3197 
 SC5JI 
 
 'ITH 
 
 .
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Carle ton Shay
 
 PS YS SMITHS
 
 THE LOST CHRIST
 
 LOST 
 
 CHRIST 
 
 SMITH 
 
 Copyright, 1909, by George H. Doran Company 
 HODDER AND STOUGHTON 
 
 NEW Y ',O R K 
 GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
 
 :sv 
 
 3797 
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 "But they, supposing Him to have been in the company, 
 went a day's journey; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk 
 and acquaintance. And when they found Him not, they turned 
 back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him." LUKE ii. 44 45 
 
 ^ m ^ E reac * of the Saviour of lost things, but 
 m i * n t ^ le storv * t* 16 finding of Jesus in the 
 
 1 t Temple we read of a lost Christ. Some- 
 \J|^r body says, "Is that possible? I thought 
 He was the finder of lost things." 
 
 Yes, He is. 
 
 "Then, is it possible to lose Jesus?" 
 
 It is possible. Alas, that so many who have 
 found Him have found Him only to lose Him again ! 
 Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest 
 he fall. 
 
 The most unlikely person in the world to lose 
 Jesus was Mary, His mother. I question whether 
 anybody in this world ever loved Him as Mary did. 
 I question whether anybody in this world ever 
 understood Jesus, and misunderstood Him, as she 
 did. 
 
 There were circles, inner circles, relationships 
 precious, too precious for words, into which Mary 
 
 SI - r ?9r?7
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 entered with Jesus that no one else has ever shared 
 with her. 
 
 But Mary lost Him. 
 
 There were fellowships, fellowships of heart and 
 soul and mind, which Mary had with Jesus that 
 no one else has ever had, that no one else will 
 ever altogether understand. 
 
 But Mary lost Him. 
 
 How close she came to Jesus ! Her very life was 
 interwoven with His. In a way He was part of her ; 
 in a way she was part of Him. And yet she lost 
 Him. And although you may get very close to 
 Jesus, you will lose Him too if you are not careful 
 if you are not careful over what you handle; if 
 you are not careful about the paths you tread; if 
 you are not careful about the stories you give your 
 ear to; if you are not careful about the stories 
 you repeat and the things you talk about; if you 
 are not careful about the things you allow your 
 eyes to become fastened upon ; if you are not care- 
 ful about the things that occupy your brain and 
 heart; if you are not careful about your com- 
 panionships, about your friendships if you are not 
 careful, you will lose Him. You will lose Him 
 it may be that you have lost Him already. 
 
 You may love Jesus; you may love Him dearly; 
 you may be zealous for His name and honour; you 
 may be concerned about His glory and His crown
 
 ' 
 
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 uld Mi.uhlim.l MK-phcnl.
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 rights; you may be orthodox and fight for your 
 orthodoxy; you may be a very religious person; 
 but be careful, or you will lose Christ. And oh! 
 the misery of the heart that has lost Christ ! Some 
 will not understand the meaning of this, the tragedy 
 of losing Christ, but that is because they have never 
 seen Him, that is because they have never looked 
 upon Him, and felt His touch, and known His 
 fellowship. They have never consecrated their lives 
 to Him. Jesus is to them a root out of a dry 
 ground; there is no form or comeliness, no beauty 
 in Him that they should desire Him. They have 
 never seen Him; the god of this world has blinded 
 their eyes. But there are some who will under- 
 stand, and it is to them that I would appeal. Vision 
 makes the difference. They have seen Him; they 
 know what it is to work with Him ; they know the 
 joy, of fellowship, and, though they have lost it, the 
 memory of it is dearer than anything else in God's 
 world. 
 
 Vision makes all the difference. 
 
 A friend of mine tells the story of a great natural- 
 ist and scientist who, one lovely summer day years 
 ago, went out in the Highlands of Scotland with 
 his microscope to study the heather-bell in all its 
 native glory. In order that he might see it in its 
 perfection, he got down on his knees, and without 
 plucking the flower, adjusted his instrument, and
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 was soon revelling in its colour, its delicacy, its 
 beauty, "lost in wonder, love, and praise." How 
 long he stayed there he does not know, but suddenly 
 there was a shadow on him and h:s instrument. 
 He waited for a time, thinking it might be a passing 
 cloud. But it stayed there, and presently he looked 
 up over his shoulder, and there was an old Highland 
 shepherd watching him. Without saying a word, 
 he plucked the little heather-bell and handed it, with 
 the microscope, to the shepherd, that he, too, might 
 see what he was beholding. And the old shepherd 
 put the instrument up to his eyes, got the heather- 
 bell in place, and looked at it until the tears ran 
 down his face like bubbles on a mountain-stream. 
 And then, handing back the little heather-bell ten- 
 derly, he said, "Ay, mon, I wish ye had never shown 
 me that. I wish I had never seen it." "Why?" 
 asked the scientist. "Because," he said, "these rude 
 feet have trodden on so many of them." 
 
