BIBLE BLESSINGS.




WORKS by the Rev. RICHARD NEWTON, D.D.
1. THE BEST THINGS.
2. THE KING'S HIGHWAY.
3. THE SAFE COMPASS.
4. BIBLE BLESSINGS.
5. THE GREAT PILOT.
6. BIBLE JEWELS.
The above 6 vols. in a neat Box, entitled the " Jewel Case."
7. RILLS FROM THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE.
8. GIANTS AND HOW TO FIGHT THEM.
9. THE JEWISH TABERNACLE.
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK.








THE HEATHEN FATHER.
Bible Blessings.            FR').NTISPI'',:E.                   p. 25.




BIBLE BLESSINGS.
BY THE
REV. RICHARD NEWTON, D.D.,
A'UTHOR OF " RILLS FROM THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE," " THE BEST
THINGS," " KING'S HIGHWAY," " GIANTS, AND HOW TO.... -HEM," "THE SAFE COMPASS," ETC.
FEW YORK:
ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS,
No. 530 BBOADWAY.
1868.




Entered aceording to Act of Congress, in the year 1885,
BY ROBERT CARTEB   &  BROTHERS,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United Statee 
the Southern District of New York.
J. H TOBITT,                        B. O. JENKINS,
fttr anb  tti-suartote.                 20  rt illimractanlin-square.                  20 Nora Willidinx-t.




CONTENTS.
I.
THE BLESSEDNESS OF HEARING THE GOSPEL: THE EVILS
FROM WHICH IT SAVES US..............................    9
"Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound."-.
PSALM lxxxix. 15.!I.
THE BLESSEDNESS OF HEARING THE GOSPEL: THE BENEFITS
IT BRINGS,................. 41
"Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound."PSALM lxxxix.''
II.
THE BLESSEDNESS OF CONSIDERING THE POOR,........,....   6
"Blessed is he that considereth the poor. "-PSALM xli. 1.
IV.
How JEsUS BLESSES MEN,..........................       99
"Men shall be blessed in Him. "-PsALM lxxii. 17.
V.
THE BLESSEDNESS OF BEING A CHRISTIAN,.................   125
" Thou shalt be blessed above all people." —DEuT. vii. 7.




Vi                    CONTENTS.
VI.
Page
THE BLESSEDNESS OF BEING A CHRISTIAN.................   153
"Thou shalt be blessed above all people." —DEUT. vii. 14.
VII.
TROUBLES TURNED TO BLBSSINGS...........................   183:" Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest. "
PSALM XCiv. 12.
VIII.
THE BLESSBDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD,.......................  213
" Whoso trusteth the Lord, happy is he."
PFovEaBS xvi 20.
IX.
THE BLESSING 1OF MUb.2SS3,.......................  24
" Blessed are the meek. " —MATTHEW V. 5.
X.
THE BLBSSEDNESS OF ENDURING TEMPTATION,.............. 277
" Blessed is the man that endureth temptation."
JAMES i. 12.




PREFACE.
WHEN the children of Israel had reached the borders
of the land of Canaan, Moses sent some men to go up
and see what kind of a land it was, and to bring back
some specimens of its fruit. Among other things which
those men brought, were some bunches of grapes, so
large'and fine that they had to be carried on a pole
borne on the shoulders of two of their number.
What noble samples those were of the rich fruit that
grew in " that good land," which God had promised to
give to the children of Israel I
In preparing this little volume I feel as if I had been
doing very much the same thing that was done by
those spies. I have been walking, as it were, through
the pleasant fields of the Bible, and gathering specimens of its blessings. The Bible is a book of blessings.
It is intended to make people happy in this life, as well
(vii)




Viil               PREFACE.
as in the life to come. It would take, not one book
merely, but a whole library of books, to tell of all the
blessings spoken of in the Bible. If the few samples of
them here presented shall lead any one who reads this
book to love the Bible more, and to seek a larger share
in the rich store of its blessings, I shall feel abundantly
rewarded for the labor bestowed upon it.
R. IN.




1.
p;e   Vitostwnss of  teartig    tt (gardo
" Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound."
PsAnx lxxxix. 15.








I.
" Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound."
PSALM lxxxix. 16.
iWHAT a pleasant thing it is to go through
a garden, full of flowersI As you walk
quietly along, you can pluck one flower here
and another there, till you have gathered a
beautiful boquet. And then how pleasant it
is to stop and look at them, and admire the
beauty of their form and color, and enjoy the
sweet fragrance which they yield I
We may compare the Bible to such a garden. Each chapter in this blessed book is
like a bed in the garden. The precious promises of the Bible are like the flowers which
bloom, and the fruits which ripen in this garden. These flowers and fruits are very numerous, and very different from each other,
but all very beautiful. When we are reading and studying the Bible, we are, as it




12         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
were, walking up and down in God's flowergarden. And when we stop to examine one
verse after another, we are plucking the
flowers and gathering the fruit that grow
there. And in beginning another course of
sermons for our Children's Church, I feel as
if you and I were just starting off, on a fresh
walk, through the beautiful spiritual garden
which God has planted for us in his wonderful book. We are going to talk about "Bible
Blessings."  I mean by this the blessings
which the Bible brings to us. And while we
are doing this, it seems to me as if we shall
just be walking about in God's garden, and
gathering a boquet of the beautiful flowers
which are growing there. I hope we may all
find a great deal of pleasure and profit from
this course of sermons, or from this ramble
through God's beautiful garden.
Our first sermon will be on the words"Blessed are the people that know the joyful
sound."
Here the Bible is spoken of as if it were a
trumpet, and those who hear, this trumpet




HEARING THE GOSPEL.         13
are said to be blessed. Let us see, before go.
ing any further, if we understand what this
means.
Now you know that the Jews used to
have what they called "the year of Jubilee."  This came once in every fifty years.
Suppose that a Jew, in old times, had become
so poor that he had to sell his home, his
house. and lands; or suppose he had even to
sell himself, as a servant or slave, which they
did sometimes. Well, when the year of Jubilee came, the man who had sold his house
would get it back again, without paying any
thing for it. And the man who had sold
himself into bondage, would cease to be a
slave. He would get his liberty again for
nothing. And as soon as the first day of the
year of Jubilee came in, trumpets were
blown all through the land. When the sound
of those trumpets was heard the people knew
that the year of Jubilee was come. Then all
the people who had been obliged to sell their
homes went back to them again, and all those
who had been sold as slaves became free.




14           BIBLE BLESSINGS.
We can easily understand, therefore, what a
joyful thing the sound of that trumpet must
have been to many among the Jews, and how
blessed those were who heard it.
Now heaven is our Father's house, which
we have lost by sin. And sin has not only
lost us that house, but has sold us to Satan, as
his slaves. But the Bible brings to us a year
of Jubilee. It comes to tell us how we may
escape from being the slaves of Satan, and
get back to heaven, our Father's house again.
This is the meaning of that beautiful Sunday
School hymn;Blow ye the trumpet, blow
The gladly solemn sound I
Let all the nations know,
To earth's remotest bound,
The year of Jubilee has come;
Return, ye ransom'd sinners, home.
Ye who have sold for naught,
The heritage above,
Can have it back, unbought,
The gift of Jesu's love.




HEARING THE GOSPEL.           15
The gospel trumpet hear,
The news of pardoning grace;
Ye happy souls, draw near,
Behold your Saviour's face;
The year of Jubilee is come;
Return, ye ransom'd sinners, home
We begin our course of sermons on " Bible
Blessings " by speaking of the blessedness of
having the Bible. This is what our sermon
is about to-day —The blessedness of having
the Bible.  It is a blessed thing to have the
Bible because of the evils from  which it saves
Us. If we live till next month, we must have
another sermon on this subject to show that
it is a blessed thing to have the Bible because
of the benefits it brings us.
" Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound."
It is a blessed thing to have the Bible because of the evils from which it saves us.
I wish to speak of four different kinds of
evils from which the Bible saves us. And we
shall see that each of these evils furnishes us
with a good reason why it may be said,




16         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
" Blessed are the people that know the joyful
sound."
The first evil from wohich the Bible saves
s is IGNORANCE.
Ignorance is to our minds just like what
darkness -is to our bodies. It prevents us
from seeing the things around us. When the
sun is shining brightly, how pleasant it is to
look out on a beautiful landscape! We can
see the green fields and the waving grain,the trees, the hills, the streams, and every
thing. But suppose the sun should suddenly
be taken away. Could we see any thing
then? No. All would be dark around us.
We could see nothing. Now the Bible is
like a sun to us. It sheds light on a great
many things. If it were not for the Bible,
we should be left in the dark on all these
thlings. The Bible drives away this darkness. It saves us from ignorance. But we
are so accustomed to the Bible, and the blessed light which shines from it, that we hardly
know how to prize it enough, or what our




]HEARING THE GOSPEL.        17
condition would be if we had never had it.
If we want to know what a blessed thing it
is to hear its joyful sound, we must look at
the ignorance of some of the people who have
never had the Bible.
Sometimes when the missionaries of the
gospel go to the heathen, to teach them about
Jesus and his religion, t ley have to begin
first to teach them the English language, because many of the languages of the heathen
have no words to express some of the most
important things of which the missirnaries
wish to speak. Some of those languages have
no word to stand for the " soul," or " life,"
or " home," or " mercy," or "heaven,'? o
" eternity."  Now suppose we lived among a
people who knew nothing about "homesweet home." That is, suppose none of us
had any home.  Suppose that we did not
know that there was such a thing as mercyor sucll a place as heaven? Suppose that we
did not know that we had a.oul -— and that
we are to live after death- how sad lour state
would be!  That would be like being in the




1 8        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
dark indeed I How dreadful such ignorance
would be! And yet if it were not for the
Bible we should be ignorant about these
things, or left in the dark about them.
But there are a great many other things of
whllich people are left in ignoranlce, who are
without thie Bible.
The people who live in Hindostan, you
know, are called Hindoos. Tljey pride themnselves on their learning. They have no Bible
like ours.  But they have a great many sacred books which are called Shasters, or Vedas.  These books profess to teach the Hindoos what they must believe, not only about
religion, but about history, and botanly, and
natural philosophy, and astronomy, and geographly. But a great many of the things
contained in the Vedas are so foolish, that
the people had better, a great deal, be left
without any teaching at all, than be taught
anything so silly and ridiculous.
For instance, let us just see what the Yedas, or sacred books of the Hind doos, teach
them on the subject of geography. Now if I




4.1~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~p. 1.
Biblle Blessins.                                         1
r   g   ii~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~P








HEARING THE GOSPEL.          19
should ask you some questions in geography,
like these: What is the shape of the earth a
Ihow many miles is it in circumference? how
many in diameter? what proportion of the
earth is land? and what is water? what are
the four continents of the earth called? and
what are the names of the principal rivers
and mountains? some of the children even
in the Infant School could answer them. And
the children who could give these answers
are much wiser, on this subject, than the nlen
who wrote those sacred books of til e I indoos,
or than the Bralmins, or priests are who
teach them to the people.
On the opposite page is a representation of
the Hindoo map of the world, or the system
of geography which they are taught. It is
very curious. On this map, or picture, are
two circles. The one on tile left represents
the world as inhabited by inhei and animals.
You see, on it, six long ranges of mountains,
running, as we should say, from north to
south, and two shorter ones, running across
them from east to west.  In the centre of




2)AJ0       BIBLE  BLESSINGS.
this circle is a wonderful mountain called
Meru. This mountain, the Ilindoos say, is
made up of gold and jewels, and is the place
where their gods dwell.  Meru is said to be
eight hundred and forty thousand miles high.
An(d what is more remarkable still, is, that
unlike all other mountains, which get smaller
as they rise higher, this mountain is as wide
again at the top as it is at the bottom.  The
base is said to be eighty thousand miles wide,
while the summit is a hundred and sixty
thousand. This AMount Meru is supposed to
be the centre of the earth.  At the base of it
are four othei' mountains which support it.
From these mountains flow out four rivers,
represented by the waved lines on the map.
And on each of these mountains is an enormnous tree, eight thousand eight hundred
miles high!  This plain which lies around
the foot of Mount Meru is said to be four
thousand millions of miles in width!
Outside of this plain is a set of seven seas,
or oceans, which surround the earth like so
many vast rings, or circles. These are rep



IIEARING THE GOSPEL.        21
resented in the figure on the right hand of
the map. The first of these seas is of salt
water.  Then tfollows a belt of earth; then
the second sea, which is of the juice of the
sugar-cane; then another belt of earth, and
the third sea, which is of wine, and so on.
The fourth sea is of melted butter, the fifth
of sweet milk, the sixth of curdled milk, and
the seventh of fresh water.
Now what a system of geography this is!
And things just as foolish are taught in those
books about the sun, and the moon, and the
stars, and many other things. And yet the
Hindoos are considered one of the most intelligent heathen nations in the world.
But if it was only about geography and astronomy, and such like subjects, that we
should be left in ignorance, without the Bible, it would not be of so much consequence.
But this is not all. Without the Bible, we
never could tell certainly whether we have
souls or not. If we knew that we had, we
never could tell what was to become of them
when we die. We could not tell whether




22         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
there is a heaven or not; and if there is,
how we are to get there. We could not tell
how the world was made, or what is to become of it hereafter. There would be no sun
to shine upon our souls. We should be left
like people who are groping their way in the
dark. There would be nothing for us to do
but to go stumbling on, all our days,-and at
last to make a dreadful plunge in the dark,
without knowing, at all, where that plunge
would take us.
But-" Blessed are the people that know
the joyfulf sound."  It is a blessed thing to
have the Bible, because of the evils from
which it saves us. The first of these evils is
ignorance.
The second of these evils iS OPPRESSION.
I suppose you all know what oppression
means.  For instance. Here is a little boy
going out into the fields to fly a kite which
he has just made. A big boy meets him, and
threatens to beat him, unless he gives him
the kite. There is no one near to help the




HEARING THE GOSPEL,.       23
little boy. He is obliged to give up his kite,
and let the big boy take it. That would be
oppression. You might well say that that
big boy was oppressing the little boy.  And
wherever anything like this is done, by one
man towards another, tAat is oppression.
In this country we have laws to protect
those who are poor and weak, so that those
who are richer and stronger than they, cannot injure or oppress them. I may be one of
the poorest men in this city; yet no man,
however rich or great lie is, has any right to
come into my house, and take away anything
that belongs to me, without my consent. If
any one should attempt to do this, the law
would protect me. I could have the man
taken up and put in prison.
But in many heathen countries, where
they have never had the Bible, they have no
laws to protect the people. The chiefs, and
great men, can oppress the poor people, and
take away their property, and even their
lives, and there is nothing to stop them. In
New Zealand, and in the Fiji Islands, the




24         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
chief of a tribe, or district, could entei the
dwellings of the people, and if he saw any
thing that he wanted, no matter how munch
the owner valued it, he would quietly take
it himself, or send one of his servants to take
it, and nlo one durst say a word.
Now it is very sad to think of wicked Inen
having such power over tile property of others; but it is still more dreadful to think of
their having the same power over the lives
of others. Yet this is the case in many hleathen countries. In China a father can do
what he likes with the lives of his children,
and there is no law to punish or prevent
him. A missionary knew of a Chinese father
who said to his wife-" What shall we do
with our young son? He won't mind what
we say. Let us put him to death."  Tile
mother consented. They tied a rope round
the poor boy's neck. The father took hold
of one end, and the mother the other, and
they pulled away till they strangled the
child. The dreadful deed was well known




HEARtING THE GOSPEL.         25
in the ineigllborhood, but no one took ally
notice of it.
There was a Iilman livinlg in the city of
Ningpo, in Cliina, who hlad two sons. One
of them did somnetliillg which displeased his
father. He resolved to get rid of him. Thle
next day lie ordered his two sons to fbllow
him to the river. Then they all got into a
boat and  rowed  into the middle of the
stream. Then the father tied a large stone
round the son's neck, and made his brother
assist, while he threw tlhe wretched boy into
the water, where he sank to rise no more.
HIow sad to think of such things!
But though boys arle sometimes treated in
this way in China, tile gisrls are served much
worse. There is no telling what numbers of
them are killed while they are infants.  In
the city of Amoy there is a large place, full
of water, which is called "'the Girl's Ditch."
Into this as manly as a dozen feinale infants
are sometimes thrown alive at one time, and
no one takes any more notice of them than if
they were so many kittens, or mice.




26         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
One time, somne years ago, an English merchant was lodging, for a night in the house of
a clief, on the island of New Zealand. A
servant girl belonging to the chief came in.
She had been away, somewhere, for two
days. Without waiting to ask where she
had been, or why she had been away, her
mistress told one of the men standing by to
kill her. With one blow of his axe he struck
her dead. In the evening of the same day a
large party of friends feasted on her body,
and her head was given to the children for a
plaything.
One day, several years ago, a chief in this
same island ordered one of his female servants to heat a large oven, as he was going
to have a feast for his friends in the evening.
She did so. When the oven was made very
hot, to her great horror, her master ordered
her to throw herself into it. Poor creature!
she begged-she cried for mercy, she threw
herself on the ground, and clasped her cruel
master's knees, and prayed him to pity, and
spare her, but it was all of no use. lie was




HEARING THE GOSPEL.         27
not angry with her. She had not done any
thing to displease him, only he wanted to
have a feast of hllnman flesh.  So he seized
the poor girl, tied her hands and feet, and
flung her alive into tile heated oven!  And
there was no law to punish that wicked
man!
But they have the Bible in New Zealand
now. The Bible has given them laws which
stop this oppression.  Tile people of New
Zealand have heard the joyful sound of the
gospel. They can understand, much better
than we can, what a b)lessed thing it is to
hear that sound. It is a blessed thing to
hear this joyful sound, because of the evils
from which it saves us.
The second of these evils is oppression.
The third evil from whichl the Bible saves
US is-CRUELTY.
Wherever the Bible is not known, cruelty
prevails, in many forms.  We read in the
Bible, that-" The dark places of the earth
are full of the habitations of cruelty." Ps




28          BIBLE BLESSINGS.
lxxiv. 20. These dark pla,-ces mean heathen
lands. Wherever you go in heathllen lands,
you mneet with cruelty in one form or other.
I know that this is not a pleasanlt subject to
dwell upon.  But we cannot tell how mnuch
we owe to the Bible, or Awdhat a blessed thing
it is to hear this joyful sound, unless we do,
in this way, look at the dreadful evils fmroin
which we are salved by hlaving the Bible.
Auid one of the worst of these evils is the
cruelty which prevails in lands where the
Bible is not; known.
One of these forms of cruelty is the offer..
ing of human sacrifices.
Not long since there was war on the west
coast of Afirica.  One of the tribes, before going to battle, resolved to offer a sacrifice to
their god, in order to secure success. They
selected a little boy, about eight years old, as
their victim. They dressed him in the nicest
clothes they had. Tlhey decorated his fingers
llld toC0 witlh (.old rings, and hlung around his
neck greegrees, or charms. Tlhen they placed
hin in a decp hole, o with his head just above




IIEARING TIIHE GOSPEL.        29
the ground. Tile poor little fell(ow clie(], aend
screamed, but nobody minded Ihim. A great
crodwd of men and women stood -round, and
watched what was done. Tlley filled up tlhe
hole with earth and stones.  They piled it
up over his head till a great mounid was
raised above him, and thei they left himil, ill
his living grave, to die a iisera!,le death.
All through Africa such dreadful sacrifices
are offered fiom time to titne.
Another way in which tile cruelty of heathen lands shows itself is in the treatment of
parents by their childr/en.
Inl the Fiji Islands, when the parents of a
family get old, tile chlildrenl will tell them
that "it's time for them to be going."  Tllen
they will give tilelm the choice of tile way in
which they may prefer to die.  Thle usunl
ways are either by strangling, or lburyinll
alive.  When the clioice is Inade, tile fiinily
ald friends collie together to assist in getting
them out of tile way. And when it is all
over, they leave a feast together in honor of
the occasion.




30          BIBLE BLESSINGS.
In India, instead of burying thleir parents
alive, they carry them  to the banks of the
river Ganges, and leave themn there to die.
Some time ago, the aged fattler of a HI-iiidoo family was taken sick. His sons wanted
to get him out of the way, that they might
share his property- between themselves.
They carried Ilioin to the Ganrges. and placing
him with hlis feet in the water, they left him
there to die, without any one to help or pity
hitn.  But insteltd of dlying, Ie got better,
and malnatl(ed, after awhile, to get back to llis
home.  Instead, however, of welcornilg him
back, and treating hin kiltdly, his cinnel sonls
ridiculed and cursed llim; tlley abused himn,
and drove him  away fiorn hlis hoine.  Tlle
poor old man, broken-hiearted at the conduct
of'is unllaturll l soils. went sorrowing t)ack
to the river, and threw  hlilmself in, and was
drowned.
And so we might go on to speak of cannibalisn, or tlle eating of hulnan flesh, and a
great rnaiiy otlier forms of cruelty which are
found in heathen lands; but fi'om  all tlh(se




HEARING THE GOSPEL.           31
evils we are delivered, because  wte  ire
blessed in hearing the joyful sound of the
gospel.
Cruelty is the third evil tifom  which the
Bible saves us.
The fozurth and last evil of which I would
speak, from which the Bible saves us, isIDOLATRY.
I might speak of many things which show
us how dreadful it is to be an idolator, but I
will only speak of two. Ole of these is the
character of the idol gos.; —the other is the
kind of sacrifices ()Cf; ed to the/m.
The heathen have a great multitude of
gods.  I will only take two, as specimens.
The rest are all very much like them.  The
two, that I refer to, are the god Siva, and
Kalee, his wife. Siva is one of the millions
of falbe gods worshipped in India. In a picture, which I have of him, he is represented
as having twenty-five heads, rising up one
above the other, in the form of a pyramid,
and thirty-two arms and hands. Eacli of




.3 2        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
these thirty-two hands holds some weapon
for ipunishing, or destroying. In one there
is a bow, in another an arrow, in anotlher a
sword-a knife-a knotted rope-a spear —a
club —a sling —a red-hot iron, or some such
deadly wealpon.  What a strange figure this
is! I suppose the twenty-five heads are put
upon this god to show how,nuch knowledge
he lhas, and the thirty-two arms and hands to
show how much power lhe has. But then it
seems that all this knowledge, and all this
power, are (nly enmployed( for tle pirpose of
pniisling, hand destroying men.  The heads
are inteinded to guide the hands in using the
weapons of' destruction  wh-ich thley hold.
There is nothing in such a god that people
ca:i love, but everything for themn to fear.
Among all his many heads and hands, not
one of tlem is employed in helping or comforlting those who worshlip him; thley are all
intended to ala m, and terlity, and punish.
And Kalee, the wife of Siva, is just what
we might expect the wife of such a monster
to he. Sile is rel)resented as lhaving  fonr




HEARING THE GOSPEL.         33
arms. In one is a sword-in another is the
head of a giant, and so on. Around her neck
she wears a long necklace of human skulls,
while everything about her tells of cruelty
and bloodshed.
What a dreadful thing it must be to have
to worship such horrible beings as these!
When we kneel down to worship our God
and Saviour, we think how pure, how holy,
how kind and good He is, and the very
thtought of Him helps to make us better.
But to think of such a god as Siva or Kialee,
would never make any body feel better, but
only worse.
Thrie character of these gods shows what a
dreadful thing idolatry is.  And then the
kind of sacrijfces ofered to them shows the
satme thing.
Some years ago a missionary in India went
with some friends to the temple of Siva, the
god of wh oln we have just spoken, to see the
people offering sacrifices. A great crowd
of people were in the temple.  One of the
priests stood before the idQl, with a sharp
2




34         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
knife in his hand. He was helping the peo
pie to offer their sacrifices. And what were
they? One man caine up. The priest told
him to open his mouth and put his tongue
out. He did so. The priest seized hold of
his tongue, and cut a slit in it with his knife.
T/tat was his offering.  Another mnan came.
The priest told him to ur.cover the side of
his body. He did so.  Tile priest pinched
up the flesh with his thumb and finger, ran
his knife through the flesh, and thrust a
stick through the opening. That was his
offering. And so they went on.
Some years ago, before the gospel had
been introduced into the South Sea Islands,
they were hlving service in an idol temple,
on one of those islands. In the midst of the
service, the priest stopped, and looked round
upon the people. He wanted to get an offering that he thought his god would be particularly pleased with. He saw a man sitting
not far from the idol. He stole up softly behind him.  With one blow of his club he
broke the man'soneck, and then he instantly




nEARING THE GOSPEL.          35
scooped out one of his eyes, plut it on a green
leaf, and presented that as an offering to his
god. How dreadful!
Somle time ago, a rich merchant in India
had been unfortunate in business, and lost all
his money. He thought his god was angry
with him, and that he must offer some great
sacrifice to secure his favor.  He went to
consult a priest. The priest told himn that all
persons who would offer themselves, and
what they loved best, to their god, on a particular day, would be sure to please him.
The poor ignorant man believed the wicked
priest. I-e resolved to offer the greatest sacrifice in his power. When the day calne, he
hleaped a great pile of wood in his house. IHe
cut the throats of his three children, threw
their bodies on the pile, and set it on fire.
Thlei he plunged the knife into his own body, and flung himself upon the blazing pile.
Such are the sacrifices offered by the heatlhen to their gods. What a dreadful thing
idolatry is, when we think of the character




3 6         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
of the idol gods, and the kind of sacrifices offered to them.'" Blessed are the people that know the
joyful sound " of the gospel. It is a blessed
thing to hear this sound, because of the evils
from which it saves us.
We have spoken of four of these evils
The first is g'gnorance-the second oppression
-t/he third cruelty-and the fourth idolatry.
How thankful we should be to Jesus for
bringing his gospel to us! Blessed are our
eyes for the things which they see, and our
ears for the things which they hear. How
many kings, and prophets, and righteous
men, in old times, desired to see the things
which we see, but " died without the sight!"
If it were not for the blessed gospel of Jesus,
we might, even now, be suffering from the
ignorance, the oppression, the cruelty, and
the idolatry of whieli we have been spealillg.
HIow much do we owe to Jesus for saving us
from all these evils! Sliall we not make H-Im
an offerin,?  But what is the most acceptable,.tferlings we can1 make?  0 nothing like




HEARING THE GOSPEL.         37
those cruel, bloody ones which the heathen
offer to their gods. No. Jesus says, " Give
me thine heart."  This is the best offering
we can make.  To love Him-to serve Him,
and try to become like Him-this is the offering He desires. Let us all make this offering.
Ar.d then, there is one other thing we can
do. We can try to send the gospel to othlers.
Let us resolve to take a fresh interest in the
missionary cause. Let us do more, and give
more, and pray more for it. This will show
that we understand the meaning, and feel
the truth of the text, which says-" Blessed
are the people that know the joyful sound."








II.
19te t  ssNU ess of Betating   tke  605rXd
At Benefits it Nsiqgs.
" Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound."
PSaLM lxxxix. 11,








II.
PSALM lxxxix. 15. "Blessed are the people that know
the joyful sound."
IN talking about these words last month, I
tried to show you that it is a blessed thing to
hear the joyful sound of the gospel, because
of the evils from which it saves us. I spoke
of four kinds of evils from which the gospel
saves us. These were ignorance-oppression
-cruelty-and  idolatry.  I wish now  to
show that it is a blessed thing to hear the
joyful sound of the gospel because of the benefits which it brings to us.
But who can tell all the benefits which the
gospel brings to us? Suppose some one
should set you down by the sea shore, and
ask you to count all the grains of sand that
are lving on there, could you do it?  No.
You might take up a handful of the sand and
count a few hundreds, or thousands of grains.




42          BIBLE BLESSINGS.
but you would soon give it up, and find it
imnlossible to count them all. And we shall
find it very much the same when we try to
count up all the blessings that we owe to Jesus, or all the benefits that EIis gospel brings
to us. Some people think that all that Jesus
does for His people is to pardon their sins,
and take them to heaven when they die. But
this is a mistake.  It is true indeed that to
get our sins pardoned is a very great blessing.  And, to be sure of going to heaven,
when we die, is so great a blessing, that if
the whole world were ours, and we should
give the world, with all that is in it, for this
privilege, it would be a cheap price to pay
for such a blessing. But these are not all
the benefits that the gospel brings to us. Jesus has brought us blessings for our bodies as
well as for our souls. He has brought blessings
for us in this world, as well as in the world
to come.  The fact is, that all the blessings
we have here, we owe to Jesus. It was said
of Jesus before He was born, " that all the
people in the world should be blessed in




HEARING THE GOSPEL.         43
Himi."  And this is true. When Adam and
Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, if Jesus
had not promised to.die for their sins, they
would have been destroyed, and then you
and I never would have lived at all. So yotu
see we owe our lives to Jesus. All the men.
and women, and children in the world, yes,
and all the animals too-the birds in the air,
the beasts on the earths, and the fishes in the
sea-owe their lives to Jesus. If Jesus had
not promised to die for us, this great globe
on which we live would have been destroyed.
Jesus died to save the world itself from destruction, as well as the people that live in it.
A great many people never think of this.
But it is true. We owe the bright sunshine,
that lights up the world, to Jesus. The trees
and flowers that make the earth look so beautiful, we owe to Jesus. The air we breat]ec,
the strength we feel, the health we enjoy, the
food we eat, the water we drink, the clothes
we wear, the homes in which we live, and
the friends we love, and whose presence
makes our homes so sweet and pleasant —all




44          BIBLE BLESSINGS.
these we owe to Jesus. But some of these
are benefits or blessings, which Jesus gives
even to the heathen, who have never heard
"the joyful sound " of the gospel.
There are other blessings, however, which
Jesus brings only to those who do hear the
sound of the gospel. These are " The Bible
Blessings" of which I especially desire to
speak. I might speak of a great many benefits
or blessings which the gospel brings to us, but
I will only-mention three.
It is a blessed thing to hear the joyful
sound of the gospel because of the benefits
which it brings to us.
The first qf these benefits of which I would
speak iS-KNOWLEDGE.
In our last sermon I said that the first of
the evils from which the gospel saves us is
ignorance. And now, in talking about the
benefits which the gospel brings us, it is proper to begin by speaking of the wonderful
knowledge which it gives us. Knowledge is
like light. It helps us to see things clearly,




HEARING THE GOSPEL.        45
and to understand all about them; but if we
were left without knowledge, these things
would seem to us just as if they were in the
dark. For instance, here we are in this
church. We have plenty of light here. You
can see me, and I can see you. We can see
the persons in the gallery.  We can see the
windows, and the doors. We can see the
way in, and the way out. We can see every
thing we want to see here plainly. But, suppose now all this light were taken away, and
it should suddenly become dark, inky, pitchy,
totally dark. We could not see one another
then. But still we could feel our way into
the aisle, and so on, towards the door, for we
should know there were doors, and just where
we should find them. But suppose we had
never been in the church before; and suppose
we were brought in here at midnight, and
left here without a single ray of light. Then
we should not know where the pulpit was, or
the aisle, or the windows, or the doors. We
should not know how we got into the church,
or how it would be possible for us to get out.




