THE GOLDEN POT BAIN LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THE GOLDEN POT. BY THE Ay* Rev. JOHN Wf BAIN, Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, ALTOONA, Pa. Zbc floIDen pot tbat bao manna,' Hebrews ix: 4. PHILADELPHIA : JOHN MCGILL WHITE & CO., 1328 Chestnut Street. (THE LI»*AiT jo? C ONG* ***) WASHIWOTOIT -%£«* 17158 J* Copyright, 1898, BY JOHN McGILL WHITE & CO. , This book is, at least in one respect, like ' ' the golden pot ' ' after which it is named. The possession of that entire vessel, however valuable its material, would enrich no one, but to appro- priate its contents would enrich any soul beyond compare. So to buy this book will impoverish no one, nor its possession, a mere book, however acceptable the material and work, will enrich no one, but to appropriate and use its contents, I believe will enrich the soul. For this reason it is issued to readers. The Author. CONTENTS. PAGE 1. The Golden Pot That Had Manna, Hebrews ix: 4, 9 2. Christ Coming Over the Mountains, Song of Solomon ii: 8, . . 24 3. Peter's Peril, Matthew xiv: 30, 38 4. Justice and Salvation, Isaiah xlv: 21, 57 5. Moral Distance; or, Border-Land Loyalty, Exodus viii: 28, . . 73 6. Sin a Blood-Hound, Numbers xxxii: 23; Proverbs xiii: 21, . . 90 7. Shall the Bible be Expelled from the School-House? Matthew xxvii: 23, 106 8. X-Rays of the Bible, Hebrews iv: 12, 145 9. Strength and Responsibilities of Young Men, 1 John ii: 14; . 153 10. The Preacher's Theme, Acts v: 42, 172 11. Our Kinf, Isaiah xxxiii: 22, 187 12. Beautiful Situation of the Church, Psalm xlviii: 2, 200 13. Success in Life, John xii: 26, 214 14. The Great Carpenter, Mark vi: 3, 235 15. Proof of Manhood, I Kings ii: 2, 246 16. Thanksgiving, Psalm cxviii: 29, . . " ■ 262 17. A Young Man's Strength, Proverbs xx: 29, 273 18. The Devil's Plea, Luke iv: 34, 284 I I. "The Golden Pot That Had Manna." "The golden pot that had manna" Hebrews ix: 4. In Exodus Moses does not tell us of what materia? this pot was made, but Paul here — directed by the Holy Spirit — tells us it was golden — bright, durable, precious gold. The Spirit surely had a reason for giving us this fact. The value of the material only implies that the contents are more precious and price- less. Suppose you were shown a casket of curious, elegant, elaborate workmanship, embellished with all manner of precious stones, dazzling bright with the purest diamonds: you might admire its workmanship, costliness, ornaments and beauty, but would you not have an intense desire to see its contents? Such a casket must surely contain something surpassing the great Kohinoor, the mountain of light, for the con- tents are always supposed to be more precious than the vessel. So it is here. What did the pot contain? Manna: What! Nothing but manna? That which became loathed by the Israelites as stale, dry bread? Yes, only manna. P>ut a thing is not less precious because some undervalued it. Some esteem the purest Gospel ministry as stale bread; this does not make it less precious. So with this manna. Let us notice a few things concerning it. First. God provided it. No mortal, no human wisdom, ever yet discovered what it was, how provided or prepared. Second. In love God gave it to sustain the lives of the Israelites in their desert journey. And could they 10 THE GOLDEN POT. have washed gold in abundance from the mountain gorges around them, or gathered purest, brightest diamonds along the shores of the Red Sea, yet when they were starving they would not have exchanged this manna for them all; therefore it was the most precious thing to them. Third. God provided it in abundance, superabundance for them all, and rained it all around them as long as they needed it. But what did it typify? You remember our Lord said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This represented something better than mere bread; it represented that upon which the soul could feed. Our Saviour tells us it represented the bread of heaven, the bread of life. It typified Jesus, and the infinite, sovereign mercy, love and grace which God provided in Him, that men might live upon it; that sinful men might live upon it through all the journey of earth, then live forever upon it. Then we need it, quite as much as the Jews needed the manna of their day; nay, more do we need what it typified, and must perish without it — then it must be most precious. Has God prepared any manna for us? As Aaron laid this up in a golden pot, has God in any golden vessel prepared and laid up manna for us? Yes, praise be to His name. Thanks for His grace and providing love, He has laid up provision for us for time and for eternity. To-day we propose simply to notice where or in what vessels God has laid up our manna. First. The Word of God, the Bible, is a golden pot that has manna. This distinguishes it from every other book on earth, makes it precious above all others. As a mere vessel, its material is golden. It contains history golden for its value, being the most THE GOLDEN POT. II ancient and authentic. With the panoramic vivid- ness of an eye-witness, it gives us a record of what none but a divine or inspired mind ever saw; it takes us back to the "beginning," when "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy;" when light broke forth from the presence of God upon creation, when the sun was kindled in heaven, and the moon was appointed her place; when the firmament was spread out as a curtain, and the world was founded upon the deep; when the earth was formed and beautified to be inhabited, man was created upon it, and Time began its course. It tells us of the fall, and the cause of that fearful wreck , and ruin, and fall so terrible it shook earth to its center, and the crash sounded through all the universe of God. But it has also golden prophecies that, like "the rosy fingers of dawn," point to a full noon-tide day of recovery, and point on to the golden consum- mation in the golden streets of the New Jerusalem. It has in it golden biographies. Besides that of the Son of God, it has biographies of the most illustrious personages of earth, whose lives of faith, and fidelity, and hope, and purity, and joy, and strength, are a priceless legacy to mankind. It contains a golden law. civil, sanitary, judicial, moral, spiritual and eternal — a law "holy, just and good," the foundation of all wise earthly legislation, an infallible guide in every relation, duty and position of life. It has a golden narrative of events the most marvellous and important, and stories exceeding the imagination of romance or the fascinations of any fancy sketch. It has a golden philosophy of life, and arguments in de- fence of truth, justice and purity, surpassing all mere human logic and reasoning, in value. It has golden 12 THE GOLDEN POT. songs of praise worthy of an angel's tongue or the harps of the redeemed. It has a golden poetry and eloquence running through it from beginning to end. In the first mere fiat of light, in Judah's speech for Benjamin, in the lyrics of King David, the seraphic prophecies of Isaiah, the mystical grandeur of Ezekiel,. the graphic, creative Joel, the lofty argument of Paul, the tenderness of John, and the dazzling glory of heaven opened in Revelation, there is poetry unrivaled or unequaled in any other book or language among men. It has golden parables, unique, rich in truth, and of surpassing beauty. It has a golden rule of world-wide application, just and perfect as the mea- suring rule of the upper temple. But all this, unparal- leled history, perfect legislation, true sublimity, ex- quisite beauty, pure morality, finest poetry and eloquence of the book, is but the precious material of the golden vessel. Its highest excellence, its price- less value, is that it has manna in it. Food God pre- pared, sent from heaven, food to feed the soul; the guilty, needy, starving soul. Aaron could make the golden vessel, but God alone could provide and pre- pare the manna it contained. Human wisdom and learning might provide a book of literary excellence, of history, law, philosophy, morality, poetry, eloquence and song, and call it a golden legend; but all human wisdom and learning could not put the manna into it the Bible contains, food for the life of the soul. Why? Because all human wisdom and learning could not tell who or what God is; they could not find out the Almighty, nor the perfections of the Holy One. They knew not His name nor His Son's name. They could not discover His unity, spirituality, holiness, justice, or grace; could not tell that "He is a Spirit, infinite, THE GOLDEN POT. 1 3 eternal, and unchangeable in being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, and truth." The world by wisdom knew not God, and for want of this knowledge the race was suffering and perishing from off the earth, and must forever perish. They could not tell that He had a Son, an only and well-beloved Son; much less tell that this Son would assume human nature, ''the likeness of sinful flesh," to suffer and die in His love for men. They could not tell with assured ■certainty man's origin, nor sinful man's perishing need, nor could they answer this question, "When he gives up the spirit, where is he?" They could not tell how sin could be pardoned, the guilty justified, purified and crowned with eternal life and glory, yet sin condemned, truth confirmed, law magnified, jus- tice satisfied, and God glorified. They could not find a channel through which free, rich, sovereign mercy and grace could flow out upon a rebellious, ruined world. The Bible alone could tell us of God's un- speakable gift, that He "so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," sent Him into the world a suitable, sufficient Saviour of sinners; that in Him God provided a divine righteousness for men, pardon for the guilty and cleansing for the unclean. That there is life in Him for the condemned, mercy for the most sinful, hope for the most hopeless, love for the most unworthy, and grace so rich it can purify the polluted soul, put peace into the conscience, joy into the heart, and a crown of eternal life and glory upon the brow of the risen — all this the gift of God's love through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Bible alone could tell. This is the manna God put Into His book, this golden urn, to feed the life of the soul in its wilderness journey; angel's food, heavenly 14 THE GOLDEN POT. bread. This is that part of the Bible man could have no share in making, no more than the Israelites had in making their manna. This is not discovered but revealed truth; no wisdom of man could ever find it out, no power of imagination could ever conceive of such love and mercy, or dream of such a way of life and happiness for the guilty and miserable of earth. Aaron only laid this up that their children might see the food that fed their fathers, but God, in His love, put the manna of His grace and truth, which came by Jesus Christ, into the imperishable golden urn of the Scriptures, not only that we might see the heavenly food that fed our fathers, but that we might feed on the same royal provision, and our children and children's children to the latest generation might eat of this bread of heaven and live forever. This is the precious treasure of our Bibles; it is this sets it in value above rubies, which would make us buy it at any price, but sell it at none; that which makes it the book of life to us. And no other vessel on earth contains manna so pure, so abundant and free as this golden urn of the Scriptures. "Come ye, buy and eat," etc. But there are. other golden vessels on earth that have manna. Second. The Gospel ministry is a golden pot that has manna; and it must have this to be a Gospel min- istry. The ministry may be learned, profound, poeti- cal and eloquent; may be philosophical, scientific and brilliant, yet only a golden vessel, but no manna in it. It may be gilded and bedizened with all the attrac- tions of art, architecture and music about it; it may be entertaining, popular and applauded, yet have no manna. The schools may furnish it with all the garniture of classic elegance in diction and rhetoric, THE GOLDEN POT. 1 5 with the intellectual polish and penetration of the keenest dialectics, with all the art and power of trained oratory, and provision it with all the wealth and abundance of the soundest and profoundest the- ological knowledge; the schools may make such a golden vessel, but they can put no manna in it. Yet the ministry which feeds the life of souls and nourishes them to a pure, healthful, strong, Christian manhood, that conquers in the conflict with evil, must have Gospel manna in it. The ministry which feeds the Church of God, till, like the vine brought out of Egypt, it has boughs like the goodly cedar, and her shadow covers the hills, and the handful of corn on the mountain top shakes with fruit like Lebanon, the ministry that effects this must have in it the manna of Christ's divine righteousness for men, His cleansing blood, His quickening Spirit, His sustaining love and eternal glory. Peter preached at Pentecost and three thousand were converted, and in a few days we read of five thousand more, and such was the power of his min- istry and that of his fellow-apostles they were accused of "turning the world upside down." Why? Be- cause their ministry had manna in it. Paul's ministry moved all Asia and startled the Roman empire with the fear that he would empty all her heathen temples and starve her idol gods. Why? Because it had Christ, His truth and grace — had manna in it. What made the preaching of Chrysostom the light and power of Syria and Constantinople? It was not the rhetoric he learned of Libanius the Sophist, nor the Greek philosophy taught him by Andragathius ; it was not his personal magnetism, for his hollow r cheeks, sunken eyes, bald head, and small stature remind us j 6 THE GOLDEN POT. of Paul's description of himself, "in presence weak;" it was not because he was a golden mouthed orator, >but because his ministry was a golden vessel that had manna. For twelve years that strong, scholarly, Scotch orator, Chalmers, preached with all his intel- lectual energy and earnestness, yet himself confessed he knew of no souls renewed or nourished. He could hold his hearers as by a spell of Scotch witchery as he portrayed in gorgeous imagery the glory of the visible heavens and the wisdom and goodness that filled the earth; or while he denounced in language terrible and scathing the guilt and meanness of vice; but he brought neither life to the soul nor anything to feed its life. Why? Because his preaching was lack- ing in Gospel manna. That is shown by this fact, that soon after it became a Gospel ministry, Tron Church echoed with the gladdening birth-cry of souls. What made the preaching of Guthrie the glory of Edinboro? Not his picturesque word painting, rich imagery, brilliant rhetoric, and fascinating eloquence, but that his ministry was rich in Gospel manna. Spurgeon said, he wore no pulpit livery, used no deep- toned organ, with thundering sound, and no operatic choir, neither made any effort at oratory, yet no man in great London fed so many souls as he, both inside and outside his great tabernacle, because his ministry was a golden vessel with scarcely anything but Gospel manna in it. During the great awakening in England in the days of the Wesleys and Whitefield, and of Scotland in the days of Livingstone, William Burns, and McCheyne: and in our American revivals of the early part of this century under Whitefield, Edwards and the Tennants — and all revivals since — nothing dis- tinguished the preaching so much as the purity and THE GOLDEN POT. 17 abundance of manna, from the great evangelical truths that run through all the symbols of the Levitical law, through all the predictions of inspired prophets, and culminated in their glory round the cross of Calvary, the truth as it is in Jesus, the pure manna of the Gospel. This was the fruit of the Church when driven into the wilderness in the valleys of Piedmont, and "on the Alpine Mountains cold," and in the glens of the Swiss cantons ; there the Waldenses, Albigenses and Vaduoi were fed and lived upon this manna from the golden urn of the ministry, by pastor Arnaud and other heroic leaders like him. It was this manna in the preaching of Wycklifte of the fourteenth century, Huss of the fifteenth century, and of Luther and Knox, that gave the dead to feel the power of resur- rection life through Jesus Christ. The men and women of all the heroic ages of the past who have mapped out civilized kingdoms on earth, reared thrones of righteous judgment for men, and built bulwarks against encroaching despotism, who have borne unflinchingly the assaults of civil and religious tyranny, sacrificed all, suffered and died for the honor of God, the freedom and welfare of man, have fed their life and strength on this Gospel manna. The men and women who have kept alive a heavenly hope on earth, who have preserved and perpetuated the Christian family, Sabbath, society and home, were led by Immanuel, and maintained their battle strength on the manna from the golden urn of his ministry. You may say, I seem to "magnify mine office." Be it so. The honor is the Master's, not the man or the minister's, for all the greatness, life, power and glory of this office and work is in proportion to the purity and abundance of this manna in it. Just in proportion 18 THE GOLDEN POT. as Jesus and His atoning, cleansing blood; Jesus and His divine righteousness; Jesus and His sovereign mercy and matchless love, pervade the ministry, will it have power to bring life to souls dead in sin, and maintain and nourish Christian life on earth. Let the ministry have all the culture and power that can be had by the most careful intellectual training, by the help of literature and classical learning, of phil- osophy and science; let it be enriched with the soundest theological knowledge; let it be indeed a golden vessel, yet it will never convince, convert and save souls and evangelize and reform society unless ft be a golden vessel filled with Gospel manna. Third. Another vessel that has manna is the Chris- tian heart and life. When the Lord takes possession ©f any one. He sends His quickening Spirit into the soul, then begins in it a spiritual divine life; He sheds abroad His love in the heart, anchors the soul in hope upon Himself, causes it to rejoice in His royal favor, feeds it upon His great and precious promises, sus- tains and strengthens it by His grace and fills it with heavenly good things. This is the manna with which He nTfeth the empty, and satisfieth the longing, hungry soul. And this only can fill and satisfy an immortal soul, and nothing else is worthy of such a being as was created and crowned by the wisdom and power of God. The mind and heart of man as it came from the hand of its Creator, and was endowed by Him, is the most glorious of His works on earth, and makes man a worthy prince regent of the material world. Matter, in any and all its combinations and refinements, bears no comparison to the soul in its excellency: even fallen, wretched and stained by sin, ihe soul is kingly in its wondrous powers of intellect, THE GOLDEN POT. 19 reason and fancy, filled, strengthened and adorned with knowledge. The soul — the sinful soul — so far from being matter, or having any kindred or compari- son to matter, our Saviour sets in value above the whole material world: "What is a man profited if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" Such a soul so endowed in creation may be a golden vessel, but it has no manna to feed upon itself or with which to feed others. It contains nothing worthy of itself so long as it shuts out its Lord, and nothing can fill or satisfy it. Enlarge any sinful soul even beyond Solomon's heart, fill it with all his learning, wit and wisdom, enrich its life with all the royal provision, art, ornaments and delights of his wealth, yet, like him, it will at last cry out, "Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity." But this guilty soul increases incalculably in worth, becomes the most excellent being on earth, when it is washed in cleansing blood, adorned with the jewels of truth, filled and beautified with images of love; then it becomes the habitation of its Lord. It has then become a royal palace, abundantly supplied for a siege; and all the foes of earth and hell may encamp against it, and sit down in siege before it, but the Redeemer has become a wall of fire round about it, as well as the glory in the midst, and it can sit and sing songs of triumph within its provisioned fortress walls. Paul says such a soul can glory even in tribulation. It is like Luther's little bird, sitting on the bough at eventide, its head beneath its wing, leaves its cares with God. When darkness comes to such a soul, it is only as the coming of an Italian night, which reveals beauties and splendors that could not be seen at noon-day. Or, as Jean Ingelow sweetly sings: 20 THE GOLDEN POT. When the sun withdraws his light, Lo! the stars of God are there; Present hosts, unseen till night, Matchless, countless, silent, fair. Children, oft when joy shines clear Lost is hold of hope divine, When the night of grief draws near, Then God's countless comforts shine. As its darkness deep outbars All things else, they start to view; Mercies, countless as the stars, Matchless, changeless, perfect, true. There is nothing so precious on earth as the golden urn of a heart filled with manna. But the manna is not put into a Christian heart to be used only for self. That which Aaron laid up was only to look at, but that in the heart is to feed self and others. As the Israelite was to gather manna for others beside him- self, so the manna of the heart is for others also. Daniel, the captive, became the wise and pure politi- cian, the upright statesman, the prime minister and president in a great empire, and fed his captive people on truth and hope, made their bondage easier and happier, and fed the soul of his royal master, Nebu- chadnezzar, on heavenly manna, as we hope and believe, to his eternal salvation. Why? Because he had manna in his heart and life. Hedly Vicars, in the Crimea, it is said, "sobered and steadied nigh four hundred of the drunkenmost and wildest men in the regiment." And there was not a better man or officer in the queen's service. Why? Because of the Gospel manna in his heart and life. When an important and perilous assault was to be made, the British general THE GOLDEN POT. 21 found so many drunk in the regiment which had been ordered it was unfit for use; then he said, "Call Have- lock's saints; they never get drunk." Why was his regiment sober, faithful, praying, God-praising sol- diers? Because, as Lord Hardinge said, "General Havelock was every inch a soldier, and every inch a Christian." By the manna of her heart, Sarah Martin, of Great Yarmouth, fed the neglected, wretched prisoners of Yarmouth jail, not only the bread of earth, but of heaven, and turned the prison from an academy of crime to a school of religious instruction and praise, and began the great enterprise of prison reform in her native land. By the manna of her soul, Hannah Moore made Cowslip Green more famous than by all her writings. She and her sister, out of their Gospel filled urns, fed in Cheddar parish, and nine neigh- boring parishes, more than one thousand and seven hundred starving souls on the bread of life, and made what had been a stronghold of Satan a desirable dwelling place. We might mention others there, and numbers almost without limit, in our own country. But, as Paul says of his catalogue of worthies, "Time would fail me to tell," so it would me to tell of the bounteous work of manna-filled souls. A thousand such hearts and lives in any city of our land is a far more efficient power for good than any human asso- ciation ever devised, and will bring the Divine blessing upon the people among whom they labor. Such golden urns, filled with Gospel manna, have done more to reform our world, to purify, enrich and make earth happy, than all the classic poetry and eloquence of Athens and Rome, than all the sculpture and paint- ing of Greece and Italy, or all the schools of phil- osophy and science on earth. They have taught 22 THE GOLDEN POT. human hearts happier, purer songs and sweeter music, than all the famous composers of Germany, France or Italy. The best teachers of melody and the true song-birds of earth are those who sing of Jesus and His love. You can covet no better gift on earth than a heart filled with this Gospel manna. Nothing can make you more useful or happy, than heart and life of Gospel manna full. Fourth. We mention now but one more place where manna is laid up for us, that is in "the Holy of Holies" above, the New Jerusalem, the golden urn of heaven. The soul is not to leave its provision behind, that provision which gave and sustained its life on earth, gave it strength and cheer and triumph on the way. O, no. The same provision awaits ahead in the "prepared place;" it only goes on to the fountain head, to the great, unfailing store-house of the royal city. And the chief attraction, the most precious possession, the joy and glory of that "Better Land," is its manna. It is not the pearly gates and jasper walls, garnished with all manner of precious stones, nor the sea of glass nor the pure golden streets, nor the throne of light, or the white robes and golden crowns, nor the harps and palms and alleluia songs — not all these bright and pillared glories are the chief attraction. These are but the precious material, and adorning of the casket, the mere outer-garniture and glory of the upper temple. It is not because loved friends, brothers and sisters long since gone, are there; not because mother and child, parents and children are there; all these are something of an attraction, yes, much, very much, God be praised, we shall know and be known there. But that which towers in loving radiance above all others is, He who is the manna of the place, the precious Redeemer, is there; the THE GOLDEN POT. 23 King, Immanuel; and we shall "behold His face," "we shall see Him as He is, for we shall be like Him." The Psalmist expresses the hope of the soul when he exclaims, "I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness." "Whom have I in heaven but Thee?" And Jean Ingelow sings it joyfully in these lines: When the vail is rent in twain Shall the present God appear; We shall see Him then, full, fain — Matchless, changeless, perfect, fair. His immediate presence and love will be manna to the soul, such as earth never tasted; so sweet and full the earthy portion will be almost forgotten. Paul says, "That is far better." That will make the eyes of the redeemed strong enough to look undestroyed and undazzled into the face of uncreated light and love; it will make the ears of the redeemed strong enough to bear the surging tides of Alleluia song, and the redeemed heart strong enough to bear the weight of eternal glory and joy. It will make re- deemed hands strong for all divine service, and re- deemed feet able to walk the valleys and tread the mountain tops of Immanuel's Land. The happiness of the redeemed soul may be to speed in joyful service through the unbounded universe of creative power, or it may be to walk or stand or sit in that kingly Presence; yet, everywhere and always that beloved Redeemer's presence and His love will be the happi- ness, strength and glory of the soul's eternal life. Oh, let your hearts and lives be golden urns, filled with the Gospel manna which the Lord provides and offers here; then hereafter you shall feed forever on the unfailing manna of His unveiled presence and love. II Christ Coming Over the Mountains. "The voice of my Beloved 1 Behold, He cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills, ," Song of Solomon ii: 8. Of all the books of the Bible, perhaps none has been so sadly misunderstood by the cultivated intellect, or perverted and abused by the corrupt heart, as this Song of Solomon. McCheyne speaks of two kinds of religionists as offended with this song; the first is he whose religion is all of the head, a mere masonry work of doctrines. He is offended because it con- tains no formal dogmatic statements upon which his heartless religion may be built. The second is he whose religion is all of the fancy, only emotional. He stumbles at the mysterious breathings of intimate but intelligent affection, which he cannot appreciate nor understand. But if one's religion be both in the head and heart, he not only receives the truth, but receives it in love; not only embraces by faith the doctrines of Christ, but has fellowship in love with Jesus, such a soul will see through the dramatic form of this poem the joyous intercourse of the Bride, the Church, with the Bridegroom, her Lord, the glad love breathings of the believing soul in communion with the beloved Redeemer. This poem is not one song, but several, all taking the dramatic form, and like the parables of our Lord, they present the most precious spirit ef truth, though veiled under poetic incident and im- agery. The business of the expositor and preacher is to take off the veil and expose the unconcealed THE GOLDEN POT. 25 beauty of truth, and the Saviour through the truth. This we shall try to do with the dramatic scene of the text. Look at the person here — a woman, a sweetheart, bride or wife, sitting in an Eastern kiosk or arbor, alone and desolate. Though surrounded with climb- ing vines and gilded lattice work, fragrant shrubbery and sparkling fountains, yet she is disconsolate! Why? Because her lover, her husband, is away be- yond the distant mountains, which in the last verse she calls "Bether," or the mountains of separation. She knows that rugged, precipitous heights, gaping gulfs, gloomy gorges, and frowning hills lie between them; she therefore fears that her beloved cannot come, or will be long in coming. But in the midst of her desponding thoughts a melodious sound breaks upon her ear. She knows it at once and exclaims, "The voice of my Beloved!" Rising in glad surprise, she looks through the lattice and exclaims, "Behold! He cometh, leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills!" Here the writer drops the curtain over their meeting and embrace, for it is a joy that no stranger may intermeddle with. Now let us unveil the persons and imagery. The woman, the Bride, alone in the arbor, is the Church, or the individual believer, at the time of the Lord's absence. The coming Beloved is the Divine Re- deemer, for whom His Church and people long. The mountains called "Bether," or separation, that lie between are every obstacle that prevents reconciliation between God and man, their fellowship and happiness together. The Beloved leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills, presents Christ overcoming; triumphantly passing every difficulty, and coming for 26 THE GOLDEN POT. the salvation, comfort and joy of His Church and people. Then we have three points. First. What are the intervening mountains and hills between God and His people? Second. How does Christ pass, remove or come over them? Third. Why does He thus come? First. What are these mountains of separation between God and men? The first is the mountain of guilt. Between the royal palace in heaven and the Garden of Eden there was neither mountain or hill ; the way was open, the King's highway, and God and man could walk together in it. But the sinful pair were driven out of Paradise, and with wicked hands men have reared a lofty mountain of guilt in the pathway of life. The Men of Babel could not build a tower that would reach unto heaven, but men have piled up a mountain whose top not only reaches above the clouds, but reaches the highest heaven and casts its dark shadow over all the earth. This was the first, and, at first, the only obstacle that separated God and the human race; the mountain of guilt. Its jagged sides man could not climb; nor scale its heights: and the just, holy King would not run a royal road around the base. Therefore the prophet says, "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you." There it stands, frowning on the earth, shutting out the face of God, blocking up the gate of Eden, and closing the door of heaven. It is the mountain of guilt. Second is the mountain of justice. Human hands built the mountain of guilt, but the Divine hand piled up the heights of justice. When man cast off alle- giance and love and opened rebellion against his THE GOLDEN POT. 27 Maker and King, heaven must be shut up, and the port of earth blockaded; therefore, the hand of justice stretched the mountain wall across the plains of earth and declared this rebellious province in a state of siege. The Psalmist's language is, "Thy justice is like mountains great." There it stands before God and men, stern, high and immovable. Who will dare its guarded passes, or try to scale its solid wall? Who can open a way around it or bow its lofty sum- mit? Man lies condemned, helpless and hopeless, at the base; and the inflexibly righteous King sits en- throned upon the summit; for justice and judgment are the foundation of His dwelling place. Third is the mountain of wrath. When Israel came into Canaan land, the half of her officers and priests. stood over against Mt. Gerizim, to pronounce bless- ings upon obedience. The other half over against Mt. Ebal, to pronounce curses upon disobedience. For when man sinned and rebelled against God, Divine wrath was kindled into a flame, and it became a mountain of fire, leaping angrily up to heaven and burning down to the lowest depths. Moses says it "burns to the lowest hell and setteth on fire the foundations of the mountains." When the offended majesty of heaven set His foot on Mt. Sinai, its top- was girdled with flame and the thunder voice of law and justice shook it to the base. For justice that would not be angry with rebellion and sin, would not be justice at all. In Revelation we are told of a burning mountain cast into the sea, but the sea did not quench it. The red tongues of flame, if let alone, could soon lick up the great billows of the deep and wrap this guilty world in ruinous conflagration. This flaming mountain was burning in the place of human 28 THE GOLDEN POT. habitation, and who will dare to pass it, or who can pour out floods enough to quench its fires? For wrath has gone forth against the sons of men. Fourth is the mountain of darkness, says Isaiah Ix: 2. The prophet Jeremiah speaks of those whose "feet should stumble on the dark mountains." No light shines upon its black summit or down its rugged cavernous sides. From out its deep caves comes the smoke and blackness of darkness. Its awful shadow shuts out from earth the face of God, and lays blinding night on the hearts and minds of men. There gather the powers of darkness, its caverns are their retreat, and they ambush in its gloomy gorges, and cast their captives and slain into its gaping gulfs. The heathen world to-day is stumbling on through its deep shadow that lies all along their cheerless journey of life, and its pall hangs over thousands of hearts in Christian lands. Its dark shade makes men of understanding grope like the blind. Its horrid shadow makes the night of the death chamber and the gloom of the grave. All the gloom, and dread, and night, and despair of earth fall upon our journey of life from this dark mountain. "For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee," Isaiah lx: 2. Who can pass over it cr chase its night away? Philosophers, poets, scientists, human teachers and reformers have tried to dispel the darkness that lifts itself betwixt us and heaven, but in vain. Their feeble torches only re- vealed the darkness. We will not stop to speak of the hills of Provoca- tion, Unbelief, Pride and Self-righteousness, which sinful hands placed in the coming Redeemer's path. THE GOLDEN POT. 29 But through such a mountain region there must be also gloomy forests, narrow, dangerous defiles, yawn- ing chasms, gulfs and fearful gorges, made more awful by the covering of darkness that hangs over them, for the lurid flames of wrath is all the light that falls upon this whole mountain road between heaven and earth. This is the region through which the Beloved must come. Those are the difficulties, obstacles, perils and foes He must encounter and overcome. What wonder the Bride is despairing? What wonder if the question troubles her heart, "Can He pass through this wilderness, cross these chasms, leap these gulfs, climb these mountains, conquer these foes and come to me? Can He?" What wonder if doubt and despondency bordering on despair enters the human heart when it sees the way between heaven and earth piled with such obstacles, great, insurmountable difficulties, appalling dangers? What wonder if it questions whether even the Son of God can come over this way? But thanks be to God, we know He can, we know He has come over this very region, as if it were an unobstructed plain. Second. How did Christ, the Beloved, come? If you should journey among the Alps, the guide would present you with a staff, to make sure your footing on the steep sides, to enable you to leap over the deep gaps that might open across your path. Without this you could not possibly climb the Jura or Mount Blanc. So with the cross as the staff of His hand, Jesus approached these mountains. But first He must consecrate, sanctify, give virtue and power to this cross by dying upon it. It must be more than a common mountain staff; it must be a magic wand, surpassing Moses' rod. He must do wondrous, 3 o THE GOLDEN POT. miraculous things with it. So, "for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross, bore our sins in His own body on this tree." Nailed upon it as a sacrifice, He suffered there and died. Then rising from this death, He seizes the cross in His hand and •comes to the Mountain of Guilt; He smites it in His might, pours out the blood of His cross upon it and it melted in His presence. Then was fulfilled the language of the Psalmist and the prophets, "The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, and the mountains flowed down at His presence," Isaiah lxiv: 3. "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerub- babel thou shalt become a plain." There is no moun- tain of guilt, though it may rise to heaven in its height, and spread its wide base over all the earth, but one stroke of Jesus' cross will crumble it, and it will become molten under His blood. Passing this molten Mountain of Guilt, the Moun- tain of Justice rises before Him. It is a high moun- tain ; its top is above the clouds and its broad, immov- able base rests firmly on the earth. God built it, and His glory is enthroned upon it. No smiting can crumble this; justice must not be beaten down; no blood or tears can wash away the claims of law or righteousness. What can the Redeemer do here? Can He not pass it? No! It fills all the earth. Will it not bow before Him? No! Justice cannot bend even to the Son of God. Must He turn back and leave His Bride to perish alone? No. Around the base of this height runs the gulf of human despair. With His cross He filled this up, and piled above it a mountain of mercy, up to the clouds, through and above the clouds, up to the heavens and above the "heavens. Then was fulfilled the language of the THE GOLDEN POT. 31 Psalmist, "Thy mercy is great above the heavens." Faithfulness and justice is through the clouds and up to the heavens. But mercy rejoiceth over judgment. The Mountain of Mercy overtops the Mountain of Justice, and with Kis cross He leaps over its summit. God's justice is honored, His holiness sustained, the place of His habitation unmoved, and leaping over this height, the Redeemer comes down the earth side of this mountain and lights upon the Mountain of Wrath. But its fire did not consume Him, nor its flame kindle upon Him. Up through the red billows that reached to its summit and rolled from its lava sides He trod. Then were His "feet like unto fine brass, as though they burned in a furnace." But as He poured upon it the blood of His cross and the tears of His atoning agony, its flame ceased and its burning coals were utterly quenched. This is He who, at the prayer of Moses, put out the fire that burned in the midst of the children of Israel. This is He who gives to those that work righteousness power to "quench the violence of fire." This is the one like the Son of man that walked with His holy children in the blazing furnace at Babylon. And as His sacred feet leaped up the scorched and blackened sides of this Mountain of Wrath, it crumbled into a cold and ashen heap, upon which sprung up verdure, fruits and flowers, as He passed over it, and sprinkled forth the showers of mercy. The fiercest flames of Divine anger cannot burn against the Gethsemane sweat and tears, and Calvary-blood, of the Son of God. Then He leaped upon the Mountain of Darkness. He shed all over its dark sides the light of His love- lit and victorious face. The glowing arrows of light entered all its gloomy defiles and black caverns. He 32 THE GOLDEN POT. chased its shadow, and night, and horrid despair before Him, and in the blaze of His glory, which illumined all the mountain, He saw the powers of darkness; He pursued them over the ragged sides, through the gorges into the caves of night. He overtook them, overpowered them, took them captive, and cast them, bound with chains of darkness, into the bottomless gulf, where their slain and captives were found. Then did He lead captivity captive, and as He turned His victorious face from the summit of this mountain, the whole earth was lightened with His glory, and lo! behind Him all the region over which He passed had become a plain. Then was ful- filled the language of Isaiah, "Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and there shall be in the desert a highway for our God." For the joy of this victory He endured the cross; then as a rejoicing conqueror He came, skipping upon the hills and leaping upon the mountains. The greatest obstacles were no longer barriers, insurmountable difficulties disap- peared from before Him. As a strong man, a man of Divine strength, He came from his heavenly chamber, rejoicing to run His race, refreshed with the wine of love to God and love to man, He passed over the course with shoutings, and stopped not until He embraced His lovely and disconsolate Bride. This is Jesus, the conquering Redeemer. This is Jesus, the Beloved of the believing soul, the Husband and Lord of the Church, the waiting and longing Bride. Third. Why did He come? First He came to exhibit His own glory and the glory of His Father. Jesus rejoiced in the work given Him to do, because THE GOLDEN POT. 33 He saw in its accomplishment a matchless display of His divine glory. He saw that a victory over the battle set in array against Him, a defeat of all the hosts of foes to God and man, a triumph over all obstacles, would spread over the earth such a sheen of glory as nothing else could, reveal rightly the divine character, fill heaven with joyful shouting. There- fore, as difficulties were overcome, foes beaten down, and His triumphal march continued, every Divine perfection was glorified; truth was vindicated, law was magnified, justice was honored, holiness was crowned, mercy was satisfied, and love was enthroned. Therefore, the first note of the angel's song over Bethlehem was, "Glory to God in the highest!" It was delight in this, joy for this ascription of praise to God, that gave Him such strength, that made Him leap upon the mountains and skip upon the hills. The glory of the Son and of the Father never was, never will be, never can be, so displayed in anything else as in this redemption work and conflict and victory of the Son of God. Creation's glory pales under the inef- fable brightness of complete salvation from sin, eternal life and happiness bestowed on guilty men. This is the glory that excelleth, and for this reason He came. In the work of creation and providence could be seen the glory of wisdom, power and goodness. In Divine law and its administration could be seen the glory of holiness, justice and truth; but in the work of Re- demption, love and mercy blended with all these royal gems to garland and crown with matchless glory the cross. 2d. He came for the sake of His Church, His chosen and beloved people on earth. The earth is in a state of siege, it is a land of condemnation and 34 THE GOLDEN P0\ wrath. His poor imprisoned, sinful, helpless, hope- less people are down there in the vale of death. The cry of distress could reach His ear over all the vast distance of mountain region that lay between; from the far away glory His eye could look upon the help- less misery and guilt of sin. Then were His "delights with the sons of men." Love like His could overleap any obstacle; such zeal could pass through any diffi- culties. True, the way is long and steep and hard and perilous; the mountains are high and rugged, and dark and dangerous ; the enemies are many, cruel and mighty; but love is strong, enduring and un- daunted; zeal will not be quenched; it burns in the redeeming heart. The travail of His soul must be satisfied. Divine compassion will not turn away from misery, even guilty misery. While we were yet sin- ners, because we were sinners, the Beloved came to wash out guilt with the blood which the sword of justice would shed, to stay the wrath, subdue the enemies, heal the hurt, and chase fear, terror, dark- ness and misery from earth. When the great Captain of our salvation died on Calvary, our enemies died with Him; for He conquers the earth through His death. He turned away and passed by the prison house of fallen and wretched angels — Divine wisdom only knows why, sovereign love only knows how — and cast His heart upon the earth, for the sake of His people. These mountains had never been crossed or these hills removed if Christ had not had a people beyond them that He loved. But He could not hold His peace even in heaven, could take no rest; He would come through fire and water, for His heart was in the earth. Heaven is not less glorious, but love has a call from below and can make itself a habitation THE GOLDEN POT. 35 there among men; so He came to His Church, His Bride, exclaiming, "This is My rest, here still I'll stay, For I do love it well." 3d. He came to beget love and kindle it to a flame in the hearts of those He loved. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us. We love Him because He first loved us." Love, and love alone, begets love; it creates in its own likeness. Gibbets, thumbscrews and racks may crush life out of the heart, but not love. The iron rod of the law may strike water out of the rock, but not love; the sword of justice may strike fire from the flinty soul, but not love. All the power of heaven, earth and hell combined could not compel love by mere force; therefore, when the Almighty and the all-wise One would woo, win and redeem the earth, He made the provisions of love; He carried out the arrangements of love; He flung out from the battlement of heaven the banner of love over the rebellious world; He gave to the guilty a conquering exhibition, an irresistible display of love. He came Himself down to fallen, guilty, wretched man. The hand of love lifted the fallen up, the finger of love opened the blind eyes, the finger of love unstopped deaf ears, the hand of love poured oil and wine into painful wounds and gave food and drink to the famishing. The voice of love spoke pardon and peace to the heart of guilt and misery, when the magic wand of love touched the dead soul, it lived and felt through all its awakened powers the inflowing of the sweetest love and happy endless life. All God's arrangements and redemption work is to implant and turn human love back to neaven. We have good reason for wondering why 36 THE GOLDEN POT. all do not love the redeeming Jesus. Why is it? Because they shut their eyes to the exhibition of Divine love; they turn their hearts away from the touch of heaven's love; their souls refuse to believe the love God has to them. If they would lift up their eyes to the opening heaven that lets through the Son of God; if they would see on Calvary the atoning Son of God dying with love; if they would lift their heads and behold Him leaping over the crumbling, melting mountain, and skipping on the tottering hills in the glad great joy of His redeeming love, their hearts would not refuse to love and trust Him. To win this love and through it make happy a people on earth, He came. 4th. He came to put hope and joy into desolate and despairing hearts. During the siege of Lucknow, the English and Christian missionaries shut up there were fast sinking into despair. The engineers told them the sappers and miners of the foe were fast undermining the walls, that twenty-four hours would end the scene, and they must perish amid heathen horrors. On every side death stared them in the face, no human skill could avert it longer. Jessie Brown, wife of a Scotch corporal, overcome with fatigue, and hopeless, heartsick, wrapped her plaid about her and lay down amid the roar of cannon, to rest, if not sleep. Lying thus upon the ground, a well known sound struck upon her ear. She sprang upon her feet, a light of intensest joy and hope beamed upon her face. With clasped hands she exclaimed, "Dinna ye hear it! Dinna ye hear it? I'm no dreamin'; it's the slogan of the Highlanders! Hark to the slogan! We're saved! We're saved!" Her Scottish ears had caught the music of the victorious pibroch as Have- lock's Highlanders marched through defeated enemies THE GOLDEN POT. 37 to the fort. Surely not unlike this, but more glad- dening and glorious far, the angel herald of the Gospel on the plains of Bethlehem to a guilty and helpless race, and millions of desolate, despairing hearts have leaped for joy under the sound of it, proclaiming "peace on earth, good will to men." It is the music of heaven's triumphant pibroch sounding out over the earth, it is the Redeemer's victorious slogan as He overthrows the legions of hell, and it has brought the deepest joy and the brightest hope this imperiled world has ever known or felt. Out over the hills and mountain tops of earth it is singing and sounding its glad tidings yet. Open your Bibles and read the words set to this music, "Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." "Behold, He cometh leaping upon the mountains, and skipping upon the hills." If you would enter into this joy, lift up your hearts and cry, "Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly." For to those who look for Him will He come a second time "without sin unto salvation." Christ came first in personal, visible presence, to serve man amidst ignominy and suffering; passed through the furnace of Divine wrath and hid Himself in the grave, the victim and sacrifice for sin. He comes now by His word and Spirit and takes posses- sion of the guilty soul, to deliver it from sin. But to those who look for Him He will come again; His snming feet shall rejoice upon the hills and mountain tops of earth; they shall reel and melt beneath Him, and every eye shall see Him. If you would greet with joy that coming, then lift up your hearts now and cry, "Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly," and take possession of my soul. III. Peter's Peril. "Lord, save me," Matthew xiv: 30. Why did our blessed Lord ever bring about this thrilling incident? Why move the mind of Peter to attempt this walk on the waves? May it not have been that he might give to the world an illustration of the necessity, authority and certainty of salvation, that would flash truth upon the unbelieving soul, like light bursting forth in the midst of darkness, and give to the perishing the Gospel in three short words, "Lord, save me?" You need not make broad phylac- teries upon which to write before the world that you are a sinking sinner trusting in a Saviour — it can be graven on a prodigal's finger ring. You need not make long prayers and confession to tell the Lord your peril — these three words tell Him enough. Some are prone to value prayers by their length — they cannot even quote this correctly, but add the words, "I perish," which are not there, and not needed. Peter said about all he had time to say, and all that was necessary. You should never complain that you cannot remember the Gospel. Can you forget these three words? Enshrine them in your heart and ponder the priceless truths they convey, and you have the Gospel in its greatest and most comforting truths. If all the Bible were lost except these three short words, put into the mouth of a perishing sinner by inspiration, the world might still have the Gospel. Jehoiakim may mutilate the roll with his sacrilegious THE GOLDEN POT. 39 knife; Antiochus may rend aud burn the law; the Jews and Voltaires of the world may destroy the life of Christ; Rome may chain it in the cell of her monks, but before they can rob us of the Gospel they must pluck those inspired words from the believer's heart. These contain the truth which types and shadows, sacrifice and offering, prophecy and parables, crucifixion and resurrection, have all been employed in setting forth, the truth of man hopelessly perishing and Christ a present, able, willing Saviour. Peter's condition is that of every individual of the sinful human race, and this prayer is for them. First. What is asked for? Salvation. Second. Of whom asked? The Lord. Third. For whom asked? For me. Salvation implies danger. There can be no salva- tion where there is no danger present or threatening. Why at this time did Peter cry out for deliverance? Because he saw the billows rolling upon him, and he was sinking in the waters. At another time, on the sea of Galilee, why did the disciples wake Jesus from His sleep, crying, "Lord, save us, we perish?" Because yawning gulfs were opening around them and the wind was tilting their frail ship on the top- pling waves. So there is great danger not only threatening but present, from which you need to be saved. You are already in the slavery of sin, and your fetters are becoming stronger and your bondage more grievous and hopeless every day; more grievous because more exacting, and more hopeless because you have less sense of its oppression. The neck of the ox soon becomes calloused and he ceases to twinge and give back from the pressure of his load, for the yoke has 4 o THE GOLDEN POT. ceased to gall. After many years of bondage, the slave partially forgets the sweets of liberty, the weight of his chains and the misery of degradation. So with man in the service of sin. At first he must be baited with strong temptation to transgress, and after com- mission feels himself wronged in his wages and robbed of his happiness, but some little kindness of his master and indulgence of his desires wins his affections, and he forgets the wrong and robbery of his oppressor and becomes more contented with his wages, until at length, like the Hebrew servant, he says, "I love my master and will not go out free." He drinks in sin like water — it has become his delight and his pleasure, not his labor. But is it true that any man who has once breathed the air of freedom, used his limbs for himself and walked at liberty, earned wages to put into his own purse, embraced his wife and children and called them his own — it is true that he can ever love and wed bondage that takes them all away? No, he cannot! The wind that blew on the mountains of freedom is around him yet, and the shell still sings of the sea. But those born in slavery may. They have never known the bounding joys, the sunny skies and fra- grant flowers of freedom, and they must be persuaded of the truth before they will desire liberty. So it is with you. You were born in slavery, your mother was a slave before you, and the law of sin is just the law of slavery, "partus sequiturventrcn," and you have followed the condition of your mother and must be convinced of sin's thralldom before you will seek salvation. And be assured that no tyrant ever used subject so cruelly — you must be untiring and almost sleepless in its service, nor ever complain of THE GOLDEN POT. 4 1 the burden and toil. And the torture of the whip that plows through the naked flesh, and the pain of the salt that dries up the blood and heals the wound of the slave, is little to the scorpion stings of conscience, and the lash of remorse that you may feel; it robs you not of wages, and free limbs, and knowledge, and wife and children only, but it robs you of manhood, and honor, and peace, and happiness, and the love of God, and heaven, and are these not worth more than all others, worth more than the manly step and uplifted head of free limbs, and the throbbing pleasure of untroubled earthly love, more than all that earthly liberty can give? Of all others, this slavery takes away the most, requires the most, and gives the least. Both believer and unbeliever, what need we have to plead, "Lord, save us," from the slavery of sin! Again, you are in danger of enslavement by the world. To the young she is offering her pleasures* saying, "Come, eat of my bread and drink the wine which I have mingled." Her fame, wealth, friend- ship, power and glory, are all spread out before you, saying, "All these will I give you if you will fall down and serve me," and before you are hardly aware you are toiling like a galley slave only for the bread which perisheth, and cringing under the despotic sceptre of the world. God says, "Serve Me." You look at the world; it frowns its tyrant brow and says, "No," and you refuse. The world says, "Do this," and you do it. God says, "Do this," and you tell Him you are afraid. What would the world say of me if I were to throw my whole soul into religion — if I should spurn the competition of its friendship, wealth and honor, when they oppose duty and the love of God ! O believer and unbeliever! if you would not be the 4 2 THE GOLDEN POT. most pitiful, cowardly, abject slave that ever cringed beneath the rod, plead for salvation from the slavery of the world, the slavery of its offerings and opinions. Again, you are enslaved by Satan. He has ever claimed and received service from you, though it never was his right. Both law and justice forbade you to give it, but instead of boldly confronting the usurper, and challenging his claim, and resisting his demands, you have yielded, and yielded again and again, and now he is enlarging his power over you, and riveting your fetters. Every unlawful lust in- dulged, every unholy desire gratified, every unclean affection cherished or duty omitted, or wicked deed performed, or sin committed, is only adding link after link to the long, heavy chain that binds you under his oppression. You have exchanged the easy, happy, profitable service of God for fruitless, miser- able, degrading slavery. As the Israelites built up the kingdom and glory of Pharoah, so you are increas- ingthe wealth and piling up pyramids to commemorate the kingdom and glory of Satan. What an accursed throne you are sustaining, and what a vile, unholy kingdom you are strengthening! This is now the most ungrateful, grievous and disgraceful slavery, but if you are not saved from it soon, it will become most horrible and endless. The chain that binds you will become white with hot agony, but not melt, and the iron house of bondage will become red with burning wrath, but never consumed. Are you content to forsake the service of such a God as you have and endure now the slavery of such a tyrannical master and hereafter suffer his taunts and tortures forever? Hide not this truth from your- selves, that you are the slaves of Satan and need deliverance. THE GOLDEN POT. 43 Again, you are in danger of the curse of the law. You know you have broken the infinitely holy law of God, which was delivered with such terrific splendor from Sinai that Moses, the favorite and friend of God, who was with Him in the