MI 
 
 /,A,G, 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 ®fc»F ©opijrir^f f o......... 
 
 Shelf'iifjjl 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
is£C>- 
 
MILK AND MEAT 
 
 TWENTY-FOUR SERMONS 
 
 / 
 
 A. C. DIXON 
 
 PASTOR OF THE HANSON PLACE BAPTIST CHURCH 
 BROOKLYN, NEW YORK 
 
 " As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, 
 that ye may grow thereby." I. Peter 2 : 2. 
 
 " But strong- meat belongeth to them that are of full age." 
 
 Hebrews 5 : 14. 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO. 
 
 740 and 742 Broadway 
 
 JUIV 22 \%\ 
 
 
 1 
 

 L f cONOR E89 
 iwASHlHOTON] 
 
 Copyright, 1893, 
 
 BY 
 
 The Baker & Taylor Co. 
 
 ROBERT DRUMMOND, ELECTROTYPER AND PRINTER, NEW YORK. 
 
TO 
 
 &U tofjo lobe tfie ILortr Jesus (Htf)viut 
 
 AND HIS BOOK. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. The New Birth . . i 
 
 II. The Way and Work of Life 18 
 
 III. Spiritual Sleep 28 
 
 IV. How to Save the City 39 
 
 V. The Gospel Feast 52 
 
 VI. The Revival We Need 65 
 
 VII. An Unfortunate Marriage 77 
 
 VIII. The Blessedness of Giving 87 
 
 IX. Comfort for the Weak 96 
 
 X. Stirring the Nest 112 
 
 XI. Perennial Easter 120 
 
 XII. Chariots and Mantles 133 
 
 XIII. The Unfailing Barrel and Cruse .... 144 
 
 XIV. Treasures in Heaven 150 
 
 XV. Shadow and Substance 161 
 
 XVI. Discipleship 173 
 
 XVII. Constraining Love 185 
 
 XVIII. Pure Religion 197 
 
 XIX. A Growing Faith 207 
 
 XX. Dew and Lion 223 
 
 XXI. Angels and Hornets 233 
 
 XXII. Voices from Calvary 245 
 
 XXIII. Christ's Earthly Glory 254 
 
 XXIV. God's Ideal of Character 260 
 
MILK AND MEAT. 
 
 i. 
 
 THE NEW BIRTH. 
 
 " Marvel not that 1 said unto thee, Ye must be borr 
 again." — John 3 : 7. 
 
 "And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 
 even so must the Son of man be lifted up : that whoso- 
 ever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal 
 life." — John 3 : 14, 15. 
 
 THE how of everything is mysterious. The 
 " must be" of everything is plain. I do not 
 know how fire burns, but I know that fire 
 must burn if the world is to be warmed. 
 
 I do not know how corn and cotton grow ; 
 but I know that corn and cotton must grow 
 if the world is to be fed and clothed. I do 
 not know how taking food makes my blood 
 
Milk and Meat. 
 
 red and gives strength and vitality to nerve 
 and muscle ; but I know that I must take 
 food if I would live. I do not know how I 
 am born again ; but I know that I must be 
 if I ever get to Heaven. " Marvel, Xicode- 
 mus. at the how just as much as you please; 
 it is like the wind blowing. Listen ! You can 
 hear the sound in the trees, but you know 
 not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth. 
 Wonder at the how, but wonder not at 
 the ' must be.' You cannot enjoy Heaven, 
 unless you are born again ; you are not fitted 
 for the place." Wicked men do not like 
 Christian company here and they will not like 
 it a whit better in Heaven. They do not like 
 to be where Christ is talked about, His praises 
 sung, and His will obeyed ; and if they 
 should go to Heaven, where nothing else is 
 done, they would feel very miserable. 
 
 On the Bothnia, in mid- Atlantic, there were 
 three hundred delegates going to the Sunday- 
 school Convention in London. Mr. Blake, 
 ut Chicago, put a great map before the 
 delegates, representing the resurrection of 
 Christ, and its relations to history and doc- 
 trine. A Jew, one of the passengers, as soon 
 
The New Birth. 3 
 
 as he saw the name of Christ and the res- 
 urrection, began to grow red in the face, and 
 went bustling to the captain to say that it 
 was an insult to him and his people. Now, 
 suppose that Jew, just as he was, should be 
 translated to Heaven, where Christ is the centre 
 of song, and where His resurrection is the 
 theme of conversation. Would he be any hap- 
 pier than he was on the Bothnia? He would 
 break up the choir if he could. Imagine him 
 rushing up to Gabriel, making complaint that 
 the saints and angels are singing of Christ and 
 the resurrection ! A man in Boston bought a 
 ticket to a race-course, and by mistake got on 
 a boat going to a camp-meeting, where he was 
 among Methodist preachers, singing hymns, 
 talking about the Bible, and speaking of their 
 Christian experience. He came to the captain 
 and said : " Captain, I was never so near per- 
 dition in my life. I will give you ten dollars 
 to let me out at the nearest place." Put that 
 gambler in Heaven, — would he be happy? No, 
 indeed. Good surroundings cannot make bad 
 men happy. Unless there be a taste for spir- 
 itual things, spiritual surroundings are not 
 happiness. " Ye must be born again." Those 
 
4 Milk ami Meat. 
 
 who love whiskey will not find a bar-room 
 even on the back streets of Heaven. For 
 all who roll sin as a sweet morsel under 
 their tongues there will be no course of sin 
 at the celestial banquet. 
 
 With these introductory words we come 
 to the subject of the new birth. It is our 
 purpose first to correct some mistakes con- 
 cerning it, then to define it in God's own 
 words, and, finally, to show how any one who 
 will may be born again. 
 
 I. As to the Mistakes. 
 
 The new birth is not getting re/igio/i. You 
 have that. There is not a man in the world 
 who is not a religious being. The religious 
 instinct marks us off from the brute. Men 
 worship God or money or their friends or 
 themselves, and they become assimilated to 
 the object of their w r orship. Some are just 
 about as hard in heart as the yellow gold 
 they have been worshipping for the last twenty- 
 five years. The mother takes her child and 
 flings it to the crocodile. It is her religion 
 that makes her do it. You see a man by the 
 
The New Birth. 5 
 
 highway in India with his arm erect, and 
 he has been standing for twenty years in 
 that position. His arm has grown rigid and 
 hard. He has religion ; and it is his religion 
 that makes him hold up his arm till it be- 
 comes almost as hard as wood. Yonder goes 
 another man walking with spikes in his feet, 
 and he has started out on a journey of not 
 less than twenty miles. Bloody tracks are 
 behind him. That man has too much religion. 
 
 Religion in itself is not the new birth. 
 Going into a church and sitting down where 
 it is quiet and warm and beautiful, looking 
 at frescoing and architecture, feeling sweet, 
 sensuous impressions steal through you — all 
 that may exist without the new birth. It is 
 natural religion. 
 
 And expressing your deep religious feelings 
 in a gorgeous ritual is not the new birth. 
 Nicodemus, the Pharisee, was one of the most 
 religious men of his time. He fasted twice a 
 week — better than some of us do. Better still, 
 he gave tithes of all that he possessed. He 
 made long prayers, standing on the street- 
 corners. He made broad his phylactery. He 
 was full of religion from head to foot. He 
 
o Milk and Meat. 
 
 was a sort of deacon in the church of that 
 day. Many of the Pharisees were hypocrites; 
 they were ritualists ; but they were religious. 
 Religion, I repeat, is not the new birth. 
 Every man is a religious being. 
 
 The new birth is not a change of feeling. 
 The word feeling is mentioned but three 
 times in the New Testament. Feelings can 
 be changed even by the weather or the state 
 of health. I know a man who is never religious 
 except when he is under the influence of drink. 
 Just as soon as he gets drunk, he mounts his 
 cart on the street and preaches the sermon he 
 heard the Sunday before. Three ounces of 
 alcohol can make a man entirely different, so 
 far as his feelings are concerned. 
 
 Now, understand me, I believe in feeling. 
 Feeling may go before the new birth. It may 
 follow the new birth. But the feeling itself 
 and the change of feeling is not the essence 
 and substance of the new birth. Let me il- 
 lustrate. I was preaching in a country church 
 during August. The thermometer marked 
 about 95 degrees, and the house was densely 
 crowded. The people were standing in the 
 aisles and all around the wall. At the close 
 
The New Birth. J 
 
 of the service, according to the custom of 
 the place, I invited those who wanted Chris- 
 tians to pray for them to come up and take 
 the front seats. About forty out of the 
 crowd pressed their way up to the front. 
 Their friends gathered around them to talk 
 and pray with them. While I was talking to 
 a man on his knees, I felt my head grow 
 dizzy. I said to myself, " I must get out of 
 here ; the atmosphere is too close." As I 
 walked out the door," and met a good fresh 
 gust of air coming in from the forest, I felt 
 a thrilling sensation tingling to my finger tips. 
 I felt like a new man from head to foot. It 
 was a purely physical change, that was itself 
 changed again by different surroundings ; but 
 it was the kind of change that I once sought 
 for religion. 
 
 Have all the feeling you please, weep as 
 many tears as you please, be as happy as 
 you please; but these are accompaniments of 
 the new birth, not the new birth itself. 
 
 The new birth is not a change of rela- 
 tion with men. Morality is right relation 
 with men. Spirituality is right relation with 
 God. A man may be all right with his fel- 
 
S Milk and Meat. 
 
 lows, and all wrong with God. When a man 
 gets right with God, he is right with man 
 every time. The main purpose of Paul's letter 
 to the Romans was to prove that righteous- 
 ness, primarily, is right relation, and not right 
 doing. It is getting right with God, and 
 then doing right. There is no possibility of 
 salvation without our first getting right with 
 God. I know some men who can boast that 
 they do not beat their wives ; that they are 
 out of the penitentiary, — do not lie, and cheat, 
 and steal, and do bad things generally. They 
 are upright citizens ; all right with their fami- 
 lies, but all wrong with God. In the city 
 of Brooklyn, two or three years ago, a detec- 
 tive went into a drug-store, laid his hand 
 upon the shoulder of a man about thirty years 
 of age, and said, "You are wanted." "What 
 do you mean ? " asked the man. " You know 
 what I mean. You were in the Albany peni- 
 tentiary several years ago ; you escaped and 
 went West. You married out there, and came 
 back here and settled ; and we have been on 
 your track ever since. Now we have you. 
 You need not deny it." He said, "That is 
 true ; I won't deny it : but I would like to go 
 
The New Birth. 9 
 
 home and say good-by to my wife and child." 
 "All right." They went to his home. He 
 met his wife and little child in the parlor, 
 and said : " Wife, haven't I been a kind 
 husband ? Haven't I been a good father, 
 and worked hard to make a living?" She 
 replied, " Yes ; what do you mean ? " "I 
 mean that I am an escaped convict from 
 the penitentiary. Since I met you, your love 
 for me has made a different man out of me ; 
 but I am an escaped criminal, and must go 
 back to the penitentiary." He was all right 
 with his wife, child, and neighbors, but all 
 wrong with the State of New York. His 
 being right with his wife and child did not 
 put him right with the State of New York. 
 You may be all right with your friends and 
 neighbors, but all wrong with God ; and, un- 
 less you are born again, you never can get 
 right with God. 
 
 II. The New Birth Defined. 
 
 But what is the new birth ? Turn to 2 Pet. 
 1:4, and you have a good definition: "That 
 ye might be partakers of the Divine nature." 
 
10 Milk and Meat. 
 
 That's it. To be born of God is to become a 
 partaker of the Divine nature. The divinity of 
 Christ partook of our humanity. Our human- 
 ity partakes of His divinity. We are made 
 sons of God, and the son has the same na- 
 ture as the Father. Jesus Christ was born a 
 babe in Bethlehem, and we become babes in 
 Christ. 
 
 The new birth is the imparting of the 
 Christly nature to the human soul, and is 
 brought about by the Holy Spirit. We have 
 nothing to do with it at all : that is God's 
 part of the business. 
 
 I do not know how my eating beefsteak 
 will keep me alive, and yet I confess that I 
 ate as heartily this morning as if I knew all 
 about it, for the simple reason that my part 
 of the transaction was quite simple. Those 
 who make up their minds that they will not 
 do anything they cannot understand all about, 
 will soon be in a lunatic asylum or in their 
 graves. A prominent man in the Southern 
 States, a college president, made up his mind, 
 after poring over scientific books, that he 
 would not eat or drink until he could explain 
 the relation between life and matter. That 
 
The New Birth. 1 1 
 
 mail was sent to a lunatic asylum. The su- 
 perintendent put him in a strait-jacket, and 
 told him that he had to take something, 
 whether he could understand it, or not. And 
 he treated him right. Many people are mys- 
 tified about the new birth, because they want 
 to do God's part. 
 
 III. Man's Part. 
 
 What, then, is our part ? Jesus explains it 
 to Nicodemus in the second text: " And as 
 Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 
 even so must the Son of man be lifted up, 
 that whosoever believeth in Him should not 
 perish, but have eternal life." As if Christ had 
 said : " Now, Nicodemus, you are a Jew, and 
 are conversant with Jewish history. You re- 
 member that scene in the wilderness, do you 
 not, when the people were bitten by fiery 
 serpents, and God told Moses to make a piece 
 of brass into the shape of a serpent and put it 
 on a pole in the midst of the camp, and then 
 proclaim to the people that whoever would 
 look at that serpent of brass should be healed 
 of the bite of the poisonous serpent? Nico- 
 
I : Milk and Meat. 
 
 demus, My part of the new birth is to heal, 
 and your part is to look." 
 
 " There is life for a look at the Crucified One, 
 There is life at this moment for thee ; 
 Then look, sinner, look unto Him, and be saved, 
 Unto Him who was nailed to the tree." 
 
 The part that we are to do, then, is child- 
 like — almost childish. God made it child- 
 like and simple, that it might be within the 
 capacity of the philosopher and the fool, of 
 the learned man and the ignorant, of the old 
 and the young, of the strong and the weak ; 
 that salvation in its great scope might be as 
 wide and as high as the greatest university 
 training, and in its simplicity as low as the 
 cradle in the nursery. He says, " Look to 
 Jesus ! " He makes it simple, direct, and plain. 
 " Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends 
 of the earth"; for I am God and there is none 
 else." 
 
 It was not looking at the pole. I do not 
 know what sort of a pole it was. Perhaps 
 Moses went out and cut the roughest old stick 
 he could find, all gnarled and covered with 
 bark, and put the serpent up on it ; or he 
 
The New Birth. 1 3 
 
 might have made it as smooth and trim as a 
 carpenter's knife could make it. 
 
 There arc some people who look to the 
 pole, and expect to be saved by it. The 
 ordinances of the church are simply the pok 
 upon which Christ is uplifted. Baptism is the 
 pole that holds up the burial and resurrection 
 of Jesus. The church itself is the pole uplift- 
 ing Christ. Every member of the church 
 ought to be like a pole uplifting Christ, and 
 asking men to look and live. It is not look- 
 ing to baptism. You may be baptized in the 
 waters of the Jordan, and be lost. Blood un- 
 mixed with water cleanses from all sin. It is 
 your duty to obey Christ in baptism, but it is 
 not the channel through which salvation 
 comes. The church is a good thing, and you 
 ought to join the church ; but it is simply the 
 pole. Trusting to the church never saved 
 anybody. No ordinance, no organization, can 
 bring about that experience in the human 
 heart. 
 
 Nor does it depend upon the light in 
 which you are looking. I can imagine a man 
 bitten, and he sees the serpent run off in the 
 rocks. He feels the poison coursing through 
 
14 Milk and Meat. 
 
 his veins, and his head begins to grow dizzy. 
 He says, " I must go and look at the serpent 
 of brass." There, in the distance, it is glitter- 
 ing in the noonday sun. From one hill-top he 
 sees it on the other hill-top, and just the 
 moment he looks, he is healed. Here comes 
 another man in the gloaming of the evening ; 
 the shades of night have gathered, and he 
 must come close, that in the misty darkness 
 he may get a view of the serpent of brass. 
 As he looks he is healed. Here is a man 
 that comes in the moonlight, with its beauti- 
 ful sheen over hill and valley ; he has to come 
 closer still, and there, in the moonlight, he 
 gets a view of the serpent of brass ; the 
 moment he looks he is healed. Here comes 
 another in the starlight, and he comes so 
 close that he must have the serpent of brass 
 between him and the bright starry sky yon- 
 der ; as he looks he is healed. Here comes 
 another man in the darkness of midnight ; 
 perhaps a storm is raging, and in the light- 
 ning flash he gets a view of the serpent ; he 
 is healed. Another comes with a flickering 
 lamp and must hold it up close to the ser- 
 pent of brass ; but he looks by the light of 
 
The New Birth. 15 
 
 the flickering lamp, and is healed. No mat- 
 ter, I repeat, about the kind or degree of 
 light in which you look. " They came to 
 Christ from every quarter," but they came ; 
 and getting to Christ is salvation. Looking to 
 Christ, believing in Christ, is our part of the new 
 birth, whatever be the light in which we look. 
 Here is one man that comes in the noon- 
 day splendor of good health and prosperity ; 
 but he knows he is bitten, and as he looks to 
 Christ he is saved. Here comes another amid 
 the gathering shadows of sorrow, perhaps of 
 life itself. But he looks amid the shadows, 
 and he is saved. There comes a man in the 
 light of some Christian's experience, in the 
 light of some book, which like the moon re- 
 flects the word of God, — in the light of some 
 Christian character, that has in it the reflection 
 of the Sun of righteousness, and, looking in 
 this reflected light, he is saved. Here comes 
 another, who believes there are some good 
 people. He believes that his mother is in 
 Heaven, because she trusted Jesus. He looks 
 in the darkness, and only sees by the light of 
 a star or two ; but he looks, and is saved. 
 Here comes another man — oh, how many have 
 
1 6 Milk and Meat. 
 
 thus come with the storm raging and light- 
 ning flashing around them ! — and in the light- 
 ning flash of the storm he gets a look ; in 
 a moment he is saved. No matter about the 
 light. Look to Christ, believing in Him as 
 your Saviour, and* the moment you believe — 
 God's word for it — you are born again. Your 
 part is to believe. God's part is all the rest, 
 about which you have no concern. 
 
 We are saved by faith. Everything is. 
 Every good institution is saved by faith. 
 The family is saved by faith. Wipe out 
 faith in husband, wife, and child, and you 
 destroy the home. The government is saved 
 by faith. Let the people lose faith in the 
 government, and it will topple about their 
 ears. Commerce is saved by faith. You bank- 
 ing men know how it is. Let the people 
 lose faith in a bank, and that bank soon 
 crashes. In an English town a report got out 
 that the bank was about to fail. Five hun- 
 dred people ran for their deposits on the 
 same day. The pastor of the dissenting 
 church in the town was invited by the bank 
 directors to meet them. They said to him, 
 " Sir, if these people press us to the wall, 
 
The New Birth. i 7 
 
 they will lose their money. If they don't 
 press us, we will pay every dollar/' The 
 pastor said, " I will help you ; I have some 
 money, and I trust you." He went home, got 
 his money, came to the bank door, and, stand- 
 ing on the step, said, " Friends, you all know me ; 
 I have been living here twenty-five years, and I 
 believe in this bank. Here are three hundred 
 pounds that I am going to deposit. I believe 
 the bank is good." In less than thirty minutes 
 every one of those people had dispersed, and 
 the bank was saved by faith. Unbelief as to 
 that bank was about to ruin it. The moment 
 faith was implanted, the bank was saved. 
 Railroads are saved ! y faith. Steamboats are 
 saved by faith. Your business, friend, is saved 
 by faith. Every good thing on earth is saved 
 by faith. And when the infidel rails at the 
 religion of Jesus Christ because we are saved 
 by faith, he is railing at every institution that 
 this country holds dear. " Believe on the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
 
II. 
 
 THE WAY AND WORK OF LIFE. 
 
 " Looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the 
 Lamb of God." — John i : 36. 
 
 Beholding Christ as the Lamb of God is 
 the Way of Life. 
 
 Not a Creed. — Creeds, as expressions of our 
 faith, are good enough in their place, but the 
 man who makes a creed take the place of Christ 
 is like the patient who eats the prescription 
 while he rejects the medicine. There is as much 
 difference between Christ and a creed as there 
 is between a man and his biography. Creeds, 
 like baskets, may hold luscious fruit ; and we 
 would not dispense with the baskets, but as an 
 article of diet baskets are not good. We need 
 vessels to hold water, but the vessels themselves 
 will not quench our thirst. 
 
 Not the Church. — The church is for saved peo- 
 ple ; the way of life is God's door into it. After 
 
 18 
 
The Way and Work of Life. 19 
 
 we have beheld the Lamb of God, we should 
 join the church ; but no sadder mistake can be 
 made than to regard the church as the ark of 
 safety, the city of refuge for the soul. There 
 is a vast difference between a post and a tree. 
 Those who enter the church, that they may be 
 saved thereby, are like posts without life, planted 
 in the earth. Time rots them, and they fall 
 down ; while those who enter the church, be- 
 cause they have been saved, are like trees full 
 of life, planted by the river of water, whose leaf 
 shall not wither. 
 
 Not Ordinances. — Ordinances are the symbols 
 of truth. The Lord's Supper is the shadow of 
 Christ, the Lamb. Baptism is a picture of the 
 burial and resurrection of our Lord. But look- 
 ing at a picture of food does not satisfy hunger ; 
 looking at a picture of water does not quench 
 thirst. 
 
 Not an Experience. — Beholding the Lamb of 
 God gives an experience ; as a result we have 
 love, hope, and all the Christian graces, but these 
 are the fruits of the Spirit, and not the object 
 of our faith. They are good proofs that we are 
 saved, but, looking to the work of the Spirit in 
 us should not displace the work of Christ for us. 
 
20 Milk and Meat. 
 
 The Spirit and Jesus are no rivals. The Spirit 
 v mid have us look away from Himself to the 
 Lamb of God whom He delights, while He 
 hides Himself, to hold before the eyes of all. 
 
 Not beholding Christ as merely a Teacher, 
 Pliilantliropist, or Example. — It is popular in 
 some quarters nowadays to exalt the life of 
 Christ at the expense of His death. It is the 
 religion of Cain, with his fruits and flowers, with- 
 out the blood. It is an attempt to cover over 
 the offence of the cross with the attributes of 
 the man Christ Jesus. It is an exaltation of 
 the man at the expense of the Lamb. I would 
 be second to none in praising the perfection of 
 the character of Christ, and in desiring to grow 
 into His full stature ; but, in order that we may 
 be like Him, we must first get rid of sin that 
 has defaced our characters, and " without the 
 shedding of blood there is no remission/' Cal- 
 vary is the alphabet of Christianity. We must 
 start at the cross, if we would reach the crown. 
 Grasping for the crown, while we ignore the 
 cross, is a sort of pious theft. 
 
The Way and Work of Life. 2 1 
 
 The Work of Life is to make one's Per- 
 sonality a Voice proclaiming the Way 
 of Life. 
 
 The people asked John, " Who are you?" His 
 reply was, " I am the voice of one crying in the 
 wilderness." Not, I have a voice, although he 
 had one strong enough doubtless to preach to 
 twenty thousand people in the open air, but he 
 said, " I am the voice ;" my whole personality, all 
 that is meant by " John the Baptist," is a voice 
 crying in the desert " Make straight the way of 
 the Lord." Our work in life, after we have 
 beheld the Lamb of God, is to be a John the 
 Baptist calling men to the Christ. We should in 
 all our relations voice the saying, " Behold the 
 Lamb of God." Now the practical question is, 
 How can we do this ? In four ways. 
 
 1. By oar Words. — The man who is a voice of 
 God will use the voice he has for God. Those of 
 us who hear God will speak His word, and our 
 ability to speak will depend upon our ability to 
 hear. When a man loses his hearing, he loses 
 his speech. The deaf are always dumb, and the 
 man who fails to hear God as he speaks in Reve- 
 
22 Milk and Meat. 
 
 lation will not speak for God. We who have 
 heard Him should speak forth the hope that is in 
 us. 
 
 Our business is " by all means to save some." 
 We may do other things, but they are incidentals. 
 As you walk down the corridor of the Astor 
 House toward the restaurant, you will see stand- 
 ing in the door a man who never looks into your 
 face ; he always looks at your shoes. That man's 
 business is to black shoes, and I have never see^n 
 him look into the face of a guest. His one 
 thought is about the condition of the shoes. A 
 life-insurance agent told me that he never saw a 
 respectable man who did not suggest to him a 
 policy. His business was to get policies. Every 
 person we meet should suggest salvation. Is he 
 a Christian ? Can I speak a word now that may 
 change his life ? Such a man was John Wesley, 
 and his followers have to a large extent drunk 
 in his spirit. Wesley was robbed once by a 
 highwayman, and, as he handed to him his 
 scanty purse, he said, " Sir, you may some time 
 repent of this, and if you ever do, remember, 
 The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth 
 from all sin." Several years afterwards a man 
 took Wesley by the hand as he came out of 
 
The Way and Work of Life. 23 
 
 church and said, " Do you remember the time 
 you were robbed in a certain place ? " " Yes," 
 said Wesley, " I shall never forget that." "Well, 
 I was the man that robbed you, and the words 
 you spoke to me made me a Christian and an 
 honest man." I have not heard whether or not 
 he returned the money to Wesley ; he ought to 
 have done so, if he did not ; but the point I w r ish 
 to make is, that Wesley was Christian enough to 
 think more of saving that man's soul than of 
 keeping his purse. 
 
 2. By our Business. — Every man's business 
 should be a voice proclaiming Christ. It can- 
 not be such, if it is a bad business ; and, how- 
 ever good in itself, if it is conducted on bad 
 principles, it is never the voice of God. A 
 gentleman telegraphed to a friend asking what 
 a certain man was worth. The reply was, 
 " His note is worth a million dollars, but his 
 word is not worth a cent." You will not be 
 surprised to learn that, before very long, his 
 note was as worthless as his word. That 
 man's business went to wreck, because it was 
 not founded " upon principles of honesty. 
 "What are you doing there?" asked a neigh- 
 bor, as he came into the shop where a Chris- 
 
24 Milk and Meat. 
 
 tian blacksmith with strong arm was beating 
 the white iron upon the anvil and making the 
 sparks fly in every direction. " I am preaching 
 the gospel to the regions beyond," he replied, 
 as he continued to swing his heavy hammer. 
 His was a holy calling; the ring of his ham- 
 mer was as sweet to God as an angel's harp, 
 and that smoky shanty was a palace in which 
 God delighted. So every man's business may 
 be made a voice proclaiming the Lamb of God. 
 3. By our Money. — Princess Eugenie, of Swe- 
 den, soM her diamonds, that she might build a 
 home for incurables. On one of her visits to 
 the home she met a wicked, sick woman, to 
 whom she talked about Christ. She told the 
 matron on leaving that she hoped special at- 
 tention would be given to that poor creature, 
 for the Princess was anxious that before she 
 died she should become a Christian. One day- 
 she found the invalid with bright face, because 
 her heart was radiant with hope, and, as she 
 took her by the hand, the tears gathered in 
 her sunken eyes. The Princess said to her 
 husband on returning to the palace, " I saw 
 the glitter of my diamonds to-day in the tears 
 of penitence." 
 
The Way and Work of Life. 25 
 
 " But," you say, " I am no princess with dia- 
 monds for sale." A newsboy was run over in 
 New York a few weeks ago by a vehicle, and 
 carried, mangled in body, to the hospital. As 
 soon as his mother came in, he pointed to his 
 little vest lying upon a chair, and said, 
 " Mother, there are four cents in my pocket 
 that I got for selling papers before I w T as 
 hurt ; I made them for you. Don't forget to 
 take them." That boy's spirit of ministry to 
 his mother is as bright as the glitter of Eu- 
 genie's diamonds. The two-fifths of a cent 
 that the poor widow put into the treasury 
 may, in the view of angels, have a brighter 
 flash than all the diamonds of earth, for they 
 have the brilliancy of trust and consecration. 
 
 4. By our Character. — Above all things, our 
 character must be a voice proclaiming the 
 Lamb of God. Our words spoken, printed and 
 written, our business, our money, will not 
 atone for the lack of a clear Christian char- 
 acter. " What we need," says some one, "is 
 not more men, but more man." The manifes- 
 tation of Christian character is the crying 
 need in this age and all ages. I saw two por- 
 traits in the National Art Gallery 'in London, 
 
20 Milk and Meat. 
 
 under one of which was the title " A Man," un- 
 der the other " A Woman." They were meant 
 to express the artist's ideal of manhood and 
 womanhood, and, as I gazed upon them, I 
 thought it is better to be a man than a king, 
 a true woman than a queen. 
 
 After the battle of Lutzen, in which Gustavus 
 Adolphus was slain in the hour of victory, all 
 Stockholm and the other cities of Sw r eden were 
 
 m 
 
 in mourning. The representatives gathered from 
 far and near, in order to consider what now 
 should be done. There was talk about a Ve- 
 netian Republic, and some said that Sw r eden 
 should be given to the King of Poland, who 
 was a cousin of Adolphus ; but Oxenstiern, the 
 Grand Chancellor, stood before the assembly 
 and said, " Let there be no talk of a Venetian 
 Republic, or Polish kings, for we have in our 
 midst the heir of the great Gustavus, his little 
 girl, who is six years of age." Larson, a peas- 
 ant representative, replied abruptly, " How do 
 we know, Oxenstiern, that this is not a trick 
 of yours, to cheat us out of our rights ? We 
 have never seen this heir. We do not know 
 that Gustavus has a child." "Wait a minute," 
 replied Oxenstiern, " and I will show you." 
 
The Way and Work of Life. 1 J 
 
 He soon brought into the room Christina, the 
 little six-year-old daughter of the king, and lift- 
 ing her up, placed her in the throne, where 
 only rulers of Sweden were allowed to sit. 
 Larson pressed his way up close, gazed for a 
 moment into her face, and then, turning around 
 to the assembly, said, " Brethren, I see in the 
 countenance of this child the features of the 
 great Gustavus. Look at her nose, her eyes, 
 her chin : she is the child of our king." " Yes," 
 replied Oxenstiern, " and she has the heart 
 of a soldier, for I saw her clapping her hands 
 and shouting at the booming of the cannon;" 
 and by acclamation she w r as proclaimed, girl 
 that she was, " Christina, King of Sweden." 
 The world presses very close up to us, 'scans 
 our every feature, and, if they see in our moral 
 and spiritual make-up the lineaments of the 
 character of Jesus Christ, they w T ill proclaim us 
 children of the King ; but if they fail to per- 
 ceive that we are like Him, they will deny our 
 claim and pronounce us pretenders. 
 
 The way of life is to behold the Lamb of 
 God : the work of life is to make ourselves 
 and all we have a voice proclaiming Christ to 
 others. 
 
III. 
 
 SPIRITUAL SLEEP. 
 
 11 Awake, awake ; put on thy strength, O Zion." — Is. 52 : 1. 
 
 " TlRED nature's sweet restorer, balmy 
 sleep," is essential to the health and vigor of 
 body and mind. But our moral and spiritual 
 natures need no sleep. Love, faith, hope, 
 humility need never slumber. Hence in 
 Heaven we will be able to serve God day and 
 night. The spiritual will have the supremacy. 
 The untiring will be forever active. 
 
 In the 9th verse of the previous chapter 
 
 Israel is trying to wake up Jehovah. "Awake, 
 
 awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord." 
 
 The words of our text is God's answer to that 
 
 prayer. " Awake, awake, put on thy strength, 
 
 O Zion." " Wake up yourself," says the Lord. 
 
 " I am not asleep. No attribute of mine 
 
 needs repose. I am ready, willing, waiting to 
 
 28 
 
Spiritual Sleep. 29 
 
 exert my power, whenever you fulfil the con- 
 ditions I have imposed." We have not by 
 prayer or exertion to induce God to bless us. 
 But prayer and exertion God requires for our 
 good. It would be no kindness in Him to 
 bless sleeping Christians. They would not know 
 it, if He did. Let us inquire : 
 
 I. What are the Signs of Sleep ? 
 II. What are the Causes of Sleep? 
 III. Why should we Awake? 
 
 I. The Signs of Sleep. 
 
 Inactivity. — If a man remains motionless on 
 a lounge for three or four hours, I take it 
 for granted that he is asleep. If he should 
 continue in that motionless condition for three 
 or four days, I should pronounce him dead. 
 If a Christian does nothing for Christ, he is 
 asleep. If he persists in his course of useless- 
 ness, it is a fair presumption that he is no 
 Christian at all. Life will express itself. " By 
 their fruits ye shall know them." And the 
 ability to sleep is not one of the fruits. If we 
 suspect that a friend, a long while asleep, is 
 dead, we put our ear to his side and listen for 
 
30 Milk and Meat. 
 
 the heart-beat and breathing. The movement 
 of heart and lungs indicates that life is not 
 extinct. And so we put the test to some 
 Christians who really appear to be dead. A 
 close examination shows that they have the 
 heart-beat of faith in Christ, love for his word 
 and people. They breathe prayer and praise. 
 They are simply asleep, and some of them 
 have the Rip Van Winkle power of long 
 continuance in slumber. It is a pity that 
 a close examination should ever be necessary 
 to distinguish their sleep from death. Were 
 they doing their duty, no one would have a 
 doubt on the subject. 
 
 Insensibility to Slight Impressions. — If I 
 wished to learn whether a man were asleep, 
 I would not fire a cannon over him. Awake 
 or asleep, he would be aroused by that. 
 I would whisper to him, or touch him gently. 
 The fact that you are startled by the can- 
 non boom of great crime, that you shudder 
 at the thought of theft, murder, or lying, 
 is no proof that you are awake. But how 
 are you affected by what the w r orld calls 
 little sins ? Things that are not criminal, but 
 simply worldly, doubtful, unscriptural, un- 
 
Spiritual Sleep, 3 1 
 
 Christlike ? The Christian who can indulge 
 without compunction of conscience what may 
 do harm in the way of weakening his influ- 
 ence or causing his brother to stumble is 
 asleep. The man who refuses to obey Christ, 
 just because that act of obedience does not 
 give him Heaven, is asleep. Disobedience of 
 any kind makes the wide-awake Christian 
 smart with pain. 
 
 Dreams. — Sleep produces dreams. And 
 there is a kind of dreaming that is good for 
 us. It is well to dream of doing great things 
 for God and humanity. Such castles in the 
 air have become solid structures. But the 
 dreaming which expresses itself in idle specu- 
 lations and mystical reverie is a sure sign of 
 sleep. The paradise of such dreamers is the 
 book of Revelation. They love to ride its 
 horses, fly with its eagles, and revel with the 
 spirits of its mysterious visions. To them 
 they are not mysteries. Strange things often 
 appear perfectly plain in dreams. The wide- 
 awake preacher will be practical ; while he 
 does not despise prophesying, he prefers to 
 deal in the plain rather than the mysterious. 
 He is awake to the needs of the people to 
 
32 Milk and Meat. 
 
 whom he ministers, and seeks all the time to 
 do them good. It is not uncommon for a 
 sleeping Christian to have a nightmare. He 
 gorges himself with some infidel book or 
 magazine, and no wonder he feels the weight 
 of a black mountain of doubt pressing upon 
 him. Giant Despair, with his foot upon his 
 breast, is crushing the life out of him. If you 
 fill your mental stomach with such pork and 
 cabbage, you may expect to suffer the conse- 
 quences. 
 
 Ill-di?'cctcd Effort. — People talk and walk 
 in their sleep, but it is all to no purpose. 
 Their talk is incoherent, and their walk with- 
 out aim. When pastor and people, with all 
 their preaching and activities, have no bless- 
 ing, it is because they are asleep. 
 
 II. Causes of Sleep. 
 
 Inactivity, — The sign may in turn be a 
 cause. One is not apt to go to sleep while he 
 is moving about. I know a good deacon who 
 leads a very active life during the week, but, 
 when he becomes quiet in church, he usually 
 goes to sleep in about fifteen minutes. I 
 
Spiritual Sleep. n 
 
 never knew him to fall asleep while busy on 
 the street or in his office. A Christian active 
 in winning souls will not go to sleep. His 
 very activity will keep him awake. My 
 drowsy brother, if you would not go to sleep, 
 bestir yourself. Go to work. Exercise your 
 mental, moral, and spiritual limbs. 
 