46         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
We should have no knowledge of the church.
We should be in the dark about it. And just
so, if we had no Bible, we should have no
knowledge of the things about which the
Bible tells us. We should be in the dark
ab at thlem.  We should be in the dark
~about ourselves, where we came from, and
where we are going to. We should be in the
dark about the world we live in, about how
it was made, and what it was made for. We
should be in the dark about our own hearts,
how sin got in there, and how we can get it
out. We should be in the dark about God.
We should not know whether IHe was like the
gods that the heathen worship, or not. In
regard to all these things, which it is of the
utmost importance for us to know about, we
should be entirely in the dark.  We mnight
go groping, and stumbling about, and trying
to feel our way, but we never should succeed. Nobody could give us any light, or
knowledge in regard to these things.
There are a great many things abu,,t which
we can find out all the knowledge we want,




HEARING THE GOSPEL.        47
without the Bible.  If I want to get a
knowledge of geography, for example, I need
not go to the Bible for this. And so, if I
want to get a knowledge of arithmetic, or
history, or botany, there are other books
besides the Bible, which will tell me all I
wish to know, on these subjects.  If a physician wants to get a knowledge of some particular kind of disease, and how it may be
cured, he can find out all about it without
going to the Bible. If a sailor wants to find
out how to navigate a ship;-or a farmer
how to plow Ihis field, and cultivate his farm,
he can get this kind of knowledge without
the help of the Bible. If I want to learn how
to build a house, or a ship, how to make a
coat, or a pair of shoes, it is not necessary for
me to go to the Bible for light, or knowledge
on these subjects. The Bible was not intended to teach us anything about such matters.
We can get all this kind of knowledge that
we need without the Bible. But there are a
great many other things which we should
never have known at all, and about which




48        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
nobody, in the world, could give us the least
light, or knowledge, if it were not for the Bible. Suppose you want to know how to worship, and serve God; if there were no Bible,
who could tell you? Suppose you feel the
wickedness of your heart, and want to know
how you can get it changed, so as to be made
happy in this world; let the.Bible be taken
away, and who can tell you?'  Suppose you
want to know what is to become of you when
you die, and how you can be sure of being
happy forever; if we had no Bible, where
i:ould you get this knowledge?  You might
read all the books in the world, and ask all
the wisest men that ever lived, and you
would not get the least knowledge on these
important subjects. We should be in the
dark about them. Nobody would be able to
throw a ray of light upon them. But we open
the Bible, and, like the sun in the heavens, it
sheds at once, a flood of light upon them all.
It tells us how the world was made, and what
it was made for. It tells us how sin got into
our hearts, and how we may get it out again.




IIEARING TEE GOSPEL.         49
It tells us what kind of a God Jesus our Saviour is, and how we may serve and please
Him, and enjoy his favor here.  It tells us
what must become of us when we die, and
points out to us the path in which we must
walk if we wish to get to heaven at last, and
be happy with God forever. And therefore
we may well say-" I-appy are the people
that know the joyful sound."  It is a blessed
thing to hear the gospel, because of the benefits which it brings to us.  The first of these
benefits is knlowledge.
The second benefit which tte gosp('l brings
to those who hearq its joyful sound iS-PARDON.
Tlhe greatest evil under which any body in
the worll ever suffered is sin. And the
greatest blessing, or benefit any body can recive is to get rid of sin. But to get rid of
sin is to have it pardoned.  The pardon of
sin is a blessing worth more than all the gold
and silver in the world put together.  B ut
perhaps some of you may be ready to ask,
well, if tile pardoll of sin is really such a very




50          BIBLE BLESSINGS.
great blessing, why don't people try more to
get it? This is a very proper question to ask
just here.  The answer to it is this: people
do not value the pardon which Jesus brings,
because they do not see and feel what a
dreadful evil sin is. If they could only see
this in its proper light, as God sees it, they
would never rest, and never have any peace
or comfort till they were sure of a pardon.
When God speaks of sin, He calls it " the
abominable thing that He hates." Now there
are two things that we must do if we wish
to know what sort of an evil sin is, and how
great a blessing the pardon is that Jesus
gives to His people. One of these things is,
to look at what the Bible says about sin. The
other is to see what dreadful things men are
sometimes willing to suffer in the hope of get.
ting their sins pardoned.
Now let us see what the Bible says about
sin. Let us look at one or two of the things
to which it is compared in the Bible. Some.
times the Bible coznpares sin to a burden.
David speaks of it in this way when he sayS.&




HEARING THE GOSPEL.        51
Psalm xxxviii. 4, "Mine iniquities are as a
heavy burden, too heavy for me." And Jesus
Himself uses this comparison when tie says,
Matt. xi. 28, " Come unto me all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest." Sin is a burden to the soul, not to the
body. But we all know what it is for the
body to have to carry a heavy burden. Suppose you had such a burden bound upon your
shoulders. Suppose it was so heavy as to
bow you down so that you could not stand
upright. Suppose, too, that it was fastened
to you in such a way that you never could
take it off for a moment.  You have to lie
down with it at night when you go to bed.
You get up with it in the morning when you
rise. You have to carry it with you wherever
you go. At home, in the street, in school, at
church, wherever you are, you are obliged to
go bending, and staggering, and groaning
under this burden. How dreadful this would
be! And if this were the case with you, what
would be the one t/.ing, which, above all othels, you would consider a blessing, and desire




5 2        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
to have? To get rid of this burden. That is
true. And the pardon which Jesus gives is
getting rid of the burden of sin.  And when
we feel sin to be a burden, the pardon of it
will appear to us as the greatest blessing that
we can receive.
But there is another view of sin in the Bible. Thye sin whilch belongs to our fallen nature is compared to a dead body; and we are
represented as chained to this dead body, and
obliged to drag it about with uts wherever we
go. This is what St. Paul means when he
says —Rom. vii. 24-" 0 wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?" —or, from this dead body. To
chain a person to a dead body was one of the
modes of punishment used by ancient tyrants.
Only think of being chained to a dead body,
a ghastly, putrefying corpse, and never being
able to get away from it, for a moment!
HIow horrible! Why, the very thouglht of
it makes one's blood run cold. Now, if this
were your condition, what would you considter the greatest blessing, or benefit that could




HEARING TIHE GOSPEL.        53
possibly be conferred upon you?.You would
say, in a moment-" (' take away this dreadful thing!  Break the chain that binds me
to it, and let me get away, where I shall never see it again." And suppose that some one
should come and offer to give you the finest
house in the country, or even to make you a
king, and secure you a crown and a palace,
would you be willing to accept the offer, if it
was necessary that you should always remain
chained to that dreadful corpse?  Certainly
not. But sin is just like such a dead, decaying body.  We are bound, or chained to it.
No one can break the chain which binds us
to it, and set us free, but Jesus. Ile does
this when He pardons us. And if this is so,
then it must be true that the pardon of our
sins is the greatest benefit that we can receive.
But there is another thing which shows us
what a great blessing this pardon is, and that
is the dreadful thirgs that people, who ]have
never heard the joyful sound of the gospel,
are willing to suarer in t e thope of getting




54         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
their sins pardoned. We see this illustrated
by some of the cruelties practised by the heatllen in the worship of their false gods. The
people who have never had the Bible cannot
fully understand how dreadful a thing sin is.
Still they know enough about it to make
them afraid of it, and lead them earnestly to
desire to have it pardoned. They know nothing of the precious blood of Jesus which
cleanses from all sin. Their religion points
out no certaiu way to obtain pardon.  And
so, when those people are troubled about
their sins, the priests tell them to do a great
many painful things, not as a sure way to obtain pardon, but.only in the bare hope that
these things may please their gods, and then,
perhap~s, they may pardon their sins.
Somletimes they will make the people walk
round the temples of their gods in shoes
which have the points of nails sticking
through the soles, so that their feet will be
kept bleeding at every step.  Sometimes
they will tell them that they must lie, for
days and weeks and months, on beds covered




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~LA
=g A=~~~ —~~~ —~-~.           -—:R I Lo — _,=; —-.~    --— _,
HEATHENS DOING PENANCE.
Bible Blessings.                                                     p. 54.








HEARING THE GOSPEL.         55
over with blunted iron spikes.  Sometimes
they will cause them to have a hole bored
through their tongues, and a small stick
thrust through the hole while they make an
offering to their god. Sometimes they will
have a scaffolding erected before the temple,
two or three stories high. At the foot of the
scaffold will be placed sacks of wool, flattened
out, with spikes of iron sticking through
them. Then the people, who wish to please
their god, and secure a pardon for their sins,
are directed to go up on the scaffolding,
stand at the edge of it, spread out their
hands, and throw themselves off, so as to fall
on the spikes below. Great crowds of people will be watching them, who will clap
their hands, and fill the air with shouts as
they see the poor creatures fall on those horrible spikes.
Some years ago there was a rich man in
India who was troubled about his sins, and
wished to get them pardoned. The priest
told him that in order to secure this, it was
necessary for him to make a rolling journey,




56         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
to a particular temple, in a distant part of
India. When he arrived there, he was to
set out a plantain tree, and wait till the fruit
was ripe, make an offering of the fruit to his
god, and then roll back again, and then he
might hope that his sills would be pardoned.
lie resolved to do it. So he took his wife
and children in a carriage, that they might
ride while he was rolling. He used to wrap
a strong cloth round his head to protect it
from being cut or bruised. Then he would
roll himself along the road like a log of wood.
Three or four miles a day was as much as he
could make.  Then he would rest with his
family, and start afresh the next day. His
son would walk by him and fan him as he
rolled along. When he was approaching a
village, the people would come out in crowds
to meet him, and the musicians would walk
before him to the temple in that village. He
would roll up to the foot of the idol, and worship him. Then he would spend a few days
to rest, and so go rolling on in his long journey. An English missionary met this man




HEARING THE GOSPEL.          57
when he was still a long way from the temple to which he was going. I-e had then
been more than seven years on his journey.
Yet he was willing to go rolling on, till he
reached the temple, and then to roll all the
way back again, with the mere hope that, at
last, he might perhaps succeed in getting a
pardon for his sins.
But the Bible tells us that " Jesus is exalted to God's right hand, to give pardon." The
pardon that He gives is free.  lie asks nothing for it. IHe gives it " without money,
and without price." It is a full pardon. It
takes away all our sins, and blots them out
as a cloud, so that God has nothing against
us, and we have nothing to fear, either while
we live, or when we die; either in this
world, or in the world to come.  What a
blessed thing it is then to hear the joyful
sound of the gospel. It is blessed because of
the benefits which it brings.  The second of
these benefits is —pardon.
We shall only have time to speak of one




58         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
more of the benefits whichL the gospel brings,
and this iS-IIELP.
There is nothing in the world that needs
help more than a little infant. It is one of
the most helpless of all things. The little
duck can plunge into the water, and swim,
as soon as it comes out of the shell. The little chicken, too, can run about, at once, and
pick up its food.  But the little infant can't
do anything. It can't feed itself. It can't
dress itself. It can't stand, or walk by itself.
It needs help for everything. And when we
first begin to serve God, or when we become
Christians, the Bible compares it to our being born again. Then we are spiritual infaints. It is the babyhood of our souls then.
And we need help for our souls then, just as
we do for our bodies, when they are in their
babyhood. We need the help of Jesus, then,
for every thing we try to do. This was what
Jesus meant when He said-'"without me
ye can do nothing." The great difference
between Jesus and other teachers is, that
they can only tell ub what to do, without




HEARING THE GOSPEL.        59
helping us to do it.  But He can do both
IIe can point out the way we ought to walk
in, and then give us the help we need to
enable us to walk in it. And this is the most
important of all things. Of what use would
it be to set a beautiful picture crown before a
blind man, and begin to talk to him about it,
unless we could open his eyes and help him
to see? Of what use would it be to play on
the most perfect musical instrument that ever
was, in the presence of a company of deaf
men, unless we could unstop their ears, and
help them to hear? What would be the use
of setting food before a sick man, who had
no appetite, unless we could remove his sickness, and help him to get an appetite? And
just so I may ask, what use would it be for
me to come here, and preach to you every
month, to tell you what you ought not to do,
and what you ought to do, and what kind of
persons God expects you to be, unless, at the
same time I could tell you where to get the
help you need, to enable you to do what God
expects of you? Why, I might as well go




(60        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
out to the cemetery  at Laurel Hill, and
preach to the dead. You 1have no more power of your own to change your wicked
hearts, and subdue your evil tempers, and
love and serve God, than those who are dead
and buried, have to come out from  their
graves, and return to the homes where they
once lived.  You need help to do this; and
not such help as your parents and teachers
and fiiends can give you.  You need help
from God. And it is a blessed thing to hear
the sound of the gospel, because it tells of
Jesus, who can give us just sucll help as we
need in trying to serve God.  There is one
promise in the Bible, about this very view of
the character of Christ, which is very sweet
and precious. It tells us that lie is-" a verypresent help in cvery time of need."  It
does not matter when, or where you need
help, or what you need it for, Jesus can give
it you. Let us look at some examples of persons needing help, and finding it in Jesus.
I was reading the other day of a little girl




IIEARING TILE GOSPEL.       61
who was sick. She had to take a dose of very
disagreeable medicine.
"' other, is it bitter, and bad to take I"
asked the child, whose name was Amy.
"Yes, my child, it is bitter," said her mother, "' but not very bad to take, if you make
up your mind to take it, like a good girl."
Her mother took her in her arms, and held
the glass.  She did not coax, or threaten, or
promise her pretty things; she wanted her
child to be willing to take it for the sake of
getting well.
" Wait a minute," said Amy; and claspin-g her little hands together, she shut her
eyes and said, " O my Saviour, will you help
a poor little child to take her medicine and
be well?  Will you please give Amy a mind
to do it? Amen."
Then she opened her soft blue eyes, and
stretching out her hand, she took the glass,
and swallowed the medicine.
A lady had charge of a class of little boys
in Sunday school. Every Sunday she used
to give the class some subject to think about,




62         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
and which they were to find texts in the 1ible to prove by the next Sunday.  One day
she gave them this sentence, " Jesus Christ
loved little children." The scholars were to
write down, on a paper, all the passages they
could find to prove this. The next Sunday
came. She met her class. There was a little
boy in it named [I arry. He was very poor,
but a bright-eyed little fellow, always very
attentive, and his teacher loved him very
much.
" Well, TIarry," said the teacher, " have
you found the verses 2"
" Yes, na'am," said Harry, as lie handed
the paper. Then he turned to the places
which he had marked down in his Bible, and
read them.  IHis teacher was surprised to
find how very suitable the passages were to
prove what had been given to the class. She
thought that if the minister of the parish had
selected them, they could not have been better chosen. Then she began to think that he
must have had somebody to help him, so she
said,




HEARING THE GOSPEL.         63
"H'arry, did any one help you to find these
texts i"
"Yes, ma' am," said Harry. His teacher
was pleased to find him so ready to acknowledge thig, and not want to take the credit to
himself. Then she asked herself,' well, who
could have helped him?' She knew that his
mother was dead, that his father was a wicked, drunken man, and that lie had no brother
or sister old enough to help him. Then she
said to him.
" Harry, dear, who helped you?"
The little fellow looked right up in her face
and said in a moment-" God helped me,
ma'am." Before he began to study his lesson, he had kneeled down and prayed to Jesus to help him, and his prayer had been
heard, and answered.
One day Haydn, the celebrated musician,
was talking with two of his musical friends,
about the best way of strengthening and refreshling themselves Mwhen they had been
singing a great deal, and were very tired.
One of them said that niothling helped hinm




64         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
like a bottle of wine. The other said that
going into lively company was the best thing
for him. They asked Haydn what he did.
lile said he always went into his chamber and
engaged in prayer; for that when he was
weary, and troubled in his mind, he found
that nothing was such a help and comfort to
him as prayer to God.
When we read about the martyrs, who
were tortured, and burnt, and put to cruel
deaths because they would not deny their
Saviour, we often wonder to ourselves how
it was that they could be so cheerful and
happy even while their bodies were burning
in the fire. If we just put our finger against
the stove, for a molllent, when it is red-hot
we know very well how badly it pains us.
Tlhen how dreadful it must have been to be
burnt to death! Yet some of the martyrs
wenlt to meet this fearful death as pleasantly
as if they hlad been going to a feast.  Sometilles they woulld hold out their hands in the
ibrlnes, alind sing prlaises to God while they
\wrce buidnigo. Ilow could they do it? God




HEARING THE GOSPEL.        65
helped them. And if he can help men to
sing while they are burning, as if the fire
did not hurt them at all, then what is there
that He cannot help his people to do? Oh,
when you want help, for anything, ask Jesus
to give it to you. If you want to overcome
sins; if you want to resist temptations; if
you want to get wicked tempers changed; if
you want to be patient in trial and suffering,
as Jesus was; if you want to live so as to
serve and please God here ill this life, anld go
to heaven wvhen you die-you must pray to
Jesus to help you. I-He has promised to do
this. He says in the Bible, "1 will help
thee." But if we want His help we must
pray earnestly for it, and try to help ourselves.
We have spoken of three great benefits
which the gospel brings to us, and on
account of which it is a blessed thing to healr
its joyful sound. What is the first of these
benefits? Knowledge. What is the second?
Pardon. What is the third? Help.
My dear young friends, let us try to im3




66       ]BIBLE BLESSINGS.
prove this knowledge, and to get this pardon
and help for ourselves, and then we shall be
truly happy. We shall understand what our
text means when it says, " Blessed are the
people that know the joyful sound  "




4








III.
"Blessed is he that considereth the poor.'
PSALM Xii. 1.
DID you ever go into a gymnasium   No
doubt many of you hlave been. A gymnasium is a place for taking exercise in. There
are a great many different things there to
help people who want to take exercise.
There are dumb-bells, and clubs for swinging
round, so as to stretch out the arms. There
are ropes and ladders to climb up, and parallel bars, and springing boards to help persons in jumping. There are pullies with
heavy weights attached to them, for opening
and enlarging the chest; besides a great
many other things. Now if we should go
into a gymnasium, without ever having seen
one before, we should know, from just looking at it, that the person who planned it intended it for exercising the limbs, and pro



70         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
moting the health and strength of those who
should use it.
Now the world, in which we live, is like a
great gymnasium. It is a place which God
has planned, and fitted up with everything
that is necessary to exercise the hearts or
sotIls of his people, and to bring into play
the right sort of feelings. Thlere are a good
many things in the world that God has put
here for this very purpose. One of these
things is the fact that there are so many poor
people in the world. Jesus told his disciples,
that there would always be poor people on
the earth. Many people wonder why it is so.
If you knew a man worth half a million of
dollars, whose children were allowed to go in
ragged clothing, and to live in a very poor,
shabby looking hut, you would think it very
strange. Now all the gold and silver, all
the precious things, all the property in the
world belong to God. Yes, and millions of
times more than all this world contains. 0,
how rich our Father in heaven is! And yet
how very poor many of His children are!




CONSIDERING THE POOR.       71
Why, if our Heavenly Father pleased, He
could easily give to you and to me, and to
every one of His children ten, or twenty, or
fifty thousand dollars a year. And He
would do it, in a minute, if He saw that it
would be best for us. God lets His people
be poor, not because he can't make them
rich, for this would be a very easy thing for
him to do, but because He has good and
wise reasons why he wants them to be poor
while they live in this world. One of these
reasons David taught us when he wrote the
words of our text:-" Blessed is he that considereth the poor." There are some things
which are a great deal better than money.
God's blessing is one of these things. This
blessing is connected with considering the
poor; i. e., with thinking about them, being
kind to them, and trying to do them good.
This is particularly a Bible Blessing. There
are no hospitals, no asylums, or homes for
the poor in heathen lands.
Now I wish to speak of three reasons why
it is a blessed thing to consider the poor.




72      -BIBLE BLESSINGS.
Th,e Jrst reasoln 8 that rr IS LIKE GOD.
David says, " Thou, O God, hast of Thy
goodness, prepared for the poor." What
wonderful preparation God makes for the
poor! He not only provides for poor people, but poor animals too. It says in the
Bible that "the lions, roaring after their
prey, seek their meat from God. He feedeth
the young ravens when they cry." All the
beasts of the earth, the birds of the air, and
the fishes of the sea, are fed by God. How
large a family this is! What different kinds
of food they require! But God " considers "
what they want, and gets it ready for tllen.
Some travelers lately went up a high
mountain, fourteen thousand feet high. It
is covered with ice and snow at the top all
the year.  No men could live up there.
Even if they could stand the cold, they could
find nothing to eat. But the travelers found
some insects living there. God had matle
the mountain-top a home for them, and lle
had provided them with plenty of food just
such as they needed.




CONSIDERING THE POOR.       73
In preparing to lay the wires for the magnetic telegraph to Europe some time since,
it became necessary to find out how deep
the water in the ocean was, up towards the
coast of Greenland.  The men who were
sounding for this purpose measured in one
place where the water was seven thousand
feet deep.  And yet, even at that great
depth —about thirty-five times as far down
as the height of Christ Church steeple —they
found live shell fish at the bottom  of the
ocean. And God had not fbrgotten them.
Away down, under all that depth of water,
God has prepared them the food they need.
God is always considering the poor. Whien
He makes the sun to shine, and the rains to
descend, and the dews to distil, He does it,
among other reasons, that the grain may
grow, and the fruits of the earth may ripen,
on which both the rich and poor are dependent for their food.
But then God does more than this. He
considers the poor in a special way, and
when He knows that those who love Him




74         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
are suffering for the want of anything, Ele
takes particular pains to send them what they
need. Let me show how He sometimes does
this.
A poor minister, with a large family depending upon him, was suddenly left without employment in the midst of a severe
winter. The last penny had been spent for
food, and the last morsel was put upon the
table, making a scanty supper for the hungry
children. Thle poor mother went to bed
with a sorrowful heart, when she thought
that there was not a mouthful of food, in the
house, to give the children when they should
wake in the morning. The father kneeled
down and prayed, earnestly, to God, telling
Him their wants, and asking Himn to supply
them.
But when the morning came, there was
nothing in the house. The hungry children
cried for food, and their parents could only
tell them they had nothing to give.
"Put on the kettle, my dear," said the
minister to his wife, " and spread the cloth




CONSIDERING THE POOR.        75
as usual, and let us trust that God will send
us something yet."
She did so. Soon the kettle was boiling —
but still there was nothing to eat. The poor
distressed father stood by the fire, and looked
on his hungry children, while his heart was
almost ready to break.
Presently there came a knock at the door.
The eldest child opened it, and a gentleman
handed him a letter telling him to give it to
his father. It was opened, and found to contain several bank notes, with a few lines
telling him to use them as he pleased. Very
soon a nice breakfast was prepared, and that
happy family ate heartily of the good things
before them, while their hearts were filled
with gratitude to God, who " considers the
the poor," and who had heard their prayers,
and sent them just what they needed.
They found out afterwards that the gentleman who left the letter, was going out to
take a walk before breakfast. Just as he
was leaving his house, it came into his mind,
all at once, to leave some money at the




76         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
house of this good minister, and he did so.
No doubt God sent His angel to whisper
this thought to him. God considered this
poor family in their distress, and then He
prepared them a supply. And God is doing
this, in one way or another, all the time. He
never stops giving for a moment. He gives
to angels. lie gives to men. He gives to
all his creatures "life, and breath, and all
things." And this is one reason why we
should " consider the poor," and try to relieve them all we can: because it is like God.
The second reason why we should consider
the poor i8 because WE CAN MAKE THEM HAPPY
IN THIS WAY.
And this is what God sent us into the
world for. God is doing all he can to make
people happy. The Bible tells us that God
sent His Son, Jesus, into the world on purpose to bless us, i. e., to make us happy.
And when we learn to love Jesus, and try to
do those things that please Him, we shall
not only be happy ourselves, but we shall be




CONSIDERING THE POOR.       77
trying to make others happy.- And one of
the best ways of doing this is by " considering the poor"; by trying to be kind to them,
and to help them in their troubles and sorrows.
One day a poor man was going into the
counting'house of a very wealthy merchant
in New York.' As he went in he saw great
piles of gold and silver which the clerks
were busy in counting. It was in the midst
of winter. The poor man thought of his
desolate home, and the wants of his family,
and, almost without thinking, he said to
himself, " All! how happy a very little of
that money would make me!"  The merchant overheard him. " What is that you
say, my friend?" he asked. The poor man
was confused, and begged to be excused, as
he did not intend to say anything. But the
kind-hearted merchant wouldn't excuse him,
and so the man was obliged to repeat what
he had said. "Well. my good fellow," said
the merchant, " and how much would it take
to make you happy?"  "0, I don't know,




78         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
sir," said he, "but the weather is very cold,
and I have no wood; my wife and children
are poorly clad, for I have been sick. But
we don't want much. I think, sir, about
fifteen dollars would get us all we need."
"Jolln," said the merchant to his clerk,
"count this man out fifteen dollars."
The man's heart was made' glad, and he
went back to a home that was made glad too.
At the close of the day, the clerk asked
the merchant how he should enter in his
books the money given to the poor man.
lIe answered: "Say,'For making a man
happy, fifteen dollars."'
Perhaps that merchant never spent fifteen
dollars better in his life.
A great many years ago, not long after
the revolutionary war, a benevolent-looking
gentleman, dressed in black, and wearing a
three-cornered hat, was walking along one of
the streets in this city. As he went on, he
saw a little boy, poorly clothed, who seemed
pinched with hunger.  The little fellow
seemed as if he wanted to beg, and yet was




CONSIDERING THE POOR.      79
unwilling to do it. And that was the fact.
His poor sick mother had been obliged, for
the first time in her life, to send her son out
into the streets to beg a little. The gentleman spoke kindly to the child. He took
him gently by the hand, and walked on with
him. The little fellow told him the sad story
of their sorrows: —he told him hlis father's
name; how he had died not long before;
how hard his mother had worked to
get them bread; how she had been
taken sick, and what they had suffered since
then.
The gentleman told the child to lead him to
their home. On his way there, he stopped
at the grocery store, and ordered a supply of
things. On entering the house, he saw, in a
moment, that it was food the poor woman
needed, nmore than medicine, to make her
well. He told her that he was not a regular
physician, but he thought he could do. something for her that would cure her. He said
he would write a prescription, which, if she
would send and get, he felt pretty sure




80         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
would do her good. So he wrote the
prescription, and left it on the table. Then
he shook hands kindly with the poor woman,
spoke a few cheerful words to her, and said
lie would come and see her again; in a few
days, and give her another prescription, if
she needed it.
When he was gone, the poor widow looked
at the paper, and you may try to imagine
what her feelings were when she found that
it was an order for a hundred dollars, and
signed by the name of GEORGE WASHINGTON!
The great, the good, the noble Washington i
the man who was always " first in war, first
in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen," had done this kind act! What an
honor it is to belong to a country of which
he was the father and the saviour! How
pleasant it is to think that the " Bible Blessing" we are now speaking of —the blessing
of " considering the poor," and making them
happy, belonged to our glorious Washington.
What a blessed thing it is to make poor, suffering people happy, as Washington made




CONSIDERING THE POOR.        81
that sick widow, and her family!  It seems
to me that if God should send an angel down
from heaven to earth, and let him do as he
pleased, the angel would want to imitate
Washington's example by considering and
comforting the poor. Indeed, we know that
when Jesus, the Lord of Angels, was here,
this was what He loved most to do.  He
" went about doing good."
The second reason why we should consider
the poor, is, that we can make them happy by
doing this.
The third reason wqhy we should do this, is
BECAUSE WE DO GOOD TO OURSELVES BY IT.
We may be very sure of this, because God
has promised it. Just see what he says in
the verse in which our text is found  " Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord
will deliver him in time of trouble."  And
then there is another promise in the Bible
which reads thus: "He that hath pity upon
the poor, lenideth to the Lord, and that which
he hath given, will he pay him again."  If




82         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
we lend our money to any one else, we never can be sure of getting it back again; but
if we lend it to the Lord, we may be perfectly sure that He will pay us back, and always
with good interest.
There is a story told of a good bishop who
was very charitable. Once, when he was
traveling, some poor people met him, and
begged for help.  The bishop asked his servant how much money they had with them.
He said, " three crowns, sir." "' Give them
to these poor people," said the bishop. But
the servant thought his master was too liber.
al. So he gave two crowns to the poor people, and kept one to pay for their lodging at
night.
Not long after, a certain rich nobleman
met the bishop. Knowing how charitable he
was to the poor, he ordered his steward to
pay two hundred crowns to the bishop's servant for his master's use. The servant was
overjoyed, and hastened to tell his master
what had happened. " Ah," said the bishop,
" if you had only had more faith in God, and




CONSIDERING THE POOR.        3
given the three crowns to the poor, as I told
you, you would have had three hundred
crowns now, instead of two hundred."
Thus you see how the bishop was blessed
for considering the; poor.  "That which he
paid away, God paid him again."  He did
good to himself by considering the poor.
Two boys applied for a place in a gentleman's store.  One was older than the other,
and had some experience in the business. He
was a gentleman's son, and well-dressed. The
other was the only son of a poor widow. IIis
clothes were well mended, but perfectly
clean, and his face had quite an honest expression, which was like a letter of recommendation.  It seemed most likely that the
gentleman's son would get the situation, yet
the merchant gave it to the poor widow's soil
in preference. Now let me tell you what led
him to do this.
The two boys came together at the hour
appointed, and the merchant was on his doorstep at the time.  Just then a poor little
shivering child crossed the street, and as she




84         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
stepped on the sidewalk, her foot slipped on
the icy stones, and she fell in the half-melted
snow.  The elder boy laughed at her sorlry
appearance, with the water dripping from her
tlli, ragged clothes; but the child began to
cry bitterly as she searched for the four pennies she had lost.  Willie, the younger boy,
hastened to her side, and helped her search
for the pennies.  Two were found in the
snow, the other two were probably in the little icy pool beside the curb-stone.  Willie
bravely rolled up his sleeve, and plunged his
hand downl into the water, groping about till
one of the missing pennies was found; the
other seemed hopelessly'lost.
" I'm afraid that can't be found, little girl,"
said he, pleasantly.
" Then I can't get the bread," sobbed the
child, "and mamima and the children will
have no supper."
" IIere is a penny," said Willie, taking one
from a little purse which contained the smlall
stock lie had.  Then he made haste to wash
off his hand in the snow, and dry it on his