mount forty days and nights, said, "I exceedingly fear and quake." This law, which was literally clothed with fire and armed with thunder bolts when delivered to man, you have broken; and Paul says, "Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things written in the book of the law, to do them." This you know you have not done, though you may not have transgressed so boldly and flagrantly as some. This will not relieve you — if you have offended in one point this is sufficient to incur the curse. And what is that curse? "The soul that sinneth it shall die." It is spiritual and eternal death. But the hardest thing of which to convince man is the fearfulness of this curse, for of the first part they are insensible, and of the second, language can convey no adequate idea, and the imagination can form no fit image or conception. Unbelieving sinner, the first part is now in effect upon you, you are now spiritually dead, there is no spiritual breath, no pulse, no activity within you. You may be living, healthy, strong, active, in the pursuits of life, but in the law of holiness and the service of God you are not. You may love money, and pleasure, and beauty, and friends, but your heart does not love God. God may throw around you day after day arms of love and mercy to embrace you, but you never return the embrace. You can gather an earthly friend to your bosom in affection and weep over his injuries, but you cannot embrace a Saviour joyfully in the arms of faith and love, nor shed a tear over the 44 THE GOLDEN POT. injuries you have done to God's law and honor. True, you may love a god of your corrupt desires — a god shorn of his glorious justice and robbed of his holi- ness; but you do not love the God of heaven, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The paralysis of spiritual death has struck lifeless your every affec- tion for such a God as this. But deplorable and miserable as this state is, a punishment far more terri- ble is fast approaching. This is eternal death in hell. Here you will continue spiritually dead, you will have no will nor desire to love God, but the soul will then be keenly alive to the loss of His love and mercy; it will be keenly alive to the need of His favor and friendship ; but it will be pierced through and through with the horrid conviction that this can never be secured, that God's mercy and love are gone, gone forever, that His help, favor and friendship are lost, irretrievably lost. It may weep burning tears in a Judas repentance, but never to be forgiven; it may wail, but can never hope, and fearful will be its writh- ings under the storm of taunts and mockeries of devils who whispered honied lies into its ear on earth; but most impotent will be its rage against its tormentors. Mercy offered will not then be forgotten, proffered forgiveness will there be remembered, despised love will there be remembered, and the soul will be filled with a condemning sense of guilt and reproach and maddening remorse; and most horrible of all this, this, and more than all this, that only the lost can ever know, must continue unmitigated through eternity. "Oh! who can dwell with devouring fire, who can dwell in everlasting burnings?" Charity is pained to preach this awful truth, but love forbids that it should be hidden from you. Fast as your pulse beats and THE GOLDEN POT. 45 your suns rise and set, this danger is hurrying swiftly upon you. Then truly you have need to cry, "Lord, save me." But worst of all, you are in danger of the wrath of God. This overtops every other danger. Before this, all that has been told dwindles into nothing, is overshadowed and almost forgotten in this deepest pang of woe, the wrath of a God of love. His wrath would be more tolerable if He were vengeance or malice or only justice, but He is love. The wrath of forgiving, saving love — this apparent solecism con- tains the most awful truth. Oh! how would the judg- ment be shorn of its terrors if Jesus was not to sit on the throne, if Jesus was not to pronounce the sentence, and methinks hell would be robbed of more than half its torment if God should only banish the soul there to the taunts and mockery of devils and the gnawings of reproach and remorse, then turn and never look at it again. But the breath of God's wrath kindles its fires and boils all its deeps of misery. And "can you grapple with the vengeance of God?" What can you do when He "girds Himself with strength and clothes Himself with wrath?" He asks you the question Himself by Ezekiel xxii: 14: "Can thy heart endure or can thy hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee?" Will you not fear the frown that darkens His brow, nor the lightning of His eye when His wrath is kindled? What insanity possesses men who are unconcerned, when such danger is trav- elling upon them with fleeter step than the flying steed; nor will once cry out, "Lord, save me," save me from "the wrath to come, the wrath to come?" Again, you are in danger of losing heaven. This is the salvation that Christ came to offer. Earth has no 4 6 THE GOLDEN POT. redemption that can compare with it, no deliverance like it — to save from the slavery of sin and the world, the bondage of Satan, the curse of the law, the remorse and misery of hell and the wrath of God, to all the glory and endless joy of heaven. Infinitely glorious salvation — is it not a joyful sound? What wonder the angels sped on eager wings to the vale of Bethle- hem, saying, "I bring you glad tidings of great joy?" What wonder that joy throbs in the bosom of angels over one sinner that repenteth. And shall the human heart alone be unstirred by it, man alone rejoice not? Shall angels turn away from this little flock and hear no one cry, "Lord, save me," with such a salvation as this? Oh, remember, my friends, it is such a salvation as this that is asked for! Is it not worth the asking, think you? The second question is, Of whom is this salvation asked? "Lord, save me." If you are not calloused by the great sin of this nation, your heart could not but have ached with pity had you stood with me in the slave mart, and have seen the young girl trembling before her cruel dealer, her fair, young face, where but a few drops of Afric's warm blood mingled in her veins, only more inflamed the voluptuous and brutal bidders for her beauty. But one man in that place looked on with a face working with compassion. She read the feelings of that heart, she felt that it was full of pity. "Oh, sir," says she, "buy me, please buy me!" But with a strug- gling heart he turned away. He was not rich enough to buy the poor captive, neither could he break the tyrant's iron laws that fettered her there. And should he tell her of the land of liberty and bid her flee, he could not rub out her track from the bloodhounds' THE GOLDEN POT. 47 scent, nor restrain the scarce less ruthless marshals, which the cursed fugitive law has set upon her. He had not power to save the poor slave — she needed a mighty deliverer, she needed a Redeemer who could pull down thrones, change laws and times, open prison doors, rend iron fetters and break bars of steel in pieces. And such a Saviour do we need. Our captors are mighty, our oppression heavy, our chains strong, our enemies many. No mortal arm can save us, no earthly wealth can purchase our redemption, it is too great a price; but "salvation is of the Lord." He is a Saviour and a mighty one; in Him all fulness dwells, all fulness of power to save. He breaks in pieces mighty men and tramples earthly thrones in the dust to save His people. He, and He only, can do all you need for salvation. You need redemption from the law, the infinitely holy law which you have trans- gressed, whose curse not only now lies on you, but hangs over you in "wrath to come." Well, Jesus was "made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law." It claimed obedience, perfect, cheer- ful and in love. This Jesus gave, nor failed in the least, from the manger cradle in Bethlehem to the dying cry of the cross; this penetrating, holy law could find no fault nor flaw in Him; His heart never grew weary, His affection never decreased, His desire never turned aside, His will never rebelled, but He loved the holy law He came to honor, His life was all fair, there was no spot in it, the whole page was stainless and pure, and such obedience satisfied the law. But the law claimed also a penal satisfaction from the sinner, but this, too, Jesus took upon Himself. He 4 8 THE GOLDEN POT. gathered up all its infinite demands, He bared His heart to endure all its righteous displeasure; the rod of this law smote Him pn the head, the sword of justice entered His soul, and pierced His hands and feet, majesty stripped the arm of vengeance and washed its dishonor away in Jesus' blood; the clouds, and darkness, and rending thunders of Sinai, gathered around the cross and over the soul of the dying Saviour, but when He cried, "It is finished," then that searching, fiery law had no more to claim; its insulted honor was cleared, its majesty exalted, and its power to condemn forgiven sinners died with Jesus on the cross. Therefore, says Paul, "You are not under the law," "for Jesus Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." The precious blood of Jesus was the wealth which paid the price of your redemption and broke the power of a condemning law. You want to be justified at the bar of God — not justified for your sins; this can never be — but accepted as if you had never sinned, treated there as perfectly righteous. Then stand up there and hear Christ say, "Father, he has My spotless robe on; I stand for him; I gave him My righteous- ness ; He is before Thee just, I am perfectly innocent — wilt Thou not justify him?" And sweeter than all earth's melodies is the reply, "Thou art fair, My love, thou art fair; there is no spot in thee." But though the law may be honored and you justified before God in His Son, yet you want more than this for your salvation. Your sins must be par- doned. This, too, Jesus, and only Jesus, can do. "The Son of man hath (yet) power on earth to forgive sins." Whatever your guilt may be, there is forgive- ness with Him. "The blood of Jesus cleanseth from THE GOLDEN POT. 49 all sin." His blood can blot out the record, though it may be written in the memory of God. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow: though they be red like crimson, they shall be as the wool." "He will abundantly pardon." He bent in pity over the adulterous woman, saying, "Neither do I condemn thee." As Mary Magdalene washed His feet with tears and wiped them with her hair, He said, "Thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee." He bade Ananias say to bloody Paul, "Brother Saul, arise and wash away thy sins, calling upon the Lord." He said to the dying thief upon the cross, "This day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." There is none who hears of Jesus whose sins may not be forgiven, except those who wilfully and obstin- ately refuse. It is said that the highest mountains may be hidden under the waves of the sea. So there is no mountain of sin that may not be buried in the ocean of redeeming mercy. Your guilt cannot rise higher than the deeps of Jesus' love. Truly said Joseph Caryl, "None can pardon so freely, none so fully, none so continually, none so eternally, none so indifferently, whether in respect of sinners or sin, as Thou dost. It is all one to Thee what the sins are or whose they are, so they come to ask Thy pardon." There is no exception in the pardon proclaimed from Jesus' throne. Says John, "He is the propitiation for our sins, not for ours only, but the sins of the whole world." He saves and forgives "Jews and Greeks, Scythian and barbarian, bond and free." But, again, you need your heart made alive and its uncleanness washed away. This also can Jesus do. His word is, "I am the resurrection and the life, and if any man believe in Me, though he were dead, yet 50 THE GOLDEN POT. shall he live." Your heart may now be dead to the love of God and holy desires, but, as He did Lazarus, He can call it from the tomb and bid the grave clothes be taken off — He can give it tears to weep over a broken law before an offended God, and bind its arms of affection around a loving Redeemer. But what can wash its filth away, the defilement of its sin? Nitre and much soap cannot do it, nor the blood of a thou- sand lambs slain upon the altar — nothing but the blood of the Lamb of God, applied by the Holy Spirit. There is virtue in the blood of Christ to whiten, that no fuller's skill on earth can equal. This river of life can wash the filth of the soul away, can fill it with thoughts of purity, with desires of holiness, and beautify it with images of love. But, again, you want a Saviour who can conquer all your foes. Evil and temptation hide in your own heart; temptations, wicked men and devils, besiege you without; but all these Jesus can overcome. He subdues all opposition within you by His word and Spirit, and by the loving invitations and glorious promises of the Gospel He woos and wins your heart to His side in the conflict. And what are wicked men and devils before Him? "By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of His nostrils are they consumed." By the mouth of Isaiah He says, "Who would set the briars and thorns against Me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them to- gether." Has Satan ever won the day on any field with Christ? He was defeated in heaven and ban- ished to the darkness and chains of hell, and on the pinnacle of the temple, in the wilderness and on the mountain, he was foiled again and again, and even in the hour and power of darkness in Gethsemane, THE GOLDEN POT. 5 1 though groans burst from His heart and sweat and blood stained His raiment, yet He overcame at last, and on the morning of the third day He broke the dungeon bars, triumphed over death and him that has the power of death, and now His language is, "O death! I will be thy plague. O grave! I will be thy destruction." "I am alive forevermore, and have the keys of hell and of death." And now He goes forth with the bow in His hand and the crown on His brow, conquering and to con- quer, and "His chariots are twenty thousand and thousands of angels strong," for He is the Lord of hosts. Who shall contend with such a host, or who shall fear that follows His banner? For He is a Saviour and a mighty One. Says David, "The mighty Lord is on my side, I will not be afraid." Men were inspired with courage who carried Caesar, and shall men fear who carry Jesus? Men followed fearlessly the standard of Alexander and Napoleon, and shall men in the conflict of life follow with doubt and fear the banner of Jesus, upon whose blood- stained vesture is written, "King of kings and Lord of lords?" Such a Saviour is yours, and such an one only can save you from all your enemies. But, again, you need a saviour who can appease the ^rath of God. You must be reconciled unto God and God unto you. But what advocate will you send to this just and holy King? What intercessor? Who can fill his mouth with arguments and plead with all the eloquence of love before God? Who can inter- cede with Him and prevail? There must be no failure here or all is lost! When the rebels of Calais ap- peared before King Edward the Third with ropes 52 THE GOLDEN POT. about their necks, who pled for their lives? Was it his favorite courtier, or cabinet counselor? Nol None of these lay near enough to the king's heart. But the queen must plead on bended knees; only the wife of his bosom could prevail. Such a pleader do you need in heaven, one who is near the heart of God, and do you think Jesus will fail you here? Into whose lips "grace is poured," "who spake as never man spake?" God's beloved Son, who lay in the Father's bosom? Think you that God has forgotten the great sacrifice that began in the manger and ended on the cross; that He has forgotten one thorn that pierced His feet on the road from Bethlehem to Calvary; or that He has forgotten one groan of Gethsemane, or buffet of the soldiers, or agony of the crucifixion? Does He not know how, in all this, sin was condemned and holiness and justice infinitely magnified? And shall Jesus fail as He pleads for sinners with the arguments of Calvary in His hands, saying, "All this I did for them. Father, is Thy jus- tice not cleared, is Thy holiness not exalted, is Thy character not glorified? Father, forgive them." Glad music to the ear of faith is the reply, "In Thee I am well pleased. All Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine." Christ is just such a pleader as you need, and what- ever may be your guilt, He can prevail for you. True, you have rebelled against God, broken His law and neglected and abused His love; perhaps you have blasphemed His name and murder stains your hands, yet all this guilt Jesus' blood can wash away, and His eloquent lips can plead and prevail over all this crime at the throne of God. But from the least sinner to the vilest we all need just such an intercessor in the THE GOLDEN POT. 53 court of heaven. What does man need for salvation that Jesus cannot do? Is it redemption from the law? Says Paul, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." Is it justifi- cation with God? Says Paul, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." Is it the forgiveness of sin? Says Jesus, "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men," Is it all enemies overcome? Paul says, "Jesus shall put all enemies under His feet," and "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." Is it an all- prevailing advocate with God we want? Says John, "We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and Him the Father heareth always." He only is a Saviour, and He is an all-sufficient Saviour, who "saves to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him." Third. For whom is this salvation asked? "Lord, save me." It is a special, individual, personal salva- tion. If men would only read the law and the Gospel in the first person, it would tear the veil from their eyes and pierce their hearts with conviction, and often bring faith and hope and joy; but they seem to read it as if the third person were all through substituted for the first and second: He shall have no other gods; he shall not take the name of the Lord in vain! He shall not steal, nor false swear, nor covet! He shall love the Lord; he shall leave all and follow Christ, or he shall have no mercy, he shall be damned! And when they come to the Gospel, they read it much the same way, as if they had no personal interest in all its sweet invitations, as if they were not starving for all its rich provisions. They seem to read all the time, "Christ taketh away the sin of the world;" 54 THE GOLDEN POT. "Jesus came to save sinners;" "Jesus died for the unjust." But never think of reading it, "Jesus came to save me;" "Jesus died for me." Men are particular and personal about their rights and possessions and necessities in this world. You will hear, "I own that;" "/ need that;" "that is my right;" "I must take care of my own interest." But how strange is it that, in the most important interest, in the concerns of their immortal souls, they are contented with the vaguest generalities. There is salvation for sinners, there is hope for the lost, and doubtless some even pray, "Lord, save sinners," before they have cried out in agony of faith, "Lord, save me." True, the Gospel abhors self- ishness, but it is no selfishness to live before you call others to life — it is no selfishness to taste the food before you tell others it is good and call them to the banquet. No, the Gospel teaches self-love even as love to your neighbor. There are houses in New York where food is provided for those who are too poor to buy, and they are invited to come and eat freely, but what would you think of a man standing at the door of such an eating house, ragged and hungry, and who had never tasted the food, calling the hungry passer by to come and eat? Would he not rather say, "That table was spread for me — there is abundance and to spare; / will go and eat, then tell others." Do not wrong your own souls out of Gospel treasures by assigning it all to others. What good will it do your souls though the Lamb of God "taketh away the sins of the world," if you never behold Him by faith taking away your sins? What though He save ten thousand Jews and Gentiles and Scythians, bond and free, if He saves not you? What joy can it give THE GOLDEN POT. 55 your heart to know that "ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands" shall worship around the throne, and "a great multitude which no man can number" shall bear their palms and wear white robes before the Lamb? Can this rejoice you if you are not in the happy throng? It can give no joy or peace to my soul that Jesus died for sinners unless I see that He died for me. What comfort that Jesus saves if He saves not you? "It is mine and thine," that sweetens the Gospel, my God and my Saviour. If you were a toiling, miserable slave in chains, and a liberator should come with redemption money in his hand, you would not say, "Buy my neighbor, buy all the adjoining plantation;" but, "Buy me!" Just such a perishing, suffering sinner you are. Then cry, "Lord, save me!" Oh! believe me, each one of you need salvation. I would except none. You are most needy, dying in want, and you need a great salvation, and such a salvation is offered, and you need a great Saviour, a mighty, conquering Redeemer, an irresistible advocate. Such a Saviour is offered, for "salvation is of the Lord." You need it for yourself, every one who hears my voice. None need it worse than you personally. When pierced with an agony of danger, and the misery of sin, will you not cry out, "Lord, save me?" The Lord does not save sinners by nations, as He brought Israel out of Egypt. He saves not by com- munities or cities, as when He spared Nineveh; nor by families, as when He took Lot out of Sodom. But He saves individual persons. "He calls His sheep by name" "Their names are written in the Lamb's book of life." What though you may be 5 6 THE GOLDEN POT. in a religious community, or even in a church dis- tinguished for piety. This will be no safety to you. What though your father and mother may be pious? This will do you no good if you have not Christ's righteousness. But all this will, rather, aggravate your guilt. To convince you that you personally are a guilty, perishing sinner, and that Jesus is a willing, able Saviour for you; to convince you of all this, the law and the Gospel is given, apostles and teachers are given, the Word preached and ordinances admin- istered ; yet, after all this, you must pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you into the truth. But, oh ! remember, if thou art wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself, but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. IV. Justice and Salvation. "A Just God and a Saviour" Isaiah xlv: 21. This text contains a problem more difficult than any Euclid ever proposed — a seeming paradox. How can God be just, yet Himself become the Saviour of the guilty? To human reason, to all the powers of a created mind, the first view here given of the Divine character, "A just God," excludes all hope from sinful, guilty man; but in the second view, as "a Saviour," He is presented as the foundation of all hope. It is only poor, blind, short-sighted reason that cannot reconcile justice and justification, that is ignorant of the plan of salvation, that looks on a God of justice with despairing gloom and terror. But to the man of faith, that sees justice and mercy embrace each other, this attribute only clothes with firmness and consistency the character of his God; gives security and assurance to his well grounded hope, for it makes a just God a just Saviour. And a clear con- viction that God is just and that it is only justice in Him to condemn the sinner, is needful to the heart of guilty man before he can sincerely, willingly, accept God as a Saviour. Because one of the noblest traits possessed by man is a disposition to resent injustice. Every pulse of rectitude, his very manhood, rebels against it, and so long as a single vestige of right is withheld, his unconquerable spirit will remain firm and strong in resistance. It is only insulting to offer him pardon from an unjust sentence. Go to the cell 58 THE GOLDEN POT. and offer pardon to an innocent prisoner, and his man- hood bids him spurn you as an insulter. True, he may be so crushed by overpowering tyranny that, to save his life, he may accept terms called merciful, but he does not accept them as mercy, neither is he sin- cere, for his heart rebels in the very act of submission. So it is with sinful man. So long as he does not admit the justice of God in his condemnation, he can- not submit to a Saviour acceptably; cannot sincerely, thankfully receive sovereign, undeserved mercy; and a forced, unwilling acceptance is with God no accept- ance at all. Therefore in the text God is first pre- sented as just, which the sinner must fully admit; then He is presented as a Saviour, whom the guilty may and should heartily accept. By writers the justice of God has been divided into relative, particular, judicial and absolute, so absolute that without any regard to any moral qualities in the subject, He can inflict punishment, can subject the most innocent creatures to suffering. Such a monster would be, indeed, a terror! But as God is not judge of any innocent moral agents in this world, and cannot show such a disposition, neither do we receive such as the character of God. While these nice distinctions, unlearned questions and strife about words may do to fill the book of the polemic, it is much more interesting to us to know something of the justice of God as the governor and judge of men, His lawful subjects. Not to prove in this relation that God is just, for to attempt to prove by reason and argument anything the Bible plainly asserts is to discredit the Word of God, and be guilty of great presumption. But to show some of the wavs in which this attribute THE GOLDEN POT. 59, is manifested, and some characteristics of it: in this relation of ruler and judge, justice is giving every one his due, under an equitable law. Then, first, the justice of God appears in His law. He has given His subjects a righteous law, adapted to their nature and powers. Let any one with an enlightened judgment and an honest conscience examine closely every pre- cept of the decalogue, and can he fail to admire its purity, that requires every thought and feeling to be clean and every deed of life righteous; and can he fail to admit that justice is stamped on every word? So extensively is this truth felt that you may examine the statute books of every intelligent, civilized nation on the face of the earth, and any enactment of free- dom, of equity, between man and man found there, can be traced in its principles to this law; and it is universally admitted to be the standard of justice. Or take the Golden Rule, the sum and epitome of the second table of the law, and how irresistibly is the conviction forced upon every conscience that it is a just standard of judgment. Or take the sum and epitome of the whole law, as given by our Saviour: "Thou shalt love the Lord," etc. If we reflect upon the excellency of our God as an object of love, His boundless goodness, His innumerable peerless gifts bestowed on us every day and hour and moment of life, and the claims of our fellow-men, in their relation with us to Him; consider all these things, and the mind and heart can find refuge from conviction of its- justice only in rank, daring atheism, and in that only battles against it. Men must either deny such a God as our Lord, or admit the justice of His claim to supreme love. And all the commands of God are right, not only because commanded by Him, but in- 60 THE GOLDEN POT. herently just in their suitableness to the nature of things. True, the wicked may find objection to these laws, just as the robber, seducer and murderer may object to all the salutary laws of the land. "What criminal ever felt the halter draw With any good opinion of the law?" But the opinion of every upright, honest heart is that of David, "I esteem all Thy precepts concerning all things to be right." But some say this law is now unjust, because the subjects have lost the moral ability to obey it! This might be urged with some show of reason if the power had been taken from him against his will. But man lost the power by his own voluntary act, and is still willing to do without it — in truth, does not desire to possess the ability when offered him; and every one who makes this objection is conscious he does not obey to the extent of his power. But is the objection one that should exonerate the transgressor? What is moral inability? It is simply want of will, an unwillingness to do what he knows he should and could. Try it in an earthly court. What would you think of a thief who should come before his judge and say, "I have such a thieving disposition, such a delight and propensity to steal, I have not the moral ability to obey the law against theft; therefore, that law is not just!" Is he not far more daring an insulter who should come before God, saying, "I have such a wicked heart, I cannot obey your law — therefore it is unjust?" And conscience tells him he has made "his heart thus wicked, and that he loves its very wickedness. Could conscience but speak out, its testimony would be, "The law is holy, just and good, THE GOLDEN POT. 6 1 a perfect transcript of its glorious author, a faithful expression of His justice, and the condemnation of every transgressor a righteous judgment. What here and now aggravates man's sin far more is that restora- tion is offered, the strengthening grace of the Divine Spirit, a new heart and a right spirit, which he refuses!" But laws must be enforced or they become mere counsels or admonitions. Rewards and penalties are seals of authority, and justice demands that these be proportioned to the services and offences. Then are the rewards and penalties to God's law in this respect equitable? True, God was not under any obligation to offer specific rewards for obedience, for obedience was our duty and brings its own reward. It is for man's happiness here to obey every statute and pre- cept of God's law. But if we had kept them all per- fectly, we could but have said, "We are unprofitable servants to our Maker." But surely there is no injus- tice in God's promising a reward, or, if it exceed what the service deserves! But as by transgression we have lost all hope of reward in our own right, it only remains to consider whether a just penalty for trans- gression is affixed to the law of God. The penalty clearly written in the book is, "Depart from Me; these shall go away into everlasting punishment." If the penalty is too light, justice is defrauded; if too severe, the subject suffers tyranny and cruelty. But the guilty are not disposed to complain that it is too light, and who has the right or is competent to say that it is too severe? Will the judge leave it to the criminal to say what his penalty shall be? Three things are needful to fit one to judge a penalty: First. He must be able to comprehend fully the guilt and evil of violating a law. ■62 THE GOLDEN POT. Second. He must be able to comprehend fully the jrightful claims of the law maker. Third. He must fully comprehend the penalty •enacted. Then where is the created intellect that can do this, measure the bounds of iniquity and weigh in balances the guilt of the transgression? Can finite tell us the «vil of sin? The least sin which, in its influence, like the pestilence borne on the widening onward circling waves of the air, spreads ruin and putrid death in its ceaseless march, sin, in the aggregate, that dragged .an angel host from heaven and wrecked our beautiful world, leaving it a corrupt and perishing thing, a mighty moral ruin, marked with blood, carnage and desolation in the footsteps of the destroyer! Who can measure the extent and effect of the first act of disobedience, that "brought death into our world and all our woe?" But if we cannot compass the wide ruin or weigh the awful sinfulness of sin, we are surely unfit to fix or judge the penalty affixed to the Divine law. Then the dignity and claim of the great Law-maker is as far beyond our comprehension. Can finite powers measure infinite perfections, or compass the claim of God's justice? Then we are unfit to judge His penalty. In human governments penalties are graded according to the character of the crime and position of the person offended. A slight offense against a ruler is far more criminal than against a subject, because it strikes at the welfare or life of a whole people or nation. Murder and treason for this reason are punished with death or imprison- ment for life, and the offender is regarded a criminal as long as he lives. Then why should not a sinner against the great and infinite God, and when divined THE GOLDEN POT. 63 must forever be a sinner, why should not his penalty be banishment from God, and, consequently, endless misery? Every candid, enlightened conscience must feel that there is an equitable proportion in the awful punishment, and the crime so boundless in its destruc- tiveness, committed against such greatness and good- ness! Paul exclaims, "Is God unrighteous," etc. The very nature of justice forbids anything less than satisfaction to the full claims of the law. Paul, in Romans iii, says, "God set forth to be a propitiation, ... to declare His righteousness;" but if sin could be pardoned without satisfaction to the law, the suf- fering of Christ was not a declaration of the righteous- ness, but of the unrighteousness, of God! But there is no pardon, no mercy, in unsatisfied justice. If all the millions of earth and all the angelic host of heaven prostrate should plead before the throne of God, they ■could not secure the pardon of a single sin! But the guiltiest transgressor on earth may bend his knee l»efore God in the name of Jesus Christ and find mercy, for justice is satisfied in Him. But laws may be a perfect expression of equity, be suited to the nature of subjects, and enforced by adequate penalty, but another clear manifestation of justice is in their impartial execution. We often reason of God's benevolence, wisdom and justice, from the same attri- butes among men, and, comparing God's proceedings with human administrations, we talk of strict, impar- tial, inflexible justice; but strictly, no adjectives can be applied to justice at all. The true definition of justice is all the demands of a righteous law satisfied, either by obedience or suffering, or both. Anything less is fraud — anything more is tyranny. The attempt to administer such equity by men may be defeated 64 THE GOLDEN POT. in many ways. Ten thousand transgressions may escape punishment through the ignorance of human executives — want of integrity with the judges of earth, want of ability to execute the laws, may defeat their claims; place and power may secure the offender. Kings and conquerors may commit with impunity crimes that would hang the peasant or private robber; the wealthy may corrupt the witnesses, bribe the judge, or pervert both testimony and law; or lawyers, by entreating eloquence, may delude the judgment, or, by cunning sophistry, may blind and mislead the court. But none of these things can affect the justice of God. The omniscient, searching eye of God can see all transgression, whether the thought or emotion of the soul, or the deed of the life; His spotless purity and unswerving integrity will not suffer them to escape, and His omnipotence can punish them all. The frown of royalty or the bravado of the conqueror has no power before the almighty Judge, but the king of Babylon is driven out to dwell with the beasts of the field, and Bonaparte perishes in lonely exile. Obscur- ity cannot hide the criminal; the guilt of the despised pauper and the deed of the stealthy midnight assassin are clear before the brightness of His face. All the wealth of earth could not buy favor at that court, nor corrupt the Judge of heaven; and though Noah, Job and Daniel should plead, they could not turn aside justice, and no art nor sophistry can there shield the accused! Job says, "The work of a man will He render unto him, and cause every man to find accord- ing to his ways ; yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment." If justice can be defined at all by adjectives, God's THE GOLDEN POT. 65 justice is most emphatically strict, impartial, inflexible justice. Of all that have ever been called to judg- ment, not a single sin, whether the slightest offence of omission, or the bold, crimson crime; whether the thought of the heart, or the darkest deed of life, not a single sin has passed unpunished; and of all the millions who must yet stand at the bar of God, not a single sin will pass unpunished — the penalty must be endured for every transgression of every soul that ever has lived, or ever shall live, to the end of time. This only is justice. He who cannot find, or will not accept a sufficient substitute, must suffer for himself or herself! But it is objected that the distribution of rewards and penalties in this life are not just, that we often see the wicked prosper and flourish, and the good poor and afflicted. In the strict sense of justice, rewards and penalties are not distributed at all in this life. Should we complain that justice is defrauded by the imprisoned malefactor awaiting execution, or the criminal given a few days' reprieve by the gover- nor? Or that God gives a short respite to the guilty of earth? Poor, guilty rebels are but sporting in their prison cell, and the few drops of wrath that fall upon them here is but an intimation, an assurance, a security that the full flood of wrath shall be poured upon them hereafter. It seems the Psalmist was once disposed to complain of the present administration. Psalms lxxiii: 3, 13, 16, 17: "For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. . . . Verily, I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. When I thought to know this it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end." 66 THE GOLDEN POT. If any are tempted, like the Psalmist, to be envious, let their faith stretch out and stand before the supreme and final court of appeal on the great day of assize, when the throne of judgment is set, when the books are opened and the dead, small and great, stand before God. There will be no king, royal power or con- queror recognized there — no wealth, attorney nor learning will influence that court; no poverty, title nor rank will stand at that tribunal; it will be a con- gregation of human beings, of unappendaged, of unvarnished men, of plain, unceremonious, earthly beings, of all but moral character bereft, and their deeds of good or ill will be as clear before the Judge as if they had embodied form. The revengeful thought as plain as the midday murder — the cheating theft of the tradesman as plain as that of the highway robber, the guilt of the avaricious, that never gave an alms, as clear as that of him who trod upon the poor, and drove the slave to his unpaid toil at the end of a bloody lash; the whispered slander as clear as the loudest blasphemy; the wanton leer and lustful look will wear a stamp as vile as the harlot's brow! There will be no secret sins, no masked iniquity there, but all will be clear before the brightness of the Son of man! "All that have sinned without the law," etc. And when the final sentence is pronounced, the angelic host of heaven and the redeemed from earth will respond, "Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints!" But the justice of God is not without witnesses on earth, and some instances of retribution here give assurances of the impartial decisions of the last great (flay, that men may not forget nor deny that there is THE GOLDEN POT. 67 a God that judgeth in the earth. The conscience often brings to the soul convictions of this attribute. This deputy of God compels persons to judge and condemn or acquit themselves, brings sins in review before the soul, and by a law holy, just and good, whether written in the Word or on the heart, by this measures life, and before conscience justifies the judg- ment of God. Therefore, among the pagans, where God has no written law, the conscience accuses or excuses. Every victim that bleeds on heathen altars, every pang the deluded Romanist or pagan feels from self-inflicted torture, is an admission of guilt and testifies to fear of just punishment. But often, in great peril or a dying hour, conscience extorts from the guilty soul the fullest testimony for justice in a future judgment. The criminal who may elude the officer, or, being girt with power, may defy earthly tribunals, conscience drags before its bar, arrays his guilt before him, strips off the specious pretense that God may be gentle and merciful toward transgression, tears away the mantle of sophistry, rends the last shred of hope, and leaves him morally naked before his own eyes; and as he looks on death, could his terrors speak, their language would be a fearful looking for justice in judgment. There is also in human life that which confirms the dictates of conscience. Happiness, health and peace follow in the paths of piety and virtue, while disease, suffering and misery crowd the path of vice. And history writes some terrible examples of justice in earthly judgments. God saw the wickedness of man, that it was great in the earth, and every desire of his heart evil, and with an overflowing flood He washed 68 THE GOLDEN POT. it clean. Dearh reaped the whole harvest of human souls in a few days, save eight, and who, standing with Noah on the mountain top, could have doubted the justice of God as he saw the waters dried from the carcasses of a buried world! Abraham, the friend of God, pled for Sodom and Gomorrah, but the cry of their foul sin had gone up before the just Judge, and He consumed them in His anger — their smoke ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and stagnant waters now cover the place of the cities of the plain. Egypt, once the prince of kingdoms, the seat of science, the treasure-house of learning and the granary of the East, that gathered her wealth from the rich. valleys of the Nile, said in her pride, "My river is mine own; I made it for myself." And she worshipped the work of her own hands, and trod God's Hebrew children under the iron heel of cruel slavery. And her rivers were dried up, her valleys made hot, sandy solitudes — she became the basest of kingdoms, scarcely reckoned among the nations at all. Babylon, the glory of the Chaldee's excellency, that said she should never be a widow, should never be desolate — yet for generations bitterns stalked through the dank pools settled in her palaces, owls hooted through her gloomy ruins. The shepherd would not make his fold there, nor the Arabian pitch tent there, the wild beast of the desert made his lair there, and dragons in her pleasant places. Babylon was swept with the besom of destruction, and it is doubtful if the true locality on earth is now known. And Jeru- salem, that was the joy of all lands, the glory of the whole earth, the city of the great king, but in her skirts was found the blood of poor innocents; she washed not her heart from pollution in the day of her THE GOLDEN POT. 69 merciful visitation, but crucified her Messiah, and her famishing children were made to eat their own flesh, the mother dressed her own babe for food, the city's strong walls were battered down, the magnificent temple burned, Zion was plowed as a field, and her children, homeless, strangers, are an astonishment, a proverb and a by-word, among all nations! God looketh on the earth and it trembleth. He shaketh the pillars of the world and the inhabitants stagger like drunken men, and the gaping earthquake closes her lips over mighty cities; He toucheth the moun- tains and they burn until a flooded continent boils like a cauldron with the tide of hot lava! He calls for meager famine, till hungry, haggard and hollow-eyed men lie down and die. He sends pestilence and strews earth with putrid carcasses, that want a grave. These are a few examples of avenging justice, that show the Divine hatred of sin. But, above all other manifestations of Divine justice, the sufferings of Christ most clearly and impressively reveal the im- measurable guilt of sin, the extent of the law's claim, and the unyielding and inflexible justice of God. So great the guilt of sin, no other life but that of the Son could atone for it! So great the claims of the law, nothing less could satisfy them! So inflexible the justice of God, it could not spare His only Son! Three times the suffering Saviour said, "O Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me!" But to save a sinner this was not possible even with God, to whom, it is said, all things are possible! While He bore the guilt of His people, the Almighty hand could not turn aside the sword of justice from His own Son! For surely, if it had been possible, God would have spared His innocent Son! If the cattle 70 THE GOLDEN POT. and flocks of earth, slaughtered in numberless heta- combs, could have atoned for guilt; if the coffered millions of the wealthy, or the disemboweled treasures of the universe, could have purchased pardon — nay, if our whole guilty race, suffering for ages, could have satisfied justice, surely God would have spared His only, His well beloved Son! But unrelenting, un- abating justice holds even the balances, and God must lay on the full weight of wrath for the guiltless Jesus! Such a display of justice man or angel has never seen before, and will never see again, not even on that great day, even if millions are driven from Him to endless woe. For the suffering of Christ in the judg- ment of God gave full satisfaction to Divine justice, which a whole condemned world could not do in numberless ages of agony. And is it not an awful argument for the justice of God that it abated nothing of its rigor when it judged the Son of God? If any would delude himself with the thought that the essential goodness and mercy of God is a ground of hope for the guilty, let him look on Calvary, where personal innocence suffered, and tremble. No, God is harmonious in all His perfections, therefore He is strictly, impartially, perfectly just. Then it becomes to us an interesting, an all-important, an alarming question — how can guilty man be saved? How can such a just God be a Saviour, a just Saviour? This He cannot be until the demands of the law are ful- filled. It is vain to pray, to reform, to plead for mercy — God cannot pardon until Divine justice is satisfied. But wnat can appease such anger, what can atone for such guilt, what can propitiate, what honor such justice? Will deep, pungent sorrow for sin, true repentance, secure mercy? Try this before a human THE GOLDEN POT. Ji tribunal. Let the criminal candidly confess his guilt, with the most earnest sincerity his sorrow, promise reformation and plead for mercy. Will the law relax its iron grasp and the relenting judge discharge the convict. Certainly not. Then how dare plead this at the bar ot God, especially when you remember that repentance is your duty, and His gift? Will you satisfy the law with rich offerings, and appease an offended judge with costly sacrilices? Then where in all trie universe will you find such rich offerings, such costly sacrifices? Gather all the glittering trea- sures of earth, slay the cattle and flocks on a thousand hills, and will this be acceptable, or have you given the great Creator anything? "Behold, Lebanon is not sufficient," etc. "Will the Lord be pleased?" etc. Neither would this be sufficient. What, then, can we do? Here all the research and wisdom of man are vain, and the intellect of angels is baffled! Omniscient wisdom alone can conceive and omnipotent power alone accomplish salvation, and even God is represented as laboring and searching to find a way. Listen. "Deliver from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom;" "Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world." Christ comes a voluntary sacrifice, who has a right to lay down His life, and the power to take it again. He is made subject to the law, and acknowledges the justice of its claims by a life of obedience, keeping every precept, both in letter and spirit, heart and life. He acknowledges the justice of its penalty by turning its thirsty sword from guilty man, to sheathe it in His own heart! He drank the cup of God's fierce anger and endured the agony of a soul condemned 72 THE GOLDEN POT. to die, and the purity of the sacrifice, the infinite value of the offering, and the dignity of the sufferer, magni- fied the law, and when upon the cross He cried, "It is finished," justice was satisfied, and God could be a just God and a just Saviour for all who, by faith in Christ, accept this satisfaction. Now there is light; the gloom is dispelled; the darkness is gone, and the way is clear; man may now plead, for God can pardon; now the sinner can hope, for God can have mercy. As before the justice of God secured the sinner's condemnation, now it is pledged for the salvation of those who are in Christ. For when the law is satisfied, God cannot condemn, and "Jesus Christ is the end of the law for righteous- ness to every one that believeth." And "He is faith- ful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." He can be the Saviour of all who come. He can save from the guilt of sin, love of sin and pollution of sin, for He has promised thus to save, and He is a just God and a just Saviour. I close with one question — I cannot answer it, angels cannot, I know not if God can — He never has, yet asks it of us, "How can we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" V. Moral Distance; or, Border-land Loyalty. " Only ye shall not go very far away," Exodus viii: 28. Rebellious Pharoah was cunning and crafty. If they would not sacrifice in the land, then he would let the men go into the wilderness to worship, but they must leave their women and children; or, if they took these, they must leave their flocks and herds, and they must promise not to "go very far away." If they left their wives and children, Egypt would have a hold on them; if they left their flocks and herds, Moses could not keep them away. If they did not go very far away, they could be enticed, or forced, back. This is Satan-like. He is willing sinful men shall go a little way on the road to the promised land, as far as reformation and morality will carry them, as far as respectable, fashionable social life may re- quire; nay, they may go as far as the Church and a profession, if they have a worldly, godless wife or husband outside, or if they leave all their wealth and conduct all their business in Egypt, according to their ways and maxims. They have not gone far enough to trouble his Satanic majesty; they will come back — in truth, they have not gone away at all. The design of this discourse is to show what moral distance is, its influence and safety. The Devil's device is not to let men get very far away from him, or from their sin and temptation. God's command and advice is, get far from iniquity — stand afar off. Moral distance cannot be measured with Gunter's Chain. It cannot be esti- 74 THE GOLDEN POT. mated by so many miles, or so many leagues. The literal space between two persons may be but the width of a wall, or a dooryard, yet the moral separation wide as the poles. When the Israelites had put their full three days' journey on foot between them and Egypt, yet by a railway train we would surely not have called it far away. Yet when they were behind Horeb and the cloud and pillar of fire, and thundering, burning Sinai was between them and the field of Zoan, they were, in a moral sense, farther from Egypt than if they had been on the western border of America. Abraham and Dives could talk together, yet there was a gulf between them, and they were as. widely separated as heaven and hell. There is imminent danger in nearness to evil — to temptation. When there is but a little space between the soul and some coveted evil, there is great danger of the two coming together again — of its returning to it. Pharoah seems to have thought so. When he began to think he would be compelled to let Israel go, his cunning, Satanic command was: "Only ye shall not go very far away." If he could prevent Israel from going beyond the influence of Egypt, keep them from going far enough to wean them from its associa- tions, far enough to forget its flesh-pots and lusts; if he could keep their children there, or even part of their cattle there, he would have power to bring them back. So with man's danger from any evil; only keep him and the evil thing — the temptation — near enough together to stretch any cord between them, and that soul is yet under the power of that enemy, and in great danger. This arises from the corruption of man's nature; because of his depravity he is susceptible to evil influence — temptation has an attractive, com- THE GOLDEN POT. 75, manding power over him. Nearness in many things- is dangerous because of their nature. A powder- magazine and an iron furnace in blast would hardly be safe side by side; the wolf and the lamb could scarcely be safely folded together; the nature of one or the other must be changed. Neal Dow, it is possi- ble,, might live safely next door to a grog-shop; but to thousands it would be a place of ruin. If Samson's heart had been right in his Nazarite vow, he might have lain his head in Delilah's lap in safety; but because of his nature and the state of his heart, it was the pillow of death for him. The Devil is very willing to lengthen men's tether, and let them think they lengthened it themselves; he is very willing they shall go a little way, and flatter themselves they are free men, and can go where they please. But if he can, prevent their going very far away, they are as secure as he desires. A man wakens to the consciousness that he is becoming a drunkard, that he is infatuated and becoming enslaved to strong drink. "What a fool I am!" he exclaims; "I am suffering appetite to master me; I have abused myself; I must quit this." What does he do? Does he say, "I must renounce this teetotally and forever; I must put a wide distance between me and the gilded hall and its companions ; T must secure an^eternal divorce from all its influence and temptations?" No, no! He says: "I have been abusing myself; I must use it more temperately; I will take my glass of wine or ale at my meals, and limit myself at the club." Methinks a smiling Devil says, "Not gone very far away; he'll be back." Another victim goes farther. He has quit frequenting the bar and the beer hall, and wears a blue or a red ribbon; but the Devil says, "Not gone very far; only moved j6 THE GOLDEN POT. round the corner into the next square; I will drop in and see him some Sabbath evening, and ask him to take a walk with me." Truly, the Devil is right; there is a short physical space, but no moral distance at all. The tether is only a little lengthened, but fastened at both ends. As another illustration, take the sad case — unhappily very frequent — of the man who became convinced of the truth that he is guilty before God, morally corrupt, selfish, unclean, in peril and unhappy. What does he do? Does he say: "I will candidly confess my sinfulness, and make a full surrender to Jesus Christ the Saviour of sinners, and give my life to be ruled by His Spirit and law, and walk in His ordinances?" No! But he says: "I must quit these flagrant transgressions ; I must correct these immoralities; I must reform my life and join some church." The Devil says, with a grin: "Not gone very far; only an eighteen-inch wall between me and him, and the door is open." He has not changed a whit, only in fancy; he thinks he has moved to Jeru- salem, but it is all imagination; he is living in Sodom yet. It is true, there has been natural motion and apparent journeying, but no moral distance attained at all. The station may have been changed, but not the state; the soul is still in the atmosphere of evil, the fire and the tinder-box are yet near together, the powder and the match are side by side, and the least friction may produce explosion. You must go far enough not only to stretch, but break the tether at one end or the other. You must put the pillar of cloud and fire, Horeb, Sinai and the cross, between you and your foes. You can never be in safety until you put a moral distance between you and your foes that cannot be measured by any THE GOLDEN POT. 77 mere physical space. But my reader may ask, What is moral distance? A full and clear definition of it is important to us. It is not determined by either square, round or long measure, or any physical space between. Two families may be separated by only a partition wall, yet be morally as wide apart as east and west. During our late war, you may remember, the loyalty of those living along the border was suspected, and why? Surely not simply because they were locally so near the enemy's land; for our "Boys in Blue," who were only separated from Lee's people by the narrow little Rapidan, or stood face to face with them on the other side, were above all suspicion. Then why sus- pect of disloyalty others who only lived on the border- land? Because it was supposed they held rebellious sentiments and opinions ; that their interests, impulses, feelings and desires flowed together in the same chan- nel with the other side — that is, while there was but a short physical space between them, there was no moral distance at all. Moral distance is measured by the inclinations of the soul, by the directions and impulses of the desires of the heart, by the position of the affections in relation to any evil thing or thought, by the truths or principles that impel the life to or from error or evil. Let a man get a sight of an evil, of a temptation, in its true char- acter as a sin, an enemy, a danger; then, if the pulse of spiritual life begins to beat with hatred and abhorrence of it, the moral distance between him and it begins to widen rapidly. Every such heart-throb puts him more than a day's journey away, though he may not have changed his local position at all. The best defi- nition of genuine repentance ever given is: "A true sight and sense of sin, and with grief and hatred of if, 78 THE GOLDEN POT. turning from it unto God." It is this soul-grief for having sinned and hatred of it which places the soul "very far away" in a position of safety. So soon as the soul, in its controlling- principles, impulses, desires and affections, begins to turn away from any sin as abominable, as hateful, because sin, a day's journey of that soul towards the very "far off" from evil has never been measured. Thirty years ago, if you had placed John B. Gough alone on Selkirk's Island, he would scarcely have been safer from drunkenness than he is walking the streets of New York to-day. In the one case his drunkenness would have been a physical impossibility; in the other, by his new creation, it has become a moral impossi- bility. His distance from the grog-shop now is not measured by so many doors, so many streets, or so many squares, but by soul beats of abhorrence to it, by battle throbs of heart against it; there is now a "great gulf" between him and that liquid hell. So whenever a man's soul is brought into such a state as to beat heart-throbs of grief, hatred and abhorrence of any and every form of his sin, of temptation and evil, then by these alone you can measure his moral dis- tance from them ; these alone put him "very far away," and sadden the Devil's hope of his return. There is very little safety in mere physical separation, in so many lengths of space between the soul and its tempta- tion, its