 Atmosphere. — Certain climates put people 
 to sleep. The sleepy disease of Africa has 
 been fatal to thousands. But one need not go 
 to Africa to be put to sleep by the atmos- 
 phere. An ill-ventilated room will send us to 
 dreamland in a few minutes. A change from 
 the sea-coast to the mountains or from the 
 mountains to the sea-coast, strange to say, 
 makes us drowsy. No one knows what there 
 is in such pure atmosphere that produces 
 sleep. So there are moral and social atmos- 
 pheres that seem to be very good, but Chris- 
 tians who go into them fall asleep. Prove to 
 me that the atmosphere of the theatre and 
 the ball-room and the club is as good as a 
 prayer-meeting ; that first-class people go to 
 these places ; that men and women whose 
 characters are above reproach patronize them : 
 the fact remains that these good people are, 
 
34 Milk and Meat. 
 
 as Christians, sound asleep. They are not 
 awake to winning souls, converting the 
 heathen, building up the church. They come 
 to church on Sunday like people rubbing their 
 - and trying to rouse from sleep long 
 enough to hear something that is being said 
 to them, and then fall back upon their pillows. 
 dead asleep again. The church full of such 
 excellent people would be a dormitory, and a 
 dormitory for all practical purposes is about 
 as good as a graveyard. " Awake, thou that 
 sleepest, and rise from the dead." 
 
 There is a coldness, if nothing else, in these 
 atmospheres that induces sleep. The sensation 
 of freezing to death is delightful, and causes 
 little alarm to the man who is under its magic 
 spell. Mr. Egerton Young, missionary among 
 the Indians of the far North, told me that 
 he had once the experience of freezing. He 
 heard sweetest music, while everything about 
 him was draped in the colors of the rainbow. 
 He could hardly resist the temptation to drop 
 down in the snow as into a luxurious couch, 
 and go to sleep. Startled by the thought that 
 he was freezing to death, he adopted a heroic 
 remedy. He tied the tail-rope of his sled fast 
 
Spiritua I Sleep. 3 5 
 
 around his waist and gave his dogs the word 
 to go, and off they went, dragging him through 
 the snow and bumping him against every hard 
 thing in the way, till the blood began to 
 circulate. Then the process of resuscitation 
 was as painful as freezing was delightful. He 
 felt as if a hot awl were in every nerve. To 
 you w T ho are in the first stage of freezing, 
 because you have been so long in an atmos- 
 phere 60 degrees below zero, the waking pro- 
 cess may not be pleasant. But it is better to 
 wake up and feel bad than to sleep on and 
 die to all that is good and useful. 
 
 III. Let us look now at the Reasons 
 
 WHY WE SHOULD WAKE UP. 
 
 It is Harvest Time, — Christ looked out 
 upon the fields and declared that they were 
 ripe, waiting for the sickle. To-day the fields 
 are larger, and the grain just as ripe. A day 
 in harvest is worth many days at any other 
 time of the year. The ripe grain may be lost 
 for the lack of reapers. " He that sleepeth in 
 harvest is a son that causeth shame." Shame, 
 shame on the farmer who snoozes under the 
 
36 Milk and Meat. 
 
 shade of the trees, while his ripe wheat is 
 falling and being trampled under foot. He is 
 a disgrace to the honorable profession of farm- 
 ing. Shame, shame, a thousandfold, on the 
 Christian who sleeps on and takes his rest, 
 while the fields in which he might reap many 
 golden sheaves are all around him, and the 
 grain that invites his sickle is being trampled 
 upon by the hoofs of infidelity and sin. 
 
 // is a Time of War, and the Enemy is 
 a/zcays awake. — While we sleep, the citadels of 
 truth are being taken. Our very children are 
 made captives by the enemy. We have read 
 a grim story in which Satan is said to have 
 sent some of his minions from the bottomless 
 pit for the purpose of doing all the harm they 
 could. On their return one of them reported 
 that he had overtaken a company of Christians 
 in a storm and destroyed them by sinking 
 their vessel. " You did no harm," said Satan, 
 ''for they all went straight to Heaven." An- 
 other had set fire to property and destroyed 
 much wealth that belonged to Christians. 
 " You may have done no harm," continued 
 Satan, " for their losses make them all the 
 more determined to fight against us." Finally, 
 
Spiritual Sleep. 3 7 
 
 one reported that he had succeeded in putting 
 to sleep a large number of Christians. Then 
 Satan smiled, and all the host of devils 
 shouted their approval. The legend has in 
 it the awful truth that nothing can do the 
 cause of Christ more harm than for Mis people 
 to go to sleep. 
 
 We are Watchmen, put by the Lord on the Walls 
 to give the People Warning. — Sleep is treason. 
 For the private soldier to sleep in the midst 
 of battle is bad enough, but for the sentinel 
 on whom depends the safety of the army to 
 sleep at his post is criminal. And doubly 
 criminal is it, when those we love are in danger. 
 A father walked out through his fields with 
 his little bright-eyed boy, and laid down to 
 rest in an inviting shade. He fell asleep, while 
 the child played in the grass around him. But 
 on waking he could not see the boy. He called, 
 and only echo answered. Frantic with dread, 
 he rushed to the edge of a precipice, and saw 
 on the rocks below the mangled form of his 
 darling child. Could he ever forgive himself 
 for sleeping, when he ought to have known the 
 nearness of danger ? Father, mother, that may 
 be your portrait. Are you at ease in mind, 
 
38 
 
 Milk and Meat 
 
 sound asleep, while your children are sporting 
 on the edge of the precipice of infidelity, drunk- 
 enness, or worse ? Wake up, and seek their 
 salvation. 
 
 Asleep we arc Weak. — A pigmy awake is 
 stronger than a giant asleep. The wide-awake 
 Christian is a channel through which the 
 omnipotence of God pours itself. u Awake, 
 awake, put on thy strength, O sleeping man of 
 God. 1 ' Go into the harvest field. Take part in 
 the battle that is w r agiug, ctnd, clothed in the 
 power of God Himself be invincible. 
 
 
IV. 
 
 HOW TO SAVE THE CITY. 
 
 " So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed." — , 
 Acts 19 : 20. 
 
 THE problem of the cities has interested the 
 church in all ages. Christ sent forth His dis- 
 ciples, two by two, into every city. He went 
 and preached in their cities. He began the 
 world's evangelization in a great city. The 
 cities redeemed means the world redeemed. 
 
 There are to-day many organizations for the 
 betterment of our cities. Some believe that 
 education is all that is needed, and they spend 
 their time and money in establishing schools. 
 Others think that the curse of our cities is 
 poverty, and they organize anti-poverty socie- 
 ties. And others believe that the only hope 
 of saving the cities is to begin with the chil- 
 dren ; hence all kinds of efforts for reaching 
 
 39 
 
40 Milk and Meat. 
 
 the little ones. Many others magnify environ- 
 ment, and believe that the thing to be done 
 is to improve our tenement-houses, and put 
 better surroundings about the poor. With the 
 spirit of all these institutions we are in hearty 
 sympathy, and we would not hinder one of 
 them in their work. They are doing good, 
 and are needful. Every philanthropic effort 
 that at all ameliorates the condition of the 
 poor we should support. 
 
 But in this discourse it is our purpose to 
 point out the apostolic method of evangeliz- 
 ing the cities. We find it in the 19th chapter 
 of "The Acts," and the secret of the method 
 is given in verse 20 : 4t So mightily grew the 
 word of God and prevailed." Paul's depen- 
 dence was the word of God, and it prevailed 
 by a process of growth. Growth implies life. 
 There was a living power which accompanied 
 the word. 
 
 Let us consider : 
 
 I. The Method by which it Grew ; 
 II. The Forces against which it Prevailed. 
 
How to Save the City. 41 
 
 I. The Method. 
 
 Apollos had preached at Ephesus the bap- 
 tism of John. The church there had not 
 so much as heard of the Holy Spirit. Apollos 
 was cultured and eloquent, a very magnetic 
 man, and drew these people about his person- 
 ality. We have a great many churches built 
 up in our cities upon the magnetic personalities 
 of men. People flock to hear them because 
 of their rare eloquence. Such churches are 
 influential, but powerless. They gather crowds, 
 and reach the masses without building up a 
 spiritual church. So the first thing Paul set 
 about was to get this little church at Eph- 
 esus endued with power. He laid his hands 
 upon them, and they received the Holy 
 Spirit. Just what relation the imposition of 
 hands had to the gift of the Holy Spirit I 
 hardly know. But Jesus gives us the method 
 in another place: " If ye, being evil, know how 
 to give good gifts unto your children ; how 
 much more shall your heavenly Father give the 
 Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" We 
 may have the Spirit of power for the ask- 
 ing. This was the method pursued before 
 
4^ Milk and Meat. 
 
 Pentecost. The disciples met in an upper 
 room to ask for the fulfillment of the promise 
 of the Spirit's coming. And no great revival 
 has ever come upon a city which was not 
 preceded by hours and days, perhaps weeks, 
 of prayer. Common - sense suggests this 
 course. If we wish to kindle a fire, we first 
 put on the paper, then the wood, and, after 
 these combustibles have caught, we put on the 
 coal. The church within the church who be- 
 lieve in prayer are the tinder ready to receive 
 the fire of the Holy Spirit. Revival work is 
 not an explosion, but a combustion, a confla- 
 gration. 
 
 As a result of this, the tongues of the little 
 church were untied ; they all became proph- 
 ets ; every one was a preacher of the glad tid- 
 ings. Christians need to forget the distinc- 
 tion between clergy and laity, while all seek 
 to win men to trust and love Jesus Christ. 
 
 The next step was to preach continuously 
 for three months in a building devoted to re- 
 ligious uses. Paul went into the synagogue 
 and spoke boldly, " reasoning and persuading 
 as to the things concerning the kingdom of 
 God." The synagogue held the most religious 
 
Hoiv to Save the City. 43 
 
 body that could be found. Next to the little 
 church that Apollos had gathered, those who 
 attended the synagogue were the best mate- 
 rial upon which to work. They were formal, 
 cold, lifeless ; but when the little church, full 
 of power, was brought among them, their for- 
 mality vanished, their coldness was melted, 
 and they were quickened into spiritual activity. 
 Let but a handful of earnest Christians in a 
 large church become full of the Holy Spirit, 
 and they will soon impart their fervor to the 
 rest of the membership. 
 
 The third step was to hold a protracted 
 meeting every day for over two years in a 
 purely secular building. After the dissension 
 in the synagogue, Paul took those who were 
 in sympathy with him to the lecture-room of 
 Tyrannus. Who Tyrannus was I do not 
 know ; doubtless a popular teacher of rhetoric, 
 with a large hall in the centre of Ephesus. 
 In this hall for two years Paul preached daily, 
 until all Asia heard the word of God. It 
 may be that the reputation of Tyrannus ex- 
 tended over all Asia, and the fact that Paul 
 was in this popular public place gave him an 
 opportunity of preaching the gospel to the 
 
44 Milk and Meat. 
 
 whole country. Ephesus was the commercial 
 Now York of Asia. Arteries of commerce ran 
 from this great city into every surrounding 
 province. 
 
 If we will examine the methods of re- 
 vivals, we will see that they were begun and 
 carried on in this apostolic fashion. Begin 
 with Pentecost : first, a little handful gather 
 around Christ, who teaches them for tw r o or 
 three years ; then a larger company in the 
 upper room praying and waiting; and then 
 the great crowd, of whom three thousand 
 were converted in one day. 
 
 The great revival under Whitefield and Wes- 
 ley began and was carried on after the same 
 fashion. First, a little handful of students, the 
 " Holy Club " at Oxford, then a larger num- 
 ber in a foundry of London, and then great 
 throngs at Srnithfield. So McAll's work was 
 begun and carried on in Paris. At first only 
 he and his wife on fire with the Holy Spirit, 
 then a larger number gathered about them, 
 and now one hundred secular halls in which 
 the gospel is preached every day. 
 
 So began and grew the work of the Salvation 
 Army, At first only Booth and his wife and a 
 
How to Save the City. 45 
 
 small company of sympathizers, then a larger 
 number, and now girdling the world with their 
 stations. It is beginning with the combustible 
 material and letting the fire spread. It is the 
 church getting ready by waiting upon God, 
 and then going out where the people are and 
 preaching to them the gospel with power. If 
 I wanted to burn up this city, I should not try 
 to set fire first to a safe-deposit vault, but I 
 would look for a more combustible building. 
 If we are to have a conflagration of revival 
 zeal, the fire must begin in the hearts of a 
 few. 
 
 II. The Foes. 
 
 I. The Religious People who did not believe 
 in u the Way." — The way which Paul preached 
 was " repentance toward God and faith to- 
 ward our Lord Jesus Christ/' His message 
 was the simple gospel of the grace of God. 
 He endeavored first to bring men into right 
 relation with God, believing that such was the 
 best way to bring them into right relation with 
 each other. And we are told that some in 
 the synagogue spake evil of the way. They 
 
40 Milk and Meat. 
 
 did not believe in this simple gospel method. 
 They thought there were other ways better, or 
 just as good. They might have suggested a 
 course of lectures by Tyrannus in his own 
 
 lecture-room, in which the gospel was not to 
 be prominent. Taking the people by guile 
 was, to them, the shortest way. Paul, however, 
 insisted on the way, and persisted along that 
 line. The people to-day who are the greatest 
 obstacles to a revival are the religious people 
 in our churches who really do not believe in 
 the power of the gospel. They would substi- 
 tute other good things for it. Some of them 
 talk about beginning to save a man a hundred 
 years before he is born. To them the gospel 
 which revolutionizes is effete. They have lost 
 sight of the arm that wields the " sword of the 
 Spirit." Preaching the simple gospel of recon- 
 ciliation to them is folly. They are in advance 
 of that ; they look upon it as old-fogyish, and, 
 of all the forces in the church, these religious 
 people of good character who oppose the apos- 
 tolic way of salvation are the greatest obsta- 
 cles. 
 
 2. Imitators of the Good. — There was a band 
 of Jews under Sceva, a renegade high-priest, 
 
How to Save the City. 47 
 
 who had come to Ephesus to make money by 
 pretending to cast out evil spirits. As soon as 
 they saw that the name of Jesus on the lips of 
 Paul had a magic power, they decided at once 
 to appropriate and use it, and their formula 
 was: "I adjure you by Jesus, whom Paul 
 preached." The bad mei. possessed with 
 devils, however, had no sympathy with these 
 imitators. " Jesus I know, and Paul I know, 
 but who are you?" was the reply. Imitators 
 are to-day in the way of the gospel's suc- 
 cess. Almost every religious society takes 
 to itself the name of Jesus, or something that 
 suggests Him. To them it is simply a talis- 
 manic word. They do not worship Him nor 
 believe in Him as Saviour and Master, but 
 they would put their pernicious doctrine and 
 often their practices under the cloak of His 
 popularity. They are shams, and wicked men 
 who see through shams despise them ; never- 
 theless they are great obstacles in the way 
 of saving the lost. In this great city, so- 
 cieties which call themselves churches, borrow- 
 ing the word " church " from Christ, and some 
 of them " churches of Christ," deny His divin- 
 ity, his power to save from sin, His atoning 
 
.|S Milk and Meat. 
 
 merit, and everything which makes Him the 
 real Christ that He is. They are simple imi- 
 tators of those who in heart honor the Lord. 
 
 3. Bad Literature. — These imitators were 
 very zealous in making and circulating bad 
 books, — books which described their occult 
 arts and gave them standing with the people. 
 But the power of Paul's gospel was so great 
 that the owners of these books w T ere converted, 
 and in a street of Ephesus there was a bon- 
 fire such as the small boys had not seen in a 
 long time. Twenty thousand dollars' worth of 
 these books were put in a pile and burned to 
 ashes. Such a cleansing of the literary atmos- 
 phere in our great cities is greatly needed. 
 Paul's method of doing it is the best. Not to 
 issue a law against free speech, but to be so full 
 of the Spirit and preach the gospel with such 
 power that editors and authors shall be reached 
 and converted, and made to burn up their own 
 vile publications. What a great blessing it would 
 be if more than one half of the daily papers 
 could be burned up. Their tone is immoral. 
 Some of them have the ethics of the brothel. 
 Paul was so full of the Spirit that everything 
 about him was saturated with His power. The 
 
 
How to Save Ike City. 49 
 
 very handkerchiefs that touched his person 
 carried with them virtue, and, if the preachers 
 and churches of these great cities were thus 
 charged with Almighty power, the men who 
 flood our streets with vile publications would 
 feel the influence of it. Oh for such an in- 
 filling of power ! It w r ould settle nearly all 
 the questions which agitate our city life. 
 
 4. The Opposition of those whose Business was 
 in Danger by the Success of the Gospel. — In 
 Ephesus was the great temple of Diana, and 
 there were hundreds, perhaps thousands, of 
 men who made their living by manufacturing 
 and selling little images of this popular god- 
 dess. The success of Paul's preaching turned 
 many away from purchasing these wares. The 
 result was a commotion among the craftsmen. 
 Demetrius, doubtless president of the associa- 
 tion of idol-makers, called a mass meeting, and 
 protested that this crusade against their busi- 
 ness should stop, and he made an appeal for 
 the honor of Diana. Not only their trade was 
 in danger, but the very glory of the goddess of 
 Ephesus was beginning to fade. 
 
 In our cities to-day there is a trade which 
 would be overthrown by the success of the 
 
^o Milk and Meat. 
 
 gospel. It is a trade in human homes and 
 hearts and happiness. The temple of Diana 
 in New York and Brooklyn is the liquor 
 traffic. The goddess of this country is Lib- 
 erty, and those who make their money out of 
 this traffic plead for the honor of their god- 
 dess. They claim that they have the liberty 
 to destroy their neighbors. The greatest ob- 
 stacle in the way of the success of the gospel 
 is this very traffic, and yet, sad to say, many 
 Christian men join them in the cry : " Great is 
 the goddess of Liberty, which allows men to 
 slay their fellows by wholesale. " Ye men of 
 God, take your stand on the side of humanity, 
 of purity, of home and heaven, against the 
 mob whose financial interest leads them to 
 oppose the gospel. 
 
 I close just where I began. In spite of the 
 religious people in the church who opposed the 
 way, in spite of the imitators, in spite of bad 
 literature, in spite of the opposition of those 
 whose business was in danger, Paul succeeded 
 in reaching and saving many of the Ephe- 
 sians. And in spite of all the forces arrayed 
 against us in great cities, the churches, if they 
 will, can reach and save multitudes. But in 
 
How to Save the City. 51 
 
 order to do it in any large measure, the few 
 must first be filled with the Holy Spirit. 
 The church must be filled with power from on 
 high. Her confidence in the gospel as the 
 power of God unto salvation must be un- 
 shaken. Men and women must be laid on the 
 altar in the spirit of a truly Christly sacri- 
 fice, and then shall begin the fire that will 
 spread to a conflagration. 
 
V. 
 THE GOSPEL FEAST. 
 
 "Come, for all things are now ready." — Luke 14 : 17. 
 
 The Gospel is a Feast Prepared. 
 
 We have not to make ready a single dish. 
 All that we need comes to us freely through 
 Jesus Christ. If we are guilty and plead for 
 pardon, we are forgiven upon His merit. If 
 polluted, we plead for cleansing, the blood of 
 Christ washes away every stain. Are we at 
 unrest? "He is our peace/' 
 
 Making peace with God is a losing business. 
 Peace has been already made ; and what we 
 need is to accept this peace and enter upon its 
 enjoyment. A friend of mine went into the 
 mountains of North Carolina, to spend a few 
 weeks of summer vacation, in the hope that he 
 
 might get away from the mail, the whistle of 
 
 52 
 
The Gospel Feast. 53 
 
 the engine, and everything that reminded him 
 of work. With much difficulty he climbed a 
 high mountain and descended on the other side 
 into a country covered with a dense forest. He 
 thought, to be sure, no one lived in this out-of- 
 the-way place ; but what was his surprise to 
 find in the centre of these w r oods a little cottage 
 surrounded by several acres of cultivated land. 
 On his approach the door was shut, the window 
 closed, and he saw at a glance that the inmates 
 did not intend to admit him. After much 
 pleading, however, the door was opened, and he 
 learned that two men had been living there for 
 nearly three years. They had deserted from 
 the Confederate army, and had gone to this 
 out-of-the-way place, built their cottage, cleared 
 their land, and made up their minds to keep 
 out of the reach of the conscripting officer. 
 They were delighted to learn that the war had 
 been over more than two years, and they were 
 glad to return to their homes. Now, peace 
 had been in existence tw T o years, but these 
 men did not know it, and hence did not en- 
 joy it As soon as they learned of peace, 
 they began to enter upon its enjoyment. 
 
 Soldiers, having refused to surrender after 
 
54 Milk and Meat. 
 
 peace had been declared, might have gone to 
 the Black Hills and waged a guerilla warfare 
 against the government. Such are those who, 
 having heard of the peace which Christ has 
 made, refuse to accept it, while they continue 
 their warfare of unbelief. 
 
 We have not to keep the peace. " The peace 
 of God, which passeth all understanding, shall 
 keep your minds and hearts through Christ 
 Jesus." The peace keeps us. When a country 
 is bothered with keeping the peace, it is a time 
 of turmoil and unrest, which may end in revolu- 
 tion. When a country is kept by peace — peace 
 reigning like a queen — it is a time of rest, 
 prosperity, and progress. We cannot insist too 
 strongly that the peace of God and all other 
 graces come to us as a gift through Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 The Mission of the Church is to make 
 definite God's General Invitation to 
 the Feast. 
 
 The man who made this supper sent his 
 servants to " bid them that were bidden,'* to 
 invite the invited. His invitation had gone 
 
The Gospel Feast. 55 
 
 out some time before ; and, now that the time 
 for feasting has arrived, the servants make per- 
 sonal and special this general invitation. The 
 general invitation of " whosoever will " has gone 
 out to mankind. It is our mission to seek the 
 invited and make direct and personal this invi- 
 tation of God. 
 
 A gentleman sat in my congregation one 
 afternoon, distressed about his sins, anxious for 
 salvation. He remained for the inquiry meet- 
 ing. A young convert, who had never done 
 such a thing before in her life, went to his 
 side, opened the Bible, put her finger upon a 
 promise that had given her comfort, and asked 
 him to read it. As he read, the light came 
 into his mind, the way of life was clear. He 
 accepted Christ, and rejoiced. Now that young 
 convert's mission was to make the promise 
 definite and personal ; and her mission is ours. 
 The pastor proclaims the gospel on Sunday. 
 In the nature of the case the proclamation 
 must be more or less general. Let each 
 member of the church feel that he is commis- 
 sioned in the after meeting, in the home, in 
 the personal intercourse with friends, to make 
 definite this general proclamation of peace. 
 
56 Milk and Meat. 
 
 It is difficult to make an Excuse for 
 not becoming a christian. 
 
 " They began with one consent to make ex- 
 cuse." They had no excuse in hand ; it had to 
 be made ; and after an excuse for not doing 
 right is made, it is not worth the making. 
 Nearly all excuses are lies guarded ; at the 
 heart of them is a falsehood. Their object is 
 to cover the real reason. 
 
 The reason why these men did not come to 
 the feast was that they did not want to come. 
 A man comes to you to borrow five hundred 
 dollars. The reason you do not wish to lend 
 it is that you fear he will not repay you. But 
 in giving him an excuse, lest you offend him, 
 if you are not careful, you will tell two or 
 three lies in the attempt. 
 
 Let us look a moment at the excuses of these 
 men. One had bought a piece of ground, and 
 he said, " I must needs go and see it." Now 
 that was a lie. He had bought the ground, and 
 there was no need of his going to see it. The 
 need of seeing came before buying. If he had 
 said, " I have bought the ground and I will go 
 
The Gospel Feast, 5 7 
 
 and see it," he might have told the truth. But 
 when he said " I must go," he spoke falsely. 
 In attempting to make our excuses good, we 
 are apt to overshoot the mark, and make them 
 false upon their face. 
 
 The second man said " I have bought five 
 yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them." There 
 is a lie in the word " prove." The proving 
 should have taken place before the buying, and 
 his emphasizing the fact that now he must try 
 them after he had bought them shows the 
 weakness of his excuse. 
 
 The third said " I have married a wife, and 
 therefore I cannot come." The lie of this ex- 
 cuse is in the word " therefore." He had mar- 
 ried a wife, and therefore he ought to have 
 come. It w r as a time of festivity with him, and 
 he and his bride might have come to enjoy the 
 delightful occasion. But when he gives his 
 marrying as a reason for not coming to a feast, 
 his excuse is false to the core. 
 
 But with what politeness two of these men 
 cover up their flimsy excuses ! " I pray thee, 
 have me excused." " I pray thee." It is very 
 difficult to reach men who make excuses, and 
 parry you off with politeness. You tell them 
 
58 Milk and Meat. 
 
 that it is time for them to be Christians. They 
 treat you kindly; they are courtesy itself; they 
 would not violate a law of good manners. 
 They simply refuse to come, and their very 
 gentlemanly bearing puts you at a disadvantage 
 with them. I know two or three men with 
 whom I have talked and urged them to be- 
 come Christians, and they have treated me with 
 such uniform courtesy and kindness that I have 
 felt that it would be a relief if they would get 
 rough and angry — anything to break the mo- 
 notony of courteous refusal to accept the Lord 
 we love. The last man, who has married a wife, 
 seems to think that he has a little better ex- 
 cuse than the rest, and he can afford not to 
 be polite. So he blurts out gruffly " Therefore 
 I cannot come." He does not say " I pray 
 thee, excuse me." He cares not whether you 
 excuse him or not. He is not coming ; that 
 is the end of the matter. But this gruff and 
 discourteous reply carries in it more hopeful- 
 ness than the smooth-flowing and courteous 
 response of the other men. The man who 
 flatly refuses may be led flatly to accept ; 
 while the man who is polite and gentle and 
 forbearing even in his refusal is apt to continue 
 
The Gospel Feast. 59 
 
 in that course, which he himself admires, to 
 the very last. 
 
 God accepts with Indignation a Bad 
 Excuse, and passes Men by. 
 
 Being angry, he said to His servants, " Go 
 out quickly into the streets and lanes of the 
 city and bring in hither the poor, the maimed, 
 the halt, and the blind." " Pass by these men 
 who are able to buy land and oxen and marry 
 wives, and go out for those who are too poor 
 to buy land or oxen, or too low and mean 
 for anybody to marry them. Go out into the 
 street and tell every man you meet that the 
 feast is spread, and the Master is waiting for 
 the guests." " Lord, we have done as Thou 
 hast commanded, and yet there is room." " Go 
 now into the highways, out beyond the walls 
 where the gypsies camp, and there you will 
 find some poor creatures without a roof, curled 
 up under the hedges for a night's repose ; tell 
 them that there is a place at my table even 
 for them. If they are reluctant to come, you 
 must compel them by earnest persuasion. Do 
 not take an excuse from them, for their need 
 
Go Milk and Meat. 
 
 is so great that, after your entreaty, they will 
 yield and come." 
 
 What God does we sometimes feel con- 
 strained to do. We must pass by the good, 
 moral man, and seek the outcast. We must 
 pass by those who, we think, would make the 
 best members of the church, and go with our 
 invitation to the very refuse of society. Sad 
 to say, we must sometimes pass by our very 
 children, while we go out after others, not 
 united to us by fleshly ties. Work like this 
 demands that we love people, — not classes or 
 kindred merely, — love like that of Christ, who 
 so loved the whole world that He gave Him- 
 self for it. 
 
 The great question in commerce is as to the 
 refuse. A large silk manufacturer in London 
 made little profit in his business until he in- 
 vented a machine that utilized the refuse of 
 his factory, and since then he has had an 
 annual income of over half a million dollars. 
 I have heard that the Standard Oil Company 
 now has an income of nearly two millions as 
 the result of their utilizing the refuse of the 
 refineries. Formerly it was cast out to be 
 burned or buried. It was a dirty, sticky stuff 
 
The Gospel Feast. 6 1 
 
 upon the floor, and was in the way ; but a 
 chemical process was discovered by which this 
 unsightly refuse could be transformed into 
 chewing gum, and made palatable even to the 
 taste of refined young ladies. 
 
 As with commerce, the great question of the 
 day, social, political, and religious, is concern- 
 ing the refuse of society. What shall we do 
 with the masses in our great cities, untouched 
 by the church, careless of law, despairing, hun- 
 gry, and cold? Can the gospel do anything 
 for them ? We believe that it is the sovereign 
 remedy, and, when the polite and refined 
 refuse to accept our message, let us rush by 
 them down into the highways and hedges and 
 tell those who are worse off that there is a 
 feast for them which God has prepared. And 
 out of this refuse there will come forth an 
 income to God which we cannot calculate. 
 
 The verdict went forth, " None of those men 
 which were bidden shall taste of my supper." 
 Terrible thought that God Himself may leave 
 us to our lying excuses. More terrible thought 
 that God may pass us by and give us over to 
 our own selfish ways. I have known of two 
 cases in which men seemed to have been for- 
 
o2 Milk and Meat. 
 
 saken by the Spirit of God, because they re- 
 fused to accept the invitation that was given 
 by a faithful messenger. One of them was a 
 leading lawyer, prominent in politics, among 
 the first men of his State. A friend of mine 
 pressed upon him the claims of God, and 
 urged him to come to this feast. He treated 
 my friend kindly and politely, saying, u I am 
 too busy ; I am now running for Congress ; I 
 have on my shoulders the building of a rail- 
 road. I know it is an important matter, but 
 I cannot come now." Three years afterwards 
 a messenger rushed into a minister's house, 
 asking him to come and see this lawyer. The 
 preacher saw 7 it was too late to do any good. 
 There he lay, dying of delirium tremens, curs- 
 ing God with every breath. He deliberately 
 refused to accept the invitation, w r as allowed 
 to go on in his way, and become fixed in sin- 
 ful character. 
 
 Another friend, a converted Catholic priest, 
 was preaching in a country church, when he 
 noticed a young man with a bright face sitting 
 near the front. After the sermon he went 
 down and asked him if he was a Christian. 
 " No, sir," was the reply, "but I am inter- 
 
The Gospel Feast. 63 
 
 ested." " Decide now," urged my friend, " for 
 to delay the matter is dangerous." " Not 
 now," he said, " but I will soon." The meet- 
 ing continued one week, and the young man 
 persisted in refusing to accept the invitation. 
 My friend went to another church several 
 miles distant, to hold a second meeting, and 
 was surprised to see this same young man in 
 the congregation, but in the back part of 
 the house. He went to him and urged him 
 again to decide for Christ; now he noticed 
 that he was more indifferent, that he spoke of 
 it in rather a light manner. But he came 
 every day during the week and listened atten- 
 tively. My friend went to a third church 
 several miles distant, and this young man fol- 
 lowed him to that meeting, but then he was 
 out in the yard among the scoffers, and, 
 coming into the house late, seemed to take 
 little interest in the preaching. More than a 
 year after this last meeting my friend was 
 called to see that young man die. He sat by 
 his side and tried to urge upon him even now, 
 at this late hour, to accept the invitation to 
 the feast. The young man shook his head 
 sadly and said, " It is too late, sir. Since that 
 
64 Milk and Meat, 
 
 last meeting when I heard you preach, my 
 heart has been as hard as stone. There is no 
 use in praying for me." My friend knelt at 
 his bedside and tried to pray, but he could 
 not help feeling that it was no use. The 
 young man had hardened himself in sin and 
 unbelief, until the very avenues of approach 
 to his soul seemed to have been cut off. The 
 last words he said were, " The harvest is past, 
 the summer is ended, and I am not saved." 
 
 Young man, I beg you, pass not by this 
 invitation of God so lightly. Make no excuse. 
 Accept at once, and take your place at the 
 table of salvation, where angels themselves are 
 the waiters. Cause not the Lord of mercy to 
 pass you by with anger. Give not His ser- 
 vants pain in feeling that they too must pass 
 you by, while they press on and seek to save 
 others. Accept pardon, peace, and power 
 through Christ, and begin the Christian life, 
 which is a feast and not a funeral. Its joy 
 begun on earth is a foretaste of the eternal 
 joy in heaven. 
 
VI. 
 
 THE REVIVAL WE NEED. 
 
 " My soul cleaveth unto the dust. Quicken Thou me accord- 
 ing to Thy word." — Psalm 119 : 25. 
 
 " I am afflicted very much. Quicken me, O Lord, according 
 to Thy word." — Psalm 119 : 107. 
 
 " Plead my cause, and deliver me. Quicken me according to 
 Thy word. ,, — Psalm 119 ; 154. 
 
 THESE scriptures give us three things : 
 
 I. The Definition of a True Revival. 
 II. Our Need of such a Revival. 
 III. How to Get it. 
 
 I. The True Revival Defined. 
 
 It is a quickening according to God's word ; 
 not according to some man's magnetism or 
 eccentricity. A talented evangelist may swoop 
 down upon a community, and make a stir by 
 sharp, striking sayings, draw large crowds, and 
 
 65 
 
66 Milk and Meat. 
 
 quicken a kind of interest : but such a quick- 
 ening may be according to the evangelist, not 
 according to the word of God. Now, what 
 we need is an increase of spiritual life along 
 the line of Scripture teaching. A revival 
 means a riving of more life. David had life ; 
 what he wished was life more abundantly. 
 We have love for God and men ; what we 
 need is more of the same quality ; but be sure 
 that it is love according to the word of God. 
 " This is the love of God, that we keep His 
 commandments." Obedience, not sentimental- 
 ism or unctious joy, is love. Such obedience 
 to God will be linked with unselfish ministry 
 to man. A missionary by the name of Cros- 
 sett died recently in China. He was known 
 among the Chinese as the . " Christian Buddha," 
 — the highest title of honor a Buddhist could 
 give him. He chose a life of poverty, be- 
 cause he did not have time to make money. 
 He spent his days and nights with the sick 
 and the poor and the anxious. He led many 
 of them to Christ. He thought not of himself, 
 but of others. He loved men, not because of 
 the ties of kinship or nationality, but because 
 they were men with immortal souls precious 
 
The Revival We Need. 67 
 
 in the sight of God. Such love we need in 
 abundance — a love producing a zeal that con- 
 sumes us — a love that burdens us for the sal- 
 vation of men. 
 
 Faith. — We need a quickening of faith ; faith 
 in the power of the God of Pentecost to con- 
 vict and convert three thousand in a day. Faith, 
 not in a process of culture, by which we hope 
 to train children into a state of salvation, but 
 faith in the mighty God, who can quicken a 
 dead soul into life in a moment ; faith in 
 moral and spiritual revolution rather than 
 evolution. 
 
 Conviction. — We need conviction. Looseness 
 is in the air, and we know who the prince of 
 the power of the air is. There is a charity 
 prevalent which rejoices not in the truth. We 
 need men and women who believe something 
 definite, and are willing to live and die for 
 their faith. Is there on earth to-day a John 
 Knox, willing to face Queen Mary and declare 
 to her that she is an idolatress ? Is there 
 among our young women an Anne Askew, 
 who, rather than profess what she does not 
 believe, that the real presence is in the wafer, 
 would go to the Tower and have her bones 
 
68 Milk and Meat. 
 
 crushed on the rack, and then from the stake in 
 Smithfield go up to God in a chariot of fire ? 
 Is there among our older women an Elizabeth 
 Gaunt, who, while the thumbscrews are on her 
 thumbs and fingers, tightened until the blood 
 spurts, refuses to worship saints and bow down 
 to the Host? Have we any John Philpots and 
 John Rogers left in our ministry, who are will- 
 ing to burn at the stake rather than give 
 even silent consent to soul-destroying errors ? 
 Have we not, on the other hand, a namby- 
 pamby, flabby sort of faith — a jelly-fish convic- 
 tion, without any backbone ? Is not our re- 
 ligion too much like a ball of wax — put into 
 any shape by touch with things about it ? 
 We need a revival of religion of solidity and 
 substance — a religion that resists evil and error, 
 and, with the gentleness and faithfulness of 
 Christ, is true to itself and to its Author. 
 
 Conscientiousness. — There is a great need also 
 of a revival of conscientiousness — a religion 
 not of the hot-house, which thrives under the 
 heat of song and sermon and services on 
 Sunday, but of sturdy growth, that will flourish 
 in the soil and atmosphere of everyday busi- 
 ness. Honest merchants, truthful lawyers, 
 
The Revival We Need. 69 
 
 faithful preachers, loyal citizens, devoted 
 mothers, wives, and husbands, obedient chil- 
 dren, industrious workmen, are the needs of 
 to-day and every day. A quickening of consci- 
 entiousness that gives a tender conscience and 
 makes us ready to do the right at all hazards, 
 is better than a season of froth and foam of 
 feeling or rapturous joy. The grocer who 
 went home from church and burnt his bushel, 
 because he knew that it w r as a false measure, 
 received more benefit from the sermon than if 
 he had gone home, clapped his hands, and 
 shouted hallelujah, without thinking of his dis- 
 honesty. Such a revival as that will last. It 
 will not be like the beautiful snowflower of 
 Siberia, which comes up through the snow, 
 and perishes in a few hours under the wither- 
 ing blast of evening. The flowers of faith and 
 joy which blossom one day and wither the 
 next are not of the species of the rose of 
 Sharon or the lily of the valley. 
 