CONSIDERING THE POOR.        85
coarse white handkerchief.  The other b)oy
looked on with contempt, and said, " You
are a greenhorn in the city, Mister."
But the gentleman who had seen it thoughlt
differently.  Ile determined to take Willie
in spite of his patched clothes. Thus Willie
was " blessed for considering the poor." /He
did good to himseyf by it.  He ilnt a penny
to the Lord, whllen he gave it to that poor
child, and God paid it back to him again.
Nearly lhalf a century agro, before the time
of railways, when people traveled in stagrrecoaches, a coach used to run daily between
Glasgow and Greenock, in Scotland.  Olle
afternoon, as this coach was going by a place
called Bishopton, a lady in the coach saw a
little boy walking barefoot along the road.
Ile seemed tired, and suffering with his feet.
She asked the driver to take him up and give
a seat, and she would pay for it. When
tllhey arrived at the inn in Greenock, she inquired of the boy what he had come there
for.  lie said he wished to be a sailor, and
hoped some of the captains would' take him




86         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
as a cabin boy.  The lady gave:him halfa
crown, and spoke some kind words to him,
wishing him success, and charging hil not
to learn to swear or drink.
Twenty years passed away.  The coach
was returning to Glasgow one afternoon on
the same road.  Among the passengers in
the stage, was a sea captain; and when they
came near Bishopton, the very spot where
the kind lady took up the little boy, the captain saw an old lady on the road, walking
slowly, and looking very tired- and weary.
He asked the coachman to put her in the
coach, as there was an empty seat, and he
would pay her passage. Soon after, while
changing horses, all the passengers got out
except the sea captain and the old lady. The
lady thanked the captain for his kindness to
her, as she was unable to pay for a seat. He
said he always felt bound to help weary
travelers whenever he could, because when
he was a b,y, twenty years ago, near this
very place, a kind-hearted lady ordered the
coachman to take him up, and paid for his




CONSIDERING THE POOR.      87
seat.  "Ah l" said the lady, "I remember
that day very well.  I am that lady, sir;
but my lot in life has greatly changed. Then
I was very well off; but now I am left quite
poor, through the bad conduct of my intemperate son."
" O, I am so glad to meet you again, my
good friend," said the captain, shaking her
warmly by the hand.  "I have been very
successful in business, and am going home to
live on my fbrtune; and from this day I shall
bind myself and my heirs to pay you twenty
pounds" (i. e., a hundred dollars a year),
" as long as you live."
This lady " considered the poor," and you
see how she was blessed for it. She did good
to herself at the same time that she made that
poor boy happy. She lent her half crown to
the Lord, and He paid it her again.
Let me tell you one more story to show
how God blesses those who consider the poor,
by making their kind actions do good to
themselves.
Some time ago, three boys set out to walk




8S         BIBIE BLESSINGS.
from a village in Holland to the town of
Anmheim, which was about nine miles from
where they lived. The king of Holland was
expected to arrive at Arnheim, and there was
to be a grand procession in honor of his arrival, and the boys resolved to go and see it.
This was the reason of their going.
They had not gone very far before they
found a little girl, about three years old, sitting under a tree in a field, and crying bitterly.  tier dress showed that she belonged
to a wealthy family. They asked her to tell
them where she lived, but in reply to their
questions, she only called on her mamma,
and kept on crying., They saw that the poor
child was lost.  They talked to her, and
tried to comfort her a little while. Then two
of the boys, whose names were Hans and
Gussy, were not willing to stay any longer.
They wanted to hurry on to the town, and
see the king.
"But we can't leave this child here alone,"
said Fritz, the other boy.
"Nonsense," said Hans, "she'll find her




CONSIDERING( TilE POOR.       89
way home some how, I daresay. Providence
will take care of her."
" But I think Providence has sent us llere
to take care of her," said Fritz.
"If you stay here much longer," said
Gussy, " you'll be too late to see the king."
"King or no king," said Fritz, " I'm  not
going till I see this child safe."
" Good luck to you then," said the other
boys, "we are off."  And off they went towards Arnheimn.
As soon as they were gone, Fritz beg.an to
think what lie had better do. He looked all
round, and presently he spied a gentlemall's
house away off from him. " Good," said lie,
" I'll carry her there, and ask them to take
care of her."
" Come away, sissy dear," said he, " and
I'll take you to your mamma."  Then he
lifted her up in his arms, and carried her a
little way. But thoulgh lie was a pretty stout
boy, he soon found that she was too heavy
for this. So he set her down, and fixed her




90         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
on his back, with her arms round his neck,
after the style that boys call "pig-a-back."
In this way he found he could get on very
easily, and the little girl seemed pleased, and
began to smile and chuckle.
As soon as Fritz drew nearthe gentleman's
house, a beautifully dressed lady who was
coming up the lane, gave a loud cry.  Then
she ran up to Fritz, and took the child from
his back. It was her own child. She kissed
it again and again, while tears of joy ran
down her cheeks.  The child, too, laughed
and cried for gladness, and nestled down in
her mother's bosom, and clasped her little
arms round her neck, as if she was never going to let go of her again.
While this was going on, a gentleman,
elegantly dressed, came up from  another
lane, where he had been hunting for the
child.  Behind him was the farmer; while
from a third lane came the farmer's wife, and
the maid-servant, and the man-servant, and
the cat and the little dog, all seemirg to be
excited at the loss of the little girl.  T'lley




CONSIDERING THE POOR.       91
all gathered round the happy mother, and nothing was heard but expressions of gratitude
and joy. Pussy purred as loud as she could,
and the little dog jumped about and wagged
his tail to show how glad he was.
All this time Fritz stood with his cap in one
hand and his handkerchief in the other, with
which he was wiping off the perspiration
from his face. Presently the gentleman took
him by the hand and said" Ah! my good fellow! what joy you have
caused us! Where did you find her?"
" Over yonder in the fir-bush," said Fritz,
pointing to the place.
" And did you carry her all that way?"
asked her mother. " She was a heavy burden to you, I'm sure, my good boy."
" I often carry a bag of rye to the mill,"
said Fritz, "and that's heavier, ma'am."
"Take this and buy something for yourself," said the gentleman, offering hima a silver
coin.
" No, thank you," said Fritz, " I'd rather
not take anything."




92         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
"Why not?" asked the gentleman.
"Wasn't it my duty, sir, to carry the child
hlolne   I'm glad I've found you so soon.
I think I can still get to Amheim in time."
" So you want to go to Arnheim to see the
king?" said the gentleman.  "Very good.
We are just going there ourselves. Will you
sit on the box with the coachman?"
Of course, Fritz had no objection to this.
While the horses were getting harnessed,
the gentleman took Fritz into the house, and
gave him some cake and wine.
Soon the carriage was ready. The gentleman and his lady, with the nurse and baby
got in, and Fritz mounted up on to the!;ox
with the driver.  What a pleasure it was to
him!  He had never sat so high in his life.
And what speed! The horses seemed almost
to fly along the road. In about an hour after
starting, they overtook the two boys, just before entering Arnheim.  They looked dusty
and tired.
"' Iallo! old fellows, how,(o you do?
Hurrah!" cried Fritz, swinging round his




CONSIDERING THE POOR.       93
cap as the carriage flew past.  It drove
straight on under all the flags and wreaths
that hung over the streets.
The evening of that day, the three boys
were walking home by moonlight.  "Did
you see anything, Gussy?" said Hans. "Not
a thing," said Gussy.  "There was such a
crowd I couldn't even see the king's carriage;
and I'm so hungry I can hardly keep from
biting my tongue."
" So am I," said Hans. "I was obliged to
stand all the time behind a big fat farmer,
who was about a yard above me. Did you
see anything, Fritz?"
" Didn't I, though?" said Fritz. " I sat on
the top of the box of that gentleman's carriage, whose little child I carried home in the
morning.  I saw the king and the guard of
honor.  I saw all the soldiers, and the royal
carriages, and everything.  And every now
and then the gentleman handed me up some
nice cake, and before I left he made me take
this," said Fritz, holding up a^7handsome silver watch.




9 4        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
You may imagine how the boys felt. When
Fritz went holne that night he understood
what David meant when he said, " Blessed is
lhe that considereth the poor."  Ile found it
was a bllessed thing because it had done good
to llimsclf.
Thus we have spoken of three reasons why
it is a blessed thing to consider the poor. The
first reason is, that it is like God; the second
is-it makes lhen, happy; the third is —it
does good to ourselves.
Our sermon to-day is about something
which we can all begin to do.  It is not for
rich, only, but for the poor, too; not for the
old, only, but for the young, also.
A gentleman, near London, once went to
visit a poor wonman who was sick. When he
entered the room he saw a little girl kneeling at her bedside, who immediately went
out.  Ile asked the sick woman who the
Ahild was?' Oh! sir," said she, "it is a little angel who often comes in to read the
Bible to me, to lny great conifbrt, and who
has just left sixpence with me."  On in



CONSIDERING TIlE POOR.       95
quiring  further, he found that the little
girl was poor herself, and that the sixpence
left with the sick woman lhad been given to
the child for a reward.  She began to
practice on the text with only sixpence.
How very few there are but what have that
much!
But considering the poor doesn't always
mean giving them money   It often means,
speaking kindly to them, and showing that
we feel sympathy for them.
A young lady in New York had gone out
to take a walk. She forgot to take her purps
with her, and had no money in her pocket.
Presently she met a little girl with a basket
on her arm.  "Please, Miss, will you buy
something from my basket?" said the lif tie
girl, showing a variety of book marks, wga och
cases, needle books, etc.
" I'm sorry I can't buy anything to-d: y,"
said the young lady, "but I haven't g( t a
cent with me.  Your things look very ] retty." She stopped a nloment, and spoke a few
kind words to the little peddler. And then,
as she passed on, she said, again, " I'm -c ry




96           BIBLE BLESSINGS.
sorry I can't buy anything from  you today."
"Oh! Miss," said the little girl, "you've
done me just as much good as if you llad.
Atost persons that I meet, say,'Get away
with you.'  But you have spoken kindly to
me, and I feel a heap better."
T/iat was considering the poor.  Hiow little it costs to do that! Let us learn to speak
kindly and gently to the poor and the suflbring.  If \\-e have nothing else to give, let us
at least give them our sympathy
"Speak gently, kindly, to the poor,
Let no harsh tone be heard;
They have enoughl they must endure,
Without an unkind word.
Speak gently, for'tis like the Lord,
Whose accents meek and mild,
Bespoke him as the Son of God,
The gracious, holy Child."




IV.
TOh  b exes inises  e         i. 1
"Men shall be blessed in Him."  PSALx lxxii. 17.








IV.
Men shall be blessed in Him." PSALx lxxii. 17.
WHAT an interesting thing it is to see a
little infant! How helpless it is! It looks
so innocent, so sweet, that we can't help loving it. And when we stand by its cradle
and gaze on it, we are ready to say-" Well,
this is the beginning of another life."   Beore that child lived as an infant it had never
lived at all. This is true of all the infants
ever born except one. 1864 years ago an
infant was born in Bethlehem, who was different from all other infants, in this respect.
He had a manger for his cradle.  But when
he began to live, as an infant, that was not
the beginning of his life.  He had lived before he was born into this world.  He had
lived, not as a man,-not as an angel,-but




100        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
as God, in heaven. He had lived, not fifty
years, -not a hundred years,-but thousands
and millions of years. He had lived before
there was a single star in yonder sky: before
there was an angel in heaven. He had always
lived. There never was a beginning to his life.
But when he was born into this world
as an infant, lie began to live ill a new way.
Before tlhat, as I said, he had lived as
God. But when that remarkable baby was
born in Bethlehem, he began to live as man.
What a wonderful thing this was! It was
the most wonderful tiling that ever happened
in this world. The great God of heaven
was born as a little infant! How could this
be? I don't know. I can't tell you how it
was. But it is just as true, as that you are
alive. Suppose that all the water in the
ocean were pressed together so that it could
be put into the hollow of my hand. HIow
wonderful that would  be I  But still it
wouldn't be half so wonderful, as that God,
who made all things, should become a little
child. We never can get through wonder



HOW JESUS BLESSES MEN.    101
ing over this. It is not surprising that the
prophet Isaiah, when speaking alout it,
should have said that " HEis name shlould be
called wonderful."  A  great mIany things
were said about Himn before He was born.
One of these is spoken of in our text. "M Men
shall be blessed in, MHim."   King David
spoke these words more than a thousand
yearsbefore the birth of Jesus. It tells us
in the New Testament that God sent His
Son into the world to bless men. Acts iii. 26.
And as we have our anniversary this year on
Chrlistmnas, the day which celebrates the birth
of Jesus, it will be a subject suitable to the
day, if our sermon is about the way in which
I]e blesses people: or, what Jesus does for
people to make them blessed.
Everybody  in the world receives some
blessing from Jesus. The blessings He obtained for us are so numerous that even the
poor heathen, who have never heard of His
name, have received some of His blessings.
But I wish to speak of wlhat Jesills does tor
His own people, for those who love and serve




102         BIBLE BLESSTNGS.
litn, to m:ake thorn blessed.  I will mention
t/ree things which Jesus does to bless therri.
The first thinqy ITe does for them is to
MAKE THEM WISE.
It is a great thing to be wise. But people
nay be wise in many different ways. - Some
men are wise to make money, and others are
wise to get honor.  Solhe men are wise to
build houses, and others are wise to build
ships. Some are wise to cure diseases, and
others are wise to make interesting books, or
to invent curious machines, that no one else
ever thought of. Some are wise as generals
to win battles, and olthers are wise as rulers
to govern states, or nations. Some are wise
to do good, and others are wise to do evil.
But I do not mean any of these ways, when
I speak of Jesus making people wise.  The
way in which He blesses people is by making them wise so serve God-wise to save
their souls-wise to get to heaven.  This is
thile only true wis(loIl. The Bible says this
" wisdom is tile principal thing."   "It is




HOW JESUS BLESSES MEN.   103
more precious than rubies," and " He that
findeth this wisdom is happy, or blessed."
Suppose that you and I had to go on a
voyage round the world. It will take us
three years to make the voyage. We can
get no supply of provisions after we have
once started. The vessel is to sail in ten
days. That is all the time allowed us to lay
up the provisions, and clothing, and other
things necessary for the voyage. But, suppose, that instead of beginnling at once to get
a good supply of fresh water, and flour, and
rice, and potatoes, and bread, and meat, and
tea, and zoffee, and sugar, and such things as
we should want, we spend those ten days in
chasing butterflies, and flying kites, or in
dancing, and singi,~g, and going into company. At last the ten days are gone. Thle
Captain sends us a sunmmnons to come on
board the ship. We are obliged to go. The
anchor is raised. The sails are unfurled.
The ship has btarted on her long voyage.
But we have made no preparation for it.
Would it be wise for us to act so?  0, no;




104        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
it would be very foolish. But suppose, thaer
instead of flying kites and chasinlg butterflies,
we had spent those tell days, in sleeping or in
reading, or in looking after our trade, or business, would that have made it any better?
No, not a bit. The only wise tdling for us to
hlave done, would have been to prepare for
that long voyage. Whatevel else we might
have done till we were ready for that voyage
would have been folly. If any body had
wanted to bless us, as persons who had a
long voyage before us, the only way of doing
it would have been by making us wise to get
ready.
And this is just our situation. We have
a  long  voyage  before  us.  We  start
upon this voyage when we die.'When once
started we never canll come back to get what
we want. And there is no place where we
can get supplies after starting. God has sent
us here to get ready. Jesus has come to
bless us in making us wise to prepare for
this voyage.  I-e says to all people —" Seek
first the kingdoml of heaven."  This meansget ready for heaven before you do anything




HOW JESUJ BLESSES MEN.    105
else. But when we see people attending to
their business, to amusements, or to pleasure,
while their hearts are not changed, their sills
are not pardoned; while they do not love
Jesus, and they ]Lave made no preparation
for that long, long voyage on which thley are
soon to start, we need not wonder to find
that the Bible calls them-fools.  They are
flying kites, and chasing butterflies, instead
of preparing for their voyage. They folget
their souls, and think only about their
bodies.
Not long ago, a mother was putting lier
little girl to bed. The child was about three
years old. Her mother lad been kneeling
down by her bedside, and teaclliing lier to
repeat the Lord's prayer. After finishing it
she rose up and was going out of tile door,
when the little girl cried out,
" 0, mother! you  hlave forgotten  my.soul!"
" What do you mean, miy child?" asked the
mother.
"Why —




106         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
"Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord any soll to k ep;
And if I die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take."
She only meant to say that her mother
had omitted one of her prayers. But her
words seemed to mean a great deal more
than this.  " You have forgotten my soul!"
0, how many boys, and girls and nlen and
women, are just doing this-forgetting their
souls!  But Jesus teaches his people to think
about their souls, and get them saved. Ttie
first way in which he blesses them is by
making them  them  wise. He makes them
wise about their souls.
The second way in which he blesses them is
by making them STRONG.
I said, a little while ago, that there are
different ways of being wise, and so now I
mnay say there are different ways of being
strong.  Sometimes people are strong in
body.  Samnson  was strong  in this way.




HOW JESUS BLESSES MEN.   107
What wonderful power he had! He could
take hold of a lion and tear its jaws asunder
with his own hands. He could pull up the
huge gates of a city with the posts and bars,
and carry them all away on his shoulders.
He could kill a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass. He could take hold of the
pillars of a great temple, and bend tllem like
young twigs, and tunable the whole building
dowel, just as easily as a child can knock
dowii a house of blocks, or cards.
Some people are strong in mind.  They
can do a wonderful deal of thinking with
great ease. Napoleon Bonaparte was so strong
in mind, was such a great thinker, that he
could keep six persons writing, and could
think for them all just as fast as they could
write
And then some persons are strong in soul.
I mean by this that they have power or
strength to do what is right, and to resist
what is wrong. This is the strength that
Jesus gives to His people. I don't -mean to
say that He doesn't give the other kinds of




108        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
strength too, for all the strength of any kind
that people have comes fromn Hlim.  Bt3t I
mean that strength of soul is the best kind of
strength, and Jesus blesses His people by givilng them this, And this strength is very important, because there is so much wickedness in
the world, that unless we are made strong in
this way  we  cannot keep from  sinning.
Without this strength we shall be just like
wax, in the hands of bad people, and they
will twist us into any shape they please.
How mnlch of this strength Daniel had, when
he wouldn't stop praying, even though the
king threatened to put him into the den of
lions I  And how  mluch of this strength
Shadrach, Mesheck, and  Abednego had,
when they would rather be thrown into the
fiery furnace than worship the idol of the
king of Babylon. A soul without strength is
like a body without a back-bone. The backbone runs through the body, like a pillar, or
column, and supports it. If we Ihad no backbones our bodies would all tall in a heapl, like
an empty bag.  We couldn't stand, or walk,




,4E
SHADRACH, MlEHECH AND ABEDNEGO BEFORE THE KING.
Bible Blessings.                                                     p  10 8.
Bible Blessings.                                                     p. lOS.








HOW JESUS BLESSES MIEN.   109
or work without them; but with them, we
can stand, and lift, and do what we please.
It is a good thing to have a strong body, but
it is a great deal better to have a strong
soul.
"Mother," said a little boy, as he came
h]omne from school one day-" I'm  sure you
would like Tom Aslhton, in our school."
" Why so, Willie?" asked his mother.
"Because, when the boys want him to
play truant, or swear, or tell lies, or do anytllig that is wrong, he gives them such a
rousing —no X"
Torn Ashton had back-bone in his soul.
Jesus had made him strong. It is a great
blessing to be able to give "a roulsing no"
when we are tempted to do wrong.
Some years ago, a boy, who was left without father or mother, went to New-York to
get a situation in' a store. IHe was alone,
and without friends, in that great city.  He
soon became acquainted with some bad boys.
Finding that they smoked cigars and drank
liquor, whenever they could get it, because




] 10       BIBLE BLESSINGS.
they thought it was manly, he learned to do
so too. His name was Charles Wilson.
Charles had a pretty good educationl.  In
looking over the newspaper, one day, lie saw
an advertisement that a merchant in Pearl
Street, wanted a boy of his age, and he went
to the place, at once, to try and get the situation.
" Walk into the office, my lad," said the
gentleman, "and  I'll attend  to you directly."
When he had waited on his customer, he
came into the office, and took a seat near
Charles, and looked at him, attentively, for a
moment. While doing this, lie saw a cigar
sticking out of the corner of his coat-pocket.
That was enough.
"My boy," said he, "I want a smart,
honest, faithful lad; but I see you smoke
cigars. Boys who smoke s6on learn to drink.
I find from your breath, that you have been
drinking, too. You can go. You won't do
for me."
Poor Charles hung down his head asham



HOW JESUS BLESSES MEN.   111
ed, and left the store.  He hurried back to
his lolging-place, and throwing himself on
the bed, he cried and sobbed as if his heart
would break. He thought of his mother's
last words, and how he had neglected them.
Upon her death-bed she called him to her
side, and placing her thin, white hand on his
head, she said:-" Charlie, my dear boy, I'm
going to leave you. You know what misery
and disgrace your father brought upon us
before his death, by drinking. I want you
to promise me, before I die, that you will
never taste a drop of the terrible poison that
killed your father. Promise me this, and be
a good boy, Charlie, and I shall die
happy."
The scalding tears trickled down Charlie's
cheeks, as he promised always to remember
his mother's words, and never to drink any
intoxicating liquors. But he had broken his
promise, made to his dying mother, and now
he was feeling the sad effects of his fault.
He thought of the text, "Be sure your sins
will find you out."  "I'm sure my sin has




112        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
found me out," he said to himself.  But he
resolved not to go oil in this bad way.  His
mother had taught him where to look for
help and strength. So he rose from the bed
and kneeled down, and asked God to forgive
him the sin he had commlitted, in breaking
his word, and getting into those bad habits.
Ile asked God to make him. strong to resist
temptation, and to do right.  And he prornised, by the help of God, never to smoke another cigar, or drink another drop of
liquor.
Then he washed his face, and went straight
back to the merchant.
" Sir," said he, " you very properly sent
me away this Inorning, for tile bad habits I
had been guilty of; but sir, I have neither
father nor mother, nor any friends in this
city. And though I have not done what I
ought to have done, and have forgotten the
advice of illy poor dying mother, and have
broken the promise I made her, yet I have
made a solemn vow, by the help of God,
never to taste another drop of liquor, or




HOW JESUS BLESSES MEN.   113
smoke another cigar; and 0, sir, it you'll only try me, it's all I ask."
The merchant was so pleased with the
manly decision and energy of the boy, that
he employed him at once.  And he never
had reason to regret it. At the end of five
years, Charles Wilson became a partner in
the business, and is now a wealthy man.
Jesus gave him strength of soul to resist
temptation, and to do what is right.  The
second way in which He blesses people is by
making them strong. -
I wanted to show how Jesus blesses his
people by making them rich. I do not mean
rich in gold and silver, but rich in better
things. But there will not be time, so I pass
this by, and go on to show, that the third
way in which Jesus blesses h8is people is BY
MAKING THEM GOOD.
No persons in this world can be good until
Jesus makes them so.  Somnetimes we hear
parents, and teachers, and even ministers,
when talking to children, tell them, "that
Jesus won't love them unless they are good;




114        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
that Jesus only loves good children."  But
this is all wrong. It is not what the Bible
teaches us. We read in the Bible that"Jesus Christ came into the world to save"
-not good people, but-" sinners."  Jesus
said himself, while He was on earth —" I
came not to call the riglteous," —that is, good
people,-" but sinners to repentance." He
said again-" Him  that cometh unto me I
will in no wise cast out." He didn't say, I
won't cast him out if he is good-but I won't
cast him out however bad he may be;
"though his sins be as scarlet, and though
they be red as crimson," I won't cast him
out. Paul said that he was the " chief of
sinners," and yet as soon as he came to Jesus
he was pardoned, and saved. Paul did not
try to make himself good and then come to
Jesus, but he came to Jesus while he was
" the chief of sinners," that He might make
him good. We can't make ourselves good.'No one else can make us good. Jesus alone
can do this for us. He blesses men, and
women, and children, whose hearts are full




HOW JESUS BLESSES MEN.   115
of sin, by taking their sins away, and making
them good.
A little girl, whose name was May Davis,
came bounding into her father's library, one
day. She threw her arms round his neck,
and said" My dear papa, I'm so very glad that I
am your little girl!  For to-day I walked
home with Fanny Vale, to see her little kitten; and Mr. Vale was so cross to Fanny,
he scolded her for being late, when indeed
she couldn't lhelp it, and said it was a shame
for a girl ten years old to play with a cat. I
know I am often very naughty, papa, but I
should be ten times worse if Mr. Vale were
my father. Oh! I'm so very glad that I am
your little girl."
"How did your friend Fanny behave,"
asked Mr. Davis, as he kissed his little
daughter.   "Did she  answer back  angrily?"
"' No indeed," said May. " Fanny bellaved beautifully-a thousand times better
than I should have done. She told her




116        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
father she was very sorry to be so late, and
then putting down the pretty little kitten,
she asked if there was anything she could do
for him. I don't see how she could be so
good, do you, papa?"
"_Yes, mny dear," said Mr. Davis, " for I
know whose little girl Fanny is, and I only
wish my little girl was a child of the same
Father."
" Indeed I wouldn't like to have Fanny's
father for mine," said May, "and I don't
see why you should wish such a thing
either."
" About a year ago, Fanny gave her heart
to Jesus, and now she is God's little girl; and
that is what I mnen," said Mr. Davis.
" God's little girl 2" said AMay thoughtfully;
" and does He keep her from being oftener
naughty, and is that why she is always so
happy?"
"Yes, darling; that is it," said Mr'.
Davis.
" Then papa," wihispered May, leaning her




HOW JESUS BLESSES MEN.   117
head on his shoulder, " I wish-I wish that I
was God's little girl too."
"He would love to have you for His
child," replied her father, " and will make
youl His now, if you will only ask Him."
"But I don't know  how,"' said May,
looking up sadly, "and besides I am  not
half good enough to be God's little girl."
"Jesus says-' Suffer little children to
come unto me,"' said her father; " He does
not say suffer good little children, but all
children, no matter how naughty, if they
only wish to be good. He will take my little daughter's sinful heart away, and make
her holy, and good, if she will only ask
Him."
"But is Fanny really God's little girl i"
asked May. " Why, she loves to laugh and
play just like other children, and always
seems so merry. Now I thought that when
little girls became so very religious, they
always looked grave, and didn't care to play,
as I do. I knew they would be happier




11 8       BIBLE BLESSINGS.
when tLhey canme to die, but I never thought
they would be happier now."
"My dear IMay, do you remember the
tinme last summer wlien you were lost in the
woods?" asked her father.
"Yes, indeed," said the child, "I never
can forget that day, nor how I cried till you
came and found me."
" Well, my dear, did you enjoy the beautiful flowers, and the birds that sang so
sweetly in the trees, better when you were
lost, and wandering all alone, or wlien I had
found you, and we were walking home together hand inl hand?"
" Oh! after you found me, to be sure," cried
May, " for then I felt so safe and happy that
the flowers and birds seemed a thousand
times more beautiful than ever before."
"And just so it is with little Fanny," said
Mr. Davis, " once she was lost and wandering far away from the path which leads to
Heaven; but now she has an Almighty
Father, who is always near, who is keeping
her from harm, and guiding her to a briglht




HOW JESUS BLESSES MEN.   119
home in heaven. Would you expect suchl a
little girl to be always grave and sad I"
"No indeed, I should expect her to be
just like Fanny,-very, very happy. And
papa, I mean to ask God, before I go to
sleep, if he won't make me HIis little girl
for Jesus' sake. It will make me so happy
to think that I belong to Him."
Now if little May kept her promise, and
prayed earnestly to Jesus to make her His
little girl, we may be sure that Ile heard
her, and made her to know, and feel, that
He blesses people by making them good.
"Mamma," said a little girl to her mother
one day, "won't you tell me how I can
be good inside?"
"What do  you  mean I"  asked  her
mother.
"Why, I mean that I don't have right feelings in my heart. Papa calls me a good
girl, and so does Aunty, and most everybody;
but I'm not good at all."
"I'm very sorry," said tile mother.
"And  so am  I," —said Kitty. "But I




120        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
know  my heart is very wicked.  Why,
mother when I was dressed to ride yesterday, and the carriage came to the door, you
remember papa said there was no room for
me. Well, I went into the house, and when
you came back, Aunty told you I had been
very good about it.  But she didn't know.
I didn't say anything to her, but I went
upstairs, and though I didn't cry, I thought
very wicked things. I kicked the cushion
about because I was so vexed, and I wished
the carriage would upset, and the horse
would run away!"
And Kitty ended, as she had begun, by
saying-" Oh! Mamma, won't you tell me
how I can be good inside?"
Now there are a great many children. and
grown people too, who are like Kitty. They
keep their lips from saying bad things, but
they can't keep their hearts from thinking
and feeling what is bad. They can be good
outside, but they can't be good inside. They
can stop the stream from running on, but




HOW JESUS BLESSES MEN.   12]
they can't stop the fountain from fleiwing
out.
If we want to have the fountain stoppedif we want to be good insidle, we must get
our hearts changed. And Jesus only, can
do this. He says in the Bible, "A  new
heart will I give them, and a new spirit will
I put within them."  When Jesus undertakes to make people good, He always begins with the heart.  When t].at is made
good, then we are good inside. If you can
make a fountain pure, then you may be very
sure that the streams which flow out from it,
will be pure also.
Sometime ago I went to the Navy-Yard, to
see one of the big ships our government was
building there. The friend who was showing me about, asked me if I knew where they
first went to work in building a ship? I said
no. "Well," says he, "the first piece of
timber that is laid is the middle of the keel;
and all the rest is built up on that."  Now
the center of the keel is the very imiddle of
the ship. " All!" I thouglht to myself, when




122        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
I heard this-" that is just what Jesus does,
when He is going to build a Christian. He
begins at the heart. He makes that good
first, and then, by degrees, He makes all the
rest good too. Hle makes his people " good
inside" first; and then Ile makes them good
outside afterwards.
" Men shall be blessed in Him."
We have spoken of three things that Jesus
does to hIis people to make them blessed.
What is the first? He makes them, wise.
What is the second  H Be makes then strong.
What is the third? /H  makes them good.
How thankful we should be that Jesus has
been into our wuorld!
He came to bless us all.  If He had not
come we never should have had any true
wisdom, or strength, or goodness. All these
blessings we owe to Him. What reason
then we have to be glad that Jesus came into our worlid!  The birth of Jesus made the
angels glad in heaven, although He did not
come to bless them.  But He did come to
bless us. Then let us be glad, and rejoice




HOW JESUS BLESSES MEN.    123
on account of His birth. But the best way
of shlowing our thankfulness is to ask Him to
bless us by making us wise, and strong, and
good. What a very happy thing it will be
for us, if, like little May, we pray to Jesus to
make us His children.  That will make us
happy not only at Christmas, but all through
the year.
And what a pleasant thing it is that we
should bring an offering to Jesus to-day!
The wise men brought their offering to Him,
as le lay in the manger. We may bring
ours to Him, as He sits on His throne.  Jesus did not give money to us; He gave Himself. He shed His Ilood for us. Shall we
not freely give whatever He asks of us to
show our-love to Him, and help to send the
blessings of His gospel to those who are
without them.?
I was reading lately about a poor cottager
ill England who seemed to have the right
feeling on this subject. She had a number
of bee-hives.  They were very profitable, as
she made a sovereign a year-that is, twenty




124        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
shillings, or five dollars —ont of each of them.
A little book fell into lier hands about tile
heathen. It showed how  Jesus died for
them, how He wanted them all to have the
go,spel, and wanted all who loved Him  to
help in sending it to thein. Arid then it put
this question —" Shall we refuse to give our
money to this good object?"  "'N'o," the
said, as if the book were talking to her-" I
won't, for one." Then she set apart two of
her hives, the money from which was to be
sold for the missionary cause. In six months
she had twenty shillings, which she took to
her minister.  Kiiowing how poor she w'as,
he said to her-" Surely, my friend, you
can't afford as much as this."  She looked at
him a moment, and then said-" The Lord
hatli nleed of it, Sir-I rnu8t afford it."
Jesus came from heaven to bless us.  We
are blessed in Him. Let us try all we can to
send fthe same blessings to others.