 Vision made the difference there. Wait until you 
 have washed the dust out of your eyes with water 
 from the river that makes glad the city cf God. 
 Even if it be up in glory with the redeemed, how 
 you will regret that you have lived one day without 
 Him. 
 
 I say it is possible to lose Him. It is possible to 
 lose Him while you are reading these lines. I may 
 lose Him as I write, even as I preach, though it is
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 the last thing I would do. But I know the possi- 
 bility, for I know something about this wicked 
 heart of mine. I know its subtlety; I know its 
 deceitfulness ; and we are no longer kept than we 
 are kept by God. 
 
 I know of no worse hell than to lose Christ, and 
 then to keep up the appearance that you have Him ; 
 to keep up the cant and mockery of religious para- 
 phernalia when your heart has lost its Christ. There 
 are some who will know what I mean. You may 
 be a preacher, may be an evangelist and, please 
 remember, that I have put myself first and yet may 
 lose Him. 
 
 Not only did the most unlikely person in the world 
 become the first to lose Jesus, but she lost Him 
 and did not know it. 
 
 Mary, "supposing Him to have been in the com- 
 pany" she thought He was there. And isn't that 
 the danger with us all? We take too much for 
 granted. Very often we allow our own spiritual 
 lives to go in our anxiety to look after other people. 
 While you are cultivating the wider areas, in 
 Christ's name, look after your own little patch. Be 
 sure of your ground. Religious certainty is the cer- 
 tainty of religion. You must not allow your soul's 
 condition and needs and demands and life and 
 eternal interests to live on supposition. You can- 
 not afford it. Woe be to you, whoever you be, if
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 you take things for granted! You do not do that 
 in business. No man is a success who does not 
 examine his books and strike a balance-sheet; and 
 unless you do that, and unless I do that, every day 
 of my life, I shall soon be a backslider. 
 
 The communions of yesterday, the fellowship of 
 the day before, the victories of a week ago, my 
 first view of my Lord thirty years ago all these 
 are very blessed, but they will not serve for to-day. 
 I must find a new Saviour every morning. I must 
 see new beauty in Him every time I turn my eyes 
 to Him. Because I know there is danger, I pray 
 every morning: 
 
 Dear Lord, it is better that I 
 
 Should go through the world with one eye, 
 
 If Thou, Light and Guide, be but nigh. 
 
 It is better, O Saviour Divine, 
 
 To lose this right hand of mine, 
 
 If Thou hold but the other in Thine. 
 
 Thou only canst make me complete ; 
 And to limp by Thy side were more sweet 
 Than walking alone on both feet. 
 
 I would rather lose wife, and children, and father, 
 and loved ones, and friends, and everybody and 
 everything in God's world, than lose my Lord. I 
 must have Him. There must be no supposition 
 about it. I must be sure. I must stand on solid 
 ground, not on the crumbling edges of a precipice. 
 
 10
 
 -1. IV '.-.I'- Ciilhrdv;:!. ;ill(l M. 1'aul'.- Cathedral
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 She supposed He was in the company, and was 
 not the company religious? Had this company 
 not been up to the annual conference, the great 
 Temple festival? You need not be an extravagant 
 sinner to lose Him. You can lose Him at a conven- 
 tion, at a prayer-meeting. Don't you see that when 
 God flashes His light upon you, when God gives 
 illumination, when God opens His hidden things 
 to you, and you have the vision and don't obey, 
 you are a bigger sinner than if you had never seen? 
 Mary was in the company of religious people, and 
 yet she lost Christ, and did not know it. Samson 
 wist not that the Lord had departed from him. In 
 Revelation there is a description of a church that 
 had lost Him and didn't know it a very aristo- 
 cratic church, a very cultured church, a very rich 
 church, a church that had great social prestige. 
 You cannot suggest a thing that the members of 
 this church lacked ; and they were so well contented 
 with themselves that they passed a resolution that 
 said, "We are rich, we have gotten riches, we have 
 need of nothing." And God looked down upon 
 them, and said, "You poor, blind, miserable, wretch- 
 ed things ! Behold, I stand at the door and knock." 
 