 II. Our Need of such a Revival. 
 
 1. To Lift us out of the Dust and Help us 
 to Shake off all that Clings to us. — " My soul 
 
;o Milk and Meat, 
 
 cleaveth unto the dust.. Quicken Thou me ac- 
 cording to Thy word." Dust is the symbol of 
 earthiness as opposed to heavenly-mindedncss. 
 David's soul had an attraction for dust. 
 Drooping or dead things hold dust. It will 
 not stick so easily to living objects ; and the 
 cure for this dust magnetism is a larger infu- 
 sion of life. The sick eagle wallows in the 
 dust ; it has not strength of wing to rise and 
 shake it off ; but the eagle full of life soars 
 above the dust and gazes into the sun. Chris- 
 tians who are to-day wallowing in the dust 
 of worldliness need an infusion of strong 
 healthy life, that they may " mount up on 
 wings as eagles." 
 
 2. To Sustain us under Life's Burdens — " I 
 am afflicted very much ; quicken me, O Lord, 
 according to Thy word." Dust mars and 
 hinders life, but it is not heavy. There are 
 Christians not covered with dust, living conse- 
 crated lives, who have on them heavy burdens 
 of responsibility, calamity, or sorrow. Such as 
 those need quickening, that they may have 
 strength to bear their burdens. David was 
 afflicted very much, and this word " afflicted " 
 has a wider range than bodily disease. But 
 
The Revival We Need. 71 
 
 he does not pray for a lessening of the 
 burden. What he wants is more life to carry 
 what he has, and to assume larger burdens. 
 Burden-bearing develops a strong, healthy- 
 man, while it crushes the weak and sickly. 
 We need more life under these burdens, that 
 they may develop us, rather than crush us. 
 
 Responsibility, disappointment, and sorrow 
 make men despair : they give up the con- 
 flict sometimes on the very verge of victory, 
 for the lack of life to bear up. A man in 
 California had spent his little fortune seek- 
 ing gold ; every dollar was gone, and he was 
 in debt. Disheartened, demented by his de- 
 spair, he left his drill one day, went to his 
 cabin, shot his wife and child, and then killed 
 himself. His friends, who pulled up his drill, 
 found on its point the richest kind of ore. 
 If he had held out but a day longer, he 
 would have been rich ; and thus we may be on 
 the very verge of great success, and yet fail 
 for the lack of the life that bears disappoint- 
 ment. 
 
 3. To Break all Bonds that Enslave us. — 
 " Plead my cause. Deliver me. Quicken Thou 
 me according to Thy word." This reveals to us 
 
;: Milk and Meat. 
 
 a condition of bondage. " Deliver me ; set me 
 free :" and this freedom comes through a re- 
 vival — a quickening according to God's word. 
 Some of us are bound by habit ; the habit of 
 doing evil or the habit of doing nothing good. 
 It is difficult to tell which is worse — the habit 
 of doing what is wrong, or the habit of 
 neglecting what is right. Oh for the quicken- 
 ing that will deliver us from these do-nothing 
 bonds! Others are bound by the fear of men. 
 When the apostles were filled with the Spirit, 
 they spoke the word of God with boldness ; 
 they feared neither the face nor the sword of 
 their enemies. Many are bound by self- 
 interest. They are afraid to offend those out 
 of whom they make profit. They will not be 
 out-and-out Christians, lest some who read not 
 the Bible and care nothing for religion will 
 not be pleased. The social circle in which 
 they move is not an atmosphere of religion. 
 The opinions of their friends do not encour- 
 age active work for Christ. We need a quicken- 
 ing, that will give us strength, like Samson, 
 to break the cords which these Philistines of 
 the world have put upon us. 
 
The Revival We Need. 73 
 
 III. HOW TO GET SUCH A REVIVAL. 
 
 Pray for it. Every text is a prayer : 
 " Quicken Thou me according to Thy word." 
 It is a personal prayer. It is well to pray for 
 the pastor, for the church, for all Christen- 
 dom, for the world. It is better to begin by 
 praying for one's self. " Quicken me." If 
 you are quickened, somebody else will be ; 
 and if the fire begins in your soul, the flames 
 will catch the combustible material about you. 
 You need to strike the match that can burn 
 up a city. The fact is, all quickening must be 
 individual. The Lord does not quicken the 
 crowd. The tongue of flame at Pentecost sat 
 not upon the crowd, but " upon each of 
 them." A revival that comes in answer to 
 prayer is God-given, and the only kind worth 
 having. A revival gotten up is soon put 
 down. A revival produced by a series of me- 
 chanics, whether of song or invitation or 
 eccentricity, will not last. It can be de- 
 stroyed by an opposite course of mechanics. 
 It is simply a battle of force with force, with 
 which God has nothing to do. The revival 
 which we call the Reformation was born in 
 
74 Milk and Meat. 
 
 prayer. Luther's habit was to pray three 
 hours a day. The knees of Melanchthon were 
 found after his death to have been made 
 callous by kneeling. Pentecost was preceded 
 by ten days of supplication and prayer. Peter 
 and John were in the spirit of prayer on their 
 way into the Temple, when the other great re- 
 vival in which many were converted was com- 
 menced. After Christ had cast out the devil 
 from the demoniac, he said : tk Such as this 
 cometh only by prayer." Oh for Elijahs who 
 can break up the spiritual drought by praying 
 rain out of the skies! Jonathan Edwards' ser- 
 mon on the " Sinner in the Hands of an 
 Angry God " he preached many times, but 
 only on one occasion was it signally blessed. 
 He read from a manuscript, holding it up 
 awkwardly to the light ; and yet, while he 
 read, the people took hold of the pews, fearing 
 that they were sliding into hell. What was 
 the secret ? A little company of his members 
 had met the Saturday evening before, re- 
 mained together without supper, continued in 
 prayer all night, forgot their breakfast next 
 morning, as they pleaded with God for His 
 hand of power upon their pastor. 
 
The Revival We Need. 75 
 
 John Wesley carried an old man around 
 with him to pray for him. The secret of his 
 vast power was doubtless the intercession of 
 this godly man. " Father " Chiniquy was con- 
 verted on a Saturday evening, and he spent 
 the whole night in prayer and praise. No 
 wonder when he stood up before his large 
 congregation the next day, and preached on 
 Jesus Christ the gift of God, a thousand souls 
 were converted. What we need now for 
 quickening is not so much money and wisdom 
 as the spirit of supplication. Pray for your- 
 self until the new life is infused ; and when 
 that new life comes, it will lead you to pray 
 for others. Like the servant-girl in a New 
 England town who prayed all night for the 
 salvation of her mistress. That mistress, un- 
 able to sleep, convicted of her sin, not know- 
 ing the cause, urged her husband to go out 
 and get some preacher to pray for her; then, 
 reflecting that the servant-girl was a Christian 
 they went to her room, and before opening 
 the door they heard these words : " O Lord, 
 bless mistress. Have mercy on her, for she is 
 good to me/' Opening the door gently, hus- 
 band and wife knelt down by the side of their 
 
;6 Milk and Meat. 
 
 servant-girl, and asked her to pray for them. 
 We need not riches, nor honor, nor position 
 to have the car of the King. The weakest 
 may be made powerful by the quickening of 
 the Spirit. If you cannot pray, then try 
 David's petition : " Quicken Thou me, and I 
 will call upon Thy name." Pray for the grace 
 to pray; pray for the spirit of prayer; and 
 the God of all mercy and grace will show 
 forth His power. 
 
VII. 
 AN UNFORTUNATE MARRIAGE. 
 
 " The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they 
 were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.'' 
 — Gen. 6:2. 
 
 Cain's method of treating Abel represents 
 one phase of the world's treatment of the 
 church. It was open opposition, radical, cruel, 
 decisive. He simply killed him, and thought 
 thus to end him and his cause. The tactics 
 of the world, however, have changed : the de- 
 scendants of Cain no longer oppose and per- 
 secute the church. " The daughters of men " 
 accept proposals of marriage from the " sons 
 of God," and, as a result, the deluge. 
 
 The pagan world tried to kill the church 
 
 77 
 
;S Milk and Meat. 
 
 for nearly three hundred years. Its efforts only 
 multiplied her members and power. The blood 
 of the martyrs has ever been the seed of the 
 church. When, however, Constantine offered 
 to join wealth, honor, and political power to 
 the church, she accepted the offer, and what 
 the second Adam refused the second Eve 
 gladly received, and the result was a fallen 
 church. We see in this Satan's usual tactics. 
 He likes to appear as an angel of light. He 
 would help us. He offers to help Eve to 
 knowledge and power. He would help Christ 
 in supplying Him with food, and in giving Him 
 earthly glory. 
 
 In proportion as the church has resisted the 
 wiles of this charmer, she has been strong ; and 
 in proportion as she has yielded and formed 
 alliances with the world, she has been weak. 
 Israel alone with God could never be con- 
 quered, but when she formed alliances with 
 Egypt, or the Canaanites, her enemies found 
 little difficulty in making quick work of her. 
 Hezekiah was not overcome by the bold 
 threats of the messengers of Sennacherib. 
 Their insolent words drove him to God, who 
 sent His angel to strike dead his enemies; but 
 
An Unfortunate Marriage. 79 
 
 when the messengers of Merodach-Baladan 
 came with words of friendliness and flattery, 
 he opened to them his treasures, and, letting 
 them into the secret of his strength, was thus 
 the occasion of Israel's downfall. We should 
 fear the Greeks, though bearing gifts. It is 
 now time to answer two questions suggested 
 by the text : 
 
 I. What were the causes which led to this 
 union of the church with the world ? 
 
 II. What were the results of it? 
 
 I. What led to the Union? 
 
 The increase of population had something 
 to do with it. " When men began to multi- 
 ply." There are many advantages from the 
 gathering together of large numbers of people. 
 The highest type of civilization and religion 
 is reached in great cities, but here the forces 
 of evil are also strongest. Disease is conta- 
 gious, while health is not. Wild weeds left to 
 themselves flourish, while tender garden plants 
 wither and die. A prominent preacher said 
 some time ago that puritanism was forever 
 
Milk and Meat. 
 
 dead in Now York City. He might have 
 added that in many of the churches Chris- 
 tianity was as dead as puritanism, and I 
 wonder what relation the death of puritanism 
 has had to the death of Christianity. We have 
 no fancy for the style of hat and coat which 
 the Puritans wore. The follies of the i4 Blue 
 Book " we do not admire, but in the Puritan 
 character there was sturdy stuff. Theirs was 
 no invertebrate theology jelly-fish morality, or 
 india-rubber conviction. They were such men 
 as you would like for your daughter to 
 marry : as you would trust in business : as 
 make a country great A Boston orator ex- 
 claims. " I am glad that the Puritans lived, and 
 I am glad that they are dead." So am I. for 
 I believe that most of them are in heaven,, 
 and very much octtcr off than if they were in 
 Boston to-day. Happy for Boston if the de- 
 scendants of the Puritans were as good as 
 their fathers. And these men of heroic convic- 
 tion were not blue and melancholy ascetics. 
 Their pleasure was not of the variety-theatre 
 type. It was not made up of froth, but 
 flowed from beneath the throne, deep as the 
 river of God. 
 
Aii Unfortunate Marriage. 81 
 
 " They shook the depths of the desert gloom 
 With their hymns of lofty cheer ; 
 Amid the storm they sang, 
 
 And the stars heard and the sea, 
 And the sounding aisles of the dim wood rang 
 
 With the anthem of the free." 
 
 The attractiveness of the world, however, 
 was the force which brought about this union. 
 The daughters of men were fair. Added to 
 their beauty were wealth and musical cul- 
 ture. The poorer sons of the church could not 
 withstand these charms. They were drawn, 
 not by the godliness of their characters, but 
 by the goodliness of their looks. The world 
 to-day is very attractive. It knows how to 
 hide its hideous deformity behind beauties of 
 face and external accomplishments, and the 
 daughters of men still delight to throw their 
 charms over the sons of the church, and lead 
 them to make fools of themselves. Nothing 
 pleases a beautiful, worldly young woman 
 better than to make conquest of a godly, spir- 
 itual young man, and lead him at her will into 
 places and indulgences of which his conscience 
 does not approve. 
 
 Note, however, that the church made the 
 
82 Milk and Meat. 
 
 advances. The sons of God wen. courting 
 the daughters of men ; and that is often the 
 case to-day. Some churches court the world 
 more than the world courts them. Such a 
 church hopes to get something out of the 
 world by becoming worldly. 
 
 11 She welcomes the world to her festal halls 
 
 With attractions varied and new, 
 And thus easily done with frolic and fun, 
 
 She gives to the Lord His due. 
 Fair and festival, frolic untold, 
 
 Are held in the place of prayer, 
 And the maidens, bewitching as sirens of old, 
 
 With worldly graces rare, 
 Invent the very cunningest tricks, 
 
 Untrammelled by gospel or laws, 
 To beguile and amuse, and win from the world 
 
 Some help for the righteous cause." 
 
 The church thus loses her personality, 
 blends into the world, becomes a part of it. 
 Now do not misunderstand me. I believe in 
 laughter. The smile is better than the frown, 
 and I yield to none in the claim that true 
 Christianity gives the highest type of pleas- 
 ure. But we can never win the world simply 
 by courting it and laughing with it. There is 
 
An Unfortunate Marriage. 83 
 
 a shrub in Arabia called the laughing plant ; 
 ground to powder, and administered, it pro- 
 duces fits of laughter. The person under its 
 influence is unconscious of everything about 
 him, as he roars in hysterical laughter. But 
 Christianity is no laughing plant. It tells the 
 truth about sin and its punishment, and re- 
 veals to men the deformity of their own char- 
 acters ; such faithfulness should bring tears 
 rather than laughter. We may laugh when 
 there is a time to laugh, but it is poor policy 
 to seek to win the world by merely joining in 
 its frolics. 
 
 These sons of God were evidently prayerless 
 and wilful. " They took wives of all which 
 they chose." They didn't consult God about 
 it. They were led simply by their own taste. 
 Before you stand under the orange-blossoms, 
 it is well for you to get upon your knees and 
 ask God for guidance. Be charmed as you 
 will by the beautiful face, fine culture, and all 
 external graces, but there may be a serpent in 
 a basket of flowers. Back of all that beauty 
 and outward grace is there a grace of charac- 
 ter which will last after the face is withered 
 and the eye grown dim ? But above all it is 
 
84 Milk and Meat. 
 
 needful for the Christian, when tempted to 
 form alliances with the world, to get upon his 
 knees and ask God's opinion of it. Are you 
 fond of dancing? Get on your knees and ask 
 God whether or not by such alliances as that 
 amusement forms you can promote His glory. 
 If so, you may dance your feet off. I would, 
 if I were convinced that I could thus win the 
 world to Christ. Are you fond of the the- 
 atre ? Get upon your knees and ask God 
 whether an alliance with such an institution 
 will help His cause. If you are convinced 
 that it will, by all means attend, and support 
 the theatre. Do you like card - playing ? 
 Upon your knees ask God whether by an 
 alliance with that institution you can have 
 more influence for Christ with a godless world. 
 If so, spend your evenings in shuffling cards. 
 Make light of them as we will, these are sol- 
 emn questions ; for, listen ! " Ye adulterers and 
 adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship 
 of this world is enmity with God. Whosoever, 
 therefore, would be a friend of the world 
 maketh himself an enemy of God." Polyg- 
 amy we despise. Spiritual polygamy God 
 hates. It is unfaithfulness to Him, of the 
 
An Unfortunate Marriage. 85 
 
 blackest dye. Let us shun it, as we would 
 the leprosy. 
 
 II. What were the Results of this 
 Union upon the Church? 
 
 There was evidently a loss of power. The 
 world had gained the church, but the church 
 had not gained the world. The daughters of 
 men played havoc with spirituality. One god- 
 less, worldly woman, with great beauty and re- 
 finement of manners, can do more harm in a 
 church than five men. She makes the home, 
 and, when the home is against the church, the 
 pulpit has little power. Sad the day when the 
 principles and spirit which govern the home 
 cannot live in the atmosphere of the church. 
 A Brahmin said to a missionary in India : 
 "We are beginning to find you Christians out. 
 You are not as good as your Book ; if you 
 were, the world would soon be converted." 
 Worldly men despise the Christianity that apes 
 their ways and is, therefore, no better than 
 themselves, 
 
 In the town of Banbridge, County Down, 
 Ireland, in 1859, a travelling circus spread its 
 tent and was rewarded by the attendance of 
 
86 Milk and Meat. 
 
 only three persons. The astonished manager 
 inquired the reason, and found that a revival 
 of religion was in progress of such power that 
 the people took no interest in his circus. 
 That was one way of converting Banbridge. 
 Another method would have been to send a 
 committee of church people to meet the circus 
 men and inform them that they would like to 
 add a religious service to their performances. 
 The church wanted to go to the circus, but 
 could not do it conscientiously, unless there 
 was something pious about it. The agreement 
 is made, and, while the clowns stand by and 
 the riders are ready, a prayer is offered, a 
 hyrnn is sung, a short exhortation is given by 
 the principal pastor of the town, in which he 
 denounces puritanical notions and lauds the 
 jollities of the circus ring. What is the result ? 
 A conglomeration of heterogeneous worldliness 
 and religion, which disgusts men and is sicken- 
 ing to God — the sort of thing which made 
 Him say to one of the churches in Asia that 
 He would spew them out of His mouth, and 
 which made the world so bad that He had to 
 wash its filthy surface with a deluge and begin 
 anew with one family that remained true to Him. 
 
VIII. 
 THE BLESSEDNESS OF GIVING. 
 
 "It is more blessed to give than to receive. " — Acts 
 20 : 35. 
 
 Some gems, as solitaires, are most beautiful ; 
 they are so brilliant that they need no other 
 gems to set them off. This text is such a gem 
 of truth. It appears to have been omitted by 
 the four evangelists, and picked up by Paul as 
 he came along after them ; but there was 
 really no omission. The other beatitudes 
 lean upon each other : it takes them all to 
 make a whole. This one is a sort of summary 
 of all the rest : it is the life of Christ in a nut- 
 shell. It is but another way of saying, " The 
 Son of man came not to be ministered unto, 
 but to minister." 
 
 Now in what consists the blessedness of giving? 
 
 87 
 
88 Milk and Meat. 
 
 I. Giving includes Receiving. 
 
 " Give, and it shall be given unto you ; 
 pressed down, running over/' " Honor the 
 Lord with thy substance, and with the first- 
 fruits of all thine increase : so shall thy barns 
 be filled with plenty." Scripture after script- 
 ure goes to prove that the man who gives re- 
 ceives, though the man who receives, sad to 
 say, does not always give. Receiving is but a 
 province in the larger kingdom of giving. 
 Note, however, that it is giving — not trading, 
 nor paying, nor bartering. If we give with a 
 view to receiving from God, we give not at 
 all. If we give expecting nothing in return, 
 God will make an abundant return. If we 
 give expecting Him to repay, the very nature 
 of the act is changed. He does not promise 
 to give money for money, bond for bond, gold 
 for gold ; but He does promise that to those 
 who give He will make returns. 
 
 A little boy in London gave to the Lord's 
 cause one fifth of the prize he won at school. 
 Though never a millionaire, he was the most 
 abundantly blessed of all great preachers. 
 
The Blessedness of Giving. 89 
 
 That boy was Charles H. Spurgeon. God 
 returned to him a thousandfold. 
 
 II. Giving Cleanses, while Receiving 
 and Keeping Pollutes. 
 
 " Give of such things as ye have, and, be- 
 hold, all things are clean unto you " (Luke 
 11:19). The foulest things in New York are 
 not the sewers, but the money in the pockets 
 of some men who have not given a cent of it 
 to God. The fountain that throws up its 
 sparkling water into the sunlight is made 
 clean by the very process of giving. The 
 Dead Sea, with its black asphaltum, is the foul- 
 est of places. No fish live in its waters ; 
 no fowl swim upon its bosom ; and the 
 secret of its foulness is that it takes the 
 Jordan in at one side and gives off nothing. 
 \ The Sea of Galilee would be as foul as the 
 Dead Sea, if it gave not off the Jordan that 
 it receives. The man that only takes blessing 
 from God is a Dead Sea; the man that re- 
 ceives from God and gives back of what he 
 receives is a Galilee full of life and beauty. I 
 
90 Milk and Meat. 
 
 have heard of a Christian woman who, while 
 poor, gave liberally to several good causes, 
 but, after she had inherited a fortune, she 
 ceased to give anything. One of the deacons 
 waited upon her and asked her the reason. 
 She frankly replied that, while she was poor, 
 she did not know the value of money, but, 
 after she became rich, she saw that one dollar 
 would make another, and it dried up the fountain 
 of her benevolence. Receiving made her nar- 
 row and stingy. 
 
 On the diary of a good woman in New 
 York, who received five thousand dollars from 
 a friend, were written the words : " Quick, 
 quick, before my heart grows hard." She had 
 been in the habit of giving a certain portion 
 of all her earnings to the Lord, and, when 
 she found that she had five thousand dollars 
 on hand, the temptation was strong not to 
 give the same proportion, but to keep it for 
 her own use. She felt the polluting process 
 begin, and hastened to counteract it by 
 promptly giving. I knew a man worth fifty 
 thousand dollars whose wife had to give him 
 ten cents every Sunday, to induce him to go 
 to church with her. He explained it by say- 
 
The Blessedness of Giving, 9 1 
 
 ing, " I have fallen into such a habit of mak- 
 ing money that I can do nothing, unless I see 
 some money in it." Now that man was very 
 little — smaller than ten cents, smaller even than 
 the infinitesimal part of a cent. Ostervalde, 
 a banker of Paris, while on his dying bed, 
 refused to order beef for his broth, because he 
 could not think what disposition could be 
 made of the beef after he had drunk the broth. 
 Receiving had contracted the nature of these 
 misers, until there was scarcely anything of 
 the man left. 
 
 III. Giving develops all other Graces. 
 
 It is a grace. " As ye abound in everything, 
 in faith and utterance and knowledge, and in 
 all diligence, and in your love to us, see that 
 ye abound in this grace also." The growth of 
 any grace will develop other graces, just as the 
 growth of any sin will develop all other sins. 
 Giving fosters and increases love. We love 
 those for whom we make sacrifices. The 
 mother loves most tenderly the child for whom 
 she gives the most sleepless nights. I may 
 not understand why God first loved sinners ; 
 
02 Milk and Meat. 
 
 but, after I have seen Christ on the cross, 
 learned something of how much God has sac- 
 rificed for sinners, I understand why He loves 
 them now. If you would attach a man to 
 you, do him a kindness ; if you would bind 
 him to you with hooks of steel, get him to 
 do you a kindness. A pastor in Wilmington, 
 X. C, threw a stray dog a bone. The dog 
 returned the next day, and he fed him again. 
 After a few days he began to feel a sort of 
 attachment for the wandering animal, and the 
 more he did for it, the more he liked it. Doing 
 a kindness even to a dog will attach us to it. 
 Giving makes us more cheerful, while receiving 
 may make a man morose and melancholy. 
 Some of the gloomiest, saddest, most forlorn 
 men I ever saw are those who simply know 
 how to hold the strings of their pocket-books, 
 and keep all they have. A Hindoo Christian 
 who was employed by a missionary was noted 
 for his grumbling about hard times. One day 
 when the missionary paid the grumbler his 
 ten rupees, he handed back one of them 
 as a gift to the mission. The next week the 
 missionary noticed that his worker was more 
 cheerful, that he did not grumble about 
 
The Blessedness of Giving. 93 
 
 hard times ; and asked him what had caused 
 this sudden change to come over him. " Well," 
 said he, " I never knew what it was to be 
 grateful to God for what He gave me, until 
 I began to give something, and that makes 
 me happy." Mr. Hamlin, a missionary to 
 Constantinople, declares that paupers can be 
 made industrious if you will only compel them 
 to give something of what they beg to others 
 worse off than themselves. 
 
 The practical question is : How can we 
 make giving most blessed ? By simply giving 
 as God has directed in His Word. Give regu- 
 larly, give systematically, give weekly. " Let 
 every one of you on the first day of the 
 week lay by him in store." This is the only 
 command we have in the New Testament for 
 the observance of any duties on the Lord's 
 Day. It is fatal to the development of the 
 best Christian character, when a man makes 
 up his mind to wait till he can do something 
 great before he will give at all. Such a man 
 may make a reputation for stinginess and 
 meanness that will ruin his influence. Mr. 
 Guyot, a rich Frenchman in Marseilles, by 
 great energy amassed a large fortune. He 
 
04 Milk and Meat. 
 
 refused to give to any object while he was 
 making his money, so that he was regarded as 
 mean, and, when he appeared in public, he was 
 hooted by the populace ; but in Mr. Guyot's 
 will was this sentence : " I have noticed the 
 hardships of the poor in not being able to 
 get fresh water except at great cost, and I 
 have labored hard through my life to accumu- 
 late money, that I might put water within 
 reach of all." Then he goes on to say 
 that he wishes his fortune to be devoted to 
 the building of an aqueduct for the benefit 
 of the poor. Mr. Guyot's praises are now 
 sung by the people of Marseilles, but it does 
 not atone for a lifetime of bad reputation on 
 account of his niggardliness, 
 
 IV. Giving fills Time and Eternity with 
 Joyful Surprises. 
 
 I gave one dollar in the first collection ever 
 taken for a Baptist church in the city of 
 Rome, and, when I read of the converts under 
 the labors of our missionaries there now, I 
 feel that I have a part in it. It is bearing 
 interest every month. Those who gave their 
 
The Blessedness of Giving. 95 
 
 money to the support of the Telugu mission 
 thought for twenty years that there was no 
 return, but the interest came pouring in with 
 ten thousand converts in one year. Dorcas is 
 doubtless being surprised in heaven every day. 
 She is still gathering the fruits of the sewing 
 society that she organized for the poor. That 
 widow who put in the two mites rejoices with 
 Dorcas in the returns that are still coming in. 
 It will take time and eternity to exhaust the 
 influence of their self-sacrificing acts. 
 
IX. 
 
 COMFORT FOR THE WEAK. 
 
 "And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: 
 for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly 
 therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power 
 of Christ may rest upon me. 
 
 "On which account I take pleasure in infirmities, in re- 
 proaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for 
 Christ's sake : for when I am weak, then am I strong." — 
 2 Cor. 12 : 9, 10. 
 
 When a Roman emperor returned from con- 
 quest and was given a triumphant entrance 
 into the Eternal City, it was customary to put 
 a slave in the chariot with him, whose duty 
 it was to remind him now and then that he, 
 too, was human. As he looked upon the 
 trophies of victory and listened to the huzzahs 
 of the people, he must not forget that he was 
 
 made of common stuff. Such was something 
 
 96 
 
Comfort for the Weak. 97 
 
 like the experience of the apostle Paul. He 
 won many a victory, and was worthy of many 
 a triumphal procession. In the midst of it 
 all he was in danger of being exalted above 
 measure. So God put with him in the chariot 
 of life what he calls a " thorn in the flesh," a 
 messenger of Satan to buffet him, and thus 
 remind him that he was weak and human. 
 
 The word translated " thorn " may be more 
 accurately rendered " stake," which was the 
 kind of instrument on which prisoners were 
 impaled when thrown from a precipice or 
 crucified. It does not mean a splinter under 
 the finger-nail, but an experience like being 
 impaled upon a stake — unutterable anguish of 
 body or mind. 
 
 Just what this thorn in the flesh was, I am 
 not certain. After having investigated it as 
 thoroughly as possible, I feel a little like the 
 old country preacher who made a sermon on 
 the subject with seven divisions, each one of 
 which was the opinion of a different com- 
 mentator, and closed his sermon with a rous- 
 ing exhortation in which he insisted that 
 nobody knew what it meant. It is probable, 
 however, that it was a physical weakness 
 
oS Milk and Meat. 
 
 which caused Paul intense pain — perhaps sore- 
 ness of eves, the result of the blinding on the 
 way to Damascus. Whatever it was, he was 
 very anxious to get rid of it, and prayed to 
 the Lord three times that He would remove it. 
 The text is God's answer, in which we have : 
 
 I. A Comforting Fact. 
 
 II. A Comforting Promise. 
 
 III. A Comforting Conclusion. 
 
 IV. A Comforting Privilege. 
 
 I. A Comforting Fact. 
 
 Every fact to the eye of faith may be com- 
 forting, because " all things work together for 
 good to them that love God." But the most 
 comforting fact of which I know is in the 
 words : " My strength is made perfect in weak- 
 ness." A mother's strength is made perfect in 
 weakness. Should the house be on fire, she 
 could carry out three or four children, where- 
 as, in a quiet time, it w r ould give her pain to 
 lift one. The strength of the United States 
 might be brought out by a war with Russia, 
 but her strength is made more perfect by the 
 
Comfort for the Weak. 99 
 
 weakness of Russia's starving millions. It is 
 better to show our strength by helping the 
 weak than by shaking our fists at little govern- 
 ments like Chili. 
 
 A student in the Union Theological Semi- 
 nary, New York, tells of a sick young man 
 who was brought from the hospital to one of 
 the rooms in the seminary, that he might be 
 nursed by some friends among the students. 
 No professor in that seminary did as much 
 good for two or three months as this invalid 
 young man. His weakness called out the 
 strength of the students, who were glad to 
 sit up with him all through the night and min- 
 ister to him ; and, as they saw his sweet, sub- 
 missive, and joyful Christian character, they 
 were developed in grace. We cannot estab- . 
 lish a professorship of sympathy in our semi- 
 naries, but, if such a thing were possible, it 
 would go further than anything else toward 
 making perfect the strength of the rising min- 
 istry. Comforting beyond measure is the 
 thought that God's strength is manifested in 
 proportion to my weakness. 
 
i oo Milk and Meat. 
 
 II. A Comforting Promise. 
 
 Paul desired a display of power which 
 should put him beyond the need of grace. 
 God restrained His power, that He might make 
 His grace flow forth. We often pray God to 
 use His power, when what we most need is 
 His grace; and, when He refuses to display 
 His power, we may always claim the promise : 
 " My grace is sufficient for thee." 
 
 Only sufficient, not superfluous. Yesterday 
 I sat by the side of a young lady whom the 
 doctor had given up to die. She was almost 
 ashamed to meet God, but with a smile declared 
 that she was willing to go, if it was His will. 
 "A year ago, however." she said,, "I could not 
 have said that." My reply was, " It was not 
 needful a year ago that you should say it. 
 God's grace is sufficient. He gave you grace 
 then for what you needed : He will give you 
 grace now in the more trying hour." May God 
 heal her, if it be His will ; but, whether she is 
 healed or not, she has grace sufficient, and 
 that is better than healing without the grace. 
 It is better to be in need and have God sup- 
 
Comfort for the Weak, 101 
 
 ply the need, than to be without need and 
 without His supply. Robert Hall preached 
 better because he knew what physical suffering 
 meant. Richard Baxter wrote better because 
 of his bodily infirmity. Spurgeon did the best 
 work of his life while an invalid. The suffi- 
 ciency of His grace appears clear, when we 
 think that it comes to us through Jesus Christ. 
 " He was touched with the feeling of our 
 infirmities. Himself took our infirmities and 
 bore our sicknesses/' Christ knew what it was 
 to be weary, weak, and sick. He put Himself 
 in man's condition, that we might know how 
 He could sympathize with us. 
 
 The Grand Duke Sergius, the Governor of 
 Moscow, suspected that the bakers were cheat- 
 ing the poor starving people. He ordered the 
 police to make an investigation, and they re- 
 ported in favor of the bakers. Suspecting that 
 something was wrong, the Grand Duke put 
 on the garb of a peasant, went among them, 
 lived as they lived for a while, and learned 
 for himself the suffering of his poor people. 
 How close it brought the Grand Duke to the 
 starving peasantry, when they learned that, in 
 order to ascertain their wants, he had become 
 
ioj Milk and Meat. 
 
 as one of them ! and how close it should bring 
 us to Jesus when we reflect that, in order to 
 make plain the sufficiency of His grace, He 
 took upon Himself our very weakness, and 
 put Himself in the place of need ! For pros- 
 perity and adversity, for sickness and health, 
 for riches and poverty, for failure and success, 
 the promise is always good, 4i My grace is 
 sufficient for thee." 
 
 III. A Comforting Conclusion. 
 
 All conclusions drawn by faith are comfort- 
 ing. Reason is a servant, not a master. It is 
 the most abject slave in the world. It does 
 the bidding of ignorance, cf sin, of virtue, of 
 vice, of knowledge, of faith, or of unbelief. It 
 has little or no moral sense. It works for 
 those who assert their mastery over it. I am 
 sick. Unbelief says, " Therefore God does not 
 treat me kindly ; life is a failure." Faith says, 
 " God has in this sickness a message of love 
 for me. He may be laying me aside for re- 
 pairs ; He is making a need that He delights to 
 supply." I have lost by death my dearest 
 friend. Unbelief says, " Therefore God made 
 
Comfort for the Weak. 103 
 
 a mistake/' Faith says, " Heaven is now more 
 attractive : I have a treasure there. My friend 
 has been saved from the evil to come. Out of 
 this death may come more good than out of 
 life." Calamity sweeps away my property. Un- 
 belief says, " Therefore God has forsaken me." 
 Faith says, " God is trying me in the furnace. 
 He wants to get rid of the dross, and make the 
 gold in me pure." Paul draws the conclusion 
 of faith : " Most gladly therefore will I rather 
 glory in my infirmities, that the power of 
 Christ may rest upon me." 
 
 The word " rest " means to abide, as a tent 
 or a house, a protection upon me. T*he polar 
 bear is in some respects stronger than man. 
 He carries his house about with him. He does 
 not need a covering : the cutting wind and 
 freezing cold do not affect him. He can lie 
 down on a snowbank, with the thermometer 
 below zero, and sleep soundly. But I would 
 rather be a man needing a house and clothing 
 than the polar bear independent of surround 
 ings. I glory in the weakness which calls for 
 protection. 
 
 A man in Cuba was brought out to be shot, 
 and, just as the soldiers were getting ready to 
 
104 Milk and Meat. 
 
 fire, an American standing by took the Stars 
 and Stripes and covered the prisoner with them, 
 saying, " Fire if you dare ! To shoot this man 
 is to fire upon the United States Government." 
 His life was saved. The power of the United 
 States rested upon him, and I think if I had 
 been in his place I should have worn that flag 
 on the streets and slept in it at night. So the 
 power of Christ rests upon us. That prisoner 
 could have declared himself independent of the 
 United States, and met the soldiers in his own 
 strength ; but foolish would he have been to 
 do so. He let his weakness bring forth the 
 strength of this Government. What we need 
 is thus to link our weakness with the power 
 of Christ. 
 
 Two kinds of forces are not apt to work well 
 together. Not many years ago the horse was 
 the motive-power in this country. Steam soon 
 displaced it, and now it seems that electricity 
 may displace steam. It is difficult to harness 
 the horse and steam together. How would it 
 do to hitch six horses to a steam-engine on the 
 way to Chicago ? They would be an obstacle 
 on the track. Yet much of our time is 
 spent in trying to hitch our little strength to 
 
Comfort for the Weak. 105 
 
 the omnipotence of God. Instead of using 
 what we have in supplying the engine with coal 
 and water, submitting to the conditions that 
 make speed and power, we want to put our 
 strength in the front, and thus we become 
 more of a hindrance than a help. 
 
 An electric car stopped in Boston some time 
 ago, and one of the passengers asked, " What 
 is the matter?" "Oh!" said the conductor, 
 "nothing but dirt on the track," The dirt 
 broke the current of power. Our strength is 
 often but dirt on the track, hindering the 
 work of God. What we need above all things 
 is to realize that we are weak, and that God's 
 strength waits to be made perfect in our weak- 
 ness, for He prefers faith in Him to any sort of 
 reliance upon ourselves. 
 
 Therefore we may gladly glory in infirmities. 
 It is natural for some people, however, to look 
 for things about which they may complain. 
 They are like little Tommy, who was crying as 
 if his heart would break, when he suddenly 
 looked up to his mother through his tears, say- 
 ing, " Mamma, what was I crying about ?" 
 " I think, Tommy," she replied, " it was be- 
 cause I would not let you have the bronze 
 
lo6 Milk and Meat. 
 
 statue on the mantel-piece." " Xo, that was 
 not it," continued Tommy, still crying: "it 
 was because you would not let me go out in 
 the cold ; but I am going to cry some more 
 about that statue," and he promptly raised his 
 boo-hoo. Tommy was looking for something to 
 cry about. He was not anxious to be happy, 
 but miserable. He wanted to draw a con- 
 clusion of pain rather than joy, and, if we 
 have that desire, of course we may be grati- 
 fied. 
 