V.
"Thou  shalt be lessed a bove  all people." Dati.  14.
-- Tl;lou shalt be blessed above all people." DRUT. Vii. 1A








V.
", Thcu shalt be blessed above all people." DEUT. Vii. 14.
TIIIS was spoken to the Jews. They are
in many respects the most wonderful nation
that ever existed. When we think of all that
God has done for themi, we see how true it is
that they have been " blessed above all people." How wonderful their deliverance from
Egypt was! They were a nation of slaves
thele, just as the negroes in our southern States
used to be. God sent Moses to Pharaoh, king of
Egypt, to tell him to set the people free, and
let thern go. Pharaoh said he wouldn't do
it. God said He would make him  do it.
And so He did.  He sent the most dreadful
plagues upon Egypt, one after another, that
ever visited any people. The water in their
wells and streams was all turned into blood;
the land was filled with swarms of flies, with




128         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
frogs, and lice, that came into their houses,
and covered their beds, and chairs, and tables, and every thing.  An arlmy  of locusts
invaded the land, and ate up every green
thing in it. Then there was a fearful disease
that destroyed all their cattle;-there were
dreadful lightnings, and tllhunders, and hailstorms, such as had never been known before. And at last, one awful night, just in
the middle of the night, all at once, the oldest child in every family died. There was
not a house thllouglh all the land in which
there was not one person dead. There never
was such a night as that in Egypt. The people thought they were all going to die at
once. Plharaolh was frightened allnost out of
his senses.  He let the people go, that very
night.  And thei, how wonderful the things
were that God did'for the Israelites in the
wilderness! He opened up a way for them
right through the sea. He spread out a cloud
to cover themn fromn the great heat of the sun.
He sent a wonderful fiery, cloudy pillar to
go before them, all through the wilderness,




BEING A CHRISTIAN.        129
where there were no roads, to shlow them the
right way.  He rained thelll dowll bread
from heaven, every inlo'ning, for forty years.
IIe made a stream of water gush out from a
rock, and follow them all through that sandy
desert wherever they went. iHow wonderful
all this was!
And then when God brought them to the
land of Canaan, what wonderful things I-e
did for tllem there! Ile had a tabernacle or
temple among them. There He used to come,
and speak to them, and tell them what He
wanlted them to do. He was their king. Ile
governed and protected tllemn. He sent Ilis
prophlets amonlg them to preach to thein, and
tell them all about Jesus, the great Saviour,
who was going to come among them. While
all tile other nations in the world were worshipping idols, they were worshipping the
true God. They knew  the way to heaven
when no other people knew it. And thus,
you see, how well it might be said of themn
that they were " blessed above all people."
And this is not all either.  The Bible.5




130         BIBLE BLESSINGS
teaches us that though the Jews are now
scattered among all nations, yet God will
gather thein into their own land again.  Jerusalem will be the chief city in the world,
greater ill its influence and importance than
New York, Paris, or London, and the Jews
will be the most honored and distinguished
nation in the world.
But some of you may say, "Well, we are
not Jews, and if the promise of the text only
applies to them, what good will it do us to
talk about it I"  Very true, but this promise
does not refer only to the Jews. It refers to
Christians as well. It refers to all the friends
of Jesus. It is true of all who love and serve
our glorious Saviour, that they are," blessed
above all people." The subject of our sermon to-day is —The blessedness of bein.g a
Christian. There are so many things to say
on this subject that there won't be timle to
say them all in one sermon. rVe must have
another sermon on this text, next month. if
we live, in order to get through. But I wish
now to, speak of four things in which it is




BEING A CHRISTIAN.        13'
true of real Christians that they are " blessed
above all people."
In the first place they are so-inr THEIR
NAMES.
And when I speak of the names of Christians, I don't mean the names by which men
call them, but the names which God gives to
them. If you should take a list of the anames
of the Christians belonging to this church,
you would see no difference between them
and the nalnes of those who are not Christians.  Among them both y,,u would find a
great many Smiths, and Browns, and Jones,
and such like.
But if we look into the Bible we shall find
a wonderful difference between the names or
titles of those who are not Christiants, and of
those who are.  Where God speaks of those
who are not Christians, He calls them
"fools," —" wicked  ones," —" children of
wrath,"-" cursed children,"-" enemies of
God," —' a perverse and crooked generation,'-" serpents, a generation of vipers."




132        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
What a dreadful thingr it is to think of the
great and good Lord of heaven calling any
persons by such names as these! And then,
after looking at these, how pleasant it is to
turn and look at the,alnes wihich God
gives, in the Bible, to his own people, to all
who love and serve Jesus! He calls them
" His beloved,'"-His " dear children," —"the
excellent of the earthl,"-Ilis " chosen ones in
whom His soul deligllteth,"-" His lambs,"His " treasure," —His "jewels,"-" the sons
and daughters of the Lord Almighty." Jesus
calls His people by all these sweet names
now. But hereafter, He says they shall be
called by "a name better than of sons and
daughters; even by a new name, which the
mouth of the Lord shall name."  If I am
really a Christian, I cannot tell what the
name is by which I shall be called in heaven.
But I know it will be a new name. It will
be a beautiful name, fit for that glorious
place, and the l.oly, happy comnpany that will
be there. And when we think of the precious names by which Jesus calls his people




BEING A CHRISTIAN.        133
now, and the still more precious names by
which He will call them  hereafter, we may
well say of Christiains that they are "blessed
above all people." In their names they are
thus blessed.
Bal secondly, they are " blessed above all
people IN THEIR DRESS.
I don't mean the dress of their bodies, but
the dress of their souls. Christian people
wear the same kind of dress for their bodies
that others do, but they wear a very different
kind of dress for their souls. We don't know
what the soul is. We only know that it is
that strange thing in us, which thinks, and
loves, and which will live forever.  When
our body dies, we know that the soul leaves
the body, and goes oilt from it. We can't see
it when it goes.  We don't know how  the
soul looks, or what the form or shape of the
soul is. Perhaps it looks just like the body.
Perhaps it has the same form and appearance
as the body, only it is not heavy, or solid
like the body. If this is so, then, if we could




134         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
see the soul of some dear friend, who has
died and gone to heaven, we should know it
in a moment, just as easily as we should
know the body of that friend. And there is
a particular kind of dress for the soul, just as
there is for the body. We read in the Bi!le
that St. John saw the souls of some of tile
people of Christ who had died.  They were
in heaven, when he saw therm, standing before the throne of God.  And when he saw
those souls they were all clothed. Yes, and
their clothing was all alike. They were
clothed in garments that had been washed
and made white for them by Jesus, their Saviour. The Bible tells us of a robe, or garment, or dress, that Jesus puts on the souls
of his people when they become Christians,
that is, when their hearts are changed, when
they repent of their sins, and believe in Him.
Tllisis spoken of, as a white dress, or robe.
It is like that which Jesus himself wore when
He was on the Mounlt of Transfiguration.
Three of this disciples were with Him  then.
They saw Hiln while He was transfigured,




BEING A CHRISTIAN.        135
and they have told us how He looked.  His
face was shining, like the sun, and his garments were white as snow, so as nobody on
earth could whiten them. What a blessed
thing it is to have this dress on! There are
only two kinds of dresses for the souls of
people spoken of in the Bible.  One of these
is this beautiful white dress which Jesus gives
to IHis people.  The other is one which every body, who is not a Christian, must wear.
It is spoken of itl the Bible, as made of "filthy rags." It is stained, and polluted, and
dreadful to look at. If we are Christians, if
we really love Jesus, we shall wear the white
garment which He gives to His people. If
we are not Christians, this garment of " filthy
rags " is the only one our souls will ever
have to wear.  When we die, and our souls
go into the presence of God, they will have
nothing upon them but those " filthy rags."
0, how much ashamed we shall feel! How
totally unfit we shall be to go among the
white-robed company in heaven I  And yet
we shall never be able to get rid of those




136         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
rags there.  We shall never be able to get
any other dress for our souls to wear.
But if we are Christians, if we really love
and serve Jesus, th:n our souls will wear the
same robe that Jesus wears Himself. This is
the most beautiful dress that ever was. Jesus
made it Himself for His people to wear. Nobody else will wear it but them. It will be
more beautiful than the dress of the angels.
The Bible says it will be " of wrought gold,
all glorious within."  This dress is so beantifiul that even God loves to look at it. It will
never grow old. It will never wear out. It
will never get soiled, or torn. It will be always new, and beautiful.
How  true it is that real Chllistians are
"blessed above all people."   They are so in
their dress.
But thirdly —tley are so in THEIR RELATIONS.
Persons who have relations who are rich,
or great, or honorable, are very fond of
thinking about them. If you lived in England.




BEING A CHRISTIAN.         137
where there is a queen and a class of people
who are called the nobility, i. e. who are
earls, and lords, and dukes, you would be apt
to feel a little proud if the queen were your
aunt, or cousin, or if some great lord or duke
was a relation of yours.  Almost every body
would feel so, more or less. But if you are a
Christ. an, if. you really love Jesus, you are
much better off than this. You have richer
and more honorable relations than if Queen
Victoria were your aunt, or sister, or amother,
or, than if the Duke of Brunswick, or of
Marlborougll, were your first cousin. If you
are a Christian, God is your father. You belollg to God's family.  That is the richest,
and the best, and the most honorable family,
in this world, or in all the universe. Jesus is
your elder brother. Ieaven is your home.
The angels of heaven are all your relationsthey are, as it were, your first cousins. And
they are very kind, usefill sort of cousins too.
They are all the time waiting upon you, and
trying to do you good. The Bible tells us
" they are all Ininistering spirits " —that




138         BTBLE BLESSINGS.
means, a kind of servants-to those who love
Jesus. Now if this is so, then if we are true
Christians, we have more cause to feel-(I
will not say proud;-Oh, no, no, not proud,
-but)- thankful, on account of our relations,
than if we were connected by birth, or by
marriage, with the higlhest nobility in the
world.
I was reading lately of a very good answer
made by a little boy in England, who afterwards became a very distinguished minister
of the gospel. One of his schoolmates was
boasting, one day, about the number of rich
and noble relations that he had. Then he
asked the future minister "if there were any
lords in his family?"  " Yes," said the little
fellow, " I know there is one at least, for I
have often heard my mother say, that the
Lord Jesus Christ is our elder brother."
And when we are in trouble, or distress,
what a real comfort it is to have a relation
who is able and willing to help us!
Some years ago a poor Austrian officer
who was very sick, arrived at a towui ill Ger



BETNG A CHRISTIAN.       139
many which was celeblrated for its baths; and
crowds of sick people were constantly coming
there, with the hope of being cured of their
various diseases.
The officer seemed very feeble, and it was
not likely that he would live very long. He
applied for lodging at several of the hotels,
-but they wouldn't take him in, because they
were afraid he might die in the house. Presently he came to the last hotel where lie
could hope to get a room, but he was told
again that there was none vacant. The poor
soldier was greatly distressed. He knew not
what to do. But just then a gentleman who
was living in the hotel, and who had heard
the answer given by the landlord, stepped
forward, and said —
"' This officer is a relation of mine, and I
will share my room with him. He may have
my bed, and I can sleep on the sofa."
The landlord couldn't make any objection
to this, and so the poor sick soldier was carried to the room of the gentlemal who had
claimed him as a relation. When he bad




140        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
rested a few moinents, and recovered his
strength a little, his first question was" May I ask your natne, my kind friend?
How are you related to me? On which side t
-through my father, or my mother?"
"I am  related to you," said the gentle
man, "through our Lord Jesus Christ, who
has taught me that every suffering man is
my brother, and that I.should do to him as I
would like to have him do to nme."
How kind and pleasant that was! This is
just the way in which Jesus would have us
all act. And this is just the way in which
Ile is acting all the time to His people, who
are His poor relations. He tells us all to
" call on Him in the day of trouble, and He
will hear us."  Ite is called in the Bible tIhe
"brother born for adversity," "the friend
that sticketh closer than a brother!"
And the best thing about the Christian's
relations is that he can never lose them. The
Bible tells us that " nothing can separate us
froln the love of Chlrist."  Jesus says to His
relations that He "will never leave them,




BEING A CIIRISTIAN.         i41
nor forsake tllem."  The dearest relations
tlhat we liave, in this world, are sure to be
separated fi'Oia us by death. And sometimes
tlhis sep:ration comes very suddenly, and un
expectedly.
Some years ago there was a family by the
naiie of WinIslow, livincr on tlle I-le of Wigllt
in Engliand. T'ile fnll' ly consisted of lMr.
and Mrs. Winslow, and one little girl called
Lilly.  i;fr. Winslow had come over to this
country to buy a farin, intendinlg, when he!had got it all in ndice order, to go back and
bring hlis fuamily over to live on the fartn. He
had written to llis wife that every thing was
ready, and that lie hoped to be at home about,
Christmas.  But Chliistmias caine, lild went
without hfis conlling.  Day after day, anld
week'after week passed by, but still lie diit
not come. His faimrily became very anxious
about him, till at last, tile sad, sad tidinigs
reached them, one day, that. the vessel had
been wrecked, and:all on board, except t llee
sailors, were drowned.  What a dreadful
blow that was to Mrs. Winslow and lher little




142         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
dangliter I  That day was the saddest day
they had ever known.  We can imagine
what their sorrow was over their great
loss.
Well, at the close of the first day of their
afflictioll, little Liily kneeled down by her
motller's side to say her prayers, as she was
accustomned to do.  Her mother was weeping, and the tears were streaming down
Lilly's own cheeks, as she tried, between lier
sob0s, to say the words she had been used to
say firm the time she had learned to speak.
Presently, almost before she knew  it, she
found lherself saying —"God bless my dear
father."  Her poor mother uttered a loud
cry.   "0, Lilly, my darling," she  sa;d,
"don't say that any more. You have  0,o
fat1eer now."  This stopped the poor child.
She didli't know what to say next.  But, as
she lhad always been in the habit of finishing
with the Lord's prayer, she tlhou iht she
would use that.  So she began with those
sweet and tender words —' Our;Fther who
abrt in heaven."  How beautiful those words




BEING A CHRISTIAN.        143
seemed to Lilly then!  She thought she
had never understood their meaning, or felt
how sacred they were, as she did that night.
She stopped awhile. Then she said thteln
over again.  She said them the third time" Our Father who art ill heaven."  Then she
looked up into her mother's sorrowing face,
and said-" Oh! Mother we have a Father
yet. God is our Father. Jesus said so. He
told us to pray to " Our Father in haven."
Then she said these precious words over
once more. She couldn't say any more of
the prayer.  This was enough. Whalt cornfort that poor sorrowing child, and her
widowed mother found in the thought that
they had a Father in heaven who couldn't
be drowned-who never would die;-a dear
kind relative who never could be taken
away frotn them. And as Lilly fell asleep
that night, these sweet words were lingering
on her lips-" Our Father who art in
heaven."
The people of Christ are " blessed above
all people," it their relaltions.




144         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
The foarth thing in which they are blessed
above all people is —in their RICHES.
It is said of Jesus, olur Saviour, that
"though He was rich "-before he catzme into
this world, "yet for our sakes He became
poor, that we," His people, "through His
poverty might be rich."  Jesus came into
this world on purpose to make his people
rich. He says, in one place in the New
Testament, that He will give His people"gold, fine gold, gold tried in the fire, that
they may be rich."  Rev. iii. 18.  But it is
not the gold and silver of this world that
Jesus promises to give his people. It is the
gold and silver of lieaven tlhat Jesus makes
His people rich with.  This heavenly gold
and silver means the grace and blessing of
God. Those who have this kind of riches
are blessed above all people for two reasons;
one is their riches can always make them
happy; the other is they will last forever.
Tile people of Chreist are blessed above all
people in having riches that can always
make them happy. The riches that people




BEING A CHRISTIAN.       145
get in this world cannot make them happy.
When Stephen Girard was alive he was
the richest man in this city.  But you may
ju dge how happy he was, from what he
wrote to a friend one day.
" As for myself," said he, " I live like a
slave. I am constantly occupied through
the day, and often pass the whole night
without being able to sleep. I am worn out
with the care of my property. If I can only
keep busy all day, and sleep all night, this is
my highest happiness."  Certaintly that was
a very poor kind of happiness.
How often we hear a person say —" Oh, 1
wish I was rich! It I were only rich I
should be so happy!" This is a great mistake.  The richest person in the world now,
it is said, is Mr. Rothschild, the great Jewish
banker of London. All the kings in Europe
borrow money from him. One day a person
said to him, "You must be a happy man,
Mr. Rotllschild?"
"Happy!" said he-" I happy! why, the
other day, when I was sitting down to din



146        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
ner, I received a note from  some persoi
telling me that if I didn't lend him five
hundred pounds he would blow my brains
out. And I am afraid to go to sleep at
night without having loaded pistols under
my pillow. How can I be happy under
these circumstances?"
Here you see from two of the richest men
that ever lived, that the riches of this world,
and happiness do not go together.
Now let me show you one who had none
of the riches of this world, but whom Jesus
had made rich with his grace or blessing,
and that made him happy.
One windy afternoon, a gentleman went
with a friend to visit the alms-house, in his
neighborhood. There, sitting before a little
fire, was a very aged man. He was almost
deaf. His clothes were very poor, and lle
was so afflicted with the palsy, that his limbs
were shaking all the time, and one of his
wooden shoes kept a constant pattering on
the brick floor. But poor, and deaf,; and sick,




BEING A CHRISTIAN.        147
and almost helpless as lie was, it turned out
that he was happy.
"What are you doing, Wisby?" said the
gentleman to him in a loud voice.
"I am waiting, Sir," was the reply.
"And whlat are you waiting for?"
"  am waiting for the appearing of my
Lord and Saviour," said he.
"'CAnd what makes you wish for Iis
appearing?" asked thle gentleman.
"' Because," said he, "I expect great riches
then."
To see if he understood what he was
speaking about, the gentleman said,
"What do you expect tihen, Wisby, and
why do you expect it?"  The old man, by
degrees put on his spectacles, and opening
the big Bible on the table near limr, and
turning to 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8 —he read:-" The
time of my departure is at hand. I leave
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 which the Lord, the righteous Judge




148        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
will give me at that day; and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love Hfis
a2ppeazing."
Here was an old man with iLone of the
riches of this world;-poor, and deaf,shaken with the palsy, with no home of his
own, living in an alms-house, and yet made
entirely happy by the riches which Jesus
gives.  The people of Christ are blessed
above all.people in having riches that can
always mnake them happy.
And they are blessed above all people, too,
in having riches that will lastforever.
A man may be rich in the things of this
world to-day, and poor to-morrow.   The
Bible says "' riches take to themselves wings
and flee away."  This is like conmparing
riches to a flock of birds, which light on a
man's farm to-day, and to-morrow they are
gone.
When I see a spider it often reminds mo
of rich meen. Look atthat spider! Solomoni
says, "The spider taketh. hold with her
hands, and is in kings' palaces."  How ear



BEING A CHRISTIAN.        149
nestly' she works in spinning her web;
How tlinbly she flies up and down.!  How
straight she makes all her lines!  How
exact, and true all her angles are  What
a curious piece of work she makes  How it
glitters and shines like silver, as the sunbeams fall upon it!  What pains she takes
with it I  How curiously she spins it out of
her own body, and uses up her very life in
making it!  When it is done, she stretches
out one line here, and another there, to
make it as secure as possible. And we can
fancy this spider talking to herself, and saying,-" Well, now  I've got a very snug
comfortable home.  JIere I can catch as
many flies as I want, and halve a jolly time
in eating them. I can stay here, and enjoy
myself as long as I live." But just as she is
saying this to herself, along comes the chamber-maid. With one stroke of her brow:mn,
she sweeps that web all away.
And it is just so with the men who spend
their time in gaining the riches of this world.
They wear out their very lives in getting




150        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
them, and then they have no more power to
keep them, than the spider has to protect
her weh fromn being swept away.  They are
like the rich man that Jesus spoke about
when he was on earth. He said he would
pbull down his barns and build greater ones,
and then he could stow away his goods, and
say to himself, now I've got everything that
I want.  I'll take my ease-I'll eat and
drink, and be merry. But that very night
death came, and took him away from all his
goods. And so it always is with the riches
of this world. We never can be sure of them
while we live.   And when we die we must
leave  them all behipd.  When Stephen
Girard was living he had many millions
of dollars. But when he died he could not
take a dollar away with him.  He was no
better off then than a beggar.
But the riches which Jesus gives to his
peo)le are laid up for them  in heaven.
There they are perfectly safe, there they will
last forever.  If our riches are in this world
death will take us away from them.  It our




BEING A CHRISTIAN.       151
riches are in heaven, death will take us away
to them.
A rich man who was not a Christian was
lying on his death-bed. He told his servants
to bring him his bags of money. He took a
bag of gold and clasped it to his heart.
Presently, he said:-" Take them away. It
won't do!  It won't do!  I must leave
them." And so he died.
Now see a different case. A Christian
lady in Enlgland had been very well off. But
by some means or other, she lost all her
property. She was obliged at last to go into
the poor-house. She was old and near her
end.  One day, while a friend was by her
side talking to her, he saw her smile, and
look very happy. He asked her what she
was thinking about that seemed so pleasant:
" Oh!" sile said, "I was just thinking
what a blessed change it will be when I go
from the poor-house to heaven.  My earthly
richles are all gone, but my heavenly riches
are all safe. Nobody can take them away
from me. They will last forever."




152         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
The people of Christ are blessed above all
people in their riches, because they can
always make them happy, and, because they
will last forever.
We have spoken of four things in which
Christians are " blessed above all people."
The first is in their names; —the second is in
their dress;-the third is in their relatiorns;
-the fourth is in their riches.
Let me entreat you to pray earnestly to
Jesus to make you His children, and then indeed you will be " blessed above all people."




VI.
"Thou st    bless ed aboves all pe opig   le." riti.  14.
" Thou shalt be blessed above all people." DEUT. Vii. 14.








VI.
Thou shalt be blessed above all people.' DEUT. vii. 14.
SOMETIMIES we see a jewel, or precious
stone, that has been very carefully polished,
and has a great number of sides, or faces.
The upper side of it has a large flat surface.
Theunder side will perhaps rise to a point.
Now there will be, perhaps, ten or a dozen
different sides or faces. It is a very interesting thing, to take a large jewel of this
kind, and examine it carefully.   You- look
into it, or look through it, first from the
front. Then you turn it over, and look at
one after another of its different sides.  They
are all beautiful, but each one seems to present some new beauty. As the light falls
first on one side and then on anlotherl, the
shades of color are changing all the time,
and the more you look, the more yvou feel




156        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
inclined to look.  It seems as if it were
really growing more beautiful all the time.
And a good many texts of scripture are just
like such a jewel. They seem to have a
great many sides. There are ever so many
points from  which you can look at them,
and they present a different appearance from
each. Here, for instance, is the one we are
now speaking about. This is like a manysided jewel. Wo looked at four of its sides
in our last sermon. We are going to look at
four more of them now. In talking about the
blessedness of being C/hristians, last month,
we said that they are blessed above all people in  their names:-their dress: —their
relations: and their riches.  And when
we have had four reasons for anything, the
next reason will be number what? Five.
Yes. Well then, the fifth way iii which
Christians are blessed above all people is in
their JOYS.
It is a very commoni thing, when we are
speaking about the joy, or pleasure tlhat
persons have, to compare it to a spring, or




BEING A CHRISTIAN.        15?T
fountain, from which they drink. And when
we thus compare it, we may as well say that
the fountain of the Christian's joy is better
than any other fountain. Suppose that two
fountains were offered us front which  to
draw all the water that we are to drink.
And suppose that one of these fountains was
on a beautiful Swiss mountain, supplied by
the everlasting ice and snow upon tile top of
the' mountain, and the other far down on a
sandy plain. The lowelr fountain is muddy,
and the water in it thick and dirty. It
often gets choked up with decaying. leaves,
and poisonous substances.  And then, when
the hot summer weather comes, it dries up
altogether, so that at the very time the
water is most needed there is none in it.
The joy which worldly people have is just
like such a fountain on a sandy plain.  But
tile joy which a Christian has. is like a
spring on a silow-capped mountain. The
water which flows from it is pure water. It
gushes out clear, cold, and sparkling. And
it is flowing out all the time. Thle heat of




158        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
summer has no effect upon it. It never
stops running.
Some time ago a lady who was traveling.
stopped for a few days, at a little village
amongi the beautiful mountains in Wales.
The people in bhat village had to bring all
their water from a well, in the middle of the
village. Not a single house had a pulmp
belonging to it. At all hours of the day,
but especially before breakfast and supper,
the people of the village, both old and
young, might be seen, passing backwards
and forwards with every kind of pitcher
kettle, and can, along the lane that led to the
well.
One day this lady met a little girl
returning from the well with a pail of water
in her hand. She said to her," I see a great many people going to that
well for water, my little girl, does the well
ever run ( ry?"
"0, yes, ma'am; very  often in hot
weather."








_-'', -,.~.,.,.,
THE SPRING IN THE MOUNTAIN.
p. 159.
Bible Blessings.




BEING A CHRISTIAN.        159
"And  where  do  you  go  for water
then'"
" We go to the spring a little way out of
town."
" Bt what do you do if that dries up."
"Then we go to the spring fiar up on the
side of the mountain:-that is the best water
of all."
4" And what do you do if that dries up?"
"0, ma'anm, that spring is the same
winter and summner. It never dries u p!"
The lady went up to see this spring.  She
found the water there gushing out from under a great rock. Then it glided away in a
clear, sparkling rivulet, not with a torrent
leap, and a wild dash, but with a steady flow,
and a soft, sweet, gentle murmur. It flowed
down the side of the mountain. It was within the reach of every child's little pitcher.
There was enough of it to fill all the empty
vessels brought to it.  The little birds came
down there to drink. The sheep and the
lambs had trodden down a smooth path for
themselves to tile brink of the stream; and




160        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
all the people in the village depended upon
that spring when their other supplies failed.
And as she stood there looking at it, she said
to herself-" Ah! this spring is like the joy
that Jesus gives to His people. It is better
than all other joys. The joys we find in other
things, are like yonder well, down in the
village, that dries up in warm weather. But
the joy that Jesus gives is like this mountain
spring. Its water is clearer, and cooler, and
fresher than any other, and it is a spring
that never dries up."
Not long ago a lady, who was a Bible visitor in London, was going through her district,
which was in one of the poorest parts of that
great city.  Among other places that she
called at, one day, was the home of a poor
widow woman, who was a Christian, but just
as poor as she could be. She lived in a back
kitchen, which had once been used as a wash
house. The pavement of the back yard came
nearly to the top of the little window, the
only one in the room, and shut out almost all
the light from it.  The room  was so dark,




BEING A CHRISTIAN.         161
lthat when the lady entered, she could see
nothing but a little speck of fire in one cor
ner of the rooin. When her eye got a little
accustomed to the darkness she looked round,
and saw the room was so damp that the moisture was standing in drops, or trickling in
crooked lines down the walls. The only bedstead, in the little cluttered-up room, filled it
so that the lady could hardly turn round, or
find a place to sit down in. The poor woman
who lived there was bent up with rheumatism, and had such a bad cough that she could
hardly get a chance to speak to the kind
friend who had come to see her.
When the lady asked her how she was, she
said, "Thank you, Mrs. Jones, for coming to
see me. I have just been praying God to
send some good friend to me. I am pretty
well, thank you, for me. The cough troubles
mne some, and so does the rleumnatism.  But
I have still a little fire left froin yesterday. I
had a penny this morning to get a few tea
leaves with, and that seeins to ease my congh
some. And Sally "-meaning her little girl
6




162        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
about nine years old —" is helping to nurse
a baby, and her mistress likes her so much
that she has taken her into her house altogether; and Johnny"-a little boy, a year
younger than Sally-" is gone to a grocer's
to run errands, and they have heard of my
situation, and give him his meals. So you
see, God is very good to me, and I feel that
I am leatpi7,gfron joy to joy."
Ah! if that poor woman had known no
joy but such as the world can give, in this
time of her trial firom poverty, and pain, lier
joy would have been like the well in the
villages that dried up in the hot weather.
But she had the joy which Jesus gives and
this is like the good spring of the mountain
— a spring that never dries up.
I remember once reading about a spring
of fresh water that was found, far out at sea.
That spring was so full and so strong, as it
came out of the ground, at the bottom of the
sea, that it coiuld send a stream of fresh
water rising up through all tile depths of tile
briny ocean, and pouring itself out in fresh



BEING A CHRISTIAN.         163
ness on the surface. And the joy which
Jesus gives is just like such a spring. Its
pure water can rise up even throuch a sea
of troubles like those in which this poor
woman was plunged. and make her happy
in the very midst of those troubles.
The fifth thing in which the Christian is
blessed above all people is in his joy.
The sixth thinqg in which he is so blessed
iS i2, HIS HONOR.
Men t!hink a great deal of honor. They
will make any effort and run any risk, atnd
face any danger in order to gain it. And
yet there is no Ilonor in the world, like that
which Jesus gives his people. The Bible
calls it the "honor whIich comet/h from
God."
In countries like England, where a king
or queen is tile head of the nation, it is considered the highest honor to be iear thle monarcll and to be perimiitted to do ally thing for
hil.
Now, suppose, that you and I were living




BIBLE BLESSINGS.
ill London. And suppose that we were jewellers by trade, and had a large store on.
OxfoPd Street, in the fashionable part of
London. And suppose that one day Queen
Victoria should come into our store, or shop
as they call it in England. Shle buys the
most splendid set of jewels that we have,
and tells us that she intends hereafter to
buy all her jewels from us; and that when
she wants any gold or silver things she will
send to us to make them for her.  How
much honored we should feel! How soon
we should get a new sign, and leave painted
on it, in big round lettersNEWTON & CO.,
JEWELERS TO HEtK MAJESTY.
What a rush we should have to our store
of the nobility of England, and hlow rich we
should get in a little while! We should feel
it a great honor to make jewels for the king
or queen.  But Jesus is the king of his people. He is the king of heaven.  The Bible