opportunity to transgress. It may be a useful means to help a soul that is a victim to some specific form of sin; but unless the moral separation and dis- tance follow, the going back is sure by and by. You may wash a sow clean ; but, if you intend to keep her clean, you must lock her up in the bureau drawer. iSo long as she has the hog nature she will go back THE GOLDEN POT. 79 to the mire if she has a chance. But let any man or woman secure this moral separation from sin — this "very far away" of heart hatred of evil — then they may walk through the foulest dens of guilt and misery in your sin-stained city as untainted as the holy angels, who perhaps enter them in pity and love. There are, perhaps, men among the gold-bags and money-vaults of your banks and exchanges, among the lynx-eyed, greedy, guilty gambling of your boards of trade and centres of commerce, that are doing business uprightly and honorably, gathering the .Lord's treasure to use for the Lord's honor and the blessing of humanity; but, if there are, their souls, by a moral separation, are more than a three days' journey from the greed, cheating and avarice that revel there. After Paul saw that vision on the road to Damascus, you might have set him in the midst of the self- righteous Sanhedrim; they might have all lavished their praises on him, appealing to his Jewish pride and family fame; they might have offered him the pomp of position and all the glory of law learning, yet he would have been safe, unmoved by it all. He could have said, "I have suffered the loss of all these things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ." His soul was separated by an immeasurable distance; for it had followed the heavenly voice heard "by the gates of Damascus, and was up where Christ sitteth. When Jesus, the Holy One, laid His hand on the loathsome leper, or talked side by side with the harlot at Jacob's well, He received no contagion; He was "very far away" from evil, because "holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners" by a great moral distance. For safety, contrary to Pharaoh's orders, you must go very far away, not 80 THE GOLDEN POT. only in miles and leagues, but in heart; it must be moral distance. Only in this separation is there security; but there is absolute safety in the moral distance of a three days' journey in heart from the presence of evil. "Put iniquity far from thee, saith the Lord." How to secure this separation — how to attain this moral distance. It cannot be secured by mere change of location, by travelling away from a tempting thing, or from the place of transgression. Seas cannot separate between sin and the sinner, or the sinner and danger, except the red sea of atoning blood. Change of place will not work a change of mind; change of climate will not change the atmosphere of the soul. The cloister cannot shut unbelief, or lust, or pride, or selfishness, or carnality, or worldliness out of the heart. So long as you are in the world, you cannot escape the presence of evil, though you may be far from it in heart, just as you cannot flee from the Divine presence; "for in Him we live, and move, and have our being;" yet you may be far from God in heart. Lot's wife never could have run away from Sodom if she had crossed the globe; for she carried Sodom in her heart. That was the reason she looked back. Yet some men are foolish enough to think they can run away from a bad reputation, from their temptations and sins. If you are a thief or liar, you may flee to Halifax; but the news will reach there before you. If no other way, "a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter." A drinker canot run away from the drinking evil, from the leech of appetite. He will find it in every land, among all people. The breath of this vile traffic encircles the globe like the atmosphere. You may THE GOLDEN POT. 8 1 travel fast and far, cross oceans, mountains and deserts, lodge in the wilderness, tent on the plains or dwell in caves, bask beneath summer skies or wrap yourself in furs at the poles, yet the gnawing worm will grind away, and the tainted breath will fill your lungs. You can never run away from sin or danger until you run away from self. So long as you live you must face evil, stand in the presence of danger, and walk amid iniquity and temptation; and you may do all this, yet be very far away from evil. How to secure separation, how to attain moral distance, is the question. It is secured through death, by the power of Christ's death over the soul. You remember that death-white face you looked upon in your house one evening. In the morning, when you awoke, he had not returned. You have waited for years; he has not yet come back. He has gone very far away. Before that pale facebring all the power of the evil world and all the fascinations of sin — they move it not. It is utterly unconscious of any attractions before it. Death has forever divorced the soul and these things. In His Word, God uses such a figure as illustrating in some measure the effect of Christ's death upon the believing soul, to separate it from sin, to deliver it from the fascina- tions of evil and the allurements of the world. We do not wish to convey the idea that the believing soul is free from all corruption and indwelling sTh, and as insensible to all temptation to evil as a dead body is to material or sensuous influences; but that through Christ's death there comes to the believer such a knowledge, sight and impression of sin, that it loses its attractive, fascinating power, and becomes hateful, and the soul has become, in some sense and measure, dead to it. Can Paul's language mean less when he 82 THE GOLDEN POT. says, "Dead indeed unto sin," "Crucified with Christ," "The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world?" What can this mean if he did not regard the world as dead to him, and the world regarded him as dead to it? We are far from accepting the doctrine of sinless perfection in this life, or that grace utterly destroys all power of sin in the body; but that through the power of Christ's death the soul is enabled to walk amid all the pollution, guilt and temptations of earth without being overcome by them, the soul regarding them as dead, and they esteeming that soul as dead to them. Else what the meaning of the words in defining sanctification in our catechism, "More and more to die unto sin?" The believing soul has gone very far away, following Christ; the affections are on things above, where Christ sitteth, and every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Through the truth of Christ's death, through faith in Christ's death, by the gracious work of the Holy Spirit through faith in this truth, the soul is brought into this state of death to sin, and to a resurrection journey of three days from it — a moral distance that can never be recrossed. But, again, this moral separation is secured, this moral distance is attained through life. We have in the Scriptures these striking expressions: "Dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord," "I am come that they might have life," "You hath He quickened," "Created anew in Christ Jesus," "A new creature in Christ Jesus." And in Ezekiel God says: "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." By the operation of the Spirit, through the truth as it is in THE GOLDEN POT. 83 Jesus, by the work of the Spirit through the love of God and the grace that is in Christ, new principles, emotions, desires and affections are implanted in the heart; new, high, holy, heavenly hopes, objects and aims influence the life. The soul is brought under principles and motives that impel the life against error and evil, and make the heart throb with grief for having sinned, and beat with hatred against all the temptations, pollutions and destructions of sin. The man is still made to stand face to face with temptation and sin; but he is a new man, no longer a rebel in heart, sympathizing with the transgressor or the trans- gression; but a loyal soldier, looking the foe in the face, says there can be no truce between us, but victory or eternal submission for one or the other is the only alternative. As God carried Israel out of Egypt a three days' journey, so through His truth, through feith in Christ Jesus, He puts the soul into a state of death to sin, and carries it through a new life in Christ very far away, more than a three days' journey toward Canaan land. No power has ever been found sufficient to effect a separation between the soul and sin. and secure a safe moral distance between them, except the power that comes through the death and life of Christ by Divine grace. Mere human resolves and purposes are too weak; the influence of pride, self-respect, fear or worldly interests, is too feeble; mere mental, or even moral culture and intellectual training, are insufficient to effect it. All law, learning, philosophy and scientific attainments cannot secure it. All these forces are but wisps of tow in the soul's flam- ing lusts, or green withes on the giant arms of sin: only Divine cords or bands cannot be cast off or broken; only Divine barriers can resist the incoming 84 THE GOLDEN POT. sea or outgoing flood; only a Divine fortress can stand the assaults of every foe. Faith puts the pillar of cloud and fire, the protection of a gracious God, between the soul and its foes, as these separated be- tween Israel and the Egyptian host. Faith takes the soul as far as Horeb, the mount of God, and not only puts the fiery law of Sinai, but the cross of Calvary, between the soul and its guilt and sin, that they may not come together. Faith not only puts the cross between the soul and the descending sword of justice, but puts Christ and the empty sepulchre between the soul and every Egyptian peril. Faith leads the soul as far away as the fold of the Lamb, the pavilion of God, and while it is yet dwelling on earth gives it citizenship with angels; therefore Paul says our citi- zenship is in heaven, whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith only can lead the soul far enough away to be in safety. God only can enable any one to attain a moral distance from evil, sin and danger. Satan and the world ever plays the part of Pharaoh to the believer or professor and the Church, and therej is reason to fear that many, giving heed to the advice and allurements of Satan and the world, have not gone "very far" from either. The world, evil influence, polluted affections and wicked devices, touch many professors and the Church at almost numberless points. We have not gone very far from the devil's fields in our literature. Such papers as the New York Weekly, the Boys and Girls of Nezv York, the Sunday Herald and Times, and a large number of others whose names it is needless to write, and the "Beadle Novels," the dime and nickel series, all this inflaming, lying, pol- luting, romancing, is a more pestiferous and destruc- THE GOLDEN POT. 85 tive plague than the locusts and lice of Egypt. But much of what is called Christian writing is a polluting dalliance with sin and a catering to vice. It touches vanity, sensuality and selfishness every here and there. These flow through the rhythm and melody of our poetry and song, both sentimental and religious. Some of our scientific journals, ''so-called," are richly veneered with materialistic infidelity. In many of the works of art we have gone but a little way from the border of hell. The so-called divine art of sculp- ture and painting has often ministered to the foulest debauchery, and served Satan more than Christ, and sin more than holiness. In our recreations and amusements, we have not gone beyond the border- land, and many of them are decidedly on Satan's side of the line. Some tell us that the promiscuous dance evokes only pure thoughts and emotions, and gives aesthetic and intellectual pleasure; that it is the enjoy- ment of the beautiful in graceful action, and the poetry and music of motion. Why is it, then, that man cannot enjoy it with his own sex, and without a woman clasped in his arms or going through questionable pedal gesticulations in his presence, and vice versa? Separate the sexes in the performance, and all the beauty of the most graceful action, and the finest poetry and music of motion, soon become insipid — the bead, the spirit is gone from the wine — the pleasure is flatter than last year's unbottled ale. Why? Be- cause the enjoyment, the intoxication, was almost wholly sensuous and sensual. From the Christian (?) parlor-dance and card-table, the base-ball ground, the billiard-table and bowling alley, down to the race- course, gambling den and lewd theatre, they have all been prostituted to robbery and other vices. In 86 THE GOLDEN POT. our social life we have not gone far enough away to let the world know we are away from it at all. The spirit of Christian society, in the tone and topics of converse, and the nature of its pleasures and the light of its joy, can scarcely be distinguished from the intel- ligent, cultured, unbelieving, unconverted circle. We have not fixed a moral distance and distinction be- tween truth and falsehood, right and wrong, purity and impurity, that will detect and repel the untrue and the unclean; therefore Christian families and circles often nurse and warm some of the most deadly vipers in their bosoms. Even in the public worship of God we seem to keep as near the carnal border as possible. The time and length of the service must be regulated by the world's horologe; the praise of God must be as much as possible suited to operatic taste; no matter how giddy or godless the quartette or choir may be, if they can only sing like sirens, that will atone for all; no matter how filthy and big a villain the organist is, if he can only play the big organ skilfully, he may during the sermon retire to the corner drug store (?) and enjoy his grog or cigar. And the sermon must, in its topic, style and delivery, not forget the demands of the rostrum and lecture platform, and perhaps not even the stage, if it is to be acceptable. Thus the spiritual, soulful worship of God, in humble supplication and joyful adoration and thanksgiving, is sacrificed to what it is hoped will please and win the world, yet does not. And it is much to be feared many in the Church have not gone farther from their first position than the width of a church wall, and even while there their heart "goeth after its covetousness;" and when they come out of the door they are, heart and all, in the world THE GOLDEN POT. 87 again. Whether "circumcision" or "uncircumcision," there is reason to fear the "new creature" (or creation) is wanting. The influence of this border position tells with more force against the cause of Christ and the power of the Church than the loudest testimony of a witness whose voice is known to come from Satan's court. It is not the bold, bald writing of Voltaire or filthy Paine, or the brawling atheism and blasphemy of Bob Ingersoll or Parker Pillsbury, that weighs on the mind of to-day; but it is the scientific morality and infidelity expressed in Christian phraseology and Scripture terms. The "potency of matter" and force of natural law, and value of human virtue, given authoritative position and Divine attributes, is the intellectual mask of unbelief to-day. It is not the poem and song of the saloon and dance-house that is most successfully spreading falsehood and filth; it is the sacred rhyme and the songs of the parlor and fireside which cover its suggestion under a cunning "double-en-tendre." It is not the drawings, paintings and statuary of the bawdy-house and the bar-room that is tainting Christian purity, but that of a higher art and finer suggestion found in some Christian homes and galleries. It is not the avowed free-lover and libertine that is endangering social integrity and home happiness, so much as the wealthy man or woman, with culture, refinement, polite manners and a Christian profession covering an unsanctified heart. It is not the non-professor saying the grapes of Eshcol are no better than the clusters of Gomorrah, that decides the choice of others, so much as the man who says he has been in the land of faith and drunken the wine of Lebanon, and by his acts says the world's cup is just as sweet, if not sweeter; this causes others to 88 THE GOLDEN POT. hold back their lips from the wine of life. This border-land literature, art, song, social life and religion is a deceitful go-between, a treacherous messenger and false spy, whose report is that it is better to go back to the flesh-pots, onions and garlic of Egypt, than to try to get the honey of the Holy Land. My reader, if you do not intend to go "very far away," you had better not go at all: it will do you no good, injure the church you connect with, and misrepresent and dishonor Christ in His religion. Seme persons seem to tie themselves to the world, then stretch the tether as far as they can, and think they are going away from the world and coming nearer heaven! What childish folly! A man is no less a captive because his chain is lengthened or his prison bounds enlarged. Perhaps it might be said of you, my reader, Not very far from the Kingdom; but that is to be outside the gate, "where are dogs and sorcerers," etc., Rev. xxii: 15. Is there not truth in the poet's lines: "Angel lutes are touched so near Hell's confines that the damned can hear?" To be only almost a Christian is to be altogether lost. Let me entreat you, my reader, do not show such a spirit of life; do not so live that Satan and the world can say, "Not gone 'very far away.' " It is said, and with too much truth, of some in the Church, they are not very far from where natural common sinners stand; they don't differ much from others; all the religion they have will never hurt them; we never knew that they had gone away from us! Do not, I entreat, live on the border-land of Egypt; for all the influence you will then have, all the testimony you can THE GOLDEN POT. 89 give, will be against the religion of Jesus Christ. "Stand afar off," as far as the east is distant from the west. Depart from the evil, "Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away" — go as far as Christ and Christ-likeness. If you are going at all, go as far as Canaan-land; cross the Jordan of death to sin, and enter into the life that is nourished upon the wine, milk and honey of the promised inheritance; go as far as right is from wrong, love is from hatred, purity is from impurity, faith is from unbelief, hope is from despair, and heaven from hell; go as far as the cross and the sepulchre; go on until you come to the mount of God, the pavilion of the Most High, to an innum- erable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the first-born, to the heavenly Jeru- salem of eternal rest, where there is "no more curse." VI. Sin a Blood Hound. "Be sure your sin will find you out," Numbers xxxii: 23. "Evil pur sueth sinners" Proverbs xiii: 21. Man's sin, like a vigilant detective, pursues him through every street, lane and alley, from cellar to garret, through the crowded throng, into his secret chamber, lays its hand upon him and says to his fearful, fleeing soul, "Thou art guilty!" Or, like the keen-scented hound on the track of the fugitive, through swamp and tangled brake he follows his footsteps; he may crouch in the thicket, but he is not safe; he may seek rest and sleep, but he is startled by the baying of the hound upon his trail; there is no rest, no sleep, no security, for the sound of the pursuer is ever in his ears! Or man's sin is like a trusted but treacherous friend, whom he has taken into his confidence, has given possession of his most hidden thoughts and uncovered purposes and sup- posed his secrets were safe, but no sooner has he learned enough to destroy him than he betrays and ruins him! All these similitudes are suggested by the language of the text, "Be sure your sin will find you out." Like a detective or hound, it will pursue and discover you; or, like a treacherous confidant, it will expose you. It will in some way cause you to be found out either by God or man, or both by your Maker and your fellow-men. THE GOLDEN POT. gz First. Some means used to conceal sin. Some ways by which the sinner is sure to be found out. Ever since Adam and Eve sought to cover them- selves with fig leaves and hide among the trees of the garden, mankind have labored most diligently to- conceal their real character and condition. They are far more ashamed of being detected in sin than they are of having committed sin, far more anxious to have the good opinion of their fellow-men than to be good and secure the favor of God. Scarcely have reason and conscience been sufficiently developed for the child to know the difference between good and evil, innocence and guilt, than this disposition is shown,. and it clings to us all through life. We think we can hide our sin from ourselves, from our fellow-men, and even from God Himself! This proves the exist- ence of conscience and that man has naturally some sense of the evil and guilt of sin. Many expedients are employed to hide sin; among the first of these is lying. Sin employed to conceal sin. Innocence and truth are never employed for such a purpose — they would scorn such service. But sin begets sin, and calls in the aid of sin to hide it. This is about as wise as a thief, to hide one stolen coat, putting another stolen coat on top of it! About as wise as if a thief should himself employ two detectives instead of one to hunt for him. As if a man, to keep a secret, should tell it to two treacherous friends instead of one; for the lie and the sin it was intended to hide will both find him out. Sin was introduced into our world through a lie, and the first transgression was sought to be covered, or excused, by an evasion that bordered very closely on falsehood. Adam sought to clear himself by charging it on Eve, and she by charging it 92 THE GOLDEN POT. upon the serpent, but both the crime and the evasive excuse were discovered, yet ever since that day other sins have been shielded and perpetuated by the sin of falsehood. Although this is the thinnest and silliest covering, yet it is the one most frequently resorted to. When a child has done wrong, nothing offers itself as a screen so readily, and nothing will the devil more surely suggest, than a lie, and this the parent should early warn the child against and by every means correct in it. Only teach your child to scorn to lie, and you may cultivate that nobleness of soul that will save it from many other vices. Lying is the first and the most common expedient to hide sin; there is -scarcely a sin sought to be concealed in our world but it is covered over with the thin, cold sheet of a lie. Under this head we include all prevarication, evasion, deceit, all that have this design; they are all -of the same species of which the lie is the genus. Second. Darkness is another means by which men hope to hide their sin. As light is the emblem of truth and purity, darkness is the type of guilt and error. Purity and truth love the day; they have an inherent brightness and beauty that are lovely and willing to be seen; but darkness is favorable to deeds of shame and guilt. Therefore, like the day-blinded owl, and prowling beasts of prey, under the shadow of night, the libertine, the drunkard, the gambler, the thief, and other criminals of kindred crime, gather to their prey and crowd their dens of infamy, as if the darkness around them were an effectual shield from the eye of God and man. If God at the midnight hour should ■flash daylight into the guilty conclave of vile men, they would scatter and skulk away as a detected dog or a sneaking wolf, that has failed to reach his den THE GOLDEN POT. 93. before sunrise. Says our Saviour, "Every one that doeth evil hateth the light." The wicked regard light, or truth, as their worst enemy, and darkness and falsehood as their best friends. It is very suspicious when men's business must always be curtained about by the blackness of darkness, or be carried on behind screens, barred and bolted doors, guarded by mysterious grips and pass- words, and the Christian, as a child of light, is com- manded to "abstain from all appearance of evil," for, says our Saviour, "he that doeth truth," etc. There- fore by the apostle He says, "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness." Man forgets or disregards the eye that seeth in the night as the day, and hopes under darkness and secrecy to sin with impunity. Third. Sin often tries to hide under a good name. It is no uncommon thing for wicked men to call "evil good and good evil." In its own repulsive form it would succeed with few, for "vice is a monster of such frightful mien that to be hated needs but to be seen." Satan would doubtless have failed with our first parents had he not come in the form of what was. then the beautiful and innocent serpent. And now r when he would succeed, he appears as "an angel of light." If any enterprise or sinful scheme would succeed, it must have a harmless, if not a positively good name. Philosopher and poet though he was, Shakespeare was surely mistaken when he said, "There- is nothing in a name." All that is good or ill is sometimes wrapped up in the name. In this land, forty years ago, call a man a lover of liberty and you canonized him; call him an anti-slavery man, and he was much less respected; call him an abolitionist, 94 THE GOLDEN POT. and thousands, who were totally ignorant of the mean- ing of the word, would class him with the devil him- self. Under the sacred name of constitution and liberty, tyranny and treason have hidden their horrid murderous faces. Oh, liberty, such deeds have been done in thy name as might make the ironhearted despot blush for shame! Call the unmanned slave a bondman, only a servant, and sweet pity will dry her tears; call slavery a missionary school for Africa, and the middle-passage loses half its horrors, the plantation pollution is forgotten, the knout and whip- ping post is nothing more than the school-master chastising his pupil with a birchen rod! Treason must always hide his bloody dagger under the holy guise of friendship. Under the name of virgin chas- tity, brothels have become nunneries, and professed abstinence has covered up the filthiest of debauchery. See the clutching, eager miser, toiling in the last beams of day, and keeping sleepless vigil over his gains; but he is not avaricious, O, no, he is only industrious and economical! See the man lingering -over his wine glass, chattering the most senseless rant; but he is not intemperate, he is only generous and social. The most unmitigated pride and selfishness have been masked under the name of charity; sweet charity, thou hast indeed been made to cover sins, a multitude, that were little less than inferno's worst. In the holy name of religion, what deeds of horror have been done! On St. Bartholomew's Day the streets of Paris ran red with gore in religion's name. In the gloomy Tower of London the head's man lifted his ax, and the fires of Smithfield burned in religion's name. As the forged check passes at the bank because it has a good name on it, so evil passes in the name of good; this is a very common shield for sin. THE GOLDEN POT. 95 Fourth. Sin is often hidden under a fair profession of faith and holiness. Under this mask, persons seem to think they can hide their sin from both God and their fellow-men. They sometimes succeed in hiding it from themselves, perhaps to their destruction. Oftentimes impenitence and unbelief are hidden in the Church. Men profess their repentance and join the Church and say, "Well, my neighbors will think I am penitent and hate all sin. I hope I do hate it some, and surely God will think so, for I have joined the Church!" Another might justly say, "I know I do not believe many things the Bible says, but my neighbors will think I do, and truly I do believe some of it, enough, I hope, to save, and that God will count me among believers, for I have joined the Church." Go to a professor's house to spend the night; a bless- ing must be asked on the food, and family worship in the evening, perhaps the morning too, for he wants to keep up the character of a professor, he wants to Delieve he is penitent, believing and spiritual-minded; especially, he wants his neighbors to think so. Surely in their sober, thoughtful moments such persons know they cannot hide their impenitency, unbelief and car- nality from God; but they are so anxious to hide the sin they know it is a shame to love, that they wear this mask. Poor, silly souls! They ruinously deceive themselves, but neither God nor their fellow-men. Don't call that man covetous, or avaricious. True, lie does drive a bargain pinchingly close with both rich and poor, and docks his servants if they miss a day, even if it is to go to church, and toils unceasingly from morn to night, from year to year, and is amassing wealth; but he has consecrated his riches to the Tiappiness of man and the glory of God by a pro- 96 THE GOLDEN POT. fession; don't call him worldly-minded, he only loves the world for Christ's sake, and the man really hopes his profession will secure him such a lenient judgment as this. That lady in rustling" silk or glossy satin, who brushes heedlessly by the sister in shilling calico, and walks the aisle as stiffly as if her spine were an iron bar, and would never think of offering her pew to cheap prints — do not call her proud nor haughty, she has crucified the world by a profession, at least she hopes so, and hopes you will think so. Don't call that man ambitious; true, he would like to have "Doctor of Divinity" appended to his name or "Hon- orable" prefixed, but he only desires to climb the mountain summit that he may lift the cross upon that eminence, that greater multitudes may see it. Oh, no, he does not love fame, this world to him is all vain show, for he is an humble professor, striving for an incorruptible crown! Thus men often try with the thin, cold veil of a profession to hide impenitency, unbelief, selfishness, pride, avarice and ambition. But all these expedients are most futile to hide your sin. Lying, darkness, secrecy, a good name, a fair profes- sion, are all veils too thin and full of holes to hide the ugly face of sin. You may possibly hide it from yourself, and partially from your fellow-men for a time, but you have hidden nothing from God, and only for a time, and very imperfectly, from your fellow- men. Second. Some ways by which the sinner is found out. Men are often exposed by the countenance, the expression and motions of the body. Sinners would be much more secure if thev had an iron or marble THE GOLDEN POT. 97 face, that would take no impression from the soul. The countenance and body are great revealers of the heart's secrets; all the motions of the hands, the feet, the eyes, the tongue, are meaning gestures. Says Solomon, "A wicked man winketh with his eyes, speaketh with his feet and teacheth with his fingers." The wrinkles of the brow, the curve of the mouth, the more delicate lines of the face, the tints and con- ditions of the skin, all have a tell-tale language of things within. If disease is preying upon the vitals, you know it by the pallor and languor of the counte- nance and feebleness in the step. If a man has bruised eyes, scarred features and marks of human teeth upon his hands and face, you know there is a quarrelsome, doggish soul within, as well as if you saw it. Men think their sins of avarice, licentiousness, pride, dishonesty, gluttony, etc., are buried in their hearts deep from the sight of man; not so: they are stamped upon the face and form as clearly and in- effaceably as the expression the sculptor has chiseled upon the marble statue. A well known author has said, "A thief has a skin different from another man; a man that steals, and thinks steal all the time, has a nasty look — his face has a moist, clammy appearance; while the face of one who thinks right and noble thoughts is clear and glowing." You look into the face of a sensualist or inebriate and see the work of the inner fires in the slavering mouth, the flabby, bloated flesh and the bleared, parchment-like skin. You read of the cold, sinister smile of avarice, the cunning leer of deceit and treachery, the averted, downcast look of shame or guilt. You say of a man, "I would not like to trust that man." Why? "I can hardly tell you, but there is something in the tones of 98 THE GOLDEN POT. his voice, something in his countenance and manner, that awakens suspicion whenever I talk with him; I would not choose him for a partner in business or suffer him to run a large account on my books." You say of another man, "He has a straight, firm, decided step, an open countenance, a candid tone — I think he is an upright man." True, by skill and practice, the countenance may be made to counterfeit the nobler expressions of the soul, but its baseness, by close scrutiny, may be detected, for it is difficult to make the face, the voice, the manners, all to lie. Some persons never get the confidence of others, they have so long indulged sensual, dishonest, selfish, ignoble thoughts and feelings, that they have stamped themselves upon the external person, so that all can read them, though they know not how. Think not your sin is hidden in your heart — it is advertising to the world its place and business unmistakably, and we are unskillful in reading the writing on the human form only because every face bears the prints of sin and every heart is more or less imperfect and impure. 2d. By the company they keep. An old adage, "Birds of a feather flock together — a man is known by the company he keeps.'" It is certain that business and duty may sometimes compel a person to be seen in evil company. It was a charge the enemies of our Saviour brought against Him, that He received sinners, and ate with them, that He appeared to be familiar with them; duty and com- passion led Him, as their physician, among them, and the same may take His followers to-day among the most polluted. But this charge would never have been made against Jesus had it not been regarded as a sign of love for sin, and it was the only sign they THE GOLDEN POT. 99 could find in Him. Wicked men sneer at and ridicule pious company, but they are never ashamed of being seen in such company; they may dislike their godless companions to see them in Christian circles, but shame is not the feeling of their souls; it is sneaking, moral cowardice. You may hear an arrested criminal say, "I depend much upon the testimony in my favor of good, old elder D , for I am known to visit there frequently!" A shrewd business man wishes to employ a book keeper or cashier, or secure a partner; he calls a witness, "Do you know young G ?" "Yes." "Is he upright, diligent, trusty?" "I can't say I know anything against him." "What kind of company does he keep? Does he attend the theatre, Trimble's Varieties? Does he visit saloons or faro banks?" "Not very often, perhaps." "Enough, enough, I do not want him at all; if he does not love •drinking, gambling, profanity, etc., etc., why go in such company?" Young man, young woman, you may not be known to be immoral, infidel or vicious, Tjut your heart is revealing itself by the company you keep, on the street, in the social or political circle, and in vain you may deny the charge, your sin is finding you out. "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise, but the companion of fools shall fall." 3d. By the unfaithfulness of accomplices, sin finds out the sinner. Sin, by its corrupting influence upon the heart, has destroyed absolute confidence among men. Almost every one under certain circumstances will doubt his neighbor; suspicion is aroused and kept vigilant by frequent treachery reported, and because every man knows in his own soul that he is not a safe confidant under all circumstances. Is it any wonder this is so? He who will be unfaithful to the trust THE GOLDEN POT. the great God, is it any wonder that when profit, revenge or preferment may be the reward, we should doubt his fidelity to his fellow-men? If your course is honorable and upright, such as an enlightened con- science and the law of God would sanction, if your actions are noble and true, such as will neither dis- honor God, degrade yourself nor injure your fellow- men, you need not blush when the sun rises, nor fear when it sets, neither need you always go alone in your work or pleasures. But if men wish to be safe and hide their guilt, they should have no confederates in wickedness, they will and ought to doubt every wit- ness, because many reasons might induce them to- open their mouths concerning it sometimes. Gain, revenge and preferment, are strong motives on the depraved heart, and a natural disposition to tattle makes all mankind (and womankind, too, I suppose) unsafe. Suppose you wish to step into the bar and take a dram — you want to hide the fact, too? Yes, I know you do, for you know it is no advantage to yourself or the community, you know it is a mean, degrading, dangerous habit, and that you are en- couraging a traffic that is the curse of our land and destroying its thousands. You want to hide your drinking therefore? Well, do not take any one with you then, and do not let the barkeeper know it either, for barkeepers love to boast sometimes what respect- able and pious men patronize them — the safest way is just to steal it, and that is very hazardous; it will assuredly be found out some day. You wish to take a game at cards, to gamble a little? Take the pack and slip off to some old, deserted house or barn, and play by yourself, if you do not wish to be found out.. THE GOLDEN POT. ioi If you wish to follow sinful, shameful practices, pursue them alone; there are several advantages in this, then you need not be afraid of every one you meet, lest the deed has been told, and you will not corrupt others and drag them down to reproach you in hell. A sinful secret is safe with no one, for a Christian should not promise to keep it, and sinful companions are not to be trusted. 4th. Sin often finds persons out by its fruits. It is •a ver)' fruitful thing — never was an evil tree planted that was barren; great the quantity and great the variety of its fruit — but such its peculiar nature and flavor that it is always known to be the fruit of sin. It is sometimes very beautiful to the eye, but, like Dead Sea apples, turns to ashes on the lips. It is a very bitter fruit. Jeremiah said to Jerusalem, "This is thy wickedness, for it is bitter." Like the little book in the angel's hand, it may be sweet in the mouth, but is bitter in the soul. When sinners are made to eat the fruit of their own doings, they often find their meat is gall. Ask the convicted sinner, whose soul is harrowed with a sense of guilt, if it is not an evil and bitter thing to sin against God? Sin will bear its fruit of sorrow, shame and suffering, and by this it is often found out. Deep darkness may have curtained the deed, but its fruit will grow up in the light of the sun. The secret tippler, the libertine, gambler and assassin, often find the fruit of their doings hanging in clusters, so that all can see it. You may bury sin, like the acorn, in the earth, but it will sprout, burst the soil and shoot up into the light of day. We long tried to hide our great national sin. We laid over it the clean linen of religion, we wrapped It up in the starry flag of freedom, we drowned the 102 THE GOLDEN POT. cry of wrong with the louder shouts of liberty. The Church tried to do the work of her Head and King and bring good out of evil. Our free Church and free press and free schools and open Bibles and our liberal laws and all our free institutions were the source of so much good that we seemed to think the evil was surely hidden. We pointed to the Church in the land, growing in numbers and wealth, increasing mission- aries all over the earth and multiplying her agencies and societies for the spread of the Gospel and blessed with great revivals at intervals, and we said, "Surely this is not a nation laden with iniquity." We pointed to our prosperity in arts, commerce and manufactories, unparalleled growth in numbers, intelligence, great- ness, wealth and power, and we asked proudly, "Is this the fruit of sin?" But we were made to feed on the apples of Sodom and gather the grapes of Gomor- rah, and they were a bitter cluster. Treason and rebellion, mourning, desolation and death, wealth decreasing more rapidly than it increased, commerce and manufactories paralyzed, the churches mangled and defiled, bloody fields, desolate homes, aching hearts, tearful eyes weeping for loved ones that can never return — are some of the bitter fruits that found out our sin. And God grant we may not now be found planting poppies and nightshade in our Mormon and Indian policy, for we know "the curse causeless will not come." 5th. Lastly, God often unmasks and exposes sin by His Word, Spirit and providence. You may teach the face, voice and all motions of the body to belie the heart, as the harlot may paint and adorn her polluted form, or as the ruddy hue of health may tinge the cheek, while consumption is devouring within; THE GOLDEN POT. 103 you may keep the company of the good while you iove the evil and your fellow-men never discover your wickedness; but God can and often does unveil guilt to the guilty themselves and to the world in mar- vellous ways. In mercy, God often, by His Word and Spirit, uncovers the guilty heart to the sinner's own inner sight — then truly sin finds out the sinner! Be- fore he thought there was some good in him, now he sees he is wholly vile! Before he thought his demerit not great, now he sees he deserves only utmost wrath. Before he felt himself in little danger, now he sees himself helpless and hopeless in the hands of a just God, and blessed are they whose sins are thus in their own sight unveiled by the Spirit of God, for they flee to the only safe hiding place. God often, by the strange unfoldings of His providence, brings to light sin that had entrenched itself in the strongest security. The sons of Jacob supposed their crime against their brother secure from detection. Reuben, who would have delivered him out of the pit, knew not he was sold into Egypt; their old father had been effectually deceived by his torn, bloody coat; Joseph is a slave to the bloody Ishmaelites, and can live but a few years, and they will certainly hear nothing more of the ambitious dreamer. Years pass away, they are driven into Egypt for food ; there God brings them into such distress that they are forced to confess, "We were verily guilty concerning our brother." Joseph ap- pears in honor there, Jacob is brought down, the whole crime is unveiled, and they are indeed made to bow before the dreamer. David was guilty of a most heinous crime against a brave and faithful officer. He sought first to hide it by cunning; that failed; then he used the sword 104 THE GOLDEN POT. of murder to secure himself against discovery, but the grave could not hide the crime; God dragged it to light and punished it in Absalom's rebellion. Dr. Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, was one day walking in the cemetery. He came to where the old sexton was digging a grave; the sexton had struck into the side of an old grave and threw up a skull; the doctor picked it up and found a headless nail sticking in the temple. Unnoticed by the sexton, he drew it out and wrapped it in his handkerchief. He asked the grave digger if he knew whose skull that was? He said he did; that it was the skull of a man who kept a brandy shop on a certain street, and after drinking a quart of ardent spirits one night, was found dead in his bed next morning. "Had he a wife?" asked the doctor. "Yes." "What kind of a woman is she?" "O, a good enough woman, I guess; but her neighbors talk about her because she married the next day after her husband was buried." The doctor visited the woman, introduced the subject of her husband's death; the woman, supposing herself secure and suspecting nothing, talked freely on the subject and told him the manner and suddenness of her husband's death by drinking. .As she told this, the doctor unwrapped the nail from his handkerchief, and with a firm, stern voice said, "Woman, do you know this nail? I took it from your husband's temple!" Conscience stricken at the unexpected question, she confessed that she had murdered her husband! Sin will be uncovered; it cannot be buried; God is against it. You may deny its possession of your heart, yet it will canker there and compel an acknowl- edgment sooner or later. All things in heaven and earth, animate and inanimate, conspire against the THE GOLDEN POT. 105 hiding of sin. Go where you will, guilt will cleave to you like a Nemesis; your heart, tortured by the burning plague within, cannot keep its own secret; in the language of Webster, "It is false to itself," or, rather, it feels an irresistible impulse to be true to itself. It labors under its guilty possession and knows not what to do with it. The human heart was never made for the residence of such an inhabitant. It finds itself preyed on by a torment which it does not •acknowledge to God or man. A vulture is devouring it and it can ask for no sympathy nor assistance from earth or heaven. The secret possessed soon comes to possess him, and like the evil spirit, overcomes him and leads him whithersoever it will. He feels it Treating at his heart, rising to his throat and demanding disclosure; the fatal secret struggles violently to burst forth. It must be confessed, it will be confessed — there is no refuge from confessing but suicide, and "suicide is confession." Remember, Solomon says, "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy," Proverbs xxviii: 13. When sin finds out sinners, they want to be hidden from the face of the Judge, Rev. vi: 16. VII. Shall the Bible be Expelled from the School House? " Why, what evil hath He done f" Matthew xxvii: 23. If the Bible has clone or is doing any evil in the schools, Jesus Christ must bear the blame; it is His doing, for the Book is His, He is the author of it, and has endorsed and approved its contents from Genesis to Revelation. Therefore you see the pro- priety of using this text for my inquiry, for the treat- ment the Book has received implies that it has and will be harmful in the school house, and should be expelled; then Jesus Christ is the offender, and when this expulsion is demanded we have a right to ask, Why, what evil hath He done? Twenty-five years ago the city of Chicago expelled it from her schools, and the Legislature of Illinois was presented a bill reading thus: "That it shall be unlawful for any Board of Educa- tion, School Board, or Boaid of Directors, to cause or allow to be read the Bible or any version thereof." The following was the Cincinnati action: "Resolved, That the reading of the Bible, as well as singing of religious songs in the schools, should no longer be tolerated; it is the duty to reject everything repulsive to the youthful mind, of which the reading of the Bible stands in the front rank." And recently a dogberry judge on the Supreme Bench of Wisconsin declares the Bible cannot be used in the schools because it is a sectarian book! THE GOLDEN POT. 107 The School Journal in a recent issue says: "The belief that the teaching of morality is not essential seems to be quite general in the State of New York, for of the sixty-one School Commissioners in this State, thirty-six report that no instruction in morality is required in schools under their care." So it seems that the Bible and everything that savors of religion must be expelled from the school house! But what songs may be sung there? And how are you to debar all religion and morality? Hon. Lyman Trum- bull says: Suppose they should sing the twenty-third Psalm. We know some consciences would be offended with that. Suppose they sung the songs of Bernard Fenelon, or Swedenborg, some consciences would be offended at this religion. Suppose they sing the songs of John Wesley, McCheyne, and Holmes; some consciences would be offended with that religion! Suppose they sing the ballads of Byron, Moore and Theodore Tilton; this is the devil's religion, and some consciences might even be offended with this. Who is to judge what songs are appropriate? Unless your board expurgated every text-book of any religious word, thought or feeling, and excluded Christian teachers from every school room, they cannot effectu- ally enough exclude religion to please the irreligious consciences of some of their tax-payers. What could you then teach? Not reading; for the child might come across the truth, "man is immortal," or "Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners," and this would be dangerous reading. Not grammar; for the pupil might have to parse the sentence, "sin is the transgression of the law," and, like an inquisitive Yankee boy, might ask, "What law is this?" Then the teacher would be in trouble. Not spelling and 108 THE GOLDEN POT. ■ defining; unless you leave out all such words as soul, sin, guilt, salvation, Christ Jesus, right, wrong, hell, heaven, holiness, etc., for without the Bible a teacher cannot define these. Not writing; unless they are very careful what copies or sentiments they write; and a good many problems in arithmetic might be dan- gerous, and it would hardly be safe to go beyond teaching gymnastics, the value of a cipher on the left side of the figure, or the place of zero on the ther- mometer. Then the child would be in danger of asking who made it so cold. But some say the action is no offense to the Word of God, and casts no reproach or discredit on the Bible. The action has been called "bouncing" the Bible, "kicking it out of school," etc. But you may say this is only the elegant diction of the Chicago Times. Well, I am no admirer of either the rhetoric, theology, morality, or politics of the Times, but even the devil has been known to tell the truth, and even the Times has been known to use the right word in the right place, and to call things by their correct names. Suppose the board should forbid Webster's dictionary to be used in the school, would not the inference be justly made that it is not fit to be a standard for spelling and pronounc- ing the English language? Suppose Cutter's Anatomy and Hygiene, or any other book that had been for many years accepted in the school was thrust out — would it not be a reflection and discredit? Even the school children so regarded the act. The very day the reading and prayer was abandoned in Chicago I had to meet the question from my own and other children, "Is the Bible not a good book? Why then •quit reading it in school?" The action says to every intelligent mind of the world: The Bible is not suitable THE GOLDEN POT. 109 for American schools, it is not a correct moral standard, its teachings cannot decide any of the great moral questions that concern the welfare and life of this mighty nation. Candid reason will admit it was offensively thrust out. Having noticed what I believe to be the animus and outreach of this action and the offensive manner of it, I now propose to discuss the wisdom and right- fulness of the action under this question: Shall the Bible be expelled from th common schools? I wish the question clearly stated and understood. It is not, Shall the Bible be fixed in the schools by statute ; not whether it shall be there expounded and its teachings enforced; no one, unless the Roman Catholic, asks- this. The question simply is, Shall the Bible be expelled from the place it has occupied for hundreds of years? Those in the affirmative say it should, (1) because its presence and reading there is offensive and oppressive to certain individual consciences; (2) because our State has no religion, and cannot favor or encourage any religious ideas; (3) because its morality is not necessary to civil education — that education which fits a subject of the State for his duties as a citizen; (4) because it is an unjust offense to certain consciences in a school supported by universal taxation. To state a few points of agree- ment among the parties to this controversy before entering on the discussion may avoid confusion in the argument. At least all Protestants on either side of this controversy, I believe, agree: 1. That it does not belong to the State to teach dogmatic catechetical doctrinal religion, or give an exposition of the Bible. 2. That the State may not employ its power to teach j I0 THE GOLDEN POT. or promote religion or even morality as an end. The .State may, and must of necessity, employ religion and morality as a means to secure its own proper end and ■design, which is to conserve justice and right between man and man, and to promote the highest civilization, freedom, civil prosperity and happiness of mankind. 3. We all agree that it is not the school teacher's province to expound the Bible or teach formulated .theology. 