 I am glad that I have not microscopic eyes. 
 My eyes are just good enough to see the light, 
 without seeing the motes in it ; the flowers, 
 without beholding the worms ; the food and 
 water, without seeing the millions of animal- 
 culae that squirm in them. May we have eyes of 
 faith to see the good, and to draw from all the 
 facts of life, and the promises of the Word, 
 conclusions that comfort our souls ! 
 
 IV. A Comforting Privilege. 
 
 " On which account I take pleasure in in- 
 firmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in perse- 
 cutions, in distresses for Christ's sake." There 
 
Comfort for the Weak. 107 
 
 was a time when Paul did not take pleasure 
 in infirmities. He tells us that he was anx- 
 ious to get rid of the infirmity that clouded 
 his life. But when he saw that God supplied 
 the grace, he began to love the supply better 
 than freedom from infirmity. He saw that it 
 was better to have darkness with stars 
 brought out by it, than all sunshine and no 
 stars ; that the cold winds of winter are as 
 necessary for the world's development as the 
 cheerful warmth of spring and summer ; that 
 the mantle of snow is as good for earth as its 
 mantle of grass and flowers. But for the 
 snow mantle, the mantle of flowers might not 
 be. When a man learns that God's strength 
 is perfected through his infirmity, necessities, 
 persecutions, and distresses, he will by and by 
 begin to welcome them as an angel sent 
 from heaven to minister to him. 
 
 Necessity makes most men. If it is neces- 
 sary that you should go from the fifty-thou- 
 sand-dollar house on the splendid street to 
 the five-thousand-dollar one on the humble 
 street, rejoice in the necessity. God has in 
 that necessity some purpose of love, deeper 
 and better than if it had never existed. 
 
10S Milk and Meat. 
 
 A French shoemaker was taken prisoner by 
 a Turkish Sultan, and the Sultan, desiring 
 his new palace frescoed, ordered the shoe- 
 maker into his presence, and commanded 
 him to do the work, because, as he said, all 
 Frenchmen were artists. The shoemaker, 
 however, was artist only with his awl and wax- 
 4 end, in fitting leather to feet, and so remon- 
 strated with the Sultan and begged to be 
 excused. But the Sultan said : " Frenchmen 
 are liars as well as artists, and, unless you do 
 the work, I will cut your head off." Thus 
 ended the interview. The shoemaker, seeing 
 the necessity of painting or dying, decided to 
 learn to paint, and with w r hat help he could 
 gather, toiling night and day, he soon com- 
 pleted the work to the satisfaction of the 
 Sultan, who praised him for his skill and 
 gave him his liberty. This necessity turned 
 the shoemaker into an artist, and but for 
 such a necessity he would have died with his 
 awl in hand. The necessities of life make 
 merchants, physicians, statesmen, preachers, 
 mechanics ; indeed, are the moulding forces, 
 transmuting men and women into their bet- 
 ter selves. 
 
Comfort f vr the Weak, 109 
 
 The things we do not want are often the 
 things we need. What we shrink from, as a 
 child from medicine, may be for our healing. 
 
 Here's a story for the children, illustrating 
 this fact. A little girl was sent to a neigh- 
 bor's house in a mountain district, to bring 
 home two geese which had been purchased. 
 She had to drive them through a dark wood 
 in the evening twilight. She did not fear the 
 shadows, but beyond the forest was a house 
 with a fierce dog in the yard. This dog she 
 feared, and as she approached the house her 
 little heart was throbbing in her throat. Sud- 
 denly she heard a rattling in the leaves, and a 
 wild-cat sprang out upon one of the geese. 
 Not realizing her danger, she rushed to the 
 help of her charge, and the wild-cat leaving 
 the goose, attacked her, and was tearing her 
 clothes and flesh, when out from the gate the 
 fierce dog bounded, rushed upon the scene, 
 and seizing the wild-cat with his sharp teeth 
 soon made an end of him. The dog the little 
 girl dreaded was just what she needed. She 
 thought little of the dangers of the woods ; 
 the danger that she feared was really her 
 safety. And as we pass through life, amid 
 
i io Milk and Meat. 
 
 the shadows that gather about us, we dread 
 the dogs of adversity, of great distress, more 
 than we do the little wild-cats of selfishness 
 and sin that waylay us. But our need is 
 sometimes that these very dogs with sharp 
 teeth should have access to us, and they 
 will destroy the things that would destroy 
 us. God knows it, and He turns them loose 
 upon us. 
 
 Believe me, Christian, the weights of life 
 may be its wings ; the sorrows, its joys ; the 
 adversity, its true prosperity ; the darkness, 
 its most radiant light. The burdens upon us 
 may be the lever that lifts us up. Take cour- 
 age, then, under any burden. 
 
 " The camel at the close of day 
 
 Kneels down upon the sandy plain 
 To have his burden lifted off, 
 And rest again. 
 
 " My soul, thou too shouldst to thy knees 
 When twilight draweth to a close, 
 And let thy Master lift the load, 
 And grant repose. 
 
 " The camel kneels at break of day 
 To have his guide replace his load, 
 Then rises up anew to take 
 The desert road. 
 
Comfort for the Weak. 1 1 I 
 
 So thou shouldst kneel at morning's dawn, 
 That God may give thee daily care, 
 
 Assured that He no load too great 
 Will make thee bear. ,, 
 
STIRRING THE XEST. 
 
 " As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her 
 spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth 
 them on her wings ; so the Lord alone did lead him.'' — 
 DEUT. 52 : 11, 12. 
 
 To understand this text, we must study the 
 context. The preceding verse gives us a de- 
 scription of the wilderness-wandering state. 
 
 It is the state of Jacob before he becomes 
 Israel — Jacob the intriguer, rather than Israel, 
 the prince of God. But Jacob is as much in 
 God's care as Israel, and belongs to Him as 
 thoroughly. Jacob is protected : God " com- 
 passes him about " and keeps him as the 
 "apple of His eye." 
 
 In the verse following our text we have a 
 
 description of the Canaan state. There is 
 
 plenty and stability, with conflict, to be sure ; 
 
 but the land is marked off, the boundaries are 
 
 112 
 
Stirring the Nest. 1 1 3 
 
 defined, and the people are fixed in their pur- 
 pose. 
 
 God's purpose is to lead us out of the un- 
 stable, wandering experience to one of more 
 fixedness and definiteness of hope and aim ; 
 and the method by which He leads us is com- 
 pared to the eagle stirring her nest, flutter- 
 ing over her young, spreading abroad her 
 wings, taking them and carrying them on her 
 wings. 
 
 I. God leads us into Higher Experiences 
 
 BY MAKING US UNCOMFORTABLE. 
 
 "As an eagle stirreth up her nest/' Men 
 are not apt to seek wealth until they become 
 dissatisfied with poverty. We will not seek 
 knowledge until we are dissatisfied with igno- 
 rance ; and we are not apt to seek larger at- 
 tainments in religion unless we are dissatisfied 
 with our present condition. God takes away 
 from us gold, that He may lead us to seek 
 grace ; He takes away our bonds, that He may 
 supply us with His bounty; He takes our 
 lands, that He may give us larger liberty. 
 Many a prosperous business man has been 
 
i 14 Milk and Meat. 
 
 brought to God by having his financial nest 
 stirred; by being made to realize that the com- 
 forts which money can bring will not sustain 
 one when money departs, and that there is in 
 his soul a deeper depth than any that money 
 can fill. 
 
 He may stir our social nest. Surrounded by 
 pleasant companions, we are not so anxious 
 for the companionship of God. We stay at 
 home for the social party on prayer-meeting 
 evening — we have such delightful, congenial 
 company that the absence of God is scarcely 
 missed. In love to us, God may compel us to 
 move out of these surroundings, or, by a 
 change of fortune, let the surroundings move 
 off from us ; and when we begin to feel lonely 
 we will seek the best of company in commun- 
 ion with Him. 
 
 On a tablet in a church of Algiers is the 
 name of " Devereux Spratt, 1641." The trav- 
 eller naturally inquires what that means, and 
 he is told that Devereux Spratt, an English- 
 man, was captured with one hundred and twenty 
 others in 1641 by the Algerian pirates. He 
 was put to work with his fellow - slaves on 
 the fortifications around Algiers. Cut off from 
 
Stirring the Nest. 1 i 5 
 
 congenial company, he looked to God for sym- 
 pathy and strength, and God's grace proved, 
 as always, sufficient. 
 
 Finding his fellow-captives full of despair, 
 he began to cheer them with words of faith 
 and hope ; and soon he had gathered about 
 him, through his faithful testimony, a little 
 band of praying and worshipping Christians. 
 Through the influence of his brother in Eng- 
 land, after several years, Devereux Spratt was 
 ransomed, and the order for his release was 
 brought to the fortifications. 
 
 His fellow-captives rejoiced with tears at his 
 good fortune, but expressed regret that their 
 leader was to leave them. Devereux Spratt, 
 however, refused to accept the ransom, and 
 remained until he died, a slave among slaves, 
 that he might continue to comfort those whom 
 God had brought to Christ through him. 
 What self-sacrifice ! What heroism ! And yet 
 such a character was not made in the draw- 
 ing-rooms of London. 
 
 Before his capture Devereux Spratt was an 
 indifferent Christian. It took the stirring of 
 his social nest, the removing of his pleasant 
 surroundings, the driving him to the heart of 
 
i id Milk and Meat. 
 
 God. to make out of him the hero that he 
 was. 
 
 An English rector tells of two women who 
 were daughters of a nobleman. One of them 
 married a very wealthy man, and gave herself 
 up to the pleasures of society. She had all 
 that money and position could give. The 
 other married a poor man, and through his 
 loss of health was driven to work for his 
 support. The rector, who knew the sisters in 
 their childhood, paid them a friendly visit. 
 He found the woman of wealth and fashion 
 sad, melancholy, irritable, complaining, and un- 
 happy, tired of life. He found the poor sis- 
 ter at her wash-tub, cheerful, hopeful, trustful, 
 grateful, and joyful. She spoke with a smile 
 of the goodness of God in giving her health, 
 that she might support her husband and two 
 children. 
 
 Why the difference in the character of 
 these two women ? 'Tis plain enough that the 
 discomforts of the one had made her comfort- 
 able, while the comforts of the other had made 
 her uncomfortable. 
 
Stirring the Nest. 1 1 7 
 
 II. That He may lead us on to this 
 Higher Experience, God reveals to 
 us His Tenderness and Power in the 
 Midst of these Discomforts. 
 
 The eagle not only stirs up her nest, giving 
 the eaglets discomfort ; but she flutters over 
 them and " spreadeth abroad her wings." 
 Here is the manifestation of maternal tender- 
 ness and strength. In the very act of stirring 
 up the nest for their discomfort, she flutters 
 over them for their comfort, and spreads 
 abroad her wings, to show them that she has 
 strength to bear them up. 
 
 Happy is that man who amid the discom- 
 forts of life, whether they be financial, social, 
 domestic, or physical, gets clearer views of 
 God's tender love and great strength, so that 
 he may be led to cast himself entirely upon 
 Him for support. 
 
 Mrs. Varcroe met on a street in Melbourne 
 three ragged boys. " Where do you live, 
 boys?" she asked. " Nowhere," replied the 
 roughest-looking one. " Where do you sleep 
 at night ?" " Anywhere," was the reply. 
 
i iS Milk and Meat 
 
 "Would you like to be my boys?" she con- 
 tinued. " The house of refuge," whispered 
 one to the other, as he got a little further 
 from her. " No, boys," she said kindly, " I 
 don't want to put you in the house of refuge, 
 but I thought maybe you would like to let me 
 be a mother to you. When you get in that 
 notion, come around to my house." And she 
 gave her address. The next day about noon 
 two boys with very ragged, dirty clothes and 
 very clean faces rang the door-bell, and came 
 in to say that they had decided to be her 
 boys. Thus began the Australian Child Mis- 
 sion, which has done such a mighty work for 
 God. Those ragged urchins in their discom- 
 forts were impressed with the tenderness and 
 the ability of Mrs. Varcroe to help them, and, 
 prompted by their very discomforts and the 
 revelation of this tenderness, they cast them- 
 selves upon her strength. 
 
 And so every one, however weak, who will 
 cast himself upon the strength of God, will 
 be borne up amid uncomfortable surroundings 
 into a higher comfort of soul experience. 
 
 God beareth us on His wings. We read in 
 another scripture ; " We shall mount up on 
 
Stirring the Nest, 1 1 9 
 
 wings as eagles/' But when we try to fly on 
 wings of hope and love, we find that we have 
 the bodies of eagles with the wings of spar- 
 rows. We are like penguins on the rock, 
 heavy in flesh and no wings to speak of. 
 But link that scripture with our text, and 
 then we can fly sure enough, for we mount up 
 on the wings of God. 
 
XI. 
 PERENNIAL EASTER. 
 
 "And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear 
 and great joy ; and did run to bring His disciples word." — 
 Matthew 28 : 3. 
 
 To observe Easter or not to observe it ? 
 that is the question with many earnest Chris- 
 tians. According to the New Testament, it is 
 a matter of personal liberty. If you command 
 me to observe it, I will not ; for you have no 
 authority to command it. You are then like 
 the Galatians of whom Paul wrote: "Ye ob- 
 serve days, and months, and times, and years. 
 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed labor 
 upon you in vain." If you say, " Thou shalt not 
 observe it," then I will do it ; for you have 
 no right to forbid it. If you forbid it, you 
 have violated the principle laid down by Paul 
 
 when he said : " One man esteemeth one day 
 
 120 
 
Perennial Easter. 1 2 1 
 
 above another ; another esteemeth every day 
 alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in 
 his own mind. He that regardeth the day re- 
 gardeth it unto the Lord, and he that re- 
 gardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not 
 regard it." I enjoy the observance of Christ- 
 mas. It was the brightest day in the calendar 
 during my youth ; but, if you command me to 
 observe it, I will not. The fact that our rit- 
 ualistic brethren have little else than flowers 
 and music on Easter, has caused many to 
 swing back to the other extreme, and declare 
 that no notice should be taken of the day. 
 One has as much right to his opinion as the 
 other, only let not either put himself up as 
 authority. 
 
 I would urge ritualistic Christians to observe 
 Lent all the year. It is really a happy time 
 with them. They are relieved from the bur- 
 ' dens of society life. Temperate living is good 
 for all days. The projection of Lent and 
 Easter into every day would make a rounded 
 Christian life ; self-denial married to joy. And 
 in the ordinances of the church we see that 
 Jesus intended to project these principles into 
 all the future. The Lord's Supper gives us 
 
i 22 Milk and Meat. 
 
 the idea of self-sacrifice for others ; baptism 
 gives us the joyful resurrection idea. Put 
 these two together, and make them a part of 
 your every-day life. 
 
 It is my purpose to analyze the joy of the 
 first Easter, and see if we cannot have it 
 every day. I like the word "seven," it is so 
 Biblical, and I was gratified to find seven 
 elements in this joy, a sort of rainbow of 
 promise, spanning the Christian life. 
 
 I. We have the Joy of Disappointed 
 Unbelief. 
 
 The women come with spices and oil to 
 anoint, perhaps to embalm, the Lord. Instead 
 of a corpse they find a king. Expecting death 
 they find life. Embalming gives place to joy- 
 ful worship. They are looking for difficulty 
 in rolling the stone away: when they arrive 
 the difficulty is overcome. The stone is away, 
 and an angel upon it. They had a certain 
 kind of faith in Christ. They believed that 
 He was true : they loved Him ; but it was 
 unbelief as to His resurrection which led them 
 
Perennial Easter. 123 
 
 to come with spices and oil, and to fear that 
 they would not be able to get into the sep- 
 ulchre. The joy of this disappointed unbelief 
 must have been intense, and it illustrates 
 God's way of doing. He delights in surpris- 
 ing us ; He gives more than we can ask or 
 think. 
 
 The Missionary Union once prepared spices 
 and oil for the embalming of the work in 
 Telugu. Now that is the most prosperous 
 mission in the world. Where their unbelief 
 prophesied death there has been abundant life, 
 and the joy of their disappointed unbelief has 
 filled all Christendom. 
 
 A member of this church asked prayer the 
 other day for a friend. Within two weeks that 
 friend was converted, greatly to the surprise of 
 the praying member, and in a way that he 
 little dreamed of. He is to-day revelling in 
 the joy of disappointed unbelief. God an- 
 swered the prayer more quickly and more 
 abundantly than he had anticipated. God de- 
 lights to fill our lives with glad surprises of 
 grace and power. 
 
i 24 Milk and Meat. 
 
 II. We have the Joy of Faith Confirmed. 
 
 That open sepulchre was the confirmation 
 of every claim which Jesus Christ had made. 
 He claimed that He and the Father are one. 
 " Before Abraham was, I am," and His resur- 
 rection proves it. It is the stamp of Heaven 
 upon His divinity. And as the disciples walk 
 about in the open sepulchre, they see a sign 
 which proves that grave-robbers have not 
 been there. The linen cloth which bound His 
 head is wrapped up carefully and laid aside. 
 He rose from the dead without excitement or 
 confusion. Every doctrine He taught, every 
 miracle He performed, every hop*e He inspired, 
 is confirmed. I know that Jesus rose from 
 the dead better than I know that Hannibal 
 crossed the Alps, that Caesar was assassinated, 
 or that Napoleon invaded Italy. The evidence 
 in favor of it is simply overwhelming ; and this 
 irresistible proof is a confirmation of all that 
 Jesus Christ claims. Not only on the Lord's 
 Day, which is the weekly commemoration of 
 His resurrection, but on every day in the 
 week we may have this confirmation. Nothing 
 
Perennial Ea± ter. 1 2 5 
 
 strengthens faith like meditation upon the 
 resurrection of Christ. It was the theme of 
 the apostles, and it has been the song of 
 poets. It is the rock foundation of the Chris- 
 tian's hope. 
 
 III. We have the Joy of Light from 
 Heaven. 
 
 Not the radiance of the angel's face, though 
 that was glorious ; not the halo about the 
 head of the risen Lord ; not the light of sun 
 or of star beaming into the open door of the 
 sepulchre, but the purer light of God's prom- 
 ise : " Fear not ! " And as I trace through the 
 Bible God's " fear nots " I find in them light 
 for every experience of life. " Thy word is 
 light." The word spoken by the angel was 
 steadfast : it gave the disciples comfort ; but 
 the words spoken by Christ Himself are even 
 sweeter to us than angelic messages. The 
 messenger of the King comes with authority, 
 but the voice of the King Himself we prefer 
 to hear. Every day we may listen to Christ. 
 Every morning may be an Easter morning, 
 made bright by some promise from His Word. 
 
126 Milk and Meat 
 
 IV. We have the Joy of Beholding 
 Victory. 
 
 There was physical victory. Look at the 
 body of Christ as it is taken from the cross — 
 clotted with blood ; eyes glazed in death ; hands 
 limp at the side, needing the strength of lov- 
 ing friends to bear it to the sepulchre. Now 
 see him as he walks from the tomb in the 
 full vigor of physical manhood ; the marks 
 still upon his body, but every physical power 
 and function restored. I see in this for the 
 Christian the promise and potency of complete 
 victory over all the forces that make for 
 death. 
 
 There was political victory. That seal, part 
 of it attached to the rock of the mountain, 
 and a part attached to the stone, none but an 
 angel dare touch. It represented the greatest 
 political power on earth. The Roman eagle at 
 that time swayed the world. But the seal is 
 broken, and Roman soldiers are flying before 
 the Power that broke it. There is coming a 
 time when the " kingdoms of this world shall 
 be the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ/' 
 
Perennial Easter. i 2 7 
 
 and it will be through the risen and reigning 
 Lord that this shall be accomplished. And 
 every day let us be cheered with the hope of 
 complete national victory for our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 There was also moral victory. The forces of 
 evil had for a time prevailed, and the sun of 
 righteousness seemed for a while to have gone 
 down in gloom. Demons of darkness may now 
 dance for joy. The King has been captured. 
 Yes, but within the very walls of death He 
 has demolished every fortress. Every day 
 we may have a joy of anticipated physical, 
 national, and moral victory. Truly that makes 
 life a perennial Easter. 
 
 V. We have the Joy of telling our 
 Joy to Others. 
 
 " They did run to bring His disciples word." 
 We pity the man who has a Christ that only 
 lived, acted, and died. He may admire Him 
 as a hero, honor Him as a martyr, canonize 
 Him as a saint ; but he can never have great 
 joy in telling others about Him. It is only 
 those who believe Christ divine, and, therefore, 
 the Saviour from all sin, and with all power 
 
i 28 Milk and Meat. 
 
 in heaven and earth, who can experience 
 ecstasy of heart in proclaiming Him unto 
 others. Have you ever had such Easter joy ? 
 If not, determine to have it to-day before the 
 sun goes down. The joy of telling others 
 about the risen Lord is a treasure which every 
 Christian may possess ; and just in proportion 
 as we turn every day into that sort of Easter, 
 we are truly happy and useful Christians. 
 
 VI. We may have the Joy of the Con- 
 scious or the Unconscious Presence 
 of the Risen Lord. 
 
 At first Mary did not recognize Him. She 
 thought it was the gardener — just a common 
 man. When she heard Him speak, His familiar 
 voice brought recognition, and she exclaimed, 
 " Rabboni ! M as she fell before Him to worship. 
 Often we recognize the Lord as present w r ith 
 us through the tones of His promise. But 
 there is another scene a little more precious 
 to me than even this. Two men are on their 
 way home from the city, where they have 
 buried their hopes. They saw Him die, and 
 looked upon the stone at the door of the 
 sepulchre with the Roman seal upon it. They 
 
Perennial Easter, 1 2 9 
 
 expected that " it had been He who should have 
 redeemed Israel." But He disappointed their 
 expectation, because He had not acted just as 
 they thought He would. They little dreamed 
 that the purpose of redemption would lead 
 Him to be crucified. Strange rumors are in 
 the air about what women saw and angels 
 said ; but they get little comfort from that. 
 Sad and depressed, they are on their way 
 home, when a stranger falls in with them, and 
 begins to explain to them the Scriptures, as 
 written by Moses concerning the Messiah. 
 Their hearts burn with a peculiar fervor. 
 They are uplifted in spirit. To have the risen 
 Christ walk with us when we are not conscious 
 of His presence, but at the same time to re- 
 veal to us His preciousness, and appear in 
 such a way as to make our hearts burn with 
 love and gratitude, is a joy to be coveted. 
 
 This gives us a still larger Christ. " With- 
 out Him was not anything made that was 
 made." He is not only Redeemer but Creator. 
 Nature is unfallen. The birds sing, the streams 
 murmur, the stars shine, the winds whisper the 
 glory of God. All natural principles are obe- 
 dient to His laws ; only man is sinful and re- 
 
i $o Milk and Meat. 
 
 bellious. In order, then, to be a true child of 
 nature, you must become a child of grace. 
 I love to read in the open Bible and in the 
 open book of nature of the same almighty, 
 loving God and His Son Jesus Christ. Every 
 flower is His smile of beauty, every star His 
 benediction, every landscape, with its mountains 
 and valleys, a sign of His loving favor. The 
 risen Christ is one "in whom we live, and move, 
 and have our being,'' and He rules by His laws 
 in the realm of the natural and spiritual world. 
 
 " The works of God are fair for naught 
 Unless we, in the seeing, 
 See hidden in the thing the thought 
 That animates its being. 
 
 ''The outward form is not the whole, 
 But clearly has been moulded 
 To image forth the inward soul 
 Which dimly is unfolded. 
 
 "The shadow pictured in the lake 
 By every tree that trembles 
 Is cast for more than just the sake 
 Of that which it resembles. 
 
 " The dew falls lightly not alone 
 Because the meadows need it ; 
 It has an errand of its own 
 To human souls that heed it. 
 
Perennial Easter. 1 3 1 
 
 "The stars are lighted in the skies 
 Not merely for their shining ; 
 But, like the light of loving eyes, 
 Have meaning worth divining. 
 
 " Whoever, at the coarsest sound, 
 Still listens for the finest, 
 Shall hear the noisy world go round 
 To music the divinest. 
 
 "Whoever yearns to see aright, 
 Because his heart is tender, 
 Will catch a glimpse of heavenly light 
 In every earthly splendor. 
 
 "So since the universe began, 
 And will be till it's ended : 
 May soul of nature, soul of man, 
 And soul of God be blended." 
 
 Such blending of man's soul with the soul 
 of unfallen nature and of God is brought about 
 by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ ; 
 and we enjoy it every day. 
 
 VII. We have the Joy of Anticipation. 
 
 Jesus said to the women, " Go tell My dis- 
 ciples that they shall see Me in Galilee/' Just 
 when, just where, we do not know. It was 
 simply a promise that they should soon meet 
 
132 Milk and Meat. 
 
 Him. And so the ascended Christ has said to 
 us, "Just as ye have seen Me go up into 
 heaven, so shall ye see Me come again in like 
 manner." The whole earth is a Galilee waiting 
 the appearing of the Lord. Just when, just 
 where, we do not know, but that He will come 
 in glory is the Christian's most certain hope. 
 The joy of meeting Him is enhanced by the 
 joy of meeting others w r ho are with Him : 
 " For them that sleep in Jesus will God bring 
 with Him/' 
 
 The day after James Russell Lowell's wife 
 died, sitting in his desolate home, he wrote 
 these words : 
 
 "There is a narrow ridge in the graveyard, 
 T would scarce stay a child in his race, 
 But to me and my thought it is wider 
 Than the star-sown vague of space." 
 
 The promise of the coming of the Lord has 
 made narrow this " star-sown vague of space,'* 
 and makes it but a thin veil between us and 
 the objects of our love. It brings us, perhaps, 
 within a few hours of meeting our risen Lord 
 and glorified friends. Then, ah ! then, an ever- 
 lasting Easter ! 
 
XII. 
 CHARIOTS AND MANTLES. 
 
 "My father, my father, thou chariot of Israel, r.nd the horse- 
 men thereof ! ''—2 Kings 2 : 12. 
 
 The translation I give of this text is ap- 
 proved by many eminent authorities ; and 
 whether it be strictly correct or not, the idea 
 is certainly implied that Elijah himself was the 
 chariot addressed by Elisha. Elisha was called 
 of God and ordained by Elijah. His master 
 informs him that he is going to leave the 
 earth. A proof of the future life is needed. 
 Elijah must not die a natural death, but must 
 be carried up miraculously. He goes to see 
 the schools of the prophets w r hich he had estab- 
 lished at Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho. Elisha 
 keeps with him, determined that his master shall 
 not leave him for a moment. They cross the 
 Jordan in view of the students of the college 
 at Jericho. The waters are miraculously di- 
 
 133 
 
i 34 Milk and Meat. 
 
 vided, and the two prophets go on toward the 
 desert together. 
 
 There is a scene in heaven. A large oom- 
 pany of angels are summoned to go and bring 
 the faithful prophet to his final home. These 
 angels are called in Scripture chariots of God. 
 The word cherub means chariot. As Elijah 
 and Elisha journeyed, the angelic host appears, 
 and, sweeping down before them, Elijah is car- 
 ried up as in a chariot of fire. Can we 
 imagine the glory of their journey through 
 the skies as, passing planet and star, onward 
 and upw T ard they go until they come in sight 
 of the golden gates which are throw r n wide 
 open, and all heaven shouts at the entrance 
 of the faithful prophet? 
 
 The meaning of the text is that Elijah was 
 the strength and glory of Israel. Chariots and 
 horsemen of an army were considered its 
 special strength. From this we learn three 
 things : 
 
 I. God shows His Power and Glory 
 
 THROUGH THE INDIVIDUAL. 
 
 Organizations, societies, and institutions are 
 of value ; but the individual is the most impor- 
 
Chariots and Mantles. 135 
 
 tant factor in the advancement of God's king- 
 dom. Christ did not become an institution, 
 but a man — " The Word became flesh, and dwelt 
 among us." Elijah founded institutions of 
 learning, but all combined were not equal to 
 himself. The tongues of flame at Pentecost 
 sat upon each of the disciples, not upon the 
 company as a whole. God bears a personal 
 relation to us, and through our personality He 
 purposes to reach mankind. Of course an 
 organization of many personalities may be 
 stronger than any one personality ; but let us 
 realize that, in God's economy, He wants, first 
 of all, the individual prepared, equipped for 
 His service. 
 
 And the power of each person in God's 
 kingdom is in proportion to his fatherhood. 
 " My father, my father, thou strength of Israel, 
 and glory thereof!" Elijah was the spiritual 
 father of Elisha. He led him to leave his 
 oxen and fields, and devote himself wholly to 
 God ; and the individuals who win most souls 
 to Christ, who have thus the largest spiritual 
 fatherhood, are the real chariots and horsemen 
 of Israel. "They that turn many to righteous- 
 ness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever." 
 
1 36 Milk and Meat. 
 
 Mental acquisition, financial strength, social 
 position will not make us such fathers of 
 Israel ; only the enduement of power from 
 on high can form such chariots and horsemen. 
 An individual full of the Holy Ghost is more 
 powerful than a hundred organizations depend- 
 ing upon numbers and strength. Elijah stood 
 alone at one time with God only on his side, 
 and Elijah and God were stronger than all 
 the forces of evil against them. As man, 
 woman, child, let us link ourselves with God, 
 and let Him pour His power through our per- 
 sonality; and, that He may do this, let us seek 
 the best character possible. 
 
 II. God raises up Men of Power to take 
 the Places of those He calls away. 
 
 As the chariot went up, Elijah's mantle fell 
 down. This rough garment of skin was the 
 symbol of authority and powder. It was like 
 the rod of Moses — nothing in itself, but 
 chosen of God as a sort of symbol of His 
 own omnipotence. This divine power Elisha 
 needed : (1) To remove obstacles. The Jordan 
 was in the way and must be divided. Its 
 
Chariots and Mantles 
 
 j/ 
 
 swift, deep current could not be waded nor 
 bridged. So we have in the path of our work 
 Jordans of difficulty, and we need the mantle 
 of pow r er to smite them asunder. (2) To 
 remedy evils. The poisoned water must be 
 made sweet, and salt in itself will not sweeten 
 it. The power of God, symbolized by the 
 rough mantle, gave purity to the waters of 
 Samaria. There is death in the pot, and the 
 antidote of poison must be supplied. Men are 
 covered with leprosy : the divine healing is 
 needed. The fact is, this world is full of evils 
 which need to be remedied, and only the 
 divine power can cure them perfectly. 
 
 III. We need it to make a Little go a 
 Great Way. 
 
 Elisha, invited to the home of the widow, 
 must use miraculous power, that the cruse of 
 oil and the meal in the barrel might not fail. 
 Jesus could make a few loaves and fishes feed 
 the five thousand ; and only Jesus can do this. 
 When we look to the w r ork to be done and 
 the means at hand with which to do it, it is 
 as five fishes before five thousand men ; it is as 
 
138 Milk and Meat. 
 
 the little oil and meal with months of necessity 
 
 before us ; but this divine power can multiply 
 the fishes ; can increase the oil and meal. We 
 do not give as much to the glory of Christ as 
 we should. His treasury may be emptied from 
 stinginess, and those who do give all they 
 can, who put at God's disposal the little that 
 they have, need the God of Elisha to make 
 that little go a long way. Oh. the millions of 
 heathen to be reached, with a few Chris- 
 tians and little money to-day at God's disposal 
 for it ! 
 
 IV. We xeed this Divine Power to raise 
 the Dead. 
 
 Men as dead spiritually, as was Lazarus 
 physically, are at our doors. We cannot argue 
 them into life ; our teaching is powerless. 
 Only the voice of God can bring them forth : 
 and it is only through our consecration, 
 through our wearing the mantle which sets us 
 apart,' that God speaks to the dead. 
 
 Now the question is. How can we get tins 
 mantle of power ? 1. By intensely desiring it. 
 Elisha would not be put off. Elijah told him 
 
Chariots and Mantles, 1 39 
 
 to leave, that he might test his faith ; but his 
 mind was made up to keep his eye on the 
 master, for he had the promise if he saw him 
 going up he would have a double portion of 
 his spirit. We are told that the soldiers in 
 Xerxes' army must hear the crack of whips be- 
 hind their backs to make them march to battle. 
 Such a spirit will never be endued with power. 
 Only those who seek this enduement above 
 everything else will receive it in fulness. 
 
 2. By patient waiting upon God. The 
 apostles chose, in the place of Judas, one who 
 had companied with them all the time that 
 the Lord Jesus went in and out among them, 
 beginning with the baptism of John until the 
 day that He was received up from them. 
 Elisha kept close to the prophet before his 
 translation, and it was upon those who kept 
 close to Christ before His translation that the 
 Spirit of God came ; and it is those who to- 
 day walk with God — keep close to His side 
 — that will receive the mantle of power. The 
 men who learn the most of the earth-life of 
 Christ, who grow in grace and in knowledge 
 of Him, are most apt to be used by the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
140 Milk and Meat. 
 
 ;. By appropriation. The mantle which 
 dropped from Elijah did not fall upon the 
 shoulders of Elisha : he had to pick it up : and 
 God does not endue us with power in spite 
 of ourselves. The Holy Spirit descended after 
 the ascension of Christ. That is the mantle 
 that Jesus, so to speak, dropped from Himself 
 as He went into the skies : and we must 
 by faith appropriate the Spirit. We must 
 honor Him and expect Him to bless us. We 
 are saved by faith in Christ ; we are made 
 powerful by faith in the Spirit. Xo man truly 
 wears the mantle of God who looks upon the 
 Spirit as neuter — as a mere influence. We 
 must believe that He is with us — the very God 
 — ready to work through our faith. 
 
 4. By using at once the faith and consecra- 
 tion we have. Elisha, as soon as he picked up 
 the mantle, started back at once toward 
 Jericho ; and on reaching the Jordan he smote 
 the waters, crying out : " Where is the Lord 
 God of Elijah?" and at the touch of the man- 
 tle the waters divided again. He did not 
 think of folding up this sacred garment, and 
 laying it aside as a memento of him who was 
 gone : he looked upon it as for use : and so 
 
Chariots and Mantles. 1 4 1 
 
 we should regard the presence of the Holy 
 Spirit, who is not here on a holiday. His 
 business is to work mightily through us. He 
 is anxious that we should trust Him and use 
 the power that He is willing to give. We are 
 the Elishas who represent the ascended Elijah. 
 As Christ was in the power of the Spirit, — led 
 by Him ; working through Him ; raised from the 
 dead by Him, — so we are to have the same 
 power. "And greater works than these shall 
 ye do, because I go to My Father." Let us 
 believe that the reign of the Spirit is the reign 
 of power, and make our expectations great and 
 our plans large. 
 
 V. After Men like Elijah have finished 
 their Work, God takes them to 
 Heaven in an Appropriate Manner. 
 
 Elijah means a chariot, and he was taken up 
 in a chariot of fire. He was himself a flame 
 of fire, consuming evil, purifying the good. 
 The trend of his whole life was like the 
 chariots and horsemen of an army — the glory 
 of Israel ; and it was appropriate that he 
 should pass out of this world into heaven after 
 
1 42 Milk and Meat. 
 
 the manner in which he lived; and whether 
 the eyes of men see it or not, such is the de- 
 parture of all who are true to God. We are 
 saved by grace, but in a sense we make our 
 own chariots in which we ride to heaven. 
 
 Paul said : 44 I have fought the good fight ; 
 finished my course ; kept the faith;" and when 
 we think of his dying, there gather about him 
 the angels of light from his past life — glorious 
 chariots of light, indeed, which accompany 
 him into heaven. The soul of John Huss went 
 up literally in a chariot of fire ; and yet, as we 
 think of his martyrdom in the meadow outside 
 the walls of Constance, the glories of his faith- 
 ful life gather about the scene, and, like the 
 sunset at the close of day, the very clouds 
 which hover about his death are made beautiful. 
 When we think of William Carey's death, there 
 is suggested the missionary's glory — the angels 
 of mercy and the converted heathen attending. 
 Shaftesbury and John Howard go up in a chariot 
 of philanthropy. Jerry McAuley's departure is 
 in a chariot of glory made by a life of devotion 
 to the lost of New York. I notice that this 
 chariot came for Elijah while he was at work. 
 Jericho was a wicked place, and at this centre 
 
Chariots and Mantles, 143 
 
 of wickedness he had established a theological 
 seminary. It was here he made his last ad- 
 dress ; it was here he did his last faithful 
 service ; and near this wicked Jericho comes 
 the chariot of God to take him. May we all 
 wear the mantle of power, that we may depart 
 in the chariot of glory ! 
 