BEING A CHRISTIAN.        165
calls Him " The Great King;"  "the King
of Kings."  0, there is no king like Jesus,
and no honor like that of working for Him I
But wllen  we become Christians, Jesus
engages us to be His servants, and to work
for Him. One reason why I so much love
to preach is that in doing it, 1 feel I am
preaching for Jesus. All that a Christian
does, he does for Jesus, and all that lie suffers, he suffers for Jesus. If we are real
Christians, we are working for Jesus now,
and when we die we shall be brought very
near to Jesus. We shall be even nearer
than the angels are. Jesus never became
an angel, but Ile did once become a nian.
He has not got an angel's nature now, but
He has got a man's nature. He has the
same nature that you and I have. He is not
the brother of the angels, but He is our
brother. He is bone of our bone, and flesh
of our flesh. We are His nearest relatives.
We shall stand the closest to Him in hlcaven,
of all Hlis creature.  iow wonderful this is!
What an honor we have here I Yes, and not




166        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
only shall we be brought near to this King,
but He will make us kings ourselves!
Jesus will make all His people kings, and
give theti all crowns which they shall wear
forever.
There was a nobleman in Scotland, known
as the Duke of' Hamilton.  This Duke had
two sons. It is tile law in Scotland, that
when a man dies, who is a nobleman, a duke
or a lord, his oldest son takes his name or
title, and b)ecomes duke, or lord, after him;
and also takes his property. But if the oldest
son dies before his father, then the next son
takes his place, and his title, and his property. The oldest son of the Duke of Hamilton, of whom I am now speaking, was a very
pious youth, but he fell into the consumption, and died, before he became of age.
One day, a short time before his death. the
minister of the church to which the family
belonged, came to see him. He prayed with
hirn, and after prayer, the youth took hlis
Bible tro:, ulnder his pill,,w, and turning to
2 Tim. iv. 7, lie read these words:-" I have




BEING A CHRISTIAN.         167
fought a good light I lave finished nly
course. I have kept tile ftaitl; henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of rig/hteousness."  Turning to his fatller, who stood by,
he said-" Father, this is all my comfort."
Then calling hlis younger brother to him,
who was to take the title and prloperty,;:fter
his father's death, he spoke very affectionately to hlilm, and ended with these words"And now, Doulglas, in a little while you
shall be a duke, and I shall be a king."
What honor can the eartll give like this!
The Christian is blessed abo,ve all people in
his honor.
The seventh thing in which the Christian
is thus blessed above all others, is in HIS
CARE.
I mean by this the care which God takes
of him. What a wonderf'ul thing it is that
the great God, who sitteth in the heavens,
and governs all things, should.toop so low
as to take care of poor, sintul creatures like
you and me I  And yet he does so.  If I




163        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
take a jewel, or precious stone, and shut it
up in my hland, and hold it tight, how safe it
is, just so long as I hold it so.  And yet the
Bible tells us that this is the very way in
which God holds his people. They are kept
" in the hollow of His hand " all the time.
He watches over them night and day.  He
puts his everlasting armlls underneath them.
He spreads His everlasting wings over them.
When Satan  wants to injure themn, God
won't let him, and he can't do anything till
God gives him leave. We read in the Bible
about how Satan tried to injure Job.  He
thought, if he could only get at him, and destroy his property, and kill his children, and
take away his health, then Job would give
up his trust in God, and become a wicked
man.  God wouldn't let hinm do this at first.
But at last lie told him he might do it. And
as soon as he got permission he did it, pretty
quickly.  In a little while poor Job was
stripped of his property, his family and his
health.  tle lay in the ashes covered with
boils from head to toot.  Now if we could




BEING A CHRISTIAN.        169
have seen Job in the midst of all this poverty, suffering, and sorrow, we should, p)erhaps,
have been tempted to think that God liad
forgotten him, and wasn't taking care of Ilim
at all.  But He was.  He was never takingr
better care of him than when He let Satan
bring all this trouble upon himll.  God mlde
it "all work together for good " to Job, as
he lias promised to do, in the Bible, for all
His people. These troubles didn't make Job
give up his religion, as Satan raid they
would. On the contrary, he clulng to it closer than ever. In the midst of all his trials he
looked up to God and said, " Though He slay
me, yet will I trust in IThim."  And then
God delivered him from  his troubles.  He
healed his boils, and made hlim  well.  He
gave him as many children as he had before,
and twice as much property.  So that the
thing by which Satan thought he was gting
to ruin Job, was the very thing which God
used to make him a better, and a richer, and
a happier man than ever lie was before. Job
had reason to feel very munch obliged to




170        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
Satanl for bringing all that trouble upon him.
It was the best thinsg that ever happened to
him.
An(l it was ii 4t the same with Joseph.
His brethren thotuglt they would be sure to
prevenlt his dreamlls from being fulfilled, by
taking him away from his father, and selling
him as a slave into Egypt.  But God took
such care of Joseph that He made that the
very meanls of bringing his dreams to pass.
No doubt Joseph thought it was very hard,
when lie was lowered down into that pit,
and when he was kept so long in prison in
Egypt. And yet these were the best things
that ever happened to him.  God took such
care of him that ie made all these things
work for good to Joseph.  And so IHe did
for Daniel, when his enemies cast him into
the lioll's den. And so He did for Shadrack,
Mesheck and Abednego, when the king threw
them into the burning fiery furmace.  And
so He does for His people always.  Go(d
takes such care of every Christian that noth



BEING A CHRISTIAN.        171
ing can ever happen to him that is not all
for' the best.
There is a beautiful illustration of thlis, in
an easterll story told of a pious Jew. His
name was Rabbi Akibo.  He had been persecuted by the enemies of his religion, and
driven away  from  his home.  He  was
obliged to travel about the country, from
place to place, so as to keep out of the way
of his enemies. In his journeys, he used to
carry with him a lamp, which he could light
at night to read the Bible, which was his
constant study. He also carried with him, a
chicken cock, or rooster, to wake him up
early in the morning, by crowing, and a
donkey, or jack-ass, on which he rode.
One day he had been travelling all day, and
felt pretty tired. When it came towards
sunset, he began to look round for a place to
rest in for the night.  Presently he saw before him a nice looking village, and drove
up to it, thinking, no doubt, that lie would
soon fiuld an inn, or some friendly ll.ouse that
would give him a nighL's lo iging. But in




172        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
this he was mistaken.  There was no inn, in
the village, and none of the villagers would
give him shelter in their houses.  IIe was,
therefore, obliged to drive through the village and look for the best resting place he
could find in the first woods that he came to.
Then lie sought out a sheltered spot, under a
thick tree, and as he sat down upon the
grass, he said to himself, "It's very hard not
to have a house to shelter one from. the cold
night air, but God is good, it's all for the
best."
Then he seated himself under the tree, and
lighted his lamp, and thought he would
have a pleasant time in studying his Bible.
But before he had read many verses, a storm
arose. The wind blew out his lamp, and the
rain prevented him from  lighting it again.
"(What a pity," said he, "that I can't even
enjoy the pleasure of reading my precious
Bible I But God is good, and its all for the
best."
Then he covered hiimnself up, and lay down
upon the grass to got a few hour's sleep. Ile




BEING A CHRISTIAN.         173
had hardly closed his eyes, however, before
a wolf came by, and seized the rooster from
the low branch of a tree on which it was
resting, and quietly made a meal of it.
"I'm very sorry for this new loss," said
poor IRabbi; "my watchful companion is
gone. Now I have none to wake me in the
inornings to study my Bible. But God is
good, and it's all for the best."
IIe had scarcely finished these words, befre he was alarmed by the roar of a lion.
Tlhe next nmorncrt the savage beast sprang
upon his trusty donkey, and devoured it.
This was the  heaviest blow   of all.'"'hlat shall I do now?" exclairned the po)or
traveler. " My lamp is gone. My roosteris
gonie. My poor donkey too, is gone. Everytlling is gone. But God is good; it's all for
the best.
After all this, he passed, of course, a troIlbled night. He had very little sleep. Early
in the mor ning he wenlt back to the village
to see if he could buy a hlorse, or another
dollkey, to carry him and his things, as he




174       EBIBIrE BLESSTNGS.
went on his journey.  But what was his surprise, on entering the village, to find not a
single person there alive.
It seems that during the night a band of
robbers had entered the village, murdered
all the inhabitants, and robbed their houses
of all the valuable things found in them.
You can imagine how great was the surprise
of the pious Rabbi, at the wonderful care
God had taken of him.  As soon as he had
recovered a little from his surprise, lhe lifted
up his voice, and said:
" O, God, Thou God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, how wonderful Thou art! Now
I see how blind and ignorant, we poor mortals are, wl)en we look upotl those thlings as
evils which are mreant for our good.  Thou
only art wise, and kind, and merciful.  If
those hard-hearted people lbad not driven me
awav froin their village, I should have perislied with them.  It the storm  had not
put out nmy lamp, its light would have drawn
the robbers to my resting. place, and 1 shonl i
have been killed.  And if the wild beasts




BEING A CHRISTIAN.         175
had not devoured my two companions, the
crowing of the cock, or the braying of the
ass, would have told the robbers of my presence, and they would have murdered me.
Praised be Thy name forever. Thou art good
and all that happens is for the best."
Christians are blessed above all pe.ople in
the care that is taken of them; or in their
care.
The last thlng that I shall speak qf as
that in which Christians are blessed above all
people is in THEIR TREASURES.
Our treasures are what we love the most,
or what we set our hearts on. Jesus said to
His people when HIe was on earth, "where
your treasure is there will your heart be
also."   People  of the world have their
trceasures here on the earth. Christian people have their treasures laid up in heaven.
One man's treasure is tile splendid house
which he has built. And perhaps as soon as
it is finished, it catches fire, and is burned
down. Another man's treasure is his wife,




176        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
or child. But how soon sickness may seize
on these, and death may carry theln away.
Anotller man's treasure is some high office.
IHe sets his heart on gaining that office. He
tries very hard and long to gain it.  fle
gains it at last, but he finlds it is not what he
expected it to be. It doesn't make him
happy.
I remember hearing of a little boy, once,
who saw a bird's nest, in the top of a high
tree, on the edge of a woods, near thie road
along which he played every day on his
way to school. Ile often stopped to look up
at it. He thought of the pretty blue eggs
in it beautifully speckled all over.  He
wished lie could get the nest. If he only
had it, he would take a pin and make a
little lhole at each end of the eggs, and blow
thle contents out, and then string thein like
beads on a thlread, and hang tlhemn up in Ihis
room by the side of his bed. Ttley would
look so pretty there. Tce miore he thought
of it, the more lie wantled to have it. He set
his heart on getting that nest.  -le thought




BEING A CHRISTIAN.        177
it would be such a treasure.  Sometimes
when he stopped to look at the tree and saw
how high the nest was, and how slender the
branches of the tree were near it, he thought
he might fall, in trying to get it, and break
his limbs, or his neck, and then lhe almost
gave it up. But ag;tin when he got thinking about the pretty eggs in it he felt as if
he must have that nest.
At last, one Saturday afternoon, he made
up his mind that he would go to the tree by
himself, and try to secure the treasure on
which his heart was set. So he went. Whien
he came to the tree he buttoned up his
jacket, and put off his shoes, so that he
might cling to the tree better with his feet.
And then he began to climb up the tree. At
first he got on pretty well, for the branches
were low, and rather close together,. After a
while it became much harder. Still he kept
on. He tore his clothes. He scratched his
hands and his face. The branches began to
bend under him, yet lihe wouldn't give it up.
Iligher and hligher he went. At last he




178        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
seized the treasure which he had longed for
so much. He, looked eagerly into the nest,
but there were no egys in it! It was empty.
He had run all that risk, and taken all that
trouble for nothing.
How  many of the treasures which the
people of this world try to get, are just like
this empty bird-nest! But it is very different with the Christian's treasures. These
never disappoint those who gain them. However much we may think and talk about
them, and long to have tllem, they will be a
thousand times better than all our thoughts
or expectations.
Not long ago a young lady called at the
house of her minister. Whllen she entered
the parlor, she found his two little boys,
Arthur and Willie, seated on the floor, surrounded by beautiful toys and pictures,
which had been sent them as. presents, and
with  which  they seemed highly pleased.
There was a dissected map, a magic lantern,
a humming top, and other pretty and amus.
ing things. The young lady was much




BEING A CHRISTIAN.         179
pleased with what she saw, and said, " Why,
boys, are all these your treasures?"
Arthur, who was about eight years old,
said, "No, ma'am, these are not our treasures. These are only our playthings-our
treasures are not here."
" Where are they?" asked the lady.
"They are in heaven," said the little boy.
"' And what treasures have you in heaven?"
she asked.
" We have a harp and a crown," said
Arthur.  This was the right feeling to have.
And this is just the feeling that true Christians have.  They are bright and happy, as
those boys were.   They  enjoy the good
things that God gives them, the money and
the property they have here, as those boys
enjoyed  their presents.   But thlen, like
those boys, they feel that these are only their
playthings, not their treasures.  T]heir treasures are the harp and crown which Jesus has
prepared for them in heaven. These are the
treasures on which their hearts are set. Tlhey
are worth more than anybody can tell. The




180        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
crown which the Queen of England wears is
very beautiful, and very valuable. But it is
very easy to tell just how much it is worth.
We could weigh it, and find out how  many
ounces of gold are in it.  We know  how
much gold is worth an ounce, and so we
could tell the value of the gold in that
crown.  Then we could find out the value
of the jewels that are in it, and so, by adding
these together, we could tell exactly what
th/at crown is worth.  But nobody can tell
hlow much thle crown is worth that Jesus is
preparing for you and me, if we really love
Himn. All the gold, and the silver, and the
jewels in the world, a thousand times over
could not buy it.  0, there is no treasure
like this. Chlistians are blessed above all
people in their treasure.
We have mentioned four things in this sermon, in which Christians are blessed above
all people. These are-their joys, their lionor, their care, their treasure.  And, taking
both sermonls together, there are eight things
in which Christians are more blessed than




BEING A CHRISTIAN.          18 t
others, viz:-in their names, their dress, their
rcliations, their riches, their joy, their honor,
their care, and their treasure.
Now you can talk about this blessedness,
and tell what is consists of, but if you want
to be able to feel it, as well as talk about it 
if you want to have it for your own, you
must pray earnestly to Jesus to change your
hearts, and make you His loving children.
Then you will know what a blessed thing it
is to be a Christian, not because you have
heard a sermon on the subject, but because
you feel it in your hearts.
Lord Jesus Christ! make us all thy dear
children, that we may be blessed above all
people in our names, in our dress, in our relations, in our riches, in our joy, in our honor,
in our care and in our treasures, and we will
give Thee all tlhe praise and the glory forever. -Amen.








VII.
r~ubets turTeI tfo NIfsstgo.
" Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest."
PSALM XCiV. 11








VII.
"Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest."
PSALM xciv. 12.
"C CHASTENEST" iS a hard word. Let us see
what it means before we go any further.
The meaning is the samne as that of the word
chastise. Suppose that two boys, from youl
school, play truant one day. Your teacher
lhears of it. lie says —" Never milld; when
they come back to school, I'll chastise
them.?' What would he mean by that? He
would mean that he intended to punisll
them. It would be right for the teacher to
punish those boys. And the reason why he
would do it, would be, not because it wa.
any pleasure to him to hear them cary, and
see them suffering pain, but because he wishted
to keep them from doing wrong. When he
took those boys, eaclh in turn by the hand,
and took his rod to whip theln, he was teach



186        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
ing them. And if he succeeded in making
thlemn feel that it was wrong to play truant,
and if the boys inilde up their minds never
to play trnant aain, theii that chastisement
or punishment, was a blessing to them.
And whatever teaches us a lessoTn that does
us good is a blesting. It was a hleavy trial,
a severe chastisement to old Jacob when God
took away Joseph from him. But God saw
that lie was l,,ving Joseph too much. He
saw that unless he stopped loving him so
nmllch it would do him a great deal of harm.
So hle took Joseplh away. It almost broke
Jacob's heart.  But it tauglht him  to love
God more, and to love Joseph less, and in
this way chastening or trial was a blessing
to him.
And so, when David said, " Blessed is the
man whom thou chastenest" he meant to say
that when God sends any trouble, or trial,
or affliction on a Christian, He always intends it to do him good, or prove a bles4ing
to him, in one way, or another. If sickness
comes upon him it comes to bless him. If




TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 187
he loves his property God makes the loss a
blessing.  If his parents, or relations, or
fiiends die, some may be ready to say -" O
what a dreadful evil that is!"-but God
turns even that into a blessing.  " Blessed is
the man whom Thou chastenest." Now
since this is the case what a happy thing it
is to be a Christian!
I dare say a good mnany of you have heard
of a certain stone, that used to be talked
about a great deal, called " the philosopher's
stone."  Very learned men, who are not always very wise men, used to suppose that
there was. snch a stone, and that it lhad the
power of turning everything it touched to
gold. Nowjust let us suppose that there was
such a great stone, and that you and I had
found it. What a grand time we would
have!  Wlien we were short of money we
could get a lot of pebble stones, and touch
them with this wonderful stone, and lo!
they would all be lumps of gold. We could
drop it into a pail of water, and we shonuld
have that pail full of melted gold. We




188         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
could go into our mother's china closet, and
touch the cups and saucers, the plates and
dlishes, and in an instant they would all
be turned to gold. We shoudnl't care about
the mines of California, or the oil wells of
Peunsylvania, for we should have as much
gold as we wanted without any trouble.
But the words of David, in our text, show
us that a true Christian is better off than the
man would be who had the philosoplier's
stone, and could turn everything to gold.
The Chiristia.n has something which turns
everything to good.  This is better than
gold. Too much gold is one of the worst
things we can have.  It has ruined,nany
people both in body and soul. And it might
ruiin us if we had it. It is a great deal better
to have everything that touches us, or happens to us, turn to good, than turn to gold.
And if we are Christians, this will be so with
us.  Even the chastenings, that is, the sorrows, or trials, or afflictions that hlappen to
us will turn to blessings.  For God has
promised to " make all thing8 work together




TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 189
for good to those who love Him."  Romans,
viii. 20.
You know there are offices, down town,
called Insurance Offices. Some of these are
called "Fire Insurance Offices."  They insure buildings against loss from fire.  Sup
pose this church should take fire some night,
and burn down. That would be a great lose
to us   Jt would be a loss from fire.  But
this church is insured.. The wardens of the
church lhave been to one of those offices, and
paid them some money to insure the. church
against loss from fire.  This doesn't mean
that the people in that office will prevent
this church from being burnt.  But it does
mean that if it ever should be burnt, they
will pay us money enough to build it up
agtain, just as it was before the fire.
Some of those offices are for insuiilng lives.
A man pays a certain sum of money in one
of these offices to insure his life.  This
doesn't mean that they can prevent him from
getting sick or dying; but it does mean that
it' he should die they will pay money to hlig




190         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
family to help in supporting them. And this
is called a life insurance.
And then some of these offices are for what
are called Marine Inseurances.  This means
that they insure ploperty against loss from
the dangers of the sea.  For instance, suppose that you and I were merchants down on
the wharf. We are going to send a vessel
loaded with flour to Rio Janeiro, in South
America.  That vessl will have many datngers to meet.  She may spring a leak, and
sink at' bea.  Or she may be wrecked by
storms, and never reach port.  Then all our
property would be lost.  So we insure the
vessel and her cargo.  We pay a certail
amount of money to one of those offices, and
they insure the vessel and lier cargo.  TIlls
loesn't mean that they will prevent any
storm from  overtaking our vessel, or th at
they will keep her from being wrecked. But
it does mean that in case she should be
wrecked, they will pay us as much moneN
as the vessel and her cargo were worth. And




TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 191
so we feel safe about oir vessel because she
is insured.
Now something like this takes place when
we become Christian)s.  Our blessed Saviour
may be said to keep a general insurance office.  He insures the souls of His people
against all lharm.  He does not engage to
keep His people from ever being sick, or
ever having any sorrow  or trouble.  But
whenever sickness or sorrow  comes upon
them, He engages to make it all work for
good to them.  He will turn it all into blessing.  And this is what David means when
he says-"' Blessed is the man whom  thou
chasteness."
Everything about a C(hristian is insured.
Nobody can do him any lAarm.  Jes.us will
turn every trial that colnes upon him into a
blessing.
I wish to speak of three ways in which
Jesus makes trouble or chastisement a blessing to His people.
The Jfrst way in which Jemus makes trouble




192        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
a blessing to His people, is, by SAVING THEM
FROM DANGER BY IT.
One reason why we find it so hard to believe, when trouble comes upon us, that God
intends it to do us good, and be a blessing, is
that we can't see how it is to be so. We almost always have to wait awhile, before this
can be seen.  But as soon as we find out
what God intends any trial to do for us, we
see that it was a real blessing.
A mercllant was one day returning fronm
market on horse-back. His saddle-bags were
filled with money which had got for what he
had been selling.  Soon after he started, it
began to rain.  It rained very hard, and he
soon got wet tlllrogh. Tlls vexed him very
much, and he went on murmuring to himself
that God had sent him such bad weather for
his journey.  Pretty soon he reached the
border of a thick piece of woods. Just as lihe
was,oing into tile woods, he was very much
alarted to see a robber standing by the side
of the road with a gun in his hand. As soon
as he came up to him, the robber levelled




I'iEe kUB1sER.
iible Blessings.                                                            192.








TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 193
his gun, took aim, and pulled the trigger,but it didn't go off.  The same rain which
hlad wet him through had made the robber's
powder so damp that it wouldn't fire. And
before he could prime his gun agaill, the
merchant had put spurs to his hoJrse, and escaped.  As soon as he found that he was
safe, he said to himself, "How wrong it was
for me to murillur against the rain.  I
thought it was a great trouble to have it.
But now I see God sent it to be a blessing.
If it had not been for that rain, I should have
lost my life and property."
Whenl Malry, comnmolldy known as "bloody
Mary," was Queen of England, a great
many of the good Protestant ministers, and
people, were persecuted because they would
not give up their religion. Amlong these,
there was a very earnest, faithful minister,
whose name was Gilpin. He was'so fully
convinced of the truth of what the Bible
teaches us, on the sulbjcl- of which we are
now speaking, that he was in the habit of
saying, of everything that happened to him,
7




194        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
" It's all for the best."  Well, one time, he
received a summons to go to London, and be
tried for his life, before those who were putting the Protestants to death.  On the journey, he fell, and broke his leg.
" Do you think this is all for the best?"
said somebody to him.
"I've no doubt of it," said he. Of course
he couldn't travel with a broken leg. He
had to wait on the road, till his leg got well.
In the meantime, Queen Mary died. Her
sister, Elizabeth, became the Queen of England, and the persecution of the Protestants
ceased. When Mr. Gilpin got well, lie went
home again in peace. And thus we see how
truly his broken leg was a blessing to him,
in saving his life.
Some years ago, an American man-of-war
was lying at anchor, in the Bay of Naples.
The commander of that ship, was the Commodore of the fleet, then in the Mediterranean Sea. Thle Commodore had his son with
him on board. He was a little fellow, of
eight or nine years old; a very bright, start




TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 1.95
boy, and a great pet with all the officers and
crew. He was very fond of climbing up the
rigging, and would sometimes venture fartlier than it was safe for him to go. One
day, while his father was in the cabin, taking a nIap, after dinner, he was playing on
deck. No one seemed to be noticing him,
and he thought he Nwould go up the rigging
of the main-mast, and see how far he could
climb. Hie got up to the cross-trees.  Then
he went to the top-gallant-mast; and then
to the royal yards. That was the highest
yard, or cross-piece, belonging to the mlinmast. There he rested awhile. Then he
swarmed up the mast, and got on to what
the sailors call "the main-triuck."  This is
the circular piece of wood that is at the very
top of the mnast. How he did it, I cannot
imagine; but by some means, or otlhe:, he
managed to get up, and strind erect, on that
little piece of wood, at that giddy, dangerous
hleight. HIe enjoyed his lofty position'for
awlhile. But when he thougrht of gettinr
down, he began to feel troubled.  And now




196         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
the officers and sailors on deck, saw him, and
were greatly distressed   They trembled to
think of tile danger their favorite was in.
They ran about the deck in great excitemerit.  No one knew what to do.  It lie
stooped to get down, he would be sure to fall.
If they attempted to go to him, their weight
would sway the trembling mast, and shake
him off, and he would be dashed to pieces.
In the midst of this excitement, the Commodore carue on deck. He saw at a glance,
the peril of his darling boy. He knew there
was but one thing to save him.  He ruslled
into the calbin and seized a loaded gun in
one hand, and a speaking trumpet in the
other.  The-little fellow was trembling, and
losing his preseclle of mind.  Every one
feared each momnent to see his mangled body
fall to the dleek.  But now the Commnnodore
has returned.  IHe stands on the quarterdeck.  I-e lifts the speaking trampet to his
mnouth, aind in a clear, ringin,  voice, cries
out-" Jaum) into the water, or I'll shoot
you!"  -The little fellow stoops down to




TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 197
gather up his strength. He gives a spring,
out into the air, to clear the deck of the ship,
and then like an arrow, he goes diving down
into the calm, clear water of the Bay.  As
quick as lightning, a dozen or twenty sailors
plunge in after him. Soon he is safe on
deck, and the tears flow down his father's
weather -beaten cheeks like rain, as he
presses his dear boy to his bosom, snatched
from such a dreadful death.
It seemed like a cruel thing in that father,
to threaten to shoot his boy. But it wasn't
so. It was the kindest thing he ever didi for
him. It saved him from a terrible death.
Nothing but that jump could have saved
him. IHis father knew this, when he drove
him to it.  And so God often-sends trouble,
to drive His people away from  things that
will harm them. The first way in which He
makes tronble a blessing to His people, is
by saving them fromn danger.
The second way in which He does this is
BY rrITING THEM FOR USEFULNESS.




198         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
Hardly anything can be made useful without trouble.  Suppose you had a great
lump of golden ore, from one of the mines in
California. Well, you examine it, and see
that there are pieces of gold here and there
in it, which make it very valuable. But they
are all mixed up with earth and rocks, in
such a way that nothing can be done with it.
Before you can make any use of it, you
must break it into pieces and put it in the
furnace, and raise a great fire over it, till the
gold melts, and runs out from the dross.
Then you get the pure gold by itself, and
can employ it for any useful purpose that you
wish.
There is a sheaf of grain from the harvest
field. It is very valuable, but in its present
state it can't be used for any good purpose.
It must be thrashed to separate it from the
ear. Then it must be fanned, or winnowed,
to separate it from the chaff. And then it
must be taken to the mill, and ground into
flour, before it is fit for use.
And Christians are like gold in the ore.




TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 199
The good in themn is mixed up with dross.
God has to use the hamrner, and the fire of
trouble, or affliction upon them, to melt the
gold in them, and separate it from the
dross.
Christiansare like the grain in the ear.
God has to thrash them, and winnow them,
and grind them, before they are fit for the
purpose for which He wants to use them.
And He makes use of trouble to do this.
Many of you have read Bunyan's Pilgrim
Progress. That is one of the most useful
books in the world. Next to the Bible, it
has perhaps done more good than any book
that was ever printed. John Bunyan, who
wrote that book, was a celebrated preacher.
IIe lived at a time when men were persecuted for their religion. Great crowds used to
go to hear him preach.  This made his
enemies very angry. In order to stop hirm
from preaching, they had him put in prison.
They kept him there for a number of years.
Mr. Bunyan's friends thought this was very
strange. They couldn't understand why




200        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
God should permit such a useful man to be
shut up so long in prison, when he might
have done so much good by preachirg.
They thought his iniprisonment was nothing
but a trouble to ]iln. But they were Ilistaken. It was a great blessingT, both to him,
and to the world.  While he was in prison,
John Bunyan wrote "The Pilgriln's Progress." He never could have written it if
he had not been kept solong in prison. And
he has done more good by that book than
could have been done by all the sermons he
might have preached during the years lie
was in prison. And it is always so when
God sends trouble on His people. He intends
to make it a blessing to them by preparing
them for usefulness, either in this life, or in
the life to come.
I met an interesting story, not long ago,
-about Johnny Truman, and Ihis iron-boot.
Tills little boy had a disease, called the rickets. It made the bones of his foot and ankle
soft, so that they were bending, and growing out of proper shape, as he walked upon




TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 201
them. His mother took him to a physician,
to see what had better be done with him.
The physician told her to have an iron-lboot
made, for his foot, and to make him wear it,
ever day for a year. So the boot was made
and put on.  But Johnny found it very
awkward, unpleasant, and painful. Think
of a stiff iron-boot, on the soft tender foot of
a little boy I It never would bend the least
bit in the world. There was no spring to it.
The muscles wouldn't stretch.  The joints
wouldn't move.  He couldn't run.  He
couldn't jump. He could only drag it on,
as he walked slowly along. Poor Johnlny, it
was a very hard thing for him. Snmetimes
the neighbors would say as he was limping
along:" There goes poor Johnny Trulnan, with
his iron Iboot. It's real cruel in his motlher
to make him wear it when he haltes it so
much."
And sometims he would come to his
mother and say;" Oh  mother do take this iron-boot off.