4. That the State has no right to compel any citizen to renounce his or her conscientious convictions, or to act contrary to them. But my conscience has no right to compel or influence the State in any action. If my convictions of conscience stand in the way of the State, effecting her rightful and highest end, she must go right on, regardless of my conscience; I must simply endure whatever suffering may ensue from my position, until the State change her action, or my convictions change. As between me and my God, I must maintain my convictions of right and truth though I go down under them. Galileo was right when he persisted in saying, "The world does move," though the Inquisi- tion was unrelenting, and the Romish Church did not move. The State must seek her right ends, whatever personal convictions may be crossed or violated. The attempt to regulate the action of the State by personal convictions would be to load her with a thousand fetters, and arrest her advance at every step. So far as individual consciences are concerned in this matter of the schools, if the recognitoin of the Bible as the standard of morality, and its reading in the schools, is useful and needful to the State in promoting her rightful and highest end, she has a right to maintain THE GOLDEN POT. m it in her system of national education if every Roman, pagan, infidel atheistic and mongrel conscience in the land was oppressed and offended. On the other hand, if Bible morality is not useful or is hurtful to the State in promoting iustice, national purity, civilization, prosperity, and happiness, then she has a right to remove the book, if the action offends and oppresses every other conscience in the land. With the indi- vidual, religion, morality and holiness must be an end ; with the State, simply a means to an end. Then it is our right and duty to examine the influence of the Bible in our national schools, and this I shall attempt under three questions. First. What evil has it done? Second. What good will its expulsion do? Third. Will the expulsion do harm? When the Divine Author of this book was arraigned before Pilate, and his condemnation demanded, even a pagan governor thought it but just that it should be known why. "What evil hath He done?" Now, His Word is arraigned, put on trial, and put under the ban of condemnation, and it is but just to demand, why? What evil hath it done? It has been in schools ever since the first was organized in the new world. I believe the first that might be called a free school was organized in Boston in 1635. There the Bible was read twice a day by the students; and for two hundred years and more there has scarcely been a school in the land without it. From the very begin- ning of State education — from the very initiation of the common school system until the present day, this wonderful book has ben in every school house, with very few exceptions, and now it is proposed to banish it. Before doing so, we demand, why? What evil H2 THE GOLDEN POT. has it done? As men, as free men, as just men, Chris- tians, you cannot do this unless you can show that it does no good, or does evil and is therefore unfit to be used. In all this time have you found it was corrupting your youth? Has it disqualified them for being good fathers, mothers, friends and citizens? Has it made them less pure, honest, truthful, brave and patriotic? You dare not affirm this, for you know it inculcates and enforces with the highest authority all these duties; and that those who study it most, love it most, and practice its precepts, excel in all these virtues. Has it made your citizens less tolerant, benevolent, and law-abiding? The very reverse of this is true. From the teachings of this book your citizens have received the spirit of wise, generous toleration, large benevolence, and subjection to the powers that be, as "the ministers of God, a terror to evil-doers, and a praise to them that do well." "My Word is a hammer," saith the Lord, and in spite of all the perversions of ignorant or mistaken expositors, in spite of all the political and moneyed corruption in the pulpits and pews, the hammer of this book has broken down the strongholds of tyranny, and struck off the chains of slavery; and upon its truths have been laid the corner-stones and built up the grand temple of universal liberty, "throughout all the land and for all the inhabitants thereof." What evil has it done? Has its use retarded the growth of true science, philosophy, literature, polite learning, and useful knowledge of any kind? I point you to the best institutions of learning in the land, to their founders, supporters and instructors, and demand an answer. Are they not the believers in, and lovers of this book? I point you to the most profound scientists THE GOLDEN POT. 113 and philosophers of the land, the most literary and refined, and they, too, with very few exceptions, are the believers in and lovers of this book. Does it restrain the growth of the Roman Catholic religion and power of the Pope over the conscience in this land? The Romish journals, writers and priests say yes, therefore they demand its exclusion. This admits that the Bible is against their teachings and authority; that they cannot endure its rays of light, its lessons of freedom; that theirs is a system of darkness, which cannot tolerate liberty of thought and conscience. Do Americans, does this government, desire to favor, to foster, to strengthen such a system? A Roman Catholic permitted it to be translated and circulated. A Roman Catholic bishop drafted the license to read it, until a better translation could be provided, which he hoped would not be until doomsday. Bishop Geddes, himself a Catholic and translator of the Scriptures, says, "It is of all versions the most excel- lent for accuracy, fidelity and the strictest letter of the text." The learned Selden, literary dictator, says, "It is the best version in the world." But the Catholics will not have even their Douay Bible to be in the hands of the people, which shows that it is not a question of versions at all, but of the Bible itself as being against them. But hear what the Bishop of Bologna writes to Pope Paul III. Speaking of the Catholic Church, he says: "She is persuaded that this is the book which, above all others, raises such storms and tempests. And truly, if any one read it and observe the customs and practices of the Church of Rome, he will see that there is no agree- ment between them, and that the doctrine which she preaches is altogether different, and sometimes H4 THE GOLDEN POT. contrary to that contained in the Bible." Then let our Catholic citizens come out and candidly, like this bishop, say: We want the Bible out of the public schools because it is preventing the spread of Roman- ism. And if Americans wish to tear down the one impregnable bulwark against the encroachments of her darkness and despotism, let them expel this book from their system of education. If they prefer Rome's superstitions and dungeons to the light of Christian truth and liberty, let them condemn the Bible as guilty of a crime in opposing the Church of Rome. In this controversy the children of the Pope have dam- aged their cause by thus showing that the Bible, opened in the schools, is such a deadly weapon against them. But another evil it does in the schools is to offend and oppress the consciences of infidels, atheists, and rationalists. At this I am both surprised and re- joiced; rejoiced, because, if true, it proves their con- sciences are still alive; surprised, because, hearing such talk as may be heard among them and seeing their writings, I had supposed they were never troubled about this old volume of superstition, this invention of ancient priests, cunning imposters, this talisman of old women and weak minds. I thought they were too strong to be affected by the weight of anything it contained; that its commands could never give them anxiety, nor its threatenings give them any distress, nor its doctrines give them any concern. I thought they were happily delivered from all the qualms and terrors and oppressions of conscience, which this book has sometimes laid upon the souls of ordinary mortals. But, alas! they cannot escape from this strange book, any more than common THE GOLDEN POT. 115 people. Here they are offended by it, sorely op- pressed, crying out under their oppressions, and pray- ing the State to give them deliverance. You all remember the man who found he was burning, and called the servant to remove the grate. The servant suggested that he change his place of sitting. O yes, he hadn't thought of that. So we say to these unbelieving gentlemen, if you would not be crushed by this stone, get out from beneath it, then it will not hurt you. But is the State to be guided by their consciences in what is needful for her good? But suppose the State admit that this is a crime in the book, and remove it from the schools, then have we any assurance they will not turn to the State and say, "Now the book is offensive and oppressive to us in the courts, and in the halls of legislation, and in the almshouses, and in the schools of reform, and in prisons, and in daily business, and in our asylums for deaf, dumb and blind; in fact, the old book is offensive and oppressive anywhere in the United States, and we demand its exile. This is a free country, and we will not be offended and oppressed by anything in it." But this question might arise here: Is the individual conscience to guide the State in her duty? If these gentlemen whose great business is not to believe, declare to the State they do believe in their consciences that to expel the Bible would best conserve the demands of justice and most promote civilization and freedom, must the State therefore expel it? Then, what must become of all the other consciences in the land? If the seven million Catholic consciences are to be respected, are the twenty millions of Protestant con- sciences to be disrespected? Are the few millions of Il6 THE GOLDEN POT. pagan and infidel consciences to be tenderly respected, and the thirty millions of believers' consciences to be disregarded? What an absurd idea that the State is to be guided in her duty by any such rule! This would be to fetter the freedom of the State with ten thousand chains, and turn personal liberty into licentiousness. If the Christian truth concerning God and man will best subserve the ends of the State, then she is bound to favor and adopt this, not because it is the religion of the Christian, but because it best secures civil self- government, justice, freedom, and civilization to man, which is the design of the State. Then, are we going to declare that it is a crime in the Bible to oppress and offend the consciences of infidels and atheists, and for this turn it out of school? Then you may oppress and offend more consciences than you free. But it is said the Jew is also offended by this book in the schools. Then I ask my Hebrew fellow- countrymen to go back into those lands where govern- ments are not founded on Christianity; where Bible truth does not enter into their education and civil institutions, and tell me what his people get there? Do they get freedom — civil and religious, protection for life, property and pursuits, and manhood equality? No! Then let him come back to this land where Christianity underlies the government and all its institutions; where through the common schools Christian truth is poured into all the national veins; then with a freeman's ballot in his hand, let him count up his blessings : full protection for his religion, his life, his property, his pursuits, intellectual and material. And with the regal coronet of manhood and liberty upon his brow, I ask him would he banish the truth which has conferred such an inheritance THE GOLDEN POT. 117 upon him? Has he reason to say such a book is offensive and oppressive? And the very conduct of the Jews in regard to our schools proves that this plea is put into their mouths by those who would use them for a purpose. But if they hold such a thought, justice and gratitude to their adopted country demand that they retract it. But there is another class, it is said, which the Bible is guilty of offending. There are several thousand Chinese in California. Many of them own property and pay taxes, and if they should hear the second commandment read in the schools, and that Jesus Christ was greater than Confucius, and that they ought to worship God and not idols, then the children will not reverence the idols they find at home, and the parents will be deeply offended, will complain that their rights and liberty of conscience is violated, and they will demand a division of the school fund. Then it is a great crime in the Bible that it cannot make darkness and light agree, and for such guilty weakness it must be turned out of school. At the bidding of John Chinaman this nation must put out its eyes, or quench the sun in the heavens. The right of the national conscience to light and freedom is not higher than the right of a personal conscience from the Celestial Empire! What insufferable effrontery! to see men fleeing from the barbarism, despotism, and darkness of their birth-place into this land of freedom, light and happiness, and before they have looked upon it long enough to heal their blinking, purblind vision, they coolly turn round to tell us that they are offended with the Divine foundation-stone our fathers laid beneath the temple of liberty, and they propose to remove it and place one there hewn out by Confucius, Il8 THE GOLDEN POT. or one blessed by the Pope of Rome, or one dug up. by Humboldt in Germany, or one taken from the quarries of France by Voltaire, or from some other place where the air of Christian freedom has never been breathed, or leave the temple of liberty without any foundation. What shameless ingratitude! Given a free asylum from darkness and oppression, exalted to the position of men, with every personal right they can reasonably demand most sacredly guarded, they are displeased. Then we say, if our Canaan don't suit you, go back to the flesh-pots and brick-kilns of Egypt; for we cannot try the hopeless experiment of building a nation without a God, a Sabbath, and a moral code, without the education of the affections and moral nature of man. But, one says, you should not say this about for- eigners, they have a right to a home and freedom here, and this country needs them. I readily concede their creation rights, and freedom here, but they have no right to arrest the freedom and right of the State in her freedom to perpetuate her existence in liberty and Christian civilization. If this is to be their work, this land has no need of them. Another reason for turning the Bible out of school is that it is a sectarian book! What evidence of this? Why, a great many don't believe in it. If that makes it sectarian, then the Creator is sectarian, for many claim they don't believe in Him ; then human freedom is sectarian, for many don't believe it is the rightful inheritance of all men. God gave His Son to the world, and the unbelief and rejection of Him by many does not disprove this truth, or make Him a sectarian Saviour. The Word of God is no more sectarian than the air that surrounds the globe, as it is the only truth THE GOLDEN POT. 119 designed and adapted to give the world a pure moral atmosphere. It is no more sectarian than the sunlight that enfolds and gladdens the earth, for it is the only light that can enlighten the pathways and tombs of any land. All its great truths, principles and laws are as universal as the intelligent creation of God. But it should be turned out because it alone is guilty of producing discord and strife. Some people used to tell us that abolitionism was the sole cause of trouble in this land; just let slavery alone and we can have peace! But slavery would not let us alone, and now Romanism, infidelity, communism, filthiness, political thievery, corruption, and every deviltry that imperils the nation's life will not let us alone, however peaceable we may be. But some Protestants on the affirmative of the question say it is such a mere per- functory service, its reading has so little effect, is of so little value, why not give it up for the sake of peace? My dear Protestant brother, why can you not persuade your Catholic or infidel brother to reason thus: It is a mere perfunctory performance of no educative or religious influence, and we will not disturb the vast educational interests of the land about such a trifling matter? Would it not be well for these flexible brethren to exhort the agitators on tnat side a while, and read them a lesson on forbearance and charity? That the service is perfunctory enough we all admit; but this persistent clamor and obstinate opposition to its presence prove that its influence is felt, that its leaven works, that its hammer strikes, that its fire is burning a little at least. The mere recognition of its authority by commanding the school in silence to hear it read, has a restraining, controlling, educating influence! nay, more, if laid unopened upon the desk 120 THE GOLDEN POT. in every school room, it would have a power, as it is known to be the Book of books, the Law-book of the King of kings, and this bitter war against it is a testimony to its irresistible influence, which I am ashamed any Protestant should attempt to hide. You cannot persuade a Catholic infidel that the Bible has no power in the schools ; they know better. The mere recognition of it as the perfect law of Divine justice and the only standard of pure morals makes it a power, and this is just what the infidel and rationalist especi- ally object to. And it is because of this salutary, silent, yet immeasurable power in national justice and morality that we protest against its expulsion from the educational system of the land. This charge against the Bible as the troubler of the school is about as reasonable and just as king Ahab accusing Elijah of troubling Israel. But the prophet's reply is, "I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house," etc. So we say to the infidel, Teuton and Catholic, "The Bible is not a troubler of the schools, but you and your father's house at Rome." For two hundred years this book has been an instructor in the schools of the land, and we can say of it as Pilate did of its Author, "We find no fault in it." II. What good will its expulsion do? Henry Ward Beecher said the Bible will do a world of good in the schools, and no harm. Yet he was willing to give up this world of good for nothing. But you must remember he was so liberal a fellow he would give away almost anything that did not belong to him. And he was so cosmopolitan, both in his precepts and practice, that the world has been disputing for years as to what his faith and practice was. What good will its expulsion do? THE GOLDEN POT. 121 If it can be shown that a vast amount of good will result, we must yield, but we must demand a great reward for such a sacrifice as we believe this to be. What good will it do? Will it be any advantage to Romanism? Will it encourage and promote the growth of papal error and power in the land? Lead- ing Romanists say it will, and we believe they know and are right in their judgment. Cardinals and bishops might truly say to each other, "It cost us armies, blood and treasure to save France from the Huguenots. Three centuries of persecution and war lias not wrested the Bible from a little band of Wal- denses. The Hollanders conquered us when we were mighty, and have kept the Bible in their schools. But America, in the hour of her strength and glory, we have taken by a fallacy. We told them that they had a State without religion, and they believed it. Nay, more, Protestant ministers came forward to help prove it! We also told them that, as a logical sequence, they have a school system without a religion, and they believed that too. We have struck the American republic the heaviest blow it has ever received. Slavery fought their national liberty, and they conquered. We assail their national religion, and they yield without a struggle. We have burnt Bibles by the hundreds and by the thousands, and have turned it out of schools by tens of thousands. Our emissaries stand at the doors of sixty-five thou- sand schools, and receive them from two hundred thousand teachers." Cardinals and bishops would have just ground for such language, and might afford the expense of several thousand Bibles to light their bonfires of triumph. Now, if you think the growth of popery good for this land, you can aid it in this way. 122 THE GOLDEN POT. If it will advance knowledge, purity and happiness; if it will promote justice, and wealth, and peace; if it will spread light and freedom, then you are bound to do this, because for this the State was instituted. Will it? But one says it will bring the Catholic children,, thus give a chance to educate them intellectually at least, which is much better for the country than to have them grossly ignorant. But I think it will not do even this much. Catholic journals, writers, priests and bishops scoff at the idea that they would patronize schools where there is no religion. Since the expulsion of the Bible, Bishop McQuaid says: "These public schools are built by force to give education without God, without religion. . . . According to the law, God is not allowed to enter into the public schools." A priest, writing in The Boston Advertiser, says: "Catholics would not be satisfied if the Protestant Bible and every vestige of religion was banished from the schools." They demand that the teacher shall be a priest, at least a Catholic, and their version not simply read, but expounded — taught there; for, says the Catholic Tablet, "Education is the business of the spiritual society alone." What the Romanists desire is to disturb, and, if possible, destroy the whole system of public schools, and they are willing to co-operate with any and every enemy of the Bible to accomplish this end, hoping then, either to divide the school fund (as they have done in East St. Louis), or to secure wholly the instruction of American children. And other enemies of the Bible make this only the first step in driving Christian principles out of every civil institution of the land. If the Catholic wanted the THE GOLDEN POT. 123 Bible out, simply that he might patronize the school with a good conscience, I could feel much more lenient towards his motive; but, believing that his object is only the destruction of the system, I can feel no sympathy. Let us hear their prominent exponents: The pope, who is received by his Church as the infallible representative of God upon earth, has sol- emnly declared in the syllabus that Church and State should be united, and that the Church should control the schools. The Freeman's Journal, in New York, says plainly that "The school tax in itself is an unjust imposition." The Tablet announces that it is opposed to "purely secular schools." The Catholic Telegraph, in Ohio, asserts that "It will be a glorious day for Catholics in this country when . . . our school system shall be shivered." The Catholic Columbian, the organ of the Roman bishop at Columbus, Ohio, says that "Catholic parents cannot be allowed the sacraments"' who send their children by preference to the public schools. Archbishop Purcell, of Cincinnati, writes that he does not approve of the public school system. This is only the shadow of the Pope's big toe; his purpose is to set his foot upon it with crushing weight. But, say some, many parents, in spite of priests and : spiritual rulers, would send their children to the schools if the Bible is removed. Why do they not do it now? There are thousands of professedly good Catholics who will tell you now that the Bible question is not troubling them, they do not think our English version dangerous to their souls ; why, then, do they not send" their children now? Simply because of priestly despotism. Suppose you were to go to a genuine Catholic to-day and ask if the Bible was removed from the schools and the priest and Pope should forbid 124 THE GOLDEN POT. you to send your children, would you send them? No. They would cease to be Catholic if they did. By such an act of disobedience they would trample under foot the fundamental law of papal authority, and these parents would soon find themselves excommunicated, or made to feel such penalties as would either compel them to retract, or break their ecclesiastical connection forever; and with such maledictions and social ostra- cism threatening them, how many would dare disobey? The experience of the past clearly shows there would be few, very few, too few to justify such a concession as this. No, it is the principle of State schools, and the Bible among the people, that Romanism is op- posed to. How many go when the Bible is put out? Says the Freeman's Journal (Catholic) : "If the Catholic translation of the books of Holy Writ were to be dissected by the ablest Catholic indorsement, and these admirable Bible lessons alone to be read in the public schools, this would not diminish the objections we Catholics have to the public schools. The Catholic solution of this muddle about the Bible or no Bible in schools is 'hands off.' You take care of your chil- dren and we will take care of ours. Let the public school system go where it came from — the devil. You will catch few Catholics by expelling the Bible." It will do no good in this way. What other good will it do? Will it aid infidelity and atheism by re- moving a most impregnable barrier to their progress out of the way? Will it be any advantage to the creed of rationalists? They all certainly believe it will or they would not so earnestly demand it, so persistently contend for its expulsion. And they are certainly justified in thinking so. When this is done they can turn round and say, "Now the world can see THE GOLDEN POT. 125 that free, enlightened America is with us; they have kicked the old filthy book of superstition out of their schools as unfit for the people to read, but Buckle, Combe, Draper and Darwin, Huxley, Mill and Spencer are kept in many schools of the higher grade. Now it will not be difficult for us to persuade the lads and lasses of this land that the God and Redeemer of this book is a myth, and that it is simply a jumble of mythology, allegory and superstition." Whenever they can get the State to cease teaching the Bible as the Word of God, and as the standard of justice and morality, and get it to stop appealing to it as such, that moment they make the State, to a certain degree, an ally of their infidelity. Disguise it as you may, this exclusion of the Bible from our public schools is a measure in the interest of Romanism, rationalism and infidelity; not simply a neutral position between these and Protestantism; for they have combined harmoniously together to press this end to its complete accomplishment. Italy, to-day, is nothing but a mix- ture of superstition and of bold unbelief. In France, the professed religion of the establishment and of the uneducated masses is Romanism; while that of the elite and learned is open infidelity. Now, if the condition of crushed Italy and restless, tottering France is better than a firm Christian repub- lic, then you can get this good by excluding the Bible! Is this the good you promise yourselves by this measure? I think not. But, perhaps, you say this will bring peace and safety to the distracted and im- periled system of common schools. Let us see. There are several millions of Protestants in this land who believe with all the power of deep conviction that the morality of the Bible, infused into the national life j 26 THE GOLDEN POT. .through her educational institutions, is essential to her safety, her very being; that intellectual culture without Christian morality is a curse rather than a blessing; that paganism, Romanism, rationalism or utter god- lessness, is not as good for a nation as Christianity; that the principles of Christianity underlie the whole superstructure of the republic; therefore they believe that this measure imperils not only the morality, strength and prosperity, but the very life of their country. But you say these infidels, Jews, Romanists, etc., are so strong and obstinate in their conviction they will not yield. But these millions of Protestants have such weak convictions, or else their religion has taught such charity and forbearance, or, in other words, has made them such poltroons, they will yield their mostprecious principles for sake of peace! Ah, indeed! When was this astounding discovery made? Those who think thus have either never read history, or have read it in vain. If it teaches any one thing clearly, it is that Christians never yield a moral principle. They love peace. They are followers of the Prince of peace; but they have been taught by Him that peace only comes through freedom founded on pure moral truth, and whenever you make your schools a place where the Author of Christianity cannot be spoken of, or only spoken of as a historic character, like Mohammed, or Julius Caesar, or Napoleon ; where the child cannot be told that the great teacher and preacher was God; where he cannot be told that he has a soul, and there is a code of morality higher than human statutes and police records; when you remove from your schools everything that can offend a Jew, Mohammedan, Chinaman or common infidel, then these twenty mil- THE GOLDEN POT. 127 lion Protestants will withhold their children and put them into schools of their own, where they can learn -such truth as will fit them for free self-government, and qualify them to preserve and perpetuate liberty, republicanism and Christianity. You are pushing the only measure that can break the common school -system of this country into ruinous fragments. But some make this kind of argument: There is plenty of room outside the common school to teach the Bible. Educate in morality and religion in the family, the Sabbath school and the Church, and let the State school educate only the citizen. Now, this argument either implies that children only need moral instruction because they are to be men, not because they are to be citizens, or it implies that the State should delegate this part of her duty to the Church, and hold her responsible for this part of the citizen's education, thus uniting Church and State. Thus the State, while taxing the people to fit the children for citizenship, asks the family, Sabbath school and Church to do this part of her work gratuitously. Certainly it is the duty of the Church, if within her power, to give moral and religious instruction to every immortal soul, because it is a rational and immortal soul, and not because it is a citizen. If the moral, practical principles of Chris- tianity are needful to be known and practiced to make the best citizen (and few thoughtful persons will deny this), then it is the duty of the State, for her own sake, to have these taught, whoever may object. And there are thousands of children that are soon to be citizens with fearful power in this land, who are not taught any of these principles in the family, and whom the Church and the Sabbath school cannot reach, and whom for her own sake and for the life and welfare of the nation, 128 THE GOLDEN POT. the State should reach even if it be by a species of compulsion. The State should do her duty whether the Church does hers or not. And having taxed the people to enable her to do the work of educating citizens, she cannot turn that over to any other organization. Another, a clergyman, comforts us with the thought (as if he had made a discovery) that God can take care of and vindicate His own truth. So He can take care of the city, State and nation; so we had better abdicate every position and duty He has required of us and tell Him, as He has the power, to attend to matters and give us no trouble! He took care of the antediluvian world, and of Sodom, and of the kingdom of Israel. And if we cast off all reverence for His fear, and respect for His authority and law, He may take care of our city as of Sodom, and of our nation as of shivered Israel; but if we don't desire to fall into the care of insulted justice, it would be better to know and regard the principles of eternal justice and right. But some say although we expel the Bible from the schools, yet we intend to have its morality taught in them. We intend to teach our future citizens integrity, truthfulness, honor, honesty, virtue and purity. This is strange! You are going to teach the principles of the book, yet expel the book and deny that it is a standard of justice and morals. You are going to teach law according to Blackstone as the only standard, yet leave Blackstone out! You are going to teach the principles of the constitution of the United States, yet discard it as a standard, and forbid the reading of it! This is worse than the play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out. You propose to steal the morals of the Bible and not let any one know where you get THE GOLDEN POT. 129 them, then teach your scholars not to steal! Suppose the teacher tries to teach the young Yankee he should not lie; it is wrong. Who says it is wrong? God says it is wrong. How do you know? Did He tell you? His law says so. Where? I would like to see the book; for my pap says it is sometimes right to lie; that one of the wisest men, Plato, said men might lie if they knew how to do it ! Suppose she tries to teach another he should not steal, but he says, I would like to see the papers for that; for I heard my father say it is no great crime for a man to steal a little from another who has lots more than he has; and he said that Austippus, a very learned man among the ancients, said, "A wise man might steal when he could without crime wronging others." When you propose to teach morals you will find you need a statute book, and a recognized, rightful authority behind the precepts to give them force upon the con- science. They who hope to keep all the morals and virtues of Christianity, yet expel its statute book, are deceiving themselves with mere words and names. On but one principle can we sustain common school education, so essential to our national per- petuity, and that is by starting on the principle that we are a Christian country, and that heathenism, infidelity and all kindred systems, must submit to the preference of Christianity. Said the great Webster: "Objection to the multitude and differences of sects is but the old story, the old infidel argument." It is notorious that there are great religious truths which are admitted and believed by all Christians; and cannot all these great truths be taught to children without their minds being perplexed with crushing doctrines and sectarian controversies? And I assure you these truths form 130 THE GOLDEN POT. the trunk from which grow out all the moralities and virtues of life as branches. Without them no moral life or force can be put into the character of the pupils and citizens you are educating. And Protestants cannot support a system without these. Then, instead of peace, this expulsion will produce utter ruin. It can do no possible good, but will do great evil. This brings me to the last query proposed: III. What evil will its expulsion do? I have already mentioned incidentally several evils that will result from this exclusion. Among these I will refer again to the fact that it will not only give an advantage to Romanism and every form of error, skepticism and unbelief, but it will offend and alienate the oldest and firmest supporters of our common school system; that is, the genuine Protestants of the land. Careful inquiry will show beyond cavil that these have ever been the originators, supporters and defenders of this grand system of public instruction. Dr. Clark, of Albany, truly says: "Common schools are the offspring of Protestantism; we have them be- cause we are not under the domination of the Pope. Romanism is the enemy of common schools, of popular education in every form. The glory of our system is universal education; that of Rome, universal ignorance. The meridian of Romish ascendency was the midnight of the world's history." Is it wise, is it safe, to offend and alienate these old, tried friends? Could you get the support of even seven million Romanists (granting there are so many), by offending and losing fifteen to twenty or thirty million Protes- tants, as a mere matter of policy, would this be wise and safe? Is there not a danger here worth guarding against? THE GOLDEN POT. 131 Another evil is, you banish from your schools the best book, in a mere literary point of view, that the world contains. Said Sir William Jones, "These Holy Scriptures contain more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, more pure morality, more important history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected from all other books, in whatever age or language they may have been written." Said Dr. Fisher Ames, a distinguished American statesman, "I will hazard the assertion that no man ever did, or •ever will become truly eloquent without being a con- stant reader of the Bible and an admirer of the purity .and sublimity of its language." Said Daniel Webster, "I have read through the entire Bible many times. It is the book of all others for lawyers as well as divines; and I pity the man who cannot find in it a rich supply of thought, and of rules for his conduct. It fits a man for life ; it prepares him for death." John Locke says, "It has God for its Author, salvation for its end, and truth without any mixture of error for its matter." Says an eminent Catholic writer, "The uncommon "beauty and marvellous English of the Protestant Bible is one of the great strongholds of heresy in this coun- try! It lives on the ear like the music that can never be forgotten, like the sound of church bells which the convert hardly knows how to forego. Its felicities often seem to be almost things, rather than words. The power of all the griefs and trials of a man is hidden beneath its words. It is the representation of his best moments, and all that there has been about him of soft, and gentle, and pure, and penitent, and good, speaks to him forever out of his English Bible." Chalmers, Webster, Coleridge and Carlyle agree in •saying that the inspired book of Job is the sublimest 132 THE GOLDEN POT. poem in the possession of mankind! And Dr. Frank- lin, for the most beautiful pastoral story ever penned, selected the book of Ruth. To rob the citizen pupils of such a literary treasure should cover the nation with shame. To forbid any child in the land to read it in school would dishonor our country before the whole literary world. We protest against such an unjust, ignorant, disgraceful edict as this would be! But worse than this, you banish the only book that can teach and enforce with authority pure moral truth upon the conscience and heart. Our opponents all say, certainly morality should be taught in the school. For our citizens to lie, and steal, and swear, and get drunk, and break the seventh commandment, would ruin the country. For our politicians, statesmen, rulers and judges to take bribes and sell their votes, and embezzle public funds, and gamble, and plot treason, and rebel against the authority of the govern- ment, would soon ruin the State. Certainly, morality should be taught. . Then we ask, what kind of moral- ity — pagan, infidel or Christian? Morals of wise men*, of heathen and deists? The laws of Sparta required theft, and the murder of unhealthy children. Athens enacted that maimed children should be killed. Plato, in the constitution of his republic, taught the com- munity of women and property. Plato taught he might lie who knew how to do it. Austippus taught that stealing and adultery were no crimes. Cicero and Seneca that suicide was the mark of a hero. Lord Herbert, an English deist, taught that indulgence of lust was no more sin than indulgence of thirst, and adultery no crime! Another taught that a man has a right to all things and may get them if he can. Hume taught that adultery must be practiced to obtain THE GOLDEN POT. 133 all the advantages of life, and would soon come to be thought no crime! Bolingbroke taught that man was only an animal, and his chief end to gratify his appetites and inclinations. If you turn out this book, I ask who can furnish a perfect code of morals? If any mortal could, can they also give it authority over the consciences of men? Who would feel bound by a sixth, seventh, ninth or tenth commandment issued by Thomas Jefferson, George Washington or the bishop of Oxford? Can deism, rationalism, or the Pope give you such a code? It is a maxim among the Prussians that whatever you would have appear in the nation's life, you must put into the public school. Then if you would have Christian morality essential to the nation's life, you must not turn the only law of Christian morality out of the public education. The famous ordinance of 1787 declares that "religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to a good government and the happi- ness of mankind, schools and means of education shall be forever encouraged." Says Chief Justice Shaw, ■"The public school system was intended to supply a system of moral training." Says another writer on constitutional interpretation, "Security and morality are the supreme laws of the land." All past history establishes the fact that no people, however cultivated and intelligent, who have lacked that moral element which can best be inculcated through a judicious and proper infusion of moral principles in the daily life of the public schools, have been able long to sustain a system of self-government. To suppose that you can make good, safe, useful citizens for such a government without educating the moral nature is preposterous. Such an education is simply sharpening a knife to cut the nation's throat. 134 THE GOLDEN POT. Another fact must be noticed here, that is, that morality can flow only from religious truth. Religious truth is the tree, morality is the fruit. A nation's morality is the fruit of a nation's religion. Pagan morality is the result of pagan religion; Mohammedan from the Mohammedan; Mormon from the Mormon; Christian from the Christian religion. Then if you would have Christian morality enter into the national life, you must keep the great distinctive, essential truths in the national schools. We believe the Prussian maxim true, "What you would have appear in a nation's life must appear in her schools." What is taught here flows into every vein and artery, and makes the throbbing of the great national heart. Expel the Bible from your schools, what text-book will you use to teach your coming citizens and senators honesty between man and man, to reject bribes, to fear and respect an oath? What book will you use to teach them that rebellion against civil government is a crime, that perjury and lying are crimes? What text-book can you use to fit any individual to be either a citizen or ruler in such a republic as this? If you rob the nation of truth-fed, intellectual and moral life, then death is as sure to follow as it is when you open the jugular vein of a man! Can a tree possibly be healthy, beautiful and fruitful if the tap-root and all its fibres be severed? Our nation boasts of its enlightened civilization, its great civil institutions, its magnificent charities, ad- vancement in scientific and practical knowledge, its rapid development and unparalleled growth in wealth, power and national prestige; true, but these are only the trunk and branches, but the intellectual, moral life, fed upon Divine truth, is the tap-root that nour- ishes this grand growth and fruitfulness. Expel the THE GOLDEN POT. 135 Bible from your national system of education, and you either dry up the life-root or poison it, and your great tree either withers in trunk and branch and be- comes barren, or bears the bitter fruit of tyranny and festering political social corruption. Again, you expel from your schools the only book that can teach your children the true source and nature of civil government, gives binding authority to national statutes, and makes their execution possible. Take away the revealed law of God and you leave no vestige of authority for any human law. The Bible lays the only solid foundation stone upon which human gov- ernments can rest and execute their laws ; for it makes the most high God the source of all authority, civil government His ordinance, and civil rulers His min- isters, and enforces obedience to all human laws that do not contravene the Divine law, by the fear of His great name and Almighty arm. "There is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God." Without this truth made known and accepted by the mass in some name, no mortal can establish and exercise a lawful authority over men. You must in some way make human enactments binding upon the conscience and a sin to break them; and to do this, you must put a power behind them greater than any mere human dictum or earthly royalty. The people must believe in an absolute, Supreme Power, whether it be a false God or the true one; therefore, amid the horrors of the French revolution, Robespierre declared if France has no God we must invent one! A nation must have a God and Legislator believed to be infalli- ble, or you cannot administer government over men. But I hear some one say, it has been done in this land, that this nation has acknowledged no God, or 136 THE GOLDEN POT. Divine Legislator, yet the government has been ad- ministered successfully for more than one hundred years! But this is a great mistake. Although this truth and acknowledgement is not in the written con- stitution of the country, yet it is in the providential constitution, and the people have submitted to the government becausethey believed it to be an ordinance of God, and its laws enacted, as they believed, in accordance with the Divine law, and its executors they believed to be the ministers of God. But now there is a very large class of people, and I fear growing rapidly, who believe that civil govern- ment is simply a social compact — merely an ordinance of men, not an ordinance of God at all, and that law is just simply an expression of the public will. When men come to believe that you must administer these without the restraint, without the commanding power of any higher than human authority, and without any higher than human legislation, there remains no foundation for justice and right. This is simply an impossibility; no government was ever administered upon that principle; all governments have founded their laws, and executed the powers of government, by founding them upon the religious sentiments of their subjects. Greece, Rome, India, Persia and China founded their power upon the convictions of the people in the existence of a higher ruler and a higher power — in other words, they received powers to execute laws and the sanction of these laws from the belief of the people in a higher power. So in this nation the people must believe in some power higher than an earthly throne; some legislation higher and wiser than human legislation — either the true and living God, or some false god. There must be this THE GOLDEN POT. 137 foundation upon which to base the authority of the nation and found its laws ; and whenever you can bring the people to a universal, or even an approximate universal acceptance of this idea that law and justice is nothing more than the judgment of human legisla- tion, and that government is simply the expression of the popular will, then let me tell you that I believe that all your enactments which you now seem to think an iron fence around the property and liberty of your people will be found to be simply a rope of tow, and instead of government and liberty you will have anarchy and licentiousness, because right and wrong in this country will then simply be the judgment of the majority, and the judgment of the majority has no right to bind the consciences of the minority. A law which issues from no higher source than from human legislation can bind no one's conscience. You may divorce the Church and State forever, but you cannot, except in folly, divorce State and religion. There are many 'great intellectual and moral principles with- out which the government cannot exist, and one of these is this: that we must acknowledge Jehovah as the supreme source of authority, and His revealed will as the foundation of all law and justice. Without that fundamental principle your government cannot exist. A great many bricks may be taken out of your wall and not weaken it perceptibly. But you cannot with impunity attempt to remove the foundation stones. You may cut off many little branches from the tree and it still live. But attempt to sever the tap-root and it dies. So, I tell you, take up this foundation stone, suffer this to be done until our people lose respect for the Supreme Ruler and His revealed will, and your republican government and your unparal- 138 THE GOLDEN POT. leled freedom will be an impossibility. You might as well attempt to build a beautiful temple without foundation stones; you might as well expect a tree to grow beautiful without a tap-root, as to pluck up those principles and expect a strong and enduring republican government to exist. You must bring this, truth to the heart and conscience of the nation. But expel the Bible from your common schools, and you shut up the only channel that can carry this life- giving truth to the national conscience and heart. But I am here met by what is supposed to be the strong fundamental argument of Dr. Spear, and others, that our nation has no religion, therefore cannot teach religious truths in her schools, that the State must treat all religious opinions alike. I answer, the latter statement is an absurdity and an impossibility. The first is untrue, the second is a ruinous impossibility. All men — the Mormon, the Jew, the infidel, the China- man — all should have equal rights before the law of the land as men. All should have the same protection in person, property, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. All should be in that respect equal before the law of the land; but that is quite different from treating with the same favor and encouragement all opinions. I say that the government cannot give the same favor to the Josh-house that they give to the religion of Jesus Christ; to the school that teaches the absolute infallibility of the Pope they cannot give the same encouragement they do to the school that teaches that God's will is the supreme law of the land. They cannot give to the school that teaches the erro- neous doctrines of atheism the same equality they do to the school that recognizes the Bible and God's laws. They cannot give to the polygamist the same encour- THE GOLDEN POT. 139 agement that they do to the monogamist and his family. Every man sees at once the government cannot do this. Suppose a man comes to this government and says: I demand the same favor and encouragement to teach and disseminate atheism as you are giving to teach the Bible and acknowledge- ment of God. The people would say: "No, sir, we cannot give it. This nation's right to live is higher than your right to disseminate any particular dogmas. And if this nation must live it cannot please everybody. This nation is dearer by far than any person's peculiar ideas. Then we say to certain men, your doctrines imperil the safety, peace and prosperity of the nation. Therefore we cannot favor nor encourage them as we do others." That the State has no religion and nothing to do with religion is a great mistake, and a most grievous- fallacy. The State has to do with religion and our nation has a religion. The government has no re- ligious establishment to which she requires citizens to conform and never should have. This is no more necessary to the nation having a religion than it is for an individual in having a religion to compel every person to conform to him. Because of the defect in our organic law it does not set forth the fact, yet the State has a religion. Story, on the Constitution, says, "It is impossible for those who believe in the truth of Christianity as a Divine revelation to doubt that it is the special duty of government to foster it among all the citizens and subjects." Further, he says, at the time of the adoption of the Constitution of the United States, "The attempt to level all religions and make it a matter of State policy to hold all in utter indif- ference would have created universal disapprobation, 140 THE GOLDEN POT. if not universal indignation." Judge Duncan, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, says: "It is impos- sible to administer the laws without taking the religion of the Scriptures as their basis. For Christianity is part of the common law." Blackstone says, "We have received the Christian religion as part of the common law." The courts of New York have held Christianity as part of the common law; so has the State of Pennsylvania. Webster, in his great argu- ment in the Girard will case, says, "Christianity is the law of the land." Statutes against blasphemy, and the violation of the Sabbath, prove this; and, says Webster, "They proceed on the principle — the great, broad principle — that the preservation of Christianity is one of the great and leading ends of government." Religious services in Congress, the Legislatures, and in the army and navy, days of public fasting and thanksgiving, prove this. The history of the country clearly shows that our fathers laid the national founda- tion on the great truths of Christianity; and these essential principles underlie all the institutions of the land, and flow through all the arteries of the national body. Yet we are told that the State has no religion, and nothing to do with religious truth or ideas! Contrary to this, Webster says : "A republican govern- ment must have some religion; for its end is the con- servation of freedom to the people, which cannot be secured without the aid of the great truths of Chris- tianity. It must use religion, and appeal to conscience and future retribution, or it cannot attain its end in the conservation of the freedom of the people. It is not to do it for religion's sake simply, but it may and must employ religion for freedom's sake." Such is the judgment of one of the greatest minds and highest THE GOLDEN POT. 141 authorities in political ethics our land ever possessed. And I fearlessly assert that, from the time of Adam to the present hour, there never was a nation that did not get its power to rule through the religious sentiments of its subjects, and did not get sanction and force for its laws from the same source. Refuse to recognize any higher power than majori- ties, presidents and earthly kings, and any higher law- giver than human legislators, and republican govern- ment is an impossibility. Let us for a moment yield the doctrine that the State has no religion, and for this reason must exclude religious truth from everything supported at public cost, where it has control. Then there are your State prisons, where Christianity has been for years laboring for reform, and to offer Divine mercy to the convict. And the testimony of General Amos Pilsbury, Superintendent of Albany Penitentiary, is that nothing has been so beneficial in the prison, not only for reformation, but discipline, as the Bible. The testimony of the Superintendent at Richmond, Va., and of these officers almost everywhere in the land, is similar to this. But in this principle you must turn the Bible out of the convicts' cells, from the chaplain's desk, remove the chaplain himself, never suffer the criminals to hear that they have sinned against God, that there is a Saviour for the guilty, never to hear prayer to a throne of grace! Make their prisons like those of Spain and Italy, where the Bible never enters ! If the State can have nothing to do with religion, you must do this. Then there are our Schools of Reform, and Houses of Refuge and Almshouses, where are children and adults with no possible hope of any religious instruction but what they get there. Now, songs of praise, the reading of j 4 2 THE GOLDEN POT. God's Word, prayers of faith and the preaching of Jesus Christ is the inheritance of these poor ones. But on this principle you must cut off all these, and teach them only mathematical calculation, how to wear clothes, make porridge and dig potatoes. There are our asylums for the deaf and dumb, established in almost every State at the public expense; how much humanity, not to say Christianity, has the soul that would shut out the knowledge of God, of Christ, hope and heaven from these, whose voiceless tongues cannot plead their own cause? Yet on this principle it may be done. Then there are schools for the blind, sup- ported by the State. Here are hundreds who, from raised letter Bibles are, through their fingers, taking into their benighted souls "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Will you put out this stream of light and joy from the Redeemer's mercy seat, and make their darkness most appalling gloom? Yes, because the State has no religion and cannot support religion. Abolish forever your days of national fasting and thanksgiving, expel the Bible and prayers from your Congress, turn the Bible out of your courts, your prisons, schools of charity and reform, out of your asylums for the deaf, dumb and blind, then expel it from sixty-five thousand public schools, then over the doors of all these institu- tions in every village, town and city from Maine to California, from Alaska to the Gulf, you may write, "A State without religion." But the writing will not long stand; for you will find you have pushed the foundation stones from under the superstructure of republican freedom and it will fall to rise no more. We plead against national suicide! Coming events cast their shadows before. Infidels and other opposers THE GOLDEN POT. 143 of our religion and liberty saw this shadow of the ■coming great national reform years ago, and they saw that the Bible in our education was an efficient means to bring it on and give it success; therefore the Bible reading in the schools was only the ostensible object of their blows; this thrust was to cut deeper, to cut up by the roots the essential life-giving principle of re- publicanism; that is, that civil government is an ordinance of God and the Divine law the supreme and infallible rule of right. Those two stand or fall together. Retain the Bible in education and you may bring the nation as such to acknowledge the great principle of its life and authority. Expel the Bible and this hope dies. Suffer the organic law of the land to remain much longer as it is, and you cannot retain the Bible in the common schools. You do battle at a .great disadvantage. Behind our otherwise excellent constitution the enemy stand protected in the fight. No people can afford to leave a great national life- principle to the uncertainties of political parties or popular elections, to the mere spirit of a legal instru- ment or the changeableness of statute enactments; it must be established by a great test of law written in the constitution. Our constitution had the princi- ples of human freedom in its first writing, but suppose that the freedom of man, the equality of all men "before the law, had not been embodied in the organic law, that it had been left to be fought over by political parties and exposed to the uncertainties of popular elections, how long could we have hoped to retain it? Like wise men, when we attained the crystallized conviction that all men are free and have equal rights tefore the law, we embodied that conviction in the organic law of the land and made it safe thereby. 