spot. The man who 
 rejects Christ can give a reason for repudiating this debt ; 
 but the man who believes the old, old story and still 
 withholds his service from Christ is ipso facto a defaulter. 
 If there is one such in this presence, 1 say to him in all 
 frankness that until he does his utmost to meet the ob- 
 ligation which he acknowledges, he is no gentleman. 
 For true gentlemen are wont to pay their honest debts. 
 
 Third, the wonderful life. Christ was in the world not 
 only to redeem it, but to set forth in his own character 
 and in his own walk and conversation the pattern of a 
 holy life. In him we behold the highest type of man. 
 
WHAT MAKES A GENTLEMAN? 259 
 
 "The best of men that e'er wore earth about him 
 Was a sufferer, a calm, meek, patient, loving spirit, 
 The first true Gentleman that ever lived." 
 
 To be like Jesus is to attain to the full stature of 
 man. The imitation of Christ is therefore the most im- 
 portant business of life. 
 
 When Thomas Hughes, the author of " Tom Brown 
 at Oxford," would select a theme wherein to set forth the 
 chivalric graces, he chose " The Manliness of Christ." 
 This Christ was the Perfect One — so gentle towards weak- 
 ness, so firm in his loyalty to truth and righteousness, so 
 merciless towards all shams, so charitable in his treat- 
 ment of the erring, so brave in defending the friendless, 
 so forgiving of injury, so pure in word and deed, so heroic 
 in death ! 
 
 Wherefore, I pray you, in his name, whatsoever things 
 are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things 
 are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
 are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there 
 be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these 
 things. For these are things that make for manhood be- 
 cause they bring a man into Godlikeness. 
 
 " Come wealth or want, come good or ill, 
 Let old and young accept their part 
 And bow before the heavenly will, 
 And bear it with an honest heart. 
 
 "Who misses or who wins the prize ? 
 Go, lose or conquer, as you can ; 
 But if you fail or if you rise, 
 Be each, pray God, a gentleman." 
 
260 "THE MORNING COMETH.' 
 
 DARKNESS AT HIGH NOON. 
 
 "And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the 
 whole land until the ninth hour." Mark 15:33. 
 
 The battle of Waterloo, fought on the eighteenth of 
 June, 1815, is possibly the turning-point of human history; 
 it determined the adjustment of the nations and in some 
 measure the destinies of the race. Victor Hugo calls it 
 the " world's earthquake." But on April 7, A. D. 30, a 
 greater battle than Waterloo was fought, in which in- 
 finitely larger issues were involved and on which de- 
 pended the eternal future of all the children of men. 
 On that day the Prince of Darkness, with all the legions 
 of the infernal world, met Emmanuel who had come 
 forth as the sole champion of our ruined race. There 
 were legions of angels and archangels who were eager 
 to participate, but it was ordained that Jesus should 
 tread the wine-press alone. The gage of the conflict 
 was the dominion of this world. For four thousand years 
 Satan, as the prince of this world, had held the con- 
 trolling influence. Here, on Calvary, the issue was joined, 
 and for six awful hours truth and error, sin and right- 
 eousness, life and death, confronted each other in mortal 
 conflict. 
 
 At noon on that memorable day, in the very thick of 
 the conflict, the strange thing happened which is now to 
 engage our thought. The sun was just crossing the 
 meridian. It had been glowing like fire on the golden 
 
DARKNESS AT HIGH NOON. 261 
 
 dome of the temple yonder, and shining on the soldiers' 
 shields and burnished spear-points. Pitilessly it blazed 
 upon the agonizing figure on the cross. Then, on a sud- 
 den, for no perceptible reason, it seemed as if a thin veil 
 were drawn before it. The air grew slowly sombre and 
 lurid ; the wind arose and made a plaintive moaning 
 across the hills. Over on the slopes of Olivet the cattle 
 laid themselves down as if the night were coming on. The 
 birds fluttered to their nests. Soon the shadows closed 
 in until it was no longer possible to read the inscriptions 
 on the phylacteries of the rabbis who stood by. The last 
 beam of light vanished, until one could not see the out- 
 line of the cross against the sky. Then deep silence set- 
 tled down, broken only by the half-stifled sobbing of the 
 women, the muttered oaths of the guards as they jostled 
 each other in the dark, and the dropping of blood. Deep 
 midnight darkness at high noon ! What was the mean- 
 ing of it ? 
 
 I. Was it an eclipse? All attempts to eliminate the 
 supernatural from this occurrence are in vain. We gain 
 nothing by explaining away miracles, for indeed every 
 breath we draw has a marvel in it. We live in the midst 
 of the supernatural, and while we are putting one miracle 
 out at the door, a thousand come swarming in at the win- 
 dows. So, in the long run, we should gain nothing by 
 assuming an eclipse here. But this hypothesis is out of 
 the question : the darkness lasted too long, it extended 
 too far. It was felt away in Egypt where Dionysius cried 
 out that " one of the gods must be agonizing." And fur- 
 ther, the conclusive answer to this vain hypothesis is in 
 the fact that the Passover occurred at the time of the full 
 moon. The miracle therefore stays ; we cannot get rid of 
 it. 
 
262 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 II. But shall we say that this was an expression of 
 the sympathy of nature for her dying Lord ? And why 
 not? When Lincoln was assassinated we draped our 
 pulpits in black and hung the tokens of sympathy across 
 our doorways. The nation, of whose government he was 
 chief magistrate, went into mourning for his untimely 
 taking off. 
 
 Is not this world the kingdom of our Lord ? Did not 
 he create it ? There was not a bird or beast or creeping 
 thing that was not under his sway. And trees and flow- 
 ers — he made them all. Out of the hollow of his hand he 
 poured the waters that filled the mighty deep. He set 
 up the pillars of the universe. He reached out into space 
 and took hold of nothing, like a magician, and when he 
 withdrew his hand there was a world in it. One by one 
 he spun the suns and stars out upon their orbits. The 
 universe was his. 
 
 And now the King of this great kingdom was dying. 
 Why should it not assume the trappings of woe ? 
 
 " Well might the sun in darkness hide, 
 And shut his glories in, 
 When God, the mighty Maker, died 
 For man, the creature's, sin." 
 
 III. Or was this an expression of divine indigna- 
 tion ? the gathering frown on Jehovah's face ? With 
 what, then, was he angry ? There is only one thing in the 
 universe that can provoke the divine wrath, and that is 
 sin. And here, on Calvary, was the consummation of 
 four thousand years and more of persistent sin. God 
 created our parents and blessed them and placed them in 
 a garden where grew such sweet and pleasant flowers as 
 nowhere else were seen ; but they defied his authority and 
 
DARKNESS AT HIGH NOON. 263 
 
 broke his holy will, and then he drove them out and set 
 the flaming sword of his anger at the garden-gate. As 
 they multiplied and replenished the earth, he still envi- 
 roned them with his providence and blessed them with 
 his grace. He bore with their transgressions and sent 
 angel visitants to urge them to a holy life. 
 
 Then looking down from heaven to see if there were 
 any that wrought righteousness, He was moved to say 
 " There is none that doeth good, no, not one." And again 
 his anger went forth against them ; he opened the windows 
 of heaven, unstopped the fountains of the great deep, and 
 swept them all away. Then re-peopling the earth he 
 renewed his goodness to the children of men. But 
 all in vain, for they built altars to Baal and Astarte and 
 gave themselves up to all manner of abominations, and so 
 for centuries, until at last he sent his only-begotten Son to 
 remonstrate with them. Then sin reached its ultimate ; it 
 thrust its dagger to the heart of God's well-beloved Son. 
 Was it not meet that the divine face should gather into a 
 frown that day ? 
 
 Yet is not God angry with abstract sin ; there is in- 
 deed no such thing as abstract sin. He was and is angry 
 with sin in the concrete, as it dwells in you and in me. 
 And there is a sense in which all sin has in it the nature 
 of crucifixion. It is enmity against God. It rejects his 
 overtures of mercy and lifts its hand against his well-be- 
 loved Son. Oh if we could but behold it with the divine 
 eyes how should we hate and abhor it ! 
 
 IV. Or shall we regard this darkness as setting 
 forth the triumph of the wicked one? Here was the cul- 
 mination of thirty years of war, for during all the earthly 
 life and ministry of Jesus, the Prince of Darkness had set 
 up obstacles and striven to thwart his divine purposes in 
 
264 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 every way. He had tempted him, had embittered the 
 hearts of his friends and brethren, had set the scribes and 
 Pharisees to spy upon him, and laid all manner of pitfalls 
 in his path. And all the while Jesus was going about 
 doing good, preaching the glorious truth of the divine 
 mercy, working miracles of healing, and setting forth in 
 his walk and conversation the excellences of the holy life. 
 And this was the end of it ! 
 
 It must have been an hour of rejoicing in the infernal 
 regions when the dark-winged messenger brought the 
 tidings, " They have seized upon the Christ, have tried 
 and condemned, have mocked and derided him ; they 
 have led him out to Calvary, have nailed him to the ac- 
 cursed tree and lo ! he dies in anguish." What shouts of 
 triumph then! "The kingdom shall still abide with us; 
 fling out the banners of the night !" 
 
 But all their rejoicing was premature and momentary. 
 On the cross, above the head of the dying Saviour, were 
 four cabalistic letters, I. N. R. I., Jesus Nazarenus, Rex 
 JudcEontm. He is the King of the whole Israel of God. 
 Had he not said, " I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men 
 unto me" ? And presently when he comes forth out of 
 the darkness he will have at his girdle the keys of Death 
 and Hell, and upon his vesture and thigh will be seen a 
 name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords ; and 
 from that moment he will go forth conquering and to 
 conquer until the restitution of all things. 
 
 "All hail the power of Jesus' name, 
 Let angels prostrate fall ; 
 Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 And crown him Lord of all !" 
 
 V. But while there is some measure of truth in all 
 these suggestions, we have yet to mark the full signifi- 
 
DARKNESS AT HIGH NOON. 265 
 
 cance of this darkness at noon. It sets forth the exercise 
 of the priestly function of Jesus for the deliverance of his 
 people from their sin. 
 
 In the calendar of Israel there was one day which by 
 reason of its importance was called the Great Day. It was 
 the day on which the high-priest made atonement for his 
 people. On that day was heard no sound of hammer or 
 axe, no food could be prepared or eaten, no loud word 
 might be spoken. The high-priest, arrayed in fine linen, 
 clean and white, his hands filled with the blood of the 
 sacrifice, in the presence of all the people who gazed with 
 deepest interest, lifted the outer veil and passed into the 
 tabernacle. No eye must gaze upon the mysteries there. 
 He drew aside the curtain of the Holiest of All and bowed 
 before the ark of the covenant, sprinkling its golden cover, 
 the Mercy-seat, with the sacrificial blood. He made his 
 prayer for the people and presently came forth again, and 
 in token of the success of his mediatorial errand laid his 
 hand upon the head of the scapegoat and sent it forth to 
 Azazel, out into the wilderness, out into forgetfulness, 
 laden with the people's sin. 
 
 So on this memorable day on Calvary our High-Priest 
 passed into the Holiest of All, and darkness fell like a veil 
 behind him. No human eye must gaze upon him while 
 with bleeding hands he sprinkles the Mercy-seat for us. 
 But presently when the darkness lifts, the fact will be dis- 
 closed that the redemptive work of Jesus has been finished 
 and there is therefore now no condemnation to them which 
 are in him. 
 
 Two helpful thoughts let us carry with us ; one as to 
 the sinner's doom. It is said of Luther that, in reading 
 of this strange darkness, he sat silent for a long while and 
 then cried out, " The Son of God was God-forsaken ! 
 