202        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
It's so hard to get along with. It almost
kills me. I don't care if I am  lame. I
don't care if my ankle is out of joint. I
don't care how I am when I grow up. All I
want is to get this boot off." Arind then
Jollnny would worry  and fret as if his
mother liad put the boot on just on purpose
to give him trouble. Yet it wasn't so. The
iron boot was necessary to support the limb
till the bones grew strong and healthy. But
Johnny had  no faith in it.   e' didn't
believe it would do him any good. He said
he was sure there was no use in it, and so instead of trusting his tiother, and the doctor,
he was fretting, and worrying about it, all
the time.
A lady, who was staying at the house, got
tired of hearing his complaints, and she said
to his mother, one day,
" Mrs. Truman, why don't you take the
boot off that boy, and let him take the consequences? I'm sure I would."
His mother was grieved.  She  looked




TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 203
with tender love upon her little boy, and as
she stroked his hlead, she said:"I must do for my child, not what is
most pleasant for him now, but what will be
most useful for him hereafter. Johnny will
thank me, one day, for what I am doing
now. If he wouldn't think about it so much,
it wouldn't be so hard to bear. He has a
great many things to make him comfortable
and happy, in spite of his iron-boot, and that
won't last long."
Johnny hung down his head.  He felt
ashamed of himself.  He knew how many
kind thinks his mother was doing for him all
the time, and that even the iron-boot was for
his good.
At last the year of painful trial passed
away. The disease was removed. The
iion-boot was taken off. Johnny grew tip to
be a tall, handsome young man, with
straight, strong limbs and a firm, quick
tread. And what do you think he oftenest
said to his mother  Many and many a




204        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
time he would throw his arms round her
neck, and say" Oh, mother I never can thank you
enough for mnaking mne wear that iron-boot!
It was the best thing you ever did for me.
If it hadn't been for that I would have a
poor cripple all my life."
Thus you see how Johnny's trouble was
made a blessing to him. Well, just in the
same way every trial that we have, is an
iron-boot that our heavenly. Father puts
upon us. Don't let us fret and worry about
it; but let us bear it patiently, because we
may be sure that God intends it to do us
good in some way. The second way in
which God makes trouble a blessing to his
people is by fitting themfor usefulness.
The third way in which  God makes
trouble a blessing to His people is BY LEADING
THEM TO TRUE HAPPINESS,.
When summer comes, among the Alps, in
Switzerland, the shepherds lead their flocks
far up the sides of the mountains, where the




TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 205
best pasture can be found. If they stay
down on the plains, and in the valleys, tlhe
pasture will fail, and they will have lo:lhinlg
to eat. But away up the mountains there is
plenty of good  pasture. One summer a
shepherd was driving his flock up towards
those pleasant pastures. But there was one
place in the road which he could not get the
sheep to go past.   There was a narrow
chasm, or oper.ing right across the path, and
when they came to the edge of it, instead of
leaping over, as he wanted them  to do, they
would turn round, and scamper away, in
another direction.  He tried several timtes
to get them past that place, but in vain.
At last he took up in his arms a little lamb,
belonging to on, of his slheep. The mirother
sheep, or darn, watched him  closely to see
what lihe was going to do with it. Instead
of driving his flock fironl behind them, lie
now  went on before thlem, carrying tlhe
lamb in his arms.  Iie crossed over the
chasm in the path, and went straight on, up
the side of the mountain.  The  mother




206        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
sheep followed after the shepherd who had
her lamb in his armns. She leaped across the
opening and kept close to the shepherd.
The other sheep followed  her, one after
another, till, pretty soon, the whole flock
were going up the moulntain, after the shepherd to the place where the good pastures
were to which hle desired to lead them.
And Gol deals with His people in just the
same way. He calls to theln ill His word,
and by His ministers to become Christians
and walk in the narrow way which will lead
them up the heavenly mountain, to the good
pastures in which He woruld:have them feed
forever. Bat, like the sleep just spoken of,
they turn aside, and wander off in the \wrong
direction.  Then God sends tlrouble upon
them, and takes away their children or other
blessings fro',m them till at last, like tile
sheep whose lamb was taken from her side,
they follow Him in the path up which he desires to lead them.
Let me give you another illustration of




TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 2 ~07
the way in which God sometimes turns the
troubles of his people into blessings.
A Christian minister was once visiting a
large botanical garden.  He walked along
the paths, looking carefully at one plant
after another.  Presently he came to a file
large pomegranate bush or tree.  On examlining it more closely, he found that some of
the branches had been taken off, and the
principal stem of the tree hlad been cut almost through. As the gardener was standing
near, he said to him:
"Pray, sir, tell me why you have made
this deep cut in the stern of this pomegranate?"
"Sir," said the gardener, " this tree used
to be very strong and vigorous, but it bore
nothing but leaves. I was therefore obliged
to prune off some of the branches, and cut
the stern in this manner, and when it was almost cut through it began to bear plenty of
fruit."
Now, if this tree had been able to think
and speak, as you and I can, no doubt it




208        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
would have thought it very hard in the gardener to cut it so.  It would halve said that
he was cruel, and was doing it a great deal
of harm. Yet, when it came to find that the
effect of all that cutting was not to injure it,
but to do it good, and make it fiuitful, it
would have seen that instead of being a
trouble to it, it was a real blessing when the
gardenler pruned and cut it so.
Aid this is just the way God deals with
His people. Until we become real Christians
we are like trees in His garden, that have
leaves on them. but no fruit.  And if we
don't hear Him wheii He calls us; if we
don't give Him our hearts, and love and
serve Hiim truly, then He is obliged to prune
off our branches, and cut us deeply by trials
and afflictions. Let me show you hlow God
did this in one case.
A father and mother were blessed with
foul dear children.  They were healthy,
h1,ppy children, the very joy of their parents'
hearts.  Those parents were very well off.
They had everything about them they could




TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 209
desire of the good things of this world. But
they were not Chlistians. They did not love
and serve Jesus. They wel e in His garden
like trees that bore nothing but leaves.
When Jesus, the heavenly gardener, caine
looking for fruit from them, he found none.
And so, like a wise and faithful gardener, he
was obliged to take the knife, and prune and
cut, in order to make themn bear firuit. With
the first stroke of the knife their youngest
child, a bright and promising boy, was cut
down. One morning he fell into the fish
pond near their house, and was drowned.
This was a heavy blow to them.  It filled
their hearts with sorrow, and spread gloom
and sadness tlhrough their dwelling.  But it
didn't have the good effect which the heavenly gardener intended.  He was obliged to
take up the knife again. The only daughter,
a lovely girl of sixteen, was smitten with a
fever, and died.  This greatly increased
their distress and sorrow, but it did not bring
them, o Jesus   He was obliged to use the
knife again.  Their oldest son, who had




210        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
come home from college to spend his vaciation, was killed by the accidental discharge
of a gun while hunting. Now, the poor mother was nearly wild with grief.  FIer heart
was almost broken.  The stein was cut well
nigh through. And now it began to bear
fruit.  The sorrowing  mother went to
church, hoping to find some comfort. There
she heard the voice of Jesus, speaking from
His word, and saying-" Come unto me, all
ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest." She came to Jesus in
her sorrow. She found pardon and peace,
joy, and happiness in Him. Her husband
became a Christian too. And now the trees
that had been so severely pruned, and cut,
began to bear good fruit. Those afflicted
parents found more real pleasure, and enjoyment in serving God than ever they had
known before. The good Shepherd had led
them  up the mountain by a very rough,
steep path. But He had brought them to
the best pasture.  They often say: —-" God
took away our children in mercy to our souls."




TROUBLES TURNED TO BLESSINGS. 211
They were great troubles indeed, which God
sent upon them, butIlHe had turned them into blessings. He had done so by leading
them to true happiness.
And thus we lhave spoken of three ways
in which God turns thie troubles of His people into blessings.  The first is by saving
them frorn danger.  The second is by fitting
them for usPfulness.  The third is by leading them to happiness.
And if this be so then how important it is
that we should become Christians while we
are young!  Dr. Watts says, in one of his
sweet, simple hymns"''Twill save us from a thousand snares,
To mind religion young."
That is very true. But it will save us
from  a thou-and sorrows too, as well as
snares. If the tree only bears firuit as it
ought to do, the gardener is saved the
trouble of having to prune it, and cut it.
But it it don't bea' fruit he must use the
knife. And it is just the same with us. If




212        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
we don't hear God, when He calls us, as
Samuel did, we make it necessary for Him
to send trouble on us, and break our hearts
with sorrow, in order to make us His clhildren and save our souls. But don't let us
wait for this. Let us come to Jesus now, as
soon as He calls us. Then we shall be
saved from great trials. And when lesser
troubles come upon us, we shall find comfort
in the words of David, when lie 3aid;"' Blessed is the tnan whom Thou chastenest."  We shall know that every trial sent
upon us is intended to do us good. 0, it is
a happy thing to be a Christian, for every
trouble that comes upon us God will turn
into a blessing. This is one of the sweetest
of "The Bible Blessings," of which we are
speaking.  May God give it to you all, my
dear children, for Jesus' sake I Amen I




VIII.
~t NlItssthness  of  Ernasilng   (6b.
b Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he."
PROVERBS xvi. 20.








VIII.
"Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he."
PROVERBS XVi. 20.
IT is wonderful how much is said in the
Bible about trusting God. Here, in the text
Solomon says "Wlloso trnsteth in Him  is
happy."  In several places it says that they
who trust in Him are blessed. It tells us in
one place that " they who trust in the Lord
shall not be afraid."  Ps. cxxv. 1. It tells
us in;nother place that "The Lord delivers
those who trust in Him," Ps. xxii. 4:that "His mercy  will surround  them,"
Ps. xxxii. 10: —that "HcIe  knoweth,"  or
loveth them, Nahum i. 7:-that "He will
keep them in perfect peace," Ps. xxvi. 3:and that "l e will save them that trust in
Him,"  Ps. xxxvii. 4.   Now  the Bible
would not say so much about trusting in
God unless it was a very important thing.




216        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
To learn to trust in God is the most imnpor
tant lesson we ever have to learn. Whel
you see a real Christian who is always
happy, the secret of his happiness —the
thing that makes hinm so ready to rejoice,
and sing all the time is just this-he has
learned how to trust God. And when you
see a person who never seems happy, but is
worrying and fretting continually, and
always afraid that something dreadful is
going to happen, the simple reason why that
person is so unhappy is that he has never
learned to trust God.  But if we learn to
know Jesus, as our Saviour, and to trust Him
as the Bible teachles us to do, we never need
be unhappy about anything.  Whlen the
pious patriarch Job had lost all his children
and all his property, and his body was covered all over with dreadful boils he looked
up to God and said-" Though He slay me
yet will I trust in IHim."  How well Job had
learned this lesson of trusting God  And
God by His grace can teach us to learn it as
well as Job did. And if we do learn it we




BLESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 217
shall understand what Solomon means when
he says, "Whoso trusteth in the Lord happy
is he."  Trusting God-will teach us how to
be happy at all times, and under all circumnstances. This is the great secret of happiness.
Some years ago there was a poor slave in
one of the West India Islands who had
become a Christian. He had learned well
this lesson of trusting God. The missionary
whose church he attended was talking to
him one day. "Well Samnbo," said the missionary, " if your driver should lay you
down and flog you what would you do?"
"Me love God and trust Him all de same."
"But if you could get no meat to eat what
would you do?"
"Me eat, me tank me Fader: me no eat,
me tank me Fader. Me live, me tank trie
Fader: me die, me tank me Fader."
What a noble answer that was! How
much like Job's saying — "Though he slay
me yet will I trust in Him."  How happy
we should be indeed, if we could learn thus




218        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
to put our trust in God! We are not fit to
live till we learn to trust in God. Would
you be willing to go to sea in a vessel that
had no anchor?  No. Such a vessel is nIot
fit to go to sea. But trust in God is just as
important to us as the anchor is to the sl1 p.
Would you be willing to live in a house that
was just built on the sand, and had no foundation? No. Such a house would not be
fit to live in. But trust in God is as important to us as the foundation is to the building.
Now I wish to speak to you of four things
for which we should trust in God.
The first thing for which we should learn
to trust God is OUR DAILY BREAD.
Jesus taughlt us to pray for this in the
Lord's prayer, when we are directed to say
— " Our Father....give  us this day our
daily bread." And whatever God teaches
us to pray foi', He intends that we should
trust Him to give us. Whlat a beautitfu lesson Jesus taught His disciples on this sub



BLESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 219
ject, one day when He was on earth!
Most of them had been fishermen. They
had been accustomed to earn their food and
clothing by hard work. And when they
had caught a good lot of fish, they knew
very well how to sell them, and get money
to buy bread, and clothes for their families.
But now they had given up their fishing business to follow Jesus,-to preach the gospel,
and as He said, become "fishlers of men."
And 1 suppose they began to be afraid they
never would get money enough to buy
themselves bread to eat, or clothes to put
on. And so in the very first sermon that
Jesus preached-the sermon on the mount,
He gave them a most beautiful lesson on
this subject; a lesson which I suppose they
never forgot. He said to them-" Take no
thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or
what ye shall drink; nor yet for your bodies
what ye shall put on. Behold the fowls of
the air; for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor gather into barns; yet your
heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not




220        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
much better than they?" What a sweet lesson this is to trust in God for our daily
bread I Every time we see a little bird,
hopping about, picking up the food which
God has provided for it, chirping cheerfully,
and singing merrily, we should be reminded
of the lesson Jesus gave His disciples. That
little bird becomes a sort of preacher, —a
minister of Christ to us. He seems to say"Don't be afraid. Trust God for your daily
bread. I have no money. I can't work for
my food, yet, somehow or other God always
sees that I get enough to eat. The God
who takes care of a tiny little thing like me,
won't forget you. If he feeds His birds,
surelv He won't starve his chlildren."
This is the lesson Jesus gives us albout our
daily food. And then see what He says
about trusting God for clothing. " Consider
the lilies of the field, how they grow: they
toil not, neither do they spin: and ye, I say
unto you that even Solomon, in all his glory,
was not aqrrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field,




BLESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 221
which to day is, and to-morrow is cast into
the oven, shall He not much more clothe you,
0, ye of little faith?"  Here Jesus does, as
it were, ordain every spear of grass, and
every beautiful flower that springs out of the
earth, and make them  preachers.  When
we see them coverillng the ground, and
adornin: it with beauty, they seem to say to
us-' O     trust in God for clothing.  For
surely He who can afford to clothe HIis field
in such a way, will never forget to clothe
his people."
Let us think of these precious lessons of
Jesus whenever we look upon the little
birds, the grass, or the flowers, and they will
help us to trust in God for our daily bread.
You remember the prophet Elijah.  He
had to go out, and live all by himself in the
wilderness, because Ahab, the wicked king
of Israel, was trying to kill hlim. There was
nothing there for him to eat.  It was imnpossible for him  to get any food for himself.
But he trusted in God, and LHe sent hi n ravens to bring him bread and flesh morning




222        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
by morning, and evening by evening, just
as long as he stayed there. We are not told
exactly how long this was, but it must have
been a good many months. How very wonderful this was! You must recollect that it
was during a time of famine.  Food was
very scarce. The ravens must have found it
hard to get food for themselves.  And then
they are very greedy birds, as their name indicates.  They are called ravens because of
their ravenous disposition.  They are eager
to devour all they can get.  No doubt these
ravens were very hungry, and yet they
brought this food, and laid it down at the
feet of the prophet, without attempting to
eat a bite ofit. 0, it is worth wllile to trust
for our daily bread in that God who could
feed one of His people in such a way!
Perhaps you have heard the story about
"The Man-Raven," but it suits so nicely this
part of our subject, that I mrust bring it in
here.
Mrs. RoTers was a poor woman, living in
a small town in England.  She had four lit



BLESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 223
tie children, of whom Richard, the eldest,
was about eight years old.  One evening, in
the midst of winter, her children were hungry.  She had no food to give them.  But
she loved and served God, and trusting in
Him to provide for them  daily bread, she
kneeled down with her hungry little ones, to
tell Him of their wants, and ask Him to supply them.
At the close of the prayer, Richard said to
her, " Mother, doesn't the Bible say that God
once sent some ravens with bread to a man
who was hungry?"
" Yes, my child; bult that was a long time
ago. And that was a miracle, and we've no
right to expect that God will work miracles
now."
" Well, but," said Richard, "don't you
think God can send us some ravens with
bread now, just as well as Hie did then? I'm
going to open the door, or they can't get in;"
and jumping up, he ran to.the door, and
threw it open wide, so that the candle shone
out into the street.




224        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
A few minutes after, the village magistrate was passing by, and glancing through
the open door, he was so pleased by the sight
of the mother surrounded by her little ones,
and all looking so neat and clean, that he
stepped in and said to Mrs. Rogers —" My
good fiiend, how does it happen that your
door is standing open this cold winter's
night?"
Mrs. Rogers was a little confused at seeing
such a gentleman come into her poor room;
but she rose up, and spoke respectfully to
him, and taking off Richard's cap, and laying
her hand on his head, she said, smilinz —
"It was,ny little boy that opened the
door, a moment ago, in order, as he said,'that the ravents might come in, and bring us
some bread.'"
Now  the ravens, you know, are always
black birds, and it so happened that this gentleman was actually dressed in black, from
head to foot.
" Ah, indeed," said he, laughing, "Richard is right. The raven has come, and he is




BLESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 225
a pretty big one, too.  Come with me, my
little man, and I will show you where the
bread is."
Then he took the little boy with him  to
the grocer's, filled a basket with provisions,
and sent him hlomle with it.  Richard, you
mnay be sure, hurrlied back as fast as he could.
The poor children were soon clapping their
hands with joy at the sight of the food.
When they had finished their meal, Richard again went to the door, took off his cap,
and looking up to the sky, said," Thank you,
dear Father in heaven, for sending this nice
food."  Thenl he came in, and shut the door.:: Whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he."
The first tlhinlg for which we ought to trust
God is, for daily bread.
T/ie second thing for which we sho8?ldt trust
Go d?8, PROTECTION IN DANGER.
We read in the Bible abont tile great danger that Daniel was in.  If he didn't stop
praying, 11e would be thrownl into tile den of
hungry liors. But Daniel re solved to go on
8




226        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
praying, and trust to God to protect him from
the lions. He continued to pray three times
a day, and when he was thrown into the
lions' den, God shut the mouths of the lions
so that they didn't hurt him the least.
Then there were those three good men,
Shadrack, Mesheck, and Abednego, who
were in danger of being thrown into the
burning fiery furnace, unless they would
kneel down and worship the golden image
which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
But they knew it was a great sin to bow
down betfore that stupid image.  They resolved not to commit this sin.  They made
up their minds to do what was right, and
then trust to God to take care of them, and
protect them from danger. They did so: and
when they were thrown into the blazing furnace, God kept the flames from hurting
them; and they walked up and down in the
midst of the roaring fire as safely and pleasantly as if they had been walking in their
own garden.  How  wonderful this was!
What an illustration of the truth of Solo



BLESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 227
mon's words when he said, "' Whoso trusteth the Lord, happy is he."
In  the year 1665, nearly two hundrod
years ago, the great city of London was visited by the plague. This was a dreadful
disease, like the cholera, or the yellow
fever, only worse than either of them.
None of the physicians could  cure it, or do
anything for the relief of those who had it.
The people were cut down before it, just as
tlhe grass is mowed down by the scythle.
There was a good minister living in London
when this plague broke out, whose name
was the Rtev. Thomnas Vincent. He had no
Church of his own, but lihad been occupied
as a teacher. When this dreadful disease
began he shut np his school, and resolved to
spend his time in preaching to the people, in
visiting the sick, and dying, and telling
them about Jesus.  Most of the clergy had
left, and his friends tried to persuade him to
go away too, and not to expose himself to so
much danger. But he refused to go. HIe
said he trusted in God': He was able to




228        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
protect him from the danger if He saw fit,
and if not he was willing to die in the work
that was before him. And so he staved
there  all the time of the plague.  Eie
preached in some of the Churches every
Sunday. Great crowds flocked to hear him,
for all business was stopped. During the
week he went everywhere ainonlg the sick,
reading and talking to them, and telling
them about Jesus, and the way to heaven.
During that terrible season nearly 70,000
people died of the plague in London.
Seven persons died in the family in which
this good minister lived. Yet he did not die.
He never was sick an hlour the whole time.
He trusted in God, and happy was he. God
protected him in danger.
I wish to give you one other illustration
of this part of the subject. This is connected with the late war. It took place at
the battle of Gettysburgh, in our own State,
in the snmmler of 1863.
In one of the regiments of the rebel army
was a company of soldiers from North Caro



BLESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 229
lina. In this company was a person who
belonged to the religious Society of
Friends, sometimes called Quakers.  He
had been forced to join the army against
his own will. Ite protested against'it, and
said he was opposed, on conscientious principles, to fighting, under any circumstances;
that he could not and would not fight. But
nobody would mind him. He was forced to
shoulder Mhis musket, and march. He did so,
but always saying that he would not fight.
The regiment to which he belonged joined
General Lee's army in the invasion of Pennsylvania.  But it never was called into
action till they came to Gettysburgh. There
it was soon known that a great battle was to
be fought. Just before the battle began
this Friend went to the Colonel of his regiment and said he could not go into the fight.
The Colonel said lhe must.  He said he
could not, and would not. "Then,"' said
the Colonel, "I'll have you shot."
"Thee can do as thee pleases about that.
I trust in God-lbut I cannot fight."




230        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
The Colonel had him led out into an open
space, and ordered out a squad of soldiers to
shoot him. While the soldiers were mnaking
ready, taking aim, and waiting the corn
mand to fire-the man stood calnly there,
and lifting up his face to heaven, said in a
loud, clear voice-" Father forgive them,
for they know not what they do!"  The
men threw down their arms, and said " they
wonldn't shoot such a man."
Another squad was called out, and the
same thing occured with them. The Colonel was very angry. He swore a dreadful oath declaring he would trample the man
to death. He put his spurs to his horse,
and galloped up to him to ride him down.
But when the horse came up to the man, he
reared up on his hind legs and turned away
firom him. This was repeated two or three
times with the same result. Then the trumpet sounded to battle.
The Colonel had to hasten away and lead
his men into the fight, and in one of the
first valleys fired by our army he fell mior



BLESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 231
tally  wounded.   The Quaker soldier was
taken   prisoner by our  men.  He  was
brought to Philadelphia and afterwards discharged by President Lincoln, and released
from   doing  military  duty.   This  man
" trusted in the LI)rd, and happy was he."
The  second  thing for which  we  should
trust God is-protection in danger.*
The third thing for which we should trust
God is COMFORT IN SORROW.
God has two ways of comforting His people when they are in sorrow. One of these
ways is  by  taking  away  the cause  of
their sorrow. One day God sent the prophet Isaiah to Hezekiah, the king of Judah,
to tell him that he was was soon to die, and
* NOTE. The facts of this incident are perfectly
authentic. Several of my intimate friends, intelligent,
and reliable Christian men, who are personally ac.
quainted with the friends of the individual referred to,
have furnished me with the above account, and have
repeatedly certified me of its correctness.  R. N.




232        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
that he must get ready at once for death.
This threw him into great trouble.  He
didn't want to leave his kingdom just theln,
and he felt a very great desire to live a few
years longer. He wept, and prayed. and
was in great sorrow. God heard his prayers,
and sent the prophet to him again to tell
him that he might live fifteen years longer.
Then the king was very glad, and went up
into the temple to thank God for His great
goodness. Thus you see how God comforted
Isaiah by taking away the cause of his sorrow.
Some years ago, during the wars between
England and France, an English ship was
captured by the French, and the officers and
crew were taken prisoners.  The captain of
the English ship was named Harris. IIe was
a Christian man, and knew how to trust in
God. But wthen he found himself a prisoner
in a strange land, his vessel lost, and all his
property taken fr'om him, he was greatly distressed. He couldn't eat tile prison fare, and
yet he had no money to buy any other. He




BLESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 233
feared he should get sick and die, and thus
his heart was full of sorrow. But though lihe
felt so badly, he never said a word about it
to his fellow prisoners.  He only lifted up
his heart in prayer to God, and tried to trust
in LHiin.
One day a French gentleman came into
the prison, and made this singular statement.
Said he:-" There is some person in this
prison in great distress of mind for want of
money. I don't know who it is, or what his
name is; but the moment I see him I shall
know him, for I dreamed about hirri last
night, and saw  him  so distinctly in my
dream that I shall recognize him at once."
He then began to ipok round among the
prisoners, and the very moment he saw Captain Harris, he exclaimed, "That's the man."
lie then inquired if he was not in want of
lnoney, and lent him as much as he needed.
Captain Harris " trusted in the Lord, and
happy was he."  God comforted him by removing the cause of his sorrow.
But God doesn't always see it best to take




234        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
away from His people the thing that troubles
them. Then he has another way of comforting
them.  He does this by helpiny them to bear
their troubles comfortably. Suppose you are
carrying a heavy load on your shoulder.
You want to get rest. Well, now, if a strong
man should come along, and take hold of the
other end of the load so that you could hardly feel it, that would be about the same as
thioughl it were lifted entirely off your shoulder.
St. Paul had a trouble of some kind when
he was on earth.  He called it " a thorn in
the flesh."  We don't know  what it was.
But it worried him a great deal, and lie
prayed to God three times to take it away.
Go I did not do this; but He told him He
would give him grace to help him bear it.
This comforted Paul in his sorrow, as mucdh
as if the cause of it had been taken away.
There was a good minister in London once,
who did not fully understand what he was
preaching about.  He felt that a true Christian ought to be happy at all tiules, but still




BLESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 235
he didn't exactly see how that could be in a
world where there is so much trouble. He
prayed very earnestly t.hat God would help
him to understand it. One day, after he had
done praying, he felt that it pressed upon his
mind very strongly, that if he would take a
walk over the Waterloo bridge he would get
some information on the subject.  He went
to the bridge.  When he was about half
way across, he overtook a plain-looking man,
dressed in very poor clothes.
"I wish you a good morning, my friend,"
said the minister.
" I never had a bad morning, sir," replied
the man.
"That is very singular.  I wish you may
always be so fortunate."
" I never was unfortunate," said he.
"I hope you will always be as happy,"
said the minister.
"I never was unhappy," said the other.'I wish," said the ninister, "that you
would explain yourself a little."
"That I will do cheerfully,' said hle. " I




236        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
said that I never had a bad morning, for every
morning, even if I am pinched with hunger,
brings me something for which to thank God.
And while I have cause for praise, whether
it rains, or hails, or snows, no mornin Z comes
to me without joy. If I am poor and miserable in this world's concerns, I can yet thank
God for loving me, and giving me 1is grace.
You wished that I might always be %fortunate; but I cannot be unfortunate, because
nothing befalls me but according to the will
of God, and I believe that His will is always
good in whatever Ile does, or permits to be
done.  You wished me always happy; bat
I cannot be unhappy, because my will is always resigned to the will of God."  This Ian
" trusted in God, and happy was h3."  The
third thing for w]hich we trust God is, comfort in sorrow.
There is one more thing for which we
should trust God, but this is the most important of all, viz:-TO SAVE OUR SOULS.
The Bible tells us that the way to be saved




BILESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 237
is "to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ."
To believe in Jesus, or to have fait!i in Jesus,
means the saine thing as to have trust in
Himr. When Jesus hun(r bleeding and dying
on the crloss, He was suffering the punishment of our sins.  Aiid because he has suffered for us, we have nothing to suffer. We
are pardoned and saved when we believe in
Jesus, or when we trust in Him to save us.
I was readin.: the other day, about two little children.  They were brother and sister.
Their names were Charles and Jane.  They
loved each other very much, and were generally good clhildren.  But sometimes they
gave way to bad tempers, and then they had
to be punished.
One day little Jane, who was only about
four years old, had been doing something
wrong.  To punish her for this, her mother
toldl her she couldn't go out to play, but
must sit still in the corner of the nursery for
half an hoar.  Presently Charles came in.
Ile was a year older than Jane.  Finding,hat his sister had to be punished for doing




238         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
wrong, he said-" Motller, please let me sit
in Janie's place, and take her punishment for
her."   His mother was pleased at llis kindness, and said he might.  Then he ran up to
Ilis sister and kissed her, and said, "Now,
Janie, you may go and play, and 1 will' stay
here in your place."  When Janie was g:,ne,
he settled himself quietly down in a corner
of the ioom, and seemed to be engaged in
thinking earnestly about somethling.   After
a while he said, " Mother, isn't this like Jesus?"  " What do you Ileall, my child?"
asked his mothler.  " Why, didn't Jesus take
our punishment wlhen he flung upon the
cross, that we might not be punished forever,
just as I have taken Ja!:ie's punishment?"
That little fellow was righlt.  HE[e understood the Bible way of salvation.  His sister
was out playing because he was bearing her
punishmenlt.  And just so we are saved because Jesus has borne our lullisliment.  The
Bible tells us "He was wounded for our
transgressions, and bruised t'for ollr iniquities:
anid by Hlis stripes we are lealled."  All that




BLESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 239
is necessary for tus in order to be saved, is to
tr'ust in Jesus.  This is what Jesus meant
when He said, " God so loved the world that
He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but
have  everlasting life."   " Whosoever believeth "-or trusteth —in Jesus, "shall have
everlastinl life."  Jesus has done everything
for us. There is nothing left for us to do but
to trust.  It is not our tears or prayers that
save tus.  It is not being baptised or receiving the Lord's Supper that saves us.  It is
Jesus who saves us.  He saves all who trust
in Himn.  Many people won't believe tlhis.
They think they must do something thelnselves before Jesus will save them. But this
is a mistake.  And we never can be happy
till we give up trying to do anything, and
just trust to Jesus.
I was reading lately of a lady who felt that
s!le was a sinner.  She was in great distress
on account of her sils.  She went to her
minister, and asked, " Wlat nlust I do to be
saved?"  lie said, "There is uothilg for you




240         BIBLE BtJESSTNGS.
to do. Only trust in Jesus, and He will save
you."
But she thought there must be something
for her to do.  She went home.  She shut
herself up in her room, and resolved to keep
on reading her Bible and praying, till she
could feel that her sins were pardoned, and
she was saved.
After awhile she felt verS tired, and fell
asleep. Then she dreamed that she was falling over a frightful precipice.  But just as
she was going over she caught hoid of a
twig, by which she hung over the yawning
gulf. In her fright she cried out, " O save
me! save me!"
She heard. a voice below, which, in her
dream, she knew to be the voice of Jesus.
lie said, "Let go the tvwig, and I will save
you."   "Lord, save nle!" she cried again
and again. Still the samle answer was returned-" Let go the twi!', and I will save
you."  She thought she would tall and perish
if she loosed her hold on tIhe twig.  But the
same earnest, solemn voice, was heard say



BLESSEDNESS OF TRUSTING GOD. 241
ing, "I cannot save you till you let go that
twig."  At last she let it go.  Then she fell
into the arms of Jesus, and was safe.  The
joy which this occasioned, woke her.  In
her sleep she had learned the way of salvation. She found that the things she was trying to do, in order to be saved, were like the
twig to which she clung, and which kept her
from being saved. And when she gave up
trying to do anything, and just trusted in
Jesus, this was like letting go the twig, and
falling into His arms. Then she was saved.
This is the meaning of that be utiful hymn
we often sing:"Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee:
In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling."
Now I have spoken of four things for
which we shlould trust in God. We should
trust Him for our daily bread: —forprotection in danger: —for comfort in sorrow:
-and to save our souls.




242        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
But we never can trust God aright, unless
He shall help us.  Then let us ask God in
prayer to give us His grace and Holy Spirit
that we may know how to trust Him. Then
we shall understand the meaning of the text
when it says —" Whoso trusteth in the Lord,
happy is he."




iX.
Sip %'Itosng   f    hteeknos.
" Blessed are the meek."
MATTHEW V. 5.