144 THE GOLDEN POT. So this truth, God the source of all power, and the Divine law the supreme and infallible rule of right, is a life-truth of national existence and authority, and should be explicitly and unmistakably embodied in the organic law of the land. We demand this, not only that we may retain the Bible in our common schools, but behind such a glorious constitution as a bulwark we may do battle against the enemies of our beloved country, the enemies of humanity, of freedom, and human happiness. Our government now lies upon the brink of a giddy precipice over a hideous gulf. Expel the Bible from your educational system, let Christian morality perish, and the great national life- principle taught in Divine truth die out of the hearts of the people, and our great nation will assuredly tumble into the horrid, yawning gulf of misrule, anarchy and lifeless, rotting ruin. VIII. X-Rays of the Bible — Rays Which You Cannot Escape. * i Tke Word of God is quick and powerful, dividing asu?ider soul and spirit, a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" Hebrews iv: 12. When Paul says the Word of God is "quick," he means it is vital, and has vitalizing power, or the power to communicate life. Professor Roentgen (Renken), of the Royal University of Wurtsburg, working in his laboratory, discovered something he had never detected before; something penetrating, powerful, piercing through what was supposed to be impenetrable, and revealing, bringing to light and sight what before was supposed to be invisible! Penetrating flesh, bone, wood and metal! This .something he called rays. If he gave them the correct name, then they must have come from some radiant source that had the power to produce and send them out! And they have been pouring out, unwasting, from that original creative source ever since the first radiant beam broke from this fountain, to penetrate the created, material world! They have been opera- tive, with all this mysterious might, through the his- torical and pre-historical ages of time! And in this •close of the nineteenth century, Professor Renken discovered this fact; he made nothing new nor put in action anything before inactive, he only uncovered a fact, something active, and made possible its direc- tion, application and utility. For this he has been 146 THE GOLDEN POT. made famous, honored and ennobled. This is cer- tainly not improper, but if he has discovered a fact, a beneficent power, let us, at least, acknowledge and honor God, the Originator, as much as the discoverer! Now, let us admit the utmost that is claimed for this mysterious force, yet is there not, proceeding from Divine Truth, a force analagous to, yet far superior to this? The Bible itself may represent only the vacuum tube, Crooke's or Wittorf's, but the mysterious, re- vealing force that streams from it are rays of Divine radiancy and power that has only been discovered by men; they had nothing to do with bringing its force into being or activity. They only discovered a fact, that from and through this Book there comes a pene- trating, revealing power that issues from no other, nor all books united on earth; that through the truth it contains comes to every mind and soul that is exposed to it an influence and energy more incom- prehensible, mighty and resistless than comes from any other known source among men! And this vitality and energy was not brought into being or activity by discovery, but had an original eternal existence and activity flowing out through all un- measured ages from the shining fountain of Divine light and life. But it did not penetrate and illumine human souls until it was gathered and concentrated in the truth of this Book, and souls were exposed to it, as objects are to the Renken rays from a vacuum tube. We have discovered that the mysterious, matchless power comes from the eternal spirit of our redeeming Lord, and has poured forth from Him through all past eternities, and reaches and operates on human souls through His revealed Word! THE GOLDEN POT. 147 Second. Professor Renken calls his discovery X-Rays. I suppose because X is the Unknown, in an algebraic problem, and its value cannot be known until the problem is wrought out and answered. These, Renken says, cannot be known by any of the bodily senses, eye, ear, or touch, invisible, inaudible, intangible, their presence and power can be known only by results. So the X-rays of this Book, you cannot know their presence and power by merely looking on the book, or touching the book, or hearing its contents. Many have denied its inner power, be- cause by their senses and reason, by their science and philosophy, they could not discover and prove it, but like these rays, it can be known only by its effects. When this Divine power has passed through this; truth into the soul, and produced there the new light and life and shown the image, divine and human, never seen before, there remains no more doubt of this wondrous and joyous force, and its results! But the full effect of this unknown, immeasurable power cannot be seen until the problem is rightly wrought out and answered; then will appear a work of perfec- tion, grandeur, wonder and glory, such as earth, nor heaven, has ever seen before! "We shall be like Him!" I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness. Some claim that the Renken rays are a material substance streaming through intervening material substances and revealing material substances in or under them. I do not know that this is Herr Ren- ken's opinion. It may be true, as they only come from matter, operate on matter and reveal matter, but we know the X-rays of the Bible are not material. They pour forth from the eternal Spirit of life, light 148 THE GOLDEN POT. and power; they penetrate the soul, which is not matter, and reveal that in the soul which is not material. These rays of this Book are spirit and operate upon spirit and reveal spiritual things. It is claimed for the Renken rays that they will penetrate the hardest substances, wood, metal, flesh and even bone, and reveal substances that are placed under or within flesh and bone; that they can pass through the skull and show the brain within. They may prove some persons to have brains that were never blamed for it before. It is expected their use will bring great relief to human misery and peril, in the hands of the prudent and skillful physician and surgeon. And we sincerely hope it will effect more than all that has ever been claimed for this new and remarkable discovery. Yet we claim for the X-rays of the Bible superior power and benefit in penetrating the supposed im- penetrable and bringing relief to human misery and peril. Take the soul, cold and hard as iron, or the hearts which the prophets describe as stone and adamant, set them before this Bible tube, let the Divine rays flow on them, and they will pass through and through them, unobstructed and unwasted. It has been tried with the petrified hearts of drunkards, the iron-hearted tyrant, the most fiendishly cruel and stony-hearted heathen, and it not only penetrated them, but melted them, as fire does the iron, and most wonderful of all, changed them into hearts of flesh! "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." Such persons have become gentle, just, kind and tender. This brought more happiness to humanity, relieved more misery and peril than all substances physician or surgeon can ever discover and remove from human bodies. What is THE GOLDEN POT. 149 the suffering and peril of human bodies, compared to that of the immortal soul? Or the relief and ease of the body compared to the relief, rest and happiness of the soul? The power and capacity of the soul for happiness or misery compared to the body, is like measuring the orbit of the sun to the periphery of the Corliss wheel, or the measureless eternity to a date in time! The Renken rays may penetrate the cranium and look on the brain, and through the body may show the fleshly heart, but it is not claimed that it can read the thoughts of that brain or the emotions and intents of the heart. It stops at what is matter and flesh, and can reach nothing deeper. But the rays that pass through the Bible can, as my text says, "pierce even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit." From these the man can see the difference, the dividing line betwen mere intellectual power and action, and spiritual, the difference between mere mental culture, the operation and results of human wisdom and training, and the culture, wisdom and training of the Divine Spirit, the power, influence and results of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus. The difference between genius and grace; the source of the life, the power of the life, the aim and end of the life of the one so different from the other. The en- during beauty and glory of the one so far above the other! No other rays have the power of rightly dividing soul and spirit, and revealing the life that rises so joyously and immortally above the animal, physical and intellectual life! The rays that come through this Divine Book can reveal "the thoughts and intents of the heart." If any person would know what the thought of his heart is towards God and man, right and wrong, sin and holiness, let him put himself under i5o THE GOLDEN POT. the direct rays of Divine truth, and he can soon discern clearly their character. These rays will pierce through all sophistry, hypocrisy, apologies and eva- sions, and he can read easily the sincerity or insincerity, the right or wrong of his thoughts. Saul flattered himself he was righteous, until before the gates of Damascus he stood beneath these rays; then he ex- claimed, "I am carnal, sold under sin; O wretched man that I am!" Job had thoughts that were pleasing as to his perfection, and God approved his sincerity and uprightness, but when the searchlight of these rays fell into his soul, he exclaimed: "If I wash my hands in snow water, and make them never so clean, yet Thou wilt plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes would abhor me." David had perhaps heard it said he was a man after God's own heart, but under the focus of these rays he exclaimed : "I was conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity; create a clean heart, renew a right spirit within me!" In the same position, Isaiah exclaimed: "Woe is me, I am un- clean!" There are no such rays as these, that search into every nook and corner of the soul, make all darkness light, and all hidden things visible. No mind-reader like this ; here no mistakes are made, but the most secret thoughts of the heart are revealed. If you would test the thoughts of your fellow-men, get yourself and them into the focus of these Divine rays, and they will shine through and through the soul, and you can read the character, in heart thoughts, of God and men, law and justice, purity and impurity, and you can say this is the truth of this person, a correct spiritual photograph that cannot be mistaken. Let the business man, employer and employee, poli- tician, statesman and ruler, rich and poor, put them- THE GOLDEN POT. 151 selves in these Divine rays, and they may soon know what are the intents, the purposes of their hearts, whether to do right or wrong, to do justice or injustice, purposes of mercy or wrath, humanity or inhumanity, robbery or righteousness! And no screen they may put between can resist their pene- trating power. They can shine through a mountain pile of the merchant's goods, through all the evasions, lies, subterfuges and iron-clad policy of partisan or statesman, through all the gold-bags, bonds and mortgages of magnates and millionaires, and all the obscurity and cunning of servant or employee! When we wish to test the hearts of our fellow-men, we try to put them under the searchlight of these Divine rays and judge their purposes by this revelation, and when these show the wrong that is in their purposes, we decide this must be removed before they can be healthy and trusted. "All things are naked and opened" before the brightness of this radiance. There is one other analogy I wish to notice. It is said the Renken rays show any foreign and hurtful substance inside hand, foot, head or body, and guide the hand of physician or surgeon to remove it. So these Bible rays show the foreign and hurtful in the heart and soul, sinful thoughts and feeling, evil intents and purposes, and these must be removed for the soul's health and life; and these Bible rays guide the skillful, gracious hand of the Divine Physician and Surgeon to remove these and bring rest, health, life and happiness to the soul that shall never fail itl Let us rightly recognize honor, and, if you please, ennoble the scientific discoverer, but let us not forget or refuse to honor God, the author of beneficent facts discovered, more than the discoverer. And let us 152 THE GOLDEN POT. reprobate the conceited, foolish fallacy that any dis- covery can leave our Bible an antiquated record of ancient ignorance and limitations. Some seem to think we are getting far ahead of all Bible knowledge and wisdom, that this book is becoming only a curious old tome! What are the facts? The pick and the spade have dug up what have been called wonderful discoveries of ancient knowledge and art, yet, hun- dreds of years since, the Bible told us they were there 1 We pierced the fountains of oil through the rock, only to find this book told us it was there! We mine the iron and precious ores of earth, yet this book tells us God put these treasures there! We may be assured human science and discovery will never overtake and pass the book, its rays will penetrate and shine along every pathway of discovery and progress through time. I believe it is admitted the Renken rays cannot penetrate the clay of earth and uncover what is buried there. But the rays of this Book can penetrate the deepest graves, oceans and mausoleums of earth, and not only show the dead hidden there, but its vital quickening power can awaken them to a resurrection, a life and glory everlasting. Lastly, you may avoid the focus and work of the Renken rays, but the rays of the Bible in this land you cannot escape ; they fill the whole atmosphere and horizon where this book is open, as does the light of the sun, and your character is being correctly photo- graphed to give judgment for or against you. If in faith you stand before this Divine tube, and let its rays fall on your soul, you can see God, and life, and glory! "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God " IX. The Strength and Responsibilities of Young Men. "I have written unto you young men because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have oz'ercome the wicked one," I John ii: 14. Beauty is a woman's right inheritance — beauty o£ figure, features, expression, movements, the beauty that charms the eye. But a beautiful man! The expression itself conveys the idea of a weak, effeminate dudishness that unfits the man for his position and work. But, says Solomon, "The glory of young men is their strength." In every work, battle or triumph of life, whether material, mental or moral, strength is essential. In the field, shop or mart, in the forest or on the sea, in the city and in the country, brain and heart and brawn are all needed. When our nation's life was in peril, and defenders were the need, to whom did she write or call? Not to children, spinning their tops and shooting their marbles in the street, not to the old and decrepit in woolen hose and slipper-shod feet, but to young men who were strong — she called for those between eighteen and forty-five, men in their prime, stalwart men, at least those with healthful frames, unimpaired minds and hopeful hearts — earnest, patriotic men, able to do, to dare, to endure, to sacrifice, suffer and die. To these the nation committed the honor of defending her life and unity. These had the deepest and most extensive interest in the issue. Old men were near their time J 54 THE GOLDEN POT. of moving to another country, but these, if spared, had the hopes and happiness of thirty or forty years in the conflict; and in their children the interest and hopes of a century. These were also fitted for the battle-day. Childhood tenderness was past and the decrepitude of age not reached; therefore they could "endure hardness as good soldiers," and the responsi- bilities of the hour, the heat and burden of the day, the perils of the conflict, were laid on them, and justly they gloried in their strength. So the Lord has a kingdom on earth, its life and unity to be defended, maintained and extended; He has an army to be recruited, a battle-work to be done, which demands hardness, endurance, sacrifice and suffering, a conflict to be waged, a victory to be won, and a peerless glory to be gained. To do and to attain all this He says, in the text, "I write unto you young men, because ye are strong." Strong men are the need of our land to-day, in her material operations and political life, in her social, moral and religious life — strong in the three-fold cord of their natures, in every fibre of their being, physical, mental and moral. First. The elements of strength. Second. The responsibilities it imposes. The first is physical or bodily vigor and health. The period of life called youth and early manhood has natural elements of strength, in health of body, vigor of mind and hopefulness of heart. These com- bined make that impulsive force, that strength to endure and sustain earnest and continued activity, which marks the prime of manhood. Look at the healthy physical man, just at that period when the roundness and softness of infancv and childhood have THE GOLDEN POT. 155 left his limbs and the stiffness and brittleness of age are not yet reached; every part is firm and lithe and hardened, the sinews strong as whip-cords, the muscles like many strands of steel thread, holding every joint in its place. Sickness has not yet enfee- bled, passion has not emasculated, nor sloth and lust enervated or poisoned either the fluids or solids of his body; but the whole physical man is compactly built together by that which every joint supplieth, a dwelling and workshop for the immortal soul, a temple for the spirit of the Holy One, "fearfully and won- derfully made," in glory or beauty surpassing any palace ever built by human hands! Such a physique is a luxury and a precious gift of God, an instrument of exquisite enjoyment and happiness. Without a goodly measure of this health and vigor no one can be a strong man. Whatever may be his mental and heart power, his strength is shorn. Take the mind of a Humboldt, a Bacon or Newton, and the soul of a Paul, put them into a frame of marrow- less bones, poisoned fluids, cotton sinews and woolen muscles — if their spirits did not tear down the wretched fabric they would become maniacs or imbe- ciles in such a tenement. It is true, young men, many a noble soul has lived and labored not only in a clay tabernacle, but one of pale and brittle clay — occupied a body that looked much like a frame dwelling which had been in the hands of an earthquake, that had drawn every tenon and brace from its mortice, but they were so much the weaker for this. Therefore, if you can have the strength of an athlete, the thews and sinews of the Greek agonistes, accept it as a Divine gift for enjoy- ment and employment. I beseech you, don't put a 156 THE GOLDEN POT. poison into the fluids, or a cancer into the bones of your physical man! It is a violation of the sixth commandment, it is the crime of suicide. With too much truthfulness, it has been said of Lord Byron,. "He passed by quick leaps from boyhood to the vices of age; disgust with existence, and contempt for mankind was all the wisdom he gleaned from his excesses, and died old and worn out at thirty-six." Faith and love are no less beautiful for being embodied in a healthy, muscular frame. 2d. Another element of strength in young men is intellectual animation and vigor. At such a period of life the mental powers can grasp with firmness and hold with tenacity what is given them, as they cannot at any other time of life. They may not have the full development and accuracy in judgment of riper years, because they have not the treasures of knowl- edge. But I do not now speak of that knowledge "which is power," but of the ability to acquire knowl- edge; this is greatest in youth. The memory has then the least useless lumber and retains most faith- fully what is committed to it. Judgment and reason are not then overburdened and bewildered, but pene- trating and quick. Conscience then is not dull or hardened, but tender and true. Then is the time to strike boldly out into the fields of knowledge to gather treasures for future wealth and use. Like hundred-handed Briareus, the intellect reaches out in every direction for treasures, goes into the depths of the earth and the depths of the sea, traverses continents, and, reaching upward, plucks treasures from amid the stars. It has then courage to meet in battle Janus-faced error, a deceitful and treacherous foe. In this conflict the solid shot is THE GOLDEN POT. 157 compacted logic, and the glittering sword and bayonet is bright truth and polished thought. These are the resistless weapons and impenetrable armor with which God clothes His soldiers that do exploits. Young men, whatever intellectual gifts and treasures of knowledge God has bestowed upon you, consecrate and use them now — this is the day of their strength. 3d. Another element of youthful strength is cheerful hopefulness of heart, buoyancy of spirit. Gloom, and ■despondency, and doubt, and dread, weaken. Fog is not strong. A pithless and sapless stem is weak. Take the sapling whose branches are leafless, whose .sap is gone down; it is not dead, it is only in its winter months: bend it to the ground; you may do it, but it will hardly straighten again; if it does, it will rise very slowly and uncertainly. But take the sapling whose leaf is green, and every fibre bathed in vital fluid; bend it to the earth, but no sooner is your hand removed than with a bound it is straight again. When disease lays its hand upon the strong man, scarcely is it removed when he almost bounds back to health and strength again, and in a few weeks you would not know he had been ill. This is not simply from the vigor of bone and muscle, but from a hope- fulness and vivacity of life, a buoyancy of spirit, that rises above depression. The crushing tyrant must strike again and again before it is broken; misfortune after misfortune may come, billow may succeed billow, until many waters have gone over him, before his soul will tolerate the thought of going under. This hope- fulness is a brightness, a beauty and a glory in life, the sunshine and song, and no mean element of strength. It makes a man capable of doing and dar- ing, of viewing difficulties without depression, and 158 THE GOLDEN POT. undertaking enterprises of "great pith and moment.'* Cherish and sustain by every rational and needful means this genial, sunny hopefulness of heart. When you lose this, be assured decline has begun, whatever your age may be; the frost has touched your summer, the season of the sere and yellow leaf has come; you may have a few Indian summer days, but winter has set in, your strength is frost-bitten. Therefore, I say again, preserve your cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirit. To do this, guard the health and strength of body and mind, but, above all, peace and purity of conscience. Nothing is such a cloud upon the sun- shine of the soul as a reproving conscience, the shadow of guilt that no day can dispel. This brings us to notice another element of strength which is mentioned in the text: the indwelling of Divine truth, "the Word of God abideth in you." To all natural elements of strength this is most essential, "divine truth abiding in the soul." "The Word of God abideth in you." Many young men have all the natural constituents of strength, yet lack this, the most potent element, the most unfailing source of power. They may have the gigantic muscular man, and attainments and gifts of mind of the highest order, yet they are but shorn Samsons, who slumber in the lustful lap of earth, in imminent peril, who can be safely bound with the heathen withes, and new ropes of sin. This Word is not only nourishment, but medicine, to even the intellectual powers. By it the memory is purged and invigorated, the judgment and reason cleared and guided, conscience softened and purified, the affections elevated and refined and the will set free from the tyranny of desire. Says our Saviour, THE GOLDEN POT. 159 "The words I speak unto you are spirit and life," and they bring spirit and life to every power of the soul where they abide. From this Word alone you learn to discern between right and wrong, good and evil, holiness and unholiness. By this Word alone you learn to know the living and the true God, and how He will be worshipped and served. By this only can you learn the name, nature, doings and glory of the Redeemer of guilty men; by this Word alone the offer of Divine mercy and love come to your hearts; by this alone Christ Himself comes into your souls by faith, as the hope of eternal life and glory. By this Word alone is love to God born in your soul; through the instrumentality of this Word only can you be renewed in the Divine image; only through faith in this Word can you overcome the world. By this Jesus Christ, while in our nature on earth, tri- umphed over His adversary. To the great tempter, in the wilderness, on the mountain, and the pinnacle of the temple, He answered, "It is written, Thou shalt live by the Word of God, thou shalt not tempt the Lord, and thou shalt worship the Lord and Him only shalt thou serve." This was the victorious strength of the man Christ Jesus. Take any young man, let the light of Divine truth shine in his intellect, let its holy principles abide in his heart, and he may walk amid all the meanness, selfishness, avarice and lewdness of any sin-stained city, as untainted by it as the angels by the filthiness of Sodom; he can say with an imperial mandate to all the legions of unclean devils around him, "Get thee behind me, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord and Him only shalt thou serve." He is a king among men, in the truest and highest j6o the golden pot. .sense, wearing a crown made of more precious stuff than the glittering coronet of mortal made monarchs. He is a king and priest unto God, wearing a crown of righteousness and a diadem of glory. He not only holds a rule over self, but a sceptre over the leagues of Satan on earth and legions of devils in hell. The strength of the soul, entrenched by faith in the un- failing Word of God, is impregnable and unconquer- able. It was this made Luther an invincible hero in the city of Worms; it was this took the fear of man irom before the face of John Knox. It could be truly said, "There were giants in those days," and this Word is the food that gave them gigantic stature and .strength. If you would be strong, you must feed upon this bread of heaven. Remember, it must not only be taken into your memories and receive mental examination, it must abide in your souls as the vital principle of your intellectual, moral and spiritual life. Study it upon your knees, search its depths as for hid treasure; let nothing come between your heart and the unadulterated truth of God. Some human writ- ings are certainly good and helpful, some commen- taries and works on theology, expository writings and books of sermons may be profitable, but the best things may be made the veriest curses; and such, I fear, human writings have become in our Sabbath schools, pulpits and homes. These galvanized imita- tions are laid upon the heart, instead of the Word of life, and like non-conductors, they prevent quick- ening power from reaching the conscience and heart. If you would be strong, put jealously aside everything that would come between your soul and the pure Word of God, without note or comment; bind this to your heart, and strong, pure, eternal life will flow THE GOLDEN POT. 161 from it through every part of your immortal being. Faith groweth from the good seed of the Word, love feedeth upon a knowledge of Christ, hope rests upon immutable promises, and anchors the soul upon the infinite merits of a Divine Redeemer. By faith in His Word you enter into the refuge of omnipotence and become "strong in the Lord and the power of His might." Says Daniel, "They that know their God shall be strong and do exploits." Fifth. Another element of strength mentioned in the text is victory over evil. "Ye have overcome the wicked one." Whether by wicked one here be meant Satan personally, or his wickedness in its multiform shapes, the truth is the same, that victory over it is not only a proof of strength, but a source of power. By every successful battle the kingdom of David grew stronger, and Saul weaker; by every victory of our arms, the nation's power increased and rebellion was enfeebled. The truth is universal, that the victor becomes stronger by every conquest. And the earlier in life sinful self is subdued, the stronger the man will be all his remaining days. He who in youth is righted in his whole being, putting his reason, natural passions and appetites, in their proper place, putting all under pure and righteous law, "casting down imagination and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ," he will be the strong man. Why? Because he will not have to fight himself all his days, and can combine all his forces against the foe in front. Take the man who is the victim of an evil habit for twenty- five or thirty years; if it is then broken, still he will be comparatively a weak man ever after, unless by ifa THE GOLDEN POT. marvellous grace. Take one who has for years been the bond-slave of sinful passions; he may be emanci- pated, but half his strength in after years must be used in lighting the fire that threatens to break out anew. Take one whose bones have been diseased with envy, or whose soul has been hardened in selfish- ness; if recovered at all, the greater part of his after life must be spent in battling against these fiends, he can do little else. Not only is the strength of such divided, but if combined is greatly impaired by the ravages of old sins. They are but wounded soldiers in the field, weak and lame from old hurts. But take the man who has early put sinful appetite, lust and pride under his feet, who has subordinated every power to revelation and right reason, who has embraced the life principles of a high, pure Christian manhood, who has been made free with that liberty "wherewith Christ makes His people free" — the chains have fallen from his hands, the fetters are broken from his feet, the fear of the slave is taken from his heart, and he comes forth disenthralled and en- nobled, ready for work or warfare, the peer of angels and the terror of devils. Crown him because he is royal, put stars on his shoulders, commission him as a general, not because, like Diotrephes, he loveth pre-eminence, but because he is fitted to command and lead the battle, for he has the prestige of victory, having already overcome. No earthly distinction can exalt him, for he now holds a patent of nobility with the seal of the Most High upon it; angels are only his equals, God only is above him, and he is even promised a seat with the Divine one — "he that over- cometh shall sit with Me in My throne." He is one of those spoken of by Daniel, who "is strong and THE GOLDEN POT. 163 doing exploits." "He that hath clean hands," says Job, "shall be stronger and stronger," he shall not only be strong, but shall increase in strength. Other things being equal, physical and intellectual endowments being the same, the purest among men are the strongest. Try them in the presence of temp- tation, in the furnace of affliction, wherever true strength can be tested, and they will prove good their title to heroic power. This was the strength of the man Christ Jesus — when the tempter came he had "'nothing in Him," nothing of his own evil nature within the Holy One, to abet his temptation, or open a door for its entrance. And in this respect Christ's followers become like Him in strength, through the purifying power of His Word, and victory over evil. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," and, like Moses, shall be strong to endure because "seeing Him who is invisible." Young men, if you would have the most delightful consciousness of strength, if you would enjoy a sov- ereignty of power, if you would acquire a royal pre- eminence, you must overcome evil, not league with Satan; there is no strength in that; not compromise with wrong, that is weakness ; not compound with sin, that is sure defeat. But overcome, get the mastery, vanquish, come off conquerors; then it may be said of you, that you "are strong, for the Word of God abideth in you." Second. The responsibility of such gifts, the claims upon such strength. Were you so richly gifted for any trifling end? Were you so royally endowed for any ignoble pur- pose? Certainly not. But for a purpose, end and work worthy of such a princely coronation. It is that 164 THE GOLDEN POT. the Lord might make you co-workers with Himself, that He might commit to you the God-like work of extending and establishing His kingdom, that He might put upon you the soldier honors of defending and maintaining the empire of His grace and truth in the earth. He has given you the power of the sons of God, that you may be able to bear the Divine armor, the shield of faith, the breastplate of right- eousness, the helmet of salvation, and wield with a strong arm the irresistible sword of the Spirit. As citizens of no mean city, you are called, by meekness, truthfulness, courage and holiness, to be living epistles, that may be read by your fellow- citizens for their conviction and conversion. Amid the guilt, corruption and darkness of the city you are to walk the streets as "light bearers," "holding forth the Word of life," whose shining shall kindle the light of hope for wretchedness and despair, and reveal the way of life to the lost and condemned. Amid the crimes of robbery, peculation, falsehood, deceit, grinding avarice, and every evil of the world, you are to stand as God's witnesses; behind the counters, in the shops, at the merchant's desk, in public and official places, in every position, to testify to the social, com- mercial and political integrity and purity of Christian life. By the power of the closet, a power unseen but immeasurable, by the power of young and strong hearts in united prayer, by the power of the Sabbath school, teaching the whole Word of God, by the power of saving truth at the sick bed, by the power of loving rebuke and warning to the erring, by the power of Christian invitation and entreaty to the wayward and the thoughtless, by every power that can tell against lewdness, intemperance, and all-engulfing THE GOLDEN POT. 165 infidelity, and in favor of faith, hope, holiness and happiness, you are to be co-workers with your pastors in extending and establishing Christ's kingdom in this place over the hearts, consciences and lives of men! But this city may not be the limit of your labors. Duty may call you elsewhere. Other friends wait for you, and other people faint and cry for your help. How beautiful and vast the field that stretches out ■over the great valleys and plains of Kansas, Nebraska, Dakota, Colorado, New Mexico and California, and spreads out from the northern border of Washington State, nay, from the bounds of Alaska, to the southern boundary of Texas! They need you, not only as ministers and teachers, not simply as men of letters and science, but in the field and the shop, in the manu- factory and commerce, to consecrate to holy ends these pursuits, to make common toil honorable and sacred, to serve the Lord "diligent in business." These unmeasured fields, from Alaska to the Gulf, God has opened up to the knowledge of the needy, suffocating, starving millions of crowded China, India, and Europe. Here they are coming, will come, must come. If we will not go to them, God will bring them to us, and as the wounded man before the Levite, cast them down before our faces, and our Christianity must heal them or perish with them! Here is room for millions of Christian workers, to plant here a beneficient cvilization and the Gospel of Christ ; to establish and feed a faith of such heavenly origin and power that it can take paganism into its arms, as a mother the diseased child, not to catch the infection, but to give it healing and health. The religion of Jesus must be established here with such vitality, aggressiveness and strength that it can l66 THE GOLDEN POT. regenerate heathenism and over all this rich heritage, inscribe, "Holiness to the Lord." Wherever you go, in whatever business engaged, plant there that "Tree of Life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations;" set up the kingdom of the Lord along the great highways from the east to our land, and truly "the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it, and the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it!" The field of arduous, holy toil is wide, waiting and perishingly needy, and God is saying, "I write unto you, young men, because ye are strong." And, my young friends, you are called to the field at a period of almost inspiring activity. A forcible writer (Riddell) says, "There is something almost magical in the appliances and improvements of this age. The rapidity of locomotion, the magnetic vibra- tions of thought and feeling over continents and seas, the swift ships and iron nerves that are bringing the nations together, and binding them as one great organic whole, all mark this as a peculiar epoch in the history of our race. Surely God means we shall use these auxiliaries and elements of power to do good." At this period a stirring thought or "word fitly spoken" may travel on the wings of lightning to thrill a thousand strong hearts, and put a thousand strong hands in motion; may wake and nourish faith over a continent; nay, more, may cross either ocean, and fall sweetly on the ear and heart of the missionary in the wilds of Africa or among the valleys and hills of the holy land. This is an age of restless activities. Motion, action, progress, are now the words that fill the vaulted heaven with their stirring demands and make humanity's heart pulsate with a stronger bound: THE GOLDEN POT. 167' leaping, vivifying-, exhilarating impulses, are thrilling and moving the souls of men. The old soldier in the battle of life might almost covet your position, and postpone the rest of heaven, to share with you the use of these instrumentalities. To have the vivacity of youth and the strength of early manhood, and to be called to the vineyard at such a period, might well be esteemed an enviable glory. But, remember, great are the responsibilities that rest upon such gifts and opportunities. In view of this, a writer (Rev. Bacon) exclaims, ''Would God I could make young Christians know what results are depending on them, what interests of the Church and a dying world are involved in their future character and efforts! When I look on the young Christians of this age and reflect that they are soon to sustain the ancient glories of the Church of God; when I look abroad on the earth and see the crisis that is at hand; when I listen to the cries that come from every quarter of the world; I seem to see the hoary genera- tions of the past rising from their repose to watch the progress of the young followers of Christ; I seem to hear voices of blest spirits from above cheering them on in a career of piety ; I seem to see a world in misery turning its imploring hands to them and beseeching them to be worthy of their name, their privilege and destiny; I seem to hear, I do hear, God Himself speak- ing from heaven, 'Be ye faithful unto death and I will give you a crown of life!' Faithful to such endow- ments, privileges and opportunities!" But, my young friends, you are not called in a period of promising, arduous, glorious labor only, but indications are strong that, before it closes, yours will be an age of trial that shall try men's souls, an age 168 THE GOLDEN POT. of spiritual commotion, fierce conflict of thought, and, maybe, even of battle, agony and peril. It is already begun; the forces are mustering for the onset. We seem to have entered upon the intellectual and spiritual drill which precedes it, just as the soldier before the battle hour burnishes his armor, loosens his sword in the scabbard and prepares his ammunition; so every young Christian should make preparation for days of unusual conflict. Creeds must be sifted and tested by the divine touch-stone, faith must grasp with stronger hold the eternal promises, the loins must be firmly girded about with truth, the digging must be deep, and only the true foundation built upon, for neither sand nor clay, hay nor stubble, gold, silver nor precious stones, will endure that day. Only the rock Christ Jesus will remain unmoved, only God's truth will abide and God's faithful ones be delivered. And as the shadows of that day darken upon us, does not every Christian heart desire to get God's children nearer together, to close up the ranks? I am fully persuaded that there is not a soul that loves eternal truth, that loves dying men, that loves the glorious Redeemer, but yearns, wrestles and agonizes to draw the soldiers of the cross closer together and closer around their enthroned Leader. If the ransomed hosts of God's elect, the children of faith, the followers of the Lamb, the one blood-bought Church, could only, with the movement of a united heart, step upon the imperishable platform of pure, divine, revealed, eternal truth, grasp hands in love and join in holy vows of fidelity, what a transporting, what an enrap- turing sight that would be! Then, indeed, "terrible as an army with banners" would be the shout of her victorious song! THE GOLDEN POT. 169 Yet if there is not organic unity, be assured there is a unity of spirit among all true children of God, all followers of the Lamb, and all the different regi- ments acknowledge and obey the one Captain, and, encouraged by this and the Commander's promise of victory, let us look boldly at the foe in the field. We need not turn our view to Europe and the eastern world, as I am persuaded that the great valley of decision is to be found in our own land. Here are to be decided the most momentous questions of time, the questions of human freedom and human redemp- tion. Here the multitudes, the mixed multitudes, are gathering, and will gather, until we have a popu- lation of hundreds of millions. The gates of paganism have been thrown open and its votaries are crowding here to the very portals of the Church of God, it may be to compel her to arouse from her apathy. It can be no longer a cannonade at a distance, but a fierce bayonet charge, a hand-to-hand conflict, to decide the question, "If the Lord Jesus be God, follow Him; if Baal, then follow him." Shall the Bible, the breviary, or the Confucian code — which, guide our people through time to eternity? Shall our land be one of Christian churches, popish mass-houses, or heathen temples? Shall our people pray to the Lord, to Mary, to Joss, or the goddess of reason? These questions must be met. We have now four great councils of the whiskey ring in the principal cities of the land, united with a brewer's congress, imperi- ously demanding protection and legalization for the manufacture of drunkenness, pauperism and crime. We have infidel associations, in the name of liberty, demandingthe abrogation of the Sabbath, and atheism rejecting God from national assemblies, and insult- : 7 o THE GOLDEN POT. ingly pushing His hand from the arm of civil power. We have Rome and infidelity thrusting the Bible out of the common schools and from the hands of the people. We have Roman bishops selecting the best sites in our cities and multiplying their chapels all along our frontier, and among the colored population of the South, she is educating hundreds of our sons and daughters, receiving large benefactions from Protestants for their own use, and climbing upon the vantage ground of political influence, as a balance of power. We have paganism building its temples on our coast, for the worship of devils, and in our courts taking oaths in the name of their idols, by the sacrifice of chickens' heads and yellow paper. We have spiritualism and Mormonism defying social and domestic lav/, and defiling the home. We have Nihil- ism and Communism planted in our land, and not only Europe, but the United States, feels the earthquake throb of discontented millions, toiling under heavy burdens. These are some of the Anaks of our land, and however these allies of the wicked one may disagree in some things, they will all agree in opposing the kingdom and sovereignty of the holy God. And as we see them organizing, combining and consolidating" all their forces against Christ, and see the many tokens of Divine displeasure in the world, we can scarcely resist the conviction that the Almighty is preparing the great sacrifice of Ezekiel's vision, where "the feathered fowl and beast of the field shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth," or. as John in Revelation heard the fowls of heaven called to the supper of the great God, "to eat the flesh of kings and captains and mighty men, the THE GOLDEN POT. 171 flesh of horse and rider, of bond and free, of small and great." Surely the evidence is strong that a day of conflict is at hand, whether the final battle of Armageddon, or not; and the Lord is saying, "I write unto you^ young men, because ye are strong." "Put the helmet of salvation on, and gird your loins about with truth; add righteousness, and add the shield of faith, and take the sword of God. Awake and watch: the day is near, the great day of God Almighty and the Lamb!" Are you ready? Have you on the armor of God? Is the Word of God abiding in you? Have you over- come the wicked one? Are you strong in the Lord and the power of His might? If ready, then mount fearlessly the battlements of the foe with this vic- torious song upon your lips : "The mighty Lord is on my side, I will not be afraid; For anything that man can do My heart is not dismayed." And you shall come off "conquerors and more than conquerors through Him that loved us." X. The Preacher's Theme. ii They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ" Acts v: 42. In the preceding chapter the apostles were for- bidden to speak at all this name. They replied, "We cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard." These things they had seen and heard were all ex- pressed in preaching Jesus Christ, therefore, "they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ." This is or should be the minister's first, constant, central, all-absorbing, all-comprehensive theme, Jesus Christ. But one exclaims, "What a narrow theme! A single individual! It must soon become trite, worn thread- bare, uninteresting, if not stale and barren!" But the history of the race disproves the assertion, for this is one of the first themes that engaged the tongue of man, and its voice has never been silent through the six thousand years of the world's travail in guilt and misery. It was the theme of Enoch and Noah, preachers of righteousness before the flood, the theme of earth's wisest legislator, and of gifted seers and inspired prophets, of apostles, both illiterate and learned. And all along the line of succeeding teachers it has engaged as large a share of the cultured, gigantic minds of the race as any theme that was ever presented to man. And to-day it employs not only the earnest simplicity of the moderately gifted, but some of the most learned, philosophical, scientific and mighty intellects of earth. And it chains the ear and touches the heart of millions of the noblest and humblest, the THE GOLDEN POT. 173 wisest and best, the happiest and most miserable of the human race. Here philosophy can worthily and honorably employ her profoundest researches, science may well expend her richest treasures in crowning this theme, literature may rightly employ all her gathered wealth in presenting and illustrating this theme; everything the human mind possesses or can attain may be, and should be, made tributary to this. The theme is more than worthy of it all. Jesus Christ, in the divine excellency of His person and the wonders of His incarnation; in the infinite value of His atone- ment and the sovereignty and matchless tenderness of His love; in the justice and purity of His law and the equity and power of His administration; in the awful grandeur of His judgment coming and the unutterable glory of His eternal reign, the grandest, most comprehensive, soul-stirring and profitable theme that ever claimed the tongue or ear of man. No finite mind, without Divine influence, is fit to preach Him, nor without Divine influence is any human heart capable of rightly receiving Him. May the Spirit reveal Him to both speaker and hearers in His unfailing fulness. What are some things com- prehended in this theme? What is it to preach Jesus Christ? It is to teach and present Him in His personal character, His two distinct natures, in His Divine humanity. Isaiah thus preached Him as "the mighty God, the everlasting Father," also the "child born, the Son given," "a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Paul and Jude thus preached Him, "The King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God and our Saviour," "God manifest in the flesh," and "the man Christ Jesus." He who does not thus J 74 THE GOLDEN POT. preach Christ presents some other being than the sent one of God, the Redeemer of men. He must be God to give the power of endurance to the humanity of a suffering Saviour; He must be God to give Divine acceptance and infinite value to His sacrifice; He must be God to save forgiven sinners from idolatry. It is idolatry to worship any other being than the true and very God, yet if Jesus be not Divine there is no power, finite nor infinite, can hold redeemed man back from idolatry. A pardoned, blood-bought sinner cannot but truly worship and adore such a being as Jesus Christ, who, through His own death, wrought such a salvation for Him. You might as well tell the sun not to shine or the bursting clouds not to drop their fulness, as to tell the forgiven, saved, rejoicing sinner not to worship and praise the Lord Jesus Christ. He cannot help it. You must plunge him again into unbelief and sin, you must again destroy his spiritual life, before you can stop his song or silence his prayers. For the same reason He must be God that He may "be supremely loved. It is a sin, a robbery, a dethron- ing of God to set any other being in the highest place, in the royal seat of the heart, to love supremely any other being than the Divine One. Yet the redeemed cannot but give their strongest, purest love to such a Redeemer as the Lord Jesus Christ; this He claims and God Himself cannot forbid it. He must be God that He may be ever present with all His children everywhere, to strengthen them, comfort, restrain, correct, guide, protect and deliver them; He who is not divine is unfit to be a Saviour for guilty man. He must be God that He may judge, acquit and crown them. He must also be human, a man, a creature, that He may be made subject to law \ THE GOLDEN POT. 175 and law-penalties. He must be human that He may take the sinner's place of peril and death; that He may make His soul an offering and in His own body nail our sins to the tree. He must be a man, that He may be tempted in all points as we are; yet con- quer the tempter, that He may succor those who are tempted. He must be a man touched with a feeling of human infirmities and sympathizing with human trials and afflictions. He must be a man that He may so reveal God that l;lind men feeling after may find the Invisible One. As He must be preached in the reality and suffici- ency of His Godhead, so He must be preached in the perfection and fitness of His manhood. Without this He is not a complete Christ nor fully preached. This precious doctrine of the divine humanity of Jesus Christ is the foundation stone of the whole superstruc- ture of our salvation, without which you can build no ark of safety for guilty man — without which you can rear no temple of worship for His followers. You can ask for no more interesting theme than is given you in Christ. When men talk about earthly kings, rulers of mighty empires, crowned potentates and fitting intellect and learning, and worthy of being heard, but we preach Jesus Christ, "The blessed and only potentate, King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto," the self-existent and inde- pendent Creator of all created things, "far above all principality, power, might and dominion; above every name that is named not only in this world, but that also which is to come;" the absolute and rightful Sovereign of the universe, whom "the heaven, even the heaven of heavens, cannot contain." And is this IjC THE GOLDEN POT. subject not more than worthy of the highest powers of the teacher, and worthy of being heard before any other that can claim the ear or the heart of man? When men tell of mighty wonders they expect to be heard because of their subject, but we tell of wonders upon which angels gazed with astonishment, the world doubted and rejected, and even God's chosen people so staggered in unbelief at the hearing of it that the prophet exclaimed in anguish, "Who hath believed our report?" The most marvellous thing in all the annals of time we preach and perhaps most marvellous in all the annals of eternity — that the Ancient of Days became the infant of days! that the fulness of im- mensity was wrapped in swaddling bands and laid in a manger! that omnipotence was folded in the arms of helplessness! We tell of the illimitable One occupy- ing a local habitation and becoming a subject citizen of Judea; we tell of the Holy One clothing Himself in the likeness of sinful flesh, the Son of God becoming the Son of man, deity marrying humanity, so that they are no more twain but one person forever! We tell of the Lord of heaven choosing a bride from earth, that He may make her His princess and queen, be- coming her husband, that she may share His throne and glory! We tell of the guilty pardoned, restored, promoted and crowned, yet law, justice, holiness and truth vindicated and magnified ; we tell of two natures and three offices in one person, a bleeding sacrifice, a sanctifying altar and an officiating priest all in onef We tell of Jesus bowing the heavens and lifting up the earth to meet them! In Christ, indeed, is dis- played the wonder of wonders in the universe; there- fore Paul exclaims, "Without controversy great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, THE GOLDEN POT. ijj justified in Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory!" If wonders are worthy of attention, why should not this theme claim the deepest interest and profound- est thought of the immortal soul? 2d. To preach Jesus Christ is to teach and present Him in His substitution and atoning sacrifice. Isaiah thus preached Him, "He was wounded for our trans- gressions, bruised for our iniquities," "the Lord laid on Him the iniquities of us all." Paul thus preached. Him, "He was delivered for our offences, that we might obtain salvation by Jesus Christ, who died for us." Peter, Jude and John so preached Him. He who would release the prisoner and at the same time- condemn his guilt and vindicate law and justice, must take the prisoner's place. He who would save a criminal in harmony with righteousness and holiness,, himself must assume the guilt of the guilty, take his position at the bar, take his law-place, stand at the judgment seat in his stead, receive his sentence and endure his penalty. So Jesus must be preached as "bearing the iniquities of us all," standing in our law- place, answering to our summons, standing at God's judgment bar in the sinner's stead and enduring the wrath and death due the sinner. Jesus is to be exhibited in the ministry as condemn- ing sin by nailing it to His cross; exalting holiness, vindicating justice, magnifying law, confirming the judgment of truth and most gloriously displaying mercy and love in His voluntary death in the sinner's stead ! Jesus is to be preached as thus procuring full, free, everlasting pardon and complete salvation for guilty men. Thus preached as the tender, willing, 178 THE GOLDEN POT. gracious, loving Redeemer, the all-sufficient, only- Saviour of sinners. He is to be thus presented to dying, condemned men, as their only hope, their only ransom, the only possible way of salvation, and the sure, never failing way of life and happiness for all who receive Him. He must be preached as righteous- ness for the unrighteous, as pardon for the guilty, as hope for the wretched, as happiness for the miserable, as the advocate and intercessor for the criminal at the bar. He must be preached as riches for the poor, clothing for the naked, bread for the hungry and water for the thirsty. He must be preached as a refuge for the oppressed, comfort to the afflicted, strength for the weak, life for the dead and glory for the risen. He must be preached as having a fulness that supplies all the wants of man for time and eternity. He who does not thus preach Jesus Christ, constantly, plainly, fervently, affectionately, plucks the heart out of the Gospel and leaves it a cold carcass, a lifeless corpse, puts out its light, darkens all its glory and robs the perishing world of all hope and joy. He preaches another Gospel which angels dare not do, and falls under the execration called down by the apostle Paul, "Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed." 3d. Jesus Christ is to be preached as the law-giver and administrator of law on the earth. Jeremiah, i: 10, thus preached Christ when he said, "See, I have this day set Thee over the nations and over the king- doms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, and to build, and to plant." Isaiah, lx: 12, thus preached Him, "The nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish, yea, THE GOLDEN POT. 179 those nations shall be utterly wasted." The Psalmist, xxii: 28, thus preached Him when he said, "The king- dom is the Lord's, and He is governor among the nations. " Second Psalm, "Now, kings, be wise and kiss the Son." John the Baptist thus preached Him "when he gave law to the Roman soldiers and rebuked Herod, condemning his incest. Paul thus preached Him when he said, 1 Timothy i: 9, "The law is for the lawless and disobedient, ungodly and sinners, un- holy and profane, man-slayers, man-stealers, liars, perjured persons and any other thing contrary to sound doctrine." And when Paul demands subjection to the powers that be as the ordinance and ministers of God, he preaches Christ as law-giver and adminis- trator of law on earth. King Jesus has enacted laws for all His creatures, laws to guide and restrain and tind all intelligent beings in His dominions. And lie fails to preach Jesus Christ who does not preach His law, applying it to all the conduct of men. He puts the Redeemer out of His kingly office, unscepters, uncrowns and dethrones Him. His law is to control men in all the relations, cir- ■cumstances, positions and duties of life. It is to guide maid and mother in the kitchen, the family circle, the parlor and social life ; it is to guide man as brother, friend, father, husband and citizen, as legislator and ruler; it is to guide his conduct on his farm, in his counting house, on the wharf, in his politics and his office. A man cannot go where this law does not reach him, he can engage in nothing that this law does not either approve or condemn him; he can find no place where this law does not guide, restrain or hind. It is illimitable as God's empire, omnipotent •as His hanci, and searching as His eye. It has its seat 180 THE GOLDEN POT. and source in the Divine bosom and its outreach over all intelligent creation. They who flout at the "higher law," the law of Jesus Christ, scoff at the throne of Jehovah. They who would drive Christ's law from Wall Street and the wharf, from the board of trade, the real estate and broker's office, forget that He overturned the tables of the money changers and stands by while the rich cast their gifts into the trea- sury. They who disregard Christ's law in their politi- cal relations and actions, deny that He is the Prince of the kings of the earth. And that minister is not faithful to Jesus Christ who does not preach His law against all the sins of men in every duty, against all the unrighteousness of government and all the evils of society. Toward His redeemed people Christ holds the law in His hands as mediator — it is not to them a binding and condemning power; it is only a guide in life and a standard of holiness for His children. But Christ is not only legislator, but also adminis- trator of law. Seated upon a glorious high throne of universal sovereignty, He administers law over all nations and peoples, over all kings, potentates, princi- palities and powers on earth. He is head over all things for the Church; for her sake time is prolonged and the old and hoary earth has being; for her sake suns rise and set, moons full and wane, and planets keep their orbits; for her sake thrones are set up and pulled down, kings are crowned and uncrowned. The annals of time are but the annals of Jesus' reign. History, sacred or profane, is but the unconscious recorder for His administration, whether its pages are blotted with blood or sweet with songs of peace. When iniquity has risen to a flood tide, then He has lifted the standard of war, called the sword from its THE GOLDEN POT. 181 scabbard and given it a commission to slay. The royal iron-rimmed chariots of war He has dashed together and broken in pieces, covering lands with their slain, with the shattered implements of death and all the debris of the battle field. Beneath cities as great in crime as grandeur He has exploded mines and buried them from sight. He has shaken the guilty world until her thrones have crumbled in the dust, and her princes, pallid with fear, have fainted at His presence. He has sent famine, pestilence, flood, desolation and death, and made crowded lands a desert. In all these ways He has executed law on the earth. Then when He would give earth a rest and comfort His Church, He has broken the bow, cut the spear and burned the chariot in the fire; He has stilled the tumult of the people, calmed the waves and hushed the storms into peace. He who fails to preach Jesus Christ in the equity and power of His administration over the human race, hides one of the most glorious exhibitions of His kingly majesty and robs His children of one of the sweetest consolations of His kingdom and sovereignty. Show them Jesus Christ holding the world in His hand for their sakes, setting up and throwing down, making war and making peace for their sakes — then they can sing, "Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth !" 4th. Jesus Christ is to be preached in His judgment coming, and the unutterable glory of His eternal reign. Daniel thus preached Christ, vii: 9, 10 and 14: "I beheld till the thrones were cast down and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow and the hair of his head like the pure wool; His throne was like the fiery flame and His wheels a burning fire. 1 82 THE GOLDEN POT. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him; thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him; the judgment was set and the books were opened. And there was given Him dominion and glory and a king- dom that all people, nations and languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion,, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." The Psalmist, 1: 3, 4, thus preached Him, "Our God shall surely come and shall not keep silence. He shall call to the heavens from above and to the earth that He may judge His people." Paul thus preached Him, Thessalonians iv: 16, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God." Peter, 2 Peter iii: 12, exhorts Christians "to be looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God." The beloved John thus preached Him, Rev. i: 7, "Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, they also that pierced Him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him." Once He came in infant weakness and the infirmities of sinful flesh, came to be tempted, tried, rejected, despised, scorned, persecuted, scourged and crucified; came to walk through the fiery furnace of Divine wrath and hide Himself in the grave. But He shall come again, "without sin unto salvation and to be admired of all them that believe." He shall come with ten thousands of His saints, with all His holy angels and the full glory of His Godhead. The scornful world will greet Him with wailings in that day, for then shall the wicked and unbelieving be consumed as the stubble and chaff of the summer threshing floor, THE GOLDEN POT. 183 for "the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up;" for with conflagration fires will He purge this polluted world. Then shall He set up His great white throne, and, seated thereon as the Son of man, He shall assem- ble all the inhabitants of earth before Him in judg- ment. The wicked, unbelieving and condemned He shall drive forever from His presence, and shall gather crowned believers in glory around His throne. Then shall begin the indescribable grandeur of His eternal reign. Then shall the sun be quenched, the moon shall wane to full no more, and the stars shall fade out forever, because the glory of God and the Lamb, the ineffable splendor of the enthroned Redeemer, shall make beautiful and endless day in that holy world. And His redeemed shall walk the golden streets of that New Jerusalem with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads ; they shall rest beneath the shade and eat the fruit of the tree of life and bathe in the blissful tide of the river of peace. This shall be the consum- mation of that great salvation, which began in the manger, triumphed on Calvary and brought immortal life out of the sepulchre. And to preach this salvation is to preach Jesus Christ. This is but a very weak and unworthy attempt to present this great subject, it is only a faint, almost imperceptible shadow of this glorious theme. This theme, which runs through all the momentous events of time, from its dawn to its consummation, deep and broad enough to demand the profoundest thought and outreach of the human intellect, and more than worthy of being illustrated by all the research and 184 THE GOLDEN POT. treasures of human learning. Philosophers and sages are honored in being permitted to study and teach it, and yet its most precious things are so plain that the simplest may get a profitable and comforting un- derstanding of it. Such, my hearers, is, I think, the preacher's theme, the grandest, profoundest, most comprehensive and precious; it is the fullest of sweetness that ever fell from the tongue or entered into the ear of man; it is strongest in consolation that ever spoke to the heart of wretchedness; it is wonderful and interesting enough to engage the attention of angels, much more any inhabitants of this poor, fallen world. Our preaching is designed to glorify God; to do this its subject must be Jesus Christ. "He is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person." The light of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ. We may preach philosophy and praise and honor men, we may teach literature and science and display eloquence, culture and learn- ing and please men, but we will not thus glorify God. In the wonderful powers and attainments of the human mind and in all the manifold works of creation and providence, there is only a shadowed brightness, but a faint gleam of Divine glory, but in the Gospel it shines in the face of Jesus Christ, it breaks forth into noon-tide splendor, beauty and power, and He must be preached that God may be glorified in all His perfections, that justice, holiness and truth may be joined with mercy and love, in the salvation of men. Again, the ministry is designed to save men. To do this we must preach Jesus Christ. He is "the power of God and the wisdom of God for salvation to them that believe." "There is no other name given under THE GOLDEN POT. 185 heaven whereby we must be saved." To do this Paul determined to know nothing among sinners but "Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Remember, we are not simply to civilize and reform men, or to educate and refine men — this the Gospel will also do — but we are to be especially instrumental in saving men from sin and wrath and misery and this can be done only by preaching Jesus Christ. It is God's appointed and commanded way, and however foolish it may be esteemed by men, it is infinitely wise and the only way. We may employ with burning zeal, unwearied energy and restless activity any device of man, every other possible scheme, but whenever the clear, plain, full preaching of Jesus Christ ceases, then the conversion and salvation of men will stop. Then, if the minister would honor the most shining gifts God has bestowed upon him, he must usefully employ every intellectual power, his most valued attainments and learning, and let him cease not to teach and to preach Jesus Christ. If he would save men from sin, misery and perdition, and most richly bless a wretched world, let him cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. He can in no other way so truly honor himself and benefit his race as in faithfully and fearlessly teaching and preaching Jesus Christ. To teach men the purest principles and profoundest wis- dom of philosophy is nothing to this; to uncover the most useful and precious secrets of science is not to be compared to this. He may gather the choicest garlands of literature and twine them on the brows of men, he may show them the treasures and wonders of a buried world, he may reveal to them the magnitude and glory of the stars, but it is inexpressibly more honored and blessed to reveal to them the grace and glory of Jesus Christ. 