266 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 Who can understand it?" We cannot, indeed, under- 
 stand it unless we believe that Jesus, who knew no sin, was 
 made sin for us ; that he stood as our representative be- 
 fore the offended law ; that he was made a curse for us 
 and the world's sin was laid upon him. In the great con- 
 fession of the universal church we say, " I believe that he 
 descended into hell." If there was ever a moment of 
 which we can truly say that, it was when he passed into 
 the deep darkness and when that awful cry pierced the 
 night, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" 
 It was the doom of all sinners that he was bearing then. 
 This was hell, the undying worm, the unquenchable fire ; 
 he bore it for us. 
 
 The other thought is of the sinner's deliverance. Often 
 had the Jews demanded, " Show us a sign." At last, in 
 this stupendous darkness, the sign was given. By this 
 and by the returning of the light when Jesus had finished 
 his work, let us believe that he was veritably the Son of 
 God and able to save unto the uttermost all who will 
 come unto God by him. It is because he pressed to his 
 lips the purple cup of death that we shall drink of the 
 river of life that floweth out from the throne of God. It 
 is because he was bruised for our offences that we, believ- 
 ing in him, shall go scot free for ever ; for by his stripes 
 we are healed — blessed be his name ! 
 
 At the ninth hour the light returned, the execution 
 was over, the people went down to their homes in Jerusa- 
 lem, turning ever and anon to mark the gloomy outline 
 of the cross and its burden against the heavens, say- 
 ing one to another, " The Nazarene is dead !" But oh, 
 how little they knew what that meant — the Nazarene is 
 dead ! Through him life and immortality are brought to 
 light. He conquered death. 
 
DARKNESS AT HIGH NOON. 267 
 
 " O Death, where is thy victory? 
 O Grave, where is thy sting?" 
 
 " Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 We also come down from the hill Calvary to meet at 
 this ninth hour, in the returning light, our common tasks, 
 but with new hope. Let us go on with renewed courage, 
 let us love him more, let us serve him better, let us walk 
 with him to the crucifixion and triumph in the grace of 
 his resurrection, until the day break, and the shadows 
 flee away, and we stand in the light of his countenance 
 for ever ! 
 
268 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 WHAT CHRISTIANITY HAS DONE FOR 
 THE WORKWOMAN. 
 
 " I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land 
 of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Exod. 20:2. 
 
 The noblest of the Roman epics begins with the 
 words, " Arma virumque cano ;" on which Thomas Car- 
 lyle remarks, " The epic of our times is not ' Arms and the 
 man ' but ' Tools and the man I sing.' " The great prob- 
 lems are not being wrought out on the battlefield, but in 
 the great centres of industry. The best men of to-day are 
 the producers, such as by braincraft or handicraft add to 
 the material possessions of the children of men. 
 
 At the time when our Lord Jesus came into the world 
 there were three classes of people : 
 
 First, the Patricians, who lived in luxurious ease. 
 Pliny says that he saw Lollia Paulina arrayed for a feast 
 in finery that cost forty million sesterces or something 
 more than two millions of our money. Sabina, the wife 
 of Nero, took with her when journeying five hundred she- 
 asses to furnish milk for her cosmetic baths. And these 
 asses wore gold and silver shoes. It was not counted an 
 extraordinary thing to spend the revenues of an entire 
 province on a banquet in those days. The tables were 
 furnished with the brains of peacocks and the tongues of 
 nightingales and similar delicacies. Thus it will be seen 
 that the Patricians rolled in wealth. But they were nu- 
 merically an insignificant part of the population, for in 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORKINGMAN. 269 
 
 Rome there were only two thousand knights and senators 
 in all. 
 
 Second, the Slaves. And these were the most abject 
 class. They lived in ergastula, or slave stables, where 
 they were oftentimes chained in their stalls. In old age 
 they were exposed on an island in the Tiber. They had 
 no rights which their superiors were bound to respect. 
 Of these les misera&les there were in the empire sixty 
 millions. 
 
 Third, the Plebs Urbana, an idle, shifdess class. They 
 formed the bulk of Roman citizenship — God save the 
 mark ! To their minds it was not respectable to work ; 
 that was the business of the slaves. The cry of the Plebs 
 was ever " Pa?iem et circe?ises," bread and games ! And 
 there were three hundred and twenty thousand of these 
 reputable citizens who received congiaria, or public corn 
 rations. They spent their forenoons lounging about the 
 forum and their afternoons at the amphitheatre. There 
 were three hundred and eighty-five thousand seats in the 
 circus. Here the gladiatorial contests took place, the 
 pompa diaboli. The Emperor Trajan had eleven thousand 
 wild beasts brought into the arena at one festival. While 
 the Plebs sat witnessing these games, their patrons from 
 above threw figs and fruits to them. At the conclusion of 
 the games they went to their wretched homes, which, in 
 respect to comfort, were incomparably beneath the tene- 
 ment houses of these days. They were called insula, and 
 there were forty-four thousand of them in the Imperial 
 City. As a rule a Plebeian wore only a tunic, for he had 
 but a single garment to his name ; if fortunately he pos- 
 sessed a toga, he reserved it to be buried in. 
 
 Where then was the thrifty middle class, the class that 
 constitutes the strength of our modern civilization ? There 
 
2/0 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 was none. All labor was remanded to the slaves. The 
 Patricians and Plebeians lived alike in gentlemanly leisure. 
 
 Then came the Carpenter of Nazareth. He was dis- 
 tinctly a man of the people. We are accustomed to think 
 of him as crowned with a halo of light. But there was no 
 halo or other outward symbol to distinguish him from the 
 great multitude of common men. He had something 
 better. Deep down in his heart was the divine purpose to 
 uplift the fallen and vindicate the rights of the oppressed. 
 His great heart was in sympathy with the masses. He 
 came as a knight-errant to exalt the lowly ones. 
 
 It is only nineteen hundred years since then ; the 
 ripening of that glorious purpose has been slow but sure. 
 The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding 
 small. We look back now over the centuries and are 
 able to estimate what Christ has done for the multitudes. 
 It will be of interest to note what the influence of this Naz- 
 arene Carpenter and the religion which he instituted has 
 been upon the welfare of the workingman. 
 
 I. To begin with, He has levelled up the race. The 
 tendency of all other forces which have had to do with 
 the labor problem and the great industrial questions of 
 all the ages has been to level dQwn. The cry is, " Down 
 with the aristocracy, down with wealth and noble birth 
 and culture!" But the gospel shibboleth is, "Up with 
 the people !" It was the purpose of Christ to vindicate 
 the importance of man as man. Adventitious conditions 
 were nothing to him. He loved man as made in the like- 
 ness of God. And this thought of our universal birthright, 
 be it observed, lies at the basis of the true philosophy of 
 human rights. The Carpenter of Nazareth taught the 
 solidarity of the race ; one man is as good as another, be- 
 cause there is one God and Father of all. I perceive," 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORKINGMAN. 2J\ 
 
 said Peter, " that God is no respecter of persons." Fol- 
 low up that declaration and you come to Runnymede. 
 In Magna Charta, that great instrument of human rights 
 which was drawn up in the meadow at Runnymede, there 
 is no mention of the people and no reference to labor save 
 in the stipulation that a man might not be deprived of the 
 implements of his trade. But if we follow up that mani- 
 festo still further, we shall come within sound of the bell in 
 Independence Hall which rang out the proclamation that 
 all men are created free and equal and with certain inalien- 
 able rights. Thus the philosophy of the Galilean Carpenter 
 has been slowly but surely making its way among the na- 
 tions. And man is coming to be more and more respected 
 by reason of his manhood, his birthright as a child of God. 
 II. The gospel of Jesus Christ has dignified labor. 
 And what other religion has done this ? Plato, Cicero, 
 and Lycurgus all held that it was a disgrace to touch the 
 implements of common toil. It is a matter of immense 
 import that Jesus himself was a workingman. It is worth 
 asking whether we should not have made better progress 
 in the propaganda of his gospel had we long ago aban- 
 doned the luminous halo, and crowned him simply with 
 the square cap of a carpenter. He was indeed very 
 God of very God; but, tabernacled in flesh, he was also 
 very man of very man. And it is Jesus the carpenter 
 who must win the masses. The twelve whom he gath- 
 ered about him at the beginning of his ministry were all 
 men of braincraft or handicraft. There was not among 
 them a single gentleman of leisure. So in the early church 
 the great multitude of believers were from among the 
 working people. On the one hand not many mighty, not 
 many noble, were called ; and on the other, there was lit- 
 tle in the new religion to attract the indolent, for this was 
 
272 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 one of the early Christian precepts, "If any will not work, 
 neither let him eat." The church ever since has been re- 
 cruited from the same source. Luther was a miner's son ; 
 Zwingli was a shepherd lad ; Cardinal Wolsey was the 
 son of a butcher ; John Bunyan was a tinker; William 
 Carey a shoemaker; Jeremy Taylor a barber; Dr. Liv- 
 ingstone a weaver. Thus wherever the genius of Christ's 
 gospel has prevailed, a special honor has been put upon 
 the children of toil. 
 
 III. The religion of Christ has everywhere bettered the 
 material condition of the working classes. The question 
 of wages lies at the centre of the reconciliation of capital 
 and labor. Our Lord said, " The laborer is worthy of his 
 hire." 
 
 In fact the very thought of wages is peculiar to na- 
 tions which have felt the influence of the Christian 
 religion. No wages were paid in ancient Rome ; the 
 working class lived on charity. The despicable custom 
 of giving a douceur to the waiters in our restaurants is a 
 remnant of the ancient pagan world. The Pyramids were 
 built by laborers who lived on onions and lentils doled 
 out to them by their overseers. A quid pro quo, an hon- 
 est wage for an honest day's work, was as yet undreamed 
 of. But as time passed and the gospel began to take hold 
 upon the universal heart and conscience, it was felt that 
 the producer was worthy of something beyond a mere 
 livelihood. The improvement in the condition of the 
 toiling class was gradual but sure. Age-buttressed evils 
 are not levelled in a day. As late as the thirteenth cen- 
 tury a carpenter in England received but threepence per 
 day. In the fourteenth century the hours of labor were 
 from five in the morning until seven-thirty in the evening, 
 and a workman was not permitted to change masters 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORKINGMAN. 273 
 
 without a six months' warning. In the time of Charles II. 
 a weaver received sixpence for a day's work. But there 
 is evidence of progress in the growing discontent. Ma- 
 caulay speaks of a ballad circulated at that time in which 
 the weavers deplore their sixpence and plead for a shilling 
 a day. There has been magnificent progress since then. 
 John Stuart Mill says that the laboring classes of our 
 times receive more pay per annum than professional men, 
 and there is no more self-respecting class than the hand- 
 workers. 
 
 ''The heart of the toiler has throbbings 
 That stir not the bosoms of kings." 
 
 And this is the immediate result of Christian influence. 
 Let the doubter consult a map of the world. Let him 
 observe how China is a land of mandarins and coolies ; 
 how Egypt is a land of rich men and beggars ; how Tur- 
 key is a land of pashas and slaves. In what nation out- 
 side of Christendom is labor regarded with honor or the 
 laborer permitted to be a self-respecting man ? If, on the 
 other hand, we are reminded of the discontent which pre- 
 vails among laboring people in Christian lands, of the 
 strikes and processions of strikers marching through our 
 streets with banners bearing the legends of their discon- 
 tent, let it be remembered that these very expressions of 
 desire to improve their condition are an evidence of the 
 influence of the gospel. Who ever heard of a procession 
 of discontented toilers marching through the streets of the 
 Oriental cities ? The right of complaint is one of the 
 rights which Christianity has vindicated among men. 
 