IX.
" Blessed are the meek."
MATTHEW V. 5.
THESE words are found in the Sermon on
the Mount.  That was our Saviour's first
sermon.  It was the greatest sermon ever
preached.   What a wonderful preacller
Jesus was! For four thousand years before
He came His coming had been foretold.
That was a long time to wait for His coming. It was so long that some people began
to think He never would come at all. But,
at last He came. And then His fi'iends felt
a very great desire to know what He would
say when He began to preach. Wllen the
time arrived for Himn to preach His first sermnon, He didn't enter a churcll and stand up
in a pulpit: but IIe went up to tile top a
mountain. The people followed Him  there,




246        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
and gathered round Him, very anxious to
hear His sermnon. Then He sat down, with
the people all about Wim, in the open air,
on the mountain top, and preached this
wonderful sermon.  You would  think it
very strange, if I should have a chair' here,
and sit down to preach. And it would be
strange because the custom with us is for
ministers to stand up, when they preach.
But then, it was different.  The custom
then was for ministers, or public teachers to
sit down, when they were preaching, or
teaching. And so we read that Jesus "sat
down" to preach.  And when He began
His sermon the first thing He had to speak
about was blessings. The very first word
that came out of His mouth when He began
to preach was the word-" Blessed." And
He went on to repeat that sweet wordblessed-blessed-blessed-till He had used
it nine, or ten times before He had anything
else to say. It seemed as if His great loving hDeart was so full of blessings that there
was nothing else for Him to speak of: The




THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS.  247
Bible tells us that God sent Him into our
world to bless men, and here we see what a
good beginning He made in this blessed
work. But the things that Jesus spoke of as
blessings, are very different from those that
people generally regard as blessings. Most
people say-" blessed are  they  that are
rich": but Jesus says " blessed are the poor
in spirit."  Most people say,-" blessed are
they that are always glad," but Jesus says,
" blessed are they thiat mourn, for they shall
be comforted."  Most people say,-" blessed
are they that always hlave plenty to eat, and
drink, and never feel the want of anything,"
but Jesus says, —" blessed are they that
hunger  and  thirst after righteousness."
Most people say,-" blessed are those who
stand up for their own rights, and are always ready to give sharp answers to any
who speak sharply to them": but Jesus says,
" blessed are the meek."
Some ministers don't try to practice what
they preach.  You hlave often seen signposts by the side of the road. They are




24'8       BIBLE BLESSINGS.
planted there, and point to people with the
finger, the way to walk in, but they never
move in it themselves. And ministers who
preach what they don't practice are signpost ministers. Thley point out a way which
they don't travei. But it was not so with
Jesus.  He preached  meekness, and He
practised  meekness.   Here,  He  says
" blessed are the meek."  And in anrothler
place IHe says —" Learnl of me, for I anm
meek." And, O, Jesus was wonderfully
meek. He never spoke a cross, or unkind
word to any body.  And yet how many
things were said to Him  that were calculated to hurt His feelings, and make limn
angry! They called Him a glutton, and a
drunkard. And when He performed wonderous miracles by His own power, they
said He did them by the help of Satan.
Yet we read that " when He was reviled EIe
reviled not again."  When they said all
manner of evil things:about Himn, "like a
sheep before the shearers He opened not His
mouth." Jesus might well say, " Learn of




THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS. 249
me, for I am meek." To be meek is to be
like Jesus. lMeek persons are always gentle,
and kind, and polite in the way in which
they speak and act tb others. And in JHis
great sermon on the  Mount Jesus said
"Blessed are the meek."  I wish to speak
of three ways in which meekness brings a
blessing even in this present life.
The fi&st way is BY  SAVING US FROM
TROUBLE.
Sometimes we hear persons complaining
that the people around them are cross, or
disagreeable, when the real trouble lies in
themselves.
One day a little boy, whose name was
Johnny  Wilson, came running  into the
house when his sister MAtry was sewing. Hie
held somethiing in his hand which he llad
found in the yard. "Ohl, sister Mary," said
he, "I've found a pretty thing. It is a, piece
of red glass, and when I look throughl it
every thing is red  too.  The trees, the




250        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
houses, the  green grass, your face, and
everything is red."
Mary said, "Yes, it's very beautiful: and
let nme slhow you how to learn a useful lesson
from it. You remember the other day, you
thought everybody was cross to you. Then
you were like this piece of glass, which
makes everythin r look red, because it is
red. When you feel cross and disagreeable
you think everybody around you is cross and
disagreeable too.  But when you are in
good humor, and feel kind, and pleasant
yourself; other people will seem just the
same towards you.
I remember hearing of a little boy who
was taught this same lesson by his mother
in a different way. They were on a visit in
the country.  At the edge of the woods,
near the house when they were staying, was
a very fine echo. Little George didn't understand about echoes. One day his mother
was sitting on the porch, and he was playing near by.  Sometliing led him to call
aloud. Presently the echo of his voice camne




THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS.  251
back. He didn't know what it was, but
supposed that solne boy in the woods was
calling to him. He stood still awhile.
Then he cried "Halloo I"  "Halloo,"
was the reply. "Who are you?"-" Who
are you? " asked the echo.  "Clear out!"
-" Clear out."  "You're a mean chap!"" Meanll chap."
"I'll lick you!"-" Lick you," said the
echo. He couldn't stand this. So he ran to
the house. "'Motller, I don't want to stay
here," said he, "there's som. bad boy down
in the woods who keeps calling me names,
and threatening to whip me."
"0  I guess not," said his mother, who
had heard it all, and knew what it was.
"Yes, indeed there is then, for he has
been calling me names, and saying saucy
things to me."
"Well, go out again," said his mother,
"and tell him lie's a good fellow, and ask
him to have an apple."
So the little boy ran out towards the
woods, and  cried " Halloo! " —" Halloo "




252        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
was echoed back. "Yon're a good fellow'
"Good fellow," was the answer. "I'll give
you an apple." - "Give an apple"-was
heard from the woods. Then he ran back
to his mother, and said, "Why, mother, there
must be two boys in the woods, a good boy,
and a bad boy."
" No, my child," said his mother, " there
is no boy there at all. It's only the echo of
your own voice that you  have heard.
When you speak kind and pleasant words,
the echoes are kind  and pleasant. And
when you speak cross, and ugly words the
echoes you hear are just the same. Kindness is like a soft, gentle echo. If we speak
loving words to others, loving words will
come back to us, and if we do kind actions
to others kind actions will come back to us."
A great while ago there was a little girl
at school in France.  One day sloe was
walking with her companions in one of the
public gardens in Paris. It happened that
there was a poor soldier then on duty. He
was suffering very much from thirst, but




THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS. 253
was not able to leave his post to go and get
a drink. So he begged these young ladies
to bring him a drink of water from a fountain not far off. The little girl's companions passed proudly on, aiid sLidl it was very
rude and impertinent in a common soldier
to speak to them. But little Lucy had a
kind and tender heart, full of meekness and
gentleness, and she couldti't think of leaving
a fellow-creature to want, when it was in her
power to help him. So, she ran, and got
some water, though her companions were
scolding her for doing  it.  When  she
brought the water to the poor soldier, he
drank it eagerly, and then thanked her
heartily for it, and asked her to give him
her name, and the name of the street and
the numnber of the house in which she lived.
She did this, and then went away.
Not long after this a dreadful massacre
took place in that city, of all the Protestants.
Hundreds and thousands of them  were
cruelly murdered! But that little girl was
saved. The poor soldier lad not forgotten




254        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
her. He had been accustomed to scenes of
cruelty and bloodshed, but that one kind action had made a deep impression on him.
He sought out the little girl while the massacre was going on, and took her to a place of
safety. And so she found that the echo of her
kindness and gentleness came back to her
amidst those fearful scenes of slaughter.
Here you see how her meekness was a blessing to her in saving her from trouble.
Now let me tell you about the conductor
of a railway train, and the trouble he got into by not having a meek, or gentle, pleasant
way of speaking. The cars were waiting at
a station on one of our western railways. The
baggage master was busy with baggage and
checks. The men were hurrying to and fro
with chests and trunks. Men, women and
children were rushing for the cars, and
securing their seats, while the engine was
snorting, and puffing and blowing.
A man very poorly dressed was standing
on the platform. He was looking carelessly
about. He was lame, and, judging from his




THE BLESSINGC OF MEEKNESS.  255
personal appearance, one would have supposed he was a person of no wealth or influence.  The conductorl slapped him roughly
on the shoulder, and said, "Halloo, old
Limpy; get on board, or you'll be left."
"Time enongh, I reckon," said he, and
continued quietly looking about him.
Presently the last trunk was tumbled into
the baggage car.  "All aboard," cried the
conductor. " Get on, Limpy," said he to the
carelessly dressed lame man, as he passed
by.
He said nothing, but quietly stepped on to
the platform of the last car, as the train was
slowly moving off.  He took a seat, and put
his valise in the rack overhead.
After the train had moved on a few miles,
the conductor came in.  Passing along, he
recognized the lame man, and said in a very
rough way" Hand out your money here."
"I don't pay," said the man, very-quietly.
"Don't pay?"
"No, sir."




256        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
" Well, sir, then I shall put you out at the
next station," and he seized the valise in the
rack over his head.
" Better not be so rough, young man," replied the stranger.
The conductor left the valise there while
he went on collecting the fare or tickets fromn
the other passengers.  As he stopped at a
seat a little way off, a gentleman, who had
heard what had just been said, looked up at
him, and asked, " Do you know who that
person is to whom you have been speaking?"
" No, sir. "
"Well, that's Ml-. Warburton, the president of this road."' Are you sure of that, sir?" said the conductor, trying to conceal his agitation.
" Oh, yes. I know know him very well."
I' a thunder-bolt had struck him he could
hardly hatve been more confounded. He was
ashamed and Inortified at himself, as well as
grieved to think of being turned out of his
place. For of course lie had nothing better to
expect after ins i ilting the president of the Comn



THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS.  257
pany in stach a manner. But he went through
the cars, and finished the business of collecting
the tfares or tickets.  Tllen he came back to
Mr. Warburtoli.  He took his books fiomn
his pocket, the bank bills and the tickets he
had collected, and laid them in MIr. Warburton's hands, saying, at the same timne,
"I resign my place, sir."
The President looked over the accounts
a few moments, and then, motioning to a vacant seat at his side, said;" Sit down, sir, I would like to talk with
As the young,nar sat down, the President
turned to him a face on which there was no
trace of anger, and said, in an undertone;" My young friend, I'm so sorlry to see you
act in such a way.  I have no revenge to
gratify in this matter, but you have been
very imprudent. If you should act in this
way to strangers, it would do a great injury
to the company. I might tell the Board of
Managers of what has taken place, but I
won't.  By doing this, I should throAw you




258        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
out of a situation and you might find hard to
get another.  But in future remember to be
gentle and polite to all you meet. You cannot
judge a man by the coat he wears, and even
the poorest ought to be treated with kindness.  Take back your books, sir.  I shan't
tell any one of what has passed.  If you
change your course, nothing  that, has happened shall injure you.  Your situation is
still continued.  Good monillng, sir."
The train of cars went thundering on its
way, but that rough young conductor thad
been taught a lesson that he would not be
likely soon to forget. If we could have gone
to him at the close of that day, and have
asked him what Jesus meant when I-Ie said,
"Blessed are the meek"? he would have
given us a good illustration of His me:ning.
He would have told us of the trouble that he
brought upon himself by the want of meekness, and in what a blessed way the meekness
of the President of that railway had saved
him fromn that trouble.




THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS. 259
The first way in which meekness is a blessing is, by saving usfrom trouble.
The second way in wh/ich it is a blessing
is, by DOING GOOD TO OURSELVES.
Meekness, or gentleness, is very much despised by some people, yet it is one of the
mightiest things in the world.  God is conquering the world to Hlimself by love, the
love of Jesus in dying for us.  And gentle
ness or meekness is the only way in which
love shows itself in acting or speaking.  A
kind word, a loving, gentle voice or manner,
has more tpower in it than all the hl.lsh words
that ever were spoken, or all the hard blows
that can be given.   It will subdue the
stubborn will, smooth  down the rugged,
frowning brow, and work wonders. Why,
even the dumb animals, though they don't
understand what youn say, yet know when
you sp!eak kindly to them.
A man was driving a loaded cart along the
street one day.  It was a heavy load the
horse was drawing.  At one plaice he didn't




260        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
turn in the way the carter wanted him to
go.  He was a cross, ill-tempered man, and
he began to swear at the horse, and lash him
with his whip.  Still he wouldn't go right.
The more the man beat him, the more he
persisted in rearing and plunging, and hllding back. There was another man along
with the cart of a different temper. I-le went
up to the horse, and patted him on the neck.
HIe stroked his maine softly, and spoke gently
to him. The hlorse turned his head, and fixed
his big eyes on the man, just as if lie was
trying to say, " Why, my good fellow, I'll do
anything in the world for you, because you
speak kindly to me."  And then, bending
his broad chest against the load, he turned
the cart down the lane, and trotted along as
briskly as though the load was only a playthiing.
I said that politeness is one of the forms
in which true Ineekness, or gentleness, shows
itself Now it costs very little to be polite,
and it often pays very well.  Some years
ago, there was a poor widow in one of our




THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS.  261
Southern States. She had an only son whose
name -was George. She was a Christian mother, and had taught hler son the blessedness
of meekness. He was a very gentle, polite
little fellow, and pretty smart, too.  One
evening George's mother wanted to milk
their cow. But the cow had a calf, who didn't like to see anybody getting the milk but
herself, and would therefore make all the
trouble she could while this operation was going on. So George's mother told him to him
to catch the calf, and hold it by the ears till
she had done milking. He did so. Arind
while he was thus engaged, a very wealthy
gentleman in the neigllhborlood was passing
by. As he rode along, he said" Good evening, my little man."
"Good evening, sir," said George, at the
same time making a polite bow.
" But why didn't you pull off your hat, my
son," asked the gentleman, "with such a
polite bow?"
" Why, sir, you see I am holding the calf
by the ears, while mother milks the cow;




262        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
but if you will only have the kindness to
-come and hold her for me, I will take my hat
Off in a ninute.'"
The gentleman was so pleased with
George's politeness, and the shrewdness of
his reply, that not long after he came to see
his mother.  He said to her-" My friend,
-your little George is a sinart boy, and if he
isllproperly trained he'll make a great man
-some day.  If you will allow me, I shall be
glad to educate him, and give him a good
start in the world."
Thile mother thanked the gentleman for his
kindness, and let him take charge of her son.
AAnd George rose from the ears of that calf
to the highest rank as a lawyer; he was sent to
the Legislature; then to Congress; and finally
he became the Governor of the State.  This
was George McDuffie, the Governor of South
Carolina.  George's polite bow made his for-,tune.
Let me tell you another story-that relates
to a rentleman in this city. It shows how:mucll good we lntay do to ourselves, by be




THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS.  263
ing gentle, and pleasant in our manners.
And if we learn of Jesus to be meek we
shall always be gentle and pleasant.
Some years ago two gentlemen,-one of
whom was a foreigner, —visited the different
locomotive workshops in this city. They
first went to that large one out Broad Street.
They asked permission to go through the
establishment, and see all the different parts
of it. But they were not kindly received:
no pains were taken, to give theaml the information' which they wanted, and' they left
the place disappointed. They went to several other large establishments, and were treated in the same way. At last they were led
to a machine shop, on a much smaller scale.
The owner of this factory superintended it
himself. ile was a very skilfll mechanic.
He was a man of very kind, gentle Imanners.
He received the gentlemen very pleasantly.
He took the greatest pains to show them all
about his workshops, and explained everything to them that they wanted to know.
And when they went away they were fully




264        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
satisfied not only that he was a very obliging,
genltlelnanly man, but also that he was a
most excellent workmain, and understood his
business thoroughly.
Well, not very long after this, that man
was surprised to receive an invitation from
Nicholas, the Emperor of Russia, to go to St.
Petersburgh, the capital of his empire.  It
seemed that the emperor was anxious to introduce railways and locomotives into Russia. Tie wished to (ret a first-rate machinist
to make locomotives for him. So he sent an
agent to this country to find out one of the
best makers of locomotives.  One of those
two gentlemen was the eml)eror's agent. He
came to this city to examine our workshops.
He made choice of a Philadelphia mechanic
to recommend to the emperor.  He invited
him to move his factory to St. Petersburgh.
He did so. He remained there a number of
years, building locomotives for the emperor.
Then he returned home. He is living in
this city now, one of our richest men. But
he owes it all to the kindness and gentle



THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS.  265
ness with which  he received  those two
strangers.
"Aunty," said a little girl, "I believe I
have found a new key to unlock people's
hearts, and make tllem willing to do what I
ask; for you know, Aunty, God took away
my faitler and mother, and thley want people
to be kind to their poor little daulglhter."
", What is the key," asked lier Aunty.
"It's only one little word —guess what?"
But Aunty wtas no guesser.
" It is please," said the child; "Aunty, it
is please.  If I ask one of the big girls at
school,'Please shlow me my parsing lessonl?'
she says,'O0 yes,' and helps me.  If I ask,'Sarah, please do this for me?' no matter
whiat it is, she takes her lands out of the
suds, and does it.  If' I say,'Plet:se, Uncle,
do this for me,' he says,' Yes, Pussy, if I can.'
And if I say,'Please, Ann )y-'
"Well, what does Aunty do?" asked
Aunty herself.  "Ol, you look and smile
just like.Mother, and that is the best of all,"
said the little girl, throwing her arms round




266        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
her Annty's neck, while a tear filled her
eye.
Now that gentle hearted little girl was
finding, in her every-day life, the meaning of
Our Savioul's words wheni lie said,: "Blessed
are thc'meek."  She found that blessing in
the good that her meekness did to herself.
And-l that new key which she used, is one
which grown people may use as well as
children. Everybody has heard of the Duke
of Wellington.  He was the greatest soldier
England has had in this century.  He whipped the great Napoleon Bonaparte at the
battle of Waterloo.  When this great warrior had done fighting, and had retired to
private life, lie was as meek and gentle as a
little child.  He was very fond of using this
little girll's new key.  He always said, " If
you please," when he asked for anything.
He llhad been accustomed to command large
armies, and to give orders that no one dared
to disobey, and yet " If you please," was constantly on his lips.  It is said they were the
last words hie ever spoke.  There the great




THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS. 267
warrior, the "iron duke," as he was called,
is on his death bed. A faithful servant is attending him. IHe thinks the Duke is thirsty.
Ile pours out a little tea in a saucer and asks
hinm if he will have a drink.  "Yes, if you'please.";He never spoke again. All about
h:lim loved him because he was so meek and;gentle. " Blessed are the meek."  The sec-.ond way ini which' meekness is a blessing is,
~by doing good to ourselves.
liThe third way in which it is a b1lessing is,
BY DOING GOOD TO OTHERS.
This is one of the ways of doing good
which we can all practice.  There are some
ways of doing good that only rich people can
practice.  But we can't all be rich, and so
we can't all do good in those ways. There
-are other ways of doing good that only great
people can practice.  But we can't all be
great, and therefore we can't all do good in
those ways.  But we, can all try to be meek
and gentle, kind and loving in what we say
and d; and so this is a wlay in which we carl




268        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
all be engagel. in doing good. And it is one
of the best ways of doing good.
See, there is a poor sick and wounded soldier.  He has been taken from  the battlefield, a:rd put into an ambulance to be carried
to the hospital.  But that hospital is a good
way off, and it will take him a good while to
reach it.  As soon as the ambulance begins
to move, it is found that the wheels are dry,
and every time they move round they make
a terrible creaking, grinding noise.  The
springs are broken under it, too, and it goes
jolting and jarring over the rough roads.
Ah! how the harsh noise of the creaking
wheels distresses the achling head of that
poor soldier!  And what terrible pain the
jolting causes to his wounded limb! But
presently some kind agent of the Christian or
Sanitary Commission cornes along. H: e puts
some grease on the wheels of the ambulance,
and that stops their creaking.  He has the
broken springs taken off, and new ones put in
their place, and now the poor soldier goes




THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS.  269
softly along, with no noise, and Ino jolting to
trouble him.
And this is just the way in which a meek
or gentle spirit is trying to do good to others
all the time.  It is always trying to stop the
creaking and jolting that worry people as
they are journeying on through this world.
Let me show you how mliuch good was once
done by a meek iman to a person who was
very angry with him.
This person lhad a very violent temper.
IHe had a dispute with an acqniaiitallce of his
who was a pz ofe sor of religion, and who had
done him an injury.  He was very angry
with this Christian man, and went to see him
for the purpose of having a quarrel with hillm.
When li he got to his house, lie said, in a very
angry way, " Sir, I've come to tell you that
you lhave injrred me very much by what you
did the other day."
He was just going to begin to scold and
abuse himrl; but the Christian nman bleaded
him off by saying, " My friend, it was very
wrong in mle to do so.  I am truly sorry for




270        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
it. I awk your forgiveness, and I will glatdly
do anything in my power to make amends
for the injury I have done."
But this was what the angry man did not
expect.  He was not prepared for' it.  It
took him, as the sailors say, "all "aback."
He was obliged to say that he was satisfied,
and go away feeling vexed and mortified that
he had not had an opplrtunity to say all the
angry and bitter things that he had gone
there to say.
On his way home, however, he began to
talk to hliinmelf in this way: " What a strlange
mnan this is!  I didn't expect he would act
so. I thought he'd say something sharp to
me, and then I'd have a chance to give
lhim a regular t)lowing up. If any body had
spoken to me as I spoke to him, I should
have been dreadful angry. If it's this religion
that does this for him, it certainly mnakes him
a muchl better man than I am.  There must
be something in religion. I'd better lookinto it."
He did look into it. The result was that




THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS. 271
he soon became a Christian himself. And it
was the meekness and gentleness of that
Christian firiend that led to this happy
change.   Jesus said " Blessed  are  the
meek!"  And here, in the good they do
to others, we see how it is that the meek are
blessed.
Now let me tell you how kindness changed
the whole character of a bad )boy.  Miss
Mason was a young lady who lived in Connecticut.  Her father died, and she was
obliged to do something for her own living.
She had been educated for a teacher. There
was a school at Westbrook, not far from where
she lived, without a teacher. She applied for
the situation and got it.  But she lhad never
taught before, and she felt very awkward and
timid in taking cllarge of a large school.
There were a number of big boys in the
school.  One of tlhem, Joe Stanton, was the
worst boy in the neighborhood.  He was a,
poor orphan boy, rude and neglected, and
the ringleader of the other boys in all mischief.  T.he first day that Miss Mason took




272        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
charge of the school, he gave her more trouble than all the other boys put together. He
didn't mind wliat she said.  He was settingo
an example of disobedience to the whlole
school, and playing all sorts of tricks. Poor
Miss Mason! she was very much discouraged, and didn't know what to do.  Joe
Stanton was too big a boy for her to undertake to punish, and yet she felt she never
could get on unless something was done to
make hiin behave better.  She resolved to
try the effect of kindness oil him. So, at the
close of the afternoon, she asked him, very
pleasantly, to stay atter tile school was dismissed, and help her shut up the school. IIe
said he would.  Thle shutters were closed,
and the door locked, and as she turned to go
horne, Joe walked along with lier. As they
went on, Miss Mason said; —
"IHave you any sister, Joseph?"  Thlis
touched the only tender spot in his rougli
heart.
" I had one once," he said; " little Mary;
she was mlly only sister. I used to talke care




THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS.  273
of her, and play with her, and carry her out
of doors, and draw her in the wagon I made
for her; and shle loved mle more than any one
else did, and always used to run to the door
and meet me wlhen I came home. But she's
dead, and nobody cares for me now.  She
had a fever, and didnl't know me when I
spoke to her, and in just a week she died.
11er grave is right over tlere, and perhaps
you'd like to see it some tine?"
" Yes, Joseph, let's walk over there now,"
said the teacher.  They went slowly along,
still talking about little IMary. They reached
the grave, and sat down on a stone near it.
Joe hlad been wiping away the tears as they
trickled down his clheeks, one by one.  But
now the fountain of his grief was broken up,
and he could control himself no longer. He
covered his face with hlis hands, as he sobbed
and wept aloud.
"Oh! she's dead! slhe's dead!" he cried;
and nobody cares for me now."
" Yes, Joseph, I'll care care for you," said
the teclher, as she laid her lband gently on




274         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
his uncovered head. Then she spoke to him
of Jesus, who is the friend of the fatherless,
and of that blessed heaven, to which He will
take those who love Hirm, and where they
will meet their friends again. And then she
told him of her own sorrow,-of the loss of
her father, —how lonely she felt in the world,
-how she had to work for her living now,and how hard it seemed to her to manage
that large school of big boys. Then Joe
started to his feet, and said, eagerly,
" But I'll help ye, Miss Mason.  I'll do
any thing I can to help ye."  And then, like
a gleam  of sunshine amidst April showers,
the old roguish twinkle came into his eye, as
he added-" I guess the rest of the boys
won't trouble you much.  They'll do pretty
much as I want'em  to!"  And so it was.
Joe hlel ped Miss Mason, and she had no more
trouble in Inana(in(r the school. She had won
Joe's confidence and affection by her kindness, and he became the best boy in the
school.
"Blessed are the meek."  There are three




THE BLESSING OF MEEKNESS. 275
ways in which meekness is a blessing. The
first is, by saving usfrom trouble.  The second is, by doing good to ourselves. The third
is, by doing good to others.
And if you wish to be really meek, and
have the blessing that Jesus here speaks of,
you must become Christians.  You must
learn to love Jesus, and be like Him. Sometimes we see persons who call themselves
Christians, and are members of the Church,
who yet allow themselves to get angry, and
give way to very bad tempers whenever
anything is said to them which they don't
like. What shall we say of such persons?
There is only one thing to say of them.
They are not Christians! The Bible saysj
" If any man hlave not the spirit of Christ,
he is none of His."  If we indul(re in bad
tempers, and allow ourselves to get angry,
don't let us say that we don't mean any I) arm
by it; and that isn't very wrong.  It is very
wrong. It is dreatdfully wicked. It shows
that we are not Christians, and that we are
not fit to go to heaven.  We should be very




276        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
sorry for these sinful tempers.  We should
ask Jesus to forgive us, to take away all
angry feelings firom us, and mnake us meek
and gentle as He is. Then we shall know
what He meant when He said,-" Bles8ed
are the mneek."




X.
8TO   flessthtoss  of   neuring  Empntpatioau.
"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation."
JAxMEs i. 12.








X.
"Blessed is the man that endureth temptation." JAs i. 12.
ONE of the meanings of the word " temptation" is trial. And the word "endure"
means to bear. And if we put these two
words in the place of those used in the text,
then it will read in this way:-" Blessed is
the man that beareth trial." We all hlave a
great many trials, or temptations to bear,
here in this world. Our life is made up of
trials. As soon as we can tell our right hand
from the left; —as soon as we know right
from wrong, we are put on trial. And we
are kept on trial, as long as we live in this
world.  When Adam and Eve were placed
in the garden of Eden they were put on trial.
There was only one law that they had to
keep. That was the law, or command, not




2,80       BTBLE BLESSqTNGS.
to eat of the tree of knowledge. That law
was given them to try them.  If they had
kept it, they would have borne the trial, or
endured the temptation appointed for them
there, and then they would have been blessed. But they did not bear that trial; they
did not keep God's law.  They ate of the
tree of which God said they should not eat;
and then they were thrust out of the garden.
And, in the same way, God's commandments are the things by which we are tried.
God commands us to honor and obey our parents. He commands us to keep the Sabbath day holy; not to swear, or steal, or tell
lies. And every day of our lives we are put
on trial to see if we will keep them.
And so when we read in the Bible that God
commands us to repent, and believe in Jesus,
and love and serve Him, we are put on trial
by these commands. If we do repent and
believe, and give our hearts to Jesus, then
we bear this trial, and are blessed. If we
neglect this, then we do not endure this trial,
and we are not blessed




ENDtRING TEMPTATION.       281
When you go to Sunday School the laws
of the School put you on trial. Now suppose
that one of those laws is that "'no scholar
shall talk to another during the lessons."
Another is that " no scholar shall go out of
school during the exercises without the leave
of the Superintendent."  And suppose that
the scholar itting next you asks you to get
up, and go out with him, without asking
leave. Then that is a trial, or temptation to
you. If you get up, and go out, you do not
endure the temptation, or bear the trial. But
if you keep your seat, and refuse to talk
with your neighbor, then you do endure the
temptation; you bear the trial, and that will
bring a blessing to you.
When our text says-" Blessed is the man
that endureth temptation," it doesn't mean
that it is a blessed thing to be tempted to do
what is wrong. But, it means that when we
are tempted to do what is wrong, it is a
blessed thing to resist the temptation, and
not give way to it.
Now I wish to shlw you that there are




282        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
three things we can gain by resisting temptation, or bearing trial; and each of these
will be a blessing to us.  "Blessed is the
man that endureth temptation."
The first thing we gain by enduring tempt-,
ation, or bearing trial, iS —-TRENGTH.
If you want your body to grow healthy
and strong, you must stend a good deal of
time out in the open air, walking, or working, or taking exercise there. But if, instead
of doing this, you remain shut up in the
house all the time, sitting still, or lying
down, you may live, but you will always be
weak, and sickly, and good for nothing.
You know how it would be with two young
plants or trees. Suppose that one of these trees
is left in charge of a man who doesn't understand the best way of managing young trees.
lie is afraid of letting it be exposed to the
cold, or to the wind.  He plants it in a corner of his cellar. There he thinks it will be
sheltered from the heat of the sun in summer
and from the frosts and storms of winter.




ENDURING TEMPTATION.        283
Well, that is true.  But what will be the
result upon the tree I Perhaps it won't die.
It may live. But its leaves will have a pale,
sickly, yellow color. It will shoot out long,
straggling branches, without any strength or
vigor. It will never be good for anything.
But the other tree is treated very differently. It belongs to a person who knows all
about trees. It is planted out in a garden,
on the side of a hill.  The rain comes down
on it. The dew falls gently on it. ~ The sun
shines brightly on it. The winds sweep by it.
The storms rock it and bend it. Yet it
grows. It shoots out great branches that are
healthy and strong. The more it is rocked
and shaken, the deeper it sends its roots into
the soil, and the stronger it becomes. The
winds and storms that rock that tree are like
the temptations or trials that we have to
meet. And when the tree stands up against
the wind and resists it, it is just like what
we are duing when we endure our temptations, or bear our trials manfully. The rock



284        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
ing of the wind is a blessing to the tree, because it helps to make it stronger.
And just in the same way it is a blessing
to us when we endure temptation, because it
helps to make us strong to do what is good,
and to resist what is evil.
Now I want to tell you about two boys.
They were treated just as differently as the
two trees that I have spoken of.  One of
these boys wvas named Charles Brown. His
parents were very rich, but not very wise.
Charles was their only child. They resolved
to take such care of him that, if they could
help it, he never should have anything to
trouble, or worry him. When he was a baby they never would let the nurse carry him
out unless he was covered up, face and all, to
keep the cold air from striking him.  They
fed him with sop and pap till he was quite a
good-sized boy, lest anything as hard as
bread should hurt his dear little teeth and
gums. He never was washed in cold water,
because it might make him cry. He was
never allowed to play with other boys, be



ENDURING TEMPTATION.       285
cause they were so rough that they might
hurt him: His parents never let him run,
lest he should fall. They never allowed him
to go into the street alone, even when he was
a big boy, lest he should be knocked down,
or run over. They wouldn't let him go to
school at all, for fear of anything happening
to him. His mother always warmed his bed
at night, and had him covered all up in flannel. lest the sheets of the bed should feel
cold to him. He always had his breakfast
taken to him in bed before he got up in the
morning. He wasn't allowed to wash and
dress himself till he was eighteen years old,
for fear he should put his hands in water that
was too cold, or should fatigue himself with
too much exertion. Now you can think what
a namlby-pamby, miserable sort of a fellow
Charlie Brown was.  He was as pale as a
sheet; as thin as a shadow; as weak as an
infant; as ignorant.as a jackass; and good
for just nothing at all. He never bore any
trial. He never " endured any temptation."
He never was blessed with any strength.