XIII. 
 
 THE UNFAILING BARREL AND 
 CRUSE. 
 
 " The barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil 
 fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by 
 
 Elijah." — i Kings 17 : 16. 
 
 God's Method often changes, while His 
 Purpose remains the Same. 
 
 His purpose was to preserve the prophet. 
 For a while the brook and the ravens served 
 his purpose. But the brook dried up, and in- 
 stead of ordering the ravens to bring w r ater 
 also, he sends the prophet to a poor widow of 
 Zarephath. Thus God's plan of keeping His 
 people is constantly changing, while His loving 
 purpose remains the same. Joseph was pre- 
 served equally well in the house of Potiphar, 
 in the jail, and as ruler of Egypt. God's pur- 
 
 144 
 
The Unfailing Barrel and Cruse 145 
 
 pose was to raise up a man who would deliver 
 Israel from their task-masters. He kept him 
 at first in the ark of bulrushes, then in the 
 loving arms of his mother, then in the court 
 and schools of Egypt, and then in the back side 
 of the desert. Daniel fared equally well as a 
 boy in the palace of the king, as an officer 
 over the provinces of Persia, and as a servant 
 of God among the lions. If we are children 
 of God, His mind is made up to take us to 
 heaven, and to give us just the treatment that 
 will best fit us for the place. If He gives us 
 w r ealth, it is because He knows that wealth is 
 the best for us ; if He gives us poverty, it is 
 because He knows that we will be best pre- 
 served by struggle. Trust His wisdom and 
 goodness to do the right thing. 
 
 When all things seem to be against us, re- 
 member that God is for us, and He never ceases 
 to be master of the situation. The burgomaster 
 of Hamburg bade Mr. Onken cease holding 
 religious services, and, holding up his hand 
 before him, angrily asked, " Do you see that 
 little finger ? As long as I can move that little 
 finger, I will put down you Baptists." "Yes," 
 replied Onken, " I see your little finger, and I 
 
1 40 Milk and Meat. 
 
 also sec a great arm which you cannot sec. 
 As long as the great arm of God is lifted in our 
 behalf, your little finger will have no terror 
 for us." It is not our part to be looking at 
 the little fingers against us, but at the great 
 arm that is for us. Those who see the great 
 arm need not fear ten thousand little fingers. 
 Whatever relation these fingers may bear to 
 us, we may be calm in the assurance that the 
 purpose of God is His glory in our preserva- 
 tion, and, though His plans may change, His 
 purpose remains the same. 
 
 We learn also from this unfailing barrel and 
 cruse that 
 
 God has a Way of selecting whom He 
 pleases as Agents to carry out His Will. 
 
 Jesus tells us that there were many widows 
 in Sarepta who were passed by, while this 
 one was selected. She was not the one we 
 should have chosen. We should have looked 
 for a house where there was a little more 
 meal and oil and wood. A poor woman 
 gathering sticks outside the city gates was the 
 last person to be thought a fit host for the 
 prophet. But God thought otherwise. And so 
 
The Unfailing Barrel and Cruse. 147 
 
 He thinks to-day in the selection of His 
 workers. Who would have thought of R. W. 
 McAll as the proper person to undertake the 
 evangelization of Paris — an Englishman over 
 fifty years of age, who could not speak a word 
 of French ? And yet he was the man of God's 
 choice. Jerry McAuley, the river pirate, would 
 hardly have been chosen by us as the man 
 above all others to bring the bread of life to 
 the outcasts of New York. If we had met 
 Saul on his way to Damascus, it w r ould not 
 have occurred to us that this cruel persecutor 
 was the man chosen of God to take the lead 
 in building up the cause he was trying to de- 
 stroy. God is constantly surprising the world 
 by selecting agents we in our wisdom have 
 rejected. Bunyan, the tinker, was no fit man to 
 write such a book as "The Pilgrim's Progress." 
 John Wesley and George Whitefield, the bisnops 
 thought, were not the men to preach to the 
 people. Mr. Booth was doing no good with 
 his wild methods of work among the poor in 
 the Whitechapel district of London, and the 
 bishop must needs bid him change his plans 
 or leave the church. Mr. Moody was not even 
 a fit man to speak and pray in a prayer-meet- 
 
1 48 Milk and Meat. 
 
 ing, and his pastor kindly told him so. But 
 God had a mission for him and for all these 
 men. Whom the Lord has chosen, let us 
 not reject. God ordains many a man for 
 mighty work whom any council for ordination 
 would be ashamed to lay hands upon. He is 
 constantly passing by tall Eliab, that He may 
 select little David. It may be because little 
 David is willing to be used and give Him the 
 glory. Whatever may be said about the men 
 as to whose fitness for great w r ork God and 
 the world have different opinions, they were all 
 willing to be used. The widow of Sarepta, 
 though she felt unable, was willing to entertain 
 the prophet ; and our usefulness depends far 
 more upon our willingness than upon our 
 ability. If you are downright willing to be 
 used of God, He can make you capable and 
 He will. " My people shall be a willing peo- 
 ple." Willingness is capacity, for what else 
 we need God is pledged to supply. 
 
 Let us learn again from this unfailing barrel 
 and cruse that 
 
 in helping Others we help Ourselves. 
 If the widow had kept her little meal and oil 
 
The Unfailing Barrel and Cruse. 149 
 
 for her own use, she and her son had starved. 
 Dividing multiplied it. Such is God's arith- 
 metic. To keep is to lose. To hold and hoard 
 is to diminish. To * scatter is to increase. 
 Men who put their bodies wholly into the 
 service of God with implicit trust in Him do 
 not break down from overwork. It is the 
 worry, fretting, and chafing resulting from a 
 failure thus to commit to God which shatters 
 nerves and calls for protracted vacations. 
 After one has been in the pastorate for many 
 years, there is danger of his barrel of sermons 
 failing, and, if it does, it is because his think- 
 ing and time have not been wholly given to 
 God. The lad with the few loaves and fishes 
 had the pleasure of seeing them multiplied into 
 enough to feed the five thousand. The secret 
 of such success was that he committed his 
 little supply to Jesus, and He always sees to 
 it that what is given wholly to Him shall 
 not fail, but multiply. Churches and enter- 
 prises fail for the lack of consecration. If we 
 use for God every barrel and cruse of money, 
 time, talent, and opportunity we have, there 
 will be plenty and to spare. 
 
XIV. 
 
 TREASURES IN HEAVEN. 
 
 "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where 
 moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through 
 and steal : but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, 
 where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves 
 do not break through nor steal." — Matthew 6 : 19, 20. 
 
 THERE are four ways by which we may lay 
 up treasures in heaven. 
 
 I. By giving of our Possessions to the 
 Needy. 
 
 " If thou wilt be perfect/' said Jesus to the 
 rich young man, " go and sell that thou hast 
 and give to the poor, and THOU SHALT HAVE 
 TREASURE IN HEAVEN." If you wish to ex- 
 press some of your money from earth to 
 
 heaven, give it to those who need. Dispense 
 
 150 
 
Treasures in Heaven. 151 
 
 with your luxuries, that you may suppiy their 
 necessities. 
 
 " Charge them that are rich in this world, 
 that they be not high-minded, nor trust in un- 
 certain riches, but in the living God, who 
 g'iveth us richly all things to enjoy." If we 
 have abundance, it is God's rich gift. He 
 means for us to enjoy it. But how may I 
 enjoy it ? By holding and hoarding it ? Not 
 at all. Read on : " that they do good, that 
 they be rich in good works, ready to distrib- 
 ute, willing to communicate. " The way to 
 enjoy God's rich gifts is to share them with 
 others. Those who give their money get most 
 pleasure out of it. And the joy here is but a 
 tithe of the joy it brings hereafter, for thus 
 they " lay up for themselves a good foundation 
 against the time to come, that they may lay 
 hold upon life that is life indeed." With this 
 blessing of giving contrast the curse of hoard- 
 ing by fraud and holding by covetousness, as 
 described by James. " Go to, ye rich men, 
 weep and howl for your miseries that shall 
 come upon you. Your gold and silver is 
 cankered, and the rust of them shall be a 
 witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as 
 
i 5 2 Milk and Meat. 
 
 it were fire." Money hoarded will rust; but 
 the rust gathers on the soul that hoards it, and 
 burns it like fire. Men who refuse to do good 
 with their money are thus in a little hell on 
 earth. Their souls are being burnt by a slow 
 combustion. By and by angels who see their 
 spirits doubtless begin to look upon them 
 as charcoals of immortality. Immortal, but 
 charred and blackened by the fires of covet- 
 ousness. That which, if used for God, becomes 
 a treasure in heaven, when held only for self 
 mars the best treasure we have on earth — our 
 characters. 
 
 II. By ministering to the Needy. 
 
 Many of us have little money. Can we ex- 
 pect to lay up much treasure in heaven ? In 
 the 25th of Matthew we have the assets of a 
 useful life. " I was thirsty, and ye gave Me 
 drink : I was sick, and ye visited Me : I was in 
 prison, and ye came unto Me." Personal min- 
 istry to those from whom you expect to 
 receive no earthly reward is a treasure in 
 heaven. The idea of merit for such work is 
 
Treasures in Heaven. 153 
 
 excluded. The righteous could not remember 
 that they had done anything worthy of men- 
 tion. It was done for the sake of Christ, and 
 those who work purely for His glory would 
 not detract from that glory by claiming 
 heaven on the merit of their good deeds. It 
 was those who had really done nothing that 
 were surprised to hear that they had not done 
 enough to merit salvation. The lack of 
 money, which brings us into personal contact 
 with the needy, is a great blessing to us. 
 And even if we have money, we ought not 
 to be satisfied with working by proxy. A 
 wealthy lady in New York determined, the 
 week of her conversion, to employ a woman 
 for all her time to work among the poor. 
 She received her reports every month and 
 rejoiced in the good being done. One day 
 her missionary reminded her that when Jesus 
 healed the sick He usually touched them, and 
 suggested that it might be well for her to go 
 with her on some of her rounds. She con- 
 sented, and after one day's visiting she de- 
 clared that she had been more blessed than by 
 the whole year's working by proxy. The poor 
 and suffering often need the hand-shake and 
 
154 Milk and Meat. 
 
 kind word more than they need money. Give 
 both, and wait for the reward in heaven. 
 
 III. By rejoicing in whatever our Faith- 
 fulness to Christ may bring upon us. 
 
 " Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, 
 and persecute you, and shall say all manner of 
 evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, 
 and be exceeding glad : for great is your re- 
 ward in heaven." While Hooper, the martyr, 
 was at the stake, some one reminded him that 
 life was very sweet. "Yes," he replied, "life 
 is sweet, but eternal life is sweeter." He was 
 willing to sacrifice the less for the greater. 
 Demosthenes was asked if he did not fear 
 that Philip would take off his head. " If he 
 does," was the reply, "the Athenians will give 
 me an immortal one." Whatever loss we sus- 
 tain for the sake of Christ in this world, we 
 may be certain that He will make it up to us 
 in the next. 
 
 Obstacles. 
 
 The context teaches us that a double vision 
 is in the way of our laying up treasures in 
 
Treasures in Heaven. 155 
 
 heaven. " If thine eye be single, thy whole 
 body will be full of light," and thou wilt not 
 make mistakes in thy investments. The man 
 of double vision sees two objects at once 
 without seeing either one clearly. He tries to 
 look at two things at the same time. In his 
 service he sees Christ and self — Christ and the 
 world. He thinks that of course he ought to 
 serve God, but at the same time he must look 
 after number one. This leads to an attempt 
 at double service, and " no man can serve two 
 masters. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." 
 God would not share His worship with the false 
 gods in Israel's time ; He will not now share 
 His service with any one. It must be a whole- 
 hearted service. You cannot serve yourself 
 during the week and God on Sunday. Every 
 day, every .dollar must be His. " But must I 
 not support my family?" If you do not, you 
 are worse than an infidel. In supporting your 
 family you may be serving God as truly as 
 if you were preaching in a pulpit. Only put 
 God first, and ask Him how you ought to 
 support your family. If you have a new 
 house to furnish, consult Him as to the fur- 
 niture. Ask Him to make it plain as to what 
 
156 Milk and Meat. 
 
 kind of furniture will best accord with your 
 means and the spirit of sacrifice which every 
 Christian ought to have. Only let God be 
 first, and family, country, business, friends — 
 indeed, everything and everybody second. 
 
 It is said of Judge Black, of Georgia, that, 
 when he was a young lawyer, he was invited 
 to deliver an address of welcome to the Gov- 
 ernor of the State on Monday evening. He 
 took great pains to prepare his address, but a 
 telegram came on Monday, saying that the 
 Governor's visit would be deferred till Wednes- 
 day evening. Mr. Black at once wrote the 
 committee that a previous engagement would 
 prevent his being present on Wednesday even- 
 ing. Few persons besides the pastor of his 
 church knew that the previous engagement was 
 the regular weekly prayer-meeting which the 
 young Christian lawyer had set apart as sacred- 
 ly devoted to the public worship of God ; and 
 no service to man or State, though it might 
 be for his own promotion, could make him 
 swerve from his purpose. He had a single 
 vision and single-eyed service. No wonder God 
 has blessed him. He usually honors those who 
 honor Him. 
 
Treasures in Heaven. 157 
 
 Anxiety about the future keeps many a one 
 from laying up treasure in heaven. The ques- 
 tion, What shall we eat, drink, and wear on 
 earth ? leads many to lay up for the future of 
 time and leave out of view the future of eter- 
 nity. " Go to the ant, thou sluggard/' said Solo- 
 mon ; " consider her ways and be wise/' And 
 that is good advice for to-day. We should pro- 
 vide for the winters we know are coming. But 
 the ant has been the only teacher for most of 
 us long enough. Let us listen to Jesus as He 
 says, in substance, " Go to the birds and lilies, 
 ye doubtful, saving ones. Consider their ways 
 and be wiser. The birds gather not into barns, 
 but the heavenly Father feedeth them. The 
 lilies toil not, nor spin, and yet Solomon in all 
 his glory was not arrayed like one of these." 
 If I must choose one or the other, I should 
 rather be the bird or lily, without barn or ward- 
 robe, trusting God for the future, than the 
 prudent ant taking care of myself and leaving 
 God out of mind. But, after all, there is no 
 quarrel between Solomon's ant and the birds 
 of Christ. Our prudent foresight should not 
 prevent us from casting all care for the future 
 upon God, while we meet the responsibilities of 
 
Milk and Meat 
 
 the present ; and if, to meet our present re- 
 sponsibilities, we find that we have no store left 
 for winter, don't be unduly alarmed. The God 
 of the birds is your God. " Trust in the Lord. 
 and do good : so shalt thou dwell in the land. 
 and verily thou shalt be fed." 
 
 Inducements. 
 
 If heaven is our treasure-house, we will not 
 be loath to give up to God the treasures of 
 earth when He chooses to take them. You 
 have in your home some jewels dearer to you 
 than life. You would, of course, like to keep 
 them; but the home on earth, much as you 
 prize their presence in it, is not your treasure- 
 house. God takes them, that He may in that 
 way help you to lay up treasures in heaven. 
 It is 'easier to give them up, if the treasures we 
 prize most are in heaven. A mother, whose 
 dissipated son lay at the point of death, asked 
 her pastor to come and see him ; and, that she 
 might prepare her boy for his visit, she told 
 him how, when he was a little child, he was 
 very sick, given up by all to die ; and how she 
 prayed that he might live, even going so far as 
 to tell God that she could not stand his death. 
 
Treasures in Heaven. 1 59 
 
 and that she would take all the responsibility 
 of his living. " Mother," said the dying boy, 
 " you made an awful mistake/' That mother 
 was laying up her treasure on earth, and could 
 not, therefore, bear to lose one from her treas- 
 ure-house. Those whose treasures are in 
 heaven will be saved from such an awful mis- 
 take. 
 
 If our treasures are in heaven, it will be easy, 
 when the time comes, for us to go to them. 
 " Where the treasure is, there will the heart be 
 also." The soldier, as he leaves home where 
 his treasures are, feels that the weight of the 
 whole house is on his heart, and he goes from 
 a sense of duty. But when the discharge is 
 given after the victory has been won, how 
 gladly he hastens to his loved ones ! A gentle- 
 man in Brooklyn said that, during his passage 
 across the Atlantic, he was sea-sick every day; 
 but after six months of sight-seeing, he was 
 glad to go on board for another eight days of 
 nausea. What made him willing was, that all 
 his dear ones were on this side. It was the 
 desire to go to his treasures. Laying up treas- 
 ures in heaven is a good preparation for an 
 exchange of worlds. 
 
ibo Milk and Meat. 
 
 Laying up treasures in heaven makes us 
 " use this world as not abusing it." If all our 
 treasures are on earth, we are apt to be the 
 slaves of the earth's maxims and money. The 
 Sermon on the Mount is very practical. It 
 deals largely with our relations to one another. 
 And the most practical men on this earth to- 
 day are the men who are brave enough to do 
 right, whether riches or poverty follow, because 
 they are not living simply for what this world 
 can give. They are the only real freemen. 
 Such men were the reformers who died for 
 truth. The}' are not the slaves, but the masters 
 of the spirit of the age. They seek the highest 
 good of all, rather than the good opinion of 
 any. They use their money in helping others. 
 They are independent, caring little for life or 
 death, but everything for the true and the 
 right. Their face is toward the sunrise. No 
 darkness can discourage them ; no reverses can 
 overwhelm them. They wish to be and do 
 rather than to seem. They are the real men 
 and women. God help us to be such ! 
 
XV. 
 
 SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 
 
 " Our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none 
 abiding." — i Chron. 29 : 15. 
 
 A Shadow is Nothing. 
 
 It is the absence of something. Take away 
 light, and the nothing that remains is shadow. 
 Put ten thousand shadows together, and you 
 have nothing. Nothing multiplied by billions 
 is nothing. And our days on the earth are as a 
 shadow in that they are nothing in length com- 
 pared with the great substance, eternity, that lies 
 before us. A bird comes to this world every 
 thousand years and takes away in its beak one 
 grain of sand, and after the entire globe has 
 been removed, a grain at a time every thousand 
 years, eternity has just begun. An angel 
 strokes with a feather a ball of steel as big as 
 
 this earth, once in ten thousand years, and 
 
 r6i 
 
Milk and Meat. 
 
 after the -size ball of steel has been worn 
 
 away by the feather-stroke, eternity has just 
 begun. We cannot grasp the illustrate 
 
 we can see how as n is the little 
 
 speck of time that marks the limit of human 
 life. 
 
 Treated as an end of living this little time is 
 nothing in importance ; but, as a means to an 
 end, it is everything, because it is all we have. 
 As the means of preparing for eternity, who can 
 estimate the importance of these few years' 
 A general has just fifteen minutes to put his 
 disordered army in line of battle before the 
 enemy marches against him. Let him be 
 quick about it — his honor and happiness for all 
 the future depend upon the issue ! A nation in 
 chains or a nation free will be the result. The 
 general sits down to a -game of cards, declaring 
 that he must enjoy the fifteen minutes at his 
 disposal. Fool ! fool ! ! you say. and we agree 
 with you. Those fifteen minutes as a means to 
 an end were all-important. Every second of 
 them was of diamond worth. But as an end. 
 used for the little pleasure they could give. 
 they were a shadow indeed. Shame upon any 
 general who would try to gather up the shadow 
 
Shadow and Substance. 163 
 
 while he forgets the substance to which the 
 shadow leads. In condemning him, we do but 
 condemn the men and women who spend time 
 in seeing how much pleasure they can get out 
 of it — while they forget eternity, to which time 
 is leading. We laugh at the poor fool whom 
 David Crockett found fighting his shadow in a 
 freshly ploughed field as a preparation for the 
 fighting he expected to do on the following 
 election day; but it is too serious a matter to 
 laugh about when we see immortal men treat- 
 ing the shadows of life as if they were the only 
 true substance. The sight made our Lord 
 weep, and we may well mingle our tears with 
 His. 
 
 The Days of the Wicked are as a 
 Shadow in that they are Poisonous, 
 Dark, and Gloomy. 
 
 The plant that grows in the dark generates 
 poison. Continuous darkness depresses, withers, 
 kills. I have read of some cruel experimenters 
 in science who kept a poor boy in a dark cell 
 from the age of five to twenty. When he 
 came out he was blind, emaciated, tremulous, 
 
1 64 Milk and Meat. 
 
 and idiotic. Whether the story is true or not, 
 it might be true. It is sadly true, morally and 
 spiritually, with those who prefer the darkness 
 of unbelief to the light of faith. And when 
 they take time to reflect they must be conscious 
 of it. The sins of the past are darkness. The 
 sinful nature of the present is darkness. The 
 future with its terrible results is darkness. Not 
 a ray of hope pierces its gloom. The future 
 grows darker and darker till it strikes the 
 " blackness of darkness forever " of which Jude 
 speaks. A busy life may make you forget it, 
 the whirl of pleasures may drive it from mind ; 
 but in moments of reflection you must admit 
 that gloom gathers about you. Thoughts of 
 God and eternity sadden and depress. A life 
 spent in sin is a shadow of worse than Egyptian 
 darkness. Truly it can be felt, for it pierces 
 the soul like black daggers. 
 
 The Days of a Christian, on the other 
 Hand, are as a Shadow in that they 
 are Refreshing and Pleasant. 
 
 See that caravan toiling across the desert! 
 Their water-supply is out. Weary, foot-sore, 
 
Shadow and Substance. 165 
 
 with parching lips and heated brows, they 
 trudge along almost ready to drop down and 
 die. But look yonder in the distance ! On 
 the horizon there is an appearance like trees. 
 Is it a mirage ? They quicken their pace, hope 
 and fear struggling for the mastery. The out- 
 lines of the trees are more distinct. Strength 
 returns, while they run in their eagerness to 
 reach the cool, refreshing spot. Now they are 
 in the shade, lying on the green grass and 
 drinking from the crystal spring that gurgles 
 up before them. They look out upon the 
 desert about them with gratitude that they 
 have escaped its scorching rays and blistering 
 sands. How refreshing the shadows that now 
 protect them, only those who have had their 
 experience can conceive. 
 
 Do you not remember a time when you were 
 trudging through the desert of your sins, the 
 scorching heat of conviction blistering your 
 soul ? Weary, thirsty, fainting, ready to die, 
 you caught a glimpse through some promise 
 in the Bible of rest and refreshment beneath 
 the atoning merit of Jesus Christ. You 
 hastened to Him and found rest for your soul. 
 Your thirst was quenched, and you have the 
 
1 66 Milk and Meat. 
 
 assurance that no thirst will ever return that 
 cannot be quenched in Him. Safe, you now 
 look out upon the desert of sin, through which 
 you have come, with exultant gratitude. You 
 are under the shadow of " a great rock in a 
 weary land," with the trees that bear sweetest 
 fruits growing about you. From their boughs 
 you pluck, eat, and rejoice. Yet you will find 
 some in the blistering desert of sin sagely 
 telling those who live in the refreshing shades 
 of God's love and mercy that they do not think 
 the Christian's life is a happy one. How do 
 you know ? Did you ever try it ? You have 
 never for a moment known what it is to repose 
 under the shadow of God's wing. You are a 
 blind man criticising color, a deaf man criticis- 
 ing music. You have no right to an opinion 
 until you have tried the service of God as 
 faithfully as you have the service of sin. 
 Those of us who have tried both are of David's 
 opinion, that it is better to be a doorkeeper in 
 the house of the Lord than to dwell in the 
 tents of wickedness. 
 
 It is better to have one hour of the pure 
 joy Christ gives than years of the pleasures of 
 sin. You are not a competent witness until 
 
Shadozv and Sitbstancc. 167 
 
 you have tested Christ. Give Him your heart 
 and life; and, if He does not treat you better 
 than the Devil has, then say so. But don't 
 express any opinion until you can know from 
 personal experience what you are talking about. 
 There are some who call themselves Christians 
 whose faces look like a funeral procession. 
 But their funereal character is caused by their 
 lack of what God would have them possess. 
 
 Heaven, our final home, is a very happy 
 place ; and our Father wants us to be happy 
 every step of the journey thither. " Rejoice 
 evermore." " Rejoice in the Lord always: and 
 again I say, Rejoice." I tell you there is nothing 
 funereal in the religion of Paul. 
 
 The Days of all on Earth are as a Shadow 
 in that they tell us what the sub- 
 stance will be. 
 
 Shadow implies substance. If I see the 
 shadow of a house, horse, or man, I look 
 up expecting to see a house, horse, or man. 
 The shadow outlines the substance. Tell me 
 how you spend these days of shadow, and T 
 will tell you on the authority of God's Word 
 how you will spend the substance, eternity. 
 
1 68 Milk and Meat. 
 
 This life is certainly an index to the life be- 
 yond. Is your life here one of faith in Christ, 
 obedience to His will, struggle against sin, 
 service to God and man, the substance that 
 follows will be heaven. I cannot tell you all 
 of it. Its golden streets, jasper walls, and 
 pearly gates show that it is a place prepared 
 in no niggardly way. It means love, holiness, 
 harmony, perfect service, and the infinite joy 
 that is sure to accompany these things. Put 
 together all the words in Webster's Dictionary 
 that mean something good, and then write on 
 a page by itself in large letters the word 
 HEAVEN as equal to them all, and you 
 have about the reality. It is surely worth 
 while to spend the shadows of earth in God's 
 service with the hope of such a substance 
 before us. 
 
 On the other hand, if your life is spent in 
 unbelief, sin, and selfishness, the substance will 
 be hell. It is a hard word, and a harder fact. 
 Take all the words in the dictionary that mean 
 something bad, and write opposite them in 
 great black letters this one word HELL. It 
 means the terrible results of sin — its guilt, 
 pollution, penalty, and power; sin working in 
 
Shadow and Substance. 1 69 
 
 an immortal soul, and burning like a fire, hot- 
 ter and more terrible than the fires that con- 
 sume the body. Such will be the substance 
 for those who spend the shadow to the end, 
 forgetful of God. You have heard of the 
 jester in an Eastern court whose king gave him 
 a staff, with the request that he give it to the 
 first man he might meet who was a bigger fool 
 than himself. After several years the king 
 took sick and was given up to die. He told 
 the jester that he must soon leave him. 
 " Where are you going?" asked the jester. "I 
 am going on a long journey into the future, 
 and I have made no preparation for it." " Did 
 you know that you were going to make such a 
 journey?" "Yes." "How long have you 
 known it?" "All my life." "And, knowing 
 it all your life, you have made no preparation 
 for it?" "None at all." "Then you are the 
 man," said the fool, " to whom at your own 
 request I ought to give this staff." Whether 
 the story be true or not, it brings home to us 
 the folly of making no preparation in the shadow 
 for the substance we are so rapidly approaching. 
 
I 70 Milk and Meat. 
 
 In the last Place, our Days on the Earth 
 are as A Shadow in that there is None 
 Abiding. 
 
 Shadows shift, and change, and disappear. 
 One great shadow may absorb another. The 
 shadow of the trees may be absorbed by 
 the denser shadow of the clouds. And so 
 death comes to the unbeliever like a greater 
 shadow absorbing the shadow of his days. 
 Death is simply passing from one shadow into 
 another denser and darker. Another way of 
 banishing shadows is to let in bright light 
 with equal intensity from every direction. Such 
 is the Christian's experience as he passes from 
 the shadows of earth into the light of heaven. 
 There are no shadows there, because the light 
 on all subjects is perfect. Mental light, moral 
 light, spiritual light, light of knowledge as to 
 God's dealing with us and God's laws in 
 nature, will be so bright that the shadows of 
 ignorance, through which we walk here, will 
 flee away before it. Death is, therefore, to 
 the Christian not a skeleton with drawn 
 scythe, but a radiant messenger of light. To 
 the unbeliever it is indeed a monster of hid- 
 
Shadow and Substance. I 7 1 
 
 eous mien, whose mission is to lead him into 
 the " blackness of darkness forever." Well 
 may he shrink from its clammy touch ! 
 
 An unknown poet has graphically sketched 
 the feeling with which different persons come 
 to the end of their life shadows : 
 
 There is a stream whose narrow tide 
 The known and unknown worlds divide, 
 
 Where all must go; 
 Its waveless waters, dark and deep, 
 'Mid sullen silence downward sweep 
 
 With moanless flow. 
 
 I saw there at the dreary flood 
 A smiling infant prattling stood, 
 
 Whose time was come : 
 Untaught of ill, it neared the tide, 
 Sank as to cradled rest, and died 
 
 Like going home. 
 
 Followed with languid eyes anon 
 A youth diseased and pale and wan, 
 
 And there alone : 
 He gazed upon the leaden stream 
 And feared to plunge : I heard a scream 
 
 And he was gone. 
 
 And then a form in manhood strength 
 Came bustling on till there at length 
 He saw life's bound : 
 
Milk and Meat. 
 
 He shrank, and raised the bitter prayer : 
 Too late — his shriek of wild despair 
 The waters drowned. 
 
 Next stood upon the surgeless shore 
 A being bowed with many a score 
 
 Of toilsome years : 
 Earth-bound and sad he left the bank, 
 Back turned his dimming eyes, and sank 
 
 So full of fears. 
 
 How bitter must thy waters be, 
 
 death ! how sad a thing to me 
 
 It is to die ! 
 
 1 mused — when to that stream again 
 Another child of mortal man 
 
 With smiles drew nigh : 
 
 " 'Tis the last pang," he calmly said ; 
 ' ' To me, O death, thou hast no dread : 
 
 Saviour, I come ; 
 Spread but Thine arms on yonder sh >re- 
 I see. Ye waters, bear me o'er : 
 
 There is my home." 
 
XVI. 
 DISCIPLESHIP. 
 
 " Then said Jesus to those Jews who believed on Him, If ye 
 continue in My word, ye are My disciples indeed : 
 
 " And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
 you free." — John 8 :3r, 32. 
 
 As soldiers, we fight " the good fight of 
 faith ;" as sheep, we follow the Shepherd ; as 
 stewards, we guard and use the treasures He 
 has given us ; as disciples, we sit at His feet 
 and learn. 
 
 The heart-thought of the text is discipleship, 
 and around this centre cluster its basis, its test, 
 its fruit, and its glory. 
 
 I. The Basis of Discipleship. 
 
 It is faith in Christ. "Jesus said to those 
 Jews who believed on Him." It is not faith in 
 
 173 
 
i 74 Milk and Meat. 
 
 a creed, though every word of it may be true. 
 It is not faith in a church, though it be the 
 church founded by Christ Himself. It is not 
 faith in an ordinance, though established by 
 the Lord. It is not faith even in a book, 
 though every word of it be inspired. It is 
 faith in a Person — the Lord Jesus Christ. Be- 
 lieving not about Him, but in Him, resting 
 your hope of salvation completely on Him. 
 
 II. The Test of Discipleship. 
 
 It is twofold, made up of time and truth. 
 "If ye continue, ye are My disciples indeed/' 
 Time is the test that tries the soil and the 
 seed. The seed that fell upon stony places 
 sprang up suddenly, but in a little while with- 
 ered. It could not stand the test of time. 
 Some of these Jews, under a temporary im- 
 pulse, expressed their faith in Christ. To- 
 morrow, among unsympathetic and persecuting 
 Pharisees, they may deny Him. Continuance is 
 the test. Only the man who continues has 
 really begun. 
 
 And it is continuance in the word of Christ : 
 " If ye continue in My word, ye are My dis- 
 
Discipleship. 1 75 
 
 ciples indeed." What is meant by " My 
 word?" Only the utterances of Jesus, or the 
 whole Word to which He subscribed? In His 
 prayer for the disciples He said : u Sanctify 
 them through Thy truth : Thy word is truth." 
 " Thus saith the Lord " rings through the 
 prophets, and Christ put His name to the writ- 
 ings of Moses, the Psalms, and <the prophets. 
 So that what we call the Bible may be, in a 
 very true sense, called the Word of Christ. 
 The tendency of the times is not to continue 
 in that Word, but rather to criticise it ; not to 
 seek to cultivate faith in it, but rather to 
 upset faith. 
 
 And the lack of Biblical knowledge which 
 some of the critics show is amusing, if not 
 alarming. I read of one the other day who 
 said he could not accept that story about the 
 ark: he was a dealer in lumber, and the ark 
 was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high, 
 and if it had been filled with food and ani- 
 mals, it must have weighed thousands of tons. 
 " Now," he said, " you cannot make me believe 
 that men could carry such a thing as that 
 through the wilderness." His mixture of the 
 arks is a fair sample of the mixture of facts 
 
i 76 Milk and Meat. 
 
 for which some critics of, the Bible are noted. 
 They dip into the Word here and there, read 
 magazine articles on it, books about it, but 
 have never carefully and persistently studied it. 
 May we seek to continue in the Word rather 
 than to* criticise it ! 
 
 I believe that the Bible can stand every test 
 of honest criticism. I like to see the old 
 Book tried by all fair methods. It can take 
 care of itself ; it needs no defenders. It has 
 stood the onslaught of ages, and in times past 
 its enemies were stronger than they are now. 
 But the test of discipleship is not finding fault 
 with the Word, but continuing in it. 
 
 III. The Fruit of Discipleship. 
 
 " Ye shall know the truth." Pilate's ques- 
 tion, " What is truth ? " is here answered. If 
 ye would know truth, believe in Him who is 
 the truth, and continue in His Word. John 
 Newton, as he grew old, lost his memory, but 
 he used to say, " Two things I can never for- 
 get : I am a great sinner, and Jesus Christ is 
 a great Saviour." Such knowledge of the 
 truth makes a man broad and narrow. The 
 
Discipleship. 1 7 7 
 
 fact that he loves spiritual truth makes him 
 sympathize all the more with moral, scientific, 
 and historic truth. The realm of truth is 
 one, ruled by the God of truth. The Bible and 
 nature belong to the same empire. But truth 
 can never sympathize with falsehood any more 
 than light can with darkness, disease with 
 health, honesty with roguery, virtue with vice. 
 There is a breadth of latter times in which 
 many see great beauty ; a sympathy with 
 everything and a holding to nothing tena- 
 ciously. I saw a broad river the other day, 
 250 yards wide, running through the mountains 
 over stones, down the cataract, eddying in 
 quiet pools ; and after a while it narrowed 
 down to about 40 feet in width, and there it 
 was 100 feet deep, running with the swiftness 
 of an arrow. At this narrow place men think 
 of building their factories ; there is the place 
 of power. And the man who would be 
 broader than what he believes to be true loses 
 power in proportion to his breadth. He who 
 is willing to be as broad as all truth, and not 
 a whit broader, will have the power that goes 
 with truth blessed by the God of truth, 
 
i ;S Milk and Meat. 
 
 IV. The Glory of Discipleship. 
 
 " The truth shall make you free." It does 
 not help us to free ourselves. It makes us 
 free. Some prisoners in Malta during a plague 
 were offered their liberty on condition that 
 they leave their isolated cells and nurse the 
 afflicted. They accepted the condition, and 
 thus won their liberty. Christ does better 
 than that for us : He not only shows how we 
 may be free, but He makes us free. He 
 breaks the shackles; He issues the Emanci- 
 pation Proclamation, and stands ready with the 
 arm of His omnipotence to enforce the de- 
 cree that every one who believes in Him shall 
 be free. 
 
 Freed from what ? From sin, of course, 
 Past sins often hound us; sins never get out 
 of date. But Jesus Christ frees us from the 
 guilt and penalty of every past sin. 
 
 Three prisoners in a Wisconsin penitentiary 
 escaped by digging a tunnel after the fashion 
 of the Libby Prison tunnel. They worked on 
 it two years, and finally at an opportune time 
 made their escape. In the fresh, free air, they 
 
Discipleship* 1 79 
 
 felt very happy ; but in less than ten days the 
 officers of the law had put them behind the 
 walls again and stopped up the tunnel. Their 
 temporary freedom did not last. But the man 
 who has been freed by Jesus Christ shall never 
 be brought into condemnation. His guilt has 
 been annihilated. He stands now before God 
 as if he had never sinned. 
 
 " Oh, for such grace let rocks and hills 
 Their lasting silence break, 
 And all harmonious human tongues 
 The Father's praises speak !" 
 