 But, you say, "Was not that said to sinners, to 
 the sinner's heart?" 
 
 No, it was said at the door of a church that had 
 lost Christ; and I know of churches in all parts 
 
 11
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 of the world where, if Jesus Christ came and offered 
 Himself with a view to becoming their pastor, He 
 would be voted out. 
 
 Is it not time that we stopped playing at religion 
 and began to live it? Is it not time that we showed 
 to the people outside the churches that we mean 
 business? Thousands have the building, the order 
 of service, the truth, the songs of Zion, and every- 
 thing which should "accompany salvation" but the 
 vital thing is absent. 
 
 In one of my missions a young fellow came to 
 me, a fine character who had been put in a most 
 prominent place in that mission. He it was who 
 was delegated to take the hand of every inquirer 
 and say the last word of advice and counsel. He 
 stood it from Monday to Saturday, and on Saturday 
 evening he said to me: "Mr. Smith, I want to see 
 you. You don't go out on Sunday morning, do 
 you?" 
 
 I said, "No, I rest then, unless I go to church; 
 but I usually stay in to get a little quiet. What do 
 you want to see me about?" I thought he wanted 
 to see me about some special case. 
 
 He said, "About my own soul." 
 
 "Why," I said, "what is the trouble?" 
 
 He said, "I am not converted; I have never been 
 born again." 
 
 "My brother," I said, "what does it mean?" 
 
 12
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 He said, "My parents supposed I was a Christian, 
 and urged me to join the church, and I did so. My 
 pastor supposed I was a Christian, and I was made 
 a Sunday School teacher, and an officer in the 
 church. Because they supposed and kept on sup- 
 posing, nobody has ever looked me in the eye and 
 said, "Harry, are you right with God?" 
 
 Don't we all do that? Some never really know. 
 They are always supposing. 
 
 She supposed He was in the company and what 
 is the company of a king if Jesus be absent? My 
 gipsy tent, if Jesus be in it, is as grand as St. Paul's 
 Cathedral, and St. Paul's Cathedral is nothing but 
 a glorified quarry without Jesus. It is Christ who 
 makes the temple. 
 
 Not only did the most unlikely person in the 
 world become the first to lose Him, and not only 
 did she lose Him and not know it, but she lost Him 
 in the most unlikely place. Where? Not at the 
 theatre, not playing cards, not dancing half the night 
 and mixing with an ungodly crowd, not running 
 with the giddy multitude to do evil, not at a summer 
 resort, not by being bad-tempered and cross, not 
 because she was proud and haughty, not because 
 she was backbiting her neighbours, not because 
 she was loving the world and thinking more about 
 the trinkets on her fingers than she did about her 
 soul and the interests of her Son Christ. Remember 
 
 13
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 who she was. She was the holiest woman that 
 ever breathed, the purest soul that God ever made 
 in the form of woman. But she lost Christ. 
 
 She lost Him at the service in the Temple, among 
 holy things, in a holy atmosphere, amid holy 
 surroundings. Oh God, save us from mockery! 
 Some one will have to rise, some twentieth-century 
 John the Baptist, some Martin Luther, some fire- 
 brand who does not care for anything that may 
 be done to him, and he will have to be prepared 
 to lose his head in calling the Church of God to 
 a halt. Somebody will do it, and God knows 
 that I would be willing to lose my head if I could 
 call men successfully back to the Christ from 
 whom they have wandered. A Church without 
 Christ is a mockery. 
 
 You may lose Him at church. Be careful. 
 There are far more people lose Christ at church 
 than you would dream of. People see visions 
 there, and they refuse to obey. That is the time 
 when they lose Him. God speaks through His 
 servants. He says to you: "My child this is 
 the way, this is the duty, this is the cross, this is 
 the sacrifice, this is the thing I want you to do, 
 this is the soul I want you to save, this is the glory 
 I mean you to win for My name, this is the service 
 I want you to rise up to undertake and accomplish 
 in My name." You look at it. You consider 
 
 14
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 ways and means. It will cost you too much. 
 You go away and you have lost Him in the Temple. 
 Do you forget that the devil entered into Judas 
 at the Communion-table? The devil is almost as 
 near to your soul as the Master, and he has desired 
 to have you and sift you as wheat. The forces of 
 evil are working for your soul, and your only safety 
 is the cross of Calvary. The devil will follow you 
 to the grave. He will not give up the struggle 
 till he is beaten. 
 