 IV. The religion of Jesus Christ makes it possible for 
 the lower classes to rise. There is an old proverb, Ne 
 sutor 7iltra crepidam, Let the shoemaker stick to his last. 
 But under the influence of the Nazarene Carpenter the 
 
 IcS 
 
274 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 shoemaker is permitted to rise above his last. In pagan 
 nations the various classes are required to keep their 
 place. The Hindoos say that when Brahm created the 
 race he made Brahmans from his head, the Kshatrya or 
 soldiers from his breast, the Vaisya or merchant class 
 from his loins, and the Sudras or laborers from his feet. 
 And within these lines there are hundreds of divisional 
 lines which have remained from time immemorial, which 
 it is quite impossible to cross. This is so far true that the 
 water-carriers and scavengers of Bombay are the children 
 of those who were scavengers and water-carriers many 
 hundreds of years ago. But in Christian countries a 
 golden ladder is placed before the feet of every ambitious 
 man and he is urged to mount it. 
 
 Men often lament the multiplication of millionaires in 
 these days. It is indeed a most significant fact. A re- 
 cent tabulated estimate shows that there are four thousand 
 and forty millionaires in the United States, and of these 
 one thousand and three reside in the city of New York. 
 But is this cause of lamentation ? No, rather shall we not 
 rejoice in it ? For who are these men who have accumu- 
 lated such wealth ? Nearly all of them have come up from 
 the ranks — they were poor men or the children of poor 
 men. The thing which has been done, may be done again. 
 It is a glorious fact that no man, however humble, need 
 despair of prosperity if he be thrifty and industrious. 
 But let it be observed that this possibility is found only 
 in countries under the benign influence of the religion of 
 Christ. 
 
 What shall we then say to these things ? The religion 
 which has accomplished so much can be trusted to ac- 
 complish more. The rights of the toilers are safe in the 
 hands of the Nazarene Carpenter. If Christianity cannot 
 
CHRISTIANITY AND THE WORKINGMAN. 275 
 
 bring about the adjustment of the relations between em- 
 ployer and employe, what force can do it ? 
 • A godless anarchy tried its hand upon the problem in 
 the days of the Reign of Terror. It wrote upon the 
 church doors and upon all the dead walls of Paris, every- 
 where, Liberty, Fraternity, Equality. It raved and 
 fought, and with what result ? To-day the French peas- 
 ant still wears his smock-frock and wooden sabots. 
 
 Or is it likely that communism will bring about the 
 consummation devoutly to be wished ? Its achievements 
 thus far encourage no hope. The workingman himself 
 has no confidence in it. 
 
 " What is a communist? One who has yearnings 
 For equal division of unequal earnings. 
 Idler or bungler, he 's one who is willing 
 To fork out his penny and pocket your shilling." 
 
 "The "strike" has ever been a weapon of weakness. 
 It rests on the sophism that two wrongs may make a right. 
 The difficulty is one which cannot be adjusted by violent 
 measures. Some thousands of years ago, in Egypt, a son 
 of the Hebrews went out among his brethren who were 
 toiling among the brick-kilns and looked upon their bur- 
 dens. He saw them toiling hard and receiving no recom- 
 pense, oppressed and beaten by their taskmasters. In 
 sudden anger he drew his sword and wrought murder 
 with it. By that deed the deliverance of Israel was de- 
 layed forty years. He was sent out into the wilderness 
 of Midian to meditate in solitude upon his unwise pre- 
 cipitancy. To him, in fulness of time, the Lord said, 
 " I have seen the affliction of. my people and have heard 
 their cry by reason of their taskmasters, and I am come 
 down to deliver them." Then on a certain night the 
 signal was given and they set forth. That was a magnifi- 
 
276 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 cent " march out." And lo, yonder in the heavens the 
 pillar of cloud went before them. The Almighty had 
 taken matters into his own hands, as it is written, " I 
 am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of 
 the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." Suc- 
 cess is sure when God is with us. 
 
 It is helpful and stimulating to know that God, at this 
 day, walks up and down among the children of men in 
 the person of the Nazarene Carpenter. He has come into 
 the world not merely to deliver men from spiritual and 
 eternal death, but to lessen the pains and augment the 
 pleasures of this present life. 
 
 Oh this is a glorious Christ, a glorious Bible, a glori- 
 ous religion that touches our troubled lives at every 
 point ! 
 
 By the mediation of Jesus of Nazareth, the labor ques- 
 tion and all the problems of humanity will be wisely ad- 
 justed. Adam Smith said, "A prudent self-interest is the 
 sufficient basis of economic science." It would be wiser to 
 say that self-sacrifice is the beginning and end of economic 
 science. The settlement of this question, together with 
 the adjustment of all the relations of human life, must be 
 brought about by the operation of the divine principle 
 which the Lord Jesus Christ set forth in the golden rule : 
 " Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men 
 should do to you, do ye even so to them." 
 
SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN HEAVEN? 2JJ 
 
 SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN 
 HEAVEN ? 
 
 " But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning 
 them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which 
 have no hope." i Thess. 4:13. 
 
 The poverty of our Western farmers is largely due to 
 the fact that while they multiply their acres they content 
 themselves with tilling a small portion for present use. 
 We keep ourselves poor, spiritually, for a like reason. 
 As God's children and co-heirs with his only-begotten 
 Son we have a vast inheritance. In all directions it 
 stretches out of sight. But alas, we put under tillage an 
 infinitesimal part of it, only so much of it as lies imme- 
 diately around our present homes and their belongings. 
 Oh for a view from Nebo's summit ! Oh for a clear ap- 
 prehension, not only of the privilege of holy living here, 
 but of those unspeakable things which God hath reserved 
 for them that love him ! 
 
 One of the charms of Holy Scripture is that, taking 
 for granted the existence of a brighter and better world, 
 it relieves the uncertainty respecting it with a twilight 
 glow of vision and prophecy, and stimulates in us a long- 
 ing, like that of Israel, to go over and possess the land. 
 A glorious land indeed, and among its attractions there 
 is none that affects us more profoundly than the antici- 
 pation of meeting and recognizing those whom we have 
 
2/8 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 loved and lost. We cherish the thought as a fond 
 dream, but how certainly may we depend upon it ? How 
 much of evidence is there to sustain it? Let us now 
 call up the witnesses for the renewing and the strength- 
 ening of our faith. 
 
 I. Our first witness is The Heart. The heart of this 
 man or of that man in matters pertaining to the spiritual 
 life may throb uncertainly, but the heart of the race beats 
 true. Man was made in God's likeness, and there is a 
 deep longing in his nature for a return to God. It is 
 like the voice of the sea-shell murmuring of the sea. 
 
 All races and generations have held this doctrine of 
 recognition in the better life. The Greeks believed it. 
 Socrates, with the poisoned cup at his lips, thus dis- 
 courses : " If the common expression be true that death 
 conveys us to the place of departed men, with delight 
 I drink this hemlock, for it sends my spirit to commune 
 with Ajax and Palamides." The Romans believed it. 
 The hero of the /Eneid going out into the unseen world 
 was greeted by his former friends : 
 
 " The gladsome ghosts in circling troops attend 
 And with unwearied eyes behold their friend." 
 
 The Egyptians believed it, else why did they fill their 
 dead children's hands with toys and trinkets? and why 
 did they inscribe upon the byssus bands the hope of an 
 awakening on the morrow ? The Hindoos believe it. In 
 the institution of the suttee, as the widow ascends the fune- 
 ral pyre she unbinds her hair and makes her last invoca- 
 tion to Brahm : " Oh that I might enjoy with my hus- 
 band as many joyful years in the better world as there 
 are hairs in these flowing braids." 
 
 Our own transcendental poets betray their belief in it : 
 
SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN HEAVEN ? 279 
 
 " Somewhere in desolate, wind-swept space, 
 
 In twilight land, in No-man's Land, 
 Two hurrying shapes met face to face 
 
 And bade each other stand. 
 And ' Who are you ?' cried one, agape, 
 
 Shuddering in the gloaming light. 
 1 1 do not know,' said the second shape ; 
 
 'I only died last night.'" 
 
 Thus, when we find the pulse of the race it testifies to the 
 home-bringing. The heart will brook no denial. It in- 
 sists that we shall know each other in the better life. 
 
 II. Our next witness is Reason. And here we stand 
 beyond the region of mere sentiment. Reason coun- 
 sels us to receive any doctrine which commends itself to 
 our best judgment; let us therefore find the intellectual 
 consensus. Here are four links which weld themselves 
 into an irrefutable demonstration : 
 
 (1.) Immortality. It would be a superserviceable task 
 to undertake here a proof of immortality. We receive it 
 as an intuition. It is one of those universal truths which 
 assert themselves as axioms, being interwoven with the 
 mental constitution of the race. Do you ask, " If a man 
 die, shall he live again ?" Listen ! Your whole being calls 
 back, " I shall live and not die." We therefore take the 
 truth of immortality as a postulate, a starting-point, from 
 which we pass on to yet more glorious truths. 
 
 (2.) Identity. This follows immortality as a neces- 
 sary sequence. The Ego or self-conscious personality is 
 not impaired by death. What is death? "A covered 
 bridge leading from light to light through a brief darkness." 
 It is a mighty arch with brazen gates sprung over the 
 pathway of our life. As one draws nigh, the gates roll 
 back on creaking hinges, and then, the momentary an- 
 guish over, are closed again. The friends stand weeping 
 
280 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 here and vainly gazing. One has passed through and 
 continues his journey in the brighter, better life. His 
 identity is unchanged. No doubt you and I will be 
 amazed in the moment after our translation to find how 
 like we are to what we were; there will be scarcely a 
 break in consciousness. We shall not sink our personali- 
 ties. No Nirvana awaits us, no sinking in the pantheistic 
 soul, as a drop of water is lost in the unfathomable sea. 
 We shall live right on. 
 
 (3.) Memory. There is no Lethe between this world 
 and the hereafter. There can be none, else our identity 
 would cease, for memory is the nexus binding the here 
 with the hereafter. We shall doubtless walk together in 
 the green pastures of Canaan and review the joys and 
 sorrows of our earthly life. A Danish poet tells of a 
 glorified spirit who was sent to bring the soul of a little 
 girl to heaven. While winging his way with his precious 
 charge, the child saw a rose-tree in his hand and asked 
 the meaning of it. The angel replied that once upon a 
 time there was a poor lad in the city they had left who 
 lay for a long while dying. That rose-tree was the one 
 solace of his loneliness; it filled the sick chamber with 
 its fragrance and spoke of the coming spring. And now, 
 at his desire, the flower was to be transplanted to Para- 
 dise. Then the child looked up into the angel's face and 
 asked, 
 
 " 'How knowest thou this, bright power?' 
 Then splendidly he smiled : 
 4 Should I not know my flower ? 
 I was that sickly child."' 
 
 Ay, we shall remember there. The old home, the tree 
 by the doorway, the well-sweep, the path leading through 
 the meadow, the far-away sound of the school-bell — we 
 
SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN HEAVEN? 28 1 
 
 remember them here, and in glory they will still abide 
 with us. 
 
 (4.) Recognition. This completes the four-linked 
 chain of evidence — immortality, identity, memory, recog- 
 nition. The first involves the last. If there is to be a 
 heaven at all, we shall certainly know each other there. 
 
 At a country fair in New England the militia had come 
 from many surrounding towns and the parade was to be 
 led by old-time musicians. A gray-haired drummer had 
 taken his place and a decrepit fifer beside him, veterans of 
 the war of 181 2, but quite unknown to each other. They 
 led the march with the martial tunes of long ago. At last 
 the fifer struck up a tune wherein his comrade did not 
 follow him. The fire kindled in the drummer's eyes and 
 for a moment he held his drumsticks motionless. Then 
 approaching the fifer he pushed back the cap from his 
 gray hair and with flashing eyes cried, "John, ye've 
 played that before ; ye played it at Lundy's Lane ! I 
 mind ye. I played the drum beside ye that day. Man, 
 where have ye been, where have ye been ?" Ah, there 
 will be times in heaven when we, walking in the golden 
 streets, shall hear the sound of familiar voices or a strain 
 of music or shall catch glimpses of faces that were famil- 
 iar long ago. And there will be greetings and hand- 
 claspings and the past will live again. 
 