 Again, the truth frees us from the law. 
 Lazarus is liberated from his grave-clothes. 
 Love takes the place of law. A home gov- 
 erned by rules is apt to be a prison. A school 
 where nobody is put on his honor, but every- 
 thing must work by rule, is not apt to be well 
 governed. Some boys have no honor to be 
 put upon, so that they must be treated as con- 
 victs ; but when the scholars love the truth and 
 the teacher, it is safer to let love and honor 
 rule. I read the other day of a man and his 
 wife in Iowa, who discovered after they were 
 
i So Milk and Meat. 
 
 married that they were not happy; so they drew 
 up a matrimonial contract, in which the wife 
 promised not to scold or quarrel and to per- 
 form all her duties, on condition that the hus- 
 band would give her for all needs one hundred 
 dollars a month. They w r ere soon in court, the 
 husband protesting that the wife had not fulfilled 
 her condition, and the wife charging that the 
 husband had failed to fulfil his. The result 
 was a suit for divorce. But you know of 
 homes where love is law : the father rules 
 by love ; the wife is the queen of love. No 
 law is needed, for love is the fulfilling of law. 
 Such a home is an anthem of harmony day by 
 day. 
 
 We are freed from ceremonial law. Men who 
 are the slaves of sin are sometimes bound by 
 ceremonial law. Two burglars were heard con- 
 versing during Lent. One said to the other : 
 " Jack, I know r where there is a safe with one 
 hundred thousand dollars in it ; let 's crack it 
 to-night !" "I am not the man," said Jack, "to 
 crack a safe during Lent. We should practise 
 self-denial." After Lent was over he was ready 
 for the safe-cracking, and with no qualm of 
 conscience. The truth as it is in Jesus frees us 
 
Disciples hip, 1 8 1 
 
 from law, and yet leads us lovingly to obey 
 the law without feeling its restraint. 
 
 We are freed from habit — bad habit, if you 
 please : the habit, for instance, of drink and 
 tobacco. Now let us be careful. We may 
 hurt some tender conscience. There is a dif- 
 ference, I think, between tobacco and alcohol, 
 though not so much as many suppose, for 
 much tobacco is at least one tenth alcohol. 
 But when a man becomes the slave of tobacco, 
 he is not very different from the slave of 
 drink. It may not lead him to abuse his wife 
 and children, but he is not a free man. Now, 
 if you have ever said : " I cannot quit tobacco/' 
 make up your mind to do it or die. Say as 
 Mr. Henson of Chicago, when he found that 
 he was a slave to the weed, laying his cigar on 
 the table, said : " You black rascal, I will not 
 serve you any longer." The truth as it is in 
 Jesus can free any sort of slave from any sort 
 of habit. 
 
 Even from a good habit we sometimes need 
 to be freed. Men may perform religious 
 duties by routine until they become mere 
 machines. They act not from principle. I 
 have heard of a dog belonging to a Pres- 
 
[82 Milk and Meat. 
 
 byterian elder, which went to church every 
 Sunday, slept in front of the pulpit during 
 the sermon, shook himself during the doxology, 
 and walked out with a joyful expression. The 
 old Presbyterian elder died, and a Baptist 
 deacon bought his farm. The dog remained 
 on the farm, went with the Baptist family to 
 the village the next Sunday, and on arriving 
 at the Presbyterian church he was surprised 
 that the family did not turn in as usual, but 
 he went in, lay down before the pulpit, slept 
 through the sermon, went home after the ser- 
 vice, and for five or six years, as long as his 
 dogship lived, he kept up the habit of attend- 
 ing his own church. He could not be induced 
 to change his denominational relation. There 
 was no principle involved ; it was simply the 
 force of habit. Just as that dog went to 
 church by force of habit, we often go through 
 family prayers, reading the Bible, and other 
 religious duties, in the most mechanical way. 
 If we truly believe in Christ, continue in His 
 Word, and know the truth, we shall be freed 
 from mechanism. The life principle within us 
 will work. And that brings me to say, lastly, 
 that all this freedom must come from within, 
 
Disciples hip. 1 8 3 
 
 not from without. Men are to be saved by 
 the Gospel rather than by law. The sheriff 
 and the penitentiary can never redeem the 
 soul. Now I believe in punishing criminals : 
 men that break the law ought to be put be- 
 hind iron bars — Christian sentiment should de- 
 mand it ; but the old warden of the Ohio 
 penitentiary was right when he called his 
 institution the impenitentiary, for he said he 
 rarely ever turned out any penitents. The 
 freedom of soul we seek must come through 
 an inward knowing of the truth. It must be 
 as fruit upon the tree of faith and knowledge. 
 One of the master painters has left a strik- 
 ing picture. It represents the scene in the 
 wilderness when the Israelites were bitten by 
 fiery serpents. The serpent of brass is gleam- 
 ing on the hill. A group of bitten, horror- 
 stricken men and women are tearing the ser- 
 pents from their arms and sides. Yonder is 
 another group covered with serpents, bowing 
 before Moses, and with clasped hands are 
 pleading for deliverance; but Moses cannot 
 help them, and other serpents strike as soon 
 as one is torn away. But the majority of 
 the people are looking toward the serpent of 
 
184 Milk and Meat 
 
 brass, and the serpents are falling off as dead 
 from their persons. There is no need of 
 tearing them away. The picture illustrates 
 two methods that are prevalent : one is to 
 save from sin by external means, tearing the 
 evil from us ; and the other is by taking into 
 our hearts the life which develops and strength- 
 ens, and casts out the evil. That brings true 
 liberty — the only liberty that will last. " If ye 
 continue in My word, ye are My disciples in- 
 deed : and ye shall know the truth, and the 
 truth shall make you free." 
 
XVII. 
 CONSTRAINING LOVE. 
 
 " The love of Christ constraineth us." — 2 Cor. 5 : 14. 
 
 DOES this mean the love of Christ for us, 
 or our love for Christ ? Evidently the love of 
 Christ for us, though by implication our love 
 for Christ. " We love Him because He first 
 loved us." Our love is kindled at the altar 
 of Christ's love. Our purpose in this discourse, 
 however, is to study the word " constrain. " I 
 believe in plenary inspiration, not in a me- 
 chanical theory. John wrote as John, Peter 
 as Peter, Paul as Paul; the Holy Spirit not 
 making them automatons or machines, but 
 using their different personalities. When I am 
 , convinced that a chapter or verse is not an 
 interpolation, but contains the words that were 
 written by inspired minds, then to me that 
 
 scripture is verbally inspired. God speaks not 
 
 185 
 
1 86 Milk and Meat. 
 
 through sentences, paragraphs, or books, but 
 through words. One word at least is inspired. 
 "Not seeds, as of many," said Paul, "but 
 seed." The Spirit was particular to give us the 
 singular rather than the plural. Some words 
 are like gold mines with a few nuggets on 
 the surface — an index to the rich ores w T hich 
 lie beneath ; and such is this w r ord " constrain." 
 Let us dig into it. 
 
 The first thing we learn is: 
 
 I. Unity and Community. 
 
 It means primarily — binds its together. The 
 love of Christ unites us. The love of country 
 unites men. When the tocsin of w T ar sounds, 
 merchants, mechanics, lawyers, doctors, com- 
 mon laborers, rally to the flag, though many 
 of them may speak different languages — 
 French, German, Italian standing in the ranks 
 side by side, moving as one man. They have 
 a common purpose, born of a common love. 
 The heterogeneous mass has been melted by 
 the fires of patriotism, fused into the same 
 mould. So the love of Christ binds men to- 
 gether, though they be far apart in channels 
 
Constraining Love. 1 8 7 
 
 of thought, in nationality, language, occupa- 
 tion. I defy any one to meditate an hour on 
 the love of Christ for him, and then cherish 
 in his heart hatred toward his neighbor. 
 
 As the result of this unity, there will be 
 community. The early disciples had all things 
 in common. It was brought about not by 
 statute law, but by love. A conception of the 
 love of Christ, as manifested in the sacrifice of 
 Himself upon Calvary, had gotten hold of 
 them, and His spirit of sacrifice showed itself 
 in their yielding what they had for the supply 
 of the community. Love begotten by the love 
 of Christ abhors a vacuum. It seeks to fill 
 the place of want and woe. But could such 
 a state of affairs exist forever? If the same 
 love reigned, it would be in active operation 
 to-day. 
 
 II. Perplexity and Distress. 
 
 Paul said, " I am in a strait betwixt two, 
 having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ ; 
 which is far better " (Phil. 1 : 23). The word 
 translated " in a strait " is this word " con- 
 strain/' Two forces were drawing Paul — 
 
[88 Milk and Meat. 
 
 heaven and earth ; the desire to be at rest, 
 and to toil on ; his anxiety to be with Christ, 
 and the obligation which he felt to remain and 
 help his brethren. 
 
 So the love of Christ sometimes perplexes 
 us ; puts us " in a strait betwixt tw r o." The 
 love of parents may draw in one direction, 
 while the love of Christ draws in another, and 
 the result is great perplexity as to our duty. 
 "When I would do good, evil is present with 
 me." My love for Christ makes me want to 
 do good, while my fleshly nature inclines me 
 to evil. Blessed perplexity this ! Better to be 
 perplexed by these two contending forces than 
 that the evil should have it all its own way 
 and leave us in the rest of a deadened con- 
 science. And to perplexity there is often 
 added distress. " I have a baptism to be bap- 
 tized with, and how am I straitened until it 
 be accomplished ! " said Jesus. " Straitened " 
 here is this word "constrained.'' Before Christ 
 was Gethsemane and Calvary, an immersion 
 of suffering. His love for us drew Him toward 
 it, while the shrinking of the flesh, as seen 
 in the garden, drew Him from it. His love 
 for us constrained Him, pressed Him toward 
 
Constraining Love. 1 89 
 
 Calvary, until the suffering was over. So the 
 love of Christ constrains us to accept what- 
 ever Calvary may be put in our way, whatever 
 suffering for the good of others God may call 
 upon us to endure. 
 
 III. Restraint. 
 
 " For the days shall come upon thee, that 
 thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, 
 and compass thee round, and keep thee in on 
 every side" (Luke 19:43). 
 
 The word translated "keep in" is this word 
 "constrain." The army of Titus had besieged 
 Jerusalem, encompassing it, and holding the 
 inhabitants within the walls. They could not 
 sally forth ; they were prisoners. And the love 
 of Christ bears something of the relation to 
 us that this besieging army of Titus bore 
 toward the Jews. It keeps us from going 
 out into doubtful indulgences, unrestrained 
 passions — ways that God would not approve. 
 We are under a blessed restraint ; not of 
 power, but of love. The mother is restrained 
 from injuring her child, but it is a restraint 
 which is joy, and the liberty of hurting her 
 
1 90 Milk and Meat. 
 
 child would be painful to her. We are told 
 in Luke 22:63, "The men that held Jesus 
 mocked Him, and smote Him." This word 
 ''held" is the "constrain" of the text; the 
 Roman soldiers held Him as a prisoner. Their 
 object was to humiliate Him. The love of 
 Christ, however, holds us as prisoners for the 
 purpose of elevating, inspiring, and comforting 
 us. A delightful condition, indeed, to be a 
 prisoner of the love of Jesus Christ ! The 
 world is led captive by the Devil at his will ; 
 the Christian, by Jesus at His will : one hypno- 
 tized of evil ; the other of good. The world is 
 led by the sirens' song toward destruction ; the 
 Christian is drawn by the angelic music of 
 Christ's love toward heaven. 
 
 And this encompassing, protecting power 
 shuts out evil. The besieging army of Titus, 
 while it kept the Jews within the walls, kept 
 other enemies from approaching. The Roman 
 soldiers kept others from the person of Christ. 
 They would not deliver Him to the mob 
 who howled for His blood. The same idea 
 we find in Acts 7:57. Those who stoned 
 Stephen " cried out with a loud voice, stopped 
 their ears, and ran upon him with one ac- 
 
Constraining Love. 1 9 1 
 
 cord/' The word translated "stopped" is this 
 word " constrained." They shut out the cries 
 of the people, and made themselves deaf to 
 everything that would keep them from accom- 
 plishing their purpose. And so the love of 
 Christ shuts out the forces that would keep 
 us from doing what He commands. 
 
 IV. Pressure. 
 
 Jesus is on His way to the house of Jairus. 
 A great multitude crowd around Him and 
 throng Him. He said, " Who touched Me?" 
 The disciples replied, " The multitude throng 
 Thee and press Thee, and sayest Thou, 
 Who touched Me?" (Luke 8:45). This word 
 " pressed" is the " constrain" of our text. 
 How beautiful the thought ! Love throngs 
 and presses us like that multitude about our 
 Lord. 
 
 There is the pressure of blessing. Political 
 blessings crowd us. We have civil liberty. 
 We may worship God as our conscience dic- 
 tates. Persecution by thumb-screw and rack is 
 forever gone. Social blessings press upon us. 
 We have close about us many in sympathy 
 
1 92 Milk and Meat. 
 
 with our hopes and aspirations, and who unite 
 with us in work for God. Physical blessings ; 
 God gives us health. Literary blessings ; we 
 may fill our homes with good books. Gospel 
 blessings ; the Bible full of promises, and God's 
 providence full of love. Such a pressure of 
 blessings the love of Christ causes to throng 
 us. 
 
 But with this there is the pressure of obli- 
 gation. We are told in Acts 18:5, " Paul was 
 pressed in the spirit, and testified to the Jews 
 that Jesus was the Christ. " The word translated 
 l< pressed in spirit" is our friend " constrain." 
 It was the pressure of responsibility. Paul had 
 the bread of life, and he felt that he ought to 
 give it to others. He believed in Christ, and 
 he was pressed to say so. Now this is a bur- 
 den which we cannot cast upon others. God, 
 even, wall not bear it. There are other burdens 
 of sorrow, sin, and struggle that we may cast 
 upon Him, and He will sustain us. There are 
 burdens which we may share with each other, 
 and we are commanded to bear one another's 
 burdens; but here "Let every one bear his own 
 burden." No man can do my duty for me. 
 No one can take my place. No one can obey 
 
Constraining Love. 1 93 
 
 God by proxy ; and heavier than all other re- 
 sponsibilities of life is the responsibility of 
 testifying, through character as well as words, 
 for Christ. 
 
 During a naval battle, an English vessel had 
 been swept by shot and shell. More than one 
 half of the marines were dead or dying ; their 
 bodies covered the deck. Captain Haldane 
 ordered the reserves to come up and take the 
 places of the slain, and when they reached the 
 deck and saw the bodies and blood of their 
 slain companions, they were seized with a 
 panic. The captain drew his sword, and rush- 
 ing before them said, " Cowards that you are — 
 
 I wish you were in h ! " An old Scotch 
 
 marine went quietly up to the captain, and 
 saluting him, said, " I believe that God answers 
 prayer, and if your prayer had been answered, 
 where would we be?" After the battle the 
 captain thought of the faithfulness of this old 
 marine, who had been slain during the conflict. 
 It led him to reflection, to prayer, to Christ. 
 Captain Haldane became a preacher in the 
 city of Edinburgh, and through his influence 
 Robert Haldane, whose voice shook Geneva as 
 he proclaimed the Gospel, was converted ; all 
 
194 Milk and Meat. 
 
 traceable back to the faithful testimony which 
 the old Scotch marine bore to Christ in that 
 critical hour. More weighty than the responsi- 
 bility of fighting for his country ; more weighty 
 than submission to his superior ; more weighty 
 than the terror of the bloody scene before him 
 was the responsibility of testifying for Christ. 
 The love of Christ constrained to it. 
 
 A physician in Holland, once a Jew, now a 
 Christian, became greatly interested in an old 
 Jewish friend, wealthy and honored. He was 
 so pressed in spirit that he determined to go 
 over and have an hour's talk with him one 
 evening. When he arrived at the palatial resi- 
 dence of his friend, he found a party gather- 
 ing ; a number of the guests were there. He 
 went in, shook hands with his friend, and 
 told him that he had called upon an impor- 
 tant mission ; but it seemed inopportune, and 
 he would wait until a more convenient season. 
 The Jewish friend, his curiosity aroused, in- 
 sisted that he should make his mission known. 
 " Well, it was that we might talk together 
 about the Messiah. I think I have found Him, 
 and I want to tell you about Him." " Why," 
 replied the wealthy old Jew, " I have been 
 
Constraining Love. 195 
 
 thinking about that of late myself, and was 
 anxious to talk to somebody about it. Come 
 in, and before the festivities begin you can 
 talk to us all on the subject." And the faith- 
 ful witness stood before the company, and tes- 
 tified that Jesus was the Christ. The result 
 was the conversion of his Jewish friend and 
 some of the guests. The love of Christ 
 pressed upon him the responsibility of saving 
 others. " By all means," said Paul, "save 
 some." 
 
 V. Enthusiasm. 
 
 In Luke 4:38 we read, " Simon's wife's 
 mother was taken with a great fever." That 
 word " taken" is " constrained." The fever 
 had possession of her. The same word is used 
 in Matthew 4 : 24 : " Taken with divers diseases 
 and torments." The love of Christ takes hold 
 of me like a fever — like an incurable disease ; 
 like a demoniacal possession. Does not that 
 imply something of fanaticism ? Can we keep 
 a cool head while we have a heart raging with 
 such a fever of love? Better a thousand fold 
 love at fever heat, love holding us like a de- 
 
196 Milk and Meat. 
 
 moniacal possession, than the cold iceberg, 
 freezing state of dignified inactivity. " The 
 people of the Gadarenes," we are told, "were 
 taken with great fear." "Taken" is "con- 
 strained M again. Christ had cast out a devil 
 sending the swine into the water. They were 
 trembling in the presence of his power, so 
 that they hardly knew what to do. They 
 were held captives by their fear, as Simon's 
 wife's mother was by fever. So we need to 
 be held captives by the love of Christ, and 
 keep at the point of warm enthusiasm in his 
 service. 
 
XVIII. 
 PURE RELIGION. 
 
 " Pure religion and undented before God and the Father is 
 this to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction, 
 and to keep himself unspotted from the world." — James 1:27. 
 
 The word " religion " is used but five times 
 in the Bible. This is the only passage in 
 which it is approved and commended. Paul 
 says that he lived, " after the strictest sect of 
 his religion, a Pharisee. " He speaks in two 
 other places of the "Jews' religion, " and in 
 the verse just preceding this he describes a 
 class of men whose " religion " is vain. 
 Through a man's religious instincts he may be 
 degraded or elevated. The heathen are more 
 debased by their religion than by any other 
 force. 
 
 The only kind of religion that is worth 
 
 having is the " pure and undefiled." The 
 
 197 
 
i 9 S Milk and Meat, 
 
 word " pure " describes its inward quality. It 
 is the word used in the beatitude, 44 Blessed 
 die the pure in heart," and again in the Script- 
 ure, " Ye are clean through the word which I 
 have spoken unto you." It is a religion 
 washed in the blood of Christ ; our whole re- 
 ligious nature purified by taking Christ into it 
 and making Him king of it. The word 
 " undefiled " refers to the outward quality. It 
 means primarily unstained, unvarnished. That 
 which is washed white needs not to be white- 
 washed. A religion pure inside is apt to be 
 undefiled outside. 
 
 This religion, " pure and undefiled," is pre- 
 sented to us in two aspects : First, as helpful 
 contact with the needy. Second, as guarded 
 separation from the world. 
 
 I. Helpful Contact. 
 
 To visit means more than to drop in for a 
 call, to talk about the weather. It means 
 more than going from house to house as 
 pastor and checking off the names which you 
 have visited. It is the word used where the 
 apostles are commanded to look out seven 
 
Ptirc Religion. 199 
 
 men of good report. We are not to sit down 
 and wait for people to come to us to be 
 helped and saved, but we must look them out. 
 And it carries with it the idea of ministry : 
 " The dayspring from on high hath visited 
 us." The " dayspring " there certainly refers 
 to Christ, so that just as Christ visited the 
 world and ministered to it, so we are to 
 visit the orphans and widows in their afflic- 
 tions. The word " orphans " is the same that 
 Jesus used when He said, " I will not leave 
 you comfortless " (orphans). Imagine, if you 
 can, the condition of the disciples if Jesus had 
 left them without sending the Holy Spirit as 
 guide, protector, helper in their bewilderment, 
 their helplessness, their need ! We are, there- 
 fore, commanded to keep ourselves in helpful 
 contact with everybody who answers to the 
 class of these disciples in that condition. 
 
 The word " orphan," without father or 
 mother, represents an orphaned world. There 
 are needs of the soul as deep as the needs of 
 the body, and people may have plenty of 
 wealth while they are orphaned from God. 
 " In their affliction " shows the condition of 
 these needy ones. It is not my duty to seek 
 
200 Milk and Meat. 
 
 out the fatherless who are wealthy enough not 
 to need my help, and the widows who are not 
 widows indeed, and independent of others' 
 assistance. I would thus keep the letter 
 of the law, while I violated its spirit. The 
 word "affliction" means primarily pressure. 
 " Pressed above strength and beyond measure," 
 said Paul — the same word. Wherever a man, 
 woman or child, under the pressures of life, 
 crushed beneath its burdens, can be found, 
 " pure religion and undefiled " will lead me to 
 put myself in helpful contact with them. 
 Simply sending a check does not suffice, nor 
 standing above, and touching with kid gloves 
 in a patronizing way, for " kid gloves are non- 
 conductors." As Jesus put Himself, a man 
 among men, comforting, strengthening, feeding, 
 helping, so "pure religion" w r ould lead us to 
 be among our fellows as a real helper to them 
 under the burdens of life. 
 
 A little boy finding an old newspaper seller 
 on a corner of a street in Chicago, so hoarse 
 that he could not cry his papers, volunteered 
 with his strong young voice to sell the old 
 man's papers for him. That was the spirit 
 which helps the helpless, and to that boy the 
 
Pure Religion. 20 1 
 
 old man was as the orphan and the widow. 
 A little girl heard her mother speak of Christ 
 as very poor, not having where to lay His 
 head. " If I had been there, mamma, I would 
 have given Him my pillow," said the child. 
 Such is the spirit which " pure religion and 
 undefiled " makes ; and in helping the needy, 
 especially of the household of faith, we help 
 Christ. They are His representatives upon 
 earth, and in helping them we help Him. The 
 desire thus to help is certain to be gratified. 
 Adoniram Judson prayed during his lifetime 
 that he might be a missionary to the Jews in 
 some way, and, while he was in his last sick- 
 ness, his wife read from the Watchman of 
 a Jew in Constantinople, who, having accepted 
 Christ himself, had been translating the " Life 
 of Judson " for his own people, and the effect 
 of that little book among them had been to 
 induce them to send for a missionary to lead 
 them into the light. The news so agitated 
 Judson that he could not control his feelings. 
 " Wife," he said, " who would have thought 
 that God, instead of answering my prayers 
 by using me in person as a missionary, should 
 use my life ? " His desire to put himself in 
 
202 Milk and Meat. 
 
 contact with this needy people God answered 
 by carrying him thus through the book to 
 them. 
 
 That good Christian woman in New York who 
 was not satisfied with simply paying the salary 
 of a missionary among the poor, but went with 
 her and came in contact with the needy, is a 
 living illustration of this truth. The blessing 
 that she received by contact with suffering 
 was to her as great as the ministry she car- 
 ried to others. This helpful contact with the 
 needy reacts in blessing upon ourselves. 
 
 II. A Guarded Separation. 
 
 The word " keep " has in it the idea of 
 guarding. It is the word used where we are 
 told that the soldiers guarded Jesus : " They sat 
 down and watched Him there/' Protection is 
 the idea. Now if we have fulfilled the first 
 condition of the text, we need not be careful 
 about the second. The man who is all the 
 time in helpful contact with the needy, striving 
 to do good, seeking to save souls, is sure to 
 
Pure Religion. 203 
 
 keep himself " unspotted from the world." 
 This activity is his safety. In a very sweet 
 sense, " the Lord is our keeper/' We commit 
 ourselves to Him, feeling assured that " He will 
 keep that which we have committed unto Him 
 against that day." But there is another sense 
 in which we are to keep ourselves : " Keep 
 thyself pure." " Whosoever is born of God 
 keepeth himself." Faith is not presumption. 
 The Lord Jesus would not cast Himself down 
 from the pinnacle of the temple in order that 
 the Father might simply display His power in 
 keeping Him from harm. So we need the 
 cautious spirit. 
 
 The word " unspotted " is very suggestive ; 
 it means not bespattered. Keep thyself in such 
 relation to the world as not to be spattered by 
 it. We can thus be in the world and not of 
 it, and so deport ourselves toward it that the 
 purity of our religion shall not be spattered 
 by its pollution. I have known men who were 
 good Christians, pure in heart, but in business 
 and social relations had become spattered. 
 They went into business determined to be 
 honest ; but the atmosphere in which they 
 
204 Milk and A feat. 
 
 moved, the maxims oi men with whom they 
 came in contact, so influenced them that their 
 very honesty was spattered by the dishonesty 
 thers. Oh, how many good men have had 
 their characters spattered by doubtful actions, 
 by some mistake they have made, by not 
 being thoroughly and at all times true to their 
 convictions ! 
 
 I was hurrying across Fulton Street the 
 other day, on my way to an appointment in 
 the country. It was just after a rain. and. as I 
 started across, a wagon came lumbering by. 
 and spattered me with mud from head to 
 foot. Imagine my feelings! Dare I go out to 
 Orange to make an address, as was my pur- 
 pose, before a thousand people, thus spattered 
 all over with mud ? Those who saw me in that 
 plight might have thought that I was cleanly 
 enough in my habits, but certainly I was spat- 
 tered, and they would think more of the spat- 
 tering, doubtless, than of what I was saying. I 
 was therefore compelled to take the time, 
 hurried as I was. to remove the spattered mud 
 from my clothing. And so. Christian brother, 
 good as you may be in your heart, pure as 
 your religion is. if you put yourself in certain 
 
Pure Religion. 205 
 
 relations, the muddy wheels of the world will 
 spatter you all over. 
 
 This kind of religion, pure and undefiled 
 and unspattered by the world, stands the test 
 of God's inspection. " Pure religion and unde- 
 filed before God and the Father." I used to 
 urge men to be careful as to their walk before 
 men. My sermons on that subject I have laid 
 aside. Be careful as to how you walk before 
 God, and then you may be careless about your 
 walk before the world. If we walk as we 
 should before God, we are certain to walk 
 right before the world. After all, God's 
 opinion is what we need here and hereafter, 
 and His " Well done " is a foretaste of heaven 
 upon earth. I should like to be, and have you 
 all to be, just what James Russell Lowell said 
 Clinton B. Fisk, the Prohibition candidate for 
 President, was : 
 
 " He stood upon the world's broad threshold ; wide 
 
 The din of battle and of slaughter rose ; 
 He saw God standing upon the weaker side 
 
 That sank in seeming loss before its foes. 
 Many there were who made great haste and sold 
 
 Unto the common enemy their swords ; 
 He scorned their gifts of fame and power and gold, 
 
 And underneath their soft and flowery words 
 
Milk and Meat. 
 
 Heard the cole serpent hiss ; therefore he went 
 And humbly joined to the weaker par: ; 
 
 Fanatic named, and fool, ye: well cor.::: 
 
 S< he could be the nearer to God's heart, 
 And feel its - rises sending blood 
 
 Through all the widespread veins of endless good." 
 
XIX. 
 A GROWING FAITH. 
 
 4 'And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken 
 unto him." — John 4 : 50. 
 
 Few things are more interesting than the 
 growth of a child, body and mind, from in- 
 fancy to manhood ; but more interesting still 
 is the growth of the new child, the result of 
 the second birth — growth from spiritual infancy 
 to spiritual manhood. And in the text and 
 context we have a growth like this. Weak 
 faith has become strong faith. We shall trace 
 this growth, and learn, if we can, the secret 
 by which weak faith may become strong. Let 
 us examine — 
 
 I. The Signs of a Weak Faith ; 
 II, Th^ Signs of a Strong Faith. 
 
 20 
 
208 Milk and Meat. 
 
 I. The Signs of a Weak Faith. 
 
 They are four : 
 
 i. Demanding Visible Proof. — " Except ye see 
 signs and wonders," said Jesus, "ye will not 
 believe. " We desire to see. " Seeing is believ- 
 ing/' says the old proverb ; and yet we may 
 be deceived through sight more readily than 
 through almost any other sense. Faith based 
 upon sight is very weak. " The devils believe 
 and tremble/' They see evidences of God's 
 power which they cannot deny, and they trem- 
 ble before it. It is really unbelief which de- 
 mands visible proof. It was the unbelief of 
 Thomas which made him say, " I will not be- 
 lieve till I see." And Jesus rebuked him 
 when He said, ".Blessed are they that have 
 not seen and yet have believed." Said the 
 rich man in Hades : " Send Lazarus that he 
 may tell my five brethren not to come to this 
 place of torment ; if one rise from the dead 
 they will believe." "No," said Abraham; "if 
 they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither 
 will they be persuaded though one rose from 
 the dead." And if I, through the power of 
 God, could raise from the dead every corpse 
 in Greenwood Cemetery, and march the living 
 
A Growing Faith. 209 
 
 men and women through the streets, Brooklyn 
 would not believe. Men who will not hear 
 God as He speaks through the Bible will not 
 hear Him when He speaks through miracles. 
 
 2. Another Sign of Weak Faith is that it 
 must be driven to God by Overwhelming Need. 
 — This nobleman's son was at the point of 
 death. Every physician had doubtless been 
 tried, and the most skilful had given up the 
 case. In this time of great distress the father 
 thinks of Jesus, and starts for Him. It is like a 
 man on a vessel in a storm at sea, when he feels 
 the timbers cracking beneath him, and imagines 
 the depth to which he may soon sink, calling 
 out, " Lord, have mercy upon me ! " It is like 
 the soldier's cry, so often heard in battle, 
 when he feels the bullet strike him : " Lord, 
 have mercy ! " It is like repentance on a 
 death -bed — the sailor throwing all the goods 
 overboard in a tempest, and then seeking to 
 gather them up in the calm that follows. 
 
 Such faith is better than no faith, but it is 
 not so good as the faith that draws us to 
 God by gratitude and love. It is better to be 
 driven than not to come at all ; it is still 
 better to be drawn. Doubtless this nobleman 
 
2 io Milk and Meat. 
 
 had heard of Christ many times; but he did 
 not go to Him. He may have had opportu- 
 nities of inviting Him to his house, but he 
 did not improve them. Not until the great 
 sorrow comes, which he hopes Jesus may re- 
 lieve, does he come to Him at all. Zaccheus, 
 on the other hand, invited the Lord to dine 
 with him when there was no sorrow to be re- 
 lieved. His faith was, therefore, better than 
 that of the nobleman. 
 
 Matthew invited the Lord to a feast at his 
 house. He wished Him to share his joys. And 
 such faith strikes me as of a higher order than 
 that which drives us by sheer force of distress 
 to seek relief from Christ. 
 
 3. A Third Sign of Weak Faith is that, while 
 it prays, it dictates to God. — This father be- 
 sought Jesus that He would come down and 
 heal his son. He does not make known his 
 wants and leave to Christ the manner in 
 which they shall be supplied. He wants Christ 
 to come to his house. I think I perceive the 
 tone of patronage in this invitation. A noble- 
 man rarely ever forgets that he is a nobleman, 
 and he says to himself, " Only the rabble have 
 honored Jesus. I will now invite Him to my 
 
A Grow '/no- Faith. 2 1 1 
 
 "cb 
 
 mansion, and be the first among the nobility 
 to show Him respect, if He will come and 
 heal my son " — a spirit just the opposite of the 
 centurion's, who said, " I am not worthy that 
 Thou shouldst come beneath my roof : but speak 
 the word, and my servant shall be healed." 
 Here humility dictates to Christ ; but He ac- 
 cepts the dictation neither of patronizing pride 
 nor of great humility. He goes uninvited to 
 the centurion's house, and heals his servant. 
 He refuses to go, though invited, to the noble- 
 man's house, while He heals his son with a 
 word. Perfect faith does not dictate to God, 
 but much of our praying consists in this hum- 
 ble or patronizing dictation. We try to con- 
 vince God that He is wrong in His way of 
 doing, and we are right. Though we are 
 greatly shocked by the blasphemy recently ut- 
 tered : " If I had been present at the creation, 
 I could have given God some advice ; or, if He 
 would consult me as to how to govern the 
 world, I could help Him in it," — yet we some- 
 times show a spirit distressingly similar. 
 
 Some tenants were ejected from a large 
 building in New York several weeks ago. 
 They tried to get back, for it was cold out 
 
2 i 2 Milk and Meat. 
 
 o\\ the streets ; but the police refused to let 
 them enter. The reason of their refusal was 
 that the building was about to tumble down, 
 and they knew that for the good of the ten- 
 ants it was better that they should suffer the 
 cold than be exposed to the danger from the 
 falling walls. And yet these tenants persisted 
 in trying to escape the cold by putting them- 
 selves in danger. They thought they knew 
 better than the police. The result showed 
 that the police were the wiser. And the result 
 will always show that God's dealings with us, 
 though they may seem to be severe, are wise 
 and good. 
 
 John Wesley had two preachers under his 
 direction, named Bradburn and Duncan. Brad- 
 burn was a very eloquent man ; Duncan was 
 a rather poor preacher. When Bradburn 
 preached, Duncan tried to be present ; but 
 when Duncan preached, Bradburn was usually 
 absent, and it distressed Duncan. Finally he 
 asked his Brother Bradburn why it was he did 
 not come to hear him preach. " To tell the 
 truth/' replied Bradburn, " I cannot hear you 
 without being greatly tempted." " And what, 
 pray," said Duncan, " is the nature of the 
 
A Growing Faith. 213 
 
 temptation?" "I am always tempted to 
 think," said Bradburn, " that I can preach 
 better than you, and it ministers to my pride." 
 Such is the feeling of Brother Weakfaith 
 toward God. He has the impression that he 
 could do better than the Lord, if he had the 
 whole thing in hand ; and it is a temptation 
 which he needs to resist. 
 
 4. The Fourth Sign of a Weak Faith is its 
 Impatience. — This father evidently became 
 impatient : " Sir, come down ere my child 
 die." 
 
 There is something almost of petulance in 
 this request. It shows that he thinks it is no 
 time now to argue. What he wants is haste, 
 and he cannot brook delay. Our impatience 
 with God is a sign of very weak faith. 
 
 It is comforting to know that Jesus honors 
 even faith like this. Though impatient and 
 dictatorial, driven by need and seeking visible 
 evidence, He answers the prayer. He pities 
 our weakness. " The bruised reed He will not 
 break ; the smoking flax He will not quench." 
 The fire of trust does not blaze up ; He sees 
 more of the smoke of impatience and unbelief 
 than of faith, but He will not allow the sparks 
 
2 14 Milk and Meat. 
 
 beneath the flax to be trampled out. The 
 reed of our faith is very weak, but He will not 
 allow the bird that would break it to light 
 upon it. Indeed, He fans the sparks into a 
 flame ; He puts new life into the reed that will 
 heal the bruises and make it strong. 
 
 A New Jersey farmer one morning heard a 
 little wren pouring out its heart in song upon 
 the early air. Now and then it would stop as 
 if interrupted, and by and by continue its song 
 again. Drawing near he noticed that the 
 mother was teaching her young to sing. She 
 would first sing through the whole song, and 
 then listen to the little one sing, until it broke 
 down, and then she would take up the song 
 and carry it through. This was repeated until 
 the little birds could sing the mother's song 
 accurately. And when we break down in our 
 song of faith, God delights to take up the 
 strain and help us through. His strength is 
 made perfect in our weakness ; all that we 
 lack He supplies. 
 
 You may have heard John B. Gough tell, in 
 one of his thrilling lectures, of a scene in his 
 own experience. Sitting in a church one 
 morning he heard a hoarse, discordant voic^ 
 
A Growing Faith. 2 1 5 
 
 behind him, and he felt sorry that he was near 
 such a disagreeable creature. The preacher 
 gave out the hymn, " Just as I am, without one 
 plea," and the discordant voice, without any 
 melody or much tune, followed the words. 
 While the interlude was being played before 
 the second verse, Mr. Gough felt a hand touch 
 his arm, and a voice saying : " Please, sir, what 
 is the next verse ? Tell me the first line : I 
 think I might remember it." " Just as I am, 
 poor, wretched, blind," said Gough, and, as 
 he looked into the stranger's face, saw that 
 he was blind. And when he heard him with 
 his grating voice trying to sing the next 
 lines,— 
 
 " Sight, riches, healing of the mind, 
 Yea, all I need in Thee to find, 
 O Lamb of God ! I come," — 
 
 Gough said he felt that he would like to 
 lend him what voice he had, and help him to 
 sing if he could. And so God feels toward us 
 when we try to serve or to believe. He would 
 help us in our failures, and, unlike Gough, He 
 is able to do it. He can give us just what we 
 need. Christ honored the weak faith of this 
 
2l6 Milk and Meat. 
 
 father in order that his weak faith might be- 
 come strong. 
 This leads us to 
 
 II. The Signs of a Strong Faith. 
 
 They, too, are four : 
 
 I. Faith in the Word of God. — The text tells 
 us that "the man believed the word that 
 Jesus had spoken.'' He no longer desired a 
 sign ; he could now rely upon the simple word. 
 There was something in the tone of the voice, 
 in the magnetic presence, as well as in what 
 Jesus said, which went to his heart and gave 
 him faith. And so there is something in this 
 Word of God — a living something which 
 goes with it and helps us to believe. I have 
 no superstitious feeling toward the Bible. I 
 do not regard its binding, its paper, its ink, 
 its material make-up, as especially sacred. 
 Webster's Dictionary is as good a book to 
 dream by and tell fortunes by as the Bible. It 
 is no fetich. The truth in it is the sacred 
 thing. What it means is hallowed ground. 
 We may treat the Bible as the patient treated 
 the prescription of the doctor, who told him 
 
A Growing FaitJi. 2 1 7 
 
 to put it in a little water, and take it accord- 
 ing to directions ; and when the doctor re- 
 turned the next day, he found the patient 
 worse. " Have you taken my prescription?" 
 he asked. " Yes, just as you told me. Here 
 it is," and he handed him a glass of water in 
 which the paper had been dissolved ; and he 
 had taken several spoonfuls of paper-pulp for 
 medicine. Instead of doing what the prescrip- 
 tion told him, he simply took the prescription 
 itself. In that sense "the letter killeth." 
 