1 86 THE GOLDEN POT. And when the Father who sent Him and the Spirit who reveals Him in the soul shall endue his ministry with power to preach Christ fully, faithfully, affection- ately and fearlessly, then will the world believe he is the sent one of God. My hearers, we all have Christ presented to us in His Divine humanity as a suitable Saviour, presented as a substitute and atoning sacrifice in our stead; if we will accept and trust Him as a Saviour, our only Saviour, take His holy law as our rule and guide in life, honor and obey Him as our Redeemer and King — then with hope and joy we may wait His judgment- coming and enter fully and forever into His everlasting kingdom and glory. XL Our King. ii Tke Lord is our King,'' Isaiah xxxiii: 22. We are republicans, yet acknowledge a king — subjects, willing and loyal subjects of a republican government. The most obedient subjects of this King are the best citizens of a republic. No tyrants have ever been more fickle, unjust, cruel and oppressive than that tyrant king, the majority, yet we prefer a republic, believing it possible, by intelligence and Christian virtue, to make it the best human govern- ment on earth. It if true that kings have gambled with the liberties of mankind for nearly six thousand years, robbed their subjects and reddened earth with slaughter; yet if kings could only be always sufficiently wise and immutably just and good, this would be the most ancient, original and best form of government for mankind. And such a king we have. While we are citizens of a republic, we are also subjects of a King and kingdom before and above our republic, for "the Lord is our King." "Our King" is a Divine man. One who has joined Divine wisdom, goodness, justice and power to manhood, and in this two-fold nature has become our King, as the Lord Jesus Christ. First. Birth of "our King." Our King was born in Bethlehem of Judea, nearly nineteen hundred years ago. His mother's name was Mary, a peasant woman of the despised little village of Nazareth. His family worked at the carpenter's trade and earned their daily bread by "the sweat of the face;" they had no distinc- j 88 THE GOLDEN POT. tion, no rank, no worldly wealth nor honors. Earth's great ones would usually be ashamed of such a lineage, birth-place and condition, and some earthly kings have invented great lies and legends to hide the lowliness and obscurity of their birth. But no one ever heard an intimation that "our King" was ashamed of His parentage, place or position. And we rejoice in this fact. When we want a ruler here, we choose him from among the people — those who have earthly kings desire they shall be of their own kind. And we rejoice that our King is one of us. Second. Genealogy of "our King." But He has a lineage that runs far back of Nazareth, Bethlehem or Jerusalem, far beyond and above Solomon, David, Abraham or Adam, as the eternal Son of the eternal Father! He can call the Creator and Sovereign of the universe Father, as no mere created being could. And the Father says, "This is My only beloved Son," as He does not declare of any creature He ever spake into being. He was an equal on His Father's throne, the King over all subjects in the universe, before He "became "our King." No people ever had or will have a king of such noble, honorable and exalted lineage as ours, "This glorious One," "The mighty God," "The Father's Son!" Third. When was "our King" proclaimed? When the covenant of redemption was entered into between Him and His Father, He then began to exercise His royal office for us, "before the mountains were brought forth or hills settled," then, by Solomon, He says, "were His delights with the sons of men." And from the first promise to our fallen parents in Eden He "began to show His kingly grace ; but He was not for- mally proclaimed by God King in our world until, THE GOLDEN POT. 189 having joined deity to humanity, He stood beneath the baptismal water on the banks of Jordan and the Holy Spirit, in visible form, descended upon Him,, and the voice of the Father was heard saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Then the eternal King anointed and announced His. Son as prince of the kings of the earth, to reign over the earth according to His royal will. Then Christ could say to His disciples, "I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father has appointed unto Me." And when He hung upon the cross, God constrained even Pilate to acknowledge and proclaim His royal right and title. We may thus say that at Jordan and Calvary it was proclaimed to heaven, earth and hell that Jesus was the elect and only King of menl "Notwithstanding, have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion." Fourth. When was "our King" inaugurated? In- auguration is a great day with earthly kings. Armies are called out with all "the pomp and glorious circum- stance of war;" the high officers of state, in all the glittering regalia of rank and ensigns of power, assem- ble, and, amid applauding multitudes, with shout and songs of joy, they set their king upon the throne and set the crown upon his head. Some such inaugura- tion, I believe, "our King" received, when from Mount Olivet He ascended and "a cloud received Him out of sight;" ascended up far above all principality and power and might and dominion and "sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high." Having over- come, "He sat with His Father in His throne," then, "He set upon His head a crown of purest gold." Then all the angels and high archangels and principalities and powers of heaven assembled and, I think, they 190 THE GOLDEN POT. sang something like this: "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? Who is this? The Lord, strong and mighty; the Lord, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in!" "This wonderful King, so true and brave, This righteous King, so strong to save, That vanquished Satan and the grave, Is our victorious King!" And with angel shout and song and joy of those already redeemed, they welcome Him to His media- torial throne and crown! But I believe "our King" will have another inauguration when "He has put all enemies under His feet," when He has overthrown all the powers of hell, has conquered and subdued all the earth, He will again ascend in the dyed garments of victory, having written on His thigh and vesture "King of kings and Lord of lords." The waiting throne above will greet Him with the twenty-fourth Psalm and the "song of Moses and the Lamb;" and all "the armies of heaven, upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean," shall be His retinue and guard of honor, and all the prophets and apostles and martyrs and all redeemed saints of earth will come after Him with palms and harps and songs, "as the voice of a great multitude and the voice of many waters, and the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, 'Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!' " My hearers, I hope to be present at that inaugura- tion, and hope to greet you in that procession! But we have been caught up and carried away by this THE GOLDEN POT. 191 rapturous vision that awaits us, but we must come back to earth and for awhile yet follow "our King" and His members through this sinful world. Fifth. What is the history of "our King?" Of His infancy, youth and early manhood little is known, we only know He was "the holy child," the obedient, upright youth and the perfect man. The first three years after He was proclaimed King on the banks of Jordan were years of privation, toil, travail, perse- cution and suffering, ending in ignominious death. Since that His visible life on earth has only been through His mystical body, the Church, and in the persons of His loyal followers; with whom He has walked through waters and great rivers, through fur- nace fires and flames kindled for them. The history of the elect Church is the history of "our King." Read the lives of her faithful teachers and preachers, lives of her holy men and women and children, her true witnesses; read her martyr roll and her march through wilderness and desert and mountain region, through night and darkness and storm, through faggot fires and tears and blood, with mingled plead- ings and groanings and songs and thanksgivings, ap- parent defeats and sure triumphs; this has been the life of the Church and this has been the visible history of "our King" on earth. Sixth. The thrones of "our King." Unlike any other royal personage, our King has a two-fold nature and occupies two thrones. His high throne of glory is in the heaven of heavens. There He is "the Lamb in the midst of the throne," and David says, "Thou Tiast prepared Thy throne in the heavens and Thy Tdngdom ruleth over all!" Before this throne He receives the homage and service of all dominions, 1 92 THE GOLDEN POT. principalities and powers of the universe; thence He issues His commands and royal decrees that angelic messengers gladly and swiftly execute, whether of judgment or mercy, whether to destroy or save. But in His Church on earth He fills a throne of grace, before which He hears the petitions of sinful men and from whence He issues His royal pardons; from thence He sends out His gracious proclamation of Gospel terms and His royal promises of help and strength and love, and pronounces His royal judgments of mercy to the penitent. Here "are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David." To this throne we may come boldly and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Seventh. The sceptres of "our King." As He fills two thrones, so He wields two sceptres. From the throne of His grace He holds out the sceptre of His Gospel love, the truth of His mercy and favor. If any sinner of earth approaches this throne He holds out this golden sceptre that He may kiss it and be assured of royal pardon and peace. This is the rod of His strength, which He puts forth in Zion by the power of His Word and Spirit, to win and gather and rule the hearts of His people on earth. The other sceptre the Psalmist calls a rod of iron, the sceptre of His almightiness and holy wrath, that He wields in love for righteousness and hatred of wickedness, with which He breaks in pieces mighty men and crumbles earthly thrones in the dust. The right hand of "our King," that holds this sceptre, teaches terrible things in justice, as He rides forth prosperously for meekness, truth and righteousness. Eighth. Who are the subjects of "our King?" All the wicked spirits that roam the universe and all the THE GOLDEN POT. 193 devils in hell. Over all these He has authority, for He says, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth." While in person on earth He made them feel their subjection by casting them out, restraining and commanding them. And now He shortens or lengthens their chain at His pleasure, and limits all their operations just as it suits His purpose and glory. All disobedient, rebellious people of earth are His subjects. Potentates, kings, princes and magistrates, strong and weak, high and low, learned and unlearned, rich and poor. Some of these acknowledge Him not, because they are ignorant of Him; others hate Him without a cause, rebel against Him and seek to thwart His purposes and overthrow His kingdom; and while He does not take away their freedom and responsibil- ity, yet He does set bounds to their rage, as He does to the proud waves of the sea. He defeats their pur- poses and causes even their wrath to praise Him. But He has multitudes of holy, loyal, angelic and redeemed subjects, who serve, worship and honor Him in loving loyalty. Ninth. The laws of "our King." He is an absolute sovereign and His will is the only and unchangeable law; and all the statutes His subjects are required to obey, and that guide, restrain and bind them, are decrees of His own wisdom and love. These are written for us in His law book, and they are holy and just and good, designed for and adapted to the happi- ness of His subjects; for "righteousness is the girdle of His loins and faithfulness the girdle of His reins." The law of kindness is in His mouth, and the law of redeeming love issues from the throne of His grace. Tenth. The dominions of "our King." 1st. He has an essential, rightful dominion of 194 THE GOLDEN POT. justice. This includes all on earth, all under the whole heaven, all within the boundless universe. The king- dom and the dominion and the greatness of the king- dom under the whole heaven and above the heavens are His, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him. 2d. The dominion of His grace is within His Church, over His redeemed people, wherever His throne of grace and Gospel sceptre are acknowledged. This dominion He is continually extending, from State to State, from country to country, from nation to nation, daily adding redeemed and loyal subjects to it. And this He will continue to do until "all ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God," until the earth shall be filled with His glory and the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth as the waters the sea." "All kings shall fall down before Him and all nations shall serve Him." Then this dominion of grace shall be co-extensive with His rightful dominion on earth. Eleventh. The army of "our King." This army numbers myriads that none can enumerate; it consists, of various divisions, yet all execute His will. The tiniest insects of earth are employed by Him and swarms of flies and bees and hornets and frogs and locusts, caterpillar and cankerworm, are in His army, and with these He destroyed the pride and power of Egypt, drove the giants of Canaan before them and sorely chastised ungrateful Israel. Another division is made up of the lightnings that come and say unto Him, "Here we are," and the floods and the storm clouds and the darkness and the hail and the snow and the frost and the fire and earthquake and the pes- tilence. These have shaken down the palaces and fortresses of His foes, consumed their wealth and strength and swept them from the face of the earth. THE GOLDEN POT. 195 Another division is made up of holy and loyal angels, before one of which the hosts of Assyria melted like frost before the sun. And many other hosts of earth have perished in the same way and knew not who had slain them. Angels stood guard around the prophet Elijah, and are ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation. "The angel of the Lord encamps, and round encompasseth All those about that do Him fear, and them delivereth." Another division of His army is made up of patri- archs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, missionaries, preachers, teachers, and all His loyal followers, and even the little children of the Sabbath school, who love Him, for the prophecy is, "A little child shall lead them,'"' and "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings He has ordained strength to still the enemy and avenger!" This latter division operates only in the dominion of His grace, round the throne of His mercy, and under the sceptre of His love. But "our King" leads all the divisions and utters His voice before all His army, for it is very great. Twelfth. The conquests of "our King." His personal conquest began when by faith in the Word of Divine truth He met the great adversary in the wilderness, on the mountain and the pinnacle of the temple, and overcame him there. Then, during His life, He met and defeated Him again and again. Then in Gethsemane and on Calvary He was encompassed about and assaulted by ail the legions of hell. Sore, bitter, bloody was the conflict, for He was left alone; angels stood aloof, God hid His face, earth grew dark and hell roared in triumph. Although stained with His own blood and faint with wounds, yet He sur- rendered not to the enemy, but voluntarily gave up 196 THE GOLDEN POT. His own life and died a victor! Then "He spoiled principalities and powers, making a show of them openly," and unfurled a banner of victory that has never been folded since. And after a three days' rest in the grave He tore open the sepulchre and fulfilled the promise that is written, "O death, I will be thy plagues! O grave, 1 will be thy destruction!" Then, says the Psalmist, "He went up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet." It was the shout of triumph. Then He gathered His great army under His power and with the crown on His head He leads them and utters His voice before them. He has made already great conquests in the earth, but He shall make yet far greater. All foes shall fall before Him; heathen idolatry, darkness and superstition, Moham- medan fanaticism, cruelty and delusion; papal assump- tion, ignorance and corruption; despotic oppression and slavery; infidelity, atheism and anarchy, intem- perance, lewdness, Mormonism and robbery, national rebellion, cruelty and crime. Yes, my hearers, earth still has dark places that are the habitations of horrid cruelty and multitudes of wrongs and sorrows and griefs, but be not troubled, "our King" will yet right them all. Each of these foes and all others not named, will fall before one or another division, or all the divisions of His army combined. Wait till the battle ends. The division of His grace, the soldiers of the cross, are to-day following their King and leader up the Mississippi and over the Rocky Mountains; down the Columbia and the great river of Alaska; up the Red River and the Rio Grande. They are marching after our King around the Yellow Sea and up the Yang-Tse-Kiang of China, and among the flowery islands of Japan; through the Gulf of Siam and up the Cambojia; up the Ganges and along the Ural moun- THE GOLDEN POT. 197 tains; beyond the Persian gulf and up the Tigris and Euphrates; up the mysterious Nile and the great Congo, into the heart of the Dark Continent! Soon the feet of those that "bring glad tidings of good things, that publish salvation," will be seen on every mountain top of the earth, and the soldiers of the cross, the army of "our King," marching along all the streams of earth with songs of praise. The conquests of "our King" have only fairly begun; His purpose is revealed, but their fruits are ripening fast; and they shall go on until "Afric's dusky swarms, that from Morocco to Angola dwelt and drank the Niger from his native wells, or roused the lion in Numidian groves" have heard His name! And "Egypt, casting her gods into the Nile, and black Ethiopia, that shadowless beneath the 'torrid burned' shall come to Him!" And the "silken tribes of Asia," and "Ishmael's wan- dering race," and "all the tribes that dwelt from Tigris to the Ganges wave and worshipped fire or Brahma;" and "the Tartar hordes that roamed from Oby's bank southward to the wondrous wall;" the tribes of Europe, the Russ, the Pole, the Greek, the Turk, the Spaniard and the Gaul, all these shall own "our King," Messiah's reign! His soldiers' march shall never halt until the utmost bounds of the earth have heard His royal name. "For this cause to the world He came; For this He suffered grief and shame, And dying, rose, and won the name He bears, the King of kings. "His sword's still girded on His thigh, His right to reign who dare deny? Or who the armies can defy, Of our almighty King?" 198 THE GOLDEN POT. Thirteenth. How long will "our King" reign? The reigns of other kings are ended sometimes by the loss of their crown; if not, in a few years death is sure to depose them. But "our King" is invincible and omnipotent, therefore can never lose His crown in any contest, and over Him death has no power. True, He died once, to satisfy, honor and magnify the law He was to administer; died to save those who were under the law, who had broken and were condemned by it; died, but rose again and proclaimed Himself, "I am He that liveth and was dead." Paul says, "He shall reign until He hath put all enemies under His feet; then He shall deliver the kingdom to the Father." Whatever this may mean, I know that He shall reign "as long as the sun and moon endures; that His name shall endure forever, and His dominion shall not pass away, and of His kingdom there shall be no end." And He that over- cometh shall sit down with Him in His throne. Therefore, whatever Paul's language may mean, there is some sense in which His reign is forever and ever. We could not bear the thought that He should ever cease to be "our King." Be assured this can never be, for He is our eternal King, and we shall see His glory! Fourteenth. The glory of "our King." Some earthly kings glory in many things they possess and do, but none can compare in glory with "our King." Besides all the glory He had with the Father "before the world was," there is put upon this all the glory He won in His achievements as "our King." Glorious in His exalted and Divine lineage, glorious in His perfect manhood life on earth, glorious in His con- quering death, glorious in His destruction of the grave, THE GOLDEN POT. 199 glorious in His history on earth, glorious in His throne of glory and of grace; glorious in His golden sceptre of love and His iron sceptre of destruction, glorious in His law, holy, just and good, glorious in His dominions of power, justice and grace, glorious in His great and invincible army, glorious in His con- quests by His royal followers, glorious in the fruits of His Spirit and the countless trophies of His grace, that He shall bring back in triumph! When all this glory is concentrated and blended with the glory which He had with the Father, "before the world was," surely it will make a brightness of glory, that nothing else will be needed to lighten with eternal day the heavenly world. Then in due time we shall enter into and partake of His peerless, eternal glory. XII. Beautiful Situation of the Church. "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, the city of the great King,' 1 Psalm xlviii: 2. Many scholars suppose this Psalm was written dur- ing the reign of Jehoshaphat, after his great victory- over the combined armies of Ammon,Moab andEdom, It was evidently written when Jerusalem was in splendor and prosperity, and the temple in its glory. That great blind bard, Milton, who saw not with the eye of sense, but of the soul, thus describes the capital of Judea: "Fair Jerusalem, the holy city, lifted high her towers, And higher yet the glorious temple reared Her pile, far off, appearing like a mount Of alabaster, tipt with golden spires." And modern travellers who have walked about her mountain fastnesses, along the brow of the Gihon and Hinnom valleys on the west, and the Cheesemongers on the east, and from the side of Olivet have seen the rising sun gild her lofty towers and bulwarks, and bathe in light each tapering minaret and massive dome and spire, have exclaimed, "Beautiful for situation, indeed, and impregnable for strength is Mount Zion and Jerusalem!" But, as seen by modern travellers, it could not be compared to its magnificence in Jehos- haphat's day. But it was not of this temporal, mate- rial Jerusalem or Zion that this royal psalm was written, only as she was type and symbol of something better and more glorious. For of the Zion that was THE GOLDEN POT. 201 then in the mind of the Spirit it is said, "God wilL establish her forever," but of the material Jerusalem we know her lofty towers and bulwarks are crumbled,, her massive walls are powdered dust, and, as Jesus foretold of her magnificent buildings, not one stone is left upon another; and her earthly children wail around her ruins a lamentation more sorrowful than their captive fathers' when they hung their harps on the willows by the rivers of Babylon. This is all they have to tell to the generations, as they come and go, of their once golden tipt mount of alabaster. But there is another Zion of which this was but a type and symbol. Of this one more glorious things are spoken as the city of God, whose battlements and towers will never be overthrown. This impregnable and imperishable spiritual Zion and temple is the Church of Jesus Christ, a spiritual city and kingdom, whose subjects and citizens are made up of all on earth who, in every age, are by faith united to the person of Jesus Christ, regenerated by His Spirit and accept and obey His laws and ordinances. Such, and such alone, are true citizens and subjects of the Church of Jesus Christ; that city whose walls are salvation and her gates praise. And of this Zion it is true that she is "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, the city of the great King," and "God will establish her forever." Some points of analogy between the Church's situation and that of Jerusalem and the temple. First. The Church, in foundation, mountain scenery and strength, is beautiful for situation, like Jerusalem and the temple. They were builded upon a rock, deep laid, strong and immoveable, and buttressed around with mountain walls and everlasting hills. No city 202 THE GOLDEN POT. nor temple ever rested on such a corner-stone; and in the day of her prosperity, standing on the summit of Zion, a panorama of beautiful valley and mountain scenery, clothed in soft robes of azure hue, lay around you on every side; and Olivet and Mizpeh, Gibecn and Ramleh, stand like giant sentinels around the royal city. Says a traveller, "There appeared to be no way an enemy could approach save from the north- west, through the rugged pass of Beth-Horan — so Zion was called impregnable," and was so until she sinned away her Divine defence. Such, but far more beautiful in foundation, mountain scenery and strength, is the situation of the Church of Jesus Christ. She is founded upon a rock, deeper laid and more stable than the granite strata of earth — Jesus Christ Himself is her corner-stone. He said, "Upon this rock will I build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." She is laid in the eternal purposes and covenant oath of Divine truth and faithfulness, and these are far older than the hoary hills, and far more immutable than they; she is girded about with the mountains of Divine promises and hills of Divine faithfulness and the armies of omnipotence are her impregnable walls; her foundation and scenery and strength far exceed that which supported, adorned and guarded old Jerusalem. The Psalmist sings, "As round about Jerusalem the mountains stand alway, The Lord His folk doth compass so from henceforth and for aye." But the Lord says, "The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from thee nor the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord, that hath mercy on thee." He that THE GOLDEN POT. 203 will take his stand on the hilltop vision of the Church and look up toward the mountain heights of the Divine attributes, and out over the hills of Divine faithfulness and along the gleaming valleys of Divine promises, will see a prospect of beauty and grandeur and strength that has no parallel on earth. O Church of God, Thy beauty is perfect through the Divine comeliness put upon Thee, Thy defence is impregnable and Thy sentinels never sleep! The armies of the aliens may come against Thee, the heathen may rage, the kings of the earth may set themselves, the rulers take coun- sel together and the people imagine a vain thing, for they shall never open Thy gates nor break down Thy walls! "He that in heaven sits shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision." When they see the strength of thy battlements and bulwarks, fear shall take hold upon them, and being troubled, they shall "haste away, "for I, saith the Lord, will be a wall of fire round about, and the glory in the midst of her." Beautiful is thy situation in the covenant strength and grandeur of the royal Redeemer, O Church of Christ! We must notice one respect in which the situation of Christ's Church finds no analogy and far excels ancient Jerusalem. That city was but scantily sup- plied with water, and what she had was black, brackish and bitter. The brook Kedron, that ran along the valley of Hinnom on the east side, although fed by all the rivulets of the hills, was generally but small and sometimes totally dry. To remedy this evil, Solomon built his great pools, and Hezekiah brought the streams of Gihon from the south side into the city, and Pilate brought water from Etam, yet she was poorly supplied against famine or siege. But the Church stands at the confluence of two strong rivers 204 THE GOLDEN POT. of this world that never waste — the rivers of Divine providence and grace. These flow in perennial streams through her streets and homes, cleansing, refreshing and fertilizing her, insuring safety and health and life. No famine can ever waste her supply, no siege can ever shut up the fountain head, nor turn aside the river of God, that enriches and makes glad the city of the great King — the fortress that could not be taken because it had a secret channel to the waters of a great lake. So the Church has a channel to the exhaustless Divine supply. Beautiful for situation is the Church, that stands on either bank of the river that flows out from the throne of God and the Lamb. Second. Zion and Jerusalem were beautifully situ- ated amid fertile hills and rich valleys. Not only the vine-clad hills and verdant valleys that lay near the city poured their bounteous harvests into her, but the wide bottom lands of Cele-Syria, that covered the foot of gorgeous Lebanon and the valley of white topped Herman and the fountains of Jordan, all poured their wealth into her storehouse. However dry, barren, dreary and desolate this land may now appear to travellers, it once flowed as with milk and honey. The grapes of Eshcol were no myths. Ephraim was, in- deed, on the head of fat valleys. And the Psalmist was indulging in no mere poetic license of fancy when he sang thus: "With flocks the pastures covered are, The vales with corn are clad. And now they shout and sing to Thee, For Thou hast made them glad!" But more beautifully is the Church situated amid the hills of Divine promise and the valleys of sweet THE GOLDEN POT. 205 ordinances. No hills are clothed with such fruit and foliage as the hills of gracious promise, and His chil- dren can here gather grapes larger and sweeter than the grapes of Eshcol and drink wine that never ine- briates, but "cheereth God and man," the wine that "goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those who are asleep to speak." Man never reaped any valleys that yielded such a harvest as the valleys of God's ordinances; here they can eat angel's food, gather manna in the morning, at noon the corn of heaven, and in the evening the bread of life. Her citizens are fed with the finest of the wheat and eat honey out of the Rock. He who will come into the Church of Christ and feed upon the fruit of His precious promises and delight themselves in His ordinances of Gospel preaching, praise, prayer and communion, will feed the whole man, physical, intellectual and spiritual, and be nourished up unto eternal life. He will gather a strength that no other food of earth can supply, a strength for the home and the street, for labor and rest, for sickness and health, for day and night, for pleasure and pain, for life and death — a strength that insures victory in every conflict! He shall be satisfied "with the goodness of God's house," his soul shall oe filled as "with marrow and fatness," and "always flourishing." I know the men of the world sometimes •exclaim, "What! Do you expect to find intellect and soul food in the Church? No! no! We can find stronger and better diet in Homer and Socrates, Plato and Eschylus, in Virgil, Tacitus, Juvenal and Horace, in Huxley, Darwin and Draper," and they loathe the teachings of the Church of God, as the Israelites loathed the manna, and call it light bread and stale. Yet history, observation and experience prove that the 206 THE GOLDEN POT. best food the children of this world ever received was from the Church of Jesus Christ. The food that has fed the best home life and society life and business life and political life that any land has ever known was gathered from the hills and valleys where stands the Church of Jesus Christ. The greatest warriors that have fought the battles and won the victories over human oppression and falsehood and wrong and misery, fed their strength on this food. The mighty souls who have mapped out civilized kingdoms, reared thrones of righteous judgment on earth and secured constitutional liberty, civil and religious, to men, gath- ered their strength from her provision. George Ban- croft, historian, says, "Presbyterianism is gradual republicanism. He who will not honor the memory and respect the influence of Calvin, knows little of the origin of American liberty." The historian Ranke says, "We consider Calvin as the founder of the free States of America." James Anthony Froude says, "Calvinism is the spirit that rises in revolt against untruth, the inflashing upon the conscience of the laws by which mankind are governed." Without this, human intellects and hearts have fed on the finest classics, ancient and modern, and the richest provision that science, philosophy, history and art could supply, and have grown hungry and lean and starved and died, but no soul ever fed by faith upon the hills and in the valleys of the Church's inheritance, in her green pastures and by her pure streams, and complained of leanness and want. "The Lord's my Shepherd; I'll not want," is the language of all the fold. Beautiful for situation is the Church of God, planted amid the promises of His truth and the or- dinances of His grace, "she shall grow as the lily and spread forth her roots as Lebanon." THE GOLDEN POT. 207 Third. She is situated in a beautiful climate. The clear atmosphere and the deep, metallic blue of the Syrian sky make the twilights of Palestine long and of golden beauty, and her nights gorgeous. The snows of Lebanon and Hermon moisten her summer heat, and the moist winds of Arabia and breezes from the sea temper her winter cold, so that Jerusalem is placed in a beautiful climate. But far more beautiful the climate in which the Church of Jesus Christ is placed. She lies in the summer climate of Divine love, near the heart of God. He says of her, "This is my rest, here still I'll stay, for I do love it well." Paul says Christ "loved the Church and gave JHimself for it." Nothing else so fills the Redeemer's soul and receives so much of His care as His Church; she is His Bride, and He says, "As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so will I rejoice over thee." The prophet Zephaniah says, "The Lord thy God will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing." O, how He loves the Church! He delights to feel her nestling under His wings and crowding up close to His heart; and the nearer she comes to Him, the clearer she feels the strong heart beat of His fervent love, and the more life and strength and joy she draws from that fountain of life and love. The face of the Sun of righteousness makes the light that rules her day, and His smile makes the warmth of her summer. She has her nights, but He sets them thick with starry promises and some of these reflect the light of His countenance so brightly that they become the full moon in the firmament of her night. And if she enters the winter solstice, yet at length His Spirit breathes a vernal breath upon her that melts her ice and dispels her cold. 208 THE GOLDEN POT. And sometimes this gale has been so strong from the upper Eden that she has inhaled and exhaled a breath as fragrant as the air from a garden of sweet spices and myrrh. If the Church but loved her Husband and Lord as He loves her, and kept as close in His em- brace as He would held her, she would never know a night of gloom or a winter of cold and barrenness, but wear continually the robes of perennial bloom and fruitfulness. Yet, as it is, she will always dwell in the most delightful climate of this world until transplanted to the eternal summer land of His imme- diate presence and everlasting love. Fourth. So beautiful is the situation of the Church that from her position the widest, grandest and most varied prospect is presented that can be seen on earth. If you take a position on the summit of ancient Zion, looking westward thirty-two miles, you may see the water line of the Mediterranean, "the deep blue sea;" northward and eastward you look down on the top of Mount Bethel and Ramleh and Ebal, until the vision is arrested by the higher peaks of dewy Herman and snowy Lebanon. North rises Mounts Bethlehem and Hebron, from the great battle plain of Esdraelon, where Roman, Greek, Persian and Jew have battled for kingdoms; on every side a prospect of woodland, hill, valley and mountain scenery of wide, varied and extended grandeur is presented. But take your posi- tion on the Church's mount of vision, which stands in the shining pathway of historic and prophetic reve- lation, and you can have an immeasurably more dis- tant, wider and grander view than from any other point beneath the sun. Backward over all the moun- tain tops, hills and valleys of earth she points you back to the beginning, when "God created the heavens THE GOLDEN POT. 209 and the earth," and tells of the unregistered ages of chaos and night, and of universal light, which sprung from the fiat of Him who alone is light, and who clothed the sun therewith and appointed the moon and stars their places. Returning along this illumin- ated pathway, you can look on the moveable tent- homes of patriarchs and glance at many tribes of earth, building and gathering into great cities and forming vast kingdoms. Then, following one chosen people through Egyptian bondage and deliverance, along the march under pillar of cloud and fire through the Red Sea and the wilderness, long before Herodotus wrote or Homer sang, you may hear Israel's inspired legislator announcing the briefest, most comprehen- sive, wisest and purest code of law the world has ever yet known, and recording gems of poetry and elo- quence the world has never since surpassed. Then, looking on tabernacle and temple, altar and laver, sacrifice and offering, type and shadow, you pass on through conflicts and rebellions, victories and defeats and captivities, look on sorrows and death and sin, then look on Calvary and see Jesus, the consumma- tion of them all and conqueror of sin and death! From this high mount of vision at the cross the line of light brightens and widens and the glorious prospect broadens, but still the scene is that of a marching, ■battling host. But now it is a more mixed multitude, for many from other tribes and tongues of earth have joined the ranks of Christ's Israel. Faith still sees the pillar of cloud and fire above them, but the Red Sea through which God's chosen have many times passed in the last eighteen hundred years, has been waves of flame instead of water on either hand, and their march has sometimes been through a desert land, 210 THE GOLDEN POT. dry and parched with the fires of hatred and perse- cution; yet faith still drinks from that spiritual Rock and finds heavenly manna in the dew of every morn- ing. Through flame and flood and battle field and wilderness Christ's host has marched up to the present moment, and from the watch tower of the Church can be seen all the greatness of the conflict and the trials and triumphs and heroism and glory of the past; and however it may appear to the eye of human reason and unbelief, it has been a victory, and a glorious vic- tory for Christ. But, standing on the Church's mount of vision, take the telescope of prophetic revelation, and you can see a prospect more transcendently glo- rious far. Prophecy is but veritable history antici- pated; it tells what the truthful records will contain when written. And what a scene of glory appears to the eye of faith. The mountain of the Lord's house established above the mountains and all nations flow- ing into it ; peace within her walls and prosperity within her palaces; the knowledge of the Lord covering the earth as the waters do the channels of the great deep; the camels and dromedaries of Midian and Epha and Sheba gathering to her temples ; the gold and incense of earth given to the praise of the Lord, and the herds of Kedar and the flocks of Nebaioth given to the Lord's altars, and Egypt stretching out her hands to God. When violence shall be no more heard in her streets, nor wasting in her borders, and nothing shall hurt nor destroy in the holy mountain; when Zion's sun shall no more go down, nor the moon withdraw itself, but the Lord shall be her everlasting light and the days of her mourning shall be ended! We do not yet say, "There is no more sea," no more wilderness way before the Church, no more desert and THE GOLDEN POT. 21 1 barren lands, red fields and redder fires to pass through — prophecy by no means tells us this. We are in- clined to the opinion that the Church has yet a troubled sea of deep waters opening before her and fearful fires yet to endure; but from the mount of vision Christ presents to the eye of faith, in the not very distant future, enough to support the faithful, toiling, battling soldier on the march. Whatever dis- couragements may appear to the timid or anxious or impatient or weary watchers, surely there are signs of His day drawing near. Famishing Persia is feeding on Christian bread and the bread of life ; starving India is listening to Christ and eating of Christian bounty; in China, Jesus is becoming better known than Con- fucius; in Japan, men and women are hearing the Gospel in their own tongue and their own schools; Egypt, long stripped naked and trodden upon, accepts Israel's deliverer; Africa is opened up from Cape Colony to Nyannyan, and the supposed ruin of the Queen of Sheba's palace, Madagascar, is a Christian kingdom; the missionary ship is skirting every coast and all the isles of the sea are waiting for the law of the Lord. Many millions of earth who had long sat in the region and shadow of death, have seen a great light, and in many lands sighs have changed into songs. Lo! along the mountain tops the light is breaking, grey streaks of dawn are streaming along the horizon, and in the morning twilight is seen the Gospel angel in his flight over all the earth. The banner of redeeming love is unfurled from the battle- ments of heaven in the sight of all nations ! The day is coming, the night shadows are fleeing away; His chariot wheels are heard nearer and nearer; the great day approaches when "all ends of the earth shall see 212 THE GOLDEN POT, the salvation of our God," and the people of every land and the isles of the sea shall take up a song of triumph, and the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters, and the voice of mighty thunderings, shall shake the earth with the victorious anthem, "Alleluia, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!" From the beautiful situation of the Lord's Church, in the path of prophetic revelation, the eye of faith catches beams from the day of glory to cheer the heart while waiting for King Solomon's royal chariot that is paved with love for the daughters of Jerusalem. The situation of the Church of Jesus is far more beautiful in every way than the situation of ancient Zion and Jerusalem. Where else beneath the sun can you find a position of observation that will com- mand such a wide view of the past, present and. future condition of the human race? She is placed in a focal light, the rays from the most distant past and the beams of prophecy and promise sent out from the throne of eternal day meet in her dwelling place, and the telescope placed to her eye sweeps a more distant and wider field onward and upward than any other in- strument that ever looked into the starry firmament of night. This vantage ground, this beauty of situa- tion, Jesus' Church will continue to occupy while waiting for her departed King, till He comes again; then from before His face the corrupt world and pol- luted air of earth will flee away and no place be found for them. Then shall His glorified Church take her situation of peerless and unfading beauty. Then shall darkness and gloom and sin flee away forever, and the Church, rising and shaking herself from the dust, shaking off the bands from her neck, shall put on her beautiful garments and sit down within the THE GOLDEN POT. 213 pearly walls of the new Jerusalem, and upon the mountain summit of the heavenly Zion, her situation of beauty and glory forever. Not only is she "beau- tiful for situation now, but she is the joy of the whole earth." XIII. Success in Life. "If any man serve Me, him will My Father honor" John xii: 26. We will suppose a young man on the threshold of active life, standing in his first footsteps on the arena, where the worth of his future years is to be shown, and suppose he might ask himself this question: "Can I take the high, unbending, pure principles of right and integrity which Christ taught and exemplified as the law of my life, and practice them with unswerving fidelity always and everywhere and succeed? Can I apply them in any and every department of business life and succeed? Can I carry them out in public life? In fidelity to them, can I do the duty of a citizen, a legislator or a statesman?" Many young men, I fear, if, in the start, they ask themselves this ques- tion, are inclined to answer it in the negative, and say, No ; it is no use; it is impossible to carry these unyield- ing principles of rectitude into business and political life. To never speak anything but the exact truth, to never act anything but strict honesty, to never practice anything but fair and open candor, that will never do! You will be taken advantage of and out- stripped by every rogue you have to compete with. And the idea of carrying these pure, transparent prin- ciples of Christ's teaching into political life, into official position and duties, and succeeding, is preposterous, it cannot be done ! What we propose to show is that it can be done, has been done with eminent success, and the highest honor. If the negative answer to this THE GOLDEN POT. 215 question be true, correct, then there must be a flaw, a defect, either in the law of God, the precepts of Christ, or in the business pursuits you propose to enter. It is a principle which Christ Himself lays down, "By their fruits ye shall know them." By this you are war- ranted to test every law and principle laid down for the government of life; the teachings of Christ as well as of men are to be submitted to this test. Put the law, the principle, in practice, and if the result, the fruit, is not good, then the principle, the law, is not right, "for a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit." The religion of Christ claims to lay down the correct principles for a life, not only in heaven, but especially on earth, and if the application, the practice of His precepts, His law on earth, in the service and duties of this life, bring upon a man failure and dishonor, then, according to his own test, they are false and wrong! Are they? Let us try them. First, what is it to serve Christ in active, every-day life? It is consciously, designedly, professedly to accept the principles of truth and uprightness Christ has laid down for the government of life, and to prac- tice them in order that He may have the honor of such an application of them. If you truly and faithfully apply Christ's doctrine in life, and the result is dis- honor, it must be dishonor to Him. If the result is honor, it must be honor to Him. And the man who accepts and applies the teachings of Christ in every relation and duty of life, that he may honor Him, whether he act in business or political duties, does serve Christ; and the promise is, such an one the Father will honor both in this life and that which is to come. Now, what are the principles and precepts Christ gives to practice between man and man in 216 THE GOLDEN POT. every relation of life, and can they be applied with honor and success? But what do we mean by suc- cess? Is mere possession and position success? If a man, along with a seared or uneasy conscience, and empty, unloving heart and a polluted life, becomes possessor of a huge mound of matter, is that success? If, with loss of self-respect, a guilty conscience and a bartered soul, he can sit in a senate or on a throne, is that success? With every fountain of the heart's life and happiness dried up, every power of true pleasure palsied, the soul parched with continual thirst, and not a drop to drink, is this with any pos- session and position success? Call not anything that destroys self-respect, chokes or drains the streams of true life and happiness, or disables the power of true enjoyment, success. The principles of Christ bring a success that preserves all these. We are not now to consider the relations that must subsist between you individually and God in Christ, although I know that the purity, permanency and strength of the human relations flow from and are secured by this higher relation, but we will consider for the present only the lower. The first principle or precept we will name which Christ gives to practice in life is truthfulness — strict, invariable veracity in every relation and in regard to every transaction. That whatever you say in regard to any transaction or thing shall be the plain truth, according to the knowledge and conviction of your own soul. This principle does not require you to tell all you know to be true; the maxim is correct that "the truth is not always to be told," but only truth is ever to be told. There are things concerning your fellow-man you have no right to know, and things THE GOLDEN POT. 217 relating to his business you have no business to know. But the principle requires that in any relations or transactions with your fellow-men, whatever you do- express shall be the plain, entire truth, and that you shall never hide the truth to their injury and to your profit by their injury. Now, cannot this principle be practiced with success and honor? Let us try it with the young man who wishes to get into business. James applies to a man of business for a position. A man of known veracity and honor testifies to the merchant: "Sir, you may rely with unshaken confi- dence on anything James says ; his truthfulness is with him a principle of obedience to God, His Saviour, and he will not swerve a jot from what he believes to be true, and would lose his right hand rather than deceive, prevaricate or lie." Do you think this re- commendation would be against him? Would you expect the business man to say, "Well, sir, I guess that principle cannot be applied successfully in my store, or shop; I think it might be better for him to lie a little occasionally?" You would never expect an intelligent business man to say anything of the kind. Suppose the recommendation ran in this way: "James is intelligent and smart in your business, and knows how to tell the truth, but he is no Puritan; if it is necessary, he is cunning enough to hide the truth, deceive and prevaricate; to be plain, if it is profitable or necessary in a bargain, he can lie." Out of regard to his own interest, would not the employer be apt to say, "No, sir, I don't want him; I want a man I can depend on." But if this merchant was base and foolish enough to think he might buy truthfulness, he might ask, "How high does James rate his truthful- ness? I may not be able to pay for it. If for ten dol- 2l8 THE GOLDEN POT. lars he will lie for me, perhaps for twenty dollars he will lie against me!" A Quaker met a man on the street with a load of wood. "Will thee deliver this load at my house for three dollars?" "Yes, sir." The wood did not come. The Quaker, meeting the man again, says: "Why did thee not deliver me that load of wood?" "I met another man who offered me three dollars and fifty cents." "So thee values thy truth- fulness at fifty cents? Well, thee rates thy word at all it is worth." Do you suppose any business man wants untruthfulness toward himself in his employees? No, indeed. If he is base enough to want them to lie for him he will not have them to lie to him, thus admitting that truthfulness is necessary to carry on business. Be assured, my young friends, if any em- ployer winks at or tolerates prevarication, deceit or lying in an employee, the lying must all be in his interest. If he finds the lying is against him, he will soon dismiss you, as unsafe to him. Every intelligent business man into whose employ it is safe to enter, regards the most unbending truthfulness as the very highest recommendation, and if he learns this truth- fulness is not only an expediency, a policy, but a heart- principle, flowing from the high, pure mountain source of honor and service to the Lord, its value is above all price. But suppose James goes into business for himself, with .strict, entire truthfulness as a heart- principle, will that be any barrier to his securing customers? Suppose it can be said of him, if you go to that house you may depend without question on what the proprietor tells you. He will tell you just what he believes to be the character of his goods, what the fair price is plainly; in no matter will he deceive you, or prevaricate in the least. He is a man THE GOLDEN POT. 219 •of entire truthfulness from principle. Do you think people would say, "'I don't want to trade with such a man; I would rather he would lie a little to me." You know this would not draw desirable customers; you know the principle of truthfulness as taught by Christ, and in obedience to Him, so far from being a hin- drance, is the highest possible commendation in secur- ing employment and doing business to honorable .success. Another principle Christ teaches for the guide of life in all relations with men is honesty, entire, un- bending integrity under every responsibility. This is so essential to truthfulness, so inseparably allied to it, that it is difficult to make a distinction. Yet you all understand what it is; a heart-principle that causes a man to regard every trust committed to him as most sacred. Mr. Colvin was entrusted with the funds of the company of which he was treasurer; he drew out ten thousand dollars and speculated in stocks, making twenty thousand dollars ; he replaced the ten thousand dollars and the company knew nothing of it. Mr. Haywood was treasurer of a company, took money from the fund, speculated, lost it all, was discovered, and sent to prison for embezzlement. But Mr. Col- vin was just as much a rascal and a thief as Mr. Hay- wood; neither of them had the principle of honesty, of integrity. But suppose it can be said of a young man: "You can trust him with the key of your safe, with your bank account, with anything you have, and need never fear his fidelity. His honor and integrity is from a principle of obedience to his God; he will never take money from your drawer with the good intention of replacing it again; he will never draw on your account, intending to deposit next day; he 220 THE GOLDEN POT. will never make a false entry, designing to correct it when he is in luck; he never gambles. He is from principle scrupulously honest and conscientiously upright." Would such a character be a barrier to a young man seeking a business position? Would such a principle be an obstacle to business success? Not No! it is preposterous and self-evidently false to as- sume that the principles of strict truthfulness and unimpeachable honor and integrity, taught by Christ, are not practicable, possible and successful in business life. Another principle taught by Christ to be applied in all the service of life is purity, sobriety and temperance. Not only in not drinking intoxicants and getting drunk, but in all the pleasures, recreations and labor of life to so regard all the Divine laws of mind and body as to put and keep both mind and body in the best condition for service and enjoyment. Is this a barrier to success and honor? It is needless to answer this. Every one knows if a man has a repu- tation for gluttony, sensuality or intemperance, it would be impossible for him to secure a position or succeed in any honorable business. Then are the precepts and principles of strict, un- varying truthfulness, unswerving honor and fidelity, purity, sobriety and temperance, as taught by and demanded by the Lord Jesus, impossible to apply and practice in public life? So far from it, these very principles and virtues are the only foundation upon which a safe and permanent business prosperity and a beneficent public life can be built. And the want of these virtues practiced with unflinching fidelity has done more to stop spindles, clog wheels, silence forges, paralyze enterprise, cripple and crush business, darken THE GOLDEN POT. 221 the nation's hope and palsy her power, than all mere material influences that operate on the globe. Young man, never let an intelligent, honest man hear you say you cannot practice the morality of Christ's re- ligion in