 III. We turn now to the court of last appeal, the 
 Holy Scriptures. For when the heart and reason have 
 borne their utmost testimony it yet remains for us to make 
 sure, doubly sure, by turning to the oracles of God. The 
 truth of the whole Scriptures, so far as they have reference 
 to the eternal life, is hypothecated upon the fact of immor- 
 tality with all its logical sequences. This recognition of 
 the saints would stand in Scripture even if there were no 
 
282 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 " thus saith the Lord." But the direct testimony is plain 
 and clear. 
 
 (i.) This truth is implied in all passages that refer to 
 heave?i as a home, the Father's house with many man- 
 sions, the household of the people of God. What makes a 
 home ? Four walls and a roof? Tapestries and pictures ? 
 Nay ! the presence of our dear ones. What sort of a 
 heaven would that be where the members of the family 
 would not know each other? A devout man, on being 
 asked if he expected to know his favorite sister in the 
 after-world, said that he expected to be so continually 
 occupied with the beauty of the Bright and Morning Star 
 that she might remain for ages at his side and he not 
 notice her. In that reply there was a vast amount of 
 pious ignorance. Is there any incompatibility between 
 our love for the great Father and our love for our own 
 dear ones ? Is there any incongruity between the first 
 and second of the great commandments ? A man may 
 love the Lord with all his soul and yet love his human 
 friends with a pure heart fervently. Nay, more, the love 
 of God is perfected in us only when we thus love one an- 
 other. Our kinships and our friendships are as eternal 
 as the Father's love. 
 
 (2.) This truth is furthermore implied in all passages 
 which speak of the dead as having rejoined the sai?its tri- 
 umphant, as where Abraham and others of the patriarchs 
 are said to have been " gathered unto their fathers " or 
 " gathered unto their people." Some have supposed this 
 to mean that they were buried, so to speak, in the family 
 burying-ground. This, however, was not the case with 
 Abraham, whose body slept in an isolated grave, or of 
 Moses, who slept in the mountain, and of whom it is writ- 
 ten, " No man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." 
 
SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN HEAVEN ? 2 S3 
 
 All such statements must have reference not to the body- 
 but to the soul, and they point to the reunion of the saints. 
 
 (3.) In passages which speak of heaven as a feast. 
 Did you ever sit at table with a company when you were 
 acquainted with only your host, and if so, was it not a chil- 
 ly experience ? And shall we so look forward to the mar- 
 riage feast whereat we are to celebrate the nuptials of the 
 King's Son ? Of that festive occasion the Lord said, 
 " They shall come from the east and the west and the 
 north and the south and sit down with Abraham and 
 Isaac in the kingdom." If the inhabitants are to know 
 those ancient worthies why shall they not also recognize 
 others who are nearer and dearer than they ? 
 
 (4.) In all passages respecting the judgment. We are 
 to be called to account at the great day for all sins done 
 in the body. But it is manifestly needful, in the adminis- 
 tration of justice, that the culprit shall know himself to be 
 the evil-doer. We can neither be justly punished nor re- 
 warded unless we can look back upon our good or evil 
 deeds. In the Tichborne trial it was the question of 
 identity that determined whether the claimant should 
 have an inheritance or a term in prison. So the thought 
 of judgment loses all its significance if our personal iden- 
 tity and memory of the past be eliminated from it. 
 
 (5.) In the story of Davids bereavement. How simple 
 and touching are the words! "Is the child dead?" he 
 said to his servants. And they answered, " He is dead." 
 Then David arose from the earth and washed and 
 anointed himself and changed his apparel and came into 
 the house of the Lord and worshipped : then he came to 
 his own house, and he required and they set bread before 
 him, and he did eat. Then said his servants unto him, 
 " What thing is this that thou hast done ? Thou didst fast 
 
284 "THE MORNING COMETH.' 
 
 and weep for the child while it was alive ; but when the 
 child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread." And he 
 said, " While the child was yet alive I fasted and wept, for 
 I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, 
 that the child may live ? But now he is dead, wherefore 
 should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go 
 to him, but he shall not return to me." 
 
 (6.) In the account of the transfiguratioyi of our Lord. 
 Here were two persons who had lived in centuries far 
 apart and who had been more than a thousand years in 
 glory, represented not only as knowing each other, but 
 as having a deep and practical interest in the affairs of the 
 living, for they spake of the decease which Jesus was to 
 accomplish at Jerusalem. 
 
 (7.) In the parable of Dives and Lazarus. The rich 
 man is represented here as knowing afar off the beggar 
 who formerly lay at his gate and as understanding the 
 condition of his brethren who were still living on earth. 
 
 (8.) In our text: " Brethren, I would not have you to 
 be ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that ye 
 sorrow not, even as others which have no hope." Paul is 
 writing to the Christians in Thessalonica among whom he 
 had labored and whom he regarded as his joy and crown 
 at the coming of Christ. He now comforts them respect- 
 ing the welfare of their friends, many of whom had for 
 the truth's sake been burned, beheaded, sawn asunder, or 
 slain by lions. He would not have them sorrow for these 
 loved ones "even as others which have no hope," for Christ 
 in his gospel had brought life and immortality to light and 
 had opened the doors of the Father's house and given 
 them a hope that maketh not ashamed. He assures them 
 that the time is drawing near when all shall be trans- 
 ported to the better life. Those who may be still living 
 
SHALL WE KNOW EACH OTHER IN HEAVEN ? 285 
 
 at the Lord's coming shall be caught up together with 
 their loved ones in the clouds, to meet him, and so shall 
 we ever be with the Lord. 
 
 Thus the hope of reunion rests upon the sure testi- 
 mony of the divine Word ; herein let us comfort one an- 
 other. 
 
 "As for thy friends, they are not lost : 
 The several vessels of thy fleet, 
 Though parted now, by tempests tossed, 
 Shall safely in the haven meet." 
 
 I speak to bereaved husbands and wives, some of 
 whom have longed these many years to look into the dear 
 absent eyes ; ye do not sorrow as those who are without 
 hope. Great was the joy of the espousal ; the joy of the 
 reunion shall be greater. 
 
 I speak to motherless children who feel the lingering 
 touch of mother's arms, who find themselves, even after 
 the lapse of many years, recalling the dear vanished face. 
 Oh for a word from mother's lips ! It shall be, bless God ! 
 We sorrow not as do those who are without hope. 
 
 I speak to parents who have given their children back 
 to God. How dark were the wings of the death angel ! 
 But Israfel will make all right. It was a blessed thing 
 that happened under the archway at the village of Nain. 
 A mother was walking behind the bier whereon lay the 
 body of her child. She was a widow, and he her only 
 son. Nearing the gate came another procession, Jesus 
 and his small retinue of followers. They met beneath the 
 gate, those two, life and death. And it is written, "Jesus 
 had compassion on her." Oh blessed, pitying heart ! And 
 he laid his hand upon the bier and said, " Arise," and the 
 lad arose and sat up. And what then ? He " gave him 
 unto his mother." In this let us behold a foregleam of 
 
286 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 the joy which awaits us in the better life. Oh golden day 
 of days when the Lord shall put back the children in 
 their mothers' arms ! Verily, verily we do not sorrow as 
 those who have no hope. We pass within the shadow, 
 but above its gloom is the overarching promise of the 
 glorious future. We shall meet again, blessed be God ! 
 
WE BEHELD HIS GLORY. 287 
 
 WE BEHELD HIS GLORY 
 
 " And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the 
 Father, full of grace and truth." John 1 : 14. 
 
 St. John was the apostle of the glory of Christ. He 
 saw it more clearly than others, doubtless because as the 
 beloved disciple he entered into the secret place of his 
 Lord's confidence. The heart has perceptions to which 
 the mind is oftentimes a stranger. The Virgin Mother, 
 also, knew that her son Jesus was more than an ordinary 
 man ; this was the secret which as a fond mother she 
 " kept in her heart." But she was slow to perceive the 
 full meaning of it. Not one of the disciples seemed fully 
 to believe on him. It was not until the last journey down 
 through Caesarea Philippi that Peter, foremost always, 
 was moved to utter the good confession, " Thou art the 
 Christ, the Son of the living God !" But the great truth 
 came ultimately to them all. Then even doubting Thomas, 
 in the presence of his risen Master, was constrained to 
 cry, " My Lord and my God !" 
 
 To see the divine glory has ever been the yearning 
 desire of earnest men. It is not possible. Can the naked 
 eye gaze at the noonday sun? Can a child hold the 
 ocean in the hollow of its hand? Can the finite form a 
 conception of the infinite ? Yet this vain longing is proof 
 of our divine lineage. So Moses entreated, " Show me 
 thy glory !" And God answered, " Hide thyself in the 
 cleft of the rock yonder and I will pass by." He hid him- 
 self and waited, but all that he heard was the rustle of a 
 
288 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 garment, all that he saw was a vanishing robe. No man 
 has ever seen God and lived. 
 
 It was, however, to meet this fervent desire of the hu- 
 man heart that God condescended to give a visible token 
 of his real presence. It was the Shechinah, the luminous 
 cloud that hovered over the tabernacle and which as pil- 
 lar of cloud by day and of fire by night led the children 
 of Israel through the wilderness to the land which flowed 
 with milk and honey. It rose ever between the wings of 
 the angels over the Ark of the Covenant, shadowing the 
 mercy-seat where Jehovah had promised to meet his peo- 
 ple and commune with them. The Shechinah was no 
 longer needed when the only-begotten Son of the Father 
 became flesh and dwelt among us. He was its anti-type, 
 its glorious fulfilment. Great is the mystery of godli- 
 ness, God manifested in the flesh ; the angels desire to 
 look into it. 
 
 We have neither the Shechinah nor the Incarnate One, 
 we know Christ no more after the flesh, yet his glory lin- 
 gers. Is it not strange that of all the procession of the 
 mighties who have passed by, not one has wholly escaped 
 the twilight of oblivion save this Carpenter of Nazareth ? 
 Kings and potentates, sages and philosophers, Caesars 
 and Alexanders and Napoleons — their greatness has van- 
 ished like the unsubstantial fabric of a dream. Of them 
 was it written, " The path of glory leads but to the grave." 
 But not so of this Nazarene Carpenter; his name has 
 grown brighter with each succeeding age and shall until 
 every knee shall bow at the mention of it. 
 
 " No mortal can with him compare 
 Among the sons of men ; 
 Fairer is he than all the fair 
 That fill the heavenly train." 
 
WE BEHELD HIS GLORY. 289 
 
 The apostle said, " We beheld his glory." We also, 
 good friends, have seen it, the glory of Jesus of Nazareth, 
 waxing like a crescent from the beginning until now. 
 What was the glory that John saw ? What is the glory 
 that gives an unchallenged preeminence to the Carpenter 
 of Nazareth over all the earth to-day ? 
 
 I. It was not the glory of an illustrious birth. No 
 bells were rung when Prince Immanuel came. He was 
 of humble parentage, a child of the people. His boyhood 
 was passed in an obscure village in a remote corner of 
 the earth. He learned the trade of a carpenter and at 
 eventide wiped the sweat of honest toil from his brow. 
 There was no halo around his head nor any outward token 
 of glory beyond that of other men. 
 