 The truth of God, ever living, is sacred. I 
 like the spirit of the man who refused to let 
 any book in his house lie upon the Bible. He 
 regarded it as above all books, and hence none 
 of his children could lay their books upon it. 
 A wise reverence for the book is not out of 
 place. But what I insist upon is that what 
 the book means is more than the book itself. 
 
 The words of God are very precious, and we 
 learn to revel in the truth itself apart from 
 any benefit that we receive from it. A house- 
 decorator in Buffalo, N. Y., was ordered to 
 paper every room but one, and he was curious 
 to know why that room was left blank. On 
 entering, however, he saw a strange scene. On 
 
2 1 8 Milk and Meat. 
 
 the walls were pasted hundreds of letters, and 
 the young lady, who was kept within doors 
 much of her time, said that she had thus 
 papered the walls of her room because every 
 letter was precious to her heart. There were 
 letters from mother, now in heaven ; from 
 friends in the skies ; letters which brought up 
 pleasant associations of childhood and school- 
 days. Every one of them had to her a mean- 
 ing ; she could sit in her room and revel in 
 these associations. And so we may have our 
 rooms of memory filled with Scripture truths. 
 Every one of them is suggestive of something 
 in the past, the remembrance of which gives 
 us delight. This one tells of victory won ; that 
 one of a sorrow borne ; another of a perplexity 
 in which we were guided ; another still of some 
 great calamity which might have crushed us 
 but for the promise that sustained. No man 
 can prize the Word of God too highly and 
 depend upon it too implicitly. 
 
 2. Another Sign of Strong Faith is Rest ful- 
 ness. — This father came from home in great 
 haste, and he was impatient at the delay of 
 Jesus, but after Jesus had said " Thy son 
 liveth," we find him in no hurry. Not until 
 
A Growing Faith. 2 1 9 
 
 next day does he start for home. He believes 
 that his son is cured, and there is no need of 
 hurry. Having watched, perhaps, at the bed- 
 side of his sick boy for many nights, he de- 
 cides to stay in Capernaum and have a good 
 night's rest. He sleeps until late in the morn- 
 ing, when he quietly takes his breakfast, and 
 then starts leisurely toward home. The wife 
 is uneasy about him : " Why does husband 
 stay away so long? He, of course, does not 
 know that our child is well;" and calling the 
 servant she says, " Go up to Cana, and tell 
 husband the joyful news ;" and as they come 
 he meets them, and hears from them without 
 surprise the account of the healing. It is 
 hardly news to him. 
 
 " He that believeth maketh not haste." He 
 rests upon God with a quiet heart. He is 
 willing to let God take His time, confident that 
 God's time is better than his. He has the 
 promise, which to the eye of faith is equal to 
 the fulfillment. He has already entered upon 
 the enjoyment of what is promised. The 
 Holy of Holies is his, described by the words: 
 "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose 
 mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in 
 
2 20 Milk and Meat. 
 
 Thee." In this age oi hurry, we need such a 
 rest of faith. 
 
 3. A Third Sign of Strang Faith is its Readi- 
 ness to receive Confirmation. — As the father 
 - homeward, he hears the echo of the 
 words which Jesus spoke. The servants use 
 the very language of Jesus. Jesus had said : 
 "Thy son liveth." The servants say: ,k Thy 
 son liveth." You have stood, perhaps, in the 
 Pisa Baptistry, or on Echo Lake in New 
 York, and heard your words brought back 
 just as you spoke them. But an echo like 
 this which the nobleman heard is sweeter 
 than all the echoes in nature. The man who 
 believes God's Word will hear, sooner or later, 
 the echo of answer. He will hear it in fulfill- 
 ment of some kind. " Faithful is He who has 
 promised." And you will notice how ready 
 the nobleman was to receive the confirmation 
 of his faith. He compared the time when 
 Christ spoke the word with the time when his 
 son was healed, and he saw it was the same 
 hour. Now unbelief would have suggested : 
 "This is a remarkable coincidence, to be sure; 
 but there is no necessary connection between 
 the words of Jesus and the healing. He might 
 
A Growing Faith. 221 
 
 have gotten well anyhow." And so, when we 
 have asked and received, the temptation too 
 often is to take honor from God by giving 
 credit to secondary causes. The tempter sug- 
 gests : " You have what you wanted, but it 
 might have come even without praying for it." 
 Such is the attitude of unbelief. Faith stands 
 ready to be confirmed by the testimony of others, 
 and by a direct answer to a definite petition. 
 
 4. The Last Sign of Strong Faith we will men- 
 tion is its Willingness to receive Spiritual Bless- 
 ing. — We are told that the nobleman " himself 
 believed, and all his house/' The first thing 
 he did, doubtless, when he reached home, was 
 to search out the old Scriptures and read of 
 the Messiah. And turning to his boy with eyes 
 now bright with intelligence and cheeks flushed 
 with health, he says, u You have been saved 
 from death by the Great Physician. Are you 
 willing now to trust Him as your Saviour 
 from sin ? " And looking into the face of his 
 wife, he says, " Will you also trust Him ? " 
 And then turning to the other children and 
 the servants, he gets a promise from all that 
 they will trust the Saviour. And kneeling 
 now with the open scroll of the Scriptures before 
 
2:2 Milk and Meat. 
 
 him, he returns thanks to God for the bless- 
 ing of the child restored — better still, of a 
 isehold redeemed. He has received from 
 Jesus more than he asked. He came for the 
 healing of his son ; he has received the heal- 
 ing of his whole family. He came for tem- 
 poral blessing; he has received spiritual bless- 
 ing. He came anxious that the home on 
 earth might be happy : he has received a 
 home in heaven made happier. Such is God's 
 way of dealing. He knows how to give above 
 all we can ask or think. Great faith prizes 
 spiritual above temporal blessings, and has the 
 secret by which the temporal is transmuted 
 into the eternal. 
 
 I now appeal to every one here who has 
 been blessed of God in body, in family, in 
 any respect. Will you not, like this nobleman 
 and his family, permit these temporal blessings 
 to bring to you spiritual blessings ? Will you 
 not in gratitude give your hearts to Christ? 
 The king asked John Fletcher of Madeley, 
 ''What do you desire that I may give you?" 
 " I want," replied Fletcher. " only more grace." 
 The faith that seeks the spiritual is above the 
 faith that seeks only the temporal. 
 
XX. 
 
 DEW AND LION. 
 
 ''And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of 
 many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon 
 the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the 
 sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the 
 Gentiles in the midst of many people, as a lion among the 
 beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of 
 sheep : who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and 
 teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. " — Micah 5 : 7, 8. 
 
 The twofold mission of Christianity is sym- 
 bolized in these words by the dew and the 
 lion. The dew builds up ; the lion tears down 
 and destroys. 
 
 I. The Dew. 
 
 1. The Work of the Dew is Silent. — It uses 
 
 no hammer. The great temple of nature, 
 
 like Solomon's temple, is built without noise. 
 
 223 
 
2 24 Milk and Meal. 
 
 The dew works in the dark and in the light, 
 through the vital force of nature. It disinte- 
 grates dead stone. Just what the vital force 
 in nature is to the vegetable world, the Holy 
 Spirit is to the spiritual world. He uses silent 
 Christian influence as the vital force uses the 
 dew. 
 
 This silent influence is made up of three 
 elements : (a) Character. Not what men say or 
 do or write, but what they are. What a man 
 is is tenfold stronger than what he may say 
 or do. Benjamin Franklin, with a little touch 
 of egotism, to be sure, but with truth, said 
 that he never carried a point by argument, 
 but always by the force of his character. 
 He was a very poor speaker; but w r hat he 
 said had Benjamin Franklin behind it, and he 
 carried his measures. Justin Martyr said he 
 was converted to Christianity by noticing the 
 meekness of Christians under persecution. 
 Seneca said of Socrates that his followers 
 learned more ethics from his manner than 
 from his words. Character, that works silently 
 as the dew, we need to magnify, and en- 
 deavor to make as perfect as possible, that 
 this quiet influence may be most potent. 
 
Deiv and Lion. 225 
 
 (b) But greater than character is Prayer. 
 Prayer reaches farther. Character can touch 
 what is near; prayer can reach out and 
 touch the distant. Elijah could not have 
 much influence, through his character, over the 
 priests of Baal ; but by prayer he could touch 
 God, and out of heaven came the fire that 
 had a mighty influence. John Clough you 
 never saw, and yet in your family prayers you 
 can promote missions among the Teloogoos. 
 There is an omnipresence in prayer. You go 
 to your telephone and call up the central 
 station that is in communication, perhaps, with 
 a thousand other stations, and through the 
 central station you have a sort of omnipres- 
 ence. By prayer you call up the central sta- 
 tion, and through that central station of God's 
 omnipotence and omniscience you can touch 
 the whole world. Character reaches out and 
 touches those near us ; prayer reaches out and 
 touches all the world in the sweep of its 
 power. 
 
 (c) But greater than prayer in some re- 
 spects is Communion with God. When Moses 
 came down from the mount, his face shone, 
 though he knew it not. Bunsen said to his 
 
226 Milk and Meat. 
 
 wife, ' I see in your face the Eternal." And 
 there is something might}' about the man who 
 lives with God. not simply praying so that He 
 may put into operation the forces that will tell 
 for good, but because he loves to pray. He 
 dwells in the secret place of the Most High, 
 because it is warm and light and refreshing : 
 he lives and walks with God. There is some- 
 thing more powerful about that man than 
 prayer or even character can give. His com- 
 munion with God keeps him in contact with 
 the great battery of power that sends out 
 its forces when he is not conscious of it at 
 all. A man like that can never be over- 
 come. An old Scotch baron was besieged in 
 his castle by some rival barons, who decided 
 that they would starve him out. Week 
 after week they continued their siege. Two 
 or three months passed, when, as they thought 
 he was just about ready to starve, the}* saw 
 hanging over the wall a string of fresh fish. 
 " Well," they said. " if that man has fresh fish 
 to live on, we can never starve him out. ,, 
 The secret of it was that he had an under- 
 ground communication with the sea. and, while 
 they were trying to starve him, he was feast- 
 
Dew and Lion. 227 
 
 ing on the best fish the sea could afford. If 
 we will just keep up this secret communica- 
 tion with God, getting our supplies from 
 heaven, our souls will be fed, and the forces 
 of evil encamped around us can never over- 
 come us. 
 
 2. The Work of the Dew is Gradual. — It 
 is difficult to hurry life. Feed an animal 
 too much and you may kill it. The plant 
 may be watered to death. The vital force will 
 take just so much and no more, and you can- 
 not hasten the processes of life. So it is with 
 the Christian. You can't make people grow 
 by just feeding them. Why, there are some 
 Christians who listen to Gospel sermons for ten 
 years, and the only effect it has upon them is 
 to give them a sort of spiritual dyspepsia. 
 They are fed enough, but there is little vital 
 force to apply and appropriate it. The king- 
 dom of heaven is as a grain of mustard-seed. 
 Young converts cannot grow into a spiritual 
 Samson in a few days ; one cannot become an 
 athlete in a few hours. It takes training, pa- 
 tience, endurance, to grow into a full Chris- 
 tian. 
 
228 Milk and Meat. 
 
 3. The Work of the Doze is through a Wide 
 
 Diffusion of Particles, — One great drop of dew 
 in the garden is not sufficient. There are 
 thousands, perhaps millions of drops, and 
 each drop just as intent upon its mission 
 as though it were the only drop on the 
 premises. Life in nature works not through 
 the bulk, but through the atom, the smallest 
 possible part. And so it is with the Chris- 
 tian's influence upon the world. God does 
 not put one great man in a place to do all 
 the work. Every member should be a drop of 
 dew, intent upon its mission. 
 
 4. The Work of the Dew is Persistent. — 
 Silent forces are most persistent ; they don't 
 make any noise, but just keep at it all the 
 time. And the silent influences sometimes 
 go on after the force that put them into 
 operation has disappeared. The sun rising 
 upon the dew dissipates it, but it does not 
 dissipate the beauty it has painted on the 
 lily, nor the strength it has given the cedar. 
 After you are dead, Christian parent, your 
 character, your prayer and communion with 
 God, are going to live in your children. John 
 Quincy Adams, great as he was, prayed till 
 
Dew and Lion. 229 
 
 his dying day, " Now I lay me down to 
 sleep. " He said he prayed it because he 
 learned it at his mother's knee. Daniel 
 Webster was not one of the most religious 
 men, to be sure, but he had great confidence 
 in the piety and religion of his mother. One 
 day in Boston, after a great address, flowers 
 were showered upon the orator. He looked 
 at them and enjoyed their sweet odor, but, 
 as he was passing out with a friend, a little 
 girl stepped up and handed him two or three 
 garden pinks. The great orator took them in 
 his hand and wept as he thought of the past. 
 " That is the flower my mother loved above 
 every other flower in the garden, " and the 
 sight of the old familiar pink brought before 
 him the sincerity and power of his mother's 
 character. The dew disappears, but the life 
 forces are at work still. Depend upon it, if 
 you are true to God, true to your faith in 
 Jesus Christ, after you have passed out of 
 sight, the life forces that you have put in 
 motion will continue to work. 
 
250 Milk and Meat. 
 
 II. The Lion. 
 
 But Christians as the dew are only the 
 half of Christianity. As well have a boat with 
 one oar as Christianity with only silent influ- 
 ences, whether they come from character, or 
 prayer, or communion with God. " The rem- 
 nant shall be as a lion among the Gentiles, as 
 a lion amid the beasts of the field. " The dew 
 with its silent influence is the foundation, 
 but the lion with his mighty strength is just 
 as important as the dew. The Christian 
 needs to be as bold as the lion. There 
 are some things you can never reach with 
 the dew. There are some men that you 
 have to deal with in the spirit of the lion. 
 John the Baptist was dew from the Lord with 
 everybody with whom he came in contact ; but 
 before Herod, the adulterer, he was a lion. 
 Did he say, I will try and be the dew ; I will 
 by my influence seek to bring about a refor- 
 mation in Herod's character ? Not at all. He 
 said, " You are an adulterer, and God will 
 hold you accountable for your sins." Nathan 
 was as the dew working amid the people ; but 
 
Dew and Lion. 231 
 
 after David had committed his great sin, did 
 Nathan say, I will try by my influence, by my 
 prayer, by my gentle character, to turn David 
 from his iniquity? Not a bit of it. He went 
 into the presence of the king, accused him of 
 his sin, and said, " Thou art the man." John 
 Knox had great power with men : he was the 
 dew touching others ; but John Knox in the 
 presence of " Bloody Mary" was the lion. 
 Luther was as the dew in contact with the 
 people in his every-day character and conver- 
 sation, but when he stood in the presence of 
 the Pope he was a lion. The Christian Church 
 should be lion as well as dew. Jesus was the 
 Lamb and the Lion. I believe that Anthony 
 Comstock is doing the Lord's work in ridding 
 the stores of bad literature, and taking crim- 
 inals by the neck and putting them in jail, 
 where they can do no harm. Men we may 
 love, crimes we may hate ; men we may try 
 to reach and save them from their sins, while 
 we stand before them as we would stand be- 
 fore Satan himself and denounce their sins. 
 Now, my friends, if you have made up your 
 mind that the liquor traffic is going to be over- 
 come by influence, you were never more mis- 
 
252 Milk and A feat. 
 
 taken in your life. You might just as well 
 talk to a Bengal tiger as with the liquor 
 power of this country. The man who says, " I 
 am praying that this curse may be removed, 
 and I will try to influence the liquor seller by 
 my Christian character," might just as well 
 sing psalms to the Atlantic Ocean. We must 
 stand before them with the lion power that is 
 represented by the ballot — God's substitute for 
 the bayonet. It is your duty before God to 
 see that just laws are made and executed. I 
 know that the Czar of Russia is going to 
 have a hard time of it, if he does not repent. 
 " Before God shall be gathered all nations," and 
 they shall give an account. I am sorry for 
 the Czar of Russia, but we are Czars of the 
 United States, and, if we do not mind, we 
 shall have as hard a time as the Czar of 
 Russia. The Czar makes laws and executes 
 them, and that is what we do. If the kings 
 of this world will have a hard time before the 
 judgment-seat, how will it be with citizens, 
 when all nations stand before God to give ac- 
 count as nations, if we must answer for sup- 
 porting this nefarious traffic by our silence or 
 our vote ? 
 
XXI. 
 ANGELS AND HORNETS. 
 
 " Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the 
 way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. " 
 — Exodus 23 : 20. 
 
 " And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out 
 the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee." 
 — Exodus 23 : 28. 
 
 Canaan is not a type of heaven. When we 
 shall have reached the golden shore, there will 
 be no Jerichos to conquer and no Canaanites 
 to cast out. Peace will be married to purity, 
 and goodness to glory. The calm surface of 
 the sea of glass will never be ruffled by a 
 storm. The rainbow without cloud around the 
 throne indicates that the mists have rolled 
 away. It will be all singing and no sighing. 
 
 But Canaan is rather a symbol of the human 
 soul, which God enters for the purpose of cast- 
 ing out the bad and building up the good. 
 Jordan is not a type of death, but rather a 
 
 symbol of complete devotement to God. The 
 
 233 
 
234 Milk and Meat. 
 
 Christian bears the relation to Jordan that 
 Caesar did to the Rubicon and Hernando Cor- 
 tez did to the ships which he burnt behind 
 him. When Caesar passed the Rubicon on his 
 way toward Rome, he forever committed him- 
 self to conquest or death. After Cortez had 
 destroyed his ships and thus cut himself off 
 from the Old World, there was no return. He 
 must conquer Mexico or be conquered by it. 
 So there is a time in Christian experience 
 when, after having been delivered from the 
 bondage of sin and wandering awhile in un- 
 certainty, there is a consecration to God, a cut- 
 ting loose from the Wilderness life, and the 
 plunging into the conquest of Canaan. Three 
 things are said about this conquest : 
 
 i. There is to be no compromise with the 
 enemy. Israel must not intermarry with the 
 Canaanites. There is to be no partnership 
 with the evil. Every man. woman, and child 
 of sin in our souls must be cast out. 
 
 2. This conquest is to be gradual. " Little 
 by little I will drive them out before thee." 
 Sanctification is sudden, and gradual. The 
 moment one is converted, he is set apart to 
 the work of God, as were the holy vessels in 
 
A ngets and Hornets. 235 
 
 the temple. But there is a gradual entering 
 upon what God has in mind for us. In His 
 view we are sanctified at conversion. In our 
 own experience there is a lifetime of growth. 
 " Little by little" we make the conquest of our 
 souls for Christ. A victory here, another 
 there, and defeat yonder, but all the time 
 making progress until the whole soul-land is 
 subdued. 
 
 3. Two of God's agents to assist in this con- 
 quest are angels and hornets. He evidently 
 sent a real angel before the Israelites, and the 
 Christian to-day is encompassed with angelic 
 spirits. They are the servants of God to do 
 the bidding of faith. " The angel of the Lord 
 encampeth round about them that fear Him." 
 There might have been real hornets sent in 
 such swarms as to drive the people from their 
 homes, and make them take refuge in other 
 lands. The mission of the angel was to lead, 
 to protect, to rebuke, and to bring the people 
 to battle with their enemies ; and whatever leads 
 us in the good, protects us from the evil, re- 
 bukes us for our sins, is a messenger of God 
 sent to help us make the conquest of our- 
 selves — a true angel. 
 

 Milk and Meat. 
 
 The mission of the hornet was to make the 
 inhabitants willing to get out. The hornet is 
 too small and weak to overcome by force : it 
 
 cannot pick up the body and fling it out. By 
 its little sting and the fear of it. it makes men 
 willing to take themselves out. The mosquito 
 drives boarders from the summer hotel, not by 
 main force, but by the annoyance which makes 
 them willing to go. Three policemen went 
 into a station-house in Jersey City some time 
 ago, and finding a man sitting by the stove 
 the}* asked him what was the matter. " I have 
 the small-pox." he replied: and the policemen 
 departed without being cast out. That man's 
 presence made them willing to leave. And so 
 God sends hornets into the lives of Christians 
 that sting the sins out of their souls : make 
 the evil slough off : make it so disagreeable for 
 the bad that it will not remain in company 
 with the good. 
 
 It is our purpose now to look for a moment 
 at the Canaanites of evil, which need to be 
 cast out by means of the angels and hornets 
 which God uses for their expulsion. 
 
Angels and Hornets. 2 3 7 
 
 I. Unbelief. 
 
 Not to believe God is a sin which makes 
 Him a liar. The conviction of this sin is a 
 hornet, which should drive it away. The con- 
 science stings us for unbelief. Sometimes in 
 prayer-meeting we speak of not trusting God, 
 as if it were a small matter : the very thought 
 of it should sting us like a hornet. But the 
 angels, which lead faith are the promises. " Be- 
 lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
 be saved," was the angel that led me to Jesus. 
 
 While Christ was in the garden of Gethsem- 
 ane, an angel came and ministered unto him. 
 While Peter was in jail with his feet in the 
 stocks, an angel touched him and whispered, 
 "Come with me," and led him out into the 
 open air. You have been in Gethsemanes of 
 sorrow, and it was the angelic touch of some 
 promise that sustained you. You have been 
 in prisons of grief and of doubt, and some pre- 
 cious promise came like an angel with its 
 touch and its whisper, to lead you out to free- 
 dom. Thus while the hornet of conviction 
 stings us for unbelief, the angel of promise 
 leads us out into larger faith. 
 
238 Milk and Meat, 
 
 II. Lethargy. 
 
 "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" is a 
 hornet to sting us into activity. The tree is 
 known by its fruits, and if you have only 
 leaves, the thought of the Master's coming 
 with His curse should rouse you to do some- 
 thing. But the reward which lies before us is 
 an angel that ought to lead us to do good. 
 We are saved by grace, but rewarded accord- 
 ing to our works, and the ringing command 
 comes, " Work out your own salvation with 
 fear and trembling." We may well be impa- 
 tient to lay up treasures in heaven. I for 
 one would like to die the richest man on 
 earth, — not rich in gold and silver and bonds, 
 but rich in treasures laid up with God. The 
 hope of such reward should lead us to the con- 
 secration which never lets a day pass without 
 doing something for Christ. While the fear of 
 barrenness is the hornet's sting, the hope of 
 His " Well done" is the angel's hand. 
 
 III. Pride. 
 
 "The proud He knoweth afar off." " Pride 
 goeth before a fall." Nebuchadnezzar, who 
 
Angels and Hornets* 239 
 
 boasted that he had founded the great Baby- 
 lon, was brought down to eat grass like the ox. 
 These Scriptures should be hornets to sting 
 pride out of your soul. But the beauty and 
 blessing of humility is an angel that leads us. 
 " Humble yourself under the mighty hand of 
 God, and He will exalt you in due time/' Be 
 little, like Moses and David, in your own esti- 
 mation., and you will be great in the esteem 
 of God. Pride weakens, humility strengthens ; 
 pride debases, humility exalts ; pride blurs, hu- 
 mility beautifies. And yet this peacock in the 
 hearts of others sometimes becomes a very 
 bird of paradise in our own hearts. We are 
 long-sighted as we look at the pride of others, 
 but very near-sighted when we look at our 
 own. Let the angel of God's promise to the 
 humble lead us into a more Christ-like estima- 
 tion of ourselves. 
 
 IV. Impatience. 
 
 " Fret not thyself because of evil-doers." 
 " Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." 
 Those commands should be hornets to sting im- 
 patience out of our lives. Sometimes God sends 
 
240 Milk and Meat. 
 
 severe providences — the very things that would 
 test our patience — in order to rid us of impa- 
 tience. Rich, prosperous men are usually the 
 most impatient ; they cannot brook delay or 
 opposition ; but, after adversity comes and 
 they find themselves sitting amid the wreck of 
 their fortunes, patience begins to grow. It is 
 one of the graces made purer in the furnace. 
 The fact that God is not in a hurry, and "he 
 that believeth should not make haste/' is an 
 angel to lead patience into full possession of 
 our souls. "Ye have need of patience, that, 
 after ye have done the will of God, ye might 
 receive the promise." When we have done 
 our part, let patience have her perfect work. 
 May the angel of patience lead us ! 
 
 V. COVETOUSNESS. 
 
 The fact that covetousness is classed with 
 the worst of sins — idolatry, drunkenness, adul- 
 tery; the fact that a covetous man should not 
 be a deacon or pastor, nor come to the Lord's 
 Supper, should be a hornet to sting this mis- 
 erable sin out of our hearts. But the blessed- 
 ness of liberality is an angel indeed. "It is 
 
 
Angels and Hornets. 241 
 
 more blessed to give than to receive." "The 
 liberal soul shall be made fat." It is so much 
 better to be led by the angel of the joy of 
 giving than driven by the hornet of the fear 
 of covetousness. I have read of an old miser 
 who stood at the door of a humble cottage, 
 and heard a little child crying for bread. He 
 went off and bought some loaves, opened the 
 door, and flung them in. Then he stood for 
 a moment and heard the child thank God for 
 sending bread. He went away with the joy 
 in his heart that he never felt before, and that 
 new joy was to him the beginning of a life of 
 liberal giving. The joy of doing good with 
 his money was an angel that led him out into 
 large conquest over the Canaanites of covet- 
 ousness and selfishness. 
 
 We may sum up all the Canaanites in 
 One Expression — Love of sin. The fact that 
 every sin we commit brings guilt, pollution, 
 slavery, with the results in this world and the 
 next, should be a hornet to sting it out of our 
 souls. It is better for a man not to sin, be- 
 cause it is a guilty thing; because it pollutes 
 him ; because it enslaves him ; because it sends 
 him to hell, — than for him to go on loving 
 
242 Milk and Meat. 
 
 the vile thing regardless of results. But I 
 should rather be led by the angel of purity. 
 
 Just as the things we have mentioned are 
 angels or hornets in our lives, so we may be- 
 come as angels or hornets unto others. As 
 the angel led the Israelites, the good that God 
 introduced into Canaan, so we should be ever 
 ready to lead, to protect, to help on the good 
 forces of earth. Let us ever be on the side of 
 right and opposed to wrong — an angel to the 
 good, a hornet to the bad. 
 
 The Gospel has its repulsions as well as its 
 attractions. The rose is protected by the 
 thorn. And there is a great disciplinary power 
 in the Gospel. If it is preached faithfully Sun- 
 day after Sunday, it will attract those that love 
 it ; it will repel those that hate it : and it is 
 just as much our duty to repel from us those 
 who by their influence would ruin our souls as 
 to attract to us those who by their influence 
 would bless us. Mrs. Bottome says that, when 
 she decided to become a Christian, she went to 
 her friends, and told them that they must not 
 expect her to associate with them any longer ; 
 for she believed that their influence for evil 
 over her would be greater than her influence 
 
Angels and Hornets. 243 
 
 for good over them. She need not have 
 troubled herself to do this. If she had simply 
 in their presence talked of spiritual things, the 
 love of Christ, His word and work, and had 
 given them to understand that she was now 
 taken up with the service of God rather than 
 the world, this very fact w r ould have been a 
 hornet to sting them off. If you want to get 
 rid of evil companions, you need not order 
 them out of your house. Be Christ-like before 
 them, and they will either be attracted to your 
 Christ-likeness and become Christians, or re- 
 pelled by it and leave you in safety. It is 
 sweeter, however, to be angels to lead than 
 hornets to repel. By a godly life and w T ords 
 of kindness, we shall lead others in the truly 
 angelic way. Mr. Trumbull, in preaching to 
 the prisoners in a penitentiary in Philadelphia, 
 told them that he sympathized with them, and 
 would like to help them if he could. One poor 
 fellow grasped his hand after the sermon, and 
 told him that those words of sympathy had 
 made him a better man now that he knew 
 somebody cared for him, and he would reform 
 and become a good citizen. A reporter's kind 
 word about a prisoner on trial in New York 
 
244 Milk and Meat. 
 
 led that prisoner to feel that he ought to be a 
 better man. In the home, in the church, in 
 the social circle, in our business associations, 
 we may be angels of God to lead men on to 
 conquest of themselves. 
 
 
XXII. 
 
 VOICES FROM CALVARY. 
 
 WHEN men are dying, if their minds are 
 clear, they frequently put into their last sayings 
 the purpose and inspiration of their lives. 
 The last words of our Lord upon the cross are, 
 therefore, intensely interesting. They give us 
 in a nutshell His whole life-purpose. He w r as 
 the Son of Man, and in a very peculiar sense 
 we died with Him on the cross. His groans 
 were the groans of the race ; His words were 
 the cries of humanity to God. A judge in a 
 court of New York gave a verdict in a very 
 important civil suit, and some one who counted 
 the words said that each word in the verdict 
 was worth just a million dollars ; and if you 
 will count the words uttered by the Lord 
 Jesus on the cross, you will find that each one 
 of them holds a fortune for every one who will 
 receive it. 
 
 245 
 
246 Milk and Meat. 
 
 Let us stand by the cross and listen to the 
 voices that come from it. 
 
 I. We hear, first of all, the Voice of 
 Prayer. 
 
 " Father, forgive them ; they know not what 
 they do." Christ on the cross is our prayer 
 for forgiveness. 
 
 " Five bleeding wounds he bears, 
 
 Received on Calvary ; 
 They pour effectual prayers 
 
 And strongly plead for me ; 
 Forgive him, oh, forgive, they cry, 
 Noi let the ransomed sinner die." 
 
 And here we may learn how to forgive. 
 Have you any temptation to harbor malice 
 against those who have injured you ? When- 
 ever somebody treats you a little worse than 
 they treated Jesus, then you can say, "I shall 
 never forgive." Jesus looked at the best side 
 of even his murderers. " They know not what 
 they do," He sought excuse for them. It is 
 un-Christ-like to look at the bad side of those 
 who have injured us. If you have an enemy 
 on earth, look at the best side of him. If you 
 
Voices from Calvary. 247 
 
 have been slandered, try to find some reason 
 for it ; persecuted, try to give some excuse for 
 it ; and it will not be long before you will be 
 praying " for those who despitefully use you." 
 
 II. We hear, again, the Voice of Proimise. 
 
 " To-day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." 
 It is only through Christ on the cross that any- 
 body can enter Paradise. Faith in His merit 
 brings peace, comfort, joy. To reject the 
 crucified Christ is to shut yourself out of Para- 
 dise here and hereafter. Christ as a teacher 
 unlocks the treasures of wisdom ; Christ as a 
 man unlocks the treasures of perfection ; Christ 
 on the cross unlocks the treasures of grace and 
 glory. It is only the pierced hands that open 
 heaven to sinners. One Sunday morning there 
 appeared before St. Martin, while he was in 
 prayer, a most radiant form. The form, with 
 a crown of gold upon his head sparkling with 
 diamonds, said : " I am Christ ; fall down and 
 worship me." St. Martin looked into the face : 
 it was radiant ; he looked at the robe : it was 
 gorgeous ; but when he looked at the hands, he 
 saw no. marks of the nails, and he said: 
 
248 Milk an d Meat. 
 
 M Avaunt, thou devil ; though as an angel of light 
 thou hast come, I will not worship thee." Watch 
 for that modern strategy of the devil which 
 brings before men the radiant form of Christ 
 without any print of the nails, that exalts the life 
 of Christ at the expense of His death, and thus 
 leaves out the keystone in the arch of Salvation. 
 Without it the arch cannot stand much of a 
 strain. An engineer took a contract for the 
 building of a bridge in a mountain district, and 
 spent about forty thousand dollars upon it. He 
 had finished one of the arches all except the 
 keystone, and when the hour came for the men 
 to quit work, he said to them : " I should like to 
 have you work four or five hours beyond time 
 to-night, for if I should leave that arch as it 
 is, and the flood should come, all our work wall 
 be sw r ept away." But the men said the flood 
 would not come, and, besides, they were not 
 going to work over time. But the flood did 
 come before morning and swept that arch 
 away. It was all right except the keystone, 
 and, lacking the keystone, it lacked everything. 
 Lacking one thing is a great lack when that 
 one thing is life itself. Let no evil spirit, my 
 friend, cajole you into believing that you can 
 
Voices from Calvary. 249 
 
 bridge the river of judgment and enter Para- 
 dise without the keystone of the sacrifice of 
 Christ. 
 
 III. Listen again, and you will hear a 
 Voice Mellow and Sweet as an Angel's 
 Harp. It is the Voice of Natural 
 Affection. 
 
 "Woman, behold thy son!" " Behold thy 
 mother!" Christ on the cross has made the 
 Christian home and sanctified the relation of 
 husband and wife, parent and child, brother 
 and sister. At the request of Jesus, John took 
 Mary to his home. Indeed, Christ on the cross 
 has made every destitute woman " My mother," 
 and every destitute man " My brother," and 
 every destitute boy " My child." The ancient 
 place, where the family abode, was cheerless and 
 cold. The father was a tyrant, the mother a 
 slave, the children chattels. Canon Farrar has 
 shown that in all classic poetry there is no 
 reference to the pleasures of childhood, and 
 for the very good reason that in pagan lands 
 the child had little pleasure. Mother and home, 
 which we now associate with heaven, were born 
 
250 Milk and Meat. 
 
 of God through the pangs of Christ on the 
 cross. Better still, these sweet relations of 
 the Christian home have been widened until 
 they include the whole family of God. "Who- 
 soever shall do the will of My Father in heaven, 
 the same is My brother, sister, and mother." 
 
 During the Civil War a mother heard that her 
 son was sick in a hospital, and she hastened to 
 where he was. But the surgeon said he was 
 too sick to stand the excitement of her visit. 
 She entreated him, however, to let her go and 
 sit by his side, promising not to speak a word. 
 "Well," said the surgeon, "if you will not 
 speak a word, you may go." So she went in 
 and sat by the side of the wounded sleeping 
 boy ; but she could not resist the temptation 
 to rub his brow softly.. As soon as her hand 
 touched him, he said, " Mother ;" he knew the 
 touch. What was it that made him know that 
 touch ? It was something that came from 
 Christ on the cross, which had so sanctified the 
 relation of mother . and son as to make him 
 carry in mind the memory of her loving touch. 
 Expand this thought till it includes the whole 
 family of God, and you have a slight concep- 
 tion of the unifying and sanctifying power of 
 
Voices from Calvary. 251 
 
 the dying Christ. It is unselfish ministry glo- 
 rified. 
 
 IV. The Voice of the Soul's Need. 
 
 " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
 Me ? " It is through Jesus Christ on the cross 
 that the voice of the soul in need of God can 
 find utterance. Nothing can satisfy the soul but 
 God. Wealth, position, gratified ambition, will 
 not do it. The infinite God meets our infinite 
 need ; through Christ on the cross the need 
 is made known and supplied. Jesus asked 
 a dangerous question : " Why ? " But He clung 
 to the Father in love and faithfulness, while 
 He asked it. Christ on the cross is an interro- 
 gation point and a period. It appeals to God 
 for a reason for the lonely sufferings of human- 
 ity, and is itself an answer to the question. 
 Christ suffers thus that others may not suffer 
 for their sins, and that He may put Himself in 
 loving touch with all who suffer from any 
 cause. Bring all your whys to God through 
 the Crucified, while you cling to Him in love, 
 and He will answer them sooner or later. But 
 I hasten to the next voice — 
 
252 Milk and Meat. 
 
 V. The Voice of Bodily Want. 
 
 "I thirst." What! is Christ on the cross a 
 prayer to God for the satisfaction of my physi- 
 cal wants ? He is ; and that means a great 
 deal to some, whose life is a battle for bread — 
 who know what it is to suffer hunger. It is a 
 great comfort to know that Christ on the cross 
 is the cry of humanity to God for the supply 
 of bodily need. The body is as dear to Him 
 as the soul,* 
 
 VI. And now, Clear as a Clarion, rings 
 out the Voice of Victory. 
 
 "It is finished." " Sin, when it is finished, 
 bringeth forth death ;" the suffering of Jesus, 
 when it is finished, brings forth life and vic- 
 tory. Here is our starting-point. We begin 
 at Calvary with victory. He died in our stead, 
 and we shout by faith, " It is finished." Sal- 
 vation complete is offered to us. And now 
 listen to the definition of the Christian's death 
 as it comes to us from the cross : " Father, 
 into Thy hands I commend my spirit." The 
 darkened scene, symbol of the darkened soul ; 
 
 
Voices from Calvary. 
 