business and public life; that you cannot he a Christian, obey Jesus Christ and succeed, for your own heart and conscience tell you it is untrue and absurd. Your hearer will immediately suspect your character; it is virtually saying the religion of Jesus Christ cannot be lived without failure and dis- honor; therefore, His religion is visionary and false. This every intelligent man knows is simply an ignorant slander on the wise and holy Saviour. If you could possibly find a man the most perfect embodiment of the precepts and principles taught by Christ, such a man, by every intelligent employer, would be the most acceptable as an employee, by every intelligent, up- right business man most acceptable as a partner, by an intelligent, moral community most trustingly patronized in business, and, if in public life,mosttrusted and honored by intelligent and virtuous citizens. His rectitude, purity, integrity and truthfulness, combined with talents, would insure him business success in any pursuit and secure him position and honor among his fellow-men. Some of you may be ready to say, I would like to see an embodiment of all the Chris- tian virtues run for an office in the political arena at the present day and see what his doom would be! It is not hard to tell what his fate would likely be. He would be smirched and smutted most shamefully and foully, and the whiter he was the more dirt and slime would be slung upon him and the fouler the spots would be on his whiteness, and it is quite possi- ble he would not be elected. But you would not vote 222 THE GOLDEN POT. against him because of his virtues, would you? Would you vote against him because he was truthful and honest and pure and of unbending integrity? Oh, no; I reckon not. Then it was not his Christian virtues lost him his election, was it? Then don't accept the falsehood that the Christian virtues cause any failure and dishonor. Why, then, was he not voted for? Two reasons are sufficient. Some, per- haps a large number, believed the shameless false- hoods; believed that the dirt and slime spots were part of the man; therefore voted against the spots, not the virtues. Others voted against him simply because they were blinded, enslaved partisans, and he was not of their party. He would not become a dog to please dogs, or a wolf to please wolves, or a sycophant and a briber to conciliate villains and rob- bers. He would not barter true honor for the empty name of honor, yet surely his Christian virtues did not defeat him, for all say they v/ould not vote against him because he was sober, truthful and honest. Suppose he had been elected, would his Christian precepts and principles controlling his public acts be an obstacle to his successful public service? Would it make him a failure as a good and beneficent legis- lator, statesman or executive? Is there anything in these positions and duties that would be helped by his being untruthful, dishonest, impure and unfaithful? Surely not. Then all these virtues might be practiced there? But some young man says, what you would accept as Christian morality and virtue has not suc- ceeded eminently in business or public life, but chicanery, cunning and diplomacy have! Suppose that were true; stealing has for a time succeeded, therefore stealing is right and necessary; lying has THE GOLDEN POT. 223 apparently succeeded, therefore lying is right and necessary; fraud and dishonesty have seemed to pros- per, therefore fraud and dishonesty are right and necessary. Would you accept such logic and such a standard of morality? You must if you insist that the standard of uprightness brings failure and dis- honor, for there is no middle standard, there are only degrees of distance from the upright. But we do most confidently deny that the strictest adherence to Christian principles has not been successful, both in business and political life. Leave out stock- jobbing, financial and commercial gambling schemes, and the whisky business, and confine examination to legitimate, honorable business, and the men most eminent in success, who have stood at the head of great enterprises, were successful and were so pro- moted and trusted because of their strength in at least some of these Christian virtues. And many of the most distinguished in State service attained their position and honor by firm adherence to at least one or more of the Christian virtues. We do not say they possessed all the Christian principles, that they were perfect embodiments of the law of Christ, but we say it was their virtues of Christ-origin that gave them success, eminence, honor and earthly immortality. In one biography of A. T. Stewart it is said, if any employee was known to misrepresent any piece of goods in the establishment or prevaricate to a cus- tomer, he was summarily dismissed. Whatever virtues Stewart lacked, it is admitted by those who knew him best that his colossal fortune was built on business truthfulness and honesty. Andrew V. Stout, Presi- dent of the Shoe and Leather Bank, New York, was once impoverished by generosity in endorsing for J224 THE GOLDEN POT. others, but he came out of the trial without a stain upon his reputation; amassed great wealth and became .as distinguished for commercial integrity as for piety and liberality. Nathaniel Ripley Cobb, of Boston, jiever accumulated above fifty thousand, because all above that sum he gave away, and during his life time gave away more than five times his accumulated wealth, lived and died honored for piety, truthfulness and integrity. The Harper Brothers, of New York, have done a prosperous business for more than fifty years by the strictest adherence to Christian principles. Were not R. L. Stuart and William E. Dodge success- ful? Is there any suspicion that they departed from Christian integrity? Did time permit, we might refer to George Peabody, Edward Colston, Peter Cooper, and others too numerous to mention. I repeat, young man, never let an intelligent and honorable man hear you say you cannot practice Christian integrity in business if you would not degrade your reputation. And when, in political life, one single Christian prin- ciple, tenaciously held and lived, has lifted more men into worthy success, eminence and enduring honor than ever did the devil's diplomacy. Charles Sumner did not by any means embody all Christian principles, but he did hold, even to martyrdom, one Christ-taught principle; that was, unswerving fidelity to his con- victions of the true and the right toward his fellow- men. Not classical scholarship or Grecian eloquence, but truthful, fearless fidelity to justice and human freedom wove the garland of earthly immortality for the head of Charles Sumner. Daniel Webster's forty years of peerless statesmanship, regal intellectual •attainments and treasures, and masterful, triumphant oratory, were all sadly tarnished by one single act THE GOLDEN POT. 225 against the principle of Divine justice and human right. "The light withdrawn Which once he wore! The glory from his gray hairs gone Forevermore!" Neither learning, eloquence, wealth nor craft car- ried Abraham Lincoln into the highest seat in the Republic, but the pronomen of "honest," better than knighthood or any title of nobility, "honest Abraham!" His simple, unswerving integrity and transparent purity of purpose made the luminous glory of his life. The success of Garfield was unquestioned, yet the slime of falsehood and fraud never stained his career from the tow-path to the presidency, and his death-bed l)y the sea. He lived and died a Christian. To these few specimen personages we might add the unnum- bered names of the great, who have been the good and the great of earth only by the power of one or more of the Christ-taught principles, maintained and exemplified, which gave distinction and honor to their names and memory. And the principles of a Christian life are not im- practicable or incompatible even in the life of a soldier. Although war seems in every phase so diametrically •opposite in spirit to Christianity, William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, carried with distinguishing pre- eminence truthfulness and honor through the temp- tations of princely wealth, through defeat, misfortune and comparative poverty, and carried Christian princi- ples through almost a life-time of relentless, desolating warfare, carried them firmly to his death-bed of assassination and martyrdom. General Washington, ■Colonel Gardiner, General Havelock and General 226 THE GOLDEN POT. Oliver O. Howard, were not more distinguished for soldierly bearing and bravery than for piety and Christian integrity. My young friends, there is no place on earth where God would have you employ the powers He has given you that the principles of His Word cannot be prac- ticed with the best hope of success and honor. Of Christian truth and purity the Lord says: "Exalt her and she will promote thee, she shall bring thee to honor when thou dost embrace her. She shall give thine head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee." God declares, "Them that honor Me I will honor." This service of Christ has some specific advantages that ought to be noticed. First, he who thus serves Christ has but one master. He who tries to please himself has a hard master and always fails, but he who seeks success and honor by pleasing and placating the world serves a hundred masters and pleases none, and must turn and twist and wriggle and distort and torture his life through most tortuous ways and be- come a shrinking coward and slave. But he who serves Christ serves but one Master, and He supreme. Second. He serves an easy and gracious Master. I do not mean He is lenient and easy to self-will and willful disobedience. He must have the heart and the surrendered will, but having these He is not hard and implacable, but most gracious to infirmities, ig- norance, faults and the failures of love. When the intention is good and sincere, but the means mistaken and the end an error, He graciously takes the will for the deed and pities our frailties. But he who serves the world must remember it makes no provision for mistakes nor mercy for failures. Napoleon told his THE GOLDEN POT. 227 officers that "a blunder was worse than a crime." This expresses not the mind of Christ, but the spirit of the world's mastery. Third. He who serves Christ has a straightforward and plainly expressed law of life. There is nothing written in human language so plain and easy of application as the life-governing principles of God's law; so it is literally true "a way- faring man, though a fool, need not err therein." But he must be a hard and diligent student who would ever learn the world's many maxims so as to success- fully apply them, or be able to follow the devil's diplomacy, that has more windings than the Egyp- tian labyrinth. These are considerations of great moment in the making of your life, one supreme mas- ter to serve and an easy and gracious master, and a plain, straight, uniform law to obey. Now, my young friends, you have before you these two places of activity, business and political or public life. Into both you must enter more or less largely and be more or less prominent and active. You must either be a serving laborer, a hewer of wood and a drawer of water, or enter agricultural, commercial or mechanical pursuits, or public or professional life, unless you intend to be a tramp, a vagabond, a gambler, or a cracksman; in that case you need no guiding principle. But if you are to be men and citizens, you must have some business pursuit, some life employment. And it is your privilege and right, nay, I will say, your duty, to apply your powers and talents energetically and honorably to acquire wealth and power. The possession of wealth, so far from being a sin or an evil, has often been the gift of God to men, through the hand of industry, genius, business tact, skill and talent, and God requires and commends "the hand of the 228 THE GOLDEN POT. diligent, that maketh rich." But its possession is a trust, a stewardship, a power for the honor of God in the hands of the possessor, in promoting the welfare of humanity. God gave this gift and power to Abra- ham, to Job, to Solomon, and to many others. To seek this power to be used for God and man is not only right, but a duty. Yet in whatever channel you seek it, let it be therein the service of Christ. Take the principles of righteousness and integrity He has given you, and maintain them with unswerving fidelity. Apply them in your transactions and commercial rela- tions with men, in all the trials and temptations, in all the successes and reverses of business life. Prac- tice them with the strictest faithfulness and conscien- tiousness, and fear no failure. If you fail because of fidelity to Christ's teachings, the failure and dishonor are His, not yours, and your success is the vindication of His precepts and honor, and the promise is, His Father will honor you. Never for a moment entertain the thought of abandoning, or even relaxing the rigor of Christ-taught principles for an apparent present advantage. The issue will prove your safety is in adhering to them, and you will never lose by handling them; your success comes from God, your honor is in His hand, therefore the coronation of faithfulness shall never fail. Another field in which you should be an interested actor, young man, is that of politics. You may, if you please, call it the field of patriotism. It is not only your right and privilege to act in this field, but your patriotic and Christian duty. You can here serve Christ; apply, maintain and exemplify His principles of truth and righteousness. I know it is said politics is nothing but a partisan strife, a THE GOLDEN POT. 229 scene of pot-house brawls, a broker's office, where money is exchanged for voters; its ends are attained only by wire pulling, chicanery, fraud and strife. And to go to Harrisburg or Washington City is thought to be extremely perilous to morals, scarcely less dangerous than the capital of his Satanic majesty! One is sometimes heard to exclaim, Politics is an un- clean thing, from which one must separate, scarcely touch at all if he hopes to be a Christian; with which religion cannot be mixed in the smallest quantity! Is this true? Far from it. This is not politics at all; it is greedy gambling, selfish, Satanic partisanism, that every patriot and Christian should scorn. Webster gives the correct definition of politics; he says, "It is the science of government, that part of ethics or moral principles which relates to the regulation or govern- ment of a State, for the preservation of its safety, peace and prosperity." It is to devise, establish and execute wise and righteous measures for the govern- ment of men, to regulate and guide the economy of a nation; to suppress and punish crime, to encourage and reward virtue, to guard and defend all the benevo- lent interests of humanity, to exterminate tyranny and secure civil and religious liberty to man. This is the business of politics, a profession in which the highest morality can be nurtured and the purest principles of Christian life should enter; a work only second in importance to the ministry of reconciliation. You may organize your "Hundred" committees, pass the Bullitt bill, cry "Reform" and try every other device, there will be no reform, either in your municipal or national government, until patriotic and Christian men are willing to learn and do their duty as citizens of a republic. When I say it is your duty to be interested 230 THE GOLDEN POT. and active in political service, I do not mean it is your duty to seek some official position; it is not the duty of every citizen, even in the United States, to have an office; but I do mean you should be deeply inter- ested in every movement or policy that touches the rights of humanity, or in any way effects the financial, commercial, educational or moral character, prosperity or peace of your State, or the nation. You ought to so inform yourself in political science, economy, his- tory and the principles of administration that you could intelligently judge men and measures at some- thing like their true worth. Then let your ballot execute an honest, intelligent freeman's will. Use this power of a freeman as a valued right — a right that cost your ancestry many a perilous revolution, much bloodshed and martyrdom. By the possession of this power you become to a certain degree a trustee of the public welfare. If by your neglect to rightly use this power cor- rupt and designing men attain to office, and through want of proper legislation or the enactment of un- just and hurtful measures, the State or national peace is destroyed or imperilled, the guilt and crime is, in a large measure, yours. That young man is unworthy of citizenship in this Republic who knows nothing about and cares nothing for political affairs. The man who says he is too pure to take part in politics is only too pure to serve God and man, or too much of a selfish simpleton to be fit to serve either. For another reason, young men, you should with the purest Christian patriotism take a deep interest in political affairs — because soon you will come into all the privileges, blessings, powers and honors of this unexampled republic as your inheritance. An in- THE GOLDEN POT. 231 heritance of constitutional liberty and all the rights and powers of legal freedom; an inheritance of educa- tional opportunities to give the best development to the mind and heart of millions; an inheritance of se- cured life, property, and homes; an inheritance of fruitful fields, mines of wealth, navigable rivers, free lakes and seas, unsurpassed by any people on earth; an inheritance of religious liberty that leaves the conscience and heart constrained by no power but the love of God. This is a valuable inheritance if measured by what it cost your fathers and fore-fathers. On the other side the seas, they dared the rack, the stake, the gibbet and scaffold and paid uncounted treasure and life for your legacy. On this side your forefathers laid down as a price all the fruits of years of hard toil, endured pinching poverty, stained the snow with bleeding, freezing, almost naked feet on the march, and left their bones along all the rivers and mountains of your eastern and southern land. Again, when your inheritance of freedom's best bless- ings were in peril, your brothers and fathers weighed in the balance as a price the fruits of their toil and gave the young, the strong, the bravest and best of their sons to the sacrifice, whose bodies in places known and unknown, buried and unburied, make hal- lowed ground along almost every southern stream and mountain side. They gave billions of wealth and hundreds of thousands of human lives that your in- heritance might not be parceled out among a succes- sion of petty despots. Now, is it not a duty in which you can serve God and humanity to care that corrupt and designing trustees do not mortgage and squander your inheritance of freedom's privileges, blessings, rights and powers, and bankrupt your fathers' estate? 232 THE GOLDEN POT. Do you not care if they thrust out of your system of education the only standard of morals that can teach your citizens to know and love truthfulness, honesty and integrity, the only instruction that teaches man to love his Maker and his fellow-men, the only truth that ever has given to the human heart the nerve and courage to maintain and defend the rights of God and the freedom of man? Take these life-principles of Christianity and virtue out of your educational system, and out of your administrative policy, and you will leave them as barren and hollow as English Deism, German infidelity, or French atheism, and will strip your country as barren of glory as the rocks of old Tyre when fishermen spread their nets there to dry. Young men, do your duty as citizens, but do not for one moment suppose that lying, dishonesty or craft is right or needful here. These are the things that are putting your inheritance in peril to-day. Take the principles of integrity Christ taught, adhere to them unflinchingly; you will best serve your coun- try in thus serving Christ and secure your own honor. It may become your duty to accept public trust and serve God and your country in public position. I believe God as really calls men to civil as to ecclesias- tical office. But be sure to take Christ-taught princi- ples of purity and honor into these duties, if you would be the best servants of God and your fellow- men. You need not beg and scheme for the call. If it is of God, it will come through your fitness for the position, and the demand of your country for your abilities and service. But to gain position never cringe, or fawn, or bend from the right or true. Never become a villain to get perpetuity, peace and pros- perity, or such an inheritance for yourselves and pos- THE GOLDEN POT. 233, terity. Suppose a young man was heir to a vast and valuable estate, and was told the trustees are impov- erishing the soil by an exhaustive and ruinous tillage; are permitting the buildings to fall into decay; are plastering the estate all over with mortgages, and squandering the income, so by the time you come into possession it will be utterly bankrupt, what would you. think to hear the young man say, "I don't care; I take no interest in these things; let them attend to that!" And should you not care whether to serve villains, such dishonor is a poor reward. If purity, integrity and honor will not be accepted, then accept the unmeasured honor of defeat. Your country itself is better served in the defeat of virtue than in the promotion of fraud and vice and your own soul's purity. Life and honor are worth more than all the empurpled inheritance of this great republic. Accept no inauguration unless it be for ability, virtue and. worth. Thus serve Christ by adhering to His teach- ings and spirit, and the Father will honor you. If God confers no other honor in this world on such a servant, He will confer the honor of deserved self- respect, and this is a high and enjoyable honor. He who has lost his self-respect and must despise and be ashamed of himself, is a pitiable and miserable wretch. He who, by sycophancy, cunning, fraud and dishonor, has succeeded, as he calls it, however great the wealth he may have gathered, or however eminent the station he may occupy, can have neither enjoy- ment, peace nor honor. But he who, in fidelity to Christ-like integrity and truth, has served, though he- may be left to sit in obscurity, unrewarded of men, God will garland his soul with the honor of conscious self-respect and rectitude, which is a regal coronet, ^34 THE GOLDEN POT. more glorious and made of more precious stuff than any glittering crown on the brow of kings. We have said nothing of the crown of life and glory beyond which is sure to every one who serves the Saviour. But the words of Christ are literally true in this life, "If any man serve Me, him will My Father honor." Then "Go forth in the battle of life, young man, Go while it is called to-day, For the years go out and the years come in, Regardless of those who may lose or win, Of those who may work or play. "Temptations will wait by the way, young man; Temptations without and within, And spirits of evil in robes as fair As the holiest angels in heaven wear, Will lure you to deadly sin. "Then put on the armor of God, young man, In the beautiful days of youth, Put on the helmet, the breast-plate and shield, And the sword the feeblest arm may wield In the cause of Right and Truth. "And go to the battle of life, young man, With the peace of the Gospel shod, And before high heaven do the best you can For the great reward, for the good of man, 'For the kingdom and crown of God.' " "For the kingdom and crown of God," young man, and your own crown will not be wanting in the great Coronation Day. XIV. "The Great Carpenter." "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Alary ?" Mark vi: 3. The word carpenter here used is from the Greek, tckton, sometimes translated builder or one working in wood, stone or iron, an artisan. Therefore, the opinion of Justin Martyr that He was employed chiefly in making yokes and plows, gets no authority from this word tekton. He might have been a brasier, a stone cutter, or a carpenter builder. The word cer- tainly means that He was a toiler at some kind of handicraft. This His enemies tried to make a re- proach, as it is still made against toilers by idleness and worthless pride. Also, this fact that His mother was simply Mary — not Queen Mary, Lady Mary or Goddess Mary, but just plain Mary — and that He was just a plain man, without nobility of name or position. So He was, and continues to be, a man — the noblest work of God in creation, to make a man, especially such a man as the first Adam, and such a man as Jesus, the second Adam. But the context shows clearly that this people thought He assumed to be, if He did not positively claim to be, something above a plain, ordinary man, claiming to be something besides a man! For nearly thirty years they had seen Him, perhaps daily, laboring at His business, whatever it was, just as other men, nothing different, showing no unusual power or wisdom; nothing indicating that He was any more than others, His fellow-townsmen or workmen. But now, suddenly, this man, who 236 THE GOLDEN POT. never went to school, who had no position among scholars, who never learned anything from our rabbis, presumes to interpret our ancient and profound oracles and prophets with an authority no other man ever did, and to claim them for His own, and to apply them to Himself, and to show a wisdom and miraculous power that is amazing. What does it mean? Is He more than a carpenter, more than a man? Yes, my hearers, they rightly interpreted His words and actions as claiming that He was a Divine man. As I am going to talk to you to-day of Him as a man chiefly, I want first to assure you that I believe Him to be, and trust and adore Him, as a Divine man, "very God of very God!" Look at this fact: His coming, and condition, and position, and charac- ter, and life, and sufferings, and death, and resurrec- tion, were all portrayed by Moses, the Psalmist and prophets as clearly and accurately as any picture of the photographic art of the present day could present a human face, and no other man, from Adam down to His day, met the demands of that picture; but when He came, men were constrained to say, "This is the original of the foretold Messiah portrayed by the He- brew prophets and seers," and none, from His day down to the present, has ever been recognized as answering the original of the Lawgiver and Psalmist and pro- phets' picture. For two thousand years, His laws, precepts and wisdom have surpassed the wisdom of the wisest men of earth, and His life has been admitted to be better than the best, the perfect life; and His power over the hearts and lives of the human race has excelled that of all sages, philosophers, teachers and reformers. This Carpenter of Nazareth, who was the disciple of no earthly teacher, a scholar of no school THE GOLDEN POT. 237 of the learned, is the only teacher that speaks with unquestioned authority among the largest minds and most learned scholars of the race. Yes, my hearers, the proof that He is a Divine Man is in every age growing clearer and clearer, like the daylight from dawn to meridian splendor. Therefore, whatever may be said to-day of His actual, genuine manhood, never forget that He is a Divine man. But some object that this very fact unfits Him to be a teaching exam- ple to ordinary men, because His Divine nature makes Him so extraordinary. I admit we cannot explain or comprehend how or to what degree the Divine nature affected the human nature, yet from God's Word and His life we can show that the Divine did not so affect His human nature as to make Him any more or less than man as man. That He had the infirmities and limitations of man, in hunger and weariness and sleep, and limited human knowledge and growth; that He was subjected to all the sorrows, trials and temptations of human life ; a man like other men, only a man with- out sin, a full, perfect man, measured by the perfect Divine law of life; a standard, example man for the race. Merely as a man, leaving out of consideration anything more Divine than is found in any other or- dinary men, He was physically, intellectually, morally and spiritually the grandest man of the race. In vi- rility, fearless courage, firmness, self-control and all that goes into the make-up of true, strong manhood, He was the manliest man that ever lived on earth, the only true model for men. Paul calls Him an example. Himself says: "Follow Me; do as I have done," thus claiming to be an example. Some may ask, Did Jesus, this carpenter, ever know what it was to be out of work, to hunt in vain for employment, to have 238 THE GOLDEN POT. nothing to boil the pot with and nothing to put in the pot to boil? Did this Carpenter ever endure a hard, fault-finding taskmaster? Did He ever feel as if every bone and muscle in back and limbs were aching and slowly breaking under the burden; and, as night fell, no thanks or recognition for the toil and service, but grumbling, and perhaps curses, and charge of work ill-done, and pay withheld, and wages reduced? Did this Carpenter of Nazareth ever know the temp- tation to strike against robbery and wrong? Did this Carpenter ever endure the sneer and contempt of worthless wealth, and pride and power? If I answer, Yes, you may say, Give us the instance, the time and place. This I cannot do, but I can do better. The inspired apostle says: "He was tempted in all points as we are." What does this mean? Surely nothing less than it literally declares, "All points" — that there is no condition or temptation He has not felt. He tells us that He was an hungered forty days and forty nights, then tempted to get bread in a way dishonoring to God. That pride, avarice and ambition assaulted Him, and that He was offered the world's greatest bribes of wealth and power. That He was urged to distrust and tempt God by putting Himself in needless peril, and casting Himself down to sure death. Thus He was tried, just as many a toiler has since been tempted, to get bread in a God-dishonoring way; just as many a toiler has been tempted by the clamors of ambition, and avarice, and the world's bribes of wealth and place and power. Just as many a toiler since, in his desperation, under want and wrong, has been tempted to distrust God and hurl himself over a preci- pice, that only insured death — by some form of suicide to show his distrust of God and thrust himself THE GOLDEN POT. 239 unbidden into His presence. Jesus, the Carpenter, endured and overcame all these temptations for the sake of those who, like Himself, are the toilers and tempted on the earth, that He might succor those who are afflicted. Remember, He was poorer than the birds of the air, or the foxes of the hills, that He had not where to lay His head, and at last His very- grave was borrowed. Never was a poorer toiler on earth than He. Sometimes He must sit hungry by the way- side, and wait for the very bread and water of charity. At times it seemed as if He had no friends beneath the heavens; He felt the proud world's scorn and sneer and contempt. He says they point the finger, shoot out the lip, and cry, "Aha! aha!" There is not a hard place of the toiler on earth that Jesus has not been there, nor is there a lowly place of trial and service that Jesus has not filled and crowned with honor. Oh, ye burdened toilers of earth, however hard your place, your temptations and trials, if you would find a compassionate heart, and a helping hand, go and tell your need into the ear of the crowned Carpenter, who now sits enthroned, the sovereign of the universe. He will not refuse to hear nor fail to comfort, help and deliver. So compassionate, He knows all your trials and is touched with a feeling of sympathy for all your infirmities. When you feel or fear that power and capital are wronging and op- pressing labor; that wealth and pride are separating from you with a sneer, and standing far off from you, because you are grimy with toil ; if you feel or fear that greed of gain is trying to barter with your flesh and life-blood, and you are tempted to do the avenging and right the wrong by your own wisdom and power — pause, I pray you, and remember that you have a 240 THE GOLDEN POT. brother workman on the throne, just and almighty. Go to Him in such a crisis for wisdom to guide you, for grace to uphold you and for love and power to deliver you. He says, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." If there is in our country a conflict and crash between labor and capital, between wealth and poverty, power and weakness, if a wrong and a just complaint, as there seems to be, that wrong will never be righted and reconciliation effected, and righteous prosperity secured, except through the wisdom and grace of the Carpenter of Nazareth. Appeal to Him, trust Him. By your own wisdom and efforts alone you will only kindle an earthly hell and dig your own and other graves. By His wisdom, truth and grace, darkness can be turned into light, war into peace, oppression into freedom, and hell into heaven. Nowhere is there found on earth such wise, helpful sympathy with earthly toil and trial as in Jesus of Nazareth, His real Church and followers. The charge has been widely sown over this land, especially this last year, that the Church and ministry caters to wealth and courts and coddles power, and has little or no sympathy and help for burdened, toiling humanity. The charge has been made by those who ought to know, and do know, it is a calumny. We admit there are those called after the name of this Carpenter, and there are organizations called churches, that have in them more greed, pride and haughty self-righteousness than wisdom or grace, and are never likely to see heaven below, or enter "heaven above. But take Christ and His true followers, united into a kingdom and Church, and they have done more than everything else to revive and support and deliver oppressed humanity. "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give THE GOLDEN POT. 241 you rest," is the promise of the Divine Carpenter. We have never yet been shown the asylums, and hospitals, and benevolent institutions that atheism and infidelity has founded, endowed and operated, and never will be. But asylums for the insane, blind, deaf and dumb, and hospitals for the sick and crippled, and infirmaries for the poor, are wholly the fruits and building of the Carpenter of Nazareth, and almost exclusively supported and operated by His followers. Show us the organizations that are formed and fur- nished by the godless and infidels to care for the un- employed and poor of your city this winter. They can neither form or operate such, and leave out the churches, for Christians not only take care of their own poor, but also pay seven-eighths of the cost of those outside. Why? Because they have been with the Carpenter and caught some measure of His spirit. Who are to-day visiting prisons and hospitals, and narrow, filthy alleys of great cities, the miserable abodes of poverty and wretchedness, supplying the hungry with food, the naked with clothing, and send- ing the physician and medicine to the sick? Are these Christless, unbelieving men and women? You know the very opposite of this is the truth, that they are the true followers of this Carpenter of Nazareth. Never since the world began has so much been done by beneficent laws, benevolent institutions and per- sonal effort to comfort and relieve and help the wage- earner, and to care for the poor and unemployed as at the present day, and this is almost entirely the work of the Church and organizations controlled by Chris- tian men and women. And this is so because the spirit of the great Carpenter has been instilled into human hearts and pervaded Christian and civilized society. 242 THE GOLDEN POT. We admit the Church has not yet reached that mea- sure of sympathy and helpfulness in the earthly life she should; that she is not as good as her Head, or equal to the demands of her builder; that He yet remains the only all-wise, all-helpful spmpathizer with His fellow-toilers. Yet His Church, however imper- fectly she represents Him, is yet the best friend the burdened and toiling have visible on earth. Ye car- penters, artisans, mechanics, toilers at every handi- craft, this Carpenter teaches you, both by precept and example, that labor is honorable; He has put a crown on every honorable employment. Only idleness and the pride or beggary of idleness, is a disgrace. Labor was never a curse; it was the holy and blessed condi- tion of Eden. It is to-day the most healthful tonic to the physical and the intellectual man, nourishing, vitalizing and compacting brain and brawn. The Gladstones, the Bismarcks, Moltkes, the Everetts and Palmers, of four score and more, are mighty, but wise workers. I have reason to be grateful for years of labor on the farm, in the open fields, that gave me the vigor of nerve and muscles, that have endured the toil of so many years, and yet remain strong. Re- joice in your ability to labor; it has the honor of Divine appointment and Divine example, that a life of toil may be the best Christian life. Was not His? It can never be so hard, so tired, so burdened, that it may not be a life of faith, and hope, and prayer, and love, and integrity. He alone lived a perfect life, and He lived it amid toil, privation, wrong and suffer- ing; and many of His followers have lived noble, upright, pious lives, under sore toil and trial. This Carpenter teaches you by precept and example that a life of toil may be the happiest and most honored THE GOLDEN POT. 243 life on earth. I am sure that Jesus, in all His toil and privations and trials and sorrows, had more pure and unalloyed happiness than was ever experienced in thirty-three years on earth. Everything within Him and about Him, except sin, ministered to His happiness, because of His purity and tranquility of soul, His communion with His God in His person, and truth and creation, and His intercourse of love with His fellow-men, and His great and awful work, which His faith said would succeed; He could not but have infinite sources of happiness because He was holy. And never was life lifted into such beauty, grandeur and glory as by Him. He crowned life and life's labors with a garland of fragrance and bloom that will never fail or fade. He has taught us that out of the lowliest and hardest positions of earth we may harvest holiness and happiness, and may reach honor, the highest on earth and high in heaven, the royalty of Divine likeness and service. This Carpenter of Nazareth has built, and He only •can teach you to build, the grandest temple that ever adorned the earth — the temple of character and life. Let us glance at a few of the temples He has built in centuries past — glorious characters, the heroic con- querors and defenders of human freedom, such as Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, the Cromwells, the Sidneys, the Washingtons, the Lincolns, these were His building. Among the heroes of religious freedom and defenders of the truth, the Luthers, Calvins, Zwingles, Knoxes, Wesleys and Edwards, were His building. Among the learned and philanthropic, the Newtons, Bacons, Lockes, Hamiltons, and McCoshes, these are of His building. Of great orators of Gospel grace, the 244 THE GOLDEN POT. Chrysostoms, the Chalmers, the Masons and the Spurgeons are of His building. Of philanthropists, the Howards, the Wilberforces, the Browns, and such as Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale, are of His building. As Paul says, "What shall I say more? time would fail me to tell;" they could be enumerated by myriads. These are but a few samples of the temples He has built on the earth that will never crumble or perish. All the strongest, grandest, most beautiful and best of earth are of His building. O, ye carpenters and builders, if you would build for yourselves the most durable, beautiful and perfect temple of life, He only can teach you how. As Peter says, it must be built of "lively" or "living stones." Be taught by Him to lay stone upon stone of firm, strong character; to build into it a faith and hope that nothing can move or shake; build into it a truth and integrity that none can question; learn of Him to let light into it that will never grow dark, and set in it virtues more precious and beautiful than the rarest jewels, and on it a pinnacle that, unlike the Tower of Babel, will reach up to the highest heaven. And when the top stone is laid, let it be with shoutings of "Grace, grace unto it." For you will assuredly acknowledge that the whole temple, from foundation stone to the highest pinnacle point, is the building of the Car- penter of Nazareth. I beseech you, accept His grace and truth and love, follow His teachings as the great Builder, and imitate His example, and you will soon join in the toilers' hymn: "O Builder Divine, the daylight is gone, My workshop is closed, my thoughts are now free, 'Ihe noise of earth's traffic is hushed in the streets, And my heart and my voice I lift unto Thee. THE GOLDEN POT. 245 ""I sing of the glory from which Thou didst come To live in a cottage and work for Thy bread. I sing of the glory which Thou didst conceal In a carpenter's worth, 'neath a carpenter's shed. "O Builder Divine, now raised to Thy throne, Reveal unto me Thy wonderful plan For building an earthly, yet heavenly life, For growing in favor with God and with man. "I, too, am a toiler, unheeded, unknown, I have a spirit which longs to be free. O, teach me to work and patiently wait, While knowing my kinship with God and with Thee." O, my hearers, for yourselves, each one of you, accept this Carpenter of Nazareth for your Builder, your Divine Friend and Redeemer. XV. Proof of Manhood. " Show thyself a man," I Kings ii: 12. He is not always a man who is such in appearance. My text clearly implies that manhood is something- to be shown, to be proved. There are those who claim the title who cannot produce the credentials. When the prophet Jeremiah was commanded to search Jerusalem "if he could find a man," we may suppose they were scarce in that sacred city. When the Greek philosopher, Diogenes, searched Athens with a candle to find a man, he doubtless thought such were scarce in that ancient city. Now, I do not suppose for a moment the United States are so impoverished of men as Jerusalem or Athens, but it is certain the nation and the Church would be richer, purer, stronger, if she had many more citizens and members, worthy of being called men in the broadest, fullest sense of the name. For the continued freedom, peace, perpetuity and honor of the State and the Church, they need "pure-hearted men, firm, true and strong." What are the evidences of true manhood? What is it proves any creature to be such a being as that into which the Creator breathed the breath of life, made a living soul, placed in paradise and called a man? An animal that walks upright on two legs, feeds himself with his fore-paws, utters bad language, wears a beard and smokes, may describe Darwin's original; but not the being God created and sceptered in Eden. No creature can prove itself a man simply THE GOLDEN POT. 247 by eating big dinners, taking big naps, and filling up the spaces with other animal delights — that species which, long ago, the devils scared into the sea could excel in all these. The fact that a creature can pro- duce a silky mustache and a flowing beard is no proof, for fungi and moss can grow on rotten logs and beard on an ape. The fact that a creature hangs on his figure the richest clothing, fitted artistically, is no proof; a tailor's dummy or a "lay figure" in a shop window may have all these. The fact that a creature can lounge in an office, promenade attractively the streets, play the gallant in a ball room or parlor, and amuse a lady's lap-dog, does not prove he is a man. Many biped creatures who hang around groceries and saloon doors, roost on vacant lots, or along the banks or water-courses, especially on the Sabbath day, might be described as Barnum did a strange creature he had in his menagerie: "It was five feet eleven inches high, and eighteen or twenty inches through, can bal- ance itself upright and walk on two limbs, having flanges behind and before; it is a wonderfully con- structed animal, and endowed with powers capable of marvellous uses; can feed itself and wipe its mouth as politely as a gentleman; can step along the street or brace up a lamp post; can even take part in some small talk and gossip in the shops and stores; can carry a morsel of scandal around and retail it as de- lightedly and pleased as a human being." When persons saw it, many thought it was really a man. To the disgrace of the human species, such a burden- some biped is called a man. It is not enough to quote Latin and Greek phrases or chatter French to be a man. It is said a parrot or starling can be taught to do this. One may possess the exhaustless 248 THE GOLDEN POT. verbosity and rhetoric of George Francis Train, the elegant dress and cultured, exquisite address of Ches- terfield, or Beau Brummel, yet come far short of that divinely endowed being — a man. He may have a towering, stalwart frame, the brawn, sinews and physi- cal culture of the athlete, yet in no other respects be a man, for "brutal bruisers," tyrants and devils have dwelt in strong castles and beautiful palaces. He may have muscles loose as woolen threads, a poor, dis- tracted, feeble frame, yet in all other respects be a man — pure and regal, just as some of the noblest of the race have inhabited hovels and even dungeons. Manhood has proof clear and unmistakable. You must show yourself a man by what you do and what you will not do. Oftentimes one shows himself a man as much by what he will not do as by what he does. Although merely negative, it is no mean evi- dence of manhood to say "no" in the right time and place. Persons may face hostile cannon, go to the stake for an opinion or suffer martyrdom for glory; who, with an empty purse and an empty larder, or in the smile of human friendship, or prospect and promises of an office, could not say no to the devil himself. It is manly to refuse the use of that as a beverage which intoxicates. He has too much respect for his own manhood and love for his fellowmen to debase himself or help to inebriate them. A man will not blaspheme the name of his Maker and Redeemer, not covet the poor reward of an atheist's laugh. A man will not make a mock of sin; he will leave such sport for fools; he will not treat religion with indifference and the Bible with contempt or neglect; the greatest intellects of purest taste and finest culture have ever admired and loved it. A man will abhor obscene THE GOLDEN POT. 249 word or gesture, especially in the presence of women and children; a man will treat with true courtesy and respect the aged, however poor, homely or illiterate they may be; a man will not spot or puncture the face of beauty, and despoil the temple of truth and virtue by lust or falsehood. A man will scorn the bribes and gains of villainous enterprises, and refuse frater- nity with juntos, cliques and clans that pursue their ends by underground channels, darkness and secrecy, which robs manhood of its franchises, candor and honor. Take the whole range of petty meannesses and villainous skulking trickeries that are counted too insignificant to have a place in the catalogue of crimes, or be noticed in a penal code, and he that is a man will scorn them all because they are mean, a reproach to open, candid manliness. If he does not, and will not use his powers to effect crimes that imperil a nation, startle the world and glorify a devil, neitiier will he trail himself through the filthy streamlets and sewers of sin. A man will show himself a man by his regard for both body and soul. He cannot be indifferent to the earthly temple God has built for his soul. It is fearfully and wonderfully made by a Divine architect and worthy of every man's care and concern. But he is more concerned for his soul, the immortal inhabitant and worshipper, than for the temple, as he has more interest and anxiety for the undying spirits in his home, his wife and children, than for the house that covers them. So he is more con- cerned for the food, the health, the happiness and adornment of his soul than his body. A man provides for the necessities and demands of his intellectual and moral nature, seeks and acquires knowledge, because it is food, and power, and strength, and enjoyment 250 THE GOLDEN POT. to an intellectual and moral being. A man will fear,, and reverence, and worship, his Maker, because He is Creator and a being of infinite worthiness and glorious majesty; he will love and trust his Redeemer because He is his Saviour, and altogether excellent and most loving. A man will maintain and defend the rights of his fellow-men because they are rights, and the rights of men who can claim equity and equality with himself. A man will speak the truth whenever the honor of God or the welfare of men demands it, simply because it is truth, and the glory of Deity and happiness of humanity claim it. The world may frown or sneer, and cry fanatic or fool, reputation may be in peril, gains may become losses, and the white heat of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace may blaze in his face, but man is immortal, happiness is eternal, God is judge, and he will speak the truth if he be a man. A man will dare denounce and expose wrong and wickedness because it is wrong, and the honor of God and the safety of man demands it shall be exposed, conquered and exterminated. In the estimation of a man, the glory of the Divine One and the happiness of immortal men are higher and more valuable than all mere earthly and perishable interests. A man who makes his standard of truth and right the infallible law of God and the eternal principles of equity, for the true man well knows that fine editorials, thunders, of human applause, flaunting banners, roaring can- non, lofty monoliths and eloquent eulogies, all cannot make wrong right or the wrong-doer a victor, and the want of all these cannot make right wrong or rob the right-doer of his triumph; he is an eternal victor. He may be crucified, but he will also be glori- THE GOLDEN POT. 25 1 fied. Such a man needs no special occasion to show his manhood. The forum of high debate, the theatre of war or scaffold of martyrdom are not necessary for him; he can show himself a man in the ordinary walks of life, in home duties and the family circle, in. the mart and on the farm, in the work shop and at the desk, in the school room and in the church, on the hustings and in the council ; by integrity, purity, truth- fulness and honor, can prove himself a man. And what are called the common, the small affairs of life, are a surer test of true manhood than the greater. He who is not patient, upright, manly in little things, will not be in the greater. He who cannot bear the annoyances of domestic life with manly patience and cheerfulness, could not endure the assaults of public life; he who cannot subdue the domestic midge cannot beard the lion; he who will not honestly make a boot would not honestly make a law; he who could not be a faithful coachman, would not be a faithful congressman; he who will not rule himself cannot govern others. True manliness is shown by enduring with patience the little ills and petty trials of life, meeting firmly and conquering calmly the unnoted foes, putting aside penny bribes and paltry titles, and proving himself a man every- day, in every duty, in any position, in every emer- gency. Such a man may fall from opulence to com- parative penury, but he can go from a palace to the lowly dwelling, gather his family around the scanty fireside and make home bright with hope and love and faith and prayer, because, being a true man, he knows that neither the world nor the devil, nor both together, can degrade virtue, stain honor, nor rob eternity. Put a sceptre in the hands of such a man, 2 52 THE GOLDEN POT. make him a ruler, an executive, and he will honor law, vindicate justice, punish crime, protect innocence and administer for the honor of God the perpetuity of government and the welfare of humanity. Free- •dom will be secured, rights maintained and happiness promoted. Put such a man in the place of perilous duty, and he will meet danger as Bass Rock meets the billows — unmoved. God is above him, honor and truth are within him, men and angels watch him, eternity is before him, and duty is guarded by all these and he can be trusted there to show himself a man. In every place prove thyself a man, such as God created and crowned. Whether in high place or low, in public or private, in danger or safety, in temptation or out of it, in prosperity or adversity, show thyself a man, upright, intelligent, strong, faithful, a pure man, trusty and true — such as God honors and man admires. Your country is in sore need of such men. The nation dos not want for biped citizens with a beard; she has millions of them — great, little creatures; learned, lying creatures; smart, villainous creatures; ambitious servants for "price and reward," aspirants for sinecures civil and ecclesiastical. In the case of many of these place-seekers, their knowledge of the nation's wants, resources and commerce is limited to the price of cigars, whiskey and dress goods, their culture is the fine physical display and chaste gesticu- lation of the ball-room, and the fashionable manners of the streat. They are plenty and cheap as Mexican rubies at fifteen cents a bushel. We have no lack of that flaccid, flabby type of char- acter, whose fibre and whole texture is much like that -of a woolen stocking with many dropped stitches, and more easily raveled out. Their manly qualities THE GOLDEN POT. 253. are much like slip shod shoes run down at the heel, easily put on and off; a feeble, soft, selfish, craven creature, that would melt like wax before the furnace, and fall before temptation like a Brahmin before a golden god; that would cower in adversity like a child in the darkness; that professes neither fear nor love of God, only possesses a cowardly fear of the devil, moved only by his interests, ruled only by in- stinct, appetite and desire; when he is angry, it :ias no higher source or character than that of a dog robbed of his bone. He is trustworthy nowhere, never shows himself a man, a strong, steadfast, true man, on any occasion, common or special, in any duty or position, public or private. Such men seem to be plenty in this day and land, and busy as maggots, and rapacious as cormorants. Neither the country nor the Church has any need of such. But both need building material, granite men, who can be built into the foundation and the walls of the temple of freedom; souls that have the fibre and toughness of the oak, made into the shipbeam that endures the storm. Men that, however rough and uncultured, shall be grand and immutable like the mountains, that will stand against the tide of temptation as the mountains stand against the sea. Men who know that God, the omnip- otent, just and holy One, is above them, immortality within them, eternity and heaven before them, and who know that happiness, greatness and glory is the fruit of pure and righteous doing. Make all your electors such men, and will any political mouser dare run round offering them ten dollars for their votes, or fifty dollars for their influence; a post office or an assessorship for partisan campaign help? No, indeed! They would as soon think of offering an ^54 THE GOLDEN POT. .angel a lot in the cemetery as a bribe. Put men of such mental and moral texture into authority and official place in your cities, and they will save you thousands of dollars a year in taxation, and their service and influence will be worth millions more. Put men of such intelligence, purity and pith in your jury box, and they will give your criminals a halter, or send them to learn a trade in the penitentiary, which is better for them and safer and cheaper for the tax- payer. Send men of genuine type to Congress, and Pacific railroads can be built for less than $200,000,000 a line, and the nation can have a better credit than the Credit Mobilier. But if you send to your Legislature men who can always show themselves men, still there are some things they cannot do. Going there with nothing, and in debt for their campaign expenses, and living on the salary of a representative, they cannot in three years pay ten thousand dollars for a farm. They can- not in a single night pass an appropriation bill of a million dollars and have time for a champagne supper before morning. But these feats have been accom- plished in a capital not far hence. But men often show themselves men as much by what they cannot as by what they can do. But as men of talent and integrity, they can show it by protecting the treasury, trade and commerce, and promoting the material and moral development of the commonwealth and the nation. Make the electors and elected of this nation men of such moral stamina and steadfastness, of such fine invincible principles as Washington, Witherspoon, Roger, Sherman, Franklin, Lincoln and Hayes, and who does not know that a republic of such voters and -officers would be the purest, strongest, grandest, most THE GOLDEN POT. 255 admired government on earth. From the chief justice down through all the grades of courts put the judicial robes only on such men as John Jay, Story and Strong, and the charge of bribery and corruption would never be heard, and villains would not laugh at court trials, dungeons and scaffolds as ridiculous .scare-crows; they would not mangle and murder and hum with impunity and run unhung over the land. The nation needs strong, firm, skilled men, moral and political surgeons, who will dare to probe and cleanse a wound or ulcer; if need be, to cauterize a sore or cut out a cancer. Such "As dare with vigor execute the laws, Her fettered members must be lanced and tented; He's a bad surgeon who for pity spares The part corrupted till the gangrene spread And all the body perish; he that's merciful Unto the bad is cruel to the good." Let justice be tempered with mercy, yet so tempered that justice will not be defrauded nor law and authority shamed. Put into the great centres of trade and commerce men who "fear God and hate covetousness," men who do not balance heaven and earth in the scales to see which they will buy, or if they cannot possibly get both; men who do not leave all conscience, honor and truth out of trade, who feel they are stewards of God and humanity, then "pools" and "corners" in Erie and Northwestern, in grain and gold, bulling up and bearing down the market may cease; but so long as such animals as "Old Hutch," Gould, Fisk, Drew and their ilk control the channels of trade, there -will be Reading combines, inhuman syndicates, and "Black Fridays" in Wall Street, and stock trade and 256 THE GOLDEN POT. their branches will be little better than the most un- certain and thieving gambling schemes of Monte Carlo. What is needed is strong, noble men of "free clear minds and hearts of health." Any scheme of reform is vain that does not begin with reforming the hearts and lives of the citizen and produce full-orbed manhood. This will make the nation and the Church pure, strong and safe, grand and guarded at home, feared and admired abroad. How is our land to be supplied with men that can in every position prove themselves men, trusty, true and strong? David charged Solomon to show himself a man, and that he might do this, directs him "to keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in His way, to keep His statutes and commandments, and His judgments and testimonies, that thou mayest prosper in all thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thy- self." And it is just as true in our land and time as three thousand years ago, and ever will be true, that only the principles of God's Word in the heart and life can make full-orbed manhood. He alone who gave the soul being can repair its injuries; His truth alone teaches the true relation between God and man, and man and man, and that love which is due to God and man; His truth alone places before the mind and heart pure and sufficient motives and authority to control the life. Our country has many men of fine physique, excellent intellectual powers and culture, and large attainments in secular, scientific and material knowl- edge; but they do not seem to be under the authority of motives that are high, pure and enduring enough to make them brave, unselfish, noblest men for God and humanity. We do not want simply intellectual animals of fine physical breadth and muscle — the THE GOLDEN POT. 2 $7 teachings of Dio Lewis might supply these. We do not need simply burnished intellects and cultured mental powers — the schools, academies and colleges might give us these; and this training we must have. Do not for a moment suppose I would depreciate the value of the schools, the education, the culture of both body and mind; this is essential to complete manhood. But of all governments on earth, one constituted as ours is, founded upon such principles, having such institutions, must have men of healthy hearts, influenced by moral principles, pure and eternal, and God's Word alone can give us these. The strongest, purest, most faithful and trusted men of all the past, men faithful to freedom of man and every right and blessing of humanity, "Men at whose rebuking frown Dark with God's wrath, the tyrant's knee went down, That from the terrors of the guilty drew The vassal's freedom, and the poor man's due." were men who fed and grew strong on this food of heaven; men who mapped out civilized kingdoms, reared righteous governments and tribunals of justice, gave homes, peace and safety to men; wrought with instruments sharpened and furnished by Divine truth. The men who planted the asylum of freedom on the frigid, icy coast of New England, in the face of starva- tion and savage barbarism, were men of faith in God and love for men, who learned their principles from the Divine book. The strong men of the Revolution, who defied the roaring lion of Britain, who sacrificed and suffered and endured, even to impoverishment and death, were men that had God in their hearts through the truth. In illustration of this I need only 258 THE GOLDEN POT. refer to General Washington on his knees at Valley Forge; to Samuel Adams, "a true Christian states- man," who had family worship night and morning; John Q. Adams, of whom Everett says, "The last great dominant principle of his life was the fear of God — there was the hiding of his power." Chief Justice John Jay and Witherspoon and Hopkins and Ellery and Livingstone, etc., all learned of Christ and His truth. Come to a succeeding generation of strong, patriot statesmen, and Jackson and Scott and Webster and Lincoln and Grant accepted Christ and His truth. Read the roll-call of the heroic and faith- ful of historic annals — faithful to every trust, faithful to right, freedom to humanity — you will find they have always been those whose moral manhood had been made by the nourishment of God's truth. The Hollander had learned that freedom of conscience and lawful liberty with poverty was better than papal error, inquisition and vassalage with wealth ; this made them manly and strong enough to cut their dikes and flood their country. The same manliness and truth nerved Winkelreid to gather a great sheaf of Austrian spears to his heart at the pass of Sempach, that Swit- zerland might be free. The same truth and manliness made the mountains and moors of Scotland a place of worship and a fortress against prelacy and vassalage, and our freedom is a legacy from those Highland guardsmen of the glen. Manliness born and nurtured through the spirit of truth settled America and freed it from the British yoke; the same manliness and truth proclaimed "liberty through the whole land." No nation needs so many men born of the truth and nour- ished to strength and greatness in the truth of God as this nation, because it is a government of electors THE GOLDEN POT. 259 and elected, and nothing else can fit men for this but the truth of the Bible, which teaches the helplessness •of men, and the helpfulness of God. If the knowl- edge and fear of God and the truth of His Word is not planted in the hearts of a large number of the people of any land, that land camiot have a free gov- ernment; cannot establish and preserve the most precious rights and privileges of its people. Lamar- tine said of the early French republic — and the same might be said of the present one — "The republic of these men without a God has been quickly stranded. The liberty won by so much heroism and so much genius has not found in France a conscience to shelter it, a God to avenge it, or a people to defend it against that atheism which has been called glory. An atheistic republic cannot be heroic. When you terrify it, it bends; when you would buy it, it sells itself. The people ungrateful; God non-existent; so finish atheistic revolutions." Said the great Hooker, "The safety of the State dependeth on religion." In the British Parliament, Burke gave as the reason of the American colonists' love of liberty, "The Protestantism of the Protestant religion." John Milton's grandest idea of a strong, pure, good, civil government was "one huge Christian personage, one mighty outgrowth and stature of an honest man." To talk of this republic existing without the religion •of Christ is preposterous. It is to deny the truth of all history, of moral philosophy, and the truth of the Divine Word. Take all the arterial blood from a man's veins and the marrow from his bones, can he remain a man of vigor and health? Take the moral and regenerating principles of God's truth out of the channels of national life, out of the veins and marrow 2 6o THE GOLDEN POT. bones of the republic, out of the common schools and those of a higher grade, out of legislatures and Con- gress, out of channels of trade and commerce, out of political and official responsibilities; take the cleansing virtues of the Divine Word out of these arteries of national life, and you take all moral nutriment, that which alone can make and feed the heart of manhood, and your electors and elected would soon be destitute of soul, health and strength to perpetuate the republic. It is not the decay of physical and intellectual cul- ture and strength that endangers our country, but that "the godly man ceaseth, that the faithful fail from among the children of men." The great want of the age, the country and the Church is men. "Men who are not for sale. Men who are honest, sound from centre to circumference, true to the heart's core. Men whose consciences are steady as the needle to the pole." Men who will stand for the right if the heavens totter and the earth reels. Men that can tell the truth firmly and in love, to the face of friend or foe "Men that neither brag nor run, that neither flag nor flinch." Men in whom the courage of ever- lasting life runs deep and strong; men who do not cry nor cause tl*eir voices to be heard in the streets, but who will not fail nor be discouraged till judgment be set in the earth; men who tell their message faith- fully; men who know their places and fill them; men who know their business and follow it honestly; men who will not lie for fear or favor, fame or pelf; men who are not too lazy to work, nor too proud to be poor ; men who are willing to eat what they earn, and wear what they pay for; men willing to endure the hardships of duty and bear one another's burdens. THE GOLDEN POT. 261 "Give us men of the lion pattern, Bold and strong; Men of nerve, heart and soul, To grapple wrong, To rebuke the age's popular crime, The souls of fire, hearts of the olden time." Who keep the charge of the Lord, and in State and Church they will show themselves men, and God will be pleased and honored. XVI. Thanksgiving. i, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good" Psalm cxviii: 29. That we have abundant reasons for thanksgiving - and that it is a duty to be thankful I suppose none will deny. And that goodness received ought to produce a thankful spirit. As the warm shining of the summer sun clothes the earth with beauty and fills it with fragrance, so God's goodness should be- get joy and gladness in human hearts. As the flowers open their coral lips to drink the nectar dews of night, or showers of heaven, so the grateful heart should open thankful lips of praise under the gifts of Divine love. I have tried to imagine how one might get the best impression of God's goodness, as shown in the fruits and harvests of our land, and I have thought he might start about the first of June across the continent and take a view of the opening glory and overflowing wealth of the land. Under the lengthening days of the early summer, and the genial rays of the vital sunshine, the swollen buds were bursting into bloom, and full-blown flowers putting on a royal array, surpassing Solomon in all his glory; an emerald carpet enameled with vegetable mosaics was spread over hill, valley and plain; unnumbered leagues of corn rustled its dark green blades and waved its knightly plumes in the summer breeze, and unnumbered miles of wheat fields grew golden as the sunbeams kissed them and rolled their gentle billows like a shimmering sea, as the summer winds shook the THE GOLDEN POT. 263 ripening grain. The vine clad mountains and vales of California were amber colored, grizzled and blue with the purple and many hued cluster of the grape that cheereth God and man; and in the broad valleys and along the mountain sides of distant Oregon, orchards bent their laden boughs toward the earth under the weight of fruit fit to hang in the fabled garden of the Hesperides. And as he came back across the great plains and prairies of the Mississippi Valley, travelling amid the reapers, and those who gathered and garnered such a harvest of grain and fruit as no other land on earth ever yielded, how could he help singing with the Psalmist: "The year Thou hast with goodness crowned, Thy paths drop fatness all around, E'en on the wilderness. The little hills with verdure clad Are girt with joy by Thee made glad, The flocks in pasture lie. The vales are robed with waving grain, And shout and song from hill and plain Swell joyous to the sky." Then coming further homeward, he stood on the summit of the Alleghenies in the gorgeous glories of the Indian summer, amid the ensanguined leaves and the emblazoned sober garb of the autumn moun- tains, resplendent with the purple and scarlet banners of laurel, ash and maple, royal pennons of the parting year, robed by the Eternal Father in a vesture more beautiful and many colored than Jo- seph's coat, sign of a father's favor. There perhaps he took from his pocket the report of the Depart- ment of Agriculture and read: The people of the 264 THE GOLDEN POT. United States have gathered this year 480,000,000 bushels of oats, 20,000,000 bushels of rye, 45,000,000 bushels of barley, 11,500,000 bushels of potatoes, 700,000,000 bushels of wheat, 1,680,000,000 bushels of corn, and fruits that could not be measured for quantity. Then coming on home, he found there was no day of thanksgiving observed. And methinks he would have said: The Lord might write across the continent in letters large enough to reach from short to shore, "Ingratitude, thou marble-hearted fiend." The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and this people is not saved from the guilt of un- thankfulness. Thank the Lord for a day of thanks- giving. And whether bankers or bakers, merchants or manufacturers, physicians, lawyers, preachers, whatever our pursuits, let us thank God for the bounteous harvests of earth, for we share them and are just as dependent on them as those who sow and garner them. Second. We have cause for thankfulness in the almost perfect freedom from any plague or scourge, and the general healthfulness of the year. Among no other 55,000,000 of the human race has there been as low a death rate and as little sickness and sorrow. In some localities there have been epidemics for a time, through certain limited areas there have been some floods, an occasional cyclone and destructive storm. Along the southern coast the earth shook to enough remind us of the truth that it is yet in the hand of the Almighty and that He can shake the wicked out of it. But we have had only black clouds enough to reveal the bow of Divine mercy across the dark canvass, its bright hues made by the shining of Divine love or the tear drops of sorrow. Only sick- THE GOLDEN POT. 265 ness enough to remind us that we are still in the body, yet outside the gates of pearl. Third. Let us thank God for so many homes, happy homes in our land. We certainly have very many tmhappy homes — we still have selfishness, drunken- ness, cruelty, avarice, and lewdness, or, in one word, sin enough to kill the happiness and poison the life of many homes — yet we have more happy homes than any people on earth; homes such as are created by the teachings and spirit of Divine truth — homes composed of father and mother united in ties of that love which is the bond of perfectness; they and their children linked together in the golden chain of affection, that makes it the brightest and best miniature of heaven on earth — homes that are the nursery of piety and patriotism, the strongest bulwark of Church and State in this free land. I do not forget that our country is blotched with the foul ulcer and scab of Mormon- ism, but the lancet of the law will cut it out and the Gospel will heal the hurt. Still, we can say, in com- parison with other countries, ours is a land of homes; not simply of caravansaries, hotels, boarding houses, restaurants and club rooms, but homes for nursing love and virtue, patriotism, society and happiness. Every such a homestead is a patriotic nail driven in a sure place, over which you can unfurl the starry banner of the republic, assured that none will dare to pull it down. Let us thank the Lord for so many Christian homes, and increase them until, if possible, every citizen shall have a home. We ought to be thankful for peace in our land this year. But some may say, Why? There was no danger of war. I am not so sure of that. From whence, says the apostle, come wars and fighting? Anarchy, bold 266 THE GOLDEN POT. and witless, capital and labor stood at defiance,. jealousy, envy, avarice and wantonness glowered angrily at each other; the metropolitan city gave a wild Socialist over sixty thousand votes for Mayor. If there was no danger, we ought to be most thankful for this. Scarcely any other land has been free from the alarm. Bulgaria seems to have been the daring chip on the shoulder, and all Europe has been say- ing who will dare knock it off. And the day of our woe and carnage is not yet so far behind us that we should forget thanks for peace. Not so far but we can look back and see the black lava tide of ruin turned by the hand of Divine mercy to the mountain side ; not so far back but we can recall "Years of trial and pain, Years of watching o'er the living, And of mourning o'er the slain; But God, the just and gracious, Has bid the tempest cease. And the voice of war is mute Before the coming in of peace." And as one means of continuing this blessing, let us be thankful for it. With glad song let us look upon the beauteous bow that spans the black cloud that has passed over us; the promise and pledge that the deluge shall not return; let us walk with happy hearts amid the sunshine that has followed the night of storm, lest the clouds return after the rain. Let us rejoice in peace, that white-robed angel with both hands full of blessings, whose pres- ence merits a greeting of holiest song. Peace that beats swords into plough shares and bayonets into pruning hooks and moulds cannon into machinery; THE GOLDEN POT. 267 that makes implements of pacific labor with a glad- some rattle. Peace that stops the red-rimmed char- iot of war, that rolled over gory fields, and starts the wheels of creative industry. Peace that turns dis- banded armies home, quenches the torch, sheathes the sword and stops the march of desolation, and. through honored toil pours competency and comfort into the home of the laborer. Sweet peace! How numerous and rich are her blessings, covering fields with harvests, earth with beauty, and filling homes with happiness; bringing many blessings that will never come without her. Thank God fervently for peace, and pray God that it may be continued in right- eousness. We ought to thank God for the growth of the religion of Christ in our land. The fact that the law of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached and taught so largely all over our land and making conquests over the hearts of men, is the richest blessing and brightest hope of our country, and cause for the deepest gratitude. Yet some, even Christian professors, are not willing to admit this statement, and even on Thanksgiving can do little but croak and lament the degeneracy of these days! That the Gospel makes little if any progress, if it is not absolutely losing ground. They remind us of the late terrible infidel convention, which did not resolve to build and endow a great leviathan infidel university, but they did resolve to blot A. D. from all our al- manacs and write E. M. instead, so that men should not be exposed to the superstition and peril of reading "The year of our Lord" any more, but should read, "Era of Man." And they are alarmed at the noise of these owlets of atheism hooting through the forests of night and naturalism! They will tell you of the J26S THE GOLDEN POT. corruption and villainy that runs through all official ranks, from the Presidency to the cross-roads post office, and the debauchery of city life, the number of doggeries and brothels in New York or some other large cities, and how lewd talk and blasphemy pollutes even the sweet air of mountain tops, and the Church itself is leavened with hypocrisy, selfishness and scur- rility; but they do not seem to see a speck of blue sky between the floating clouds. I am afraid their liver is congested, and roasted turkey would be a very improper diet for them to-day, or their eyes are jaundiced, or their vision so short that they cannot see beyond their own ecclesiastical yard fence. We certainly admit that the millennium is not upon us, but while we recognize the truth of most, if not all, that is said about the corruption and depravity of the times, and would have it known that it may be removed; I would not hide one ugly feature of the foe; yet let us not hide cheering facts and grateful progress, let us not reproach Divine power and promises, and weaken Christian faith and effort by croaking, especially when we have so much cause for joy and thanksgiving, amid all the depravity and unbelief. From a careful compiler of statistics I gather the folowing facts: First. That the increase in the evangelical churches in the United States since 1800 is twenty-seven times greater than the increase of population. Then the population of the United States from ten years and upward was 3,794,000; pro- fessors of Christ, 350,000. In i860, the population from ten upward was 22,293,000; professors of Christ nearly 6.000,000! Now our population altogether is above 70,000,000; and professors of Christ between 11,000,000 and 20,000,000. In 1800 it was one to THE GOLDEN POT. 269 eleven, now it is about one to four. Thus it is seen that the Word of God has not been void, but He has given it a Divine power and leavening influence on the hearts of our people. The Methodist denomi- nation has built over an average of one church a day last year; some other denominations have done as much and promise more. Our own branch of Christ's Church added over 50,000; and some others more. Oh, no; the Church has no notion of saying good bye, old Bible! While we believed your teach- ings concerning this life, it led to much happiness here, and while we believed your revelations of a life to come, it was a sunny hope and sweet com- fort in sickness and sorrow, in the death chamber, and among the graves; but we have learned a bet- ter philosophy of living and your revelation is all a myth. Good bye. Good, bye, Jesus Christ; you were a very lovely character to live in such an age as you did, and we once rested great hopes on you, but if there was such a person as you, we have found out you were only a Jew and had your day. Good byet The Church has less inclination to utter such a male- diction to the Book of God and her Divine Redeemer than in any period of her past history; but she will soon bid farewell forever to all infidel clubs and Watkins' Glen conventions, and hear no more of them to the end of time unless some curious anti- quary should at some future day dig up their rotten names as a curiosity of a past age. The Bible teach- ing alone is the foundation of liberty, civil and re- ligious, it alone breathes the breath of liberty into the human heart. Where no Bible is and no Gospel preached, human freedom never was found and never will be; and where liberty has been planted, 2 7 THE GOLDEN POT. throw away the Bible or trample its teachings un- der foot, and liberty will not be long defended or con- tinue there. When a foreigner in England asked Queen Victoria what gave her nation freedom, greatness and glory, laying her hand on the Bible, she replied, "The teachings of this book." Even Herbert Spencer admits that intelligence and men- tal culture are not enough to secure the permanence of a republic. It must have moral culture. Intel- lectual culture is only sharpening the razor, but whether it shave the beard or cut the throat depends upon the moral character. And that morality must jest not only in natural but revealed religion. It must be Gospel morality. The citizens of a republic must live under the recognition of God above them, the principles of His law in their hearts, and judgment and eternity before them. The essential foundation of a republic is justice and equality for every citizen before the law of the land, and the responsibility of human government to the Supreme Governor of the universe. And this truth is taught with authority only in the Bible. We admit the duty of expressing gratitude for individual blessings, and blessings on particular communities and families and churches; the blessings on body, soul and estate; for the blessings of Providence, creation and grace, for the command of the apostle is, "Give thanks unto God, the Father, for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." But how impossible to enumerate all these things! When the clouds are gathered densely over all the heavens above you, their fulness is opened, and the precious drops are hastening down to the needy, parched earth, did you ever think of standing in your door- THE GOLDEN POT. 271 -way and trying to count each pearly blessing- as it fell? Certainly not — how impossible! Or, as the morning sun rode up the eastern sky to pour a flood of light on the earth, did you ever think of counting the bright golden arrows that fell over all your val- leys and mountains? Of course, you say no, it would be impossible! But neither of these would be much .more impossible than to enumerate the "all things" for which we should give thanks to God and the Father. To do this you must count every blessing .that pours in through every organ. Every glad sound the ear can hear, every sweet and nutritious thing the tongue can taste, every fragrance borne to you upon the air, every beauteous sight the eye can see, every delight and pleasure to which your feet can •carry you, every blessing your hands can gather, and that is absorbed through the pores of the body! You must also enumerate all the happiness that can reach you through every organ of the soul; all that reason and intellect can impart, all that imagination can create, all the happiness the affections are capable of enjoying. You must add to these all friends and relations can afford; all that society, secular and sacred, social and religious, society enlightened, re- fined and regenerated, can supply of happiness. But more than this, you must add to all these the count- less invaluable blessings of the covenant of grace! To do this you would have to go back into the past eternity, to the fountain source, and follow the river of life through all the cycles of time, and on through the eternity to come; you must pass from eternity to eternity, then enlarge your heart as the heart of God to compass it all! How impossible! We can only exclaim with the Psalmist, "Earth is full of Thy 272 THE GOLDEN POT. goodness, and Thy mercy is above the heavens." As a nation, we have abundant reason for gratitude in what we can see and tell and comprehend. Oh, my country, be glad and grateful to-day, God hath ac- cepted thy sacrifices and granted thee thy heart's wish! Then send up an anthem of thanksgiving from sea and land, mountain and prairie, hill and plain, from palace and hamlet, from farm house and workshop, from mechanic and merchantman, from soldier and sailor, from the paths of peace to the memories of war! Let the freedman join those whose freedom is still preserved. Let the bereaved widow join her who has yet a husband. Let the nation's orphans join those on their father's knee. Let mourners join the comforters. Let forests, fruitful trees and cedars; let rulers and judges of the land; let high and low, rich and poor, young men and maidens, old men and children, let each thing breath- ing praise the Lord and give Him thanks, for He is good! Amen and amen! XVII. A Young Man's Strength. "The glory of young men is their strength" Proverbs xx: 29. In the Vatican at Rome is a human form carved In marble with such a noble expression of triumph upon the face, such exquisite symmetry of figure, such an impression of strength in the finely rounded mus- cular limbs, such a consciousness of power, easy, graceful movement and enjoyable activity clothing the whole form, it has been the delight and admiration of the world of art for ages. One of the first of poets thus describes it: "In his delicate form is exprest All that ideal beauty ever blest; These stood star-like around Until they gathered to a god." So wrote Byron of the Apollo Belvedere, the Greek •divinity of grace, music and manly beauty. What is this piece of statuary, the art world's paragon of manly strength, but an attempt to express in marble the glory of that strength which the Divine Artist embodied in the creation of man? And, though im- paired by the fall into sin, has been transmitted in a glory of strength that is regal yet in the prime of young manhood to-day. From the smooth, round, ruddy, soft and dimpled form of infancy this young Apollo is twenty years in reaching bis fullest perfec- tion ; twenty years growing under the infinitely skillful workman, in the plastic hand of Divine law and care, 274 THE GOLDEN POT. he attains full stature. The bones gradually lengthen- ing and hardening, the muscles enlarging and tough- ening, the tendons, sinews, and every fibre growing tense and strong, every nerve becoming an electric conductor of vital power, all fitly framed and com- pacted together by that which every joint supplieth. Yet in all its growth losing nothing of it's symmetry,, suppleness and grace, only clothing itself with the glory of lithe, active, joyous strength. When this living statue, built of flesh, and bone, and blood, and brawn, and nerve, so exquisitely knitted and woven, and moulded, and compacted together, and fashioned into the form of youthful manhood and strength, thus completed it excels in grace of feature and expression of power any possible sculptured Apollo, as far as Divine workmanship excels the human. The sculptured Apollo is only cold, motionless mar- ble, nothing more; but this human Apollo is exuberant with life, and becomes the real god of the healing art, eloquence, poetry, song and music of earth, for through that marvellous, magnetic and electric organ of brain in the dome, the mind, more marvellous still, kindred to and kindled by the eternal spirit, immaterial and incomprehensible, puts forth through the brain a god-like strength that gathers heaven and earth into its embrace; a power that can weigh, measure and value all matter and subdue it to human will and service and conquer all below the angels; with a reasoning power profounder than the depths of the sea, broader than the measure of the earth, and in its upreach higher than the stars; a judgment whose edicts and decisions express his royalty, and a will that makes him a sceptered sovereign ; an imagination that is a gorgeous chamber of imagery, and a fancy THE GOLDEN POT. 275 that can sweep on tireless pinions through space as winged angels might and out of matter create and people invisible and immaterial worlds. In addition to all this, a heart that is the shrine of devotion, the palace home of love and a magazine of emotions and passions, good or bad, that when moved as the sea in a storm, have a power like that which sometimes rocks and rends the globe. This, all this power combined, the strength of a sound, supple, symmetrical, elastic body, the strength of a clear, healthful, disciplined mind, incisive and comprehensive in reasoning, a judgment calm, fair and firm in decision, a will fixed and steadfast in pur- pose; a heart pure in its desires and affections, strong in all its emotions and passions, yet under motives so high and holy that earth cannot win, bribe or betray it; all this strength of body, mind and heart robes a young man in a radiant glory of strength that is a regal coronet, a prize above all price, which he should wear and glory- in, and guard and preserve with jealous vigilance as his most royal treasure. If one should enter the Belvedere gallery, and from any motive whatever stain, mar or mutilate that marble Apollo, he would be denounced as a sacrilegious vandal, and his life would be in danger. When this beautiful statue was first discovered at Antium, one hand was missing, and one arm imperfect. This was greatly lamented by artists as a sad misfortune, and when the genius of Michael Angelo's pupil restored the mutilated member, the achievement was greeted with joyous expressions of applause. Then what should be thought of one who would emasculate or mutilate the strength of young manhood, palsy hand, or tongue, or brain, mar and despoil the work of the 276 THE GOLDEN POT. Divine Sculptor? Yet there are such human vandals and demons among men that they are ready not only to dim the brightness of this glory, but utterly destroy all strength of body, mind and soul. Young men, your glorious strength has many foes standing ready to devour it as the dragon the man-child born of the woman, clothed with the sun and crowned with the stars. There is an army of over one hundred and eighty thousand men in this land, who are armed and pro- visioned with a purpose to do battle against your strength. They expect to live by devouring your strength, nay, more, they expect to make their wealth by consuming your strength. They have an invested capital of some seven hundred millions of dollars! This must make some two million dollars a day, and they expect to make a large part of this by bartering away your strength. There are in this land some ten million from fifteen to thirty years of age who may be called young men. By seducing this multitude to trade the strength of their young manhood with them, they hope to profitably use their vast capital and live and become wealthy on your loss. Other men toil with hands and brains or trade in the fruits, forests, harvests or minerals of earth or animal life to make their wealth, but this army of one hundred and eighty thousand drunkard makers live and gather lucre only by devouring human strength and life, with no com- pensation to the victims. Be sure you cannot saturate blood, brain, muscle and marrow in a solution of alcohol and not destroy brawn, brain, nerve and sinew. You might as well soak the ropes of a sailing vessel in nitric acid and hope to sail safely over stormy seas. But it eats up not only bodily strength, but that of THE GOLDEN POT. 277 mind and heart also. This is the foe which Shake- speare says "men put into their mouths to steal away their brains." Under the kindling of the intoxicant, the mental powers may appear to display a glorious brilliancy for a time, but like fuel upon which oil is poured, only burns fiercely to die the sooner and utterly leave the sodden brain paralyzed and the heart turned to stone. Other foes to your strength are the Jezebel painted faces that look out of the windows, and the siren voices of unholy love that sing the song of death in your ears. This fills the bones of youth with corroding sin, and "a fire not blown that consumeth to destruction." Says Solomon, "None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life; her feet go down to death and her steps take hold on hell." Gambling in all its forms and ways, from the toss of the copper and dice to faro and Wall Street stocks, and futures, are foes to your strength. Because its unhealthy and unholy excitements consume marrow and morals and all vitality of body and soul; so does all business pursued in the spirit and ways of gam- bling. A writer has truly said: "At one side of the gaming table sits Romance, Enthusiasm and Ecstacy, and on the other Fierceness, Rage and Tumult." And he might have added: Desperation and Death. Did time permit, it would be impossible to enumerate all the foes of your strength. Error and falsehood in every form and on every subject are enemies to be dreaded. Physical, intellectual and moral error; ignorance of your body's nature, laws and needs, also of mind and soul; philosophical and scientific false- hood; error concerning God and man, sin and holiness, right and wrong, heaven and hell, all are foes. 278 THE GOLDEN POT. As surely as poisonous food is hurtful to bodily strength, so error on any subject is to mental, moral and spiritual strength and health. Therefore this glory may be imperiled by what you read, or hear spoken, or in any way receive into the thought and heart. Young man, your daily life is the immortal dreamer's "Siege of Man-Soul" carried on every day. And the multitude of foes that assault Mouth Gate, Eye Gate, Ear Gate, and every possible way of en- trance to the citadel of life, are almost numberless; they seem to swarm in through the very pores ! Along almost every street of every city of the land they lurk and ambush in gin-houses, picture galleries, theatres and gaming halls. To the ear comes blasphemy and obscenity, to the eye folly and gilded and painted lust, to the tongue poison. What is called nude art in painting and statuary makes most of our galleries, and even some so-called Christian homes, perilous by foul suggestions and debasing fancies. Christian- ity has no quarrel with the fine arts that teach, elevate and purify, but the conceptions and expressions of some sculptors and painters seen in galleries and pri- vate houses are simply an abomination unworthy of a heathen age. It is a shame to the Christian civili- zation of this century that to walk the streets of our cities is more dangerous to our sons and daughters than to run an Indian gauntlet. Against all these the siege of Man-Soul might be sustained if there was no treason within. Of all the besieged cities of which history gives us record, very few fell by outside assault alone. Babylon fell by debauchery and drunkenness within; Rome was be- trayed, and Jerusalem fell through riot and murder within. Everv voung man is conscious of this truth THE GOLDEN POT. 279 that he has a wayward desire, an inborn curiosity of life and lust, a something continually inclined to open the gate to the tempting besiegers without. We call it native depravity, and it gives the besiegers fearful odds against your strength. If you could mass, and count and measure the power of all your foes, you would feel the need of sleepless vigilance, lest they rob you of this glorious robe and crown of your man- hood. Neither does the Church, I think, do all she might to help young men against their foes. Young men who are among strangers, away from under the pure influences of home, parents, sisters, Christian friends, good society, intellectual tastes, and church opportunities, are in a special manner exposed, un- armed, to their foes. And if, with all helps surround- ing them, so many young men fall, like shorn Sam- sons, to grind as blind captives in the prison house, or make sport in the temple of Dagon, how great must be the peril of those away from all these strong friends and helpers, who, when freed from toil, are tortured with a loneliness and restlessness that they know not how to comfort or satisfy! These ought to have the Church's tenderest sympathy and constant care. The churches ought to be so arranged, equipped and sup- plied that they could be opened every day and evening of the year, and made a resting, reading, instructive and social place, as well as a devotional place for the young. Then we might not have so much need for the Young Men's Christian Associations; but as this is not so, then build homes for these Associations of their own, so furnished, equipped and beautified they will be more attractive and enjoyable than the glitter- ing fascinations that tempt young men without. Al- toona can lighten her taxes, enhance the security of all 2 8o THE GOLDEN POT. her possessions, promote the peace, purity and enjoy- ment of her society, commend herself to the Christian world, and honor her name, by putting fifty thousand dollars into such an association building. Save these young men, whose glory is their strength, at whatever cost of money or effort. Save them from the foes that would rob themselves, and our country and heaven of the glorious strength of their manhood. Romancers and travellers tell us, as if it was a great misfortune, that we have no grand, costly old ruins in our country. Then they will describe some crumbling temple or ancient castle of Asia or Europe, where the keep is broken down, the moat empty and dry, the garden overgrown with weeds, the stone and marble columns and walls rent and crumbling, the roof fallen in, the costly carving, fresco, statuary and paintings, stained and molded by the storms of snow and rain beating upon them; the great halls and grand stairways, only a habitation for owls and bats! And they exclaim, what a melancholy and costly ruin! Truly, we have no such old ruins, but, alas! we have thousands of young ruins, infinitely sadder and more costly than any of these. The once athletic, manly, graceful form of strength shorn of all its glory. The bones crum- bling with cancerous sin, the muscles shrunken and flabby, the sinews, nerves and tendons flaccid and feeble, like cords eaten by corrosive acid; the once ruddy face a bloodless pallor, or the hue of faded parchment; the mind sodden, delirious or imbecile; reason, judgment and will deposed kings and helpless captives; the affections polluted and vile, the heart like a cage of every unclean and hateful bird! The man an uncrowned, unsceptered, deposed king, a tottering maudlin invalid, not from age, but sinful, THE GOLDEN POT. 281 premature senility; a physical, mental, moral and eternal ruin! All the ruins buried in the plains of Babylon or under the walls of Karnac and Thebes, or crumbling along the shores of Egypt, or over the lands of Europe, will not equal in sadness and costli- ness one such as this. If one should mutilate or dash in fragments ten thousand marble Apollos and all the columns of Per- sepalos, he would be guilty of no such vandalism as one who despoils a young man of his glorious strength! Young man, however you may glory in your strength and however great your real strength may be, be assured you will never be able to meet and defeat all your foes alone. And chiefly because of the inborn evil propensity to open the doors to your enemies from without. What we call native deprav- ity, the corruption of your nature, is a traitorous weak- ness, that puts your greatest strength in constant peril. No use to deny this truth. Every man who has any true knowledge of himself is conscious of it, and knows he is in danger of yielding to it any moment. I was told that John B. Gough, when he first signed the pledge, and promised to enter the lecture field against intemperance, was so conscious of his weak- ness he was afraid to start alone. A faithful friend was secured to go with him, and remain with him constantly. That friend kept close to him for years, wherever he went through this country, and went with him all over England. Whenever he was going to a dangerous place, he warned him. When the in- satiable, over-mastering appetite came upon him with power, this friend reminded him of the demons that gloated over him in his delirium, of the horrid, bot- tomless abyss into which they would plunge him; of 2&2 THE GOLDEN POT. his mother, wife, home and friends, and their hope of him, and the bright and heavenly light and happiness that opened a radiant pathway before and above him. Thus he strengthened the weakness of the man, until he was able to walk his way alone, in victorious free- dom for years on earth, and die with the full liberty and honor of the sons of God. Now, whether you have the drunkard's weakness or not, you have another more subtle, treacherous and mighty, that is, the sinful corruption of your nature, against which you need the help of a constant friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Such an one is provided in Him who has become an elder "brother and kinsman to the sons of men. Take the Son of God, Jesus Christ, the ever-present Friend, into your heart and life-fellowship on the journey. Then, when you are in danger, through His Word and Spirit He will warn you when temptation assails you in power, and "the enemy comes like a flood," He will lift up a standard against him, as He reminds you how gloating fiends, in the day of your hopeless- ness or remorse, triumphed in your ruin, and of the bottomless pit of despair and death into which they would plunge you, and recalls to you the love for you and hope in you of your mother, wife, children and friends, and points you to an upward shining pathway, that grows brighter and brighter until lost in the glory of His presence whose full radiance swallows all in- ferior light, as the sun does the light of the stars; in every infinitely wise way He will guide you and guard you, and gird you with strength, and cheer and glad- den yon as no mere human and earthly friend could do, for He will put omnipotent and everlasting arms underneath and around you, until you are able to walk THE GOLDEN POT. 283 in the manliest, noblest freedom of earth. Then when toil and sickness and age waste all your present life- strength, as they surely will, still you can accept with cheerfulness the loss, and sing in assured hope that you shall glory forever in the strength of an eternal youth! XVIII. The Devil's Plea. "Let us alone," Luke iv: 34. The witnesses of that day were amazed at this mir- acle, saying, "What a word is this?" If such a work were done in presence of the skeptics of to-day they would perhaps be astonished and admit there might be something of supernatural power in the work; yet they are neither astonished nor convinced by greater works the Lord is doing every day, in casting the demon of drunkenness, lust, pride, cruelty and sin out of the souls of men — greater proof of His power and grace than casting demons out of human bodies. It is a far greater miracle to pardon a guilty soul, en- lighten it, renew it, transform and purify it, than to deliver the body of any evil that possesses it, and this the Lord Jesus is doing every day against the will of the possessed soul. How did this demon treat Christ, and how did Christ treat this demon? Did the demon use the man's bodily organs, talk with the man's tongue? If so, was the man responsible for what the devil did with his organs, spoke with his tongue? Such questions I do not propose to answer, but to use this person as rep- resenting the sinner possessed of to-day, and what He did for that victim He does for those tormented by the devil of sin now. This devil rebelled at Christ's command and work, saying, "Let us alone." Apparently they do not ask much. But don't they? Let us work our will with THE GOLDEN POT. 285 this man, whatever misery and ruin he may suffer. In saying, "Let us alone," they virtually say, "And we will let you alone." This was not true; they were not then letting Christ alone. So, to-day, Christ, in His Word, and His teachers and preachers and disciples, comes to the possessed by the demon of sin and offers to cast the evil out, but they resist as this devil did and say, "Let us alone." First. The dram-seller says, "Let us alone. Mind your own business; you may sell wheat, or shoes, or corn, or preach, do what you please, we won't meddle with you. We do not ask you to go into our business nor be responsible for it. Why should you meddle with us? If your religion makes you meddlers as well as hypocrites, it is a poor product and no recom- mendation. All we ask is to be let alone, and every- one has a right to demand that, in justice. Mind your own business is just as good law as one of your ten commandments." Second. The dram-drinkers and drunkards say, "Let us alone. You need not drink if you don't want to. We will not compel you to drink. By what right can you compel us to quit? You might as well compel us to eat certain food and wear certain clothes, or forbid us food and clothes altogether! How does it come to be your business what we drink or when or how much? It don't hurt you. Even if we see fit to get drunk, and, as you say, burn our bodies and souls and go to hell, it is none of your business. We do not ask you to go with us. Let us alone." Third. The Turk says, "Let us alone. We are bet- ter than you. We have not the thousands of grog shops and drunkards in our land, like England and Germany and America. If we have to chastise our 286 THE GOLDEN POT. Armenian subjects, it is none of your business. We know best what they deserve, and what is needed to subdue and control them. And you had better mind your own business — it will cost you less and be more profitable." Fourth. The Spaniard and the Spanish government say, "Let us alone. We discovered Cuba and have ruled it for four hundred years, and if we see fit to chastise its rebellion and rob it and starve its people and flay them all, and leave the island a habitless ruin, it is none of your business — they are our subjects. The commandments forbid you to covet or steal, yet you want to steal our island! We only ask you to let us alone." Fifth. Great railroad and manufacturing corpora- tions, and all Sabbath breakers, say, "Let us alone. If we wish to operate our mills or run our trains on the Sabbath, it is none of your business. We do not compel nor ask you to ride on the trains. We are big enough to take care of ourselves. If you do not want to be squelched and exterminated, do not be impertinent and meddlesome. The tortoise cannot contend with the elephant; if the elephant should but set its foot on the tortoise, it would only have breadth and no thickness. The mouse cannot fight with the lion; after one stroke of his paw or snap of his jaw there would be no mouse. It would be better not to meddle." Sixth. The devil, through many human lips, says, "Let the heathen alone. They prefer their religion, they think it best for them, and perhaps it is. They enjoy their polygamy and harems, and their way of worship and living. You are only disturbing them and sowing strife among them and making trouble THE GOLDEN POT. 287 in their homes. What right have you to destroy their religion, any more than they have to destroy yours? Let them alone!" Seventh. The devil that is in every sinning soul makes the same plea, "Let us alone. If we prefer to continue in sin, it's none of your business, you are not responsible. Is it any of your business what we make our pleasures and when we practice them? Or whether we pray or pay any attention to either law or Gospel? Who gave you any right to come to us per- sonally or to our homes or places of business to re- prove us and exhort us and beg us to repent and believe your teaching? Are we not free? Have we not a right to do as we please? Let us alone." This is the devil's plea round the whole circle of self- oppressors, and oppressors of others, evil-doers, sinful and imperilled souls, all over the earth. This plea, or demand, we must refuse for the following reasons: 1st. The teachers and preachers and disciples of the Lord either represent and serve Jesus Christ, or they do not. If they do, then it is to this Lord of the whole earth and Redeemer of men that those we have men- tioned, and all rebellious subjects, are replying, "Let us alone." The teachers, ministers and disciples are only ambassadors and servants of this supreme Lord, and the charge of intermeddling and impertinence they can without fear turn over to Him, and He will answer for them. These devils in men, and mighty corporations, are not fighting a tortoise or a mouse, but omnipotent justice, and this conquering King is not paling His face in the presence of elephant or lion. He is able to take care of His law, authority and honor, when these are invaded and insulted. In the case now before us, He refused the plea. Why? Be- 288 THE GOLDEN POT. cause this devil was not letting the Lord Jesus alone. The human being this devil had taken possession of was, body and soul, the property of the Lord Jesus, and the devil was trying to steal it. This the Lord •could not permit and keep His honor, truth and rights. Yet this is the impudent demand of many human beings whom the devil possesses to-day. While in the very act of stealing the Lord's day, prop- erty and honor and every human right, they cry out, "Let us alone. We are not hurting you!" Again, the devils were making a human being wretched in body and soul, and helpless and miserable for all eternity. This Jesus could not permit, because He loved human beings, as their Creator, and espe- cially as their Redeemer. He will not let devils nor men alone who are making others miserable. Whether human beings are making themselves miserable and hopeless, or making others so, or are made so by •devils, the Lord Jesus, because of His love and justice, will not let them alone. Yet to-day many devils, in the form of human beings, both men and women, are making themselves and others unutterably wretched and hopeless, and are crying out, "Let us alone. What right have you to meddle with us!" But no man or woman can be like Christ, and act like Christ, and let them alone. We, as Christians and servants of Christ, cannot let the liquor sellers alone, because they will not let us alone. Will they let your sons, sons-in-law, or even your daughters, alone? In their very childhood, by liquor-loaded candies and every other satanic device, they will create an appetite that will lead them to the saloon, and there despoil them, body and soul. They will rob your daughter of her husband and drive her and her children, ragged and THE GOLDEN POT. 289 hungry, from their home's shelter, with no more compunction than a wolf. They are piling on us police costs, and court costs, and jail costs, and peni- tentiary costs, and poor-house costs, far exceeding all the revenue they ever paid. They are robbing the Lord and the earth of some of the grandest bodies and souls of the human race. They are murdering and burying in dishonored, hopeless graves, sixty thousand a year. Even the Turk can make us blush. A book has been written by a Turk, now translated into English, in which the author argues, "Even if it were true that they had slain fifty thousand Ar- menians in a year, American and English saloons have slain more than one hundred thousand, which is some- thing the Turkish government never did, for it pro- hibits saloons." With shame we have to admit the indictment. If the Turkish government can prohibit drinking saloons, why cannot the great American republic? Or if Mohammedanism can suppress in- toxicating drinking and drunkenness, why cannot Christianity? This traffic is guilty of greater robbery and causes more misery and death than war. In camp and battle we mass and count our dead, killed and lost, but by this traffic they are falling by the wayside, on the streets, and in homes, all over the land, by one and twos uncounted, but in the aggregate count more than any year of our great rebellion on hattle fields! This traffic will never let Christ and His followers alone, and they can never let it alone until it is abolished. We cannot let the dram-drinkers and drunkards alone. They are robbing Church and State of both "body and soul service, to which both Church and State have a right. They are robbing the Lord of all His 290 THE GOLDEN POT. rights in body and soul. They are making women and children by thousands paupers and untold suf- ferers, and we have to. pay for keeping these thousands from starving and freezing, whether in the poor-house or out of it. They are disturbing the peace and rest of families and society, day and night, and im- periling business in all its channels. And it is no im- pudence or infringement of personal liberty to pro- hibit their drinking and drunkenness. They rob and hurt themselves and us and thousands of others, and we cannot do right and duty and let them alone. As teachers, ambassadors and servants of Christ, we cannot let Sabbath breakers, violators of Sabbath law, alone, whether they are railroads, manufacturers or individuals, because they are either transgressing God's law, or they are not. If they are, they are offending and dishonoring God and robbing laborers of their right to rest, religious knowledge and worship, and exposing many to righteous, Divine wrath. As ambassadors and servants, we must, in the name of the Lord and Law-giver, testify and protest against this breach of the Lord's law and wrong done to men. We claim no power, no right, to execute law — to the Law-giver belongs the right and power of execution, as to time and manner. But be assured, as to time and way He will exact justice for transgression. In the case in the text, He turned these devils out of possession. So He will turn the disobedient, unjust and cruel out of possession, sooner or later. We cannot cast out devils, but we can do our duty by warning, testimony and teaching, and through these He has promised to put forth the hand of Divine power, do the work and vindicate Llis lav; and Gospel. The servants of Christ in no land can let the unspeak- THE GOLDEN POT. 29 1 able Turkish assassin and the brutal Spaniard alone. A long time ago, when Cain murdered Abel, and God called him to account, the brazen-faced fratricide coolly said he was not his brother's keeper! The Almighty Judge decided that he was, and pronounced sentence against him. These Armenians, Cubans and Philippines are brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity, and our brothers in humanity, and we cannot be right in the Lord's sight and let them alone. Some have said, "Shall we give our noble sons and countrymen to the death for such creatures as inhabit those islands?" Some forty years ago the expression was heard, "We will not give our sons to die for 'niggers!' " But they did, willing or unwilling, by the thousands. We must learn, whether by precept or judgment, that the human race is a unit in humanity and rights. What aggravates the Spanish case is that they have been doing their inhuman, cruel, devilish work in His name. Bob Ingersoll says, "The Spanish are so cruel because they are so religious." I admit that the religion of Sunday Spanish bull fights, that, according to statistics, kills five thousand horses and one thousand two hundred bulls every year (the number of men killed is not stated — they are not so valu- able!) — I certainly admit that this is a cruel religion, and that they are very religious. In the last four hundred years, under the cross, they have reddened almost every sea with blood, and by hundreds of thousands filled graves on every continent of earth. Yes, they are very religious! In our text, Christ bade devils to keep silence and not say that they knew Him. He refuses to be acknowledged by devils in any form, human or satanic. 29^ THE GOLDEN POT. We cannot let them alone to do their inhuman work in the name of Christianity. It is a most heinous insult to the Lord Christ. We cannot let the heathen alone. They are part of the race for which Jesus died. They will not let us alone. The Lord has committed them to the Church as a charge, saying, "Go, and preach the Gospel to them, because they are brethren in humanity, and godless and hopeless. However much they may like their own religions, harems, poly- gamy and superstitions; however much they may be set one against another, the mother against the daughter, the mother-in-law against the daughter-in- law, and the man's own household made his foes, by the preaching of the Gospel — this is the sword I came to send on the earth. You know they are possessed and tormented and without God and without hope in the world, and if you would obey Me and extend My kingdom and secure a blessing to yourselves at home, you cannot let them alone. They will not let you alone. To withhold My Gospel from them is to narrow and impoverish your own souls in selfishness and idolatrous avarice. Go and pour the light of truth upon their misery and vileness, and teach My Gospel of power, grace and love, and I will give them hope and peace and life and happiness, and enrich you with Divine, reviving grace and joy. Do not let them alone." There is not a personal unbeliever nor sinner on earth the servants of Christ dare let alone. Our present safety, peace and welfare forbid it. Who are bringing into the world and training the criminal classes, that are costing us so much and putting our most valued interests, national, social, moral and religious, in peril? Who are filling streets and homes with children and youth, preparing them for your THE GOLDEN POT. 295 reformatories, jails, prisons, almshouses, and eventu- ally for a hopeless hell, and now inoculating society with moral diseases more hurtful and deadly than any physical pestilence? Who? The unbelieving-,, godless, sin-loving, and sin-living. And we know their guilt, and peril, and doom, and if we have the spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Divine love, we cannot let them alone. They may call us impertinent and meddling, yet however they resist, we cannot let them alone. As Christ said of those who crucified Him, "They know not what they do;" so it may be true of these. But in spite of all opposition, we must teach, exhort, persuade and pray, as the means of bringing Christ's power to dispossess and save them. We have no power of ourselves, we cannot compel either devils or men; we cannot by force of law cast out the devils of Sabbath breaking, lust or drunkenness. Our power all lies in the might of the truths we teach, the resist- less force of the Divine love we reveal and manifest. Our power as teachers, ministers and servants of Christ is all moral and spiritual. But if we speak His truth in love, testify, exhort and pray in all fearless faithfulness, in true humility and kindness, through this channel He will send His Divine power and do the work, and sinful souls will either in justice be condemned, or by Divine power dispossessed and saved, to the endless glory of our Lord's righteous- ness, holiness and grace. 0021066 439 7