 II. Nor was it the glory of any natural endowment 
 such as extraordinary wisdom. He was indeed possessed 
 of that. The great themes which reach out into eternity — 
 God, immortality, judgment, heaven, hell — themes which 
 the sages and philosophers had avoided or treated with 
 the utmost diffidence, he boldly confronted — he, an untu- 
 tored handworker. And when he touched these problems 
 he solved them. His teaching was characterized by the 
 utmost simplicity. There is much turgid prolixity in the 
 philosophical discussions of our time. Goldsmith said 
 to Dr. Johnson, " You make your little fishes talk like 
 whales." This is our fault, and men foster it by their 
 foolish fondness for a seeming profundity which is mere 
 bathos. This Jesus used no sesquipedalian words. He 
 set forth the sublimities in terms so plain that a wayfaring 
 man, however foolish, need not err in them. And he 
 spake with the might and power of an original author- 
 ity ; not like the scribes, who were mere empyrics, but 
 like one who had dwelt in the midst of those glorious re- 
 
 19 
 
290 
 
 alities of which he testified from personal knowledge. 
 His word was, " Verily, verily, I say unto you." He 
 waved aside the wisdom of all the rabbis who had gone 
 before him. " Ye have heard how it was said by them of 
 olden time " thus and so, " but / say unto you." // 
 Who is this that speaks in such presumptuous terms ? The 
 Carpenter of Nazareth. Yet his words have outlived all 
 the wisdom, of the wise, and now, nineteen hundred years 
 having passed, they wield the commanding influence 
 among men and nations. As a teacher of divine truth 
 this man from the carpenter shop of Nazareth stands sol- 
 itary and alone. The world assents to the judgment of 
 the officers sent by the Sanhedrin to arrest him, " Never 
 man spake like this man." 
 
 Nevertheless this was not the glory which John saw, 
 nor can it account for his preeminent place in history 
 until this day. 
 
 III. Nor was it the glory of poiver. He was indeed 
 possessed of power beyond all other men, insomuch that 
 he said, "All power is given unto me." 
 
 He had an absolute command of nature. Xerxes 
 scourged the stormy waves and they roared back defiant 
 laughter. Jesus said, " Peace, be still !" and like naughty 
 children they sobbed themselves to sleep before him. 
 At his reproachful word the fig-tree withered ; in his 
 hands the loaves were multiplied that the hungry might 
 be fed. He went down to the marriage at Cana : 
 " The conscious water, touched by grace divine, 
 Confessed its Lord and blushed itself to wine." 
 
 Not less absolute was his authority over men. To the 
 fishermen by the lakeside, to the tax-gatherer at the re- 
 ceipt of customs, he said, " Follow me !" and as if moved 
 by some mesmeric or hypnotic influence they straightway 
 
WE BEHELD HIS GLORY. 29 1 
 
 arose and followed him. And multitudes have been 
 doing it ever since. He spoke of the heavenly grace in 
 hearing of the Magdalene, and she, her garments bedrag- 
 gled in vice and her heart filled with unutterable shame, 
 came and wept before him. He spoke to the children, 
 and they came clambering upon his knees ; he spoke to 
 the unclean spirits who had taken possession of the de- 
 moniac, and lo ! he sat at the Lord's feet clothed and in 
 his right mind. He called aloud at the grave's mouth, 
 "Come forth! "and the sheeted dead arose to newness 
 of life. 
 
 In all these visible tokens of the mightiness of Jesus we 
 are impressed with the thought of reserve power. His mira- 
 cles told not so much of what he did as of what he might 
 do. There was the hiding of strength. When they came 
 with lanterns and staves and spears to Gethsemane he 
 said, " Whom seek ye ?" They answered, " Jesus of Naza- 
 reth." And at his words, " I am he !" they went back- 
 ward and fell to the ground. Was this because there was 
 for a moment a breaking forth of his secret power ? Had 
 they touched the live wire of Omnipotence ? In any case, 
 such a manifestation befitted him who made the supreme 
 claim, "All power is given unto me." 
 
 Nevertheless this was not the glory of which John 
 spoke, nor is it the memory of this manifestation of power 
 that gives to Jesus his conspicuous place as the greatest 
 of earth's mighties. 
 
 IV. Was it his extraordinary goodness ? Here in- 
 deed he stood solitary and alone. He was not conscious 
 of sin. No confession of sin ever fell from his lips. Adam 
 hid himself among the trees of the garden because he was 
 ashamed. David cried, " Have mercy upon me, O God, 
 according to thy loving-kindness ; according unto the 
 
292 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgres- 
 sions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and 
 cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my trans- 
 gressions and my sin is ever before me." Isaiah ex- 
 claimed, " Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips !" 
 Paul was overwhelmed with contrition: "Oh wretched 
 man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this 
 death !" But Jesus sent forth this challenge, " Which of 
 you convinceth me of sin?" 
 
 If a single flaw had been found in his life and charac- 
 ter, if the search-light of criticism through these centuries 
 had been able to detect so much even as a suggestion 
 of a single sin or ill-considered word or selfish deed, 
 the whole fabric of the Christian faith would have fallen 
 asunder, for it rests upon the absolute perfectness of 
 the character of this Jesus. But the world unites in 
 the confession made by the centurion who had 
 charge of his crucifixion, " Verily, this was a righteous 
 man." 
 
 Nor was this merely negative goodness. All the posi- 
 tive graces of character were bound together in him. 
 Name any attribute of a noble life, and lo ! he had it in 
 perfection. He was par excellence the Son of man, i. e., 
 the ideal of manhood. His biography was written in 
 eloquent words, " He went about doing good." He 
 showed forth kindness towards all, his friends and his ene- 
 mies, drabs, thieves, lepers, God's poor and the devil's 
 poor — to all alike and impartially. He deserved the 
 tribute which Renan, his infidel biographer, has paid to 
 him : " Whatever may be the surprises of the future, Jesus 
 will never be surpassed. His worship will grow young 
 without ceasing ; his legend will call forth tears without 
 end ; his sufferings will melt the noblest hearts ; all ages 
 
WE BEHELD HIS GLORY. 293 
 
 will proclaim that among the sons of men there is none 
 born greater than Jesus." 
 
 But the glory which the apostle saw in Him and the 
 glory which all believers have seen in Him since the be- 
 ginning of the Christian era was something more than 
 this, something more than adventitious greatness which 
 natural or supernatural powers and grace could confer 
 upon him. 
 
 V. We beheld His glory as of the only-begotten of the 
 Father. He had nothing less than the glory of Godhood. 
 He was the only-begotten of the Father. His glory was 
 like that of the Shechinah, at once the shining forth and 
 the adumbration of deity. He was God manifest in flesh. 
 To attribute to Jesus all the foregoing tokens of greatness 
 while denying him this divineness, this glory as of the 
 only-begotten of the Father, is to fall infinitely short of 
 the truth. 
 
 He claimed to be very God of very God. His claim 
 was verified at his birth by the singing of the angels ; at 
 his baptism by the voice from heaven ; at his transfigura- 
 tion by the enfolding cloud which was again the She- 
 chinah, the excellent glory, and the voice saying, " This is 
 my beloved Son ;" at his death by the shrouding of the 
 heavens and the rocking of the earth ; at his resurrection 
 by the breaking of the bands of death when he took cap- 
 tivity captive ; at his ascension when he arose with up- 
 lifted hands and vanished from sight leaving his benedic- 
 tion upon the world ; at Pentecost when there came a 
 baptism of fire and of power because Jesus had breathed 
 upon his disciples ; and all along history by innumerable 
 miracles of grace, for he still walks up and down our 
 thoroughfares opening blind eyes, wiping away the scales 
 of leprosy, dispossessing those who have been demented 
 
294 "THE MORNING COMETH. 
 
 by unclean spirits, and raising the dead. This is the 
 glory of Jesus of Nazareth, the glory as of the only-be- 
 gotten of the Father. 
 
 VI. But why this shilling forth of glory ? It is surely 
 not for the mere gratification of the curious? At this 
 point we come upon two significant words, grace and 
 truth. This only-begotten of the Father was full of grace 
 and truth. 
 
 His coming to the earth was to show the grace of God 
 to usward. He brought the message, " God so loved the 
 world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever 
 believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting 
 life." As the Shechinah led the children of Israel out of 
 the land of Egypt, out of the house of their bondage, so 
 did this living anti-type of the Shechinah, the only-be- 
 gotten of the Father, come to deliver our ruined race 
 from the bondage of spiritual and eternal death. 
 
 The word truth, here, characterizes our Lord's devo- 
 tion to this work. Aletheia is a large word ; it means 
 more than veracity. It means loyalty to a noble purpose. 
 It means an unswerving devotion to a supreme object of 
 life. So we say of a man, sometimes, he is true as steel, 
 he is true as the needle to the pole. So true was Jesus 
 to his errand of grace. He never forgot it, he never 
 swerved from it. Perhaps he might have chosen an 
 easier path, but in that he would not have been a true 
 man. He set his face steadfastly towards the cross. He 
 never flinched. In the beginning he offered himself to 
 bring a message of amnesty to the world. As he set forth 
 he caught up the hand-writing of ordinances which was 
 against us, the decree, " The soul that sinneth it shall die." 
 It was his purpose to erase that decree with blood and 
 nail it to his cross. For thirty weary years he was ever 
 
WE BEHELD HIS GLORY. 295 
 
 mindful of his mission. With that grim death -sentence 
 in his hand he ran the gauntlet of men and devils. They 
 reviled him and spit upon him — on he ran ; they scourged 
 him, they loaded him with shame and obloquy — on he 
 ran, until he reached the hilltop outside the walls of the 
 Holy City, and there, while they nailed him to the cross, 
 he delivered his message of grace; while his enemies 
 seemed to be nailing him to the accursed tree he was 
 blotting out the handwriting of ordinances which was 
 against us with his own precious blood and nailing it to 
 his cross. (Col. 2 : 14.) 
 
 His work was done, his glory — the glory of the only- 
 begotten of the Father — was perfected in this message of 
 grace. And then the heavens opened. A retinue of 
 angels met him and bore him back to the glory which he 
 had with the Father before the world was. " Lift up 
 your heads, O ye gates," they cried, " and be ye lift up, 
 ye everlasting doors, and let the King of Glory enter in." 
 He was dead, but liveth and is alive for evermore, and 
 ever maketh intercession for us. 
 
 "The head that once was crowned with thorns 
 Is crowned with glory now." 
 
 And meanwhile, here on earth, his name grows brighter 
 with every passing year. The story of his work in our 
 behalf is finding its way to the hearts of the children of 
 men. Wherefore God hath given him the NAME which 
 is above every name : that at the name of Jesus every 
 knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, 
 and things under the earth ; and that every tongue should 
 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God 
 the Father. (Phil. 2 : 10.) 
 
2g6 " THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 JUDAS ISCARIOT; OR THE FLOWER, 
 FRUIT, AND ASHES OF SIN. 
 
 "And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him." Mark 3: 19. 
 
 " Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God 
 cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 
 but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own 
 lust and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bring- 
 eth forth sin. and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." 
 James 1:13-15. 
 
 What 's in a name ? Much every way. An army of 
 lads have been called "John " and " Peter" and "James," 
 but was ever a lad named for Judas Iscariot ? The world 
 abhors the memory of that man. And rightly so. As 
 friendship is the most genial, gratitude the most humane, 
 and loyalty the most heroic of the graces, so is treachery 
 the basest and meanest of crimes. In the three lists of 
 the disciples this Judas is always mentioned with the 
 stigma, " which also betrayed him." He has come down 
 through the centuries bearing that scarlet letter on his 
 breast. 
 