 Where did you lose Him? Was it in the city? 
 Was it at the sea-shore, when you went on your 
 vacation? It is astonishing what people think 
 they can do with impunity when they are away 
 from home. Don't you know where you parted 
 with your Lord? Don't you know the thing you 
 have done, the word that was said, the letter that 
 you wrote? You know, and God knows. And 
 you will have to do what Mary did. You will have 
 to go back and find Him where you lost Him. 
 
 When first I began to preach I was only a boy, 
 and a man who bears a very honoured name in the 
 Christian world to-day took me aside soon after 
 I had left my gipsy tent, and said, "I suppose you 
 take a few minutes each night before you sleep 
 to get on your knees and square up for the day." 
 I said, "No, I don't. I dare not." "What do 
 you mean?" said he. I replied, "I have to square 
 
 15
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 up as I go along. If I waited till night my burden 
 would crush me. I dare not wait a day. Three 
 days would kill me. I have to go to God every 
 moment; moment by moment." Mary was three 
 days without Him! How long have you been 
 without Him? Three days? Three weeks? Three 
 months? Three years? O, my God, without Thee! 
 A soul without God, without Christ, and without 
 hope! Why, that must be a foretaste of hell, for I 
 can conceive of no worse hell than the loss of Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 I once spoke from this text in a great American 
 city, where there were six or seven hundred pastors 
 around me, and two days afterwards I received 
 a letter, and I could hear sighs and see tears in 
 every syllable. The letter began by saying: "I 
 am a pastor of a big church, but I have lost my 
 Christ. Oh, the hell of trying to preach Christ when 
 you have lost Him! But," the writer continued, 
 "I will promise you this : I will never preach again 
 until I have found Him. I need not tell you my 
 name, but I write this for your encouragement." 
 
 I beg of you not to do any more Christian work 
 until you find Him. Your first business is to get 
 right with God. You will have to go back. It will 
 not be easy. Mary had to tramp all the way back to 
 Jerusalem one day away from Him, three days 
 to find Him. And when she found Him she said: 
 
 16
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 "Why have you served me like this?" 
 He answered: "Do you not know?" 
 Do not blame Him for you own sin or the misery 
 which is the result of sin. You left Him. He never 
 left you. If He did He would be breaking His 
 promise: "I am with you alway." You will have 
 to go back. David said: "When I kept silence, my 
 bones waxed old through my roaring all the day 
 long. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon 
 me: my moisture is turned into the drought of 
 summer. I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and 
 mine iniquity have I not hid." David was right. 
 He knew where his own misery came from, and he 
 knew how to get right with God. 
 
 Where did the Prodigal find his father? Just 
 where he left him in the old home. He had to 
 come home, and it is this coming home we shrink 
 from. Mary and Joseph found Jesus just where 
 they had left Him. He was waiting there. Love 
 always waits, and only waits to forgive and forget. 
 I do not know how anybody can stay away from 
 the love of God. 
 
 It may be you have a confession to make. Make 
 it. It may be that you will have to go and say to 
 somebody: "Forgive me." Go and say it, and settle 
 the thing. It may be that you will have to wash 
 stripes that you have put on. Go and do it. And 
 remember that the jailor did not wait until morning 
 
 17
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 he did it the same hour of the night. Stripe- 
 washing for the jailor was faith in Christ. 
 
 Have you lost Him? Then you must come back 
 to the spot, to the hour, to the thing, and talk to 
 God about that very thing. Mary had to go back to 
 the Temple. And if you are to find Him you must 
 go back to where you left Him. When I was in 
 South Africa a fine, handsome Dutchman, over six 
 feet high, came into my service and God laid His 
 hand on him and convicted him of sin, and the next 
 morning he went to the beautiful home of another 
 Dutchman and said to him: "Do you know that 
 gold watch?" "Why, yes," said the other, "those 
 are my initials; that is my watch. I lost it eight 
 years ago. How did you get it, and how long have 
 you had it?" "I stole it," was the reply. "But you 
 were my friend?" "I stole it, and have worn it." 
 "What made you bring it back now?" "I was con- 
 verted last night," said the other, "and I have 
 brought it back first thing this morning. If you 
 had been up I should have brought it last night." 
 
 Do you think you can cover up a wrong? You 
 cannot cover up a manure-heap with snow and ex- 
 pect God to call it clean. That is not God's plan. 
 He doesn't white-wash you : He washes you white. 
 He doesn't put a clean robe over a lot of filth and 
 say it is clean. He never says it is clean until all 
 the filthiness is washed away. He will cleanse you, 
 
 18
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 and take the stony heart out of your flesh and give 
 you a heart of flesh. 
 