 -do 
 
 the cries of anguish, forsaken of God — that is 
 
 death. But the Christian has not to die. 
 
 Christ died for him. He simply commends 
 
 his spirit to God. To him 
 
 "There is no death : what seems so is transition ; 
 This life of mortal breath 
 Is but the suburb of the life elysian, 
 Whose portal we call death." 
 
 The death of Jesus is truly the death of 
 death. Ours is a " departure," and the word 
 means loosing anchor that the ship may sail 
 out of a landlocked harbor into a broader sea. 
 
XXIII. 
 CHRIST'S EARTHLY GLORY. 
 
 "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, 
 and manifested forth His glory. " — John 2 : it. 
 
 A STUDY of this miracle will give us a 
 glimpse of the true glory of our Lord while 
 upon earth. 
 
 I. We see the Glory of His Social Na- 
 ture. 
 
 Jesus was no ascetic. He did not shut Him- 
 self between four walls, barring out the world. 
 He was truly in the world, though not of it. 
 While bearing the sorrows of the community, 
 He shared equally their joys. He broke up 
 several funerals, but never a feast. He pro- 
 moted the right kind of festivity. He came 
 to increase our joys and diminish our sorrows, 
 and He knows as no other does how to make 
 
 254 
 
* Christ's Earthly Glory. 255 
 
 our very sorrows channels of joy. W: are not 
 surprised, therefore, to find Him at a marriage 
 feast mingling with the people, and showing 
 forth the glory of His social nature. 
 
 The world gets the social power of many 
 Christians. They give to God their hearts, 
 they say, their money, much of their time, but 
 their environment compels them to yield the 
 tribute of their social influence to the world. 
 The social life of every Christian should show 
 forth the glory of Christ. 
 
 II. We see the Glory of His Power. 
 
 It was quietly displayed ; no outward show. 
 He simply willed, and it was done. " The 
 conscious water saw its Lord and blushed. " 
 Such is the glory of Christ's power to-day. It 
 displays itself not in the tempest, the earth- 
 quake, or the fire, but in the still small voice. 
 The great powers of nature are invisible and 
 inaudible. We wonder at thundering Niagara, 
 and yet the vital forces of the forest draw up- 
 ward many times more water than pours over 
 Niagara Falls. The quiet working of nature 
 that lifts the clouds and distils the rain, giv- 
 
2?o Milk and Meat. 
 
 ing life and beauty to meadow, field, and 
 dower, displays the true glory of God. The 
 heavens declare His glory by quietly shining, 
 and the firmament showeth His handiwork 
 without making ado over it, 
 
 III. We see the Glory oe His Sympathy. 
 
 Sympathy with the embarrassed and per- 
 plexed. Here was a family with more guests 
 than they expected, and their supplies ran 
 short. The Lord comes just in time to relieve 
 their embarrassment. It suggests to us that 
 Christ is ever sympathetic with the little wor- 
 ries and perplexities of life. It is easier to 
 bear a great calamity than these little irrita- 
 tions. I venture to say that one of you wives 
 could bear the death of your child with more 
 equanimity than you could endure the embar- 
 rassment which your husband would bring upon 
 you by coming in just at dinner-time with sev- 
 eral prominent friends, for whom you were not 
 prepared. Now, would it not be difficult to 
 show yourself amiable and gentle under such 
 circumstances? Stanley says that he did not 
 fear the lions and elephants of the African 
 
Christ 's Earthly Glory? 257 
 
 forest as much as the " jiggers" and the ants. 
 They killed more men than the savages. \Ve 
 have read of a battle against cannibals gained 
 by the use of tacks. They had taken posses- 
 sion of a whaling vessel and bound the man 
 who was left in care of it. The crew, on 
 returning, saw the situation, and scattered 
 upon the deck of the vessel the tacks, which 
 penetrated the bare feet of the savages, and 
 sent them howling into the sea. They were 
 ready to meet lance and sword, but they could 
 not overcome the tacks on the floor. We 
 brace ourselves up against great calamities. 
 The little tacks of life, scattered along our 
 way, piercing our feet and giving us pain, are 
 hard to bear. A prominent pastor in Brook- 
 lyn was absorbed studying the question of 
 socialism, when his wife came in with despair 
 on her face, and said she wanted advice about 
 the servants. " Oh, my dear," he replied, " I 
 cannot give my time to little matters like do- 
 mestic service. I am trying to solve the social 
 problem of the universe." "Well," replied the 
 wife, "you solve the problem in the kitchen, 
 and I will promise you to solve the problem of 
 the universe in twenty-four hours." Really, it 
 
Milk and Meat. 
 
 is easier to dispose of these great questions 
 which cover the world than it is to meet and 
 successfully overcome the little worries which 
 present themselves day by day. 
 
 IV. We see the Glory of His Method. 
 
 The world's method is to give the best wine 
 first and keep the worst for the last. We see 
 that in the experience of the drunkard. He 
 has a time of jollity and what he calls happi- 
 ness for a few years, but the end is delirium 
 tremens, death : the good wine first and the 
 bad last. How forcibly this was illustrated in 
 the life of Landseer, the great animal-painter 
 — a man before whose works of genius people 
 in the art galleries of Europe stand to-day in 
 rapt admiration ! Near the close of his life 
 he went around from place to place with swol- 
 len nose and bleared eyes, the pity of friends 
 and the scorn of enemies. Byron gave the 
 world's version when he wrote : 
 
 ''My days are in the yellow leaf : 
 
 The flower, the fruit of life is gone ; 
 The worm, the canker, and the grief 
 Are mine alone." 
 
Christ's Earthly Glory. 259 
 
 " Beau Brummel " put it in not quite so 
 poetical a form when, after he had danced 
 with princesses and frittered away his life, he 
 pointed to a dog lying in the sun, and said, 
 "I wish I was that dog." These men of 
 the world had the good wine first and the 
 bitter dregs last. Christ may require of us 
 self-denial, toil, struggle, patience. There may 
 come into our lives sickness and death. We 
 may have truly a hard time of it ; but, de- 
 pend upon it, the good time will come to the 
 Christian, and these severe experiences will 
 make the coming glory all the brighter. In 
 what striking contrast with the sentiments of 
 Byron and Brummel is the experience of Paul: 
 " I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
 my course, I have kept the faith : henceforth 
 there is laid up for me a crown of righteous- 
 ness " ! The " henceforth " is the Christian's 
 good wine. His life may be a battle to fight, 
 a race to run, a charge to keep ; but victory 
 will crown the battle : the prize is at the end 
 of the race, and the "Well done " from the 
 Master's lips will make us glad that we kept 
 the charge He committed to us. 
 
XXIV. 
 GOD'S IDEAL OF CHARACTER. 
 
 " This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'' — 
 Matt. 3:17. 
 
 THERE is a lake in Switzerland in which the 
 traveller may see reflected trees and houses in 
 the distance that are themselves out of sight. 
 Jesus Christ is God brought down to our level — 
 God made thinkable, put within the compass of 
 our highest thought. The very highest thought 
 of man is man. We try to think of something 
 higher, and we make it a monster. We think 
 of angels, and they are men : and there isn't 
 any conception that we are capable of higher 
 than man. God puts Himself within our high- 
 est conception that He may be thinkable to 
 us, and thus brought near. He is a Spirit. 
 Well, I cannot think pure spirit. As soon as 
 I try, it assumes a ghostly shape. It must 
 
 have some tangible form. But I can think a 
 
 260 
 
God f s Ideal of Character. 261 
 
 man ; I have some conception of the human 
 form, the human attributes, human thought, 
 feeling, affection, and motive. So that God 
 puts Himself within the compass of our con- 
 ception by becoming incarnate in Jesus Christ. 
 But Christ is more than God ; He is a man — 
 not God humanized, nor man deified, but God 
 and man ; and I am permitted to think of 
 Him as man just as truly as if He were not 
 God, and as God just as truly as if He were 
 not man. As God He is the Wonder-worker, 
 and when I need His omnipotent power I 
 come to Him as God. As man He is the Sym- 
 pathizer, bearing our infirmities ; and when I 
 need sympathy I come to Him as man. We 
 have in the text God's ideal of character ; in 
 looking down upon this character-picture, re- 
 flected in the lake of humanity, He sees that 
 in it which pleases Him: " This is My beloved 
 Son, in whom I am well pleased." 
 
 I. His Ideal of Purity. 
 
 " Such an High Priest became us who is 
 holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from 
 sinners." 
 
262 Milk and Meat. 
 
 The microscopic view of His enemies was 
 placed upon Him, His friends studied Him. 
 and all agree with Pilate when he says, " I 
 find no fault in Him." He was pure, and it 
 was not the kind of purity that has to be 
 treated like a hot-house plant — put away in a 
 cell to keep the weather from it : it was a 
 purity that came in contact with impurity ; 
 that could stand the test of exposure. He 
 was not a man of books ; He never wrote a 
 book. He was a man of men. He was a man 
 that touched bad men, and lost His very repu- 
 tation from the fact that He was a friend of 
 publicans and sinners. He stood not only the 
 test of contact, — a great Gulf 'Stream flowing 
 through an ocean of pollution without mingling 
 with its waters, — but He stood the fire test. 
 You cannot tell whether gold is pure or not 
 by just touching it, but, to test its purity, you 
 must put it in the furnace. Jesus Christ for 
 forty days was put in the furnace — shall I 
 say, of perdition ? — with the engineer of the 
 bottomless pit to keep hot the fires, and no 
 dross was found. Now, if you try to imitate 
 me, ten to one you will see all my faults be- 
 fore you see any virtues. We can catch the 
 
God 's Ideal of Character. 263 
 
 discord better than the harmonies ; and the 
 old gnarl on the tree will attract more atten- 
 tion than the most beautiful symmetry of trunk 
 and branches. 
 
 I remember hearing a sermon once on the 
 resurrection of Christ. It was a hot August 
 evening, and right in the midst of the sermon 
 a black beetle came through the window, 
 lighted on the preacher's forehead, and re- 
 mained there twenty minutes. That is all of 
 the sermon I remember to this day — the black 
 beetle on the man's forehead ! It was the only 
 bad thing about it, but it attracted more at- 
 tention than all the good. There is no bad in 
 Christ, to divert our attention ; so that we 
 may exert all the powers within us to attain 
 the good. The perfection of the Model in- 
 spires us to try to reach it. 
 
 A little company of us climbed a hill near 
 Asheville, N. C. We soon became weary and 
 sat down to rest. Another party of us 
 climbed Black Mountain, nine hours of 
 struggle over stones and through the roughest 
 paths in all the mountains ; and yet we did 
 not feel much wearied, because we had before 
 us the prospect of such a view as no poet 
 
264 Milk and Meat. 
 
 ever sang and no painter's brush ever por- 
 trayed. The grandeur of the scene before us 
 inspired us to greater effort. 
 
 II. Christ is God's Ideal of Sympathy. 
 
 He sympathized with the sorrowful. He wept 
 with Mary and Martha at the grave of Laza- 
 rus. He was a man of sorrows and ac- 
 quainted w r ith grief, and He understood the sor- 
 row of every heart as you and I cannot. 
 
 I tried this afternoon to comfort a poor 
 wife whose husband had committed suicide ; 
 but my words to her were cold, and she 
 turned around and said, " My dear man, you 
 don't know anything about it," while she 
 shrieked and tore her hair with a grief that I 
 never felt. She told the truth : I did not 
 know anything about it. But I could tell her 
 of Jesus, who did know all about it. 
 
 Jesus is sympathetic, not only with our sor- 
 rows, but our joys. He went to the marriage 
 feast as readily as to the funeral. His heart 
 was warm toward rich and poor. He was not 
 repelled by the blind beggar, so ragged that 
 he threw aside his old cloak as he came into 
 
God 's Ideal of Character. 265 
 
 His presence. With the young man of wealth, 
 well dressed, the culture of the times in his 
 face and on his lip, Jesus is just as sympa- 
 thetic. Looking upon the crowd as sheep 
 having no shepherd, He had compassion ; and 
 after midnight till one, two, and three o'clock 
 in the morning, He sits by the side of a 
 learned Jewish rabbi, explaining to him the 
 way of life, sympathizing with his struggles 
 and his doubts. He sympathized with the 
 ignorant and with the learned. He loved 
 people; He was "the Son of Man," the Son 
 of humanity ; and as such He is our model 
 of sympathy. 
 
 III. We have in Christ God's Ideal of 
 Prayerfulness. 
 
 He prayed on the Mount of Transfiguration, 
 and while He prayed the form of His coun- 
 tenance was changed, as light streamed from 
 it. It was just before a great exaltation. He 
 prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, and while 
 He prayed the form of His countenance was 
 again changed, as sorrow and bloody sweat 
 streamed from it. He prayed in the sunlight, 
 
266 Milk and Meat. 
 
 He prayed under the cloud : and you and I 
 need most to pray when we are depressed, and 
 when we are exalted ; when we are apt to 
 despair, and when we are apt to get proud. 
 In the valley amid the shadows, and on 
 the mountain-top amid the gleams of glory, 
 we need most to be prayerful. If any man 
 on earth could afford to live without prayer, 
 it was Christ. But He prayed, because as a 
 man He needed what only prayer could bring; 
 and there was no make-believe about it. That 
 scene in the garden was no tragedy acted 
 merely for our instruction. It was real prayer, 
 and in answer to it He received from the 
 Father the ministry of angels He needed. 
 
 IV. We have also in Christ God's Ideal 
 of Greatness. 
 
 We know what the world calls greatness. 
 Caesar was great, because he laid all the w 7 orld 
 under tribute. Napoleon was great, because in 
 his day he was the most powerful man living. 
 Men are great who rise above others ; great in 
 proportion to the number of other men that 
 they can make their servants. Who is the 
 
God 's Ideal of Character. 267 
 
 greatest politician in New York ? The man 
 who can influence the most men at the polls. 
 Who is the greatest statesman in the United 
 States ? The man that wields the greatest 
 power for any idea or political party. Who is 
 the greatest man financially? The man that 
 has the most dollars, with which he can wield 
 an influence almost irresistible. What the 
 world calls greatness is getting above people, 
 and making them tributary to us. 
 
 On the other hand, the greatness that Jesus 
 Christ sets before us is not rising above men, 
 but getting under men and lifting them up. 
 It is not making other men tributary to us, 
 but it is our becoming tributary to other men. 
 The greatness Jesus Christ taught is in pro- 
 portion to the ministry that we render to 
 others, and not to the ministers that we make 
 to ourselves. " He came not to be ministered 
 unto, but to minister." " If any man would be 
 great among you, let him become the servant 
 of all." 
 
 I should like to strike a keynote just here for 
 church work. What is the mission of a 
 church ? Is it to help other people or to get 
 other people to help it ? 
 
Milk and Meat. 
 
 Longfellow's "Excelsior" is good enough 
 poetry, but I never did sympathize very much 
 with that fellow for freezing to death on the 
 mountain-side while trying to climb above 
 others. If he had been striving to lift some- 
 body else, it would have made his blood cir- 
 culate better, and kept him alive. 
 
 You may have seen a blind man standing on 
 a street corner in New York, selling papers. 
 A gentleman passing by one day met a ragged 
 newsboy with a bundle of papers in his hand, 
 right near this old blind man's stand. " I want 
 a paper,'' he said to the boy. " I can't sell 
 you any papers here," replied the urchin. 
 " Why not ? " asked the man. " Because this 
 is Blindy's corner." He went up and bought 
 a paper from the blind man, and then turned 
 to the boy and said, " Why is it that you will 
 not sell me a paper?" "Well," said he, "it is 
 just this : we boys got together, and we said 
 that Blindy could not work for himself, and 
 we passed a resolution that, if any boy sold a 
 paper there, we would lick him : he has got to 
 have that corner for himself." I don't know 
 where that boy goes to Sunday-school ; I don't 
 know his mother; but I know one thing — he is 
 
God^s Ideal of Cliaracter. 269 
 
 greater in the estimation of Christ than the 
 men who have become famous by their selfish 
 grasping. 
 
 We see the Climax of this Greatness in 
 Jesus Christ on the Cross. - 
 
 " Why," said an infidel to me, " you tell me 
 that God can be pleased with that bloody scene 
 on the cross. I could not be pleased to look 
 upon my only child suffer thus, and I am not 
 nearly as perfect as God." My reply was : 
 " Friend, I could not love or respect a God 
 that would not be pleased with such a scene as 
 that." Let me illustrate. You remember 
 that scene in a German village : A blacksmith 
 could be seen hour after hour, if you had 
 looked through his shop window, chained to 
 the anvil, foaming at the mouth, while the 
 blood ran from his wrists. He was writhing 
 in madness. That was indeed horrible. I 
 would fain forget it. But I learn that the * 
 good blacksmith was sitting one day in the 
 village post-office, with his neighbors' children 
 gathered around him, when a great mad dog 
 with foaming mouth and glaring eyes appeared 
 
/ 
 
 2 jo Milk and Meat. 
 
 in the door. He springs up and throttles the 
 infuriated beast, but not until the fatal poison 
 goes into his own blood. When I have 
 learned that the noble man put the chains 
 upon his own hands as a protection to his 
 neighbors, my horror turns into admiration, 
 and I should like to build the blacksmith a 
 monument higher than Napoleon's in Paris. 
 
 I read in a chapter of Italian history of a 
 poor girl in a dungeon, on a damp floor, in a 
 dark room, with scanty fare, her life ebbing 
 out. One year she stays, three years she stays, 
 six years she stays : and after the sixth year 
 there is a corpse on the marble floor. They 
 throw it into a box and bury it in a potter's 
 It horrifies me. but when I turn over a 
 page I read that the girl was sent to prison 
 because she had a secret she would not divulge. 
 and that the first day of every month an officer 
 of the government would come in and say : " If 
 you will give us the secret we know you 
 possess, we will set you free." But she stead- 
 fastly refused. What was the secret ? It was 
 connected with the honor and the life of her 
 own beloved father : and for his sake she 
 lingered and died upon the marble floor in the 
 
God 's Ideal of Character. 2 7 1 
 
 dark room. Now I feel that I should like to 
 build a monument to the noble Italian girl 
 higher and grander than St. Peter's Cathedral. 
 
 I look upon another scene: the mocking; the 
 crown of thorns ; the weakened body bearing a 
 heavy cross, and sinking beneath it— hands and 
 feet adjusted, while the nails are driven, crush- 
 ing through, the broken heart crying out : 
 " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
 Me?" As I look, the elements grow dark and 
 an earthquake shakes the earth. I can but 
 say, " That is horrible/' I am not pleased 
 with it. But when I turn over the page and 
 read that it was not for Himself, but for other 
 people, that that crown of thorns was worn, 
 that the heavy cross was borne, that His feet 
 and hands were pierced, and that heart was 
 broken ; and when, reading a little further, I 
 find that not for people in general, but for me, 
 was all this suffered, — my horror turns to ad- 
 miration, adoration, love, and my enthusiasm 
 knows no bounds. 
 
 Shall I go to the village in Germany and 
 ask the parents of the children saved from the 
 mad dog what they think of the memory of 
 the blacksmith ; shall I go to Italy and ask 
 
2 72 J////' 0#rf Meat 
 
 the father for whom that noble girl died what 
 he thinks of her who sacrificed her life for 
 him, — and will they be base enough to refuse 
 to express their gratitude ? 
 
 The cross, with its agony, holds before us 
 the climax of true greatness. A God that 
 could look upon it and not be pleased would 
 be unworthy of the respect, much less the love, 
 of noble minds. 
 
 More than that, friends : if you accept the 
 principle of my infidel acquaintance, you will 
 go to Washington and tear down that monu- 
 ment, oVer five hundred feet high, as you 
 shout : " Blot out the memory of Washington ! 
 Forget the deeds of the men that died in the 
 Revolution ! Let all martyrs be forgotten ! 
 Let the names of those that shaped this govern- 
 ment, and gave us religious and civil liberty, be 
 no more remembered ! " We are living upon 
 the fruits of their suffering, upon the results of 
 their heroic self-denial. Worse still: if you 
 make up your mind never to live upon the suf- 
 fering of others, you will never think with 
 gratitude even of your mother. 
 
 But, if what I have said is true, I am lost ; 
 there is no hope for me. Only the kind of 
 
God's Ideal of Character. 273 
 
 purity and sympathy and prayerfulness and 
 greatness that is manifest in Jesus Christ can 
 ever please God. I am not holy, I am selfish, 
 and I am not so prayerful as I ought to be; I 
 am not in sympathy with all men, like Him: 
 and if I must bring to God a character as spot- 
 less and as sympathetic and unselfish as the 
 character of Jesus Christ, there is no hope for 
 me for this world or the next. Yet as I 
 reflect I am cheered, because God tells me 
 that I can bring before Him the character of 
 Christ ; if I will bring in the arms of my faith 
 His ideal, He will accept me. 
 
 I come, pleading God's own ideal of char- 
 acter; if I will be pleased with what pleases 
 Him, He will be pleased with me ; He will 
 put the merit of His ideal to my account, and 
 He will begin at once to lift me toward the 
 realization of His ideal. 
 
 A lady said to me : " I am not satisfied with 
 myself. I have been praying and weeping 
 and seeking rest, but all to no purpose." 
 " Are you satisfied with the Lord Jesus ? " 
 I asked. She said, " Certainly." "Well," said 
 I, "you and I belong to the same company — 
 dissatisfied with ourselves, but satisfied with 
 
274 Milk and Meat. 
 
 the Lord ; and if I know anything about it, 
 that is salvation." 
 
 By and by God will look on us, and be 
 pleased, not simply because we are pleased 
 with what pleases Him, but because of what 
 we are. He will make real in us His ideal 
 in Christ. " It doth not yet appear what we 
 shall be, but we know that, when He shall 
 appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see 
 Him as He is " — not as He was. Some of us 
 are a little like Him as He was — the man of 
 sorrows and acquainted with grief. But the 
 promise is that we shall be like Him as He is — 
 not the sufferer on the cross, but the God-man 
 on the throne. "We shall be like Him, for 
 we shall see Him as He is ; " and, I submit, 
 that is a prospect worthy of our constant 
 thought and our brightest hope. 
 
 The other day I went to see a working-man 
 about forty-five years of age. I said: "Are 
 you a Christian?" He replied: "Yes, I have 
 been trusting the Lord for about thirty years." 
 " Bright, is it?" "Bright as the promise of 
 God ; but I am in great suffering," and he 
 turned over from me, excruciating agony filling 
 every part of his nervous system until he could 
 
God's Ideal of Character. 275 
 
 hardly endure it. He said : " I am in pain, sir, 
 but I have the peace that passeth understand- 
 ing. My infidel doctor came in yesterday, and 
 said : ' There is no hope, sir. I have done 
 everything I can for you.' I said: 'Doctor, 
 your no hope is the brightest hope I ever had ; 
 sure as you live, sir, that is the sweetest sen- 
 tence you ever spoke at my bedside. I have 
 been lying here in pain. In a few days, if you 
 are right, I w r ill be beyond the reach of pain.'" 
 The infidel's no hope at death is the dawning 
 of hope to every Christian man ; it is the dawn- 
 ing of the hope, bright as heaven, that the 
 character of Jesus Christ, God's ideal, is cer- 
 tain to be ours by and by. 
 
BAKER & TAYLOR CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 SERMONS BY THREE FAMOUS PREACHERS. 
 
 STIRRING THE EAGLE'S NEST, and OTHER 
 PRACTICAL DISCOURSES. By Rev. Theodore 
 L. Cuyler, D.D. 12mo, cloth, with a photogravure 
 portrait of the author, $1.25. 
 
 A collection of eighteen sermons thoroughly representative 
 of the author's characteristic style and speech. 
 
 "In this volume we have this great Presbyterian divine, 
 whose name has deservedly become a household word in 
 America, at his best. They are strong, clear, spiritual, help- 
 ful . " — Boston Traveller. 
 
 44 It is such sermons as these that are worth publishing and 
 have a permanent value." — Presbyterian Journal. 
 
 THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL. Twelve Sermons, 
 delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London, 
 England. By Arthur T. Pierson. 16mo, cloth, 
 gilt top, $1.25. 
 
 " They stand as examples of Dr. Pierson's conspicuous abil- 
 ity as an extempore speaker. The sermons ring out the good 
 old Gospel in sweet clarion tones. There is no uncertainty 
 as to their doctrinal orthodoxy, nor is there any lack of adap- 
 tation in them for winning souls." — N. T. Observer. 
 
 MILK AND MEAT. Twenty-four Sermons. By 
 Rev. A. C. Dixon, D.D., Pastor of the Hanson Place 
 Baptist Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. 12mo, cloth, 
 
 $1.25. 
 
 These discourses which have been delivered to very large and 
 enthusiastic audiences, seek in book form a still wider hear- 
 ing. The author's nervous, energetic, and picturesque style 
 of exposition gives his spoken and written words an unflagging 
 interest, which holds the auditor and reader to the end. Apt- 
 ness of illustration and pointed and forceful presentation 
 characterize the book : while avoiding the grotesque, it is 
 thoroughly popular, entertaining, and natural. 
 
 Sent, postpaid, on receipt of the price, by 
 
 THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO., Publishers, 
 740 and 743 Broadway, New York. 
 
BAKER cf- TAYLOR CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 SPTJRGEON'S LAST AND BEST WORK. 
 
 THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM: A Popular 
 Exposition of the Gospel according to Mat- 
 thew. By C. H. Spurgeon. "With Introductory 
 Note by Mrs. C. H. Spurgeon, and an Introduction 
 to the American Edition by Arthur T. Pierson. 
 12mo, cloth, 512 pp. $1.50. 
 
 This commentary on the Gospel according to Matthew is 
 the latest and ripest of his life's labors. It will be found a 
 tree, laden with rich fruit ; and evidencing a soil singularly 
 fertile, and the culture which bespeaks a divine husbandman. 
 It is his latest work, and has in a sense the aroma of his dying 
 days, and is a simple, brief, and charming memorial of the 
 most effective popular preacher of his age. Every page is, 
 like his sermons, full of his Master, and yet sparkling with his 
 own unique individuality. 
 
 "This book is the rich fruit of an experience of the needs 
 of Christian readers more full and varied than has been given 
 to many men. It would be gilding refined gold to recommend 
 the expository work of Spurgeon to our readers : they all know 
 what it is. -But for their information we may explain that 
 text by text, or two or three texts taken together, the Gospel 
 is gone over with brief, practical, pungent, and very spiritual 
 comment, rising at times into eloquence such as Spurgeon was 
 master of. The titles of the various sections are in themselves 
 illuminating, giving in a very few words a comprehensive view 
 of the contents of the section. In this book its consecrated 
 writer, being dead, yet speaketh to an audience larger, we 
 believe, than any that ever heard his voice in life." — New York 
 Evangelist. 
 
 " This is a work in Mr. Spurgeon's usual style, full of good 
 thoughts plainly expressed. The idea of the title is wrought 
 into every part of the book. Every section has something 
 about either the King or the Kingdom. The work is topically 
 arranged, and so has a topical table of contents, such as the 
 Pedigree of the King, The Birth of the King, The King Ap- 
 pearing, and The King Assailed, and so on to the end of its 
 twenty-eight sections." — Church Advocate. 
 
 Sent, postpaid, on receipt of the price, oy 
 
 THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO., Publishers, 
 740 and 742 Broadway, Xew York. 
 
BAKER & TAYLOR GO: S PUBLICATIONS. 
 THREE PULPIT AND PASTORATE BOOKS. 
 
 THE DIVINE ART OF PREACHING. By Rev. 
 Arthur T. Pierson, D.D. 
 
 Contents. — I. The Sermon as an Intellectual Product, 
 II. The Preacher among His Books. III. The Preacher 
 with His Themes. IV. The Preacher Training His Memory. 
 V. The Twin Laws of the Sermon. VI. Types of Sermon 
 Structure. VII. The Preacher among the Mysteries. VIII. 
 The Preacher among the Critics. IX. The Preacher with 
 His Bible. X. The Preacher in His Pulpit. XL The 
 Preacher among Snares. XII. The Preacher among His 
 People. XIII. The Preacher Communing with the Spirit. 
 
 " It contains the freshest thoughts of one of the leading 
 preachers of the world, on a subject of deep interest to min- 
 isters everywhere." — Cumberland Presbyterian. 
 
 HOW TO BE A PASTOR. By Rev. Theodore 
 Cuyler, D.D. 
 
 Contents. — I. Importance of Pastoral Labor. II. Pas- 
 toral Visits. III. Visitation of the Sick— Funeral Services. 
 IV. Treatment of the Troubled. V. How to Have a Work- 
 ing Church. VI. Training Converts. VII. Prayer-meetings. 
 VIII. A Model Prayer-meeting. IX. Revivals. X. Drawing 
 the Bow at a Venture. XL Where to be a Pastor. XII. Joys 
 of the Christian Ministry. 
 
 "The fruit of large native sense, long experience, wide 
 observation, and devout consecration." — Congregationalism 
 
 THE WORKING CHURCH. By Rev. Charles F. 
 Thwing, D.D. 
 
 I. The Church and the Pastor. II. The Character of 
 Church Work. III. The Worth and Worthlessness of 
 Methods. IV. Among the Children. V. Among the Young 
 People. VI. Among Business Men. VII. From the Business 
 Point of View. VIII. Two Special Agencies. IX. The 
 Treatment of Strangers. X. The Unchurched. XI. Duties 
 Towards Benevolence. XII. The Rewards of Christian Work. 
 XIII. In the Country Town. 
 
 "Every chapter is full of pith, bristling with points, wise, 
 sound, and practical." — The Evangelist. 
 
 16mo, cloth, gilt top. In a set, $2.25. Separately, each, 
 75 cents. Sent, postpaid, on receipt of the price, by 
 
 THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO., Publishers, 
 
 740 and 742 Broadway, New York. 
 
BAKER A TAYLOR CO.* S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 BOOKS OF NATIONAL INTEREST. 
 
 NATIONAL PERILS AND OPPORTUNITIES. The 
 Discussions of the General Christian Conference 
 held at Washington, D. C., Dec. 7-9, 1887, under 
 the auspices and direction of the Evangelical Alli- 
 ance for the United States. 8vo, cloth, $1.50. 
 
 " All the prominent social questions which now confront 
 the churches were discussed, and the foremost men in the 
 churches were present to discuss them." — Christian Union. 
 
 NATIONAL NEEDS AND REMEDIES. The Discus- 
 sions of the General Christian Conference held at 
 Boston, Mass., December 4-6, 1889, under the 
 auspices and direction of the Evangelical Alliance 
 for the United States. 8vo, paper, $1.00 ; cloth, 
 $1.50. 
 
 " This Boston Conference is the most important event in the 
 American religious world which we have been permitted to 
 chronicle in a very long time." — The Churchman. 
 
 PROBLEMS OF AMERICAN CIVILIZATION. Their 
 Practical Solution the Pressing Christian Duty of 
 To-day. 16mo, cloth, 60 cents. 
 
 Selected Addresses from "National Perils and Opportu- 
 nities." 
 
 CO-OPERATION IN CHRISTIAN WORK. Com- 
 mon Ground for United States Inter-Denomina- 
 tional Effort. 16mo, paper, 30 cents ; cloth, 60 
 cents. 
 
 Selected Addresses from "National Perils and Opportu- 
 nities." 
 
 Sent, postpaid, on receipt of the price, by 
 
 THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO., Publishers, 
 
 740 and 742 Broadway, New York. 
 
BAKER & TAYLOR CO. 1 8 PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 OUR COUNTRY : Its Present Crisis and its Pos- 
 sible Future. By Rev. Josiah Strong, D.D. 
 12mo, 275 pp., paper, 30 cents ; cloth, 60 cents. 
 Revision based on the Census of 1890. A new edi- 
 tion (160th thousand). 
 
 The many thousands who read the earlier editions of this 
 book, and were moved by its striking portrayal of our relig- 
 ious, social, and economic condition and tendencies, will learn 
 with interest that the author has availed himself of the latest 
 statistics of the Census of 1890 to make a revision of his work, 
 which causes it to show the chauges of the last ten years, and 
 to picture the actual situation of to-day. The matter of the 
 book has been increased one third, and a map and diagram 
 forcibly illustrate some of the more startling statistical facts 
 and comparisons. 
 
 " This volume is a storehouse of information. We recall no 
 recent volume which has so much packed into it of value for 
 the minister, the editor, the teacher, and in general, the patriot, 
 as this little volume on * Our Country.' " — Christian Union. 
 
 " Its facts are collated and marshalled with rare skill. It is 
 a powerful and patriotic book. It stirs the blood ; it warms ; 
 it inspires ; it thrills and it instructs. It ought to be read by 
 every citizen of the Republic ; it will be read by all our people 
 who wish to keep abreast of needful knowledge regarding our 
 country. ' ' — Christian Inquirer. 
 
 " If the means were at our command, we know of no service 
 we could perform more practical and effective for the cause of 
 truth and righteousness, than to place a copy of * Our Country ' 
 in the hands of every man and woman in the land." — Christian 
 at Work. 
 
 " Words are feeble in the recommendation of this book. It 
 enlightens, stirs, quickens, and makes the blood boil with 
 patriotic zeal and Christian vehemence." — Pulpit Treasury. 
 
 11 No publication of the present decade has awakened a more 
 profound and intelligent interest. In its present form, and it 
 is still compact and easily handled, we again commend it to 
 all Christian and patriotic American citizens." — New York 
 Observer. 
 
 Sent, postpaid, on receipt of the price, by 
 
 THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO., Publishers, 
 740 and 743 Broadway, New York. 
 
BAKER d- TAYLOR CO:S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 DR. JOSIAH STRONG'S NEW BOOK. 
 
 THE NEW EEA. By Dr. Josiah Strong, author of 
 "Our Country." 350 pages. Library Edition, 
 cloth, gilt top. $1.50 ; plain cloth, 75 cents ; paper, 
 35 cents. 
 
 Contexts. — I. The Nineteenth Century one of Prepara- 
 tion. II. The Destiny of the Race. III. The Contribution 
 made by the Three Great Races of Antiquity. IV. The 
 Contribution made by the Anglo-Saxon. V. The Authori- 
 tative Teacher. YI. The Two Fundamental Laws of Christ. 
 VII. Popular Discontent. VIII. The Problem of the Coun- 
 try. IX. The Problem of the City. X. The Separation of 
 the Masses from the Church. XL The Mission of the Church. 
 XII. The Necessity of New Methods. XIII. Necesshy of 
 Personal Contact. XIV. Necessity of Co-operation. XV. 
 The Two Great Principles Applied to the Two Great Prob- 
 lems. XVI. An Enthusiasm for Humanity. 
 
 This second work, by the author of " Our Country," which 
 is now in its 160th thousand, is an application of fundamental 
 principles to the solution of some of the greatest problems of 
 the times. 
 
 The writer finds in history two governing principles which 
 are its key — two lines of progress along which the race has 
 moved. As these lines spring from man's constitution, they 
 are permanent, and indicate the direction of the world's future 
 progress. 
 
 Christ recognized man's constitution, and based on it two 
 fundamental laws which correspond precisely to these two 
 fundamental principles. The church has accepted and taught 
 but one of these two laws, and has, therefore, only half com- 
 prehended and only half accomplished her mission. 
 
 In the light of these facts the writer interprets the great 
 movements of the times, and points out what he believes 
 history, reason, and revelation alike show to be the solution of 
 the great problems of the age. 
 
 The writer believes that the church will accept her here 
 tofore neglected social mission, that the world's rate of prog- 
 ress is to be vastly accelerated, that the race is to be perfected, 
 which will be the kingdom of heaven fully come in the earth, 
 and that the Anglo-Saxons are to develop the ultimate civiliza- 
 tion. 
 
 Sent, postpaid, on receipt of the price, by 
 
 THE BAKER & TAYLOR CO., Publishers, 
 
 740 and 742 Broadway, New York. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 022 169 619