 His biography is the story of the evolution of death. 
 Yet he was once an infant in a fond mother's arms. He 
 played with other boys in the streets of Kerioth and his 
 laughter was as innocent and merry as theirs. He 
 dreamed the dreams and saw the visions which are com- 
 mon to those who stand on the verge of young manhood. 
 Then into that life came the figure of Jesus. The word 
 was spoken, " Follow me." A man whom Jesus thus meets 
 is never quite the same after it. This is the pivotal episode 
 
JUDAS ISCARIOT. 297 
 
 in every life. The issues of eternity are involved in it. 
 This man of Kerioth heeded the voice of Jesus and rose 
 up and followed him. 
 
 We mark from this time onward three stages in the 
 development of evil. They are given by the apostle 
 James in these words, "And lust, when it hath conceived, 
 bringeth forth sin ; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth 
 forth death." There is a tree in the Orient which bears a 
 crimson blossom before putting forth foliage — a flower so 
 deadly that the bees in search of sweetness, dipping into 
 it, fall dead. The fruit of this tree is a gall-apple which 
 at ripeness is filled with a bitter dust. It is appropriately 
 called the Judas tree, and it is an apologue of the self- 
 propagating power of evil — -the blossom, the fruit, and the 
 ashes of it. 
 
 I. The blossom of the Judas tree is lust. The word 
 has an uncanny sound. In Scripture, however, its refer- 
 ence is usually to inordinate desire of any sort. 
 
 (1.) Avarice, or the inordinate desire for money. It is 
 written of Judas that " he bare the bag." There is no 
 reason to say that money of itself is other than good. 
 But the love of it is a root of all evil. 
 
 Bright and yellow, hard and cold, 
 Molten, graven, hammered, and rolled ; 
 Heavy to get and light to hold ; 
 Hoarded, bartered, bought, and sold, 
 Stolen, borrowed, squandered, doled : 
 Spurned by the young, but hugged by the old 
 To the very verge of the church-yard mould ; 
 Price of many a crime untold : 
 Gold! gold! gold! gold! 
 Good or bad a thousand-fold ! 
 How widely its agencies vary, 
 
298 " THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 To save, to ruin, to curse, to bless, 
 As even its minted coins express, 
 Now stamped with the image of good Queen Bess, 
 And now of a Bloody Mary." 
 
 Whether our money — much or little — shall prove a bless- 
 ing- or a curse, depends on our way of regarding and 
 of using it. Money will kindle a fire to warm the blue 
 hands of poverty or to burn up truth, virtue, love, and all 
 the noblest passions of the heart. Money will provide 
 bread for the widow and the fatherless, or glut the soul 
 and body with brutish vices. Money, if rightly used, will 
 make the wildernesses of this world to blossom like the 
 rose ; or, if wrongly used, will scorch the greenest mead- 
 ows and exile their possessors to Azazel for ever. " How 
 widely its agencies vary !" Take heed and beware how 
 you covet it ; take heed and beware how you use it. 
 
 (2.) Sensuality, or the inordinate desire of pleasure. 
 The sensual man is one who lives under the domination 
 of his senses. His noblest pursuit is self-gratification. 
 The end of that man is disappointment and shame. The 
 Greeks had a temple of pleasure which was entered by 
 a magnificent doorway where lights gleamed and min- 
 strels played and sang. From within came sounds of 
 music and of dancing. But at the rear of this temple was 
 a wicket gate opening into a swine-yard. The end of 
 pleasure-seeking is not satisfaction but satiety. The bac- 
 chanal is thrust forth, stripped and despoiled, into shame 
 and contempt. His substance wasted, he sits in the 
 swine-field alone with his shame and poverty. 
 
 (3.) Ambition, or the overweening love of earthly 
 honor. This is the weakness of the noblest minds. No 
 passion is so insatiable ; death only ends it. Do you re- 
 member the dream of Alexander the Great at the door- 
 
JUDAS ISCARIOT. 299 
 
 way of paradise ? There he besought a blessing. The 
 warder gave him a concave disk of bone, an empty eye- 
 socket, saying, "This hath passion infinite, but a little dust 
 will cover it. Control thyself, O king !" He went his 
 way and placed the hollow disk in a scale. Vainly he 
 sought to weigh it down with gold, more gold, and still 
 more gold. He threw in precious stones and jewels, urns 
 and chalices — in vain ! threw in his purple robes, his 
 crown, but still in vain. Then he bethought himself of 
 the word, " a little dust will cover it." A handful of dust 
 was thrown into the scale and the eye-socket went up 
 like a feather. The lesson is that the paths of glory lead 
 but to the grave. All desire of sordid gain ends at the 
 border-line of eternity. A handful of graveyard mould 
 will cover it. 
 
 II. The fruit of the fudas tree is sin. Lust, when it 
 hath conceived, bringeth forth sin. 
 
 The taste of the sacramental wine and bread was on 
 the lips of the man of Kerioth when he went out of the 
 upper chamber and betook himself to the Hall of Caiaphas. 
 There he bargained with the rulers to betray his Lord for 
 thirty pieces of silver. They were eager to receive him. 
 This was the very chance for which they had waited 
 long. 
 
 " When," they asked him, " wilt thou deliver him into 
 our hands?" 
 
 " This very night." 
 
 " And where ?" 
 
 11 He is on his way, at this moment, to the garden of 
 the oil-press, on the slope of Olivet. I know the place 
 well. He is accustomed to resort thither for meditation 
 and prayer. I will lead you." 
 
 They set forth, guards, rabbis, and a mob with swords 
 
300 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 and staves and lanterns. The traitor was in front. He led 
 them at a quick pace down the path to the Kedron and up 
 along the slope of the opposite hill. They entered the gate 
 of the garden. There Judas turned and said, " Whomso- 
 ever I shall kiss, the same is he ; hold him fast." And so 
 they passed on until they came to the grove of the oil- 
 press. In the dim light of the moon they saw him yonder, 
 and Judas, rushing headlong to his ruin, drew near and 
 threw his arms about him. " Hail, Master !" he cried, 
 and kissed him. The word here used is that of a lover 
 and a maid — he kissed him eagerly, again and again. In 
 that kiss his crime reached its consummation. It marked 
 a sin against light, a sin against warning. It was treach- 
 ery, it was lese viajest'e, it was guilt of the deepest, dark- 
 est dye. 
 
 Let us not mistake, however, in thinking of this as an 
 isolated crime. It was indeed a unique opportunity which 
 came to Judas Iscariot thus to betray the innocent Son of 
 God. In that he stands alone, yet all sin has in it the 
 essence of treachery against Christ. So the writer of the 
 Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of certain ones who by 
 persistence in evil-doing " crucify the Lord afresh and 
 put him to an open shame." 
 
 "Alas for me, the guilt is mine 
 Whene'er against thy will benign 
 
 My treacherous heart hath stood ; 
 Mine are the lips that have betrayed, 
 Mine is the debt which must be paid 
 With groans and tears and blood." 
 
 III. The ashes of the Judas tree are death. This is 
 the gall-apple. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth 
 death. The sentence of the traitor is recorded in the 
 words, " It were better for him had he never been born." 
 
JUDAS ISCARIOT. 301 
 
 Once only has that inscription been put upon the tomb of 
 a human being. In other similar cases the veil of the 
 awful future is not lifted. Of this traitor it is said, " He 
 went unto his own place." 
 
 In the brief portion of his life that followed his ultimate 
 resolution to betray Jesus we catch three glimpses of his 
 face : o?ice when he hurried from the upper chamber " and 
 it was night." In the Wiertz gallery at Brussels there is 
 a picture of this man wandering about on that dreadful 
 night. He has come upon a group of workmen who, 
 wearied by their labors, have fallen asleep. The light of 
 the moon falls upon their quiet faces. The features of 
 Judas are distorted with evil passion. He catches sight 
 of the cross lying on the ground, the carpenters' tools 
 beside them. He clutches his money-bag and hurries on. 
 
 Again, at the doorway to the Hall Gazith where the 
 rabbis are in session. He may not enter. He pauses at 
 the doorway for a moment, his face haggard and con- 
 vulsed with an unspeakable despair. With the cry, " I 
 have betrayed innocent blood !" he hurls the thirty pieces 
 of silver down upon the marble floor. His heart and 
 conscience are on fire. He hurries out again into the 
 night. 
 
 Once more, at the field Aceldama; the body of the 
 traitor hangs from the bough of a tree over the deep abyss 
 of Hinnom. We may not linger for a moment here. Sin, 
 when it is finished, bringing forth death. The owls in the 
 clefts are hooting, " Fool, fool, that he did not know it !" 
 The weird winds are moaning through the boughs, " O 
 fool, not to have known that the wages of sin is death !" 
 
 Two words, by way of application. One is a word of 
 warning. Let him who would avoid the mortal sin take 
 heed and beware of the beginnings of it. When Pompey 
 
302 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 could not prevail upon a certain city to billet his army he 
 besought the people to let in a poor maimed soldier for 
 the night. That night the maimed soldier opened the 
 gates and admitted the army. An illicit desire has in it 
 the promise and potency of mortal sin. 
 
 The other word is one of glorious hope and promise. 
 We have reason to believe that if Judas Iscariot, at any 
 moment before his death, had sought God's mercy he 
 would have found it. 
 
 11 Betwixt the saddle and the ground 
 Mercy sought is mercy found." 
 
 Not even the sin of Judas was beyond pardon. God is a 
 great Forgiver, willing to forgive unto the uttermost all 
 who come unto him. In this life it is never too late to 
 mend. As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in 
 the death of the wicked, but that all should turn and live. 
 Turn ye ! turn ye ! for why will ye die ? 
 
 If mere sorrow for ill- doing could give assurance of 
 absolution, we might believe that even Judas had it. But 
 his regret appears to have been for the consequences of 
 his guilt and not for his guilt itself as an offence against a 
 holy God. The sin of Peter in denying Jesus was in many 
 points akin with that of the wretched traitor. He also 
 was overwhelmed with remorse, insomuch that he went 
 out and wept bitterly. But his tears were mingled with 
 faith. He so believed in the pardoning grace of Jesus that 
 he could not be driven to despair. He sought the pres- 
 ence of his Lord and cried in deepest contrition, " Thou 
 knowest that I love thee !" The old monk Staupitz said 
 to Luther, overwhelmed with shame, " The true repent- 
 ance is that which drives the soul to God." 
 
 No matter, friend, how heavy the burden of guilt that 
 
JUDAS ISCARIOT. 303 
 
 weighs upon thee, God is a great Forgiver. " Come 
 now," he saith, "and let us reason together; though your 
 sins be as scarlet, they shall be whiter than snow ; though 
 they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." He 
 waits to be gracious. He waits to see thee sobbing at his 
 feet that he may speak the word of pardon, " Son ! daugh- 
 ter ! thy sins be forgiven thee !" 
 
304 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 ARAB'S HARNESS. 
 
 " And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the King of 
 Israel between the joints of the harness ; wherefore he said 
 unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me 
 out of the host ; for I am wounded." i Kings 22:34. 
 
 There is something good in every man. It is written 
 of Ahab, the son of Omri, that " he did evil in the sight of 
 the Lord above all that were before him." And yet he 
 was a splendid man in many ways — not without noble im- 
 pulses, bold to the verge of desperation, and enterprising 
 in matters pertaining to the public prosperity. It is not 
 surprising that despite his conspicuous weaknesses and 
 the divine chastisement upon them, the kingdom flourished 
 under his administration. He had one fault which was 
 the bitter fountain of all his woes, namely, he had no reli- 
 gion. There were splendid possibilities of influence and 
 usefulness in this man which were never realized be- 
 cause of his lack of moral conviction. So when he took 
 to wife Jezebel, the daughter of Eth-Baal, and when she 
 proposed to introduce the worship of her pagan gods, he 
 did not oppose her wishes. The new Court Establishment 
 was introduced with great pomp and circumstance. The 
 king was quite willing to farm out all religious matters to 
 his wife, who was ever his evil genius. 
 