 Are you prepared to go back? Are you willing 
 to take back that unkind word, that slanderous, 
 libellous word? Are you willing to tear up that 
 letter in your pocket that you know you have no 
 right to possess? Are you willing to break off that 
 unlawful friendship? You will have to do it if you 
 want to find Him. I know it is not easy. It means 
 aching feet and an aching heart. It may mean a 
 bleeding heart, but you will have to do it if you 
 want peace. 
 
 Some years ago, in opening a great campaign in 
 the Chicago Auditorium, I spoke from this text. 
 One of the city pastors was called up afterwards on 
 the telephone. A man rang him up and said: "I 
 want to see you. I must see you. Will you come 
 to my rooms at once?" 
 
 The man was a rich bachelor, a member of his 
 church. When the pastor came he said : "I heard 
 that man preach yesterday, and he told me I must 
 find Christ where I lost Him, and I want to find 
 Him." His tears were flowing like rain. 
 
 The pastor said, "That should be easy." 
 
 He replied, "It won't be easy for me. I have 
 done things that the people of this city know noth- 
 ing about. But God knows, and I know. Listen! 
 There is a sweet-faced, beautiful girl lying yonder 
 
 19
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 in a dishonoured grave, and there are two little 
 children, a boy and 'a girl, who are in a home for 
 foundlings because I hadn't manhood enough to 
 own them and give them my name. And," said he, 
 "you know, doctor, it strikes me, if I am to find 
 Christ I will have to find those children and bring 
 them here and let the people know they are mine." 
 
 The minister said, "Yes, it means that." 
 
 Religion is not a fire-escape for you while it 
 allows your victims to go to the devil. If your re- 
 ligion does not help you to live right you do not 
 know the real thing. 
 
 God pity the child that comes into the world 
 through the wrong door! God pity the children 
 that do not know any parent! If I know anything 
 about the heart of my Lord the Church must not 
 be the first to turn its back upon, and shut its door 
 against, such a little child. The Church should be 
 the first to open its arms. But we don't do that. 
 We kick the poor thing that is wronged and down- 
 trodden and damn her to the nethermost hell, while 
 we flatter and fondle the devil who wronged her if 
 he is able to ride in an automobile. That is not 
 Bible religion. My Lord says to such women: 
 "Thy sins are forgiven thee." O Master, give us all 
 Thy spirit of love for the lost! 
 
 Jesus had a wonderful place in his heart for the 
 lost and the last and the least. Isn't that true? He 
 
 20
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 loved them, and the Church should exist to save 
 them; and when it doesn't it is no Church. 
 
 My friend said, "It means that." 
 
 The rich man replied : "I can do nothing for her 
 now, but I am going to send a message to that 
 distant state for the little ones." 
 
 He discovered that the little girl had joined her 
 mother, and the little boy was with a farmer. He 
 knew these people were not his parents, and the 
 poor little fellow longed for love. But it never 
 came to him. They brought him to the big city, 
 and the rich man sat down in a chair, and took the 
 little boy on his knee and said : 
 
 "My boy, would you like to see your father?" 
 
 The little fellow said, "I don't know, sir." 
 
 "Do you think you could love him, even though 
 he did you and your mother a great wrong?" 
 
 And the poor little fellow said, "I don't know, 
 sir." 
 
 "Well," he said, "look about you. Do you think 
 you could be happy if you lived here with me?" 
 
 He said, "I don't know, sir." 
 
 Somewhere there the father's heart had a resur- 
 rection, and he cried: "Put you arms round my 
 neck, hold me tight, and call me father, though I 
 don't deserve the name!" 
 
 Turning to the preacher, he said: "I have found 
 Christ in rinding my child!" 
 
 21
 
 THE LOST CHRIST 
 
 We shall find Jesus where we lost Him. If we 
 will only go back there we shall find Him, for He is 
 not far from any one of us. He is ready to forgive, 
 and blot out the past more ready than we are to 
 ask Him. 
 
 He who said, "Return unto Me I will heal their 
 backsliding, I will love them freely," will allow no 
 broken heart to seek Him in vain. 
 
 To His love, His pardon, His cleansing, there 
 are no limits. His grace is greater than our sin. 
 Oh, sad, weary, sinful soul, bow before Him now 
 in penitence and faith, and you will know that He 
 is slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. 
 
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