286       BIBLE BLESSINGS.
Before he was of age, he took sick and died
of mere weakness.  It might have been
written on his tombstone that he was killed
by kindness. This was one boy.
The other boy was very different from this.
His name was Abraham Lincoln.  He was
born in Kentucky. His parents were poor.
While he was quite young they moved to
Indiana, and then to Illinois. They couldn't
afford to send him to school.  He had to
work hard, as soon as he was able. He helped
his father to build the log house in which
they lived. He split the rails to make the
fences round his father's farm.  He traded
on a flat-boat down the Mississippi.  This
was hard work to do, and in doing it he had
to be thrown into company with a good many bad men and boys. He had many trials
to bear, and he bore them well.  He had
many temptations to endure. He was tempted to learn to drink, to swear, to break the
Sabbath, and do other wicked things. But
he resisted these temptations. Hle never
yielded to them. He was always honest, and




ENDURING TEMPTATION.    287
truthful, and sober. He tried to make up
for the want of schooling by studying all he
could. In this way he managed to pick up
a good deal of knowledge and learning. He
read his Bible.  He feared God, and prayed
for His help. He became a lawyer. He was
an honest lawyer. He held on to what he
knew to be right. He was sent to the legislature. Thus he grew strong. He was strong
in body, and strong in mind, and strong in
soul.  He was strong to endure temptation,
strong to resist evil, and to do right. He was
sent to Congress, and at last he was elected
President of the United States. During four
years of the most dreadful civil war the world
has ever known, he filled that ilnportant post.
The duties of that office were more difficult
while Mr. Lincoln was President than ever
they had been before. His position was one
of the hardest and most trying that anybody
in the world ever had to occupy.  Yet he
never failed, or fainted.  lHe had become so
strong by bearing trials, that he was able to
stand up, like a giant, under the heaviest




288        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
burden that ever a man had to carry.  He
bore the burden well. The ancients used to
think that there was a very strong man
named Atlas, and that he carried the world
on his shoulders. For four years Mr. Lincoln
was the Atlas of this country. He carried the
government on his shoulders. And the trials
he had passed through made him strong to
bear that heavy burden.  "Blessed is the
man that endureth temptation."  The first
thing we gain by enduring temptation, or
bearing trial, is strength.  And this is a
blessing.
The second thing that we gain by enduring
temptation, or bearing trial, is-woRTH.
And this is a blessing too. You know very
well that a thing which has been tried, or
proved, is much more valuable than onle that
has never been tried. Here, for instance,
are two canes. One is a very beautiful looking cane. It has a gold head. It is very
smooth, and highly polished.  The wood is
hard and heavy. It is what is called iron




ENDURING TEMPTATION.       289
wood. This cane was made from a war club
brought to England in the missionary ship
"John Williams," from the island of Fate,
in the Pacific Ocean.  That war club was
sent to me by Captain Morgan, who formerly
commanded that ship. The young men of my
Bible class had it turned into this beautiful
cane for me. I think a great deal of this cane.
Btut I have never tried it. If I should be attacked by asavage dog, and wan ted to hit him a heavy blow, I don't know whether the cane would
break or not. I should be afraid to trust it.
But here is another cane.  This is a
very plain looking one. ~ It is made of a sort
of cane that grows in the East Indies. It
has an ivory handle, and looks like a
sword canle, but it isn't. I have tried this
cane, and know I can depend upon it. In
traveling through the Isle of Wight, some
years ago, I was sitting lby the driver, on the
top of the stage, with this cane in my hand.
It slipped from me, and fell down between
the spokes of the wlheel and the body of the
stage. This maLde it bend right short off, just
10




290        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
as your arm bends at the elbow.  I saw it
fall to the ground, and lie there, bent almost
at a right angle. I said to myself, " My poor
cane is ruined." I asked the driver to stop
while I got down to pick up my cane. I
picked it up. I bent it across my knee. It
straightened right out at once. It wasn't
broken. Not a fibre of the wood was started.
It was as good as ever. Nay, it was a great
deal better than ever.  It had been tried,
and proved to be a tough, strong cane. That
trial had made it more valuable. It had given
it worth. And now if I had to choose between these two canes, in preparing to defend myself against a fierce dog, I should
take the plain one. If I wanted to make a
show, and look fine, of course I should take
this handsome, gold-headed cane. But, if I
wanted something that I could depend upon
in time of danger, I should take the one that
had been tried.
When they were recruiting soldiers during
the late war, they alwrys offered a great
deal more money to one who had already




ENDURING TEMPTATION.       291
been a year or two ill the service, because
h3 had got used to it.  He had been tried;
and the trial through which he had passed
mnade him more valuable than a raw recruit.
It gave him worth.
Perhaps nothing will illustrate the benefit
or blessedness of bearing trial, better than
the change of value that takes place in a
piece of iron when it is nmade into steel. Suppose we have here say an ounce of common
iron. This would be worth not more than a
penny.  Well, suppose now that our ounce
of iron has been changed into an ounce of
the finest steel. This would be done, according to the old way of making steel, by putting it in a very hot fire, and then pounding
it with heavy hammers. And to the iron
this would be just the same thling that bearing trials is to us. The Bible compares trial
to a furnace, in which we are put, or to a rod
or hammer, with which we are beaten. It is
a blessing to the iron to be put into the fire,
and beaten with the hammer. because tC-at
turns it into steel, and so increases its value.




292        BBLr, BLESSINGS.
An(d it is a blessing to us when we bear trials
well, because it helps to make us better people. It increases our worth. When an ounce
of iron is turned into fine steel it is worth
more than gold. An ounce of fine gold is
worth about twenty-four dollars. An ounce
of the finest steel can be made into the fine
hair-like springs that are used in watches.
One ounce of steel would make more than
three thousand of those springs, and these
would sell for about two dollars and a half
each. This would make that ounce of steel
worth seven thousand five hundred dollars.
And so it was a blessed thing for that piece
of iron that it was put in the fire and pounded with the hammer, for that increased its
value seven hundred and Jffty thousand
times.
There was an old man who lived in a little
country village. Everybody called him " Old
Willie." He didn't swear, or get drunk. ile
waIs not an angry nor dishonest man. The
great temptation he had and which lie never
resisted, was to be 1(zy.  lie loved every




ENDURING TEMPTATION.    293
thing better than work.  IHe was not very
poor, for he had a nice cottage, with a garden
and cornfield, and a meadow for the cow.
But he never could be persuaded really to
work at anything. He would spend half a
day in mending a child's plaything, or getting a boy's skates ready; and he would sit
the whole day on a bench before the village
shop, nodding or smoking, or talking with
anybody who was willing to spend an idle
hour.
The great complaint of" Old Willie " was
that he " never had any luck in anything."
His hard-working neigllbors were always
"lucky," but he never was;  Everything
went against him. If he planted a strip of
corn, the fences not being in good condition,
some strolling cow would get in, and in one
night spoil it all. Then he would say he was
"unlucky" with his corn. If he had a cow
of his own, she was sure to dry up very soon,
for want of proper food and care, and then he
" was unluckv with his cow."  If he got a
pig, it would squeal all day for something to




294        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
eat; and at night it would get out and run
away. He would have great trouble in hunting it up, and then he " was unlucky with
his pig." If there came a rain storm, hle was
so unlucky as to have a house that was always leaking for want of a little work upon
it. His kind, patient wife had caught a bad
cold in the leaky house, and was laid up a
great part of the time with rheumatism, and
he was very unlucky in this. And often when
he had spent the waeek in idleness, lie would
spend the Sunday in fishing, in the great
pond neart the village, so as to get something
for' his family to eat.
But there was one treasure " Old Willie"
had which he loved better than any thing
else in the world. This was a beautiful little
daughter, about ten years old. One summer
a Sunday School was started some distance
from the village. Mary wanted very much to
go to it. IHer father wouldn't let her go
alone, so he used to take her to the school.
When he left her at the door he would
lounge about the neighborhood smoking, till




ENDURING TEMPTATION.    295
the school was out, and then he would take
Mary home again. One day he went and
stood under the window to listen to the
children singing.
The Superintendent saw him, and kindly
invited him in. He went in, and aiter that
he would often take a seat near the door and
listen to what was said. This set him to
thinking, and sometimes great tears would
roll down his cheeks. Little Mary had
learned to love Jesus, and to pray to Him.
One night " Old Willie " heard her praying
for her " dear father."  This was too much
for him. He began to think it was time for
him  to pray for himself. He did so. He
soon became a Christian, and then, 0, what
a change took place! He resolved to give
way to laziness no longer. He resisted this
temptation. He turned over a new leaf. HIe
became an industrious, hard-working man.
And then how soon everything about him
improved! What he used to call his " bad
luck," all disappeared. He left off wasting
his time on the bench before the village shop,




296        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
and spent it in working. He stopped fishing
on Sunday.  His house was mended; his
corn grew and flourished; his cow became a
different creature; 1,is pig stopped squealing,
and his wife got better. "Old things passed
away, and all things became new" with him.
He learned to resist the great temnptation
which had overcomle him, and he found himself blessed in doings it. HTe became a better
man —ten times more valuable- than lie had
been before. The second thing we gain by
enduring temptation is worth.
The third thing we gain by it is HONOR.
God has put some things together in such
a way that we never can separate them. If
you go and stand in the sun, will your body
cast a, shadow on the ground? Yes. Can
you possibly stand in the sun without casting a shadow somewhere? No. If you fire
off a gun, will it make a noise a Yes. Can
you fire off a gun without its making a noise?.No. If you put you' finger in the fire, will
it hurt you? Yes. Can you put your (inger




ENDURING TEMPTATION.       297
in the fire without its hurting you? No.
And the reason is, that God has bound these
things together so that nobody can separate
them. And just in the same way God has
connected honor with resisting temptation;
and shame or dishonor with not resisting it.
And nobody can separate these things.
I wish to give you some illustrations to
show you tll it this is always so. If we endure
or resist tetnptation, we shall be blessed by
bringing honor on ourselves. If we give way
to temnptation we shall be punished by bringing shame or dishonor on ourselves. I have
one illustration about two angels, one about
two men, and one about a boy.
The first illustration is about two angels.
More than six thousand years ago, before our
world was made, there were two an.gels in
heaven. The name of one was Lucifer, the
name of the other was Gabriel. God made
them both holy and good.  But they were
both tempted to rebel against the governmentt of God.  Lucifer did not resist the
temptation. He yielded to it.  He got a




298         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
good many other angels to unite with him.
They wanted to set up a government of their
own, independent of God. They were all
driven out of heaven, and thrust down to hell.
There, Lucifer, who is the Devil, or Satan,
has been their leader ever since in all kinds
of wickedness. He has never had a moment
of peace or happiness ever since then. He
is the tempter of men. He is a liar, and a
murderer. I-Ie is " the wicked on ~." Every
body despises him. All evil is traced up to
him. The deepest shame-tile darkest dishonor, are his now, and will be heaped on
his head forever.  He will be shut, up in the
bottomless pit, with swearers, and liars, and
thieves, and murderers, and all the worst sort
of people forever. He did not resist temptation, and this shame and dishonor are the result of it.
But look at Gabriel on the other hand. He
endured, or resisted temptation. He would
not join in the rebellion against God.  And
what was the consequence?  He remained
in heaven. HEe " kept his first estate." He




ENDURING TEMPTATION.    299
continued holy, and good, and happy. He
"stands in the presence of God." He is engaged in doing good. We read in the Bible
how God sent him once with a message to
Daniel the prophet. Dan. ix. 21, 22. About
five hundred years after, he was sent again to
tell of the birth of John the Baptist, and of
our Saviour. Luke i. 19, 26. And he is, no
doubt, employed in the same way still. To
stand in God's presence, and serve him, is the
highest honor that an angel can have in
heaven. Gabriel has this honor. And thus
he was blessed for enduring temptation. He
gained honor by it. This is the illustration
about two angels.
We next take an illustration from two men.
These men were both connected with the
American Revolution. The name of one of
them was Benedict Arnold. He was a general in the American army at that time. He
was a very brave soldier, but not a good man.
He was put on trial for bad conduct. It was
proved that he had acted in a way that was
very wrong for an officer in the army. And




300        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
it was ordered by Congress that he should be
reproved for his conduct by the commanderin-chief. General Washington made the reproof as gentle as possible, on account of his
having been such a-good soldier. But Arnold
could not bear this. It made him very angry.
Instead of confessing his faults, and trying
to do better, he made up his mind to revenge
himself at once on Washington, on Congress,
and on his country.
Through the kindness of General Washington, he was appointed.to the command of
West Point, on the North River. This was
one of the strongest and most important fortresses held by the American army. Arnold
knew that the loss of that fortress would be
one of the heaviest blows that could fall on
his struggling country.  Yet he basely resolved to betray West Point into the hands of
the enemy. He wrote to Sir Henry Clinton,
the commander of the British army, to know
what they would give him if he should deliver
up that place to them, with all the soldiers,
the arms, and ammunition that were in it.




ENDURING  1'EMPTATION.    301
Of course the English general was glad
enough to get such an offer. It was agreed
between them that Arnold should have the
same rank in the English army that he held
in the American. And besides that, he was
to get thirty thousand pounds sterling, or
about a hundred and fifty thousand dollars,
to reward him for his treachery.  But just
when he was on the point of finishing the
bargain, afid of delivering that important
post over to the British, the plot was found
out. He was obliged to flee for his life. He
managed to escape, and get over to the English army. But though he saved his life, he
lost the reward he expected to get.  And
what was more than that, he lost his character. Every honorable officer and soldier in
the English army despised him. Like Judas
Iscariot, who betrayed his Master, Benedict
Arnold betrayed his country. He became c6
traitor!  T]hat is one of the most shameful
things that can be said of a man. Arnold's
name is covered with the blackest disgrace.
As long as the world stands, that disgrace




302        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
will last. Trial was laid upon him, but he
could not bear it.  The result has been
shame and dishonor.
The other person I refer to, and whom I
would put by the side of Arnold, as showing
the honor that results from bearing trial, or
enduring temptation, is George Washington.
He was as brave a soldier as Arnold, and a
much better mall. God raised him up to be
the father of his people-the saviour of his
country. He had many trials to bear-much
heavier than those that were laid on Arnold,
but Washington bore his trials nobly. The
people often found fault with him for what he
did; but he never got angry, or thought for
a moment of revenging himself on them, as
Arnold had done. Some of his own officers
formed a wicked plot against him, to have
him put out of his high office. He found out
that plot. But it had no other effect on him
than to make him try to do his duty, and
to serve his country better than ever. He
endured every  temptation, he bore every
trial well.  And what is the result?  Tlie




ENDURIN(f TEMPTATION.    303
name of Vas8hington has been covered with
glory to the ends of the world. He has gained the greatest honor by enduring temptation.  Benedict Arnold the traitor - and
George Washington the patriot — what a
contrast between them! In that contrast how
clearly we see the blessedness of enduring
temptation!
But now for the illustration about the boy.
It is a story that may be called " The Gold
Medal; or, The Brave Boy Rewarded." It's
a little long, but it's so good that I think you
won't mind that.
There was an academy in a country village
in England. Among the scholars was one
named James Hartley, and another, Edward
Jemson. Hartley was a new scholar. His
parents were honest, respectable people, but
not very rich. He was a bright, manly boy.
Most of the other boys were the sons of
wealthy parents.  One morning, as a company of them were going to school, they saw
Hartley coming along the lane, driving a cow
to a field a little'beyond the school. "Hal



304         BIBLE BLESSINGS.
loo! Hartley," said Jeinson-" what's the
price of milk?"  " What do you fodder on,
Jim?" asked another.  " Well done, bloys,"
said a third.  " If you want to see the latest
Paris style, look at those boots!"
Hartley waved his liand and smiled pleasantly as he passed, without saying a word.
He drove the cow to the field, took down the
bars, put her safely in, put up the bars, and
then went into school with the re;t. At tlhe
close of the afternoon, he let the cow out, and
drove her off, none of the boys knew where.
He did this every day- for two or three
weeks. It ci:used a great wondering among
the boys.  They knew that Hartley's father
didn't keep a cow, and as James didn't
choose to explain why lie did this, they
couldn't tell what to make of it.  Most of
tlhe boys were of that foolish class who look
upIon any honest labor as a sort of disgolc..
And so they made all sorts of tin al,bou
IIartley and his cow.
"Well, Jim, how's the'ke-ow' tod-ay?"
was a question of'ten asked him.




ENDURING TEMPTATION.       305
"I suppose, Hartley," said Jemson to him
one day, " I suppose your daddy means to
make a milkman of you?"
"Why not?" asked Hartley.
"h011, nothing; only don't leave too much
water in the cans when you rinse themthat's all," said he.
Then the boys hid a hearty laiugh. Hartley never got angry. He bore it all with the
greatest good humor, and only said-" Never
fear, boys; if I ever should rise to be a milkman, you may be sure of one thing-I'll give
good measure, and good milk."
The day after this conversation there was a
public examination in the Academy.  A
number of ladies and gentlemen from the
neighboring towns were present.  After the
examination, prizes were given to the best
scholars, and Hartley and Jetnson, who were
the smartest boys in the school, both received
prizes.  After these had been distributed,
the princip)al of the school said there was one
prize consisting of a gold medal, which was
not often given, because it was seldom that




306        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
any one was entitled to it. It was the prize
not of scholarship, but of HERoIsm.  The
last boy who received it was young Manners,
who, three years ago, saved a blind girl from
drowning at the risk of his own life.  And
now, with the permission of the company, I
wish to relate a short story.
Not long since, some of the scholars belonging to this academy were flying a kite
in an adjoining lane, just as a poor boy on
horseback rode by, on his way to the mill.
The horse took fright and threw the boy off,
injuring the bov so badly that he was carried
home, and confined to his bed for some
weeks. None of the boys who had occasioned
this misfortune went to inquire about the
wounded boy.  One scholar, however, not
among the kit3 flyers, saw the accident. He
went to inquire after the boy who was hurt,
and ask if he could be of any help..
He soon found that the wounded boy was
thle grandson of a po.)r widow, whose only
support consisted in selling the milk of a
very fine cow, of which she was the owner.




ENDURING TEMPTATION.    307
When she saw her poor boy brought in
wounded, she said-" Oh, dear, what shall
we do 8 for I am old and lame, and now there
is no one to take care of the cow."
"Never mind, good woman," said the
scholar, "I'll drive your cow till your boy
gets well again."
" God bless you, my good fellow," said the
old woman, while she wept the thanks she
could not speak. But the scholar's kindness
did not stop here. He found that money was
wante 1 to buy medicine.
" I have money that my mother gave me
to buy a pair of boots with," said he, " but I
can do without them for awhile."
"Oh, no," said the old woman, "I can't
consent to that: but here is a pair of heavy
boots that I boug]lt for Henry.  He c;an't
wear them now, and if yon would only!luy
them, giving what they cost, we could get on
nicely."'
The scholar bought the boots, clumsy as
they were, and has worn them up to this
time.




308        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
Well, when it was disc,vered by the other
boys of the academy that our scholar was in
the habit of driving a cow, they heaped all
sorts of ridicule upon him. They especially
made fun of his clumsy, cow-hide boots. But
he kept cheerfully on, day after day, not foolisllly trying to keep out of sight, but bravely
doing his duty.  The laughs, and jokes, and
sneers of his companions were a temptation
to him to give up. But he resisted this temptatioln. He persevered in driving the cow, and
wearing the thick boots, because he felt he
was doing right.  He wouldn't tell the boys
why he was doing this, because that would
look like praising himself.  And he didn't
mind the fun they made of him, because he
knew it was a feeling of false pride which led
them to think that it was a disgrace to be engaged in any honest employment.  I only
found it out by accident yesterday.
"And now, ladies and gentlemen," said the
teacher, "I appeal to you, if there was not
true heroism in thils boy's conduct?  Nay,
Master Hartley, don't creep out of sight be



ENDURING TEMPTATION.    309
hind the black-board I You were not afraid
of ridicule, you mustn't be afraid of praise.
Come out, Master James Hartley, and let us
see your honest face!"
Hartley came out blushing like a rose, and
the whole company broke out into loud applause of his noble conduct. The ladies stood
upon the benches and waved their handkerchiefs.  The old men wiped the tears from
their eyes, while the young men clapped
their hands, and gave three cheers for the
brave boy. Even the clumsy boots on Hartley's feet seemed like a brighter ornament
than a crown could have been on his head.
And then the teacher put the gold medal
round Hartley's neck, to honor him for resisting temptation, and doing right. He was
blessed in the honor that he gained.
" Blessed is the man that endureth temptation." We have spoken of three things
gained by enduring temptation, and which
make up this blessing.  What is the first?
Strength. What is the second?  Worth.
And what is the third?  Honor.




310        BIBLE BLESSINGS.
Now, my dear young friends, don't forget
that you have to meet trials and temptations
every day you live, and in every place that
you go to.  You can't get away from them
while you are in this world.  If you only
learn to resist them and get into the habit of
doing this, then you will be blessing yourselves all the time.  Every day you will be
growing in strength, in worth, in honor. But
you can't do this of yourself: You must pray
for Jesus to help you.  And if you only get
His help, you will be sure to succeed.  He
endured temptation Hiinself when He was
on earth, and He knows how to help us.
Pray earnestly and constantly to Him, and
then you will be sure to get the blessing
promised to those who endure temptations.
THE END.




I ND EX.
MY —helped to take medicine, 61.
ANIMALS —God's care for, 72-5.
AN INFANT-an interesting sight, 99.
ALL FOR THE BEST- Mr. Gilpin and his broken
leg, 193-4.
ANGRY MAN-an, changed by meekness, 269-70.
ARNOLD BENEDICT-the traitor, 299.
BIBLE-compared to a flower-garden, 11-12.
the evils from which it saves us, 15.
saves from ignorance, 16.
BENEFITS, THE-Which the Gospel brings, 41-2.
BISHOP, THE-charitable, and his reward, 82.
BIRD'S NEsT-The empty, 176-7.
BUNYAN, JoHN-the benefit of trouble to, 199.
BLESSED-the first word Jesus spoke, 246.




312                  INDEX.
CRUELTY-the Bible saves us from, 27.
of the HIeathen —in their sacrifices, 28.
in the treatment of pa
rents, 29-30.
COTTAGER-the poor, and her bee-hive, 123-4.
CARE, THE —taken of the Christian, 167.
CRAsTErTIN —what it means, 185.
CHRISTIANs-blessed-in their names, 131-2.
in their dress, 133-5.
in their relations, 136-7.
in their riches, 144.
above all people in their joys, 156.
CHRISTIAN-in the poor-house, 147.
COMMANDS, GoD's-are trials, 280.
CAES-THIs Two-or worth from trial, 288-9.
DARK, TaE —how we should be in without the Gospel, 46.
DorIG GOOD with sixpence, 94-5.
kind words, 95-6.
ECHO, THE-and the boy, 249-50.
EINGLISH CAPTAIN, THE-in a French prison, 232-3.
FATHER, THE, WHO NEVER DIES, 143.
GYMNaSIUM, A —what it is, B9.
this world like, 70.




INDEX.                  313
GOOD TO OURSELVES by considering the poor, 81.
GooD-Jesus blesses his people by making them, 113.
not necessary for people to be before they come
to Jesus, 114.
GoD's LITTLE GIRL-or, Fanny Vale, 115-19.
GOOD INsIDE-how to be, 119-20.
GOLDEN On1E-the trouble necessary to purify it, 198.
GRAIN-the trouble necessary to prepare it for use, 198.
GABRIEiL-the honor he gained by resisting tempta-.
tion, 298-299.
HEATHEN —the defects of their language, 17.
HINDOO SHASTERS, THE-and what they teach, 18.
HINDOO GEOGRAPHY, 19-21.
HELP-a Bible Blessing, 57.
HELP IN DUTY-Jesus gives, 60.
HELPED-Harry to find verses, 62-3.
Haydn by prayer, 64.
the Martyrs to bear pain, 64-5.
HAPPY-for making a man, fifteen dollars, 77-8.
HONOR-the Christian blessed in his, 163.
gained by enduring temptation, 296.
HAMILTON —The Duke of-going to be a king, 166 -7.
How Jesus saves our souls, 237.
Jesus suffered for us, 237.
a little boy suffered for his sister, 238.
IRON-BOOT, THE-or, Johnny Truman, 200-3.
IRON CHANGED TO STEEL-the wortL of, 291-6.




314                 INDEX.
INSURANCE —FIE- -what it is, 189.
LIFE-    "   189.
MARINE- "   190.
INSURED against everything-the Christian, 191.
INFANT, THE-nore helpless than the young of other
creatures, 58.
INFANTS, SPIRITUAL-young Christians are, 58.
iDOLATRY —the Bible saves us from, 31.
the evil of, seen in the kind of sacrifices
offered, 33-36.
IDOL GoDs —the character of the, 31.
JUBILEE-the year of, what it was to the Jews, 13.
the Bible brings to us, 14.
JEsus-helps His people to do what He teaches, 59.
wonderful as an infant, 100-1.
blesses people, how, 101.
the honor of working for, 165.
Christians nearer to, than the angels, 165.
JEWS, THEi-a wonderful people, 127-9.
JEWEL, A-with many sides, 155.
Joy like a spring, 157.
JoB-the care God took of, 168-9.
JOSEPH —the care God took of, 170.
KIND Boy, TiE-rewarded, 88-94.
KINDNESS — how changed a bad boy into a good
one, 271-4.




INDEX.                315
KILLED BY KINDNESS-the boy who was, 284-5.
KALEE THE GODDESS-the character of, 32-3.
KEY —a new, to unlock hearts, 265.
KNOWLEDGE, THE-which the Gospel brings, 44.
KNOWLEDGE LIKE LIGHT, 45.
KNowLEDGE —what we have without the Gospel, 47.
what we have from the Gospel, 48-49.
LORDs-any in your family? 138.
LEAPING FROM JOY TO JOY, 160-2.
LET GO THAT TWIG, 240.
LINCOLN, ABRAHAM-made strong by trials, 286-7.
LUCIFER-the shame he got from yielding to temptation, 297-8.
MAN-RAVEN, Tam-or, Mrs. Rogers and Richard, 222-5.
MISER, THE-and the poor Christian on their deathbeds, 151.
MERCHANT, A —saved from death by rain, 192-3.
MAIN-TRUCKE, THE JIMP FROM-or, the Commodore's
son, 194-7.
MINISTER, THE INSTRUCTED-or, how to be always
happy, 234-5.
MEEKNESS SAVES FROM TROUBLE, 249.
MASSACRE OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW-a little girl saved
from the, by her meekness, 252-3.
MACHINIST, A POLITE-and what he got by it, 263- 4.
MEEKNESS-a way of doing good for all, 267.
how it does good to others, 268.
MEDAL, THE  GOLD — or, the honor James 1Iartler'
gained by bearing trial, 303-8.




316                 INNEX.
No-A ROUsING, 109.
OPPRESSION —what it is, 22-3.
the Bible saves us from, 22.
in Heathen lands, examples of, 28-7.
OFFICER, THE AiUSTRIAN — or, related in Jesus
Christ, 138-40.
PARDON-a Bible Blessing, 49-50-55.
the efforts of the Heathen to secure, 54-6.
PooR-why God's people are, 71.
POOR, THE-considering like God, 72.
POOR, THE-considering makes them happy, 75.
POOR MINISTER'S FAMILY-God's care for, 74-5.
PHILOSOPHER'S STONE-what it was, 187.
what we could do if we had
it, 187-8.
Christians have something better, 188.
POMEGRANATE, THE-and the deep cutting, 208-10.
PROTECTION IN DANGER-the Plague in London, 227-8.
POLITE Bow-a fortune made by a, 261-2.
QUEEN VICTORIA'S CROWN-the value of, can be estimated, 180.
QUAKER AT GETTYSBURGEH, THE — or,.Trust in God
rewarded, 228-31.
RICH, BUT NOT HAPPY-examples, Stephen Girard and
Mr. Rothschild, 145.




INDEX.                 317
RICHES OF TEE CHRISTIAN-make him happy, 146-7.
lasting, 148-50.
RABBI AxIBo —or, All for the Best, 171-5.
RED GLASS-seeing through, 249.
RAILWAY CONDUCTOR-the rude, and his trouble, 254-8.
RULES OF SCHOOL-trials, 281.
SrvA-the character of, 31-2.
SIN-a corpse to which we are chained, 52-3.
a burden, 51.
SEA-CAPTAIN-the grateful, 85-7.
SouL-forgetting the, 105-6.
STRONG-how Jesus makes His people, 106-8.
SHADRACK, MESHECK, AND ABEDNEGO, 226.
SHIP-BUILDING-how it is begun, 121-2.
SHIP-without anchor, 218.
SPRING, THE —that never fails, 156-9.
SPRING, FRESH-water in the ocean, 162-3.
Swiss SHEPHERD, THE-and the lamb, 204-5.
SORROW, THE CAUSE OF taken away-or, the English
captain in the French prison, 232-3.
SERMON, JESUS' FIRST-how it began, 246.
STrIENGTH-from bearing trial, 282.
how trees get, 282-3.
TEXTS OF SCRIPTURE like a many-sided jewel, 156.
TREASURES-Christians blessed in their, 175.
and play-things-the little boys', 178-9.
TROUBLES-help to bear, 234.
TEMPERS, BAD —wicked and unchristian, 275.




318                 INDEX.
TRIAL OR TEMPTATION-all must bear, 279.
TRUSTING IN Go —Sambo and the Missionary, 217.
Christ's first sermon, 219.
what the bird says, 220.
Elijah and the ravens, 221-2.
VICTORIA, QUEEN-the honor of being jewellers to, 164
WASHINGTON, GEORGE —anecdote of, 79-80. 302
WnILIE-how he got a place by his kindness, 83-4.
WELLINGTON, THE DUKE oF-and his gentleness, 266-7
WORTH FROM BEARING TRIALS, 288.
WIsE-how Jesus makes His people, 102.
in preparing for a voyage, 103-8