 When the Syrian king challenged him to conflict at 
 Ramoth-Gilead he gave no thought to the God of Israel, 
 but, buckling on his harness, set forth. But for the flaws 
 in his armor all might have gone well. In vain did the 
 Syrians search the ranks of Israel for the commanding 
 
AIIAB'S HARNESS. 305 
 
 figure of the king. But alas, an arrow shot at a venture 
 found him. " Carry me out of the battle," he cried, " for 
 I am wounded !" The shaft was withdrawn, but the harm 
 was done. He died at the going down of the sun. 
 
 We observe in Ahab a type of character. There are 
 men of generous native endowment and liberal culture, 
 of magnanimous impulse and high ambition, who but 
 for their lack of religion would make a glorious success 
 of life. Their reliance is upon their high sense of honor. 
 They run well so long as there is nothing to hinder them. 
 They are beloved by their friends and respected by all 
 who know them. 
 
 We are at this time passing through a period of finan- 
 cial depression. There is trouble in Wall Street, and Wall 
 Street, the palpitating heart of American financial life, 
 makes its trouble felt in every city in the land. Banks are 
 closing, great corporations are going down under sudden 
 stress. The loss of wealth is not so deplorable, were it not 
 attended by so immense a loss of character. We hear on 
 every hand of thefts, embezzlements and doubtful trans- 
 actions, and of trusts betrayed. Men who have mingled 
 in the busy throng for half a century, with never a stain 
 upon their reputation, are hiding themselves for shame. 
 As their troubles multiplied upon them they were unable 
 to resist temptation to evil. One stroke of the pen, per- 
 haps, might save them. It was done. The arrow thus 
 found the joint in their harness. Scores of men, hitherto 
 panoplied in pride of honor, are worse than dead at the 
 going down of the sun. 
 
 It is a serious thing to live, for life is conflict. It is 
 
 well that we should understand this. We wrestle not 
 
 against flesh and blood, but against principalities and 
 
 powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, 
 
 20 
 
306 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 against wickedness in high places. The world, the 
 flesh, and the devil are arrayed against us — the busy, 
 sordid world, hurrying us away from the consideration 
 of eternal things ; the flesh, ourselves, our own baser na- 
 tures ; and the devil, a personal deceiver, against whom 
 there is no resistance possible save in the power of the 
 living God. It is then a grievous mistake to suppose that 
 we can get on without religion. No man can safely lean 
 upon his own strength. The sense of manly honor is but 
 a feeble reed which breaks under the weight of trial and 
 sorrow and pierces through the hand. The armor of the 
 unreligious man is sure to fail him. 
 
 I. There is a flaw in the breast-plate ; the breast-plate 
 covers the heart, and the heart is the centre of life. At 
 this point religion is a sure defence. It sets the heart right 
 by cleansing it of sin, and it covers it as with an impen- 
 etrable mail. No arrow can enter there. 
 
 II. There is defect in the helmet ; the helmet covers 
 the brain, the seat of the mind. The mind sympathizes 
 with the heart. Affections and beliefs go together. The 
 natural man receiveth not the things of God, neither can 
 he, for spiritual things are spiritually discerned. 
 
 Philosophy is aptly defined as a knowledge of the just 
 relations of things. The natural man has no true concep- 
 tion of his relation to God. He magnifies himself and 
 minimizes Jehovah. His eyes are high and his eyelids 
 lifted up. If he could catch but a glimpse of God he 
 would cry like Isaiah of old, " Woe is me, for I am a man 
 of unclean lips and mine eyes have seen the King !" 
 
 The natural man knows not the relative importance of 
 character and reputation. He puts the emphasis on the 
 outward moralities. " What more is required," he says, 
 " than to be true and honest and pay one's debts, obey 
 
ARAB'S HARNESS. 307 
 
 the law, and deal fairly with one's fellow-men ?" This is 
 morality as the world reckons it — the morality which makes 
 reputation. But back of reputation, deep grounded in 
 a spiritual conception of spiritual truth, lies character. 
 The watchword of true manhood is, " To be, not seem 
 to be." 
 
 The natural man discerns not the just ratio of time to 
 eternity. He lives in the small circle of this present life. 
 But if we are immortal, then time is only as the flight of 
 the eagle overhead, while eternity stretches out like the 
 boundless sea. Life here is a handbreadth ; life yonder 
 is endless as the lifetime of God. This and kindred truths 
 lie beyond the ken of the unreligious. They receive them 
 not, neither indeed can they, for their minds are not illu- 
 mined by the Spirit, and the chance arrow enters the 
 weak helmet. 
 
 III. An open visor. The visor covers the eyes. As 
 the eyes are to the natural body, directing one's steps, so 
 is conscience to the soul. But conscience again sympa- 
 thizes with heart and mind. If the affections are wrong, 
 if there is no right understanding of moral truth, then the 
 conscience is also untrustworthy. The man who puts his 
 confidence in himself alone is ever in danger, like the 
 sophists, of " making the worse appear the better reason." 
 The force of moral distinctions is disturbed by considera- 
 tions of self-interest. The highest aphorism of this man 
 is, " Honesty is the best policy," which makes policy or 
 self-interest the supreme thing. 
 
 It is saddening to observe how many of our most 
 reputable men are wont to take refuge in evil-doing under 
 the shield of great corporations. It is true that corpora- 
 tions are soulless, but their affairs are administered by 
 men of immortal souls. And were it not for a melancholy 
 
308 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 default of conscience, the stockholders of our great trusts 
 and monopolies must perforce regard themselves as re- 
 sponsible for their ill-doing. Be not partakers of other 
 men's sins. 
 
 A similar token of the untrustworthiness of a personal 
 sense of honor in matters pertaining to conscience may- 
 be seen in the present conduct of the press. Its editors, as 
 a rule, are respectable men, yet taking advantage of their 
 impersonal position, they often array themselves against 
 measures directed at the purification of political and social 
 life. In their individual affairs they would recoil from the 
 violation of a law or the breach of a contract, and yet, with 
 scarcely an exception, they uphold the Directorate of the 
 Columbian Fair who have been guilty just there. It ap- 
 pears that the conscience of the man who sets religion 
 aside is not to be trusted in the thick of conflict. The 
 chance arrow enters at his eyes. 
 
 IV. A loose girdle. In the olden time, at the sound of 
 the tocsin, the order was given to tighten the girdle, and 
 so strengthen the loins. This girdle corresponds with the 
 will. But the will sympathizes with heart and brain and 
 conscience. The natural man is wont to trust to his 
 resolution ; yet how often it occurs that when most needed, 
 resolution fails. 
 
 The most suggestive proof of the weakness of the hu- 
 man will" is in the so-called Keely Cure for inebriety. We 
 were accustomed to say to the inebriate, " If you would 
 conquer your habit, lay hold on God ;" and we were an- 
 swered, " I can do this thing myself; all depends upon 
 the power of resolution. Where there is a will there is a 
 way." Now, however, on all hands there is an appeal to 
 something beyond the province of the will. 
 
 It must needs be that a man who has fallen under the 
 
ARAB'S HARNESS. 309 
 
 domination of a habit shall have help from without, for 
 the conflict is one of self against self. We go out against 
 our darling sins. A soldier who had fought valiantly in 
 many battles met one day at close quarters an enemy 
 the sight of whose face paralyzed his arm. It was his 
 own brother. He could not fire at him ! But how much 
 more difficult it is for a man to contend against himself! 
 We need the strengthening of the Mighty One. O God 
 hold thou me up ! 
 
 V. No shield. The shield covered the whole person 
 from head to foot. The shield of the believer is faith. 
 Here is the secret of his defence : he believes in God as 
 his Creator, who breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
 life ; he believes in God as his Preserver, caring for him 
 as He cares for the flowers of the field and the birds of 
 the air ; he believes in God as his Saviour, who came to 
 suffer and to die for his deliverance from sin ; he believes in 
 God as his Sanctifier, who stands ever near strengthening, 
 emboldening, and building him up in character by giving 
 him a practical acquaintance with truth and righteous- 
 ness ; he believes in God as his Sovereign, competent to 
 rule over and able to protect him. We are told that 
 there is an epidemic of suicide at this time. If the soul is 
 without the defence of faith, if it has no strong confidence 
 in God and truth and morality, what shall hinder the 
 reckless deed — 
 
 " Mad from life's history, 
 Glad to death's mystery 
 Swift to be hurled — 
 Anywhere, anywhere, out of the world!" 
 
 VI. No sword. The sword of the Spirit is the Word 
 of God. He is an unarmed man who trusts to mere 
 
310 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 opinion and conjecture. Our effective weapon is a 
 " Thus saith the Lord." Our Saviour when tempted in 
 the wilderness thus defended himself. " Cause that these 
 stones shall be made bread," said his adversary. " No," 
 he answered, " it is written, Man shall not live by bread 
 alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth 
 of God." "Behold the kingdoms," said the tempter; 
 " all these shall be thine if thou wilt but fall down and 
 worship me." " No," said Jesus, " it is written, Thou shalt 
 worship the Lord thy God." "Cast thyself down," said 
 the Evil One, " for he shall give his angels charge over 
 thee." " No," answered our Saviour, " tt is written, Thou 
 shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." The sword of the 
 Spirit which was flashed so effectively in the wilderness 
 that day is an effective weapon to-day for every one who 
 will use it. 
 
 Thus it is seen that the panoply of the natural man 
 who is without religion is defective at every point. It 
 may indeed serve him for a season, but it fails at the crit- 
 ical moment. Has this been your dependence, good 
 friend ? And have you found it vain ? What shall be 
 done ? Come to the Lord's citadel and prepare yourself 
 for life's conflict. " Take unto you the whole armor of 
 God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and 
 having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, having your 
 loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate 
 of righteousness, and your feet shod with the prepara- 
 tion of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield 
 of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery 
 darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, 
 and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." 
 Eph. 6: 13-17. 
 
 And then watch and pray ! The need of watchfulness 
 
AHAB'S HARNESS. 3 I I 
 
 lies in the fact that we are not yet fully free from the 
 bondage of our sin. If we have trusted in Jesus, our pan- 
 oply cannot be pierced, the gates of hell shall not prevail 
 against us ; but it may be dented and we may be hard be- 
 stead. Watch, therefore, lest ye be brought into shame 
 and sorrow by reason of sin. 
 
 And pray, pray without ceasing. 
 
 " Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
 The Christian's native air, 
 His watchword at the gates of death : 
 He enters heaven by prayer." 
 
 So panoplied and armed, fight the good fight of faith, 
 lay hold on eternal life, and God's grace be with you ! 
 
312 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD. 
 
 " Judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What could have 
 been done more to my vineyard that I have not done in it?" 
 Isa. 5:3. 
 
 The reign of Uzziah was marked by peace and pros- 
 perity. His name means the "strength of Jehovah," and 
 surely God helped him. The wild Arab tribes were sub- 
 dued, the Amorites were forced to pay tribute, the fort- 
 resses of the Philistines were brought low, the internal 
 resources of the kingdom were developed on every side, 
 towers were built on the frontiers of the desert, wells were 
 digged in the Jordan valley, fields were planted on the 
 sunny slopes of Carmel. Thus it is written, " The king 
 strengthened himself exceedingly." The dews and rains 
 of heaven were not withheld, harvests were plenteous, 
 garners were full. But prosperity brought on spiritual 
 pride ; true worship declined ; the people, while keeping 
 up outward forms of devotion, forsook the Lord. 
 
 Then Isaiah came to admonish them. He stood be- 
 tween the pillars of the temple and cried, " Hear, O 
 heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord hath spo- 
 ken : I have nourished and brought up children, and they 
 have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, 
 and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel doth not know, 
 my people doth not consider." Isa. 1 : 2, 3. 
 
 Still the formal services of the sanctuary went on ; the 
 brazen altar smoked continually and the golden altar sent 
 up an unceasing tribute of gratitude. It was the mere 
 outward shell of worship, with which God is never pleased. 
 
THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD. 313 
 
 Again Isaiah lifted his voice in the temple porch : " To 
 what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me ? 
 saith the Lord ; I am full of the burnt-ofTerings of rams, 
 and the fat of fed beasts. When ye come to appear 
 before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread 
 my courts ? Bring no more vain oblations ; incense is 
 an abomination unto me ; the new moons and sabbaths, 
 the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. I am weary 
 to bear them. When ye spread forth your hands I will 
 hide mine eyes from you : yea, when ye make many 
 prayers I will not hear; your hands are full of blood. 
 Wash you, make you clean ; put away the evil of your 
 doings from before mine eyes ; cease to do evil, learn to 
 do well." Isa. 1 : n-17. 
 
 All else failing, the Lord resorted to chastisement, blow 
 upon blow : the visitation of locusts, the drought, the 
 earthquake, in which the valleys were cleft asunder and 
 the mountains were melted as in a furnace. Again the 
 prophet lifted up his voice : " Why should ye be stricken 
 any more? The whole head is sick and the whole heart 
 faint. Your country is desolate, your cities burned with 
 fire, and the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vine- 
 yard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. Come now, 
 and let us reason together, saith the Lord : though your 
 sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though 
 they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be 
 willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. 
 The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
 
 It was on one of these frequent occasions ot admoni- 
 tion that the song of the vineyard was uttered. It is a 
 poem of wonderful beauty. " I will sing a song of my 
 beloved touching his vineyard. My beloved hath a 
 vineyard in a very fruitful hill : and he fenced it and gath- 
 
314 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 ered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choi- 
 cest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also 
 made a winepress therein ; and he looked that it should 
 bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 
 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, 
 judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. What 
 could have been done more to my vineyard that I have 
 not done in it ? wherefore, when I looked that it should 
 bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes ? And 
 now go to ; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard : 
 I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten 
 up ; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trod- 
 den down ; and I will lay it waste ; it shall not be pruned 
 nor digged ; but there shall come up thorns and briars ; I 
 will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon 
 it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of 
 Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant ; and he 
 looked for judgment, but behold oppression ; for right- 
 eousness, but behold a cry." Isa. 5 : 1-7. 
 
 Here is God's vindication of himself in his dealings 
 with the children of men. He means them well ; he 
 would have them to be saved. "As I live, saith the 
 Lord," swearing by himself because he could swear by no 
 greater, " I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, 
 but that he should turn from his ways and live." " Turn 
 ye, turn ye, for why will ye die ?" In these overtures of 
 mercy he is no respecter of persons. All have a fair 
 chance, nothing is exacted which is not reasonable. His 
 voice calls, his hands beckon ; if anybody is lost it will not 
 be God's fault. Here is his appeal: "Judge ye betwixt 
 me and my vineyard — what more could have been done 
 that I have not done in it?" 
 
 It is here suggested that God has exhausted his re- 
 
THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD. 3 1 5 
 
 sources, so to speak, in our behalf. Let us observe in 
 three particulars what God has done to bring the human 
 race up to a realization of its high destiny. 
 
 I. The planti?ig of the tree. Man, as originally 
 created, was in a state of moral equilibrium. He was 
 innocent, but without that form of positive character which 
 is the result of exercise. If he is to possess this he must 
 strive for it. Fixed character is the outcome of trial. 
 The tree in the garden was designed to be the touch- 
 stone of Adam's character. " In the day that thou 
 eatest thereof," he was admonished, " thou shalt surely 
 die." He is there to obey or not. This is in the ne- 
 cessity of the case. It is inconceivable that God could 
 have created man in his own likeness without endowing 
 him with a sovereign will — but that implies the liberty to 
 break the command as well as to keep it. If the man 
 obeys he will be confirmed in character and fit for his 
 high destiny as an heir of God. Yonder is the tree. 
 Here is Adam with his free will. He has the opportunity, 
 literally, of making a man of himself. As Edward III. 
 said to the Black Prince, when hard pressed at the 
 battle of Cressy, " Son, win thy spurs to-day," so God 
 gives to Adam this opportunity. But he lost it. 
 
 Was there anything unfair or unreasonable in this 
 trial ? Was the ordeal beyond the power of this man ? 
 No, the garden was full of trees laden with fruit. There 
 was only one tree there of which it was said, " Thou shalt 
 not eat of it." The disobedience of Adam must be re- 
 garded as an utterly perverse and quite unreasonable 
 thing. In spite of God's command and distinct admoni- 
 tion, he disobeyed and fell. And the results of that fall 
 have been transmitted to his children for evermore. How 
 could it be otherwise ? Heredity is an established fact. 
 
316 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 Whether we like it or not, it is a tremendous fact. The 
 drunkard's son suffers for his father's folly. He bears the 
 shame, the poverty of it. He inherits the vicious appe- 
 tite, the dimmed intellect, the seared conscience, the pal- 
 sied will. Is this unjust ? Whether unjust or not, it is 
 an indubitable fact. It is under this law of heredity that 
 we have come by " original sin." We were there when 
 Adam sinned, we were ipso facto in the garden, and could 
 not but receive the taint of our father's guilt. In Adam's 
 fall we sinned all. 
 
 Thus the tree which was designed for the confirmation 
 of man's character must, from our standpoint, be regarded 
 as a failure. What shall be done now ? Will God give 
 Adam up ? will he leave him and his children to their 
 fate ? In all reason, yes ! They deserved it. But he is 
 a gracious God, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. 
 He will save this man and his children yet. The world 
 made for his glory shall ultimately be inhabited by a holy 
 people. 
 
 II. The giving of the law. This is the covenant of 
 works. The moral law was given for the uplifting of the 
 race. It was a gratuity. We are accustomed to make 
 grace the antithesis of law. In fact, however, the law 
 itself is free grace. It was of God's good pleasure that he 
 said, " Do these things and ye shall live by them." 
 
 Observe, (i.) The law has in it a genuiyie possibility 
 of life. The word tor ah, its Hebrew original, means a 
 finger, an index ringer pointing to heaven. 
 
 Observe, (2.) It is naturally possible to keep the law. 
 Otherwise it would have been a mockery to give it. This 
 is capable of demonstration. You can lay your finger on 
 no sin in all your past life and say, " I could not avoid it." 
 Sin is net sin unless it is voluntary, that is to say, avoid- 
 
THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD. 3 17 
 
 able. Every act of impurity, untruthfulness, dishonesty, 
 impiety that ever was committed was wrought in pure 
 perverseness, and the whole indictment of our lives is 
 made up of single sins. It follows, therefore, that we 
 might have kept the law. 
 
 Observe, (3.) The law has power to save only when it 
 is kept to the letter. " Cursed be he that confirmeth not 
 all the words of this law to do them." Yet again, " Who- 
 soever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one 
 point, he is guilty of all." The strength of an anchor- 
 chain is measured by the strength of its weakest link. 
 Break that, and the ship is at the mercy of the storm. 
 Obedience is the electric wire that binds earth to heaven. 
 Cut out a single inch and the circuit is broken, the soul is 
 alienated from God. 
 
 Observe, (4.) So far as we are aware the law was 
 never kept by any man. You never kept it ; you never 
 heard of any one that kept it. God himself says that he 
 looked down from heaven to see if there was any that 
 wrought righteousness, and " Behold there is none that 
 doeth good, no, not one." Paul says we are all " conclu- 
 ded under sin, there is no difference ; we have all sinned 
 and come short of the glory of God." 
 
 It would appear, therefore, that the law also, as de- 
 signed to bring men into the possession of positive char- 
 acter, was a failure. Its value lies not in its saving power, 
 but in the fact that it serves as a schoolmaster to lead the 
 soul to something further on. We are accustomed to re- 
 gard Moses, and rightly so, as the personation of the law. 
 He did not enter into the Land of Promise. Up at the 
 summit of Nebo he looked abroad upon it, the broad acres 
 clothed with verdure, bathed in Oriental sunshine — but he 
 could not enter in. The man who lives under the law 
 
3.i8 
 
 will never be saved by it. He may, like the young ruler 
 whom Jesus loved, be not far from the kingdom, but by 
 reason of imperfect obedience he cannot enter in. 
 
 III. The rearing of the cross. This is the covenant 
 of grace. " For what the law could not do in that it was 
 weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the 
 likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the 
 flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled 
 in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit." 
 (Rom. 8 : 3, 4.) He sent his only-begotten Son to make 
 overtures for our deliverance, saying, " God so loved the 
 world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoso- 
 ever believeth in him should not perish, but have ever- 
 lasting life." Two necessary things are wrought under this 
 covenant of grace which must otherwise remain undone: 
 
 (1.) Forgiveness. The mislived past is erased and 
 forgiven. This is impossible under the law. The law 
 knows no pardon, but the bleeding hand of Jesus nails to 
 the cross the handwriting of ordinances which was 
 against us and takes it out of the way. He satisfies the 
 law by expiating our sins and thus solves the problem, 
 how God could be just and yet justify the ungodly. 
 The cross is the wine-press set in the midst of the vine- 
 yard. Out of heaven came the only-begotten Son of the 
 Father to tread the winepress alone. The wine that 
 flowed forth was for our deliverance — the blood of Jesus 
 Christ cleanseth from all sin — and without the shedding 
 of blood there is no remission of sin. 
 
 (2.) Justification. We need not pardon only, but a 
 positive righteousness which shall entitle us to an abun- 
 dant entrance into the kingdom of God. 
 
 But this we cannot win for ourselves, it is bestowed 
 upon us by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. The 
 
THE SONG OF THE VINEYARD. 319 
 
 same pierced hand that nailed our indictment to the ac- 
 cursed tree casts about us the garment of the Lord's 
 righteousness, fine linen, white and clean. Thus our 
 justification is completed. The watch-tower is built in 
 the midst of the vineyard and God himself keeps guard. 
 " No man shall pluck them out of my hand," he says ; 
 " the gates of hell shall not prevail against them." " What 
 shall we say then to these things ? If God is for us, who 
 is against us? He that spared not his own Son, but 
 delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with 
 him freely give us all things ? Who shall lay anything 
 to the charge of God's elect ? It is God that justifieth ; 
 who is he that shall condemn ? It is Christ Jesus that 
 died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at 
 the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for 
 us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ ? shall 
 tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or na- 
 kedness, or peril, or sword ? Even as it is written, For 
 thy sake we are killed all the day long; we were ac- 
 counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these 
 things we are more than conquerors through him that 
 loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor 
 life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things 
 present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor 
 any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the 
 love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." 
 
 As Moses stands for the personation of the law, so 
 Joshua stands for the living type of grace. What Moses 
 could not do, Joshua did ; he entered into the Promised 
 Land and led the people with him dry shod, passing be- 
 tween the crystal walls of the river ; and they took posses- 
 sion of the land. 
 
 The challenge of the Lord is therefore submitted to 
 
320 "THE MORNING COMETH." 
 
 you as reasonable men, " What more could have been 
 done to my vineyard that I have not done in it ?" The 
 sequence of that question is another — " How shall we es- 
 cape if we neglect so great salvation ?" "And when the 
 king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which 
 had not on a wedding-garment ; and he said unto him, 
 Friend, how earnest thou in hither not having a wedding- 
 garment?" And he was speechless. " Was it not offered 
 thee at the door? was it not offered for naught?" And 
 the man could answer not a word. So shall they be at 
 the great Reckoning who have lived in gospel light and 
 yet rejected all the overtures of grace. They will answer 
 not a word. How can they ? There will be nothing to 
 say. 
 
Date Due 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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